A Popular Feminist Magazine

Serena had come home late from her date, and was smiling when she walked in. Mia's curiosity had kept her up on the couch. Serena caught the question in her eyes and laughed. "Sorry. Um, it - it went really well."

Mia gestured for her to sit down beside, and she did. "I'm happy for you, but, er… I'm assuming her girlfriend broke up with her?"

"Other way around." Serena winced at Mia's expression. "I know how it sounds, but - and we talked about it, too, and - her and her girlfriend weren't really that close, anyway. Like, it was one of those relationships where it was just started because they were in the same place a lot. She said she felt relieved after she broke up with her."

Mia stifled her protectiveness: she doubted Yuruko even *could* be manipulative. "Alright."

"Yeah. Don't worry, this isn't - yeah." (Mia nodded, saying she trusted Serena's judgment.) "So, do you wanna hear how it went?"

Mia grinned. "Of course. Did you go out for dinner?"

"I-I was kinda nervous at first, but yeah." laughed Serena. "I asked her where she wanted to go, and she told me I could pick, so I just, um... mentioned a few places, and she said 'not any of those.' And I mentioned another few places, and she said 'not any of those'."

"Where did you end up going?"

"McDonalds." shrugged Serena, relevantly. "She has a specific one she goes to. She's pretty picky. But, um… It kinda just felt how we usually talk. I'm not really used to anyone being attracted to me, but we kissed, and she said she wanted a second date, so…"

Mia smiled. "I'm glad to hear that."

"Yeah. Um, I wanted to ask, too -- do you and Aimee get each other gifts?"

"Sometimes, yes."

"Okay, so, how do I buy gifts for someone who can create anything?" Serena frowned. "I mean, she can't create complex stuff, I guess… I wanted to get her a stuffed animal, but she could probably just -"

- Mia's phone rung, saving her from the riddle as she took it. "Yes?"

"Swarm." said Matoi on the other end. "Are you and your protégé busy?"

'With an impossible question.'

"No, we're not. Is everything alright?"

"I'd like for you two to join me in Combanee. It's two hours west."

"Of course. Why?"

"Is your protege with you? Put me on speaker."

Mia set it down on speaker. "Go ahead."

"A few weeks ago, myself, Grant, and -" - she sighed - " - Henry, began investigating a local gang known as the Gorgons."

"Is their leader Medusa?" said Serena.

"I presume so. They're extremely anti-men - they've murdered over a hundred men in ways you would expect, write pamphlets on female separatism, and every member is female."

"...female separatism?" said Mia.

"As far as I can tell, they're attempting to steal enough money to build a commune solely for women."

Mia blinked. From what she remembered of Matoi's bookshelf, she should've been fighting alongside them, not hunting them. "They're radical feminists, then?" (Serena winced.)

"That's a much deeper question than you think." laughed Matoi. "Regardless, it doesn't matter - they're scum to be hunted. Can you and your protege join us?"

"Um, Serena." chimed the protégé. "I'm up for it."

"As am I." said Mia. "When should we set out?"

"Tomorrow morning. I'll relay more to you on your way over." she said, and hung up.

This narrative will make clear that Matoi possessed a particular hatred towards the Gorgons unrivaled by how she usually treated criminals, for reasons unclear even to herself. She had despised the Gorgons even before spending one day in Combanee, and here is where a first glance can fail to elide motivation, for just as in the discussions she had with Mia in March, the idea that a single reason can encapsulate a person's character is soap opera. Perhaps it was that she was forced to be on this trip with two men she loathed in Grant & Henry, and such aggravations make for easy enjoyment of taking out her malaise.

The next morning, she relayed what she knew of the Gorgons on Mia & Serena's drive over. The Gorgons were a female-only gang had been operating in Combanee for most of the year, though this was the first time any female students had been sent to investigate; it was a policy of their's not to attack their 'misguided sisters', and this had even attracted sympathy from certain Urasaria students. This was in the way that any cause that claims to be radical might among the young, no matter how violent its adherents, for any of the hundreds of innocent men murdered (and a few dozen rapists & abusers) were secondary to emotional considerations.

Matoi was not a woman with these sympathies, however, and the approach of her potential presidency at the end of next April left her needing every kill she could get. On her first night in Combanee, a member of the Gorgons had attempted to recruit her, then upon her refusing to fight Matoi, this aggravated Matoi to where she beat the impudent fuck to near-pulp, used Wedding's laser to sever her spine and pull her lungs out of her back, then finished off by leaving a missile engraved with her badge's 'RAIN-ON-A-WEDDING' to let it be known she was not to be fucked with.

This led to a change in policy.

In Combanee, Mia pulled in to a department store parking lot, left her car there, and went to the city to meet up with Matoi. Mia introduced Serena to her, though they had met before anyhow. Now seeing Matoi's thick eyebrows closer, Serena realized she looked like Satsuki Kiryuin from the anime Kill la Kill: instinctually she felt nervous.

It was fortunate Serena was socially adjusted enough not to tell Matoi this, however, as Matoi was aware of her anime doppelganger & would've needed to resist smacking Serena if she had. Matoi asked if she could borrow Serena while the three went separately back to their hotel (so as not to be tracked), and Serena felt she would need Yuruko to counsel her.

As they came deeper in to the urban streets, Matoi said the first thing she had in minutes of walking. "Does Mia have a name for you?"

"Huh?" said Serena.

"I used to call my protege 'pig' until he was higher rank. I wasn't aware if she had done something similar with you."

"Um, nope. Just Serena."

As they turned the corner, Matoi saw a flyer posted outside of a restaurant right. She stopped, read it, and Wedding's lasers curved behind it & disintegrated something as she peeled it off the wall.

"What's that?" said Serena.

"Some light reading." muttered Matoi, handing it to her.

'DEAD MALES DON'T RAPE'

'Males rape females at will, beat up females when it pleases them to do so, murder their wives and daughters, rape their daughters, grand-daughters, nieces, sisters, cousins, use and abuse any and every woman to whom they have access. Rape and murder are the activities of WAR, and yet, only a few hundred wimmin, at the most, will acknowledge that women are at war, and that we're losing, have lost.

Ending sexism and its devastating effects in the lives of women has yielded to a dogmatic insistence on 'human beingism.' We wouldn't, after all, want to assert the unforgivable idea that we should, first and foremost, be committed to healing ourselves from the violence and battering and rape and incest perpetrated by men, and to making whatever lives we can for each other amidst the emotional devastation caused by male violence.

Feminists have trampled many of us to reassure the timid and the reactionary that they're worried about everyone, and that it is now taboo to suggest we might be our own priority. How many other oppressed groups have been so willing and eager to make their oppressors' welfare their primary concern?'

Melodramatic as this was, Serena recognized the language used in it, and she felt uneasy. Matoi was unaware why, but noticed she looked nervous and said: "I wouldn't be afraid of them. It's stolen from another group -- I doubt they've even read any of the literature they're citing below."

Serena read through the statistics at the bottom. "Um, aren't these right, though? One in six?"

"They are, but there's no point to correct statistics and wrong actions. It's simply their justification for killing random people - if they were Japanese, it would be AUM Shinrikyo's cult flyers." She shook her head, muttering to herself about how every fringe movement had flyers & newspapers in common.

Serena scratched her neck as they started walking again, soon passing by a restaurant right. "Shinrikyo?"

"It was a cult in Japan. Not one with hosts, but they would attack subways with poisonous gas - they were terrorists. But they were arrested before I was born." said Matoi. "I remember my mother wished their executions had been televised."

"Wait, does Japan have an academy?"

Matoi gave her an odd look as they passed by a restaurant right. "It... does, yes. Ueno Academy."

Serena nodded, thinking it was exactly like anime.

"Here." said Matoi, taking out her knife & cutting her palm. "Heal me. Something for you to train."

"Okay." nodded Serena, and as her fog flew to Matoi's wound -

- it appeared thirty feet ahead -

" - I - uh -"

- the two turned their eyes forward -

- and there sat a black woman on the curb, fifty feet separating them and she; and the prodigal restaurant to the women's rights.

"Oh, damnit." sighed Serena, fog refilling Matoi's wound.

"Revenant." muttered Matoi.

"Could be her, right?"

"Fortunately, there's a proven method for finding out who's a host." said Matoi, and in the next instant -

- a volley of missiles erupted from her shoulders, wedding veil flashing to life as the explosive barrage cut the air ahead; the woman shot to her feet and turned with a shriek, and as the missiles came danger-close -

- a burlap sack appeared in her hands -

- and in to the bag of holding went the missiles, Matoi laughing to find her bait had worked; but they had no time to rest. The women started their charge down the sidewalk, fog and sword drawn as they rushed forward -

- and were suddenly back at the restaurant's doors, no progress made at all.

"Would you like to try again?" preened the woman, fifty feet separating them and she.

The two started their headlong charge again, and as they came twenty within range -

- they sighed as they were swapped back to fifty feet away.

"Really -" - laughed the woman - "I could do this all day - it was so adorable seeing how long you two dipshits walked -"

" - you cowardly dickhead!" shouted Serena - " - you know that in a real fight, you'd get torn a new asshole, so you've gotta do stupid shit like this -"

- and Matoi laughed involuntarily as she saw the woman's face turning angered.

"Do - do you do that every fight?" cackled Matoi, unable to stifle it.

"Um - sort of." chimed Serena.

"Allow me. Is that the best you have, argument-for-post-birth-abortion?! Your Revenant can't even work alone! Does it only swap position?"

"You're gonna swallow a full load of missiles, like your mom should have!"

"Is this the best you have, Swap-Miscarriage?!"

"Go crawl back in the colon you got shat out of!"

"Tell her to swap with someone's shit, Serena." muttered Matoi.

"Tell her yourself."

"Go swap with someone's shit, asshole! Fall off your -"

" - Reconfigure!" grunted the woman, sweeping a flask out of her pouch -

- and the two taunting devils shrieked as the pavement below them turned acidic -

" - Blackburn!"

- but streams of fog filled the pavement with concrete anew, baking soda neutralizing the top layer.

"Nice try - uh, literal dickless!" shouted Serena, wishing she had the chemist in tow -

" - better than -" - the woman shouted back - " - whatever the fuck -YOU- are! You - look like - you know the magazine Bitch?! That's what you should be on the cover of! What the fuck is wrong with your -"

" - oh yeah - well - uh -" panted Serena, mind a flurry of insults, desperate not to lose -

" - why would she be on the cover of Bitch?!" shouted Matoi - " - you're their best-seller!"

" - your eyebrows look like a fucking - cavewoman's -" said their foe -

" - why don't you tell your friend from last night that?!' shouted Matoi - " - you can't, because I blew her body in to a thousand chunks all over the fucking sidewalk -"

" - you're the one who can't get over here!"

" - the seventieth member of the Red Mist Club - and that stupid fucking robot -"

" - you wanna try seventy-one?!"

"You should hope I don't -"

" - or what, with your wedding dress - "

" - they'll have to scrap all the shit out of your throat with a fucking snow plow -"

" - they'll be able to - " - shouted Serena - " - flip you with a spatula like a fucking red fried egg! When you were born, the nurse sent your mother an apology letter -"

" - where did you fucking -" shouted the woman - " - learn to dress like that - stupid fucking mishmash of - cowboy and punk -"

" - better than looking like a 'Before' photo for facial reconstruction - "

" - better than the 'After' photo of a medical malpractice - case -"

" - could project a movie on your fucking forehead -"

" - oh, you really wanna go for appearance? What about that giant fucking -"

" - hair looks like a crab died on your -"

" - on your -"

" - you look like if Martin Luther King had a nightmare!" shouted Matoi -

- and the two taunting devils cackled as their foe stood stunned -

" - looking like -" - laughed Serena - " - face like your mom tried to shove you back in -"

" - as if her nose could make the clearance!" shouted Matoi - " - it would snap in half like a fucking -"

" - better than wearing -" shouted the woman - " - that fucking cumrag of a Revenant on your face - "

" - your Revenant looks like your cavernous -" shouted Serena -

" - can't you see we're fighting a Revenant here?!" shouted Matoi to the sidewalk opposite -

- where a small crowd had gathered.

"Yeah! Can't you see that?" shouted Serena, and the civilians scattered.

And the two sighed as their verbal spar came to an end, no progress made. They rushed out on to the road, between the parked cars adjacent, and as they ran up the center lane -

" - Reconfigure!"

- and a dozen feet ahead appeared a tank, making with the speed of the military towards them -

" - Wedding!" shouted Matoi, yanking Serena behind her back, imminent heat growing from Wedding's eyes -

- and a wild and hasty flash of Wedding's lasers tore the metal to bits, scattering scrap ashes all across, missiles erupting and blasting the foul husk towards the woman -

- but a swift flash of her pouch again, and the tank shrunk in to the bag.

"Um, give me a missile." said Serena. Matoi handed her one quick, trust in Mia's mentorship.

"Bl-"

" - Reconfigure."

- and at their right, the restaurant's door disappeared, swapped with the dozen mid-flight missiles she had caught earlier; as they screamed towards the women -

" - Blackburn!"

- tendrils of black fog filled the missiles, and as Serena threw her own behind, the explosives burst outward -

- and the pressurized air within blew the women with the speed of a dozen diagonally-right, on to the sidewalk and thirty feet away from the woman now, a parked car left as they landed.

"Just need to do that -"

" - now it gets fun." grunted the woman, and in the next instant -

- they were swapped on the corner; then back to their original position; then on to the corner again, scenery changing with the speed of light around them -

" - g-going to be sick -" winced Serena, clenching one eye shut, starting to feel dizzy -

" - try -" shouted her voice behind - " - aiming -" - ahead - " - your fucking missiles -" - behind - " - now!"

Matoi clenched her head; and out of the corner of her eyes, saw the parked car left disappear - then reappear - then disappear again. A volley of missiles flew down below, burrowing in to the concrete -

- and she sighed as they swapped again, still feeling the missiles underground below.

"Trust my reaction time, then." muttered Matoi - the car reappeared -

- and the next scene was instant. An explosive barrage burst from her shoulders and veered left, shattering the car's windows -

- the car disappeared, and they saw it ahead beside the woman -

- and an explosion that threatened to blast to atoms the entire vehicle erupted outward, throwing metal shards away, a second volley of missiles flying to the woman -

- that tore their foe's body in half, leaving a flaming husk of an automobile crusted crimson beside. The women groaned as they crouched down, in their original position, stomachs curdling.

"… Serena."

"Y-Yes?"

"Hold my hair back."