Valentines Hearts

"Dammit, Haruko! Stop stealing my hero moments! Do you know how rarely I get to have those these days?" Arthur complained but still did as he was told and froze Cosmina's horns in place. He did his best to take the ice as warm as possible without it melting since he didn't want to discomfort the poor doll too much. "Now, you two stay here while I take care of those things down there. Haruko, stay where you are."



He flew toward the center of the room and landed on an ice platform. "Sorry 'bout this, you freaks, but I'm pretty sure I'm just putting you out of your misery." He raised one arm into the air and ice shards covered the roof of the room, leaving of course a clear spot above himself and the girls. Then three more layers appeared below the first one. "HAILSTORM OF PAIN!" He snapped his fingers and the razor-sharp shards descended upon the puppets below like hail.



"Ugh, I really need a better name for that move. This sounds like a BDSM sex toy or something."

Cosmina winced as her horns froze, but she was glad she couldn't attack any more. Then she kicked Haruko. It was a pathetic little punt that bounced off of Haruko's shin, but it sent a jolt of pain through her own leg. Her limbs kept flailing in place of her sonic attacks, but she was far too weak to actually hurt Haruko. "I'm sorry! It's the orders! Tie me up or put me somewhere I can't get you!" While she thrashed, Arthur's hail cut most of the generic dolls to ribbons, crippling and disabling the lot. For now, the room was safe. A lone door was visible below where Cosmina's shelf had been.

___

Marceline snarled as her fists were caught. She was strong enough to push through, but not with any real force to her blows. She continued to struggle fearsomely even as the chains wrapped around her back, pulling her down. She paused and was yanked off balance, forcing her to her hands. She looked down at Chase, feeling the sweat on her face and body, beginning to soak her thoroughly, remembered her surroundings, and felt something stir. Oh, this was wrong. Her anger was dissipated among something else, that deep feeling that sat so low in her abdomen, buried when she had full control of her faculties. She was repulsed. She pulled back even harder, but a sweaty hand slipped and she was pulled chest to chest with him.

She wasn't breathing. She only needed to breath when she talked. But her throat tightened anyway, and though she lacked a heart, her empty chest did as well. Up close, he could undoubtedly tell she hadn’t showered since Christmas. The new layer of sweat didn’t help. As he joked, she remembered him a little more. She thought she even liked him, maybe a lot. But it wasn't her choice to fight him. "I'm sorry." She offered an apology as she leaned down to bite him, the only line of attack available to her. Before her jaws could lock around his neck, a bony blade shot appeared through her own neck. She shuddered and thrashed harder than ever, snapping the blade. Its owner stepped into view, looking perplexed.

"Okay, usually when I stab somebody right through the neck, they die." Huntsman withdrew the bone into his arm, returning its fleshy mass to a rigid shape. He grabbed her hair, yanking her head back. Surprisingly, her neck held despite him using his full strength and the existing damage, although she screamed in agony as he tore at already open holes in her neck and ground broken pieces of bone into each other and the surrounding muscle. "Well, that didn't work either. I fucking swear, I'm killing this bitch no matter what it takes." He lost human shape more and more as he developed his body into a walking flail to crush her body with. Marceline thrashed as hard as she could, but as much as the pain gave her strength, the chains held her tight. She screwed her eye tightly shut in anticipation of the real agony. Maybe the demolition of her skull could give her the strength she needed to break free.

"HUNTSMAAAAN!!!" yelled Chase in an EXTREMELY MAD voice. He looks at the bloodthirsty creature, right in the eye of its non human shape with an expression that rarely ever appears on his face with his eyes focusing on him to the point that they were piercing in nature, meanwhile the name of the Huntsman echoes through the room. By the sound of his voice, anyone could violently feel the harsh anger that was coming from the chained up man, but his expression was ten times more violent than the tone of his voice. Almost as if his humanity was replace with by an inner demon. In a even more unsettling manner, he continues to speak, but at a lower pitch, yet his words still spread through room in a powerful manner, "Let me handle this."

Without even blinking his eyes, or looking away for a fraction of a fraction of a second, the soulless man does not ever let up his glare at his companion. "I already have her trapped with me, so don't do anything UNNECESSARY!!!" He finished with a shout. After the last vocal outburst, Chase's facial expression softens by a few degrees as he gives the Huntsman a few more words, "Don't worry, a single bite isn't going to kill me." Turning his head, he looks at Marceline, who was suffering not only from poor hygiene, but from massive neck damage as well. He didn't even know how it was possible for her neck to still be attach to her body after suffering from all that trauma.

"Marceline..." Chase whispers softly through his lips. "... there is nothing for you to apologize for." Chase wraps the chain around their bodies together to allow only modest head moment, forcing both of them to look at each other, along with placing a abnormal chain neck brace for Marceline's broken neck. Still in a low tone of voice, he continues, "Tell me. Is this really what you want? Do you want to fight until only one of us is standing?" Chase looks right at her eye, his stare was full of concern for her, more so than he thought he would have. Even his most recent episodes of suffering from mental motivations to kill wasn't even able to influence Chase in this moment. "If fighting isn't what you want to do, then do whatever you feel is going to make you happy." Chase leans in a little more. "I don't ever want to see you look this sad again. Okay."

Cosmina managed a weak half grin. "You shouldn't talk about strip clubs in front of little girls." She winced as the bolts pulled themselves from her legs, pushing more tears free. "I can't tell you who she is. She ordered me not to. We can't disobey. We can only- no! Don't take me with you!" Cosmina shrieked and thrashed, but it was too late, as Haruko opened the door and entered the lab. They found themselves at the top of a steep stairwell, leading down into a deep basement.

At the bottom, two girls and an adult woman stood among various objects. The redheaded girl in an all black maid's outfit stood in a corner, covering her eyes even though they were blindfolded. She immediately looked up when the door opened. The woman was generous in figure, covered in a black uniform that looked like wool. She seemed agitated and annoyed, glancing constantly at a tub full of ice and the figure on the operating table. Lastly, a tiny girl with purple pigtails, barely any bigger than Haruko, bent over a table with scattered books and worrying surgical instruments. And behind her, strapped to the operating table, was John, nude and sweaty from his efforts to break free. He had partially healed gashes on his chest and sides and his body was slicked with blood. He had apparently long since run out of energy to fight his chains, as he now lay horribly still, hair slicked to his head. His clothing lay on a shelf not far from the maid girl, who was now looking directly at Haruko and Arthur despite clearly not seeing them.

"Hey Marika, I think the intruders got through." The redhead spoke in the tones of a child, despite clearly being around 17. The adult was instantly alert, pulling a kunai from a red box on her back. "Don't let them interrupt my work! I think I have it!" The small teen picked up a book in one hand, scalpel in the other, looking very carefully at John's body and making comparisons.

___

Huntsman cowered and looked surprised when Chase yelled at him so fiercely. Becoming something that could move again, he gave Chase a childishly hurt look and stormed off, head a plated and spiked mass and cape-like wings dragging behind. "Well clearly you don't need me here. When she finds a way to kill you, don't come whining to me! I'll just eat your body when I'm done with her." He shoved open the door at their end of the room and was gone, fortunately missing Chase's kind words to Marceline.

Marceline's body still involuntarily moved in attempts to escape, as impossible as it was. She was grateful for the neck brace stopping her from suffering more pain and from headbutting Chase. "I... no, of course I don't want to. I don't want to fight you. But don't you dare talk like that." She weakly snarled, refusing to meet his eyes.

Arthur felt sorry for Cosmina. She was so afraid of her master that she couldn't even go downstairs. Her master must be one crazy bitch. Well, that was kind of obvious. She couldn't even settle with only using fear to control Cosmina, she had to make her body move against her will. She's gonna have to be thought a lesson. But first...



"Alright then, Cosmina." He took Cosmina from Haruko and left her sitting down at the top of the staircase. "You can stay here. We'll come back for you after we're done and then you won't have to be afraid of your master ever again. You just make sure you're cheering us on from up here." Arthur winked and patted her on the head.



"Ruko, let's get going." Arthur started walking down the stairs, wanting to go in front of Haruko and serve as the tank again. "We should be careful. We don't know how tough these guys are."

Marceline was beginning to get uncomfortable again. Her clothes were so thoroughly soaked with sweat she felt like she was in her underwear and Chase was coming on far too hard. This obvious affection was utterly unprecedented from anybody in her life- even Cosmina barely liked her. It was alien and bizarre, not helped by the fact that she barely knew the guy and had slept with him on an occasion she barely remembered. "If you kiss me, I'm going to bite your fucking lips." She managed to spit out with panting breaths. She was quickly wearing down from all her thrashing, to the point that she was getting weaker instead of being empowered by the pain. "As for what I want, I want to stop hurting, but that's never happening. But if you'd get me some of my little bags, I could at least relax for a few minutes. I'll be nicer too." She knew that if she got high, she was likely to act upon the feelings in her loins. She'd have to warn him to not fuck with her while she was impaired. She forgave him for the Christmas incident- she was going to sleep with him, or at least somebody, before she got herself drunk. She had an abomination to humiliate. But taking advantage here would be seriously off limits.

___

Marika yelped in surprise and dropped her book and scalpel when the floor shook. She picked them up and edged a bit further away from Haruko. The scalpel was bloody. Well crap. She saw John's thigh bleeding and realized she had cut an artery. She knew he was an incubus and therefore healed with energy from touch, sexual contact being the best. "Yuu! Give him a kiss." She gestured at John. Yuu looked away from Haruko, tears pouring from her eyes, and gave Marika a nearly imperceptible glare. "Marika..." Aw, she couldn't do that to poor Yuu. She was a bit weird about stuff like that. "Cassandra! Kiss for the prisoner, now!" As she yelled, Yuu charged for Haruko, attempting to tackle her to the wall and drive a kunai into her neck.

"NO! He's naked and stinky!" Cassandra complained. Marika rolled her eyes. "Fine, just go get Marceline. I'll have her give him something even more healing. It's all the whore's good at." Cassandra wrinkled her nose at the thought, but skipped up the stairs to Arthur. "Hey, I need to speak to Marcy. Can I come through?" She curtseyed like she knew good girls did. "KILL HIM!" Marika roared. "Oh, okay!" Cassandra pulled a little dagger, shaped like a tiny pole with arrowheads on each end, held with a ring over a finger, from the folds of her dress. With surprising speed, she stepped up and swung it right at his heart.

Love is a terrible thing sometimes. Now was one of those times. Not only did Haruko endanger herself by rushing down the stairs, but she also caused unnecessary problems for Arthur. But Arthur couldn't judge someone for jumping into danger, he was usually guilty of it himself for less noble reasons.

Speaking of danger, Cassandra did not seem like she would pose much of it. She was even polite enough to ask Arthur to move. And he would have done it, too, had Marika not ordered Cass to kill him. That's where the blind girl showed that she was indeed quite dangerous. Unfortunately for her, not only did Arty have improved senses while Wolf's Soul was on, but his reflexes were improved as well. That, and Arthur got a warning in the form a black-haired girl yelling at her to kill him which meant that avoiding Cassandra's dagger was no problem at all.

But Arthur wanted to check something so he didn't just dodge to the side. He grabbed Cassandra's arm and pulled to unbalance her. What he wanted to do after that was push her against a wall and get her into a position where he could feign annoyance and tell her, not quite loudly enough for Marika to hear him thanks to Haruko's music: "What the hell are you doing? She said kick, not stab. I thought you had to do exactly what she told you to do."

He saw one of three things happening after that:

a) Cass would decide to just kick him and then go get Marceline. That would show Arthur that even though Marika's orders could make the dolls act against their will, it was the dolls' understanding of the orders that actually made them move. In the future, making them think that Marika said something else would be a good way of stopping them.
b) Cass would be unsure of the orders and would ask Marika if she said kick or kill. Not only would that show Arthur the same as above, but it would also distract Cass long enough for him to freeze her, thus forcing her out of the fight.
c) Cass would completely ignore what he said and she'd try to kill him anyway. That was the most likely scenario and the one where Arthur was going to end up in a world of pain.

"No, seriously, lips and hands to- no you idiot!" The instant the chains relaxed, Marceline shoved free. She rolled on the floor, grabbing her bat mid roll. She pushed herself to her feet in a position already ready to take a swing. Much to her surprise, he collapsed on his own. "I would rather kill her than get high. But I'm a realist. I can't resist her, so it looks like you will be the one to die." She stepped to where Chase was curled in the fetal position and began to bring her bat down at his arched back over and over.

___

"Marceline is a whore. Don't tell me otherwise. You smelled her. And Cosmina is the devious little fuck who tried to hide it all when she came in drunk and sticky. But I made her talk! She told me about you! You won't take them from me! I'll take him from you instead!" Marika shrieked at Haruko as Yuu tried to keep her footing. She chose to fall when she saw the spikes appear and ended up sliding under. But she wasn't safe. What appeared to be the wall itself moved for a second. Yuu looked at it in confusion before it launched concrete claws into her legs, pinning her to the floor. She screamed in pain and horror at this insane occurrence as the wall took a vague shape. Concrete fell away in dust as Huntsman's body rejected it and returned to normal. "Now, where were we last time we met? Oh yes, I was doing this." He slashed one long, bladed finger of bone through her abdomen. Nothing but stuffing fell free, but her pain was no more real. Her eyes flared and suddenly, she was ablaze.

Huntsman remembered she did that last time too. "Ah! BITCH!" He pulled away to extingush himself, leaving Yuu, suddenly faster and stronger by far, to swat away most of the the knives that veered towards her, ignoring those that struck her, vitally or not. She only saw the ones that were thrown towards Marika through her flaming eyes. The teen ducked, and although none hit her, she screamed and flailed in a clear panic. "Leave her alone! You want somebody to hurt for all this? You want him back? Take me." She stomped through the slick ground with each step, flames slowly spreading down her body and growing in intensity. Little sticky puddles of flame dripped around her and little craters of flame served as her footsteps. She swung a kunai for each shoulder, seeking to spin Haruko to face her so their eyes could meet. What she saw was a mirror. Hatred born to protect the ones they loved most. Yuu took no pleasure in the movement as she whipped her sword from its sheath and slashed it for Haruko's own abdomen.

Up on the stairs, Cassadra tilted her head when Arthur claimed she had been ordered to kick him. She launched her knee at his crotch and shoved free to run to the railing and yell down. "Hey, what did you say to do?" Marika cowered under the table John was strapped too, mumbling nonsense about murder and her family. Anger happened to be a good cure for fear. "I SAID KILL HIM, YOU RETARD!" She screamed. When Cassandra turned, blindfold beginning to get wet, she popped out from under the table and scrambled along the ground. She needed to finish the project. If Marceline was here, she could beat them, then have her suck the prisoner off to heal him. Yes... she'd capture John's girlfriend alive. She'd take those clothes for her own work and let these two theives die in agonizing embrace. She wondered how much time her touch would buy John. Their parts she would combine into something entirely new. Together forever. It was too good for them, this perfect fusion she envisioned. She just needed that fellow teen on the stairs out of the way. Looking up, she saw Cosmina sitting with a head encased in ice looking at the battle with horror. She gained a twisted grin. "Cosmina, give Yuu a hug!" The little girl's eyes widened as her body flopped painfully on the stairs and she began writhing for the edge. "AAAAIIIIIIIIEEEEEE!!" She screamed with terror as she nosed towards the drop onto the battlefield and flaming death. Marika turned back to John and pulled own little scarf off. Unfortunate to waste it, but it was easier to replace clothing than an incubus. She managed to get it around his leg and tied a makeshift tourniquet. Satisfied that it would do for now, she picked up her book on nonhuman anatomy with unsteady hands. Where were those glands again?

Arthur forgot to include the possibility of getting kicked in the balls in his calculations. He still didn't recover fully by the time Cassandra asked Marika for confirmation and he didn't have time to Flash Freeze her in place. Luckily, he did recover by the time Cosmina got the suicide order. Obviously, with every inch of his being yelling at him to stop her, he jumped after her at a speed greater then that of sound and caught her before she even got to the bottom of the staircase.

"That bitch..." He muttered. She was going to have to be killed, exterminated, tenderized, brutalized and torn to shreds for her actions. But her bodyguard was on fire. Arthur couldn't deal with the fire. And even if Haruko could occupy her attention while he went after Marika, he still had to deal with the blind girl.

"Sorry Cosmina. It's going to get really cold now, but it's for your own good." He cut off the tie binding her arms but then froze her whole body on the staircase so that she couldn't jump to her death again. Then he turned towards his opponent. "Blindfold girl! Do you really want to fight for someone who calls you a retard? Or are you like Cosmina, bound by her strings? Do you want to stay her slave or do you want to be free?"