-------------------------

Fatal Instinct

Chapter 3

-------------------------

Bruce fished his pocket, keys jangling on opening the door to his apartment. Anna followed him in and removed her sandals out of respect before coming to the couch.

The former mercenary left for the kitchen, enabling her some time to report a message. However, the communicator seemed broken, uttering nothing but soft static. Frustration began to settle in as Anna attempted to stay calm. Minutes later, Bruce brought her a cup and sat it on the table, filling it with steaming hot tea.

"My niece is asleep, so try to keep your voice down." He poured himself a cup as well.

'Niece? He never told me he had a niece?'

"Er…thanks." Anna whispered, accepting the tea with both hands. Her fingers drummed against the cup after the first sip, mind reeling back to Nina's peril. Her vision blurred before stifling a tired yawn, the effects of staying up late starting to catch up with her.

Bruce's voice shifted her gaze upward. " So who were you trying to kill back there?"

To Anna, it had come off sounding more like an interrogation than just a simple question. She shook her head. "I didn't try to kill or shoot anybody, Bruce."

"Then explain to me why you were holding a gun? I'm sure it didn't just magically appear in your hands when you came out of there."

Anger began to mount as Anna's voice started to strain, both cheeks trembling. He had known her for a long time and she had always been honest with him about everything. Yet, he did not seem to buy a word of her argument against his. "Just because I had it doesn't mean I used it!"

Bruce's hand clamped over her lips to muffle the scream. They both hushed, listening for traces of movement or sound that suggested his niece had awakened. Then he eased his hand to her chin before reminding her to keep her voice down. "You're right," he said in a low whisper. "I can look into your eyes and see that you're not deceiving me. But I have to know Anna, why did you have it in the first place?"

"It's none of your damn business, ok? Just leave it at that." However, she knew he would not give in so easy, no matter how much she wanted him to stop. "Ok--I was gathering information for…a job."

Then he averted his head before looking at her again. "So… you've become an assassin, am I right?"

At first she did not reply, eyes adverting from his. Then she nodded, never expecting to admit the truth like this. It was the only confession he would get from her though. "Kind of."

"And who's your client?"

"Can't tell you that." She frowned, legs spread apart while giving the teacup a soft squeeze.

There was silence between them, then replaced by a soft, intentional cough from Bruce. "Ok, I understand." It was hard not telling Bruce everything, but it was for the better. Spilling such information could lead to fatal risks that Anna did not wish to bring upon him.

He scratched the hairs of his beard after pondering hard. "Why did you become an assassin anyway?"

Anna calmed herself, remembering the thoughts burning deep within her mind, the thoughts of her family. "It started back when I was a child." She shut her eyes, attempting to shy away those horrid memories though she knew she could not. "Father always had a thing for Nina, always loved her more than he did me. Taught her how to be an assassin like him more than me. Said I was too soft, too weak."

Her eyes opened as if the events from the past were happening right before her. "In spite of how he treated me more like a stepchild than an actual daughter, I still loved him and did as he told, though apart of me still loathed him for playing favorites."

"I see," said Bruce, gaze shifting to the carpeted floor as she stole a side-glance at him. "Had no idea it was like that for you."

She forced back the tears with a sniffle, not wanting to cry in front of him. "When father died, me and Nina blamed each other for his death, fought constantly every time we saw one another. Then, years later, Nina disappeared, leaving me lonesome although a part of me still disliked her. I had no where to turn to at first, but then I found out what I wanted to do once it seemed I couldn't find her. I started a new life…and became this way."

There, she had let it all out for him to ponder over. Now it had come. It was time to tell him the other truth she had yet to reveal.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Explaining the situation involving Nina seemed a bit complicated at first, but Bruce later understood what she had to do. Going after Kazuya again was dangerous, but she knew the risks this job came with.

Ever since working under him, Anna knew Kazuya to be a cruel man, fierce and intimidating in every way. Through the intelligence of her agency, she learned of the dysfunctional relationship between him and Heihachi. It spawned many battles where the results were back and forth. After he had claimed the Zaibatsu from his father, he went to make the conglomerate more corrupt than it already was. His leadership had persuaded the illegal activities of extortion, assassination, and the smuggling of endangered species. Heihachi managed to return and retake the Zaibatsu from his son, but a second duel with Kazuya saw him lose it again. In return for throwing him off a cliff, Kazuya threw his father off an even higher one. Heihachi was later presumed dead.

"I'm real sorry to hear about your sister," said Bruce. "I want to help you, Anna. In anyway I can."

Her lips curled into a smile. She appreciated him offering his assistance, but she could not involve him in this. "Sorry, honey. This is something I have to do alone."

"But why not? I may have aged, but I can still kick some ass. And you know this." He did not seem willing to take no for an answer, but she did not care. She had already made up her mind.

"I know, but I am at my best without having to worry about watching somebody else's back. Don't take it the wrong way, but you'd only slow me down."

His muscles bulged at the statement, the exact response she knew that would follow. "I'll remember that, Anna." He had said it as if he had wanted those words to haunt her the rest of her life. His breath came slow after inhaling with strong disapproval. "Anyway, how did you get to this part of town?" He faced her, arm slung over her shoulder.

"I took a cab."

"Well, I would take you back to your hotel, but my car's low on gas and the stations are closed 'till tomorrow. You can stay here for the night and then leave in the morning." He finished, patting her back with reassurance. He had been so kind to her and yet she felt guilty for not knowing how to repay the favor. Someday she would make it up to him, and she hoped that time would come soon.

"Amazing, isn't it?" Bruce stroked his chin and chuckled. "You go from working for the guy to being hired to ice him. Personally, I never really had much of a problem with Kazuya, but I never did like the way he used to talk to you."

"Are you kidding? He was such an unlikable jerk."

Anna could never forget how much Kazuya used to yell at her when he had her employed. There was a time when a disgruntled ex-business partner of Kazuya's tried to attack him after they had a dispute. She had rushed in to tackle and restrain him just before his fist touched the head of the Zaibatsu's face. Rather than thank her for the interception, Kazuya scolded her for not flooring the man sooner. Countless times he had called her useless and overreacted when she made mistakes. She considered it a privilege to kill him.

A slight creak from the first door opposite to the bathroom snapped her senses to high alert. Then she discovered the cause when it peeked out the doorway: a little girl appearing to be around nine or ten, clothed in blue footie pajamas. She had her hair in a braided ponytail and her friendly eyes were a chocolate brown. She sucked on her finger as she came into the light, eyes shifting back and forth between Anna and Bruce.

"That's my niece, Elissa. Be nice to her." Bruce said in an inaudible tone before facing the girl with a smile, waving her on. "Elissa, come here. I want you to meet Anna Williams, a close friend of mine."

She extended her hand for the Irish woman to grip and shake as she observed her. "Pleased to meet your acquaintance, Miss Williams. I--I really like your outfit." Her voice sounded as small as she was, but that was expected.

"Why, thank you." Anna smiled from the compliment, squatting down to the much shorter girl's height. "You know, sweetie, you can call me by my first name. I don't mind."

"But that would be rude." She protested with a cute grin, withdrawing her head into her pajamas like a turtle did with its shell.

"Elissa," Bruce interrupted, "Anna's going to stay with us for the night, so go clean up your room and fix the bed for her. You'll be sleeping with me."

The first thing Anna had in mind was a hot shower, feet darting for the bathroom to do so. For tomorrow, she knew she would need as much strength as possible.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Elissa's room was smaller than most rooms Anna had been in, but not enough to consider it as uncomfortable. It had reminded her of the room Nina and her used to share in their youth though painted in cartoonish colors. At bedtime, her father used to come in and kiss Nina goodnight, but all she got was a gesture.

Right now, there was no telling what Nina was going through. Images of her helpless body connected to wires flowed through Anna's mind, unsettling her heart. She got minimal sleep, tossing and turning wide awake as if enduring a nightmare. Perhaps if Nina had stayed with her, she would not have been in this mess. However, placing blame was not going to help the situation, only make it worse.

A sudden creek of the door brought Anna's head to a slight turn, hand reaching for the gun underneath her pillow in case it was a hostile breaking in. She saw Elissa's sulking face, then withdrew her weapon before the girl could see it. "What's wrong, sweetie?"

"Miss Williams," she spoke in that timid voice, "do you think you can walk with me to get a glass of water? I don't want the monsters in the dark to get me." She cuddled the stuffed rabbit in her arms, as if ashamed to say such a thing.

The Irish woman gave a sympathetic pout. Darkness did not frighten her much anymore, coupled with the fact it made a great ally on stealth missions. "Why didn't you ask your uncle?"

"Because when he sleeps he's practically dead." From the way she made it seem, trying to wake Bruce was a lost cause.

Anna climbed out of bed and folded the silken robe Bruce had offered her. "Sweetie, monsters aren't real."

She gasped, hands over her mouth in shock. "They're not?"

A headshake and Anna continued, relaxing a hand on the girl's shoulder. "No. They're just something people bring up to make you believe in them…like Santa Claus…or the Easter Bunny." Maybe she was still too young to hear that, but Anna wanted to let her know beforehand.

"You mean, they're not real either?"

"Nah, but enough about that. Let's get you some water." She took the child's hand and accompanied her to the kitchen.

An attitude like Elissa's was something Anna would have preferred from Nina, though she could not see it happening. Her sister was cold, ruthless as a wolf when angered; not to mention she had a ferocious bite to back it up.

Both Anna's cheeks still burned with the unforgotten memory of those painful slaps from long ago. At times, she could not understand why she still cared about that woman when she never returned the affection. Regardless, Nina was still her sister and nothing could change that.

"Uncle Bruce says you're a very tough woman." The little girl spoke between short, slurping sips.

"Huh?" Anna had not even been paying attention, chiding herself for it on leaning against the refrigerator.

"Yeah, he also said you were an eni--enig--enigma? Whatever that means."

"Did he now?" Anna's gaze swept to Bruce's room with a knowing expression. Then it settled upon the glowing numbers on the microwave, reading past twelve as she recalled her objective. "Honey, I gotta go to bed. You finished?"

"Uh-huh."

She was ready to take Elissa back, but they only got as far as two steps before the pause.

"Uh, Miss Williams. Can I ask you something, real quick?" She placed the cup on the countertop and faced her.

"Hmm? What is it?" Anna crouched low, all ears to what she had to say.

"My uncle said you were going on a trip some place. Can you say where?"

She was so full of questions, yet Anna did not mind it. "I'm going to a far away place to take care of some business that should have been taken care of a long time ago." Her jaw clenched at the image of Nina. It was hard not to express her true emotions to what she meant, but Elissa needed to know only that much.

"Do you know when you'll be back?" The girl rowed back and forth on her feet as she said this.

"Why are you concerned of that, sweetie? I'm just a stranger to you."

"Well, my uncle knows you and that doesn't make you a stranger to him. So, you're not a stranger to me. And…. I wanted to know, that's when you come back, if you could teach me some martial arts. Uncle Bruce says you know a lot about that stuff. He won't teach me because he thinks I'm not ready for it yet. But I know I'm ready. I wanna know how to fight so that one day when he's too old to take care of himself, I can be the one to do that." She finished with an annoyed pout.

'Aww, that's so cute.'

It was difficult to keep a promise like that, considering how time consuming her job was. However, she did not have it in her to reject the request of a little girl, let alone her best friend's niece.

Anna leaned closer, whispering. "One day, when your uncle isn't around…I'll teach you, okay? It'll be our little secret."

Elissa thanked her with a warm embrace and bright smile. "Remember, you promised."

She bent over and kissed Elissa's forehead. Those words echoed in Anna's mind like a yell within a deep cavern, ensuring she would not forget them. "I know. Now, off to bed with you, sweetie." She took Elissa to Bruce's bedroom and closed the door on her way out. Her back then leaned against the wall, exhaling a deep sigh.

Dawn was not too far away.