Talim_intro_eng

Introducing: Talim 2005 AD June 3rd 11.00 PM Italy, Rome, Colosseum

Streetlights shone upon the otherwise dark Roman walkways as usual. As the full moon lit the sky, these streets were turning ever quieter. The Colosseum and its surroundings, however, were already devoid of movement and had become shrouded in darkness. The only light there originated from the moon and the stars above. Since its ancient days of glory, the monument’s corridors had lost all of their vibrance, forever silenced by the passing of time.

Yet on this night, muffled whispers and footsteps could be heard throughout the partly collapsed passages.

In addition to the sounds, a shadowy figure quickly moved along the walls, occasionally stopping behind corners and piles of rubble, adding to the subtle disturbance of the Colosseum’s nocturnal tranquility. The dark corridors were the ideal place for an uninvited guest to move silently. Through the slit in this unusual character’s ski mask, one could make out a look of determination. The figure made its way in a catlike manner without a sound, its back up against the wall whenever possible, keeping an eye out, should the ninja in black latex be spotted somehow.

The voices echoed faintly from the arena within the Colosseum, signaling of something out of the ordinary taking place there. She, judging from the shadow’s physique, took a sharp look ahead on approach and cartwheeled from one side of the arena’s, literally, colossal entrance to another for a better position to safely watch the main event. The intruder landed smoothly on one knee and took yet another look around the corner, then quickly pulling her mask off. The face of a young woman with long, blonde, braided hair, was revealed in the process. Her braid came cascading down along the neck. Not long after, the woman proceeded to climb a rope now hanging by an opening above, which she’d spotted with her perceptive eyes. Reaching the edges of this opening apparently formed by the sheer age of the structure, she lifted herself to the second floor with her hands. So far, her nightly sneaking hadn’t even come close to breaking the monument’s peace, and with her skills, she easily kept that as it was, as she crawled over to the edge of the arena.

Small lights surrounding the courtyard dimly lit the area. Near the center, a group of obvious criminals wearing leather coats and each armed with a blade of some sort had gathered. They were accompanied by a smaller group, that one consisting of men in suits. The latter seemed to be the buying party of some sort of deal, as the other criminals apparently had plans to sell something. But the arena had a waiting atmosphere to it. Two young women sat in their midst, both tied up into chairs and gagged. They were what first caught the spy’s eyes: she grits her teeth angrily at the sight. She then mimicked the sound of a forest owl, a sound only the two prisoners seemed to react towards. Their heads turned to the general direction of the sound and then to each other One of the two was wearing a black leather top and leather pants beneath a black leather coat to go with everything else. She had long hair, braided like the new arrival’s, and four piercings on each ear. The other woman had long red hair with a black stripe. She was wearing a knit black cotton top and black cotton pants with bellbottoms. Her black coat was also made of cotton, and it had a silver dragon shape on the back.

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The one in leather started struggling on her chair, mumbling through the gag. A gangster struck his fist in her chest, causing the chair and its passenger to fall backwards. The apparent leader of the gang walked up to her, lifted her back up and removed the gag.

“Yes?”, he queried.

“Oww!.. Don’t you have any sort of manners? What is it that you want from us?”, the prisoner asked with pain in her eyes.

The leader stared at her with his cold green eyes for a moment, then grabbed her by the hair.

“Unless your friend brings me the vial of St. Virgil soon, you’ll find out exactly what I want out of you.”

The other prisoner now began to fight against her ropes and otherwise make noise. The gang’s leader let go of one prisoner’s hair and went to the next.

“Was there something you wished to add?”

Another gangster ungagged her, resulting in a spitting sound.

“You’ve obviously got the wrong people, but if we had a ‘friend’ like that, I’m sure she’d give you a fine beating.”

Meanwhile, the eavesdropper went through her options, eventually taking her long, black latex coat out of her backpack and wearing it over the rest of her outfit. She hid something in a compartment on the back of her pants, slightly under the shirt. She then calmly inhaled, exhaled and stood up.

“Someone called for me?”, she said out loud, jumping down with a somersault to the arena.

The gangsters were startled, and their would-be buyers fled all the way to the Colosseum walls.

“Well, wasn’t that stealthy...”, the red-haired captive mumbled under her breath.

The leader of the bad guys crossed his arms, his long white hair waving in the wind.

“That depends on whether you brought me what I wanted or not...”

The guest walked closer, spreading her arms.

“Oh, oops. I knew I forgot something. But a girl, even in my position, can’t remember every little detail.”

She came to a stop in front of the leader and continued.

“Think about it, Monsieur Lefer. What if one of these screwups here actually got their hands on a bottle of nectar boosting their lifespan. It could only lead to disaster.”

The audience grunted as a hint of dissatisfaction among them.

“Don’t play games with me”, Lefer said, signaling his henchmen to put their switchblades against the hostages’ throats.

The woman presented the prementioned bottle, tossing it from one hand into another and back without a care. She then took out a dagger, making a long cut across the palm of her hand, opened the bottle and carefully let a drop of its fluid land on the wound. As soon as it had begun to bleed, the wound healed, without leaving a scar. The spectators were in awe. She capped the bottle again and handed it towards Lefer. He was apparently quite satisfied with the show and was about to take the bottle from her hand, when all of a sudden, she threw the bottle up in the air. The ensuing confusion allowed her to kick Lefer in his stomach, stun the first few gangsters closing in on her and juggle the bottle high above. Yet, in spite of her initiative, she was soon overpowered and came close to falling as Lefer managed to deal some solid blows on her.

But then, the women in their chairs started singing a most unusual song, seemingly from an animated film of some sort, taking the gangsters’ attention away from the intruder, who on the other hand seemed enraged by the lyrics. She was now quickly regaining the upper hand taking her opponents down one by one with single blows.

“How *SMASH* many *SMITE* times *POW* have I told you *KICK* not to *SWIPE* sing *CRACK* that song*CRUNCH*?!”

She started by rearranging one man’s teeth and jaw. Next, she knocked another man out with a blow to the back of his neck. Then she kicked Lefer in the groin, most likely with all the hurt she could spare. One unfortunate skinhead was thrown headfirst into the colosseum wall far away, and the last gangster standing 2

was met face-to-face by a rock, then having his arm twisted broken by the woman.

“That works every single time”, the woman in leather whispered in her companion’s ear, followed by a wink.

Their rescuer hurried over, using her dagger to undo their ropes.

“Think it’s about time we left, girls?”, she said with a suggestion, noticing that Lefer was leaning on his elbow on the ground.

“Who are you people?”, he asked, his voice reflecting his recent suffering.

“I am Latex. Talim Latex. And these are my partners, Shiva Leather and Feenix Cotton.”

“Together, we are Dante’s Angels!”, the trio stated. Of the two who’d just moments ago been sitting helplessly tied up on their chairs, one revealed a collapsible bow and the other a samurai sword with the same function. Talim followed their example by bringing out her short, double-bladed swords. They formed a group pose, then charging into the criminals’ midst causing terror. They were, however, rather disarmed than killed in that instant, as police sirens could be heard closing in from a distance.

Talim, Feenix and Shiva threw the bottle around between each other while the crooks tried to catch it in flight. Whenever not holding the bottle or about to receive it, they concentrated on taking out their opponents at a steady pace. Eventually Talim took the bottle but was tripped by Lefer. The bottle slipped from her grasp and broke as it fell onto the ground. Shiva and Feenix stopped in shock, but turned to flee with Talim, climbing the inner wall.

“You can run, but you can’t hide... I’ll pay you back, Angels!”, Lefer yelled.

The three all sent kisses in the air after themselves and kept moving as high up in the Colosseum as they could.

“What’ll we do now? The bottle’s busted”, Feenix wondered as she sat down on a collapsed stone pillar.

“No, it’s not”, Talim replied, taking out the real bottle from her secret pocket, where she’d apparently been keeping two bottles all along.

“After all, you know how quick I am with my hands. I switched bottles while we were fighting.”

The Angels cheered themselves and turned to exit, stage down.

“Let’s rock, girls!”, Talim added, and they all jumped down, their forms drawn against the full moon.

Meanwhile, the local authorities had captured the gangsters but for one person: their leader, Lefer, who was lost without a trace...

- THE END -

Translated by: Lari Fagerholm

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