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Location: Takma Ruins, Human Territory. "HQ, this is Hana. We have lost visual of Barbaros." Hana spoke into her communicator. "Stand by, I'll check heat signatures." Lynka responded. Hana and Maia had found themselves following Barbaros by foot to an ancient cultural site a few kilometers away from the field in which they landed after jumping out of the plane. By some degree of a miracle, they didn't lose track of her through the course of a night, especially given that they had to shack up in an old barn in the middle of a field, and take care of a captured stewardess who they ended up releasing in the end after questioning. The agents also had memory lapse pills for the occasion. Now early in the morning, having kept up with Barbaros thanks to the support staff, Maia and Hana expected to corner and neutralize her in the quiet ruins. The scene was almost ideal for the showdown: Under the sun lie the sprawling site of an ancient city, not dissimilar to an ancient Egyptian site with tall pillars, crumbling statues, and the occasional bits of what seemed to be a ceiling to shade from the sun. The two agents stuck together when they entered, certain that they saw Sofia Barbaros waltz into the ruins unaware that she was being followed. "Lynka to lovers." Lynka called them. "I have a heat signature near you. About ten or so paces to your east." Hearing the confirmation that someone was near, Maia and Hana weaved around a few of the pillars, expecting to find Barbaros. They had their Micrazors drawn and set to minimize; neither girl could follow up with their own visual of the treacherous woman after a search of the area. "I don't see anyone." Hana whispered. "Me neither." Maia agreed. Finally the two girls backed into each other. They sharply turned and jumped away, seeing that it was the other before pulling the trigger of their gun. Hana held her finger up to her lips and then pointed to her ear to encourage Maia to listen to their surroundings with her. The mentality was that if they couldn't see anyone, they may be able to hear them. They heard something, in fact. It was like the sound of a sheet of copy paper falling and sliding onto a hard floor- scratchy almost. Both of them heard it from above, and they gazed up to find that there was a small section of the original structure's roof above them. Upon it was Barbaros who quickly chucked a small brick down at them. The brick struck Maia on her forehead and knocked her out cold. "Honey!?" Hana yelled when she saw her wife collapse onto the floor. But Hana didn't have time to react to Maia being struck. Instead she proceeded to aim her gun at Barbaros who leaped down onto Hana and knocked her Micrazor onto the floor. Both women tumbled, the initial thought for Hana was that Barbaros would likely try to grab her Micrazor and use it, thus triggering the failsafe and reducing Barbaros. However, the investigator was cunning and left it alone. Instead as she climbed onto her feet, Barbaros unholstered her handgun which Hana, owing much to her training, kicked. The blow sent the revolver flying and left Hana and Barbaros to go at it hand-to-hand. "Not a problem!" Hana shouted. She had all of the confidence in the world, being that she studied multiple martial arts, and was a learned student under Fim. She didn't expect Barbaros to put up the fight that she did. First Hana tried to sweep Barbaros from her feet, but the woman leaped backward, dodging the attempt. Barbaros now went in for an assault. As Hana climbed onto her feet, she swung her right boot at Hana's face, missing it. This allowed for Hana to grab her leg and forceful twist on it, causing Barbaros to fall into the ground. Having been trained in law enforcement, Barbaros still had a free foot, and sent the sole of her other boot straight into Hana's chest. Her giant breasts absorbed most of the blow, in a rare moment in which she praised their size, if even to herself. This left Barbaros free and Hana open. Hana saw that Maia was slowly coming back, her face turning a little bit each way and her closed eyelids twitching. It was a second she needed to concentrate on her enemy as Barbaros again attempted to kick Hana. The young agent was swift to get back onto her feet and avoid being struck. "This time there will be no accident." Barbaros warned Hana. "Agreed." Hana said, taking a fighting stance and thinking back to her days training in a dojo with her family. Hana waited for Barbaros to attack, as she was a student of Judo and knew that with her size and weight, the foe would go down easily. The assault finally came after a tense stare down for several seconds- which Hana had hoped to draw out to allow Maia to return to the fray. Barbaros managed to strike and elbow Hana who failed to throw her enemy down. Finally she grappled Barbaros and would learn how formidable her opponent was. "Impressive, I'm a sixth-kyu in Judo and a brown belt in my uncle's Karate dojo." She tried to intimidate Barbaros. "Seventh-kyu in Judo, 2nd-dan black belt in Karate." Barbaros revealed before she headbutted Hana twice in the forehead. "And I've taught eight straight classes of control tactics to the bureau recruits." Hana had concluded that she was beaten in skill. Barbaros was stronger and quicker than she had ever imagined. Underestimating her was what she believed already cost her the battle- if only she could get to a gun that was lying on the ground yards away from the scene. Surely Barbaros had to be arrogant enough to believe that she could kill Hana easily with her bare hands. Barbaros taunted Hana, gesturing for her to come at her again. "Surely the rest of your lot aren't as incompetent as you have demonstrated yourself to be. I see you're trying to run out the clock and have your wife come to your rescue." She began to chuckle. "Am I too much for you?" Hana was not bullied into attacking first in any standoff. Barbaros's attempt to lure Hana in for another easy victory was obvious, and Hana knew that in their combat, Barbaros could beat her. Fortunately, she and Barbaros had circled around one another and she observed Maia finally raising her head up from the floor. The clock was ticking and Barbaros would surely lose now. "Do you need your wife to do the dishes and sew for you too?" Barbaros continued to taunt Hana. "She's awfully large for a woman, perhaps she's the husband and you're the wife." "I see why you're branded a sociopath now." Hana mentioned. "No-hoh! My dear Minami girl! I'm not a sociopath, I'm a psychopath! You see, we live in a world where we are fortunate enough to understand that there exists a difference. I simply do not value any life at all, and I show no remorse. In essence making me the perfect field agent for the bureau." Barbaros argued. "We zap and imprison creeps like you." Hana grumbled. By now they had circled around to a point where Hana no longer had Maia in her field of vision and Barbaros saw that her time was nearly up. Hana grinned at the thought of finally capturing the creepy redhead until Barbaros reached inside her suit and brandished a hidden backup pistol and aimed it at Hana. Barbaros chuckled menacingly, appearing to lavish in killing someone. "It may take two, maybe three shots from this little .22 caliber pistol, but I will have rid the world of one less terrorist." "I'm not surprised a bureaucratic agent would dishonor an opponent in mortal combat." Hana remarked. "Oh don't worry, dear girl! You won't wait long at the gates of hell for your dear wifey!" Barbaros cackled and then pulled the trigger of her gun. But the detonation of the cartridges's primer never occured. She again pulled the trigger and nothing happened. In a split second Hana decided against bumrushing the fiend and dove onto the ground to retrieve her Micrazor so she could finish the job with Barbaros. When she had it in hand, Hana snapped to an aim and pulled her trigger at the fleeing agent, but as luck had it that day, no beam fired from her Micrazor- it had shut itself off when it landed onto the ground ground as a safety mechanism. "Rats!" Hana groaned when Barbaros got away and disappeared from sight. Hana secured Barbaros's revolver. It was a deeply-polished stainless steel piece with a top break action. With it in hand, Hana stood up, backed against a nearby pillar, panning with her eyes the area around her. Blindly she opened the revolver and ejected the .38 caliber cartridges onto the ground, causing the "ching" sound of falling brass ammunition to reverberate throughout the site. "Hana? What the heck!" Maia complained with her eyes still barely open, rising up from the floor. Hana had heard the running footsteps of Barbaros escaping, seemingly disappearing from the area altogether. She was wise to avoid entanglement with two armed Micronauts when her gun was malfunctioning. The Micronauts agents were left alone for the time being, and Hana rushed to Maia to check on her. "Babe, Barbaros got away." "Did she really throw a brick at my head??" Maia roared, not knowing that it left an imprint on her forehead. "Yep, about the size of your fist." Hana confirmed. "Oh gosh my head! It hurts like hell!" Maia complained. "That stupid cunt! Oof!" Maia fell back onto the ground from the pain. "I have a thunderclap like you wouldn't believe." "Hana to HQ." Hana called to support. "Go ahead, Tiger." Lynka responded. "Maia's taken a blow to her forehead with a brick." Said Hana. Hana could hear others on the line make sounds, squeamishly agonizing for Maia. "Oooof! Ouch! How bad is it?" Lynka asked. "It hurts..." Maia said. "How badly does it hurt? Can you explain what hurts?" Asked Lynka. "I have the worst headache of my life. I'm pretty sure I have a concussion." She answered, looking up at Hana and seeing two of her. "Yeah, I'm- I'm definitely sure of that! Ugh!" "Can I shrink her for transport?" Hana asked. "I'm not in the mood!" Groaned Maia. "Woah, Maia doesn't want to be shrunk for once..." Lynka stated before continuing. "But that is... Yes, affirmative you can do that." "Oh my God! Your boobs are too bouncy! I'll get sick for sure! I'll just walk it off!" Maia groaned. "Negative, Goddess. We need you to seek medical attention." Peli ordered her while Tarten could be heard in the background getting excited. "Tarten!! T-Tart! Tarten! Maia! Head hurt!" Maia was heard saying to Peli. "Huh? What is going on over there?" Asked Hana. Back at headquarters, Tarten was spending time with Peli in the office. Remarkably, she understood what was happening and became excited, hopping up and down beside Peli who was seated at her desk, the girl fluttering her wings and shouting in her mother tongue. "Oof! Tarten! Help!" Tarten tried to speak in Light. "Maia head hurt! Tarten help!" Tarten exclaimed. Sheri had been relieved for personal time, as she needed to manage affairs and was searching for a place of her own so she didn't have to room with Theo and others any longer- so Peli didn't have the option of getting her to translate the rest of what Tarten was saying. The Commander attempted to piece together what the little girl was saying. "Do you wish to help Maia?" She asked her. "Yes!! Tarten will help!!" Tarten proclaimed, curling her fists and showing an angry face, shadow boxing cutely in the corner of Peli's office. At the same time, Tarten was being so extraordinarily serious. "Head hurts! Tarten help Maia!" Hearing the commotion, Lynka exited the support office and entered Peli's in time to see Tarten hopping and still shadow boxing like she was going to take on Barbaros herself. "Oh... Tarten." "She has become very excited." Peli commented. "If I may, Commander... Tarten has observed a remarkable ability to help heal injuries. Hana will attest to this. She and I were sparring for Fim's training module and she twisted my wrist, but Tarten was able to make it feel better and I had full use of it. That's... In addition to other injuries she has healed." "Lynka! Tarten help Lynka!" Tarten exclaimed as she ran up to Lynka and the two held hands. "And Narb believes that she may have a stronger sense of telepathy than the average Darrkeffa. It's like she can read our thoughts and feel our pain." Said Lynka." "This is true." Hana agreed over the communicator having heard the conversation. "Tarten!" The girl shouted. "Help!" "I have an idea... Why not get her over here?" Maia suggested. "She's ten." Peli argued. "Okay, want to have someone else go after Barbaros? Lynka perhaps?" Maia argued back. Seeing as the unit was stretched thin and Peli had a crisis developing with the group in Emerus, she agreed to a limited interaction in the job by Tarten. "Okay, whereabouts in Human Territory are you?" She asked. "Takma." Answered Hana. "Very well. I'll give this a try." Peli agreed before she turned her attention toward Lynka and gave an order. "Neya is returning Wessi and Nairys, also in Human Territory. We cannot disturb them. Narb is out helping Jodak with modular systems trials. Theo and Kangi are on medical leave. And we haven't heard from the other three in Emerus." "Correct." Lynka agreed. "We need your support. Please have Fim see me here immediately, I'll send her out with Tarten." Peli requested. Lynka gave a short bow of the head and disappeared from the doorway. This left Tarten still bouncing and hopping about excitedly. "You're going to help out." Peli told her. "Tarten will help! Tarten will help!" Exclaimed Tarten, glaring up at Peli with her huge purple eyes, showing her spirit and dedication to her friends and family. "You ladies rest for now. Fim will be bringing Tarten to you to see if she may help with Maia's injury. Stand by." Peli ordered Hana and Maia.