Revenge and Emancipation

A Korean Poison Geisha enters a DOOM prison for revenge

On the island of Cheju-Do, a small island off the coast of South Korea lies a containment facility similar to a prison in a secluded area. It was similar to a prison in that it held prisoners; it was unlike a prison in that it didn't hold any ordinary prisoners. The containment facility was owned by the spy organization known as DOOM, and it was filled with a few political figures, and people of influence with vital information. The majority of the prisoners were COIL agents who were either "encouraged" to give up any information they may know about the rival organization, or to perhaps somehow be turned.

On this day, some guards were bringing in a new prisoner. Four guards fully armed and dressed in para-military gear, marched to a temporary holding facility, the prisoner placed in the middle of the formation. At this spot, the prisoner would be held until he or she would be processed, then taken to a more permanent cell.

The prisoner was an Asian woman who was 5'7" in height, and had a well-built, athletic build. She had her long black hair placed in a bun, supported with long wooden hairpins. She wore a loose fitting, long sleeve teal blouse, a short black skirt, and light tan pantyhose. She had no shoes, which seemed to be the only casualty she suffered in the scuffle. Both her wrists and ankles were bound with black irons.

The four guards however, didn't look so presentable. Torn uniforms and visible bruises dotted their features. John, the guard over the holding area, saw the guards and the prisoner, and blew a low whistle to himself. What happened here?

"John, I have a prisoner for you to hold here until I get her processed," Shane said, a six-foot man with a military buzz haircut of his black hair. Despite his military demeanor, Shane sounded very tired.

"And who is this?" John asked about the prisoner. He himself had the same built as Shane, but his brown hair was cut short in a normal style, not going past the tips of his ears.

"This one is Liang, she's a Poison Geisha," Shane answered. "She is very dangerous."

John was familiar of the war that just recently started between DOOM and the Poison Geisha and Silkworms, but he had questions.

"I thought Poison Geisha were in Japan. And if she is one, where's her kimono? How did you know she was one?" He asked.

"Because she said so at the top of her lungs when we fought," Shane said. "As for the other two questions, you'll have to ask her."

John looked again at the imprisoned geisha. "She's a pretty thing," he said.

"Watch yourself; one of our men thought the same thing, and tried to cop a feel. She broke his neck like a twig," Shane said.

John glanced at the prisoner again, but more with wariness.

Liang gave a grim grin and said something to John in Korean.

"What did she say?" John said.

Shane smiled and shrugged. "She said she will tear out your entrails, and feast on your living heart."

"Sounds like something I heard on a Star Trek episode once. So how did you catch her?"

"We got lucky, she attacked us. She took out four of us, not counting the fool who tried to grope her."

John didn't try to return Liang's laser-like stare. Instead, he focused on her wrists and ankles.

"What's with the old irons? What about the plastic ties, didn't you have any?"

"We did, but she broke them when she killed that idiot. I'm going to get her processed; I'll be back in five to ten minutes. I'll post my three remaining men outside the door. The warden will be happy to hear we captured a Poison Geisha," Shane said, leaving the room. He motioned to the three guards, who were drinking coffee, to stand guard outside the room.

As the door slammed shut, John suddenly felt like he was in the room with a bundle of living dynamite. Ordinary prisoners were not a problem; COIL agents were practically stripped naked to make sure they weren't carrying any hidden weapons. But what do you do with a Poison Geisha? Everyone in the facility has heard of how deadly they are; the woman in the room with him took out five guards out of a nine-man battalion by herself. Fighting all Poison Geishas would be a perilous task indeed.

He glanced again at Liang. Instead of staring at him, her focus was on the door. He thought about that guard who was killed trying to grope the Poison Geisha, and shook his head.

"That idiot got what he deserved," he said to himself out loud.

"He did, you know."

The startled guard turned around toward the Poison Geisha. John noticed in Shane's haste to be rid of her, he didn't secure her bonds to a nearby pole. Liang sat there, her legs crossed, looking up at him.

"Y-you speak English!" He said.

"And you're smarter than you look!" Liang replied. "I have always been a huge fan of Star Trek. I've grown very fond of the Klingons."

"Huh."

John turned back around and started to head to his desk to finish his paperwork. Leave it to a Poison Geisha to root for the Klingons, he thought. Typical. He then remembered that her bonds needed to be secured to that pole. When he turned back around, the last sight he saw before he momentarily lost consciousness was the cold iron of Liang's wrist shackles smashing against his jaw.

As the guard fell to the floor stunned, Liang pulled out one of her wooden hairpins and started working on her bonds. Suddenly, she heard someone coming. Seeing a low hanging beam, she jumped up and grabbed it, pulling herself up.

The door opened, and Shane returned. He closed the door at the same time he saw John sprawled out on the floor. He rushed to his side.

"John, are you all right ' errgh!"

Hanging by her knees, Liang wrapped her wrist chains around Shane's neck and pulled tight. After she strangled him, she undid her chains from the dead man's neck, then flipped herself back down. She paused to see if the other guards were coming, then retrieved her hairpin to work on her bonds. Within a minute, all the shackles fell at her feet. She was contemplating how to get past the two guards at the door when she heard the sound of groaning and moaning. John was coming to.

John opened his eyes, and the first sight he saw was Shane's body. Suddenly paniced, he saw a small pile of chains and shackles, then the figure of Liang standing over him.

"I thank you for your politeness, and your hospitality to me. For this, I grant you a quick death," she said.

The last sight John saw was the sole of Liang's right foot descending toward his face.

Liang quickly went through the contents of John's belt and pockets for something she could use as a weapon besides her hairpins. Aside from the service revolver (Poison Geishas do not use firearms), she found a stun gun and a can of pepper mace. She also found a collection of keys, probably to the cells. Obtaining the keys wasn't part of the original plan, but they should come in handy.

She opened the door slowly. The guards turned around to see the body of Shane and their prisoner. What the first guard received was a face-full of mace. The second guard had time to draw his rifle so Liang could touch the gun barrel with the stun gun. He only had one hand touching the metal part of the rifle, but it was enough. The guard flew backwards against the wall, then slumped to the ground unconscious.

The first guard was staggering around, rubbing his eyes, which actually made things worse. Liang grabbed his head in a reverse headlock, and broke his neck with a hard twist. She considered finishing off the remaining guard, but she figured by the time he woke up, he'd have other problems to deal with besides her.

While she was sitting in the holding area, Liang took the time to memorize the map of the penal colony that was hanging over John's desk. She had figured the guards were posted in a way that would prevent people from breaking out, but not someone who was breaking in.

When she attacked the DOOM guards on the mainland, she made it a point that she was someone who needed to be captured. Babbling something in Korean about the Poison Geisha's "big plan," while dispatching her opponents worked well, almost too well. She had to fake being knocked out before she ended up killing the whole group. Killing the guard who was perverted enough to grope her while she was bound with plastic ties wasn't necessary, but prisoner or no, she would not allow herself to be fondled like some cheap whore.

The guards inside the facility that Liang encountered were no better than the ones she fought outside, but then she remembered Poison Geishas were trained to kill with their hands almost as soon as they were introduced into the clan. It would be a matter of time before it's realized that those guards aren't responding to any calls, and the whole facility will be on alert. Well now, she'll give them something to be alarmed about!

Liang entered an area with several large and small cells. The occupants of the cells already noticed something about their visitor was unusual. The Poison Geisha pulled out the keys and started opening the cell doors.

"The exit is that way," she said, pointing. "The downed guards still have their weapons; take them with you."

The majority of the prisoners needed no further as they fled their cells and ran to the first dead guard and stripped him of weapons. Five COIL agents left their cells and looked at Liang.

"That hairstyle, those hairpins, you're a Poison Geisha, aren't you?" A woman COIL agent said.

"Yes I am," Liang said.

"Are the rumors true? Are the Poison Geishas and Silkworms at war with DOOM?" A male agent asked.

"Yes, it's true," Liang answered.

"I'm sure we weren't part of your mission plans, but we thank you just the same. What is your primary mission?"

"To pay a visit to the warden."

"We would like to "visit' the warden ourselves," another female visitor said. "For all the things I had done to me, I deserve some payback."

Liang thought briefly about the guard who tried to grope her.

"Very well," she said. "Follow me, and we'll all see the warden about some "payback.'"

As they advanced toward the warden's office, as predicted, the alarms sounded off, peppered with the noise of gunfire. Liang opened a few more cells, allowing more COIL and other agency prisoners to make their bid for freedom. She chose a COIL agent to give the keys to, so the other cells in the facility could be opened.

Any guards the small group encountered didn't offer much resistance. The first woman agent shot them on sight, while the rest stripped them of anything useful. An announcement over the PA system of a prison break was suddenly cut short by gunfire. One part of Liang's plan was going well; the inmates were now running the asylum.

The first woman must have been lauded on her crack shooting on the outside as she downed the majority of the warden's own guard with one shot a piece. Liang and the others finished off the others.

"My name is Valerie, and I personally claim the assistant warden. He and his guards forcibly raped me when I was first brought here," she said, cocking her weapon.

"My name is Liang, and the warden is the one responsible for framing and later executing one of my fellow geisha, a dear friend of mine. That life belongs to me," she said, adjusting her hairpins.

"My name's Carl, and I would at least like to watch," he said. "I could gain some satisfaction that way."

The remaining two agents elected to go and help the former prisoners with escaping.

"Then you will need to tell them about the large boats at the north end of the island. A few should hold you and a few prisoners of your own," Liang said.

"Keep the motor running, I won't be long," Valarie said.

The associate warden attempted to contact help from the mainland, but in the mass riot, someone destroyed all means of communication, except for the cameras. The whole grisly show was there on closed circuit TV: prisoners being freed, guards gunned down, or just beat to a pulp from the superior number of agents. Things became even worse when the armory was discovered. DOOM will want someone's head for this.

It would be best to get to the warden's office and escape through the secret exit. From there they could figure out what to do next. Suddenly the door flew open, and Valerie stood in the doorway, rifle in hand.

"Knock, knock," she said. "First, you should know that I'm going to shoot you like a mad dog. But first, like any stray dog, you're going to be neutered."

Estimating the odds, and figuring he was in better shape, the associate warden dove and drew his pistol.

The warden in the meantime was going through the standard procedure of deleting files from the computer's hard drive in case one of the escaped agents somehow obtained the terminal. The vital information was already downloaded to a set of compact discs that was already stored away in her briefcase. She suddenly heard gunshots, and the sound of what sounded like her second-in-command screaming in pain told her she was out of time. She grabbed her briefcase and made a dash for the hidden exit.

Liang sprang through the doors, and before the warden could react, delivered a flying kick that knocked her flying over her desk. A spinning backhand knocked the service revolver out of her hand.

"Leanne was a noble warrior and a good friend. This day, I demand your life for hers," Liang said.

The warden rose slowly, brushing back her black hair, revealing her native Korean features.

"Your Poison Geishas are nothing but outdated dinosaurs living way past your time," she said. "You and those foolish old biddies should be extinct. All this talk about "honor' and such ' bah!"

"What would you or DOOM know about things like that? You repay one who had done their job for you with betrayal and death? Even animals don't do that."

Knocked over the desk, the female warden remembered she had a gun placed in a holster secured to the underside of the desk. Even as fast as Poison Geishas can be, they cannot outrun a bullet. She kept talking, while slowly pulling the revolver loose.

"DOOM is the new breed of warrior that will rule the world. All will either kneel before us or crushed under our heel," she said, slowly rising behind the desk. "Starting with you."

The warden swung the gun into position, ready to fire, when she saw something protruding from her chest. It was one of the Poison Geisha's wooden hairpins. She fell back, wondering in her last moments of life how she threw it that quick. Liang walked up to her.

"Sometimes the old ways are best," she said, pulling the hairpin loose, wiping it off on the warden's shirt, and placing it back in her hair. Valerie and Carl entered the room.

"How was your prey?" Liang asked Valerie.

"As dead as yours, but not before I made him sing soprano," Valerie said.

Liang took the briefcase, and handed it to Carl. "I believe there's something important here, she was trying to take off with it."

"Speaking of taking off, we need to get a move on and get on one of those boats," Carl said.

"You two go on, I need to finish up here," Liang said.

"What? You can't stay here! All the boats will leave, and you'll have no way off the island," Valerie protested.

"And we're about fifty miles away from the mainland. That's a long swim, even for someone performing a triathlon," Carl said.

Liang gave a small smirk. "Part of my training is performing triathlons," she said.

Given Korea's vicinity, and the fact that most of the country is surrounded by water, Liang's particular clan of Poison Geishas was trained to be tri-athletes along with the standard training. In specially insulated swimsuits, the geishas would swim the East China Sea, climb up a small cliff, then run along the countryside wearing nothing on their feet but tabi socks. After that, they go directly into their martial arts training, which involved entering a building and fighting several opponents in hand-to-hand combat. Because of this Poison Geisha equivalent to US Navy Seals training, these Korean geisha were generally hired for the more rugged missions. They were also a close-knit group.

"Okay, maybe you could swim all the way back, but wouldn't you rather get in the boat with us, then you could go report to your superiors that you accomplished your mission?" Carl said.

"My mission ends here," Liang said. "I thank you for your help, but go ahead and leave without me. The boats will be leaving soon."

Carl extended his hand. "Thank you for freeing us," he said. Liang took it, and shook it firmly.

"Thank you for letting me wreak my revenge on that scum. I've dreamed about that moment," Valerie said, giving her hand as well.

After shaking it, Liang said, "You're welcome, both of you, now go!"

Liang watched the two leave, then she started to unbutton her blouse and unfasten her shirt. What she had underneath was a black swimsuit with a hood that she pulled over her head. She unattached from the side of her swimsuit a pouch where she placed her clothes after she folded them.

In another compartment of her pouch, she pulled out two devices, a small box of material no bigger than a tin of breath mints, and a remote device. If she was captured, in a worst-case scenario, she could've activated the material if she was within ten yards of her victim. Fortunately, she did not have to play the martyr this day.

She ran the schematics of the facility through her head and recalled where the central heating unit of the building was. But as she stepped into the hallway, she saw such a trip was not necessary.

From the results of the riot and sudden firefights between the guards and their former prisoners, the place was already half-filled with smoke. Small fires were scattered throughout the complex. A trip to where she wanted to go would be unnecessary and dangerous. She contemplated going to the armory, but she had no doubt it was swept clean of any and all weapons by the COIL prisoners. The little prison would eventually fall apart on its own from the damage done to it; all it needed was a little help.

Liang walked back to the warden's office. She initially had no reason to hurry, but that may change soon. From the warmth of the floor under her stocking feet, the place will eventually become an inferno within an hour. The riot also must have damaged the sprinkler system, but not the fire alarm as it blared in the distance.

Liang dug through the office until she found the warden's personal armory. Aside from a few firearms, she saw a few grenades that she needed. She also obtained a few cleaning supplies that were flammable. She placed all of these in a circle around her box of explosive material.

Next, she checked the desks and bodies of the warden and assistant warden for any vital information. She found their personal data devices in their suit coats, but everything else she handed to the COIL agent. That was all right, because soon, this place would be nothing but a distant memory.

As if in answer to her thought, the Poison Geisha saw smoke starting to creep its way into the office. It was time to go.

From what Liang remembered about DOOM facilities, the head officers always had a secret passageway for situations like these. Thinking of where the warden was before she attacked her, Liang checked the wall her nemesis was facing. After two minutes of knocking and probing, she found what appeared to be a wooden wall with a hollow sound to it. She looked for the button or lever that would open it, but the smoke was starting to billow in. Liang stepped back, and then fired a left kick into the panel, breaking it. The sudden rush of fresh cool air told her this was what she was looking for.

The secret exit led her down a small flight of stairs leading to an underground cave, where a speedboat was waiting at a man-made shore. Carl was right, she could swim all the way back, but not if she didn't have to. She started the motor, and took off.

A little while later, she parked the boat at an unknown part of the mainland's shore. After she anchored the boat, she dived in the water and swam the few yards to dry land. She sat on a large rock, pulled out one of her hairpins, and used the micro-transmitter to contact her local headquarters.

Upon recognition of who she was, the dispatcher said, "Liang, where are you, and where have you been?"

"Right now, I'm on the mainland roughly ten miles away from Mokp'o," Liang said. "As to where I was, that's a lengthy story."

"Liang, Madam Poh would like to speak with you."

Since she started this mission, Liang dreaded this part. Perhaps she should've remained on the island within the burning prison.

Madam Poh wasn't a woman who became overly angry when she was not pleased. "Where have you been, Liang?" She said calmly, but in a very serious tone. Liang related to her all that she did, and what happened.

"I see you were quite successful in your mission," Madam Poh said.

"Yes ma'am," Liang replied.

"Liang, successful or not, you are not supposed to run off on an unsanctioned mission. Leanne was a noble warrior and a good geisha, but we are in the middle of a war, and we need everyone available, and everyone together. We would've taken the time to avenge her death, but in the proper way."

"Yes ma'am."

"So where was this prison anyway?"

Liang realized she hadn't pushed the button to the detonator yet. She looked at it.

"On the island of Cheju-Do," she said.

"Where?"

Liang looked at the detonator again. Her headquarters was located at Pusan. She expected them to be looking at the island this very moment.

She pushed the button.

A large explosion was seen and heard from a corner of the island. After a few moments of silence, Madam Poh spoke.

"Curses, that place has been under our noses the whole time!" She said.

An explosion that large obviously didn't go unnoticed. On the two large boats of former COIL prisoners, a huge cheer went up as the prison blew up. Valerie and Carl were sipping a cold drink when it happened. They turned, and gave a silent toast to the Poison Geisha who gave them back their freedom, and possibly saved their lives.

"I think she'll be all right," Valerie said.

Carl, thinking about Liang's triathlon remark, replied, "You're probably right."

"I am ready to receive my punishment, ma'am," Liang said.

Madam Poh sighed. "Liang, you have been one of our fiercest warriors, someone who could always get the job done. However, I also expect my ladies to follow orders, to be someone I can trust, and I don't feel I can trust you right now. For this, I must send you away for a time."

Liang's heart dropped. She's being exiled?

"Where?" She finally managed to say.

"To Brazil. You will experience this part of the war from the sidelines. In the meantime, you will work with the Barefoot Assassins; I believe you have heard of them. I will contact Bliss, their leader, and make arrangements with her regarding your arrival. Your task, like theirs, would be to track down DOOM agents in that country and terminate them. Many of their operatives are more independent and freelance on their missions, so it should suit you. There's already a few other Poison Geishas and Silkworms there, so you won't be alone. Are you able to travel?"

"I have a boat," Liang said, looking at what she recently acquired.

"Very well, you know where our dock is. You will pack your things and leave in the morning. I wish you good fortune, and Liang?"

"Yes ma'am?"

"I do thank you for uncovering and destroying that DOOM stronghold. Leanne was properly avenged."

"Thank you ma'am."

"Poh out."

Liang ended the transmission on the radio transmitter part of her hairpin, and put it back in her hair. She pulled the hood back over her head. She swam back out to the boat, and started it up. Speeding along the mainland, Liang looked out again at once was left of the prison. It cost her mistress' trust, and an exile from her homeland after today; but at least her lifelong friend was avenged.

"Rest easy, my sister," Liang said, "rest easy."

For comments, suggestions, or story ideas, email the author at shrewsberry@juno.com.