Alright, we're back! Time to get right into this! Check it!

Hearts & Fists Ch. 2

Chun-Li and Ryu were in a hotel room in Madrid later that evening, with papers scattered all over the floor of the bedroom. She was laying out all of the information that her other contacts, associates, partners, friends, and anyone else had given her or she could dig up concerning the Neo-Shadaloo organization.

Chun-Li was kneeling on the floor, going through the papers while Ryu sat with his legs crossed on the floor. She picked up a paper, "Let me start by telling you what I know."

"Alright."

"About three weeks ago, I got an e-mail from a man claiming that he's my brother. His name is Chow. He provided a lot of paperwork and hard evidence that… was almost impossible to dispute. Just records like… birth certificates, DNA test results, everything. He's about five years older than me. He's my Dad's son."

"Wow."

Chun-Li just nodded. "He then asked me… to help him get out."

"Get out?"

"Yeah. He wanted help getting out of the criminal element. Apparently, he grew up with it all around him and now… a lot of people want him dead. I was supposed to meet up with him in Bombay. But when I got to the address he sent me to, he was gone and there was a message waiting for me."

"What message?"

She sighed and handed Ryu a slip of paper. It had traces of dirt and what could've been sweat, Ryu wasn't sure. He unfolded the note and read what was scribbled on it. "No one you care about is safe."

Ryu sighed and folded the note.

Chun-Li just continued on. "I went back home and Mei was gone. I then was warned to stay out of their way and not to investigate this further. Basically, they warned me not to go to Interpol or Mei and Chow were dead. When they were ready… I'd get Mei back…" She stopped for a second. "I suspended training with my other kids for now while I deal with this. Didn't want them to get dragged into this, too." She took a second to fully compose herself before going on. "Ryu… this is going to get dangerous… real dangerous… even I don't know how much. I really don't even who these people are. I just know that, if nothing else, I need to save Mei. If you want out… I won't blame you… but… I need help."

This was a no-brainer for the legendary fighter. Ryu didn't like Shadaloo in any of its forms and this Neo-Shadaloo was now officially on his dislike list. Plus, Chun-Li was his friend. He didn't need any convincing. He was in. "So, where do we start?"

She smiled then pulled out a business card for a nearby bar. "We start here. It's about three miles from this hotel. There's a man named Diego Santos. He supposedly runs or did run all of Shadaloo's operations on this land mass. Sound good?"

Ryu nodded. He put his hand up under his chin as he began to think. Chun-Li could see that there was something still bothering him.

"What's wrong?"

He was reluctant to say but knew he had to. "Not to alarm you, but if this is Shadaloo in any way that we're dealing with, we have to assume that they already know that we're here."

Until the travelling fighter mentioned it, Chun-Li had not considered that. "You're right." She sat down on the bed. "They probably have been monitoring me… and you since we both stepped off our planes. If Santos is here, he'll either be gone by the time we get there or… have a trap." She buried her face in her hands, "Oh, God… what am I going to do?"

Ryu looked at her. Without even seeing her face, he could tell how much pain she was in. He walked over and put his hand on her shoulder. "It's going to be okay. We'll find out what we need to and everything will work out. It just may be a little harder than we thought."

Chun-Li looked up at him. Hearing his words were very reassuring, somehow. Probably stemming from the fact that Ryu was a lousy liar and never said anything that he did not mean. In a nutshell, Ryu was the most honest and straightforward person she knew, second only to Guile. "Thanks for coming, Ryu."

Ryu nodded, "No problem." He patted her shoulder, "Come on. Let's get ready to go."

She was perplexed. "But you said they might be expecting us."

"So, let's give them what they want."

Chun-Li smiled.

Before leaving, Chun-Li gave Ryu a new change of clothes to make him somewhat less conspicuous. She bought him a pair of jeans, a polo shirt, and sneakers. Ryu complained about having to wear the new garments because of their restriction on his movements but understood the need to, regardless. Chun-Li, herself, wore a blouse and jeans combination while the biggest change made was taking her hair down and putting into a ponytail to make her not as recognizable as usual.

Minutes later, Ryu and Chun-Li were standing outside of the target destination, Club Cristo, where their target Diego Santos was within… they hoped. As they approached it, they saw the long lines forming around the block just to get in. Fortunately, Chun-Li had a contact to get them in through a back entrance. Once inside, the two fighters saw why it was so popular: the loud music, the laser lights, the flowing drinks, and the constant energy made it the perfect party scene.

While Chun-Li was actually enjoying the atmosphere, Ryu was clearly bothered by all of the music, its high volume, and the lights. "How do people stand this?"

Chun-Li could not hear him. "What?"

"I said how do people stand this?"

Chun-Li giggled a little. "Because it's fun!"

Ryu put his hands to his ears. "Not to me!"

Chun-Li just giggled again. She took hold of his arm and led him to a hallway where the noise was lessened. Chun-Li looked up at a balcony hanging over the club that was easily a VIP lounge.

"Alright," Chun-Li could tell that must have been where their target was. "You see that balcony?"

"Yeah?"

"That's where Santos will be."

"So, let's go."

"We can't just walk up there. He has guards. I know of a way we can get around them."

He smirked. "Yeah. So, do I."

Chun-Li was surprised. "Really? How?"

Ryu just pointed with his thumb. "Follow me."

Ryu walked with a purpose up to the VIP area followed by Chun-Li, who was very curious to what method Ryu was going to use to get into Santos's private party room. Once they got to the door, which was guarded by a bouncer and a velvet rope; the bouncer, who was holding a clipboard, put his hand up, preventing their advance. "Names?"

"Ryu," answered the world traveler.

The bouncer looked at his clipboard. "Sorry. No 'Ryu' on the list."

"Didn't expect there to be."

"Well, then…" The bouncer pointed his finger to the direction behind Ryu and Chun-Li, "get lost."

Ryu just grabbed the man's finger and bent it back, causing the man to scream in pain sending him down to his knees.

"You know?" Ryu said, causing the bouncer to quiet down. "I usually don't mind being told I can't go places but we're in a little bit of a hurry. Now, are you going to let us in?"

"Yeah! YEAH!" the bouncer screamed. "Please, let go, for the love of God!"

Ryu threw the man's hand down, jerking his finger as he did so and he and Chun-Li stepped over him and the velvet rope.

As they stepped over the bouncer and entered the lavish door, Chun-Li looked at Ryu, "That was your plan?"

"It worked, didn't it?"

Chun-Li just smiled. She couldn't argue. It did work, after all.

They opened the door to see a lot of people scattered abroad the room. Alcohol was flowing and people were having a very good time, at least by their standards. Ryu found this room making him even more uncomfortable the dancing and music downstairs. As they went about the room, they saw circular area with a large sofa and a couple of easy chairs, where the man Chun-Li knew was Diego Santos was sitting with a group of friends, chattering indistinctly.

Chun-Li leaned over to Ryu, "That's him." Ryu nodded and they both walked forward.

Soon, Santos looked up and instantly recognized Chun-Li and greeted her. "Well, well, well, Miss Chun-Li, I've been expecting you." He spoke with a very heavy Spanish accent also with a touch of arrogance. He looked over at Ryu. "Though, I thought you'd come alone."

Ryu was right. But Chun-Li had already come this far. "If you know me, then you know why I'm here."

"Of course. You're here about your family. From China all the way to Madrid. I must say, to come so far for family…" He sighed, shaking his head, "…such devotion. You just don't find that often these days."

Chun-Li found no comfort in his hollow compliment while Ryu was doing everything he could do from tightening his fist to hit Santos. Caring more about the immediate situation than his carefully laid insults, Chun-Li looked past Santos's façade of concern. "Where's my family?"

Santos just sat back, stretching his arms over the back of the couch. He smirked, "What makes you think I know anything?"

"Because you're Shadaloo's resident errand boy. And that role didn't change with this new group. Any news passes through here for them, then you'll know and Madrid was the place where my brother's last e-mail came from. Now, where is he?"

Being called an errand boy struck a nerve. Santos leaned forward. "I don't like being insulted, Miss Li. I think you should leave now and come back when you have some manners."

It was clear the indirect approach wasn't going to work… which didn't bother the wandering fighter. Ryu rubbed his wrists. "We tried it your way."

Chun-Li cut her eyes to him. "We tried the easy way. My way is a lot like yours."

Ryu smiled. "What's the difference?"

"I believe in hitting women, whether they're trained fighters or not."

Santos raised an eyebrow. "You two want a fight? Not very smart. You see, these…" He waved his hands and random bodyguards began standing up. "…these are all my friends."

The guards ranged from medium sized men to muscle-heads. There were even a couple of females in the mix as well. Chun-Li looked at them all then back at Santos. "And we're supposed to be impressed because?"

"Because as trained as you are, Ms. Li, even you can't stand against all of them. Not even with your friend."

That last statement made Chun-Li smile as a realization came to her. "You have no idea who this is… do you?" She motioned toward Ryu.

Santos looked Ryu over. "No. Should I care?"

Chun-Li just held her smile. It was all she could do to keep from laughing. "Wow. For someone who supposed to be well-informed, you definitely are not."

Santos just rolled his eyes. "I'm through with this. Get them out of here." His bodyguards went to do as ordered.

One of the bigger guards moved toward Ryu first, who grabbed him and flipped him over, sending him into the VIP room's mini-bar. This caused some of ladies who were not security to scream. Another man rushed at Ryu, fist flying through the air, but Ryu easily blocked it, jumped, and kicked the man in the side of the head. Two of the female guards ran at Chun-Li; she blocked the first one, giving her a sweep kick for her trouble, and, upon standing, gave an uppercut to the other. One of the muscular men grabbed Chun-Li from behind but she simply lifted herself off of the ground then came back with enough for to flip the man over. Once he was on the ground, she delivered a well-place kicked to man's sternum, not enough to break it but more than enough to make sure that he would move awkwardly for a little while.

As the fight went on, Santos could not believe what he was witnessing. "S-Someone… get Gladiator! Bring him in here! Now! Right NOW!"

As the duo kept fighting, a masked man walked in. He was even larger than the most muscled out guard in the room; his mask was a luchador mask but he wore casual clothes, otherwise. It was easy to tell that this was the Gladiator. Ryu knew who he was because of fight posters that he had taken notice of, most likely of the wrestling variety. Ryu kept thinking what it must be like to fight him. He was about to get his answer.

The Gladiator ran at Ryu and managed to lock him into a bearhug, starting to choke the air right out of Ryu. Ryu fought against the luchador's grip, eventually, managing to get a few solid knees into the luchador's gut. He got in a few more and Gladiator tossed Ryu aside. Ryu landed and came right back with a right fist to the Gladiator's face. Gladiator punched Ryu in the gut in response but Ryu gave him a combo of punches and kicks to various body parts. Gladiator tried to give one more effort to win the fight. He reached for Ryu's throat, grabbed hold of it and lifted him off the ground, going for a chokeslam on the floor. Unfortunately for the luchador, Ryu grabbed hold of his arm, twisted around, and threw Gladiator to the ground.

When the Gladiator was rising to his feet, Ryu was already for him. He took stance, moved his hand to his side and twisted his body. Soon, light began emanating from his palms.

Santos instantly recognized who this was. "No… not him…"

The gladiator turned and Ryu brought twisted his body around, his hands forward, causing an energy ball fly from his palms as he shouted, "HADOUKEN!"

The energy ball flew, connected with the Gladiator, and blasted out of the VIP room back down to the club floor. Gladiator landed with a loud crash, stopping the music and leading everyone's eyes to the VIP lounge.

With all of his men defeated, Santos just looked at the duo, terror written all over his face.

Chun-Li walked over and put her foot on the couch, next to him and leaned down. "Now… we came here for information. Are you going to tell us what we want to know… or am I going to beat it out of you?"

How was that for Chapter 2, huh? How was the fight? Be honest with me. I always love a good fight scene and I'm hoping I'm doing a good job with them so far. Don't worry. It's only gonna get better. So... now this fight is down. Next time, a change of scenery... and an appearance by an old friend. Oh... trust me... this story is getting into a full swing. Please, REVIEW!