Control.
That was the one thing everyone knew about Ultratech. They had control.
From the top of Ultratech's world headquarter tower, it was easy to see why. You looked down at the cars on the street, they were manufactured by Ultratech (Well, the tower was too tall to see all the way to the ground). You saw advertisements for the latest new shoes, or energy drink. They sponsored Killer Instinct, and guess who ran that? All the signs in the night lit up the metropolis, but despite everything they had, the tournament that was being held tonight was what Ultratech was most famous for.
At the top of it all was the Artificial Robotics Intelligence Architecture, ARIA. Artificial intelligence designed to run Ultratech in the most efficient way possible, she now headed the organisation.
"Well? Have you quite finished staring out a window?" A voice asked.
ARIA turned to the man. He had a grey beard and grey hair, covered by a hat, wearing a neat black suit. He was emitting a strange orange aura wherever he went, and that wasn't the strangest thing about him. He always had his hands behind his back, but yet they never needed to leave that position for him to do anything. He seemed to float everywhere, and even when a door was closed in front of him, he seemingly just willed it open. Someone ARIA knew as the Shadowman.
"I see no need for a rush." ARIA countered, perfectly calm.
"There's perfect need for a rush!" Another voice objected. There was a lot you could say about his appearance. He looked like a 1930's cartoon, with ridiculously long limbs, especially in proportion to his body. He had a coat of black fur which covered his entire body and cat like eyes. His ears were pointy, but not as pointy as the two horns that jutted out of the top of his head. "I can't bear another second of those brothers...existing!" He ranted, slamming his trident on the ground.
"I think that can wait." A woman objected. She too looked cartoonish, with a ridiculous beanpole-like frame and grey skin with what few hairs she had waving in the air like they had minds of their own. She was also wearing a purple dress. "All you have to do is wait."
"I can concur." Another man spoke up. Well, he wasn't really a man so much as a CRT monitor with a game of pong wearing a king's robe. The Lord of Games, as he so called himself.
"Bah! Where's the fun in that?" The other person in the room questioned. He was an old man, greying hair and wrinkles galore. He wore a blood soaked lab coat along with blood soaked pants. "I would personally love to get out in the open."
"That's coming from you, though." The Lady of the Dead retalliated.
"Well, that's true." the Devil conceded.
"I thought we were of the same mindset!" Dr. West argued.
"We'll go when I'm ready!" The Lord of Games snapped.
"Who put you in charge?!" The Lady of the Dead demanded.
"I-"
"ENOUGH!" The Shadowman bellowed in a demonic voice. That calmed the fighting a bit. Clearing his throat and returning his voice to human, he turned to ARIA.
"Now, if I'm not mistaken, the final of the Killer Instinct tournament should be soon. Right now, in fact." He reminded her.
ARIA nodded. "Of course." A TV screen was brought down, showing an arena surrounded by eager spectators.
The two combatants were ready to come out of their tunnels.
Out of the first, came a robot with plasma claws, red eyes, a ponytail and a familiar metal makeup, Ultratech's prized possesion and number one product, the Fulgore Mk III.
"In this corner, the one and only masterpiece of combat! A marvel of engineering and fighting, here to prove that machine beats any man, Fulgore!" The announcer cheered.
"And in this corner, the former heavyweight champion of the world, here to prove he's the best of the best, the Crazy Buffalo, he's Balrog!"
Even looking at Balrog in comparison to Fulgore, ARIA could tell he was a freak of nature. Nothing out of the ordinary for Killer Instinct, but ARIA was sure that they made sure Fulgore's path to victory was as straight forward as possible.
Balrog was a dark skinned man, bulky and tall, almost matching up to Fulgore. He wore black shorts as well as boxing boots, with red gloves that had some logo on them. Most of this, however, was obscured by the sleeveless hood he wore. It was blue and yellow, and at one point, it obviously had sleeves, which Balrog had since ripped off. On the back, you could make out two words.
'Crazy Buffalo'. Obviously a nickname.
"Who's this?" ARIA asked. "I don't know. Some boxer guy, says he was the champ and now he's just looking for a paycheck." Cinder answered nonchalanty.
"Right..." ARIA muttered. But from the moment the Crazy Buffalo threw his first punch, ARIA knew things wouldn't be so easy.
Day 15 in the cell. It had been just over two weeks ago now.
Ultratech had rounded up every fighter that assisted them in fending off Gargos and had them locked up. This meant no more freedom for the likes of Tusk, Kim-Wu, Spinal, Thunder, Eagle, Maya and Sabrewulf. They were sent to an experimental facility where they were kept in entirely seperate sections.
It was night, and so most were asleep, except for one. She still wore her combat gear, her white top and green bustier, her combat boots and green shorts along with her night vision goggles that acted as a headband which Ultratech must have somehow missed, but Orchid didn't sleep. She was hungry.
She knew exactly how hungry she was too, but she didn't eat. She kept herself hydrated, but Orchid didn't want Ultratech to keep her caged up. The only reason she even drank water was due to the little hope she still had. Her brother, Jago, was still out there. He was capable of getting her out, at least.
But right now, she had other priorities. Right now, the guard would walk around, make sure everyone was asleep, and then lambast Orchid for lying against the wall at the back of her cell and for not eating again, then threaten to feed her to a squad of Ultratech Riptors or let the company hitwoman Sadira have her way with her. To be fair, that last idea was pretty chilling.
But anyway, here came the guard. No baton, instead, a gun.
The guard looked different tonight, definitely a different person. This man was pale skinned, and had short brown hair which was neatly combed over, along with a small moustache.
Come to think of it, he didn't look like a guard at all. Orchid knew her fair share about the military, and if she had to guess, she would have said that this man was a soldier. Not just your run of the mill soldier either. Judging by his uniform, Orchid would have said World War I, at the latest, was what war he would have been fighting.
But everything else about him said otherwise. He was armed to the teeth with bizzare and colourful tech. Like the gun in his hands, for instance. It was an MG08, a high capacity, high damage gun used during the first world war. But they were usually grey, and metallic. This one was a mix of light and dark blue, which might have just been a custom design, but the gun illuminated her cell, proving it was more than that.
He had some strange grenades on his belt. Aside from some standard issue fragmentation grenades, there were these strange devices which were half blue and half yellow, looking more like they would be used as light bulbs than as weapons. There was a Bowie Knife and a Remington New Model Army handgun on his belt too, or as TJ might have referred to it, a cowboy gun, obviously his side arm. It was a more metallic red and black, with the red illuminating her cell also. He wore what looked like a pair of knuckledusters on his hands, but most amazing of all was what was on his back.
It looked like a staff, with Orchid unable to make out what exactly it was, only seeing the head, which glowed a bright yellow.
"Black Orchid?"
No response.
"I'm looking for a Black Orchid. I'm told that this is the cell where she can be found."
The man then looked at the plate of cold and uneaten food as flies started to gather. "Guess there's no one in here."
Orchid paused for a moment. Was she seriously going to let this guy walk away? What did he want? Nothing good, Orchid could be sure.
But right now she was slowly and painfully dying while being held captive by Ultratech. What could be worse than that? Certainly nothing he could do.
"What do you want?" She called out weakly.
The man stopped and went back to the cell. "So you're Orchid?"
"What's it to you?" She questioned.
The man reached behind his back and pulled out another weapon. A Tomahawk. Much smaller than anything Thunder would use. It glowed a bright orange, like it had been set on fire and was never put out. With one quick slash, the lock came off, and the cell opened with a loud clang.
Orchid slowly got to her feet, rising to meet the man. "Who are you?" She asked.
"Tank Dempsey. I'm busting you out of here." He turned to leave the cell, signalling for Orchid to follow.
"Wait." Orchid stopped him. "How can I trust you?"
Tank didn't hesitate, throwing two familiar glowing sticks at Orchid, which she caught. Her Twin Tonfa Sticks!
"Some...thing called Glacius. I've gotta do him a favour, and I get something in exchange."
Orchid remembered the name. What did he want? The ice alien had shown up for Killer Instinct, with Orchid first seeing him defeat TJ Combo during the tournament. That was something else. Where was TJ? How about any of the other fighters from the Killer Instinct tournament?
The earth golem Aganos, or the crazy sorcerer Kan-Ra, even the vengeful spirit Hisako, there was no trace of any of them.
"Did he have anyone with him?" Orchid asked as Tank navigated down more and more corridors. "Other people? No. It was just him." Tank replied, stepping over an unconcious guard. "Any idea why he wants you? Or what the hell he's supposed to be?"
"He's an alien." Orchid explained. "His entire body is made of ice, which protects him from harm. But I don't know what he'd want with me."
But Orchid wasn't really paying attention to her answer, so much as she was looking at the staff on Tank's back. That was definitely the same staff. The head of the staff had blades either side of it, and the other end was glowing as well. He had another gun on his back too, which was a chrome colour along with some neon blue here and there.
"What kind of weapons are those?" She asked. Tank stopped. "Sorry?"
"The ones on your back. They're not exactly commonplace around here." She then reached for the staff. "Especially this-" "Don't touch it!" Tank ordered, elbowing her arm away from the staff.
There was a moment of silence, before Tank broke the ice again. "That's not something you need to know about." Then he paused. "Actually, hold still." He instructed, taking the staff into his hands and holstering the MG08, pointing the butt end of the staff at her.
"Woah, hold on!" Orchid raised her Tonfa Sticks in self defence. But it was a drag on her. There was no way in her current condition that she would be able to fight. "Look, ma'am, I've got so many machines that I could've killed you with the moment I saw you, I'm not going to kill you with this one."
"Well then what the hell's it for?" Orchid questioned. "No offense, but...you look like shit." Orchid looked down and noticed that too. She almost forgot, but when you went so long without food, you are going to look pretty bad.
Before Orchid could say anything more, Tank fired a blast at Orchid.
She looked down and realized she felt much better. She looked it too. Refreshed and ready to go.
"What was-" "Sekhmet's Vigor." Tank answered, reloading the staff. "Works wonders for you."
The rest of the journey was relatively uneventful, with Tank having taken out pretty much all of Ultratech's security measures on his way in.
The journey through the city was also uneventful, with both keeping a low profile as they made their way to a derelict part of town. The two eventually found a street littered with junk and vegetation, with the only building to go into being an old chinese restaurant with shattered windows and the door knocked off its hinges.
"Alright Glacius. I've got the one you want! Now it's your turn to hold up your end of the deal!" Tank barked.
There was nothing for a second, before the two could hear the sound of water spilling out onto the pavement. The puddle then started to take shape, forming a body with two yellow eyes.
Everything about him was alien. He was made of ice, giving a full view of his insides, not that there were many to begin with. He didn't appear to have a neck, merely a head on shoulders, with icicles lining his back.
"Thank you, Mr. Dempsey." Glacius spoke. "The book you desire is inside."
Going inside, there was indeed a book on one of the tables. An old leather covered book, with symbols on the front that didn't appear to mean anything. "Excellent. This is it alright." Tank confirmed, flicking through the pages. "I must ask though, where did you find it?" Glacius inquired.
"I didn't find it. I've gotta return it to the person who did." Tank answered.
"Anyway, Orchid. Do you know the whereabouts of your brother?" Glacius asked. Orchid shook her head. "I'm not sure. He managed to get away while the rest of us were locked up."
"The rest of us?" Glacius repeated. "So Ultratech had plans to capture anyone who participated in Killer Instinct. This is bad news. We'll have to get them out as well, if we can't find Jago."
Tank listened to the conversation carefully. He had seen the book in his hands do many crazy things. Maybe it could work its magic some more.
"Find 'Jago'." Tank instructed. The book sprung into action, earning the attention of Orchid and Glacius.
The book eventually stopped on a world map, showing 'Jago' to be somewhere in...'Gensokyo'. Where the hell was that? Come to think of it, the entire map seemed off. Like someone made it up.
"What the hell?" Orchid stared, confounded by the strange map. It also showed their location, a place called 'Adams City'.
"Find Summoning Key." Tank instructed. The highlighted point on the map shifted ever so slightly in Gensokyo, to a place called the 'Hakurei Shrine'.
"I don't remember the world being like this." Tank muttered. "Something's going on. I've gotta get to that key."
He stood up to leave. "Wait." Glacius stopped him. "I suggest we team up." Tank was hesitant. "I don't know. I'd like to keep as many people out of this as I can." Tank explained.
"We too have business in this place of 'Gensokyo'. Even if we must remain ignorant, at least let us travel with you." Tank paused. "Who's Jago?" He asked.
"Look. That prison cell you busted me out of, it belongs to a company. Ultratech. If we don't get as many people behind this as we can, we're gonna get crushed by them. Jago is one of our only hopes." Orchid answered.
That answer seemed to sway Tank. "Alright. But I'm the leader, got it?"
Fulgore was literally in pieces, sparks flying all over the arena as Balrog stood victorious in the middle of the arena. The crowd didn't cheer though, they were just stunned into silence as security guards ushered them away.
As for Balrog, he remained in the arena until one of the doors opened to reveal a woman with a Fulgore MkIII on either side of her. She was wearing a hoodie on top, not much on the bottom though, just covering the bare essentials. Her skin was ridiculously pale, but it was her claws that earned Balrog's attention. They ran along the side of her lower arms, and were extending off her fingers too. Balrog wasn't interested in that part about her, though she would have looked somewhat appealing despite all that, but the claws on her hands reminded him of Vega. He hated Vega. Hate and Balrog were used very frequently in the same sentences, as a matter of fact.
"Mr. Balrog, isn't it?" The woman began. "My name is Sadira. I'm here to take you to our headquarters." Balrog raised an eyebrow. "I just won. All I want is my fight money and to get out of here." Sadira rolled her eyes, earning more of Balrog's ire. "Yeah, but you've got to come with me so I can give it to you."
A short while later, Balrog found himself on the top floor of the Ultratech tower, face to face with ARIA. No sign of any other villains though.
"Mr. Balrog." ARIA congratulated. "I congratulate you on winning Killer Instinct. You shall receive fame, fortune and a place in the highest ranks of society for your efforts."
"Hmph!" Balrog grunted. "About damn time!" He made his move towards ARIA. "Now where's the money?" He asked, looking around. "That will come in due time." ARIA explained. "But to make up for it, we at Ultratech are willing to double your money if you could complete one simple task for us."
Balrog was paying attention. "What do I gotta do?"
"Well, you see," ARIA began to project a screen, showing a picture of another boxer. "this is Tyler Johnson Garrett. Otherwise known as TJ Combo. He's been trying to bring us down for quite some time now, and we'd like you to get rid of him. Along with the help of another, of course. He'll tell you everything you need to know."
"I'm still getting paid, right?" Balrog questioned. "Double payment." ARIA confirmed. "Fine. I'll get this guy for ya, but I'm not some errand boy, you hear?!" ARIA nodded. "Understood."
She knew where he was going though, and really didn't fancy his chances of survival. Or TJ's. All that had to happen was for everyone involved to tire themselves out before a Fulgore MkIII strode in and cleaned up the mess.
As Balrog left, the Shadowman entered the room. "What is it?" ARIA asked. "It's about that prison you have." The Shadowman began. "I decided to check on it, what, with your attention being divided with Killer Instinct and everything."
"Yes?" ARIA gestured for him to get to the point. "That secret agent girl is gone." ARIA stopped. "Gone?"
"Not there anymore, no."
Well, ARIA knew now at least that she had her hands full.
"Well, there still is some hope for us." The Shadowman continued. "You could always hope our spy behind enemy lines picks her up."
ARIA smiled remembering that. There was still that, thankfully.
Author's Note
Hey y'all, I'm back (to rise)! This time with Microsoft. A short chapter to start off, not too much to say about just this chapter, so I'll move on to other things.
So I thought I'd give some info on this story before I start, because I've been debating how this story should go for a long time.
The games (the lores of which, to be specific), I'm going to be focusing on are Killer Instinct, Call of Duty (Zombies), Splatterhouse and Touhou.
So this means that other games will get their spotlight too, but I'm choosing a lot of plot elements from these four in particular, mostly because I find that manageable, and I wanted to encompass a variety of lores.
So yeah, the villains are ARIA, Dr. West, the Devil, the Lady of the dead, the Shadowman and the Lord of Games, with the added possibility of some side villains later on. As for why the Shadowman is here instead of Dr. Maxis, I'll explain later, but I did buy Black Ops III to play more zombies and understand the story a little better, and I feel he would be a more fitting villain, all things considered.
I will say that the single biggest problem I came across while writing is that of my own headcanons clashing with what is canon in the game, especially, but not exclusively with KI.
So I took it as a challenge to write around these already established characters, and decided the best thing to do would be to add some more stuff on top of that which I'll explain later.
Also, can I just say that the KI character redesigns are really, really good. I like that Orchid looks more combat ready, Jago looks less like a Power Ranger, Maya reminds me of Lara Croft for some reason and that TJ dropped the eye patch and stupid haircut.
Compare that to SFV, where Akuma looks like he belongs in The Lion King, and for some reason, Vega now wears a shirt. Idk why, but that bugged me for some reason.
At least they got Balrog's redesign done well. He looks more like a boxer, and the flashy design of his sleeveless robe captures his personality quite well, easily my favourite in the game, and I expect no less for my main :D.