WD rule twelve is entitled 'Handle your family matters like you would your business....from a distance.'

Previous rule eleven: A lot of the time being an emissary of peace just means heightening the risk of being the first victim of war.

Next rule thirteen: An imminent demise motivates like nothing else.

Summary page

-Short summary-

Lukas finds Ruka's plans from him unfurling as the situation in China begins to take a turn for the dangerous, while the Sevens back home find themselves entertaining an unexpected guest.

-Long summary-

Time returns as Meifa glances behind at the now shattered window and the bullet casing on the floor. Even she who confesses to having a simplistic way of thinking has figured out two very big things from this attack.

1. Whomever took the shot is not an amateur. One shot from a building several meters away. If she hadn’t been here…no. If she hadn’t decided to look back then Matilde would be a problem of the past. They stalked her and their positions with precision.

2. They have info on Matilde. Why else try to snipe down someone who is otherwise innocent(-looking?) Matilde from all they know hadn’t been forthcoming with her other persona with anyone else other than her henchmen, so they had to know what she is doing or will be doing. Plus they had only taken the shot when she was out of the way, and hadn’t tried again when she dove in to save her. The target isn’t her or the other Sevens….it’s ‘Mugen’.

She knows a third thing…this person will try again, and depending on how important their mission is, they may not be so accommodating to wait till they’re all conveniently out of the way like this time. Fuck. Dipshit would have to be out of the country now wouldn’t he? Moreover that little bitch had hung up on her! After she whups his ass for doing that, she’d give him one more asswhupping for leaving the country and the team high and dry. Who gives a shit if it really isn’t his fault? She’s angry and he’s her punching bag. (She did confess to being simplistic right?)

Heike, Nolan, Ricca, Wargle and Mizuki run upstairs after hearing the commotion, and stop when they see the broken glass and Meifa on top of Matilde. Meifa blinks and looks down at Matilde who has a grin and points out that she could have just asked if she wanted to ‘have some fun’. She’s rather accommodating despite time, or even gender. Meifa jumps off her and flips the bird after calling her a sick fuck. She almost hopes the sniper tries again so that she can throw her out of the building and give him a clean shot. Nolan asks what Meifa means, and she explains that the terrorist bitch had nearly gotten her skull punctured in by a bullet. Heike examines the scene and finds the bullet, carefully using his shirt as a makeshift cloth to pick it up. He then gestures to Ricca and asks her to come over for a second. She does and looks at the bullet for a second and shakes her head. She’s never seen this kind of artillery before. To be fair she’s only an expert with American and Italian weapons, and only a newbie when it comes to killing shots from different guns. Still this is a specialized round that looks made to kill immediately. Nolan quickly surmises that someone other than the Sevens knows of Matilde’s identity, and takes it a step further than Meifa…that they know her identity and aren’t afraid of her reputation.

Wargle helps Matilde up and asks what they intend to do about this? They are supposed to be her bodyguards. Nolan glares at the Englishman and nonchalantly points out that he and Mizuki have had that position longer. Shouldn’t they spearhead an investigation? Wargle narrows his eyes and starts to rebuke him, but the door opening below silences everyone. A familiar voice asks if it came at a bad time? They had been told to come and collect something belonging to them by Lukas, but he had been very vague on when. Unfortunately, they have no time to come back later, so asking if this is a bad time is more of a formality than an actual inquiry. The Sevens exchange glances as they weren’t informed by Lukas that anyone would be coming, and they all know too well who this person is. Wargle glances over at Mizuki who’s eyes have become devoid of feeling. She turns to the door with these empty eyes as the visitor walks into the warehouse the Sevens and Matilde call HQ, and her lips move softly as she greets the visitor with a ‘You again’.

The black Honda rides through Hefei with Lukas, Jia and Jitka aboard. Jia’s breathing is sharp as he holds his leg to keep the bleeding steady. Lukas grits his teeth unable to stomach his half-brother being in a full serving of pain, and almost asks the driver to stop at a hospital, but stops himself realizing he doen’t speak Chinese, and the situation he is in. To review, he had been asked to come to China and spy on the Chinese branch of the Li se xing xuo by the Japanese born American branch head Ruka Deguchi. Mutterings in the underworld had suggested that over the last three years that some decenters had been gathering power to strike back against the non-Chinese leader, and Ruka wanted to try and assuage relations before they got to a point of no return. To Lukas’s surprise, she had also suggested that if negotiations failed she would have to act suggesting that she intends to use force –something the Ruka of three years ago would have avoided. Whatever had happened to her during the three years had made her wilier and extremely brutal. He had played that to his end by agreeing to do the spying, but only if she assisted in his quest to stop Matilde. If everything is going well she should be doing that now, but thanks to Salvo’s interference, he can’t call his team to find out what’s going on in DC, and his brother had taken a bullet to the leg courtesy of Salvo’s mute little sister Jitka who is also traveling with them to keep an eye on his movements.

He’s fucked in several different ways right now, and rushing the driver wouldn’t help things.

Lukas resigns himself to think about more positive things, for example…why had they come to pick him up? Ruka didn’t mention that, and while he can see her being upset about their falling out three years ago, he can’t see her purposely sending him into a situation to die….can he? He had bet on her being far more brutal than three years ago when dealing with his enemies, but what about him? Could he reasonably assume that her brutality won’t be extended to him? To Jia…?

As the Hefei Botanical Garden zooms past the car, Lukas remembers about Yelena who he hadn’t told much about this deal. Not so much because he’s afraid of what she’d think, but because she had been acting strangely around him. She hadn’t even gone with him the morning he left for China, citing that she wasn’t feeling well. He thought that he’d have enough time from spying to take some pictures for them to look at, maybe even bring her some souvenirs, but now even that looks unlikely. Either way they need to talk….which means he has to survive this.

The car finally comes to a stop, and the driver opens the door for the trio to disembark. Lukas stares up at the building before him, located in the center of a bustling town. He has to hand it to the Chinese, if they’re planning on killing him and his brother in such a nice looking building they really do mean business. The structure almost seems to emit an aura when the sun appears behind it in it’s position in the sky. The driver then shows them inside and into an elevator that heads downward. Jia props himself against the wall and breathes heavily while giving an even stare at Jitka who ignores him and fixes her glance straight forward. For a moment Lukas wonders what kind of life she must have lived for her to be absolutely fine shooting a guy and crippling him just because her brother says so? In addition, like Salvo had mentioned, she hasn’t said a word the entire trip. She’s like a cute little battle android. The elevator door opens and the trio are then marched down a hallway to the end where the driver opens the door and motions for them to go in. The door shuts loudly once they’re in the room and then all eyes are on the trio.

Three men wearing business suits glare at them with eyes that have long since forgotten remorse or pity. Two sit at opposite sides of a long table, while one sits at the end, his suit an immaculate white. He appears to be the youngest of the men, looking to perhaps be in his late twenties or early thirties at best. The other two men’s faces have been weathered with age and general nastiness. They have killed people or have had them killed. There is no mistaking this.

The man on the left gestures for them to sit, and Lukas does so at the end of the table after a moment of hesitation. Jia slumps into a chair beside him, his eyes on the man in the center. He seems to have totally forgotten about his leg and simply stares at the center with an intense and unreadable gaze. Jitka takes a seat beside them and with a yawn takes out a Chinese glam magazine. Lukas glances back at her and wonders when she had time to get one of those, but focuses on the trio at hand. How does he even begin this meeting? It is not like he even knew he’d be here today!

The man on the right side adjacent to the side the brothers are on the side addresses him in Mandarin, and Lukas finds himself unconsciously looking at his brother. Jia manages to stop glaring at the man in the center long enough to translate that he is asking for his name. Lukas blinks and responds, the man nodding slowly and then asking him something else. Jia then shakes his head and responds in Mandarin, and the man glares at him before shaking his head. Lukas asks what is going on now, and his brother explains that he told them that he doesn’t understand Mandarin. Lukas can feel the embarrassment in his cheeks and explains to his brother that he thought he would be spying on them. That much at least doesn’t require knowing Mandarin right? The man asks something and Jia responds, Lukas judging from the intonation that his brother is making up a BS answer. He then angrily asks something else which Jia hesitates before responding to. Lukas can already tell that he’s probably asking about who he works for or something like that, and considering that they’re not big fans of Ruka, he understands Jia’s hesitation in answering.

The man who had been speaking to them the whole time turns to the man in white who smirks and asks Jia something. Jia narrows his eyes and responds ‘Hai’ quickly. The white suited man then talks at length about something as Jia’s expression becomes unreadable. White suit then gestures at Lukas indicating that he is giving Jia a moment to explain to his brother what is going on. Jia snarls something in response, which illicits a small chuckle from the man in white. He then explains that he and his men figured out that he’d be coming here on behalf of Ruka, and decided they would make the first move and pick him up. Of course they know that the Jap bitch (their words not his), would eventually start making a move against them as their hatred of her and her father is not exactly secret information. To think she’d be stupid enough to send one man is laughable though. Perhaps she feels they will have pity on him?

Lukas can feel his throat drying up. ‘Make a move?’ That’s not what Ruka explained to him at all. So it’s either these guys have the wrong idea of his purpose here, or he was completely wrong and she did send him here to die. It seems readily apparent that they think she’s planning a hostile takeover, and he is the sacrificial lamb!

Jia then speaks slowly to White suit. White suit smiles –a dark wrong smile, and replies slowly and methodically. Jia stands up, or at least he tries to, but he falters and ends up back in his seat. White suit openly laughs at him and asks something else. Jia tries to respond but doubles over in pain as Lukas watches helplessly. Jitka makes a huffing sound and holds up a note she had written asking if he’d like her to translate? Lukas balks that even the sniper girl knows Chinese, and makes a mental note to survive this and take classes. He nods curtly and she hands him another note which explains that apparently Jia had fought some guy named Li Chen and killed him. White suit there is his older brother, Li Dao. He’s having a bit of sport at Jia’s suffering and had asked if his little brother had suffered like this before he died? Lukas glances at his brother wondering why he never mentioned this? Then it hits him. What if Li Chen was actually Xunshi who worked under Asahara Chizuo? Which means not only are they in a meeting with guys who hate Ruka and think she’s planning a hostile takeover, but their leader has a grudge against Jia for killing his little brother.

If they weren’t fucked before they certainly are now.

Dao stands up and surprises the group by speaking fluent English. He states that he has ascended to the top of the Chinese Li se xing xuo’s Chinese branch –the MAIN branch after he had promised something very important to the other members….—the head of a certain Jap bitch. Of course they were gathering the means to storm her in America secretly, but it seems those who dabble in treason can smell it’s putrid form even from continents away. So now she sent him did they? She must have some faith in his abilities then. Wouldn’t it be a shame if his body were to be found in some alley? They’d explain that he was a foot soldier sent as a vanguard for a hostile takeover, which would be all the Chinese branch needs to open war against her…just like her foolish father had taken their property –the corpse walkers and waged war against Luchiano’s men for her sake. No matter, as the blood they revere would be spilled in gallons all until the Jap bitch dies. Then he’d rule over both factions as a pureblood Chinese. Plus he could get his revenge for his misguided brother’s death. Behind them the doors open and a dozen men with guns and knives surround the trio. Dao licks his lips with a murderous grin on his face and asks if they have any last words?

Lukas glances around and realizes his one advantage is going to come from Dao underestimating him and his team. He then asks Jitka to help open a path, because they’re escaping. Jitka replies with a pouty face and a ‘hmph'. Lukas gives her two choices, die with them or live with them. Jitka eyes him for a moment, and then reaches up her skirt and grabs a small ball out of a pouch which she tosses on the floor. The ball lights up the room and explodes shattering windows and knocking everyone off their feet....except Jitka who has experienced this before apparently. She reaches for her bag, and retrieves her silenced rifle and fires two shots into the abdomen of two guards who were unlucky enough to be too close to the doorway. She then points at her eyes with two fingers and out the hallway before jumping over the guards's bodies and running down the hallway. Lukas coughs and helps his brother up, asking if he's okay? Jia coughs as well and snarks back that he's been trying to avoid meeting Dao for quite a while and that's gone to shit, his leg feels like shit, and oh they were just outdone by a little white girl. Sure she's a little white girl with guns but he feels like racial relations and stereotypes just got set back about a century. Lukas grins and figures that if he can complain like this he'll be fine, but they need to make a quick getaway. Jia nods in agreement and supporting his brother, the two make it out of the room and follow Jitka who's using light fixtures and her rifle's reflection to look around corners. Lukas takes a look at the building plans and using his active memory memorizes it. They're near the middle of the building, probably because it would be easier to kill them there and get the evidence to a public place. No one wants to ride an elevator downward with a corpse after all. So they have to find a means to get to the garage, grab wheels and get out of here before they die. Of course there's the stuff after that to worry about, but crossing bridges ---burning or otherwise when they get to them sounds like the plan. He then points Jitka down an adjacent hallway, and the trio quickly make a break for it.

Meanwhile back in the assembly room, Dao and his two associates are shaken, stirred and angry but otherwise very alive. Dao wipes his very expensive suit down with a handkerchief and then orders in Mandarin that the three should be killed on sight and their innards spread around an alley. He will have that Jap bitch’s blood if it's the last thing they do.

Speaking of which back in DC Matilde walks downstairs and greets her guest with a reserved 'How may I help you?' Before her and the Sevens is Tariq, Phillipa and Ruka all dressed in black business suits. Ruka rams the floor before her with a sword –the very same used to kill her father three years ago, and smiles. She explains that she is here to pick up something that belongs to her, something that she has been looking for. She then points at Mizuki and claims she's not going home without that cunt in tow.

Mizuki gives her sister a psychotic slasher grin and goads her older half-sister to 'Try if she fucking dares'.