Hey. I just really, really wanted to keep you in suspense between postings. Create some tension. Yeah. Months worth of suspense.
(I totally forgot I had posted this fic...legit the whole thing has just been sitting around on my computer waiting to be posted...)
I don't own anything. I promise not to forget to post the last chapter.
SHADOW.
Chun-Li stared at the folder. Interpol had no record or intelligence of S.I.N. planning a program with such a name. Even stranger was that it was not listed among the other large project folders, instead tucked away with the Doll's files. Could this be a sister of Cammy's they had no record of? Curious, she clicked into it.
Her heart stopped.
Inside were photographs of her. Candid shots, taken with her head turned away. Old I.D. photos from her license. Newspaper articles. Address records. Even a report or two that she had filed from Interpol. Chun-Li's stomach twisted. How had Juri gotten this information on her? She no doubt had spies, but what did this file mean?
But that wasn't all. The folder contained dozens of files. Even more disconcerting and bizarre, were military records and a handful news reports on the death of Guile's good friend, Charlie Nash. In addition, the folder contained duplicates of some of the Dolls' files. What on earth did Charlie have to do with the Dolls? Chun-Li stared in bewilderment. It didn't exactly surprise Chun-Li that Juri had a file with information on her, but the context, -the Dolls, the information on Charlie- didn't make any sense at all. What did she have to do with the Dolls and Charlie?
She needed this file. She was shaking as she copied and pasted it into the flash drive. What else did Juri have about her? What on earth did Charlie have to do with it? What was SHADOW?
The running water ceased in the other room. Chun-Li froze. The files she had would have to do. She yanked the flash drive out of the computer and closed the files. She jumped back onto the bed, wondering where to put it. She quickly kicked off her boots, and stuffed it into the sole of one of them.
She somehow felt she would look highly suspicious if Juri found her just sitting on the bed in the exact same position staring into space. In an attempt to look occupied, Chun-Li crawled to the head of the bed by the bedside table and lamp. She opened the drawer, hoping to find reading material or something that would make her look as if she'd had been occupied the whole time.
What she found instead were several magazines featuring Asian women in varying states of undress. And beside that Chun-Li, incredulous, pulled out a long purple object made of some sort of soft rubbery substance and rather…phallic shaped…
"Oi! Don't touch Mademoiselle Violette," said Juri emerging from the bathroom wrapped in a towel, as Chun-Li shrieked in horror and dropped the dildo. She shoved past Juri into the bathroom where she began furiously scrubbing her hands in the sink.
"Chun…" said Juri, leaning against the bathroom door. "I…I'm clean you know. I don't, have any diseases. And I stuck it in the dishwasher yesterday." Chun-Li let out a derisive snort and continued scrubbing her hands, repulsed and trying not to think of what Juri did with her dildo.
Something glinting in corner of the sink caught her eye and she paused in the furious scouring of her hands.
Two small bullets sat on the porcelain next to a pair of bloody tweezers.
Chun-Li slowly withdrew her hands from the sink, staring. She had certainly taken a bullet once or twice. It had never been serious, but she certainly had never removed them by herself with nothing but a pair of tweezers.
"Happy?" said Juri, her visible eye glaring. "Got all my germs off have you?"
Chun-Li looked at the bullets. "I can't believe you did that," she said, half disbelieving and half admonishing. "You should have seen a doctor." She saw the bandages and thick gauze taped over Juri's right shoulder, a blot of red visible.
"Yeah? I'd love to explain to the medics here how I ended up with bullet wounds in my sleep. Especially when there's an intruder."
"I could have…" Chun-Li trailed off lamely, not sure entirely what she could have or would have done.
"Ohhh officer, how cute," cooed Juri, twirling a strand of damp hair around her finger. "Now," she said, clapping her hands together. "It's sleepover time!"
"What?" said Chun-Li, dumbfounded. "You…no I'm not sleeping here! I'm just staying here until the guards stop looking for me!"
"Which is probably gonna take all night sweetheart," said Juri, sashaying over to the dresser. "The coast will be clear in the morning." She dropped her towel and Chun-Li immediately looked away.
"God! Are you always this much of a prude? Have you never seen your own tits in the shower?" Juri demanded brazenly cupping her breasts and squeezing them in Chun-Li's direction.
Chun-Li cringed and shielded her eyes; Juri muttered something under her breath and began opening drawers. When Chun-Li felt safe to look, Juri was wearing a pair of loose, violet plaid pajama bottoms and an oversized shirt with some Korean writing and the caption "Taekwondo Championships: Seoul."
"Here," said Juri, tossing Chun-Li some clothes.
"What are these for?" demanded Chun-Li, nonplussed.
"They're for you to eat," said Juri, rolling her visible eye. "No dumbass, put them on."
"I'd rather stay in my own clothes, thanks," said Chun-Li coolly, though, like the shower, she didn't want to admit that it might be nice to change out of her grimy, sweaty shirt and cargo pants.
"What is it with you and accepting favors?" said Juri. "Don't fight me on this officer. They're clothes. Just put them on. Or am I going to have to take your clothes off for you?"
She slid a hand into the waistband of Chun-Li's pants. Chun-Li lurched away, raising her hand to slap Juri, but caught herself. Glaring, she gathered up the pajamas and stalked into the bathroom.
She had been given a pair of baggy pajama bottoms and a large shirt too. Though Juri's legs were smaller than hers, the pants were baggy enough and she was able to squeeze into them…sort of. They fit her much more snugly than they probably fit Juri. She pulled on the shirt which was likewise from a Taekwondo competition.
She exited the washroom, dirty clothes in hand. Juri was lounging on the bed eating what looked like a large piece of cake.
Juri let out a whistle. "Damn! Those hips don't lie!" she said smirking. "Want some cake?"
Chun-Li was famished, and well, given her particular tastes for sweets, cake was…well, cake.
"Where did you get that?" said Chun-Li loudly over the gurgle of her stomach, sitting down on the bed.
"It was in one of the break room fridges," said Juri shrugging.
"You stole someone else's cake?" said Chun-Li.
"You really think I care?"
""You're horrible!" said Chun-Li indignantly, trying not to think of the time she had lied to Cammy about eating the rest of her chocolate chip cookies. "I'm not eating your…your…stolen cake! You – mmmargh!"
She was cut off by Juri grabbing her by the shirt shoving a large piece of the cake into her open mouth.
"Ooo bifth!" Chun-Li shouted through a mouth of cake, lunging at Juri who rolled sideways on the bed, shrieking with laughter.
"Oh come on officer!" she purred. She batted the eyelashes of her good eye grabbed fistfuls of her hair, holding them in mock buns. "'Ohh….I'm Chun-Li! I'm so perfect! I don't want a shower even though gross men threw me on the floor! I don't want cake even though I love cake! I'm not gonna tell Juri how cute she looks in her pajamas!'"
Chun-Li was torn between outrage and bewilderment as Juri rolled around on the bed giggling, still holding her hair in buns.
"I'm Miss perfect defender of justice! My thighs can crush human skulls! My only weakness is sex toys!" Juri continued between snorts of laughter. "Seriously," she said finally, looking up at Chun-Li. "Why are you so hung up on being some freaking martyr of denial? You're dirty, so take a damn shower. You're hungry, eat the damn cake."
Chun-Li glowered at her, still wiping cake off her mouth.
"Why is it any different than if I was your little kitten?" said Juri flatly, standing up and crossing to her dresser. "If she made you cake you'd take it…oh, but god forbid you eat my contaminated cake." She grabbed a bottle of pink nail polish and plopped back down on the bed.
"You think we're friends or something?" demanded Chun-Li. "That this is some sort of…pajama party?"
"Looks like one to me," said Juri shrugging her uninjured shoulder and rolling onto her back. "Come on officer, she said, grinning upside down at Chun-Li. "Why don't we have some more girl talk, like back in your car? None of that kinky shit you pulled on me last time. No handcuffs, and no Engine. I won't even escape on you. Neutral ground. Just you and me."
She was batted the eyelashes of her visible eye and jutted out her lower lip. "I'll paint your nails!" Juri cooed, wagging the bottle of nail polish under Chun-Li's nose.
Chun-Li bit her lip and sighed. "Why did you give me a number to trace you here?"
"I wanted you to find me," said Juri, as though this should have been obvious, taking the bottle of nail polish and applying it to her own toenails. "Took you long enough," she added, "I thought you'd keep me waiting forever. Thought you'd stood me up."
"You wanted me to come find your 'secret base' knowing I work for Interpol?"
"Pfft, I got a ton of secret bases," said Juri. "This one ain't special."
"Like where?"
Juri laughed. "I'm not stupid! This isn't a business chat, this is girl talk. You sure you don't want something to eat?"
"Sure," said Chun-Li, before she could catch herself. "No, I mean—"
Juri had already rolled off the bed and opened a small cupboard. "Popcorn? Drinks? I got margarita mix, maybe some vodka, it ain't much."
"So long you don't poison the drinks," said Chun-Li, surprising herself with the joke.
"Nah, you should know by now I like you better alive" said Juri grinning as she slid an instant popcorn bag into the microwave.
Chun-Li swallowed, choosing not to pursue that statement. "You're pretty well-accommodated here," she said conversationally, as Juri dumped the margarita mix into a blender. "I mean, I'm lucky if I get a hotel room with a refrigerator."
"Heh, it pays to be the boss," said Juri, grabbing a couple of glasses and a large bowl. "The old tin can…I mean Seth, he wouldn't let me keep booze around back before I took him out. He said the last thing he needed was me intoxicated with a volatile weapon stuck in my face."
She teetered on the spot, carrying the drinks. "Hey Seth…Seth look!" she slurred in mock-drunkenness, "Look…look my eye! I can glow in the dark! It's like…it's like I'm a Lite-Brite!"
Chun-Li laughed, accepting the slushy margarita from Juri.
"Let me tell you though," said Juri, plopping down next to Chun-Li. "Seth had this assignment for me, out in the States. Now, my English is fine, but Seth seemed to think my accent needed work, I wasn't pronouncing stuff right or something. So he sends in this "voice coach" guy from America to coach me on how to talk, like in casual conversation or whatever."
"Uh-huh?'
"And you wanna know what this stupid punk tells me?"
"What?" said Chun-Li, sipping her margarita.
"He tells me, if I want to sound like an American girl, I gotta imagine I've got a cocktail in one hand and a cigarette in the other."
"What!?" gasped Chun-Li incredulously, nearly snorting margarita out her nose. "That's ridiculous!"
"I know!" said Juri. "Is that what American chicks sound like? I wasn't putting up with that shit. I threw the guy across the room and walked out. I told Seth to get someone else because I wasn't flying halfway across the world to pretend to be a hooker in a bar."
"Ah do declare Miss Han," said Chun-Li, tilting her margarita off to the side and putting on her best American Southern drawl. "Ya should've called Interpol fer yer undercover training. We would've gotten ya a professional! Then ya could be speakin' real good, like me!"
"See! You're having fun!" said Juri, pointing a finger at Chun-Li. "Why can't you have fun more often? You're much more appealing this way." She slid her arm around Chun-Li's shoulder.
Chun-Li stopped laughing and jumped away from Juri's grasp. She looked down at her drink, as if looking for an excuse for her behavior. She had taken only sip or two…not exactly enough to claim drunkenness.
The microwave beeped. "Popcorn," said Juri, seemingly choosing to ignore Chun-Li's reaction and standing up. Chun-Li sat staring at her drink. Juri poured the instant bag's contents into a large bowl and sat back down next to Chun-Li. She thrust the popcorn onto Chun-Li's lap, beaming broadly. Chun-Li did not react.
"You're welcome," said Juri, affronted. "Didn't your mom ever teach you good manners?"
Chun-Li looked up at the picture of Juri's mother and father on her dresser. They smiled and beamed, frozen in time and unaware of what their daughter had become.
"Come on honey what's wrong," said Juri, twisting a loose strand of Chun-Li's hair with her finger. "Why can't you relax? Nobody's gonna find you." Juri hands found Chun-Li's shoulders and began to massage them. "You got me taking care of you." Chun-Li cringed away from Juri's hands at this.
Juri let out an aggressive sigh. "What do you want Chun-Li?" she said. "What do you want? Tell me. I'll make it happen."
"What do I want?" repeated Chun-Li, incredulous at Juri for what seemed the hundredth time this evening. "I want…"
She trailed off. She knew exactly what she wanted of Juri, and desperately wished she could make her do it. And yet, sitting here on her bed; Juri's bed, eating Juri's food, in Juri's room…she almost felt it would be insulting to voice the one thing she did want of Juri.
"I want you to give yourself up," said Chun-Li very quietly, bracing for the response. "I want this all to stop. I want to help you Juri."
"Help?" repeated Juri, her voice a mixture of anger and incredulity. "You think I want help? I know what help means to you and your 'Interpol' people. It means a straightjacket, and some old guy asking me 'how I feel' while they force pills down my throat, and prison doctors pulling my eye out of my face."
"No Juri, you're not crazy you—"
"No, I'm not," Juri cut back in forcefully. "But that's not what your lot is going to think when you let them get their hands on me. In here, I make the rules. I run the show on my terms. I have my eye. I have power over everything that was ever taken away from me. Out there…" she ran a hand over the strap of her eyepatch. "Out there, you take that away from me, and I'm just a girl with one eye."
"Why is it so important to you?" said Chun-Li.
"The Engine? It gives me everything I need. I can do whatever I want with it. "
"Juri, you're not untouchable, just because of your eye! There's a real world out there, and there are consequences!" said Chun-Li desperately. "You've shown me you're not hopeless! Twice you could have killed me, your rival, and you didn't! There's more to you than S.I.N, than your Feng Shui Engine! You don't need it! Juri, you want Bison taken out of the picture…so does Interpol! Let us help you!"
"Look at them!" cried Chun-Li desperately, pointing at the framed picture of Juri and her parents. "They wouldn't have wanted this!"
Juri's eye widened, her mouth clenched. Slowly, she walked over to the picture on her on her dresser, and set it face down.
"You don't get to talk about them," she said in a deadpan voice, far more chilling than any of her screams of or taunts. "They're not yours to use against me. You didn't know them. You have no idea what they would have wanted or not."
Chun-Li was at a loss, the idea of Juri's parents somehow wanting such a life for her was too outrageous to consider. She was deluded; deluded in her own little world of power and want, where there were no limits, only people to cowardly or afraid to restrain themselves from taking what they wanted. People like herself, Chun-Li, who Juri believed she could coax into her life of depravity.
"Juri you —"
There was a knock on the door, and both women froze. Chun-Li stared from the door to Juri and back again, her eyes wide. Juri was likewise frozen, her single eye mirroring Chun-Li's expression.
"Get in the closet," she hissed, grabbing Chun-Li's arm and yanking her off the bed. Chun-Li opened her mouth to protest, but Juri grabbed her by the shirtfront and yanked her close.
"I don't have time for this!" she spit, her face inches from Chun-Li's. "You get in the damn closet or so help me I'll throw you in there unconscious! What's it going to be China Doll?!"
Without waiting for an answer, Juri grabbed Chun-Li by the shoulder and threw her into the closet, slamming the door.
Indignant and enraged as she was thrown against Juri's clothes and onto the floor, Chun-Li had half a mind to kick down the door and burst right back out, but the rapping at the door continued. Angrily, she consented that this was Juri's vicious way of protecting her.
Perhaps it was the only way she knew how.
She pressed her ear to the closet door. The screened slats in the doors let in a fraction of light and let her peer out just enough into the room.
Juri approached the door and Chun-Li could hear her swearing under her breath.
The man in the doorway made Chun-Li's veins freeze.
Eri Kitamura is best Juri. Don't even try to argue with me.
Chapter 3 will be posted at some point. Thanks for reading guys. Reviews are always appreciated.