Tekken 24: Day Two
Disclaimer – I don't own "24", "Tekken", or any other actual businesses named in this story.
The following takes place between 4:00 am and 5:00 am.
Events occur in real time.
4:00:00 – The lights were still on inside the front office of the warehouse.
Ko Yon-ha looked a little further into the office, seeing the body lying near the doorway into the garage. He was confident that nobody was there. Even if there was, he was still too cocky to think that he'd get the drop on whoever might be inside.
He may have been cocky, but he surely wasn't stupid. Ko still had his gun out.
The light in the office flickered and buzzed momentarily as he crossed to the doorway. He pushed himself up against the wall and quickly peeked inside the garage. The only person he spotted was that of a man who lay on one side of the room, probably dead. The computer had gone back into its screen saver. He entered the garage towards the computer. The closer he got to the man on the ground the more twisted his neck looked in the dim lighting. The man was dead.
He set the gun down on the desk and tapped the computer awake. It came up onto the desktop. He opened up a DOS prompt and typed in a command, bringing up a long list of keystrokes, commands, and programs that had been hit, entered, and opened. He noticed the email program that was opened, and delved further into that list. Once he saw the email from Amstel that had been opened he took the gun and fired three shots into the computer, aiming specifically for the hard drive.
Smoke trails started to billow out from the tower. Happy with the result, he walked back towards the office. The man lying in the office, who was supposed to be dead, started to gurgle blood out of his mouth onto the floor. Ko stopped in front of him, staring at him. The man turned his head. He could see Ko watching him. He struggled to raise his hand, brushing his fingers against Ko's pant leg.
Ko smiled, enjoying the show as the man fought to plead for help. Blood continued to seep out of the corner of the man's mouth, pooling onto the floor. Ko kneeled down, bringing himself closer to the man who would more than likely die within the next few minutes.
"Please…" the man said, the sound garbled by the blood in his mouth.
Ko stood up, and raised his foot, hovering it directly over the man's neck. Ko hesitated for a second before finally bring his foot down, crushing the man's neck and larynx. A massive wave of blood rushed out of the man's mouth. Ko quickly got his foot off before the blood hit his shoe. He was thankful nothing got on them. They weren't cheap.
4:04:27 – The rear doors of the van opened up. A big burley man carried Hwoarang over one shoulder, and promptly threw him into the back of the empty van. Hwoarang was still unconscious, the landing not stirring him at all.
The man shut the doors to the van just as Mabinko came walking out of the apartment building.
Amber Lamont sat in the front passenger seat of the van. When the body hit the floor of the van, she turned to catch a glimpse, thinking it was Armstrong. But upon seeing the orange-red hair, she knew who it was. She didn't need confirmation from anyone.
She turned around, wondering where exactly within the past year that she decided to just throw caution to the wind and move ahead as freelance doctor working without a license. Mabinko had contacted her earlier in the day, and asked her to meet him here in the area. This was the second freelance job she had ever taken, and yet again, it was with a known criminal. The first time she worked with him was in Malaysia, and she would rather prefer to forget what happened. She'd never seen something so brutal. God only knows why she agreed to come back to this. She turned back again to look at Hwoarang. She felt sorry for what she was going to probably have to do to him.
The driver's side door opened, and she quickly turned back around as Mabinko slid into the seat. He threw the key into the ignition and started the van.
"Did you have any luck up there?" She asked.
She wasn't afraid of him. She really didn't consider it fear. She was cautious. Mabinko had a habit of randomly killing people who worked for him. This was the second time she had worked with him on a job. Her role here was to originally medicate Armstrong in order to find out if he had been compromised, and then to kill him.
"Armstrong's dead." Mabinko said.
"Then who's that in the back?" She asked, know full well of Hwoarang's history.
"An insurance policy. He's going to get to the server for us."
"How? Armstrong is the only one who had access. Did you get the hard drive from his computer?"
"He incinerated it. We need to get the server earlier than planned." Mabinko said.
Amber stared at him for a moment before she realized what he meant.
"We're going to the airport now?" she asked.
"Yes. We should be there around sunrise." He said, taking a quick look back at Hwoarang, still lying unconscious on the floorboard.
4:08:14 – Jin's thought process had halted, and had remained that way since he saw her.
It had been a while, but Ling looked amazing.
She was being patient. They both sat across from each other on the first class seats, the soft, cushioned feeling of the seats not lasting for more than a few moments.
They hadn't even said a word. She figured this would happen. Jin was in shock. She smiled at him, waiting for him to say something.
"I don't understand," he finally asked.
She smiled again, more sincerely, before finally going back to a straight face. She was happy to see him, but the joy would have to wait.
"I expected that. That's why I'm here. Things have been getting out of control." She said.
"Yeah. Just a bit," he replied somewhat sarcastically.
"Blane called and told me that you escaped from CTU custody and we're looking for me. I take it you found the footage at the movie theatre?"
"Yeah. I can't believe you embraced that bastard." He said.
She sighed. "Things changed radically between then and now. At eight o'clock, I was under the impression that Ko was apart of my team. I met him there at the theatre because he had information regarding Amstel coming back into the States. The information he gave eventually checked out, though I didn't realize he was double-crossing me until recently. And we're talking hours too."
"You trusted him? How?"
"My entire team is made up of mercenaries from around the world. We're a black ops team. I have the authority to hire anyone I choose. And Ko's skills at sharp shooting fit the requirements. As long as he took orders, did his job, and produced results, I was willing to overlook his personality."
"So how did you find out he wasn't working for you?" he asked bluntly.
Jin didn't like the answers he was hearing. All this time he had been on a wild goose chase that Ling could have easily stopped. It wasn't until he had killed a friend, put his life on the line, and finally just about gave up on it all that she decided to pull back the curtain and reveal herself.
"About one o'clock. He was supposed to check in around eleven, missed it, and had been off the grid since. I had satellite coverage of Michael Foster's home, since he was my first contact into all of this, and witnessed Ko killing him." She said.
"So then what are we doing here? Ko's probably still back in Peoria." Jin said.
She shook her head.
"He's going to be heading to Chicago soon enough. There's a bigger plot here than you realize. Since Ko's working for Amstel, we've got a big problem. Our operating procedure's been blow, seeing as Ko knew it all. He's been working with us for months. Approximately thirty hours ago, I was in Japan, tracking down Amstel. I received word that a hydrogen bomb has gone missing inside of the US. After that, all of my informants disappeared, except for one. He was able to tell me one thing before a sniper killed him." She said.
"What was it?"
"He told me that Amstel was heading to the Midwest United States today."
"Amstel's coming here?"
"Yes. I believe he's going to detonate this bomb in Chicago. It would certainly get the world's attention. Which I think he wants after our foray in Tokyo earlier this year."
Jin blinked. He didn't ever think of how big the stakes were. In fact, he was still under the impression that this was just a revenge quest, and that all Amstel or whoever was behind it, just wanted him dead.
Jin sighed again. "Look. I realize what's at stake. But why didn't you tell me earlier? I shot one of my friends tonight because I was being held hostage. Why not come forward?"
Ling rubbed her face with her hands. The wear of the night was getting to her.
"Jin, I didn't tell you, or pull you out, or save you from all of it because I didn't know where Ko was. I needed an advantage. And coming out of nowhere and revealing myself would just keep him one step ahead. You do know what a tactical advantage is, right?" she said, almost saddened by Jin's lack of understanding.
"I guess not," Jin said, getting up and heading towards the aisle. "I'm sorry."
"Jin." Ling said.
He had only walked five feet away from her when she called out to him. He didn't stop. Jin moved onto the dining car, hoping to clear his head from this mess.
4:14:52 – Sam hung up the phone. She was worried and frustrated at the lack of communication inside the base. Currently, it was only her and Urahara, who almost looked like he was about to leave himself.
"Still no answer from Stanson or Hwoarang." She called out to Urahara from across the floor.
"Anything on the emergency channels?" he asked.
"I don't even think they knew about them." She answered.
"Activate the transmitters." He said.
The transmitters were the very same transmitters that CTU had implanted in Jin and Hwoarang months earlier. One of the activation workstations was located in Jin's home – the very same one Le Carre and Stanson came across earlier that evening.
"The large display monitor on the wall in front of them lit up. A display of the state of Illinois appeared in black, with green lines tracing all the major roadways in the state. Some major cities were marked, including Peoria, Chicago, Springfield, Bloomington, and a few others farther downstate.
"They should be coming up momentarily." Sam said.
One yellow blip came on the screen, moving towards northbound I-55 on its way to Chicago. It was probably thirty miles outside of the city.
"Jin's beacon is up." She said.
"Where's Hwoarang?" Urahara asked.
"It's deactivated. Probably destroyed. The last recorded position was before midnight." She said.
"Damn. Max must have gotten it when he grabbed Hwoarang." He said, picking up the phone in front of him.
The line rang a few times before the other end picked up.
"Yeah?" Alex said.
"It's me. What's your location?"
"On Adams, heading back to the base." Alex said.
"Get over the location Sam's sending to your PDA. I think Hwoarang and Stanson are in trouble. I'm going to get CTU to send a backup team to meet you there." Urahara said.
"Ok. Did you talk to anyone about the email yet? We need to find out what's on that server." Alex said.
"I'm working on it. I've got to pull some strings in order to get clearance. When Sam went to look it up, it shut her down. It's locked. It might be a government server."
"What would be on it?"
"Who knows? It could have anything." Urahara said.
"Ok. I'm less than ten minutes out. Get that backup there." Alex said.
"I'm on it." Urahara said, hanging up and dialing again in one fluid motion.
4:17:38 – The van rolled into the parking lot of Mt. Hawley Airport. The place in itself shouldn't even been considered such, as it only had one runway, and was small enough that the biggest plane it could carry was a mid-sized private jet, which at the moment, was being prepped for takeoff.
Mabinko drove at moderate speed, bringing the vehicle near the plane. The engines were warming up, and a gust of air pressed against the door as he tried to exit.
Another vehicle pulled up behind him. As soon as it stopped, five men got out of the car, all armed. Mabinko stared at the driver.
"Get Hwoarang on the plane," he said, then turning to Amber, who was standing outside the van now. "Keep him somewhat lucid."
Amber moved toward the back of the van where one of the other men opened the doors. Inside, Hwoarang was stirring, turning from his side to his back. Amber opened the bag she had around one shoulder and pulled out a syringe. She hopped inside and quickly inserted the clear liquid inside into his neck. Hwoarang groaned painfully as his arms stopped moving. The man outside looked suspicious.
"He's not dead. Just sedated. I'll have to hit him again in about thirty minutes." She said.
The guard grabbed Hwoarang by the ankles, pulling him to the edge of the truck, giving him just enough leverage to throw him over his shoulder. He started walking to the plane then, just behind Amber.
The stairwell door to the plane opened up, the pilot appearing just for a split second before moving back into the cockpit.
The man carried Hwoarang up the stairs, Amber guiding him along to where they would keep him. She had obviously been on board before.
The plane was larger than it looked. The front half of the plane was made up of the cockpit, a small storage cabin for the steward's to use, followed by a bathroom. The rest of the plane was made up by a main cabin area, made up of luxury chairs and round wooden tables. The back end of the plane was for luggage and a preparation area for the stewards.
Amber began to walk into the back of the plane, and pointed towards the front.
"Put him in the storage room." She said.
The man walked up towards the front of the plane, the doorway to the storage room directly across from the doorway to the cockpit. The man opened the storage room door and flipped on the light. While still standing in the doorway, he tossed Hwoarang over his shoulder and hard onto the ground. The man flipped off the light, and closed the door.
A small groan escaped from his mouth. His fingers began to twitch.
4:24:29 – Alex's car buzzed into the lot of the apartment complex. He drove around the building once, noticing Stanson's car was still in the lot, as well as a couple others.
He parked the car, and reached into the back seat, pulling open the false bottom. Inside was an M4 assault rifle that had been customized over the past couple years: A telescopic sight, customized hand guard, dual ammo clips, laser sight, silencer – the works. Alex had put a lot of money into his weapons, and this really showed that.
Alex quickly slipped off his jacket, grabbing the Kevlar vest next to his M4. He slipped it on and fastened the straps, looking behind him at the building, making sure nobody was sneaking up on him. Once finished, he grabbed the rifle, extra ammo, and a communications unit. He turned a small dial, setting it to an emergency frequency that would immediately broadcast inside the base, and flipped the device on as he put it in his ear.
"This is Alex, does anyone copy?" he said.
At first there was only static, which he expected. The sound of his voice was probably enough to send them into a state of shock, certainly not expecting him to sound off like that.
"Alex. We read you." Urahara said, coming in loud and clear through the earpiece.
"I'm at the apartment complex. I'm going in." he said.
He got out of the car, the rifle already mounted at his right shoulder, and aimed, ready to take out anything that got in his way.
He swiftly ran to the front of the building. Almost like a bullet itself, he moved in such a controlled way – his arms didn't shake with nervousness; his body didn't bounce like most others.
He hugged the wall next the front door.
"I'm entering the front of the building." He said, counting mentally to three.
He pulled open the door slowly, trying to keep the bell attached to the door from ringing. He swung the gun in front of him, moving to the left and right, trying to get a peek around any upcoming corner that someone could hide in.
The first floor hall was empty other wise. Beyond it was four different doors, all what appeared to be apartments. At the end was a stairwell leading upstairs. He moved forward into the hall and caught the staircase beside him out of the corner of his eye.
He aimed the rifle up, seeing a landing directly above him. What he saw from there shocked him. Blood was splattered all over the white wall next to it, a small trickle off blood running to the edge and dripping onto the floor below. He quickly ran upstairs, seeing Stanson's body lying face down.
"Jesus." He said.
"What is it?" Urahara asked.
"It's Stanson. He's dead." Alex said, almost blankly.
Alex then noticed the door to Armstrong's apartment had been busted off its hinges. He raised the rifle again, running into the apartment, clearing it in record time. The whole apartment had been ransacked. He finished with the bedroom, Armstrong's computer lying in pieces across the bed. The hard drive was missing.
"Armstrong's apartment has been ransacked. The hard drive is missing from his computer. There's nobody here." He said.
"Hwoarang must have been taken then." Urahara said.
Alex started to walk back towards his car.
"So what now? Did you find anything about the server in Iowa?" He asked.
"No. Everyone's tight-lipped. But I figured that if we know, so does anyone that worked with Armstrong. I started searching local airports and other airfields for any planes that may have stopped or taken off from here and heading to Iowa. I came up with seven planes. Five took off in Peoria and surrounding areas, heading into Des Monies for layovers, one was heading from here to Cedar Rapids, but one just took off from Mt. Hawley airport. It's heading to a small grass runway in Amana, Iowa." Urahara said.
Alex skipped down the main staircase and out the front door.
"That airport should be closed."
"It was. I called, and the manager said that he opened back up for one takeoff. It was a private jet that needed to get out quickly from a small airport like his." Urahara said.
"Did he give an arrival time?" Alex asked, opening the back door, placing the M4 back in it's hiding place.
"Yeah. It's due to land shortly before 6 A.M. Why? You got something in mind?"
Alex shut the back door and opened up the trunk. Inside were four full tanks of Nitrous Oxide. Most people knew that he treated his weapons like his children, but almost nobody knew that he treated his car the same way too. His secret weapon was having legally disabled the device inside the car's computer that capped the top speed of the car. The normal top speed he would have had had he bought it new would have been around 110 MPH, but this way he could easily get near 150 MPH. With the nitrous, he could push just over 200 MPH. He had no clue if he would make it. At this rate, it would be around a 100-minute drive. He slammed the trunk down. He'd made his decision.
"Yeah. I'm driving there. Upload directions to the screen in my car. I'm going after it." He said, hoping into the front seat of the car.
4:30:44 – The ice was melting inside the glass of whiskey. Jin had been nursing it for a few minutes now.
He really didn't know what to think anymore. He was tired, he had been used, and now he was staring out of a window, watching the dark pastures beyond speed pass.
He understood why Ling never helped him earlier in the evening. But he still felt like somebody had balled him up like a piece of paper waiting to be thrown away. None of it felt right, and yet he didn't blame Ling for her choice, he wasn't about to forgive her for it.
She forced him to betray Hwoarang's trust, and at the time, the bond they had created felt right. Yet now, it felt like more of a mistake.
Jin brought the glass to his lips, downing what was left of the gold liquid that was inside the glass. He had hoped for one last burning sensation from the whiskey, something to bring fire into his head once again, but the ice had since melted, diluting it.
The bartender had since left, wrapping up for the night. He had told Jin to just leave the glass there. He looked behind the bar, noticing that the bottles had been closed up, but they were just sitting in their places behind the bar. Jin figured that they must not lock the bottles up. That's a great idea, he thought, grabbing the bottle of whiskey and setting on top of the bar.
Ling walked into the car, seeing Jin pour himself another drink. He poured enough to fill the bottom of the glass and immediately downed it. He slammed the glass back down on the bar, quickly pouring himself another.
She came up and sat beside him, grabbing the bottle. She frowned when she glanced at the label.
"You don't like whiskey?" Jin asked.
"Not my style. I'm a vodka girl." She quickly bit back.
Jin had poured a bigger amount than the last glass, and brought it up to his mouth, but stopped. He was trying to think of something witty to say. Nothing was coming to mind.
"Meh." He said.
He began to drink again, finishing the near half-glass of whiskey in one go. Even to most seasoned drinkers, this wasn't easy. In fact, it was a sign of stupidity or desperation. Or both.
Jin slammed the glass down again, Ling noticing a small crack forming at the base of the glass. Jin reached out for the bottle, but Ling grabbed it first, sliding the bottle to the other end of the bar. Jin looked at her, slightly disappointed, and slightly pissed.
"Why did you do that?" he asked.
"You've had enough."
"I'll tell you when I've had enough."
"Don't get all macho on me, Jin. Instead of drinking yourself into a stupor, why don't you work with me? I brought you hear for a reason, don't you get that?" she said.
"Don't push me." Jin said, cold. "I've been through enough shit tonight to get pushed around by a woman who decided to fuck me, leave me, which in turn forced me to betray one of my best friends." Jin said, nearly yelling.
Ling slapped him. They were both pissed. The slap forced Jin's face to turn to the side, something he didn't intend. She had gotten much stronger. His head spun from the blow.
"I loved you. I still love you. I realize that I slept with you and then vanished, but that's something I'm willing to live with. And I'm sorry about Hwoarang. I plan on talking to him once I see him and get the chance. So don't take your goddamn anger out on me!"
Jin didn't respond. He just stood there, the same cold, angered expression on his face.
"Now I'm going over the mission data in about fifteen minutes. You can sit here and drink yourself silly until then. But if you keep this attitude up, I'll have one of my guys drag you into the other car, and tie you up so we can go over everything. Understood?" she said.
"Fine. Now get out." He said, getting up to fetch the bottle of whiskey.
Ling pushed past him, quickly leaving the car.
4:36:58 – Hwoarang's ears buzzed. The first thing he was aware of was the humming noise coming from all around him. Then the pain from his head came about. It hurt like hell. He opened his eyes and yawned. His ears popped.
"Ah." He groaned.
The room was dark. He turned over onto his stomach, his hands feeling their way along the floor. The rug was rough. It felt cheap, for looks probably.
He let out a sharp sigh as he began to stand up, painfully getting on his hands and knees. He quickly pushed himself up into a kneeling position, his spine cracking in the process. He had been in lying in an awkward position for too long.
Hwoarang felt like he was drunk. The room felt like it was swaying. He rubbed his face, when the lights suddenly came on. He looked in front of him, seeing an off-white colored wall. The door to the room opened behind him, and he quickly turned around to face the door. Instead of seeing an opening door, he was met a foot to the face.
Hwoarang flew back to the ground, the shock of the blow not connecting, he stood right back up to see Mabinko stalk up to him and punch him hard in the stomach, forcing him to slide against the wall back down to the floor. He groaned as he lay back onto his side.
"You better be listening." Mabinko said.
Hwoarang grabbed his side.
"Go ahead and kill me, I don't know anything." Hwoarang hissed.
Amber walked in behind Mabinko. They both blocked the door, crowding the small room.
"I'm not killing you yet." Mabinko said.
Hwoarang eyed him, wondering exactly what he had planned.
"What do you know about internet server number 42B1?" Mabinko asked.
Hwoarang was confused.
"Huh?" he said.
"Internet server number 42B1, do you know where it is?" Mabinko asked again.
"How the hell should I know that?"
"Good," Mabinko said, "it's so nice to see you completely clueless for once."
Hwoarang scoffed. "Fuck you." He said.
"You're going to help me get a hold of that server." Mabinko said.
Hwoarang laughed, "You've got to be kidding."
"The server is in a hotel, the Holiday Inn just off of I-80 in central Iowa. It's waterproof, and it is hidden inside a small secret room inside the hotel." Mabinko said.
Central Iowa? Hwoarang wondered what the hell was so important about a secret Internet server that Mabinko felt the need to force him to get it for him. He really didn't understand. But maybe, if he complied, it would give him a chance to break away and figure something out. Provided Mabinko didn't kill him first.
"What if I refuse?" Hwoarang asked.
Mabinko smiled. He was obviously pleased by this question.
"Then I will have my men kill your precious Ling." He said, his voice oozing with malice.
4:41:23 – Victoria Glendale pressed the pedal down even closer to the floor. She had just gotten a call at CTU about twenty minutes ago about a situation up at Rave Motion Pictures.
She knew about Jin being there, and that he was in custody. But what didn't make sense was what happened on Jin's path to downtown police headquarters, which is what Glendale asked for so she could pick Jin up and take over that part of the investigation.
She could see the lights of the police and FBI in the distance of Galena Rd, or Route 29, whichever you wanted to call it. (Which wasn't too far from the apartment complex Alex had just left minutes earlier.) The paddy wagon was sitting in a ditch near the river.
Her phone rang.
"Glendale." She said.
"It's me. Are you secure?" Urahara said.
"Yeah. Go ahead." She responded.
"Michael Stanson's dead. He was killed after arriving at an apartment building on Galena. He was trying to help Hwoarang."
She sighed. "Damn. I'm on Galena now. There was a problem with getting Jin downtown." She said.
"I know. I activated a tracker that was planted on him months ago. He's moving at steady speed to what I believe is a final destination of Chicago. God only knows if it's willingly." Urahara said.
Glendale pulled over to the side of the road. She was maybe two hundred feet from the rest of the units on the scene.
"Jin is not in Peoria?" she asked, confused, but concerned.
"No. Based on direction of travel and speed, he's got to be on a train." Urahara said.
"So what do you suggest we do? Because he obviously got help from somebody." Glendale said.
"I'm not sure. But at this rate, I've been talking to my bosses and I came up with our only plan of action."
"Which is?" she asked.
"Going to Chicago. We get to Union Station, which is probably where the train is stopping at. We can start a search from there." He said.
"Well, if you're going there, I'm going with you." She said.
"That's why I was calling to begin with. I will need somebody to introduce me to the CTU officials up there." Urahara said.
"Well, let me track this lead down on Officer Blane. We might be able to figure out what happen to Jin that way. It will help to know if he's just wandering around or if somebody is actually forcing him to do things up there." She said.
"I agree. We can meet up at the Greater Peoria Regional Airport. I'll flag a plane and get a flight plan down." He said.
"Good. I'll be there within the next thirty minutes. If I'm any longer I'll let you know." She said, hanging up.
She sighed. She didn't understand exactly what all was going on. With a hydrogen bomb on the loose in the region, she felt that all the activity that was going on was too small, even if it was nearly five in the morning.
She got out of the car, and began to walk over to the small crowding of agents and police surrounding the paddy wagon.
4:46:11 – Hwoarang wasn't sure what he could do. He didn't know the area. It had taken him about five minutes after Mabinko approached him to realize all he could do was wait.
He had been sitting up against the wall since then. He brought his legs up, resting his arms on his knees. All he could do was sit and plan. Which he did, running through every scenario he could imagine.
There was the reckless move of just busting out of the room, hopefully subduing the first guard he came across, taking their gun and overtaking the plane without bringing it down. It was the only way to start off his plan of escape.
Frustrated, he sighed and slid down, leaning over onto his side, still up against the wall. He lightly banged his head against the floor. The floor beneath him clanged hollow, which wasn't normal.
Not exactly sure he heard what he heard, he knocked on the floor in front of him. It was solid. Still confused, he raised his head (while still in the same position, his arm stretched out in front of him, roughly one inch above the floor), and hit the floor a little bit harder. It clanged hollow again. There was something there.
Hwoarang sat up, looking at that section of floor, and started to feel around the carpet. He came across two small slits in the carpet, which when he tried to pick at, revealed a deep crevice. It was a door. He tried to pull back the carpet, which gave in easily. Underneath was a latch, which was labeled "Luggage Deck".
Hwoarang smiled. Maybe there was an easier way to get out of here.
The door to the room unlocked, and in a panic, Hwoarang laid down and closed his eyes, pretending he was unconscious.
Amber walked through the door, carrying a syringe filled with a near transparent liquid in it. She quietly closed the door after walking in, and quickly knelt down next to Hwoarang. She brought the tip of the needle closer to Hwoarang's next when he suddenly opened his eyes and stared at her. She gasped, giving him enough time to push the needle away from him. He then used a free hand to grab her by the next, and used the momentum to stand up and shove her against the wall. She struggled to free the hand holding the syringe, but it was clamped to the wall by Hwoarang's other hand. It wasn't going anywhere.
She tried to let out a small yelp, but the pressure on her neck was nearly cutting off any air, which in turn, cut off her ability to scream. Hwoarang looked at her with a cold, psychotic stare. She was horrified that he would crush her larynx with his hand.
"If you scream, you will die. I am going to let you breathe. Do you understand me?" He muttered.
His grip on her neck loosened a little bit, but it was just enough to let her breathe again.
"Y-y-yes." Her voice shakily answered.
"Good. Now, what is in the syringe?" he asked.
"A sedative. It's mild. I'm supposed to keep you unconscious, but lucid. Asleep." She said.
"Drop the syringe from you hand, and onto the floor." He said.
Amber did as she was asked. The needle dropped from her hand and bounced onto the floor next to Hwoarang's shoe.
"Is everything Mabinko said true? What's on the server?" he asked.
"Yes. We're landing in Iowa in roughly an hour. I'm not sure what's on the server, but Mabinko knows. He's been talking to another. A Korean, like you." She said, her voice still shaking slightly.
"Ko." he said, pausing. "Good. Does Mabinko know where the server is in the hotel?"
"No. At least I don't think so." She said.
Hwoarang didn't speak for a moment, the information processing. Then suddenly he head-butted her, knocking her unconscious. He held her and softly laid her onto the floor. He grabbed the syringe and pushed in the bottom of it, the liquid shooting out onto the floor.
He turned around and uncovered the hatch to the luggage area of the plane. The lock didn't look too complex. There was a red handle that sat in the lock position in one corner, imprinted into the door. A turn of about forty-five degrees would unlock it. There was a larger handle, in the shape of a small cube, also imprinted into the door. A wide arc held the cube in place, a red bar coloring the rest of the arc.
Hwoarang pulled the lock open, and then moved the cube from one side of the arc to the other, the door releasing a small hiss as it opened. He looked inside, checking for anybody that might be able to surprise him. Satisfied, he jumped inside, closing the door afterwards.
4:51:20 – Jin walked into the seating car he had left previously. The car was completely empty of occupants, except for Ling, and three other men who sat in random positions throughout the car. One sat in the front of the car, another in the rear, and the last one near Ling.
He walked over to her and sat directly across from her. She let out a deep breath, which almost sounded like a sigh of relief to him.
"I was almost about to send somebody in to get you." She said.
He crossed his legs, trying to act suave enough to counter her appearance.
"It's not necessary. I just didn't want to look unprofessional. So, tell me what you'd like me to do." He said, trying to be as cold and uncaring as possible.
Ling was thrown off by his line, but not completely. She really didn't see it coming, but she could see through it. He was unhappy with it all. But he was willing to look past it for the time and push forward for the greater good. She almost wanted to smile at him, but didn't in order to hide her weakness.
"We want you to break into the Mishima Zaibatsu Headquarters in Chicago. We believe that there's a lead to the bomb inside the corporate records located on the hard drive of the CEO there. He's been there all night." Ling said.
Jin didn't respond. The look between them was like a game of poker, two people, both with major weaknesses for each other, not showing emotion because they both wanted to be on top and in control. It was only a matter of who would give in first.
"Fine. But I want something in return." He said.
Ling didn't even blink.
"What would that be?" she asked.
"I want my identity to be erased. I want a new identity that will be kept classified top secret. I want to be relocated to a destination of my choosing. I want to have no contact with people from my previous life." He said.
Ling swallowed hard, her face still nearly expressionless.
"Deal." She said after a pause.
"Good. Let's get down to business." Jin said.
4:55:55 – Hwoarang had stealthily sneaked through the bottom floor of the plane. Granted, it was small, seeing as it only stored luggage.
The floor was made up of four big plastic crates, complete with zipper doors. There were two small little halls that separated them, leaving one crate on each side if somebody were to want to look through them. On the far end from where Hwoarang entered was a small staircase with a door at the top of the stairs. At the other end was a closed door that led into a slightly bigger room, made up completely of avionics equipment and the wiring to the plane. When he first saw the room moments ago, a smile had come to his face. He had a plan.
Hwoarang walked into the room, quickly referring back to his training in the army. He had taken the time to understand how a plane worked. Yeah it was required, but his curiosity is what drove him. He could never really understand why completely, but now he was thankful he did.
He quickly found the one box on the wall he needed, and moved to it. He opened up the door and noticed a complicated, entangled mess of wires of many different colors. He took a deep breath and began to look around the floor, searching for a toolbox. He found one conveniently placed by the door to the room. He opened it up and found the sort of tool he was looking for on top: a box cutter. He grabbed it and walked back over to the box.
He quickly organized himself and figured out what wire did what, seeing labels etched into the metal next to each wire. He found the one labeled "Fuel Control" and cut it. He then looked for the next wire he needed, which would disperse the fuel from the plane.
Hwoarang thought about how having escaped to a different part of the plane would endanger Ling's life. But after her earlier stunt with Jin, he almost didn't care anymore. He wanted off the plane, and damn it, he was getting off.
He was going to force the plane to the ground.
4:59:57…
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