JamiThanks for the birthday wishes! Yeah, it was last … Wednesday that I turned 22! And not only that, but I got a job, an industry night and made some good connections with the people in the graphic design industry, and a contract position in the following two days! So busy, but alas, I shall find time to write!
VammyAsk and ye shall receive. The chick fight begins here, but it's not over yet. This is by far one of the longest chapters I've ever written in such a short amount of time (2 days) but I had too many ideas to get out at once, and lots of action sequences. So, enjoy!
E-Z B: It's hard to include too many of the lesser known street fighters without clogging up the cast. But since T. Hawk is already set up for the final battle, I'll see how many more I can squeeze in. After all, if everyone's gonna be facing Bison at the end, they'll need a lot of street fighters to take him down. I'm also planning a nice little twist at the very end. Those of you who've played Super Street Fighter II Turbo and made it to Akuma might probably know what might happen …
XXXXX
Kenny had finally done it. He'd managed to sneak away from Cranky's side, and thank goodness for that, too. He had no idea how long he could stand Cranky's emotional complex. He'd speak angrily to Kenny, like he'd done something wrong, but the moment he'd move away to try and give him some space, Cranky would yell even louder and demand that he come back because with Shadowlaw guards running rampant all over the place, who knew what kind of trouble Kenny could get into?
The youth decided that he'd had enough and simply walked off, leaving Cranky back at the arena while he wasn't looking. Kenny knew exactly where he was headed – the competitors' quarters. Cammy had just come out from her match and he wanted to go visit her in the recovery compound and congratulate her on her victory. Kenny would've asked his brother to come, but Cranky more probably still angry at her and besides, his tagging along would've defeated the whole purpose of Kenny's trip.
His shoed feet tapped rapidly on the floor as he dashed through the corridors of the compound, the VIP pass around his neck bobbing with every step. The urgency in his steps was due more to putting some distance between him and Cranky in the short time he wouldn't notice Kenny's disappearance as opposed to reaching Cammy quicker. The dome was huge, and it wouldn't have made much of a difference whether he walked or ran part way as far as saving time went.
Someone stepped into his path. Kenny struggled to stop but his momentum overpowered him, sending him crashing into the stranger. The blonde man that he'd crashed into was thrown off balance, whereas Kenny bounced off him and landed on his rear on the floor.
"Ouch, for fuck sakes!" he cried, gripping his face.
"Geez, I'm so sorry, buddy," the man said, offering a hand to pull Kenny to his feet.
The youth removed his hand from his face and looked up, recognizing the face instantly. Kenny scrambled backwards and back onto his feet, now suddenly wishing he hadn't left Cranky's side. He widened his stance and brought up his fists, ready to do battle.
"You don't fool me," Kenny said bravely. "You don't think I recognize you? You're that guy that ambushed Guile and me and made us crash the fucking car!"
"Kenny, is it?" the man asked. "I'm Wagner, Guile's son." He put his hands up to show he meant know harm, but the stubborn teen wasn't believing any of it. "Relax, I'm not here to hurt you."
"Could've fooled me," Kenny replied sharply, still gripping his nose in pain.
"I'm looking for Cammy. I hear she's in danger and I want to make sure she's alright."
"I'm not showing you to anyone!"
"Look, I was under the control of Bison and Shadowlaw," Wagner explained, after sighing in frustration. "I had no idea what I was doing. You should know that. We've met before, back at the prison cells. We tried to escape together. You remember, right?"
"Yeah, I remember," Kenny replied. "But … you're okay now? And I mean like, seriously okay. You're not gonna go all Shadowlaw on me again?"
"Scout's honor," Wagner said, raising his hand.
Kenny shrugged. "Well I guess Cammy could probably kick your ass if you tried anything on her," he said. "Alright, I'll bring you to her. I was actually on my way down to the recovery quarters."
"Recovery quarters?" Wagner's eyes went wide in alarm. "Is she okay?"
"She's just come out from a match," Kenny explained. "I don't know how she's doing, but whatever happened, Cammy won."
"She's not too hurt, is she? God, I should've been there …"
"It's a fucking tournament," Kenny said. "She knew she was going to get hurt. Cammy can take care of herself so don't worry about it."
Wagner raised his eyebrows at the language the teen used. He was around the same age Wagner was when Guile had him taken off the streets and into his care, and probably equally rude and disrespectful. But Kenny was definitely more head strong than he was, more capable. Wagner could see it in the way he fell into a fighting stance the moment he recognized his face, remembering the threat Wagner once posed.
"It's good to see you're feeling better already," Wagner noted. "How's your back?"
"Oh, yeah, it's healing pretty nicely," Kenny replied. "It hurts to move sometimes, but lately with all the shit that's been happening, I haven't really noticed. Shadowlaw tried to have me killed, you know."
"Oh, really?"
"Yeah, they were gonna have me jump off a cliff, but Delta Red came in time. Okay, I think the recovery quarters are just around the corner and we should be there."
XXXXX
"How're your injuries healing up?" Ken asked excitedly, slapping Chun Li lightly on the shoulder as they headed from the recovery quarters over to the food stands. It was Ken's idea. He was starving as usual, not having eaten anything that day to train in preparation for his match. But now that he had taken out E. Honda, he was one step closer to Bison, though he doubted he would be facing him, as no doubt he'd have to get through Ryu first. Anyway, it was time to celebrate and what better way to do it than with some real Japanese grub? It had been awhile since he came to Japan after leaving as a teenager, and coming back only to pay respects to his dead Sensei and to participate in the Street Fighter tournaments.
Chun Li rubbed her shoulder lightly from Ken's slap. It was a friendly gesture but it stung, even for the strongest woman in the world. Didn't men know how to control their strength? God, those animals …
"I think you just made it worse," she said.
"Sorry," he apologized. "Hey, how about I treat you to some takoyaki?"
"Deep friend octopus balls?" Chun Li asked.
"Fried in batter with bacon and cheese!" Ken declared, raising his arm into the air with excitement. "Osaka delicacy, man! You'll love it."
"I dunno, Ken," Chun Li replied, patting her stomach. "I've got to watch my weight."
"What? No way. C'mon, how heavy are you?"
She scoffed at him. "You expect me to tell you? Haha, no way."
"I swear, there's just no trust in this world nowadays …"
"Shh!" Chun Li hushed, putting a finger to her lip. She threw an arm across Ken's chest and pushed him and herself to a wall, pressing their bodies against it. Suddenly, just a few feet down the hall, three armed Shadowlaw guards walked by, all of them toting heavy firearms. They marched in unison, heavy booted feet thumping on the ground as they walked. Instead of being merely strapped to their backs, the soldiers held what looked like automatic rifles in their hands in front of their bodies. The largest man, the most muscularly built, marched in front, standing a full head above his comrades, and he was uniformed differently compared to his peers. He wore a dark green vest over a black, body hugging T-shirt. The belt around his waist was loaded with rounds for his gun, while simultaneously holding up loose fitting army fatigues. The red beret on his head covered any hair he might've had, with only the tips of re-growing hair showing at the base of his skull. The other two soldiers were covered from head to toe in black armor and helmets with visors that covered their visages, making them look like some form of futuristic warriors.
Chun Li waited until she could no longer hear their footsteps before removing her finger from her mouth, and releasing Ken from the wall.
"What the hell is your problem?" Ken whispered, not wanting to attract attention.
"They're going to use those guns," she replied. "They're going to kill somebody."
"But who!" Ken asked. "There are tournament officials crawling all over the goddamned place. There's nobody here but spectators and participants. There's nobody for them to shoot!"
"Terrorists?"
"Tch," Ken said, rolling the thought off his back, "they ARE terrorists. Come on, let's just get out of here and grab some food." He took Chun Li by the elbow and tugged gently, but was surprised to find resistance. "What's the matter?"
Chun Li didn't say anything but her face said it all. She looked at him, her pink, glossy lips pressed into a straight line and shook her head slightly. Then she spoke. "I want to find out who they're after. I don't have a good feeling about this."
"Okay, fine, you win," Ken said, throwing his hands up in defeat. "We'll go after them, but I don't want us getting shot and killed. There are three of them, and two of us, plus they've got big ass guns. We may be the best street fighters in the circuit but we sure as hell can't take bullets very well."
"I'm not saying we intercept them," Chun Li said.
"Then why else would you go after them? To watch?"
"Perhaps I can get some information. Think about it. They're about to kill someone because whoever it is knows something Bison feels uncomfortable about them knowing. Or someone is a traitor. I just want to find out more and perhaps it could lead us to some other allies in the street fighter circuit."
"So you're going to watch. Aren't you just a lukewarm, fuzzy person to be around?"
"Be serious, Ken!" Chun Li demanded. "This is business!"
"Oh, nothing personal at all, I'm sure."
"We have to go after them before they get too far away," Chun Li said, grabbing Ken by the elbow. Ken groaned and followed her, the both of them trotting silently down the hall, trying to be as quiet as possible so the guards wouldn't catch they were being followed, and to be able to hear their footsteps. They twisted and turned through the winding corridors, straining their ears to follow the sounds of booted feet pounding against the tile.
"I think they went this way," Ken whispered to Chun Li, pointing left.
"No, they went this way!" she pointed right.
"Hey, I know my hearing and I'm telling you …"
"They went right!" she insisted. "Look at the dirt on the ground!"
"Oh ..." They guards were walking with such heavy footsteps that the dirt lodged in between the grooves of their soles had been loosened with the impact, forming a trail of grain and soil that wasn't obvious to the untrained eye, but Chun Li had spotted it quickly enough.
XXXXX
The directory signs hanging from the ceiling were obvious enough. Cammy was behind the next door on their left. Kenny went ahead first, testing the handle to see it was locked. Thankfully, it wasn't as it turned the whole way and he pushed against it, opening it up to reveal a mostly white room, not unlike the hospital ward he'd come from earlier that morning. Sitting comfortably on a massive bed, with bandages wrapped around her shoulder and half her face, Cammy turned away from the portable television set resting on a mobile stand at the side of her bed to the new visitor who just interrupted her from her couch-potato daze.
Upon seeing him, her soft features lit up into a bright smile, welcoming him into the room. "Kenny, it's so good to see you!" Cammy said. "Thanks for coming."
"Someone else wants to see you too," Kenny said. "Come on." He motioned for Wagner to enter the room. The moment he entered and walked right into Cammy's field of vision, she cried his name excitedly, and he half ran to her side, pulling her into a deep embrace.
"Oh my gosh, I missed you so much!" Cammy said, rubbing the back of her brother's neck affectionately.
"Take care of yourself, Cammy," Wagner pleaded, running his hand up and down her back. He was choking back tears of relief upon seeing that she was okay … sort of. "I want a sister to be there for me when I need her and you can't do that if you're dead."
"How did you find your way over here?" she asked.
"I came as soon as I could," he explained. "There was this weird lady who claimed she healed me. She called herself Rose."
"Who was she? How did she have the power to heal you? Shadowlaw's brainwashing technology is so …"
"I don't know," Wagner replied. He felt guilty for having to tell Cammy this. If Rose had been around when she needed help recovering from her own brainwashing experience under Shadowlaw, perhaps she could have avoided all the bullshit she'd put up with all her life. In Wagner's case, he was cured in an instant. Or at least, that's what it felt like for now.
"Anyway, I guess what matters is that you're okay. Kenny brought you here?"
"He showed me the way, yeah. I would've gotten lost otherwise. Good thing I ran into him when I did … literally. He was on his way to see you."
"Don't forget to thank him."
"Yeah Mom, I know."
Cammy slapped him lightly on the shoulder. "Wagner, there are things I'd like to discuss with him as well. Do you think I could have a minute with Kenny in private? We can catch up after that. I don't have a match for the rest of the day."
"Sure thing, sis. Just give me a call when you feel like hooking up."
"Yup."
Wagner turned and headed for the door, motioning for Kenny to go ahead and approach Cammy at her bedside. "She's all yours."
Kenny approached her slowly, realizing how strange the situation was. Cammy was lying in her bed, weak, and recovering from her injuries and instead of Cranky there by her side, supporting her the whole way, it was Kenny.
"Are you feeling okay?" he asked, unsure of what else he could've said.
"I am now," Cammy admitted, "after you brought Wagner here for me."
"I wasn't going to," Kenny said. "I wasn't sure if he was still under the influence of Shadowlaw's brainwashing. But he assured me that he was okay."
"I'm happy you did, so thank you very much."
Kenny shrugged. "It was the least I could do after you brought Cranky to me in Raccoon City."
Cranky … As much as Cammy didn't want to discuss it, she knew it was inevitable. After what happened this morning, leaving Cammy and Kenny to take care of the bill at the restaurant after violently storming out, much to the chagrin of the other patrons, an update was due.
"Is he still angry?"
"Oh hell yeah," Kenny nodded.
"It figures. I shouldn't have kept a secret like that from him for so long. God, I wish he would just speak to me, you know? Just tell me what's on his mind and everything."
"Trust me you wouldn't want that. I've been around him all afternoon and he's just being a dickhead to me."
"It's not your fault," Cammy insisted. "I shouldn't have dragged you into this. Cranky's right. I had no right involving you. I just wish he could forgive me."
"Cammy, how many times do I have to tell you it's not your fault? I'm the one who agreed to keep your secret for you, and in turn, I contributed willingly."
"You don't understand, Kenny. You're Cranky's brother, his responsibility, and the only family he has. I went behind his back and unintentionally turned you against him. That's why he's pissed – and the fact that I kept this secret from him for so long. Do you get what I'm saying?"
"He's depriving me of taking responsibility where I should take it."
"Our relationship problems should involve only the two of us, nobody else, let alone the teenage brother of …"
"After what I went through in Raccoon City, you have no, NO fucking right to pass me off as 'just another teenager' and I don't care about the ten year gap between us."
Cammy sighed. "But you're not listening."
"No, I just disagree."
"But if you'd just …"
"Now instead of pointing fingers at ourselves, why don't we figure out how to fix your relationship with him?"
"You … you want us to be together?" Was Kenny, the only person in the world Cranky considered family, approving of their relationship?
"Uh huh," he replied, nodding his head violently. "You're good for him. He spent the last nine years regretting my 'death' while I had no idea he existed. I don't know what he did to alleviate the pain …
"Yeah, like every woman that crossed his path and three bottles of Irish whiskey a night."
"…and I don't want to know."
Cammy bit her lip.
"All I know is that you were there for him while I was blissfully unaware, and you brought joy into his life. And I don't mean a quick fix here and there."
"Well …" Cammy smirked.
"Still don't wanna know! The point is you didn't just bring joy into his life, but meaning. And I want my brother to be with the woman who can do that for him."
Cammy's eyes went watered with his words. She felt her heart melt into a lukewarm liquid and sniffed.
Kenny looked alarmed. "A…are you okay? I'm sorry … was it something I said?" His eyes darted left and right, anywhere but directly at her. His hands grew sweaty and he began to stutter nervously. "Please don't cry," he begged.
She opened her arms and said, "Come give your Auntie Cammy a hug!"
XXXXX
Cranky glanced at his watch and frowned. Kenny had been gone for the last twenty-eight minutes. He said he'd only be making a trip to the washroom, but it didn't take that long now, did it? Eliza must've noticed something, because she was looking at Cranky with a concerned expression on her face.
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" he asked her.
Eliza shook her head. "He just went to the washroom," she explained.
"He's taking forever."
"Well he said he was feeling a little sick."
"Then maybe I should go check on him." Cranky got up to leave, but Eliza grabbed him by the arm, one hand on his wrist, the other around the elbow, blue eyes silently pleading with him. "I'm sure Kenny will be fine," she insisted. "Just sit down and enjoy the rest of the bouts, okay?" Cranky looked at her suspiciously. Eliza tore her eyes away from his green eyes and looked at her knees instead, subconsciously chewing on her lower lip.
"I spent my childhood conning and lying people out of money," Cranky said. "Don't think I don't know what a liar looks like."
"Please stay here," Eliza said, indirectly confirming her lie. "Kenny will be alright."
Cranky sat back down, put his hand over hers and looked directly at her eyes, disturbing Eliza greatly though she tried not to make eye contact with him. "Tell me where he is, Eliza."
"I … I can't, Cranky, I'm sorry," she whispered. "He made me promise not to say anything and I just can't betray that …"
"He's my kid brother," Cranky explained, playing on Eliza's motherly qualities. He was quite impressed with himself, still managing to think so quickly on his feet, playing on his victim's weaknesses to get what he wanted. "You know I don't want anything bad happening to him. And you took care of him once so I know you know how concerned I am. From one guardian to another, Eliza, please."
Eliza took a deep breath and let out a sigh. "He went to see Cammy."
Then Cranky got angry.
XXXXX
Guile was wheezing now with the effort he had exerted during his bout with Fei Long, an action star from Hong Kong. But he was unlike any other action star Guile ever encountered. Fei Long actually knew how to fight! With the exception of Ken Masters, Guile had never heard of any other famous fighter who actually fought outside of the ring. He had underestimated Fei Long at first, but quickly learned his lesson after the first few seconds of the fight.
The man moved like lighting, delivering kicks and punches with limbs moving so quickly, the move was over and Guile's body was hurting before he even knew what had happened. It was after those first few initial seconds when Guile knew what do to. He was always a cheap fighter and he knew it. But that was what his military straining had taught him to do. Set up the opponent to leap and him and right before the opponent's strike was to make contact, jump up and perform a powerful flipping back kick, a move that he nicknamed the "Flash Kick," and fittingly so. This was one of the most powerful moves in Guile's arsenal. Was quickly executed, his leg would swing in a wide backwards as he performed the back flip, and tear with through the opponent with its momentum.
Getting the opponent to leap at him, however, was the tricky part. To do so, Guile would throw projectile after projectile at Fei Long by pulling his arms back to gather the surrounding chi energy in his fists, and swing them forward, much like the pincers of an insect snapping around its prey. Only instead of grabbing his opponent who would be standing outside grappling distance, twin blades of chi, gathered in his fists, would be sent spiraling towards Fei Long at the speed of sound, a move called the "sonic boom." They were corny names, he was aware, because they just didn't sound as cool as Ken or Ryu's, like their "hadouken" or "shoryuken" which were originally in Japanese, but he was also sure those moves sounded equally ridiculous in their native languages.
Fei Long was quick, and was able to move fluidly between Guile's projectile chains. He dodged once, crouched under the next and jumped over the third. Guile was lucky that Fei Long decided to jump after the last one, allowing him to launch himself into a flash kick, kicking his opponent out of the air. Fei Long somersaulted backwards and moved in again, the pattern repeating itself.
"Keep fighting this predictably and it will spell the end of you," he advised, closing in the distance between him and Guile again.
"Quit talking and start fighting like a man," Guile spat back.
Fei Long smirked and this time, crouched under Guile's third sonic boom. As the Air Force veteran jumped into another Flash Kick, Fei Long kept low until Guile was well above his head and flew into his own anti-aerial move, kicking his leg up in a vicious axe kick while he spun his body around rapidly. The chi surrounding his leg was so intense that in addition to kicking Guile with the force of a minor explosion, it charred his skin as well.
Guile fell to the tarp in a heap of pain, trying his best to ignore the screaming his skin and bones were doing. His brain was being overpowered by the intense agony, and his vision was weakening as a result, but he refused to be taken down by one simple move after he'd successfully connected so many attacks.
"And the Air Force veteran is down for the count, ladies and gentlemen," the announcer cried. The words ran in Guile's ears like an alarm. He had to get up now or he'd lose the match.
"Come on, American," Fei Long taunted, "I thought your country had more to instill in its warriors than this. I was expecting a challenge!"
"You'll get your challenge!" Guile spat, throwing a devastating uppercut into Fei Long's chin when he'd come close enough to be hit. Guile's fist forced Fei Long to clamp shut on the tip of his tongue, causing the man to start spitting blood. "If my predictability is my downfall, then your overconfidence is yours!" Guile said, standing victoriously over his fallen opponent, who was now squatting on the ground, one hand over his mouth, the other nursing his jaw. Guile yelled off to the sides. "Get a medic in here or he'll bleed himself unconscious … or worse."
Guile didn't even wait for Fei Long to forfeit the match. He knew that if his opponent decided to continue the fight, there was no way he could finish it, bleeding as badly as he was. Guile stepped off the platform even while the announcer and the referees were trying to figure out if he was indeed the winner. But all logic told Guile that he was. He could've stayed to prove himself further by continuing the fight himself, but he wasn't going to have anyone die in his hands, at least not anyone who didn't deserve it.
Guile walked headed back to his quarters, swiping a towel from the air, thrown to him by the medics on his side of the ring. They surrounded him like a bunch of rabid fans, but he knew they weren't – he wasn't Ryu for crying out loud. No, instead of asking for autographs, the medics swarmed over him and sprayed him with water which only burned his skin, and attempted to rub some kind of traditional medicated oil on his wounds, which hurt even more.
"Ouch!" Guile cried, pulling his arm away from them. "Stop it! I'm fine! You're gonna kill me with that stuff!" But his protests fell upon deaf ears – or maybe the language barrier was the issue. He remembered Kenny translating to the police authorities for him yesterday. If it wasn't for him, Guile might have been hauled down to the police station trying to explain to the officials that he was a representative of the American military – in cuffs. Jeez, where was that kid when Guile needed him the most?
Desperate to get away from his tormentors, Guile broke into a full speed run, as fast as he could, putting as much distance as possible between him and the people who were apparently trying to heal him. They yelled after him, but hell, if they weren't going to listen to his cries of pain because they didn't understand his English, why in the world should he pretend to understand their Japanese? His body language had been a pretty good hint as to what he wanted but they ignored it. So he was going to ignore theirs.
Someone ahead was frantically walking around ahead of him, following a hallway perpendicular to the one Guile was running through. Even from this distance, Guile could tell who it was by the broad build and the red hair.
"Cranky?" he called out, his voice echoing through the empty corridors.
"Oh, Mr. Guile!" Cranky said, breathing a sigh of relief. Cranky was naturally slightly intimidated by Guile, being Cammy's adoptive father. But if he was nervous now, he didn't know it, instead appearing rather concerned and frantic to Guile, like a parent looking for a lost child. "Have you seen Kenny? I think he might be in the recovery quarters with Cammy but I'm not sure where it is. You're headed there, right, after your match?"
"No way in hell," Guile said, "after they tried rubbing that burning oil on me."
"Was it clear and smelled really harsh?"
Guile nodded.
"Chinese disinfectant oil," Cranky explained. "It stings, but it's good for cleaning wounds."
Guile grunted. "Maybe you could've told those guys to stop torturing me with their 'medicines'. So you're looking for Kenny, huh? Well the recovery quarters are over …"
BANG! A gunshot fired, echoing deafeningly in the empty halls.
"…there …"
XXXXX
The door suddenly burst open with such force it was ripped from its hinges. The minor explosion caught Kenny and Cammy off guard. They both choked and waved their hands in front of their faces, trying to clear the air directly beneath their noses. Through the fading smoke and falling debris stepped a woman, covered with an immaculately white lab coat, despite the dust cloud. A pair of spectacles was tucked into her breast pocket. She had silky, jet black hair tied into a bun at the back of her head, clear, pale skin and ruby lips which smiled wickedly as she laid eyes upon Cammy on the bed, in such a vulnerable state.
"W...who are …" Cammy asked, but was silenced quickly, as the lady covered the gap between her and Cammy faster than any normal human should have, delivered a hard slap with the back of her hand to Cammy's face.
Her head was thrown sideways in that instant. Cammy scrambled to gather her thoughts at who this woman was, and just why she might be so hostile towards her. But there was no time for her to make any sense of it, as she was struck again, this time with a fist, the punch sending her flying off the bed and onto to floor by Kenny's feet, bed sheets and all.
Kenny looked down at her, and back up at the assailant, a beautiful woman of the orient. She looked familiar to him …
"Get out of here," Cammy ordered, snapping him back into reality.
"Not without you," he said, bending down to lift her off the ground.
The mysterious woman intervened, seizing Kenny by the wrist, twisting it painfully behind his back. Kenny cried out in agony, the tears welling in his eyes. The woman put her heeled foot on his back, right where his scars were healing from the Shadow Technology extraction surgery and pushed him into the wall with her leg, digging her heel into his wound.
"Cammy, RUN!" he cried through sobs of pain.
"This isn't your fight, boy!" the woman hissed.
Cammy got to her feet, but remained crouched low to the ground. With one swift moment, she kicked both her legs out, pulling her body forward and parallel with the ground. She traveled in a straight line, spinning as she went, feet first, aiming for the woman's heels. "Cannon Drill!"
The woman threw off her lab coat revealing a dark uniform underneath, one that showed off her bare, shapely legs, but completely covered her upper body. There was a small, golden tie beneath her neck, on her chest. The uniform looked so familiar to Cammy, it didn't take her long to figure out where it came from. It was the very uniform that Bison clothed the Dolls in. Only this woman, whoever she was, had no hat, no matching blue stockings covering her legs, and a personality – something the Dolls were deprived off.
The woman fell into a defensive crouch, blocking Cammy's Cannon Drill. As Cammy landed and recovered from the move, scraping her thigh across the ground in the process, her assailant kicked her leg up into the air, and her whole body moved upwards with it. "Cannon Spike!" Her heeled feet connected with Cammy's jaw, nearly knocking the consciousness from her body. Cammy wasn't sure if she was just losing it from being battered around like that, but was this woman using her own fighting style against her?
She bent down and picked Cammy off the ground by the collar of her hospital gown. "This is for taking Vega away from me, the only man that ever meant anything to me in my life!" She punched Cammy across the face, making her spit blood.
"Who … the fuck are you?" Cammy asked, her voice thick with aggression.
The woman smiled. "Don't you recognize me?" she asked. "I helped work on you during the Doll Program. It's fitting that you're the only one who still fights. The twelve other useless girls had their memories wiped after the Pyscho Drive's initial destruction."
How dare this woman deny all the suffering Cammy went through? How big was her ego to the point where she expected Cammy to pull through, while the other ex-Dolls struggled to recover their lives, their friends, families, and their own selves? Just because she worked on Cammy and not the others?
"My name is Katarina Feng," she said, "Daughter of the greatest Shadowlaw scientist, Dr. Tai Su Feng."
"Feng?" Cammy asked, the name immediately clicking with her. But before she could say anything, she ate a back fist that connected twice, throwing her against the wall of the recovery ward. Katarina had Cammy's trademark spinning knuckle move. Where in the world did she learn to fight?
As Katarina moved in for the kill, Kenny dashed to intercept. He leapt off his feet, performing a mid-air somersault, catching Katarina by the neck between his heels. He flipped his body over again, never releasing her as she sailed through the air with him, smashing Katarina into the ground, cushioning his own fall with her body. Kenny landed, and jumped off, digging his heels into her chest.
Katarina may have appeared like a delicate China doll, but she was more durable than that. She picked herself off the floor and wiped the trail of blood flowing form her lip. "You got your chance to escape, boy!" She pulled her body back and crouched low. "Sniping Arrow!" Katarina launched her body through the air like a projectile, performing the fastest flying kick Kenny had ever seen. He tried to move out of the way, but her foot scraped his cheek while he moved, leaving a burning wound.
She'd missed, but just barely. While Katarina landed, Kenny performed a low roundhouse, nailing her in the knees, brought his foot back for a second strike to the midsection and for a third time across Katarina's face. She stumbled back, gripping her face, spat a wad of blood and jumped forward, hands bent into claws, ready to rip him limb from limb.
Katarina clawed his face, adding to the fresh cut on his cheek with three more. The dead layer of skin on his face was peeling off now, burning him like an open flame on bare skin. But in doing so, she had turned her back on the bigger threat, Cammy, who was trained not only in the deadly Shadowlaw arts, but now with Delta Red as well. She realized this as Kenny fell to the ground, managing just barely to hold himself up, noticing that though she was trying to catch her breath, it didn't take as much out of her as she expected, if she were to be facing Cammy. But the realization dawned on her few a few seconds too late as Cammy leapt on her back, putting Katarina in a sleeper hold.
"Go get Wagner!" Cammy ordered. "I'll keep her busy for the time being!"
Katarina screeched an awful cry, struggling to throw Cammy off her back before she could lose consciousness from the hold. Kenny nodded firmly and made a mad dash from the door, as fast as his back wound would allow him to move. The last thing he heard before making an exit were the grunts and cries of frustration and effort being exerted between the two women. He dashed past the broken door, stepping on it once, feeling the wood collide knock against the tiling beneath his feet. He rounded the corner and called out into the hallway, still clouded slightly with the dust lingering in the air.
"Wagner! Get in here, we need your …" The sight of Wagner's broken body greeted him, lying face down on the ground with a pool of blood forming beneath his head. Kenny bent down, place his hands on his broad shoulders and shook Wagner lightly. "Wake up, Wagner!" he cried. "Cammy's in trouble! You got to …"
Click!
Kenny looked up and found himself staring straight into the barrel of an automatic rifle. Behind the weapon was the biggest, meanest, most intimidating battle-scarred soldier he'd ever seen. It was the strange security guard Cranky noticed earlier that day. Kenny struggled to form some kind of logical sentence, trying at the same time to figure out just what the hell was going on when …
BANG!