Against Her Will part six
Lei played the dying call from Kazuya over and over again. He somehow recognized the other voice on the phone. His gut is telling him something's happened, and it isn't good.
"I know that voice," he mutters to himself. Lei's partner, Gabriel Hikowa, is also listening to the recording.
"That voice sounds very familiar," he says. "But I can't put my finger on it."
He plays the recording again, this time slowing it down and taking the background noise out of it.
"Or…you'll…be…next… (rewind) …Or …you'll…be…next…"
Gabriel and Lei look at each other in shock.
"Heihachi Mishima," they say in unison.
"That son of a bitch!" Lei says angrily. "How in THE HELL didn't I pick up on that? He's going to get what he deserves!"
The phone in Lei's office rings. Gabriel picks it up. The person on the other end is Anna, and she's in a panicked hysteria.
"Miss…calm down…I can barely understand you…your husband? He's been…" Gabriel's face suddenly goes pale. Before he can say anything else to Anna, she hangs up.
"Gabriel, who was that?" Lei asks his partner.
He exhales slowly, his heart beating a million miles a minute.
"Who was that?" he asks Gabriel again.
He hangs up the phone and sits down. He starts slowly:
"That was Anna," he says.
"Anna who?"
Gabriel closes his eyes and runs his hands through his dark hair.
"Eddy Gordo's wife. She just told me," he swallows stiffly. "That he's been murdered in the Mishima Mansion…across the street from them."
A lump forms in Lei's throat. He has to do something before another person is killed.
"Gabriel, get out the flak jackets," he says shakily. "And get our guns. We're going to the Mishima Mansion."
Lei and Gabriel take the thirty-minute drive to Harmon, where the most prominent citizens reside. Further up is Blooming Boulevard, a rather large residential street with newly paved blacktop, very large and beautiful homes, towering oak trees, and dotted with gorgeous lawns. As the two detectives drive up Blooming, Gabriel marvels at some of the expensive homes.
"Which one is the Mishima Mansion?" he asks Lei.
He pulls up in front of the next-door neighbor's home. Lei points to the larger mansion.
"That one," he replies.
"This can't be the Mishima Mansion. Look at the lawn…and the bushes. They look like shit." Gabriel said.
Lei pulls on the flak jacket over his long sleeved shirt, then puts on a dark blue denim jacket. He looks at the mansion again; somehow, the once beautiful home has lost its shine. It used to be the most stunning home on Blooming Boulevard.
"Let's get to work," Lei says.
Vague to the both of them, Heihachi is looking from Jin's room, planning his next murder. As sick as this person is, he still has the blood-spattered ax he used to massacre Eddy with in his hands. Blood stains Heihachi's hands, his white suit, his fur coat, and his face. He coolly walks to the indoor balcony, which leads to the winding stairway, leaving bloody footprints wherever he walked. He pulls up an antique chair and waits for Lei and Gabriel. What they don't know is Heihachi has taken Anna hostage. She's drugged, gagged, and tied into another antique chair across from him; her four-year-old son, Dylan, is also drugged and gagged.
Both detectives are already inside the mansion, disturbed by the horrific sight. Lei calls for backup, in case things get ugly. Gabriel investigates the kitchen, where Jin's rotting body is. He places a sheet over the nineteen year old's body. The smell of death is very thick, saturating every room in the mansion. Lei opens the basement door, nearly slipping on fresh blood. He carefully walks down the stairs, covering his nose due to the strong stench. Lei flips on the light switch, and what he finds is upsetting. Hwoarang's body still in that chair, Jun's body is swarming with night crawlers, and Kazuya's body is decaying beyond recognition. Lei notices the door to another basement room is cracked. He pushes the door open and finds Eddy's butchered body. He walks closer to get a good look at him.
All the color from his skin has drained, leaving a dull gray shade. His once brown eyes are cold and lifeless; his clothing is saturated with his own blood. The cement walls and floor are spattered with blood. About a few inches away lies a wallet photo of his family. Lei picks up the small portrait and studies it. He finds something a little off. Eddy's face is blotted out with black permanent marker; a big 'X' is drawn on Anna's face, and Dylan's eyes are filled in. He turns the picture over. On the back it reads: 'One down, two to go.' Before Lei could get out of the basement room good, he hears noisy arguing. He runs out of the room and up the stairs.
Gabriel has his gun drawn, and is pointing it at Heihachi.
"You think a gun will stop me?" Heihachi asks sneeringly. "You actually think YOU can stop ME? You both are TOO LATE!"
"Put the ax down," Gabriel says. "It's over, Mishima. Give it up."
Heihachi gets up from his chair and walks to the indoor veranda, still holding the bloody ax.
"You just don't get it, do you? You think you can save the world, but you can't. You are all the same, with your…knowledge…and your…fancy training," Heihachi says with a scoff in his voice.
"Put the ax down, Mishima!" Lei yells. "Don't make me shoot you!"
Heihachi cuts the lights, leaving them in pitch-black darkness. This sick bastard has painted the windows with numerous coats of black paint, and since it is now 9 in the evening, they can't see their hands in front of their faces!
He turns on strobe lights to throw them off; Heihachi's voice is crackled over an intercom.
"You wouldn't let an innocent person die, would you? Catch me if you can!"
Lei and Gabriel are getting very annoyed with this sicko.
"Look, if he tries to run downstairs, cut him off, I'll try and catch him," says Lei. "And if we can't catch him—"
"Then we'll neutralize the asshole; shoot him in the leg," Gabriel finishes the sentence.
A woman's muffled scream startles the both of them; the strobe lights quickly illuminate a woman tied to a chair, obviously scared to death.
"That crazy son of a bitch!" yells Gabriel. "He's got Anna!"
A child's scream is heard close by.
"And he's got her little boy!" yells Lei. He runs up the winding stairway. It seemed like everything was in slow motion as he ran. He makes it to the top of the stairs, only to be met by Heihachi and his bloody ax. He lunges at Lei, missing his head by a hair. He throws down the ax and shoves Lei towards the indoor veranda. His body weight breaks the wooden balcony, causing him to fall through. Using instinct, Lei grabs onto the large chandelier. If he lets go of the chandelier, it'll mean his death.
"Shit!" Lei looks down, grasping the concept that it's a very long fall. Heihachi jumps onto the chandelier, putting more weight on the already delicate cables supporting it. He slashes a hunter's knife at Lei, catching his chest. He slashes the knife again, cutting his arm. The pain has weakened Lei's strength. One of the cables gives way, causing the chandelier to sit uneven. Lei tries to swing towards the broken veranda, but it's no use, there's too much weight. Another one of the cables gives way, this time, death is imminent for the both of them. Lei tries one more time to swing the chandelier towards safety. Heihachi slashes the knife at him again, just as he swings toward the veranda. He grabs onto the floor, pulling himself up.
The final cable breaks, sending Heihachi on a freefall to his death. The chandelier crashes to the marble floor below. He lands on the marble floor with massive force; the crystal sending tiny dust and glass fragments in all directions. Lei props himself against the wall behind him; Gabriel has untied Anna and little Dylan. Both are in shock.
"Are you alright?" he asks Lei.
Out of breath, he answers Gabriel. "Yeah, I'm fine." Lei looks down at the marble floor. Heihachi's broken body lies there; surprisingly there isn't any blood. From landing on the floor with immense force, every bone in his body was shattered instantly.
Sirens blare in the distance as Lei and Gabriel escort Anna and Dylan out of the mansion. Lots of police cars, two ambulances, and a fire truck are outside. An officer asks Lei what had happened.
"What's the story?" the officer asks him.
Exhausted, sore from the knife wounds, and still in shock, he simply answers:
"It's a mess in there."