Chapter 7:

I made my way down the second stairwell and finally arrived on the first floor. It was a lot more crowded than I was expecting. I couldn't even see across the room. Boxes and pallets were stacked 10 feet high all over the places, turning the warehouse floor into a veritable maze.

I couldn't see any of the kids yet, but I could now hear them at least. They were all being very vocal about their situation.

“Let us go, you assholes!”

“Slavery is illegal! You're all going to jail forever and are going to suck so much di–!”

“Fuck you, Chris! You and your mom are both trash!”

The kids' yelling echoed across the whole room and made it difficult for me to determine where they were.

There was a loud bang, followed by the frightened yelp from the last kid who just insulted Chris and his mother.

“Shut your mouth, brat! My mom was an Angel for putting up with all you little shits for years! After we sell you all off for a nice price, I'm gonna set her up to retire in The Keys and live in luxury.” His bragging echoed across the room.

I could hear Emily speaking next. “Marcus got away! The police are probably on their way!” She said hopefully!

Chris laughed at her hopefulness. “I hate to break it to you, girly. That doofus ran away last night. If the police haven't shown up after 14 hours, they ain't coming.”

“Then Satsuki will come and save us!” She retorted. I was surprised that she still had some faith in me. To be honest, I was never planning on coming back and it was purely coincidence that I stumbled upon Marcus earlier.

BANG!

A very loud bang echoed across the room followed by Emily squeaking in fright.

“Now listen here! That girl, Satsuki, is nothing but a Mutant freak! She ran away and abandoned all of you. If I ever see her again, I'm gonna put a bullet in her head!” Chris declared angrily. His hatred for me ran deep. Something about his tone was off though. He sounded scared, almost unsure of himself. Was he afraid of me?

His words annoyed me though! Put a bullet in my head? I’d stab him with my sword first! I was starting to regret not shooting him last night. I at least should have shot him in the leg or something…

I shook my head. I was still on a time frame here. My Chakra was almost down to half! I stepped off the final step and looked around. I was in the middle of determining which path I should take through the maze of boxes when I heard the sound of a crunch behind me.

Awkwardly turning around, I noticed a gang member I had just walked by looking at me. He was sitting on a box with his hand halfway down a large bag of potato chips. Barbeque flavored. Good choice. That explained the crunching noise…

Our eyes locked momentarily as we awkwardly stared at each other. Well, shit. I was hoping my good luck would have lasted just a little bit longer.

The gang member opened his mouth wide and immediately started yelling loudly! “The mutant bitch is here! Chris, she’s here!” He yelled loud enough for everyone on this floor to hear.

I cursed and rushed towards the man. He reached behind his back towards his waist. He grabbed hold of a pistol and aimed it at me before I could reach him. His finger pulled on the trigger, and my Sharingan eyes widened in panic!

No shot rang out, though…

“Fucking safety!” The gang member cursed while glaring at the gun in his hand. His thumb moved to flick off the safety, but he was too late.

I gripped my sheathed Katana tightly with both hands and swung it directly at the gang member's head. The heavy wooden sheathe smashed directly into the man’s face! There was a loud crack that echoed around as his nose was crushed, and his head violently whipped backward. The back of his head slammed hard into some wooden pallets behind him.

The gang member went completely limp. Blood was pouring from his face from how hard I had hit him there. He was still breathing at least…although those unconscious breathes sounded more labored through his now broken nose.

I took a deep breath to calm the pounding of my heart. That was a close one! If his gun’s safety wasn’t on, then I was sure I might have just gotten shot! I can't believe I was that careless and forgot to check my surroundings.

After a few deep breaths, I calmed down. I was alright. That was another gang member taken care of, and now there should only be 5 left.

Of course, a second later, screaming erupted all over the room!

“Marco? What happened! Marco!” Chris yelled in panic from somewhere nearby.

“The mutant is here! Shit!”

“Kill her!”

“Satsuki has come to save us!”

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“Get these assholes, Satsuki!”

I could hear multiple men scrambling around me in the room. I picked the path to my right and rapidly started running through the maze of boxes. Stealth was now pointless. I needed to take everyone down fast and hard.

I rounded a corner and almost slammed into another gang member. This one was holding a machete in his hand. He glared at me before raising it high over his head. He swung down, trying to slash me from shoulder to hip.

I turned sideways and let his weapon narrowly miss me. He was thrown off balance, and I delivered a quick jab to his throat with the pommel of my katana.

As soon as it connected, he dropped his weapon and started clutching his throat while gasping for air. He fell to his knees while glaring at me in hatred. I once again smacked him across the head with my sheathe, the same as the last guy.

Another one down, four to go.

“She's over here! Fuck, she got Pedro!” Two more gang members appeared across from me. They were about ten feet away and were both in the process of raising their guns at me.

My eyes widened, and I dove out of the way back behind a nearby stack of pallets. Gunshots started echoing all around the room as the two of them fired where I was hiding. Splinters of wood exploded all around me as I ducked down as low as possible to avoid their shots. They weren’t conserving any ammo while trying to kill me.

“Ow!” I let out an involuntary scream of pain when I felt something slash across my arm. I glanced down and saw that a bullet had grazed me. My arm was bleeding.

CLICK! CLICK!

Both of them ran out of bullets a few seconds later.

“Fuck, she's not dead! Hurry up and reload!” One of them said in a panic.

I wasn't going to let them. I dove out from behind my cover and glared at them both. They were digging in their pockets for spare magazines.

I was sure that I was covered in dust and splinters, but I didn't care. I rapidly dashed towards them while unsheathing my katana!

“Fuck, she has a sword!” The one on the right screamed in fright.

My eyes locked on him as I reeled back my arm and hurled my sheathe at him as hard as I could. It sailed through the air with perfect aim! He threw his arms up, but the force of the hit still knocked him backward on his ass. His gun flew from his hand as he fell back hard.

The gang member on the left was in the middle of sliding his new magazine into his gun when I reached him. I wasn’t going to let him. He had a look of terror on his face as I rushed forwards and swung my sword for the first time at another human being.

With my Sharingan, the sight would forever be ingrained in my mind. I watched in near slow motion as my katana made contact and cut right through his hand holding the gun. It cut with almost no resistance. Like a knife through butter. Blood splashed into the air! Severed bloody fingers dropped to the ground along with the gun his hand was no longer capable of holding.

He and I both froze momentarily while we registered what just happened.

I just permanently maimed someone. I felt the hotdog I'd eaten earlier starting to come back up. I grit my teeth and swallowed it back down! This was not the time for me to lose it and start puking!

The man raised his ruined hand to his face and stared at it silently. A few seconds later, his eyes widened in shock and he started screaming in pain! “My fingers! They’re gone!” He wailed in pain while clutching his injured hand.

I realized that I had frozen for a second and rapidly shook my head to snap myself out of it.

“You bitch! I’ll kill you!” His voice was dripping with hatred. Even down one hand, he was still a threat. He grit his teeth and threw a sloppy punch at me with his other hand. I ducked underneath it before retaliating with a strong kick. It wasn’t elegant, but I kicked upwards and nailed him directly in the testicles!

Another scream erupted from him before he went completely still. He couldn’t handle all the accumulated pain. His eyes rolled back into his head, and he collapsed.

I heard shuffling nearby!

I quickly turned to the man I had knocked down with my sheathe. He was crawling along the floor towards his dropped gun. His hand was extending outwards to grab it. He grabbed it with a look of victory before he spun and pointed it directly at me!

“Die!”

CLICK.

“…Fuck,” he cried out. In all the excitement, he had forgotten that he never successfully reloaded.

I started walking towards him while holding my now bloody katana in my right hand.

“Stay away from me, freak! Why are you doing this? Let me go, I didn't do anything wrong!” He pleaded while scrambling backward, still on the floor.

I gripped my katana and stabbed it downward directly into his leg. A shrill scream erupted from his mouth. “You’re part of a gang that kidnaps and sells kids, you jackass! What do you mean you didn’t do anything wrong!? And you almost killed me just now!” I yanked my sword out of his leg quickly. Specks of blood splashed on me as I did. I’m sure I looked quite menacing right now. Covered in the blood of my enemies with my glowing red eyes…

“I’m sorry! I won't do it again! Let me go!” He kept pleading while clutching his now useless leg.

I reeled my leg back and kicked him hard across the face. His head violently whipped to the side, and he joined a bunch of his fellow gang members in the realm of unconsciousness.

I let out a deep sigh. That was two more guys handled. Only two more to go, and I could put this crazy adventure behind me. Before this, I wasn’t aware just how violent real life heroics would be…

A voice echoed around the warehouse. It was one I recognized. “So you're really here, Satsuki?” Chris's voice echoed from nearby. He sounded scared. He also sounded very close. I could peer over the stacked boxes and saw I was near the front of the warehouse now. “Why don't you come out, and we can talk this out? There's no need for any more violence, is there?” Chris started trying to bargain with me.

“What are you doing, Chris? This bitch just offed most of our guys! She has to die for that!” The last remaining gang member's voice echoed angrily from the same direction as Chris.

“Shut up! I’m the leader here and I call the shots! There’s no reason for us to die here over some brats. We can always grab more kids later!” Chris yelled.

I didn’t respond to them. I simply started walking carefully around more boxes and pallets. My eyes were darting back and forth rapidly in case he tried to trick me.

“It’s cowardly shit like that that got us into this mess to begin with. Had you just killed this bitch yesterday, then we wouldn't be in deep shit right now!” The other man yelled back.

“Fuck you, man! You haven't seen her eyes! They’re terrifying!” Chris retorted.

I smirked to myself as I drew closer and closer to them. My Sharingan had apparently scared him senseless when he saw it last.

“No! Fuck you! You’re just a pansy, and I’m tired of following a momma’s boy like you! I’ll just tell the boss that the mutant bitch took you out too!”

“What are you on abou–”

BANG!

I jumped when I heard a loud gunshot followed by the thud of a body hitting the ground. What just happened!?

“Listen up, girl! Chris is dead and I’m out of here! You made a powerful enemy today bitch! The boss is not going to be pleased when he finds out what happened here. I'll be seeing you arou–Gaaah!” He let out a pained grunt before I heard the sound of another body hitting the ground.

What the hell just happened!? If he just shot Chris, then who took him out?

“It’s ok to come out, Satsuki. It’s me, Elektra.”

Elektra!? She was here? How long had she been here? Was she following me the entire time?

I turned past one last corner and finally exited the box maze.

“Satsuki! You’re here! I knew you’d come!” Emily called out to me. She was huddled in a rusty steel barred cage with all the other foster kids. She looked bruised and disheveled, but otherwise she seemed to be alright. The other’s were about the same.

“Hi, Emily. I’ll get you out in a second.” I said to her before turning to Elektra. She was standing near the bodies of Chris and another gang member. Pools of blood were forming underneath both of them.

Elektra smiled at me softly. “You did good work here, Satsuki. You should be proud of yourself. Don’t worry about all the gang members. I will clean them up. I was going to let the police handle them, but once I found out who they all worked for, that can no longer happen.

“Who do they work for?” Was she planning on killing everyone I knocked out?

Elektra was hesitant and chose not to give me a definite answer. “You will find out about him one day when you're ready. He is a man who holds a lot of sway in this city and has very deep grudges to anyone who disrupts his business.” She explained seriously. “That’s why we can’t leave any witnesses here…” She trailed off and I knew what she was implying.

I unconsciously nodded at her words. I found myself too tired to even argue. Part of me knew that I probably wouldn't have left this place without some blood on my hands. My eyes lingered on the two bodies, especially Chris’s, for a moment before they went back up to her. Knowing the danger was over for now, I finally deactivated my Sharingan. I was almost out of Chakra and didn’t want to find out what Chakra exhaustion was like.

“Thanks for the help. What are you doing here?” I asked her.

“I took quite an interest in you earlier. I wanted to make you an offer. Color me surprised when I followed you and watched you go on this little excursion here.” She said.

I tilted my head curiously. “What’s the offer?”

XXX