WARNING: This chapter has some elements that a few readers may find disturbing. Just to let you know.
---------------
Vanessa stood alone in the Bryant courtyard, looking over the vast expanse of foliage in their family garden. She walked slowly, staring at the garden that surrounded her. It seemed bigger than she had remembered it – yes, the family did have a big, elegant garden with rows of lovely flowers and nicely kempt, exotic shrubbery – but it wasn't quite the same as she recollected. Maybe it wasn't exactly bigger, or maybe she just hadn't been there long enough to tell, but something about it did seem different than usual.
Then, something caught her attention out of the corner of her eye – something moving amongst the rows of bushes. She walked closer and looked carefully, trying to spot what she may have seen earlier. And yet, there was nothing to be seen. Probably just a small animal, she thought to herself.
A brief second later, she heard a soft noise off to her left side, an unusual disturbance in the typically quiet garden. And then again, another sound, this one larger. Looking over her shoulder, she again turned to see nothing beyond the ordinary. But something had definitely been there, she knew it – and it was much larger than a small animal.
"Is someone here?" Vanessa yelled. No response. Complete silence resumed as she continued to survey her surroundings.
Then, all but a moment later, another series of noises sounded. She couldn't tell immediately where the noise was coming from, but it was most definitely something big.
Instinctively, her hands went to the gun at her side. She slowly drew it, reminding herself not to take any sort of rash action she might regret. That was one of the most important rules of her profession.
Then, suddenly, something yanked Vanessa's entire body backwards and shook furiously. Taken completely by surprise, her weapon slipped from her grip onto the ground below. She tried to struggle against whatever it was that had pulled her backwards, but the force had the element of surprise on its hands. She felt her arms being jerked around in back of her. Then, she was let go, and she fell on her back to the ground.
Attempting to move her arms, Vanessa found that her hands had been bound together behind her. She tugged with all her strength to escape from her bonds, but whatever they were, they were incredibly strong. They dug painfully into her arms as she struggled against them.
A figure appeared in front of her. His body shape and structure gave the impression of an able-bodied man. Though she tried to look closely at him, she could not see his face, which was shadowed by a hood attached to a jacket he was wearing. The figure bent over and slowly picked up the gun that she had held a moment before.
"My… how dangerous. Nice girls like you shouldn't be carrying such nasty things around." Hovering over her body, he bent down and looked her over. Despite him being closer, any distinguishing features were still impossible for Vanessa to make out. He was like a shadow, fuzzy and vague…
"Then again, you're not such a nice one, are you? So aggressive…"
She continued to struggle. "Who the hell are you, and what have you bound me up with?"
Vanessa was greeted with a hard slap to the face. "I don't want anything from you, girl, or you're going to regret it very quickly."
To most other women, such a blow would have easily dizzied them. But to a woman trained in combat as she was, it was nothing more than a sharp sting. She turned back to face the figure, her face contorted with anger and pain. "Listen to me, as–mmmmppph!"
The barrel of the gun forcefully slid between her lips, over the top of her tongue, as she tried to speak. A bitter taste of metal and gunpowder filled her mouth. The realization swept through her mind that if her assailant were to pull the trigger, she would most certainly be killed… For the first time in years, Vanessa felt an overwhelming, terrified fear mounting inside of her. Panicked tears began to flow from her eyes, even as she tried her hardest to repress them.
"Now, I don't want you to be troublesome," he said, keeping his hand still. "You're with one of the Organization's best here…"
He yanked the gun out of her mouth, leaving her gasping for air. Then, as she was still catching her breath, he pressed its tip against her throat. Vanessa held her body perfectly still and tried to refrain from gagging as she felt the cold discomfort of the weapon's tip pressing directly underneath her chin.
"But you're quite a special one, aren't you? You and your, how-you-say, family… they've caused us quite a bit of trouble over for a long time. They trained you and took care of you so well, since you got away. I see you've made it your life's work to stop us… how precious." He chuckled condescendingly, staring directly at the disadvantaged Vanessa. "But I suppose your primary motive is to avenge your daddy, yes?"
He ran the gun barrel down from her throat as he spoke, pressing it against her as it traveled down the length of her body.
"He wasn't even your real father, was he? And yet you're so attached to him…"
As he moved the weapon further and further, he finally paused for a brief moment. Vanessa wondered what he was doing, why he was waiting… then, she screamed in shock as she felt it suddenly press hard against a most sensitive place.
He lowered his face closer to hers as she writhed about, so she could finally see what he looked like… and it was a horrifying sight. He appeared almost reptilian, disfigured with scars across his eyes and cheeks, his eyebrow and lower lip pierced with sharp, shining silver metal. His dark, bluish colored hair was slicked back in sharp spikes towards the back of his head. He barely even looked human…
The assailant smiled at her cries of anguish, taking on a demonic visage as his lips curled. "I remember killing him," he said, in a voice of fond recollection. "He was not that old, you know… such a shame he passed away so young. He didn't even see it coming. Just a quick shot through the head – in one ear and out the other, and the brains just came spurting out... almost like a scene from a movie. But this was real. It was really something quite amusing to see, even compared to all the others…"
By now Vanessa had totally lost control, and tears stained her cheeks as she continued to scream out. She attempted to speak words against her assailant, but no matter how she tried, all that could escape her lips were shouts of terror…
Suddenly, her captor unexpectedly dropped the gun he had held, and instead removed a small knife from his pocket. Pressing against the inside of her right leg, spreading it outwards, he began to draw the blade toward her. She attempted to press back against him, but her powerful muscles were failing her, and she could not even find the strength to resist. Quickly, he took the blade and cut through the inside stitching of her right thigh, next to the crotch of her pants. Though he was working the blade speedily, it seemed that he was being careful not to damage the skin underneath…
Vanessa's screaming ceased in shock as it suddenly dawned upon her that he was not going to kill her. He had other intentions.
Only simple hushed words were able to escape from her lips as she felt her body go numb from fear.
"No… no!"
His voice was tinged with a sick pleasure as his hand ran inside the newly opened hole in the fabric he had created, sharply tugging at it from the inside.
"However… I think I'll enjoy myself much more taking you."
Vanessa woke up in her bedroom with her heart pounding precipitously inside her and her entire body coated in a heated sweat. Her breaths were long and heavy, and her entire body had tensed up so greatly that she could feel blood pumping through her muscles. She looked back down at the bedsheets beneath her, and noticed they were visibly soaked with her perspiration.
She lay down again, her body trembling with fear from the nightmare, still responding with panic to the violation that had seemed almost certain would occur. The thought of it was almost too much to handle… not just allowing herself to be taken advantage of, but by one who had so brutally taken the life of the only parent she ever knew…
It was a disgrace to his memory.
Her sticky hands clutched angrily at the sheets below as rage tore through her physique. It was simply unbearable… the emotion was completely overtaking her. It was only a dream, but the effect was immense and unbearable. Tears began to well in Vanessa's eyes as she thought of her father, who she had loved more than anything. He had done everything he could for her sake… teaching her, training her in his combat skills, exposing her to the joys of life, and destroying the emotional barrier within her… But more than anything, he had given her the complete devotion of his heart and soul, from the very moment he had first taken her in his arms. She still remembered his embrace, the gentle touch of his warm body, and the sound of his heart beating within him. She would never be able to hear it again.
She had to destroy THEM… for his sake…
Her right arm grabbed furiously at the small counter that lay directly next to the bed, upon which lay a small clock, a memo pad, and a few personal items. Fumbling around, struggling to see through her soaked, blurry vision, she finally found what she needed – the dogtags her father had worn on that day, the one thing they had been able to recover from his bloody, broken body. Sobbing deeply, she clutched the small pieces of metal tightly against her chest, feeling the heavy thrusts of her own heart pounding against them through her skin. A rush of warmth pumped through her veins as she focused on the emotion.
Soft words escaped from Vanessa's lips through her cries as she closed her eyes, flushing out her tears. "I… I lo…ve……you….. al…ways…."
--NOTES--
Jeez, this was hard to write. It's difficult to see a character you really like suffer. Unless you're one of those people who gets off on angst. But I'm not like that. I don't like my characters suffering without a damn good reason.
So why did I write this, then? I wrote this scene because I wanted to reveal more about Vanessa's character. She is a very powerful and brave woman, but she is not perfect, and she is bound to have flaws, weaknesses, and fears that she keeps locked up within her. (Fanfic about flawless favorite characters are terribly boring and almost sickening to read, I think. At worst, they become the dreaded Mary Sue.) We know Vanessa isn't the sort of person who would sit around and angst over her past constantly. She's a take-charge-take-action type woman. Still, I think, on occasion, something's gotta give…
I think I touched upon a bit of this already in previous chapters, but I wanted to emphasize it some more. In the course of planning the story, I started thinking about what sort of fears she would have, and what would constitute her nightmares. From there this dream sequence arose.
Memories and feelings that result from this nightmare are going to come into play later, so don't just write it off…
I am considering working on other VF-related fan projects at the moment, and if anything comes of the ideas I have, I will be sure make a note of it. I've also given consideration to writing fanfic for other games I like, too. I recently got Panzer Dragoon Orta for the Xbox, and it's such a profoundly beautiful game in every aspect. Playing it recently, I've remembered how much I absolutely love the series and ideas for short stories I've had based upon it. Who knows, maybe there will be Panzer fic in the future from me.
For the meantime, though, I've got another big fic idea in the works. It takes place in a timeframe before this story, and involves a crossover with AM2's newest masterpiece. Keep watch sometime in the future for Virtua Fighter/Virtua Cop: Operation Donpachi!
And remember: VF4 Evolution, out now for the Japanese PS2 and coming this summer for Europe and North America. Buy it. Play it. Love it.
---------------
Vanessa stood alone in the Bryant courtyard, looking over the vast expanse of foliage in their family garden. She walked slowly, staring at the garden that surrounded her. It seemed bigger than she had remembered it – yes, the family did have a big, elegant garden with rows of lovely flowers and nicely kempt, exotic shrubbery – but it wasn't quite the same as she recollected. Maybe it wasn't exactly bigger, or maybe she just hadn't been there long enough to tell, but something about it did seem different than usual.
Then, something caught her attention out of the corner of her eye – something moving amongst the rows of bushes. She walked closer and looked carefully, trying to spot what she may have seen earlier. And yet, there was nothing to be seen. Probably just a small animal, she thought to herself.
A brief second later, she heard a soft noise off to her left side, an unusual disturbance in the typically quiet garden. And then again, another sound, this one larger. Looking over her shoulder, she again turned to see nothing beyond the ordinary. But something had definitely been there, she knew it – and it was much larger than a small animal.
"Is someone here?" Vanessa yelled. No response. Complete silence resumed as she continued to survey her surroundings.
Then, all but a moment later, another series of noises sounded. She couldn't tell immediately where the noise was coming from, but it was most definitely something big.
Instinctively, her hands went to the gun at her side. She slowly drew it, reminding herself not to take any sort of rash action she might regret. That was one of the most important rules of her profession.
Then, suddenly, something yanked Vanessa's entire body backwards and shook furiously. Taken completely by surprise, her weapon slipped from her grip onto the ground below. She tried to struggle against whatever it was that had pulled her backwards, but the force had the element of surprise on its hands. She felt her arms being jerked around in back of her. Then, she was let go, and she fell on her back to the ground.
Attempting to move her arms, Vanessa found that her hands had been bound together behind her. She tugged with all her strength to escape from her bonds, but whatever they were, they were incredibly strong. They dug painfully into her arms as she struggled against them.
A figure appeared in front of her. His body shape and structure gave the impression of an able-bodied man. Though she tried to look closely at him, she could not see his face, which was shadowed by a hood attached to a jacket he was wearing. The figure bent over and slowly picked up the gun that she had held a moment before.
"My… how dangerous. Nice girls like you shouldn't be carrying such nasty things around." Hovering over her body, he bent down and looked her over. Despite him being closer, any distinguishing features were still impossible for Vanessa to make out. He was like a shadow, fuzzy and vague…
"Then again, you're not such a nice one, are you? So aggressive…"
She continued to struggle. "Who the hell are you, and what have you bound me up with?"
Vanessa was greeted with a hard slap to the face. "I don't want anything from you, girl, or you're going to regret it very quickly."
To most other women, such a blow would have easily dizzied them. But to a woman trained in combat as she was, it was nothing more than a sharp sting. She turned back to face the figure, her face contorted with anger and pain. "Listen to me, as–mmmmppph!"
The barrel of the gun forcefully slid between her lips, over the top of her tongue, as she tried to speak. A bitter taste of metal and gunpowder filled her mouth. The realization swept through her mind that if her assailant were to pull the trigger, she would most certainly be killed… For the first time in years, Vanessa felt an overwhelming, terrified fear mounting inside of her. Panicked tears began to flow from her eyes, even as she tried her hardest to repress them.
"Now, I don't want you to be troublesome," he said, keeping his hand still. "You're with one of the Organization's best here…"
He yanked the gun out of her mouth, leaving her gasping for air. Then, as she was still catching her breath, he pressed its tip against her throat. Vanessa held her body perfectly still and tried to refrain from gagging as she felt the cold discomfort of the weapon's tip pressing directly underneath her chin.
"But you're quite a special one, aren't you? You and your, how-you-say, family… they've caused us quite a bit of trouble over for a long time. They trained you and took care of you so well, since you got away. I see you've made it your life's work to stop us… how precious." He chuckled condescendingly, staring directly at the disadvantaged Vanessa. "But I suppose your primary motive is to avenge your daddy, yes?"
He ran the gun barrel down from her throat as he spoke, pressing it against her as it traveled down the length of her body.
"He wasn't even your real father, was he? And yet you're so attached to him…"
As he moved the weapon further and further, he finally paused for a brief moment. Vanessa wondered what he was doing, why he was waiting… then, she screamed in shock as she felt it suddenly press hard against a most sensitive place.
He lowered his face closer to hers as she writhed about, so she could finally see what he looked like… and it was a horrifying sight. He appeared almost reptilian, disfigured with scars across his eyes and cheeks, his eyebrow and lower lip pierced with sharp, shining silver metal. His dark, bluish colored hair was slicked back in sharp spikes towards the back of his head. He barely even looked human…
The assailant smiled at her cries of anguish, taking on a demonic visage as his lips curled. "I remember killing him," he said, in a voice of fond recollection. "He was not that old, you know… such a shame he passed away so young. He didn't even see it coming. Just a quick shot through the head – in one ear and out the other, and the brains just came spurting out... almost like a scene from a movie. But this was real. It was really something quite amusing to see, even compared to all the others…"
By now Vanessa had totally lost control, and tears stained her cheeks as she continued to scream out. She attempted to speak words against her assailant, but no matter how she tried, all that could escape her lips were shouts of terror…
Suddenly, her captor unexpectedly dropped the gun he had held, and instead removed a small knife from his pocket. Pressing against the inside of her right leg, spreading it outwards, he began to draw the blade toward her. She attempted to press back against him, but her powerful muscles were failing her, and she could not even find the strength to resist. Quickly, he took the blade and cut through the inside stitching of her right thigh, next to the crotch of her pants. Though he was working the blade speedily, it seemed that he was being careful not to damage the skin underneath…
Vanessa's screaming ceased in shock as it suddenly dawned upon her that he was not going to kill her. He had other intentions.
Only simple hushed words were able to escape from her lips as she felt her body go numb from fear.
"No… no!"
His voice was tinged with a sick pleasure as his hand ran inside the newly opened hole in the fabric he had created, sharply tugging at it from the inside.
"However… I think I'll enjoy myself much more taking you."
Vanessa woke up in her bedroom with her heart pounding precipitously inside her and her entire body coated in a heated sweat. Her breaths were long and heavy, and her entire body had tensed up so greatly that she could feel blood pumping through her muscles. She looked back down at the bedsheets beneath her, and noticed they were visibly soaked with her perspiration.
She lay down again, her body trembling with fear from the nightmare, still responding with panic to the violation that had seemed almost certain would occur. The thought of it was almost too much to handle… not just allowing herself to be taken advantage of, but by one who had so brutally taken the life of the only parent she ever knew…
It was a disgrace to his memory.
Her sticky hands clutched angrily at the sheets below as rage tore through her physique. It was simply unbearable… the emotion was completely overtaking her. It was only a dream, but the effect was immense and unbearable. Tears began to well in Vanessa's eyes as she thought of her father, who she had loved more than anything. He had done everything he could for her sake… teaching her, training her in his combat skills, exposing her to the joys of life, and destroying the emotional barrier within her… But more than anything, he had given her the complete devotion of his heart and soul, from the very moment he had first taken her in his arms. She still remembered his embrace, the gentle touch of his warm body, and the sound of his heart beating within him. She would never be able to hear it again.
She had to destroy THEM… for his sake…
Her right arm grabbed furiously at the small counter that lay directly next to the bed, upon which lay a small clock, a memo pad, and a few personal items. Fumbling around, struggling to see through her soaked, blurry vision, she finally found what she needed – the dogtags her father had worn on that day, the one thing they had been able to recover from his bloody, broken body. Sobbing deeply, she clutched the small pieces of metal tightly against her chest, feeling the heavy thrusts of her own heart pounding against them through her skin. A rush of warmth pumped through her veins as she focused on the emotion.
Soft words escaped from Vanessa's lips through her cries as she closed her eyes, flushing out her tears. "I… I lo…ve……you….. al…ways…."
--NOTES--
Jeez, this was hard to write. It's difficult to see a character you really like suffer. Unless you're one of those people who gets off on angst. But I'm not like that. I don't like my characters suffering without a damn good reason.
So why did I write this, then? I wrote this scene because I wanted to reveal more about Vanessa's character. She is a very powerful and brave woman, but she is not perfect, and she is bound to have flaws, weaknesses, and fears that she keeps locked up within her. (Fanfic about flawless favorite characters are terribly boring and almost sickening to read, I think. At worst, they become the dreaded Mary Sue.) We know Vanessa isn't the sort of person who would sit around and angst over her past constantly. She's a take-charge-take-action type woman. Still, I think, on occasion, something's gotta give…
I think I touched upon a bit of this already in previous chapters, but I wanted to emphasize it some more. In the course of planning the story, I started thinking about what sort of fears she would have, and what would constitute her nightmares. From there this dream sequence arose.
Memories and feelings that result from this nightmare are going to come into play later, so don't just write it off…
I am considering working on other VF-related fan projects at the moment, and if anything comes of the ideas I have, I will be sure make a note of it. I've also given consideration to writing fanfic for other games I like, too. I recently got Panzer Dragoon Orta for the Xbox, and it's such a profoundly beautiful game in every aspect. Playing it recently, I've remembered how much I absolutely love the series and ideas for short stories I've had based upon it. Who knows, maybe there will be Panzer fic in the future from me.
For the meantime, though, I've got another big fic idea in the works. It takes place in a timeframe before this story, and involves a crossover with AM2's newest masterpiece. Keep watch sometime in the future for Virtua Fighter/Virtua Cop: Operation Donpachi!
And remember: VF4 Evolution, out now for the Japanese PS2 and coming this summer for Europe and North America. Buy it. Play it. Love it.