Wagner attacked with the fury of a storm, fists flying away in Guile's general direction, colliding indiscriminately with the walls, furniture, and the skin and bone of his father's face. He moved with lightning quick, calculated strikes, grunting in frustration after having Guile always just a split second ahead of his movements, successfully predicting where the next strike was about to land. It had only been a few seconds, but it felt like an eternity to Wagner – or whatever was controlling him. Not a single blow had met its intended target but nonetheless, the older, more experienced airman seemed to be on his toes, and Wagner was keeping him there. Now if he could only find a way to land a hit …

"You're still too slow, son," Guile taunted. "Look at you! Your face is red, you're already sweating and we've barely begun! What about all those breathing exercises we went through, huh?"

But Guile soon ate his words, and Wagner's fist as it plowed into his mouth, knocking him off his feet and a few teeth too. Guile toppled over backwards, hitting the back of his head against the floor, the impact driving the air from his lungs. Wagner wasted no time in letting Guile recover, throwing himself on top of his father, arm flexed, elbow extended, aiming for his ribs. Guile wasn't able to avoid the blow in time, having his air drained lungs crushed further by Wagner's solid elbow.

"I knew you'd run out of steam soon, old man," Wagner taunted, standing victoriously over Guile. He raised himself up on his elbows and stared up at the face of his son. A part of him was proud – proud that Wagner had finally succeeded him after all these years. He'd never expected it to come so soon, but the moment was here. He wished it would be under different circumstances however, one that didn't involve Wagner about to kill him.

"Don't do it, Wagner," Guile said. "You're going to live to regret this."

"I have my orders. And they are to be carried out as Lord Bison wishes." Guile was about to protest but was silenced as Wagner reached into his boot and pulled out a hunting knife, tossing it lightly into the air, letting the dull light of the room shine brilliantly off its razor sharp, polished blade.

Guile's brow formed a sheen of cold sweat after laying his eyes on the blade. He swallowed a dry lump in his throat, mouth struggling to form coherent words, but no sound came out. He watched the blade of the knife approach him slowly. Wagner's form seemed to disappear beneath the glow of light reflecting off it. Time itself slowed to a crawl. Guile realized he was helpless. He could've tried to move out of the way, tried to perhaps disarm Wagner, but he knew in the end, Wagner would finish the job. The only way of truly stopping him would be to destroy Wagner, and Guile was not about to do that. Better to die at the hands of his own son than to kill him.

Before the knife blade to plunge into Guile's chest, he saw Wagner's face contort into a mask of pain and his body flew sideways. All Guile could see now, where Wagner once stood, was a large fist where his face used to be.

"Ryu," Guile gasped, but was too shocked to say much else. He felt to soft, cool hands take him by an arm and lift him to his feet.

"Are you alright, Captain?" a stern, feminine voice asked.

"Chun Li! What are you two doing here?"

"Preventing your son from doing anymore damage," Ryu replied with his back to Guile, facing Wagner who was now picking himself off the ground. "It seems we came just in time."

"Don't hurt him," Guile pleaded. "He doesn't know what he's doing."

"We have to undo the brainwashing Shadowlaw's done on him." Ryu claimed. "But the trick is taking him down."

After helping Guile up to his feet, Chun Li brushed her hands off the side of her jeans and joined Ryu at his side, fists raised, ready to beat Wagner down if he tried anything funny. "Do you think he could go through a memory wipe if we save him?" Chun Li asked Guile.

Guile didn't know the answer to the question, and he hoped it wasn't what he was thinking. He remembered Cammy after her memory wipe and she'd completely lost it upon rediscovering who she was and what she'd done under Shadowlaw's control. Kenny experienced the same thing but was left not knowing anything about his past for nine years, up until earlier this week! But Wagner … there wasn't really anything about his past to hide from him, so it wouldn't be much more than a simple relearning process. How hard could it be?

"Take him down now, ask questions later," Guile said, getting up, joining Chun Li and Ryu. "The odds aren't looking to be in your favor, son. There's no use in pursuing the attack."

"I will not fail Master Bison," Wagner said, and attacked.

XXXXX

Cranky pulled Cammy excitedly down the hallway like a child leading his mother to a toy store. She struggled to keep up with him, because if she dared to fall a step behind, he'd pull her along anyway. Not that he could control his own strength. Cranky was a strong young man in his early twenties, working regularly with weights since he was sixteen. Cammy on the other hand hadn't changed physically since she was that age. Still light as a feather, petite and although dense with muscle of her own, she was too tired to resist Cranky.

"Tonight, I'm going to make you the happiest woman alive," Cranky said excitedly.

"I can't wait," Cammy replied, trying to sound excited but her mind was preoccupied with greater things right now than sex – like being accepted into the Street Fighter tournament! Like her father before her, Cammy was going to be a street fighter. She could help in bringing Shadowlaw to justice after everything they'd done to her, her father, Guile, Wagner … basically everyone she ever loved and cared about. They even had the audacity to lay a finger on Melissa, Guile's daughter and Cammy's own adoptive little sister. The opportunity to finally deliver to them what they had coming all these years excited Cammy more than an evening with Cranky ever could. She'd been waiting too long for this chance, and finally, FINALLY it had come.

"We should try and wake up early tomorrow," Cranky said. "I want to get back here in the morning so we can take Kenny out to breakfast. He'll like the real stuff, not the crap food they serve you in the hospital. It'll be like old times. Only this time, we'll actually have paid for the meal with real money, not the money we'd take from people."

Cammy smiled. "It's good to see that you've turned your life around," she said. "But if it's going to be like old times, I'm sure the both of you will have a lot of catching up to do. Are you sure it's appropriate for me to be there?"

Cranky shook his head, completely certain that he wanted Cammy there. "Taking care of that fucker taught me to be responsible. He played a big part in my past and you … you're going to be a part of my future." He gazed into Cammy's eyes and smiled. "There are no more secrets between us, Cammy. You've stuck by my side after finding out the weapons dealing bullshit I was involved in with Shadowlaw. And even after finding out what I did to you … with Juli and all, you're still here. There's nothing left to hide, and everything to discover about me. I want you and Kenny to get to know each other. I really do." He wrapped an arm around Cammy's waist and pulled her in close, the other arm around her shoulders. They didn't kiss this time, just shared a genuine, tight, love-filled hug.

Cammy responded similarly, but her mind was swimming with guilt. Cranky had been disloyal to her in the past, there was no denying. He'd put her through hell. But now, the way he reacted when talking about them, their relationship, he seemed genuinely happy. He seemed so free, and she was envious of that. He was willing to open up to her, tell her and show her every aspect of his life that he possibly could. But she was keeping a secret from him – the secret of the miscarriage of her – THEIR baby. But doing so would cause her to lose him, she was sure of it, knowing Cranky's temper. She was good at predicting when he would explode, but she couldn't predict how it would end. Sometimes he would come back to her and apologize for his actions. Other times, she'd have to go to him and apologize and then they'd fight. Well on the bright side, the make-up sex wasn't too bad. She had to get her mind off the topic before she exploded with guilt and told him right then and there. She wasn't ready. She had to wait for the right time. And this moment was too perfect for the both of them to ruin. The secret would have to wait. Cammy changed the subject.

"You know, Kenny's done a great job taking care of himself all these years," she said.

Cranky agreed. "Yeah, he has. I'm proud of the brat."

"So then, why do you feel the need to … you know, hover over his shoulder?"

Cranky was taken aback. He crinkled his brow at Cammy and said, "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh come on," she said, elbowing him lightly in the ribs, "suggesting you stay and watch him overnight? Did you notice his face turn beet red, especially when you treated him like such a child in front of everyone? Don't get me wrong, Cranky, I think it's sweet. But you need to realize that he's not the same six year old child when you last saw him."

"Easy for you to say, babe," Cranky said, "you weren't there when he was that young. I was."

"Look, all I'm saying is …" she sighed, surrendering to the fact that maybe he had a point. "All I'm saying is it's because of that selflessness that I love you …" Cammy congratulated herself for pulling that one straight out of her ass, but when she thought about it, she realized it wasn't untrue either. But hey, it was good for Cranky as he suddenly threw his arm across her shoulders and they walked towards the underground parking, past the cafeteria.

"Oh my gosh," Cammy suddenly said, putting a hand to her mouth. Cranky had stopped dead in his tracks too, as the both of them stared ahead.

There was a man with his back turned to them, stumbling forward, trembling violently. A few feet away, further down the hall, closer to the cafeteria stood Ken Masters. A bag of cheddar Doritos lay crumbled on the ground just a few feet away, its contents sprawled over the flooring. Ken caught sight of Cammy and Cranky, but never flinched from his fighting stance, ready to engage his attacker at any given moment. He spoke to them.

"Get out of here, you two," he ordered. "This is dangerous."

"That's … that's Julian!" Cammy exclaimed, pointing a shaky finger.

"Marquez!" Cranky cried in shock.

The man turned around to face them, stared at them defiantly, the shifted his gaze in the opposite direction towards Ken. He was surrounded on both sides. And on the inside, the Agent Initiative technology was threatening to burst forth.

"Kill me," Julian said weakly. "I can't take this torture anymore."

Upon hearing those words, Cammy's heart sank. She hadn't actually been in physical contact with Julian a whole lot, but they've shared words, phone calls, heard about one another through third parties to the point where now she actually felt like she knew the man. And somehow, she knew he felt the same way about her. She could also see the pain in Ken's eyes, the way his face was twisted into an expression of aggression. But his eyes were wide and teary, like he regretted what he was about to do.

"NO!" Cammy screamed. "I'm not going to sit here and watch you give up, Julian!" He looked back at her, the effort throwing him down onto his knees. Cammy continued. "I've seen you go through more shit than this, and you pulled through just fine. Remember all those years you spent in the dark prison cell? You fought it, and you made it out alright! You fought for me when Shadowlaw had me under their control! You fought for Ken and Eliza! And I will not let you lose now, especially when this time, you're fighting for YOURSELF!"

Cammy had kept him distracted for Ken, although that was far from her intentions. Ken Masters, world Shotokan Champion and winner of the U.S. Martial Arts Open snuck up behind Julian and dealt a devastating blow to him temple, knocking the much larger man out cold. Cammy screamed as Ken's fist made contact with Julians head, and again when his body slumped cold and unconscious to the floor.

He bent down to inspect Julian to see if he was still kicking. Deciding that he was okay, Ken looked up at Cammy and winked. "That's, babe, I owe you one." He smiled that arrogant, rich boy smile again, the one that was so good at getting under her skin.

"What have you done!" she almost screeched, but Cranky took her gently by the shoulders and held her close to him.

"It's alright," he whispered into her ear. "Now we can save Marquez."

"That's right," Ken agreed. "What better place to get him fixed up than a hospital?"