Alright, you guys, this will be the third chapter in a row to have Cloak in it, but it's the first one since Chapter 14 to feature him without Logan, Nate, or their teammates. This one will introduce an OC who's a member of the Brazilian Assassins Guild and has a familial connection to a certain Jiu-Jitsu using troublemaker from SFV and her little brother from SFIII.

Robots in Rio!

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, is one of the most beautiful cities in the world, as well as one of the most festive. The streets were alive with vibrant colors, most notably the green, blue, and yellow, the colors of the country. The girls were also easy on the eyes and had a very heartwarming personality. These aspects made it one of the most appealing tourist towns. It was easy to see why anyone would want to live there for the tropical atmosphere as well. Perfect weather, nice people, and exotic animals were also the cherry on top.

Right now, there were a couple of the residents walking in a plaza carrying groceries. The younger one, a dark-skinned male with wild dreadlocks, a short-sleeve black shirt, a sleeveless hoodie, baggy pants, and sneakers, had a smile on his face. The girl, on the other hand, was more on the bored side. She had long wavy hair that reached to her back, a white, sleeveless top that exposed her midriff and lower back, long leather sleeves on her lower arms, a white short skirt, and long leather boots, the last two leaving her thick thighs exposed. She was very beautiful and had curves in all the right places.

The younger of the two looked behind him and saw that the woman was bored the whole way. "Hurry it up, will you, Michelle?" he said, trying to rush her.

"Well, pardon me, little cousin, but you know when I'm forced to do something I don't think is very fun, I'm not very motivated," she said. "I could've been with Laura looking for a fight, but NOOOOO! Grandpa sends the two of us to pick up groceries!"

"C'mon, it's not that bad. Besides, you know what Grandpa always said: 'The key to true discipline is to approach each task with equal parts enthusiasm and seriousness'."

"Yeah, but I don't think I would approach this one with either." Suddenly, Michelle looked to her right and saw Birdie about to get in a fight. His opponent? An equally beautiful girl who had half of her brown hair in cornrows while the other half flowed naturally. She had a light tan, a low-cut green shirt with the word 'Bonita!' in yellow showing the underside of her breasts and midriff, blue denim short shorts, and flip flops, thus showing off her long legs and thick thighs.

The boy was wondering why she stopped before they got to the stairs until he looked at the fight. "Oh no. Laura just HAD to get herself into this one." He also had a look at Michelle and saw that she was itching to get in on the action. "Michelle, don't you dare..."

"Here, hold these, Sean," she said, interrupting her cousin by passing her groceries to him. Laura saw her cousin approaching and greeted her with a high five. "I wonder if you found a good one here, cousin," she said. "He certainly looks like he can throw his own weight."

"Cousin!" Laura exclaimed with a smirk. "He can throw more than that around. Care to show him how the Matsuda girls do things?"

"It'd be my pleasure."

"If not for the hair, I'd swear I'm seeing double," Birdie said. He started by swinging his chain around while Michelle charged for him. He threw the chain to catch her, but she jumped up and did an aerial wheel kick to his face, which threw him off balance. Laura followed up with an elbow strike and chained into a headlock and arm grab.

"C'mon, big guy!" Michelle exclaimed. "Did I get myself worked up for this?" The comment made Birdie mad. He charged with a headbutt, forcing the Matsuda girls to dodge. He whipped around and grabbed Michelle with a chain, slammed her to one side, then slammed her to the other. As she recovered, Birdie headbutted her across the plaza before grabbing her with both chains and jump roping with her, just like with Logan before.

"C'mon, Michelle!" Sean yelled. "If you're going to fight, fight seriously!" At this, Laura let loose some electricity, something Birdie had no idea she could do. It blocked the chain that was heading for Michelle and shocked the heavyset Briton into stumbling back. Laura wove her hands through her loose hair, grabbed Birdie, spun him and herself into a wheel, and rolled to one end of the plaza, in the air, on the other end, and back to the ground multiple times before finishing with a headlock and flipping off of him. "How I keep forgetting about that 'Inazuma Spin Hold' of yours is beyond me, sis."

"Beats me," Laura said. "But let's get Michelle back to Grandpa's." Sean nodded as Laura picked their cousin up and carried her home, leaving her brother with the groceries for the rest of the trip.

A while later, Todd was shown walking with Pitch on his shoulder. Logan had told him about the festive atmosphere, which told him that he needed to lighten up a bit. He had to admit that Rio looked really great, just like his former rival had said. Logan also noted that a special type of Jiu-Jitsu was practiced here, along with Capoeira and Saikyo Style. Chun-Li told Cloak to stay away from that last one on account of Dan Hibiki being a total imbecile, which reminded Cloak of Marechiyo Omaeda, Soifon's former Lieutenant.

Todd's stomach growled, so he looked for a place to eat. He saw a Japanese restaurant and thought it was out of place. He thought nothing of it, though, since there were restaurants of different cultures everywhere. He entered the joint, not paying attention to the sign, and waited to be sat down. 'Wow. Talk about authentic,' he noted to himself as he looked around. I don't think I smelled this kind of cuisine since I last visited Karakura Town.' The hostess guided Todd to his seat, which was by the chef's demonstration spot.

As Todd sat down, a familiar face stepped out from behind the curtain. Overweight, wearing black robes, black hakama pants, a bun in his black hair, and a white chef's hat and matching apron, it was none other than Omaeda himself, now running a restaurant in Rio. 'Why is HE here?' Todd thought.

"Greetings," said the former Lieutenant. "Welcome to Omaeda's Authentic Japanese, the best restaurant in Rio. If it comes from Japan, we have it. I'll even make it for you in front of your eyes. Yes, ma'am?"

"Can I get Sweet 'n Sour Chicken?" a blonde woman asked.

"Yes, you may. Next?"

"I'll take the Calamari," said a man in a polo shirt.

"You got it. You sir?" Omaeda asked, not realizing he was pointing towards Todd.

"A Sushi platter please," said the Exonian.

"Coming right..." Todd smirked as Omaeda realized who was in his restaurant. "Uh, hey, Platinum. What's up? Check this out, ladies and gentlemen. An old buddy came to visit. Isn't that great?"

"I say feed him for free," said the guy in the polo shirt. The rest of the customers agreed.

"You guys got it. After all, the customer is always right." As Omaeda got to work, Todd was trying to figure out what happened. Last he knew, Omaeda was under Soifon's heel as her Lieutenant. It turns out that she and Logan never told him about that one.

After a while, Todd was stuffed full. He walked out of the restaurant, but Omaeda 'Flash Stepped' in front of him, surprising Todd that he could move that fast. "Do you mind telling me what the hell you're doing here?" Omaeda asked.

"I was going to ask the same thing," came the response from the off-worlder.

"Long story short, your friend Washburn and Captain Soifon are responsible for me running a Sushi joint."

"He never told me this."

"They conspired with the Soul Society to get my clan down to the Middle Class while Soifon's family takes the Omaeda Clan's rightful spot in the Higher Class. They even overpowered Central 46." What Omaeda forgot about was that Todd was no dummy. He knew Omaeda did something to tick Logan and Soifon off enough for the Assassin to interfere in the Soul Society's business again.

"Um...I'm not exactly here to enact 'vengeance' on Soul Society for something I've no part of or plan on getting myself involved in."

"Uh, right. What are you here for?"

"Vacation. And I plan on enjoying it, Omaeda. Do yourself a favor and don't ruin it." As Todd left, Omaeda stood crossing his arms, trying to think of a new way to get his revenge.

"I cannot believe that you got hurt by that overweight punk Birdie, Michelle!" said the Matsuda elder, banging his fan on the floor. Right now, she, as Laura and Sean predicted, was getting scolded for letting her guard down. "Don't you know better than to underestimate your opponent?"

"I'm sorry, Grandpa," she said. "He just looked so easy to beat."

"And it's that kind of cockiness that will get you killed one of these days. Just because you and Laura feel like you can defeat every opponent when you're together doesn't mean you should fight everyone in sight. I know you wish to test your strength and see how you stack up against your opponents, but you have to choose your battles more wisely. You were lucky Laura got you out of your jam. Otherwise, you could've been done for."

"Yes, Grandpa," Michelle responded, soaking in each word. She got to the rooftop and looked at the stars. 'I can't help it,' she thought. 'Fighting is what I like to do, no matter if it's for fun, for justice, or to protect someone. My family's important to me, so I fight for them. I love this city, so I battle anyone and anything that does her or her people a grave injustice. I love to fight, so I have fun with it.'

"Michelle?" Laura asked, getting the girl's attention. "What are you doing out on the roof?"

"Nothing."

"It's more than just nothing. Is it Grandpa's lecture?"

"Yeah, but I don't know what to do. He's been saying that I've been getting too reckless lately."

"Well, Birdie did grab you and used you for a jump rope." Laura saw that her cousin was not amused. "So, what's with the stargazing?" she asked.

"Well, I heard that sailors like the Assassin Edward Kenway would often use the stars to stay on a course. I wonder if they can point me to my destiny."

"Don't worry. If it worked for this Kenway fella, it can work for you. If the Assassins teach you about reading the stars, you should be able to get anywhere."

"Good point."

The next morning, Michelle got up early. After getting an early morning shower, she got dried off, put on a similar outfit to what she wore the previous day, along with a pair of Hidden Blades, before heading out the door. As much as she hated to, she decided to practice her stealth skills by blending in with the crowd. She knew that like this, she wouldn't arouse suspicion or have anyone think she was crazy, it was great practice without hiding in the bushes, and she was able to fool Laura, Sean, and even her grandfather with this tactic.

As it just so happened, though, Todd was walking around as well. He had to drink a very potent energy drink because he didn't have a hotel room to stay at. He underestimated the size of Rio and thought he'd be passing through. He was also keeping an eye out for Omaeda, especially after Logan explained the parts of the story that the fat bastard left out. He was about to take another sip of his drink when his eye caught sight of a particular crowd of people. He was mainly paying attention to the girl in the middle. She was blended in with the people she was with, so Todd couldn't get a good look at her.

When she got a good distance, he decided to tail her. What he didn't know was that the girl was training. He also didn't know that her senses were on high alert. She made a left and blended in with another crowd. Todd made a left a little early, though. He scrambled through the back alleys until he came across a decent sized area with a table, some practice dummies, and a pigeon coop. He was taking it all in, not noticing the figure jumping down on him until he was down on the ground with said figure pinning him down. "Alright, buddy, who are you and why are you following me?" the figure said, telling Todd that it was the girl.

"No reason other than this urge to know you," he answered. "The name's Todd Platinum. I'm...new here."

"Well, welcome to the neighborhood. I'm just your friendly little Assassin whose Bureau you stumbled upon."

"Sorry."

"That's my fault. Grandpa always said I was a bit reckless."

"Um, not that I don't enjoy being pinned down by a good-looking girl, but uh..."

"Whoops. My bad." She got off of Todd and started dusting him off. "Michelle Matsuda."

"'Matsuda'? As in the Matsuda Jiu-Jitsu?" The Assassin merely smirked at him and walked over to a part of the Bureau that was hidden. "Good thing you keep that out of sight."

"It's a weapons closet. What do you expect? I'm amazed you jumped over the gate."

"A few tricks I picked up over the years. What's that?"

"You act like you've never seen a crossbow before."

"I mean what are you doing with that?"

"Target practice. Walled-in environments do have an advantage," she said, taking aim at one of the dummies. She fired the crossbow, but barely nicked the dummy's shoulder. She tried again, but grazed its face. The third shot was a complete miss. "Maldito. Good thing I can still hit the broad side of a barn."

"Are you sure about that?" Todd asked, getting a glare from the Brazilian Assassin.

"Would you like to give it a try? Shay Cormac used one of these things before. He must've had a great deal of practice with them."

"Wasn't he a Templar?"

"What? No! What makes you think that?"

"I have a friend in the American Assassin's Guild who studies the most notable figures in Assassin history. He let me know that Haytham Kenway's influence brought Shay Cormac to the Templars."

"And by 'notable figures' who does he study?"

"Altair Ibn-la'Ahad, Ezio Auditore, the Kenway family, Arno Dorian, and the Frye twins. He's currently researching the first Assassin, Bayek of Siwa. He did tell me that Ezio and Connor were his favorites."

"Well I happen to study Haytham's father Edward Kenway. I had no idea that Haytham himself was a Templar, but Shay was one of our brothers."

"Until Haytham made him think otherwise. Edward was killed by mercenaries hired by Reginald Birch. Birch also recruited Haytham into the British Templars. He was their Grand Master as well as the Grand Master of the Colonial Templars. Haytham never died of natural causes."

"Then how did he die?" Michelle asked as Cloak took a shot and hit one of the dummies in the chest.

"A Hidden Blade right to his neck, courtesy of his son. I believe his name was Ratonhnhaké:ton or something like that."

"I won't even try to pronounce that." Todd took a couple more shots and hit the other two dummies. "Lucky shots."

"Not really. Had a lot of target practice," he responded. "That guy's more common name was Connor, but the databanks mistakenly gave him his father's last name." Michelle was about to respond, but they heard a scream, so she put it in the back of her mind. She signaled Todd to come with her to check it out.

They got to the streets and saw a couple of goons in blue military uniforms. They looked at the helmet and saw the familiar skull with wings. "Shadaloo," said Todd. "My friend warned me about these guys." He then saw them look their direction and their eyes glow red, something that alarmed Todd and Michelle to the point where the latter knew to take this one seriously. Todd also knew he couldn't use the Symbiote at this moment, so he had Pitch hide at the Bureau. The goons blurred out and revealed that they were robots, something that ticked off the Exonian greatly. The thing that got Todd's attention was the swords that came out of their lower arms. "So this is what Luthor's been working on, huh? He's been busy."

The robots attacked the duo, but Michelle pushed Todd out of the way and blocked with her sword. As Todd watched her technique with her sword in awe, she put her attention on both bots. She kicked the one in front of her far away so she could fight the one behind her. As Michelle and the second robot were clashing swords, the first one charged for her again, knowing she was too preoccupied. Michelle saw it attack from the corner of her eye, but just as she was prepared to take the hit, Cloak popped up and protected her, blocking the robot's swords with his Symbiote blade. He pushed the swords off and retracted his own sword before piercing the robot with the Symbiote tendrils, lifting it up, and then pulling it apart, shocking Michelle.

The Brazilian Assassin put her focus back on the other metalhead and forced it off. She followed up by putting it in a headlock, forcing it to the ground, and stabbing its optic sensor with a Hidden Blade. After getting up, she and Cloak backed away, knowing the robot would explode. Once it did, they looked around and saw that they were in the clear. "Nice save, Platinum," she said.

"Who are you talking to?" Cloak asked, obviously trying to hide his identity.

"Don't play dumb. I know it's you. I appreciate what you did." Cloak knew the cat was out of the bag, so he looked around and saw that no one was looking. He retracted the Symbiote back into his blood stream.

"You really should watch your back when it comes to battling, especially against machines," said Todd. "You weren't very well protected from the shrapnel that that last robot fired off." Michelle was shocked that she didn't notice the scratch on her side. She lightly touched it, but it stung her a little. "Let's get you back to the Bureau."

"No. Thanks, but I need to get to my house."

"No tunnel system?"

"There is one, but you don't move to an underground hideout until you make Den-Master or are invited by one. So in other words, I don't know the tunnel system in Rio or anywhere else yet."

"I'll call my friend to see if he can arrange something. But first, let's get that scratch checked out."

It turns out that Michelle had another house that she lived in, the only one of the younger Matsuda fighters to have one. She enjoyed the company of her family, especially her cousins Sean and Laura, but there were times when she felt like being by herself. Some of her activities around her house included both reading about Assassins past and physical exercises like the usual push-ups and sit-ups. The house looked simple, with the basic living room setup, a kitchen with a dining table, a master bedroom, a couple of guest rooms, and two bathrooms. Michelle also had a backyard to practice her Assassin and martial arts styles in peace.

She and Todd arrived there and entered the house to get her scratch taken care of. It was a one-story place, which was all she really needed. Todd made her sit down while he went and got the hydrogen peroxide, cotton balls, and large bandages out of the medicine cabinet. When he got back to the living room, Michelle spotted the supplies in his hands. She slid off the couch and laid down on her left side so the scratch could be seen. "You didn't have to get on the floor, you know," Todd said, silently swearing that she was doing this just to mess with him.

"I just got this couch," said the Assassin. "I didn't want it messed up." Michelle knew that the rubbing alcohol would hurt like hell, so she took a hand towel and used it for a gag to silence the screams that would come out of her mouth. Todd put the alcohol on her scratch as she winced in pain. Once the bubbles from the scratch started coming up, he used a cotton ball to rub the scratch and clean it, Michelle shedding some small tears as he finished up. He finally put the bandage on the scratch, which told her that she could take the towel out of her mouth. "Just so you know, I don't have a pain fetish."

"Believe me, I know. You're no sick freak from what I've seen." He put the cap back on the alcohol bottle and set it down on the coffee table. Suddenly, he felt a soft hand take a hold of his wrist and move it to the left side of her waist, the side without the scratch. "Ms. Matsuda?"

"I do have a dream of rewarding my first time to my first rescuer, though." Before Todd could say a thing, though, she closed the gap for a deep kiss. He sunk into it and wrapped his arms around her waist as she wrapped hers around his neck. "And please, call me Michelle," she said, hints of lust laced in her voice. When she unzipped her jacket, Todd knew he was in for a treat.

Meanwhile, Sean and Laura were looking at the scene of the battle. The police were baffled when they found the 'dead bodies' to be robots. Not even Peter, the cop in charge, could make heads or tails of it. It was confusing to the Matsuda siblings, but they decided to investigate further. "Two machines. Each wielding a sword on each arm," Sean stated, trying to put the pieces together. "How did they lose?"

"Either they're prototypes, or whoever scrapped them was pretty good," Laura said. "Check it: This one here still has it's chassis intact. That one was torn completely apart. I think I know at least one of the parties involved, though." She showed her little brother the mark in the CPU left by a Hidden Blade, giving Sean a valid reason why the robots were beaten. "That's right. Michelle. And her unknown accomplice tore the other one apart."

"Good deduction," said a rough British voice. Both siblings looked and saw Birdie coming out of hiding. "The accomplice was that bloke Cloak, a friend of Logan Washburn's."

"The St. Louis Den-Master?" Laura asked in an excited tone. "His friend is here?"

"Laura, why are you so excited?"

"Because, Sean, I want that particular Den-Master to learn the power of Matsuda Jiu-Jitsu. I've got a funny feeling that the experience will serve him well."

"Lucky for you, he's always looking for a good challenge," said Birdie.

"Okay, can we focus here!?" Sean asked, growing irate at the conversation. "Let's focus on finding Michelle. She could be in danger." They heard some growling, so they looked and found out that it was Birdie's stomach. "Hungry much?"

"How'd you guess, Lad?"

"Okay, let's get Birdie something to eat, then you and I can look for Michelle," said Laura, getting a nod from her brother.

"Bless You, Lass," Birdie said. "I'll put a good word in for you with the Boss Lady." Sean was about to ask who the Briton's boss was, but Laura interrupted him by pointing Birdie to a barbecue joint.

After paying ahead of time for Birdie's chicken legs, the Matsuda siblings went to search for their cousin. "It's crudely spraypainted on his vest, but he works for the Kanzuki Family, specifically Karin Kanzuki if I had to take a guess," Laura explained.

"What's he doing here, then?" asked Sean, getting his sister to shrug her shoulders.

Meanwhile, back at Michelle's house, the Assassin was snuggled up to Todd. Neither had anything on except for the cover. She was asleep, but he was awake. Something was bothering him, but he couldn't quite place it. The only thing he knew was that Patience and Michelle were going to be fighting quite a lot. He got his clothes back on and covered his new lover up some more, kissing her cheek. After that, he walked around the house until he stumbled across a wall-mounted lamp.

He got curious and pulled on it, revealing a secret door to his right. He went down some stairs to get to the basement, which had a computer at one section, an armory in a second, and a training center for weapons training as well as a wardrobe in a third. "Impressive, no?" Michelle asked, startling him.

"Don't scare me like that," he said. "Is this your hideout?"

"Yep. There are some aspects I take from other Assassins. This idea I got from both Mario Auditore and Achilles Davenport. Obviously, they didn't have computers back then."

"Is it...Is it alright if I use your computer?"

"Be my guest. I'll just get us a midnight snack." He watched her go upstairs before using his Technomancy to log into the PC. Using the Assassin's Guild Network, he called Logan.

It was in the morning when Michelle realized that Todd wasn't in bed with her. She got out of bed, got some clothes, and headed for the shower. After getting the temperature right, she hopped in. She recalled how her new acquaintance became her first lover on the same day, reminiscing about how he kissed her neck as she washed it. As she cleaned her breasts, she recalled how he caressed and suckled them, her hardened nipples creating a bump for her while she washed them. She gasped in both surprise and pleasure as she unintentionally squeezed her right boob.

Michelle decided to keep washing herself. As she rinsed off, soap slid down her bountiful chest, her slim stomach, her smooth legs, her back, and her thick ass. When she got done with her hair, she turned the water off, dried herself off with a towel, and wrapped it around her torso. As she stepped out of the bathroom, she saw her cellar door open. She went down and saw Todd working on a silver platform. She was happy that he at least stayed.

She saw that the platform was linked to the computer, but she was in the dark as to why. "Okay, now for the technological part..." he said to himself. "Alright, now we just wait 24 hours and this zeta platform will be completely hooked up. Good thing this computer's powerful enough, Michelle."

"What's going on, Todd?" she asked.

"This is a zeta platform I put together after finding the parts. See, I'm a bit of a mutant."

"Trust me, I know. I've seen that Symbiote on you."

"Not what I mean. When I don't have the Symbiote on, my specialty is kinetic energy through inanimate objects. Whether I have the Symbiote on or not, I'm also a Technomancer."

"That means you communicate with and use technology, right?"

"Yep, and using it, I've managed to copy the specifics of my friend's zeta platform and piece this one together. Now, in 24 hours, we'll have the ability to travel between zeta points that are connected to the Assassin's Guild Network."

"Awesome! So where should we go first?"

"How does St. Louis sound?"

"Why St. Louis?"

"Because as we speak, my friend and a teammate of his are looking in the tunnels for you a new hideout. He even sent a special request to the Brazilian Mentor to allow you to work from both Rio and St. Louis."

"You asked him to do that for me?"

"He was helping both of us out." These brought tears of joy to Michelle's eyes as she excitedly hugged Todd. "You should probably get dressed. We need to head outside today to find something to do while we wait for the link-up process to finish."

"Um...Good call," she said as she remembered that she just had a towel on.

Meanwhile, in a forest a good distance from the city, a couple of missiles dropped. They were black, but had the LexCorp. insignia on them. They opened up and revealed an army of robots stepping out. One of them, which had gold plating to show it's leadership position, Activated a hologram that featured Lex Luthor's image. "You know your mission," he said. "Find whoever destroyed your two brothers, kill them, and then raze the city." The leader gave a salute and signaled the followers to go with it to Rio.

At the marketplace, Todd and Michelle were looking around, the latter happy that she was able to protect Rio for so long. She was also happy that she was about to start a new life in St. Louis while being able to protect her own city at the same time. While she did crack the books, she knew Logan knew more about the Assassins of history than she did, even Edward Kenway. As they came upon a fruit stand, she saw Birdie looking like he was searching for someone. She tapped on Todd's shoulder and pointed towards the fat Briton. "That's Birdie," she whispered in his ear.

"I think I remember that fatass giving the St. Louis Den-Master and the Flash a hard time last Christmas," Todd pointed out. "The Den-Master never did function well in cold weather." Todd and Michelle saw that Birdie was headed towards them.

"Oi! There you are!" Birdie exclaimed. "We've been looking all over for you, Michelle."

"'We'?" Michelle looked and saw her cousins approaching. "Laura? Sean?"

"We've been looking all over for you," said Sean. "Laura and I got worried when you didn't come back home last night."

"I see you had some company," Laura said, poking fun at her cousin.

"Y-Yeah," Laura stuttered out. Before she could finish, they heard a lot of footsteps. "What's that?" They looked on the rooftops and saw an army of robots looking down at them. "Not again..."

"Yep," Todd said.

"Mate, I think now would be a good time to get that black ink on you," said Birdie. Todd knew not to try bluffing him on this one since he saw the fight, so he just encased himself in the Symbiote and got the swords ready. Birdie and the Matsudas got ready to join him as well. The robots got their blades ready and attacked. The first to face them, much to the group's misfortune, was Birdie, but he wrapped his chain around a bunch and started swinging around. This took out several dozen of them. Several more tried to sneak up behind him, but Birdie heard a crunching sound. To his surprise, he saw that Sean had stomped on their heads. "It's your go, kid!" shouted the Briton.

Sean gave him a thumbs-up and began his defense. They tried to slash at him, but he dodged and spun around them. He dropped down and performed a spin kick, tripping a few of them up. Several more piled up on the kid, but he still had several tricks up his sleeve. "Dragon Smash!" he yelled, pushing himself up with enough force to send the bots flying with a jumping double uppercut. Sean did a backflip and smashed a couple more robots upon descent. He focused his energy and gathered it into a ball. "Hado Burst!" The attack took Michelle, Cloak, and Birdie by surprise as it tore through a few robots.

Sean, having expended his energy, was about to be sliced by some more robots until Laura shocked them. She took on several, dealing more effective damage than her brother did. She did an elbow strike on one, which was followed by an armlock and Laura forcing it down. Sean noticed that his sister had a serious look on her face as she battled. One robot tried jumping at her, but she moved out of the way and performed a 'Sunset Wheel' to kick it back into one of its buddies' blades. She then used her electricity to hit the sword, causing both robots to blow up and their shards to hit some of their brethren.

This caused a chain reaction that several of the robots avoided. Michelle was up next, bearing a look on her face that was similar to Laura's. The robots recognized her and Cloak as the two who beat the first two of them, so they kept their distances and fired a barrage of bullets at them, not knowing that Cloak's Symbiote can act as an armor. Michelle jumped out of the way of the bullets by using the walls. She sliced one in half and saw that two on opposite sides of her were about to fire. She jumped out of the way, causing them to shoot and destroy each other, and sliced the rest up.

Michelle saw that Cloak was being hit by the bullets, but because of the Symbiote being used as armor, it had no effect on him. One robot got dumb enough to try to slash at him. He caught the arm and placed his hand on the robot's back to kick in his Technomancy, taking control of the robot and having it fire at its remaining brethren. After they were taken care of, Cloak removed his hand and slashed the robot in half. "Nice moves," Sean said.

"We're not done," said the vigilante. He looked in the direction of the leader, who pulled out a staff. "Leave this one to me." The others nodded, noting the serious tone in his voice. Cloak got his swords ready as the two prepared for combat. They charged towards each other with the robot spinning its staff. The robot attacked first by jumping towards Cloak and surging its staff down, but the vigilante moved out of the way. The robot then spun on the staff and kicked the off-worlder to the ground. Cloak got back up, but the machine didn't give him time to recover, thrashing him with the staff. It finished by slamming the staff on his foot and delivering several thousand volts of electricity onto his being, causing the Symbiote to retreat back into his blood stream.

Before Todd passed out, however, he surged some kinetic energy through the robot's staff. He turned over on his back as the robot was about to stab him with the staff again. "I'd advice...against using...electricity right now...if I were you," he said. The robot electrified the staff, not knowing about the kinetic energy. The combination was enough to blow the robot up, which resulted in some of the parts hitting him. "Told you. Maybe next time, Luthor should put a better processor in their heads."

"Are you okay, Todd?" Michelle asked.

"I've been better. At least they're gone now."

"What about the Symbiote?" Sean asked.

"It'll recover."

A while later, the group were celebrating at Omaeda's restaurant. The host decided that the celebration was on the house since they saved the city from an invasion. Omaeda, coming from a rich family, was appalled by Birdie's manners while the latter scarfed down his chicken. "Dude, you really know how to put the smackdown on those robots," Sean said. "Of course, Ken can do a better job."

"Watch it, Sean," said Todd. "It's not exactly fair to compare me to Ken Masters, especially when I haven't even met him yet."

"Oh yeah. Sorry."

"Don't mention it."

"Guys," Michelle said, getting everyone's attention. "Salvador just sent me a text telling me I've been approved."

"Approved for what?" Laura asked.

"The St. Louis Den-Master sent Salvador Gutierrez a request for Michelle to be allowed to divide her time between Rio de Janeiro and St. Louis," Todd explained. "He's even found her a place of her own in the tunnels, just like his own."

"Y-You'll still visit us, won't you, Michelle?" Sean asked.

"Of course I will. I know my family should be thought of. Don't worry. I'll be around."

"We're going to miss you, cousin," Laura said. "I'd ask if you'd like one more fight for the road, but you just had one."

"Ah, that was some good grub," Birdie said. "I better head back to Japan. Got to tell the Boss Lady what happened."

The next morning saw Michelle saying her goodbyes to her family. Sean and their grandfather had smiles on their faces, knowing that she'd do well in St. Louis. Laura had tears in her eyes, showing that she was going to miss her favorite cousin. "Take care, all of you," Michelle said after hugging Laura.

"Don't worry about us, Michelle," Sean said. "You just have yourself a good time."

"Be good for the Den-Master," said the elder. "I know you're grateful for both him and Todd for this opportunity."

"You got it, Grandpa," she said. "And Laura?"

"Yeah," Laura responded.

"Don't get into too much trouble without me, okay?"

"Got it."

"See you guys! Love you!"

"Love you too, cousin!"

"Are you ready to go?" Todd asked, a smile on his face.

"Yeah," Michelle answered.

In the underground tunnels of St. Louis, Logan and Juni awaited Todd and his new companion. Originally, Cammy and Chun-Li were trying Rock, Paper, Scissors to see who would get to go with Logan to wait for them, but Juni put a stop to that by volunteering herself. Chun-Li hung her head down, but Cammy didn't mind. She knew Logan needed to spend more time with her anyway. "...So you're saying that Cammy and Chun-Li kept tying in their Rock, Paper, Scissors rounds and it got on your nerves?" Logan asked.

"Yep," Juni said. Before Juni could continue, they heard footsteps. They smiled upon seeing Todd and his new companion approaching. "Welcome back, Todd."

"Juni? I thought you said Cammy would be here," Todd said.

"Now that's kind of rude, don't you think?" Logan asked. "Juni's here on her own whim. Well, that, and Chun-Li and Cammy wound up in a competition that would've lasted all day and all night." He then turned his attention to the Brazilian Assassin with Todd. "So you're Michelle Matsuda, huh? Todd was spot-on about the description."

"Hehe. Thanks," she giggled out.

"So, care to check the place out?"

"Yes, sir." Logan nodded and pressed a button by the door. They stepped inside and saw the house. Naturally, the Exonian and Brazilian were impressed. In addition to the simple amenities and furniture, Logan also put a Captain's Wheel and several other items from the Age of Piracy in as decorations. This even included small replicas of the Queen Anne's Revenge and the Jackdaw inside glass bottles. "This is awesome," Michelle said.

"Your training room's behind this door here," Logan said, standing by a door near the kitchen. "There's also an Intense Training Facility under the guise of a wrestling and MMA arena. Once in a blue moon, we host Sumo matches, but only at Edmond Honda's request."

"That sounds fun. Never seen a Sumo match before."

"By the way, Logan, Luthor's getting better with those walking pieces of junk," Todd said. "One of them actually hit me."

"It looks like it hit you in the jaw."

"It did. We have to keep an eye on him now."

"How'd you destroy him?"

"Kinetic energy. It made the mistake of sending my Symbiote back into my blood stream."

"That's good. You're right, though, in that we have to watch him. I'll worry about that myself. You and Michelle get settled in."

"Thanks, man. I owe you."

"You two just have fun, okay? Let me know if you need anything."

"We will." Logan and Juni merely smiled at the two and headed back to the former's hideout, leaving Todd and Michelle alone. It was a new beginning for them, especially the Brazilian Assassin.

CHAPTER 37 END

Okay, so that took a bit, but I'm glad to get some more chapters with Cloak in them getting done. And as promised, I did bring Sean in. I also have a few ideas on how to use Ed, Menat, and Zeku, as well as giving Kolin and Abigail more prominent roles (at least in one chapter for Abigail). That means that the only Season 2 character for Street Fighter V I still don't know what to do with is Akuma. Suggestions?