Disclaimer: Street Fighter II and all of the characters within it belong to Capcom. This fanfic, as well as the created characters within it belong to me.

Part 2: The Hunt is On

by Evil Wild Lex

Interpol building, Italy

The panic of the previous day had been exhausting, with the news of the Athena and Spartacus projects escaping being one of the worst things to happen to Interpol in some time. The dark haired woman sighed. She'd been called in to help with this operation because she had personally dealt with Shadowlaw on more than one occasion, and her experience would certainly be an asset in dealing with the biological progeny of M.Bison. There was no doubt in her mind, or the mind of any experienced Interpol agent, for that matter, that Shadowlaw would discover the two. The organization had been very quiet this entire year after the damage Interpol, the American army, as well as a few talented fighters had inflicted upon it in a battle against Bison. However, that didn't mean that it didn't still exist. There was even a decent chance that Bison was still alive and in hiding somewhere, and who knew who else may have survived? It seemed that the best people, like her father, were never given a second chance to live - whereas scum like Bison and his ilk kept coming back as persistently as cockroaches.

If Bison was still alive, Chun Li Xiang vowed he wouldn't be that way for very long. There were too many atrocities he had to answer for, and he was too dangerous to be allowed to live. For what he'd done to her father, to Guile's partner, to Ken and Ryu, and to so many others, he had to die.

Five of the best agents Interpol had would be working on this case with her, including George Clarke, from some remote area of Canada. That was relieving at least. She'd seen each of the agents in hand to hand combat training before, and each of the agents brought with them intelligence, and their own specialties. Agent Clarke had been assigned this case because of his talent for tracking people down. Chun Li hoped he'd demonstrate those tracking skills for him very soon, before Shadowlaw got hold of the two.

"Agent Xiang, I believe you would be the best one to give us a briefing on the Shadowlaw organization," Agent Clarke urged, his brown eyes focusing on her intently. "You've had the most direct experience with them, so you'd be able to explain first hand what we're up against. Agent O'Connor can brief us on the Spartacus and Athena projects."

Chun Li nodded, and stood up. "Sure." She took a second to prepare the slide machine, then nodded to the agent nearest the light switches to turn the lights off. The first picture was a familiar face to all of the agents, a bulky black boxer by the name of Balrog.

"This is Balrog, who as you know, was thrown out of the American boxing league for excessively violent behaviour some time ago. For years, he was involved with our organization, secretly acting as a spy for Shadowlaw all the while. About six years ago, he was discovered, but escaped our custody and spent the remaining years working with Shadowlaw. We are certain that he is alive now. Fortunately, we screen our agents much more stringently now."

As she clicked to the next slide, one of the Thai fighter, Sagat, a glint of amusement passed over Agent Clarke's face. Perhaps more stringently, but still not enough, he thought to himself. He listened while Chun Li explained about Sagat, and then clicked to a slide of Vega. She mentioned that there was a good chance that he was dead, as she'd fought him and kicked him through her wall from a high enough height that it was possible. There was still some uncertainty, though, because strong people with above average fighting talent tended to live through more ordeals than a common person. Clarke/Cougar could have quite easily clarified things, if he'd so pleased. He knew very well that Vega was alive and kicking, thinking of a cliché expression while he pretended to listen attentively to the rest of Miss Xiang's briefing.

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Several hours later

Venice, Italy

After another hour in the meeting, Cougar had retrieved information that was quite useful for his purposes. He now had recent photos of both Spartacus and Athena, and enough information to support that the pair had decided to hide in Venice, Italy. Of course, he hadn't told everyone that he suspected Venice specifically. He had suggested Rome, Venice, and Florence, three of the country's major tourist cities, on the grounds that they could blend in much more easily as young tourists there, than in the small towns. Thusly, he and Agent O'Connor had been sent to Venice, Agent Chun Li Xiang had been sent to Rome with another agent, and the remaining two had gone to Florence to search.

He'd taken the south and eastern portions of the water-filled city, leaving the north and western portions to Agent O'Connor. Cougar had learned to obey his instincts when it came to tracking people down. He was fairly certain that the two youths had gone southwest, and wanted to direct Agent O'Connor as far away from them as possible until Bison had the chance to retrieve them. He'd checked two hotels in the area already, and none of the hotel staff had seen either Athena or Spartacus. There was a third in the area, Albergo di Lusso, "Luxury Hotel". If this one didn't turn out, he would pursue the smaller, less expensive ones. However, instinct told him that they would be there. They'd want privacy, and they'd want a big enough place that the staff wouldn't remember them if they chose not to be remembered.

It wasn't a long trip to Albergo di Lusso, and when Cougar/Agent Clarke stopped in there and flashed his Interpol identification and pictures of the two to the hotel staff, he found that his guess had been correct. The looks of recognition were all the confirmation that he needed.

"I'm sorry Agent Clarke," said the manager, a short, stout, but well groomed man. "Those two people are here, yes, but I can't tell you which room until you show me a search warrant. We're committed to protecting the privacy of our customers."

Cougar nodded amiably. "I understand...I'll be back as soon as I find one." He passed a card to the manager. "However, if you would, please call me to let me know if and when they check out, so that I won't have to bother you any further."

He pretended to leave the building, but in reality stayed and waited for an opportunity to get behind the front desk without being noticed. The attendant there had posted a sign that read "back in fifteen minutes". Hopefully, it would take only a couple of those minutes to figure out approximately where they were located.

A few minutes later, he'd narrowed their location down to four rooms, and decided that was the best he could do without getting caught where he wasn't supposed to be. With the grace and speed of his namesake, Cougar darted away from the front desk, and exited the hotel. He had enough information to give the master, Bison. The hunt was on.

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^^ Well, that was chapter 2. Please read and review.