#true writes

The stomp to his head renders him unable to see or hear for a moment. His vision blacks out, his ears ring, and he can taste his own blood in his mouth. God, he’s really in for it now. The layers and layers of tape effectively keep him trapped. Past the ringing, he can distantly hear Akutsu giving his men permission to wail on him. He does his best to brace himself for what’s coming, hoping and willing that he’ll be able to hold out. The rest of the blows don’t come, though. Instead, a voice calls out from a high point in the room.

“Get away from him!”

Was that… Marle? His vision is still dark and blurry, but he strains to try and see her.

“What the fuck?!” one of the thugs exclaims. “How’d a little girl get in here?!”

“You…” Akutsu says, “you’re Yagami’s daughter!” What do you think you’re doing?!”

“I said,” Marle says again, “get away from him! Right now!”

“You think you can give me orders, little bitch?” Akutsu spits. “Somebody grab her!”

He is not in the position to laugh. But he could.

“Don’t come near me!” she cries, and then, “Annulus!”

He tries to blink his vision into focus, so he can see her better. She stands on top of the large light figure in the middle of the room, her hand stretched out. One of the thugs who had moved to pull her down cries in pain as he’s hit with the spell.

“What the fuck?!” Akustu yells, eyes practically popping out of his skull. “What the hell did you just do?!”

“In case you haven’t heard,” Yagami finally speaks, still bruised and bleeding and strapped to a tipped-over chair, but being unable to help but be a little cocky on Marle’s behalf, “she’s special.”

“The hell you talking about, smartass? Haven’t had enough yet, huh?! I’m going to make you regret every time you’ve opened that mouth of yours…!”

“No, you will not!” Marle demands. “You will regret not moving, if you don’t step away from him right… now!”

He’s never seen her quite like this before. It’d be absolutely terrifying if he didn't know her so well; if she weren’t there to save him.

The power coursing through and flowing from Marle is palpable. It creates an almost static-like energy in the room, causing the little curls in her hair to unfurl and stand on-end. Akutsu doesn’t move. No one does. Marle has shocked them into frozenness. They can do nothing but stare stupidly as they realize that this little girl is more powerful than they can even comprehend.

“What are you not understanding?!” she asks, moving her hands in a circular motion. “Circular Dance!” The powerful blast of otherworldly energy hits barely a milometer away from Akutsu, scorching the ground just in front of his feet.

That does it. When she demands that they move again, RK slowly starts drifting away from Yagami. Once they’re far enough away that she feels comfortable, she teleports so she’s standing in front of him, serving as a sort of shield. She keeps her eyes trained on RK, but she does ask him, “Are you okay?”

“I’m glad you’re here,” he says. Not really answering her question, but she doesn’t really need to know how much his head and ribs hurt, or how uncomfortable it is to be strapped to a tipped-over chair. She’s here, and doing more than enough. She doesn’t need to worry about anything else. “I’m sorry I wasn’t here sooner,” she says. “I… wasn’t watching.”

He tries to shake his head, but it's hard in this position, and hurts a little bit, and she can’t see it anyway. “You came just in time,” he says.

RK is slowly starting to get over their shock. They’re sort of dumbasses, actually. ‘Glorified amateurs’, like Soma put it. They don’t know that they lost the moment Marle arrived. Yagami can see, from the few guys in his line of vision, that they’re exchanging glances, as if non-verbally trying to come up with a way to overtake her. It’s all of us against one little girl,’ they must be thinking. ‘Powers or no, we can take her.’ Stupid.

But he also knows her well enough to know that she’s probably not going to fight herself, unless they force her hand. She’s still afraid of what her power is capable of doing to humans. She’ll fight for Yagami if she must, he knows, but he hopes she doesn’t have to.

“What’s the plan…?” he whispers to her, watching as some of the men start inching in their direction again. Marle stretches out her arms in an act of defense.

“It’s okay,” she promises. Yagami can tell she’s still ready to act in a moment’s notice. He can physically feel the energy radiating from her now that she’s close, causing his own hair on the back of his neck to stand on end. He’s a little breathless, too, but that might be from the bruised ribs. “We won’t be alone for much longer.”

And then, as if on cue, the warehouse doors open. Yagami can’t see who’s entering from where he lay, but he doesn’t need to. He knows exactly who it is.

“Yo,” Kaito calls, “Akutsu.”

Ohh, Kaito is angry. Yagami can’t still see him, but his tone is enough to go by. When Kaito is really, truly angry, he seems calmer. It’s a dangerous thing. Those who don’t understand this have no idea what’s about to hit them. Akutsu, of course, is no exception.

Akutsu turns to face him, clearly still reeling from Marle’s appearance, now more shocked by Kaito’s. “Kaito?! How’d you get here?! How’d you find us?!”

No one’s paying attention to Marle anymore, which gives her time to blink out for a second. She quickly reappears with scissors, and begins cutting away at the tape keeping Yagami restrained, quickly, but carefully enough to avoid ruining his jacket.

“Appreciate you keepin’ Tak nice and comfortable for me,” Kaito says, keeping RK’s attention. Yagami whispers a thanks to Marle, who nods silently before adjusting him so she can more easily cut his other arm free.

“We’ve barely started,” Akutsu says. “‘Bout to have a real party, now. You all’re officially invited.”

“Ahhh,” another voice says — Sugiura, he’s here too — “are we? Seems like we’re in for a fun time, then! But… I’m not sure if it’s going to be as fun for you.”

Akutsu is quiet for a minute, and then barks, “Block the doors! And someone fire that bad boy up!” Yagami hears the shuffling feet of Akustu’s men following orders. “You all are dead, you hear me?! No one’s getting out of here now!”

Marle finishes cutting through the tape. Now free from his restraints, Yagami can move — just in time to see Akustu handed a chainsaw. It would be a little scarier if the odds weren’t entirely stacked against him at this point.

Marle helps Yagami to his feet, and he smiles at her, pats her head, mouths ‘good job’. She’s done all she needed to do. Now she can sit back and watch the show. Then, to Akutsu, he says, “You’re right. No one’s getting out of here… and that includes you.”