The Sweeper Meets an Old Co-worker

Kuroiwa stood before the towering, armored metal woman he knew as Sei. He held his trusty revolver in hand, while Sei stood him off several meters away, blocking the only way left to Shiyuri’s room. The last obstacle. Doubts filled Kuroiwa’s head, thinking if he would ever survive a second encounter with the strongest person he knew? Was the chance that Shiyuri truly knew how to get into Colony Tau even worth the risk?

But no—he and Chigusa had already taken out an army of armed geriatric plus the Lawyer that led them.

There was no turning back.

Sei stared Kuroiwa down with a cocky grin, carrying nothing but her bare, metal fists.

“I knew you would return, Ser Kuroiwa.”

“It seems so,” said Kuroiwa, tightening the grip on his gun. “You look really pretty today, new armor and all. I like the sleeker design. Really accentuates the features.”

“Thank you. Sir Murai had me wear it for this operation, since it was an official raid on the one and only Nekolain.”

“I see… so it wasn’t completely your choice.”

Sei shook her head, wiping the grin off her face. “I have listened to that musician you recommended to me back then. I truly do like your taste, Ser Kuroiwa.”

“Glad you liked it. I’m not an avid music listener, but I know a good tune when I hear it.”

“Those pieces made me feel like I can overcome all odds. I could become a hero. To become more than I am, to battle against fate even when fate goes against me. His songs… they sounded like victory.

Do you feel the same way now, Ser Kuroiwa?”

Kuroiwa gripped his gun tighter, feeling that Sei was about to reach a breaking point. Her breath turned heavier; her lust for battle as IZUMI finally coming to a head. He eyed her armor for weaknesses—any he could find at all. This armor was slapdash. It had to have a flaw if it wasn’t made for her exclusively.

But he couldn’t find one. Even if there was one, his hand wouldn’t allow perfect ricochets or even perfect shots at a target faster and stronger than he was.

“You should have sent better mercs after me. Even the weakness of age comes for bionic robots, apparently.”

“You are right, Ser Kuroiwa.”

Sei’s legs wound up, and her gaze, hot as the desert sun, affixed on Kuroiwa.

“It should have been just us from the start!”

Sei launched herself forward at Kuroiwa, with enough force and speed to crumble rock. Kuroiwa aimed his gun at her limbs. In a flash, he fired two consecutive shots.

Hit and a miss.

His bullet clanged on her knee, its reinforced metal simply deflecting his shot off. Sei dashed at his gun-toting right hand, open fist at the ready.

Anticipated. Kuroiwa dodged to the side. Sei zipped past him and slid on the floor of concrete, her feet gashing the rocks.

I knew you’d go for the gun.

Kuroiwa aimed again, this time with a clearer shot. Front elbow and knee, ripe for pickings. Aim. Breathe. And…

Fire.

His rounds bounced off her armor again, proving too tough for his puny weaponry. Sei rotated and dashed again, this time catching Kuroiwa in a position he couldn’t simply step to the side out of. Kuroiwa pointed his gun at her head, and squeezed the trigger.

He couldn’t.

Sei slapped the gun out of his hands. Kuroiwa flinched, open for a riposte. Sei grappled his torso and threw him across the hall, stopping just short of slamming onto a wall. Kuroiwa flipped and slid on his feet, recovering into a fighting immediately.

“You had the chance to kill me, Ser Kuroiwa.”

“I know.”

“Then why did you not?”

“You know I would shoot. You could have easily dodged to the side.”

Sei stretched her arms and one knee, checking for any chinks in her armor.

“Even if that were the case, I question your reluctance to try in the first place.”

Sei darted at Kuroiwa again, her full body weight to bare. A tackle. If Kuroiwa were to take it head on, the force would shatter his entire skeleton right then and there. Her speed was immense, almost like a jet headed straight for him. The corridor further in narrowed. No choice. The Sweeper squeezed at the edge of the wall, narrowly avoiding her charging body. The galeforce in her wake rang Kuroiwa’s ears, pain shooting in his head. His vision spun for a moment, before recovering to a fighting stance once again.

Kuroiwa then shouted from across the hall.

“You don’t seem too into killing me either, you know.”

Sei stopped, plowing through the floor’s rock again. “Again, you underestimate your own abilities,” she said, winding up her legs for another charge. “But this time, you may not be so lucky. Take up your gun and try me once more.”

“I won’t. There’s no use. Your armor reigns supreme over my old-ass weaponry.”

“Then won’t my open head suffice?”

Kuroiwa gritted his teeth and sternly told her off. “I didn’t come here to kill you. I’m only here to collect what the girl with red hair owes me. I didn’t come here to collaborate with her devious acts. I came only for answers.”

Sei chuckled. “Even so, I still cannot let you through. She is still a wanted criminal.”

“Just believe me, please!”

“Then tell me why you do not kill me, Ser Kuroiwa.”

Kuroiwa clicked his tongue.

“If you die, and you’re brought back, you might not come back as you are. You do know that, right?”

Sei giggled as his response, remembering the last time he worried about her life from the time they worked together. “Odds are I come back as I am. Especially with Murai supervising my rebirth, it will be as if I never died. It will be naught but a slight inconvenience.”

“Yeah, but…” Kuroiwa responded, clenching his fists. “But then, I’m afraid you won’t be you. Sei, if you die, that’s it. The one coming back, I think, isn’t you you. At least, that’s what I believe.”

“And that matters to you?”

“It does. I won’t pretend the thought doesn’t bother me,” said Kuroiwa, his stance loosening but still ready for any sudden movements. “If I see you again tomorrow after I kill you, I feel it won’t be the same Sei I worked with. The same one who kept sending me cute but pointless trinkets in Nirvana. Not the one that listened to S*wan*. It won’t be the Sei I refused to kill.”

His words struck Sei. Her charge-ready stance eased, and she stood straight. Her face flushed a slight red, and her eyes quivered at the sight of Kuroiwa. She then shook her head and regained her professional, steady demeanor.

“You’ve… a way with words.”

A huff of smoke burst forth from her armor, blowing in Kuroiwa’s direction. He shielded his eyes as smoke and debris flew at him. As the smoke cleared, Sei armor began to separate, more smoke coming out of its gaps. Sei’s armor started to fall to the ground, piece by piece. The pieces which didn’t fall, she removed herself in a strangely sensual way. Kuroiwa couldn’t help but stare.

“Sei… what are you doing?”

She looked at him with sharp, arrogant eyes, as she took off the last plate of armor from her legs. She skipped on a leg as if she were a lady taking off their heels. All that was left of her was her tank top and tight-fitting yoga pants.

“I do not need that armor,” she said while her breath heaved. “I wish to fight you on equal grounds.”

Kuroiwa was in disbelief. “You’ll regret that.”, he said feebly. But he wasn’t about to refuse an advantage given to him, even by an opponent. Getting his head back in the game, he refocused his thoughts on the big green-haired threat in front of him. His knees shook, and his fists quivered. The more he looked at Sei’s body, the more it became an obvious reminder:

He can’t hit a woman.

But Sei was quick to notice.

“Are you afraid of hitting me because I am a woman? I believe you’ve said this in passing before.”

Kuroiwa refused to respond and simply stared her down, assuming a hand-to-hand stance, weak and frail as it looked.

Sei continued, cracking her knuckles and neck. “I am no fragile woman, Ser Kuroiwa. I can take your body more than you can take mine.” Sei also assumed a brawler’s stance, slowly making strides towards her opponent. “Be not afraid of me. If you truly are a man…

…then you will treat me as your equal!”

He dug his heels and readied himself, witnessing the fire in Sei’s eyes. She was right. If he wanted to make his way through her, then the only way was to fight. To do what he came here for.

Sei lunged at him at breakneck speed, starting off with a shattering haymaker. Kuroiwa moved to the side. Purging all hesitation from his body, relying on pure survival instinct, he riposted and went for a hook. Too slow. Sei blocked his punch and locked his arm. She swung her leg, kicking him with the force of a barreling truck. Even without her power armor, Kuroiwa felt the immense power behind every blow.

A flurry of blows. Every kick met with a kick, every punch met with the opposite force. Kuroiwa had never been pushed to the limit this much in hand-to-hand combat before, even as a Sweeper. Sweat poured from every pore in his body. His heart raced with each bob and weave, with every dodge and block. At any moment, he felt his chest could burst. His bones crackled and muscled sored, as Sei’s might clashed with his human flesh.

Kuroiwa was losing ground. Before he knew it, Sei had pushed him back several meters back. He had gained no ground. He cursed the situation and tried to play aggressively. He grappled her arm and pulled.

Sei wasn’t one to give it up that easy.

She wrestled his arm back and swept Kuroiwa off his feet, smashing him onto the floor. His body thumped on contact, his left arm twisting into a knot. The pain was immense—nothing he hadn’t injured, but that didn’t make it any better. He endured the urge to yell and focused on revenge.

He kicked her in the abdomen before she could lock him down for good. Sei caught it dead-on, staggering her and knocking her back. Kuroiwa jumped back to his feet and stepped back.

And then they stared wordlessly at each other.

Sei’s body began to sizzle; more smoke emanated from her bare body, and a reddish glow illuminated her skin. It was starting. Kuroiwa had seen this before and it only meant one thing.

She was overheating. Sei was ready to go beyond.

Shit… this is it.

Sei realized what was happening to her. She grimaced and ran her hand across her abdomen. She then punched right through it, tearing through skin, muscle, bone, and cybernetic metal, reaching for the contents within.

“W-what the hell are you doing?” Kuroiwa shouted, bewildered.

She tore out an orange, glowing cylinder from the gash on her body, then tossed it several stories down off the ledge overlooking the apartment compound. Her body stopped glowing crimson, and steam ceased to burst forth from it.

“To live this life as if it were your last… you told me that,” Sei said. Her face glowed in the sunlight, piercing through the darkness, revealing a smug smile she beamed at Kuroiwa. “And your life… it is the last. I want to fight you as me. Not the rampaging IZUMI, but as the woman you know.”

“You’re throwing away every advantage you have, Sei. Aren’t you supposed to be doing everything you can to not have me reach Nekolain?”

“That matters not now. And are you not the one to have come to a fight where you are more likely to lose your life than not?”

Kuroiwa laughed, keeping a guarded stance despite his body weakening from Sei’s repeated blows. “Yeah. That makes me idiot here.”

“That makes two of us.”

Sei thrust forth at Kuroiwa once more, who remained on the defensive. With forwarding blow Sei delivered, Kuroiwa stepped to the side and back. Her blows weakened—more manageable for Kuroiwa’s body now; but even then, the fact she was half metal still wore him down every passing second. She was closer to human, even if she remained stronger than he.

The wall behind Kuroiwa splintered as her fist slammed into it. Her hand started to bleed blood and oil as she recovered and continue to swing at Kuroiwa. He blocked her repeatedly blows desperately, staining his hands with blood, and hers with his. Brutal and tiring. Both their breaths began to heave, and eventually, their movements began to slow.

Kuroiwa needed one decisive blow. And so did Sei.

Gambling it all, the Sweeper searched for a gap in Sei’s now slowing movements.

There!

He tackled her head-on and bulldozed her straight to the wall. He pinned her to it, and Sei crashed her fist at his back with waning power. Even Kuroiwa’s charge felt weak, but both were reaching their limit. If she had been any stronger, Kuroiwa felt he would’ve said farewell to his spine.

Kuroiwa flipped her over his back, rolling her on it and whamming her to the pavement below. With the last of his strength, he quickly got on top of her, grabbed a nearby shard of broken rock, and then edged it over the skin of her neck.

And then silence and stillness.

Both Sei and Kuroiwa looked into each other’s eyes. Sei felt the cold and sharp flint pointed at her jugular, while Kuroiwa felt Sei’s labored panting from below him—and the blood and oil seeping from where she tore that cylinder from.

“It’s over.”, declared the Sweeper.

“It would seem so.”

A moment passed and another. Even when everything around them calmed, their bodies still felt the stress of battle. Sei smiled at Kuroiwa, looking content with the outcome of their fight.

“And yet you are not ending me, even when you have a chance. I am nothing but metal and plasticine, Ser Kuroiwa. You’re the only human left in this room.”

Kuroiwa sighed. “You’ve a heart as human as everyone’s. I know that now.”

“I see.” Sei laughed at the absurdity of it all.

She closed her eyes, deep in thought, only to open them moments after. With a satisfied, warm smile, she looked Kuroiwa in the eyes once more.

“Maybe you are right. That is perhaps why I feel the way I do now.”

“And that is?”

“That I feel attracted to you. To have bested me in this way, and to say such embarrassing words to me, even back then. Calling me a lady, and for our bodies to clash in this way…. To make me feel this way,

I think I may just love you, Ser Kuroiwa.”

Kuroiwa’s heart jumped and his eyes widened. He threw himself back, but somehow he wasn’t too displeased hearing that from her—just shocked.

“Uhh, Sei. Whoa. I think you need to pull the brakes on that one.”

“I am simply being honest.” Sei’s face flushed a bright red, not from any cybernetic module, but from plain human emotion. “I have always thought you looked somewhat attractive.”

Kuroiwa scratched his head. The confusion was overwhelming.

“I kinda thought the same. But we’re coworkers, and, you know—”

“We are no longer coworkers, Ser Kuroiwa.”

“It’s a little strange to be talking about this after we’ve just fought. Besides, you have a gaping hole in your side now. Are you gonna be alright?”

Sei pouted and yanked him by his necktie.

“I will be quite alright. But your focus should not be on that now.” She stared at him with a longing gaze, her softened expression uncharacteristic of her usual demeanor.

Kuroiwa chuckled and scoffed.

“You know, any relationships based on intense experiences never work out.”

Sei laughed. “Very well. Then we will base it on sex.”

“Sorry,” he said regrettably. “I’ll have to pass for now.”

Kuroiwa released her from his grasp and stood up. He limped towards his fallen revolver, picked it up, and walked back. He aimed his gun near Sei and pulled the trigger.

Bang.

His shot struck the pavement a few inches from her head, the hole on the ground now smoking from Kuroiwa’s molten hot bullet. Sei smiled tenderly at him and nodded. Kuroiwa responded in kind and holstered his gun.

“I have work to do. I’ll see you soon.”

*****

The plain white wall within Shiyuri’s apartment slid open with a hiss, revealing another room from within, its interior looking a little more dilapidated than the worn decors outside. Kuroiwa and Chigusa stood outside the narrow entrance, staring at the sole person sitting on a couch right in the heart of the room, eating from a bowl of potato chips like nothing had just happened outside.

“What took you so long?” said Shiyuri from within.

“Call it traffic.”, said Kuroiwa, annoyed. “So this is where you were. Nice place. Featureless and safe.”

“Is this a panic room?” asked Chigusa, whose eyes darted at the decrepit decay around the walls of the room.

“I’ve hid here before and waited out at least a few raids. I don’t know why you were in such a rush to get back to me.”

Kuroiwa stepped in front of Chigusa and confronted the relaxed, comfy Shiyuri.

“Well, we’re here now.”

“Yeah. You are, Sensei.”

He put his on his waist and shot Shiyuri a tired, but serious look.

“So let’s do it, before anything else happens.”

Shiyuri sighed. Kuroiwa couldn’t tell if it was exasperation or relief, but at least it was of resignation and acceptance.

“Right. Let’s contact Colony Tau.”