Chickey

Charles followed along with the group out to the plane. He had with him a large and heavy boxy suitcase. He entered with the group and went to the fridge. He poured himself a glass of lemonade and then sat down silently. He took sips of his drink as he waited.

Charles already had his phone out by the time Masun turned around to ask him. "Yep." He replied as he typed out a small response to Felicia. By this point his accent had fully returned. Charles tucked his necklace in his shirt and took off his suit-jacket and put it away. He rolled up his sleeves on his white shirt and put on his sunglasses before eyeing his weapon rack, planning on what to use later. He got his dress shoes off and put a pair of python skin cowboy boots with white oak heels on.

Charles listened to the story quietly, giving him his sword back once he was done. The thought of his energies sinking into the blade while he made the caused him to chuckle. "Have you tried usin' gloves mate?" He joked before pausing for a moment. "Well... I suppose that gets to the bottom of that doesn't it?" He said before he walked over to his wall and grabbed a revolver. He spun it around in his hand a few times before looking back to Masun. "Ya wanna ask anythin' else? Now's the time."

A small smirk lit up Charles' face after Masun's reply. "About that mate..." He said. "I'm a tad bit worried about your mental state too. See that sword over there. The one you picked up." He continued as he pointed to it. "I got that a while ago. I was tasked to find a serial killer in the outskirts in Japan. Took me a while, but they eventually came to me as it turns out. She was a regular looking girl. Probably around nineteen, seemed normal enough. But once things got down to buisness, they were probably the most messed up person I've had the privilege to fight." He explained "Sadist, took quite a bit of pleasure in killing. And the bodies they left behind weren't gonna be open casket that's for sure. Tortured most of them while in the fight. Preferred to take their time. Masochist too, they wrapped the chain around their right arm. It would often tighten up too much while in use and tear her arm up. But they seemed to like it despite the scarring. Fearless, showed no restraint and fought like a rabid dog." Charles said. "Those are the traits I'd sum them up with on top of the fact that they were completely off their rocker. I wanted to capture them, didn't feel right to kill someone who was practically still a kid, but they just wouldn't stop no matter what I did. But there was this one thing they said when I asked them why they did what they did. And that thing was that their 'sword told me to do it.' A rather odd thing to say, eh?" He asked. "I was... curious of course. So I did a bit o' investigation work. And it turns out the creepy sword was created by this ye oldey Japanese swordsmith called Muramasa. Didn't really get any further than that sadly besides some things about him and the legend of his swords and whatnot. Apparently they have a history of being able to mess with the people who use them. But I always wondered what they'd be like. Someone who was able to warp someone else's mind with just a sword. For him to be able to do that, he himself must be pretty messed as well. So, I now ask, how messed up are you, Muramasa?" He finished.

Charles was about to reply when he heard Sam from the door. His tone and accent immediately switched back as he walked over and spoke through the door. "Sure mate, but I'm gonna need a few minutes myself. I'll meet you at the trainin' room in like ten minutes. But first I have to finish up here and grab some equipment." He answered before walking back over to Masun and sitting down. His speech faded back to being plain and quiet enough that it would be hard for anyone outside the room to hear. "The attack was about two and a half years ago." He replied. "If you worried about my daydreaming. I can assure you it wont be a problem. It only happens when I have nothing to do, never during a mission. My brain must be reminding me to fix things that I haven't yet." He explained.

Charles watched as Masun picked up the sword, and he knew exactly why he did it. He usually kept that one locked in a case, but hadn't gotten around to it yet. Before he could bring it up to him, Masun started first. The subject he spoke about immediately wiped Charles' happy mood off his face. "You are correct. People always told me I wasn't very good at hiding things." On top of his almost cold expression, his speech now almost entirely lacked his usual accent. Making him seem even more unnatural. "I haven't worked for the Yakuza. However I have worked with the Yakuza. One boss worked out a treaty with Area 14, and I was sent in to watch over everything they did to make sure they weren't up to anything. I spent about two years there. And I knew everyone fairly well. Including the boss herself, Hebi Mamushi of the Hebi Samurai clan. You and me seemed to of had completely different experiences. But I suppose mine could have been the exception instead of the other way around." Charles explained as he got up from his seat and walked over to a weapon rack. He took a few moments before lifting another katana from the wall. It was the same katana from his daydream that Boss Hebi used. He turned around and faced Masun with the sword in his hands and spoke. "Mamushi was a traditional girl. Rules were absolute. Drugs were almost entirely banned. Except for marijuana and specialty oddity created substances without side effects. Kidnapping would result in execution, however she had no problems with employing willing girls. And I've heard you aren't a stranger to escorts yourself Masun. Her plans were never to 'bully the weak and make a profit from it'. It wasn't good sport to her. She often targeted the wealthy and successful businesses. The idea of preying on people without money to make money from them didn't ever register to her." He continued. "She had no patience for any mistakes within her gang. But she had a rather good standing with the common citizens." "However she was also a very ambitious person. Things weren't all good. While she was able to slowly take control over almost all of the Yakuza gangs, her reign came to an end when she sought to also take control over Area 14 itself. She tried to have me killed, which failed. Before launching a attack on the Area base. They were already on full alert, and while she did actually come close to victory, in the end she lost. With her forces crushed and the other bosses abandoning her, she stood no chance in Area's counter attack. I personally fought her in the end, and I can tell you she was likely the strongest opponent I've ever faced. The only reason I won was by surprise and that she probably wasn't attacking me with all her strength either. I didn't kill her though, she now resides captive in Area 14 under maximum security." He ended and waited. Even still, it seemed like he was leaving something out from his story.

Charles heard a knock on the door. Causing him to get up from his seat and move to the door. He figured he knew who it might be. Charles opened the door to see Masun standing there. "Somethin' I can help you with mate?" He started before jumping back into the chair. "Why don't ya come inside. I really need to sit down." He added.

"You got it mate." Charles replied. He was unsure if his excuse had worked this time. He continued driving, after about fifteen more minutes he pulled back into the base's parking lot. Charles unlocked the doors and leaned over to Franky, shaking him to wake him up and then leaning back to shake Masun awake. He got out of the car and headed for the entrance of the facility. He waited for everyone to get out before locking the car with a remote. Charles took the elevator down to the bedrooms floor. Even though he wondered where Sam was, he got into his room and crashed onto a chair for now.

Character Refs: Charles looked at Mamushi. She looked about 5'7.5. And around twenty three, rather young for her status. She had white messy shoulder length hair and dark drab blue eyes, slightly pale skin, normal for a Japanese woman. And was wearing a buttoned up white dress shirt tucked into her black slim dress pants with the sleeves rolled up to her elbows, showing some of her Irezumi arm tattoos. A white silk dress tie. A dark navy waistcoat vest with a small gold circle lapel pin with a snake coiled around in it and a bunch of rings on her hands. She wore a black snakeskin belt, and black snakeskin dress shoes. A man walked up to her with a sword in his hands. It was a rather long for katana standards, 28 inches, and had a snake theme to it. He held it up beside her. Mamushi grabbed onto it and pulled it from it's scabbard and then dismissed the man. With her weapon in hand Mamushi said something to to the men across arena, resulting in one of them yelling something back. "Mind giving me a translation mate?" Charles asked Yoshihiro "Boss Hebi asked if there were any rules, it seems that there aren't any." He responded. Mamushi spun her sword around in her hand before throwing it blade first at the floor of the arena, planting it a few inches in. She leaned up against the handle and then signaled something to the men at the other side. Causing the Yakuza member that could be identified as Yamada's second in command to pull a wakizashi and begin yelling something that Charles was able to decipher into "You die today serpent!" Like a lot of the higher ranking Yakuza members, he was an oddity. His wakizashi seemed to glow as did his whole body before he jumped forwards, launching his whole body through the air right at Mamushi with his blade extended towards her face. His advance caused little reaction from Mamushi. As he soared through the air she pulled one of her hands from her sword and put it palm up to the sky. Right before reaching her she pointed all of her fingers up towards the sky with her other hand still touching the sword, causing a dozen blades to shoot up from the wooden ground like spikes. Skewering the man with his weapon only inches from connecting to her. The look on his face was a mixture of pain, anger, and confusion. Blood began to leak out of his mouth as his weapon slid from his grasp. The reality of her technique began to sit in. He had thought that with her sword sunk into the ground she wouldn't be able defend without taking it out. But it was actually quite the opposite. As a samurai, Mamushi could manipulate the length and shape of her sword temporarily. By putting a bit of the blade underground, she could snake it's length around and set up a trap for the first person to rush her without them expecting it. The man's face began to twist in anger as he knew he had been beaten. Mamushi finally extended her fingers outward, causing all the blades to bloom out, ripping the man apart with a gurgle and scattering pieces of him throughout the arena. Mamushi let her hand drop to her side, causing all of the blades sink back into the ground and back to her sword. She pulled it from the ground and then looked to the remaining three men. Now with even angrier expressions than before. They began to rush her all at once, two with swords, and Yamada with some sort of ninja hand claws. Boss Yamada led the charge with a battle cry. As he closed in on Mamushi, she made her move. She dashed to him with inhuman speed, not giving him any time to react and elbowed him in the side of the face with enough force to knock him off his feet. He rolled along the mat and then came to a stop, clearly stunned from the attack. The next to attack was one of the swordsman, who swung at her with an overhead slash. She quickly blocked the attack with her own sword and kicked the man in the chest. The man was knocked on his back with a loud thud as he hit the wooden floor. The last Yakuza swordsman locked blades with Mamushi after she slashed at him. He struggled against her and tried to overpower her with sheer strength, but she didn't budge an inch. If anything she began to overpower him. Suddenly her sword seemed to vibrate, letting out a screeching sound as it resonated against his. Slowly her katana started to cut through his sword. The man began to panic, but once it was about halfway through something finally gave way and allowed her to abruptly cut through and finish the arc of her slash. A line of blood was splatted on the floor in the direction of her slice as the top half of his sword spun through the air before landing on the ground with a clink. The swordsman dropped his blade, his arms going with it. As he fell over his body came apart into two. Filling the arena with even more blood as it pooled around the two halfs of his body and his cut arms. Mamushi looked back towards the remaining two Yakuza as they got up and cocked her head to the side. Yamada began spouting what Charles could only figure were profanities at her as he readied himself. But her silence seemed to strike a chord with the last swordsman who quickly teleported to her and swung at her neck. Despite his speed, Mamushi quickly blocked this. He began to teleport all around to try to confuse her, but every time he went in for a strike at a blind spot, she seemed to somehow know exactly where he was. Yamada started to come over to help, but as soon as he did Mamushi went for a counter attack. She waited for the man to come out of his speed demon like mode and attack. This time it was from behind, and he went for another decapitation by her neck. Mamushi quickly ducked and let the blade pass over her, but before he could teleport away she grabbed his wrist. In one motion she turned around and swung her sword, taking his arm clean off. This action disarmed him in more ways than one. Mamushi slung the Yakuza's amputated arm at Yamada and then kicked him to his knees and decapitated him. His head flew up spinning into the air, but before it hit the ground Mamushi caught it by the hair. She held it up to Yamada before tossing it over to him underhand. It rolled to a stop at his feet. Now the battle was only one to one. The odds quickly seemed to even out. And Mamushi was so far completely untouched. It seemed that she had been saving Yamada for last. He looked about forty years old. He wore a grey suit with combed back red dyed hair. His hand claws were attached to brass knuckles on the front side. The entirety of his weapons seemed to be gold plated. "She made them look like a bunch of bloody underpaid mall cops." Charles' muttered. "Mamushi-sama was right. They weren't worth our time." Yoshihiro responded. Seeing that Yamada didn't use a sword and only his hand-claws, Mamushi stuck her sword into the ground and and walked away from it. She put her hands into her pockets and waited for Yamada to make his move. The reaction was almost immediate. Yamada quickly began to punch towards her despite being a fair distance away. His hands sent out explosive magic blasts towards her. She quickly began to dash out of the way of the attacks one after another, slowly creeping towards Yamada in between each one. Large chunks of the wooden floor began to fly up as the blasts connected to the ground. Mamushi suddenly closed the distance as she used her inhuman speed to virtually teleport to him. She teleported in mid-roundhouse kick with her hands still in her pockets. Yamada could do little to react and her kick connected with his jaw, once against knocking him off his feet. He quickly got back up, but Mamushi once again dashed towards him at blinding speed, planting her heel right into his groin and causing him to lean forward in pain. She responded by lifting her leg up and kneeing him directly in the face to knock him over once again. Mamushi still had her hands rested in her pockets as Yamada stumbled to his feet with blood now running down a cut on his forehead from her last attack. "You fucking bitch... you think you can make a fool of me?" He said in Japanese to her with a voice seething with rage. "Hai." She replied with a calm deadpan voice. Mamushi's yes responce seemed to spiral Yamada into a final fit of primal rage. His right fist powered up as he sent the best magic enhanced punch he could muster at her face. But like all of the other attacks that were tried against her, they failed. She pulled her hands out of her pockets and stopped his attack entirely with her own hand. Her hand flashed white for a second as she cancelled out of the magic in his attack with her own energy. The two forces colliding sent out a small shock wave of dust and air to travel out from the ring. Even Yamada was effected, the feedback of his ability being stopped had shattered all the bones in his right arm. He writhed in pain and panic shot out one last punch from the left. Finally deciding to close out the fight, Mamushi sidestepped his attack and got behind him. From behind she put one arm under his left arm and the other around his neck and locked hands in a arm lock. She slowly began to constrict Yamada to death like a snake. He struggled as best he could but it was futile in the end. Small cracks could be heard as she crushed him in front of all the other Yakuza members. His shoulder was the first to go as it dislocated with a loud pop. She tightened her grip even more now. And then his neck finally snapped several seconds later silencing him from the screams he was letting out. Mamushi released her grip and let him fall to the floor with a thud like a sack of potatoes. Most of the Yakuza memebers began to converse now knowing that the ordeal was over. Some of them definitely seemed entertained while others left. Mamushi walked over and collected her sword from the arena. She called over the man that was carrying the scabbard and wiped the blade clean with a cloth before sheathing it. She took the sword from the man and began to walk back to the building with it at her side. "Well that was a landslide. Those wankers didn't even stand a chance." Charles commented. "Yamada always was a troublemaker, seems it finally caught up to him. He lacked respect. It's unlikely he'll be missed." Yoshihiro added. Mamushi walked up them as they spoke to get out of the rain. She had her free hand in her pocket. Yoshihiro bowed to her on her approach saying something in Japanese that sounded like "Congratulations on your victory, Mamushi-sama." When she replied she did it mostly in English, probably due to Charles being around. "Arigato, Yoshihiro. Tell all of our men to get back to their posts. The comedy show is over." She said, clearly downplaying Yamada's efforts against her. "...And what of Yamada and the other's men?" Yoshihiro asked. She took a few moments before responding. "Offer them a job, that's what we should do with the unemployed. It's only right." She decided. Yoshihiro looked skeptical for a moment. She had just slaughtered their bosses. However he had faith in her. "As you wish Boss Hebi." He responded. "As for you Charles." She said as she looked to him. "You have good eyes and ears. You should stay here for a while and see if anyone is up to anything. I would like to know if there is anyone else that's like-minded to Yamada. Do you understand?" She said, her calm voice being replaced by Masun's at the end. He started to get pulled back out of his daydream. Charles awoke at the wheel again with Masun's shaking his shoulder. "Eh? Say what now mate?" He started. "I musta been too engrossed in the music to hear ya." He said, trying to damage control the situation as he chuckled. They were pretty close to being back at the base now.

Charles kept quiet for a few moments, his tone shifting a bit when he finally replied. "I'm just sayin' it's not very batman like of you to kill three hundred people and mark them all off as trash. Dust off your buster browns and take a chill pill mate. How about we get some tunes goin'?" He said as he got a small stereo remote from the dash. He tossed it back to Masun. It had a small touchscreen and a list of all the music he had. It was mostly vintage music, but it had a little bit of everything on it. In the meantime Charles started up the stereo, a random song coming on. Afterwards Charles seemed to go into autopilot while driving. It wasn't as bad as in the casino, but he no longer seemed to be fully there. This was rather hard to notice from the backseat though. As he drove he began to hear the same sounds as before in the casino. It wasn't as bad as before, but it still caused him to look instinctively outside the window for the source. Instead of the blank Nevada desert, he saw a rainy stormy town now. And judging by the characters on the signs, it was in Japan. Charles adjusted the rear view mirror to look at himself. He didn't look quite as young as he was in the last flashback, maybe only two years before current time. Nobody else was in the car with him, and his clothes were a bit different. He had his sunglasses, but was missing the ring on his finger and wore formal clothes much like the ones he had on before. Charles ran his hand through his hair to pull it back and then put the mirror in the position it was in before. The town was remote, but it wasn't a ghetto, it was rather pleasant to drive through. After a few minutes he finally came to a stop in front of a large sized building. Probably one of the biggest if not the largest in the whole town. It had a traditional look to it, with a blend of modern architecture, three stories tall, with most of it's size being in it's width instead of height. Charles quickly got out of his car after parking it nearby. There was a smorgasbord of other cars parked there too, mostly black high end vehicles. He rushed over to the door to get out of the rain and inside where it was dry. Charles unlocked it with a gold key and stepped inside. The inside was devoid of people, but Charles knew why, they had all gone out back. The inside was fancy, and seemed to be mostly set up for entertainment. Even with a Karaoke bar in the corner. But today he knew the entertainment wasn't going to be inside. Charles quickly made his way through the building and over to a door that led to outside. Once outside the spectacle finally came into vision. The door had led to a large courtyard with high castle like walls in the shape of an octagon. Lining the walls were gardens and bonsai trees. Right in the middle was a very large square shaped wooden arena mat. And then there was people, and quite a lot of them. Enough to make this scene look just like a UFC fighting match was about to go down. Charles was right outside on a deck shaded from the rain, but this area seemed to be reserved for a only a few people, causing a lot of them to hang out out in the garden, by the walls, or even perched on top of the walls. Everyone there seemed to be dressed well, commonly in a black suit of some kind. And finally there was the people in the wooden arena. Four men on one side, and one lone woman on the other, someone who Charles knew. Everyone there was a member of a Yakuza organization. And the building itself was a small Yakuza base. With that in mind he knew that this was going to get much uglier than a UFC match real quick. Charles turned to a man looking out towards the arena from their shaded position. He knew him, his name was Senri Yoshihiro, the lieutenant to the woman down in the arena, Yakuza boss Hebi Mamushi. He looked about twenty six years old, around 5'11, and had past shoulder length black hair tied into a ponytail. The front of his hair had chin length bangs that bordered his face and loose strands that he frequently had to brush out of his face. He wore a black peak lapel suit and a burgandy red tie with black dress shoes. However the most noticeable traits he had were the blue plastic medical gloves he always wore, and the three katana swords tied to his back at an angle by a holster of some kind. "Yoshi, mind finally quein' me in on what the bloody hell happened?" Charles opened as he walked next to the man. "Good... you're just in time." The man responded. It was clear English wasn't his first language, probably like everyone else here. But he knew it well enough to carry out conversations. "There was a conflict during a council meeting between the bosses." He sounded calm as compared to Charles, who seemed a bit more concerned. "Elaborate mate." Yoshihiro pointed to a man within the crowd of four opposite to the woman. "Boss Hebi suggested that boss Yamada should disperse his gang more evenly to cover more ground. Boss Yamada told her that he'd 'sooner leave his gang before taking orders from a conniving serpent bitch'... boss Hebi didn't take that well and things degenerated quickly after that. Most of the council told him to hold his tongue. But he got two others on his side with his lieutenant. The disagreement ended with Yamada and his sympathizers challenging boss Hebi to a duel. Now we are here." He explained. "Four versus one?" Charles asked. "I suggested that me and you fight with her to help even the handicap. But she said that it wasn't worth our time to fight them." Yoshihiro responded. His answer caused Charles to let out a small chuckle, loosening up his mood. "I see." He said and then turned his attention to the arena.