One lengthy and relatively boring flight later, our trio had finally landed in the Blighty at midnight. They got all of their luggage and headed into Heathrow Airport to order a taxi and go to their hotel. Once in the taxi, Ibuki had a funny feeling, she whipped out her phone and started texting Makoto, who was in the backseat with Sean.
hey mako, i might sound insane rn but… do you get the feeling that someone is watching us rn?
Not really no, is that feeling like a reflex from your 'ninja instincts' or something?
lol probably, i guess i'm just exhausted from the flight. btw where are we meeting elena tomorrow?
We're meeting her at a cafe near Big Ben if I remember correctly.
there's probably like a billion cafes near that place lmao
Probably, I'll ask her more about it tomorrow.
However, Ibuki's suspicions were spot on, as a certain killer bee was trailing them.
The three arrived at their hotel, checked in, and went to sleep. Makoto set her alarm for 7AM on the dot. So imagine her shock when she woke up 5 and a half hours later than that.
"Oh crap! Hey guys, wake up! You gotta wake up! SEAN! GET UP, WE GOTTA GO!" Makoto yelled into the other room where the Sean was snoring, Ibuki however jumped right out of the bed, only to relax when she saw Makoto frantically trying to put on her overalls.
"Geez Mako, we're in no rush, we can take our time." Ibuki tried to explain to Makoto, but the tomboy zipped into Sean's bedroom, grabbed him by his undershirt and shook him awake.
"Let's go Sean! We can't keep Elena waiting!!!"
"GAH! What the hell?! The hell's your problem man?"
"Just shut up and put on your clothes! We're late!" Makoto said as she ran back into her and Ibuki's bedroom, "Ibuki! Order a taxi to Charleston's Coffee!"
"Ugh, fine." Ibuki got her phone and started calling the taxi service. It was a very chaotic noon.
The three reached the cafe, it looked somewhat... rundown. The floors creaked, and the walls looked like they were falling off, Makoto was already thinking of ways to fix this place up, while Ibuki and Sean simply tried to be careful as they didn't want to be victim to a random hole in the floor. Sitting alone at a table, a dark skinned lady perked up as soon as she saw the three enter.
"Ah! I'm over here you guys!" Elena said, excited to see her friends for the first time in a while, Ibuki ran over and gave her Kenyan friend a big hug, which might have been a mistake as Elena hugged her back with the force of a thousand gods.
"Urk! I-it's good to see you Elena! P-please let me go!" Ibuki squirmed out of the Kenyan's bear hug. Elena had let Ibuki go and directed her attention to Makoto and Sean.
"It's been so long since we met up! Did you get taller Makoto?" Elena asked as she gave Makoto a hug.
"What do you think? Of course I have!" Makoto sounded angry, but couldn't help but smile at Elena's boundless optimism, "And it's only been a few months since we last saw each other."
"And it's nice to see you too Sean. Have you been training?"
"Eh. Been on and off mostly. I'd love to get a few rounds in with you though."
"That's good to hear. Let's order something! Charleston's may look rundown, but their food is amazing!" Elena said chipperly.
After finishing their meals, the group sat and waited for the check. Elena offered to pay for everyone's meals.
Riiiing! Riiiing!
Sean felt his phone vibrating in his pocket, he took it out and saw his mom calling him. He gulped, he knew he had to confront this issue eventually, but he didn't think he had to do it so soon.
"Guys, I'll be right back, I gotta take this call."
"Ok!"
"Alright."
"Don't take too long."
Sean exited the cafe, held the door open for someone entering it, answered the call and proceeded to have his ears almost blown off.
"SEAN! Where the hell have you been?! You were supposed to be back here today! Did your flight get cancelled or something? Did you get kidnapped? Oh dear God PLEASE, don't let that be the case-"
"Mom please! I'm ok, I'm just… doing a few favors for a friend."
"Favors?! What the hell kinda favors? What did you get yourself into Sean? Are you still in Japan even?!"
"No… I'm in… Europe…"
"YOU'RE WHERE???"
"Listen alright? Just let me explain the situation ok?"
Meanwhile in the cafe, Elena had the check paid, left a generous tip and was starting to pack her things along with Ibuki and Makoto, when suddenly, a polite but firm British accent interrupted their packing.
"Excuse me, could I talk to you three for a moment?" A woman in a black trenchcoat asked.
"Eh?" Makoto cocked her head, but then her eyes widened in shock, "wait, you're Cammy right? What're you doing here?!"
"Ah Cammy! It's been awhile! All of my old friends are coming to visit!" Elena said happily.
"I suppose it has been awhile. I have some things to discuss with you three. If you could all sit down for a moment…" The Delta Red officer took a seat where Sean was sitting, the rest of the girls glanced at each other briefly, but they sat down as well.
"Let's get down to business," Cammy took out two somewhat blurry pictures, one of a pale white bald man with strange markings on his body and the other picture was a small blonde girl with two ponytails and a red dress covered in studs.
"Hey, isn't that Necro and his girlfriend?" Elena asked Cammy.
"So you remember these two from the 4th World Warrior Tournament?" The officer asked.
"Have you seen his face? He's kinda hard to forget." Makoto cracked, which got a smile out of Ibuki.
"Well, after the tournament these two were spotted taking a train from Moscow to the UK. Once they arrived we sent our soldiers to seize them, but they were attacked and the two managed to escape, we know that they're still around the area, and they seem to become active at nighttime," Cammy explained, "so, that's why I'm asking you three, are any of you still in contact with Illia or Effie?"
All of the girls shook their heads.
"I see, what about Sean out there?"
The girls looked at each other and they all shrugged.
"…I see, if you do come into contact with them, make sure you call me." Cammy said as she slid a piece of paper with her phone number on it over to Makoto.
"So what're gonna do when we call?" Makoto asked.
"We'll hopefully capture them." Cammy responded.
"What're you gonna do after that?"
"…I'm afraid I can't tell you that. Just know that these two are fugitives," Cammy said as she got up from her seat and put her beret back on, "have a good day."
The officer made her way out of the cafe as Sean made his way back in.
"Y'all ready to leave?"
Elena excitedly toured Sean, Makoto and Ibuki around Westminster. Visiting shops and landmarks while also chatting about her time in Europe.
"London is truly gorgeous. But I really wish you guys were here while I was in Paris," Elena said happily before pausing to think, "well actually… I can't decide which one I like more."
"Paris is the city of love right? If we ever find ourselves there, you think I could run into that Remy guy again?" Ibuki swooned, Sean rolled his eyes at the ninja's obsession with boys.
"I wanted to meet Remy again actually, but he didn't want to be bothered by me, which was unfortunate," Elena sounded a little disappointed, "but I'm still in contact with Dudley, do you think he might be your type Ibuki?"
"Pffft, no." Ibuki scoffed, "he's a good fighter, but he's too classy, he'd probably put his jacket down on a puddle so someone could walk over it."
"…Wait, you still talk with Dudley, Elena?" Sean perked up, "You think we could meet up with him sometime? I'd like to spar with him soon."
"Of course! I'll try and contact him as soon as possible!" Elena was happy to help Sean, which did put a little smirk on his face.
"Y'know this is all nice Elena, but we didn't come all the way to Europe to sightsee. Did you seriously forget that already?" Makoto spoke, sounding a little irritated.
"Oh, I haven't forgotten, I just figured that I should show you around and take your mind off of your worries for a little bit." Elena explained, but Makoto only felt herself get more irritated.
"It would be better if you weren't trying to distract me and we were entering tournaments and getting money!" Makoto said through gritted teeth.
"Makoto, we literally just touched down here a few hours ago, and Elena is just trying to do something nice-" Sean quickly shut up after Makoto turned to glare at him.
"Don't give me that crap Matsuda. The reason we're even out here is because of you!" Makoto yelled at Sean, she gave up on trying to be quiet at this point, however her raising her voice has started to attract some attention. People nearby started to look confused and whisper to themselves about the young girl screaming at some random guy. Makoto looked around and saw the many perplexed faces, and her face turned a bright red.
"Ugh. Let's just get out of here. I'm getting exhausted." Makoto groaned as she put her hand on her face.
Midnight, everyone was asleep.
Except for Ibuki, who was sharing a room with Makoto. The kunoichi had some trouble finding sleep at the moment, so she hopped out of her bed and grabbed her duffel bag. She searched around and found her classic brown ninja outfit. Ibuki made her way into the bathroom and put on the outfit, it still fit snugly, but she couldn't help but feel like she might need an upgrade to her outfit one day.
Ibuki exited the bathroom and made her way over to the window and opened it gingerly.
"Make sure you close the window on your way out." Ibuki yelped but quickly regained her composure after realizing it was Makoto who pointed that out.
"Y-yeah I know. Also, uh… I'll be right back. I'm just going to do some freerunning, y'know."
"Yeah, you've done this before while you were staying over at my dojo."
"Right, I'll bring you back a snack or something." Ibuki said as she hopped out of the window.
"She forgot to close the window…"
London was beautiful at night, the buildings Ibuki was running on kept everything well lit for her. Pubs, clubs and restaurants were very crowded and busy. It was certainly an interesting sight, but also very noisy.
Ibuki felt the breeze through her hair as she flipped and dipped from rooftop to rooftop. It was certainly refreshing just running around and seeing the sights, especially after what happened earlier. The kunoichi suspected that Makoto was regretting her decision even before they boarded the plane. Ibuki offered to start a donation page to help get her dojo back the night before they went to the airport but Makoto shot it down almost instantly.
"If I wanted money handed to me, I would've set that donation page up a long time ago. No… I'll do this my own way. Plus, Matsuda got me into this mess, so he's gonna help me get out of it. One way or another."
Ibuki sighed as she perched on top of a lamppost in a quieter part of town. She didn't always understand Makoto's thought process, but she would support her decision regardless.
"Because that's what friends are for, right…?" Ibuki said to herself while putting a hand on her chin. She thought about what she was gonna do next. She said she was gonna get a snack for Makoto but there were literally zero shops open at this time. She thought about going back to the busier part of town, but she didn't have any smoke bombs on her, so she couldn't change either.
Come to think of it, she didn't have any of her tools or weapons. Not even a single kunai knife. Ibuki wasn't looking for a fight at the moment but it wouldn't hurt to have them on her-
"AH, ARGH!" A homeless man was thrown out of a dark alleyway, he was panicked and trying to escape from whatever was back there, but he was quickly pulled back in by a pale white hand. Ibuki had a feeling she might know who that is.
Welp. Time to be a hero. Ibuki thought to herself as she leaped off the lamppost and made her way up the building next to the alleyway. The ninja thought carefully about how she should approach this.
A jumping kick would be the best option. But what if he anticipates it? Ugh, this sucks. If I had just one kunai this would be-
"HEY YOU UP THERE! HELP ME!" The man shouted at Ibuki.
Well, jump kick it is! Ibuki thought to herself as she leaped off the building and held her foot out, hoping to hit the head of the man's attacker.
But the aggressor was fast, as he threw the man at Ibuki, the ninja's reflexes kicked in as she caught the man and held him in a bridal carry, and yeah, he smelled awful.
"Get behind me!" The man obediently did as Ibuki said as she got into a fighting stance, "alright Necro, you can show your face now."
"…Oh yeah. I remember you," Necro said as he pulled down his hood from his ripped cloak, beside him was Effie, she was holding her stomach as blood leaked out of it, "get out my way ninja, this isn't about you. It never was, really."
"Well, I couldn't just stand by while you were beating on innocent bystanders, could I?"
"Innocent? That deadbeat stabbed Effie, so I'm gonna make sure he never gets the chance to hurt anyone again!" An angry Necro shouted, shocking Ibuki. The ninja turned around to confront the man, but he threw his bloody knife, clipping Ibuki's cheek and tried to run away. It took Ibuki a moment to process what happened.
"Why you…!" The kunoichi grabbed the man by his shirt and pushed him against the brick wall. She was pissed now, Ibuki gave a hard knee to the man's stomach, causing him to double over.
"Wait Ibuki… let me get a turn," Effie, with murder in her eyes, limped over to the man with his bloody knife in hand, "let me show you how it's done!"
Ibuki stepped away while Effie gleefully mutilated the man, the ninja had had enough excitement for the night and made her way out of the alley.
"Hey," Necro said, putting his hood back over his head, "I dunno if you're here with other people, but just stay out of our way ok? We have enough on our plate as is."
Ibuki didn't respond, instead she climbed up the building and made her way back to the hotel. She knew full well that she could've called Cammy up and have had them taken in, but she didn't. Maybe it was pity, or maybe she knew what it was like to be forced into a position you never wanted to be in (though in Necro and Effie's case, it was much more extreme).
She knew one thing, no guy is gonna want her if she has this scar on her face.
END*
Author's Notes:
Hey, sorry this chapter took awhile to drop, writer's block and all that fun stuff. Also, the Street Fighter Fanfic Archive has been super dry lately. I hope this chapter brings it back to life for a bit.
Also, SFA is one year old! Thanks for all of the comments for the first and second chapters of this series, I appreciate them greatly.
As always, if you have any questions or critiques with the chapter, let me know! I'd love to hear them.
Epilogue*
It was late into the morning and the entire group was getting ready to check out of the hotel, but not before everyone got an eyeful of the bandaid on Ibuki's face.
"Woah, you got into a fight last night Ibuki?" Makoto asked with a toothbrush in her mouth.
"I mean… I guess you could say that. But I uh…" Ibuki hesitated to say what she saw last night, but she bit the bullet and went for it, "I saw Necro and Effie."
"No way! Did you call Cammy?" Makoto said, her toothbrush almost falling out of her mouth. Ibuki looked away for a second and shook her head.
"Ugh! And he could've gotten some reward money too maybe! Goddamnit!" Makoto said to herself as she went into the bathroom to finish brushing her teeth.
"Here Ibuki, let me see your cut." Elena offered, and Ibuki obliged as she peeled off her bandaid, revealing the cut on her cheek. Elena put her hand on Ibuki's cheek and and green mist emanated from her palm, instantly removing the cut.
"Thanks Elena, y'know, you really didn't have to do that but-"
"I know I didn't have to do that. But I did it anyway, because that's what friends are for… right?"
"Heh. Yeah, I guess you're right."
