Revenge Fantasy

Kuroiwa is cornered.

Right before her eyes, she sees an individual with an LED mask and a raincoat, the individual known as "Trojan". Somehow, while Kuroiwa was closely watching Yumi to carry out her plan, this man had time to concoct his own plan. This man had the same amount of time Kuroiwa had, the same amount of time to try and survive this very situation.

Both of them shared similar situations in their positioning. They were cornered in their covers, with six floors of building in between. While Kuroiwa's cover took the form of being underneath a Mercedes-Benz, Blackout took cover in that server room on the 6th floor, controlling his androids from up there.

After the events transpired, after he shut off power to the building and took control over the diner's android staff, and after said staff were incinerated by a searing light that melted their entire bodies, Trojan had to think.

So, his initial thoughts were as follows:

"... shit, shit shit shit shit..."

Trojan had no plan whatsoever.

His methods are straightforward. Turn off the power in the building, turn all the androids on a person, and have them senselessly beat the target to death. Trojan may be smart enough to know how to hijack the complicated brains of every single android in a building, but outside of that? He's out of tricks.

At the turning point of this conflict, the LED-mask-wearing hacker sat in that server room with worry and fear plastered over his face as a "D:". In his mind, he was dealing with both the Serbian Flashbang—a man who fried a good majority of his onsite army with his own hands—and a quick-moving gorilla of a woman who could catch bullets.

Everything was false bravado to save face. He taunted the Serbian Flashbang as if he had some trick up his sleeve, that he could do anything else to even get out of this.

Truth be told, Blackout was not confident in taking down the Serbian Flashbang. All he has is a laptop and anonymity. He doesn't hold weapons; he makes the androids get their own weapons. He's defenseless without an army, with only a few androids left in the building to use.

No plan. Absolutely no plan in that head of his.

... and Trojan felt a cold chill crawling up his spine as he already heard footsteps approaching.

In his blind panic, he kept his back against the door, taking tense breaths. Only three androids on the 6th floor. They should be able to fend off whomever it is...

"... you are a lot more pathetic than your capabilities suggest, hacker."

Trojan hears a woman's voice on the other side of the door.

"Are... are you the—"

The door unlocks.

Trojan's eyes widen as he hears the door unlock from the other side. Immediately after, the door was kicked open, and his body stumbled away from it for his own safety. He quickly turns and stares at the individual in front of him, seeing a woman in a black cloak.

"Yes, I'm the sniper..." the cloaked woman responded, staring at Trojan with goggles over her eyes. "I will keep this short. We are both going to die if you do not do what I say."

The androids behind her approached at alarming speeds, sprinting at her with automated intentions to defend Trojan.

However... Trojan quickly pressed F7 on his laptop.

The androids stopped in place immediately upon this, halting their attack. The execution protocol is called off, and they're left completely unmoving and immobile.

The sniper looked back to see three entire hijacked androids staring at her, armed with... tires. They're holding tires. They're just holding tires. "Hm."

"Yes, yes, tiresome, I know..." Trojan remarked, closing his laptop and pocketing it in his raincoat. With nothing else to lose, Trojan slowly nodded to the woman, with a white "._." text face on his LED mask. "Alright. What do I do?"

The plan to follow was what led him to freedom.

Indeed, Trojan wasn't initially allied with the sniper. The two were unaware of the other's involvement until they both struck at the same time, operating on separate plans to deal with Ashford. However, faced with the threat that was the Serbian Flashbang and his superpowered freak of a partner, they had to team up.

Trojan and the sniper used the fact that the Serbian Flashbang knew his "style" and immediately adapted. He was hiding away in the garage on the third floor, running for dear life to get to a safe point.

Once the enemy threat passed by, he snuck past to get to the ground floor. As Kuroiwa was occupied with Yumi and Shortcake, as the sniper took her spot as the distraction, Trojan quietly moved to sneak up to the car itself with a shotgun lent to him.

The sniper played her part as the distraction, finishing off Yumi and making a bold escape. Trojan played his part as the undetected, quietly approaching Kuroiwa to corner her.

... and that was that. A two-person act sealed Kuroiwa's fate.

"Did I outplay you? Or what~?" Trojan asks, continuing to put pressure on Kuroiwa. Glee and triumph are plastered on his fake face as he holds the shotgun to Kuroiwa's head.

Kuroiwa tensely side-eyes the hacker and his shotgun. The fact that he has yet to shoot is fortunate for her. If she dispels the butterflies from the building, then—

"Gentle warning, Ashford. My ally's coming down right now. If you kill me, she'll kill you right away," Trojan tells her, tapping the side of Kuroiwa's head with the tip of the shotgun.

As if on cue, the sniper lands on the ground safely, her pocket mirror still raised in her hand as she holds her pistol. Her goggle-covered eyes briefly stare off at the cloak she discarded, watching it billow and blow away into the Tennessee wind.

Trojan is right. If Kuroiwa tries to take the shotgun, the sniper will simply shoot her instead from that distance. If Kuroiwa goes for the sniper, Trojan will use the shotgun. Any physical action to disarm either of them will lead to the other's success, and disarming both of them at the same time is impossible in her current condition.

"So? What's the plan now, Ashford...?" Trojan taunts, every pixel of his neon lighted face glowing bright green. "Go on. Go on~! What is it? What?"

The pressure grows heavier and heavier on Kuroiwa. A ghastly feeling on the back of her neck as the scent of blood reaches her nose. A roaring, rushing stream of thoughts courses through her head, each idea squashed and crushed one after the other.

As Kuroiwa is subjected to this feeling, she sees flashes of familiarity. Her conflict with the Invisible Man, Griffin, comes immediately to mind, and...

... Kuroiwa sighs deeply, calmly staring forward. There's only one course of action for Kuroiwa. She moves her hands behind her back, feigning surrender and defeat. All she can do is give up.

"Good, good... glad you see reason," Trojan tells her, the face of a cat flashing on his LED face. "Now, just come out of there quietly, and—"

Immediately, the shotgun fires.

Kuroiwa's head is completely blasted into chunks. Blood splatter spreads over the pavement, bits of skull and brain shooting out the other side of the car. The shotgun is

"... oh, shit!" Trojan exclaims, jumping up and backing away from the Mercedes-Benz immediately. He didn't even mean to pull the trigger! Pure panic is on his "O~O" LED mask face as he holds the shotgun tensely.

The sniper looks to Trojan for a moment, then crouches down in front of the car to pull the headless body out from under the car. Completely and utterly unfazed by this sight, taking a close look at the trail of blood.

"O-Oh, man, I just blew the brains out of my forever meal ticket...!" Trojan exclaims. "The employer said to do whatever to her body, but her head had to be intact!"

"Is that so?" the sniper asks, staring at Kuroiwa's ankles closely. "Well. You're lucky you're so gullible."

Trojan stares at the sniper for a bit. "W... What? What exactly do you mean by—"

Immediately, the sniper grabs the headless Kuroiwa by the back of her shirt collar, swinging the side of her pistol against where Kuroiwa's head is.

This disorients Kuroiwa, and the illusion dispels immediately.

With the pistol smacking her, her head comes back, and the blood and gore completely disappear. Kuroiwa's head is completely intact, reappearing when the side of the pistol hits the right side of her head.

Kuroiwa's illusory trick to fake her death failed. Right over her eyes, cracks form once more, and her eyes are left bloodshot and in disbelief at this.

"Woah! Did you just bring her back to LIFE?!" Trojan exclaims, his facial expression turning into what can only be described as a very old and dated social media trend.

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"... get your method of transportation," the sniper tells Trojan, deciding not to explain anything as she presses and digs her boot into Kuroiwa's bloodied wound. "Whatever car you drove here. We need to go, now."

Trojan gives an uneasy thumbs up, urgently moving to get his escape vehicle. "Right, right, escape, escaping time..."

Left alone with Kuroiwa, the sniper gets up from Kuroiwa's body and stomps her foot onto Chouko's bleeding ankle. A look of pure, bitter vitriol on her face as she looks down on the black-haired woman.

Kuroiwa lets out an agonizing scream in response, feeling a weight brutally crushing her bones. This single action has sent her body into a haywire, combined with her own ability's time limit. Cracks form over her eyes, her body burns up, and her veins crack and crumble.

When Kuroiwa eventually regains her composure, she's forced to stare forward and meet the sniper's gaze.

The sniper scoffs and whispers. "You probably know this already, but I know your tricks, and they do not work on me. The only reason you're still alive is that bumbling idiot with the shotgun... if I take you out now, I'm done as well."

Kuroiwa is hyperventilating and seething with panic as she stares at this sniper. Through those goggles of hers, all she sees is a reflection of red eyes staring back. "How... did you figure out—?"

"Figure out? There's nothing to figure out about that trick," the sniper remarks, sighing. "You are just a one-trick pony... faking your death with a gun that has no bullets," the sniper remarks.

Kuroiwa tenses up upon hearing this. A gun with no bullets. "Y... You're familiar with—"

"Yes... Yes, I am," the sniper whispers, dropping her pocket mirror and promptly firing a single pistol shot into it. The bullet completely disappears, sinking into the pocket mirror itself. "I did some proper research before going after you, impostor."

Impos—

...

"Who... who are you?"

The sniper scoffs. "Why should I tell you?"

"... d... did Dot send you? Are you one of his? Are you—"

The sniper doesn't even bother answering, switching from holding Kuroiwa's shirt collar to holding Kuroiwa's throat.

Kuroiwa gags and chokes in response, her eye twitching. If the employer isn't Dot, then it has to be him. This currently close-quarters, superpowered sniper has to be involved with—

In the next moment, one of the headlights of the car shatters. The shot goes clean through, piercing cleanly through Kuroiwa's other ankle.

"G-GHHHK! SHHH....!!!" Kuroiwa aggressively groans through her choking, as blood gushes out of her leg. Both legs are bleeding now, and Kuroiwa feels absolutely pale.

"Here is what is going to happen," the unnamed sniper calmly tells Kuroiwa, pulling her close and glaring into her soul. "You cannot walk anymore without help, and there is no one to help you. So you are to come quietly and compliantly. We will hand you off, and you will spend your last waking moments a crippled little relic."

Kuroiwa tensely reaches her hands up, trying to... trying to do... something. She refuses those events, she completely denies this... farce...

The sniper deeply sighs at this futile effort, rushing forward and pinning Kuroiwa against the hood of the Armored Mercedes-Benz. Following this, she begins bashing the pistol into Kuroiwa's face, smacking her again and again.

Kuroiwa agonizingly faces the pistol, her nose bleeding in response. Each smack bruises her face, making her choke on her own blood. Her eye twitches, and she... she...

"Sniper, I suggest you stop that now."

"Do not interfere, hacker! Just get the car here, and—"

The sniper's eye twitches as she looks away from Kuroiwa immediately, hearing a completely different voice from Trojan.

Right behind her, instead, is John. The Serbian Flashbang, with his metal arm, is aiming a light right at the back of the woman's head. A cold, steely gaze is in his eyes, and he glares at the sniper.

"That's my prize to claim..." John remarks. "Unhand her... and I'll be free to let you go."

Cornered, the sniper stares at this man as the wind blows through her platinum blonde hair. Unlike Trojan, she's completely unfazed and unbothered by this sight, feeling no threat from this man whatsoever.

No, rather, she sees right through John. "... your tricks are pathetic, Stalker..." the sniper responds immediately, pulling Kuroiwa away from the hood of the car and hurling her entire body at John.

In that moment, Kuroiwa's body passes right through John's body, falling against the parking lot asphalt.

"I know everything you can do. I know of your illusions, your pathetic display of the human senses..." the sniper responds, having an annoyed look on her face as she walks through John as well. With ease, she passes through the pathetic illusion before her.

Immediately, Kuroiwa begins crawling forward, tensely clicking her tongue. The fact that she sees John is a good indicator that the ability is still in effect. So she desperately tries to set the sniper's head on fire, to inflict the sensation of lighter fluid and flames on the sniper's head.

The sniper grits her teeth and stomps her foot on Kuroiwa's back. "I see through it all...! You cannot trick me with these asinine party tricks!"

Kuroiwa continues to seethe, as she—

"Don't," the sniper says again, balancing herself as she places her foot gently on the back of Kuroiwa's head.

...

Kuroiwa sighs... her eyes starting to drift shut in defeat.

The sniper rolls her eyes. "Good... glad you're finally—"

Before she finishes that sentence, she immediately looks up. Another one of Kuroiwa's tricks.

All the sniper sees is an incoming Yumi, the brown-haired woman soaring through the air. With a running start, she presumably jumped out of the broken window and is now boldly falling straight towards the sniper.

The narrative presented to the sniper is that, by some miracle, Yumi survived the onslaught of window bullets. Yumi is running on fumes, the skin of her body glistened with blood and sweat that shines in the pure, golden light of the sunset.

An absurd narrative, one that the sniper isn't believing for one second.

"... so be it, I warned you," the sniper remarks, lifting her foot up and getting ready to—

Immediately, Yumi lands right onto the sniper, her weight crashing onto the woman.

The sniper's eyes widen at this, as her body falls to the ground. Sheer disbelief is on her face as she's rendered a cushion to bear the brunt of Yumi's fall.

Kuroiwa has a desperate, deranged look in her eyes as she realizes what's happened, looking over her shoulder to see Yumi on top of the sniper.

"You're real?!" the sniper shouts out, an eye twitching as she felt some of her bones break from cushioning a six-story fall.

"Darn right... I'm real...!" Yumi weakly exclaims, having a pained grin o grinning as she pulls her hand back and decks the sniper in the face with a punch.

The sniper endures the punch to the face as she tensely glares up at Yumi...

... and uses her ability to shoot a bullet out of the glass of her left goggle.

On the way to Kuroiwa, the sniper had a bullet saved from shooting into her pocket mirror. With no hesitation whatsoever, the bullet shoots out of the left goggle, breaking and shattering the lens as the bullet is sent straight at Yumi's head.

Yumi doesn't use her ability to catch this one. Rather, she quickly throws herself back to let the bullet only graze her cheek, falling back against Kuroiwa with a shaky breath.

The last few moments completely surprise Kuroiwa, leaving her utterly bewildered by what just happened. "H... How did you... survive the...?!"

"I'm just... awesome..." Yumi interrupts and groans out, the pain setting in now that she lies against Kuroiwa. "Even if I can't feel... my entire body right now..."

The sniper lets out a tense gasp of air as light trails of blood come from the skin around her eyelids. The recoil of the bullet has nowhere else to go but "back", after all... so glass digs into her skin, damaging her face.

For quite some time, the sniper remains lying against the ground, gauging her body's condition and judging how... badly injured she is, now. Her bones ache, and she feels signs of internal bleeding after cushioning Yumi's descent. There's a chance that if she ends up suffering any further injury to her eye, she'll lose it completely.

It's all for survival, however...

Kuroiwa tensely grits her teeth, quickly trying to come up with a plan in the next few seconds. "Muster whatever energy you have left... and give it to me..."

"Ughh... can't..." Yumi responds, on the verge of passing out. "Bullets... hurt..."

Kuroiwa thinks quickly. Yumi's out of action, and the sniper has a clear shot to kill Yumi at any point. The sniper has full mental fortitude to resist anything that Kuroiwa can do...

"... then if I lend you my energy... will you save us?" Kuroiwa asks.

Yumi incoherently mumbles in response.

"So be it..." Kuroiwa responds, taking a deep breath... focusing her ability completely on Yumi, now. She closes her eyes and visualizes Yumi's body in her mind.

Kuroiwa thinks about Yumi, about an image of Yumi. Kuroiwa thinks of a Yumi that has no bullets in her body. Kuroiwa thinks of a Yumi that feels refreshed and energized. Kuroiwa thinks of a Yumi that is instantaneously healed from her injuries.

Kuroiwa thinks about what Yumi feels, what Yumi sees, and what Yumi hears. Kuroiwa thinks about everything that Yumi can taste and everything that Yumi can smell.

Above all else, Kuroiwa thinks about what Yumi knows, what knowledge Yumi has—or rather, lacks—of Kuroiwa's ability. With the power of the mind, Kuroiwa seeks to use her own ability to influence Yumi completely, to grant Yumi a boost in energy despite her injuries.

So, Kuroiwa puts her all into Yumi...

... and Yumi's eyes widen, blinking a couple of times in shock at the sudden feeling.

"... w... woah... what the...?" Yumi mumbles, flexing her fingers lightly as she feels... everything that Kuroiwa's thinking of.

The sniper quickly gets up onto her feet, one hand over her broken goggle lens to cover her eye. Tensely, she holds her pistol up to aim at Yumi's head, about to finish the incessant brown-haired threat.

In quick response, Yumi throws herself up from Kuroiwa's body, grinning proudly at the sniper. Assuming battle stance immediately, Yumi glares at the sniper with gusto and pride. "Ehh...?! You think you can mess with me?!"

The sniper widens her eyes at this sight. "You... You're standing...?!"

"Of... course!" Yumi shouts, running right at the sniper and preparing to fight.

The sniper starts to back up and gain some distance from Yumi, gun still aimed straight at her. The only course of action to take is to shoot, to fire shots directly at Yumi.

Yumi, in response, swerves out of the way, a sparkle in her eyes at this nimble agility. She doesn't understand what Kuroiwa did, but she feels as fresh as a fiddle! Ready to take on the world!

Especially since, when the sniper's just firing that pistol, the thing's just a normal gun!

The sniper watches Yumi swerve and move, continuing to back away as she shoots wherever she sees Yumi. In response, Yumi continues to dodge and swerve, effortlessly avoiding the shots!

Yumi's grin widens as she feels absolutely invincible. In fact, in response to the last bullet, Yumi stares the bullet down with full confidence. Her eyes flashing her bright blue again, a cue of her ability. She feels immense pride in herself, capable of doing anything, ready to catch the bullet again—

Only to suddenly let out a scream afterwards.

In that instant, when her eyes flashed brightly, something happened to Yumi. Kuroiwa's ability wears off, and Yumi is now completely spent. Not an ounce left in her body as all feeling in her legs disappear.

Yumi, luckily, drops to her knees to completely avoid the gunshot to her head... but she promptly collapses forward, falling flat onto her stomach and slamming her face into the pavement. The wounds in her body worsen, and she's now completely done.

"..." The sniper doesn't even bother with Yumi anymore, walking back forward with gun aimed at Yumi's head...

... and pulling the trigger.

Kuroiwa has a tense look on her face as she did what she could... but... right before Kuroiwa's eyes, she watches as the sniper finishes Yumi off, a bullet directly to the skull. Completely unavoidable, with no chance whatsoever of survival.

Yumi's entire body convulses in that one moment...

... and then, it goes limp.

Kuroiwa is now completely out of options. No further use of the brown-haired fighter, no further trick up her sleeve to triumph over the sniper... nothing.

At best... John, the Serbian Flashbang, could do something, but... he's not present. His location is completely unaccounted for.

So, Kuroiwa's mind scrambles for anything, for anything left—

... only to subsequently follow Yumi's lead.

Kuroiwa's been lucky this whole time, but the human body can only contain so much blood. The wounds in her ankles have dried up, and her entire body has been compensating in response.

Her ability was used when Yumi climbed the building. Her ability was used to fake her own death by shotgun. Her ability was used again and again afterwards. The drain of energy is catching up to Kuroiwa, to Chouko.

Kuroiwa's limits culminate in the biggest consequence of her body as her vision goes hazy, and her face goes pale. Her head drops, and her face hits the parking lot pavement.

Right at this moment, Kuroiwa completely passes out, rendered utterly helpless.