[Episode] Thawing Time

“I can’t believe I’m back at this dump again!” Complained the vertically challenged woman who could be seen walking down the road of a village she hadn’t been to before. This place happened to be situated near a Marine’s HQ as well, much to Miku’s chagrin. It wasn’t the smartest move on her end to hang around here but the last ship she booked passage on had ended up docking on her old home island of Centaurea due to some freak storm. It was frustrating to say the least for the young woman. She had hoped to never see this place ever again, too many bad memories.

A sigh escaped Miku’s lips as the early morning rays began to strike at her eyes, the sun finally cresting over the horizon. It illuminated the ramshackle village she found herself in which was made of cheaply built homes, barely standing stalls, and streets littered with trash. Despite all of this she still felt a strange feeling of nostalgia at being back home. No, this place wasn’t home. It never truly was for her or any of her brothers and sisters.

As Miku continued walking down a few different alleys she began to reflect on her time since she left this island with Nathaniel, or ‘Magic Man’ as he was known by the Marines. It wasn’t even a whole year since she left with him and the Rascal wasn’t just a nameless orphan anymore. The weight of her Knuckles which hung within a small leather pouch from her hips felt heavier for some reason. The bluenette ignored the feeling and simply tugged the rim of her hat lower over her eyes to protect them from the peaking rays as she continued towards the nearest open inn. Hopefully the kitchen was up and running, she could do with a warm meal before heading out for the day.

The young pirate eventually found what appeared to be a building that operated as the local inn. The girl didn’t see much traffic on the road despite the sun finally being over the horizon completely. Then again, most people didn’t have much reason to be early risers on this damned island, all the shady practices were done at night. A shiver ran down the woman’s spine as she remembered what she found that night with Nathaniel. Dismissing these thoughts again she made her way towards the entrance and found herself in a ramshackle little dining area. There were three tables, all of shoddy quality, with an unequal amount of chairs at each one. Miku’s lips simply pressed into a firm line as she chose the table nearest the exit with only a single chair at it.

As Miku sat in the chair she found that it was uneven and wobbled from her weight. It was empty down here and no one seemed to be at the counter towards the back of the room. Though Miku did spot a staircase near a doorway that probably led to the kitchen and back rooms. No obvious restrooms in this establishment so far, Miku figured most residents did their business in their rooms or the alleys. Perhaps the restrooms were upstairs, Miku didn’t care to find out at the moment. She simply sat at the table and decided to wait a few minutes to see if any of the workers came out soon.

Minutes dragged by slowly as Miku picked at her fingernails with a small shard of the table that she had torn off. It was already dangling off the edge of the table and the woman had nothing else to do as she waited for the owner of this place to get off their ass. Whoever ran this place probably didn’t even expect someone to show up here this early, or even at all if she was honest with herself. A sad reminder of the state of affairs on Centaurea. Miku may have wondered if the village’s proximity to a marine base would have changed some of that but it was obviously not the case. Not that the Rascal held much hope for the Marines doing anything helpful for the residents here. They never did for her.

This line of thinking caused Miku’s brow to furrow and a frown to form on her face. Marines really pissed her off with their fresh pressed uniforms, abundant resources, comfy living quarters, their damned holier-than-thou attitudes. Her teeth grit and her fists curled as she started to mentally rile herself up only to be snapped out of her thoughts by the sound of voices coming from the hallway past the staircase. Perhaps it belonged to the owner, about damn time. As Miku looked towards the approaching voices a woman appeared from the doorway on a wheelchair. The bluenette was waiting to see whoever was pushing her only to be surprised to find that the second voice she heard wasn’t the one pushing the chair, it was moving on its own. The shock was only momentary as Miku looked away from the woman, doubting she was the owner of this establishment.

There was in fact another person behind her but they had gone back into the hallway before Miku could get a good look at them. The woman was now seated, parked, at another table in the room. The woman was unkempt to say the least and seemed to be leafing through a stack of papers she had retrieved from her satchel. It must be convenient being able to hang satchels on her own chair, though it was obviously not something she must have had a choice in. Was she ill? Infirm? The woman didn’t appear to be much older than herself, if only slightly frail looking due to her condition. A strange curiosity held Miku’s gaze on the woman as she busied herself with her papers. The woman may have been a mess to look at but even Miku could see the possible beauty underneath it all, especially in those wild locks that nearly reached the ground. It was difficult to tell much else about he woman beneath her modest kimono and blanket, though Miku did wonder absentmindedly.  

It was during Miku’s thoughts on the woman’s possible figure that the object of her thoughts suddenly came to her table. Her blue eyes widened momentarily before settling into a guarded glare at the woman across the table from her. “Who are you?” It annoyed Miku that she had to look up slightly at this woman despite the fact she was in a wheelchair, was everyone in the world taller than her? The rascal simply sized up the woman for a moment before settling on an answer.

“Isn’t it rude to demand who someone is without introducing yourself first? ” The question was said with some sass in it as Miku gave a small smirk to the woman. The pirate hadn’t expected the woman to roll right up to her and demand who she is, though if she is a local it wouldn’t be too surprising to want to know who the stranger was. Stranger danger and all that jazz. “However, if you must know I’m Miku. Just Miku. I think that’s fair enough to know for free. Now how about you introduce yourself?” The rascal lifted one hand palm up as if to pass the stage over to her.

The brawler couldn’t read the woman at all, her face was a mask devoid of any reaction or emotions at her response. It wasn’t unusual for people on Centaurea to have developed this skill as showing emotion was often a sign of weakness. Except in Miku’s case, she just beat anyone who gave her problems into the ground if they didn’t like her feelings towards them. Though she may have imagined a tiny movement at the corner of the woman’s lips. As Miku kept observing the woman that familiar feeling returned and it echoed when her own name fell from those lips.

When Miku’s name was repeated she simply tipped her hat as if to greet the woman again. The Rascal simply listened to the woman’s, Fran’s, apology before quickly shaking her head. “It’s no problem at all.” However the woman still seemed suspicious of Miku if her following statement was anything to go by. As for the passing familiarity Fran claimed to feel, it wasn’t too uncommon for the Rascal anymore. Her face was plastered among many other bounties at taverns, marine headquarters, and town squares now. Though not as much as some of the high reward bounties, thus allowing her some form of anonymity in her travels.

“I may not be from this village but grow up in one run down place on Centaurea and you’ve seen em all.” Miku answered simply enough. It wasn’t something she hid but she wasn’t about to delve into her personal history just because Fran was curious about her. “I doubt we’ve met before, I tend to not stay in one place too long. I also try not to visit the same places on my travels, only reason I’m back on Centaurea is coincidence.” With that Miku leaned forward and rested her head on both her hands, “So Fran...” the Rascal paused as she attempted to think of something to talk about. “Not going to lie, I don’t got much to work with for small talk at the moment.” Miku sighed as she admitted this. “Any idea when the owner is going to get out here? I’m starving and could use a meal that isn’t… well… it’s probably gonna be stale bread and moldy food isn’t it?” A frown appeared on the Rascal’s face as she realized she had been slightly spoiled with the quality of food on all the other islands she had been since leaving Centaurea.

It was no real surprise that Fran was envious of Miku’s freedom, she assumed most people wished to leave Centaurea. There was nothing here for those who weren’t willing to take what little there was by force. Even for those who could take it would often conflict with their ‘morals’ for taking from those in more dire straits. Miku considered herself someone who walked that line still, though for how long not even she knew. Though she knew there were plenty of other groups on the island who didn’t think twice before taking whatever they desired. The Marines were occasionally a part of these groups.

It was a relief to hear that the owner, Henrietta, apparently knew here way around a stove. This was shown with a tilt of Miku’s head and a small smile for Fran for getting her hopes up. That smile quickly disappeared at the appearance of who she presumed was Henrietta and an older man. Miku’s eyes narrowed at the sight of him before moving over to the rather large woman who was apparently not suffering from the lack of food most street urchins did. This didn’t sit well with the former urchin and she immediately had a bad impression of this Henrietta.

The Rascal simply leaned back in her chair, her lips pressed into a firm line again as she observed the interactions between the three people. They all seemed familiar enough with one another despite the differences in age between all three of them. Miku didn’t react to Henriettas noticing her, nor did she do anything but glare at the man, Joseph, when she was introduced. Maintaining her glare she simply nodded her head down at the man if only to show she wasn’t ignoring Fran. Much to Miku’s displeasure the man then sat down at their table, pulling up a chair for himself. This is the exact opposite of what Miku had thought would happen when she chose the table with a single table.

Henrietta then prattled on about eating whatever she decided to make in the kitchen which caused Miku to turn her attention back towards the woman. After a second she cracked a small smirk at that, her attitude striking a chord with Miku at the very least. The woman simply nodded at Henrietta’s demand that she all of her food, Miku wasn’t one for wasting after fighting for most of her meals.

The table sat in relative silence as the three occupants all patiently waited for the meal. Miku didn’t try making anymore small talk as she wasn’t going to bother trying to play nice with Joseph at the table. Instead she went back to leaning back in her chair and picking at her nails, if only to distract herself from glaring anymore at the unwanted company. Thankfully the man was called to get their food and Miku slightly relaxed when he disappeared from the room. She shot Fran a quick look and saw the woman was completely comfortable in the man’s presence. A grimace formed at that thought, it seemed like she couldn’t cause a scene unless she wanted to insult the chair bound woman.

Miku’s form regained its rigid state at the return of Joseph, who was carrying three servings of food straight from the kitchen. The woman simply nodded in response to Joseph’s disclaimer about the food and ignored his attempts at continuing conversation. Fran’s opinion about the food was kind apparently and Miku appreciated that the woman wasn’t picky. Food was food. With that thought Miku went for the fried chicken that seemed to not sit well with the old man and took a bite of it. It didn’t taste like fried chicken, that was for sure, but it wasn’t unpleasant. It was cooked, it was edible, and it probably didn’t have any rot on it. Making it fine cuisine for this shitty island.

“I have to agree with you, Fran. It is quite interesting, not near as bad as many of the meals I was forced to consume as a child.” Miku stated bluntly to Fran. “It wouldn’t do to make a fuss over a hot well cooked meal, many don’t get that privilege.” This statement was obviously directed at the whining Joseph.

Miku left her response at that and continued to enjoy her meal, ignoring any strange flavors or random textures that could be felt when chewed. It was fried food and that easily masked most of the possible unsavory flavors, plus she absolutely loved fried foods. Miku decided to try engaging with Fran in small talk before Joseph decided to dominate the conversations at the table.

“So Fran, did you grow up in this little town?” Miku asked as she chewed on some of the vegetables. “I’m not familiar with this town in particular myself. I mostly stuck to the other end of the island.” The bluenette looked towards the large man quickly and back to Fran to compare the two to one another. They didn’t look similar enough to be familial but that wasn’t always a reliable way of being certain of a person's relations. “Though I didn’t have the benefit of a ‘benefactor’ over there, I had to fend for myself for most of my life.” Though when Miku said this she suddenly felt guilty about the lie. She did have a benefactor at one point and she remembered those two lives as the best in her life. A sadness entered her eyes as she tried to push the memories from the forefront of her mind.

“Us street kids learned real fast that you had to do a lot of unsavory things to stay alive.” Miku added as she continued filling the silence. “Such as eating out of the trash, catching our own food, or even odd jobs just for table scraps.” Once again Miku was directing these comments towards Joseph mostly. “Sometimes what we ate wasn’t always dead before we bit into it…” A glare was actually shot at Joseph with that comment as she bit into another piece of chicken.

Miku’s initial impression of Henrietta only improved as she rejoined the table and inserted herself into the conversation. A simple nod at the woman was given to acknowledge Henrietta’s comment on her coming from a hungry past. The food was nice and the tension only eased slightly when Joseph attempted to dispel it with his hand. Thankfully Fran decided to take over the conversation by answering the questions Miku had posed earlier.

A shiver as Fran mentioned the harsh winters went down Miku’s back as she remembered all too well how those months went. It seemed the woman wasn’t as well taken care of as she had assumed. A small pit of guilt formed in her stomach from the baseless accusation. The following comment about wishing to live independently was salt in the wound. The Rascal’s eyes shifted down as if to look at Fran’s wheelchair before continuing to her food to disguise the motion.

The reaching of Joseph’s hand towards Fran’s head caused Miku to instinctively tense up but even she could tell there was no real malicious intent in his movement. When he tussled Fran’s hair Miku looked away and focused on a random spot on the wall. Her eyes had narrowed slightly and she couldn’t help but feel slightly jealous at how the two looked at Fran. Not that she needed someone to help her anymore, it was much too late for that. After all, it wasn’t as if Miku had other things that Fran would want as well. When the moment passed his gaze had made its way over to the Rascal and she avoided making eye contact. She didn’t need his pity and his words only annoyed her but he wasn’t exactly wrong. “Tch… You ain’t wrong about that.” Was all Miku said, her first words directly spoken to Joseph so far.

The offer made by Fran had surprised Miku, causing her eyebrows to rise and disappear into her hat. It took a moment of scrutinizing the woman for any ulterior motives before the woman relaxed again and nodded. “I’d ap-” It was as she was about to accept the offer that a sudden shattering noise was heard drawing the woman’s attention to the shelves of bottles that had once been whole. Instinctively Miku dove to the ground as a second later gunfire began to go off from the outside. The Rascal started crawling towards a wall and began fumbling with her leather bag in an attempt to get her Knuckles on.

As much as Miku wanted to jump out there and deal with whoever had attacked it would do no one any good to run directly at gunfire. As she managed to get to the wall, Miku noticed Fran had done the same and had quickly assembled a sniper rifle of all things. The rascal simply stared wide eyed as she managed to slip on her Pirate’s Knuckles and roll up her sleeves to clasp them to her vambraces. “Can you get em’ to stop firing for a second?!” Miku asked with a curt tone in her voice. It wasn’t the time to question how the paralyzed woman suddenly had a sniper in her arms and a killer’s gaze in her eyes.

With the cracks of the rifle the woman sank back into cover and the hail of fire had ceased for the moment. Miku took this as her opportunity and jumped out the now unoccupied window to quickly deal with whoever was left. She saw the bodies on the ground, results of Fran’s surprisingly excellent marksmanship. The Rascal saw several people scurrying away and she couldn’t decide on which one to follow, her indecision costing her as no one was left for her to pursue. A cry of rage was let out as Miku felt absolutely useless in this situation. She stomped back towards the entrance to the bar with a furious look in her eyes.

As the Rascal marched in through the front door she finally realized Henrietta had been caught in the initial fire. Miku growled at this and stalked toward the group that had reconvened. “So, they friends of yours?” the woman asked the three of them before realizing that the wound was in her chest, a dangerous wound. “Shit…” Miku said as felt helpless in this situation, she had no idea of how to treat wounds, let alone gunshot wounds.

The Rascal remained quiet and crossed her arms in frustration, there was nothing she could do for now and remained silent. Henrietta’s refusal to go to the marines caused a proud smirk to appear on her lips before the seriousness of the situation caused it to disappear just as quickly. If only she knew someone who could help, they could avoid asking the damn marines for help.

When Fran began to search frantically by the bar Miku began to contemplate Henrietta’s words. It seemed this attack was meant for one of them, Fran. When Joseph went over to help Fran, Miku stepped beside Henrietta. “I can get you where you need to go, I’m much stronger than I look.” The Rascal simply knelt beside the injured Henrietta with barely contained fury on her face at the woman suffering such a wound and her being unable to do anything about it. “Hey, Joseph, make yourself useful and get over her. We can carry her if we work together.” Probably, added the Rascal in her head.

Despite the chaos dying down the situation was definitely not any better, Henrietta’s wound was roughly bandaged but even Miku could tell it wouldn’t stem the bleeding for long. With the aid of Joseph the small group managed to slip out the back of the building per the large woman’s instructions. Though Miku brow furrowed in distaste when Henrietta ceded to seeking the aid of a Marine. Not that she had much choice with that bandage quickly soiling from the wound and our jostling of the woman.

The Rascal kept quiet as an argument broke out between the other two women in the group. So these bastards were after Fran? What could a bunch of thugs want with a crippled woman? Sure, she turned out to be a surprising crack shot but that wasn’t usually enough to warrant this kind of retaliation. No, these felt like proper enemies that had a reason to want the woman dead. Miku’s contemplation came to an end when Henrietta started berating Joseph and herself about their rough handling of her. The short woman simply rolled her eyes and kept her mouth shut for now, though it wasn’t her fault that Henrietta didn’t seem to get the concept of moderation.

Eventually the group came to a rather quick stop at the behest of Fran. Miku turned her head over her shoulder to see Fran also looking back at what seemed to be a few of those bastards in  pursuit. The next words that came out of Fran’s mouth were surprising and made Miku angry. “I’m not leaving you to deal with these bastards alone, just stay with us!” Miku yelled in anger at the woman. Though Joseph simply continued waking forcing Miku to move at risk of causing more injury to Henrietta. The Rascal turned to look at the stationary form of Fran slowly shrink as they continued retreating, a strange feeling of despair and nostalgia washed over the woman but she just grit her teeth and looked forward. This was bullshit. That woman better fucking show up after them.


The mood thoroughly worsened, Joseph’s pathetic attempts at easing everyone's nerves was a complete failure when he immediately contradicted his own words. Without Fran around and Henrietta focusing on herself, Miku had no reason to continue talking with the older man. Thankfully Henrietta put him in his place and the trio continued in relative silence. A silence that was broken upon arrival at a of a horrible little home that flew the Marine’s flag in front of it. Though when Henrietta mentioned this person was the best ‘doctor’ in Centaurea Miku actually stopped moving for a second before continuing. She had a bad track record with ‘doctors’ on Centaurea. The hesitation must have been more noticeable than she intended because Joseph asked about her, the question was ignored.

The pirate wasn’t comfortable walking towards a known marine, especially having her Knuckle’s still on with her status as a pirate emblazoned on them. Hopefully she would go unnoticed between the two behemoths with her. Joseph summoned the medic who burst through the door in a fashion that Miku could respect, which only grew when she immediately realized the severity of the situation and cut straight to business. Hopefully this doctor was better than the last one she ran into, otherwise she’d have to kill this one too.

Following the orders of Deneve, Henrietta was set down carefully much to Miku’s relief. The woman wasn’t a light load in the slightest. When Joseph asked for Miku to check on the soiled bandages of Henrietta she turned to him and narrowed her eyes with a retort ready on her lips. However this was stopped when Henrietta took Miku’s wrist and forcefully drew her attention to herself. The words that left the woman’s lips caused the anger to momentarily flood out of her to be replaced with surprise and concern when the coughs followed. There was blood mixed in with the coughs. A desperate plea to save Fran with a meager reward to boot, it was the life she signed up for but it still made her feel sick.

Miku at this point tore her hands from Henrietta’s weakened grasp, turned towards the exit, and turned her head back to Henrietta. “I don’t rob friends.” With those words she ran out the door before anyone could even think of stopping her. Once outside she began to sprint back down the path they traveled, with each step a small piece of hope that Fran was okay shattering in Miku’s mind.


She was gone. The alley was empty, small signs of a scuffle, some blood splatters, and the smell of gunpowder in the air told her everything she needed to know. Fran fought back, held them off, but they got her in the end. A scream of rage erupted from Miku as she punched the side of a building causing a hole in it. What the hell was she supposed to do now? The Rascal started pacing back and forth trying to come up with a plan. After a few moments she remembered that both Joseph and Fran were strangely interested in that stupid brick that had shattered our day. With this thought the bluenett quickly made her way back to the scene of the initial assault.

The building was untouched since their retreat, though the bodies all seemed to be gone. Another curse fell from the lips of the small woman as that would only make it more difficult to track these bastards. They could have had some hint of their plans or base of operations on them. The woman quickly made her way inside, eyes scanning the shattered remains of their relatively peaceful breakfast. It wasn’t long before the brick in question was found, picked up, and the message on it revealed to Miku.

As blue eyes scanned the words on the brick the edges of the brick began to crumble under the tightening grip of the Rascal. It all made sense now. A problem she had forgotten since having made a name for herself as a child. The bloody Harvest. Picking on the weak and defenseless on the island, something she hadn’t been even before leaving the island. As she read the final words of the message she completely crushed the brick in her hands. Her breathing slowly getting deeper as she attempted to contain her rage. After a few more minutes of calm breathing she eventually stalked out of the building.

What could she do now? It wasn’t as if she had the resources to track the bastards down. Maybe some of the other’s would know, hopefully Henrietta at least. Though if it came down to it she could maybe consider asking Joseph and that Marine doctor. With this plan Miku stalked back to the home of Deneve. Before entering she hid her Knuckle’s back in their pouch and unrolled her sleeves to hide her vambraces once again. The door was now closed and Miku didn’t much care for knocking so she just pulled it open and walked in.


The scene Miku walked back in on was much more calm before and she had three pairs of eyes turn to her. Henrietta was still in the same spot from before but had some clean bandages applied to her injury and a half empty bottle of alcohol next to her. They all were waiting to see whether she had arrived alone or not. “She’s been taken.” Was all Miku said as she closed the door behind her with a bit too much force.

Henrietta looked down with a mixture of anger and despair, Joseph tried to stand but was quickly pushed back down by Deneve who started chastising him. Apparently the old man had sustained some minor injuries himself. “I need to know who the hell these people were and if any of you know where they may be holed up.” Miku demanded as she stood in front of the three. Deneve took a good look at the Rascal and a spark of recognition appeared in her eyes before turning her attention back to Joseph. Joseph grumbled about being well off enough but couldn’t convince the doctor. Henrietta eventually raised her head with purpose, clearing her throat before speaking.


“I might know where th-” A rough cough quickly interrupted the woman drawing the attention of Deneve. “I told you to not strain yourself, Henrietta!” The larger woman simply raised a meaty arm to ward off Deneve and continue her sentence. “Check the isolated cove to the northwest of town. It’s been a popular spot for the unsavory sort.” As she said this, her eyes shifted to the other two in the room. They simply glared at the woman as if she had revealed something they were sure she knew nothing about. A sigh escaped the woman’s lips before turning back to Miku, “Just get her back, please.” This plea was followed up with more racking coughs and more blood. Deneve refused to be swatted away and laid the large woman back down to rest. “I think you’ve done enough here you Rascal. Go do something useful for once before I report this to my superiors.” Deneve spit at Miku before turning back to Henrietta.

The Rascal grimaced at this but knew her time here was up. Turning back towards the entrance, the young woman began making her way back out before being stopped by a large meaty hand on her wrist. Miku quickly tore her hand away and turned to face the large man with raised fists. Though the look on his face quickly quelled her anger, there were tears in his eyes. “Please, save that girl. Fran has been through too much already.” The slight wavering in his voice caused Miku to take a step back before quickly turning and hiding her own eyes beneath the brim of her hat. “I’ll get her back.”

With those words the Rascal left again, it wasn’t until she was outside that she realized her own eyes were watering. In her head the image of a small girl she had known years ago with such vibrant crimson eyes overlapped with Fran’s own, their eyes matched perfectly. The epiphany was what caused a few tears to finally leak from her eyes. With a quick swipe from her sleeves, the tears were gone and her brows furrowed in anger. It was time to get her friend back.

The Rascal had marched past the small village’s limits quite a while ago, now on unmarked dirt roads that were easily overlooked. Having grown up on this god forsaken island allowed the woman to easily follow the small markers that were actually there for those who were in the know. It would have been comforting if not for the fact that Miku was still furious about the whole situation. First day back on Centaurea and it has to be during the bloody Harvest, not to mention running back into one of her oldest friends that she had written off as dead. That little fact caused her guts to squirm in guilt which only increased the short woman’s rage.

As the path slowly turned from dirt to gravel as Miku eventually found herself pushing past thinning vegetation to a small cliff overlooking a small hidden cove. Convenient for unsavory types who wanted to go under the nose of the Marines in the area, not that they had the manpower to effectively patrol the waters around Centaurea. As Miku looked down she saw a lone ship, a sloop, that seemed to be busy with activity, though the height difference made it difficult to see much detail. Though it did look like another group of kids were being brought in, they were all lined up and forced to sit on the sand. It was a rather small group, however it reminded her of the band of orphans she used to take care of before leaving the island.

With a small growl the Rascal decided she had done enough waiting around, it was time for action. The woman started to slowly roll up her sleeves, once again revealing her vambraces, and slid on her Knuckles. With the Knuckles firmly clasped to her vambraces, the Rascal decided to make her entry by stepping over the edge of the cliff and dropping from ledge to ledge. She wasn’t exactly quiet and by the time she had reached the bottom there were several eyes on her. Upon reaching the bottom Miku looked up with an angry glare on her face and began to slowly walk forward with a menacing aura.

“Hey! Who the hell do you all think you are taking kids from MY home?!” Miku yelled as she approached, the distance closing between her and the Harvesters. The kids she saw were actually close to her age, a bunch of teenagers who looked roughed up. Despite their condition however there was a fire in their eyes. They weren’t broken yet and she planned on making sure they would never have to be broken in by some slaver scum. “You know what? Screw it. You’re all dead.” With this declaration Miku charged straight towards the slavers, it was time to get rowdy.

COMBAT TRACKERS:

A yell erupted from the young woman as she dashed straight at the unsuspecting crew of slavers. The sand kicked up underneath her feet as she quickly closed the distance between herself and the bastards responsible for taking so many lives from her island. “I’ll kill you all!” Miku yelled as she dove and punched the first unfortunate bastard she reached; causing the man’s head to snap sideways with an audible snap as his neck snapped from the force and he was sent sprawling into the sand unmoving. Miku stood there heaving over the now dead slaver, her eyes narrowed and staring defiantly at the rest of the shocked crew.

It took one of the chained teens to whoop in excitement to break the momentary standstill between the slavers and Miku. As soon as his holler broke the silence nearly all of the slavers either rushed straight for Miku or for defensible positions to take shots at her. The Rascal saw several of them draw out various weapons and grinned viciously. The bluenette began to weave between bodies as she squared up her fists and began mercilessly beating on those foolish enough to rush her. Ducking under swings of swords only to quickly break the elbows of those who overextended their arms, blocking blunt weaponry and smashing her fist into the torso in a rapid parry, and even timing her movements to cause friendly fire from those with trigger happy fingers.

It was a whirlwind of screams, gunshots, and bones breaking as Miku took out all of her aggression on this pitifully weak crew. Was this it? Were these the boogeymen of Centaurea? These weaklings were what caused her to lose friends mysteriously in the night? These were the men who struck fear in her heart on cold nights?! These pathetic cretins were the reason she lost Fran all those years ago?! Were they the ones who took her legs?!!? With this though Miku actually caved the skull of one unfortunate man who had been dumb enough to try and shoot her at point blank. Miku realized that the chaos had died down and the only man left was on his back crawling away from her as she came back into focus. The Rascal turned back momentarily to see the broken bodies scattered all over the cove, some hardly breathing, some crying in pain, other deathly quiet.

“No please… let me go!” The voice drew Miku’s attention back towards the ship just a few feet from her now. The cowering slaver was being ganged up on by two of the three teens that had been chained up and being escorted onto the ship before she arrived. They had apparently managed to break free during that chaos and were indulging in some revenge of their own. Good, the kids deserved it. Though now that she looked closer they were all easily taller than her and more likely only a few years younger than herself. It was while she was watching that a gunshot [Sinclair’s MT] went off and a bullet whizzed just past her cheek, causing her to quickly look up toward where she heard the shot emanate from.

Standing on the top of the gangway, barring her from boarding the ship was a rather tall middle aged man holding the third teenager by his throat. The man himself was dressed in a tailored suit that was overly flamboyant with crimson highlights that made him seem like some typical sinister type. His hair was greased back and he even had a finely trimmed mustache and beard that only added to the image of faux class. However this was all eclipsed by the young man being held with a gun against his head. “I see you’ve done quite a number on my men, little girl. I suppose I’ll just have to replenish my numbers with the funds from this little shopping trip. Though I may have to recoup my costs by collecting some more little toys to sell.” As the man said this he tightened his hold on the young man causing him to gasp out.

Miku wasn’t impressed by this man or his little speech and simply cracked her neck and began to slowly walk towards the fancy bastard. “I don’t care who you are, or what you want, but you’ve hurt the people of my island. That’s enough to let me know that you won’t be breathing by sunset today ya bastard.” The Rascal growled out as he began to make her way up the gangplank. “Stop! I’ll kill this little rat if you come any closer!” The man threatened as Miku approached, the Rascal did stop but only to grin up at him. “If you do there’s nothing stopping me from simply killing you right after. You won’t do it.” With the bluff called Miku began to menacingly approach the man again before suddenly rushing the rest of the way up the gangplank [Bum Rush]. However the man quickly shoved the teen aside and turned his gun at Miku, easily lining up a shot as she rushed straight for him. With the pull of the trigger [Critical LT] the bullet raced straight at Miku and struck true, causing the Rascal to cry out in pain and stumble as she reached the top. The bullet luckily passed through her body but had torn some muscles that weren’t critical but were constantly used causing her great pain.

The momentum from her rush was greatly lessened allowing Sinclair to easily dodge her pathetic punches [Phantom Right] and quickly retreat further onto the deck. The two were alone on the deck, though the sounds of gunshots and fighting could be heard below deck. “You foolish child, you have no idea who you’ve made an enemy of do you?!” Sinclair shouted at her with a malicious grin on his face as he noticed the bleeding wound from his shot. “I don’t care!” Miku said as she spotted a small chest on the deck that was open and had plenty of iron manacles hanging out of it. The Rascal quickly ran towards it with plans of throwing it at Sinclair to allow her to close the distance. As she grabbed it she swung around to throw it at the man but suddenly felt another bullet [Sinclair’s LT] graze the arm she was holding the chest with causing her to let go early, the chest clattering on the floor before Sinclair. [Slugger]

“Hah! You have no hope against the Harvest’s creator and leader, Sinclair Croft! I've killed, tortured, and sold children half your age just for fun! Now imagine what I'll do to you and your little friends causing me all this trouble you meddling brat!!” With this Sinclair gave wicked sneer and even raised his gun at her as if it added to his ‘menacing’ aura. Miku had nothing to say as she realized he was playing her like a damn fiddle, and decided to just kick some iron manacles that had fallen out of the trunk in front of her at him. [Miku’s UT] Strangely enough it actually struck him against the forehead during his introduction and left a bright red welt on his head. “Oh sorry, did I ruin you stupid moment?!” Miku said as she grit her teeth and brought her arms back up. “Enough talk!” The Rascal yelled as she began running at Sinclair again. The lead slaver quickly fired off another shot [Sinclair’s UT] in an attempt to slow her down but the shot went wide as she quickly side stepped when the shot went off.