She was strung up to some kind of wooden framework by her wrists, which left her toes just barely on the platform she had been placed on. Her terrorized eyes watched, agonized, as a massive fist plunged into Ashe’s gut. The girl cried out in pain and Sage gasped, sharing her pain. Leave her alone, she silently pleaded, but the man’s filthy paw wrapped around the pink haired girl’s throat, and he raised her face to look her in the eyes. He said something. She couldn’t hear it but it didn’t matter. He walked over to Sage.
Suddenly everything blurred. Vision, logic, awareness, pain swirled through all of it and she couldn’t breathe. Balrog. That was his name. He hit her. Punched her in the stomach, just he’d done to Ashe. She wheezed, but no air came. For a long moment she felt as though she balanced on the equinox of life and death. Her face twisted away from Balrog, but she watched him through the corners of her eyes, unable to defend herself. To reach the gun tucked in the belt of her jeans.
“So,” he grinned, flashing his gap-ridden, hillbilly smile. “You must mean a lot to her,” he jerked his head in Ashe’s direction. “For her to take punches for you. But it looks to me like it’ll hurt her more,” at this his grin went wide, and he leaned in close, to whisper to the azure haired hybrid. “To hurt you instead,”
Another punch to the gut, and then a hook to the face. Blood sprayed from Sage’s lip, but Balrog didn’t relent. He hit her again, this time nearer the eye. The girl went limp, her head lolling about, crimson falling from her nose and mouth. The hulking warrior suddenly seemed irate. “You’re supposed to scream!” he punctuated this by backhanding the girl across the face, but received only a short yelp of pain in response. Even in agony, Sage was reserved.
“Stop it!!” Ashe shouted, struggling against her bonds. Balrog spun on his heel, and smashed his fist into her nose in response. She cried out sharply, much more satisfyingly. He struck her again, and then turned away for a moment, cracking his neck.
He turned back and looked his two subjects over. They were both covered in a slick of blood, sweat, and grime. The blue haired one was shaking, her breathing sounding unsteady. A sudden, vicious punch to her side caused Sage to shriek in shock and pain, and she shuddered more furiously.
Balrog took the girl’s chin in his hand and forced her to look at him. His eyes weren’t dead, like she’d expected. No, they danced. He was enjoying this. Doing horrible things to total strangers.
“What’s the matter, kid? You scared?”
“She’s-” Ashe struggled, spitting out blood to talk, fighting through the pain. “You son of a-” She gave up. She desperately wanted to speak; the words needed to be said but she just couldn’t say them. For Ashe and Sage, the only language were the screams of pain that Balrog extracted from them.
What felt like an era of anguish passed, and it seemed another would follow, when suddenly, Balrog jerked around, and froze in mid-turn. There was some kind of struggle, and suddenly he hurled something skyward, unleashing a blast of energy after it.
“Oliver...?”
And then a bone-on-bone crack rank out, and Balrog stumbled. Suddenly, the hulking lieutenant had been thrown into battle with a furious blond warrior, who matched him blow for blow, raining vicious strikes onto him with an audible fury.
A blonde... Sage stared for a while, convinced her eyes were playing tricks on her. This woman-
No, it was impossible. This was just a memory. False hope. Another kick lashed out, catching Balrog just under the ear, he stumbled backward, brushing against Sage. You couldn’t feel memories.
Could you?
“Z-Zena!” she suddenly exclaimed, reaching out despite her trepidation, her speech slurred from her swelling lips. Tears tumbled from her weary eyes. “You’re-”
“Go, dammit!” Zena growled, with a flick of her wrists firing a pair of ki bolts that effortlessly slashed through the ropes binding the girls to the beam above them. “Get out and take her with you!”
“But-”
“GO!”
What could she do? She didn’t want to lose Zena, not now, not after they just came together again. But... she sighed, trying to hide the fear and guilt and her objections, and she grabbed Ashe’s arm despite her bound hands and ran to shelter in a nearby alley. They paused, and the pink haired girl worked off her bonds, and then helped Sage with hers, before Ashe took her wrist and pulled her farther down the alley, but, to the teen’s shock, the addict broke free of her grip and spun on her heel.
“Sister, I can’t!” she exclaimed, not expecting Ashe to follow her as she doubled back, exiting the alley just as an enormous flash of light consumed the town, followed by a thunderous bang! The powerful winds bowled Sage over, and she found herself somewhat surprised to find Ashe at her side, helping her to her feet.
Sage’s eyes frantically swept the battleground, and settled on Zena, who broke free of some blonde man’s grip. A word was exchanged, and she turned back to the fading light. There was Oliver, on one knee, and Balrog on the ground before him.
Impossible! Sage protested, her telepathic voice broadcasting for all to hear. Sage might not have been able to use ki, but she knew what is was! Balrog should have been consumed by that explosion.
More people converged around the fallen lieutenant, she suddenly noticed. Footfalls thundered to her right, and she turned to face them. She smiled, or she wanted to, at the sight of Juno and Sophia sprinting toward her. She wanted to say something but instead just fell forward, into the arms of the saiyan boy.
There were others, still. A lady with red hair by the blonde man, and there were still the sounds of a pitched battle in the background, so someone else must have been fighting somewhere close. “Ashe,” she breathed, and Juno strained to listen.
“What?”
“Ashe,” Sage insisted, trying to speak as clearly as she could through the blood and the swelling and the fatigue. Her frail hand grasped onto his shirt, collecting the fabric in a clump. “Help Ashe.”
Sophia made her way to the other horribly battered girl, the one she decided must be who Sage was talking about. The hybrid relaxed somewhat. And suddenly, she burst into tears, shaking against a bewildered Juno, who just held her for a moment.
Her tears were not of pain or sadness or even anger. She just cried because she didn’t know what else she could do but cry in the face of the absurdity of her situation. Realization had struck her as she imagined a bullet might.
Despite the sheer hell Kai Demolic had put her through, despite the suffering and the horror and the loss, Sage - hopeless, fearful, sullen Sage - had found a glimmer of hope despite all the horrible game had to offer.
Her sister, somewhere at the forefront. She owed Zena her life, her whole life. Everything she was, she did, she could do, it was because of her sister, and her sister had not abandoned her. She had found her, somehow.
Oliver was there, too, the grizzled old man who hadn’t offered a kind word, except the one in the jeep, and yet seemed... oddly different from the cruel and judgmental people of everyday life. And Sophia and Juno had come, and...
Sage rolled her head, peering at the pink haired girl, who seemed uncomfortable despite the priestess’ soothing words.
Ashe.
Maybe the others didn’t have a chance, but Ashe had done so much for Sage. If not for her, then she would be- the hybrid chased away the thought. She didn’t know if the pink haired girl shared the feeling, but Sage felt a strange kind of closeness with her that she hadn’t shared with anyone else. How many times had Ashe risked herself for Sage?
Sage felt a kind of connection for their shared circumstances. They were separate, marginalized from the world around them, she, psychologically, and Ashe genetically. For Sage, the differences in cause didn’t matter if the effect was the same.
And now that Zena was here, things would be better. She stopped crying; the worst was over. Her sister would set things right, and they would leave this horrible place, and go back to work trying to establish themselves in their new lives. She smiled, the thought of that dingy hostel never seemed so appealing.
And then, as if just to shatter Sage’s brief moment of happiness, Balrog leapt to his feet, catching Nash on the chin with a savage uppercut on his way up. With surprising speed, his hand lashed out, catching Zena around the throat. He hoisted her off her feet, crushing her airway while he hurled punches at her with his free hand.
“Zena!” she choked, struggling with Juno, who feared she would collapse. “L-Let me- let me go!”
Breaking away from the dark haired man, Sage stumbled wildly about, withdrawing her pistol and leveling it at the head of her twin’s assailant. She tried to steady her aim, but her hands refused, and she fell to one knee. Resting her elbow on her knee, she was able to line up a shot, but she hesitated.
What’s the matter, girl? Never been touched by a man before?
Fury struck across her visage, and she pulled the trigger. The glob of vibrant green energy shot through the void between her and the beast, and it slammed into Balrog’s elbow. The sharp sting broke his grip on Zena’s throat, and she instantly threw an elbow of her own into his face.
Others in the group seemed to swarm the lieutenant, while Sage flopped forward and collapsed on the ground, her gun still firmly within her grip. And then she heard the clicks of guns all around her.
Though she couldn’t see it, Balrog’s goons emerged from every direction, from buildings, from side streets and alleys, on top of roofs, all of them with their menacing weapons drawn. At least to them Sage looked dead.
The gathered warriors didn’t take long to realize they were going to have to fight Balrog and a slew of lesser murderers at the same time. Many of them didn’t know one another, which was probably somehow one of the machinations of Kai’s devious game, but they would have to work together in order to repel the forces of their mutual enemy, and to do that they would have to put their suspicions aside. In only seconds, they would truly have to decide between friend or foe.
Suddenly everything blurred. Vision, logic, awareness, pain swirled through all of it and she couldn’t breathe. Balrog. That was his name. He hit her. Punched her in the stomach, just he’d done to Ashe. She wheezed, but no air came. For a long moment she felt as though she balanced on the equinox of life and death. Her face twisted away from Balrog, but she watched him through the corners of her eyes, unable to defend herself. To reach the gun tucked in the belt of her jeans.
“So,” he grinned, flashing his gap-ridden, hillbilly smile. “You must mean a lot to her,” he jerked his head in Ashe’s direction. “For her to take punches for you. But it looks to me like it’ll hurt her more,” at this his grin went wide, and he leaned in close, to whisper to the azure haired hybrid. “To hurt you instead,”
Another punch to the gut, and then a hook to the face. Blood sprayed from Sage’s lip, but Balrog didn’t relent. He hit her again, this time nearer the eye. The girl went limp, her head lolling about, crimson falling from her nose and mouth. The hulking warrior suddenly seemed irate. “You’re supposed to scream!” he punctuated this by backhanding the girl across the face, but received only a short yelp of pain in response. Even in agony, Sage was reserved.
“Stop it!!” Ashe shouted, struggling against her bonds. Balrog spun on his heel, and smashed his fist into her nose in response. She cried out sharply, much more satisfyingly. He struck her again, and then turned away for a moment, cracking his neck.
He turned back and looked his two subjects over. They were both covered in a slick of blood, sweat, and grime. The blue haired one was shaking, her breathing sounding unsteady. A sudden, vicious punch to her side caused Sage to shriek in shock and pain, and she shuddered more furiously.
Balrog took the girl’s chin in his hand and forced her to look at him. His eyes weren’t dead, like she’d expected. No, they danced. He was enjoying this. Doing horrible things to total strangers.
“What’s the matter, kid? You scared?”
“She’s-” Ashe struggled, spitting out blood to talk, fighting through the pain. “You son of a-” She gave up. She desperately wanted to speak; the words needed to be said but she just couldn’t say them. For Ashe and Sage, the only language were the screams of pain that Balrog extracted from them.
What felt like an era of anguish passed, and it seemed another would follow, when suddenly, Balrog jerked around, and froze in mid-turn. There was some kind of struggle, and suddenly he hurled something skyward, unleashing a blast of energy after it.
“Oliver...?”
And then a bone-on-bone crack rank out, and Balrog stumbled. Suddenly, the hulking lieutenant had been thrown into battle with a furious blond warrior, who matched him blow for blow, raining vicious strikes onto him with an audible fury.
A blonde... Sage stared for a while, convinced her eyes were playing tricks on her. This woman-
No, it was impossible. This was just a memory. False hope. Another kick lashed out, catching Balrog just under the ear, he stumbled backward, brushing against Sage. You couldn’t feel memories.
Could you?
“Z-Zena!” she suddenly exclaimed, reaching out despite her trepidation, her speech slurred from her swelling lips. Tears tumbled from her weary eyes. “You’re-”
“Go, dammit!” Zena growled, with a flick of her wrists firing a pair of ki bolts that effortlessly slashed through the ropes binding the girls to the beam above them. “Get out and take her with you!”
“But-”
“GO!”
What could she do? She didn’t want to lose Zena, not now, not after they just came together again. But... she sighed, trying to hide the fear and guilt and her objections, and she grabbed Ashe’s arm despite her bound hands and ran to shelter in a nearby alley. They paused, and the pink haired girl worked off her bonds, and then helped Sage with hers, before Ashe took her wrist and pulled her farther down the alley, but, to the teen’s shock, the addict broke free of her grip and spun on her heel.
“Sister, I can’t!” she exclaimed, not expecting Ashe to follow her as she doubled back, exiting the alley just as an enormous flash of light consumed the town, followed by a thunderous bang! The powerful winds bowled Sage over, and she found herself somewhat surprised to find Ashe at her side, helping her to her feet.
Sage’s eyes frantically swept the battleground, and settled on Zena, who broke free of some blonde man’s grip. A word was exchanged, and she turned back to the fading light. There was Oliver, on one knee, and Balrog on the ground before him.
Impossible! Sage protested, her telepathic voice broadcasting for all to hear. Sage might not have been able to use ki, but she knew what is was! Balrog should have been consumed by that explosion.
More people converged around the fallen lieutenant, she suddenly noticed. Footfalls thundered to her right, and she turned to face them. She smiled, or she wanted to, at the sight of Juno and Sophia sprinting toward her. She wanted to say something but instead just fell forward, into the arms of the saiyan boy.
There were others, still. A lady with red hair by the blonde man, and there were still the sounds of a pitched battle in the background, so someone else must have been fighting somewhere close. “Ashe,” she breathed, and Juno strained to listen.
“What?”
“Ashe,” Sage insisted, trying to speak as clearly as she could through the blood and the swelling and the fatigue. Her frail hand grasped onto his shirt, collecting the fabric in a clump. “Help Ashe.”
Sophia made her way to the other horribly battered girl, the one she decided must be who Sage was talking about. The hybrid relaxed somewhat. And suddenly, she burst into tears, shaking against a bewildered Juno, who just held her for a moment.
Her tears were not of pain or sadness or even anger. She just cried because she didn’t know what else she could do but cry in the face of the absurdity of her situation. Realization had struck her as she imagined a bullet might.
Despite the sheer hell Kai Demolic had put her through, despite the suffering and the horror and the loss, Sage - hopeless, fearful, sullen Sage - had found a glimmer of hope despite all the horrible game had to offer.
Her sister, somewhere at the forefront. She owed Zena her life, her whole life. Everything she was, she did, she could do, it was because of her sister, and her sister had not abandoned her. She had found her, somehow.
Oliver was there, too, the grizzled old man who hadn’t offered a kind word, except the one in the jeep, and yet seemed... oddly different from the cruel and judgmental people of everyday life. And Sophia and Juno had come, and...
Sage rolled her head, peering at the pink haired girl, who seemed uncomfortable despite the priestess’ soothing words.
Ashe.
Maybe the others didn’t have a chance, but Ashe had done so much for Sage. If not for her, then she would be- the hybrid chased away the thought. She didn’t know if the pink haired girl shared the feeling, but Sage felt a strange kind of closeness with her that she hadn’t shared with anyone else. How many times had Ashe risked herself for Sage?
Sage felt a kind of connection for their shared circumstances. They were separate, marginalized from the world around them, she, psychologically, and Ashe genetically. For Sage, the differences in cause didn’t matter if the effect was the same.
And now that Zena was here, things would be better. She stopped crying; the worst was over. Her sister would set things right, and they would leave this horrible place, and go back to work trying to establish themselves in their new lives. She smiled, the thought of that dingy hostel never seemed so appealing.
And then, as if just to shatter Sage’s brief moment of happiness, Balrog leapt to his feet, catching Nash on the chin with a savage uppercut on his way up. With surprising speed, his hand lashed out, catching Zena around the throat. He hoisted her off her feet, crushing her airway while he hurled punches at her with his free hand.
“Zena!” she choked, struggling with Juno, who feared she would collapse. “L-Let me- let me go!”
Breaking away from the dark haired man, Sage stumbled wildly about, withdrawing her pistol and leveling it at the head of her twin’s assailant. She tried to steady her aim, but her hands refused, and she fell to one knee. Resting her elbow on her knee, she was able to line up a shot, but she hesitated.
What’s the matter, girl? Never been touched by a man before?
Fury struck across her visage, and she pulled the trigger. The glob of vibrant green energy shot through the void between her and the beast, and it slammed into Balrog’s elbow. The sharp sting broke his grip on Zena’s throat, and she instantly threw an elbow of her own into his face.
Others in the group seemed to swarm the lieutenant, while Sage flopped forward and collapsed on the ground, her gun still firmly within her grip. And then she heard the clicks of guns all around her.
Though she couldn’t see it, Balrog’s goons emerged from every direction, from buildings, from side streets and alleys, on top of roofs, all of them with their menacing weapons drawn. At least to them Sage looked dead.
The gathered warriors didn’t take long to realize they were going to have to fight Balrog and a slew of lesser murderers at the same time. Many of them didn’t know one another, which was probably somehow one of the machinations of Kai’s devious game, but they would have to work together in order to repel the forces of their mutual enemy, and to do that they would have to put their suspicions aside. In only seconds, they would truly have to decide between friend or foe.
![[Image: Sage.jpg]](http://rebecca.florizone.com/sig/miscsig/Sage.jpg)