The Good Life: Heroic Intentions (ch. 12) (Patreon)

Rumi didn't at all care for this world, she decided, raising a steelclad foot up high before bringing it down on the collar bone of some no-name villain. The bone buckled under the blow, the man crying out in pain as he collapsed and she was announced the winner. The crowd cheered like it had in any way been a fight.

Fuck, even the fighting rings in this world were garbage. The ones back home were so much better.

"This sucks," Rumi muttered, resisting the urge to adjust her hat to let her rabbit ears stand free. They were folded in on themselves and it was uncomfortable as all hell. She glanced over at the others -- Members of the Seven plus Supernova. Deep. That one was a fucking joke. The guy was a coward, through and through. He was one of the very worst sort of 'hero' -- the ones that did the job for a paycheck. You didn't have to be motivated by altruism to be a hero. That might go against what the public liked to think, but you really didn't.

She didn't give the smallest iota of a fuck about the greater good. Being good for goodness sake was All Might's department, and like the rest of the world, she admired the hell out of him for it. She didn't share his motivation, but Rumi fundamentally respected those that were putting their money where their mouth was. The ones that found something to strive for and were willing to bleed, sweat, and cry to achieve it. Rumi was a simple woman with simple tastes -- she wanted the challenge. The fights against powerful villains. If she was being pushed to her limits, then it was a good day.

And because of guys like Deep, Rumi hadn't had a good day in months. The so-called heroes that were afraid of breaking a nail. The ones that spent more time in photo shoots and doing interviews than they did heroics. There were plenty of them back home, but there was a limit on how high you could rise with that mentality. You might be able to eek out a decent career, but you would never make it in the top hundred, much less the top ten. Those spots were reserved for idiots like her.

That's what got under her skin the most. Fucking Deep was in the top ten in this world. Hell, depending on who you asked, he was in the top five. Rankings were utterly meaningless popularity polls, but back home you couldn't be in them without being able to walk the walk. And he couldn't even crawl.

"Winner -- Hops!" The ringleader cheered, throwing her arm into the air. This entire thing was completely ridiculous. The fight was trash. Where were the villains that were willing to shatter every bone in their body to win or get away? She handed out love taps and people crumpled like paper. There was only one reason why she was bothering with this farce at all.

Heartless.

Leaving the ring, Rumi approached her fellow heroes. Deep was trying to eye-fuck her with a winning smile that made her want to punch his teeth out. Starlight was… depressing, honestly. Her costume would make Midnight proud. She'd be better off with a couple of bandaids. Her and Supernova's relationship was weird -- very weird -- but what the fuck did she care how they fucked?

"Nice one, love," a man with a distinct British accent remarked to her, seated at a table. Black hair, beard, dark blue eyes. The words sounded like a compliment, but based on how he was looking at her, it was anything but.

Rumi let out a dismissive scoff, and ignored him. Normals weren't worth her time. Their bones might as well be made out of glass for how easily they broke. "We won. Now what?" Rumi asked, her gaze sliding to Yoruichi. Her golden eyed gaze danced with amusement as she lounged in a booth with her feet kicked up. The woman was dangerous. Rumi had wondered if her attitude would change when she saw what they could do -- the little that they were permitted to show off. Would she back off when she saw that they weren't pathetic chumps?

No. Her attitude remained the same. She carried herself with a swagger that screamed, 'I'd win.' It was getting progressively more difficult to not challenge her on it.

Rumi hated this world. She hated the heroes. She hated the 'villains.' She hated how corporate it was. Above all else, she hated the fact that there was no challenge. In anything.

"Did we meet your standards?" Supernova questioned, a smirk in her voice. Smug. That word summed Supernova up best. What was with flame heroes being total blowhards? At the very least, Rumi could say that Supernova deserved some of that confidence. She didn't suck. And that was very high praise in this world, Rumi was finding.

"I suppose you do," Yoruichi returned, wiping the slight smirk off of Supernova's face. Yoruichi wasn't impressed by them. Which asked the question of what would it take to impress her? "I'll float your names to Devil Child, see what she thinks of you. Before you go, I want you to take these -- if she decides you're worth something, you can expect a call." With a single clean motion, she tossed four burner phones their way. Deep fumbled his, dropped it, and quickly scooped it up.

Supernova was frowning now, "Should we expect a call?" Her arrogance didn't at all fit her D-Lister character since she said 'we' like most people would say 'I.'

"Maybe. Maybe not. If you were, I would say that you could expect something… soon," Yoruichi informed them, gesturing to the door. About as clear of a dismissal that you could get, but Supernova lingered as the rest of them pulled away. Her frustration was evident, but when Yoruichi didn't budge, she forced herself to swallow it down and leave with the rest of them.

One by one, they changed out of their 'costumes.' It was hard to hear with her ears folded up like they were, but she still kept an ear out to try to overhear what Yoruichi was saying as she chatted on a phone. "- should be good for it. I think it'll be a fun surprise for him. He's been in a bit of a funk lately." Yoruichi paused for a moment, the other end saying something. Rumi pushed away the ambient noise and really focused on what Yoruichi was saying, trying to follow the conversation while hoping that Supernova and Starlight weren't fucking in the dressing room.

Worse, Deep kept trying to talk to her.

"He's a man of action at heart, so the subtle stuff isn't really his style. It's about the thrill for him. So, I say he'd need something to keep himself occupied before he pulls another stunt like he did before," Yoruichi remarked, not sounding displeased. The opposite, really, she almost sounded like she approved. "This'll give him something to chew on for a while. Sound good to you?" Yoruichi paused again, her smile growing. "Don't tell him it's me yet, will you? I want to see his face when he realizes. Thanks, Devil's Child."

Rumi's eyes narrowed at the name. It was said in a teasing manner, which begged the question of who Yoruichi was in the overall organization. Devil's Child had a quirk that leaned heavily into utility rather than outright power -- she locked down the opponent's ability to move by leveraging their limbs in judo holds. It wouldn't really work against anyone outright stronger than her, but even then, it would trip up most opponents in a crucial moment if used correctly. And, so far, Devil's Child proved that she knew how to use her quirk.

Heartless was a control type. Those were always pains in the ass to deal with, but after their first bout, she more or less had a handle on his quirk. Area control, more or less. Switching places with stuff, or people. Meaning that he had to prep the battleground in advance to fight on equal footing.

Yoruichi, however, was an unknown that was placed in charge here, where D-lister capes would be fighting it out, and she didn't look worried about winning if it came to a brawl. Not against her, or any of the supes. Which begged the question what could she do and how far up the food chain was she?

Rumi was eager to find out as Supernova and Starlight finally exited the dressing room, Starlight flushed a bright red while Supernova wore a smug smile. Rumi entered, cutting off whatever Deep had been saying.

Yoruichi. That was a name worth remembering.

…

"The operation is a go," Raynor voiced in operations control. Rumi stood behind her, watching the monitors with faint interest. There were a bunch of them, with each member of the Eight getting at least five to themselves. All of them were regular, run of the mill, crime bosses. No quirks of any kind. Quirkless humans.

Almost as soon as the call was given out, Queen Maeve and Homelander descended from the sky directly in front of Carl, head of the Falcon mob. He was walking to his car, his two guards gaping at the two heroes. However, Rumi noted something of interest in Carl's expression.

Resignation. Not surprise. Not disbelief. Not even fear or desperation. Resignation. Like he knew that this was coming and he hadn't been able to stop it, so he accepted his fate. A rather odd attitude coming from an infamous criminal. Rumi's eyes narrowed, a foot bouncing in place.

And, almost one cue, the phone she kept in her pocket for the past three days suddenly buzzed.

"I got a bite," Rumi informed the control room, flipping open the phone to see a single text was in the inbox. An address. Raynor snapped her attention to Rumi as Homelander placed Carl under arrest while Queen Maeve dispatched the two guards. She broke their arms -- Rumi was no stranger to excessive force. It was the very best kind. But it seemed completely unnecessary on a couple of quirkless guys that were already in the process of surrendering.

"Where?" Raynor asked, and Rumi read out the address. "That's… a retirement home? Sage Grove Center?" She questioned, sounding puzzled. Then she got a notification, "Supernova, Starlight, and Deep also got a notification. It's something big, if they're bringing all four of you. Or your identities have been cracked," Raynor ventured, but Rumi didn't care one way or the other.

"I'm going," Rumi decided. If it was a trap, then she would just spring it. Actually, she almost wished that it was.

Raynor gave her a sharp measuring look. "It's not a coincidence you got this text within ten seconds of us commencing the operation," she pointed out, meaning that Heartless somehow knew that his Eight would be getting busted. That Homelander would be busy. He had another thing coming if he thought he only had to worry about Homelander.

"That don't change a thing," Rumi dismissed with a smile on her face, feeling her heart rate start to pick up. Hopefully this would at least give her the chance to shake some rust off. "We aren't infants. Well, me, Supernova, and Starlight aren't. Not sure about the Deep." She admitted, and she saw Raynor swallow a smile.

"Then get ready. I'll oversee your operation from here," Raynor told her, inclining her head at Rumi and granting the blessing that she needed to finally get some action.

With it, the four of them headed out to the Sage Grove Center, which was in Pennsylvania, of all places. One thing that Rumi had underestimated was just how big America was. In the time it would have taken to travel coast to coast across Japan, they were barely in the state, forced to travel by a van to maintain their cover. Just as Raynor suspected, Heartless was aware of what they planned because no sooner than Carl was captured, the rest of the Eight went to ground, vanishing in the city.

Homelander and Queen Maeve managed to capture two more members of the Eight in the meantime, but it was an active hunt for the remainder. New York was a big city, but there were only so many places to hide from a man with X-ray vision. Homelander would find them. Eventually.

Which left them preparing for their mission and guessing what it meant. Deep was bloodless and thankfully silent, leaving Supernova to fill the silence. "Follow my lead in this," she instructed everyone. Deep winced, Starlight bowed her head, and Rumi cocked an eyebrow. Something that Supernova didn't miss. "For the sake of the mission. We can't simply assume that our cover has been blown. This is an opportunity to learn what Heartless desires as much as it is to see what kind of force he possesses."

"No duh," Rumi retorted. Supernova had a big head. She didn't particularly have any issues with the plan, but the fact that Supernova just decided that she was in charge was annoying. "There's no lead to follow. Officially speaking, we don't know each other and unofficially, the taskforce doesn't have a leader. So, on whose authority are you trying to order me around, huh?" Rumi pressed, not even that bothered by it. She just wanted to make the point and push a couple of Supernova's buttons.

And, phew, it sure worked like a charm.

Supernova's glare was icy for a girl whose quirk revolved around fire. "They will expect at least a degree of professionalism," Supernova replied, her tone testy and frigid. "I am the natural candidate to lead this… excursion. Unless you wish to be leader? Perhaps I should have asked you, but I assumed that it would interfere with your free spirit." That was the single politest 'eat shit and fucking die' that Rumi had ever heard, and over the years, she had heard plenty of them.

Though, she did have a point. "Nah. Not really how I do things," Rumi dismissed and Supernova sent a smile that was sharp enough to cut and was as sweet as poison.

"I noticed. Considering that this is a mental health asylum, it would be best to keep the property damage to a minimum," Supernova tacked on, and now Rumi was starting to get annoyed. It wasn't just the people that were fragile here, but the buildings were too. A light hop would shatter the 'concrete,' much less using her full strength in a jump. She actually had to try to bust buildings back home, and when she did, it was taken care of easily. It was no big deal. If UA could build entire cities from scratch for a training exercise, then doing some patch jobs around the city should be no issue.

"Fuck you," Rumi replied, her tone flippant. She wasn't one of those candy asses that could trade subtle polite insults, and she was glad for it. She'd rather flip the bird and tell them to get fucked. Honestly, people like Supernova -- the type that could tell you to go to hell and make you look forward to the trip -- were the worst to deal with. If they didn't harp on her for her attitude, then they threw roadblock after roadblock to get to the action. Worse, even when they were being a dick, because they were polite about it, she got in trouble for being blunt.

Supernova's eyes narrowed a fraction and Rumi met her gaze unrepentantly. Oh, Supernova did not like it when people stood up to her, that was clear as day. Rumi might not have had a problem with her before getting into the van but she sure would by the time they got out of it.

"We're here," the driver announced, coming to a stop. Rumi didn't break eye contact with Supernova, unrepentantly challenging her, and forcing Supernova to look away after a long tense moment of silence.

"Thank you," Supernova replied, her tone sweet as she looked away and left the van first. Starlight was looking at Rumi with wide eyes, like she couldn't possibly believe that Rumi had somehow stood up to Supernova. So, Rumi tossed a wink her way and got out of the van to stretch her legs.

It was good to be out of New York. Really good. Perhaps it was her missing her homeland, but it couldn't hold a candle to Tokyo. The streets were absolutely filthy, everything was rundown or tagged with graffiti, and the lack of convenience stores was downright appalling. Not to mention everything vaguely smelled like piss. There really was nothing good about New York city, so the change in scenery was very welcome. She found herself surrounded by trees in a solitary path that seemed to take them up to the mental asylum.

They weren't given a destination to meet at, but Rumi saw why the driver decided to call it here.

Yoruichi stood at the end of the road, her arms crossed and a sky smile tugging at her lips. "Good of you to finally arrive! I've been waiting!" Yoruichi greeted them, and all four of them cautiously approached. Rumi didn't hear anything in the forest other than a shit ton of bugs and animals. So, if this was an ambush, then Yoruichi seemed to think she could take them on solo.

Something that got her blood rushing, because if it was a trap then Yoruichi would know who they are. And was convinced that she could take them all on.

"What shall we be doing?" Supernova spoke up, quickly trying to establish command and Rumi rolled her eyes to the sky above.

"Pretty simple. You're going to break into the asylum and free everyone that you see," Yoruichi informed them, making Rumi blink.

"That's…" Rumi started, trailing off. "That's kind of fucked up," she decided, continuing when she noticed Supernova's glare.

To that, Yoruichi simply smiled. "You'll understand shortly," she promised, sounding certain of it. Rumi narrowed her eyes at the woman, then widened them when she moved. It started at her feet and she all but vanished in a burst of speed, making the others jump back in surprise.

"Teleportation? Is Heartless here?" Supernova questioned but Rumi was shaking her head, trying to fight the smile tugging at her lips. She was failing. Miserably.

"That was pure speed," Rumi corrected, earning a sharp look from Supernova. Deep was muttering 'oh, fuck' into the palms of his hands on repeat. Starlight suddenly seemed rather nervous -- she was pretty much useless without lightbulbs around, and they were in short supply in a forest. "I don't hear her anymore. Either she's far enough away that I can't, or she's hiding herself," Rumi continued, the blood in her veins singing in anticipation.

"Are we seriously doing this?" Starlight found her voice, looking everywhere but at Supernova. "Breaking people out of a mental asylum… they're there for a good reason. They could hurt themselves or other people, and just letting them out… it's kind of vile."

"I vote that we don't do it," Deep decided, earning a sharp look from Supernova that he flinched at. That was… kind of a weird reaction, wasn't it?

"We aren't voting," she stated, her tone distinctly annoyed. "And we will go through with it. It's necessary for us to join Heartless," she tacked on, promptly turning on her heel and marching up the road toward the asylum, simply expecting that they would follow. As annoying as Supernova was being about it, she wasn't wrong and Rumi had her own reasons for following through. Above all else, she was curious -- what did Yoruichi mean that they would understand?

Starlight and Deep both seemed disappointed when Rumi followed along, approaching the front door. Supernova looked to Rumi after trying the doors, finding that they were locked. Which… was pretty weird for a mental asylum, in the middle of the day. Rumi cocked an eyebrow and Supernova smiled, "This requires brute force. Your area of expertise," she noted. Oh, she was seriously going to be like that the entire time?

As if she needed another reason to not join the Seven.

"With pleasure!" Rumi exclaimed, deciding to ignore the insult to kick the suspiciously thick and secure doors clean off if it hinges, sending it crashing with enough force that it tore through the second set of double doors. There, Rumi saw a panicked looking nurse -- middle aged, unkept beard… who was frantically shredding files. "Oi! Get on the ground!" Rumi instructed, seeing a run of the mill hospital lobby. She almost looked away to see some giant red flag that she was missing, but it was staring her right in the face because the last thing she expected was for the nurse to pick up a shotgun and aim it at her.

"Mirko!" Starlight exclaimed, flinging out a hand and the lightbulbs in the lobby flashed before the nurse was flung back when he caught a light blast in the chest.

"Nice save!" Rumi remarked, a feral smile tugging at her lips. Supernova was tearing into Starlight for blowing their cover, but that response was all that she needed. Without so much as another word, Rumi launched herself down the hallway, flipping midair to land on a metal door, it crumpled like paper underneath her feet and tore off the door hinge, letting her skate across the ground.

There, she saw the doors weren't normal doors. They wouldn't look out of place in a prison -- steel plate with a small opening for meals. "You lot unlock the doors! I'm gonna find whose in charge!" She told the others, spotting another nurse that was fleeing down the hallway. Rumi grinned and gave chase, the floor giving way under foot as she sped forward, reaching the corner that he rounded just in time to see him bust through a door. Before he could hope to close it, she kicked it in, making him scramble back.

"Oh fuck, oh shit, oh fuck!" He fell on his ass, crawling away from her, and Rumi guessed this was the command center of this little place.

"So… Dan," Rumi began, looking around to see a bunch of medical stuff. Drugs, chemicals, and whatnot. "Feel like telling me what you were doing here?" She asked, her gaze sliding to a console.a bunch of screens were on it, each displaying an individual feed, and…

Rumi understood. "What. The. Fuck?" Rumi breathed, looking at the video feed with wide eyes. Each one was a room with a person in it, except something was wrong. One of them kept vomiting acid that seemed to burn him as much as it did the floor. Another was frantically bashing his head against the wall, tearing at his skin that regenerated as soon as he injured himself. Another had a mega huge dick.

But that's not what stole her attention away.

One video showed an operating room with a young Asian woman on the table, cut open from cunt to throat with a team of surgeons mucking through her guts. However, what stole her breath away was the fact that she was moving. The woman was awake and aware.

"What the fuck is this?!" Rumi snarled at the man -- Dan, she reminded herself, looking at his name tag. His face was completely bloodless as he tried to cower away.

"You aren't supposed to be here! No one is supposed to be here!" He protested, borderline hysterical and Rumi crossed the distance to hurl him to his feet and lifting off the ground, his legs kicking out frantically. "They'll kill me! They're going to kill me!"

She was about to kill him. "Who?!" She raged, and it took every ounce of her self restraint to not paste the guy when he started blubbering.

"I don't know! I don't know! No one knows! We… we just get paid to administer meds and take care of the subjects-" he started, and Rumi lost it, tossing him at the table with a little too much force. He cried out in pain before crumpling to the floor unconscious -- Rumi felt like kicking herself, but now wasn't the time for it. Her attention snapped back to the console, seeing that Supernova and Starlight were being useful and freeing prisoners. Her gaze locked into the video feed of the woman, who was getting her guts yanked out.

And she moved. Rumi ripped off her hat, letting her ears unfold to listen. The sounds assaulted her now they weren't muffled. This place was an absolute hell hole, Rumi realized, tearing through the asylum. She could hear the crying and screaming that came behind the metal doors, echoing out into the hallways. It felt like a thousand pound weight was dropped into her stomach as she zeroed in on the operating room. She knocked the doors right off the hinges, seeing them bagging the organs to shove in coolers. They looked up at her with wide eyes.

Rumi wasn't exactly great with self restraint to begin with. She tried -- she really did -- but the moment she was hit with the stench of blood and realized that the pants and gasps coming from the woman wasn't because of pain… it was because they removed her fucking lungs, Rumi saw red. She moved in a blur of action, crossing the distance and lashing out. Bones shattered and people cried out in absolute agony. Rumi wasn't entirely sure that she didn't kill anyone, but even if she did, Rumi didn't have it in her to care.

"Hey, hey, it's okay!" Rumi said, addressing the woman on the table. Her hair was black and unwashed, her eyes dark. She was pretty, but absolutely haggard looking. Rumi ripped off the restraints on the woman, and watched in awe as she started to grope for the bag that contained her lungs. Rumi hesitated, already realizing that she was a regenerator, but the reason why she hesitated was because she saw the piles of organs. A good dozen sets of lungs, livers, stomachs, and intestines. They had been harvesting the woman for her organs.

Horrified, Rumi ripped the containers open and gave the woman her lungs back. Her stomach was doing flips when she saw that her body just… reconnected them. Like a plug going into a socket, and with a loud gasp, the woman could breath. Taking that as her cue, Rumi dumped the rest of the organs back into her, all of them melding back into her body like she was slotting in Legos before her flesh smoothed over. It wasn't the first time Rumi had seen a regeneration quirk, but it was the first time she saw one this powerful. Her gaze flickered to an IV that flowed blue stuff into her veins, and with a trembling hand the woman ripped it out of her.

"I'm here to help," Rumi told her, the woman glancing at her. Out of the corner of her eye, Rumi saw a name on the clipboard. Kimiko Miyashiro. "Can you stand?" Rumi asked, and Kimiko started to rise, only for her legs to give out from underneath her. Rumi caught her and tried her best to channel All Might. "I'm Rumi Usagiyama," she introduced herself, sweeping Kimiko off of her feet. "The Hero Mirko. You're going to be okay now. I'm gonna make sure of it."

Kimiko didn't make a sound, but the hallways were filled with noise. Prisoners were cautiously leaving their cells, glancing at Supernova or Starlight, or even Deep, who were all trying to keep them calm. Rumi walked past it all, determined to get Kimiko out of this pit and to let her see the sun. It was as she neared the entrance, she saw Yoruichi with a hand on her hip, clearly waiting for them.

"Who did this?" Rumi growled at Yoruichi, her eyes narrowing into slits while Kimiko responded to the sun, basking in it in her arms.

"We have no idea," Yoruichi admitted, sounding like she was being honest. "We found out about this place by chance, did a little preliminary investigation and learned someone was trying to create superpowers. We chose you lot to see what kind of reaction we would get, Mirko." Yoruichi said, confirming that she knew who they were from the start.

Rumi grit her teeth, "You have no idea?"

"We have some guesses," she confirmed. "This place is rather hush-hush. The people here have no idea who they work for. The building is officially owned by no one and the funding is completely untraceable. A lot of effort went into making sure the center couldn't be connected to anyone. But the reaction we get should give us a direction to go in."

"Who?" Rumi snarled.

"Either Vought or the US government. They were the only ones who knew about this, and as soon as you all set out, these people locked everything down, and started destroying evidence. Don't know if it's being done in any official capacity either." Yoruichi's tone was even, but it carried a harsh edge. A villain she might be, but it was a relief to see that she didn't approve of human experimentation.

She heard about shit like this before. Way back in the Dark Ages of Quirks -- people were trying to extract them and utilize them. Mass produce them. Control them. Some said that the reason why the quirkless became a minority in the first place was because of those experiments. And Rumi had seen vast rivers of shit in her time, but this was a goddamn ocean of it. The thought that Vought or the government could be doing this…

"Or," Yoruichi continued, "It could be someone with connections within either trying to become a rival of Vought. Vought snatches promising heroes up, leaving the dregs for other companies, but when you can produce heroes?"

Rumi forced herself to take a calming breath. "What was the point of this?"

"We wanted these people out of here. What was being done to them was monstrous," Yoruichi answered.

Rumi scoffed, "So, what, Heartless is a bleeding heart now?" She pressed, not believing it for a second. But, all the same, thoughts started to churn in the back of her head. She had heard what he said at the vigil -- how Vought was the one that killed Lamplighter. Was that true? However, her thoughts were interrupted when Yoruichi threw her head back and laughed loudly.

“No, not a chance. Heartless… honestly, he’s a real piece of work. But, if I had to put it into words… he’s the lesser evil,” Yoruichi stated, and that wasn’t exactly a ringing endorsement. “He wanted to recruit these people and keep them out of whoever did this to them’s hands. And give them a chance to get some revenge. He’s no saint, but he’s on the right side of this one. Actually, he asked for you to be here.” Rumi narrowed her eyes at Yoruichi, who gave a teasing smile in response.

Her gaze conveyed her question. Why?

“You and Homelander are the only ones that Heartless will acknowledge as heroes. You really impressed him when you last met,” Yoruichi confessed and Rumi had absolutely no idea what to feel about that. “So, I guess you could call this a test of character. Knowing what you now know, what are you going to do? Give these people back to Vought? To the government? The people that might be the reason they’re here in the first place?”

There was no doubt in what she would do, Rumi knew. She knew herself. The law could get fucked. She never really cared about the letter of it, only the spirit of it -- that it existed for the sake of the people and for their safety. If any law went against that, then it could get bent and it needed to be written out entirely. However, doing what she was about to do was going to blow up in her face big time. No doubt about it. Worse, she wasn’t entirely sure if it was the right thing to do.

She would be trusting a supervillain with the health and safety of these victims. Trusting his good will and intentions.

Glancing down at Kimiko, the silent woman met her gaze and offered the barest hints of a nod. She made her decision. Rumi could see the fire in her eyes -- she wanted payback. Who was she to deny her that?

“Fine… fine,” Rumi agreed, stepping forward and passing Kimiko to Yoruichi.

“You’re one of the good ones, Mirko. Don’t have any doubt about that,” Yoruichi told her before both her and Kimiko vanished from sight.

The words were a cold comfort.