The Dwindling Flowers

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Emma pushed her glasses up her nose and frowned at the other two. "They're just doing a task, no reason to kill them after all. At least I assume that this is what we're to take from it. If it was as simple as killing them..." Emma led off and bit her lip instead of continuing to talk to the others. Instead of addressing them though, she turned to their leader and blinked up at her instead, oblivious now of the others and focused on her next question.

"So, are they evil? I mean, if the salt will keep them at bay then I suppose we could just evacuate them and then create a boundary of salt, right? I mean, unless there was something else to worry about. We burn sage as part of some "aromatherapy" perk to those we don't want to find out..." Emma thought that if this was where things were headed, it would be simple enough. Drive them away with some water and then prevent their return. Maybe a day's work at best.

"I'm hungry..." Emma murmured, rubbing her stomach.
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[BG="black"]K A T Y U S H A [/BG]
[BG="black"]Katyusha did not react to the fact that there had been a photo of her bending over intermingled into the slides. It was Ae's comment about the bullets that did. She stood up and started to twist her hair into two pigtails. This was only something she did when she was in battle. Katyusha then removed her glasses and walked towards Ae. She was purposely drawing the attention away from Judith.

"She is right afterall; guns aren't always the answer..." Katyusha nearly cackled when she said this. "You see, these shadows are all former humans. Corrupted by the Yōkai. Guns won't scare them."

The creatures of the parallel world were called Yōkai, meaning monster or demon. No one really knew when their sudden expansion or why it had occurred in the first place. Katyusha's personal mission was to find out why.

Katyusha gave Ae a strong glare, she then reached for a knife that she always had on her side. "You see, they think and will act like a human does. You might know a lot about your fancy boom boom sticks, but in the end bullets are nothing but surreal to them." Katyusha then began to play around with the knife, "One cannot understand death by a bullet. A knife, on the other hand, you can. You can see this. You can feel it. You know that if it is slashed into your flesh, your guts will slowly drip out. You are face to face with your death. Unlike a gun."

The red haired woman then clapped her hands, "Emma got it right. These demons are not worth our time killing with bullets. Chiaki can take these things off by ourselves. Child's play...."

"YOU WILL NOT." Judith interrupted. "That is enough out of you!" Katyusha just gave her a blank stare. "Fine."

The hierarchy after all, was that Judith was in charge, followed by her and Constantina.

"This is a team effort. We never go into battle by ourselves..." This last statement sound detached; almost as if it came from a different person than Judith. "Yes, Emma. That sounds like a good idea. And Katsumi, let's wait and see before we plan any shapeshifting..."
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Consti found herself agreeing with Katyusha - something she hated more than the things they battled. However, her talk obviously created a ton of tension in the room, something with all these powerful personalities even Judith had a problem defusing. And, to put it simply, she had had enough.

Oh, Goddammit... Constantina thought. "Does there always have to be drama when we start a mission? I mean really? I am just about absolutely sure that it's not 'how best to kill them,' but 'how best to drive them away' that we are looking for here. So tired of this..." She looked over at Ae. "YOU, who CARES what kind of bullets you have. I agree with Katyusha on that. This isn't a mission dealing with fatalities."

Constantina then turned at Katyu. "AND YOU. WHY are you exacerbating the situation? whether what you said is right or wrong; this isn't the right place for it."
 
"There's always something else to worry about..."

Katsumi had never much cared for the headbutting between Constantia and Katyusha, and now was no exception. There were so many more important things to deal with. Like, for instance, her constant low-level paranoia. Well, that's what most people would call it. She preferred to call it necessary caution.

"Roger on the shapeshifting, Judith. Seems simple enough, I don't see why we can't get going now...Anything else we should know about before we leave, Doctor?"
She fixed her gaze on him trying to discern if he was hiding anything. It was more than a bit creepy.
 
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With a small sigh, Emma pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose once more. Katyusha had a point with everything that she had said and Emma really had no objection thus far. She was going to sit down and quiet up were it not for Constantia throwing a fit. These outbursts both alarmed Emma and made her vexed. She twisted the cloth nervously, biting her lip and considering what to say.

Sometimes, Emma wondered why exactly she was even here. It was dully miserable, her thoughts. and she did not like to dwell on them but Constantia made her feel thoroughly cowed. She clapped her hands together and attempted to smile at Katyusha, who at least did not make her feel intimidated.

"All right then.... shall we go?"
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[BG="black"] J U D I T H [/BG]
[BG="black"]Katyusha decided not to speak when Constantina spoke to her. Though this was hardly anything new.

"I SAID THAT IS ENOUGH!" Judith was now more than merely annoyed. She didn't even do her standard clap distraction. As it was well established, Judith had the most amount of issues with Constantina and Katyusha. "God help me. I can only stand you two for so long. I'm changing the normal set up. I don't want you two anywhere near each other for this mission. Katsumi, you will be going with Chiaki and Katyusha this mission. Constant, you are with me and Ae."

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The doctor had remained silent through out the entire affair. That was until that strange little Japanese girl spoke to him. "Uhh..." The doctor was unsure of what to say at this point. "Not that I'm aware of. What I told you is all that I know little girl...."

Judith then stood up; seemingly brushing off her brief anger stint and then she walked over to him. She had a manner of professionalism that all the girls on the team could respect.

"Since you know this factory the best, we will need you there to be present with us Doctor." Judith said. "It is not our normal policy to bring our clients with us but since this case is a bit odd to say the least, I'd rather play it safe than sorry."

"I...I....Guess I can tag along." He sounded scared.

"If there is anything else we need to know, tell us now." She said.

The doctor composed himself, "No...no. Everything is fine."

Judith didn't believe him. Something was off about his mannerisms. However, even so this mission would get the Flowers over their melancholy attitudes. She then walked over towards Emma, placed her hand on the girls shoulders and smiled, "Alright. Let's get ready. We leave in a hour."

She then turned to face Constantina, "Here's a job for you. Make sure our Doctor friend doesn't try running away."
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[BG="black"]Constantina [/BG]
[BG="black"] Date: Nov. 20 TIme: 0:00hrs It was a brisk night as Constanina stood across the street in her detectives cloak. She was with Judith and Doctor Morris, and Emma wasn't very far away, using a crystal as a talisman to scry what was happening indoors.


Underneath her cloak, Constanina was wearing a pink and white sundress, her usual flashy garments. Judith was wearing her traditional uniform, and the doctor wore a plain gray suit.


There were three teams total, Consti, Judith, the doctor, and Emma were team 1-at least in Consti's mind- and then there was Chiaki and Katsumi indoors investigating. Ae was a lone gun in there, waiting to see if the situation would get bad or not.


They all had their missions, now was the time to play the part.

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[BG="black"]K A T Y U S H A [/BG]
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The air is heavy. It is always is before the battle begins. Judith believes that she can control me. She's a fool. None of the Organization goons are able too.

Katyusha had been given no orders. Judith had decided that she would change the set of the team to her advantage and influence. The red haired girl chuckled at the thought. However, that did not mean that she would just sit back and do nothing. Even with these shadows were beneath her skill level, slaying the undead meant that she would have something to do other than just scout. Maybe...just maybe, these demons would have something to do with the murders that had been occurring around the city for well over a month.

I sit upon a stone gargolye several yards away from the other girls. The only ones that will know that I am here, will be Chiaki and Constanina. The others don't know me well enough. Not now nor ever. My plan is simple. I will enter via the roof. My interests do not dwell with the main humanoid shadows. That doctor seemed scared. Like he was about to wet himself. He is hiding something.

Katyusha adjusted her glasses. She didn't need them to see; they were magically enhanced to see what was beyond the human world. If there were any signs of big demons, she would be able to pick them up. She caught no traces of large demon overlords but as Doctor Morris had suggested, there were indeed up to building something.

My my doctor. Your little company is rather busy with spirits.

Then she felt a cold presence behind her. She quickly turned around and drew out her sword....Only to find a cute little spirit behind her.

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"Ohhohoho." The spirit said, "Judith will not be pleased with you dear little Russian."

"What are you doing here?" Katyusha asked dryly. "I do not recall asking for your assistance Zenovia."

The spirit then rolled her eyes. "Now, now. Judith gives me orders to watch over you girls. It is a part of the contract after all." The spirit said.

The name of this spirit was named Zenovia Areleous. The spirit rarely travelled outside of the apartment that the Organization set up for the Flowers to stay at. Even then, it seemed that the spirit mostly hovered around Constant and Katyusha. The group knew relatively little about the origins of said spirit, other than she was the Contract that was assigned to Judith. This Contract granted the girls the wishes that they wanted upon completion of their terms of enlistment.

"I do not care about your contract. You have your alternative motives showing up. You always do demon."

"My, my. Aren't we vile tempered tonight. Yes, I do have my reasons for showing up but calling me a demon. Ha! I was once one of you..."

Katyusha waved her hand. "I didn't ask for your back story. I don't need the assistance of a low ranking spirit. I destroyed the god vessels of other demons they tried forcing me to work with. I will do the same to yours, if you don't leave."

"Fufufuf, don't leave?" Zenovia chuckled. "Foolish child." The spirit then snapped her finger and blue flame came out from her hand. She peer at Katyusha's left arm with a fleering smile. Without warning the cute spirit then slashed Katyusha's arm and blood began to stream out. Katyusha reacted by trying to slash at the spirit but to no avail. "What-what the hell!" Katyusha said with genuine surprise.

Zenovia cackled with malicious delight. "You cause Mistress Judith so much stress. So I'm going out a limb and helping her out for this battle. You see...By drawing blood from you; I have made a small contract with you. You will be doing my bidding for the next 15 mins."

Katyusha gave a defiant smile, with her chin thrust forward. "Well played, you little bastard...."
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Cloaked under cover of cloth, swallowing moonlight, a solitary figure paced dutifully, carefully. Rituals required precision. The blessed salts were poured through straws, describing the choice glyphs that would best aid her casting. She added paper charms in the spaces between lines of salt for further augmentation. Checked and triple-checked. During the second pass, in her nervousness, she’d tripped over the body of a tranquilized guard. She waited to see if he’d stir. He didn’t. She breathed a sigh or relief and hurried along. Emma knew Ae was watching out with her rifle, but Ae was quite a few metres up and away, dampening that assurance.

===

Glumly, Ae gazed through the rifle’s scope. She was, at the moment, on orders only to observe, providing live cover fire if necessary. The Commissar’s potentially fatally stringent definition of “if necessary” didn’t sit well with her. If she was going to be babysitting, she could have at least been allowed the option of doing so on her own terms. Particularly being in doors and on the front lines where she could prevent enemies from leaving the building in the first place.

“Flower Ae, are you still in visual contact?”

Ae sighed. “Yes, Ms. Gaudet”

“And the tranquilizers?”

“Effective… apparently. But I personally think we should --”

===

“Good,” Judith closed the channel on her commlink as she turned over another card—the Queen of Diamaonds—and placed it on a map of the surrounding area. They had no idea how hard it was for her to do this. “Missions are not the proper place for dissension. We all need each other—even you and Katyusha.” She cast a stern glance towards Constantia and turned over an Ace of Clubs and a Ace of Hearts.
===

The lobby’s doors burst open, a squeaky cleaning cart jostling through. Loaded up as it was, Chiaki was barely visible as she pushed it from behind. Guards at far corners started at her entry, and near the room’s rearmost exit, the receptionist rose from her chair. Chiaki, stepped back, taking her hands from the cart and lifting them above her head.
“It okay! It okay!” she shouted before continuing some crock of an explanation in defense of her being there, her voice abnormally pitchy and her French abnormally choppy and accented. And the cleaning mask certainly didn’t make her any more intelligible.

“What?” shouted the receptionist, her brow crinkling as she watched the cart roll clear to the back of the lobby, secretly aided by Chiaki’s telekinesis. It bumped against the door noisily enough to scatter falling bottles and brooms but Katsumi kept quiet underneath. This was her chance. Neither Chiaki nor the other Flowers knew the exact details, but they’d been told that Katsumi had her own way of getting further inside; they would just have to trust the Commissar.

In the meantime, Chiaki drew the staff's attention, arguing in a garbled mixture of comically bad French and the beginnings of Japanese, but when the receptionist began to reply in her own, Chiaki hastily switched to another language. More tonal and with a very different phonology.

Katsumi would eventually recognize it as the Klingon they’d practiced that one day when they were really bored—but pitchy and tonal for an ambiguously stereotypical Eastern flavor.

===

“I’m done with phase one,” Emma whispered, hurrying back toward Judith, Constantia, and the Doctor as she drew a talisman from her pocket.

She had been told by Commissar Judith that Katyusha could be counted on to do her part, and so she focused on the others.

As they'd guessed, there were barriers creating blind spots in her scrying, but she'd given Katsumi talismans to dispell them. It was just a matter of time.

For now at least she could see Chiaki wrestling with the guards and making a row. She seemed fearless, still totally in-character and possibly even enjoying it.

Further inside, Katsumi was making her move.
 
[BG="black"]K A T Y U S H A [/BG]
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"They are already moving in!" Katyusha said with irritation in her voice. Her eyes were now glowing with a slight yellowish tint since Zenovia was controlling her movements at this time. She could see faint outlines from the distance. It was a good several hundred meters from where she was standing and the location of the factory-like building that the doctor had led them too.

The clouds were starting to roll in, as if trying to blanket the surroundings from the eyes of the everyday population. In fact, there were mummers amongst the people of this city that every time the fogs came, another one of the murders was bound to occur. It had become that frequent. In the background, the cries of sea gulls could be faintly heard.

"I'm well aware of that." Zenovia responded. "We cannot just barge into this battle. You aren't exactly known to be " The little spirit had her orders from Judith and she would follow them through.

"You cast your dice in the planning room. So now you have to wait."

Katyusha rolled her eyes. "Whatever. You'd better not be trying to read my thoughts." She protested once she realized that she was hearing the spirit inside of her mind instead of seeing a blue little girl next to her side.

"I was a puppet master in my former life, not a telepath like your friend Chiaki...."

Zenovia was once on the path to becoming a high ranking witch in the world. However, since ancient witchcraft is looked down upon in most Organization influenced regions and is unfavorable in any land controlled by the Church, her options were few. She fundamentally didn't like others. From the few times that Katyusha asked Judith, what the deal was about the spirit, all she would say " She initially developed a relationship with me due to duty rather than personal initiative."

Katyusha then leaped from the roof she was currently situated on and then landed on the next with ease. Her body was seemingly designed for such tasks.

"Then you will have to realize one thing, demon. I do not let the roll of the dice affect my judgement. I will intervene in this battle when I see fit. I don't care if you control my physical movements. You cannot control my inner most thoughts."

"Fight me all you want too. I don't really care Katyusha." The voice of Zenovia rattled instead of Katyusha's brain. The two shared very similar personalities. They were authoritarian, cold, logical, stubborn, and possibly even ruthless.

"So then. You're only here to stall me."Katyusha removed her glasses. "How boring. I was hoping that you would have put up more of a challenge; demon."

She then felt her arm raise up and felt a sharp pain. It then started to wiggle around in all sorts of bizarre poses that would have caused a normal human to cry for mercy. The pain was intense but Katyusha only winced once. "If you want me to play rough then I will. Don't let your sense of pride get in your way right now!"
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[BG="black"]Constantina[/BG]
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For her part, Constantina was getting impatient. She didn't like fighting, but she was on a mission. She should be in the thick of it, not outside looking in.


By now the night air had taken a chill, this being France and not Greece (although she had no idea how that felt anymore), and it made her shiver. The stars were a dull haze above the city, faded out by the many, many lights. It made her miss a place she didn't remember.


“I don't need her, Judith,” Consti said under her breath. “We don't need her.” For a moment she contemplated using her abilities and running inside, but freeze frame is hard to use on humans and there was an even less of a guarantee it would work on the commissar.


Scheiße ... She thought in German, a language she had picked up over the last few years. Ich kann nicht herumsitzen, während alle anderen Werke. Gott verfluche dich Judith! Den mou arései af̱tó! Mísos af̱tó. She was blending her languages now, frustrated as she was. I have to do something!


In the end, it was all she could do to listen, the voice in her head grating her into action.


“Judith,” Constantina said. “I can't stand here and wait.”
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When all you have is a hammer, the whole world begins to look like a nail.

This was what Katsumi thought upon as her limbs melded together, her clothes joined her increasingly amorphous form, and she became a black, gooey blob that slipped under the doorframe and into the next room.

It only took a moment to reconstitute herself back on the other side, panting from the three-foot trip. It was getting easier to shift back and forth, but it still wasn't very intuitive.

Looking around, she could see she was in a hallway, leading to some offices and then the main factory building. The first barrier was around here somewhere...

There wasn't too much time for searching; a guard of some sort was bound to be around. She just took the tag out of her back pocket and stuck it up to the wall behind a plant with some tape she'd brought along. It was supposed to do an area dispel of some sort, enabling Emma's scrying.

"Excuse me ma'am, but I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

Oh, shit...

Slowly, Katsumi stood back up and turned around. There was indeed a guard in this section of the building, and he had been fortunate enough to find her snooping around. His gun wasn't drawn, yet, but with what the doctor had said about this building, it wasn't going to be pretty...

...It probably didn't help matters that Katsumi was still in her street clothes.

The guard grabbed her by the collar with one arm and started dragging her down the hall, while using his other arm to radio the other guards.

Damn you, Murphy! Damn you to hell!
 
[BG="black"] J U D I T H [/BG]
[BG="black"]"What's going on in there?" Judith thought to herself. She began to tap the side of the table she was sitting at with a pen. She felt like something was not right. She couldn't tell what was going directly since her magic didn't allow for her to see with sight beyond sight. Neither Chiaki nor Katsumi responded back.

Judith then face palmed. This was supposed to be an easy battle...Though someone did say the simplest plans tend to be the hardest to execute. She then pulled out her pocket watch and read the time. While she didn't expect everything to be directly on time, she had yet to hear back from any of the girls. Judith then glanced back and saw Constantina looking back at her.

"Fine." Judith said to Constantina. "I want you to use your tracking skills and nothing more. Use your blade, only if necessary. That is an order."

Judith then pressed her commlink with Ae. "Flower Ae, we need to stand ready. Fire at anything that makes your Geiger counter go off."


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"Do what you love, and never work a day in your life,"someone had once said.

Chiaki was sure whoever had said it had to have been ahead of the curve in life. She was trying to manage it for herself, but the plan had hit a snag.

It was those pesky guards--they'd managed to pin her. She'd underestimated their agility. Somehow they'd gotten all that fat to fly, and now, alas, she was pinned under it.


"Let me go! Fat-assed, lard-bread-spread eating fatty Mcfat rent-a-cops!"

"Oh, so you do speak French." The receptionist noted, finally returning to her feet, having spent the past few minutes braced, frazzled and barefoot, with her back against the front desk, clutching her reddened nose and regarding the small intruder with a kind of awe.

"I'll speak all kinds of French if you don't let me go."

One of the guards' walky-talkie crackled an interruption. "I've apprehended another intruder..."

Chaiki seethed. "Wait? What the--What about trust and secret methods?! I could have managed that! Screw this!"

A wave of flying brooms, mops and buckets flew washed over her captors. It didn't hurt them much--too solid--but the surprise allowed her a wiggling escape. She caught a solid-handled mop and twirled one end into the face of a guard who hadn't quite gotten the message to release her foot.

A side roll later, she was back on her feet, mop in mid guard position. The guards weren't slow to rise after her. In theory.

They would have been all over her yet again... if only she'd let them stand.

Mop-wood struck from all sides, raining blows on heads, hands--any limb offered--sometimes, to her delight, catching an unshielded rib or unsuspecting calf or knee.

She was a little too pissed to use her telekinesis effectively for the moment, but there was an element of stress relief. Multiple attackers was something of a challenge, but then again, sparring Katyusha was about the same.

Whack-a-mole on crack, where the mole you miss hits back.

A guard finally got the pattern--no sell. He parried with his nightstick and followed with a counter blow she blocked just barely. Chiaki stumbled. Fatty! Letting him renew his attack, she parried his second swing and pivoted into a backspin that carried her slightly outside his centerline. A swing for the guard's legs hit is calves and brought him crashing down just in time. The other guards were catching up, and one of them looked to be radio-ing back Mr. Badnews who had Katsumi or possibly for backup.

Couldn't have that.

Chiaki, made a tugging motion, and the radio guard dived high into a faceplant, his walky-talky sliding across the floor to stop at her feet. Now if only she could reach it without getting swarmed...

I need help. Bad. And they're not letting me get it. There's definitely something weird going on here that they don't want exposed.

 
[BG="black"]K A T Y U S H A [/BG]
[BG="black"]
"Shut up, demon brat!" Katyusha yelled to herself, seeing as Zenovia was still inside her mind. "I am not prideful. I am simply the Rock of Gibraltar for this group! They need my leadership to help them function well in the field. Judith is good but she's not enough."

Katyusha tried to ignore the pain that Zenovia was causing her, once again.

"You sound rather dictatorial to me." Zenovia said.

"To each their own. I will always be there to help them. I care for my friends in need. Maybe to you, I'm busy taking chances at a whim, but be reassured that I am not."

Katyusha then leaped froward, falling several feet from the upper level roof she was on to the next. A normal human would not have made it, but she did it with ease. The heavy clouds then unleashed their prized rain and a heavy drizzle began to fall from the sky.

"Something's not right here." Katyusha said. "The weather forecast called for a clear night...."
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[BG="black"]Constantina[/BG]
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Constantina had enough. This night was taking too long, and Judith was forcing most of the team to sit and do nothing. So, she called herself to action.

“Screw this,” She said aloud. “All due respect, but you can stuff your authority right now. You’re making a twenty minute job take forever. Katyu and I could have been in and out by now.” Internally, she was shocked at the stern approach she presented to Judith, but at the pace it was taking, it would be a two night mission. “Cest la vie.

“Girls, we’re taking the initiative.” Consti continued into her microphone.

“Impudent girl,” Judith said. She took up the frequency: “I repeat, stand down. These orders are not from me. Stand down. Everyone just go as planned.”

While Judith was talking to the others, Constantina took it upon herself to draw her swords and run headlong into the building. She won’t act. I will. For all the sweet talk she had done the night before, she wasn’t about to sit down.

Ae cracked into the comm, one hundred percent cold: “I’ve got your back, Consti.”[/BG]
 


[BG="black"]K A T Y U S H A [/BG]
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"What are you blabbing about?" Zenovia yawned. Katyusha peered from left to right. The rain was cold and it felt like ice was pelting her body.

"Come hither, my sister."

Katyusha heard the soft voice of a young woman, it was not a very European sounding accent. She glanced to her right and saw something. Before her stood a vaguely Middle Eastern woman covered from head to toe in a long black and red outfit. Her face was covered by what first looked like veil; but upon a closer look, it was a mask....

"Come hither, my sister."

"Zenovia, for your own good release me!" Katyusha said. She gave the strange being across from her a dirty look.

"There's no way you can handle that thing! It has a higher level of power than you do!" She protested to Katyusha. "It's probably just a golem...I wouldn't worry about..."

"Golems don't talk. Besides, the bloody Aeons have removed most of the European versions. This is clearly something else. "

"Like what?"

"We'll find out soon enough. Whether it is, I'll defeat it." Katyusha said.

"Come hither, my sister."

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It lumbered forward. Heavy armor scratched the tin roof of the factory. "I knew that doctor was hiding something."

Zenovia was staring in the same direction as Katyusha was, seeing that she was literally inside of the young woman's mind.

"Come hither, my sister."

"And why should I?" Katyusha asked skeptically.

"You do not do as I ask?"

"Do it now!" Zenovia broke her blood contract and was once again floating in midair above Katyusha's head.

The long tails from the outfit that the demon was wearing, then coiled themselves around the legs of Katyusha. Soon her entire body was wrapped by the serpent like coils. The foe waited for Katyusha to scream, but their was no reaction....

"Hey-hey!!!" Zenovia shouted in panic. She was used to Katyusha's reckless behavior but this didn't seem like something she would have planed for.

Then a reddish glow came from inside the coils. Katyusha had withdrew her blade. The foe hadn't yet coiled around her well enough.

"You shouldn't have done that, you idiot." A twisted simile now appeared on Katyusha's face. "The time for reckoning is nigh!"

Katyusha charged at the demon. Without fear and a strong determination she was at her finest.

"The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night. But those that seek my soul, to destroy it, shall go into the lower parts of the earth.
They shall fall by the sword!"


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[BG="black"]Constantina[/BG]
[BG="black"]No sooner had she entered the building then the shadows were upon her. She brought up her blade, reverse tang, just in time to block a slash at her throat. Constantina dropped low and slashed out with her other sword, making a fast horizontal arc, hoping to sever some legs. With her defending hand she had enough time to pull out her camera, but no more as she blocked high, then twisted her hand to reverse low, cutting a demon’s hand.

She reversed the arc of her offensive hand and pushed back with her forward foot - her left - reversing position to get a better advantage. The gap gave her time to drop her hand and click the camera. Silence.

She backed up, counting the seconds as she brought both swords to bear. One
(two steps),
two
(two more steps)
three
(the shadows began shaking off the effect)
And then she moved, dragging both swords across in an offensive assault, slashing fast left and right, pushing forward now instead of back.

“I told you I had your back” She heard over the comm.

The resounding crack of twin revolvers left Consti deaf even as she watched the turn of events in front of her.
(Click)
They froze again, fourty five seconds having passed. And they fell singly as well as in groups. The combined efforts of Ae’s bullets and her swords cut through the swath of demons.[/BG]


[BG="black"]Chiaki[/BG]
[BG="black"]Constantina had created confusion and that was all that Chiaki needed.

“Hey! McLard and company - you should be paying more attention to the entrance, the delivery guy is here! He’s come with your donuts!”

The lead guard smirked as he slowly stood. “You can’t catch us with your lies.” And then there was the report of Ae’s guns. Bang. Bang bang. Bang bang. Five shots divided by talking on the comm link.

“Stand down,” She heard Judith say - followed by swearing in several different languages.

And then Ae took up the link “No, we do this now!”

Judith cracked back in: “You will flout my authority only once, Flowers, and then you will learn.”

The guard, whom she affectionately called McLard, ran to the door to see what the commotion was about, and why there were shots fired. Or at least he tried to, as he was torn apart by the mass of nondescript demons that had swarmed the entrance and the reception area
.[/BG]
 
[BG="black"]K A T Y U S H A [/BG]
[BG="black"]

The demon then chuckled. Katyusha remained steadfast. Swiping her blade left and right, the demon seemed to have an advantage in speed.

Katyusha ignored the comment. Since the armored demon was faster, then she'd just have to step her game up.

Swipe, swipe, swipe.

The foe reeled back.

Katyusha attempted to strike again but this foe seemed to predict her every move ahead of time.

"Come, now my sister! You really shouldn't strike at your own kind!"

The demon then dashed forwarded and then punched Katyusha in the gut.

Katyusha growled. "DIE, BASTARD!"

She then spit up some blood. Katyusha remained undaunted, though. Once again, she attempted to go on the offensive. The demon dodged her blade once more. She growled once again.

"Enough!" Katyusha yelled. She put her blade back into its sheath. "You want to fight dirty. Then let's do so."

"Sister. It is foolish to keep on fighting us." The demon said.

Katyusha crossed her arms. "Why do you keep calling me your sister?"

"I am not speaking to you, vessel but the One inside." The demon said.

"Heh. Cute, a moronic knight that believes that I am a vessel. Hardly." Katyusha said.

Katyusha now went on a full dash towards her foe and then extended her leg out wards. She nailed the demon in the chest with a flying kick.

"Now then. I do believe that it is your move."
[/BG]
 
[BG=#333333]Flower Ae[/BG]
[BG=#333333]Cool.

Calm.

Collected.

Cool, calm and collected, Ae thought. That is what I am. I always must be, and shall be. She squeezed the trigger once -

“I told you I had your back," she said aloud in the comm. Twice in succession.

“Flower Ae, stand down!" Twice again - quicker this time, taking advantage of Consti's freeze-frame. Her eye was a dead aim, like a natural gunslinger, Roland or Cuthbert - possibly even Jake or Eddie, but not Alain, he was a bitch.

Chiaki was moving around below, apparently shouting and pointing. Ae could hardly see her through the glass, but it was enough. The asian caught a glint of movement to her right and turned her head a hair to see. On the next rooftop - lower to the ground but still a few stories high - Katyusha was apparently fighting a demon. Ae did a double-take. It was a demon that she didn’t know, and they were supposed to have studied on all known enemies.

Impossible, I’ve poured through all of the books. All of them! How can I not recognize this? She turned her rifle (a simple Springfield M1903 Air Service, 25 round clip) level with this new foe and fired.

The demon reeled back, flecks of blood and flesh spraying from her torso. She stumbled a step, her heel catching on the raised ledge, the slick of the constant rain causing her to slip.

A quick crack over the wire: “Thanks, fool, I had it covered.” As Katyusha took advantage of the demon’s apparent falter.

[/BG]