Chap took long asf. tldr at bottom
Terry Bogard was finally onto something.
He'd spent all morning prowling the streets of his hometown, searching and searching for any trace of his son. These were his old stomping grounds and the citizens of this city still knew his name. Mary's tracking efforts were admirable, but Terry's methods were cruder, but much more effective. He simply asked around. Everyone who met him was eager to help, so if they hadn't seen Rock, then they called their friends. And if their friends hadn't seen him, they called their friends.
And in two hours, Terry found himself standing outside of a dreary looking warehouse in the back corner of an abandoned lot, where Rock had supposedly been holed up for these past few days. Terry was on high alert as he made his way into the compound, and had choked out a couple of heavily armed guards as he cleared the building. Terry had found Iori's Volkswagen parked in the back (supposingly the car Rock had borrowed from his employer), and some of Rock's personal effects in the warehouse - but no sign of the boy himself. It seemed like Rock had been dragged out into the middle of whatever shitfest Kain was planning.
Dammit!
The gloomy warehouse had clearly been Kain's base of operations, and Rock would probably be coming back to this place soon. Terry briefly considered just waiting around for Kain and Rock to come back, then decided since he was on the road anyways, he might as well find what Kain's crew was up to. Mary would appreciate it. She had bent over backwards to help Terry by requesting to oversee the intel and tracking department. Apparently she was raising all sorts of eyebrows (since Mary was famous for her excellent field work), and even her new boss - Blackwell - was on the verge of putting her back on the front lines if she didn't uncover any substantial results. Hopefully the location of Kain's next target would be sufficiently substantial to get Mary's superior's off her back.
Blackwell still thinks Kain is working for Geese, right? Hmm… I bet they'd try to arrest Rock if they catch wind he's working with Kain… I can't afford to tell the Police where the Operations base is...
If Blackwell organized something to catch Kain, and Rock got caught in the middle of it - then the boy would surely be arrested. That was something Terry wanted to avoid at all costs. So after ten minutes of mooching around, he noted down the warehouse's address and busied himself asking more questions until he discovered a convoy of suspiciously militarized mini-vans had zoomed off into SouthTown Central half an hour ago.
He was on the road immediately.
Damn… What's gotten into you, Rocky...
Was Terry disappointed? Perhaps. But he certainly understood why Rock wanted revenge against Geese. Adam Coleman, Rock's best friend, had been murdered. Terry wasn't sure how Rock found out so quickly, nor why he didn't come home that night. Franky, this whole situation smelled fishy...
Rest in peace Adam...
What Terry didn't understand, and what he found suspiciously strange, was why in the world Rock decided to go to work with Kain rather than Terry himself to take down Geese?! Rock knew that Terry was more than capable of taking on Geese Howard… of course, Terry would have disallowed Rock from involving himself, but… ugh...
Does he not trust me? Maybe he knew I wouldn't let him go.
Honestly, it hurt Terry's pride a bit, but he refrained from making a judgement too quickly. A couple of days ago, Rock didn't seem like he wanted to get involved with Kain at all. In fact, when he and Rock were sitting in that diner, Terry had to prevent his son from throwing away the business card Kain had given him. The only reason Rock retained his psychopath uncle's phone number, was because he had taken a picture of it to text to Terry at his request.
Rock wasn't interested in that at all… he had given me all the information he had without a second thought…
So if Rock wanted to sneak behind Terry's back to work with Kain, he never would have disclosed such important information. His previous actions didn't make much sense in light of his current activity. Something must have happened. Surely someone must have planned this. Who had shady motivations and sufficient sway over Rock Howard to cause him to behave so strangely... Hold on…
The realization hit him like a truck. Terry squeezed his steering wheel until his knuckles stood white. He fumed as quietly as he could.
He's being coerced!? Dammit!… I bet Yagami is trying to use him to bring down HCon because they're his family's competitors! Rock told me about all the shady shit Yagami's into! I would never have let Rock work for that lunatic if I knew he was involved with the mafia!
That was the only real explanation. The last time Terry spoke to his son, Rock clearly had no intention to work with Kain. However, once Iori caught wind of it, he probably decided to threaten Rock to force him to get involved. Then he provided the naive young teenager with funding and instructions to collaborate with Kain to fight HCon - all without a single iota of risk or effort of his own.
Damn Yagami… I always knew you were a snake.
And Terry's theory was all but corroborated with the amazingly convenient timing of Iori's "kidnapping". According to Mary, the forensics team did an air quality test and found traces of a gaseous paralytic agent. That was enough for SouthTown PD to suspect that the Yakuza heir was a victim. It was all bullshit, and nobody seemed to be able to smell it but Terry. Obviously, Iori didn't want Geese to trace Rock and Kain's attacks back to him, so he skipped town to bunker down and avoid suspicion!
Probably in his fancy house back in Japan, watching shit blow up on TV while my son risks his life… fuck you, Yagami.
Terry gritted his teeth, and with effort bottled up the rage filling his head. He shut his eyes and took a deep breath. Enough! He would deal with Yagami next time he saw that bastard. For now, Terry was going to fetch his son back and ruin whatever plans the Yakuza had for him. Terry wasn't going to let anybody use his loved ones like pawns on a chess board.
It was cloudy out, overcast skies casting down a gray light. The moisture in the air was heavy, and lent the atmosphere a cold and gloomy feel. The streets in SouthTown Central were packed - per usual, and miserable pedestrians huddled like a pack of penguins on the sidewalks. As Terry drove about, hoping to catch a glimpse of Kain's convoy, he wondered why the paramilitary group was operating during the daytime. The area was also densely populated. Were… were they planning a terrorist attack?
Rock… I hope you know what you've gotten int-
*BOOOOM*
"Oh Fuck..."
Terry could only whisper the words as his worst fears were realized. Two blocks away, from the top of one of SouthTown's skyscrapers, a great plume of flame and smoke rose into the horizon. The blast shook the city, and was raining flaming debris on the street below. Pedestrians screamed and ran. Sirens went off. Terry gritted his teeth and swerved out of lane. Rock might still be near the crime scene, and if Terry got a hold of him, he was going to ground him for eternity.
Yag gets so much shit.
1) Terry is out looking for ROck HOward. He finds Kain's Base of operations but doesn't disclose to Mary for fear the police will arrest Rock before Terry has a chance to nab him and bring him home.
2) Base is empty (except for acouple of ppl Terry KO-d) and Terry finds out thee main force had gone down to ST Central.
3) Terry thinks Iori was the one who is making Rock do all this stuff, and will probably try to murder him next time he sees him.
4) Sees the penthouse of a skyscraper blow-up and is like holy moly Rocks part of a terrorist cell smh. Wants to get there before the police do in case he can grab Rock before the police nab him.
5) you know for sure Kain let Rock get caught on Camera - per usual haha.
Everyone is deep shit.
6) Somebody improtant to Geese just got nuked. Can you guess who? Guess. :)