Zhang-Oh pt 2

second part of the same big commission. Lots to do with it, so I'm breaking it up into three parts for some semblance of an update on it, and it reaching a kind of "fakeout ending." So there's a third bit to come.

Before she could reach the town, Zhang saw another figure walking through the desert. As she came closer, she saw the woman was also Asian, and letting a tall white horse graze nearby. She sat on her knees on the ground, wrapped in a fancy white kimono, and held tightly in one hand was a katana. Zhang couldn't recognize all of the characters, but the elaborate make and detail made it clear she was of some influential bloodline. It felt strange, almost fated to see another clearly capable, Asian-blooded woman so far out West.

Zhang urged her mule to a halt a short ways away with her prisoners, approaching the Japanese wanderer. "Care for a test of blades, Geisha girl?"

The Japanese woman calmly regarded Zhang for a moment, then looking to her mule. Particularly, she eyed the taichi style sword. strapped to it, next to Zhang's staff and nunchuks in her bedroll.

"Hm, Chinese swine. I aim to test my blade against the gun, to show the Americans how my steel beats their inferior lead. I didn't journey to the West to dull my edge on some inferior Chinese steel.

Zhang gave her a skeptical glance, but sniffed and started to return to her mule. There obviously wasn't much to gain from the woman, as far as information, practice, or even casual conversation. "Suit yourself. I have my own woman with a gun to find."

The samurai woman frowned a bit and slowly rose as well, pulling herself and her pack onto her horse. "Then hope it is not the same that I seek," she said before riding off ahead of her.Zhang shook her head dismissively, patting her trusty but nameless mule on the head as she started to lead it along the trail again. "Stuck up bitch..."

Zhang's trip after the last of her targets was not a short one, though steady as her strong legs could carry her. Her trip showed the rolling of days into September, which didn't bring much for cold weather into these parts of the West. Instead, it brought on winds to accompany the barely lowered heat of the sun. It slowed her travel some, but word carried faster than she could walk.

Stories spread in every direction from the wake she'd left, telling of Zhang, or more often just "The Dragon."

"As beautiful as she is deadly," reported a mailman who'd come from that way. "A real Dragon of a woman, and the best fighter I've ever seen."

"For an Oriental, she had the bounciest tits in these parts, he said" chuckled a bartender to his curious patrons, whose brother had caught the train just in from town. "And that's from a fellah who spends his time down at Debbie's."

"And with each high kick came a heavenly glimpse of what was under that dress," added a man at a poker table, capturing his fellow players too much for them to cheat.

And the stories reached Valentina, the third outlaw and partner to Maria and Debbie. She was outraged, filled with anger, of course, but jealousy. The men around town talked about the exotic beauty as much as they did how easily she defeated her partners in crime. The rumors were clearly all wrong; she was the deadliest and most beautiful woman in the West, if not the world! It was insulting to think they'd even speak of her when they had a woman like her around. This Zhang was a common Oriental whore, and she would be the one to prove it. She just had one thing to fix first.

Valentina walked out to the balcony of the room she'd rented out of one of the higher end salons in town. She turned her share of heads just by being there: a dark-haired woman with a low-cut black dress. She was a beauty with an exotic touch of Spanish and Italian to her heritage for flavor, and marked with a necklace that ran down her cleavage and silky gloves and stockings over her limbs. Her long hair partly covered her eyes, adding to her natural mystique.

In case that wasn't enough, Valentina drew her colt revolvers with the heart-shaped barrels and fired into the air, the ringing shots drawing everyone's attention. "Listen here, my little subjects," she called out. "I've been hearing all about these rumors of Zhang Oh, and that she's going to be visiting soon. And I've heard about enough. Until then, I don't want to hear a word about The Dragon OR Zhang, or any bouncy China-woman, or else you'll be facing my wrath. I do hope I've made myself perfectly clear." And with a graceful flourish, she turned and flowed her hair and dress behind her before heading back into her room.

The town came into view at last, a busy and fairly sizeable place. As she approached, she saw a lone horse and rider coming in her direction. She didn't pay it any mind at first, but as it got closer, she saw that the figure riding on it had a shiny sheathe wedged between her legs. It was the samurai woman from before, though in far worse shape.

The Japanese woman had her same white kimono, but sliced to shreds around her body so that it covered next to nothing. Her bare skin was marked with lipstick marks, and her blade and its sheathe were full of holes. On her back was a note signed with another kiss readubg "From Valentina, with love!" as if she were some complex package for the horse to deliver.

Zhang watched her pass quietly, then shook her head as she turned back towards the town that housed her target. She considered taking the swords, but in its state it was not only borderline useless as a weapon, but it clearly didn't do the Jap any good. "Stuck up bitch," she muttered. "Serves you right."

She arrived in town, ignoring the careful glances she got from passersby. She didn't concern herself with what they thought of her, and she was sure anyone dragging two naked women on a mule would draw someone's eyes. Besides, her dark and ornate dress was showing its wear, between all the fights she'd started and the desert sun and wind wearing it down, subjected to her makeshift sewing to patch it back up. Still, she had enough of a lead where she didn't have to bother the locals with her search, and a few brief stops ended her up at the biggest tavern in town, right in the middle of it all.

Zhang Oh looked over the bar, a small crowd present as work hours started to come to an end. Many eyes went up towards the exotic visitor, though Zhang found her target in one of the sets that did not. Across the hall, there was a poker table set up, a few players still too caught up in their cards to notice her. Zhang stepped over to them, pulling out an empty chair and sitting with her strong legs crossed in front of her.

"Do you mind if I join you?" she asked seductively, the men playing against Valentina (and quickly losing their chips) glancing up at her with a mix of recognition and admiration in their eyes. Valentina smiled, picking up the cards and dealing her in. She leaned over more than she had to in order to reach Zhang, letting the cleavage of her flattering white dress hang out on display.

"Of course, sweetie," she purred with a broad smile. "We could use a bit more of a woman's touch at this table."

Valentina/"The Woman with no Name."

Age: 29

Height: 5'10''

Bust: EE

Bounty: $3000

Zhang handed off a bit of money (courtesy of Debbie's purse) to a server who handed off some chips too her. She took up her modest hand, looking it over before tossing in a few pieces. One of the worse-off men went all in, Zhang matching him as well as Valentina, while the others backed out. They threw down their cards, Zhang gracefully losing the hand to Valentina's straight while their third competitor left the table empty handed.

"A fair try, my dear," Valentina noted with a casually condescending tone. "Bold, but foolish. You stick with me. I'm an immigrant myself, and even an Oriental can string these men along with a bit of skill and experience."

"So I see," Zhang replied calmly, eying Valentina as she patiently took up her cards. The rest of the table stayed in for this one, with Valentina dropping another straight, this time of another suit. "Sorry, boys," she grinned widely, but Zhang set down her cards across from hers as a full house.

"Then I am especially sorry... boys," Zhang cut her off, giving Valentina a meaningful glance. "Some hands are just stronger than others."

Valentina smiled at her implications and dealt out another hand. As they went on, it became clear that Zhang knew more about cards than she had let on. She cleaned out the other men at the table, and even with just the two of them, Valentina could hardly even win a few hands.

"You've quite the pretty little poker face," Valentina noted as her chip pile was growing rather short, the smug confidence in her expression clearly diminished some with her foul mood from losing. "It's been keepin' me from that tasty pot there for ten hands straight now. Not for lack of trying, mind you."

"I noticed." Zhang nodded as Valentina hugged her hand to her bosom, puffing up her white-clad chest. "Because you've been cheating for the last three of them." Before Valentina could play her cards, Zhang's hand suddenly shot out and caught her wrist, twisting it enough to show the extra pair of aces she'd slipped out of her cleavage.

There was a pause from the saloon patrons; many had suspected Valentina of cheating, but with her quick hands there was never with enough proof to call her out on it. With no one calling her out, they had no idea what the deadly and lovely woman would do when she was caught.

Surprising many, Valentina laughed. "Good eye, China doll. All that squinting must have paid off." She leveled her eyes at Zhang across the table, letting her keep her grip on her wrist. "I need to ask what brings you to my town?" Valentina asked softly.

"Revenge," Zhang stated plainly.

"Ah. Just what I'd expected. Good."

The start of the fight startled the onlookers as Zhang suddenly swung one leg up, flipping the table and spraying the chips and cards around them. Valentina twisted her wrist and twirled to slip herself free, stepping back out of the range of the table and its colorful debris. Valentina produced several throwing knives amidst all the chaos, throwing them expertly towards Zhang through the cloud of cards. The Chinese fighter's hand went underneath the slit in her dress' thigh, whipping out a set of nunchucks in reply. The thick wooden handles smacked through the air, using them to catch or deflect all of the incoming knives.

Several of the blades buried into the solid wood of her weapon and stayed there, adding more weight to the nunchuks as well as a sharp set of extensions as she continued to whirl the weapon. Valentina stopped her barrage of knives, only to draw her revolver and fire it instead. Zhang whipped the nunchuks back into the way, the extra bits of steel pinging the bullets away from her, but by the time that Valentina had emptied her chambers, the last bullet dug the blade in deeper, splitting one wooden head down the middle and letting it clatter to the floor.

Zhang looked at her weapon and tossed it aside, the tool clearly rendered useless.

"Don't worry," Valentina smirked at her as she drew and twirled another knife. "It happens to a lot of men."

Zhang frowned back at her and grabbed the tai chi sword from her bag nearby, taking up a low stance and aiming its tip towards Valentina. The white-clad criminal grinned back at her, shifting the grip on her knife and running it up the thigh of her dress.

"You want to match blades with me? Big mistake, little girl."

Zhang lunged in with several precise jabs of her sword, intending to slice off a few pieces of Valentina's clothing to intimidate her foe. Valentina proved her own snake-like quickness as she dodged each incoming strike. Zhang frowned and swung a wider arcing slash, just for Valentina to raise the knife in a defensive backhand grip and stop her short. She twisted her knife hand and slipped back, but not without leaving her own mark as she sliced down the front of Zhang's dress, making her own additional cleavage line that went straight down through the already low-cut garment.

"Like the new look," Valentina gloated, expertly twirling the blade in her hand as Zhang started to blush slightly. "You may as well just take off your clothes now, though. It will save us a lot of time, and either way you'll end up the same."

"Then I'll have to do you the same favor first," Zhang snapped back , entering another nimble assault. Her slashes and stabs were all parried or completely dodged by Valentina, despite her smaller weapon. Zhang's frustration grew as Valentina snuck in startling swipes with her knife, at one point even trimming a few of Zhang's long dark hairs in half.

Zhang took a desperate lunge at her, only for Valentina to sidestep it and give a sharp swipe, clashing their blades and knocking the sword right out of the Asian's hands. Valentina stomped her boot down on top of the edge's flat side, quickly drawing her gun and snatched up a single bullet that she wore on a chain around her neck, dangling suggestively between her cleavage. She held up her knife in warning at Zhang, kissing the bullet with a wink before she swiftly loaded and fired it in one gesture, connecting just at the base of the tai chi blade and cracking it off of the handle.

"Toys are for little girls, China doll," Valentina taunted, whirling and holstering her heart-tipped revolver with a flourish of her hair. "You're fighting a real woman now."

"Then I'll make you cry like a baby," Zhang insisted, taking up an open-handed stance. "Just like your partners."

"Ohh, sounds like someone needs a spanking," Valentina grinned brandishing her knife and stomping the heel of her shoe on the floorboards and popping a bootknife from the tip of her toe.

Zhang went on a backpedaling retreat, left with nothing to defend herself from the blades but her own hands. She nimbly raised or moved her legs to avoid the boot while she leaned back or struck at Valentina's arms to keep the knife at bay. Even able to keep track of both, she had some close calls, leaving more slashes through the fabric of her Chinese dress, exposing some of her side, hips and chest in the flurry of blades.

After one particular swipe of her foot, Zhang was able to slam her sole down on the flat of the bootknife, twisting her foot to snap the weapon loose. Valentina still followed through with a stab, but Zhang dropped to a low crouch and shot her leg upward, striking right at her wrist and sending the knife spinning wildly across the room. Zhang grabbed the severed bootknife and whipped it up towards Valentina, who leaned back calmly but still suffered a slice up the side of her dress' front, exposing a bit more of her breast's pearly white flesh.

Valentina took a pace back to steady herself, but pulled a bit at the loose fabric indifferently. "That was expensive, you know. Not the cheap made in China crap you and your sisters wear. Lucky I can make anything look good."

Zhang just frowned back at her, mostly disappointed to see she hadn't landed a single clean hit on her so far, but at least she was mostly disarmed. The revolver wouldn't be practical at their close range, and it would be easy enough to track her shots this close. Valentina moved in on her again, throwing some punches that Zhang was able to deflect with her flat palms smacking into the attacking arms.

Zhang scored a blow at last as she shoved the arm away and threw a high kick squarely into the center of Valentina's breast. Even in her high heels, the bandit stumbled back a few paces, but wouldn't fall as she steadied herself, dusting off her cleavage a bit. "You know how to pick your targets, little girl. Jealous much?"

Zhang growled back at her, annoyed at the obnoxiously cocky woman. She lunged in with a few pointed strikes with the tips of her flexed fingers, Valentina neatly bobbing her body or footing to evade her grasp, almost dancing with her. Zhang threw out both hands for a karate chop to the nerves in her neck, but Valentina was quick as a snake to block them with her forearms, grabbing Zhang by the attacking arms and using them as leverage to swing her high-heeled shoe straight up into Zhang's crotch.

The blow hit with enough force and a dull THWACK that Zhang was lifted a few inches off the ground, almost hovering for a moment. The Asian fighter was left with her normally narrow eyes wide and strong legs shaking when she touched back down, both hands cupping her aching privates stuck in a silenced scream.

Rather than press her attack on Zhang while she was paralyzed with pain, Valentina rested her hands on her knees, daintily leaning over and letting her hefty cleavage hang in front of Zhang's stunned face. "You don't look so good down there. You had enough, sweetie?"

Zhang's body shivered instinctively as she looked up at her. It was clear that she was facing a woman of equal skill to her, perhaps even more powerful, and even then she hardly seemed to be trying. She finally regained her wits enough to hop back and regroup, even if she was still a bit off balance from the low blow. Her basics weren't going to cut it anymore.

Zhang braced her feet and spread out her arms, readying her animal style techniques that had brought down her comrade. "Dragon!" she boomed, moving in swiftly and bringing her hands together to shove them towards Valentina's chest. The darkly dressed woman smirked at the last moment, her bulging white bosom seeming ripe for the taking before her own hands suddenly flashed in the way of Zhang's. She locked her fingers with both of her hands, twisting outward as Zhang gave a pained cry.

"Well that was a cute trick," Valentina smiled back at the Asian's pained expression. "Got any more?"

"Tiger!" Zhang ripped her one hand free, swinging her wide slashing gesture towards her opponent. Valentina brought up her arm to press into Zhang's elbow, stopping her short and letting Valentina deliver a stunning elbow to her temple.

Zhang, staggered by the blow, formed her hand into a spear-like shape and thrust it for Valentina. "S-snake!" she cried, but the white woman sidestepped it with the grace of a dancer and kneed Zhang in the belly. "Now now, there's predictable and then there's boring. What were you going to try next then? Something stereotypical like..."

"Crane!" The women both said it together, and Zhang threw the last of her combo upward at Valentina's breasts, but she leaned back casually. With Zhang's leg stretched out as it was, it was simple for her to grab her by the ankle, holding the leg up and punching her squarely in her exposed crotch.

Zhang let out a girlish cry, falling to her knees in a pathetic, childish heap. Valentina had a gleeful laugh at her expense, pacing a circle around her. "Clumsy, really. Perhaps if you opened those eyes, China doll, you'd hit something."

When Valentina had nearly walked a full circle around her, Zhang rose and twisted her body, throwing her full weight into the jackhammer barrage of punches that had broken Debbie and her corset alike. Valentina's hips bobbed to one side, dodging the first blow and then wiggled her midsection, practically dancing seductively around Zhang's blindingly fast punches. The Chinese fighter kept her assault going, but Valentina finally reached out and caught her wrist in mid-punch, twirling on her feet and  painfully twisting Zhang's arm.

Zhang let out a shrill cry as Valentina pulled at it, forcing her back to her feet. "You've been a fine dance partner, love. At least for a cheap, dusty whore walking off the streets. But I think you've had enough for now."

"To hell with you, white whore!" Zhang snapped at her in angry Chinese.

Valentina just smiled and gave a tiny breath of a chuckle. "Like I even care what you say in your little moon language," she dismissed, kicking into Zhang's knee at an angle to spin her around to face her. Valentina quickly stepped forward, getting intimately close with Zhang. She tried to raise her hands to strike back, but the raven-haired woman was all but on top of her and well past Zhang's defenses and at an awkward angle for her to try to reach.

What was worse, Valentina twitched her shoulders to slam her bigger breasts into Zhang's. The chest bump made Zhang stumble from the blow to her chest and her pride, just for Valentina to speed into her again. A second slam from her breasts sent Zhang tumbling completely off her feet. Zhang scrambled desperately to get to her knees, sweating and hurting, and frankly scared as she saw that Valentina was proving skilled enough to beat her with her hands tied behind her back.

Valentina smiled at her fearful expression, leaning far over so that her heavy and powerful tits hung low, cupping them playfully in front of Zhang. "I guess it's true; they don't grow tits in the Orient as big as they do here."

Zhang tried to rise and rush at her wildly, only to get an immediate punch across the mouth from Valentina. It left Zhang stunned on her knees, the Italian woman suddenly sending several sharp slaps back and forth across her face. It left Zhang dizzied for Valentina to grab the Asian girl by her long silky hair, holding her up with it like a painful handle as she delivered several punishing fists into her face. Zhang couldn't even defend herself from the blows by the time she let go, Zhang starting to fall to the floor but Valentina helping her get there by slamming the heel of her boot into her face.

Zhang ragdolled across the floor, spitting some blood onto the floor through her numb lips. as she tried to force herself up to all fours. Valentina was on her well before then, letting her get that high before she knew the toe of her boot into Zhang's ribs. Zhang's arms gave out as she hugged her chest, leaving her ass sticking up in the air shamefully.

Zhang felt Valentina's hand cup her ass, throwing a reverse kick in her direction. Valentina still caught the attempted sucker punch (or kick, as it were), pulling up on it to make Zhang stumble from her attempt to rise and shoving her back down effortless control over her body.

"Well that was exciting!" Valentina chimed cheerily. "But it looks like I've got the dragon by her tail."

She shoved Zhang's leg aside, reaching under her flipped-up dress and grabbing the Chinese girl's thong, yanking it up into a humiliatingly painful wedgie. Zhang gave a shrill grunt at her underwear's intrusion to her ass and pussy, only for Valentina to lift her up off the ground by it and start spinning her around with alarming strength. Fear wasn't out of the question, but Zhang was finally forced to let out a long scream as both Valentina's impressive strength and centrifugal force buried the underwear painfully deep into her crevices. The spinning soon had Zhang completely off the ground, spinning like some kind of screaming helicopter blade.

"Now let's see how far our dragon can fly!" Valentina crowed, twisting her grip suddenly. The thong snapped against one of Zhang's strong thighs, leaving the Asian to fly through the air and smash into a table, breaking it apart beneath her aching back.

Valentina strutted back towards the table, Zhang almost motionless as she breathed heavily, ribs and back aching to keep her from rising. Valentina gave a content sigh as she walked after her. "There now. Isn't that fun? Don't you just love being throttled and thrown around by my perfect body? Most men don't even get to come close to touching me, let alone if they show up uninvited."

Valentina stood over her, pressing her heel into Zhang's partially exposed breast and grinding it there, getting a weak squeal from her beaten enemy. "They say that in the olden days, befor the West was so damn wild, that a mighty king would be called upon to slay a dragon. I guess in this case, we just needed a queen to stop our little Chinese dragon." Zhang winced and grabbed at Valentina's boot weakly, unable to do much else. "So there you you stand naked. You have been shamed, little China doll. Your Oriental pride has been conquered. Now, this ought to remind you who the toughest bitch in the West is."

"Fuck... y-" Zhang started to sputter weakly, but Valentina's fist filled her vision.

When she came to, the Asian girl was tied up out under the sun, which was just starting to consider setting overhead. There was a large X of wood stuck into the ground, like a half-flipped crucifix, and her limbs were all tied to the planks that made it up.  She still had her dress on, torn as it was, and the slight breeze on her thighs told her that her thong was still gone. Valentina stood before her, apparently Zhang out long enough for her to have not only tied her up, but changed her dress from the white dress to a formal black one, complete with a dark but see-through veil. In her dazed state, it was easy enough for her to read Zhang's confused expression.

"It's for your funeral, dearie," Valentina explained, stepping up to her at last now that she was awake. "Some of us have a sense of fashion, after all. Not like this tacky little rag." She tugged lightly at a bit near Zhang's collar, tearing easily after all the battle damage and showing the sewn-in dragon symbol.

"My sisters..." Zhang groaned weakly.

"THEY made that? Ugh, and to think I had bothered to steal from them. Nothing but tacky. You'd think you'd realize that your fascination with dragons is silly in our country. Here, they're to be slain."

Zhang noticed her rolling a fresh apple along her fingers, taking a slow and sensual bite. She chewed on it as she took Zhang by the chin, forcing her mouth open and shoving the apple in like a cooked pig. "Just need to watch out for those fangs of theirs, and you'll be fine."

She started to stroll away, Zhang groaning and trying to struggle, but she was tied in tight. She was able to hear similar moans behind her, turning her head to see Maria and Debbie tied up in similar positions on similar wooden X's. They were a short walk outside of town, either Valentina wanting her privacy or meaning to leave them out as warnings for newcomers.

"They're not where your eyes should be right now," Valentina warned calmly, drawing her heavy revolver and twirling the chambers. Zhang's eyes widened fearfully, with Valentina smoothly raising the gun and shooting right at her.

Zhang felt the bullet whiz by her, but felt no actual pain in her aching body. Her eyes darted down to see that the bullet had cut so close to her body that it tore off a sizeable piece of her dress with its passing. A piece the size of a man's hand had been pulled from her outfit, Zhang looking in shock at her accurate shot. Valentina fired off the rest of her bullets, cutting just like the rest as they tore off pieces of Zhang's dress until it was a near useless piece of scrap cloth, hanging on by a few threads and barely covering up parts of her nipples and hips.

"Not much of a dragon now, are you?" Valentina purred with a smug smile, drawing a pair of knives and throwing them together. They both struck some fine chords of Zhang's ruined dress, and it fell off of her to leave her entirely nude. Zhang tried to cross her legs in her shame, but bound to keep herself spread wide open.

Valentina pulled a lighter and a cigarette from her cleavage, placing the cigarette slowly into her lips and lighting it as her other hand casually aimed and whipped another knife right for Zhang's face. She flinched instinctively, a meaty CHUNK sounding as she realized that the knife had dug right into the apple, where it would have sank into her mouth if it hadn't been there, or her captor was not so accurate.

Valentina stepped off behind her, blowing smoke casually into Zhang's face as she grabbed a small package and turned back in front of her, unbundling what appeared to be a collection of sticks of dynamite. "But I think I've had my fun with you, little one," Valentina mocked, patting Zhang's smaller, bouncy breast as she took one of the sticks with her cigareete. She puffed the smoke out as she shoved the lit device up Zhang's crotch, making her give shocked shouts around her apple and struggled against her bindings, unable to stop the fuse from reaching its ultimate destination.

She felt the tool spring to life, shaking at first and then... vibrating. Zhang's eyes went wide in a different kind of shock, the "dynamite" shivering loudly inside of her and making her body quake as it rubbed against her inner womanhood. They were really an elaborate sex toy, high powered, machine-operated vibrators that seemed to force their arousal into Zhang's unprepared body, leaving her humping and moaning around her apple gag.

"Oh that was rich!" Valentina laughed loudly at her expense. Is our little China doll afraid of fire works?" The noise of Zhang's moans and the rapid vibrations woke up her fellow bandits in the background, mumbling out their own cries and protests, but gagged with cloth. Valentina waved at them dismissively as the vibrator continued a while longer before its power ran out from the internal reaction to the fuse.

"I don't have any place for failures in my posse. They're clearly not on the same level as me if they couldn't stop you from catching them. I'd need to find someone stronger than the two of them together..." Valentina's gaze drifted over to Zhang, who pieced together what she was saying. She had wanted her to join her.

"Ahfmm." Valentina smiled and daintily plucky the apple from Zhang's mouth. "Never," she growled wearily. "I will avenge my sisters. For hurting them and their home. Take a good look at your companions, whore. Soon, you will suffer that fate, too."

Valentina simply rolled her eyes and stuck the apple back in by force, getting an anguished whimper from Zhang. "You couldn't make me break a sweat, let alone beat me. Come back again and I won't be so playful," she warned, firmly patting Zhang a few times on her cheek. "Don't disappoint me, panface. Do the smart thing and walk away. You're not fit to take on a queen." Valentina trotted back towards town, ignoring the women as she left them to suffer.

Zhang breathed a deep sigh, her hated and victorious enemy finally gone. It let her focus again, getting her breathing in check and ignoring the beaten trash behind her. She had been walking for weeks in just this trip. Months upon years in her training. She flexed and focused on her strong legs, pushing forward steadily rather than trying to squeeze her legs together. She pressed relentlessly, hearing small cracks at first before she suddenly split the wood, tearing her legs free. From there she could kick the pole that held up the X that supported her, and with its supports gone, bend herself into an angle where she could easily slip off the ropes that bound her.

Debbie and Maria squirmed and gave muffled calls for help, Zhang walking towards them but simply giving them a playful swat on the ass each. "I'll be back for you two later. I've my hands full already," Zhang muttered, her body aching and humiliated, but a fire in her eyes that showed her mind was still on her mission.

She went back into town, but not for Valentina. She grabbed a few things for herself from wherever she could. She gained a poncho from a clothesline to cover herself, the remains of her dress and sword, reclaimed her mule, and a few of these new dynamite "alarm clock" contraptions. Rather than take on her foe, she quietly turned tail to the city and left it behind as she headed back home.

-Wait.  That was it?  What the hell is with the cut off?

-Hold on.  It felt like sort of a downer ending, but there was still one more reel left.