Description: Sakura has a brief chat with Cammy on the chopper ride away from Vega's last stand.
Cammy sits in the helicopter. Despite the pain, the exhaustion, she actually feels a tremendous sense of relief. She still has a lot of guilt over those she betrayed, and those she hurt... but right now, she knows she has time to prepare for Vega's next coming. And that'll be enough for now.
And the helicopter moves on. Chizuru carried Sakura over, and she lies near the fallen forms of the flame rivals. The idea of saving Iori doesn't sit well with Cammy, considering he just threatened to kill her, but she's not going to argue with her benefactors right now. Maybe there's hope for them, too.
And so, as the helicopter rushes along the coast, Cammy crouches by Sakura, checking her wounds. She doesn't really know Sakura, but she knows the position she was put it, and feels at least somewhat responsible. It's not a logical feeling, but she was enough of a mentor to other Dolls that it comes naturally now, involuntarily. And, of course, she wants to make sure Sakura doesn't go berserk in the helicopter. She's been in enough crashing helicopters and planes to know those are experiences she doesn't want to revisit.
Sakura is normally pretty good with massive collections of energy. Normally. But that energy is usually of one form or the other. Psycho Power, or chi, or flames, or something in between -- but not everything. And that energy is usually coming from one direction or another, as well -- but not all of them. Ever since being dunked in the Psycho Drive, her tolerance for chi had dropped dramatically. Being in the middle of it... well. Not too good.
But the good thing about it is... she got off relatively easy. Chizuru was handling the girl with kid gloves, even during the fight -- a few minor cuts and bruises aren't enough to keep her asleep for long. When the girl finally comes to, it's... with the Zero Doll crouching right over her.
Wait, that's not right. She's not the Zero Doll any more.
Sakura's pupils contract, as she glances about her surroundings briefly. ... If she's not the Zero Doll any more, why is she wearing a Shadaloo jacket, and aboard a Shadaloo helicopter?
"Killer Bee." She snaps a quick salute, despite not getting up. "May I ask... what happened to me?"
Well, the "Killer Bee" had to get a new jacket after Vega blew away her last one with his first dramatic blow. Thankfully, a Shadaloo soldier was willing to donate one, in exchange for his remaining teeth. It's a fair trade!
Cammy frowns a little at the use of her old name, but... from a Doll, she's not going to correct it. There are more important things to argue over, after all. "You lost.", she states simply, seeming almost a little sad about it. "And it's okay." She stands up, looking over Sakura, and gets that sad look again. "How do you feel?"
Part of her is tense, though. If Sakura loses it again, Cammy'll have to act fast, and hard. She knows there's a risk here. But she's willing to try and have faith in Sakura, and hope she can, if not recover, at least cope.
Kasugano's vision is still a bit blurry, but her eyes take on a lustre more akin to understanding than true focus as Cammy explains. Her response is prompt and clipped: "Failure is unacceptable." That wasn't a direct answer to the ex-Doll's query, but it was nonetheless an accurate one -- Kasugano's refusing to accept this loss. She feels... defeated, inadequate. It's not okay, despite Cammy's reassurances to the contrary.
A smidge irritably, Kasugano's gaze breaks away from Cammy, surveying the inside of the cabin. "Lord Vega has suffered too many losses. He will =not= accept this, everything was..."
Kasugano seems to recall now what the unusual element of this conversation was, once she notices the other passengers in the cabin. "... why am I here?" she asks deliriously, sitting up. Looking once more to Cammy, she states, "This is a Shadaloo helicopter, and I am Shadaloo property. Lord Vega will be most unpleased with your actions today."
It's apparent she didn't get the memo.
Cammy tilts her head, her pigtails flickering with the vibrations of the helicopter. Rose and Chizuru are, of course, getting their much-needed rest. "Vega is gone. Shadaloo has fallen." She looks out of the helicopter.
She looks over to Sakura over her shoulder, and shakes her head a little. "He destroyed agent Killer Bee. She was torn away from him, and... I would have done anything for him, you know... but... he tried to kill her, anyway." She rests her hands in her lap, hanging her head. "He has failed us, with everything he's done here. We were his chosen, and he threw you and me away as soon as he became afraid. He would have killed you if she hadn't saved you."
Vega is gone. This is... regrettable, but comprehendable. Shadaloo has fallen -- this too is something Sakura can reasonably accept, considering Shadaloo's state when she last knew of it.
But getting metaphysical with someone whose primary personality is a computer-like algorithm is... difficult at best. "... Negative. Killer Bee is sitting right in front of me." ... Really, talking of 'Killer Bee' in the third person is what confused the young Doll.
%r "... But Lord Vega did =not= kill me. I leapt into the attack. I chose to, because mission failure was imminent. Iori Yagami was interfering -- had, in fact, interfered." She shakes her head, refusing to believe that Vega would abandon her, discard her like refuse. "Negative. Vega would not kill me. He needs me."
She really believes this, too.
"My name is Cammy. 'Killer Bee' is just... a memory." She crouches down near Sakura. "Like Vega." It's a bit of a lie, but not too much of one - he wouldn't be coming back to collect Sakura. That much is fairly certain. "I thought what you thought, too... I was his favorite. And if he's willing to hurt me..." She looks away, irritated. "... I'm not going to argue with you."
"But I'm not going to let Kurow come after you, either." For all his vaunted deception, once revealed, Kurow seemed so eminiently predictable to her. Maybe it's because he isn't so different from Vega, after all. She didn't get to go through on his promise to hurt him very, very badly, and the reminder of that stings a bit.
"Cammy," Sakura repeats. That's fine -- she's rejected the Killer Bee designation, and moved to something else. Sakura can accept this. As long as there's no quantum physics involved, claiming you're one then the other... even if a similar state exists inside Sakura's own brain =right now=, with three separate personalities clashing for dominance.
The Ansatsuken-trained Doll narrows her eyes at Cammy's statement. Killer Bee =was= the favorite. Perhaps Sakura took that slot, for the week or so Killer Bee wasn't there -- who knows. But Cammy calls that into question again... just in time to dismiss the argument altogether.
Kasugano frowns, quite visibly, at that. "Fine, whatever." A hint of her rebellious self from a month prior... delivered with the cold precision of the Doll programming.
The mention of Kurow arouses a raised eyebrow from Sakura, though. Shaking her head, she smirks faintly. "Kurow will come for me. And Lord Vega will too. You won't be able to stop..."
Her features flicker for a moment. Cammy's words hadn't fully set in before. Vega is =GONE=. She's used to feeling =something=, a presence that's always there, even when she's half a world away. ... But no, nothing. Not even the slightest flicker.
Frowning again, she lowers herself back to the deck. "Kurow will come. If you care for me in the slightest... you'll let me rest till then."
There will always be another chance to punch Kurow in the face. He's kinda like a cockroach, that guy.
Nodding agreeably, Cammy says, "I do, and... you should rest. But one last thing." She takes a breath, steadying herself, and frowns. "Kurow has betrayed Vega. He was never loyal to Shadaloo. I knew even before he told me of it." There's something for Sakura to process, presuming she believes Cammy at all.
Was she - well, Cammy knows she was this hard to talk to as a Doll. Sadly, that doesn't make it any easier. The programming won't come crashing down so easily. She's doing to need time... and, well, others... to hope that Sakura might come back to her senses.
It's funny how inconsequential fealty becomes when the lord is dead. Sakura's not usually predisposed to fatalistic notions like this, but Cammy's words just unsettle her further. Shutting her eyes as hard as she can, she answers quickly, with an edge of hostility. "I don't /care/, I know that already. I love them both. You might not understand... and I don't /care/."
The last time Sakura was on a bed, talking to her captor... she got free sushi out of the deal. She's still trying to make up her mind about whether it's better or worse, this go-round. There's plenty of time to consider it, though.
Log created on 23:03:54 07/07/2007 by Sakura, and last modified on 11:10:14 07/08/2007.