Aimi's Choice

The spray from the prow of the speeding craft made her pink hair cling to her neck, heightening her desolate appearance. She stared off at the looming stern of the Goshi flagship Mothra and neither moved nor spoke, the stillness of her countenance masking the turmoil of her emotions.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Sever had asked her in an uncharacteristic moment of empathy. They conferred briefly in the filthy backroom of a clandestine surgery where Stitch was having his shoulders reconstructed from his last encounter with that bird-woman. She'd shown up there, covered in concrete dust, running from the scene of an incredible explosion, feeling like her heart had been ripped whole out of her breast.

"We could make good money in other cities too. Our particular talents are in demand." In his own way he was trying to comfort her, even though he had no idea what she was going through. He thought she was worried about getting caught, about getting put down like Malicious, like a dog. No one in this city has the brass balls to get me in a trap like that, she thought, but even her own bravado failed to lighten her mood.

She was not a capricious little girl anymore. She had become, all in one moment of dreadful clarity, a steel vice. She clamped down on her emotions, she crushed her tenderness, she made herself into exactly who she wanted to be - which is never vulnerable, never lost.

His body flew out over the city, spinning like some kind of grotesque frisbee and slivers of - was that his soul? - dissolved in the air.

"But why Blade? You know his reputation as well as I. What makes you think he'll accept your offer?" It was extremely odd to be on the other end of a conversation where Sever was the one attempting to be sensible. Had she been in any other mood she might have been more responsive, or at least she might have made a demeaning remark. As it was she just shook her head and gave him a look that made it clear that she would not be talked out of her decision. Sever loved and feared her, and compared to her he was weak-willed. From now on he would follow her orders, and both of them knew it, so neither of them bothered saying it.

The speeding boat she was on pulled alongside the Mothra and giant mechanical arms were lowered to lift the shuttle up to the deck. Goshi soldiers looked at her nervously, and at the package by her feet. Katashi Blade refused to delay the departure of his ship even when he heard of the explosion. His business with the Biomade Oversight Council would brook no delays. That he'd changed his mind for this woman, young girl really, disturbed them. One after the other, the soldiers, sailors, and Goshi functionaries mentally promised to erase her face from their memories as soon as she was out of sight, but that pink bob, those swinging hips and, most arrestingly of all, those vermillion eyes stubbornly refused to be forgotten.

Once on deck she was hastily led, package under arm, to the highest and most luxurious state room on board. She felt her mind being probed by a presence not unlike a gynecologist, gentle but precise, as if intimately familiar with the territory. Despite all her preparations she knew that it would be pointless hiding anything here. She would be known for exactly who she was. Very well Blade, take a good look. See anything you like? Do you see that I am determined? Like a bone that, having been broken once, becomes stronger than ever. You can search as deep as you like, but you won't find any shame in me. It was ripped out when that thing ripped the soul out of his chest.

"Not that you asked, but of course I'm going to help you. The fact that our mark is an associate of those cunts Rei has fallen in with just makes it that much sweeter for me." She nodded. She didn't have to explain to him that she would be going alone to see Blade, or that Sever and Stitch would have to continue laying low for a while as... insurance, Sever understood already - one benefit of being a family of telepaths. Neither did she tell him that the tiny part of her that had indeed come seeking comfort, was gratified that he had offered it in his own inept way. That part of her, though, was quickly being crushed by the vice.

"Start by telling me what you want. Then show me the proof of what you claim."

She stood erect in the Executor's suite. He had not offered her a seat, she would have refused. She looked him directly in the eyes, and as everyone always is, she was impressed by something indefinable about them, something alluring and repulsive at the same time, but she let that thought leave her mind as quickly as it came. She came for business, she would keep it that way.

"A person in your position needs someone who can operate outside the rules. Someone who isn't on the payroll, whose name doesn't appear in any company memos. Perhaps you already have a few of these people, but none of them can do the things I can. What I'm asking is for you to give me a purpose. I will be your weapon, and you will find you can reach places even you had trouble accessing before." Her speech was rehearsed, but it was completely genuine. She knew that she wasn't bragging or exaggerating in anyway. Katashi Blade was inscrutable, but he appeared to agree.

On the way out the door Sever raised one eyebrow, "I am curious though. What spurred this decision? Why this sudden resolve?" Because! her heart shrieked at her. Because I felt my kiss on his cheek, our link, I felt it shredded into nothingness. Because I know with a certainty that I've never felt before that he was obliterated, and he did it for some reason to save me, but he failed. That thing destroyed me just as definitely as it did him, only I have to keep on living with this empty spot where he used to be.

She waited for Sever to mock her feelings, but his face showed no expression. He was still waiting for her to explain herself. Her thoughts had not leaked out, even slightly. The vice had closed.

"Someone's got to do something now that Mama Pain is gone." She said as she left.

"You've got a lot of courage coming here like this. Courage can be useful or it can be a pain in the ass. Usually I find it is the latter, but you're young so I'll give you the benefit of the doubt. However, you must know that I don't play games. Now that you're standing here in front of me, the choices you make are deadly serious," as Blade was speaking she stood perfectly still. She was not foolish enough to try to appear nonchalant, but neither did she let herself be drawn into reacting. "That is why I'm going to give you a choice. If the thing you've got in that package is just going to be an embarrassment to you I'll let you walk out now and never show your face in my presence again. If you are ready to stake your life on my satisfaction, then by all means, open it up."

That was what she had been waiting for. Aimi neither hesitated nor made any attempt to be dramatic. She set the case on his desk, and flipped the latch. The lid swung open with a hiss revealing the bloody head of Acetylene Sue.