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The Angel Within
Chapter 9: The Clash
[Day 14]
Saturday, 00:00 UTC (09:00 in local time)
Tokyo, Japan
The ceiling is high and full of enormous golden chandeliers with candles and crystals, matched up with red, orange and yellow stained glass windows showing no particular drawings, but rather a beautiful abstract display of colors.
The floor is made of burlywood granite, consonant to the many pews made of mahogany wood arranged around the room, but still leaving space in the center to a long vivid red carpet, and lines of flower arrangements with white daisies and purple roses on marble vases.
People are talking loudly and happily, not bothering about any formalities. Their obligations as politicians, businessmen and soldiers are pushed aside as enthusiasm overcomes. Their functions and status are ignored by themselves as they excitedly wait for what is about to happen.
The guests are filling all the pews, and the only people standing are a few cameramen almost hidden in the corners of the room, and also a man wearing white shoes and suit, contrasting with his raven black hair. He's in the altar, and although he is the groom, the look on his face is completely stoic, contrasting drastically with the electricity coming from the guests.
The groom eyes every single spot possible of the improvised Catholic church, waiting just as everybody else, although not excited at all. To him, the marriage ceremony is just day-to-day business. He has done worse. Far worse. This is a child's play for this man.
And that man is none other than Jin Kazama, the current leader of the Mishima Estate. One of Mishima Estate's grand ballrooms has been decorated as a Catholic church, since the Zaibatsu's advisors concluded a Christian ceremony for Jin and Nina's wedding would be more appealing to the Western audience.
The whole thing had been arranged to distract the masses from their actual plans. The Zaibatsu, the Agency, Interpol, Violet Systems and Siqueira Enterprises had all come together to achieve their intentions, which are to bring peace back to the world, and also to kill Kazuya and Heihachi Mishima. And for those who know about the Devil Gene, destroying it is also a part of the plan.
However, things didn't go as planned. So far, no solution for the Devil Gene has been discovered. Heihachi's whereabouts are still unknown. G Corporation had actually been taken, only for Kazuya, who had disappeared before he could be killed, to return just as unexpectedly and take the company back from the hands of Lee Chaolan, who had assumed the leadership of it in the name of the allies.
They actually managed to get a 'bonus' – the Native Brazilian treasure – but not even that treasure has been useful, since they don't even know what it is, as Julia Chang, the one who took it from Kazuya before his apparent disappearance, has been out of reach ever since the 'theft'.
Jin's eyes stop in every single one of his allies who are present this morning. Lars Alexandersson is in the last row by Jin's left side, close to the entrance. The Swedish man's sandy brown hair is as spiked as usual, and he is in black formal attire. He seems frustrated, but is attentive nonetheless.
Alisa Bosconovitch is in the front row of Jin's right side, close to the altar. Her hair is now back to her classic duotone combination of darker and lighter pink, but instead of curly, it is completely straightened, with the tips touching her bare shoulders, exposed thanks to her strapless long black dress, which also exposes her legs in a gap on half her left thigh. Her bottom limbs are covered by black lace stockings that go until her knees, and match the black high heels on her feet. As accessories, black gloves cover her forearms and small white pearls are on her ears. She is quiet and watchful, and her face has a faint saddened expression.
Robyn, of the Agency, is sitting in the last row just as Lars, but in the other side. And instead of being beside the entrance, she's close to the corner, in Jin's right viewpoint. She has changed her hair completely – instead of the 80s-styled dark brown-colored black power hair, she now has pitch-black box braids tied up in a bun. Black is also present on the eyeshadow fully covering her eyelids, on the lipstick, her nails and her stilettos. Her eyebrows are brown as usual, and her olive green eyes are strong as always, exhaling merciless when combined with the dark makeup. She is wearing a sleeveless top and a long skirt that goes from her belly 'til the floor, and both pieces are made of neon orange lace, and together they work pretty much as a dress. She has no underwear on, and it is clear to see, but that doesn't mean her superior and inferior private parts are exposed, because the fabric of the garment covers those strategically. A small 'X' is marked on her right shoulder, and has a similar fashion of Raven's huge 'X' face mark.
Lei Wulong is sitting in one of the middle rows by the left of Jin's viewpoint, wearing a khaki suit over a white button shirt and dark brown shoes. His long black ponytail is there as usual, just as his good humor, and he interacts with the guests by his side naturally. Although the guests clearly can't percept, Jin can see that Lei is examining the room carefully, ready to take action in case anything happens.
In a seat similar to Lei's, but on the other side, Raven has his arms crossed over his black simplistic tuxedo. Going against etiquette, his pitch-black sunglasses are still there, doing wonders to cover his eyes but doing little to cover the 'X' over his face. To Jin, it is visible the man is attentive just as everybody else, as he lightly tilts his head every now and then.
The only ally who is 'confirmed', and has yet to arrive, is the bride, Nina Williams. And when he turns to gaze the entrance, as if on cue, there she is. As expected, her garment is fully white. Her hair is tied up with flowers on her usual simplistic single ponytail, but the tips are gently curled, and there are two braids in each side of her head. A veil falls behind covering almost her full back, while the front part covers her whole face and goes until her chest. Gloves cover her arms almost fully, and the left arm has a lace flower bracelet on the cuff, besides a pearl bracelet on her wrist, and in the list of accessories there is also the pair of long silver earrings she has on. Her dress is strapless, and has two layers. The first one covers her silhouette tightly, while the second one begins on her waistline and the fabric falls freely surrounding her bottom limbs until the floor, but showing some skin on the left leg, beginning on the knee. It gives enough space to see her high heels with ribbons around her calves, over discreet stockings.
Her face is as stoic as Jin's, and the guests are all already in silence, watching her from their seats. Instead of being accompanied by a man, who is usually the father on a Christian ceremony, she is alone. As she takes the first step in the small series of stairs, the band starts to play a matrimony music. She calmly takes the second step, then the third, the fourth, the fifth, and then the sixth.
She then takes some few slow steps until the main door. By this point, the guests are already standing. When she puts her right foot actually inside the building, her image is replaced by one of fire, and the sound of the band has been muttered as desperate screams overcome it, following a loud 'boom' sound. The soldiers that had been camouflaged as guests all along, take the actual guests out of the place through secret passages behind the altar. Lei, Alisa and Raven are on their feet walking towards the red carpet, but Nina, Lars and Robyn are nowhere to be seen.
As the fire is ceased by itself, an image emerges from the thick smoke. And as it gets closer, the trio in the center take a step back each, while Jin takes a couple steps forward to get down the altar. The person in front of them is a woman who looks a lot like the bride. Her eyes are also icy blue, and she also has a curvaceous body and short stature, but her hair is shorter and of darker color. She has a bright navy blue long dress, with a colorful dragon print in one of the sides, accompanied by shoes and lace forearm gloves of the same color, and black lace stockings covering her legs, which are exposed by an opening in the gown's skirt. They know who she is, – even though her natural auburn brown hair is dyed black – just as she knows who they are. She smirks as she stops in front of them.
"Get out." Raven says authority-like.
"But the party hasn't even started." The woman says with a baby-like pout and a fake frustrated expression. As they could expect of her, her voice is soothingly sensual.
"Ms. Williams, please just make things easier." Lei says frustrated.
She scoffs, and it then quickly changes to her usual seductive smirk. "I'm not an easy one, baby." She blinks her right eye, while Lei rolls both his eyes under closed eyelids, in a rare showcase of annoyance coming from him, although still discreet. "Besides, I have come from far away. I would never miss my dear sister's marriage." She continues, still smirking, but this time devilishly.
"If you do not mind, I can handle her." Alisa says, on her usual polite manner. Lei and Raven nod to the android girl as Anna laughs and gets on her fighting stance. Alisa follows suit. The men leave to circle the room, to see if anybody has been left behind or if there are another bombs or any other kinds of traps, besides checking Lars, Nina and Robyn.
"Well, well, look what we have here." Anna says mockingly, on her smooth, deep feminine voice. "A robot girl trying to be a tough human lady." Alisa doesn't answer. Both keep circling each other until Anna starts the mockery again. "I really don't get what that blondie saw on you. He'd be doing much better with someone like me." She grins. She knows Lars is the girl's weak spot.
Alisa frowns, in a rare moment in which she shows anger. It is so unusual that it seems like an alien display on her face. That has been happening a lot lately. She's tired of being told she's not enough of a human, yet not enough of an android. She's too non-biological, yet too biological. Too technological, yet too chemical. Too functional and too dysfunctional.
Her train of thought is cut by Anna's right hand slapping her, and then she's thrown back by a roundhouse kick – a combination called Poison Sting & Spinning Kick.
Alisa quickly stands and runs in the direction of her opponent. She attempts to perform the Accelerator – a simple roundhouse kick – but Anna easily sidesteps and makes her Imploding Star, jumping in the air and stretching her right leg, hitting Alisa's stomach with her foot and throwing the pink-haired girl backwards.
Anna simply smirks while Alisa stands one more time. Her mockery had the result she wanted. However, this time Alisa manages to hit Anna, playing with her mind as she comes jumping, but suddenly, slides on the ground, kicking Anna's calves and almost taking her balance away, in a move called Eject Slider. Anna doesn't understand how exactly that was done, but since it doesn't actually matter, she performs a strike of her own before Alisa can continue her attack. The assassin does the Blonde Bomb, pushing Alisa backwards one more time, so Anna herself can have some space before the next attack.
Alisa gets up just as quickly as she did the last times, but differently from before, she starts circling her opponent instead of running at full speed. Her anger has turned into a determined fury to stand out for herself. Human, cyborg, whatever – she is Alisa, and she is not going to let people put her down for being herself.
By this point, Jin has already hid himself behind the table in the altar. He is not feeling well. He holds his head with the left hand, and his stomach with the right hand as he struggles with his own pain. Unfortunately, he knows what this means.
In a far corner, Lei finds Robyn struggling to get up, her orange outfit has been torn and scorched, which has turned great parts of it into some tone of greyish black. He approaches her, and while crouching, he assists her to get to another corner, in the far other side, up in the altar. In the middle of the path, however, a figure blocks their way. Both instantly roll backwards and stand, with Robyn making an extra amount of effort for such thing, as she still needs to recover from the explosion. Once again, they know who the figure is, but this time, the figure knows only one of them.
The figure is an old man in his mid-70s, bald in the center but showcasing spiky white hair in his sides of the head, matching up with his beard. He is wearing a coat of a bland tone of dark violet, with white fur slightly tinted with magenta on its edges. His shoes, pants and waistcoat are white, and there is a dark grey shirt under them. His face has a smirk on. "I am deeply sad I haven't been invited to my own grandson's marriage."
"You should talk about that with him, then." Robyn says annoyed.
"And who do you think you are?" Only now Heihachi turns to see her. His tone slight shows that he's actually uninterested.
"Definitely someone more important than you, as I was on the guest list." She says, mockingly, on her strong accent.
It gets on the old man's nerves, and he stomps the ground with all his mighty, cracking up the floor beneath him, as he angrily gets on his fighting stance. "I am Heihachi Mishima! You should be kneeling before me!" He shouts loudly, with his raspy voice at the top of his lungs.
"What a mewling quim." She says under her breath, mockingly, as she quickly unties her bun and her braids fall freely behind her shoulders, with the tips almost touching the ground. She gets on the fighting stance, which is the same as Raven's, and so does Lei. (The Avengers' Loki reference!)
Heihachi turns his anger towards the black woman to a fury passion within, as he always does to anything and anyone, everything and everyone. His first attack is the Demon Executioner, a three-punch combo. Although the first two hit her in the face, as he spins to make the third one, which was supposed to throw her backwards with electricity, is dodged by her as she crouches and performs a Right Straight to Left Low Kick, cutting off his attack.
Heihachi decides to do a quicker strike this time, and when he performs his Lightning Crush, he smirks as it works, with his left knee hitting her stomach and sending her backwards. Before he is able to enjoy it, however, Lei charges at him doing his trademark High and Low Kicks, two spinning strikes, a move that results in Heihachi on the ground and Lei with his back turned to the opponent. Heihachi had almost forgot of Lei. Almost.
By this point, Robyn is already by Lei's side, as Heihachi rolls backwards and face them. The old man laughs maniacally, in his usual fashion. "The fact that you're genuinely trying is so amusing."
"And the fact that you think you've gotten the upper hand is so funny." Robyn says. A mouth-closed chuckle escapes through Lei's throat.
Heihachi's expression turns to a scowl. "You're such an insolent bitch, aren't you?" He says insultingly, as the opponents circle each other.
"Proudly." She says smirking.
With that said, she charges at him. When Heihachi was about to cut her off, or at least he thought, she disappears in front of him. The thing is that it had been her plan all along, and she reappears in the air with a fist hitting his head as she falls – a move called Death from Above. She lands gracefully once the ground as Heihachi collides hardly with the granite.
"The Ninjutsu never fails to amaze me." Lei says, in English, remembering that Japanese is not Robyn's first language.
"Neither does the Wu Xing and the Zui Qhan to me." She says, smiling a quick sympathetic smile towards him. Although speaking English, her accent is still strong. Lei makes a mind note about it, out of pure curiosity – the detective curse, he thinks humorously.
Letting a frustrated battle scream leave his mouth, Heihachi, who's already standing, performs the Hell Axle, a kick of each leg while in the air. It also brings Robyn to the air, only to throw her back onto the ground, in the same hard fashion she had done with him. Lei was about to strike, but predicting the move, Heihachi turns and simply does the Demon Uppercut, raising him high in the air. He then does the Quick Executioner, while Lei is still falling, punching him once and then throwing him Lei backwards with the same punch that had failed to hit Robyn just minutes ago.
And speaking of Robyn, she is already on her feet and makes the Soul Steal, hitting Heihachi in the back and then in the stomach, pushing him a few steps away from where he was. He quickly gets into his special Raijin stance and performs the Lightning Bolt, which makes the lady fall to the ground in pain, as she holds her belly. Heihachi takes a couple steps back while smirking, waiting for their pathetic opponents, as he describes himself in his mind, to get up.
Little do they know that Jin has heard the battle's screams. Now he knows the reason behind his pain – his 'dear' grandfather. Technically, he already did – he knew it was the Devil within – but he just didn't know why the demon wanted to awaken so badly. And as if on cue, the pain stops, as the hate for Heihachi is one of the few things Jin and his Devil have in common. He takes slow steps, while crouched as to keep himself hid, aiming the direction of the old man's screaming.
While Robyn and Lei are fighting Heihachi in the far right, and Alisa is still fighting Anna in the middle of the place, Raven is by the far left checking out the main camera of the many ones which would broadcast the event live. Luckily enough, the bomb came before they were supposed to start the transmission, so nothing has been seen by the public.
No more bombs of any another kinds of traps have been installed in the building, most likely because they would have been easily noticed way before the ceremony. In such an occasion, discreetness was Anna's only option. Still, Raven wonders how the brunette managed to plant it.
As of injured people, none of the guests are here. The Tekken Force was very efficient in evacuating the place. Lars and Nina, however, still have to appear. But instead of waiting for them, Raven is going to look for them. He goes to the direction of the corner, and from there turns aiming to get at the entrance without getting in the middle of Alisa and Anna's battle.
Just as he spins on his heels, he finds Lars on the ground two steps away of him, and not too far from where the Swedish man was sitting before. That's logical, since the bomb was planted on the other side of the main door, so it wasn't enough to throw Lars that far away.
As Raven gets closers and kneels to check him, Lars starts getting up. He stays on the ground, but now in a sitting position, with his back against the pew. "Are you okay?" Raven asks.
"Yes." Lars answers in a puffy way. "It was only a scare." A half-chuckle escapes his mouth, and once again he sounds puffy.
"Take a breath, and stay down." Raven says. "That was Anna's work."
"Williams?"
"Yes." Raven answers as if it was obvious. After all, what other Anna could it be?
"Not Kazuya's?"
Now Raven understands Lars' previous question. "As far as we know, it's hard to determine. Either way, she's still the one who planted the bomb." He answers. "She's currently in the building. Alisa is taking care of her."
"Alisa?" Lars says, sounding concerned.
A fight scream coming from the other side of the church is heard, louder than the previous ones that had already dominated the background sound, interrupting their already short conversation. "Stay down." Raven repeats himself. "Get up when you feel better. Anna is not the only intruder present." He further explains, although still keeping the message short. "I need to look for Nina."
Lars nods, and Raven gets up, leaving through the door. He easily spots a messy pile of white fabric in between thick green bushes. The leaves are moving violently, and Raven opens a space between them. Nina instantly gets up. "Stupid bush." She mutters. Raven extends a hand, and she takes it with her right one as her left is holding her temple.
"Are you alright?" He asks as she stands on her own.
She is pressing her hand hard against her forehead, facing the ground while contorting her face in slight pain. "I hit my head on the wall and now I'm feeling a bit dizzy." She says. "But I've already been in far worse situations." She adds, letting her hand fall to her side, facing Raven with her head held high.
He nods, and continues. "Anna and Heihachi are inside." Nina raises an eyebrow. On cue, Raven elaborates further. "It's not possible to determine if they have teamed up."
"What about Kazuya?"
"Also unknown." He says. She nods, and Raven goes back inside the place, crouching as to get there hidden.
The second layer of Nina's dress, which forms the skirt, is randomly torn because of the explosion, and dirty in greyish black and reddish brown thanks to the smoke and the mud. Nina rips a great part of it, to reveal not only her left leg fully, but also a dark brown holster on her thigh, containing three guns and a smoke grenade.
Crouching in the same fashion Raven had, she hides herself in between the last pews of the right, only to find Lars starting to get up from a sitting position. "Hey there." He says casually, as he usually does, like nothing serious is going on. Nina, always simplistic, simply nods to him in acknowledgement as she watches Anna and Alisa's fighting, holding her smoke grenade on her right hand, waiting for the perfect opportunity.
Suddenly, however, she loses focus for an instant as an unusual, yet very well known, lightning is seen in the background. In the far other side of the room, she easily recognizes an old man of spiky hair.
"Lars." She says, and then turns to him. He turns to her in full attention, sensing the seriousness of her voice. "I think you should go to the other side." She says, and after staring at him for one or two silent seconds, she once again turns to watch her sister and the pink-haired girl.
Lars doesn't understand exactly what she means, so he tries to take a look on the other side of the room. However, it is impossible for him to see anything from his spot without also being seen by the others.
Still crouching, he starts migrating to the altar, and when he gets under a table in the center of it, he spots Jin behind a purple velvet curtain in the far corner in front of him. Jin seems to be watching what Nina had referred to.
Lars turns to the same spot Jin is staring at, and he allows his jaw to drop at the sight. Heihachi Mishima himself is there, fighting against Lei and Robyn. Lars can already feel his blood boiling inside, with his own electricity heating it up, as he closes his fists and an expression of fury takes over his face. And just as Nina had been doing, he now waits for the perfect opportunity to join a fight.
After a couple minutes of watching, he remembers that Jin is most likely doing the same thing, so he turns to the direction of the corner. He finds Jin already staring at him. The younger one simply nods once to Lars from behind the curtains. Lars nods back, and both turn to the fight again.
Suddenly, the second boom sound of the morning is heard, coming from the center of the room. Everybody instantly stops whatever they were doing and turn to the direction of the sound. Alisa and Nina are standing beside each other, and a huge amount of thick grey smoke is in front of them. Lars can't spot the grenade that had been on Nina's hand.
Nina turns her head to Alisa and nods once, and the pink-haired girl answers with a polite bow. What happened is that Alisa chose to do a risky move when she realized, perhaps quite late, that Anna already knew that she is an android. That means she could go full force, and so she did – she made a Double Rocket Punch, by flying and shooting a rocket directly at Anna. That was the type of chance Nina was looking for, so she strategically threw her grenade in the ground close to Anna, giving her sister no window to escape. Although Alisa's strike would have already made a good amount of destruction, Nina's grenade ended in an unconscious Anna.
When Nina was about to get her gun and 'finish the job', Raven appears out of nowhere, in the usual ninja way, in front of the two women. "We have company."
Heihachi starts laughing wildly. "Let me introduce you to my committee!"
As everybody is confused, Nina, Alisa and Raven run to the altar, to hide behind the tables, and spy the entrance with frowns as many steps are heard. Before following Lei to do the same thing as the rest, however, Robyn doesn't miss the chance to make a quick strike before Heihachi stops laughing, so she does the Shadow Spear, throwing the old man far backwards with her right hand. "Won't you never shut up?" She says annoyed, looking at him with the disgust, and then going to the altar as everybody else has already done.
The move was enough to take Jin's and Lars' attentions back to Heihachi. Sensing the chance, both don't even look at each in acknowledgement as they start running in the direction of the old man. Robyn and Lei have already run through the place and joined Alisa, Nina and Raven in the middle of the altar.
The group of five is hiding behind different white tables, and watch a troop of men in white approach the entrance. There is about five hundred men in white armor, with what could only be described as red giant behind them, following their steps.
The five allies eye each other briefly. The men are heavily armed, and the Tekken Force is nowhere near – they are probably still relocating the guests, which means counting on them now is pointless.
Nina gets a pistol from her holster, and she sees Lei getting one from inside his suit. Raven does the same, but his gun is a pair of kunai. Robyn cuts her braids on shoulder-length with a machete as if nothing was happening. Nina allows herself to raise an eyebrow as she has no idea from where Robyn got such a weapon. Turning to see Alisa, the girl is so focused on the soldiers outside that she seems to be on another planet – she is probably calculating something.
Turning to watch the entrance, she sees the men approaching. There are about five hundred of them – that's not good, Nina thinks. She also realizes that Anna is not lying unconscious on the ground anymore – she makes a mind note about it.
"Do you have any plans of attack?" Lei asks.
"Attacking, perhaps?" Robyn answers half-annoyed. (Another The Avengers reference!)
"Let me handle the first row." Alisa says. Everybody nods.
"At least two of us should surprise them from behind." Raven suggests.
"That can be good." Alisa says. Knowing her opinion on a battle strategy is of paramount importance, because besides the fact that all of them have years of combat experience, Alisa's logical analysis is far better since her brain is literally a computer. "However, behind them there is that red individual."
"Do you know what it is?" Nina asks.
"I have no data of similar subjects." Alisa says. "Because of his structure, there's nothing revealing enough to help me understand its nature." With that, everybody gets that her computer is not able to determine if the red individual is human or else.
"Well, whatever he is, he's strong. Making him angry wouldn't be good." Robyn says.
At this point, the first row of soldiers is already inside the church, looking for enemies they know are there. They have clearly seen Jin and Lars, but they don't interfere on it since their boss, Heihachi, is there too.
"Once I get the first row, I'll handle the red subject." Alisa makes a quick decision. "Someone please try to contact the Tekken Force. They are obviously too busy with the guests, but they won't be forever." She says. "Besides, having NANCY and Combot as assistance would be good."
Everybody nods, and Alisa instantly raises herself from the ground with her jet engines, and rises to the ceiling. The front line of the troop try to shoot her, but Alisa is too fast for them, making nonlinear movements. Each turn she takes, she carries a soldier with her, holding its neck. She throws them away harshly, usually for them to collapse on a wall, before doing the same to other one.
With those actions, the second line is a bit startled and takes a bit more than the normal to react, which gives Nina and Lei a good window to shoot. While that, Robyn and Raven have already left the inside of the place through rear doors, to be prepared to attack the last lines of soldiers when Alisa starts dealing with the red giant.
Once the first line is incapacitated, and the second one is being almost massacred by Lei and Nina's precise bullets, Alisa literally disconnects her head from her neck and throws it right in the middle of the troops. Once it touches the ground, it explodes, weakening them even more. She flies to the direction of the ginormous blood-colored subject in the rear of the troop that seems to be very pissed off by what she has done.
Robyn and Raven give the soldiers no window to recover from the explosion, and what follows is a massive bloodshed as they cut either their inferior limbs or necks, with Raven using his two kunai and Robyn using the machete.
With that small gap of time until the next line of enemy soldiers comes inside, Lei takes a cellphone out of his inner pocket. Pressing not too many buttons, he easily is able to call the Mishima Zaibatsu's Headquarters. "This is Lieutenant Beaumont, currently on command." A man says in the other side of the line, on that usual soldier-like voice, showcasing his French accent.
"We need soldiers in the ballroom, as fast as possible." Lei says rapidly.
"I have already assigned a good amount of soldiers to assist you once they're done with reallocating the guests in safety."
"Send NANCY and Lee's courtesy Combot as well."
"Understood."
"Over and out." Lei quickly says and shoves the cellphone back to his pocket, also taking another gun out of there, since his first and second pistols are already out of bullets.
…
While that, in the far side of the room, Heihachi, Lars and Jin are fighting each other, as one would expect. The sound is a mix of their electricity's cracking, tired gasps, battle screams, and Heihachi's mockery.
Lars punches Heihachi's stomach with a mighty right hand with the fist closed, then spins and makes a powerful roundhouse kick with his left leg, sending the old man backwards – a move called Gilbert Cannon.
Heihachi gets up laughing. "Gwahahaha! Good to see you're nothing like your mother! No son of mine is soft and merciful."
For the first time since the beginning of the fight, Heihachi manages to strike a nerve on someone, which happens to be Lars in this case. "Do not mention my mother."
Heihachi only laughs again. "That remembers me of a certain someone." He turns to Jin. "I recall that same sentence coming from another Mishima some time ago." He grins.
That also strikes a nerve on Jin. He remembers the situation. One could believe Heihachi did cruelties to Jin daily, but it was actually once. In a certain day, some days before Jin's 19th birthday, he was training in a dojo on the Mishima Estate, as usual. He was sparring with his grandfather, and there was something else in Heihachi's eyes. After a while, Heihachi seemed to be impatient, and then said 'You better not let your mother's softness reach into you.'
That was enough to trigger something within Jin that he didn't even know that existed at the time. Regaining his energy out of nowhere, Jin said with clenched teeth 'Do not mention my mother.', and started attacking with abnormal fury, electricity running through his veins, and sweat dripping from his forehead like a waterfall.
Little did Jin know that all Heihachi wanted was exactly that - a confirmation of the Devil within Jin, although the young one was oblivious to it. But Heihachi wasn't – he could sense it. Even though he is not spiritual or anything similar, he had already been in the presence of the entity before, and he knew how it felt like. Upon seeing it, Heihachi knew it was time for Jin to face Toshin, so he told his grandson about The King of Iron Fist Tournament 3 later that day.
Jin clenches his eyebrows. "So don't make me repeat myself." Jin says in a threatening tone.
"It's not like I care about either of them." Heihachi says, in a dismissive tone, as he aims to strike his other family members, but Lars blocks it and Jin's dodges it.
"How come you don't?!" Lars screams in disbelief before Jin is able to say anything else, punching Heihachi twice. "I'm pretty sure I read the opposite on my file."
Heihachi goes dead silent as he takes a few step backwards, and Jin turns to Lars to understand what's going on, while the Swedish man keeps on screaming. "You may have not loved her, but that didn't stop you from lurking around her, did it?!"
Jin turns back to Heihachi, and now the two younger Mishimas stare at Heihachi as if waiting for an answer. The old man clenches his eyebrows in anger, and performs a combo on the younger ones, starting it on Lars and finishing it on Jin.
Both get up quickly, and Lars' fury is still there. "And why did you even bother to write it at my file?!"
After a quick, almost imperceptible sigh, Heihachi answers in a sudden change of spirit. "You had the right to know."
Lars drops his arms a bit for a millisecond. That got him by surprise. He didn't actually expect Heihachi to answer. But his anger is at its full right now, so his fighting stance goes back to the correct position. "Why did you leave her to die?!"
"It's not like there was something I could've done." That's all he says before he starts a combo on an inattentive Lars. Jin gets into the fight as well, and they engage in the rhythm they had been before.
…
Alisa has been fighting against the red giant for some minutes now. She is fast, so the subject hasn't managed to hit her yet. That, however, doesn't necessarily mean she has gotten the upper hand, since her strikes and weapons do not seem to affect the individual substantially.
The giant is red, as already mentioned, and has a humanoid form, but has a much disproportioned size – 2.5 meters of height. Some random black metal pieces of armor are present in his body parts here and there, with some cables coming from them and floating freely, as they have just been forcefully disconnected out of other parts of the very same body. His head is inside of something similar to an astronaut helmet, and through the glass, a mouth can be seen, besides what could only be described as six eyes, although they're only shining balls with no specific shape. The sentences "01 Prototype" and "Caution High Voltage" can be read on different parts of his armor.
Alisa's mechanical eyes are not able to see through the giant's 'armor', or whatever that is. That means that the material was chosen specifically taking into consideration that a cyborg or robot could eventually try to see through it.
With all that taken into consideration, Alisa's database classifies the creature as a threat, and as 'most likely inhuman, but of humanoid structure'.
Suddenly, Alisa hears a piercing scream coming from behind. She knows whose scream it is. The millisecond she used to decide whether to go there and help the person, or to stay where she is and keep on fighting the humanoid, was enough of a window to the red giant. He attacks her with tremendous might, bringing his two closed fists down, putting her on the ground. There, he keeps on punching her, not allowing her to stand, and then suddenly grabs her and throws her away.
She collapses on the ground again. System capacity at 95%, she tells herself on her mind. 5% is a considerable amount of damage when taking into consideration that Alisa was designed specifically for combat, which means that she should be able to last for very long periods. Only very few people should be able to do such an amount of destruction on her – a.k.a. the Mishimas –, yet the humanoid's strikes on her head managed to affect her.
While getting up, she makes a mind note not only about that, but also at how the giant's move is familiar to her. Alisa, however, can't waste her time on trying to search her database as that would give the opponent another window to attack. She resumes her fighting rhythm of before, and their confrontation goes back to the point where it had been: she's too fast for him, yet not strong enough to substantially weaken him.
…
A few meters from there, Anna is dragging an unconscious Robyn to the woods. The cry heard by Alisa had been the female ninja's. Anna feels an absurd mount of pain on her body, thanks to the explosion, but she's an assassin prepared for such situations.
Unlike Heihachi, who somehow actually managed to bring a full armed troop with him, Anna wasn't able to do the same thing. All she did was bribing Jin's secretary so she could get in. All she managed to do was bringing a bomb with her, as bringing anything else would lead to her disclosure.
Because of that, once she woke up from unconsciousness, she hid behind the bushes outside, waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike her oblivious enemies. Once the window came, she did it, and the victim was Robyn. Anna took hold of the ninja's arms and made a movement too quick for the black woman to avoid, making Robyn cut herself in the right leg with the machete.
The cut was rather deep and the woman was not able to retaliate Anna's strike on her head, leading her to faint. Anna then quickly dragged the woman and her weapon far away from there, to a nearby small forest of the Estate.
"You." Anna hears a deep female voice call. The tone expresses coldness, but not out of seriousness, but rather disaffection – rivalry, the word crosses Anna's mind as she smirks. She knows whose voice it is.
The brunette assassin stands from the crouching position she had been, with Robyn's machete on her right hand. She turns to face the owner of the voice. Her eyes meet a blonde assassin in white bride clothes – her sister.
"I see that now you've given up on the surprise element." Anna says.
Nina narrows her eyes slightly, but does not answer.
"Where's your robot friend?" Anna attempts to mock her sister, but the blonde assassin still doesn't answer.
Anna sighs in frustration. "You have the grand gift of silence, Nina; it makes you quite invaluable as a companion." (Sherlock Holmes reference! Yaasss, I love references!)
Nina smirks. "You've always been one to talk too much."
"You've always been one to talk too less."
Nina's smirk leaves her face. "You're not worthy of my words."
"Don't play superior with me." Anna says. "You know we're equal. And that's what bothers you so much."
Nina narrows her eyes again, this time more significantly. "I'll never be like you."
"You already are."
"No."
"How come not?" Anna says before Nina is able to continue. "We're both Williams. We're both assassins. We've both been to cryogenic sleep. And although I hate to admit it, we're both good-looking, even though I'm hotter than you."
Nina can't help but roll her eyes under closed eyelids. "You've always been so simple minded. That's one of our differences." The blonde answers. "Allow me to give you a reality check." She says, making a brief pause before continuing. "You're not only simple minded, but lacks long-term planning – you're too narrow-minded. You also lack any kind of concrete goals, putting all your will into 'being against me' instead of doing something at least a bit productive." She says. "And above all, you held no love nor respect for our father, which lead to his death."
Now it is Anna's turn not to answer. Never before Nina spoke for so long. And what she hates the most about this situation is that the brunette knows her sister is right. Nobody has ever read her in such a way.
It only serves to fuel her rage, however, as she realizes there's actually something wrong about her sister's argumentation. "You're wrong, Nina." Surprisingly enough, her tone does not show anger. "Everything I do has a concrete goal, though it has been long lost. It had been endued of long-term planning, although I disregarded the only possibility that actually came to happen: our father's death." She says.
"And you're also wrong when you say I didn't respect him. I may have not loved him, that's true, just as he didn't love me. But you're right to say we may not be very similar, as unlike you, I'm not unaffectionate, and wouldn't harm him in the way he harmed me, or in the way you harmed me. That's something I learned with mother."
Nina doesn't say a word. Anna continues. "You keep on blaming me for his death when he actually right in what he did – you just don't want to accept it. For that, you are the one who doesn't respect him. You fail to realize he did what he did because, at least once in his life, he showed affection towards me."
Nina's face turns to one of fury. "But had you not involved yourself in business not meant to you, none of that would ever happen!"
Anna sighs. "And had father not pushed me aside so much, I wouldn't have done it!" She says, raising her voice. "Had he taught me the things he taught you, had he loved me in the way he loved you, none of the things that happened in our lives would have ever happened! Literally everything would have been different! You keep on blaming me for the things he caused!"
"You could have always chosen another path!"
"So could you!" Anna screams before Nina is able to continue whatever argument she had.
Nina's expression goes stoic, and she goes silent. Anna actually has a good logic, though the blonde one hates to admit. Nina suddenly, however, remembers of a context in which she actually chose the other path. "But I have, Anna." She says, while being embraced by feelings she had long forgotten. "How do you think I felt whenever mother dismissed me?"
Anna's expression goes serious as well, but there's a hint of surprise on her eyes. Nothing else needs to be said. Anna knows how it is to feel excluded. She just didn't know Nina had ever felt that.
"The difference is that I tried to embrace what I had." Nina finishes.
"While I tried to embrace what should've been ours." Anna says. "The full family."
Nina closes her eyes as Anna continues. "Sadly, father only realized his mistakes when it was too late." The brunette says. "You're right to say I shouldn't have looked for business that was, so far, hadn't been meant to me – assassination arts. It wasn't a really bright idea." Anna can't help but faintly chuckle to herself. "But, somehow, it made father realize how far I could go. For the first time, he was no longer able to turn his head away from the potential he knew I had. But once he was forced to look, he also saw me in danger, and he had to rescue me." She makes a brief pause. "Of course nobody had expected him to die in the process – not even himself."
Nina opens her eyelids to see a stubborn tear falling from one of Anna's eyes. The brunette's face, however, is hard as a stone. For the first time in years, the sisters actually understand each other.
"The long-term goal I had was to prove to the world, and mainly to father, that I was good as you." Anna says. "It has been long lost not only because he has died, but also because I realized that I have always been as good as you." She makes a brief pause. "I did not love him, but I wanted to be able to."
Deafening silence falls upon them as they keep staring at each other stoically. Both minds are numbed and confused with interpretations of the past and scenes of the consequences. Sentiments of sadness and nostalgia overcome the icy hearts of the assassins in a way they never do.
They had been accustomed to always look forward, pushing aside whatever reasons they once had, leaving them behind with distant memories. For the first time in years, they stop to look back. And it hurts.
They had never been open like this. They had never discussed matters like this. And, above all that, they had never truly understood the other like they do now.
But isn't it too late now? Decades have passed. Battles have taken place. Rivalry has established itself. Can they simply let things go like this? But besides that, there's way more in question now. Pushing aside personal matters, they're still in the opposite sides of the same coin. One of them works for Jin under the Zaibatsu, and the other works for Kazuya under G Corp. They're of the mechanisms of a hating machine. They've long endued themselves with this fate.
With the mutual realization, they slowly get to their fighting stances. But an alien expression is present on both of their faces: comprehension towards the other.
…
The Mishima battle has been stopped by a sudden explosion. Heihachi was sent towards the stairs of the altar, while Jin and Lars were sent to the far other side.
The explosion was caused by a Jack robot. Heihachi already knew Kazuya wouldn't miss the chance to attack as well. The old man smirks. Great minds think alike – no son of mine is dumb. He gets up to a crouching position and hides behind some statues.
The old man knows this is the perfect opportunity to escape, as his primary reason was not to directly face his offspring, but rather to unstable the Zaibatsu enough for him to take over.
Taking some sort of remote control from his inside pocket, a gadget he managed to protect during the fight, he presses a small combination of buttons.
Upon seeing that Gigas, the red humanoid, has already obeyed to his commands, he quickly leaves the ballroom through rear doors he knows very well.
Coincidentally enough, Tekken Forces start to approach, joined by Combot, a courtesy of Lee's Violet Systems, and NANCY-MI849J, the newest model of the Bloody Nancy robot.
The Tekken Force greatly outnumbers the almost extinguished enemy troops. In an unexpected move, Heihachi's soldiers quickly run towards the ballroom, followed by the giant.
Alisa and Raven, joined by the other two robots, lead the Tekken Force inside. The ninja joins the Mishima troops in the combat against the enemy soldiers, while Alisa, Nancy, and Combot go after the red subject, only to find him crouched in the center of the place.
The trio approaches him, but stop as Alisa spots what seems to be a Prototype Jack-7 getting closer to an injured Lars coming to his feet and a distressed Jin contorting himself on the floor besides his half-uncle, in the far side of the place, on the corner. That is not a good sign.
Suddenly, Prototype Jack stops and simply launches himself from the ground with the aid of his feet rockets, and breaking through the ceiling, he leaves. Alisa allows herself to frown, but it quickly leaves her face as her eyes meet Lars'. Their millisecond gaze is broken when the female android sees a pair of black feathered wings wide-open behind the Swedish-Japanese man – the Devil has taken the hold over Jin.
Lars senses it, and quickly turns, only to be punched hard in the face. Hunger for destruction is on the demon's eyes. Lars slowly crawls backwards as Devil Jin wears a malicious grin on his face, approaching the other with the worst intentions. Under the demonic person's bangs, Lars can see the third eye staring to glow with electricity.
By this point, Alisa has thrown away whatever resentment she was feeling towards Lars. It is, perhaps, the most irrational response she has ever had to something – and, ironically, probably the one closest to a human. All she wants to do is go to Lars' aid.
However, remembers herself of her current task. Realizing this has been long enough of a window for her and her robotic companions to be hit, she turns confusedly to the red giant before her, who has not taken advantage out of it. The subject is still crouched; it hasn't moved, not even a centimeter. She takes a couple slow steps to analyze it better, keeping her guard on.
As if on cue, the red individual explodes. Blowing up the whole place and sending everyone rocketing through the air, meters away from what had been the ballroom, it all happens too fast for anyone to register. The magnificent building has turned into a messy pile of random wreckage and unconscious bodies displayed in unorganized fashion. Most things are destroyed and most people are burned, all thanks to the burning fire.
The clash is over.
…
The Williams sisters haven't had not even a second of break. And unlike how it usually is, this turn around, they're silently – no mockery or insults came from any of the sides. Never before their battling has been so intense and endued of passion. It has come to a point in which they don't even understand why they're fighting anymore – they just do it.
However, they come to a stop when a rumbling noise reaches their ears. The powerful and loud sound make them stop completely. Turning to the direction of it, they see what had been the ballroom on fire – an explosion took place. That escalated quickly, Anna thinks.
In the moment of distraction, Prototype Jack lands above Nina, striking her in the head with his feet, leaving her unconscious on the ground. Anna frowns out of frustration. She knows very well who sent the robot – Kazuya.
P. Jack turns to the brunette assassin. Sighing, Anna starts giving him orders. "Take the ninja and Ms. Williams. I can make my own way out of this place."
The robot doesn't even nods – he simply does as he's told, and leaves flying, with the two women on each of his shoulders.
Anna enters further into the woods, using the stolen machete every now and then to open the path, aiming to find the other side and escaping without being noticed.
The clash is over.
[Day 14]
Saturday, 01:00 UTC (10:00 in local time)
Kyoto, Japan
After walking for a couple of minutes, three people reach a rather dark room with two hospital beds of greyish sheets – the classic 'crazy scientist' chamber. The room has been specifically settled accordingly to the aforementioned crazy scientist's needs, and as he gets in, he heads towards a small refrigerator of transparent door, and gets two plastic bags with a light blue liquid.
"Well, I should tell you how it works beforehand." One of them – an old man of messy grey hair and round glasses – says to the two others – a masked man holding a fumaken and a masked woman in chains. "This is the truth serum, and it works just as a normal hospital serum – it is injected directly in the arm."
The grey-haired man puts one of the bags in the metallic supporter beside one of the beds as he keeps on talking. "The name of it is quite self-explaining, and I presume you already know what it is for since you've asked for it."
He crosses the room and starts putting the other bag in the metallic supporter beside the second bed. "Each of these bags last for one hour. Fighting against it might cause you great pain, and even permanent side effects, since this is just an experimental substance. Also, avoid moving too much – safety reasons."
"After this is over with, the effect should have perished in about 5 minutes, and the substance should be completely gone from the body in 30 minutes." He explains. "Do I make myself clear?"
Both masked people nod once in agreement. "Good." He says. "Take your seats." The masked man goes to the left bed, and the masked woman to the other one, and they're now sitting beside one another. They turn their heads to the other and stay still as the scientist injects the syringe in each of them.
As he finishes, he talks once more. "The effects should start in 5 minutes. I will leave you alone for the sake of privacy."
"Thank you, Bosconovitch." The masked man says. The woman shortly nods once to express the same. "There's no need to thank me." Doctor B says to Yoshimitsu and to Kunitmisu, the aforementioned masked duo, and bows to them in acknowledgement, then leaving them alone in the room.
The room is embraced by muteness. More than 5 minutes have already passed, probably up to 10 already, but nobody is willing to be the first to talk. The bland dark greyish tones of the room are still more vivid than the relationship of the two ninjas.
Yoshimitsu decides to speak first, turning to her. "Why did you attack the dojos?"
"I was trying to get your attention." The answer is fast, just as if he had pressed a button on a computer keyboard and the result showed up instantly in the screen. The serum is already in works. Her gaze is on the ceiling.
He is eyeing a random spot of the room now. "You've never needed to do anything to get my attention."
"I've always felt as if it was the opposite." Kunimitsu says. "You've always either picked up on me, or pushed me aside completely."
"That's true." He acknowledges. Only a serum could make him admit his own stubbornness, Kunimitsu thinks. "That was a result of my lack of clear judgement. I would never know how to deal with you properly."
"You indeed lack clear judgement. If you didn't, you wouldn't have expelled me of the Clan." She spits out, on her usual sharp manner of talking.
"No." He says. "It was the opposite. I had all reasons to kick you out, and I wouldn't let nobody interfere on the interests of the Clan – not even you."
"How is that so?" She asks with a fake amused tone.
"You stole from us." He says, a slight hint of accusation in his voice, turning to her again. He feels betrayed. "And you failed to prove your innocence." His voice goes back to normal.
She scoffs and turns to him. "I didn't fail anything!" She says angrily. "I didn't even say anything!"
He gazes somewhere else as he continues the arguing, with the same tone of anger present in his voice. "Exactly! How am I supposed to believe in you when you don't give me anything to believe in firstly?"
When Kunimitsu doesn't answer his question, he takes his eyes away from the wall on the far side of the room and gazes now at her face, only to see her lips contorting. A few noises start coming out of her throat, although her mouth is still closed. She's resisting.
"I thought you were an open book." He says, in an accusing tone again.
"You're always accusing me!" She gives in to anger, but the contorting is still going on the visible part of her face. "I don't trust you! I don't trust you!" She says, as if it was to make the pain go away, as her left hand is squeezing the greyish white sheet of the bed she's in, while she shakes her heads quickly to both sides. She's resisting way too much, and now she is moving back and forth from the waist up.
"And why should I trust you?! How can I not accuse you? How many reasons you've given me not to do so?!" He says, with poison coming out of his words.
Only such a serum could make them lose their tempers.
"Is that what you think of me?! What you expect from me?! Failure?!" Kunimitsu continues the dialogue.
"No! I expect your best, but you always stab me in the back!"
"Trying to save myself from the accusing knives you put in my throat!"
Both take a moment to breathe and calm themselves. "Then tell me now." Yoshimitsu says, with a voice lower in volume but still expressing angriness. "Tell me one good reason to believe you, sister."
Kunimitsu takes her gaze out of him and stares to the front as she starts contorting again. But this time, is much worse, and besides of moving back and forth, she starts sweating crazily and, then, coughing and choking with her own saliva.
"Stop evading, Kuniko." He says.
Kunimitsu breathes harder as she starts to think about the possibility of that. By doing only that, the pain starts is reduced a bit and she's able to think more clearly. Wasn't this what she always wanted to? Spit it all out and settle things, with no ceremony, with no lies?
"Fine." She manages to say in a short breath as she struggles with pain. As she does so, it stops completely, and she continues. "I had a lover."
Yoshimitsu chokes with his own saliva under his mask, and starts coughing. "What?!" He asks astonished.
"He was poor, and I stole for him." She says, looking down, staring at her legs.
"I see." It is all Yoshimitsu is able to say as he gazes away.
After a silent moment, Yoshimitsu speaks. "What happened to you after the second tournament?" He asks, with a hint of worry. "You disappeared."
Kunimitsu doesn't answer right away. Since she is not contorting, she is not resisting, but rather finding a way to put it in words as best as possible. "I moved out of Japan. I was sick and tired of air conditioners, so I lived as a burglar, since it was the only thing I knew how to do." She answers. "I'm not very proud of it, though." She admits.
"Is that all?" He asks out of pure curiosity, clear as all their dialogue thanks to the serum.
"My lover disappeared, so yes, that was it." Even though she answered it, now she is contorting in pain. There is a part she is trying to hide.
Tired of not being trusted by her, he tries to sound, once and for all, as convincing as possible. "Sister." Yoshimitsu says with concern. "Please."
"I can't, Yoshiro. Please." She manages to say.
"Even after all these years, I have never managed to erase our bond." He continues. Kunimitsu's pain is replaced by surprise, and she turns to him. Before she can speak anything, he continues once again. "Please. Trust me. It is all I've wanted since the start, back in the day. To be trusted by you and for you to trust me."
"If you want my trust, please don't force me to say it. I can't. It's beyond me." Kunimitsu quickly answers before the pain overcomes.
Yoshimitsu is quite surprised by the answer. If there's something he knows very well about his sister is her stubbornness, which enrages him to no end. However, this time things are different. Even under a truth serum, a substance that could cause even death because of resistance, she is still not complying to say it.
And if there's other thing he knows very well about his sister is that she's not one to die for nothing. She's not the kind of person who makes sacrifices. However, here she is, aiming to do it. That means that, whatever she's trying to hide, is truly beyond her.
"Fine." Yoshimitsu says, although he still wishes to know. "You don't need to say it."
Fast breaths of relief come out of Kunimitsu's mouth as the inhuman pain completely vanishes. "Thank you." She mutters.
Silence falls upon them once again.
After what feels like forever, Yoshimitsu speaks. "I'm sorry things had to turn out the way they have."
She simply nods as an answer. After a pause, she speaks. "Tell me what happened to you after the second tournament. I want to know of you too."
Yoshimitsu faces the ground, choosing his words. "Well, I turned my hatred for you into determination, and focused on the Clan. The Manji's influence grew together with our exclusivity."
Kunimitsu says nothing. He continues. "Some nineteen years later, there was the third tournament."
"I remember." She acknowledges, in low volume.
"I entered on it to help Doctor B, who was close to death at the time. He needed Toshin's blood."
"I remember that creature. It was all over the news, all around the world." She says. "They called it Ogre, I think."
"Exactly." He confirms. "I managed to do it, as you can see the doctor is alive and well." He says. "Then, there was the fourth tournament, and I entered on it with the Clan in mind." He continues. "There, when I invaded the Mishima Zaibatsu's vault, I found an injured Bryan Fury. He is a cyborg, and fellow Tekken fighter." Kunimitsu nods in understanding, and he continues. "I took him to Doctor B, who revived Fury, only for him to kill several Clan members. I learned he was going to participate in the fifth tournament, so I entered to defeat him."
"Did you do it?"
"Of course. The man is driven by rage. People like that always fall." Kunimitsu allows herself to faintly smile as she remembers of a past in which he would always teach her that. He doesn't see it.
"During that, I found out my Yoshimitsu is cursed, and it weakens itself in order to prevent the evilness to go to its owner. Because of that, I entered the sixth tournament to find a way to 'cure' the sword." He continues.
"That's why you're carrying a fumaken sword now?" She asks.
"Yes." He says. "Well, that's what happened to me."
"If grandpa was still alive, perhaps he could help." She says.
"I don't know. Maybe."
Muteness makes itself present on the room one more time, and as the minutes pass, the ninjas replay the conversation they've just had over and over again on their heads. After a while, the door is opened, and Doctor B gets inside.
"Excuse me." He says. "It's been an hour." As he says so, the ninjas turn to look to their bags, which are empty.
The clash is over.
Yoshimitsu turns to his sister. She nods. "We're done." Yoshimitsu says as to indicate to Doctor B that they won't need more bags. Bosconovitch gets closer, taking the syringes out of the ninjas' arms, and the duo stands. Doctor B then silently leads them to the door, where the duo thank him and leave.
"Kuniko." He calls.
She freezes on her spot and turns to her brother. "Yes?"
"I hope we are on good terms now."
Of course things are still not this easy, and both are very aware of that. However, Kunimitsu appreciates what he has done. This truth serum procedure is definitely against the Manji's rules, besides the fact that it had been what she wanted things to be – purely truthful. Hadn't it been the serum, it would have never been possible, as they're ninjas, not mind-readers – they wouldn't be able to know when the other is lying. The symbolism behind what her brother did, however, is even greater – that's how far he was willing to go for her.
Anyhow, the possibility of genuine good terms has never been actually taken into consideration, but she knows what he means. He wishes to have her by his side as a ninja – he's inviting her back to the Manji Clan. She doesn't even know if he can do such a thing, even being the leader.
"I suppose so, Yoshiro." She says, although in the back of her mind, she knows things are still not that simple.
They resume their walk through dark and deserted corridors. Suddenly, something crosses Yoshimitsu's mind. "Why have you been looking for me only now?"
Kunimitsu doesn't answer instantly. She's either pondering, or the serum is not working anymore. "Because I couldn't do it before." That's all she says. Sensing she's not going to talk further, regardless of insisting, and also acknowledging to himself that there's no need to know further, Yoshimitsu drops the subject.
The faint lights above them allow a glimmer in the place, as the duo continues taking slow steps through the Manji Clan's headquarters.
[Day 14]
Saturday, 09:30 UTC (06:30 in local time)
Rio de Janeiro, State of Rio de Janeiro, Brasil
"Eddy." A sweet yet intense female voice calls, with a serious tone.
The one called Eddy, a man of chocolate-colored skin and dreadlocks, instantly recognizes the owner of the voice. He holds back a smile as he turns his black chair to the direction from where the sound came from – the office's entrance.
There she is – Christie. A woman endued of many qualities: a good heart, exceptional capoeira skills, natural beauty, and a firm sense of righteousness. Unlike the usual, her warm-toned brown hair is not tied up – it is instead falling freely, touching her bare caramel skin on the shoulders and on the neck, as her tight black shirt is strapless and embraces her torso only, bringing her silhouette to evidence and leaving her arms fully exposed. The rest of her garment is composed by light blue denim shorts and brown sandals covering her feet until the ankles.
At the sight of Eddy, she takes no steps further and simply speaks what she has come to. "I feel like you're hiding something from me."
Those are words Eddy wish he didn't hear. He is, indeed, hiding something from her. He didn't actually want this moment to come. But all decisions have their consequences – once he decided to cooperate with Jin Kazama, he knew what he had to go through.
Eddy still doesn't like Jin – he actually still despises him –, but he holds some sort of sympathy for Lars Alexandersson, who convinced him of joining a small group of allies, formed of fellow Tekken fighters, to bring down Kazuya and Heihachi Mishima.
It was risky, but it felt worth it. And not only Eddy knew that, but also all the others who joined forces. However, none of them counted the possibility of failure, and it was exactly what happened, as the marriage broadcast simply didn't happen and no news have reached Eddy's or anybody else's ears. Lee, Julia, and Leo were the only ones who were contactable, but they also didn't know a thing. Now, the only option left is waiting.
Eddy looks straight into Christie's eyes. He doesn't answer her. She speaks again, this time, while taking a seat in one of the two beige chairs in front of him, on the other side of the table. "I am worried about you. I can't help but feel it is something bad. Por favor, talk to me." The tone of her voice is a bit less serious now, as it makes room for preoccupation.
Eddy sighs silently. If there's anyone to be wrong in this situation, it would be him, yet here Christie is, feeling bad for him for things he should be blamed for. He doesn't want to sadden her, but he isn't a liar. He can't keep on hiding facts from her – not that she wouldn't eventually find out, though, he thinks. "It's just that…" He looks away from her briefly. "I've taken a decision that I'm not sure how to feel about." He looks back to her.
She frowns slightly. "What do you mean?"
He doesn't answer instantly, as he tries to find the correct words to do so. "I had the noblest of intentions, but I had to involve myself with people I dislike very much."
Christie turns her gaze to random spot on the table, while raising her right eyebrow a bit – she's reflecting. "But if it was noble, how can it be bad?" She says, already looking to him again.
"Things didn't go as planned." He says. "I'm starting to feel uneasy, as if they were not worth it."
"Hmm." She acknowledges, deep in thought. "It's like the saying: what counts is the intention."
Eddy smiles faintly to her, but it quickly fades away. "I wish it were that easy." He says with a rather sad tone.
"Why don't you just tell me?" She asks. There's no annoyance or any other poisonous attitude present on her tone, only the wish to understand the nature of what's happening to her closest friend. She wants to help him, but he doesn't let her.
"Because you'll be more than disappointed with it." He answers truthfully, and keeps on staring at her, expecting her reaction.
It is clear to Eddy that she was surprised with the answer, as her eyes so slightly widened, just as her eyebrows raised a bit. "How can you be so sure? You haven't even told me yet." She tries to reason.
"I know you." He says. "And I know what I did."
For about half a minute, they keep themselves silent, staring at each other. Suddenly, Christie breaks the silence, and this time, she actually sounds a bit annoyed. "Stop playing games with me, and simply spit it out."
Eddy knows he can't avoid this. It is indeed better if he 'simply spits it out', on her own words. He sighs, this time audibly. "Julia and her… friend" He starts, uncertain how to refer to the mysterious woman who was supposedly the 'treasure' Kazuya had been looking for. "Came here for temporary shelter because I had promised to help a certain group of Tekken fighters." Christie's expression is of surprise, but she doesn't intervene with words. Eddy continues. "We all have a common interest to bring Kazuya and Heihachi Mishima to justice."
"I don't see how that's bad." She says. But then she frowns. "What about Jin Kazama?"
Eddy can't help but sigh again. "That's the point, Christie…" He says. "Jin is a part of the group."
The room goes dead silent. Even their breathing is soundless. Christie's face is unreadable, but since her body is stiff, it isn't hard to presume that a rush of sentiments and thoughts is going on inside of her. Eddy can already feel the blame aching from his guts.
"You… aligned yourself to… him?" She asks, half-shocked and half in disbelief.
Eddy simply nods silently, and can't help but look down, as if he was a kid who knew that he had done something wrong, and was ready to take the blame and be scolded.
A minute passed, or perhaps even more, but the scolding never came. Eddy looked up to see Christie with her eyes closed. Making no sound, her lips move as if she was speaking to herself, and her eyebrows clench slightly every now and then, like she's reasoning with herself. She's clearly in utter confusion, but still trying to come out on top with the best way possible to handle the situation.
After a long sigh, Christie slowly opens her eyes. "I can't believe you made yourself available to aid him in all of his interests." Her tone, combined with her eyes, show that she feels betrayed. "Even after everything wrong he has done, and everything right he should've done."
"When I said 'yes', it wasn't to him." Eddy says. "I still despise him, and he'll still pay, in the right time." He makes a brief pause. "It was Lars Alexandersson who asked for my help."
Christie is slightly confused by the answer. Eddy takes the cue from her expression, and explains further. "I received a call from him. He explained me everything. I was convinced enough to accept in collaborating." He says. "I still don't fully trust any of them. I still dislike Jin, and the Zaibatsu, and the Mishimas. But it was still something. It was worth enough for a try."
Christie doesn't say anything, and keeps her gaze turned to the floor. After about a minute, Eddy speaks again. "I will never forgive any of them for the things they've done."
"Stop it, Eddy." She says. Her tone is shaky – she is about to cry. It all has affected her too much.
Eddy raises the inner part of his eyebrows. He doesn't want to hurt her. "I'm sorry."
"Stop it." She says, now firmly. She looks up. Her eyes have some flame within, but it's hard to pinpoint the exact feeling they're emanating. "I need some time alone." It is all that she says before simply getting up and leaving the room.
The clash is over.
Eddy doesn't bother to go after her. He decides to respect her decision. It's not like there's something I could do to change her mind, whatever is in it now, he thinks.
He turns his chair to the spot it had been before she first got in, and keeps on thinking about what could've lead the plans to failure, but now, his thoughts are mostly about Christie, the only person left in this world who he still cares for.
End of Chapter 9
Author's notes: +12,5k words this time! Yay!
Featuring new characters: Gigas, Prototype Jack, NANCY, and Combot! (bot squad, yaass!)
*ANSWERING*
alwaysdoubted – I can't deny, even I am looking forward to write Jun's confrontations with Kazuya and with Jin! About Xiaoyu, well, I'm trying to portray a maturing process… She's not over Jin, of course not, but she's having a new point of view about things… You know, she's just growing up, that's all. And thank you for your kind words. S2
Reibun – Never mind, really. s2 Just let me know that you're alive! :P I wish you'd create an account, so at least we would be able to exchange some PMs every now and then. :)
Zmod 123 – Thank you! She will, on the proper time… Since I haven't started the next chapter, I don't know precisely yet – though it's close. ;)
Warnings – I know, right? I'll see what I can do about that when it comes the time to bring her to this story. And thanks for the compliment!
Mike dirt, Player shout, Guest machine, Tekken fuy, Sir Knight, Arming a, Polis, and Guest – Thank you for your reviews. :) About the Forest Demon, and about Michelle, they'll be explained in the future, along with all the other Tekken mysteries my imagination allows me to solve. :P And yaasss, when Kazumi shows up, it's going to be crazy! :P
Enemy of The Flash – Hmm… I'm not gonna lie, I didn't even remember of Shin Kamiya. I guess it's because he's not canonical. Plus, I have never watched Tekken BV fully, so… :P I'll see what I can do, though if he gets into this story, I guess he wouldn't be thaaat important on the plot, as I plan to focus on other things. Thanks for the suggestion, though, I'll keep that in mind.
giovanna21d – s2 (*deixando um coração simbólico aqui*)
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