78Chapter Thirty-Two: Birds of a Feather
"Y-you're...but I...How? I thought you..."
Siro's words were barely audible as the wind introduced itself to blow his tears out of his eyes. Even then, it still didn't seem real. Once, twice, three times he blinked, unable to be certain if the young woman that stood before him was truly present, or if she existed just as a phantom of his regrets. As he slowly, shakily tries to return back to his feet, his knees tremble beneath him.
"It's me, Siro. It's okay."
Hearing her voice for the first time in what had felt like years sends a jolt to his system after having spent all this time trying to come to terms with the thought that he'd never hear it again. Sagiri was so close, even as she stood across from him that Siro can't help but weakly begin to reach his arm towards her. What could he even say? His very mind was scrambled, his brain overloaded by it all to where he nearly forgot to even breathe. Yet, through it all, she still held firm on her grip on the pair of kunai and stared ahead.
"So, I'm not...this is actually real? I mean, it's really you?"
"Yeah. It's as real as real gets."
Briefly, Sagiri smirks back at Siro's plea for reaffirmation. In spite of everything that was going on, the tension, the confusion felt by those around her, and even the burning hatred she felt towards Delta, she still felt a tinge of happiness. Finally, after donning the mask and being undercover for all this time, she could look him in the eyes again, face to face once more. Seeing the pain in his eyes all this time when he thought he'd lost her for good pained her each and every single time without fail. On some occasions, she'd even considered telling him that she was alive and as well as could be. However, as much as she'd wanted to, as much as he'd suffered, and even with Wasponi considering it, she knew that she couldn't. As she keeps focus on Delta, Sagiri knows that she's most likely coming to the exact same conclusion.
"It's good to finally get to see you again! Things just weren't the same without you around, you know?" Delta cuts into thought patterns, breaking the uncertain silence that fills the air surrounding the rooftop. "I always did think it was all kinds of weird you'd let a little thing like that keep you down. Why, I don't think I even hit anything vital!"
"Wait, but where did you go then? After you got washed downriver, the alert on our wrist displays started going off. These things are supposed to be completely waterproof, aren't they?"
Turning his attention from Delta back to Sagiri, Seth finds himself with a question of his own. That Sagiri was even here seemed to go against everything he'd always heard and known about how the systems inside the Compound worked. The displays were able to detect someone's pulse, and there was a lot more to them than just the simple screen. They weren't exactly meant to come off on their own, so unless someone had the sudden urge to go chopping off hands or arms, on they'd stay unless a team left during one of the allotted periods. So, if they were completely waterproof, she didn't lop off a limb, and she hadn't died, then how in the world did Seth and Siro's displays tell them she had?
Siro still stands nearby, his focus having no time or room for the question of 'how' Sagiri was still alive, since all of it had been pushed aside for letting the fact that she actually was here properly sink in. The Revenants also remained silent, yet their silence was for a far different reason than Siro's. There was no doubt to Seth - or to Merrick, who had begun piecing things together - that they knew exactly what was going on. This was no mere spur of the moment plan, and whatever secrets they had about it, neither Wasponi, Steyrin, or Megata were in any hurry to share before Sagiri could properly say her piece. Instead, Steyrin's light machine gun remains fixed on Delta, ready to pull the trigger if she so much as turns her foot in the wrong direction. Momentarily adjusting the slightly loose motorcycle suit, Sagiri brings the back of a gloved hand up to scratch the bottom of her chin as she narrows her eyes.
"They are waterproof. When I got swept downriver, I washed up on the shore next to the Comm Tower. I dragged myself right up to it and noticed my display got fried or messed up or something. They refused to tell me exactly what did it. Something about that being sensitive information and me winding up in a restricted area."
"Hold on, Sagiri. Who're 'they'?"
Having had ample time to get the gears in his brain turning again, Merrick can't help but speak up. Even as he has his own suspicions, with how everything is playing out in front of him, Merrick still has to actually hear it for himself.
"Some production guys must've spotted me trying to get to the back door because the next thing I know, I'm getting dragged inside, gassed, and hearing people run around trying to make calls to executives. Then I'm waking up with some bandages on and some man with a suit jacket and a goatee looking at me."
"Did you recognize him? Or, did he at least say who he was?"
Sagiri pauses at Merrick's question. She doesn't dare close her eyes while in Delta's presence, but she does if nothing else, take the opportunity to dig back through her memories. Truthfully, even before he opened his mouth she figured he had to have been some kind of bigwig in order to get in a position to talk to her privately, with only a nearby doctor around. That probably wasn't something a poor, overworked intern watching the monitors and checking the wires was going to be able to have the pull for, after all.
"He said his name was Erickson, or something." Her head momentarily tilts up more towards the sky as she begins. "Said he was the Network President or whatever. I remember him being all 'this is quite the unique situation, Miss Akamine'. He told me it'd be bad if I got punished, DQ'd, or died because of their mistake. Then, he told me about my display and told me I had two choices after I healed up. I could head home with some money, or I could go back inside and they'd give me up to two days to join or rejoin a team again."
"Wait, Erickson? His old man literally created this place. Just how serious were things? And two days? But, I don't get it because-"
Sagiri holds out her hand to silence Seth before he could make things more complicated sounding than they already were. She didn't expect Seth or Siro to fully understand everything right away now, but she had to believe they would in time.
"Let me finish. They must've kept me under medical watch for, I don't know, four, maybe five days. I told them I didn't need five days, but they told me running around after getting shot, serious or not, wasn't a risk they'd let me take because of the legal risk to them. So instead, I got five days of full recovery time, two days of nonstop questioning and signing forms, and one last day to think things over. But, I'd already made up my mind." She takes a breath and looks to Siro. "I wasn't going to just leave you, Siro. Or Seth. So, I went back in and spent the first day trying to figure out what I wanted to do. On the second day though, I ran into..."
"Us."
The rooftop falls silent once again as a Wasponi's voice finishes Sagiri's lingering thought. As much as her eyes remained constantly trained on Delta like a hawk, she knows this is perhaps as good of a time as any to properly come in and explain at least some of the questions that were inevitably hanging around in people's minds. There was a fair amount of minor details here and there that Wasponi knew would have to wait for a time when they'd already dealt with Delta, but as justified as she knows herself to be for leaving them out of the loop, they still required at least something.
"I was livid at the time. Apatur was stuck in serious condition just to try and get the bleeding to stop, and now we're owing favours to that Doctor guy because of goddamn Delta. The last damn thing we needed was for people to look at us, think we were vulnerable, and start getting some kind of funny ideas. Sagiri showing up surprised the hell out of me. It seemed pretty damn suspicious. You know, she was supposed to be dead after all. Plus, if she was alive, why didn't she go back to Siro? I figured he'd be over the moon about it. But then we started talking, and I got an idea."
"And just what kind of idea would that be?"
Merrick crosses his arms in response. Out of everybody here that wasn't Sagiri or the Revenants, he felt he had the closest thing to an understanding and suspicion on the missing pieces. He and his sisters had been helping Siro, Sagiri, and Seth for a lot longer than Wasponi and her group had been working with them, and he'd had contact with Wasponi longer than even Yoriko and Eriza had. Even if he understood and had inklings of both the what and the why, that didn't mean he had to necessarily like it. If they knew that Sagiri was still alive, then there was almost no way he or anybody else would've acted the way the had. That went double for Siro, but that'd have to be for Siro himself to get to, and it didn't look like Sagiri was going to give him too much more time to speculate as she seems poised to answer for Wasponi in the moment.
"That I'd join them and pretend to be Apatur. As long as she agreed, anyway. She'd get to rest up, I'd solve my team problem, we'd figure out how to get back at Delta for what she'd done to us both, and nobody would be any wiser that Apatur was recovering. It wasn't that I didn't want to go and group back up with you Siro, it was that I had no idea what Delta would do. When Wasponi told me some of the things Merrick said she was doing to you, and how she was practically blackmailing you, I knew I couldn't just casually walk up. At least this way, I'd be able to check up on you every now and then from some sort of safe distance." Sagiri stops to take a deep breath as she finds herself looking in Siro's direction, one of her eyes meeting his. "I just had to keep playing my part, stick to my role, and remember the deal. Then, when things were in place or hell, when Delta had been taken care of, I could let you know and it'd be alright."
"But, Giri...if you know all that, then..." With uncertainty, Siro finds words forming on their own. "Then you know what I did. I...I tried to avenge you! I thought that was all I could do!"
Siro bites his lip, struggling to keep eye contact with her. As his mind had started to clear up and the events happening around him had begun to sink in more, it'd dawned on him more and more the futility of his previous actions. Feeling as if he'd lost a reason to live, letting Delta blackmail him, going off the deep end by trying to kill Delta and nearly getting himself killed in the process, was it all for nothing? He'd been mourning somebody who was still alive and stood right in front of his very eyes, thinking that it had to be on him to try and find some sort of justice for her. Yet, it turned out all he needed to do was wait, and she'd come back on her own. What a fool he'd been. If only he'd had faith, if only he'd been strong enough in the moment to pull himself together, and not let things escalate and grow inside him to begin with, then maybe he could've avoided this. Instead, everything had twisted and mutated itself into one complicated and ugly kind of creature.
Across from him, Sagiri finds herself slightly taken back as she partially lowers her head. She'd heard about what happened with Siro. Not only did she know about how hard he'd taken thinking she was dead, and the threats Delta had placed on him, but she'd found out about how he'd broken down and nearly died trying to avenge her. That news had both shaken and surprised her for how out of character even the concept of such a thing seemed to be for him. In all of their time knowing each other, she couldn't have imagined him ever being driven into a corner like that. The thought echoes in her mind, and this time when Sagiri speaks, her voice starts off both low and slow.
"Siro...I know. I know what you tried to do. I actually asked Wasponi if we could work with everybody to pay back our debts to Dr. Choi faster. That way, I thought I'd be able to keep an eye on you, or at least have a reason to come in and check on you while you were sleeping and recovering. I never meant for you to end up getting stabbed like that, I thought we had a lot more time to plan everything out and get Delta cornered. I'm sorry. When I found out, it was like something told me we had to speed things up while we still could. Wasponi and I both agreed, if Delta was still recovering then we had to act fast. I wanted to tell you, but we were already on eggshells as it is. It had to be perfect so everybody could be here to see this through."
"Aww, you really went through all that trouble for a girl like me? Why Sagiri, you shouldn't have! Knowing you were still around would've been so fun! Like, think about it. I'd still get to be on a team and we'd be able to go play too. But at least it's good to have everyone all together like this!" Delta pauses, playfully tapping a finger to her lips as she thinks. "Or, at least it would be if we weren't being all rude and forgetting someone...right?"
Smiling, Delta turns her head to peek over her shoulder towards the Revenants. Megata doesn't give her so much as a second glance, and Steyrin merely lets out an exasperated sigh as she keeps her light machine gun trained on her. For just a split second though, through the now opened vision slots of her gas mask, Wasponi's eyes twitch. It was subtle enough that most people would merely dismiss it as them imagining things. Delta wasn't most people, however. With all the questions and answers flying around, most of the group likely forgot, she figures, but not Wasponi. As much as she most certainly hoped Delta and the others would forget, she wouldn't let this slip her mind. That was one thing Delta could always count on about Wasponi with absolute confidence, especially now. When Wasponi twitches, that unwillingly tells Delta all she needs to know, try as Wasponi might to brush it off.
"What are you even blabbing about now, Delta?"
"Oh, what indeed, my dear Wasponi. Sure, Sagiri and you three wouldn't go all telling me about it, but it's just a tiny bit surprising to little old me, that nobody asked yet! You see, sure it's all nice that we're all gathered here and Sagiri did the nice surprise by pulling that mask off, but doesn't it make you wonder? Where, oh where, is the real Apatur, Wasponi? Just where is your other half hiding?"
Wasponi tenses up, albeit only slightly. She wasn't stupid, it was only a matter of time before the gears in Delta's brain started clicking away and she began asking question after question. That was why she'd mentally prepared herself for some of Delta's attempts at getting under her skin. There was too much that had gone into this plan for her to let a simple try at distracting her or stalling for time mess it all up. Delta would not be escaping. That much she'd promised.
Merrick rubs the beanie on his head and crosses his arms as he thinks to himself. He'd known Apatur was injured after Delta's attack. Hell, he'd suspected something had happened when it was Wasponi by herself that had contacted him about their two groups working together. For her to approach him alone was in and of itself a cause for concern or suspicion that something was going on. It was always exceptionally rare for her to discuss something of that nature alone without Apatur present to give her input as well. Sure, everybody, himself included, was caught up in trying to piece together everything that Sagiri was saying after she revealed himself, but Merrick can't pretend to be exactly thrilled that it took Delta bringing Apatur's absence up for it to fully come forth in his mind. Still, muse and ponder over it as he might, it wasn't as if he was going to be able to clear up a question that only Wasponi held the answer to, so all he can do is turn to the woman herself.
"No, Delta." Wasponi growls back, her eyes narrowing. "I'm not telling you where she is. You're not going to get a chance to hurt her ever again. As much as she wanted to be here to see you squirm face to face, I told her I'd get a good seat for her. She'll forgive me that way."
"Oh, now don't be silly. Even if her ears are all super good, it's not like she'll be able to hear us! And since she's not a bird, she can't see us, so where's the fun in that? Wait a second, are we supposed to like, yell and wave our arms to her LIKE THIS?!"
Mockingly, Delta yells playfully and waves her left arm up over her head as if waving directly to Apatur, wherever she might happen to be. She could feel Wasponi's eyes boring straight through her, leading her simply to widen her grin in response. Death glare aside, Wasponi collects herself again and clears her throat before holding something up.
"No. This is a two way radio. Apatur has the other one, so she's hearing every stupid thing you're saying. And she's got a pretty clear view of us. Siro helped make sure of that."
"Wait, I did? But how? I don't remember doing anything."
Smirking under her mask, Wasponi merely points towards Steyrin's weapon as a reminder, connecting the dots together in his mind. He'd all but forgotten that his main weapon hadn't been hanging over his back like usual, and when he remembers, his eyes partly widen.
"When I told you to give me your rifle. Don't you get it? This entire time, Apatur's been peering down the sights, looking right at this rooftop and listening in on all of our conversations. In fact, it's probably taking her everything she has not to take a shot at Delta right now. Believe me, I know exactly how she feels."
"I had no idea. I know you couldn't tell me what was going on, but if you gave me some kinda reason, I wouldn't have questioned you or anything." Siro rubs the back of his neck as he thinks and bites his lip. "But, I think I get it though, so it's okay. She's kinda like your...insurance, right?"
"Exactly. If things even remotely start going south, all I've gotta do is give the signal and she'll make sure to finish all of this. This time we're making sure this is the end."
Wasponi's voice crackles through the speaker on the two-way radio, filling Apatur's ears with its wondrous sound. The rooftop she was on sat one storey taller than the building Delta, the other Revenants, and the others found themselves standing on, giving her the perfect view of the spectacle across from her. She wanted nothing more than to be down there herself, to stick her butterfly knives into Delta's chest herself and put an end to things once and for all. Begrudgingly though, she'd ultimately deferred to Wasponi's wishes and opted to watch instead. The scar on the side of her neck from Delta's bullet still ached on occasion even now. Apatur was smart and realistic enough to know that a couple of inches, or even centimetres over, and she'd be inside a makeshift grave right now, with Wasponi on an unstoppable and indiscriminate warpath, likely cursing the city and the world itself for merely existing.
With Sagiri borrowing both her motorcycle outfit, and her mask, she'd had to borrow some of Sagiri's clothes as a pragmatic compromise. Neither the younger woman's sand coloured spaghetti strap top, nor her black skirt were Apatur's style, and Sagiri being more slender than her meant they felt more snug in certain places than they otherwise would've. Even so, they, and a spare pair of shoes were what they had and would have to be 'good enough'. Using some dark grey fabric from what had once been a sheet, she'd made something resembling a cloak, and a makeshift replacement mask. The mask itched from time to time, and her long blonde hair dropped down outside the back of it, but she would manage as long as she needed to. In order to keep Wasponi's plan going and to finally get Delta out of the picture for good, there was almost nothing that she wouldn't endure. That didn't mean she had to be wholly uncomfortable up here though. Minor as it may have seemed in the grand scheme of things, there was no fully set time for when Delta would show up once she decided to make her way over. Sure, they could estimate a little bit here and there and get some sort of rough guess, but it was every bit as likely that Apatur would be waiting up here for hours.
"It's worth it. Just a little bit longer." She mutters to herself as she looks down the scope. "A little longer and we'll finally be free of that crazy bitch. Nobody's going to have to deal with her shit anymore."
Apatur still remembered when Wasponi was finally allowed to see her at the Doc's clinic. Apparently, for the first two days, neither Choi or Nari would let Wasponi into Apatur's room. She told her that the only reason she hadn't gone and forced her way past the two of them was because it was far from easy to find a competent medical expert in the Compound, instead of somebody who messed around or did the bare minimum before just saying it was 'good enough'. When Wasponi told Apatur about how Choi's assistant had bluntly asked "Do you want to see her, or do you want to see her get better?", she could hear the concern she tried to hide in her voice. That same concern eventually grew to determination as even from behind he gas mask, Wasponi's eyes burned with an unshakable resolve.
It was in that moment the two of them had made a promise that no matter what it was they had to do, they would remove Delta from the picture entirely and eliminate her. The steps they'd taken before backfired on them, and they'd let themselves get sloppy by giving Delta an out. No more. This time, everything would be set in place so that the moment the trap was sprung, there would be no way out for Delta, no matter how much she talked, or tried to act like she was in control. The more Apatur looks over the scene across from her, the more she feels it in her chest that this was the right decision. Her partner was the one in control here, not Delta, and that just grew more and more clear with each passing minute. As she steadies her focus and makes sure the two way radio is still working, a small, satisfied grin works its way across Apatur's face.
"So Delta, this is the end." Wasponi's words are blunt and cold. "You're not going to be leaving this rooftop alive. Even you have to know that by now. No, with how smart you are, I'd bet you realized a long time ago. This entire city is going to be so much better without having you in it. I'm even past caring if it's me that ends you, I just want to be here watching as we all get our revenge."
Delta turns her head from side to side, scanning everybody present on the rooftop as she looks over them to analyze her situation. She knew Wasponi was serious, of that she could tell simply by the tone of her voice. As much as she'd want to try and deny Wasponi's words, Delta could feel it through her bones that escaping this might actually take everything she had, if she even could at all. Yet, no matter how everything played out, could she have possibly asked for a better stage? Here she was, on this rooftop, surrounded by people who, in their own varying levels, had come together to eliminate her, with the surrounding cameras getting a clear view that Apatur could only dream of seeing through that scope. People were always trying to knock her off of her perch, that challenge she always welcomed. To say the Compound she'd called home would be better without her in it, though?
Well that just wouldn't do. That might well have been the most ridiculous sounding thing she'd ever heard in her near twenty years of life. With one hand tightly gripping the handle of her chain sickle, and the other covering her face, she looks down and snickers.
And then, she throws her head back, unable to contain her pent up laughter.
"Heh. Heheheh. Hahahaha! Better without me? Don't you know how this works?" Slowly, Delta runs a hand down the unscarred side of her face with a smile. "Uncle Grenn, Aunt Sofiya, Maya, Emmy...they left. Death came for them, not me. They're just visitors in this city. My city. But, I'm different. I always have been. I'm a constant, Wasponi. You knew that by now though, didn't you? That's why you went through all this trouble!"
"You're only human, like the rest of us. You bleed and burn the same way everybody else we've come across does. Isn't that right, Siro?"
Siro feels his stomach tighten. The side of his wound, nearly healed as it may have been, momentarily aches in remembrance. He quickly glances back to Sagiri, in hopes that maybe she can stop Wasponi from getting carried away in terms in trying to prod Delta. Instead, Sagiri's eyes remained laser focused on the sole remaining member of the former Crimson Ravens standing before them. For her part, Delta merely seemed to grow more amused by Wasponi's words and attempt to ground her. Even now, she still sought out ways to make things entertaining. It didn't matter what kind of injuries she obtained, as long as it made for a good show.
"I mean...yeah. But, can we maybe not talk about that now? There's just so much going on right now still, alright?"
With a reluctantly accepting sigh, Wasponi relents on bringing Siro further into this than she already had. He was holding up remarkably well considering the situation and just how much he'd been left out on through necessity, but as she sees Delta's mischievous smile and her prepare to speak again, she opts to leave it. Still, Wasponi found her patience for letting this continue was at an all time low from even before Delta opened her mouth once more.
"Aww, don't feel too bad about it, Siro! You're not the first to go and try something like that. Besides..." She motions once more to everybody gathered on the rooftop as a pair of clouds cross over the sun above. "...That everybody went through so much trouble just so Wasponi could get a chance to fight me? Why, it's enough to make a girl blush!"
"She's not going to fight you. I am."
Sagiri's voice responds to Delta's claims, heavy with conviction and filled with determination. Her brown eyes shine from the rays of sun that manage to escape from the clouds above as a breeze blows her bangs across her face. Siro feels a sense of unease flow through him as he looks. There was something familiar in her eyes. It reminded him of what he'd once seen in his own, yet hers were more certain, more honed in on what was in front of her.
Standing opposite, Delta's blue eyes light up themselves, becoming part of an almost excited smile that seemingly creeps over every single inch of her face. Her fingers playfully begin fiddling with her handheld sickle's chain as she nods her head approvingly and thinks to herself.
"It's you, Sagiri? You're the one who wants to do me? You have no idea how glad I am to hear that! I bet that's the only way you'll be satisfied. So, tell me. How fun was it pretending to be Apatur and hanging out with Wasponi and her buddies all this time?"
"It was fine." Unperturbed, Sagiri is blunt in her response, never once loosening the grip on the kunai in her hands. "It was part of the plan after all. I had to keep acting like her, remembering not to talk was probably the most difficult part. But like I said, I played my role. That's all there is to it."
Delta puts a hand over her mouth, loudly humming to herself, stopping only to chuckle once more at what she was hearing and amusingly give a small shake of her head.
"Is that really it? Pretending you couldn't speak was the hardest for you? Not keeping things from poor Siro and Seth? Even knowing how sad he got thinking you were dead, or that the poor guy almost died?" She grins, seeing just a momentary flicker in Sagiri's eyes. "Or what about those people you sliced and stabbed when you were playing dress up? Sure, they were all attacking you first. But what about poor Orson? I heard people talking on the Revenants getting him, but I bet that was you too! I wonder, was that just 'part of the deal' too, or was it something else?"
"I didn't have a choice!" Sagiri yells back in resistance, her knuckles turning white underneath the dark gloves. "Apatur would've done it, so I had to too. It was part of the deal, I had to promise Wasponi and Apatur!"
Silence falls on the rest of the group, as everybody shifts their gazes back and forth from Sagiri to Wasponi. Seth rubs his eyes with his hands, breathing in deeply through his nose. Merrick slowly nods to himself, having suspected as such. Both Yoriko and Eriza meanwhile, find themselves looking rather uncomfortable at the turn of events, uncertain of what to think. Amidst it all though, Delta finds herself gradually growing comfortable again by the second. And so, she's unable to resist pressing down just that little bit more.
"Don't be silly. I bet the real reason was because it'd help put you here, right? Sure he blabbed to me, but it wasn't about you. But still, you sliced him up so you could get a shot a killing me! That doesn't sound like something one of the 'good guys' would do, does it? You didn't even care what the people outside might think. See, I knew I was right to like you so much! I know, you try to go pushing it back, but I could always tell who you really were. Oh, the idea I'll actually get to meet her is so exciting!"
"Just stop!" Sagiri's voice breaks as she shouts, pushing back against Delta's accusations. "I have to do this! It's the only way to stop a crazy bitch like you from hurting Siro, or Seth, or me, or anybody else whose lives you've ruined. This is protecting them! I'm not like you!"
Hearing the crack in Sagiri's voice at the end makes Delta's heart skip a beat and fills her with satisfaction. She really was impressive. Even as Delta never fully understood Sagiri's insistence on resisting, the strength and way in which she kept doing so was almost alluring for her. The sheer thought of finally breaking through and seeing what lay underneath gave her butterflies. She couldn't stop now.
"No? There's Apatur and four other people who could take me out. But it still has to be you, doesn't it? You won't let yourself walk away and leave it to them, even if your precious friends and all those people see it. So..." Delta takes a short breath, quickly glancing up at the clearing sky. "What are you gonna do? Are you gonna cut me down yourself in front of everyone here? While everybody outside watches? Well? Give me your answer, Sagiri Akamine. In front of the whole goddamn world!"
"DELTA!"
Sagiri's enraged scream tears through the skies.
In a flash, she takes off straight towards Delta. She moved so fast Siro couldn't even see her feet moving as she ran. To him, she flew across the roof with the velocity of something shot out of a cannon. Her hands held a death grip on the pair of black handled kunai within them as her speed catches even Delta by surprise, leaving her stumbling back a step.
Without so much as blinking, and with a fire burning in her eyes, Sagiri swings her kunai down towards Delta's head.
CLING!
Quickly, Delta gets her chain sickle up in time to block the attack, deflecting the kunai away as she responds back with a swipe of her own from the left.
Thunk!
Without missing a beat, Sagiri dodges right, before thrusting her left leg forward and catching Delta right in the stomach with a swift kick, sending her sliding back a couple of inches as she puts a hand on her stomach and gasps for breath.
Reclaiming her footing and looking up, Delta can only smile as she tightens the grip on her chain sickle's handle. That smile only grew as Sagiri narrows her eyes, as they bore into Delta's.
"There she is." Delta coos in satisfaction. "It's a pleasure to finally get to meet you after all this time. Why, I think I'll leave this to Darling and not even use my revolver at all! It'd just be so much more fun that way!"
Winding her arm back behind her waist, Delta launches her chain sickle towards Sagiri, this time trying to send it from the right. Spotting the opening, Sagiri drops down under it to her knees, lunging forward before Delta can pull back the chain attached to her jean shorts. Moving like a woman possessed and with her kunai still in her hands, Sagiri grabs the top of Delta's sleeveless coat, pulling it over her head as she simultaneously brings her knee up into Delta's stomach.
Crunch!
Being forced down, Delta rolls to the side, pulling on the chain to bring the sickle back in an attempt to trip up Sagiri. Ignoring the lingering pain, she giggles quietly to herself as she slowly climbs to her feet, removing the coat as she holds it in her hands. This was what she'd been looking forward to for a long time. She could feel Sagiri was past pulling her punches, and Delta can't help but think maybe it'd be time for her to stop pulling hers too. After all, she owed it to her, to everybody on the rooftop, and to all those who had been watching her all this time. As she takes a couple steps back towards Sagiri, she knows this will be something to remember.
Delta feigns dropping her coat on the roof, before lashing forward and throwing it into Sagiri's face in an instant.
BLAM!
A sudden shot rings out from Delta's revolver as Sagiri swats the coat away with her right arm, instinctively side stepping as she does so. Entirely undeterred, the overwhelming hatred in Sagiri's eyes mounts once again. To her, Delta could try whatever she wanted. It didn't matter. She wouldn't back down against the Crimson Raven, and she wouldn't allow herself to lose. Not with everything she'd gone through, not with everything riding on it. She would end this herself, so she could finally put Delta behind her.
As Sagiri's eyes burn red, Delta's glow a brighter blue. With smoke still lingering around the barrel of her revolver, Delta tilts her head, her grin turning sly as she blows towards the gun-smoke.
"Oopsie. I guess I lied."
"Enough of your shit!"
In a flash, Sagiri throws herself towards Delta again, the blade of one kunai catching the trigger guard of the revolver while the handle of the other smacks against the top of Delta's wrist, forcing her to release her grip on it. For a split second, Delta's face drops into a scowl of frustration at the sigh of her weapon being knocked out of her hand and down onto the roof.
Cl-Clank!
It drops down, bouncing twice before it rests onto its side. Quickly, before Delta can drop down to pick it up, Sagiri kicks it away from her to another part of the roof, sending it sliding past the Hiroe Trio and the Revenants. Keeping an eye on Sagiri, Delta contemplates trying to chase after it, before second guessing and acknowledging that regardless of what she thought, she couldn't possibly afford to turn her back on Sagiri to retrieve it. She was enjoying herself, but fights were the entertaining when she controlled the setting and the narrative. Sure she'd said she wouldn't think of using her revolver, but half of the fun of that was supposed to be in Sagiri not knowing when she felt like keeping or breaking her promise of it again. With the weapon scattered away from her, Delta was going to be forced to keep her promise this entire time.
She shakes her now free hand and balls it into a fist, the burn scars up her right arm itching as she brushes off her flash of frustration. This was something she could make work too. The more she had to try, and the greater the challenge, the better it'd be. Short skirmishes and fights just didn't do it quite the same way for her anymore, so something like this with the scales tipped against her was exactly what she needed. Besides, Sagiri was giving it her all too. It just wouldn't be fair for Delta to let herself be shown up.
Letting the chain on it go loose, Delta flings her sickle towards Sagiri's throat, anticipating what she's going to do. Showing no signs of intimidation, Sagiri ducks, bringing a kunai up to knock it aside as she goes to step in close again.
Smack!
Thunk!
As Sagiri ducks down, Delta catches her in the side of the chin with a right hook to the side of the chin and a short kick to the side of her knee. Instead of flinching to give pause, Sagiri turns the momentum of her body twisting into a roll away from Delta, swiping out with her second kunai as she does. Delta jolts her head back like lightning as the blade flies by within a mere inch of her face. She pulls the sickle along the roof back towards her, trying to catch Sagiri mid roll, but Sagiri manages to avoid it, hopping over it with her fresh leg. If she felt any pain from landing on the leg that Delta had just kicked, she showed no signs of it. Her focus and attention were undivided, solely put on the young woman in front of her.
Wasting no time, she charges again, slashing away at Delta's chest once, twice, three times. Despite having the size and reach advantage comparatively with her limbs, Delta's smaller stature gave her an edge in dodging. Thanks to that, the first two whiff entirely, even if it felt as if they were intended more to direct Delta than dice her up. The third swing nicks the top of the large red skull on the front of her black sleeveless t-shirt, poking a small hole in it as Delta's hair drops down over her eyes.
"So close!" She teases, panting as she laughs. "Just a little more! You're almost there, you know!"
"Shut your damn mouth!"
Sagiri goes for a downward stab with her left blade as she yells back and keeps the pressure on. This time, it's Delta who responds, grabbing her chain sickle by the handle and swinging it upwards towards Sagiri. Yet, her reply is met with only empty air as Sagiri feels the breeze from the attack brush right past her face. Delta tries to reach for Sagiri's other hand as her swipe misses, only to feel the short wrist warmer on her right hand get caught as its brushed away.
"Everything! It's all your fault!" Sagiri spits out her words, her voice laced with venom and vitriol. "Because of you! Because of you...!"
An elbow comes down with glancing blow to the right side of Delta's head, making her burn scars itch once more as the sleeve scrapes along her face. She goes to stomp down on Sagiri's boot, only to be met by the butt end of a kunai heading right towards the left side of her face.
Whack!
It catches her flush in the cheek, causing her to stumble back, and hop twice to maintain her balance. Smiling through the pain, she rubs the sore spot and blinks the stars away before jockeying for position once more.
"We've gotta stop this! Wasponi! Can't you do something? Like give the signal, or jump in and finish things? I can't just stand here and watch!"
Siro turns his attention to Wasponi, as he takes a few steps back to keep clear of the fighting. With a look of desperation, he glances over to her. He knows there was a deal, and Sagiri felt she had to do this on her own, but how could he possible just accept her putting herself in danger again right away? After everything that he'd gone through, and all this time thinking that she was dead, even the mere thought of losing her again was something he couldn't bear. Still, plead as his eyes may, Wasponi slowly shakes her head as Steyrin scratches the back of hers. Wasponi had worked hard on all of this, and she wasn't about to go and let any more additional people interfere in what was happening if she could help it. She understood how Siro felt, but even then she wouldn't give the signal or interfere unless she deemed it absolutely necessary. In fact, it was precisely because she related to Siro's feelings that she wouldn't act out of hand, no matter how much she wanted Delta to meet her end.
"You can, and you will, Siro. As far as they're concerned, the rest of us aren't even here right now. If you want to help Sagiri, then give her more space."
"This isn't just some game though...Like, what if...?" Siro's gaze changes from Wasponi to the Hiroe Trio. "Guys, you know what I mean, right?"
For a few seconds, Merrick, Yoriko, and Eriza exchange silent looks with each other. They're looks that don't overly fill Siro with reassurance. Eriza pulls the hood of her white button up over her head and looks down as Merrick closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. For her part, Yoriko adjusts part of her teal half-sleeve and fidgets with the tonfa hanging at her side as she meets Siro's gaze.
"I'm sorry...I just don't really know if it's our place to get in the way of all this. I mean, there's still a lot we don't know, right?"
"Yeah..." Merrick lets his initial thought trail off as he adjusts the handle of his switchblade nagamaki. "It's true that's part of my thought too. Even so though, maybe she does really have this after all. You've known her a long time, and she's already done the impossible by even being here. I know you don't need me telling you that you can trust and believe in her here,"
Siro bites his lip, thousands of thoughts flying through his mind as he looks over at a poised Sagiri as she prepares for another attack on Delta. That she was even here was a miracle in and of itself, and she told him it was okay. She said she wasn't going to leave him and Seth, so somewhere in there, Sagiri had to have a way to be certain she'd survive. Even with the logical part of his brain telling him to have faith and trust in everything that's been laid out to him, he still feels himself fighting the urge to run right over and try to help her.
Suddenly, he feels a hand softly clamp down on his shoulder from behind.
"Hey, it's okay. I think we'd only get in her way."
He looks back behind him to find the hand belongs to Seth. With the hood of his sweater down, he looks to Siro and nods reassuringly. Taking an uncertain breath, Siro can't help but ponder some more for a long couple of seconds. Allowing himself to think what he can only hope is rationally, he slowly nods back to Seth. His hand balls up into a fist on its own as he goes to turn back towards the fight. It was true to him that making Sagiri have to alternate between fighting Delta and worrying about him would only make things more difficult for her, just as it was true that he would believe. As he feels a tingling on the back of his neck, he shakes it away.
Meanwhile, Delta jumps back twice, the chain of her sickle clinking against her legs as she leads first with her left leg, and then with her right. Each time, her gaze remains fully fixated on Sagiri, Delta's smile growing as she does. She could see what was happening as each lunge and swing that was sent her way was launched with an aggression elevated from the attack before it. To Delta's pleasure, Sagiri wasn't acting with complete reckless abandon even as she put her all into every attempt. No, she was acting entirely with full intent, and it was for that very reason Delta had found it more and more difficult to dodge. Little by little, what remained of the inhibitions holding her back were peeled off, just as Delta always wanted.
"Aww, look at you all pushing me back! You're just toying with me now, aren't you?"
Breathing heavily, like a bull about to charge, Sagiri shakes her right hand, readjusting the grip on her kunai, with her eyes sharper than even the blades she held. She had no patience for games, no time for Delta's jokes and quips. There was no place for any of it.
"Go. Away."
SLASH!
In a blur that even Delta was barely able to see, Sagiri's arm flashes out with a swing, the kunai cutting Delta's arm above the left elbow and momentarily making her loosen her grip on Darling. Against her will, Delta flinches at the wound, her eye wincing from the pain. Yet, as the blood starts trickling from the cut, she smirks once again. Checking over her shoulder, she notices she's remarkably close to where Wasponi, Steyrin, and Megata are standing.
Rubbing the cut with her right hand, she looks first to them, and then back to Sagiri again as she thinks of an idea. If she could lure her over towards the Revenants, then she might be able to distract her and make the risk of stepping away from the roof's centre worth it. And so, she starts to take off. Delta figures it'll only take a couple of steps before Sagiri, unable to help her rage or the idea of her getting away, pursues her. That way, she can just duck or dodge left of whatever comes her direction. If Sagiri's right on top of her, then Wasponi would be forced to hesitate and delay her own attack, lest she make the entire situation worse and let Delta slip out in the process. All she'd need was just one second. Sure, a second may not sound like much to some, but it was far longer than most realized. So many times had she taken advantage of but a moment to turn the tide of fights. As she waits for those heavy footsteps behind her to turn the tide of this fight, realization hits Delta. The only heavy running footsteps were her own. From behind, the footsteps she heard were slow, were methodical. They stepped with purpose, and most importantly of all, they were keeping their distance. As Delta approaches Wasponi and drops her speed, she's met with a rather unpleasant roadblock.
FWOOSH!
A wall of flames erupts before her as she skids to a stop. She feels the heat blow by her face, nearly singing a couple of hairs on her bangs as her burn scars itch once more. Wasponi shakes her head firmly, her eyes staring Delta down even as the gas mask's lenses hide them.
"Don't even think about it. I told you, you're not leaving."
Th-Crunch.
Th-Crunch.
Sagiri's footsteps got closer as Delta turns to meet her. Even now, with her idea foiled and Sagiri not taking the bait, Delta still smiles back. She licks her lips in anticipation, even taking another step towards her as she grabs the chain near the handle of her chain sickle, teasing throwing it her way as she does. Unflinching, Sagiri continues to walk forward, her eyes dark and focused. "This is fine" Delta thinks to herself, teasing a throw a second time. She could lure Sagiri into a false sense of security this way. All it would take is for Sagiri to try and call her bluff one too many times. Her smile grows as the third one is another fake-out. Everybody always expects the third to be the attack, so it when it comes time for the fourth, she throws it out.
And that's when Sagiri once again makes her move.
SCHLINK!
CRACK!
Dashing under the throw, Sagiri lunges forward and slices the makeshift holster the chain of Delta's sickle clicks to clean off of her belt, sending it dropping down onto the rooftop. As the chain itself starts to drop, Sagiri slams the handle of her kunai into the clasp at the end, breaking it as it crashes into the roof at Delta's feet. The sickle suddenly coming detached causes Delta to lose her balance as she stretches her arm out to grab the chain, inadvertently rolling forward of sorts as she does.
Slowly, she stands back up, cradling the sickle and its chain in her arms like a bride. Even as she moves to grip the handle with her left hand, she tries to pat the chain itself, almost reassuringly as she looks down. So many emotions flow through her mind as she stares. Delta had used Darling one way for years and years now, having to change and seeing what happened to the weapon after all this time saddened her. On the other hand, this was the kind of next level she'd been looking for, this was just what she knew Sagiri was capable of. In fact, looking back she thinks only the real Apatur would be able to drive her to this point. For that, Delta decides she'll see the moment for what it is and see about making one more push.
"You broke her! That's cheating! Where's the fun in that?" Delta's voice raises, a mixture between amusement and a tinge of actual displeasure before she tilts her head slightly. "Or...is that what you like? Rules just don't do it anymore do they, Sagiri? I bet you don't even notice the others right now! It's only the fight right here. That's what you're living, no, thriving for!"
"Just shut up, already..." Sagiri growls back slowly. "Would you just shut up and DIE?!"
Before Delta has a chance to properly readjust her weapon, Sagiri shoots off towards her like a bullet from a gun, forcing Delta back and taking away her room to retreat bit by bit with each swipe. Trying to catch herself off of a stumble and shift left, she realizes too late that she's kept her right leg extended for just a fraction too long as she sees the blade come slicing down towards it.
SLASH!
In the blink of an eye, Delta feels a searing pain across her right thigh as the kunai meets flesh. Gingerly she tries to move backwards again, finding it difficult and herself nearing the edge of the roof as she does so. Try as she may to ignore the pain and pay it no mind, it still partially slowed her down. A question forms in her mind of whether she can actually win, yet it doesn't bring her panic or fear in spite of her continued attempts to dodge. The show would go on, the show must always go on. If things weren't entertaining than there was no point to them. No matter what happened here, people would keep talking about Delta, she'd made sure of that. This city was hers, and nothing would change that.
As her left foot catches her balance, she hears the clinging sound of pebbles being pushed off of the roof and to the ground below, shoved back by her boot. Still, she ducks another high attack, trying to swing the chain as a deterrent while looking for some kind of opening to bring her chain sickle up and turn the tide back in her favour. Sagiri's strikes lash out at her before Delta can even finish acting, responding to any attempted counter before she makes it. The more slashes Sagiri throws her way, the more Delta pushes her body. Again and again she digs deeper into herself both mentally and physically, sweat starting to form around the red skull of her sleeveless top. Over time Sagiri reacts less and less to the attempts at swinging the chain itself her way, recognizing them as simple attempts to distract her, the expression on Sagiri's face remaining twisted in anger as she keeps swinging. Still, Delta tries, and still she comes up empty when she's able to throw out sickle attacks on her own. With one last attempt and all of her might, Delta ducks down before swinging the chain sickle in her hand in an upwards angle right for Sagiri's head.
Only to find nothing but open air as Sagiri leans to the side.
SH-SHPLURK!
Cl-Clang!
The pair of kunai strike true, each one stabbing into opposites sides of Delta's stomach, piercing the exposed skin just below her shirt as Sagiri rises. Involuntarily, the chain sickle falls from Delta's hand, dropping onto the rooftop as the chain follows. Slowly but surely, Sagiri stands up straight, her eyes focused as she looks down on the shorter young woman, the grip on her kunai tight as ever. Gasping and choking for breath, Delta musters the strength to look up and meet Sagiri's gaze with a small smirk.
"Ha...ha...aaack..." Delta stammers to speak as blood begins to drip from her mouth. "Feels good...doesn't it?"
For a moment, Siro swears that time stands still. He feels no wind, he hears only his own breathing, and he sees only the scene in front of him. A chill runs down his spine, a cold extending nearly to his blood itself. In that moment, everything had changed. In that moment, the battle had been decided. In that moment, he feels an anxious fear.
And in that moment, Sagiri smiles.
SCHLICK!
THUNK!
With one fluid motion, Sagiri pulls the pair of kunai from Delta's stomach, slices the left kunai across Delta's throat, and gives her a front kick to the chest, sending her backwards off of the rooftop to the streets some three storeys below.
Instinctively, Delta's blue eyes widen, and as she falls and the seconds feel like hours, Sagiri never once breaks eye contact until Delta finally hits the ground. Her hands tremble momentarily after, her body shaking ever so slightly even as she still stands.
"Ah...hah...hah..."
As Sagiri breaths heavily, Siro sees her shoulders heavily move up and down, her back still remaining to them as she keeps hold of the kunai, almost as if afraid to sheathe them again. The motorcycle suit being partly loose on her in places as it is serves to make her seem almost smaller than usual in these seconds as her heart continues beating rapidly in her chest. Slowly, cautiously, Siro finds himself walking towards her.
"Sagiri?"
Step by step, she gradually turns to face him as he nears her, both of arms dropped down at her side as Sagiri's face stares back at him, nearly blank.
"...Siro?"
Eventually, he reaches her, finding himself forcing down the concoction of emotions pouring through his system. As he reaches out an arm to her, she responds only with a forced and tiny nod.
"It's okay. It's okay."
He draws her in towards himself, wrapping his arms around Sagiri in a hug to comfort her. Sagiri's arms remain hanging down at her side even as Siro pats her on the back in an effort to be reassuring and calm her down. Siro didn't know what was going through Sagiri's mind right now. He didn't know what this fully meant for all of them. And he didn't know where this left the city. Yet, as he looks over Sagiri's shoulder to the motionless figure crumpled on her back on the ground below them, he knew two things in this moment.
Sagiri was alive, reunited with him again.
And Delta was dead, sprawled out all alone.
Author's note: This chapter, along with "The River", and "Old Ghosts" makes up the trio of chapters/scenes that I conceptualized back in 2017 before even posting the Prologue. That's given me 7 years of time and work to get to and build this point. I've known from the very beginning that some day this would come, and that's made writing this chapter both really rewarding and at times difficult. For the story and characters to move forward, this chapter needed to be made, and that's driven me to put a lot into making sure it lives up to things and to trust in my own plans for the future. I can't wait to show you what the next phase has in store.