Author's Note: Sorry, it took me so long to update. I've been traveling through Japan for the last month or so and there was no real computer access. When I finally got back to my university, Welcome week had begun and my schedule filled up fast so I wasn't able to churn out the chapter as fast as I thought I'd be able to. This chapter took forever to write, but set up the last couple of chapters pretty nicely. Also a late introduction for the last few characters to join the cast before the end. Only three or four chapters left! Thank you to my reviewers! Reviews are Always appreciated!

Lupi Loop, Jann the Dragon, Midnight007: Thank you so much for sticking with me! (I'm glad your brother likes it, midnight! )

Rex J. Nibcore: I know I said I'd let you beta read, but I wanted to get this up as soon as possible.

To Everyone else who reviewed: THANK YOU!

As always, enjoy the new installment of dragon and Phoenix

Tina was annoyed

She didn't really have a problem with being held hostage, honestly. This was largely due to the fact that Bass had taught her every weapon disarming trick in the book when she was sixteen, in case his little girl was ever attacked by vicious men. Plus, she had fought in four Dead or Alive tournaments! She wasn't afraid for her safety in the slightest. She did understand that there were people who could not defend themselves and if she fought, she might cause some of them to be hurt. No, what was annoying was the fact that the hostage takers had seated her next to Zack and that Zack, even as a hostage wouldn't stop hitting on her.

Okay, so she had come to the tournament with him, and maybe gone on a few dates. It was fun while it lasted, but it wasn't fun anymore. He droned in her ear about his battle prowess and how he could beat up every one of these men with their little metal toys to save his 'Princess' if she needed him to. Had he forgotten that she kicked his ass at all four DOA's at some point? The only person allowed to call her Princess was her daddy. She was glowering at him fiercely, but he just wouldn't take a hint.

Hitomi was trying hard and failing at getting her perturbed friend's attention. Short of flat out whistling, she couldn't think of any way to draw Tina away from Zack.

"I'll try to get her attention," Kasumi said, rising ever so slightly from her crouch behind Hitomi.

"No." Gen Fu warned, "They are too close to the center of the room, even with your skills, you will be seen."

"Kasumi, do you have anything you can throw at Zack?" Hitomi asked. A pointy piece of metal was pressed into the small of her back.

"No," She whispered as one of the gangster walked by her, snapping at her to stop talking.

"Something round and hard, like a baseball?"

Kasumi thought hard. She didn't really carry throwing implements that weren't sharp, pointy or exploded on contact. Suddenly, she had an idea. In the hubbub of Ryu nforming her of the mission, she had forgot to put away the gift she had bought for one of the village children, a wooden Daurma doll. It was round, it was heavy, and it was perfect. She pressed the wooden, orb like doll into Hitomi's back just to make sure.

"Yes, that's good, now, here's what you need to do…"

Zack was not happy. Tina had dumped him, and seemed to be serious about it this time, despite all of his smooth sweet talking, which he was sure no woman alive could resist. Then there was this being held hostage thing. He didn't really do the victim thing, but figured it might help his chances with Tina if he could save her from hordes of men who were after her virtue. Princes rescued their princesses from evil all the time and got laid, right? They made enough movies about it that it had to be true. Unfortunately for Zack, his day was about to get worse. Kasumi, hidden behind a pillar, aimed her Daurma doll and fired, praying that it would d bring them good luck. True to her kunoichi profession, her aim was perfect. She struck exactly where she was supposed to; right on the back of Zack's head. With his hands behind his back, he couldn't stop himself from falling exactly where Hitomi had planned:

Tina's chest.

Her anger was instantaneous, fulminating and uncontrollable.

Her fist slammed into his jaw sending him halfway across the room. Completely forgetting where she was, she followed him, uttering menacing threats.

"You little…. Takin' advantage of a heated situation… I'm all vulnerable and this is what you do?" She growled. Her face was twisted in righteous indignation.

"Hey you! Sit back… what, whoa!" The guard hit the wall with a hard thud.

"Tina, baby, it was an accident!" Zack said as best as he could through his bruised jaw, moving as quickly as he could away from her, which resulted in a sort of backwards crawl. He really didn't want to get hit again.

Whatever you thought about the woman, she could pack a punch.

Two more guards materialized where the wall chucked one had been. These guards had crude looking guns attached their hands. One poked the muzzle of his gun into the exposed small of Tina's back, almost lifting the edge of her tank top.

"Freeze" he said quietly. Tina turned, still in full Texan I'm going to kick your ass mode, to find a gun point blank at her belly.

She did not freeze. She was more like liquid. The thug didn't see it coming. In fact, he didn't see it at all. One moment his gun was there, the next his hand was broken and his weapon was on the other side of the room.

This was the chance they had been waiting for. Muttering "sorry" under her breath, Hitomi hit Gen Fu soundly in the side of the head.

"Pervy old man!" She shouted in a high pitched voice, "don't look at me like that!'

It took him a moment to catch on.

"I'll look at you anyway I please," he mumbled. The words were hardly believable, but the important thing was he'd punched her back. They took their fight right into the guards that were coming to restrain Tina, who had turned into a disarmament machine. The Guns strewn in a heap on the floor around her feet. Zack too had recovered enough to catch the ankles of two plainly dressed men who had separated themselves from the hostages and tried to lay their hands on his Tina.

"What's going on out there?" One of the men in the side room cursed as he started out to help his comrades with the troublemakers. He fell before he made it past the doorframe.

Kasumi turned to face Eliot and Kokoro and found that they had just taken down two thugs that had been hiding with the hostages. It was good to have people watching your back.

"Quickly," she whispered so the remaining guards wouldn't be alerted, "You have to take them out, through the kitchens. We've got things covered here. I'll send the rest of the civilians in the ballroom through to you."

"Right," the two teenagers said simultaneously, motioning for the hostages to follow them.

Outside, the fight escalated as fighters from the competition who had either caught on or were let in on the plot by a red haired shadow joined in the uprising. Soon all of the gangsters who had mixed themselves in with the hostages were up and trying to restrain the crowd which threatened to break out into a full scale brawl, with Kasumi expertly collecting civilians who had shrunk on to the wall or hid in corners to get away from the fighting. When all of the civilians had been removed, Kasumi let out a low whistle.

Hitomi grinned widely. It was high time they showed these punks who they were messing with. She took a deep breath and then let out a bone shaking "Now!"

All at once, the groups of fighters turned on their captors, viciously attacking the still stunned guards. Despite the absolute chaos that was engulfing the Ballroom, it was clear that the tide was turning.

Or so they thought.

In the basement, a digital clock flared to green lighted existence. It was set for 5 minutes.

Christie stood calmly in front of Lei Fang and Xiao. She did not move as they started forward. Lei Fang suddenly took Xiao's arm as though he was a child as they attempted to pass her. Christie reached under Lei Fang's arm to try to separate them. Lei batted her away, glowering at her.

"We don't have time for this." She snarled, slightly panicked, "There are people's lives at stake."

"You're right" Christie stated coolly, "You don't have time for this. Hand him over and be on your way."

The floor shook slightly as behind them Jann Lee began the first warm up punches in his fight with Qing.

Christie sighed mentally. This wasn't going how she had planned at all. Xiao was the only living member of the gang that knew of her involvement. It was supposed to be a simple matter of tracking him down in Hong Kong when this had all blown over. He wasn't supposed to be here. But here he was, with the police right outside, waiting for enough information to lock her away for good. He couldn't leave this building, or even this floor alive. At the same time, she needed Lei Fang to at least get somebody to take care of that bomb. She doubted the girl knew how to deactivate it herself. She could just let the place blow, but that would draw too much attention to a situation already getting too much attention for her liking. It took her only a second to size the situation up. Jann Lee was distracted by her ex boss; Xiao was useless in a fight and where the fuck had the ninja gone? It was just Lei Fang. She could deal with Lei Fang.

Even though Lei Fang had been expecting it to come to this, she didn't see her move until she was struck. Her head spun to the side with the slap. She forced Xiao onto precarious strip of floor behind her that was free of Jann Lee's fight with Qing as she blocked the next attack. Speed was Christie's specialty. Another slap that turned out to be a feint as her other hand swept under Lei Fang's guard. It was obvious to both who had the advantage. Christie was rested and fresh while Lei Fang had been in two fights already and was sure she had a broken rib. Both knew this fight had to end quickly. Lei Fang's breath was ragged. However, there was something Christie, in all of her cool calculation, hadn't planned on.

Sometimes, it's the littlest things that you don't plan on that end you. In the case of Christie it was her footwear. She was wearing stiletto heels on an unstable floor, a floor with a crack in it. She meant to brace herself for Lei Fang's attack by leaning back slightly. Her heel caught and instead of back she started forward, straight into Lei Fangs favorite move. She slammed Christie's body into the wall as fast as possible and started, Xiao right behind her for the elevator. Christie stumbled to her feet, but wasn't fast enough as the door slammed shut. She slammed the button for the basement, hyperventilating slightly.

This was suppose to be a relaxing week, a week to mourn Lao zhi's death, a week to remind her to focus on the future. Instead every ghost, goblin and ghoul from had decided to come up from the bowels of past hell. Did she even know how to deactivate a bomb? Would it be straightforward? Just cut the red wire?

She gave herself a quick mental slap and tried to figure out what exactly she was going to do when she got to the basement when there was a thud on the top of the elevator.

She tensed, had Christie been able to jump down that far?

The top was suddenly wrenched open

She prepared for an attack; but thankfully there was none. A pair of red eyes regarded her silently for a moment before leaping inside.

"Ayane!" She had never been so happy to see Kasumi's half sister in her life. She could have hugged her, if she wasn't almost certain that she would react badly. "Do you know how to deactivate a bomb?"

Bomb?! Ayane's mind swiftly absorbed the new information, trying to fit it into the grand scheme of things. She went over the fairy tale in her mind again slowly until it clicked.

The ninjas of the king of Oni, they needed neither sleep nor nourishment, for they were of the undead.

Suddenly it all clicked; the excess of men no matter what the skill level, the highly populated area, why a simple assassination wasn't arranged. Qing wasn't here to blow up a hotel. He was here to create an army, Akiko's army, the army that couldn't be stopped.

"We have to get to the basement." She stated a lot more calmly than she felt as she flipped back on to the top of the elevator.

She eyed the thick cords that were attached to the elevator's pulley system for a moment before pulling out a clamp and a few small explosives.

Despite the fact that she really had no time, Ayane paused to take a deep soothing breath and tried not to wonder if she could actually pull off what she was about to do.

"Lei Fang," she asked, trying to keep her voice from sounding grim. "What floor are we on?"

"34th, why?"

"Brace yourselves" she said, setting the explosives around one of the three moving wires.

She grabbed the open hood; made sure the clamp was ready and pressed a small button she had in her hand.

"Brace ourselves for wha-?"

The elevator bucked wildly and went into freefall.

Qing, or what he had turned into, eyed Jann Lee as he circled, feinted and punched. He was being cautious. He had always been cautious, the old him informed the new him; He's always been the brains of the outfit.

The new him wanted to know what to say to get Jann hot under the collar,

The old him could actually think of a lot of answers to that question, but the new him was disdainful of them all.

The new him claimed that those didn't provoke him, that they were just taunts. The old him snarled asked who knew Jann Lee better. A part of the old Qing was questioning where the new him had come from. He knew it had been there for awhile now, rippling beneath his skin. The old boss had referred to the presence as lady luck, mostly because of the woman's voice. He was certain that it was the Eye that caused it, but had never bothered to ask it. It had always asked the questions of him and he had always dutifully answered. She had transformed his meager street gang, and his own weak body in to something useful. A different part of him naggingly asked who the gang had become useful for. His own goals were now no longer clear to his old self. His new self, the self the eye had created, wanted domination. His old self had wanted that too, for a time. The Eye had given him all that desired in that respect, even though Jann Lee had gotten in there way more than once. The new self had developed an even deeper hatred of the man than the old self harbored. It was New self who had formulated the plan to rid them of Jann Lee forever. The old self began to wonder what the plan was exactly. New self had kept this plan to it's self. The New self roared and lashed out at Jann Lee, testing him. Jann Lee jumped over his fist easily and continued circling.

"What are his weaknesses, how do we disable him?"

Old self wondered bitterly why New Self was so eager to disable Jann Lee. It used to whisper promises and images of the fighter's death. Why now did it seem so eager to keep him alive? Old self was suspicious.

Old Self would not answer New Self's question this time. Old self would remind New Self whose was in charge.

"Answer me!"

Suddenly both Selves were distracted as Jann Lee attempted a triple punch to the jaw. Together they swatted him easily, bouncing him into the wall.

"Answer me!"

Old self stayed silent. Jann Lee kicked them in the gut and tried to swing the bigger creature into a wall, instead a fist the size of his own chest slammed in to him. New self tried not to be alarmed at Old self's newfound rebellion. I didn't come back from hell to be bested by scum like you, it snapped at him. Old self suddenly seized, it was if he had been lit aflame with acid. It was hard to scream when you had no mouth, but somehow New Self found away to smile.

"Answer me", it hissed

Old self gave up the answers slowly, balking further as his own pain subsided. He had come to a rather bitter conclusion. There was no New Self and Old Self. He has been tricked by New Se- he had been tricked by her, by the creature that inhabited the eye. There was Qing and there was her; and she didn't belong in here anymore.

Laughter trickled into the part of Qing that still inhabited his own body.

"I don't belong here? That's funny, because you stepped aside and gave control to me a long time ago. I suggest you just accept the inevitable." She said cruelly.

Hong Kong, 5 year ago

He lit another cigarette, the third in twenty minutes. He had his guards do another patrol around the building. He was beginning to think they were incompetent. He knew there was a woman in his room. He had heard a voice clearly; he had felt hands on his skin, for the devil's sake!

He waved his cigarette around on the balcony nervously. There were enough people out there who wanted him dead and Assassins these days came in both sexes. The door to his room opened and the guard said calmly, "Sir, we've checked the perimeter. We found no way anyone could have entered. Ong is checking the surveillance we have on the maids..."

"Get out" he growled, "You're all incompetent."

"You're right," the voice purred into his ear. "They are nothing compared to you."

He spun around, but the only thing he saw was the familiar structures of his own spacious bedroom.

"But in this case," she continued, "I think you have to cut them a little slack."

There was amused laugher attached to the end of her speech and it hung in the air.

"Who are you?" he shouted, "Where are you?"

"You could say I'm you," she whispered, "and as to where I am, I'm right here."

Qing was surprised to find that he was touching his own marble eye. His good luck charm. He wasn't aware that he had moved at all.

"I've been watching you, Qing" she whispered, "You've had your hands full lately haven't you?

He ran his hands through his hair. Was he going crazy? It was true that lately he'd been under an intense amount of pressure. Two of the opium dens in Beijing had been raided and the prostitution ring in San Francisco had been exposed. It was a nightmare, and it was all because of that accursed Jann Lee. The fifth ring in a year to fall to that annoying tick from the past. All attempts to get rid of him had been thwarted so far, three worthless assassins that had to be taken care of. The fourth was on a recon mission for him. Qing doubted that he could part Bayman from the living world without that whole business in Russia coming out.

"You know, I could help." she said. "I could be more to you, Qing, if you wanted me to be. I could be more than just a lucky charm."

He laughed, "I must finally be losing it."

The sudden flash of red blinded Qing. His jaw went slack when he saw her; a vision in ghostly red. She regarded him, her long hair blowing in an invisible wind. Her face was inhumanly beautiful and her perfect mouth was curved in a seductive smile.

"I can be more, do more if you want me to."

Images flashed before his mind. Jann Lee was a dead and mangle corpse. Bayman was dead as well. All the gangs of China and beyond would bend to his will. It was all with in his grasp he just had to reach out and take it. His eyes widened hungrily with greed and awe. "Can you really do all that?"

"Of course, just trust me"

Qing was hesitating. Jan noticed it right away. He was in his own head, not really paying attention to Jann Lee. He tested the waters again, throwing a punch at the monsters ankle. He was flicked away like a fly but not pursued. This didn't feel like a fight between long time enemies. Then suddenly something flicked across Qing's face. It relaxed into an evil smile that sprouted fangs.

"Here to face your demons are you?" It was a woman's voice that came out. She sounded like steam venting from a kettle. "It's not really our fault that you killed Lao zhi, or that you are going to kill Lei Fang. Why don't you just go fight yourself for awhile and leave us alone."

He said nothing. He had been expecting that kind of taunting anyway. Taunting was just another way of distracting the enemy. Another form of blows that didn't use fists. He aimed for the mouth this time and she threw him back.

"The boy, Lao zhi, he was only in the gang because you joined, right? He'd be alive if you hadn't have dragged him in."

Three punches to the gut this time. Still nothing. Was Qing, or Akiko as Ryu had called her, impervious to damage now?

The monster observed him for a moment. "The girl, Lei Fang, she is here in danger, because of you. She will die because of you, because of her need to be near you. You had the ability to save her, but you refused to use it. It's the same as killing her. But you know that, you're not that stupid."

He wanted to scream at her, 'It's not the same' but he knew it would just fan the flames so he kept his words in his mouth.

"I've been in your shoes before", the creature said as though attempting amicability.

"Trust me, if something happens to her here, it's your fault. Whether it's me that kills her, or our assassin friend."

Christie had disappeared a few moments earlier.

"You won't have the chance," he said quietly, " and when I'm done with you, she won't stand a chance either.

The creature shrugged and attempted to slam him into the wall. He used the size to his advantage, ducking underneath its arms to get at its neck. He didn't care what hell it spawned from. A broken neck is a problem for anybody. But the creature was laughing at him again. She punched him, down into the floor and it gave way beneath them, they fell heavily as they continued to fight.

The Elevator drop was so sudden Ayane had less time to react than she though she did. Grabbing the clamp, she snapped it on to the remaining cables and prayed that friction would be on her side. The concrete numbers on the inside of the shaft whizzed by her; 30, 15, 7. Fortunately, her plan was working. The elevator's decent slowed at about floor 9 and when the steel box slammed in to the floor of the hotel's basement, the crash was survivable. Ayane didn't move for a moment, her purple hair stuck in the up position. Even for a ninja of her experience, free falling from the 34th floor was a little scary. When she had recovered, she stuck her head in the elevator. Qing, despite a few lumps on his rear end, looked like he was fine. Lei Fang had hit the floor pretty hard and in her already damaged state, blood had come spurting out of her mouth. Wordlessly, Ayane shoved a bottle filled with blue glowing liquid down her throat. Lei Fang blinked. All the pain instantly subsided. She felt even better than she had a few nights ago. The group tore out of the elevator, into a maze of corridors.

"Which way is it?" Xiao said frantically, his head spinning back and forth. Ayane closed her eyes, chose a direction and ran.

Also running, Ryu held an item of extreme importance. He had worried that she had been smart enough to leave it in China, but he had thought to check anyway. Experience had taught him that villain's liked to keep their weaknesses close, to keep an eye on them. Would this be a fatal mistake? He could only hope.

At a bar on the other side of Tokyo, A bulky American and a certain chronically drunk martial arts master were having drinking contest when a news flash lit up the TV. Bass couldn't tell what the hell the Japanese newscaster was saying, but his attention was caught when his daughter was suddenly on the screen, fighting a dozen or so armed men.

"Tina?" he said startled, grabbing the TV from out of the wall. "Wong, what are they saying?"

SSShomting about, Hosssstages in a hotellllll. SSShheee's a hostage? I'ddd like to hold her hossstage-" He was cut off by a resounding smack to the back of the head as Bass ran out of the bar.

"Don't worry, Tina! Daddy's comin'!"