Declaration of War?

[Seito Risa]

Risa sits on the trainers table. Her arm looked normal, which surprised her a little. She was dressed in her denim skirt, short white heels and a white blouse, see thru style, and a black halter top beneath. The sleeve of the blouse was rolled up nearly to her earlobe, giving the staff easy access to her arm. UGWC had a number of trainers on staff, this was the first time she saw one she had seen previously. The trainer touched her elbow, giving it a bit of a hard squeeze and she winces.

SR: "Ow!"

He takes a step back and pulls the latex glove from his hand nodding.

Trainer: "It appears to have done just fine. You're full on go, Miss Seito. Good luck."

He turns to walk away and Risa calls out to him.

SR: "Thank you for not saying 'break a leg'."

The trainer turns and gives her a grin and a thumbs up. Risa slides from the table and walks out into the hallway. She stops and quirks an eyebrow as Ichiro isn't where she left him. With a shrug, she starts toward her locker room where she figures he probably had gone, napping. Risa hears a noise down the hallway and picks up her pace. She turns and finds Ichiro, crouching in a defensive crouch, facing a tall, black clad figure. The door to her locker room stands open behind Ichiro, who has the look of a cornered animal, guarding it's territory.

SR: "Hai!"

Risa calls out, pelting down the hallway. The figure turns.

Figure: "Oh, shit!"

Outnumbered, the figure turns and runs full speed, right at her! Risa braces herself and angles for impact. She slides down, going low to take out the intruder's legs, but the intruder leaps and dives over her, tucking shoulder, rolling to his feet and not missing a beat. Risa scrambles back to her feet, Ichiro coming up behind her. They reach the branch in the hallway, she looks left he right.

SR: "Nothing."

I: "Lucky coward."

Risa looks around, breathing hard.

SR: "What the hell was that about?"

I: "I heard a noise down the hall, thought the janitor might have spilled his trash cart again. When I rounded the corner I saw the door to your locker room was open. I knew you were still inside so I went to look. I saw him right inside the door, grabbed him, spun him around and got one good shot at his face. He had a hood on so I couldn't make out features. He and I squared off in the hallway until you arrived."

Risa blinks.

SR: "The title belt is safely at home. What the hell could they have..."

Suddenly she locks eyes with Ichiro. The pair turn and run. She gets there first and stops in the doorway.

SR: "What the hell?"

She says in an almost whisper. Her locker room, not the best place in the first place, was trashed. Locker doors had been removed, the rooms contents smashed to pieces. Spray paint coats the walls and some furntiure. She turns and looks up at Ichiro.

SR: "Thank you for stopping him."

She turns and, taking a deep breath walks into the devastation. The words painted on the wall aren't the kindest. Racial slurs and comments about a woman in a mans world. Ichiro stops near the not so comfy chair, which was now just a frame with a few springs, it's foam stuffing and off white cover scattered around the room. Risa walks up to her locker. There a Japanese flag hangs, cut almost completely in two, a candle, not lit, sitting beneath it. Her hands clinch tightly into fists. So tightly her fingernails draw blood from her palms. Ichiro walks over and starts attempting to put the door back on that locker. Risa turns and walks slowly into the shower. The shower head was off. A large wrench, used to remove the shower head most likely, lay next to the shower head, smashed into an unrecognizable shape. The shower door, plexiglass, sits against the wall of the shower, the plexi shattered, probably by the wrench. Risa turns and walks back out to where Ichiro has uprighted the bench and is brushing it as clean as he can, the phrase "Yellow go home" spray painted across the top. She leans on the wall and just looks.

I: "I'm afraid it's going to take far more than just me to repair."

Risa nods, walking around toward the door, stopping and looking back at the mess.

SR: "Ichi-kun. Go get UGWC security. We'll follow the procedures. I am willing to lay you odds that this was the Consortium, that bastard Ooley probably."

Ichiro nods as he crosses the room, pausing at the front door.

I: "Pretty amateurish job opening the door. Certainly not a Hallmark of Damarest and his crew, they are far too professional."

Risa nods, wrapping her arms around her.

SR: "Go get security."

Ichiro heads down the hallway at a trot, calling out for security. Risa backs her back into the corner of the room and slides down to a crouch.

SR: "This is going too far."

Risa squats there, is still there, eyes on the cut Japanese flag when Ichiro returns. The two guards with him stop and look the place over.

Guard 1: "Wow. They certainly were thorough. Bobby, go get a camera from the office."

The other guard nods and turns, running down the hallway.

Voice: "What happened here?"

Risa looks up at the voice. Ichiro steps aside from the doorway, calmly placing himself between Risa and the door. Ooley leaned there, tapping a wooden #2 pencil into his palm.

Ooley: "Wow. Looks like vandalism. Someone seriously doesn't like you two."

He smiles. Risa slowly rises. Ichiro turns to the side, his body tense to intercept her. She takes two steps, stopping beside Ichiro.

SR: "Looks like I'll need somewhere else to change before and after Synergy. Think another dressing room might be available?"

Ichiro doesn't look at either of them, as he watches the guard. However he notes the calm control in Risa's voice; 'That is the way to do it. Keep calm, let him think we are fooled.'

O: "I will see what I can do. If nothing else, maybe you can share with someone. I can check with Damarest."

Risa looks at him, the very picture of calm.

SR: "I don't think we should impose upon him. If you can't find something free I will just have to arrive ready to fight. Not that I wouldn't do that anyway."

Ooley nods, half way trying to hide a grin.

O: "We'll find out who is behind this and deal with them according to the law. I would hate for this to make you leave."

Risa shakes her head.

SR: "No. Quite the opposite. Some narrow minded simpleton has thought they could use this to intimidate me. They are going to find out that was a severe miscalculation."

O: "Are you sure? I mean, if they did this, you could be playing with fire. You two go on home, we'll get this cleaned up."

Risa steps past Ichiro, who swings into place behind Risa.

SR: "Thank you."

She stops and looks up at Ooley. So cool that her breath nearly fogs with frost.

SR: "And don't worry about me playing with fire. You know what happens when you burn a Phoenix? She rises from the ashes. Stronger than before."

She pats him on the shoulder.

SR: "Let's go Ichiro."

She and Ichiro walk out into the hallway. Ooley watches them go. He turns back and eyes the guard.

O: "Call maintenance down here, get this mess cleaned up. At least try to get the spray paint from the walls, hmm? They're too expensive to repaint."

The guard nods pulling his radio out. He walks over and pulls the candle out from under the Japanese flag. He lifts it to his nose.

O: "Mmm. Cinnamon."

This he takes, sliding into his pocket. He turns and walks out, laughing softly to himself.