Less than Enemies

Judan rushed through the building, until she made it to the facility depot. Just as she expected, it was completely ruined. Parts of the ceiling caved in, the wall and floor were crumbling, and her squad was left immobile.

Zephyr sat unconscious with her back against the wall where a crater was. Minerva was lying on the ground with her drones scattered around her. Loki was resting at the foot of a crate. 

At the center of them all was a woman draped in black, sitting on a stool next to the crate with her legs crossed. She reached her hand for a fancy bottle of alcohol and poured herself a shot glass. As she took a sip, her gleaming red eyes turned to Judan.

"Ah~ Took your sweet ass time, Judan," she giggled. "And here I was thinking you would never show up. Wouldn't have been seemly of you to leave your squad behind as their captain, hm?"

"What... are you doing?" she muttered.

"Oh, this? Don't mind me. Just having a drink."

"Get up."

"Aw, come on. Can't give me just a few more minutes, darling?"

Keira lifted her teacup and drank it up as if she were taking a shot of alcohol. She kept her eerie gaze on Judan, who was glaring back with a much colder look. As much as she wanted to keep toying with her, there was no time.

"Sheesh, you're no fun," Keira scoffed.

"What have you done to my squad?" she growled.

"Ah, so that's your biggest concern. Not the fact that you landed next to me of all people, nope. You always were so selfless, darling. Terrifyingly so."

"Answer me, Keira."

Keira merely chuckled at her threatening tone. "What if I said I killed them? What are you gonna do when you can't even walk straight?"

Judan didn't reply, instead keeping her menacing scowl on Keira as she took a shot of alcohol. That look excited her, but she wasn't in the mood to scuffle.

"Alright, alright. Quit looking at me like that," Keira said. "They're fine. All I did was rough them up a bit. At the very least, their limbs should still be intact. Does that make you feel better?"

She then reached her arms high for a stretch, relaxed and composed, as if Judan's presence did not bother her at all. Judan, in turn, retracted her gunblade from its baton form, holding it firm.

"What are you doing?" Keira asked.

Judan flinched. "What...? What do you mean?"

"Don't tell me you were thinking about fighting with those broken bones of yours. You just went into overdrive, and you're looking for more? Give it a rest, darling. You'd be lucky if you don't collapse right where you stand."

"And wouldn't you just love that?"

"Hey. I may be a wicked woman, but I'm not a coward. One day, I'll get my chance to finish you, but that won't be today. Not when you're practically struggling to stand."

"Since when have you been so chivalrous?"

"Oh, puh-lease, darling. Chivalry is dead. In a world like this? Pft... It has been for a very long time. What I want is to take you down when you're at your absolute best. Doesn't seem like I get to do that any time soon."

Keira poured herself another glass and took a shot. After waiting for a few seconds, she noticed that Judan was still standing in the very same spot, her expression unchanged.

"Why are you still here?" Keira sighed. "You wanna die? Or... What? Would you rather sit down and have a drink with me?"

Much to her surprise, Judan began limping over. With every step, she was basically dragging her left leg along as if it were detached from her body.

Finally, she pulled over a nearby box and threw herself onto it. After a heavy sigh, she grabbed the bottle and poured it into Keira's shot glass. Without saying anything else, she stole the glass away, taking the shot.

"Hah... You're crazy," Keira chuckled.

"You're even crazier for offering a drink to your enemy," Judan said as she dropped her arm onto the table.

"Enemy? Hehe. Trust me, darling. You wouldn't be alive in that chair right now had you really been my enemy."

"Enlighten me, then."

Judan twisted her head to look at Keira, clearly weak and unable to defend herself. Despite that, the thought of killing Judan did not cross Keira's mind. Instead, it was mere curiosity that overtook her.

"You're a strange case, Keira," Judan said. "I can never tell with you."

"What can I say?" Keira scoffed. "I like to play hard-to-get. If I make it easy for people to understand me, then it isn't all that fun, hm?"

"You'll never get a boyfriend with that kind of attitude."

"Whoever said that I wanted one? You think there's someone out there who deserves me?"

Judan poured herself another glass. "Who knows? You're a bitch who holds herself in the highest regard, so it might be difficult."

"Hah! Go fuck yourself."

Keira snatched away the shot glass before Judan had a chance to drink it.

"...That one was mine, dipshit," Judan muttered.

"There's plenty more in the bottle, darling," Keira mocked before taking the shot. "Ha~ Just pour another one."

"Tsk..."

Judan grabbed the shot glass and filled it to the brim, keeping her eyes on Keira just in case she decided to steal it again.

"What?" Keira smirked. "I ain't gonna take it this time."

"Better keep true to your word, you slut."

"Eh? The hell did I do to be called a slut?"

"Your zipper's down."

"It's always been down. Let's me breathe a little. Just don't look if it bothers you so much. Or maybe you're just jealous that I can pull it off better than your nerdy-ass can."

"Fuck. You."

"Fuck you, too, darling. Cheers."

After drinking the shot, Judan leaned her back against the seat with her eyes closed while Keira continued to drink. For a moment, she peeked over at the resting Judan, reminiscing.

Finally, Keira's twisted head began morphing. There would be no better opportunity to kill off the captain of Calypso here and now. She thought about displaying her head to the other Calypsos and laughed.

"What's so funny?" asked Judan.

"I just thought about beheading you and hanging it here for your squad to see when they wake up," she divulged nonchalantly. "Their reactions would be pretty funny."

"You're so fucking weird."

"Coulda swore you said that to me once before."

"That's an understatement, for sure."

"Whatever."

Suddenly, an armored truck reversed through the shattered gates of the ruined dept. The door on the driver's side opened for a soldier to jump out.

"General Hela! As you ordered, I brought a—"

He stopped when he saw Captain Judan herself sitting next to the general. Keira smiled delicately as she took one last shot.

"Thank you, darling. You may rest now."

Without hesitation, she pulled out her loaded flintlock and fired. The spiraling beam of plasma pierced straight through the soldier's head, and he fell to the ground with a plop.

"Why a flintlock, by the way?" Judan asked. "Can't imagine it's that effective."

"Why? Cuz it's fun," Keira scoffed. "Shoot to kill is overrated. What I want is a thrilling chase."

"Just do that with a standard-issued gun. At least then, you'd have more bullets in case you miss."

"Oh, darling, it's not about hitting the target. It's about sending a message. A single shot through a barrel like this? Fufu~ That's gonna get someone on their knees, begging for their life, don't you think?"

Keira lifted her flintlock pistol and rubbed her cheek on it. "One shot, one scream. One scream, one life... until the price of insubordination is paid through fear and blood."

"...You're insane. I can't believe that a person like you actually exists."

"Well, I've been told before that I'm one in a billion. It was flattering, until he asked me to get in bed with him."

"Yeah? And what happened to him?"

Keira pointed a finger to her chin. "Hm... Do you really wanna know?"

"Hah. No, I don't."

Judan knelt on the ground and holstered Loki onto her back. She trudged over to the truck and opened the side door, gently resting her inside. While Keira watched, taking shot after shot, Judan finished loading the others into each of the remaining seats.

Finally, it was time for Judan to take the driver's seat, but she stopped when she opened the door. She gave one final look at Keira, who was still watching her with a glass raised to her lips.

"Go on, darling. Do make haste. Before the effects of your overdrive sequence kick in. If that happens... I won't be able to do anything about it."

"Keira..." Judan said. "Don't think I don't know what's going through your mind right now."

"Hah... Ahahaha!" Keira laughed wickedly before her expression turned sour. "Tell me, Judan. Do you really think that? People often call me crazy, twisted, and insane. And you know what? I happen to agree with them. The world I see is nowhere near the same as the one you see. You haven’t a single idea, darling. This... head of mine... is not something that can be understood."

"Then tell me. Why are you just letting us go?"

"Hm... I wonder. Let's just say... cuz I felt like it."

Judan hesitated, but she finally slipped into the seat and shut the door. Moments later, the engines whirred, before the truck took off into the stillness of the night.

"Hehe~" she giggled. "Oh, the things I do for you, Lilian... I hope Judan doesn't rat me out. Keep your hatred burning. When you think of me, picture yourself cutting my head off. You need to grow stronger. So that one day... you'll be able to take my life with your own two hands."