Booty Shorts - Beyond The Red Room

She glanced around and didn't see Obiya. She risked a glance back around the corner, assuming Daria would be looking for her to come out the other side. She flinched back just in time as two more slugs blew off chunks of drywall.

"लानत है!" she snarled. She was pinned down. Her mind was racing, trying to figure out her next move when she heard a loud crash. She risked another glance and saw Obiya grappling with Daria, ten yards away. Jumping up, she raced towards them.

Obiya had jumped in, trying to trap Daria's gun hand in the crook of her knee, a move that Chhaya had never seen Obiya fail to pull off. This time, however, Daria had simply dropped her gun, and rolled with the force of Obiya's impact, using her own momentum against her. Daria ended up on top of Obiya, pinning her under her knee to a pile of metal wall studs that awaited installation. A vicious chop with the edge of her palm sent Obiya's gas gun spinning out of her hand and into the darkness, then Daria's left hand flashed to her waist and came up with a knife. She thrust towards Obiya, who caught her wrist with both hands. Daria had leverage, and put all her weight into the knife, straining to plunge it into Obiya before Chhaya arrived. Unfortunately for Daria, Chhaya was fast.

As Chhaya reached the pair, Daria saw her coming. Her foot lashed out, connecting with Chhaya's gun as she fired. The cloud of red mist angled up towards the ceiling, missing Daria, who rolled off of Obiya, her knife slicing open the sleeve of her tactical clothes, and exposing a thin, red cut on Obiya's shoulder as she did. Obiya hissed, and rolled to her feet, grabbing a meter-long scrap of two-by-four lumber from the floor on the way.

Obiya and Daria threw themselves at each other, Daria's knife flashing, while Obiya blocked and parried with the length of wood, splinters flying whenever they connected, while Chhaya scrambled to reload another gas cartridge into her gun. Chhaya had never seen anyone as fast or smooth in hand to hand fighting as her partner... until Daria. Obiya was clearly outmatched, and Chhaya backed up, to give Obiya room to retreat, but the pile of drywall cut off any approach Chhaya might have had to circle around the pair to attempt another shot with the gas gun. She waited until Daria's weight was shifted away from her, then leapt over the stack of drywall, attempting to flank.

Daria had anticipated the move, however, and instead of lunging at Obiya, she had started a somersault in the opposite direction, bringing her up next to her abandoned pistol. Icy fingers gripped Chhaya's heart as she realized she was too far away for a shot with the gas gun. Obiya must have realized the same thing. They were both too far from cover, and they both rushed at Daria, who brought the gun up, taking aim at Obiya, presumably assessing her as the bigger threat.

Obiya threw the piece of lumber, hoping to spoil her aim. She was only partially successful. Daria rapidly pulled the trigger, but as the wood struck her arm, it deflected her aim. Several shots whined between them, then a shot crashed into Chhaya's hip, ad another into her chest, slamming her to the floor, her gas gun skittering away.

"No!" Obiya screamed. She finished her rush and reached Daria in time to grab her wrist as she was attempting to bring her gun to bear again, spinning inside her guard and delivering a vicious elbow to her chin. Daria was rocked back, reeling, and Obiya dropped to the floor, knocking Daria's legs out from under her with a savage foot sweep. Her head bounced off the concrete, further dazing her. Obiya pounced on her, grabbing her by hair with both hands and slammed her skull into the floor, knocking her out cold. She grabbed Chhaya's gun from the floor and blasted a cloud of red mist directly into Daria's face, then dropped the weapon and rushed to Chhaya's side, tapping her earpiece.

"Anya! My location, quickly! Chhaya's down!"

"We're almost there now!"

"Chhaya! Cha-Cha!" Obiya frantically pulled out her tiny first aid kit from a belt pouch, pressing the single gauze pad it contained directly to the wound between her breast and collarbone. Dark red blood was pouring out of the hole and it soaked through the gauze almost immediately. She put pressure onto it, hard, ignoring the cry of pain it elicited from her partner.

She was digging one-handed in her first aid pouch again, trying to find the fast-acting coagulant powder, when she felt Chhaya's fingers on her cheek.

"जानम," Chhaya whispered.

"Cha-Cha, hang on, we're going to get you out of here."

"Don't blame her,"

"What? Cha-Cha, save your breath, stay awake!"

"It wasn't her fault, she was not in control. Just as it was for us. Make sure she gets home... to the rest of our sestras. I need you to do that for me."

"Shut up!" Obiya wept, "We're all going home. I'm getting you out of here!"

Chhaya smiled weakly. "You will have to be the leader now, Obi. Let them look to you. You are among the best of us."

"Chhaya," Obiya sobbed.

Chhaya's eyes closed, a tear slipping down her cheek. She heard her partner's voice, as if from very far away.

"Chhaya! Stay with me! Chhaya! Cha-cha, moy lyubimyy, stay!"

The darkness closed in and the pain faded.

~~ Mallorca, Spain - One month later ~~

Obiya sat up from the wicker lounge under the palm tree in front of her villa and shaded her eyes, looking at the position of the sun. She'd napped later than she'd intended.

She stood and stretched, then waded into the warm waters of the Mediterranean, her ivory white bikini bottoms standing in stark contrast to her ebony skin. When the waters reached her waist, she dove forward, her hands slicing through the water over her head. She swam out to the reef, then took a huge gulp of air and dove towards the bottom, peering through the crystalline clear water. Among the many colorful fish and coral, she spotted a huge sea turtle, drifting over the reef. As she swam alongside it, the turtle rolled, turning its eyes towards her. They shared a knowing look, and Obiya imagined the turtle offering to lead her out into the deep waters. Her lungs were starting to burn, but she entertained the thought as she peered into the blackness of the depths beyond the reef.

It's so peaceful here, she thought, No guns, no violence. It would be so easy to just follow this handsome fellow and let the ocean take me away. No more responsibilities. No more missions.

She turned and kicked up towards the surface. Chhaya would disapprove of her whimsical thoughts. She did have responsibilities. So many of their sestras were still under the thumb of a long-dead General, holding them from beyond the grave. As much as the idea of a quiet life appealed to her, she knew, much like Chhaya, she could not choose to rest as long as any of them remained out there, their free will not their own.

As she waded ashore, the warm water dripping from her body, she looked up and smiled as she spotted the figure limping towards the water from their villa, leaning heavily on a cane.

They met at the shore line and shared a long kiss.

"I still don't think it's fair that you will only let me wear a bikini bottom while you wear that," Obiya said.

"Yes, well, while going topless here is not unusual, I think it would be a little disconcerting for the other people renting villas on our beach to see my fresh bullet wounds," Chhaya said, looking down at the gauzy beach covering that came to her mid-thigh.

"I don't think you're worried about upsetting others. You're just self-conscious about them."

Chhaya looked away. "What if I am?"

"You have nothing to be self-conscious about, moy lyubimyy. We freed our sestra. They are badges of honor."

"Yes, well, Malina says my badges of honor require a few more weeks of rest before I can go home and start rehab."

"I thought your call lasted longer than usual. Was she making you show them to her in the webcam up close again?"

"Yes... But also..." Chhaya looked embarrassed again.

"What is it?"

"I was telling her about us. I wanted to make sure there wasn't any... That she wouldn't want to assign us to different partners... Since we are lovers now."

"And?"

Chhaya's face turned an even darker shade of red. "She said she had thought we'd been together since we teamed up last year."

Obiya laughed. "What else did she say?"

"She said that the salt water is good for my wounds, so I should continue to bathe in the ocean."

"That sounds like a lovely idea," Obiya said. She reached down for the hem of Chhaya's covering and draw it over her head. Like Obiya, Chhaya was only wearing bikini bottoms, although hers were turquoise green. She self-consciously looked up and down the beach as she ran her hand over the angry red scar on her chest, but the nearest person in sight was a couple hundred meters away. She dropped her cane to the sand as Obiya tossed the filmy fabric of her cover-up aside, then she took Obiya's hand and they waded into the water together.

"Anything else from mama Malina?"

"She said that I would probably be strong enough to have sex with you in another week or two."

"Ever practical, our Melina," Obiya said as the water became deep enough that Chhaya's feet floated off the sand. Obiya could still touch the bottom. "Did you tell her we've been making love for two weeks already?"

"She doesn't need to know everything," Chhaya said, primly, wrapping her arms around Obiya's neck as she floated next to her. She could feel Obiya's nipples tighten, pressing into her own breasts.

"Well," Obiya said, looking down the mostly deserted shoreline, "That gives me a fine idea."

"What's that, मेरी प्यारी?" Chhaya said, smiling up into her lover's face. She felt Obiya tug the bikini ties at her hips and purred.

"Salt water is good for you. And sex with me agrees with you. We have yet to combine the two.

Chhaya opened her legs to allow Obiya to pull the scrap of fabric away from her then wrapped her legs around Obiya's waist.

"I love that idea almost as much as you, beloved. Just make sure my bottoms don't float away."

THE END

Thank you for reading this installment of Booty Shorts, Friend. Votes are lovely, but I really enjoy hearing your thoughts in the comments.

Special thanks to Bramblethorn, GinnyPPC and ArmyGal33 for beta-reading and editing help.

I'm still working on Chapter Six of The Journey. I know some of you are anxiously awaiting its arrival. I have been struggling mightily with it lately. I am not really in charge of what decides to come out of my head and land on the page, believe it or not.

The question came to me a few weeks ago, "What happened to the rest of the Widows after Yelena freed them?" and I couldn't stop thinking about it. Since I have been blocked on Journey anyway, I went ahead and let this come, writing this over the last week. I'm going to take a break for a week or two, then see if I can continue bringing Viv and Jane to the page. Thank you for your patience.