Narrative texts (Liliya's player)

"This is a collection of all of my narrative parts to various character's pages."

• Mother's Death •
Li-hua peddled her bicycle as she raced down the packed street, weaving her way in and out of other students, businessmen and women, as well as people just going about their lives. She was eager to get home after the day at school. Her mind raced with the possibilities of what to do with the rest of her day. Help mother with dinner, practice her Wushu stance and form, perhaps just lie in bed and read. She had managed to find "The Art of War - Sun Tzu" in the local library, and was quite eager to read it. The streets of Tianjin were busy as usual, packed with all kinds of people, though mostly it was school pupils, such as herself making their way homeward. It was warm, highly humid, a characteristic trait of summertime China. Sweat had already broken out across her forehead, the humidity and dampness in the air was unavoidable. She came to a halt at a crossroads. Vehicles drove past in front of her as she waited for the lights to change, looking up at the sky with a smile. It was still very light, though a couple of clouds dotted the sky at random, white and fluffy.

The lights changed, and she began peddling once more, shortly after taking a sip from the water bottle that she had stored on her bicycle, passing through an industrial district of Tianjin, the air seemed thicker. It was sickening. She could taste the waste products in the air as she breathed heavily, due to riding her bicycle at a fairly hasty pace. The factories must be working overtime, she thought as she peddled harder to get out of the district as soon as possible.

As she approached her house, something seemed amiss. She couldn't quite put her finger on it, she just had a feeling as she pulled up to her house. She took her bicycle around the back, chaining it up inside the shed, grabbing her bag and making her way towards the back door of her house. She turned the key and pushed the door gently, allowing it to slowly swing open as she made her way inside. She unlaced her shoes, placing them neatly on the shoe rack near the door, before removing her socks also as she stepped onto the carpet.

"Mother, I'm home", she'd call out. No response. "Mother?", Again, no response. Curiously, Li-hua advanced through her house. It was deathly silent. She must've gone out to get groceries, Li-hua thought to herself. She made her way upstairs to her room. On the way, she heard a dripping sound. Rolling her eyes, she'd make her way towards it. Someone had left the tap on, she thought. Rounding the corner, she gagged, before falling to her knees, screaming. In front of her was a badly mangled body, lying motionless on the small table in the middle of her parents' room. The body was female, covered in lacerations, both major and minor, wearing a dress of white and blue colouring, though the white was now mostly red with the blood of the corpse and her expression was one of intense pain and fear. The faint dripping was still there, inaudible over Li-hua's screams as she sat on her knees, staring at the corpse in horror, paralysed with fear. She took the time to compose herself, slowing her breathing down as she crawled closer to the corpse. By now, she noticed that the source of the dripping noise was the corpse's blood, dripping from the corpse's right arm, which hung limply over the edge of the table. As she got closer, Li-hua checked around the corpse's neck, as well as its ring finger. Her fears were justified at that moment as she identified her mother's locket and wedding ring, two items that she was never seen without. She stopped once again, the smell only now overpowering, she gagged again, leaning forward, placing her hands in front of her as she stayed on her hands and knees. She'd scream once more, closing her eyes tight, fighting back the inevitable tears that would come with this discovery. A futile attempt as tears streamed freely down her cheek. In her grief-induced fit, she didn't notice the sound of someone entering through the front door. Li-hua felt a hand on her left shoulder, as well as hearing the voice of her father.

"Li-hua...", her father said softly as he placed his hand on her shoulder, as he knelt down next to her. In response, she quickly turned around, flinging herself into her father's arms, hugging him tightly as she cried into his chest, her tears dampening his shirt where they fell.

"Father... What...? Why...?", she managed though the sobs, though her father would just place his arms around her, his expression one of anger and frustration primarily. She looked up, catching a momentary glance of this expression, before her father's expression shifted, looking down at her with the same sadness that she was feeling, though he'd shake his head, saying nothing. She hugged him tightly still, crying for a good ten minutes before she released her father, returning to sit on her knees once more, though this time facing her father. She wiped her eyes, her eye-liner was now smeared, and running down her face. Her father rose to his feet, standing up, and taking another look at the corpse, before offering a hand down to Li-hua. She took his hand and stood up as well, still sobbing.

"Come, let's sort this out", her father said in a low tone, walking over to her and placing his arm across her shoulders, ushering her out of the room. The two of them made their way down the stairs where her father took out his phone. He made Li-hua a cup of tea and sat her down on the sofa in the living room, before walking outside the house to make the calls. Within ten, short minutes, the area was closed off, police and medical staff swarmed the area. Within five more minutes, Li-hua and her father were in the car, driving to a nearby hotel where they were being provided lodging whilst the situation at their home was being resolved.

• Attempted Murder •
"I want you to sell at two hundred and fifty. No exceptions", Li-hua said calmly into the phone, her Chinese accent audible, but not overpowering as she spoke in English.

"Alright, Miss Xu, we will sell at two hundred and fifty, not a point over, not a point under", a voice on the phone replied, causing her to smile and nod.

"That will be all, Mr. Cooper. Thank you"

"Now we just hope that we're all millionaires by tomorrow, hm?"

"If only. Speak to you tomorrow", Li-hua continued smiling as she hung up the phone, placing it into the pocket on the inside of her jacket, turning away from the screen as she walked out of the building. It was dark, and cold. The winters of New York cut straight to the bone, the pavement was damp where snow had fallen, and then melted due to salt on the roads and pavements. She hailed a nearby taxi, climbing in, sitting straight, her hands calmly placed on her lap.

"Where to?", the driver inquired fairly apathetically. In response, she handed him a piece of paper, to which he nodded, handing the piece of paper back to her as he started driving. Shortly into the journey, Li-hua noticed that they were going the wrong way.

"Excuse me, driver, but this is the wrong way", Li-hua spoke assertively, with a slight frown. The driver, however, remained silent, continuing to drive. "Let me out of the car, now", she said, frowning and poking the driver on the shoulder. The driver stopped the car, and before she climbed out, he had pulled a small pistol and had it pointed at her face.

Reflexes kicked in almost instantly, her hands moving faster than he could react as she disarmed the man of his handgun, pulling his hand to the side of her head, the gun now pointing harmlessly out the back window of the car. Her other hand moved up, striking at the man's elbow joint with a loud crack as his arm broke. She dived out of the door of the car, quickly climbing to her feet and darting down the alleyway. Behind her she heard multiple voices, before hearing gunfire, the shots hitting the wall where she turned the corner. She was sprinting now, darting through the alleys with the agility that came with years of wushu training. Ahead of her, a car pulled up, blocking her exit ahead. A ladder. She leapt, grabbing hold of the bottom of the ladder, adrenaline causing her to climb faster than she thought possible. She got onto the fire escape, running upwards to the rooftops, though she heard the others in pursuit below. Removing her shoes as she got to the rooftop, she began running again. As she reached the edge of the roof, she jumped. She fell short, grabbing onto a window ledge lower down momentarily, before losing grip tumbling down the wall and landing in a pile of refuse at the bottom, knocked out cold.

She began to regain conciousness, she was in her house. She stirred slightly in her bed, though a jolt of pain sent made her still again. Across the room sat her father.

<p style="text-indent: 30px">"Father...? What are you doing here? Who were tho-...", she asked, speaking Chinese for the first time since moving to America, though her father held up his hand, interrupting her speech.

<p style="text-indent: 30px">"Questions for another time. Rest, Li-hua", he replied. She nodded and closed her eyes obediently, slipping into a quiet, peaceful sleep.

<p style="text-indent: 30px">She spent the next day in bed, re-bandaging the various cuts and scrapes that she suffered in her fall. Her father still sat across the room from her, a worried expression on his face.

<p style="text-indent: 30px">"Father, is something wrong?", she inquired. He immediately sat up straight, folding his arms, looking at her with a serious expression.

<p style="text-indent: 30px">"Li-hua, what do you remember about your mother's death, and I want you to be truthful. I know what you researched, what you found", her father said, his deep voice was more serious than she'd ever heard.

<p style="text-indent: 30px">"I... The obituary was wrong", she started, recalling all of her years of research in fine detail to her father. What seemed like ridiculous theories of a child to her, he just nodded to. By the time she had finished, her father was on his feet. He turned to face her, taking from his pocket what looked like a small locket.

<p style="text-indent: 30px">"It belonged to your mother. I think it's time you had it"

<p style="text-indent: 30px">"Mother's...", Li-hua was cut short by a man in a green leather jacket entering the room.

<p style="text-indent: 30px">"Mr. Xu, we have to move", the man said, panting slightly. Her father merely nodded at the man, before turning to Li-hua.

<p style="text-indent: 30px">"Keep it safe, and remember to check for the boogie-man under your bed", he smiled, gently rubbing her shoulder before he walked out of the room without another word.

<p style="text-indent: 30px">"Check for the... What was he on about?", Li-hua muttered to herself. She chuckled lightly, looking under her bed in a humorous, over-exaggerated fashion. "See, nothi-...", she was cut short by the sight of a small envelope, neatly placed under her bed. She opened it, and read the contents.

• Morning Exercise and a Message to a Colleague •
It was a warm, pleasant morning. The sun was shining over Castle Hopewell, illuminating the grounds, catching on the uniforms of the security personnel, as well as the clothes of members of the institute going about their morning exercise routines. The scene was peaceful, like something out of a television show on a Sunday morning.

Li-hua Xiao had only been a member of the Templars for a few months, and a member of the Scarlet and Cross Institute for less than a week. She had left on bad terms, having been working with the Dragon, unwittingly filling the 'spy' role in the institute. It was a difficult ordeal for her, not physically but emotionally, as she ended with a gun pointed at her head and a mountain of questions. It was all behind her now though. It was in the past and she had put it behind her. She had emerged from the ordeal on top. The truth behind her mother's death, as well as her ancestry on her mother's side had been revealed to her. She had inherited her mother's important belongings and had been initiated into the Templars, who seemed more professional and less wasteful of her talents.

Now a full member of the institute itself, she was already taking full advantage of the access she had been granted with her new status. She had used her clearance to get higher up in the castle, now standing on the battlements of the castle, crouched down upon the crenelations, looking over the water. She wore a white, fitted tank top, a pair of navy blue, loose fitting tracksuit bottoms, a pair of navy blue fingerless gloves and a pair of white sneakers, hiding a pair of black trainer socks. Her long, black hair was tied neatly into a pony-tail, entirely out of her face she wore no make-up. There was a slight breeze coming in from the water, brushing over her face and causing her pony-tail to wave in the wind. The view was breathtaking. She took in a deep breath of the cool air as she stood up, using the time to take in the view as she exhaled deeply.

She turned, hopping off the crenelation where she stood, landing with a quiet thud, almost silent. She walked over to the other side of the wall, looking down over the collection of rooftops below. Paradise. She monkey vaulted over the wall, hurling herself over the gap below as she descended onto a roof lower down. She landed with a roll and was instantly on her feet again, running over the lower rooftops, jumping over gaps where footpaths bisected buildings. She reached a wall where the next roof was situated on a higher level to her current one. Her pace stayed constant. She ran straight at the wall, jumping as she got very close and taking what looked like two steps up the wall as she extended her arms upwards, grabbing onto the ledge above. She couldn't allow her pace to slow, couldn't allow the intensity to drop. She hoisted herself up and onto the ledge, hopping to her feet once more and continuing to run along the rooftops. Her destination was in sight, a tower that rose higher than the other buildings that made up Castle Hopewell. Could she even climb it? These thoughts crossed her mind, but she pushed them away, focusing on the next wall-run, vault or jump and the adrenaline fueled rush of excitement that it brought. She traversed roof after roof, wall after wall, until she reached the tower. She noticed a metal pipe that seemed to run along one side of the rounded wall running to the top. She identified it as the drainage pipe for the roof at the top of the tower and started her ascent as soon as she had checked to ensure it was securely in place. The climb was long, but Li-hua was light and accustomed to paying meticulous attention to technique, her climbing very careful, almost regimented. Sweat had already started to form on her skin from the previous exertion and the tough climb merely emphasized this, large amounts of sweat ran down her arms and face. She slowed as she neared the top, but did not stop. The climb was taking its toll, but through determination, she continued on, eventually reaching the top. With a sigh of relief, she pulled herself up, onto the ledge and sat upon the ledge.

The view from the top was stunning. She could see everything for miles and miles. The wind caught her hair and clothes more at this altitude. She leaned backwards on her hands, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. She was at peace atop the tower. She slowly climbed to her feet, standing on the edge of the tower. She took one final deep breath before she, in one fluid motion, bent over and placed her hands onto the floor, kicking up into a handstand on the edge of the tower. Her eyes were shut, her focus channeled as she slipped into a trance-like state, maintaining almost perfect balance and keeping her body completely still. Slowly and deliberately, maintaining her stillness, she stretched her legs outwards, forming what appeared to be a 'T' shape with her body, her silhouette a stark contrast to the blue sky behind her. She kept complete control of her form as she began to lower herself down, doing push-ups. Not once did her form waiver as she went up and down, up and down. She stopped after ten repetitions, remaining still with her legs apart. Deliberately, she brought her legs back around and up, her body straight with her feet pointing towards the sky. Finally, after a few, calm moments, she tipped herself backwards, gracefully returning to her feet. Taking another deep breath, she opened her eyes, looking the breathtaking view once again with a sigh. She could live like this easily, free of worry and responsibility, but that wasn't the case. She had work to do, and duties to fulfill A family tradition to uphold. With one last relaxing look, she clambered back onto the pipe, sliding down fairly quickly. Whilst she could just jump and land safely due to her Anima, she refused, her pride as a traceuse was at stake. She stopped and jumped off at the same rooftop where she had begun her ascent. Breaking into a run, she took to the rooftops once more, running, vaulting and hopping her way to the front entrance, dropping down just outside the front door, causing the security guard on the front desk to glance up, raising an eyebrow as Li-hua walked in through the door. He pointed at one of the outdoor CCTV output screens which showed the tower that she had climbed, as well as the rooftops.

"You know, you could've just taken the stairs. Would've saved a lot of trouble", the guard smirked, causing Li-hua to smile, chuckling quietly in response.

"We've got to live a little", she responded, shrugging her shoulders jovially.

"I mean that you could've saved us a lot of trouble. Took us a while to identify you as a member of the institute and not some thief".

"What? I didn't know...".

"Yeah. Almost sent a team up there to apprehend you".

"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to cause you any grief", Li-hua bowed her head apologetically towards the guard, her expression mirroring her apologetic tone. "I'll refrain from practicing whilst around the castle".

"No, no", the guard laughed, "Just... Fly the colours or something, or make yourself known to us in the future", the guard said, looking back down at the monitor. Li-hua smiled again, nodding as she walked past.

"Thank you", she said quietly as she walked past, making her way down the corridor towards her quarters. She got to her room, slipping her shoes off and placing them neatly to the side of her door. She instantly made her way into the small bathroom, stripping off and taking a lukewarm shower. She changed into casual clothes, having just returned from gathering initial intel from Egypt on Ms. Zhara Neferet, she needed time in a non-hostile environment to collate the information and file an official report. She wore a red, belted mini-skirt and a white camisole vest, tying her hair into a similar pony-tail that she wore earlier during her morning training. Sitting at her desk, she powered up her laptop, opening her e-mails as soon as she was able. There was one of note from Nyles Montgomery, subject: Firearms. Li-hua stared at the screen for a moment, raising an eyebrow.

"Firearms training, huh?", she mused to herself in Mandarin. She thought back to Egypt, and how many times some kind of ranged weapon would've worked wonders for her. She knew that both blood and elemental magic were out of her reach, the Anima that she possessed was literally incapable of manifesting in those ways, having been discarded by many generations before her. Her mother's main methods of combat were heavily firearm based, so it couldn't hurt to broaden her horizons and diversify. She paused, running into a mental obstacle. Who could teach her? Lethe came to mind first, but Li-hua needed to stay in the castle, the Crucible was just too far and her work would suffer, which was unacceptable. She sat in silence, thinking about how to tackle the obstacle. Then it hit her like a rampaging bull.

"Holger. He pointed a gun in my face and didn't appear to carry any other weapons!", she exclaimed to herself in Mandarin, writing up an e-mail which read:

"Hello Mr. Eriksen,

My name's Li-hua Xiao, or Lilliya. You may remember me as you did point a gun in my face a few months back. I hope you're not one to hold grudges or suspicions, but I figure we're all batting for the same team now. I received an e-mail from Mr. Montgomery, saying that I should consider firearms training. The problem is that I've only held a gun once, and I never actually fired it, so I have no idea where to start. I'm writing this to ask you for your assistance in the matter, considering that when we last met face to face, you had a gun in mine, so you're either a better bluffer than I, or you really know how to use them. I'm inclined to believe the first.

Please let me know whenever you are able if you are willing and able to help.

Regards,

Li-hua Xiao"

She hit the send button and immediately stood up, walking to her door and putting on a pair of black boots that extended up to just below her knees. She wanted to quickly grab some toast and tea from the kitchen before she started working as her morning training had left her fairly hungry.

• Far From Home •
Silence. The deathly silence was all that accompanied the cold, Romanian air. The usual sound of the wind whistling through the small facility through cracks in the walls and breakages in the windows wasn't present. The figure of a woman wrapped in a thick coat with a scarf draped over her shoulders stood amidst the machinery of the old waste processing plant. Her long, black hair was neatly tied into a pony tail which hung just below the rim of her hat and her eyes were shielded by tinted, designer frames. She sighed, her breath visible as mist in the cold, harsh climate.

'It's times like this that make me yearn for warmer countries. Must remember to book myself a visit back home', the woman thought to herself as she stood still, staring down at the machine by her legs. The truth was, she was far from home. Far from anything. She broke the silence as she moved, the heels of her boots clicking against the stone floor and ringing out as she climbed the old, metal staircase to reach the office on the second floor. She removed her sunglasses, tucking them into a case that she retrieved from her coat pocket with care. The ambient lighting upstairs was minuscule and the woman hesitated as she placed the sunglasses case back where it came from. She stared down the barely lit corridor, a twinge of fear gripping her. She took several deep breaths, steeling herself against this fear that gnawed at her mind. She had a job to do.

She took a few steps along the metal, grated floor, the similar, clattering sound ringing out as when she had been climbing the stairs continued to echo through the otherwise silent facility. She kept her hands in her coat pockets as she walked. The job wasn't even a scary one, yet the whole situation sent shivers down the woman's spine. She continued down the corridor until she came to a battered door that was slightly ajar. The hinges were completely rusted in place and the door itself had started rotting from age. The facility was rather run down anyway, and the state of the door was no exception. The woman walked up to the door to inspect the hinges and sighed, keeping her hands in her pockets, she took a stance, standing side on to the door. With a quick, yet completely controlled movement, she kicked the door hard, sending pieces of rotted wood splintering inwards. It wasn't a difficult feat, the door was weak and almost fell off the hinges at the force of the kick. She poked her head cautiously into the room, scanning it with her deep, brown eyes. It was empty, derelict like the rest of the facility. She stepped inside and began searching the room in detail with her eyes. She remained completely stationary as she scanned the contents of the room from corner to corner. There was a long dead plant in one corner, a shattered window on the outward facing wall, a few torn or faded photographs still hung on the wall, and some lay at the bottom of the walls, frames smashed. She settled her eyes on what she was looking for. An old, rusted, metallic desk sat against the far wall with a battered old chair resting by it. There was a computer that looked as though it was in disrepair and a very rusty filing cabinet. Slowly, she stepped towards the desk and took a seat on the chair, ensuring it wasn't about to perish under her weight before she tried to open the filing cabinet. It was well and truly sealed. With a sigh, she turned to the computer and chuckled lightly under her breath. She tried pressing the power button. Nothing. She smirked and shook her head as she took a small box from her other coat pocket and got off the chair. She wasn't expecting it to be so easy after all. She crouched down beside the old computer tower and tried to open up the side. It was ceased shut too, but with a bit of effort, she managed to pry the side off. The insides actually appeared to be in good condition, albeit really old. She opened the small case that she had pulled from her coat pocket to reveal a small set of screwdrivers and she carefully unscrewed the hard drive from it's position. Once she had it out, she took a plastic bag from her coat pocket and carefully placed the hard drive inside, wrapping the bag around the old technology and pocketing it. She didn't need any other parts of the computer and so she placed the side back on, sealing the ancient tower once more. She turned her attention to the filing cabinet once more, closing up the screwdriver set and returning it to her coat pocket. She frowned and scratched her head. She asked herself how she was going to open it without endangering the contents. It wasn't sealed through some extraordinary medium, that much she was certain of, it was just rusted shut with age. She began to wrestle with the drawers, attempting to shake them open with as much care as she could. There was a rattling sound, but eventually the drawers opened, one by one. Inside the top draw was a maggot ridden pile of mush, a set of rusted keys and a very faded leaflet that looked to be a holiday destination in Romania. Whatever she was looking for was not in there. Her target was in the second drawer, a small file, though the label had faded beyond recognition. She flipped through the contents quickly. The text was hard to make out, and she couldn't understand Romanian herself, but the pictures alone were enough to convince her that the files were what she was after. To be sure, she checked the last few drawers to find nothing of any particular value. Her curiosity sated and her assignment finished, she folded up the file and got to her feet to hear the click of a gun.

“Don't mind if we take that from you, missy”, came a very American sounding voice, the accent was Southern and the gender was definitely female. A rather large, burly man in blue came and forcefully removed the file from her hands. She felt the gun being pressed to her head hard, the barrel digging into her head, forcing her to lean her head forwards, “Now hands on your head”, came the voice again. Slowly, she moved her hands to her head.

“This isn't a movie...”, the woman muttered to herself in Mandarin, before she swatted the gun to the side with one hand, pulling a pistol from a holster on her belt that was concealed beneath her coat as she turned on her heel, kicking the Southern woman directly in the jaw. She fired her own pistol into the first target that she saw, another man dressed in blue who was fiddling with an assault rifle. She reached and grabbed her second pistol as she targeted the next figure in blue, but there was nothing. She dropped her pistols. Everything seemed to go in slow motion. She felt a warm sensation, running down her torso, she looked down, but her legs gave way under her. She fell face first to the ground. The warm sensation turned into a wet, sticky sensation, and she felt her consciousness slip away from her slowly.

“You idiot! You know what she's carrying! If you hit the hard drive, then it's your head on Ms Geary's wall. Hey, Al, get over here, I need you to stabilise George before he keels over”, the Southern woman said as she got up off the ground, looking at the woman on the floor. She crouched down and took the hard drive from the woman's pocket, as well as the sunglasses case, examining them with a smile.

Finally, Liliya's eyes shut and she lost consciousness.

• Betrayed, Decimated, Determined •
<p style="text-indent: 30px">She remained crouched behind the wall, signalling back to the other two with a series of hand gestures before peering around the corner once again. Two men, AKs, head-scarfs. Terrorists really needed to learn to not dress like terrorists, it was almost too easy. They were an annoyance, no more. She couldn't shoot them, even with a suppressor, the sound would be more than audible and then the bodies would be found, no, it was not their time yet. With another series of hand gestures at the man directly behind her, the two of them sneaked up on the two headscarf wearing men, giving each a hard knock to the back of the head with their rifles' stocks, almost in sync, sending the two men to the ground. They dragged the unconscious bodies around the corner, hiding them behind the building's generator, out of sight. The trio moved around the corner, coming across the munitions cupboard that they were looking for. Helga took point, moving slowly into the room and turning the corner, she heard a click from her left as she entered, her heart skipping a beat as she saw another head-scarf wearing man with his rifle pointed directly at her. His gun had jammed as he tried twice more to pull the trigger before frantically scrambling for a pistol that was in a holster mounted on his thigh.

<p style="text-indent: 30px">How the hell do you manage to jam an AK? she asked herself in her mind as she rushed at the panicked man. Noticing the pistol as a beretta m9 model, she skilfully disarmed the man before she ejected the magazine and separated the slide from the grip, tossing each piece aside. The man was already rushing at her with a jagged looking knife, though he was interrupted by another rifle butt to the face before he could reach Helga. One of the other two had stepped in and knocked him to the floor. He had dropped the knife out of shock and Helga calmly walked over to the man, standing above him, leaning down and grabbing him by the collar, a mean smile on her face. The man was poorly educated, he tried to spit in her face, but forgot he was wearing a head-scarf. Helga cackled hysterically at his idiocy.

<p style="text-indent: 30px">"First you manage to jam an AK, then you try and spit at me whilst you're wearing a head-scarf? This terrorist organisation is a joke", she said in German, punching the man in the face and letting go of his collar, sending his head crashing to the floor, knocking him out cold. Other than them, the small warehouse was devoid of people. Munitions lay messily everywhere, the warehouse was a complete mess. All the better for them.

<p style="text-indent: 30px">"You finished toying with the man, Schwan?", said the darker haired man, in English, his English accent audible. Helga answered the question with a nod.

<p style="text-indent: 30px">"Yes, just venting some anger at the bastard of a leader we used to have. Turn around, we need to be done with this place before 4am", Helga replied, motioning for the man to turn around. Once he turned around, she rummaged around in his backpack, pulling out a decent quantity of plastic explosives, though the quantity was smaller than they perhaps needed. C4 with detonators, timed and already prepared. She handed roughly a third to each of the other two men, signalling around the warehouse as she spoke. "Plant them near large piles of munitions. We don't really have enough, so we'll detonate their explosives too. Should be sufficient to wipe this facility off the map". The three of them parted ways, planting the explosives near larger piles of munitions, hiding them under the mess that seemed prevalent in the warehouse. The three of them met up near the door once they were finished, exchanging a nod before Helga once again took point, opening the door to peer out. The coast was clear, so Helga moved out. The three of them retraced their steps, re-walking the path that they cleared without a problem. They got to the fence, crawling under the razor wire in the small trench that they had dug to get in. The operation went without a problem, the three of them escaped to the nearby town where their contact within the U.N forces got them on their transport back to Germany. The next morning on the news, was a story of a facility that had been sabotaged by U.N forces, a successful assault on a Taliban stronghold in Iran. A successful operation, despite the initial leader's betrayal.

• Failure will not be Tolerated •
<p style="text-indent: 30px">Helga sat in the café, awaiting her contact. Egypt was hot as hell, and having actually visited a hell-scape in her time, she knew that to ring true. She was fairly tall, taller than most of the Egyptian women, with much fairer skin than everyone else in the café. Her hair was blonde, and her eyes were a light blue. She was quite obviously a foreigner in this land, and gave off an aura of self-superiority. She sipped her coffee, observing the other patrons, turning up her nose at them.

<p style="text-indent: 30px">She descended from the Maier bloodline, a traditional and well known Templar bloodline, which caused initial suspicion amongst her work colleagues. Many of her ancestors were honourable, knightly and all around chivalrous, though that doesn't mean that all of them followed the majority. It started with her grandfather, who strayed from the family. He had fully backed the Fuhrer during the years of Nazi Germany, joining up to become a young officer with the occult unit of the Waffen SS, Hitler's personal occult advisers and soldiers. Whilst he wasn't disowned by the family, he did become a pariah of sorts, never invited to family reunions and generally shunned by his cousins, uncles and aunts. When the fall of Berlin was upon them, a group of Nazi supporters, including Helga's grandfather and grandmother, fled to Spain to avoid the vengeful wrath of the Russians, and to hide with Nazi sympathisers there. Her grandfather continued his occult studies and her grandmother gave birth to Helga's mother, Elke, in 1956. Elke followed in her father's footsteps, continuing his work after he was assassinated in 1978. She returned to Germany, taking residence in Hamburg, Germany where she married a German man in 1981. She gave birth to Helga in 1984 and passed on her knowledge, to preserve everything that Helga's grandfather worked and strived for. Helga was still an honourable Maier, though honourable to a different cause.

<p style="text-indent: 30px">She took another sip from her coffee, checking her watch. She still had five minutes until her contact was to show up. She feared what was to come in the next few hours. How do you explain that your operation was a complete failure to the Illuminati? The fact that her report had gone through, been processed and now she was to meet with this illusive contact was all the more reason to worry. To her, for her personal agenda, the operation wasn't a complete failure. She had learned that the man who had betrayed her just over a year ago was a Phoenician. That'd make her revenge easier to pursue, if she survived the repercussions of her failure. ''That's the second time that degenerate scumbag has betrayed me and screwed me over. What's worse is that I lost the artifact to the Phoenicians. The Phoenicians! They're a joke, and I was bettered by them'', she thought to herself, clenching her fist before taking another sip of her coffee, finishing the cup. As she placed it down on the table, she noticed a man what she described in her mind as a 'Safari wannabe's get-up'. The man leaned over and whispered in her ear.

<p style="text-indent: 30px">"Two streets South, the house under the eye". With that, the man stood up after pushing something into her jacket pocket and walked off into the town. Helga knew that this man was her contact and stood up, walking out shortly after him. He was nowhere to be seen, so she walked off, following the cryptic directions that she had been given. She walked two streets to the South and scanned the buildings. There were none that were specifically 'Under the eye', as there were no eyes to be seen. It took her a few minutes of thinking before she walked to the house that was not in the shade. The way the Sun was in the sky meant that there was one house that was illuminated by the Sun's rays. The eye was a reference to the Sun, it was obvious to her at that moment as she walked into the house.

<p style="text-indent: 30px">The door was shut behind her and she was instantly jumped by two masked individuals, who forced her into a seat and bound her to it with rope. The man walked out from another room, clapping and shaking his head.

<p style="text-indent: 30px">"I never thought that the mistress of strategy would be so easily out-smarted by simple pirates", the man said, closing in on her, placing his face close to hers with a sadistic grin. "You lost an artifact to the Phoenicians, a joke organisation who aren't even worthy to hang with the big boys and girls on the Council of Venice. If you were out-played by them, what does that make you?". Helga remained silent, letting her head hang so that she was looking at the floor. The man pulled up another chair and sat backwards in it, so the back-rest was facing Helga, leaning his arms on the top of it, and placing his head onto his arms. He removed his right arm, grabbing her by the hair and pulling upwards, forcing her to look him in the eyes. "You will recover the artifact, or you will die trying. If you fail, but escape with your life, we'll find you and take your life from you, and we won't do it as quickly as the Phoenicians would, believe me". The man forcefully shoved her head downwards, jarring her neck slightly, causing her no small amount of discomfort. He stood up, placing the chair back where it was originally before walking back over to where Helga was tied to the other chair. She remained motionless in the chair, her head hung downwards, still facing the floor. "Are we clear, Helga?", the man asked with a smirk. She weakly nodded her head, but said nothing. The man's smirk turned into more of a grin. "Good...", he said, walking past her chair to go out of the house. He turned around momentarily, the sadistic grin still on his face, kicking the chair in which Helga was bound to the floor, though she remained silent, much to his dismay. Not even a whimper in pain, despite the fact that she was hurting all over. He signalled at the other two to follow him and they walked out.

<p style="text-indent: 30px">Helga remained there for a few minutes, crying quietly to herself, still bound to the chair, motionless. After about ten minutes, she managed to stop herself. Her hands glowed red as she used blood magic to break the rope and free herself from the chair, a trivial task. She stood up, wiping her eyes of tears as she sobbed lightly, clenching her other fist.

<p style="text-indent: 30px">"That Phoenician has caused me grief and injury for the last time. He dies, this week", she said to herself, re-arranging her hair and clothes to look presentable before walking out of the house where she was.

• The Shackles of a Traitor, and the Pains of Inexperience •
Soo-Yun sat at her computer, idly browsing one of the many Dragon databases that she had access to since the start of her new job. There were names, faces of these people, operatives mostly, auxiliaries, butterflies. Most of them did not really catch her attention, they were all in the same boat as her in the end. There were ex-police, porn stars, C-list celebrities, students, criminals, such a variety of people that the list could go on for tens or hundreds of different professions. The Dragon recruited all sorts it seemed. One record stood out amongst them all, blacklisted. She appeared to be a normal business woman, Chinese descent, not much older than Soo-Yun herself. Apparently, this particular butterfly had deviated too far from their models as far as betraying the Dragon entirely.

"Li-hua Xiao, betrayed the Dragon, requires immediate... Termination?", Soo-Yun said to herself in her native Korean, browsing over the files. "Set to meet with one of our agents...”, she checked the date on her calendar, gasping “today in room 14a of the Kumiho Hotel", she continued, sitting at her desk in her student house. A knock at the door interrupted her train of thought, taking the time to silently shut down her tablet PC.

"Steph?", the voice of her English flat mate, could be heard on the other side of the door, speaking in his native language.

"Only if you're asking me in Korean", she replied, smirking as she packed the tablet into her laptop bag.

“Fine, you win... But you're there, right? I wanted to ask you if you wanted to...”, he asked in Korean, though he was cut short by Soo-Yun opening the door, smiling and shaking her head.

“Sorry, really busy tonight, and I'm about to head out”, she responded prematurely, an apologetic smile on her face as she moved to close the door. He put his foot in between the door and the doorframe, stopping it from shutting.

“Wait, I could come with you. If you're going to Blackhole, I've been practising my-...”, he replied, though was cut off immediately.

“Not going to Blackhole. Girl things, sorry, but I need to get going”, she replied again, causing his expression to drop for a moment, before he smiled back.

“Not to worry then... Have fun”, he said, removing his foot from the door and walking down the corridor, back to his room. She sighed, closing the door and returning to her room to get ready for her solo-excursion. She packed herself as she normally does when going on business. She attached her elemental focus to her belt, an enchanted hard disk drive, and placed her phone into her laptop bag, resting it next to the tablet PC. She grabbed a long coat from her wardrobe that she had recently purchased, putting it on and looking at herself in the mirror. She may be a nerd, but she liked to at least try and look decent. With that, she grabbed her house keys, slung her bag over her shoulder, put on her red canvas Converse shoes and left her house, making her way to the Kumiho Hotel.

Li-hua walked through the streets of Seoul. It felt alien, hostile, dangerous since her last visit. She did not feel welcome, nor did she feel safe as she walked through the streets. She felt eyes on her at all times, ears listening to her every sound that she made.

“Meet up with big brother, then I'm heading straight back to London. This is really quite creepy, and I'd rather not be here, but he really deserves to know”, she mutters to herself quietly in Mandarin as she traverses the streets. Finally, she reached the Kumiho Hotel. She had already booked in, room 14a, and was supposed to meet with her older brother in an hour or so. She got her room key from the front desk and walked up the staircase to her room. Standing outside the door, she looked to either end of the corridor. It was mostly quiet, apart from a probable couple who were a little too loud for their own good. It was a little uncomfortable to hear the groans through the door, but she quickly opened her door and walked into her room. The sound died as soon as she closed the door, lucky for her, she wouldn't want to have a conversation with her brother with the sound of a noisy, passionate couple in the background. She dumped her bag on her bed, instantly looking around the hotel suite for cameras and hidden surveillance equipment. To her great surprise, there was nothing. No cameras, no microphones, no motion detectors, nothing. That was more worrying that comforting to Li-hua, she knew how the Dragon worked, and they'd likely want to keep an eye on her.

With her thoughts firmly in her head, she sat on her bed, looking out the window into the distance. The dark quiet, paired with the faint sound of raindrops hitting the window was peaceful, calming. She closed her eyes, and remained motionless in front of the window, entering an almost trance-like state.

“It's beautiful...”, she muttered to herself in Mandarin, as she appreciated the peace and quiet.

Soo-Yun walked through the streets of Seoul almost subconsciously, making her way towards the Kumiho Hotel. She took her phone from her bag, flipping through the woman's file once more.

“What has she done that's got the Dragon so riled up? I thought their models covered all eventualities...”, she muttered to herself in Korean as she winded and weaved through the empty streets. It was late and it was raining, so there were very few people around right now. She noticed some students from her classes were having a drink in a local bar, so she avoided the proximity, not wishing to be dragged into a conversation with them. She knew exactly how that would end.

Eventually, she made it to the hotel. The owner, nodded towards her, signalling up the stairs with a gesture of his head. 'Wait... Are the Dragon already planning something? Why would he do that... Everything happens for a reason, so obviously they knew that I'd do this, so they must've sent word... Must've...', she thought to herself as she removed her coat, walking up to the desk.

“Can I leave this with you? I'm only here to visit someone, and I don't want to take my wet coat into their room”, she said shakily in Korean, nervous, but the manager complied, taking her coat from her arms and keeping it behind the desk. “Thank you, I shouldn't be long, it's just a quick visit”, she says as she walks off up the stairs. “Am I really going to kill this woman...? Will I even be able to?”, she asked herself in Korean as she got to the appropriate floor, rubbing her head and straightening her glasses, “She can't even manipulate Anima, and I can... This should be a cinch, and it'll prove to everyone that I really can hold my own in a fight...”, she concluded as she walked up to the door. She was shaking as she reached for the handle, stopping before she touched it, trying to calm her nerves. “Relax... It's going to be fine... Some lightning here, a fireball there and I'll have it...”, she muttered as she clasped the door handle in her hand, slowly opening it as quietly as possible, taking a step inside before closing the door behind her.

She gathered some electricity to her hand as she entered, walking into the bedroom to see the inanimate figure of a woman sitting on the bed, facing the window. Suddenly, the woman turned to face her, it was definitely the woman from the file. There was a moment of silence, the two just staring at each other, before Soo-Yun launched the lightning towards the woman.

Li-hua had heard the door opening, assuming it to be her brother, though she was still on her guard. When she turned to see a small, young, Korean girl, she was shocked to say the least. She contemplated talking with her, but noticed the lightning too late as the girl aimed to throw it at her. She closed her eyes, mentally bracing herself for the shock.

There was nothing, she opened her eyes to see the girl hopping up and down, shaking her hand. Her attack had backfired and she had shocked herself instead. The combination of the hostile nature of the seemingly harmless teenager and the fact that she could manipulate Anima rang alarm bells in Li-hua's mind. She was either Illuminati or Dragon, and considering the current circumstances, Li-hua guessed that she was Dragon. She hurled herself backwards, launching herself off the bed, landing lightly onto her feet as she ran at the girl. The girl panicked, trying in vain to get another attack off on Li-hua, but it was too late. Li-hua grabbed the girl's wrist, pulling it over her own shoulder, exposing the girl's chest and ribs area. Li-hua wasted no time, striking hard to the woman's abdomen, before rolling her over her own shoulder, flipping the girl over onto her back, causing her to scream in pain and flail wildly. She kept up the pressure, holding her arm still as the girl lay on the floor, sending a powerful kick to the girl's ribs whilst she was grounded, causing her to arch inwards, a hopeless attempt to defend herself. Locking her leg around the girl's arm, she rolled forwards, onto the ground herself holding the girl's arm in an awkward position before pushing and straightening her legs, completely dislocating the girl's shoulder with an audible, sickening pop. The girl screamed again, whimpering under the onslaught.

Li-hua stopped to think for a moment. This girl's style, she was not a professional killer, she was nowhere near that standard. She released the girl's arm, allowing her what freedom of movement she had left. She rolled on the floor, screaming and clutching her arm. Li-hua instantly felt both sorry for the girl, for what she had just gone through, as well as bad with herself for being the one who did it. She walked over to the screaming girl, holding her still for a moment before sending a powerful strike to the side of the girl's head, knocking her out cold.

“It's for your own good, trust me...”, she muttered in Mandarin, looking at the unconscious girl on the floor. She stood over the girl's dislocated arm, crouching down and holding her body steady. “I'm sorry”, she whispered in Mandarin as she wrenched the girl's arm, popping it back into position. If the girl had been conscious, the pain would've been unbearable. With that sorted, she grabbed a chair and took the lining from her duvet, and pillow, using the pillowcase to gag the girl and using the duvet cover to bind her to the chair. She waited still for Cheung, her older brother, now with an unconscious girl bound to the chair.

Soo-Yun threw out her arm to hurl the lightning magic at her target, but it went nowhere, absorbing into her own arm instead and causing the current to course through her body, shocking herself. 'You've got to be kidding. Not here. Not now...', she thought as she wrestled control of her muscles back from the electrical current. She regained control far too late, the woman was already right there. She felt a hand pull her wrist upwards and over the woman's shoulder. She resisted the action, but the woman was stronger than her, pulling her arm up and forwards, exposing her completely. She brought the other hand around to try and block, but she felt a powerful blow hit her stomach, knocking the wind out of her. Before she could even attempt to recover from the blow, she felt her feet leave the ground, being forced over yet again by the woman, causing her to land on her back with a heavy thud. Once again, she brought her free arm up to try and block the next blow, but the woman's foot came too hard, too quickly, striking her in the ribs with a quiet crack, causing her to scream in pain as two of her ribs cracked under the force of the blow.

'I'm going to die... This is it, she's going to kill me. I'm going to die. I don't want to die... I don't want to die!', she thought to herself, panic taking over as she wildly flailed in a pathetic attempt to get out of the woman's grip. It was a useless attempt though as the woman locked her leg around Soo-Yun's arm, before straightening, forcing her arm into a position that it should not be able to go into. A loud pop was heard before an incredible pain shot through her body. Her shoulder had popped out of its socket. She screamed and squirmed as she woman appeared to let go completely. She rolled around on the floor for a few moments, screaming and whimpering, tears streaking down her face before she heard the woman's voice. A calm, quiet tone as she spoke in a language that she couldn't understand, the woman holding her still before she felt a powerful blow to the side of her head. Everything went black.

Li-hua sat on her bed, now facing inwards, watching the girl who she had bound to the chair with a curious expression. 'Who is she? She can't be a Dragon assassin, she's not a trained fighter, but why would she try and attack me? We've never met and I haven't got a clue who she is', she thought to herself, watching the girl closely, her expression suggested that she was far from comfortable, but it was the best that Li-hua could do for her without jeopardising her own safety. She removed the hard drive from her belt and took all of her possessions, placing them into a neat pile on the bed as a pre-caution, if she did wake up, she didn't want her to be armed, after all.

Another noise, a knock on the door. Hesitantly, she left the room, walking over and opening the door. There stood Cheung, her older brother, alone and seemingly unarmed.

“Can I come in, Li-hua?”, he said quietly in Mandarin. She nodded, stepping aside as he walked into the hotel room. He noticed the Korean girl tied up, raising an eyebrow and looking back to Li-hua, “I hope this isn't how you treat all your guests”, he said with a smile.

“I was actually hoping to ask you about that. Do you recognise her? She just came into my hotel room and tried to attack me with elemental magic. Is she Dragon?”, she replied, the conversation remaining in Mandarin.

“I don't know, in all honesty, and even if I did, you know that I can't tell you the answer to that question...”, he replied, still smiling, though his tone was disappointed, almost sad. “Why did you do it, Sis? Why did you betray everything that father, Guowei and myself work for? When I first heard that you had turned on us, and off all people, joined up with those... Ugh... I just couldn't really believe it. That's why I agreed to this, to get some answers for myself. Why do it?”, he continued, a serious expression on his face, though he still seemed sad and disappointed.

“You didn't uncover their lies. You don't know what they did to mother...”, Li-hua responded, shaking her head and looking at the floor. Before Cheung could open his mouth to ask what she was going on about, Li-hua continued, “Those bastards, those monsters... Mother was never killed by anything supernatural, she was fuckin' murdered!”, she was barely holding back her tears, both of anger and of sadness, recalling the horrifying memory.

“And where's your proof? These are pretty wild accus-...”.

“I heard it all, every terrifying moment of it. There's a sound file in the archives, and I read the autopsy reports of the Dragon. They concluded the murder, the Dragon even planned it, but no one put forward the evidence because it would've destabilised the ground between the societies and the Council, so no one spoke out. There's too much at stake to bring it up, forces off darkness and all that...”, she said, sobbing as she spoke and wiping her eyes carefully.

“I'm not convinced... That's... That's just stupid, Sis”, Cheung responded, wiping his face.

“Do your own investigation. It's all out there, I'd even forward you the autopsy reports and the sound file if you really want, but open your eyes, they killed mother and made it look like something supernatural did it. Do you even know how long mother's screams last? The sound file lasts for hours before they find that she's bugged and cut the feed, who knows how long it goes on after that!”, she responded angrily, her tears running freely. Cheung opened his mouth to speak, but no words came. He stood there in complete silence whilst his little sister cried, bringing up the whole experience was mentally trying for Li-hua and he moved to comfort her, embracing her in a warm, comforting hug.

“It's ok, Sis... I-... I don't know what to say, you really believe what you've dug up, don't you?”, she said as she dug her face into his shoulder. He sighed, shaking his head, “I'll do my own investigation, Sis. If you're right, I can completely understand your reasoning, I'd even consider your course of action myself, but you know that I can't. I can't just leave the Dragon after everything I have done for them. I firmly believe in them and their cause... I can't follow you, but I equally will not harm you”, he paused, letting go of her as she took a few steps backwards, wiping her eyes. “But equally, I cannot protect you from them... I'm sorry, Sis”, he said as the door to her hotel room opened to reveal her father and Guowei, her other brother, both armed and wearing Dragon uniforms.

'Shit... Not now...', Li-hua thought to herself as the two entered the room.

Soo-Yun's eyes flickered open to find herself tied to a chair. Her shoulder hurt like hell, but surprisingly it hurt a lot less than before. She tried to move, but she was securely fastened to the chair, and gagged with what looked like a hotel pillow cover. Her captor was speaking with a man in a language that she did not understand. The woman appeared a little traumatised, she was crying and shouting and appeared deeply pissed off, but also intensely sad. The two hugged before the man stepped backwards, speaking apologetically and quietly, though she still could not understand. That was, until the doors opened and two armed Dragon walked into the room.

The woman who had beaten her so easily seemed petrified, rooted to the spot. The younger Dragon held his sword up threateningly as he spoke, though the whole conversation was still not in a language that she understood. The three of them spoke for a while, and it seemed as though the unarmed man was trying to talk them down, his tone a lot less aggressive, though the younger Dragon was having none of it. He ran at the woman, trying to cut at her. Her facial expression was one of terror as she dodged and weaved out of the way for a few moments, but the Dragon was one step ahead, grabbing her arm with his empty hand, flipping her over onto the floor in the same way that she had flipped Soo-Yun over so easily. The woman went down with a thud and the Dragon stabbed downwards. He let go of his sword immediately, and the telltale sounds were not there, the woman had rolled out of the way, and got to her feet, dropping into a fighting stance. The fight did not last long, the woman was outclassed, her blows met at every turn with a block or counter attack. She backed off as he grabbed his sword from the ground, pulling it out and running at her once again. This time, her dodges were slower, she had been worn down by his beating and the sword was finding its mark in her flesh more and more. There were no fatal blows struck, but she was being worn down, slowly, sustaining more and more laceration wounds on her body. Eventually, a stab wound was made to the left of her abdomen, causing her to fall backwards to escape the blade, a sickening rip was heard as she fell to the floor, propping herself against the bed. The unarmed man had come over to her by now.

“What the hell were you thinking? I imagine you saw the file?”, he said as he untied her. She recognised his face as one of the Dragon who had helped her in the dojang after she nearly blew her leg off with her shotgun.

“I... er... I no think... I think I able to do job...”, she replied in broken English. He didn't frown, he just smiled sympathetically.

“You're not an assassin, remain yourself and focus on what you're good at until you can fire a weapon without hurting yourself, eh?”, he replied, the same smile. “But please, do not get involved with this. It's family business, and you wouldn't understand as you're not a part of this model”, he said as he walked over to the others. By now, the woman was struggling to stand up, shaking as she tried. Only now could Soo-Yun get a good look at the woman. Her white blouse underneath her suit jacket was now closer to red with blood. Her expression was dazed and weary, she looked like she had run through hell and back. Soo-Yun looked away, looking up at the two Dragon. The older one looked emotionally hurt, his expression was one of great sadness, the unarmed man looked horrified and a little disgusted, but the younger one seemed to be grinning. He was enjoying himself. 'They're family? These people have real family issues... I'm out of here', she thought to herself as she walked towards the door. She stopped as the older Dragon shouted something, but it wasn't understandable to Soo-Yun, obviously it was directed towards the others. She continued to make her way towards the door as they sorted their 'family business'.

As Cheung stopped speaking, the door swung open and two, fully armed men walked in, brandishing Dao style swords. Li-hua instantly recognised them both as Huojin and Guowei, her father and other brother.

"Why're you both here?", she glanced at Cheung, "What the fuck are they doing here?", she said in Mandarin, a concerned expression on her face. Cheung looked away, his facial expression was one of shame as he shook his head.

"You can't just run around as a traitor. You can't betray the Dragon, betray your family, without repurcussions", Guowei responded, holding his blade up in a threatening manner.

"The mouth has spoken. You've deviated too much from the models and you're to be killed. We have been assigned to do it. Family deal with family in all aspects", Huojin said once Guowei had finished.

"So, a repeat performance of what your twisted society did to mother?", replied Li-hua.

"Mother was a traitorous whore who lied to us all throughout our lives!".

"Guowei!", Cheung interjected, "Regardless of her actions, she was still our mother. Give her the respect that she deserves as our mother".

"I am", Guowei replied, spitting on the floor in front of Cheung.

"Enough! Both of you!", Huojin finally stepped in, he was emotionally on the brink, having had to orchestrate the death of his wife and now his only daughter. "We're here to do a job, let's just get it over with". He turned to Li-hua, a sadness engrained into his face as he spoke, "Li-hua... My dearest daughter... We are not without our honour. If you can best Guowei, Cheung and myself in succession in single combat, you can walk free. But the statistics of that happening are meagre at best. Die well, my daughter, die standing as a proud member of the Xiao family", he said, turning and walking to the door.

"Father...", Li-hua responded, though she was cut short by Guowei charging at her with his sword.

"This bitch is not my sister!" he yelled as he ran, slashing at the air. Li-hua was quick to dodge out of the way, following his movements, though he was fast as well, turning the blade ninety degrees and slashing horizontally. She jumped backwards, but he was already following her movements, jumping forwards and grabbing her arm in his free hand. She tried to free herself, but he flipped her over, causing her to crash to the ground with a light thud. He drove his sword downwards to where she was lying, but she managed to roll out of the way, standing back up and dropping into a fighting stance. Guowei released his grip on his blade following up with an offensive technique using his feet and fists. As children, he had always been the superior fighter, his aggressive techniques broke through any kind of defence or counter attack that Li-hua could mount. She couldn't defend herself, he was relentless, beating her without mercy and without restraint. He stepped backwards after a while, leaving her battered and bruised, but still standing. He was laughing as he grabbed his sword once more. He had fallen far, he was actually enjoying this. Picking up his sword he ran at her again, slashing downwards, she moved to dodge it, but her battered form was a lot slower than before, the blade carving into her flesh deeply down her side. She stumbled slightly, reeling from the blow.

'This hurts like hell... Maybe this is the end for me', she thought to herself as she steeled herself for another attack. She came at her again, and again, always slashing, but never making any fatal incisions. She was bleeding badly from the multitude of wounds sustained and eventually he lunged forwards, aiming a stabbing motion at her. She barely managed to move to avoid the blade puncturing her chest, the end of the sword digging into the left side of her abdomen. She instantly fell backwards, pulling herself off the blade with a sickening rip and a scream in agony. She tried to stand, but her strength failed her, she shook, and wobbled amongst the furniture as Guowei stalked around the room grinning sadistically at her. 'I can't stand. I'm stuck here, I can't fight back. I'm helpless. Why, oh goodness why won't he just end it for me? ', she thought to herself as she struggled. Her blouse was stuck to her skin, and her suit jacket was stuck to her blouse through the sheer amount of blood that had leaked from her body. She could feel her life ebbing away, it was only a matter of time.

“Guowei! Just finish it, we don't need to see this!”, Cheung protested, but Guowei just ignored his older brother, still grinning as he watched Li-hua slowly bleed to death.

“Guowei, listen to your brother. I order you to finish it quickly. She is still your sister, and deserves a clean death!”, Huojin interjected, a sad, yet angry expression covered his face.

“I told you, father, this bitch is not my sister! She doesn't even deserve to die honourably like this! She should've just been stabbed in the back like the snake she is!”, he replied, causing Huojin to storm across the room and grabbing Guowei by the wrist.

“Finish it. Now”, he replied, walking away from his son. Li-hua noticed Cheung untying the girl she had knocked out earlier as he guided her towards the door.

'Thanks big brother...', she silently thought to herself, 'She doesn't need to see this, I just hope she realises that I'm sorry for what happened earlier', she thought as she closed her eyes. She had resigned herself to her fate.

'Grim reaper... Come here and take me if you're man enough. I will not run'.

A red haired woman heard the thump emanate from one of the doors down the corridor. She had come to the right place after all. Her friend had been an idiot, walking into the middle of Dragon territory after what she had done.

The woman was dressed conservatively, a pair of knee-high boots covered her feet and lower half of her legs, tucked underneath a pair of loose fitting, denim jeans. Her torso was covered by a plain, red, short sleeved shirt and a long leather coat that was open at the front, a crucifix hanging from her neck, visibly showing as it hung over her shirt. She walked down the corridor to the door where the sound originated from, pressing her ear to the door. She heard the disgusting sound of flesh tearing, followed by another thump and some voices speaking in Chinese.

"Lord, give me strength", she muttered to herself in French, her hands wreathed in fire as she shoulder barged the door open. The scene was horrific for the most part. Her friend lay propped up against the bed, sticky with blood. She had definitely seen better days. The woman was interrupted by an older looking man in a Dragon uniform slicing downwards on her position. She was ready as her hand erupted with fire magic, searing across the older one's face as she avoided his blow, sending an arc of lightning out, hitting the other three in the room, causing the girl to flail, before collapsing to the floor, the other two staggering backwards.

The older Dragon yelled something in Chinese, before running out of the room, the unarmed man following before she could stop them. The other, younger man hesitated, looking over at the bleeding woman with a furious expression. She didn't waste any time, throwing a bolt of lightning at his back, causing him to spasm, dropping his sword. It was only then that he ran out of the room, equally as quick as the others, though he left his sword behind. The woman closed the door, placing the lock on the door and shot a glance at the girl who was trapped inside, shaking her head before, going over to where her friend lay.

"Lily... You're really stupid sometimes, you know?", she said, a concerned smile on her face as she took a small prayer book from her coat pocket. Li-hua managed a faint smile, though her eyes were having trouble focussing. The woman placed her hand on Li-hua's shoulder as she began to solemnly speak out.

"Our Father, who art in heaven...".

The door suddenly rushed open as Soo-Yun approached, a red haired woman in jeans and a red shirt burst into the room. She was a frightening sight to behold as she fought off both of the armed men using only her skill in magic. Frightening, yet inspiring. As the woman fought the males off with fire and lightning, Soo-Yun crept closer to the door. As the last of them fled out the door, the red haired woman slammed it shut, locking it and sending a terrifying glare at Soo-Yun with a shake of her head. Soo-Yun stumbled backwards and fell, landing on her behind. She wasn't going anywhere. 'I don't want to end up burned... I think I'll just acquiesce to her wishes and remain here then...', she thought to herself as she watched the red haired woman walk over to the wounded Chinese woman.

As she spoke, Soo-Yun identified the accent. This saviour woman was French.

Soo-Yun remained silent as she watched the Frenchwoman pull a prayer book from her pocket, laying her hand on the Chinese woman's shoulder as she started to say a prayer. Well, more than just a simple prayer.

As she spoke the words of the Lord's Prayer, the Frenchwoman's hands glowed a dull red, the puddle of blood that had been pooling under Li-hua began to recede, the majority began to run back up Li-hua's body, seemingly pouring back into the wounds before coagulating, sealing the wounds up. Even Li-hua's shirt had become a lighter red.

"For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen", the Frenchwoman finished the prayer and stood up, placing the prayer book back into her jacket pocket, still smiling down at Li-hua. "Do you need help standing?", she asked, extending a hand downwards.

"Thank you, Hélène", Li-hua responded, taking Hélène's hand and pulling herself to her feet. Immediately, Hélène walked over to the girl who was sitting, looking at the two, paralyzed with fear. Hélène grabbed the girl by the collar, her other hand igniting.

"What the fuck do you people want with her? God have mercy on you, because I won't", she yelled at the petrified girl. The girl waved her hands submissively, stuttering as she answered in a panic in a language that Hélène didn't understand. She shook the girl violently, slapping her across the face with her ignited hand, causing minor burns and a shriek of pain, her hands rising to try and shield her face, as Hélène continued her assault, "Speak English!". The girl was crying again, hopelessly trying to shield herself, burns across her face and hands.

"Hélène, stop, she doesn't deserve such punishment", Li-hua spoke out, stumbling over to her friend. She was still light-headed from the blood loss earlier.

"Why? She tried to kill you and subjected you to... That!", Hélène said angrily, though she was cut off.

"Look at her, she's no warrior, she's too terrified to even answer coherently, let alone lie". Hélène looked at the girl who had curled up on the floor, shielding herself as best she could. Her expression dropped, shaking her head.

"Sorry. You are right, it's just after seeing what they were doing to you".

"This girl was not a part of this, it was a family feud, and she isn't related". Hélène looked down at the girl once more, sighing and placing her hand on the girl's arm.

“I will not ask for your forgiveness in this, but for what it's worth, I am deeply sorry”, she said in a calm, almost serene voice. The girl uncurled slightly, looking up at Hélène, her tear streaked eyes gazed up with a certain terror as she said something in Korean that the two couldn't understand, let alone through all the tears. Li-hua shook her head at Hélène.

“Come on, we should get out of Seoul, remaining can't be a good idea”, she said.

“You alright to walk, Lily?”.

“I'll be fine. We can take the long route to Agartha, the Dragon will probably be watching the main route”.

“You lead the way, I have no real idea what you're talking about”, with Hélène's words, they set off quickly, taking the back streets to get to the Agartha portal. The journey was without trouble, and the two managed to travel safely back to London, Hélène returned to the Church to ask forgiveness for her sins she had committed that day, and Li-hua went straight home, changed out of her bloody suit and into her pyjamas, where she collapsed on her bed.

“At least Cheung listened...”, she mumbled in Mandarin as she lay there, staring at the ceiling. The experience weighed heavily on her, how she had effectively been disowned by her family over her beliefs. In time, she sank into a calm sleep, she was too tired to stay awake and think about it.

Soo-Yun watched in amazement as this woman, who had fought off the other Dragon, turned her hands to healing her friend's wounds. Her knowledge of magic was far greater than her own, but she was also an enemy. She was inspiring, and scary. She watched the blood crawl back into the wounds, the blood clotting and sealing the many wounds left on the Chinese woman's body. The Frenchwoman finished speaking and immediately stood up and walked over to Soo-Yun, one arm igniting into flames, her other arm reaching down and grabbing her collar, pulling her upwards.

The Frenchwoman began yelling demands, asking what she wanted with her friend.

"I don't know! I'm not with the others!", Soo-Yun yelled in Korean in a panic. The Frenchwoman did not appear satisfied with the answer, she began yelling more demands, striking Soo-Yun repeatedly in the face with her flaming hand, leaving burns and impact marks, breaking her glasses. Soo-Yun tried her best to shield herself from the beating, though all she managed to accomplish was getting burned on her arms and hands as well. "Please! Stop! I can't tell you what you want to know! Please...", she begged in Korean, shouting as loud as she could, in between the sobs and whimpers, tears streaking across her face.

She struggled and flailed under the assault, wriggling helplessly before the beating stopped suddenly. She remained stationary, sobbing on the floor as the two spoke amongst themselves. After a while, Soo-Yun felt a hand on her shoulder. She fearfully looked up to see the apologetic expression of her former attacker. She had completely changed, apologising for her actions, though not expecting forgiveness.

"It's a bit too late for that...", Soo-Yun replied in Korean, again through the sobbing and tears. There was no response, and the next thing she knew, she was alone again.

Soo-Yun continued to cry to herself on the floor, curled up and badly beaten.

"Why? What did I do to deserve this?", she mumbled to herself, looking at her arms which were covered in burns and marks. She gathered up the energy and courage to stand up, pushing herself up off the floor, cradling her arm and taking her very broken glasses off, placing them into her bag. Though her arm had been popped back into place, it still hurt a lot as she cradled it. She left the room, walking down the stairs slowly, as she was unable to see much, her glasses in a less than wearable state. As she rounded the corner of the ground floor, she attracted stares from a few people. After all, seeing a teenage girl emerge alone and badly beaten from a hotel room had terrible connotations. She was still sobbing as she approached the front desk.

“Soo-Yun... Are you alright?”, the man behind the front desk asked in Korean in a concerned tone, looking at the burns in particular, “Who did this to you?”.

“Can I have my coat...?”, she replied though the tears, extending an arm. Slowly, he just grabbed the coat, passing it to her, though the concern never left his eyes. “Thanks”, she replied quietly, taking the coat and putting it on, walking out of the house. She had put on a strong face whilst she was in the hotel foyer, but as soon as she left, the tears came again and she cried all the way back to her house.

She was still sobbing by the time she reached her front door. She put the key in the lock and opened the door, walking in and taking her coat off. She was quick to remove her shoes and shut the door, walking up the stairs at a pace.

“Soo-Yun, you alr-...?”, her house mate peered out of his door to see her storm into her room, sobbing to herself. She got into her room and immediately sat on the bed, curling up and crying into her knees, depositing her bag next to her bed. She heard a knock on the door. “Can I come in, Soo-Yun?”, her house mate inquired in Korean, though she did not answer. Soon after, she heard the sound of her door open and close, before she felt the weight of someone else sitting on her bed. Looking up, she saw the concerned look of her house mate. “What happened?”, he asked. She just shook her head.

“I don't want to talk about it”, she said as she buried her head in her knees once more. Her house mate opened his mouth to say something, though he remained silent, placing an arm around her. His embrace was comforting as Soo-Yun leant in and rested her head on his shoulder, wrapping her arms around him, bursting into tears. She just needed someone to hold onto.

“It'll be fine, Soo-Yun...”, her house mate said as he stroked the back of her head, holding her, comforting her.

After a while, her crying stabilised, she sat up rather than resting on him, wiping her eyes. She looked at him and just shook her head.

“I don't want to talk about it, before you ask”, she said through periodic sobs. He just smiled.

“I respect your privacy, Soo-Yun, but I can't just leave you like this”, he said, standing up and extending a hand to her. Slowly, she took his hand and stood up, he started walking, leading her out of her room and down the corridor, into the bathroom. He opened the cabinet, taking out a tube that Soo-Yun couldn't make heads or tails of due to lack of glasses. “How many burns do you have, and where are they? Obviously you don't have to tell me if you don't want to”, he said, taking the cap off the tube. She sat on the edge of the bath, holding up her arms in front of herself.

“On my arms and face. That's all”, she replied quietly and monotonously. Immediately, he put some of the tubes contents onto his hand.

“We'll start with the ones on your arms then, shall we?”, he said with a smile, holding out his clean hand. She smiled for the first time in a while, holding her arm out as he supported it, placing the burn ointment over the burns on her arms. Though Soo-Yun wouldn't notice it, the ointment would work a lot quicker than it should, her burns really quickly starting to heal, as if they were never there in the first place. He quickly grabbed a few rolls of bandages from the cabinet, wrapping one around her forearm, as that was the area that was burned, though it wasn't really needed. “And the next one?”, he said as he finished, squeezing some more ointment onto his hand as she changed arms. He again, applied the ointment to the affected places, bandaging it up. By the time he got to the burns on her face, they had completely vanished. He smiled, “I thought you said that there were burns on your face, huh?”. This caused her to raise her eyebrow, placing her hands onto her face. The burns weren't even there any more. She smiled, overjoyed, looking at her house mate, she bowed her head slightly.

“Thank you for your help, and thank you for your comfort, Steve...”, she said, in a very happy tone. She stood up and brushed herself off as he washed his hands and placed the ointment and bandages back into the cabinet. When he turned around, she darted over to him hugging him around his middle, she was quite a bit shorter than he was.

“It's quite alright, Soo-Yun, I care about you, you know that, right?”, he replied, facing her his head getting closer to hers. She looked up at him, happiness now back in her eyes. Their heads got closer and closer, the house was completely silent. Their lips made contact and Soo-Yun instinctively backed off slightly, looking downwards. He placed his hand on her chin and she took her hand up, pushing it off. For a moment, they stood there, and her house mate was about to speak once more until she raised her head once more, her lips making contact with his. She allowed her feelings to lead her, bringing her hands up, caressing his face as the two passionately kissed. For about half a minute, the two stood there, embracing each other as they shared in the intimate moment. After a short while, the two separated, Soo-Yun stood there and started fidgeting, a little uncomfortable, standing in silence. “I know that's not really... well, your kind of thing... But, I really do care for you”, he said, still smiling as he walked away, back down the corridor. “I'll even let you have some of my dinner when its finished cooking in fifteen minutes”, he shouted from down the hallway, though she was in too much shock to really respond. She looked into the mirror, up close so that she wasn't just a fuzzy outline. Her burns had fully healed on her face, but more importantly in her mind at that moment, she had kissed a guy.

'I don't believe it, I actually... Did that just... Did I actually just kiss him? Did I just kiss a member of the opposite gender all romantically?', she thought to herself. She smiled and walked back to her room, shutting the door behind her and starting up her PC. 'First, new glasses. Then Counter Strike'.

As he shut his door, Steve pulled his phone out of his pocket, dialling up a pre-set number. An English voice answered the phone.

“Hello?”.

“This is Steven Wellington, my house mate, Soo-Yun returned from the hotel with severe burns. I applied the ointment from Ealdwyc, she never suspected a thing”.

“Good job agent, anything more to report? Our operative was brought out safely through our wild card making an appearance. There was no real need for direct contact”.

“Yes, actually. I-...”, Steve cut off, looking downwards.

“Yes, agent?”.

“Do I have to continue doing this? Can't you find someone else...?”, he responded in a pained tone.

“Why? Are you falling for your target? It can never happen. She is an enemy, and you will gather information from her until we are satisfied. When that circumstance has been met, we will devise the next course of action”.

“But...”.

“No arguing. You have your marching orders, now get back to them. HQ out”. At that, the line cut off, leaving Steve in his room, phone in hand, he looked out of the window into the rain, then at the wall, in the direction of Soo-Yun's room. He smiled, but the smile faded quickly. He turned on his computer. Dinner would be ready in about ten minutes anyway.