That horrible, awful festival was getting closer. Just a few days now and she'd be up against one of the most horrific things she'd ever been asked to experience. Or perhaps more accurately, the most horrific thing she could remember. Vega wasn't nervous, but she was. So she clung to that nervousness, as unfortunate as it was, to remind herself that she was someone different than him. Her responses to this situation weren't at all like his. She needed to keep it that way.
She went to the computer again to distract herself from the anxiety. She checked her e-mail. Nothing new or interesting. She attempted to check Vega's Shadaloo account again, but this time she wasn't able to log in. She sighed, a little irritated. Obviously Bison had realized that she could access this account, and didn't want her getting to it. If only she'd just started copying e-mails the first time she logged in. Now she'd never have the chance. She navigated away to other sites she checked on a regular basis. She kept trying to read an article about some new electronics, but her eyes just sort of slid over the page, never fully absorbing a whole sentence. She tried focusing on each word as she read it, but all the while Vega's brain practically screaming, This is boring, this is boring, I don't care, this is boring. "Fine!" she cried, falling back momentarily on the couch. It simply wasn't worth that squirmy feeling to read about a product she'd probably never buy anyway.
So what did Vega do in his spare time? She laughed a bit at the thought of him updating a Facebook or Twitter account. Something so mundane and trivial and normal. What would he even write? Curious now, she went to Facebook, and carefully thought about his e-mail address and password, but his brain was drawing a blank. As self-involved as he could be, he didn't want to keep up with something like this. It made him nervous to think he was that accessible to the general public. He liked their attention, but he wanted it on his terms. He really had a thing about privacy, but she supposed when you moonlighted as a serial killer it was practically a requirement. So she logged into her own instead, and searched his name. There was a fan page for him. Go figure. Lots of girls declaring how attractive he was, a few guys saying how skilled he was, and a few complaining about how many people only had an interest in him because he was attractive. Someone had posted a video of one of his fights, and Cammy watched it.
It was the faena, the very last part of the bullfight-he would kill it. A few sticks-banderillas, Vega's mind supplied-hung from the bull's back, which was soaked red with blood. Vega's clothes were stained by it along the legs and flecks of it could be seen around his chest. He was walking calmly towards the bull, a red cape in one hand, a sword in the other. He put the arm holding the sword behind his back, held the cape out, inched his way forward. And then the bull charged. Vega barely seemed to care, stepping away calmly, passing the cape across the bull's face, the bulky creature passing centimeters from him. He walked again to face the bull, shook the cape, it charged. He led it in a tight circle around him, those horns so close to cutting into his legs, then, much to her terror, Vega stopped turning with the cape, body completely still as he continued to pass it along his left side, the bull chasing madly, and for brief, horrifying seconds, his back was to the bull. He didn't even turn his head to watch it as it passed behind him. Instead, he switched the cape to his right hand, and successfully lead the bull around him in a complete circle.
When the kill finally came, it startled her. They danced back and forth with the cape for what felt like so long, and it was strangely beautiful. She could see-if it weren't for the banderillas that had already impaled the bull-how someone would enjoy watching this. And then that blade plunged into the poor animal, it coughed blood onto the yellow sand, and it fell to its knees. She was watching something die. An innocent animal that had no idea what was going on. All of the previous artistry of the capework, the dance between man and animal, all of that was forgotten as she saw the bull roll onto its side and die. People were cheering over it. Celebrating. She stopped the video, unable to watch anymore. "I can't do this," she whispered at the screen. Looking around, she found what she was looking for, and grabbed the phone off the other end of the couch. She dialed Chun-Li without a second thought.
The woman answered fairly quickly. "Chun-Li here. How can I help you?" She tended to give that line when she didn't know who was calling. Cammy had forgotten momentarily that this was Vega's phone, not her own.
"Will you come to it?" she asked.
"How did you get this-" Chun-Li said at first. Then she remembered the bizarre situation, and stopped herself. It was Cammy calling her, obviously. So she asked, "Sorry, come to what?"
"The bullfight. I don't want to be there by myself," she said.
"I guess I could," Chun-Li said slowly. She hadn't planned on it.
"I'll pay for it." Or rather, Vega would. He shouldn't have offered her free reign over his money, but no take-backs.
"Oh," Chun-Li said. "It wasn't about the cost. I'm in the same boat as you. I don't want to see this animal die."
Cammy sighed. Chun-Li felt bad for being so amused at how soft and upset and almost childish Vega's voice sounded. "This is really so difficult. I don't know what to do. I don't want to hurt it! But I don't want to be there by myself, either and-ugh, this is so frustrating."
Chun-Li listened, sympathizing with her friend. It had to be horrible enough, having to pretend to be Vega. But to also do something that went against one's own ethics had to make it even worse. She shouldn't have to go through that alone. "I'll be there, Cammy, don't worry."
Vega's brain was practically screaming out against that declaration. He didn't want Chun-Li anywhere near him. The woman was a pain, not a comfort. But Cammy tried to ignore it. "Thanks, Chun-Li." He didn't want to say that. There was no reason to, this woman drove him crazy. But Cammy kept it cool. She wasn't Vega, and Chun-Li was her friend.
Friend? I'm stumbling through the glass of a window, her feet planted in my chest and holy shit, that's such a far drop, am I going to die? There's glass everywhere, I feel some of them slice open my skin, I'm grabbing at anything I can, but I'm too far away, and the ground is coming up so fast and-
Cammy felt suddenly out of breath, and inhaled sharply to compensate. She remembered Chun-Li telling her about this shortly after it happened. Guile had found her, almost bleeding to death. Her friend was lucky to be alive. How had Vega even survived such a fall? She tried to think about it, but he simply had no memory of what happened after he hit the ground, his thoughts picking up a few days later back in Thailand. And those were all awful-feeling incompetent, inadequate, worthless. The self-criticism and berating his brain gave him was worse than anything Bison had to say to him. He got pretty mad at himself when he failed at things, it seemed. A lot of things made him mad, really, like-
These idiots are going to start getting reckless if we don't start this already, and Bison is here with Sagat because it's his soldiers against mine. Jesus, Jesus, I am under so much pressure right now. I glance up at Killer Bee to reassure myself that she is still here, prepared to prove her value in live combat situations, and she's been trained by me, and if she fails, I've failed, and what would Bison do if I hadn't done this perfectly?
But he's speaking with Sagat still, also distracted and I think my nerves are going to grind themselves to dust, I look back to Killer Bee and the men, and-
Clench my jaw for the briefest, most intense of seconds as I see one of them grab her backside, squeeze, they're laughing, she doesn't realize the problem with this, and oh my God, will this asshole regret that he'd ever been born. Take quick steps towards him, I'll split his head open and spill his brains on the ground, I swear it to God, and my hands are in his hair and he's crying out that he's sorry, he was just playing around, and I slam his face into the wall to shut him up. Blood runs from his hairline. I punch him over and over, cheek, nose, jaw, my knuckles are sore, not going to stop until his eyes roll shut against his will, grab him by the hair and pull him back to a standing position, he keeps trying to slump down into a ball like he can hide from this. None of the others dare to try to stop me. Someone shouts for Bison, but I am much too incensed by this piece of shit, this scum, this disgusting fucking animal, and then suddenly, I'm the one being grabbed and pulled away!
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Bison snaps as he pulls me away from the semiconscious man.
"Teach your pigs to behave more like people, or I'll slaughter them myself," I say back without thinking that this is Bison I'm speaking to, a man who could erase my mind, deteriorate every one of my cells into nothing, but I don't care because this bastard groped her and I won't allow it, he can't allow it, the man must be reprimanded and I am the only one who can do it. I walk away without another comment to Bison, I can't stand it, as if I'm the one who did something wrong here and Killer Bee keeps a watchful eye the whole time, anticipating escalation but still on stand-by and I pass her. She doesn't understand that she has been wronged, so I tell her, "If any man ever touches you, break every bone within reach."
"Disregard those orders," Bison tells her, and I can't believe he would even think of correcting me on this.
"Affirmative," she responds.
"Don't you tell her to ignore me!" Before I know what I'm doing I'm making my way to him. It's like my body is moving too fast for my brain to catch up and stop me. "She is not an object for any of them to toy with!" I try to hit him because he's pissed me off and part of me knows that was the stupidest thing I could do and part of me knows I have to because he needs to understand how important this is. He catches my fist without even looking for it, he's staring me down, willing me to calm down, and I don't care because he's pissed me off. His eyes are white, purple jumps from his fingers, my hand burns, sharp pains stab their way up my arm, and he lets go.
"You forget yourself, Commander," he says in a tone that's threatening much worse than the burning pain in my arm. "I will give orders. You will follow them. Are we clear on this matter?"
I want to spit in his face, how could he do this? No one should touch her, ever, she's too perfect for their disgusting paws to infect her with their filth. It's about rank and power with him, not her safety, he doesn't want to be subverted by some inferior, some underling, and I grit my teeth. "I will not be held responsible for what happens to the next man who touches her," I reply evenly before turning away for good this time, and I mean it. Fuck the sparring. She is too beautiful to deserve to be treated that way, and beauty demands respect.
She hissed, squeezing her eyes shut. Just the memory was making her furious. He'd wanted to defend her, to show the men in Shadaloo what happened to those who dared to touch her. As far as Vega knew, no one ever would again, too frightened of what might happen to them in their sleep. How should she react to it? Feel flattered that a man was willing to go to such lengths to keep her dignity in tact? Or to be horrified by his violent reaction? He cared about her, and he was defending her in the only way he knew how.
"Why do you care so much about me?" she muttered. She could know the answer, right now. Peak in his brain. So many of his memories had come to her without her willing them to do so, but she would feel a little guilty if she went snooping herself. Still the question was nagging at her, and she had to find out somehow. Other people cared about her. Chun-Li, Guile, her co-workers in Delta Red. What would they have done if they saw a man touching her against her will? None of them would hesitate to beat the crap out of anyone who wronged the ones they cared for. Maybe Vega's reaction had been on the more extreme side, but she couldn't say that her other friends wouldn't react in an aggressive manner as well.
She would figure all of this out. But she would wait until she could see him again to get an answer.
"Are you even watching the movie?"
He looked up, startled that they'd noticed his lack of interest. He'd been coerced into watching some nonsensical action film with a few of Cammy's friends. He didn't mean to submit so easily. He had no interest in whatever the Fifth Element was-last time he checked, it was boron, but he had a feeling they weren't watching a documentary about the periodic table. Apparently 'movie night' was a regular, almost weekly, occurrence for Cammy and her friends, and it would be out of character for her to not attend. So he did. He recognized two of the Delta Red members, and Cammy's brain supplied the names to match the faces-Lita and Ginzu. And Chun-Li tagged along, as if keeping tabs on him. Making sure he didn't do anything to wrong Cammy. "I am," he said, feigning interest. He was good at that.
"Oh yeah? What's going on right now, then?" Lita said, raising an eyebrow.
He balked at the question, definitely unsure of how to respond. He glanced at the paused screen. The movie had something to do with space. That American action star was in it, Bruce what's-his-face. He didn't know anything about it beyond what he could see in that one still, having been too distracted in his thoughts to pay attention to the movie. It didn't interest him, anyway. "Some...space battle..." he tried, waving a hand. Cammy's brain wasn't much help-she had a basic idea of what the movie was about, but not enough to give a satisfactory answer.
Ginzu made a noise like a buzzer, and said, "Wrong!"
"If you aren't interested, maybe we should try another movie," Chun-Li said, raising an eyebrow. "There's always that one romantic comedy that I know you've been dying to see."
Vega stared back at her, barely able to mask his contempt. "I think this one is fine."
"Yuck, no chick flicks, ladies," Ginzu added. Vega was grateful the little bug was opposed to changing the film. Even if he wasn't interested in this one, a romantic comedy would be outright offensive to his sensibilities.
"Well, can't say I didn't try," Chun-Li said with a smile and reclined on the couch. Vega sent her a glare before returning his eyes to the screen.
"Can we get back to it, then?" Lita asked. "Everyone's still interested?"
Everyone confirmed this, and they started the movie again. Vega tried to follow it for a little while, and Cammy's brain was mildly interested, but he just couldn't bring himself to watch it. He had bigger things to worry about, of course. He was anxious over the Fallas Festival that would be going on soon. Cammy, if unable to go through with it, could essentially ruin his entire career. There was also the daunting possibility that she could slip up, and get him gored. He'd never gotten a cornada. He didn't want to ever have to worry about it. Plus, bull's horns tended to find their mark around the groin, and he certainly didn't want anything down there getting injured. Severing of the femoral artery was something worth worrying about, but he'd probably rather take his chances with that injury than a life without reproductive organs.
Hopefully she would surprise him in a more pleasant way, though. If she simply let his brain take over, she could probably succeed. He wasn't so certain that it would be a fight well-received by the aficionados, or even the more casual fans, but all he was concerned about at this point was coming away from it with his body, and his career, in tact. He could come back from a less than satisfactory fight. He couldn't come back from a dishonorable or deadly one.
But Cammy was quick. She was agile. She could do this. He planned on going there to watch. He knew he'd have to pay for the tickets at a ridiculous mark-up, but he couldn't stand waiting. He'd have to be there, watch what she did, maybe even somehow give her advice. It was unlikely he'd get a seat close enough to do that, though. And, well, why would he want to be so close anyway? It was a gruesome thing. Why was he even planning on going at all? Watching that jerk, that murderer, take another life. Hadn't he done enough already? How many people had he killed by now?
And now he was angry. Forget him! He could rot in that arena, alone and scared. He could face off against the bull without any help.
He bit his lip, blinking quickly. She really hated him. He began to feel guilty, but why did he care? Her brain was beginning to bother him. She was furious that he'd ever taught her the horrible things he did. It was part of his work, it was his job. If he hadn't done it, Bison would have gotten someone else to. At least this way, he could be with her, even if he was turning her into a killing machine. Was that so different from what he was?
She still felt guilty sometimes. He could feel it in her brain without probing. She ruminated over the people she'd harmed, the faces she couldn't even remember but regretted all the same. And at first, he felt bad for her. She'd never had a choice, and was now forced into carrying this guilt with her. But then he realized that the guilt was a good thing. If she regretted the deaths she caused, then she was already so much better than himself.