Disclaimer: SNK owns King of Fighters and all the characters that appear. I own any original character appears. This in no way derogates from SNK's legal rights and obligations.

Chapter 5 - Showdown with the Gunners.

Next morning, Kaia opened the door, having just got back from a mission, when she entered she saw her brother and Billy sleeping on the couches in her living room. She let out a sigh and thought, "why? I know that bro likes to come visit, and use my house to have people over, but still." She walked over to Kai, and shook his shoulders, "wake up, sleepy," she said.

"uhhhh," Kai stretched, as he opened his eyes, "Hey sis,"

"Who's that over there," she asked, pointing to Billy, whose face was facing away from her.

"Haha, have you been living under a rock or something, look closer, recognise the clothes," Kai said, now a bit more awake.

Kaia looked across at the other couch, as Billy turned around, Kaia saw his face, "Oh my God, is it really him?"

"Yes it is, sis, it's the frontman of your favourite band, maybe you can meet him at last, since you are on mission every other time." Another idea formed inside Kai's head, "Actually, I dare you to go kiss him to wake him up," (A/n: Sorry, I must have been smoking something here, but run with it) "Oh and I used the chamber last night, need the Cleaners to come in."

She sighed heavily, "hah, always need my Cleaners don't you?" (A/N: Cleaners body disposers belonging to the Government - for those assassins and spies whose bodies they never want to be found)

"It's that assassin that you sent me the info on, she's inside, a magnum shot to her head finished her off after a bit of drug and tasering and knifing," Kai replied.

"I read your report, on the way home, it will be cleaned up. So what's happened with his sister," she asked, pointing to Billy, still peacefully asleep on the couch, unaware.

"Well, I'm not telling you until you carry out the dare," Kai replied, folding his arms, now that he had sat up on the couch.

So, Kaia crept up to Billy softly, and went to kiss him awake on the cheek. Unfortunately for her, at the last moment he turned and instead she caught him right on the lips. Billy's eyes popped open instantly shocked but he couldn't turn his face away, Kaia also stood there dead still, Kai just laughed, loudly, as they stood there transfixed.

"Good morning," Kai said, the words breaking Kaia and Billy out of their kiss. He was laughing in between each word. Billy's face had turned red, as he sat up, Kaia just marched over to Kai and gave him a whack over the head with an open palm.

"What?" he asked, giving Kaia a stupid look.

"That was for your stupidity, brother."

"Still it was funny," Kai said, turning towards Billy, "sorry, that was a joke, a dare. We do this sometimes. I don't think she meant to kiss you on the lips."

Billy was hiding the fact that he actually had enjoyed being woken up by a kiss, but of course, in the past, a woman involved with him was likely to end up dead and now, well she may still end up dead, especially if what happened to Lilly would happen to her.

"You bastard," Billy said, to cover that fact up, "I still owe you for those tricks you've pulled."

"Yeah he is," Kaia added, "sorry about that." Of course, she was hiding her crush that she had on Billy and the fact that she had liked kissing him, a lot.

"Hey, don't pick on me, it was only a dare and it wasn't my fault that you ended up lip-locking." Kai said, smirking, "We're going to Manchester tonight, I'm going to trick the hirer. Don't worry sis, he knows."

"We're going to get breakfast and then go, remember to clean up, I'll visit again soon," Kai said, as he got up off the couch and went to the bath room, leaving Kaia and Billy alone in the lounge.

There was an awkward silence between them, as they couldn't look at each other, blushing red still on their cheeks. Kaia broke the silence, "Sorry for that surprise," she said.

"Yeah," was all Billy could say, he looked at her, finally their eyes meeting. Red appeared again on both of their faces, as Kai secretly watched through the crack in the bathroom door. He was laughing inside his mind, as he went to spit out in the sink. He went back to looking again through the crack in the door.

Back in the lounge again, a nervous silence continued between Kaia and Billy. It continued for some time, until Kai came out of the bathroom, and told Billy to go clean himself up.

Turning to Kaia, after Billy was gone, "Sis, we have to go now, to Manchester, after Billy's done, we're going, to Old Trafford, I want to scope the place during the day."

Turning to other matters Kai continued, "Well, you did tell him that you liked him right," he said, in a whisper that would not carry to the bathroom. He cracked a smile.

"Of course not, not after the awkward way we started," Kaia said, she laughed nervously.

"He likes you, I reckon," Kai said, laughing.

"Now you are pulling my leg," Kaia replied, "the information was very useful. And that trash you left in the chamber, it'll be gone and you won't have to hear about it."

Billy came back out of the bathroom. "Well goodbye, sis, see you again." Kai said, as he left the terrace with Billy, headed towards Manchester, and the person who held Lilly.

"Goodbye, Miss Mellion. See you again," Billy said, as he left.

"See you again soon, Mr Kane," Kaia replied. The door closed as they left. "Now let's see what mess that they went and made, she said, as she looked inside the chamber

She saw the dead body, mangled, "Kai, this is so messy, as always," he had always been the messy child, she sighed, "What a mess," she sighed again, beginning the undo the straps around the body, taking it onto the floor, and then wrapping it in plastic sheet, ready to take to the Cleaners.

Location: Old Trafford, Manchester

The car pulled into the city of Manchester, into the hotel, where Kai had registered under Lien's name, under her assumed name when she had entered the country. Parking the car with the valet, Kai morphing as Lien walked out of the hotel into an alley and morphed back into himself again. Coming out of the alley, he swung his red windbreaker over his shoulder and walked out down two blocks.

He was rejoined by Billy who had just walked out of a pastry shop, holding a pastry, munching on it. They walked towards Old Trafford without acknowledging each other, splitting up at the gate walking around the stadium. Meeting again, at the other side, they decided to walk into the front and look inside the building, walking around the buildings in Old Trafford, but not passing the gate.

Luckily today wasn't a training day, so people could walk around freely. Billy went into the field area and scoped out the place, whilst Kai looked through the boxes. It would have to wait till tonight, as Kai left first, and went to a nearby cafe, where he was joined by Billy. Both of them wore plain clothes, tonight would be the time to wear the hunting gear. They retired to another hotel room, in another hotel, this one booked under another alias.

Once inside, they began to discuss their plans for tonight. "There's not many spaces to hide, but there could be snipers on the roof with a clear shot," Billy said.

"They could also hide people in the boxes, you're going to have to prowl their early take out any snipers he's going to have," Kai replied, "He probably won't be expecting Lien to walk in without anything else so he'll probably be a bit complacent when he sees me." They went through the rest of the plans that they needed to execute to get Lilly back and catch the guy who had sent assassins after them.

At 2:00 am in the morning, Billy headed out of the hotel in his red and white bandana, with blue leather jeans and jacket, headed towards Old Trafford. Kai had already left before then, as Lien from the other hotel. Kai, as Lien now walked towards Old Trafford, through the night entering through the gate, he walked towards the centre of the field where there was a silhouette of a man, hopefully the payer that Kai was looking for.

Kai, as Lien walked towards the middle, there was a man there, his black silhouette, a big one, Kai walked up to him, expecting anything.

Meanwhile, Billy had actually been skulking through the roof, taking out two snipers on the roof, and another three in the box and was making his way down to the stadium through the seats, the stadium lights flashed on, illuminating the middle of the ground, Kai saw the man opposite him, "the money please," he said, with Lien's voice. The man made no movement, "expecting something? The money now!" Kai repeated himself in Lien's voice again. The man showed no signs of moving. Kai walked towards the man, waiting for a response.

He saw the small briefcase in the man's hand, "expecting the snipers on the roof and in the boxes? Don't think that they weren't already taken out." he said. THe man let go of the briefcase and clapped and now he spoke, "Take the briefcase."

"No, I want you to open it, first, and show me the money," Kai said, playing along, hopefully doing what she would have done. The man smirked and then opened the briefcase and whipped out a gun, and was about to shoot, when Billy ambushed him with a crowning blow to the head, causing the man to drop the gun to block, as Lien's features melted away, to become Kai's. "Surprise," Kai said, "you won't escape,"

Kai and Billy both went to attack, when Kai noticed a flash of movement out of the corner of his right eye, before being slammed into the ground. There was a second one, he looked up and saw that it was Iori. "You're the kidnapper?" Kai said, shocked, not thinking that someone like that would stoop so low.

"Nope, I'm just here to fight you and kill you," Iori replied, as Kai threw him off, both of them getting into ready stances.

Meanwhile, Billy was fighting the man who had the briefcase who he suspected was Duke, since the fighting style matched up and because of the information provided during the interrogation. He was desperately throwing blows, as the other man blocked, and returned the blows with interest, causing Billy to have to block furiously. He lashed out with his staff, flipping the mask on the other man's face off, confirming what the dead assassin had said; it was Duke, a long-time rival of the Howard connection, one who had a personal vendetta against anything to do with Geese. "So, it's you, you maniac, where is she?" Billy demanded as he launched another attack only to be blocked.

Duke just laughed, "You'll find her, sometime, or maybe not," he added, "I had a suspicion that the assassin wouldn't be enough, after that performance in Southtown, but if she did it, it would have been a nice easy win for me." Apparently, Duke had had some of his cronies at the bar, on the first night at King's bar, who had reported everything to their boss.

Back with Kai and Iori, they were both launching furious assaults at each other, fists flying at breakneck pace in one direction, clawing attacks in the other. Kai was having a hard time getting through Iori's defence, knowing that last time he had caught him by surprise, "this guy fights by instinct not strategy," Kai thought, as he launched into another flurry of fists and palm strikes, continuing to be blocked. "I have to up the ante," Kai thought, summoning the green chaosfire to envelop his hands, increasing the speed and power of his strikes. He leapt out of attack range as Iori began to counter his attack, seeing a small opening, he launched into a Chaos Scythe, bringing his leg crashing down, but he was blocked, and then sent flying by a well timed oniyaki. He landed with a thud in the grass, and then flipped up and threw a chaosfire shot at Iori, who jumped over it and rushed in for another attack.

Billy ducked a blow from Duke, and then lifted the end of his staff, connecting with Duke's jaw, following it up with a blow to the stomach while flipping the staff around. He ducked another fist, and a high roundhouse kick, jabbing again with his staff, again scoring a blow. Separating his staff into 3 he launched the staff at Duke's neck, extending it as Duke reeled back off balance. Billy leapt up into the air, just as Kai turned around, having noticed that Duke had reeled backwards into striking distance, he turned around and hit a strong backwards fist into the back of Duke's head, then flipping over the back of Duke, away from Iori's attack, extending with a beautiful two footed kick which sent Duke hurtling towards the incoming Iori, who just batted him aside, but was too late to block Billy's Flying Cane Smash attack, taking a blow on the head.

"Leave him, the other one is the important one, he was just paid to kill us," Kai said.

They turned around to see Duke running away, and Billy and Kai set off in pursuit, but to no avail, a motorbike sped off quickly into the night. When they returned through the gate to the middle of the stadium, Iori had gone. Only tufts of disturbed grass showed any signs of there being a fight.

"The kidnapper is Duke, an old enemy of my ex-boss," Billy said, "he's based in Southtown."

"I suppose then we'll have to go back and shakedown his men then," Kai replied, "that's probably where they would be holding her."

Billy went back to his hotel room, and Kai to his own, the one that he had registered as Lien, paid the bill next morning and headed back to London, to head for Southtown once more.

Location: Southtown - various locales

Having endured the long plane-ride to another city and then a drive into Southtown, Billy and Kai were patiently waiting as the taxi pulled up to the hotel where they had registered under false names. Being heavily disguised hopefully would prevent Duke's men from knowing that they were here, but Kai didn't count on that disguise lasting very long. Sooner or later, someone would find out and once one of the three crime bosses found out, all of them would know soon enough.

Once in the hotel room, the began to plan the way they would break in and rescue Lilly from the clutches of Duke. Night came, as they exited the hotel through the fire escape, taking care not to be noticed. Billy wore his usual bandana, jeans and denim jacket and a blue t-shirt, his staff folded and tucked into the jacket pocket. Kai jumped down to the street a minute later, dressed in his black t-shirt, jeans, reversing his red windbreaker, this time showing black, perfect for hiding in the night.

Skulking through Southtown at night was fraught with danger, especially as they headed towards the precinct controlled by Duke. They were passing through Meira territory to get there though. That was relatively safer, as the Meira's usually kept their thugs on a tight leash, but in Duke's precinct, it was a bit more of a free for all. Keeping to the darkness, Billy and Kai made their way down opposite sides of the street, towards the warehouse that Duke was supposedly keeping Lilly in. It was ubiquitous, no one would have thought it was housing a crime boss and a hostage, but that was where the word around town said it was.

Billy hung back, as Kai morphed and made a round around the warehouse, "Well this is it," Kai said, as he got back to Billy's position, "we're going to bust in, security looks pretty tight, but I think we could handle it." They went, running quickly towards the front of the warehouse, and sure enough there was a welcoming committee, of thugs. Billy's eyes lit up as he unwound his staff, and licked his lips, ready, no itching for the fight.

The thugs surrounded Kai and Billy, as they stood back to back, waiting, or not, as Billy launched a Sansetsu Kon Chuudan Uchi at one of the thugs, the two on either side of him closed in, as the staff withdrew again, Billy planting his boot into the face of one of the incoming thugs, and whacking the other with a stick. Kai waited as the three thugs charged at him, he launched a Chaosfire Shot at one, and then blocking a bat with his left arm, and then kicking out at the third. The three thugs that Kai was facing got up again, as Kai jumped and kicked out at one, catching him square on, in the chest pushing him back, the other two hung back, wary, poking out with their knives.

Billy launched another Sansetsu Kon Chuudan at another of the thugs, this time adding an explosive ending to it, sending the thug sprawling into the wall, 'two to go', he used his staff to block a knife blow incoming at his thigh, and then whipped the staff around to hit his other attacker, following it up with a another staff blow ending with a overhead blow, knocking the thug senseless to the ground. The third thug ran, scared, after dropping his weapon.

Gotta do this quickly, Kai thought, as he summoned chaosfire to his hands, and threw a shot at one, rewarded with a hit, and dodging just in time such that the second blade only grazed his arm. He quickly grabbed the thug's wrist as it withdrew and knocked the knife out of his hand with his knee, sending it flying away. He followed up with a Chaos Upper, catching the thug's jaw, a loud clicking sound heard, as the jaw was broken.

Kai turned around and saw that Billy had dealt with the other thugs, they turned and ran towards the back room, smashing the door in. Inside was nothing but a plain wooden desk, with a small white note on it. Billy looked around the room for anything suspicious, as Kai went up and retrieved the note. The note said See You At Wembley.

Kai smashed his fist into the table, "look at this," he said, passing the note to Billy, who read the note, and turned pale. "He's obviously implying that something's going to go down at the Concert in a week's time.

"Damn," Billy swore as he put the note down, "this is bad, what are we going to do."

"He's playing a game, with us, looks like we'll have to see him at Wembley then," Kai replied, "though I don't like this one bit. And I obviously don't want to scare him away, though I don't think Duke is a man that is easily scared, but having too many personnel there might be bad."

Kai and Billy left the building, setting the warehouse on fire, for spite. Tommorrow they would have to return to London, and wait most of a week, before Lilly would reappear at Wembley, hopefully safe.

Author's Notes

1. Another update on the sequel: I've already written the prologue and the last bit of the end already, now to fill in the middle. :). So I know exactly how the story is going to go.

2. If someone could descibe to me Billy's leader desperation move in KOF 2003 that would be very much appreciated. I am in the process of rewriting desperationmoves for characters but haven't played2K3. I'm probably going with something like this now:

Billy's Super (2 power bar)DM - Grand Kane Smash

Charging stick jab (invincible during this) into "Water Dragon Chaser" into a uppercut (like crouching C),into three somersaulting flaming dai senpuu, slam into ground on last with flames (like his HSDM in 2K2), and then opponent's body bounces, Billy swings his staff which is on fire (except for the bit where he's holding it) two hands at the end sending flaming opponent flying to the "moon" (or other end of the arena) - like a baseball swing. I thought the last bit would be most fun.

Here's Kai's proposed 2 bar super while we are at it:

Grand Chaos Charge - Invincible rush into a series of fists and palms and strikes (of which the last blow stuns) into a chaos fireball flurry (last fireball stuns/dizzies - this part was borrowed from a hidden super move in one of the DBZ games) into a charging chaos uppercut into a chaos scythe smashing opponent into ground with corresponding big explosion.

3.I'll keep the tag system though, but I'm thinking of making it random how the teams fight. Can fight classic style (being the five rounds no tagging style from 2K2), 3v3 tag style (from 2K3), 2v2 tag style with a striker, 2v2 at once with striker, 3v3 at once, 3 separate matches (no striker) winner is the team that wins 2.

4. Only 2 more chapters to go until the end unfortunately. But then there's the sequel which should be much longer.