Weiss , Arc 2: Into the Game
Chapter 2 : Ninjas, a Doctor, and a Dumb Samaritan
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United States of America,
New Mexico, Albuquerque
2007
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Ninjas in gray rubber skinsuits slide down a giant volcanic vent with fast ropes, armed with katanas and Sten Smgs, they rained hellfire against the evil organization SPECTRE. These Ninjas, friends of freedom sliced down henchmen of the evil Doctor Ernst Stavro Blofeld and his nefarious plot to start World War III between the United States and the Soviet Union. The arrogant evil scientist caressed his pet white cat on his lap with sinister intent and condescension in his underground bunker. Not knowing that his arch-nemesis British Spy James Bond and his Japanese Ninja allies will make it into his grave.
"D-Dad … look at how-how dumb they l-look. D-ad"
"Yes son, movies back then… are a much simpler time, for the bad guys and the good guys. I mean pfft, Ninjas with British Smgs."
Weiss said softly to his Son, who was suffering from cerebral palsy. The family was enjoying a movie night on their coach in their humble suburban home. Crickets , warm lights and the moon accompanies them in this quiet night. The Son was having more entertainment laughing at corny old spy films from the 60s than its actual content itself. The timid Chemistry Teacher coughed slightly, but managed to hold it back. He soothed his throat with a small bottle of beer, while his Wife gave him a glance.
"S-So d-dad, when-when can w-we rent-rent like you know… new m-movies or T-tvs shows, like A-anime."
"Anime?"
"J-Japanese Anim-Animation, m-maybe we can-can see real Nin-Ninjas, not-not some Briish ripoff."
Weiss took a look at his son, then nodded repeatedly in a hushed tone, slouching slightly.
"Yea, of course son, I can arrange that."
"Honey? Are those like that Balls of Dragon cartoon?" The Wife said with a slightly outraged tone.
"I-it's Dra-Dragon Ball Z Mom"
"Absolutely not, not in this household. Those shows are way too inappropriate and gross. I will not allow such things flashed on our TV."
Weiss cowered immediately and relinquished that thought at his wife's order, saying nothing but looking down. Not daring to challenge her.
"B-but Mom!"
"No honey, you are fifteen. You can watch as much Dragoballs X once you hit Eighteen and moved out of the house. Come on it's late, let's get you to bed."
The Son begrudgingly grabbed his clutches and waddled back to his room with his mother's aid. Weiss was left alone on the coach with a beer bottle and a tub of popcorn. He was staring absently at the TV screen as the Evil Genius on screen get blown up by James Bond and Ninjas. He still got a class that disrespect him to teach and a car wash cashier as a side job, barely providing for a family that he loves and they loved him back. Yet, lacking the respect he felt he deserved.
While all these, he was already turning fifty, a man emasculated for the most of his life.
He then began coughing uncontrollably, gripping his chest as a sheering pain aches in his chest. A year later, he was diagnosed with lung cancer.
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Now Weiss was leaning next to a wall as Kunais and shurikens were flung outside while the farm was burning in a blazing infernal, screams of pain and agony echoes around all corners. Her left cheek were bruised and her drug gold was spilled onto the ground next to her. Her partners in crimes Sally and Eferdora right next to her, sweating she pull out her Browning Hi-Power as a instinct and cocked the pistol. The carpet she was sitting on felt cold , while decorative armour sets and vases lined neatly and condescendingly next to the trio in this luxurious prison.
"I-it will be a matter of time when we are found." Eferdora said.
"We dump some of the gold , only enough to fit our pockets and slip out as civilian workers. These vigilante won't attack civilians right?"
"Out of question Sally! We earnt these fair and square! We are not going to let cheesy Ninja whores straight out of a crappy James Bond ripoff take away our payday!"
"Ms Heisenberg You…"
Just as the Vampire and the Criminal descend into another argument, a battered corpse of a thug launched through the window. Showering the trio with shattered glasses and blood, while knocking down a row of armour sets. Eferdora start shaking and curling into a ball, all parts of the manor inside and even outside had became a no mans land, as they could shank out of nowhere by Ninjas.
Or have their identities exposed as criminals forever.
Weiss crawled her hand and reached to a helmet, and stuff it over her head, flipping the visor down. Passing the two for her partners respectfully.
"We will use the back entrance or back window, the fires doesn't seem to reach there yet. Meaning we face less vigilantes there was well. Sally, Eferdora?"
The Elf nodded.
"Sally?"
The Vampire didn't respond, she still blinking uncontrollably while her face was covered in blood. Futilely wiping the red from her face. Weiss looked closer and widened her eyes. She realized Sally's fangs grew longer , her eyes became more feral and the cherry on top? A soft growl can be heard. She then turned to Weiss, and lunged at her.
"SALLY! THE HELL!"
"Sally-san?!"
Sally just growled and drooled on the Chemist, while Weiss has a better physique than the one of her previous life, the bloodthirsty partner was ten times stronger. The only thing getting in between the her and a ill-fated demise was a helmet meant for Sally, now used to block her sharp fangs which sunk deep into it, and it is starting to make tears. Weiss has appropriately ten seconds before she will be ripped to shreds.
"Eferdora the goddamn vase! There's water in it! Smash it over Sally's head!"
The other partner rush for vase with flowers in it, there was only one on the shelve. She took out the flower stalks , and looked at the struggling pair. With much hesitance and a struggling aim, the Elf threw the vase at her partner, only managing to shatter Weiss's last chance of survival at a wall.
"Oh no, I am sorry Heisenberg-san!"
A puddle of water and porcelain shards laid hopeless next to the struggling pair.
The fangs were reaching the edge of the helmet.
[Acid Arrow!]
A splash of hydrochloric acid splashed onto Sally's eyes, causing the vampire to screech in pain and closed her eyes. That however in reality did nothing but only serve to enrage the feral vampire more, it didn't loosen her grip besides giving her a temporary seconds-long blindness, but it gave Weiss that one window of opportunity.
Weiss yanked Sally's scarf off, soak it wet with the puddle cause by the remains of the vase, and started wiping her partner's face. With more wipes, the Vampire seem to be more dazed and less feral. As an instinct from her experience as a train professional in chemistry labs, she pressed the wet scarf to Sally's eyes, to soothe her for her chemical eye burns. After enough blood was wiped clean, the exhausted Vampire collapsed onto Weiss.
"s-Sally?"
"Ms W-weiss What happened? My eyes … it stings."
"It's ok, shh…it's ok. It was an…accident." Weiss hushed, kneeling down with the wet scarf smothering Sally's eyes.
Eferdora gave out a sigh of relief, wiping the sweat from her forehead. Then she tensed up when she looked up.
"What do we have here?"
Weiss looked up to look at the judgemental eyes of the Blonde Ninja girl, blocking on the side was what seemed to be another identical Ninja, her twin. The only way to identify them was that one was wearing red pants while the other wore blue.
Still helmeted , Weiss took this opportunity to survey and review the mess that they made in her moment of silence. Once, expensive vases was placed neatly on shelves placed alongside organized rows of noble armour alongside a luxurious carpeted corridor. Now, shatter porcelain mixed with mismatched armour parts laid in a mess. A bloodied corpse lies next to a bag of spilled gold and a pistol. The carpet? Now ruined with blood.
"Take off your helmet." One of the Ninjas coldly ordered.
Weiss let go of her companion, as the scarf was removed from her eyes, unveiling a Sally with a swollen left eye. The Chemist took off her helmet, a futile ploy of incognito, revealing a face of a bespectacled woman with a bruised cheek that looked pitifully at the Ninja.
"You three don't look like you belonged here, who are you and state your business."
No one dared to say a word. Weiss just looked at the Red Ninja panting, Eferdora was supporting Sally back on her feet. The Elf was breathing harder than Weiss and her companion, who was still semi-conscious for her episode.
The Blue Ninja readied her dagger and narrowed her brows.
"H-How long are you here?" Weiss asked breathlessly, with that response the Red Ninja raised a hand to stop her sister in blue.
"Since when I heard screeching, glasses shattering and whispers that sound like petty arguments. And I don't think I ever seen a Eight Fingers thugs dressed like that or even acted like that. Then again, that raised a lot of questions, also you looked like you been through quite a lot."
The Ninja in Red pointed at the bag of gold, Sally begrudgingly glared Weiss with her good eye.
"We shouldn't waste anymore time Tina, they are suspicious and they are clearly not civilians."
The Blue Ninja drew her dagger again. The Elf yelped and Sally tried to summon her lance, only to be stopped by Weiss's arm.
"WAIT WAIT wait, we -"
Weiss coughed like she did back when she still had lung cancer, when really she choked on her own saliva which helped her case greatly. Eferdora went to pat Weiss's back to help her recover better. Both Ninjas we taken off guard by Weiss's desperate outburst, who raised a finger to ask for a second.
"-We are on the same side!"
The Red Ninja, known as Tina raised an eyebrow.
"You…you burn the farm against these thugs right? They call the Fingermen right?"
"Eight Fingers" The Ninja in Blue corrected her.
"Yea, yea! T-those asshole gangsters. We hate them too. Both me and Sally here are just lost foreigners, Eferdora here was once a slave just about a day or two ago. T-then those fucking animals robbed us. We were by kidnapped by Eight Fingers to be s-slaves but we broke out. We…been through hell."
Eferdora and Sally exchange contact with each other, puzzled at Weisss performance.
"And you are here because…?" Tina asked.
"To steal back what was ours, for justice and because we REALLY REALLY needed the gold. We were in debt because … you know this City ain't the kindest to people like us, two lost foreigners and a runaway slave. SO this…"
Weiss crawled down the floor , and hungrily snatch up the bag and the fistful of spilled coins back to the bag, then present it to Tina.
"This…I swear, my right hand to god, in the name of lord Jesus Christ this is all we have, this score is what we need! Then-Then we will leave here and you don't ever need to think of us again. Ever! I beg of you, please…"
The Chemist raised a right palm while tearfully looked at Tina, the other hand held her bag of gold. Uneasy confusion started to crept onto the Ninja sisters faces. The Sisters have tons of experience fighting against criminal syndicates in the past, the Elf was clearly a typical elven slave given her posture and aura. It was hard to suspect this pathetic unarmed bespectacled woman with a bruised cheek, she looked more like a hopeless bachelor than an actual criminal, her utmost unremarkable attire make her a extremely difficult person to remember. The only truthfully suspicious one was the one called "Sally", but her slightly swollen bruised eye pretty much killed her intimidation. Plus the fact she was so short with her mismatched florist getup killed all semblance of suspicion.
"Tia, I don't think they are targets nor sources of intelligence."
"I agree, Evil Boss will not be happy if there are unnecessary sacrifices. Although let's not lower our guards."
Furthermore, despite being Assassins unconcerned with well beings of random sacrifices, something about Weiss pulled their core a little. Eferdora tilted her head slightly and screamed. Regardless the stalemate hasn't been lifted.
The trio needed to thread carefully around the duo.
"Watch out!"
Too late, despite the Elf's warning, a rapier pierced through Tina's abdomen, upon contact, a miniature shockwave imploded and blew out a chunk of the Ninja's midriff. Causing a mouth of blood to spill out of the poor Ninja's lips as everyone around her looked down in horror. Emerging from the shadow was the perpetrator behind this attack, the assassin with a Matador appearance, Malmvist arrogantly waltzed over the ninja and grinned at the other.
"A Six Arm?!"
Tia was caught off guard by the Matador's appearance.
"I guess being invisible for so long made you stop looking over your shoulders, of course I also have to thank my "thieves" for giving this opportunity."
Malmvist cruelly smiled at his new drug cooks, Tia gave him a look of cold rage and lunged at him. Weiss wasn't idle through, she screamed to her other two partners.
"RUN!"
As she slung her bag of coins on her shoulder, snatched the Browning Hi-Power back and made a beeline for the other side of the corridor. Sally didn't even need her partner's cue to do so.
Meanwhile Tina the Ninja was curling on the carpeted floor, bleeding to death. Despite her prior training as a Ninja, the Six Arm's venom brought our her tears. Her sister Tia was desperately trying to fight off an equally matched opponent, a time consuming task. All while Tina's life runs on an hourglass.
Like a old time bandit, with a bag of gold and pistol in hand. All around them was a farmland entrapped in a infernal, a scenic display of smoke and fire. Weiss made to the stable where there were three horses lying in wait. Perfection.
Sally and Weiss each hopped onto one each.
"Wait, where's Eferdora!?"
"Here!"
The two turned to the voice of their companion. Only to widen their eyes in shock and horror.
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU CARRYING!?"
Eferdora like Weiss also have a package on her shoulders, but it was the dying Ninja from earlier.
"We…we can't just leave her behind like that. Weiss-san!"
"YES YOU FUCKING CAN! WHY ARE SO…STUPID!"
The fires from the farm roared louder, the smoke from the poppy was beginning to feel suffocate them. Sally while remain unscathed , the same can't be said for her two living companions, and their one surprise passenger.
"Weiss we have to go, now!"
The Criminal Chemist cursed under her breath, hitching the bag of gold to the saddle, with a pistol in hand and a rein in another, she spurred the horse into a gallop. Sally and Eferdora as well. The three riders rode through the fire and smoke, dodging burning corpses and hay. Only a locked gate was blocking them.
And the gate before them was too high to jump over…
Yelling in the top of her lungs on a horseback, Weiss opened fire on the lock with her Browning Hi-Power while charging full speed straight to the gate. As a poor markswoman, it took her full two clips and pinch of luck for the bullets to tear through the lock when she was inches from a painful crash. She broke through the gates.
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
Eferdora and Sally followed suit, Leaving the burning estate behind, disappearing into the dark.
They escaped the frying pan and went into the fires, they then escaped the fire, but not knowing that they fell off the table into straight down crash into the shit can.
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Part 2 : Blue Sky and the Blue Rose
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They returned to their abandoned inn. The bag of gold was quickly hidden in a secret compartment where they kept their stash of Blue Sky meth. The three laid Tina on a long dining table in the kitchen, and looked down at the writhing Ninja. The air felt heavy with her presence, despite being in this state, the Ninja still served as the greatest threat to our three outlaws, in a different albeit deadlier way.
"So…what now?" Sally asked
"That…was a extremely moronic move, just what the hell are you thinking!"
"She…was crying … and calling out to her sisters. I can't help it, I…I just don't want to see more people die!"
"You do realize, her buddies will probably come after us, either them or our new business partners who … eighty percent chance probably sees us as rats by now! You know what happens to rats in this world? THEY DIE! Please next time before acting rashly, use your head to THINK!"
The Elf starting sobbing at Weiss's yelling.
"But if she die here, then what? We hand her body to the Eight Fingers as an apology?"
"That is like having a god damn celebrity dying in your own home, she is a adamantite plate goddammit! Definitely the Golden Princess or her Vigilantes will see us three from broke and forgettable idiots living in a seedy inn into three of this kingdom's biggest felons!"
Tina gurgled and she spit out white bile, her pulse was getting weaker as very seconds passed, just as the three outlaws' time was running out.
Weiss lifted her cloths with a wooden ladle , revealing a really nasty gash on her stomach. As Sally got close , Weiss moved an arm to block her.
"Wear a mask, apron and gloves, don't let a speck of blood hit you this time."
Sally nodded.
The Chemist continued to inspect the Ninja's wounds, to realize it was blackening, with dark veins spidering around the wound.
"Poison, fuck of course!" Weiss hissed.
"Y-you know Alchemy r-right? C-can't you cook something?"
"Firstly, it's called Chemistry, second Chemistry is not some miracle magic! We may not have the means to cure whatever Malmvist injected into her."
Weiss took off her glasses and massages her forehead. Wrinkles was starting to form on her otherwise smooth skin. All the while an unconscious Tina will either die by blood poisoning or bleeding. Everything has gone down to shit in a instant. Then Weiss took her hand off her face, and she slowly hardened her face as she turned back to the Ninja.
The Chemist crawled her hands desperately to the Ninja's pants. Frantically running and patting her hands around her.
"W-Weiss-san , What are you doing?"
Then Weiss stopped and found what she was looking for, a pouch with three silver pieces, two gold pieces and a dozen copper pieces.
"Eferdora, put something in her mouth and clean her wounds with the water barrel with a soaked cloth. Sally, we need to cook." Weiss took all Tina's Silvers and three of her copper pieces and scrambled into her kitchen lab.
Elf nodded and put a spoon handled to the barely conscious Ninja's mouth and started soaking a rag to her gash. Sally quickly followed suit, wearing her protection mask, apron and gloves.
"W-what are we making this time Weiss?"
"Silver Nitrate, so that we can perform Chemical Cauterization on her. It may not possibly save her from the poison but it can still buy us more time."
Sally nods, she immediately prepared to filter funnels and the stove. While Weiss uncorked a bottle of acid, pour it into the beaker and dropped a few pieces of silver and watch it dissolve into an orange-brown colour. While all these was happening, Eferdora was pressing down her wet rag on Tina's wound.
Pouring the Silver Nitrate solution onto the filter funnel, they spread out the paper in hopes for it to evaporate quicker. The solution was taking it's time to purify much to Weiss and Sally's chagrin, and time, was something they clearly lacked when they turned out to look at the Ninja who was barely clinging to her life. With much curses, Weiss took a candle and moved it closer to the Silver Nitrate.
"What are you doing? I thought you said no flames because the Silver thing will like decompose or something."
"Yes, but I am gently heating the temperature until it reaches the boiling point. Using the concept of vapour pressure we can extract the silver nitrate salt quicker. Eferdora how was everything looking back there?"
"Not good Weiss-san!"
Tina was starting to sweat profusely, breathing harder. Like her, Weiss was sweating as well, either to the heat of the chemical setup, or the stress as she gently heats the plate with the candles.
Finally the Silver Nitrate salt was prepared, Weiss dipped it in sticks as applied it carefully on Tina's mangled wounds. She writhed in pain but was held down by Sally and Eferdora, thanks to the ladle, she didn't bit off her tongue. After a process of heart wrenching process of dipping bloodied wounds with the anti sceptic , the Ninja was tamed as Weiss took this opportunity to bandage her. Weiss now understands the pressure medical professionals like her Sister-in-law faces.
"I…I think it's done, for now at least."
The trio moved Tina into one of the rooms upstairs, Eferdora even took the extra mile to cover her with a blanket and tuck her to sleep. Weiss looked at her weirdly, while Sally sat on a stool, sighing. At least one of the long list of problems was getting resolved, for now at least. Then Weiss stumbled forward a bit, shaking slightly, and collapsed.
She was way too tired even in this new body.
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Weiss stood in a empty white space, all around her was white, the sky and the horizon was a white nothingness. However the ground she was standing on a empty parking lot next to a bank. A familiar , New Mexico bank in Albuquerque.
"Yo Mr W[eiss］,"
Her Partner , her former student waits for her in his car, the weird wasteful red one that can bounce up and down with a flick of a switch, a pointless gimmick. He was wearing a beanie , stylish jacket with an energetic and naive smile on his face.
"Tell me why youre doing this, seriously."
"Why do you do it?"
Weiss asked back. Her teenage Partner scoffed a little.
"Money, mainly."
The Chemistry Teacher pointed at him.
"There you go."
"Nah come on man! Some straight like you, giant stick up his ass, all a sudden at age, what, sixty? He's just gonna break bad?"
Weiss looked around in frustration.
"I am fifty."
"It's weird, that's all. Okay, it doesn't compute. Listen, if you gone crazy or something … I mean if you gone crazy or depressed. I'm just saying. That's something I need to know about. Okay, I mean that affects me!"
Weiss was completely dead inside , killed by her Partner's words. She flicked her tongue and looked at him. She doesn't have a good response, nor does she want to admit that all this was a desperate endeavour inspired by her mid-life crisis due to her lung cancer. So all she have for her Partner was…
"I'm awake."
The Partner just made a "huh?!" expression with his face.
"What?!" Was all that he could muster.
Weiss point a commanding finger at him, and ordered in a gentle albeit a little bit frustrated tone.
"Buy the RV."
And she turned around leave this empty lot, only to face the said RV she was talking about. But in a crusher, getting demolished and shredded. Inside were her precious chemistry set, a precious barrel of methylamine and snacks that her Partner brought for their camping (and meth cooking) road trip, his funyuns. Weiss stared with much horror as the vehicle get crushed into scrap metal.
It was then Weiss noticed, next to the monstrous crusher was a human figure, lying on a bed. A feminine and young figure, her Partner's Girlfriend, a junkie that tried to steal him away from her, who even tried to use blackmail and extort drug money from her, dying from a heroin overdose. Good riddance was what Weiss thought, at the time.
Now, she was not so sure. As she watched Girlfriend spasm and choked on her own saliva, all that was needed to save her was to turn her slightly around on the bed, but Weiss chose not to. So in mere seconds, she fell still, her eyes turned milky, and she rot into a skeleton right before her.
BOOM!
Two passenger planes, a King Air and Boeing, carrying approximately one hundred and sixty seven passengers, collided with each other in a grotesque explosion. Faceless corpses rained down from the white empty skies, ending with a charred pink teddy bear which was missing one eye. All of this were a result of the Girlfriend's Grieving Father, a air controller who made this grievous mistake due to his grief. Weiss swear this wasn't her fault.
It wasn't her fault, that was what she told herself, she didn't do anything after all.
"...You get it?"
Her Partner called out again, Weiss turn around, this time he was not wearing a beanie inside a bouncing car, but on a hospital bed in a hospital gown. His face bore a swollen eye and was covered in scars. And he looked at Weiss with hatred and blame.
"I don't want nothing to do with you!"
Weiss stood back a little, all that was left with was a droning blue that replaced the white, the beeping of medical equipments and her partner. Her original and only partner. Everything here seemed to be in a blue filter compared to the empty white earlier, a color she was very well acquainted with.
"Ever since I met you everything that I ever cared about is gone! Ruined, turned to shit, dead, ever since I hooked up with the great Heisenberg! I have never been more alone! I have NOTHING! NO ONE! ALRIGHT, IT'S ALL GONE, GET IT? No, no, no, why...why would you get it?"
Weiss looked at her partner in horror, quietly stepping back as he launch accusations upon accusations at her.
"What do you even care, as long as you get what you want, right? You don't give a shit about me! You said I was no good. I'm nothing! Why would you want me, huh? You said my meth is inferior, right? Right? Hey! You said my cook was GARBAGE! Hey, screw you, man! Screw you!"
Weiss's boot hit the hospital door, she quickly shut the door to drown out her Partner's cries. Blue rays of lights seemed to shot out of the gaps of the hospital door as it shuts.
"Your meth is good, J####, as good as mine." Weiss whispered behind the door.
She was in a dimly lit environment now, where black was the new dominant order of this setting.
Then when she looked down, a lifeless hand was laid next to her boot. A bloodied hand with a Swastika tattoo. She turned to look behind. She was in a seedy ghetto bar, the white supremacists' personal clubhouse. All around the floor was blood and corpses of men with swastika and antisemitic phrases tattooed on them. On one wall of this bar, was a line of bullet holes, the reason to the death of these men.
Weiss looked down, she was bleeding from the abdomen whilst carrying her Browning Hi-power, the same one that took the life of her Brother-in-Law. Weiss also tried to convince herself that this wasn't her fault, after all she did tried to save him and his Buddy, both DEA agents in pursuit of non other than the great Heisenberg, Weiss herself.
A rattling of chains and grunts of struggling men broke her silence, it was her Partner, enslaved by the Nazis to be their cook, was straggling his Enslaver with his own chains. After the psychopathic Enslaver died, the Partner quickly reached for his pocket to find the key to free himself from his shackles. His clothes were ragged, he haven't shaved nor cut his hair for a while, scars and marks of abuses scattered all over his body.
Everyone here were once Weiss' former allies, the Partner, the Enslaver, and the Nazis. Everything here was a mess. Outside the window was no longer white, but a pitch black of nothingness.
"Wait!"
The uncle of the Enslaver, the Nazi Leader deeply wounded from the machine gun fire, begs Weiss. He picks up a smothering cigar from the bloodied ground and stuck it into his mouth. SKIN and HEAD were printed on those knuckles, while a Swastika were blatantly displayed on his neck.
"You want your money, right? You want to know where it is? You pull that trigger, you'll neve-"
Weiss coldly pulled the trigger and put a bullet onto his head with a bang, cutting his pleas short. The bastard died the same way her brother-in-law did, with the same gun.
Turning to her now ex-Partner, who glared at her with contempt and fear, a far cry from his naive and energetic teen self just a few years ago. Now a shaking, broken man stared back at his former teacher. Feeling guilt, Weiss slide her pistol to him, and offered her life as a apology. A worthless life that would have been claimed by lung cancer anyways.
"Do it." Weiss ordered.
The Partner gingerly picked up the gun, and aimed at Weiss with a shaking hand.
"Say the words. Say 'you want this!' " The Partner rebuted.
Weiss said nothing.
"Nothing happens until I hear you say it!"
"I want this…"
"Then do it yourself."
Weiss closed her eyes , she remembers this part, this was where her Partner leaves her forever for good, and she leaves this world as well. However, no foot steps can be heard. So she opened her eyes again, to see her Partner's face just a inch from hers, snarling and glaring in rage, as he gripped Weiss by her shoulders.
"And please… stop all of this … man, AND WAKE UP!"
"What?"
Weiss blinked a little, the whole world began to warp and distort.
"I said WAKE UP FROM ALL THIS MR W[eiss], OR MORE PEOPLE WILL GET HURT! You only break…EVERYTHING you touched!"
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"Wake up. Ms Weiss"
Weiss opened her eyes , and she was greeted by Sally's concerned face. She was lying in one of the spare rooms the inn have in a very crooked bed.
"How long was I out?"
"Hours, you slept till day."
Weiss got up and rubbed her eyes a little, Sally, one of her new partners who woke her up stood beside her. Daylight was pouring in from the window next to her in this decrepit room that stank of wood rot, old fabric and chemicals. Sally's eyes has recovered in a speedy rate but there was still a mark on her eyelid. Looking her reflection from the shattered mirror, her bruise was still clear as day.
"We have guests."
"What?"
Weiss got up, due to the poor accessibility to a bath in this medieval setting, she still bore the stank from yesterday. But regardless she was force to waddle downstairs. Sally replaced her scarf with the slaver's spare shirt, pulling it up as a improvised scarf, she followed suit.
On a round table, sat Eferdora, Tina who was bandaged heavily waist down, her sister Tia, and three other strangers she never met. A masked girl in a red hood, a giant woman in plate armour, and a blonde noble woman with a blue rose hairpin. The Noble woman stood up with a warm smile on her face and greets the Chemist.
"We were just talking about you, what you three did there was extremely brave."
"Brave?"
"Without you Tina would have died, to that you have our gratitude."
"It was a … spur of the moment decision, but we are happy to help others who are righteous."
"Is it true that you used silver and acid to make an medicine?"
"Why yes, I uh of course did it with the help of all two of my partners…under my instructions. But the poison inflicted on the wounds is something that I am unfamiliar with and we don't have time nor the means to fix it. You should probably seek other medical help."
"Boss already cast a healing spell to resolve that." Tia answered, referring the one with the Blue rose.
"That's great."
"Oh where are my manners, I am Lakyus Alvein Dale Aindra, leader of the Adventurer Group Blue Rose. This are the members of my team, I believed you already met Tia and Tina, and these two are Evileye and Gagaran. We were stopping by to pick up Tina."
"I…I am uhh Weiss, this is Sally and Eferdora. We are just…broke people , yea."
Eferdora gave them a awkward smile, she clearly wasn't too used in being such a huge crowd. While Sally just sat there awkwardly. "Tch" was all the grumpy Blue Ninja gave in response, as she looked away from Weiss and her partners.
"If it weren't for them, that Six Arm wouldn't have gotten Tina."
"If it weren't for them, I would have died." The Sister in Red rebuked the one in Blue.
"I told you two you need a backup, and from this day onwards in raid missions such as this, Evileye will be supporting you in these Farm raids."
Tia and Tina grumbled, but only end with a "Yes Demon Boss" referring to Lakyus. Evileye just shrugged her shoulders.
"You are an Elf?"
"Y-Yea." Eferdora replied to Gagaran.
"I am surprised, most humans doesn't get along with Elves or any non-human. And I heard from Tina she was a former slave that you two broke out?"
Sally nodded, the Giant lady broke into a elated smile.
"You three are amazing! Not only you broke a slave out , you also robbed a Six Arm stronghold."
"Well, times are, hard for us, and we are lost foreigners so we are sorta on the same boat thus the same partnership."
"Foreigners huh? Where are you from exactly?"
"Well, I am from a place called America, Eferdora is from the Elf Country and Sally…about her she is a special case."
Gagaran made out an "O?"
"I forgot."
Sally simply replied.
"Huh?!"
"Severe case of Amnesia, that was what Ms Weiss said, the name of the disease that make you forget?"
"Oh dear," Lakyus gave Sally a sympathetic look. Weiss nodded and furrowed her brows in sadness.
"Uh, so Tell me more about this America." Gagaran asked instead.
"America…oh yea, she is called the land of the free, home of the brave. We already abolished slavery centuries ago, even fought a civil war over it. So we pretty much gone past the whole racial discrimination thing already. Also, a former colony that revolted against an Empire and made her own call"
At this second, Weiss managed to see the handle of her pistol poking out of her jacket, the original owner of the weapon brought a bad taste to her mouth.
"...most of it at least. Although America, isn't just a country, it also represents something greater an idea."
"A Revolutionary Country that revolts , abolished slavery and revolted against their own Empire, that's impressive and intriguing. But also represents an idea instead of an god or hero? Please entertain me."
"That idea Lakyus my friend, is called the American Dream, where regardless of who you are, what you believe in, as American citizens if you work hard you will achieve your dreams! In other words, even if you are an Elf, as long as you work hard in America you will be rewarded fairly. A Self-made man…and woman. Some Scottish folk who was a fugitive prosecuted by the English Government upon landing onto American Soil, end up founding the biggest Detective Agency and made himself tons of money. Not many places gives you that sort of opportunity."
Lakyus and Gagaran seemed entertained , the Ninja Sisters seemed to be almost snoring at Weiss's trivia about her homeland. However Eferdora seem to be completely entranced at Weiss's storytelling.
"Well it's been a good talk, oh and I forgot this is to compensate you all for your effort."
The Noble woman took out of a bag of coins. Weiss immediately rejected.
"We already made what we have from the heist, and I don't take from ... charity, that will be like stealing from people who actually needed the money. Lakyus my friend, please spend it on the community instead."
This surprised Lakyus who kept the coins, now seeing Weiss as someone who was humble and progressive. A woman ahead of her time with a noble and generous soul. Someone to be admired, just like the Golden Princess. A rare specimen in the world they were living in today.
"Oh , one more thing, that Assassin that injured Tina. What happened to him when we left?"
"No luck, he managed to rallied my reinforcements and I cannot hold my ground back there. I have to retreat."
Weiss's face distort to that of horror, her mouth open agape to this news. This news broke her composure.
"Don't worry Weiss, we will bring him to justice without question."
"Yea, please do."
"Then we shall take our leave, all the best to you Weiss. If you need any help, don't hesitate to seek us out. We owe you a favour."
"Of course, also one more thing."
Lakyus turned slightly before she left.
"Blue is my favourite colour."
Weiss said with a warm smile which was reciprocated by the leader of the Blue rose as she left the door.
Right after a few moments, Weiss locked the door , pulled the curtains down and quickly lit the lanterns, she then carefully crept to where Lakyus was once sitting, move the chair away and pry out the tile. Revealing the trio's bag of gold and pounds upon pounds of Blue Sky Meth.
"Weiss-san?"
"Yea Eferdora."
"Is the American Dream really a thing? Where if people work hard t-they can -"
"No , that's complete bullshit. The Old money bastards always have their boot on your nuts. Tell me , what kind of Country with a real American Dream forces an Overqualified Chemist to work in a car wash, teach a class of disrespectful students and the only way people like me is able to make real money is to break the law. All because some Old Money Princess Bitch and my Conniving Colleague stole all my hard work."
Eferdora recoiled at the sudden change of tone. While Sally at this point just became numb at Weiss's mood swings. The Said Chemist was moving the bag of gold into the kitchen as she rambled.
"Oh oh, don`t forget, the whole discrimination part is also iffy to hell. There was like this Hispanic Janitor back in the School I used to teach who was a nice guy really. Then one day someone stole the school lab's chemistry equipment for illegal reasons. The first people the "Oh so not racist" Police suspect is him simply by the merit of not being white. They found absolutely nothing on him, only a small handful of weed. Thus he was immediately arrested under drug trafficking charges and lost everything even if the Weed he had is not enough for a average deal."
Having presented hope, and immediately have it crushed was one of the most devastating thing to endure, something that brought Eferdora into tears. Sally quietly sat on her stool and listened to Weiss's rambles with squinted eyes. Either the Criminal didn't notice the harm she was causing, or she simply don't care. Could be a mix of both.
"Oh , and let's not forget to throw in the hoards of White Supremacist Gangs and Neo-Nazis. They made the justice system into a joke and kill law enforcers simply because they felt like it! Some real American Dream there! All it is really for is to keep people like me and you obedient under a false sense of meritocracy and equality."
"Weiss."
"Yea?"
"The Hispanic Janitor who got arrested… that was you wasn't it?"
A annoyed Sally pointed out, Weiss dropped the bag like a sack of potatoes onto kitchen table.
"What?"
"Look around you Ms Weiss."
It was then she noticed, she was surrounded by Alchemistry Equipment, all of the glimmer reflected from the glassware shone accusingly on Weiss. The Vampire was folding her arms and glared at the Criminal Chemist with judgmental eyes, this led to Weiss in better term, lost her shit.
"No, No, NO! You weren't there so you have no right to cast judgement into this. Yes, I am the one who stole the Chemistry Equipment, but I didn't sell or framed him. The DEA came to that conclusion purely by their own prejudice, it was on THEM not ME! I merely kept quiet. What do you expect me to do? Tell the whole world that me, a Chemistry teacher was cooking meth using stolen school equipment?"
"I don't know Ms Weiss, the more I stayed around you, the more I learnt from you about the ways of this world. I am grateful for that. I began picking up your knowledge in this skill called Chemistry, your guts but also your ways of dishonesty. I may not remember too much, but I am learning a lot. And I realized, I really hate being lied to or sold to."
Vampire advanced towards the Criminal, who lost her smile and revealed her real face, a bitter and dangerous scowl.
"Don't tell me Sally, you were still upset with whatever happened in the Manor? If you want me to say sorry, I will say sorry."
"I can forgive that overtime, this is just a reminder to not to such thing again, to me at least. You are still my partner as we have to look for each other's back. It is just that your behaviour sometimes can't help but made me question, is all of this worth it? Let's admit it, all of us, that whatever happened in that manor was a major disaster!"
Weiss said nothing, just walked to the kitchen table, lifted the bag and pour the gold coins into a shining mountain onto table. She then looked at Sally. The light from the lanterns reflected the brilliant light all over the kitchen.
"Worth it?"
The Vampire don't have a answer.
"Well now, let's split the spoils."
…
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End
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