The soft pitter-patter of paws on carpet could hardly be heard by the few inhabitants of the household. For the old cream-colored cat, everything seemed nice and quiet. The whitewashed walls disappeared when they hit the beige carpet, elegant and practical paintings and photos were hung about, and generally, the hallway was spick and span. The feline had moved to this household when the owners had decided they needed more space. Humans had a tendency for claiming more ground than they needed, but as long as it opened up new hunting ground, the faithful feline was content.
She stopped in the middle of the hallway and paused to lick her paw. Her tail twitched just slightly when a firm vibration caught her attention. Something was making a slight bit of activity somewhere up ahead, and whatever it was, multiple soft trembles would ripple through the hallway in following. Although tempted to continue her bathing, the cat crouched down and moved forward. She hunkered down at a corner and tuned her ears to listen when the vibrations started up again.
In no time at all, a small child appeared around the corner and startled the cat. With her head down and vision partly obstructed by her blond hair, the child hardly noticed the cream cat lying in wait. Instead, she was focused on a strand of red string held tightly in her fingers as she backpedaled down the hallway. The cat meowed softly in amusement when she saw a small entourage of kittens following the string as if it was the most interesting thing in existence.
One kitten, a grey and white one, managed to flip over itself, thus ending its pursuit of the girl and her string. It cast its mother a look that, if translated, would have been one of exasperation. Not even a bunch of kittens and their mother could keep up with Claire Valmei White. Oh they could try, but at the end of the day, their boundless energy hit a major wall while Claire's kept her up and running. It was a good sign, though. An active child was a healthy child.
Claire decided to humor the kittens and slowed down enough for one of them to pounce on the string. The tiny cat managed to rip the string away from the girl's limp hold and batted the object around as if it was still alive. The other kittens leapt onto the string and started a small frenzy over who would get the string. Claire giggled at their antics before the sound of the front door opening, then closing, reached her ears. Someone had come home.
It had to be mommy. Momma was already at home, but she was busy looking at a multitude of tan-colored folders and whatever was inside them. When Claire tried to look, she was nudged away and was slightly chastised for her curiosity. Nothing that momma was looking at was very interesting, but there were a few photos of a tall and strange man that Claire managed to look at before being chased off. The man had to be someone very silly, as he had painted half of his body blue and the other half red.
She trudged through the hallway with a spring in her step. Already she could hear her two mothers talking about their work. Because one was a police officer and the other was a special operative, she always felt safe. She neither questioned why she was always protected; nor did she ask why her parents were constantly looking over their shoulders just recently. Perhaps they were expecting someone, but the way they looked seemed as if they did not like whoever it was. Claire was not put off in the slightest, as her parents usually had that look when Uncle Hibiki stopped by for a visit.
The hushed tone of one parent carried out into the hallway. Claire stopped just before she entered the room her parents were in and pressed up against the doorframe. Usually when mommy came home, she would talk to momma in private before putting on a big smile and wrapping her daughter tight in a warm hug. They never talked about the specifics of their work directly in front of her, and for that, Claire couldn't help but become curious. From her position, she strained to listen in on whatever her parents had to say.
There was something about momma's comment of leaving for some mission that filled Claire with a sense of dread. She knew her parents were heroes like the ones she saw on TV; always helping the weak and defeating the evildoers. Heroes usually came back to their families, but sometimes they did not. Sometimes the heroes went away for a very long time, and their families never saw them again. Claire did not want to lose her parents. She raised her eyebrows at such a thought before walking out into the room.
"It never ends, does it?" Cammy said sadly as she looked at her wife. "Someone has to stay."
"Yeah… And that means one of us has to go," Chun-Li replied.
"Delta Red is going into this tournament. We have enough information to strike with, and no doubt about it we're going to hit them hard. This is not S.I.N., and this is not Shadaloo." Cammy looked down at her hands for a moment. "This… this is much worse. Chun, I don't know what to do…"
Chun-Li was too engrossed in the sight of her wife's mulling over decisions to notice the soft footsteps sneaking up from behind. She knew that Cammy took on all the tough missions and disposed of most of the world's worst terrorists alongside the best of the best. The woman was a Major in Delta Red, and not only was she tasked with performing her duties, she had to command those underneath her. Her words could spell life or death for the men and woman in her command, and in a high-risk operation like the one coming up, she was skeptical of her abilities. If she erred, not only would she lose her life, but her daughter would lose her mother.
"…I'll go."
Cammy's eyes widened a little when she heard that. She looked up at Chun-Li and tried to find the voice to deny her, but nothing came up. It wouldn't do any good anyway. If the Chinese woman said she would do something, she would do it. Hardly anything would deter her from her word but those close to her, and they weren't willing to stop her. Cammy sighed and nodded before she noticed Claire standing just behind them. Startled and at a loss for words, both women stood and looked down at their child as if they had been caught red-handed.
"Momma, where is mommy going?" Claire asked Cammy with teary eyes.
"She… uh… well, Claire…"
"It's alright Cammy," Chun-Li cooed before she took a knee in front of Claire. "My little Claire… Mommy's got to go for a few days, maybe a week. I'm sorry. There are bad people out there, and I have to stop them before they hurt good people like you."
Sniveling, Claire wrapped her arms around her mother's waist and placed her chin on her shoulder.
"I… I don't want you to go," she mumbled. "I don't want you to go away forever…"
"I won't. I'll come back for you and your momma." Managing a smile, Chun-Li rubbed the back of her child's head. "I-I promise."
The two held each other for what seemed like an eternity with Cammy looking on. Even the ex-doll cracked a smile at the sight, finding the innocence of children too pure to not appreciate. Claire sniveled again and eventually calmed down enough to look back up at her mother. If she made a promise, she was bound to keep it.
"Claire, can you make a promise for me as well?" Chun-Li asked.
"Mmhm…?"
"Could you look after momma while I'm gone? I need you to be a big girl this week." Chun-Li glanced at Cammy. "We need you to be strong… just until I get back. Can you do that for us?"
Claire nodded her head.
"Y-yes mommy, I'll be good, and I'll help momma."
"I can tell I'm going to be in good hands," Cammy said with a small chuckle. "Chun, if you're serious about this, we need to go to headquarters right away."
"Yeah… Let's go," Chun-Li said softly as she removed herself from her child.
After a few kisses goodbye, the two adults left together. Claire watched them leave and silently prayed for the safe return of her mother as well as the wellbeing of her other mother. While she enjoyed being the center of attention at times, she knew that if Chun-Li were to never return, it would hurt Cammy just as much as it would hurt her. Perhaps even more. Wiping the tears from her eyes, Claire turned away and tried to dwell on more optimistic thoughts.
The days passed slowly like molasses in wintertime, and with every hour that went by, the blond child thought of her mother. She asked of the strange man she had seen in the pictures, but Cammy only shook her head. It was not for her to know. Cammy did not want to trouble her with the truth just yet, but she did not want her to become too inquisitive. She wanted to protect her, and to do that, she had to censor bits of the world. The only thing Claire was told was that the man was very bad and her mother would put him in jail.
And it was true, in a way. The bad guys were always caught and left to face their crimes in prison, or so Claire was lead to believe. After a week and a half of waiting, Chun-Li returned home to her wife and daughter. She had done what she had to do, and she was absolutely relieved to be back. A celebration was in order, and it would be well-deserved. Claire was ecstatic to see her two mothers were so happy that she completely forgot about the bruises on one of them. She was also too distracted to notice the sad looks on Cammy's face when she looked at a few files. But Claire did notice one thing:
Mommy had brought home a small box. While she did not get a good enough look at it, Claire could see that the box was black and well-secured; a lockbox. When she prodded at it one day, Chun-Li chastised her for her curiosity and took the box away. It was in the household, but Claire had no idea where it was. Her mother had hidden it well, and it was eventually forgotten. No matter. Whatever was inside it probably wasn't of great importance anyway.
"Momma?"
"Hmm? Yes?"
"…I think he's a big jerk."
Cammy chuckled and rubbed her temples with her free hand.
"Yes, yes, I believe you're right."
She glanced at her daughter for a moment before shaking her head in amusement. It was late at night… well, late enough for little eight-year-old girls. With school making its presence known in Claire's life, the girl found herself thrust into a world of knowledge. At first, she was a terror in the classroom. Her curiosity usually got her in trouble, much to her parent's chagrin. The solution to this problem was not to curb her curiosity or enthusiasm, but to reroute it to something interesting. The teachers were amazing, as they managed to make learning fun enough for Claire to become entranced.
Now, the little hazel-eyed girl was staring up at Cammy from under the covers of her bed. She had demanded that since she was getting into reading, someone had to give her a few extra lessons so she could understand more. But that was just a sly excuse for her parents to sit down and read to her at bedtime. Cammy smiled at her daughter and flipped to a new page of a dark blue book in her lap. Her eyes ran over the text for a moment before she spoke out.
"Despite the wry charms of the thief, he was slapped across the face. The innkeeper was spoken for, and she was not impressed in the slightest. The knight glanced over at his wisecracking friend and sniggered while the archer rolled her eyes in disgust. Stealing was the thief's business, but he could not manage to take an opportunity and work it to his liking." Cammy looked down at the accompanying picture and read the line of dialogue beneath it in a rough, accented voice. "Ah ha! Shot down like a harpy! Perhaps you should give chivalry a try!"
"At times I wonder why I keep following a muscle-bound swordsman and his sneaky sidekick," said Chun-Li from over Cammy's shoulder in the voice of the archer.
"I know why. It's because you loooove us," Cammy cheekily replied in the voice of the thief.
Claire looked at her parents and giggled. They were always so happy come noon. With a recent terrorist cell buried under rubble, the two heroes found they had quite a bit of extra time on their hands. What better way to spend it than to relax with each other and raise their daughter? She needed guidance, and with two leaders as her parents, she would be sure to never lose her way. Whatever she needed to know, they would tell her. But it was always within reason and Chun-Li's protective nature.
The Chinese woman had changed since the operation two years ago. She was a little more serious than she used to be, and that was not just because she had a daughter to raise. As naïve as it was to believe otherwise, the world was a terrible place filled with terrible characters who pounced on the weak at any ripe opportunity. Claire would not make it in this cruel world if she was raised like the other children. Knowledge would give her a good chance, but Chun-Li wanted to make sure her daughter could survive.
And for that, Claire eventually needed to learn how to defend herself.
"After resting and buying new equipment from the smithy, the three heroes went west into the arid land of Saugsoil," Cammy said after she flipped another page. "The evil mage that resided there was terrorizing the people of the land, and they needed help. The archer was skeptical of the mage's evil lair, but she-"
"Momma, what does skeptical mean?" Claire piped.
"Skeptical? Hmm…" Cammy rubbed her chin for a moment as she thought. "Doesn't that mean that you're not sure of something?"
"Sort of," Chun-Li said. "It means that you're not sure of what you've been given. You don't believe everything, but you don't disbelieve it. You're at ends with it all, basically. Do you understand, Claire?"
"I… I think so."
"Well, we both learned something today, eh Claire?" Cammy said as she lightly jostled her.
The little girl grinned and nodded.
Claire hissed and held her skinned knee as Cammy poked around it. She had reached her limit for today, as she was out of breath and in no condition to continue. In fact, with all the bruises on her body, it would have been wise for her to have stopped earlier. Learning how to fight was crucial for self-defense, and Chun-Li would not accept her daughter sitting out on something so important. The woman pounded her teachings into the girl both figuratively and literally, but because she was just starting out, Chun-Li held back as much as possible during training.
Still, the 10-year old managed to get hurt and bruised when she miscalculated a block and got kicked for her efforts. Many pained tears were shed and many sympathetic statements were fired off before Cammy intervened. She encouraged Chun-Li to turn a blind eye to their daughter's cries and whining not because they wanted to, but because they needed to toughen her up. If the two women could take jabs to the stomach and kicks to the head without submitting to the pain, so could their daughter. It was not something they enjoyed doing, but they had to do it.
Enjoyment was not one of Claire's goals when she figured out that she would be fighting. She admired the heroes that were her parents, but she wanted no part of their duty. It wasn't that she was lazy; far from it. Give the girl a task that fit her skills and she would perform it to the best of her abilities without a complaint. When it came to fighting, however, she wanted none of it. She hated to fight and despised the very idea when her mothers brought it up.
But she knew that learning to fight was as inevitable as it was valuable.
"You know Claire, back when I was a Captain I had a mission in an old Shadaloo base," Cammy said as she rubbed a touch of ointment on her daughter's knee. "Your mother was topside tending to a few prisoners while my squad and I were scouring the depths for any other personnel when suddenly the corridor we were walking down began to collapse."
Claire hissed softly in pain as Cammy put a doctored band-aid on a fresh cut.
"C-collapse?"
"Yeah, like those ancient ruins in the old adventurer movies. It was coming down right in front of me, and, since I was on point front and center, I would be crushed first before anyone else. We turned tail and ran back where we came, and luckily everyone in my squad came out fine and dandy enough. I, however, was ducking under pillars and the like and had to slide under a collapsing door before it closed me off from the rest of my squad. When the adrenaline wore off, I had the worst pain in my legs. I looked down and found that both of my knees looked as red as Hakan's face when he gets angry." Claire chuckled at the simile as Cammy continued. "I made the mistake of sliding on my knees when making my exit, and they were badly skinned up."
"Were you alright then?"
"Of course I was," Cammy replied before she glanced over her shoulder. "I had a good caretaker back then. And I still do."
Claire nodded as she understood who her mother was talking about. She looked up past her mended knee and stared out into the open area of a large and beautiful garden. In almost every direction, an explosion of color greeted her eyes. There were shades of yellow and pink as well as the luscious green that supported it all. Within the center of the area was a magnificent cherry tree surrounded by small outcroppings of mums. Already the tree was in bloom, and pink petals would occasionally drift down to the cobblestone paths below.
It was a splendid sight to see, but the main attraction was not the fauna, but the large fighting mat that was laid out near the tree. Bits of dirt and gravel were littered here and there as a testament to its use. The nature around them was calming for slow days, and Chun-Li spent the time wisely by training her daughter in meditation and fluid movements. On fast days, the sounds of the city nearby would threaten Claire's concentration, and she would have to drown them out to stand a chance against her mother's sparing strikes.
The house was technically an apartment, but every room was customized to the occupants' liking, thus giving it the sense of being a home. There was no rent to pay, nor was there mortgage to worry about. Being so close to the city had its advantages as well as its disadvantages. Groceries, work, and school could be easily accessed and friends were always in touch, but the problems of the city were always waiting at the door like a wolf in the shadows. And the garden, as well decorated as it was, was flanked on the south, east, and west by adjacent buildings, leaving the north open for someone to look out onto the streets of London below. But that wasn't as much a problem as it was a mild safety concern.
"Momma?"
Cammy smiled a little at the word and turned back. Claire was too old to refer to her parents as 'mommy' and 'momma' anymore, but she kept calling Cammy momma as if it was a unique title. It was a much better alternative to being called 'dad', even if Claire dropped the word every now and then as a little joke.
"Yes Claire?"
"Why am I doing this?"
"Doing what?" Cammy asked.
"Learning how to fight," Claire mumbled.
"Claire, your mother and I just want you to be able to defend yourself."
"But I don't want to fight! I don't want to hurt anyone…"
An eerie silence arose for a moment before Cammy cut through it.
"Well guess what? Neither does your mother," she said as she narrowed her eyes and frowned. "I don't want to fight either, but we have to. Your mother wishes we never had to fight in the first place, that we were living in a peaceful society, but life isn't like that. It's no butterflies and daisies. There are people out there who will try to hurt you, and I don't want that to happen." With a determined frown, Cammy said, "And it won't happen, will it now?"
"…No," Claire mumbled dejectedly.
"Good," Cammy replied with a curt nod. "Listen Claire, your mother and I want only the best for you because we love you. But we can't always be there for you. You need to learn how to take care of yourself."
"I-I know momma, I'm sorry."
"It's alright."
Cammy placed her hand on Claire's shoulder and edged in to give her a kiss on the forehead. Despite the training, the pain, and the sternness, Cammy loved her daughter with all her heart. She was her own flesh and blood; a gift from whatever forces were at work in the world. The British woman helped her daughter stand and ushered her inside, all the while relishing the cute grin on the scraped-up girl.
"D-did I do something wrong?"
Chun-Li exhaled slowly as she watched her daughter pace about her bedroom. She had been like this for some time now. Claire would ask questions to things she did not need the answer to, and she would usually get shot down. However, she could handle being denied a few answers when they pertained to simple or adult things. It was Cammy's past and Shadaloo's history combined that bothered the girl.
Being nosy was a good trait when it came to investigators and soldiers. If someone wanted to know about a particular piece of information, one would ask around or simply take what they wanted, sift through it, and give it back. Claire had become curious about Shadaloo when Cammy slipped up and mentioned it from time to time, and she had also begun to pry her mother for her childhood experiences. Surely the pigtailed operative would have had many memorable life experiences as a child, and Claire was anxious to soak up whatever she heard.
But her desire for knowledge was unsatisfied when Cammy repeatedly denied her.
"I just wanted to know how life was when she was my age, but she won't tell me anything…" Claire sniveled and looked over at Chun-Li. "Mom, please, I'm dying over here. I just gotta know."
"Why do you have to know?" Chun-Li asked.
Although her daughter did not know of her mother's past, Chun-Li certainly did. What childhood? She was created to be 16 years old by an evil megalomaniac! The ex-doll had no true mother or father, nor did she have anyone who loved her for the first years of her existence! Only Chun-Li and those close to Cammy knew of her past, but they did not dwell on it. The woman had put it behind her and looked to the future.
Irony dictated that her future would bring up her past.
"I… I don't know, I'm just curious," Claire squeaked. "I see that she never wants to talk about her past, and I'm con… concerned. She's my momma, can't she talk to me?"
"Claire… your mother…" Chun-Li rubbed the back of her neck. "She never had much of a childhood…"
"She didn't? Can you tell me about her?" Claire said as her expression brightened, figuring her mother could tell what Cammy would not.
"I'll say no more," Chun-Li replied as she raised her hands. "Her past is a story that only she has the right to tell. In time, I believe she'll tell you all about it. Hey… come here."
Claire wiped her nose and slowly walked over to sit next to her mother. She felt a strong arm drape around her shoulders and pull her close. It was a comfortable gesture, and Claire appreciated it. Although Chun-Li was her trainer, she was her mother first, and one of the most sympathetic of all the people she had seen. The world's strongest woman had a big, strong heart, and it bled for those who needed comfort.
"Don't worry about it, alright? She'll tell you in time, and if you think she's had enough of it, come get me and I'll sit her down with you," Chun-Li cooed. "Does that sound good?"
Nodding, Claire wrapped her arms around Chun-Li's waist. The woman smiled and embraced her daughter without hesitation. As she lingered in the hold, Chun-Li's thoughts drifted to other things she and Cammy were withholding from their daughter. There were the simple lies that everyone told their children, like Santa Claus and superstitious nonsense, but there were the more troublesome things as well. Claire did not need to know everything about Shadaloo or S.I.N. just yet, and especially not the Illuminati. Few knew what the Chinese woman had to go through when she entered that tournament…
Chun-Li looked down and lightly jostled her daughter.
"Hey, I've got an idea," she said. Claire gave her a curious look. "How about we go out to eat tonight? I don't feel like cooking, and you can bet the Major won't either when she gets home."
"Can we go to O'Keefe's?" Claire asked.
"I was thinking about pizza too, so why not!"
"What if momma wants to cook anyway?"
With a devilish smile, Chun-Li tapped her daughter's nose.
"Two to one. Majority rules!"
Nothing was more infuriating than not having something nice and clean to wear for a party. Almost everything in Claire's wardrobe was roughed up or too tacky to wear. She needed something interesting and colorful, else she risked being ostracized by her peers. School had a knack for showing people who they could befriend and who they should avoid, and since the seventh grade was just over, Claire wanted to know who to trust when she went into high school.
Claire listened to the shy voice in her left ear for a moment before switching it over to her right. A friend was on the phone, and she was timidly shooting off suggestions whist pleading for some in return. It was essentially a case of the blind leading the blind, as none of the two girls had any idea as to what they would wear. It wasn't until Claire looked at her emptied-out wardrobe did she find the problem. If there was nothing in her wardrobe that was suitable, perhaps something from her parents would do the trick.
As much as Claire loved her, Cammy hardly had any taste in clothing. She was content with the same blue and green blouses and tan skirts. Not once had she had the idea to dress up for anything unless it was incredibly important like an anniversary or a hot night in the city with her wife. There came the lightbulb above Claire's head. Chun-Li's wardrobe would be her saving grace. The Chinese woman loved to wear dresses as if she was still a child, and many admired her for wearing her beautiful blue qipao when fighting. Perhaps she had another, but in a smaller size?
The blond-haired teenager got up and dashed across the hallway to see for herself. Although her parents were not around- they mumbled something about spending some much needed quality time together before leaving with devilish grins-, they supported Claire's decision to go to a party. As long as she didn't do anything too idiotic like her favorite uncle, there would be no trouble. Chun-Li didn't say anything about her daughter having permission to take an article of clothing out from her wardrobe, but surely what she did not know would not hurt her.
Claire stepped into her parents' bedroom and made a beeline for the large wardrobe. She sifted through the top drawers and unknowingly the undergarments before she managed to stand tall enough to comprehend what she was doing. Perhaps searching lower would be a much better alternative. Blushing a little from embarrassment, Claire pulled out the lower drawers and picked out a few pretty pieces to wear. They were too small for Chun-Li to wear, but they were just right for her daughter. It was obvious that they were for Cammy, but the woman wasn't too keen on dresses.
Nudged between a few skirts and shirts was the corner of a black lockbox. It almost went unseen had it not been for Claire's picking of an eccentric skirt. She stared at the material for a moment before taking out her prize and closing the drawer. Many people placed items in their drawers, and Claire was no exception. A few pocket monster cards, a couple of magnets, and an elaborate collection of alternative rock CDs all made their niche amongst her socks and underwear. She thought it was probably nothing too interesting before she went to work on comparing dresses.
Yes, nothing strange at all…
Just a suspicious-looking black box…
Out of sight in one of her parents' drawers…
Possibly locked and filled with something interesting…
Slowly, the girl turned back to the drawer and stared for a moment. It was practically begging her to open it up and reach inside again. Claire could not ignore the temptation. After bidding her stuttering friend goodbye on the phone, she opened the drawer and pulled out the black box. So what if curiosity killed the cat? Curiosity always neglected to account for its nine lives! Claire set the box down on the floor and gave it a quick look-over.
Nothing was too glaring about the lockbox other than the fact that it was a lockbox. A steel hatch kept the top secured, and with a small lock keeping it in place, seeing the insides became a challenge. Unfortunately, Claire did not possess the same set of skills as her operative mother. She could not sneak or lockpick and she did not want to damage the box's lock to get inside. She turned the box around until she found a small silver key taped to the bottom.
Hiding objects under other objects was something Chun-Li did regularly. The key to the house was underneath the welcome mat. A few emergency pounds were placed under the kitchen's microwave. Countless candy wrappers were hidden under work papers, although Chun-Li continued to deny that they were hers. Claire carefully took the key and inserted it into the lock. She gave it a twist and watched as the top flipped oven to reveal the box's contents to her.
Claire did not know what she was expecting, but she was certain it wasn't this. Tiny bits of machinery lay about on red cloth, not mangled and destroyed but disassembled and simply forgotten. On closer inspection, it seemed that the bits of metal were part of some contraption rather than shrapnel from a multitude of mechanics. Claire glanced about for a moment as if she was certain someone was watching. No one was, but she could have sworn she felt ominous air waft into the room when she opened the box. It would have been unnerving, but the girl looked back down into the box and picked up a small piece of metal.
Whatever it was, it was surprisingly light. Small details leapt out at her, and she analyzed them all. A few notches here and there gave the impression that the device was clockwork based, but that was far from the truth. Claire picked up another piece and eventually tried to put the bits together. All thoughts of a party and her friend vanished as she worked. Obviously, the pieces would not stay together without something to cement it, but within Claire's hold, they formed something familiar.
The device was spherical and mysterious with a strange design etched into it. One half of the device was black while the other half was a dark violet color. Claire held it up for a better look and discovered that the whole thing was no bigger than a cat's eye marble. Actually, it was just about the size of a human eyeball. She blinked twice before dropping the device back into the box out of shock.
Whatever it was, it frightened the girl. It carried a terrible feeling along with it, as if it was possessed or was used by a malevolent spirit. Dismantled cybernetic eye, futuristic gemstone, or even a clockwork toy, it did not matter. Claire just wanted it out of her sight. She reset the box top and clicked the lock back into place before shoving the box back into the drawer where it came from. How her parents got a hold of something like this was to be discussed at a later time.
As she edged out of the room, she couldn't help but get the feeling that someone was watching her.
