Promoting the release of "Through My Eyes"

Hello, readers!  Okay, so I know I promised another chapter of "Blue Jeans Samurai" this month, but I found this worthy of it's own blog post.  Fear not, though; as soon as I can, I'll put up some more Blue Jeans.  Promise.

For now, I want to take this time to promote the long-awaited release of my new book, now available in e-book format for all Kindle devices: Through My Eyes!



Donald Pelowski is the average high school bookworm.  His family loves him, but he deals with bullies every day, and pines for the most popular girl in school, knowing his dreams will never become real.  Jessica Garrett, the love he seeks, is the most popular girl in school, but she is secretly tormented.  Her ex-boyfriend consistently harasses her, and her father abuses her at every available chance.  Two students in this school could not look any more different, but they have more in common than they realize.

Over time, the two become steady friends.  Whether it's getting back at their tormentors or dodging the rage of Jessica's father, the two stay strong together through their mutual comfort and understanding.  Could they have a chance to be more than just friends?  Is it possible for them to have a future together?

Only if they can see the world through one another's eyes.


THROUGH MY EYES, by J. A. George, now available on Kindle devices at Amazon.com!



Happy reading, faithful followers!  And have a happy Valentine's Day!!

Top Tens - Avengers fight sequences

And here's my second post of the month, just as I promised!  Happy reading, and (on an unrelated note) have a happy MLK Day!

TOP TENS: AVENGERS FIGHT SCENES

Welcome, readers! Here I am again, bringing you another article of my ten best. For this Top Ten retrospective, I present to you another example of the cinema; the difference this time, the countdown revolves around one specific movie from a series of successes that have been dominating the box office in recent years. This series: the Marvel Cinematic Universe!

Beginning with the unexpected smash hit, Iron Man in 2008, the MCU has had blockbuster after blockbuster for over six years, including The Incredible Hulk, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and Guardians of the Galaxy. Each has had it's degree of success, but altogether, the MCU has raised itself up to be the highest-grossing movie franchise in the United States (worldwide, however, Harry Potter is still king). And none of these movies have been quite as enormous or as acclaimed as the culmination of Marvel's first phase of superhero adventures, Marvel's The Avengers.

Featuring masterful performances from an ensemble cast, excellent character interactions, breathtaking visuals, and hard-hitting, brilliantly-crafted action sequences, The Avengers is, in this writer's opinion, nothing short of the greatest superhero movie ever made. I have enjoyed every Marvel movie I've seen thus far, but The Avengers has impressed me the most by far. With that said, in the spirit of the release of the upcoming Phase 2 finale, Avengers: Age of Ultron, and the initiation of Phase 3 with the release of Ant-Man, I have compiled a list of some of my favorite moments in The Avengers and listed them in ascending order of awesomeness.

Specifically, the fight sequences.

As we all know, with no conflict, there is no story. Therefore, the better the conflict, the better the story. The Avengers leaves no shortage of conflict throughout the story, whether it is between the heroes and the villains, among the heroes, inside any individual character, or if it's just Tony Stark “threatening” the Nordic god of mischief. Picking ten and putting them in order hasn't been easy, but it has been enjoyable, and I hope you get the same enjoyment in reading them.

10 – THOR VS. HULK

The two heavy-hitters on the roster clash twice in this movie, and both times have been in action-packed scenes that are a pleasure to watch. The first sees Bruce Banner going ballistic and unleashing the beast on board the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier, with anything and everything in his way suffering his wrath. In an attempt to quell the green behemoth, Thor takes it upon himself to battle the Hulk and restrain him as long as possible. At first, it's a bare-knuckle battle of wills in the hangar, but when reason (and bare fists) are useless for the Odinson, he summons his mighty hammer, Mjolnir, and the real battle begins. The Hulk's ferocious strength and invulnerability make him impossible for S.H.I.E.L.D. personnel, but one scene shows that not even the Incredible Hulk is worthy to lift the great hammer of Thor. The two duke it out for only a few minutes, and the fight is interrupted by the intervention of a hoverjet (which Banner's alter ego promptly turns his rampage towards and destroys—in midair), so there is no clear winner. But for such a short fight in such close quarters that ended in a draw, it was quite the brawl.

The second fight between the two was nothing more than a single punch. In that “fight”, Hulk is the clear winner.

9 – BLACK WIDOW VS. HAWKEYE

Two elite agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., one a genetically-amplified super spy and the other a master archer brainwashed by Loki, head-to-head in the underbelly of the Helicarrier—there's nothing finer in the realm of one-on-one man-to-(wo)man combat. After the Hulk's tantrum ends in him being sent flying out of the air in the wake of a jet explosion, Loki's corrupted men infiltrate the slowly-falling Helicarrier and raise Hell—which the Avengers must somehow stop. While Iron Man and Captain America are busy repairing the Helicarrier, and with Thor and Banner missing in action, Natasha Romanoff takes it upon herself to stop a corrupted Clint Barton in his tracks. The two demonstrate perfect armed and unarmed combat skill, with Widow disarming Hawkeye more than once and Hawkeye matching her move for move, the fight ends with a well-aimed punch in the face for Barton, knocking him cold and freeing his mind from Loki's control. This fight made my list because of its up-close-and-personal nature; Romanoff and Barton are close comrades-in-arms, as explained by Romanoff herself in an earlier scene (which I'll explain later). Their close relationship is reflected in the limited space between them during their skirmish; one scene shows them pressed so close together, the contact seems more appropriate for kissing than fighting. Overall, it's a well-made and symbolic scene with plenty of action.

Oh, to be Jeremy Renner in that scene . . . .

8 – CAPTAIN AMERICA VS. LOKI

This scene is an awesome bout between the pinnacle of human physicality and a godlike warlord with a grudge. While the semi-assembled Avengers try to pinpoint the location of the stolen Tesseract (a major plot point hinted at in Thor and made the center of Captain America: The First Avenger), S.H.I.E.L.D. sends Captain Steve Rogers to Germany to find and apprehend Loki. When the trickster god takes a group of hostages, Rogers steps in to protect them, backed up by Black Widow in a hoverjet. Loki makes the first move in attempting to destroy the jet, Cap retaliates with a well-aimed shield throw, and the battle gets underway. Cap is disarmed early on, but he doesn't let that stop him; he expertly fends off Loki's attacks with his bare hands. He even goes so far as to openly defy the Asgardian's command to kneel. But as strong as Rogers is, Loki keeps up with him, and even gets the upper hand—a split-second before possibly the greatest superhero entrance in the film, courtesy of Iron Man. When Stark arrives and issues an ultimatum, Loki surrenders, so his fight with Cap is inconclusive. Despite that, this is only one example of a battle between the products of science and sorcery, and though not the best (I'll explain why later), it is still a great example at that.

7 – TONY STARK VS. STEVE ROGERS

While not physical in any way, this confrontation deserved a spot on the list simply due to an overload of symbolism. Once the Avengers finally learn what Loki's plan is in being willingly incarcerated, the group attempts to relocate Banner to avoid any potential destructive outbursts from his alter ego. This leads to an argument between Banner, Thor, Rogers, Romanoff, Stark and Nick Fury over the severity of the situation and who is at fault. Rogers and Stark make things particularly personal; Rogers is unimpressed with Stark's brand of “superpowers”, and even less so with the “genius/billionaire/playboy/philanthropist”'s resume. And while Rogers refuses to believe that Stark is hero material, Stark is equally snide with Rogers' attempts to big himself up; as Stark outlines, Rogers was, at one point, a nobody before the super-soldier serum experiments. The argument between the two almost reaches a “schoolyard fight” low when Rogers challenges Stark to put on his armor for a fight. Right when it seems the tension between the two couldn't get any worse, Loki's brainwashed troops arrive, and the plot takes a turn for the worse, forcing Rogers and Stark to put a hold on their own fight and start working together. The argument between Stark and Rogers is symbolic in that each side represents a great point in two sides of history. Steve Rogers, a man from the past, comes from a time in which American heroes were respected, and justice, honor and righteousness were appraised, while Tony Stark, representing the future, has a take on life that is almost as cold and mechanical as the armor he wears—a reflection of his arrogance and self-serving demeanor. No two men could be any more different, and yet, when all is said and done, they band together to do what's right when the chips are down. Opponents in ideals, but comrades in conflict: an impressive and well-written character dynamic.

6 – BLACK WIDOW VS. LOKI

This is another fight that isn't truly classified as a “fight”, but the conflict here is just as strong, maybe even more than the last confrontation on this list. Stark and Rogers begin to believe that Loki is not the only problem they have; they are convinced that Nick Fury is hiding something, and are determined to find out what. Meanwhile, Loki is paid a visit in his cell by Natasha Romanoff, who makes the attempt to interrogate Loki and ascertain the location of the Tesseract—and Hawkeye. Loki is interested in the Black Widow's dark backstory, and she explains her past as a deadly mercenary whom Barton was sent to kill. When Barton instead reformed Romanoff and brought her to S.H.I.E.L.D., their bond began. Loki laughs off Romanoff's sentimentality, seeing her as pathetic for wanting to save Barton as a way of wiping out the “red in her ledger”, and insults her for working for dishonest people willing to murder. Loki gains the psychological upper hand by threatening to force Barton to kill Romanoff violently before Loki himself kills Barton (his appellation for Romanoff, “mewling quim”, is particularly degrading, as it is nothing more than antiquated misogyny). When Romanoff seems broken by Loki's threats, the trickster ends up tricked himself—he lets slip his intentions to use the Hulk to destroy S.H.I.E.L.D. from the inside. With all the information she needs, the Black Widow alerts the others and takes her leave, victorious. Not only is this fight impressive in its psychological nature alone, but it shows the Widow using her duplicitous nature to gain the upper hand over an opponent who doesn't even know he's been had. As powerful and intelligent as Loki is, his greatest weakness here was his arrogance and superiority, leading him to underestimate the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent and come out of this showdown in defeat.

She's good. Very good . . . .

5 – TONY STARK VS. LOKI

WARNING: contains spoilers.

The last verbal battle on this list is probably the best of all of them. With the Avengers scattered and broken after Phil Coulson's 'death', the time to rally together and stop Loki arrives when they find the Tesseract and the location in which Loki intends to begin his invasion. Stark repairs his badly-damaged armor and flies out to his own building, Stark Tower in New York, and is greeted by S.H.I.E.L.D.'s escaped prisoner, Loki. Removing the damaged armor, Stark confronts Loki and offers him a drink—and a set of verbal warnings. With Loki still confident that his inter-dimensional army, the Chitauri, will win him the world, Stark rebuts that the Avengers, “Earth's Mightiest Heroes”, will stop him. Stark accentuates his point with an impressive roll call—a demigod, a super soldier, a man with “breathtaking anger management issues”, and two assassins, all of whom are angry and out for blood. While Loki waves them off as inconsequential (“I have an army.”), Stark snaps back, equally unafraid (“We have a Hulk!”) The war of the words culminates into Loki attempting to use his scepter to manipulate Stark, only to find that it doesn't work—the scepter needs to be pressed against the victim's heart, but because of Stark's chest reactor, the scepter fails. Now angry at last, Loki grabs Stark by the throat and throws him out the window, unaware that Stark had been using his trash-talking as a distraction to prepare a new set of armor for battle. The armor follows Stark out of the top of the tower, equips to him and saves him from the fall, prompting a very brief second round between the tech genius and the god of mischief. Iron Man strikes back hard, but is forced to begin the battle against the arriving Chitauri. At the end of this distraction (which Stark still won, arguably), his return as Iron Man gave him another minor victory. A double-win for Shellhead, in words and in tech—but then, was there ever any doubt?

4 – BLACK WIDOW VS. RUSSIAN MILITARY

Joss Whedon himself states in the director's commentary for The Avengers that, long before this movie came out, he had been eager to write a fight scene involving one combatant tied to a chair. This dream became a reality early in the movie, directly after the title screen; the Black Widow is shown in the middle of a sticky situation involving the Russian military. With two-thirds of the dialogue in full Russian, it explains that Romanoff had infiltrated their midst, only to be given away by outdated information and captured. Tied to a chair and dangled over a two-story shaft, Romanoff is on the verge of having her tongue removed when the soldiers receive a phone call—for Romanoff. Once Coulson, on the other end of the line, threatens them into giving her the phone, Romanoff is reluctant to leave her mission just yet, until Coulson informs her of Barton's defection and the theft of the Tesseract. Bearing this in mind, Romanoff puts Coulson “on hold”, while she gets up and begins deftly beating her captors to a pulp while still tied to the chair. With a series of acrobatic movements that could only be described as what would happen if sex were made into a fight sequence, the Black Widow breaks the chair, frees herself, and single-handedly incapacitates the soldiers, suspending their leader upside-down over the shaft by attaching a chain to his foot. With that, she takes her phone and her shoes and walks away, as if from another mundane day at the office. The fast pace and brilliance of a captive in combat make this seemingly unnecessary scene spectacular and demonstrative of Widow's abilities as a superhero, a spy, and an all-around strong character.

That, and Scarlett Johansson in a low-cut black dress is always a plus . . .

3 – IRON MAN VS. THOR

As I said before, this movie has its share of bouts between human science and the world of sorcery—this fight sequence tops them all. After Loki's surrender in Germany, the jet he is escorted to the Helicarrier in is intercepted by Thor, who breaks in, takes Loki and attempts to interrogate him alone on a cliff. Just as Loki refuses to give the location of the Tesseract, Iron Man interrupts the family reunion, the two engage in mutual trash talking in a dark forest, and the fight begins. While Iron Man gains a few advantages at first, through his beam weapons and gaining power instead of damage from Thor's lightning, Thor counters with superior hand-to-hand combat skills and super-strength that is enough to crush Stark's armor. Both are capable fliers, both have energy projectiles, both have augmented physicality, and both are after the same guy (who is watching the whole thing from the cliff he was left at, with a smile). When Shellhead and the Odinson come close to a draw, the tie is imposed by the arrival of Captain America. Rogers breaks them up and attempts to reason with Thor, who retaliates by slamming Mjolnir down onto Cap's vibranium shield—which quickly proves to be a dumb idea. With that as the obvious signal for the end of the fight, it's sad to know that a clash of two great superheroes, possibly the best one-on-one fight sequence in the whole movie, was a push.

But you know something? It was one hell of a fight!

2 – AVENGERS VS. CHITAURI

WARNING: contains spoilers. 

This is the climax of the film, the moment we as comic book freaks had all been waiting for—the moment when Earth's Mightiest Heroes would take on legions of villains in an epic clash that spreads all over New York City. Iron Man is forced into combat against the arriving Chitauri after his tete-a-tete with Loki, and the device, powered by the Tesseract, that opened the portal between their world and ours, is protected and self-sustaining. In other words, there is nothing left to do but fight them off. Captain America, Hawkeye and the Black Widow take a S.H.I.E.L.D. jet to New York to repel the invaders, and they are shortly joined by Thor and Iron Man. Unable to quell the destruction that is already underway, Cap, Barton and Romanoff perform more rescue and containment than actual combat. And with Iron Man working on finding a weakness in an enormous wormlike carrier, it seems the invasion won't be stopped so easily. Once the group is united, though, is when Banner arrives from his unfortunate plunge, transforms, and stopped the large creature in its tracks with his bare hands. Stark finds a weakness, fires a few charges, and blows the creature in half. Now truly assembled at last, Bruce Banner, Tony Stark, Clint Barton, Thor Odinson, Natasha Romanoff, and Steve Rogers all prepare for war.

And Loki is only too eager to give it to them.

Cap begins making a plan—containment. He assigns Barton to a rooftop so he can keep his eagle eyes on the entire scene and make calls for the rest of the team. Stark is assigned to make a perimeter, and must reverse or stop the course of anything that gets too far out. Thor is tasked with slowing down any newcomers and reducing their numbers, and Rogers himself keeps Romanoff with him so that they may fight off any and all ground troops. Finally, the Hulk is basically allowed free reign to kill everything he sees—which he accomplishes magnificently.

Where climactic, large-scale battle sequences are concerned, there is nothing finer. Whether it's watching Black Widow hijack a Chitauri air bike, Hawkeye firing arrows into his targets without even aiming, Cap reflecting a laser beam from Iron Man and angling it into incoming enemies, or watching Thor and the Hulk break an enormous carrier creature in half with a large shard of wreckage, no fight sequence could top this monumental clash between good and evil. Even in scenes of desperation, where the Hulk is pinned down by cascades of enemy fire, Hawkeye runs out of arrows, or Cap is jettisoned out of a building by a bomb, the Avengers fight on and never give in. The fight approaches its end when S.H.I.E.L.D. high command deploys an unauthorized nuclear missile strike on New York. This is shortly after Black Widow learns from Dr. Erik Selvig that the machine comes with a failsafe; Loki's scepter is capable of bypassing the machine's defenses and shutting it down. Before they do, though, Iron Man has an idea of a better place for the nuke—the portal. Stark guides the missile away from Manhattan and through the hole, destroying the Chitauri invasion force and stopping their onslaught instantly. Once Shellhead makes it home safely, the heroes have a brief celebration (and plans for shwarma about two blocks away) before confronting Loki. To sum up the aftermath, Thor and Loki use the Tesseract to return home (where the latter awaits judgment for his crimes), Stark begins reconstruction of Stark Tower, S.H.I.E.L.D. addresses the security council's rather stupid decision to obliterate New York, and the so-called 'Avengers' are famous, and infamous, around the world—and if Fury had his way, around every world.

All in all, an incredible battle that led to a victory for the good guys. Nothing could make this movie any better, and no other fight sequence in the film—or in any of the Marvel films—could have been better.

Save for one . . . . .

1 – HULK VS. LOKI

It's not even a real fight. It wasn't meant to be a real fight. It didn't even last very long. But it is HILARIOUS! During the Chitauri invasion, Loki is blown off of his ride by an incoming incendiary arrow from Hawkeye, and lands back on Stark Tower. There, he is quite suddenly confronted by the beast he's been trying to manipulate since being placed in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s midst—the Hulk. The 'other guy' is eager to get his rage on, but Loki brazenly stands up to him, labeling him a “dull creature” who is beneath him. But just as Loki firmly decides not to allow himself to be bullied by the Hulk, the jolly green giant does just that—rather violently. He grabs Loki by the leg and slams him against the floor five times before dropping him, shocked, broken and squealing, amongst a pile of loose flooring. An ordinary man would surely have been reduced to pieces by such brutality, proving that Loki is indeed a god. This does not mean, however, that he is indestructible; the gamma-irradiated titan easily crushes the cocky trickster and walks away without much thought at all. Maybe next time, Loki will think more carefully before inviting the wrath of the Incredible Hulk.

“Puny god”, indeed . . .

There is one more fight I'd like to bring up before ending this countdown. It wasn't quite good enough to make my top ten, but it's still worthy of a mention in my book:

Honorable Mention

PHIL COULSON VS. LOKI

WARNING: contains spoilers. 

During Loki's siege on the Helicarrier, courtesy of his brainwashed minions, Loki makes good his escape from his prison cell. Thor, returning from his bout with the Hulk, goes to stop him, only to be tricked—once again—by Loki's illusions, and locked in the cage in Loki's place. Just before the trickster activates the cage's drop mechanism, Phil Coulson orders him (rather politely) to back away. In the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent's hands is a reverse-engineered weapon crafted from the remnants of the Destroyer automaton sent by Loki to kill his brother in Thor. Coulson admits that even he is unaware of its functions. Just before firing the weapon, however, Loki uses his illusory tactics once again to mortally stab Coulson from behind. That's when Loki drops the cage, sending an enraged Thor plummeting 30,000 feet down to Earth. When the Laufeyson leaves, Coulson confidently tells Loki through dying breaths that he will lose. When Loki struggles to find his liability, Coulson informs him of it: “You lack conviction.” Coulson then sends Loki off with a super-heated blast from his weapon, titillated at seeing what it actually does.

While Coulson's death scene is a stir for the emotions (Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. TV show puts a damper on those emotions pretty quickly), it also serves as the catalyst that brings the Avengers together. It even reached Iron Man in such a way that he refers to Coulson by his first name before confronting Loki (something he is averse to doing early on in the movie).

Thank you for joining me on this retrospective. It's been fun running down all of my favorite conflict-heavy moments in one of my favorite movies of all time. I know not everyone is a fan of the superhero genre, and not everyone has intimate knowledge of comic book characters (yeah, I'm a nerd, I get it), but my interests are something I like to share through my writing, and I hope to have caused interest to pique in others. Hopefully in time, too; with Thor: The Dark World and Guardians of the Galaxy knocking around, I'll have to track them down and watch them soon. The release of Avengers: Age of Ultron draws ever nearer!

Thank you again for your time, and for your eyes.

-- J. A. G.

Disney Villain Rater – Introduction / The Evil Queen

Hello, readers, and welcome to another new segment for the blog!  As I said in my last post, I may be making up for my lax posting dates by posting twice this month, so expect another one in a couple of weeks, at most.  Until then, happy reading!

Disney Villain Rater – Introduction

Hello again, readers! Today, I'd like to show you the fruits of my most recently completed project, one that I've been tinkering with for quite some time, now. Last year, I posted an article about my top favorite Disney movies. In that vein, I present to you readers a personality test of my own design: the Disney Villain Rater! (Patent pending.)

The title is self-explanatory: I will be evaluating the many Disney villains using a specific profiling system. I'll be rating the following traits on a scale of one to ten:

DESIGN – How the character looks and moves, body language, clothing, etc.

PERSONALITY – How the character thinks, acts, speaks, etc.

GOALS – What that character wants to have or do, and the intentions behind their goals.

AMBITION – How much the character wants, how far/low he/she is willing to go.

ABILITIES – What the character can do (magic, intellect, special skills, etc.).

HENCHMEN – Who works for him/her, their effectiveness and character significance.

DEFEAT – How the villain's quest ends (death, prison, reformation, etc.).

VOICE – The voice actor's vocal performance and celeb status.

I will then total the points and calculate the average, final score for the character. I will also award each character an extra three points to the final score if they were powerful enough (or popular enough) to return for another movie. Each article is done chronologically, so we shall begin with the first film in Walt Disney's full-length feature film continuum, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), as well as the first villain in Disney feature film history:

THE EVIL QUEEN (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs)

DESIGN –

For the design of the very first villain in Disney movie history, the animators certainly pulled no punches. The Queen is regal and dignified while maintaining a frightening imperiousness. Wearing the robes of a queen, carrying herself like royalty (even in a blind rage), and even staying disturbingly lovely in her own macabre way, the Queen is a truly menacing presence on screen.

Of course, one cannot forget her sudden, quite contrasting design change halfway into the film. In her desperation to kill Snow White, the Queen transforms herself into an ugly old woman to disguise her looks and finish the job herself. In some ways the witch design is even worse; her malicious intentions are made obvious through the look in her eyes alone. Any disguise that calls for “mummy dust”, “the black of night”, “an old hag's cackle” (fitting), and “a scream of fright”, and requires fanning with “a gust of wind” and mixing with “a thunderbolt” is the recipe for true terror.

To be fair, I'll be rating both designs. As I said, the witch disguise is worse in many ways, but it's the Queen's subtle, yet commanding appearance that makes her really scary. To that end, it is her first form that I'll be giving a higher score to.

DESIGN: 8 (Queen) / 7 (Witch)

PERSONALITY –

To go with her imperious design, the Queen's personality is just as deadly, in both forms. Her jealousy drives her to arrogance and cruelty, and because of her frequent consultations with her Magic Mirror, she is obviously a narcissist. This makes the arguable position that the Queen is a sociopath. In an ironic twist in relation to her design, she adopts an approachable, vulnerable mask in her witch design—which makes her “poor old granny” facade worse than her true form. This proves that she is also manipulative, another sign of sociopathy. That coupled with her lack of conscience, even joy, in killing an innocent woman (who is not only royalty herself, but also her own stepdaughter.), the Queen/Witch is quite a monster, despite her best efforts to be “the fairest one of all”.

PERSONALITY: 8

GOALS –

Sadly, the Queen's evaluation in this article falls short in this section. Her one goal throughout the entire film is to take back her position as the fairest in the land—by killing the titular character. This simple, petty, childish goal is a modern feminist's nightmare; a villain with so much command, ambition, ability and influence wanting nothing more than to be the prettiest girl. Sorry, but nothing to be feared here.

GOALS: 4

AMBITION –

In stark contrast to her high-school-level goals, the Queen is willing to commit murder to achieve them. This is right off the bat, as well, and after the opening “storybook” sequence tells us that her attempts to remain fairest in the land amounted to nothing more than hiding Snow White's loveliness under rags. Needless to say, going from covering up the second place up-and-comer straight to premeditated homicide is a huge leap in ambition. At first, she attempts murder by proxy, but her hired thug, the huntsman, chokes at the last minute. Realizing that the best way to accomplish something correctly is to apply one's own good self, she invokes dark arts to change her appearance to remain incognito. Not only does she successfully carry out the act (sort of) and flee, but she also attempts to kill all seven of the dwarfs as well. Her final scene is ambition gone berserk; she may as well have gone full psychopath in her last moments. Even though she has a ridiculous goal better suited for catwalk models and beauty pageant contestants, her ambition is what sets her apart, and makes her the dreaded antagonist she really is.

AMBITION: 8

ABILITIES –

Being a royal figurehead, the Queen's abilities should only be limited to her money and influence. But, as stated before, she is also manipulative and knows how to get people to do what she wants. All of these things alone make her a villainous force to be reckoned with, but as with many Disney villains, it's not quite enough. The Queen appears to have access to black magic; not only can she use it to change her appearance drastically, but she can also concoct a deadly poison that can be hidden in the most harmless-looking of foods—an apple. She is by no means limited in her ability, only in her creativity. Sadly, that's where she falls flat, as well. However, what she has, she takes full advantage of, and that is more than enough for a high score from me. Not too high, though . . . .

ABILITIES: 7

HENCHMEN –

Another area where the Evil Queen is sorely lacking: her hired help. She has one henchman in the huntsman whom she employs as Snow White's would-be assassin. He has two scenes in the film, six or seven lines altogether, and two jobs to accomplish on the Queen's behalf. He wastes these scenes and lines by not accomplishing either job: kill the princess and bring back her heart in a box. After the huntsman lets Snow White escape, it is heavily implied that he substituted the princess' heart with that of a pig, thereby not only disobeying the Queen, but defying her. After that, he is never seen or mentioned again. Aside from the Magic Mirror (which is neither given orders nor is seen carrying them out, only asked questions) and a crow (which serves as more of a point-of-view reference/weak comic relief than a henchman), this is all the Queen has to carry out her orders. The blundering fool, indeed . . . .

HENCHMEN: 4

DEFEAT –

How this villainess is defeated and her plot foiled is probably the simplest in all of Disney's films, or indeed, in any films: the surely-fatal drop from a significantly high area. However, considering the circumstances surrounding it, the “fatal drop” death scene has been spiced up quite a bit. After they find Snow White dead, the dwarfs chase the Witch to the top of a cliff in a rainstorm. In her bid to kill the dwarfs, the Witch attempts to crush them under a large rock; just before she succeeds, though, a lightning bolt shatters the cliff right out from under her feet, and the Witch plummets to her doom. As if that weren't enough, the rock she attempted to crush the dwarfs with rolls backwards, following her to the bottom of the cliff. The fatal plummet having been overdone in stories long before even Snow White, this certainly is an interesting twist on a classic ending; it was as if nature itself interfered with this psychopath's terror and ended her once and for all. What could seem like a shameless deus ex machina plays out as a chilling, maybe even overdone ending for a chilling villainess.

DEFEAT: 8

VOICE –

The Queen's voice, in both forms, is provided by Lucille La Verne, a stage and screen titan in her own time. In the early days of the industry, Walt Disney spared no expense to have only the best working for him, and this film proves it. La Verne's performance is commanding as the Queen and spine-tingling as the Witch, and the dextrous skill in convincingly providing both voices proves that she earned her reputation as one of the best in the business. The Disney Company as it was then was still in its prime when La Verne died in 1945, but I've got a good feeling that, were she alive today and able to see how so many movies (not just animated, not just Disney, but films of all kinds) took such inspiration from the legendary classic she was a part of, she would be proud.

VOICE: 9

Because there were no sequels to resurrect the Queen (appropriately so), no extra points will be added. As such, we now come to the final phase of the profile: the average score. Taking each individual number and determining the average, we can assess exactly how well the Queen has performed according to the outlined criteria.

COMBINED SCORE: 56 (Queen) / 55 (Witch)

FINAL SCORE: 7 (Queen) / 6.875 (Witch)

Overall, not a bad score for the very first villain in Disney's full-length feature catalogue. While her goals may be juvenile and her goons leave much room for improvement, everything else about the Queen is downright scary. Her imposing presence, her sociopathic behavior, her psychotic drive, and the resources at her disposal leave for little need of the imagination. Fear and duplicity are the Queen's main weapons, and with a villain that dangerous, it's safe to say that her death wasn't quite 'overkill' as much as 'well-deserved'. And with the haunting vocals of character actress legend Lucille La Verne, Snow White's Evil Queen is certainly a villain intent on her own 'happily ever after'.

Thanks for joining me on this rather interesting character profile. Because the next film in Disney chronology is 1940's Pinocchio, there will actually be three villainous profiles to calculate with this test. I hope you'll be willing to join me again for that.

Thank you again for your time, and for your eyes.

Blue Jeans Samurai #6

Yes!  It's true!  Blue Jeans Samurai #6 is HERE!  I know, it's a belated Christmas miracle!

I may make two posts after the New Year, just to make up for so much lost time.  Anyway, thank you all for being patient, and as always, you have been rewarded.  Happy reading!

Blue Jeans Samurai

#6 – Rescue Mission! Tension between BJ and Pleats!

救出作戦！ プリーツとBJの間に緊張！

The Pistol had managed to wriggle and struggle just enough to shake off his gag, and had been screaming nonstop until just before his captors rejoined him. Once the Uradana no Kunoichi had reentered the room, he'd gone white as a ghost, and his screaming ceased instantly.

He was not, however, completely without words. “You . . .” he tried to speak in a deep, defiant tone that was betrayed by his blanched skin, “. . . you crazy bitches can't keep me here . . . . I am an agent of FIRENIGHT . . . . . I'll see that the government has you all executed by firing squad . . .”

Cashmere stepped forward and slammed her hand down on the back of the Pistol's chair. “Your idle threats mean nothing!” she barked, making him go even whiter, “If you truly value your life, you'll tell us what we want to know, instead of making promises you can't keep!”

“Easy, Cashmere,” Pleats ordered, “Your words are just as much a bluff as his are.”

Blue Jeans and Twang stood off to one side, silently observing as the kunoichi interrogated their 'guest'. Finally, Twang spoke up, “What is this bullshit even about? What's so special about this Pistol? What do you want from him?”

“Watch your mouth, little worm!” Damask growled, kunai at the ready, “You speak when spoken to! Until then, keep your tongue inside your head!”

Twang backed up a step, but was not intimidated. “. . . . Yeah, I'll keep my foot inside your skinny ass . . .” he muttered.

“What was that?” Damask challenged rather than asked, a line of kunai laced between her fingers, “What was that?!”

“Stand down, Damask!” Pleats commanded, “Our enemy is here, not there.” She then turned to address Twang, “And as for you, you'd best do as she says. All you need to know is that this Pistol holds the location of our sister. Either he talks, or she dies.”

Taffeta then stepped up to the captive Pistol, jumped into his lap, and smiled sweetly, “Please, Mr. Pistol-Man? All ya hafta do is tell us where she is! S'not that hard, really!” She kicked her tiny legs and batted her unusually large eyes. Blue Jeans couldn't help but admit that, were it not a government agent tied to that chair, Taffeta's methods of appeal might have worked.

The Pistol merely scoffed and turned his head away, “Like I said before. Your fellow terrorist is scheduled for execution.”

Taffeta, confronted with her failure, jumped off the Pistol's lap and pouted, “Hmph! Jerk!” She then turned to address Pleats, “Sensei! Can I kill this meanie? Pleeeeeeeease?”

“He has not given us the information we want,” Pleats reminded, “You'll just have to wait.” At this, Taffeta stamped her foot and pouted some more.

“So, all you need from him is your comrade's location?” Blue Jeans asked calmly, “Why go to a normal Pistol officer for that? Wouldn't a higher-ranked soldier have the information you seek?”

Angora answered softly, yet with slight condescension, “All Pistols know the locations of execution platforms. It made no difference to us who we interrogated.”

“Yes,” Blue Jeans began in agreement, “But he says she will be executed. He implies his knowledge that it hasn't happened yet. This means, of course, that unless she's been executed within the last twenty-four hours, she is still alive somewhere, and they would thus be holding her somewhere until her execution, most likely a detention facility. Those locations are only known to high-ranking Pistol officers. He's not talking because he doesn't know.”

At this, Twang smugly looked at the kunoichi and crossed his arms in a gesture of superiority, “Yeah! What you got? What you got? Nothing!”

Damask spun a kunai on one finger, “Keep it up, dangler, or you won't be dangling much longer.” Twang looked at her as if she'd turned as green as her uniform, but Damask spoke no more as she pointed her knife at Twang's crotch. In response to this, Twang was equally silent.

“That makes no sense,” Pleats replied to Blue Jeans' theory, “Why would they hold her if she's to be executed anyway?”

Blue Jeans stroked his chin in thought, “Most likely to get more information about you. It would make sense to learn more about the rest of the army from a single kidnapped soldier. You would all know that.” He gestured to the Uradana no Kunoichi's own kidnapped soldier.

“Exactly why it makes no sense,” Cashmere said gruffly, “Our captured sister, Velvet, is the spy of our group. She has taken a vow of silence, so that she avoids detection by never being heard. She never speaks, never makes a sound whatsoever.”

Twang looked at her in much the same way he'd looked at Damask moments earlier, “Then how the hell does she tell you what she's spyin' on?”

“That shouldn't concern you,” Angora muttered, “The important thing is getting our sister back safely.”

“It's no use!” the Pistol laughed as he sat strapped to his seat, “If she doesn't talk, she's as good as executed. And it'll only be a matter of time before you all join her!”

“Enough!” Cashmere yelled, throwing a shuriken into the back of the Pistol's chair, inches away from hitting him in the face, “If you don't talk, you can expect to suffer the same fate!” The Pistol merely grinned defiantly and remained silent.

Cashmere fumed and turned back toward Pleats. “He won't speak, Sensei,” she growled, “Surely we haven't run out of methods to persuade him?”

Pleats sighed wearily, “Nothing that won't kill him before he talks. We'll need another approach, and fast. Time is of the essence.”

Blue Jeans sighed as well, then blinked suddenly in realization. “He seems to put a lot of faith in his government,” he observed, then addressed Pleats directly, “May I?”

Reluctantly, Pleats gestured for him to proceed, “Remember, we need him alive.”

Blue Jeans nodded and stepped forward, eying the Pistol up and down. The Pistol stared right back, only half his height while seated, the look in his eyes daring Blue Jeans to make a move. Finally, Blue Jeans pulled his sword from its sheath and swung it, cutting the ropes that held his arms to the armrests. He did the same to the ropes binding his legs to the legs of the chair. “There,” he said simply, “You're free to go.”

“WHAT?!” Cashmere screamed, “Unbelievable! How dare you free our prisoner! How dare you jeopardize our—?” She stopped after Pleats held up a hand, the gesture commanding her to cease.

The Pistol stood uneasily, rubbing his red, indented wrists. “Just like that?” he said, now eying Blue Jeans with caution rather than defiance, “You'd release me after they've been keeping me for almost an entire day? What's your game?”

Blue Jeans' expression was blank, but his sword remained bared. “There is no game,” he replied, his tone still steady, “Only a promise: if you give us the information we desire, you can go free. If not, you can go free. But know this: if you leave this room without talking, you will know no security for the last, scant traces of your life. Your troops won't save you. Your government won't save you. Not even your Grand Commander will save you from what I do to you when I find you. I have killed more people in my life than you've ever met in yours. I can cause pain the likes of which men like you have only experienced in your worst nightmares. If you leave here without telling us what we want to know, death will be sweet as candy after I'm through with you.”

The Pistol's look of caution steadily worsened, but blended awkwardly with a look of skepticism. “What makes you think I'd believe you?” he snapped back half-courageously.

Blue Jeans took the DataPane from his back pocket with his free hand, activated it, and showed it to the Pistol. Displayed on the screen was the ex-owner's information on Blue Jeans, complete with his designation as an Omega-Red level threat to the government.

The Pistol needed only to see that single line, and his face suddenly went white. “Wh- . . . wh- . . . what . . .?” he stuttered, his voice finally displaying true fear, “I-i-it's . . . . . it's . . . it's you . . . . .”

“As I said,” Blue Jeans said, keeping the screen held up on display, the image and text mirrored from his point of view, “You have two choices. Either leave now and defy an Omega-Red level threat, one with the ability to cause unimaginable suffering to you and your government, or tell us where your captive is, and never see or hear from me again. It's your decision.”

The Pistol made no move to leave the room. He made no moves whatsoever. He simply stood where he was, sweating, shaking, and staring at Blue Jeans in uncontested fear. The kunoichi each became more restless, but one look to each from Pleats steadied them and postponed any potential action. The silence dragged on, soon making even Blue Jeans feel uncomfortable (he consciously forced himself not to show it). The Pistol glanced around between Blue Jeans, Twang, Pleats, her ninja, and the door, eyes wide like those of a trapped animal. His shaking was now not only visible, but worrying even in the minds of his captors.

SHING!

“AHHHHH!” the Pistol screamed as the shuriken struck the floor at his feet, “All right, all right! I'll talk! I'll talk! Pistol troop regulations state that a prisoner can only be held for surveillance and interrogation for up to five days, unless they give us information. After that, they must be sent to a secret execution point in the DDZs for termination.”

Blue Jeans and Pleats glanced at one another. “Velvet was discovered and captured two nights before we first met,” she recounted, “If he's right, then they mean to execute her tomorrow night!”

Twang then moved in close, bow at the ready and arrow pulled back, “Spill it, jack! Where's the execution point!”

The Pistol sang like a diva, “If she was captured in government-owned territory, it means she'll be executed in DDZ-105-118-3893! The locals call it Stoneford!”

Now, it was Twang with whom Blue Jeans exchanged glances. Blue Jeans remembered Twang talking about a powerful axe-wielding warrior who lived in Stoneford. The circumstances could not have been more fortuitous; this meant that Blue Jeans, Twang, and the Uradana no Kunoichi could rescue their captured comrade and recruit the axe warrior in a single stroke.

If they were lucky.

“Address! Now!” Twang continued ordering, pulling back harder on his arrow and making the bowstring creak.

The Pistol's legs began visibly wobbling, “4623 West Granite Street, in the I-District! Now, please! Please let me go!”

Blue Jeans drew the length of his sword along the top of its sheath and re-cased it. “Many thanks, friend,” he said, the simplicity of his voice never changing, “You've been extremely helpful.” He then took one long sidestep, clearing the Pistol's path, “As promised, you may leave, and we will not pursue you. Take me up on that offer before I rescind it.”

The Pistol blinked his widened eyes several times, as if he hardly believed what he heard. Taking a step or two at a time, his eyes switched back and forth amongst his captors quickly, as if making sure they would be true to Blue Jeans' words. He reached the door of the back room and slowly opened it, still keeping his shifty gaze on the swordsman, the archer and the five ninja. As soon as the door was wide enough, though, he took off like a shot for the front door, screaming like a madman, “I HAVE TO WARN THEM! THE GRAND COMMANDER! FIRENIGHT IS IN GRAVE DANGER! I MUST WARN—” His words were cut off when he suddenly seized up on the spot, freezing in place just a couple of feet away from the front door. His limbs convulsed, he released a choked cry, and he dropped to the floor face-first. Only occasionally moving, the Pistol no longer made his mad attempt to flee.

Blue Jeans and Twang stared in disturbed disgust at the slowly weakening body of the Pistol and his effortlessly enacted demise. They both turned to Pleats, but only Twang spoke what they both thought, “And what the hell was that?!”

Pleats shook her head, “I threw the shuriken that scared him into talking, nothing more.” Blue Jeans, Twang and Pleats then paused for a moment, each seeming to come to the same conclusion, and turned to Taffeta. She was staring at the ceiling and rocking back and forth where she stood, knees pointed inwards and hands behind her back. A distinctly irritated Pleats cleared her throat loudly.

Taffeta looked at her with that same look of innocence on her face. “What?” she said with immature indignity, “I didn't do nothin'!” She held up her arms and shrugged, and clasped in her right hand was her blowgun. She quickly glanced at it and threw her hands behind her back again, eyes on the ceiling and a blush rising up on her cheeks.

The other ninja sighed along with their leader, and from there, Pleats explained, “Taffeta laces her blowgun projectiles with a special fast-acting neurotoxin. It attacks the nervous system and shuts down all balance and movement in the limbs. The nerves then flare up and break down quickly, then it attacks the brain and shuts it down entirely. It's a very quick, yet very painful way to die . . .”

At this, Blue Jeans held back a shudder, and behind him, Twang sighed softly, shaking his head, “Damn . . .”

Changing the subject, Angora spoke up, “How did you get him to talk so easily, swordsman? We'd been at him for nearly twenty-four hours and haven't so much as gleaned a speck of information.”

“I told you,” Blue Jeans replied, “The government has its reasons for killing me. Highly important reasons. Reasons that, if it would scare a lowly Pistol into telling everything he knows, would surely scare the Grand Commander at least marginally, and at most, to death.” He then rested a reassured hand on the sheath of his sword, “This means we cannot waste any time. If your comrade is scheduled for termination tomorrow night, we have to prepare and make all haste to Stoneford. As it happens, Twang and I already have business there, so when our mission is successful, it will be that much easier for us to—”

“Hold it,” Pleats stopped him, “We have made no promises to you as of yet. We will not hold up our end of the bargain until Velvet is home safely.”

Blue Jeans had admittedly seen this coming, but did not look forward to it. “Pleats, please,” he began, “I understand your fellow warrior is in danger. But my cause is of the utmost importance. FIRENIGHT means to kill me over something potentially destructive on a global scale. This is not just for my sake, but for the sake of the future, and FIRENIGHT's grasp over it.”

“I won't hear another word about it,” Pleats replied firmly, “Not until Velvet has been freed. You are in no position to appeal to me right now, having trespassed, eavesdropped, and taken liberties with our hostage. Your actions could just as easily have hurt us as helped us.”

Blue Jeans sighed wearily before answering, “Pleats, I can sympathize with your plight, but—”

“Excuse me?” Pleats retorted, as if Blue Jeans had just disrespected her, “You 'sympathize' with us? How dare you! No member of the Uradana no Kunoichi requires male sympathy! If anything, you two are the ones who are receiving sympathy, and without it, you'd be dead!”

“Pleats, don't be unreasonable!” Blue Jeans responded defensively, “I have no problem discussing my business at a later time, but if you want your friend to live, we have to be able to work together!”

“Wrong again, swordsman!” Pleats bit back, “I've kept you alive for your assistance, not an alliance! You've proven you are combat-savvy, but nothing else matters until you prove you can be trusted. This means that you will take orders when given them, you will act based on my will, and if you present yourself as unnecessary, defiant or incompetent, you risk my sister's life, and signal the end of your own!”

Blue Jeans gave another weary sigh, but offered no argument. “Fine,” he resigned, “You're right. We've done nothing to earn your trust. Twang and I will do our best to make sure Velvet is released. But you must understand that a battle is won, not by one greater commanding all of the lesser, but by equals.”

Pleats was silent for a time, but her black eyes were blazing. “We leave for Stoneford in the morning,” she said with some finality, “We'll have equipment prepared for you to use by then. Get some rest.”

Twang, like the kunoichi, had been awed into silence by the exchange between Blue Jeans and Pleats, but as usual, he shook it off the soonest. “Uh, so . . .” he began tentatively, “whe-where're we gon' sleep?”

Pleats stared daggers at him, “You both sleep on the roof. I'll have no man sleep under the same cover as my sisters and me. Now leave us, and be ready to travel by morning!” And with that, she turned and exited, her dignified stride detracted only by the dainty movement of her pleated skirt.

Angora followed suit with a quick nod. “Good night, gentlemen,” she said before leaving, with a tinge of humor, no doubt at the fact that the two men would be sharing the same sleeping quarters. Damask merely stared at them bitterly, scoffed, then followed Angora out the door.

Cashmere was next, her face expressing more disgust than hostility, “What Sensei sees in you, I'll never know.” She trudged out the door, keeping her eyes on them as long as possible until she was gone.

Taffeta, however, raced to Twang and gave him a squeezing hug around his waist. “Good night, cutie!” she said delightedly, “Kill ya in the morning!” She then turned around and skipped out the door like a carefree schoolgirl.

Blue Jeans and Twang stood in silence for a while after their unusual company departed. Finally, in a rare moment, Blue Jeans turned toward Twang and said with a grin, “That young Taffeta seems to be quite attracted to you, my friend.”

Twang looked back at him skeptically, “You gon' do this, ain't you? After what I seen between you and Pleats, you ain't got nothin' to say to me.”

Blue Jeans was taken aback by this subtle accusation, but let it pass him by, “From any woman, I'd much prefer a hug over an argument. Wouldn't you agree, Twang?” He continued his sly grin.

Twang looked back with a scowl, “Fuck you, man . . . .”

* * * * *

The procession of Pistols marched through the streets of Stoneford's I-District in the dead of night, two lines of ten on either side. Between them, their prisoner, a young woman in a dark blue ninja uniform and matching tight miniskirt, walked solemnly while staring at the road. Her long, perfectly straight hair was dyed blue to match her uniform, and her eyes shone with an abstract sort of sadness, as if this ending were bittersweet for her somehow. The shackles binding her legs made her stride short and confined, and the heavy chains that held her arms weighed them down behind her. She looked as though she were in enough pain to look forward to her impending death.

Far above the street, six shadows lurked across the rooftops.

Blue Jeans studied the situation, hand firmly gripped on the handle of his sword. “The Pistol spoke the truth,” he confirmed, “They're headed for West Granite Street right now.”

“We can see that,” Cashmere snapped from behind him, “So just keep moving. If your legs are as slow as your mind, we'll lose them!”

Twang glared at her and bit back in an insulted tone, “We can leave right now and let her die, you know. You want that?”

Angora answered in a near-inaudible whisper, “About as much as you want to die.”

“Quiet, all of you!” Pleats hissed, then studied the procession as they moved, “All right . . . . . if they keep on Pumice Avenue and take the next turn on West Granite, it'll take five minutes to get to the building. Once there, we make the first move.”

“What's the first move?” Blue Jeans asked, “It'll be difficult to fight our way through the building if we don't know what floor they've taken her to, and we're not even sure how many men are in there.”

“Simple,” Pleats responded, “You'll find that Damask is not with us. She is masquerading as one of the Pistol soldiers you see marching in the street as we speak.”

“Then why doesn't she let her know she's there?” Twang asked, “And why don't we just bust in there, kick some ass, grab her and run?”

“You men truly are fools!” Cashmere said acidly, “If we alert Velvet to our presence, her behavior changes, however small they may be, might tip off her captors! For that matter, an attack like that will risk getting Velvet killed before we've freed her, and even if we do escape with her, the Pistols at the execution point will know something's wrong if their prisoner doesn't show up! Your asinine plan will get someone killed, and the rest of us hunted like dogs!”

Twang growled back, “You mean 'hunted like bitches' . . .”

“Twang, steady,” Blue Jeans calmed him, then mapped out the plan for himself, “So, we wait until they've taken her inside, find the floor she's on, then begin felling the troops until there are no witnesses. It will take them much longer to realize their prisoner is gone if there's no one to report back.”

“Exactly,” Pleats confirmed, “Now, let's move! They're almost at the corner!”

The six of them resumed tracking the procession down Pumice Avenue, staying atop the roofs and crossing streets using Twang's new grappling line arrows (lent to him by the Uradana no Kunoichi). The procession finally turned onto West Granite Street, and the group turned accordingly; they dared not take their attention off the marching Pistols until, at last, the procession began to split up at the front of a building at the very address given to them: 4623. Four Pistols marched their prisoner inside through the front door, while the remaining six were joined by another group of troops, and the men stationed outside began acting as sentinels, keeping watch with their weapons at the ready.

Twang looked up over the lip of the roof the group had stopped on, counting the number of Pistols outside the building. He turned back and reported, “Looks like there's about twelve guys altogether. We can take 'em by surprise real easy!”

“Don't be a fool!” Pleats chastened him, “If they know we're coming, they'll kill her sooner!”

Blue Jeans completed her thought for her, “Whereas if they only think we're coming, they'll wait until necessary preventative measures are taken.”

“Very good,” Cashmere said sarcastically, “Perhaps you're not as dumb as your sex presents you to be.”

“Quiet!” Pleats hissed again, then she scanned the face of the building for something. Time seemed to run much slower as she did this, but still she waited, and her ninja, Blue Jeans and Twang waited with her. Finally, they all saw what she had been waiting for: a bright pinprick of light flashed twice from a window on the top floor.

“That's Damask's signal,” Pleats explained, “Velvet has been taken to the top floor. This is where we act.” She turned to her youngest ninja, “Taffeta, you will take out one of the Pistol guards with your fukiya. Only one. Understood?”

Taffeta grinned and squealed in delight, “Yaaaaaaay!”

Pleats continued, “When he falls, Damask will alert the firing squad to the fallen officer. When that happens, they will send guards from the inside of the building out to investigate. When they do, we strike. When all of us have cut the guards down to a number one of us can handle, we leave Cashmere to finish them while the rest of us move in. We repeat the process on each floor unless there are too few to worry about. Meanwhile, Damask will stall and obstruct the firing squad, free Velvet, and they will meet us on the way down.” Finally, she turned back to Twang, “You stay on the roof and act as a sniper with Taffeta.”

“EEEEEEEEEEEE!” Taffeta shrieked, not entirely quietly, and hugged Twang yet again, “Our first date! We're gonna have so much fun!” Twang could do nothing but scowl, as if he were plotting his revenge on Pleats at that very moment.

“Wait for the next signal,” Pleats ordered, and the group waited, all staring at the same window at the same time. Only a few seconds went by, and the tiny flash of light went off again.

Pleats turned to Taffeta and nodded her head, and Taffeta carefully loaded her blowgun with one of her toxic needles, stuck it in her mouth, aimed, and blew. Two seconds later, one of the Pistols, the one closest to the door, seized up and dropped to his knees. Pleats held up a hand to steady the group, and a few seconds later, ten more Pistols came out to investigate: three from the left side entrance, three from the right side, and four from the front.

There was another quick flash of light from the same top floor window, and Pleats reacted, “That means the plan is working. Let's move!”

On her command, Cashmere launched a kunai at a nearby streetlamp, the only source of light on the block. Twang then fired another arrow with an attached line, and Pleats, Blue Jeans, Cashmere and Angora slid down the line and into the street. The siege had begun.

Blue Jeans pulled his sword and strained his eyes for movement; he had trained himself to see better than normal in the dark, and had assumed the ninja could do the same. The Pistols all activated flashlight attachments on their service weapons, and one Pistol used it to spot Blue Jeans. He aimed his weapon, but Blue Jeans slashed it out of his hands and cut the Pistol across the chest with another strike in the opposite direction. He turned to see another pair of Pistols groaning in pain; their hands had been struck by one of Twang's arrows, making them drop their guns. A horizontal slash brought both down at once. Blue Jeans saw a fourth Pistol aiming at the roof, seeming to have found their mystery snipers. Blue Jeans launched a powerful downward slash that severed both Pistol's hands, then slashed his throat before he could scream.

Pleats stabbed two Pistols from behind with both of her short swords and sent two kunai into the chest of a third, and Cashmere charged two more, skewering them both on her bisento. Angora used her kusarigama's sickle end to disarm her opponents first, sent her shuriken and kunai to finish the job on another two, and strangled another one to death with her chain. Finally, when another four had been killed from above (two by Twang's arrows and two by Taffeta's needles), Pleats made the command, “Phase Two! Go!”

Cashmere stood by the entrance, allowing Pleats, Blue Jeans, and Angora to go in and keeping the remaining five Pistols from following before their deaths. Inside, the building resembled a vast warehouse, and the first floor appeared musty, decrepit, and deserted, so the remaining group scaled the stairs with swift, quiet feet. The second floor yielded five guards, and all saw the intruders the second they arrived. Pleats and Angora quickly disarmed them, both with their kunai and Angora with her chain, and Blue Jeans and Pleats quickly slew them all.

Pleats looked out the window toward Taffeta and Twang's position, and saw another flashing light, similar to Damask's. “Taffeta has word that the firing squad is down,” Pleats interpreted the signal, “Velvet is safe. Keep moving!” The group moved up to the third floor, and found a great deal many more Pistols, about twenty total.

Many of the same tactics were repeated by Blue Jeans and the kunoichi; Pleats and Angora disarmed the Pistols first, and the trio proceeded to slay the Pistols one by one before they could re-arm themselves. Blue Jeans slashed through two Pistols at once with one long horizontal slash, jumped forward and cut down another behind them, then jammed the point of his blade past his hip and into the chest of another, incoming Pistol, killing him without even seeing him.

The number of Pistols was quickly reduced from twenty to five, and Pleats gave the next command, “Phase Three! Go!” With that, Blue Jeans and Pleats raced up the stairs, while Angora finished the hordes on the third floor.

On their way up, Blue Jeans could not help but sense something unusual. “Something isn't right,” he spoke up about it, “You said Velvet was free. This should mean that she and Damask should've joined us by now. What could be keeping them?”

“You skirt the line of defiance, swordsman,” Pleats warned, “Don't presume to question my sisters' abilities.” The two finally got to the fourth floor, and froze in shock; the bodies of seven Pistol troops lay strewn all over the floor.

“What . . . ?” Blue Jeans nearly whispered it, his eyes wide with awe as they fell upon body after bleeding body, “How . . . . who could've done this . . . ?”

“As I said,” Pleats shook off the surprise much sooner, “My sisters are not to be underestimated. Now, let's keep moving!”

“Wait!” Blue Jeans tried to stop her, and ran after her when he couldn't, “These are not blade injuries! There's no evidence of a ninja attack! There are no sword slashes, no knives, and no shuriken! It's as if they'd all been killed by—”

They'd reached the fifth and final floor by this time, and a similar sight lay before them. In a line on one side of the room, the Pistol firing squad lay still and drenched in blood. All six of them—including Damask, whose wild blonde mane had been shaken out—sported the glassy, blank eyes of death.

“Damask . . . .” Pleats mumbled, her voice sporting true emotion for the first time since Blue Jeans had met her, “. . . . no . . . . .”

“We meet again, ghetto trash.”

Blue Jeans instantly recognized the voice, and turned toward the shadowy corner from whence it came, sword at the ready. Stepping out from the shadows was Velvet, arms bound behind her and a gun pushed into her head by a new captor.

Smith Wesson.

“I knew I'd find you with them,” he grinned, his wicked gaze and superior smile moving the scar over his eye, “Word on the street was you'd been hunting for these witches, no doubt to build up your own little army against our good government. When I'd remembered we'd already captured one of them, I figured they would try to rescue her, so I waited here for them to show so I could get them to tell me where you were. What a surprise to know I'd get to see you sooner than expected!”

Blue Jeans' shock continued to grow and spread like wildfire. He thought back to the dead Pistols on the floor below, and realized that his earlier hypothesis had been correct; they'd all been killed by gunshots. “You did this,” he finally said, “You killed them just to get to me. You slaughtered your own men—”

“They WERE my own men!” Wesson bellowed, his gun shaky in his hand, “And until you came along, they would obey my every command! Now, they'd easily kill me for treason, just as they would you! I've lost my rank, my reputation, and my freedom, and it's all because of YOU!” He then glanced at his hostage, and his grin returned, “But when I bring your body, and the bodies of your friends, before the Grand Commander, I get my old life back. He won't be able to resist reinstating the man who saved the world!” He cocked the hammer of his weapon and pushed it harder against Velvet's temple, “Drop your weapons, or she dies. Now!”

Pleats' fists were clenched tightly over her swords, and shook with her growing fury. “You . . .” she growled, the smoothness of her voice completely extinguished, “You killed Damask . . . . you endanger my sister over some foolish vendetta . . . . I will rip your spine from your body!”

“NO!” Blue Jeans shouted, grasping her shoulder, “Don't be a fool, Pleats! One wrong move, and Velvet dies! I've seen him do this before!”

“Unhand me!” Pleats spat back, roughly jerking her shoulder away, “I told you to act according to my will! If I say he will die, then he will die!”

“Enough blood has been spilled tonight!” Blue Jeans replied desperately, “If you rush in, you will both die. I won't have your blood on his hands, or on mine!”

Pleats' black eyes burned, and she slowly raised one sword, pointing it between Blue Jeans' eyes. “If you continue to interfere,” she warned, her voice as much an inferno as her gaze, “I will kill you without a second thought. I don't care whose son you are!”

The argument was cut short by the firing of Wesson's gun into the ceiling, causing a mist of plaster and mason to fall. “I won't wait forever, my street-dwelling friends!” Wesson taunted, pressing his gun back to Velvet's temple “How many of you will sport bullet holes before the night is over?!”

Blue Jeans simply stared back at Pleats and sighed, his determined gaze hiding his growing fury. He then slowly knelt down and set his sword on the ground, pointed toward Wesson. He hoped Wesson wouldn't notice the sword's direction; he had a plan, but it would require careful precision and timing—something that the current situation placed monumental stress on.

“Release them, and you can have me,” he said to Wesson, “They are not a part of this. Keep it that way.”

Wesson's grin widened, “All in good time, my slimy friend.” He then turned to Pleats, “You next, my dear. Or will your friend suffer from your mistakes?”

Pleats glanced from Blue Jeans, to Wesson, to Damask's body, then back to Wesson again. Still staring furiously at Wesson, she slowly knelt down, much slower than Blue Jeans had been, and placed her weapons on the floor.

As she rose back up, Wesson's eyes glinted victoriously. “Excellent choice, my friends,” he said giddily, then turned his attention to Velvet, “See that? Know that your friends made the right decision . . . before you die!”

SHING!

A second before Blue Jeans acted, a kunai struck the ceiling above Wesson, and he quickly glanced around, aiming his gun at whatever dared to sneak up on him. Blue Jeans seized the opportunity and enacted his plan; he kicked the hilt of his sword, sending the blade flying into Wesson's leg.

“GAAAAH!” Wesson screamed as his balance wavered and his leg bled, and his arms flailed as he attempted to regain his balance. The gun went off in his hand and struck the ceiling again, but this was the final straw for the old building; another, much larger rain of plaster, paint, wood and masonry tumbled down and struck Wesson, injuring and blinding him.

Velvet slipped out of Wesson's grasp, pulled a horde of kunai from her own uniform, and sent them flying into the nearest window, shattering the glass and creating an escape. Gesturing her head for Pleats and Blue Jeans to follow, she raced to the window, produced a grappling hook, and dove out, hooking the device to the windowpane on her way out.

Blue Jeans glanced at Pleats, and found her slinging Damask's arm around her own shoulders; Damask appeared to be alive, but very weak. “Go!” Blue Jeans shouted, “I'm right behind you!” Pleats carried Damask to the window, and Blue Jeans quickly raced toward Wesson, grabbing his sword. He saw the former Pistol leader reach for his dropped weapon, and stamped his bare foot down on Wesson's arm.

Blue Jeans pointed his sword at Wesson as he struggled and cried out in pain. “I let you live once as a warning,” he said, his voice dangerously low, “I let you live now as a lesson. Threaten my friends again, and you will know no mercy.” Blue Jeans then swept his blade down, just barely missing his own foot, but severing Wesson's right hand. Leaving the former general half-blind, bleeding, and screaming, Blue Jeans re-sheathed his sword, ran for the window and jumped, grabbing the line and sliding all the way down.

* * * * *

“You are lucky I don't gut you here and now!!” Pleats screamed with rage once the group had reunited in an abandoned building in Stoneford's S-District, “My explicit orders were to kill that freak, and now you tell me you've left him alive?!”

She and Blue Jeans stood in a ground floor room with Twang, Cashmere and Taffeta. Velvet, safe and unharmed, was in the basement helping Angora treat Damask's wounds; after giving Velvet her weapons and grappling hook, she'd been shot in the shoulder by Wesson, and had cleverly faked her death in order to facilitate their escape. Despite their success, though, Pleats' expression was less than celebratory when she'd been informed of their attacker, his origins, his purposes, and his state of being when Blue Jeans left.

Blue Jeans' expression was unmoved, “There is nothing to be gained by screaming. He will threaten us again at his own peril. That is, if he can with just one hand.”

“That is no excuse!” Pleats retaliated, “You defied my command after promising you would follow it! I warned you that this direct insubordination was punishable by death! And to think you actually left that psychopath alive after he'd threatened my sisters! Only a man would have done something so pathetically halfhearted—”

“Enough of your gender bias nonsense!” Blue Jeans finally roared, “Smith Wesson is a deceitful scourge, and whether we had surrendered or not, he would have killed us all! If you would bother to set aside your insufferable pride, you'll see that we are all alive, and that we rescued Velvet successfully, together! The only reason we haven't gained your respect now is your bad temper and your overinflated ego!”

Pleats stared back at Blue Jeans with a combination of shock and rage, as if he'd committed the highest level of blasphemy. Slowly, her hand pulled one sword from its sheath, and Blue Jeans responded by doing the same. But before either warrior could bare their steel halfway, Taffeta walked in the middle of them and glanced between one and the other. “Please don't fight,” she pleaded to them both, “Please? Velvet's home. Everything's all better now. No more fighting . . . . . .” Tears began to well up in her eyes, and she hung her head down, gently sobbing. Cashmere surprised Blue Jeans and Twang by coming to her and holding her close. She pulled Taffeta away from Blue Jeans' and Pleats' argument, consoling her all the while.

“She's right, man,” Twang added, both confidence and relief in his tone, “Mission accomplished, right? We on easy street, now.”

“Hardly,” Blue Jeans shook his head, “Eventually, FIRENIGHT will find out what happened here, and it won't be long before they find us. And if I know Wesson, he'll probably take a chance and tip off the Pistols about where we are . . . .” He cut himself off, suddenly feeling guilty at showing that scum mercy a second time.

Pleats' expression softened into a light glare, “I'll let my sisters decide what we do with the two of you. When Damask is well enough, we'll put it to a vote. For now, we must see what Velvet has uncovered.”

“Oh, yeah!” Twang said in realization, “Your last mission! What was it all about, anyway?”

Pleats showed bitter hesitation before continuing, “We infiltrated a government warehouse to find blueprints for weapons. Our goal was to build them ourselves so that our community could defend itself better. Velvet had stumbled upon something of that sort just before she'd been captured.” She then turned to Cashmere, “Take over for Velvet.”

Cashmere bowed, “Hai, Sensei,” gently released Taffeta, and walked toward the door to the basement. Taffeta, still upset, then sought comfort from Twang and hugged him. Annoyed at first, Twang soon simply rolled his eyes, shrugged, and stroked the young girl's back comfortingly.

A few seconds later, Velvet, tall, willowy and quite lovely when seen close up, entered the room. She approached Pleats and bowed respectfully, and when Pleats returned her bow, the two women hugged each other. Blue Jeans was surprised again; he hardly thought any of these kunoichi were capable of true affection, least of all Pleats.

Pleats and Velvet separated, and the leader questioned her follower, “Can you tell me what you found out?” Velvet, without speaking a word, proceeded to relay her information through movement. She stuck out the side of her head and twisted her fingers around, as if opening a vault, then reached out and mimed the movements of one taking something out of this make-believe vault. She then held her hands up and her arms out, as if measuring something gigantic, then swept her arm in a wide horizontal arc. She then stepped closer to Pleats, gestured to herself and to her leader, raised a hand, bowed again, produced her pretend vault findings, turned her head behind her and gestured in that direction, made a gun motion with her hand, then drew it across her throat.

Pleats translated the entire time, “You broke into a vault . . . and found some important documents . . . about a colossal weapon . . . . powerful enough to destroy anything and everything in its path . . . . our sisters before us . . . . discovered this information . . . . before they died.”

Blue Jeans and Twang both stared, utterly confused. “Uhhh . . .” Twang began uncertainly, “You . . . you got all that?”

“Of course,” Pleats answered, “What sort of leader would I be if I couldn't?” She then turned back to Velvet, “How do you know our masters found this out before us? Did it say so?” Velvet nodded, and Pleats continued to inquire, “What was it about these blueprints that was so important to them?”

Velvet threw up her arms again, but then made a miniscule measurement of air in front of her with her thumb and forefinger, then made a sweeping gesture with both arms, as if in dismissal.

“Hmmm,” Pleats muttered before figuring, “A flaw in the design! Like, a weakness?”

Velvet shrugged slightly, indicating the possibility was just that.

“I trust then they had a specific 'plan' for the discoverers of this secret?” Pleats asked, and Velvet nodded morosely. “Well, then,” Pleats took a deep breath, “I suppose we have no choice but to stay on the move.” She continued hesitantly, “Were you able to tell which of our foremothers discovered this information?”

Velvet readied her hands for explanation, but when glancing at Blue Jeans, her eyes rested on him for a while, as if she'd just noticed he was here. After a few seconds of this awkward look, it changed to a shocked look in a flash, as though Blue Jeans had just transformed into some deadly monster. Velvet slowly raised her arm and pointed her finger directly at Blue Jeans himself.

Blue Jeans was confused and astounded by Velvet's gesture, “. . . . Me? What? What is she talking about?”

Twang followed up by voicing his own confusion, “Girl, you crazy or somethin'? BJ wasn't no damn 'foremother'! He ain't even 'fore'!”

Pleats gave another deep sigh. “I suppose I had better explain,” she said with that same note of hesitation, “She means that you are involved with this superweapon, Blue Jeans.”

“But how?” Blue Jeans asked, his confusion unresolved, “What do I have to do with a weapon I know nothing about, discovered by the ancestors of a group I've only known for two days?”

Pleats' reluctance clearly reached its peak, but she continued, “Through . . . . . well . . . . . through your mother.”

Blue Jeans was dumbstruck, “. . . . . . . . What?”

Pleats forced herself to go on despite her trepidation, “It was the reason I opted to spare your life when you came to us. I had seen it on the DataPane. You see, Blue Jeans . . . . . . . your mother was a member of the original Uradana no Kunoichi. She discovered this superweapon, and . . . . . that must be the reason she was killed.”

 --------------------------------------------------------* * * * *--------------------------------------------------------

"Another new recruit!

As Blue Jeans deals with the shock of his parents' past, he and the others must venture back into Stoneford to locate this mysterious axe-wielding warrior.  When they find him, they discover his ferocity in battle, as well as his gentility of heart.  He requires their assistance in an important mission for his own people, promising his services if they do.

Can the group complete this mission?  Will this new warrior prove himself to be everything the rumors say?  Can they avoid the danger of crossing the Pistols?

NEXT TIME! Blue Jeans Samurai #7:

Another New Ally! The Kindhearted Axe Warrior!

もう一つの新しい味方！心の優しい斧戦士！

Don't miss it!"