Archer slumps on the cold tiles. "Sorry, I can't seem to move properly. Someone must have screwed with my motor control."
Urd punches him in the arm. "Grow a pair," she growls harsly. "There isn't time for your bitching. You think I was mean? Brittannia doesn't negociate with terrorists and doesn't care about civilian losses. The military will soon blast this place to rubbles and call it a great victory. That's how Britannia works! The winner is righteous!"
Archer mmhs. "So if I left you here for the Japaneses to find and do as they please, will that be justice?"
Urd's suppresses her disgusted shudders almost completely and her glare loses nothing of its fire. " Spare me. Without my firm, I promise you you'll spend the next two decades going in court. Or that Prince Schneizeil doesn't take over the whole conglomerate to
solve the matter. You lose me, you lose everything."
If he says he doesn't care, she'll think him a liar, won't she?
Ah well, no matter. The soldiers finished clearing out the suite's inside. They'll have company soon.
Archer gets up. "And with you around, I'll know exactly who I'll have to blame for that knife in my back. Isn't that handy? Anyway, you might want to keep your head down."
A man that comes to draw the sliding door opens fully suddenly has his face full of glass as Archer punches through the pannel and catches him by the throat. By the time three rifles trail on him, the white-haired man has already twisted his moaning prisoner in his arms to use as a human shield.
The other men freeze in indecision and he strikes. Fast as lightning, he draws his captive's sidearm and squeezes the trigger repeatedly. Two men crumble to the ground, shoulders and elbows fulls of lead, while the last one manage to throw himself out of the room before Archer can turn on him.
And then comes flying back in the room and smash in the bar, out cold.
The fifth man walks in the room, smiling like a shark.
"Hi-Hijikata..." The soldier in Archer's arms stutters faintly, before the butt of his own gun silences him.
Archer lets go of the unconscious man and steps over him. "Hijikata. You're... not one of them," Archer decides. his latest acquaintance isn't wearing an army uniform, for one.
What's more, his only weapon is the sheathed katana he uses to knock out the two bleeding soldiers, seemingly not handicapped by his blindness in the slightest. "Hell no," Hijikata says, his full attention now on Archer. "But I have to put food on the table, you know?"
Archer nods knowingly. "Mercenary works, then. Is that why Haruka drew Zelretch away?"
The swordman shrugs. "Haruka's a softie. She couldn't stand for a nice girl like that to get caught in this mess. As for you..." Hijikita's bloodlust reveal itself, a match for Lancer's. " It'd be a shame if we didn't get to cross blades, wouldn't it?"
The air grows cold and opressive as the blind man draws his blade. As always, Archer recognizes the venerable weapon immediately. "A Muramasa."
Hijikata's smile grows even more at the recognition. He raises his sword, the inscription at the blade's base glinting silver in the light:
To cut down God.
"You have a nice set of blades yourself. Come on, show me what you got! "
What do you do?