The World Warriors' Legacy
By Metal Harbinger
Author's Note: You are not hallucinating loyal Street Fighter readers, I have returned with the latest installment of "The World Warriors' Legacy!"
I know it's been a freaking long ass time since I updated this story (almost 9 months to be exact) as I've been distracted by my other projects that have left me feeling dry in the "Street Fighter well" and it's only now after a recent surge in ideas that I return to you.
Again, I would also like to take the time to thank anybody who has reviewed this story or added it to their favorites list and just wanted to let you know your input is always appreciated.
Okay now enough with my rambling, on with the story!
Chapter 4: One Huge Axe to Grind
Somewhere in Kazakhstan
A loud explosion rang out as the heat-seeking missile struck the battle tank head on, sending a mass of red and silver clad soldiers rushing for cover.
"Wasn't exactly the shot heard 'round the world, but looks like it's done enough to wake these blokes up," the heavy artillery specialist reported, a seven foot plus behemoth in a white arctic combat outfit with a cybernetic right eye.
"We aren't looking to make headlines McCoy, just do our damned job!" his commanding officer retorted, a tall muscular man himself, but nowhere near being the mountain of muscle his subordinate was, with a prominent scar running down his face and brown hair that fell to the bottom of his neck.
What was supposed to be a simple reconnaissance mission had turned into a full-blown battle for survival as the five man unit had found itself pinned down by an entire base full of heavily-armed soldiers.
"Well Colonel, I think this answers those suspicions the government has been having about whether or not this place was some kind of Shadaloo facility," a female voice barked through his earpiece.
"Well thank you for the assurance Luwanda. Just focus on taking those bloody sods out so we can find out what the hell is really going on down here," the Colonel replied before firing what remained of his current clip at the attacking soldiers.
"Whatever it is, it mustn't be too important to Bison if he's not going to use everything at his disposal to keep it under guard like he does everywhere else he sets up shop," a youthful voice added, one sounding like it belonged to a boy barely into his teens.
"If it's anything linked to Shadaloo, then we have a responsibility to have it dealt with immediately. If there's one thing you should've learned by now Ginzu, it's to never underestimate these creeps," the Colonel admonished.
Before he could receive a reply, both the Colonel and his subordinate, Major McCoy, were forced to duck down as a barrage of high-velocity rounds pelted the metal container they hid behind.
"How many rockets do you have left?" Colonel Wolfman asked as he checked over the current clip of his assault rifle.
"Just two sir, and I doubt that'll be enough for what we're putting up with here," McCoy responded as he set the RPG launcher aside and readied the heavy machinegun he had brought along for additional muscle.
"Yeah…we're gonna be putting up with a lot," Wolfman replied as he checked the heartbeat scanner attached to his rifle, which told him when a living enemy was nearby. So far, there were twenty blinking dots appearing on his radar and they were growing with every passing second.
The roar of more than one engine called out from a distance, forcing both men to turn their attention away from the battle at hand.
"Looks like you spoke too soon," McCoy shouted back, raising his machinegun and waiting for their new enemies to approach. Utilizing the thermal imaging within his cybernetic eye, he was able to make out the forms of ten additional adversaries through all the blowing snow, charging towards them on snowmobiles.
"Colonel Wolfman…Major McCoy…anybody, I could use some help over here!" Lt. Luwanda called out, "These damned wankers have me pinned down and I'm low on ammo!"
"We've got a dilemma of our own!" McCoy shouted into his earpiece just as the first Shadaloo guard pulled to a halt on his snowmobile, focusing the advanced vehicle's built-in weapons on the two Delta Red operatives. He squeezed the trigger and shot up the vehicle until he saw flames appearing from its engine compartment. It wasn't enough though as both men heard the hiss of a heat-seeking missile coming towards them.
"Hit the deck!" Wolfman shouted as the dart-like object soared towards them.
The projectile struck the container with a loud boom, creating a massive explosion that propelled both men into the air and sent jagged shards of flaming shrapnel raining dangerously down upon them, forcing both to curl into the fetal position.
Colonel Keith Wolfman was the first to recover from the blast, grunting loudly as he pushed himself up to his hands and knees, noting the warm blood pouring through the fresh cuts in his arctic combat outfit. Just as he was about to rise back to his feet, he was cut off by the cocking of numerous firearms.
Looking up slowly, he found himself surrounded by a group of soldiers clad in red and silver uniforms specially designed for the subzero temperatures of the Kazakh mountains. At the front of the group, a soldier shouted something to him in Russian, yet he was able to understand what the man was saying:
"Ready to die, filthy British dog?"
All of the soldiers laughed in unison as they trained their weapons on the Delta Red leader, knowing they were about to enjoy their kill, until a feminine voice pierced the air.
"CANNON STRIKE!"
From out of nowhere, a white blur flew through the air, striking the lead soldier with its extended foot, using enough force to snap the man's neck.
"Thank you," Colonel Wolfman muttered as he raised his assault rifle and opened up on the Shadaloo soldiers, quickly dropping another while his colleagues remained distracted by the white blur flying around them.
"AXLE SPIN KNUCKLE!" the lithe figure shouted as she twisted her body and delivered a powerful backhanded shot that knocked a soldier into unconsciousness and then leapt into the air, wrapping her legs around another enemy trooper's neck and flipping him onto the unforgiving icy ground, knocking him out upon impact.
The frantic agents shouted to each other to kill the woman, yet she moved with near superhuman speed, leaving it impossible for them to get a good lock on her location. Unfortunately for them, it left them wide open as both Colonel Wolfman and Major McCoy were able to gun down their attackers in quick succession.
"About time you show up," McCoy called out to his savior.
The woman in question looked like she was still in her teens, not exactly who someone would expect to have as their savior. She stood only around five feet four inches in height, with a slender, yet toned figure that was currently covered by a matching arctic combat outfit worn by her teammates. Long golden locks covered her head, which at the moment had been braided into two separate pigtails, complimented by a set of cobalt-colored eyes. Her youthful looks were further emphasized by her delicate-looking, oval-shaped face, its only imperfection being a scar along her left cheek.
"I thought you knew by now I wouldn't just sit back and let you 'big strong boys' have all the fun now, would I?" the little woman smirked.
"Nice of you to join us Cammy, but as you can see right now we don't have the luxury of sitting around for tea time. We have a job to do," Colonel Wolfman replied.
"Well then what are we waiting for? It's time to have some fun!" Cammy White spoke, cracking her knuckles beneath her red fingerless gloves, which were topped off by oversized gauntlets that looked too large for her small wrists.
Utilizing an almost superhuman agility, the Delta Red operative flipped herself atop the container her colleagues had been hiding behind and then launched herself downward with another Cannon Strike attack, taking down another Shadaloo operative, following up with an upward kick from her crouched position that took down another with a shot to his throat.
Several Shadaloo soldiers were firing upon the young woman, yet she moved like a white blur to them, effortlessly flipping over and dodging the bullets fired upon her. Leaping much higher than the average person, she flipped off of each soldier using graceful acrobatic attacks; eventually flipping over to one operative armed with an RPG launcher and wrapped her hands around his neck, twisting her body and with it, his neck.
"SPIRAL ARROW," she announced, lowering her body to the ground and lunging forward, twisting her body in a corkscrew manner in an attack that knocked several men from their feet. Just as she slid to a halt, she was already launching herself upward into another special attack.
"CANNON SPIKE!" she shouted as she launched herself upward with her foot extended, shattering a soldier's armor as her foot connected.
"I'd say she's about had her share," Colonel Wolfman shouted over to Major McCoy, cocking his assault rifle. "Now, I'd say we join her!"
"Good idea!" McCoy shouted back and they leapt into action, firing away at the Shadaloo operatives.
This was more than expected with the kind of intel they had been provided, yet it was proving to be the kind of workout Cammy so desperately needed.
Unfortunately, she was so caught up in the heat of battle; she didn't notice the sniper taking aim at her.
BANG!
KA-TING!
Turning around, Cammy found her teammate Lt. Lita Luwanda standing behind her with her large sword raised, having just deflected a bullet meant for her. Having saved her colleague's life, the melee weapons expert then pulled out a knife and chucked it with expert precision, catching the sniper right through the throat.
"Damn girl, you've really gotta get better at watching your back!" the woman casually chuckled, until a loud explosion came from behind them.
The two women whirled around to see a futuristic-looking bipedal robot marching towards them, one carrying the Delta Red logo. As soon as they noticed the youthful face behind the bulletproof glass they smiled.
"You were saying Luwanda?" George Ginzu called out from the cockpit of his walking battle tank.
"And just where in the bloody hell have you been, Ginzu?" Luwanda demanded, "With that new toy of yours we should've been in there a whole hell out a lot sooner!"
"Relax, relax I'm still learning how to operate this new toy," Ginzu replied, just as he accidentally pushed a button that launched a rocket towards a parked supply truck, "…oops!"
"I thought you were supposed to know your way around these fancy gizmos, 'Mr. I-Have-An-I.Q.-of-220-and-Can-Fix-Anything!'" Luwanda spat, this time in a more playful manner.
"Well keep in mind this combat thing is new to me. For Pete's sakes, I'm used to staying behind the lines while you get out here and do all the dirty work-" Ginzu was saying, until he was cut off by Col. Wolfman.
"People, please!" the Delta Red commander shouted, silencing his subordinates as he scanned the horizon. He then looked down to the heartbeat detector attached to his rifle, staring awkwardly at it.
"What is it, Colonel?" Cammy asked.
"I think that's it. I think we've taken out all the guards that were posted here," he replied as he stared at all the shot up corpses left behind.
"You think this might've all been one huge decoy?" McCoy asked, staring warily at the gray building before them.
"I don't know, but I'm going to find out," the Colonel said raising his rifle, "I didn't all this way just to turn back like that," he said snapping his fingers for emphasis. "McCoy and Luwanda, I want both of you on point."
"Roger!" they shouted in unison.
Making their way over to the building's front entrance, they found it protected by a hermetically sealed door, one that required a code to enter.
"Ginzu, we've got an electronic lock. That's your expertise," McCoy called back to his colleague.
"I'm on it," George replied. Pushing some buttons on an inside command console, a front hatch on the suit opened and allowed him to step outside. Grabbing a small PDA device, he quickly made his way over to the numeric keypad and pulled out a small tool to open the box. Pulling out some wires and attaching them to his device, he then typed in a few commands and a loud electronic ding resounded, letting everybody know his efforts had been successful.
"Got it!" he happily exclaimed as the door slowly slid open.
"Alright, keep it sharp!" Colonel Wolfman barked as he pulled out a pair of thermal imaging goggles and followed McCoy and Luwanda into the factory, while Cammy and Ginzu followed close behind.
"See anything?" the Colonel asked as they made their way further through the halls, picking up faint heat traces indicating people had been there.
"Nobody around," McCoy replied, again studying his heartbeat monitor, "but all these heat traces tell me people definitely were here. We must've just missed them, bloody hell!"
"Colonel, check this out!" Luwanda called out.
Rushing through an electronic sliding door that had been left ajar, the unit found itself walking into a massive room and instantly Cammy found herself encountering one of many things she had hoped she would never have to see ever again.
"Oh my god…" the young woman trailed as she observed an entire army of Shadaloo monitor cyborgs standing before her, the units Bison would send out to spy upon warriors and transmit their data back into the organization's mainframe. In this very room, there had to be hundreds, if not thousands of them lined up in three groups, each of them ten units wide.
Granted, they were all deactivated, yet the sight was still unsettling to the British government operatives.
"Let's just get what we need to and get the hell outta here," Lita said as she kept a careful distance from the cyborgs, "This place is giving me the creeps already."
Several large computer banks were present in the large corridor, most of which were still switched on, although most of them displayed icons indicating they were locked and would require a multitude of passwords to access.
"Think those units will have anything of use?" Col. Wolfman asked staring intently with a hand on his chin before turning his attention to Ginzu, "See what you can get us Ginzu, there has to be something here to let us know this little excursion of ours wasn't entirely in vain."
"I'm on it Boss!" the computer whiz called out and made his way over to a console in the center of the room, pulling out his PDA and getting to work.
Cammy meanwhile continued staring intently at the deactivated cyborgs, feeling her blood chill at the sight of them.
She couldn't remember much from her time at Shadaloo, but had encountered several of them during her time with Delta Red and knew the damage they could deal, especially if they were programmed with the data of actual fighters.
The ticking of Ginzu's fingers flying across the keyboard had done little to distract her from the robots, until a loud electronic ding resounded.
"Alright, I'm in," the hacker announced, followed by a succession of clicks as numerous windows opened simultaneously.
"Good job. Now let's get what we need and be gone from here," Colonel Wolfman replied, also starting to feel Cammy's unease within the presence of the deactivated army.
"Alright, just hold on a sec," Ginzu spoke, until the screen began flashing red and an alarm began blaring throughout the factory.
"What in the bloody hell did you just do?" Lita shouted as she jumped.
"Yeah, I thought you were supposed to be the best we had," McCoy added, taking a position behind the hacker with his heavy machinegun.
"I am the best we've got," Ginzu protested as he feverishly struggled with the computer, "Somebody must've been watching us the entire time, like they expected us to show up!" he shouted to his commanding officer.
"That's preposterous!" the Colonel shouted back, "Nobody else aside from us and the General were supposed to know…unless somebody was spying on us the entire time!"
Lita had been standing near the room's entrance when she suddenly felt a powerful, metallic hand clamping down on her shoulder.
"What the-" she uttered before finding herself lifted from the ground.
One of the cyborgs had come to life, its glowing red eyes piercing through her psyche, almost as if she were staring into the fires of Hell itself.
"Lita!" McCoy cried out, noticing her predicament and was preparing to open fire when the other cyborgs began systematically springing to life.
"What's going on here?" Ginzu asked, the color draining from his face.
"It's a trap!" Cammy replied, going into a fighting stance.
One by one the cyborgs stepped forth, walking towards the other four government agents while Luwanda struggled with the one holding her.
With a pained grunt, the lieutenant managed to grip the sword slung over her back and slice it downward, cutting into her aggressor's exposed leg hard enough to send it wobbling. Thrusting her body forward, she finally managed to wiggle herself free, landing hard on her side. Forcing herself back to her feet, she brought her sword up and sliced the cyborg's head clean from its shoulders.
"Stand your ground!" Colonel Wolfman shouted to his subordinates as the robots advanced upon them, but just as they had come within ten feet of them, they suddenly stopped.
"What gives?" McCoy asked, keeping his gun trained on the robots, feeling the thousands of glowing red eyes upon him and his comrades.
As if to answer his question, a compartment opened up in every monitor cyborg's chest in simultaneous, clockwork fashion. Within the opening a timer was displayed, all of them counting down from ten seconds.
"That!" Cammy shouted, pushing her way past the stationary cyborgs.
"Crap, everybody fall back!" Colonel Wolfman hollered.
The Delta Red members bolted from the facility as quickly as their feet would take them, hearing the low rumble from behind that would soon morph into a deafening roar as it followed, a myriad of explosions swallowing up the facility in methodical fashion.
The lithe Delta Red operative ran at the front of the pack with no time to look back and make sure her comrades were behind her as the heat nipped away at her backside and the roaring inferno made it near impossible to hear the other operatives' heavy breathing or shouts amongst themselves.
All she could focus on was running towards the light, racing against her own aching lungs and throbbing leg muscles.
The searing heat was soon replaced by the bitter cold; a welcome change to the young woman as she continued forth, just as a massive explosion that trumped all the others rang out from behind, flinging her into the air.
Cammy cried out in pain as she hit the frozen ground, landing hard on her side. Not knowing whether or not she had broken anything, she lay still for several moments, afraid to move. She had been so caught up in herself that she had forgotten about the others.
"Oh god…" she gasped and rolled over onto her side, only to find her vision obscured by a combination of smoke and heavy snowfall.
As if her prayers were answered, she heard Major McCoy's voice bellow over the blowing winds.
"Hey, any of you guys alright? C'mon say something!"
"We're here…barely!" Lita called out, helping George back to his feet.
Before Cammy could call out, she felt herself being lifted back to her feet by a set of powerful hands, those of the Colonel himself.
"It was a trap…a sodding trap!" Ginzu spat.
"Calm down Ginzu," Colonel Wolfman replied before returning his attention to the others, "It was a trap alright, but we're not going to let that stop us."
"So what's next on the agenda?" Lt. Luwanda demanded.
"For starters, we're going to get ourselves back to civilization," the Colonel said pulling out a radio, "and then we're going to plan our next move. I can tell already we've got a lot of work ahead of us," he said surveying the smoldering ruins.
Cammy stood silent as her eyes transfixed on the site where the factory once stood.
"Have they really had that much stockpiled underneath our noses this entire time?" she asked herself and then took notice of the dead Shadaloo soldiers lying around, "After that last tournament I truly hoped their menace was gone forever. Could I have truly been this ignorant?"
XXXXXXXXXXXXX
Fort McDaniel Air Force Base, Nevada, U.S.A.
"MAX OUT!" Dee Jay cried as he launched a boomerang-like projectile towards his opponent, who effortlessly leapt over it.
In reply, the man spun his body and delivered a brutal spinning back fist that sent the Jamaican kickboxer staggering backwards into a nearby chain-link fence.
His opponent was a muscular American who stood around six feet tall with piercing blue eyes, a firm chiseled jaw and blond hair styled in a tall flattop. He was clad in military fatigues and had an American flag tattooed onto his right shoulder.
The man was William Guile, a major in the United States Air Force and renowned street fighter.
It was a nice sunny day and several of his co-workers were cheering him on in the background, a few of them with their girlfriends in attendance, having a cookout and blaring rock music in the background.
Listening to the fast-paced, hard-hitting music provided the ideal mood for a battle that had been raging for nearly fifteen minutes, which realistically could have been over after five.
Guile stood to the right of the designated fighting spot, barely having broken a sweat, while his opponent was already worn down with a cut above his left eye and the right side of his face heavily swollen.
The perpetual smile that had been the "Southern Comet's" trademark was gone, replaced by a combination of fatigue, desperation and rigid determination as he narrowed his eyes at his American opponent.
As far as he was concerned, Guile only left him standing this long because he needed to release some pent up aggression.
Circling his opponent, Dee Jay attempted his next special move.
"HYPER FIST!" he announced as he attempted to deliver a rapid fire punching combo, but had been drastically slowed by exhaustion, enabling his opponent to see him coming from a mile away.
Having easily blocked the blows thrown in his direction, Guile responded with a special move of his own.
"FLASH KICK!" the serviceman announced as he flipped into the air with his foot extended, knocking his opponent high into the air and sending him flying into a wooden crate, which splintered beneath his muscular form.
Surprisingly, the battered kickboxer was still able to push himself back to his feet and attempted to launch a roundhouse kick at Guile's chest, who would catch the man's foot beneath his armpit and then sweep him to the ground.
"You've got guts kid, I'll give you that much," the major spoke as he twisted the man's ankle, "but it still wasn't enough," he said before snapping it.
With an indifferent grunt, Guile straightened up his hair and walked away towards his sleeping quarters, ignoring the cheers and Dee Jay's screams of anguish.
"Wasn't enough even for a workout," he told himself as he entered the barracks and walked over to the nearby sink to wash the blood from his hands. He then splashed some water onto his face and dried himself off before walking over to his bunk and sitting down.
Posted above his mattress were some photos that made him smile, offering him a welcome distraction from his current troubles.
Smiling back at him was the image of his beloved daughter Amy, now nine years old, her most recent school picture which she had sent along with a drawing that depicted all three of them together outside their house, along with her dog Safu.
Another picture was of a recent family barbecue at the Guile house with Guile himself, his wife Julia and Amy, along with his in-laws Ken and Eliza Masters and their newborn son Mel. Despite the fact that he did not think highly of his brother-in-law, viewing him as a spoiled rich kid, it had still been a good time he highly cherished.
The final picture was of himself and Julia on their most recent anniversary, relaxing atop a mountain in Yosemite National Park, which to his knowledge had been the last time he had really spent any serious time with his wife outside of Amy's most recent birthday.
Sighing to himself, Guile looked down to the dog tags around his neck, one with his name and information engraved upon it, and the other of his best friend Charlie Nash.
Every time he looked at those dog tags he could only think of that fateful night.
It had been six years ago, but to the tortured serviceman it seemed much longer than that.
XXXXXXXXXXXX
6 Years Ago
Guile could only watch in horror as his best friend struggled with the madman.
"Just leave this to me! This base will collapse in time!" Charlie shouted as he wrestled with Bison, the notorious Shadaloo dictator and the very man they had been sent to apprehend.
"But-" he tried to say before he was cut off.
"Now go!" Charlie demanded as he held a detonator in his free hand.
Guile's eyes widened and he turned over to their partner Chun-Li, a Chinese Interpol operative who was barely into her early twenties. Her dark brown eyes displayed a similar look of horror.
Shooting a rueful glare towards his friends, Charlie pressed the trigger.
XXXXXXXXXXXX
Present Day
"Why did you have to sacrifice yourself like that friend?" Guile asked himself, wondering if his deceased friend could hear him from wherever he was now, wondering if he was watching over him while he continued with his earthly mission.
Guile then looked over to the family photos posted above his bed, "It pains me to think of how much time I've had to spend away from my family, tracking down that bastard and his organization, but I couldn't sit back and do nothing.
"Too many people fell before Bison and his blasted organization, people who had families…friends…lives…so much to live for, all snuffed out in a selfish quest for power."
He remembered his final encounter with Bison in that South American jungle, a battle he had barely survived, but somehow managed to win in the end. How he triumphed was beyond him, but in the end the madman had once again eluded his clutches, disappearing into nothing.
There had been rumors that he was finally destroyed after a battle with the famed Japanese martial artist Ryu, but something still wasn't right about it.
"Not knowing whether he truly is gone is driving me crazy…I just have to know that he is no longer a threat before I can finally rest," he thought as his eyes focused on the picture of his precious daughter, so sweet and innocent without a care in the world.
"If he's still alive I will find that bastard, not just for the sake of Charlie, but for everything I know and love," Guile declared, clamping his hand around the dog tags.
"Major Guile," a feminine voice called out.
Snapped out of his thoughts, the serviceman looked up to see a shapely, crimson-haired woman in a black almost business-looking suit wearing a pair of yellow-tinted shades.
"Who are you?" he demanded, rising to his feet and assuming his fighting stance, "More importantly, who sent you?"
"That I am not at liberty to disclose, but I do have something you would be interested in," she replied, pulling a manila envelope from her jacket and tossing it over to him.
Catching the envelope with one hand, he kept his eyes trained on the woman, not knowing what to expect next.
Noticing his piercing stare, the woman sighed and casually crossed her arms, "You are going to open it, aren't you?"
"Not until you tell me who you are and who you are working for," Guile snapped, "If you were sent by Shadaloo, then so help me God I will not hesitate to snap your neck with my own bare hands," he shouted, feeling his patience at its end.
Again the woman sighed in a condescending fashion, "To answer one of your questions, no I am not affiliated in any shape or form with Shadaloo. As I stated before, everything else I am not at liberty to mention. If you want your answers you had best read what's inside the envelope."
"What answers?" the serviceman demanded, "I haven't got time for games!"
"Let me just tell you that it pertains to something very important, something you'd be very interested in finding out more about," she said with a wink.
Grunting in annoyance, Guile looked back towards the envelope and picked it up, wanting to do whatever he could to shut this mysterious woman up.
"Alright, I've got it-" he said turning around, only to find the woman had vanished.
"What the hell?" he shouted to no one in particular, scanning the entire room for anything out of the ordinary, but found nothing.
"I don't believe this…" he said as he looked down to the envelope, which had been stamped 'URGENT' on the cover.
"This is too damn weird."
XXXXXXXXXXXX
Victoria Harbor, Hong Kong
A crowd of spectators were gathered on a nearby harbor to witness a street fight taking place, one that had proven to be an exciting back and forth encounter that left them hooting and hollering wildly.
"JAGUAR TOOTH!" the first combatant announced, as he leapt into the air and then launched himself toward his opponent with his foot extended.
The other fighter however, was lightning-quick on his feet and back flipped to avoid the attack. He was close enough to a nearby building and planted his feet against its side, allowing him to flip over his opponent and land gracefully on his feet.
He may have missed his special attack, but it did nothing to deter the first fighter as he only cackled insanely and kept in his fighting stance.
The man was slightly under six feet tall with wild orange hair and was dressed like a typical Muay Thai fighter with his blue and gold trunks, taped fists and feet, red and blue armbands and a blue and gold headband.
He was Adon, the self-proclaimed "God of Muay Thai" and a former discipline of the legendary kickboxer Sagat.
His opponent was a lean man in a red ninja outfit with matching sneakers who was of Asian descent with short brown hair.
This man was Guy, the 39th master of the Bushin style of Ninjutsu, as well as one of the three men who had helped save Metro City from the clutches of the Mad Gear Gang nine years earlier.
"Ha, you can run, but you can't escape the fury of a jaguar!" Adon called out with his hyena-like laugh.
Without a word, Guy charged toward his opponent with inhuman speed, dodging a roundhouse kick thrown in his direction and then parrying a knee strike. He tried to follow up with a charging elbow strike, but the Thai kickboxer managed to block just in time, however the crafty ninja still had an extra trick up his sleeve and performed a somersault kick that knocked the man from his feet.
Unknown to the two warriors as well as the spectators another being observed the battle from the deck of a nearby freighter.
Clad in traditional Chinese garments with a headscarf, a cyborg recorded the battle and was transmitting its data to an unknown location.
That is until its head was kicked off of its shoulders.
"One less horror in the world," the assailant remarked, an attractive woman in her late twenties with chocolate brown colored hair and matching eyes, wearing a traditional qipao and white combat boots.
The woman was Chun-Li Xiang, a semi-legendary martial artist who was known in fighting circles as "the strongest woman in the world."
For now though, she was carrying out an assignment with her day job as a world class Interpol agent, on a mission to track down the remaining Shadaloo monitor cyborgs that had been spotted throughout the world. Pulling out a camera she snapped a photo of the fallen robot as proof of her latest find and then pulled out a cellular phone.
"Wallace, it's me. I've found the unit and have dispatched it. You should send a unit here at once. I don't know if there are any others here in the area, but it's better to be safe than sorry," the detective reported.
"Nice job Chun-Li," her partner chimed from the other end, "That's the sixth one you've found around this area. I don't know why Shadaloo would've had such a large concentration around Hong Kong of all places, but I always know it's a good move to send you after them.
"I'll send a recovery team right away. Just stay where you are and we'll be there to pick you up shortly. Wallace out," her partner said before hanging up.
"You're damn right it's a good idea to send me after these bastards," Chun-Li thought to herself again looking down to the headless monitor unit.
The detective thought they had finally stopped Shadaloo once and for all after she, along with Charlie and Guile raided the underground facility where the Psycho Drive was based and fought Bison together. In the end Charlie bravely sacrificed himself to save them both and it seemed the mad dictator was gone.
A few years later Bison reemerged from the afterlife to host another World Warriors tournament, bent on getting revenge upon those who had foiled his plans earlier, specifically Guile and Chun-Li.
In the end, the brutal madman would fall in defeat at the hands of the Japanese martial artist Ryu, only to be destroyed by another mysterious martial artist.
No matter how many times they thought he was dead, he somehow kept coming back, no doubt resurrected by a team of corrupt scientists who were fanatically loyal to that murdering freak for reasons beyond her comprehension.
The presence of these monitor cyborgs was a surefire sign that something was up and whatever it was, she was determined to find out.
"Mark my words Bison, if you are still out there I will track you down and destroy you myself. I don't care if you have to die a million times over, your menace will end one day or another," the Interpol agent told herself as she stared down at the wreckage.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Metro City, New York, U.S.A.
It had been a very back and forth contest between the two men as they fought on a skyscraper under construction in the heart of downtown Metro City on a bright sunny day, numerous construction workers neglecting their duties to cheer them on.
"Mein freund, I believe you should pull out of this fight before I squash you like a little bug. I don't think even your best shot will save you from my iron body," the first man spoke, a giant walking battle tank of a man who stood around eight feet tall with a tangled mop of long, messy black hair covering his head. He was dressed in a pink leopard-print tank-top, matching jeans, brown work boots, black studded wristbands and had a chain dangling from his belt. The behemoth locked his fingers together and flexed his muscles in an effort to intimidate his opponent.
This man was known as the Great Iron-Blooded Giant of Germany, Hugo Andore, a former gang member turned professional wrestler who dabbled in construction work on the side.
Unfortunately for the walking mountain of muscle, his opponent would not be so easily deterred.
Standing before him was a shorter, yet still impressively-built man who stood six feet six inches in height and was clad in a blue Judo-style gi top with white spandex shorts, blue shin guards and white grappling gloves with red accents. His short blond hair was styled into a Faux Hawk and his fair skin was covered by multiple scars.
He was Abel; a wandering Frenchman with no memory of his past who wandered the globe in search of strong opponents, hoping it would help him learn more about his past.
Right now, he was feeling winded after delivering a flurry of punches and kicks that would have already knocked out an average-sized man, but seemed to have only succeeded in tickling the giant.
"Face it little man, you cannot hurt me. Give up while you can still walk," Hugo offered, standing in place while his opponent shrugged off the pain coursing through his padded knuckles.
"I never retreat from a fight mon ami…especially not when it makes me feel alive," Abel replied, resuming his fighting stance and delivering a few practice punches.
Shrugging, Hugo drew his arms back and thrust them forward, clapping his hands together.
"GIANT PALM BOMBER!" he cried as his hands connected, but his opponent had already rolled backward to avoid the attack, utilizing amazing agility for a man of his size.
Landing on his feet, Abel flipped himself into the air with his right leg extended.
"Ha!" he cried out as he performed his Wheel Kick maneuver, striking his larger opponent in the chest, only sending the man staggering back a few steps.
Again, the blow had little effect on the German giant and he responded with an elbow strike that Abel could barely get his arms up in time to block, which still hurt and sent him staggering back.
Capitalizing on his opening, Hugo grabbed the muscular Frenchman and effortlessly tossed him across the scaffolding which the fought upon, sending him flying spine first into a steel girder and rocking the foundation, sending a few of the construction workers lunging for anything that would keep them from falling to the ground below.
Abel cried out in agony as he collapsed to the ground, feeling the painful jolts zapping throughout his body, he struggled to his knees and with a mighty grunt pushed himself back to his feet, only to see Hugo come charging at him like an animal going in for the kill, rearing his arm back.
Acting on instinct, the French grappler again rolled to avoid a lariat that would have most likely broken his neck and landed on his feet, still smarting from being tossed into the support beam. He had hoped his clumsy-looking opponent would charge head on into the same beam, but the big man caught himself and skidded to a halt.
"Your skill is impressive, but that alone will not save you in the end," Hugo spoke, clenching his fingers intently.
"I never expect an opponent to hold back," Abel grunted, shrugging away the last bits of pain in his body, "Don't slack off on me now."
Crouching down, the German giant launched himself upward, spinning his body around and attempting to strike his opponent with his large butt, but Abel would again roll backward to avoid the attack, quickly rolling forward to resume his assault.
With a mighty 'oomph,' the French fighter delivered an upward elbow strike the barely reached his tall opponent's chin, snapping his head back and sending him stumbling. His opponent finally stunned, Abel followed up with a relentless combo of punches and kicks that brought the wrestler down to a knee and ended with an overhead hooking punch that left Hugo seeing stars.
"I hope this works," the grappler thought to himself as he noted the German fighter's massive size and grabbed him by the shirt. With a loud grunt of exertion, he began spinning the giant around a few times, much to the amazement of those observing the fight, before driving him into the harsh steel surface and leaving a deep indentation where he landed.
"Hurry Hugo get up!" a feminine voice screeched from a nearby platform, that of a tough-looking woman with long pink hair who wore a biker cap, cut-off white tank-top, denim cutoffs and red high-heeled shoes, "We can't allow the mighty leader of the Huge Wrestling Army to fall just yet! Show that snail-eating chump what you're made of!"
The gigantic German pushed himself to his knees, shaking away the cobwebs and forcing himself back to his feet, refocusing his vision just in time to see his opponent charging towards him again. Readying himself for a ground-based attack, he was instead caught by surprise as the bulky Frenchman took to the air and delivered a flying kick that caught him in the chin.
Rubbing his sore chin, Hugo again shrugged it off and growled in anger, "Okay softling, now I crush you like a soda can! Only you won't be able to be recycled!"
His body glowing an unnatural color, the giant began swinging his massive arms wildly towards his opponent.
"HAMMER FRENZY!" he cried out.
Abel saw the lumbering movements coming from a mile away and performed his signature Marseilles Roll to avoid a majority of the blows, rising to his feet and blocking the last one before charging up for an ultra combo of his own.
The Frenchman's blue eyes changed to an unnatural black sclera with white irises as he announced his final attack.
"SOULLESS!" he announced as he ran towards his opponent and punched him repeatedly before following up with a series of hard-hitting grappling maneuvers before slamming Hugo hard into the steel, driving him through and to the level below, where a few workers on their lunch break scattered to avoid him falling on top of them.
Many looked on in horror as the giant lay prone, including the woman cheering for him, his manager Poison Kiss.
"You think he's alright?" asked one of the workers as he nervously approached the fallen giant and prodded him with his steel-toed boot.
It was only when the fallen man groaned loudly and began shaking his head that everybody breathed a collective sigh of relief. For sure, he would not be continuing this fight.
"I definitely overdid that one," Abel thought to himself as he continued staring down upon his fallen challenger, who by now was being helped back to his feet by a small group of workers, unable to believe the man could still walk after the number done on him, "He really must be made of iron if he's able to get up from that."
Only now was he aware of the spectators cheering wildly for him and he nodded in acknowledgment before making his way towards a nearby freight elevator.
"And what did you learn from this fight Abel?" he asked himself as he began his descent, "Nothing," he answered.
"As much as I hate to say it, this fight really was a waste of my time if I walk away without learning anything about my past," he thought.
His never ending quest for answers had once again brought him back to America, where he knew Guile lived, the man who knew the same 'Sonic Boom' technique as the mysterious soldier who had saved him all those years ago.
He hadn't gotten the answers he desired from their last confrontation and nor did he when they escaped from that S.I.N. base along with an unconscious Chun-Li. It was doubtful the Special Forces operative had found out anything new since then, but he figured it was still worth a try to find the man.
Trying to find Guile would be like trying to find a needle in a haystack though, knowing only that he lived somewhere on the west coast. Metro City had only been a temporary stop for him and he would continue westward bound by any means necessary, scrounging up whatever money he could along the way.
"I have to find something one way or another," he told himself as he looked for the person taking bets so he could receive his fight money, only to find the short, balding man being accosted by a group of thugs.
"Hey man, you're on our turf now! When we tell you to pay up, you damned sure better pay up!" shouted the apparent leader of the group, a short man with a blood red Mohawk and wearing an orange sleeveless jacket with a dragon symbol on the back.
"Heh, at least I'll be gaining something by taking down these clowns," the Frenchman smirked and then approached the group, "Excuse me, but I believe that man has something that belongs to me!"
"Get lost Frenchy! This is Mad Gear turf you're treading on. We give the orders around here, not some wannabe tough guy like you, so beat it!"
Two more thugs then stepped up behind the lead punk, one a tall, lanky man clad in an olive drab hoodie and camouflage pants who pulled out a set of throwing knives, and the second a shorter bald, obese man with a beard who wore dark blue trousers with matching suspenders and a white t-shirt covered by numerous food stains.
"Hmph! Well I was warned people like to play hardball around these parts. If that's the case, then so be it," Abel said spoke as he adjusted his sparring gloves and resumed his fighting stance.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Palazzo Mistero, Genoa, Italy
"It is beginning all over again," the fortuneteller ruefully sighed as she stared up towards the starlit nighttime sky from her balcony. Normally such a beautiful sight would have had a tranquilizing effect on her, but not this time.
"Once again he has returned and the fate of the world will be at stake," she thought to herself as she looked back into her den, where her tarot cards had been left out on the table, leaving her with unsettling results.
All throughout the day she had this faint feeling that she had struggled to brush off and it was only before bedtime had she finally decide to consult her tarot cards, which she was already wishing she hadn't done.
"No it had to be done," Rose told herself as she reentered her private chamber and again looked at her cards, "This wasn't something I could keep ignoring. Through some means Bison has returned to the land of the living and he must be confronted before he can accomplish his misguided agenda."
Rose was a tall, curvaceous woman with long, wavy violet hair and matching eyes with a fair complexion and a small mouth with full lips. She was clad in her usual outfit consisting of a loose red evening gown with large gold buttons over a dark-colored body stocking. A long scarf was draped along her shoulders and arms, emitting an ethereal glow illuminating much of the darkened room.
She had experienced combat with the one called Bison on several occasions, barely surviving each encounter, including one occasion where her body had acted as a temporary host for the evil entity.
The fortuneteller shuddered at the thought, still having nightmares of her possession by Bison and the hell she went through when the soul they shared was temporarily destroyed and crossed over to the other side.
How she had made it back to the mortal plane she still had no idea, knowing only her mission to stop Bison had resumed.
Despite the Soul Power coursing through her veins she knew this wasn't an endeavor she could carry out alone. She would require the assistance of powerful warriors to battle the mad dictator and his forces.
The woman smiled to herself, knowing there would be plenty of help.
"There are always powerful warriors out there seeking to protect those they cherish. When evil arises they will gather to confront the threat, but they must stand unified, which is where I come in," Rose told herself as she made her way down an elegantly furnished corridor towards the room at the end.
In the past she had acted as a guide to several powerful warriors seeking to stop Bison and his vile schemes, among them the powerful Japanese martial artist Ryu, the wandering detective Chun-Li, the hot-blooded American serviceman Guile, the Bushin ninja Guy, the amnesiac former Shadaloo Doll (and intended host body for Bison) Cammy, and so many more. She never forgot a face and remembered their quest.
Pushing those thoughts from her head she reached the door and made her way inside.
The fortuneteller found herself in a spacious bedroom and towards the back of the room was a spacious four post bed. On the bed rested a young woman with bright ear-length red hair who was clad in a black bodysuit that hugged her lithe figure closely and matching service cap, as well as a white armband with a red cross that indicated she had been a medic at some time in the past.
An eerie purple glow encased the young woman's body, keeping her in a protective stasis which she had remained in for the last six years, never aging a day, thus she was still biologically a sixteen year old girl.
The girl had been enslaved as one of Bison's 'Dolls.' Her real name was Magdalena, but she had been known during her service to Shadaloo as Aprile, the Doll of April who acted as the unit's medic.
Excluding Cammy, there had been eleven other girls just like her, all of them captured and brainwashed to serve as Bison's personal assassins and bodyguards, each of them specializing in different areas of combat.
In the end, only a handful of them had been recovered, Magdalena being one of the lucky ones. It had been her younger brother Maggio who had personally prevailed upon Rose for assistance shortly before his own disappearance.
Unfortunately, she hadn't been able to free the young woman from Bison's mind control, therefore she was put into her current state of suspended animation so she wouldn't be able to do harm to anyone else.
From what she had heard about the recovered Dolls, it varied in regards to their physical, mental and emotional states upon their rescue.
There had been that one young woman from Germany called Juni, who was recovered by the MI-6's elite Delta Red unit near the remnants of the Psycho Drive's hub in southwestern Thailand. From what she heard, the girl had been adopted by the unit and trained to become one of its official members.
Then there were two other girls who had been sought after by a warrior from the Native American Thunderfoot tribe named Thunder Hawk, one called Little Eagle, who had been the daughter of his chief.
The other was named Julia, who had been the daughter of a German physician that had been helping the Thunderfoot tribe, who Hawk himself had grown very close to.
Little Eagle, called Noembelu during her time of captivity, had emerged with amnesia like the others, but thanks to being surrounded by her tribe was quickly able to regain her memories.
Julia on the other hand had been left in a catatonic state, unable to talk or show emotion. T. Hawk himself had prevailed upon the psychic for help, but Bison's essence had done too much damage and there was nothing else she could do other than guide him to his beloved.
"Soon I will find a way to liberate you from that demon's control and I will find those other girls and free them as well," Rose spoke to the comatose woman, knowing she could be heard.
"And soon I will find the others so they can fulfill their destiny of bringing down Bison once and for all," she declared as she stared at her tarot cards.
Notes:
Final Fight 1 now takes place in 1987 according to the Street Fighter canon guide, which is what I meant when I make my reference to Guy saving the city nine years earlier. Why they changed the year from 1989 to 1987 I honestly have no idea, in effect they also change the years of birth for Cody, Guy and Haggar.
The opening scene with Cammy and Delta Red was largely inspired by the second mission from "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2" where you have to infiltrate an enemy base and blow it to smithereens. The scene with all the monitor cyborgs suddenly coming to life like that was inspired by the opening scene from "Tekken 5" with all the Jack units detonating simultaneously like that, and then the bipedal robot Ginzu walks around in is inspired by Battletech.
I also took some creative liberties with Charlie's death sequence in the flashback. Granted, I never had the opportunity to unlock Guile and actually play as him in SFA3, so most of that was largely improvised, explaining why it was kept as brief as it was.
Wallace was Chun-Li's partner in one of the Street Fighter Alpha-based Animes, I forget which one exactly, I have MiggyMeista to thank for the info regarding that!
Well I wanted to do whatever I could to incorporate some characters into brief cameos at the very least, so hopefully you recognize some of them along the way.
That concludes this long awaited installment of "The World Warriors' Legacy" so until then, please read and review! This is Metal Harbinger saying SPREAD THE SICKNESS, ONE MIND AT A TIME! \m/
