Bison stared at the green, glowing computer screen in front of him, displaying a first person view from the perspective of one of his agents in the field. Bison could see a stretch off highway with a steady stream of vehicles traveling in both directions. The stretch of road was raised, allowing it to loop around and carry the vehicles under itself. From the looks of things, his unit was outside a major metropolis, and the data readings at the top right corner of the screen indicated that it was Osaka city, the high skyscrapers standing tall in the distance, their towering forms hidden behind thin veil of smog.

"Target approaching, sir," the monotone voice of Bison's unit said in a cold, impersonal manner. "Engage?"

"Not quite so fast, Wagner," Bison said, scratching his chin. "I want Guile to get a good look at you before you send his vehicle careening off the highway and down onto the road below. I want to see the fear and betrayal in his eyes."

"Calculations indicate that the risk is too high, sir," Wagner replied. "Engaging in battle at too late an interval increases the risk of sustaining heavy damage, considering the speed of his vehicle."

"You're supposed to follow MY orders, Wagner," Bison shouted. "Your conscience is meant to be used should communications with headquarters dysfunction!"

The metal doors to Bison's throne room opened with a mechanical whir and Sagat's tall form stepped into the room. Bison didn't even turn around to acknowledge the man, he was so furious with Wagner's audacity to question his orders.

"Sir," Sagat said, bowing his head slightly, "Julian had returned from his outing."

"The mission?"

"Failed."

"WHAT?" Bison roared, spinning around as his cape flapped valiantly behind him. "Ken Masters was not killed?"

"We have apparently underestimated Mr. Masters," Sagat continued. "After all, research reveals that he trained with Ryu since they were both children. It makes sense that they would be similarly skilled."

"Ken Masters needs to die if we want the Satsui no Hadou from Ryu's body. I don't care how you do it, just get it done!"

"Then we need to pull Wagner from the field," Sagat suggested. "Clearly, Julian alone is not enough to take Masters down, not even with the Agent Initiative system in his body."

"This is unacceptable," Bison said, shaking his head. "This technology was designed to be far superior to any of Shadowlaw's technological advancements in the past. How in the world can it fail against one cocky martial arts superstar!"

"Perhaps Julian and Wagner weren't the best choices," Sagat said.

"You're lucky I'm not going to execute you on the spot for saying that," Bison spat through clenched teeth. "My faith in you has grown in recent weeks due to the success of your retrieval missions, but I sense that it's getting to your head. I will not tolerate my subordinates talking to me in such a manner."

"Yes, sir," Sagat apologized, bowing his head again. "What do you suggest we do now?"

"We'll launch another assault on Ken Masters after Wagner completes his current mission," Bison said. "Right now, the target, Colonel William Guile of the United States Air Force is headed his way …" Bison paused as something interesting caught his attention on screen – something that sent chills of satisfaction up his spine at first, and then angered him beyond all belief.

Wagner had stepped into the path of Guile's speeding vehicle. The colonel's reaction was quick as the turned the steering wheel to avoid a collision – just what Bison was hoping for. The car veered off into the HOV lane and collided with a pickup truck, crushing the sides of both vehicles. As Wagner moved in for the kill, Bison could see Guile inside the car, looking quite stunned and unconscious, but otherwise alright. But in the passenger seat, with a trail of blood running down the side of his face was a boy that should have been dead.

XXXXX

"Hey, Cranky, are you alright?"

Cranky didn't even look up at the speaker, but from the voice, he could tell it was Cammy. She'd finally seen all of him, and this was the worst part, in this kind of vulnerable state. He was always so used to comforting her, being her pillar of strength when she was weak. Cranky always had the hero complex, developed during his late teenage years, saving kittens out of trees, anything to impress the ladies. He was a thief turned charmer. He even bragged about the fact that he single-handedly raised an orphan child – a fact that most women believed was a lie just to get them in bed with him, despite it being the truth. As for Cranky, he considered himself to be good at getting what he wanted from a woman, but Cammy did so much more for him. And it pained him that much for her to see him in this state.

We wiped his nose with the back of his hand and looked up at Cammy, standing there gazing at him with a look of concern in her eyes. He smiled.

"Yeah, I'm okay. Are you finished the investigation."

"I don't want to talk about the investigation, I want to talk about you," she said, planting herself in the same seat Juli was in just a few minutes ago. "I want to know what's going on in that head of yours. I've never seen you like …"

"And you won't see this again," Cranky said firmly.

"No, I want to see it if you need to let it out," Cammy continued in her soothing tone. "Stop the macho charade already. Sometimes I swear, women recognize the mortality in men more than men see it in themselves."

"Juli was here," Cranky said, keeping it short and sweet.

Cammy's sympathetic smile turned into a mean looking frown. "You better not have touched her."

"I bought her a coffee."

"Oh, that's IT! I don't know why I put up with you sometimes!" Cammy said, sitting erect as she stomped her foot on the ground. "I thought you would've called it quits with her by now!"

"She was the one who dumped me."

"She had to dump you?" Cammy grew angrier with every word that came out of Cranky's mouth. "As in, you wouldn't let go of her so she had to let you go to be with me?"

"Juli was really hurt. I didn't have the heart to just …"

"You have to decide who is more important to you and not hold on to two women at the same time! And you can't take too long because I won't stick around and wait for some guy to accept me. That's not the deal, that's not how I work and I don't fucking care how much I'm in love with you!" Cammy's anger gave way to tears. She wanted to cry, but she'd had enough of that over the course of her life. Instead, she squeezed her hands together between her knees and took a deep breath.

"Juli dumped me because she's well aware of my feelings for you. I care about her, but not with the same intensity that she cares about me. I think I've made it clear to her that I chose you, Cammy. So stop yelling."

As if obeying an order, she said nothing more, staring at the ground with glazed eyes instead. "I'm sorry, I … I didn't know how you felt. I guess I'm still … insecure. I'm trying to be objective about this, but it's so hard having personal feelings involved. I want to say she did the right thing, but I can't help but feel so selfish saying that."

"Just because I chose you, that doesn't mean I don't care about Juli at all. And thinking about her crying to herself right now … well, that's why you saw me in the state I was in. Anyway, nothing left for me to do for her. What are you doing here?"

"There's nothing left to investigate. Both witnesses to the attack are alive and well – Ken and Eliza. They're being taken to the hospital where an interview will be held with police. We're just packing up and leaving so I came to find you."

"You're a bad liar."

"But Ken and Eliza really are being taken to the hospital."

"That's not the whole reason why you came. I can read you like a fucking book, Cammy." He winked at her. "There's something you want to tell me."

Cammy gulped at a dry lump in her throat. Now was the perfect moment to tell him. There was hardly anybody around – the two of them were alone, with the most privacy they'd be given in the last few days. Furthermore, she'd just blown up at him a few moments ago, and this would be the perfect opportunity for him to blow up at her. And did she ever deserve it for keeping a secret like this from him for so long. At least if he were to yell at her, the guilt would be lifted from her shoulders, and it wasn't like she didn't want to let it out either. She'd unintentionally ratted herself out to Kenny, and it would only be a matter of time before he'd blab it to Cranky. Better that he hear it from her than his brother.

"A few months ago, after I left on the mission that I ended up getting kidnapped, there was a horrible accident," she began. "I participated in a heated argument with my interrogator and … well … fists and feet went flying. And then he kicked me … and …"

Finally, Cranky could return to being Cammy's support and not the other way round. It looked like she was having a hard time telling him what she was, but he urged her to go on, looking straight at her, nodding his head in comprehension.

Cammy continued, "And I realized …" and chickened out at the last second, "that I loved you more than anything in the world … and how much I would've rather been by your side than in that horrible place."

He took her trembling body into his embrace. "Well, at least the feeling is mutual." He caressed her shoulders and kissed her forehead.

"Yeah …" Cammy said weakly, feeling defeated by her own fears and insecurities of her relationship with the only man she cared this much for.

XXXXX

"So you mind explaining what all that action was back there?" Guile asked Kenny, keeping his eyes on the road ahead.

"You mean my little scrap with that guy? He just decided to pick a fight with me."

"For no apparent reason?"

"None whatsoever," Kenny replied shaking his head.

"I don't believe you."

"What!"

"I said, I don't believe you, Kenny," Guile said, more sternly this time. "When kids pick a fight for no reason, they usually have a group of friends with them. Their intent is usually to show off to their peers what they're capable of doing."

"Well I don't know what else to tell you Guile, if you won't believe the truth!" Kenny said.

"And how about the fact that the boy you were fighting with was Yun Lee? He is a disciple of Master Gen, Chun Li's former master. And I highly doubt Master Gen would rear his students in such a manner."

"Well … I … dunno what to say …"

As if to capitalize on Guile's suspicions about Kenny, the purse the teen had stolen slipped from his pocket and onto the seat of vehicle where the youth sat.

"Now either you've got expensive taste in women's designer purses, or …"

Kenny started looking a little frantic, his eyes darting back and forth around the vehicle, everywhere except to look straight at Guile. "Well, come on Guile, Prada is where it's at!" He offered a weak smile, but Guile was not impressed with his feeble lie. "Please don't arrest me."

"Kenny …"

"I swear I'll never steal again!" he continued in desperation. "I just needed some cash for a taxi to get over to the hotel and then that kid jumped me."

"Now that sounds like one of Gen's students, holding up the high moral values the old man instills in his pupils."

"Hey, don't talk like I'm the bad guy!"

"Give me the wallet, Kenny," Guile ordered, extending an open palm.

"You don't understand what kind of money is in here!"

"All the more reason to hand it over to the authorities. Now give it to me."

Kenny drooped his shoulders in defeat and surrendered the purse. As he was about to deposit it into Guile's palm, the car suddenly swerved violently, throwing him into the door. His head smashed against the passenger window hard enough for him to start seeing stars. But the roller coaster ride was not over. The G-force from the spinning motion of the car kept him pinned to the door, his head threatening to break through the window. Tires scream in pain as something large and heavy crashed into the windshield, throwing cubes of glass onto them as it bent the frame of the car under its weight. Something collided with the car from the opposite side, colliding with the back passenger seat. Once again, they were in motion but Kenny was on the verge of slipping into unconsciousness, unaware of what was happening around him. As quickly as it had started, the chaos had ended.

Kenny breathed slowly, struggling to calm his nerves and take control of the situation. He had just been through his first car crash and it was not an exciting experience. He glanced down at his lap to undo the seat belt and found the wallet lying there peacefully – and smiled. Looking over, he noticed that Guile looked relatively unharmed besides a few scratches and gashed on his arms and hands. But he was clearly unconscious.

The smell of gasoline assaulted Kenny's senses, a smell and drove him to panic. Back when he was on the streets with Cranky watching over him, he remembered hunting for gasoline to burn fires at night to keep them warm. He loved the smell when he was a kid, but Cranky had always said not to sniff it too much because it was toxic. And Kenny also remembered how quickly it would catch things on fire after just throwing a match into a pile of gasoline soaked newspaper for the nightly bonfire.

Something took over his body then, something that forced his arms to move lighting quick with precision as he unfastened his seatbelt and Guile's with one quick swoop of his arm. The initial movement sent shooting pains through his head, remembering now that he'd crashed it into the glass. By the time the memory was over, he had pushed the crumpled door open with all his might, jumping out onto the highway where cars zoomed by at high speeds just a few feet away. Kenny tried running around the hood of the car, but it felt as if the shooting pain in his head spread to his legs. He limped over to the other side, pulled Guile's door open with much effort, and struggled to pull him out.

Now he could smell smoke. Any second now, any second … Kenny shifted into high gear, taking Guile gently but firmly by the shoulders and turning him slightly so Kenny could slip his arms under Guile's armpits and pull him out of the vehicle. He didn't expect the man to be as heavy as he was. Pull as he might, his progress was slow as he inched Guile out of his seat.

Sweat from Kenny's brow mixed with the blood spilling from his head wound as the vile cocktail ran down the side of his face. He bit down hard on his bottom lip and tugged at Guile's torso with as much strength as he could muster. The airman was easily twice Kenny's weight in pure muscle, having trained in the military for most of his life.

"Come on you big oaf!" Kenny hissed through clenched teeth. "Throw me a fucking bone here!" Guile finally popped from for the car and crashed onto the pavement. Kenny continued working, pulling him towards the sidewalk. Without the strange angles of the drivers seat getting in his way, Kenny's progress was a lot faster, as dragging Guile in one general direction was fairly straightforward – both conceptually and physically.

And then the car erupted into flames and exploded as the fire finally hit the gas tank. Instinctively, Kenny threw himself over the unconscious airman using himself as a human blanket as the heat licked painfully at his back. He could hear bits of clanking metal while the debris from the vehicles rained from the sky. Kenny cradled Guile's head in his arm in hopes from protecting it from the falling debris, while he covered his own with the other arm. Something hard and heavy hit him on the head, crushing his fingers into the back of the skull. Kenny struggled to hold onto consciousness, but the task proved more difficult than his battered body could handle. As far as he could tell, the destruction was over, the car now just a burning hunk of twisted metal. As his vision faded and darkness took over, Kenny could've sworn he saw a figure standing over him and Guile with a blank expression set on his familiar face.

"Awaiting orders, sir," he said.

It was the guy that helped Kenny while they were imprisoned in Shadowlaw headquarters. What was Wagner doing here? And why in the world was he holding … Kenny's vision traveled down the length of his arm and spotted a semi-automatic rifle in his firm grasp. As if an invisible superior had ordered, Wagner nodded to nobody who Kenny could see in particular, and raised nozzle of the firearm towards him.

Kenny would be spared the sight of being shot in the head as he slipped into unconsciousness at that exact moment.

XXXXX

Before Wagner had the chance to even pull the trigger, Kenny had slumped over, having taking more abuse than his body could handle from the car crash alone. Rescuing Guile from the driver's seat was a whole different task with its own challenges, given the size difference between him and Kenny. And finally, with the explosion of the vehicle and the rubble hitting him square on the head Wagner didn't have to waste a bullet on Kenny.

"The threat has been neutralized," Wagner reported to Bison. "Recommence target objective?"

"Kill Guile," Bison ordered from the other end of the radio chip implanted into Wagner's ear. "But I want you to make sure he's awake when you do it. Wake him up first."

Wagner prodded Guile in the ribs with the tip of his boot. The older airman stirred on the ground, his eyes moving behind closed eyelids. He opened them slowly, blinking a few times to get them adjusted to the light. The stench of burning wreckage was thick in the evening air. He pushed himself off the ground into a sitting position, coming face to face with the nozzle of a rifle.

"What in the world …" his gaze traced its way up the gun towards the handle, up the arm that held it and then to the face that sneered at him. "Wagner?" But it only took a second for him to realize what was going on. Julian and Wagner had gone missing at the same time. Julian had just been reported attacking Ken Masters, a good friend of his. It would only make sense that whoever was responsible for turning Julian against Ken would do the same to Wagner – turning him against the man who raised him. Shadowlaw became more likely a suspect with every passing incident.

Guile seized the rifle with his hands and pointed it away from his face, giving a strong tug, pulling it free from Wagner's grasp, who immediately moved into a fighting position with his fists raised protectively in front of his face.

"You don't want to be fighting me, Wagner," Guile said, widening his stance, trying to appear as intimidating as possible. He wasn't sure if it would work. Wagner surely wasn't thinking straight right now if he had the nerve to attack Guile – and the logic that the older man could probably own him in a fight might as well have been a foreign concept.

"Commencing attack pattern theta." Wagner took a quick step towards Guile and unleashed an uppercut, catching him in the jaw. Guile was knocked back momentarily but was able to regain his concentration despite having just woken up from a car crash. Wagner's assault didn't stop there. The uppercut was followed by a left jab and a right hook to the cheek, stunning Guile again. Wagner grabbed the man by his shoulders and forced Guile's torso into his knee. Wagner then kicked his foot up catching Guile in the chin for a double hit, sending the older airman skywards.

Guile landed hard on the pavement on his shoulder. He struggled to get up but was still disoriented from Wagner's attacks. Wagner walked over slowly, giving Guile ample time to realize what was going on, that his own adopted son was beating the stuffing out of him.

"That's right," Bison smiled with glee as he watched from Wagner's eyepiece, "show me the betrayal in your eyes, Colonel. Know that it is your own son that will end your life."

Wagner prepared to run towards Guile to deliver a backwards flip flash kick, a move he'd learned from Guile but tailored to his own style. The final running step had been taken and Wagner was about to take his right foot off the ground to deliver the strike. As he kicked his foot off the ground, he realized his left, stabilizing foot was not leaving the ground. He glanced down at his foot to see Kenny, barely conscious, grasping Wagner's ankle with whatever remaining strength he had left. The momentum that carried Wagner's body was still in action, causing the Shadowlaw airman to fall flat on his back, giving Guile enough time to get to his feet.

Wagner glared at Kenny who only stared back defiantly. Deciding that Kenny wouldn't let go anytime soon, Wagner aimed a kick at his head, but he managed to block the blow with his arm.

Kenny had bought Guile some time, allowing him to sneak up on Wagner and grab in a headlock. Wagner cried out in shock and pulled against Guile's arms that held his head tightly. Guile applied as much pressure as his weak state would allow but Wagner was resilient. The two of them grappled for a few moments, each man trying to get an advantage over the other.

Hoping to free himself from Guile's choking hold, Wagner inched closer to the burning wreckage. Guile seemed to be aware of what he was trying to do as he tried finding some solid footing to resist Wagner's advances. But he couldn't find any jagged rock on the smooth pavement to gain a solid foothold. Realizing that he had no other alternative if he wished to get out of this battle in one piece, Guile released Wagner who collapsed to the ground immediately gasping for air.

"Guile, are you okay?" Kenny asked, picking himself up from the ground.

"I was going to ask you the same thing," he replied. "What the hell happened? The last thing I remember was the car …"

"We crashed," Kenny said, wincing as he touched the side of his head gently.

"How did I get out of the car …?"

"I pulled you out, and it wasn't easy either!" Kenny scratched at the side of his head but winced in pain from the wound he received.

"Holy shit, you're bleeding!" Guile's eyes went wide at the sight. "We've gotta call an ambulance for you."

"We've got bigger things to worry about right now," Kenny said, tipping his chin at Wagner, who was now getting up slowly from the ground. "What happened to him? Why is he attacking us?"

"I don't know," Guile replied, keeping his eyes on Wagner's rising form, "but I've got a hunch. Shadowlaw."

"You take him head on," Kenny suggested. "Distract him while I attack him from behind."

"You can't be serious …"

"Guile, I know he's your son but if we go easy on him, he'll kill us! We have to at least incapacitate him."

"That's not what I meant. Wagner's got a few years on you, not to mention a few solid pounds and military experience. How can you hope to …"

"And I'll kick your ass too, once we're done with him. Now go!"

XXXXX

Colonel Wolfman waited impatiently in the lobby of the hotel, tapping his foot against the marble flooring. Cammy walked through the sliding glass doors of the restaurant entrance hand in hand with Cranky. His eyes were red, and she looked emotionally weak – a sight Wolfman had grown to be familiar with over the time he'd gotten to work with her.

"Is everything settled between you two?" he asked, unsure of what else to say. Then again, perhaps it was none of his business and he should've just kept quiet. Wolfman had never been much of the emotional kind. Cammy didn't seem to mind though, as she replied promptly.

"We're going to be fine," she said.

"That's good to hear."

"Where are the others?" Cranky asked, looking around, noticing the absence of Chun Li and Ryu.

"Ryu's accompanying Ken to the hospital. The poor man … I understand his dedication to his training for this tournament, but with his friend in the condition that he is, I think it'll be hard for him to keep his mind clear. And Chun Li …"

"Did something happen to her?" Cammy asked out of concern, reading the look of regret in Wolfman's eyes.

"She had to book it down to the police station," Wolfman explained. "Apparently a fellow student of hers is being held down there for questioning regarding a little misdemeanor."

"I didn't know the detective had that kind of connection in Osaka," Cammy said.

"He's one of Master Gen's students," Wolfman continued, "and he claims to have something important to tell her – aside of having to be rescued from the Japanese authorities. This can't look good on her record."

"Well, there's no use standing here and wondering what's going on," Cranky said, "let's just go home. I'm exhausted."

"Back to my place?" Cammy asked, a coy smile spreading across her face.

"You know it," Cranky replied back, reflecting her smile back at her.

"You need a lift, Wolfman?"

"No thanks," he said, raising a hand, "Chun Li told me Guile is on his way here – after heading for the house to meet us. The guy's been trying to keep up with us but is one step behind. I'll stay here and wait for him. You guys go ahead."

"Alright then, we'll catch you later."

XXXXX

"Sonic Boom!" Guile swung his arms forward, sending twin spinning blades of chi aimed at Wagner, the sound energy slicing cleanly through the air. Wagner expertly dodged the projectile as he headed towards Guile. The attack continued past Wagner's shoulder, narrowly missing a speeding car on the highway.

"Be careful where you aim," Kenny warned, standing with his body sideways in relation to the antagonist's position, ready to attack at any moment. "There are too many civilians around."

"Come on, Wagner!" Guile taunted. "I thought I taught you better than that!"

"Target's energy levels rising," Wagner said. "Entering alpha mode, offensive." He jumped up, his body traveling vertically up into the air. He kicked his leg out trying to smash Guile in the side of the head, but the target blocked the move easily and retaliated, grabbing Wagner by the knee and taking the young airman to the ground.

Wagner attempted to throw Guile off him by kicking with his other leg as both men crashed into the pavement. This hit was successful, knocking the senses out of him temporarily. Guile backed off to regain his balance but Wagner was determined to keep the offensive position.

Kenny intercepted with a double fist strike, swinging his arms as if he were carrying an invisible baseball bat. His fists crashed into Wagner's midsection, knocking the wind out of him, but Wagner pressed on, grabbing the youth by the collar of his shirt and delivered a vicious head butt into Kenny's forehead, sending him stumbling backwards.

A rested Guile took over the attack once again, somersaulting backwards as he kicked out a leg, performing a violent flash kick. The toe of Guile's combat boots struck Wagner in the jaw sending him soaring a good few feet into the air. Guile performed another flash kick, striking Wagner a second time, and completed the combination attack with a third, each strike sending Wagner higher and higher into the air until he crashed painfully into the ground with a bone crunching thud.

As painful as the landing looked, Wagner got up right away and wiped away a trail of blood from his lip. "Targets are powerful," he said, "requesting back up, Lord Bison. Continuing attack will put this unit at risk of sustaining heavier damage."

"I don't fucking think so!" Kenny cried and lunged for Wagner, arms outstretched. He caught Wagner in a chokehold but wasn't as strong as Guile was, unable to incapacitate him. Wagner flipped Kenny over his shoulder onto the ground and stomped downwards, the strike aimed for his head. Kenny caught Wagner's boot in his hands, but was only capable of softening the blow, as the back of his palms crushed his nose into his face. The youth, keeping a strong hold on Wagner's foot, twisted it, throwing the Shadowlaw agent off balance. While Wagner struggled to regain his balance, Guile jumped in, carefully stepping over Kenny and delivered a spinning back kick to Wagner's chest.

"We can't let him call for backup," Kenny said, scrambling to his feet. His nose was bleeding, the blood flowing down his face and onto his shirt, staining it a deep scarlet.

"You have to stop fighting," Guile suggested, "you can't continue like this."

"Forget about me and keep him busy," Kenny countered, "I'll help while I can. You're in no position to be arguing with … OOF!" Wagner tackled Kenny, positioning himself behind the youth. He wrapped one arm around Kenny's neck, pulling out a combat knife from his boot and held it to his throat.

"Wagner, no!" Guile pleaded.

"Energy reserves depleting," Wagner said, "options limited."

"Think of what you're doing!" Guile continued, deciding that perhaps he should give diplomacy a try. Wagner was a young man with a conscience. The Wagner Guile raised would never be caught dead hiding behind another human being, especially behind a kid like Kenny. "What's happened to you, Wagner? Why are you allying yourself with Shadowlaw after all they've done for you? Remember your family – your REAL family! Remember how they died at Bison's hands …"

Something in Wagner hesitated. His face broke its cold, impersonal expression. His lower lip began to tremble. It was working!

"You're not being any better than Bison was to you," Guile continued. "In fact, you're contributing to his causes. Is this what your parents would want for you?"

"Must … terminate the targets …"

"Are you going to lower yourself to Bison's level by killing a child who's barely hit manhood?"

"Hey!" Kenny yelled, offended by Guile's comment.

"Put the knife down, Wagner. You're just a tool at Bison's disposal. Forget about Shadowlaw. Think about what they did to Cammy, your sister. Think about what you mean to them, and what you mean to us. I know, you can't go on living with yourself if you did this."

"No!" Wagner released Kenny, throwing him forward. Kenny tripped over his own feet and landed face first in the ground. Meanwhile Wagner let go of the knife, letting it clang harmlessly at his feet, while he clutched at his face and cried out in emotional agony. "W…what the hell is going on?" he asked himself.

Guile helped Kenny up, all the while keeping a close eye on Wagner. "Get a hold of yourself, soldier."

"Y…yes, sir," Wagner said, slowly regaining his composure. He looked terrible – his face was pale but at least his eyes were the usual clear blue, nothing like the glazed, emotionless orbs they were just a few moments ago. They had him back … for now.

XXXXX

"I'm sorry I had to bring the news to you like this," Yun said, motioning to his surroundings. The police station was well kept and tidy, white being the color they chose for the walls and the décor. The whole waiting room looked sterile, and he was surprised he couldn't smell and disinfectant or chemicals. "I didn't mean to cause any trouble by coming to Japan, but after I heard that some kid had stolen a woman's wallet, I …"

Chun Li held up her hand, indicating for Yun to stop his excuses. "M…Master Gen is … dead?" she asked, her shoulders and arms trembling with shock.

"Yes," Yun replied, nodding grimly. "He was killed by a … man. Or a demon, I can't say."

"Please Yun, you should know better than to believe in such things."

Yun shook his head. "I never did. But after running into this man, I wasn't so sure anymore. The sheer aura emanating from his body … it felt so unnatural, so inhuman. The way his eyes glowed, his dark skin, the flaming red hair … everything about him seemed more than just human. He was like some kind of creature straight from hell."

"Akuma …" Chun Li whispered with dread.

"He said something about searching for the one man who could embrace the Dark Hadou … the Satsui no Hadou."

"He was supposed to have died in the Mount Fuji explosion," Chun Li said. "But I should've known something like that wouldn't have killed him. After all this time, he's still hunting Ryu."

Yun's eyes widened in surprise. "Ryu? Are you talking about the street fighter champion?"

She nodded. "Akuma was looking for Ryu nine years ago to help spread the Satsui no Hadou. Akuma is the last practitioner of the dark Shotokan arts and he doesn't want it to die with him. That's why he's after Ryu."

"Small world," Yun commented.

"And he killed Master Gen …" Chun Li said, slamming her fist down on the arm rest of the chair. She sniffed and wiped away the tears from her eyes. "What would he want with Master Gen? He was an ailing old man!"

"You know how our Master thinks," Yun said, putting his hand on Chun Li's shoulder. "He would rather go down fighting a worthy opponent than to a disease. But of all the people to take him down, it had to be at the hands of a corrupt demon like Akuma. I want you to help me get to him."

She took her hand away from her face and replied with a firm and solid, "NO!" Yun reared back slightly in shock from her sudden outburst.

"What do you mean by that!"

"I meant what I said," Chun Li continued. "I mean no! You're nowhere near Gen's level of skill and experience. And even HE lost to Akuma. How can you hope to fight him with the kind of experience you have?"

"You're starting to sound like Yang," Yun said, looking down at his feet in disappointment.

"Then Yang is right. As an ex-student of Master Gen's, I understand why you feel you need to avenge his death. But this is a vengeance best left out of your hands. You cannot, against all reason, hope to defeat Akuma."

"I'm surprised to hear you lecturing me about vengeance."

"I didn't run head first into Shadowlaw headquarters to make them pay for what they did to my father," Chun Li explained. "It was that determination that drove me to become a police officer, and then an agent with Interpol. I'm working my way up and training hard with every breathing moment, working hard at developing my skills for the day I will finally face Bison in battle. And yet, I don't even feel ready to take on Akuma. These things take time. Rushing recklessly into a dangerous battle will only get you killed."

"So what do you suggest we do?"

"I suggest you return home to Hong Kong. I have to warn Ryu about Akuma. No doubt he will be hot on Ryu's trail soon, if not already. God, this was the last thing we needed after what happened at the hotel today."

"I'm not letting Ryu kill the man who should be dying at my hands," Yun said defiantly.

"Before Master Gen, there was Master Gouken," Chun Li explained. "Vengeance has been on Ryu's mind far longer that it's been in yours. And Ryu's been training for his battle since before you were born. If anyone is going to take Akuma down, it's him."

"And you're just going to sit back without having any part in it?"

"I wish I could, but I've got my hands full with Bison and Shadowlaw. There's just too much to deal with right now. And sometimes, no matter how great of a warrior you are, you have to rely on others to get you through things. Please try to understand, Yun. I loved Master Gen as much as you do. But I know he wouldn't want any of us concerning ourselves with his death. This is how he chose to end it. It was an honorable death."

"No …" Yun said softly, slowly losing his composure. He threw his arms around Chun Li and began sobbing for his father figure, his teacher, his guide in life. She returned the gesture, also crying for the man that had kept her on the right path, the man who kept her thirst for revenge in check and instilled a strong sense of justice in her.

If there was one thing positive about Master Gen's death, it was the fact that it had brought two very different people of different generations closer together. They had one thing in common though, and it was the fact that they had been raised by a great man. Master Gen would have been proud.