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 4: Arrangements
by Evil Wild Lex
Interpol base, Italy
With a grim expression across her lovely face, Chun-Li searched through the Interpol database for the telephone number of Ken Masters. It had been nearly five years since they had last spoken; of the six they had known each other. It wasn't because of any falling out. She had just become too preoccupied with becoming a detective in a short amount of time, and avenging her father, that she didn't have much time for friends. Much less one at the other side of the globe. It was a shame that they hadn't kept in contact, and had drifted their own ways. She remembered his friendly nature and sense of humor, and wished he were here now to joke with, and lighten the somber tone in the Interpol base.
At last, she found the number. She paused for a moment, heart beating slightly faster than it had been. Why did she feel so nervous about calling? She was just going to warn him about Shadowlaw, was all.
But that wasn't all. He had been her very first crush, and the only one that had ever progressed into anything, even if it was basically just friendship. She heard he had a fiancée a while ago, and this was just a professional call, but she did feel the slightest hue of pink creep onto her cheeks before she finally pressed the buttons to dial his number.
"Hello?"
"May I speak to Ken Masters? It's an urgent call from Interpol."
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"Speaking," Ken replied. The woman's voice on the other end sounded very familiar for some reason. "Now, what's so urgent?"
"Ken, it's Chun-Li Xiang," said the woman, her voice losing some of its professional formality for a moment, "Agent Chun-Li Xiang."
Now, that was somewhat of a surprise. If Ken remembered correctly, she was only in her early twenties. Twenty-one, to be exact. For her to have become an agent of Interpol was some accomplishment, indeed. Perhaps that was why they'd lost contact. True, he could have put more effort into it himself, but there were so many tournaments to fight, and then Eliza had come along, and so much of his free time had seemed to vanish.
"Chun-Li? What's wrong?" He heard her take a deep breath before she began to explain.
"Shadowlaw wasn't fully defeated last year," she said seriously. The professional tone was that, but there was a touch of personal concern mixed in. "We haven't determined if Bison is alive yet, but his two full-grown kids are with Shadowlaw now, and we suspect several of their most dangerous members to still be alive."
"And they're going to try and recruit me and Ryu again?" Ken ventured, brushing messy, dark blonde hair from his brown eyes. "I'll let Ryu know. He's coming to visit in a couple of days."
"Not necessarily recruit," warned Chun-Li. "Bison failed twice already. They might decide it's not worth the trouble and just kill you."
"Aww, we can handle it!" Ken said cheerfully. He almost welcomed the challenge of such dangerous opponents. Almost. He didn't relish winding up how he had in the cage fight with Vega six years ago, or his and Ryu's confrontation with Bison a year ago. "Me and Ryu kicked Bison's sorry ass last year, and if he's still alive, we'll do it again!"
"Well, just be careful," instructed the Chinese woman, affection for her friend creeping into her tone of voice. "I have to get back to work now."
"Wait, Chun-Li," Ken said, spontaneously. He'd never felt anything more than platonic for the young woman, but those platonic feelings were strong. To him, she was like the sister that he'd never been blessed with. "I'd really like for you to visit sometime and meet Eliza.... I bet Ryu would love to see you, too." There was only silence on the other end for a minute, before his old friend gave her answer.
"Sure, sounds great," she replied pleasantly, sounding more like the Chun-Li he knew than she had in this entire conversation. "I'll be in the United States in a couple of days, as a matter of fact. Just as soon as I take care of some business."
"Give me a ring, then," Ken instructed, a big grin plastered onto his face, despite the disturbing news. "You've got my number."
"Will do," she replied. "See you soon, Ken." The next thing he heard was the dial tone, but he wasn't offended by the lack of a formal goodbye in the slightest. He seldom bothered with formality, and liked to get straight to the point, so why should it be any different for anyone else?
All in all, he looked forward to events to come. His wedding was in just a few months, he would be seeing Ryu and Chun-Li soon, and finally, there would be some _real_ excitement, with Shadowlaw active again. He'd continued to train, and there really was nothing quite like fighting for your life, rather than just to win the fight. The adrenaline that coursed through your system as the 'fight or flight' instincts kicked in....to Ken, it was one of the most unique and remarkable feelings he'd ever experienced.
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Shadowlaw base, Brazil
It had been several hours since their initial arrival, and Bison had already given his son the tour of all the areas of the base he would allow the young man to venture in. He didn't know how far he could trust him just yet. It was certain that Spartacus had no love for Interpol, but Bison decided not to be imprudent by placing too much confidence in him too early. Better to show his child/clone all the benefits of staying with the Shadowlaw organization, and let him decide what he wanted to do with his life. Any offspring worthy of succeeding M.Bison would know a good deal when one was presented to them.
Presently, he sat alone. Spartacus had been left with Sagat, who was showing off the large training facility this base offered in more detail than the Shadowlaw leader had elected to. It was just as well. There was much to teach the lad, to be sure, but Bison was also curious about the other child, who had yet to wake up. Vega had confessed to using more sedative than necessary for a young woman of her size, and Balrog and Sagat had both backed him up in his story that the bruising on the girl was on account of the fall she had taken, not inflicted by any of the street fighters sent to retrieve her.
Familiar footsteps entered the room, and a polite knock came from the doorway. Without even turning, Bison declared, "You may enter, Cammy."
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"Your daughter is awake," Cammy declared. Awake wasn't exactly the best word for it, but she'd stirred, made noise and attempted to stumble out of the cell they'd locked her in. Awake by technical definition, anyhow. The beautiful scarred blonde had only gotten a very basic version of the story, and abstractly wondered how much sedative Vega had given the girl.... enough to stun a horse, perhaps?
"Excellent," Bison said approvingly. He got up and rested his hand on her shoulder in that gentle way he did whenever he was pleased with her, idly massaging it with his strong fingers. "Has she eaten? Is she dressed?"'
Admittedly, Cammy would have felt more than a little jealous of the Shadowlaw master's concern over Athena, if she hadn't known the young woman was his daughter. Even though Cammy didn't know of the particulars behind it all, at least she was satisfied in knowing the girl had been brought into the world long before she had ever become involved with Shadowlaw and Bison. Even though she was just one of the several extremely talented and deadly members of Shadowlaw, she was attached to Bison in more ways than the others were, and wouldn't have liked to find herself sharing. She couldn't even remember most of her life, so she chose to hold onto the one she had here.
Together they walked to Athena's cell. Cammy was prompted to enter first, to make sure the child was decent. There hadn't been much in the way of appropriate women's clothing to give her, so Cammy had left a pair of her own leggings, and a shirt that barely fit Bison at all on account of his broad shoulders. When she poked her head in, the dark redheaded girl had the temperament of a wolverine, but she was at least dressed in the leggings and oversized shirt.
Cammy nodded to Bison, and the master of Shadowlaw entered for a family reunion.
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Bison was taken aback how much his daughter looked like someone important from a past he seldom dredged up. It was an uncanny resemblance, really. He almost whispered Venus' name when looking at his daughter, who looked like an exact replica of the woman that occupied his life pre-Shadowlaw. In fact, that uncanny resemblance was just too uncanny for it to be coincidence. She had purposely been created to look like that by Interpol, to weaken him when she was sent to kill him. He was sure of it. The thought incensed him, that anyone should know his past, and worse, that anyone should know enough to expose him. He had taken so many steps to prevent just such a thing.
"Hello," he greeted, more casually than he'd greeted anyone in the past few years.
As soon as the word left his mouth, a knife came flying at his left eye with such velocity and force that he erected a shield of psycho power for protection. Instead of being angry at the attack, Bison grinned widely. She was his daughter, all right.
"Nice throw."
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With a quiet growl, Athena forced herself into a fighting stance the best she could manage with the room spinning the way it was. The butter knife had been aimed for his throat, not his eye, and it wouldn't do to be so weak in front of someone she was supposed to be able to kill. It was all that damned Vega's fault! If it wasn't for the sedative he'd stabbed into her neck, she would have been fine. She wondered who had been sent to retrieve her brother. Of the pair, he was the stronger one, far more like their father than she.
"Where's Spartacus?" she demanded, thinking of her half brother.
"I presume he's still training with Sagat," Bison replied. He arched an eyebrow at her fighting stance, not entirely threatening looking when she was wobbling to and fro.
"Well, you'd better let us both go!"' Athena was furious she'd been brought here, when her goal had been to escape all people that would use them for weapons. To this, her father chuckled.
"Or you'll what? Teleport out of here and land flat on your face?" Her cheeks flushed in response to the reminder. The fall wasn't one of her finer moments. Bison's expression grew serious now, and he spoke again. "Athena, Spartacus chose to come here of his own free will. I promised him training, and I'm extending the offer to you, too."
"I'm not a killing machine," she said automatically. If Interpol was willing to use her for killing, surely Bison wouldn't hesitate.
"I didn't say you were, child. But you have so much to learn that only I could teach you." Before she could argue with him further, he continued. "Wouldn't you like the chance to get revenge on Interpol? Don't you find it hypocritical that an organization to prevent crime would create someone like yourself?" Athena refrained from answering, knowing her father was right about those things at least. "Have you ever looked at the people in power, knowing your intelligence far exceeded theirs?"
When he still received no response, Bison was satisfied. "Shadowlaw has many things to offer, and I hope you're not so blind as to ignore them. Stay here with your brother and I for a month, then you can choose whether to stay or leave."
"What about the agents sent to find me?" she said, getting to another important point.
"They won't find you here, and we'll have Miss Chun Li Xiang and the others taken care of. Someone's monitoring them constantly."
"One month, then."
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Author's note: Heh....I thought I'd cut this off here, but I promise I'll write REALLY soon, since I had plenty of other characters I wanted to get to, but didn't want to make this chapter too long.
If you've gotten to this point, please review! And for an added point, you can tell me what fights you'd like to see. ^________^ I have a few planned, but some are up in the open, and you, the readers get some say in them. *grin*