Daddy Terry be scarey
"Kauuugh! Howwwarrrd you fucking little shit! Fuuuuuck! Agggghhh!..."
*fwoosh*
An eerie howl reverberated from the bowels of the building, only to be consumed but the great rumbling of an explosion. The noise of shattering glass exploded from the upper floor windows - blowing shards outwards and scattering them all about the sidewalk outside Geese Tower. The structure groaned as the concrete walls and steel foundations were wracked with destructive power. As the tall ceiling rumbled, Terry froze and watched cracks run across the white concrete. After about a minute, the trembling abated.
What was that?… flames and… something else?
Terry shook his head and proceeded onwards. He had just passed the threshold to Howard Connection's main reception area when the entire building began to shake and belch flames. Terry had expected to see some fire - after all, Kain Heinlein was famous for his flashy displays, but he swore the flames he saw had a purplish tint.
Yagami? Is that snake here?
Impossible. Iori Yagami was holed up somewhere in Japan. That damn criminal had set Rock up, and was using him to carry out the goals of the Japanese Mob. It was Iori's fault that Rock was so scared out of his mind he would work with Kain. It was Iori's fault that Rock had been put in such a dire situation, that he believed he needed to kill Geese Howard to survive. It was probably Iori who had made the police chase after the boy so fervently - since the sooner Rock was caught, the sooner Iori's own name could be cleared… and of course, and it was also the Yagami family that stood to benefit tremendously from the death of Geese Howard. Rock had been set up to be Iori Yagami's scapegoat, and even if Terry knew, he couldn't do a damn thing about it.
This was the reason Iori even hired Rock to begin with! He was planning for this very moment! He's bent over backwards to keep Rock employed. He pays him a ridiculous amount of money… there's absolutely no other reason Iori - fucking - Yagami would treat Rock so well if he didn't have an ulterior motive. Gah!
Terry gritted his teeth, and set his eyes forward. Even he'd been tricked from the very beginning. Not until he saw the fruit of this masterfully carried out plan, did he have anything more than a sneaking suspicion that the red-haired man was up to no good. Terry had never taken Iori to be a schemer. In fact, Terry thought Iori was a completely nonsensical lunatic - who was barely capable of taking orders, much less carrying out such a complex scheme…
But I suppose I've underestimated him… that damn snake. I'll kill him the next time I see him. Nobody gets to screw with my kid like that.
No… Focus Terry. Rock came first and Terry was here to help Rock survive a situation which was designed to kill him. At this very moment, the whole world was against them. The Japanese Mafia, the American Mafia, SouthTown Police, and even Federal Troops. He would deal with each of those entities when (if) he got the chance… but right now, his son needed him.
Yagami… If you know what's good for you, you won't show your face in SouthTown again…
Terry exhaled hard through his nose and quickly stalked across the white tiled reception area. The building was large and imposing, both without and within. Howard Connection was classified as a private security company, but from the appearance of the foyer - it looked more like a arms manufacturing firm than anything else. There were two (hopefully decommissioned) helicopters hanging from wires installed in the tall thirty foot ceilings, and the shaking in the building had snapped a few of those wires loose. As a result, one of the aircraft was dangling dangerously mid-air and threatening to crash into the circle of leather couches below.
The military helicopters weren't the only sign of violence in the lobby. There were also several shot up corpses littering the area - Howard Connection employees, who had presumably met their ends at the hands of Kain's vigilante group. Terry looked at them sadly, then shook his head and continued onwards.
Up ahead was a dark hallway which looked like it led to the elevators. He made a beeline for them. Kain hadn't briefed him too closely about the plan to take down HCon - but made it clear that Terry's only role was to assist taking down the Geese himself. Kain's crew had obviously already come through this area, so Terry already knew they had gone up the tower. He just needed to climb the stairs and find them.
I wonder if they managed to get through. Hm…
The hallway was dusty, filled with increasingly larger chunks of debris, until they even obscured his vision. It seemed. As if the the second floor had collapsed into the first one… but who could have caused such a thing? Perhaps Geese had-
*Cough… cough… ughhh, fucking hell…*
Terry blinked in surprise, and instinctively hurried toward the sound of painful hacking. Although his current mission was quite gruesome, Terry Bogard simply couldn't resist his good nature. He climbed over several large slabs of concrete before he reached the source of the noise. Somebody was sitting in the dust - back towards him, and hunched over, coughing violently. A shaft of light beamed down from… three stories up? But the person had crawled out of the spotlight, and into the dusty dimness. Terry called out to him.
"Hey! You okay bud? Should I call an ambulan-"
The figure visibility startled, then - in a confused panic - scrambled to his feet and whirled towards him. It was only then did Terry recognize the injured man. His expression darkened.
"Yagami…"
Iori didn't offer a response. He simply maintained his lopsided battle stance at The Wolf's rapid approach. Terry's sneakers crunched over the gravel until he was only a foot away, and looking down at the red-haired man… the very man he had pinned all his rage on since Rock had first disappeared.
Terry's voice was threatening.
"Well… how shocking. I didn't expect to meet you here. Care to explain yourself?"
Terry observed his opponent carefully whilst awaiting a response. Even in the dim light, it was evident Iori was quite badly concussed. He kept swaying to one side despite his efforts to stay balanced. His breathing was awful, and the way he stood made Terry suspect the man had at least a few broken ribs. Hardly a threat, and certainly not an opponent… but… I thought he was supposed to be laughing at us from Japan… why is he here?
He also wasn't answering Terry's question. Of course, Terry could beat it out of him… but Iori was frail to begin with, and if Terry fought him now - Iori would certainly die. Terry was no killer (he wasn't one traditionally, anyway), and although he had sworn to kill Iori the next time they met, Iori's presence here flew in the face of Terry's conspiracy theories. The theories which were the basis and justification of Terry's anger towards the red-haired man… and now Iori himself was unwittingly challenging them.
You gotta give people a chance, Terry.
So, with much difficulty, Terry took a deep breath, shelved all of his preconceptions and stood back, crossing his arms over his chest in a non-combative posture. Even so, Iori didn't relax. He continued to stare through Terry with an unfocused, faraway gaze. He… he looks pretty upset, actually. Hm...
"So… why are you here, Yagami?"
"What does it look like, Bogard. I fucking fell."
Iori snarled at him from behind hooked claws. Terry sighed, put on a fake smile, and clarified.
"Yeah sure, sure. I mean... why are you here at Geese's Tower?"
Evidently, the red-haired man was fain to talk to him… but even with a concussion, he seemed to realize a wrong answer could get him killed. Terry wasn't sure why Iori had developed a sudden fear of him, but right now, it was working in his favor. It was enough to loosen Iori's tongue.
"...my guitarist is suicidal and wants to be murdered by Geese. I don't want to start hiring again, so I was going to beat him up and drag him home... I'm here," Iori indicated toward the hole in the ceiling, "Because Rock Howard almost succeeded in killing me."
Terry blinked incredulously and frowned. Rock tried to kill Iori? Impossible… but the red-haired man was quite beat up. By some miracle, he hadn't broken any bones in the fall - but had nicked himself on the way down. There were bloodstains scattered about, and especially on a rather large piece of jagged concrete, likely where Iori had landed. There was also a walkie-talkie there… a HCon branded Comms unit?
Iori had seen him looking at the walkie-talkie, and was gearing up for (an extremely lopsided) battle. Terry began gathering energy from the earth. He didn't need to force himself to sound threatening. Iori was already spooked to hell.
"Rock tried to kill you? I doubt that… but you're working for Geese. Why."
A long, ugly pause, then Iori spoke.
"... Our interests aligned. He doesn't want vigilantes. I don't want Howard to be one. Have you got a problem?"
"Goodwill, huh? Fine. I don't believe it for a second… but assume I did. What else are you getting? Did Geese pay you? Maybe strike a deal with your family?"
Iori flinched, but didn't respond. They engaged in another stare off. After a moment, Terry scoffed.
"Thought so. I don't have time for this."
He shook his head and allowed the energy beneath their feets to dissipate. There was obviously more to this story, but Terry wasn't at leisure to extract it out of a hostile witness. Was Iori really here trying to help Rock? No. He had an ulterior motive and Terry would have ample time to grill Iori later on about it. Besides, given the man's current condition, it didn't look like he was capable of doing much damage. Terry could afford to reserve his judgement. He pushed for more pertinent information.
"What floor did Rock drop you from?"
"Three."
"How long ago."
"Fifteen minutes."
"Fine… I'm going after Geese Howard…" Terry eyed Iori closely, "I'm gonna turn around and walk away from you. You won't make me regret leaving you alive, won't you Yagami?"
Iori glared at him, but didn't say a word. He simply shook his head, No.
"Good. I'll deal with you later."
Yag should just go back to bed. Literally didn't accomplish anything.
Also 4th is gonna chew him out for another asspull