Chapter 75

(PAST EVENT)

When it was over, Yoshi dismounted the locker with his foot. She rolled onto her side while maintaining her grip on the youngster. Her own ears were buzzing with activity. Her eyesight had returned to normal, and she took in what was left of the scene. The fire was moving from one shipping container to the next and spreading. Soldiers were downed. The ones that she hadn't eliminated were wiped out by shrapnel. In either case, it was irrelevant at this point.

Yoshi turned his head to gaze at the youngster, who was lying still on the ground below him. As she pulled the infant from the wreckage, sirens could be heard coming from every direction.

The youngster's eyes opened quite slowly. Yoshi swooped down and caught the youngster in her arms before stumbling toward the storage facility's entrance. "It's okay," she reassured him. She ignored the flames that were now all around them as she shifted the infant over her shoulder and carried on. The flames, the ash, and the bodies were all around.

"Don't look." Yoshi swore under her breath that she would never forgive Microsoft X for sending her on a mission with children.

The child's eyes reflected the fear that he felt. By the neck, she clung to the charred toy that had become him. "Sister," she referred to herself. She stretched out to run her fingers through a strand of Yoshi's hair. blonde, precisely like her own.

"I wouldn't say that." Yoshi was on the verge of letting go of him when she felt something odd, a certain type of uncomfortable warmth, as it uncoiled inside her chest. Empathy. De Javu. Some sort of relationship between the two. It wasn't something she did frequently, therefore it wasn't something she knew how to feel or even understood. She just didn't have much experience with it. And Yoshi didn't like feelings she didn't grasp. She didn't like feelings.

She lowered her voice and whispered to the child while speaking straight into his ear. "You'll be protected now. I don't know who your family is, but I guarantee that I will find you some wonderful folks who will get you back to wherever it is that you belong." As she carried the young kid, she gingerly ran her fingers through his hair as she hesitated.

"Father," the young youngster called out in anguish.

"Who is your dad?" Is it true that he stole you from him? Yoshi appeared gloomy. She had no idea whether or not the youngster had any family or whether or not there was even anything for her to return to in her old house. Due to the fact that she knew Thomas so well, the chances of either happening were extremely remote. The young child however nodded and then closed his eyes while leaning against Yoshi's shoulder. She allowed the doll to fall to the ground as he became fatigued and collapsed. Yoshi was able to detect the presence of his other small hand because it was still wrapped around her hair.

As Yoshi pulled him away from the blazing warehouse, Microsoft X support patrols rushed the area. Yoshi was familiar with the procedure. Within minutes, Thomas, or what was left of him, would be in the custody of the M.R.C. Criminal Department. The same goes for his tech, the W.O.M.D. or whatever. The rest was merely cleaning up, which was not her problem. Even the agents have agents for this nonsense.

Thank God. She'd had enough of Thomas. She never wanted to see his face again. Yoshi had spent a lifetime putting a lifetime between them. And with that, she tossed the child into the arms of a medical officer, who covered him in a blanket. Yoshi had finished.

The youngster began to scream, putting his arms out for his blonde-headed rescuer once more. Yoshi gazed at him. The boy did not stop. Yoshi turned away. The girl kept crying. Yoshi turned away, dissatisfied. She knelt in front of the youngster.

"What's your name, kid?"

"Harry," the boy sniffled. His breath was strained as he spoke.

Yoshi nodded. "Listen, Anthony, don't be a crybaby. You're a big girl now." She tried not to feel awful about saying it. They'd said the same thing to Yoshi, hadn't they? On that day in the Underground Society six years ago? When her parents perished, she was abducted by the Underground Society and subsequently to the Experiments Room. Then there was Thomas.

The girl stared at her, tears silently streaming down her cheeks. Yoshi took another breath and tried again. "She had no idea if what she was saying was real, but she said it. They'll take you home. They'll find your father. I swear. It was what the little boy wanted to hear, she reasoned.

"Promise"?

"You can believe me because I'm just like you, see?" Yoshi drew a curl of her own red hair.

The girl attempted to catch her breath, but she couldn't, and the tears kept falling.

Yoshi grumbled, standing up to take a wallet from a passing soldier, pulling a five euro note from it while letting the rest fall to the ground, and then took a pen from a senior officer passing by, who turned to look at her, puzzled.

"Can I assist you, Harper?" groaned Senior X Warrior Isaac.

"No, Isaac, I can assist you. I made sure to leave the security cameras on." She looked up at him. "You should have nice tape, whatever that thing was, and I would like you to call me my profile name."

"Great," Isaac said, holding out his hand, "but I want my pen back. That's a limited edition 1950's pen, Ms. Yoshi."

Yoshi rolled her eyes and shoved the pen into his hand, saying, "It's still just a pen like any other, and things should be done the way I just finished them."

"Listen, you do things your way; I'll do them my." He took the pen. "Speaking of which, nice job in there. Your file indicates you were Underground Society, too. This must have been personal for you. Emotionally difficult."

"It wasn't," she answered, trying to push past him, and Isaac laughed "That's probably for the best, given that the majority of a building just fell on your friend Thomas."

"He's not my friend," Yoshi said immediately. "I don't have any pals."

"There's a stunner," Isaac exclaimed as he turned away. "And, for the record, not having friends? Very emotional."

Yoshi followed him. "For the record, keep out of my file," he said.

She proceeded through two M.R.C. medical personnel till she was kneeling in front of the small kid again. Yoshi slipped the ripped euro into his hand.

"Do you see this?" Go to your embassy if you need me. Give them this."

The boy nodded. Yoshi whispered into her ear. "If you ask, I'll come." "I promise," he said as he drew away. "But if I can do it, you can do it," she said, pointing to his blonde hair once more. "Right? "We're the same." She was gone.

He looked down at the paper in his hand. It had two words—Assassin Lioness—and a crude image of a cat with a crown inside a circle. Her sign.

"I'll remember," the small boy murmured softly. You'll be my big sister. My family. Then his eyes closed, and the flames, mayhem, death, and cacophony vanished. Just like the blonde-haired lady.