“Nisa, are you still there?...I can’t see you.” Rica looked out at the dark boiler room from the slit in her cage door. Then his voice. “Hey, hey! Can’t have you dying! I’m gonna give you water!”

The man in charge was in the cage, bear hugging Rica. “Get off of me!” she wiggled, but he held her tight and poured the water on her face from the small bottle.

“Get off of me!” Rica screamed awake on her couch in her living room, surrounded by the North Bronx crew. Tara, Kitty, Bling and Ian all stared at Rica, embarrassing her. Kitty broke the tension with a cup of fruit juice.

“Hey sleepy Rifle Girl, how you feeling? Here I made this with your juice machine!” Rica took the cup and drank the cool fruit concoction Kitty made, “Oh, that’s good, I’m good, thank you Ne-chan.” Rica answered half dazed.

Rica laid back down and looked around. Ian and Bling were watching the Yankee game but talking football. Tara wandered in from the kitchen with a plate of food and gave Rica a head rub.

“Rifle Girl, you and Reyna got a swell place here with all that organic crap in the fridge, what are ya’ll, fuggin vegetarians? Ha ha!” Kitty defended Rica.

“Shut up Tara, only you like eating shit all day!” and then Kitty burst into Chinese “看看誰在說話。你需要減肥!” Tara responded!

“What!, 再次打電話給我的脂肪! Watch what happens!”

Ian protested, “Hey, speak English!” Bling helped him,“What country ya’ll think this is?”

Kitty and Tara fought back! “Ya’ll some old racist!” “Tell em Kitty!”

Rica watched the bad comedy unfold in her living room and felt warm. She wasn’t in that bad place anymore. That hot box.

Tara sat down almost on top of Rica on the couch and yelled at Bling and Ian.

“Don’t you boys got pickups today? I know we been busy, but damn, let’s get that new money!”

Bling and Ian got up, they knew they had things to do, and Rica was safe.

The boys leaned over to Rica and gave her tough love with a back and forth along the lines of,

“What’s the matter with you chasing a van, hunh? We was worried, but you heard what we did to that motherfucker, right? Oh, you was sleep! We gotta go, what you need? Candy? Swedish fish and Sour patch kids? Don’t worry we got you girl, we’ll check on you later!”

Rica felt the genuine concern for her safety behind the voices of these two most violent men, Bling and Ian. And as they walked out the door Rica, still dazed and still a yandere, Rica was jealous that Tara and Kitty had Bling and Ian as goons!

“I want goons!” Rica dead-panned. Tara and Kitty looked at her and chuckled. Kitty rubbed Rica’s head, “I see you’re ok. You have to eat though, and keep drinking fluids.” Rica confirmed with a,“Nya!”

But Rica had a lot on her mind and didn’t want to burden Tara and Kitty, but she had to say it.

“Tara-senpai, Kitty-ne-chan..I’m not ok….I’m..I was in a box...they put me in a box.” Tara and Kitty watched as Rica trembled and her eyes teared, not in fear, in rage.

“That monster...he wanted to break me!..He...raaah!” Bam! Rica slammed her fist on the coffee table and looked forward, her eyes somewhere else.

Tara and Kitty looked at each other, not sure what to say to Rica. Rica spoke again.

“That monster took that little girl...Nisa...her name is Nisa...she couldn’t understand me, but I told her I would kill that monster if she helped me...and she did help me,” tears well up in Rica’s eyes, “She helped me...I wasn’t strong enough...I couldn’t.”

“Rifle Girl, what do you want, hmm? What do you want me to tell you?” Tara was blunt. Kitty didn’t like it, “Tara, stop it!” But Rica defended Tara.

“Ne-chan, no! Tara-senpai is correct. I just..I just wanted to say that.” Tara continued.

“Still, Rica, what do you want to do, and I’m serious, because...you know..I quarterbacked that whole incident that night so all the responsibility falls on me, you know.”

Rica thought this was ridiculous, none of what happened to her was in any way Tara’s fault.

“Senpai? How is what I did your fault?” Tara cracked an awkward smile and answered.

“Heh heh, Rifle Girl, when you the boss everything's your fault, and you better own up to it, or those streets will make you pay!”

Tara continued, “Now, while you were sleep, Ian told me you saved his life by spotting that truck that came around the corner. He told me they had the drop on him, and then you killed one of em."

"Then you saved Kitty and Bling flying down dem alley steps when you shot Kocak and killed his ass, thank you! So the way I figure it I still you owe you one because I messed up as a boss, and you bailed me out!”

Tara smirked and moved closer to Rica and told her, “And you know, no good deed goes unpunished. So I’m gonna ask you again...What do you wanna do, Rifle Girl? What can I do for you?”

Rica felt pressured, “Senpai..I..” Rica looked away, her confidence waning. She heard Tara, she believed Tara, but, “I know you believe in me Senpai..but I lost my rifle...and..I wasn’t …” Kitty saw where Rica was heading and intervened.

“We found you’re rifle in the street. Bling took it to your man Blessed Gee!”

Blessed Gee was a weapon's dealer who supplied Reyna and Rica and also maintained their rifles.

Rica heard this and energized, “You took Strongbow to Gee-san? What did he say?”

“He said the chamber is fine, but the barrel and handguard is cracked and the stock dented. He said give him a week and Strongbow will be better than new.”

Rica was happy to hear this good news, but disappointed. She caused all that damage to reliable Strongbow, and now she couldn’t see him for a week. Then Rica remembered something else.

“That monster has my gun.” Cop Gun, she lost him because she wasn’t strong enough to hold him, or Strongbow...or Nisa!

“How could I be so stupid!”

Tara and Kitty understood Rica’s feeling of despair. But Tara had an ace up her sleeve.

Let Me Tell You a Story

“Rica, I see that you want to head down the path of feeling sorry for yourself, and I understand, it’s easy, it feels good, to let it all out I mean. That’s how we move past things. But I want to help you!” Tara smiled and winked at Rica.

“Help me?”

“Yup, by telling you a story gangsters tell their kids to straighten them out!”

Rica was certainly curious to know what the heck Tara was talking about and Tara continued.

“Let me ask you, Rica. Do you know how your mom got all those evil names, The Villain Reyna Rai, The Devil, and her sigil, 鬼 Ghost?”

“No, she never told me.” Rica answered wide eyed.

Kitty laughed and said to Rica, “It’s a true story, we know, we were there, but I should tell it cause Tara’s gonna mess it up!”

“Shut up Kitty! Ima tell it!” Rica laughed at them and Tara continued.

“Ok, no bullshit, ask Kitty ask Ian. Ask any boss at the time. But this is what happened,” Tara narrates.

“About six years ago, Reyna, was new to this city, having come up here from Florida and making a name for herself with the Colombian and Cuban cartels, you know. But she had trouble getting work because people didn't know her."

“But there was this one underboss, pretty strong and full of himself, named Garza. He operated out of Brooklyn and he decided to take a chance on Reyna, and gave her a contract. So Reyna takes the contract and whacks some guy for Garza in like record time, like within a week, she ghosted the guy.”

Rica questioned, “Ghosted? You mean she made him disappear?” and Kitty answered.

“Not exactly, if he disappeared Reyna couldn’t prove his death and get paid. But what your mom did, by Garza's request, was make sure the guy couldn't have an open casket funeral.”

Rica tried to follow them, “Uh, open casket? Hunh?” The sisters laughed and Tara continued the explanation.

“Ha Ha, ok, when you ghost someone for a funeral, you make it so that the people who attend can only think about the victim in spirit, because they're not allowed to look at the body in the casket.”

“Why?” Rica whispered the question and Tara flashed an evil smile and answered.

“Because Reyna blew that fucker’s face off with a shotgun!”

Rica’s eyes widened, “She did? Well...she’s like that.” but Tara wasn’t finished.

“The story is not over, no, no. You see, after Reyna did that contract she went back to Garza to get her money!”

“Wait? Did this Garza try to stiff my mom?”

“Worse! You see Reyna was new on the scene back then, hell she was only seventeen years old, a baby, cute as hell too! So anyway, this guy Garza only hired her because she was an outsider and he never had any intention of paying her. And why should he when he can kill her instead. So instead of paying her Garza sent four of his goons to whack her!”

Rica listened intently, “Wow, that was a stupid move, did my mom kill them?” Rica looked at Tara and Kitty who both kept smiling. Kitty answered Rica.

“Kill them? Maybe, but they were certainly ghosts.”

Rica was confused, “Ghosts? But she..hunh?” Tara explained with a wry smile.

“Remember what you asked earlier, if she made the contract disappear? Well, that’s what she did to the four guys. You see one day they were here, and then one day they were gone….like ghosts.” Rica got it.

“Eh? All four of them disappeared, oh..My mom is wicked.” But Tara wasn’t finished.”

“That’s story’s not over. Nope. You see by making that stupid move, Garza pissed Reyna off and no man on earth should ever piss Reyna Rai off...or me or Kitty, hee!” They all chuckle and Tara continued.

"So now a week goes by and Garza is scared, but no one in Garza’s crew heard from Reyna, no demands no anything.”

“Then after a week Garza’s top lieutenant disappeared. A few days later, two of Garza’s bag men go missing with Garza’s money, about the same amount he owed Reyna. Now Garza was scared, so he hired two replacement killers to find Reyna and take her out….and within three days...they vanished too.”

“And after about a month of this, with something like twelve of Garza’s men disappearing, he started to go nuts. He was paranoid. He couldn’t understand why no one could find and kill Reyna, meanwhile everyone knows this is happening to him and Reyna starts making a name for herself Ha, ha, ha, can you fucking believe the irony?” Tara slaps her own thigh while Kitty shakes her head looking at Tara.

Rica listened and responded, “So what happened to Boss Garza? Did she ghost him too?” Tara responds.

“She didn’t have too. Once word got around, Garza’s peers figured he was a cursed fool who made a deal with the devil….and lost his soul. And if he wasn’t dealt with, he would bring bad mojo to the cartel. So they got rid of him.”

Rica on the edge of the sofa asked, “Got rid of him?..What did they do?”

“They ghosted him….They blew Garza’s face off with a shotgun…”

Rica absorbed Tara's story about Reyna, “My mother did all of that? Wow, so that’s why they call her the Ghost, and the Devil...and Villain is a natural name for her.”

Kitty asks Rica, “But did you understand the moral of the story?”

Rica answered quickly, “Yes, the moral is don’t mess with my mom!” Tara and Kitty erupt in laughter and Tara corrects Rica.

“Ha! That’s one moral. But the real moral of the story is this...they tried to kill your mother, and they failed...and because of this she got stronger and more ruthless!”

Kitty added, “Little sister, whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. And more importantly, that story Tara told you is true. Reyna is one of the most ruthless bitches I’ve ever met! You got big shoes to fill, little girl.”

Kitty’s tough words hit Rica hard. Rica put her head down, grit her teeth and balled her fists till they hurt. Then the loli rifle girl looked at the sisters with a scowl hidden by her hair and replied.

“Ne-chan, Senpai...I hear you...and I promise you...I will never tarnish the name or the sigil of Reyna Rai! And I won’t fall into despair...But the truth is I’m not as strong as her...yet...but I won’t give up….and Senpai Tara...you asked me what you can do for me?...Please..Senpai, Ne-chan, please be there when I call.”

The Outlaw Sisters smiled villainous smiles and Kitty replied, “Ha, you ask for so little, just like your mother, ne Tara?”

“Yup, this little girl is a villain in training. But don’t worry we got you Rifle Girl! I know you’re thinking about that little girl and that asshole. But we got our ears out, we’re looking for him too, and we want to take him out before he sets up with another crew, so be cool.”

Rica heard Tara and replied, “Senpai, I’ll find him.”

Tara hit back, “Yeah? You will? And what will you do when you find him?”

Rica didn’t hesitate, “What do you think?”

Tara and Kitty looked in Rica's eyes and no longer saw a little rifle girl..they saw someone else standing in front of them. Tara answered Rica.

“I think...I believe you...What do you think Kitty?”

“I think she’ll be fine” Kitty clears Rica’s hair out of her eyes and tells her.

“Rica, me and Tara gotta split, you gonna be ok for awhile? We’ll be back-”

“It’s ok, you don’t have to worry about me.” Rica said with confidence.

That’s what the Outlaw sisters wanted to hear. Confidence. After that Kitty dropped her tough guy act and hugged Rica, and Tara gave her a pound and a, “Be good Rifle Girl, call us whenever, and I mean it!”

“I will!”

Rica closed her apartment door and looked at the clock. It was 6pm Sunday night. She’d spent her weekend in a box in a boiler room. Fine, she’d deal with it. But right now Tara’s story about Reyna stuck in Rica’s mind. And Rica knew.

“Mom would never break, and she’d find that monster!...And so will I!”

Rica walked into Reyna's bedroom and pulled a long bag out from her closet, laid it on the floor and unzipped it. She looked inside at the contents with wide eyes and spoke to the contents.

“King, was it you who helped mom back then, in Tara’s story? I alway knew you were awesome. But King...Strongbow is hurt, and Cop Gun got kidnapped...I could use Jack Rabbit but I don’t think an AR-15 will pack enough punch...but I know you will.” Rica smiled at the contents and spoke once more.

“King, I know I’ve never worked with you before...the truth is I’ve always been afraid of you...and I know that’s stupid, but I’m not afraid anymore...and I’m sorry if I offended you. But once I heard that story..how you helped Mom..I know you’ll help me too.”

Rica lifted the King out of his bag and felt the raw weight of the Winchester 1300 twelve gauge shotgun monster killer, appropriately named....

KING GHIDORA!