DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN ANY DEAD OR ALIVE CHARACTER. THOSE CHARACTERS BELONG TO TECMO, LTD. AND TEAM NINJA. I AM IN NO WAY INTENDING ANY COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT AND I'M NOT MAKING A PROFIT FROM THE USE OF THESE CHARACTERS. ANY CHARACTER NOT A PART OF DEAD OR ALIVE IS MINE AND MINE ALONE.
Chapter Three
Tuesday, December 13
9:27 A.M.
Organization Compound 21
Her throat was dry and scratchy and Kasumi longed desperately for a drink of water. Her headache had evolved from a dull pounding to an intense skull splitting throb, and she had to keep her eyes closed so the light from the overhead fluorescent lights wouldn't bother her too badly. Even so, it was still very painful.
She had spent the night in the cold prison without any heat, so between that and her headache, she hadn't slept much. It was still very cold in the small room, but she had learned to deal with it. But she regretted the loss of her sweater in the woods last night, because now the only things to keep her warm now was her white T-shirt and a long blue skirt.
The door creaked on it's old hinges as it was slowly opened. She opened her eyes to try to see who it was and immediately winced as a brilliant overhead spotlight was switched on, the extremely bright light flooding into her unprepared eyes. She let out a sharp gasp as the glaring light made her headache almost unbearable and she quickly closed her eyes once again.
"So how's our lovely runaway doing this fine morning hour? I'm sorry if it got a bit cold in here last night, but it seems that I 'forgot' to turn on the heat."
She recognized Smith's voice immediately.
"Oh, it's you again," Kasumi said with clear contempt, trying to hide the fact that she was freezing.
"Don't you like me? I'm so hurt," Smith said in a mocking tone. "Shark is running a little late, so we'll have to wait until later to have our little conversation. Are you hungry?" he asked.
Kasumi opened her watering eyes just long enough to see Smith reveal a large sub sandwich he had been holding. It looked so good, and it was then that Kasumi realized how hungry she actually was. After waving it in front of her face tauntingly, he took a big bite out of the juicy sub. Kasumi watched angrily as he slowly finished the sandwich, making sure that she watched every bite. When he was finished he made a satisfied grin and smacked his lips.
"That hit the spot. Sorry, I forgot to bring one for you," Smith gloated. "Oh well, such is life. Shark should be here in a couple hours, so just sit tight."
"Just tell me what you want to know and we can avoid this mess," Kasumi said, her teeth chattering from the cold.
Smith grinned. "I want to know the exact location of the Shinobi village."
Kasumi failed to hide her expression of unwillingness and surprise. She could never tell a man such as Smith the location. He would destroy everything she held so dear in her heart. What really bugged her was the fact that he knew there was a village in the first place.
"I don't know what you're talking about." She hoped he would fall for her little act, but he didn't.
"Don't play dumb with me!" he yelled angrily. "I know you're one of them!"
Kasumi involuntarily flinched as the loud noise intensified her headache.
"I really don't have any idea what you mean," she said after the pounding in her head had finally subsided. She knew it was a lame attempt, but she had to pretend she didn't know anything, for the sake of the village as well as herself. But she was totally unprepared for Smith's reaction.
He said nothing and walked up to her with a blank expression on his face. That's when Kasumi knew she had overstepped some kind of line. Unexpectedly, he raised his arm high above his head and slapped her hard across the face with the back of his hand. The blow was so hard that it spun her head towards the wall opposite of the door. She knew he had left red welt that would eventually bruise.
She kept her head turned away from Smith as she quietly sobbed, not wanting to let him see her cry, but he grabbed her chin with his hand and roughly forced her head around to face him.
He leaned down close to her face and spoke very clearly. "I know who you are, young Kasumi. I know that you left your little village to hunt down your brother's attacker in the first Dead or Alive tournament and much more. So spare me your pathetic lies and talk!"
Kasumi tried to blink away her tears as Smith let go of her face. "If you know so much, you can find the village yourself."
Smith laughed coldly. "It's not that easy, my dear. I may know much about you, but you left the village. I also know much about others, but I got all that information away from the village itself. So I really don't know where your little home is."
She stayed very quiet and tried to stop shivering from the cold, but it was beyond her grasp. The place she had been slapped was stinging badly, but she finally managed to stop weeping.
Smith was becoming impatient so he took out his knife and started to toy with it like he had done before, making sure she saw the gesture. Kasumi closed her eyes and tried to forget he was even there, but she still could hear him laughing. Smith saw her close her eyes, so he placed the cold flat edge of the blade against her face.
"I asked you a question, and I expect to get an answer, one way, or another."
Kasumi held back her fear and spoke in a steady voice. "Why? What is so important about my home?"
Smith removed the blade form against her skin and stood up. "It's really a funny little story. I could've cared less about the village itself, but not too long ago one of my men stumbled onto a vain of gold in that mountain. He was in the middle of telling me all about how he had found riches beyond my wildest dreams, but that some sort of ninja like people seemed to control the area. I was just about to ask where this massive treasure was, when guess what happened?"
Kasumi swallowed hard, but kept silent.
Smith continued. "He was killed. How was he killed, you may be wondering? Well the stupid idiot was careless enough to be sitting in front of an open window and he got shot in the back with a long shafted arrow. When that happened, I devoted much of my time and resources to find out what or who he had been talking about. After much research and....," he paused with a grin, "...underhanded tactics, we learned that a people called Shinobi controlled the mountain. I'll spare you the gruesome details, but the fact of the matter is that I have no clue where to dig. There is at least a billion American dollars worth of gold under that village and I'm going to find it."
"It seems to me," Kasumi said calmly, "that this isn't my problem."
She was surprised Smith's man made it back alive. He must've found another way in. The fact that he had been so close to the village in the first place troubled her.
Smith laughed. "Why do you think I called Shark? He's going to make it your problem."
Kasumi kept her eyes tightly shut against the harsh glare of the spotlight and thought about the village. She couldn't remember any gold nearby, but there were caves all over the area so she couldn't be sure. As for the arrow in the back, it sounded a lot like something Hayate would do. He was an expert shot with a longbow and very rarely missed. She heard Smith walking towards the open door.
"I'll die before I tell you anything!" she yelled after him with a slightly wavering voice.
Smith slowly turned to face her and regarded her with his cold gray eyes. "Careful what you wish for, young lady." And with those chilling words he left her alone in the cold, once again.
Tuesday, December 13
10:34 A.M.
Forest Park
Jack had absolutely no clue what he was searching for or even if there was anything to find. He knew how hard it had been to find out anything about Kasumi, so he didn't know where to begin looking for a way to find her. He had no idea who her enemies might be, or how many of them she had, although he found it hard to believe that a person like her could have any enemies at all. He had a gut feeling this had something to do with her past, but that just made things worse.
As he canvassed the area for clues, Jack thought he spotted some tire tracks in the ground, but the path was far too narrow to get a vehicle into the woods. After looking closer, however, there was no doubt about it. The rain two nights before had made the ground soft, so the tire tracks were clear. Someone must've went through a lot of trouble to conceal a vehicle back here. Maybe he could follow the tracks and get some leads.
He went back to his Jeep and struggled to turn it into the woods, trying to carefully squeeze it between the trees without damaging it. It was times like these that he was glad to have an SUV. After a few minutes of carefully navigating through the thick woods he came to a clearing where he found what he was looking for. There was a dark blue colored van hidden behind some trees about ten feet ahead of where he was now. There were many tree limbs and brush concealing it from view, but he guessed some animal had disturbed some of the branches, revealing some of the glossy paint.
Jack pulled the green Jeep up next to the van and climbed out to investigate. He opened the back of the doors of the van and found some white rope and a couple of leaves. Besides that, the van appeared to be empty. He scoured the front seats for any clues, but found nothing. He noticed some dirty footprints on the carpet in the passenger's side. After looking closer he could make out the same boot print he found in the woods near Kasumi's sweater. He went back to the Jeep and got his digital camera out of the dash. He always carried a camera with him.
"Old habits die hard," he said to himself as he snapped photos of the mysterious van.
As he was taking pictures of the inside of the van, Jack noticed that there was something stuck between the driver's seat and the center console. He tried to pull it out, but it was stuck tight. But he was determined to pry it loose, knowing that Kasumi's life could be hanging in the balance. Finally, he managed to jerk it free. It looked like some kind of disk or memory chip from a computer. He was surprised that they would be so careless as to leave this here where someone could find it, but he was grateful. After he finished shooting photos of the outside of the van, he decided to go back to his apartment and check out the disc he had found.
When he arrived back at his apartment he retrieved his laptop from its hiding place under his bedroom floor, thinking that he had finally found something that could take him to Kasumi. He plugged the chip into his laptop to see if there was anything useful on it, but after he had loaded it up he found only an extensive map of the mountain and the surrounding forest. Disappointed, Jack let out a deep sigh. Maps like these were found everywhere around downtown Okashima. There was nothing special about it. There were no markers or paths that were highlighted, or symbols indicating any locations. It was very strange.
"This can't be everything," Jack muttered.
He looked all over the map, trying to find anything. After about half an hour of searching, Jack noticed a bug in the map. It seemed like there was some other files on the disk, but he couldn't find any way to access them. Finally he found a small icon located in the menu bar of the map's window. When clicked on by the mouse, the icon flashed brightly and then the screen went blank. A few seconds later, a lot of encrypted nonsense appeared. It seemed to be encrypted in a code that none of his software could unscramble. He wasn't surprised though. If there was something there, he figured it would be encoded or something. Nobody would leave important information just sitting around like that.
After a while he decided he needed a break and went out to eat lunch. On the way to his favorite pizza place he recognized a familiar character leaving the nearby general store. He quickly turned his Jeep into the parking lot and stopped right in front of her. She looked curiously at the dark Jeep and then she spotted Jack as he opened the door.
"It's you again?" Ayane groaned. "What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be in the States?"
Jack looked at her. "I live here. What are you doing here?"
"Wouldn't you like to know," she said as she brushed her light purple bangs from her face.
"Did you know that you sister is missing?" Jack asked her.
Ayane smiled. "Oh really, what a shame," she said sarcastically. "Look I don't really feel like standing around and talking with you all day, so if you--"
Jack interrupted her. "She's your sister! Can't you even pretend to care?
Ayane glared at Jack and scoffed. "Why should I? I'm glad she's gone."
She immediately felt a tiny tinge of regret, but quickly shook it off. That meant that Hayate's assassins finally succeeded. That was one less thorn in her side.
Jack was stunned by her response. "I can't believe you just said that."
"Oh, shut up. It's not like she cares about me. This is a bigger situation than you realize. Maybe you should just stay clear, before you get hurt."
Ayane turned and walked away, leaving Jack behind her. Finally she was rid of Kasumi. Hayate must be devastated. Oh, well, she thought, He'll get over it.
"Like hell I'll stay clear! What's going on here?" Jack demanded from behind her.
"So Kasumi didn't tell you anything?" Ayane said. "Why am I not surprised? Sorry to disappoint you, Jack, but I'm not saying anything either. There's nothing you can do for her now, so you might as well just give up."
"What are you talking about?!"
Ayane sighed. "Do I have to spell it out for you? She's gone and she isn't coming back."
Jack refused to accept Ayane's response. "I don't believe you."
Ayane laughed. "That's your choice."
Jack watched as Ayane left the parking lot and headed out to the forest. She knew something about Kasumi's location, of that Jack was certain. It was sad, though, that Ayane could hate her sister so much that she was willing to let Kasumi die. He felt sorry for her, but there didn't seem to be anything he could do but start trouble. He went back to his Jeep and continued to the restaurant, hoping that the day would turn around.
Tuesday, December 13
5:42 P.M.
Mugen Tenshin Village
As Ayane walked into the village, she spotted Ryu Hayabusa walking down path leading into the forest lost deep in his own thoughts.
"How's Hayate doing? Is he really upset?" Ayane asked, grinning.
Hayabusa wore a blank expression. "No, why should he be?"
Ayane's grin vanished. "Because Kasumi's finally been killed. Don't you know that?"
"I don't think so, Ayane. If she were dead, I would be the first know."
Ayane hid her confusion. "But I got information that she has disappeared when I was in town. That could only mean that the assassins have succeeded, right? She has to be gone!"
"Not necessarily, Ayane," he said. "Go home. I will talk to Hayate."
Ayane glared at him and walked towards her home in the Hajinmon Village. She knew it must've happened. It had to have happened.
Hayabusa walked calmly up to the dojo where Hayate was supervising a class of young ninjas as they practiced their sword fighting techniques. He tapped his old friend on the shoulder and asked him to come outside where they could speak privately.
"What is it, Ryu?" Hayate asked, immediately sensing something was off..
Hayabusa thought about how to phrase the question without upsetting his long time friend. Finally, he just decided to be blunt.
"Is Kasumi dead, Hayate?"
Hayate shifted his weight. "No, we haven't located her yet. Why?"
"Because Ayane claims that she knows Kasumi is missing. She says she heard it while she was in town getting supplies. And I thought that if you hadn't got her, then someone else does. Which means...."
"....the village is in danger. Do you know for sure if she's gone? You know how hard she can be to find," Hayate asked.
"Ayane may be a lot of things, but I've never found her to be a liar. She wouldn't have said anything unless she was relatively certain."
Hayate trusted his friend with his life and he quickly accepted the idea that Kasumi was a liability now more than ever. "I think we should double the perimeter security and keep an eye out for anything strange. I need to stay here, so could you go to town and see what information you can dig up?" Hayate asked.
"No problem."
As Hayabusa started to walk away, Hayate stopped him. "Do you think she's really dead, Ryu?"
"I don't know. It's possible, and we both knew this had to happen someday. You had better go tell Ayame the bad news."
Hayate nodded.
Hayabusa walked off towards the Hajinmon village, hoping Ayane was in her house and not out in the forest pouting. If he had to get information on Kasumi's vanishing act, he figured that she would be a good place to start asking questions.
When he arrived, Hayabusa knocked loudly on her door, and was about to walk in when she angrily opened the door.
"What?" she asked irritably
"How exactly did you find out Kasumi was missing?" he asked her.
"Hello to you too, Hayabusa."
"How did you find out, Ayane?"
She sighed. "It's a long story."
"I'm not going anywhere," he said as he walked in and took a seat on the floor.
Ayane closed the door. "Okay, well there was this guy named Jack Wallace that worked as the head of security at the Zack Island Casino. He and Kasumi were good friends from what I gathered and I guess they didn't lose touch over the months because when I ran into him today at the store, he was really upset. He cut me off with his car and asked if I knew anything about Kasumi's disappearance."
Hayabusa's emerald eyes bored into her. "You're positive that he knows she's gone. Is he a reliable source?"
"Well, whenever we talked before he always told the truth, although we didn't talk often. But he wouldn't have any reason to lie about something like this, and he wasn't pretending to be concerned. I assume that he's reliable. As far as I know, he doesn't know anything about the Shinobi or Kasumi's history, because he demanded to know what was going on."
"What did you say?" Hayabusa asked.
"I told him to leave it alone. I don't think he will though."
Hayabusa nodded and got up. "What did he look like?"
Ayane rolled her eyes and looked at her brother's friend. "He has short dark spiked hair and he's about your height. He was probably a few years younger than you, maybe twenty. I didn't really memorize him or anything."
"If you remember anything else, tell Hayate," Hayabusa said as he walked to the door.
"Where are you going?" Ayane demanded.
"To investigate."
Hayabusa left to get his things, then he set out on the long forest trail into town.
Tuesday, December 13
6:25 P.M.
Organization Compound 21
Kasumi had been surprised when she first saw Shark. She expected a rough looking ex-convict type of guy, but instead he looked more like a business man from the city. He wore a dark black suit and shiny leather dress shoes. He had a clean white shirt underneath his jacket, with a black tie around his neck. His hair was the color of dark sand and his eyes were a cold blue.
She knew he was vile and deceptive and that she was going to have a hard keeping her secret safe. Smith and Shark walked into the room and pulled up the two chairs by the steel table and sat down. Smith was playing with his sharp knife and Shark just sat there, with a blank expression on his face.
"If you talk now, Shark won't have to bring in his cart. You don't want that to happen, trust me. I've seen him do some unimaginable things with that cart, and you don't want to find out what they are."
Kasumi squinted against the light and swallowed hard, a nervous lump in her throat. She would never tell them anything, but how could she face someone like Shark and not say anything? With much courage, she remained silent.
Smith looked at Shark, clearly disapproving of Kasumi's decision. "Go easy on her for now, okay?"
Shark never changed his stoic expression. He simply nodded and went outside to retrieve the cart.
Smith looked down at Kasumi with a dark smile on his face. "You'll wish you had said something, I guarantee that. I almost feel sorry for you, but I will have that money, and no one will stop me."
As Smith walked out, Shark wheeled in a medium sized metal cart with various needles and vials on one side. She looked at the other side and almost started crying at the sight of some of the horrible utensils. They looked like they had been crafted with one purpose in mind: to cause maximum pain without causing maximum damage. There seemed to be two levels to the cart but the bottom was hidden by the white sheet that was draped over it, so she couldn't see what else was inside it. But for that she was somewhat grateful.
"You're not actually going to...you know..." Kasumi asked nervously.
"Torture you?" Shark asked seriously.
Kasumi gave a meek nod.
Shark laughed. "Torture is such a strong word. I prefer to call it 'physical interrogation.' But I don't like working on women, so just start talking before I really have to do some damage."
Kasumi was scared before when Smith had slapped her, but now she was utterly terrified. "No!"
Shark ignored her as he turned to his cart and began sorting through the various items trying to determine which one to break her in with. Finally he decided to start with some chemicals.
Kasumi struggled against the cuffs, afraid for her life, but they didn't budge an inch. Shark turned back to face her. "Just tell me where to find the village, and I won't hurt you."
"I can't say anything. Just let me go!" Kasumi pleaded, tears forming in her eyes.
Shark shook his head and grabbed a vial full of a neon yellow colored liquid and a needle. He grabbed her arm roughly and prepared to stick the needle into her skin, but she fought him. Eventually, he was forced to grab her so hard that it left bruises from his fingers on her arm. He then stuck the syringe into her arm and injected the yellow fluid into her system.
At first she didn't feel anything, but after about a minute her arm burned as though it were on fire. Then it slowly spread through her body until it exploded in her head. Her splitting headache felt like a gentle massage compared with what she felt now. She saw a flash of intense color fill the room and then her vision began to blur with tears of anguish.
"Please!" she sobbed. "Make it stop!"
"Just tell me what I want to know and it will all go away." Shark said.
"Never!" she said through clenched teeth.
The pain intensified steadily until, about ten minutes later, it subsided. As the pain went away, Kasumi started breathing like she had just run five miles, exhausted from the way she had tensed all of her muscles at once. Her arms and legs were sore from the exertion and she felt a lot like a wet noodle.
Shark saw that the drug had worn off, so he filled the syringe once again, making sure that Kasumi saw him.
"Do you want to try some more?" Shark asked.
"No....more...." Kasumi sniffled in between breaths. "Please..."
"Wrong answer."
He grabbed her arm again and Kasumi winced as the fluid was again inserted into her bloodstream. She relived the agonizing burning sensation as it traveled up her arm and into her chest, slowly burning into her heart. As it continued to spread, Kasumi felt more and more like she was being roasted alive in a vat of brimstone. Then it exploded in her skull once more, causing her to inadvertently scream in torment.
Shark watched as she clenched her hands into tight fists and writhe on the table, forcing all of her muscles to work at once. He wouldn't be surprised if she pulled something the way she was acting, but he had seen others do much worse.
"It....burns....," she sobbed, tears streaming down her face.
"Well, of course it does, that's what I made it for. Now talk!"
The pain kept building inside her, and Kasumi's muscles began to feel like they were being shredded apart. When the burning had finally subsided, she went limp, and couldn't move. She barely had the energy to breathe, let alone put up any kind of resistance. Her limbs were so sore that when she tried to move them, it felt like she had been hit by a speeding car. Kasumi lay on the table, freezing, as the cold air combined with her sweat, numbed her entire body.
"Shall we try again?" Shark said as he prepared another needle.
