7 A Broken Mask

The security guard, who called himself Master Hankatoba, threw his burning suit-jacket to the red-carpeted floor. His khami had a crimson glow caused by the temperature, but it didn't seem to affect its owner. Unlike Ken's fiery khami which constantly changed shape, or Ryu's that bulged like muscles, Hankatoba's was as hard and strong as steel. It appeared to be stronger too since Ken was unable to melt it immediately with the incredibly high temperature of his flames. Hankatoba cracked his knuckles and stomped forward, his feet leaving indents on the floor with each step.

"I guess you didn't come alone," Hankatoba said slowly. "I should have expected that you were working with others."

Ken ducked a series of punches that his opponent sent his way. Even without getting hit, Ken could feel the force behind the punches as wind grazed against his face. He wouldn't be able to pull his punches against such a strong foe. Ken had noticed something by watching Georgia. While Hankatoba was strong and difficult to injure, he wasn't particularly fast. He only appeared so while charging forward, something rather impractical in a close-quarters fight. It looked like he was even slower while using his khami. If Ken could outrun Hankatoba, he might be able to wear him down from a distance. 'It's worth a shot,' Ken thought.

From the floor above, Hagashimi pulled the rifle off her back. "Fuyuji, I'll take out the rest of the guards, but I'll need you to activate the ladder while I do. I don't see Ken overpowering this guy, so we've gotta get there quick."

"Okay," Fuyuji responded. He tied a knot to his belt using his grappler rope and pushed the other end of it through the floor. Fuyuji turned to Hagashimi and gave her a thumbs up. She laid down on the floor and looking through the rifle's sight she saw the guards watching Ken and Hankatoba fight. For the most part, Ken was just avoiding the guard, so it was closer to a coyote trying to catch a road-runner than an actual fight. While they were distracted she shot and killed all of them. Making the guard Ken was fighting the last one alive.

"You're good now Fuyuji," Hagashimi said. Looking down, Fuyuji realized how far the floor was and his hands tightened around his rope. "Something wrong?"

"Oh, nothing. I'm just not great with heights," he said scratching his head. This seemed to be a habit of his whenever he would deliver bad news. Fuyuji descended to the second floor and smashed a transparent box, the type that would cover a fire alarm. In it was a lever that Fuyuji pulled down. As he did this, a panel lining the wall pushed back and a ladder rose from the floor, replacing where the panel had been.

Hankatoba thrust himself towards Ken, who leaped over Hankatoba through the aid of his khami. Ken felt the rush of air blow the sweat off his face. Ken started struggling to keep up the game of dodge and weave. With each action he took, Ken's breathing grew heavier and heavier. Ken's foot landed on the ground, but as the other followed, it caught a seam on the floor and he tripped over face first. Ken felt his mask crack and his body ache as he tried to pick himself back up. Ken felt something warm dripping from his nose while a puddle of blood was collecting beneath him. He could hear his opponent jump into the air, and Ken turned around, preparing himself for a deadly blow. But, to his surprise, he saw Ryu in a fistfight with the security guard. He had no trouble holding Hankatoba back, and, with each punch from Ryu, pieces of Hankatoba's khami fell to the floor.

Running Ken's way at a remarkable speed was Fuyuji and Hagashimi. Fuyuji was zipping up his jacket to prevent it from flying off.

"Grab my hand," Hagashimi said extending it to him. "Ryu's going to cover for us for as long as he can so we need to focus on completing the mission as soon as possible."

"Wait, we're just going to leave him here?" Ken asked.

"There's not much we can do against someone that strong. If we spend to much time here we won't be able to complete the objective."

"So we just ditch him?!" Georgia said.

"Georgia, as much as I'd like to stay here and help Ryu, we've got a job to do. You just need to trust that he can fight for himself."

"But-"

Fuyuji interrupted her, "She's right. We should leave before backup comes."

Georgia looked at Fuyuji betrayed. She turned to Ken, looking for some sort of backup. While he was originally inclined to stay back and help Ryu, he realized that if they did, they'd be focusing on other issues when, like Hagashimi said, they had a job to get done. Ryu also seemed to be holding his own. However, as Ken shrugged, Georgia looked down at the floor.

"Whatever," she said, defeated.

"I knew you'd see it my way," Hagashimi commented. "Come on, let's go. We should be going this way." Hagashimi lead the group of four through the large doorway Hankatoba and his partner were blocking off. Ken slowed his pace so that Georgia would catch up to him.

"Hey, sorry about that back there," he said. "I wanted to stay back too."

Georgia didn't say anything. She just glared at him, and in her eyes, Ken saw that she was scared. At least, that was before she turned away from him. Ken's initial impression of Georgia was that she was somewhat bossy and didn't care much for anyone, or at least was annoyed by most people. He thought the same went for how she treated Ryu, an assumption he made while Ryu was trying to flirt with her. But, Ken was beginning to get the idea that his first impression was wrong. Ken could tell she wasn't in the mood to talk, so he picked his pace back up and ran up to Fuyuji.

"Is she giving you a hard time?" Fuyuji asked, again scratching his head.

"No, I feel bad leaving Ryu behind."

"Me too, but he'll be able to hold his own. He's still connected to the com's so he can always get in contact whenever he finishes up," Fuyuji said tapping on the bud around his ear.

"You say that like you already know he's going to win."

"But he is. You saw his khami. With just one punch Ryu was already breaking that other dude's armor."

"There's always a chance."

"Yeah, but in that case, he could call us for backup."

"...I guess," Ken replied. "So, how come Georgia cares so much about Ryu? To me, it looked like she was pretty annoyed with him earlier."

"They've known each other for a very long time," Hagashimi answered. "I don't know all the details, and I'm sure they wouldn't tell me if I asked, but Ryu helped her out of a tough spot when they were younger. As far as I'm aware, they've stuck together since. It's a pretty touchy topic for them, so we don't hear so much about it."

Ken looked back at Georgia. For the entire time they ran through the hallway Georgia stayed behind the group and stared at her feet. Ken felt even worse about leaving Ryu behind, knowing how important he was to Georgia. It shouldn't have been a problem leaving a teammate behind. Ken didn't know any of them and this would be the only time he'd work with them. But the way everyone was reacting made Ken feel a lot worse for not standing up. It was too late to change his mind anyway, so there was no use burdening himself with guilt, Ken thought. And so they ran in silence.

During that time, Ken began to notice changes in the rooms they went through. Towards the entrance, the building looked like a warehouse. It was made of worn brick and rusty metals, not as fancy as the ballroom they fought Hankatoba in. But, as they moved in more centrally, the hallways grew longer and emptier. The walls and ceiling were supported by tall and elegant marble columns lined in gold. By looking closely, Ken could see flowers and vine-like shapes carved into the columns. The floors were blanketed by long pathways of red carpet, which also featured floral patterns. No one really questioned it, but the further they walked the fewer doorways appeared as well. Wherever Hagashimi was leading them wasn't intended to be easy to get to. Except in the case of security.

"It's odd," Fuyuji said, breaking the silence. "Besides earlier, we haven't really run into anyone. It's a little eerie"

"I noticed that too," Ken replied. "I thought you said that this place is supposed to be heavily guarded, Hagashimi?"

"That's what I was told. I don't know why we've been let off so easily save for the guys we fought earlier," she said. "There's no question that this is the right place though. I wonder if they relied on that group earlier to stop any intruders."

"But then why would they be in the middle of the building and not the entrance?" Fuyuji suggested to himself.

Ken was starting to feel a growing sensation of danger. Did Madame Rosette know they were coming? Did they go to the wrong base? All these things floated around in Ken's mind. He knew that a high profile target like Madame Rosette wouldn't let any intruders off so easily. Yet, Ken figured very soon they would come across the reason they hadn't encountered much trouble, and he was not excited to find out. To say the least.

They continued walking and going through more hallways, and after a while Ken heard a ringing sound in his left ear. It was piercing and Ken clawed at his com, the source of the sound, and ripped it from his ear. On the floor, it continued to ring, and Ken saw the rest of his team cover their ears with their hands. Soon later the ringing finally stopped, and the coms collectively made a sound as if they had cut out, loud enough that he could hear even without wearing the earbuds. Surely enough, when he checked if it was still working it had powered off. He turned to his teammates. As they took their earbuds out, Ken saw that their hands and the bud itself had been covered in blood. That was all except for Georgia who seemed unaffected by the sound. She probably reacted like Ken and turned it off.

"Are you all alright?" Ken asked.

"No," Fuyuji responded, "What was that?!"

"A very small emp," Hagashimi said. She had been applying pressure to her ear using her hand to stop the bleeding. She took a bandage from a kit she had been wearing on her belt and tied it around her head. "That means we're here."

As Ken turned the corner, he saw a grand doorway guarded by a group of around 30 people. At least, Ken assumed there were that many. There very well could be more. All of the guards were fully equipped with Black and Red suits, some pink, and the group up front held riot shields. The door itself was massive. It was made out of some dark wood, Ken assumed from the rest of the building it was probably about as expensive as mahogany if it wasn't so to begin with. Engraved in the doorway was the emblem Ken had seen before, a handgun shooting out a bouquet of roses. Ken turned back to the group where Hagashimi had been helping Georgia with her bandages.

"I think I found where all the guards went," he said quietly.