Beautiful Stranger

(Part 6)

McCoy laughed. "Yeah, you are quite lucky. I thought the shadows were gators. You can imagine how surprised I was when I pulled Pidge out. I figured the other one might have been important, so I pulled you out. Wolfman kept the gators away." McCoy pointed toward a man with black hair. He appeared to be talking to Cammy and Xavier about something. He then walked over and checked up on the boy. He and Cammy were not like the others in the group. Vega wouldn't refer to them as ugly.

Cammy stood over Vega and Xavier was to the side. Matthew and Luwanda backed away and Vega struggled to his feet. His leg was throbbing and he could see the blood on the bandage, yet it did not look appetizing to him. Vega leaned against the face of the rock and Cammy tossed him a long stick to help brace him. Vega waited for a barrage of questions. He could in no way get away from them until he could move freely, which he thought would take at least the night. He had stabbed the gator before too much damage was done. He was ready for most anything Cammy could throw at him, except for what she actually did. Vega's face turned and he grabbed it in complete and udder shock. Cammy returned her hand to his side, knowing Vega would be shocked at the actual striking of his face. "It's been a while, Vega."

Vega turned his head back to her, almost expecting another blow. "Yes it has."

Cammy continued. "I was under the impression that I killed you."

Vega kept his same tone. "Impressions can be deceiving."

Cammy asked a question. "Do you know that we have been tracking you?"

"I saw you when you arrived." Vega replied.

She kept the same relentless tone. "I have quite a bit I need to ask."

He asked the next question. "I assume about your past?"

"Yes." Was her simple reply.

He chuckled. "Funny, I thought you would have put it behind you."

Another fist slammed across his face. This blow was harder than the last. "Don't patronize me, Vega." Cammy commanded. "Tell me everything before you rescued me from Shadaloo."

Wolfman, Luwanda, and Matthew all looked at her. They had been under the impression that they had rescued her. They kept quiet and waited for Vega to answer.

"You were born in Russia. Bison gave us no names of the individuals we were about to kidnap on my first mission in Shadaloo. Your father was a journalist and had moved to Great Britain two months before you were abducted. I never had his name either. When I took you too Shadaloo, Bison quickly took you away from me. There were many girls their, from all parts of the world. But Bison wanted to filter out the bad ones. He was content with a set of thirteen young girls. You were among them. You all had been brainwashed, but Bison needed to make you thirteen special from the other girls. Decapre was the first to have the procedure tested out on her. Her face was horrible disfigured from it, so she was implanted with a steel mask to hide her imperfections. They learned from their mistakes with her and implanted the DNA of Bison into all of you. He then ordered me to train you. He called you "the dolls."

Cammy interrupted him. "Who were the "dolls" and what became of them?"

Vega lowered his head. "There were twelve of them from all over the world. Enero from Spain, Fevrier from France, Marz from Germany, Aprile from Italy, Satsuki from Japan, Juni from Germany, Juli from Germany, Santum from Vietnam, Xiayu from China, Yanyu from China, Noembelu from Latin America, and Decapre from Russia. They are all dead."

Cammy stuck her hand below Vega's chin. "How did they die, and why didn't I?"

"Prior to escaping from Shadaloo, Bison had his genetic material altered due to an attempted attack from a gypsy woman named Rose. They were programmed to live only as long as Bison remained alive. When his DNA was altered, their programming reacted accordingly. They all died."

Cammy asked again, screaming at Vega. "And why didn't I die?"

Vega responded. "You were different. Bison was fascinated with you. Your programming didn't allow for your destruction like their programming did. Then again, being trapped in the Psycho Drive might have eliminated all the programming."

"Tell me about the Psycho Drive."

Vega continued. "It was just before I rescued you. It was supposed to keep Bison invincible. When I brought you back to Shadaloo, I fought him because of you. He imprisoned you, and I managed to escape and get you out. I believe you remember what happened from there."

Wolfman's voice penetrated the argument. "I would like to hear what happened after the first fall of Shadaloo."

Luwanda's voice made four. "Yeah, I thought we saved you from Shadaloo."

Matthew joined in. "Yeah, and you fought this guy on that one mission."

Cammy saved Vega from explaining. "The earliest I remember is that I was in Spain with Vega. This was after Shadaloo, but before I joined you. I stayed with him for several years. He helped me."

"What happened the night we saved you? Obviously, something went wrong. Two Shadaloo officers were attacking you." Wolfman enquired.

Vega responded in an effort to free Cammy from the pain he had caused. "There was a dance at a royal residence in Spain. It was a set-up for me. My family belongs to a long line of nobles, as well as politicians. We had our enemies." Vega looked down at the ground as if he had a dark secret he was keeping. "Two people attacked us at the dance. I disposed of them and Cammy and me left toward England. I should have seen the irony in returning there. But I didn't know that she was the girl I led to Shadaloo. We were on the final leg of the trip, a train to London. Bison was waiting for us. I did not know he was still alive. Cammy remembered her past on the train. She was in the deepest of nightmares. She woke up and attacked me. She then ran down the train toward the end car. Bison had Balrog and Sagat follow her, while we escaped back to new Shadaloo."

Matthew's gruff voice ended it off. "So that led you two to fight on the mission. It was a simple mind game."

"Played by Bison." Vega added. "But he didn't realize the toll it would have on me. He didn't realize that I didn't have the mindset to kill Cammy. Chun-Li was another story though."

"We do know what happened on the mission." Luwanda said.

Vega finished. "Of course you do."

"Now that everything is explained, I think it would be best if we rested for the night and went back in morning." Xavier broke his silence suddenly. They all agreed that it was the best course of action. George couldn't travel in his current situation, and Vega needed a little time for his leg to get better. Fortunately, he could stand on it with little pain.

The Final Night

Vega wasn't able to sleep. So much had happened which he could not comprehend. He stared at the dancing fire as the wood crackled peacefully in the night. George was there. He had fallen asleep quite early, but he was only woke up a little bit before. The man they called Wolfman was the only other person sitting by the fire. He sat up from his feigned slumber. Wolfman's voice elevated over the fire. "You better get some rest; it's a long walk back to town."

"I'll be fine." Vega said as he walked up the path to the top of the plateau.

The top of the plateau was flat and the moon shone brilliantly just above it. She stood alone on the plateau, staring at the moon. She heard the footsteps behind her, but she didn't turn her head. She knew who it was by the heaviness of one of the footsteps. Vega sat down on the edge of the plateau; his feet were dangling over the edge.

Cammy stared at the moon a little longer. "It's beautiful. Staring at it takes all my worries away."

Vega stared at the glowing orb. "The moon is an enigma. It appears every night, but still retains its mysticism."

Cammy asked. "Vega, was everything you said back there true?"

Vega was caught off guard by the question. "Of course, why would I have a reason to lie?"

"You lied before." Cammy snapped. "About your past. You said your mother died sick, and a bull gored your father. I read the reports, they were murdered, and you were the only one there. Tell me the truth."

Vega stared at the canyon below, and Cammy sat down beside him. "My family grew famous threw politics, and our wealth was accumulated in various fashion. My family was not very popular among the other nobles. I believe you do remember the dance. I was only fifteen. But I will never forget that night when it happened. There were two men. I heard them shatter the window. I ran to see what it was. I did not know that they had come for me. They both had knives and were staring at me from the long hallway. Next thing I remember, they grabbed me." Vega winced as he remembered the scene. They had planned to take him away. "My parents tried to stop them. Those two bastards killed them." Vega remembered the horror he felt when he saw his mother stabbed right in front of him. He relived the pain when his father's neck was slashed. "I hated the ugly bastards. I hated everything they were. I hated everything they had done. They were inferior. I was going to make those hideous assholes pay." Cammy could only help but fear the anger that was in Vega. It was something she had never felt, not even at the dance. His hand was clenched and tears could be seen on his eyelids. "They had averted their gaze from me, so I grabbed the knife as soon as I could. I had never killed anyone before then, but I never hesitated. I slashed the man's throat with his own knife. The other one lunged at me, but I ducked his knife. I slashed past his stomach, down to the ground. I stared at the two huddled masses, and dropped the knife. I dragged the bodies away and buried them deep in the yard. I put my parents back in their bed."

Cammy felt bad that she had asked the question. She could tell Vega was telling the truth. Something in his voice assured her of that. "I'm sorry."

Vega interrupted her. "It gets worse. Because after I did everything, I walked back inside the house. The knife was still on the ground. It haunted me. The blood beckoned me. I picked it up, and licked off the blood. The worst part is, I enjoyed it. I enjoyed every second of me killing those bastards."

Vega looked up at the moon, as if its mysticism was making him forget the pain. The silence was beginning to overwhelm them when Cammy broke it. "Vega?"

Vega lay down on his back and turned his head to her. "Yeah?"

"Why did you save Pidge?"

Vega had to think of how to say it. "After that night, I had become accustomed to senseless killing. I thrived on the blood of others. But that changed. I realized throughout everything that things you love are so easily lost. I lost everything I desired because I became a heartless murderer. When I saw the boy fall, I believed that somehow, if I could save the boy, I would see why life was so important."

Cammy responded sheepishly. "Did it work?"

Vega looked back at the moon. "I really don't know."

Cammy still looked at the ground when she answered. "Then why did you bother? If you didn't care about him, why did you save him?"

Vega closed his eyes. "Would you rather me have let him die?"

Cammy chuckled. "I guess not."

Silence filled the air. A feeling of uneasiness settled between them. "It's peaceful out here." Vega said as he closed his eyes.

Cammy agreed and lay down next to him, gazing up at the stars. She began to hum a tune, familiar to her heart but not to her mind. "What?" Cammy replied when she heard Vega chuckle.

Vega quietly laughed. "Do you remember that song?"

Cammy thought for a minute and chuckled. "No, I really don't."

Vega stood up and took Cammy by the hand. He swung her up and held her close to him. Vega hummed the tune and moved his feet to the melody. She remembered. It was the final song of the dance. So they danced without music, underneath the moon.

Luwanda chuckled while she watched from the shadows. "They're really hooked on each other aren't they?"

Wolfman replied with a smirk on her face. "Looks like it. Too bad we have to take him in tomorrow."

Luwanda replied solemnly. "Yeah, we do have a mission to do. Cammy has to accept that."

Endgame: Part 1

The morning broke with more peace and beauty than any of them had seen in a while. Vega removed the unneeded bandages from his leg and George woke up with little more than a headache and a sick stomach. He was quickly brought up to speed about what had happened. Only Xavier seemed tense. They had a brief breakfast and began to pack their things up to head back to the village.

"That's enough, I'll take him from here." Xavier's words shocked the others, who had expected to carry the mission out completely.

Wolfman responded while everyone stood slowly. "I don't think so; we carry this mission out to the end."

A hideous laughter filled the air. "Mission? Did you really think this was a mission?"

They were cautious to Xavier. They didn't know what he was talking about. "You really believed the charade we all put on." The laughter was growing louder and louder. Xavier threw his black hair to the ground, only to reveal short blonde hair. He ripped some machine from his neck and the Spanish accent was gone. They could hear his high pitched laugh fill the canyon. "Xavier? Xavier? There is no Xavier. I am Doctrine Dark."

Luwanda stepped back. "So, this was all a set-up. For what?"

Doctrine responded. "You idiots. Do you not realize how much that man is worth? He is the only member of Shadaloo without a body somewhere. He is worth millions. All I needed was a fake excuse to get people to do all the work for me." His sinister laugh continued to fill the air.

Wolfman chuckled. "And do you really think you can get past all of us?"

Doctrine laughed. "The question is, can you get by me?"

Wolfman pulled out his gun, but Dark had already flung himself at him. Two blades, which were in his hands, slashed through the barrel of Wolfman's gun. Dark slammed his knee into Wolfman's chest and pushed him to the ground. Matthew swung his gigantic arm at Doctrine, who ducked the punch and slammed his knife into the cybernetic arm. Sparks flew as he pulled the blades out and slammed his foot into McCoy's face. Luwanda drew her blade and slashed at Doctrine. Dark caught the sword in his two blades and pushed it to the side. Luwanda threw her foot at his head, but he ducked and swept her remaining foot from under her. He slammed his fist into her face as she was falling. George jumped back as he grabbed Cammy's gun from her waist. He shakily held it in his hands and pointed it at Dark. The gun fired, but the bullet sailed over Doctrine's ducking head. His blade slashed Pidge on the chest, sending him down to the ground. He snatched the gun in a near invisible manner and turned toward Vega and Cammy. Vega pushed Cammy back and held his hand at Dark.

"Ahh, so now the target wants to fight." Doctrine laughed as Vega flipped into the air. Cammy grabbed his claw and mask and flung them to him. Vega landed with them on. The two stood off for a while, each waiting for the other to make their move. Vega glared at Dark with hidden fury and rage while Dark held a sadistic gleam in his eye. Dark sensed the slight movement in Vega as he prepared to lunge. Before Vega could move he whipped out the gun and pulled the trigger. The bullet sank through the skin, and its target fell to the ground.

Endgame: Part 2

Vega watched in horror as the bullet ripped through the air toward him. He threw his head to the side and the bullet struck the metal of his claw. Cammy fell to the ground. Vega tore off his claw and hurled it to the ground. He ran toward Cammy and swept her up in a full run. He ran in the direction of the town.

Doctrine stared in anger. "Damn, he's gone." He ran after him, but in another direction. He whipped a small two-way radio from his waist and yelled into it. "He's headed for the village, I'm en-route." Doctrine leapt off the edge of the cliff and fell below the solid rock wall. A noise, which sounded like a gentle humming at first, grew into a loud roar. Doctrine landed on one knee in the helicopter and they took off toward the village.

"Is everyone all right?" Wolfman said as he slowly got up.

"I'll be fine, I don't know about Pidge though." Matthew said as he clasped his normal arm over his robotic one."

Luwanda rubbed her face. "Damn, he was strong."

Pidge shakily held his hand to his bloody chest. "What about Cammy?"

Wolfman sighed. "We need to get to the village as fast as possible. But Cammy is in Vega's hands now. Doctrine may beat them there; it depends on how fast Vega is."

Luwanda tied George's shirt around the cut to help stop the blood. "Vega will have to fight him; he made short work of us."

Wolfman walked over and snatched Vega's claw from the ground. "One thing is for sure; he'll need this."

They all grabbed what they needed and tended to each others wounds. They then began to go back to the village, knowing that they might be needed.

Doctrine didn't realize how fast Vega actually was. Vega already covered a good portion of the distance when he got into the helicopter. Vega ran into a building and yelled out something in Japanese. A man ran toward him and took Cammy from his arms. A few people followed him but women told Vega to wait there. Vega squatted down and put his head in his hands. He began to talk to himself. "Don't die, Cammy, don't die. God why did I have to dodge that bullet? Damn that Dark, I'll kill him if Cammy dies." Vega stood up and stared forward. There was a scowl on his face. "I'll kill him." The humming of a helicopter could be heard gradually getting louder.

Vega walked outside calmly. Fortunately, the people of the village sensed the danger and cleared the street. Vega stood in the middle looking at where the helicopter was coming from. He reached to his side, but didn't feel the claw there. The helicopter was in plain sight when Vega looked up again.

"There he is, shoot him." Doctrine yelled from the back of the helicopter.

Vega jumped to the side as the bullets whisked by him, raising dust wherever they hit. He jumped to a wall as bullets sprayed the area where he was standing. Bullets struck the wall where he was. Vega ran forward to get too close for the bullets to hit. He slid under the helicopter so the bullets could not hit him. He shuffled around to stay under because no one got out of it. The copter raised into the sky and sped forward and Vega rushed to hide behind the building. He could not hit them while they had the bird. Vega had expected them to circle around to try to find him, but he heard the sounds of bullets piercing the old, wooden roofing of the building.

"Damn, they are going to kill someone." He looked at the building Cammy was in, and he knew he could not let anything happen.

Vega leapt up the wall onto a building. He ran forward into the bullet fire and jumped toward the machine. His hands grasped the landing rails.

"Pull up, shake him off." Doctrine commanded as he lay on the floor.

He stabbed at Vega's hands with his blades. Vega tried to shuffle his hands, but the helicopter was jarring back and forth. He eventually stuck his feet to the rail and sprung to the rail on the opposite side. He swung on it and flung himself into the cabin. There were 4 guys, not including the pilot, in the helicopter. Two guys lunged at Vega. He flung himself forward, sending one flying out of the helicopter and into the midst of the village with a flipping kick. When he landed he spun and struck the other one in the chest, which sent him flying out of the opposite side of the helicopter. Dark pushed the final guy at Vega, who simply grabbed him and slammed his back into the helicopter's floor. Vega stood up and stared at Doctrine, who was still standing near the edge of the copter. Vega rushed at Doctrine, who tried to sidestep him. Vega grabbed Dark and slammed him against the copter wall. Vega threw him on the floor and began to choke him while nearly hanging out of the copter.

Vega slammed his fist into Doctrine's face. "This is for the others." He then slammed his fist into Dark's neck. "And this is for Cammy."

Doctrine slammed his knee into Vega's chest. His feet pushed Vega over the edge. Vega grabbed the rail and Doctrine began to punch at him. Bullets ripped through the tail of the helicopter. The machine began to descend and Dark halted his assault. Wolfman stood with his automatic a little ways away. Vega dropped off onto a rooftop and the helicopter began to ascend. Wolfman hurled Vega's claw to him. Vega caught it by the handle and quickly donned it. Dark leapt off the helicopter and stood opposite of Vega on the roof.

Vega yelled out. "Take care of the helicopter, I can't dodge the bullets and fight him."

Wolfman smiled. "You heard him, let's take that bird out of the sky."

Showdown

The pilot was barely able to maintain the helicopter when the fighting was on board, but when everyone was off he was doing fine. He turned the copter to give Doctrine some air support, but he was met with a hail of fire from Delta Red. The glass shattered in front of him and he tried to fly off. They followed him from the ground. Everyone of them was shooting something at him. Several bullets pierced the bottom of the helicopter. A final shot from Wolfman hit the nose of the copter. The control panel sparked and his systems began to fail. He plunged deep into the village and crashed in a fiery blaze. Flames struck all the buildings in the area and began to spread rapidly.

"We have to get everyone out of here." Wolfman commanded as ran toward the wreckage.

George looked as he ran. "Where's Cammy?" He yelled out just about the screams and the sound of the flames.

"We have to trust Vega." Wolfman yelled back as they ran toward the flames.

Vega stood, staring at Doctrine while the flames surrounded them. No words were spoken, and no stare was averted. Doctrine crouched slightly, getting ready to attack. He lunged at Vega, swinging his blades at him. Vega grabbed his hands and slammed his knee into his chest. He flipped Dark over his back. The ceiling cracked and Dark fell through the roof. Vega jumped in afterwards. Vega couldn't see Doctrine when he landed. Flames had hit the building and were consuming the inside. He fell to the ground when a table smashed at his back. He rolled on his back as Doctrine jumped on him, trying to press the blade to his face. Vega pushed him off and flip backwards to his feet. Dark hurled a chair at Vega, who slashed through it only to be hit with the second chair he threw. Vega fell to the ground again, but began to get up to his feet. Doctrine ran toward Vega, getting ready to stab at him. Vega ducked down and pushed his claw straight through Dark. The blades dropped to the ground and Doctrine stumbled back. Vega yanked the claw out and stared at Doctrine with a scowling look on his face.

Vega muttered a word out of his mouth. "Die." Doctrine fell to the ground.

Endgame: Part 3

Wolfman could not see Vega or Cammy anywhere. The fire was spreading rapidly and nothing but scared civilians and flames could be seen. Vega held Doctrine up by the neck. Doctrine wasn't breathing and the blood had drained from his chest. With his last bit of rage he hurled Doctrine's body through the flaming wall. Vega stepped into the street where Wolfman stopped him. "Vega, where's Cammy?"

Vega looked frantically and pointed to one of the blazing buildings. "We need to get her out of that building."

They rushed toward the building in which Cammy was. "She should be in the back." McCoy's giant hand slammed through the wall. There were two man who were crouched on the floor. Cammy was in between them. Matthew ran in as a girder fell. He caught it in his hand and the two men ran out. Vega ran in and grabbed Cammy.

They watched the blaze simmer down from a distance. Helicopters helped dull the blaze. Vega held Cammy while the others looked on. "It's over now. Doctrine is dead. The mission is complete."

Wolfman responded solemnly. "And our mission was to catch you. It's now complete."

They all looked down. They knew he was right. Vega was to be apprehended. A smile spread across Luwanda's face. "Wolf, who gave us those orders?"

Wolfman looked at her. "Well, the Spanish Secret Service."

Vega laughed. "Is that what Dark told you? There is no Spanish Secret Service. And certainly not any police force that has authority in Japan."

Luwanda replied to Vega. "As much as I would like to take you in for murder, I believe we cannot. We have no jurisdiction here."

George laughed. "You're right, we have no authority here."

Wolfman smiled. "Well then, we better hitch a ride on one of those helicopters out of here, because it would be a long walk back."

They all began to walk back to the village, leaving Vega and Cammy alone. "I guess that's it then." Vega said.

Cammy replied softly. "Yeah, you can't go with us to England."

Vega responded confidently. "But I have the whole world in front of me. So our paths may meet again."

Cammy smiled. "So for now, it's farewell. Beautiful Soldier."

Vega smiled as the others left. Cammy would join them, and Vega would go his own separate way. But they would always remember each other. The trials of the two has ended for now, but humanity may yet bring more trials, and perhaps there will be another meeting of the beautiful soldiers.

The End