When Rudy arrived at the safehouse, an unassuming suburban house, its front door was ajar. She hopped off her bike, drew her handgun, and quickly approached the entrance from the side, taking care not to stand in front of the open doorway. She took a deep breath before she entered the building.

As Rudy frantically cleared the lower floor, she heard a muffled conversation from the floor above.

“Where is Wu?” asked the first voice, mixing honey and venom in its tone.

“Even if I knew where he was, I would never sell out my brother,” growled the second voice in a thick Cantonese accent.

Rudy cautiously rushed upstairs, trying to soften the sound of her footsteps. She followed the voices coming from the bedroom at the end of the hall. Rudy hugged the wall as she carefully pied the right corner of the room, checking to make sure it was clear. She began to cross the middle of the doorway, the fatal funnel.

Looking inside, Rudy briefly saw a man slumped against the back wall of the room. Suddenly, a silhouette flashed in the left corner of her eye before she felt something like a battering ram being slammed against the front of her ribcage.

Rudy was knocked off her feet but managed to land her body behind the hallway’s wall. She wheezed on her back as she felt a shock of pain radiate from her chest and tingle her bones. Her ears were ringing as she frantically patted the front of her chest and saw two holes in the ceramic plate that stopped the bullets.

Rudy then heard the sounds of several more gunshots from inside the room, followed by the ricochet of bullets inside the wall, right next to where she was lying.

“Rudy!” howled the second voice from inside.

“Reinforced walls and body armor huh? You must be Rudina Lau, the Iron Door! No wonder this place is built like a fortress! You looked like a little puppy who couldn’t find its owner just now,” playfully rang the first voice from inside the room. “You must be here to save your dad and uncle. What a touching family reunion.”

“Shut it bitch!” wheezed Rudy as she brought herself back up, leaning against the wall. “I’ll get you out of there Dad!”

“Don’t fight her, you’re no match! Get out of here and find Wu!”

“You shut it too Dad!” barked Rudy.

Her heart rate was spiking, numbing the pain as adrenaline coursed throughout her body. Rudy reached inside her jacket and brought out an M84 stun grenade. The grenade trembled in her shaking hands. Unable to guide a finger through the loop of the pin, she ripped it out with her canines and chucked the grenade into the bedroom.

A loud bang followed, and Rudy immediately breached the room, sweeping every corner. The only person she saw in the room was her father, disoriented by the explosion. His face had bruises, and his arms were tied by metal wires to the radiator against the wall.

“Where the fu-” she said as a shadow swung through the open window on her right, knocking Rudy and her gun to the floor. Rudy was on her back when she saw the tall figure draw a handgun towards her.

Before the barrel crossed her face, Rudy slammed the ground with her left hand and pushed off with her right leg, swinging it up and kicking the handgun out of the figure's hand. She used the momentum to land on her right leg, which she continued to pivot on as she hooked her left leg towards the figure’s head.

Her heel was blocked by the arms of the figure, whose face came into full view. She had a jet-black bob, streaked with an inner layer of violet that framed her porcelain skin. Long silver earrings swayed from the momentum of the kick. She locked eyes with Rudy, her gaze dissecting her with a surgical ferocity.

The two broke off and positioned themselves on the opposite sides of the bedroom, Rudy in a squared muay thai stance, and the shadow in a bladed karate stance.

“Alright, who the fuck are you?” Rudy snarled.

“Katherine, Katherine Takagi,” responded the woman in an icy tone. The playful air in her voice, gone.

Rudy’s eyes widened upon hearing the name, Takagi. She felt her breath quicken before she clenched her fists and gritted her teeth.

“Takagi? Delta Force? Literal demons from hell? I don’t care who the fuck you are, du Miststück*, don’t you dare fuck with my family,” spat Rudy.

“You do know why I’m here though?” responded Kat. Her cold gaze, unfazed by Rudy’s response.

“Yeah, and I don’t give a fuck. You lay your hands on my family, and you’re dead meat,” Rudy growled.

Rudy grabbed the Toor fixed blade from her waistline with her right hand and tossed it to her left. She aggressively pointed the blade at Kat, ready to jab it in her face at a moment’s notice.

“Come on! Bring it!” taunted Rudy.

Kat followed suit, dropping her long black coat and pulling out a black handle from her beltline. She clicked the button on its side, springing out a silver double-edged blade from the front. The blade made an eerie shing noise as it shot out, glinting in the rays of the setting sun.

The two inched towards each other to the center of the room, their front arms outstretched, blades in hand. Their eyes watched each other’s every movement, from their feet to their hands. Rudy, bearing caution of Kat’s extended reach, and Kat searching for any cracks in Rudy’s tight defenses. Soon, both were in the center of the rooms, the tips of their blades almost touching.

Rudy threw a quick jab with her knife hand as she stomped her lead foot forward. However, the jab was a feint as she brought her rear foot forward and began to swing a ferocious overhand right towards Kat’s face.

Kat calmly read the feint and quickly sprang her knife straight towards Rudy’s throat. Kat felt her knife connect, but was surprised when she couldn’t pull it back. Rudy’s overhand continued and landed square on Kat’s jaw.

Kat recoiled from the sheer weight that Rudy put behind the punch and slammed against the wall. She snapped her marred face, stamped by silver rings, towards Rudy. Her composed ferocity hemorrhaged into raw violence.

She saw a blurry Rudy straightening her posture, with the blade of the knife clenched between her teeth. The silver blade pierced Rudy’s left cheek, dripping with blood.

Rudy had rolled her face down and to the left just as Kat jabbed her knife at her, catching the blade with her teeth before it tore through her mouth. With Kat stuck mid-strike, Rudy was able to land a clean overhand right. Realizing this, Kat let out a crazed smile. Her eyes gleamed with frenzy.

“Oi oi... maji kayo*?” Kat chuckled. “You’re one crazy bitch for pulling that trick on me. I think I might like you. It’s a shame that you won’t be the one leaving this room alive.”

Rudy tasted blood and steel as she slowly yanked the knife from her mouth and spat dark red onto the ground.

“How about I show you another party trick? My Uncle Wu taught me plenty,” grinned Rudy as she bared her bloody fangs.

Kat sprang at Rudy like a panther.

Rudy viciously threw the bloody knife at Kat’s face. It sliced through Kat’s left ear as she reflexively tilted her head to the right, her eyes locking onto Rudy with cold precision.

With Rudy in her striking distance, Kat shot a pinpoint jab at her face.

Rudy brought up her arms to block and was now on the defensive.

Kat continued her combination by lowering her stance and throwing a sniper straight right under the right edge of Rudy’s plate carrier, surgically landing on the liver.

Rudy retaliated by lashing her knife at Kat’s face, but Kat had already taken a half step back, watching the knife slice the air an inch from her icy eyes.

Rudy took a half step forward, but suddenly her legs went weak. Her follow-up knife strike fell short again. The devastating impact of Kat’s straight on Rudy’s liver disrupted the functioning of her nervous system, leading to a drop in blood pressure and reduced blood flow to the brain. The result was a physiological response that weakened her legs. The exact response that the doctor was reading in Rudy.

Kat countered by whipping a left hook on Rudy’s outstretched hand, knocking the fixed blade out of her grasp. She followed up with a mawashi geri—a Kyokushin roundhouse kick that snapped over Rudy’s left shoulder, the instep landing flush on her temple.

Rudy’s hair flung into an arc of wild hazel hair that followed her to the ground. Kat then snatched Rudy’s fixed blade and flipped it into a reverse grip as she pounced on her, driving the knife towards her neck.

The knife made a loud ting sound before it reached its intended target. Rudy intercepted the knife with the flat edge of the tantō she had brought. The hardness of Rudy’s fixed blade and the sheer force of Kat’s strike caused it to wedge and interlock on the flat edge of the tantō. Kat continued to drive her weight into the knife with Rudy struggling to resist the pierced edge from inching closer to her neck. Rudy caught a glimpse of Kat’s eyes. They were of a predator that was about to finish off its prey.

“Is this your last party tri-?” hissed Kat until she suddenly noticed the details of the tantō.

Kat then immediately jumped off Rudy.

“Where did you get that blade!?” shot Kat.

Rudy was trembling as she struggled to get up. Her breathing was heavy, her face a mess of blood and tangled hair.

“Stuck in the throat of the First Finger when his body magically showed up in our shipment today,” croaked Rudy. Her eyes burned with ferocity while her body wobbled.

“That blade is only given to Takagi assassins,” sharply stated Kat.

“Huh? You’re telling me that a fucking Takagi, a Devil’s Tooth, killed the First Finger? Isn’t the whole reason you fuckers exist is to take their orders?”

“Exactly. I need to know which Takagi killed the First Finger and if your uncle was the one who ordered it."

Kat jabbed a sharpened fingernail in Rudy's direction before stating, "You’re helping me find that out.”

“Oh fuck off! You think we can be buddy-buddy right after you tried to wedge a knife down my throat?” Rudy spat, blood mixing with every word.

“You’re the one who redirected it towards your mouth.”

“Halt's Maul*!,” yelled Rudy as blood continued to dribble out of her mouth. "Sure, we Laus hate the First Finger's guts, but I doubt my uncle would go off him with a fucking Takagi, not tell the rest of us, and send me his bloody corpse like some kinda sick surprise gift! How the fuck would he even get one of you guys to do it, huh?! Aren't you all bound by blood to do their dirty work or some shit?"

“It's as you say, this Takagi has gone against the very blood oath that binds us to the Devil's Hand. A rogue Tooth killing Fingers puts my entire clan at risk of our alliance with them. I also can’t get any answers from yours or Wu’s corpse. Come on. You help me and prove your uncle's supposed innocence, and he and you avoid having my knife in your throats,” casually stated Kat.

“Over my dead body,” growled Rudy as she assumed an unsteady combat stance.

“Ugh, Rudy… Rudy you there!?” groaned Lang as he squinted his eyes across the room.

“Or I could just take your dad hostage if you refuse to cooperate.”

“Bitch fine!” screamed Rudy. “I’ll help you find this rogue Takagi, but you’re helping me find my uncle too, without putting a knife in his throat!”

“Looking forward to working with you then, partner,” said Kat. A wry smile sat on her bruised face.

“Du Arschloch*,” muttered Rudy as she used the back of her hand to wipe her bloodied mouth.