"Thank you for flying Mizuno International Airlines. Please have a safe and productive visit and enjoy your stay in Neo Hong Kong." The melodious male voice broadcasted itself over the airport's speakers before repeating his message in Mandarin.

As the doors of the busy terminal slid shut behind her, Hana Tsu-Vaschel dropped her duffel bag and backpack back to the ground and released a long sigh of relief. "Finally!"

Beside her, Rain Qin dropped a second duffel bag and stretched, various body parts popping audibly as she lifted her arms over her head. She groaned with relief. "Gods! I thought that would never end." She smiled at Hana. "I think we need another vacation."

"A vacation from our vacation?"

"Hey, why not?" She kicked Hana's duffel bag. "It's not like we can't afford it."

Hana scooped the bag up before Rain could kick it again. "First, we've got to be paid, and Yung won't pay us if you damage Gurlovich's head before I get it to him."

Rain glared at the bag. "Speaking of which, you should get going, before our little 'souvenir' starts to smell."

Hana looked at her blonde partner, a smile teasing the corners of her lips. "Don't you want to come with me?"

Rain's expression made Hana's smile widen. "I am going home," she said sternly. "It's going to take me forever to get the reek of blood out of our clothes." Picking up her own duffel bag, she stalked towards the line of waiting taxis.

Hana grinned to herself.

It was good to be home.

Fear Effect: Retribution
A Fear Effect fanfic
By Kristin Renee Taylor

Part One -

It was supposed to have been a peaceful, relaxing vacation: five days and four nights of sunshine, sand and surf in the always pleasant Hawaii. They'd go horseback riding. They'd hang glide. They'd make every man (and a few women) insanely jealous.

What they got were ninjas. Lots of ninjas. Lots and lots of Russian ninjas.

Five days of fun had turned into twenty-seven hours of frantic swordfights, hostage negotiations, and a lot of ass-kicking before the leader, a weird little man named Gurlovich, finally fell off the roof of a building and broke his neck. Hana had bagged the head, and immediately she and Rain had returned to China to collect the sizable bounty.

Yung was her new liaison with the Triad and was infinitly less slimy, much younger, and much more handsome than Jin had ever been. He always dressed sharply, in black suits, and he had a sharp ruthless attitude that even Hana had to admit was unusual for a Triad member. When she met him at his office, Yung had stared at the bloody head Hana had plopped onto his table. He had stared at her while she recounted her story. And then he had said, "You've got to be shitting me. What kind of stupid-ass crimelord uses Russian ninjas?"

There was a reason why Hana liked the man.

But, that had been hours ago. Now, a couple of hundred thousand dollars richer, Hana was ready to take a long shower and crash headlong into bed. She didn't want to get up for a week.

As she unlocked the door to her apartment, she thought 'And what the hell were Russian ninjas doing in Hawaii, anyway?'

The apartment she and Rain shared was new; they had moved out of their old place after the unpleasantness of last New Year's. (It was more like they had been kicked out, but whatever.) Their new place, a spacious two-bedroom suite, lay closer to the center of the city, in a tall skyrise overlooking the downtown shopping district and offering an incredible view of Neo Hong Kong's skyline.

In the small entryway, Hana dropped her backpack next to Rain's duffel bag. She could hear the shower running, and the steady hiss of water muffled what might have been a radio.

"And she says I take too long," Hana muttered as she entered the suite proper. "Figures." She crossed the living room, towards the bathroom. "Rain! If you've used up all the hot water-" Hana grasped the handle of the door and threw it open.

A cloud of steam billowed out, briefly obscuring Hana's sight. Grimacing, she stepped into the overly moist bathroom, fumbled around, and flicked off the radio. Rain's clothes and underwear were in a pile on the floor, but Rain herself wasn't present. Puzzled, Hana cut off the water and walked back into the living room.

"Rain?" In the sudden silence, her voice sounded odd.

Something wasn't right here.

Rain had draped her jacket over the back of the couch. The door to the second bedroom, long since converted into Rain's computer room, was open. One of Rain's computer monitors was on, displaying a moving blob for a screensaver. Hana couldn't see the kitchen from where she stood. The door to the main bedroom, which she and Rain shared, was closed

Hana went to the door and stopped, eyes narrowing, breathing deeply. There was something there, a vague but familiar scent that alarmed her. Gripping the doorknob with one hand, she pulled a .44 custom-made handgun free of its shoulder holster and flicked the safety off.

She shoved the door open, sweeping gun and eyes across the room in a single practiced movement.

Blood. It was everywhere: the walls, the ceiling, the floor. Gallons of blood thrown everywhere, painting every surface a slick wet sheen. More blood than a human body could have possibly provided. The smell of it clogged the air, making Hana gag, and she hastily blotted her eyes as they begin to tear up.

She surveyed the room again, her mind noting other details that she had missed: her closet had been ransacked, clothes lay strewn across the floor in small crimson piles. Rain was on the bed. Lamps had been thrown against the walls hard enough to bust holes in the dry-

The hair lifted off the back of Hana's neck.

Rain lay at the center of an ocean of bloody sheets, pale, unmoving and naked. Her ankles and wrists were tied to the bedposts. Her head was bowed, blonde hair matted with blood covered her face.

She wasn't breathing.

'Oh no. No. No, Jesus God, NO!'

"RAIN!" Dropping her gun, Hana scrambled onto the bed, oblivious to the blood she got on her clothing. Desperately, she searched Rain's body, and nearly collapsed with relief at the weak but steady pulse in Rain's throat.

Alive...

A large bruise mottled the left side of Rain's face, along her temple. As Hana untied her, she groaned thickly, but didn't regain consciousness. Hana wrapped her in a clean sheet from the utility closet and gently carried her to the living room couch. Then she returned to the bedroom.

Aside from the blood and the ruined clothes, everything else in the room seem to be untouched. There were no signs of forced entry. Nothing of value was missing. Even Hana's backup arsenal, hidden under a false panel in the closet floor, was untouched.

No, not untouched. Someone had rummaged through it. One of her guns, a 9mm that she no longer used but kept in case of an emergency, had been loaded and replaced. Holding it in her hand, frowning to herself, Hana ejected the clip and checked it.

Seven bullets.

Her eyes narrowed. It couldn't be...

"...Hana..?"

Her head snapped up. A moment later, she was at Rain's side. "Rain, are you okay? How do you feel?"

Rain was sitting up, one hand pressed to her forehead as she grimaced in pain. "Head hurts. Room spinning." Blue eyes focused slowly on Hana's concerned face. "What happened?"

"From the look of it, someone attacked you. Do you remember anything?"

Rain closed her eyes. "Got home... Cut the shower on..." She started to shake her head, and halted the motion almost immediately. "The rest is a blur." She opened her eyes. "I'm sorry."

Hana squeezed her hand. "Don't be." Standing, Hana went to the kitchen. She drew a glass of water, retrieved a bottle of aspirin, and walked back to Rain. "Here. This'll help." While Rain drank, Hana sat next to her. "I hope you've got some clean clothes left."

When Rain glanced at her, Hana explained the condition of their room.

"Great," Rain said. She leaned her head against the couch and sighed. "Who the hell did we piss off this time?"

"I don't know. But, when I find him, he'll wish he had never been born."

***

"Oh, I am not cleaning this up." Arms folded, showered and dressed in a pair of nearly clean clothes, Rain glared at the mess that was their bedroom. "This is ridiculous."

"Well, we could always move again."

Rain directed her glare through the doorway, where Hana leaned against the far wall of the hallway. "We just got here. We haven't been here five months!"

Hana shrugged and smiled.

"This is serious, Hana. Someone broke into our apartment and tried to kill me!"

Hana's smile vanished. She straightened and walked into the bedroom. "Nobody 'broke' in here, Rain. The lock on the door wasn't forced, none of the windows show signs of tampering, and the alarm was disabled. Whoever got in here not only had a key, but they knew a shitload about us.

"And this-" She gestured around the room. "-is a warning. If they had wanted you dead, you'd be dead."

Rain let her arms drop. "Who did this, Hana? And why?"

Hana shook her head. "I don't know... You don't remember anything?"

"I got home. I walked into the bedroom to get my robe, and then everything becomes a big red blur."

"What about your computer?"

Rain gave Hana an odd look. "What about my computer?"

"You cut it on, didn't you?"

Rain frowned. "I told you, I came home and got my robe. I never even touched-" She broke off.

They stared at each other, then, as one, bolted for Rain's computer room.

Rain slipped into the chair, fingers flashing over the keyboard as she deactivated the screensaver and examined her files. Hana, standing behind her, said, "Well?"

Rain frowned. "Everything seems fine... doesn't look like anything's been tampered... wait... Something's been uploaded." She accessed the file. "It's a movie." She looked at Hana meaningfully.

Hana folded her arms. "Play it."

Rain hit a key.

The screen went black. Quickly, the darkness was replaced by their bedroom. Rain's attacker had already ransacked the room: blood was everywhere. Rain lay sprawled on the bed. The footage was slightly grainy, and had the appearance of being filmed on a cheap video camera. The angle of the shot put the camera just above the bedroom door.

The timestamp at the bottom of the screen dated the shot at an hour ago, twenty minutes before Hana had arrived home. She had missed running into Rain's attacker by minutes.

Abruptly, the shot begin to play, but in reverse.

A man appeared, entering the shot from somewhere beneath the camera. Large and muscular, wearing a bulky trenchcoat, he moved in such a way as to keep his face turned away from the camera, affording Hana with only the occasional glimpse of a broad nose and a chiseled jaw. He carried two buckets and, as they watched, the blood on the ceiling and walls leapt off the surfaces and flowed into the buckets. In moments, the bedroom was free of blood. With the blood gone, the man turned to their belongings. Clothing flew into drawers. Drawers returned to dressers. Shelves magically regained their contents unbroken. Hana and Rain's wardrobe re-hung itself.

Hana said, "And you slept through all of this?"

"Considering that I had just been concussed, you're lucky I woke up at all." But, Rain's voice was distracted. She was squinting at the screen.

The man turned his attention to the bed and Rain. He untied her. From somewhere he produced clothing and begin to dress Rain, making no effort to hide his occasional groping. Hana's eyes narrowed furiously. "That bastard."

Rain inhaled sharply, but for an entirely different reason. "Hana, that's not a timestamp."

On the screen, the man picked Rain up and carried her off-screen. He returned almost immediately, holding a black box the size of an alarm clock. He turned, faced the camera fully.

Rain spun, eyes wide. "That's a timer!"

Hana looked at her. "What?!" She snapped her gaze back to the screen, just in time to see the man hold the box up to the camera. He was holding a digital readout. Eight seconds were left.

"RUN!" Hana shouted.

Part Two -

The explosion rocked the night, lighting up the sky and briefly overpowering even the near constant neon glow of Neo Hong Kong at night. The few pedestrians still about looked up, shouting in alarm as one floor of the apartment building suddenly exploded outwards, showering them with glass and debris.

As distant sirens filled the air, a classic '07 Mustang, electric blue, launched out of the underground parking lot. Tires squealed, and it sped down the nearly empty street at breakneck speed.

Rain swiveled in her seat, watching two firetrucks and a number of police cars race past them in the other direction. When the sirens had faded she slumped in her seat. "That was way too close."

Hana made a noise that might have been an agreement. Her eyes were focused intently on the road ahead of her as she dodged the sparse traffic they encountered.

"Where are we going?"

"Away." She put her statement into effect by taking the next freeway entrance she found, leaving both their former home and the speed limit dwindling into the distance. Rain glanced at her, then forward. "Well, at least we don't have to worry about cleaning up all that blood."

Hana remained silent.

Rain huffed in exasperation and twisted in her seat to glare at Hana. "Okay, what's the deal?"

Hana's eyes flicked towards her, then away. "Deal?"

"Yes. You're acting weird."

"No, I'm not."

"Yes, you are."

"I'm not acting weird, Rain."

"Could've fooled me," Rain muttered. When Hana didn't answer, Rain added, "What the heck is your problem? You've been all silent moody ever since you saw that video." She thought for a moment, then said, "Did you know who that man was?"

Hana stared everywhere except at Rain. "No."

Rain frowned. "Hana."

Grimacing, Hana's hands tightened on the steering wheel. "He's... an ex."

"Boyfriend?!" Rain sat up, grinning. "This is new."

Hana's expression wiped the smile off. "I meant ex-client."

"A client? From where?"

"Madam Chen's."

"Oh," Rain said. Then, again, "Oh! So he was-"

"-that kind of client," Hana finished. She glowered darkly at a taxi as she swerved to pass it.

"So, what'd you do to piss him off? Insult his size? His technique? Was he impotent?" Hana glared at her and Rain shrugged, unrepentant. "You had to have done something, Hana."

Hana looked at her for a second more before glancing up at the rearview mirror. Shortly, "I shot him."

"Why'd you shoot him?"

Again, it was a moment before Hana answered. "He pissed me off."

"Well, that explains everything," Rain said, her tone as dry as she could make it. "Hana, are we partners or not?"

"And what is that supposed to mean?"

Rain folded her arms. "It means that I'm tired of playing Twenty Questions. Somebody's trying to kill us, and I would like to know who and why."

Hana's eyes clouded over. The Mustang's speed dropped, nearly to the speed limit. Finally, she sighed heavily as she reached a decision. "His name is McNorton. Andrew McNorton. He was some sort of Special Forces soldier from the United States, but he got kicked out for some reason."

Remembering the violent destruction of their room, Rain said, "Anger management, probably."

Hana smiled slightly, but her eyes remained dark. "He'd been a client of Chen's for a while, several months at least before I met him. I never knew a whole lot about him. Just that he was big, fairly handsome, and paid really, really well. His girls adored him."

"His girls?"

Hana nodded. "He had a mini-harem. 'McNorton's Girls,' they called themselves. He was going get them out of there, they said. Buy them all and keep them all for himself. And for some reason, they thought he was the best thing in the world."

"You didn't."

Hana's hands gripped the wheel tightly. The Mustang's speed begin to pick up. "I hate him. I hate everything about him. I hope he rots in Hell." She glared blackly at the road.

Rain rested a hand lightly against Hana's arm, feeling the muscles beneath tremble with anger. Hana rarely spoke of her past, and talked even less of her time in Chen's brothel, but when she did was never as furious as she was growing now. The depth of her anger surprised Rain. Softly, Rain said, "What did he do to you?"

"What didn't he do to me?" Hana said acidly. She lapsed into fuming silence.

Rain sighed quietly and leaned back in her seat. This was going to be a difficult night.

Hana's eyes flicked to the rearview mirror. Then her eyes narrowed. "We're being followed."

Startled, Rain twisted in her seat, trying to see behind her. "Where-"

She bit off the question as she spotted a large SUV coming straight at them. It was completely black. It bore no plates. She squinted against the extremely bright headlights, trying to make out more details. The SUV crashed into the rear bumper. Rain braced herself between the dashboard and her door, her seatbelt cinched tightly against her chest. The steering wheel wrenched itself to the right, but Hana kept her grip on it, wrestling the car back into the center of the street. "Damn!" Her earlier mood had broken; The anger in her voice was now directed at the enemy behind them. The SUV slammed into the Mustang again, and they lurched forward. "Rain."

"On it." Rain popped her seatbelt and scrambled into the backseat, bracing herself as the SUV rammed them a third time. She folded back one of the seats to reveal a black attaché suitcase. Rain opened it, and begin to assemble the components inside.

The SUV charged forward. Snarling a stream of profanity, Hana swerved the car to the left. The SUV overshot them. Hana spun the wheel, and the two vehicles crashed together. Metal shrieked, and a cloud of sparks erupted into the air.

Hana fought the wheel. "Rain!"

Rain raised the completed sub-machine gun. A spray of bullets shattered the windows on the passenger's side and put several nice holes in the doors of the SUV. It peeled off to the right. Rain winced as the SUV crashed into the divider.

Gunfire erupted to Rain's left. A second SUV had pulled up alongside them, and a vague shadow pointed an automatic weapon in their direction. She ducked as the windows on the driver's side imploded, spraying the interior of the car with gummy shards of safety glass.

Hana cried out sharply, in pain, and the Mustang swerved sharply to the left. The driver of the SUV braked as they cut him off. Rain returned fire as they passed, blowing out the rear window in the process. Then, she glanced at Hana. "Are you okay?"

Hana was struggling with the wheel. "Bastard shot me." Blood ran from her right hand onto her forearm, dripping onto her lap and coating the steering wheel. Hana fought to keep her grip on it.

Rain noticed a string SUVs ahead of them, lined up to block the freeway. "Hana!"

Hana smiled grimly. "Persistent bastards." She accelerated. "Hang on!"

The Mustang shot forward, straight towards the line of vehicles. At the last moment, Hana hung a sharp left and the Mustang swerved across two lanes onto an exit ramp, clipping one of the several water barrels as it passed and dumping Rain onto the floor.

Rain pulled herself back into the front seat. "Was that necessary?"

Hana glanced at her. "Do I tell you how to drive?"

"Yes, and it's irritating as Hell. How's your hand?"

"Bullet grazed me. It's not deep, but it's bloody and it hurts like Hell."

"Good. You deserved it, with the way you drive."

"If you aimed better than I wouldn't have had to drive like that."

"Oh, so now this is my fault?"

"I'm sorry, did I say that? Because, y'know, it is."

"I oughta put in a bullet in your brain."

Hana slammed on the brakes. The tires screeched. Rain caught herself before she was flung through the windshield. Shuddering, the Mustang came to a stop.

Rain glared at Hana. "What the Hell is your problem?"

Hana was staring ahead of them. Rain followed her gaze and groaned in dismay.

The street Hana had exited onto led directly over a bridge. At the distant end Rain could see at least a dozen sets of headlights. A glance behind her showed another line of SUVs approaching from the rear. They were caught in the middle, with no visible exits.

Hana smirked. "Switch places?"

"Shut up and drive."

Hana's smirk broadened into a smile. "As you command, oh holy one."

Hana revved the engine. She tramped on the accelerator. The Mustang let out a squeal, then its tires found purchase on the pavement and it rocketed forward, a blue streak in the night. They passed out onto the bridge, and the tall metal struts blurred past them. Rain alternated her gaze from the speedometer to the line of light ahead of them and back to the speedometer. "Um... Hana?"

"Yes?"

The distance between the Mustang and the far end of the bridge was decreasing rapidly. "What are you doing?"

"Driving." Hana continued to accelerate. She seemed unusually calm.

"Oh, great idea there, Hana! We'll be killed!"

"I never said I was going to drive into them." She wasn't even looking ahead. Her eyes flicked rapidly left and right, scanning the bridge on either side of them. Suddenly, her eyes locked on a distant point to her right. "Better brace yourself."

Rain followed her line of sight. "Oh, no..."

"Oh, yeah." Her smile now a full-fledge grin, Hana let the Mustang drift to the left, almost brushing the retaining wall. As Rain let out a shriek of terror, she spun the wheel to the right. The Mustang swung in a broad curve, blasted through the thin metal guard rail, and sailed out into the night beyond before plunging into the river far below.

***

Bootheels paused at the edge of the gap. A beam of light pierced the night, reflecting down on the surface of the river below, highlighting the slowly dying stream of bubbles that drifted up from the river's depths. Someone spoke, in German. "<Did we get them?>"

<"Nah,"> a second voice answered. A wad of spit was hacked over the side. <"Saw 'em jump right before they hit the water.">

<"Then they're stupider than they looked. They'd freeze-">

"What're they saying?" Rain's whisper broke into the conversation, directly in Hana's ear. Hana hushed her quickly, but-

<"Did you hear that?"> The beam of the flashlight, which had been wandering aimlessly along the length of the river, suddenly swiveled to scan the area directly beneath the two men.

Hana shot Rain a quick glare, visible even in the near-darkness. Rain flashed her a brief, apologetic smile.

Several tense moments passed. Hana and Rain clung to their perch, the steel support beams of the bridge. The two mercenaries stood in perfect silence on the cement walkway above. The flashlight's beam came dangerously close to revealing the two female mercenaries.

<"Man, you're hearing things. I'm telling you they froze to death in the water.">

<"Maybe you're right... but, let's get some lights on the river... just in case..."> The flashlight clicked off, and two pairs of boots walked away.

Hana released a private sigh of relief. She gestured quickly at Rain, who nodded, then cautiously eased her head up and above the edge of the bridge.

One of the black SUVs sat directly in front of her, its engine and lights off. No one was in the immediate vicinity. Beyond the SUV, in the gap between asphalt and undercarriage, Hana could make out several pairs of booted feet. The hitmen were gathered in a small knot a short distance away.

Hana lowered herself enough to signal her intention to Rain. Grunting softly, she hauled herself up over the lip of the bridge. A quick glance showed no one had noticed her, so she bent to help Rain up as well. With Rain now keeping watch, Hana moved silently to the SUV and, as quietly as possible, opened the front passenger door and slid inside. Quickly, she removed the panel under the steering column. The necessary wires were easy to locate. She lifted her head enough to glance out the door. "Rain."

Rain looked around again, then climbed into the passenger's seat. "All clear."

Hana touched her wires together. The engine coughed as it turned over once, and suddenly roared to life. Rain slammed her door shut.

The instant Hana had hot-wired the car, the startled group of men had spun in their direction. Many reacted by drawing guns, but Hana had shifted the SUV into gear. The tires squealed protests before they caught the pavement. The SUV rocketed forward, directly towards the knot. Hana cut the headlights on high.

Immediately shouts erupted. Several of the men fired blindly at SUV. Bullets pinged off the metal and cracked against the glass with no effect. The SUV plowed through the knot, bodies striking the vehicle with heavy thuds. And then they were through, free, and headed across the bridge, into the city.

Hana grinned at Rain. "Home fr- what?"

Rain was glaring at her. With exaggerated slowness she folded her arms and said, "Do you know how long it took me to find that car?"

Hana's smile faltered. "What?"

"Do you know how many side-jobs I took to pay for that car? Do you

have any idea how much that car cost?"

Hana's smile vanished. Uh, oh...

"How could you destroy my baby?!"

As Rain launched into her tirade, Hana forced herself to pay attention to the road.

This was going to be an even longer night than she expected.

***

They ditched the SUV early, stealing a dark blue pickup truck as soon as they could. Less than an hour later they ditched the truck in favor of a faded white delivery van that smelled faintly of roses.

For a while they drove aimlessly, discussing plans of attack. Much of their weaponry lay at the bottom of the river. All save for the 9mm Hana had tucked into her jeans before the explosion, and that gun only had seven bullets. Once that was empty, they were down to Rain's knife and Hana's martial arts, and Hana wouldn't wager any amount of money that they'd win with those odds.

And that left another problem: both women were quickly approaching a point of collapse. Hana hadn't had a full night's sleep since leaving Hawaii seventeen hours ago, and had only dozed for a couple of hours on the plane. Rain's enforced nap hadn't been true rest, and she hadn't slept on the plane at all. Combine that with the fizzling adrenaline in their bloodstreams...

Rain thought it best that they head for one of the safehouses the Triad had established throughout Neo Hong Kong. They could rest, change clothes, get money, and stock up on weapons. Hana wasn't particularly enthusiastic about the idea, but quickly came to the conclusion that they had very little choice about the matter.

Which is how they found themselves in a smelly, dank apartment at the rear of a dank, smelly apartment building in Neo Hong Kong's less illustrious district.

To the previous tenant's credit, the apartment, although stuffy, damp and filled with the odor of mildew, was surprisingly clean. The single bedroom was free of the giant cockroaches she expected. The bathroom lacked any festering rings of dirt and rust. All the dry food in the kitchen was and sealed in vermin-proof bags and Tupperware containers. The water even ran clear and hot.

If Rain noticed any of this, she gave no sign. While Hana was checking the apartment, Rain collapsed face-first on the bed and didn't move.

Satisfied that, for the moment at least, they were safe enough, Hana sat on the ledge formed from the windowsill. From her vantage, she could keep an eye out on the street below, and make sure they received no unintended visitors in black sport utility vehicles.

"What was he like?" Rain's muffled voice drifted to Hana's ears. She glanced over to see Rain curled on her side, watching her solemnly.

"What was who like?" Hana said.

"You know who. McNasty."

"McNorton," Hana corrected. She returned her gaze out the window, while she brooded on her answer. Finally, she said, "He was handsome. And he knew it. Whenever he arrived, you could always tell where he was by the aura of smoothness he radiated. The man was so in love with himself... I think he actually believed that the rest of the world was created to worship him."

"That's not enough of a reason to shoot him."

"Maybe not," Hana admitted. "But, I did it anyway."

In the silence that followed, Hana thought Rain had surely given up the questioning, had most certainly fallen asleep. A glance proved that Rain's back was to her.

Hana pulled the 9mm from her jeans and held it in her hands. Quietly, she said, "Back then, when I was still Mei-yun, he told me he loved me. That we were soulmates, brought together by the will of God, to be together forever. The other girls meant nothing to him. I was the special one, the only one, and he would take me away from it all.

"And I believed him.

"It was my fault, of course. I was young, yeah, but I wasn't naive. I knew how guys like him operated. I shouldn't have been flattered." She ran her thumb along the muzzle of the gun. "I shouldn't have been... but... I was... When he talked to me... nothing else existed... and I was all that mattered." She smiled faintly at the memory. "Nobody had ever treated me like that before." The smile fractured, and broke. "Madam Chen didn't like his interest in me. She had him banned. It didn't matter, though. A week later, he kidnapped me.

"Our first night together, he told me he loved me, and then he beat me so bad I thought I was going to die."

Cool fingers slid along her own. Warm lips touched her hair, her eyelids, her mouth. Hana lifted her head as Rain sat across from her, blue eyes filled with sympathy. Silent tears tracked their way down Rain's cheeks. She touched a hand to Hana's face. Hana leaned into her touch gratefully.

Hana closed her eyes. She said, "I stayed with him for almost nine weeks. I... don't remember a lot of that time. Just his face. He was always smiling."

"Hana," Rain breathed.

"He got careless, though. Thought he had me broken. One night, before he could real work himself up into a real frenzy, I got a gun and shot him seven times in the chest."

"Good," Rain said with a fierceness that almost made Hana smile. Grasping Rain's hand, she turned her head to kiss her palm, and said softly, "Not good enough, apparently. He's the one on the video, that blew up our apartment. Somehow, he survived. He knows I'm Hana now."

She opened her eyes and met Rain's gaze calmly. "And he wants me back."

 ****

Rain twitched fitfully, and woke up. For one, brief second, she had absolutely no idea where she was, how she had gotten there, or why she was there to begin with, and she relished this absolute not-knowing. For the six or so seconds that it lasted. Then, rather rudely, her reason for waking up made itself known, rather insistently, and she was forced to sigh and get out of bed. Nearly naked, clad in only her bra and panties, she padded across the bedroom.

From her position at the window ledge, Hana, still fully dressed, gave Rain a look of amusement.

"Pee," Rain muttered to the mute inquiry.

Hana smiled broadly, and returned her gaze to the night.

Rain snorted and entered the bathroom, shutting the door behind her. She didn't bother with the light switch, enough illumination came from the uncovered window for her to go about her business.

She felt horrible; her head throbbed with a dull headache, her eyes felt dry and grainy. She judged that she had been asleep for less than an hour. Perhaps forty-five minutes, at the most. No one should have to contend with jet lag and less than an hour of sleep. It was cruel and unusual punishment. It was insane. It was a lot of things, most of which she couldn't think of because her thoughts were growing fuzzy again and she was dozing off while standing in the bathroom and couldn't she sleep for just a few more minutes, mom?

A sharp crack of glass breaking jolted Rain back to full consciousness. Her head jerked up, listening.

Out in the bedroom, Hana fired the gun once, twice, three times. "Rain, run, they've got-" Hana's shout was cut off. Footsteps and shouts could be heard.

Rain touched the door handle. Then she locked it. Seconds later, a hand rattled the doorknob. A body slammed into the door. Someone cursed and shouted something in German. The mercenary hit the door again, and the cheap wood around the door jamb splintered, but held. It wouldn't hold for long, though.

Rain looked around, desperate for a weapon of any kind. Nothing presented itself. Damn! Of all the times to be caught unawares...

Fully awake now, she ran over her options, and found them all dismal. Only one thing presented itself as remotely viable.

Quickly, Rain crossed the bathroom to the window. By lowering the toilet lid and standing on it, she was just tall enough to reach the latch. The window screamed a protest as she struggled to heave it open. She got it about halfway before it became stuck in it's track and refused to budge. A quick glance outside revealed a metal walkway: the fire escape.

Behind her, the door nearly caved under the heavy assault.

Swearing under her breath, Rain caught the edge of the window and pulled herself up and squirmed through the gap, skinning her arms and ripping her bra in the process. She scrambled onto the walkway, panting in the chill night air, and stood.

One of the mercenaries stood at the other end of the walkway. Apparently, he had been about to bust through the window and head into the bathroom.

Oh, damn.

Part Three -

The first thing Hana noticed upon awakening was that she had a headache that put every single hangover she had ever had to shame. Her head pounded with ferocious intensity, every vein and artery in her skull booming along to the constant thumping of her heartbeat. In dazed sympathy, her hands throbbed along to the concert, the right one more than the left.

The second thing she noticed came on the heels of the first: her hands were tied behind her back. Her ankles, too, had been bound with soft, nylon rope.

This wasn't good.

She judiciously cracked one eye open, then the other. White on white met her gaze, confusing her. Then the white resolved itself into shapes: tables and chairs covered in heavy, white cloths, similar to those used by painters.

She was in a restaurant, or some other fancy establishment, judging by the size of the place. Perhaps a reception lounge. At least thirty or forty tables lay scattered about, a couple still had their chairs around them. Higher up she could see a balcony and more shroud-covered tables. Large glass windows surrounded the room, some of them covered to protect from whatever renovations the room was undergoing. One was pulled off, affording her a glimpse starlight and airplanes.

Hana was stretched out on, judging from the shape and feel of it, a wetbar. She lay on her back, her hands tingling hotly beneath her. She rolled onto her side the ease the pressure off of her arms and hands.

Andrew McNorton- whom Hana had last seen in person two years ago, whom Hana had shot seven times in the chest, and whom Hana could've sworn was as dead as a slab of stone- straddled one the chairs nearby, and smiled the smile that had won over dozens of other women. "Good morning, Mei-yun."

This definitely wasn't good.

McNorton had always been an attractive man. From T-shirt to boots he was dressed completely in black army fatigues, and the clothes only accentuated the lean musculature of his body. His teeth were bright white, perfectly straight. He was clean-shaven, and his dark brown hair was cut closely to his head, military style. He had deep brown eyes, a haughty, aristocratic profile, and a heart colder and blacker than the furthest regions of space.

He wore a shoulder holster. Hana didn't have to guess to know it was her gun he wore under his left arm.

He was still talking. "Did you think I would let a little thing like death keep me from you?"

To be honest, she had.

"I won't bore you with the details of my survival. Suffice to say, thanks to your little tantrum, it was a long, painful road to recovery. And I'm afraid that the experience has made a... new person out of me."

"For the better, I'm sure," she said dryly.

If he heard her sarcasm, he chose to ignore it. He stood and approached her. "You don't know what I've been through these past couple of years. The pains I've suffered, the things I have done, just so I can have you here tonight." Bracing one hand beside Hana's body, he leaned over her. His other hand slid up along her abdomen to cup her left breast. He leaned closer and said, voice husky, "How I've dreamed of this night... How I've missed you..." He kissed her.

She let him kiss her, offering no resistance as he slid his tongue inside her mouth. He groaned approvingly. His hand left her breast to fumble with her jeans. He got as far as unzipping her fly before jerking away with a startled cry, blood running freely down his chin from his lip. At once his expression darkened. He slapped her full across the face.

Red and white lights exploded throughout Hana's vision, fading to black. The copper taste of blood- McNorton's or her own, she didn't know- made her nauseous; for a dizzying instant, she thought she would puke.

She might have blacked out.

After what felt like an eternity, but was surely no more than a few seconds, she opened her eyes again to find McNorton using a black handkerchief to blot his bleeding mouth. When he was done, he folded the handkerchief over and used it to wipe a thread of blood off of her cheek. He kept his fingers away from her mouth. He set the handkerchief on the countertop, by her head.

Watching her, he sighed a little and said, "You know I didn't want to do that, right? But, it was necessary. So long as you continue to defy me, I'll have to keep punishing you."

She glared at him in silence.

With infinite tenderness, he stroked Hana's forehead, brushing hair out of her eyes. He said, "After tonight, you and I will be together forever, so it's important that you obey my commands. If you don't, I'll have to teach you a lesson." Fingers knotted suddenly in her hair. He jerked her head back sharply, making her gasp. He smiled at her, his eyes two pits of darkness and ice in his otherwise handsome face. "You remember my lessons, don't you, Mei-Yun?"

Through clenched teeth she said, "I should've shot you eight times."

McNorton's face went near-purple with rage. He lifted his other hand, his other hand, curled it into a fist. Hana braced herself for the inevitable blow.

It never came.

McNorton's gaze shifted to his lifted hand. He grinned suddenly in psychotic delight. He released her hair, and spoke into a small mike clipped to his shirt that Hana hadn't noticed before.

"She's here."

He smiled down at Hana, stepped to one side, and she noticed what had gained his attention as a bright red light nearly blinded her. The source of the light came from the laser-sight attached to a rifle. The person holding it stood on the second level.

Rain.

***

Rain on the walkway, half-naked and barefoot.

The mercenary had been surprised by the scantily clad, topless woman's appearance, and Rain had taken the opportunity. She dropped him with a quick punch to the jaw that would've made Hana proud. She had taken his clothes, his knife, and his assault rifle, and dumped the body back inside the bathroom. Seconds later she was at the front of the building, watching anxiously as one of the hitman tossed an unconscious Hana into the back of a black van. The van roared off, Hana in tow.

An unlocked sedan provided a way to tail the mercenaries. They had led her to a restaurant, "The Moonlight Garden," which had sounded both incredibly romantic and incredibly cheesy at the same time. A banner across the front of the building proclaimed it being closed for renovations, but be sure to come back for the grand re-opening in three weeks.

The van had circled around to the back of the building. Rain had as well, following discreetly on foot. The van had been empty by the time she had reached it. The culprits had gone inside. A quick search found Rain an alternate entrance in the form of a fire escape and an unlocked window on the second story.

She had slipped in undetected, navigated the hallways without meeting anyone, and had heard a voice coming from one of the ballrooms. Feeling both heroic and terrified, she had headed inside.

Which brought her here, crouched by the railing of the landing, watching in silent fury as a dead man tried to rape her best friend and lover.

When the sharp crack of McNorton slapping Hana reached Rain's ears, she dropped the rifle off her shoulder, into her hands, disengaged the safety, and jacked a round into the firing chamber. She stood and took aim through rifle's sight.

One shot. That was all she had and, hopefully, all she would need.

Rain emptied her mind of fears, doubts, emotions. She slowed her breathing. A bright red dot stitched a happy pattern across McNorton's back and shoulders. Her world constricted to the gun, her target, and the distance between them. Follow the bouncing ball, kiddies.

He was too close to Hana. A bad shot could go straight through him, hitting her as well. "Move away." Her lips moved, but no sound came out. "Move away, move away."

A bead of sweat trickled down her side.

The happy dot, the bouncing ball, jerked its way up to the back of the man's head. "Move!"

McNorton buried a hand in Hana's hair and lifted his other to punch her. Rain jerked the sight to his right shoulder, overcompensated, and the bright dot flashed across his hand. He saw it, then turned to look up at her position. He was grinning.

She had blown it.

Rain spun, sliding the rifle to automatic fire as she moved, gunning down the first mercenary even as he came through the door. The two men behind him took cover on either side of the doorway, pinned down by the wild gunfire. Rain sprinted for the stairway, the only other way off the landing.

Two more mercenaries were already coming up it. The first she cut down, he stumbled backwards and fell off the railing, firing reflexively until he hit the ground. The second fired at her. A bullet whizzed past her ear and then she tackled him hard. Momentum smashed them into, and through, the flimsy metal railing, spilling them into the air beyond.

The mercenary hit the table first, landing with a loud snap that announced his broken spine. Rain hit him a half-second later, every ounce of breath driven from her, pain lancing up the right side of her body. Her rifle dropped from nerveless hands, spinning away across the tile. The table snapped beneath them, dropping them onto the floor.

Rain lay stunned, half-curled around her pain, struggling to breathe again. Stunned, but alive. And apparently nothing had broken either.

Remarkable.

She heard the distinctive clicks of guns being lowered at her. Opening her eyes revealed half a dozen of black-clad mercenaries circling her, assault rifles leveled at her.

Perhaps not so remarkable after all.

Applause. Rain lifted her head, wincing at the soreness of her neck.

The circle of soldiers parted enough for her to see their leader, Andrew McNorton, as stood by the bar where Hana still lay. He was clapping softly.

Ignoring pain, Rain pulled herself to her feet and glared at him. She walked towards him, her armed escort keeping pace.

As she approached the bar, Rain and Hana shared a brief look, a silent confirmation of each other's well being. Hana nodded, slightly, and Rain released a private inner sigh. She returned Hana's nod, and watched relief flow across Hana's face.

They were alive. They were together. Now, they had to keep it that way.

McNorton broke off his applause as Rain stopped a few feet from him. He nodded to his soldiers. "Gentlemen, the ladies and I have some business to work out. If you'll see to our transportation..?"

After they had gone, he smiled warmly at her and said, "Such reckless behavior. Such blatant disregard for your own personal safety. And all for her. I can see why she loves you. I'd love you, too, if you were my type. As it is, though, I'll have to settle for admiring you. And believe me, Miss Qin, I hold you in very high esteem." He sounded sincere.

He had also sounded sincere when he had told Hana that they were soulmates, destined to be together, At All Costs. Rain believed he was sincerely full of himself. All she said, though, was, "I'm honored." She didn't sound the least bit sincere.

He choose to take her words at face value. "I'm the one that's honored."

Her gaze flicked to the gun in his holster. He tracked her sight, and he smiled. "Trust me when I say it would not have helped." He tapped his chest. "Shot seven times already, remember?"

Rain met his eyes. "Then I'll make sure to put the eighth in your brain."

McNorton, to her consertation, burst into wild gales of laughter, as if Rain had magically turned into the world's greatest comedienne. His face turned beet-red, he slapped his thighs and simply roared with laughter. Finally, he seemed to get a hold of himself. He wiped his eyes as he straightened. He grinned at her. "Now that is funny! Did you know that's almost exactly what Mei-Yun said?" And then he shot her.

***

Hana's heart stopped beating.

Rain's left thigh erupted in a spray of crimson. She fell to her knees, crying out in pain.

Still grinning, McNorton shot her in the chest.

Rain pitched backwards, sprawled bonelessly across the floor.

Twirling his gun like a Western sharpshooter, McNorton holstered the gun. He grinned at Hana. "Well?"

"You bastard." Hot tears of rage coursed down her cheeks. If she could have, she would have beaten him to death with her hands. "You fucking bastard."

He looked pained at her words. If she could have killed him with words, she would've verbally flayed every bit of flesh off his body. She hurled every insult she could think of, swore at him until her throat felt nearly raw.

Unharmed, he spread his hands in a placating gesture while he waited out her tirade. Then he said, "Now, love, don't be angry. I told you: after tonight, you'll be mine. So that means we can't have any devious temptations wandering around."

"I'm going to kill you."

He ignored her. "And Rain, well... Rain was simply a bad influence on you."

"I'll rip your throat out. Cut out your fucking heart-"

"-the worst influence, in fact. She made you believe that you loved her. Which is a lie, of course, because you love-"

"I NEVER LOVED YOU!" Hana screamed.

At once he was over her, a hand at her throat, choking off her words. He was furious. "If you ever say that again-"

Hana stared him full in the eyes and articulated clearly, "I. Will. Never. Love. You."

A snarl of rage contorted his features. He wrenched a knife free, grabbed her chin, and dug his fingers into the muscles of her jaw. "You little slut! Let's see how well you talk without your tongue!"

A loud blam. McNorton's eyes widened a split second before the right half of his face dissolved in a fountain of blood and bone. He slumped over Hana, she kicked him off, and he fell to the floor. Hardly daring to breathe, Hana lifted her head to look.

Rain was braced against a table, an assault rifle in her hands. Blood stained the front of her shirt and pants, she was as pale as the shrouds covering the furniture. A trail of blood along the floor marked the path she had crawled to reach the gun.

Using the butt of the gun as a crutch, Rain limped over to the bar and kicked McNorton squarely in the crotch. "Get up from that one."

A sound partway between a bark of laughter and a sob of relief forced itself out of Hana's bruised throat.

Epilogue -

Rain beat on the window, a soft, constant background hiss that, earlier, would've made Hana think of snakes, tangles of snakes, constantly moving, constantly hissing. In the distance, lighting flashed once, twice, and then all was dark once more. There was no thunder.

Rain was asleep.

The hospital room had only one bed, of which she was the sole occupant. A small light above the bed provided the only illumination, a warm, yellow glow. She was dressed in a hospital gown, and the bandages covering the right side of her body could be seen beyond the neckline. Her left leg was similarly swaddled.

She had been, the doctor had said, lucky. Extremely lucky. If either of the two bullets had been even a centimeter higher, they would have gone through major blood vessels, certainly killing her. As it was, she had lost a lot of blood, but the injuries were nothing that a blood transfusion, minor surgery, and rest, lots of rest, couldn't fix.

Hana briefly debated telling the doctor that, where Rain was concerned, luck often had nothing to do with anything, but, as she wasn't quite certain herself, she decided not to.

The door to the hospital room opened, and Hana's knight in black armor came in.

"You look like shit," Glas said, shutting the door behind him.

"I heard you the first time," Hana said. Her voice was raspy, her throat felt bruised and raw. She had refused treatment for it.

"And I'll say it again: you look like shit."

"Thanks, Glas. You really know how to flatter a girl."

Glas gave her that slightly self-reproaching half-smile. "I try." He sobered a little. "Mind telling me what the heck happened to you guys?"

Fortunately for Hana and Rain (especially Rain), Glas had answered his cellphone and had arrived at the "Moonlight Garden" in full helicopter splendor. Unfortunately for the mercenaries, Glas had been in a less than friendly mood. The gunfight between the hired guns and the ex-commando had been intense and brief.

Inside, he had taken a good look at the two women and the body on the floor, made the first of three unflattering comments about their condition, and had carted their tails to the nearest Triad-sponsored hospital.

That had been three hours ago. Rain slept now, in deep drug and exhaustion-induced stupor. Hana sat beside her, nearly as exhausted, but refusing to give in to her own needs until she absolutely certain that Rain would be all right. The safety rail had been lowered, Hana's fingers were intertwined with Rain's.

After Glas' question, Hana was silent, and the only sound in the room was the soft, steady hiss of rain and the deep, steady breathing of Rain.

Hana gestured to the only other chair with her free hand. "Sit down, this is going to take a while."

They were homeless, carless, injured, and emotionally wounded. But, they were alive. And Andrew McNorton definitely was not.

It wasn't the best ending she had experienced, but it was an ending she could live with.

FIN.

Author's Note:

Not the warmest, most family-friendly thing I've ever written, that's for sure. :) This is my first dark(er) fic, and I hope it doesn't suck.

Andrew McNorton went through three different phases before he became the way he was. First, he was a zombie. Then he was a cyborg. Then he was neither of them. I'm glad I stuck with the non-zombie/cyborg version.

This story is set after the games.

Influences are, once again, Dean Koontz (especially The Face and Dark Rivers of the Heart), a lot of random video game music (Poets of the Fall and Parasite Eve mostly), and, oddly enough, Valentine's Day. 

Hana, Rain, Glas, and everything Fear Effect are owned by... er... well, they were created by Stan Liu. Andrew McNorton is the intellectual property of Kristin Renee Taylor and, to my knowledge, wasn't ripped off somewhere else. This story is copyright 2004. Plagiarism sucks.

This Has Been a Production of Blueberry Enterprises. 

Have I mentioned my dislike of Eidos?