The S.H.I.E.L.D. insignia is owned by Marvel. Decapre and Shadaloo are owned by Capcom. Mickey solely belongs to yours truly.
I always thought Decapre needs love. The poor kinda-robotic girl needs it. And if you've checked out Portal Pals - which you should - then you know what I always believe in. Opposites attract. Hope you enjoy reading this. Less than 3.
It's a cool, crisp summer night in Toronto as Michaël 'Mickey' Villanueva rushes past dimly-lit alleys and curving city blocks. Visibly wounded and tired as hell, he zips through the night as he hears footsteps close by. He senses the distance between him and by channelling his powers over sound, his hearing picks up his stalker while the wind picks up.
"Twenty feet away? Hard to tell. Shit…"
Mickey turns his head to see a shadow catching up to him. Using his freerunning skills as a young criminal, he leaps over a railing and darts into a shortcut, leading to the run-down school serving as his makeshift hideout. He takes a second to relax and catch his breath.
"I lost her," he pants. "Good."
Seeing the school, he spots his friend – the stray beagle Elvira – waiting for him as she barks, happily wagging her tail. Delighted to see her again, Mickey checks a nasty scar on his leg as he makes his way to the school's doors.
"Damn," Mickey winces. "Just as fast as that damn Spider—"
Before he can even finish his sentence, Mickey stops, glancing up to see the same shadow emerge from the darkness.
Standing between Mickey and the school, the infamous leader of the Dolls, Decapre, steps forward, glaring at Mickey behind her visor, neon pink lines illuminating with power. With her target in range, she unsheathes her powered-up daggers.
"Infiltrator located," Decapre says, her voice confident, monotone yet cool as the breeze. "Commencing comprehensive annihilation." With a crouch, she suddenly lunges towards Mickey.
Trying to stop Decapre from attacking him, Mickey harnesses the sound of the wind whipping around them to form a sonic shield. He watches the Shadaloo assassin attempting to use her superior speed and ferocity to pierce his shield, but it remains around him. Mickey looks at Decapre with a sheepish grin, watching her grit her teeth, dedicated to ending him.
"Wait! I just wanted information," Mickey says. "I didn't mean to…Okay, I did mean to knock those dumbasses out. But I ain't got a problem with you..."
Decapre dashes back and releases an enormous, circular stream of Psycho Power in her hand, using her Psycho Stream attack against the shield.
"Lie detected," she says, coldly. The projectile starts to crack the shield, but it fades away before the shield is destroyed. "Psycho Stream unsuccessful. Stinger Protocol activated."
Mickey tries to laugh the tension away with an ill-timed joke. "I guess there's no chance we can settle this with a song and dance routine, is there?"
Decapre scowls as the Psycho Power in her daggers intensifies. Roaring with intensity, she destroys the shield with super-quick jabs. The sonic energy releases, propelling Mickey away from the enraged Doll.
"Data involving sonic energy acquired," she notes to herself, walking menacingly towards Mickey.
Preparing to fight, Mickey shifts into his fighting stance before the fighters hear barking and whimpering nearby.
"Damn," Mickey muttered under his breath.
Decapre whips around to see Elvira whimper, barking mercilessly at her. Surprisingly, the cold assassin has a moment of weakness as she admires the cute dog. "Canine spotted. Breed: beagle. Subject…endearing," she utters, slowly tilting her head as she admires the beagle.
Elvira steps back as Mickey spots a moment of opportunity. Homing in on his pet's worried whimpers, he dematerializes into sonic wisps of energy and enters the school.
Noticing the strange trails, Decapre uses her data to identify Mickey. Racing through the school, she runs on the railings, following the wisps up flights of stairs and around the corner. Seeing them dart under a classroom, the Shadaloo assassin quickly opens the door. Decapre spots Mickey shielding Elvira from her as the beagle moves away from him, still barking at her.
"Ellie, stop! It's too dangerous," Mickey yells, trying – and failing – to catch her attention.
In a defensive stance, Elvira growls as she slowly wags her tail, barking angrily at Decapre.
Mickey curses under his breath. Scheisse, I can't let that woman kill her. He starts to hum, creating two blue-and-white sonic spheres of energy as they slowly form in his hands.
However, he stops, seeing something else...
Decapre – the crazed Shadaloo assassin – is silent as she stares at Elvira. The beagle's pose brings back thoughts of chasing her sworn enemy, Cammy White, some time ago…
During the end of a daytime chase, Decapre cornered Cammy in an alley as she wound up like a coiled snake, ready to strike. However, a stray tabby cat made her presence known from a garbage can, striding in the middle of the two enemies. Enraged, she moves closer to Cammy but Cammy stops her.
"It's okay. The poor thing can't hurt you," Cammy said as she stared at Decapre, smiling warmly. "It's alright." She held the cat in front of Decapre, its green eyes piercing through her.
With her daggers unsheathed, Decapre panicked as she stared at Cammy, freezing in place; thoughts violently assault her mind as she mumbled. "T-those words… No… Must kill… Killer Bee! No! I…Little...sister..."
"It's alright."
Decapre snaps out of it, finding herself kneeling on the dusty wooden floor of the classroom. She sees Mickey leaning closer, holding on to Elvira.
Mickey smiles, hoping his words and his actions brighten Decapre's sour, upset mood. "Elvira won't bite."
Decapre shakes her head. "No. Infiltrator. Must kill…must kill…"
"Hey. ...Hey, it's al—"
Decapre shoots back, aiming a dogged finger at Mickey's face while her eyes start to emit a purple glow. "No. It's not okay! You lie!"
"Not this time." Mickey shakes his head.
He raises Elvira and tries to give her to Decapre. Mickey frowns hearing the beagle whimper, seemingly doggy-paddling away from Decapre in the air. A slow, eerie smile appears on Decapre's face before she removes it, glaring at Mickey. Suddenly, she spots something familiar on the ground.
Her mask.
"Looking for that?" Mickey teases, waving Elvira side-to-side. "Hold her and I'll give it to you."
Decapre freezes before brandishing one of her daggers. Her head down, she plays possum before beginning to strike…
(Now Playing: Careless Whisper by George Michael)
Suddenly, Decapre stops, hearing a strange, melodic tune playing in the room; she sees Mickey humming along to it, slowly rocking Elvira from side-to-side. The beagle's tongue sticks out as Mickey's rarely-used empathic voice starts to soothe her. Despite the harsh training and tutelage under her superior M. Bison, Mickey's empathic abilities cause her to calm down as well, temporarily incapacitated. Staring at Elvira, her amber eyes twinkle under the moonlight as she holds the beagle.
Decapre tries to clear her mind. "No! Must obey…must kill infiltrator. …For Shadaloo. …Must…"
"Shh, don't worry. It's okay." Mickey raises a hand as he politely interrupts her. "You're with friends now. I know that feeling. The anger. The bitterness. Sometimes, you just gotta take it easy."
Decapre's stare shifts from Mickey to Elvira as the dog's funny face causes her to smile a little. She pets the dog as Elvira snuggles up beside her. Still sensing her struggle, Mickey notices burns on the left side of the Doll's face. Seeing him trying to reach for it, Decapre reels back.
Mickey pauses, slowly leaning back. "I don't want to do anything you don't wanna do. Can I?" He leans forward in a polite manner. "…Sorry. May I?"
Decapre, silent, wound up, and confused, simply stays in place, slightly turning to the side with pursed lips.
Seeing her acquiesce and relax for a little bit, Mickey obliges, gently feeling her burn scars. "I hope this doesn't hurt you, meine Freundin," he utters. "Whoever did this to you needs an ass-kicking."
Taking a second to recoil from Mickey's words, Decapre stares into his eyes as the song continues. She raises her hand, presumably to take his hand away...
In doing so, their hands touch.
Noticing this, the two stare at each other for quite a while.
For the first time in a while, Mickey blushes intensely. Despite Decapre's cold, ruthless attitude towards him and her facial scar, he sees a beautiful woman in front of him. However, he also sees a sliver of a woman trying to cope, trying her best to hold back feelings of rage. He frowns, a knowing expression on his face as he takes in Decapre's amber eyes.
Mickey stares at the ground, unable to speak. '…For a lady that talks like a robot, s-she's pretty beautiful,' he thinks to himself. 'Why do I always fall for the women that can kick my ass?'
Seeing Mickey's eyes waver, Decapre notices a single scar across his right cheek. Hesitant to do so, she places a finger on his scar. Her thoughts from her meetings with Cammy cloud her mind, filling it with similar emotions. Decapre runs her finger over it while the song ends. A soft, strangely soothing tone to her voice follows, seemingly and temporarily fighting Bison's mind control.
"Are you…o-okay? Does…does it hurt?" Decapre strains to say, thinking of Cammy's similar scar.
Strangely enough, a piece of her chaotic mind, unbeknownst to Mickey, starts to focus on him, fascinated, nervous, and unsure of who - or what - he is.
Mickey suddenly stares at her, looking into her eyes. Shaking his head before he thinks again, Mickey nervously shrugs while he answers Decapre's question. "Uh, n-not really. Heh, you should see what happened to those other guys. It's…it's crazy, meine Freundin."
He chuckles as he tries to act modestly. Unsurprisingly, Decapre looks at him and doesn't react.
The two fighters sit with only Elvira between them, resting together on the wooden floor under the moonlight. Mickey softly rubs Decapre's cheek as she does the same. In Decapre's mind, thoughts of a possible link between the strange man and Cammy flood her mind while their eyes meet once more. In Mickey's mind, he wonders about the peculiar woman's story, finding a way to prevent her anger from consuming her.
Decapre speaks. "…I-Infiltrator…"
"Yeah?" Mickey says with a smile.
"Re…request…"
Trying to fight the mind control, Decapre shakes her head, shivering before Mickey calms her down.
"Hey, it's okay. No one's going to hurt you here," he says with a smile, holding and unknowingly rubbing Decapre's cheeks. Decapre, now in control, stares at Mickey while he blushes. "Um…I-I'm Mickey. What's your name?"
Decapre takes a second to reply, stunned and somewhat distraught that for the first time in a long time, someone other than Cammy cares about her. She holds the back of Mickey's hands with a sorrowful look on her face. "…De-"
Before she can reply, a burst of sudden Psycho Power immediately flows out of Decapre, overwhelming her. Recoiling in pain and wrath, she darts out of the classroom as she swipes her mask from Mickey. Decapre dashes to the stairs leading to the entrance, her mind hazy with rage from an unknown source.
"Wait. Hey! Are you okay?" Mickey tries to catch up to Decapre, but he sees her staggering outside the school's doors.
Elvira follows, stopping next to him, spotting Decapre as she barks and wags her tail. Taking one last look at the two, Decapre turns her head to smile at the beagle. Her gaze now aimed at Mickey, a smirk forms on her face. It's a slightly disturbing, but eerily teasing smirk, one that starts to spook him.
"Infiltrator data recorded," Decapre utters. "Level of skill…unclear. Updating Infiltrator's chances of surviving next assault." She looks off to the side before smiling at him. "Infiltrator's chances now set at three percent."
Decapre darts out of the school and into the night. Mickey slowly smiles before realizing her unorthodox teasing.
"Wait. Did she just say I'm weak?" He turns to Elvira as the beagle tilts her head. "…Hey! I'm not-Oh, forget it, she's gone."
They make their way back to the classroom as Mickey takes a peculiar device - a datapad, hidden in another part of the room. Looking at the window to spot Decapre darting from rooftop to rooftop, he sees her stop, giving him one last, soft smile before putting on her mask and retreating into the night. Mickey smiles as he records Decapre's appearance, fighting style, and abilities.
A bit…aggressive but she shows great potential, he jots down, echoing the words in his mind. She could be a damn good S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, but her mental state has me worried. Shadaloo. He frowns, clutching his pen in anger. …What the hell did you do to her?
Mickey looks up at the sky as Elvira sits next to him. 'Dee. I hope I see you again.'
He smiles while the silver S.H.I.E.L.D. insignia on the back of the datapad glistens under the light of the moon.
'Heh. Three percent, my ass.'
The End