On Astral Tides: From Humble Freelancer To Astral Emperor

Treyvon exchanged a long glance with his sister as they watched the six deep-cover US agents unload multiple heavy duffel-bags of equipment under the shadow of the hillside. Behind them lurked two of their stronger close-combat fighters, Travis, who was a six foot six blonde American muscleman, who specialised in Muay Thai and kickboxing, and Manx, smaller at just over six feet, but still just as dangerous, his half-Asian looks and smaller frame belying that the often-silent man was a master of close-contact suppression, and if needs be, killing.

“This isn’t exactly how I pictured my first trip to Japan, Trey.” Aliyah said after a long sigh. “This is going to be shit and leave a real bad taste, I can just see it. Fuck! Why did we have to get a red notice job? The money isn’t worth it. Shit. Fuck!”

As his sister cursed up a storm, he looked around, silently agreeing. Yeah, no shit. Wetwork in a ‘friendly’ country is a whole different ball game when it comes to risk and sheer shittyness. We’ve done extraction jobs in Sierra Leone, Iran, Afghanistan… and even our own country, but this… “Look, cool it, you are drawing attention.” He advised.

His sister turned, eyeballing several of the agents they were working with, who had stopped their unloading to stare at her disapprovingly. Aliyah shrugged an apology, before turning back, zipping up the heavy hoodie she wore to cover up the tactical bodysuit she had changed into on arrival, a parked van with fake plates and decals serving as their command HQ for this strike. “Fucking pricks.” She whispered theatrically, getting a brief chuckle from Travis. “Don’t they know venting before a mission is a must? Helps me stay calm…”

“Yeah, I get it. Still, they must be nervous too.” He allowed, sharing his sisters’ ever-increasing misgivings. “This Akio guy must be one hell of a value target if they are prepared to risk a squad of agents who have likely been buried deep in Japan for years.”

“That’s probably why we are here, Trey.” Aliyah turned her head and spat. Still, what she was going to say was wiped from her mind as she stared at the long bag that was brought out by one of the men. He had the same reaction. A fucking sniper rifle? Getting those in Japan is virtually impossible. Besides, this is supposed to be a capture mission, not an assassination…

“I’m starting to agree with you, sis. I think we are going to get a real mouthful of this, despite asking them oh so politely not to.”

Aliyah sniggered meanly at the innuendo. “Well you’d know all about that, right Trey? It’s not a flavour I’ll ever know. Still…” she pondered, stretching her arms, warming up. In the lee of the hill up to a desolate shrine in the suburbs of Tokyo, they were largely sheltered from seeing more than the odd passer-by jogging or walking their dogs. Even so, not being able to find a better location for the extraction is a real blow. There’s too much that can go wrong, too many variables. Why is this being so rushed? At least the Japanese mind their own business and pretend not to see anything strange. If this was back home, no way this’d work.

His sister continued, jerking him out of his thoughts. “… at first glance, we aren’t needed at all. We gave them the info… what we could stomach, anyway… they could fake messages from us without us needing to be here on site. Shit, want to know what I think, Trey?”

You’ll tell me anyway, so go on. As he nodded, tightening up the straps on his own combat bodysuit, she carried on. “I think we are the fucking patsies for if this goes south. Sure, we do good work, but at the end of the day we are only mercs, sorry, private contractors, so rather than lose precious agents that have taken years and millions of dollars to embed, I think they’d cut us loose in a heartbeat. Sure, some other PMC’s might grumble, but would they ever even find out the fucking truth? Uncle Sam controls most of the media after all.”

Yeah, right on the money as usual sis. I wish you could be more ladylike, but when it comes to your instincts, top notch as ever. I can’t think of any other reason either.

“Right, all unloaded.” The leader of the unit, an Asian going by Alpha, said. He was non-descript, a perfect native, one you wouldn’t look twice at on an average day. There was also Beta, Gamma, Delta, Epsilon and Zeta on the strike and capture team, while Eta was co-ordinating from the van and would remain on station in case of emergencies. All of them were Japanese nationals, and again he idly wondered just how many other agents the good old homeland had inserted into the lands of their supposed allies. Politics I guess. All shit.

“Right, so, arm up. We will then confirm the target and mission parameters.”

“We know the target, fuckwit.” Aliyah muttered under her breath. Easy now. I know you have a lot of unresolved issues with this guy, but still… it’s us or him. We’ve already done all we can by keeping his family out of this. If we wanted to keep a clean conscience, we should have been in a different industry…

The bodysuits were knife-proof and could stop small calibre bullets from penetrating, though the impact would still cause injuries. It had loops to fit various weapons, and with baggy hoodies and pants, it was possible to conceal any number of surprisingly heavy armaments. Still, it was warm and humid, so they looked out of place. The longer they remained here, the more chance there was of something going wrong. To that end, Trey geared up. Combat knives, heavy-duty military taser, Minebea P9 semi-automatic pistols, stun grenades… fuck, it’s like that scene in Commando…

Worse was the equipment Alpha and the boys were packing. A case containing various drugs in rapid-injector needles, a huge shotgun that was supposedly carrying non-lethal rubber buckshot rounds… non-lethal my fucking ass, take a hit anywhere soft and that fucker will still kill you… the sniper rifle, which Zeta was still carrying in the bag, automatic rifles, with both rubber-tipped and lethal ammo magazines…

“It’s like we are taking on a cell of fucking terrorists.” Aliyah echoed his thoughts, having strapped herself up with enough weapons to take on a platoon. “All for one guy. Yeah, he’s strong as fuck, but even so… it’s like we are going after that Ilya chick after all.”

“At least we were smart enough to know that job was a death-trap. No such luck here, eh?” he retorted, only to have Alpha call them all over to the van, where Eta had spread out maps with various information recorded on it. Looking out at the slowly setting sun, Trey again wondered why they couldn’t wait for proper nightfall, rather than engaging in the half-light of the evening. I guess there must be a reason, still… looking once more at his sister, praying she could keep everything together and not let her temper explode, he settled in to listen to the mission parameters and objectives one last time.

********

Aliyah felt acid in her stomach, not the usual pre-mission nerves, but… fuck, is this guilt? That isn’t like me… it’s just another job, albeit a really shit one with little upside for the Black Wolf Company. I guess being too good at our jobs has cost us bigtime. Shit. After their run-in in Las Vegas, Aliyah was left with very mixed feelings about the guy, but in the end they were both professionals, doing a job for the money and if lucky, the honour and safety of their home country. Yeah, I can rationalise it, and even that cutie Shaeula too, she’s got to be some sort of agent as well from what I gathered, but…

She couldn’t help but think of the sister and his fiancée. Both of them were totally her type, and being uninvolved in the business, their inevitable grief was eating away at her. I’m not naïve enough to know this comes with a happy ending. Even when the Department of Defence, DARPA, the Pentagon or whoever the hell sanctioned this extraction is done with him, there’s no way they’ll just let him go home… no, he’ll disappear forever. Fuck. Shit. Damn.

Trying to put aside her anger and get into a professional mindset, she focussed on the briefing held within the van. On the table was a map of the shrine from satellite data, with various locations, routes of ingress and points of interest marked. Beside that was a series of grainy pictures of the Shaeula chick, with more detailed, clear photographs of the Akio guy. Seeing them, she clenched her fists reflexively. We are doing this. No backing out.

“So, the primary target is Akio Moonstone Oshiro, the man here. He is to be taken alive! Injuries that are non-lethal are perfectly fine.” Eta began, his expression calm. Damn, I know everyone says all Asians look the same to us Westerners, but this team really is non-descript. Not flashy and memorable, like him… really, he was annoyingly attractive. In photographs you could see it a bit, but in person, he definitely had the sort of handsome charisma of a movie star or something. Damn, that pisses me off… suddenly she felt an impact on her ankle, and turned to see Trey gesturing to her to pay attention.

Yeah, yeah, I know.

“The secondary target is seemingly Shaeula Tu Shae Dannan. She is also to be captured alive, again, injuries permissible. If she is not sighted though, primary target is to be extracted alone as the objective. I have a medical kit here in the van, and we have a full team on standby at HQ ready to perform any surgeries needed to keep the targets alive and able to survive transportation.”

Grim. I hope he comes quietly. At least that way he won’t have to suffer.

“Thanks to information from our friends here…” the way Eta said ‘friends’ was enough to rile her up, the contempt was noticeable, but not unusual, as state agents always looked down on mercenaries. “… has been most helpful, and we have corroborated it with local sources. Anyway…” he gestured to her burner phone, which held their numbers. “… while we have had no response to our texts since the other day, our tracking system has revealed they are definitely going to this area, here.” He pointed to the map, to a pair of highlighted buildings on the back of the hill, separated from the nearby buildings by several hundred metres and the rise, making it ideally situated for some… privacy.

“I’m concerned about using phones to track our target.” Her brother piped up. “He could be using a relay to misdirect the signal, or burner phones, or any number of other tricks.”

“Indeed.” Eta agreed. “However…” he paused, looking a little unsure of whether he should say anything, before opting to speak. “… we called in a few favours from … associated parties… and discovered that this is indeed his dwelling, and surveillance has confirmed it. Tracing his movements over the last few days, we can be pretty certain he is within the house, and possibly the secondary target as well. As to why he is not replying to texts from your phone…” he looked at Aliyah, before shrugging. “… who can say, but the machine says they are being delivered there, so headquarters believes that there is at least a 95% certainty the target is there, all told. Still, there are… complications… in the politics, so we need to act fast.”

Complications, huh? And who are the ‘associated parties.? They’ll never tell hired grunts like us, which makes me fucking pissed off. When this mission is done I’m going back on vacation, and if Trey doesn’t like it, tough shit.

“The problem is, this is still a public shrine.” Eta continued. “Luckily it has surprisingly expansive grounds, and the area we plan to engage in will be off-limits to the few worshippers and tourists the shrine receives. There is also building work taking place, but that finishes pretty much on schedule each day. In fact, they should be clearing out any time now. That only leaves the family that owns the shrine.”

He pointed out another area of the map, clearly marked. “As you can see by the satellite images and contour markers, the main building has no line-of-sight to the engagement area. Therefore a quick, surgical strike will have minimal chance of any civilian intruders. Our sources also informed us there was quite the altercation at the shrine a few days ago, which has left the occupants nervous, less prone to wandering. That plays to our advantage.”

Altercation? What shit are you getting into now, guy? Never mind… I still have a question. “So yeah, seems like the engagement area is the best we can hope for in a crowded city. No lines-of-sight, plenty of cover, I get it. But what is the play if there are civilians who intrude on the operation?”

“Full neutralisation.” Eta said coldly, and there were hisses of in-drawn breath from Trey and Travis. Even the stoic Manx looked put-out. “Obviously such a scenario is to be avoided, but… we cannot let the risk of civilian casualties deter us. The very safety of the United States of America depends on our ability to be ruthless. The mission must succeed.”

Oh fucking hell, this gets worse. There’s a woman and young girl living at the shrine according to the intel here. If they enter the battlefield… shit, we never do uninvolved women or any kids.

“I’m afraid we can’t just kill civilians.” Trey broke in coldly, and she cheered him internally. “You should know from our profile we…”

“Don’t worry, we can handle any unexpected civilian interlopers.” Eta sneered. “As professionals we know we have to do things we otherwise wouldn’t want to, unlike you… paid contractors.”

“But that doesn’t change the fact that potentially young girls and…” Trey began again, but he was silenced by the strike team’s vicious glares.

I. Fucking. Hate. This. Aliyah was steaming, ready to blow, but even with the four of them, if they tried to do anything they’d be outclassed, and the Black Wolf Company would be finished. Just please… If there’s a God out there, which after the life I’ve had I fucking doubt, make sure no-one else gets involved. Up until now, we’ve always managed to hold to our rule of no kids, and no innocent women. Don’t let this be the time it all goes to shit…

“So, Zeta will be positioned here with the sniper rifle, since it has clear views over all points of ingress, as well as the engagement area…” the smug fuck Eta continued, marking the map. “The Black Wolf Company will approach the target buildings first, while we…” as the engagement was sketched out, Aliyah looked uneasily at her brother, seeing her displeasure mirrored in his eyes. What a fucking mess. Our only hope is to finish this fast and get the fuck out… her hand went to a combat knife under her hoodie. Last time I couldn’t touch you, but if I delay now, people, innocent people, are going to get involved. So sorry, but you are going down, Akio. I’ll find some way to make it up to your sister and fiancée. I don’t know how, but… somehow we will.

********

“Wow, is that the time?” I channelled Aiko as I looked at the clock, yawning. Beside me, Shaeula was also stirring. It’s pretty late, but then again, a lot did happen. First, Ulfuric had come rushing over, only to find that the battle was done, Hyacinth having already submitted. Then I had to settle the quarrelling between her and Azuki, before Hyacinth began to rebuild the decrepit buildings, growing wooden planks and tiles seemingly out of nothing. She’s obsessed with looking after a home and the residents. I guess even though she’s fallen to a boggart, brownie habits die hard…

It was then I collapsed, my body having seized up on me from the misuse of the new Body Enhancement skill. So, since I had little to do here in the Material since we had resolved the issue with the police and the yakuza, I decided to remain in the Boundary to repair myself, as well as train some more. Never thought we’d cross all the way over to Thursday evening though. Still, I was deep in meditation.

By the time I left, the Anchor upgrade had a touch over fourteen astral days remaining. I was getting very excited at the prospect of finally being able to really improve my Territory, so had to keep myself from blowing my remaining ether on rush-building it. No, I want plenty of ether in the bank to start filling up the queues straight away…

Getting up, I noticed I was streaked with blood as usual, though my body was only showing a few faint scars. On seeing me that way, Shaeula licked her lips lasciviously. “Shall we take a bath to cleanse ourselves?” she asked. “After dealing with that troublesome Unseelie I could-could certainly do with a cold-cold beer and some relaxation.”

“Yeah, I could do with cleaning myself up a bit. Seriously, I think we need to come up with some sort of outfit that is comfortable to sleep in but washes easily. I’m tired of laundering the sheets. Or… I guess I could try not hurting myself and getting injured so much, but that’s way harder.” I grinned, before turning to the bedside desk, where the message light of my phone was flickering. There were messages from Eri and Aiko, which I would reply to later, as well as… what the hell? Is that chick a damn stalker now?  

There was a half-dozen messages from Aliyah, all asking to meet up. “Hey, Shaeula, can you check your phone for me?”

She blinked at me, confused, before retrieving her orange model. “Hmm, just the usual from Aiko and… hmm, Aliyah has been busy-busy indeed.”

“You too, huh? There’s something off about this. The tone of the messages… do they seem like her to you? They come across as desperate to me.”

“Yes, quite. I feel-feel there is something off about them.” she agreed with me. As I scrolled through them I noticed a message from Kana-chan as well. Opening it up it was full of her usual emoji’s and cutesy girl-speak, but the contents surprised me. “The police are back at the shrine, and have been asking them questions? I thought I was done with that…” I muttered. The text also said that a Detective was waiting at the shrine for me to be available. I guess we did put locks on the door after the incident with the yakuza, more for peace of mind than any real safety, and while I’m in the Boundary mere noises like the doorbell probably won’t reach me…

Making up my mind I fired off a text, asking them to give me twenty minutes to clean up. I can’t meet a Detective stinking of blood. I’ve fixed myself up pretty well, but even so, that won’t remove the blood I already shed… “Looks like the bath is going to have to be a quick one, we have unwelcome guests.” I sighed. “You should wait in your room, no need to get you involved.”

“Very well. I am disappointed, but there is always next-next time.” Shaeula acquiesced. “But I shall at least wash your back. Since you are in quite-quite the hurry.”

“Fine.” I agreed. “I’ll return the favour next time as well. As for now, pick me out something decent, but not too flashy. I need to make a good impression…”

********

“You ready?” Treyvon asked quietly, and his sister and the boys nodded. “All right then, the engagement zone is clear, civilian workers have left, so on my mark, synchronise watches. The time is… on five, four, three, two, one… nineteen hundred hours, twenty two minutes. Mark.”

Using combat hand signs, the four spread out, their dark grey hoodies blending into the shadows. The sun had set, but the lights of the distant skyline as well as the streets surrounding the hills meant it was still possible to see, even the outskirts of Tokyo existing in a perpetual twilight due to the sheer volume of illumination. There were also large lighting arrays around the building site and more modest lights on the target buildings too, perhaps answering the question of why waiting until true darkness was not worth it. Although cutting the power should be easy enough, and we even have night-vision scopes. Oh well, no point worrying about it now…

Zeta would already be on station, covering them with that hefty M-24 SWS. The other five were split into a pair and a trio, providing covering support. Sure, let us take the risks. Typical.

It was then Trey suddenly gestured for everyone to stop, getting a sudden and inexplicably bad feeling. Damn, combat instincts are seldom wrong. Something bad is about to go down…

His sister signed at him, asking why he had halted them, but he signalled back with ‘uncertain, bad feeling’ and at that she nodded at him, also being a big believer in trusting her gut during combat ops.

Moving closer alone, he signalled for them to hold fast. There was less than thirty metres to the door of the detached house, but little-to-no cover on the hillside. Sweating, he crept ever closer, pulling out his borrowed Minebea P9. I see him, I put one in each knee to drop him, then the elbows. It’s brutal, but best to be safe. I wish I had my own trusty pistol here, but no way we could get that through border security…

Twenty metres to go. Fifteen. It was then the door opened suddenly, a shape in the shadows. Is it the target? Secondary? Uninvolved civilian? With no time to think, all Trey could do was aim low and pull the trigger, hoping if it was one of the uninvolved civilians at the shrine they would have time to seek medical attention and wouldn’t be permanently crippled…

********

“I suppose I had better go to the main shrine and see this Detective.” I sighed, having been quickly bathed and groomed by Shaeula. I was now wearing one of the suits I bought for Las Vegas, and a glance in the bathroom mirror told me I was pretty presentable. “You stay here. Although if he wants to talk to you, remember your cover-story about your origins. I hope they don’t dig too deeply, or the fake records will come to light.”

“You worry too much.” Shaeula sighed. “I shall be fine, I am not-not concerned. At worst I can befuddle this Detective.”

I guess, but I don’t want to start relying on brainwashing. “Sure, but only as a last resort. Still, I don’t like it. Anyway, wish me luck.” With that, we exchanged a deep kiss, and then I was headed out. As I reached the door though, my senses started screaming at me that there was something wrong. Normally my senses were only a bit more acute than a normal person, as my brain had obviously decided that hearing, seeing, smelling and even tasting everything around me would be detrimental to my sanity and wellbeing, so my brain was using its equally high Intellect and Alacrity to filter it to a bearable level. However, that didn’t mean I wasn’t still receiving and processing that information, so when any potential alerts were detected, my brain could instantly feed me what I needed, sharpening my focus to frankly superhuman levels.

And now I was picking up breathing and footsteps from multiple individuals outside, as well as other sounds, metal on metal, as well as quiet muttering. Four coming closer, then… another two groups. Two per group? Three? They are further away so it’s hard to be sure… Whoever they were, it wasn’t the police or the people from the shrine. More yakuza, out for revenge? Surely not, not after I warned that accountant, Sato-san…

As I approached the door, I heard the rustling of cloth, and three of the lead figures stopped, only one continuing, moving with almost inaudible footsteps.

Yeah, only people who are up to no good move with such care. Luckily I had a decent stock of elemental wind, flame and aether from my long stay in the Boundary this time, and my body was in decent shape. With my mind made up, I channelled a little wind, blowing it back towards Shaeula, believing she would sense it and know something was wrong. And with that, I pulled open the door, ready to spring whatever trap was closing in on me…

Immediately the lead figure, who was creeping over the hillside towards my home, opened fire with a pistol he was holding. Darting to the side the bullets kicked up dirt and one punched a hole in the wall. A burst of pain flared in my thigh as one bullet struck me, ruining my suit. The deformed remains bounced off, leaving a nasty bruise and some torn flesh, but little other damage. Seemingly surprised, the hooded figure pulled out a combat knife, the edge wicked and serrated, before taking a combat stance and squeezing off a few more shots, emptying the magazine. One winged me, drawing a thin line of blood, but the others sailed wide.

“Shit, she wasn’t kidding when she said you were fast…” the hooded man said. She?

Behind him, other people were rushing at me, so I decided I had to neutralise the attacker instantly. I could worry about getting answers later. Although… it’s just my luck to get attacked again when there is the Police just a few hundred metres away. I’ll end up back in jail again!

********

Treyvon watched in shock as the target moved like a snake, dodging most of the bullets and showing little damage at the ones that struck him. Shit, he makes that other bastard we picked up in Las Vegas look like a child… this can’t be normal…

“Shit, she wasn’t kidding when she said you were fast…” the words leaked out of him as he discarded his empty pistol, taking up a combat stance. Aliyah and the boys, plus Alpha and the crew were all rushing in now, all pretence of an ambush discarded. I knew we should have attacked at night when he was sleeping, still, no time for…

He couldn’t even finish his thought as the target rushed him. A fist was swinging towards his face, and Trey got his knife up, the edge colliding with the incoming fist. That’ll… ugh… instead of the expected spray of blood from a ruined hand, the knife-blade bent… and he felt his wrist creaking under the pressure. A kick flashed at him, and he parried with his own leg, feeling like he was kicking solid concrete.

“Need some help, boss-man?” Travis rushed in from the side, unleashing a shot from the heavy-duty taser. Good, that’ll put him down… wha…

Treyvon staggered, tasting blood, as a glancing punch nearly knocked him senseless. A second blow from a foot slammed into his leg, and he heard bones crack, suddenly unable to support his weight. As he fell, he could see the taser prongs bouncing off, unable to dig in to flesh.

Impossible, that shit is military-grade, the needles are launched like bullets…

Travis was then flipped into the air like he was a little kid, landing heavily on his back, winded. Manx slid out of the shadows and was dual-wielding a dagger and a pistol, and bullets were flying, only for most of them to again miss, a stray ricochet pegging the downed Travis in the shoulder, striking bone…

“Watch your shooting angle, fuckwit!” his sister called, opening up with her own taser to little effect again, before she pulled out a pair of telescoping combat batons.

At her voice the attacker froze for a moment, before Manx was down, felled by a strange unseen blow, blood scattering from his head. For just a moment Trey thought he could see a lingering trace of green light in the air, but it could just have been the ringing of his head from the earlier impact. Damn, I feel sick…

“So, it was you after all.” The target, Akio, was saying, his tone gravely disappointed. “I thought something was up when you kept bombarding me with texts.”

“Yeah, you sure ain’t my type.” His sis was saying, as they reached an impasse. “Now that Shaeula, is she here too? I’d love to see her again…”

Keep him talking, Aliyah, good job…

Akio staggered, an impact throwing him backwards. Then an instant later the loud sound of a bullet trail was heard, the aftershock of the sniper round breaking the still evening air. Seeing him staggering, Aliyah leapt forwards, her batons aimed for his vulnerable joints. “Don’t hate me, man. Nothing personal, just business.”

That’s it, you got him… Still, as a professional, he was taking no chances, fumbling for his fallen pistol to reload it.

“I’m sorry, but I do take it personally.” Akio grated, favouring his leg, where the round had struck. Blood was sheeting down, but even so the injury was minor. Seeing the spent shell, Trey was surprised. That’s not a normal round… the bullet is made of some sort of polymer… non-lethal indeed… even so, it should have mangled his leg, but…

Somehow he was still fighting off Aliyah. One of her batons he just grabbed and bent to breaking, while the other struck his face, barely leaving a bruise, before he kneed Aliyah hard in the stomach, flipping her over.

“Shouldn’t hit a girl, bastard…” Aliyah spat bile as she vomited from the impact. “I’ll tell your fiancée you’re a woman-beater…”

“You leave my family out of this…” his voice was suddenly cold as death, and Aliyah froze, as though she was a small mouse cornered by a snake. Shit, even I feel scared… what are those useless fucks doing?

As if to answer his prayers a number of long objects bounced in, and Trey closed his eyes, burying his head in his arms. Moments later the world exploded with sound and light, drowning everything out in a blast-wave of pressure…

********

The sniper-round had hurt, and even though I had felt it coming even I wasn’t fast enough to dodge it. Luckily the round seemed to be a suppression type, but it was enough to dampen my pride in my abilities. So small-calibre rounds aren’t too much of a threat unless they hit something like my eye or throat, but I’m still just a human. If that round was an Armour-Piercing one, or hell, even a high-calibre anti-infantry round, I’d be short one leg about now…

Still, that wasn’t the biggest issue. Luckily my tolerance to the sudden explosions was high, so moments later my vision was clearing and the ringing in my ears was dying down. What wasn’t was the sense of betrayal and anger I felt when Aliyah mentioned Eri. Shit, she knows about Eri and Aiko. I’ve been careless again! I can fight, but if they were used as hostages…

A spray of rubber bullets arced towards me, several more hooded figures rushing me, automatic weapons in hand. Deciding to think about countermeasures later, I decided the best way would be to make examples of the fools that would try and threaten my family. Of course, the main problem is… the light and sound from those stun grenades was hardly subtle. If it drew in anyone from the shrine, and they were caught up in this…

Another sniper round sailed towards me, but this time I was ready, as I had started leaking wind energy. The bullet hit it, deforming and deflecting, so with quick movement I slid to the side, dodging it cleanly. Several suppression rounds from the assault rifles struck home, but they were easy to tolerate.

I sense wind energy. Looks like Shaeula has made her move. I’d better finish this quick. Rushing at a group of three, leaving the injured Aliyah and her group on the ground behind me still recovering from the stun grenades, I was greeted by a blast from a massive shotgun. Hails of heavy rubber balls were scattered at me, and the impacts hurt way more than the rifle rounds. My suit was shredded and my flesh bruised, but even so, it wasn’t enough.

My kick crumpled the shotgun, knocking it free from his hands, before I seized him by the throat and slammed him with a sharp elbow to the guts. A second foe rushed at me with a knife, and I used his dazed ally as a shield, but he seemed unconcerned, forcing me to toss him aside. It was then I felt a sudden prick in my neck, as the third had somehow managed to get a needle jammed into my flesh…

“I’ve got him!” he growled. “Quick, subdue the target.”

I wouldn’t be so sure… at that moment a scream rang out, and a distant cry of “The secondary target is here, I need backup!” could be heard…

********

Aliyah blinked away the tears that were still fogging her vision, despite her precautions against the stun grenades. Fuckers, I know it was a smart move, but even so…

Her ribs ached, and she felt they might be broken. Still, the bastard was kind enough not to finish any of them off after putting them down, even though she knew he could. Spitting bile, she scrubbed at her mouth angrily before arming herself up once more, a bad taste that had nothing to do with her condition lingering. Why did I bring his fiancée into it? That’s not like me… fuck, I hate this job, nothing good about it at all. And it sounds like Shaeula is here too. What a fucking waste for her to just disappear for some political power-play. Maybe I’ve been in this business too long…

It’d be over soon, Akio had been stuck by a needle full of the most potent knockout drugs the US Military could put together. Even after only moments he should be starting to feel sluggish, and the moment his obscene speed slowed he’d be easy to neutralise.

Indeed, taser rounds had been fired into him, and electricity was arching bright in the darkness, yellow and purple sparks flying.

“You okay sis?” Trey asked, dragging himself to her side, looking pretty beat up himself. Travis was also up, but Manx was still unresponsive.

“Of course I fucking ain’t, bro. He broke my god-damn ribs. I shouldn’t even be moving. But we have a shitty job to do.”

“I think they can handle it…” Travis pointed to where Akio was engaged with three opponents.

“Sure, but the secondary target has made an appearance… what the fuck!” This is bad. Not worst case, but still REAL bad!

“This is the police! What the hell is going on here? Put down your weapons and come quietly!” an older man was shouting, a very frightened younger woman behind him. Fuck, no, fuck. We don’t do innocent women…

One of the three agents fighting Akio turned, and with an expressionless face, his hood already stripped from him, blood leaking down his cheek from a minor scrape, he pointed a pistol and pulled the trigger…

*********

The needle must have been made of some super-sharp alloy, because it managed to penetrate my skin a little. I felt a cold sensation as a liquid poured into me, but all it did was make my movements a little imbalanced.  I was then tasered, lightning arcing into me, but the needles were caught in my clothes rather than flesh. I still suffered some electrical burns, but again other than some muscle spasming, I was still able to fight.

It was then that the Inspector from my time in the cells appeared with his assistant, only for one of the bastards I was fighting to coldly pull out a pistol and fire, face expressionless, as if he was merely performing a necessary chore. Time seemed to stop, and then the Detective looked down, red blood gushing from a bullet wound in his stomach, his white shirt crimson and wet.

The girl screamed and the bastard fired again, another bullet taking the Detective in the guts. You piece of shit… I had gone too easy on them, and again my mistakes were costly. I was trying to keep it to the edges of merely implausible with my moves, not completely impossible… time seemed to slow as he was ready to pull the trigger once more. … but that ends. Now. Wind energy gushed from me, a green glow lighting the twilight. The shooter shrieked louder than the terrified girl as thin threads of wind looped around his gun, slicing through the metal and plastic like butter, as well as flesh and bone, his hand falling to pieces. Still, even in agony his other hand reached for a weapon, so my leg lashed out, making contact with his head. Bone gave under the impact and the crunch was disgusting, echoing in my ears. Now the bastard was looking at me, even though… even though his head should have been facing the other way.

As the body dropped to the ground, I had to force down vomit, my stomach lurching. He’s dead. This time… this time I’ve killed someone. No question.

“Fuck, Beta is down… how is this bastard still going? He’s nothing like the others..”

Others? Others?My anger was already boiling due to the callous way they had shot at the uninvolved police, but now I knew they had hunted others like me… I can worry about the guilt and the implications later. I’ve killed in the Boundary, sentient beings such as trolls and gnolls… and really, I’ve killed Kondou Kazuo too, forcing him to confess means the death penalty, no question. For now, all I need to do it make sure these bastards are dealt with…

With my mind made up after some rapid thinking that took barely a moment, I drove my knee right into the guts of the foe in front of me, far harder than I had struck Aliyah, and he folded up, bones breaking like glass…

********

“This has gone to shit… we should pull out.” Travis was saying. I wish we could… seriously. Treyvon shook his head, watching in horror as the third member of the team joined the other two on the ground, both of his arms shattered like they were twigs. The guy, Akio, then turned to the three of them and glared furiously, his grey eyes so full of anger that Trey stepped back, terror swelling up, the fear of death overwhelming.

On seeing the three of them quail before his rage, he turned away, satisfied, and raced over towards the panicking policewoman, who was desperately trying and failing to staunch the wounds of her superior, her hands crimson, her clothes soaked with gore.

As Akio ran a bullet flew from Zeta, only to simply… stop… in mid-air and deform, before careening off another way. There was then an agonised scream from the direction the bullet had travelled, one that sent shivers down their spines.

“So… I’m thinking we say fuck this too…” Aliyah said, surprising him. “This one is lost. Besides, we are going to get innocent civilians killed, Trey. This isn’t a war-zone. We don’t let women die and that fucker Beta was going to shoot her dead, no question.” She coughed, her cracked ribs painful.

We can’t, can we though? “If it was a case of just quitting, we could. But we know too fucking much. No, we go down fighting and hope we just end up fucked up like Alpha and Gamma. Seriously though, you said he was tough, but not some kind of fucking demon…”

“Don’t blame me, I didn’t know he could do this…” she spat. “Anyway, those two clowns are moving in too, so we better go back them up. Fuck. Who’d be us, right Trey? Is this the end of the Black Wolves?”

The other two, Delta and Epsilon, had switched to fully live ammunition and were firing with reckless abandon, not even caring if they murdered the two civilians. One even lobbed a grenade, which didn’t look like a flashbang. End of the Black Wolves, huh? I remember when we chose the name, Aliyah and I, back when we were poor ghetto-rats that lived by tricks and casual thievery. Fuck it, if we go out, we can at least go out the way we lived, no compromise. And I guess… at least I get to die to a guy who is fucking hot… there are worse ways to go…

********

“Please, please don’t die!” Officer Usui was crying. She was desperately trying to staunch the two bullet wounds in the Detective’s guts, and hadn’t even noticed that a round from an automatic rifle had punched through the meat of her leg, blood sheeting down, soaking the ground below her, adrenaline and shock preventing her body from sending pain signals.

“Officer… you need… to get away.” He gasped, blood tickling down his chin as he struggled to speak, his colour fading. Bullets were flying around them, but for some reason some of them seemed to be spinning off in strange directions. “I’m done for. Not sure… what the hell… is going on… but see. We were right!” His words were swallowed by an explosion as a grenade detonated nearby, yet the shrapnel never reached them.

The Detective watched as a ball of shimmering yellow flame materialised. I had called upon it, drawing in the flame energies I wielded, trying to call upon Foehn in the Material world. It fought me, it fought me hard indeed, but one thing every kid knew was that fire was nothing unusual here on the Material plane. Therefore I should be able to make it fucking WORK! As everyone paused, transfixed by the glowing orb of blazing yellow I commanded, I yelled at the firing assailants. “Enough! Put down your fucking weapons or I’ll do what I have to!”

One of them lowered his gun momentarily, but the other kept on shooting, and my wind was diminishing, my energies dwindling. Several bullets struck me, punching bloody holes in my already battered flesh before bouncing out after hitting bone. Still, the pain was nothing compared to the feeling of having killed mere moments ago.

“So be it then. You chose… poorly.” The globe of Foehn shot forwards, as fast as the bullets flying my way. It slammed into the shooter and exploded, drenching him with flame. Suddenly the colour changed, taking on the more natural tones one would expect rather than the pure citrine of elemental energy. I see. The world is fighting the presence of Foehn, it probably isn’t able to fully support such an ability yet. Still, it’s close enough. It’s like I’ve soaked the bastard in napalm…

Turning away from the shrieking, burning bastard, I knelt down beside the dying Detective, ignoring the hysterical girl. Meeting his vision, I spoke softly, the words having a mocking edge.

“So, I don’t suppose you’ll let me get away with denying this mess, right?”

He wheezed with laughter, coughing up more blood, panicking the nigh-hysterical Usui. “No way. I got you… bang to rights. I knew… when those thugs were… arrested… when the murders happened. Kondou…” more blood flew, more coughing wracked him. The baleful screams behind us were starting to fade, the fire having done its grim work. “… that this was the… biggest case… of my life.”

“Please, don’t die. I haven’t learned all I need to yet…” Usui was pleading. I turned my head, to see that the last four standing attackers were looking at someone else. It was Shaeula. Her yukata was stained with blood and she was carrying some sort of heavy sniper rifle easily with one hand.

“So… this toy, I think it works like this? I remember Aiko playing with one-one in Las Vegas.” she chortled, holding their rapt, horrified attention as she levelled it one-handed at them like it was a mere pistol. Great, I can leave them to you for now…

“Her too… I see. Knew it.” he suddenly grabbed my hand, gripping me surprisingly tight. “Don’t… don’t kill Officer Usui. She’s a good… good girl.”

At his words she gasped, eyes going wide, seeing me clearly for the first time, my torn suit and bloodied flesh shocking her, as well as my angry eyes. “Kill… me?” she squeaked, only not fleeing because of her first aid on her partner.

“Not sure… how you’ll cover… ahh, this hurts… cover this up… but… if you let her live, she won’t say… anything. You can go far… away. Everyone… wins.”

“You can’t do that!” she cried angrily. “You told me never to compromise on justice! It’s why we’ve been working this case a month, doing endless unpaid overtime…” scalding tears were wrung from her as she wailed. “… we cracked the case! It’s done! I won’t stop now until you are vindicated!”

“Justice… is for the… living. If you die… it’s over.”

“I won’t kill her, don’t worry.” I said, saddened by this whole mess. Now Shaeula is here, the situation in sunder control, so if I…

“That’s… a relief. I’ll.. die now. My only regret is… I never did get my wife and daughters… the gifts I planned to…” he shut his eyes, breathing softly.

“No, don’t leave me!” Usui wailed.

“This ending doesn’t suit me. Hey officer, do you want to live? If so, all I need is one small favour…” I asked, smiling like the devil, and his eyes opened, his hard gaze meeting mine.

“A favour?”

********

Well isn’t this just the cherry on top of the fucking shit sundae we’ve been forced to swallow here.

“So, hey again, Shaeula. Wish we could have met under better circumstances.” Aliyah said, eyeing her blood-stained yukata and the sniper rifle levelled at them. “Guess you got Zeta huh? Never did like that guy. Never liked any of the fuckers really.”

Shaeula cocked her head, her amber eyes curious, and Aliyah felt once more she was truly beautiful. Well, at least I’m getting killed by a total cutie. When you gotta go, go with a smile… unaware she was thinking exactly the same as her brother, she laughed bitterly, only to cough as her battered ribs protested.

“Zeta? Quite the unusual name. yes-yes, I was tired of the way he was hurting my Akio, so once I had-had dealt with the one at the base of the hill, I returned here to enact judgement.”

“So you got Eta too then? Fuck me. How can two people… no wait, you ain’t people are you?” her brother realised. “I don’t know what you are, but nobody can throw fireballs and tank bullets like that. It makes perfect sense now. No wonder the brass is putting out these strange requests…”

On listening to her brother, Aliyah realised it too. I see. The unnatural strength of Akio and that shitty turd from Las Vegas. The capture requests on various nutjobs around the world. It all ties together…

“How rude. I am-am a person, a female. Do you doubt me?” she let the rifle fall, spreading her arms wide. “I am Shaeula Tu Shae Dannan, princess of the Seelie Court. I may not-not be a mortal as you are, but Akio loves me as a person, and I see-see myself so.”

“Before this, I would say you were fucking crazy, but after that…” she pointed to the charred corpse of Delta, Epsilon standing beside him, unmoving, so shocked even thoughts of carrying out the mission had fled from him. “… I’d say it makes sense. No wonder you are so fucking sexy. You ain’t human.”

“Rude. Eri and Aiko are beautiful too, are they not-not? One does not-not need to be Fae to be lovely. You are quite pretty yourself, in a feral way.” Shaeula observed. “Though I did-did prefer you when you were naked.”

The fuck? Don’t say that here! Aliyah felt her skin heating up at the memory.

“Naked, just what the hell did you do on that mission?” Trey asked, and she scowled at Travis who was also looking at her inquisitively.

“Nothing. Fuck off. Don’t ask.” She spluttered. “So, what do we do from here?”

There was a snapping sound, followed by a cry of pain which was quickly silenced, and Akio was suddenly beside Shaeula, dragging the limp Epsilon, one of his arms bent at a savage angle. “That’s a good question, isn’t it?” Akio said, dropping his burden to the ground roughly before wiping his bloodstained hands on the remains of his once-tidy suit. “Why don’t you tell me what the fuck you are doing here? And make it convincing, because I am NOT in a good mood right now.”

********

Seeing the sudden fear that crossed their faces, Akio kept his face impassive. Yes I’m angry, in fact I am incredibly angry. But I know Aliyah, so I’ll give her one chance to explain herself before I deal with her like I did this trash… he glanced at the unconscious man on the ground next to him. I’ve got to keep my cool. I’ve already… at least two are dead. I’ve mixed feelings about it, but few regrets, since they were perfectly happy to murder innocent bystanders…

“So, I’m waiting?” I snapped, as the remaining three enemies were staring at me in silence. “Did you know this shrine is occupied by normal, innocent people? There are schoolkids here for fuck’s sake. If the Detective hadn’t told everyone to stay put when they heard the explosions of those stun grenades, it could be a young girl or two lying dead with bullet holes in them. Is that something you approve of, don’t care about? I’m disappointed in you, Aliyah. I thought you were a professional!”

“What would you know about it?” the big black man snapped. “You think we wanted to involve innocent people? Fuck no. but we don’t run this show, our hands are tied.”

“I see. I see.” Hands are tied, huh? Just following orders… that doesn’t wash with me. “Well, here’s the thing. After the incident on Monday with the yakuza, I made promises. I said that nothing like that would ever happen again, that I’d keep the inhabitants of this place safe… and look at this mess…” I swept my arm, gesturing to the carnage, the fallen bodies… “… is this safe? You’ve made me break my word, made a fucking liar out of me!”

I vented my anger and disgust I was feeling over killing at those in front of me, and they stepped back at the volcanic anger I was spewing, before Aliyah timidly spoke. “I get it. The Black Wolf Company never kills uninvolved women, or ever children. We did try to tell those bastards, but… shit, this is a war, whether you know it or not. People have their eyes on you two, and can you blame them? Have some fucking sense…” her timidity was boiling away as she rationalised the situation. “… if you want people to be safe, stay away from them! Ain’t you ever fucking heard of subtlety?”

“Uh, sis, you might want to cool it a little…” the big black man, obviously her brother, now I took a better look at him, was saying. “… if he snaps I don’t fancy our chances…”

“Shut the fuck up, Trey. He asked.” She retorted, actually taking several bold steps forwards towards me. She wasn’t holding weapons, so I allowed it. “You think flashy behaviour like Vegas can go unnoticed? It’s like your head is full of air. Hell, you even let your sister and pretty little fiancée get involved. We managed to keep them out of this shitshow, but it’s only a matter of…” she let out a strangled gurgle as I grabbed Aliyah by the throat, lifting her easily off the ground. Her brother and the last guy made to move, but Shaeula was there, blocking them.

“He will not-not kill her. But she spoke words that should never be spoken to Akio. Do not-not threaten those he loves. He takes it… poorly.”

“If anyone, anyone at all, ever, EVER tries to use my family or friends to get to me… they are dead.” I’ve already killed. My hands are dirty. But the world that is coming will need those with dirty hands to stand up for what is right. And if I have to stain my soul with blood so that those I love can live in peace and stay clean… I’ll do it. I’ll do anything for my family, Eri, Shaeula, those I’ve promised to protect… “… I’ll kill them. And whoever ordered it. And whoever ordered them… right to the top, as far as I need to take it.”

With my free hand I pulled the last of my wind energy into a series of thin blades, pointing, and several hundred metres away one of the light poles split into multiple sections, falling apart, crashing to the ground in a pile of splintered glass and metal. Oops, that’s a few hundred thousand yen wasted… still, I think I’ve made my point…

I tossed Aliyah back to the ground,  where she bounced, letting out a shriek as her tortured ribs took an impact. Looking at the fear-filled faces of the others, I made myself adamantly clear. “Even if I can’t get to them now, I’ll grow stronger, and one day… I’ll make them pay a terrible price.”

“Fuck… you nearly suffocated me…” Aliyah rasped, clambering to her feet unsteadily, a ring of bruises already forming around her throat. “… but seriously… I get it. Don’t take it out on us… like I said, we managed to keep your family out of it. But…” she looked around at the chaos. “… now that Plan A fucked up and you’ve proved without a doubt you are what the Military is looking for, even to the point they are prepared to hold a firefight in the middle of a city… no way they’ll let it go. And if Plan A is fucking useless…” she paused meaningfully. “Plan B will be next. No question. Still, that ain’t my problem anymore. Trey, Travis, might as well quit. This guy and his cutie could kill us without breaking a sweat, and I don’t know about you, but I don’t fancy ending up like that lighting rig. I don’t want my funeral to be fucking closed casket…”

With that she turned away and stalked past her surprised brother, still cradling her ribs, heading over to one of the people I knocked out earlier.

“I guess you win.” The guy said, dropping to his knees, his adrenaline rush leaving him spent. His name was Trey, right? “Shit, to think we laughed at that fool Alex getting the Bad Moon Company wiped on a job. Though at least he had a choice, our hands were tied. Shit.” Trey collapsed on his back, looking up at the night sky. “So what now? You’ve bought yourself some time, a team of agents like this isn’t something the US can pull out on Japanese soil every day, but… when they realise this has failed, they’ll start a new strike. Your value has only gone up after this. Shit, maybe you could kill the President if you set your mind to it. Any country would love you as an assassin. The girl too.”

Yeah, I need to see to the safety of Eri, Aiko and our families. But how am I going to explain it? And going up against foreign enemies… hell, there’s no guarantee Japan itself won’t start to covet us…

“First, we need to deal with this mess…” a weary voice broke through my reverie, and I turned to see that the Detective had hobbled over, pale as a ghost, still looking fragile, supported by the limping Officer Usui. “Then… I have an idea. I’ll keep my promise.”

“You shouldn’t be standing yet. My aether stocks were hardly full, and while the resistance on the Material is much weaker inside bodies rather than externally, all I’ve done is patch the critical parts of the wounds. You are still pretty badly hurt.” I had healed up the major blood-vessels and the damage to his internal organs, but he was still holed in the torso and had lost a ton of blood. I’d also reduced the damage to Usui’s leg, though the poor girl was still likely to scar. Maybe later I’ll put it right, if she’ll let me…

“Oh, don’t…” he paused to cough, getting clotting blood out of his system. “… I know it. it hurts like you wouldn’t believe. Still, it’s proof that I’m alive. So I won’t complain…”

“Inspector…” Usui was still sniffling, though her eyes had run dry of tears.

“Thanks for doing something for my Officer too. I’m sure she’ll thank you later.” He coughed a few more times. “Anyway… this isn’t so much a police matter as an international diplomatic shitstorm. Way outside my wheelhouse, to be honest.”

“You got that right.” Trey sighed. “US agents and contractors attacking Japanese citizens on Japanese soil with an arsenal of weapons. In other countries that could even start a damn war!”

“Right. But that isn’t in anyone’s interest, is it? What matters to you, Oshiro-san? What’s your number one priority right now?” the Detective inquired. It’s obvious, and you know it.

“Keeping my family and the people at the shrine safe.” I declared, without a doubt.

“Right. And to do that, keeping this under wraps and dealing with it through… diplomatic channels… is best.”

“Yeah, but how do we do that? I’m just a freelancer at the end of the day. It’s not like I’m connected?”

“Are you an idiot?” I turned to see Officer Usui scowling at me. “Your lawyers were from Chase and the damn Fujiwara house! Apparently Fujiwara is one of the most influential houses in the whole of Japan!”

“Indeed.” The Detective agreed. “And I believe one house they are extremely close with is the Tsumura house. They’ve provided the heads of the Ministry of Defence ever since the modern system of politics was instituted, and even before then, they held high military office.”

I get it, but it isn’t like I’m actually close to Fujiwara house, they sent the lawyer by themselves!

“Fuck, what did you hit poor Manx with, the fucker won’t wake up?” Aliyah shouted, and I saw he was the one I put down by a blast of wind to the skull. Walking over, I bent down beside her and started channelling a little of my dregs of aether, easing his concussion. “Sorry, he startled me so I slammed him good with a wind blast.”

As Aliyah saw him stirring, his eyelids fluttering, she snorted. “So that shit you were saying in Vegas to that corpulent prick… trying to sound him out to see if he was like you, I reckon?”

I nodded, dusting myself off. “Still, that’s for later. Got to sort out this mess first. I’m afraid you’re going to have a lot of explaining to do for the police and military.”

“No shit.” She shook her head sadly, her hair-beads jingling under her hood. “Guess we’re fucked. But… in a way I’m glad. I don’t give a fuck about you, pretty boy, but I didn’t want to take in Shaeula, and the thought of your sister and fiancée grieving wasn’t one I relished. Still, only in a way though. I’d much rather have had Trey pop a couple in your kneecaps and we dragged you off so we could be free of this shitstorm.”

Surprised by her candour, I laughed. Damn, she’s still as entertaining as she was before. And… I believed her when she said she didn’t want to harm innocents. Perhaps in her line of work she didn’t have a choice. The fucker that shot the Detective and was going to kill the Officer too had it coming, as did the two who sprayed the area down with bullets, knowing they were going to kill. The others… I believed in second chances for a lot of things. As long as my bottom line wasn’t crossed, anyway…

Ignoring the sudden feeling of nausea from thinking of those I had killed, I started pondering my options again, only for Shaeula to pipe up.

“Do you not-not have that invitation to a party at Fujiwara house on Saturday? You had asked me to come, remember? If you call-call the number on the invitation, could you not-not find someone who can deal with this mess?”

That’s a brilliant idea. At the very least I can probably get that lawyer back out… surveying the scene, my stomach lurched. Yeah, back in prison after only a couple of days. This sucks…