"You sick freak!" Asia accused harshly, as the riddle of John became all too clear to her.
Lori smiled, "Yes, I am a bit of one. The tampering with his memories had the added benefit of intensifying the headaches that he routinely got anyway. Now there is a little added in bonus I bet you haven't been able to overcome yet."
"Actually I have!" Asia replied smugly.
Lori's features twisted harshly, "Enough of all this! I want to know what this little misbegotten adventure has all been about tonight!" She said, as she lifted the pistol, but Asia batted it away and slammed her fist into the pit of Lori's stomach causing her to gasp for air.
Lori wrenched the pistol back around, even starved for air as she was, but Asia shoved her backward on top of a desk and with both hands she slammed Lori's hand holding the gun down onto the edge of the desk repeatedly. The gun went off several times the bullets shattering a tall window at the other end of the room.
Lori's broken hand dropped the gun; even as her other hand came up, as she swiped at Asia's face with her nails. She tried to bite Asia too. Asia grabbed her by the throat and backhanded her hard repeatedly and viciously. Lori's hand came back up with a pair of scissors and Asia lunged back out of the way of their plunging swipe at her.
Asia kicked out and the scissors went flying. Lori turned and stooped down for the fallen pistol in desperation. Asia leaped off the ground and sent a double kick in to land on Lori's rear and with a scream of pain Lori somersaulted over several times before landing beside the shattered out window. Her legs and bottom fell through the opening and in a slow slide her torso followed scraping along the broken glass, as she screamed now in terror.
Lori's one hand was useless to her and it was only her other hand's grasp on the sill that kept her from falling down the side of the tower entirely. Asia walked up and squatted down beside the heavy breathing Lori.
"Please save me! I'll do anything!" Lori begged.
Asia's voice was calm and modulated as she responded, "That has become quite clear to me, even knowing you for the short time that I have."
Lori's grip slipped slightly and in panicked fright the horror in her eyes racketed up a notch, "I can help you break the Code and shut it down! I know the passwords and the secret access codes!"
"I'm sure you do, and your offer is tempting, but there is the matter of the fact that given the past how do I know you're telling the truth about what you're offering? So I'll have to refuse and count on myself to do the job."