Author's Note: Hello, hello. I'm back with another sequel to my Fatal Instinct series, which may possibly be the last. I already had the plot and ideas in my head since the beginning of Fatal Instinct 2. I noticed recently that some like to skip reading the previous installments and get right to the current one. They can if they want. It's totally up to them. But it would help people understand some things if they read the others. Again, for those that are unfamiliar with the series, this series is slightly AU (Alternate Universe). This fic was made for the purpose to entertain and nothing more. As always, enjoy.

Disclaimer: For the record, I don't own Tekken, Anna, or any other Namco creation in the plot. There are some characters I do own, though.

------------------------------------

Fatal Instinct 3: The Last Ride

Chapter 1

------------------------------------

It was the perfect night for a kill.

Not a single star shown overhead and the inner city district seemed less noisy than usual. The sky had become nothing more than an eerie, immense black pool of emptiness on such a muggy night.

Anna knelt upon the rooftop ledge with a smirk, eyeing the populace below. The city was always beautiful at this time with its bright casinos, exquisite diners, monstrous skyscrapers, and curvy highways. No wonder why it was so easy to hook tourists. One look at this place and they would want to stay here forever. She had been a resident for years, and noticing this just now had her chuckling in embarrassment.

The loud static brought her gaze off the street as she checked her earpiece.

"Do you read, Scarlet Lightning?" came the gruff voice of her commanding officer.

"Loud and clear." She answered with one hand over her other ear, watching patrons go in and out of the nightclub. "How's the view from there?"

"Very good. I can see everything you see, as if I'm looking through your eyes. So, we know the equipment works just fine." He paused. "Have they shown up yet?"

Anna scanned every direction there was to come toward the club. "Nope. Not here yet." Then she silenced a cough as the air pollution seemed so thick up here.

"This is the only way we've been able to get close to Kometa's leader. Our undercover unit couldn't get close enough to him without drawing suspicion. Before Kometa got wise and killed them, they told us he would be heading here for some kind of celebration. Apparently, this is his first night in town from overseas. We don't have a record of his name or appearance. In fact, we don't have any records at all, so we're going to have to observe carefully to pinpoint which is our guy. He's that crafty."

"One of those types, huh? He must be a real riot with the ladies, him being all mysterious and what not." Anna joked, but his momentary silence said he found nothing funny about it.

"Scarlet, the things this guy have done are pretty hefty: mass murder, extortion, money laundering, drug trafficking, theft, you name it. The feds have failed countless times to find and capture this guy. He's made it obvious he has no intentions on being taken alive, if taken at all."

"Oh…" A black limousine from the south end of the road pulled up to the curb. "This might be them! This might be them!" She shouted in an urgent whisper.

Anna huddled behind the ledge and spied the people getting out: five men dressed in dark apparel. She did not doubt they were armed, and that only added to the fun. There was another person that stood in the center of them. Anna tried squinting, but could make nothing out of the facial features with such tall, broad bodyguards blocking her view.

"That has to be the head honcho. I doubt those men are just drinking buddies tagging along for the ride." Anna pointed out, unfolding the stock of her sniper rifle and setting it up. By the time she could hold it up and peek through the scope, the Kometa members, along with their leader, had vanished. "Damn, missed em." She groaned and grimaced.

"I recall seeing a window at the side of the building. Check there."

Agreeing, she hurried over to the other ledge. Just beyond it, she found the round, flat window. She could just make out the Kometa leader's thin form through the glass, accompanied by two of the broader men. They were right where she wanted them and it could not get any better than that.

"Perfect." Anna mumbled, setting up her sniper rifle again for a perfect headshot.

"Don't shoot until I give the word to proceed." Her commanding officer insisted.

"Oh, come on." She continued to stare though the reticule. "He's right there. It's a clear, clean shot."

"I said wait."

Anna groaned, trusting her own judgment over his. Her finger had already fastened around the trigger. She kept the air bottled up inside her stomach as she stayed still. However, the waiting only made the temptation swell, prompting her to squeeze the trigger.

It was too late now. The rifle had fired its cartridge into the glass that shattered into a thousand pieces. Yet, rather than hit Kometa's leader, it struck someone else. A person who had just happened to walk into her shot at the wrong time.

"What have you done?" Her commanding officer's voice became loud, upset that she had fired without his order. "Abort mission! Abort mission!"

Frightful screams came gushing out of the nightclub with several people darting into the streets. Some shoved and trampled over others in the stampede. It was only a matter of time before the police would arrive at the scene.

Anna prayed that the damage done to the civilian was not too severe, but she could not tell. Then she looked down, finding one of the bodyguard's glaring right at her. The feeling in her chest became tight.

'Shit!'

He called and motioned his comrades over, pointing her out to them.

Anna turned and sprinted off, hopping between rooftops like a prowler running from the police. She did not bother to look back, but she could feel them getting closer somehow. The danger elevated when she ran out of rooftops to hurdle, her dash coming to a halt, leaving her trapped.

Then came the distant clamoring of her pursuers as they hopped from the last ledge to reach her. They spread themselves out, slimming her chances of escape. Anna put her hands in front of her, legs moving widths apart into an Aikido stance. However, the leading thug whipped out a glock, foretelling a fight was not on his mind.

Anna stepped back and felt nothing solid behind her. His gun flashed, the shot piercing through the leather of her coat. She stumbled backward and fell twenty feet down onto a dingy car roof. Anna kept still through the soreness, eyes rolling into the back of her head, feigning death. She controlled her breathing enough to where she could still breath a little. Yet, the fools would not notice.

"That takes care of that." The head Kometa bodyguard said from the ledge with a sense of accomplishment. "Let's head back."

Anna waited a few minutes for reassurance that they were gone. She sat herself up with a hurt groan escaping her lips. Her back and every other body part that had hit the car roof ached. Nothing a refreshing hot bath and some well-deserved rest could not cure.

Anna let out a thankful sigh. Opening the folds of her coat, she exposed the kevlar armor that had saved her life more than once. Her earpiece beeped and she hesitated before answering it. "Go ahead."

"Quite a fall that was. Good to know you're all right."

"Yeah, well it wasn't exactly fun." She began massaging her back. "Next time, I'm bringing a parachute."

"Seems you haven't lost your sense of humor, although, sorry to say, it doesn't look like there will be a next time."

Anna paused. "What are you talking about?"

"You disobeyed me. I told you to wait and you didn't. Had you followed my order, that would not have happened."

"You were taking too long. I've been doing this stuff long enough to know how it's done. If I would have fired it sooner, like I intended, he would have been dead and this whole thing would be over!" Her voice rose to a yell, adding more pain to her back. She hoped he would just give in and agree so she would not have to argue anymore. However, she knew it would not see it her way.

"Over? The only thing I think is over is you, Scarlet."

"Huh?"

"You've been getting too hotheaded for these missions. I've been covering up your botches a long time, and I don't think I'll be able to cover up this one. I think letting you go would be good for you. Get your head straight."

"You can't be serious…" Anna was near speechless with little knots twisting inside her stomach.

"As a heart attack. Bring all your equipment back to the lab and turn anything else in that belongs to us."

"Please, don't do this to me. This job…it's my life." She meant every word, yet she knew none of it was getting through to him.

"I'm sorry it had to come to this, Anna. I really am." The way he said it sounded so genuine. Sometimes when she heard a phrase like that it seemed just as fake as the person it came from. What made it worse was this was not just coming from a man who gave her orders through radio, but also a man who was her friend. A man who enlightened her with a new purpose. Now she had none, feeling betrayed, yet also confused.

His voice faded out with a departing beep. Anna stood up, ripped off the earpiece, and threw it at the ground before crushing it with her boot. Even unleashing rage did not make her feel any better. She wanted to scream, make everyone within the city aware of her frustration. Yet, she stayed quiet, holding her head as if overwhelmed by a sudden migraine.

'What do I do now?' She thought.