Tekken 24
Disclaimer: Don't own "24" or "Tekken".
The following takes place between 9:00 am and 10:00 am.
Events occur in real time.
9:00:00- The ATU was thick with smoke after the explosion. It was an eerie silence that was broken by the random sound of people getting up, things breaking, and the sound of people in shock.
Gavin Le Carre awoke where he landed, near a hallway far enough away from the main area of damage. The blast had carried him twenty feet away. His ears rang and his eyes had a dark spot in the center. They were both effects of the explosion: the sound temporarily deafening him, and the brightness also temporarily burning into his corneas. He collected his bearings and started walking towards the main floor.
He stopped when he saw Hwoarang on the floor near the stairwell, lying unconscious on his side. His face was littered with random cuts from flying glass. But his worst injury was the cut on the side of his forehead, which re-opened when he hit the floor. It was starting to make a small pool of blood on the concrete floor.
Gavin knelt down to help him. He called out to Hwoarang, who took more than a moment to respond. Hwoarang groaned, and then winced as he turned over onto his back.
"You ok?" Le Carre asked.
Hwoarang finally opened his eyes. He was clearly in a lot of pain, but Gavin knew the kid had pushed through worse. Le Carre offered his hand out to Hwoarang, who took it and pulled himself up off the floor.
"Was that the bot?" Hwoarang asked.
"Yeah. How the hell did it get in here?" Le Carre asked.
Hwoarang didn't know if that was a direct question towards him, or if it was just Le Carre thinking aloud. He glanced over at Le Carre, who was looking at the main floor.
As the smoke began to clear, Hwoarang could see people moving around, all injured in some way. There were also many people lying on the floor either seriously injured or dead. He noticed someone that looked familiar to him, and when he went up to look at the dead person; he realized that it was Adam. His body was on the ground, his neck bent at an awkward angle. He let out a deep sigh and rubbed his face. It was one of those things that he felt would keep him feeling awake for a few more minutes.
Le Carre came over to him and cursed loudly when he saw Adam. Out of the corner of his eye, Hwoarang saw Jin coming over to them.
"What the hell happened? I heard an explosion." Jin said.
Le Carre was beginning to get noticeably emotional, and Hwoarang knew that he didn't need Jin asking questions.
"Not now." Hwoarang said quietly.
"What do you mean?" Jin asked.
"Not now! Go back downstairs; I'll talk to you in a little while." Hwoarang snapped.
Jin didn't respond. He turned around and went back downstairs. Hwoarang knew the other man was visibly shocked as how forceful he was, but it was needed.
Right now, Le Carre had been shook by the explosion. Around them, other agents and technicians were organizing the situation, and Le Carre would make the decisions. But for now, he needed to take a moment to clear his head. Hwoarang placed his hand on Le Carre's shoulder.
"I'll give you a moment. Clear your head." He said.
He began to walk off when Le Carre grabbed hold of his arm.
"Are you mad?" Le Carre asked.
"Excuse me?" Hwoarang responded.
"About your father, are you mad at what happened?" Le Carre asked.
"Of course I am."
"Good. Because I was lied to." Le Carre said.
"Are you ok? You're not making much sense." Hwoarang said.
"Drake lied to me earlier. He said he had no clue what was going on. After this, I know he knows what's happening. I want you to go question him." Le Carre said.
"How far can I go?" Hwoarang asked.
"How far do you want to go?" Le Carre responded.
9:06:37 – Kazuya was still in the van. He watched the smoke rise into the sky, just like the numerous amounts of other citizens would stare at the smoke with terror. People hear the explosion and immediately many of them think this is 9/11 all over again. Others worried about what happened. Kazuya didn't care. His job was complete.
He pulled out his phone and dialed Lee's number.
"Yes?" Lee asked.
"It's done."
"Good. Now go back to the Zaibatzu. I've already had the building cleared. There's just someone up in my office I need you to keep an eye on." Lee said.
"Who?" Kazuya asked, curious.
"You'll know when you get there." Lee said.
Lee hung up the phone. He let out a sigh of relief. With the ATU out of the way he was free to go on with his charade.
Lee was never one made for acting, but he imagined he had done a fabulous job so far. He genuinely felt bad for what he did to the ATU and all the people there. But that was an emotion that never went further than his mind. If his facial expression was allowed to show what he felt right now, Kazuya would kill him on the spot.
The truth was that he was playing a dangerous game. He had deceived too many people to get to this point, and he wasn't about to stop. Like a game of poker, if you have a killer hand or a killer secret in this case, you play the hand like it's something other than what it is.
Ling was still sitting on the other side of the room. She had been staring at him for the past five minutes. He knew that she was mad at him for his sudden change in personality.
Lee heard a knock on the door, and he turned to look at her, and in that split second he let his guard down. He let his face show the emotion he felt a moment prior, and she noticed it. It was a look of fear, sadness, and determination all in one. She still had no clue as to what was going on, but whatever it was, she could tell that he was having a tough time dealing with it.
He opened the door, and in walked Steve. He had changed into normal clothes, which for him meant something people stare at. He was a wild child, but Lee gave him enough incentive to do what he asked.
"Are we secure here?" Lee asked.
"Oh yeah. The office is empty downstairs. The supervisor called in somebody to take the place for the normal guy. The gates are open, and everything's cool." Steve said.
"That's good. We can't have anyone knowing that we're here." Lee said.
9:10:44 – Hwoarang walked into the medical center. He needed to know a few things before he ripped Drake a new one.
It felt strange being back here. He remembered walking out of here earlier in the morning half dead. It was nice to be back, safe and sound.
Hwoarang saw Jin sitting on a bench next to Branch's desk. He was actually surprised to see that the center was still as flawless as it was this morning. The building must have had a good contractor. He moved over to the desk and took a seat next to Jin.
"Look, I'm sorry for snapping on you back there." Hwoarang said.
"It's cool. I'm sorry about your father." Jin said.
Hwoarang figured that Branch must have told Jin about Baek.
"Thanks." He said.
"I'm guessing this makes it personal now?" Jin asked.
"Personal was before he killed my father." He responded.
Branch glanced over at Hwoarang. The man continued to type on the keyboard of his computer.
"What can I help you with, Hwoarang?" Branch asked.
"I need to see Drake's medical file."
"What for?" Branch asked.
"I'm going to be questioning him here in a few minutes, and I need to see if he has anything I should know about. Like if I hit him in the chest and his heart explodes because he does too much coke. You know, stuff like that." Hwoarang said.
Branch riffled through a pile of folders and pulled one out. He handed it to Hwoarang, who immediately began looking through it.
"I didn't find anything on him, but just in case." Branch said.
"Thanks. By the way Jin, what are you doing down here?" Hwoarang asked.
Branch answered the question.
"Blood work. I need to see how he's reacting to the virus." Branch said.
Hwoarang nodded. He then turned to leave.
"Hey. Do you need any help with Drake?" Jin asked.
"Drake's going to be the one who needs it. But I don't think that'll do much good." Hwoarang said as he left.
9:17:05 – Drake's interrogation room was immediately next to the medical center. Hwoarang stood outside the room and took a deep breath. Interrogation wasn't his specialty. He remembered his first interrogation. He asked the wrong questions, the suspect played mind games with him, and Hwoarang beat him unconscious. He had improved since then, but there was one rule that the army made him abide by: Never interrogate while emotionally unstable.
He didn't have time to tell people he couldn't do it. Besides, Le Carre pretty much told him to go to town on Drake. As dirty as it sounded, he was going to give Lee the same treatment. If you kill a father, you kill a son. And that worked both ways.
He turned around and angrily pushed the open the door to the interrogation room. Drake was somewhat surprised by the sudden burst of anger. If there was one thing Drake was clearly afraid of, it was Hwoarang. He found the Korean reckless and smug. But what really scared him was the determination the man had. Once he had his mind set on something, it was going to happen.
Hwoarang stared at Drake for a moment before sitting in a chair on the other side of the table that separated them.
"You know what, I'm really fucking tired, and so I'm going to cut the bullshit." Hwoarang said.
"I wouldn't have it any other way." Drake said smugly.
Hwoarang stared at him, emotionless as always. Drake continued to smile, his teeth shining in the glow of the light that was hanging above them.
"Where's Lee?" he asked.
"I told the other guy that I didn't know. He kept me in the dark on everything." Drake said.
Hwoarang bolted out of the chair, flipped himself onto the table, and swung both feet around, kicking Drake squarely in the chest. Drake fell to the floor, and Hwoarang stood on Drake's chest. Drake screamed, his arms still handcuffed behind the chair. The arms of the chair were pressing his elbows into the floor. If Hwoarang wanted to, he could easily break the other man's arms.
"Where is he?" Hwoarang screamed forcefully.
"Jesus! I don't know." Drake said.
"You know what? I still don't believe you." He said.
Hwoarang stomped on Drake's chest; a loud crack came from Drake's arms. He screamed, and Hwoarang got off. He picked Drake up and set him back in front of the table.
"What the fuck is wrong with you? You can't do this to me!" Drake exclaimed.
"Really? What do you think I should do about that?" Hwoarang asked, completely calm, sarcastic even.
"I told you, I don't know where Lee is!" Drake screamed.
"Ok. You may not know where he is, but I bet you know how to get a hold of him." Hwoarang said.
"You mean a phone number? I wouldn't give it to you even if I knew one." Drake said.
Hwoarang didn't respond. He walked over behind Drake. Drake was trying to regain control again, even after Hwoarang broke his arm. Hwoarang pulled his gun out and held it against Drake's temple. Drake panicked.
"He has one number that I called him through. 3-2334-9182." Drake said.
"Thanks." Hwoarang said, pulling out his phone.
"You're calling it?" Drake asked.
"Of course." Hwoarang said.
The line rang. The grip Hwoarang held on the gun tightened, a mixed sense of fear and anger flowing through him. Drake watched on, nervous.
"Yes?" Lee said.
Hwoarang froze. He didn't expect it to work.
"Hello?" Lee said.
"I'm still here." Hwoarang finally said.
"How did you get this number?" Lee asked.
"Your son. I broke his arm to get it."
"You won't get me to give myself up." Lee said.
"Even if I killed your son?" Hwoarang said.
"You won't."
Hwoarang smiled sadistically. He then raised the gun and aimed it at Drake, who openly began to protest.
"No!" Drake yelled.
"What are you doing?" Lee asked.
"I'm aiming for his head. I think this is just punishment after what you did to my father." Hwoarang said.
"Dad!" Drake yelled.
"It's your call, Lee. Tell me where you are and give yourself up or you get to hear your son die." Hwoarang said.
Lee didn't respond, and Drake had backed himself up against the wall, sweating profusely. Hwoarang kept his aim steady.
"I'll give you ten seconds. Ten..." Hwoarang said.
Drake could literally feel his heart stop. He was staring at the barrel of the gun, waiting to see if the bullet would spiral his direction.
"Nine..."
Lee, at the stadium, was at a loss. He didn't know what to do.
"Eight..."
Hwoarang was completely emotionless. Was he willing to kill Drake? Yes. He didn't even need to think twice about it.
"Seven..."
Lee's mind raced through the possible decisions, and none of them looked promising. He could let his son die, and he would go on with his plan. But he would have to live with the fact that he heard his son die, and he didn't do everything he could to stop it.
"Six..."
But if Lee decided to give himself up, what would that do? His plan would be shot and his boss would come after him and Drake, even if they were in prison.
"Five..."
Hwoarang was preparing himself to pull the trigger. That was the one thing nobody knew about. He had it all set up with Le Carre. He raced to try to get a communications setup going, just so he could trace this call. Hwoarang was wearing an earpiece, and just before he broke Drake's arm, Le Carre had told him that everything was ready on his side. Now it was just a matter of time to see if Lee would flinch.
"Four..."
"You won't do it." Drake said, on the verge of tears.
"I will. Three..." Hwoarang said.
"Dad, just tell him!" Drake screamed, uncontrollably sobbing now.
Lee remained silent.
"Two..."
Hwoarang could hear Lee taking a deep, shaky, breath on the other end.
"One..."
"God..." Lee whispered.
"No!" Drake screamed.
Hwoarang pulled the trigger. The sound of the gun shot surprised Lee. The bullet was aimed for Drake's head, and that's where it went. The angle of entry caused the bullet to come out the other side, which sent blood and brain matter onto the wall behind him. Drake's body slumped to the ground, chair and all.
"Time's up, Lee." Hwoarang said.
"You're a dead man." Lee said.
"Touché." Hwoarang said.
"You have no idea what you just did." Lee said.
"I do. Just so you know, I'm coming for you. Will you roll out the carpet for me?" Hwoarang asked.
Lee hung up.
Hwoarang left the room. He headed back upstairs to see what Le Carre came up with.
9:33:17 – Lee went into panic mode. The thought that Drake was dead was prominent in his mind, but he had bigger things to worry about. The fact that Hwoarang was still alive was trouble enough, but to think that he may have found out where he was, that was worse.
He turned to Steve, who had watched on with Ling. Steve was anxious to find out what happened.
"Steve? I need you to get someone to set up a sniper post up in here. I want you to take Ling down to the fallback point. I think we've been compromised." Lee said.
"Who was it?" Steve asked.
"Who do you think?" Lee said.
"What about you?" Steve asked.
"I'll be with the crowd." Lee said.
Lee noticed Ling out of the corner of his eye. She was smiling, happy that Hwoarang was still alive. She stopped grinning when she realized he was looking at her. He then punched her. The impact with her face caused the back of her head to knock against the wall. She moaned in pain as Steve grabbed her arm and walked her out of the room. Lee glanced out the window at the massive crowd gathering for what they thought would be a normal day for baseball.
9:36:54 – "What the fuck did you do?" Le Carre yelled.
He was standing in the doorway a private locker room inside the ATU. Hwoarang was changing his shirt, and ignoring him. Le Carre was pissed. He stomped up to Hwoarang and grabbed a bare arm and turned him around.
"Hey! I'm talking to you!" Le Carre yelled.
"What?" Hwoarang protested.
"You killed Drake!" Le Carre said.
"I know that. What do you want me say? I'm sorry?" Hwoarang asked, putting on a t-shirt.
"I want to know what the fuck drove you to kill him? I should be throwing you behind bars, just like I did to Wallace!" Le Carre yelled.
"What drove me to kill him? Isn't it fucking obvious? That piece of shit's father killed the only last fucking thing that was important to me!" Hwoarang yelled, and then turned around to put on a pair of blue jeans.
"I understand you're upset, but what would you have done if we weren't able to trace the call?" Le Carre asked.
Hwoarang was now trying to put on a pair of tennis shoes. He felt run down, empty, angry, and bitter. He didn't give two shits about Drake or the consequences that came with killing him. If Lee wanted to make it personal, Hwoarang would make sure it was very personal.
"If you want the truth, I killed him because Lee would never let that completely go. Even if he infected the city, somehow he would come after me. He wouldn't rest till he killed me himself. After all, I killed his son." Hwoarang said.
"Jesus. You've lost it. I'm taking you out of this." Le Carre said.
"You need me." Hwoarang said.
"Really? Tell me why?" Le Carre asked.
"Because I've got enough guts to pull off something insane like this operation. Because I've got enough drive to get to get that son of a bitch. That's why." Hwoarang said.
"Just checking. Suit up." Le Carre said.
"Where is he?" Hwoarang asked.
"The Tokyo Dome. Turns out there's going to be a triple header there today." Le Carre said.
"Triple header? Do those even exist?" Hwoarang asked.
"Well, it's a make-up of a rain delay and a double header directly afterwards." Le Carre said.
"Wow. Long day." Hwoarang said as he started to put on a bulletproof vest over his shirt.
9:40:07 – The crowd buzzed with excitement. Lee could tell that they were anxious for the game to start, which was scheduled to start thirty-five minutes from now.
After the phone call from Hwoarang, he knew he had to hide himself amongst the crowd. He had Steve send up a man to take up a sniper post in the room. If Hwoarang was going to take down the bots, the sniper could take the little bastard out if he got too close.
The man was currently adjusting the scope on the high-powered rifle. Lee wished the man good luck and left the room.
The hallway outside the room had two entrances and exits: the elevator, and the door about a hundred feet from where Lee currently stood. This led to a stairwell that went down about six flights. It was primarily used as a fire escape, but the alarm had been disabled. At the top of the stairs was a small cardboard box. Lee opened it and removed the proximity mine. He then slapped it to the wall and activated it, making sure to get away from it as quickly as possible.
9:43:31 – The assembly of marked ATU vehicles rushed down the streets of Tokyo, light flashing and sirens blaring. Hwoarang was in the lead vehicle, sitting in the passenger's seat. He was going over the plans of the stadium.
According to the plans, the stadium was pretty much one big circle that just had many shortcuts to get to different parts of the building. But that one circle had four primary floors. One was the main traffic floor, which customers had access to concessions and most other things you see at a ball game. Another floor was a basement, which was used for storage. Another was the administration offices, and the other was for the two VIP boxes.
If Lee was inside, Hwoarang realized that he could be anywhere. But hiding in any one of those places, if he wasn't careful, would be suicide. But for him, the most ideal place to set up shop inside the stadium would be one of the VIP boxes. There he could see everyone, and possibly not be seen by whoever might be out there.
He was in charge, and as the entourage entered the stadium gates, Hwoarang knew that he was going to win this fight.
9:47:50 – Lee's cell phone rang as he walked down the stairs towards the aisle that held his seat.
"What?" he said, annoyed.
"He's here." Steve said.
"Who's here?" Lee asked.
"Hwoarang is here." Steve said.
Lee stopped and stood in front of his seat. His mind drifted off for a moment. He had underestimated Hwoarang once again. Whatever happened, it would all be over soon.
"Did you hear me?" Steve asked.
"Yeah." Lee said.
"Should we release the virus?" Steve asked.
"No. I'm waiting for the first pitch." Lee said.
"Why? Hwoarang's already here. If he finds out where the bots are, we're finished. We'll be lucky to get out of here as it is." Steve said.
"Look, just forget about all that. Where did you put Ling?" Lee asked.
"She's in the basement with a bot. The bot is programmed to explode if anyone comes near it." Steve said.
"Good. Just make sure everything's ok on your end and we'll be fine." Lee said.
He hung up and quickly made another call as he sat down in his seat. The line on the other end picked up.
"Yes?" a man asked.
"We've got company. I imagine that they'll use the other VIP box. Be careful." Lee said.
He hung up and took a deep breath. He was nervous.
9:50:23 – Hwoarang walked through the back gate of the stadium with five other men. Outside, about another fifteen men were setting up a perimeter in the loading dock area on the other side of the opened gate.
"Ok everyone, listen up!" Hwoarang said.
All of the agents turned to face him, their attention focused solely to his voice.
"Who's the sniper in this group?" he asked.
A man in the front of the group raised his hand.
"Ok. You're coming with me. The rest of you I want to finish setting up the perimeter and then coordinate with the chief of security here to find out where these bots are. We have probably an hour or less before the virus is unleashed. Let's move!" he said.
The sniper agent walked with Hwoarang as he moved through the loading dock area. At this point, it had been evacuated prior to their arrival. This area led to the kitchen of the main concession stand, which in turn led to the main walkway for the crowd.
The crowd was still bustling, the occasional on-looker glancing at Hwoarang and the agent as if something bad was going on. But other than that, everyone ignored them. They were too preoccupied with getting their overpriced refreshments before finding their seat.
The elevator to the VIP room was about two hundred yards away from the concession stand. Its golden painted doors a sign that you needed a good deal of money to get beyond them. A magnetic card reader was to the side of the elevator. All Hwoarang needed to do was take the access card in his hand and run it across the front of it and it would read it. The light on it turned green and the elevator doors opened.
The plush interior of the elevator was decorated with a deep cherry red wood floor, and white, heavily-padded walls. The light gave the look that a fireplace was roaring somewhere that couldn't be seen. It gave a nice sense of warmth to anyone who entered.
The doors shut and Hwoarang took a deep breath. He was nervous.
9:55:49 – The sniper in Lee's VIP room had set up an H&K PSG-1. It was a highly known weapon that had pretty much set the standard in sniper rifles.
He was looking through the scope at the people in the stands. To his left, he could see Lee sitting, arms stretched out across the seats next to him. He then looked for the bots, just so he could mentally note their locations. Lei was on the right, Hwoarang was on the left.
He then looked at the VIP box across the way. Since the window was tinted, he pushed a button on the customized sight, and everything seen through it was in thermal vision. Good timing too, because just as he did it, two people walked into the room.
9:56:57 – Hwoarang and the agent walked into the empty VIP room. The floor, walls, everything but the window was white. The room was divided once again by a huge divider that in some ways could be considered the world's smallest hallway. It was big enough to completely hide a person from anyone peeking inside, even if they could see through the tinted glass.
"Guess they haven't decorated yet." The agent said.
"Guess not. Go ahead and set up your post here. We can start looking for the bots once you're ready." Hwoarang said.
The agent set the case he had brought with him on the floor and immediately began setting up his rifle. Hwoarang was impressed by how fast it took. The rifle, a Sig Sauer SSG 3000, was as easy as taking it out of the box and setting up the tripod it rested on. The only thing that needed work was adjusting the sight, if it hadn't been done already.
Hwoarang leaned up against the divider, staring at the back of the room when he heard a ping come from the glass window. He turned his head to stare at the agent to find him on the floor holding his neck, an arterial spray effortlessly escaping from it.
Hwoarang tried to peek around the corner. He didn't see too much before a bullet hit the wall in front of him, missing him by mere inches. He turned back into the small hallway, realizing that he was cornered.
9:59:57...
9:59:58...
9:59:59...
10:00:00...
Bonus Features, part 1:
I love the DVD format, mainly the ability to add extra things that you normally always couldn't with VHS. So here's the first part of special features for this story.
(Alternate Ideas)
Originally, I had planned the story to be mainly about Hwoarang trying to protect Jin within a one day period. It didn't take me long to realize how boring that could quickly get, so I decided to switch things up a bit by killing Jin off early. That way I could build another story off of it.
The whole "torture" storyline that Hwoarang goes through is to mainly show how fragile he really is under all the macho talk. His ego really does take a backseat in this story and that's what I was aiming for. I think that a person like Hwoarang would act something like this after going through something like that.
There were some alternate ideas that I had that eventually went to the cutting room floor. One was just a deleted scene from the "7 pm – 8 pm" chapter. It included an additional scene for the fight between Chen and Hwoarang. It dealt with Chen getting a chain early on and nearly strangling Hwoarang, who got out of it and then moved onto using the bat on Chen, which is where the story picks back up again.
Another idea that got scrapped was an entire storyline that started at the "3 am – 4am" chapter. Lee's house outside the city was built more like a castle with a private airport behind it. It dealt with Hwoarang sneaking in and rescuing a scientist who knew about a cure to the Devil gene virus. Hwoarang rescues him and escapes in a helicopter. The bad guys obviously give chase. This would have resulted in a helicopter chase in downtown Tokyo at sunrise. It was a good idea, but I didn't like where the story was going at that point, so I changed it.
Lee's place became a little more modern, and the scientist was replaced by Julia Chang, and all the bad guys and good guys show up this time.
Since we haven't seen the ending to this story yet, the alternate endings will be saved until the end. But until the next update, you'll be happy to know that there will be a "Day Two", and from what I've got planned out for it, it will surely be better than the first. So stay tuned, and enjoy!