Liberty: Hargeon's Angels Style

Aiyana was pretty worried about Mei, she had noticed the girl had bloodied up quite a few moments ago. Alas, the bandaged mage had no time to think about it anymore when she was suddenly finding herself spinning in place as something blew past her at abnormal speeds. ”Hey! Taking out the lackeys isn't your job! It's mine when they do something wrong!” After stopping her spin, the young woman noticed a man standing about thirty feet away from her, looking at her with murderous intent as he said the words. A shake of her head would be made, the world still spinning around her even though she was no longer moving.

”So you're fast, and you have swords. Not going to keep me from bringing you in. What you guys do is horrib-” Her words were cut off by laughter from the cocky slave runner.

”Fine then! Little words do nothing if you're dead!” Aiyana found herself having to bring her Khopesh up near her neck, a sword suddenly being swung to try and decapitate her in the process. Ducking under the attack, the bandaged woman spoke out to her pet that had silently followed the entire time.

”Memory! Get Tom out here now!” A flash of light on the ground would be made, causing the man to speed back out of range of any magic that may have been in play against him. When he saw what was summoned, he laughed uncontrollably; making the trash talking tomato demon upset in the process.

”All right wiess guy! You think I'm funny? I'll show you funny when I nail you so hard in the eggs that you turn into a whiny little baby!”

”Tough talk from the tiny plant. You really think a vegetable is what it takes to bring me down?”

The tomato demon seemed to know what was about to happen, jumping up quickly to manage to avoid a sword swing that would have cut the summoned monster in half. At the same time, the bandaged woman would throw out a bandage to try and hit the man across the back. The attack missed, the man managing to use his sword to block the attack without a problem. The man disappeared from sight for a moment, before Tom Ato let loose a hard punch at a random spot. His fist connected with those “eggs” the demon had threatened but moments before, the man falling to his knees before going limp on the ground. With the man down on the ground, done fighting now, Tom Ato proceeded to dance next to his body as Aiyana went to see how the others were faring.

Worried as she was since it would be too late to warn Aiyana – and this obnoxious woman already interrupted what moment she might’ve had – what transpired next left Mao far more concerned for her friend. Watching them proved hard through the smoke and even then it was more like watching a single person shake their money-maker alone on the dance floor. This way and that the woman swerved with each impact, Mao ducking around the corner to avoid a near miss with the pistol as she fired wildly to try and stave off her attacker.

What was going on with Mei? Did she mean any of these words?

She could’ve been a bit of flair to be fair, but it lacked a certain theatrical element to it. Maybe Mei was a far greater actor than Mao could ever hope to be – considering Mao couldn’t even recall seeing a play, merely reading a few – but it came off far too real after the earlier stint where they’d had to snap her out of some sort of…’Trance.’ It was the closest thing she could think of to describe the odd act.

Darker thoughts raced to the surface, chilling Mao as she finally left the safety of her corner. Struggle as the woman might, a shaky hand bringing the gun as if to turn on herself, that bulky tail slapped the thing out of her grip pitifully easy. Another slap, this time to the face to further daze her before a foot casually came down on her midsection, both winding the woman and knocking her out as Mao made sure to position herself between their target and her team mate. Some instinct, a notion, decreed she should keep them apart if they were to bring the people in alive – and it saddened her. There had to be a reason behind all of this as she recalled the relatively quiet girl from the café. Concern contorted her face, though a hint of wariness remained present as well as she asked, ”Mei…what happened…?”

"What happened? What happened?"

Mei turned to look towards Mao smiling a wicked little smile, with nothing but the void of her eyes staring back towards Mao's worried and addled mind.

"I'm simply showing these people some manners, you saw how rude they were right? It's up to me to teach them civility, and if that means I have to crush a few things in the process, then well... I'm just all to eager to perform such an act."

The woman clearly unconscious on the floor, Mei merely turned towards her, and her eyes widened, she was still breathing. This wasn't... acceptable at all. This life would have to be extinguished from this plain of existence, and Mei was all to happy to crush her life out of her. Having her right hand make a little cone shape the woman on the ground was lifted up, Miasma that was invisible clearly clenching down on her throat.

"See Mao, this is how we show them what it means to be civil, and what the punishment is for those who decide to be little shits. After all, they have a philosophy that they like to employ, but I'll be honest I like it more.

Victoria aut morte. Good night little slaver."

Mei was crushing down, but distracted, if she wasn't stopped the boss would die, a fitting end but a sad one for those who valued a fair trial, or punishment of the law. Mei also wasn't willing to listen to reason, so force was almost the only option...

Aiyana arrived in time to hear the discussion between her two friends, a discussion she wished would never had been needed. That wasn't the case, however, as Mei began to choke the unconscious slaver boss that lay on the ground before the three of them. ”Mei! Stop this! It's not our place to decide if one should die or not! If anything we should leave that to those in charge!” The bandaged Lamia Scale member's words fell on deaf ears as the woman laying on the ground began to show signs of asphyxiation. Was there no other way to stop this? Would she have to resort to violence on one of her best friends? It seemed as if she would have to, as Mei appeared to be fully distracted by her murder in progress.

”I'm so sorry Mei!” The words would be yelled as a fist collided with skull, the holder type mage punching her guild mate hard enough to drop her into the black of unconsciousness; catching her in her arms before she could fall to the ground. Looking toward Mao, her eyes slightly tearing up at the events that had taken place, the young woman began to speak. ”I know where Mei lives, if you want to turn these two in to the Rune Knights I can take her home and make sure she's okay when she comes back to us.” With that said Aiyana hefted the other girl over her shoulder. She wasn't heavy and she would be fine taking her home, her house not being too far away from where they were.

”It was nice to see you again Mao, but I wish it had been under better circumstances that we parted ways. I'm really worried about Mei.” Once casual conversation ended, the young woman would make her way towards Mei's home. She would wait for her to wake up and see how she reacted.

The way Mei spoke disturbed Mao, the girl clearly not in her right mind. Whatever triggered this the girl’s past could use a bit of explaining. Her eagerness should’ve been a clue to the other two, yet reflecting Mao felt she shouldn’t voiced concern long before now considering how late it was. She automatically stepped off the woman as she lifted into the air a bit while her airflow became blocked not unlike the earlier bunch of henchmen experienced. Fingers clenched into a fist so tight Mao nearly drew blood on the one hand not clad in one of her gauntlets, skin tightening until nails almost threatened to break the skin.

Except Aiyana beat her to the punch.

Literally.

If not for the bandage mage Mao might’ve socked Mei herself if only to kick the girl out of whatever mood took over. ’It’s not our place to decide who lives and dies…at least…that’s how I feel.’ The sad thought floated through her head as the long-eared mage forced her hands to relax, staring forlornly at the woman on the ground as she grasped for breath yet remained unconscious. Life felt too precious to take it from another so willy-nilly, yet…’Whatever happened to her must’ve been severe enough to blur the lines.’ It was of Mao’s belief that one wasn’t born with the desire to kill out of revenge, only necessity, but it was something that could be learned or a desire grown from experience. What happened to Mei to give birth to such dark desires?

”Yes, I’ll see to it that they’re turned into the Rune Knights,” Mao nodded, her concern blatant as she watched Aiyana hoist the unconscious Mei over her shoulder, ”I’m sure if anyone can help her, it would be you.” The words were spoken with the utmost honesty, the girl one of the most caring and friendly individuals Mao had ever met. The possibility of Mei being in better hands struck her as impossible as the crystal user focused on binding the two leaders before trucking them to the nearest station for collection. Whatever punishment they earned they deserved it, but none of the three would be their executioners this night.

As Mei heard the clouded sounds of Aiyana's words she felt a loud smack hit the back of her head, she didn't have time to react and instead was out like a light. She didn't even get to say the rosebud joke, or monologue about her horrible life choices and regrets, no it was just cold, everything was cold. Most of all, though, Mei's spirit felt cold, and a little bit violated by the various magic that she had been using, her discipline not helping her in her pursuit of controlling it at all, perhaps it was time to try and go for a change.

Needless to say, it was much later when Mei finally woke up, within her house never the less. She was a little bit out of it and didn't remember much, was she out or did she just fall asleep and dream something? it was a little odd, but it was then that through her grogginess that Mei heard someone wandering around, or at least some kind of noise, and woke up a little bit.

"Hello? Is someone out there?"

Mei couldn't quite put her finger on it, nor look around really without using some of her magic, that thing which she felt would do nothing but harm her if she were to use it. For some reason that kept ringing in her mind, get a way to change the magic, alter the future and make her better, like she was ill. How could she be ill though if this was what all magic did, unless her former master had lied to her, that would be a real shame if he had done that to her, as it would make her feel very violated, and tricked. Perhaps it was just the way of the world though, people lied all of the time, hopefully the one in her house wouldn't lie, but now Mei didn't know what to think, and would probably need some time to herself.

Aiyana had laid the unconscious girl down in her bed when they had arrived at the house owned by Mei. After that it had become a waiting game on how long her friend would be out. The bandaged woman had done quite the powerful blow, though not enough to do any kind of permanent damage or skull cracking. After a few hours of sitting at her side, silently hoping she would wake up quickly, the young woman grew bored of it. With nothing to do, having nothing of note to keep herself busy in someones house, the Lamia Scale girl decided to wander around the house and learn the place a bit better.

This resulted in the binding bandage mage to find the holy grail of the house; the kitchen. Four refrigerators were placed inside the single room, all filled to the brim with delicious foods. Surely she wouldn't miss one single slice of pie. The young woman would eat just a single, small, slice of it before deciding to take a nap in the same bed as Mei was out on. The nap ended up being an entire night of sleep, Mei never waking up to see the other girl basically snuggled against her for the time she remained asleep. Upon waking up, the young woman slowly opening her eyes before realizing where she was, Aiyana quickly left the room to wander about outside in the halls. It was but minutes later that she would hear words of question, from Mei's voice, come from the direction of the room.

”It's Aiyana! You're finally awake!” The words would be spoken as the woman whom had announced herself came into the bedroom to see her friend laying there. The next few minutes would be explaining why she got there, but never once bringing up the job they had done. If she didn't remember it, all the better for everyone. All in all, save for their worry for a friend, job well done.