Wow…it's been three years. I wonder if there's even an interest base for this story anymore. Life's been turmoily; I've suffered a lot of grief in the last couple of years, and that turned away my interest in the story until now. Man, I've been doing some growing up since I wrote this story…I'd like to revise the previous chapters and add a little bit of maturity because that stuff I wrote when I was thirteen makes me cringe… but that can come later. Here you guys go….those of you still left! Oh, and Namco owns their respective things.

Chapter Six

"…can't move…" the Asian gasped in a fruitless attempt to motivate his muscles. His blond bodyguard widened her eyes in response.

"What? Why?!" Nina surveyed Jin's stiff form on the couch, his physical capabilities reduced to simply breathing, blinking, and less-than-slight turns of his head. Though not his fault, he looked pathetic in his incapacitated state. She stood up in frustration, pacing about.

"Jin, why are you doing this to me?! This isn't funny! You're making my job so much harder! What have I ever done to you?! …well, besides try to kill you in the third tournament…even though I had no free will or anything…damn!" With the misguided blame out of her system, she returned her focus to the problem at hand.

"I'll get us out of this. We gotta book it."

The assassin was granted no such action as a lightly armored figure crashed through the living room window and pounced on her. Her attempt to return to a neutral position was halted with a fist to the back of her head. She was spared the defeat of a blast from his stun gun when the radio unit built in to his helmet went off.

Jin, who had witnessed the attack from his helpless position, suddenly felt a fire beneath his jellied muscles starting to brew.

"Nishimura, do you read?" a faint Japanese voice startled the armored assailant. The backup unit heading up the mountain lost the tracking signal they had been following during their pursuit. The blip on the radar screen had vanished.

Nishimura, the Tekkenshu who had ambushed Nina earlier, responded, keeping a sharp eye and his weapon trained on the assassin. She began to rise on all fours, trembling from the sudden blow. "I read. Little busy here… where the hell are you?"

"Lost. Tracer signal disappeared."

"Williams probably deactivated it…hold on…" still taking care to keep his eyes where they needed to be, Nishimura twisted an almost invisible button on the upper left side of his armor plate, which soon flashed a dim, but distinct green light.

Nina stressed as he fiddled with his armor contraptions. All she needed was one nanosecond of weakness, distraction, anything, and she could disarm him without a scratch.

The inner flames inside Jin rushed to all corners of his body, prompting faint gasps and gulps that the other two presences in the room were too preoccupied to notice. No…not now!

Whenever this fire started its frenzy, the youth would summon all willpower, human emotion, and sometimes memories of his mother and girlfriend to successfully extinguish it. But now, in his increasing despair and physical helplessness, such a hydrant was absent. His fires would consume him now. They coursed to his forehead, branding their unholy mark.

And Jin was gone.

--

"There," confirmed Nishimura, "not as if it's difficult to find his location, since the damn path only goes one way. But do be prompt…they're both neutralized, but only for the time being."

"Understand." The other unit signed off. Nina was now sitting up on all fours, facing the soldier with a piercing optical message of You-will-regret-that. Nishimura's finger was eager to finish off the currently vengeful assassin. He thought of the major promotion that would inevitably result from his single-handed victory. Nothing was going to ruin this.

Except for the stun rifle yanking itself from Nishimura's grip and floating several feet above his reach. It proceeded to disassemble itself immediately after.

"What…" Nishimura zipped 180 degrees to his right. There was Jin's Devil side, in all his winged, tattooed, dark (as well as now naked, as his robe had slipped off) magnificence, hovering in the air. His demonic eyes alone were enough for Nishimura's body to feel contentless. He suddenly felt the very ominous feeling of being really, reallyscrewed.

His fears had been confirmed by his being thrust into the wall by Nina's palms.

He didn't even have time to slide onto the floor. The fires raging inside Jin's body manifested physically as pure red energy beams released themselves from his eyes to invoke their fury upon Nishimura. His minimal chest plate proved to be inadequate protection as the lasers seared through. Energy enveloped his entire body, causing him to spasm violently while making vibrated cries of pain.

When the beams had run their course, a well-done Nishimura lay slumped against the wall.

The whole time, Nina stared awe-struck at her client's still floating alter ego with a mixture of fascination and disbelief, then turned to the ultra-crispy corpse of the soldier.

"Cooool…" This guy needs me to protect him?

She tensed initially, nervous that this half of Jin was indiscriminate in his victims. Though not beautiful by any means, this demonic side of the reserved Jin Kazama still held its weight in grandeur, and of course, power.

Never in her twenty-seven years of non-cryogenic existence had she been witness to such a spectacle. The markings on his chest, forehead, and legs, the horns, the glorious black wings, and especially the soulless eyes took Nina's breath away. She then felt a complacent notion that the mission she had signed on to was about to become a lot easier.

That is, until the sudden halation of an archetypical white light suddenly erased said features. The remaining symbols on his forehead vanished, and the now-normal Jin's unconscious body fell onto the couch.

"…God dammit."

--

Jin gasped as his body jerked forward and back into the realm of consciousness. He relaxed any initial alertness upon hastily making the realization that he was in the passenger seat of Nina's car. His body was ironically frigid inside, the way it usually felt after the hellish flames of his Devil side had subsided into dormancy. He found it actually refreshing in the midst of all that he endured during the day.

He was clad in a black wife-beater and black-and-white dragon slacks. Nina had obviously taken the time to quickly dress him while unconscious. His face flushed at the embarrassing thought of how that event had to have come about.

"Welcome back." said Nina, eyes fixated on the road. With no trees in sight and the mountains a fair distance from them, Jin concluded that they were on the expressway heading towards the city. It had to have been a while since his last contact with the waking world.

"How long…"

"'Bout two-and-a-half hours," Nina answered. Her dress shirt was saturated with sweat, and she definitely wasn't emanating the energetic, ready-for-anything vibe he had usually felt in her presence.

Despite the rest of his body cooling off from the possession, a burning sensation was still active in his forehead, the site where it always seemed to concentrate the most. He placed a hand over the throbbing spot and started exhaling softly; an attempt at pain relief he found himself doing even in its obvious futility.

"Did I miss anything even more-adrenaline pumping in those two-and-a-half-hours?"

Nina turned her head to look at him incredulously, and then returned her focus to the road ahead.

"Well, after Mishima Zaibatsu Crony Number Two knocked me down, you passed out. Then you turned into a demon and fried him. Then you passed out again. We escaped your little mountain getaway in my car through a back-route while your grandfather's men caught up to us and opened fire. I managed to snipe a few of them out while simultaneously navigating through a thick forest on a rocky, thin mountain trail in my shitty Saturn because I am just that badass.

"Then after that, even MORE reinforcements caught up and decided to try and kill us. Unfortunately, they didn't possess said badass quality and crashed into a tree after I shot their wheels out. Why they didn't think to do that to me, I can never say. So, after suppressing a mild coronary I got us onto the freeway, where we are presently navigating."

Jin was winded simply listening to her explanation.

"So, you didn't miss that much, really." She concluded.

Jin was silent and wide-eyed for a few seconds, before breaking it with "…Oh."

"Just a typical day in the office, I suppose. I've been through worse."

"I can imagine."

"So the rumors are true." Nina observed.

"I…beg your pardon?" Jin was taken aback by this sudden, random question.

"You've got the Devil inside you…I always wondered what everybody else was talking about…your survival in the third Tournament. Huh. That's pretty god damn surreal, now that I think of it."

Jin skipped a few beats with silence yet again, looking aimlessly out the window. "Heh."

"I take it that's not your favorite gene. Saved our asses back there, that's for sure."

Silence again from Jin's end. This time, it stuck.

"I figured it was just mass paranoia. Back twenty years ago, I didn't ever believe that your father-"

"Shut up." The ferocity Jin managed to project in his calm tone was somewhat alarming to the assassin.

"You know, I really don't have to be risking my ass to help rescue Julia's and protect yours."

"You're right…I'm sorry." Jin apologizing threw Nina off guard even more. He sighed. "Just…about…him…don't. Please." He felt his Devil-induced headache ameliorating.

"I can imagine it's hard. Just understand…he probably wouldn't have turned out the way he did if not for Heihachi-"

"I said don't."

Nina shrugged her shoulders, and silence dominated the vehicle once more.

Jin was, however, internally puzzled. Why is she trying to defend him? It was a weird thought, but Jin was preoccupied with it. Surely it wasn't that peculiar. He quickly grew uncomfortable with his train of thought.

Fortunately for him, Nina broke the silence. "So what are you planning to do after you've got her back?"

Jin hadn't really thought about it, surprisingly. He was invested in the now. "I…I will…take care of her. I will do everything I can for her. I owe it to her."

"Well," Nina began, "don't do it because you feel you have to…even though I say, yeah, you probably do have to…"

"I just don't know….I haven't told her about…my other half."

"Oooh. That's bad. That's really bad."

"Yeah…"

"Well…you might as well tell her right after you book your honeymoon at Shit Creek."

"Heh."

"Aw, I'm sure it won't be so bad. She isn't superficial like that. Perhaps she's already been informed. I mean, she would have to wonder why he's after you."

Jin was silent again.

"Anyway, Jin… your grandfather has definitely gotten impatient with waiting to confront you through the Tournament. It might not be a good idea to actually participate anymore. His men bugged my car right after today's match, and I went to my apartment right after, so staying there isn't going to be an option anymore."

His stare finally broke away from the window and back at the assassin. "So what do we do?"

"We go to my second apartment."

--

"That's enough for now." Heihachi turned to his guard, who twisted a dial on a control panel.

Julia's tortured screams as the electric volts coursing through her were reduced to patterned breaths and gasps. Her body writhed in agony. Being cuffed against the wall offered no opportunity to calm it down.

Somehow, amidst her excruciation, she had noticed that her captor didn't seem to derive the usual pleasure from the act of punishing that he usually did.

"Mishima-san!"

With no energy to lift her head, Julia aurally identified the voice as Dr. Chiba. She grimaced, internally wishing for his retribution almost as much as Heihachi's.

"Yes, what is it?" Heihachi spoke to the man in Japanese.

"We've managed to strengthen the muscle suppressant. Is she ready for it?"

His employer shook his head. "No. There isn't any point. Nothing is giving me much joy today, I'm afraid."

Chiba took a peek at Julia's withering form. "I see. I take it the operation failed."

"Yes. I am happy you managed to develop it further, though. It should prove useful, and not just on Chang."

"Well, Mishima-san, I'm only doing what you pay me for."

"It pleases me to have you, Doctor. You've been an exemplary replacement. Dr. Abel won't be able to hide from us forever. The Genocell data he took is invaluable to me."

Chiba's eyes narrowed. Is that so…

"Oh, don't worry. You'll still keep your position when I find him. Hopefully you'll have developed sufficient nerve modification technology by then."

"But of course."

"Dismissed, Chiba." The doctor nodded once and took his presence elsewhere.

With nothing else to focus on, Heihachi turned to his suffering captive. She refused eye contact.

"Well, Julia…you may be pleased to know that your boyfriend and his little partner managed to outwit some of my bumbling forces. Those who are still alive will be fired, believe you me. How they could be so incompetent is beyond me. So, they're out of sight. Rest assured that it won't stay that way, however."

She smiled to herself. He's safe…I knew he wouldn't go down so easily.

Heihachi pulled a metal folding chair away from the control panel and sat down, intent on having a twisted one-on-one with Julia. He clasped his hands together and rested his arms on his knees.

"So yes, torturing you right now isn't giving me the usual satisfaction on account of my being slightly angry. I have to admit, it is my fault for being so impulsive. But all isn't lost. We'll both get to see him again soon. Even if I have to tear this whole country apart to find him. And if that is unsuccessful, I'm sure he'll find his way here."

"He's not going to kill you." Julia stated abruptly. Heihachi was surprised at her reaction, and a smirk accentuated his rugged face.

"You're right about that. He'll certainly try, though. But I'm sure that Mommy won't be sending him visions in the nick of time this time around."

"He won't make in time."

Heihachi was both amused and confused by the girl's statements. "I'm so flattered that you have such faith in my forces, Julia. Least you're a realist."

Julia pulled together her energy to lift her head and willed herself to stare directly at the revolting sentient creature sitting before her.

"He won't make it because by the time he comes for me, I'll have already killed you myself."

Her eyes engraved themselves into him with the most genuine determination and loathing he had ever seen. She had expected him to start guffawing at her display of anger. She didn't care.

But he didn't.

His smirk vanished quickly. She had managed to hit a nerve. How, she had no idea.

"We're done here," he sneered, enunciating each consonant with disgust. He got up and left, presumably to retrieve personnel to take her back to her cell.

Julia felt slightly better after that slight victory. After all she had endured, she felt as if her brain would malfunction and turn her into a vegetable. She was clinging to life by a thin sheet.

The spirits had apparently helped her before, even though her attempt at an escape had failed. She had felt stupid for attempting to navigate such a gargantuan complex while paralyzed from the waist down.

But they would help her again. And Jin would come for her. And he wasn't alone, either. Still, it didn't entirely ease her worry that something could go wrong.

As hope and despair waged war in her mind, she passed out from exhaustion.

--

Well, it's nice to be back after three years. I want to kick myself for taking this long, though. I'm still attempting to get back into the writing niche after abandoning it for so long, so do forgive if this chapter was a little boring. After a short break, I'm off to revise the first five chapters. Peace out!