Deadly Directions

"Kiss to Kill"

…Flight to Arizona…

Nina gritted her teeth and tried to focus on her book. The peanut hit her in the head. She turned and looked at Hwoarang over her sunglasses. He shrugged and went back to picking through his mixed nuts.

A cashew landed down the chest of her blouse. She snapped her book shut. "Must you do that?" she hissed.

"Sorry I feel like someone dumped coffee in my lap"

"It's not like there was major burning!" snapped Nina. She sighed. "Just act your age! Besides -" she smirked cruelly. "It's not like you use it that much…"

"Hey bitch-"

"Thanks" she smiled sweetly.

"I get a good pelvic work out; girls are throwing themselves at me all the time"

"What on earth are they throwing themselves away from? Because it doesn't count if your friend tries to run them over and you stand nearby on the pavement"

"You fucked up whore!"

"No that'd be the only person to do you…besides…in case you hadn't noticed – you're gay" that caught Hwoarang off guard he'd heard a lot of stuff thrown at him but that was a new delivery.

"BITCH!" he snapped. The passengers all looked at them. Nina smiled.

"He's a rapper" she explained. Everyone nodded and turned back to their various activities. "Is that the best you can do Hwoa? I'm disappointed"

"You're a fucked up slut who hasn't gotten any in a few decades"

"Yes well you're a sad excuse for a punk who couldn't get a girl into bed if he drugged her, hit her over the head and got her drunk all at once" Nina snapped. "And the REASON I don't go around slutting it up (BTW your insult was an oxymoron) is because I usually end up killing (or getting killed) the man I sleep with!" she shut her eyes and massaged her temples. "You can be quiet for a nice long time now" she added,

"Pfft" snorted Hwoarang. "Whatever"

"I swear…I want a trip to Latvia for putting up with you" she muttered.

"Where's that place anyway?"

"It's a country down and across the water from Finland, it's bordered by Estonia, Belarus, Lithuania and Russia and Riga is a nice city to hide out in" Nina said. "I always stop by when I'm fleeing Russia, the Ukraine or Poland…mainly because I'm pretty sure it's the only place I don't have warrants"

"Yeah well…I've "handled" 23 guys in 2 years so-" Hwoarang suddenly felt curious. "How long have you been a "professional"?" he asked in a hushed voice

"I'm 23 now… officially only 4"

"Let me guess you "took care of" about – 46 guys give or take"

"Nope"

"40-ish?"

"No"

"35-40?"

"Why exactly is the amount going down?"

"How many"

"Let me see-243 in four years" she nodded. "Not taking into account –the occasional legal operative and bodyguards –"

She looked at the wide eyed Hwoarang. "F----uck" he gaped.

Nina went back to her book. It was "They Came to Baghdad" by Agatha Christie.


…The "Chang" Reserve… 10:11

They called it the Chang Reserve because Julia and Michelle were famous, lived there and kept it running as a nature preserve and cultural studies centre. Nina had her hair tied up in a tight bun and darkened slightly. She was amazed how well this tended to work.

Dressed in a tailored black suit with white blouse she walked alongside Hwoarang who'd blackened his hair with polish under protest. (Nina had held him in a Crab Lock for an hour to get him to cooperate).

"Agents Sawyer and Finn" Nina said in a full American accent. "We're here to see Michelle Chang about her daughters disappearance"

"Yes?" Michelle Chang stood behind them. She'd aged pretty well… but Nina topped her by far. "The FBI? Yes…I expect Mishima affairs interest you very much". Michelle frowned at Nina who didn't shy away.

Rule one of a disguise you were confident in: Don't shy away or it all starts to crumble. "Yes?" Nina smiled (much like a shark)

"Have we met before?"

"No ma'am" Nina said. Except for that time I avoided your Stomp and hit you with a Geyser Cannon that gave you a messed up jaw, she didn't add.

Michelle nodded – unsure and then led them through the cultural centre to her lab. "My daughter vanished one night when she got a call from the gate about a delivery of her new research equipment…she didn't come home and I haven't seen from her since"

"What was your daughter investigating?" Hwoarang asked.

"Ah – yes – that – she was researching some strange soil readings from around the temple near the Mishima Compound – the one that was destroyed by… an unknown attack a few years ago before the third Tekken Tournament."

Nina's eyes narrowed behind her glasses. "Is there anything she discovered?"

"Well…she found that a certain area was incredibly fertile, it had been "augmented" somehow" Michelle nodded as she sat down on her desk.

"What site was that?" Hwoarang asked.

"Ah" Michelle smiled. "That would be the site of the last battle of the tournament". Hwoarang's eyes widened behind his glasses, as did Nina's. A certain group of people had been there for the last fight. Nina, Anna, Hwoarang, Julia, Ling, Heihachi and Yoshimitsu.

Where the Ogre had appeared…Hwoarang had hoped to get a fight with Jin Kazama then but the boy had vanished after a fight with Heihachi and all the finalists had entered the atrium of the temple…before they knew what was happening – boom there was a huge flash of light from the inner room… Jin had vanished for a while only to reappear in his Grandfathers custody – apparently not realizing he'd beaten to old geezer.


…Mishima Enterprises, Arizona…1059

Jin sat in the car with Ling. His Granfather had called him out – the memories of the fight years ago were still present in his mind but after a point he couldn't remember anything up until he was in the helicopter.

"You okay?"

"yes" Jin nodded. "But Dr. Abel is always prodding me when we visit him wherever he may be…"

"Well at least he doesn't make a move on your breasts" muttered Ling.


"Dr Abel" Heihachi grunted as the wizened old man entered. "I trust you have something to present to me considering the amount of money poured into your Genetic and Cybernetic projects"

The man was wringing his hands. "Yes sir, I do indeed! I present to you…the JACK robot" the machine man entered slowly, mechanically. "He can take a great deal of punishment and is capable of incredible leaps, genetic tracking, extending his fists and firing a dart loaded with a paralysis drug."

"You sound so proud" muttered Heihachi. "I presume this will turn out better then those illegal genetic expirements I had to cover up."

"Yes sir!" Abel exclaimed. "My genetics expirements have far bypassed those ridiculous Ogre attempts performed by Dr Bale"

"You sound sure of that" the silky voice hissed. The woman strode into the room, she was dressed in a lab coat over her red top with the high collar and exposed navel. Her black boots clicked sharply on the floor. Dr Leona Bale glared at Abel. "Sir I assure you, my supernatural project is far better!"

"We shall see Ms Bale, after all your cryogenics experiment didn't achieve all I hoped it would" Heihachi growled. "I grow impatient and I will not tolerate faliure."


Room 244 - The Arizona Inn - 1915

Hwoarang waited…Nina was in the hotel room, the GPS in his watch verified that, he was waiting for her to reappear so he could give the equipment to her but she wasn't coming out.

"Damn woman" he muttered.

"Hold your tongue red" she muttered as she stepped out in her purple camouflage gear and tying her hair back.

"Okay lets do this" he sighed as he opened the case on the hotel bed of Nina's room. "Firstly, this is a credit card…but put it in a card reader and it bypasses the lock"

"What's my limit?"

"…$450,000"

"Is that all?"

"Next up" Hwoarang snapped clearly. "Mercury sent you a nice little Compaq, well 'cept for the fact the powder can knock people out for – like – 180 minutes"

"I think I'm in love" Nina sighed. "Anything else?"

"Yup two more things, one is a set of car keys that will fire a focused electric beam in any direction you point it to short electronics out for about 3 minutes…the last thing is a nifty pair of boots, in the soles are 10,000 volts of fun so long as you prime it with the button on the ankle and stamp down with the right heel at some point"

She examined the boots, identical to the ones she was wearing. "Thank you Red, they go perfectly with my outfit." Slipping a few daggers into her straps and belts and loading her pistols Nina packed up her backpack with the equipment as Hwoarang listed the items off.

"Grapple Guns?"

"Check"

"Digital Decryptor?"

"Check"

"EM jammers?"

"Check – they look like pagers"

"Yup. Radio interception device?"

"Check…does it get any good Indy Rock Channels?"

"Probably not. C4?"

"Check and check to the detonator as well"

"Stopwatch?"

"Yes – you might need it but I have perfect timing"

"Just say check" Hwoarang growled. "Digital Shades?"

"Duh Yes."

"Electric screwdriver, crowbar, clips, cord, lockpicks?"

"Yes to the above can we leave now?"


The Residential Wing - Mishima Complex – Arizona – 2150

Jin stared out the window – it was pitch dark and all was silent, Ling was exhausted she got jetlag big time and so Jin sat alone in his room, he looked back to his book. It was Dr. No, the original Ian Fleming version.

His grandfather was having a meeting with Dr Abel and Dr Bale so Jin and Ling had eaten dinner without him. It had been a restful dinner because of that. But Jin didn't like the doctors…and he had a feeling that his grandfather would be doing something bad.


Outside the facility – 2148

The Tekken Force Hawk lit up the cigarette…a pair of purple-cammo covered thighs latched on around his neck and cut off his air. He gagged as the body on top of him tightened the hold. "That is a disgusting habit".

Nina rolled forward and landed with the man flat out, she squeezed tightly and swivelled her hips – there was a snap. The body went limp. Nina rolled backwards and stood. Hwoarang stepped out from behind the tree and handed her the twin pistols.

"Nice work" Hwoarang said.

"Yeah – thank Pilates for that little trick" Nina smiled. She tapped the side of her shades, the night vision popped on. "Let's go we've got another fence to bypass"

"The easiest way in is via the cargo bay" Mercury said over the link of the shades. A digital map appeared in the lenses. "There are catwalks in there that are accessable and pass above the heavier security. Don't trigger any alarms before reaching the catwalks or it could be fatal"

Nina crouched low in the dirt, she attached the sight, laser and silencer to her gun. She commando crawled along the earth and aimed, turning the laser off she fired and killed a guard ahead. Swiftly she and Hwoarang dragged the body over to the trees and propped it up, using two daggers to pin its clothing to the wood.

"How do we get in?" Hwoarang asked. Nina smiled, she pointed back the way that had come, through the trees a large truck was approaching. "Ah – okay…lets do it."

They scaled a large tree and made their way out on a thick branch. It creaked and bent under their weight but held strong. Nina vaulted onto the roof of the trucks cargo hold. Hwoarang landed beside her, they darted along to the cab and hung down between the hold and cab as they passed through the gates, bathed in shadow they were safe. They pulled themselves up and lay flat on the hold roof. The truck came to a halt. A door began to open before it.

"Grapple guns" Nina said. She and Hwoa fired the hooks upwards and snagged the roof. They hit the buttons on the side of the guns and jetted up. Nina stopped the retraction and ran along the wall á la Prince of Persia to reach a walkway. Hwoa followed suit.

They collected the hooks back up and looked around. The door in the wall seemed like the best option. They looked at each other – then lashed out. The kicks smashed the door in. They emerged on the corrugated steel catwalks…the patrolling Tekken Forces whirled around and opened fire.

"DOWN!" Nina shouted. They dived in behind the crates. Nina checked her twin pistols as Hwoa fired over the crates with his Magnum. "Damn it…okay – lets do this – we need to get into the main base"

"There's three ways in, the truck route but that's a long route with many cameras – the next is the access doors on the lower floors but the security is tight -" Mercury wasn't being as helpful as he may have believed he was.

"Man, what are you listing the hard ones off for?" Hwoarang groaned

"Fine" sniffed Mercuriy. "There's an observation area, it's the security room, the large glass window on the other wall – there are doors on either side. If you get in there you can turn the Maximum Security Measures on and do severe damage to the men in that place."

Nina opened fire on the men firing at them and ducked back down as the schematics displayed themselves for her. "Got it – good enough" she said. "Observation deck it is then…shall we Hwoarang?"

"Why the fuck not?" he grinned. They shot upwards and blasted the five guards that had gathered. Darting to two separate hiding places they continued to fire. Nina kicked a drum down the walkway, it rolled towards the men – Hwoarang fired.

The explosion rocked the walkways – there was a moan of metal as the flaming bodies fell to the ground. "Nice one" Nina said. She ran down a platform that crossed the room after Hwoarang – an instinct went off in her body she turned and jumped.

The magnetic claw on the crane slammed into the metal of the bridge and shattered it. Nina grabbed the cord and aimed, she fired – the world was pulsating blurring and then becoming crystal clear with every beat. The bullet was true and it hit the man in the large control centre. He cried out and slumped forwards, the crane claw whizzed forwards.

"Memo to self – get a raise" Nina said through gritted teeth. The large window of the observation area shattered. The Tekkenshu Forces scattered along with the technicians, Nina fired left and right with her pistols, she kicked a silenced submachine gun off the floor as she holstered one pistol.

The spray of bullets killed one side of the room. Nina sensed movement behind her, she lashed out with a kick, spinning her body down and her leg up. The Falcon soldier slammed over a console and landed on one of his friends. "Okay boys…watch and learn" Nina somersaulted over a table and kicked a Technician into a supply cupboard, she whirled and fired at a group of Hawk soldiers, they dropped like flies.

The room was still. Nina shivered, her adrenaline had spiked there as she'd ridden the crane – now it wore down. She walked over to the main console and tapped a few keys.

The doors hissed open and Hwoarang entered- his face fell when he saw the dead, wounded and unconscious men. "You didn't leave me any?" he said as Nina walked with him towards the frosted glass doors. He picked up a submachine gun as he pouted.

"Don't worry" she said as she patted his shoulder. "There's more to come".


Next chapter: Nina and Hwo enter the Complex and face all kinds of Abel-built dangers! And Heihachi himself!

Thanks to all the reviewers, stick with me! Anyone played Death by Degrees yet? I'm not sure if I should get it but it IS a Nina Williams game...okay REVIEW