The Birth of Madness

Ashi looked over the mess of papers, sprawling off the bed and onto the floor, and decided it could be dealt with later. However, she took the letter and put it into her jacket pocket. Then, closing the door to her father's room behind her, she made her way back towards the front of the house.

Opening the door, she saw a woman, looking to be in her late 30s, dressed in a gray suit. “Ms. Kuki?”

“That's me,” Ashi responded, looking over this mystery woman. She was dressed very formally, except for her black boots, which looked like something a soldier would wear on a muddy field.

“Sorry to bother you,” she returned with an easy smile, “but I'm a friend of your father's. Is he home?”

“He's dead,” she returned bluntly, and the woman's smile faltered somewhat.

“I see,” the woman seemed uncertain, before coming to a resolution. “May I come inside anyway? Unless you had plans.”

“No, no plans,” Ashi stepped to the side, and the mystery woman walked in, looking around at the décor. “Dining room is right there, through the kitchen,” Ashi points.

The woman makes it halfway down the hall, before pausing a moment, looking at the rapier lying on the hallway table. “You have a lovely home,” she complemented, moving on. Ashi closed the door, rubbing her eyes. This was the longest stretch of time she hadn't napped in years, and the energy boost from the fight was wearing off. Hopefully this woman wouldn't stay long.

The dining room wasn't especially impressive, but it was clean – though that was mostly because Ashi never used it, instead opting to just eat the food in the kitchen, if she was eating at home at all. The two sat on opposite sides of the table, the slowly rising sun throwing creeping sunbeams across the tablecloth.

“So,” the woman started first, “how have you been?”

“Fine,” Ashi tapped her fingers on the table. “Bored.”

“Do you... have any friends you can go out with?”

“No.” The fingers kept tapping.

“Sorry,” the woman murmured, almost to herself.

Ashi watched the woman fidgeting, before standing up. “Do you want anything? Water? Tea?”

The woman seemed caught off guard for a second, before smiling. “Sure, I'd like some tea.”

Ashi rose and made her way into the dimly lit kitchen. She didn't make tea often, but she did the know where everything was. As the pot slowly works towards boiling, she finds herself hoping again that this woman wouldn't linger long, so she could go to bed.

There was someone behind her.

Ashi quickly turned around and batted away a pair of outstreched hands. The woman stared into her eyes, seeming surprised at having been noticed. For a moment, neither of them moved. Ashi's eyes followed her arms down to her hands, seeing a small strip of curved leather with a clasp on either end.

The woman's face suddenly shifted into determination, and she lunged forward. Ashi sidestepped as she heard breaking glass somewhere in her house. Her ears twitched. Someone else had entered the building. She was under attack.

Resolve suddenly filled her, and she made to run for the hallway, dodging around the woman's attempt at getting in the way. However, she had barely caught sight of the table she was headed for when the glass behind her shattered, and there was barely time to turn and recognize someone else was in her house – and on top of her, their knee pressing into her stomach. It was a rather burly man with graying hair, she noted as she tried desperately to find a way out of this situation.

Again, the woman reappeared, and Ashi realized there was no time. Narrowing her eyes, she turned her arm enough to dig her nails into the big man's arm, biting deep. He seemed surprised, and let out a half-grunt, half-wail as he released that arm. Taking advantage, she continued to move the arm to his throat, and managed to roll him off her, before quickly rolling herself away from the woman's attempt reach her throat and scrambling into the hallway.

Finally. She reached the table, and grabbed the hilt of her rapier. Thrusting it forward, the sheath slid off from the momentum, and turned to face her opponents, who themselves had entered the hallway. Her breathing steadied.

Suddenly, the door behind her opened, and she turned to see a thin man wielding a matching thin blade swing towards her – the small window next to the door was broken, he must've unlocked it by reaching through the window. She twisted her blade around to parry, and then quickly moved the sword back to give him a cut across the face. He stumbled back as footsteps approached, their heavy thump signifying the bigger man's approach. Ashi spun again to face him, and quickly – without consideration – thrust her sword into his heart. His body fell forward, and in his absence she could see the woman pulling something from her suit, and despite not being sure why, her instincts told her to dodge immediately. Considering the thin man behind her, who was once again approaching, she quickly dove to the side and into her bedroom.

It was a plain room as always, it could easily have been a guest room. The window was cracked open, and a gentle breeze teased the curtains.

The thin man had followed her into the room, and she utilized her longer weapon to keep him at bay. Though, her time was limited, the woman could arrive at any moment. So, as he went in for a blow, she leaned into it, accepting the jab into her arm to return one deep into his throat and angled up into his head. He went limp, and when she withdrew he flopped back onto her white bedsheets.

Ashi realized she was grinning. How long had that manic expression been painted across her face, she wondered. No wonder the three of them seemed on edge.

Though it was just the one now. Despite her very sensitive ears, she could hear not hear the woman moving. Of course, that meant nothing, as she should have realized as soon as the woman had entered her home – she made no footsteps. The boots were likely enchanted.

Ashi was, essentially, stuck inside the room. Despite it being quick, her dealing with the thin man meant the woman could now easily be anywhere in her home. And she was something Ashi could almost recognize. If she got a better look, she was sure she would. But of course, the woman had to be dealt with first.

Then she heard it. The faintest of noises, cloth briefly scraping across a wall. Of course, the woman had to be able to make some noise, she had been able to knock on the door. Ashi's smile, which had faded somewhat, returned, more as a smirk. The woman hadn't even looped the building, but was slowly approaching from the left. Ashi had been over-complicating things after all.

Deciding it would be better to act instead of be acted upon, Ashi leapt into the hallway, met by an extremely loud noise that made her flatten her ears. Still, the momentum made whatever zoomed past miss her, and before she impacted the wall she threw her rapier forward, piercing through the woman's leg, causing her to fall heavily to the floor, caught off guard; what she had been holding was dropped, and Ashi could now clearly see it was a small black pistol – she must be very connected, Ashi thought, until she was distracted by slamming into the wall, putting a dent into the plaster. No matter, she reflected with grim satisfaction as she made her way towards the downed woman. She had won.

She put her foot over the gun and slid it away from the woman, who had by now managed to prop herself up on her lower arm. Ashi grabbed the back of her hair and turned her face. She looked at it with a renewed interest. Her hair was black, and her eyes were full of hate, and poorly disguised fear.

“So,” Ashi drawled, “what was that all about?”

The woman didn't respond, merely continuing to glare.

“Ah, right,” Ashi remembered, and dug into the woman's suit pocket, pulling out the bit of leather. Looking at it again, she realized it looked somewhat like a collar. It even had a little metal tag on it, simply reading '77'. “Why'd you want to put this on me?” Ashi tried, meeting the same stony silence. With a sigh, she tossed the collar down the hallway and retrieved her rapier from the woman's leg. Like the boots, and like her sword, the collar was probably enchanted. Reaching her pocket, she grabbed the letter to confirm her suspicion.

“So you're from Indigo,” Ashi mused to herself, no long expecting the woman to say anything, so when she let out a bitter laugh Ashi was caught off guard.

“So you know you're doomed, and you did this anyway,” the woman managed between her laughs. “They'll punish you for this. Bind you and whip you.”

“You talk big for someone at my mercy,” Ashi folded the letter and placed it back into her pocket.

The woman had a breathless giggle. “Mercy? You'd never. You can't.”

Ashi shrugged. “If you insist.” Her eyes found the boots again. “What size shoe do you wear?” Without waiting for an answer, she knelt down and checked. Slightly larger than her own. Well, no matter, they could be resized.

The woman's gaze mixed with confusion as Ashi pulled her boots off, removed her own shoes, and slipped the boots on. They were indeed slightly too large.

“I think these look lovely on me, don't you?” Ashi asked rhetorically. As expected the woman didn't respond.

Ashi stood again and stretched. If these three were from Indigo, it meant they had indeed found the resources to “Collar,” and they knew where she lived. And now that they knew she was armed and free, they'd probably send even more people here. Staying wasn't an option.

“Where to, then?” she groaned as she twisted to the side. The letter said their base was in Lugarden, but who knew if that were still true.

“You won't make it far,” the woman whispered, almost as if to the ground, as she had let herself fall prone again.

“Who knows,” Ashi tilted to try and look her in the eyes, but they were closed. “Where's your base?”

The woman only gave a faint smile in response. “Put the collar on if you're so desperate to know.”

Ashi straightened back up. This wasn't going to go anywhere, and she had limited time until both Indigo and the city police found out what happened here. Which would bog her down, and interfere in her ability to leave. Four kills in half a day would not go unquestioned.

Just then, she heard a gasp. Looking up, she saw the broken kitchen window, and beyond it an elderly man. It took her a second, but Ashi recognized him as one of her neighbors, who seemed like he might fall over from shock. At that moment, she realized how much blood must be on her now. Certainly more than before. Was that blood tickling her cheek? Her sword was painted red once again.

Ashi gave what she hoped was a reassuring smile. “Home invaders,” she tried to explain, when suddenly the woman below her screeched,

“She kidnapped me!” and raised herself up again as though to run-crawl away, and before Ashi could think her rapier turned and pierced through the woman's back. She fell to the floor again, and Ashi looked at her, stunned. Before realizing what she just did.

Quickly raising her head back to the window, she saw her neighbor was gone, and she heard footsteps running away.

The woman below her let out a wet chuckle. “Good luck with that,” she mocked, seeming satisfied.

Ashi frowned. She'd have to figure out where she was going later. There was no more time to waste. Raising her sword once again, she drove it down into the woman's neck. Five kills in half a day.