Broken Memories

Final Chapter: The Wall

The bus’s engine revved loud as it barreled down the empty city streets. Aside from a few parked cars every other block, there wasn’t much life.

Azumi gazed out of the window, watching it all pass by. This was the time of night that she thrived on. Vacant sidewalks, the wind being the only sound to break through silence. So calming.

But tonight was bound to be anything but calm– now that she had tracked down her last target.

Azumi would have never thought that one idle decision could have taken her on such a journey. Not just a physical one, but an inner, emotional one, as well. Even now, as she looked at her few fellow passengers, who were either the sleeping homeless or workers on their way home from the night shift, she worked ways in her mind to try to relate to them. Easier said than done.

**Boong**, rang a chime through the PA. It was followed by an automated female voice saying, **Harmiss and Evling. Shopping district.**

Azumi pulled the stopwire and rose from her seat. When she stepped off of the bus after it pulled into the loading zone, the driver didn’t waste any time closing the door behind her and rolling off on his route.

Pulling up the collar of her leather jacket, she looked to her left and then her right. Not a soul. Nothing but streetlights and locked down storefronts. Across the street, she spotted the red mailbox and behind that was the storefront of a tailor/boutique. Most of the letters in the overhead logo were faded. It must have been one of the first businesses on the strip to go under. The metal gate was riddled with graffiti. The biggest design on it was a dismembered hand holding a ball of light. This was the place.

There was a narrow alley to the side of the boutique and Azumi made her way to it. A lone lamplight hung from the wall near the far end. It guided Azumi to the solid metal sliding door beneath it. She gave it a few knocks and waited.

A moment had passed when a small hatch in the door’s center opened up. A pair of eyes in the darkness looked Azumi over.

“We’re closed”, said a deep voice from the other side.

“Yeah, sure you are”, Azumi answered. “I have some important business to handle. So why not just let me in?”

“Because I don’t have to. Now keep it moving.” The hatch closed shut.

“Hey!”, Azumi barked. “Open up!” She banged on the door a few more times.

No answer.

*Fine*, she thought. *Have it your way.*

She reached into her jacket’s inner breast pocket and pulled out a vial of her own blood. She then spotted it along the frame of the door, making sure to get as deep into the creases as she could. From there, she manipulated the liquid to seek out and undo the door’s locking mechanisms from the inside.

The doorman was in shock when Azumi slid the door open. He looked at her with a wide, wild eye as his right hand went to his hip to grab his handgun.

Azumi’s survival instinct kicked in. Using her exceptional quickness, she advanced towards him, took hold of his right wrist with her right hand, raised the arm, swung under it, and applied a solid chicken wing submission hold with a high arch to keep him on his toes. Despite the man outweighing her by at least twice her amount, he was rendered helpless in nearly the blink of an eye.

“What do you want?”, he asked with a strained breath.

“I’m looking for someone…”, said Azumi calmly, “…and I was told that I’d likely find that person here.”

“There’s no one here.”

Azumi applied a firmer grip, making the doorman wince. She was surprisingly strong for such a beauty.

“I know what this place is, so it wouldn’t be wise to lie to me – much less as someone in your position. I’m here for the Pink Bandit.”

The doorman’s face was turning red and his temporal blood vessels in his shaved head were bulging.

“Who….are you?”

“Just a friend. Now, are you going to let me see my friend?”

Whether Azumi was believable or he just didn’t want to pass out, the man submitted.

“Okay!… Okay, I’ll take you.”

Azumi released him and he fell to a knee. He coughed and rubbed his neck, grateful to be able to breathe normally again. Recovered, he waved her in to follow him further inside.





The inside of the building was in shambles. Most of the layers of paint on the walls had peeled off over time. Old machinery and heavily damaged mannequins were all over the place. But this was just the front.

Far in the back of the shop were what used to be the offices. Small and cramped. Most of them lacked doors, letting any passerby see the heaps of busted furniture and useless paperwork sprawled about. But the very last one at the end of the hall was where Azumi was taken. The door was covered in old flyers for the shop and looked like it was bolted shut. The doorman pulled out a remote and hit a button on it.

A mechanical humming became audible. Starting faint and growing louder until its source came from the other side of the metal, where it stopped.

The door then slid up, revealing the elevator that it really was.

“This’ll take you down”, said the doorman.

“Thank you”, said Azumi with a hardly-noticeable smirk.

The man walked off to return to his post at the door.

Azumi stepped inside the car and pushed the button on the wall panel. The door slid back down and she began her descent.

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