"Steve, did you hear that?" Asuka breathed excitedly into the microphone.

After a second of silence, Steve's voice emerged from the other end of the static. "Yeah, good work, Julia," he replied.

"I accidentally left Ling up there. I'll go back after I -- " Julia quickly released the radio's button as the elevator lurched to a stop. Julia smiled at two portly Japanese businessmen as they entered the elevator. Hoping for their quick exit, she listened in on the remainder of their conversation.

"Julia?" Asuka became suspicious, eyeing the elevator she would come out of across the main lobby.

"I'm guessing she's not alone anymore. She's in the elevator, after all," Steve tried to allay Asuka's worries. Steve quickly went back on the airwaves. "And I think I should too, talk to you later." Steve's voice sounded rushed. His voice cut off with the obligatory spurt of radio static.

"Well, if you can hear this, Julia, Steve went off to support Lei and Yoshimitsu. They weren't answering their radio calls," Asuka explained, sounding more worried than before. "And as soon as you guys get out, all three of us are on standby," she explained quickly, hoping that Julia would respond.

Asuka waited. This waiting is making me mad…


Ling tapped her foot impatiently for the elevator. Dammit…it's still going down…probably to the ground floor…

Suddenly, an idea rang through her mind. She glanced over at Tomoko's old desk. Certainly…something could be helpful in there…

She approached the desk, tiptoeing unconsciously for no reason. She glanced behind her at the elevator. 7th floor…excellent. She jogged over to the other side of the desk. She scoured over the papers on the desk. Noticing the computer screen was black, she shook the mouse to wake it up. "Come on…hurry," Ling urged, half-expecting the computer to respond to her plea.

Finally, the computer responded with a roadblock, a login prompt. Ling stared at the mocking "Password?" text box.

"Computers are stupid anyway," Ling turned her attention back to the scavenger hunt on the desk, talking to no one in particular.

Deeming the documents on the top of the desk unimportant, she began to search the drawers of the lavishly ornate work desk. Folders labeled "Summary of Annual Report, 1992" was the first folder found in the first drawer, with similar folders following afterwards. The second drawer greeted her with a "Summary of Annual Report, 2000" folder.

Dammit! her mind screamed, as she slammed the second drawer against the desk. Ling moved over to the other side of the desk, checking the top drawer.

Now this…this might prove useful later… Ling eyed a little black book labeled "Zaibatsu Directory." She chuckled to herself, "Usually, these things are on computers now." She glared hatefully at the computer screen again. Ling felt that the login box was laughing at her.

Opening the last drawer, Ling was surprised to find nothing. "Hmmm…" Ling pondered, but was interrupted by a voice.

Shit! she jumped. Her right leg swung, hitting the drawer. It made a loud crash as the drawer slammed against the desk.

"Tomoko, can you get my grandson and me some refreshments? I'll take some of that wine Mick sent me. Jin?" Heihachi's voice sounded more overbearing than usual through the intercom telephone on the desk.

Jin's voice was distant, almost inaudible, to the phone. "I'll have water, I suppose," he requested.

What the hell do I do! Ling began to panic. I'll just leave it alone…hopefully the elevator will be here soon. She took a second to appreciate that she first was relieved to see the elevator a long ways away from the penthouse office, yet she couldn't wait for it to arrive now.

Getting up to leave her small crime scene, a small mass caught her eye. Interested, she leaned down to pick it up. What the hell is it? she asked herself, inspecting the blank, orange, plastic rectangle with a piece of Scotch tape across it. It's a…keycard…or it looks like the ones in the movies she mused, placing it in the directory book she planned to pilfer. It must have been taped under the desk…and it fell when I slammed the drawer

She stuffed the book between the small of her back and her jeans' waistline, covering it with her shirt. As she began to walk over to the elevator, Heihachi's voice exploded from the intercom phone. "Tomoko? Are you there? Tomokoooooooooooo?" Heihachi's voice echoed in the phone. "Gah…good help is so hard to find nowadays…" he complained as the office chair he was sitting on made an audible squeak sound as he got up from his seat.

Holy…he's coming! Ling began to panic. She quickly glanced at the elevator's display. 21th floor! She cursed. She looked around the large room frantically, looking for an escape. What do I do!

As Ling's mind raced a mile a minute, she suddenly thought of a plan. Yes…if everything goes right, this would definitely help us…

The office's doorknob finally moved, and Ling narrowed her eyes at the door in anticipation. Heihachi's face peered out of the door at his secretary's desk.

"Hey Tomo – wha?" it finally dawned on him that Tomoko was not at her workstation.

"Hi Mr. Mishima," Ling attempted to wave cheerily.

"Oh…hello…Ling, correct?" Heihachi seemed rushed.

She simply nodded her head.

"Have you been waiting here all this time? I thought you were going back to the hotel. Where's your friend?" Heihachi eyed her slyly as he interrogated her.

Shit…I didn't think this through… Ling stumbled for believable lies as Heihachi interrupted her thought process.

"Well…never mind. Anyway, have you seen Tomoko, my secretary? She usually sits here," Heihachi's arm poked out through the crack between the door and the wall.

"No…I went to the bathroom and missed the elevator that Julia was on. When I came back, she wasn't here anymore," Ling lied.

"Oh…she might be faxing those memos over to Regional…" Heihachi was deep in thought for the next several moments. "Well...anyway, thanks," he began to recede back into the office.

"Actually, Mr. Mishima, would you mind if I discussed a private matter with you?" Ling attempted to try insert innocence in her voice.

"Umm…can't it wait?" Heihachi's voice rose. "If you'd leave your contact information with my secretary, I would be glad to…"

"Please, Mr. Mishima?" Oh my god…I sound so desperate.

Heihachi hesitated, staring at Ling. Finally, she saw a flicker in his eyes; an indication of weakness. He popped his head back into the office and muttered something to Jin. She looked at the back of Heihachi's business suit with hopeful eyes, trying to make out what was being said.

Wow…that suit looks expensive…

Heihachi emerged from the office and closed the door behind him. "Yes? What is it?" He seemed annoyed.

"Well…uhhh…I was wondering about job opportunities…and how one gets into a business like this…" While she spoke, she stared intently at the door, trying to burn a hole in it. Come on Jin, I won't be able to hold him forever…


Jin peered outside of the office window, trying to make out what was happening. Rays of light illuminated a small portion of the carpet.

I didn't realize how dark this room is…

Squinting, he saw his grandfather's back turned towards him, talking to…somebody. Jin tried moving to the window on the other side of the door, trying to get a better look. From this new angle, he noticed two pigtails over Heihachi's shoulder.

Must be Ling…I don't think pigtails are business-attire.

Jin dug around his left pocket for the wireless earpiece. Blowing some stray pocket lint off of it, he hastily inserted it into his left ear, making sure that it was in place. "Hello?" he muttered.

"Jin? Is that you?" Asuka's voice rang in his head.

Oh thank god…somebody's still out there.

"Hey, Asuka, what's happening so far? I'm in the office alone. Ling is talking to Heihachi outside."

"You're alone! Stop talking to me and start searching!" Jin quickly took the earpiece out as Asuka yelled at him.

"I can't! He'll be back any second!" Jin tried to explain, replacing the earpiece.

"Get in there…now!" Asuka gritted her teeth.

I cannot believe I am being bullied by a girl two years younger than me… Jin walked to the other side of Heihachi's desk and shook the mouse, urging the computer monitor to exit sleep mode. Hastily searching the icons on the desktop, he randomly clicked one, causing lists and lists of seemingly random information to pop up on the screen with frightening speed.

"I'll never find anything with this…" he thought aloud. He quickly began ruffling through papers on the neat and organized desk, scanning for keywords such as "tests", "human", and "weapon".

"Jin…have you found anything?" Asuka's voice urged.

He reached back into his pocket to press the radio button. "No…and it doesn't help that I don't know what I am looking for…I'm doing the best I can," he replied coldly.


The doors of the elevator finally opened in front of Julia. She stood in the corner, eyeing the people that had kept her silent company for their ride down the past 30 floors.

I wonder why people don't like to talk to each other on elevators anyway her mind began to wander.

Snapping back to reality, she found herself in alone in the elevator on the ground floor of the Zaibatsu. She quickly jabbed at the "P.O." button once again to close the door. The elevator lurched upwards with a distinctive hum, causing her to feel slightly heavier than usual.

Dammit…this ride is going to take forever…stupid elevator algorithms...is there anyway to get straight to the office?

Almost forgetting what she was doing, Julia placed the miniscule radio earpiece into place.

"Asuka. Any updates?"

"Julia? Where are you?" Jin's soothing voice made Julia feel at ease, even with the increasing tension of the situation.

"I'm going back up to the office…I accidentally left Ling up there. How are you able to talk? Are you alone?" she quickly asked, holding earpiece in place.

Asuka answered for Jin. "Ling is distracting Heihachi by talking to him outside of the office."

"And I haven't found anything of interest," Jin replied.

"We told Heihachi we would go back to the Hotel…how is Ling stalling him?" Julia asked.

"There having a conversation outside. Listen, you shouldn't come up here. Heihachi might get—" Jin lost his train of thought as he scanned a document he found in one of the desk drawers.

"What?" Julia strained to hear her friend. She paced around the elevator, waiting for his voice impatiently. Come on…

"Julia, Ling can operate an elevator by herself. Get back down here, we might be needed soon," Asuka's stern voice commanded.

Julia thought about Asuka's words. "You're right," she chirped, quickly pushing the 4th floor button, causing the elevator to slow to a halt.

"Of course I'm right. I'm always right," Asuka quipped as Julia exited the elevator, looking for the staircase exit.


Steve found an out-of-place-looking door in the corner of long corridor. Searching the perimeter of the door, he found a silver panel with a black keypad. A black slot, which he assumed was the keycard reader, was above the keypad.

This has to be it…the lounge Yoshimitsu mentioned was back there in the last hallway.

He looked around, checking for anybody nearby. There were two security guards at the other end of the hall, talking to each other amicably. There were four offices in the hallway, two on each side. Each had a huge glass wall facing the hallway, allowing anybody in one office to see through the office directly across the hall. Steve saw that there was nobody in the office to the right, yet one person was hunched over the computer in the opposite room.

Hmm…quite the predicament…

Steve slid his way and waited around the corner of the hall, next to the keycard door.

I think I got a plan…I just need that guy. He has to go to this door…

As if a higher power answered his requests, he heard the office door open, and the sound of dress shoes on tile began approaching.

Here he comes…

An average height brown-haired male finally reached the intersection between the two corridors. However, the man turned his back to Steve, and began going the other way. Steve began to follow the worker, quickening his pace to catch up.

As he stalked right behind the man, Steve quickly tapped his shoulder twice. As soon as the man turned around, Steve sent a right hook square into the man's glass jaw. The worker reeled from the attack and began to fall to the ground, unconscious. Steve quickly caught him in midair, preventing the loud thud that would have definitely aroused the attention of the two security guards around the corner.

Steve quickly laid him gently on the cold floor and began to check his pockets. He found a wallet with nothing of interest. In the next pocket he found a small leather case. Upon opening it, a red keycard was slipped between two leather straps.

Jackpot Steve smirked.

Quickly slipping the keycard into his back pocket, Steve dragged the unconscious man down the hall and into the stairwell that led back to the upper floors of the Zaibatsu. He left him under the staircases, hopefully delaying his inevitable discovery. He quickly left the stairwell, approaching the ever-elusive keycard door. Crossing the intersection between the two corridors, Steve quickly glanced to the right, checking if the coast was clear. The two guards were still at the end of the hall. One of them glanced at Steve, and he instinctively averted his eyes, preventing eye contact.

Stealth is definitely not the name of my game…

Steve approached the keycard slot, retrieving the red keycard from his pocket. The keycard was a deep red, with black characters scrawled upon it. Steve couldn't make sense of any of the things written on it.

Now…how does this thing go in?

He haphazardly slid the card into the slot, hoping he inserted it the correct way. At first, nothing happened. Steve furrowed his eyebrows, wondering what the delay was. From the depths of the keycard reader, it finally returned the card with a whirr. He glanced at the door. It didn't move an inch.

Oh shit…

The panel began to flash red, and a loud siren began to sound from an unseen source behind the keypad.

"Fuck…" Steve muttered, jabbing at random keys on the keypad in an effort to silence it.

Frustrated and panicked, Steve retrieved the keycard and quickly walked away from the door. As he reached the T-intersection of the two hallways, he ran into one of the two security guards. They fell to the ground in a tangle of limbs.

The security guard behind him drew his gun and pointed it directly at Steve's chest. "What did you do?" he questioned. The determination in his face betrayed the shakiness that Steve caught in his voice.

"Nothing…I swear…" Steve tried to sound scared to gain leverage against the security guard as he began to stand. It wasn't hard; he was staring down the barrel of a gun.

"Don't lie to me!" the guard raised his voice. He nodded over to his partner on the ground, motioning him to get up as well. His eyes left Steve for a single moment.

That moment was all it took. Steve ducked out of the way of the gun and grabbed the arm of the downed guard. The other guard squeezed the trigger of his gun, shooting at the wall directly behind Steve.

Slow reflexes Steve smirked, as he pulled the guard to his feet and in front of him. He took the gun from his hostage's holster and pressed the barrel into his neck.

"All right, now, I'm in charge," Steve stared at the threatening guard, his gun leveled at Steve and his human shield.

"Put down the gun, and I'll let him go," Steve tried to sound reasonable. The guard had a tortured look on his face, agonizing over his next choice of action.

"He'll be fine if you just put the gun on the ground and let me go," Steve said.

The guard, not taking his eyes off of Steve, slowly bent down and laid the gun gently on the floor.

"Good, thank you," Steve felt satisfied.

Steve placed the gun between the small of his back and the waist of his jeans. Placing both of his hands on his hostage's shoulder blades, Steve pushed him with all of his might into the security guard.

He lost his balance and stumbled into the arms of his partner. With both of them disoriented and off-balance, Steve quickly rushed up from behind and, with his gun in hand, pistol-whipped the closest guard in his right temple. He slumped to the ground, unconscious. The other guard reached for his gun on the ground in an attempt to retaliate, but Steve quickly caught this and pistol-whipped him in the back of the head, knocking him unconscious.

"Stealth is definitely not my game," Steve muttered to himself, half-humorously, half-regrettably. One at a time, he grabbed the legs a guard and dragged him several yards to the staircase door. He placed both of the unconscious guards next to the worker he hid there previously.

It's only a matter of time… he worried. Steve realized that anybody who took the stairs this way would automatically find the three unconscious bodies; it may have worked if only one of them were there.

By the time Steve returned to the corridor, the loud keypad alarm had stopped.

What to do now? he sighed. Steve looked around the corridors. Nobody was present, giving the hallways a strange, creepy silence. He entered the office of the man he left under the stairs, trying to find something useful.

After an unfruitful search in a nearby filing cabinet, he sat down on the desk and woke the desk computer from sleep. The monitor obliged his wishes, and the blue Zaibatsu logo filled the monitor. Along the periphery of the monitor were various icons that directed to esoteric and seemingly unimportant Zaibatsu infrastructure data. However, one caught his attention.

"Override Codes"…looks promising.

Steve double-clicked on the icon. An animated Heihachi Mishima icon popped up. It showed Heihachi tapping his foot impatiently and checking his watch, as the program loaded.

Oh my god…the man really is crazy…

The computer made a nice ding sound, and the program loaded up, taking a third of the display's area. The program consisted of a three-dimensional floor plan of the Mishima Zaibatsu, with labels on the doors of the various rooms.

I don't know...what is this?

Steve moved the cursor over these labeled doors. As he hovered over any chosen door, it was highlighted with a blue hue.

Hmmm…

Steve cycled through the various floors of the Zaibatsu within the program. Finally, he reached the floor that he was currently on, apparently named "B-701." He hovered over the door to the office he was currently in. It lit up with the familiar blue hue.

What will this do…?

After a several seconds of hesitation, Steve clicked on the door. A white dialog box popped up, reading "Processing Request" with the same "waiting Heihachi" animation.

For several seconds, Steve waited with bated breath for something to happen. Finally, the door to the office slowly swung open. Initially, he just stared at the door in shock. The cogs in his mind began to do the work, until the light bulb went off.

I can remotely open any door in the Zaibatsu with this… he smirked.

Steve moved the cursor over to keycard door. However, a green hue, instead of blue, surrounded this door's icon. He clicked on it as before. The "Processing Request" dialog came up, but unexpectedly, a second dialog box appeared.

"What the… 'Verification Required'?" Steve stared in disbelief. How in the hell do I get verification?

Something caught the corner of Steve's eye. He looked over to the left, and saw a blinking red light next to the keyboard. The light was on a blocky, off-white peripheral that was attached to the computer. There was a black slot in the side of the device.

Here goes nothing…

Steve took the red keycard out of his pocket once again and slipped it into the device. The red light stopped blinking and became solid red. Another nice ding sound emanated from the door, alongside a dialog box saying "Verification Accepted! Level 3 Clearance!", with an animated Heihachi smiling and giving a thumbs-up. The keycard ejected from the device. Steve clicked this white box, and another appeared in its place.

"Reset To Default?" I guess…

Steve clicked "Yes," and a final dialogue box read "Reset To Default…Successful!"

This is good…except I don't know what the default code is…

Steve got up from the desk, placed the keycard in his pocket, and left the office through the already-opened door. He rounded the corner and approached the keycard door again.

Default…default…default…

Steve pressed the radio button in his messenger bag. "Asuka, you there?"

"Yeah…what's up?" she replied.

"I'm at the door Yoshimitsu and Lei found, but I can't get in; there's a keycard and keypad lock. I managed to reset the keypad lock to default. Do you know what the default code is?"

A pause. "It has to be something simple…a very simple sequence. Is there any indication of the make of the keypad lock on the keypad itself?"

Steve looked around the black pad. There was a silver plate on the right, reading "Everlast Locks."

"Everlast…Everlast Locks."

"Serial number?"

"A728G."

"O.K., let me check what I get…hopefully I get a good Wi-Fi connection here…I don't want to set up the satellite uplink equipment…" Asuka began working away.

After several minutes, Asuka returned. "Okay, the default code for Everlast Locks keypads ending with 8G is 0-0-0-0-#"

"0-0-0-0-#. Gotcha." Steve typed it into the keypad. After pressing the pound sign, the keypad beeped, and the door began to open.

"Yes! Thanks Asuka!" Steve was jovial as he walked into the elevator.

Asuka tried to reply, but harsh static accompanied her voice.

"Sorry…can you repeat that?"

Harsh static made Asuka's voice inaudible again.

"I'm getting really bad reception here…" Steve jabbed the sole button on the elevator. "I can't hear anything you say."

There was more loud static. When the door to the elevator closed, all sound from the radio was cut out.

"Asuka, can you hear me?"

Nothing. Steve took the radio pack out of his pocket and turned it off and on. The strong red light on the top reassured him that he didn't need new batteries.

"Hello?"

Silence.

The elevator began its descent.


"Mr. Chaolan, we are getting unauthorized radio signals around that area," the technician reported, reading off the huge monitor in front of him.

The tall, silver-haired man's eyebrows furrowed in interest. He got up from his desk and joined the technician.

"Are you sure those aren't guards?" the silver-haired man asked.

"Yes. We calibrate the radios of guards every morning with our systems before the building opens. These are definitely unknowns"

"Hmmm…can we triangulate the source of the signals?"

The technician sighed. "Already have it. They've been communicating for a while."

"Why didn't you report this earlier?" the silver-haired man questioned.

"I wanted to make sure that I wasn't reporting erroneous information. But I'm sure now," the technician wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead.

"Good. Don't scramble the signals just yet."

"Right."

The silver-haired man pointed at a blue dot on the screen. "Is this where the unauthorized signal is coming from?"

"That's where one of them is coming from. I can't find the other, they must have already gone down the elevator. The E.M. jammer is already doing its work."

"Dammit…he's already in the sub-lab," the silver-haired man slammed his fist on the desk.

"Well…if you can retrieve this person," the technician pointed at the same blue dot, "then perhaps you can get them to take you to the other?"

Mr. Chaolan slowly turned his head towards the technician. "Are you telling me how to do my job?" he asked, seething with anger.

"By no means, sir…" his voice trailed off.

"You do your job, I'll do mine." The silver-haired man walked back to his desk, picking up the phone. Cradling the phone between his shoulder and ear, he pressed a combination of buttons on the keypad. "Security, it's Lee Chaolan. There will be somebody sitting on the west bench of the main lobby. Right across from the elevators. I need you to apprehend that person and bring him to me. Tell them that they are infringing on our no loitering policy or something like that. Bring him to holding room A." Lee hung up the phone.

Pointing at the technician, he commanded with a stern voice, "You. Contact me if you find that person moving. I need to deal with this." He briskly walked out of the room in anger.


"Hello? Hello? Steve?" Asuka silently worried about her friend. What the hell is happening?

Julia emerged from the staircase door, making her way to Asuka.

"Anything?" Julia sat down on the bench.

"Hold on…Steve? Hello, Steve?" Asuka repeated into the radio microphone.

"What's wrong?" Julia slipped her earpiece into her left ear.

"We seem to have a pattern. Whenever we get people that go toward the area Yoshimitsu and Lei investigated, we get radio silence. But the thing is…I don't think either party imposes the radio silence. Somebody must be doing this…"

"A scrambler, maybe?" Julia contributed.

"Maybe…well – whatever it is, that area is certainly a place to investigate," Asuka placed the smart phone back into her backpack. "And something tells me that he isn't going to radio in for some time…" Asuka looked off onto the opposite wall.

"Well…the fact that we can't communicate with the guys that follow Yoshimitsu affirms our suspicions," Julia patted Asuka's shoulders.

"We're leaving," Asuka abruptly replied, getting up.

"Wait wait wait…we need to be here for the others," Julia rationalized.

"What others? Jin seems to have things under control. Ling is giving him all the help he needs. Once they're done, they'll know to meet at the rendez-vous point and wait there for us," Asuka ran through the best-case scenario through her mind.

"Yes, but they are expecting somebody right here…on this bench, on our primary rendez-vous point," Julia replied tartly.

"I can't just sit back here anymore. Everybody has contributed except me. I need to help Steve and the others. I have a feeling that something's wrong, and this is the right lead to follow," Asuka put on her backpack.

"Wait! You're not going to leave my friends up there! We weren't assigned to follow them!" Julia exclaimed.

"I'm assigning myself," Asuka shot back, giving Julia a dirty look. "I'm leaving now. Follow me if you want."

Julia stared at Asuka's back as she began to walk away from the bench and around the corner.

I can't leave her alone…she might get hurt without backup.

I can't leave this bench…Ling and Jin need to meet with somebody here or they'll think something is wrong.

But something is wrong…

I know that! It's just…what do I do!

Julia sighed sharply in frustration as she got up from the bench and began pursue Asuka.

Dammit Asuka!


"…and that's basically why I decided to venture into the board game business with 'Mishima: The Board Game.' Any more questions?" a very bored and very annoyed Heihachi as an equally bored and equally annoyed Ling nodded in false enthusiasm in an attempt to keep his attention away from his grandson.

"Hmm…interesting…now what made you go into the alcohol business with 'Mishima: The 190 Proof Vodka'?" Ling asked, fluttering her eyes.

"Listen, young lady, I'm sure we can do this another time. I'm sorry, I'm going to have to attend to my grandson. I'm sure you understand, it has been a very long time since we've seen each other. It was nice meeting you," Heihachi quickly turned on his heel and approached the office door.

"Wait! Sir! Please!" Ling yelled as the door was slammed shut in her face. She thought she heard him mutter, "Where the hell is my secretary?" as he walked the several paces to his office door.

Well…that was the best I could do…hopefully that was enough.

Ling pushed the elevator call button. The doors immediately opened.

Let's see what the others have gathered so far…and Hwoarang.


"I'm extremely sorry for the delay. Your friend is quite the talker," Heihachi chuckled, wiping a collection of sweat from his brow.

"Oh no, it's fine," Jin shuffled in his chair, fingering the floppy disk in his pocket labeled "Expenditures, 2004." He thought that if they examined it closely enough, they could find expenditures that were for the Zaibatsu experiments rather than the business itself.

"So have you given any thought about what you are going o do after you graduate?" Heihachi asked as he sat back down in his large, comfy office chair.

"Umm…well…I was thinking about business school sometime along the line, but I'm not sure…" Jin said feebly, nervous under the spotlight that Heihachi was placing him under.

He's so intense, like I'm being interrogated or something…I have to get out of here…

"Good…very good…" Heihachi replied. "Tell me more…"


Ling exited the elevator on the ground floor. "What! Wait…where are you guys?" she urged into her radio receiver, eyeing the empty benches where they were supposed to wait.

"We're going downstairs. Hopefully to help the others down there," Julia replied. Ling heard Julia ask Asuka, "Enter the code Asuka"

"Wait, Julia, you have to listen to me. Hwoarang is –" Suddenly, a loud crash of static invaded the radio receiver and her ear. She was so shocked by the sudden onset of the loud static that she quickly pulled the earpiece out.

"Julia! Hello! Listen, Hwoarang is here! Heihachi's secretary told me that they are holding him here for something! Do you copy, Julia?" Ling was unaware that she was yelling into the microphone.

Nothing but static. She thought that she heard a voice at the other end, but nothing that she could distinguish from the pervasive static.

Finally, there was nothing.

"Hello?" she waited for an answer. No static greeted her question. She felt that she was speaking to a wall.

"Julia? Asuka? Anybody?"

Dammit!

She eyed the bench where the girls were supposed to be.

I don't want to do this by myself…

But…we're running out of time…

Ling turned around and poked at the elevator call button. It lit up in response. She tapped her foot in impatience, waiting for the elevator to arrive.

Bah…forget it!

Ling sidestepped and opened the door for the staircases of the entire building. She flew down eleven flights of stairs to the bottom.

"Oh geez…" she eyed the three unconscious bodies at the bottom of the long staircase. She quickly pushed the door open and entered an empty, bright hallway. At the end of the hall was a white, metal door.

Wonder where that leads…wait a minute…

Ling took out the directory that she stole from Tomoko's desk.

"Hmmm…" she looked at the miniature map that was on the first several pages of the directory. Basement…basement…basement…

Her eyes lit up when she saw it. "Basement A" she smirked. The smile was quickly wiped off her face when she saw Basements B through H right next to it, and Sub-Basements A through I.

Bitch…she couldn't be a little more specific…

She followed the quickest path down to Basement A with her finger on the miniature map from her current location.

Might as well get started…

She began to make her way to the first basement in her grand Mishima Zaibatsu Basement Tour.


Julia and Asuka emerged from the elevator slowly. The corridor was a brighter white than the other corridors of the building.

"Where are we?" Asuka wondered.

"I don't know…but –" Julia began.

Asuka quickly placed her index finger across her lips, urging Julia to be quiet.

"Yeah…I think that he'll give me that pay raise. I don't think he has a choice," a gruff voice was speaking.

"Probably…" the same voice said.

Julia heard that the voice was coming from the left, around the corner of the hallway. Julia pressed the backside of her body against the left wall. Asuka did the same, in hopes escaping his cone of vision when he passes.

Hopefully he doesn't turn on this corner for the elevator… Asuka prayed silently.

"So how's everything?" the gruff voice asked his non-speaking partner as he rounded the last corner.

Here he comes…

"Ah…that's good," the mystery man passed the corner. If he had outstretched his left arm parallel to the ground, he would have touched Julia. He seemed distracted in his conversation as he passed by the two girls. Apparently, the man was speaking to someone via a radio. Julia saw the earpiece not unlike hers in his hear.

As soon as he was out of earshot, both girls sighed in relief.

"We are definitely not going that way…" Julia said.

"All right then, let's go to where he came from," Asuka replied, leading Julia to the left.

There were numerous doors on either side of the hallway. Not knowing which to enter, they continued walking on down the hallway. The doors all seemed to be protected with a similar keypad/keycard lock as the elevator.

Asuka took the smart phone from her backpack. She called the blueprints of the Zaibatsu onto the screen, squinting at the miniscule text. Cycling through the floors, she scowled.

"Unless I'm missing a set, we don't have blueprints on this floor," Asuka said as she turned off the device.

"That's both good news and bad news. If the Zaibatsu didn't make 'prints, then that definitely means that we are in the right place for proof." Julia stopped to think. "But that also means that we won't know where to go…we'll just be wandering around, hoping for luck," she explained.

"Right…so I guess all we can do now is to keep our eyes open for some sign of the others…"


"Yoshimitsu, we haven't found anything," Lei sighed, annoyed. He searched the blue wall with his hands, trying to find a trip switch that may lead them someplace. I don't know if those things even exist in real life…they do in Scooby-Doo.

"I know…this is strange…all we have found here is are random office supplies," Yoshimitsu replied, as equally exasperated as the cyborg ninja could sound. He was in the opposite side of the storeroom.

"Do you think this is the right place for a secret lab?"

"Well…we haven't explored the entire area yet…"

"We've been searching for an hour and half now!"

"Patience."

"How long do you have on your cloaking device?"

"About 20 more minutes. We need to hurry."

"And it doesn't help that these radios are broken." Lei set down his radio pack on a nearby crate.

"Next room?" Yoshimitsu turned on his cloaking device in case there were any hostiles outside in the hallway.

Lei swaggered toward the door. "After you, mon ami."


Asuka and Julia crept around the corner. Another hallway. Big surprise.

"Where are we!" Asuka complained.

"I don't think we're getting anywhere…" Julia sighed.

Asuka tried to open a nearby door, already knowing that it would not open.

"Should we go –" Julia began, but she quickly stopped herself. She stared intensely several feet ahead of them, where the hallway took a left.

"What?" Asuka asked, much to Julia's chagrin. She quickly raised a finger across her lips, and signaled her against the wall. Julia quickly followed suit in front of her.

Both girls began creeping towards the corner of the hallway, their backs alongside the wall. When Julia reached the edge, she inhaled deeply and stepped forward.

"Hah!" a shrill voice cried.

Suddenly, a closed fist flew towards Julia's face as she stepped from the wall. Julia's honed reflexes allowed her to quickly grab her unseen opponent's forearm with one hand and used the other to grab the attacker's wrist. Lifting the arm over her head, half-twisting it, pivoting her body forward, and finally pulling the arm forward, Julia robbed her attacker of their center of balance and sent them airborne. Unable to get a visual on the attacker's face, Julia saw two pigtails flail through the air as the attacker flew forward, flat on their back.

What the…

Still holding onto her arm, Julia was shocked to see Ling's strained face on the ground, rubbing her backside in pain.

"Holy crap! Ling! I thought you were some Zaibatsu cronie! What the hell!" Julia blurted out apologetically, quickly helping her up.

"Nice one…I didn't see you either," Ling winced.

"What are you doing here?" Asuka quickly questioned, still amazed at the sudden appearance of Ling.

"I've got a lead…what are you two doing here? Why weren't you at the rendez-vous point?" Ling asked, brushing the backside of her outfit in an attempt to eradicate any trace of dirt.

"Well…whenever anybody goes down here, they go dark. Look." Asuka pressed the button on her radio. "Can you guys hear me through your earpieces?"

They both shook their heads.

"See?" Asuka continued, "So we decided to investigate. What's even more interesting is that the lab is somewhere here. We went through the blueprints and this place is nowhere on it. Very suspicious, right?"

"What? That can't be…" Ling stared at Asuka. "I found this place on a map of the Zaibatsu…hold on." Ling emerged with the Zaibatsu directory, pointing at one of the blue squares on the mini-map. "This is Basement C. I've already looked through Basements A and B for Hwoarang."

"Wait wait wait…Hwoarang?" Julia had trouble processing the sudden influx of information. "What are you talking about?"

"Who in the hell is Hwoarang?" Asuka seemed confused.

"He's our friend," Ling responded. "And yeah, I heard Tomoko talking about a Korean boy named Hwoarang. They're holding him forcibly in one of these basements. I don't know why, but with all the crazy shit that has been happening the past few days, I wouldn't discount the possibility of him being here." Ling paused, flashing back to that fateful day in the forest, and their collective vision.

"O.K….you know what that means…" Julia sighed, eying Asuka.

"Absolutely not…our mission is already rocky as is. We can't add a rescue mission," Asuka shook her head vehemently.

"Fine. You guys don't have to. We'll do it ourselves. Jin'll come out soon enough and hand you your proof. Then you can leave us alone," Ling flatly stated.

Asuka sighed sharply. "Fine." She took out her smart phone once again and began cycling through each floor of the Zaibatsu.

Julia still had difficulty wrapping her head around Ling's revelations. "O.K.…Hwoarang…dammit that idiot…"

"Lemme see that," Asuka motioned to the Zaibatsu directory in Ling hand.

Ling threw it to her. The keycard inside flew out of the directory and landed on the ground. Asuka caught the directory with one hand.

"Oh shit…hopefully it's not damaged," Ling rushed to pick it up, checking the edges.

"What's that?" Julia asked.

"I found it. This is how I got through the locks that lead down here."

"Can I see it?"

"Sure." Ling handed the keycard to her friend. Julia flipped it over, looking for anything noteworthy.

"This really is weird…" Asuka motioned the two girls over. "I've looked through the blueprints that I've uploaded onto the phone. I don't have any of the basement or any of the sub-basements in them, yet this directory does."

"Well…I got it from Heihachi's secretary. Maybe she would have this information since she is so high up," Ling offered.

"Hmm…maybe…but I wouldn't think so. I would think that a location like this would be on a need-to-know basis. She may be a flight risk," Julia rationalized. "Was there any way that you didn't upload all of the blueprints into your phone?"

Asuka shook her head. "No, uploaded these blueprints onto my phone myself."

"Who was your source for those blueprints?" Ling asked.

"Lei. He said it was better if we didn't know where he got them from," Asuka replied slowly. "Well…let's not think about mistakes. Let's look for leads around here," Asuka quickly lead the group forward through the hallway. She silently pushed back doubts from her mind. Dammit…this doesn't bode well.

The other two quickly followed her lead.


After searching extensively, the security guard radioed in. "Mr. Chaolan? I've checked all of the benches in the main lobby. Nobody is near them."

"What!" Lee yelled through the device.

"I've circled the grounds three times. I haven't found anybody remotely near the benches of the main lobby."

"Hold on…" Lee replied, seething in anger. He got up from the chair that he was waiting rather impatiently in for the past half an hour. He exited the holding room that he expected the guard to bring the suspect to.

"Must I do everything myself?" Lee sighed in frustration as he made his way back to the tech-room.


The three girls went down another flight of stairs. At the bottom of the stairs, another keycard-protected door greeted them. Ling's keycard allowed them passage.

"Where are now?" Julia asked Asuka and Ling. Asuka whipped out her smart phone while Ling opened up the directory.

"Where do you think we are, Ling?" Asuka asked.

"Hmmm…it looks like we just exited Sub-Basement G, but from there…" she trailed off.

"Yeah…I can trace us back to that Sub-Basement, but— "

"Did you hear that?" Julia interrupted, pressing her ear against the hallway.

"Hear what?" Asuka asked her, pressing her ear against the hallway in the same fashion as Julia.

"You guys look…well…whatever…" Ling followed suit.

"What is it?" Asuka heard various muffled sounds. Suddenly, they heard a loud crash, startling all three girls. There were similar muffled sounds after the crash, yet they seemed louder and deeper.

Julia strained to make out the noise. "Could those be…voices?" More muffled sounds.

"If they are, we should head the other way, right?" Ling began to walk from where they came.

"Wait…this is the biggest lead we've had in a while. Let's—" Julia didn't finish her thought as she rounded the corner and approached the closest door. She pressed her ear against the door again.

Yup…those are definitely voices…

Julia motioned for Asuka and Ling to join her, urging them to remain quiet. The two girls tiptoed their way to join Julia, pressing her ears against the door.

"You've said some pretty interesting things up there, kid. Mind explaining yourself?" a scruffy voice mocked through the door.

"Nah…that's O.K. Actually, would one of you mind getting me a cup of water?" another deep, yet familiar voice replied.

Asuka tapped the shoulders of the other two girls. "Hwoarang?" she mouthed.

Julia and Ling nodded their heads.

That's him…although something seems strange… Ling thought.

As if Julia had read Ling's mind, she mouthed, "Duress."

Asuka nodded her head in agreement. Julia noticed the keycard reader on the wall next to the door.

What the… something in Julia's mind clicked.

Julia pointed at the reader and made a swiping motion up and down with her hand. Ling understood this and took out the keycard. All three then pressed their ears back onto the door.

"You know kid, at the higher voltages, this machine can run enough electricity through your body that your muscles will snap in two," the scruffy voice laughed.

"Sounds fun," Hwoarang's voice sounded strained.

A pause.

Suddenly, Hwoarang screamed out in pain. The machine that the man was talking about was hissing under Hwoarang's yells as it did its job. Suddenly, the machines hissing became louder. Following suit, Hwoarang's screams could be heard even as the girls took their ears off of the door. Ling looked at the other two in shock and horror.

Oh my god…

Finally, the hissing machine stopped, and Hwoarang's screams soon followed suit. Ling looked away from the door; she couldn't imagine what he was going through.

"Ready for another dose?" the scruffy voice asked.

"Bring it, shitface." Hwoarang was panting for breath.

Asuka looked at both of them. Ling nodded vehemently at Julia, pointing through the door. Julia nodded in agreement, pointing to the keycard reader. Ling swiped the keycard through the reader, turning the red light next to it green. With a mechanical lurch, the door disappeared under the right wall.

With all three girls assuming offensive stances, they looked into the room. The first sight to be seen was Hwoarang. He was lying on a metal grate, tied to it by his wrists and ankles. He was shirtless, with sweat pouring down his entire body from the torture. His chest heaved up and down for oxygen. Several wires were attached to his chest that led to a small machine on a nearby table. A bald man with a short beard was standing over machine.

That must be Scruffy Voice. Julia thought.

Her theory was quickly disproved as four additional men stepped towards the door and made themselves visible.

"Who in the hell are you?" the scruffy voice called out from the back. A half-finished cigarette was in his mouth as he stepped forward. He blew out the cigarette smoke menacingly.

"What the…Ling? Uhh…girl from school?" Hwoarang managed, breathing heavily. The expression on his face was twisted with both fear, disbelief, and surprisingly, determination.

Julia would have felt offended by Hwoarang's poor memory if she didn't notice that all six men in the room were armed.

"This doesn't look good…" Asuka muttered.

"That depends from where you're sitting…" Scruffy Voice pulled out his handgun and aimed it at Asuka.


"Thanks…I'll definitely read it in my spare time," Jin looked doubtfully at the copy of Heart and Soul, the Memoirs of Heihachi Mishima. The huge picture of Heihachi on the cover was unsettling to Jin.

"I bet you would learn a lot from the book," Heihachi's back was to his grandson. He was looking outside the huge ceiling-to-floor window overlooking the city.

He's been like that for a while…maybe this is the best time to get out Jin thought, hoping for a quick getaway.

"Hey Grandpa, it's getting kind of late. I have school tomorrow and the last train back to town leaves in an hour and a half," Jin lied, hoping he would believe him.

"What? Oh…yeah…sure…" Heihachi waved him away.

Is that it? Did I offend him or something? Jin wondered.

Slowly, he got up from the rather comfortable chair he was in and backed away, feeling the diskette in his pocket for assurance.

"O.K…it was nice seeing you. Hopefully we could do this again sometime…" Jin continued to back away. His hand rested on the doorknob, and he began twisting it.

"Wait Jin…I have something to ask you," Heihachi's voice erupted unexpectedly.

Jin turned around. "What is it–" Jin stopped dead as he stared down the barrel of a gun.

Without a moment's hesitation, Heihachi fired, sending a tranquilizer dart directly into the side of Jin's neck. Jin clutched at it weakly as the sedative began doing its work. He fell to the ground hard, unconscious.

Heihachi pressed a combination of numbers on the office desk phone. "Lee. Come up to my office."

"Father, I'm a little busy…" Lee responded through the phone, annoyed.

"Believe me when I say I don't care what the hell you're doing right now. This is infinitely more important," Heihachi hissed.

"Fine," Lee quickly responded.

Heihachi pressed the Speaker Phone button off.

This is it…hopefully everything on the other end is tied nice and neat.


Yoshimitsu and Lei walked down the hall when they heard cracking.

"The charge on my cloaking device is out…" Yoshimitsu began to flicker in and out of the hall, finally Lei saw the ninja's silver armor in front of him.

"Not good…" Lei muttered.

"Well…we'll do what we can," Yoshimitsu's voice sounded hopeful.

"So far, we haven't been doing much. I feel like we're running around these halls like chickens with our heads cut off," Lei complained.

"We'll find something soon," Yoshimitsu encouraged. He opened the next door.

It was a completely empty room. Yoshimitsu stepped inside, looking around at the walls for any irregularities.

"This room is definitely suspicious…" Lei patted Yoshimitsu on the shoulder.

"What are you talking about? There isn't anything here," Yoshimitsu argued.

"Look at it. Every room we've been in so far had at least something in it. It served a purpose. This room...I don't know…I have this feeling…" Lei fought back.

"I guess we can try…" Yoshimitsu replied dubiously.

"Trust me on this one…" Lei closed the door behind him.

Yoshimitsu looked around the walls of the room. He even looked up a the ceiling. Their white color was slightly off-putting. "Lei, this was definitely an error in judgment on your part. There is absolutely nothing noteworthy here." He spun around to leave the room.

Lei was standing in front of the door, his arm outstretched with a gun in his hand, aimed directly at his partner's head.

"Acutally, Yoshimitsu, I think the only person who made an error in judgment was you."


Note: Hopefully you guys are enjoying the story as much as I like writing it. Since this chapter was long (and took long to write), the next one will be a short interlude. So it won't pick up exactly where things left off, but...well, I guess I can let you guys see for yourself when I post it up.

Sorry Lei fans. What may have happened in this chapter may come as a shock, and totally out of character, but hopefully you'll stick with it. I think this is what is fun about fanfiction; making these characters do what you want them to do, no matter how unexpected it is. Hopefully I'll see you guys next chapter.

All reviews and criticisms are welcome!