PART II
Intentions of the Heart
CHAPTER NINE
Five Months Later
The laboratory that was located in Thailand held terrible secrets, and for reasons of the obvious, it was kept underground away from eyes that would bring scrutiny as well as a false defined sense of justice. Just north east of Bangkok, hidden within the overgrown brush of lush jungle and vine, situated within a rocky plateau, and just below the very old and crumbling structure of a large monastery stone Buddha statue, was the Shadowlaw headquarters.
General M. Bison pondered on the events that happened over the past five months. The severe and damaging blow brought on from the now dead agent Dorai Xiang, had made them a target of constant watch and surveillance by Interpol, but he could outwit the enemy. Months after hosting one of many fighting tournaments, Bison had even been successful in gathering numerous amounts of fighters from around the globe. Fighters who had produced a variety of superior skills had in turn uncovered an essential necessity; and with Shadowlaw's control, the excellence was even greater. Yet even this notion did not quench Bison's satisfaction, for yet and still he knew that those fighters he wanted most were not in his obtainable grasp. He had to find them, for time was valuable.
He would not settle for seconds for there was no such thing as second best. Those in second always succumbed to the shadows of the ones first in line. Those first gave influence and had power over this world, while seconds were mere failures; invisible. Seconds do not exist in the eyes of the masses, and he would not be invisible anymore.
Ryu Hoshi, Ken Masters, and Chun-Li Xiang, had wittingly escaped all those months ago. Ryu, with his uncanny and almost in-humanistic fighting capabilities was valued above the rest. Anyone who could defeat Sagat in the manner he did was certainly in a prioritized regard. In fact they all in their own right were exceptional beyond a certain air of comparison.
Still after months of searching the globe they all had still managed to remain obscured. Shadowlaw's dwindling status had certainly not helped, for it had been more difficult to locate where they might have been.
That wretched Vega, that scum of the earth, he had been the one; of all people to have thrown a wrench in such a very vital and crucial plan. It was a relief to know that he was now dead. In that fateful day months prior, Bison had sent his top operational henchman, a former boxing champion by the name of Mike Balrog, out to lead a raid on one of the Bullfighter's prestigious estate in Amposta Spain. It hadn't been Vega's main estate, the Castle De Maria Isabel in Barcelona, and unfortunately this fatal mistake had cost the bullfighter his own life. He had assumed Shadowlaw would be tracing the castle and not any of his other property. Therefore it was obvious that Vega lacked any tact or intelligence. Bison figured through that display of events it was that the only thing he may have had going for him were probably his good looks. Or perhaps it had been that he was overly confident. The highly vain and very narcissistic fool could probably not have seen past himself to even consider what Bison would do. In the long run it proved to be a waste.
Before the seaside Amposta villa was consumed in the fiery explosion, Bison wanted to first ensure that the matador would suffer greatly. As the young man had such a ridiculous obsession with his face, it was only suitable to have that go first. Balrog later reported that he and his men had put up with a fight from security upon raiding the estate. Yet when he immediately found Vega, he let him have it by striking his face to a point where he was unrecognizable, knocking teeth out in the process. What had left Bison confused was Vega's inability to fight back during the attack on his face. The entire process was suspiciously too easily. It had seemed so unlike him to react in such a manner. Regardless now, the job was done, Vega was dead and all trace of evidence was purportedly destroyed in the fire. It was just one less thing to worry about.
What was important now was getting those skilled fighters back into his possession at whatever cost. They were the key, for his quest to be first in the world. Following Ryu, Ken, Chun-Li and Vega's escape from the medical center, Bison ordered the place to be immediately shutdown, all operations and projects transferred to the main headquarters. Their supposed knowledge in as to what was going on was too much of a risk, and this notion had proven to be accurate. Not even a week after their departure and with just enough evidence from informants, did a group of law enforcement agents, sent by Interpol come in and raid the location. Fortunately everything had been removed just in time for them to turn up nothing. Bison was uncertain as to who had actually tipped off Interpol to such information but the answer would not be too difficult to figure out.
It was absolutely maddening, this need for control; this insatiable desire. Without it, his purpose in life was questioned. This constant streamlining avidity was an increasing realization, so much so that Bison found himself lost in a hunger gone unsatisfied. He began to even believe his inner man was no longer a driving force behind it. It was something else. Something much more powerful and more sinister than even he had ever fathomed being, and he welcomed it with open and gracious arms, allowing himself to be just a mere vessel that channeled the dark essence of corrupted consistency. In this inner power he could do all things and this force seemed to confirm this notion; it was a part of him. Someday, he would hearken the day when the world would realize just how almighty he really was. He envisioned it, the masses bowing before him in worshipful appreciation.
Coming from his thoughts in that moment, he gazed down at her as she laid there on the observation table in a smaller room located off of the main sector of the large laboratory. With his gloved hand Bison gently caressed her scarred cheek in a manner that appeared to be of genuine affection. Yet in all appearances, this action merely resulted out of a pride built into the work that was put into her. He was proud of the accomplishments. What she had come to be had solely been a concept of his pure genius. In instance of itself it had epitomized his personalized and twisted perception of pulchritude.
In a life once surrounded by the standards of normalcy, her name had been Cammy White. Months ago, during the time of her capture she had been an agent serving on the United Kingdom's Secret Intelligence Service MI-6 on a special operations force known as Delta Red. Cammy along with her teammates had been assigned on the case to investigate, or rather scrutinize Shadowlaw's activity in and around England. Though as small as she had been size, he saw something within her that had deemed importance. Her passion on the case, personality, persistence, integrity and strength created a convincing awareness inside of Bison that helped him to recognize that he needed her. Though manipulated through a mind controlled force; she would prove to be a valuable asset to Shadowlaw in the coming months.
Right after her disappearance, her fellow agents at MI-6's S.I.S. performed a search so controlled and an investigation that was so thorough that they were dishearteningly dismayed when nothing turned. Due to their lack of knowledge on Shadowlaw at the time Cammy went missing, the agents with Delta Red had no inkling of a clue on where she might have been. Without a substantial amount of information on the case they had been investigating, they would find only dead ends in their series of searches.
Cammy fought diligently for her freedom at first, she threatened Bison, promising him that her comrades would indeed come find her and ultimately destroy him and his organization. The way she clawed at him, spat in his face, and cursed his name only fueled his anger. And in that moment, his concentrated and convoluted power which coursed through had taken precedent as he forcefully struck her just under the chin. She lay there still, jaw broken from the forceful blow. The scar she developed later had initially come from the section of her broken jaw bone which had in turn protruded from her face. Bison at first was afraid he had killed her out of his loss of control. Yet she came through just in time to have scientists treat her severe injury and thus prepare her for her ultimate purpose.
Her initial role had been to be a test subject for their ongoing research in an adequately funded program known as the C.H.I.M.P. project. This ironic acronym stood for the Controlled Human Integration Manipulation Project. Out of his own twisted and dark sense of humor, Bison founded this title to coincide his feelings for his test subjects. Though human, Bison could only regard each and every one of his experiments as mere chimpanzees, for many of them, mostly being bums pulled from the dark and filthy crevices of Bangkok, could not have possibly been human in their own right.
After a long string of disappointments, failures, semi-failures and wasted potential, Cammy came to be the one to come through as the first of many to respond well to the integration and signalized treatment of the C.H.I.M.P. project. Her skills attained through MI-6 along with the mind controlled direction given by Shadowlaw, this girl had been a treasured asset, carrying out many of the ordered assassinations; a perfect killing machine.
A tiny electronic device, no bigger than the size of the U.S currency dime, had been placed at the base of her skull. Attached to the small device were a series of tiny fiber optic wires connecting and cross rooting to the areas of the brain that deemed appropriate. Having been connected to the temporal lobe, the part of the brain that contained the hippocampus, a regulator of memory, Bison was able to have all of her previous life instances erased from her mind, all while maintaining everything obtained from MI-6 still in tack.
The drawback to this intricate process was that additional steps needed to be interred to ensure that Cammy would never remember. It was theorized by his scientists that as the tissue regenerated around the foreign objects of the wires, slight recollections in her in memory would abound. Since their interjection of the C.H.I.M.P. chip, scientists have been able to estimate that this particular regeneration treatment was required for the girl approximately every three months.
The C.H.I.M.P. device not only regulated and controlled the in and outflow of memories, it had also been wired into the limbic system, an intricate part of the nervous system that regulated emotion. Shadowlaw scientists found that through a series of pre-additional tests, that this same device would manually control one's emotion.
With the finalized wiring of the C.H.I.M.P. chip, and after years of research, the finalized product was implanted into Cammy. Bison found that he had full control of what she thought, how she felt, and her recollection of memories. It was marvelous. Despite the inconvenience brought in up keeping her, and the small amount of brain damage it was causing long-term, she had been perfect none-the-less.
Previous projects, Cammy's predecessors had not been so lucky, many of the earlier specimens used in the concept stage had either died, ended up blind, deaf, or contracted other forms of damage that they were inoperable and thus later disposed.
As Cammy lay there, having come out of a recent process of administered treatment, he spoke to her. "Wake up number 001A prototype agent Killer Bee."
With the voice command configured in the device, her lifeless and almost robotic-like eyes opened, as she spoke in a voice traced with monotone. "Agent Killer Bee online and reporting..."
Bison turned to regard the other scientists out in the lab, speaking in a loud audible voice he said, "Bring in Mike Balrog at once!"
"Yes Sir!" one of the technicians obliged, as he ran out of the room and in beyond the corridors of the large underground structure.
Within minutes, his henchman Michael Balrog approached the room his broad and hulking six foot five stature stood in the archway of the opened room off of the main lab. His mood appeared morose, as if expecting chastisement for his recent failures, in his inability to locate Ryu, Ken and Chun-Li. He greeted Bison with the respect he deserved and seemed to wait for whatever punishment he imagined he would be receiving.
Already aware of his misdeeds, Bison said. "I need an updated status on the three. Where are they? Are there any leads?"
Balrog closed his eyes and bowed, when doing so in the contrast of the dimly lit room and his dark skin, he appeared to be nothing more than a large shapeless shadow. "No sir Boss." His deep gruff voice spoke. "But I would, if I could interject for just a moment, tell you about our new approach in trying to locate them."
Bison was silent for several moments. He wanted to give Balrog just enough time to further marinate in his nervousness until he would start to sweat. Finally he spoke, "Go on…"
"With some research from our intelligence team, we was able to find some key spots on where Ryu, Ken, and that girl could eventually show up. Looks like when they heard we was after them, Dalton Masters got his own security crew and had himself, his wife, his son, and the other two hidden real well. The Masters estate is empty, but who's to say they won't show up there after a while. We got some guys out there to stake out the place…"
Bison was displeased at such a despicable approach but he let Balrog finish his ridiculous spiel. Meanwhile Cammy remained in a blank stare, seemingly waiting for further instructions.
"Also got some agents out there watching the air force Major's place out in Queens New York. We know the girl's father was real close with him, and she may turn up there at some point. We also got some people following her friend that movie star Fei Long, as well as her aunt and little cousin who live out in Hong Kong. If you want sir we could bring them all in for questioning and demand that they tell us where they are."
Bison shook his head. "No… not yet at least. Because we're under such close watch by Interpol right now, it would be best to involve as little as possible. Getting more people in and stirred over this affair would only prove to be quite careless. We need to be on guard in whatever we do. Besides that, do you know of any reported contacts that Chun-Li, Ryu, or Ken might have made to any of these locales?"
"Not certain sir, since we had all those cutback's we haven't been funded with enough equipment to wire tap any of the phone systems."
"So they could have easy slipped through our fingers then!?" Bison half shouted, "This is maddeningly ridiculous!"
Balrog looked to the ground that time.
"That's all you have?" Bison asked. "This is rather disappointing indeed…"
"I know boss but we're working on it."
"Once you have more leads, I want you to take Cammy with you to help get the job done."
"Yes sir."
Bison turned to Cammy, and as he stroked her scarred cheek, said "I'll have an assigned project for you soon enough number 001A…"
"Confirmed…" Cammy simply said.
As Balrog was dismissed to leave, Bison said one more thing. "Oh, and Balrog… I expect some real results to be reported next time, or I can't make myself personally responsible for what I will do to you…"
***
Within her sixth month of pregnancy, Chun-Li was nearing the end of her second trimester. Other than the pervasive effect of morning sickness, a standard accompaniment in her first four months, everything had been just fine. She was healthy and so was the child that was developing inside her body. Her abdomen by this time had distended out beyond its normal range just enough to make her condition obvious to those who might not have known originally. Where most women were left with joy and excitement brought on by a pregnancy, Chun-Li found that even after all these months of coping with the news, she was afraid and still very uncertain as to what the future would hold for her.
Her friends had been so gracious as to remain by her side during the transition that Chun-Li didn't know where she would have been without them. In the last five months after their narrow escape from Shadowlaw, the three of them had taken refuge along the California coast in a small town called Anchor Bay that was located along the route one shoreline highway, about one hundred fifty miles north of San Francisco. It was a small quaint town that seemed to remain in its own captured time of the 1940s. Whenever Chun-Li had pictured California, this had certainly not been what she had envisioned. It was beautiful however, an all encompassing and captivating effect of serenity, and peacefulness. A picturesque setting of Victorian styled homes, old trees, and a gorgeous view of the Pacific.
It was Ken's father who had arranged the placement. After getting word on what had happened with Shadowlaw, he had his security company contact the federal law enforcement officials to inform them on what had taken place. While the investigation was underway, Mr. Masters had his own personal security team place Ken, Chun-Li, Ryu, and in addition Eliza, securely into a modest beach house along the shore. Of course Ken had heavily protested to this arrangement, for he disliked the idea of having to constantly be watched and closely monitored when he was fully capable of taking care of himself.
This arranged security set-up was well organized regardless of how Ken felt. Once a month, a government cleared physician had been arranged to come in and see Chun-Li to monitor her condition. So far all had been well with her pregnancy. Even though she had endured several wounds from her fight with Vega previously, it hadn't posed any risk or threat to her or the child's health long-term.
Two weeks before the Thanksgiving Holiday, Guile and Julia contacted Chun-Li on her phone. Because of Julia's relation with her younger sister Eliza, they were already well aware of the predicament that the four of them had been in. Just a week prior, Julia had just given birth to a set of twins. Not wanting to find out the sex of their children prior, Julia and Guile were happily surprised to find that they had been blessed with both a boy they named Nathan, and a girl they named Leanne.
"How you holding up kid?" Guile casually asked her. Neither he nor Julia had been made aware of her own pregnancy, or anything about the knowledge of who had killed her father.
"Holding up okay," she replied, "congratulations on the new editions!"
It was obvious to Chun-Li now, that she had been placed on speaker phone when she heard Julia say, "Thanks. They are precious little angels"
"Who do nothing but sleep, eat, cry, and poop, with plenty of sleepless nights to tack onto that." Guile added sarcastically.
"I bet they're adorable."
"That's about all they are." He muttered.
"Will, you know you love them!" Julia said, her jesting tone had matched his.
"Yeah, well… any more leads on Shadowlaw?" He asked her.
"None at this moment."
"Well if it's not too much trouble, we wanted to see if you all could come out here to New York for Thanksgiving." Julia suggested cheerfully. "I've already discussed it with Ken and Eliza and they're fine with it."
Forgetting about her pregnancy in that moment, Chun-Li found herself saying, "Sure, I'd like that."
"It will be fun, and remember you guys are more than welcomed to stay as long as you'd like."
"Thanks. Anymore traces of Shadowlaw-related drug trade activity on the military bases?" She asked Guile.
"Nah, they took me off that case for now, Interpol has been conducting an all out investigation since the huge raid that your Father lead off. Things have been coming together but they still haven't found out the person behind it. With the information you guys gave them, something should pan out soon huh?"
"Let's hope so. I just want to put this behind me."
"Well that makes two of us." Guile said.
After Chun-Li ended her call with Julia and Guile, a knock came at the closed door of the provided bedroom she had been staying
"It's open."
Ryu poked his head through the door frame before coming in.
"Hey," she said quietly. She remembered his subtle declaration of feelings all those months ago, and how since that time nothing else had transpired from it. It wasn't as if he was no longer interested, because she knew that he still certainly was. Yet Chun-Li felt as though he was reevaluating the situation, perhaps to anticipate another approach of trying to win her over. She found that the fatherly-older brotherly role he had taken with her previously was starting to give way to something more along the lines of a friend. A friend was what she needed above anything else. And perhaps Ryu had finally come to realize that.
Instead of immediately replying, he came into her room and sat down beside her on the bed.
Chun-Li shifted her own weight to accommodate him.
"Are you feeling okay today?" Chun-Li found that he would ask her that a lot; more than once a day at least.
"As well as I'll ever be, I guess." She said uneventfully. Her eyes lowered to the floor at loss on what to say next.
Because of Eliza's presence in the house, Ken had spent most of his time one on one with her during the day. This left Chun-Li and Ryu alone most of the time and she wasn't exactly sure how to feel about that. In fact, at that point she really wasn't sure how to feel about Ryu period.
Usually in the evenings, with body guards and security agents not too far away from reach, the four of them would gather for dinner. It was either Chun-Li or Eliza who would alternate turns on cooking, and every once in a while Ryu or Ken would take the spot-light as chef and cook their own rendition of a meal. However that had proven to be quite disastrous at times.
The way of living they had come to know was not ideal, but at least they were safe from whatever threat was posed out there. Dalton Masters, Ken's father was generous, and though Chun-Li hadn't ever gotten a chance to meet him in person, she could tell he was well equipped with intelligence, money, and enough tact to out-wit Shadowlaw. Because his company had been so large and prosperous, keeping him and Fujiko, Ken's mother, in the spot-light of the public eye, would have posed a huge risk. He must've figured Shadowlaw would have certainly targeted him if not for his fortune, then for his life.
"Did Ken tell you about the plans at Guile's house for Thanksgiving?" Chun-Li found herself asking him.
"Yeah he mentioned it. I'm not so sure though."
"Well I just got off the phone with both Guile and Julia. I think Ken and Eliza were up for going. Julia is Eliza's sister after all."
"They didn't tell us."
"Maybe they just spoke with them like I did." Chun-Li said giving them the benefit of doubt. "Anchor Bay is beautiful, and I love our own little private beach here, but it would nice for once to have a change of scenery."
"True, but what type of risk would we be running by going out to the east coast. Would Ken's dad even go for it?"
Chun-Li shook her head. She wasn't sure. "I'm sure if we take enough security precautions, it could be done. Even so, who's to say that Shadowlaw is even still after us? It's been almost six months and nothing's happened. No threats of any sort where we are concerned."
"You're right, but we should still remain on guard."
Before she could respond, Chun-Li felt the child inside of her suddenly and forcefully shift in a jerking motion. The suddenness of the action caught her off guard, that she gripped her stomach and let out a cry of surprise.
Ryu promptly stood, his demeanor changed to a look of heightened concern. "What's wrong!?" He demanded. "Is it the baby? Are you going into labor?"
Still clutching her abdomen Chun-Li began to laugh, further confusing him. "No! The baby just suddenly changed directions in me and I was caught off guard. Nothing to panic over, I'm not in labor." She laughed more.
His tense stance softened as he scratched his head uneasily. "Oh…"
The child continued to roll around within her. Chun-Li grabbed his wrist and brought his hand to her stomach, where she held it there. "Here, feel. The baby's just trying to get more comfortable…"
Ryu jumped in surprise at the feel of an elbow, possibly a leg, a foot, or any other part of the body bumped against his touch. "Wow, that's amazing." His brown eyes met her that time. "Life is so curiously amazing."
Never letting go of his wrist, she said, "It is…"
"And to think we all started in a place like here…"
As the child, unaware of the world outside, continued to roll around in the safe haven of her womb, Chun-Li and Ryu stared at one another moments more. The events that were unfolding would later prove to be even more awkward and confusing as time passed on.