"The self destruct sequence has been activated …" Sagat's ears pricked up upon hearing the cold mechanical voice's words. "Repeat, the self destruct sequence has been activated. This sequence may not be aborted. All employees proceed to the emergency platform."
"Who in the world …" Sagat mumbled under his breath, but he knew he shouldn't have been surprised. He knew Bison too well. The dictator would not hesitate in destroying the entire complex if it meant eradicating the enemy, regardless of whether it took the lives of his own men.
"Access to the emergency platform from this location would be inefficient," Juli said, never losing the emotionless, cold collectedness in her voice. "The blast radius is estimated to be one point five miles from the central -"
"What is she talking about?" Kenny asked, his words sounding a little groggy from having just returned from the dead - literally.
"She's …" Sagat found it a little difficult to explain - She is a young woman who is implanted with an earlier version of the Shadow technology, having her brainwave patterns match the wave signature of the psycho drive perfectly, so that she can download orders directly from Bison's mind. He finally replied, "She likes to use big words." Screw the complicating explanations. He looked at Kenny, who was already beginning to show signs of recovery. Despite having being alive now for a little under five minutes, his physical condition was showing abnormally quick improvement. What was the Shadow chip in his body doing? It was as if it had a mind of its own, using Kenny's body as its own home - even doing an excellent maintenance job so that it could continue existing in his body. What was this spectacular piece of technology that Dr. Feng created?
In a way, Sagat felt proud that he helped to save Kenny's life before he could perish in the hangar earlier. Or was it because he felt something else, another reason for him to be proud? Maybe it was the fact that someone barely on their way in life didn't deserve such an early death? Sagat couldn't believe what he was thinking. As second in command among the Shadowlaw ranks, one would think any form of humanity would have been eradicated, especially in a position second to one with the likes of M. Bison. There was an explosion somewhere in the distance, one of those miniature ones that almost always preceded the big bang. Kenny reeled back in shock.
"W…what was that?" he asked.
Sagat acted quickly, his instincts completely taking him over. He seized Juli by the arm with one hand and single handedly picked Kenny up and threw him over his shoulder with the other, much to both of their protests.
"I do not understand the meaning of this …" she was cut off as Sagat pulled her by the arm and broke out into a run.
"Uncle Sagat, I know you can't help being tall but … can you put me down? I'm afraid of heights…"
* * *
The explosion that occurred somewhere within the depths of the massive Shadowlaw complex managed to shake the ground that Sakura and Chun Li stood on. The two of them looked towards the source of the shockwaves, noticing to their horror a plume of smoke rising from the camouflaged buildings.
"Ryu …" Sakura whispered dreadfully. "I hope everyone is okay …" They stood standing there, hoping and praying that their friends would make it out of this mess alive. But their hope wore thin when after a few minutes in prayer, the grounds grew silent as night, despite the crisp early morning air. But given the circumstances nobody had noticed. Suddenly, Chun Li tilted her head up and let out a gasp.
"They're alive," she said with absolute certainty.
"What?" Sakura asked. "How do you know?"
"There's a large concentration of chi from which that explosion came from. I can feel it." Chun Li's first instinct was to run inside the base, but she remembered Cammy, the Shadowlaw assassin that was now hog tied on the ground nearby to where they stood. Since they tied her up, Cammy was behaving quite well, to Chun Li's surprise. She didn't make a sound and just sort of stared into space. Sure, she looked and felt human, but her personality - or lack thereof hinted at anything but humanity. She was so cold, like a machine of some kind. What did Shadowlaw do to this girl and the others that attacked them earlier at the airport? They were all so similar in behaviour and fighting styles … it was such a pity too. They were such young girls, not much older than Sakura. "We can't leave her here," Chun Li said, cocking her head towards the beautiful assassin.
"I'll stay with her," Sakura eagerly volunteered. Chun Li shot her a look that screamed, 'are you crazy?!' but Sakura remained excited about the task. "She's tied up, right? What can she do?"
"Break from her restraints and kill you," the detective replied without any effort of thought.
"You underestimate me," Sakura replied, backing herself up. "I've got my own share of experience in street fighting, you know!"
"Oh?"
"That's right! And I got it all from watching Ryu."
"What?!"
"Yeah! He's more famous than you think he is and -"
"So you learned what you know from watching someone? Listen, you may know some amateur fighting but without any formal training, how can you hope to go against a Shadowlaw assassin?"
"That's assuming she breaks free!"
"Let the girl stay," a deep voice boomed from behind Chun Li. She turned around to see a mountain of a man, pulling a girl alongside him with one arm, holding a thrashing child with the other. "We'll be here to watch Cammy."
"Kenny!" Sakura exclaimed in surprise, forgetting about her spat with Chun Li. "Are you alright?! Have you been hurt?"
The boy thought for a moment. Since being in Shadowlaw's hands, he's been kept strapped to cold metal tables, electrically zapped to transfer his power over to two people, nearly killed by Charlie, and gotten a hole punched through his chest by Ryu. To cut a long story short, he kept his answer at a simple, "Not much, but I'll be fine."
"What are you doing with him, Sagat?" Chun Li demanded.
"Taking him to safety," the Muay Thai master replied. "This base will blow up any minute now."
"The self destruct sequence has been activated," the girl said, that Sagat had with him. This startled Chun Li, as she recognized the girl as Juli, one of the three that had attacked her, Ryu and Guile back at the airport. "I suggest you follow us if you wish to live."
"And why would you be helping us?" Chun Li shot back. "You're agents of Shadowlaw responsible for all this bullshit in the first place! As far as I'm concerned, you have no motives for saving our lives unless there's something in it for you."
"You mean people who you label as 'bad guys' can't have a change of heart?" Sagat said. "I thought you had a sense of honor, detective."
"Don't give me that, especially coming from you," Chun Li replied bitterly.
"Where's Juni?" Cammy asked. Everyone looked down at her, having forgotten she was there.
"What have you done with Cammy?!" Juli demanded.
"She attacked us," Sakura said defensively. "We had no choice!"
"Judging from the turn of events, it looks like we're going to have to work together to get out of here alive," Sagat said. "We're all in the same boat here. Our lives are all at stake."
As if on cue to emphasize Sagat's point, another explosion occurred, this time somewhere closer. "He's right," Sakura said, getting startled by the explosion. She bent down and began untying Cammy."
"But she's …" Chun Li began to protest, but decided if Sagat was trying to fool them, he'd be more likely to do so when he wasn't in danger of being killed. "I'll be following you from behind. I'm not sure if I can trust you yet."
"We must find Juni," Cammy said, releasing her hands from the loosened knots from Sakura's headband that the schoolgirl was more than happy to tie back onto her head.
"She'll make it," Sagat said, putting his hand on her shoulder. "We have no time right now. We have to get the hell out of here."
"No more running," Kenny said weakly, "I think I'm getting sick." Sagat hadn't put the boy down yet.
"You can't run fast enough to catch up with us," Chun Li explained to him, as the group began to break out into a full run. She turned away from the boy and started to run as well. The last thing she noticed was his face turning green.