Confrontations

The necessary time for recon ended, and the three moved quickly and
cautiously towards the base. If Chun-li or Charlie were having doubts about
this mission they betrayed nothing. Adam, on the other hand was still trying
to swallow the fact that he might end up an accessory to the murder of innocent
people.

"Alright." Charlie said once they were inside safely. "Chun-li, you
take the kid and go east planting the bombs. I'll go west, we'll rendezvous
back here in thirty minutes. No more. If anyone is not present at that time we
leave. That includes if it's you, me, or the kid. We leave."

Chun-li nodded. Obviously they'd already covered this thing, it was
simply being repeated for Adam's benefit. She grabbed his hand and started
running down the corridor, Charlie going off in the opposite direction.
What the...is she trying to make out with me or something? Adam tried to pull
his thoughts together as he was dragged down the corridor. From in the back
of his head, another, much clearer voice said,...No that's stupid... Adam inwardly
groaned at his self-defeating pessimism. But can't a guy dream? He pleaded
lightheartedly.

Adam remained close to Chun-li, making certain he was always able to
see her. Whoever built the facility had function and not looks in mind. It
was all identical in every way. Eventually Adam was trying to find any hint of
individuality. Geez, even the bolts are the same. Boy, must be tough for the
new guy to find a bathroom. It was a bit unnerving to the boy who had spent
his life in very different surroundings. That, and the fact that no guards
seemed present. Man, I'd fire the security staff...Adam thought to himself,
looking around.

Chun Li suddenly came to a quick stop, giving Adam no warning or time to
slow. He crashed into her, bouncing right off. When he finally regained his balance he got a good slap from Chun-li. "We'll start the setup here. And don't even TRY grabbing my ass like that again." She told him and spent a few moments showing him how to set the bombs and the timers. Adam didn't bother protesting, it wasn't worth it.

"This is actually pretty simple." Adam made the comment offhandedly as
he set up another bomb, programming the timer just as Chun-li had shown him.

"This is the easy part, getting out is the hard part. Do you really think Bison wouldn't have security measures ready for intruders just in case? Its just a matter of what happens first. We get out or we get found."

"You're awfully cheerful aren't you?" Adam groaned getting to his feet.

"Just shut up and keep working." She said coldly.

It was about another ten minutes before anything could be thought of
as amiss. Although at that time only Chun-li had been aware of it. Adam was
zoned out thinking of something else as he finished his job. What it was
Chun-li couldn't have cared less about, but it did make warning him a bit
difficult. She decided to shrug it off, just her imagination, she told herself.

But a quick movement in the shadows dispelled any thoughts she may
have had to the contrary, there WAS someone watching them. The question was
who... 'Intelligence would suggest it to be Vega,' She thought keeping completely on guard. 'of the four leaders he's the best equipped for stealth. He's also the
most vicious second only to Bison himself.' She recounted many of the
assassination scenes she had visited, all bearing Vega's unique method, the
face was slashed apart, as was much of the body, as though by an animal. She
shuddered a bit to think of it. 'If he's the one here...' Her eyes widened as
she saw what must have been the shadow moving toward them. 'To hell with
subtlety!' She thought, tackling Adam as he walked, causing both of them to
narrowly miss a strike to the face. At the level it was it would have either
blinded Adam or penetrated right into the brain.

"Very good, my little bunny." A voice sounding at once elegant and malicious sounded from above them, although speaking English the voice's nationality showed through with the tinge of a Spanish accent. Of course, that did neither of the other two any good, as they were still on the floor.

Chun-li made an effort to roll them both to the side just as a steel claw plunged itself at them, scraping horribly once it missed its target. The Chinese detective threw the youth off of her as she rolled onto her back. Quickly getting to her feet she was confronted by the sight of a man, a bit taller then herself, with long blonde hair, he wore the tights and footwear of a matador. On his chest, he had a tattoo of a snake moving across his neck to end on his arm. Chun-li grew nervous when she saw the steel claw on his arm. She then knew it was without a doubt Vega just from that, but his most noticeable feature was his eyes, eyes of the deepest cold. "RUN!" She screamed to Adam.

"I'm afraid that won't be possible." Vega told her, placing a white mask over his face so that only those piercing eyes could be seen. "We have our orders."

"We?" Chun-li asked, keeping a tremor of fear from her voice. She was confident she could handle any of the four leaders alone, maybe MAYBE at the peak of her form she might handle two of them, but definitely not on a time limit and certainly not while she had to worry about Adam.

"Yes. Fortunately for you however, Balrog and Sagat are indisposed at the moment. So you'll have to settle for a small timer."

"Bite me!" A rough voice with an American accent came from one of the corridors, a man with messy blonde hair, wearing a pair of red karate pants said stepping out. "And I have a name. Its Joe."

"No one really cares you weak ugly fool."

"I am NOT weak! I competed in the first World Warrior tournament
hosted by Sagat!"

"Just get to your work now and I'll let you live." Vega growled
dangerously, this distraction nearly cost him time to evade Chun-li's
assault. He was mildly impressed to see her kicks coming at almost-not-even-a-blur- speeds. Chun-li kept up her attack with a Kikouken, Vega back flipped over
it.

With Adam things were going less then ideal as well. The man identified as Joe had grumbled a string of rather creative obscenities at Vega before lashing out at Adam with a solid kick to his chest, knocking the young man back a bit. As he recovered, he was barely able to move to avoid another flurry of strikes by
Joe. "Hey, c'mon...do we have to fight?" Adam asked, keeping his guard up as
best he could.

"Looks 'at way t' me kid." Joe growled, throwing a punch at Adam's face.
The shot managed to get past the inexperienced fighter's defenses, landing
solidly on his nose. A crack and the trickling of blood onto Adam's shirt
followed. "Heh, that all?" Joe asked putting his hands back up, hopping from
one foot to the other.

"No, dot id da least!" He hollered, his words muffled by his blood clogged nose. He dashed forward, leaping into a rolling attack. The quick speed of the attack threw Joe off guard, catching him square in the chest, knocking the air from his lungs and taking him down. Joe gasped but was quickly back on his feet.

"Alright, so you do know a little about fighting."

"Bore den you'd think." Adam responded, waiting for Joe's next move...

Meanwhile Chun-li was getting frustrated as Vega nimbly evaded most of, if
not all of her attacks. She had gained a few scraps, and portions of her
track suit had been cut. The vest already completely disregarded, and one of her
bun's freed from its constraints.

"I'm going to enjoy skinning you like a little rabbit." Vega cooed sadistically. "It's been far to long since my blades have tasted the blood of one so beautiful, they hunger for it."

"Well...tell them...dinners been cancelled!" She screamed at him, charging forward again, leaping into the air. Her nimble speed gave her an advantage, and before Vega had realized what she was doing, she actually managed to give Vega a glancing kick in the mask, enough to distract him as she grabbed his arm. However, she was herself surprised as Vega fell back and threw her from him.

She was breathing heavily as she stood up watching Vega, her attention briefly moving to Adam...

Adam was still in the fight, but Joe's experience was shining through as he brought his foot into Adam's chest again.

Joe was enjoying his moment in the sun, happy to prove his power. He
spun a roundhouse kick into Adam's head, knocking him off balance. Adam's training with Blanka proved it's worth, however, as he quickly recovered from the blow.

Okay c'mon...you've been in fights before... Adam thought to himself as Joe caught his rather sloppy punch, and made a punching bag of Adam's side and head. Its just...this is the first...one where the guy really wants to HURT me... He finished the thought as he head butted Joe, who pulled back slightly.

"Alright kid...time to go down." Joe sneered, running at Adam. He pulled his arm
back, and much to his surprise, when the punch was thrown Adam pushed through it. He brought his head even with Joe's and wrapped his arms around Joe's in a lock. He quickly increased the pressure as the other fighter grunted then yelled in pain.

"Nobe...your turn!" Adam yelled, sending an electric shock through his
grip on the arm. He kept it going until he felt Joe's resistance stop, and
let the other man fall limply to the ground. "I...won?" He asked himself.

Vega gave a short glance to the fight. "Well my pretty bunny..." He said. "I do have other business to attend to. I'll see you again though, count on it." With a polite bow, he darted off before Chun-li could do any more. Finally she turned to Adam.

"Jeez kid. You're a mess."

"I hab a dame." He said indignantly. "Adam."

"Fine. You're a mess, ADAM." She sighed.

"You too."

"Be quiet. Hurry we don't have much time left." She said, once more grabbing his hand and running with him towards the exit. It was gonna be close, but she was certain they'd make it. "Oh...shit." She trailed off stopping short of the door. Adam stopped next to her, following her gaze. Charlie was there, arguing with another man wearing green army fatigues and a green tank top which showed off a muscular build, as well as a flattop haircut.

"Dammit, Guile! Can't you see you're being used!" Charlie yelled.

"What the hell are you talking about Charlie?" Guile demanded.

"Bison owns the government! The United States belongs to him!"

"That's bullshit Charlie!"

"Guile-" Charlie began only to be cut off.

"I have orders to bring you in alive or dead. Don't make this harder
then it has to be Charlie."

"I trained you Guile. You KNOW you can't beat me." Charlie responded,
already removing his glasses and placing them into his vest pocket.

"I'll beat you. I was ordered to bring you in, and I'm going to. I
don't have a choice."

"Guile, are you that blind!"

"You've clearly just gotten some bad intelligence. My orders come
straight from the top."

"NO! The general's on Bison's payroll!" Charlie screamed at him.

"Enough! Words aren't going to be enough to bring you back, are they
Charlie?" Guile asked, a note of sadness in his voice.

"Guile..." Charlie said the same note of regret in his voice, both
slid into fighting stances.

"This...cant be good..." Adam whispered to Chun-li.

"No, no it isn't..." She agreed.