Hello! I’m a lurker, and I’m here to add another story of decent length (at least, that’s the intention right now) to the pile. Since you’re probably reading a fetish story for one reason, this top post will be a quick summary of what’s to come. Just making sure you don’t waste your time before diving into the wall of text below.
My interests are more towards realistic zako: smaller groups with maybe some dudes thrown in (though the guys are not my interest). Like, the type of henchwomen and thugs you see in spy flicks, modern action movies, those sorts of things. Thus, this story is going to have such a scenario, and will aim to capture that feeling.
As for take-downs, though I can do about anything, I bias heavily towards hand-to-hand combat. This means this story will likely have more knockouts and return zako than usual. Kind of like a beat-em-up, with longer fights. I’ve prepared about twenty-five zako for that purpose, as well as a handful of easy throwaways, since they are, well, zako. The amount of Ryona content here is probably a little tamer than most of the other zako stories, though, as rape and gore are two turn-offs for me.
Finally, quick shout-out to slayer
for his Streets of Girls, which was a big inspiration for this story.
Well, that’s enough of my rambling. If you decided to read onward, welcome. I do hope you enjoy.
Bio: A flirtatious, mischievous mercenary. Happy to follow orders, and generally doesn't care who she follows.
2. Juniper Fonte
Introduced: Chapter 7
Age: 18
Bio: A young high school graduate and amateur singer with great aspirations. Owner of the YouTube channel 'Juuni', she performs for the resorts theater and has many young fans. Can be slow at logical thought.
3.
Age:
Bio:
4. Charlotte Bauscher
Introduced: Chapter 3
Age: 27
Bio: One of the most skilled and feared female fighters in the whole building. She keeps her convictions as close to her heart as her hidden nerdy streak. Quick-thinking and adventurous.
Bio: She is one of the most elite mercenaries in the company, and the one to capture our protagonist in the first place. Due to the disastrous results of the campaign, she is now likely also the most capable mercenary left.
5. Nadiya 'Solo' Votta
Introduced: Chapter 1
Age: 31
Bio: An executioner who revels in death. Loud and easily excitable but tends to overlook certain aspects in her joyful moods. Can be rather theatrical.
6. Olivia Nachika
Introduced: Chapter 2
Age: 21
Bio: A lazy, inattentive woman who is constantly glued to her phone. Enjoys mischief but will back out at the first sign of danger. Generally, pretty flashy in appearance.
7. Nina Repinski
Introduced: Chapter 3
Age: 31
Bio: The bossy, stubborn mercenary captain, freshly promoted. Cold, vengeful, and possesses more ability than she shows. Will definitely stab you in the back.
8. Faith Darisse
Introduced: Chapter 4
Age: 29
Bio: A kind, gentle woman who is rather domestic in nature. Commonly called the ‘team mom’, but she feels self-conscious at the nickname.
9. Bella Kalgren
Introduced: Chapter 1
Age: 21
Bio: A student on a year off who always plays by the rules. Loyal, attentive, and, like a slice of plain toast, is not very interesting.
11. Annabelle Lamora
Introduced: Chapter 5
Age: 19
Bio: A fledgling dancer, performer, and a smug, sassy guard all in one. A talker, gossiper, and as mature as her age suggests. Very flexible, but not a strong fighter, and prefers using her wits.
12. Hailey Warren
Introduced: Chapter 4
Age: 21
Bio: A high school dropout with big dreams and none of the skills or common sense to attain them. Constantly looking for fame and loves to take pictures.
13. Melody Jewel
Introduced: Chapter 1
Age: 21
Bio: A proud, cocky woman who loves playing the villain. Though capable and intelligent, she can be a sore loser. Can be bought with food.
15. Caitlyn Midura
Introduced: Chapter 3
Age: 21
Bio: A prideful young woman dedicated in becoming a feared mercenary. Kind and thoughtful to her friends, but brutal and unwavering to her enemies.
16. Lucille Zanin
Introduced: Chapter 4
Age: 26
Bio: An odd, airheaded guard constantly aloof in her own thoughts. Flirty and unafraid of consequences, or simply cannot understand them. Her voice is the gentlest you would have ever heard.
17. Winter Benthal
Introduced: Chapter 3
Age: 20
Bio: An attractive, confident woman often seen together with Nina. Seems to relish the constant attention she receives from men but is actually reserved and prefers her own company.
18. ???
Introduced: Chapter 5
Age: 22
Bio: A woman dressed in camo. Seems aggressive.
19. Juliette Milakovic
Introduced: Chapter 3
Age: 27
Bio: A sassy, mean-spirited woman often seen together with Nina. Loves bullying anything smaller or weaker than her but is actually kind of bad at fighting.
20. Lauren Crocetti
Introduced: Chapter 3
Age: 23
Bio: A cowardly, but friendly guard. In it for the glamour and prestige of being an attractive mercenary and puts in the effort to maintain but is deathly afraid of combat.
21. Gracie Vernaci
Introduced: Chapter 2
Age: 26
Bio: An outspoken tomboy met in the prison block. Though she has the occasional temper, she is often calculating and methodical. Not afraid to follow her convictions, no matter where they lead.
22. Alison Teller
Introduced: Chapter 2
Age: 26
Bio: An athletic mercenary who loves sports. Can be brash and extremely competitive but will look after her teammates. Actually, prefers acrobatics.
23.
Age:
Bio:
24. Dorothy Gammage
Age: 21
Bio: A no-nonsense red headed young woman. Often seen porcelain clean with a prim demenour, she is actually hyper competitive, and loves basketball and sports in general.
25. Michelle Campney
Age: 22
Bio: An experienced and mature mercenary despite her young age. Tends to act like a big sister to many of her younger teammates.
10. Madison Etkin
Introduced: Chapter 3
Died: Chapter 5
Age: 35
Bio: A woman so cheery, it is almost creepy. Preppy and loves to tease younger women. Will get annoyed if you mention her age, though she won’t show it.
14. Sierra Ravizza
Introduced: Chapter 2
Died: Chapter 2
Age: 34
Bio: The tough mercenary who led the prison block. Hot-headed and stubborn, she follows through on her words and never backs down.
My eyes blink open. Well, at least, I think they do. It’s hard to tell, when all they see is nothing but darkness. Is it nighttime? Am I inside? Why does my head hurt so badly?
I try my best to slur into a sort-of awake state. My initial dizziness finally subsiding to reveal my current situation. Despite the lack of vision, I feel my hands tied behind my back by some sort of thick woven rope. I’m seated on what seems to be a cheap, sturdy wooden chair. The air feels like room temperature and lacks wind.
Though, probably the worst one of all: I can’t remember anything. Nothing. Zilch. Being trapped in a scenario like this, combined with a complete lack of memory, was not one I wanted to be in for very long. I twisted my arms slightly, feeling the rope binding my wrists were slightly loose. Was that on purpose? It was hard to tell. Though, maybe if I could just get it off…
Light.
The room suddenly lit up like a camera flash, shocking my eyes and confusing my brain momentarily. A thin buzzing sound emanated across the ceiling as I finally gained the ability to look at the room I was tied up inside, after a short period of blindness. Though, the sight wasn’t a very helpful one. The room itself was a boring grey, looking to be made of some sort of steel, and lacked any defining features what-so-ever besides being a flat little cube. My chair stood firmly in the center, and the only other piece of furniture was another unassuming rectangular wooden table in the corner.
My view turned to the side, where four individuals, one man and three women, came out of a thick iron door, closing and locking it behind them. The man was thickly built, sporting a black t-shirt, sunglasses, and a buzz cut. He looked nearly double the size of any of the girls and looked like some army sergeant you saw on television.
Two of the women stood near Sergeant and didn’t feel a whole lot friendlier either. One, with stunning bright blue eyes, wore the same style of black t-shirt, together with tight, black leather pants and boots. No sunglasses, however, though I wouldn’t blame Blue there for not wanting to cover those eyes.
The other, I’ll call her Jacket, put the black leather on her jacket instead. Her shirt inside was grey, however, and her pants were just black jeans. At least the boots were the same.
As I observed the three standing by the door, the third woman began to practically skip towards the table in the corner. Her bright, white t-shirt was a huge contrast to the black outfits of the other three, as well as her cheery demeanour and overdone make-up. Miss cheery over there, however, had one very concerning, defining feature that the other three did not possess.
A revolver.
“Goooood morning!” The cheery woman greeted me, doing a little spin. Her hands were clasped behind her back as she did so, with the revolver hanging lazily by a finger, “do you remember who I am?”
“N-No,” I stuttered out, my throat a lot dryer and my nerves more shot than I had realized.
“Ah, well terrific! I suppose I must reintroduce myself, then,” the woman did a little bow, “you may address me as Solo.”
“S-Solo…?” I responded.
“Oh, just get on with it,” came an irritated Blue from the side. Solo, in turn, looked agitated, and turned her heel around to face the three guarding the door.
“Pardon me? I do not recall asking for opinions from the peanut gallery,” Solo growled.
Blue sighed, rolling her eyes, “look, whatever. Just hurry up. I hate it in here.”
Solo signed in turn, “always rush, rush, rush with you ladies! These are moments you have to savour!”
Blue leaned her face against her hand, mumbling to the side, “why do we have to protect this psycho.” Jacket only gave a look of indifference to Blue and shrugged, while Sergeant continued to stand at attention.
Though, Solo didn’t appear to have heard this comment, as she spun back around to grin widely at me.
“Sorry about that. Now, where was I…?” She mused, seemingly waiting for a response.
“You, uh, you were introducing yourself?” I answered.
“Oh yes, right, right! Yes, my name is Solo. Would you like to know why that is my name?”
I hesitated for a moment. The revolver in her hands, the ‘get on with it’ comment. Somehow, I had a feeling why I was here.
“W-Why is that your name?” I asked, nearly choking on the words. Solo responded by skipping daintily over to the table in the corner, placing the revolver on top. Removing a single bullet from seemingly nowhere, she held it up to me.
“Why, what a fantastic question! It is because I only need a single bullet to do my job,” she smiled one more time at me, shoving the bullet into the six-slotted revolver.
Yeah, I thought that was going to be the case.
I reeled back in my chair, my mind began to race. I was going to die here. Or, at least I was, if I didn’t try something. I recalled the loose bindings on the rope tying my hands together. Was I able to escape this room alive? Well, I don't know if whoever I was is capable enough to do so, but the alternative to not trying is…not a very bright one.
“Oh, you look so scared! What a delightful look,” Solo squealed, giggling a bit as she held the gun in her right hand, “do not squirm too much, it is less painful that way. Do you have any last words to say to this cruel, cruel world?”
“Y-Yeah,” I said, lowering my voice purposely. I felt the sweat beginning to build along my skin, though it would only help with the rope. Solo cocked her head to the side curiously, leaning in slightly closer to my face. The smell of her thick perfume was rather intoxicating.
“Come again? I am afraid I did not hear th-“
In one swift motion, I lifted my arms from their binding, and grabbed Solo’s right wrist, thrusting it to the side. In her panic, she discharges the revolver, the bullet blasting to the side and piercing directly through Sergeants head. The door behind him splayed with blood as he drops silently to the floor. Before Solo can recover from the shock of what she had done, my spare hand balled into a fist and drove itself directly into Solo’s soft left cheek.
“Ah-!” She cried in surprise, as her head whipped to the side. Her whole body flew to the ground front first, sprawling as she moaned in pain. The revolver leaving her grasp and scattering across the floor.
“Idiot!” Blue cried, as she and Jacket sprung into action the second the revolver went off. I tried to leap up into action as well, but in the moment and adrenaline I had failed to notice two separate pieces of rope tying both my legs to two legs of the chair. The result was a faceplant directly forwards, my chest slamming into the legs of Solo’s writhing body.
“Should we find another weapon?” Jacket asked quickly, only for Blue to respond by kicking me directly in the ribs. It hurt.
“Just beat him to death, for Gods sake!” Blue yelled back, delivering another kick.
With the chair still attached to my legs, I swung the chair towards the two women with all the strength I could muster from my position on the ground. Being taken by surprise, Blue reeled as the chair slammed into the left of her torso, releasing a cry from her lips as she slammed in turn against Jacket next to her. The impact sending Blue against the floor. Jacket slammed her head against the wall, her back colliding against it afterwards before she slowly slid down in unconsciousness.
I moved immediately to the rope against my legs, now noticing that the knots tying these were also slightly loose. Thankfully, these did not take very long to untie, but Blue suddenly caught me by surprise. The rope which used to bind my wrists now wrapped itself around my neck as I untied the last bind against my leg. My body was jerked backwards from the rope, falling closer to Blue’s body as she tugged.
“Don’t…struggle-!” She grunted, her hands gripping the rope tightly. My neck continued to be strangled. It was getting harder and harder to breathe. I kept thrashing my body, desperate to free myself from her grip. Nearby, Solo’s body had went still, splayed on the ground front first. Jacket was the same, with her unconscious body lying along the edge of the wall. Both their breathing slow and quiet.
I punched behind me as hard as I could, and by some luck my fist met a pair of lips. Blue’s head recoiled backwards, her grip loosening just enough for me to pull the rope free from her grasp.
Leaping to my feet, I managed to turn just in time to catch Blue making a desperate lunge at the rope loosely hanging from my neck as she stood. Instead of the rope, her chest caught my fist, throwing her whole body backwards once more. Her face seemed dazed as I laid another punch directly against her gut.
Blue moaned, clutching her midriff with both hands as I removed the rope from my neck. I kneed her pained face, whipping her body straight up, and wrapped the rope around her neck.
“Kha-,” her surprised gasp barely left her lips as the rope pulled tighter and tighter around her neck. Her vivid, beautiful blue eyes looked at me in shock and terror. A brief, silent plea while her hands scratched weakly at the rope around her neck. I almost let up.
Almost.
A cracking sound echoed through the room at the same time as an odd, metallic one, as Blue’s body went limp. Her shocked eyes never closed, as her weak body rag-dolled onto the floor. Her cool blue eyes now stared blankly at nothing, up into the air, as her body relaxed and stretched out. Her laid out head just inches away from Solo’s, though at least one of them was still breathing.
I dropped to the ground in turn, though only to my knees, as the adrenaline slowly subsided.
Clap. Clap.
My heart nearly jumped to the top of my throat. A slow clapping sounded from behind me. My exhaustion subsided immediately, as I leapt to my feet and turned to face the sound, now realizing that the metallic sound moments ago was likely the iron door. What met me was a new, red haired woman, standing in front of the door. Her head was cocked upwards slightly, and her neat clothes and prim demeanour clashed heinously against the splay of blood along the wall behind her.
“Well done, well done! I must say, I think I missed a rather entertaining party in here,” the woman laughed, seemingly completely unfazed by the fact that there were two dead bodies in this room.
“W-Who are you,” I asked wearily, ready to fight at any moment.
“Melody,” she responded, “I’d ask for yours back but, ah, I suppose you don’t really know, do you?” Her mocking tone grating against my ears.
I gritted my teeth, assuming a fighting stance. I had already defeated the four people in this room, what was this woman going to do to me? The thought crossed through my mind, but from her cocky attitude, Melody didn’t look very concerned about her wellbeing.
“Right, right, you want to fight. Of course,” she rolled her eyes mockingly at me, before giving a little smirk, “I was hoping you would. I was always rather curious if you were really as good as they say.”
Melody took a step towards me. Her body still completely relaxed.
“So, don’t disappoint me, ‘kay?” She giggled.
Yeah, I’ve already had it with her. I took an aggressive step forward, driving my right fist forwards directly towards her face. Melody’s lax stance never let up, as she casually turned her body to dodge my strike.
I didn’t let up either, delivering another punch with my left fist. Then, with my right again, then my left again. But, with each attack, Melody continued to twist and deflect my punches with little effort. Her body deftly weaving around each continued attempt at knocking her out. I must have lost myself in the frustration because a sudden kick had found its way to my gut. The strength of it sending me recoiling backwards, as Melody only stood back, giggling.
“My my, what a brute! Coming at a poor defenseless woman so suddenly, I’m in shock,” Melody teased in mock surprise, giggling behind a light hand placed against her mouth. She certainly looked like she was out of place, but her strength wasn’t. While I felt decently fit, I wasn’t too strong, and still suffered weakness from the earlier headaches. Her arms were capable of swatting and deflecting my messy flurry of attacks like nothing.
I brought back my fighting stance, glaring at her wearily, trying to find some kind of opening I could take. Perhaps trying something a bit lower? I went in with a low sweeping kick, only for Melody to leap over it by backflipping over it. Her feet knocking my chin upwards in her spin, before landing gracefully. Immediately, Melody delivered another horizontal kick against my chest, knocking me backwards and against the wall. I slammed against the wall, weakened, but still barely standing. Melody didn’t seem to have even broken a sweat.
“Is that all? Honestly, I’m rather disappointed,” Melody put her hands on her hips, sighing.
“B-Bitch,” I spat out, breathing heavily.
“Mmhmm, that’s me,” Melody smiled, speaking with a cutesy voice, “sooooo, ready to die now? We may as well end it.”
“I’ll take a pass on that,” I growled through my teeth, though I was running out of options quickly. Melody took a dainty step, then another, before tumbling in a cartwheel towards me. I stepped out of the way quickly, but Melody was just as fast, punching at my face as soon as she landed on her feet again. I managed to block the first punch and subsequent kicks and delivered an easily negated response. But this back and forth didn’t last long, before another punch was landed against my chest, sending me backwards.
Melody gave a high kick against the side of my head as I recoiled, sending me sprawling to the floor. I rolled for a moment, and as I did, I noticed something on the floor. The revolver, still centimetres away from Solo’s unconscious grasp. Melody’s overconfident demeanour had never really faded, but she definitely seemed to be a lot more in the moment now.
Without even thinking whether a plan like this would work, I made a dive for the gun. Melody’s gaze shifted to the spot I was diving for, and her eyes went wide. Her focus on the revolver, she made a short sprint towards the weapon on the floor. Her trajectory, from my eyes, seemed intent on kicking the gun away.
But I didn’t care about the gun. I lunged out, grabbing Melody’s leg as she focused on kicking the revolver. A surprised gasp left her lips, before her imbalance sent her tripping forwards onto the floor.
Melody panicked, yanking her foot from my grasp and tried turning the momentum into another frontal flip. However, I wasn’t about to let this opening escape me. I kicked my legs against the floor, rushing forwards before Melody recovered from her flip, and tackled her back.
“A-Agh-!” She cried, as I carried my momentum by shoving Melody directly into the wall. A pained moan sounding as her chin slammed into the wall.
I pinned her head against the wall, pulling it back and slamming it once, twice, three times. Her strength against my grip slowly felt like it began to loosen. I didn’t let up, grabbing her upper torso and slamming Melody’s body against the ground, hard.
Melody moaned on the ground in a daze, struggling to even get up into a crawling position. In her sight, however, was the revolver right beside her hands, and in a desperate last attempt, Melody dove for the revolver and immediately turned it towards me.
Click.
Her eyes could barely focus on the revolver in her hands as she looked down at it, confused. Though, despite her condition, it did seem like she finally realized.
“Solo only needs one bullet,” I smirked, standing high above her.
“…P-Please, don’t,” Melody looked up towards me, her shattered confidence on display. I merely just shrugged.
“Nothing personal, lady,” I said, before delivering a hard upwards kick against her chin. Melody’s head lurched backwards, the rest of her body following suit, as she flew backwards with a little whimper. Her body landed face up against the floor, her eyes closed, and her head rolled to the side. Her hands relaxing, releasing their grip on the gun as her arms relaxed outstretched to the sides. A slight bit of breathing from her chest suggested that she was only unconscious.
I had several thoughts past through my mind. You should finish her off, one said. You need to take a rest, another spoke. I ignored both. It felt wrong to kill an already defeated opponent, and I had to leave before someone else found these bodies in the room. Perhaps it may kill me later, when they awake, but oddly enough, despite my strong frontal feelings of fear, I had a deep-seated feeling of confidence inside. Like I could escape with no issue even after leaving the survivors alive.
Geez, who was I, anyway?
There wasn’t time to dwell. I snatched the empty revolver from the floor and made my way to the closed iron door.
The door opened to another darkened hallway, with nothing but my door and a small flight of stairs leading upwards. Above, all I could see was a ceiling made up of thick, steel pipes. And, once I climbed to the top, it seemed like that was all the walls were made up of too. Steel pipes of varying sizes and lengths, zig-zagging every which way, connected in all places, and circling around a metallic catwalk that seemed to twist, veer, and split in random directions. The sound of rushing water from the pipes suggested a kind of basement sewage area, but it could really be anything.
I ducked out of my hallway into the catwalk, sneaking around as best as I could to the nearest corner to take a better look around the rather expansive area. Though the guards out here followed the trend of lacking any friendliness what-so-ever, this dungeon/prison/sewage area also seemed to lack any coherence either. Guards lacked similar uniforms and ranged from grizzled fighters to looking like they were picked from the nearest college. In addition, this place didn’t seem to like guns very much, as most guards only carried singular, handheld pistols on their belt, and some didn’t even have one at all. Better for me, but still.
“Uhm, excuse me?”
My skin nearly jumped off at the female voice behind me, as I leapt from my position and bolted. Walking as fast as I could, I weaved in and out the paths at random, ducking and praying that I didn’t run into another guard. The clomping sound of boots on metal sounded with moderate pace behind me, as my pursuer followed at an unknown distance. It was hard to tell with all the sounds of rushing water and random other metallic clomps of other guards in the area.
I finally stopped by a darkened corner off the catwalk and leapt off, hugging the wall as I hid myself into the dark. I was dead if anyone had found me, but the position provided ample cover.
Eventually my pursuer finally revealed herself: an attractive, young woman with moderate length light brown hair, a white tank top, and blue denim shorts, cut halfway along her thighs. Her features were so soft and delicate, I was almost tempted to leap out and enquire about directions, but her hand positioned near a gun on her waist made me rescind that thought.
She walked past my position, giving myself an inner sigh of relief, but soon returned to the area, scratching her head. Frowning with her hands on her hip, she sighed deeply before another girl walked up and tapped her shoulder, causing the soft girl to give a startled yelp. The new, incredibly flashy girl, seemed completely unfazed by the reaction.
“Christ, Kaylee, the hell you doing?” The flashy woman asked, her hands on her hips with a cellphone in one.
And when I say flashy, I mean boy, this one looks like she walked straight out of a Paris fashion show, with her vertical striped crop top, matching pants and black beret. If there was ever a walking embodiment of ‘not ready for combat’, it would be this woman. Or maybe ‘unenthused at her job’, because that’d probably fit too.
“O-Olivia you scared me,” Kaylee responded, clutching her hands against her chest.
“What, were you expecting the boogieman?” Olivia mocked, unamused by Kaylee’s behaviour.
“N-No, I-I, I mean I thought I saw someone earlier,” was Kaylee’s still nervous reply.
“Right, and where is this someone?”
“Well I lost them,” Kaylee’s head fell, dejected. Olivia only rolled her eyes, punching something in her phone with one hand for a second before speaking.
“Yeesh, hoped you could’ve been more normal than those other two,” Olivia said.
“W-Which other two?”
“Gracie and the ‘floor manager’,” Olivia spoke, air quoting the floor manager part, “look just go scurry off and patrol somewhere else so Sierra doesn’t cap your scared face out of anger.”
“C-Cap?“
Kaylee didn’t get her answer before loud stomps and a louder pair of voices came into hearing range. At what I assumed was the sight of the two individuals in question stomping down the catwalk, Kaylee ducked and swiftly walked off in another direction.
“I’m saying its for safety, that’s all! What is even wrong with you?” One woman yelled, waving her arms as she walked beside the other woman. The woman wore a professional blend of practicality and sexual appeal, sporting a black sweater cut to reveal an open midriff, and tight jeans. Her voice, despite being rather angry at the moment, also possessed a slight British accent, and was rather pleasant to hear.
The other woman suddenly stopped in place, turning towards her arguing pair and shoved a finger into her chest, “don’t you think that I don’t know what you’re up to, Gracie,” Sierra growled, at least assuming that was her name based off the earlier conversation. Sierra’s height towered way over Gracie, bending down with her scooped neck top in a very intimidating fashion. Gracie, despite her weaker stature, didn’t seem at all fazed.
“What I’m up to?!” Gracie gave a flabbergasted wave, “look, you bloody moron, if Melody actually disappeared in that room and Nadiya, or whatever she’s calling herself now- “
“Solo,” Olivia interrupted with a monotone response.
“Fine, Solo, whatever. Look, they are taking way too long. Don’t you think that area is incredibly dangerous considering who we are dealing with?”
Sierra smirked, laughing quietly before it roared into something much louder, causing Gracie to flinch. After her moment, Sierra’s shoved finger turned into a hard shove, causing Gracie to stumble backwards.
“You think I don’t know that?! Hah, listen here, little girl. I have the only real gun down here,” Sierra removed what seemed like either a machine pistol or an Uzi from her belt, taunting Gracie with the weapon, “you think I’m scared of some hyped-up weakling like him, escaping from a room with no real weapons?”
“I-I’m not saying we should run, I’m just saying we should bring a group!” Gracie continued to argue, but Sierra just laughed again.
“A group to do what, slow me down? The boss will pay me generously for delivering his head to him alone. The glory is mine alone, dear.”
“Your...glory? You can’t be serious.”
“And if you continue to stall me out here, I’ll just shove a bullet or two into your sweet little chest,” Sierra shoved the gun into Gracie, causing her to wince, “nobody will care about you after I bring his head to the boss. You understand, don’t you?”
Gracie finally lost her fire, taking a feeble step backwards, “you are insane.”
“No, no,” Sierra holstered her gun back again, turning around, “you are just a coward,” she mocked before walking away. Gracie stared in her direction for a moment, before looking over to Olivia, who never seemed to have put her phone down at any point during that fight.
“You agree with me, right?” Gracie asked, still flabbergasted. Olivia sighed, putting her phone in her pocket slowly before looking up.
“Well if anyone can take that guy down if he really did escape, its Sierra. Now, can you shut up for a bit?” Olivia then, too, turned and walked away in a different direction, leaving Gracie alone right in front of me. Honestly, I’m kind of surprised nobody had noticed me wedged right beside them, but I suppose they were preoccupied.
I had already processed a bit of their conversation, but the alarm bells were already sounding within my head. Melody, the red-haired woman that came in later on, was mentioned, as well as the rather eccentric executer Solo, or, I guess Nadiya was her real name. I saw numerous other dead-end hallways on the way here, leading me to believe there had to be other rooms, or potentially jail cells, but I was fairly sure that the prisoner in question that Sierra had left to investigate was me.
There was no time left; I needed to escape this area now, before Sierra discovered a room filled with nothing but dead and unconscious bodies. Considering the possibility of an organization, there was likely some kind of emergency system. Those walkie-talkies on everyone’s belts surely wasn’t just for show.
I still had no real weapon, and Gracie still stood near where I had to walk out to leave this hidden spot within the tangled pipes. She seemed like a nice person, but I had to dispatch her somehow, and retrieve the gun on her belt. A sneak attack could work, but the catwalk was incredibly loud despite the sounds of rushing water all around masking it, and Gracie could definitely be a very capable fighter despite her slim appearance. But I had to try something.
I moved my body, leaping out of my hiding spot as quietly as possible and drew my empty revolver. Upon taking a few silent steps towards Gracie’s still body, she turned her head in my direction, only for her eyes to go wide.
And thank God I didn’t try the sneak attack.
“Its you…” She mouthed in awe.
“Hands on your head. No sudden movements,” I whispered swiftly. Gracie complied with the order. Her face filled with fear as she alternated between staring at my face and the empty revolver in her hand.
“J-Just don’t shoot,” she stuttered.
“I’m the one deciding that, not you,” was my curt response, “now, where am I?”
“You…don’t remember?” Gracie asked, a tinge of confusion entering her timid voice.
“Am I supposed to?”
Gracie swallowed, her voice dry when she spoke again, “s-so it really worked.”
“What worked?!” I raised my voice by accident, causing Gracie to wince. If the revolver actually worked, I was tempted to discharge it near her head just to scare her.
“I-I’m sorry, p-please don’t,” Gracie stuttered again, begging at me. The fire I once saw just moments ago now a distant memory.
I took a breath, calming myself down before continuing, “where is the exit?”
Gracie hesitated a moment before speaking, “t-take the north elevators down that way, it should buy you some time,” she answered, moving one hand momentarily to point in a direction before placing it back on her head.
“Buy me some time? I’m not interested in time, I’m interested in getting the hell out of this place.”
“No fugitive can escape this. Not even you.”
My heart beat into my ears. Her soft voice rang into my ears not because I thought she was mocking me or lying to spare her life. But because her words sounded like what she truly believed, despite being the person she thought I was.
The conversation had stretched too long. A pair of torn white pants was spotted strolling slowly up the catwalk she had walked down earlier. I rushed immediately towards Gracie, seizing her neck with my left arm and turning her body around, pressing the revolver against the side of her head while I held her with my left. Gracie yelped in terror as I grabbed her, almost surprised by the action until she noticed why I did.
“Seems like you saved me the trouble of coming to find you,” Sierra taunted, turning the corner with her hands confidently on her hips.
“How the hell did you come back so fast?” I glared at the intimidating woman, before I heard a whistle from yet another different direction. Olivia stepped up smiling as well, a walkie-talkie in her hands. I glared in her direction as well, thankful she didn’t have her own gun on her belt. There were just too many different directions in this area, and I had backed up into yet another one.
“I assumed you could handle this one better than me, Sierra,” Olivia spoke towards the other woman.
“Of course, was there any doubt?” Sierra smiled, taking a step forward. I shoved the revolver deeper into Gracie’s head.
“Not another damn step-!” I cried, my heart pumping wildly. And, in that faint second, I saw Sierra’s smile grow even wider.
I knew exactly what she thought of Gracie.
“Just business, dear,” Sierra teased.
“Get down!” I cried, throwing both Gracie and me to the side, falling behind cover as Sierra drew her Uzi and fired in the position we were in. Landing on Gracie’s body, I was able to stand up quickly, noticing a surprised Olivia to the side attempt to spring into action.
Before she could even take two steps, I whipped the empty revolver at her head. The weapon spinning horizontally through the air like a shuriken before it slapped against her forehead with a loud thwap! Olivia’s head whipped backwards, the mixed beauty stumbled backwards slightly, her eyes fluttering before she fell backwards. Her body slammed into the catwalk, arms falling outstretched, as her eyes shut into unconsciousness. The beret tipping just off her head after a moment.
I quickly moved my now free hand to remove Gracie’s pistol off her hip, and immediately fired two shots in Sierra’s direction, just before she rounded the corner. The woman gasped, backing away behind the nearest pipe, not seeming to have been hit by either bullet.
“Nngh…agh…” Gracie moaned the floor, still lying on her front. With little strength, she moved both her arms in an attempt to push herself upwards.
I hesitated for a moment, before whispering, “thanks for your help.” My next move was then a hard backhand against her cheek.
“Ah-!” She cried as her head whipped to the side from the impact. The last of her strength giving away, Gracie’s arms gave out, sending her falling softly back down onto the catwalk. Her cheek slammed into the ground, before her head came to a rest against the metallic floor.
I scrambled to my feet as quickly as I could, firing another two random shots in Sierra’s vague direction before sprinting off as fast as I could. I followed Gracie’s direction towards these northern elevators, taking random turns to not get clipped from the back.
But she wasn’t my only issue. There didn’t seem to be a massive alarm, blazing along the ceiling to signal an emergency, but I could tell that every guard still around on the floor was alerted to the situation. Though the random paths I was weaving through and the pipes surrounding me made me relatively safe to stray bullets, it was still a danger I had to consider.
A male guard darted out from the corner of my sight, and my body lifted the gun on instinct, needing only a single bullet to the head to send the man crashing to the ground. I didn’t stop my pace, still dashing randomly as I fired, clipping another guard to the head as he tried to step in front of me. It seemed like not all the guards had guns, but I couldn’t drop my concentration because of that. Another bullet struck the pipe near my arm, causing me to spin around and shoot a third guard through the chest before I continued on my way.
I eventually reached what appeared to be a solid wall behind a few pipes, stretching for some distance. It was difficult to avoid being shot here, but I estimated that the elevators had to be somewhere along this area.
Before I could dash in a direction, though, I skidded to a halt. The soft faced girl from earlier, Kaylee, had walked straight in front of me. Her face looking like a deer caught in the headlights. I hesitated for a second like her, but her arm had already reached for the gun on her holster.
Unfortunately, mine was already drawn. One bullet directly placed at her heart. The shot pierced her white top, dirtying it with red splashes as Kaylee’s look turned slowly into wide shock. Her mouth fell open, blankly staring at me as her body slowly fell over backwards. Like many others before her, her eyes never shut as her gun clattered to the floor.
She seemed like a nice person, but it was time to move. I walked over her dead body, trying to find where the elevators were, praying silently that Gracie had told the truth.
But I moved too slow. Someone had caught up to my position, tackling me from the side. I flew into the wall, smashing into one pipe before being forcefully thrown to the ground. The back of my head slammed into the catwalk as I struggled to keep my strength up. The smell of blood still lingered from Kaylee’s body just meters away.
My attacker was an African American woman, who’s size and height rivaled that of Sierra’s earlier, and was dressed almost like a dancer. She wore a loose fitting, long sleeved blue crop top and grey pants. The looseness of the top was certainly one of the more revealing outfits I’ve seen on a guard.
A massive punch to the face stopped any further thoughts along that route, as I desperately began trying to block the dancer’s barrage of punches as she sat on top of my body. Her opponent caught on the floor, her fight plan seemed to be a full-on assault, as she continued to desperately wail random punches at my head. The first opportunity finally presented itself, as I managed to shield two of her punches with just my left arm. Taking my right, I nailed a punch upwards directly into her face, releasing a cry from her mouth as she flew sideways off my body.
I immediately tackled and pinned her body to the floor as she rolled, her face now staring directly up at mine. Though, unlike her, I was able to land another punch much quicker against her beautiful face. With each continued punch, another cry, as the dancer was stunned and unable to defend herself further. Within moments since my assault began, the woman shut her eyes, her head rolling over to the side in an unconscious state.
Bullets sprayed the pipes nearby, as I rolled off the woman’s body and took the nearest cover. I tried to peek a little, only to be met with a shower of sparks. The attack too close to my head for my liking.
“Why don’t you just give up? We both know how this is going to end,” Sierra’s voice shouted from past my vision. I returned a shot in the direction of her voice, causing her to duck behind her own pipe. I took the opportunity to take cover slightly closer to her position, which I managed to briefly ascertain as I moved. The distance wasn’t far.
Sierra opened fire, a spray of bullets splashing near the area I once was as I heard footsteps moving against the metal floor. I stuck out once the barrage ended, firing another two bullets indiscriminately as I inched forward to the next form of cover again.
It was close enough. Sierra’s spot was right on the other side of the pipe I had ran up to.
I raised my gun, but her reflexes were fast. She pushed the gun as I fired, the bullet just narrowly missing her head as she aimed her own Uzi at my head. I grabbed it, the Uzi firing past my shoulder and slamming into a guard that had just come around the corner behind me. As I tried to force the Uzi away from my head, Sierra did the same with her other hand, grabbing my hand with the pistol and holding it away from herself. We locked in a brief awkward standoff, her arms splayed wide as were mine.
“Enjoying yourself?” Sierra suddenly asked, her face close to mine.
“W-What?” Her comment caught me off guard, like the hard punch from her right fist against my face. Sierra took the risk, dropping her grip of the Uzi to my grasp as she punched me hard in the chest this time. The impact of both attacks sending me stumbling backwards. Both guns fell loose of my grasp, clattering to the floor and bouncing off the side, where no practical method could retrieve them.
I scrambled up a shaky defense against Sierra’s flurry of punches, but the effort was futile as Sierra cracked the defense as easily as opening a door. Her punches and attacks were much slower and straightforward than the others I had faced already, but Sierra was easily the strongest of them all. Not only that, but her height even matched mine, making it easier to land a fist against my face.
I continued to stumble backwards, my arms aching in the wake of Sierra’s constant beatdown. I even broke defense for a moment to land a sudden kick against her left thigh, hoping it would break her pace, but Sierra shrugged off the successful strike against her. I took another punch, and another, and an occasional kick to break my defense before I found my consciousness beginning to dizzy and cloud.
Suddenly, I found myself on my back. It hurt, and my vision stirred, clearing only long enough to notice Sierra unsheathing a knife from her belt. She gave a triumphant smile, standing above my battered body, before she plunged the knife directly downwards.
The blade stopped just centimeters from my forehead. A killer instinct shooting my tired arms up to catch her fists balled around the knifes handle as she continued to press the weapon down. I forced all the strength I had into keeping that blade away from my face, but Sierra’s strength was above mine.
Gritting her teeth above me, her part strained part excited expression continued to be burned into my eyes as the knife drew further down.
Slowly and slowly, the knife fell lower and lower.
I was losing strength. And soon, this battle.
…
Bang!
A small bit of blood splashed against my face, as one side of Sierra’s strength let up. A bullet had been fired from the side, piercing through Sierra’s right shoulder and leaving a massive wound. She looked up in panic, narrowing her eyes at the shooter behind me.
“Just business, dear,” the shooter mocked.
Now with Sierra’s right arm weakened, I pushed the knife up and away. Her whole body rolled off from mine in the same motion. As she fell off, the knife in turn also dropped from her grasp.
The woman growled, trying to punch me with her left fist, but I now had a clear target. I deflected the attack, retaliating at her numbed right shoulder. The blow against it causing a howl of pain from the woman. I pushed forward, laying a kick against her stomach as she clutched her pained shoulder, followed by repeated jabs across her face.
One after another.
Sierra stumbled backwards, dazed, as I quickly reached down for the knife. Sierra let loose a frustrated growl, and with fury in her eyes, she lunged at me as I was straightening back up.
The knife was already in my hands. Instead of grabbing my neck, the center of Sierra’s chest instead found the blade of her own knife, plunged deep inside.
“G-Gah,” she gasped, her mouth hanging agape as she staggered backwards. Her hands moved around where the knife blade impaled her, her eyes blinking at the wound in shock.
“Enjoy this glory,” I said before delivering my last punch to the face against my opponent. Her body tipped backwards, slamming and spreading across the floor. The knifes handle pointed up to the ceiling as she came to a rest. Trickles of blood leaked out her lifeless lips as her dead eyes shut.
“Guess we’re even now,” the voice behind me spoke again. I turned around to meet Gracie’s grin. The bottom of her cheek still slightly red from where I had hit her earlier.
“Thanks, I-“ I started, taking a step towards her before she pulled the gun out suddenly at me. My heart jumped in fear.
“Stop that. I’m still one of them, alright? Now run, the elevator is down that way,” Gracie gestured over to a cut-out along the wall, close to our position. I wanted to thank her, I really did, but as if reading my expression, her eyes softened a tad, “hey, don’t look at me like that. I’m going to kill you next time we meet, get it? If you go that soft, you’re going to die.”
I wanted an ally so badly, but this wasn’t the time. Without another word, I took off in a sprint towards the hallway. Behind me, a shot rang out, harmlessly whizzing by me and imbedding harmlessly in the wall ahead of me. Several more shots followed suit.
“Prisoner one has escaped to the north elevators. I repeat, prisoner one is at the northern elevators,” I could hear her call out behind me. I dug my feet into the metal floor deeper and ran all the breath I had remaining out.
The elevators appeared clearly in front of me once I turned the corner. Five different elevators, laid side-by-side, in a rather ornate metallic square opening at the end of the short hallway. I dashed up, slamming the up button as I reached the wall. More shots continued to ring out uselessly behind me, but now I heard further footsteps begin to grow louder and louder.
But the elevators didn’t hear my silent prayers. I cursed under my breath, backing up to a lip in the wall where the elevator room began. I saw Gracie take cover on the entrance to the hallway, reloading her gun as she shouted at the incoming guards.
“He’s reloading in there, charge his position!” She shouted the obvious lie, causing the sounds of running footsteps. I thanked her internally again for bluffing the other guards into forcing me into a fighting chance. Did that mean I was back to owing her? It was really hard to tell where her help ended, exactly.
I lashed a fist out at the first footstep to reach me, which happened to be a poor male guard. The man was struck directly in the front of his neck, and he dropped immediately. The gun in his hand clattered to the ground. I dove for the weapon, rolling upwards as I snatched it, and quickly unloaded into the hallway at random. Two more guards behind the first man were struck repeatedly, their bodies flailing as they dropped in a hail of blood. Whatever scattered remnants behind them ducked for cover back in the pipe room, in fear of retaliation.
Ding! Went the elevator, and the one directly in the center opened wide. Of course, it was the one in the center. I practically leapt through the elevator doors, slamming any random button inside as I pushed myself as close as I could to the sides of the elevator.
I shut my eyes, hearing the bullets barely whizzing past my body. Listening to the clacking of footsteps against a metal floor once more. Praying that the elevator door would just close.
And as the first guard just passed through the hallway, the doors shut.
Appreciate that the zakos have rivalries and different morals. Are some of them in this fight against their will? The way you write makes me want to see the good ones escape in the end. If the hero must fight Gracie again, will he try to save her? Will he at least kill her painlessly, and give her a last kiss?
Appreciate that the zakos have rivalries and different morals. Are some of them in this fight against their will? The way you write makes me want to see the good ones escape in the end. If the hero must fight Gracie again, will he try to save her? Will he at least kill her painlessly, and give her a last kiss?
I've always been fascinated by thinking about the backstories of the random henchwoman that appear in media, so it certainly was fun to flesh them out a tad. I think there may be more 'good zako' in the future, but I do enjoy off-ing them as well. Nobody is safe here.
As for your questions, well, you'll just have to find out.
Charlotte stepped out of the water-soaked tub, her feet daintily touching the bath towel on the floor before she reached for another to wipe her smooth, slim body dry. The long soak soothing her aching, strained muscles from the strenuous day before, Charlotte was glad to finally have a nice wind-down moment to herself. So much that she never even bothered to flip her phone on.
Once finishing her slow dressing of her lingerie, a colourful dyed t-shirt, and a shimmery white skirt, Charlotte began to methodically dry off her long, dark brunette hair.
It was as she finished that a knock sounded against her door. She ignored it at first, the heat from the hair dryer drawing a relaxing feeling against her scalp, before the knocks resumed. Now with more force, and much more urgency.
“I’m coming, I’m coming!” Charlotte shouted from her bathroom, rolling her eyes into the mirror. Whatever it was, couldn’t they spare her a few more seconds of relaxation? Or, maybe give a girl time to put her make-up on? The incessant knocking continued as Charlotte pondered these thoughts, stepping out of her bathroom and making the short walk towards the door.
Charlotte peaked through the eyehole in the door, the person she saw behind causing her to back off for a moment, frowning. Charlotte pursed her lips, collecting herself for a second before taking a deep breath and reaching for the door handle.
“About time! How much longer did you expect to force me to wait, Bauscher?” The woman’s presence practically exploded through the doorframe before the door even opened fully. The carpeted hallway behind her a calm contrast to her current forceful behavior.
Charlotte seemed unfazed by the louder woman, sighing instead before speaking,” ah, what do you want, Nina?”
“That is commander Nina, you worthless insect,” Nina snarled back, the woman’s svelte, toned body practically towering over Charlotte as she stepped forward. A woman not afraid to show off her body, Nina was dressed in only a tight sports bra and shorts, with matching runners to boot. Her dark hair tied up in a neat ponytail. It wasn’t overly surprising to Charlotte, as she knew that Nina was more often than not found in one of the building’s two gyms.
Behind her, Charlotte could notice two of Nina’s usual entourage standing behind her as usual. Tweedle-dee and tweedle-dumb, the blonde bimbos, something along those lines, anyway. Personally, Charlotte usually preferred the first nickname.
The tough, busty one with the tight black crop top and form hugging jeans was named Winter; the eye of almost every man in this whole place. All the male mercenaries around here always loved to hit on her, and every time they would usually find a boot pressed against their back. Nobody messed with Winter without her permission, though Charlotte usually figured the guys would always go lightly on her. Winter was one of the better fighters around, regardless.
The other, bitchier goon was Juliette. With her hands on her hips and a constant resting bitch face, Juliette wore a lighter coloured attire, with slightly less of her flat midriff revealed and a pink denim jacket overtop her crop top and white shorts. Though she was a lot more active, and generally sassier, Juliette was probably the epitome of all bark but no bite.
“Fine, commander Nina, what do you need,” Charlotte dryly responded back.
“You should have already known that, Bauscher! Have you been ignoring your phone? You are meant to be stationed on the 6th floor as of twenty minutes ago!” Nina continued to yell into her face.
“Twenty? Since when? The boss herself gave me the day off because of my success yesterday!” Charlotte felt her voice rising, though it was hard to keep her temper in-check in this situation.
“Hmm hmm, right, success,” Nina rolled her eyes, “five mercenaries leave to capture one agent, and somehow four of them die just to pull off the mission? You don’t think I’m gullible enough to believe that shit, do you?”
“Christ Nina, I don’t care if you believe me or not, I’m tired of this constant shit you keep giving me,” Charlotte snapped back, tensing Winter and Juliette in the background, “you got the head commander position for security over me, what else do you want?”
“Watch your tongue, Bauscher. Someone of my position can wipe you from this whole organization if I wanted to.”
“You’re going to do it anyway, so who cares?” Charlotte tried to bite her tongue, but in that heated moment, she couldn’t help it. The trigger was obvious, and she was getting pissed, “are you that upset over getting trashed in the last tournament that you still can’t let it go?”
Nina reached out faster than Charlotte could react. The front of her shirt was gripped, and Charlotte was shoved hard to the side. Her back slammed into the wall of her doorway. Charlotte winced at the brief stint of pain, gripping against Nina’s fist clenched tightly against her shirt.
“And would it not be a fucking shame if a dear little guard like you were to be found with a black eye and some broken bones from an unfortunate accident, hmm?” Nina mocked, her face close to Charlotte’s own as the larger woman kept her pressed against the wall.
“Nngh-, you’re…damn crazy,” Charlotte struggled against her grip, “we’re supposed to be…working together. The hell is wrong with you?”
Nina threw Charlotte through the door, her body slamming into the floor and rolling a short distance. Charlotte quickly raised her head, preparing to scramble to her feet.
“You see, I am not doing anything wrong. I am simply…punishing a rowdy mercenary for failing to follow simple directions,” Nina gave a smirk, giving a single snap of her fingers. Winter and Juliette stepped forward in turn, smiling as Juliette cracked her knuckles.
“I’ve always wanted to do this,” Juliette taunted, looking down at Charlotte. The cocky blonde had her hands placed firmly onto her hips, while Winter had already raised her fists.
Juliette then suddenly dashed forward with full force, aiming a kick at Charlotte before she could climb to her feet. Rather than blocking from her disadvantaged state, Charlotte quickly rolled to the side, dodging the other woman’s charge as she then used the momentum to leap to her feet.
Winter stepped forward quickly before Charlotte could find her balance, landing a quick jab against her chest before Charlotte hurried a sloppy defense to swat the other two away. Her attention diverted, Winter shot a quick sweeping kick at Charlotte’s feet, causing her to stumble to the side in a desperate attempt to regain her balance.
But Winter didn’t let up, delivering an undercut to her weakened opponent. The blow struck Charlotte right below her neck, causing her to yelp as her body jolted backwards. Winter kept her steeled gaze on Charlotte, preparing to inch forwards before Juliette stepped forward, breaking her concentration.
“Sheesh, Winter, give me a piece of that bitch!” Juliette declared, before rushing forward. Though the spot where Winter had struck her with the uppercut still stung, the distraction was long enough for Charlotte to recover a proper stance against her opponents.
Juliette carelessly rushed forward, excited to begin her assault on her now prepared opponent, opening with an easily blocked kick. The block didn’t stop her rush, however, as she hurriedly threw a left then right hook placed towards Charlotte’s head, which she blocked and dodged both attacks. The third punch, however, was caught by Charlotte as it predictably flew towards her. In one swift motion, Charlotte yanked her opponents caught fist, and elbowed her hard against her exposed face.
Juliette moaned out in pain, breaking free from Charlotte’s grasp as she held her face, and exposing her flat midriff for an easy shot. Of course, Charlotte took it, delivering the tip of her bare foot hard into the exposed skin. Juliette once more cried in pain, staggering backwards confused whether or not she should clutch her face or her midriff in pain. Charlotte made the decision for her, delivering a final hook against the woman’s cheek, sending the dazed Juliette flying into the nearest wall where she grasped it trying not to fall over.
Winter came back alive after watching Juliette go down, firing her more cautious, yet calculated punches at Charlotte’s chest. Though, with her composure back, Charlotte was able to turn in time, blocking and parrying each attack thrown at her by the other girl.
The fight continued, blow for blow. Though Winter had weakened Charlotte with a kick earlier, it didn’t seem like the blonde preferred to use them unless her opponent was completely exposed. Almost like a boxer, Winter always kept her hands up, supporting a very defensive fighting style centered around the top part of her body. Her movements, in turn, were similarly deft and efficient, poking quick, strong punches at Charlotte at every opportunity.
But just like Juliette, Winter had chosen to expose a good chunk of her flat midriff. A definite attraction to the boys, no doubt, but a clear target in a fight like this. And after a seemingly even fight where Charlotte would only occasionally land a weak punch against Winter’s shoulder, an opening finally showed itself. Charlotte took the chance, ducking under an overly wide punch from Winter to deliver a hard slam of her fist against her belly.
Winter winced, trying instead to slam her hands down onto Charlotte as she rushed her. But the colourful girl had already anticipated the move, and instead dodged around the weakened woman, while slamming an elbow into her similarly exposed back.
Charlotte knew the battle was finally hers.
Winter stumbled forward from the blow against her back, desperate to defensively face her opponent again. But now, she was weak, and far too exposed. As Winter’s head turned around, Charlotte was already in the middle of a high-powered spinning kick through the air.
“Kah-!” Winter cried in surprise, the kick slamming directly into her pretty lips. Winter’s head whipped backwards violently, as her whole body followed in suit. Her sexy voice moaned the whole time Winter flew through the air with her back arched, before it quieted into a whimper as she slammed into the ground. Her arms splayed to the side, and her head came to a rest, as Winter fluttered her eyes briefly before they shut. Charlotte stood there momentarily, savouring her satisfying victory over the cold Queen of the company, while also making sure that the woman was still breathing. She didn’t actually mind Winter as much as she did Juliette, but luckily Winter’s slow movement in her chest calmed Charlotte’s worries.
Though a thought quickly flashed through Charlotte’s head as she stared at Winter’s body, and before she could wonder where Nina had gone, a massive blow rocked the side of Charlotte’s head.
Charlotte yelped as her head slammed into the wall, her world going dizzy around her. The front of her shirt felt a grab, and the front of her face quickly found a fist slammed into it. Charlotte flew backwards, her face dazed until she felt the soft plush of the hallway’s rug impacting the back of her head. She found her own body sprawled out against the floor, putting a hand against her forehead in a useless attempt to stop the spinning of the world around her.
“Quit this waste of time, Bauscher. There’s an emergency,” Nina spoke with a cold gaze, her phone lit up in one hand as she looked down at Charlotte, “prisoner one has escaped.”
“Wh-,” Charlotte could barely form a coherent sentence as she heard the news. Five of the most elite mercenaries had been sent to capture prisoner one just yesterday, and only Charlotte had made it back alive, the prisoner cuffed in her possession. It was her greatest achievement, and yet he somehow had escaped that quickly? She had loved a good fight, but that man was on a whole different level to the point that it sent shudders through her body.
“Ooh looks like you get off lightly today, Char,” Juliette stumbled up beside Nina, holding her forehead as she spat on Charlotte’s shirt. There was a smug smirk down at her as well. The useless bitch.
“We need to get to basement six,” Nina said curtly, walking away from Charlotte without a second thought. She stepped over Winter’s knocked out body before addressing Juliette again, “ugh, and can you carry this useless cunt to the infirmary, please?”
“At once, commander,” Juliette responded chirpily, shooting one last smug glance at Charlotte before she took Winter by her midsection.
And failed to actually lift her. Nina had long walked off down the hallway already as Juliette grunted and heaved at trying to lift Winter’s unconscious body, before finally reverting to just dragging her along the carpet by her arms.
Prisoner one, huh? Charlotte could reminisce about how it was the scariest mission she had ever done, but if he was truly freed, there was no telling what he could do. She resolved within her head to, once again, bring him down. Then, maybe, she could finally quell all those rumors about her.
But, for now, the public, yet clean red carpet lining the 12th floor hallway felt oddly soothing at the moment, and Charlotte felt herself needing to rest her head on it for just a bit longer…
=====
It was just another regular old day inside the building’s public gym. One of the two large gyms in the place, this one offered a great amount of space, excellent natural light from a thin window spanning one end to the other, and some of the best state-of-the-art exercise equipment. On another lazy day like this one, the gym was mostly filled with the usual fat tourists trying to get in shape during their vacation, the more fit tourist just keeping up with their usual regime, and the occasional member of security trying to keep in top physical condition.
In one corner of the gym, where a training dummy was set up, a young, toned girl practiced against her cushiony foe. She slammed the dummy with clean precision, practicing straight punches, formed kicks, and pristine balance with every strike. Her clothes were light, simple, and airy, sporting a white crop top and light denim shorts. Her beautiful long hair flowed delicately down her body, contrasting with her tough fighting skills.
The girl backed off after a moment, rubbing her hands and blowing into them, before winding up for a powerful roundhouse kick. The kick crashed against the dummy’s head, sending the poor inanimate object springing to the side and nearly fell off its springs.
“Whew! Caitlyn, don’t trash the poor thing!” Another girl laughed from as she sauntered up to her friend, “who knows how much that costs.”
The new girl had a body just as fine as Caitlyn’s sporting tight blue sweats instead and a similarly tight, very low-cut swimwear style top.
Caitlyn breathed out, reaching down for her hand towel and bottle of water on the floor.
“Ah, I’m sure it’ll be fine. I’m not as strong as it looks, its just the technique,” Caitlyn smiled, wiping her sweat filled brow with her towel, “oh, sorry, did you need to practice here, Lauren?”
Lauren immediately held her hands out, waving, “oh, no, no, no, I was just on my way to do a little cardio. Gotta admire your technique as I was passing by, y’know?”
Caitlyn blushed a bit, “oh, well, thank you. I’m hoping its good enough to make a name around here.”
“Aww, now don’t be so humble,” Lauren smirked, cocking her head upwards, “you know a lot of girls here talk a big game, but they’re just a couple’a villain wannabes.”
Caitlyn paused, taking a large gulp out of her water bottle, “I thought you had to be pretty good to make it in a place like this.”
Lauren put a hand against her hip, “well I mean, if you want to survive, yeah. Doesn’t mean the majority here either overestimate themselves, fell into it accidentally and can’t get out, or…ah, you get the idea.”
She gestured to a small bench near the training area, which Caitlyn accepted graciously. The two sat down quietly, as Caitlyn finished the last of her water.
“You’re pretty new, right?” Lauren spoke up again, “think you mentioned our shift together a few weeks ago was one of your first.”
“Yeah,” Caitlyn responded, chewing on her future words a little more. Lauren continued, though, before she could finish.
“Mmm, never did ask how you ended up here. Or is that info off limits?”
Caitlyn paused, fixing her hair slightly in the massive floor-to-ceiling mirror in front of the pair, “I hear you’re not supposed to mention that, usually.”
“Well, yeah, of course. I was just curious, is all,” Lauren’s smile was soft as she turned away, adjusting her position, “kind of fell into the Italian mafia myself. Grew up a bit of a fighter, bit of a talker. Wanted to distance myself a bit from that life before it completely took over and…I took this job.”
“T-The mafia?” Caitlyn looked over with a worried stare. Lauren looked over and immediately blushed with a guilty smile.
“Oh, no, no, don’t worry! That was two years ago, and I just grew up with them a bit,” Lauren rubbed the back of her neck, “admittedly I think this place is a little more dangerous than that sometimes and wonder if it was the right choice.”
“I-Is this something you should be telling me?”
“I don’t mind trusting someone from time-to-time,” Lauren’s grin returned, “’sides, you just scream innocence to me.”
“H-Hey!”
Lauren burst out laughing, “kidding, kidding! But no really, this place has some pretty hardened criminals. Can you blame a girl for wanting to befriend the rare normal girl that rolls around?”
Caitlyn finally cracked a smile, fixing her hair again, “I guess not. But…I don’t really want to be innocent either. I think I can really make it in the mercenary world.”
“Eh, sure about that? Rumor has been spreading fast that your skills are definitely the real deal but…” Lauren trailed off for a second, “you know its pretty hard to leave once you’re up there, right?”
Caitlyn shrugged, “could say I was, ah, born into the interest as well.”
“Fair, fair, girls gotta have her secrets,” Lauren kicked her legs out, the two girls giggling at the conversation. A sudden buzz from Lauren’s pocket changed both their glances, however.
“Oops, sorry,” Lauren apologized quickly, pulling the phone out of her pocket as Caitlyn left to throw her water bottle in the recycle bin. The Italian girl fell quiet as Caitlyn returned to her seat, as the air grew tense and constraining.
“Is…is it something bad?” Caitlyn asked, looking over at Lauren’s hunched face over the glow of her phones screen.
“Umm,” Lauren paused, taking a deep breath, “you, umm, remember the thing that happened with Charlotte’s group yesterday?”
Caitlyn looked at her friend for a moment, shifting uncomfortably in her spot, “n-not exactly, I never asked.”
Lauren took another deep breath, setting her phone down on her lap and turning her head over to Caitlyn.
“Yeah well, you probably remember Knox Ludlow, the previous commander of security, right? He, Evan, Brooklyn, Quinn, and Charlotte set out like, yesterday morning to stop a person of interest that was apparently headed here.”
“O-Oh, gosh, was Quinn that bald guy with the brown beard and the eagle tattoo on his back?” Caitlyn asked, her eyes wide.
“Yup.”
“I got paired with him a while back, gosh was that man intimidating!” Caitlyn exclaimed, her eyes wide.
“Heh, understatement. That entire group was probably the best fighters we have in this entire building. Brooklyn usually worked as the head warden and the executioner downstairs and was the coldest woman I’ve ever met before. Charlotte…” Lauren looked up, “actually Charlotte is really nice. But, don’t let that fool you, every woman here knows Charlotte is the strongest of any of us.”
“Is that right? I’ve never been paired with her before, she sounds like someone I’d like to try fighting,” Caitlyn mused wistfully.
“Ah,” Lauren coughed, “well long story short everyone but Charlotte died.”
“W-What?!” Caitlyn leaned closer, almost to try and hope that Lauren was just joking as usual. Though, there was no smile in the other girl, “b-but they were…at least this person of interest is dead, right?”
“Yeah, umm, see, that’s where this little text comes in,” Lauren lifted her phone up for Caitlyn to see. Across the glowing screen, a clear message displayed along the incoming text alerts:
‘EMERGENCY – PRISONER 01 IS LOOSE. CANNOT LEAVE COMPOUND. SECURITY SECTION C TO MEET FOR EMERGENCY MEETING IN 10 MINUTES. LOCATION H.’
Caitlyn swallowed loudly, the sounds of laboured breathing from fat tourists working out around them dulling and slicing away to the tension hanging in the air.
“Yeah, my meeting starts in seven minutes, I guess,” Lauren cut the silence, taking her phone back. Caitlyn noticed the girl’s hands shaking slightly as she slipped the device back in her pocket.
“I-I guess that’s why that girl Nina got put as a temporary commander yesterday,” Caitlyn whispered, her voice soft.
“Fuck Nina, you think she’s capable of handling a situation like this?!” Lauren suddenly shot back in an outburst, startling Caitlyn, “that spoiled bitch can’t do shit! The only reason she is even commander is because Charlotte rejected the offer. We’re going to be lucky that Nina doesn’t sacrifice us one-by-one into this guy until we all bleed to death!”
Caitlyn reeled backwards, clutching her hands to her chest with a wide-eyed look. Lauren took a good look at Caitlyn’s face, before realizing her volume, and immediately backed down with a timid sorry. She sheepishly looked around the room, where nearby tourists had shot a glance to her, but quickly turned their heads back to their exercise routine when she noticed.
“Sorry, I’m…” Lauren paused, pursing her lips, “I’m just scared. The missions I get sent on is just passive bodyguarding. The pretty woman to stand in the background looking intimidating. I-I can’t face someone that took out four of our strongest mercenaries alone! I-I’m…I’m just one of the villain wannabes!”
Caitlyn inched forward, putting a hand on Lauren’s shoulder, “hey, relax, I’m sure you’ll get stationed somewhere far away from the potential action. Someone’ll nab him, and everything will go back to normal after.”
Lauren shifted in her position, letting a distressed breath out before giving a weak smile back to Caitlyn, “heh, of course someone with your skills has that optimism.”
Caitlyn readied to make another calming response to her friend, before a different sound interrupted her.
“That crying coming from you, Laurie?” A new, loud, and chirpy voice suddenly sounded from behind the pair. Lauren jumped out of her seat as the new woman put a hand against her head.
“A-Agh-! M-Madison! And for y-your information, I was NOT crying!” Lauren fought back, clutching the top of her head blushing as Madison roared a jolly laugh.
“Sure, sounded like it! But whatever, just like she said, I’m sure we can overcome this no problem,” Madison spoke with a loud, cheery voice. Though her vivid, bright red hair still fluffed and bobbed over the place, Madison’s nylon jacket and pants suggested that the woman had just finished a workout in the gym as well.
Lauren just pouted in return, shaking her head to return some kind of composure in the face of the new girl, “a-anyway, we’re both in C so, lets go to the meeting together?”
“You’re just scared to run into Prisoner 01, aren’t you.”
“I am not!” Lauren screeched back, to Madison’s entertainment. Caitlyn had trouble stifling her own giggling too, causing Lauren to shoot her a hurt look.
“But yes, that is the smart idea. Come then, miss Crocetti, we can’t be late now!”
With that, Madison gave Caitlyn a delicate little wave, before skipping away to the gyms exist. Lauren looked over to Caitlyn, giving a worried look which Caitlyn responded to with a thumbs up. Satisfied, or pushed by Madison’s rather speedy exist, Lauren quickly shuffled after the cheery redhead.
Now alone to her thoughts, Caitlyn looked at her reflection in the mirror. Her section was F, so it was probably some time until she got a text, but…she couldn’t help but grin back at herself. There was one thing she had never mentioned to her new friend.
Mostly, the martial arts trophy’s she had won through Junior and Amateur circuits. The boredom she felt after sweeping the competition so heavily. The excitement she felt in her chest to write a story with her as the villain.
Caitlyn knew what she had gotten herself into, and she was excited at the prospect at fighting the first real battle of her life. She just had to grin at that idea.
Nah, two of the girls that died are just straight up not on the 25 picture roster, and everyone else was just KO'ed. Initially I only intended for the girls that survive more than one update to be on that roster, but then was too lazy to edit Sierra out.
At some point I had better planning for that roster picture when I only had 25 references, but then I just randomly picked up more before I started writing, lol
...Honestly I should put names in the first post since I liked to use recurring Zako's. I don't expect anyone to remember who is who without one.
And as the first guard just passed through the hallway, the doors shut.
I breathed a quick sigh of relief, before my mind swapped quickly from panic mode into observation. The elevator itself wasn’t anything old, but clean, metallic, and modern with shining reflective railings and a plush, deep red coloured rug. The elevator buttons were many, plastering both sides of the elevator door with a display above showing the elevator steadily rising. All-in-all, there were about 30 floors in this building, and 10 different basement floors. I also noticed how floors 15-17, 27-29, and every floor from B5 and below were all highlighted with a bright red button.
And I had just been on basement floor 6. One of the restricted floors.
The elevator stopped. My heart jumped. The random button I had highlighted was floor 12, and the floor which the elevator was slowing down on…was L. The lobby.
I stood straight at attention, both trying to look normal and being prepared for a fight. The elevator was small, so if someone hostile entered, I would immediately subdue them. By now, I figured I was someone with immense fighting ability, so I felt confident in my chances of winning. A thirty floor tower; who knows what kind of organization I was against, and what hostiles inhabited the ground floor of the tower?
The door opened, and I braced for the impact.
Or the…sounds of…shopping? The door opened and all I was greeted by was a vivid backdrop of several people laughing, drinking, and walking around what appeared to be a shopping district filled with tables, plants, and a fountain. Individuals and families swung their bags around without a care in the world with smiles on their faces. Needless to say, I was very confused.
Where the hell am I?
As I observed the outside, the elevators intended customer stepped inside, giving a side-eye towards me as she did. The sweet-smelling blonde woman wore a simple, low cut white tank top with buttons running vertically down the middle, and tight denim jeans. Her features were definitely soft and delicate, though after the women I had run into in the basement, I was still ever weary.
As the woman flashed a card along a reader in the elevator and pressed the 28th floor, I crossed my arms and turned my head to the side, in some bad attempt to look casual.
“Rough day at work, huh?” Came a voice as the elevator doors came to a slow rolling stop. I wanted to be weary at the sudden initiation of conversation but, the second the woman spoke, I just couldn’t feel panicked at all. Her voice was the softest, innocent, and airiest voice I think I had ever heard. From just one word, I felt as if I was taking a nap on a cloud, listening to the sounds of her voice all around me.
Wait, no, I couldn’t be relaxing. I still had to respond to her somehow.
“Yeah, was it obvious?” I turned my head to her direction, seeing her gentle smile, before giving an eye down at my own clothes, which were dirtied and tattered.
She giggled, “well, at least you seem to be headed back to relax by the looks of it,” she spoke as her eyes glanced over at the two lit up elevator buttons.
“Yeah,” I responded, “I need a rest after that one.” I still honestly had no idea what job she assumed I had, but apparently, I had picked a relaxing floor.
“Mmm…that’s good. Perhaps I’ll see you around then when you’re clean,” the woman smirked, giving a wink, “my names Lucille. Haven’t seen a man like you around before.”
My heart nearly stopped at words, but not in a bad way. Was this woman actually hitting on me?
“U-Uh,” I coughed into a fist, “yeah, I’m new here.” The elevator began to slow down.
“Well then, mister new guy, its rather rude to leave a woman hanging without a name after she gave hers, you know.”
The elevator door opened up.
“How about you find out after we see each other again?” I teased, taking a step towards the exit.
“Ooh, a mysterious man, huh?” Lucille gave another giggle and a dainty wave in my direction, “I’ll be waiting, then,”
Yeah, I’m a pretty mysterious man, alright.
I turned my head just in time to avoid nearly bumping into another woman waiting for the elevator.
“S-Sorry!” I mumbled, barely dodging the other woman as she fixated on the open elevator door.
“Is this going down?” She asked.
Lucille shook her head, “up, darling.”
“Ah,” the woman gave a sigh, turning back to me and giving me a nod as the elevator doors closed.
I smiled back to her, before beginning to walk down the new hallway I had come into, observing the scenery as usual.
The thin hallway was rather fancy, with the same deep red patterned plush carpet spanning the whole distance, and the hallway branching immediately into two directions. Before me, a shining wooden plaque, which seemed to be listing the directions of different sets of room numbers.
“Excuse me.”
The same voice came back from behind me. Polite, but now curt and with trepidation. I turned my head around as the woman waiting for the elevator had just slightly brushed the fingertips of her left hand against my arm.
Finally getting a proper glimpse of the rather pretty woman, I noticed her delicate black dress, stopping high along her thighs to showcase her long, beautiful legs. Her eyes glistened, and her face was pristine.
Though, past her lovely features, she just couldn’t hide the look on her face. The look of shock that just told me that she knew exactly who I was.
The woman tried pulling her arm back, but I was much quicker. I snatched her arm with my hand, gripping it tightly as I yanked her entire body forward with all my strength. Her body jumped forward with a yelp, only to meet the crushing blow of my clenched right fist. The attack drove directly into the woman’s stomach, causing her to gasp in surprise. In another fast movement, I twisted her body around, switching my grasp of her left arm into a headlock holding her firmly in place. The woman shuddered, shaking feebly in my arms.
A quick dispatch was a welcome change from the basement floors, but I paused for a moment. I was still unsure what kind of person I was, or who she even could be. There wasn’t exactly definitive proof that everyone in this building was a hostile guard, considering that it definitely looked like some kind of living complex or hotel of sorts. And even then, this woman could have just been a civilian that recognized me as someone hostile.
“P-Please,” her voice whimpered in my arms. The headlock happened so quickly that I honestly felt a little bad for her if she actually was a guard.
Finally, I decided on the third option. I released her head from the lock. She stumbled forwards, but before she could even think of running, I snatched her shoulders from behind and whirled her body around. Her beautiful, shimmering eyes glowed in terror at my face, but I shut them quickly with another firm punch.
“Agh-!” Her voice gasped, her body flinching at the hit, before it collapsed to the floor like a ragdoll. Those lovely, toned legs now stretched out along the floor, as her face switched into a calm unconscious peace.
Even if this woman was not a real hostile, she could still alert more harmful enemies. Though, I still felt a little bad for her.
I stepped around her body, picking it up gently by holding her just between her arms. Her unconscious head falling to one side, leaning her cheek softly against my arm.
I dragged her body towards the intersection, checking around the corner first to see what awaited me. Indeed, the sides of the hallway were lined with large, bulky wooden doors. A card reader below each handle led me to believe that the building could indeed be a hotel. A further distance away, the corridor looked to turn at a 90-degree angle again and continue in a direction away from the elevators I came from.
Still dragging the woman’s rather light body along with me, looking for a potential open utility room to hide it in, I started hearing noises from around the corner. I approached the corner slowly, and as I got closer, I could definitely hear what sounded like a fight occurring.
I moved into a hole cut out in the hallway containing two vending machines and set the woman’s body seated along the wall, hidden in the corner behind one machine. I held her legs, pushing them in to try and remain hidden as best as possible, but it was a rushed job at best.
Thump!
The sound came loudly from around the corner. The end of the fight? I dashed and peeked around the corner just in time to see a toned brunette in gym clothes step towards another colourfully dressed brunette. This one was occupied looking at one unconscious blonde woman laying on the floor, and another blond woman still trying to steady herself along the wall.
Just then, the gym woman gave a surprise elbow against the colourful girl, knocking to the side with one, precise powerful blow. The colourful woman slammed into the wall, before the gym woman grabbed a fistful of the colourful woman’s shirt and slammed a punch directly into her dazed face. This final blow sent her sprawling to the floor.
“Quit this waste of time, Bauscher. There’s an emergency,” the gym woman spoke down, a brightly lit phone held in one hand, “prisoner one has escaped.”
I ducked behind the corner. Prisoner one? Escaped? Unless there were multiple escapes that happened in the last several minutes, it was safe to assume I was prisoner one.
I stayed hidden around the corner, afraid to peek my head out. These women were most definitely threats, and it was unwise to challenge the strong looking gym woman in this tight corridor with no feasible exit afterwards.
Their conversation continued for a few more seconds, before I heard dragging noises sound in the opposite direction. I dared a peek, only to see the blonde woman dressed in pink dragging away the unconscious blonde woman. The gym dressed brunette had already strode off down the hallway, to what I assumed was likely another elevator in that direction. The woman with the colourful shirt, however, was still dazed on the floor, and seemed to just be laying there.
I waited a moment for the gym woman’s group to definitely be out of earshot. The remaining woman, who seemed to be referred to as Bauscher, was now gripping her head in a daze, seemingly still struggling to get off the floor. She was definitely injured or weakened, but definitely a fighter and most likely a high threat considering their conversation earlier. Though, in her weakened state, what ploys could I try to perhaps hide in one of these rooms?
And at the same time, I didn’t want to wait long enough for someone else to enter this hallway. So, I eventually decided on the best course of action:
Just wing it. Hey, it’s worked so far.
“Are you…okay?” I stepped up to Bauscher, extending out a hand once I was in front of her.
Bauscher was still on the ground, rubbing her head as I came around from behind her.
“I-I’m fine. Th-,” she didn’t finish her sentence, looking up from her position to see the person who had extended his hand to her. I wasn’t surprised by her reaction, but if I was someone meant to be feared, it was definitely the reaction I needed.
“Yeah, you’re surprised, aren’t you?” I bluffed, still keeping my hand extended.
“I-I ain’t hallucinating, am I?” She laughed with grim resignation.
“I’m afraid not,” I responded as Bauscher finally took my hand, steadily shaking herself to her feet, “what is your name?”
She looked up, pursing her lips with a look of apprehension, “Charlotte.”
“Charlotte Bauscher, then?” I asked. Charlotte winced slightly, like I just bruised her ego.
“Eh, you saw that earlier then, didn’t you?”
“Yeah.”
Charlotte sighed, before she started looking behind her shoulders carefully.
“…You don’t remember anything, do you?” She finally asked cautiously as she turned her head back. The question made my heart jump, but Charlotte quickly noticed my accidental defensive posture and immediately raised her hands, “hey, hey, relax. I’m just asking.”
“What’s it to you?” I retaliated back, careful of her motives. Did I reveal too much?
“Just calm down, alright? C’mon, my rooms this one,” Charlotte gestured over to a door left ajar. She stepped forward slowly, looking back to make sure I wasn’t going to attack her from behind.
“Go ahead,” I gestured, following her closely into the room. I made sure to keep watch of her hands and my immediate surroundings, but there was no way a trap was prepared this conveniently considering I had pressed a random floor on the elevator.
Some relaxing floor this has been.
Charlotte’s room wasn’t anything that I didn’t expect. A single room with a single bathroom just beside the entrance, and seemingly freshly used from the steam. A small kitchen area in the corner beside the washroom, a single bed, and some desks and tables made up the brunt of the hotel-like furniture, as a patio stretched out from past a tall window by the ends of the room. Past that, it was difficult to see what surrounded the building, as the sun was beaming rather brightly against the glass. The room did look more lived in than a regular hotel room, however, and the numerous action figurines surrounding a computer set-up along the back desk was evidence of that.
Something like this, but with a desktop in the back, and much more space. The bathroom is behind the camera.
Charlotte stepped slowly into the room, keeping her hands slightly raised as if I held a weapon behind her.
“Close the door behind you?” She spoke, her head peeking back slightly as she did. I followed her instructions, keeping her well in sight as I shut the door behind me without looking.
“Right. What’s your plan?” I cut straight into it with a blunt tone.
Charlotte looked down for a moment, before turning around, “I mean, clearly you’ve lost your memory if you already forgot that I’m your undercover contact.”
Now that’s a development I didn’t expect.
“I’m sorry, what?” Came my answer in a more surprised tone than expected. Charlotte snickered, turning around to give a grin at me before suddenly wincing. She moved a hand to steady her head, as she leaned her other against the wall.
“W-Whoa, hey are you okay?” I asked, rushing over to help her. Charlotte shook the help off quickly, but her face still seemed pained.
“Y-Yeah, sorry. Still a bit dizzy from earlier. That bitch knocked me down with a dirty move,” Charlotte shook her head before walking deeper into the room.
“Maybe you should have a seat?”
“Yeah, probably,” she responded, before moving over to one side of the bed. I inched forward closely as well, taking a seat on the bed next to her. Outside, I could hear a sudden flurry of activity. A stampede of rushed feet sounded in the hallway outside.
“Guess they know you’re here,” Charlotte remarked, staring towards the door.
“That was fast,” I spoke, switching to a bit of a whisper.
“Yeah, I mean, if you took the elevator here, there’s a camera inside, y’know?”
Well that was good information.
“Who was that woman anyway? The, uh, one in the gym clothing?” I asked, switching the topic. I wasn’t sure how much time I had here, so it was important to gather as much information as possible. In my mind, I was still unsure whether or not this person was really who she says she is. However, despite lacking any memory, I had that instinct in the back of my mind as always which told me she was someone I should recognize. Someone I was already familiar with. It was a good a guess than anything else.
“Nina Repinski,” Charlotte answered, leaning her head in her hands, “current commander of the guard. I’m sure you’ve run into many of those to get here, right?”
“Yeah, I…” I paused for a moment, reflecting on the adrenaline that took me all the way to this point, “it was one hell of an escape for sure.”
“I’ll bet. Sorry, I thought you were…dead, you know? Being taken down for execution and everything,” Charlotte rubbed the back of her head, “really feel like I could’ve done more for you.”
“All’s well that ends well, right? Except my memory, I suppose,” I flashed her a small smile, “well, maybe you could fill me in on who I am and where I’m at right now? Getting shot at while being utterly confused isn’t my idea of a good time.”
“Oh, you’re injured!” She suddenly exclaimed, moving a hand around my tattered shirt. I guess I didn’t notice it before, but there were various cuts and bruises all over the top half of my body, and it was difficult not to wince every time Charlotte’s hand moved slowly over each injury.
“Agh, yeah, I hadn’t noticed those yet,” I exclaimed briefly, content with having Charlotte watch over my body for a moment. Her hands did feel rather soft, after all.
“Hold on, lemme see if I have somethin’ to treat this with,” Charlotte moved back, scooting to the ends of the bed to reach over at a single drawer attached to a nightstand beside the bed.
“Yeah, thanks.”
A tug in my mind. The same sensation that pulled my body through the breakout even as my amnesiac mind failed to process anything.
And the tug told me that my guard was down.
Never let your guard down in this place. I had once told myself that as I arrived in this place. The brief memory of words returning to my head.
“Stop-!” I called out suddenly, jumping up and reaching out at Charlotte’s arm as she opened the nightstand drawer. And just as my height allowed it, I could see. There were no ointments or bandages inside that drawer.
There was only one single pistol.
Charlotte already began to tackle me before I registered the sight in my mind. My body fell to the floor within an instant, with the full force of hers slamming on top as it did.
I switched to an immediate panic mode, catching her fist before it came down right onto my face. Charlotte blinked, her immediate reaction to try and twist her fist free from my grip. Noticing that the move seemed to nearly tip her off balance, I made my own push, punching her defenseless body with my free hand.
Charlotte grimaced, her eyes seemed desperate to focus on the fight, yet continued to fail her. I punched her in the same spot one more time, then two more times, until she finally lost her balance above my body. Her own body weakened by the blows, she provided no resistance when I pushed upwards with all my strength, practically throwing her off.
Her eyes widened as she tumbled backwards, landing flat on her ass still trying to twist her fist free from my grip. I didn’t think it was the strongest grip, but Charlotte really didn’t have much strength left in her for this fight; the battle I witnessed beforehand the likely culprit. Beginning to become desperate, Charlotte began to hack at my arm with her free hand, an almost fearful look in her eye.
Well I could have given some mercy, but she was the bitch here, not me.
She wasn’t even looking at my free hand as it swallowed her throat in one grab. I lifted her whole body up from just her neck, carrying her one step forwards before slamming her down on top of the bed. I finally released the fist she spent so long desperately trying to free and clasped both my hands down onto her throat.
Her eyes looked directly up at me, and now I could clearly see those large, fear-filled eyes. She waved wildly, switching from desperately slapping my head, to trying to choke me herself without the strength to actually do so.
It was in these slow moments of Charlotte’s final seconds of her life that I finally heard the loud knocking sounding against the hallway. Stampede of feet, loud voices, and pounding on doors rang through the hallway outside. Perhaps they had found the body by the vending machine, or maybe Charlotte managed to call reinforcements somehow. Whatever the reason, I was certain people outside began to search for me.
Charlotte still struggled in my hands. She was definitely as strong as her will to live was. But I didn’t want to let this one go. I wanted to make her feel pain. I wanted to tell her that nobody dares betray my trust like that.
The knocking sounded close enough to be the door next-door. I was out of time. I could dive for the gun in the drawer on the opposite side of the bed to make quick work of this wriggling mess in my hands, but she definitely wouldn’t let me, nor did I know if it was loaded.
I was out of time. This was no position to be in to subdue the numerous hostiles I could hear outside.
I released Charlotte’s neck, “how do I escape,” I snarled at her.
Charlotte’s eyes were wider with surprise now than anything, as her body immediately began swallowing as much air it possibly could.
“Bal…cony…be…low-…” She gasped desperately to give me an answer.
The knock rang against the front door.
My fist came down one last time.
…
===
Caitlyn breathed deeply, watching the numbered display count slowly down to its designated floor. Once again, she looked down at her clothes and adjusted her white sports bra for the third time, making sure it was on tight and snug. She had since managed to quickly change into these blue jeans and a delicate, see-through shawl overtop after Lauren had left with her emergency notice. It was certainly a little tougher than what she had on earlier, and Caitlyn was always paranoid about worrying about her wardrobe being restrictive when the time came.
Ding!
The door opened to the twelfth floor, and Caitlyn stepped inside. A man familiar to her dressed in full combat gear complete with an assault rifle stood guard at the hallway, peering down the corner before turning his head towards her.
“Oh great, they sent me another girl!” He exclaimed exasperated. Caitlyn was almost taken aback by his remark.
“E-Excuse me?” She replied.
“And the hell are you wearing? You gonna seduce the guy to death?” He gestured at her top.
“No, I’m here to deal with our issue, not take sexist remarks from you, Cade,” Caitlyn seethed back.
“Heh, right, right. So long as you’re the one that finds him first, you can take the blow for us,” Cade laughed.
“With pleasure. I’ll deliver it back tenfold.”
Cade coughed, “ain’t no time like the present to show those skills you say you have. Anyways, cameras in the elevator caught Prisoner 01 stepping onto this floor. A sweep together with the south team gave no results, so we’re checking doors now.”
“Got it,” Caitlyn nodded, “where do you want me to start?”
Cade had already prepared a response, before a yelling down the hall stole his attention.
“Boss!” The male voice cried, “there’s an incapacitated woman here!”
Cade rushed over immediately, Caitlyn tagging behind closely. As she turned the corner to view the nook where a set of vending machines always stood ever-ready, the mercenary who yelled was already hunched over an unconscious woman, checking her vitals.
“F-Faith?” Caitlyn exclaimed, leaning down with the other man. Caitlyn recognized the woman as another guard she had stationed with once before. A rather kind and elegant woman, it almost enraged Caitlyn to see such a person in this state.
“Yeah, she’s still breathing though. Vitals are good,” the mercenary spoke, looking back.
“Jesus,” Cade sighed, putting a hand to his head, “get this woman to the infirmary immediately.”
“At once!” The mercenary replied back, already preparing to gently lift Faith from her wedged position.
“Caitlyn, join Hailey down this hallway in searching the rooms,” Cade continued to command, pointing down the right side of the hall, “maybe pairing two of you women together will make one man.”
Caitlyn hesitated for a moment, wanting to spit back a snarling remark, but this wasn’t the place for a retaliation. Caitlyn simply spat out a, “yes sir,” and a glare to Cade before stomping down the hall.
Hailey was just a bit further down the bend, checking beneath the bed of an empty seeming room. Deep down the hallway in the distance, Caitlyn could see a mix of numerous other high tier mercenaries and regular guards like her. She continued to walk past several similarly open and closed rooms, with someone checking inside or talking to a person at the door. All the stops were really pulled to find this guy.
The other mercenaries were much higher paid than them due to their supposed skills, and it created a sense of elitism from them, even despite the fact that only half of them even were allowed to hold guns. Company policy severely reduced the number of guns in the building and allowed all the regular guards to wear plains clothes, citing a fear of worrying guests with the amount of security there really was in the hotel. It was a rather risky strategy when faced with an actual crisis such as this, but Caitlyn always welcomed the ability to dress in whatever she pleased.
“Hailey, how’s the search?” Caitlyn asked as she stepped into the room Hailey was in, so to not spook the girl. Hailey stood up slowly from searching below the single bed in the room, fixing her hair. The other girl was dressed as impractically as possible, dressed in tattered white jeans and a shimmery green top that barely covered much of anything. It didn’t even seem to be doing a very good job at keeping her…front down. It was just like her.
“Ugh, some of these beds are filthy,” Hailey groaned, “if this guy was so great, why doesn’t he just run and gun down the hallway instead of forcing us to play hide and seek?”
“Pretty…dangerous thing to wish of,” Caitlyn remarked.
“Yeah, I guess.”
Caitlyn had never been stationed with Hailey before, but the girl was mentioned to her once or twice before. Another university aged student, Hailey was apparently a dropout who probably decided to lump into this life just as an excuse to work at a ‘paradise resort’. Probably for her Instagram or something, but nobody cared enough to ask how many followers she really had. It bothered Caitlyn to be compared with someone so lax just because they were the same age.
“I got 1204,” a mercenary spoke quickly to the pair as they were leaving their room, “get 1205?”
“Yeah, we will,” Caitlyn replied, looking both ways before leaving the room. The hallways were absolutely flooded with security anyway, but Caitlyn preferred to be cautious.
Charlotte? Caitlyn remembered the name from earlier. The supposed strongest female mercenary in the whole building. Caitlyn was rather curious what her room could look like, or even if she was inside at the moment. Though, it wouldn’t make sense for command to leave such a valuable person to rest while Prisoner 01 ran amok.
“I dunno, I’ve never been there,” Caitlyn responded, giving a hard knock against 1205’s door.
“Ooh, pretty sure it is! Charlotte’s a big deal, y’know? I got a selfie with her before,” Hailey bragged, smiling.
Caitlyn gave a second hard knock against the door, to no response, “that all you think about? Don’t you think you should be careful about posting selfies of certain criminals around here?”
“Oh, don’t be so serious. I know better than to publish a picture like that,” Hailey snapped back.
Caitlyn knocked a third time, but the response was the same.
“Nobody there, lets check inside?” Caitlyn asked, already pulling out their all-inclusive guard key card.
“You think she’d mind if I took a picture inside?”
“…Yes. Quite.”
Caitlyn inserted the key card into the lock, pulling it out to receive the ever-familiar green blip of light signalling entry. She pushed down the handle, pushing the heavy wooden door in and stepping inside the room.
The windows were shut tightly, and many of action figures still stood upright and organized along the desk in the corner around the computer monitor. Besides a terribly messy looking bed, the room seemed to be relatively normal.
Caitlyn stepped forward, noting the open bathroom door leading into a bathroom filled with steam. It seemed to be just in use, but Charlotte wasn’t here? Caitlyn figured she must have been in a hurry. Likely because of the Prisoner 01 incident.
“This rooms a lot plainer than I expected,” Hailey commented, stepping forward behind Caitlyn, observing the room with surprise and curiosity. The heavy wooden door slowly coming to a close on its own as it was designed to.
“What were you expecting?” Caitlyn asked back.
“I mean, something fancier for someone like her.”
“Well the desktop back there’s pretty expensive looking,” Caitlyn gestured to the desktop in the back.
“Yeah but that’s nerd stuff,” Hailey replied, uninterested. Her attention turned to the bathroom, “well I’m just gonna look there alright?”
Caitlyn nodded, stepping into the wider stretch of the room.
And that’s when she finally noticed. Around the corner, on the kitchen floor, was Charlotte’s unconscious body.
“Hailey, be careful-!” Caitlyn called, rushing forward to put a finger on Charlotte’s neck. A pulse, luckily, but the woman was out cold.
“The hell did you find?” Hailey spoke back immediately, turning her head.
Because of that, she didn’t notice the person standing behind the bathroom door. The door slammed hard against Hailey’s cheek, causing the girl to stumble.
Hailey yelped in surprise, trying to catch her balance. But before she could recover, the unknown person had already stepped aggressively forward, steadying Hailey by her shoulder before slamming a hard punch directly across the center of her face.
Hailey dropped like a stack of bricks, her body flying a steps distance before collapsing against the carpeted floor. Her cheek pressed against the floor, unconscious.
Caitlyn stood up, taking a step back. The man that exited the bathroom was standing between Caitlyn and the firmly shut room exit. He took slow steps forward, stepping over Hailey’s unconscious body.
She was so excited with anticipation for this very moment, but now that she was faced with it, Caitlyn’s heart couldn’t help but pound hard. Not with excitement, but with fear and dread.
The man before her was cut and bruised all over, wearing nothing but a plain grey t-shirt and slacks. His build was strong, but not large, and his features clean and handsome. Though, his deep brown eyes focused directly at Caitlyn with focus, burning through her skin with determination.
She was in his way.
But no amount of fear would let Caitlyn give this battle up by calling for help. She had trained her body long and extensively for this. She would be the one to take down the prisoner.
The prisoner lunged for her with sudden speed. Caitlyn jumped to the side quickly, but it was just a feint. The man had already prepared a punch directly at the center of her throat, which Caitlyn barely blocked with her hands. The impact, however, was so strong that it still pushed Caitlyn’s own hands back against her chin.
Caitlyn stumbled a step back, but stood her ground, dodging the prisoners next punch before whirling a kick around with her left leg. But the prisoner’s reflexes were agile, already pulling his arm back to block the blow.
She could go on the offense here, Caitlyn thought, as she immediately threw a punch with her opposite arm. The attack being deflected with ease.
In the back of this room, there wasn’t much space to move or stand. Behind the prisoner was the cluttered desk, and two steps behind Caitlyn, nothing but a closed dresser and a wall. The prisoner threw another punch, with Caitlyn barely blocking it again. The impact pushing her closer and closer to the wall.
She couldn’t let him push her back further and retaliated with another kick. But it was far too panicked a move. The prisoner not only blocked her kick but managed to grab her leg, causing Caitlyn to look up in fear.
The prisoner opted to hurl her leg with all his strength towards the bed. Caitlyn’s body flew through the air and landed onto the bed, bouncing once before coming to a rolling stop on the ground.
She was surprised. The prisoner clearly could have just slammed her into the wall, break her leg, or take her down right there, but instead he opted to throw her to safety. He likely didn’t choose the wall because it would cause a reaction from the backup he can hear outside, but why let her go? Was he just toying with her? Taking her lightly? He didn’t even rush forward to finish the job, and still stood where he had thrown her.
Caitlyn stood up in a huff, grabbing her shawl and yanking it off, letting it drift down onto the ground next to Charlotte’s body. It was getting in the way, anyway. Caitlyn readied her fighting stance again, glaring down the man. Though, he just shook his head with a disappointed look in his face.
How dare he.
Caitlyn stepped back around the bed with her guard up and resumed the fight with several quick jabs. The man replied with a swinging punch at her head, which she effortlessly ducked underneath, her body bouncing and agile. She wasn’t quite tall enough to reach his head with some of her quick punches, but some did land against the sides of his body.
She would win this fight.
All of a sudden, the wind was absolutely knocked out of her. An undercut directly into the center of her bare stomach that she had completely missed. It was unexpected and her guard was down in that spot, and Caitlyn couldn’t help but double over in pain, gasping for air.
Vulnerable and helpless, another punch connected square in the center of her face, sending her backwards and her arms flailing. Caitlyn desperately tried to stay in the fight, but her body was completely exposed for what felt like mere milliseconds. And it was all the prisoner needed.
He grabbed her shoulders and jammed his knee several times into her chest. A sharp pain rocketed through her poor, weakened body, shaky and barely able to stand. To speed up the process, the prisoner slammed his elbow deep into the back of Caitlyn’s neck, sending her sprawling to the floor.
Her chest felt the impact of the ground first, then her chin. Caitlyn reached forwards with her shaky arms, desperate to bring her body back up as the prisoner calmly walked over to the nightstand in front of her to take a gun from inside. She struggled up, her arms supporting her body just barely. This fight wasn’t over.
But then the kick slammed against her mouth from below. She tasted blood. Caitlyn’s head rocked from the impact, before she felt her strength give way completely. Her vision, fading and blurry, could only watch as the prisoner calmly opened the patio door and stepped into the sun.
As he turned, he looked down at her eyes and her gradual fading consciousness. His look was almost something of pity.
The fight she had practiced for all her life. The body she had sculpted for so long, only to be wasted so immediately in a thirty second fight.
Caitlyn could hear Cade’s screaming voice in the background, likely at the scene he was witnessing as he opened the door. But it was far too late. The prisoner had already climbed down the balcony and disappeared. She had failed.
Hey everyone, mini update: The first post is now marginally less useless.
The picture of the full roster is now labeled by numbers, and all the girls bios are up on the first post now. Any dead Zako will get anything I wrote for them, while the live ones might not have the full bio yet. Should still be a useful reference when the live ones return.
Hey everyone, mini update: The first post is now marginally less useless.
The picture of the full roster is now labeled by numbers, and all the girls bios are up on the first post now. Any dead Zako will get anything I wrote for them, while the live ones might not have the full bio yet. Should still be a useful reference when the live ones return.
Not a bad thing, there are so many murders in my stories all because I don't know what to write except murders. I don't know how to let characters walk away from their fights, whether it's to keep fighting later or go back into peaceful life. I like them, but I'm not good enough.
You made me take a lot of interest in your zako characters, I'm really looking forward to see the friendly ones have a good better time after they live through this.
Not a bad thing, there are so many murders in my stories all because I don't know what to write except murders. I don't know how to let characters walk away from their fights, whether it's to keep fighting later or go back into peaceful life. I like them, but I'm not good enough.
You made me take a lot of interest in your zako characters, I'm really looking forward to see the friendly ones have a good better time after they live through this.
Thanks! Yeah, I did read through every story on the forum before I made my own account. They were really well done, but were not exactly what I was into. So I wanted to try writing myself and see what comes of it.
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slayer
for his Streets of Girls, which was a big inspiration for this story.
