8 Thorns Among Roses

There was silence in the hallway, one could have heard a spider's feet tapping against the floor. Ken, Hagashimi, Fuyuji, and Georgia all stood against the wall not daring to make a sound or to turn the corner. Ken knew that right around that corner he would find a full squad of guards combat-ready. Any false move would compromise their safety, and yet they needed to do something to get by. They needed to plan their steps carefully especially considering Ken and his teammates were greatly outnumbered. Ken's khami could cover for some of that disadvantage, but once he stepped out into the open he'd either need to take them all at once or find a way to hide. Otherwise, he wouldn't last very long.

Ken could wrap his khami around himself to act as a shield, a way he often used it, but he would need to prepare that before stepping out. The second he was in eyesight of the guards, he would have no chance to prepare himself, but the sound of his khami would no doubt clue the guards into their presence if Ken prepared it beforehand. There didn't seem to be anywhere else to hide either, and no way in except the guarded doorway. They were in a difficult bind, but Ken had an idea. Ken grabbed a smoke bomb from his belt. It was cylindrical, looking like a stick of dynamite where instead of a rope to burn there was a key loop protruding from the top. Ken closed the pocket the bomb was in and caught Hagashimi's attention. She looked at the bomb, and then back at Ken. She nodded approvingly.

"We'll stand back," she whispered.

The group stepped back and Ken put his finger through the loop. He pulled the pin out, and as he threw it around the hall corner red smoke billowed behind it filling the room.

"Smoke bomb!" A guard yelled pulling a black half mask with a filter over his face. Others followed suit, and soon it was impossible to see even the floor below them. But this was no problem for Ken. He didn't need to see as he stretched his arms outward sending a burst of fire towards the direction of the guards. He could hear screams and the sound of burning as boils and scars afflicted themselves on his opponents. Neither bullets nor shields mattered against Ken's khami, all of them melted and dropped to the floor before they could even reach him.

"Now!" Ken said this and everyone jumped from the corner guns blazing. As the fog cleared, not a person remained standing. Some had died from Ken's attack, and those who survived had been quickly taken out by the rest of the team. The floor had become a morgue of piled corpses covered in burns and boils, and more than just the carpet had run red. Hagashimi stepped over those corpses as she approached the doorway. Previously, it had looked elegant, as if it were made of mahogany, and yet it had turned black and parts crumbled to the floor as ash. The door slammed as she kicked it open and what Ken saw on the other side was surprisingly beautiful.

Across the doorway, there was a marble tan fountain sitting in the middle of a large dome. Dedicating itself to the theme, the fountain was flowing with roses that hung off its side. On the opposite side of the room sitting on a marble throne, was their target, Madame Rosette. Just like in her picture she wore a large red dress with a renaissance-esque skirt. A black veil guarded her eyes from view, yet her red lips just fell outside of its reach. Her black hair was tied into a massive braid that danced as the wind drifted through an open window. She was thin, so much so she looked unhealthy. This was quite a contrast from the plus-size people standing aside her. The two looked to be each other's twin, and they were wearing just a pair of black suit pants that grabbed tightly to their legs. Despite not wearing a shirt, they had black ties that hung from their otherwise barren neck.

"And so the thieves enter... I wonder what they could want," Madame Rosette said. Her voice was soft and quiet, it felt so familiar to Ken, but he couldn't put his finger on it. She sounded sweet, like a mother comforting her child. "Purge, Gore," she said to the two gang members. "It looks like the guards neglected to do their job. Will you take care of them for me?" She turned around and her throne fell into the floor and a staircase appeared circling the dome to a doorway towards the top.

"Anything for you Madame!" they said in unison, their voices deep. They stepped in front of her and she began to climb the staircase.

"Ken, I think we can all agree you are the most equipped to fight Rosette. We can cover for you and take care of these guys," Fuyuji said. "We can't let her get away."

"Are you sure?" Ken asked, and both Hagashimi and Georgia nodded. "Okay, then let's act now."

Ken ran up to one of the guards, who he assumed was named either Purge or Gore. They were... unique names for sure. As he got closer, the man spread himself outward as if he were waiting for a hug. Ken got a sense of how large these men were once they spread themselves out the way he did. He could have very well been a sumo wrestler in another life if he wasn't already. Once he was upon the guard, he tucked and rolled between his legs. As he appeared behind him, he jumped in the air in the direction of Rosette, but he felt something grab on his lower leg. He turned around to see a giant hand gripping into his ankle. Ken flapped his wings backward, and as the fire kissed the man's face he fell backward onto his butt.

"Ouchie!!!" He said. "No one hurts Gorge!" He seemed very grumpy about being hurt, but Ken had already begun making his way up the staircase. He took no time to look back.

"Hey, fatso," Georgia yelled. "Eat some lead!" She seemed to have moved on from her anger as she pulled an AR from her back and started firing at the giant sloth of a person.

"Gah!" Gorge cried. Blood dripped from his body as bullets dug into his naked belly. Although they didn't seem to hurt him nearly as much as they should have, he wasn't as indestructible as their foe from earlier.

"Brother!" said the one named Purge. "You pesky little ant." Purge kicked the fountain out from its foundation and sent it flying in the squad's direction. It missed and cracked the marble floor behind them, crushing some of the corpses that remained there. Purge grabbed a handle on the ground that the fountain had been hiding. As he pulled it up, a fully armed Mini-Gun turret faced Georgia, Fuyuji, and Hagashimi. "Die. Die. Die!" The turret made a sound as it warmed up to fire. As this happened, Fuyuji pressed something on the wristband he wore and it expanded to a metal shield that covered for one and a half people standing side by side, and it was about 5 feet tall. Most people, like Fuyuji, would have to crouch to fit behind it. However, it was still a massive weapon to have come from such a small object.

"Get behind me!," Fuyuji yelled and Georgia and Hagashimi obliged quickly, rushing behind the shield. Bullets started flying towards them, some ricocheting off of the shield and others embedding themselves in the floor.

"Are you sure It'll hold up?" Hagashimi asked.

"Yeah, It's made of SSM steel, strongest in Neo-Tokyo," as Fuyuji said this a bullet hit dead center in the shield leaving a massive mark. "Eheh... It's just a dent," Fuyuji said scratching his head. This bad habit of his was a grave mistake. A thing he realized as a bullet two inches in diameter viscously tore through his elbow.

"AGH F***!" Fuyuji yelled in agony. He started breathing heavy and bleeding even worse. He could see his muscle lying on the floor, and obviously, he had completely lost control of his arm. "Ngh...," he moaned.

"Fuyuji you idiot!" Hagashimi yelled. "Stay undercover!" She pulled him down face-first to the floor.

Desperately, and very painfully, Fuyuji reached for the deck of cards in his jacket pocket. Even just moving his other arm was a constant fight to keep it from falling to his side, but he managed to grab a card from his deck. Using his teeth, he ripped a queen of spades in half. Not through the middle, but from the thin side. There was a little red pouch attached to the center by adhesive and it had a small needle connected by a clear tube. Fuyuji injected the needle into his arm and it stuck like a sticker. Once it made contact, like spiders weaving a web, his tissue began to reconnect itself and fill the hole while numbing the pain. After a bit, his arm had been restored.

"There, no damage," he said and the onslaught of bullets stopped momentarily.