190 Blood Of My Enemies

A/N: I may have missed my August update deadline but good news! I get to see you in September … and I’ve already written 90% of the next chapter, which will be out this month, as soon as I wrap up Filling The Void (the final chapter is out mid-month in time for its 4th anniversary!)

This chapter… an explosive reunion… enjoy! 😊

Two worlds collide
Rival nations
It’s a primitive clash
Venting years of frustrations
Bravely we hope
Against all hope
There is so much at stake
Seems our freedom’s up
Against the ropes
Does the crowd understand?
Is it East versus West
Or man against man
Can any nation stand alone

In the burning Heart
Just about to burst
There’s a quest for answers
An unquenchable thirst
In the darkest night
Rising like a spire
In the burning heart
The unmistakable fire

In the burning heart

In the warrior’s code
There’s no surrender
Though his body says stop
His spirit cries – never!
Deep in our soul
A quiet ember
Knows it’s you against you
It’s the paradox
That drives us on
It’s a battle of wills
In the heat of attack
It’s the passion that kills
The victory is yours alone

In the burning Heart

Interpol Rescue Team
Location:?
July 21, 2026

“Highway to the danger zone. I’ll take you ridin’ into the danger zone. You’ll never say hello to you until you get it on the red line overload. You’ll never know what you can do until you get it up as high as you can go…”

As he proceeded to caterwaul theme song, “Danger Zone” from the movie Top Gun, (a tune that was so applicable to their current circumstances, it was downright eerie!) Rusty Landing uneasily forced himself to feign ignorance to the death glare his off-key warbling was gaining him from the stolid German woman seated beside him.

An invisible yet palpable saturnine darkness engulfed the cockpit, obliterating any cheery happiness and bliss normally associated with the blazing summer sun. Now only sepulchral silence, save the pilot’s nervous chirruping, lingered in the air. To say that tensions were high would have been the understatement of the millennium!

The rescue team was now circling above the intended destination at last.

The aeronaut was an utter basket case at this point. He shivered in the seemingly claustrophobic cockpit and attempted to keep his wits about him, but a small sigh of anxiety crept out of his mouth. Tersely, his sights flickered to the structure below, now within clear sight, which he’d naïvely hoped would somewhat disperse the aura of surmounting ominousness –perhaps even bring about a scintilla of excitement and hum of exhilaration!

However, one quick gander at the tight-lipped Franziska quickly let him determine that such would not be the case. Like hail on a glass pane, the drumming of the Profiler’s fingers was as relentless as it was loud. Each click of the French polished nails on the window echoed the tumultuous thudding of her heartbeat.

Being brave means being afraid, or at least it does for me. The two go hand in hand. First is the fear, then the determination not to be ruled by it. I will always choose to face fear, to conquer it, for how else are we to make true progress in life? I will not be moulded by those who want me conveniently placated; I will not shy from the battlefields they create. Though my heart often beats fast and my fingers tingle from an excess of adrenaline, I am a warrior at heart. Faced with adversity I have an ability for calm and rational thought – to me that is a blessing.

Her face, rigid with tension, belied her youthfulness. In those brief moments, she was looking his way, Rusty was struck at how protuberant her those sterling orbs now were, as well as by the prominence of her cheekbones; gaunt really. The silver-haired beauty seemed to have aged a decade in the past few hours.

These three are confirmation that not all heroes wear capes and disguises, the aviator reflected. Just the concept of knowing what we’re veering into – right into the belly of the beast – it’s enough to make my own exhalations rapid and shallow. I can feel my pulse pounding in my temples. It’s a relief that my job is just to stay seated and calm in the pilot seat and not be part of this rescue mission because between the heels and my legs shaking, I’m afraid I’d trip and muck up the whole operation! I can’t even imagine what’s going on in their minds now…

With great willpower, Franziska fought back the urge to once again cave to the inclined tendency of agitatedly chewing on her finger enamel. Her nails were already bitten down to the quick. She’d already nibbled at their frayed, form edges like a famished mouse on the flight from London to Borginia. Her eyes were large and watery as she incessantly slapped her gloves against her hand repeatedly, finally halting when she glanced down and noted the redness of her palm that’d resulted from the vigorousness of her restless actions.

My brain is constantly searching for any sign that Miles is unharmed like my cell phone seeking a signal when I move through the mountain passes. But like the phone, he’s out of range, unreachable. He will either walk over the brow of the hill before the sun is full in the sky or he will not. Then I will know. My stomach shifts uneasily and I notice that the hands that I am hugging myself with are pinching into my skin. I release my hands but then I can’t figure out what to do with them, so instead, they clasp and unclasp each other as if in constant need of touch and reassurance. But what they desperately require is to drink him in – not just with my eyes but the reassurance I can only get with my own fingers – by running them over those patrician features I love and have missed so much.

She susurrated a prayer in a hushed undertone as she slipped the leather coverings back on and squeezed her eyes shut.

“Bitte Gott. Höre Mein Gebet. Lass meine Liebling am Leben sein…”

Kay found herself gnawing on the inside of her cheek. It still hadn’t healed from a few hours ago. Soon the taste of blood filled her mouth and cold sweat glistened on her furrowed brow.

All previous reasons not to do this mission come flooding in as if my body chemistry just sent them a blanket invitation. I need to remind myself that all this is bigger than I could ever be because people who I love like my own family are depending on me. I’ve got to ignore the soft panic that can grow or fade depending on what I do next. It will fade if I back away, but then I must endure this fight or flight treadmill again another time. It will grow if I let these thoughts swirl into a vortex of stupidity, the ouroboros eating its own tail. Or I can exhale slowly, and let the thoughts leak into the ether and become the real boss of me, and grow into the fearless Yatagarasu I’ve always known I was destined to be.

With hands clasped tightly in front of her stomach, the Great Thief constantly fiddled with her knuckles, weaving her fingers in and out of each other.

I feel the unwelcome fear. I take a step forward. I still feel fear. I take a step forward. And then, as if by magic, I find confidence, I find my inner strength again. The difference between taking a step forward or not is everything. And over a lifetime it defines who you are. All those steps build a fearless soul and, in time, an accomplished person who does much for others, one who has their own respect and love too. Being brave becomes a way of being, one to embrace.

With involuntary flutters in his stomach and his head buzzing with possibilities, a muscle twitched involuntarily at the corner of the taciturn Detective’s left eye, and his mouth formed a rigid grimace.

Everything hinges on what we do from here, and once done it can never be undone. This ironically sunny day will either see the dawn of my new life…or snap my dreams in two if this ends up as nothing more than a Pyrrhic victory. Anyway, there’s no turning back now. The die is cast. The successful warrior is the average man, with an eagle-like focus.

With arms folded tightly across his broad chest, he tapped his foot furiously and all the while stared out of the grimy window, his jaw clenched tightly around his lollipop stick.

Every time I’m facing a do-or-die scenario, that unwanted bitch, trepidation, comes along in crashing waves, like those of a winter beach rather than with any warmth. It always comes as a chill that goes to the core of who I am and it snarls that I should cower, retreat. But I’ve never given in to any fear. Instead, I learned how to swim in the ice and live in that salty water with my own lionheartedness as a furnace. That’s what being brave did for me. It gave me the strength to conquer fear and accept my pains as lessons I needed to master. It was a choice to walk through hell to find my heaven or remain in some half-life of neither for eternity. I chose to walk. Call it valor or call it insanity, I don’t care. I’m proud of my damn choice.

“Revvin’ up your engine, listen to her howlin’ roar. Metal under tension, beggin’ you to touch and go. Highway to the danger zone. Ride into the danger zone…”

Rusty’s petrified state was evidenced by his shaky trilling.

After all, he was a civilian, not a combat pilot – nor was he navigating a combat chopper, either! Nevertheless, here he was, chartering what could very well be an out-and-out suicide mission for his daredevil passengers.

My brain feels full of static like an old television set that’s lost the signal. I stop. An unhinged, crazed part of my mind is screaming to turn around; as if there’s actually any turning back from this point of no return! I have no choice but to keep doing the only thing I can think of to calm my frayed nerves and remain the steady-handed pilot these venturesome soldiers need me to be…

Given their grim circumstances, singing was the only way the jittery flier could attempt to keep an even keel while he began descending the chopper for landing.

“Out along the edges, always where I burn to be. The further on the edge, the hotter the intensity. Highway to the danger zone. Gonna take you right into the danger zone…”

The remote aircraft hangar was the only thing around as far as the eye could see. It looked like a massive iron barn, its insides would be comprised of steel concrete and wooden beams. In the shafts of sunlight that penetrated the tall thin windows, the dust swirled, and the wind whistled through the front and rear openings. Its silver domed roof projected up from the golden plains into the blue like some alien ship and he had to adjust his vision to the silvery light; as if this place was so large, it had another sun. It seemed unfinished; like it had been built for a purpose and then abandoned, yet it wasn’t that old, as it was in a small but active airfield.

“…Highway to the danger zone. Right into the danger zone…”

Miles Edgeworth and Lana Skye
Location:?
Date/Time:?

The pain takes over a portion of my brain; as if dealing with it is energy expenditure enough, without the effort of new thoughts. It steals the part of me I most want to share with others, my light and laughter, my generous heart. It is the sort of pain that scalds; as if some invisible flame were held against my skin. The emotions of loss work that way, correct? Death, abandonment or betrayal all lead here…to this. This …Darkness… Darkness creeping everywhere.

The thoughts were hazy, almost surreal, amidst the trauma from the affliction.

My cheeks are damp with freshly wept tears, a result of the distraught, incessant wailing minutes prior. Not even sure if the liquid beads on my face are even all mine. Is anyone there? Is anyone still here?

“Oh, dear God, noooooo!” The loud, ululant cry could be heard from somewhere overhead, sounding both close, yet a million miles away at the same time. “Why?! Why did you do this?!”

The proclamation was woeful, pleading. A welcome distraction, however temporary, from the gunshot and subsequent agony.

Pain burns through my abdomen more scorching than a branding iron, my mind conceding to the torment, unable to bring a thought to completion. Without meaning to, my body curls into something fetal, something primeval, and all the while, the stinging blights and radiates.

The rufescent liquid didn’t gush in a constant flow, but in time with the beating of the heart. At first, it came thick and strong, flowing through the desperate, determined fingers as they clasped the ripped flesh; felt the blood move over the compressed hands, the thick fluid no warmer or cooler than the attendant’s own skin. After a few moments, more of the blood was still leaving the rapidly paling flesh, the pulses were slower, weaker.

The pain has an unpleasant warmth to it, eating at my stomach. There’s nausea too, just enough to make breathing labored and slow. I’ve often prided myself on ignoring all pain and just rocking on regardless, but now, that just isn’t possible at present. It owns me, dominates every thought, controls every action…

“A most touching gesture, however futile, in delaying the inevitable.” From overhead, Li’s cadence resonated with ennui. “Throwing oneself in front of a bullet like that – no small feat, given those bodily restraints. Such a heroic and noble thing – an overall epitomized act of selfless love.”

“Oh, Christ! Lana! Don’t die!” The prosecutor cried, bending over the shooting victim, all the while keeping his bonded hands steadily against the oozing gunshot wound to her abdomen. “Don’t be dead! Please, don’t be dead!”

Interpol Rescue Team
Location:?
July 21, 2026

“What are you waitin’ for? Christmas?” Badd barked at the pilot, who seemed to be moving in slow motion, trying to determine exactly where to land the autogiro. “Just park this dad-blasted thing already!”

“S – Sorry!” Rusty Landings stammered nervously as he dutifully proceeded to land the helicopter at the end of the runaway. “I – I thought maybe you had further instructions for me after you shouted ‘land over there!’ sir!”

“Well, you thought wrong! My job is to clobber bottom-feeding, scum-sucking algae eaters, not make small talk!”

“Urk! Er, are you sure you don’t want me to bring this thing any closer, Detective?”

“Cap-wearing catfish flopping a crime beat! What the hell is wrong with you, junior?!” Badd shot him a withering glare, and the young man shrank back in his seat. “Any closer, and we’d risk the enemy hearing the blades! Did your common sense take a holiday and lose its damn luggage?!”

“Oops! My bad!”

Letting out a disgusted snort at the youth’s obtuseness, he then turned to address the two women. Kay leaned forward intently, while the former DA merely nodded taciturnly; her attentions were presently focused on listening intently to the sounds coming from the building, using the laser microphone she had directed at the metal barn.

“From this spot, we’re only about 400 meters away, so it won’t take us any longer than a couple of minutes to get to that hangar. Good thing it only has the glass ceiling as windows on this side. Once we disembark, it won’t take us longer than two to three minutes tops, to rush the doors.”

“Ich glaub mich knutscht ein Elch!” Franziska shouted suddenly, her voice a mixture of bewilderment and dread as she heard the disturbing conversation between the kidnappers and the hostages. “Lana Skye! You foolish fool! Why are you provoking the verrückte Miststück in such an insolent manner?! Do you have a death wish?!”

Her face paled as she listened to the Queenpin’s ominous response to the Interpol Agent’s incomprehensibly taunting jibes.

“To hell with all of you! Especially you!” The unhinged mafia princess shrieked in an earsplitting falsetto. “Who needs you, anyway? You’re not the only one who knows how to utilize a blade, you worthless, defiant son of a bitch! It seems if I want something to be done properly, I shall have to do it myself!”

Franziska gasped and shot up from her seat.

“There’s our cue, Detective! It looks like the Scheisse has hit the fan!”

With those parting words, the punctilious Profiler leaped from the chopper.

“Showtime!” Badd rose from his seat and then directed his piercing hawk eyes on the ninja girl. “Final strategy recap: since the chopper was equipped with thermal imaging cameras, we were able to determine how many people were inside that building. We’re outnumbered, by not by much. Franziska and I will be the first ones on the scene and take the first shot.”

He jutted his chin in the direction of the Wild Mare, who was already sprinting down the runway towards the building.

“But heed my words: you sure as hell better be locked and loaded before you set even one foot in there! Is that clear, Kay?”

As the raven-haired Agent obediently nodded assent, the quake-buttock pilot visibly blanched upon hearing these instructions, as if the exigent extent of the scenario had only now dawned on him!

The detective laughed humorlessly as he flashed open his coat and gestured at the bulletproof vest underneath it.

“Why did you think we were dressed in our best Kevlar, boy? To go to a damn debutante ball?”

He noticed Kay biting her lip apprehensively, and gently chucked her under the chin, his gravelly tenor taking on a softer pitch now.

“Feel your fear, but do not let it be a barrier. Let it be a break – a small crack where you prove to yourself that you are strong despite it; a reminder that you can leap, even if your legs are trembling. You hear me, kiddo?”

Kay raised her chin and nodded courageously, with more confidence now, although her tone remained rife with emotion.

“Please, be careful.” Her resonance was beseeching as she addressed her sole family left in the world. “I love you so much, Uncle Badd.”

“Don’t you dare get soft on me now, girl! It’s not my first battle in the trenches – and I ain´t got time to bleed!” Badd cleared his throat gruffly. “Best remember to wait for the signal before you charge onto the battlefield.”

Emerald eyes widened.

“What signal?”

The burly man patted the side pocket of his trench and smirked at his niece.

“Trust me… you’ll know.”

Just before he jumped out of the whirlybird, Badd cast one final glance over his shoulder at the overwrought Yatagarasu.

“And Kay?”

“Yes, Uncle Badd?”

“I love you too, kiddo.”

Miles Edgeworth and Lana Skye
Location:?
Date/Time:?

The anguished Miles bent over the fallen woman, tears shamelessly splashing down his cheeks.

It is my tears that keep my soul alive amidst all this acherontic devastation. They cannot extinguish what has been, yet only carry me forward, until, mercifully, a time may come when this torment and heartbreaking pain is distant enough for me to mostly forget, and maybe one day erase itself from my brain. Ergo, while it may be an anomaly not to stifle this deluge for once, and actually allow myself to cry – if that’s what saves me from becoming a monster, a person indifferent to suffering and sorrow – then crying is the sanest thing I can do.

With hands violently shaking yet maintaining their pressure on the bullet injury, he leaned sideways and lowered his forehead so it was near her lips, desperately trying to feel his former lover’s breath.

Long lashes fluttered upward, and she looked up at him. Tried to smile and to catch more than a teaspoon of air.

“Miles,” she whispered, then had to try to breathe again. “I’m so sorry. I’ve caused you so much pain in your life…I only did what I had to do…”

“How prodigiously… saccharine.” Li’s crimson lips curled into a sneer. “It’s almost tragic that the beautiful, brave heroine of this tableau won’t make it out alive in the end. But then again, who does?”

Miles ignored the Queenpin and steadfastly held his hands to the gaping slash, but no matter the pressure he applied, the blood had still gushed between his fingers and oozed under his palms. It had spread into his vest and snowy cravat, the bright red quickly darkening, taking on a brownish hue.

Those moments he spent pleading with his old paramour to look at him, to stay with him, feeling the very fluid of her life draining away over his cold hands, he felt nothing at all. Time itself had become irrelevant; the seconds could have been hours, or hours mere seconds. In that suspended moment, he was the eye of his own storm; but for that moment of perfect calm and mental clarity, he knew he’d be replaying it on a continuous loop for the rest of his days. Every quiet moment would be spent watching Lana dying in his arms all over again.

The former Chief Prosecutor inhaled a trembling breath, sweat accumulating on her skin: icy cold. Death wasn’t as halcyon or peaceful as she had previously imagined, with her stomach turning in on itself, the acids eating away at her insides, tearing away at the tissue there, leaving her but a rendered slab of dying cells.

If I couldn’t leave this earth with my cowboy and Ema by my side, crossing the rainbow bridge by the side of a beloved friend is fine as well. Miles…he wasn’t the right one. But I loved him. In my own way. Love is love, even if it wasn’t the everlasting variety, and oh, how I loved him so. Just because two people don’t wind up spending their entire lives together doesn’t mean their relationship was a failure. He may not have been my kindred spirit like my Jake, but the two of us – we had something special way back in the good old days. I only wish there was a way to know you’re in the good old days before you truly left them…

“I’ve put you through hell.” Her words were coming out in ragged gasps. “All I do is hurt and instigate suffering to good people, so this is what I deserve. I’ve caused you and Franziska so much pain. It’s all my fault that she left you…”

“Lana, please!” He choked out. “Don’t talk like this! Stop punishing yourself for the past! I forgave you a long time ago! I forgive you for everything!”

“Thank you, Miles. I can be at rest now, knowing I had your pardon for my sins,” she mumbled, teal orbs beginning to glaze over. “If nothing else, in the end, at least I had that…”

“You have more than my mere forgiveness!” The tears continued to fall. “I was trying to be noble about Marshall when I wrote you that letter, Lana, but there were a lot of things I didn’t say because I was trying to do the honourable thing! Things you need to hear before it’s too late!”

The pain of such emotional torture was like an icy wind choking the breath from his lungs and making a noose around his neck. Its savage, bitter blasts cut right to his bones and gripped his brain in its freezing claws. His heart constricted in its wake, as if not sure if it should go on beating.

How could fate be so cruel that he’d have to not only lose but be present for the passing of yet another person who was so dear to him?

Lana locked her gaze onto his, and at that moment, with each of them bathed in her blood, the DA knew they were saying goodbye. Nonetheless, he tenaciously kept his hands pressed against the seeping hole in her jactitating body.

Lana and I – we weren’t supposed to meet but our destinies allowed us to crash together into one another, and sparks flew. Our demons danced together while we both chased butterflies. I was honest, displayed my heart and allowed her to see me. She did too. We stayed when everyone in the past had left because we had both seen each other’s darkness and saw the beauty in the broken pieces. We stayed until life forced us apart. Instead of saying “I love you” when that inevitable separation time came, I chose to say goodbye. It was the most willingly blind, cowardly thing I’ve ever done, and I need to right that irremediable wrong while I still can.

“The whole time we were together, I know I never told you that I loved you.” He felt his features crack into the expression he’d seen so often at the hospital, that point of no return. “Maybe I never said it, because I was uncertain whether or not I did back then – but I know the truth at last.”

Upon uncovering the sordid truths amid the Bruce Goodman murder trial, I found myself cursing her. Not out of hatred, but rather due to the conflict within me — torn between the good she had done for me, even after she wreaked me. Filled with anger, mixed emotions, and profound regret, I chose to turn away. Walking away from her proved simpler than facing the turbulent havoc in my heart that lingered in the aftermath of our separation.

“Lana, you were more than just a warm body for me! Sometimes, the people you care about most will go far away and because you care about them, you let them go. Because you realize that the best place for them might not be with you. Because you understand that people are not butterflies to be kept in jars, and that love is not something that should ever be used to hold someone hostage.”

His voice broke then.

“And I’ve only now just realized … I did love you. As much as I could have loved anyone in my selfish, Manfred Von Karma days! Moreover, I love you now…”

“Normally, this abeyance would be followed by the playing of the world’s tiniest violin, just in time for this august Shakespearean tragedy to make its final curtain call. Otherwise known as the proverbial kiss before dying,” interjected the impervious Li, who’d briefly left the two of them alone but was now circling them like a vulture. “However, my intestinal fortitude can only withstand so much of all this trite, sappy bloviation, lest I regurgitate my entire breakfast!”

The frigorific giggle that followed sent a petrified tremor down Miles’ spine.

Dear Lord, every time she laughs, an angel dies! The birth of this Mephistopheles was payback for the sins of man!

“Agent Skye, you may now go meet your Maker knowing that right up until the end, lover boy here, faced with a life without his swain, teetered right on the Edge and lost all his Worth…”

The impervious mob boss drew back the hammer on her gun and pointed it right at Miles.

“…right before he loses his life. Your vain efforts to save your lover were futile, Mr. Prosecutor. Ergo, I hereby dub thee, Miles Failworth! The both of you can run along and die now!”

BOOM!

The near-deafening explosion almost caused the attorney to let his hands slip from their tending position on the afflicted Lana, but somehow, they remained pressed down on the gash even though his heart was thudding pugnaciously and his ears were now ringing fiercely.

“What the deuce?!” The barrister gasped, just as pandemonium broke out around them in the next instant as Li started screaming obscenities that echoed shrilly in the smoky aftermath.

The Agent shuddered violently as another burst of white-hot pain shot through her. As her inhalations slowed, the agony that once scorched like fire was slowly fading away to an icy numbness. Black filled the edges of her vision and despite the calamity arising around them, the only thing she could hear was her own lulling heartbeat. Her breath came in ragged, shallow rasps. Seconds passed as she lay there, panting.

Then, in the next instant, she heard it.

“Booyakasha, bitches! I’m here to kick ass and chew bubblegum… and I’m all out of gum!”

That inimitable, sonorous voice. There was only one man on earth such a grand entrance could belong to. It was music to her ears.

Furthermore, it was enough to make the brunette’s lips curve into a serene smile, even as each mouthful of air became a stertorous rattle.

The cavalry had arrived on the scene. Her sacrifice hadn’t been for naught in the end.

It was all worth it. Now I can go in peace. And a mind at peace is stronger than any physical force in the universe.

Miles’ anxious face, a now blur to her fading vision, loomed above her, his vigilant pressure on her abdomen never subsiding. He was trying to staunch the bleeding, she belatedly realized.

Even throughout all this mayhem, till the very end, that man remains as good as the day was long and his only thought was trying to save me. If I could, I would laugh. Surely, he must be able to tell that it’s far too late for me to be saved, yet his desperation, his fervency has given him the blind faith and hope of a child, one still naïve to the darkness of the real world; the despair and suffering of the very world that took those I adored away from me. My parents. Neil Marshall. Bruce Goodman. I’ll be joining them shortly, though. I will be able to leave all of this pain behind soon enough…

“You’re going to be OK.” Searing fiery bursts pulsated around the stomach laceration, intensifying with each dragging intake of air, jarring and brutal, making each word even more excruciating. “Miles, you’re going to make it, so you have to promise me something. Please… she murmured, her tone growing increasingly faint. “Please tell my Jake that I never stopped loving him – that I would have waited for him. Forever, if I’d had to.”

“You can tell him yourself! It seems like help is finally here, so just hang in there, Lana!” He begged, raising his head briefly to look around him, but unable to process anything amidst the commotion and chaos. “Please!”

With each lungful, the pernicious pain amplified. The bloody muscles convulsed, and her consciousness ebbed. Black mists swirled at the edges of her mind, tempting her into sweet oblivion. She fought back against the beckoning abyss with all her might; trying to focus on the final, sweet oaths falling upon her ears as Miles turned his full attention back to his ex, visage a mask of sorrow and pleading.

My demons taunted me, whispering in my ear that nothing was worth the fight. I feared the day I’d believe them; feared that if I got rid of my demons, I’d lose my angels. I never thought it would be possible for someone to bring my soul to rest, until now, when I felt the warmth of your touch and heard the sound of your soothing words in my hindmost moments…

“Marshall, Ema… they need you and love you! Moreover, I meant what I said… I love you too!” Even as Miles tenderly pressed his lips against her clammy forehead, another tear rolled down his cheek. “I respect, admire and love you, as both a friend and person, Lana Skye. And despite what you may have convinced yourself, you are a good person! No – a great person! You’re a strong, brave, selfless woman who is worthy of love, happiness and everything good in life. Just please, I’m begging you, hang in there! Please don’t die!”

“I love you too, Miles Edgeworth. My friend,” the other half of the Legendary Duo whispered with the last of her strength. “My dearest, truest friend. May all the love and joy in life be yours in the end.”

As the life fluid continued to slowly drain out of the brunette in its garish red, Lana’s stomach felt convulsively bilious, while her skin took on the pallor of a corpse. Then, one by one, she gradually lost control of her limbs until finally, her head slumped. She could still hear, but she could control none of her body. She surrendered to the travail, the merciful darkness sweeping over her like a velvet blanket at last.

Minutes before…

Franziska Von Karma and Tyrell Badd
Location:?
July 21, 2026

Kay showed me how to pick a lock many times – so why is this so bloody hard? Outside the hangar door, Franziska’s nimble fingers clumsily attempted to fiddle with the lock for what seemed like the umpteenth time, the laser mike tucked between her chin and shoulder as she did so, while she mentally tried to strategize the best time for a sneak attack. How does that foolish girl make it look so easy?!

I want to quell the hammering in my chest, but there is no way that will happen now. I do not regret it though, coming here, it was my mission after all. How come all those spies in the movies were never scared? Maybe they were, maybe they were scared all the time, perhaps that is what bravery really is. My adrenaline surges so fast I almost vomit; I can taste the saliva thickening my mouth to a rancid paste. At some point, I will have to make my move. In the shows that I watch, there is an earpiece that says, “Go” or at least some tactical information, but in the case of me not being a certain Great Thief as well as being all thumbs with this blasted lock, all I can do is keep trying…and praying…

Senses sharpened with adrenaline, Franziska held her breath, straining to hear what was happening inside with every ounce of her concentration. Not quite silent.

Her ears strained for more sounds – and then her heart leaped in her throat when she heard the gunshot.

BANG!

“Nooooooo!”

A voice crying out in anguish then muffled sounds that sounded like tears.

Miles! Lana! Mein Gott! One of them has been shot!

Her heart was pounding in her ears as she listened for more clues as to where the gunshot had originated, tears of panic and frustration burning behind her eyes as her efforts continued to be an exercise in futility.

“What’s going on here?” Badd queried in a hushed voice, sidling up behind her. “You still haven’t gotten this doggone thing open?!”

“Nein!” She whispered back, fidgeting impotently with the lock while keeping the mike aimed at the building to hear what was going on. “This won’t buuuudge! It is the you of deadbolts – stubbornly locked! – but I am no lock picker! A crowbar would come in handy right about now!”

He shoved her out of the way as he rummaged through his coat.

“Leave it to me.”

“Since when can you pick a lock?” She demanded, trying to squelch the biliousness mounting within her, for a myriad of reasons, as she heard Miles’ grief-stricken cadence, as clear as a bell, indicating who’d bitten the bullet.

“Lana, you were more than just a warm body for me! Sometimes, the people you care about most will go far away and because you care about them, you let them go. Because you realize that the best place for them might not be with you. Because you understand that people are not butterflies to be kept in jars, and that love is not something that should ever be used to hold someone hostage….”

“Since never.” Badd curtly motioned for her to move aside as he applied the breaching charge to the door and stepped back. “I am neither a safecracker nor lock picker. I’m an ass-kicker!”

“And I’ve only now just realized…I did love you!” Miles cried. “As much as I could have loved anyone in my selfish, Manfred Von Karma days! Moreover, I love you now…”

These were the last words Franziska heard the love of her life utter to the obviously maimed Lana, right before Badd took that precise moment to press the remote detonator.

BOOM!

The detective had obliterated not only the cumbersome lock but all audio surveillance capabilities, due to the shrill ringing in her eardrums! The metal door flew off its hinges, sending her hands flying to her poor, abused ears.

Gehirnverweigerer! She gaped at him in disbelief. Just because the old fool is already deaf in one ear does not mean he has to make sure misery loves company!

“I could hardly shout the usual warning this close to enemy lines! Guess you missed my 3-2-1 finger countdown.” Badd held out his two semi-automatics, one in each hand, and nodded curtly at her. “Get your armour, girl! I’m cocked, locked, and ready to rock and…. Hmmm… I’m going in!”

Dutifully, Franziska readied her whip and went charging in after the detective, hot on his heels just as he shouted out the mother of all entry lines.

“Booyakasha, bitches! I’m here to kick ass and chew bubblegum… and I’m all out of gum!”

“Jesus H. God on a bloody crutch!” Damien yelled. “Madam! We’re being invaded!”

The sudden commotion only served to rile up the loose canon that was Li, who spun around and swung her crazed sights on Miles.

“You! You no-good piece of Yankee slime!” She spat at the stunned prosecutor, whose head she’d just been about to blow off. “This is all your doing, somehow! You’re more trouble than you’re worth, Miles Worthless! I should have just killed you when I had the chance!”

She cocked her gun.

“No time like the present!”

“Get away from him, you bitch!”

CRACK!

“Argh!”

There was a sharp snapping sound of a whip whizzing through the air, and then the stinging sensation of a leather whip snapping around Li’s hand which was holding the pistol.

Franziska then gave a sharp yank, causing Li to drop the gun, effectively disarming her.

When the gun fell, the Asian spun on her heel to see the source of the assault, and as she did so, her leg flailed out, landing a vicious blow on the side of Miles’ head, snapping his head around and clouding his vision to a gray blur. Brain synapses shorted out. He tried to duck and swerve his neck, tried to avoid a second strike, but the messages never connected with the appropriate muscles.

The act of ducking was a fatal mistake.

When the Queenpin’s weapon had fallen from her hand, mid-trigger, it’d fired a useless shot into the ground. The bullet ricocheted and shattered against the concrete, with a combination of bullet and concrete shrapnel flying everywhere – including into the lowered legist’s unprepared head.

The blow landed, then bounced, catching Miles squarely above the left ear, and at first, it didn’t even hurt. Then he was swaying and spinning as a brilliant gout of fireworks erupted inside his skull. He felt himself falling for what seemed like a long time, falling as softly as a drop of rain on velvet, directly atop the prone Interpol Agent lying beneath him.

Then everything faded to black.

Though the shrapnel had moved too fast to be seen, the blood immediately began to pour out from the head wound, as if in slow motion.

“Miles!” Franziska screamed in horror as she saw the red pool spreading all over the floor. Dropping her whip and kicking Li’s pistol across the room, as far away as possible from everyone, she rushed towards him. “Hang on! I am coming, Liebling!”

Kay Faraday and Tyrell Badd
Location:?
July 21, 2026

CRACK! CLASH!

The sound of a gunshot and the violent shattering of glass came from overhead, with Kay choosing this exact moment to make her grand entrance, sliding down a rope from the chopper through the skylight. She jumped to the ground and took a grand bow.

“What’s new, pussycat?” She greeted the slack-jawed hoodlums with a sunny beam, as though she’d just arrived at a fiesta celebration. “Sorry if I startled anyone… I don’t do windows!”

She winked at the detective.

“I figured out your signal Uncle Badd!”

“Badd?” Li’s hand fluttered to her throat; shock stamped across her features. “Tyrell Badd?! You’re…alive?!”

“In the flesh! What? Did you think I was gone forever? Extinguished like everyone else on your hit list?” Badd let out a dry chuckle, even while standing in position with both guns Akimbo, ready to pull the trigger on anyone who dared advance on him. “I’ve got balls of steel. You must be Li. Nice to finally meet my attempted murderer at last! Seeing you in person reminds me of a picture…You should be framed …and hung.”

“H – how did you even track us down?” Arsen stammered, jowls wobbling. “We checked the hostages for tracking devices and got rid of their cell phones…”

“It wasn’t easy,” Kay admitted cheerfully. “These European cars, especially the older models, have a lot of metal – as does this hangar! They really hindered the tracker signal, so it wasn’t the strongest to follow. But I figure whatever method of transportation you brought Mr. Edgeworth in was a soft top, or he had his hand hanging out the window on the way here because exposing it to the outside air made tracking that chip in his watch a cinch!”

“Watch?!” Li’s voice was rapidly reaching a fevered pitch as she swung accusing eyes at the guilty-looking Arachnis and Arsen. “What watch?! And what’s this with a hand hanging out the window?! Edgeworth was unconscious when you shanghaied him – and was not wearing any sort of watch!”

“The tracker was in that gold Rolex – right there!” Kay pointed at Arachnis, who gulped and clapped a hand over his wrist. “Hey! You! Weasley dude! What are you doing with Mr. Edgeworth’s watch?! That was my Christmas gift to him!”

“Heh. So much for it being a family heirloom!” Arsen snorted at his sweat-dropping partner. “I can’t believe you used that same hand-wearing filched goods to smoke a cigarette while hanging it out the window like youse was some sorta baller – only to deliver Interpol over to us on a silver platter! Not your brightest moment, dude!”

Arachnis glowered at his duplicitous friend.

“Hey, Lardo, about you go play a game of hide and go fuck yourself?!”

“Oh, did the Pillsbury Dough Boy hit a nerve? To have Arsen, of all people, call you out must seriously sting, seeing as how you are being fingered by a man who is about as useless as a knitted condom!” Li commented sardonically. “Although truthfully, neither one of you should be fingering anyone, because if you were any less intelligent, you would have to be watered three times a week!”

Both goons cringed at the jobation.

“I –I’m sorry, Lady Boss,” Arachnis mumbled, shoving his hands in his pockets. “I figured pretty boy was a goner, so taking it off his hands wouldn’t be a big deal! After all, a stiff ain’t got no need for no blingy accessories, you know what I mean?”

“Oh, you figured, that, did you?” Li asked sweetly, running her lacquered nails through her silky hair, as if in a coquettish manner. “You know what I cannot figure out though?”

Her tone hardened without warning.

“I cannot figure out why in both your cases, your mothers did not just swallow, because the two of you mouth breathers are so inbred, you may as well be sandwiches!”

With that, she whipped out a shining object from her ebony mane, hurling it right at Arachnis, so that it landed, pointed side down, into his left hand sporting the Rolex. It embedded itself into the flesh like a small dagger and immediately began spurting blood.

“Nrrrrgh!” The goon screamed in agony, staring in horror at the spiky metal hairpin that was implanted into his hand. “Laird Thunderin’ Jaysus! I said I was sorry!”

“I suggest you cease your incessant bleating this instant unless you want me to aim lower with my next throw…. Because there is plenty more where that came from.” The spindly man was subjected to a baleful glare. “Ask your tubby pal there about how I have zero qualms with hitting below the belt to get my point across.”

She whirled around and subjected the rescuers to a look so lethal that it actually made the hairs on the back of Kay’s neck stand on end.

“What are you standing around for?!” Li hollered incredulously at the poleaxed Arsen and Arachnis. “Were you just going to plan on letting God sort ’em out!? Seriously, a nutless monkey could do your job! Get them!”

When the two men still stood there like bumps on a log, Damien had to intervene, the disdain for the two henchmen evident as he shouted the instructions.

“Listen, you mother humpers, the goal was not for you yellow-bellied cowards to cave into the urge to run so fast out the door that your vaginas flap, but to run towards these unwanted pests who’ve infiltrated Madam’s domain… and exterminate them!”

“Fire in the hole!”

Quick as a flash, Badd ripped a flashbang off his vest whilst pulling the pin and whipped it in the Queenpin’s direction. However, Li possessed the reflexes of a wily cat, instantly deflecting the object with a prepared karate kick and sending it sailing harmlessly into the air and across the room.

KA-BOOM!

“Yippie-Ki-Yay Mother Fucker!”

“Uncle Badd! You’re supposed to say that before blowing something or someone away!”

Badd shrugged.

“One of these sons of bitches was responsible for me nearly being blown to Kingdom Come! Why give them a chance to get the hell outta dodge?”

“Speaking of getting out of dodge…”

The mob boss had chosen to use the diversion as the prime opportunity to make a run for it. However, Kay was already onto her.

“Uncle Badd, I’ll handle the Queenpin!” She yelled, already in hot pursuit. “Can you deal with these bums?”

“I’m on it, kid.”

Guns still akimbo, Badd narrowed his eyes at Arsen and Damien, who were in his immediate sights and kept his weapons pointed at the two men simultaneously.

“Hail to the king, baby! I’m gonna get medieval on your asses!”

Interpol Rescue Team
Location:?
July 21, 2026

The runty hood lunged at Franziska just as she was several yards away from Miles and Lana, catching hold of her hair and jerking her head back hard enough to make her teeth snap together. She shrieked, in anger and pain, and twisted toward the assailant, lashing out with her feet, kicking at his knees, his shins, any part of him that she could hit, her whip lying uselessly on the ground, far too out of reach to grab.

Hang on, Miles! Her heart wailed despairingly. Please hang on! I will be right there – as soon as I get this kotzbrocken off my back!

In desperation, she raised her leg and blindly kneed Arachnis in the stomach, missing his groin by inches. He grunted in discomfort, yet maintained his steadfast grip on her hair.

“Close, but no cigar! You missed your mark, you crazy bitch!” His stale cigarette breath in her face made her stomach churn. “I ain’t got no problem mussing up dames, even lookers like you. Just ask your pal Agent Skye about that!”

His beady eyes gleamed with malicious intent.

“Assuming that damn broad can still talk to you, that is! From the looks of her, she’s up there playing harps with the angels already!”

Franziska’s frantic mind barely registered this horrid news. Her mind was like a relentless treadmill, with only one thought within it.

Miles! I need to get to Miles! Even if I die in the process, or the aftermath, it does not matter – I must try to tend to him! Anything for him . . . to make him know that no matter what happened between us, even if Lana is the one who he loves . . . I love him… even though he has no idea that I still do…and that I never, ever stopped. I have not told him that . . . should have told him . . . wished I could have made it work . . .

“You like roughing up women, do you?” Lang’s snarling cadence suddenly came from nowhere, as though in answer to their prayers. “Let’s see how you fare when the odds become man against shit weasel!”

“Holy Mongolian clusterfuck!” The dumbfounded Arachnis released Franziska abruptly, and without even one glance behind her, she dashed off to the injured duo as fast as her legs could carry her, leaving the spindly thug to deal with a very contentious, chest-heaving Wolf Man. “Where did you come from?”

“From a place which decreed that it’s scares tripping time!” Lang gnashed his teeth portentously. “All that matters to you is I’m going to turn your life into a sphincter-loosening nightmare.”

He bared his fangs at the tremulous goon.

“So, you’re the sack of dishonourable discharge who dared put his grubby mitts on Lana, are you? I oughta break a broom handle off in your ass!”

Kay Faraday and Wong Li Tsong
Location:?
July 21, 2026

When Kay had caught up with Li, the other woman was lurking behind some crates across the room, so only her shadow was visible from where the ninja was standing, several yards away.

First, she wanted her goons to rub us out, but now she’s too afraid to face me one-on-one herself?!

“I take no pleasure in taking you down, Li. None. But it’s become necessary.” As Kay addressed the silhouette, her tone was level and even. “You love to hurt people, and I can’t heal my family with you around. Giving mercy is good until it is proven to hurt the innocent, then I come out fighting. I haven’t even swung a punch, yet you’re hiding from me, as though afraid to face me head-on. How weak you are.”

She held Ronnie Raygun steadily in her hands, poised to pull the trigger at a moment’s notice.

“This isn’t cruelty, this is mercy and justice combined. You cannot control the situation anymore, because I control you. Fight me and you know I’ll win, or maybe you like gambling? It’s a sin, you know, as is greed.”

No response from the still figure in the distance, and Kay’s calm disposition began to waver.

“I never come out actively looking for a fight. I am a pacifist by nature, but no one stands back and watches their loved ones be injured unless they are a defective moron – which I’m not. So, come out with your hands up. I see you there, coward, analyzing your next move. I’ve heard your devil tongue, and know my art is greater. So come crude boxer, come, and see what a true master can do!”

The blink-and-you-miss-it noise made by what the Great Thief first thought was a ninja star that suddenly whizzed through the air went undetected – right up until it sank into her bicep. It sent a sharp pang through the right side of her body and caused the Belgian-made FN semi-automatic pistol to go clamouring to the ground. Before she could even bend to retrieve it, a dark blur zipped past her, effectively kicking out of reach the sole defence weapon she’d had at her immediate disposal.

Kay gasped in shock as she reflexively yanked out the misleadingly benign-looking object embedded in her skin. It was a jewelled hairpin – large, about the size of a ballpoint pen, made of metal, and razor-sharp. The pointed accessory was presently causing great surface damage to her bicep area. A deep wound was sliced in the flesh of her upper right arm, heavily oozing out blood, and there was already a bluish-purple bruise forming around it. She lightly pressed her index finger against the center of the cut and sucked in a sharp breath as the pain spiralled across her body.

“That’s gonna leave a mark!” The gloating mob boss called out, her undertone so sangfroid that Kay barely suppressed a shiver as goosebumps formed on her arms.

Stingy pants! That voice is colder than dirty Yeti junk!

“Here I am, as you so bravely but foolishly requested – now that I’ve ensured we’ have evened out the odds. I shall not even need my gun to dispose of the likes of you.”

When Li finally stepped from the shadows, Kay set her visage to read as ‘casual indifference.’ Her only way out would be for the femme fatale to overestimate her skill level, to assume her lack of fear came from mastery instead of a raw nerve.

A chilling crimson smile played on the exotic beauty’s lips as she fixated her soulless gaze on her opponent.

“That is quite the sanctimonious high moral ground you seem to pride yourself on, young urchin. Rather than knock you down a few pegs, I will instead enjoy readying your loquacious behind for climbing that proverbial stairway…to heaven.”

Kay Faraday had plenty of nerve to fuel her – coupled with raw, unadulterated hatred and determination on her side.

This cum-guzzling swamp whore almost killed my uncle! I’m gonna punch her so hard in the mouth that she’ll bite her own black heart!

Then, of course, there was the obvious retribution for her lesion which fueled her motivation as well. Epinephrine would mask the jagged injury for at least a little while, but now it was biting. It was the worst burning sensation she had ever felt, even worse than being burned. The blood had congealed somewhat but was still throbbing. She’d need to rely mostly on her leg muscles for this battle, as the damage had been done to her dominant arm, so she wasn’t sure how effective her punches would be.

Kay steeled her jaw and waved her enemy on with beckoning gloved fingers.

“Let’s dance, Faith Kill.”

There was stillness on both sides. If hatred was visible, the air would have been scarlet. Then suddenly, movement; so much force in every blow. The Agent didn’t know who threw the first punch, but suddenly Li rained blows onto her as if she meant to crush her into the very earth and Kay did the same, as best as she could with her non-dominant arm.

Each didn’t just want the other dead, they wanted her smashed, obliterated, with nothing left to bury.

Shi-Long Lang
Location:?
July 21, 2026

The Wolf Man’s lips pulled back against his teeth in a feral snarl, and his skilled fist exploded against the side of the Arachnis’ mug, snapping his head to the side, bringing a burst of stars behind his eyes and the taste of blood to his mouth. The room seemed to swirl once around him, and unable to use his arms for balance, he staggered sideways and fell. On his knees, he tried to scramble away, willing himself to stand. Adrenaline pumped through him like a drug, driving him forward even when Lang caught hold of his wrists and hauled him up and back, wrenching his arms in the sockets.

“Gnnnnngh!” The smaller villain yelped pitifully. “Help me, big guy! This ass douche is out for my blood!”

That’s when Arsen opted to risk getting shot by Badd, even though he was still well within the detective’s firing range, and bravely decided to even out the odds. He attempted to accost the Wolf-Man with an attack from behind, grabbing him by the shoulder and spinning him around, forcing him to release his grip on Arachnis, who fell to the ground and scrambled away like a cockroach.

Arsen then attempted to swing a punch, but he got more than he bargained for.

Even though the enormous man had a good foot in height and several hundred pounds on him, Lang was quick on his feet and had turned and blocked the punch before it was even halfway on its journey. He countered with a strong right of his own that caught Arsen square on the nose. There was a squelching sound and a sudden spurt of blood.

Letting out an enraged, animal roar, Arsen rebutted with a heavy slug to the gut, sending Lang to sprawl forward on all fours, catching himself with his hands just in time to prevent his head from hitting the ground.

He was wheezing slightly, deeply winded from the force of what felt like a battering ram that had been catapulted to his midsection. For a split second, he fretted that the blow had caused internal bleeding – at the very least, it felt as though some ribs were now broken. The thoughts swirled around his brain as he struggled to stand, and the blackness swirled with them. Flecked with stars . . . promising relief . . . beckoning . . . sweeping in . . .

The pain throbs in my guts, it’s deep and warm, but not in a nice way. It feels like someone has their hand in there and is squeezing my organs either gently or as hard as they can. When it wanes, I can move, when it returns, I can only hold still and breathe, breathe slow and deep until it has passed. There is no blood anywhere but already I feel that underneath this shirt, my abdomen is purple and lumpy where it should be smooth.

He shakily rose to his feet, grateful for the few seconds of recuperation he’d been allotted, as Arsen was presently preoccupied with clutching his bloody, and likely broken, nose.

Every step feels like a nail bomb exploding in my innards. If it wasn’t for the current danger facing my insubordinate subordinates – who are all a bunch of rogue pain in the asses! – that I’ve made a solemn blood oath to protect, I’d curl right up here in the fetal position. I’d rest until I’ve at least somewhat recovered from this yet-to-be-determined affliction upon my person. However, that’s simply not an option at present. I promised myself I’d take care of my pack, therefore, that’s what I must now do, come hell or high water!

Lang-Zi had always said: ‘Capable of miracles beyond comprehension, a mysterious creature is a man.’

Right now, more than ever, the great philosopher’s injured descendent needed to draw upon that invaluable wisdom to find the strength to survive this battle of life or death.

Strength…and possibly a miracle.

Songs

Survivor – Burning Heart(chapter quote)
Kenny Loggins – Danger Zone

Translations

*Bitte Gott. Höre Mein Gebet. Lass meine Liebling am Leben sein –
God, please. Listen to my prayer. Let my darling live.

* Ich glaub mich knutscht ein Elch!
(translates directly to “I believe I’ve been kissed by an elk”) AKA: I’ve done something quite unbelievable and improbable.

*verrückte Miststück
crazy bitch

*Gehirnverweigerer!
A “brain denier” is someone who doesn’t use their noggin often.

*kotzbrocken
lump of puke