Tekken 24
Disclaimer: Don't own "24" or "Tekken".
The following takes place between 10:00 pm and 11:00 pm.
Events occur in real time.
10:00:00- It was quiet inside the basement of the ATU. Down on this floor was the medical center and computer systems. Here was the heart of the building, the blood on which everything ran. On one side you had the computerized part of the floor, which housed the network servers. If anyone were to get inside there and fiddle with the boards inside the supercomputer that the network required, the building would cease to function normally. To this day, that has never happened.
The halls were silent, as they would be at this time of night. Nobody would normally be in the medical center at this time, unless somebody called a doctor in on an emergency shift.
The center had a small morgue in case a body was discovered during a case investigation. Autopsies could be performed here. Terry Branch was here earlier to perform an autopsy on Jin Kazama, whose body was in one of the lockers that lined a wall inside the center. Right now, nobody was in here.
A building guard doing his regular shift walked down the halls of the basement. He had finished checking the computer rooms, where the electrical units and network servers were. Now he was about to check the medical center.
He walked up to the keypad and had entered two of the six numbers of the code when the doors opened. That shouldn't have happened.
He walked into the center. The main room was literally pitch black. He couldn't see a thing. Not even the punch that sent him sprawling out into the hallway.
A naked Japanese man walked out into the hallway, and began to take the guard's clothes.
10:04:23- Hwoarang was frantically trying to get the doors of the SUV open as it began to sink into the river.
All the windows were up, and the car was beginning to become a tomb. So far the SUV was idle on top of the water. But Hwoarang knew that the SUV would soon tip either front first or back first. He had to get out.
He pulled out his gun, about to shoot the window, but noticed that his slide was locked back. He checked the clip, it was empty. He had no extra magazines ready. He was out of ammo. The car finally began to tip forward as he climbed into the backseat. He needed to find something quickly. There was nothing under the seat or in the back of the SUV itself.
The entire vehicle was underwater now.
"Shit!" he yelled, panicking.
He finally scrambled to look inside the glove compartment. He nervously laughed out loud. There was a giant sized Mag-lite inside the glove box. He grabbed it.
The vehicle landed at the bottom of the river front first. Hwoarang headed for the back of the vehicle. He began pounding at the window. The first smack did nothing, but the second made a small crack. The third caused a quick spit of water to fly through onto his face. He took a deep breath and hit the window once more. It gave out, and water immediately poured through.
The water pushed Hwoarang back to the middle of the vehicle. He gasped for air once more as the SUV quickly filled with water. His lungs full of air; he exited the vehicle through the broken window, and made his way to the surface.
10:08:03- Wallace had taken Baek and Ling to his car when the accident report came over his radio. That was six minutes ago.
Right now, he was driving along the waterfront, trying to get to the bridge. It was in clear view too; an enormous bridge that seemed to be the only connection over the river.
"Do you think it's Hwoarang?" Ling said.
"They said it was an SUV right?" Wallace said.
"Yeah, they did." Baek said.
"He was driving an SUV." Ling said.
Wallace blew right through a red light, cars slamming on their brakes in his wake. They were almost there.
Ling could see construction workers standing along the water's edge, waiting to see if anyone would surface.
Wallace pulled the car to a stop and rushed out of the car. That was when Hwoarang came up out of the water.
He gasped for air, as if it was a long way down to the bottom. Along the edge was Wallace, Ling, Baek, and about a half dozen construction workers. He swam towards them. "This day is going to be the death of me." He said, aloud.
He reached the shore to the plethora of waiting arms, dragging him to shore. Not that he needed it; it was customary for people to help people who had just been in horrifying accidents. Hwoarang didn't care. Hey, at least he was at the bottom, suffocating. He sat on the dirty ground, looking back at the spot in the water he had risen.
Wallace came up to him and noticed he was trying to catch his breath.
"Long day?" Wallace asked.
"You know I'd probably hit you for asking that if you weren't with the UN, right?" Hwoarang said.
"Yeah. I know."
"By the way, what the hell are you doing here?" Hwoarang asked.
"Well, that may be a bit of a long story, but what the hell. I was at the pier along with you." Wallace said.
It took a second for the information to register Hwoarang's brain, but when it did, he turned and looked at Wallace with a questionable look on his face.
"What the hell happened to my team then?" he asked.
"I had to supercede in that one and took the team for myself. We got Heihachi." Wallace said.
"Oh man. Nice one." Hwoarang said.
Hwoarang stood up and lightly punched Wallace in the stomach. Wallace didn't double over, but there was no doubt that the punch hurt.
"That's for almost getting me killed." Hwoarang said.
"Ok. Sorry about that. Jeez." Wallace said.
Hwoarang walked off. Wallace went to chase after him.
"Hey hold it." Wallace said.
"What now?"
"What happened at Chen's?" Wallace said.
Hwoarang stopped walking away. He turned around just as Wallace caught up with him.
"Chen's dead. I killed him, and now I have my gang back. I don't need this stinking job where I almost get killed every hour, on the hour." Hwoarang said.
"Then if you have the gang back, I could bust you for trying to buy the biggest amount of Ecstasy this city's ever seen." Wallace said.
"You're fucking kidding me. You can't do that, its entrapment." Hwoarang said.
Wallace turned Hwoarang around and began to slap handcuffs on him.
"I don't care what it is. You were trying to buy ecstasy, and in the process, got innocent civilians killed and pretty much wrecked government property that we now have to fish out of the river." Wallace said.
"You're an asshole, you know that?" Hwoarang said.
"Well, you what? These cuffs can come off. You want to know how?" Wallace said.
Here it comes, Hwoarang thought. Another lecture from dear old Wallace.
"What?" he said, playing along.
Wallace moved up to his ear.
"You stop your bitching and you do your fucking job." Wallace said.
"Fine." Hwoarang said.
"Now what about the man you were chasing?"
Wallace began to take the cuffs off.
"Drake Matthews. He was driving a black BMW. I think it was a 740il. I'm not exactly sure. But he has the money and the drugs." Hwoarang said.
The cuffs had been pretty tight, so Hwoarang began rubbing his wrists.
"Ok. We'll put out a search for it. I'm guessing it's pretty shot up?" Wallace said.
"Yeah."
"What did you get on Nina?" Wallace asked.
"She's in a suite over at the Park Hyatt." Hwoarang said. "Very plush. I want you to go over there and get her. I'm going back to the ATU and grill Heihachi." Wallace said.
"What about my father, not to mention a ride and a gun?" Hwoarang said.
Wallace pulled out his sidearm and handed it to Hwoarang. He then walked over to one of the construction workers.
"Hey, you the foreman?" Wallace said, in Japanese.
"Yeah." The man responded.
"You got a car? I have an agent that needs it." Wallace said.
"And how am I going to be insured?" the man asked.
Wallace pulled out his card and handed it to the man.
"We'll take care of it and get it back to you. If you have questions, feel free to call." Wallace said.
The man handed over his keys. Wallace then tossed them over to Hwoarang.
"There you go. And about your father? I'll take care of him." Wallace said.
Hwoarang didn't know whether to take that as a blessing or a curse. He left the site and walked over to the lot nearby where the car was parked.
10:20:10- Wallace got back in the SUV where Ling and Baek were. He seemed pissed about a lot of things, mainly Hwoarang.
He was happy that Hwoarang was able to get the job done, it was just the fact that he was getting bitchy the first chance he could. But He really couldn't blame him, thought. He was told to protect Jin. That was it. There were no strings attached, no small print. It was a test to see if he was fit to do the job.
Wallace knew people would come after Jin, and if Hwoarang could protect him, then he could have the job of running the ATU if he wanted. Wallace currently had the job and he was trying to hand it off because he was being sent higher up. His superiors didn't care who it was, as long as he could do the job. He just didn't think Hwoarang's test would end up like this.
What had started as a simple serve and protect turned out to be a full- blown mission. He was asked to protect attack, uncover the villains, go undercover, and pull of a sting operation. Even Wallace wasn't sure if he could do all that in just under twelve hours. It was tricky. Now, Hwoarang was off to find Nina Williams, and Wallace had to deal with Ling and Baek. Ling was supposed to be one of the bad guys working for Chen Hendrix. She would have been busted as an accomplice, but that was shot to hell the second she said she was CIA.
As for Baek, who knew? He was Hwoarang's father, and he had a bomb strapped to his neck.
Wallace turned the vehicle around and exited the area around the construction and began to head back to the ATU.
He looked in the rear-view mirror at Baek.
"So what's your story?" Wallace asked.
"Don't I get a lawyer of some sort?" Baek asked.
"Not in my jurisdiction, you don't."
"The man I worked with put a bomb on my neck for some unknown reason. All I can say is that it hasn't been armed yet." Baek said.
"Drake Matthews?" Wallace asked.
"Yeah."
"How long have you known him?"
"I've known him for a year, but today was the first day I met him." Baek said.
"When, where, and how?" Wallace asked.
Baek hesitated. He wasn't sure if he had been unknowingly bugged by Drake, but oh well. If he didn't say, Wallace was probably going to beat it out of him anyway.
"I was strapped for cash a couple years ago. I was depressed, and I started using heroin. I got my fixes by getting into street fights, beating up drunk people and taking their money, and probably half a dozen other methods. Then about a year ago, I was asked by my dealer if I'd be interested in helping him out. I did, and my payments were in drugs. My fix was my paycheck. I began working for dealers all over the place. I was a collector. They couldn't pay up, I made them pay up. I've been doing that ever since. Then yesterday, I get a call from the big man. Drake Matthews wanted me to protect him at business deal. I agreed, and when I go to meet him, he made me wear this collar. Then he tells me it's a bomb and if I try to fight, he'll blow it up. I didn't know what to do." Baek said.
Wallace knew the "used" look when he saw it, and that's what he was getting when he looked at Baek. With the bomb on his neck, he'd have to place him somewhere safe for the ATU, just in case it detonates while he's there.
10:27:34- Hwoarang was driving his way towards the Park Hyatt hotel. This wasn't as urgent as most of the day's events were, but it needed to be done.
Why was this happening to him? He never asked for any of this to happen. Jin and his death, the ATU, Wallace, Ling, Baek, his getting shot, his getting the gang back, and his killing Chen was something he never asked for.
Most things never really bothered him, unless it something he was forced to do. Everything today felt forced on him. His range of emotions was broad right now. Not only was he pissed, but he was depressed, a little psychotic, and a little tired. The transfusion from earlier left him with a good sized headache, and he hadn't had the chance to down a few aspirin yet.
What he wanted more than anything was just for this damned day to end. He could feel it now, and the thought was so blissful that he began to close his eyes and feel a good sleep coming on. His head started to fall back onto the seat. The car then began to drift.
His phone rang and he jolted awake in time to swerve away from an oncoming car. He picked up the phone. He thought it was dead after his swim in the river. He also forgot how cold he was, seeing that his shirt was still soaked. He picked up the phone.
"Yeah." He said.
He fumbled to turn to heat on full-blast inside the car.
"Hwoarang Doo San." Drake said.
"What the hell do you want?" he said.
"Well, I originally wanted your attention. I see that I have it." Drake said.
Hwoarang didn't respond.
"I believe you saw the collar that your father was wearing?" Drake said.
"What about it?"
"I want Julia Chang. She is currently at the ATU being debriefed and protected. That's where you come in. You are going to get her out." Drake said.
"And if I don't, you detonate the bomb." Hwoarang said.
"Correct, but seeing as you and your father haven't exactly been close, your father's death is strike one. Strike two is much more consequential. I believe you know about the one million Combots in the bottom of the Mishima Labs?" Drake asked.
"Yes."
"If you receive strike two, the Combots will release a virus in the city. It is so devastating that everyone in Tokyo will be dead within the week, and the jet stream will carry the virus all over the world. So you see Hwoarang, releasing it will have global repercussions." Drake said.
"If I ever find you, I'll kill you. Do you understand me?" Hwoarang said.
"Your father's bomb is now armed. Talk like that again, and he'll be dead." Drake said.
"You want Julia Chang?"
"Yes. You must have her within two hours. If not, that will be either strike one, or strike two if you don't behave." Drake said.
"Where?" Hwoarang said.
"I'll call you at the deadline. And as a warning: if you tell anyone at the ATU, I'll know." Drake said.
The line disconnected. Drake had hung up.
"Son of a bitch." Hwoarang said.
10:35:51- Wallace walked through the front doors of the ATU. He was rushing. Baek heard a whirring sound on the collar bomb, and Wallace figured it had been armed.
"Adam!" he yelled as he dragged Baek in through the doors.
Adam came rushing to him.
"Yeah." Adam yelled back.
"I need a bomb squad in secure room C! We got an armed device on this guy's neck and it could blow in any minute. Move!" Wallace said.
Adam ran to a phone. Wallace continued to run with Baek down the main corridor. He took a left, which led to a hallway that dragged around to the back of the building. He opened one door and threw Baek inside.
"I'm sorry to do this to you, but you have to stay here. Just for our safety, but I'm sending a bomb squad in to get that thing off of you." Wallace said.
Adam was on the phone ordering a bomb squad to the room when Wallace came over to him.
"Adam."
"I got the squad on its way." Adam said.
"Good. I need you to take a small team over to Mishima Labs. There's a secret lab in the basement. That's where these things should be." Wallace said.
"What about that guy who had the chip?" Adam asked.
"He's dead." Wallace said.
"How?"
"You didn't hear?"
By the curious look on his face, it was obvious Adam hadn't. In fact, nobody at the ATU had the information Wallace did.
"It turns out that he was hired by Lee Chaolan to steal the chip. I don't know why yet." Wallace said.
"How did he die?" Adam asked.
"I asked for the chip. When he didn't hand it over, I pulled my gun and asked again. He then attacked me and I shot him. He died. Now get over to the labs." Wallace said.
"What about you?" Adam asked.
"I'm going to go grill Heihachi." Wallace said.
Adam walked off and Wallace noticed Ling off in the distance, waiting by the doors. Wallace walked over to her. She knew the lecture she was going to get, and she may or may not deserve it. He didn't care. There were way too many questions that needed to be answered.
"How you doing?" Wallace asked.
"I'm fine." She said.
"I need to ask you some questions. Basically about what the hell are you doing with the CIA." Wallace said.
"Fine. I'll answer what I can." She said.
"What was your assignment here?" he asked.
"Drake Matthews was somebody the CIA had been after for a while. The reason we jumped on the opportunity was because nobody had really seen him before. This was an operation where I would have planted a tracking device in the money. He would now have the money and if he didn't pull a fast one on us, He'd probably be in custody by now." She said.
"What's the connection with Chen?"
"He was the one who had access to Drake. I went undercover originally with Hwoarang for over the past few years. I had a new life, and then Hwoarang leaves for the army, and Chen took over. Tonight, Hwoarang comes back in, kills Chen in a fight for the gang, and wins." She said.
"I see. Anything else I should know about?" he asked.
"No. That's all." She said.
He knew she was holding back. The bullshit look on her face was something he could see right through.
10:42:30- Hwoarang through the front doors of the building that contained the Park Hyatt Hotel. The hotel itself was contained in the building's three towers and was restricted to the top fourteen floors, which meant that the room was fairly limited, compared to other hotels within the city. But where it lacked in quantity, it definitely made up in the quality department.
The rooms were usually plush, packed with silk pajamas given out by the hotel, mini bar, 24-hour room service, silk bed sheets, and one hell of a view. These were only a few of the services and features the rooms of the hotel, but Hwoarang figured that there were probably dozens of others that were only in the suites, which is where Nina was.
There were four different suites, and she was in Suite B, according to Chen's files.
The lobby of the building was like that of a business complex on high alert. Two metal detectors sat on either side of a security station. Currently, there was one guard on duty, and he was busy reading a magazine. From what Hwoarang could tell, the metal detectors were off. That was what he hoped, at least, due to the fact that he had a gun on him. Sadly, it wasn't a Glock. Most Glocks were made of a type of plastic that if concealed well enough, it wouldn't be detected. He walked thorough the detector and then realized that the guard on duty was actually asleep. Not surprising, given the fact that he was busy reading "Popular Science". He didn't blame the man. Hwoarang knew he would fall asleep reading that trash.
He walked over to the elevators. There were about twelve of them in all, six on each side of the building. He walked over to one and hit the button, and as if on cue, the doors opened. He went inside and hit the button for the highest possible floor.
When the doors opened, he came out in the lobby floor of the Park Hyatt. There was a registration desk, and three more elevators. Again, the lobby was made to look about as plush and extravagant as the rooms. He walked over to the other elevator and hit the button. He wasn't as lucky this time. He was going to have to wait.
10:46:55- Wallace stood in a room adjacent to Heihachi's interrogation room. He could see the older man through the glass window. Heihachi was looking at him directly, as if he could sense him. It was creepy seeing Heihachi like that. The man was so good at playing the cool act when it came to the authorities. That's why Wallace was in here thinking before he went in to question him.
There were so many questions that needed to be asked. What was he planning to do with the Combots? What was up with his son, Kazuya? Why the cover up with Julia Chang's Combot? There was an endless list that he could pick from.
Right now, there was a forensics team heading over to Heihachi's office. Wallace had a signed warrant to search the whole building.
But that wasn't what bugged him. What bugged him was the rivalry between Heihachi and Lee Chaolan. The connection with Lee was discovered a couple hours ago when the statement for Liu Pang Ho was issued over the city. Wallace had recognized the name, and he did some investigating. Sure enough, he found the name when he went through Lee's records. He was thankful for placing the bug in Heihachi's computer systems earlier that day. Wallace was able to go through company records and he found Liu's name under Lee's checkbook statements. Lee paid Liu $1 million in a lump sum. He didn't know why at the time, but then when Liu wouldn't hand over the chip, Wallace had figured it out. Either Lee wanted Liu to steal it, and he would collect it later; or Lee wanted him to steal it and then destroy it somehow. Wallace had his money on the first option.
Wallace walked into the interrogation room. Heihachi never flinched or hesitated. He was a statue. But Wallace wasn't afraid of that. In fact, that intrigued him.
"You want to know why he stole the chip?" Wallace said.
Heihachi was silent.
"Because he was hired to do it." Wallace said. Heihachi looked up at the still standing Wallace, who was leaning up against the wall.
"By whom?" Heihachi asked.
"Wouldn't you like to know. I could tell you if you answer something for me." Wallace said.
"I'm not saying anything to you." Heihachi said.
Wallace stood there, contemplating his next move.
"Your wasting your time. You won't get anything out of me." Heihachi said.
"I doubt that. We have many ways of making you talk. We can play it easy, and you can tell me everything right now. Or I'll ask somebody to join me, and you can tell me while I slowly make you wish you were never born." Wallace said.
Heihachi was defiant. He didn't say a word.
"Fine. Have it your way." Wallace said.
He left the room.
10:51:04- Hwoarang was on the top floor. He had his gun out and was walking out towards the suite. He was silent with his footsteps. He leaned up against the wall next to the door.
He wasn't sure what she did for homemade security measures, but he figured silence was his best bet. If she knew he was coming, he was a dead man.
Looking down at the crack under the door, he could see that she had the lights on. He was lucky, though. The lighting in the hallway was dim, with only a few spotlights at certain places in the hall.
He placed himself on his stomach and tried to look through the crack on the floor. At this rate, all he would be able to see is feet, and he didn't see any.
Next he was pulling a risky move and actually trying the door. It was locked.
He didn't necessarily want to get shot, but he needed to get in there. Kicking down the door and barging in would only result in him getting shot, so that was a no go. He decided on the only option he had left.
"Nina! It's Hwoarang. We need to talk!" he yelled.
He swore to himself under his breath. How stupid could he be? The door flung open, but nobody was there. He peeked into the room, seeing nobody inside the room. He took his gun and entered.
Once inside, he could see the little niches of each corner of the room. But he didn't linger on them too long. He turned around to face the doorway, and there was Nina, holding a silenced pistol. It was less than an inch away from his face.
"Put down your gun." She said quietly.
He had his hands in the air already, and with it, he dropped the heavy Beretta onto the floor. It landed with a loud thud. Hwoarang was thankful it didn't misfire.
"What are you doing here?" she asked.
"Originally? I came here to arrest you." He said.
That wasn't what he should have said. Her eyes widened and her grip on the gun tightened.
"But, I got a call a few minutes ago. I'm here now, because I need your help." He said.
"Why?" she said.
She was a professional. Sure, she was surprised that he was here in the first place, but she could deal with it. She knew what to do in a situation like this.
"A man named Drake Matthews has put a bomb on my father, and he will detonate it if I don't get him Julia Chang." He said.
"Then why do you need my help?" she asked.
"Because she is inside the ATU and I'll need help getting her out." He said.
"Why should I? Why can't I just kill you?" she said.
"Because my superior knows about you being here, and if I don't return soon, they'll figure I'm dead. And if that happens, you'll have agents busting down the door within the next hour." He said.
"You're alone?" she said.
"Yeah." He said.
"Fine." She said.
She put the gun down. Hwoarang let out a deep sigh as he took his hands down. He plopped down on the bed.
"That was intense." He said to himself.
Nina took a quick look into the hallway and then finally shut the door. She then walked back over to Hwoarang.
"How did you find me?" she asked.
"Chen's computer had a record of safe houses and who was staying in them. You're name was the only one on his list." He said.
"I see. What happened to Chen?"
"He's dead. I fought him and broke his neck." He said.
"What about Ling?" she asked.
"She's fine, she's probably over at the ATU getting grilled by my boss." He said.
"How much has she told you?"
"Other than the fact that she works for the CIA and was trying to bust Drake for selling ecstasy, not much." He said.
"Well, then she hasn't told you much, and I won't say another word until I get her to give you clearance." She said.
"Whoa, wait a sec. You're working with Ling?" he asked.
"Yeah." She said.
"That's great. It just adds to the already long list of questions that this day has given me." He said.
"You have no idea. No what do we do about Julia?" she asked.
"Well, first we have to get back to the ATU. Julia should have been debriefed by now, and there's no telling how much longer she'll be there." He said.
"Couldn't you just call your boss and tell him about Drake's threat?" she asked.
"Drake said he'd know if I tried contacting Wallace. He's my boss." He said, realizing that he never did mention Wallace's name before.
"Well then we better get going." She said.
They headed for the door, and that's when the lights went out.
10:59:57... 10:59:58... 10:59:59... 11:00:00...
Author's note: Wow. I can't believe how long this story is becoming. I'm ecstatic about it! I've never written anything this long before and it's almost scary knowing the fact that's it's almost half over. The one thing I constantly worry about is wondering if the material is too predictable or not. I hope it's not too predictable. But I should have the halfway chapter up sometime this weekend, I hope.
Disclaimer: Don't own "24" or "Tekken".
The following takes place between 10:00 pm and 11:00 pm.
Events occur in real time.
10:00:00- It was quiet inside the basement of the ATU. Down on this floor was the medical center and computer systems. Here was the heart of the building, the blood on which everything ran. On one side you had the computerized part of the floor, which housed the network servers. If anyone were to get inside there and fiddle with the boards inside the supercomputer that the network required, the building would cease to function normally. To this day, that has never happened.
The halls were silent, as they would be at this time of night. Nobody would normally be in the medical center at this time, unless somebody called a doctor in on an emergency shift.
The center had a small morgue in case a body was discovered during a case investigation. Autopsies could be performed here. Terry Branch was here earlier to perform an autopsy on Jin Kazama, whose body was in one of the lockers that lined a wall inside the center. Right now, nobody was in here.
A building guard doing his regular shift walked down the halls of the basement. He had finished checking the computer rooms, where the electrical units and network servers were. Now he was about to check the medical center.
He walked up to the keypad and had entered two of the six numbers of the code when the doors opened. That shouldn't have happened.
He walked into the center. The main room was literally pitch black. He couldn't see a thing. Not even the punch that sent him sprawling out into the hallway.
A naked Japanese man walked out into the hallway, and began to take the guard's clothes.
10:04:23- Hwoarang was frantically trying to get the doors of the SUV open as it began to sink into the river.
All the windows were up, and the car was beginning to become a tomb. So far the SUV was idle on top of the water. But Hwoarang knew that the SUV would soon tip either front first or back first. He had to get out.
He pulled out his gun, about to shoot the window, but noticed that his slide was locked back. He checked the clip, it was empty. He had no extra magazines ready. He was out of ammo. The car finally began to tip forward as he climbed into the backseat. He needed to find something quickly. There was nothing under the seat or in the back of the SUV itself.
The entire vehicle was underwater now.
"Shit!" he yelled, panicking.
He finally scrambled to look inside the glove compartment. He nervously laughed out loud. There was a giant sized Mag-lite inside the glove box. He grabbed it.
The vehicle landed at the bottom of the river front first. Hwoarang headed for the back of the vehicle. He began pounding at the window. The first smack did nothing, but the second made a small crack. The third caused a quick spit of water to fly through onto his face. He took a deep breath and hit the window once more. It gave out, and water immediately poured through.
The water pushed Hwoarang back to the middle of the vehicle. He gasped for air once more as the SUV quickly filled with water. His lungs full of air; he exited the vehicle through the broken window, and made his way to the surface.
10:08:03- Wallace had taken Baek and Ling to his car when the accident report came over his radio. That was six minutes ago.
Right now, he was driving along the waterfront, trying to get to the bridge. It was in clear view too; an enormous bridge that seemed to be the only connection over the river.
"Do you think it's Hwoarang?" Ling said.
"They said it was an SUV right?" Wallace said.
"Yeah, they did." Baek said.
"He was driving an SUV." Ling said.
Wallace blew right through a red light, cars slamming on their brakes in his wake. They were almost there.
Ling could see construction workers standing along the water's edge, waiting to see if anyone would surface.
Wallace pulled the car to a stop and rushed out of the car. That was when Hwoarang came up out of the water.
He gasped for air, as if it was a long way down to the bottom. Along the edge was Wallace, Ling, Baek, and about a half dozen construction workers. He swam towards them. "This day is going to be the death of me." He said, aloud.
He reached the shore to the plethora of waiting arms, dragging him to shore. Not that he needed it; it was customary for people to help people who had just been in horrifying accidents. Hwoarang didn't care. Hey, at least he was at the bottom, suffocating. He sat on the dirty ground, looking back at the spot in the water he had risen.
Wallace came up to him and noticed he was trying to catch his breath.
"Long day?" Wallace asked.
"You know I'd probably hit you for asking that if you weren't with the UN, right?" Hwoarang said.
"Yeah. I know."
"By the way, what the hell are you doing here?" Hwoarang asked.
"Well, that may be a bit of a long story, but what the hell. I was at the pier along with you." Wallace said.
It took a second for the information to register Hwoarang's brain, but when it did, he turned and looked at Wallace with a questionable look on his face.
"What the hell happened to my team then?" he asked.
"I had to supercede in that one and took the team for myself. We got Heihachi." Wallace said.
"Oh man. Nice one." Hwoarang said.
Hwoarang stood up and lightly punched Wallace in the stomach. Wallace didn't double over, but there was no doubt that the punch hurt.
"That's for almost getting me killed." Hwoarang said.
"Ok. Sorry about that. Jeez." Wallace said.
Hwoarang walked off. Wallace went to chase after him.
"Hey hold it." Wallace said.
"What now?"
"What happened at Chen's?" Wallace said.
Hwoarang stopped walking away. He turned around just as Wallace caught up with him.
"Chen's dead. I killed him, and now I have my gang back. I don't need this stinking job where I almost get killed every hour, on the hour." Hwoarang said.
"Then if you have the gang back, I could bust you for trying to buy the biggest amount of Ecstasy this city's ever seen." Wallace said.
"You're fucking kidding me. You can't do that, its entrapment." Hwoarang said.
Wallace turned Hwoarang around and began to slap handcuffs on him.
"I don't care what it is. You were trying to buy ecstasy, and in the process, got innocent civilians killed and pretty much wrecked government property that we now have to fish out of the river." Wallace said.
"You're an asshole, you know that?" Hwoarang said.
"Well, you what? These cuffs can come off. You want to know how?" Wallace said.
Here it comes, Hwoarang thought. Another lecture from dear old Wallace.
"What?" he said, playing along.
Wallace moved up to his ear.
"You stop your bitching and you do your fucking job." Wallace said.
"Fine." Hwoarang said.
"Now what about the man you were chasing?"
Wallace began to take the cuffs off.
"Drake Matthews. He was driving a black BMW. I think it was a 740il. I'm not exactly sure. But he has the money and the drugs." Hwoarang said.
The cuffs had been pretty tight, so Hwoarang began rubbing his wrists.
"Ok. We'll put out a search for it. I'm guessing it's pretty shot up?" Wallace said.
"Yeah."
"What did you get on Nina?" Wallace asked.
"She's in a suite over at the Park Hyatt." Hwoarang said. "Very plush. I want you to go over there and get her. I'm going back to the ATU and grill Heihachi." Wallace said.
"What about my father, not to mention a ride and a gun?" Hwoarang said.
Wallace pulled out his sidearm and handed it to Hwoarang. He then walked over to one of the construction workers.
"Hey, you the foreman?" Wallace said, in Japanese.
"Yeah." The man responded.
"You got a car? I have an agent that needs it." Wallace said.
"And how am I going to be insured?" the man asked.
Wallace pulled out his card and handed it to the man.
"We'll take care of it and get it back to you. If you have questions, feel free to call." Wallace said.
The man handed over his keys. Wallace then tossed them over to Hwoarang.
"There you go. And about your father? I'll take care of him." Wallace said.
Hwoarang didn't know whether to take that as a blessing or a curse. He left the site and walked over to the lot nearby where the car was parked.
10:20:10- Wallace got back in the SUV where Ling and Baek were. He seemed pissed about a lot of things, mainly Hwoarang.
He was happy that Hwoarang was able to get the job done, it was just the fact that he was getting bitchy the first chance he could. But He really couldn't blame him, thought. He was told to protect Jin. That was it. There were no strings attached, no small print. It was a test to see if he was fit to do the job.
Wallace knew people would come after Jin, and if Hwoarang could protect him, then he could have the job of running the ATU if he wanted. Wallace currently had the job and he was trying to hand it off because he was being sent higher up. His superiors didn't care who it was, as long as he could do the job. He just didn't think Hwoarang's test would end up like this.
What had started as a simple serve and protect turned out to be a full- blown mission. He was asked to protect attack, uncover the villains, go undercover, and pull of a sting operation. Even Wallace wasn't sure if he could do all that in just under twelve hours. It was tricky. Now, Hwoarang was off to find Nina Williams, and Wallace had to deal with Ling and Baek. Ling was supposed to be one of the bad guys working for Chen Hendrix. She would have been busted as an accomplice, but that was shot to hell the second she said she was CIA.
As for Baek, who knew? He was Hwoarang's father, and he had a bomb strapped to his neck.
Wallace turned the vehicle around and exited the area around the construction and began to head back to the ATU.
He looked in the rear-view mirror at Baek.
"So what's your story?" Wallace asked.
"Don't I get a lawyer of some sort?" Baek asked.
"Not in my jurisdiction, you don't."
"The man I worked with put a bomb on my neck for some unknown reason. All I can say is that it hasn't been armed yet." Baek said.
"Drake Matthews?" Wallace asked.
"Yeah."
"How long have you known him?"
"I've known him for a year, but today was the first day I met him." Baek said.
"When, where, and how?" Wallace asked.
Baek hesitated. He wasn't sure if he had been unknowingly bugged by Drake, but oh well. If he didn't say, Wallace was probably going to beat it out of him anyway.
"I was strapped for cash a couple years ago. I was depressed, and I started using heroin. I got my fixes by getting into street fights, beating up drunk people and taking their money, and probably half a dozen other methods. Then about a year ago, I was asked by my dealer if I'd be interested in helping him out. I did, and my payments were in drugs. My fix was my paycheck. I began working for dealers all over the place. I was a collector. They couldn't pay up, I made them pay up. I've been doing that ever since. Then yesterday, I get a call from the big man. Drake Matthews wanted me to protect him at business deal. I agreed, and when I go to meet him, he made me wear this collar. Then he tells me it's a bomb and if I try to fight, he'll blow it up. I didn't know what to do." Baek said.
Wallace knew the "used" look when he saw it, and that's what he was getting when he looked at Baek. With the bomb on his neck, he'd have to place him somewhere safe for the ATU, just in case it detonates while he's there.
10:27:34- Hwoarang was driving his way towards the Park Hyatt hotel. This wasn't as urgent as most of the day's events were, but it needed to be done.
Why was this happening to him? He never asked for any of this to happen. Jin and his death, the ATU, Wallace, Ling, Baek, his getting shot, his getting the gang back, and his killing Chen was something he never asked for.
Most things never really bothered him, unless it something he was forced to do. Everything today felt forced on him. His range of emotions was broad right now. Not only was he pissed, but he was depressed, a little psychotic, and a little tired. The transfusion from earlier left him with a good sized headache, and he hadn't had the chance to down a few aspirin yet.
What he wanted more than anything was just for this damned day to end. He could feel it now, and the thought was so blissful that he began to close his eyes and feel a good sleep coming on. His head started to fall back onto the seat. The car then began to drift.
His phone rang and he jolted awake in time to swerve away from an oncoming car. He picked up the phone. He thought it was dead after his swim in the river. He also forgot how cold he was, seeing that his shirt was still soaked. He picked up the phone.
"Yeah." He said.
He fumbled to turn to heat on full-blast inside the car.
"Hwoarang Doo San." Drake said.
"What the hell do you want?" he said.
"Well, I originally wanted your attention. I see that I have it." Drake said.
Hwoarang didn't respond.
"I believe you saw the collar that your father was wearing?" Drake said.
"What about it?"
"I want Julia Chang. She is currently at the ATU being debriefed and protected. That's where you come in. You are going to get her out." Drake said.
"And if I don't, you detonate the bomb." Hwoarang said.
"Correct, but seeing as you and your father haven't exactly been close, your father's death is strike one. Strike two is much more consequential. I believe you know about the one million Combots in the bottom of the Mishima Labs?" Drake asked.
"Yes."
"If you receive strike two, the Combots will release a virus in the city. It is so devastating that everyone in Tokyo will be dead within the week, and the jet stream will carry the virus all over the world. So you see Hwoarang, releasing it will have global repercussions." Drake said.
"If I ever find you, I'll kill you. Do you understand me?" Hwoarang said.
"Your father's bomb is now armed. Talk like that again, and he'll be dead." Drake said.
"You want Julia Chang?"
"Yes. You must have her within two hours. If not, that will be either strike one, or strike two if you don't behave." Drake said.
"Where?" Hwoarang said.
"I'll call you at the deadline. And as a warning: if you tell anyone at the ATU, I'll know." Drake said.
The line disconnected. Drake had hung up.
"Son of a bitch." Hwoarang said.
10:35:51- Wallace walked through the front doors of the ATU. He was rushing. Baek heard a whirring sound on the collar bomb, and Wallace figured it had been armed.
"Adam!" he yelled as he dragged Baek in through the doors.
Adam came rushing to him.
"Yeah." Adam yelled back.
"I need a bomb squad in secure room C! We got an armed device on this guy's neck and it could blow in any minute. Move!" Wallace said.
Adam ran to a phone. Wallace continued to run with Baek down the main corridor. He took a left, which led to a hallway that dragged around to the back of the building. He opened one door and threw Baek inside.
"I'm sorry to do this to you, but you have to stay here. Just for our safety, but I'm sending a bomb squad in to get that thing off of you." Wallace said.
Adam was on the phone ordering a bomb squad to the room when Wallace came over to him.
"Adam."
"I got the squad on its way." Adam said.
"Good. I need you to take a small team over to Mishima Labs. There's a secret lab in the basement. That's where these things should be." Wallace said.
"What about that guy who had the chip?" Adam asked.
"He's dead." Wallace said.
"How?"
"You didn't hear?"
By the curious look on his face, it was obvious Adam hadn't. In fact, nobody at the ATU had the information Wallace did.
"It turns out that he was hired by Lee Chaolan to steal the chip. I don't know why yet." Wallace said.
"How did he die?" Adam asked.
"I asked for the chip. When he didn't hand it over, I pulled my gun and asked again. He then attacked me and I shot him. He died. Now get over to the labs." Wallace said.
"What about you?" Adam asked.
"I'm going to go grill Heihachi." Wallace said.
Adam walked off and Wallace noticed Ling off in the distance, waiting by the doors. Wallace walked over to her. She knew the lecture she was going to get, and she may or may not deserve it. He didn't care. There were way too many questions that needed to be answered.
"How you doing?" Wallace asked.
"I'm fine." She said.
"I need to ask you some questions. Basically about what the hell are you doing with the CIA." Wallace said.
"Fine. I'll answer what I can." She said.
"What was your assignment here?" he asked.
"Drake Matthews was somebody the CIA had been after for a while. The reason we jumped on the opportunity was because nobody had really seen him before. This was an operation where I would have planted a tracking device in the money. He would now have the money and if he didn't pull a fast one on us, He'd probably be in custody by now." She said.
"What's the connection with Chen?"
"He was the one who had access to Drake. I went undercover originally with Hwoarang for over the past few years. I had a new life, and then Hwoarang leaves for the army, and Chen took over. Tonight, Hwoarang comes back in, kills Chen in a fight for the gang, and wins." She said.
"I see. Anything else I should know about?" he asked.
"No. That's all." She said.
He knew she was holding back. The bullshit look on her face was something he could see right through.
10:42:30- Hwoarang through the front doors of the building that contained the Park Hyatt Hotel. The hotel itself was contained in the building's three towers and was restricted to the top fourteen floors, which meant that the room was fairly limited, compared to other hotels within the city. But where it lacked in quantity, it definitely made up in the quality department.
The rooms were usually plush, packed with silk pajamas given out by the hotel, mini bar, 24-hour room service, silk bed sheets, and one hell of a view. These were only a few of the services and features the rooms of the hotel, but Hwoarang figured that there were probably dozens of others that were only in the suites, which is where Nina was.
There were four different suites, and she was in Suite B, according to Chen's files.
The lobby of the building was like that of a business complex on high alert. Two metal detectors sat on either side of a security station. Currently, there was one guard on duty, and he was busy reading a magazine. From what Hwoarang could tell, the metal detectors were off. That was what he hoped, at least, due to the fact that he had a gun on him. Sadly, it wasn't a Glock. Most Glocks were made of a type of plastic that if concealed well enough, it wouldn't be detected. He walked thorough the detector and then realized that the guard on duty was actually asleep. Not surprising, given the fact that he was busy reading "Popular Science". He didn't blame the man. Hwoarang knew he would fall asleep reading that trash.
He walked over to the elevators. There were about twelve of them in all, six on each side of the building. He walked over to one and hit the button, and as if on cue, the doors opened. He went inside and hit the button for the highest possible floor.
When the doors opened, he came out in the lobby floor of the Park Hyatt. There was a registration desk, and three more elevators. Again, the lobby was made to look about as plush and extravagant as the rooms. He walked over to the other elevator and hit the button. He wasn't as lucky this time. He was going to have to wait.
10:46:55- Wallace stood in a room adjacent to Heihachi's interrogation room. He could see the older man through the glass window. Heihachi was looking at him directly, as if he could sense him. It was creepy seeing Heihachi like that. The man was so good at playing the cool act when it came to the authorities. That's why Wallace was in here thinking before he went in to question him.
There were so many questions that needed to be asked. What was he planning to do with the Combots? What was up with his son, Kazuya? Why the cover up with Julia Chang's Combot? There was an endless list that he could pick from.
Right now, there was a forensics team heading over to Heihachi's office. Wallace had a signed warrant to search the whole building.
But that wasn't what bugged him. What bugged him was the rivalry between Heihachi and Lee Chaolan. The connection with Lee was discovered a couple hours ago when the statement for Liu Pang Ho was issued over the city. Wallace had recognized the name, and he did some investigating. Sure enough, he found the name when he went through Lee's records. He was thankful for placing the bug in Heihachi's computer systems earlier that day. Wallace was able to go through company records and he found Liu's name under Lee's checkbook statements. Lee paid Liu $1 million in a lump sum. He didn't know why at the time, but then when Liu wouldn't hand over the chip, Wallace had figured it out. Either Lee wanted Liu to steal it, and he would collect it later; or Lee wanted him to steal it and then destroy it somehow. Wallace had his money on the first option.
Wallace walked into the interrogation room. Heihachi never flinched or hesitated. He was a statue. But Wallace wasn't afraid of that. In fact, that intrigued him.
"You want to know why he stole the chip?" Wallace said.
Heihachi was silent.
"Because he was hired to do it." Wallace said. Heihachi looked up at the still standing Wallace, who was leaning up against the wall.
"By whom?" Heihachi asked.
"Wouldn't you like to know. I could tell you if you answer something for me." Wallace said.
"I'm not saying anything to you." Heihachi said.
Wallace stood there, contemplating his next move.
"Your wasting your time. You won't get anything out of me." Heihachi said.
"I doubt that. We have many ways of making you talk. We can play it easy, and you can tell me everything right now. Or I'll ask somebody to join me, and you can tell me while I slowly make you wish you were never born." Wallace said.
Heihachi was defiant. He didn't say a word.
"Fine. Have it your way." Wallace said.
He left the room.
10:51:04- Hwoarang was on the top floor. He had his gun out and was walking out towards the suite. He was silent with his footsteps. He leaned up against the wall next to the door.
He wasn't sure what she did for homemade security measures, but he figured silence was his best bet. If she knew he was coming, he was a dead man.
Looking down at the crack under the door, he could see that she had the lights on. He was lucky, though. The lighting in the hallway was dim, with only a few spotlights at certain places in the hall.
He placed himself on his stomach and tried to look through the crack on the floor. At this rate, all he would be able to see is feet, and he didn't see any.
Next he was pulling a risky move and actually trying the door. It was locked.
He didn't necessarily want to get shot, but he needed to get in there. Kicking down the door and barging in would only result in him getting shot, so that was a no go. He decided on the only option he had left.
"Nina! It's Hwoarang. We need to talk!" he yelled.
He swore to himself under his breath. How stupid could he be? The door flung open, but nobody was there. He peeked into the room, seeing nobody inside the room. He took his gun and entered.
Once inside, he could see the little niches of each corner of the room. But he didn't linger on them too long. He turned around to face the doorway, and there was Nina, holding a silenced pistol. It was less than an inch away from his face.
"Put down your gun." She said quietly.
He had his hands in the air already, and with it, he dropped the heavy Beretta onto the floor. It landed with a loud thud. Hwoarang was thankful it didn't misfire.
"What are you doing here?" she asked.
"Originally? I came here to arrest you." He said.
That wasn't what he should have said. Her eyes widened and her grip on the gun tightened.
"But, I got a call a few minutes ago. I'm here now, because I need your help." He said.
"Why?" she said.
She was a professional. Sure, she was surprised that he was here in the first place, but she could deal with it. She knew what to do in a situation like this.
"A man named Drake Matthews has put a bomb on my father, and he will detonate it if I don't get him Julia Chang." He said.
"Then why do you need my help?" she asked.
"Because she is inside the ATU and I'll need help getting her out." He said.
"Why should I? Why can't I just kill you?" she said.
"Because my superior knows about you being here, and if I don't return soon, they'll figure I'm dead. And if that happens, you'll have agents busting down the door within the next hour." He said.
"You're alone?" she said.
"Yeah." He said.
"Fine." She said.
She put the gun down. Hwoarang let out a deep sigh as he took his hands down. He plopped down on the bed.
"That was intense." He said to himself.
Nina took a quick look into the hallway and then finally shut the door. She then walked back over to Hwoarang.
"How did you find me?" she asked.
"Chen's computer had a record of safe houses and who was staying in them. You're name was the only one on his list." He said.
"I see. What happened to Chen?"
"He's dead. I fought him and broke his neck." He said.
"What about Ling?" she asked.
"She's fine, she's probably over at the ATU getting grilled by my boss." He said.
"How much has she told you?"
"Other than the fact that she works for the CIA and was trying to bust Drake for selling ecstasy, not much." He said.
"Well, then she hasn't told you much, and I won't say another word until I get her to give you clearance." She said.
"Whoa, wait a sec. You're working with Ling?" he asked.
"Yeah." She said.
"That's great. It just adds to the already long list of questions that this day has given me." He said.
"You have no idea. No what do we do about Julia?" she asked.
"Well, first we have to get back to the ATU. Julia should have been debriefed by now, and there's no telling how much longer she'll be there." He said.
"Couldn't you just call your boss and tell him about Drake's threat?" she asked.
"Drake said he'd know if I tried contacting Wallace. He's my boss." He said, realizing that he never did mention Wallace's name before.
"Well then we better get going." She said.
They headed for the door, and that's when the lights went out.
10:59:57... 10:59:58... 10:59:59... 11:00:00...
Author's note: Wow. I can't believe how long this story is becoming. I'm ecstatic about it! I've never written anything this long before and it's almost scary knowing the fact that's it's almost half over. The one thing I constantly worry about is wondering if the material is too predictable or not. I hope it's not too predictable. But I should have the halfway chapter up sometime this weekend, I hope.