The sound of shattering glass startled her, and she spun around to find the source of the noise. A lithe figure with a masked face. Her eyes narrowed, and she assumed a defensive stance. But instead of attacking, he held something up towards her. It was small, and she recognized it as a flash drive. "I hope you weren't looking for this." he said, waving it from side to side to taunt her as the alarms began to blare. There was a hissing noise as gas escaped the pipes above them, and a warning sounded, ordering the evacuation of all personnel within the next two minutes. "Enjoy yourself, coneja." Before Chun-Li could make her move, the man was gone from the room, having slammed the door shut behind him. It would lock on its own in an effort to contain the 'fire' that the system believed had broken out in this area due to the triggering of the alarm.
"No!" she cried, throwing all of her weight against the door, but to no avail. She covered her nose and mouth with her hand as the gas became a thick mist in the room. She didn't have much time. She raced to the computer, which was still running. In his rush to avoid her, he'd left it on and open to exactly what she'd come here for. But what did he want it for? "Come on," she whispered as the files began to copy to the disc she'd inserted. She looked around the room, searching for any other escape route. The building shook, and she grabbed the desk for stability. Something had exploded, the loud noise still ringing in her ears. Her heart pounded in her chest as she began to realise that she would almost certainly die here.
There was another explosion, nearer this time, and after the initial sound had died away, she heard a man screaming in agony. She held her breath, trying to figure out who it was, and prayed that it wasn't Guile, or someone else, searching for her. But no. The screaming man let out a string of curses in Spanish, and she leaned against the wall. She heard him choking now, on smoke, she supposed. She cringed at the horrible sound, until suddenly, it stopped, and she hung her head. "Well," she whispered, "at least he's coming down with me." She took one last glance at the computer, which had completed copying the files. The disk was ejected from the drive, and she put it in its case, gripping it tightly. She tried to make it back towards the door. But her vision blurred. Content with at least having done that, she felt her eyelids grow heavy, and she passed out.
"Come on, this place is coming down!" Ken shouted over the explosions. Sakura gasped as the ground beneath her shook, and she reached a hand out to steady herself against the wall. She felt a strong arm around her, and Ryu was by her side, urging her on.
"We can't stop, even for a second!" he said. "Those explosions are getting closer!" She nodded in reply, trying her best to keep up in spite of her injuries. There was another thunderous noise, and they could feel the heat of sudden flames on their backs. Cracks formed in the walls beside them, and plaster fell from the ceiling in chunks. Ken regained his footing quickly, shoving open the heavy double doors at the end of the hallway. Gas wafted down from the vents in the roof as alarms began to blare.
"That can't be good," Ken said, glancing up at the quickly forming cloud.
"The gas'll put out the fires but..." Ryu paused, avoiding a piece of the ceiling as it collapsed to where he'd just been standing. "It'll put us out too, if we're exposed for too long!"
"Good thing we're close to the exit!" Sakura cried as she pointed out towards the main entrance of the compound. S.I.N. employees were filtering out quickly, not even giving the intruders a second thought. The trio was happy for that small favour. They ran towards the open doors, leading outside. It was a relief to no longer have a crumbling roof overhead, or flames chasing them down narrow corridors, and they didn't even look back. "All right!" Sakura shouted. "What a rush!"
"We need to find Guile and the others," Ryu said. "They'll get us out of here." The three fighters made their way into the jungle, leaving the collapsing building behind them. A plume of dark smoke was rising steadily into the otherwise clear sky.
"You made it!" Cammy cried as she spotted the three familiar faces running up the hillside to the waiting chopper. "We were beginning to worry!"
"You know us," Ken said. "Fashionably late and all."
"Is Chun-Li okay?" Sakura cried upon seeing the doubled-over girl in the chopper, a thin coating of dust powdering her hair and clothes. She was holding an oxygen mask to her face, eyes squeezed shut as she took steady breaths, making Sakura worry even more.
"She should be," Guile responded for her, urging the others into the vehicle. "She was exposed to the gas for longer than she should've been. We're going to get her to a hospital as soon as possible, though."
"What happened in there?" Ryu said. "What caused all of the explosions?"
"The best we can figure," Cammy said, pulling the door shut beside them, "is that someone triggered a self-destruct mechanism. We're unsure as to who it was, and why. There's the possibility of a weapon's malfunction, as well." The rotors spun noisily and the chopper took off.
Chun-Li moved suddenly, lifting her hand towards Cammy. "Vega..." she said in a raspy voice. She cleared her throat, and her voice was easier to hear. "It was Vega."
"But I thought he was one of them?" Sakura asked, confused.
"S.I.N. loyalties began to split," Guile explained. "Those loyal to Seth, and those loyal to Bison. Guess which side Vega is on."
"Was," Chun-Li spat. "He's dead."
"One less Shadaloo-creep to worry about," Ken muttered.
"And I managed to get this as well." Chun-Li pulled out a disc in a slimline case, extending it towards Guile. "It's evidence linking S.I.N. to Shadaloo. It should be enough to convince Interpol that Shadaloo is very much alive, and still lethal as ever."
"Good work, Chun-Li," Guile said, staring intently at the object in his hands. "Maybe things will finally start to settle down."
The whirring rotors died down as the chopper touched land. Dust was kicked up into the air, causing a few techs in the area to wave their hands in front of their faces to ward it away. Two uniformed men were already running to the chopper, guns in hand. The door was opened, and Guile stepped out into the rubble of the former S.I.N. building. It had been two months since the destruction of the compound, and a great amount of progress had been made in clearing away the debris.
The two young men outside the chopper saluted instantly. "Major Guile, sir! We didn't expect you back to the site so soon!" one of the young men said.
"Just want to see how things are progressing. Can I speak with the forensics and salvage departments on duty?" Guile asked.
"Yes, sir," the kid replied, and pulled out his radio. "Major Guile requests a conversation with Perry and Stenner."
"Copy, they'll be contacted immediately," the voice replied. Guile thanked the two soldiers and dismissed them. Moments later, two men approached, both wearing official Interpol identification cards around the neck. They exchanged greetings, and got down to business.
"Mr. Stenner," Guile said, "was anything at all salvageable? Weapons, data, anything?"
Stenner gave a shrug. "It's all been reduced to scrap metal for the most part. Between the concussions, the intense heat, and the collapsed building, not a whole lot was left in tact. Weapons exploded or melted altogether. Computers are all wrecked. A few hard drives might yield some information, but I can't imagine it being much more than what Agent Xiang retrieved already. There was a fridge full of unidentified substances in test tubes marked with batch numbers. We're guessing they were finally branching out into biological agents, but the samples are being sent off for testing up north. Luckily, that didn't leak out, if it is what we think it is."
Guile nodded. "Good, keep me in the loop on those biohazards." He turned to Perry, and said, "How about you? Anything interesting?"
"You haven't the slightest idea," the man said with a bit of a sigh. "The past few days have been incredibly exciting. A few bodies were discovered in the wreckage-all appearing to be S.I.N. employees, judging from the uniforms. Just normal, everyday people, as far as the results of DNA tests are telling. But, twenty-six different-or, not so different-uh, beings, were found throughout the compound. Their DNA strands are unlike any other human's, and they appear to be partly mechanical in nature. I've never seen this sort of technology before-I mean, robotic limbs, yes, but this is beyond the usual joining of man and machine. It's like a step above."
Guile knew just what the man was talking about. "S.I.N. weapons," he said. "In a battle, they collect the data of their opponents, and it becomes pretty difficult to fight them when they literally know your every move."
"Amazing, simply amazing. It's a shame these people work with Shadaloo, they could've had such a future in more legitimate careers," the man said.
"So have you identified all of the corpses yet? You can verify that none of them are civilians?" Guile asked. It was the question he'd been dreading to ask, but knew he must. He wouldn't be able to stand the thought of some innocent person-likely kidnapped for experimentation to begin with-dying at the S.I.N. compound and being buried dishonourably alongside these people.
Perry nodded. "There weren't a whole lot, really, but yes. There's a list of names if you'd like to review it. Every one has been confirmed as a member of S.I.N. through the roster that was included in Agent Xiang's data. And like I said, they were all in uniform."
Guile nodded. "All right, good to know. Then-" He stopped suddenly, and shook his head. "Wait, every corpse was in a S.I.N. uniform?" he asked, a thought having suddenly struck him.
"Save for those 26 non-humans, yes. Why?"
"I need to see that list of names," he replied.
The scientist led him to the central working area of the forensics team where a few computers were set up on simple tables away from the rubble. The man picked up a thin stack of papers. He handed them over to Guile. "Here. All the info on the bodies. Gives their names, dates of birth, country of origin, role within the organisation, and their S.I.N. photo ID. The little marks next to the names were made after we cross-referenced the roster to make sure they really were part of the organisation," Perry explained as Guile leafed through the few pages of unfamiliar faces. When he finally reached the end of it, he checked it again, a little slower this time as he studied each face intently.
"Shit," he muttered under his breath as he finished again. "Are you sure you've found every body?"
"The place is empty, sir," Perry replied with a shake of his head. "I mean, it's been months since they began cleaning it out. As you can see, there's not much left but piles of rubble waiting to be taken away now. If there was a body, or even fragments of one, we would've found it."
Guile looked back down at the papers in his hands, and gripped tightly. "Then I have a bit of a problem."
updated 3/7/14