Tekken - Rebellion of Fury

Chapter 37 Anger of the Earth

Coming closer towards the outskirts of the sandy village, the heat of the sun took its toll on Bryan despite his enhancements. There were no sounds apart from his feet touching upon the dry sand and occasional leaves from the palm trees around.

The village was seated upon a water source, which didn't surprise Bryan considering how big the village was. There was nothing to live off for the closest miles around the dessert apart from the ocean that was not too far away. While some plants along with the buildings provided some shade, it mattered little during the day.

Coming to a stop a couple of hundred meters away from the closest building, Bryan frowned and narrowed his eyes in focus.

The houses were all made out of sandstone, shanty in their design with rooftops patched together by pieces of cloth or rudimentary metal.

But where were all the people?

A glint from a scope as the sun reflected off it was the only warning Bryan received before a loud gunshot rang out from the distance, coming from the balcony of one of the many buildings around the town.

Flicking his head to the side, Bryan felt the sniper bullet whip passed his cheek where his head had been a second ago. While it wouldn't had killed him, the pain would have been bothersome.

"Cheeky motherfucker.", Bryan growled with a grin before leveling his minigun towards the shooter.

Narrowing his eyes further as he began walking again towards the town, bullets whirled out in the hundreds from his minigun, shredding the balcony of the building until nothing could be left alive and a loud cloud of dust rose from the ruined construct.

Spotting movement from two separate windows in different buildings, Bryan shifted his minigun towards one, his free hand snapping out his handgun towards the other.

The distance between himself and the shooters were several hundred meters, impossible to hit with a pistol for anyone else, but Bryan's enhanced brain only needed half a second to calculate and compensate before his finger began snapping repeatedly at the trigger, his minigun already whirling to life against the other.

While his accuracy was spot on, the natural accuracy of a pistol made Bryan exhaust a couple of more extra shots than what should have been necessary, but it eventually did its job long as the minigun completely punctured the other building.

Sensing movement again, Bryan grunted as a sniper shot cracked into his shoulder before readjusting his aim, keeping up his steady walk towards the village.

More and more shooters emerged from the many buildings in the village as he got closer and closer. Finally, the snipers began to disappear as soldiers with close quarter rifles seemingly poured out of the village itself as he approached the edge.

His enhanced targeting vision made short work out of anyone who appeared, his minigun shredding soldiers and buildings alike.

Bryan's grin disappeared as an RPG was launched straight for him.

"Oh fu-!", Bryan yelled in anger before it connected at the spot he'd thrown himself away from just a second earlier.

The blast sent him tumbling several meters behind a couple of rocks, fortunately providing a little bit of cover as the ringing faded from his ears. Shaking his head, Bryan picked himself up and revved the minigun.

...Only to notice that the blast had destroyed several of the barrels of the minigun, effectively rendering it useless.

"...Oh, are you FUCKING kidding me!?", Bryan snarled, throwing the minigun to the side as well as the ammunition backpack. Ignoring the gunfire flying by right over his head, he glared forlorn at the minigun before sighing. He'd hoped for it to last a bit longer.

Taking a couple of steps back from the rocks that provided him cover, Bryan checked the gun still in his hand to see if it was working, reloading the magazine while he was at it.

Snarling angrily, Bryan dashed towards the rocks before launching himself in the air. His feet connected with the top of the rocks, and with a mighty heave, he jumped through the air towards the closest building.

Several soldier nearby stopped firing in shock upon seeing Bryan soar through the air for several yards before going through one of the windows at the top floor of the third floor building.

The soldier that had been firing at Bryan from the same window was unfortunate enough to have Bryan's entire weight slam down on top of him, his boot stomping down on the man's head as he fell.

Ignoring the blood that exploded from the head like an egg, Bryan spun around with his gun, snapping of several shots with his gun towards the 4 other soldiers in the room before they could do anything at all.

Taking a moment to listen, Bryan could hear people from the floor below himself, yelling in confusion as they probably hadn't noticed Bryan entering the building they vacated.

Bryan frowned as he noticed the place looking completely trashed. It was obvious from the furniture, rudimentary as it was considering everything was made out of either clay, sandstone of dirty cloth, that the Zaibatsu were looking for something. The question was what.

Gun in his right hand, Bryan leaned down to grasp out his combat knife with his free hand, flicking it into a reversed grip before throwing himself out one of the windows leading further into the city.

The searing sun touched his skin the second he left the window, falling through the air for several seconds before slamming down on the dirt road right in the middle of several suddenly scared soldiers.

Rising from his crouched position from where he fell, he shoved his knife into the closest soldiers chin, firing his gun at another. Ripping his knife into a spin, Bryan was a whirlwind of death as he cut, fired and brutalized everyone close.

A gunshot suddenly hit the back of his head as the last man around him fell, and Bryan quickly turned towards the rooftops above him. Seeing the soldier standing right above him firing down, Bryan quickly fired his gun towards him, frowning in frustration as the soldier immediately hid before he could hit.

They had the high ground, which would be difficult for Bryan to deal with unless he went up to them personally, but that was not why he was here.

He was here to kill Jin... And Alisa. Not these men which Jin used as cannon fodder.

Snarling angrily, Bryan ignored the many soldiers that had begun to shoot at him from the rooftops and dashed further into the city.

Eventually, night fell upon the village and it was a welcome reprieve from the heat of the sun. Soldiers ran around the village looking for their intruders.

A patrol jogged down a narrow street, never noticing Bryan's shape and silhouette in the darkened corner where the moonlight didn't shine.

Moving as silently as he could, Bryan felt slightly tired from the long day. He'd ran around the entire village throughout the entire day and it had taken its toll on him. He'd seen no sign of Lars, Raven, Jin, Alisa and he had no fucking clue as to what the Zaibatsu was there looking for.

He needed a different approach and he needed to conserve energy.

Another patrol jogged down the street and Bryan pressed himself to the ground next to some foliage.

"Roger. We're moving to pick up the package straight away, over.", one of the soldiers in the patrol said into his radio and Bryan figured him to be the leader of that patrol.

Bryan narrowed his eyes. A package could mean several things. It could either be someone or something, but it was obviously important enough for the Zaibatsu to wish to move as fast as possible. Considering the lack of leads Bryan had otherwise in whatever the hell he should do, Bryan quietly rose and began making his way after the patrol.

He weaved through the shadows of the buildings. His enhanced speed allowed him to keep pace with the jogging soldiers despite having to do so silently as well as staying undetected from other Zaibatsu soldiers which littered the entire village.

Finally, the patrol came upon a building where they stopped.

Crouching down at the corner of the building close by, Bryan narrowed his eyes as he observed the area. The building had 3 guards outside, standing around a stairwell made out of sandstone like the rest of the building which led up to the second floor. Through one of the windows at the second floor, Bryan could see a light, shadows flickering about which told him there was a certain amount of activity up there.

The patrol he'd followed consisted of 4 soldiers, and Bryan had no illusions that he would be able to take out the 7 soldiers now standing outside the building silently without alerting the ones inside.

The leader spoke quickly to one of the guards guarding the stairs, before they allowed the patrol inside with a short salute.

Bryan breathed in relief. It would be easier to take them out silently inside where the narrow rooms would work to his advantage. As long as he didn't give them the time to shoot their weapons either, the buildings would hopefully dampen the sounds of whatever fight would occur.

Frowning at the 3 men left standing outside, Bryan's eyes suddenly widened in surprise.

In the shadows between a couple of building on the other side from Bryan, putting the soldiers in between, Bryan noticed a familiar shape moving about. His enhanced night vision revealed it to be Lars and Bryan had to resist the urge to smirk.

Seemed like someone else had been listening to the comms as well.

When the soldier were facing away, Bryan quickly leaned out into the moonlight to make himself visible, waving towards Lars quickly before slipping back into darkness before he was seen. Bryan grinned in relief when he saw Lars noticing him with a moment of confusion.

Pulling out his combat knife, he flipped it through the air before grasping the tip of the blade. Taking a deep breath of preparation, he hoped Lars would think quick because they had to act soon before whoever was inside decided they needed to leave.

Dashing past the corner, Bryan threw the knife towards the guard in the middle as he ran towards the one closest to himself. Bryan absentmindedly noticed Lars dashing towards the one closest to himself, but kept his mind focused on the task ahead.

As the knife pierced through the throat of the soldier, his comrades barely had the time to mutter in confusion before Lars and Bryan were upon them.

Grasping over the man's mouth with his large hand, Bryan put his other on the back of his head before wringing his head around, brutally breaking his neck with a crack. As Lars did the same with his own, they both picked them up before they fell to the ground and began dragging them towards the shadows, the last soldier gurgling his last breaths in the sand below them.

"...Where the FUCK have you been...?", Lars hissed angrily as they softly laid the soldiers into the shadows before moving back towards the last one.

"...Everywhere...", Bryan whispered back with a grin, ripping the blade out of the soldiers neck, completely silencing him before dragging his corpse as well into the shadows with the others. "...Kept an eye out for anything of value...Didn't find anything before finding this patrol on the way here...Where's Raven...?"

"...On his way...", Lars sighed before quickly making his way up the stairs. Bryan followed after as quickly and silently as he could.

Coming to a stop alongside Lars right next to the entrance at the top of the stairs, Bryan waited patiently as Lars peeked inside. After a short moment, Lars turned to Bryan and held up a single finger and Bryan figured he indicated the amount of guards in the next room.

Grasping unto the bloody tip of the blade, Bryan moved fluidly into the room before quickly locating the single guard. Letting his knife fly, Bryan was already on the move before the blade had struck.

The knife pierced into his neck right above his collarbone. Before a single sound could disappear from the guard, Bryan was already there with a hand over the soldier's mouth, pushing him up into the wall. Quickly ripping out the knife, he shoved it back into the man's throat, cutting over his arteries before lowering him silently to the ground.

Quietly pulling the blade out of the corpse's throat, Bryan gazed around the room. There was a single candlelight upon a table right next to them in the small room, a window over it with a shoddy, wooden door upon the wall on its opposite side that the soldier had been guarding.

Staying for a second in the crouched position in order to listen into the next room, Bryan ignored Lars whom quickly entered and put out the light in the room, placing them in darkness.

There were voices coming from behind the wooden door, but Bryan couldn't tell how many.

Stepping up slowly next to the door, Lars took position on the other side and looked curiously at Bryan.

"...We...need...a...diversion...", Bryan muttered extremely softly in order to not be heard from the other side. Lars simply nodded in response and tensed his body in preparation.

Taking a deep breath, Bryan knocked on the door.

"What!?", an angry voice barked from the other side. Whomever it was didn't seem to have been wanting to be disturbed it seemed.

"Jin Kazama is here. He wants a word.", Bryan said in a voice he hoped would fool whoever was on the other side.

A moment of silence filled the room before a couple of voices whispered to each other. Bryan's eyes widened and held up 3 fingers to Lars, indicating how many voiced he'd heard inside.

As Lars nodded, footsteps suddenly approached the door from inside and Bryan steeled himself as he reared his arm which held the knife back.

The door opened and Bryan exploded into movement. Not even stopping to look at him, the man who opened the door got Bryan's knife slammed into his throat before Bryan shoved him away in order to enter as quickly as possible.

Bryan used a split second to observe the room and he was shocked to see an amount of 5 guards in the room, one of which he had just killed. A woman was placed upon a wooden chair in the middle of the room, seemingly bound at her arms and legs, but Bryan didn't take time to observe her further.

Stepping into the room to make way for Lars, Bryan ripped the knife out of the soldier's throat and let his corpse fall, spinning towards one of the others in the room and let his knife fly. As the knife hit its mark, Lars was upon one of the guards in the opposite side of the room, jumping into a fierce spinning kick which broke the soldier's neck instantly before they could react.

The last 2 guards dived for their guns with a cry for help, but Lars and Bryan was upon them immediately.

In a running charge, Bryan grasped unto the man's face and slammed his head into the wall behind him. The wall cracked from the force as the man slumped to the floor where Bryan stomped on his neck to be sure of his silence, just as Lars finished his own guy.

"Somebody might have heard that.", Lars muttered with a couple of deep breaths. It was obvious the day had been long for all of them as Bryan could now see from the little lighting in the room there was that Lars had been moving about the entire day just like Bryan.

They both looked like shit.

"Nobody did.", a voice suddenly called out and both Bryan and Lars snapped into a fighting stance towards the voice.

Raven stood by the door with a stoic expression as he observed them, looking no worse for wear despite most likely having gone through the same as both Lars and Bryan.

"Nice of you to fucking join us.", Bryan growled as walked to the center of the room.

Not waiting for Raven to respond, Bryan stood in front of the woman that was fastened upon the chair in the middle of the room.

The woman was of clear Arabic descent despite her fair skin complexion. She was an extremely beautiful woman. Her pitch black hair had an almost oily tone to it where she kept it in a bun behind her head, only allowing a few loose tendrils fall freely here and there.

The woman had a narrow face, high cheekbones with an odd shade of purple in her eyes. Bryan didn't think he'd ever met anyone with purple eyes before.

She wore a gold colored top with flower markings which matched the wrist gloves she wore, which were anchored to her middle fingers while leaving the rest of her hands free. The skirt she wore was red with many manners of tribal markings upon them, her feet covered in some simple sandals.

The woman had so far been silent, unfazed by the violence that had just occured around her as she gazed intently at Bryan with an apatethic stare.

An angry red mark which seemed recently applied marred her cheek. It seemed obvious this had been an interrogation of sorts. She was most likely the 'package' the soldiers had moved to secure.

But why?

Narrowing his eyes at her, Bryan met the womans stare before clearing his voice.

"What is your name?"

A moment of silence spread in the room as both Raven and Lars looked on curiously, obviously wondering that themselves.

"...Zafina...", the woman eventually muttered, the apathetic stare in her eyes not lessening the slightest.

"Zafina...?", Bryan let the name roll of her tongue, before sitting down on his haunches in front of her, staring her menacingly into her eyes.

"We really should get moving Bryan.", Lars suddenly muttered as he moved towards the door. "They are bound to send more people for her soon."

"Why are the Zaibatsu after you?", Bryan growled and ignored Lars, keeping his eyes fastened on the woman.

"The same reason you are here.", Zafina drawled apathetically. "I know where what you seek resides."

"I somehow doubt that.", Bryan chuckled, narrowing his eyes as Zafina smiled coldly.

"You have always doubted many things, Bryan Fury."

Widening his eyes in surprise, Bryan snarled and stood, pulling his gun on the defenceless woman.

"Bryan-", Lars moved to interrupt, but was stopped by a hand on his shoulder by Raven.

"How do you know my name?", Bryan snarled. Upon the woman's silence, Bryan stepped forward and pressed the tip of his gun hard on Zafina's forehead. "Speak."

"I know your name because i have been waiting for you and your comrades ever since you first spoke with Wang, at the Fujian Tolou."

Bryan's eyes widened.

"Yes.", Wang nodded. "Should you ever cross paths with him, ask him about the 'epitaph' he uncovered in Central America. All your questions will be answered. I cannot tell you however, if the answers will raise more question. It should shed some light on what the Zaibatsu intends to do next."

"You...", Bryan trailed off with an unbelieving expression. "Wang knew all along!"

"Not everything.", Zafina shook her head in amusement. "But enough to lead you in the right direction."

If there was one thing Bryan hated more than anything, it was being manipulated and he could feel his temper rising furiosly.

Cocking the hammer of his gun back, Bryan's face was the picture of cold anger incarnate.

"Why should i not shoot you, right here and now?"

Zafina smiled, making Bryan's lips tighten further in anger.

"Because i can lead you towards what you desire the most.", she trailed off, smile widened. "I can lead you to what Jin seeks... And coincidentally, to Alisa."