She let out a scream, not just from being startled. It'd been a weird, long, messed up night, so she thought she earned it. Her foot flew up to meet her assailant in the stomach, and an unfortunately familiar laugh followed. "Aw, you upset someone caught you in bed with that pig?" Her face flushed red. Footsteps stopped short just outside the bathroom. This was not a good time for him to come in here, but she guessed not many people would stay put after hearing someone else scream.
He started to say something. Chun-Li caught a violet gleam before Juri bared her teeth in a smile. "Hey sweet pea. Miss me?" Juri pounced before Chun-Li could even begin to warn him. Her feet connected with his chest and he didn't just fall. He flew, slamming back into the wall so hard it cracked.
"What...the...hell..." he groaned, struggling to roll onto his side. Juri cocked her head, plainly disappointed. It didn't stop her from jumping on him again, one foot on his stomach, one on his chest. He gasped when every breath of air escaped him, and Juri thrust her left foot forward, holding it against his throat. He grabbed her leg, trying to force her off, and she sputtered at how ineffectual he suddenly was.
"Hey, what gives?" she said, throwing up her hands as he choked and sputtered. His legs flailed uselessly, his fingers dug into her calf, and he tried to scramble away from her but couldn't seem to manage it. "When'd you become the biggest wuss on the planet?"
He could only respond with another awful choking noise. "Stop it!" Chun-Li demanded. She kept a defensive stance as she edged her way out into the room. She didn't want to bear witness to a murder, but she wasn't so certain she'd be able to do much against Juri on her own.
"Awww, that's so sweet, sticking up for your favorite scumbag like that!" Juri clasped her hands together, forcing an overly-saccharine smile before blowing a raspberry. "So sweet I might puke." She looked down at him and twisted her lips into a frown. This was supposed to be fun for her, but he wasn't fighting back. At least, not very hard. Definitely not the sort of challenge she'd been expecting. She drew her foot from his throat and he coughed, hand flying to it immediately.
Maybe some of the noises he made were Spanish words as he struggled to get out from under Juri. She let him, and that just worried Chun-Li more. If she wanted to kill him, she could have right then and there. Maybe it was just overconfidence. Maybe there was something very nasty in the works. Vega made it to his feet and Juri laughed wildly at the frantic display. He was actually scared. "So tired of this, all of these ridiculous people," he muttered, backing away from her. He held up a hand as if that would ward her off. "Who are you, and why do you hate me?"
Her lip curled back. "Uh, hello? What do you mean 'who am I'? Your favorite Juri. 'Mi arañita'. Duh?"
His eyes widened a little. "You are Juri? The one who wants me dead?"
"...Yeah. What happened to you, inhale too many fumes during your last chemical peel?"
He shrugged without thinking. "I thought you-" He waved a hand. "You're just so little."
Chun-Li glanced back and forth at the pair. He was kind of oblivious. And Juri's face was set like stone. That stoic look Juri wore was something Chun-Li rarely saw, and it was generally followed by something very nasty. Her stomach was in knots as she watched Juri creep forward a bit, and she suddenly felt completely vulnerable. She could hear her pulse in her ears as Juri took another agonizingly slow step towards him, jaw set, and he cautiously took a step back. She took another step, eyes burning with fury and he backed himself into the desk, seeming to finally realize what a volatile situation he'd put himself in by making that comment. She stared up into his face, and in a low voice she practically growled, "That's what she said." Her knee flew up in a flash and before Vega had time to be confused with the response, he was sucking in a breath, doubled-over, and cradling his crotch. Juri laughed like a loon as she turned away from him, hand slapping her thigh once before turning back around. "Oh man, oh, you set me up for that, didn't you? You totally did, I know it!"
"The fuck is wrong with everyone in this place," he said in a strained voice through gritted teeth, still bent over in pain. He hissed again and Chun-Li did her best to sympathize, but it wasn't a kind of pain she was familiar with. And she was a bit relieved Juri hadn't just shattered his sternum with her foot instead.
"Don't sweat it, hombre, your balls should be the least of your worries," Juri said. Her eyes flicked over to Chun-Li. "Or has someone already got them in a jar somewhere?"
"That's disgusting," Chun-Li said, though she knew she shouldn't give Juri the reaction she wanted.
"Oh yeah Miss Priss? I think your standards are a bit less rigid than you'd have us all believe." Juri waved a hand over at Vega. If looks could kill, he may have been useful, but as it stood now, Chun-Li knew he wouldn't be much help against Juri. "When my assassin made it back talking about some 'hot Chinese lady with a mean kick' protecting the target, I thought he was blowing smoke. And, now, I know one of my eyes is fake, but they both work just fine, and I saw you guys asleep together. So good on you for teaching an old dog-" she kicked Vega in the ribs and he sputtered as he hit the floor again. "New tricks."
"It was just one mistake," she said. She had to, because she knew Juri wouldn't leave it alone until she got some kind of response. It was better to call it what it was than to fly off the handle. Juri wanted her to be angry, so why give that to her?
"Maybe you should make that mistake with me sometime," Juri said, raising an eyebrow. Her face contorted into a mask of rage when she noticed Vega was still moving, and she kicked him in the side again. He winced and she grabbed a handful of his hair so she could snarl in his face, "Stay down you piece of human garbage!" The change in tone from playful to enraged happened quick enough to make Chun-Li's head spin.
"I don't know what-" he tried to say and it only made Juri angrier. She kneed him in the jaw and Chun-Li winced at the audible crack of his teeth crashing together. A strangled noise crawled its way out of his throat before Juri took him by the hair again. She bent over at the hips, leaning in towards his face.
"Don't know what?" she said in a kind voice which again quickly receded back to a primal sort of disgust. "Don't know why I despise you?" She threw his head back against the wall and Chun-Li winced again, this time at the way his eyes rolled around in his head a bit before he started blinking rapidly. Juri tried to take hold of him by the jaw, but he shook his head away. "You're not just a Shadaloo pawn, you're a coward. Too afraid to show the world what you really are. Well, I know what you are. You're Bison's killer for hire. And you don't care whose life you ruin!" Juri's reasoning wasn't terribly consistent-being a murderer herself but apparently finding Vega revolting for the same reason. It made her nearly impossible to predict. But Chun-Li had learned not to expect consistency from these deranged people her line of work brought her up against all too often.
"No mat-I don't kill anybody, okay?" he said, and his voice sounded a little foggy. Juri cocked her head. "I know-I'm not the guy you're after."
"Yep. A coward," Juri said. "And cowards are the worst."
"Juri, stop," Chun-Li said.
"Oh, really?" She crossed her arms and turned to face Chun-Li. "You're going to tell me not to kill him? Like you don't hate his guts? Like you don't wish he was dead? You know who he works for, right? Bison! The bastard who destroyed our families! And he's so eager to please, just like a good little tool!" She emphasized the complaint with another kick. Chun-Li saw blood on the carpet now. She had to do something quick, or Juri was going to finish him off.
"You want justice?" Chun-Li said. "Then do it right. This isn't just, this is vengeance. It's torture."
"And that's exactly what he deserves! It's what every piece of shit in Shadaloo deserves!" She wrenched him back up by his hair and he tried to resist her. It didn't work. She got one hand around his throat, pinning him against the wall, and smiled viciously at the sight of the blood on his lips. "You know that, don't you? It's not enough that you have to die. You have to die painfully."
"I'm not a murderer," he managed to say in spite of the pressure of her hand against his throat. "I'm not-not the right guy."
"Oh I don't forget a face as pretty as yours, hombre," Juri said. "That'll be the first thing to go."
His eyebrows shot up at that. Being killed was frightening enough, but he couldn't imagine anything worse than being tortured first. He tried to kick her away, and was surprised when his knee actually made contact with her stomach. But she just laughed and taunted him to try again, amused by how suddenly useless he was.
"Juri, he's telling the truth!" Chun-Li said, finally trying to engage her physically. It was just a hand on her free arm, trying to pull her away from him. But even that could be enough to switch Juri's focus. It was risky, to be in that woman's crosshairs, but she had to do something. No one deserved the kind of treatment Juri doled out. "This isn't really him," she said. It sounded absurd, and Juri had no good reason to believe her. What else could she do but try? "If you want to punish Vega, then you've got the wrong person."
Juri raised an eyebrow, glancing briefly at Vega before returning her eyes to Chun-Li. "You're losing touch."
"Think about it-even you were startled when he didn't fight back," Chun-Li said. "Why wouldn't he fight you? You know he's more than capable, and you know he doesn't take that sort of treatment lying down."
Juri didn't want to consider it, not when she had her prey at the end of her arms, teeth bared like a frightened dog, eyes squeezed shut like a little kid trying to block out a nightmare. There was something different about him, something even she noticed in just a few minutes of interaction, but she didn't care. Whoever he thought he was now-new lease on life, mental issues, drugs, whatever-he still deserved to die, and that was all she could focus on. "You know, I just don't give a damn who he thinks he is." She dug her fingers into his throat and he winced. With that firm grip, she pulled him away before slamming him into the wall again. The hotel certainly wasn't going to be pleased with their treatment of the room, and Juri giggled at the image of a staff member tutting quietly at the bloody and cracked walls, the stains on the carpet and a corpse on the floor. Or maybe parts of a corpse. She hadn't really decided how to end him just yet. Planning too far ahead could only box her in and limit her creativity.
Chun-Li knew reasoning with Juri probably wasn't viable, but she had to say she'd tried. Without any other options, she took Juri by the arm and shoved her back towards the bed. Her eyes widened, apparently startled by Chun-Li's interference. "You have to stop, now," Chun-Li demanded in as authoritative a voice as she could muster. If she was being honest with herself, she was pretty frightened. Juri was strong, almost inhumanly so, thanks to Seth and the Feng Shui engine. But she just didn't have it in her to watch someone get tortured to death.
"Oh, babe, you don't know what you're getting yourself into," Juri warned in a low and dangerous voice. "I like you, so I'll give you one shot. You don't want to see me break that pig's neck, then you don't have to. Just walk out the door and pretend you never saw us here, it's easy." She gestured towards the door and raised an eyebrow, but Chun-Li shook her head.
"You know I'm not going to."
"God damn it, how can you do this?" Juri cried, throwing out her hands and stomping a foot. Chun-Li thought of a temperamental child who wasn't getting their way. Only this kid killed people when they threw a tantrum. "Don't you get it?! He has to die, everyone in Shadaloo, they have to die!"
"You think that's going to bring your family back?!" Chun-Li demanded, unable to keep her voice from getting a bit shrill to compete with Juri's. "You think it's going to fix your life if you get rid of the people who destroyed it?"
"Isn't that what you think?" Juri said. "That if you get Bison and all his minions in jail, you'll do your dead daddy justice? Don't talk down to me about my motivations when you haven't even examined your own!"
Chun-Li shook her head, lips pressed together into a thin line. No, her quest to end Shadaloo wasn't comparable to Juri's. It couldn't be. Her work against them was for everyone, not just for herself. And the means mattered just as much as the end. That was the difference between her and Juri that she had to focus on. She couldn't start to doubt herself now. "I can't make you change your mind, but I can't let you loose to go off and kill more people."
Juri bared her teeth in another awful, mocking grin. "Right, that privilege is reserved for the criminals you want to fu-"
There was a sudden movement that startled both of them and a wild, frustrated shout as Vega slammed the empty trash bin on top of Juri's head. She lashed out almost instantly, a foot meeting him in the stomach. He fell back, and Chun-Li took the chance that'd been presented to her. Juri was cursing as she pushed the bin off of her head, and cried out angrily when she felt Chun-Li sweep her off of her feet with a low kick. "Run you idiot!" Chun-Li shouted to Vega as she shot back up to her feet. He didn't have to be told twice, but she was really surprised he had to be told at all. Like he was waiting to make sure she got out, too.
She kept her eyes forward as they flew down the hall. The stairs were at the opposite end, naturally, but they had a small head start here. If they could get out of here, maybe they could lose Juri. But where would they go? An enraged roar from behind them was punctuated by a hollow, crashing noise as the garbage can slammed into the wall of the corridor. Chun-Li looked over her shoulder in time to see it topple to the floor, side dented, and she shook her head. Focus was going to make or break this escape. Focus was key. "What the hell is wrong with that girl?" Vega asked around ragged breaths as they ran.
"Like we have that kind of time right now," Chun-Li muttered under her breath as she pushed open the door to the stairwell. She caught a glimpse of a purplish blur racing towards them and it only made her heart beat faster. They had to be quick here. She glanced over her shoulder to make sure Vega was still following her down the stairs. He looked terrified, but he was still there. They'd made it down one floor when the door above them slammed open, clattering noisily into the wall. The stairwell was alive with the cursing and screaming of their would-be assassin. Threats of disembowelment and broken bones, peppered with words in Korean that Chun-Li could imagine were just as colorful. "Faster," Chun-Li demanded, pulling on his arm.
"No, I thought we could take it slow!" he snapped back. "After all, I've always wanted to know what it feels like to be turned into soup by someone's feet!"
"Positive, think positive," she said around breaths. The floors flew by, they swung round from one staircase to the next in tight circles, as close to the inside as they could. But they still weren't moving fast enough for Chun-Li's liking. Juri was closing, and when they got close enough to the first floor, she could jump down and effectively block their exit. Getting away from her once was a lucky break. It probably wasn't going to happen twice. "Just jump!" she cried finally when they made it to the second floor. She could've maybe gotten away with jumping from one floor up, but was fairly certain he wouldn't. What good would it do her to get this invested in protecting him to shove him off a staircase and have him break his neck? She vaulted over the rail, a jolt running through her when her feet hit the floor. She wasn't even wearing shoes, she realized, and somehow that made her laugh. People liked to say 'it's the little things' and she supposed this is what they meant. He fell in a heap beside her and it made her wonder how much time and energy the real Vega had invested in becoming so fluid and graceful. "Oh my god, you're like a cow," she muttered as she practically dragged him by his arm towards the door.
"I'm sorry, I didn't realise I was a member of the Cirque du god damn Soleil in this life!" he shouted as he made it back to his feet and reached for the door.
Another pair of bare feet hit the cold floor behind them. Chun-Li saw a blur of purple and black and with every bit of strength she had, she shoved Vega forward and pulled the door shut behind her. She gasped, startled when Juri's foot made contact with it, wood splintering noisily from inside. "Keep going," she ordered, taking off towards the lobby. Chun-Li was beginning to lose track of how much she'd been running just in these past few days alone. It came with the territory of being a cop, and she figured, at least, it meant she was in good shape. Her legs may have been aching and her neck may have been sore, but she didn't let any of that slow her down. She glanced back at Vega, who she tried to remind herself had it a bit worse in this instance, as evidence from the blood drying around his lips.
The lobby was blessedly empty, as could be expected so late in the night. The clerk at the desk glanced away from the computer in time to see three different people-all of them barefoot-tearing through the lobby. He managed to open his mouth by the time they disappeared out the door.
The sidewalk was so cold it went full circle back to burning when her bare feet touched it. Tiny grains of salt embedded themselves briefly in her skin only to fall away with her next step. Chun-Li tried to keep her focus on the pavement. All this snow and ice could easily lead to them slipping, and then it'd all be over.
"You two are really starting to piss me off!" Juri snarled as she chased them. She'd had them right in her grasp, and she knew, one way or the other, she'd accomplish what she'd come here for. Whether Chun-Li ended up killed in the crossfire wasn't of terrible concern to her. She had her preferences, but her desire to see every member of Shadaloo dead far outweighed her appreciation for a pretty girl, even one so intriguing.
Their toes were getting numb. The cold air they drew in through their mouths left their throats raw and sore. Chun-Li racked her brain trying to find some way to lose Juri. The only place she'd be willing to lead them into was a police station. She thought it might be worth trying, given that Juri would be severely outnumbered. Maybe that would be enough to deter her. But even if it was, where was the nearest one? And what if that wasn't enough to intimidate Juri? What if she ended up massacring everyone there? Could Chun-Li have that on her conscious? There had to be a different way to lose Juri that didn't involve putting others at risk.
Then she saw it up ahead, on the other side of the road. Stairs descending beneath the city. An idea was quickly building itself together in her mind, but would it work? Would she be able to keep Juri at bay until the train showed up? At this time of night, it was their best hope of covering a long distance in a way that Juri wouldn't be able to keep up with. "Come on!" she managed to say in spite of how stiff and unresponsive her face felt. She tugged on his arm lightly, afraid that even the slightest amount of pressure would send this enormous klutz stumbling to the pavement face-first. She looked out across the street for traffic. A pair of headlights sailed by in the opposite lanes. Then they were clear, safely across the street.
They practically tumbled down the stairs, fingers slowly losing their dexterity, lips stiffening, toes painfully cold. "We can't let her on the train," she managed to say. She could hear an automated announcement echo through the practically empty station as they jumped over the turnstiles.
"That is your plan?!" he cried. That was all it took for doubt to begin to chew at her insides. What was she thinking? Why had she led them back into a trap instead of to the police? How could she expect that they, with their frozen fingers and feet and stiffened muscles, could possibly keep Juri Han at bay for as long as twenty minutes? It'd been a spur of the moment decision, and at the time had seemed like a good one. But now they were stuck here until the train left, and they had to be sure Juri wasn't on it with them.
"Do you have a better one?" she asked as they made it to the tracks.
"Ayyyyy-" He broke off into a quick string of Spanish, tangling his hands into his hair and keeping his eyes glued to the entrance of the platform.
"Yeah, exactly," Chun-Li muttered, keeping her back to the tracks. They needed to stay as close to the train as possible. If they missed it, she wasn't sure if they'd be able to take another twenty minutes of fighting with Juri.
"Listen, if I die-"
"You aren't going to die," she said. She was determined now, after all of this, to not let Juri kill him. He seemed on the brink of a panic attack already, and that wasn't a good state to be in during a fight. "Try to relax. Take deep breaths. That kind of thing. We'll be okay."
"I swear when this is over, I am going to get you to teach me how to fight like you, I swear."
She couldn't help but smile. Something about the desperate way he said it, combined with the absurdity of the idea of Vega asking her to be his martial arts teacher, was a bit of relief in the tense situation. "It's a deal," she said. He didn't respond, just took in a few shaking breaths through his lips. Tension shot through every muscle in her body when she saw Juri finally catch up with them. Chun-Li took a proper stance to show she wasn't going to back down.
"I think you're both idiots if this is your great plan or whatever," Juri said. A blur of purple and black, Chun-Li's breath caught in her throat, she shoved Vega away and fell back. The ground where they'd been was laced with fissures. She caught a glimpse of Juri, her face frighteningly blank. Chun-Li had apparently become the primary target now, given the way Juri's line of sight never seemed to leave her. Another blur, and she bolted, passing to the other side of station. Her back was to the wall, the last place she wanted to be if the train showed up. Chun-Li considered going back up, but quickly scrubbed the idea. This was the plan and she didn't really have a better one.
Juri pointed to Vega without taking her eyes away from Chun-Li. "So I lost my temper with the trash can thing, but kudos to you for surprising me. Didn't see it coming. I mean, you can't blame me right, she's a pretty good distraction."
Chun-Li kept her eyes on Juri, even if it was a bit uncomfortable with the way those violet eyes roved over her. The woman was standing with her back to the tracks, daring them to approach with a mischievous grin. She knew she had the advantage. Vega was basically nothing of a threat anymore, and that essentially made this a one on one fight. Not a position Chun-Li enjoyed being in. She didn't break her stance, but said nothing, focusing instead on any hint of movement, even the slightest twitch of any one of Juri's muscles. It was only for a moment that none of them moved, but it felt like forever. Every breath seemed like it went on for days, her stomach never seeming to settle, the lump in her throat never seeming to shrink, the sweat from her palms never seeming to dry.
Juri's knees bent briefly before she launched herself at Chun-Li. She ducked, a foot whistling just past her head and tearing instead into the wall. If her buns had been in tact, Juri's foot would've caught on them. Chun-Li struck out, sinking an elbow into Juri's ribs. A slender arm came around her neck, and she was trapped in a headlock. She pushed off the ground with both feet forward, planting them in the wall before pushing off to flip backwards. Juri's hold broke, Chun-Li was on solid ground again, the tracks behind her.
She caught the foot Juri swept out towards her head. The second one left the ground and she didn't have time to react. The world got dark at the edges for a brief moment. Another kick to her stomach and her back hit one of the cement posts, the wind rushing out through her raw throat. She felt a pressure against her abdomen as she tried to push herself away, and she realised Juri had her pinned there with one foot. "We're gonna have some fuu-un," Juri said in a soft, sing-song voice. She pulled back her leg and slammed her foot once again into Chun-Li's stomach. She doubled over in pain, but was pulled up by her hair. The woman just moved too fast for anyone to compete with. Juri patted her on the cheek, cracking a toothy smile and holding her by the chin.
Briefly, she wobbled as Vega tried to pull her away, but it amused her more than anything else. "Stop it!" he demanded, even though he hadn't been able to get her to budge.
Juri laughed. "Oh, you'll get yours, hombre, don't worry!"
"First, it's 'om-bray', you don't say the h, you idiot," he said. Chun-Li didn't like the way Juri's face suddenly shifted. A grin turned to a curled lip with bared teeth, nose wrinkled just slightly, nostrils flared. "Second-" She elbowed him in the face before he could bother her further. He groaned loudly, cupping his hands over his nose and mouth.
"Stay down and shut up, you piece of shit," she snapped. Her voice softened only slightly as she turned back to look at Chun-Li. "I'm busy." Her fingers dug into Chun-Li's jaw painfully. Desperately, she brought up a knee to try to separate them, but Juri laughed, leaning away. She only just grazed the other woman's waist. She tried again, kicking out low at the ankles. Juri caught her leg with her own, hooked behind Chun-Li's knee, and yanked hard as she pushed on her face. Chun-Li managed to catch herself before she hit the ground, her wrists aching briefly from bearing the entirety of her weight. Something slammed hard into her ribs and she cried out. She rolled away, but was stopped by the post beside her.
The squealing and rumbling of the train echoed down through the tunnel and hope surged through her. Maybe they could do this. They weren't dead yet, so that had to count for something. The sound seemed to put Juri into overdrive, and Chun-Li found herself seized by the collar of her shirt. Again her world briefly went dark as the back of her head was thrown into the post. Vega tried to help, but Juri was just too strong. She was an intimidating enough opponent for people who knew what they were doing. Someone like him didn't stand a chance. He tried to land a punch and Juri smashed her foot into his stomach. Chun-Li took the distraction, tried to stand steadily on her feet, and found the world was spinning just the slightest bit. She focused, eyes settling on Juri, who'd just finished kicking Vega in the ribs a few times. She didn't like the way he screamed at that last one, and thought maybe he wasn't going to make it after all and she'd been naive to think they'd make it out alive. His fingers dug into his side and his eyes were squeezed shut, blood stained the cement below.
Chun-Li planted one foot firmly in the floor, focusing on her target and nothing else. Quick as she could, she kicked out at Juri. The first connected in her lower back, the second in her side as she turned to face Chun-Li. The third was caught and she was shoved roughly backwards. She lost her balance, but turned it into a back handspring with a cry, and was upright again, resuming her stance, even though the train station spun madly around her. Her eyes flicked over to the train as it shrieked noisily to a stop.
"No," Juri growled, recognizing that determined look on her opponent's face. She wasn't going to lose them, not when she was this close. She dashed forward. Chun-Li pushed off the ground, one foot planted into the post Juri had trapped her against before. Chun-Li tried to get Vega to his feet and he made another awful, pained noise. Juri gritted her teeth and bolted towards them as the doors of the train opened.
They made it in, but they weren't alone. Chun-Li screamed as she intercepted Juri, every ounce of strength she had going to forcing the other woman out of the train. Juri was shouting unintelligible threats, incensed by the sudden realisation that she might lose this fight. Each muscle in Chun-Li's body strained against her deceptively small opponent, and for a moment, she feared they'd be trapped on the train with her. Suddenly, Vega was beside her, grabbing for whatever part of Juri was in reach. As soon as he had a hold, they both shoved at once, and Juri screamed as she stumbled out of the train.
"Get the door!" Chun-Li gasped, unsure how much longer they'd stay open. There was barely anywhere to grip on the metal surface, but they hadn't come this far to give up now. Palms braced against the cold trim around the windows, they pushed. Juri's fingers snaked through the crack between the doors. Chun-Li gritted her teeth and growled through them from the exertion. Vega was taking in sharp, shallow breaths and he made a noise somewhere between a groan and a scream. Suddenly, the train announced the next stop, the hydraulics hissed and lent a hand. The doors were shut, a beautiful barrier between themselves and certain death. Juri glared through the glass and with a shout, kicked the doors. They both jumped back at the indentations that were punched through the metal. The train began to move, and Juri receded from view, making a threatening promise with her eyes alone. They were safe, but for how long?
Thank you everybody who has been reviewing and reading along, sorry i haven't been replying very well but do know all your comments are much appreciated and motivational!