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Bronze turned to see a kid unshoulder his backpack and drop a sword next to it. He stood beside the car, off towards the passenger side, a few feet from where Tekk� stood, black hair pulled back, glasses reflecting Seid�s image. He smiled. �You don�t stand a chance kid.�
With out a word, but a slight smile, the kid stepped back into a ready stance. �Nai,� he said calmly.
�What?� Bronze also stepped back. �I don�t know what you said, but if you want to try, be my guest.� He paused. �No, second that. I�ll come to you!� he took a running start. He stepped up onto the bumper of the car by one foot, then onto the hood. In an in-stant, he jumped, attempting a flying sidekick at the other teenaged boy.
Calmly the boy stepped to the side and countered with a roundhouse kick as Seid� landed. It caught him in the side, but he caught the kid�s leg and quickly countered that attack with a punch. The kid caught it and held it, balancing effortlessly on his left foot, the one that seemed not to be dominant. Seid� lowered his eyebrows. �What�s your name kid?�
The teen smiled. �You are good, ya know. For a normal Human. My name? It doesn�t matter; you won�t live long enough to care. Neither will she.� He jerked his head at Tekk�. �What a shame.� The kid brought his left leg out and kicked Bronze, knocking them both to the ground. Bronze landed hard and kipped up quickly to watch the kid land a back flip smoothly.
�Normal Human?! If only you knew what we were boy!�
He laughed. �Ya know, I haven�t had a fight like this in a long time. I�m really en-joying myself. Come, then, if you think you can beat me.� He set into a ready stance again. Bronze did as well and the two stood still as they watched each other silently.
Tekk� didn�t dare move. Yeah, she knew some martial arts, but she knew nothing compared to them! Besides just by watching the two; and she knew Seid� had been out in the open for a fact, it was obvious they were street smart. Very street smart and on a to-tally different plane then she was.
The boy snapped his eyes to Tekk�. �So, Tekk�, do you know what your name means? Huh? Bet you don�t.�
Bronze saw his chance. He lunged in again and once again, the boy calmly re-torted. He jumped up and did a jumping spin kick, but Seid� saw it and ducked, landing a sidekick on the kid as he landed.
The kid fell back, but flipped, landing a handspring onto the hood of the car. He jumped into a ready stance and smiled. Tekk� saw the metal bend under his weight on the hood of the car. �This is too good! My name? Yeah, Shi, Akira.�
Tekk� and Bronze�s eyes widened, but he never moved edge wise. It was Tekk� to speak. �Then knock it off! Damn it! Don�t you get it you two? All three of us are sup-posed to be here. Seid�! Shi, Akira.�
�Fuck this shit!� he looked to Tekk�. �There is no way that bastard is him. I won�t listen to this nonsense! This stuck up rookie?!�
�Shimatta! You two?� he laughed and dropped from his stance, into a slight bow, then jumped off the car. �Gomen. Arigato. For the fight; I thank you.�
Bronze took a step back. �What?�
�No one�s ever shown you manners before? God, where did you grow up?�
�This can�t be happening to me. First I get stuck with you Tekk�, and then I get stuck with this clown. This can�t be Akira. Tekk�, I think you�ve made a mistake.�
�I�ve had three more years to do a background check on this kid. Actually it�s part of me, for some reason.� She shrugged the concern off. �Just trust me for once Seid�!� she glared at him. �I know what I�m talking about.�
�Sumimasen�� Akira leaned back on the side of the car and crossed his arms. �But Tekk�, I�ve got that same feeling. I�ve got some sort of feeling that isn�t quite right.�
Tekk� looked at him is shock and Seid� looked at him like he was crazy, just like his sister. �Give me a break, you two. I can�t believe this.� He turned and crossed his arms, walking off towards the city below them.
�You are Shi, Akira, right?� Tekk� watched the thin built kid, who looked a lot like her brother in build and muscle tone, as he turned and picked up his backpack, sling-ing it effortlessly over his head to rest on his shoulder. Then he bent slightly at the knee to pick up his sword.
�Hai,� he nodded. �Yeah, I am Tekk�. Come on, we should catch up to Seid� be-fore he gets into the city and gets himself killed.� He reached out to touch Tekk�, but she, with her fear of being touched from being in the lab all those years, pulled her gun and leveled against his chin.
�Don�t,� she pressed it deeper into his flesh. �Don�t ever touch me again.�
�Alright, alright,� he raised his arms in guilt. �I�m sorry. I won�t. Come on.� He took a step back and followed Seid� with out another word.
Tekk� shoved her pistol back in her pants and watched the two boys as they walked, each at their own pace, towards the city. She sighed. �Hey, Akira! Wait up.�
He stopped and looked over his shoulder to her with a smile. This made her pause mentally, no one had ever shown her any sort of kindness before, and here Akira was showing kindness to a total stranger. �I knew you would change your mind. Can I ask you some thing Tekk�?�
�What?� she asked quietly as the two started walking again. Ahead of them, Seid� kept walking at his pace, trained on something.
�I can tell just by looking at you and by the way you held me at gun point; people being in contact with you has been minimal. The people weren�t very nice were they?�
Tekk� nodded silently. �Were they nice to you?�
�No, not at all. That Masuda bitch that I lived with, man was she mean, but I just convinced myself that I wasn�t going to be like her and learned from my friend Yushiro at school.�
�See I was in the lab and never had any other personalities to deal with except the doctors of the lab. I�ve nothing to learn from like you did. And neither has Seid�, but he�ll never change. He actually escaped from the lab and has been running around loose for the past three years while I�ve been stuck dealing with the lab people.�
Akira laughed. �Yeah, I can see that he�ll never change. But you strike me as the type that can.�
Tekk� looked at him. �What do you mean?�
He smiled again, but never looked at her. �You�ll see.�
The city of Graceful Betrayal was actually rather well constructed considering it was rebuilt in only three years. The streets were lined with cars, ranging from the freshly washed Mercedes Bens to the rusted shit box Ford truck that was parked in front of the flower shop before the Colony drop. Buildings were old and buildings were new. Streets were paved and streets were broken. Children played among the unmarked graves of a child who could have been a future lover. Birds sang, dogs barked, the wind blew through the tops of the trees. Some one had really spent time rebuilding the city only to name it Graceful Betrayal. The reason, according to most people you passed on the streets, was the Agents. Agents built the city and swarmed like rats. Large sewer rats that feed off the poison you set out and it only makes them stronger. They were the reason Graceful Be-trayal existed�and they were the reason it was named such that it was. The reasoning beyond that was questionable.
But the streets were surprisingly bare. A lady, sweeping her open store front, stopped, to pick up a salt shaker, when she saw the three of them. Walking abreast down the wide walk. All wearing sunglasses, tinted black, reflecting her shocked image back to her. All of them wearing the same thing, all gray, in the form of a vest, low cut, baggy pants that fell loosely over their black work boots. Even the girl�s bra was the same shade of gray. They walked with an unalarmed step, but at the same time, the woman knew they were watchful. The long haired boy gripped the shoulder strap of his backpack loosely as it crossed his chest. The short haired boy, watching down the street, his gaze seemingly fixed on some object. And her. The girl, with black hair hanging wildly in her face, was looking at her. Her smile never flinched up or down, but stayed straight as they walked by, her hand lightly resting over a small silver pistol handle. Was she..?
The three black haired youths turned the corner and Bronze stopped. �What?� Tekk� pushed him away after she ran into his back. �Seid�!�
�Shut up!� he looked at her. �Listen.�
Akira looked back down the road they just came from to see the woman go back to sweeping her area of property. �All she�s�� he stopped. �Son of a bitch!�
Ahead of the three came a black Sadan. Driving slowly down the road, the car drove past them really slow and the people seemed to be ready to jump out at any second. Akira slid his hand to his gun as the three teens watched their reflections roll by on the tinted windows and washed metal of the vehicle. Seid� stepped into the road after the car drove by, his hand gripping his weapons as well.
�Fuck!� Akira kicked the lamp post right there on the corner. �This is bullshit! How the hell are we supposed to fight a whole city full of these sons-a-bitches?�
Seid� turned quietly. Tekk� looked at him calmly. Bronze lowered his eyebrows. �Now they know we�re here.�
�Uh, well, duh!� Akira shook his head. �Man, what a fucking day.�
�We need to find a cover.� Tekk� looked around. �Seid� what do you say?�
�No, not here.� He said quietly. �They�ll be back here. In one of the old build-ings.� He stepped back onto the sidewalk.
�Alright then, let�s go.� Akira shrugged and looked at Tekk�. �Right?�
She nodded calmly and just as she stepped forwards a bullet rick-a-shayed off the lamp post just where she was about to step. �What the fuck?!� she whirled around pulling her pistols. The two boys followed suit. �Where the fuck did that come from!? Who the hell is shooting at us?!�
Akira jumped up against the side of the building and looked around the corner. �That fucking bitch!� the woman they had passed was standing down in front of her shop, shakily holding a pistol. Akira turned and fired a shot, catching her in the knee. The woman screamed and dropped her weapon, clutching her knee. Seid� looked at Akira calmly as he and Tekk� walked down to the woman.
Tekk� walked over, throwing a table aside and leveling her drawn pistol against the woman�s forehead. �Alright, bitch, talk.�
�I�I�I�� she stammered. �I�wa�was afraid.�
Tekk� cocked her head. �You�re not now?�
�N�No! B�But I did�didn�t want y�you to h�hurt anybody.�
Akira stifled a laugh. Tekk� just blinked and removed her sunglasses looking down into the woman�s scared brown eyes. Her black eyes were soft compared to her at-titude. �You won�t have to worry about me hurting anybody; I�m not the one that does a lot of the killing.�
If there was any color left in her scared features it was gone in an instant. A gasp escaped her lips and she spoke in that broken stammer. �Wha�what?�
Tekk� cocked back the hammer on the pistol, speaking lowly. �I�m not the one you need to worry about.�
Akira leveled both pistols, cocking the hammers. �Me on the other hand�� he drifted off with a smile.
A shot was fired immediately after and the woman fell back violently to the ground, blood coursing from the back of her skull, across the newly swept cement, from where the bullet exited. Both Tekk� and Akira turned around. Seid� lowered his arm, dropping the pistol back to his side. �You shouldn�t even give them time to react to the fact that they�re going to die.�
Tekk� uncocked her weapon. �And that Burns kid?�
Bronze turned silently and shoved the weapon back into his pants. The image of himself kneeling over the scared form of Petri Burns haunted his mind as he closed his eyes behind his glasses. �We need to find a place to stay. Let�s go you two.�
Akira shook his head. �Fakka! Man who is this guy?!� he crossed his arms as Tekk� knelt by the woman to remove a plain gold bang from her left hand. Her voice was quiet, betraying her true nature as she set it on a nearby table.
�My brother, Akira.� She looked up and over to him as they walked after him. �He�s my twin brother.�
Akira looked at her. Her small form in every way attractive and seeing this vul-nerable side, he knew that she was different. Steele Tekk�, a name given to her at her Cybernetic �birth,� and brother to Bronze Seid�, she was more like him then her brother. At least he would have some one to talk to now. He looked back to see Bronze open a door and step inside. He shrugged and paused as Tekk� stepped in before him.
The three walked up the stairs in silence, the only noise being made, the sound of their boots against the wooden stairs. Bronze opened a door to the left at the top of the stairs. It was a small apartment. Basically it was two bedrooms, a kitchen/dinningroom/livingroom combination and a bathroom. It was fully furnished, giving the suggestion that some one lived there, but it seemed to be abandoned because there was dust on the small table in the kitchen.
Akira closed the door behind him as Tekk� walked to the window. �Seid� it�s over the main street.�
�Good,� was his grunted reply.
Akira snorted. �Alrighty then.� He nodded as he spun around a wicker chair and sat down, taking off his backpack and sword. �One problem guys, I don�t know about you, but food.�
�What about it?� Bronze squatted on the floor. �Akira that�s a minor concern right now.�
�And a major one is?�
He lowered his eyebrows into a glare. �The Special Force Agents.�
�Oh, right, right.� He nodded. �Good point.�
Bronze stood up. �Are you not serious about this?! Akira don�t you understand the importance of what we�re fighting for?�
�No, actually, that was never explained to me. That Masuda bitch told me to get the fuck off the Colony!�
�Our mission is to finish a rebellion begun long ago. It�s a fight for our lives Akira! It�s that simple! A fucking fight for our lives!� he grabbed Akira by the vest and pulled him up. �That�s our mission Jap!�
Akira just pulled back and decked Bronze. The teen stumbled back, spitting blood on the floor, but keeping his balance.
�Boys,� Tekk� went to hit Akira, but he caught it. �Twice in one day!�
�Tekk� Akira started.
�Fuck you!� she pulled away and backed up a few paces. �I don�t believe you two!� she shook her head. �Don�t start with me Akira! I�ve never met you before today, but feel like I�ve known you my entire life and now you�re gonna try to lecture me?! You, Akira, can go to hell.�
�All I was going to do was say I was sorry.� Akira crossed his arms and matched her tone. All Bronze did was to grunt a nod.
Tekk� drew a breath to speak, but stopped. �S�sorry? No one�s ever said that to me before Akira.� She dropped her head a little and he walked up to her.
�Don�t worry about it Tekk�. Me and��
�Me and Akira are going to fight,� Seid� interrupted. �It�s in all our veins to fight, so that�s what we�ll do. I�ll fight who ever to protect what I care about.� He turned for the door. �I�ll be back later.� And he was gone, with a click of the door handle to show it to be true.
Tekk� blinked. �Did he just say what I think he said?�
Akira nodded. �That he cares about you? Yup, that�s what the bastard said. Kinda hard to believe actually,� he laughed. �Oh well.�
Tekk� stared blankly at the door for a moment before turning to Akira. �What did you mean by that?�
�Huh? What?� Akira dropped into a sitting position on the floor and looked up at Tekk�. �What did I mean by what Tek?�
�That you find�never mind. It is hard to believe. I see your point.�
Akira smiled. �How come you two fight like that?�
�He left me.� Tekk� turned to the window, crossing her arms. �When he escaped. He left me there.�
�Huh?� Akira shrugged. �Could he have gotten to you if he wanted or not?�
�I was right there in the same area with him. It wouldn�t have taken long.� Tekk� turned to look at Akira. He was just sitting there, calm as could be, as if there was no problem in the world. No fight for their life, nothing. �But he left without me.�
Akira took a deep breath, but sat still otherwise. �Maybe it was for the better, Tek, that you got left behind. Maybe not. Only time can tell now.�
�What the hell is that supposed to mean?�
�That�s for you to figure out, Tekk�. That�s for you to figure out.�