Disclaimer – I don't own anything, don't sue me because all characters are owned by other SNKPlaymore or Capcom.
Two days after the battle in Alaska, Kyo; Saisyu; Diana and Ken were gathered together at the war room of the Masters HQ, making a plan of action. They had already decided to hand over the captured fugitives that were still alive. Unfortunately, the only one that they could hand over from Area 51 was Zangief, who Saisyu and Ken wanted to keep on the team. Their biggest problem was that they had absolutely no idea about where or when the fugitives would strike next.
Blue Mary, Shizuka and Kula were out of action, too injured to survive another engagement. That meant that they needed new recruits for the team. They would also need some sort of weaponry and armour, for somehow, Rugal had recruited a small army of soldiers working at the Sky Noah. Also on the agenda was the fact that later on the day, Guile and Heidern would be dropping by to question them on the vigilante group's existence. It seemed that the team was doomed already, and in desperate need of a miracle.
Suddenly the door sprung open and Angel merrily bounded into the room. "Am I late for the meeting?" she asked. Diana became infuriated at her presence and Kyo rolled his eyes in annoyance. "I'm sorry girl, but this meeting is for the investors and Ms. Diana here only," Saisyu explained.
"Oh, oops," Angel said with disappointment. She was getting lonely since only Benimaru wanted to spend any time with her, and that was only to talk about himself. As Angel slowly trudged out of the room, Ken and Saisyu felt a little sorry for the treatment Angel was getting since she joined the alliance. They were getting soft spots for the Mexican bimbo, and decided to be kind with her.
"Hey Angel," called Ken, "Maybe you could help us out for a little while? Only if you have time that is." Ken looked behind him, and while Saisyu nodded his head in agreement, Kyo was frantically signalling for him to take his offer back. Angel beamed and skipped back to the table and took a seat.
As Angel took a seat, the conversation continued on. Kyo continued on, talking about how they needed to figure out where Geese could possible start up another criminal empire. They were tossing in ideas like he would use Rugal's forces to establish his connections in South Town, or maybe in New York or Los Angeles. Angel had an entirely different idea altogether,
"What about Mr. Ryu?" asked Angel. All eyes turned to her, thinking she was just going to waste their time. Ken was worried about his friend deeply, but the sad fact was that he must have been dead by now if the fugitives wanted revenge.
"What about him?" asked Kyo rather sarcastically. Kyo had fought Ryu to a duel at the Millenium Battle, and that was a huge blow to his ego. Kyo was eagre for another battle with Ryu to settle accounts, but he figured that if Ryu was dead than that would save the embarrassment of being the King of Fighters and a Kusanagi, but unable to defeat a simple nobody like Ryu.
Angel realised that everyone expected the fugitives' actions were purely for revenge, but one of the reasons why she was a top NESTS agent was her reasoning skills and tactical insight. If she were a little more mature, she would have been an executive way beyond Diana's ranking. "What if they wanted Mr. Ryu for more than just vengeance?" she asked.
"Look babe," said an annoyed Kyo, "what in the world do they want with a nobody like him? He has no money, no power or anything."
"Well, there is the thing that NESTS wanted him for," she stated.
"We wanted him for nothing," Diana said harshly, "like Kusanagi said, the boy was a nobody. We only wanted people with superhuman genes like the Kusanagis and the Orochi."
"Oh yeah, I forgot that you weren't there for the secret project Mr. Igniz organised," Angel casually said. All eyes turned to her at that. Diana fumed, "What are you talking about you little liar? I would have known about any projects, I was an executive at NESTS!"
"And a good one at that," the merry Angel replied, "but Mr. Ryu's secret was so secret, that Mr. Igniz had to keep it secret from anybody that was not secretly involved. And anyone who failed to capture Mr. Ryu, was killed to keep it really, really secret." 'bar me ;)' Angel thought to herself,'
Everyone listened intently, stunned at this revelation. "How come you're not dead Angel?" asked Ken, "Ryu was never captured, that was a fact, so I assume you failed in your mission."
"Well, I did lose in battle like everyone else did, but unlike everyone else, I knew I didn't stand a chance. So instead of focusing on the battle, I focused on getting some blood and hair for DNA samples. So when I got those and they saw my potential for the KoF that year, I got away scot free," Angel beamed; it was one of the bright moments of her career.
"Well Angel, tell us what's with Ryu that NESTS wanted so badly," prodded Saisyu.
"Oh, it wasn't just NESTS. I think NESTS got the idea of using him from Shadaloo actually," Angel commented, "Mr. Bison knew that Mr. Ryu's body could hold infinite amounts of power. That's why he wanted to use his body as a replacement. He knew the use of the Psycho Drive would eventually disintegrate his body, ask Ms. Rose. He thought that since Mr. Ryu could hold infinite amounts of power, he could use Mr. Ryu's body permanently. Coupled with his control of his powers and the Psycho Drive, Mr. Bison would have been invincible.
"NESTS wanted to revive the Zero Cannon project, but instead of having to siphon fighting energy, which proved to be unfeasible, they wanted to power it with Mr. Ryu instead. If energy was driven through Mr. Ryu's body, the Zero Cannon Mark 2 would never need anything else."
"So you think Howard wants to establish his own Zero Cannon? Good, that means we have time to stop him. How long do you think it will take for him to make his own cannon and launch it into space?" asked Ken rather arrogantly.
Surprisingly, Angel shook her head. "I think he already has one." This shocked everyone in the room. If she were right, then the world would be under Geese's grip in a matter of days. "Shadaloo had its own cannon in space long before the Zero Cannon was even conceived," Angel continued, "I'm sure Mr. Howard and Mr. Bernstein knew about the cannon. Mr. Masters and Ms. Kasugano saved Mr. Ryu before Mr. Bison could use him to power the Psycho Cannon.
"I guess all Mr Howard needs is a generator to run Mr. Ryu's power through and send it into space. If Mr. Bernstein managed to make it back to his back-up base and organise his men, I'm sure he would have started construction of the generator. Probably from the moment they made his plan. It's just too bad that NESTS was unable to penetrate the defences of that base."
"Wait, you KNOW where this base is Angel?" asked Saisyu.
"This I also know," said Diana, "But I didn't think he would have made it there that quickly. The appearance of that new airship obviously means he did. NESTS never bothered too much with Bernstein's base. We assumed that it was not worth the trouble of dispatching agents because his mechanical augmentations were useless against Kyo Kusanagi over there. The base is in Paris."
Angel nodded in agreement, and summed up her ideas, "So, I guess Mr Howard is going to head for Paris, where Mr Bernstein will have been busy organising their own Psycho Drive. They're guessing we still don't know what we're up to, so I guess we have the element of surprise."
Angel looked around at the room and realised people where staring at her weird. How could such a simpleminded young woman, barely out of her teens yet acting like she hadn't even hit puberty come up with such ideas? Angel got a little uncomfortable and stated, "Well, it's all theoretical."
"It makes perfect sense though Angel, thank you," said Ken, causing Angel to smile so hard that it hurt.
"Why didn't you tell us this before girl?" demanded Diana. Her sour disposition to the Latina bombshell not abating one bit. Angel giggled and looked mischievous, "It was a secret. Besides, you never asked, and I don't think you'd care about anything I said."
"So, I guess we're going to go with Angel's theories right? I guess that means we should be planning a sort of attack on the base in Paris," said Saisyu.
"We still have a lack of firepower to deal with," added Kyo, "We haven't gotten around to discussing with our mercenaries if they want to continue anyway. If we're moving out soon, we won't have time to wait for injuries to heal up, we need more men, fast."
"I've got a few connections that can help us out," suggested Ken.
"I've got some REALLY good ideas, my boyfriend's REALLY strong, and he has strong friends too!" added Angel.
"You have a boyfriend Angel?" said a surprised Saisyu.
"Uh huh. Ms. Diana met him once, he had white hair so I was able to take him to a NESTS convention and everyone thought he was an agent."
"BRINGING CIVILIANS TO SECRET CONVENTIONS WAS STICKLY PROHIBITED!" screeched Diana, still used to being a commander in NESTS. Angel yelped in fear, and dove under the table. Ken and Kyo peeked under the table and saw Angel sucking her thumb. "Weren't you going to go on a date with Benimaru?" asked Ken.
"Yeah, a date" was Angel's reply, "I'm not going out with him."
'Boy, if he heard that he wasn't going out with such a hot babe, it's going to kill him,' thought Kyo. Aloud he said, "I'm going to go see Benimaru and um, ask him if he wants to stay on." Kyo left the room with a huge grin on his face. "So where does your boyfriend live?" asked Ken
"He lives in Paris, but his friends live in Hong Kong. They might be far, but they are really worth it. He likes excitement and interesting things like I do, and his friends love to battle. Besides, we have a few days to spare. And time spent on reconnaissance is never wasted!"
Ken and Angel popped up from under the table. "So it's settled, Angel and I will leave tomorrow and pick up some new recruits, and it's agreed that we follow Angel's hunches."
"Agreed," said Saisyu, "we'll reconvene here once Heidern and Guile arrive. I just hope they don't spoil everything." As everyone left the room, Ken held Angel back. "I've got to ask everyone if they want to continue on. I'd like you to come with me, I wanted to have a conversation with you." Angel smiled; happy to have someone interested in her enough to actually spend time with her.
Shizuka and Saisyu opened the door to the infirmary, where Blue Mary was resting on one of the beds. She still needed a lot of time to properly recuperate. Mary painfully attempted to sit up on the bed, but Saisyu put his hand up, stopping her efforts. The couple took seats at Mary's bedside, and started discussing her future in the team.
"I guess I'm just not cut out for this superhero stuff," said an amiable Mary, "I should have stuck with the small time crooks. I just can't believe a two bit thug like Raiden out muscled me that way."
"You did good out there though child," said Shizuka reassuringly, "I'm sorry I couldn't help you out when we were out there."
"Well Ms. Ryan, I can assure you myself and Mr. Masters will compensate you for your efforts, and we truly do appreciate everything you've done for us.," added Saisyu, "Without you, I'm sure we would not have captured any of those scum at all."
"Yes, but Geese Howard and Ryuji Yamazaki are still at large," Mary said angrily.
"And so is Rugal Bernstein," Saisyu said through clenched teeth. Saisyu still hadn't forgotten the time that Rugal had brainwashed him into fighting his own son. When the team was deployed to take out Rugal, he would personally be the one to end the sadistic terrorist's life. Calming down, Saisyu decided to tell Blue Mary what he and Shizuka were really here for, "Now, I was thinking of offering you a part time job while we work towards cleaning Southtown of corruption."
"What do you mean WE?" asked Mary.
This caused Shizuka to smile. "Well, I've decided that since you, Eiji and I can't really handle all these super powered freaks, we could do something more suited to our skills. I'm thinking that we can work with some other people like the Korean Justice Fighters, your friends in the Lonely Wolves, the Kyokugen dojo to clean out corruption in South Town."
"Are you serious?"
"Of course I am dear, why, Mr Masters had even decided to offer me the services of his agents Seth and Vanessa, and he's called a few of his son's acquaintances, who have cleaned out Metro City of their problems with Mad Gear."
This was incredible. All of her friends were living in Southtown. This was Mary's chance to make life better of all of her friends and family. The Kyokugen gym would never be pressured, the police could work for the people instead of against them, King's bar and brother could have insured safety, and Terry's orphan friends would never have to live in fear of gangs or mobs. But there was one person who Mary was worried about joining her little crusade.
"Why would a cold blooded ninja who works for money work to save people? He worked for Howard and Yamazaki countless times." Shizuka and Saisyu laughed at that.
"Believe it or not, since after the 1995 KoF, Eiji had been a close friend to Saisyu and I, despite Kyo's resentment of him. Even if he wasn't, the money with us is a hell of a lot better now that Geese and Yamazaki haven't got anything. The gangs and crooks of Southtown are too small scale for his standards, and the companies that the Kusanagi Clan own make a very tidy sum indeed. This means he's got a much better salary with us."
That sounded good enough for Mary, but she wondered what pairing him up with the Sakazaki family was going to be like. In the meantime, she wondered what else life had in store for her. "So, while you're organising this group of vigilantes, what would you have me do?"
"Well, I was wondering if you would like to become out private investigator, sort of like the work Seth and Vanessa do for the Masters Corp. You would be required to investigate threats and internal problems within the Kusanagi Clan's companies. Stamp out any corruption and stuff. Sort of like our own private detective," explained Saisyu.
Mary beamed. Once she was on her feet again, this was the sort of work she wanted to be in. "I'll leave you to discuss with my wife the conditions of your work and what you can do to clean out Southtown. I have to discuss with a few other people their stance in staying with our little Alliance.
As they walked to the elevator to the lodgings set out for the mercenaries, Ken asked Angel a few questions that had been on his mind. "Angel, when did you come up with all those ideas? I mean, you act like you're ten years old, but you think like some sort of genius."
Angel smiled, skipping along the posh floors, "Mr. Nikaido spent most of the flight to Alaska talking about his hair. I started thinking about other stuff and I formulated that theory before I planned out a new recipe for Tacos!"
Ken decided not to press the point. The girl would never give him a proper answer. Most people who knew of Angel's true intelligence assumed she was acting the fool. However, the more Ken got to know her, the more he wondered if the act was really an act at all. There was a chance that she simply stumbled upon these ingenious ideas despite her personality being that of a ten year old child.
"So, you're Mexican aren't you? What's your real name? I assume a Latina would not be called something like Angel."
"Actually, A-N-G-E-L is how you spell my name, but in Mexico, we pronounce it Ann-hell," Angel corrected, "My codename in NESTS was Angel since it's spelt the same as my real name." Ken took this all in, and truthfully, asked her that question to loosen her up. He had tactfully gotten Angel to trust him with casual conversation before he decided to ask her a very serious one. "Angel, why did you kill Krauser?"
Angel blinked and tilted her head, "Isn't that what you people want me to do?"
"Not at all," was Ken's reply, "Angel, I wanted those people apprehended. You seem to be one of the kindest and nicest people I know; yet you don't seem to value life. You don't even seem to value yours I can't help but notice."
Angel simply shrugged, "I spose workin with NESTS made me not care about all those morality things. And we were trained to value communal glory instead of anything personal. That's why Zero's punishment was execution."
Ken shook his head. The more he got to know this girl, the more confused he got. "I really just wanted to make Mr. K' happy. He seemed really mad at me at the time, and I don't like when people are mean to me. I want to be someone everyone can like."
Ken was beginning to realise that Angel only wanted to make other people happy and to make people like her, at the expense of her own happiness.
"When did you join NESTS?" asked Ken.
"I've been with them as long as I can remember. My parents were agents there as well, but I don't remember them at all. I'm pretty sure they failed missions they were sent on. At NESTS, failure is not an option.
"I know I'm not a clone because I read all the files they had about me. I have a birth certificate and everything, and even though they treated me harshly, I was still treated like a normal person instead of a clone. At NESTS, if you were a clone, they treated you like garbage, as opposed to being really, really strict. That's why I made friends with all the clones, since no one else would be. Especially with K9999."
Ken nodded, taking this all in. The poor girl had never had a normal life; she never had any real friends and her superiors had taken her family away from her. "You don't seem to be interested in money or anything, why did you join us?"
Angel smiled at Ken, "It's fun!" she cheered, "When I was following K9999, all we did was hide from the Ikari warriors. Now I get to meet lots and lotsa new peoples!"
Ken then realised that Angel was a criminal on the run and that Angel and Zangief were still wanted fugitives. He would have to do something about that with his military connections. Ken decided to confront Zangief first, and led Angel to his room. "Why didn't you just go and live with your boyfriend?" Ken asked.
Angel stuck her tongue out and put her finger on it, thinking, "Oh yeah. Well, he hates annoying and boring things, and if I hung around him too long, he would get bored with me. So we're taking a break for a while, but it'll be fun to see him again."
Ken thought of a good way to help out this intriguing girl. "Angel, you seem to want friends and company, but you never had a chance to do what you want to do. You don't get to have time set aside for yourself do you?"
Angel turned very solemn at that, and half-heartedly shrugged. She didn't know what socialising was like; she didn't go on many dates with her boyfriend. "My wife and I have recently moved from Florida to here in New York," Ken explained, "She's been pretty lonely since she moved away from her girlfriends and hasn't been able to meet anyone new. Maybe you could spend time with her. You know, go shopping and girl stuff."
Angel perked up immediately, "Really? That would be really cool! OK, sure!"
"Alright then, it's settled," Ken said, as they arrived at Zangief's room.
After Saisyu and Ken were finished confronting all of their mercenaries, everyone was gathered together at the conference room again for the meeting with Heidern and Guile.
Zangief had asked to stay on with the alliance, and Ken had agreed. Ken promised that he would attempt to get both he and Angel amnesty. Eiji agreed to stay for the money. K''s crew all agreed to stay on since the mission was so successful. Benimaru was going to leave, but when he heard that Angel wasn't single, he stayed on to take her boyfriend's measure (and try his chances with Mary and Rose). Rose also agreed to stay on, feeling her destiny lay with the group.
So far, only Blue Mary had chosen to leave. Out of all the people who chose to stay, only Kula and Shizuka were too injured to join with the mission in Paris. Rose's capabilities were handicapped since her arm had been fractured, but her Psycho Powers had allowed her to support her arm with her robes. Now that the team was ready to deploy, they had only to deal with the government.
Guile and Heidern were escorted to the meeting room, and after a few short greeting, the meeting went underway. "I won't beat around the bush, I want this team disbanded as soon as possible. This little group of vigilantes is going to prove to be very disastrous. A group of untrained mercenaries is going to maximise any potential collateral damage or civilian casualties." Heidern's announcement drew a frustrated sigh from some of the members.
"However," Guile said as he strode forward, "due to the current situation with Geese Howard and his group of escapees, I have already authorised for you people to continue your activities until such time as they have all been either captured or eliminated."
The more justice-orientated members of the group were pleased with this development. They were hoping something like this would happen, but with bureaucracies as they are, they didn't keep their hopes up. "However," Heidern continued, "there are some conditions on our allowing you to go any further with your activities. Number one is that all activities are monitored by the Ikari, and all decisions must be approved by a member of the group present at any monitoring stations."
"Bullshit Heidern!" cried an outraged K'. Maxima was attempting to pull him back into his seat, but the angry young warrior roughly shoved aside his partner. "I'm not one of your soldiers anymore, and neither are any of these people in front of us. Your god damn military got us in this mess in the first place, and it can't do anything about it now. Even if you could go after them, your procedures would leave these shit heads with so many ways to get out of your hands."
"Take my conditions or go to prison for your illegal activities boy. Run my patience now and all of you will go to jail immediately." K' looked about ready to kill Heidern right then and there, but Diana and Ken convinced him to settle down for the moment. "I think we can accommodate for you to personally monitor our activities from our control room," said Saisyu calmly, "However, as you know from experience, battle decisions must be made spontaneously, and therefore, command of the team must remain with Mr. Dash over there." Saisyu gestured to K', who was still fuming.
"That's where you're wrong Kusanagi, this team will now be controlled by me in your monitoring stations." Saisyu, Ken and Kyo were outraged at this, and both the Kusanagi men broke the tables they were sitting on at the same time. "Screw you ya one eyed Cyclops. The Kusanagi family won't hand over anything to you. What? Did you shove the other eye up your ass or something?" screamed Kyo.
'There's a way out of this,' came a voice to Saisyu Kusanagi's head. Saisyu, being raised with knowledge on mystical arts, realised what it was, a psychic communication. Saisyu looked over at Rose, who nodded his way. If Rose had chosen anyone else, they would probably look around the room like an idiot and give away the secret negotiations.
'I know you're currently upgrading your monitoring stations with the plans Maxima gave you from NESTS's monitoring equipment, but I believe you should halt those upgrades. If we can raise our power levels to the same level as in Alaska, then the interference will block any chance Heidern had of following our movements.'
Saisyu, thought of a way that she could turn this to their advantage. "That might prove ineffective, if you want to monitor our behaviour, it won't work if you're not on the field. Rather, we need you to be on the field with us so there is no time wasted due to communication breakdowns. Perhaps if Col. Guile were to join us on the field?"
Ken realised what a smart move that was. Guile was his brother-in- law. Guile also worked with Ken, Ryu, Charlie, Sakura and Chun-Li when they had taken down Shadaloo. Guile and Charlie had actually gone against government orders to attack Shadaloo. Guile was known for doing whatever it took to accomplish a mission, and he was known for throwing the book right out the window. With someone as battle experienced as Guile, they would have that much more strength when attempting to topple Geese and Rugal's operations.
"I would certainly agree to this," said Guile rather gruffly, "but I think you've forgotten about the problem the US and the UN have with getting involve. If I'm seen, and get captured, Howard and Bernstein will expose Area 51 and everything else."
"What about Private Sarah Machiko?" asked K'. Diana and Ken realised that this was a smart move as well. Whip was the clone of K''s sister, and the two of them had worked together for over a year to take down NESTS. Whip would certainly allow the team to go about their business, and her skills would be very beneficial to the mission. "Private Machiko has gone AWOL before. If captured and tortured, she can say she went against the commands of Ikari and her story would then be believable."
"Yes, here, here, good idea," said Benimaru. Benimaru and K' had almost come to blows when Benimaru had heard K''s admonishment of Muey Thai to Sagat (being a Muey Thai practitioner himself). However, the prospect of yet another young, attractive woman to the team was enough for Benimaru to forgive and forget. Especially when that young woman could easily become a Dominatrix.
"Hmm, yes, I believe a monitor on the field would be an excellent idea. Then that's settled. The next condition for your continued activities is that you will hand in all of your used technologies in both this forthcoming mission, and the mission in Alaska."
"If you take our blueprints Heidern, keep in mind that both myself and Kusanagi will cancel all US government weapons contracts and take our business to both Europe and Asia," was Ken's reply. Saisyu gave Ken a nod of approval. Such a high demand was probably easier for Saisyu to swallow since the Kusanagi Clan dealt primarily with the Japanese government.
For Ken though, the Masters Corporation would have a huge dip in profits if it had to go through with its threats. However, the US relied almost completely on Masters Tech. Weaponry. If the US lost their weapons while other countries gained them, then keeping the Area 51 projects under wraps would be pointless. "You understand Commander, that will of course lead to Ikari and the Sparrows having a huge drop in equipment and therefore functionality."
By this time, Rose had alerted everyone to her psychic communications network without frightening anyone or giving themselves away. They were all able to talk with each other in secret without Heidern or Guile having any idea what was going on.
Diana communicated to Ken and Saisyu, telepathically saying 'Good idea, but just in case it doesn't work, don't equip us with anything fancy for the next mission. And we've only given away our supersonic technology in Alaska. They don't know about the advanced cloak fields we have, so if they want anything, give them the plans for the supersonic ships only. And only give them the technology for our out of date monitoring systems.'
"If I were you Commander Heidern, I would double check with the US, I mean the UN, if this is the sort of action they want," added Diana verbally. Both Guile and Heidern frowned at this point. Heidern looked ready to arrest them all right then and there, but Guile stepped forward instead. "I'll talk to my superiors at the Pentagon and appeal to them on your behalf. However, there is one more demand that we must make."
Heidern calmed himself and spoke in a very strict tone, letting them know there would be no negotiations on this last demand, "The wanted fugitives Angel and Zangief must be handed over to the Ikari warriors."
"Raaarrrfg!" was Zangief's reply to that, as he threw his desk straight into the air and looked ready to lunge at Heidern and Guile. Rose, Diana and Maxima stood in front of the Red Cyclone and calmed him down, assuring their new ally that they would do whatever it took to ensure his freedom.
All eyes then turned to Angel, who had her head down. Kula walked over to her friend and put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. However, as Angel put her head up, she revealed herself to be wearing a fake moustache, nose and glasses. Angel then proceeded to say (in a phoney, ridiculous accent), "Well, we'd like to accommodate you with that demand Colonel Guile, Commander Heidern, but I'm afraid we've no clue as to that despicable fugitive's location." K' ripped the phoney disguise off her face. "It was working!" Angel protested, before attempting to hide under her desk.
'Diana, how did you and the rest of your group manage to get off the fugitive list?' Saisyu asked via Rose's telepathic link. 'My men and I worked for Heidern for several months eradicating NESTS bases because of what they did to Foxy. K' has already said we've worked with them before when he lost his temper the first time.
"We were able to purchase our freedom that way, and since Maxima and K' rebelled after their first mission, they were considered innocent more easily than Kula and I. Kula and I had to spend a long time working for Heidern before they let us go. Angel can't make the same negotiations. She knows nothing that I haven't already revealed to the Ikari Warriors, and besides that, her missions were much more extreme. She's had hands in the 9/11 bombing and the subsequent theft of Iraqi nuclear weaponry.'
Saisyu was shocked at the depth of Angel's evil, so much so that he considered handing her in to Heidern's hands.
Ken meanwhile, was attempting to handle Zangief's freedom. 'Zangief, is there anyone you know that can break you out of Ikari hands?' Ken felt Zangief's mind ponder for a long time before he answered with, 'there are all my friends from the KGB. They didn't like when Zangief left, and promised Zangief a job there and any favour Zangief wanted for all da funsy missions we did together.'
Ken was shocked to realise Zangief was an ex-government agent. 'If you worked for the KGB, how did you not know that the Soviet Union was finished?' he telepathically asked Zangief. After feeling Zangief's mind go blank, Ken continued with, 'never mind, just go with Heidern for now, and I will place a few calls to the Russian government on your behalf.'
Angel soon piped up in Ken and Saisyu's heads, 'I don't want to go to jail! Do you know what they do to you in the showers in jail?' she moaned telepathically. 'Angel, they'll take you to an all female jail, don't worry.'
'All female huh? That sounds kinda kinky.' Ken and Saisyu were flabbergasted at Angel's mental comment, but Angel soon continued with, 'I got a way out of jail with no loss of life. Tell the army people that you'll hand little old me in. I'll see you all in three days at Rugal's base, and I'm gonna bring my buddies.' Angel cut her communication off with no further explanation on the matter.
Saisyu sat back in his chair and addressed Guile and Heidern. "Alright, you get what you want, but I'm warning you two, if anything should happen to Zangief or Angel . . ."
"You are in no position to threaten us Kusanagi," Heidern said, cutting off Saisyu before he could continue his warning.
"No!" yelled a frantic Angel, waving her arms around. Angel was making a huge deal about this, and Benimaru and Kyo ran over to settle the young girl down. Angel teleported away from their grasps and pulled a huge magnum pistol from between her gigantic breasts. Angel pointed the gun at Heidern and Guile, and suddenly everyone was at their seats, some people trying to convince her to calm down, though K' was encouraging her to blow away Heidern.
Angel kept stepping backwards until her back was at the pane of glass at the edge of the room. "You'll never take me alive!" screamed Angel, before suddenly shoving the gun in her mouth. Kula screamed and tried to run to Angel and stop her, but Angel fired a bullet right into her head, causing gore to smear all over the window. The force of the blast sent the Mexican bombshell right through the glass and hurtling down twenty stories, before ending up a bloody smear on the sidewalk. The gaping hole in the windowpane let winds hurtle into the room, causing a huge ruckus in the conference centre.
Kula screamed in anguish, and collapsed in a heap. Healing factor or no, no one could have survived a shot to the brain, or a fall from this high. Ken and Saisyu thought the same as Kula. Even with the knowledge that Angel had planned this, they were sure that Angel must have greatly exaggerated her powers.
Rose attempted to feel for any brain activity from Angel, but was disheartened when she couldn't find anything. Benimaru had a faraway look on his face, and said solemnly, "Such a wasted ending for such a beautiful creature." He quickly shrugged and continued with, "Life continues on regardless." Benimaru winked at Rose seductively, who frowned at Benimaru's behaviour.
Diana looked stony faced. The person she blamed for Foxy's murder was dead now, and she should have felt elated. But looking at Kula's reaction to Angel's death, she suddenly felt that her vengeance was shallow. Having known the emptiness Foxy's death had left in her heart, Diana realised that her vengeance only meant spreading that same loss to the people that cared for Angel. When she attempted to place her hand on Kula's weeping form in order to sooth her, her hand was deflected away. She would have to convince Kula to forgive her for the way she had acted to Angel.
"Well, I suppose I should feel some sense of loss," came K''s rather unemotional comment, "What a pity. I don't care." Ken went wide-eyed at K''s comment, and – forsaking his skill in Shotokan Karate – tackled K' to the ground. The two laid into each other as if they were schoolyard enemies instead of trained warriors. The whole room erupted at that point into total chaos, before Guile and Saisyu Kusanagi clamed everyone down enough to relocate to another room.
As they walked to another conference room, Ken ordered maintenance to retrieve Angel's body from the street. Heidern heard this and protested immediately. "Masters, I understand that woman has been subject to numerous NESTS experiments. The Ikari Warriors must take possession of the carcass for autopsy and study."
Ken didn't lose his temper or anything. He looked Heidern right into his eye and pleaded with his sense of humanity. "Heidern, this young woman just died, and you're asking me to desecrate her body like she was nothing but a lab rat. Let me at least give her a proper burial. If you ever had a family, how would you feel if some total stranger killed them and you had no idea what they had been put through?"
Heidern showed no outward emotion, but inside, he felt his heart tear in pieces. Ken didn't know this, but Heidern lost his family to Rugal in the same way Ken had just described. Heidern only nodded, and proceeded onto the second conference room.
Since Ken had sapped Heidern's confidence by reminding him of his family's death, Heidern felt he could no longer be so forceful in his demands. Heidern asked Guile to continue the meeting in his stead, while he settled back into his chair. "I believe you have some of the fugitives under arrest in this building? We surveyed the events after you apprehended the fugitives via satellite." Guile states.
"Err., yes," said Ken nervously, "well, our deceased agent Angel unfortunately executed one of them, but you can't blame the dead eh?" Ken attempted to cover the illegal murders his team performed. Since Angel was dead, she couldn't possibly be punished for such an action. Ken hated to do that to Angel especially since he was against Heidern doing anything to her body, but he was hoping that her sacrifice and error in judgement wasn't as useless as it was.
"I believe Ms. Kusanagi and Mr. Dash have no such excuse for avoiding punishment," said Guile. Saisyu and Kyo got up and stood by Shizuka's side. Saisyu held his wife's hand, making her know that he would kill everyone in the room before she could ever be close to trouble. K' simply gave Heidern a dark look. Guile smiled, not in an evil way, but definitely one that was menacing, "It's unfortunate that some of our prisoners could not be captured alive."
Everyone relaxed at that statement. Even Heidern nodded in agreement. Guile and Heidern were going to play it off as if Sagat, and Krauser died in battle. They were not even going to consider any murder charges for anyone. Why not? They were superhuman terrorists and it was because they were imprisoned instead of executed that all this trouble had originated.
"Supposing there are further casualties from the wanted fugitives, what would possibly happen to us?" asked Diana. Heidern saw Rugal's face leering at him in his mind. Not making sure he was dead had let him escape three times now (94, 95 and 98). He was damned if he let the murderer of his children continue to draw breath while he himself did. Guile looked back at Heidern and answered that question with, "Some battle casualties can not be helped." The alliance of warriors relaxed at that. They weren't going to be held accountable for any 'accidental' deaths.
At that moment, Ken got a call on his com link. "Sir, we could not locate any bodies on the sidewalk. Some passers-by claim to see a woman fall from the window, but they have no idea where her body is. Apparently it landed on a ledge, and all that's on the street is a pool of blood." Ken felt a surge of hope for his young latina friend, but tried not to show it. "Thank you for retrieving the body, take good care of it. Too bad she's dead, but a bullet and a fall like that would certainly kill someone instantly," Ken said into his speaker. He was hoping that he could keep Angel's fake death secret long enough until she could make her move.
"We're going to move out in one day," Guile said continuing the meeting, "Be prepared for battle then." Ken realised that this would potentially ruin Angel's attempt to get the some extra help. And besides, he still hadn't been able to ask Interpol for Chun-Li's assistance. "Um, I'm hoping to get some extra help from Interpol, and we need a few extra days to prepare for your monitoring and for you to accept our blueprints."
Guile frowned, saying, "We need to move out as quick as possible. And we can't reveal that these people have escaped from a secret US prison. Are you crazy Ken?"
"Some on, Interpol are good, they probably already know about Howard and Bernstein since they're in Europe. Angel already figured that out for us, and that's saved us a lot of time. And besides, we'll only need one agent, and I'm pretty sure you know how trustworthy she is. As well as how good she is at her job."
Guile realised who Ken was talking about, and remembered his dealings with the legendary Chun-Li. "Alright Ken, we'll give you three days." So it was all set and organised. They were all ready to take out Geese and Rugal, and spoil whatever plans they have in mind. Ken was going to take some extra measures to ensure Angel's survival was a secret, like bribe everyone who he sent to find her body and ensure their silence. However, Guile was not finished, "But Ken, if you ever hurt my little sister Eliza, I will send you against Bernstein and Howard's army by yourself, bound and naked." Ken only nodded.
No fighting in this chapter, just setting the scene for the battle in Paris. I don't think it's a secret who Angel's going to bring as backup, since my descriptions leave their identities very easy to figure out. Not that I'm trying to keep them secret anyways. By the way, I'm definately writing a second adventure with this group of warriors in the Street Fighters section. However, I am also thinking about adding a side story detailing the struggly Blue Mary and co. have to clean up Southtown. I am not sure though. I absolutely hate all of the Fatal Fury and Art of Fighting Crew (bar Geese, Eiji, Kasumi, King and Yamazaki. Outof those people, nobody does anything for Kasumi and Yamazaki anyways, and Yamazaki's story is mostly developed in KoF anyways). I really believe that they are there joke/novelty characters used to fill up the KoF roster. I think it's great that they took away Takuma and Andy, it makes me feel like anyone is expendable now, even the mainstays. I will forever praise the day SNKPlaymore decide to remove the Sakazaki family from the KoF roster. Despite this, I feel like this side fic could work if it were centered more on King, Eiji and Guy (from Final Fight).
Next chapter our heroes will storm Rugal's stronghold. But is the element of surprise really in the alliance's hands? Review me and I'll make the story even more interesting.