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Fatal Instinct 3: The Last Ride

Chapter 10

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Rotating her wrist, Shun Ying rolled the hilt of the jian through her fingers in a slight warm up.

The two women circled their battleground, sizing the other up. It was then the smirk on Shun Ying's face melted into a heated scowl. After performing a short kata, she began bending her knees.

Anna spaced her limbs apart into an aikido stance, exhaling, butterflies in her abdomen. She knew it was time to stop thinking about the Shun Ying she had met days ago and worry about the one standing in front of her. To commence the battle, Shun Ying charged with a booming war cry, sword swiping for the head of her adversary. The composed and calm-voiced woman was now gone, replaced by a sword-wielding savage. Anna sidestepped the blows, noticing how every evasion speeded up the strokes of Shun Ying's persistent blade.

This didn't go on for long, however, as Anna tripped backward over some stereo equipment she didn't know was behind her until now. Shun Ying stood over her, sword raised, face contorted in a murderous glare. With quick thinking, Anna rolled backward up to her feet, missing the downward stab from Shun Ying's jian.

The Chinese swordswoman snarled and hoisted her sword. Anna did the same with her arms crossed in the shape of an "X." As the Kometa leader swung down, the jian clanged against the metal of the former spy's gauntlets. Anna's arm trembled and her gauntlet rattled as she felt Shun Ying's strength pushing against own. With teeth clenched and nostrils flaring, both women fed each other a piercing glare.

Anna continued to parry, taking many steps backward from the force of Shun Ying's hard-hitting attacks. The swordswoman came at Anna with zigzagging sword strokes, jabs, and twirls at daunting speed. The jian sliced curtains, splintered wood--each with one brutal stroke as its master pursued Anna. Shun Ying was fast on her feet too, almost as much as she was with using her blade.

"That the best you can do?" Shun Ying bellowed, tired of her opponent's evasions.

"Try this on for size!" Anna flopped to the ground and hit her foe's midsection with a trio of kicks, each more fierce than the last. A stunned Shun Ying could only cover her torso, double over, and moan.

Another kick went for the swordswoman's hand and knocked the jian from her grasp.

"That's okay." Shun Ying rose. "I don't need a sword to take you on!"

Now, with the two women locked in hand-to-hand combat, the fight grew even more intense. Both sides pulled out the best in their respective arsenals: Shun Ying with her furious kicks and chops, and Anna with her lethal joint locks and throws. There were an array of blocks, counters, punches, knee strikes--whatever it took to win. Anna even resorted to every dirty trick she could think of: biting Shun Ying's fingers, stomping on her exposed toes, and pulling her hair. To hell with fighting fair. Shun Ying, like all her other enemies, deserved every bit of punishment she could get.

The tide turned, however, as Shun Ying backhanded Anna, pushing her away. The next thing the Irish-born aikido practitioner knew, Shun Ying was airborne, her feet moving in a large, circular motion, body spinning horizontally. The butterfly kick connected with Anna's chin and sent her spiraling to the floor with a sick thud. The power behind the move was so immense, it felt as if it had dislocated Anna's jaw. Yet, after massaging it and moving her mouth around a little, it seemed there was no serious damage done.

Anna lied on her belly, crawling to her knees, trying to stand. Nevertheless, to her horror, Shun Ying charged at her again in another fit of rage. The moment the Kometa leader threw her leg up for another kick, Anna seized the opportunity and grabbed the other woman's ankle. As the aikido practitioner pulled back, Shun Ying lost her balance and fell on her back, as intended. Anna flipped Shun Ying over on her stomach, bending her leg as far back as she could, looking forward to hearing a satisfying snap. The swordswoman wouldn't allow for it, though; groaning, she used all her strength to turn herself back over and swatted Anna's face more than once with her other foot.

Anna was now on her back, staring up at the dim-lit ceiling. She rolled backward, swinging her legs toward her head while pressing her hands against the floor. In one fluid motion, she sprung herself up from the ground, watching Shun Ying follow suit from where she lied.

"C'mon, bring it!" Shun Ying beckoned with her hand, her voice hoarse as she favored the leg Anna had tried to break. "You lookin' a little more upset than usual. What's wrong, Anna, still upset about how I didn't give you a ride back from the ice cream parlor?"

Both fighters snarled and lunged at each other. With her adrenaline building, Anna was the first to strike; she hammered Shun Ying's ribs with her fist and knocked her against the wall with an aggressive roundhouse.

Anna then grabbed the swordswoman from behind, arms encircling the Kometa leader's own against her chest. Shun Ying grunted and yelled, writhing until she pried her arms free with Anna still holding her by the wrists. Shun Ying swung her foot up diagonally over her shoulder, the hard sole of her shoe hitting Anna's face. The shot shook Anna's world, forcing her to free Shun Ying of her grip and stagger about.

As soon as her head cleared and the hazy vision subsided, she saw the blood splotches at her feet and looked up. Shun Ying's lip was bleeding, red smudges evident on the side of it. Not only that, Anna too was bleeding. The kick from earlier had opened a fresh wound in her forehead and she could feel the blood running down to the bridge of her nose.

Shun Ying thumbed her lip to observe the damage, then propelled herself at Anna. She pummeled the aikido practitioner with an unpredictable burst of energy, the speed of her strikes going up tenfold. The onslaught numbed Anna's cheeks with pain and knocked her around hard enough to almost throw her off her feet. Yet, she fought through the pain, fought through the blows with only milliseconds to recover, and ducked. Shun Ying missed with the elbow swipe, leaving herself open for one good shot. Anna rose and took advantage, landing a strong right hook in Shun Ying's face, which turned the outcome in her favor. Shun Ying laid on her side after the fall, barely twitching. In victory, Anna smirked, then collapsed, too exhausted to stand or utter a quip.

A minute or two later, she heard a rattling sound from Shun Ying's side. Anna turned over to see the swordswoman on her hands and knees, looking dead at her as she swept her perspiration-soaked hair behind her ears. "No one's... ever taken me...to the limit like that before. I commend you, Anna. You're quite tough."

"As...are you."

Silence filled the room thereafter.

Shun Ying's movements were sluggish, assuring Anna she wasn't much of a threat. Not now, anyway.

At this, Anna's voice softened as she wiped the mucus from her nose. "Why are you doing this? Don't you understand that destroying the city won't accomplish anything?"

Shun Ying paused, as if she didn't know what to say, makeup running on her face.

"Look out there, hon, and tell me if that's what you really want. All you're doing is making things worse, not better."

Shun Ying crawled toward one of the holes in the wall leading outside and peered through it, legs wobbly as she tried to stand. "I guess...I went too far," she said after a long pause.

"Damn straight." Anna grunted and sat up, the pain from the fight not as severe as before.

"After my father died, I guess I just snapped, lost control, and didn't think things through."

"And to think, all it took was a helluva ass beating from yours truly to get you to realize that. Still, the fact that you realized your mistake doesn't make up for what you've done with well over a dozen murders outside the country and what not."

"That wasn't me. That was my own people's doing."

"Huh?" Anna blinked.

"We, as Kometa, had a moral code. Many of the people we picked up were cut throats who loved to kill. Everybody who went against our order of killing was immediately 'dealt with' as punishment. I never killed or had anyone killed who didn't deserve it. The only people I've ever killed were the people who gave my father trouble."

"I heard differently." Anna shifted to one knee, scowling.

"Then you heard wrong," Shun Ying stated in a flat tone. "The only other exception I was about to make was with Green Harbor. My father may have led a criminal organization, but he strongly believed in the code. Call him a crook, a thief, whatever, but one thing he was not was a killer. When I was away handling other matters while my subordinates took over for me, they would often kill against my orders and were trying to take control of the organization for themselves."

Anna hadn't said anything, still wondering what to think.

Shun Ying wiped more smears of blood from her lip. "It's okay if you don't believe me. After everything I've done, why would you?"

Anna couldn't sense any deception in Shun Ying's voice. Perhaps she was telling the truth.

Perhaps…

'Could it be that the intelligence received on Kometa was a false mistake? Is that possible?' Whether it was or wasn't, it didn't matter since Anna's spy days were over now. Nevertheless, she couldn't stop thinking about it.

"Regardless, your story won't go down well in court. You're still guilty for a number of other things. Right now, a lot of people are hurt because of you."

Shun Ying exhaled. "And that's something I'm just going to have to live with." Her mouth then formed a small smile. "So...are you gonna turn me over to Lei? You don't sound so willing to kill me anymore."

Anna remained quiet.

"Y' know, it's amazing...how we went from chatting at the mall to beating each other up, isn't it? Just talking like we knew each other our whole lives. Heh. Amazing indeed."

"And it's even more amazing how both of you are going to die."

Anna and Shun Ying turned at the new voice disrupting their conversation. Felicia was conscious, holding them at gunpoint with Anna's pistol.

Shun Ying froze. "Felicia, what are you doing?"

"Shut up! I can't believe you'd stoop so low you'd associate yourself with this...this whore. You disgust me, Shun Ying! Even though I never liked you at all, I at least thought you had some amount of class."

Anna groaned and rolled her eyes. "Oh great. Loud Mouth's finally awake."

"You shut up too, whore!"

"Felicia, put the gun down. Anna's not our enemy."

"Our? There is no 'our' anymore, Shun Ying. There never was. I took a bullet in your place, Shun Ying, and even that disgusts me."

"What are you saying?"

"It's time I let you in on a secret. I mean, I may as well tell you since you're about to die, right? You know all your loyal minions who are at your every command? Well, what if I were to tell you they've all been paid off by Lin Fong and sold you out?"

Shun Ying took a step forward, eyes squinting in confusion. "My brother?"

"That's right! It took a lot of dough to convince them, but once they saw the green, they were more than willing to switch alliances. The plan was for them to turn on you and kill you right after you took care of Green Harbor."

"You're lying!" boomed Shun Ying. "Kometa was built on honor and loyalty and they'd never betray that!"

"Oh, don't accuse me of lying just yet, Shun Ying. I'm just getting started with the details. Lin Fong, your dear, sweet brother, kinda had a hand in the assassination of your dad. Oh, who am I kidding? He had a full part in it! After all, he was the one who wasted your dad, not that idiot Wulong."

"W-why would he do something like that? Why kill our father?"

"He staged the whole thing just so he could take up being leader in Kometa. He thought daddy was too old and too weak to carry on his leadership, so he forged a plan where he'd take the old man out of the equation without anyone being able to trace it back to him. He thought he was a shoo-in to be the next leader, but what he hadn't counted on was you being chosen instead."

Shun Ying's eyes were downcast. "My brother did this..." she whispered.

"Lin Fong never liked Wulong because he busted him a bunch of times for stuff in the past, so pinning your old man's death on him was his way of getting back at Mister Super cop. Ling Fong made Lei take the fall for the murder so that when word got to Kometa about it, they'd be gunning for him. He made them believe he wanted to avenge his father's murder and it would furthermore bring him closer to gaining his spot as head of Kometa. His position in Kometa doesn't matter anymore, though. After you were named your father's successor, Lin Fong made his own group and considers it better than Kometa could ever dream of being."

"And what is his vendetta against this city?" Anna butted in.

"Well...he thinks it's a shit hole and could care less about it. Shun Ying here was actually doing him a favor. Remember when daddy had you and Lin Fong exiled to China?"

"Yeah, of course." Shun Ying raised her head in acknowledgment. "My brother disappeared after that."

"Actually, Lin Fong decided he didn't want to go. He stuck around to carry out his plan. Now, how would I know this if I were making it up? The sure answer is Lin Fong told me all this stuff and I'm telling it to you now."

Shun Ying growled.

"Lin Fong is a great man. Handsome, smart. I find him to be a better, more suitable leader than you all the way, Shun Ying. Even all your former stooges agree, and it takes a man with real power to pull that off. And I'm sure he'll be proud of me for eliminating you to wrap things up." Felicia then puckered her lips and whistled across the room.

From the other section of the theater, two Kometa agents emerged in response.

"Kang. Hai. What the hell are you doing?" Shun Ying inquired.

Without a word, they double-kicked their leader in the gut and knocked her off her feet. Shun Ying tried to sit up to retaliate but froze at the pair of handguns aiming at her chest.

"They have nothing to say to you, Shun Ying. Sorry, dear, but it seems money is more powerful than loyalty." Felicia smirked. "I'll let you boys deal with her. I want the busty broad here for myself."

Anna gritted her teeth, wanting to pounce on Felicia and beat her to a pulp. "I am so kickin' your ass!"

"Too bad you won't get the chance, whore. Now," Felicia motioned with the pistol, "get down on your hands and knees like the good little slut that you are. I want you to die in the most fitting way possible."

Eyes narrowing, Anna chose not to move.

"I said, get on your hands and knees, goddamn it!"

Reaching for the rear pouch on her belt, Anna snatched up a smoke bomb and chucked it at Felicia's feet. Hai and Kang turned their heads, enabling Shun Ying to sweep their legs from underneath them and throw the two off balance.

Meanwhile, the distracting smoke blinded Felicia long enough for Anna to tackle her. The two rolled on the floor, wrestling for possession of the pistol. With one powerful slug, Anna knocked the other woman out, recovering her firearm. "Who's the whore now, Blondie?"

Then Anna watched Shun Ying battle her former associates. First, the swordswoman threw her legs around Kang's throat before he could rise, and, with a violent twist, snapped his neck.

Next was Hai, who Anna saw scrambling for the handgun he dropped after Shun Ying tripped him. Shun Ying barreled for the pistol and kicked it away. Lifting her foot again, she brought two inches of square-heeled plastic on Hai's hand and he released a scream. Shun Ying then tumbled for her jian, reacquired it, and sprung back to her feet. In one swift maneuver, Shun Ying gored the man's torso with a forceful thrust. Through the wet sounds of steel piercing flesh, she jammed the blade sideways through his stooping body before pulling it out. Blood began to run from Hai's mouth like trickling water. He sagged to his knees, palming his trunk before the rest of him hit the floor to a gurgling death.

'Wow. And people say I'm ruthless.' Anna thought, putting a finger to her lips.

Shun Ying brought out a fresh rag and wiped off the blood from the tip of her sword. Her gaze lingered on the bodies of her former employees, shaking her head in disappointment.

Anna looked down at Felicia. "I'd kill her, but I think death's too good for someone like her." She rose off the woman's prone body. "She's gonna need a lot of Chap Stick where she's going. I know that much."

"I can't believe it..." Shun Ying muttered. "My own men. My own brother. I should have known all this before."

"Sweetie, you didn't know. It's natural that you-"

"I don't care. One way or another, the others'll pay for their betrayal!" Shun Ying sighed and turned away. "I guess this means that I'm...I'm not fit to be leader. I-I failed my father, shamed him."

"Sweetie..."

"The reason I wanted to destroy Green Harbor was because I had nightmares of all the terrible things that happened to me here in the past. I felt that if I destroyed Green Harbor, it would forever bury the images of my past and I could move on and start life anew."

Anna grasped Shun Ying's shoulder and spun her around to look at her. "You'll never be relieved of those nightmares, even if you were to succeed with your plan." She pursed her lips together. "I have nightmares too and they haunt me everyday. It's just something you have to learn to deal with, Shun Ying. I understand you not wanting to be reminded of your father's death, but at least you still remember him. You still remember the love and the care he gave you and the responsibility he entrusted you with."

Shun Ying nodded, her head cocked to one side in agreement. "It's not the city I should be mad at right now. It's that snob, Bordin, my ex-employees, and furthermore...my brother." She tightened her fist and glared, then tried to regain her composure. "Anna, there's something I need to give you."

Shun Ying seized a folder behind the stage curtains and handed it over to Anna.

"What's this?" Anna ruffled through the pages.

"Evidence. These are pictures and documents I had taken and obtained on Bordin. Got all the dirt on him that I could. This information links him to a series of murders, kidnappings, crimes, and other shady deals. He figured he'd be able to secure his job by cleaning up the city while secretly paying thugs off to come in and make him look like a hero in the publics eye. All at the same time not benefiting Green Harbor in any way, and, conveniently, just in time for the upcoming governor elections, which he just happens to be running in."

"That sleaze bag. How long have you had these?"

"For a while."

Anna cocked a brow. "Why didn't you just give them to the police from the beginning? They could have had Bordin arrested."

Shun Ying made guttural sounds. "I couldn't trust the police, and I probably never will. But there is one cop I know I can trust now. Be sure to give this to Lei. He'll see to it that Bordin's reputation goes up in flames for this. The whole city'll know the truth then."

"What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to go down to Bordin's and take care of him myself like I should have done in the beginning. Bordin thinks he's all hot shit, but I'm about to show him how wrong he is on that notion. This'll be my way of redeeming myself for what I've done. Make sure Lei gets that information when you see him, okay?"

Anna took a second glance at the documents. "I'll see that he gets it."

Shun Ying smiled. "Xie Xie" (thank you).

"You're welcome, sweetie."

"You understand some Chinese?"

"Both Cantonese and Mandarin. You don't go into the business I went into without learning how to speak a few different languages. It comes with the job."

Shun Ying inspected her reflection in her sword, nodded, and slid the weapon into its scabbard. "I see. Well, I'm gonna head out. If you can, tell Lei that I was wrong about him and that I'm sorry things…had to happen like this," she finished with a frown.

By the time Shun Ying was gone, Anna had left the abandoned theater with the folder still clinched in hand. It was strange how everything had changed after the end of their grueling fight; first friends, then enemies, now allies.

Outside, it seemed peace had returned as she welcomed the sound of sirens and indistinct chatter over police radio. The effects of the red gas had wore off and people were on the verge of awakening again.

The violence on every block had died down and the ambulances in view emptied out paramedics to aid the wounded. Police officers were on the streets handcuffing inmates and Kometa agents and shoving them into squad cars. Anna had cuffed Felicia too so she wouldn't escape again, but that wasn't of her concern right now. Lei was.

Anna searched for Lei's whereabouts and spotted him taking a breather by a telephone pole with his shirt torn and his hair ruffled. Anna put her hand on her heart and sighed. The moment he saw her, she gestured him over. His body odor was strong, enough to make Anna want to take a step back.

"You all right? What happened?"

"I won. Don't worry about me. I'll survive," he said between labored breathes. He looked over Anna's shoulder as if he expected someone to appear behind her. "Where's Shun Ying? Did you get her?"

"Not exactly. She wanted me to give you this." She handed him the folder and allowed him to sort through the photos and documents.

"God. What is all this?"

"Proof of who the real bad guy is: our own crooked mayor. Shun Ying had all this put together herself. She said you were the only one she could trust with these."

"Trust? I don't get it. What's going on?"

"To paraphrase it: Shun Ying's been tricked and had a change of heart. Her brother is the one responsible for her father's murder and she knows that now. She's on her way to Bordin's to take him out for being a corrupt bastard."

"Can't have that. If this is all true then Bordin needs to be arrested and put on trial. I'll see about getting an arrest warrant and--hey! Where are you going?" he shouted.

"To the Bordin Building!" Anna bolted off to go after Shun Ying.