CHAPTER ONE - Yeah! Professor Hikari!

The nightmares were familiar, for they happened often. They tormented Gumi every time she slept.

"All I've ever wanted is to rid the world of Evil."
"You do more harm than good."
"I'm sorry. Please let me into Heaven."
"You? Never! You're a failure!"

"Gumi? Why are you crying?"
"Because I am broken."
"Do you believe in angels?"
"I do. I murdered one."

Waking life for Gumi was much better. She no longer had to deal with the grimy city, where everything she owned had been crammed into a living cubical. Although T.O.P.'s floating cybernetics lab was just an old marine research vessel, it was a home that Gumi loved.

Despite her obvious problem.

"Gumi?" Professor Hikari asked. "Are you awake?"

Gumi mumbled first, then hollered. "Go away!"

Professor Tatu Hikari, Chief Science Officer aboard the Crystal Leanne, stood well behind the deckchair where Gumi was sunning herself while she slept.

"Please wake up," he said, poking her a bit

"Leave me alone!"

Although not awake, Gumi punched the air with violent, lethal blows. Hikari knew better than to let one land. Once Gumi stopped trying to knock out his teeth, he spoke to her again.

"We need to check your bandages."

Gumi sat upright immediately. She scanned for enemies but found only sun and sea. And Professor Hikari.

"Let me look at your tattoo interfaces," he said, "to see how they're healing."

Gumi had on the briefest of bikinis. Much more of her was covered with gauze and yards of tape. The bandage on her right forearm was oozing, and Gumi almost punched Hikari on purpose when he pulled off the tape around it.

"Ow, Doc! That really hurts!"

Professor Hikari was not a medical doctor. His bedside manner sucked.

"You're still picking at your interfaces," he said as he touched the wound.

"Ouch! No I'm not."

"You have to stop. They won't come off, and they're getting infected."

"Seriously? I mean, look at me."

All of Gumi's fingers looked like sausages, each wrapped fat and white with gauze. Another dozen bandages dotted Gumi's body, at places where she had used her fingernails to gouge at her tattoos.

"I can't pick at anything," she said. "You've got me wrapped up like a mummy."

Hikari examined the thumb and index finger on Gumi's left hand. The wrappings were covered with the same ooze as the bandage on her right arm.

"Hmm," he said, disbelieving.

"I must be... ah, I must do it in my sleep."

"You're still hacked by the computer virus. We got it out of the ship, but we can't get it out of you."

Gumi looked away. She knew this was the truth. "I don't want to obliterate you," she said, sad and apologetic. "Not now anyway."

"Hmm," Hikari repeated, wanting to believe her.

"It's true! I don't want to obliterate anyone. And especially not T.O.P. either."

The owner of the Crystal Leanne called himself T.O.P. – an acronym for something that was not his name. He was as peculiar as Gumi, and harbored a fondness for her that few aboard ship could fathom. Always confident, always sure, they both lived for one purpose.

To obliterate Evil.

Gumi touched two sausage fingers to a bandage protecting one of her tattoo interfaces. "I'm going to get to use them again some day," she begged Professor Hikari. "Right?"

Hikari made Gumi scoot up so he could sit at her feet. She wrapped her arms around her shins and hugged her knees to her chest. Her eyes were wide and pleading, but they were also glazed like those of a mad dog.

Hikari understood Gumi's madness well. It was what made her excel at being a Winnower. But the virus she picked up several weeks ago still raged strong within her. It had been designed specifically to hack a Winnower like Gumi. It made her want to destroy the Crystal Leanne, and obliterate anyone involved in cybernetics. It was the same rage, Hikari knew, that infected VioLinja.

And in VioLinja's case, it was working to a tee.

Hikari spoke slow and easy. "We know what the problem is, and we can use what we've learned about it to lessen its effects. But there's no way to remove the virus."

Gumi looked at her bandages. "I know," she said. "I've tried."

"We can work around it."

"Like by having me sing all the time," Gumi said, the lilt of a tune in her voice.

Hikari nodded. "When you sing, you control the virus. It attacks your brain where your logic center is located. By using your creative side, you can beat it back."

Gumi nodded. "And by behaving illogically!" she sang.

"Essentially, yes. By being artistic."

Gumi breathed deep and faked a pretty smile. She stood up and slapped her thighs. As her body rose, Hikari followed with his eyes. They widened with desire, for Gumi was beautiful. She could use her strength and sexy ways to overpower any man, or any woman. When she bent low to sing to Hikari, her boobs bobbled mightily in their bikini bra.

"You know what also helps?" she sang. "What also keeps me sane? Wanting to make love to you makes me want to obliterate you less."

She then turned and strode away, heading below decks. "T.O.P. wants to see you!" Hikari cried after her.

Gumi waved five sausage fingers over her shoulder at him. "I know," she sang while leaving. "Why else would you be here?"

Gumi had let the weight the world that once bore down on her sink into the sea. She couldn't even remember where her vocalizer was, making it practically impossible for her to obliterate anyone. She did want to play guitar, however, and even without her vocalizer, she could ingest enough Powder of God to obliterate people for a while if she were ever allowed to play one. But she'd fallen in love while on board the Crystal Leanne, and to keep the virus from making her want to obliterate the man who owned her heart, she sang while she searched for him.

Hello! Who's there? A maiden pure?
Tis me! To be, for you.
Please let me in, O doleful Sir.
To do the things I'll do.

With no other reason than to be a tease, Gumi walked through parts of the ship where she knew there would be people. They ogled her as she passed, admiring her bikini bandaged body.

Her infected brain picked out targets.

Chief Radio Officer Jack Phillips. High Priority. Target for obliteration.

With whispered touch, I'll gently tug.

Engineer Kirishima Dakota. Target for Engine Room access.

A nip. A pull.

High priority area. Explode fuel tank for backup generator to cause fatal breach in hull. Approximate ship sinking time – ten minutes.

A kiss. A hug.

She found her man where he was most often, on a swivel chair at his desk.

Each load...

Priority One Plus One. Target for immediate obliteration.

A bucketful.

A smile flush with sea and sun beamed from Gumi's face. She kissed T.O.P. on the cheek while he bent over his desk, studying some intricate data. She licked his face playfully. If there was a way to for her to eat him from the inside out, she'd climb in his mouth and do it.

"Still want to obliterate me, I see," T.O.P. said without looking up.

"Oh yes, my love. Very much."

"It's a good thing I have your guitar."

Gumi mounted T.O.P., facing him in his chair. She throttled his neck with both hands, and kissed his lips and chin.

"I don't need a guitar to kill you," she sang as she wiggled in his lap.

He turned his head to catch his breath. "Ach, hai. It wouldn't be much fun doing it another way."

Being denied his lips, Gumi nibbled T.O.P.'s ear. "Mmm!" she murmured into it, loud enough to hurt. She sang to the ceiling while pressing his head to her chest. "It would be so much fun! I haven't obliterated in years."

"You may get your chance."

"Really? When? Perhaps now?"

T.O.P. maneuvered his chair to get out from under Gumi and return to his desk. "Look at this," he said.

His computer showed a fortress hidden in the ruins of a city. It had been built from the bricks and timbers of other ransacked buildings. Gumi pushed T.O.P. aside, making him wheel away in his chair. She bent until her nose almost touched the screen, salivating over what she saw.

"Is that VioLinja's place?" she asked.

"It is."

"She destroyed all the churches to build her evil lair!"

"She did. And other buildings of use, like hospitals and shelters."

Gumi's grin grew huge. "I'm going to obliterate everyone in there," she said, not bothering with singing.

"You can't be like her. You have to perform the Winnowing."

Gumi turned her grin on T.O.P. She sighed. "I suppose you're right. It wouldn't be proper for me to obliterate just everyone."

"We don't commit murder."

Gumi attacked T.O.P again. She bounced hard on his lap. "Can't you find for me at least one evil person on this tub? You know – so I can practice?"

"Gumi? You can't obliterate my crew."

"Oh come on! Please please please?"

T.O.P. steered his abused chair towards his office door. He timed Gumi's next bounce to slip out from underneath her, making the chair roll away. While she continued to bounce on her toes, T.O.P reached around her and opened the door.

"Keep working on controlling the virus," he said as he dismissed her.

"I'm doing fine, my dear. I mean, you're not dead. Yet. Right?"

"Yes. I'm very much alive."

Gumi sang in triumph. "I'm going to obliterate Evil! Heigh-ho! Hello!"

T.O.P. watched Gumi's bikini bottom bounce away. "Put on some decent clothes and meet me by the lab!"

Gumi waved ten white sausage fingers high over her head. "I'll do the best I can!" she sang while she swayed away.

ProfessorHikari's Cybernetics Enhancement Lab

CHAPTER TWO - Oh! T.O.P.!

Gumi's Kool-Aid green hair looked a fright as she stood outside the door to the cybernetics lab. She wore her favorite desert rat khakis and shin-high white combat boots. A orange British safari vest covered a military shirt. Her sausage bandaged fingers made it hard to dress herself, so swung her red aviator goggles by their strap around a finger as she sang impatiently.

I'll snatch an angel from the sky
And bind her to her feathers.
Then she'll be not able to fly
And we shall be together.

Professor Hikari appeared, looking quite concerned. He hadn't let Gumi be anywhere near the lab since she'd been infected.

Hello! Heigh-ho! O faithful Sir, hello!

Besides having a bad bedside manner, Hikari also sucked at making small talk. "Ah... yes. Hello. Since you've been infected, one person alone can no longer open this door, or the door to the Clean Room where the Powder of God is stored."

Gumi smiled ear to ear.

Heigh-ho! Hello! Servant to a cur.

Hikari changed the subject. "Ah... your shirt's not buttoned properly."

"I know!" Gumi thrust out a foot, causing Hikari to flinch. "And my boots aren't laced."

Hikari looked confused as Gumi sang her woes with joy. With her foot still in the air, she wriggled her bandaged fingers at him.

He realized her dilemma. "Okay!" he said. "I see. May I offer help?"

Hikari jerked defensively as Gumi swung her foot directly at his face. "Will you, good sir? May you? Of course, good sir! You may!"

Hikari had Gumi place her foot back on the floor and bent to lace her boots. While doing so, T.O.P. appeared and stood over him, buttoning Gumi's shirt and vest properly. He then placed her red goggles atop her head.

"We're going to remove your bandages while you're in there," T.O.P. said, combing his fingers through Gumi's mop of green hair.

"We are?" Hikari exclaimed, showing more than a little concern.

T.O.P. continued without pausing. "We've been doing many things to improve the delivery system for the Powder of God."

With the strength of ten, Gumi hugged both men. "Oh I love you so! Heigh-ho, heigh-ho, hello!"

"Look here," T.O.P. said to Gumi once inside the lab. "This new vocalizer delivers the Powder of God so you can perform the Winnowing without damaging your face."

Gumi tried on the mask. In an instant, she was ready to reclaim her place as a Winnower. It inspired her threatened her maddened her.

Frightened her. Gumi ripped off the mask.

"What's wrong?" Hikari asked.

"So fresh, so clean, so pure," she sang. "So strong a cut of Powder."

"We can adjust the intake. Let me see the flow meter."

With a forceful hand, Gumi shoved Hikari away. She put the vocalizer back on. Another huff. Another. She felt dangerous, violated. The virus hacking her body fought for control of her mind.

"Something's not right," Hikari said, speaking to T.O.P. with urgency.

T.O.P. agreed. "Hmm. You're right, I can see. We have to be very careful."

Hikari disagreed. "We have to do more research!"

Gumi's eyes grew glassy. She searched the rack behind her for her favorite guitar, a cherry wood Les Paul, to use it to obliterate. Where once there had hung a half dozen, now every hook was empty.

A voice called from far away.

"Gumi?"

It was a manly voice. A lovely voice, so firm.

"Gumi? Can you hear me?"

She hallucinated. The voice spoke through fields of kindness. Fresh air and green grass and daffodils. Faith played a game with Death in this glade, treading on her poor sickened mind.

"Gumi, take off the mask."

Seething, desire unhinged her. She wanted the voice to die. To love it, to beat it, to screw it to death. The virus eating her brain told her what she must do.

Priority One Plus One Plus One Plus One Plus One Plus One Plus One! Obliterate him immediately!

"Kill him now!" Gumi sang as she swayed with her eyes glazed over. "Kill him now!"

T.O.P. gently removed the vocalizer from Gumi's face. "I think Professor Hikari needs to make some adjustments."

Gumi moaned with grief. "Oh! It doesn't hurt much. And it feels so good!"

"I know, my dear. I know." T.O.P. handed the mask to Hikari, who scurried away with it.

Gumi put on a pout. "We're still going to kick VioLinja, right square in the butt," she sang. "Right, my love? I am right?"

T.O.P. hugged Gumi hard and kissed the green mop on her head. "We sure are, my dear."

Gumi hugged back harder. "I hate having this bug in me. It cuts my heart wide open."

"I know. I wish there was more I could do."

"But I don't care anymore. Every time it cuts, my heart bleeds love for you."

T.O.P. didn't know what to say, so he kissed Gumi's lips instead.

Gumi kissed back harder.

The evening before their mission held special importance to T.O.P. He let Gumi see the room where the guitars were hid, locked up safe from her infected brain. He stroked her hair with kindness, and eased her anguish a bit by letting her press her nose to the glass.

She turned and smiled at him. "That's my guitar right there!" She pointed. "Isn't it? The cherry wood one? That's mine!"

"Yes. It's the one you brought with you when you came aboard."

Priority One Plus One.

"May I use it when we fight VioLinja?"

"You may."

Target for immediate obliteration.

Gumi buried her face in the ruffles of T.O.P.'s shirt. She sang a song of sadness. "What's wrong with me? What's wrong with me?"

He comforted her by lying. "Nothing is wrong with you. You're perfect in every way."

Gumi used white sausage fingers to grab fistfuls of ruffles. "You don't understand! I want to hurt you so bad! And all the time!"

T.O.P. let Gumi abuse his shirt until her enthusiasm waned. He steered her away from the guitars and into his quarters. Then, with a kind hand, he had her sit on the chair facing the vanity. Towering over her from behind, he tilted her head up using force, so he could press his lips upside-down onto hers. Now possessing her, he used his kiss to bend her neck far back. As her feet flew out from under her, she grabbed his head with both hands to keep from tumbling backwards, out of the chair and to the floor.

Gumi was able to breathe only when T.O.P. gave permission. He relinquished his claim on her face and let her gasp for the briefest moment before attacking again, making her swallow his tongue. He relinquished his claim a second time when she could no longer sing and after another breath, a third time when she couldn't think.

Silently, and with a smile, T.O.P. backed out of the room, leaving Gumi to swoon. He locked her in his dressing room by bolting the door from outside. Now safe, he used a hidden key to unlock his bedroom door. After returning the key to its hiding place, he released Gumi from her prison. Still askew in her chair, he gently tugged her to her feet.

Gumi seemed to have been dozing. "I'm so damn tired," she sang. "I can hardly see."

T.O.P. eased her into his bed. He held her with strong arms as he stripped off all her clothes.

"Now what are you doing, Mister?" she sang, resisting the slightest bit. "You behave, young sir."

Scents escaped Gumi's body as T.O.P. exposed her skin. She smelled like plucked day lilies, like bergamots and lemons, a woman's flesh and carbon steel.

But the hazel of her eyes revealed an inner turmoil. "Don't get funny with me," she scolded. "I can make you stop."

"I'm sure you can," he said as he tucked her under the sheets.

He kissed her eyes shut before turning off the lights. With the room pitch black, Gumi felt safe and at home. As her eyes tried to adjust, all she could see were glints of cobalt blue shining from T.O.P.'s eyes. They looked like the halos of tiny angels hovering in the dark. She soon found the owner of the angels to be as naked as she, and lying by her side.

"Aren't you afraid?" she sang.

"Of you?" He laughed. "I am."

He picked at the tape on her fingers, and slowly removed each bandage. With her newborn hands, Gumi searched T.O.P.'s body, relishing all its features.

"I'm depending on you," he said as he let her explore. "We're going to win this war."

For now, Gumi was happy winning control of T.O.P.'s body. She pleasured herself with it, many many times.

T.O.P. from BIG BANG!

CHAPTER THREE - Ahh! Gumi!

While Gumi slept, exhausted, the virus attacked her dreams.

"Fear me as I drag you through deep dark coldest Hell! Your soul shall not be spared, your screams for mercy whispers."
"I don't belong in Hell."
"You're not free of sin! You've not remained pure!"
"But... please. I love him so."
"Strip away your sanity! Throw out your ilke honor!"
"Please. He looks so peaceful lying by my side."
"Kill him, Gumi. Kill him. Priority One Plus One."
"Please just leave us be."
"Obliterate his soul."

In the morning above decks, a helicopter readied as Gumi and T.O.P. prepared for their mission. What little remained of civilization grew worse each passing day. With Hell festering the land, the good people of Earth stayed hidden, while those who sinned roamed free.

The world turned topsy-turvy. Everything was wrong.

For breakfast, T.O.P. made Gumi a frosted baked oatmeal covered with berries and nuts. Gumi ate the treat with gusto, marveling over the full use of her hands. T.O.P. approached as she ate, the brightest of smiles on his face.

"Here," he said. "Drink this."

"What is it?" Gumi asked as she sniffed the glass.

"It's an avocado Daiquiri. It will calm you down."

It was soon all gone. "Yum yummy!" Gumi sang. "Gimme more, please sir!"

With the empty glass thrust in his face, T.O.P. reached out with a napkin to remove Gumi's avocado moustache.

"It's been a terrible year," he said as he cared for her. "You've suffered so much."

Gumi glanced about, deep in thought. "I was failure then. But I am not now!"

"Yes. You're a Winnower again. You'll seek out evil people and obliterate their souls."

"I'll send them straight to Hell!"

"You will. But first you must be sure they're evil. You must perform the Winnowing, to know if they deserve obliteration."

Gumi nodded hard. "I know. I'll be good. I promise."

With grace, T.O.P. brought Gumi to her feet. They walked into the room where the guitars were kept.

She begged. "I want my Les Paul right now. Please sir. It is mine."

"I'll carry it to the lab," T.O.P. said. "You'll interface with your new vocalizer, then I'll connect you to your guitar."

Madness lit Gumi's eyes. "Oh please sir. Oh yes sir. Please."

As they awaited take-off in the helicopter, T.O.P. complimented Gumi. "You're extra cuddly today," he said.

"I'm so happy! I get to obliterate people!"

"Only if they're evil."

Gumi nodded. "I know."

T.O.P. questioned her further, to check her mental state. "Do you want to obliterate me?"

She knew better than to lie to her lover. "I want to shove you off this helicopter so goddamn much it hurts."

With a wide smile, T.O.P. placed Gumi's hand on his chest. "Do you feel my heart? Do you understand? It's an eternal flame, always burning for you."

With her eyes closed, Gumi sang. "My heart aches so bad. There's a constant rain pounding on my head." She opened her eyes, and hazel green met cobalt blue. "But when you look at me, the sun shines while it rains. I dance for you in the rain."

They struggled against their harnesses, and managed to brush their lips together.

"The rage doesn't bother me anymore," she sang. "Not so much anyway."

"I'm glad."

"Oh God, though! I want to obliterate you, and a thousand times a day! But if I ever lost you, I would lose my mind. I'd become dead inside." Gumi cast her eyes down. "Do you understand what that means?"

"I do. I'd die without you too."

"What was my life like before, when I wasn't with you? I can't even remember."

"Well, you don't have to. I'll be with you forever."

Professor Hikari burst onto the deck seconds before take-off. "Wait for me!" he cried.

He flung himself into the co-pilot seat and strapped himself into the harness. While putting the headset on with one hand, he slapped the pilot's shoulder with the other, signaling for him to take off. The Crystal Leanne was gone in an instant.

T.O.P. leaned into the cockpit to scold Hikari. "What are you doing? You're too valuable to go on this mission!"

"Hai." Hikari said. "And you're too stupid."

 Sad VioLinja

CHAPTER FOUR - Ohh! VioLinja!

Hikari and T.O.P. watched from a redoubt as Gumi confronted VioLinja at the gates of her fortress.

"I'm confident your suspicions are wrong." VioLinja said, happy to see Gumi again. "We don't commit murder here. We're deeply religious."

Gumi had already reconnoitered the city. "With ruined churches and children dancing naked in the streets?"

VioLinja laughed. "They do love their lessons!"

"How can that be an homage to God?"

VioLinja seemed confused. "God? The fraud whose son came from a virgin impregnated by a ghost? Join us and you'll discover how you've been deceived."

Gumi found a way to back out of their conversation. With VioLinja against so much as even the concept of divine countenance, it was clear the virus was affecting her far worse than it was Gumi. The virus made Gumi want to sin, to be sure. She wanted to blaspheme her God and commit murder against His name, but she also knew it was wrong. Perhaps without someone like Professor Hikari to guide her, and someone like T.O.P. to give her love, VioLinja's madness was beyond hope.

"She's not going to listen," Gumi sang to Hikari and T.O.P. once she was with them again in the redoubt.

"You're going to have to fight her," T.O.P. said.

"Oh goody!" Gumi cheered. Then she seemed downtrodden. "Do I have to perform a Winnowing song first?"

"Of course," T.O.P. said as he kissed her forehead. "It would be wrong if you didn't."

"It's not fair," Gumi sang as she made T.O.P. kiss her again. "She won't waste time against me to perform the Winnowing."

"Don't worry. It takes time to obliterate. And Hikari and I will be there to distract her."

Hatari stopped peering through his binoculars and whipped his head around. "We will?" he asked in dread.

With her guitar plugged into her interfaces and her vocalizer strapped on her face, Gumi stood before VioLinja's fortress and sang a Winnowing song.

Your voice carries my heart moment
Deeply sparking life.
Heaven's body lifting touch me
Pure love burning light.

VioLinja appeared on the parapet. The tendrils of her dress caressed the flanks of her fortress as she strode along the wall.

"Present your case!" she bellowed, her violin in hand.

Gumi pleaded. "VioLinja. Please. You don't know what will come of this. You're not a god, and you don't perform the Winnowing."

"I have the power of God."

"But you are not Him."

VioLinja sneered. She laid her bow across her strings, readying a blast to send Gumi back to Hell.

"And neither are you, my little Gumi! From up here you look very small. Yet you and your ilke lot claim to have God's power..."

"No. I have the Powder of God."

"Evil, hurtful stuff!"

Now better refined, the Powder of God gave Gumi hope. It strengthened her. While VioLinja blathered on, Gumi performed the next verse of her Winnowing song.

Assimilation given context
Message total clear.
Thought sound changes senses carry
Listen! I am here!

The tendrils of Violinja dress grew longer in an instant. They blanketed the wall of her fortress. From her violin, she let loose an obliteration blast. Gumi dodged, and as she did, she sang the last verse of her song.

Onward now forever always
Strengthen me inside.
This one changes all new rules.
This one's real this time.

VioLinja let loose another blast. Gumi dodged again, but she did nothing else.

"Something's wrong!" she cried to T.O.P. and Professor Hikari. "The Winnowing says she's good!"

Hikari turned to T.O.P. "She's good?" he asked, disbelieving.

T.O.P. accepted the fact. "She's been infected longer, and she hasn't got Gumi's willpower. She's not as strong as Gumi!"

Another blast shook the Earth at their feet. "She hasn't got you," Hikari said to T.O.P., not doubting VioLinja's strength for a moment.

T.O.P. dashed out of the redoubt. "You're right!" he exclaimed as he raced towards the battle.

"Don't do it!" Hikari cried. "She'll kill you!"

Despite how VioLinja had desecrated the land, it was now clear to T.O.P. that her infection made her do it. She was helpless to prevent it, as much a victim as Gumi. From the strings of her violin, VioLinja let loose another blast. With no way to counterattack, all Gumi could do was avoid it.

"VioLinja!" T.O.P. called out as he neared. "Let me help you!"

Confused, VioLinja paused. "And who, may I ask, are you?"

"Who I am doesn't matter. I represent the Winnowing Project."

"Ha! You lie! The Project has been destroyed!"

"Not with me alive, it hasn't. I have a full cybernetics lab, and a crew staffing it."

VioLinja stood with her arms akimbo. "Where?"

"Where it is also doesn't matter. Letting me help you is important. Please. You're too good a Winnower to not let me offer my services."

"I don't winnow anymore! I obliterate!"

T.O.P. spread his lips wide, curling them into a smile. He bowed before VioLinja. "And you do it so well. If you allow me to help, we can put an end to this madness."

"Madness is what I crave!" VioLinja screamed, directing another blast at Gumi.

Gumi cried as he dodged, tears forming in her eyes. "Why are you here?" she sang to T.O.P. "Now she'll kill you too!"

"No she won't. Direct your guitar at her walls."

"Her walls?"

"Yes! Beneath the tendrils of her dress. It's where her speakers are. The sound system she's using is built into the bricks!"

Gumi dodged another blast. "What?" she asked, her infected mind confused. "What?"

"Aim your guitar at her walls. Obliterate it from beneath her!"

Gumi riffed out several chords. She blew out brick after brick until she found the sound system's amplifier.

"Augh! You whore!" VioLinja cursed, aware of what Gumi was doing. "You'll ruin everything!"

"I know," Gumi said, taking careful aim.

With a dead-eye shot, the amplifier exploded. VioLinja released a final obliteration blast before disappearing in a cloud of dust. Again, as nimble as ever, Gumi dodged.

T.O.P. was not so nimble. The blast tore a hole through his heart. He fell, mortally wounded. Gumi cried in torrents, and a thousand teardrops blinded her. She drowned in them. She wallowed. She couldn't think or see.

"No T.O.P.! Please don't leave me! No one else understands. You're the one who holds me together!"

T.O.P. gasped as he lay on the ground, with Gumi cradling his head. "P... please, dear," he whispered. "Be quiet. Let me say goodbye."

Gumi screamed and snotted. Her tears cleansed the dirt from his face. He grabbed her hand with strength when he felt it touch his wound.

"I will always love you," T.O.P. said before he died.

Gumi cursed the God she had sworn to serve.

"Give him back to me!"

Where VioLinja had hurt others for perversion or her own sordid pleasure, Gumi raged with vengeance. It was a far worse thing. VioLinja had been an annoyance – a pest, a fly, a bother. Unbridled, Gumi was terror. Nothing, and no one, was spared.

And the world wept as it burned.

Gumi!

The END!

Host's Note: These have been the ten stories of Revenge. How did the team do? To show your support, vote on these ten chapters (5.1-5.10) between now and Wednesday 8:00 am EST. That gives you 24 hours. All votes in this day will count toward a special "reader's choice" award for the team with the most star clicks. So tell your friends to check them out and good luck team Revenge!