Four.

We moved to a dive of a motel, in a neighbourhood mostly populated by lost souls. All of us felt right at home. I suddenly realized why I had connected with Mika all these months, and why Mika and Luther were getting along so well, and maybe even why we wanted to resolve this so badly: all of us had been lost children at one point, traumatized and orphaned by tragedy, violence. And, god we would do whatever it took to spare these children an existence like ours.
Luther and Mika were in one room, I was in another as
to give them their privacy.
So far, all we had was the incredibly well drawn sketch of a ghost of a man. Someone who apparently is not yakuza, but is not afraid of contacting the criminal element, including ninja clans, to get the job done.
I looked at the picture again.
"Who ARE you, you bastard. who do you work for,” I whispered to the drawing. And finally, I went to sleep. My dreams were not pleasant. They almost never are.
The next morning I woke up and knocked on Luther and Mika's door.
"Are you decent?" I asked.
"Come in, Josie,” Mika's voice came back.
I walked in. Mika was wearing sport undies. Black. Obviously, these were clean ones though. Luther was fully dressed, again, damn him. They both looked radiant-that meant that they had spent the better part of the night doing the Mattress Mambo.
"Any suggestions?" Luther asked,” Besides killing ninjas and bikers, we haven't accomplished much,”
"I'll talk to some more of contacts among the thin blue line, maybe I'll come up with something,” I said, but I wasn't really optimistic. Before even forming this fearsome threesome, each of us had done plenty of "investigative" work, shaking down the perverts and
flesh peddlers. And they knew nothing. The ugly shadow of failure was looming over us. And kids would suffer because of it.
"I'll be back ASAP,” I said.
I came back not quite half and hour later, wearing the smile the canary-munching feline. Because the first of the cops I had spoken had made my day. I'm not sure he recovered from the big smoocher I had given him. He deserved it, for the info and also because he was
kind of cute.
"Ishiguro Masukita. He's an ex-cop and now, a private security consultant,” I said.
"No wonder he wasn't in the records. He wasn't a criminal,” Mika said.
"Well, he was a cop. Doesn't mean he was Mr Clean-Dudley-Do-Right,” I said,” Early 40s, apparently left the force after charges of excessive force and corruption were filed against him,”
"Where can we find him?" Luther asked.
"I have his home address and his business address. He has a legit security firm, in merry downtown Osaka,” I said.
"I would very much like to speak to him,” Luther said, in that scary-ass voice again. It gave me chills. He never got angry. Never lost his temper. Never cursed. Always calm. Even when he was killing. And that made him that much scarier. Like a brooding, caged lion.
"You will, love, soon,” Mika said. Her voice was soothing, sultry, seductive whenever she spoke to him. Nope, definitely not Miss Delicate Oriental Flower 2001. She was Miss Bad Ass Sexy Ninja Babe 2001 and for many years to follow.
"So, how do we do this?" I asked.
And we all came up with a simple plan.
A few minutes later, I was perched on a neighbouring sky rise, with a nice view on Mr-Rent-A-Dirty-Cop. All he had to do for this to go well was go out for lunch. At around noon, he got up and left his office. I spoke to my coat collar-well, not really my coat-collar, but small transmitter and told Mika and Luther.
"The Eagle is leaving the nest, repeat, the eagle is leaving the nest and is about swoop over the carcasses, over,”
"Razor,” Mika's voice came back.
"Yes, Ronin?" I said.
"Why did you use that ridiculous coded phrase?" she said, trying to remain serious, but I could hear the smile in her voice.
"I feel like one of those spooks in those shows, you know, like Mission: Impossible. Code Name: Razorback. SAS for Super Aussie Spy. Shaken not stirred,”
"He's in the underground parking, heading for his car,” Luther said, his voice cold and clinical. Easily mistaken for the voice of reason.
"I'm coming down,” I said. That was cool. I think I would make a great spook, like La Femme Nikita, recruited by a top secret spy agency. Hey, it could happen.
When I had reached my accomplices, it seemed all the cool stuff had been over and done with. Luther was at the wheel of our car, Mika in the passenger’s seat. I went in the back.
"So, has everything gone according to plan?" I asked.
"Yes,” Mika said. She was dressed to kill. A black spandex mini-dress and heels that seemed to make her almost Luther's height. Ok, I'm exaggerating, but they were HIGH. You'd HAVE to be a trained ninja to walk on those,” I spotted him as he came down. I gave him my most alluring smile. He noticed me, of course. And I fell. And he came to help me. As helped me up, I hit him. Hard. And he fell asleep. He's in the trunk. Resting,”
"Of course it worked. Who could resist you?" I said.
"He tried" Mika said, pointing at Luther. And smiling wickedly.
Luther said nothing, and remained deadpan, when he looked at Mika, there was a twinkle in his eye. Then he was all business,” We need somewhere private to speak to Mr Masukita,”
We found an abandoned warehouse, in an industrial district. Again, the whole bucket of ice water and threat of castration worked. If it wasn't broke why fix it, right?
"I work for Taka Mokori! TAKA MOKORI! He wanted the girls! He keeps them in a dungeon. A "harem" he calls it! He's a sick man! He's insane! "
And he sang. And told us how Mokori-San became paranoid and wanted me dead after he heard I was asking around about the missing girls. About how he hired a small army of thugs to have me and my friends killed and then the ninja. That at this time, he had a lot of security. A bunch of crooked rent-a-cops and more ninja. Seemed Mokori-San was some kind of big mover and shaker. Rich. Powerful. That wouldn't change shit.
"And you worked for him,” I said,” You took money to kidnap innocent girls off the street to feed that sick man's appetites. I hope he paid you well, you fucking bastard, I hope so, because you are going to need that money and much fucking more, you motherfucker,”
I took out a bowie knife.
"I hope you are a fucking billionaire, you lowlife piece of shit, because you're gonna need a shitload of reconstructive surgery for the next several decades to put you back together,”
"Josie, wait,” Mika said,” Don't"
"What, Mika, this animal snatched up kids for his perverted boss, you're gonna tell me to not cut him in ribbons? You're gonna try and stop me?"
"Actually, I was going to say, you should wear garbage bags over your clothing to avoid getting soiled,” She said.
"Oh. Good idea. Thanks,” I said. The guy was screaming, begging for mercy, blah, blah, blah. We were ignoring him.
"Don't mention it,” Mika said. Smiling.
" You wanna watch?" I asked.
"I was thinking of getting lunch. We haven't had a good breakfast,” Mika said,” I'll go get us something at the restaurant. I'll be downstairs waiting. Have fun,”
"I intend do,” I said.
She kissed Luther before leaving. Luther stood and watched.
I followed her advice, wore the garbage bags. And pretty much had my way with the scumbag. Details? Trust me, you'd rather have any. The guy was a pretty good screamer.
When I was done, I looked at what used to be a big bad rent-a-cop. Now, a barely recognizable pile of ground meat. I felt vindicated. Not only for the kids, but for all the bastards that had ever raped me. God, help me, this felt good.
"Come on, Josie,” Luther said, "let's go,”
I stood there. Waiting for the bite of remorse that would come after such and atrocity. It never came.
Fuck it.
We joined Mika, who was downstairs, in the car, with lunch.
We knew where to go. And who to hunt.
Payback was coming for Mokori. They say payback is a bitch. No. Payback was TWO blade-crazy bitches and 260 pounds of trigger happy, unstoppable, apocalyptic fury.
Bring it the fuck on.

Five.

So, now, it's night time. We were here. On a hill overlooking Taka Mokori's house. A huge ass estate several miles outside of Osaka. There are several guards on patrol. It's a big manor, a western style manor. In a place of beautiful and ancient architecture as this one. Oh, hell, I wasn't here to make art reviews.
Mika was wearing her skin-tight black ninja outfit, as always, her long swords criss-crossing on her back, pouches filled with ninja goodies like shuriken and smoke bombs and the like.
I was carrying my usual stock of throwing knives, six, yes SIX 92FS, Berettas, and a silenced 9mm MP-5 Subgun.
Luther, was wearing as skin-tight black suit, that covered and emphasized his muscular frame, with holsters and pouches and grenades and knives hanging of him. He had four 45acp Glocks, his big 50 Desert Eagle. Two sawed off Striker-12 12 round revolver action automatic shotguns, one strapped to each thigh. And more stuff. In a big duffel bag.
We had stolen a big bus. According to the rent-a-cop, there was about a dozen girls, trapped in the basement of that building. Being used as sex slaves by that sick fucking bastard, Mokori.
There was no use for words, we had discussed and rehearsed the plan dozens of times over. Mika would go in, find the kids and get them out. That was our top priority, getting the kids out. NOT killing Mokori. We all wanted to kill him very badly, but he came in second to the kids.
Mika gave Luther a long, passionate kiss, like the first one they had exchanged at the beginning of this whole nightmare. Because it could be their last. She looked at me. I felt my bowels tighten. I didn't want her to die. I would miss her if she did. I like her.
She gave me a hug, then smiled, stroked my face and winked. And then she was gone.
I looked at Luther. His face showed nothing. It was stone cold. He maybe a fugitive and an outlaw, but he was a trained soldier. He had to keep his cool at all times, I guessed.
I had to go towards the rear, where Mika would come out with the kids and cover her. Luther had to stay to cover the front gate. If we pulled this off right, not one shot would be fired. I looked at Luther, kissed him on a cheek smiled to him. His eyes softened for a while, and there was almost warmth there, but he had to keep his focus. And I was gone. We were to maintain strict radio silence at all times except for strict emergencies.
So, I went off, towards the rear gate, were Mika would show up with the girls.
I won't hide the fact that I was kinda nervous. But I was in control. I wanted to be here and get those poor children out of that hell of an existence someone had forced them into. Be cool, Razor, I kept telling myself, you are with two of best in the world, and you are pretty goddamn good yourself. Everything was gonna be peachy. Just peachy.
Seconds were going by. Minutes. Agonizingly, long minutes. Christ. Be cool. Be cool.
Then Mika showed up at the back door. And I was there, I had my one duffel bag and in it, a ladder, made of rope and wood, flexible and portable. Long enough to go over the wall, so the kids could climb up and down.
And I saw them. The girls. Some of them barely in their teens. They seemed clean and well taken care of. Physically all right, but what kind of psychological damage-
A man showed up, unzipping, expecting to be able to take a piss, a shotgun slung. He opened his eyes and saw the black wraith escaping with the kids and grabbed his shotgun. Three shuriken went into his neck as he fell, which was all fine and dandy. It would have been perfect if the guy hadn't squeezed his trigger post mortem. The thunderous boom of the shotgun seemed loud enough to wake the dead.
Aw, FUCK.
Then a huge explosion resounded at the front gate. That was the Sentencer, blowing the front gate with a rocket probably, drawing attention to himself so we could get the kids out.
The lights went on all over the estate. It was almost daylight. Fuck . Fuck. Fuck.
Then I saw them on the roof.
You guessed it. NINJA.
I wasted no time, and cut loose with my silenced MP-5 and emptied out my entire magazine and took out five that way. Mika was encouraging the kids telling them not be scared and to towards the ladder. They were silent and obedient. Was that good or bad?
I reloaded my sub gun. Again, it was raining ninja. And Mika was throwing shuriken like she was at a wedding throwing confetti. And there were dropping. And I was letting my buzzgun rip, they were everywhere. And soon several of them had swarmed Mika and she was smothered by almost a dozen of them.
"MIKA! NO! NOOOOOOO!”I screamed, while covering her. Again the Berserker rage was taking over.
YAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!DIE! YOU MOTHERFUCKERS!!!!
"DIIIIIIE, ALL OF YOU, I'LL FUCKING KILL ALL OF YOU FUCKS!!!"
The kids were climbing the rope-ladder and getting on board the bus. If the kids got out, whoever was still alive had to get them to safety and leave.
Which meant I had to leave Luther and Mika behind. Fuck. Fuck. FUCK.
"FUCK!!!” I swore out loud. While about to get behind the wheel of the big bus.
Then a patrol car stopped by. The estate sounded like a war zone explosions, screaming.
"Officers!” I told the cops. Of course, they weren't gonna listen to me while I was sporting a subgun.
"Freeze! On the ground,” The two cops said,” Drop your weapon,”
I dropped my subgun. But then, fast as lightning, I threw two blades and disarmed them both. Then I picked up my subgun again.
"Listen to me! Open your eyes! In that bus are the missing children1They had been kept in that house where the war is happening now. One of you look inside if you don't believe me,”
One of them took a piece of paper from his pocket and unfolded it. It seemed to have a few pics printed on it. He went inside the bus. I tried to keep my mind of Mika and Luther, who might be getting slaughtered.
The cop told his partner,” She's telling the truth!"
"Yes, I was,” I said,” You wanna be heroes, drive those children to town. Get them home,”
The cops looked at me. Then each other. Then the bus. Then the house where all the people where being butchered. And they were smart. One took the bus and drove it away. The other one went to his patrol car and followed. I have seen my share of good cops and bad cops. These two were young patrolmen. They would want to be heroes or get ahead. And deliver the kids at home. I am good at reading people.
Then I went back towards the war zone. I climbed the wall using my ladder and went on the other side.
"Josie,” A voice called.
I turned. And saw-
"MIKA!"I almost cried with relief. She was scratched here and there but otherwise ok. Her swords were slick with blood. "How did you get out that pile of ninjas on top of you?"
"I can't tell you all my secrets can I?" and winked,” The kids?"
"A cop car came by. I left the bus with them to take to safety,”
Mika nodded,” Let's go help Luther,”
We were running towards the front, ninja were falling from the sky in front of us, We cleared our way with shuriken and 9mm bullets.
Luther was taking cover behind a shot-up car, holding his huge ass electric minigun, cutting henchmen and ninjas to pieces. The lawn was covered with bodies. It was even worse than last time. And it was still raining ninja. Like a human tsunami. He dropped the minigun, grabbed his twin Striker-12 shotguns and ran TOWARDS the swarming ninja. Blasting away. Mika pulled her swords and was running at the swarm, screaming like a banshee.
"Oh, well, fuck it. Today IS a good day to die,” I said.
And I joined the party. And my scream joined Mikas and we killed ourselves some fucking ninjas.
They were coming from everywhere, up, down, left, front, like fucking ants. But we were the fucking EXTERMINATORS.
There was no fear, no pain, just bloodlust, just kill every last rat bastard motherfucking one of them.
I had already emptied two pairs of Berettas and was down to my last pair. They kept coming. And coming. And dying. And dying. And dying. Again, Mika was a machine, her swords like blades from a blender, ruthlessly decapitating everything that wasn't me or Luther. Luther was busting caps with his twin Glocks.
Then I was down to knives. I pulled my two bowie knives and started slashing and cutting and gutting and slitting throats, blood was flowing like Champaign at the end of a car race. There were geysers of blood.
GEYSERS.
Then, just like that, it was over. We had killed them all. Again, we were standing on heaps of bodies. My heart was beating like a machine gun. My adrenaline was flowing like there was no tomorrow. I was the Queen of the hill. Oh yeah. Red Sonya was Sailor Fucking Moon next to me. La Femme Nikita was one of the Powerpuff Girls.
"Hope these guys put up recruiting posters soon,” I said panting.
"Mokori,” Luther said simply, pulling his 50 AE.
"Oh, yeah,” I agreed.
And we went inside the house. We had encountered no resistance inside. The Sentencer was leading with his gun. We remembered the lay out as given to by the rent-a-cop.
Soon, we made it in front the bedroom. There were three armed thugs guarding it.
A throwing knife, a shuriken and a 50AE slug took care if that.
Luther blasted the lock with a couple of monster rounds. And kicked the door open.
And there he was.
Taka Mokori. Packing suitcases. I stepped forward. I was tired, hurt, my clothes torn to hell and my knives dripping with blood.
"Taka Mokori... We'd like words with you. . ,” I said.
"No... wait. . ,” He pleaded.
And we saw the girl curled up on the floor. Couldn't have been more than fourteen.
"Cassandra. . ,” Mika said.
"Luther... Mika... Get the child out of here". I spoke through grit teeth. I was trembling with rage.
Luther came and picked her up. Mika put her most reassuring face for the child. Telling her she'll be going home, that everything would be fine.
"I envy you, Josie,” Mika said to me. "NOT you,” She said to Taka Mokori.
And they both left.
"Please. . ,” He was snivelling, begging, mister high and mighty perverted serial rapist. My eyes filled with tears of rage. And I leapt at him screaming like a beast, my knives were my claws...
I had killed the rent-a-cop. This one I let live. He could always press charges if he wanted. I was drenched in his blood when I was done. I took of my clothes, used his shower to wash off the blood and walked out stark naked. He had closets filled with clothes, but I wasn't wearing anything that motherfucker had touched.
I walked outside, in my birthday suit. If Mika and Luther were startled, they kept it to themselves. I felt drained, empty, exhausted, depressed.
"Let's get outta here,” I said.
The following day, those two cops were being celebrated by the entire nation as those who had brought the children home. Good for them. And the entire nation was baffled by the sheer carnage that had taken place at Taka Mokori's house.
We were watching TV at the crummy motel. I felt better than had the night before, after a night's sleep and a couple more showers. We had gone through a lot of shit. But it had been worth it. The kids were home.
It was time for some painful goodbyes, now.
Mika and Luther had to separate again.
Mika had tears in her eyes, Luther actually looked sad. I felt like an intruder, but they didn't want me to leave.
"Love... I know you must leave... Will you come back?" she asked.
"I... I don't know,” Luther said. "I can't. . ,”
"I understand. . ,” She said.
He bent over and kissed her.
"I love you, Luther,” She said.
He said nothing. And nodded. And he turned towards me. I gave him a huge hug. And he gave it back.
"Come back, big guy,”
He just smiled. Took his luggage and walked out.
"Mika. ,”
"I'll be fine, Josie,” She smiled warmly. "I am realistic. And I have my parent's restaurant to take care of,”
"He'll be back. Plenty of gangsters to kill here,” I said.
Mika smiled.
"You're a good friend, Josie,”
"You’re not too bad, yourself,” I said.
"All right, enough with the tears and mushiness,” She said. "Let's go home,”
"I don't know if my place is still a crime scene,”
"Come stay with me for a couple of days,”
"Really?"
"Of course. I owe you much,”
This whole has cost me a lot, but I've made a couple friends for life. Not much more I gal could ask for.
Nothing at all, really.

THE RAZORBACK WAS CREATED BY DOUGLAS P WOJTOWICZ AND DARCY.