The Fierce Vendetta - Chapter 1

How long has it been since she last slept, without the nightmares plaguing her dreams? How long has it been since she spoke a full sentence? Leo herself doesn't know the answer to any of these questions. Ever since her solo raid on the G-Corp train, the blonde didn't have an easy time. The former leader of the Tekken Force, Lars, managed to track her down, destroying the files she found on the Devil Gene. In order to spare her the jail time, Lars offered her a spot as the recruit on the Tekken Force.

The blonde was sure that joining Lars' cause would help her get close towards her mother's killer. Revenge was the only thing one her mind, nothing else. Leo was aware of how dangerous it would be, but she never thought it would hit her that hard. Her arguments with Asuka and Steve especially never got through to her. With every passing day on the field, with every passing mission, Leo slowly lost herself to possibly the worst evils on her journey; anger, sorrow and lastly fear.

The soldiers, her supposed "comrades", never saw the young German as one of their own. She was more of a throwaway for them, even for her female squad mates. Most of the squad team seemed like typical high school bullies, at least to Leo. The blonde herself found their behavior repulsive, but ignorable at the same time. She believed that it wouldn't hinder her progress in training, even the ones where teamwork was required.

Most of their antics Leo ignored and didn't speak up against it, thinking they would eventually stop. Especially with Lars having a lot of problems on his plate, Leo thought she should handle it on her own. The people in this force were adults and Leo assumed they wouldn't continue once they realized it didn't get to her at first. She couldn't be more wrong than she thought.
The women in the squad began to openly mock her capabilities, tripping Leo over on obstacle course during initial laps.

"What's the matter, Kliesen…? Can't get up..?"
"This isn't a place for kids."

Those mocking words rang inside the blondes' head, which were slowly draining her patience. Her cheeks and nostrils slowly flared up as she got up slowly, dusting herself off. The blonde took a deep breath and managed to calm herself down.
"Calm down, Leo… Calm down…" Leo repeated to herself, stretching her back with a loud exhale.

Slowly exiting the gym after the long hours of training, Leo sat down on the bench in front of the facility. The sun was close to setting and the sky was painted in a soft mixture of magenta and orange tones. It was quiet and it allowed Leo to fully concentrate on her "studies". She was slowly flipping through her small notebook, which contained some of her notes regarding her training. The cover was brown leather, modestly decorated with golden margins. She got it from Alisa, the pinkette robot who was assigned to Leo as a mission partner from time to time. Leo considered Alisa to be the only friend she had in the force, helping forget about the hard she was getting from the others. Leo soon sighed and reached to her back pack to take out a pen. Its decoration was matching the one from cover of the small notebook. Slowly scribbling some numbers and letters, Leo tried to kill some time. She had an appointment with Steve to help him set up his apartment. Both agreed that Steve will be the one to pick Leo up. The sun went down and the street lights were turned on as one of them was illuminating Leo's bench as she was waiting for the boxer to arrive.

The blonde was interrupted by her cell phone ringing in her pocket. Flipping the phone open, Leo sighed at the number present on the screen. It was Asuka. This conversation wasn't going to be pretty in the slightest.

"Hello?" Leo spoke up in a bothered and uninterested tone while placing the phone on her ear. The response she received from other end of the line was less then pleasant.

"Where the hell are you?!" the brunette yelled, sounding more like a strict mother then a worried roommate. "Do you have any idea what time it is?!"

Leo distanced the phone as the yelling voice cracked through the speaker, wincing a bit. Asuka was known to be a loud mouth, but this was taken to a whole new level. The blonde placed the phone back to her ear, making a cringing expression while trying to think of a proper answer for the angry brunette.

"I did tell you I would be running late, didn't I…?" the blonde replied with a subtle, agitated growl to her seemingly calm voice. "Is the yelling REALLY necessary?"
Leo understood Asuka's worry yet sometimes Asuka seemed like she overreacted for no good reason. This conversation was no exception to that, if not the prime example of how the two interacted most of the time.

"Apparently, since you forgot to call again!" the brunette snapped at the blondes answer. "And don't try to excuse yourself from this!"

The blonde rubbed the bridge of her nose with a heavy sigh and placed the notebook with the pen into her back pack. When Leo moved in temporarily, the ground rule Asuka set was that Leo would have to call after her training sessions. Even Alisa reminded Leo of that on several occasions.

"Look…I know I forgot and I am sorry okay..?" Leo sighed as she replied, trying to end the absurd arguing. "I already have an appointment and I don't need the unnecessary stress." Even if the person Leo was waiting for was really late. Before the brunette could continue, Leo flipped the phone closed and dropped a heavy sigh. No matter how rude that was, Leo didn't want to drop her own tantrums on Steve because of one argument.
Soon after, one could hear hurried running steps from the street as Leo turned to the source of the slightly echoing sound. A familiar figure with slicked back blonde hair and white shirt was getting closer to the Germans location. A faint smile slowly formed on Leos sharp features as the light slowly revealed the figure to be none other than the British boxer, Steve Fox. Upon reaching the location, Steve was trying to catch his breath. What caught Leos attention was the brits clothing that was covered with in a thin layer of flour.

"What happened to you...?" Leo asked while giggling slightly. "You look like a ghost."
She couldn't help herself to crack a smile as Steve looked like Casper, the ghost from that old TV show. Even his blue eyes were in sheer contrast to his pale look which is illuminated by the street lights. Leo simply admired the eye candy before her.

"Ha ha, very funny..." Steve replied sarcastically as he huffed a bit in frustration. "Sorry I am late... I had a little four legged problem at the apartment…" The boxer felt a bit embarrassed to show up like this in front of Leo. He grumbled under his breath as he dusted himself off, clouds of white dust flying off him as his hands shook the fabric of his attire on impact.

"Right..." Leo shook her head and brushed off the flour from his shoulder, smirking slightly. After dusting off her gloved hand, Leo took the backpack from the bench and pulled out a can of soda, placing the bag on her back afterwards. "I do remember you saying that handling one puppy wouldn't be a problem." she continued in a slightly mocking tone as she handed the can to Steve.

"I said that it wouldn't be a big problem..." the boxer retorted as he took the can and opened it, drinking it up in one gulp. "At least it wasn't at first..."

"Come on, Casper... We have a lot of work on our hands and you need to get yourself cleaned." The blonde lead the boxer through the street, on course towards his apartment. As they were walking, Leo was slightly distracted by the flickering street lights. Her expression was half blank as the images and voices from the recent events. The whispers and snickers that were directed at her never seem to go away, even in pleasant company. As they were walking, Steve couldn't help but to notice the Germans "absence" and that worried him. He never liked the idea of Leo joining Lars' Rebel Force nor did he support it. However, Steve couldn't talk her out of it due to how stubborn Leo was. He never had the courage to speak up against Leo or say no to her like Asuka could. The brit was not a man of unnecessary conflict.

The two arrived at the apartment, encountering an elderly woman who appeared to be the land lady. The woman was wearing a neat dark crimson coat with longer black skirt and her hair neatly pulled into a ponytail. Overall very formal attire. She didn't seem very entertained or happy as she walked towards the two, her gaze fixed at the boxer.
"Sir Fox, I would advise you to find someone to supervise the… dog while the apartment is vacant.." the woman spoke up then looked at Leo with a cringing face. "And do try to keep the entertainment to a minimum…Is that understood..?"
"Y-yes… Madam.. I will be more careful in the future.." Steve replied with a nervous smile, trying not to break into a laughter. Her posture and manner of speech amused him for some reason. However, Leo wasn't so intimidated by the woman in front of her, simply returning the same cringing expression to her. The land lady simply lifted her chin up and went upstairs as Steve and Leo simply looked back at her with a somewhat blank expression and then looked at each other in silence.

"Isn't she charming…" Leo finally spoke up in a uninterested tone as she walking up towards the door. She let out a slight huff to blow off some of her blonde fringes off her face.
"You have no idea…" Steve replied while looking through his pockets to find the keys. He then took them out and unlocked the door, letting Leo in.
As they both entered the apartment, the Germans eyes widened as she saw the mess in the living room.

"Wow…" she spoke up as her gaze was scanning the scattered, chewed up paper with paw prints on the carpet. A small, cheerful bark could be heard as a white puppy ran towards the two from the kitchen. The pup was happily wagging his tail and jumping in front of them, as he was having a lot fun making the mess in the house.

"Next time I am getting someone to look after you…" The brit dropped a heavy sigh as he picked up the puppy, brushing off all the flour the puppy was covered in.

"An adorable little trouble maker I see…" Leo giggled as she patted the little dogs head "Where did you find him…?"

"I got him from the Rescue shelter… He was malnourished when he was first found. Owners didn't want to look after the little guy and simply left him on the street." The boxer replied as he handed the little fur ball to the blonde. Upon holding the little bundle of joy, the puppy happily licked and nuzzled Leos cheek. The blonde frowned a bit upon hearing the story, knowing full well how it is to be lonely and left out. It was mindboggling to her on how can someone leave such a small creature to fend for itself.

"How about you take a shower and I'll have the little guy cleaned up?" the blonde offered as she placed the puppy down on the floor and took off her jacket.

"Are you sure?"

"Don't worry, I don't think this little guy will be that much of a problem." She reassured as she took the plastic tub from the kitchen and filled it up with warm water. The little fur ball followed Leo happily, skipping around her as she walked.

"Okay… Thanks Leo…" Steve smiled as Leo was preparing everything for the puppy's bath. It was refreshing to see Leo be cheerful for once, even if it was for a brief time.

"Don't worry about it…" the blonde smiled back briefly at him, picking up some towels and placing them on the table. Her smiled didn't last long, as Leos expression became neutral.
"Leo…" Steve spoke up in a concerned voice, walking up to her. "Are sure you are-"

"I am fine, Steve." The blonde cut him off before he could ask anything. " Her tone was more serious, harsh and that scared the boxer to a degree. It prevented him from speaking any further. "Right…Sorry…" He simply sulked and retreated towards the bathroom, taking a few towels from the drawer in the hallway. Seeing Leo like this was gutting. She wasn't the brave adventurer he knew.

"Leo…What happened to you…?"