Your Enemy is Now My Enemy, Part 2

The Barefoot Assassins uncover a plot to eliminate a presidential candidate

By Mongoose 750 (mongoose750@yahoo.com)

In the large living room, a woman in a purple kimono sat on the sofa reading Japanese poetry, or haiku. She paused to look at her watch. It was time to leave, but she hesitated, and instead reopened her book to read more poetry. She finally closed her book again, glancing up to see five women on the other end of the room approaching her.

"Winter?" She said.

"Keiko?" Winter said.

"What is this with that outfit? Are you going swimming?"

"No, I'm also a Barefoot Assassin as well! See my new muscles?" Winter replied, flexing her right bicep.

"You two know each other?" Catalina said.

"Of course; we graduated from Oxford the same year," Winter giggled.

"I don't know how your teachers are going to take this with your new costume," Keiko said.

"I'm not worried; but I have a deal for you that I think you'll like."

"Really? What is it?"

At that time, a man entered in the doorway behind Keiko.

"What's keeping you, woman, you're supposed to be outside in the crowd," he barked. "And who are these women? You betrayed us, you sneaky, Jap bit-"

The man drew his gun to aim at Keiko and the others, but Keiko withdrew one of her long wooden hairpins, and without even looking behind her, threw it. The hairpin entered the man's chest through the heart. In shock, the man dropped his gun as he sank lifeless to the floor.

"I didn't like that man," Keiko said simply.

"Did you see that?" Kim said to Ming Shi in awe. "She didn't even look at him!"

"I saw it," Ming Shi replied, "I wouldn't believe it if I didn't."

"He insulted my people, my heritage, my family, my clan, and my very person, yet he tried to get me to sleep with him. If the timing was better, I'd killed him earlier," Keiko said as she walked over to the man's body, pulled out her hairpin, wiped it off on his clothes, and placed it back in her hair. Seeing Hin, she bowed and quickly shuffled over to her.

"My apologies; greetings, honored mother," Keiko said, bowing.

"Greetings, honored daughter," Hin said.

Keiko turned to the rest. "Greetings to all. Winter, I have read the plans for the proposed mission; you were correct. The fools had it written in English. Our clan has been multilingual for years now. Seeing how I was to be terminated at the end of the mission, I can see why they treated me harshly," she said.

"Wait a minute, you knew?" Catalina said.

"After our meeting, I immediately contacted the clan mother of what was going on, and she had me contact Keiko. The Silkworms have been contacted as well," Winter said.

"But how? Surely DOOM would've monitored any outgoing calls."

Keiko simply pointed to her hairpins on her head and giggled along with Winter.

Seeing Catalina's stunned expression, Hin said, "There's another old saying that quotes if you left a Poison Geisha with only her hairpins, she could wipe out a squad of ten men."

"Are there any old sayings about Silkworms?" Ming Shi asked.

"There are," Hin replied, "But we don't quote them as much; probably because they use the word "old.'"

"Then if we're all on the same page, we need to get going," Catalina said.

"There's actually six, I'm sorry, five people sitting downstairs waiting for me to join them before they go to the rally; the sniper is up on the third floor preparing himself for the assassination."

"Well if they're expecting you downstairs, I say we go meet them. Shall we?"

"She contacted her clan leader through her hairpin? Unbelievable!" Jana whispered.

"I heard once that the biggest piece of a Poison Geisha's equipment was her hairpins, but I thought it meant only as weapons," Bliss said.

"That explains why they're so heavy. You need a lot of hair to hold them in place."

"So what will happen now that both the Silkworms and Poison Geisha know that they've been betrayed?" Angelique asked.

"My guess? Someone is going to pay, and I doubt it'll be us," Bliss said. "I'm actually kind of looking forward to see how hard DOOM will fall under the might of two assassin guilds placed against them. For now though, let's take care of business here. Let me speak to Catalina."

Angelique made the signal, and Catalina answered immediately.

"Yes Bliss?" She said.

"I heard what was going on; has Keiko been offered a job yet?"

"Winter is giving her the sales pitch as we speak. She seems interested."

"Good. I'm going to make a few modifications in my "scorched earth' directive. Right now, I want Ming Shi to go after the sniper. Tell her not to sanction him unless it's absolutely necessary. The rest of you continue downstairs and neutralize the remaining crew; captives if you can, sanction if you must. Contact me when you finish; I'm going to see how the ground forces are doing. Bliss out."

"Bliss, I'm not questioning Ming Shi's abilities, but wouldn't Kim or one of the Poison Geishas or the Silkworm be a better choice?" Angelique asked.

"Catalina is leading the team, and Kim may be more precise, but she's a little uh, messy. She's the one who made Kayla, one of our cleaners vomit, and that's no small thing. I want what's left of our sniper to be interrogated. Besides, Ming Shi works better alone, so she can get it done. We just met Keiko, and even though a Silkworm or Poison Geisha could do better, I want to make sure it's one of our home-grown operatives, not a Silkworm teacher or transplanted Poison Geisha who makes the initial capture or sanction."

"We still have something to prove?" Jana said.

"In my eyes, no, but some of the other officers still see us as a sideshow, and are trying to get us disbanded. After we foil this assassination attempt, this will shut them up, and I can concentrate on other things, like protecting this country," Bliss said.

The crowd quieted down for a moment, then applauded and cheered as Caesar Martin and the town's mayor, surrounded my security people, made their way up the stand and over to the podium where Martin's speech would be delivered.

Even though she managed to fight her way to the front early, Jessica could imagine how dangerous the crowd could be if a shot was fired, never mind if it hit its target or not. Dressed casually in a turquoise short sleeve blouse and blue jeans with no shoes, her task was to seek out any possible DOOM agents, or anyone who looked like they were carrying a bullet for the presidential candidate. Easier said than done, however; there were a few suspicious looking characters she saw already. But being a political rally, there are always a few suspicious looking people.

Jessica's questions were answered when she received a response on her hidden earpiece.

"Jessica, this is Bliss. There's a gentlemen about ten feet to your right wearing a yellow polo shirt and tan trousers, correct?"

"Yes, Bliss, how do you know?" Jessica said.

"A little Silkworm told me. Keep an eye on him, and if he does anything threatening, you know what to do."

"Yes Bliss, he's mine."

"Very good, Bliss out."

The man in question started moving away from his previous spot to attempt to get closer to the stage from a side view. Jessica, happy that she now had a visible target to pursue, carefully followed him.

As Ming Shi approached the third floor, she heard applause from outside. That must mean the presidential candidate was going to be speaking soon. That also meant she did not have much time before the sniper would take his shot. Winter had taken out the backup sniper, but from what she knew about snipers being the sharpshooters they were, one shot was all they needed.

Soundlessly, her bare feet glided across the hardwood floor. Looking around, she could see that this floor was used primarily for storage. She also located a janitor's closet; plenty of potential weapons there. Though she didn't doubt she could sneak up on her target, the important thing was keeping him from firing his rifle. For that, she needed something with some reach. Peering into the closet, she reached in and quietly grabbed a wooden mop handle with the mop part taken off ' perfect.

Ming Shi suddenly heard more applause. She needed to find this shooter quickly.

"Where is she, we're late! I thought geishas were never late for anything," a brunette woman in a black business suit said, checking her watch and scowling as she sat in the living room on the first floor.

"I sent Joe up to get her, they should be down by now," a second woman with dishwater blond hair replied.

"If Joe got his wish, he's probably jumping her bones right now," a man with brown hair said.

"Get lucky? With a Poison Geisha? He should count himself lucky if he makes it out alive," a third brunette woman said, taller with shorter hair. "You can't even touch one without getting injected with something."

"It'll take more than that to keep Joe from trying," the brown haired man replied, laughing.

"Men."

"I don't care what they're doing, I'm going to get them. We're already behind schedule," the second man who stood 6'5" with long curly black hair said as he got up from his chair. He stopped when he saw Keiko come down the stairs and enter the room.

"Hey Keiko, you're late! Where's Joe?" The first woman said.

"Joe has been, shall we say, unavoidably detained," Keiko said.

"See, I told you!" The third woman hissed to the brown haired man.

"Had I known what his intentions were, I would have dealt with him earlier."

"What did you do with Joe?" The tall man demanded.

"Let's just say he won't be back," Keiko answered as she adjusted her hairpins. "There has been a change in plans."

"A change in plans? I'm the leader of this operation, you're just hired muscle. What makes you think you can give orders?" The first woman yelled.

"Both me and my friends do," Keiko mentioned, as the other women suddenly appeared.

"A Silkworm? Where did she come from? And where did these other women come from?" The second woman said.

"It matters not; according to the new plan, we are the last people you will see in this life."

"I get the big one," Kim said to Keiko.

They must have gotten an advanced copy of the speech, Ming Shi thought as she crept around the third floor. The sniper probably will shoot during the most exciting part of the speech. So far, the applause had been so-so, but Martin was working up to a climax where the crowd will be caught up in a frenzy. Nobody would hear the shot.

She turned another corner, and Ming Shi found him, sitting before an obscure window in the corner of the room, his gloved hands holding the rifle. He was so intent in his task, he wasn't aware of what was going on behind him. That was good, Ming Shi thought. What was bad was he was taking aim and had his finger on the trigger.

Ming Shi had a decision to make. She could run and attack him, but as fast as she was, the sniper's trigger finger was faster, and the major point of the plan would be lost. The speech was reaching a fever pitch; if she was going to do something, it had to be now.

Raising the mop handle like a javelin, Ming Shi took aim, took three steps, and hurled it. The mop handle struck the rifle above the trigger, knocking it out of the sniper's hands to land harmlessly to the floor. The startled sniper turned around to end up receiving a foot in the face, courtesy of Ming Shi's flying right kick. But the sniper, he was after all, a trained professional, and used the momentum of Ming Shi's kick to give himself a roll to move safely out of the way, and to reach for his knife hidden in his ankle sheaf. The ploy, though brilliant, fell through as Ming Shi kicked his knife arm. The blow was enough to send the knife flying into a corner behind a box. The man jumped forward and launched a kick, which she caught, and used it to take him down. Once down, the sniper twisted away just as Ming Shi attempted to twist his ankle, and slammed her bare foot down just where his throat would've been. He rose to his feet when Ming Shi did the unexpected. She tackled him like a defensive end would tackle a quarterback.

As the sniper once again found himself on the defensive, fending off lethal blows and neck breaking holds, he wondered to himself who was this woman? She's fast and very strong. She doesn't look like anything that COIL normally came up with.

With a total of ten people on the first floor, even the large living room and adjoining hallway wasn't big enough for a gun battle; not unless you wanted to risk hitting one of your own team members. While the DOOM team came to that realization, that matter was what the Barefoot Assassins counted on. Still, it didn't keep some from trying. The second woman drew her gun only to watch it fall to the floor as Keiko numbed her right arm with a quick blow.

The brunette, the team's leader, simply didn't have time to even draw as Catalina flew at her, launching her kicks and punches Capoera style. Forced to engage hand-to-hand, the brunette found that her own martial arts training had not prepared her for this Afro-Brazilian martial art. Finally, she attempted a left kick to the chest. Catalina avoided it by bending over backwards to the ground, then from there, rolled to her left, sending a right kick to her right knee, on her support leg. Her balance gone, the woman spy fell on her derriere with a yelp.

The brown haired man chose Hin for his dance partner, thinking he could finish her off quickly, then help out the others. As the two circled around, he started to taunt her.

"Let's get it on, old lady, let's see what you got," he said. "You know, I don't know what makes you frail old bitties so feared anyway. You either poison people or do some funky stuff to them when you sleep with them. Well we're going at it toe to toe, so you can't do either. Don't worry, I'll make this real quick for you."

Hin just shook her head and sighed.

In describing his opponent, the DOOM agent in his ignorance had made four fatal errors:

• Silkworms were far from being frail; in fact, they're much stronger than they look.
• Silkworms were very efficient martial artists. The majority doesn't use poison, except for a scant few. With their skills, they don't need to.
• Only a splinter group (the group that DOOM primarily hired from, and who COIL usually tangled with) practiced the deadly erotic arts. That group was for the most part shunned by other Silkworms because of their choice of weapons. Actually, no one outside of Poison Geishas knew about how the standard Silkworm operated except for the Silkworm herself, maybe whoever hired her, and the fated target. Their success had started some rumors that they can become invisible.
• Finally, at forty-five years of age, Hin wasn't old, she's middle age. Generally, Silkworms start at age forty, but in some places, they start as young as thirty-five. There were easily FBI, CIA, and other agents from other intelligence agencies who were older than she was (COIL and DOOM agents have a much shorter lifespan; reaching forty would be an achievement and a candidate for early retirement). There were Silkworms who were still active in their seventies and eighties, but you don't dare call them old!

The man threw a right punch, but Hin blocked it and held his arm firmly with her left hand. She drew them close, then delivered a right knee blow. Expecting a shot to the groin, he shifted his hips to avoid a direct hit. However, this was the last thing on Hin's mind as she lifted her knee to her chest height, then fired a kick to his face. As he received a face full of bare sole, the spy realized he underestimated her flexibility, another thing Silkworms are known for. Using a tiger claw grip, Hin applied her right hand to the man's arm, and pulled down as she used her right leg to sweep his legs from under him. Hin applied a leg scissors around his midsection and dropped his right arm, now useless from the nerve-pinching claw hold. Reapplying the tiger claw hold to his jaw and applying pressure with her scissors, Hin began to tell him what Silkworms really can do.

Keiko was performing a procedure similar to pulling the wings off a fly as she delivered a blow that numbed the second woman's other arm. The horrified woman with two dead limbs soon found herself limited to kicking and making a hasty exit to bide some time until some feeling came back to her arms. Keiko wasn't going to let that happen as she easily cut her opponent off from any possible exit, and kicked a certain place on her right leg. The leg went dead, and the woman agent fell to the floor, desperately trying to crawl away on one leg. The Poison Geisha nonchalantly followed.

The third woman saw her companion's plight, but was unable to do anything about it as Winter encountered her.

"Your friend will have to deal with her own troubles; meanwhile, you deal with me," Winter said.

The two then fought, with Winter's already formidable skills powered even further by the intense weight training techniques she had been taking. To her credit, the woman who appeared to be the best fighter on DOOM's team, blocked and parried every punch and kick, but she hasn't been able to return any blows. And her arms were getting sore and tired from blocking.

While Catalina's fight was acrobatic, Winter's was relentless, Hin's was simple, and Keiko's was systematic and a little sadistic, Kim's was the most destructive. Smashed furniture, broken glass, and shattered trinkets marked the area where she and her taller nemesis were fighting. Ironically, it was Kim performing all the damage from missed kicks and punches. The tall man to his credit, landed a few blows to the stomach and shoulder, but that was all as their fight extended to the hallway.

The first casualty of the day went to Catalina, when her foe abandoned all she was taught, and charged at her, hands extended towards Catalina's throat. She even forgot about the gun in her shoulder holster. Catalina grabbed her arms and performed a circle throw, her foot pushing her high. The DOOM leader slammed back first against a wall and slid down, hitting her head on the floor, knocking her out cold.

After checking and disarming her opponent (like it really mattered at this point), Catalina looked around to see how the other fights were going. She looked in time to see Winter deliver a sudden hard palm thrust on her foe's heart. A terror-stricken look appeared on the third woman's face as everything just . . . stopped.

As the body fell lifeless to the floor, Winter turned to see Catalina gesture for her to come over.

"Let's check on Ming Shi, everything is taken care of here," she said. Winter nodded her agreement as the two went upstairs. Catalina radioed Bliss to give her a progress report.

"Bliss, I've got Catalina calling in," Jana said.

"On speaker," Bliss said. "Catalina, what's going on?"

"We have almost neutralized the team on the first floor; no casualties. Winter and I are on our way to check on Ming Shi," Catalina said.

""Almost' neutralized?"

"Kim is slugging it out with some big guy, and I think Hin and Keiko are delivering a message."

"Very good, let me know the moment you have the sniper, and let me know if the "message' was delivered. Bliss out."

"So it has begun," Jana said.

"What has, Jana?" Angelique asked.

"The wrath of two assassin guilds. Can even DOOM stand up to that?"

"It might be narrowed down to the idiot who issued the order, but there would be a trail of blood before they reach him or her," Bliss said.

Angelique interrupted them. "Bliss, it's Catalina again. They found the sniper."

At the moment, things were not good for the sniper. He was lying flat on his back, pinned down by Ming Shi. She wrapped both of her legs around his in a grapevine hold and his right arm was pinned against his chest by her body, awkwardly positioned so he couldn't use any leverage. His left arm was free, but it was being fended off by the Barefoot Assassin's right arm. He waved it frantically, trying to remove Ming Shi's left forearm pressed against his throat. She set the choke in such a way where her weight and gravity will do most of the work, not strength. Aside from holding off the free arm, it was only a matter of time.

The sniper vainly struggled to break free. He looked up at Ming Shi's face, her teeth gritted in a cruel grin as her eyes bore into his. Then he started seeing spots before his eyes as his breathing became more labored. He waved his free arm in another attempt to push her off, but she was much too strong. She pushed the arm away again, banging it against a pile of boxes. It was then that he realized that some of the boxes moved, and offered a possibility for one last chance.

The two were struggling between two rows of stacked boxes. If he could pull one down, maybe he could cause an avalanche that will pile the boxes on his attacker, and set him free. With not much time left, he found the flap of a nearby box, and yanked down with all of his remaining strength.

Ming Shi didn't notice anything at first, then she saw movement out of the corner of her eye. She looked up in time to see a small tower of semi-filled boxes fall on top of her. She raised her arms over her head to shield her from the coming onslaught. He took advantage of the situation and pushed her away. Ming Shi realized she couldn't hold the boxes back and keep her grapevine hold at the same time, so she untangled her legs. The sniper as quick as he could, crawled away to safety as his attacker was losing her battle with the falling boxes. As he made it to his feet, for good measure, he pushed another small pile of boxes on her. Then gasping and wheezing, he stumbled away.

Catalina and Winter had just entered the third floor and started to look around when suddenly, a male figure rushed past them, running down the stairs, coughing. Winter turned to pursue, but Catalina placed a hand on her arm to restrain her while she radioed Bliss.

"The sniper just rushed past us, he's about the same height as we are, and he's Caucasian with short brown hair, a black button-down shirt, black pants, army boots," Catalina said over the radio. "He was speaking into his mike, I presume calling for help."

"Okay, he shouldn't get too far," Bliss said. "Worst case scenario, he'll be headed toward the crowd to notify the other agents, which is what we want anyway. How is Ming Shi?"

Just then, Winter and Catalina turned as they heard a sound coming from an area of the floor. They saw Ming Shi emerge from a pile of boxes with a loud growl. Tossing aside boxes and whatever was put in them, she bellowed.

"Come back and fight me, you coward!"

Looking around to find out her quarry had fled, she ran toward the door with fire in her eyes.

"She's okay, Bliss, but she's not happy," Catalina said.

"So I heard. Restrain her please," Bliss said.

The three women back at headquarters could hear over their mikes Ming Shi's protests.

"Let me go! He's getting away!" She said.

Bliss tried to contact Ming Shi, only to discover her hidden mike must have been damaged somehow.

"Catalina, tell her that she did her job, and to settle down," she said.

"Hey, you did what needed to be done; no snipers are going to shoot anyone today," Catalina said. "Right now, he'll either go downstairs or most likely head toward the crowd. Bliss will tell the others. All we need to do here now is to finish cleaning up."

Ming Shi, dusty and bruised from the avalanche of boxes, let out a long breath. "Okay, you two can let me go now," she said.

As both women released her arms, Winter said, "And I thought I had a temper."

"Come on ladies, let's see how the rest are doing," Catalina said as the three went downstairs.

"Open the channel to all our assassins in the field," Bliss commanded. "Bliss speaking. The sniper has been found, and his plan was foiled. He escaped for the moment, but not before contacting the others. Whatever DOOM agent you're tailing needs to be neutralized by any means necessary. I'll soon be in contact with further orders. Bliss out."

"Why did you call Ming Shi off pursuit?" Angelique said.

"Did you hear that growl? She would've torn him apart, and not leave much to take into custody. It's been a while since I saw her this mad."

"Mad?"

"Yes, the last time she was this angry was when I sent her on a non-sanction mission with another assassin, Flora. The target said something that insulted her, something about what her parents did for a living, I think. Soon after that, Flora was pulling Ming Shi back, who was trying to unscrew the target's head from his shoulders. I believe Flora threatened bodily harm if she was teamed up with Ming Shi again."

"As a suggestion, maybe you should avoid assigning Ming Shi on non-sanction missions."

"I think you may be right. Jana, have you heard anything from our ladies in the field?"

"They each have a target, however Diya speculates that there are still more agents out there," Jana said.

"They're like roaches! Where are they all coming from?" Bliss exclaimed.

"I don't know, but Diya wants to see if her and Leina could trail their target a little longer before neutralizing them."

"Give her the go ahead, Jana. If she's thinking what I think she is, the two may be able to find a nest of them."

"That's quite a few people to shoot one man," Angelique said.

"If it was me, I'd just have one sniper or use a small bomb to complete the objective," Jana said.

"Apparently what I was told was true; DOOM insists on overkill. But if we play this right, we can use it against them," Bliss said.

The sniper ran down the stairs, breathing easier since his Amazon foe almost choked him to death. The two women he barged through he never saw before, but he wasn't going to stick around long enough to find out if they worked with that woman, who judging from the sound of that growl, was free.

He clicked loose his two-way radio from his belt, and tried to contact his backup sniper as instructed. Considering his record as a sniper, he thought having someone to back him up was unnecessary, but he'll actually may be useful now.

"Lone Gun One to Lone Gun Two, Lone Gun Two, repeat," he said.

Silence.

He felt no need to repeat, they must have got him too. One the second floor, he almost tripped over the body of Joe, the fool who tried to flirt with that Poison Geisha. From a quick glance of the body, the woman must've said no to his advances permanently with one of those infamous hairpins. He saw the gun still in his hand, but he had no time to pull it loose, hearing the sound of footsteps behind him.

Rushing down to the ground floor, he radioed the ground team in the crowd. They probably guessed by now that that something went amiss, but he needed to tell them that there's a group, COIL or somebody, that was responsible for foiling the assassination. He finished the general alarm as he entered the living room, and froze. In the room he, saw an older woman, possibly a Silkworm, torturing one of the team members with a leg scissors and some wicked claw hold on his face. The other sight was Keiko standing over one of the women with an evil smile on her face. He saw two bodies, the leader and another woman, and only one of them appeared to be breathing.

If he could grab the gun of the downed agent closest to him, he may be able to grab a gun and at least shoot his way out. Hearing the footsteps behind him, he had only a split-second to make a decision. As if hearing his thoughts, both the Poison Geisha and the Silkworm turned toward him.

Keiko quickly reached for her hairpin.

The sniper ran down a hallway to a nearby window, covered his face, and jumped through it.

Catalina, Winter, and Ming Shi came down the steps just as the foiled sniper made his hasty exit. Ming Shi looked at Catalina warily.

"It's alright, Ming, he's headed where we thought he would go. He's going to help flush the others out," Catalina said as she made another quick broadcast to Bliss through her communicator.

"I know it's not easy letting go of a fresh kill," Winter said, "But it will lead to a greater bounty."

"I know, I know," Ming Shi replied, a little surprised to receive encouragement from a Poison Geisha. "I had my arm right at his throat, and,"

"Ming, you weren't supposed to kill him!" Catalina exclaimed.

"I wasn't going to kill him, just make him sleep a little while, that's all," Ming Shi said while discovering a new bruise on her arm caused by a falling box.

The three walked into the living room, where things were still well in hand, and the sounds of combat could still be heard in an adjoining doorway. Ming Shi saw a woman upside down against a wall beginning to stir.

"May I?" She asked Catalina.

"Sure, help yourself," Catalina said.

The leader of the DOOM group rose, only to be socked by Ming Shi's back kick. The blow slammed her back against the wall, knocking her out for a second time.

"Feel better?" Catalina asked.

"Much better," Ming Shi said.

"Good. Let's see how everybody else is doing."

Meanwhile, Hin still had her quarry in a crushing leg scissors and a claw hold on his jaw. In the meantime, the Silkworm was delivering a lecture on what Silkworms can really do.

"Oh, I think that was a rib breaking. Not bad for a "frail old lady,' eh?" Hin said, maliciously. "Let's see, what have I told you so far? We're not weak, we know how to fight, most of us are straight, I'm probably younger than your mother, what's missing? Oh yes, we are loyal to whoever hires our services, but we do not tolerate betrayal or being used. That should be a little something for you to dwell on in the last few moments of your existence. Okay, that's it, I'm bored now, time to die."

With that, Hin delivered a quick chop to her prey's neck, breaking it.

"Wow, what a blow!" Ming Shi said, helping Hin to her feet. "I didn't know you Silkworms could be that powerful."

"Most of our training is top secret, so you wouldn't be suspected to know," Hin replied. "I can tell you however, that our weight training regiment is as intense as yours."

"Wow," Ming Shi said in awe.

Keiko spent the last couple of minutes following her wounded foe as she tried to escape using only one leg. When she tired of the game, she took her socked foot and kicked a pressure point on her remaining live leg. The leg went dead, and the woman, shocked that she was virtually paralyzed, started to scream. Keiko grabbed a handkerchief from Hin's opponent's body, and stuffed it in her mouth.

"Shhh," Keiko said softly. "Your condition is not permanent. In about twenty minutes, you will successfully, but painfully regain feeling in your limbs. Terrifying, is it not? Feel helpless? I imagine you do. I suppose you consider me cold, cruel, heartless, a tyrant. Believe me, I am none of those things. But that is what your boss has done to the Silkworms and us. Being betrayed is always painful, like what I've done to your limbs, is it not? Above all, we demand honor and respect, and your handler has given us neither."

The woman just stared at Keiko mutely, eyes filled with tears, a silent plea for mercy. The Poison Geisha knelt down by her.

"There are a few ways I could end this, you know. I could deliver a blow that could end the pain; however, it would also end your life. I could leave you and let you suffer as your arms and legs become useful again. Instead, I will give you another blow that will render you unconscious for a time. When you awaken, you will be mobile again. But consider this, what I have done to you is a mercy compared to what your superiors will receive when they receive our wrath."

Keiko delivered a blow, rending her unconscious. She turned to the others.

"She was the only one who gave me respect; that is why I allowed her to live," she said.

Catalina spoke as she pulled some wrist restraints from her utility belt. "I'd like to learn that one blow that Winter delivered. What do you call that?"

"The Dragon's Touch," Winter said. "It's supposed to disrupt the beating of the heart. If delivered normally, it's very painful; if delivered just right, it'll stop the heartbeat. Only the more experienced and most accomplished Poison Geishas can do it right."

"And you've done it right on the first try! Very good," Keiko said.

"I think I was very lucky. The only reason I did it right the first time was because of the strength training exercises I've done with the Barefoot Assassins, I think."

"I'm glad to know we gave you something you can use," Catalina began, then stopped momentarily when she heard the sound of breaking glass. "Let's check on Kim."

The hallway looked appropriately like a war zone as the group saw Kim and her opponent go at each other. Kim was still rather fresh while her much taller foe was showing signs of wear and tear, not to mention tiring.

"How long have they been going at it?" Catalina asked.

"Since we started," Winter said. "Hin, what style of kung fu would you call that?"

"I think it may be one of the northern styles, with maybe a little of one of the southern styles thrown in, maybe," Hin said.

"I'm not sure about any southern styles, she delivers too much power for that," Keiko said. "There's a little more finesse in the southern school."

"I believe you're right, Keiko. Still, they've been fighting for a long time; this DOOM agent must know how to fight."

Ming Shi watched the two fighters with a sneer on her face. "No he doesn't, she's just playing around. It should've been over a long time ago," she said.

Kim delivered a foot sweep with her left foot, sending the DOOM agent flat on his back. Kim promptly jumped on top of him, and then forming her right hand into a knife hand, she stabbed, literally into the man's belly through his solar plexus toward his heart. She stopped just a hair short of touching it, but it did not matter, the damage was already done. She pulled her hand out quickly, managing to have the blood splattering away from her and onto a nearby wall. After wiping her hand on a nearby tablecloth from a smashed table, she turned to face the surprised, shocked, and horrified faces before her.

"Actually, my style has several of the northern techniques, Jeet Kune Do, and a few karate breaking techniques thrown in," she said.

"I don't know any northern techniques like that," Winter said quietly.

"I've also thrown in a few of my own techniques as well."

Ming Shi turned slowly to Winter and Keiko.

"You mean the Poison Geisha doesn't have any blows like that?" She asked.

Both shook their heads.

"The Poison Geisha are taught to make their kills more ' tidy," Keiko said.

Ming Shi turned to Hin, who only shook her head.

"Okay, now I think I'm going to be sick," she said, leaving the hallway.

"Blood can be hard to get out of a kimono," Keiko said as she left.

"It can be rather damaging to silk as well," Hin said, also leaving.

"I'm going to make sure Ming Shi makes it to the bathroom," Winter said, hot on Hin's heels.

The only assassins left in the hallway were Catalina and Kim, who had a funny grin on her face.

"Kim, how did you come up with something like that?" Catalina asked. "No, never mind, I don't want to know." She left, radioing Bliss to notify her that the building was now officially secure.

Kim stood over the body, nonchalantly placing her right toe in a puddle of blood and painting a stripe on his forehead.

"Does this mean no one is going to help me clean up?" She said.

"It's now official, the building is now secure," Angelique said. "Most of the agents are dead, two are in custody, and she wouldn't give me much information on the last one. She just said, "Kim did it,' and that even Hin and the Geishas were shocked."

Bliss sighed. "That woman never ceases to surprise me. To shock a more hardened group like Silkworms and Poison Geishas must take some work. I figured she was doing gruesome stuff like that to get to Ming Shi," she said.

"I think she said Ming Shi was the first to leave."

"I wonder what she does for real entertainment. No, on second thought, I don't want to know."

"I'm receiving reports from several of our ladies in the crowd. The DOOM agents are being neutralized," Jana said.

"Are any of them alive for questioning?" Bliss asked.

"A few."

"Good. Has any of our ladies seen our sniper yet?"

Jana asked the assassins on her communicator, then waited for a moment. "Yes, Nancy spotted him trotting over to her target, about a few seconds before she was going to neutralize her."

"Have her pull out her cell phone and take a picture of him. She needs to send it here, so we can show it to everybody. After the sniper leaves, she can have some fun."

Jana replayed the order, and waited another moment. "Picture received," she said.

"Hmmm, not too impressive. It must've been sheer luck he got away from Ming Shi."

"Now the big question is who's going to get him first," Angelique said.

As the crowd cheered the presidential candidate's final remarks with cheers and applause, some of them started to make their move toward the front in an attempt to shake Cesar Martin's hand, while others made a move toward the area where the block party was taking place. On the east side of the crowd, appearing to sun herself on top of a stone wall, Giusi was watching her target.

The 5'8" transplanted Spaniard, dressed in a khaki green tank top, black pants cut at mid-calf to show her muscular legs, and long wavy black hair, looked at her target with disgust. Her target was an attractive DOOM agent with long blond hair, a slender figure, and a sundress that could be transparent if seen in the right light. Any man who could not see that would have to be blind; however, it wasn't the men she was flirting with. She drew the attention of a few women, some of them discreetly giving her their phone numbers and addresses to their homes.

Recalling her religious training, Giusi remembered that according to what it said in the Old Testament, in the book of Leviticus, specifically, that those who favor their own gender should be put to death. As an official Barefoot Assassin, she would now be free to do that, under the reasoning of serving her country. But according to the New Testament, we're now under the law of grace, and though she carried the title of assassin, she promised herself not to take a life unless it was absolutely necessary. Still, she was unsure how to approach this woman. She didn't look physically intimidating, but then again, Barefoot Assassins were more muscularly developed than most women and men on the street, so that would not work. From her skimpy outfit, it was obvious she didn't carry a gun, so it was safe to assume she probably carried on her person the more exotic weaponry that both DOOM and COIL were known for; poison lipstick, lethal suntan lotion, deadly earrings, a virtual armory of destruction. Of course, one has to get very close for any of that to work. . . .

Giusi jumped off the wall, landing lightly on her toes. Too much speculation and too little action would result in losing her quarry. The crowd was moving just to her advantage. If she followed the right flow, she could take this harlot out and move on to locate the sniper.

As Giusi moved closer, her foe turned and flashed a warm, flirting smile at her. Apparently, she likes buff women too, Giusi thought as she smiled back and walked by. Giusi saw out of the corner of her eye that the woman was still eyeing her hungrily. This gave her an idea. She turned and headed for the end of the wall, then suddenly turned her head and flashed a big smile back at her target. Giusi was surprised at the result as the DOOM agent practically trampled over innocent bystanders to get to her. When she poked her head around the wall, Giusi delivered a karate chop to the side of the neck, knocking her out.

Reflecting upon it, this idea worked out better, Giusi thought as she put cuffs on her prisoner. It was easier than trying to knock her out in a crowd, so in a strange way, she'll have to thank her victim for that. As far as the DOOM agent was concerned, Giusi was sure she will draw all the attention she desires ' in prison.

An intense schedule of weight training was part of becoming a Barefoot Assassin, along with a regular schedule of continuing working with weights after the candidate was firmly established. There were a select few who decided to turn that weight training into bodybuilding. BIB's environment provided the prime opportunity for it. The weight room was always available on a regular basis, martial arts training would keep the assassins with remaining flexible, the cafeteria provided healthy as well as hearty meals, and because it's expressly forbidden on threat of immediate dismissal, no steroids. All that contributed to a natural powerful physique that was also rather intimidating to their enemies.

Three of these buffed bodies followed their targets, two women, and a man, until they met one another. The three assassins conferred with each other on what to do with them.

"I think my target and Michelle's target are kind of sweet on Tiger's target," Annie said, a 5'5" woman of Italian heritage who had 16' biceps and thighs that were slightly larger. Her long, wavy black hair and olive skin contrasted with the white cropped tank top and white shorts she wore.

"Aw, that's nice. Whatever should we do with them?" Michelle asked. She was a black woman of 5'6" with light brown skin and light brown hair that gently touched her shoulders. In her magenta tank top and white shorts, she drew the eye of a few gentlemen. Gentlemen she ignored, because she had a job to do.

"They trespassed into our country, they're trying to assassinate one of our candidates for president, I say they pay the ultimate price," Tiger said. At 5'6", she had short red hair, fair skin, and wore a cropped light blue tank top and matching light blue shorts. The regular application of sunscreen made the daughter of Irish immigrants a little surly.

"I agree with that, but how are we going to do it?" Michelle asked.

"See behind that stand they're in front of?" Annie said, trying not to point. "There's a small ditch that we could drop the bodies, then we could cover it with a small tarp or something until the cleaners get here."

"Then we could do the same with the sniper when we find him," Tiger said.

"Look, they're in perfect position," Michelle said, "let's get them!"

The three quickly moved through the crowd to go behind the stands and displays, their bare soles gliding lightly across the manicured lawn. Most of the stands were covered in the back, especially the one the three DOOM agents stood beside. As soon as all three agents faced toward the crowd, the three assassins grabbed them from behind, each with an arm around their neck. Both Annie and Michelle choked their feminine foes, while Tiger just broke the man's neck. Then one by one, they deposited the bodies in the ditch, which Annie covered with a tarp she "borrowed" from a nearby exhibit. They then traded high fives with each other, and tried to come up with a strategy to find the failed sniper, and what type of gruesome punishment they were going to place upon him.

The DOOM agent watched the crowd as they moved forward to try to shake hands with Martin, or at least to get a closer look at him. Since one sniper was feared dead while the other fled his location after being attacked, things have gotten complicated. According to the sniper's account, a group of women commandoes took over the building the sniper was hiding, killing all the agents, except for him. To make matters worse, one of those commandoes was a Silkworm, and the Poison Geisha they hired was now working with them.

Eliminating Caesar Martin was vital to DOOM's future plans. If he got elected, and his policies went through, it would become increasingly harder for DOOM agents to sneak into the country, and impossible for the DOOM agents who were deep undercover; those who were still alive, that is. Everyday, more DOOM agents were being captured or killed, and speculation on who was doing this had ranged from a covert group of COIL assassins to hit men hired by the Brazilian government. Whoever it was, they've been excellent at keeping a low profile. Well he assigned Phil to make the hit while Martin was shaking hands, while he'll gather up some people to approach the building and again secure it while the block party was going on. He's willing to wager that whoever was in there may be the answer to DOOM's questions.

The very presence of the DOOM agent was an affront to Desire', who kept a close eye on him from a close distance. The Filipino woman came from a family who fled their home country of the Philippines because of the political unrest that disrupted the way of life for everyone. She come to love her adopted country, and she joined the field of government work, and later became a Barefoot Assassin to help prevent Brazil from entering the same fate.

At first glance, the word to describe Desire' would be deceptive. At 5'5", she didn't look like much of a threat, in her blue tank top and blue and white striped shorts; she looked more like a teenager than an adult killer. That was generally the mistake most of her victims made. The second was to underestimate her strength. By the time they found out otherwise, it was too late to rectify those errors.

She brushed her long black hair back, and trotted to a clearing behind a stand. She lay in wait until her prey got within range. The DOOM agent walked amongst the crowd until he passed by a stand where they sold hot dogs. He considered buying one when suddenly two hands grabbed his arm and jerked him from sight. Before he could draw his gun, he found himself flying through the air and landing hard on his back, the victim of an over the shoulder throw.

Reaching into his suit coat and plucking out his revolver, Desire' said, "You should've stayed where you were at instead of polluting the air with your presence, DOOM spy! Now get ready to die."

The Barefoot Assassin wrapped her legs around his waist in a figure four scissors and started squeezing. She grabbed his right hand with her right, and applied a wristlock. Tossing his revolver a safe distance away with her remaining hand, she placed that hand over his face and squeezed shut his nostrils and covered his mouth. The combination of leg scissors, hand smother, and wristlock caused the agent to wave his arm wildly and kick his legs to get loose.

"Yes, try to buck me," Desire' said softly and evilly to her victim as he fought to get loose, depriving himself of air. To quicken the result, she didn't squeeze harder, she instead applied more pressure on her wrist lock. The result was an agonized squeal and some more kicking. Desire' held firm.

When the agent ran out of air and out of time, Desire' looked around for a place to hide the body. She finally saw three of her comrades who were also behind the stands. They appeared to be congratulating each other. Slinging the dead body over her shoulder, Desire' ran over to where her fellow assassins were. Perhaps they knew where to hide the body.

Annie, Michelle, and Tiger were still discussing where to go next when Annie turned and saw a woman trotting toward them with a man slung over her back.

"It's Desire', she bagged one," Annie said.

"Hello ladies, do you know where I can put this?" Desire' said.

"I think we have room for one more," Michelle said, pulling back the tarp over the ditch revealing the three bodies. Desire' plopped her kill on top of the others.

The three bodybuilders noticed that Desire was barely winded.

"He wasn't too heavy for you, was he?" Michelle asked.

"Not at all. On our farm in the Philippines, we sometimes had to find things to do; so I would give all my brothers and sisters piggy back rides. We sometimes went at it all day," Desire' said.

Thinking that it was her baby sisters and brothers, Tiger said, "That's nice; how big was your family?"

"I have four sisters and five brothers; I was the youngest. I think we started doing that when I was twelve."

The three bodybuilders were shocked.

Jessica continued following her target. She noticed that he was moving closer to where the presidential candidate was. She kept track of what she heard over her earpiece. The snipers were neutralized, and she heard the other assassins report in to tell Bliss their targets were neutralized as well. So if Plan A and Plan B fell through, DOOM must be attempting a Plan C, but what?

As she saw Caesar Martin come forward shaking hands and kissing babies, it dawned on her that her target was Plan C. Even worse, there was no way she could neutralize him in time or without creating a bigger disturbance ' or was there?

She remembered a word of advice that Bliss gave to all her assassins during the training sessions, and upon "graduation," that a Barefoot Assassin not only uses her body as a weapon, but also the environment around her. It's sometimes necessary to use the "lay of the land," and one should not hesitate to do so. Jessica thought quickly; she can't grab him physically, she can't throw anything at him . . .wait a minute!

The solution was so obvious, she could've kicked herself for not thinking of it earlier, and she doesn't have to lift a finger. All she had to do was take a deep breath, and yell at the top of her lungs:

"That man has a gun!"

Jessica's target was only mere feet away from Caesar Martin when she shouted her warning. Martin's bodyguards reacted instantly, restraining the DOOM agent. When they discovered he actually did have a gun, they dragged him away, despite his protests. The immediate crowd panicked, and started to flee the area, take available cover, the things crowds normally do during a crisis. Jessica took that opportunity to blend in and float away.

Bliss watched the news flash on the TV back at headquarters. There was an alleged attempt on Martin's life, but according to witnesses, an unidentified woman called out that the alleged assassin had a gun, and was shortly restrained by Martin's security. There were no casualties.

"Bliss, I'm receiving a report from Jessica that her target is now neutralized," Angelique said. "She said you may have heard something about that."

Bliss opened her link and said, "Jessica, was that you who warned them?"

"Yes ma'am!" Jessica said. "They escorted Martin away safely, and the block party is being ended early."

"Good job, way to use your head. There's still a few DOOM agents out there, so find a sister assassin and help her clean up. Again, good job."

"Thank you, Bliss."

"Actually, there's not too many left," Jana said. "Aside from that sniper who's still on the loose, there's only a few that our ladies haven't taken care of yet."

"If I know how DOOM operates, they probably have a small base of operations somewhere in that park, plus we haven't heard from Diya and Leina since they pointed out who the agents were. Contact Catalina for me."

After the connection was made, Bliss said, "Okay ladies, your break time is over. I need all of you to go out and do clean up if possible. I'm sure you're getting bored sitting there with just the crew and the dead bodies, and I bet Ming Shi wants to redeem herself."

"The Geishas and Hin were just catching up with each other, Kim was checking out the building, and Ming Shi is driving me mad with complaining about how that "little weasel' had escaped from her," Catalina said.

"Well then, I guess you need a break," Bliss laughed. "The last attempt was foiled, and the attacker arrested, so the block party is called off, and people are going home. Things should be a little less crowded when you get there. Bliss out."

"Is this the tent?" Diya asked, pointing to a large green and yellow tent.

"Yes; there's four DOOM agents in there, not counting my target, who's standing outside," Leina replied.

"Excellent! Why don't you take care of your target, and then I have a favor to ask of you."

"Okay."

Leina walked over to the DOOM agent, looking the confused man directly in the eyes. Then she crushed his throat with a direct blow.

"Good work, only one blow," Diya said.

"It was your "Cobra's Bite'; I've been practicing," Leina said. "Now what is your favor?"

"You said there's four DOOM agents in there; are you sure?"

"Yes."

"I need you to guard the door so no one comes in or out, except for a few exceptions; you'll know who they are. In fact, I'd like you to stand inside the tent by the door. I need to make an announcement first, then I'll tell you when."

Then Diya made an open channel announcement through her earpiece.

"Hello, this is Diya, and this message is for Hin, Winter, and the other Poison Geisha; I'm sorry dear, I don't know your name yet. Please come to the large green and yellow tent on the north side of the park. Come quickly, I have gifts for each and every one of you."

The Silkworm turned to Leina. "Thank you in advance," she said.

"You're welcome. I understand now," Leina replied.

"Good; it's just a little business matter we need to take care of."

"Bliss, you heard Diya's message, what are we going to do?" Angelique said, sounding a little concerned.

"What are we going to do? If I was there, I'd pull up a chair and watch the show. Other than that, we do nothing," Bliss said.

"Nothing?" Jana said.

"Ladies, this means two things. One, that the base headquarters was found, and two, two assassins guilds were betrayed, they had their contracts breached in the worst way. Therefore, someone must pay. We all have a mutual enemy now. Why should I interfere?

Catalina, Hin, Winter, Keiko, Kim, and Ming Shi were walking in the park when they heard Diya's message, and soon, they saw the tent Diya talked about.

"Mind if we tag along?" Ming Shi asked.

"I don't see why not," Hin said.

"What did she mean by "gifts?' I don't get it," Catalina said.

"Oh I get it," Kim said.

"Figures you would," Ming Shi said. "Actually, I believe I do too."

"I have a sneaking suspicion what it is," Keiko said.

"Me too," Winter replied.

"Same here," Hin said.

"Well, could someone explain it to me so I'll "get it' too?" Catalina demanded.

"No need to, we're here," Kim said, as they met Diya and Leina at the tent.

"Ladies, I'm so glad you could make it," Diya said, putting a finger to her lips. "I'm so sorry, Catalina, Kim, and Ming Shi, but this must be a private affair."

"Now I get it!" Catalina said.

"Hin, Winter, and, I'm sorry, honored daughter, you are?" Diya said.

"Keiko, honored mother," Keiko said.

"Keiko, Hin, Winter, if you'll come with me please."

The four women strode quietly into the tent. As the last woman entered, Leina filed in behind them, then stopped and turned to the three assassins.

"I was assigned to watch the door," she said, then smiled and closed the door behind her.

"Whatever happens in there, I don't think it's going to be pretty," Ming Shi said.

"Can you blame them? They were betrayed in the worst way," Kim said.

"I just contacted Bliss and told her what happened," Catalina said.

"What did she say?" Ming Shi said.

"She said to go buy some popcorn, then sit back and watch the show."

The sniper and another DOOM agent, a pale, white bald man of the same height, but a stockier build, was rushing to the tent for instructions. They tried contacting the other agents on the field, but there had either been no response or they were cut off in the middle of communication. They couldn't even find their bodies, the only exception being a discarded receiver lying on the ground near a hot dog stand.

"Would this be the result of these "woman commandoes' you talked to me about?" The pale man said. He was holding the receiver in his hand.

"I would bet on it. If they all fought like that woman I encountered, they were in for a surprise," the sniper said. "I was lucky enough to pull a pile of boxes on her, and it only slowed her down."

"Looks like COIL has created a new breed of warriors."

"That's the other thing; I'm not sure, but somehow I don't think they're COIL. Oh no."

The crowd was still thick enough to conceal the duet's presence as they saw who was in front of the tent. Ming Shi, Catalina, and Kim were just watching Leina enter the tent. They were joined by four more women, Annie, Michelle, Tiger, and Desire'.

"Those women are huge!" The bald man said. "Did one of them attack you?"

"The tall Asian one right there," the sniper said. "She almost killed me."

The bald man tried to contact those inside the tent, but received no response. He handed the sniper his revolver.

"Here, I have an extra one in my ankle holder," he said. "Maybe if we sneak around the back-"

"Are you kidding? It'll be suicide! We can't fire any guns without drawing attention. Besides, it's too late for them anyway. They already got Jake," the sniper replied, pointing to what could be seen of their fallen comrade behind a corner of the tent.

"So what do we do?"

"We leave this park and head to the nearest safe house. We can contact headquarters and find out what to do next. We'll have to do some major spin control now that Phil was captured. Hopefully we can leave this country and not come back until the heat dies down. Come on, we can grab one of our cars in the parking lot across from the building."

They ran off, unaware that two women from a safe distance was watching them, and followed in hot pursuit.

"They captured Phil! How did that happen? Now our plans are useless!" A Spaniard woman said, her long black hair flying around like a whip as she paced up and down the confines of the large tent.

"That's all right, he still has to get elected," a younger red-haired, freckle faced younger male said.

"Then things are even worse. That failed attempt will make him more popular than ever."

"We still have time to make another attempt, something more subtle this time," a tall, middle-aged, gray haired man said with a British accent.

"You sure? It took a great deal of time, effort, and money to put this operation together," a middle-aged, brunette woman replied. "We hired two snipers and one hit man; one is either missing or presumed dead, the other is on the lam, hopefully on his way here, and the third got arrested. We have several agents out in the field that we haven't heard from yet, and it's going to be rough hiring another Poison Geisha or Silkworm."

"Especially when they now know what's going on," a voice said from behind them.

Everyone turned to see Diya perched on top of a table of electronic equipment, her bare toes gripping the edge.

"You DOOM agents have been very, very bad, and must be punished," she said. "And tell your boy to put his gun away or I'll snap his neck like a dry twig. You know I can do it."

The Spaniard turned to the young man. "Stand down, let's hear what she has to say," she said, just as the junior agent barely pulled his revolver out of his holster.

"Who are you? I don't think we hired you," the older man said.

"No, but one of your deep cover agents, Nancy Sousa hired me a long time ago when she was alive. These ladies may look familiar to you, however," Diya said as Hin, Winter, and Keiko appeared out of the shadows. Keiko had undone her kimono, revealing a purple leotard.

"You see," Diya continued while planting her hands on the table for balance, and extending her legs out to both sides like an Olympic gymnast, "Your former employees were notified of your plan to do away with them while framing them with Caesar Martin's attempted assassination."

"Wait a minute, I know you! You're the woman rumored to kill my mission leader after our mission was completed," the brunette spat. "She beheaded him, and put his head on a silver platter, like a pig."

"I thought the apple in the mouth was a nice touch," Winter remarked.

"When one hires an assassin, one should not insult the family heritage, intelligence, or ethnicity of that assassin. It's very bad business," Hin said.

"And one should respect their fellow elders," Diya said, addressing the brunette. "I believe I was talking here. Now it looked like your plan may have worked too, except for the intervention of a third party."

"Enough of this talk; we'll get the answers from you our way," the older man said as he and the Spaniard started unbuttoning their clothes.

"What are you doing, you fools, put your clothes back on!" Diya hissed.

"We know how to subdue your kind," the Spaniard said.

Hin just shook her head.

"You know nothing! We are a large guild of assassins; your organization recruits almost exclusively from the one section that specializes in that nonsense. Neither Hin nor I belong to that group. If it wasn't for them, you'd never heard of us at all!" Diya said as she jumped off the table.

The two agents buttoned back their shirts, a little surprised at Diya's remark.

"So it is true what they say about DOOM and COIL agents," Keiko said. "They like to fight with their-"

"Now, now, Keiko, not in front of the child," Diya said in front of the redheaded agent, stroking his cheek with her right index finger. "So young, so much potential, what a waste." She walked away, earning a glare of disgust from the agent.

"So, who is this "third party' who intervened?" The brunette asked.

"First, I understand Brazil does not want you here," Diya continued as she sat back on the table, crossing her legs. "Neither of you, DOOM or COIL, because of what happened at Rio Branco."

"They started it," the redheaded agent said.

"Ah, the naivety of youth. Believing in their cause so strongly. That's probably how you climbed up the ladder so quickly. Not the wisdom that comes with age that tells you neither group is pure as the driven snow, and all it boils down to is two kids fighting over someone else's sandbox.

"But to answer your question, Brazil had enough of you fooling around in their country, so they created Brazilians for an Independent Brazil, to hunt you down, and their instrument of choice are the Barefoot Assassins."

This brought laughter from the Spaniard and older male agent. Winter scowled at the two.

"Only this country would come up with something as backwards as that," the Spaniard said.

"I'm sure both your snipers and numbers of DOOM agents would disagree," Winter said, stopping the laughter.

"Did you see any muscular women around the crowd with no shoes on? Those were Barefoot Assassins," Hin said.

"Perhaps they need a more visual demonstration, Hin," Diya said. "Leina, could you come here please?"

The Barefoot Assassin appeared, startling the DOOM agents who had no idea she was there.

"This young lady is responsible for the sanction of Nancy Sousa, one of your deep cover agents. She's also responsible for taking care of your guard outside; with one blow, too," Diya said, with a touch of pride. "Okay Leina, you'll need to go back to the door. By now, I'm sure there's a nice crowd of barefooted women who would like a piece of a DOOM agent. Some are looking for their first kill."

The agents peeked and peered out the tent to see a small group of women standing outside the tent, curious as to what was going on inside. They were all muscular in one way or another, and they were barefoot.

"What's your connection with them?" The Spaniard spat out, now a believer.

"Oh, they captured me and offered me a job or prison. I chose a job of course, helping train their assassins. They presented a different offer to Hin and Winter, though Winter wanted to be one of them as well as a Geisha. That explains the daring leotard and extra muscle. Keiko is considering it-"

"I accepted," Keiko said.

"Congratulations! So she will be teaching and doing field missions. Her contribution will be very valuable."

"Why are you telling us this?" The middle-aged Brit demanded.

"To give you some closure, I suppose to let you know what's happened, and to tell you the Silkworms and Poison Geishas are not pleased with your disrespect and betrayal; for none of you are leaving this tent alive."

Outside the tent, Kim asked Ming Shi, "Do you hear anything?"

"I believe Diya has stopped talking," Ming Shi said.

"What was she telling them?"

"Oh, everything about us, and how we found out their plans."

"Everything? She revealed us?"

"It's not like it matters, they're not going to be leaving the tent breathing," Catalina said. "The fight will take less time than Diya's speech."

The tent seemed to have rocked twice, then stood still. The door opened, and Leina and the others walked out, to the light applause of the Barefoot Assassins assembled outside. Hin was wiping blood off her hands with a handkerchief.

"Hin, are you all right?" Kim asked.

"Yes, sometimes using the Tiger Claw can get a little messy," Hin said, then looked at Kim. "But not that messy."

"Didn't your mom ever tell you not to play with your food?" Ming Shi said, thinking of the fight Kim had earlier.

"I needed a workout," Kim replied.

Just then, Bliss spoke in their earpieces that the sniper was found and the pursuers may be in need of assistance. As soon as they received directions, they trotted off.

The sniper and his colleague found fighting the departing crowd a difficult task in itself. Though moving through the crowd helped to remove any visible tails, it did not help in terms of speed. To add insult to injury, the getaway car was blocked in. The departing crowd wasn't in any hurry to depart.

"We'd be better off walking to that safe house," the pale man said. "If there wasn't so many people around, I'd hotwire a car."

"We'll have to backtrack and reach one of the cars by the building. We'll take the car belonging to the backup sniper; I have a feeling he won't need it anymore," the sniper said. "We need to take our time, and not look suspicious."

"We don't have time."

"What do you mean?"

"Look!"

The pale man pointed his finger toward a group of women moving through the crowd. They haven't yet spotted the two men, but it would only be a matter of time.

"Blast!" The sniper said. "Okay, let's run to the other side of the park, and make our way back to that building. We still have crowd cover, and only a handful of them know what I look like. Let's run behind the booths and displays, we should get there in no time."

"Maybe if I contact the others-"

"Don't you get it? There are no others! They're all dead! You saw them at the tent, these ladies are trained to kill! Even worse, they have Poison Geishas and Silkworms working with them. We got to get out of here!"

Without any further word, the two ran off to the other end of the park, unknown to all the Barefoot Assassins ' except for two.

In its brief history, Barefoot Assassins have taken pride in the training and hardening of their bodies for one purpose, to become a living weapon. Yet during the time BIB had developed, fledgling assassins have begun to feel that their training is not complete until they accomplished their first kill. The "first generation" assassins did not have such a benchmark to deal with, but as the stories of their exploits circulated, this new standard had grown among those eager to copy their success. For an assassin "assassinates," and if one cannot assassinate, then how can they call themselves an assassin? A capture or accepted surrender of a foe also qualified, but like a young hunter waiting for that moment they bag their first game, the freshmen Barefoot Assassin longs for, hungers for that chance to take an enemy of the state, and snuff out the embers of their life.

Yvette and Xenia were two such assassins. Yvette was a slim 5'9" with long, wavy blond hair. She wore a sleeveless white sweater with khaki pants, the cuffs rolled up above her bare ankles. Xenia was 5'7", had shoulder length dark brown hair, and wore a man's black tank top undershirt and straight leg blue jeans. Both women chose their outfits to show off their physique, and to be nice and comfortable when they killed their first DOOM agents.

Yvette and Xenia spotted the sniper and his companion a long time ago, and contacted Bliss twice, once to acknowledge that he was headed toward the crowd, and the second time to list his present location. But the two have stalked only these two spies, and they didn't really want to share their prey with anyone.

When they saw their quarry attempt to leave, Xenia turned to Yvette and said, "Wrap." Yvette pulled a couple of strips of white material from a side pocket on her pants, and the two started wrapping their hands with it. Both Yvette and Xenia were trained in Thai kickboxing, otherwise known as Muay Thai. It was similar to regular kickboxing except the boxer used a few more weapons. Besides the standard fists and feet, the Muay Thai kickboxer used his or her elbows, forearms, knees, and shins. A skilled Muay Thai specialist could score a knockout using his or her shins as well as a punch or kick. Some fight experts considered this discipline as comparable to kung fu in its potential deadliness. Though the body parts used for striking were hardened, the hands were wrapped to prevent proper injury. After the ladies finished, they ran after their prey.

Yvette and Xenia figured the two men must be looking for a getaway car near the building on the other end of the park. When they saw them running behind the booths, the two women ran further up, looking for a spot where they could cut them off.

The sniper and the pale man were making good time, they thought, as they maneuvered around stock, equipment, and the occasional man or woman who stepped out back for some reason. Though the block party was officially "over," there was still a large enough crowd that stood around, not letting an attempted assassination ruin their fun. They were dashing behind a large tent when the sniper suddenly saw a blur with a flash of blond hair slam into the pale man, knocking him to the ground.

The sniper's reaction was instinctive as well as knowledgeable. Having faced one of these women before, he knew better than to face them in hand-to-hand combat. But even these women aren't bulletproof, he thought as he drew his gun. The noise of the crowd should muffle any gunshots. He drew his gun, took quick aim at the blond woman slamming fists, elbows, and forearms on the pale man's face . . .

Then watched his gun go sailing off into some nearby bushes as a bare heel knocked it from his hand.

The sniper quickly turned to see a dark haired woman bouncing on her toes, her taped hands in a boxing stance. She didn't look as powerful as the last woman he fought, but that meant nothing. His partner was being pummeled by the large blond on top of him, but he first needed to take care of this primary threat in front of him. He struck first, throwing a right. Xenia blocked it, then took advantage of the close quarters by throwing a left shin kick to his right thigh. The blow stung, but the sniper thought nothing of it as he aimed a left punch to Xenia's stomach. Xenia's conditioned stomach muscles absorbed the blow, then she retaliated with a left to the jaw, a right kick to the ribs, then as he favored his side for a moment, another stinging left shin kick to the right thigh.

The sniper cursed himself for trading blows with a boxer and charged Xenia to do some infighting. Xenia accepted his attempt as he closed in by placing her hands on his shoulders. He grabbed at her hands when he saw it coming; a jean-clad knee speeding toward his face. Blood came squirting out as Xenia's right knee smashed his nose.

In later years, Xenia would show these jeans with special attention to the blood stains on the right knee, and the hand wraps she used on this day (along with a medal) to her fellow assassins, close friends, and later her family, including her future husband and children, as proof and testimony of the day she stopped the man who tried to assassinate the president.

Xenia landed back on her feet, fired a left into the sniper's solar plexus, and followed up with a right spin kick to the head. For an extra touch, she delivered another kick to his right thigh.

As the sniper regained his bearings and attempted to defend himself, he then realized the true extent of another injury. His right leg was becoming painful to move. It was an old kickboxing strategy; if enough kicks or blows are delivered to the leg, in the long run, the bruised leg became a liability. The sniper had to compensate by putting most of his weight on his left leg, hampering his maneuverability. Xenia took advantage of that by rushing in and punching him in the left kidney. She peppered his right eye with a left jab, and gave his right leg another kick. As he flinched in pain, he left himself open as Xenia charged him again. He kept his arms low to deflect another flying knee, but instead, Xenia jumped up and landed a flying elbow that struck his left cheekbone, breaking it.

Yvette had already dispatched her opponent with an elbow to the back of the head. Using the man's body as an impromptu seat, she sat back and watched her friend finish the man off.

It was Ming Shi who saw them first. When she saw Yvette and Xenia suddenly start running the opposite direction from where they were going, she turned and without alerting her fellow assassins, started running after them. The rest of the gang realized something was up and followed her. When she found them, she saw that Yvette was in the process of beating her foe to a pulp while Xenia was facing off with the sniper. After Yvette delivered the final blow, she looked up, saw Ming Shi and smiled. Ming Shi smiled back and motioned for the rest to halt and watch the show.

Catalina prepared to radio Bliss, but Ming Shi stopped her and said, "No, let me."

Back at headquarters, Angelique received the transmission.

"It's Ming Shi, Bliss," she said.

"Patch her through," Bliss replied.

"Hello boss," Ming Shi said as the two secretaries saw Bliss flinch at the use of the word "boss." "I'm happy to report that two of our newer assassins, Xenia and Yvette, have found our sniper and another DOOM agent. Yvette already neutralized her target, Xenia is currently with the sniper."

"Currently with the sniper? What's she doing?"

"Why, she's tearing him apart," Ming Shi said with glee. Bliss then remembered that the sniper barely managed to escape Ming Shi's clutches. In reflection, that was probably a good thing that Xenia had him now. No telling what Ming Shi would do if she caught him again.

"You may want to remind her that I want him alive," Bliss said. "We need something left of him for trial."

"Oh boss-"

"That's an order, Ming Shi."

"Yes boss, I'm out," Ming Shi said, abruptly ending transmission. If she stayed on a few seconds longer, she would've heard Bliss tell her "and stop calling me "boss!'"

"And I thought Kim was the bloodthirsty one," Jana said.

"Not bloodthirsty; she's more of a perfectionist," Bliss said. "To her, the sniper should have been neutralized completely at the office building. She's angry with the fact that he got away, regardless of it was her fault or some fluke. At least she has no problem seeing one of her fellow ladies take him out. Oh, while I'm thinking about it, send the signal to Julie and Amira to "clean out the trash' at the other building."

Bliss sat back in her chair. "Xenia must be using him as a punching bag," she said.

And that's what Xenia proceeded to do. She knew the fight was long over, so she used him to practice some of her more devastating kicks and punches. By this time, broken ribs and a possible concussion were added to the list of the sniper's injuries. The assassin spectators were amazed he was still on his feet, much less able to throw a feeble punch that never came close to its mark.

Finally after giving him a one-two combination, Xenia relived him of the burden of standing by delivering a foot sweep. The sniper fell to the ground painfully on his stomach. He tried to rise, but his right leg wouldn't obey him, and his ribs sent lightning bolts of pain with every movement and every breath.

Xenia sensing the moment was here, raised her bare right foot in the air and gave a war cry. Everyone could sense what was coming next.

Ming Shi shouted out, "Xenia, no! Bliss wants him alive!"

Xenia descended her foot. For a split second, Ming Shi thought she was too late in giving her Bliss' instructions. But Xenia's foot landed just an inch from the back of the sniper's head. It landed in front of his face where his eyes could see that he was that close to seeing death.

Yvette gave her friend a hug, and the both of them was congratulated by the rest on their first kill and "symbolic" first kill. Finally Catalina got everybody's attention.

"Ladies, I believe the mission is over. Let's grab any prisoners, notify the cleaners, and get out of here."

Back at the building where this all began for DOOM's plan, they left behind a skeleton crew to take care of the meager details and such after the plan was competed. However, the crew never got to find out that their master plan fell through, mainly because two Barefoot Assassins were sent to do some housekeeping of their own.

"So this was housekeeping? I think it was a little more exciting conducting surveillance on this place," Amira said as she kicked over a body. "At least they could've gave us more of a fight."

"We gave them the option to surrender. It's not our fault if they wanted to commit suicide attacking us," Julie said, releasing a chokehold that let her victim fall to the ground. "As for cleaning the house, well somebody had to do it."

"Yes, you're right. So how many buildings does DOOM need anyway? They used this building to plan this thing, a second building to start it; why not just put a guy with a rifle on a roof or a tree someplace? That's how I would do it."

"Because DOOM is stupid," Julie said as she examined a PDA from another victim's pocket. "Hey, let's call the cleaners and tell Bliss we're finished. After that, let's go down to that caf#. I have a craving for one of those croissants."

"Sounds good to me," Amira said.

That evening was a rather festive one over at BIB headquarters. Bliss congratulated everyone on doing a good job and gave them a week off before any new assignments arose. Except for the standard crew and some of the teachers, the place was quiet. The other exceptions were in Bliss' office. The two Silkworms, two Poison Geishas, Ming Shi, Catalina, and Kim were gathered around Bliss' desk as Bliss reflected on the events of the day.

"Whew, I don't think we've ever been this busy," Bliss said as she rested her bare feet on her desk. "Then again, preventing assassinations is not something we normally do. Assassination is what we do."

"We got a few assassinations in, does that count?" Kim said.

"I guess so. About that trick you did with that man, how did you do that? I didn't even know that was possible."

"It's one of those "forbidden lessons' that most martial artists don't share with their students, if they know them at all."

"So how did you come by this?"

"Oh, I get around," Kim replied with a smirk.

"Okay, now you're scaring me," Ming Shi said. "You've managed to gain access to this "forbidden knowledge' that even the Silkworms and Poison Geisha don't know?"

"I need something to do in my spare time," Kim replied.

"Spare time? Why not a hobby instead, like basket weaving or rowing, or going out on a date?"

"I date about as often as you do," Kim answered smugly.

"Well then, you should ' hey, wait a minute!" Ming Shi responded to the hidden barb.

"Ladies, can we discuss this later? How come you two, or the rest of you for that matter, aren't at that steakhouse with the others celebrating their first kill?" Bliss asked.

"I'm helping out on paperwork, remember?" Catalina said.

"I plan on dropping by for a little bit. My, times have changed. I remember after my first kill, I didn't leave my apartment for a week," Ming Shi said.

"I couldn't keep any food down for about that long," Catalina replied. "Celebrating was the last thing on my mind."

"I can relate," Winter said. Hin and Keiko nodded in unison.

Bliss turned to Kim. "And why are you here?" She said.

"I was sticking around to see what everyone else was doing. Besides, I wanted to show Ming this new trick I've learned," Kim replied with a smile.

Ming Shi headed to the door. "Okay, I'm out of here. I'll see you guys later," she said, slamming the door.

Bliss turned back to Kim. "You live to torment that woman, don't you?" She said.

Kim smiled. "She's one of our best assassins, you know. Somebody has to keep her on her toes."

With that, she waltzed out of the room, and closed the door.

While Bliss and Catalina were shaking their heads, Keiko stepped forward.

"Bliss-san, the Poison Geisha Clan would like to thank you for what you have done for us," she said.

"The Silkworms would also like to thank you for what you've done," Hin said.

"Both of us are in your debt," Winter said. "Personally as well."

"You're welcome to both your clans," Bliss said. "All I ask is what I've already have; to teach my assassins to be better. Keiko, you've accepted my offer to teach here, correct?"

"Yes, I have to make sure Winter stays out of mischief," Keiko replied.

"I already have Hin for that," Winter laughed. "Actually, with your permission, I would like to go on more field missions. I like being a Barefoot Poison Geisha."

"I'd love to have you aboard, at least to keep Ming Shi from throttling Kim if nothing else," Bliss said, smiling.

"I'm afraid that's my job," Catalina said.

"Well I don't know about all of you, but I believe we're through here. Go and celebrate with the other women, they're dying to get to know you. Catalina, that goes for you too."

They all said their goodbyes and left, except for Diya, who stayed behind.

"Oh, Diya, I'm glad you stuck around. I pulled a few strings here and there, and because of your help capturing and neutralizing the DOOM agents, you've been granted a pardon. You are free to go if you wish," Bliss said.

"Thank you, but if it's all the same with you, I'll stay here. There's nothing for me back in India, and I enjoy teaching here," Diya said.

"I was hoping you'd say that, the ladies really like you. So are you all right? I haven't heard you say anything."

"I did not wish to ruin everyone's good mood," Diya said as she closed the door and sat down in front of Bliss' desk.

Bliss put her feet down and leaned forward.

"What's wrong?" She asked.

"As you know when I was a bodyguard for Nancy Sousa, my job was to simply defend her from all harm, which I did until Leina came along," Diya began.

"Yes, that's true."

"During my tenure on that job, I protected her from a number of enemies; federal, COIL, even DOOM agents who didn't know she was on their side."

"Uh-huh," Bliss said patiently.

"Again, you must understand my charge was so deep cover, only a small handful of DOOM high-level operatives knew who she was. My point is as I was taught, I do my job, and don't bother with the politics. Among the people I sanctioned doing that job were a few COIL agents. But I don't think even they knew who Nancy really was."

As Diya paused, Bliss' expression was one of shock. "So you're saying that those attempts they made on her life was-"

"Not a matter of spy vs. spy, but politically motivated," Diya continued. "Like with Caesar Martin, they apparently didn't like Nancy's stances regarding national security. They wanted to make sure the road was paved for their candidate, whoever that was or is. Again, I'm normally trained not to ponder these things, but as we conducted our mission, it started coming to me."

Bliss shook her head. "They promised me, promised our country they would leave. I should've known better than to just take their word for it."

Diya arose from her seat. "I did not want to spoil things, but I'm afraid our playing field got a little bigger. I am going to congratulate the ladies on their success. Will I see you there?"

"Yes, go on ahead, I'll catch up."

As Diya closed the door, Bliss thought about what she had just been told. She had been able to track DOOM's agents down by obtaining the database and plans of captured or terminated agents. With COIL, where does she begin? They've been very quiet, like they really had left. But how can they be sniffed out?

Like Diya said, the playing field had just gotten bigger. But she'll deal with that tomorrow. Tonight, she was going to celebrate with her assassins, then go home and greet her husband and children. Brazil, for tonight at least, is free for another day.

The End.

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