Defiant Stare

"In the between time of the wars Japan had been able to bring back the strength of their military that had been oppressed for more than a century. While all of the military leaders of the old era were gone now it left the small military that they were allowed boiling. Once the government gave them the budget to increase their numbers the military rapidly expanded beyond what they could manage finding leadership lacking throughout all branches.

"All of the main leadership was tied into the government seeking ways to continue to expand their now bloated military force. The generals pushed their way into positions to further their agenda while the military fell apart leading to mass disorder soon followed by the second machine war.”

Herbert Stein, Machine Historian - 

Satoru didn’t want to move for fear of drawing attention back to him. 'That voice…I know that voice…' He wanted to feel hope again for life, but feared this was only going to be a momentary pause. Whoever it was that was calling him would be targeted now and he would be faced with seeing their death before his own. The thought filled him with despair deeper than before.

"Someone you know, a conspirator with you, huh?" the businessman said walking towards the figure that was standing in the open street. The others were quick to follow around marching towards the bold figure.

'Who is it?' Satoru tried to think of whom it was that had found him. He was afraid to find out who it was knowing what trouble that they had walked into. His eyes wouldn’t open for him; his curiosity wasn’t enough to overpower his fear and despair that was enveloping him rapidly.

"Now they got them in slim bodies like that. Trying to prey on our vanity."

"Let's get her too," the punk said as they came ever closer. The chain was spinning quickly again, scraping against the ground.

"Satoru!" the voice said again to him.

His fear couldn’t hold him back anymore. He quickly rose up from the street to look through the mass that was making its way to Asami. "Asami, run!" Satoru could barely believe it, but he knew that she couldn’t stay. She wouldn’t stand a chance against them. "They'll kill you!"

"Satoru, are you alright?" she shouted back to him as though not even afraid of the threat that she faced. All that Satoru could see was worry across her face. Satoru was left a little confused, but the threat she faced overrode his thoughts.

"Run, Asami! Run!" He wanted to run for her and take her away, but his head suddenly felt dizzy. The world spun in his vision and Asami lost focus. His legs buckled, bringing him to the street again unable to make an attempt for Asami.

"You know he's right," the punk with the knife said grinning. There was sinister intent in his eyes as though he was taking more pleasure in the attack that would soon follow.

"We'll break every gear in your body!" the other punk said following beside the one with the knife. He made sure to let the chain slip out of his hands a moment to let it crash against the street near her feet.

The businessman had the other two move around wide to close in the circle that they formed around Asami. She was quickly left with no chances to escape. "No where to run."

Asami stood defiantly in her spot as they surrounded her without challenge. Even the chain that nearly hit her leg wasn’t enough to make her move. She had been motionless since she knew that Satoru was safe. "I don't need to run from you." Her eyes narrowed suddenly revealing a serious nature behind her previous innocent appearance.

"Got a tough one here. Come in all sorts don't they. Get her!"

The two punks moved in first at Asami, but she effortlessly dodged their strikes. As the two passed by her she swung her arm around knocking them to the ground. The college student and businessman charged in afterwards swinging wildly at her. Her body continued to rotate from the previous attack letting her leg come up around into the side of the student sending to the street as well. The businessman swung his final time with the pipe against her forcing Asami to raise her arm up to block. The metal pipe met her arm with a pale thud that shocked the man. She didn’t waste time grabbing the pipe with her hand and kicked him aside as well. Asami threw the pipe behind her at the middle-aged woman that was about to fire her gun. It knocked the gun out of the woman's hand leaving her to tend her bruised hand.

"She's strong, stronger than she looks," the punk said, pulling himself up off the street with a surprised expression. The defiant look that Asami had was now painted across his face seeing her superior confident look that he once held.

The businessman stood back up ignoring the trail of blood that was dripping from his cut lip. He glared at her knowing that she wasn’t like the others that they had bullied. "She's just a machine, we can still win!" His call to the others pulled them together once more. They were bruised and bleeding, but determined not to lose. There wasn’t fear yet in their eyes as Asami stared them all down calmly.

"You can't win…" she said, monitoring their movements as they began to circle her once more. Asami waited until they came at her to make her move. There was a change in her expression from last time. Her eyes had been focused, but she was still just being protective. However, this time her eyes narrowed to a serious tone with almost emotionless ruthlessness. It was clear that she meant to end things.

The moment the punk first step fell Asami leapt into action sprinting towards him closing the small gap too quickly for him to react. Her fist dug into his stomach forcing all of the air out of his lungs and sending him to the hard street an instant later. She rotated on her foot from the dash bringing her in line with the next one, the college-age student. There was almost no speed that had been wasted by her as she planted her right foot deep in his stomach. The student met the same quick fate as the punk.

The other three soon followed behind them as Asami laid them all out with a single decisive blow each. When she had finished with the last one she stood back up exhaling and returned to her normal stature. Asami immediately spun around on one foot to rush to Satoru with her recalling him falling over.

She knelt down to the ground when she reached him bringing her eyes to meet him. Her heart stopped for a moment, but she pushed through trying to focus on him. "Satoru! You're shoulder, you're bleeding. Did they break anything?" Her hand lightly wrapped around his lower shoulder in case it was sensitive to touch. The stoic expression she had before was melting away revealing worry.

Satoru hadn’t budged from his spot that he had collapsed. He wasn’t sure what had happened and it was all so quick that it was still taking time to catch up to him. All he could do was hang his mouth open in disbelief that the frail looking woman that he knew had taken down five people without the slightest amount of effort. The first reaction he had was so instinctual that he didn’t even counter the thought. "Asami…a-are they…"

"No…" Asami turned her head slightly, breaking eye contact with Satoru. She knew what he was thinking without needing for him to finish. She had been careful not to apply lethal force.

A part of him was chastising him for worrying about those that had been trying to kill him. He tried not to focus on it as more important questions soon came to mind with the events that transpired slowly catching up to the reality that he was sitting in. "How did you…" The images of Asami's brief fight with his attackers replayed through his mind. "…you stopped that metal pipe with just your arm." It was the moment that she had blocked the pipe that froze in his thoughts. There might not have been enough force to break her arm, but she wasn’t phased by it at all. He remembered clearly that she didn’t even flinch in pain. So many thoughts and questions quickly bubbled up overloading him. "Who are you?"