Chapter 22

The whole temple interior was lit by torches, bringing out the golden tint of the sandstone. Jin stood in the center of the light. Time had stretched out as he was waiting. He felt as though he had memorized every etching on the stone heads of the serpent carvings, the light on the floor, the color of all the dancing flames. Something was wrong. It should have been here by now. Jin could feel it move within him like ants crawling through his veins. Ogre was near, shifting at the corner of his vision, laughing just out of earshot. Shaking his head, Jin wiped his forehead with the back of his forearm and looked around.

Heihachi had designated the inner court of the temple to be the site of the final battle. He seemed so sure that Jin's growing strength would be a beacon to Ogre. So why wasn't it here?

Jin noticed the soldiers were nowhere in sight. He recalled that Heihachi had led them to another part of the compound for "strategic reasons." For such a confident fighter, Heihachi had taken a large detachment of guards with him, but it made sense. The world's best fighters were here and most would be glad to have a shot at Heihachi unprotected. One on one, Heihachi was formidable, but against so many who hated him - even he would eventually fall.

He furrowed his eyebrows. If Ogre was drawn to strength, then all the fighters who were kept under guard by Heihachi's men to prevent them interfering with the final fight would be a much stronger beacon than Jin or Heihachi alone. Either Heihachi had made a critical error in his calculations or he hadn't told Jin everything. Jin began running towards the prison. One way or another, he would take care of it.

* * *

Xiaoyu ran the towel through her hair, pulling the dampness from the dark curls. It was good to be out of the cold soaked clothes she had trudged back to her room in. There was no point in getting pneumonia to save a few minutes. Besides she had a feeling that she would be using her speed and stealth soon and those decreased when you couldn't stop shivering or your feet from slipping and making squishing noises with every step. Dressed now in a dry qipao of black silk and sky blue embroidery, Xiaoyu turned back to Panda who guarded the door to her room.

"It's time. Let's go find Jin."

Xiaoyu waited as Panda nodded and removed her bulk from the door frame and padded down the hallway towards the temple. As she approached one of the rooms, she felt the hair on the nape of her neck stand up. "Wait, Panda." Xiaoyu closed her eyes and tilted her head from side to side to locate the sound that had alerted her. There. In one of the rooms to the left was the sound of whimpering.

The door to the room was much taller and wider than the other rooms. Something big had been housed there, which made the gentle sobbing sound all the more out of place. Xiaoyu pointed to one side of the door for Panda to wait on as she crept to the other side. Panda would wait outside until Xiaoyu called for her, but it gave Xiaoyu a few minutes to survey the situation and a backup plan if she needed help. With one hand on the doorknob, Xiaoyu yanked hard, flinging the door open, and rolled inside.

The first thing she saw was a pair of metal boots that looked like they could squash her in one step. She jumped back so she could get a clearer picture of what else was in the room. The feet of the robot did not move; its eyes were dark and motionless. On the bed, a woman was gagged and bound. At the sound of Xiaoyu's footsteps, the woman cowered further into the mattress.

"Panda," Xiaoyu called. Panda lumbered easily through the oversized doors and guarded the entrance as Xiaoyu approached the bed. "Easy," she told the woman. "Easy. I'm here to help."

Slowly, Xiaoyu untied the rope binding the woman's wrists and ankles. The woman relaxed enough for Xiaoyu to pull the cloth from her mouth. The woman's right eye was swollen shut. "What's your name and who did this to you?"

The woman took a few ragged breaths before answering. "Jane. I'm Jane." She pushed herself up and Xiaoyu put an arm around her to help Jane move her feet over the side of the bed.

Xiaoyu tried not to notice the rumpled state of the woman's clothes, the way that the top part of her blouse had missing buttons as if it had been ripped open, and the way she instinctively winced whenever her bare skin was touched. "Who did this to you?"

"The security force," Jane said with a scoff. "After you beat Jack here, I knew I would have to rebuild him or I would be unprotected here. As you can see I've been able to replace his arms and joints but they caught me before I could put in the battery."

Xiaoyu contemplated the idea of enabling the robot. On the one hand, it would be a tremendous help to have a powerful robot to cause diversions, but at the same time she couldn't help but wonder, "Is it safe?"

Jane nodded. "He's programmed to obey my voice"

That doesn't really answer my question, Xiaoyu thought, but as she looked at the pitiful state Jane was in she decided not to voice her opinion. If I hadn't dismantled Jack, she thought, Jane would have been protected. There's only one way to fix that. "Okay, where's the battery?"

Jane pointed to the closet and Xiaoyu left Jane's side to open it. On the top shelf was a large cylinder. Her first attempt to move it met with little success. Xiaoyu wrapped the strap that laid across its top around her hands, bent her knees, and took a deep breath. The muscles in her arms flexed and the cylinder lifted off the ground. She felt like a crab walking as she made her way back to Jane. She would never be able to lift it high enough to place into the robot.

Jane pressed a button in a chest panel and Jack legs seemed to deflate. Air hissed as it shot out from the sides of its legs, stirring the bed sheets before the legs bent under the weight of the massive upper body. Lowered, Xiaoyu found that the back casing that opened up for the battery was only a foot or so off the floor. Xiaoyu lifted it up higher as Jane guided the battery into the back of the robot. With the battery locked in place, the housing closed up seamlessly. Gears whirled inside the great metal body. The eyes switched on and with a groan, Jack reared up to its full height and pumped its arms.

"It's alive," Xiaoyu whispered. Jack turned methodically as it took in its surroundings. Its eyes fell upon Xiaoyu and then to Jane. It seemed to notice the discoloration on Jane's skin for it roared and raised its hands above its head as though to crush Xiaoyu for hurting its creator.

"No, Jack!" Jane waved her arms to ward off the attack. "She's not the enemy."

Jack stopped immediately and lowered its hands.

"Whew," Xiaoyu said. "Glad I ungagged you before turning him on. So what's next?"

Jane stepped towards Jack and pulled a small hand held device from the backpack she had retrieved from the closet. She plugged in a cable to a port in Jack's forearm. She typed in "War Machine" followed by a password. "What's next?" Jane repeated. "It's time to pay those sons of bitches back."

* * *

"Keep moving."

Hwoarang shuffled slower, his hands cuffed behind his back. The guards were stupid, obviously not have done their homework or they would have been aware of what kind of damage Hwoarang could do even without the use of his hands. It was just a shame that he hadn't been able to fight them off before they handcuffed him, but there were too many of them at the time and he wasn't sure that the other fighters would join in the fight. They would now though. There was nothing like the taste of imprisonment to strengthen one's resolve for freedom.

The guard behind Hwoarang shoved him hard with the rifle, sending him straight into the back of Paul Phoenix.

"Hey, watch it, kid. It's bad enough they're locking us up without ya tripping all over me."

"Yeah, well, whatcha gonna do about it?"

Moving with a speed that belied his age and mass, Paul fisted his hand in Hwoarang's shirt and would have belted him a good one if the guards hadn't pushed him back with the butts of their rifles. "You keep it up, kid. I'll teach ya to mess with the best."

"Ease up. I meant whatcha gonna do about being locked up."

Paul sneered. "What can ya do? Fists can't stop bullets."

They don't have to, thought Hwoarang. They just need to stop the people pulling the trigger. But it wasn't time yet. A distraction was needed.

"Both of you shut up and keep walking."

At gunpoint, Hwoarang marched down the hallway to the holding cells. He watched as one by one the fighters were introduced to their new homes, many of them without a fight. And this was supposed to be a tournament of fighters, Hwoarang thought. Well, they'll find out not all of us will be cowed.

As the guards stepped forward to push Hwoarang into his cell, he kicked backwards. He caught one of the guards full in the chest and was about to swivel and lash out at the other guard when he found he could no longer move. It was as if his whole body had been thrown into a lake of water on a winter's day, as if his body had become a fist tightening upon itself. He shivered as though cold as the taser crackled behind him like ice. He fell to the ground, unable to move, and the guards dragged him into the cell and locked the door.

After the spasms had passed, Hwoarang stirred and got to his feet to the sound of clapping.

"Great job," Paul said. "What's yer encore?"

"Eh, I'm just getting started. There's always a way out. 'Sides, I didn't see you do anything."

"Like I told ya. Fists can't stop bullets."

Hwoarang gave the cell bars a half-hearted kick. They didn't even rattle. He'd jam his leg into his hip before those would move. This was going to be tougher than he initially though. The cells were devoid of everything but the fighters. There were no privacy, no cots, not even a pot to piss in.

He paced the length of his cell trying to block out the grumbling of the other prisoners. If you didn't do anything to protect your freedom, you've got no right to bitch when it's taken away. There had to be a way out. He checked his pockets for something that he might be able to use to pick the lock. He sighed - nothing.

'Think, dammmit.' He should have been quicker in his attack on the guards. If he had been able to take out the guards next to him he would have ... no, that wouldn't have worked either. There were too many of them, most lined up at the end of the room where the only exit was. They would have mowed him down easily before he even got close and probably taken out a fair amount of the other fighters who didn't duck for cover. That was the problem. For all their fighting prowess, none of them put up some much as a harsh word to their imprisoners. It would serve them right to be swept away in one quick brush of the hand.

Hwoarang felt a dull ache in his right forearm and found that some time during his thoughts he had tightened his hand into a fist. Baek's words came back to him.

*You're like an unruly wind: light, swift, but lacking substance. Focus your energy, concentrate inward and become like a hurricane. Calm your center and you will become a whirlwind of fury to your enemies.*

He loosened his fist. It would do no good to be upset about things that he couldn't do anything about now. That's what Baek had meant when he told Hwoarang that he was light and lacking substance. He changed directions too quickly, going off on tangents, letting little things get under his skin to fester. Now was not the time to waste energy, but to regenerate it and focus it.

"Hey, kid."

Hwoarang turned towards Paul. "What do you want?"

"Ya hear that?" Paul cocked his head towards the door.

Hwoarang closed his eyes and attempted to narrow his hearing. He imagined the sounds, whatever they were, floating towards him on waves of air. They drifted down the hallway, seeping beneath cracks in the door frame, swirling around him. At first he only heard what Paul had probably heard - a low bass, like an explosion, reverberating the walls, but as he concentrated he was able to hear more. There was the sharp crackle of gunfire and the high pitched whine of bullets ricocheting off something large and armored. Voices called out and were cut short. It was coming this way.

"Might want to back away from the cell doors everyone," Hwoarang said as he leaned against his cell's side wall.

An explosion threw the door off its hinges and sent the twisted metal tumbling end over end into the center of the room. The figure at the door was obscured from the smoke, but it was inhumanly large. Its glowing red eyes were all that could pierce the dark grey cloud. Gears whirled and a foot lifted up and stepped forward. The robot swiveled its head as though it were an automated security camera recording the prisoners. From behind it three other figures emerged. The first was a mousy looking woman with a black eye that seemed very out place on her face since she looked more like a scientist than a fighter. The second was that Chinese girl followed by her faithful panda bear bodyguard.

"Over there," Xiaoyu said, pointing to Hwoarang.

"Free him," the woman told the robot. Jack wrapped its fingers around the metal bars of the cell door and yanked it open.

Hwoarang whistled. How that little girl beat this thing was beyond him. It looked like it had gone though some serious upgrades though. Attached to its right arm was some sort of high caliber machine gun and strapped to the left shoulder was a rocket launcher. It looked ready to take over a small country - actually it looked like it already had. Smudges of small arms fire dotted its body along with the occasional pock mark or dent in its less armored areas, but it was far from disabled or slowed by the damage. It dutifully moved onto the next cell to free its occupant.

Xiaoyu bounded over to his cell. "Hwoarang, right?"

"The one and only," he responded.

"Come with me. We have to find Jin."

Hwoarang grinned. "I thought you'd never ask."