The Red Hand

"This is sector three. We need reinforcements. Our position is being overrun. Gack!" the soldier's words were cut short as a kunai dug itself into his hand.

"Shit! They're already on top of us; we need to fall back and regroup. We'll make a play for the the Motor Pool; we can use the heavy equipment to stop them." Captain Yomigawa looked over at the bleeding man. "And somebody stop Inugami's bleeding!" The squad of soldiers unleashed a hail of bullets down the hallway. Akagi's subordinates, led by Chloe, have devastated the JSDF garrison. Their rapid movement, combined with their magic and skills, has caused massive panic among the rank and file. That isn't to say that things have been easy, as several of their members have been wounded, but, overall the operation has been a success.

After patching the soldier's arm, the captain issued a retreat order, and one of the soldiers deployed smoke to obscure the enemy's vision. The Motor Pool is quite close by, and the hope was that the AFVs and Tanks might be more effective against the enemy infantry. At the very least, they would be safer in numbers. Captain Yomigawa's squad only had four soldiers remaining, himself, Inugami, Toya and Ishizawa. The other two were taken out by the rapidly advancing ninjas. If he was going to get out of this alive, he was going to have to regroup with other forces and acquire heavier equipment.

"Alright men, let's move!" the soldiers retreated. At the captain's command they headed down the stairs and into the building's main lobby. The assailants were few in number, so it was possible to evade them; they couldn't be everywhere at once and, as simple as it was, a smokescreen might be just what they need to get out of this alive. Upon reaching the lobby, they found it empty and it was eerily quiet.

"Looks clear, Sir," Toya said. “Our smoke might have throw them off.”

"Good, this is our chance, let's get the hell out of here and regroup with second platoon. On me." the captain took point, and the squad headed down and out of the lobby. Camp Katsura was divided along a four-way axis with a large main road heading in each of the four cardinal directions. This was supposed to allow for ease of movement and allow the heavy equipment to be used even with the base. However, this also meant that any infantry attempting to cross was left completely unprotected. This distance between the lobby and the Motor Pool wasn't that great, but it was still risky.

"Alright, let's make this quick. We have no idea where the enemy is or if they have long-range capabilities." the captain looked at his squad. "The Motor Pool is on the other side of the main road; we get there, we get heavy weapons support. Now, let's move." the squad ran as fast as they could, covering the gap in record time. Gunfire and explosions could be heard all around them, it seemed that their ninja assailants weren't letting up. Upon reaching the main entrance of the Motor Pool, they easily broke open the door and headed inside.

However, what they found was not an active position filled with soldiers ready to fight, instead, they were greeted with a scene straight out of a horror movie. Body parts lay every way, sliced like ham at a deli and blood covered the floor and walls. The smell was enough for the soldiers to wretch. Most of the lights had been knocked out with only a few of the larger ones still active. The heavy equipment seemed intact, but the Captain had a bad feeling about this place.

"What the fuck happened!" Inugami screamed. "What the fuck did something like this." this gruesome scene left the soldiers feeling uneasy. They had seem some pretty messed up scenes when they were on deployment, but this was just unreal.

"What the fuck are we fighting that would do something like this?" Toya questioned. "I thought comms said they were ninjas not fucking monsters! Are we fighting a certain monster from a 70s space horror movie?"

"Calm down." the captain barked. "I can't tell you what did this, but we need to stay on guard. Whatever it was could still be here."

"You know, it's rude to call a girl a monster." an unknown female voice echoed throughout the building. “And I think I'm far cuter than that horrid creature you mentioned. Plus my tail is much softer.”

"Where did that come from?" the captain looked at Toya, the soldier who was in charge of their scanning and detection equipment.

"I'm not sure, too much echo, it's hard to pinpoint." his detection equipment was inadequate in such spaces and would need more time.

"Stay together and follow me, eyes on." the captain whispered. The four soldiers began to slowly walk through the motor pool, their eyes scanning for the unknown assailant.

The squad continued it sweep until it reached a small refueling station, the captain raised his voice. "Are you the one who did this?" he asked the voice. “Who are you? I assume your with the attackers?”

"Me? Of course, I did. It's not like there's anyone else in here. Is there?" the voice replied with a giggle. “And my name is Chloe, I'm the leader of my clan."

{Leader? That means trouble.} He looked at his team, the voice seemed to be coming from the upstairs ops center and he oriented them in that direction.

“Try and keep her talking.” he whispered to his team.

"Do you think this is some sort of game? Did you find killing those men funny?" Inugami yelled. “Why don't you come out and face us!”

The squad slowly moved towards the staircase.

"What's wrong with enjoying killing your enemies?" Chloe answered back. "You're soldiers, surely you understand?"

"Only monsters like you take pleasure in the act of killing." Ishizawa, the female soldier, responded. "We fight to protect our home, we don't enjoy taking lives, but we'll do it if we have to!"

"There you go again calling me a monster." Chloe let out a sigh. It seemed that the team was getting closer. "Tell me, who's the real monster here? Me for killing, or you for starting this conflict and dragging in innocent children?" she was quite annoyed at these soldiers.

"If you don't want to die, you shouldn't have attacked my myaster. Then all those soldiers would still be alive. So its really your fault now isn't it?" the voice scolded them.

{Children? Attacking her master? What is she talking about?} the captain thought to himself.

Most of the soldiers in Camp Katsura were not informed of the higher-ups plot to entrap and kill Akagi. This was done not just to prevent leaks, but also to make the attack more real to the public.

"Listen, I have no idea what you're talking about, but I apologize for my subordinate's comments. I'm not sure where your from, but around here we don't take such..... extreme actions against our enemies." the team reached the top of the stairs and moved into the ops center. It was almost completely dark with only a few bands of light piercing within.

“Oops!” Chloe let out a laugh. “Did you think I was up there? Good guess but wrong, here's your penalty.” Suddenly, thin strands of wire flew from the darkness and wrapped themselves around Toya.

“Wha-” the soldier was caught off guard.

“Inugami!” Ishizawa screamed seeing her teammate ensnared.

“Uh, uh, uh.” Chloe's voice pierced through the darkness. “Take one more step and he dies.”

Her words caused the soldiers to stop in their tracks.

“Now, lets play a game.” Chloe giggled. “If you can find me before the time runs out, I'll let him go, if you don't well.....” her words hung in the air.

A moment later, the large monitor at the center of the command room lit up and displayed a ten minute timer.

“Ready, get set. GO!” Chloe exclaimed and started the timer. “And remember, if you try to free him, you forfeit. Good luck!”

“Toya, has your equipment picked up on anything? Where is she?” the captain hurried him.

“I'm sorry sir, my equipment isn't picking up anything, there's too much interference from the building itself.” he apologized.

“Can't we just follow those wires? Surely they lead back to this girl!” Ishizawa pointed out.

{That might be our best bet, but splitting up isn't my favorite tactic.} breaking up his squad was the last thing he wanted to do, so he decided to confirm something.

“Chloe, can we assume you won't attack us while were searching?” he yelled out hoping for a response.

“Yup!” her voice echoed, “If I did that you would never win, so feel free to split up.”

“Alright, you heard her. We're going to have to trust her. Split up and find her, Ishizawa follow those wires and see where they lead. Toya, you check the upstairs of the ops center. I'll head into the maintenance area. We have just over nine minutes, lets go.” the captain gave the soldiers their orders and they scattered.

A few moments after they left, Chloe's voice could be heard in the ops center. “You have such dedicated teammates don't you.” she was speaking to the restrained Inugami.

“Yeah I do.” he smirked. “Get ready when they find you, we're going to take you down!”

“I can't wait! Its been so long since I've had a good hunt.” Chloe laughed and her voice faded into the darkness.

“A hunt? We really are dealing with a monster aren't we.” Inugami shook his head.

Toya frantically searched the rest of the operations center and the adjacent rooms. He was hoping that she was still nearby. He assumed that if she was speaking to them, she had to be close.

“Dammit!” he yelled. “Where the hell are you, I've searched every one of these offices!”

“If I told you, it wouldn't be much of a game now would it?” Chloe chided him. “Besides isn't this fun?”

“Fun for you!” he retorted. “But I don't exactly find the threat of death to be funny, especially when it involves someone on my team.” Toya continued searching the rooms, turning over desks, opening closets and even shooting into the ceiling.

“So violent, there's no need for that.” Chloe commented.

{Just ignore her Toya, she's trying to mess with you.} Toya tried to block her out.

“Oi! Don't ignore me, that's so rude.” Chloe howled. “How about this, you've already lost three minutes, so how about a hint? What place allows me to see, hear and speak with you at all times?” Chloe giggled.

{Really great hint there. If I knew the fucking answer, I wouldn't need to be looking like a mad man now would I?} Toya shook his head and continued his search.

Captain Yomigawa headed into the maintenance area of the Motor Pool. The warehouse was large and there were plenty of hiding spots among the equipment and shipping crates. He figured if she was anywhere, this was the most likely spot.

“Not a bad guess captain.” Chloe commented as he entered the room. “There are a lot of nice dark places I could be hiding in here!”

“Yeah, maybe you could save us all the trouble and come out? Then we can talk about this soldier to soldier.” he wanted to keep her talking.

“As I told that violent man, it wouldn't be a game if I just gave up now would it? Chloe commented. “Besides seeing you run around to save your friend is just far too much fun!” her voice showed just how much this situation was entertaining her.

The captain began to rip open containers and check behind every piece of equipment in the maintenance area. As he did this, he continued to speak to Chloe, hoping to get whatever information he could out of her.

“What did you mean earlier when you said we attacked your master? As far as I knew this was an unprovoked attack on our base.” he was genuinely curious.

“Unprovoked? Ahh that's right myaster said most of you guys weren't told.” Chloe remembered her conversation with Akagi. “You guys kidnapped my myaster's sister and lets just say that made her a little bit angry and so she sent me and my team in to rescue her and cause some chaos. If I had to bet, she's on her way to speak to that general of yours right now!” the Captain couldn't see her but he could tell she was smiling.

He had no idea if she was telling the truth, and right now that didn't matter. If the brass really did do something like that, he would have to hold his tongue until after his men were safe.

“Tic-toc Captain” Chloe's voice pierced his thoughts. “There's only 5 minutes left! So let me give another hint.” she cleared her voice. “Everyone has it and no one can lose it, what am I?”

{Riddles... I hate riddles.} The captain had no idea what the answer was and he wasn't in the right head space to be solving riddles at the moment, so he decided to just continue his search.

Ishizawa was following the wires that were restraining Inugami. She figured that the best way to find this, Chloe, was to trace her weapon back to her.

“Not a bad idea. But you are assuming that I'm standing somewhere holding onto these wires.” Chloe commented. “If your wrong, you'll have wasted valuable time.”

“I don't need comments from the peanut gallery, thank you very much.” she was angry. “When I find you, I'm going to kick your ass!”

Chloe giggled, “I would love to see you try.”

{What a fucking creepy bitch. Who the hell can giggle and laugh after everything she's done. Inugami was right, she is a monster.} Ishizawa pushed aside these thoughts, she would find this girl and make her release Inugami first, then she would figure out what to do with her.

She chased the wire, which seemed to be endless, they twisted and turned around corners and ran underneath almost every obstacle one could imagine. A few times they even went into the floor and ceiling. Undaunted, she continued her pursuit until she came upon a dead end. The wires that she was chasing simply stopped after they ran into one of the interior walls!

“What the fuck!” she screamed. “Is this some kind of joke?” she let a few rounds loose into the wall.

“I told you it was a waste of time, didn't I?” Chloe chided her.

“Fuck you!” Ishizawa responded. “Come out and fight me! Stop hiding in the shadows like a coward!”

“Don't worry, you'll see me soon enough” Chloe answered her. “You only have a minute left, so why not head back to your friend and enjoy the show.”

Her response only served to anger Ishizawa more and she proceeded to scream even more profanities into the air.

“Six, five, four, three, two, one. BZZZT and that's time! Too bad, it looks like you failed to find me, even with my hints.” Chloe continued. “Everyone should regroup at your captured friend, we wouldn't want him to be lonely in his final moments now would we?”

The rest of Captain Yomigawa's team regrouped in the ops center. Inugami was still restrained and they were all prepared for the worst.

“Sorry Inugami, we looked everywhere but we couldn't find her.” The Captain apologized.

“If you can still hear me, would you consider letting my men go and taking me instead, they don't deserve to die?” he asked Chloe

He got no response.

“Captain?” the three soldiers responded in shock.

“Listen, its my job as your commanding officer to keep you alive. If I have to sacrifice myself to do that, then I will.” he gave a bitter smile.

His soldiers had no response and they knew he was serious. They lamented their weakness and cursed themselves for their failures.

“How heroic.” a voice called out behind them. When they turned around they were greeted by the red-haired cat-kin..

“They really are animal-earned ninjas?!?” Inugami exclaimed. “Ah man that's actually kinda cool. I guess there are worse ways to go out.” he let out a laugh.

“Not the time to be seduced by the enemy Inugami.” Ishizawa just looked at him and sighed.

Chloe looked at the captain. “Are you serious about what you just said? Would you really give your life so that your men survive?” her eyes seemed to peer into his soul.

He gulped. “Yes, yes I would. I have a duty to keep these men alive, and if you agree to let them go, I would gladly exchange my life for theirs.”

Chloe looked at the older man, her eyes briefly widened in shock before she let out a big sigh. “I see, I'm glad to see that you guys are a little better than the Empire. Their officers were nobles, and would sacrifice as many of their subordinate's as possible to keep themselves alive.” she snapped her fingers and Inugami was released.

“Its been so long since I had this much fun and I'm in a good mood; so I'll offer you this. If you and your men stay in this building until we're finished with our little mission, you get to live. Simple as that.” These soldiers had interested her, so she figured she might as well give them a reward for entertaining her.

The captain was shocked, he had no idea what this Empire she was referring to was and he didn't really care, what mattered is that she was giving them a way out of this alive.

“What about the others? Won't they just attack us.” the captain asked.

“No, if I tell them to leave you alone, they will.” she continued. “None of them would dare go against the word of their clan leader. Now what will it be? If you refuse, I'll just kill you all right now.” As she said this, small thing wires could be seen extending from her gloved hands, wrapping around each of the four soldiers necks.

“When did she?!?” Ishigawa exclaimed.

“I wouldn't move if I were you, these are pretty sharp.” Chloe had a playful smile.

Seeing the reality of the situation, Yomigawa decided to concede.

“I accept, my men and I will stay out of this fight. What you told me earlier has me curious, if we really did pick a fight with someone my men shouldn't be sacrificed for no reason.” he looked at the cat.

“Good, good.” she released them. “Now then, I have to get going. It looks like myaster has finished off the other players and will be heading to meet your leader. I need to make sure everything is prepared for her arrival.” she turned, walking straight into one of the dark shadows in the wall, her body blending in until her form disappeared.

“Just what kind of fucking demon did we piss off if it has that as a subordinate.” Toya exclaimed.

“I don't know.” the captain said letting out a breath. “But all I know is that the only reason were still alive, is because she found us more entertaining than anything else, and I'll take it.”