29. Chapter 28: a double-edged sword

It could have been morning already. Or a few minutes. It was hard to tell, the room Yuna was in was completely engulfed in darkness.

Nevertheless, she mentally kicked herself back into action. All wasn't lost yet.

The rope binding her limbs dug into her skin, the sensation of burning irritation already making itself feel from the abuse, but the knots refused to give in, tied as such by someone who knew the trade.

Opting for a second option, she crawled on the ground, looking for a sharp object that could ease the binds. However, with only her sense of touch, she found no such thing.

After a time that felt like eternity to her, she felt something hurt her leg, tearing away the fabric of her pants. Further inspection showed the object to be a slightly damaged plank on the floor, from which just the tip of a nail stood out.

Out of any better option, she rubbed the rope binding her hands against it to little results. Yet, as what felt like hours passed, little to no gains were made. If anything, the skin in contact with the rope was redder than ever.

As she was about to continue her efforts after a short pause, the noise of the lock to her room being played with echoed in the silence. Immediately, she stopped moving and faked sleep.

Soon, someone unlocked it and stepped in. Peeking through barely open eyes, Yuna recognized one of the men thanks to the light from outside. He apparently struggled to walk straight, using the walls to support himself despite the lack of obstacles.

He closed the door back gently, locked it back, then fell on all fours, muttering unintelligibly all the while. Abandoning the fake sleep, she squirmed on the ground, but was totally bound and had no mean to move away.

She yelped as he caught her by the ankle, dragging her under him. His breath assaulted her nose, confirming her suspicion that he was drunk, as he came dangerously close to her face.

"Haven't been with… A woman in weeks… You'll do nicely…"

The realization of what he was about to do struck her, and she struggled even more violently than before against her binds. Yet, even this wouldn't save her from this situation. He unbuckled his pants, quickly throwing them aside, touching her all the while. His disgusting hands creeped her out. She violently buckled, but the man held her firmly.

At the price of a sizable area of bruised skin and muscles, she freed her left hand from the binds, but the despair coupled with her bad position made it so she managed to pull out a single punch before her arm was grabbed.

"Stop… Struggling!"

He grabbed her free arm, using her awkward positioning at his advantage.

However, a ray of hope shined in her mind. Completely intoxicated by the alcohol, the man was undoing the bind around her feet with his free hand, not realizing his error.

Indeed, he was giving her back freedom with limbs that could very easily reach his groin. And she did just that. Gloating at the prospect of a soon-to-be-found freedom, she launched the mightiest kick she could muster at his nether region.

He didn't scream. Didn't utter a single noise for a few seconds.

"You… Bitch…" He whispered, before falling on the side.

He was holding his groin with both hands, curled up in a foetal position.

Wasting no time, she started freeing herself. As she struggled with irritation against the stubborn knots, a whisper came through the door.

"Satoshi, you're done? We were supposed to leave her be, we're done for if Frank catches us…"

The man who tried to assault her was still wiggling on the ground, occasionally moaning. Knowing the person on the other side would come to investigate when no one would answer, she struggled even harder against the binds.

"Satoshi?" Whispered the same voice, followed by three knocks.

Freeing her legs with relief, she threw the rope aside and immediately got up. Silently groaning at the muscle ache after an unknown time of staying in the same position, she forced herself and leaned against the wall, just near the door.

The noise of the lock being opened sounded way too loud in the tiny room, and she held her breath as the door was opened. The light of an electric torch swept the walls.

"Satoshi, you alright?"

Slowly, the man advanced in the room, gun first. Yuna stayed unmoving, unbreathing. Unless he directed the light directly at her, she was basically invisible. She prayed her heartbeat wouldn't betray her as she felt as if it wanted to jump out of her chest. The light soon found and stopped on the moaning form of the would-be rapist, and she immediately sprang into action.

Grabbing the unsuspecting arm holding the gun, she violently pulled. Completely taken by surprise, the gunman fell to the floor, dropping his weapon in the process. Yuna immediately jumped on his back and took his arms into a deadlock, applying pressure with her knees while grabbing his head with her hands. Before he could call for help, she hit it against the floor, dizzying the man. Her mind overshadowed by panic, she kept swinging the head against the hard floor the action until her arms ached.

Her victim had stopped moving long before she stopped.

Once her violent tendencies were calmed, she went to work on the second man who was quickly rendered unconscious in his paralyzed state.

Once the deed was done, she got up and looked at the results. Her heart was beating wildly, her brain completely high on adrenaline and her arms shaking. She tried to wipe the traces of blood on her fingers, but some of it was stuck under her fingernails. Its source was easy to find.

Around the man's head she had smashed on the floor was an expanding pool of blood. Gagging in disgust at her own actions, she retrieved the man's gun (She was surprised to recognize the Glock she came here with) and considered shooting them but…

It was too much for her. After her first kill earlier in the night, she was confident enough that she would be able to shoot with the intention to kill again. And it was easy. Too easy. The gun was suppressed, loaded with subsonic ammunition, and her target unmoving. Shooting to defend one's life was a thing. Shooting to kill a helpless person was another.

On the other side, those people were the same people that caused this whole ordeal in the first place. Who orchestrated the murder of the special forces, and the attempt on Taketa, Myuute and herself. In addition of the mission she came here for.

Mentally preparing herself, she whispered a prayer before putting the gun on the would-be rapist's temple, closed her eyes and pulled the trigger.

The gun's recoil and the squishy sound of the bullet exiting the head were the only things she witnessed of her action. Gagging once more, she left before curiosity forced her to look back.

Still shaken by her own act, she closed the door and quietly advanced in the new room. It was the dormitory, with all the beds unoccupied. That meant that currently, there were mainly three people she had to be careful of. The third guard, the "Frank" person, apparently the leader of the team and "Andovald", the magic user downstairs.

Of course, the other guards were still dangerous, but if she could shoot them before they got into close quarters, she should be fine. At least, that's what she hoped. There was no telling what strange magic imbued the guard's armors.

Her short inspection of the dormitory revealed no one, but she did find something else. Leaning against the wall where numerous AK pattern rifles, next to them covered in cyrillic script where a few stacked crates of old Soviet bloc ammunition and on top of these gleamed the dull orange of polymer magazines.

Looking at her gun a moment, she decided to take one of the assault rifles, plucking a pair of magazines and finding the steel-cased rounds glinting between the feed lips. Should things get hairy, the greater firepower would be much welcomed. She had no training with the new weapon, but it had the advantage of being quite a simple gun. Pulling tightly the black strap around her torso so the rifle wouldn't make any noise, she went on to inspect the office where she was first captured.

Through the barred window, the sky was starting to take a pink color, meaning that morning wasn't far. Some quick math revealed that it had been at least two or three hours since she had entered the building. Too long. Way too long to her taste.

She found the gear they'd taken off of her left on the main desk, and to her relief her treasured baton was among the items. It was the one she had been awarded when finishing her training, and she developed an emotional attachment to it. She took hold of the electric light as well but left the remaining gear so it wouldn't weight her down.

As she was still unnoticed, she took a few minutes to search the room. The desk had quite a few papers in its drawers, written in a language she couldn't read, so she stuffed them in a black modern backpack she had brought from the dormitory.

A key gleamed in the back of one of the drawers of the desk, and it fit perfectly in the keyhole of the safe in the corner of the room. Inside were even more papers which she grabbed, as well as a few other miscellaneous items. However, as her attention was focused on the content of the safe, someone opened the door.

The third soldier that had been missing from the dormitory, flanked by the two elbian guards that guarded the door, looked at her for a second, while adrenaline, once more tonight, flooded her circulatory system. A fraction of a second later, he pulled out a gun and shot at her, while she ducked behind the desk. She flinched each time the bullets bit into the thick wooden furniture, but did her best to maintain her composure.

The loud gunshots in the night were like an alarm, and already uncoordinated footsteps could be heard downstairs.

As she peeked out of cover, the two Elbian guards charged at her with a war cry on their lips. Surprised, she managed to only shoot twice at one of the guards, while the second came down on her. He swung his sword down and she blocked with the gun in her hand, the heavier blade tearing the weapon from her hands.

Retreating a few steps in panic, she picked up the police baton hanging from her belt and blocked another strike aimed at her side. For a few seconds the weapons clashed against each other, the blade parried by her weapon, but he was a trained warrior, while she was merely a police officer. Maybe a little more skilled than the usual policeman, but still. She couldn't get her opponent to open his guard and remained on the defensive. To add to her predicament, the soldier with the gun was looking for an opening as the two fighters struggled against each other and she had to be careful to always have the guard between her and the soldier.

In the end, her lacking skill proved to be her loss as with a feint, the guard swung low and sliced into her side. Yuna yelped, retreating a few more steps as a sharp pain assaulted her nervous system, pressing on the wound with her left hand while the guard kept his advance. Looking for an opportunity, she spotted a bottle on a table just near and immediately threw it at the man's face. He instinctively raised his blade to defend himself, but the glass shattered and showered him in wine. As the liquid blinded him for a moment, she raised her baton and hit as hard as she could on the man's helmet.

The blunt weapon caved in the metallic protection and sent the man stumbling back, while she took hold of the AK-74 in her back and she sent a few rounds in the guard's direction. Before even confirming the kill, she threw herself back behind the desk as two more bullets whizzed above her.

"Tch. Dammit. You three there!" Said the soldier. "Get her, I need to contact the leader!"

She gulped. The situation was becoming dire. Blood was pouring out of her wound, enemies were blocking the only exit and she couldn't wait here for too long before more reinforcements or heavier weaponry was brought to deal with her.

As three more set of footsteps came in her direction, she raised from cover and sent a long burst in their direction, dropping two of them while the third immediately ran back to cover. Going back into cover, she cursed as her bruised hand hurt like hell against the rifle's recoil.

"Andovald!" Shouted another voice. "Do something with your magic, we can't even get close to the bitch!"

Dread filled her mind. How was she supposed to fight back something she didn't even know the nature of?

"Yes sir, go back a few steps if you will…"

A roaring sound, an orange glow, and-

"You idiot!" Said a voice, followed by a loud smack. "Not fire! The whole building will go in flames if we're not careful!"

"Yes, and interrupt my casting like that once again and we'll all explode or something! Let me practice the arcane arts in peace!"

A bright blue hue coming from the mage lit the entire room through the opening of the door, but Yuna wouldn't let him do whatever he planned to do. Peeking out of cover, she recognized the same mage that led her to her capture, hidden behind two guards using large tower shields.

Trying to control her breath, she took aim and let out a short burst which easily penetrated the shields, and the mage behind them. However, she definitely didn't expect the result of her actions.

Unknown to her, Yuna had shot the mage at the most critical moment of his casting. The very precise amount of magical power he was extracting turned into a giant siphon, immediately emptying the local reserves. All of this magical power condensed in a single body followed the laws of nature, and sought a way to free itself. And just like any type of energy, it freed itself through the medium of heat.

The mage literally exploded in a fireball, immediately turning to cinders the guards near him and shattering all the windows. The fire greedily burnt the wooden floor, quickly growing in size in less than a minute. The intense heat set aflame all cloth items in direct proximity. Curtains, carpets, clothes, everything burned.

Yuna wasn't spared from the initial explosion. The shockwave sent her on all fours, the desk taking the brunt of the wave of heated air. Immediately, a high-pitched whistle struck her ears.

But her struggles weren't ending yet. After a full minute of forced paralysis, as she got up like a groggy boxer to assess the situation, the smoke coming from the fires filled her lungs, sending her into a painful coughing fit. Shaking all over and using the walls to support her own weight, her steps brought her back to the dormitory.

She knew the fire would soon spread there. But for now, the relatively cool temperature in a stark contrast to the other room and the lack of smoke helped a lot in clearing her mind. Ironically, the fire was blocking her exit but was also blocking enemies from coming in, leaving her enough time to tear apart some clothes she found lying around and to bind them around her side wound. She grimaced and cursed as the cloth came in contact with the bare flesh, but applied pressure nonetheless.

Once that was done, she prepared to leave. If she stayed there, the fire would kill her sooner than anything else. As she was about to put her hand on the door handle, her eyes stopped on a bundle of plastic water bottles.

A room on fire to run through. An available water supply. The equation was quickly resolved and she poured the cool liquid all over herself, just before adding a makeshift scarf around her head. Then, gulping, she opened the door and got into the fiery hell that had become the office. The hot air intake made her eyes water instantly and she crouched, avoiding the smoke. Peeking through half-opened eyes, she chose the less burning path through the chaos, but she quickly found herself faced with another problem: in front of the exit of the room was a large wall of fire. Sweat was pouring like never before on her skin, making the cloth uncomfortable cling to her body. Closing her eyes and holding her breath, she took a first step with the intention of jumping over the fire.

The weakened wooden planks gave out at that first step.

She fell screaming through the floor, brutally landing on her back. A sharp pain in her leg caused her to renew her scream as a thin piece of wood went right through her right leg. Cursing and breathing in a rapid rhythm, she grabbed the piece of wood.

That action only caused her to scream once more, and she quickly decided to leave it at that. Plus, she risked an even bigger blood loss than she already had if she removed it.

Grabbing the assault rifle who had fallen a little bit away, she put it back on her back and grimaced as she used her hands to get back up.

Her little stunt through the floor had brought its own lot of burning debris from the first floor. And to her horror, the fire was already starting to eat away at the dry wooden floor.

She also remembered that in the factory, near the ammunition assembly area was a cave in which were tens of barrels of black powder.

A single spark was all that was needed. A single spark reaching the wrong place would detonate the whole building, and those around it at the same time.

Panicked guards ran around her, some horribly burned by having been near the mage when he exploded, others hauling buckets of water upstairs, desperately trying to combat the flames. All too busy to bother with her.

That was fine by her. Thanking lady luck that no one paid attention, she limped as fast as she could on her intact leg to the exit, keeping to the side of the hallway.

Reaching the exit with a relieved sigh, she welcomed the fresh outside air. The sky, now tinted yellow, filled her with confidence despite her wound. A smile even creeped on her face. Amidst the few surviving guards who were being rescued and the few civilians up this early, forcibly conscripted to bring water buckets from a nearby well, she remained invisible.

Still limping on her wounded leg, she made her first steps away from this wretched place.

"And where do you think you're leaving, police girl?"

A voice brutally tore her away from her optimistic mindset. Just like a dark cloud showing up on the horizon on a picnic day, Frank was ten steps on front of her and ruined her mood. In his hands was an AK assault rifle aimed at her, and behind him was the third soldier, armed with the same weapon.

"Is this how it ends?" She asked, a weary smile on her lips. She wasn't even upset anymore. She knew she couldn't do anything more. She was a wreck, could hardly stand up and even less fight back. She just knew she had ruined the man's plan, at least temporarily, and that was enough for her. She was ready to accept her death.

A scowl was deeply imprinted on Frank's face.

"You… You put us at a stepback, and for that I'm impressed. But you still have a use. You won't like it though. I will-"

Frank's speech was suddenly cut when, out of nowhere, an arrow flew right into the soldier's throat behind him. He gargled, fell on his knees with his arms pressed on his throat before falling down.

"What the!" Shouted Frank, looking frantically for the source of the arrow. "Show yourself!"

His only answer was a green glow coming from one of the alleyways, and before he could do anything a violent gale sent him crashing against the opposite wall, quickly followed by an arrow right in his chest. He looked at the arrow with disbelief in his eyes, before a second one punctured his heart.

Yuna already knew who did that. With a smile, she saw Myuute leaving the alleyway, clutching her bows and arrows in her hands. And when the Siren grabbed her as Yuna fell to the ground, her body no longer able to support the numerous wounds, she knew it wasn't a hallucination.

"Myuute…"

The Siren's name was all that left Yuna's lips before she fell unconscious. Myuute smiled, before hoisting the policewoman on her back and walking away.