Beautiful Stranger

(Part 5)

Their arms clashed as they collided. Blow for blow was traded in the fight. Cammy was faster than he was, but Matthew McCoy, the largest member of Delta Red, had power unachievable to normal human beings. It was her turn for the training session with him, which usually turned out to be the hardest training session of them all. Cammy swung at his face, but Matthew caught her hand and began to crush it. She screamed in pain and he began to bring her to one knee. She saw the opening. It was a cheap one, but anything went in these sessions. Her powerful knee slammed into him, bringing the giant to his knees. He grabbed his groin in pain as Cammy examined her hand.

"That was low Cammy, very low." Matthew exclaimed in the suppressed voice.

Cammy chuckled back. "All's fair in love and war." She swung her foot around and connecter to his head, sending him to the ground. She began to walk away while he was slowly getting to his feet.

"It's not over yet, Cammy." Matthew exclaimed as he got to his feet. He sure was a durable guy.

"That's enough for today, we have important business to take care off." Wolfman's explanation destroyed the mood of the fight. He brushed his fingers through his orange hair as Cammy and a stumbling Matthew followed him. Luwanda and George could be heard snickering and Matthew walked by. They walked into the office of Delta Red headquarters and sat down in the four chairs in front of Wolfman's desk. Wolfman took his usual seat on the desk, but this time Hanna was not there. Wolfman's chair turned to reveal short man who they recognized at the leader of the English Secret Service.

"Greetings, I suspect you had a vigorous morning workout." The man said as he stood up. "Today I speak with you on an important matter. Two years ago, you infiltrated the base at Shadaloo and supported a force to eliminate Bison. Although I wouldn't doubt if your abilities were actually superior to theirs, your mission was successful, to an extent anyways."

Cammy interrupted. "To an extent, sir?"

The man responded. "As you know, one Shadaloo officer was captured, his name was Balrog. The two other officers, Sagat and Vega were killed. Then Bison was killed after you left the mission site."

This time it was Wolfman who broke in. "We know of the mission reports."

The Agent continued. "You think you know of the reports. That's were I am getting at. We have reason to believe that their is one key member of Shadaloo still around."

Cammy leaned forward, listening intently. "Is it Bison?"

The man answered. "Fortunately, no. His body was positively ID'ed and dealt with."

Cammy reasoned. "Then it must be Sagat. I killed Vega myself."

The man lowered his head. "Sagat's body was also identified. Tell me Ms. White, did you actually see Vega die?"

Cammy tried to recall the moment. "I pierced his lungs with an attack, and then we left him to die. He was dying when we left."

The man rose his voice. "Answer the question, did you see him die?"

"No, I didn't actually see him die." She lowered her head. She wanted nothing to do with Shadaloo anymore, but she knew that she would have to.

"Very well then." The man responded. "This mission is of the highest priority, for that reason, Lieutenant Hanna will not be supporting you from base. We must have as few of people know of this mission as possible. If they knew we were chasing after a guy who might not even be alive, Delta Red could be disbanded. They looked at each other, partially wondering their fate. There is a man hired by the Spanish government who will provide you with the information and backup for the mission. His name is Xavier Salvador."

Cammy spoke up before the man left. "If I may ask one more question, why were we selected for the mission and not the Interpol agents who were present?"

The man stood at the door as he answered the questions. "Only two of the members were actually working with the mission under the affiliation. Chun-Li has since quit her job and Colonel Guile retired from active duty. Both of their whereabouts are unknown at this time. Besides, I have heard that you would know of this individual than any of the others."

Cammy knew he had a point. She was once a Shadaloo member. The man walked out the door and another, larger man walked in. He wasn't as big as McCoy; he was more comparable to Wolfman in height and weight. His face was unscarred and his eyes were a dark brown. His hair was black and his skin was lightly tanned. He spoke with a deep Spanish accent. "I am sure you all have been briefed on the situation at hand. Let's get something straight." Xavier put stood behind the desk and put his palms on the table. "This is not a wild goose chase because we cannot find a body. We have had a few civilian sites of Vega Fabio de Cerna, as well as some sites from our own agents. All these sites match the descriptions perfectly and the particular individual never stayed around long enough to be questioned." Xavier began pacing and seemed to ramble on. "This leads us to believe that the individual seen is actually Vega. We believe that he would not dare return to Spain, for he may think highly of himself, he is not stupid. After the incident in Thailand, there were numerous sightings in that general area. The most recent being in Japan, which seems to be a tad strange since that seems to be the last known whereabouts of many of the task force on Shadaloo. But that aside, he was believed to be seen in the mountainous region of Japan as late as two weeks ago. We will begin our search from a small village about 20 miles away from his last seen location. We will have to travel inconspicuously for obvious reasons." At this he stopped talking. His piercing gaze shot across the room. He could tell no one had any questions. "We leave at 0900 hours tomorrow."

Xavier got up and walked out of the room, leaving the members of Delta Red staring at each other in silence. Luwanda broke the silence. "So this guy you fought is the same guy you hated in Shadaloo and the same guy who tried to kill you?"

Cammy responded. "Yes."

Luwanda looked down, then back up. "Oh, then why are you smiling?"

They all looked at Cammy, who had her head bowed. But a smile could still be seen. "I guess that it's been so long since I had a rival." The others stared, but no one spoke for the rest of the day.

The Search Begins

Cammy hardly knew him, but she already knew that she didn't like Xavier. Something about him didn't seem right. George agreed with her, but the others didn't seem to notice.

The sun had risen slightly over the buildings as they stepped onto the plane that would take them most of the way to Japan. It was quite a long plane trip to the airport in Japan. The time was filled with mission briefings followed by an old black and white movie. When the plane landed a little over nineteen hours later in Osaka, they were all worn out. They found a hotel to rest in until the helicopter left the next day. Still jet- lagged from the day before they boarded a helicopter, which would take them to a smaller village from Osaka. Compared to the plane trip the day before, this helicopter ride seemed short. They landed near a village with trees and bushes scattered about.

The man spoke in Japanese as he put a coin on a table. The merchant, an elderly woman, spoke a few words back to him. He responded a few words and was just about to extract another coin when the helicopter was heard overhead. The quiet village was unaccustomed to the noise that came from above. The children pointed and stared but the man began to breathe deeply. When the helicopter started to descend, he ran to some bushes, which were near the landing point. Hiding behind them, he gazed at the helicopter. It appears Interpol has found me. I'll have to move on soon. The man thought to himself. But as the door opened, a look of dread spread across his face. He saw the familiar uniform on a few of the soldiers, but he had not yet seen her. Maybe they're of the same faction. But he is with them; I need to watch my back. He was calm until he saw her step off the helicopter. Oh my god. She's here. My god why is she here. I could deal with anyone else. Vega slowly stepped back as Cammy stepped from the stuffy helicopter. He ran through the village into the nearby mountains. The group was right behind him, although they did not know it yet.

On the trail

"We are looking for a light man." Xavier tried to explain again. The lady obviously didn't understand him. Xavier ran his fingers through his hair in frustration. He reached for a picture and showed her the photo of their target. The lady squinted behind her glasses and smiled. She spoke a few words in Japanese, which frustrated Xavier more. She pointed out to the mountains. Xavier smiled at the gesture and went to the group.

"I think she said that he want that way." He pointed to the mountains.

"Thank you, Captain Obvious." Luwanda chimed in. A stern look from Xavier had no affect on her. "It's apparent that you don't speak any Japanese. I would have expected the Spanish government to send someone who could, or at least a translator. The important thing is not where he went, for he could have easily looped around the town. The important thing is when he went. We have to find proof that he left recently. This isn't exactly the most active town on the map; they might remember him for who knows how long."

It was George who found out the information. No one knew that he was fluent in Japanese, but they all seemed glad that he was. "She said that he was there today. He left that way." George pointed to the mountains, which were being scorched by the hot day's sun. There was silence as they moved through the terrain. They did their best to track him. A wind blew away most of the footprints in the dust, so they had to rely on the more subtle means to track him. They were moving much slower than he was.

Blast from the Past

In fact, Vega ran for a good mile when he saw Cammy step out of the helicopter. He stopped when the village was out of site and he was out of breath. He shook his hair back from in front of his face. He was on a little plateau looking out over a canyon. There was a crooked tree to the side of him. He put his arm in it and gazed out over the canyon. He closed his eyes, taking in the scenery. He did not know how fast they were traveling, so he decided it would be best to keep his rest short. He was not ready to face them yet. He continued on walking, trying to maintain his energy. There was a stream in the valley below, which drained into a lake. He could see the dots of green from the alligators that seemed to inhabit the lake. He did not know how they got there, although he guessed that they escaped from a zoo somewhere, even though that seemed ridiculous. This was a large, round mountain in front of him. There was a thin path that appeared to have been warn up the mountain from previous travel. The village was on the other side of the river, and he did not remember crossing it. There was a rope bridge that connected the two cliffs. He began to walk up the path to the top of the mountain.

It was a rather long walk. The path circled the mountain several times, but the cliffs were too steep to climb up. It took him a good hour to make it to the top. When he reached it, he leaned onto a gnarled tree, which was at the top of the hill. There was a large building that was visible behind some trees. Vega took it to be a monastery. Vega sighed and felt at peace. A foot hitting the ground from behind him widened his eyes.

"You? I remember you." The stranger said from behind him.

Vega slowly turned around, saw the man, and replied. "Oh, you're the one who killed Sagat."

Ryu lowered his head. "And you almost killed Chun-Li. I thought the other girl killed you."

Vega retorted. "Things are not always what they appear to be." He reached down to his side. Ryu glanced at the movement and stepped to a fighting stance. Vega took one step forward and leapt into the strong sunlight. Ryu had to squint to see his figure. He landed heavily behind Ryu. His claw was donned, and his mask looked as if it hadn't been touched in years. "Let's make this quick, I have something important I need to do."

He turned around. Ryu did the same, just after him. They stood there, feeling each other out. No one wanted to make the first move. An uneasy serenity filled the air. Vega's mind was on the progress of Cammy.

Slow in Coming

Vega didn't have much to worry about. A wind covered his tracks as he moved, and morale among Delta Red was waning. The eerie silence that encompassed them as they traveled was broken by Wolfman's cries of dissatisfaction.

"This is pointless." Wolfman yelled. The rest of the group looked at him. Wolfman kicked dirt off the ground. "Shit, we're supposed to be terrorist specialists, not detectives. My god we're on a fucking wild goose chase through some mountains in Japan following a guy that may not even be here. And what the hell is he doing." Wolfman pointed at Xavier. "We are going so slow that a turtle could escape us. Creeping along does no good if we don't have a trail. We might as hell run in and at least hope he's here. Our expertise is with neutralization, not tracking."

The other had to agree with him. They weren't going anywhere, and Cammy knew that Vega was already faster than they were. Xavier broke the uneasy silence. "I guess your right. We are moving too slow, and there is no real trail. We should make haste. Besides, there is one of him, and six of us."

They moved much faster after words. But they were still well away from Vega.

Burden of the Past

This was a fight Vega had not expected. These two had nothing similar among them, so they were naturally cautious when fighting. The first time they clashed was in mid-air. They both fell to the ground relatively unharmed. They turned to face each other again. Ryu hurled a fireball at Vega, who waited and flipped over it. He swung his claw at Ryu, he easily dodged it. Vega's foot hit Ryu in the chest when he dodged the claw. Ryu stumbled back and lunged at Vega. Vega blocked high, but was hit with a rising dragon punch in his stomach. Vega flipped back and swung his foot into Ryu's jaw. Ryu stumbled back a few steps, but then stood straight up.

He rubbed his cheek where the foot struck. There wasn't a mark on it. "You almost killed Chun-Li, yet you won't even fight me with your true power?"

Vega sensed that the fight was over and stood up straight. "Why should I fight you? I have no reason."

Ryu answered in the same monotonous tone he spoke with. "Yet you had a reason to fight Chun-Li and Cammy? You had a reason to kill innocent people. Yet you still question fighting when a true warrior confronts you."

Vega replied. "I had a reason to fight then. I was protecting the one I cared about." Vega paused here. He was surprised that he actually said that last part. A scowl spread across his face. "You speak of reasons. What do you have? If you'll engage in a senseless battle with someone who cares not about the fight. How can you question my reasons when all you care about is the fight?"

Ryu's voice raised. "But I still don't kill innocent people."

Vega retorted. "And who are you to deem whom is innocent? You wouldn't fight Sagat without using, that thing. Is that what you do to those you deem worthy to kill?"

Ryu argued back. "Sagat was about to kill Ken. You would do the exact same thing if your friend was in danger."

Vega responded. "And yet you still faced your friend afterwards. What reason can you offer for that? I had a reason to fight, but you don't. And now I have a reason to stop, while you never had a reason to start. I don't care who's right and who's not, I don't want to fight anymore. I don't want to hurt anymore. It is because of senseless violence that I lost a person I truly cared about. That was when I didn't have a reason to fight. When you killed Sagat, I fought to protect her."

Ryu lowered his head. He knew Vega was right. He turned his back and began to walk away. Vega shook his head toward the ground. Ryu stopped walking and turned. "I don't know what came over me when I fought Sagat. Fortunately, Ken was able to knock me out of it. I may not have as elaborate of a reason as you do, but I never killed senselessly. I fight to find purpose in my life. It's the only way I know how. I never had it easy like you once did; I have been working the whole time. I have fought for survival. I have fought for purpose. My fighting has given me the only friends I have."

Vega lowered his head now. He had no reasons why he fought in the past. "Then you are lucky. For your fighting hasn't lost you anything yet. You have a purpose to fight. I have nothing but lost dreams. And even then I cannot hide from them. My fighting has destroyed me." Vega turned and began to walk away. He detached his claw and took off his mask and said a few final words. "Never let that dark power rise again, or the fighting may ruin you too."

Ryu was about to walk off, but one question burned on Vega's mind. "Ryu, how did those alligators come to be down in the lake? I was not aware that they were native to Japan."

Ryu smirked and replied with one word. "Americans."

Vega understood and was about to get on his way. That had lightened the mood a little. He looked over the barren valley only to realize how much time he had wasted. They were at the rope bridge, only a short climb away from him. He realized that there was no way down the mountain save the far side, which was steep, but manageable. He decided to duck down and wait to see which way they would go.

Hidden Danger

The bridge was rickety when Wolfman first tested it. He looked at Matthew, wondering if he was too big to cross it. The bridge was pretty long, and tall enough to hold a steep drop to the stream below. Wolfman crossed first with Xavier close behind him. It was strong enough to hold two people just fine. Cammy and Luwanda had little trouble crossing the bridge. Matthew walked slowly across the bridge. It creaked under his feet, but still held. The rope was getting strained and the boards creaked when he finally got across. But George was the only one left, and he was the lightest of them all. He was to provide backup incase Matthew fell. But the bridge was strong enough to support him. He slowly grabbed the rope and began to tread his way across the bridge. Vega could have gotten away at this time, but instead watched the fearful boy. I might feel sorry for him, if he wasn't so damn ugly. Vega thought as he watched him. When the boards began to crack a terrified look came over George's face.

"Run, George, Make it across." Cammy yelled. But the boy stood frozen on the bridge. He saw his own mortality leap from his body. The board beneath him broke and he hurriedly leapt to the board behind him. If he had jumped to the one in front of him he might had made it across. He stumbled as that board broke. He clung on to the rope for dear life. But the lifeline snapped when it couldn't support any more weight. It was already worn from the big man. Cammy screamed as George fell into the gorge. The others looked in horror as the boy made a splash in the river far below.

"Shit" Vega said to himself and he ran to the other side of the mountain. Why he did not know. Why should he care about the ugly little boy who drowned? But somehow he knew that all his remorse would be wasted if he didn't help if he could. The lake was not too far away from the drop point. Vega donned his mask and leapt off the edge of the mountain, just out of Cammy and Wolfman's view as they rounded the mountain. Vega's claw scraped the rock as he dug into it. Dust scattered throughout the air as he guided himself down the steep rock. His foot managed to strike a foothold and he leapt down toward the lake. He cut through the water like a butcher's knife through a tender piece of veal. He saw the boy, battered from clashing with the rocks along the river, descend into the lake. His blood attracted the gators and they made a dash toward him, completely ignoring the cut-less Vega. Vega reached his arm out to try to reach the boy before the green monsters could. As soon as he felt his hand touch George's he flung him toward his body as fast as he could. He felt a hard smack to his back as the tail of a gator who was still going toward the original blood struck him. Another gator was not so easily fooled and he clamped his jaws around Vega's leg. Vega slammed his claw through the head of the gator and winced even as the gator let go. He was no match for them underwater. He could see the surface of the water but it seemed to far away. He swam toward where he thought the shore had been. The gators attacked their bleeding comrade and soon tore the dead gator to pieces. The boy in Vega's arms was unconscious and Vega feared that he was dead. He swam till the rocky drop from the cliff was in front of him. The gators has smelled the fresh blood of a human and were swimming rapidly at Vega. Vega knew he could not surface in time, and that he could not save the boy. He closed his eyes and prepared for the worst.

Confrontation

The bullets ripped through the water forming a sort of shield around Vega and George. A large set of arms reached into the lake toward the dark figure they hoped was their ally. Vega hoisted the boy upward to make sure he would be the first out. Vega was ready to accept his death when the hands dragged him out of the water.

Vega woke up coughing water from his lungs. They were up of a cliff just above the lake, most likely trying to avoid any gators, which survived the attack. Above him were the large man and the girl with the blade. His leg was wrapped and the bleeding had slowed. With all the strength he had he turned his head. The boy was beside him, taking deep breaths, but was no more awake than he was. Vega took a deep breath from the mountain air, which had eluded him throughout the whole ordeal. No one spoke and he wondered whether he had gone deaf or not. But he could hear the birds above and the flowing water below. He slowly lifted his head, but had it thrust back down by the girl with the blade.

"I don't think so; you are staying still for now." Luwanda said with a sneer in her voice.

"He sure is a feisty one." Matthew joked about.

Luwanda chuckled. "Yeah." She directed her tone toward Vega. "And it looks like Cammy has something to say to you."

Vega sighed. He was no longer in control of his fate.