Disclaimer: I own nothing. All owned by Capcom.
Author notes: Inspired by the anime film 'Street Fighter 2; The Movie' I saw recently. Hope u like.
Puzzling Silence
It was scary to realise that her whole life was just a blank sheet in her mind. Well the last three years at least, the rest was a hazy blur with unrecognisable figures in her mind's eye. Cammy lived with this every day, in a cold dark military containment base. She was put there after she attacked and tried to kill the American Welfare Representative. She couldn't remember why either, just that she had to do it. Even now, months after she'd first been arrested and contained, she couldn't remember what had happened. The past three years of her life were a mystery to her. She was told she was going to be kept inside until she could remember why she, an agent for MI6, had turned so violently against the life she had passionately chosen for herself and become a pre-programmed killing machine. The officers who looked after her told her she'd been taken in by a man called M Bison who used mysterious psychotic powers to manipulate some of the world's best fighters and martial artists into doing his bidding before being killed by the combined forces of Japan, America and China. She couldn't remember any of it.
Cammy sighed. She was restless. This morning, like every morning, someone would come and talk to her about the life she had and try and to help her remember. None of it helped. Sometimes when she was alone, little shards came to her. Her favourite movie, a book she must have read recently, an unsatisfactory date she'd endured. Piece by piece her memory was returning and it wasn't through the aid of the therapy she was receiving here.
She sat in front of her mirror, combing through her long blonde hair with the standard issue hairbrush she'd been given. If she let her mind wander, her fingers would automatically begin weaving it into a long single braid and fuss impatiently with the bangs. She surmised this was how she always wore her hair before. Someone had kindly gone to retrieve personal affects from her apartment for her when she'd been admitted and she'd discovered that most of her clothing was camouflage or black. It was something to do with her military training and then secret agent work later on in her short life. Carefully she pulled on her red beret (the one she'd been wearing when she was admitted), a black vest top and camouflage pants with chunky black combat boots. The face in the mirror stared vacantly back at her. Her fingers reached for a sheet of blank paper and she let her mind wander again. Her fingers began folding the paper and soon a flower emerged. She found this art, this origami, a way to make her feel like she could do something. She put the flower next to the other paper creations she'd made.
What did she know of her life? She knew she had a registered gun which the officers had quickly confiscated. She knew she'd enjoyed a healthy life in the army and had shown such promise in stealth that she'd been tapped to work as an agent for MI6. She knew she could fight and box and braid hair and fold paper into pretty shapes. Then….nothing. Nothing but darkness and occasional jigsaw pieces which were gradually fitting together. If they'd just let her out of here then maybe she'd be able to remember something. If she got back to her apartment or just back to her everyday work then maybe more would come back to her.
The door opened and someone different walked in. It was a girl about Cammy's age, a pretty Chinese girl she'd seen before. She'd been the first person to question Cammy when she'd been captured before suddenly disappearing and leaving Cammy to the mercy of the orderlies, doctors and officers in the containment base. The outfit she wore intrigued Cammy immediately, causing her to stare unabashed by the terrible shyness which had gripped her since her amnesia had struck. She wore a deep blue silk top with a pretty flowered pattern with a white sash securing it around her tiny waist and tight black pants. She smiled warmly at Cammy as she sat down. Cammy noticed the white bandage just above one of her eyes and the cuts and scratches on her arms.
"Good morning, Cammy."
Cammy smiled warily, hoping a name would sift to the surface of her hazy memories. Eventually with some difficulty, it did.
"Good morning, Chun-Li,"
"You remember me?"
"You were the one who questioned me when I first got here. Then you were gone."
"I'm sorry I haven't visited you for a while. I was…….held back."
"By someone bad?"
Cammy pointed to the bandage and Chun-Li brushed her fingers over it self-consciously.
"Yes, someone bad. Do you remember who I asked you about the first time?"
A vivid image flashed into Cammy's mind, causing her to automatically wince. A man in dark military garb, a crimson cloak flying out behind him and white soulless eyes. An angry biting voice and bright purple magic which flew from his fingers effortlessly.
"M Bison," she whispered softly, hands kneading together. "He made me do it."
Chun-Li was immediately attentive to the quiet confession. Cammy hadn't breathed a word about what she remembered since arriving at the base so any admittance of a memory, no matter how small was a breakthrough.
"What did he make you do, Cammy?"
"He put things into my head, I don't know how but he did and he made me go after that man. He made me think it was the right thing to do. He used magic, something purple that hurt when it touched me," Cammy shivered involuntarily. "Did he hurt you?"
"Not Bison. One of his bastard henchman," Chun-Li looked and sounded angry when she said that. "A man called Vega. Do you know him?"
Cammy concentrated hard. She wanted to remember for this girl who'd been hurt and there was something in her eyes she trusted, some old pain which drove this girl to help her. Cammy wanted to return the help. Slowly something unfolded in her mind.
"I remember him," she breathed in wonder.
"What do you see? Tell me if you can," urged Chun-Li.
"He was tall and muscular with long hair in a braid," Cammy murmured, trying to describe the image she saw. Closing her eyes helped. "Metal claws on one hand and something covering his face, a metal mask. It was smooth and only showed his eyes."
"That's him. He came to my apartment to kill me," Chun-Li told her matter-of-factly. "Bison knew I was getting too close so he sent one of his prize street fighters he'd brainwashed to kill me. It was a very close call."
"What happened?"
Chun-Li smiled and suddenly she looked like a mischievous little girl.
"I kicked him through the wall and he fell down a few stories to the pavement," she replied wickedly. "Guile came in just in time to get me to the hospital."
"Guile?" Cammy asked, fuzzy memories resurrecting at the name.
"Captain Guile of the United States Air Force. Terrible hair, good sense of duty, usually there when you need him. He wanted to find Bison alone to get revenge for what Bison did to his best friend but I persuaded him to work with me so we could get more work done." Chun-Li rattled off, one hand idly going to her head.
Cammy focused thoughtfully on the Chinese girl's hair. It was shiny and brown, pulled tautly into two buns, one either side of her head, and each was covered with a white cloth, tied securely with a lacy white ribbon. It was the most unusual way Cammy had seen anyone wear their hair but it somehow it seemed right on this sparky girl. Slowly she thought about the name; Captain Guile. An image of a man, broad shouldered with strong firm muscles, a shock of bright blonde hair that stuck straight up in the air and permanently in Air Force uniform with a serious frown on his face.
"Did…..do I know him? Captain Guile?" she asked uncertainly.
"Yes! Why, do you remember him?" Chun-Li exclaimed, clapping her hands excitedly. "You worked with him on a bunch of missions and he says you're ok. In Guile-language that means you're a friend."
"Do you have a photo I can see?"
"Sure. I've got one right here,"
Chun-Li's voice became muffled as she dipped her head to dig around in her smart black backpack. Cammy found herself mimicking the movement to watch and noticed with a vague smile the brightly coloured badges pinned to the bag.
"Here you go."
Chun-Li thrust a worn denim wallet over the table, flipping it open as she did. A collection of photos carefully cropped and stuffed into plastic wallets fell down obligingly. Cammy's eyes ran hungrily down them, dismissing the figures she didn't recognise until she came to one near the end. The figure who'd emerged from her memories when Guile's name had been mentioned stared back at her, a protective arm around a grinning Chun-Li.
"Are you two……..involved?" she asked unsure.
"No way! Guile's nearly forty years old, that would be gross!" yelped Chun-Li. "He's like my big brother or something. He says he feels like my father most of the time."
"Father," Cammy tasted the words experimentally as she pushed the wallet and Chun-Li's arm back. An image of a man, tall and fair with the strongest arms of anyone she'd ever known and the easiest smile came to her. That was her father, she wondered briefly where he was now and if he even knew his little girl was locked up for not remembering anything. "Where's your father, Chun-Li?"
She'd struck a nerve. She could see it in the way Chun-Li dropped the wallet onto her bag without looking and an expression of cool aloofness dropped over her face like a mask.
"He died many years ago. M Bison killed him," she answered in a tone that suggested she was merely dictating a grocery list. "I became an agent for the Chinese Government to bring Bison in. I promised my mother I wouldn't get killed, I've nearly broke that promise several times since I started work. Now though he is no more."
"What are you going to do now?"
Cammy found to her surprise that she was interested in the answer and wanted to know more about this mysterious girl who flitted in and out of her memories. Chun-Li seemed contemplative for a few moments.
"Go on working for the Chinese Government, my superior officers say I do a lot of good when I'm not letting personal vendetta get in the way and since that's now gone, I can focus on bringing in more scumbags," she said decidedly, bringing one foot up to rest on her chair. "I might take some leave and go travelling for a bit. Guile thinks I should go visit E Honda, he's this master sumo wrestler, out in the mountains. He's got a great place out there, really basic but just what I need."
E Honda's name stirred a flicker of something, some piece of knowledge inside of her as she thought over Chun-Li's words. Nobody else who had been to see her had been this open with Cammy. When she'd asked people before, people who wore white coats and spoke in monotones, she'd gotten only one word answers or phrases that were evasive and vague. She was hungry for knowledge, for something to fill the gaps in her memory. She couldn't remember much herself. The fleeting fragments were coming together slowly thanks to this slight wisp of a girl telling Cammy about her own life and future, filling in some of the blanks. She was eager for more.
"Do I know this E Honda?" she asked, subconsciously mimicking Chun-Li's posture and resting her chin on her raised knee.
"According to your files, you've visited a lot of ultimate fighter tournaments to scout out suspects or informants," supplied Chun-Li keeping her eyes firmly fixed on the girl in front of her. "E Honda shows up at a lot of them. Do you remember him?"
Cammy concentrated hard on the whisper of memory that called to her with E Honda's name. An image slowly wormed its way into her head. A big man, a large belly held in with a sumo wrestler's trunks and huge strong limbs. His hair, long and black, was wound up onto his head and secured with a thick reed. Red paint was splashed over his eyes, surrounding the blackened pupils which could be smiling and welcoming or narrowed into hard fierce anger. A joy bubbled up inside of her as more came back to her and it took every inch of her steely power to stop herself from leaping from the chair.
"I remember him! I can see him in my mind. He laughs a lot when he wins and he fights for money. I met him for a business meeting, about him becoming an informant."
Chun-Li looked delighted and flung herself across the table to hug Cammy. Cammy stiffened for a second at this unknown intimate contact but then relaxed into the friendly embrace.
"This is great, Cammy! Your memory's coming back. If this keeps up, you could get back to work within a month," exclaimed the Chinese agent excitedly.
"Things keep coming back to me now you're here, its things you say that trigger things off in my memory," Cammy answered happily.
"Then I'll keep on visiting you until it all comes back," declared Chun-Li. "Hey, you could come to Honda's with me if they'll let me take you. You could relax in a lovely place with beautiful scenery and we'll talk, take walks, meditate, maybe even do some sparring together. The orderlies tell me you've been working out in the gym everyday so it'd be good to get you back into agent shape."
Cammy nodded eagerly. Every day she'd gone to the small sweaty gym in the base and let her body automatically work-out. Her hands went to rack up weight amounts she didn't know but felt right and at the end she worked hard on the punch-bag with well-bandaged hands. Slowly kicks and punches had blossomed into something powerful and strong and somehow she knew this was where she belonged. Sparring with someone willing to allow her to feel out her moves and combinations would help her explore this further.
"Honda makes this great herbal tea that heals the mind and I know he'd talk to you about the times he's met you, maybe that'll help," continued Chun-Li. "Would you like that?"
"Yes! I'm going crazy here. I can't go outside and the people won't tell me anything. I need to hear people just talk, it helps me piece things together," Cammy garbled, her face flushed at the prospect of leaving.
"Ok we'll do it. Maybe I can get Guile in on it now his vengeance quest's done. He owes me some time in China, I'll see if I can get him to swap that for time in the mountains," Chun-Li mused. "And Honda can tell us stories about the Street Fighters he's met. He's been in so many tournaments, it might help."
"Would you really help me, Chun-Li?"
"Now my father's memory is finally laid to rest, I need something new to focus on and it looks like its you," Chun-Li joked lightly. "I need time to rest, you need time to remember. I don't see why we can't do that together in the same place. The intelligence people know me and I am a higher rank. Once I clear it with my superior officer then we can start making plans. If all things go well, we'll say the weekend ok?"
At the last question, Chun-Li got to her feet and looked expectantly down at Cammy. Cammy scrambled hastily to her feet, wishing she had an ounce of the confident poise the excitable but professional Chinese girl had. Something told her that years of working with diplomats had drummed it into her.
"That's good," she managed haltingly, trying for the same professional edge Chun-Li had.
"You'll be told as soon as possible if we go ahead. If it's confirmed then pack as much as you need for a month's break away. Just get permission to be accompanied to your apartment and take the things you think you'll need. Someone can help you if necessary," Chun-Li instructed as she made her way to the door. "Maybe we can even get Ryu or Ken to visit as well. They're legends on the circuit, murder to find and keep though. One's an unfriendly nomad and the other's an arrogant hotshot. I'll tell you more about them another time."
Cammy's mind reeled. A month away in the mountains? She envisioned cool crisp air and pure silence where she could think properly without squeaking trolleys that trundled down the corridors outside or people tiptoeing around her like she was an invalid. Why did the names Ryu and Ken stir such disturbing memories inside her mind? She could work that out when Chun-Li spent more time with her and told her more.
"Keep up the sparring, Cammy. Honda'll push you hard in training while you're there," said Chun-Li as she opened the door and spared the blonde girl a final winning smile. "It'll be good for you to be properly stretched. I'll visit you again soon."
With a wave, the Chinese agent disappeared out of the door. Cammy sat down slowly at the table and picked up another piece of paper. Her fingers danced over it lightly, manipulating the corners of it. In her mind, she slotted everything she'd learnt into some sort of cohesive pattern. She thought about Chun-Li, the girl who looked so young but held so much experience; graceful and strong, pretty and steely, confident and joyful. In her hands, a pink crane formed.