S t r e e t F i g h t e r A l p h a 3 ( P a r t 3)

Shadaloo Base, India

"You called, Juni?" Vega asked angrily.

The doll nodded.

"Have you been working on your mission?" Vega asked, fuming with something mean to say to her.

"Mission complete," Juni responded. "Street Fighter Ryu is heading to India, which is this place."

Juni took out a visual displayer, which began to play a video of a teenage girl and a sumo wrestler.

Um… where did Ryu go?" The girl said. "You know… the guy wearing the white gi."

"Ryu, yes, I know," The Sumo Wrestler said. "He was headed to India. Up on the northern side near the Ganges river lives a monk in a village. Ryu went to meet him."

"Ah, DARN IT!!!" The girl said loudly. "I gotta chase him again?!?!"

"Well, you can if you really need him that badly. Well, that Ryu sure put some strain on my body and I can't just stand here now. I must get my rest! Get on, now, girl. This ain't a place for you."

"Fine, leave me like that! I 'm going after you, Ryu! I'm coming to—"

The video faded. Juni closed the displayer and put it back in her pocket.

"Perfect. That sumo wrestler seems familiar… hm…"

Vega didn't like to think. So he cut the subject, still trying to say something to Juni. She stared at him with her robotic eyes, not having any emotion at all.

"What are you looking at, pathetic bitch?" Vega said.

"I was wondering after completing this mission," Juni said, almost hesitantly, "if I could go live for my own for a few weeks. Have a time off."

"What?!" Vega growled.

"I have done enough chasing around, sir, I want to look at this world for myself," Juni said.

Vega stood up. "Do not ever repeat those false words. Don't ever dream you could live as a human. I am heading to our second base to track down this Ryu."

He vanished into the air, leaving Juni with the assurance he is going after Ryu in India. Juni was still looking blank, but in her mind she was being used. Behind Juni, a noise occurred. She looked back, and saw Sagat standing there. She blinked.

"You? Here?"

So Ryu is here in India…

Juni blinked again. "You were not supposed to be here according to Master Vega's commands."

Sagat turned his back to Juni and left the base.

Dhalsim's Domain, India

"So Ryu left?" Sakura said. "How could he ditch us? I didn't even talk to him at all!"

"Don't worry," Ken said. "He could not have gone far…"

Ken looked around, tracing the mountainous sight. There was nowhere to look. Ken was simply wasting his time.

"There's no point to look for Ryu," Karin said. "He's gone. He has other plans. He simply came here to master his technique and go. He had no interest in you, Ken, or you at all, Sakura. At all."

Sakura grit her teeth. "He would be such a heartless man?"

A really long pause awaited their answer. Ken was frowning.

"I know you two are going to continue searching for him," Karin said. "Ken, thanks for taking me here. But I must return. I learned a few lessons, that's all I was seeking. I'm going back."

"What? You can't leave now! Come on, hang out a bit more," Sakura said pleadingly.

"No, I better go," Karin replied. "I'm going to call the chopper down a few miles back to the airport. The trip from ganges really gave me a damn headache!"

"Good luck, then," Ken said. "Sakura, you and I are going to follow those foot tracks that Ryu supposedly left on the entrance. Let's investigate them."

Sakura nodded.

"You sure you're not gonna stick with us?" Ken asked to Karin, who began walking away.

"No."

Ken looked as her back slowly became smaller.

Few Miles Away

Ryu trekked through the rough terrain of India, his bag whirling around his back as he held it behind his shoulder. He reminded himself of the dream he had last night of a woman telling him to get away from Dhalsim's place now that he has learned the technique of the Hadouken.

"So...," he said to himself. "This man named Vega.. he is after me. I must run to the safest place possible, although I will have to face him anyway."

He recalled the 'dream' he had last night. A magical woman had appeared in his dream to run away to shelter as soon as possible, even though that won't help. Then she told him he must fight with his 'soul', not strength. It felt so real though! Could it have been a dream?

, England

Balrog traced his path and struck against people and people. Several times he hit the same people who grew furious with him asking, "Have you seen this lady?", holding a wrecked but still clear photo of a girl.

"What do you want?" one girl asked.

"This lady, have you seen her?" Balrog asked, showing her the photo. "Her name is Cammy. Cammy White."

"No, and if you really want to find her put up a 'Wanted' poster or go to the police station and file a report. Or take that mask off your head and acting like some damn criminal. Or just go get a life and stop begging people to recognize that lady and say yes."

Balrog didn't say anything. Instead, he hopped up to the side of a building and kicked off like a ninja, from one building to another, higher and lower, left to right. There was no other way to search for Cammy but to ask people that lived around the place where she was last identified. But a thought kicked in Balrog's head.

He turned up instantly in front of an old man, who did not seem to be frightened by his odd and sudden appearance. Balrog stared at him for a while. The man looked up, blinked, and decided to go ahead when Balrog stopped him harmfully.

"You know any mental centers around here?"

"The local one, down two blocks and left three blocks," the man responded. "There is a big sign saying, 'Criminal and Mental Institution'."

Balrog nodded. He faded away, hopped up the ledges of the nearest building, skipped in shortcuts and arrived at the place as instructed by the old man. He went inside. There was a lady at the nearest counter.

"Can I help you?" she asked without looking at him.

"I'm looking for a Cammy White."

"… Cammy?"

The woman didn't look for the name in the computer or try to identify any Cammy's. Instead, she looked up at Balrog. She seemed to notice the mask he was wearing and became paralyzed with panic. Perplexed, she tried to think further instead of considering him as some elite gangster.

"You a detective?" she asked, curiously.

"Yes," Balrog said. "I'm on a top-secret mission on a Cammy. I need to identify her and termi— turn her in."

The woman didn't ask for any kind of certificate for being a detective on investigation, she seemed rather stupid. She pushed up her glasses and sighed. "There have been too many phone calls and reports after Cammy escaped this place. She is now on the 'Most Wanted' list. She has a big connection with Shadaloo, some say."

"So what do you have to say in order to assist me?" Balrog questioned impatiently.

"Funny," the woman said. "If you were really a detective you would have actually corrected me."

"Corrected you for what?" Balrog seemed to have made an error. His impatience led him to almost the desire of swiping her to death.

"Well… it just so seems that on the Shadaloo documents, the fraud that Cammy escaped this place was made in order to frighten the public as well as put Shadaloo in action. If I didn't know any better I'd say you're…. not a detective. You're part of this case. And since you must be stopped from knowing this as you're part of the society, you'll have to be turned in to the police and electrocuted so that your memory is erased. Killed, even."

The woman quickly reached for her phone, but Balrog managed to draw out his swiping claws from his left hand's gauntlet and easily shove the phone off, along with its cord, letting it crash into merchandise.

"What the—you little—!!!" the woman almost reached for a self-defense knife when Balrog punched her directly in the face with the right hand so that she would crash into the wall behind head-first.

"So," Balrog said to himself quietly, not caring if the woman was even conscious to listen to him. "This means she is still here. She did try to escape, got caught anyway, but in the news it still said she had escaped…"

What a fool this society is and the government's people that give away secrets, in hopes that the listeners wouldn't even live to say it to the rest of the people. Underestimation is a major weakness.

Balrog shook his head. For a minute, a picture of Rose flicked in his head. He didn't know why. He remembered the last talk he had had with Rose. He shook his head again, and searched for the name "Cammy White" in the computer, and found her name with information and location inside the building. Indeed, the woman was a good tester, but not good at keeping secrets. Balrog grabbed the woman, threw her in the closest closet he found, and shut it. He wiped his right hand against his clothes and walked up the stairs patiently, to Cammy's room. He opened it softly, looked inside, and found her sleeping on a bed with wires tied around her, as if she was a prisoner.

He walked inside, over to the Cammy he had been ordered by Vega to locate and terminate. Slowly, he moved his left arm forward, and rested his claws on her neck. In the past, Vega had given Balrog many opportunities to go kill people—only because Balrog was a master assassin. He could kill a person and not even let them live long enough to bear the pain. He was a master of instant dispatch.

But not this time. When he pressed lightly on her neck, and saw blood trickling out, Cammy's eyes rushed open. Balrog knew that he shouldn't have pressed so softly, he should have cut her and get the job done. The mistake was not changeable. He would have to do it again. But it didn't work. Cammy screamed, whirled around madly, even through the clutch of the wires. Balrog could easily kill her right here. He swung swiftly, but missed. Instead, the wires were cut. Cammy took the opportunity to retreat a distance away from him, catched her breath, and looked at him with panic.

"You…," she said despairingly.

Balrog did not want to talk. The sooner he killed her, the better. If he hesitated, he would not want to kill her anymore. He leapt at her with his claw and delivered a neck-trapping swipe from the side, but she ducked and tried to low-kick him, causing him to jump up and back down with another swipe. She rolled forward, behind him, and jumped away to avoid another swipe.

Balrog was omnipotent with his claws, Cammy could not do anything but avoid. In the end, she avoided another attack and went through the shattering window. She fell out, facing the traffic below, with no optimism for living anymore. But then she felt a firm right-hand grab her. It was Balrog. He took her and hopped off the walls of the buildings, one to another. He let her go on the footpath.

Cammy became confused. At first he wanted to kill her. But now he saved her. What did he want?

"You… are?"

"Vega's orders were to terminate you—not necessarily meaning death, and he sent me to do the job," Balrog said. "I was thinking of swiping you to death so that I can taste your blood. Dropping you off a building would be of no use."

Cammy's eyes were exposed in horror. She did not have the will to fight for her life anymore. Terminate me?, she thought blankly. Not necessarily meaning death? What is the meaning of this? Is there a fate worse than death? Is not recognizing anything in the world, who you are, what your name is.. is that a fate worse than death?! Is there an even more hellish fate?

Once again, Balrog lifted his arm with the claw. But Cammy was gone. In less than ten seconds, she had raged across the path, from wall to wall, path to path, and escaped. Balrog could have chased her. But he didn't. Why?

He shook his head once more to snap out of it. There was no time to lose. He traced her steps, and didn't have to look long to find her. He found her laying flat on the ground of a narrow alley. He walked over, and picked her up. She was unconscious of fear, perhaps.

What a lady, Balrog thought. That who already has the unfortunate memory loss… and now she's a prey to another of our plans. Does she deserve this? And what is Vega going to do with her?

He set off to find out. He went to the Shadaloo base in England, and was immediately transported to the elite base in the United States, called the Shadaloo Headquarters.

Shadaloo Headquarters, U.S.A.

"You have brought her," Vega said, more happily than he had been before. "… Well done, Balrog."

Balrog set Cammy down, but, directed by Vega's psychic powers, Cammy floated up, in her unconscious laying position, and flew away down the hall to another chamber. Balrog suspected she was sent into the Psycho Drive chamber.

"For this very essential job, I will give you a month of vacation," Vega said. "Have well rest."

"I do not need rest," Balrog replied. "I need an answer to one question."

Vega turned confused, then slightly angry. If it was any other man besides his three hands, Vega would have killed him instantly for even asking a question to him. But he held back to Balrog. Balrog was an assassin. One of Shadaloo's best.

"… a complaint?"

"What are you going to do with Cammy?" Balrog said calmly.

Vega stood up and floated in the air, his cloak slowly flapping by his side. "That is no concern for you. Go. I have no time. I'm on the hunt for a man even more wanted than this woman. And I know no one is good enough to catch him. All except me. So, I cannot have such stupid questions."

"Still, I must know the consequences of catching this woman," Balrog said. "You told me to terminate her."

"But you didn't kill her, did you?" Vega said.

Balrog himself was confused. What was the meaning of termination?

"There is a difference between killing and terminating," Vega said. "I am sure I explained this to all three of you. For me, killing is ending one's life. And terminating is more complex. It is, in a way, worse than death."

"And I do this all for nothing?" Balrog said darkly.

Vega cackled. "My good friend, I have offered you a month vacation of peace. Is that not enough?"

"I do not need a vacation," Balrog replied hastily, "just tell me what you'll do to the girl!"

"Desperacy is never good, Balrog," Vega said angrily, "You have gained harmony throughout this quiet mission… how?"

Balrog breathed softly. For once, he wanted to take off his mask and look Vega in the eye with frustration. But that would cause him something any innocent person would earn for gratis. "Because I learned that innocuous living things should not be used," he said finally.

"I have several morals, and here is one of them," Vega said, his eyes blazing, "… kill. And kill before they kill you. And kill the witnesses. All, today, have given me this seat—this throne of the notorious Shadaloo!!!"

"Notorious…," Balrog said. He remained paused for a while, with Vega breathing heavily while waiting for him to continue. "I always wanted a place of animosity in everyone's hearts for me. But I took out my thirst with these claws. When I learnt that people hated me and my face, I knew at once that I must fight with life. And I drew my pain in other peoples' blood—with these claws. Today, however, I hesitate."

"And… why?"

"Because…."

Balrog couldn't think of what he had to say.

"Because?" Vega asked.

"….."

Still nothing. Noticing his mind was blank, Vega sat there for two minutes. Then: "I'm departing to India. Take the vacation and return within a month. I cannot take the risk of mitigating the pleasure I take as other people's misery."

And so, Vega left, leaving a dark mist that reflected Balrog's thoughts. Balrog walked away. And then, with a rush of enthusiasm, he decided to go to the Psycho Drive chamber. He wasn't stupid; he knew there were cameras inside. So, he crushed the wall from the outside, hitting the cameras on the inside and causing them to fall and shatter. He walked in.

There she was: Cammy White, laying helplessly inside a case, surrounded by glass. She was unconscious.

Balrog drew his claws and placed them on the glass. She does not deserve such a fate. To hell with it! Knowing there is no one to listen to him, he decided to say the answer to himself.

"…. Because, Vega… you're one of those that I always should have killed, but never did. And now, I realize that."