Disclaimer: All games and characters within them belong to their respective companies.
"You are your own worst enemy."
Juri smiled at this.
"True, but there's nothing more satisfying than overcoming yourself. Breaking your own limits, exceeding your own expectations… There's a personal joy in that."
"Really, Juri?" Viper said, her head tilted in knowing. "Never would have figured you to be a deep thinker."
"Hohoho," Juri laughed, "there's a lot that you don't know about me."
"And for that, I'm glad."
A week after the incident with the clone, Juri had completely recovered from her savage fight. She swore that the sides of her body looked as if someone had spilled purple and orange paint on them. It pained her to wear more clothing to cover her bruises, but she admitted that she never had the drive to wear less in the first place unless she was making a statement. Wandering the corridors of the facility in her nightwear would go unappreciated for that matter, so why bother? She went easy on her body and gave it the proper care that it deserved as Seth and the others did the same.
Like Viper said, one's worst enemy tended to be themselves. Leave it to a copy of herself to almost kill her, but, at the same time, put Juri's skills to the test. She enjoyed the fight with her clone because it was not like anything else she had experienced before. Her clone was infuriated and fought with demented purpose, and she was fully prepared to kill her original. It was a true fight to the death, and Juri had been excited during it all. She enjoyed the fight- despite the suddenness of it all- and never once thought of the possible outcomes.
In the end, the best woman won. Juri loved the potential of the shadow clone program too much to write it off as a failure. On one hand, she realized that her clone was without a conscious and was much more violent than she was, but on the other hand, Juri could not blame the clone for her attempted murder. She would have done the same if given the chance. After giving the defeated clone back to Seth in orb form, Juri licked her wounds for the week and eagerly awaited the next program.
When it finally came, she was pleasantly surprised.
"Teleportation! The power to instantly go where you want!" Juri exclaimed. She looked to Viper and highlighted her left eye between her fingers. "That's much better than something like flying, especially if it's with some weird jet boots."
"But Juri, flying is fun," Viper said. "Imagine drifting about, flying high above the clouds, leaving the troubles of the ground behind. It's fun to fly, really. Lauren would throw a fit if she ever found out th-"
"You don't fly for fun, you run away like a winged rat," Juri interjected. "I don't travel to see the sights. Scenery doesn't fight back, ya know."
"Well, you're missing out then."
A quick glance at Viper's clipboard provided the Korean with the information she desired. Teleportation was known as the transfer of matter, be it human or item, from one point to another without traversing the physical space between them. To Juri, this was near impossible to accomplish without some kind of special power or technology, and even then it seemed like a pipe dream. However, Juri's boss did not see it that way. Seth described it as the projection of consciousness, internal energy, and soul to a set location which would then forcibly yet painlessly reconstruct the user once they "arrived". Because one wills it, it will happen.
The data for the teleportation program was personally supplied by Seth, who was capable of teleportation himself. Juri had seen him teleport a few times before, but it was always over a short distance, a means to close the distance between him and a potential threat. The data for this had been gathered from Dhalsim, an Indian yoga master who, for some reason, was capable of teleportation and breathing fire. With his data, Seth was able to increase his potential and strengthen his moveset, and that in turn led to his sharing the data by putting it to use in Juri' Feng Shui Engine.
Juri stifled a sardonic giggle at the thought of her boss sharing privileged information with her. Altruism and philanthropy were as foreign to Seth as compassion was to a psychopath. It wasn't like the synthetic man to share anything that could come back to bite him. He kept things from those under him because he wanted to keep them in the dark. He who was ignorant was powerless, he believed. It was this reason and this reason alone that he eventually relented and allowed the scientists to copy some of his data to the Feng Shui Engine.
After all, if he was to get a full and in-depth report on the programs he designed, it would do no good to stunt their power and potential, even if they were being handed off to Juri.
"Alright," Viper said as she wielded her pen, "first tell me how you feel right now."
"Eh, the usual," Juri replied with a shrug.
"What about when you walked over here from the engine room?"
"Hmm… Come to think of it, I got the feeling that my senses were a little sharper."
Viper lowered her brow as she began to write on her clipboard.
"How so?"
"You know that psychology thing, uh, out of sight, out of mind?" Viper nodded. "Babies think that if they can't see something, it doesn't exist. We know better now, of course. So now if a guy turns a corner, we know he's gonna be behind the wall when we look for him."
"So now you know where he is?"
"Yeah… Only I know exactly where he is," Juri affirmed. "Maybe sharpened senses isn't the word for it. Sixth sense, maybe?"
"I wouldn't know," Viper said.
Of course the agent wouldn't know. She was not a fighter or a psychic. She was just a normal woman who had a battlesuit that let her do extraordinary things. She could lethally shock a living person until their heart stopped, she could perform flaming kicks, and she could create shockwaves with a charged-up knuckle strike. With technology at her side, she could do more than an ordinary person could. But she could not utilize ki energy, and in that sense, she did not have the means to strengthen her senses.
Besides, she wasn't the one testing the programs and suffering from their drawbacks.
"Well, why don't we get down to it?" Viper inquired. "The only way to know how something works is to test it out."
If there was one thing Juri could respect about Viper, it would be her professionalism. The woman knew what was important now and later, and she chose not to get bogged down in silly activities or subject herself to vices other than the occasional cigarette. While this made the agent boring to the Korean, it also made her responsible and reliable. Her seriousness when it came to situations was invaluable, and she proved time and time again that she had the skills necessary to complete her missions. Juri was more of the same, although she chose to entertain herself more often than not.
The manner in which she switched from professionalism to nonchalance was abrupt. One minute she would be completely focused on her work and the next she would be taking small digs at other workers. Juri did not mind it due to her own behavior. At times she herself would switch from a playful attitude to a more serious and malicious one. She rolled her shoulders and stretched her arms with a yawn before mumbling in acknowledgement. While she was rightly cautious, her enthusiasm for another program overrode any doubt she had.
"Try teleporting over there," Viper said as she pointed to the far wall of the testing room.
Juri went through the motions to activate her eye. Exhaling slowly once again, she focused on her inner power and made it the catalyst in the Feng Shui Engine's activation. She could feel the warmth spread throughout her body as her ki rushed into her veins. No matter how many times she performed this activation, whether in battle or out of boredom, it never got old for her. Just using it was enough to excite her and prepare her for a dizzying array of attacks.
As soon as she could see the glow of her eye and the orange interface, she lifted her hand to the far wall and concentrated. A notification appeared in her interface, one that was attached to the wall. On it she could see how far away it was from her as well as the energy required to teleport over there. As expected, the energy requirement was laughably low. Short distances would hardly affect the user, but when traversing large distances like across a city or to another country, the energy required would be substantially greater.
That was a small problem for a woman who had a device capable of limitless power.
Juri focused on a concrete idea of her energy moving to the wall with her body following instantaneously. She imagined herself appearing where she wanted and pushed her body to respond. Her eye shrieked to her request and before the Korean knew what had happened, the wall was suddenly much, much closer. A brief sensation of falling forced her to reach out and stumble when she touched down. To make teleportation easier and to prevent the unlikely event of getting stuck in a solid object, the user would appear a few inches above their target.
"Woah! That was quick," Juri said as she quickly righted herself. She patted the wall in front of her before turning to Viper. "See anything weird?"
"Besides you, nothing," Viper replied with a shake of her head. "You flashed just briefly before and after you teleported. It's disorientating, but I'd be willing to bet you jumping all over the place is going to be much worse. What about you? Did you see a notification pop up before you teleported?"
"Yeah, just something about distance and power requirement or something."
"See? Technology's great when it can tell you easily missed stuff like that."
"I never said it wasn't," Juri huffed. She turned around and looked to the opposite wall. "Take two."
This time, Juri was prepared for the lurch of teleportation. She focused on willing herself over to the wall, disappeared, and then reappeared right in front of it. She touched down on the floor and spread her legs and arms in a linebacker's stance. Stable and safe. As long as she became accustomed to the strange feeling of being placed in a location far away and got over the initial feel of 'exiting' from her teleportation, she would be fine. Juri chuckled to herself before glancing over her shoulder.
In the blink of the eye, she teleported back in her original position near Viper.
"Gimmie your clipboard," she said.
"What for?" Viper replied as she gave the item up.
"Testing! That's why we're here, aren't we?"
Before Viper could express her concerns, Juri flashed and disappeared. So did the clipboard in her hands. At the far end of the room the Korean waved the clipboard about. Because of the user's teleportation gift, objects that she either came into contact with or channeled energy through would be carried with her when she 'jumped'. Thinking of it now, Viper cursed herself for her previous ignorance. If the Feng Shui Engine did not allow objects to be carried with it, Juri would have reappeared in one corner while her clothes fell to the ground in another. Shaking her head at that thought, Viper held out her hand.
A shriek and a flash later, the clipboard was placed back in her hands.
"Cool. Alright, gimmie a minute," Juri said.
She stepped back and folded her arms as she began to focus. An idea had surfaced, and Juri would be too dense to not follow through on it. She mentally searched the facility for something of interest before it hit her. To further test the distance her program could work over, she needed a location, but more than that, she needed a reason and motivation. A playful grin washed over her before she snapped her fingers and disappeared.
Viper didn't like that grin, nor did anyone else. Like a cat when flicking its tail, Juri's grins told everyone that she was up to no good. One would have to be extremely fortunate to witness a pure, genuine grin with no ulterior meaning behind it. The fact that the Korean had just up and left to pursue some hidden goal did not sit well with Viper as she was using the program to do so. However, this was not a big surprise given that Juri had used the previous two programs to fulfill her own desires and torment the agent.
Juri returned to the room in a flash, and she did not return empty-handed. In her hands was a large-sized red bra fit for someone with an ample chest, and on her face was the proudest smile she could ever hope to muster. The Korean fumbled with the bra before she held it close to her chest. She spread the material out over her breastplate and hummed a small tune, blissfully aware of an aghast Crimson Viper in front of her. Given the small tag that read 'Maya' on one of the straps, the agent had every reason to be bothered.
"Did you buy this before or after the boob job?" Juri asked innocently.
Viper snatched the red bra away from Juri and held it close to her chest.
"What the- Do you even realize what you've just done?" Viper hissed.
"Yeah!" Juri exclaimed. "I went through three stories, a locked door, and a locked wardrobe. Pretty spiffy, if I say so myself."
If the weight of violation of personal space and property couldn't faze Juri, Viper figured nothing else she had to say next would either. She wadded up her bra and tucked it away in a pocket of her jacket before turning on her heel in a huff. She tucked her clipboard underneath her arm and walked off. It wasn't until Juri calmed down from her bout of giggles did she notice Viper was leaving the room. She wiped a tear from her eye and called out to the woman.
"Woah, wait a minute, where you goin'? What about my mission?"
"There is no mission!" Viper shouted. "And I've had enough of you for one day!"
"But it's only the morning!"
Viper shot Juri the most sour look imaginable over her shoulder. Not even years of acting practice could replicate anything close to it. There was complete and utter contempt, embarrassment, and exasperation all wrapped up into one. Juri felt a great joy at seeing all three, but also a great sadness. She would probably never see a look like that again… unless she found more incriminating articles of clothing. Viper stormed out of the testing room, leaving Juri all alone to herself.
"No missions," she sighed. "Oh well, if no fun is laid out for me, I have no choice than to find some on my own."
At this reasoning, Juri grinned. She thought back on areas and locations that she had been to in the past. With teleportation at her fingertips, she had more freedom to go wherever she wanted and not have to deal with airports or private transportation. Just the thought of beating the rush hour traffic and not having to muscle her way through throngs of people filled her heart with glee. While she was tempted to fly off the handle and go wherever she pleased, she decided to use her teleportation in moderation, and only for testing. It was a new program, and if it was like the previous two, it was bound to be prone to malfunctions.
Perhaps an impromptu vacation would be a good form of testing. Asia beckoned as it filled Juri's mind with images of rich pastures, ancient architecture, and frantic nightlife action. Europe and its quant little cities called out to her, begging her to come and see the canals of Venice, the lights of Paris, and the fields of England. If she wanted to kick back and relax, a visit to one of the Siesta Keys beaches would be more than enough. If she wanted to fight for her life and possibly net herself a dingo pelt, Australia was the place to go. Plus, she enjoyed the stereotypes of the people there and was curious to see if they were real or not.
Australia, however, was foreign to Juri, and not because she had never been there. She was an observant fighter who kept track of where worthy opponents lived, purely for the sake of tracking them down for rematches, should she decide that she wanted more fun. She could always just walk around in Sydney and watch for the toughest ocker, but she figured she would sooner fight the police than someone who genuinely wanted a fight. Instead of taking a gamble in an alien location, the better choice would be to go to a familiar country with a familiar opponent. England and China- and their respective heroes- were fantastic choices once again, but Juri relented.
After the flogging Cammy and Chun-Li had experienced a few weeks ago, they would not be in the best condition to put up a fight. As much as Juri wanted to see how Cammy was handling her new haircut, she decided to leave things as they were, at least for now. She paced about the room and thought about another person she could fight, someone who had troubled her in the past and tested her strength. Someone who just so happened to be close to the operative and officer... Her eyes widened when she remembered just such a person.
If her memory served her right, this person would be in San Francisco, California. She concentrated on an image of the city- the Golden Gate Bridge- and its place on Earth before a blip appeared in her vision. Apparently it would require an extraordinary amount of energy to get over there, and then there was the possibility that the teleportation program would deposit her in the strait or 245 feet above it. Juri pushed that aside. She knew what she was doing.
She focused her energy and gradually fanned her inner flames until she could feel the warmth radiate from her body. Her sinister purple energy spiraled around her like a snake, twisting and convulsing with every breath she took. After another deep breath, she put the program to work. With a flash and a shriek from her eye, she was gone.
William F. Guile was not having a good day. Bad enough that the recent cadets had been robbed of flight training for the week because of a mechanic's terrible repairs, but to be blamed for it was something else. As a Major in the United States Airforce, Guile was used to having the blame come back around and bite him in the ass. If the man below him failed to do his job, it was because he had failed to teach and instruct him. However, the mechanic was not a part of the unit Guile had been watching over. In fact, he belonged to another but had been called in to service Guile's planes, thus giving his superiors every reason to sneer in his direction.
The soldier had not been getting as much sleep as he wanted to, his Shadaloo hunting had continued to turn up nothing for him, and the recent events that had befallen Cammy and Chun-Li were heavy on his mind. But the straw that broke the camel's back for him on this day was not any of the three but rather a run-in with his brother-in-law. Ken Masters was up there with Bison on Guile's list of people he did not want to meet again. The two managed a bit of small-talk before full-on arguing over the most trivial of problems and grievances. Eventually they went their separate ways, Ken bemoaning his irritable brother-in-law and Guile cursing Ken's easygoing and immature behavior.
When the man returned home, he was looking forward to a few hours all to himself. He parked his car in the driveway of his suburban house and dragged his feet to the front door. While he wanted to move out to a bigger home, both Julia, his wife, and Amy, his daughter, loved suburban living too much to leave. Amy loved the shopping and areas around the house while Julia enjoyed the fact that her sister Eliza lived with Ken nearby within a twenty-minute drive. And, as much as he hated to admit it, Guile enjoyed the community cookouts every now and then, even if Ken had to come down and ruin everything.
Guile let himself into his home and immediately dropped his keys, coat, and briefcase on the entryway table. He needed to wind down, and the couch looked like the best place to go. It was dark outside and quiet inside. Julia had left to catch up with Eliza for the week while Amy was out with her boyfriend, a good kid who had managed to avoid Guile's wrath so far. That said, the Major had the house all to himself for the evening. Before he could collapse onto the couch, he caught a strange shadow in the corner of his eye.
He recoiled at the sudden flash of purple before growling.
"Ahaha… Down boy," said the shadow.
Flicking a nearby light switch, Guile illuminated the shadow. Perched on the banister of a staircase was the woman he had fought in the mountains, the one and only Juri Han. She lazily checked her fingernails as her legs hung over the banister, her composure completely nonchalant. Trespassing, for her, wasn't enough to warrant being concerned over. She sighed and ran her fingers through her hair before stretching. She peered down at Guile and smiled.
"How ya doing?" she asked. "Been a long time, soldier. You don't look too bad."
Juri expected a retort of some kind. The dainty officer and her kitten loved to fight with words too, and beating them on the verbal front was too tempting for the Korean to ignore. To her surprise, the Major wasn't one with words. The man dashed forward and grabbed onto one of her legs. Before he could pull down, the woman disappeared. Guile's hands slipped down to his sides as he blinked twice, startled by the loss of a leg in his grasp.
A flash of light in the corner of his vision distracted him just enough for Juri to kick him into the staircase. Guile grunted and pushed off from the stairs, his head throbbing from the surprise attack. Turning around, he quickly assessed Juri's arrogant stance, completely open to an attack, before reacting accordingly. He brought his fist up and jabbed it into the woman's ribs. She disappeared again with a chuckle instead of sliding out of the way. Before Guile could turn around, Juri reached around him from behind and grabbed his arms in an armlock.
"Come on family man, step it up," she cooed into his ear. "Make me smile again."
She struggled to not laugh as the soldier thrashed about in her grip. What a surprise it was to a man like him to know that not only could Juri bring him to his knees in a fight, she could hold him down without much effort. It reminded Guile of occasional spars with Chun-Li when his temper flared. The woman used her agility to get behind the man and then relied on her strength to subdue him. But the officer was large and muscular while Juri was lithe. It had to be the eye's doing.
Guile shot his head back and smashed it against Juri's forehead. He could feel the clunk of bone reverberate throughout his skull, and despite the pain that flowed, he knew he had finally struck her. Juri released the soldier and recoiled back. Before she could even rub her head, she caught Guile's fist against her cheek. She stumbled against the banister and groaned at her arrogance. She had been careless in starting her fight, and unless she took the fight seriously, the soldier would probably be able to subdue her.
Juri straightened up and glowered at the man. The living room of his home was not the best place to fight, even if she enjoyed tight spaces. With the couches, tables, plants and lights in the way, she was more likely to stub her toes than to land a kick. As such, she decided to bring the fight to a new location. She raised her leg and kicked out in a feint to make Guile block low before rising up and kicking him straight in the ribs with such force that she swore she could hear something shift inside him.
It couldn't be helped that Guile just so happened to be in the perfect position to fly through the glass of the back porch's sliding door. Shards rained down onto the wooden deck as a thunderous clash echoed throughout the area. Guile careened off of the deck and down a small flight of stairs to the grass below with a mighty thump. He could feel moisture forming at his back as well as a stinging sensation in the back of his shoulder. Gritting his teeth from the pain, he could notice Juri's footsteps steadily approaching.
"Get up," she shouted. "Come on goddammit! Is this the best a professional sold-"
A blast of light energy slammed into her stomach and knocked her off her feet. In her small monologue Guile had taken the opportunity to unleash his inner power, something Juri had never witnessed before. With a quick motion of his arms he had created a sonic boom, and to his good fortune, it had connected. Juri disappeared back into the house to tumble over herself. When she finally stopped rolling, she glared up at Guile with a malicious sneer. Here was the excitement she was seeking.
She flashed and disappeared before Guile's eyes again before reappearing at his flank. This time the soldier was prepared for one of her disappearing acts and reacted accordingly with a counter-jab.
"What the hell kind of tricks are those?" he barked as his fist grazed Juri's side.
"You like them?" Juri asked before she kicked Guile in the legs. "New features. Only the best for Han's baby girl!"
The two fought tooth and nail in the backyard of Guile's family home. Kicks landed against limbs as fists pounded into ribs and cheeks. Juri, with her new teleportation power, managed to avoid being struck more than she used to without it while the soldier got the short end of the stick. Try as he might, he was continuously put on the defensive by the Korean's new power. Attacks that were likely to hit were met with thin air as she kept teleporting away only to come back with a surprise counterattack. If it wasn't for the man's endurance, he would have been knocked unconscious minutes ago.
Juri grumbled as she dodged another punch. While she was impressed by Guile's inner power, she was ultimately disappointed with his performance. He hadn't even come close to making her smile. It seemed to her that the programs that she used- and will use in the future- took most of the fun out of her fights. They were impressive to use, but they were not satisfying if she constantly had the upper hand. In fact, for her to get any kicks out of fights, she decided she would have to stretch them out or give herself some kind of handicap.
She clicked her tongue and teleported behind Guile. Like an old dog that couldn't move well again, the soldier had to be put down. He was boring to the Korean, and unlike the officer and her kitten, he had not offered any reason to continue a 'relationship'. This could not stand. With a simple command, she willed her eye to activate to its fullest potential and give her the power she desired to end the fight then and there. She waited for the sinister glove of violet ki to wrap around her hand before pulling back.
Suddenly, a few red lines of text splashed into her vision. Many of them were corrupted and marred so badly that they were illegible. Among the lines of text were a few symbols she could understand, ones that told of ki circulation troubles, programming problems, and bad bugs. It didn't matter what they were to Juri; they were all critical errors. A sharp pain rocked through her head and forced her to drop her attack and hold herself. Through her torment she could see one line of text clearly enough.
"I-I-Incompatible?" She lowered her hands and hissed. "Dammit Seth, you messed-"
She trailed off when she looked over at Guile. In the time that she spent writhing, the man had composed himself just enough to capitalize on the situation. He launched forward with a devastating haymaker as Juri's vision turned to white, her eye shrieking. She felt the ground leave her as she was knocked off her feet to the concrete below. Her head throbbed at the collision. She grumbled to herself and shook her head before noticing something glaring.
Why was there concrete in Guile's backyard? It wasn't there before!
It was then that a boot came down on her exposed midriff and pinned her down, robbing her of any further questioning. Juri opened her eyes and looked up to stare down the barrel of a shotgun. Calloused hands gripped the stock and slider, a finger hovering over the trigger. As the Korean's vision began to clear, she saw more than just the shotgun. A man in red military fatigues stood over her, but not the USAF Major from before. He was nowhere to be seen.
The man above her wore a brown helmet that rested just on the bridge of his nose. If Juri had been standing, she would have laughed at the style, for the man had effectively jammed his helmet over his eyes. Beneath the helmet was a large, mad grin. Two grenades were fastened to a bandolier while numerous ammo pouches hugged his hips. A trench shovel was attached to his waist, and it was covered with fresh blood. Juri watched a few drops of blood fall in silent fear before looking back up at the man who held her at gunpoint. He looked like a soldier, but not like any the Korean had ever seen before.
"What's the matter hippie," he cackled. "Hair get in your eyes?"
And with that, the man brought his shotgun up and prepared to fire. Before he could do anything further, however, a booming voice from behind stopped him.
"Soldier! Stop!"
The soldier lowered his weapon and took his boot off of Juri's stomach, allowing her to scuttle away on her back. Another man came up behind the soldier, and he looked more ridiculous than him. Large, fat, bald, wearing a flak jacket over a red shirt and carrying a massive minigun, the new man rounded on the other. He looked like an eastern European of sorts, a Russian. This was reinforced by his accent and his short, broken sentences when he opened up his mouth again.
"Do not shoot! Is not BLU! Is purple!" He pointed at Juri with his free hand. "Tiny baby lady is friend!"
Juri wasn't sure whether or not she was supposed to be offended by the fat man's assistance and description. Instead, she took the opportunity to stand up and check her surroundings. The air was dank with moisture as the smell of blood filled her nostrils. Judging by the two pipes nearby that were large enough to fit a truck through, Juri figured she was in a sewer of sorts. The water flowed slowly through the area and lapped against the corner junction the three were on.
Whirling was heard nearby, and when Juri turned her head to investigate, she saw the corpse of an unfortunate man in blue overalls slumped against a wall. The man had on a yellow hardhat, worker's goggles, and one solitary rubber glove. Bits of mangled, bloodied machinery were littered around him, painted blue just like his uniform. One machine that stole Juri's attention was a small rotating contraption that was emitting a bright blue light. She heard a faint mechanical whistle from the contraption and watched it whirl around for a moment longer before looking back at the men in red.
"Back off, comrade," the soldier growled. "That rifle-droppin' coward's deceiving you with a voluptuous disguise! This is war, and I will not toler-" He cut himself off and remained silent for two seconds before inquiring, "What did you just say?"
The soldier raised his helmet up and looked at Juri. He held an incredulous stare with her before anger flashed in his eyes. He jabbed a finger at her, consequently dropping his helmet back over his eyes.
"What in god's name is a woman doing on my battlefield? This is a man's war! If you know what's good for you, you will return to your kitchen! That's an order, magg-"
Juri reached up and slapped the finger away before pounding on the man's helmet. He groaned and held his head as the fat man stepped closer, his expression grim. However, when Juri rounded on him with a clenched fist, the man took a step back and held his minigun possessively.
"Alright, do not hurt Heavy, tiny lady," the fat man said as he affectionately patted his gun. He raised his eyebrows and turned to the soldier. "Soldier is sorry. Right?"
"Sorry? The only one who's going to be sorry is this nip!" The man raised his shotgun again. "So, the land of the rising sun's sending pansy ladies to do their fighting now, are they?"
"Soldier is sorry!" the "Heavy" roared, pounding on the man's helmet with his meaty fist. "Besides, war is over. We are friends, da?" To Juri, he asked, "Da?"
"What the hell is going on?" Juri shouted. She twirled around once and gestured about. "Where the hell am I?"
The "Soldier" grumbled and leaned forward.
"You're in Teufort, Sally. And you're in the sewers of RED base!"
"Is best base!" the Heavy piped in with a grin.
"Right, right. Anyway, with you coming out of that teleporter there," the Soldier pointed to the blue whirling contraption, "I have every reason to suspect BLU involvement."
"Look here, nutjob, I just got here," Juri hissed. "I don't know what's going on, and I don't care anymore. I just wanna get back to where I was before!"
The two men looked at Juri, then to each other. She could only guess at what they were thinking. Given the dead man in blue and the killer in red as well as the antipathy between this RED and BLU group, wherever the Korean was now, it was not safe. She craned her neck to listen towards a sewer pipe and could hear the firing of bullets off in the distance. Something exploded nearby, prompting a young man to scream out for a medic. Disturbingly enough, the two men in the sewer seemed to notice but did not care.
Just what kind of place did she get teleported into? She accepted the fact that her teleportation program was now faulty, but what she feared were further complications. She feared that she would not be able to get back to S.I.N. until her eye was fixed up, and to do that, she could either rely on the now-faulty program to teleport her to the facility or she could reach up and perform amateur eye surgery. But no matter the danger, Juri would never again entertain that latter idea.
Ultimately, she decided to try to use the eye again to get herself out, but it seemed that the men in front of her had other plans.
"Private Heavy! Orders have changed!" Soldier barked. "We are to escort the civilian back to base. No doubt the administrator planned for this."
"New objective?" Heavy questioned. "No more grabbing tiny briefcase?"
"Precisely!"
And with that, the two turned to Juri and steadily advanced on her. She balled her hands up into fists again and sank back into a fighting stance, now certain that they weren't about to help her anytime soon. Not that they would probably help anyway. Through the break between the fat man and the insane soldier, Juri looked down the sewer tunnel behind them. If she could just slip past, she would be able to teleport away without being harassed.
Before she could put her plan into action, something came around the corner of the tunnel and into plain sight. A man- or woman- of sorts wearing a blue fire retardant suit sloshed their way into the area with a primed flamethrower cradled in their rubber hands. Juri stared at the creature, unable to see a thing behind the gasmask it wore. What was worse was that the… thing was wearing a beanie hat, a taped-on mustache and monocle, and yellow sunglasses. The pyromaniac gave a muffled war cry and charged forward at the Soldier and Heavy, who turned around in surprise. They reached for their weapons, but it was far too late for them.
Soon, the Korean's vision became obscured by all-consuming fire. Her left eye shrieked again, but it was drowned out by the screams of the men in front of her. She brought her arms up to shield her face from the propane nightmare, but no flames licked her skin. Peeking through her arms, she looked out at what she expected to be two flaming corpses. Instead, two deathly pale men lumbered towards her, their arms outstretched.
Still quite agitated, Juri kicked the two men back to the street below. Their bones cracked upon impact as their blood splattered onto the pavement. One of the men's heads fell clean off his shoulders with a sickening, bubbling squish. She took a step back to get away from the scene, but she backed up into a deserted car. The still alive 'corpse' shuffled back onto its feet and moaned before falling over again.
The sewers of a mercenary base were no more. Instead, Juri found herself in a large intersection filled with destroyed cars, buses, broken barricades and dead and decaying bodies. Fires burned in the night, filling buildings in the distance as the stench of death filled the air. Shops and restaurants littered the sides of the intersection, all of which had Chinese lettering above them. Looking up, Juri could see a pedestrian bridge filled with more bodies, only unlike the ones in the street, these were moving.
One of the bodies stumbled over the railing and fell right on top of the second corpse. Juri widened her eyes as both bodies stood up and looked her way. Shuffling movements, moaning, disgusting appearance, and a strange hostility towards anything alive. Without a doubt, these things were zombies. Juri had heard of such creatures back when she was a teenager. She expressed an interest in the supernatural and grotesque, and zombies easily secured a place in her memories. If these zombies were anything like the modern renditions, one bite or swipe would be fatal.
As the two zombies were joined by others and began to shuffle towards her, Juri tried to force her eye to teleport her anywhere else. Zombies were not real. They couldn't be real! They did not exist in her world, so unless S.I.N. had somehow let a zombie virus fly under the radar, this was not the same world as Juri remembered it. She chuckled sadly to herself. The teleportation program was now proving to be more trouble than it was worth, and if she wasn't careful, it would be her undoing. Unfortunately, the eye was not in the complying mood at the moment, so that left Juri with the decision to either wait until the eye warped her somewhere else or sit back and let the zombies have their way with her.
Logically, she chose to do the former while preventing the later.
One zombie got close enough to swipe at her. Juri ducked under the lazy swipe and twisted around to bring an elbow up and into the side of the abomination's head. The effect was instantaneous. The zombie's head popped like a balloon with a sickening splatter, spraying blood and grey matter up and away. While Juri was not a big fan of gore, there was something strangely satisfying about the kill. She repeated the action on another zombie who tried to grab her, effectively bashing its fragile skull in.
After the next dozen zombies, she decided she was actually having fun in this zombie apocalypse. The enemies kept coming, all in different clothes and carrying different objects. Juri bashed in an accountant's head, ruined an infected firefighter's face with a fire extinguisher, and made a police officer regret bringing a golf club. She felt that she was being rewarded for this behavior, somehow, as if something was adding points to every kill she made. Soon she became surrounded by a good-sized crowd, but she didn't notice the futility of her situation until one zombie grabbed onto her arm.
Startled, Juri grappled with the creature in an attempt to push it away. She could see the rotten flesh on its face part and move as it opened up its mouth. Putrid acid of some sort dribbled down its chin as it snapped at Juri, gnashing its rotten teeth. Something hit the back of her leg and made her stumble forward, inadvertently pushing her closer to the offending zombie. Before the creature could bite into her neck, a bolt flew through the air and perforated its head from ear to ear.
Juri threw the zombie down to the ground and looked for the one responsible. A curvy woman in a signature red jacket and black pants shoved a zombie aside with the butt of her crossbow before barreling through. She flashed Juri a smile and a thumbs-up as she passed.
"Still working on those time bonuses. Keep it up!"
"W-wait what?" Juri cried.
But there was no time to stop and hold a decent conversation. More zombies approached, each one more troublesome than the last. One of them, a zombie in armor, had a gun, and it fired it off like a drunken fool on too many hallucinogens. Juri managed to duck under the gunfire and break its firing arm. Soon things took a turn for the worse. The zombie violently convulsed at the trauma before its armor slid off to reveal rapidly rotting and pulsating flesh.
With a gruesome roar, the zombie 'shed' its skin and revealed bare muscle. Eyes fell out from their sockets as facial features soon ceased to be recognizable. A gaping maw filled with razor-sharp teeth glinted in the dim lighting of the neon signs up above. Juri backed away when it reared its ugly head in her direction. She hadn't expected this, and now that she was staring living gore in the face, the urge to run was taking hold. She turned on her heel and dashed away to give herself some room, but she didn't get too far. As the gored creature lurched towards the Korean with a jaw wide open, her eye shrieked once again.
She felt a rush of energy surge through her veins for a brief moment before her body collided with a rough surface. Stars burst into her vision as a great pain flashed across her face and sides. She writhed for a moment, unsure of where she was. Part of her expected the bloodied creature to be on top of her, pressing her face into the pavement before it tried to take a chunk out of her neck, but the other part was unsure. The only blood that she could smell was her own as it trickled down from her nose, and she did not collide with any pavement. She rubbed her temples and looked up.
Just as her vision cleared, a book fell directly on her face.
Juri shuddered at the pain and ripped the book off. She made a move to throw it as hard as she could when she noticed she was somewhere completely different. The air was musty, dusty, and stuffy. A strong and crisp smell wafted throughout it. Wood flooring replaced bloody pavement. Many small and pristine oil lamps were hanging up around her, all attached to bookcases. Juri blinked twice and rubbed her eyes when she looked up.
What she expected to be simple bookcases were just that, but she was unprepared for their size and majesty. They were massive. So massive, in fact, that she couldn't see where they ended. The ceiling, if there was one, was too high up to be seen. It was as if the bookcases disappeared into the darkness above. Juri absentmindedly brushed a bit of gore off of her trousers as she continued to stare. She contemplating climbing up there herself to see if there really was a ceiling, but her curiosity would have to wait.
With no zombies around, she realized her eye had spat her out in a different location again. It wasn't willing to cooperate just yet, but Juri knew that if she willed herself to return to S.I.N.'s facility, eventually the teleportation program would pick up on her desire and send her back. When that happened, she would grab Seth and demand the program was to be taken out immediately. She didn't want to stumble across another insane world, and she didn't want to get stuck in a bad situation that she had no way of surmounting, like a zombie apocalypse. All she had to do now was survive.
She sighed and moved down the bookcases until her foot hit a small stack of books on the floor. She cried out in pain and dropped her book to cradle her foot. Whoever this library belonged to, they had more books than they knew what to do with. There were many books scattered around in neat little piles, all organized according to size, color, or title. Juri, in a small fit of anger, kicked over the stack she had hit her foot on. The sound of falling books echoed throughout the endless library, but by the time Juri noticed the effect, it was already too late.
"…What was that?"
Juri's breath hitched when she heard the feminine voice. It sounded close, as if the speaker was just behind the bookcase. The sound of pages being flipped filled the air before falling silent. Juri pressed herself against the bookcases and cautiously made her way forward as the unknown person's voice was joined by another.
"Hmm? Did you hear something, Mistress?" asked a playful-sounding woman.
"…Yes, yes I did." A book closed with an audible 'whumph'. A string of coughs arose from the action before the monotone voice was heard again. "I heard a rat. Please investigate."
"Yes, Mistress."
Juri continued to advance at a cautious pace. Now that she was no longer alone, she had every reason to be careful. Who knew what kind of place this really was, and who knew what type of people owned it? Light filtered through the cracks between books as well as the openings in the bookcases. The Korean matched her steps with the sounds of heels on floorboards nearby as she approached an intersection. If the staff of this library was on alert, it would be high time before they calmed down. Perhaps it would be better to address them.
Then again, with the way things were going for the Korean, perhaps it wouldn't.
Stopping at the intersection, Juri waited for the sound of heels to get closer. She crouched down to pick up a book before promptly tossing it high over the intersection and into the far aisle. The book slammed down with a resounding thud. A young woman slid into view and stared down the aisle where Juri threw the book. Wearing a black dress with white sleeves, the red-haired girl could have passed off as normal if it weren't for the two pairs of black, bat-like wings on her back and on the sides of her head. Juri found it strange, but she did not hesitate.
She lurched forward and grabbed the girl's arms from behind, effectively putting her into an armlock.
"Waaa!" the girl cried. Something clattered to the floor; reading glasses, perhaps?
"E-easy now, I'm not gonna kill ya," Juri hissed. She tugged on the girl's arms as she struggled. "Don't gimme a reason to. Just where the hell am I?"
"Somewhere you don't belong."
Juri looked up and over to her left to see the other person she had heard. Dressed in white and purple pajamas covered by purple robes and a mob cap, a girl of sorts glared over at the Korean. Her long purple hair hung just above her purple eyes and fell down her back, even managing to reach her hands that grasped an old and dusty tome. While Juri found her appearance strange enough, what really took the cake was the fact that the girl was not touching the floor. Instead, she levitated a good foot off from the floorboards, her dainty feet dangling beneath her from some mysterious power.
"Come again?" Juri growled as she rotated the red-haired girl around, placing her between herself and the purple creature.
The purple-haired girl started to reply when she suddenly hunched over and coughed into her hand. Despite the red-haired girl's position, she cried out in concern for the other. It was a sickly, wheezing cough, and it continued for a few seconds until she reached into her robes to pull out a small asthma inhaler. After a few breaths, the levitating girl composed herself and returned the inhaler. She sniveled once and looked back to Juri with the same emotionless face, her words monotonous.
"Who sent you? How did you get in here?"
"Nobody sent me! I just got here randomly!" Juri spat. She tightened her grip on the devil. "Look, I'm tired, confused, and pissed off. I just want to know where I am and how I can get out!"
"M-Mistress," the red-haired girl whined from her confinement.
"…Unhand my familiar, human. Perhaps then I will answer your questions."
Juri contemplated letting the servant go before relenting. It didn't bother her that these 'girls' looked the way they did, for she knew that they were not as they seemed. She could take them both if she needed to, even if one of them was levitating. She let go of the familiar and stepped back to allow her to run back over to her mistress. The devil-girl hugged the other right away, to which the purple-haired girl responded with a gentle pat on the head.
"Thank you, Mistress," the devil said as she broke away.
"Well?" Juri scoffed. "I did what you asked, so unless you want these books of yours burned, you'll tell me what I want to know."
Anger flashed in the librarian's eyes for a moment before they returned to their previous uninterested shade.
"Hmph… I wonder who brought you here, but it seems to me that you came here by your own power." The librarian shook her head and coughed again. "From the outside world, I'll wager. You are in Gensokyo, but worse than that, you are in my domain. My library, Voile."
The monotone voice of the librarian couldn't carry malice even if Juri tried to add it herself. She found it amusing that the meek girl was trying to intimidate her, only barely managing to stifle a chuckle. The area around them was massive, filled with all sorts of books and chairs scattered around desks and tables. It really did look like a library, and the levitating girl a librarian, although one Juri had never encountered before.
And Gensokyo? What was that? A town, a country, or another plane of existence?
"Better keep quiet in the library, then. Alright, how do I get outta here?"
"You don't," came a childish voice from above.
Juri looked up and took a step back when she saw two people looking down at her from a balcony. One of them, a red-eyed, blue-haired girl in pink clothes and a mob cap, was leaning on the railing with her chin propped up by her palms. A pair of unfurled black wings jutted out from her back as she gave a fanged grin. At her side was a silver-haired maid, her appearance elegant and composed. She looked down at Juri with disdain, and through the wooden posts of the railing, the Korean could see the faint glint of throwing knives between the maid's fingers.
"What did you just say?" Juri asked, irritated with this sudden appearance.
"My my my, such a rude guest we have here… What hole did you crawl out of, I wonder?"
"None of your business, missy."
"I wonder myself," the librarian interjected. She shot a glare towards the vampire. "It was not the gap-hag's doing. Was it fate?"
"Absolutely not. I wouldn't bother you like this," the vampire replied with a smirk. "You know I pay close attention to the mansion's guests."
A library inhabited by strange girls now began to concern the Korean. She knew she did not belong here, and if she did not take proper action, she would be forcibly removed. The glint from the vampire's fangs and the maid's knives convinced her that getting into a fight would not be the best idea. With the librarian and her servant floating nearby, Juri was even more convinced. These girls looked weak, but there was something powerful about them. It was something that even the rowdy Juri Han was hesitant to fight against.
"I suppose I don't care where you came from anyway," the vampire scoffed as she looked back down at Juri.
"…Ok, does that mean I can go?" Juri asked.
"Go?" The vampire giggled at that. Juri's face fell. "My dear, you've appeared in my mansion without an invitation, you're rude, and you've irritated a dear friend. I can't just let you leave." There was an eerie glint in the vampire's eye as she leaned forward. "You're a human, aren't you? Delightful!"
Juri growled and curled her fingers into fists. Having someone bar her from leaving and look down their nose at her never failed to anger her. She advanced towards the librarian and her servant with the intention of knocking them away to clear a path when two streaks of light slammed into the floorboards in front of her. Darting back, Juri watched as more came down in front of her, only barely missing her feet. The streaks of light were throwing knives, and when Juri looked up to the maid, she discovered dozens of them frozen in midair around her.
She had missed on purpose. At any time, she could set the knives back into motion and riddle the woman below with wounds. Juri reluctantly backed down with a grumble. If the maid enjoyed her power over the Korean, she didn't show it.
"Please remain where you are," she said as she pointed another knife down at her, "lest you hurt yourself."
"What should I do with you?" the vampire pondered. "I'm feeling a bit peckish this morning, so perhaps a nice, long drink will alleviate my hunger. Oh, but then I'd be selfish." Wings flapping, the vampire smirked again. "You could always visit my sister. She's in need of a playmate."
"Do I have a choice?" Juri snapped.
Everyone ignored her as the librarian coughed and voiced her own suggestion.
"…I could use an expendable human for future experiments, but I too would be selfish." The librarian pondered for a moment before looking to her servant. "My familiar experienced the most discomfort here. I believe the choice of selecting a use for this human belongs to the succubus."
The red-haired girl stared at the librarian with adoration before turning to Juri. At first she thought the way the girl looked her over was rather cute, but when she narrowed her eyes and grinned, even Juri was surprised. It was not a malicious grin, not one bit. Even worse than the grin was the meaning behind it. If the girl was as the librarian said, a succubus, then things were suddenly much, much worse than they were a minute ago.
"Mistress, while I would say that I am content with nothing, I find myself wanting this human." The servant blushed and looked to her mistress. "M-my urges…"
"Is that so?" The librarian coughed and sneered. "Then by all means, take as much time as you want."
A mechanical shriek tore their attention away and refocused it on Juri. The maid put her knives back into motion, but they hit nothing but the floorboards. The woman had disappeared, leaving dozens of knives in the place where she stood, a confused a maid, an irritated vampire, and a distraught succubus. The chance for fun and excitement for all had been dashed just as quickly as it had arisen. Coughing again into her hand, the librarian shook her head.
"Hmph… How peculiar…" She shrugged and touched back down the ground to walk off. "Well, Koakuma… I suppose you'll just have to settle for less enticing prey."
The little succubus collapsed to her knees and grumbled into the floorboards.
Eventually, Juri found herself back at S.I.N. After shaking down the scientists as well as Seth for information, desperately wanting to know if she was in the right universe, she violently ordered the chrome man to remove the teleportation program. The eye had warped her to and fro for nearly an hour, and every location that she went to was just as crazed as the last. Although Juri was resistant to the madness in the world, even she agreed that the places she went to and the things that she had seen there had taken its toll on her.
After the incident with the girls in the mansion, she fought against an armored woman with a lance, then a red-headed and cocky taekwando practitioner. It was a welcome reprieve from the first three warps, but it did not last. Soon after, she found herself within a far-off world where she chased down an Italian coward in green out of anger. Next came a generic warzone filled with soldiers running around like sugar-crazed children before a snowy forest chilled her to the bone. The fire-breathing dragon would have been a welcome addition if it hadn't tried to kill her.
Seth recommended that Juri pursue counseling, and she wholeheartedly agreed once the program was removed and her eye was fixed. Unfortunately for Seth, Juri's idea of counseling was to take out her anger and frustration on the person nearest her.
"Test compatibility next time, jerkass!" she shouted as she left her boss lying on the ground in a broken heap. "That next program had better be bug free, you hear me?"
As she left, Seth couldn't help but reluctantly agree that he deserved his beating.
Author's Note: Games included/alluded to with characters: Team Fortress 2 (Soldier, Heavy, Pyro), Resident Evil 6 (Ada Wong), Touhou Project (Koakuma, Patchouli Knowledge, Remilia Scarlet, Sakuya I.), Soul Calibur 5 (Hilde), Tekken (Hwoarang), Super Mario (Luigi), Every Call of Duty game after 4, Skyrim.
Also, because I grow tired of being attacked by a coward who just so suddenly turns around and attacks Juri after supporting her, I've decided I will update my fanfictions on deviantART. I'm more active there, and it's not hard to find me. Just search up "MajorMario" in the search.