Daisy Chain/Weapon
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
Dae Se Chan silently stalked her target.
It mattered not who he was. He was simply a target. And "Daisy Chain" had been trained to both entertain men, and to hunt them. She was an assassin. Assassins hunted assigned targets. That was the end of it.
Her latest Mistress had expressed... distaste ... at her apparent lack of morality. But to Daisy, morality was as absolute as a stark white bare bulb in an otherwise dark room. One did as one was told. One didn't think about why, or what happened afterwards, or any other speculation. She was not allowed to think along those lines. And because it was not allowed, she did not do it.
To someone looking in from outside, Daisy would seem to be a sea of contradictions. She did not hate, except if told to. And even then, the emotion didn't do much aside from allow some 'choice' vis a vis hunting targets of opportunity. She did not 'love' insofar as 'love' meant caring for someone specific. That was reserved for her Mistress... whoever her Mistress might be from one moment to the next. If the Key changed hands, her allegiance would follow. There was no room for emotional attachment beyond that. If the Mistress told her to, she would serve others at the same time. but she did not love them.
The Snake leader was with several others. This would be tricky to pull off. She had not been rewarded by the one called "Arbiter" with the authorization to use her smoke bombs. So that ability or skill simply did not exist. Instead, she would have to either stand and fight, or run. Her 'will' was locked into a very narrow box - it was up to her to decide how to tactically proceed. But, the overriding command was "Take out the Snake priest and his guards." That was her assignment.
She managed to catch a guard off to one side, dozing. She centered her chi, and then sent a palm straight into the snake's sternum, jarring his heart so severely that it just.. quit beating. The snake hissed a challenge, even as it died.... but the others did not overhear. Daisy stepped back into the shadows.
What of these "Crimson Dawn" as they called themselves? All were women (which she preferred, insofar as she was allowed to 'prefer' anything) and most were ... kinder.. than her previous keepers had been. One had even insisted that she not wear her breast-locks, and had ordered her to remove the 8 needles that held the stainless-steel guards in place. Without them, her breasts constantly were stimulated, which she had to learn to deal with. Another had ... bathed her... and had allowed her to experience pleasure without asking for anything in return. This was VERY odd. But, Mistress Sayuka insisted that her slave be treated 'properly' which seemed to include many indulgences that Daisy was unaccustomed to.
Mistress Sayuka also insisted that Daisy keep following Kalinda's instructions. "You will gain stature, and assist us in our gathering of power." So she did so. And that was why she now had to kill Sapphos.
The snake in question still had no idea she was here. She debated on whether she should attempt to kill him, or draw off another guard. She decided on the former. She knew of several pressure points that would kill him if hit hard enough, and if her research into the Snakes was incorrect, she could simply rip his heart out thru his ribs. It would be messy... but it would do the job.
The trick would be the guards. They'd see her attack their boss, and once spotted, they'd set upon her. No matter. She'd fought off multiple attackers before.. and if she had to she could run and hide. They'd find her.. but it might give her the edge to get a killing strike in on at least one of her pursuers.
She gathered her power and stepped out of the shadows, and with one precisely-placed blow, severed the snake’s spinal column at the base of his skull. He thrashed around for a few seconds, but he was already dead. The two guards, however, were not, and one managed to connect with a vicious claw-swipe that ripped two parallel gashes in her side. She did not cry out, but instead retaliated with a kick to the face, one that stunned her attacker while she wheeled to take down the other one. This one whipped his entire body forward and sank teeth into her shoulder, and she felt the burning of venom. Her left arm was already starting to numb… but another spinning kick laid the snake out just as the first recovered his senses. He slashed at her again, this time missing … and her foot connected to his head, breaking his neck.
She breathed a small sigh of relief. Mission accomplished. Once out of the caves, she called Kalinda to report in. As usual, the thanks were short, and she was told simply to report to someone else… someone called Mongoose.
Dutifully she called her Mistress and reported developments… and was told to return home. It didn’t matter that she was tired, or hungry, or injured and suffering from a mild case of snakebite. What mattered was, she had a Mistress to attend to. That was all that mattered.
