[7] vs. Trisha

[Kaden]

To say that things were getting out of control was quickly becoming more than an understatement. Trisha seemed determined to push Kaden's allies beyond the breaking point. While he didn't agree with Sophia and Piper's moral concession, he definitely understood it. Sophia had been right, it wasn't right for her to be prepared to give up her life just to make it a little easier for Kaden to sleep at night. Piper's decision had simply been a rational one: if they didn't take care of Trisha, she would take care of them. Kaden couldn't really argue with that.

As he continued to turn over ideas and thoughts in his mind, the courier had to take a short intermission to dive out of the path of Trisha's pistol. As he pulled himself back to a standing position, Kaden could feel his legs threatening to give out. He knew he didn't possess the physical endurance that Piper did, but it was... underwhelming to see that even Sophia seemed to be handling their physical trials better than he was.

For some reason, Kaden only stand back and watch as Trisha turned towards Sophia and dashed forward, her dagger gripped firmly in her hand. Before Trisha could reach the priestess, however, Piper intercepted her with a flash of her own glowing blade. As Kai's wife turned to address the latest threat, she was forced to dance away from a series of ki blasts fired by Sophia. Between the priestess and the medic, Trisha was pushed onto the defensive. The trophy wife's strength and speed, however, kept Kaden's allies from gaining any true advantage. The three women seemed to be at something of a stalemate.

And then there was Kaden. In a battle between people ready to kill each other, there didn't seem to be a place for someone full of uncertanty and hesitation. Unless, of course, that person was just determined to get themselves killed. For some, it have come as a relief to sit back and wait for an opportune moment to strike, the perfect moment to end the bloodshed with a single attack. For Kaden, such a prospect was simply too risky. Unfortunately, the only plans he could actually come up with involved a huge amount of risk anyway.

Risk to himself wasn't something Kaden minded. He'd put someone else's livelihood in front of his own every single time in a situation like the one he was in. Sadly, that wasn't really the choice he had to make. He barely had any choice in what would happen at all, not that he was trying to excuse himself. There were two pathes in front of him and it wasn't hard to decide which to take. Either he would do nothing and Trisha would kill them all, or he would act and just hope that he would be the one to deal Kai's wife the "finishing" blow.

A sudden cry of pain pulled Kaden's attention back to the fight. Piper had received a kick that could only be described as massive, and was sent skidding across the food court floor. Trisha turned to Sophia, hoping to capitalize on the sudden opening, but wouldn't get the chance. Hopping back to her feet, Piper vaulted forward into the air. To Kaden's surprise, the medic vanished in a shimmer of light, reappearing directly in front of Trisha almost instantaneously. Piper placed both her feet squarely on Trisha's chest and sent the woman flying backwards with a powerful kick.

Sophia and Piper exchanged a quick word as Trisha flipped backwards. The ex-soldier managed to right herself mid-flight and land softly on her feet. To Kaden's chagrin, she was no more than a couple of yards away from him. Whether she was more distracted by Piper and Sophia, or she just didn't see the courier as a threat, Kaden didn't even seem to be a blip on her radar. If Kaden was going to act, he had to do it right then, and right there. He slowly raised a shaking hand.

Barely pausing to catch her breath, Trisha bent forward, prepared to charge Piper and Sophia once more. Before she could take more than a step, though, she ran headlong into a shimmering curtain of cerulean energy. Trisha took a step away from the barrier of ki, confused by its sudden appearance. Before she could glean any answers, though, the barrier flashed with light and the woman was sent stumbling backwards.

Caught off guard and stumbling backwards was pretty much the only way Kaden was going to get close to Trisha, and he was morely than a little surprised when he managed to pull it off. Kaden's hands shot forward, barely striking Trisha before spun away from the courier and whipped the butt of her pistol across his face.

Piper and Sophia rushed forward as Kaden tumbled to the ground. Trisha was too busy putting distance between her three opponents to follow-up her attack on Kaden. Both of Kaden's allies watched as Trisha almost stumbled backwards, a combination of confusion and frustration plastering itself across her face. As Piper helped Kaden to his feet, she noticed a sad smile cross his face as he apprised Trisha with glowing eyes.

"What the hell did you just do!?" Kai's wife growled at the courier.

"Don't worry." Kaden assured her, "it's not permanent."

The flow of ki to Trisha's legs had been Locked by one of Kaden's more intricate techniques. For a few minutes, the woman wouldn't be able to use the speed that had kept her out of harm's way. At least, she wouldn't be able to use most of it. Regardless, Kaden, Piper, and Sophia were in a much stronger position than they had been only minutes before.

"However," Kaden took a step toward Trisha, adding on to his previous statement. "Death will be." Kaden sighed and shook his head. "And I really don't think you want that, Trisha."

"What I really want is to slit your throat and be done with this," the woman growled back.

"We all want to be done with this!" Kaden suddenly yelled back. "Look at us! You've been driving around in comfortable cars, talking to friends on your phone, and just enjoying the show. We've been out here almost getting killed time after time after time."

"Yeah, well, that's your problem." Kai's wife was obviously more interested in examining her legs than anything Kaden had to say.

"No!" Waving a hand in frustration, Kaden took another step forward. "It's your problem Trisha. What are you even doing here? Coming to kill us because Kai told you to? Is that how you marriage works; he tell you what to do and you just nod along like a good little girl?"

"You don't anythi--"

"Oh please. You think you're someone special? You think you're any different from the millions of people living on Earth? You do what you're told because it's easy. Because its safe. Because as long as you do you're not on your own. I know that feeling better than you'd think, Trisha."

As Kaden took yet another step towards Trisha, Piper and Sophia exchanged nervous glances. They're muscles tensed as they prepared themselves to move at a moment's notice. Kaden had no intention of telling them that Trisha was in a dangerous position. If he did, there was no doubt in his mind that they would try to finish things, and that wasn't what he wanted. In the meantime, Trisha simply watched Kaden with a glare.

"How do you think this is going to end, Trisha? You might be able to kill all three of us and go back to bowing your head to Kai, or you might lose. Both of my friends back there have no problems killing you, but I don't think you're even that afraid of death. I think you're more worried about losing and living. I don't get the impression that Kai smiles on people who fail."

Trisha's eyes darted to the side for only a moment as Kaden spoke. The courier would have been intrigued by such a thing if he were less focused on the flow of her ki. His time was limited and he needed to know when to wrap things up.

"But maybe you're supposed to fail," the courier continued. "Do you really think his master plan is for you to end his show by killing all the competitors? Or do you think it's to die trying to keep that emblem away from us? Which sounds like better television to you? That's all this is, after all. Everyone here is just playing his game. Either you never realized and you're stupider than you look, or you know it's true."

"Do you have a point," Trisha's voice had softened, but Kaden had no idea whether or not that was a good thing. "Or do you just like to hear the sound of your own voice?"

"My point," Kaden took one final step towards Trisha, placing him just beyond arm's reach. "Is that I want to give you a choice. More of a choice, I'm betting, than you've had in a long time. Show us that you're not just some puppet. Show Kai that you're here because you want to be and not because you have to. Show the world that you're strong enough to make a place for yourself. Come help us stop this."

"Kaden!"
"Kaden!"

The courier turned his head to see Sophia and Piper stepping forward, neither of them looking particularly pleased.

"You can't be serious!" Sophia's voice carried more frustration than Kaden was expecting.

"That's not a good idea," Piper said. While she may have been right, Kaden had no intention of changing his mind.

"Even if I wanted to help you children," Trisha scoffed, "I doubt your friends would be overly accomodating."

"I trust them, Trisha," Kaden's voice was soft. "And I don't expect that to mean much to you, but I don't think either of them would try to kill someone willing to help us. If they did," Kaden clenched his fist to keep his hand from shaking. "I'd stop them myself."

"Hahahaha..." Trisha shook her head. "You would stop both of them?"

"Don't underestimate me, Trisha." Kaden could feel his energy flowing. The scar on his chest began to glow faintly as energy poured through the seal on his chest. "I'm not saying this, I'm not offering you this, because I'm weak. I'm not afraid of you," the courier lied. "And I'm not afraid of a fight. I'm afraid of what will happen if I have to end one. Far too many people have died today."

"You seem awfully confident, boy," Trisha sneered at him.

With a frown, Kaden extended an arm forward, gathering in his energy as he did. Forcing open Solina's seal had taken Kaden quite a while to figure out, even conceptually. Actually putting it into practice was something he had only done once before. The feeling of even a fraction of his energy flowing freely once again was almost exhilerating to Kaden. If the situation were less intense, he might take some kind to simply enjoy the wisps of cerulean light that drifted off of his outstretched hand. Unfortunately, he had a point to make.

A ball of light sparked into existance in Kaden's palm and, with a flick of his wrist, the courier sent it shooting forward. Trisha's head snapped to the side as Kaden's attack sailed past, and her eyes locked on to the courier's. Her sneer remained on her face only as long as it took the ball of ki to crash into the far side of the food court.

Despite the deafening roar of the explosion, and the brilliant glow of blue energy, Kaden kept his eyes locked on Trisha as his blast hit home. The ball of energy expanded outward, easily enveloping the second level balcony and making it half-way to the third, before the explosion collapsed upon itself. What was left was little more than a spherical crater filled with debris.

"My technique will wear off soon," Kaden said after a significant silence. His glowing eyes scanned Trisha's leg. "So you have a choice to make. If you fight us, we'll fight back. I don't want anyone to die, and I'll do whatever I can to take that emblem without killing you, but I won't be holding back; Piper and Sophia's lives mean more to me than yours. All you have to do to help, though, is just give us the emblem. We will make sure Kai answers for what's happened today, and you can be there when he does if you want, or you can just go your own way."

"Really," ki rose from Kaden's shoulder like cerulean steam as he continued, "it boils down to one very simple question. Right here, right now, Trisha," Kaden extended a hand to Kai's wife, "friend or foe?"