Tekken 24
Disclaimer: Don't own "24" or "Tekken".
The following takes place between 5:00 am and 6:00 am.
Events occur in real time.
5:00:00- Light was beginning to fill the sky. It was just that right time where it wasn't dark and the sun wasn't up either. It was almost as if it was a video game with some sort of unidentified light source making the world glow.
Downtown was a spectacular view at this time in the morning. If you were facing the sun, the buildings would look completely black, the sky becoming brighter behind them. It almost felt poetic, seeing the light of day coming in to vanquish the darkness of night.
The light was seeping into the house that Hwoarang was currently lying in. He was sprawled out on what would be the main entrance to the apartment building. It was a small building that really looked like an oversized house. The door was lying on the floor next to Hwoarang.
When the car hit, a good chunk of the wall supporting the main entrance had been destroyed, pieces of bricks flying everywhere, one of which nailed Hwoarang in the back, sending him to the floor. The small room now looked more like a construction site than a luxury apartment entrance.
The faint smell of burnt engine oil invaded his nostrils. He groaned, his head having hit the floor with more of an impact than he cared for. Hwoarang got up, looking at the car that was currently sticking through the wall. Smoke was coming out of the hood, and he figured it was from the engine.
He climbed out of hole that the car made, seeing as one door was smashed in, bent to hell and the other door was locked. Looking through the windshield, he could see somebody inside, their body lying across the front seats. He jumped off the hood and tried to open the driver's door. It wasn't locked, but the impact had bent the frame of the car back enough to where opening a door was nearly impossible. Hwoarang struggled as the door refused to move. He decided to give up on that, and instead kicked the window out.
The real shock came when he actually saw who was inside. It was Nina. By the looks of it, Hwoarang could tell she was shot at least once in the stomach, and once in the arm. He had no clue how she was able to drive in that condition, but Nina was a person who could easily surprise.
Was she being chased? Was it a sniper? The latter thought caused him to spin around, cautiously watching the other buildings on the street, looking for a sniper of some sort. It took him a moment to assure himself that a sniper wasn't present. He realized he was beginning to get paranoid, the effect of not having slept in over forty hours finally getting to him.
None of this made sense. What the hell was Nina doing that would get her killed? And why would she come here of all places? Wouldn't she go to a hospital? His mind kept racing for possibilities as to why Nina would be here, but he realized that he wasn't the type of person to answer that question.
Hwoarang walked down to the edge of the driveway, cell phone in hand. As Le Carre's line rang, he looked out at the neighborhood. Faces could be seen all up the block, people who were curious as to what the ruckus was so early in the morning. It was early, and this was one of the last few days where the sun would be up so early. Daylight Savings Time was a pain in the ass, but hey, at least it made the summer nights brighter. His mind began to daydream, only to be jerked back into reality when the line clicked.
"Le Carre." He said.
"It's Hwoarang."
"What's up?"
"Nina Williams is dead. She was shot before reaching the house. Her car went right into it. There's still no sign of Lee yet."
"Any idea what she was doing there?" Le Carre asked.
"None. You?" Hwoarang asked.
"Jin told me that she was here at the mansion. I'm thinking she was with Lee. He must have killed her. Do you think we were getting too close?" Le Carre asked.
"No. If we were too close he would have released the virus by now." Hwoarang said.
"How do we know he hasn't?"
"We don't. But Lee's ego is big enough to know that if he released it, he would have announced it." Hwoarang said.
"I hope you're right. But in the meantime, I'm working on trying to examine all the bots over here. And I found something on Lee's computer. There were ten bots that Lee had set aside. He gave them skin exoskeletons." Le Carre said.
"They look human?" Hwoarang asked.
"They may not be anatomically correct, but they look damn real enough. His computer gives the identities to nine of them. The tenth one could be anyone." Le Carre said. A van turned onto the street. Hwoarang looked at it. He couldn't see anything because of its tinted windows, but whoever was driving was in a hurry. The van was obviously speeding. It drove right by Hwoarang, the wake blowing into his face.
"What're the identities?" Hwoarang asked.
"To begin with: You and Jin, Ling, Julia Chang, Marshall Law, Forrest Law, Anna Williams, Lei Wulong..." Le Carre read off.
Hwoarang looked in the direction the van came from. Off in the distance, a black man was running hard towards him. He was still so far off that Hwoarang never thought anything of it.
"...and Eddy Gordo."
The name came over the line at the same time Hwoarang recognized the face of the man running at him. He knew it wasn't Eddy. It may have not been a trap, but whatever it was, he walked into it. The van must have been Lee's, and Eddy was obviously a bot.
"I have a problem. Eddy is running to me." Hwoarang said.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"That means that one of these fuckers is about to chase me."
"How can I help?"
The bot was less than a block away and Hwoarang took off, running away. It wasn't a sprint, though, because the phone was still in his hand.
"Tell Jin to meet me at Azabu Jaban Station. I'm going to need his help." Hwoarang said, and he hung up.
5:10:16 – "Where are you?" Lee asked.
He was on his cell phone. The man on the other end was somebody significant to the plan this late in the game, and he was sure that the man would not fail him.
"I'm outside the stadium." The voice said.
"The guard should be arriving soon for his shift. The game starts at ten; we should be there by nine. Does anybody know that you are there?" Lee asked.
"No. I walked here, and I've watched my step. Just make sure you arrive on time." The voice said.
"I'll be there." Lee said.
He hung up, not caring to hear the secret player on the other end talk back to him.
The van he sat in was parked below the fifty-three story apartment building that made up only a part of Roppongi Hills. The entire area was a brand new center that was labeled "A city within a city". Right now, thousands of people were upstairs inside the building, sleeping.
He hesitated a moment. The thought of hundreds of people turning into devils was fairly disturbing. He had never seen it happen in person, but he had seen numerous pictures of Jin and Kazuya turning into devils. Was he playing God? Maybe, but it had to be done.
Lee pushed the second thoughts out of his head and looked over at the driver.
"It's time."
The two got out of the van and opened up the back doors. Inside were the bots, but he wanted only two in particular: Marshall Law and Forrest Law. Lee took a deep breath and stepped back inside.
5:15:20 – Now the shit hit the fan. It was about time, too. Jin was sick of waiting for somebody to make the first move, and now that it had been made, it was going to be complete chaos from here on out.
Lee was insane. What did he hope to accomplish from turning millions of people into devils? Money couldn't have been a reason, since the amount would logically be so high that the government would never be able to pay it.
The thought of 'why' was something he wasn't worried about; it was just stopping it all together that was his main purpose. The questions he had could be answered later.
Sunlight began to creep through the trees causing a glare that made him squint when it hit his eyes just right. He walked over to the car that Le Carre had pulled up in earlier, keys in hand. Le Carre said Hwoarang called and that he was in trouble. All he needed to know was where and how to get there. Le Carre had then handed him a set of keys, and told him the name of the station. Jin recognized the station and began to plot a mental traffic plan, seeing as that the roads were likely going to be very crowded soon.
The car started up, and before he could put it in drive, Le Carre began tapping on his window. Jin was a bit anxious to get out of there. It wasn't just because of Hwoarang, but it was because he didn't enjoy staying out here knowing that Julia died a little over an hour ago.
"What?" Jin asked.
"You might need these." Le Carre said.
He handed Jin a gun and a cell phone. Jin took the phone, rejecting the offer of the gun. He never got used to them, and using them yesterday at the courthouse felt awkward. Just thinking about it reminded him of Heihachi, and the way the old bastard stood over him. Jin could still barely remember the smell coming from the barrel of the gun.
"No guns. I never liked them." Jin said.
"Whatever. If you need me, I'm '1' on the speed dial." Le Carre said.
"Fine." Jin said.
With that, he pulled off, nearly running over Le Carre's feet in the process. Jin floored the accelerator, beginning the thirty-minute trek to downtown Tokyo. He just hoped Hwoarang wasn't getting his ass handed to him.
5:17:17 – Le Carre took out his phone and dialed up Adam. He couldn't believe how big of a clusterfuck this whole situation was. He had Jin and Hwoarang out and about, he was here trying to get a lead off the Combot farm that was sitting out in the woods, and Adam was back at the ATU doing only God know what. If this operation didn't get organized soon, Lee was going to win.
The site of the burnt-down house was a dead end. The bots were here, but the action was back in town. Since the fire, dozens of teams showed up, including a Hazmat team. They were interested due to the incident back at the labs. He could care less. The only thing he worried about was if the bots escaped. There were enough men here; it was safe to leave. The phone on the other end of the line picked up.
"ATU, Katoya." Adam said.
"Adam, it's Gavin."
"What do you need?" Adam asked.
"Are the diagnostics back on the robot we set up?" Le Carre asked.
"Well the team had to be told what to do step by step. The test is being run on five of the bots and the tests just started. It's going to take a little while." Adam said.
"How long?"
"It could take anywhere from ten minutes to two hours." Adam said.
"That's time we don't have. Look, I found something on Lee's computer. He took ten of these bots, and we know the identities of nine of them. I want to try and map out possible targets that are highly populated. It'd be the most likely place that Lee would attack." Le Carre said.
"I'm on it. What about you?" Adam asked.
"I'm going to be bringing a bot back with me, we can have somebody run through it, try to find something. There's a perimeter being set up here now that we have a good amount of men here." Le Carre said.
"So you're coming back here?"
"Yeah."
"I'll have a forensic team set up for the bot." Adam said.
"Great. Thanks." Le Carre said.
He hung up and took a deep sigh of relief. At least they were still moving. Slowly, but surely.
5:22:35 – Moving though was the last thing Hwoarang wanted to be doing right now. He had run nearly a mile now, and the bot was still after him as if it was just getting warmed up.
The bot looked exactly like Eddy. Hwoarang's mind wandered for a moment, trying to keep his thoughts away from the murderous stitch in his side and the sleeplessness that fatigued him. His first thought was if the real Eddy was dead. The possibility was there, but Hwoarang doubted it. Eddy was a good enough fighter and smart enough to stay hidden if he knew someone was after him.
The one factor that kept Hwoarang from considering him dead was the fact that if they took the time to kill Eddy, they would have taken the time to kill everyone else on that list. Some were dead, but most of them must have died after the bots were finished. Nina and her sister, Anna, were dead. Julia was dead. Lei, Marshall, and Forrest were unknown. Jin was still alive. Baek, as far as knew, was still alive. Ling might still be alive. Hwoarang knew he was still breathing, barely.
He hoped to God that the subway was open. Japan's subways close during the night, and he wasn't sure when they open.
Looking behind him, the bot was still closing distance. The damn thing was running like the fucking Terminator. Seeing it for real was actually quite terrifying. The fact that it looked like any normal man, but under the skin, there were metal gears and computers making the choices and making the moves.
Hwoarang got a second wind as he noticed lights on in the station. The gates were up and seeing the open space of the tunnels that led to the actual station made him literally leap down the stairs, nearly killing himself in the process.
Behind him the bot continued to give chase, taking the stairs three at a time. Something like that would make scientists drool. The most impressive thing of the Combots was its ability to make choices in the middle of an action. Like this chase for example: In the process of chasing a target, it has to run down a set of stairs, but instead of taking them one at a time, it takes three at a time in order to gain distance on the target. A bigger decision it could be making at the exact same time, was how it was going to kill the target if there was no other weapon available but its hands. It could beat the person to death, or it could strangle them. It wouldn't be too hard to submit them, even if Hwoarang wasn't dead tired. The bot weighed well over three hundred pounds, and it can move with the weight quite well. If someone were to be tackled in the back by a three to four hundred pound person or machine, you could probably break their back. Hwoarang knew this, and that's what he was struggling to keep from happening.
The actual station was separated into two parts: the first is where you could buy a pass and then go through the gates that led to the second part of the station where you board the trains. These two areas were on different levels. These were connected by many different sets of escalators. Once in the station, there were two different trains to choose from. The train heading north is what Hwoarang was looking for.
He burst into the ticket area, stopping a second in order to get his bearings. A businessman was going towards the gates, and he darted over to them. He pushed them aside and jumped over the gate. The businessman brushed the abrupt attack off, only to be knocked to the ground by the bot. In fact, the bot didn't even jump over the gate, it went right through it. The gate was like that at an arena, where you hand to push at the revolving bar. The bot pushed right through it, breaking whatever mechanism that locked it in place.
Hwoarang continued to push on, the escalators just ahead. The one thing that blocked his view was a door that opened in front of them. A security guard came out, probably from having seen him and the bot jump the gate. The guard had his hand out, trying to tell them to stop. Hwoarang didn't even hear what the guard was saying, his vision tunneling on the escalators. Hwoarang pushed into him, knocking him down.
He didn't even bother to take the actual escalator part, he took the divider that separated the up and down sides to the escalator, hoping that the bot wouldn't be smart enough to follow. His body slid down the silvery surface, and when he hit the bottom, he flew off, feet landing on the floor which once again, took off running.
This time he didn't even look back. If he did, he would see the bot actually taking the escalator, running down the stairs. Hwoarang had a good lead.
Thankfully, the train was there. The buzzer sounded which was to notify passengers that the doors would be closing in seconds. Hwoarang pushed harder, squeezing himself in just as the doors were closing.
He turned around and looked out the window of the door, seeing the bot that looked like Eddy sprinting towards the door he just entered through. At that point, the train began to move, and Hwoarang passed Eddy. The train entered a tunnel, the station behind him.
Hwoarang collapsed on a seat next to him, breathing heavily.
5:30:22 – The lobby of the amazing Roppongi Hills skyscraper was very subtle. It looked like the entrance to a hotel, complete with a fountain, elevators, and a restaurant on one side.
It was about the size of a football field when one finally took in the entire lobby area. It really had everything, and to some people it could be considered one of the many different recreational areas in the building. There was a smoking room, meant mainly for those who really wanted to die from lung cancer. An arcade was tucked away from most customers' views due to the chaos that children usually caused when inside it. A bar was attached to the restaurant, which to a lot of people looked expensive, and that was the reaction the restaurant wanted. The bar looked like something that was made for a business man, and resembled a style similar to the one portrayed in the film "Lost in Translation".
Lee was in the freight elevator that would bring him up in the kitchen of the restaurant. At this time of the morning, he expected someone to be in the kitchen, more than likely getting the place ready for opening.
Behind him in the elevator were the two bots that looked like Marshall and Forrest Law. They were programmed to go to four different parts of the building. Inside each of them were two vials of the virus. The plan was simple: Send Forrest to the top half of the building. The bot would set one vial off on the top floor of the building, the ventilation system sending the virus downward. Meanwhile, Marshall would be in the bottom part of the building where the main ventilation system was and set a vial off there, sending the virus upward. Then, they would both go to the center of the building and set off the last two vials, keeping the virus in the center of the building, infecting the most people.
The plan seemed foolproof, but Lee had a doubt in the back of his mind. Hwoarang was an unknown, but he prayed that the bot of Eddy did its job. It was supposed to send a signal to his PDA when the job was finished. He had gotten it yet, meaning that either Hwoarang was alive, or the bot was defeated. Lee's mind fumed in anger just thinking about it. He'd be damned if that little bastard was going to mess this up.
The elevator dinged and the doors opened. The kitchen was a decent size, not too big and not too small. It was enough to have two master chefs and five aides for each and still have breathing room. Lee figured that the restaurant must be pretty popular. When he stepped out, he knew his guess was correct. Sure enough, there was a man pulling out a box labeled "Green peppers" in Japanese. He was holding the box and staring at Lee in curiosity.
"Who are you?" the man asked.
Lee pulled out a silenced pistol out of a holster underneath his jacket.
"I've come bearing invitations to the next life." Lee said.
He fired two shots into the man's chest, the box of peppers falling to the floor. Lee stepped over the man and fired one more shot into the man's head, just to make sure.
The bots followed him as he walked out into the lobby. They were currently in the restaurant area and upon exiting it; they emerged into the area where the walls were littered with elevators. Forrest parted the group and stood by one elevator. After the elevator area, Lee and Marshall came across the front doors, where a giant indoor fountain stood. Beyond that was a customer service desk. It was meant for people to talk to management in case they had a question or a problem arose. But it was really just a glorified security desk. It did have a system that gave access to the most important parts of the building, and it had codes for every locked door you could come across.
There was a man behind the counter, and he was typing away at his terminal. Lee stepped up to the counter. Not missing a beat, Marshall hopped over the desk. The man stood up, startled. Lee noticed that the man was armed, and was currently fumbling, trying to get it out of the holster. Marshall walked over to the man, who had to be no older than 21, and grabbed his head, twisting it in a grotesque manner. Lee could clearly hear the man's spine snap.
Lee the looked at the Rolex watch on his arm.
"Good. Right on schedule." He said.
5:35:47 – 'Silence is golden'.
It was an ironic thought. For years he never liked the sound of silence. Hwoarang was always the type who had to be around somebody when he was upbeat. There was hardly ever a time when he needed to be seriously alone. Most times, he needed to be alone because of a mild case of depression. Though he was never clinically diagnosed with it, he knew it was there. The only times it ever really bothered him was when a girl blew him off, he'd loose a fight, and when he excessively drank.
The past few nights had been tough. He had been drinking and was busy dealing with a hangover, which is one reason why he couldn't sleep the night before. Mainly the nightmares were one reason why he drank. The scars from the torture back in Korea weren't just physical, they were mental too. There's nothing more disturbing than knowing your own screams were the reason you couldn't sleep at night.
Sitting on the subway at five in the morning was not the way Hwoarang wanted to achieve piece of mind. The silence really was something to cherish, especially after all that he had been through.
He sat forward, setting his elbows on his legs. He rubbed his face and groaned. His back muscles popped hard, the stress really wearing him down. It was then he realized that he had a migraine. He sat back again, looking around the train car. It was empty. He was the only one on board.
The silence was interrupted by his phone. He didn't know who it was, and right now he didn't care. The peace that he was getting on the train was something he wanted to stay with, but the phone continued to ring. He growled in disgust and answered the phone.
"What." He said.
"I apologize about the incident at the house. The man who informed me of it told me he was going to be setting up there."
It was Len.
"I was chased by one of the bots. With them going around the city, Lee's going to be difficult to find. Once his plan is completed, he'll go underground and we'll never find him." Hwoarang said.
"Why so negative? Besides, I have another piece of information for you." Len said.
"What is it?"
"Lee is at the Roppongi Hills apartment building as we speak. He plans on releasing the virus there within the next hour. After that he plans on attacking a high school, Jin's old school to be exact."
"What's your source?" Hwoarang asked.
"Oh, just somebody that hates Lee as much as I do. I suggest that you get moving. Don't forget, I still have Ling." Len said.
He hung up. Hwoarang immediately dialed Le Carre. Hwoarang wasn't sure if he was still at the house or if he went back to the ATU. After two rings, he picked up.
"Le Carre."
"It's me." Hwoarang said.
"Did you take care of the bot?"
"If I was in better shape I would have taken it on, but..." Hwoarang said, trailing off.
"I understand. Look, where are you?" Le Carre asked.
"On the subway. The bot should be at the last station. One more thing, Len just called. He told me that Lee is currently at the tower over at Roppongi Hills. Supposedly he's going to set the virus off inside within the next hour. After that he's going to attack Jin's old high school. Is he still meeting me at the station?" Hwoarang asked.
"Yeah, he should be inside the city by now. I'll have a team sent over to Roppongi..." Le Carre said.
"No. Me and Jin can take care of Roppongi. Get the teams over to the school, that's going to need the crowd control." Hwoarang said.
There was a sudden bang that came from the top of the train. Hwoarang stared at the ceiling.
"Look Hwoarang, you're going to need backup, especially knowing the shape that you're in." Le Carre said.
Two more sharp bangs came from the ceiling. A sudden sense of dread came across Hwoarang's face. He knew what it was.
"Gavin, I'm going to have to get back to you." He said.
He hung up the phone, not moving his eyes from the ceiling.
Then the window behind him shattered, Eddy's feet pushing through and kicking Hwoarang in the back. He flew forward, his bad shoulder hitting the pole in the middle of the aisle.
5:45:33 – Lee sat down at the computer terminal behind the security/customer service desk. He was trying to get adjusted to the suit he just put on. The man he had killed was once wearing it.
He started logging into the system, and he glanced over to the room to his left. The body of the murdered employee was huddled in a corner, the blinds to the room drawn. Lee smiled and went back to work on the computer. After a few moments, he finished. He took out his phone and dialed. They picked up after the first ring.
"Yes." A man said.
"Where are you?" Lee asked.
"I'm about ten minutes from the school. Is something wrong?" the man asked.
"No. After the drop at the school, I need you to take care of something for me."
"Yes?"
"I'm sending schematics to your PDA. It's for an old prison on the north side of the city. I need you to take Kazuya there with you and take of a man named Len there. His profile is in with the schematics. Anyone else that happens to be there with him, kill them." Lee said.
"Where is Kazuya?" The man said.
"He will be at the safehouse. I told him to rest. After you two get done with Len, go to the stadium. I'll meet you there about 7:30. We'll set up base ops there." Lee said.
"Yes, sir." The man said.
Lee hung up the phone and went back to work on the computer in front of him.
5:48:09 – Hwoarang fell to the floor. His ass had been handed to him, again.
After ramming his shoulder into the pole, he tried running up to the conductor's room at the front of the train. Hwoarang made it to the last car before finally being tackled by the bot. The blow to his back had sent him to the ground, finally sliding to a stop in front of the door to the only other human being on the train. The bot calmly got up off the floor and walked over to Hwoarang, who wasn't even trying to move.
In Hwoarang's mind, time slowed down. The train had become some kind of relaxation place to his psyche. The unconscious decision made by his brain had sent him into a partial limbo state, the attack by the bot only pushing him further into the void. Currently lying on his stomach, Hwoarang's face was staring at lights that were quickly flashing by while the train was inside a tunnel.
His mind was focusing on nothing at first. They wandered onto the lights, which almost acted like a sign of his brain flat lining. Hwoarang closed his eyes, his mind now racing through the memories collected within his lifetime. The first thing that hit his mind was time that he spent with his father, Baek. Remembering how the older man taught him how to ride a bike when he was younger. The thought of his father brought up the memories of his parent's divorce. The nights he would be in bed and not being able to sleep because of the screaming coming from his mother. Hwoarang always suspected that his father was a wife beater, but his mother never had any bruises to show for it. At least on the face, she didn't.
His mind wandered to his teenage years. The initiation he went through when he joined the gang was the first thing that came to mind. The test was to have each potential member win against as many one-on-one fights as they could. Whoever won the most fights would become a member of the gang. There were ten candidates, and Hwoarang was the sixth man to fight. He was fourteen when this happened. There was no doubt that he would win, and he took down twelve men before they finally stopped it all-together. It was clear that he would be the winner of the test.
Then his mind raced to when he was sixteen. He had just taken down the leader of the gang in a street fight. The party had been outrageous, and it was also the night he had sex with six different hookers while he was high. At the time he thought it was an accomplishment, now it was just an embarrassment that he never told anyone. He was lucky none of them got pregnant or that he didn't contract an STD.
His mind then raced to the first time he met Jin Kazama. It was during his undefeated streak with the gang. He had been undefeated for the past three years and at the time, Hwoarang thought it wasn't going to end. When Jin had come in to his parlor, Hwoarang thought the Japanese punk was underestimating him. It wasn't until he lost the fight that Hwoarang realized the irony of the situation. He underestimated Jin, not the other way around.
The loss followed with Hwoarang's losses at the third and fourth King of Iron Fist Tournaments. What followed after that was a spiraling descent into depression. Hwoarang had lost multiple battles today, which was something his ego didn't take kindly. He had always loved a good fight, and he was so used to winning that if he ever lost, it would show that he was inferior. After all the he lived through growing up, he was determined to prove that inferiority was not an option.
Now was no different. Hwoarang realized that to be inferior at this point and time would be to not fight the oncoming death from the bot. Inferiority was not an option.
The train emerged from the tunnel, daylight pouring into car. His eyes opened, a fire starting inside of him. His mind exploded with renewed energy. Inferiority was not an option.
The bot was walking toward him, slowly and calmly. Hwoarang stood up and stared at the bot. Determination and anger could be seen in his eyes. This was a turning point for Hwoarang. He was mad as hell, and the bot was about to see his rage. Moments like these were the reason he was called the Blood Talon.
He charged at the bot, jump kicking it in the chest. He landed it with enough force to probably kill any normal man, but the bot wasn't human at all.
The bot staggered backward, the blow hardly phasing it. Hwoarang stood up, only to be met by the fist of the bot. He dodged it.
A gunshot rang out. Hwoarang turned around to look at the conductor's room. In the middle of the doorway stood a man, who Hwoarang believed to be the conductor. The man was holding a short-barreled revolver. The bot was frozen stiff, probably trying to process the new data.
"Don't move." The man said in Japanese.
"Sir, I'm an agent with the United Nations." Hwoarang responded in Japanese.
"Right. You kids saying anything to save your ass from being arrested." The man said.
"Sir, this thing is no kid. It's a cyborg that was programmed to kill me." Hwoarang said.
The man walked forward, putting the gun Hwoarang's temple.
"I've dealt with people like you before. You can't fool me." The man said.
Hwoarang didn't respond. Having a gun held to his head wasn't something new to him. It had happened more than once before, when he served with the army in Korea.
The bot then backed up. Hwoarang wasn't sure why, but as long as it wasn't attacking he didn't care. While having a gun pointed to his head wasn't new to him, having a possibly unstable civilian pointing a gun at him was new, and it made him just a little nervous.
"You stay right here." The man said.
The man began to back off, and he turned his face away from Hwoarang for only a second, which was more than he needed. Hwoarang took the opportunity to grab the man's hands, which were still wrapped around the gun. The man struggled with him, trying to pull away from Hwoarang's grip. He couldn't move his hands.
A shot fired, just missing the bot's head by inches. The bot then began to move forward, obviously threatened by the gunfire. Hwoarang wondered if the kick he delivered screwed up the computer the bot was running off of.
Hwoarang elbowed the conductor in the face, breaking his nose. The man released the weapon, which fell into Hwoarang's hand. He aimed at the bot, which still slowly stalked towards him.
The train had entered another tunnel, and the conductor ran to the controls. Hwoarang began to back up, and the bot sprang into action. He fired the gun, sending a magnum bullet into the bot's chest. If that's where the computer was, the bullet would do irreparable damage. The bot would be useless. The bot continued to move towards him, and Hwoarang fired again. The bot staggered a moment, but continued to move.
He had three shots left. So far, shooting the chest didn't help much. Hwoarang then fired at the next best target, the head. The bullet entered the forehead of the bot and exited through the back of the head. The bullet then lodged itself somewhere in the ceiling of the train car. The bot stopped dead in its tracks. It then dropped to its knees and fell to the floor.
Hwoarang breathed a sigh of relief, just as the train came to a stop at the next station. The doors to the car opened, and looking out, Hwoarang could see Jin running down the stairs into the station.
Hwoarang smirked. Help wasn't needed anymore. Now, inferiority wasn't a problem.
5:58:13 – Yuko Hamamoto was like most seventeen year-olds that were considered nerds by their high school classmates. Yuko didn't care that he wore glasses, was skinny, and that he loved to study. To him, that was life. You had to deal with it.
He was always at school this early. Getting a good start on the day always allowed him to get going and catch the sunrise. The one thing he rarely admitted to people was that he was an artist. Yuko loved to paint, and the sunrise was something he absolutely adored. To see it from different locations was something that made him happy. He loved the sunset as well, but not as much as the sunrise.
This morning, he sat on the front steps of the high school, smoking a cigarette. If any of the school officials saw this they'd have a fit. Yuko only started it about a month ago, and it was mainly due to the stress of a hard year at school. The artwork he did was his normal release of it, as well as being his passion. But the stress this year had been so great. Smoking took that edge off. He took one more long drag from the butt before tossing it away.
Yuko heard some footsteps coming up from behind him. It had to be a school official, seeing as the students didn't need to be here till eight. And no student in his right mind would be here till seven. He stood up and exhaled, the smoke coming out from his nose.
"Look, if you have a problem with me smoking, you have..."
Yuko was cut off by a pair of arms wrapping around his neck. A sudden jerk came from the assailant, and with that, Yuko's neck was broken. His body collapsed to the ground, lying on the front steps of the school.
The assailant was Jin Kazama, or at least the Combot version of him, completely decked out in the school's uniform.
5:59:57... 5:59:58... 5:59:59... 6:00:00...
Author's Note: I would like to thank all of you that have been reviewing. I would also like to apologize for not updating sooner. This chapter has been the toughest to write, and hopefully it will be easier from here on out.
Disclaimer: Don't own "24" or "Tekken".
The following takes place between 5:00 am and 6:00 am.
Events occur in real time.
5:00:00- Light was beginning to fill the sky. It was just that right time where it wasn't dark and the sun wasn't up either. It was almost as if it was a video game with some sort of unidentified light source making the world glow.
Downtown was a spectacular view at this time in the morning. If you were facing the sun, the buildings would look completely black, the sky becoming brighter behind them. It almost felt poetic, seeing the light of day coming in to vanquish the darkness of night.
The light was seeping into the house that Hwoarang was currently lying in. He was sprawled out on what would be the main entrance to the apartment building. It was a small building that really looked like an oversized house. The door was lying on the floor next to Hwoarang.
When the car hit, a good chunk of the wall supporting the main entrance had been destroyed, pieces of bricks flying everywhere, one of which nailed Hwoarang in the back, sending him to the floor. The small room now looked more like a construction site than a luxury apartment entrance.
The faint smell of burnt engine oil invaded his nostrils. He groaned, his head having hit the floor with more of an impact than he cared for. Hwoarang got up, looking at the car that was currently sticking through the wall. Smoke was coming out of the hood, and he figured it was from the engine.
He climbed out of hole that the car made, seeing as one door was smashed in, bent to hell and the other door was locked. Looking through the windshield, he could see somebody inside, their body lying across the front seats. He jumped off the hood and tried to open the driver's door. It wasn't locked, but the impact had bent the frame of the car back enough to where opening a door was nearly impossible. Hwoarang struggled as the door refused to move. He decided to give up on that, and instead kicked the window out.
The real shock came when he actually saw who was inside. It was Nina. By the looks of it, Hwoarang could tell she was shot at least once in the stomach, and once in the arm. He had no clue how she was able to drive in that condition, but Nina was a person who could easily surprise.
Was she being chased? Was it a sniper? The latter thought caused him to spin around, cautiously watching the other buildings on the street, looking for a sniper of some sort. It took him a moment to assure himself that a sniper wasn't present. He realized he was beginning to get paranoid, the effect of not having slept in over forty hours finally getting to him.
None of this made sense. What the hell was Nina doing that would get her killed? And why would she come here of all places? Wouldn't she go to a hospital? His mind kept racing for possibilities as to why Nina would be here, but he realized that he wasn't the type of person to answer that question.
Hwoarang walked down to the edge of the driveway, cell phone in hand. As Le Carre's line rang, he looked out at the neighborhood. Faces could be seen all up the block, people who were curious as to what the ruckus was so early in the morning. It was early, and this was one of the last few days where the sun would be up so early. Daylight Savings Time was a pain in the ass, but hey, at least it made the summer nights brighter. His mind began to daydream, only to be jerked back into reality when the line clicked.
"Le Carre." He said.
"It's Hwoarang."
"What's up?"
"Nina Williams is dead. She was shot before reaching the house. Her car went right into it. There's still no sign of Lee yet."
"Any idea what she was doing there?" Le Carre asked.
"None. You?" Hwoarang asked.
"Jin told me that she was here at the mansion. I'm thinking she was with Lee. He must have killed her. Do you think we were getting too close?" Le Carre asked.
"No. If we were too close he would have released the virus by now." Hwoarang said.
"How do we know he hasn't?"
"We don't. But Lee's ego is big enough to know that if he released it, he would have announced it." Hwoarang said.
"I hope you're right. But in the meantime, I'm working on trying to examine all the bots over here. And I found something on Lee's computer. There were ten bots that Lee had set aside. He gave them skin exoskeletons." Le Carre said.
"They look human?" Hwoarang asked.
"They may not be anatomically correct, but they look damn real enough. His computer gives the identities to nine of them. The tenth one could be anyone." Le Carre said. A van turned onto the street. Hwoarang looked at it. He couldn't see anything because of its tinted windows, but whoever was driving was in a hurry. The van was obviously speeding. It drove right by Hwoarang, the wake blowing into his face.
"What're the identities?" Hwoarang asked.
"To begin with: You and Jin, Ling, Julia Chang, Marshall Law, Forrest Law, Anna Williams, Lei Wulong..." Le Carre read off.
Hwoarang looked in the direction the van came from. Off in the distance, a black man was running hard towards him. He was still so far off that Hwoarang never thought anything of it.
"...and Eddy Gordo."
The name came over the line at the same time Hwoarang recognized the face of the man running at him. He knew it wasn't Eddy. It may have not been a trap, but whatever it was, he walked into it. The van must have been Lee's, and Eddy was obviously a bot.
"I have a problem. Eddy is running to me." Hwoarang said.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"That means that one of these fuckers is about to chase me."
"How can I help?"
The bot was less than a block away and Hwoarang took off, running away. It wasn't a sprint, though, because the phone was still in his hand.
"Tell Jin to meet me at Azabu Jaban Station. I'm going to need his help." Hwoarang said, and he hung up.
5:10:16 – "Where are you?" Lee asked.
He was on his cell phone. The man on the other end was somebody significant to the plan this late in the game, and he was sure that the man would not fail him.
"I'm outside the stadium." The voice said.
"The guard should be arriving soon for his shift. The game starts at ten; we should be there by nine. Does anybody know that you are there?" Lee asked.
"No. I walked here, and I've watched my step. Just make sure you arrive on time." The voice said.
"I'll be there." Lee said.
He hung up, not caring to hear the secret player on the other end talk back to him.
The van he sat in was parked below the fifty-three story apartment building that made up only a part of Roppongi Hills. The entire area was a brand new center that was labeled "A city within a city". Right now, thousands of people were upstairs inside the building, sleeping.
He hesitated a moment. The thought of hundreds of people turning into devils was fairly disturbing. He had never seen it happen in person, but he had seen numerous pictures of Jin and Kazuya turning into devils. Was he playing God? Maybe, but it had to be done.
Lee pushed the second thoughts out of his head and looked over at the driver.
"It's time."
The two got out of the van and opened up the back doors. Inside were the bots, but he wanted only two in particular: Marshall Law and Forrest Law. Lee took a deep breath and stepped back inside.
5:15:20 – Now the shit hit the fan. It was about time, too. Jin was sick of waiting for somebody to make the first move, and now that it had been made, it was going to be complete chaos from here on out.
Lee was insane. What did he hope to accomplish from turning millions of people into devils? Money couldn't have been a reason, since the amount would logically be so high that the government would never be able to pay it.
The thought of 'why' was something he wasn't worried about; it was just stopping it all together that was his main purpose. The questions he had could be answered later.
Sunlight began to creep through the trees causing a glare that made him squint when it hit his eyes just right. He walked over to the car that Le Carre had pulled up in earlier, keys in hand. Le Carre said Hwoarang called and that he was in trouble. All he needed to know was where and how to get there. Le Carre had then handed him a set of keys, and told him the name of the station. Jin recognized the station and began to plot a mental traffic plan, seeing as that the roads were likely going to be very crowded soon.
The car started up, and before he could put it in drive, Le Carre began tapping on his window. Jin was a bit anxious to get out of there. It wasn't just because of Hwoarang, but it was because he didn't enjoy staying out here knowing that Julia died a little over an hour ago.
"What?" Jin asked.
"You might need these." Le Carre said.
He handed Jin a gun and a cell phone. Jin took the phone, rejecting the offer of the gun. He never got used to them, and using them yesterday at the courthouse felt awkward. Just thinking about it reminded him of Heihachi, and the way the old bastard stood over him. Jin could still barely remember the smell coming from the barrel of the gun.
"No guns. I never liked them." Jin said.
"Whatever. If you need me, I'm '1' on the speed dial." Le Carre said.
"Fine." Jin said.
With that, he pulled off, nearly running over Le Carre's feet in the process. Jin floored the accelerator, beginning the thirty-minute trek to downtown Tokyo. He just hoped Hwoarang wasn't getting his ass handed to him.
5:17:17 – Le Carre took out his phone and dialed up Adam. He couldn't believe how big of a clusterfuck this whole situation was. He had Jin and Hwoarang out and about, he was here trying to get a lead off the Combot farm that was sitting out in the woods, and Adam was back at the ATU doing only God know what. If this operation didn't get organized soon, Lee was going to win.
The site of the burnt-down house was a dead end. The bots were here, but the action was back in town. Since the fire, dozens of teams showed up, including a Hazmat team. They were interested due to the incident back at the labs. He could care less. The only thing he worried about was if the bots escaped. There were enough men here; it was safe to leave. The phone on the other end of the line picked up.
"ATU, Katoya." Adam said.
"Adam, it's Gavin."
"What do you need?" Adam asked.
"Are the diagnostics back on the robot we set up?" Le Carre asked.
"Well the team had to be told what to do step by step. The test is being run on five of the bots and the tests just started. It's going to take a little while." Adam said.
"How long?"
"It could take anywhere from ten minutes to two hours." Adam said.
"That's time we don't have. Look, I found something on Lee's computer. He took ten of these bots, and we know the identities of nine of them. I want to try and map out possible targets that are highly populated. It'd be the most likely place that Lee would attack." Le Carre said.
"I'm on it. What about you?" Adam asked.
"I'm going to be bringing a bot back with me, we can have somebody run through it, try to find something. There's a perimeter being set up here now that we have a good amount of men here." Le Carre said.
"So you're coming back here?"
"Yeah."
"I'll have a forensic team set up for the bot." Adam said.
"Great. Thanks." Le Carre said.
He hung up and took a deep sigh of relief. At least they were still moving. Slowly, but surely.
5:22:35 – Moving though was the last thing Hwoarang wanted to be doing right now. He had run nearly a mile now, and the bot was still after him as if it was just getting warmed up.
The bot looked exactly like Eddy. Hwoarang's mind wandered for a moment, trying to keep his thoughts away from the murderous stitch in his side and the sleeplessness that fatigued him. His first thought was if the real Eddy was dead. The possibility was there, but Hwoarang doubted it. Eddy was a good enough fighter and smart enough to stay hidden if he knew someone was after him.
The one factor that kept Hwoarang from considering him dead was the fact that if they took the time to kill Eddy, they would have taken the time to kill everyone else on that list. Some were dead, but most of them must have died after the bots were finished. Nina and her sister, Anna, were dead. Julia was dead. Lei, Marshall, and Forrest were unknown. Jin was still alive. Baek, as far as knew, was still alive. Ling might still be alive. Hwoarang knew he was still breathing, barely.
He hoped to God that the subway was open. Japan's subways close during the night, and he wasn't sure when they open.
Looking behind him, the bot was still closing distance. The damn thing was running like the fucking Terminator. Seeing it for real was actually quite terrifying. The fact that it looked like any normal man, but under the skin, there were metal gears and computers making the choices and making the moves.
Hwoarang got a second wind as he noticed lights on in the station. The gates were up and seeing the open space of the tunnels that led to the actual station made him literally leap down the stairs, nearly killing himself in the process.
Behind him the bot continued to give chase, taking the stairs three at a time. Something like that would make scientists drool. The most impressive thing of the Combots was its ability to make choices in the middle of an action. Like this chase for example: In the process of chasing a target, it has to run down a set of stairs, but instead of taking them one at a time, it takes three at a time in order to gain distance on the target. A bigger decision it could be making at the exact same time, was how it was going to kill the target if there was no other weapon available but its hands. It could beat the person to death, or it could strangle them. It wouldn't be too hard to submit them, even if Hwoarang wasn't dead tired. The bot weighed well over three hundred pounds, and it can move with the weight quite well. If someone were to be tackled in the back by a three to four hundred pound person or machine, you could probably break their back. Hwoarang knew this, and that's what he was struggling to keep from happening.
The actual station was separated into two parts: the first is where you could buy a pass and then go through the gates that led to the second part of the station where you board the trains. These two areas were on different levels. These were connected by many different sets of escalators. Once in the station, there were two different trains to choose from. The train heading north is what Hwoarang was looking for.
He burst into the ticket area, stopping a second in order to get his bearings. A businessman was going towards the gates, and he darted over to them. He pushed them aside and jumped over the gate. The businessman brushed the abrupt attack off, only to be knocked to the ground by the bot. In fact, the bot didn't even jump over the gate, it went right through it. The gate was like that at an arena, where you hand to push at the revolving bar. The bot pushed right through it, breaking whatever mechanism that locked it in place.
Hwoarang continued to push on, the escalators just ahead. The one thing that blocked his view was a door that opened in front of them. A security guard came out, probably from having seen him and the bot jump the gate. The guard had his hand out, trying to tell them to stop. Hwoarang didn't even hear what the guard was saying, his vision tunneling on the escalators. Hwoarang pushed into him, knocking him down.
He didn't even bother to take the actual escalator part, he took the divider that separated the up and down sides to the escalator, hoping that the bot wouldn't be smart enough to follow. His body slid down the silvery surface, and when he hit the bottom, he flew off, feet landing on the floor which once again, took off running.
This time he didn't even look back. If he did, he would see the bot actually taking the escalator, running down the stairs. Hwoarang had a good lead.
Thankfully, the train was there. The buzzer sounded which was to notify passengers that the doors would be closing in seconds. Hwoarang pushed harder, squeezing himself in just as the doors were closing.
He turned around and looked out the window of the door, seeing the bot that looked like Eddy sprinting towards the door he just entered through. At that point, the train began to move, and Hwoarang passed Eddy. The train entered a tunnel, the station behind him.
Hwoarang collapsed on a seat next to him, breathing heavily.
5:30:22 – The lobby of the amazing Roppongi Hills skyscraper was very subtle. It looked like the entrance to a hotel, complete with a fountain, elevators, and a restaurant on one side.
It was about the size of a football field when one finally took in the entire lobby area. It really had everything, and to some people it could be considered one of the many different recreational areas in the building. There was a smoking room, meant mainly for those who really wanted to die from lung cancer. An arcade was tucked away from most customers' views due to the chaos that children usually caused when inside it. A bar was attached to the restaurant, which to a lot of people looked expensive, and that was the reaction the restaurant wanted. The bar looked like something that was made for a business man, and resembled a style similar to the one portrayed in the film "Lost in Translation".
Lee was in the freight elevator that would bring him up in the kitchen of the restaurant. At this time of the morning, he expected someone to be in the kitchen, more than likely getting the place ready for opening.
Behind him in the elevator were the two bots that looked like Marshall and Forrest Law. They were programmed to go to four different parts of the building. Inside each of them were two vials of the virus. The plan was simple: Send Forrest to the top half of the building. The bot would set one vial off on the top floor of the building, the ventilation system sending the virus downward. Meanwhile, Marshall would be in the bottom part of the building where the main ventilation system was and set a vial off there, sending the virus upward. Then, they would both go to the center of the building and set off the last two vials, keeping the virus in the center of the building, infecting the most people.
The plan seemed foolproof, but Lee had a doubt in the back of his mind. Hwoarang was an unknown, but he prayed that the bot of Eddy did its job. It was supposed to send a signal to his PDA when the job was finished. He had gotten it yet, meaning that either Hwoarang was alive, or the bot was defeated. Lee's mind fumed in anger just thinking about it. He'd be damned if that little bastard was going to mess this up.
The elevator dinged and the doors opened. The kitchen was a decent size, not too big and not too small. It was enough to have two master chefs and five aides for each and still have breathing room. Lee figured that the restaurant must be pretty popular. When he stepped out, he knew his guess was correct. Sure enough, there was a man pulling out a box labeled "Green peppers" in Japanese. He was holding the box and staring at Lee in curiosity.
"Who are you?" the man asked.
Lee pulled out a silenced pistol out of a holster underneath his jacket.
"I've come bearing invitations to the next life." Lee said.
He fired two shots into the man's chest, the box of peppers falling to the floor. Lee stepped over the man and fired one more shot into the man's head, just to make sure.
The bots followed him as he walked out into the lobby. They were currently in the restaurant area and upon exiting it; they emerged into the area where the walls were littered with elevators. Forrest parted the group and stood by one elevator. After the elevator area, Lee and Marshall came across the front doors, where a giant indoor fountain stood. Beyond that was a customer service desk. It was meant for people to talk to management in case they had a question or a problem arose. But it was really just a glorified security desk. It did have a system that gave access to the most important parts of the building, and it had codes for every locked door you could come across.
There was a man behind the counter, and he was typing away at his terminal. Lee stepped up to the counter. Not missing a beat, Marshall hopped over the desk. The man stood up, startled. Lee noticed that the man was armed, and was currently fumbling, trying to get it out of the holster. Marshall walked over to the man, who had to be no older than 21, and grabbed his head, twisting it in a grotesque manner. Lee could clearly hear the man's spine snap.
Lee the looked at the Rolex watch on his arm.
"Good. Right on schedule." He said.
5:35:47 – 'Silence is golden'.
It was an ironic thought. For years he never liked the sound of silence. Hwoarang was always the type who had to be around somebody when he was upbeat. There was hardly ever a time when he needed to be seriously alone. Most times, he needed to be alone because of a mild case of depression. Though he was never clinically diagnosed with it, he knew it was there. The only times it ever really bothered him was when a girl blew him off, he'd loose a fight, and when he excessively drank.
The past few nights had been tough. He had been drinking and was busy dealing with a hangover, which is one reason why he couldn't sleep the night before. Mainly the nightmares were one reason why he drank. The scars from the torture back in Korea weren't just physical, they were mental too. There's nothing more disturbing than knowing your own screams were the reason you couldn't sleep at night.
Sitting on the subway at five in the morning was not the way Hwoarang wanted to achieve piece of mind. The silence really was something to cherish, especially after all that he had been through.
He sat forward, setting his elbows on his legs. He rubbed his face and groaned. His back muscles popped hard, the stress really wearing him down. It was then he realized that he had a migraine. He sat back again, looking around the train car. It was empty. He was the only one on board.
The silence was interrupted by his phone. He didn't know who it was, and right now he didn't care. The peace that he was getting on the train was something he wanted to stay with, but the phone continued to ring. He growled in disgust and answered the phone.
"What." He said.
"I apologize about the incident at the house. The man who informed me of it told me he was going to be setting up there."
It was Len.
"I was chased by one of the bots. With them going around the city, Lee's going to be difficult to find. Once his plan is completed, he'll go underground and we'll never find him." Hwoarang said.
"Why so negative? Besides, I have another piece of information for you." Len said.
"What is it?"
"Lee is at the Roppongi Hills apartment building as we speak. He plans on releasing the virus there within the next hour. After that he plans on attacking a high school, Jin's old school to be exact."
"What's your source?" Hwoarang asked.
"Oh, just somebody that hates Lee as much as I do. I suggest that you get moving. Don't forget, I still have Ling." Len said.
He hung up. Hwoarang immediately dialed Le Carre. Hwoarang wasn't sure if he was still at the house or if he went back to the ATU. After two rings, he picked up.
"Le Carre."
"It's me." Hwoarang said.
"Did you take care of the bot?"
"If I was in better shape I would have taken it on, but..." Hwoarang said, trailing off.
"I understand. Look, where are you?" Le Carre asked.
"On the subway. The bot should be at the last station. One more thing, Len just called. He told me that Lee is currently at the tower over at Roppongi Hills. Supposedly he's going to set the virus off inside within the next hour. After that he's going to attack Jin's old high school. Is he still meeting me at the station?" Hwoarang asked.
"Yeah, he should be inside the city by now. I'll have a team sent over to Roppongi..." Le Carre said.
"No. Me and Jin can take care of Roppongi. Get the teams over to the school, that's going to need the crowd control." Hwoarang said.
There was a sudden bang that came from the top of the train. Hwoarang stared at the ceiling.
"Look Hwoarang, you're going to need backup, especially knowing the shape that you're in." Le Carre said.
Two more sharp bangs came from the ceiling. A sudden sense of dread came across Hwoarang's face. He knew what it was.
"Gavin, I'm going to have to get back to you." He said.
He hung up the phone, not moving his eyes from the ceiling.
Then the window behind him shattered, Eddy's feet pushing through and kicking Hwoarang in the back. He flew forward, his bad shoulder hitting the pole in the middle of the aisle.
5:45:33 – Lee sat down at the computer terminal behind the security/customer service desk. He was trying to get adjusted to the suit he just put on. The man he had killed was once wearing it.
He started logging into the system, and he glanced over to the room to his left. The body of the murdered employee was huddled in a corner, the blinds to the room drawn. Lee smiled and went back to work on the computer. After a few moments, he finished. He took out his phone and dialed. They picked up after the first ring.
"Yes." A man said.
"Where are you?" Lee asked.
"I'm about ten minutes from the school. Is something wrong?" the man asked.
"No. After the drop at the school, I need you to take care of something for me."
"Yes?"
"I'm sending schematics to your PDA. It's for an old prison on the north side of the city. I need you to take Kazuya there with you and take of a man named Len there. His profile is in with the schematics. Anyone else that happens to be there with him, kill them." Lee said.
"Where is Kazuya?" The man said.
"He will be at the safehouse. I told him to rest. After you two get done with Len, go to the stadium. I'll meet you there about 7:30. We'll set up base ops there." Lee said.
"Yes, sir." The man said.
Lee hung up the phone and went back to work on the computer in front of him.
5:48:09 – Hwoarang fell to the floor. His ass had been handed to him, again.
After ramming his shoulder into the pole, he tried running up to the conductor's room at the front of the train. Hwoarang made it to the last car before finally being tackled by the bot. The blow to his back had sent him to the ground, finally sliding to a stop in front of the door to the only other human being on the train. The bot calmly got up off the floor and walked over to Hwoarang, who wasn't even trying to move.
In Hwoarang's mind, time slowed down. The train had become some kind of relaxation place to his psyche. The unconscious decision made by his brain had sent him into a partial limbo state, the attack by the bot only pushing him further into the void. Currently lying on his stomach, Hwoarang's face was staring at lights that were quickly flashing by while the train was inside a tunnel.
His mind was focusing on nothing at first. They wandered onto the lights, which almost acted like a sign of his brain flat lining. Hwoarang closed his eyes, his mind now racing through the memories collected within his lifetime. The first thing that hit his mind was time that he spent with his father, Baek. Remembering how the older man taught him how to ride a bike when he was younger. The thought of his father brought up the memories of his parent's divorce. The nights he would be in bed and not being able to sleep because of the screaming coming from his mother. Hwoarang always suspected that his father was a wife beater, but his mother never had any bruises to show for it. At least on the face, she didn't.
His mind wandered to his teenage years. The initiation he went through when he joined the gang was the first thing that came to mind. The test was to have each potential member win against as many one-on-one fights as they could. Whoever won the most fights would become a member of the gang. There were ten candidates, and Hwoarang was the sixth man to fight. He was fourteen when this happened. There was no doubt that he would win, and he took down twelve men before they finally stopped it all-together. It was clear that he would be the winner of the test.
Then his mind raced to when he was sixteen. He had just taken down the leader of the gang in a street fight. The party had been outrageous, and it was also the night he had sex with six different hookers while he was high. At the time he thought it was an accomplishment, now it was just an embarrassment that he never told anyone. He was lucky none of them got pregnant or that he didn't contract an STD.
His mind then raced to the first time he met Jin Kazama. It was during his undefeated streak with the gang. He had been undefeated for the past three years and at the time, Hwoarang thought it wasn't going to end. When Jin had come in to his parlor, Hwoarang thought the Japanese punk was underestimating him. It wasn't until he lost the fight that Hwoarang realized the irony of the situation. He underestimated Jin, not the other way around.
The loss followed with Hwoarang's losses at the third and fourth King of Iron Fist Tournaments. What followed after that was a spiraling descent into depression. Hwoarang had lost multiple battles today, which was something his ego didn't take kindly. He had always loved a good fight, and he was so used to winning that if he ever lost, it would show that he was inferior. After all the he lived through growing up, he was determined to prove that inferiority was not an option.
Now was no different. Hwoarang realized that to be inferior at this point and time would be to not fight the oncoming death from the bot. Inferiority was not an option.
The train emerged from the tunnel, daylight pouring into car. His eyes opened, a fire starting inside of him. His mind exploded with renewed energy. Inferiority was not an option.
The bot was walking toward him, slowly and calmly. Hwoarang stood up and stared at the bot. Determination and anger could be seen in his eyes. This was a turning point for Hwoarang. He was mad as hell, and the bot was about to see his rage. Moments like these were the reason he was called the Blood Talon.
He charged at the bot, jump kicking it in the chest. He landed it with enough force to probably kill any normal man, but the bot wasn't human at all.
The bot staggered backward, the blow hardly phasing it. Hwoarang stood up, only to be met by the fist of the bot. He dodged it.
A gunshot rang out. Hwoarang turned around to look at the conductor's room. In the middle of the doorway stood a man, who Hwoarang believed to be the conductor. The man was holding a short-barreled revolver. The bot was frozen stiff, probably trying to process the new data.
"Don't move." The man said in Japanese.
"Sir, I'm an agent with the United Nations." Hwoarang responded in Japanese.
"Right. You kids saying anything to save your ass from being arrested." The man said.
"Sir, this thing is no kid. It's a cyborg that was programmed to kill me." Hwoarang said.
The man walked forward, putting the gun Hwoarang's temple.
"I've dealt with people like you before. You can't fool me." The man said.
Hwoarang didn't respond. Having a gun held to his head wasn't something new to him. It had happened more than once before, when he served with the army in Korea.
The bot then backed up. Hwoarang wasn't sure why, but as long as it wasn't attacking he didn't care. While having a gun pointed to his head wasn't new to him, having a possibly unstable civilian pointing a gun at him was new, and it made him just a little nervous.
"You stay right here." The man said.
The man began to back off, and he turned his face away from Hwoarang for only a second, which was more than he needed. Hwoarang took the opportunity to grab the man's hands, which were still wrapped around the gun. The man struggled with him, trying to pull away from Hwoarang's grip. He couldn't move his hands.
A shot fired, just missing the bot's head by inches. The bot then began to move forward, obviously threatened by the gunfire. Hwoarang wondered if the kick he delivered screwed up the computer the bot was running off of.
Hwoarang elbowed the conductor in the face, breaking his nose. The man released the weapon, which fell into Hwoarang's hand. He aimed at the bot, which still slowly stalked towards him.
The train had entered another tunnel, and the conductor ran to the controls. Hwoarang began to back up, and the bot sprang into action. He fired the gun, sending a magnum bullet into the bot's chest. If that's where the computer was, the bullet would do irreparable damage. The bot would be useless. The bot continued to move towards him, and Hwoarang fired again. The bot staggered a moment, but continued to move.
He had three shots left. So far, shooting the chest didn't help much. Hwoarang then fired at the next best target, the head. The bullet entered the forehead of the bot and exited through the back of the head. The bullet then lodged itself somewhere in the ceiling of the train car. The bot stopped dead in its tracks. It then dropped to its knees and fell to the floor.
Hwoarang breathed a sigh of relief, just as the train came to a stop at the next station. The doors to the car opened, and looking out, Hwoarang could see Jin running down the stairs into the station.
Hwoarang smirked. Help wasn't needed anymore. Now, inferiority wasn't a problem.
5:58:13 – Yuko Hamamoto was like most seventeen year-olds that were considered nerds by their high school classmates. Yuko didn't care that he wore glasses, was skinny, and that he loved to study. To him, that was life. You had to deal with it.
He was always at school this early. Getting a good start on the day always allowed him to get going and catch the sunrise. The one thing he rarely admitted to people was that he was an artist. Yuko loved to paint, and the sunrise was something he absolutely adored. To see it from different locations was something that made him happy. He loved the sunset as well, but not as much as the sunrise.
This morning, he sat on the front steps of the high school, smoking a cigarette. If any of the school officials saw this they'd have a fit. Yuko only started it about a month ago, and it was mainly due to the stress of a hard year at school. The artwork he did was his normal release of it, as well as being his passion. But the stress this year had been so great. Smoking took that edge off. He took one more long drag from the butt before tossing it away.
Yuko heard some footsteps coming up from behind him. It had to be a school official, seeing as the students didn't need to be here till eight. And no student in his right mind would be here till seven. He stood up and exhaled, the smoke coming out from his nose.
"Look, if you have a problem with me smoking, you have..."
Yuko was cut off by a pair of arms wrapping around his neck. A sudden jerk came from the assailant, and with that, Yuko's neck was broken. His body collapsed to the ground, lying on the front steps of the school.
The assailant was Jin Kazama, or at least the Combot version of him, completely decked out in the school's uniform.
5:59:57... 5:59:58... 5:59:59... 6:00:00...
Author's Note: I would like to thank all of you that have been reviewing. I would also like to apologize for not updating sooner. This chapter has been the toughest to write, and hopefully it will be easier from here on out.