Juggernaut

Four weeks later, Cammy was walking towards the courtyard for the girls-only early morning skirmish, red gauntlets in hand, when she noticed Juni and Juli outside. Not only were they not inside the courtyard, as was their habit, they were holding hands and looking out into the desert. They were wearing their battle vambraces instead of the practice guards.

Maybe they want to have a real fight today. Don't know if that's a good idea. It does show initiative, though… I guess that's a good thing. If that's what it is.

"Hello, girls!" Cammy said with a cheerfulness she didn't feel.

The two didn't even look up, increasing Cammy's unease. Usually Juni would at least look at whoever spoke to her now. Juni had said little more since she spoke to Vega, but still, she did communicate. Juli still hadn't said anything, and now Juni seemed to have regressed. No! I will not think like that! They WILL get better, they WILL. The more improvement the former Dolls made, the more Cammy's desperation morphed into a feverish, zealous hope.

"Juni? What's the matter?"

Juni turned and looked at Cammy, her face as blank as any Doll fresh from the mind control process, then looked back out into the desert.

"Juni? What's the matter? Please! What's wrong?"

There was no response. I hate to do this. "Juni! Status!"

Nothing. Cammy switched targets. "Juli. Status."

Juli replied, "Incoming." Her voice, dead of all emotion, made invisible spiders crawl up and down Cammy's spine.

Bison's success forming Cammy into a deadly hand-to-hand assassin led him to experiment with the skills of the twelve girls that followed her, like a little girl would change the clothes on her dolls, trying to find the combination she liked best. The result was a reduction of hand-to-hand abilities, but the Dolls gained several skills that Cammy did not. If combat became necessary, Cammy took care of it. And if repeated modifications forced upon their minds by the Psycho Drive destroyed their memories – and along with their memories, their personalities – what was that to Bison? He wasn't looking for conversationalists.

Cammy grit her teeth, driving the hate for a dead man out of her mind. "Class."

"Category Four."

Cammy started. Bugger me. Even Sagat is barely Category Four. And if it's 'Incoming,' it's coming for us. "Identification."

"Unknown."

Cammy almost snorted. Of course. Nothing was ever that easy. "Estimated time of arrival."

"Imminent."

Cammy started putting on her armored arm guards. Snafu. "Juni. Juli. Recon from cover. Data preservation highest priority." That'll keep them safe.

"We'll stay with you." Juni spoke, but didn't look at Cammy.

Cammy's face twisted with anguish. She wanted them to talk, but that wasn't what she wanted to hear. "Oh no, Juni, don't. Please."

"We stay."

Cammy bit her lip and swallowed. "I don't want to lose you, either of you, after getting you this far… run! Please!"

There was a pause, and Juni said, "We don't want to lose you either." She glanced at Cammy from the corner of her eye, and quickly looked back out at the desert. In the instant of eye contact, Cammy saw how much the short conversation cost Juni. Too much, too soon; Juni was too vulnerable for that level of conversation.

Cammy looked down at her guards, away from Juni, and latched up the left guard over her forearm. Then she put her right arm into the other guard and latched it up while looking out into the desert, to try and see what was incoming. That was the plan, anyway. Instead, she put her right arm into the vambrace and looked up to see an incoming punch. Instinctively, her arms came up to protect her jaw. The punch hit the armor and still rocked Cammy back. Before she could react, a second blow slammed into her stomach, bending her forward to receive an uppercut between the eyes, her guard lowered towards her just-hit abdomen.

The punch didn't hurt too bad, but little fireflies of light danced before her eyes as she rapidly backpedaled, trying to get time to recover. As she blinked the blinding lights away, Cammy saw Juni's flying sidekick get parried to the side almost condescendingly, the blow missing as Juni flew towards the attacker, unchecked. The momentum gave power to the elbow that slammed into her ribs, spilling her ungracefully out of the air to the hard desert surface. Cammy fumbled for the latches for her loose guard, watching through the sparks as the (barefoot, red hair) attacker turned to follow up on the attack. Watched as Juli's carbon copy of Cammy's own Cannon Drill slam into the small of the (dress and gear of martial artist) attacker's back. Which made the (identity unknown) attacker take one step forward, instead of his spine snapping. It should have broke, since he didn't fly off his feet. Even if he'd gone with the blow, his muscles should have been spasming from pain and injury.

So Cammy watched, fastening the last latch as Juli hit the dirt, not ready for her momentum to be completely stopped. Guard latched and vision back to normal, Cammy started to run towards the back of the attacker as he whirled and kicked at the grounded Juli. If he tries to absorb this attack, he's crippled, I don't care who he is.

Juli blocked the kick with crossed arms, sliding back six inches. As a second kick collided with Juli's guard, Cammy's Cannon Drill hit the attacker's grounded back leg at the ankle. Sliding along the ground with the Cannon Drill's follow through, Cammy looked back to see the attacker land from an impossible flip. Instead of resisting the inertia of the attack, he'd gone with it and somehow landed on his feet. Cammy came to a stop, helpless on the ground, three feet away from the attacker as his ki surged and his hands cupped as they went back to the side.

Before the attack could materialize, red-encased hands solidly latched around the (style similar to Ryu) attacker's waist and Juli slammed the attacker with her Earth Direct. Juli rolled away as the attacker did a kippup into Juni's second flying sidekick. The attacker sprawled again and quickly got back up, a little more cautiously, but otherwise showing no hesitation or effects from the two hard-hitting attacks.

Three attacks were launched at a target still gaining his feet, and still he managed to parry two and dodge the third. The three-part assault was launched again and again and again, and was stopped every time. It was three-to-one, and still the target found opportunity to lash out. The counter attacks were blocked, the armored guards hit time and again, preventing serious injury.

I can't believe he still finds time to attack. Use our numbers, force the issue.

Cammy flew into a close-ranged Cannon Spike, her kick ricocheting off the (solid, perfectly positioned) guard, pushing her into the air and backwards. Flipping around to land, Cammy's view of the ground was blocked by a rising punch. Arms out for balance, there was no chance of blocking the strike. She yanked her head to the side to prevent her nose from being shoved up into her brain, taking the hit on her cheek. The world went bright and then dark and then swam into normal illumination, but it sounded funny and the ground was in the wrong spot. Gravity was still working, even with the misplaced ground, and pulled her into the hard, hot desert surface, but the collision didn't even distract her from the pain her head was in. The ground swirled into a more-or-less down position, and Cammy managed to look out at the still unstable world to see Juni jumping away from a rising, recently-knocked-to-the-ground Category Four.

Swallowing the pain, Cammy lurched to her hands and knees. Juli ran over to Cammy, leaving Juni alone to face the inexorable attacker. Cammy protested as the brunette helped her to feet. "Juni – help Juni. I'll be fine. I'm fine. Help Juni." The words had a slur that pierced the ringing in her ears, but Cammy managed to stand erect. "Go help Juni."

"Unit Six has control."

Closing one eye to reduce the vertigo, Cammy saw both Juni and the Category Four flickering in and out of view. The open eye closed and Cammy very, very gingerly shook her head and took a deep breath. Opening both eyes, Cammy was able to stand without leaning on Juli. And see for certain that the two fighters were in fact disappearing and reappearing around the desert, one chasing after the other as it retreated. So that's how I got sucker punched. Feeling the punch-drunkenness fading, Cammy started out to the general area of the two fighters appearances, but Juli held her back.

"Regroup." Putting her fingers to her mouth, Juli gave a piercing whistle. An instant later, Juli appeared next to Juni, looking very tired. Before Cammy could try and get them to retreat, Juli took Juni's hand and a blue glow surrounded them both. With the blue glow came the distinctive feeling of Psycho Power, and Cammy watched as Juli's weary look faded away. When did Juni learn teleportation? And how are they still able to manipulate Psycho Power?

Something triggered in the back of Cammy's mind and she spun around. The punch was powerful, it hurt; but it was nothing compared to what had hit her out of the air just twenty seconds ago. Cammy took the punch, but retaliated at the same time with a Cannon Spike. The one time he couldn't possibly defend was when he was attacking. Dark thoughts went through Cammy's head as she landed from the move, this time on her feet. I'll call it Cannon… Revenge! Yes, Cannon Revenge sounds good. Can't use it all the time – uses too much ki and I'm still getting hit. I don't know how many more hits to the head I can take. Not many.

Cammy risked a glance back at the girls as the victim of her new technique flew back, earth-bound. The girls still held hands, but they had switched hands. Another build-up of Psycho Power came, but it felt more aggressive, a stockpile of destruction. Cammy stepped away from the pair, placing herself between them and the attacker. It wouldn't do much good if he used a teleport, but doing that had to use a lot of ki, didn't it? And they would need time to do… whatever it was.

The attacker came racing in on foot, straight for Cammy. Deciding on a bluff, Cammy cupped her hands and twisted sideways, away from the incoming Category Four. As she hoped, her attacker jumped to come in over the projectile. Gotcha, bastard. I'm not a hado-thrower. He started a diving in kick, similar to her own Cannon Strike, and Cammy knew what to do. She jumped, ending her false Hadoken, shooting by the kicking leg. Grab, twist, yank. A perfect Hooligan Combination executed, Cammy slammed her adversary's head into a large rock conveniently sticking out of the ground, standing on his jaw to add her weight to the impact from falling from a dozen feet in the air. The rock broke, but the pieces were smeared with crimson. Cammy hopped a few feet away, discouraged as her dust-covered opponent stood anyway.

He turned his head towards her and got both of his feet taken out from under him. Juli's Spin Drive Smasher continued, her boots crushing his face, launching him into the air. His parabola peaked, and he started his return to the earth when a large blue streak tore into his entire body, slashing and swirling, cutting and driving him out into the desert. Cammy's tired body spiked adrenaline into her body as she saw the blue energy rage and then fade away, finally letting its target to tumble and roll on the desert hardpack. I thought I saw Bison in that Psycho Crusher for a second. But he's ash scattered to the tides of three oceans. And there was no one inside, guiding the Crusher. I think. I hope. But then where did it come from? Looking around, Cammy saw Juni lower her arm from a salute. Bugger me. Did she call up his ghost? What are these girls capable of? Cammy jogged twenty yards away to lean in the shade of a mesquite tree, hands on her knees, blowing hard. The 95 degrees Fahrenheit weather was conspiring with the repeated blows to the head to sap her stamina and ki. The Hooligan Combination had taken just about the last of her reserves.

Juni and Juli came into the shade where Cammy was resting, concerned looks on their faces. Juni gently touched her swelling cheek, pulling her hand back when Cammy sucked in a hissing breath. Cammy laughed, a short, tired, humorless bark. "And I thought I would be taking care of you. At least I'm still vertical, I guess."

Juni took Cammy's left hand in her left hand and closed her eyes. A second later, she opened her eyes and released Cammy's hand, frowning a bit. Juli repeated the process, except with her right hand, but still there was no blue glow, no rise of Psycho Power.

"Not your fault. I can't do what you can. It's ok. I've been through worse many times before." I was in the hospital afterwards, every single time, but I got through it. The problem was, Juni and Juli knew that too. Their concerned faces didn't relax a whit, but they turned to each other, and again the aggressive Psycho Power built up around them. Why are they doing that? We thoroughly thrashed…Cammy looked out into the desert, to see the fiend standing where he had fallen. He was dirty, but he looked undamaged. No pain, no stagger, no swelling. His arms were crossed over his chest, clearly waiting for Juli and Juni to finish. They did, and the power emanating from them was strong enough that Cammy could feel it, despite not being ki-sensitive. That amount of power on her team gave Cammy confidence until the unknown stomped into a strange half-Cat Stance. For a second, Cammy could actually see the ki rising off his body. It was blood-red, and it shed power in waves that dwarfed Juli and Juni's.

Cammy was stunned. Is there such a thing as a Category Five? And in that instant, Juli and Juni ran past her.

Their target went into his normal stance as he waited for them, letting them out-pace Cammy as they ran. Arriving at their target before Cammy was halfway there, Juli and Juni went into their ultimate technique. On opposite sides, blue ki highlighting their fastest and hardest hitting blows, the two former Dolls trapped their target between them as they struck out in their Death Cross Dancing. It was as if the Category Four was done playing around, because he parried every attack. The finisher, a pair of Cannon Spikes, he simply avoided, then countered. As a horrified Cammy continued to run in, a very fast and short hurricane kick hammered both the former Dolls. He landed and instantly leapt up in a rising punch to hit a still-falling Juni.

Cammy ran towards where Juni was falling, watching as a mountain rose to meet the red-haired monster. The four hundred pound, seven-foot-plus Thunder Hawk slammed his hands around the Category Four's head, going into an aerial Raging Typhoon. Hawk's arms whirled in a circle and slammed the fiend's body into the ground, holding on only to his head. Then leapt and did it again, and then again.

Cammy stopped running as the dust rose from the final impact, still hurt and winded. Cammy looked up to see Hawk throw the now-limp body into the dirt.

Cammy yelled over to where Hawk was. "Hawk! …Kill him! He's… dangerous!"

Hawk turned her way, saying, "I took care of him, Cammy."

"He can take… a lot… of punishment! …We hit… him… with everything we had… Kill him!"

Hawk started striding her way. "His neck snapped."

"Then rip his head off! …Please! Just make sure… he's dead!"

Hawk stopped. His shoulders heaved in a visible sigh Cammy couldn't hear twenty yards away, and turned around. Cammy gaped in horror as she saw the man-mountain's head snap backwards. Cammy started to run as Hawk's head snapped backwards again. She had managed one running step when Thunder Hawk was launched into the air accompanied by a sickening sound similar to a shovel hitting wet concrete. His body still hid his assailant's, but Cammy saw the blue ki images still in the form of a rising punch. Cammy reached Hawk's still form two seconds after it landed. A second later she was under attack again. Unable to do anything but defend and retreat, she did so, leading away from where Hawk and Juni lay. Maybe they're alive, maybe he won't attack a fallen. Well, maybe he'll forget about them.

A kick got around her guard, rocking her head sideways. Four punches followed and a fireball finished, actually setting Cammy on fire as it hurt her and knocked her down. Like getting hit with a flaming medicine ball. Instinctively rolling to put the fire out, Cammy accidentally dodged an axe kick, answering her question on whether the fiend would finish a downed opponent. Cammy tried to get away, but another kick caught her in the side and sent her sprawling again. Trying to put air back into her lungs resulted in the discovery of at least two broken ribs. I've done what I can. I'll die with my eyes open. Unable to do any more, Cammy spit on her attacker from her hands and knees. A kick at her head was the result. Cammy tried to roll with it, but was too slow, hampered by her exhaustion and doomed by the damage already taken.

Cammy gazed up as her attacker stood over her. She was fairly certain that she should be frightened, but it was like saying someone on the other side of the world was just in an accident. It was probably true, and it'd suck to be them, but it was pretty hard to come up with any real concern over the fact. A lack of concern and a total inability to move much more than her eyes left very few options open.

So Cammy watched as the swaying giant raised his foot to break her neck and red gauntlets locked around his waist. The Category Four snapped his head back into Juli's face, stopping the suplex. But for the instant that his head was tilted up, and Vega slashed his throat. Blood geysered out eight feet, showering Cammy. Juli staggered away as the fiend futilely clasped hands around his severed carotid artery.

"Vega…" It was hard to hear through the ringing in her ears, but Cammy concentrated on not passing out, trying to listen anyway.

Vega, masked and clawed, turned his head towards Juli. Only the claw was bloody, not a drop of the spray had landed on his body. The mask tilted, a questioning motion. He fought with a blunted, bent-tipped claw, but his current claw was straight and obviously razor sharp.

"He regenerates." Cammy had no idea what that meant, but it sounded like the end of universe.

The giant that had been standing over her, hands and arms turning red, fell. His fall made Cammy feel a hundred times better, which was still pretty lousy, but it also made her miss the next thing that Juli said. Cammy tried to make the world make more sense, but it failed to cooperate. Just seeing and breathing at the same time was hard. She didn't even have time to feel disgusted for having that guy's blood all over her, so she lay there and tried to breathe a couple times. Then he got back up. On top of that, it got hotter, and things went pretty dark. Cammy closed her eyes so she could think and breathe at the same time. It's not fair. Done thinking, she opened her eyes again.

Somebody must have agreed that it wasn't fair, because Somebody was stabbing the unfair guy. Cammy wasn't sure that being unfair should mean that Somebody should repeatedly stab you in the chest and face, but the darkness kind of stuttered out, so it seemed ok. There were some purple lights to replace the blackness, and they were much prettier, but they went away pretty fast, too.

Wanting to see where they went, Cammy tried to sit up. Something rushed to or from her head, and her side hurt and then everything went away.