Tekken 24
Disclaimer: Don't own "24" or "Tekken".
The following takes place between 4:00 am and 5:00 am.
Events occur in real time.
4:00:00- The lab was nearly completely engulfed in flames. Beakers shattered flammable chemicals onto the floor and it only fueled the fire even more.
The body parts of Julia Chang were littered all over the room, burning to a crisp in the fire. The smell was that of a garbage filled trash can that had been left out in the sun for a week. It reeked.
Hwoarang ran into the room, looking for any hint of the vials that Julia had been working on.
He didn't even know Julia died in here, but he knew somebody did. The smell gave it away. His knowledge of death had grown over the few years he spent in the army. The first person he killed had begged for their life. At the time, he didn't know what to do. The man had started to talk of his wife and children, and Hwoarang honestly felt sorry for the guy. But it never stopped him for putting a bullet in his head. After all, it wasn't personal.
With the adrenaline running full blast, Hwoarang frantically secured the last two vials of the cure and of the virus that was lying in a beaker holder on the floor. It was clearly marked as to what was what. He picked them up and ran out of the room, the smoke beginning to fill his lungs.
Another explosion rocked the house, the wall behind Hwoarang blowing off from behind him. The shockwave itself knocked him to the ground. He got up and ran to the front door, putting the four vials in a pocket on his army jacket.
Outside, he could see headlights coming towards the house. Were they reinforcements? He couldn't tell, but he wasn't going to wait to find out either. He ran off into the woods at a full sprint.
After going for about fifty yards, he couldn't see anything, but he could hear more explosions coming from the house. He also heard the sound of leaves rustling in the distance. He went for his gun, but realized that he left it in the house, along with the sword.
"Shit." He whispered.
He heard it coming closer, this time from behind him. He still couldn't see anything. Hwoarang ran off to the north, hoping whoever he heard wouldn't chase him. He tried to watch his step, not knowing anything about the terrain ahead of him. His eyes were adjusted to the darkness, but he couldn't see much anyways. The moon had been covered by clouds that began to roll in about an hour ago. He then began to fall down a hill. It's exactly what he was afraid of happening.
"Fuck!" he yelled as he lost his footing.
A pair of hands suddenly grabbed him. One hand was over his mouth, cutting off any sound, the other under his arm and across his chest, keeping him stable.
"Shh. It's me." Jin said.
Hwoarang didn't know what the hell Jin was doing. In fact, he was still under the impression that Jin was a bad guy. Jin pulled Hwoarang up onto level ground, and immediately, Hwoarang pushed him away.
"You son of a bitch!" he yelled.
Hwoarang turned to face Jin and tackled him to the ground. In a blind rage, he straddled Jin and kept trying to punch his face. Jin thought was calm, not understanding why Hwoarang was attacking him now, but he was used to the beatings overall. Jin usually won these fights where Hwoarang would blindly attack him, furious for one reason or another. Jin didn't understand why he didn't take the time to think before trying to kick someone's ass.
His arms began to ache, the fists landing faster than they usually did. He then let them down, his arms now pushing onto Hwoarang's chest. Jin used the momentum to roll over onto Hwoarang. A few punches connected with Jin's face, which he ignored.
The move took Hwoarang off guard. Jin then pulled one fist back and hit him hard in the face. His face bolted to the right, a small splatter of blood exiting his mouth onto the fresh grass. Then, Jin hit him hard in the stomach, the blow having twice as much effect seeing as Hwoarang was lying on the ground.
Jin got up off of him, Hwoarang immediately holding his stomach with one hand, his mouth with the other.
"You finished?" Jin asked.
"Far from it." Hwoarang said.
He sprung up out of nowhere and charged at Jin, who stood his ground and gave Hwoarang an uppercut. He then fell to the ground.
"Calm down, man. You're going get yourself hurt." Jin said.
"Fuck you." Hwoarang mumbled, getting up onto his knees.
Jin watched Hwoarang get up off the ground, who was spitting blood out from his mouth. Jin offered his hand, but he just ignored the offer.
"What the hell are you doing here?" Jin asked.
"I'm here for the virus."
"So am I. Did you get my message?" Jin said.
"What message?" Hwoarang asked.
"The one I left on your cell phone."
Hwoarang pulled out his phone. He flipped it open and checked the LCD display. Sure enough it showed that he had a message.
"I didn't know you called."
"Well I did. I tried to tell you about all this." Jin said.
"How the hell are you even breathing? I saw you get shot to death." Hwoarang said.
"Guess. The gene I carry is the one to thank. Now I get to live with knowing I was reanimated." Jin said.
"Well I can join you."
Jin stared at Hwoarang, well at least of what he could see in the darkness.
"What do you mean?" Jin asked.
"I have the devil gene. Somebody that happens to be an enemy of Lee's gave it to me about an hour ago. I died, too." Hwoarang said.
"Damn. I'm sorry." Jin said.
"We don't have time for apologies. The guy who gave it to me wanted me to get samples of the virus and the cure, as well as killing Lee in the process."
"And you agreed?"
"I didn't have a choice. He has Ling as a hostage." Hwoarang said. "What the hell does Ling have to do with this?" Jin asked.
"Long story. All I know is that she kept a dirty secret from all of us, and I'll let her explain that. But we need to find her first. I got the vials, but not Lee." Hwoarang said.
"Vials?"
"I have two samples of both the virus and the cure. I saw a car as I ran into the woods. I need you to go check it out. I imagine that it was probably somebody from the ATU. If it is, give him these two vials. One's the cure, and the other is the virus. I'm going to go visit this guy who has Ling."
"You'll be ok?" Jin asked.
"I died once, didn't I?" Hwoarang asked.
Jin smiled at the careless remark. He took the two vials from Hwoarang and ran back towards the house. Hwoarang stayed behind. He tried to focus his anger, trying to get his wings to sprout.
Memories of all the bad events over the past two years began to come to mind. First, his beating from Kazuya at the fourth tournament came back. All the blows and all the pain flooded his consciousness as if it was actually happening for again. He leaned his arms up against a tree, his head hanging through the gap his arms created. He painfully moaned as his the wings began to sprout through the skin on his back.
The next memory was of Korea after he was captured by the Army. The torture was unthinkable. It felt so real to think about it, almost as if he was actually there.
He was chained up to a wall, his arms hanging above him. Two men stood in front of him and began to hit him with their fists. After a few minutes, they began to go at him with a cattle prod and various types of knives, which they used to slowly slice at his skin. The screams were something that he knew would always keep him up at night for the rest of his life.
The wings had come out again. His jacket was torn to shreds and Hwoarang pulled off what was left of his beloved Army jacket. The anger inside him coming to a head once again, Hwoarang took off and flew into the night.
4:12:29- The car that had pulled up to the house was Le Carre. He immediately bolted out of the car, leaving the engine running.
He didn't know what to expect, but he could see the flames erupting from the far left side of the mansion. Pulling out his gun, he entered the house.
The front hall was littered with bodies, the faint smell of copper telling him that there was a lot of blood spilled. The amount on the walls alone was enough to make a man sick. Le Carre wasn't surprised by the sight, seeing as he saw Heihachi's mutilated body in about the same shape as these poor bastards.
He followed the bodies all the way to the fire, which was now burning up the stairwell that led to the third floor as well as the basement. The whole house was empty. Everyone who was still there was dead. Le Carre began to run towards the front of the house when he suddenly met face to face with Jin. Le Carre raised his gun.
"Whoa!" Le Carre yelled, surprised.
Le Carre fired at him. Jin dived behind a table, the shots going into it.
"Don't shoot!" Jin yelled.
Le Carre held his aim on the table. He wasn't about to take any chances, especially since Jin was about twice his size and half his age.
"Come out from behind the table slowly." Le Carre said.
Jin came out, hands over his head. He kept his eyes focus on Le Carre, a 'Don't fuck with me' look on his face.
"Outside." Le Carre said.
Jin walked outside, a flurry of headlights pulling up next to Le Carre's car. They were some type of SWAT vans. Jin hesitated a moment, but kept going as soon as he felt the barrel of Le Carre's gun press into his back.
"Keep moving." Le Carre said.
The two moved out to Le Carre's car, where three team leaders stood, waiting for orders.
"I need all teams to move in on the house. There's no resistance, but I need any type of information to be collected before the house burns to the ground. Collect anything ranging from computers, files, to whatever. If it looks important, grab it and bring it out here. I'm going to try to establish a command center." Le Carre said.
"Yes, sir!" the three team leaders said.
Le Carre motioned for Jin to sit on the hood, putting his gun back in his holster. Jin took a seat on the hood. Le Carre knew that Jin wouldn't attack, and it wasn't because of the teams either. It was just a genuine feeling that most people got when they were around him. Even if he looked like he just got out of a bar fight, there was something reassuring about his presence. Le Carre could put his finger on it, but he wasn't worried about it too much.
"Are you Le Carre?" Jin asked.
"Depends." Le Carre said.
Jin looked at him. The suit, the brown trench coat, the somewhat disheveled hair, the growing five o'clock shadow; it all said that this was the guy.
"Hwoarang wanted me to give you something." Jin said.
"What's that?" Le Carre said.
Jin took out the two vials and handed them to Le Carre.
"What's this?"
"Let me explain. That contains a virus as well as the cure. The virus was made from the devil gene that my family bloodline carries." Jin said.
"You're saying that this virus that Lee plans to release is the devil gene?" Le Carre said.
"Yes. I don't know how though. They never let me that close." Jin said.
"Ok. Let's take this one topic at a time. First, how is Hwoarang involved?" Le Carre asked.
"I tried calling him a little after two. He came here about ninety minutes later. I talk to him ten minutes ago. He didn't go into details, but he said that Ling Xiaoyu was kidnapped by someone who wants Lee dead. He said she would be killed if Hwoarang didn't do what he wanted. Somehow, he was given the devil gene along the way and then killed. That way they knew it worked." Jin said.
Le Carre took a moment to have this soak in.
"So they killed Hwoarang, and the gene brought him back?" Le Carre asked.
Jin pulled back the collar on his jacket to show the neck wound that was fully healed, a scar showing the damage that was once there.
"It always does. I died from this wound, and I'm still here." Jin said.
"Jesus. I don't even want to think about what would happen if this was released to the population, or the public finding out that it brings people back to life."
"You forgot the wings." Jin said.
"Wings?"
"Yeah. With this gene, when you get angry, you turn into a devil." Jin said.
"Great. It seems like the problems just keep adding up. So where is Hwoarang at?" Le Carre said.
"Taking the virus to the guy who has Ling." Jin said.
"He's what?" Le Carre said, shocked.
4:23:06- Flying back to the city was much faster than he ever expected. So fast in fact, that it was the fastest ride he ever took.
Right now, he was about twenty feet from trying to land on a rooftop just inside of downtown Tokyo. The city was dead at this time of night, everyone either sleeping or just getting up. Anyone that was awake was either suffering from insomnia or going through some sort of midlife crisis.
The wind was howling, but he was used to it now that he could fly. His feet came down on the rooftop, causing him to run in order to slow down the momentum.
Catching his breath, he stood there for a moment, trying to calm down. But he couldn't wait for the wings to hide. Hwoarang pulled out his phone and called Len.
"Yes." Len said, picking up after the first ring.
"I have the cure and the virus." Hwoarang said.
"And Lee?" Len asked.
"He got away before I could get to him." Hwoarang said.
"Pity. Come back to the club. We'll talk then." Len said, hanging up.
Hwoarang put the phone in his pocket. His wings still out, Hwoarang ran to the edge of the building and jumped, taking off in flight.
4:27:53- The teams had pretty much brought everything salvageable out of the home in short time. One of the main things Le Carre was checking out was a laptop that must have been from Lee's office.
It was the first thing they brought out before the ceiling came down on the entire office. If there was any hint of Lee's plan on here, he wouldn't need anything else from the house. Especially since he now held the virus and the cure. Once he was done here, Le Carre would go back to the ATU with Jin and give Adam the vials while tracking down Lee. The plan sounded like a piece of cake, but then again, not everything goes according to the plan.
The computer had booted up and it asked for a password, which he didn't have. He tried various guest logins, but none of them worked. He rebooted and brought up a prompt. Le Carre then attempted to hack in. He knew a little about back doors and other methods of hacking into computers, but it had been years since he really needed to do it himself. There was usually somebody else to do it for him, which had made him soft on the subject. This was the test that would prove whether or not he actually had gone soft.
It took him a few more minutes to try to collect possible user names to the account, as well as passwords that could go to it. It looked as if Lee had made a couple dummy accounts. This was actually in place in case somebody was physically in front of the computer, trying to break in. The names would take a hacker longer to break through, which might give the owner of the computer enough time to figure out that somebody is breaking into their system. In this case, Lee was probably expecting it.
The names were easy to get around and now Le Carre was in. The files weren't scattered all that much. In fact, most of Lee's documents were in a specific folder right on the desktop. He quickly began to look through them all, checking the 'Properties' tab for the files most recently accessed. He came up with about four, all had picture slideshows attached to them.
Le Carre opened the first file, which was a diary of sorts, which Lee had made an entry to about an hour ago. He had talked about how he felt having Heihachi killed and what he felt when he decided to mutilate the body, leaving it to be discovered.
The second file though was more interesting. It was on the Combot production and among other things, the tunnel from the labs. He skipped it, making a note to come back to it.
The third file was what he was looking for. It was the ace that would Le Carre the game. Inside were photos and specs on the eleven Combots that were checked out of the lab earlier in the day. The photos showed the bots in a finished state where a skin exoskeleton had been placed over the bots themselves. The pictures were of Jin, Hwoarang, Ling Xiaoyu, Julia Chang, Marshall Law, Forrest Law, Lei Wulong, Anna Williams, Baek Doo San, and Eddy Gordo.
Le Carre stared at Jin's name. If Jin was doubled, then was the man he talked to really Jin Kazama? He looked up to Jin, who was sitting on ground outside, trying a cigarette from one of the team leaders on site. Jin coughed and looked like he was about to throw up. The other man laughed at Jin's inexperience. Jin handed the butt back to the man, who gladly took it.
Le Carre closed the file and opened the fourth. He was only able to catch a glimpse of one picture when the entire file suddenly deleted itself.
"What the hell?" he said.
The file closed then disappeared off the list. The other three files still remained.
4:32:16- The bar was empty now, the lights still on.
Hwoarang walked into the building, the room feeling much bigger than it once had. The feeling of claustrophobia was not even present on his second visit. The club had never been cleaned since the crowds left. Len must have janitors come in during the day.
He walked in through the door next to the bar, the code having never been changed. Len was sitting in the same chair, the smile on his looking as if it had never faded.
The room had obviously been cleaned. The other men gone and the dead body of the guard was no longer on the floor. The blood had also been washed off the walls. The room was as spotless as when he first saw it
"How are you?" Len asked.
"Tired." Hwoarang said.
"I'm sorry to hear that. Please sit down." Len said.
Len was regarding to the chair Hwoarang sat in once before. Hwoarang stared at it for all of a second.
"No, I think I've had enough with chairs this evening." He said.
The smile disappeared from Len's face. He held out his right hand.
"The vials." Len said.
Hwoarang walked over to him and set them in his hand. A scientist came into the room. Len didn't even look at the man as he handed the vials off to him.
"Where's Ling?" Hwoarang asked.
"Not just yet. You still have to kill Lee." Len said.
Hwoarang knew that Len could kill her at a moment's notice and he didn't bother arguing. He still had his phone and he knew that if he needed help he could call Le Carre.
"Where is he?" Hwoarang asked. "I'm not exactly sure, but I do know this..." Len said.
Len slid a piece of paper across the table towards Hwoarang. He grabbed it and looked at it. It was an address.
"What's this?" Hwoarang said.
"It's an address to an apartment over in the Minato district. It's not far from Sengakuji station. I believe Lee will be there within the hour. Kill him and Ling will be free to go." Len said.
"And I have your word on that?" Hwoarang asked.
"Yes, you have my word." Len said.
"I'll hold you to that, you know?" Hwoarang said.
4:38:59- Lee Chaolan was busy going through notes on his new laptop. He always had duplicates of his computer wherever he went. He had a feeling that the computer back at the mansion was found, and hopefully the proper authorities hadn't found anything on it yet.
He was entering the Minato district now, heading to the first drop-off location on his list. Lee had four places to go, and they each were specifically chosen so that the virus would infect the maximum amount of people. One place Lee had chosen within the past hour. It was very particular, and if Jin ever found out about it, he would know that it was intentional. Lee wanted to rub it in that bastard's face.
Lee's phone rang.
"Yes." Lee said.
"It's me."
It was Kazuya. Lee was wondering when he would call.
"I thought you had forgotten about me." Lee said.
"Not a chance." Kazuya said.
"Where are you?" Lee said.
"Near the National Diet Building. Hwoarang showed up." Kazuya said.
"That's no surprise." Lee said.
"But he has the devil gene." Kazuya added.
Lee's heart skipped a beat. The many different problems that arose in his mind made him stop typing on his keyboard and think about where Hwoarang could have acquired the gene.
"Are you absolutely sure he had it?" Lee asked.
"Yes. I could sense it. I only feel that when I'm near Jin." Kazuya said.
"Damn. We have a leak somewhere. I'm wondering if Len has anything to do with this." Lee said.
"You cut the deal with him right?"
"I told him that I had to call it off because I had other plans for the virus."
"Maybe he doesn't take no for an answer." Kazuya said.
"Well, he'll have to; otherwise I'll be forced to pay him a visit." Lee said.
"Where do you want me to be?"
"Get some rest. I'll call this number in about an hour." Lee said.
"What about you?" Kazuya asked.
"I'm headed over to the first drop off point. I should be there within twenty minutes, but I have some business to attend to." Lee said.
"And that is?"
"An employee that I have to let go." Lee said.
"I understand." Kazuya said, hanging up.
4:44:30- The fire department had arrived and put the fire out.
Jin was sitting on a dining room chair that was salvaged from the fire. He knew that he was in custody, but that didn't matter. Jin knew whatever charges were against him would be dropped. He had attacked a guard and locked him in a closet. He also attacked Ling, and the odd thing was that he didn't even know it was her until Le Carre told him a moment ago that she was there.
Le Carre had been trying to talk to Jin for the past twenty minutes, but Le Carre had been constantly called away to other things around the perimeter. Jin yawned and wondered where Hwoarang was. His thoughts were cut short by Le Carre, coming over for part five of their conversation. Jin was bored. For some annoying reason, whenever he was tired and couldn't sleep, he always wanted to fight. The thought of hitting something hard made him feel good. He dismissed the thought, probably the devil gene wanting some attention. Le Carre stood next to him.
"Where were we?" Le Carre said.
"I think you were wanting to know more about the devil gene."
"Right." Le Carre said.
"Well, the best thing I can do is to describe my experiences with it." Jin said.
"Fire away." Le Carre said.
"Well, I first ran into it at the end of the third King of Iron Fist tournament. My grandfather shot me and before I was able to die, the gene turned me into a devil. When I was that 'thing', I had no control over what I did at first. Eventually, I slowly gained my senses back and turned back to normal. I was expecting to be in pain from the gunshot but the gene had healed it completely." Jin said.
"Is this something we can expect if the virus is released?"
"I would. If people start sprouting wings, there's going to be a lot of confused people out there." Jin said.
"How is it, uh, 'activated'?" Le Carre asked.
Jin stared at him, not sure what he meant.
"You mean how do the people turn?" Jin asked.
"Yeah."
"Well, it's usually always been intense anger with me. But I imagine it could be brought on by intense situations." Jin said.
"Ok. I got one more question. Are you a Combot?" Le Carre asked.
"Excuse me?"
"Answer it."
"Of course not!" Jin said.
"I got some intel off of Lee's computer. It listed Combots that were made to look like you and ten of your friends, including Hwoarang." Le Carre said.
"Well, I'm no Combot. I can guarantee that." Jin said.
"Good." Le Carre said.
4:53:17- Hwoarang was walking down the street where the apartment was located. Every once in a while he passed an apartment window that was lit up. The owner had probably just gotten up.
Hwoarang didn't know the neighborhoods that well, seeing as Tokyo was just so damn big. This was probably the only time of the night where you could actually be alone in the city.
The apartment was more like an oversized house. It was probably a hot market item, seeing as it had a driveway and probably supported a large family. He tried to open the door, but it was locked. He didn't find a key under the mat either. There wasn't a car in the driveway, so either nobody was home or nobody lived here.
Hwoarang didn't want to just necessarily sit out in the open. If Lee was coming here, he'd be a sitting duck.
He needed to call Le Carre, but he didn't have the number. Then it hit him, he did have the number. Hwoarang took out his wallet and checked the card to the hotel that Le Carre had given him. Sure enough, Le Carre's cell phone number was on the back. He took out the phone and punched it in.
"Yeah." Le Carre said.
"It's Hwoarang."
"Hey! Just the man I've been trying to find. What's the situation?"
"Did you get the vials from Jin?" he asked.
"Yeah. He told me that Ling had been taken hostage by some guy who wants Lee dead?"
"Yeah. It's a guy by the name of Len Hanley. He said he runs the Biomedics Corporation. It was about some deal that Lee reneged on at the last minute. Len wants him dead for it, not to mention the virus. I had to give it to him. But the good thing about that is that you have both the virus and the cure, same as him." Hwoarang said.
"So what did he say when you told him that Lee was alive?" Le Carre asked.
"He gave me the address for a house in the Minato district. He said Lee was supposed to show up here soon."
"Jesus Christ!" Le Carre said.
"What is it?" Hwoarang asked.
"I had a team checking the perimeter around the house. They just found the Combots in the woods. They said that by the looks of it, these things are still organizing in there and the stretch looks like it could go on for miles." Le Carre said.
"My God." Hwoarang said.
"I'm going to get back to you." Le Carre said, hanging up.
Hwoarang put the phone in his pocket. What was the point in putting the bots in the woods? Was Lee trying to hide them or was he just trying to divert us from something else.
Hwoarang walked to the edge of the driveway. A car was driving down the street at a very fast speed, swerving all over the place. It straightened a bit, the headlights shining into Hwoarang's eyes. The car then swerved in his direction.
He sprinted up the driveway, the car coming at him at about fifty miles per hour. He dived at the front door, breaking it in.
The car crashed into the house.
4:59:57... 4:59:58... 4:59:59... 5:00:00...
Disclaimer: Don't own "24" or "Tekken".
The following takes place between 4:00 am and 5:00 am.
Events occur in real time.
4:00:00- The lab was nearly completely engulfed in flames. Beakers shattered flammable chemicals onto the floor and it only fueled the fire even more.
The body parts of Julia Chang were littered all over the room, burning to a crisp in the fire. The smell was that of a garbage filled trash can that had been left out in the sun for a week. It reeked.
Hwoarang ran into the room, looking for any hint of the vials that Julia had been working on.
He didn't even know Julia died in here, but he knew somebody did. The smell gave it away. His knowledge of death had grown over the few years he spent in the army. The first person he killed had begged for their life. At the time, he didn't know what to do. The man had started to talk of his wife and children, and Hwoarang honestly felt sorry for the guy. But it never stopped him for putting a bullet in his head. After all, it wasn't personal.
With the adrenaline running full blast, Hwoarang frantically secured the last two vials of the cure and of the virus that was lying in a beaker holder on the floor. It was clearly marked as to what was what. He picked them up and ran out of the room, the smoke beginning to fill his lungs.
Another explosion rocked the house, the wall behind Hwoarang blowing off from behind him. The shockwave itself knocked him to the ground. He got up and ran to the front door, putting the four vials in a pocket on his army jacket.
Outside, he could see headlights coming towards the house. Were they reinforcements? He couldn't tell, but he wasn't going to wait to find out either. He ran off into the woods at a full sprint.
After going for about fifty yards, he couldn't see anything, but he could hear more explosions coming from the house. He also heard the sound of leaves rustling in the distance. He went for his gun, but realized that he left it in the house, along with the sword.
"Shit." He whispered.
He heard it coming closer, this time from behind him. He still couldn't see anything. Hwoarang ran off to the north, hoping whoever he heard wouldn't chase him. He tried to watch his step, not knowing anything about the terrain ahead of him. His eyes were adjusted to the darkness, but he couldn't see much anyways. The moon had been covered by clouds that began to roll in about an hour ago. He then began to fall down a hill. It's exactly what he was afraid of happening.
"Fuck!" he yelled as he lost his footing.
A pair of hands suddenly grabbed him. One hand was over his mouth, cutting off any sound, the other under his arm and across his chest, keeping him stable.
"Shh. It's me." Jin said.
Hwoarang didn't know what the hell Jin was doing. In fact, he was still under the impression that Jin was a bad guy. Jin pulled Hwoarang up onto level ground, and immediately, Hwoarang pushed him away.
"You son of a bitch!" he yelled.
Hwoarang turned to face Jin and tackled him to the ground. In a blind rage, he straddled Jin and kept trying to punch his face. Jin thought was calm, not understanding why Hwoarang was attacking him now, but he was used to the beatings overall. Jin usually won these fights where Hwoarang would blindly attack him, furious for one reason or another. Jin didn't understand why he didn't take the time to think before trying to kick someone's ass.
His arms began to ache, the fists landing faster than they usually did. He then let them down, his arms now pushing onto Hwoarang's chest. Jin used the momentum to roll over onto Hwoarang. A few punches connected with Jin's face, which he ignored.
The move took Hwoarang off guard. Jin then pulled one fist back and hit him hard in the face. His face bolted to the right, a small splatter of blood exiting his mouth onto the fresh grass. Then, Jin hit him hard in the stomach, the blow having twice as much effect seeing as Hwoarang was lying on the ground.
Jin got up off of him, Hwoarang immediately holding his stomach with one hand, his mouth with the other.
"You finished?" Jin asked.
"Far from it." Hwoarang said.
He sprung up out of nowhere and charged at Jin, who stood his ground and gave Hwoarang an uppercut. He then fell to the ground.
"Calm down, man. You're going get yourself hurt." Jin said.
"Fuck you." Hwoarang mumbled, getting up onto his knees.
Jin watched Hwoarang get up off the ground, who was spitting blood out from his mouth. Jin offered his hand, but he just ignored the offer.
"What the hell are you doing here?" Jin asked.
"I'm here for the virus."
"So am I. Did you get my message?" Jin said.
"What message?" Hwoarang asked.
"The one I left on your cell phone."
Hwoarang pulled out his phone. He flipped it open and checked the LCD display. Sure enough it showed that he had a message.
"I didn't know you called."
"Well I did. I tried to tell you about all this." Jin said.
"How the hell are you even breathing? I saw you get shot to death." Hwoarang said.
"Guess. The gene I carry is the one to thank. Now I get to live with knowing I was reanimated." Jin said.
"Well I can join you."
Jin stared at Hwoarang, well at least of what he could see in the darkness.
"What do you mean?" Jin asked.
"I have the devil gene. Somebody that happens to be an enemy of Lee's gave it to me about an hour ago. I died, too." Hwoarang said.
"Damn. I'm sorry." Jin said.
"We don't have time for apologies. The guy who gave it to me wanted me to get samples of the virus and the cure, as well as killing Lee in the process."
"And you agreed?"
"I didn't have a choice. He has Ling as a hostage." Hwoarang said. "What the hell does Ling have to do with this?" Jin asked.
"Long story. All I know is that she kept a dirty secret from all of us, and I'll let her explain that. But we need to find her first. I got the vials, but not Lee." Hwoarang said.
"Vials?"
"I have two samples of both the virus and the cure. I saw a car as I ran into the woods. I need you to go check it out. I imagine that it was probably somebody from the ATU. If it is, give him these two vials. One's the cure, and the other is the virus. I'm going to go visit this guy who has Ling."
"You'll be ok?" Jin asked.
"I died once, didn't I?" Hwoarang asked.
Jin smiled at the careless remark. He took the two vials from Hwoarang and ran back towards the house. Hwoarang stayed behind. He tried to focus his anger, trying to get his wings to sprout.
Memories of all the bad events over the past two years began to come to mind. First, his beating from Kazuya at the fourth tournament came back. All the blows and all the pain flooded his consciousness as if it was actually happening for again. He leaned his arms up against a tree, his head hanging through the gap his arms created. He painfully moaned as his the wings began to sprout through the skin on his back.
The next memory was of Korea after he was captured by the Army. The torture was unthinkable. It felt so real to think about it, almost as if he was actually there.
He was chained up to a wall, his arms hanging above him. Two men stood in front of him and began to hit him with their fists. After a few minutes, they began to go at him with a cattle prod and various types of knives, which they used to slowly slice at his skin. The screams were something that he knew would always keep him up at night for the rest of his life.
The wings had come out again. His jacket was torn to shreds and Hwoarang pulled off what was left of his beloved Army jacket. The anger inside him coming to a head once again, Hwoarang took off and flew into the night.
4:12:29- The car that had pulled up to the house was Le Carre. He immediately bolted out of the car, leaving the engine running.
He didn't know what to expect, but he could see the flames erupting from the far left side of the mansion. Pulling out his gun, he entered the house.
The front hall was littered with bodies, the faint smell of copper telling him that there was a lot of blood spilled. The amount on the walls alone was enough to make a man sick. Le Carre wasn't surprised by the sight, seeing as he saw Heihachi's mutilated body in about the same shape as these poor bastards.
He followed the bodies all the way to the fire, which was now burning up the stairwell that led to the third floor as well as the basement. The whole house was empty. Everyone who was still there was dead. Le Carre began to run towards the front of the house when he suddenly met face to face with Jin. Le Carre raised his gun.
"Whoa!" Le Carre yelled, surprised.
Le Carre fired at him. Jin dived behind a table, the shots going into it.
"Don't shoot!" Jin yelled.
Le Carre held his aim on the table. He wasn't about to take any chances, especially since Jin was about twice his size and half his age.
"Come out from behind the table slowly." Le Carre said.
Jin came out, hands over his head. He kept his eyes focus on Le Carre, a 'Don't fuck with me' look on his face.
"Outside." Le Carre said.
Jin walked outside, a flurry of headlights pulling up next to Le Carre's car. They were some type of SWAT vans. Jin hesitated a moment, but kept going as soon as he felt the barrel of Le Carre's gun press into his back.
"Keep moving." Le Carre said.
The two moved out to Le Carre's car, where three team leaders stood, waiting for orders.
"I need all teams to move in on the house. There's no resistance, but I need any type of information to be collected before the house burns to the ground. Collect anything ranging from computers, files, to whatever. If it looks important, grab it and bring it out here. I'm going to try to establish a command center." Le Carre said.
"Yes, sir!" the three team leaders said.
Le Carre motioned for Jin to sit on the hood, putting his gun back in his holster. Jin took a seat on the hood. Le Carre knew that Jin wouldn't attack, and it wasn't because of the teams either. It was just a genuine feeling that most people got when they were around him. Even if he looked like he just got out of a bar fight, there was something reassuring about his presence. Le Carre could put his finger on it, but he wasn't worried about it too much.
"Are you Le Carre?" Jin asked.
"Depends." Le Carre said.
Jin looked at him. The suit, the brown trench coat, the somewhat disheveled hair, the growing five o'clock shadow; it all said that this was the guy.
"Hwoarang wanted me to give you something." Jin said.
"What's that?" Le Carre said.
Jin took out the two vials and handed them to Le Carre.
"What's this?"
"Let me explain. That contains a virus as well as the cure. The virus was made from the devil gene that my family bloodline carries." Jin said.
"You're saying that this virus that Lee plans to release is the devil gene?" Le Carre said.
"Yes. I don't know how though. They never let me that close." Jin said.
"Ok. Let's take this one topic at a time. First, how is Hwoarang involved?" Le Carre asked.
"I tried calling him a little after two. He came here about ninety minutes later. I talk to him ten minutes ago. He didn't go into details, but he said that Ling Xiaoyu was kidnapped by someone who wants Lee dead. He said she would be killed if Hwoarang didn't do what he wanted. Somehow, he was given the devil gene along the way and then killed. That way they knew it worked." Jin said.
Le Carre took a moment to have this soak in.
"So they killed Hwoarang, and the gene brought him back?" Le Carre asked.
Jin pulled back the collar on his jacket to show the neck wound that was fully healed, a scar showing the damage that was once there.
"It always does. I died from this wound, and I'm still here." Jin said.
"Jesus. I don't even want to think about what would happen if this was released to the population, or the public finding out that it brings people back to life."
"You forgot the wings." Jin said.
"Wings?"
"Yeah. With this gene, when you get angry, you turn into a devil." Jin said.
"Great. It seems like the problems just keep adding up. So where is Hwoarang at?" Le Carre said.
"Taking the virus to the guy who has Ling." Jin said.
"He's what?" Le Carre said, shocked.
4:23:06- Flying back to the city was much faster than he ever expected. So fast in fact, that it was the fastest ride he ever took.
Right now, he was about twenty feet from trying to land on a rooftop just inside of downtown Tokyo. The city was dead at this time of night, everyone either sleeping or just getting up. Anyone that was awake was either suffering from insomnia or going through some sort of midlife crisis.
The wind was howling, but he was used to it now that he could fly. His feet came down on the rooftop, causing him to run in order to slow down the momentum.
Catching his breath, he stood there for a moment, trying to calm down. But he couldn't wait for the wings to hide. Hwoarang pulled out his phone and called Len.
"Yes." Len said, picking up after the first ring.
"I have the cure and the virus." Hwoarang said.
"And Lee?" Len asked.
"He got away before I could get to him." Hwoarang said.
"Pity. Come back to the club. We'll talk then." Len said, hanging up.
Hwoarang put the phone in his pocket. His wings still out, Hwoarang ran to the edge of the building and jumped, taking off in flight.
4:27:53- The teams had pretty much brought everything salvageable out of the home in short time. One of the main things Le Carre was checking out was a laptop that must have been from Lee's office.
It was the first thing they brought out before the ceiling came down on the entire office. If there was any hint of Lee's plan on here, he wouldn't need anything else from the house. Especially since he now held the virus and the cure. Once he was done here, Le Carre would go back to the ATU with Jin and give Adam the vials while tracking down Lee. The plan sounded like a piece of cake, but then again, not everything goes according to the plan.
The computer had booted up and it asked for a password, which he didn't have. He tried various guest logins, but none of them worked. He rebooted and brought up a prompt. Le Carre then attempted to hack in. He knew a little about back doors and other methods of hacking into computers, but it had been years since he really needed to do it himself. There was usually somebody else to do it for him, which had made him soft on the subject. This was the test that would prove whether or not he actually had gone soft.
It took him a few more minutes to try to collect possible user names to the account, as well as passwords that could go to it. It looked as if Lee had made a couple dummy accounts. This was actually in place in case somebody was physically in front of the computer, trying to break in. The names would take a hacker longer to break through, which might give the owner of the computer enough time to figure out that somebody is breaking into their system. In this case, Lee was probably expecting it.
The names were easy to get around and now Le Carre was in. The files weren't scattered all that much. In fact, most of Lee's documents were in a specific folder right on the desktop. He quickly began to look through them all, checking the 'Properties' tab for the files most recently accessed. He came up with about four, all had picture slideshows attached to them.
Le Carre opened the first file, which was a diary of sorts, which Lee had made an entry to about an hour ago. He had talked about how he felt having Heihachi killed and what he felt when he decided to mutilate the body, leaving it to be discovered.
The second file though was more interesting. It was on the Combot production and among other things, the tunnel from the labs. He skipped it, making a note to come back to it.
The third file was what he was looking for. It was the ace that would Le Carre the game. Inside were photos and specs on the eleven Combots that were checked out of the lab earlier in the day. The photos showed the bots in a finished state where a skin exoskeleton had been placed over the bots themselves. The pictures were of Jin, Hwoarang, Ling Xiaoyu, Julia Chang, Marshall Law, Forrest Law, Lei Wulong, Anna Williams, Baek Doo San, and Eddy Gordo.
Le Carre stared at Jin's name. If Jin was doubled, then was the man he talked to really Jin Kazama? He looked up to Jin, who was sitting on ground outside, trying a cigarette from one of the team leaders on site. Jin coughed and looked like he was about to throw up. The other man laughed at Jin's inexperience. Jin handed the butt back to the man, who gladly took it.
Le Carre closed the file and opened the fourth. He was only able to catch a glimpse of one picture when the entire file suddenly deleted itself.
"What the hell?" he said.
The file closed then disappeared off the list. The other three files still remained.
4:32:16- The bar was empty now, the lights still on.
Hwoarang walked into the building, the room feeling much bigger than it once had. The feeling of claustrophobia was not even present on his second visit. The club had never been cleaned since the crowds left. Len must have janitors come in during the day.
He walked in through the door next to the bar, the code having never been changed. Len was sitting in the same chair, the smile on his looking as if it had never faded.
The room had obviously been cleaned. The other men gone and the dead body of the guard was no longer on the floor. The blood had also been washed off the walls. The room was as spotless as when he first saw it
"How are you?" Len asked.
"Tired." Hwoarang said.
"I'm sorry to hear that. Please sit down." Len said.
Len was regarding to the chair Hwoarang sat in once before. Hwoarang stared at it for all of a second.
"No, I think I've had enough with chairs this evening." He said.
The smile disappeared from Len's face. He held out his right hand.
"The vials." Len said.
Hwoarang walked over to him and set them in his hand. A scientist came into the room. Len didn't even look at the man as he handed the vials off to him.
"Where's Ling?" Hwoarang asked.
"Not just yet. You still have to kill Lee." Len said.
Hwoarang knew that Len could kill her at a moment's notice and he didn't bother arguing. He still had his phone and he knew that if he needed help he could call Le Carre.
"Where is he?" Hwoarang asked. "I'm not exactly sure, but I do know this..." Len said.
Len slid a piece of paper across the table towards Hwoarang. He grabbed it and looked at it. It was an address.
"What's this?" Hwoarang said.
"It's an address to an apartment over in the Minato district. It's not far from Sengakuji station. I believe Lee will be there within the hour. Kill him and Ling will be free to go." Len said.
"And I have your word on that?" Hwoarang asked.
"Yes, you have my word." Len said.
"I'll hold you to that, you know?" Hwoarang said.
4:38:59- Lee Chaolan was busy going through notes on his new laptop. He always had duplicates of his computer wherever he went. He had a feeling that the computer back at the mansion was found, and hopefully the proper authorities hadn't found anything on it yet.
He was entering the Minato district now, heading to the first drop-off location on his list. Lee had four places to go, and they each were specifically chosen so that the virus would infect the maximum amount of people. One place Lee had chosen within the past hour. It was very particular, and if Jin ever found out about it, he would know that it was intentional. Lee wanted to rub it in that bastard's face.
Lee's phone rang.
"Yes." Lee said.
"It's me."
It was Kazuya. Lee was wondering when he would call.
"I thought you had forgotten about me." Lee said.
"Not a chance." Kazuya said.
"Where are you?" Lee said.
"Near the National Diet Building. Hwoarang showed up." Kazuya said.
"That's no surprise." Lee said.
"But he has the devil gene." Kazuya added.
Lee's heart skipped a beat. The many different problems that arose in his mind made him stop typing on his keyboard and think about where Hwoarang could have acquired the gene.
"Are you absolutely sure he had it?" Lee asked.
"Yes. I could sense it. I only feel that when I'm near Jin." Kazuya said.
"Damn. We have a leak somewhere. I'm wondering if Len has anything to do with this." Lee said.
"You cut the deal with him right?"
"I told him that I had to call it off because I had other plans for the virus."
"Maybe he doesn't take no for an answer." Kazuya said.
"Well, he'll have to; otherwise I'll be forced to pay him a visit." Lee said.
"Where do you want me to be?"
"Get some rest. I'll call this number in about an hour." Lee said.
"What about you?" Kazuya asked.
"I'm headed over to the first drop off point. I should be there within twenty minutes, but I have some business to attend to." Lee said.
"And that is?"
"An employee that I have to let go." Lee said.
"I understand." Kazuya said, hanging up.
4:44:30- The fire department had arrived and put the fire out.
Jin was sitting on a dining room chair that was salvaged from the fire. He knew that he was in custody, but that didn't matter. Jin knew whatever charges were against him would be dropped. He had attacked a guard and locked him in a closet. He also attacked Ling, and the odd thing was that he didn't even know it was her until Le Carre told him a moment ago that she was there.
Le Carre had been trying to talk to Jin for the past twenty minutes, but Le Carre had been constantly called away to other things around the perimeter. Jin yawned and wondered where Hwoarang was. His thoughts were cut short by Le Carre, coming over for part five of their conversation. Jin was bored. For some annoying reason, whenever he was tired and couldn't sleep, he always wanted to fight. The thought of hitting something hard made him feel good. He dismissed the thought, probably the devil gene wanting some attention. Le Carre stood next to him.
"Where were we?" Le Carre said.
"I think you were wanting to know more about the devil gene."
"Right." Le Carre said.
"Well, the best thing I can do is to describe my experiences with it." Jin said.
"Fire away." Le Carre said.
"Well, I first ran into it at the end of the third King of Iron Fist tournament. My grandfather shot me and before I was able to die, the gene turned me into a devil. When I was that 'thing', I had no control over what I did at first. Eventually, I slowly gained my senses back and turned back to normal. I was expecting to be in pain from the gunshot but the gene had healed it completely." Jin said.
"Is this something we can expect if the virus is released?"
"I would. If people start sprouting wings, there's going to be a lot of confused people out there." Jin said.
"How is it, uh, 'activated'?" Le Carre asked.
Jin stared at him, not sure what he meant.
"You mean how do the people turn?" Jin asked.
"Yeah."
"Well, it's usually always been intense anger with me. But I imagine it could be brought on by intense situations." Jin said.
"Ok. I got one more question. Are you a Combot?" Le Carre asked.
"Excuse me?"
"Answer it."
"Of course not!" Jin said.
"I got some intel off of Lee's computer. It listed Combots that were made to look like you and ten of your friends, including Hwoarang." Le Carre said.
"Well, I'm no Combot. I can guarantee that." Jin said.
"Good." Le Carre said.
4:53:17- Hwoarang was walking down the street where the apartment was located. Every once in a while he passed an apartment window that was lit up. The owner had probably just gotten up.
Hwoarang didn't know the neighborhoods that well, seeing as Tokyo was just so damn big. This was probably the only time of the night where you could actually be alone in the city.
The apartment was more like an oversized house. It was probably a hot market item, seeing as it had a driveway and probably supported a large family. He tried to open the door, but it was locked. He didn't find a key under the mat either. There wasn't a car in the driveway, so either nobody was home or nobody lived here.
Hwoarang didn't want to just necessarily sit out in the open. If Lee was coming here, he'd be a sitting duck.
He needed to call Le Carre, but he didn't have the number. Then it hit him, he did have the number. Hwoarang took out his wallet and checked the card to the hotel that Le Carre had given him. Sure enough, Le Carre's cell phone number was on the back. He took out the phone and punched it in.
"Yeah." Le Carre said.
"It's Hwoarang."
"Hey! Just the man I've been trying to find. What's the situation?"
"Did you get the vials from Jin?" he asked.
"Yeah. He told me that Ling had been taken hostage by some guy who wants Lee dead?"
"Yeah. It's a guy by the name of Len Hanley. He said he runs the Biomedics Corporation. It was about some deal that Lee reneged on at the last minute. Len wants him dead for it, not to mention the virus. I had to give it to him. But the good thing about that is that you have both the virus and the cure, same as him." Hwoarang said.
"So what did he say when you told him that Lee was alive?" Le Carre asked.
"He gave me the address for a house in the Minato district. He said Lee was supposed to show up here soon."
"Jesus Christ!" Le Carre said.
"What is it?" Hwoarang asked.
"I had a team checking the perimeter around the house. They just found the Combots in the woods. They said that by the looks of it, these things are still organizing in there and the stretch looks like it could go on for miles." Le Carre said.
"My God." Hwoarang said.
"I'm going to get back to you." Le Carre said, hanging up.
Hwoarang put the phone in his pocket. What was the point in putting the bots in the woods? Was Lee trying to hide them or was he just trying to divert us from something else.
Hwoarang walked to the edge of the driveway. A car was driving down the street at a very fast speed, swerving all over the place. It straightened a bit, the headlights shining into Hwoarang's eyes. The car then swerved in his direction.
He sprinted up the driveway, the car coming at him at about fifty miles per hour. He dived at the front door, breaking it in.
The car crashed into the house.
4:59:57... 4:59:58... 4:59:59... 5:00:00...