The Face: Tournament of Death, Chapter Nineteen

Young Taoyu watched over the ailing assassin, Kristy Collumbo, who in effect had developed drenched, clammy skin, as well as a hardy fever.

"Oh no, you're sick..." she said to the unresponsive woman, who twinged in an uncontrollable manner and breathed heavily.

Suddenly, a hand pounded upon the door. "This is security! Open up!" A voice said from beyond the locked door. Taoyu sighed in relief, and frantically cried back. "Oh, thank goodness you're here! My friend... she's si..." "Hey, I said open up! We're looking for a fugitive, maybe you've seen her. Tall, dirty blonde, slightly curled hair. High heel boots...she's wounded pretty bad."

Taoyu gasped in horror, for she knew the distressed figure she was harboring was in fact the fugitive the guards described. Quickly she thought, and answered. "Uhhhmm....Nobody's here!" She cried back.

The guard pounded at the door again and feverishly cried. "Hey, open up! You can expect me to believe that! You just spoke! Open up, now! Or we'll huff...er we'll break the door down!" He cried, continuously banging at the door.

Reacting quickly, Taoyu opened the sliding door that led to outside of the Temple Hotel and dragged Kristy outside. She hid it behind a bush and quickly reentered her room, to hear the continuous jabs on wood.

"Alright, that's it! We're coming in!" Soon, even larger pounding could be felt upon the door, as if an entire body had lunged itself into it.
Suddenly, there was a crash, like that of someone falling upon the floor. Then there was struggling, and voices could be heard. "Argh! I don't need your help up! It was just a faulty error!" the voice said.

Taoyu unlocked the bolt and the door, flinging it open. What came rushing through was a running guard in a white and black robe who tripped and rolled upon the ground into some cabinet drawers.

"Foolish girl! Why did you open the door!?" he cried angrily from the ground. Taoyu said shyly, "You told me to!"

The other guard helped his comrade up, and the fallen one began to speak once again. "No matter! You were acting suspicious! Were you harboring any fugitives!?" He demanded to know.

"No, no!" Taoyu lied. "It's just been me the whole time, I promise you!" The guard looked around warily, expecting someone to jump out at him at any moment. "Are you....POSITIVE!?" He emphasized, quickly dashing to view under the bed. There was nothing.

"We must be thoroughly....SURE!" He cried, dashing to the closet and opening it to reveal small clothes. "Maybe I should check...THE BATHROOM, AHA!" He cried, flashing into the room to point at nothing but a toilet.

He came back out, scanning his head about the room, to make sure there were no signs of movement. "I told you, there's no one here but me!" Taoyu said calmly. The guard eyed the area suspiciously, looking upon the ceiling and the walls. Quickly he opened the top to a small vase on the table and peered inside.

The second guard, who stood silent until that moment, spoke. "Um, I think a vase would be too small to harbor a fugitive," he pointed out.
The first guard shot an angry look back to the second, and retorted, "Shutup you idiot! You don't know what could have been going on...she could have been burned, and this girl could've hidden her ashes in THIS jar!" He explained, picking the jar up and shoving it into the face of the second guard. The second one nodded, and stood silent once again.

"Alright you suspicious little girl. I'm watching you. You better not make any foolish moves, see? 'Cause the minute you make a bad move...we'll be on you like chopsticks on rice!" With that, he and the other guard slammed through the door.

"I'm so very flattered," Taoyu said sarcastically. She then proceeded to flee to the outside where her friend was hidden.

Kristy was still upon the grass, almost writhing at her own sufferable conditions. "I gotta get you some help," Taoyu said worriedly. She proceeded outside down the hotel rooms to her reporter friend's abode, and peered inside through the sliding window. She sighed as she saw nothing, and returned to her friend. "Looks like I'll have to find some kind of nursing station."

Rajan had suffered small wounds, but he continued to battle ferociously, intent on avenging his influential mentor. "You shall suffer by the hands of my wrath!" He cried, lunging forward to grab hold of Barduk's neck. Barduk roared through clenched teeth as he held upon his clutched neck, surprised at the strength of his foe.

He placed his large hand on the face of Jaguar, and pushed upon it with his own brute strength, attempting to fend off the fighter. After moments of struggle, Jaguar was thrown backward and through the sliding glass door, onto the grassy ground below.

"I don't know what you're talkin' about, killin' yer friend like that!" Barduk bellowed, trampling the ground toward his new enemy. As he made for the grab, Jaguar quickly leapt up and evaded the hold. "You may not have known him as the Steel Jaguar at the time, but he was only mild mannered Rod Islan at the time! I know what happened, you got into a fight with him on the street, just because of a stupid taxi cab incident! For such things, an honorable fighter should not die!"

Their hands interlocked in yet another struggle, the struggle for life and death. Only one fit for each.

Underneath it all, in the underground facility below the temple, Devin was escorted to a cell right beside mine. Both I and the Hunteress looked in interest at our newly cast cell-mate.

"Whoa, he's hurt..." I said, peering at the flesh wound upon his stomach. Hunteress saw the same. "Ouch, he got hurt pretty bad," she said. The two servants closed and locked the clear, padded door of the cell, and left the darkened dungeon.

With hands behind my back I crawled over the the right side of my cell, and looked into my neighbor's. Luckily, the man was still alive, and breathing, but still bleeding heavily. I tried to knock on the thick window of the cell and get the other prisoner's attention. "Hey, you ok?" I wondered.

Slowly, Devon lifted his head and looked over to the cell next to him, still upon the ground, clutching his stomach. He turned his head away. "I'm fine...just...just leave me alone right now..." he said.

"Hey wait," I said. "Need anything?" I wondered. Devon turned his head again. "No, I'm fine! It's not like you could do anything anyway." He was right, all we could do was virtually wait...wait for some kind of way out.

The Hunteress pounded against the right side of her cell-wall to get my attention as well. I turned to look back. "Ask him how he got here!" she demanded.

I crawled to the left wall of my cell, and continued the conversation. "Eh, I don't think he feels up to it right now," I explained. Hunteress sighed in annoyance and rolled her eyes. "You're an investigative reporter right?!" she asked. "Yes," I replied. "Then get the info! Come on, how do you expect to be good at your job if you don't get in there and do what you're supposed to do!" she explained.

She was right. I had to be my own reporter, whether anyone liked it or not.

I crawled back to the right side of my cell, and pounded on the wall again. Devon slowly looked to his left once again. "What do you want?"
he asked. I cleared my throat and began to speak. "Well, you see, sir, I'm a crime-fighting investigative reporter, and I'd just like a few words from you about what you know and how you got here," I inquired.

Shadow replied, "Does it look like I can do an interview right now?" he howled. But I persisted...politely. "Well, just a few bits and pieces here and there, nothing too long. A little summary..."

Hunteress put her hand on her head and shook it shamefully. "I'm surprised he hasn't gotten fired yet..." she said.

"Eh, whatever. If it'll get you guys off my back," Devon agreed, and then he began to dish out his information...