Masquerade and massacre

“The legendary ronin lives… here?”

“You expecting a five star bloody beach resort?”

“I was expecting more than makeshift walls of metal fencing.”

“Oi. There’s a roof too.”

“That hardly addresses the issue at hand.”

I haphazardly dropped the four boxes of medical supplies onto the ground. Made poor Time jump out of her skin. Kawari let hers down too, and it quickly became apparent that my tiny ass dingy ass stupid fucking shack was far too small for two humans, two cats and a hundred million yen’s worth of medical cybernetics. There was hardly an inch of floor space to step into.

“Would it kill you to treat the supplies you just risked your life for a little more carefully?” sighed Time.

“Relaaaax, there’s enough cybernetics in here to keep the slum docs occupied until the 23rd century. One or two getting a little bashed up ain’t the end of the world,” I said, dropping straight into my futon.

Christ alive, my ribs were killing me. Well, what was left of them, anyway.

“It’s been a while since last I saw another of my kind,” said the aggravatingly posh voice of Higgs, “truly, it is a pleasure to meet you, Ms…”

“Time. You’re Higgs, I presume?” Said the far less enthused black cat. Higgs was doing some sort of weird bow, while Time almost seemed prepared to back away. “Just so you know, I was watching everything through Toki’s eye. I know exactly what you two did, and I don’t trust you as far as I can throw you.”

“You wound me, my lady. Perhaps we started on the wrong foot, but I can see you and I having a long and faithful partnership.”

“Ugh. You’re lucky we need allies.”

Time physically recoiled as Higgs approached. He seemed to think he was far more suave than he really was.

…he? She? What the hell was Higgs’ gender supposed to be? Eh, whatever, I didn’t care all that much. They were a creepy white teleporting cat, that was the important thing.

“Sorry, Time, but you’re gonna have to learn to put up with ‘em,” I said, throwing my blood stained cloak onto the ground and relaxing into the futon, “we can’t exactly tear this system down without a little help.” I was ready to take a load off and call it a day, but unfortunately I was afforded no such luxury by our new guests

“You… don’t wear clothes under your cloak?” said Kawari, raising an eyebrow.

“Hmm? I’m wearing underwear, ain’t I?”

“Well, yes, but… is that really all you wear underneath?”

“Of course not. Normally I have my magical girl outfit underneath.”

“But those disappear when you’re out of combat. You don’t… wear another layer or something?”

“Nah. Slows me down. I’m on the run a lot. Besides, the cloak covers my whole body anyway.”

“...you are quite the strange individual.”

“Oh please, coming from the girl who dresses up like she confused the words ‘masquerade’ and ‘massacre.’”

In truth, Time had also told me it was weird for me to go out on missions so underdressed, but I didn’t see a problem. More clothes were just excess weight. And my body was good enough at regulating its own temperature that I really didn’t need anything else. Besides, the only place I’d take the cloak off is the comfort of my own home, where I should be able to relax regardless of what I’m wearing.

Though, that was somewhat difficult in that moment with a certain person staring.

“...d’you mind?”

“I was just noticing you don’t really have much in the way of cybernetics,” she said, completely missing the cue to apologise.

“Don’t need ‘em. Same as extra clothes, Metal is heavy, can’t have all that extra weight holding me back. All I have is the eye, and this,” I said, running my finger along the vertical scar on my chest. “My heart.”

“Your… heart? Why a cybernetic heart?”

“It was something I had to do back when I first started learning my powers. I got the hang of the movements quickly, but my body was slow to catch up. Blood couldn’t pump fast enough, damn near killed myself with my own speed. Blacked out on a mission, woke up two days later with stitches all down my chest and a heart that doesn’t beat. Wouldn’t have even made it out alive if my partner hadn’t saved my ass.”

“You had a partner? That’s a rarity, most magical girls work alone.”

“Yeah, she was… something. A walking calamity, if I’m being honest. I was less a ‘partner’ and more of a leash for when they needed to rein her in a bit. Without me to stop her, she’d obliterate anything in her path. ‘Course, eventually she got sick of my meddling. Lashed out, took my right eye, and off she fucked. Never saw her again. Good riddance, all I can say.” Realising I had probably said far too much, I decided to quickly turn the subject around. “So, what about you? Other than that arm I didn’t notice anything clanking about in that body of yours while I was beating it to a pulp.”

“Truly, you are a charming individual.” Kawari heaved a sigh, but thankfully seemed to realise I didn’t want her digging any further into my oh-so-tragic backstory. “Yes, your assessment is correct. My only cybernetic part is my arm. My power works by shifting my form between matter and energy, something I can do to my own body easily, but anything extra takes focus. Further cybernetics would just impede my abilities.”

“Then what’s with the arm?”

“It was not adopted by choice. I was on the corporate payroll as an enforcer, and a particularly valuable job found its way to me. I exterminated the target, but the PMC company that was ‘assisting’ me wanted the reward for themselves. I barely survived their betrayal, catching a bullet in the arm for my troubles. The real thing was unsalvageable, so I have to make do with this.”

“Ouch. Sounds like a nasty betrayal.”

“To be frank, I see it more as an even trade. I lost my arm. Their families buried their remaining parts in shoeboxes.”

“I’m not so sure you understand what ‘even’ means.”

For a story with so much bloodshed, it was almost unsettling how casually she delivered it. Though, I at least now understood her lack of hesitation in using the blood and guts of MPs as wallpaper.

“So… what do we do now?” Kawari asked annoyingly.

“Now? It’s 3 o’clock in the bloody morning, woman, now we go the fuck to sleep.”

“I don’t mean right this second, you whelp, I mean what is our next move. You cannot mean to tell me you haven’t so much as planned a single day ahead of time.”

“I literally waltzed into your trap like it was afternoon fuckin’ tea, you think planning ahead is my strong suit?”

“Dear lord. We’re going to die, aren’t we?”

“Relax, this is just how I do things. We’ve got supplies to distribute, tomorrow night we’ll drop ‘em off at the slum doc clinics, preferably without anyone seeing. Then we’ll keep our ears to the ground, listen out for more targets, strike while the iron’s hot, rinse, repeat.”

“...you mean the exact approach that I predicted and used to ambush you.”

“The very same.”

“Dear lord. We’re going to die, aren’t we?”