Chapter 14: Familiar Faces

Disclaimer: People like us, we don't want freedom. We don't even want justice. We just want someone to love.

Two chapters, an epilogue and we are DONE, people. Weird to say, huh, seeing as this story's been going for over an hour. And also over a year. Bizarre, right? Guess what else has been going for over a year? Volley of Bullets. Well, it's being scrapped and restarted, and I need YOU, yes you, Dermot, to pick a better name, that is on my poll, or one you think of, it doesn't matter, the only thing you need to know is that I ORDER you to vote.

A bit of a boring long one here, mostly just jokes and filling in plot holes. And yeah, there's not been a fight scene for a while. That's because the rest is nothing but, so expect this to get marginally better, and by better I mean to slightly higher than my usual standard, so you might stop vomiting in disgust at the butchering of creative writing that's unfolding.

And also Asuka wears little more than a bra. This is therefore the best chapter of anything ever written known to man.

"So, Asuka…" Morris began. "… how did we end up in a bathtub?"

The talon of a tree branch began to scrape at the window. It clawed desperately, supported only by the wind, rattling and screeching, until a white line came into being. Satisfied with the work, it relaxed once more. A bird was startled by the sound, but having looked around, decided that it was of no threat, and glided away into the yellow day, watching as the many heads of many people wandered on the streets below. The flight path was curved, landing it onto the window pane, where it began a shrill, harmonious song. It did not know why, but it felt that singing would be a good idea. To it's own surprise, many birds with the small impulse began to, compelled by an unknown force to sing a song. A glorious song, a song of romance and of triumph. A song that was completely content with the world. Asuka heard the song, rolled her tongue in her mouth slightly and pulled herself closer to Morris, sliding her arm over his chest and onto his shoulder and tugging lightly. She kept her eyes closed, a smile on her face, and buried her head into his naked back. The white plastic of the bowl didn't add to or detract from the smell of the bathroom, a hot but not heavy atmosphere, a warm blanket in the cold winter that was the chaotic world that was the previous day. She remembered somewhat the words Morris had uttered when she first asked him why he left England. Curiosity and adventure indeed. He was lying, lying for her sake. She inwardly knew that he was protecting her from even now so painful facts, but she understood. Now there was no need. The threat of Johnny Showdown had passed, and finally they were to be honest with each other. She pushed her lips through his hair and kissed the back of his neck lightly.

"How should I know?" She finally replied with another question.

"You're the sober one in this relationship." Morris told her as he began to stir. He placed his hand on the side of the tub and pulled himself out.

"I'm drunk." Asuka replied dramatically. "Drunk on love for you." Morris looked to her, confused.

"That was totally gay."

"Up yours, Morris." Asuka laughed. Morris watched her smile grow and shrink in size, though it never shrank in emotion. It was always the same face. The same joy. He didn't notice that he was also smiling, but he did all the same. He too, began to laugh as they fell into each other's arms. He began to stroke her hair.

"So, Asuka, how does it feel to be my first?" He asked.

"Underwhelming." She looked as his face turned to hurt pride and laughed. "I'm kidding." She pulled him in for another kiss. "And you?"

"I'm your first?" Morris asked. "But you're awesome and have awesome boobs, you must have guys dropping at your feet."

"Never even kissed a guy." Asuka said. "There was a thing with this one guy, but it was nothing, really. Just high-schoolers who didn't know what love is." She smiled, pulling him in harder than before. They remained lying down for a good ten minutes or so. They were warm in each other's embrace. It felt nothing could interrupt this one moment of peace after several weeks of chaos and turmoil…

… then the phone rang.

"FUCK OFF!" Morris shouted to the phone, finally standing up. He looked around the room. The beds had been ignored, and were untouched, neat and tidy. The floor still held the clothes belonging to the two. Morris unconsciously picked up some trousers, and hastily put them on. He finally reached the phone. He plucked it up simply. "What do you want?" He shouted down the line. "I was having fun, call back in a…"

"Morris. It's me."

The voice was a soft, slightly broken one. The voice seemed to gulp, holding back some unknown emotion. It was sad, angry and happy, all at once and neither at the same time. Morris's face was stunned for a few seconds.

"Hannah."

"Yes, Morris." She said. "Remember me?"

"Remember you?" Morris asked. "How could I forget?"

"You seemed to. What has it been, ten years?"

"Something like that." Morris twirled the cord of the phone around his finger and uncoiled it again.

"Ten years I've thought you were dead." The voice became bitter and cold.

"If I contacted you, I would've put you and Dad in danger." Morris explained. "How is Dad, by the way?"

"Dead." The frankness felt like a bullet. "Died seven months ago."

"Oh."

"…"

"Hannah?" Morris asked.

"Oh?" Hannah suddenly shouted. "Oh? That's all you can say?"

A pause.

"You know, Morris, I was beginning to adjust." Hannah began again. "I was beginning to cope. I'm the last one. Nobody else, but I can deal with that… and… and then…"

"Hannah, please, I…"

"YOU SHOW UP!" Morris almost leapt back as the voice carried a horrid anger. "YOU JUST… SHOW UP! ALL THESE YEARS, DAD'S BLAMED HIMSELF! HE'S BLAMED MUM! FOR YOU! AND NOW YOU JUST…" The voice stopped, and her breathing calmed. "Sorry, it's just been stressful for me."

"Don't be sorry." Morris became equally stern. "Where's Spike?"

Hannah seemed stunned. "Why do you ask?" She asked guardedly. Morris bit his lip.

"I needed to talk to him." He said. "About a woman he knew." She read his mind.

"Jun?" Hannah asked. "Jun Kazama, right?" Morris sat up.

"How'd you know her?"

"Her home was where he told us to meet him." She said. "Dad and I met up with her. She wanted to do some experimental spiritual thing. Spike was going to meet us after we had done it. We stayed with her for a week."

"Why would he send you to her?" Morris asked. "They were at each other's throats."

"Are you kidding?" Hannah asked. "He was crazy about her. In a weird fatherly way. He'd die for her." Morris raised his eyebrow.

"What? She was the same age as him, no, older. And anyway, she was trying to uncover his diamond smuggling…"

"What? She wasn't even part of the WWWC when he first went to Japan. She found out about the diamonds when she moved into his house! And she was only about twelve when they first met! Last time they saw each other, she was twenty two and he was thirty seven! Where the hell are you getting all of this…? Morris?" Morris had paused, trying to process the information. "Morris, you ok?"

"Not really." He said. "What happened to between them, anyway?" He could hear Hannah breathe in heavily.

"What's going on?" She said. "Tell me, Morris. You don't even care about Dad or me, ll you're asking is about this, so what's happening?" Morris looked to Asuka, oblivious to the tension that seemed to have filled the room. She smiled at him. He remembered the dreams he had, the wolf, Asuka's weird aura.

"I do care." He replied. "It's just that something big is going down here, and I need to know what." He scratched his forehead slightly. "Anyway, what did you say had happened that made Jun hate him so much?"

"How did you know that she…?" A short pause. "She wouldn't say. Something big. Something horrible." She looked around.

"Have you asked Spike?" Morris asked.

"Spike's dead, Morris!" Hannah suddenly barked. "He died before he could meet us."

"How?" Morris asked, but he already knew the answer.

"Johnny Showdown." Hannah said. "He knew Jun very well. I think she had a thing for him, but he was only interested in us. We managed to give him the slip at the airport, but only just. We had gotten on a different plane at last minute. Apparently he literally tore the other to pieces when he didn't find us. Butchered everyone and disappeared forever." She choked back a tear. Morris himself gulped. More people dead because of Johnny. If Johnny had known that Morris was still out there, he might have simply ignored everyone else and followed just him. He remembered that Hannah was still talking. "We saw him burying Spike's body, and…" Then she suddenly gasped. "Morris, he'll be after you now!"

"No. No he isn't."

The silence was a sharp ringing. A shower started up, a hot 'phissssshhhhh' sound doing all to fill the gap of noise, but it couldn't destroy the tension as Hannah began to piece it together.

"You…"

"I didn't, but yeah, he's dead." Morris answered frankly. "If the Stamford's plan on sending anyone, they'll hear about what happened to him, and they'll drop it. Johnny was the best at what he did, and if he's gone no right minded or experienced professional would want to." Hannah seemed to stop breathing. "Hannah, you there?"

"Morris, why are you still in the tournament?" She asked. "We don't have to pay the Stamfords off anymore, so why not just stop drawing attention to yourself?" Morris smiled as he looked into the bathroom.

"This isn't about me, Hannah." He said. "I've owe somebody a favour."

Another pause.

"You've changed, haven't you?"

"What?" Morris became confused.

"You're being selfless." Hannah said. "That never happens with you. What else has changed in these ten years, Morris?"

Morris thought for a short while.

"Hey, Mum, look what I can do with some lime cordial, a spanner and my dick!"

"Surprisingly little." Morris answered. "I've got to go. Come to Japan soon, we can talk about Dad and you and me and everything then."

"Remember, Morris." Hannah said. Her voice became bitter again. "Mum and Dad died for you. You better make it worth it, or I'll kill you myself." Morris tried to be shocked, but he could only acknowledge the sentiment.

"Thanks for the words of encouragement, Hannah." He said, before hanging up. He looked up to Asuka, dripping wet and looking livid. He slowly scanned her body, licking his lips. He began to smile lecherously. "You're wet."

"Who's Hannah?" She asked venomously. Morris laughed at her jealousy.

"My sister." He said. "Don't worry; the nearest thing you got to competition is Xiaoyu."

"Are you saying that I've got competition?" Asuka almost spat. Morris looked her dead in the eyes.

"Xiaoyu." He said. She thought about it, before looking back to him. She bent down to his level, a reassured and once more confident smile on her lips.

"Good point." She once again locked lips with him, dispelling the tension like a shotgun shell in a silent room. He began to pull her closer. She edged her head away, breathing heavily, her hands pressing onto his chest. "So, Morris, what was that trick with the lime cordial and the spanner you mentioned?"

"Get in the bed and I'll show you." He said. "Then you teach me something."

He had just come back with the two, but they were interrupted by a very sudden drowsiness.

"I'm sorry the room's a little messy." Jun murmured. "I should've cleaned up, seeing as I knew you'd be here, but I was putting Jin to bed and the story I was reading got me a little carried away." She gave Hannah and Johnny a small white mug each, the hot orange liquid soothing Hannah's throat as she slowly swigged it. Johnny looked to the mug, and noticed that it was visibly shaking, the hot water swirling this way and that, a miniature ocean at boiling point. The hairs on his arms stood up. His nerves were still excited by the murder that he had just committed a few short minutes ago, and he felt s if he were in danger. Morris and Asuka glared at him from across the room, their bodies under a white blanket.

"So, this is what happens to you when you sleep?" She asked. Morris shrugged.

"Usually whenever I need to win a fight." He replied. "I don't know why it's happened now, or why you're here." He looked to her. "Though I can guess why we're only wearing underwear."

"Yes, Morris, I know." Asuka gave a dismissive response.

A pause.

"It was because we were having…"

"I know, Morris!" Asuka barked. "Focus, this could be important." Morris laughed.

"Usually isn't." He murmured. He rolled his head like a child who isn't allowed outside. "Argh, this sucks! I need sex."

"Morris, what did I say about focusing?"

"I'm focusing on your body."

"I noticed Morris." She kept watching as Johnny drank the tea slowly, clearly unsettled about the situation. Asuka began to share his ill ease, when she became distracted. "Morris, has it occurred to you that I might have a problem with you trying to undo my bra?"

"I'm in the same room as titties, what problem could there be?" Morris looked around the room. It was messy. A great clutter of objects, some used, some ignored, some useful, some novelty, covered every bare inch in the small poky room like a hideous blanket upon a sleeping form. It was clear from the wind that needed not air freshener to smell pleasant in the room, the stainless walls and carpet and curtains, yet most of all just how purposely placed each item was that this was not how the room was usually. This was the result of a great stress. Morris snorted slightly. "It's not like anything important is happening."

"Now for the important thing to happen." Came Jun's voice as she re-entered the room, a candle in hand. Johnny smiled pleasantly, hiding his nervousness, while Hannah looked to her, almost uninterested. Jun sat so as to form a triangle with the other two. She leant forward and lit the candle. "Now to set everything right." She murmured under her breath, but Asuka picked up on it. It was a much sterner tone than that of her pleasant greeting. Asuka judged Morris's shoulder.

"Morris, look." She said, forcing Morris's gaze away from her body and back to the scene unfolding. Jun's head fell back. Hannah closed her eyes. Johnny's convincingly narrowed his eyes, but stayed awake. He leant forward and shook Jun slightly. A lack of response made him smile. She was out cold. He stood up.

"Diamonds." He hummed. "If this is where Spike was coming…" He grinned that familiar grin that made Asuka shudder in horror. The same grin that haunted the video tape. The grin he wore when he nearly killed Morris. An almost slobbering greed and thirst. "… then they'll be here." He carefully but hastily got to the other side of the room. He passed through Morris, oblivious and uncaring. Morris gasped at the frightening cold that came wand strangled him.

"You alright?" Asuka's mood with Morris suddenly became a lot more tolerant as her voice carried the concern that she felt for Morris, who coughed violently.

"Like being punched in the gut by a brick." He seethed.

"What in the name of…" Johnny let out a small, breathless sentence, as quiet as the flutter of a moth's wing. Asuka and Morris turned to him as he turned to them, looking right through them and checking on the sleepers. When he was sure that they were not awakening, he turned back to the small black book that he held, the book itself having three large red W's on the front cover, underlined by the words 'TOP SECRET; TO BE READ ONLY BY WRITTEN PERMISSION OF BOSKONOVITCH, GEPPETTO, OF WANG, JINREI, AND OF KAZAMA, JUN'. Morris and Asuka crept over. What was in the book was this:

As is only just beginning to be understood, the power of certain individuals is a mysterious phenomenon, that without prior scientific research and understanding, many people would call magic or supernatural. Certain anomalies found in the blood of certain families or individuals (these people who are known or thought to have these anomalies are listed in Section 2.5) have mysterious 'powers' as it were. These powers are ranged and... (Johnny skimmed through all of this, picking up information without actually reading, until he found something on the Kazama family. He bit his bottom lip as he read) … it seems that the Kazama family has a strong line of these mysterious powers. Not unlike those with the elusive Devil Genome, they have a strong amount of power that can heal wounds, levitate objects, have superhuman strength at times of great stress or heightened emotion (Morris also bit his lip, remembering Asuka's aura back at the hospital) and make external forces to be used defensively or offensively. However, unlike the Devil Genome, these powers do not manifest in a mutation, but in an internal sense. As such, the powers they have are more inclined to the mind. Telepathy and controlling the will and emotion of animals amongst other unknown things are included amongst these.

Asuka looked to Morris. "You know, animals have been acting really strange around us lately, you don't think that…"

"I thought I just had some food in my pocket." He replied. "That is an awesome power, Asuka."

"Personally, I thought time travelling was pretty impressive."

"Totally underrated." He looked back. "Look! Speak of the devil, time travelling!"

"What?" Asuka murmured, looking back to the book as Johnny's fingers curled around it in anticipated greed, as his mind worked to find a way to use this to his own ends.

… however, possibly the most mysterious of these abilities is the ability to 'revisit' points in their life, both in space and time, when in a deep trance. (Morris clicked his fingers. So that was the reason behind all this messed up stuff, he thought.) From the experiments we have conducted, we can hypothesise that, when meditating with somebody who knows a person of particular importance of the Kazama's life and also somebody of great emotion (a child close to puberty or a teenager as a couple of examples), they may be able to impact certain events, such as talking to people in that past or even holding items. We do not know if this hypothesis is accurate, and experiments attempting to impact the past have proven unsuccessful, but we have yet to find a real conclusion…

Around the last sentence was a large red ring, with the words 'Stop Spike' written besides it in Jun's handwriting. Johnny looked back to the sleepers. "Oh…" Johnny murmured, his eyes once again becoming greedy starlets. Asuka and Morris looked straight to the direction of his gaze. Hannah still slept oblivious to the impending danger as Johnny began to snarl greedily, a beast that has had prey stumble into its territory. "Somebody who knows a person of particular importance, Hannah?" He stood up, drawing his omnipresent syringe. Morris gasped. He turned to Asuka.

"Asuka, zap him!" He shouted. Asuka looked to him.

"What?" She asked.

"You read that book! You're Wonder Woman or some shit like that! Use your lazer eyes! Get a lion to attack him! Turn him into a monkey! SOMETHING!"

"Don't know how!" She shouted back. "I can't just make a bird fly in by magic!"

"You didn't have trouble when you didn't know you were doing it…" The argument was interrupted by a familiar singer singing an unfamiliar melody, as the bird's flight path expertly navigated past the window and into the room. Johnny's hand halted it's slow and silent progress in midair as he watched the bird circle above him. He snarled.

"Dumb animal." He silently spoke, before looking back to his target, who was inches away from the syringe. The insult carried, and somehow the little bird understood, diving into his fist with alarming speed. His eyes widened as his syringe flew across the room. He dived for it, but it rolled away as if on command. It was sent through a gap in the glass of the window and was gone forever. "Shit!" He whispered. He then heard a moan. Like a bullet out of a gun, he was back to his original seat. Hannah's eyes blearily opened. The first person she looked at was Johnny. He stared back, and electricity seemed to flow between their eyes, thundering and raging. The two weren't just suspecting each other now. They knew who the other was.

"Showdown." Hannah spat. "I should've guessed when I saw you." Johnny leaned forward.

"Want to see where your uncle's going to be buried, Wellington?" He slowly asked. The he looked to Jun, who also began to stir. Her chestnut eyes started to wince.

"… no…" She muttered sorrowfully. Johnny gulped. He guessed that the game was up. He slowly but surely reached for his trusted yoyo. Jun stood up quickly and walked over to the window. "DAMMIT!" She suddenly shouted, scaring even Johnny with the boiling rage and desperate hurt that flowed through her voice. "I COULD'VE CHANGED EVERYTHING!" She began to scream, sliding to her knees, wailing and crying as she did. Johnny and Hannah looked to one another. Jun didn't notice the two's clear hatred of the other, currently distracted by her own pains. Asuka suddenly felt sick. To see a family member like this was a hideous sight.

"Argh, does she ever shut up!" Morris moaned. Asuka punched his elbow. "Oh what? Her voice is so fucking annoying when she screams!" Asuka scowled, but then she started to feel sympathy when Jun's voice became a lot more blubbery, like a sea animal. Then it became breathless, stopping and starting at random. Asuka was sorely reminded of when Xiaoyu lost her favourite key chain a few months ago.

"Alright, you win." She admitted to Morris. "But still, what do you think happened?"

"I don't know!" He replied. "I just want her to get over it quickly!"

Finally, Jun calmed down. Her shoulders shook with what could be sorrow, rage, hatred or all three. Her cheeks were flared, and her eyes matched the colour. Her brow furrowed. Her hands were clenched to the point of the knuckles becoming as white as the bone that created them. She looked to Johnny.

"John." She looked to Johnny. He blinked, surprised. Nobody ever called him John, always Johnny. "You knew Spike Wellington. Did he have a brother?" Johnny's upper lip twitched at the right side.

"I know he had a sister." He said. He decided to play along with Jun, hopefully squeeze some more information out of her. Another Wellington was another day's pay. "What was he like? I'll probably know him when I hear about him." He asked. Jun's teeth were bared.

"Scum of the earth." She spat. "A smell as foul as he is. A complete wreck. Beady eyes, bony body, weird, spiky fingers. Inhuman." Then she uttered the words that told Morris exactly who this mysterious 'brother' was. "A liar. A cheat. A murderer." Morris looked to Asuka, whose look of concerned confusion matched his own. "Morris." Johnny pretended to think about it, but in his eyes, all other than Jun could quite clearly see that he was astounded. They became glazed, as if still working if that was what she said.

"Know of him." He finally answered, shaky and nervous. "Never knew the guy." He looked to Jun. "Why'd you ask?" Jun's expression suddenly shifted. Her eyebrows raised as her eyes began to water. She suddenly slammed into Johnny and buried her head in his shoulders. He sat frozen, his mind still reeling from all the new information to process. Then there was that book. He'd have to snatch it somehow. Morris smiled nastily.

"Look at him, trying to convince somebody he's a human being." He smirked. Asuka looked to him. He smiled to her. She nodded to him, but didn't smile, her brow rutted with thought less than anger at the joke.

"Hannah, are you leaving tomorrow?" She asked slowly. Hannah nodded. Jun nodded to her. "OK, I'll phone your Dad as soon as I can."

"I need to leave tomorrow, too, I'm afraid." Johnny began, but Jun pulled him into her hug harder than before.

"Stay." She begged. "Please." Asuka shuddered. The idea of somebody wanting Johnny around wasn't just alien. It was insanity. Her expression matched Johnny's look of confusion as the world began to crumble back into white and she threw herself up. Morris's head bolted up too.

"Morris!" She shouted. "Have you ever seen Jun before? This could be seriously important!" She waited for a response. "You're trying to undo my bra again, aren't you?"

"Can't work out the clip." He said. She batted his hand away. Her glare reminded him of her question. "I saw her when I time travelled once, and that was it… hang on…" He clicked his fingers. "Night we first met. I slept in that tree she planted!" Asuka snorted.

"That's kind of weak." Morris waved the excuse away.

"No, no, she was in a stupid dream I had then." He sighed. "It totally sucked. And then there was the wedding thingy." Asuka bit her lip.

"But why is this happening to you?" She asked. Morris shrugged her shoulders.

"Who gives two?" He asked her. "I've got bigger priorities."

"Like what?" Asuka asked. "What's more important to you right now than what we've just seen?" Morris smirked.

"You don't have a clue, do you?" He said, before suddenly bringing her head closer to his. She, however, pushed him away, laughing.

"That was way gayer than my 'drunk on passion' one." She shouted with a smile once again crawling onto her face. Morris, despite being insulted, was glad that she was able to smile after what they had seen. "You suck, repeat, suck at making romantic moments."

"That's part of my innocent charm!" Morris said, hurt. "And besides, puddle in the rain. Beat that." She crawled over to him as the way sideways on the bed. She unconsciously tried to match the position she had when they were in the aforementioned mud.

"Hotel room." She said. The phone began to ring. "Oh, for fuck's sake." She picked it up. "What?" Morris smiled politely as she listened. Her brow became more and more rutted. She put the phone down after a few seconds. "Your last fight is four hours away." She said. Morris smirked with the same devil smirk he wore whenever he so much as thought about Asuka,

"Four hours..." He smiled. "How much do you think I do in four hours?" Asuka shook her head.

"No, I'm not saying it."

"Oh, come on." Came the childish response. "Please please please please PLEASE?" Asuka rolled her eyes.

"You can do me." She reluctantly sighed. Morris laughed harshly. "I fucking hate you, Morris Wellington."

"Then why are you only wearing a bra?" Then he gawped. The bra fell onto his chest with a gentle bump.

"What bra?"

Four hours later

He less gnashed at the cigar as grind it into a pulp.

He watched without thinking as the leaf in the wind blew this way and that. He scowled with burnt lips, upon a charred skin face. He knew that they would come to this place. That he would come to this place. That she would too. The night sky was illuminated by the spotlights that shone from the sides around the arena. They flickered wondrously, hoping to excite the audience as they flashed red and blue and green. The crowd kept cheering, but his ears simply ignored this noise, hearing only sounds that would matter. Heihachi's footsteps as he walked along the step plate metal and sat on a metal bench. Waiting. Like him. Waiting for him. The one who caused this. The arena was a grand affair, a blaze of light that shone like a white diamond in the yellow and red lights of Tokyo. And yet the only one who wasn't illuminated was the only one who knew what would happen. He planned this for three days. Three days of pain. Of blinding agony. Of burning hatred. Of subdued anger. He scanned the crowd, his eyes watching from blackened skin. He spotted her. The burns on his skin seemed to flare as he saw her. He seethed with pain, but he remembered that it was partially his fault. He hadn't read the book in ten years, and even then two years after he got it. Not now, though. Now it became a holy scroll, the secret between life and death. Providing him with all he needed to know. How the hell could he forget about her? What that bitch could do? Not to matter, he thought. What has happened happened, and he'll get her back before long. He gave the cigar another suck, puffed out of the other corner of his mouth and sat down.

The wooden crutch was placed beside him. It was lined with a heavy and sharp metal. He could feel the cool air stroke his face, causing pain like needles searing into him. He pulled his hood across his head with a brown hand made almost solely of bone. The orange cotton kept the nasty breeze away, the one that refused to stop hurting him. His jeans were mostly untouched, unlike the rest of him. Though one of his legs that been all but destroyed. Completely obliterated. It flared up with agonising pain as it touched the ground. He lightly rebalanced it on the floor, before pressing down hard. He bit his lip. He wanted to scream in agony. But no. He must get used to it. He was already used to the pain. Pain was no hindrance if one ignored it. He kept the piercing stare at her as she walked through the VIP ONLY door, walking to the front row, sitting down next to an old man. The two stared at each other hatefully. The old man looked briefly for somewhere else to sit, but saw no other place. They looked to each other.

He considered just letting his gut take him. He considered going up to her right now. The one who did this to him. The one who saved him. The one who ruined everything. He snarled hatefully, but remained where he sat. No. He wouldn't. He'll wait. He had waited for three days, but his hopes were still high. He was actually happy. He had three days in pain, yes, and there'd be many days of pain to come, but it'd be worth it. He knew it. If not for the money, then for the satisfaction. The satisfaction of his look of astonishment. The horror. The fear. The pain. The satisfaction of watching him waste his last minutes desperately crawling for a way out. The satisfaction of watching her break as he died. The satisfaction of killing her too. She would die quicker, sadly, but he was willing to compensate. He would do anything for this. Knowing that he had won after all. He had beaten them. No mistakes. No second chances. Nothing. They will die as soon as they step into the trap. Once he is out of that arena. He knew it was certain. He can't lose. He is too good, even for Jin Kazama. Especially Jin Kazama. Nothing is going to stop him from winning, and the moment he does is the moment he dies. He prepared for every eventuality. Even if what happened last time happens again, he knew what to do. He had practised. Now he could do with a crutch and a burnt body in great pain what ten men could do when fighting fit. Three days may sound like a short time, but he knew that three days of nothing but hatred and anger will push a man to any level need be. He smiled. It was a hideous smile, one of great malice and of joy. It was a very real smile, the one that was born of true joy. One that was born of evil. She was wrong. It didn't end then. It would end tonight. It would end in less than two hours.

Johnny Showdown started to laugh, but it quickly became a hacking cough. He retched for horribly painful ten seconds, supporting himself on the crutch. When he was sure he had stopped, he sat back, smiling once again, and waited for the carnage to begin once more.