But for the sound of waves striking the metal hull of the ship and the tramp of the guards as they made their rounds, there was no sound at all. Briar raised her head carefully out of the water, and, aiming, let loose her grappling dart.

The thin needle flew, carrying a near invisible -but incredibly strong-wire wrapped in black synthetic fiber along its path behind it. The dart pierced the knothole of a wooden crate. Briar pressed a button on her watch.

The dart inside split apart and metal bracers dug into the wood around the dart, anchoring it firmly within the crate.

Briar tugged on the wire to see if it held, then climbed swiftly on board, and hid behind the large stack of cargo nearby. She held her breath as she checked her surroundings, not wanting to give away any sign of her presence. All clear for now.

She turned out towards the velvet black of the moonless night. Then she pulled out a mini flashlight, the kind that twists to turn on, and flashed a message in Morse code.

[H- A-P-W-P-T] Have Arrived. Proceed With Phase Two.

After that, she put away her flashlight.

Footsteps warned of the approaching guard patrol. She listened, holding her breath. So there’s only two. Good. She thought, as she made her way around the cargo to their blind spot.

She struck in an instant, knocking both unconscious without warning.  She leaned them against the cargo, out of sight. Her eyes then turned towards the next barrier: the door leading to the ship’s interior.  

Come on, what is taking them so long?! She pushed down her impatience while waiting, well hidden from any other patrols. After what seemed like forever, she heard the familiar sound of water bikes making their way towards the ship and circling around, but staying out of the range of the ship’s light.

The other two patrol groups focused on the boats, eyes turned outwards as they faced the would-be intruders. Finding a good time, she slipped out of the cargo pile and streaked towards the door in a peculiar crouch-run, her feet silent on the metal deck.

She breezed by, a dark shadow that no one need pay attention to. Once she slipped inside, she hid behind the metal hatch-like door leading to the rest of the ship.

Soon enough, the guards outside sounded the alarm, and a stream of men armed with semi-automatics rushed by on their way outside. After the last one passed by, Briar came out from her hiding place, and raised an eyebrow silently. More than fifty men had passed by. An unusual response for a simple cargo ship; only, it was no simple cargo ship.

Perhaps this would be easier than she had first surmised. She stalked silently down the metal hallways. The glass porthole on one of the hatch-doors reflected an image of a man approaching from around the corner, unaware that she was there.

Before he had even finished rounding the corner, Briar knocked him out with a flying kick. He lay sprawled on the floor, out cold. She tied him up and gagged him, placing him in one of the rooms branching off from the hallway. Then she continued down the hallway, warily.

Everything went as planned until she turned the corner to see a dead body lying in a pool of blood in the middle of the floor. What was a dead body doing here!?

Briar used her foot to turn the body over. A long diagonal cut ran down from the left shoulder to the right hip, plus a puncture wound that had cut straight through the center of the heart.

Considering the depth and extent of the fatal wound, it could only have been done using that. She made a face.

------------------------------

The famous legendary cursed katana, Red Cherry Blossom Rebirth, had been stolen in a raid on the museum where it was on tour.

This sword was priceless, a veritable national treasure, in fact. But the thieves had held it ransom for 50 billion dollars. An outrageous sum, to be sure; yet, even that sum was still only a pittance of its actual historical worth.

But money was not all they wanted. They demanded the latest breakthrough weaponry and tech, and had threatened to bomb key points in cities around the world if their demands were not met.

As a demonstration, bombs went off in the water areas just outside the cities, causing great huge geysers of water, and tons of panicked citizens.

But, that was what had eventually betrayed their location. The only way they could have gotten that far out to sea with a bomb was if they had a boat.

Only one boat had been to all these locations within the past year: the Harbinger. This was originally a private-owned armored vessel, but the great stock market crash had forced the original owner to liquidate his estate. And so it had passed from person to person until it had eventually ended up in the hands of these black rogues.

Countries had sent complaints, angry that they had become involved with Japan’s problems.

And there had been a great debate. They finally came to a decision. While the money could be recovered, the latest breakthrough weaponry and technology were out of the question.

Soon enough, the order was passed down to the Special Forces, and Briar had been roped along due to her expertise, even though she was not a true member of the Special Forces.

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She had easily found the bomb switches and deactivated the bombs remotely, before destroying the remote controls. The only thing left was the blade.

Someone had begun to use that blade: someone that enjoyed killing. Well, that wasn’t very helpful. Everyone on this boat was a terrorist, after all. She returned to observing the wounds.

She quickly deduced that he was not a professional swordsman. She had seen wounds stemming from professional swordsmen. These were not as clean.

As she was contemplating her next actions, she heard the whistle of swiftly-moving metal behind her and instinctively dove forward.

Clang! The sword cut into the steel floor where she had stood just moments before, leaving an impressive gash. Using her hands as a pivot, she twisted into a crouch facing her opponent.

“Aaah. I missed~!” The man in blood splashed clothes said calmly. He giggled, and pulled the sword out of the floor, jerkily. His movements were staggered and jerky, like a zombie.

Is this man on drugs?  Briar thought as she concentrated on him, wary, watching for his next move. His small beady eyes and sharp canines reminded her of a shark. “Next time I won’t miss.” He said, with cold unsmiling eyes set above a toothy grin.

Briar reached toward her belt and inwardly groaned. She had no knives on her, not that it would have mattered, going by how the steel floor didn’t really pose much of a problem for this particular katana. Dang, that’s gotta be the sharpest sword ever! But still, perhaps she could have maybe thrown them at him and taken out his sword arm.

Leaving no more time for thought, he ran towards her, swinging wildly, whooping with mad delight. She retreated, dodging, ducking, and jumping his leg sweep. Then she pivoted on one leg and cracked him one in the jaw with her foot.

He stumbled back, but then renewed his assault, yelling. “Is that all you got!?”

Drunk with his power, he started attacking faster and faster, laughing and yelling. “Ora-ora-ora-ora-ora-ORAAAAAAHH!!!” His sword swings easily damaged the walls and floors.

He sliced at her once more. She dodged. But this time, was slightly different. This time, he sliced through a power line, and sparks flew as he was painfully electrocuted, giving Briar a moment to escape.

She retreated through a nearby door. In that hallway with limited space, she could do nothing but dodge. In order to survive, she needed to open up some space.

Luckily, she found the doo she had retreated through led into the much larger cargo hold. Her steps were quick and silent as she weaved her way into the room, vanishing between the stockpiles of boxed up foods and gallons of water.

Whether it was by mere luck, or by a strange matter of fate, his pained thrashings caused him to jerk the sword out of the power line, and he collapsed on the floor, groaning. Tongue lolling out, panting, his reddened eyes looked around the damaged mettalic hallway for his prey.

He noticed the nearby opened door, and grinned, purely intent upon joys of stalking and slicing his prey to death. Staggering to his feet, he followed her in, shutting the door behind him, and slowly walked down between the aisles.

Having analyzed his amateur attack pattern, Briar had quickly come up with a plan. She waited until he had gotten ten feet away, then revealed herself.

He charged her, roaring as he swung another wide, unbalanced arc of the sword. Taking advantage of this imbalance, Briar swiftly kicked the sword out of his hands.

“NOOOO!!!!” He screamed, but was kicked in the face and fell back.

She swooped down upon the sword and grabbed it, facing her opponent. He clenched his fists and leapt at her, grasping desperately for the sword.

“IIIIT’SSS MIIIIIINNE!!!” He shrieked. Avoiding his desperate lunge, she stabbed him through the gut, and then withdrew the sword, letting him fall to the floor.

She backed away a bit from the carnage, and turned around. Watching the hallway, she pressed the button on her comlink.

“Briar Sparrow to Mountain Hawk-target acquired, over.”

As she listened to the person speaking on the other end, she didn’t notice the man slowly rising to his feet again, and approach her.

Lunging, he snatched the sword out of her hand. Then, turning on one foot, he put all his weight behind piercing her straight through the heart.

“If I’m going down, then you’re coming with me.” He snarled, then slipped to the floor, as power left his limbs

. [Briar Sparrow? Briar Sparrow! What happened in there? Repeat, what happened in there?! Blast! Her vitals are flat-lining! Activate plan B!] The voice came out of the comlink.

Briar’s voice failed to come out. Time seemed to slow down as she sank to her knees.

Ah. I am dying? She thought to herself. I would have liked to have done

more...much….more…

She closed her eyes as she felt herself slipping away into darkness.