Disclaimer: No, Tekken does not belong to me! XP
A/n: so…In order to follow the plan I have laid out for this story…I couldn't update sooner…sorry…
But this chapter is pretty lengthy..so I hope it makes up for that!
I'm not sure if I will be able to update daily anymore… :(
I haven't had much of a chance to write this past week so all the chapters I had written in advance were…used up! O_O
Now I have to write one every single night! o_O
Unexpected Allies
"We what?" Jin said incredulously. He was talking to Jaez on the phone. Julia was watching him while she ate. Jin was toying with the food on his plate when suddenly he dropped his fork.
"Jin. What is it?" Julia asked with worry. Jin held up a hand while he listened to Jaez finish.
"Um…yeah…send it to me," he got up and left the dining room. Julia blinked several times and then stared after him.
"Jin!" she called out, but he had already taken off up the stairs.
"What was that all about?" Verity said with a frown while sitting at her usual place across the table from Julia.
"I don't know. But apparently Jaez has some important news," Julia looked back at her plate.
"What do you think it might be?" Verity questioned.
"I have absolutely no idea, but I hope that it's good news."
After a few minutes Jin came back to the kitchen with the phone held to his ear with one hand, and a laptop in his other hand.
"No. I didn't get it. Send it again, the signal must be pretty weak down there." Jin sat back down and put the laptop down on the table. He pushed his plate away and then moved the laptop to take its place.
"Did you send it Jaez?" he asked again, "No..I…wait…yeah…I got it."
Julia pushed her chair over until she was next to Jin, who was sitting at the head of the table. She looked over his shoulder and watched an image appear.
"Oh my God. What is that?" she gasped.
"Holy shit!" Verity cursed, "That thing is huge!"
"Yeah…I'll try…but it's gonna be tough. I don't think they'll take help from demons very lightly," Jin spoke into the phone, "Yeah. I'll have Lars send it out to all of the Tekken Force troops. At least we won't take them out…hm…yeah…I'll call you back later." He hung up the phone and took a deep breath.
"Jin, what on Earth is that?" Julia whispered fearfully.
"A soldier," Jin looked at Julia, "A specially trained soldier from Hell. Part of a highly skilled force known as the Royal Guard."
"They have a royal guard?" Julia said in astonishment. She put her hand to her mouth.
"Yeah. They do," Jin sighed.
"That's horrible! They are going to kill us all!" Verity said, stunned as she saw the terrifying image of the standing demon.
"No. They're not," Jin looked at Julia and Verity, "They can't. Doing so would go against their orders."
"Against their orders?" Julia's eyes widened, "What orders?"
"Yeah…what orders?" Verity agreed.
Jin turned to look back at the image, "Jaez' orders."
"Huh?" Verity was perplexed.
"Jaez' orders?" Julia looked even more confused than ever, "Are you trying to say that Jaez is ordering these soldiers?"
"That bitch! She was playing us for fools the whole time wasn't she?" Verity was appalled, "She's really working for those brutes isn't she?"
Jin turned to her with an angry look on his face, "No. She isn't."
"Verity! How could you say that?!" Julia was in shock.
"Well…here you are telling me that Reaper is ordering around a bunch of highly trained… 'military' demon soldiers, who are probably going to join the fight against humanity, and you're trying to make me believe that she's on our side?"
"They are the Royal Guard. They have to obey Jaez," Jin paused, "And they have to obey …me."
Verity stared, "Wwwhy??"
"Because Jaez and I apparently make up the remnants of the Royal line," Jin sighed.
"So…you have…another…army…that will follow your every command?" Julia asked softly.
He turned back to Julia, "Yes. Apparently I do," Jin shook his head, "I still can't believe it."
Verity stood there feeling rather awkward, "Um…sorry that I…"
"Don't worry about it Verity," Jin stopped her from finishing her sentence, "I know it seems rather…unbelievable." he smirked, "At last that accursed demon is good for something."
----Bullshit! I can't believe that those damned demons are heeding HER every whim! the demon shouted at Jin, who flinched slightly, They can't just decide who to obey! They are supposed to OBEY ME!
"Jin. Are you okay?" Julia had noticed that he had suddenly tensed, and suspected that Devil was bothering him again.
"I'm fine. I have to go to the Zaibatsu and set up a meeting with the head of all countries involved with the counterattack," he stood up, grabbed his laptop, and then quickly finished his drink, "I'll be back in a few hours."
Julia stood up also, "What for?"
Jin gazed back at Julia, "I need to somehow get all countries to agree to NOT attack the Royal Guard. Jaez is going to be sending them out to round up the other demons. They will be especially helpful when dealing with the Endowed. They're tricky bastards and don't hesitate to attack with their extra abilities. Maybe…if I can get the humans to join forces with the Guard, our troubles could come to an end much sooner than we had all anticipated."
"Then I'm going with you," she said firmly.
Jin's eyes narrowed, "What?…No…you don't need to come."
She walked up to him, "But I want to Jin."
Jin bit his lip with a look on his face that showed his desire for her to stay home, but Julia was giving him a pleading expression and he couldn't say no again, "Alright, you can come. But don't expect this little meeting to stay civilized." He turned to Verity, "Do you want to come too?"
Verity nodded quickly, "Of course! I'm not going to stay here to become utterly bored out of my mind."
A few hours later, Jin, Julia, and Verity were standing outside a massive conference room of the Mishima Zaibatsu. They were waiting silently, watching as several people flitted in and out of it. Jin, simply stood there next to Julia doing nothing but staring absentmindedly out of the nearby window. Again, Julia was toying with the silver chain around her neck. Verity, having no necklace to mess with, was constantly readjusting the plastic-covered id card that was pinned to her shirt. As the number of people filing out of the room began to decrease, the number of people going into the room began to rise.
Jin looked at Julia, who had once again shifted her weight to her other leg, "Are you sure you don't want to go ahead and go in? We could go sit down. We don't have to wait for Lars to arrive. He can find us once he gets here."
"No. I'm okay," Julia gave him a small smile as she put a hand on her lower back to more easily support the weight of her stomach, "It's just that the babies seem a little restless right now."
He smiled back, "Are you sure you want to wait?"
"Yes Jin," she caught sight of someone behind him and nodded in his direction, "He's right there so I think I can wait."
Jin turned around, "Ah…Lars. I was beginning to think you weren't going to make it," he reached out to shake his hand.
Lars bowed his head slightly before grasping Jin's hand, "Sorry for the delay. I got caught up in making sure the photograph was distributed amongst the troops." He turned to Julia and Verity and bowed to them, "Good evening, ladies."
Julia smiled, "Good evening, Lars."
Verity answered with a much less formal greeting, "Hey Lars."
He faced Jin again, "I heard that the conference is about to start," he gestured toward the door, "Shall we?"
"Ladies first," Jin said with a smile. Verity stepped forward while Lars held the door open. Jin put an arm around Julia's shoulder as he walked in beside her. Lars followed. They found their appointed seats and the controversial discussion began.
Over an hour later, the debate still continued, and very little progress had been made on behalf of Jin's appeal. Everyone was too traumatized by the mere mention of demons to think over how this could be helpful to everyone.
The ambassador to a prominent European country had the floor, "NO! How can you possibly believe that these demons will actually aid us! They are demons for Chrissake! They no little more than war and annihilation! We cannot possibly think that allying ourselves with those creatures will remedy our situation! There is no doubt in my mind that the moment the first waves' demons are cleared out, this Royal Guard will attempt to finish what they began! We cannot believe that their intentions are good! Good? I don't believe that those demons know the meaning of that word!" he turned to address Jin and Lars, "Your proposal is preposterous! What makes you so sure that they will not turn on us the moment the other demons are taken care of?!" he spat at them.
Jin jaw tightened before he answered, "We can trust them because they will not disobey their mistress' orders. It goes against their code of duty." he saw everyone's aghast looks, "Yes, ladies and gentlemen they do have a code. They are an entirely separate civilization, they are not as bestial as they were originally thought to be."
Lars, who was sitting to Jin's right, spoke in the attempt to back his nephew up, "They will not attack humans, because their mistress will not allow them to. We must set aside the prejudices our race has against theirs and take up the demons' assistance. How else are we supposed to stop their onslaught? If we do not accept their help, what hope do we have of putting an end to their massacring ways?"
Another ambassador stood up and interjected, "How can you be so sure that their mistress will not have a change of heart? How can you be so sure that she will not want to enslave our world with the aid of this Royal Guard?" he said spitefully and then sat back down.
Lars faced Jin, who had a troubled look on his face, and whispered, "What are we supposed to tell them? Should we reveal to them the truth?"
"I don't know if they will regard the truth as…well…truth," Jin replied softly.
Julia, who was sitting on Jin's other side, decided it was time for her to give some input, "We're going to have to, Jin. Otherwise they will not consider anything else to be credible enough evidence to accept our proposal."
"But nobody knows about Jan-Izumi. They may think that we're just making her up to make it seem like a good idea," Jin countered.
"Jin is right," Lars looked at Julia, "These people are practically trained to search for deceit of any kind in hot-topic conferences like these. Nobody will believe that Jin has a sister."
She frowned, "Tell them anyway. If they don't believe us…do we have a way to get a hold of Jan-Izumi so that we can maybe get her to tell them herself that neither she nor the Guard pose a threat?"
Jin glanced at Lars, "Julia's right. What do we lose by telling them the truth? We might as well elaborate as much as possible."
"And if they don't believe us…then we get a hold of Jan-Izumi?" Lars questioned.
Jin nodded, "Yeah. Pretty much. Let's see what they have to say," he took a deep breath, stood up, and raised his voice, "We can trust their intentions because I know their mistress."
"You took your time in formulating an answer, Mishima," the ambassador who had brought up the topic of the mistress' intentions said, "You say you know her. How long have you known her? How long have you known her to be absolutely positive of what she is like?"
"Long enough," Jin answered simply and then after a short pause added, "She is my sister."
Gasps could be heard throughout the room, "You have a sister?" could be heard repeated numerous times.
"Yes. Her name is Jan-Izumi, and I assure you that she is no traitor to our world. This is our home, we will not sit and watch it be destroyed," he ended fiercely.
For several minutes the room had fallen silent. The silence, however, was broken as a third ambassador decided to pose another question, "Are you sure…absolutely sure…that her allegiance lies with us? We all know that you Mishimas never seem to agree with each other."
Jin laughed once, "Yes. I know it seems that way, but rest assured, Jan-Izumi will not betray us."
Still, the people assembled said nothing. Julia and Verity looked at each other quickly and then up at Jin and Lars.
Lars looked around at the troubled faces of the ambassadors present, and the ones who were watching the conference via a live satellite feed, he raised his voice, "Perhaps you are in need of some time to consider the proposal, ambassadors?"
Several of them nodded. Jin glanced at Lars and then addressed the ambassadors, "Very well. I know it will seem like a very short time, but if we could have your answers tomorrow morning, my sister could get to rounding up the demons that much more quickly."
People began to pick up their belongings and then silently they left the massive conference room. Jin, Julia, Lars, and Verity stayed put until everyone had left, before they, too, departed.
The following morning everyone had returned to the conference room, and the live feeds were running again. After considering their options all night, nearly all of the ambassadors had agreed to the Royal Guard Proposal. The photo of the Royal Guard was circulated and he race for the hunt of the malevolent demons was now on.
Next Chapter: "Round Them Up"
