Cultural Exchange

by tartar12345

Story is set shortly after the Tekken 6: Scenario Campaign ending. Who are Julia Chang's real parents? How is she and Michelle Chang connected to Ogre? Warnings: Some re-edits & retro-add-ons. Julia-centric. Raw & highly self-indulgent & potential angst backfire. Currently NOT planning to follow T7 plotline/characters. Relatively OC-heavy, moments of OOCness, & AUishness.

4. PI-Prologue 4

Pre-Warnings/Clarifications:

(1) This chapter is very centered on some OCs. One of the OCs will become a more significant occasional supporting character (but not a central plot driver), and the others will only reappear or mentioned from time to time as minor characters.

(2) I know next to nothing about computers (esp. hacking, coding, etc.), and the (Japanese) hospital procedures used here. The former is like rocket science to me, and both feels too tedious to research in depth. Thus, expect shameless fabrications.

(3) This chapter will be the last prologue for Part I. Jin Kazama and Julia Chang will personally meet again in the next chapters.

(4) As a chapterly reminder, I'm planning for this fanfic to disregard post-T6SC official developments, including T7 & its characters (at least so far, as trying to integrate them will significantly de-motivate & discourage my storywriting incentives at this point). Thus, I'm currently going to actively ignore T7-related facts, which will likely render the Tekken in-universe facts of this story canonically obsolete, contradictory, and/or highly inaccurate.

Disclaimer:

I do not own Tekken, its original characters, or the mainstream fictional works that inspired and from which I derived my storyline/characterizations/plot devices/OCs/character names.

I do own the OCs presented here, along with the chosen naming & self-invented backgrounds of both playable & previously nameless canon characters with little or different background info (up to Tekken 6: Scenario Campaign).

Part I-Prologue IV:

*****
Saturday morning of the week before Julia Chang's 22nd birthday, having departed the Lei residence and on her way to Asuka Kazama's dojo home...

Julia suppressed a groan. She totally did not expect her 18 year-old foster sister to suddenly invite herself to the young scientist's "sparring rendezvous" with Asuka Kazama. Lei Wuji was perhaps the closest person in the world Julia unconditionally trusts and confide in...regarding critical personal matters, that is. Otherwise, the younger woman usually followed her own whims.

Yesterday morning, when Julia arrived at the Lei residence for an overnight visit, Officer Lei Wulong was out of the country for a few weeks, having been summoned to an urgent investigation. Thus, the two foster sisters were left alone together.

Lei's niece Wuji had slightly fluffy black locks that covered her upper back. She almost always had her hair tied back into a half-ponytail. Her bangs were styled in neatly cropped, child-like fringes.

The Cantonese girl's big, dark brown orbs peeked from single-lidded, downturned, and elongated narrow slits.
Not that she particularly enjoyed all that distress-inducing ominous glowering, piercing-cold narrowed eyeing, or unnervingly spooky peering - at - everything, continuously. The natural-born appearance of her eyes made these expressions her default look, especially when her face was neutral and relaxed.
Many youngsters and kids often found her eyes downright menacing, creepy, and frightening.
In contrast, more mature peers or elders frequently praised the girl's eyes for their exquisite and rare "phoenix-enchantress beauty":
Prominent creases eye-lined closely under her eyes, as if they were frozen into perpetual squinting or grinning; Soft, crescent-like curves and slopes gracefully swept her eye shape; Copious long and dense lashes; Elegantly high, thin eyebrows; Edges symmetrically straight and horizontal, thus lacking the stereotypical "Chinese/Asian Eye" slant.
The composite visual traits gave the younger woman a bewitchingly enigmatic, impenetrable and imperturbable impression - -inseparably combined with unsettling ambiguities of rigid impassiveness, chilling eeriness, cynical brazenness, and an almost trickster-like malice.

Wuji had a diminutive button nose. Complemented by cherubic baby-like down-turned lips, which split-stretched a bit too widely and crookedly whenever she smiled - and the Lei niece liked to smile frequently - a subtly disturbing feline grin. Her skin tone was a creamy gold. The younger woman's soft round face strongly proclaimed a young-child-like visage, due to its abnormally underdeveloped facial definitions and tender-smooth complexion. The rest of her facial features contrasted sharply with her very hardened, womanly and not-at-all-innocent-looking eyes.

Lei's young niece was an unusually petite, frail-looking girl who stood 4'9'' high with her rollerblades on - and down to 4'5'' on bare feet. She was almost without fail mistaken as age 11-12 years old by non-acquaintances, and 8-10 years old without help from the "bodily" proof of her matured womanhood. The fact that she still required braces to adjust her crooked teeth did not help. Nor did her unusually soft-spoken, little-girlish voice.

Which is partially why - unlike Julia - Lei Wuji was all about boldness and self-expression via outfits and accessories.

The pint-sized 18 year-old always wore the most revealing attire she could get away with, while just avoiding public indecency - midriff-baring tees, tanks, or knotted, unbuttoned blouses with very short cut-offs or miniskirts in warm weather - to expose her modest but convincingly mature curves, slender torso, and long, skinny limbs with soft wiry muscle tone.

During colder months, the Cantonese girl would usually don a skin-tight, semi-throat concealing gray sweater under an oversized black parka, a calf-length black skirt that flowed loosely around her hips, and over black tights.

Or a long-sleeved, off-the-shoulder black ballerina dress made of form-fitting elastic fabric - complemented by a black, lacy faux corset worn right below her breasts, a pair of thigh-highs stockings, and a tight, black throat choker with an elaborately carved silver medallion.

To compensate for her plain black hair, Wuji had them decorated with highlights of blonde, brown, and red. In addition, she had insisted on metallic braces for her teeth, along with a fancy lip ring and brow piercings. A long, silver chain-belt was almost always hung around her hips.

Despite her eccentricities, Lei Wuji found stable and reasonably comfortable self-employments for herself. Sometimes Wuji would earn a bit of side income with her self-published short stories, and often participated in online fashion design competitions as an amateur hobby.

Otherwise, the young Lei girl would be making use of her extensive mastery of Neijia martial arts - self-created techniques derived from fighting styles which included Taichiquan, Yiquan, Liuhebafaquan, Fut ga, and Dim Mak.

For the majority of the time - except when she is working with a patient - Lei Wuji would regularly keep an eye on her "Super Cop" uncle's activities, to tail any possible assassins specifically targeting him. And "do something about them" in utmost discreet fashion.
Such activities were crucial in maintaining the well-being of both her sole surviving blood relative and Wuji herself.
The 18 year-old Lei foster sister had Julia teach her the necessary computer skills to do the tracking herself.

On Friday noon, during the foster sisters' mini birthday celebration of home-made tequila and cupcakes, Julia spilled all the strange events that have been plaguing her since the G. Corp. matter.

Lei Wuji just sipped her drink, listening with perfect calm and quietness to Julia Chang ramble about all the weird events that had been happening, including the new discovery that very morning in the bathroom, when she just got out of bed:

The young scientist's hair had incomprehensibly reverted back to its unusually long length and form before she sheared and oiled it -- less than 2 days ago.

Upon further self-inspection, no other bodily hairs have grown except those on her head.
Stranger still, she realized that other conventionally undesired hairy areas on her body -- her armpits, arms, legs, pubic...and even those on her fingers -- seemed to have completely vanished, roots and all.

Julia seriously considered having her medical examination moved ahead, telling the hospital that things have gotten urgent for her.

When her "Big Sissy" - Wuji's simultaneously insulting and endearing nickname for Julia - finished talking about herself, the little foster-sister then tilted her head slightly, holding a steady gaze at the young scientist.

"Now, sis...it's your turn to listen to me until I'm done, okay? This'll be beyond your narrow scientist mind to accept and comprehend. But since you've decided to confide me of all people, no 'this is unscientific superstition' arguments from you. And try not to roll your eyes. Promise?" The Cantonese girl solemnly requested.

Julia blinked, "Uh...okay."

"You didn't have to tell me about your weird dreams or hair tendencies, or anything. I sensed some foreign and...otherwordly source within your energy flow, since you stepped in the house." Wuji informed her in a matter-of-factly tone.
"Whatever it is, it's completely intrinsic and not of a sentient nature, like a spirit or a demon with a separate soul of its own. I believe it's a slowly awakening source of previously untapped power - likely stemming from some past-life incarnation. Or passed on from your real parents. Or maybe even resurfaced from your distant blood ancestors."

"So my biological mother, her mother, and maternal lineage must have some mutated human genes that dictate bizarrely selective, weather-forecasting hair growth. And perhaps visions of self-deification built in their subconscious." Julia sighed.

Were those mutation manifestations the reason they - and I - were so superstitiously accused and ostracized by our tribe as the bringers of woeful disaster? The young scientist pondered sadly to herself. If so, I do wonder why the tribe tolerated so many generations of my maternal lineage without immediate lynching, not to mention allowing breeding and succeeding offspring to survive for so long.
My biological mother must have somehow been the last straw for the tribal villagers. Maybe she hid me in the temple to spare me of an even crueler death that she took upon herself. I do wonder what factors trigger these physiological abnormalities to happen right now...

"I don't detect any malevolent aspects in this budding power," the young Neijia practioner continued, cutting into Julia's grim speculations. "But it may be that I simply can't at my current sensory levels. The nature of your new source of energy feels too subtle, at this point in time."

Wuji suddenly leaned across the table with her elbows, fingers of both hands clasped under her nose. Her stare suddenly became uncomfortably intense.
"I don't know what you're going to become...or more precisely, turn back into. Just remember - whatever happens, you'll always be Julia Chang - and my Big Sissy."

Julia was speechless with total confusion and awkwardness. She never did grasp a word of Wuji or Foster Aunt Lei Yanan's talk about the metaphysical - which they were obviously able to sense and even manipulate - after years of focus on the Neijia arts.
The young scientist did relish a moment of poignant relief over Wuji's words, knowing her foster sister fully intended to support her, no matter the circumstances.

A while later after they cleaned up the table, Julia set about doing some house chores for the Lei family. As the young scientist busied herself folding the family's laundry, she mentioned to Wuji that she'll be leaving for Japan around 7pm in the morning, to meet her friend Asuka.

Wuji suddenly turned to Julia. "Asuka Kazama? You mean that Japanese woman Uncle Wulong had worked with to catch that martial arts-obsessed thug? She's related to Jin Mishima, isn't she?"

"He always called himself Jin Kazama, Wuji." Julia replied. "That Mishima warlord kept his mother maiden name as official last name for some reason, even after taking contmplete control over his paternal grandfather's empire. And yes, Asuka Kazama is his maternal younger female cousin. I believe she's 19, just a year older than you."

Wuji suddenly grew still, looking contemplative. "I'm going with you, sis." The Cantonese girl suddenly announced. "I want to see with my own strength what Mishima's cousin got."

Julia put down the shirt she was folding and looked at her younger foster sister. "You know Lei wouldn't like that, Wuji. You have to watch over the house. And you can't just decide to tag along last minute - it's very impolite."

Lei Wuji crossed her arms. "Uncle never said I couldn't leave the house for just one day - I'll be back here by Sunday afternoon - I have work to finish and clients to tend to on Monday, anyways." The younger woman pouted. "Besides, I've always been good about not participating in any fights or tournaments before."

"What an utterly half-wit excuse. You're the one who said you'd have sabotaged Lei's career, remember?" The young scientist looked at Wuji with a steely sternness. "I'm not letting you come with me, 'Little Sissy'. And that's final."

Wuji stared expressionlessly at Julia for a few seconds. Then the little foster-sister shrugged and headed to her bedroom.

"Whatever. Have it your way." The Cantonese girl replied in a nonchalant tone.

Julia went back to folding clothes. Well, that's that. Or so she thought...

*****
Next morning 8:35 am, at the international airport...

Julia wasn't able to shake the funny feeling of being watched, as she made her way to the airport. The young scientist constantly looked around for any suspicious-looking adults, but could find none. It was only until a half hour after the plane took off, her child-statured 18-year old foster sister sauntered up to her seat, removed her girl scout disguise, and casually greeted a stunned Julia.

Julia Chang knew her two best female companions definitely weren't going to get along. Wuji was not pleasant to be around, unless you have her unconditional devotion. And Asuka's temper wouldn't be generous towards other rude brats.

The young scientist just hoped she wouldn't need to go between any dangerously hostile interactions.

When the foster-sister pair arrived at Asuka's abandoned dojo yard, the latter was indeed surprised and dismayed that Julia brought along some weird kid to babysit during their sparring match.
Julia Chang had brought along a tiny-sized Asian kid with mean-looking eyes, who was wearing a bra-like white tank under suspenders attached to a black miniskirt, complete with metal elbow pads and thick red fighting gloves over black forearm-length add-on sleeves.
The kid was blatantly trying to imitate Tifa Lockhart from Final Fantasy VII, except her shoulder-length hair was in a loose, lamely dyed half-ponytail. That, and her punk-wannabe face piercings.
Not to mention the little weirdo had a large electric guitar tightly strapped on her back - the 4 ft long musical instrument almost as long as she is tall. She had a pair of sneakers tied by their shoestrings around one small arm, and a large sketchbook tucked under the other. And was walking slowly alongside her American friend - in rollerblading boots.

Asuka greeted her visitors with hands on hips and an irate glare. "Chang! Why'd you accept babysitting offers if you're coming all this way to Japan, just to see me and dad? You won't be able to focus on our fight with a kid to watch! And for the record, I'm definitely not taking you guys on some stupid cosplay convention-"

"-chill, Kazama." Lei Wuji interrupted in her soft but firm voice. "I can well take care of myself as an 18 year-old legal adult, despite being a weird-looking midget and all. I just want a first-hand taste of what that mighty Mishima's family can pack. "
The Cantonese girl then looked around, admiring the quaint neighborhood surrounding the dojo. "And don't worry, I'll be ditching you girls right after to do a little touring around on my own".

Julia took advantage of the young dojo keeper's momentary surprised silence. "Er...Asuka, this is Lei Wuji. She's actually officer Lei Wulong's niece, and she's already 18, so don't worry about having to babysit her or anything. I truly am sorry I didn't tell you beforehand, but I wasn't even aware that the brat was following me until my plane took off..."

Asuka crossed her arms. "And what if it were G. Corp. following you, Ms. Genius Bruiser, and not this 'brat'? You'd be offed before you could get here for help! Sheltered corporate life has really gotten you soft and careless."
Deciding that they wasted enough time talking, the young dojo keeper suddenly took a fighting stance towards Julia, who repressed a gulp and tentatively readied herself as well.

Asuka briefly inclined her head towards Wuji, who had quietly settled herself on a rocky bench. "I'm gonna teach Chang here a lesson about carelessness first." She flashed a belligerent-looking grin. "Then we'll see if the Super-Cop's kiddy Niece has got a fraction of what her uncle has."

Julia's spar session with Asuka lasted under 10 minutes. Both sparring contestants collapsed on their behinds to catch their breath. This time, Julia managed to secure a hair-breadth victory over Asuka.
A panting Asuka commented that she was proud of Julia - contrary to the Kazama fighter's expectations, her scientist friend had apparently trained her butt off all year round.

"Seriously, it's been like only one year since we sparred, but you're a good deal faster and more agile since the last time...and I kicked your butt back then, remember?" Asuka complimented as she grinned approvingly.

Julia gave her a weak half-smile. "Yeah, I remember."

The young scientist herself was extremely perplexed about her totally illogical increase in combat competency. She had not touched any martial arts training since her preoccupation with helping Lars's Zaibatsu faction, and spared little time for even basic physical workouts.

But reading and countering Asuka's speedy, aggressive attacks - not to mention the Kazama fighting style's characteristic complexity - suddenly seemed considerably less elusive, and almost instinctive to Julia...much like her mysteriously enhanced intuition towards her computer deciphering. And the young scientist's stamina seemed to have all but doubled by itself since last year, without her having done anything to improve it.
In the past, Julia would've rejoiced if she managed to secure a grueling tie against her young dojo-keeper friend.

Asuka stood up and balled her fists. "Alright, Chang...time for round two. And no more respites till one of us is knocked out-"

"-hold it. My turn first, Kazama." Wuji tossed aside her purse and sketching pad, slid off the stone she was sitting on, then roller-glided in front of Julia so she was facing Asuka directly. The diminutive Cantonese fighter then unstrapped her large electric guitar, and brandished it like a weapon.

The Kazama dojo keeper momentarily stared in disbelief, before crossing her arms and scowling at the intruding Neijia fighter.

"I'm not in the mood to fight you yet, Cop's Niece. You'll have to wait till I'm done with Chang." Asuka suddenly pointed right into her challenger's face and proclaimed loudly, "On second thought, your joke-martial arts style with your stupid toys have turned off my interest completely! So roll off!"

Wuji did not budge, but only responded with a half-smile.

"These 'toys' are pragmatic extensions for my Neijing-based attacks. They compensate for my insufficient height and attacking reach, during hand-to-hand combat against a bigger, taller opponent - which is about everyone I bother to fight seriously." she explained in a casual tone.
Then the Cantonese girl's smile grew impudent. "Why not try me, Mishima's cousin? Or are all practitioners of the Kazama arts snobbish and narrow minded against more...innovative combat styles?"

Asuka blinked, then tensed in fury. She clenched her fists tightly at her side. "I don't care if you're Chang's little sister, or that cop's relative, or even if you really are just an ignorant little brat," The young dojo keeper growled through clenched teeth. "You just asked for the backside-whopping of the century!"

Julia quickly retreated to the sidelines as Asuka charged at her little foster sister. Here's hoping Asuka won't excite the little brat too much, so that she'd lose control of those dangerous impulses. She sighed to herself mentally. The young scientist anxiously watched her two younger friends clash, readying herself to break up the fight if necessary.

Amidst her fury-based assault, Asuka was initially taken aback by Wuji's unusual fighting style. The latter had coordinated her attacks and blocks with highly acrobatic dodging, positional shifts, and footwork with smooth skating maneuvers.
Although she'd used her legs or feet to deflect and block attacks, Wuji strictly limited her blows using her guitar and upper body with exceptionally agile dexterity. The skater-fighter used most of her unusual ground movements and momentum to her strong advantage, too.

Despite her earlier exhaustion of stamina and the disadvantageous elements of surprise against her, Asuka still managed to get the upper hand. The young dojo keeper had knocked her opponent down with a sweep and was ready to deliver a heavy blow.

Under a half-second however, the Japanese girl heard a strange whirring noise, saw a flash of shiny grey shooting right at her, then felt something stringy and metallic whip around her left bicep.

Before Asuka knew it, she was forcefully yanked off balance and her face fallen right into Wuji's incoming fist.

"Sorry Kazama, I happen to be a sore loser. Technically, you won." A slightly grinning Wuji stood up, using her guitar to support herself, and touched one of the tuners on her instrument-weapon.

A stunned, prone Asuka suddenly felt a rough grinding sensation burn around her left bicep, and turned to look at it. A guitar string protracted 6 feet from the instrument had wrapped itself tightly around her arm, and was now unwinding away. The Cantonese girl then hooked the automatically retracted string back its proper place on her guitar.

Asuka shot to her feet. "Damn you, you lousy-!" She started savagely.

"-cheater. Yes, I know." Wuji finished for her, and focused on fiddling with her instrument. "Again, I'm sorry. I admit your superiority in that fight. And I do have a lousy tendency to cheat. But believe me, I did that for your own good."

Julia quickly ran right between the two girls then. "Please Asuka, forgive the brat on behalf of me and Lei. My little foster sister has some serious issues when it comes to fighting...if forced into a losing position, she plays very dirty - on sheer, instinctive impulse - and usually ends up seriously injuring her opponent. Those instincts won't discriminate between friendly sparring partner, or hostile enemies."

Asuka's burning glare persisted, but she relaxed her fighting stance. "Your little sis should be confined to a ward. Sure she's family, but I can't believe the cop - of all people - would let this cheating maniac run around free like she is now."

Lei's niece only chuckled. "Uncle and Big Sissy here have always forced me to stay home at night...well, whenever they're around. I'm already a legal adult, and they still forbid me to leave the house unchaperoned, except for emergencies. I need some slack, or else I'll really end up in a maximum security prison for the rest of my life."

Wuji then flashed Asuka a quick salute and small smile. "Nice meeting you, Kazama. And thanks for the fight." She went to pick up her purse and sketchpad, then turned to Julia. "I'll be at our hotel room before 5pm. And I promise not to cause any trouble here. So relax and have fun with Mishima's cousin, Big Sissy."

"I just told you last night, Wuji," Julia said in an exasperated tone. "Asuka's cousin is Jin Kazama, not Mishima! His father and grandfather are the ones who go by the surname Mishima."

The diminutive Cantonese girl just shrugged, not bothering to turn around to look at either of them.
"All of them honorless and indiscriminate mass murderers who hate each other. Why bother differentiating them? Unless you want to offend the Kazama kin by association." She remarked curtly as she glided off into the distance.

Julia watched Wuji disappear in the distance, then sighed. "Asuka, again I really do apologize for..."

"-Nah, the cop's Napoleonic niece might have a point, there." The anger in Asuka's voice was replaced by mild amusement. Then the young dojo keeper scratched her head. "Still, I can't believe she and that cop are related. Was that girl adopted like you, or something?"

Julia shook her head. "Nope. But her father - Lei's younger brother - did run off with some other woman before she was even born. And never came back. Then Wuji's mother got herself killed right in front of her."

The young dojo keeper's eyes grew wide, and she let out a low whistle. "Whew. Well, that explains a good part of it. Besides, what's with her saying she'd be locked in maximum security, and her night curfew?" Asuka asked. "And I know she has height problems, but your little sis would've been hell of a lot tougher if she'd try kicking once in a while. Those skates didn't seem to pose a problem when she used her legs to block."

The young scientist paused, contemplating. She then decided it'd be better to just spill some of the darker truths of Lei's niece. That might encourage Asuka to keep her distance from Wuji, in case the former or latter wanted another match.

Besides, Asuka Kazama doesn't break promises, especially if she deems them reasonable enough.

Julia leaned close to Asuka. "You're going to swear to keep this secret from everyone, even your own family. And never, ever mention this to Lei if you come across him. Got it?"

Asuka looked a bit surprised and confused. "Um, okay. I promise."

"Wuji truly cares for her family and friends...who love her back, that is. And she won't hurt her opponents or antagonists - seriously - until the very moment they give her a justifiable defense to do so. " Julia started.
"This one night, the two of us were walking home a bit late. I was 15 years old, and Wuji only 12. We were cornered by some drug-high and very horny delinquent boys. They didn't take no for an answer, and when I overcame them via bare-handed violence, they immediately started to wield their very lethal street weapons, with intent to kill.
"One had a pistol pointed right at me. That was when my little foster sister lost it and slashed apart all the gangsters." The young scientist shuddered at the memory.

"...slashed them apart? Someone already that short as an adult, at 12? Was she carrying a sword or axe with her at the time?" Asuka asked incredulously, her face tightened in disgust and disbelief.

Julia shook her head. "You know why Wuji never tried to kick you? She has circular razors built around her roller wheels. That's why she prematurely ended your match by cheating with her guitar-grappler strings.
"When my little sis starts feeling the rush of danger, her killer instincts just kick in. Luckily, she's always been able to stop herself - from slashing open her opponents, in time - or more often the case, preventing her opponent from impelling herself to do so. Or at least so far.
"It's also why she drags those sneakers with her everywhere - she changes in case she has to walk on damageable flooring."

"And the cop knows nothing about Ms. Rollerblader's slasher-happy tendencies, after all this time?" Asuka crossed her arms, frowning at her friend doubtfully. "I don't buy it."

"Oh, he has an inkling. He was clued in since Wuji was 7 years old - she almost beat another kid to death, in the childrens' division of a national martial arts tournament. When Lei asked her why she did it, she said that kid liked to hurt all the smaller kids, then told her, 'My dad said your uncle is a dumb loser of a cop', or something along those lines.
"After that, Lei and her mother decided to have her homeschooled by a tutor. That's also why they keep her in the house at night, or won't allow her outside unescorted after 9pm."
Julia chuckled dryly. "You could say her curfew is more to protect the 'bad people' she might run into, instead of herself. Well, at least that's Lei's position, as 'protector of the people', and current head of his household."

"Meh, I never thought the cop's family would be weirder than himself. But if he's already law enforcement..." Asuka suddenly stopped, and looked at her watch.
"Drat. It's almost lunchtime, and I forgot to order dad's favorite bento dish from that vendor across the corner! Wait for me here. We'll be heading to the hospital in 10 minutes."

As Asuka sped off to get her dad lunch, Julia picked up her belongings. Lei Wuji's parting remark about the Mishimas suddenly echoed in the young scientist's mind again...

*****
Approximately 9 years ago, Lei residence...

Foster Auntie Lei Yanan's very tiny-sized-looking daughter had always been placed right next to young Julia during theirNeijing training sessions, and at the dining table. Lei Wuji would once in a while glance with her unreadable eyes at the "new American daughter" who was abruptly plopped into Lei household.
But that was all she did - spare an occasional look -- for almost two years since young Julia's arrival. Lei's niece never spoke a word or made any gesture of interaction towards her new dusky-skinned, colorful-eyed "American big sister".

Young Julia Chang had been greatly unnerved by her new foster sister. The malicious bullies and openly contemptuous teachers at her junior high made their feelings towards her crystal clear. But the "new big sister" could never perceive any inkling how the original Little Lady of the House felt towards her, or nature of intentions.

Did this once-single child of the Lei family resent the new foreign girl's sudden intrusion in her living space -- not to mention the once-undivided attention she was suddenly forced to share with an unwelcome competitor -- just like little Julia felt towards Julius and Malloren? Was the little Cantonese girl grudging young Julia with a sullen silence, and plotting some cruel means of riddance?

The American adoptee's persevering grief and pain from her not-so-distant past were the only factors overriding the stressful unease caused by her very emotionally odd and distant new "little sister".
So as before, young Julia decided she could do little else, except ignore her deep heartache and paranoia via constant distraction -- by over-studying academically, putting full focus on her martial arts training, and help the Lei household in any way - via her previous home-making experiencesand many new housewife skills her patient new Foster Aunt generously imparted.
To hell with worrying herself about further misfortunes and cruel false hopes, which the cosmic bully called Destiny had in store.

After the first few days of her eleventh grade courses, 13 year-old Julia was immersed in her biochemistry studies. Wuji's soft, almost monotonous voice suddenly breezed in from behind her. "I know what happened to you, and why you are here. Mother told me."

Startled, young Julia abruptly turned to find her 10 year-old foster sister standing right at her open bedroom doorway, speaking to her for the very first time ever.

Young Julia remained speechless as Wuji went on. "You feel bad for killing mean people who tried to kill you. That makes you a weak, Big Sissy." Despite the words, there was no hint of contempt in the Cantonese child's voice...instead, it took on more of a chiding feel.

There was a prolonged silence and stillness between the two young girls. Then young Julia suddenly found her voice starting on its own.

"So you don't want me here. You hate me just because I'm too weak and cowardly for you and your family, don't you?" The American adoptee felt a weary but incendiary bitterness creeping in her tone.
"Guess what? I couldn't care less what you or any of your family thinks of me. Go ahead and do your worst to get rid of me -- tell Officer Lei I hurt you out of spite or something! Be just like every other self-centered bully in my life!"

Expecting a surprised or hostile response from the little Cantonese, young Julia was taken aback when her little foster sister merely smiled at her surly outburst. That smile was devoid of friendliness, malice, approval, or even amusement, but just some kind of...peculiar sense of acceptance.

"No. I want you to stay, Julia Chang. I'm going to like having a weak, Big Sissy like you around to protect from mean bullies." With that, the tiny-sized girl abruptly turned and left, leaving a dumbfounded and very bewildered young Julia behind.

From that following day on, little Lei Wuji would constantly seek out and pester young Julia into getting to know each other as normal sisters -- or friendly roommates -- would.

Over time, young Julia found out a great deal about her kid foster sister...a lot of which she often wished she never knew.

Other than the latter's unusual passion and aptitude for the Neijia arts, little Wuji had a hodgepodge of interests - some seemingly a tad "advanced" for the 10 year-old:
Electrical instruments that emit abrasive wailing sounds; Staff-fighting; Literary and visual media of extreme violence, dark horror, and hard gore; Costume design; Occasional cosplay; Video games; Traditional non-firearm weaponry -- especially the concealed, disguised, and assassination variety; And finally, skating of many varieties -- namely artistic, slalom, figure, and stunt.

Whether the diminutive Cantonese girl initially took up skating as a substitute for high heels -- or she was truly a skating enthusiast to start with -- she never gave a straight answer.

One Friday night, 15 year-old Julia gave into her 12 year-old foster sister's pesky insistence, that she be taken along with her daily walk in the tree-lined park.

Teenage Julia would usually take those walks around 5pm, but Lei's father suddenly required a trip to the hospital that evening, and Julia had to go help her foster aunt last-minute.

Teenage Julia's free time was delayed until 9 pm that night. However, the American adoptee refused to break routine. Young Wuji suddenly piped up that she'd like to skate around a bit in the park too. And pestered Teenage Julia until the older American girl relented.

It strangely took the tiny-sized Cantonese girl quite a while to get ready for a short walk...when young Wuji finally came downstairs, she was wearing a fully-stuffed big backpack. Teenage Julia only received a curt shrug when she asked about the backpack's contents.

Lei Yanan apparently wasn't worried about the young girls' safety -- they were definitely trained enough to protect themselves, and their neighborhood was safe at night.

Unfortunately for them, the local high school gang members decided to get drug-intoxicated and roam the vicinity -- a bit earlier than usual. They approached the two lone girls, and apparently any non-criminal passerby were too afraid to interfere, and quickly scurried from the scene.

Teenage Julia fought off the boys' attempts to force her into submission - using a deal more desperate strength and fury in her blows than necessary, thus quickly reduced the gangsters into groaning piles of flesh. As the mid-adolescent girl paused to catch her breath, she turned to see her foster sister stood leaning against a concrete wall with her arms crossed, lazily observing the spectacle.
Dismayed and exasperated, teenage Julia was about to open her mouth to protest young Wuji's indifference...until one of the defeated gangsters managed to creep up to his knees and push a pistol against the Lei daughter's temple, and threatened to blow the little brat's head off unless the older girl knelt down with her hands behind her head.

Uncontrolled panic rushed through teenage Julia, and she instantly wobbled to her knees. Before the older girl knew it she was lying on the floor, curled up and trying to shield her head and face, as the gangsters gang-kicked the crap out of her - though not seriously, as the boys were already quite weakened and injured themselves by her single-handed blows.

It was only when they stopped kicking, when she felt and smelled their panting alcoholic breaths surrounding close to her, when she felt hands brusquely tear her clothes open...did she feel a strange, horrifyingly familiar sense of calmness. The almost completely serene resignation - along with the vast ocean of excruciating pain, helplessness, humiliation, and raging hatred simmering far beneath. That acidic ocean which her psyche was meticulously trained never to leak a telling drop into even her subconscious emotions, thus could only eat away inwardly at her soul...deeper and deeper each day.
Her blood-matted vision swam in psychological confusion - until she saw many Laurent De Rocheforts bending over her, grinning with crude malice. No one I care about will get hurt because of me...no one will get hurt. Teenage Julia chanted hollowly to herself as violent fingers groped and probed into her bare flesh painfully.

An eternity of seconds later, the American adoptee heard the subsequent screeches of pain and terror piercing her ears, felt warm red liquid spraying around and onto her, smelt the unmistakable metallic odor of blood, the stench of excrement and urine, and saw dismembered body parts flying all over the place. And almost suffocated by the atmosphere, thickened with all-too-tangible agonizing terror.
The older girl caught sight of Lei Wuji several from the corner of her eyes, slaughtering all the boys with amazing vertical leaps and acrobatic adroitness - slashing limbs in halves or quarters...and open with deep gashes across torsos, throats, and faces. She made out on her younger foster sister's face a mix of extreme, long-awaited gratification and spiteful defiance.

Teenage Julia's suddenly sharpened senses were overwhelmed by all the chaotic external stimuli. But her mental and emotional capacities were somehow still inhibited by that unnatural sense of tranquil resignation, to register just what was going on...that debilitating calmness seemingly having sedated her sense of survival instincts, de-powering her flow of adrenaline.

The next thing her super-lucid sight caught young Wuji's blood-drenched face hovering right above hers, lips slightly downturned and eyes squinting at her in slits.
"...what a bother." Was all Lei's niece uttered in a slightly annoyed tone. And almost immediately after, teenage Julia started to feel her senses swirl into oblivion.

"...how is she doing, Dr. Larry?" Lei's anxious voice cut into teenage Julia's consciousness. The American adoptee slowly opened her eyes, and found a rotund middle-aged old man with a doctor's white coat, examining her close-up with intense scrutiny. All of the sudden, those thoroughly impassive stranger eyes grotesquely morphed into Laurent De Rochefort's eyes - also examining with intense scrutiny...but eyes now gleaming with perverse anticipation.
Those middle-age stranger's eyes squinted in slight frustration...no, it was Rochefort's - and her "decorum mentor" was squinting at her in disapproval. Teenage Julia inwardly panicked - Laurent De Rochefort was still unsatisfied with her performed service. What if because of her, Michelle...?

"I wish I had more optimistic news, Officer Lei...but her dissociative disorder is worsening steadily, and believe us - we've tried all we can. Though her case is somewhat unusual, how well she functions otherwise. According to ongoing observations from the staff I sent to her home, she's proven herself fully capable of tending to her own basic needs. But more oddly, she automatically performs housekeeping, daily miscellaneous tasks, and academic work of relatively high complexity - with unusual levels of intellectual focus and creative resourcefulness, even for a highly experienced and professional home-maker. On a very timely basis, and without ever being prompted by any authority. Our observations have indicated no signs of her deteriorating in this area."
Then there was a deep sigh. "Despite these unusual signs of physical and mental functionality...our brain scans reveal that she's doing all this in some very deep trance-like state...like some self-hypnosis, as I'm assuming no one else around her daily life is a professional hypnotist. Furthermore, the in-depth scan trends firmly concluded that her inevitable decline into permanent catatonia will occur within the year, at this rate. Are you certain that Ms. Childress just lapsed into this trauma-induced state, out of the blue? That there were no external factors that may have triggered it? No signs of physical wounds, or...?"

The American adoptee heard Lei heave out a sigh, too. "No, unfortunately. Not even a scratch on her. I come home one night from my two-week investigation overseas, and got news from my sister-in-law that she just started staring into space three days ago, for no reason. But thank you all the same, doctor." Her foster guardian's distinguishably steady and trustworthy hands gently ushered her out of the office.
"If you can hear me, kiddo...don't take Dr. Larry's diagnosis to heart." Lei's hushed, comforting voice cut into her consciousness. "Just because everyone claims he's the top psychiatrist in the country doesn't necessarily validate his expert opinions. And even if they're true...I'll never give up on you. We're in this together." The cop promised fiercely.

No, Lei didn't understand. He couldn't understand. The American adoptee had to. No one can help her, and she couldn't afford anyone's help. This is something she must do, in order to protect her most beloved ones from dying inside, because of her...even though her psyche itself was being digested very slowly, very peacefully, and in excruciatingly subdued agony. But no. She had always been the beneficiary of unconditional love and kindness. The least she could do was to ensure none of her benefactors suffer because of her...
Teenage Julia inwardly chanted to herself over and over, even after Lei helped her out of his car, and onto the living room sofa. As she slumped on it, her psychologically fatigued self started begging for a brief nap...

The American adoptee was jarred awake - by some horrendous pain that seemed to burst from every nerve-ending from her body. It left her reeling and disoriented for almost a half-minute, before a second wave hit. And a third. Then when the consecutive explosions of physical agony finally stopped, young Julia became aware that some thick cloth stuffed up her mouth, which was in turn firmly taped shut.

"Hurts doesn't it, you Big Sissy?" Lei Wuji's voice was conversational, almost sounded airy. "I'll make you a deal. I'll untie that hand that isn't too rope-burnt to move freely, and you do what I just did to you. Mirror what I did. Do it right 3 times in a row, and I set you free. Otherwise, every other failure will earn another three from me...until you get it right."

Vision swimming in blood-red pain and confusion, teenage Julia managed to realize she was in the Lei's basement. And felt conscious and herself again...as if her peacefully agonizing psyche had been shocked awake by pure physical torture. Her screams were effectively muffled by the overstuffed gag in her mouth, as another wave of pain seemed to explode from the core of her bones.

"Get going, Big Sissy." A note of impatience entered young Wuji's voice. "I don't have all day, and you've wasted more than enough of Uncle Wulong's time worrying about a condition you can well deal with yourself."

Three days later, teenage Julia made a perplexingly quick and almost thorough recovery from her once-obviously incurable dissociative state, although for more than a week, she was forced to wear uncomfortably long sleeves in the hot summer weather. Her increasingly bewildered psychiatrist, Dr. Larry, wanted more time to examine the American adoptee. Lei was almost equally bewildered, but relieved and overjoyed that his foster teenager finally managed to snap out of it. Part of the reason being that the cop was indeed falling behind work over family matters - even though he promised both teenage Julia and her psychiatrist that he'd make time for another evaluation. But unfortunately for Dr. Larry - and fortunately for the American adoptee - Lei simply could not make time, nor deemed the matter too pressing unless the American teenager showed symptoms of relapse. And delegated the task of keeping tabs to his sister-in-law and young niece.
As for teenage Julia and her young foster sister...they tacitly made an unspoken pact never to discuss or even mention her palliative and temporary "self-treatment", towards that particular cancer-like corrosion of her psyche. Neither to each other, nor with anyone else, as if the event was too embarrassing an incident to talk about. Something a social group would find necessary to put way behind them and pretend never happened.
Even though the American adoptee sometimes still wondered if she should thank her young foster sister for helping her - albeit by unrequested force - to find that horrible but effective temporary solution...

Though the initial incident that led to their "unspeakable" incident wasn't above thorough discussion to young Wuji, as teenage Julia discovered, after avoiding Lei's young niece for eight days and 22 hours. One Sunday night, teenage Julia was still trying hard to resume her studies like normal. Young Wuji suddenly startled the American adoptee by barging right into the latter's room without knocking or verbal announcement, shutting the bedroom door, and settling herself comfortably on teenage Julia 's bed.

After a moment of complete silence, Lei's young niece finally spoke. "Some believe that serial murderers, hate criminals, and rapists cannot help themselves...they are also victims of evilness born in their blood, thus deserving equal - if not more - sympathy of those they wronged or hurt. It's not their fault at all...they are born that way. It's their second nature, just like artists, fighting enthusiasts, or...nature lovers."

Young Wuji smirked in satisfaction at the American teen's reactive expression - stunned outrage. "If those people are right, then bloodshed is my second nature. You know what, Big Sissy? I get seriously sick and weak if I don't get an excuse to feel all those sensations - the sensations of flesh ripping open, the smell of blood and innards, the spurting crimson, the contorted look of panic and agony, those wails of terror and pain...from those I despise, of course. I just don't feel right...like myself. Killing is what I live for. Maybe that child rapist who raped you would say the same about him-"

"Where the fuck are you vomiting that load of bullcrap?!" Teenage Julia blurted out, shooting to her feet from her desk and throwing her chair across the room in the process.

"Mother. The concept was her idea, and then I did my own opinion-checking online." Was young Wuji's simple reply.
"Uncle told her everything that happened to you with your previous adoptive mother, and she in turn told me everything. What I said about 'victim criminals' are mother's beliefs, not mine. But I can make selective sense of that 'load of bullcrap'. From personal experience."

The tiny-sized girl then gave a humorless smile. "When I was 8 years-old, the doctors diagnosed signs of dangerous brain cancer growth inside my head. Uncle Wulong never told you about this, because you were already struggling too much to deal with your own problems. Neither did he or the doctors have the heart to break news to me either.
"Mother told me straight up, in a heartbeat. She said it's because of some energy blockage, due to unnatural repression. That I must find my own natural path and live it, before the blockage kills me. And you know what? The cancer cells disappeared very quickly after I started slaughtering people I really don't like. And they never came back.
"The funny thing is that uncle always thought the brain cancer was the culprit of the tournament violence I committed at 7...like the cancerous cells distorted my brain function into brutal tendencies, or something. He'd never suspect or believe it was the other way around - I need to sate those violent tendencies for my own survival...to stay healthy, strong, and sane. But with selective targets...simple mindless killing - victims I have nothing against - doesn't fulfill my needs."

Young Wuji's smile then shifted to a more pleasant tone, as she looked teenage Julia in the eye. "I was actually feeling sort of ill, depressed, and 'not myself' again, until you gave me the chance to become my natural self again. So thanks to you, last week. It was like eating a healthy, home-cooked feast, after years of scavenging on gruel and deep-fried fast food."

Teenage Julia stared disbelievingly at her little foster sister, then narrowed her eyes. "And what if I tell Lei or Aunt Yanan about this? Will you kill me too?" The older American girl finally asked, slowly and cautiously.

Young Wuji uttered a derisive sound. "You wouldn't. It's all too clear in your transparently expressive eyes. Not because you're a cowardly Big Sissy, but you wouldn't want to burden uncle Wulong, grandfather...or maybe even mother, about the terrible truth of the sole Lei child - the poor, poor kid forsaken by her father in his heartless selfishness. Also, you trust and care for me too much, just like you feel towards uncle."

Taken aback at first, teenage Julia then felt a burning chagrin and indignation run through her blood vessels. "How the hell would you know how I feel about you? You're a murderer who kills and loves killing! I hated myself for having been one, and I still do!"

The young Cantonese girl crossed her arms, expression suddenly turning soft and serious. "Because you know I'd never lie to you, like your previous mother did." She replied nonchalantly, while completely ignoring teenage Julia's intensifying anger.
"I respect uncle Wulong more than anything, and promised myself to kill only those who threaten me-or anyone who I give a damn about-with real danger. I can also do what you and uncle cannot...use my 'murderous' needs to rid those who hurt others for their own harmful 'survival' impulses."

Teenage Julia shook her head. "You can't expect me to just accept all this as the complete truth, young Wuji. All that mindless, sick enjoyment of slaughtering...and know you're telling me you require noble reasons to commit them?"

Young Wuji then curved her lips into a small, ironic smile. "In all honesty, even I don't know if I'm doing this because I actually care for you guys, or you all just happen to be convenient excuses for my own selfish benefit. To provide me a personal sense of meaning and justification in fulfilling my natural needs. Like I said, all that bloodshed feels dull and jaded without some solid sense of purpose behind it. I'm just like the average urban human, other than my more "peculiar" inborn inclinations. Life is more than just living and surviving...I need my own acceptable set of personal values, and a real sense of purpose." The young Cantonese girl's smile just grew wider at teenage Julia's incredulous - almost appalled - look.

"Either way, it works out perfectly for me that you and uncle are so prone to danger, yet reluctant to take lives when necessary. In fact, it's a win-win for us all, with uncle's clumsy compassion and Big Sissy's 'sissy-ness'. I get to play crap-cleaning janitor and nurse for you guys...a job that couldn't be more fulfilling in all ways possible." With that, the tiny-sized girl turned to depart.

"I was wondering. Where did you get your electric guitar and roller blades...uh, modified?"

The Cantonese young girl paused briefly as she opened the bedroom door. "I design them, and mother helped me craft them up." Obviously sensing her older foster sister's silent disgust and dismay, young Wuji's voice fell quiet and solemn. "Julia...I need these gadgets for a fair competitive advantage. I had these disguised weapons created for the sole purpose of protecting you and Uncle Wulong, and that purpose alone. I swear on everything that matters to me, I wouldn't have used mother's generosity - of all people - otherwise."

Curious bewilderment momentarily overtook teenage Julia's anger. "What about protecting your mother? She's obviously willing to do anything to make you happy."

Young Wuji abruptly stiffened and looked down. "I don't give a rat's ass about mother. But I will play along in milking away all her pretense demonstrations of 'love', for my own purposes."

"What do you mean by 'pretense demonstrations'?" Teenage Julia inquired in bewilderment and disbelief.

The young Cantonese girl sighed, closing her eyes. "All of mother's teachings, her means to 'please' her beloved single child...they never was about love, and mother made that crystal clear.
"Six years ago, several days after that tournament incident, mother told me that I was born into existence for one purpose alone - to avenge her parents - my maternal elders - by becoming the bloodiest slaughterer ever known...and live to fight against everything uncle Wulong believed in."

Teenage Julia felt herself shivering from a mixture of deep dread and grief. "What else did aunt Yanan tell you?" She asked softly.

A cold, bitter smile appeared on young Wuji's face. "My impeccably skilled actress of a mother told me selective stories regarding her successful infiltration, into what she always privately referred to as the 'accursed' Lei family.
"There were plenty of missing links in her tales, so here's my version - complemented by my own deduced theories..." Lei's niece began with her story:

Xiang Yanan's seduction and marriage of Lei Wulong's younger brother - Lei Shenggang - was simply and completely for one purpose only - to birth the ultimate weapon that will forever ruin the "self-righteous" cop who drove her drug-dealing yet loving father into a family suicide rampage, which she barely managed to escape as the sole survivor: A child of hers born into the Lei family.

Xiang Yanan's father was only a very minor transporter of drugs among countless many, thus escaped Lei's attention. However, the drug-ring bust ultimately cost Yanan her parents, siblings, and fiance. Her 45 year old father, stricken by the permanent taint of his criminal record upon his beloved family, decided mass-suicide was the only merciful and righteous thing as the family head. The Xiang patriarch's hidden pistols and lethal marksmanship caught the family he intentionally gathered by complete surprise.

An only mildly injured Yanan managed to feign death until she heard her old man turn the gun on himself, then crawled to a hiding place - avoiding detection from alarmed neighbors and police officers. The Xiang daughter only survived because her mother threw herself against her husband the last second, skewing her father's aim enough to render Yanan's gunshot wound non-lethal.

For almost a decade, Xiang Yanan stalked and studied Lei Wulong - along with his family - with the utmost care, with only one thing on her mind...to plan the perfect revenge against the cop.

Xiang Yanan was not able to seduce the much stronger and workaholic vengeance target himself, so she went for the cop's considerably more timid and weaker younger brother.

The truth was Yanan had intentionally driven Shenggang to suicide - after taking photos of her drugged husband naked and unconscious next to a hired prostitute in a hotel suite. The tender-minded man could not withstand the profound shaming and misunderstanding from those he loved, nor the continued stealthy abuse from his conniving wife.

Lei Shenggang killed himself via pill overdose, just as a carefully observing Yanan anticipated. She then hid her husband's body before finding a means to dispose of it completely of evidence, then forged a letter in her husband's handwriting," confessing" his shameful need to be true to himself - to elope the woman he realized his heart truly belonged to, just after his marriage with Yanan.

The angrily grieving Lei Wulong and his father unfortunately fell right for the victimized second son's obsessively vengeful wife - who had been meticulously pre-planning for many years.

Yanan had initially put on a perfect facade of being drowned by bitterness and depression, to the point that she was too emotionally crippled to care for her own child - for the time being, at least.
Thus, her little girl was cared for by Lei and her chronically drunk but still loving paternal grandfather, waiting for the wronged in-law's "bitter wounds" caused by the "shame of the Lei name's grievous wrongs" to heal over time.

Lei's sister-in-law had initially planned to murder her own daughter, then pin carefully concocted evidence upon her alcohol-addicted father-in-law. It wouldn't be difficult - although Lei's father never used physical harm whilst under influence, he did have plenty of drunk rages where he trashed rooms and threw verbal profanities...especially after the "shameful loss" of his second son, Shenggang.

But one day, 7 year-old Wuji's catastrophic incident at the children's division of the tournament changed Yanan's mind.

The revelation of her tiny-sized daughter's potentially sociopathic bloodthirst was quite an unexpected surprise...and even more of a useful gift for Yanan's own vengeful purposes.

It inspired another plan which would leave even deeper and permanent damage into Lei Wulong's haughtily sanctimonious psyche.

Yanan apparently snapped back into her maternal instincts and sense of responsibilities - right after...or so Lei and his father always assumed...

Lei Yanan started to put all efforts into training her unusually tiny-sized and fragile daughter into her full bloodthirsty sadomasochistic potential. The revenge-bent Neijia expert firmly believed that eventually, her daughter would succumb into mindless monstrosity of an indiscriminately sadistic killer.

The accomplishment would be such gratifying vengeance itself for Yanan, towards Lei Wulong and all he stands for - a mindless murderer who maims and kills not only for pleasure - but as a perversely abnormal human need.

Since Wuji was 8 years old, she had been out slaughtering petty gang members at night, under direct supervision from her mother. The murders and" clean-ups" have been very discrete - Yanan trained her daughter to be extra meticulous about avoiding enemy dispatchers or law enforcement - including Lei himself - suspecting any discovered any slaughtered human remains as little more than criminal work of rival gangs.

But Yanan almost never failed in ensuring near-spotless "clean-up" of the victims. Hence, her purchase of the antique but still fully functional meat-grinder from the black market, which was cleverly hidden in that abandoned factory area near the river.

For Wuji's countless "Target Practice" sessions, Yanan was thrifty about selecting the average innocent civilian, and refrained completely both from underworld big shots or skilled criminals Lei were pursuing himself - the latter two would more likely draw risky attention from the cop, often out of Wuji's league.

But only when her mother initially used certainly impetuses against Wuji when she was first starting - "They are killers sent after uncle Wulong", or "These are the same kind of people who hurt your new big sister", did the little killer trainee feel a sense of true release and happiness. And shortly after, the doctors announced the joyfully amazing news that the potentially malignant brain cells have apparently stopped.

Lei Wuji started to know better by 11 years old, when her mother long stopped bothering with emotional motivation on her...she suspects that only a few - if any - of her murder victims were the hateful menaces towards her uncle and Julia.

Killing Yanan's assigned practice victims - virtually all of whom she felt complete indifferent towards - helped her vent her needs, but the acts just felt so empty and unsatisfying.

Thus, saving Julia from those addict-gangsters was a real boon for Wuji herself...benefiting the Cantonese girl as much as her "Big Sissy" beneficiary.

Unfortunately, her mother's training instilled in her the involuntary instinct to lash out lethally - whether or not the opponent is a personally desired slaughter target - and whenever the Cantonese girl finds herself at a disadvantageous position during intense heat of a battle.

Teenage Julia quietly digested this new informed aspect of Lei's sister-in-law. "But why restrict yourself with Lei's principles, rather than follow the uninhibited indulgence of carnage aunt Yanan wished for? Wouldn't life be easier if you simply became what your mother wanted? That's also a purpose you could've chosen to live by...your mother's ultimate goal." She asked Wuji warily.

The tiny-sized Cantonese girl just gave her a devious half-grin."In all honesty, I'm not quite sure myself. Maybe it's just because I like uncle Wulong, grandfather, and her big sissy better.
"And mother can be so annoyingly bossy at times, so knowing that I'm actually planning to spite her and her ridiculously obsessive vengeance is a good enough purpose in itself."

An unpleasant-looking grin of anticipation suddenly appeared on young Wuji's lips. "Besides, I get to take revenge on those who hurt you, Big Sissy. Makes the whole killing a lot more challenging and purpose-driven." She added.

"No!" Teenage Julia immediately snapped in consternation. "Stay out of my affairs against Rochefort. I...I need to deal with him myself, in my own way. Or-or else I'll never be free of his shadow."

Young Wuji just gazed quietly at the slightly panting and wide-eyed teenage Julia for a few moments, with an unreadable expression.
Then the younger girl turned away and went back to sketching - without a gesture or a word of acknowledgment, acting as if teenage Julia wasn't even there in her room.

Four years later, a 20 year-old Julia had just escaped from the GENOCELL facility, after briefly being pursued by a trigger-happy mad scientist, Dr. Abel. The adoptive mother-daughter's dream of reforesting their desert home had burned away with the self-destructing database. The American adoptee had fled the country, and needed to decide where to hide in the mean time.

Although Julia knew Michelle would've wholeheartedly agreed that her adoptee did the right thing, her mother would no doubt be as crestfallen as herself, maybe even more. It's true that Michelle Chang had finally learned to rise on her own feet by herself many years ago, and retrieve the love from the adoptee who bitterly rejected her, using a reborn source of inner strength and perseverance. But Julia had yet to get over her paranoia of causing Michelle any depression, as if her mother was still the fragile glass doll who'd shatter from news of grievous loss.

Thus, the GENOCELL "traitor" decided to seek temporary shelter and solace at her other childhood family home - Lei's. Since her employment at G. Corp., it'd been more than a year since Julia had seen her little foster sister, and she missed the kid more than she'd admit to herself.
Wuji may be a weird, rebellious brat, but she was perhaps the most gracious and gifted listener-confidante Julia could ever ask for. The young scientist needed a less psychologically invested party to vent her grieving losses on. Lei had informed Julia that his current case required some continent-hopping for several weeks, and wouldn't be home. Thus, it'd be just her, Wuji, and aunt Yanan.

No one came to answer the door to the Lei residence, so Julia used the spare key she always kept with her, even after she departed her foster-home as an independent adult.

The first thing that hit the young scientist's senses was the all-too-familiar and overwhelming waft of fresh blood. Panicking, Julia started yelling for her foster sister and foster-aunt, searching every room until she finally came across her old bedroom - now the guestroom. And there she found both of them.

Skin the shade of snow, Lei Yanan was lying in a huge pool of her own blood, with more of the crimson life-liquid pouring non-stop from her eyes, nose, mouth, ears, and skin pores. Her bloodied body was writhing and twitching, as fading instinctive struggle against death. The older woman's face, involuntarily contorting with physical agony, directly contrasted the unmistakably blissful smile she managed to twist her lips into - despite her constant coughing, choking, and vomiting of blood.

When Yanan finally died, her pain-tensed face relaxed, except for her eyes and lips. Open, unseeing eyes held unmistakable and profound peace. The happy smile remained firmly etched on the corpse.

Wuji was standing just a few inches away next to the side of the corpse. The tiny-sized girl had no spot of red on her, except her feet soaking in the pond of blood. Lei's niece stared down at her mother's bloodied body with an emotionless look - but upon closer inspection, Julia could make out a subtle glint of both cold contempt and long-awaited relief in the younger girl's eyes.

"She's proud that I got it right the first time. It's the very first - and last - time she's genuinely proud of me...as her child. And not of herself, for training and manipulating me into an accomplished vengeance product." Wuji remarked tonelessly after minutes of utter silence. The younger girl didn't move an inch, or turn to face Julia.

"One of the top deadliest, and arguably most difficult 'Forbidden Techniques' of the Neijia arts. Perfectly precise timing, pressure, and spot to achieve. Only known by a small handful of Neijia masters in the whole world. And mother's final required 'test', which she believed would turn me into a completely mindless, sociopathic mass-murderer." Lei Yanan's daughter finally allowed herself to smile an openly heartfelt smile at her now-lifeless mother...a sneering, triumphant smile.

The coroner had been utterly baffled by the bizarre condition of Lei Yanan's bloodied corpse. All organs - external and internal - were perfectly healthy and intact.
The corpse's blood had somehow been redirected to simultaneously and instantaneously flow clean out of the body - from all possible bodily orifices allowing access.
No traces of unusual chemicals, nor any detectable signs of infection were present.
Thus, any possibilities of murder were ruled out. The older woman's body quickly found a permanent resident in a top-secret research center, specializing in unusual human pathology.

Yanan's death was written off as a self-induced accident...she had left Lei a posthumous note about "risking her life for the sake of testing Neijing limits", and apparently went far past safe boundaries.

Speaking in strictly practical terms, Lei Yanan's death wasn't a horrible tragedy; in fact, her death brought in a great deal of disposable income for the remaining two Lei descendants - Lei Wulong and his niece, Lei Wuji.
Not to mention a nice sum of governmental compensation, due strictly required scientific research on Yanan's cause of death...which forced Lei to forfeit a proper burial for his sister-in-law.
And the surviving daughter herself was less than a year away from legal adulthood.

Lei's subjective feelings of loss and failure were another matter entirely, of course: Towards the tragic life and horrible end of his brother's wife...whom he always (and still) assumed was sorely wronged yet unfailingly dutiful to the end.

Fortunately, Julia and Wuji were both there for him all the way, during the cop's time of deep mourning, both young women managing to put on a sympathetic but supportive facade to focus on getting Lei over his grief, and gradually back to his cheerful, optimistic self.

*****
Back in the present, backyard of the Kazama dojo...

Julia recalled Lei Wuji's departing remark about Jin Kazama, in relation to the other native Mishimas: Why bothering differentiating among them?

The young scientist would've denounced her little foster sister as hypocritical for accusing so, and by extension her own inexplicably close sense of trust towards the qualmless killer of a Neijia artist.

But Wuji cannot help herself, Julia inwardly chastised herself. She was born with her perverse bloodlust nature...and her insanely amoral, self-serving mother who single-mindedly attempted to raise her into a sociopathic murderer.
Yet my little foster sister strictly defied both her nature and her nurturer, by taking lives only out of self-defense or protect those whom she likes.
Unlike the Mishimas, who murder indiscriminately. They didn't kill out of some innate and irremovable genetic necessity -they did so simply as means to their own selfish ends.
Lars Alexandersson, of all people, speaks highly for his deceased half-nephew, as if that mass-slaughterer truly is some selfless, heroic martyr who only had the "greater good" on his mind.
No, I don't buy a word of it. Jin Kazama simply grew to hate his unwanted genetic trait, he allowed himself to use any means to rid it - even if it meant destroying the world, along with all its innocent inhabitants. He had been acting only for himself alone, using some self-deceiving sense of honor to justify his own actions.
Evil, immoral brute that he is, I say Kazuya Mishima still deserves more slack than his spinelessly delusional son. At least he didn't try to hide behind self-righteous excuses, when his time of reckoning came.

Julia did not know why she was still so obsessively bitter and harshly judgmental over that deceased madman Jin Kazama. That Japanese boy was simply some distant broken idol...a spiritual shadow she'd been chasing for a mere year or two.
She and Jin didn't even know each other personally, and none of his horrible actions actually hurt her in a direct, personal way...in fact, the Kazama-Mishima CEO's ruthless raiding of the Rochefort's oil fields had incidentally graced Julia with a generous helping of vengeful solace.
Maybe she simply saw a lot of pain of broken trust and betrayal of her own life reflected in Jin Kazama...then gravely mistook him for someone to look up to for inspiration.

Perhaps Jin Kazama had been what Lars Alexandersson represents to her now: Metaphorically speaking in socially prevailing spirituality...some kind of incorruptible seraphic knight at heart and soul.
One able to persevere on with an incorruptibly pure, selfless and unshakably honorable strength - despite having to deal countless times with viciously cruel losses, betrayals, and burden of a hatefully cursed parentage.

Julia did recall that she once used to utter Jin's name like a prayer and drawing solid inner strength from it, during some of her most depressed and self-loathing moments...almost consecrating him as her unwitting guardian angel at heart.
Whenever the young scientist had been plagued by memories and nightmares of the most painful, angry, and lonely times in her life - or lost in self-induced desolation - she would conjure the seemingly unshakeable purity and determination that used to shine so brightly in Jin Kazama's eyes.

Julia had lost faith plenty of times in humanity, due to her early acquaintance with that pitch-black, bottomless pit - the depth of the human soul - easily capable of being driven to the cruelest willful acts...during times of desperation, or due to personal needs. The young scientist herself - along with her currently closest, most trusted confidante in the whole world - happened to be both victims of the former, and now dwelled in limbo of the latter.
The mental image of Jin Kazama alone had instilled a uplifting sensation of warmth and hope within her-towards herself and the world. Despite his cold, unapproachable attitude, the young Kazama-Mishima had still persisted as a very strong and alive ideal made human flesh in her eyes, whom she believed in and inspired herself with.

The Mishima boy sometimes came close in becoming a personal living symbol of sorts in her heart...a symbol which tacitly promised that liberating, cleansing rebirth from the overwhelming murky shadows and filth within her own psyche - and humanity in general - can be more than a fairy-tale dream, and not compassionless reality. Just like that overused metaphor about the most beautiful lotuses emerging from the muddiest ponds.
Of course, all that was before Jin killed his great-grandfather and took over the Mishima Zaibatsu. The youngest Mishima shortly after revealed what he truly was to her, all along: A psychologically-fabricated false icon of spiritual hope and freedom, not to mention a cringe-worthy shameful self-delusion.

But now, Julia had Lars Alexandersson. Julia can never hope to gain the genuine love or affection he preserved solely for a robot programmed to imitate the best of human nature.
The young scientist doubted a real human soul, with all its potential darkness, self-deception, and wretched flaws - least of all, her own - could ever get as close to the half-Swede's heart as the artificially "perfect-pristine" soul of Dr. Boskonovitch's gynoid daughter.

It didn't matter. Julia may forever resent Alisa for being the sole possessor of Lars's heart, but she'd too gladly suffer that bitter, jealous sadness forever, in private...if the gynoid is indeed able of protecting the pure, heroic determination in the half-Swede's psyche from fading. A feat the young scientist doubted she could ever come close to maintaining.

Julia never attempted to imagine the event of Lars Alexandersson ever forsaking his idealistic sense of honor and purity, and becoming just another Jin Kazama.
For the same reasons she daren't imagine that her little foster sister was just putting on a flawless pretense of genuine concern and trustworthiness all along, like Aunt Yanan...and to a lesser extent, Michelle Chang - whose unconditional love for another almost permanently shattered the young scientist's then-naively faithful soul.

The possibility of such revelations turning out as reality were still too horrible for Julia to accept, even after getting emotionally scarred more than a decade ago. As a mature adult and accomplished martial artist, psychologically she's still flimsier and more brittle than...

"Whoa, what the-!" The young scientist suddenly let out a startled yelp. Something from behind had given her a rough shove, but with enough controlled force to only stagger her, without falling.

"We're here on behalf of G. Corp., Ms. Chang. Our orders are clear: You are to be terminated." A young woman's voice growled menacingly.

Julia quickly regained her balance and spun around to see her Japanese friend with one hand on a hip, the other holding a bag, staring at her disapprovingly.

"Brain drifting off to outer space again? Mind your surroundings, Chang. You got dangerous people on your back, remember?" Asuka abruptly turned and strode off, not bothering to wait for Julia. "Come on, we wasted enough time here! It's past noon, and you know dad hates hospital food!" She yelled impatiently.

Julia speed-walked a bit to catch up with Asuka's pace. "G. Corp. wouldn't have addressed me as "Chang', anyways." The young scientist muttered as she followed her younger friend to the hospital.

*****
12:37pm that day, in Mr. Kazama's resident hospital patient room.

Despite his still-deteriorating condition, Mr. Kazama seemed to be in good spirits upon seeing his daughter, her American friend, and his favorite lunch dishes.

"I'm sorry I hadn't taken the time to visit you for so long, sir." Julia apologized. "The Mishima Zaibatsu and G. Corp. had kept me so busy since last year, but now that Jin Kazama is no longer in charge..." She left her words hanging.

Mr. Kazama frowned, turning away from his visitors. "Jin Kazama...who'd have guessed a child born and raised from a Kazama clan member - Jun, of all Kazamas - would act so foolishly and contrarily towards our clan instinct to protect the world from evil-doers and madmen.
"The very Jun...whom our clan once lauded as the Chosen One by the higher divine Themselves. She bred - or allowed herself to be impregnated - by a Mishima...the most cursed and irredeemably wicked of all clans, to boot. And most confounding of all, keeping and raising Kazuya Mishima's spawn - despite knowing the overwhelming risks to all the world by doing so."

The bed-ridden man then shook his head in disgusted disappointment and contempt. "In all honesty, I actually wish that the deepest shame of the Kazamas was still alive...not only so she can witness first-hand the handiwork done by her own son, but have her experience her official exile from our clan."

Asuka's dad is still holding on some elitist clan attitudes I see, the trademark trait of Kazama elders. Julia mentally criticized to herself. Otherwise, Mr. Kazama is the mildest and nicest one by far, among those other clan elders I had the displeasure of meeting.

"Know what, dad? That Hong-Kong cop - the one who'd been chasing our dojo-crasher - he has this totally weird niece. Julia says that she's my age, but the kid seriously looks like one of those freaky junior-high freshman girls with abnormally pre-matured bodies." Asuka suddenly piped up.
"That weird kid said that the name 'Jin Mishima' makes more sense, because - something like you yourself said once - Jin should stop lying to himself, thinking he's more Kazama than Mishima."

Mr. Kazama's eyes lit up with approval. "As can be expected from such an honest and perceptive law enforcer. Apparently, those virtues run strong in his family. "

Asuka snuck Julia a sardonic grin at her father's comment, when the older man wasn't looking.

The bedridden man suddenly lay his head back onto his pillow, so he was staring straight at the ceiling. "The Kazama clan's uniquely characteristic set of supernatural gifts...they are usually much stronger and more prominent in our female clan members, upon their adulthood. Well, female adulthood including psychological maturity." He supplemented quickly, sparing his annoyed-looking daughter a brief glance.
"However, the sons of unusually psychic Kazama women have been known to inherit the bulk of their mothers' supernatural abilities, too.
"These rare gifted clansmen's Kazama spirit-powers sometimes rival their female peers'...or even their own mothers'. The rest of us average Kazama males are thankfully also spared some supernatural-sensory powers at birth, however limited."

Mr. Kazama then closed his eyes in contemplation. "Strangely enough, I couldn't sense any inherited psychic powers within Jin, when he was still a young child. I once visited Jun and her son almost 14 years ago - when Jun was still well alive, and before Jin was marked by the Devil Gene after her death.
"How overwhelmingly powerful the dark and evil strength within the solely human Mishima blood must be within Jin, to overwhelm the Kazama blood bestowed by Jun- the strongest and purest of Kazama spirit power in the whole clan's history, surpassing the second strongest ever existed by ocean's far. That very same power that Jun had wielded to ward off Devil Himself, time and time again." Julia sensed a slight shiver run through the older man's body.

After Mr. Kazama finished his lunch, he commented that he was getting a bit drowsy and needed some shut-eye. Thus, Julia and Asuka bid the older man goodbye for the day, with Julia promising to come see him again whenever she had the leisure.

Just before the young scientist was about to step out the patient room doorway, Mr. Kazama suddenly called out to her. "Ms. Chang. May I ask you a...somewhat personal question?"

Julia turned to face the older man. His face bore both curious perplexity and wary hesitance, as he regarded her with unusual intensity that unsettled her.

"Please go ahead, sir. I'll answer if I'm able to." Julia replied tentatively.

"Have you...encountered, eh, unusual experiences lately? Such as-for example, strange, recurring dreams?" Mr. Kazama's expression turned solemn upon seeing Julia's tell-tale gape.
"Asuka hasn't told me anything about you, in case you're suspecting that. You do look quite different from the few times we saw each other, but I can sense these changes are not artificial. They feel like some...natural unfolding of a supernatural manifestation, or-"

The older man promptly stopped when he saw Julia's unspoken dismay and indecisiveness. "I do apologize. It was intrusively rude of me to inquire."

At a loss on how to respond appropriately, Julia simply gave him an awkward bow. "Uh, Please do take care, sir. And best wishes to your recovery." She uttered before hastily departing his room.

*****
Fourteen minutes later, in the hospital's basement area...

As Mr. Kazama took his afternoon nap, Asuka and Julia were enjoying their own lunch break in the hospital's food court. Well, Asuka was slurping her sliced-pork ramen with vigor. Julia only nibbled and picked at her cheeseburger.

"Fed up with your overly-salted burger and fries, eh? I told you to try what I have here." Asuka chided through a mouthful of noodles. "I don't get American taste buds...so stubbornly addicted to excessive artificial flavoring."

"That's not it, Asuka." Julia sighed. "I'm not really a fan of fast-food either. It's just that I don't have an appetite for even bigger servings of food."

"Well, at least eat up what's in front of you. Don't get too hungry for dinner, you know hotel food is overpriced. Ah...that was good." Asuka pushed her tray of empty bowl and eating utensils aside.

The younger girl then propped an elbow on the table, resting her head against her palm and looked at Julia curiously. "What did dad say to you anyways, right before we left? You looked kind of pale after talking to him."

"Erm...nothing, Asuka. It was just something about my-uh, my hair." Julia stuttered awkwardly. The young scientist hadn't the chance yet to talk to her Japanese friend about the odd happenings that surrounded her yet. Right now, she had neither the mood nor the mental energy to, either.

"Your hair? That's weird...dad never, ever gave a cuss about girls' fashion, except whenever he deemed my outfit too revealing or obscene. Come to think of it, you really have undergone quite a hairstyle revolution since I last saw you...are you trying for an ancient maiden look, or something? Those plain pigtail plaits and the rest of your dull fashion sense are doing it grave injustice, you know." Asuka peered critically at her friend, head-to-half torso.

"W-well...my adoptive mother always told me that my twin braids stand for both ethnic halves of her, and I've never stopped wearing them since childhood. You can't expect someone to change all the sudden..." Julia scoured her brains for new subject to sway the conversation to, but could not find one in time.

"You probably should've done a Tifa Lockhart look, just like the cop's niece...would've gone with that hair a lot better, fashion-wise. Or even that Native American fighting outfit! You know, the one with that feather headband, leather sports-bra, and miniskirt!" Asuka shook her head. "Seriously, Chang - you're so polarized when it comes to attire. One tournament match I see you dressed in downright prudish generics. Then the next I suddenly see you fighting in a super skimpy outfit that screams your tribal pride!"

"I am not polarized at all," Julia blurted out in exasperation. "To be perfectly honest, I personally loathe that 'Native American' combat outfit. That denim miniskirt hinders mobility, not to mention I feel so unnatural and self-conscious wearing so little, it serves as an unnecessary distraction. And that headband...I feel like I'm flippantly parading some stale, stereotypical ornament whenever I wear it!"

The young scientist then let out a deep breath, looking somewhat deflated. "My adoptive mother had always refused to tell me anything about the tribe she and I belonged, other than teaching me selective spiritual customs and beliefs.
"Michelle's mother always hated me, for reasons neither her or my adoptive mother disclosed. When I was 17, I set out on my own to find our tribe, hoping to learn more about them, why my adoptive grandmother rejected me-and perhaps learn about my biological parents. After several long months of searching, I finally located them.
"That was when I learned I'd been tagged an outcast by my own tribe since birth, due to some long-persisting superstition. It's so wrong, donning those emblemized boots and accessories, on publicized fighting matches-of all places."

The young scientist's voice rose with emotion, but she didn't care at the moment and ignored the disapproving looks of bystanders. "And why did I flaunt the symbols of the very group who hate me for no reason, in the tournament's televised matches? All I received were derisions and outraged verbal bashing from my tribe members...for attempting to gain their approval, by fighting on behalf of our kinship pride.
"It was Michelle's stupid, insistent idea for my second tournament participation, and none of mine!" Sullen humiliation and resentment laced Julia's tone.

Asuka was momentarily still and quiet, taken aback by her normally mature and mellow-mannered friend's uncharacteristic ranty outburst. "Um...I never knew that about you and your tribe. It must really suck."
The young dojo keeper tried to comfort her friend. "You don't need their approval to have a sense of belonging, right? You got great friends and family already. If those people choose some stupid irrational belief over you, then it's their loss. You'd do better without associating with 'em."

Julia closed her eyes for a few seconds. Then she gazed at her Japanese friend and smiled appreciatively. "Thanks, Asuka. You're right, I do have great family and friends, and that's more than a lot of people could ask for." For some reason, a brief image of a lonely-looking Jin Kazama - several years younger and still clad in his schoolboy outfit - flitted through her mind when she said that last part. "I'm sorry that I lost it right then." The young scientist added.

Asuka beamed back. "No worries, Chang. It's good to know that you actually have a temper, like any other normal human being." The younger girl then frowned thoughtfully. "So what's the deal about flaunting the bra and miniskirt, then?"

"Oh, that?" Julia sighed again, but with a resigned half-smile. "Well, that was my little foster sister's stupid, insistent idea. She has this obsessive penchant for curve-revealing attire. It helps compensate for her child-like stature.
"Lei's niece loves amateurish costume designing, and like you said yourself - she's a fan of Tifa Lockhart from Final Fantasy 7. Would've grown out her hair and tied it into a fishtail too, if it didn't constantly tangle around her guitar or back strapping.
"When I went to the tournament, Wuji customized that skimpy costume just for me-boots included. My little sis claimed that since she's forbidden from participating in any tournaments, she'd be watching me fight on TV, and seeing me wear her choice outfit would be some vicarious experience for her."

Asuka huffed. "Heh. I always assumed that only guys projected their misplaced urges for psychologically compensation.
"To be honest, that kid's designing tastes are pretty plain and unoriginal. And tame, compared to what she herself was wearing today. Her skirt kept on riding up so high, she might as well just've worn her underpants in public!"

Julia chuckled. "Well, you should see her first draft of my outfit design. Outrageously revealing and more stereotypical than ever! Something like a generic Native American-themed costume for exotic entertainers...you know, those who work in adult clubs or bars."

"You mean strippers or whores?" Asuka suggested bluntly.

Before Julia could answer, an unfamiliar female voice close to her suddenly cut in. "Excuse me, is someone sitting here? All other seats are taken, and I need to eat right now." It asked in a quiet, melancholy tone.

The two friends turned to see another young woman, a foreigner. The girl stranger was tall and very beautiful. Just like a supermodel...except the body she possessed was a purely natural and healthily toned, willowy physique - along with authentic abundant curves.
The girl's vibrant, velvety caramel skin was a shade or two darker than Julia's, had a perfect straight nose, and sexy rose-pink lips. Her long, sleek golden-brown hair was tied in a high ponytail.
The almost-dazzling vivaciousness of her large and bright roundish-almonds with honey-brown orbs have been dimmed into dull shadows of themselves, from weariness and sorrow.

The foreign girl had a flawless American English accent, but it was hard to tell whether she was of Latin American or African American descent.

Julia vaguely recalled seeing this ponytailed girl somewhere...her voice wasn't familiar, but...

"Hey, I recognize you! You're that dance-fighter who beat me two iron fist tournaments ago!" Asuka suddenly announced loudly. "What was your name again...Kerst...Keramon..." The Japanese girl squeezed her eyes in concentration, whilst scratching her own head.

"-Christie." The ponytailed girl supplied, sounding both offended and amused. "And it wasn't some random 'dance-fighting' that kicked your boisterous ass in the tournament. It's called 'Capoeira', and it's a long-established, very powerful Brazilian martial arts style."

"Oh...right." Asuka looked surprisingly sheepish. "Sorry, I usually remember my worthy opponents, even if they're not my friends or pesky stalkers. But I'm just not good with Western names."

Christie managed a smile at both of them. "So...can I sit here with you two or not?"

Julia removed her purse occupying the empty seat, and put it on her own lap. This girl would have such a gorgeous, sunny smile, if something wasn't weighing so heavily on her heart. Julia observed to herself.

The two girls properly introduced themselves to the new girl. Julia decided to play it safe by giving Christie her alias name "Jaycee Childress", whilst ignoring Asuka's rolling eyes.
When Asuka introduced her full name, she got a sharp look from Christie upon uttering the word "Kazama". Asuka crossed her arms indignantly in response.

"What's with that look? You'd better not be one of those brain-dead idiots who harass me and my dad, all because of my ammo-crazy Mishima cousin!" The young dojo keeper warned Christie.

Julia shallowed her breath as her friend and the new girl held an intense staring contest for almost 5 seconds. But Christie suddenly relented, giving Asuka a placating and friendly smile.

"You certainly aren't a willing associate of any Mishima dogs, I can tell that much. I truly am sorry to hear that such...mindless haters are blaming you and your dad for Jin Kazama's horrible deeds." Suppressed anguish briefly crossed the Brazilian girl's face as she said her last sentence.

Asuka apparently didn't notice, as she only gave Christie a big, approving grin. "And you're obviously one of those sensible few in the masses and masses of imbeciles." The Japanese girl cheerfully complimented.

The young scientist let out a breath of relief. "So, Ms. Monteiro...what are you doing in a hospital in Japan? That is, if you don't mind us asking." Julia ventured.

Christie languidly stared at her food, playing with it like Julia was doing some moments ago. "Just Christie, please. And actually...I'm here to see someone I don't want to see. But the doctors are taking her off life support, and I'm her only remaining family member." A corner of the South American girl's lips slightly curved upwards. "So...I traveled all the way here from Brazil to see to an obligatory family death, which is going occur shortly after I finish my lunch."

"So how'd your family member turn up on life support all the way here in the first place? Was she on a business trip and got ambushed b-?" Asuka asked, only to be cut off when Julia elbowed her sharply.

"Asuka...aren't you prying just a little too much?" The young scientist hissed chidingly in her Japanese friend's ear.

Christie suddenly looked up and gave them a sad smile. "Actually, I can use a listening ear, if you girls don't mind sparing the time. I'm all alone here, and to be honest...I'm really dreading this visit."

Asuka elbowed Julia back in playful vindictiveness. "We're all ears." The dojo keeper stated, beaming widely.

It turns out that Christie was here on behalf of her older sister, Ingrid Monteiro...also long denounced by their grandfather - Ho Chi Myong, the Legendary Capoeira Master - himself as the "most disgraceful of black sheep" in Monteiro family history.

Fed up with rebelling against her grandfather's strict enforcement of upright morals and Capoeira, the 14 year-old Ingrid ran away from the Monteiro household, the very night before Christie's 7th birthday.

For years, Christie's older sister flourished in a life of crime, living as a powerful gang leader's mistress in Brazil's most dangerous city slums. She became a lethal expert in her own right of street-fighting, armed combat, improvised weapons, and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

Eventually, Ingrid grew bored with both her drug lord boyfriend and simple gang wars, opting for a living of a more refined and professional-feel: Private Military Companies.

With her established combat skills, weapons experience, and dogged badgering streak, it wasn't hard for her to get accepted.

Ingrid trained and worked under the company as a highly competent mercenary for about a half-decade.

About 6 months ago, however, Ingrid been shot in the head whilst she was sniping on behalf of a hired military assault against Jin Kazama's Tekken force guards stationed at one the Zaibatsu's weapons warehouses.

The then-commander of the Tekken guards - Eddy Gordo - immediately had Ingrid rushed to the nearest local hospital, while her own mercenary comrades had long retreated, abandoning her to die.

As for Eddy Gordo himself...he was like a close big-brother to Christie...both having undergone strict and devoted Capoeira training under Christie's grandfather. Eddy reluctantly worked for Jin Kazama, in exchange for a possible cure for his ailing master...to no avail. Ho Chi Myong had died sometime before Eddy's departure from the Mishima Zaibatsu.

Christie and Eddy managed to reunite and reconcile...but their mutually consoling companionship was short-lived. Only some months after they found each other, Christie's remaining older brother figure fell victim of a car bombing - presumably by a vengeful terrorist against the Jin Kazama-ruled Mishima Zaibatsu, who decided to target one of its top ranking yet unwilling ex-agent.

The blast had instantly incinerated his car to bits...any of his remains would have been cleanly cremated on the spot. Christie had been in the shopping mall when it happened, making some last minute purchases while Eddy was loading up the trunk of their car.

Some others claim to have seen a blonde, pony-tailed woman looking in the corner, then disappearing. Appearance details fit description of Nina Williams, famed assassin and former body guard of Jin Kazama. The police had temporarily put aside Williams as a suspect bomb-planter...they had yet to find possible motivation for the blonde assassin to kill her former Zaibatsu ally, and she never wasted time on targets she had no good reason to kill.

Christie had been prepping to pursue Nina Williams herself - whether or not the blonde assassin was indeed Eddy's murderer - she just had to find a devoted, trustworthy detective who could aid her search for the assassin - and possibly the truth behind Eddy's death.

An overseas call from this hospital only some weeks ago sidetracked Christie's new goal. The doctors informed her that Ingrid was still alive, but the head wound rendered her mercenary sister severely apoplectic, with bodily functions deteriorating at a steady rate. There was no hope for her survival, so the hospital strongly advised that Ingrid Monteiro be unhooked from the many life-maintaining machines and medications.

Christie didn't have the money or the motivation to maintain her sister's prolonged hospital stay, anyways...especially now that both Eddy and her grandfather are gone. The younger Monteiro decided to get trivial personal matters out of the way, so she won't be distracted by them when she finally goes full force after her blonde assassin target.

But Christie didn't expect the abrupt and harsh emotional realization that she wasn't quite ready to face Ingrid again. The older sister whom she used to look up to, then bitterly disappointed her and grandfather, and finally disappeared from her life for more than a decade...until now.

The fact that the younger Monteiro was now all alone - and still reeling from sudden losses of her two remaining dear ones - made confronting her "long-lost" older sister and having to witness the latter's death all the more difficult.

After the Brazilian girl tearfully finished venting her tale, Asuka suddenly stood up and slammed both palms against the table, startling the two other young women.

"Everyone's aware that Jin was an insanely ammo-happy warmonger, but now I know he's a two-timing, lying slimebag too! If only he was still alive...I'd have allowed you dealt the final blow, after I smashed his stupid smirky face 5 ft into concrete ground!" The Japanese girl proclaimed, eyes blazing on behalf of her newly acquainted Brazilian girl.

Julia herself felt obliged to do something for Christie, even though they just met. The young scientist herself knew all too well what it was like to be all alone, after plummeting down a personal emotional ravine - so dark, deep and narrow. Lei and Wuji had been there to hoist her back to level ground, then help piece herself back together.
It seemed that Christie Monteiro had no one. So maybe Julia could lend a empathetic and completely philanthropic hand, just like Lei did for her.

"Christie, this may sound like an odd offer...but would it help if we accompanied you to see your sister? I know we're still pretty much strangers and all, but-" Julia began hesitantly.

"-will you girls really?! Do you mean it, Jaycee?" Christie exclaimed, standing up in excitement. The Brazilian girl's face suddenly beamed joyously, with tears of appreciation and relief flowing down her cheeks. "Believe me, I'll need supporting shoulders - strangers or not - more than you'd ever imagine."

Julia turned to look at Asuka. The Japanese girl shrugged and smiled warmly at Christie. "Why ever not? One of Jin's poor victims is asking for a small favor, which'll obviously help her a huge deal. We have plenty of time to kill, anyways."

*****
Twenty minutes later, at the hospital's intensive-care ward...

Christie had balked in front of Ingrid Monteiro's patient room, but finally trudged in upon encouragement from her new kind-hearted acquaintances. Julia silently held the mourning girl's hand...it was all she could do.

The paralyzed 27 year-old mercenary lay there facing them, surrounded by inserted tubes attached to various machines and bags of IV. It was easy to tell the patient was Christie's sister - they looked so much alike, they'd have been identical twins if not for the age difference...and Ingrid's very withered and pained physical state.

Christie suddenly broke down and started sobbing at the sight of her sister. Julia kneeled down put her arms around the quivering form, gesturing Asuka to follow suit.

Everyone was waiting for Christie to calm down and collect herself, when Julia heard a feeble woman's voice addressing her.

"...braids...you, with...the pigtail...braids...here. Come...here...!"

Julia turned in astonishment to see Ingrid's wilted form trying to reach her with an outstretched hand. A wide-eyed, pleading expression - directed straight at Julia - was plastered on the paralyzed woman's agonized face. Ingrid was clearly pushing every crippled fiber within her body beyond their limits, just to beckon to Julia.

The doctors and nurses hastily moved to put the paralyzed patient back into calm order, to no avail. One of the medics finally came over to the young scientist and leaned over to her.

"Excuse me, Miss. Ingrid Monteiro is refusing to calm down. unless she gets to talk to you. We would've just given her a sedative under normal circumstances, but given that we're taking her off life support...if you could be so gracious as to..." He left his request hanging.

Julia nodded at a bewildered Asuka to stay by the unaware and still-sobbing Christie. Then the young scientist got up and followed the medic to Ingrid's side. The writhing patient quieted immediately upon her presence.
Once again, the bedridden woman lifted a hand towards Julia, with the same pleading look in her eyes. After a moment's hesitation, Julia tentatively took it in one of her own.

Suddenly, everything blurred around the young scientist, and her surroundings vanished into thin air. They became a bright, formless white void. Julia was still looking around in shock when a hard squeeze of her hand snapped her out of her stupor. She turned to see Ingrid Monteiro firmly holding onto the hand she took, in a strong healthy grip.

The Monteiro mercenary-turned-patient herself was standing like a perfectly normal and healthy woman, with a serene and very consciously alert look on her face. She gazed solemnly at Julia.

"I need a favor from you...it's not for me, but to help Christie. Please deliver this...package to her. And if she ever asks why, tell her to consider it a recompense gift for all my years of being a terrible big sister." Ingrid said in a soft, sad tone.

Before Julia could reply, she felt a huge jolt of some energy source run through her body...like a strong electric current, without any of the pain. By the time she gathered senses, the young scientist found herself sitting on the floor by Ingrid's bed.
The medics and nurses were looking at Julia in stunned bewilderment, when one of them announced that the patient had abruptly ceased all signs of life, without warning.

The sound of Christie's intensified sobbing roused Julia out of her stunned state. The Brazilian girl must have heard the news of her sister's very unexpected, premature death. Still staggering from the strange ordeal, the young scientist made her way Christie - who was now clinging hard on a helpless and awkward-looking Asuka...the Japanese girl was never good at tender comforting, having been too used to the "tough love" approach.

Julia kneeled beside the uncontrollably sobbing girl. "Christie..." the young scientist began gently, and touched the shaking form's shoulder with her fingertips. Immediately upon physical contact of Christie's shoulder, Julia felt that same strange energy shock coursing through her own body again.

At the same time, the sobbing girl stiffened like stone and her cries abruptly halted...then she suddenly fell over, limp and unconscious. The patient room was thrown into further disarray as more medics were called in to tend to the younger Monteiro, who had just fainted into deep unconsciousness.

A few more flustered hours or so later, Julia and Asuka were told that their new friend was perfectly fine, and should be waking up tomorrow. The medics concluded it was the psychological stress and subsequent shock that forced Christie into some long-needed rest, right on the spot.

As much as she wanted to, Julia couldn't afford to stay until tomorrow. She and her little foster sister had a plane to catch tomorrow at 5:30am dawn. Wuji would be going back home to Lei's house, while Julia would take a transferring private flight straight to Violet Systems once she sees Lei's niece home.

After leaving their cell phone numbers by Christie's bedstand, the two tired girls finally left the hospital. Asuka saw Julia off in front of her hotel.

"I so wish I could stay with you longer, Asuka. Thanks ahead of time for checking on Christie tomorrow, on behalf of us both." Julia told her younger friend apologetically.

The young dojo keeper just flashed her usual cheery, laid-back grin. "No sweat, Chang. It'd give me an excuse to visit my old man again. That Christie girl seems cool enough of a person anyways, not to mention she managed to defeat me once. I'll give her permission to be our friend, as soon as she gets over her gloomy rut." Asuka proclaimed, earning a chuckle from her American friend.

Julia opened her mouth to simply bid Asuka goodbye and leave, but hesitated at the last second. She fingered a small paper envelope in her purse. Should I or shouldn't I? God, I feel so silly...and this might just upset poor Christie further. Ugh, what the hell. Hallucination or not, her sister went through so much pain just to call me over. And he may be exactly what Christie needs right now.

Julia retrieved the small envelope and handed it to Asuka. "Please give this to Christie when you see her, okay? Just a friendly note, wishing her well and all that. Much appreciated." Then she said goodbye to her dojo keeper friend.

The young scientist had actually written Christie a somewhat lengthy letter in the envelope: Apologizing that she wasn't able to check on Christie when the girl woke up; Explaining the weird experience with her older sister, and Ingrid's parting message in the hallucination; Finally, supplying Lei Wulong as a potential contact to locate Nina Williams.

Julia knew that Lei had been after the Williams sisters for years now, and his precinct is currently assigned with "cleaning up" the remnants of the ex-Zaibatsu criminals under Jin Kazama, anyways. Eddy Gordo had been on the list, just as Nina Williams...except the former was now officially pronounced dead.

The young scientist just hoped that Lei wouldn't happen to be working on a more pressing case, or get mad at her for sending Christie Monteiro his way.

*****
The following day, 9:40pm - Violet Systems database center...

Julia had promptly gotten back to her hacking and decoding work after her weekend away. She'd called Lei earlier, and was relieved to hear that he'd gladly help Christie Monteiro in tracking down a top member of his arrest targets, anyways.

As for Christie herself...her new friend had made an international call to Julia's cellphone - just to thank her profusely "for everything", including helping her come to terms with her older sister...now resting in peace.

The Brazilian girl also mentioned her uncannily vicarious dream - Christie felt herself living through her sister's mind and body, during her decade-long absence and up to the incapacitating gunshot wound.
All the fights, experiences, lessons, and training that Ingrid Monteiro had been through...it was as if Christie's own soul was somehow transplanted in her older sister's body for 12-and-a-half years, living each millisecond of it.
The surviving Monteiro fully experienced all of Ingrid's emotions, thought processes, physical sensations - and most amazing of all, every bit of her sister's accumulated knowledge and skill - like they were her very own.

Christie cryptically told Julia that she felt so blessed that a divine angel - in the form of a saintly human woman - would come to aid her path, during her most desolate moments. And then told the young scientist in a hushed voice that she has to go now, but promised to keep Julia's "true nature within tightly sealed lips" before she hung up the phone in a hurry.

Julia had been utterly confused by Christie's words, and now even more worried about herself over the strong hallucinations. Lei Wuji and Mr. Kazama's paranormal talk about sensing something supernatural within her...they were starting to shake the young scientist's skeptic foundations very badly. She was now both anxious and dreading the extensive medical checkup scheduled tomorrow morning...of which will include in-depth brain scans, scalp examination, and analyses on her hair follicles.

But in the mean time, Julia will continue doing what she does best - burying her worries under her work.

"How's it going, Ms. Chang?" Julia was so focused, she didn't even notice her employer-friend entering the room.

"Hey, Lee. Well, the 'Hound' just finished scouting through the Heihachi faction's confidential database. They were rummaging for possible remnants of information, some of Dr. Boskonovitch's old designs that may help them build unusually high-AI combat droids...like Alisa.
"Unfortunately for Heihachi Mishima, his technological resources are still quite limited compared to Lars's faction. " Julia spun around and reported to him with a smile.

The "Hound" - affectionately named after Michelle Chang's favorite type of hunting companion - was the workstation that Julia used for her hacking and research work. The young scientist built the Hound from scrap, all by herself...from the most fundamental concept design to actual hardware assembly.

The young scientist turned back to her computer screen, peering at it intently. "Some other foreign hacker is scouring Heihachi's database, too. Source is...not G. Corp. Not a governmental organization...and not from any of private military groups listed in our database." Julia's fingers deftly played her keyboard. "Give me a few minutes here, Lee. This new program I built should be able to decipher the newcomer's identity and approximate location, within a 100-mile radius."

"Excellent work." Lee murmured. He suddenly looked thoughtful. "I always have wondered, Julia. When we were first repairing Dr. Boskonovitch's combat droid, you seemed to have some intuitive knack and familiarity with her inner workings.
"We wouldn't have been able to restore the robot to half her original condition, had you not been there to guide the technicians. And then I'd have had to face my adoptive half-brother's sticky wrath for inadvertently reneging on my word, and reassuring him too confidently." The Violet Systems owner chuckled.
"Your professional focus and expertise doesn't lie within robotics, yet your insight in those areas appears to far exceed the best engineers and mechanics I have here."

Julia closed her eyes and allowed herself to stretch a bit. "I guess I somehow forgot to tell you, Lee. I once had the honor of a short but extremely useful internship with Dr. Geppetto Boskonovitch himself. Around six years ago, when I was still 16 years old.
"Within a half-year, I learned a vast deal in the fields of applicable engineering, physics, and mechanics. The amazing genius inventor was an exceedingly kind and patient old gentleman, and a superb mentor on top of all that."

"Oh?" Lee could not hide the surprise in his voice.

"The world-renowned genius scientist somehow caught wind of my unusual talents in science and mathematics. I'm still clueless as to why he chose me as a sole protégé - out of countless other precocious high school science geeks, most of them in vastly more prestigious educational institutions than I attended. I do know that he interviewed a number of adolescent candidates before he settled with me.
"My personal guess is that Dr. Boskonovitch chose me over other more promising prospective scientists, only because he favored my attitude. The Russian inventor often remarked how I reminded him of his departed young daughter...even though we looked nothing alike.
"In his own words, the original human Alisa Boskonovitch was just like me, a 'genuinely modest and gracefully-mannered young lady, despite her budding genius inherited from her father'." Julia laughed softly at the memory.

Lee stroked his chin with his fingers. "Dr. Boskonovitch was obviously a great judge of character too. Except he chose someone way too modest for her own good. Seriously speaking." He chuckled as Julia blushed. "So why your defection to G. Corp. to work under Dr. Abel - his hated arch-rival, several years ago? Did something sour your relationship with Boskonovitch?"

Julia shook her head. "Not at all. I voluntarily requested termination of the internship under 6 months, because I felt I was cheating the good professor's faith. My true passion lay in biology, chemistry, archeology...and of course - ecology. Thus, I decided not to waste any more of Boskonovitch's time or expectations." Then the young scientist sighed sadly. "When I officially started working on the GENOCELL project under Dr. Abel several years later, I one day received a secret e-message from Dr. Boskonovitch. He expressed his deep disappointment of my choice to assist a most immoral scientist of an equally immoral corporation, for the sole purpose of my self-servingly personal goals.
"However, Boskonovitch also warned me to watch out for myself...he stated that G. Corp. did not tolerate ethical dissenters, in the worst ways possible. I really should've expressed some appreciation towards Dr. Boskonovitch's kind concern right then and there. I never expected that my well-intentioned mentor would meet his undeserved demise so soon."

"Boskonovitch's death is quite a pity," Her employer-friend concurred. "I'm sure that if he was still alive today-"

Lee was interrupted by a warning siren from Julia's work station.

The young scientist whirled back to her computer. Her eyes widened in alarm. "Those foreign hackers searching Heihachi's intelligence database...they're now attacking the Yggdrasil's!" Julia quickly worked on her keyboard again. "Their objective...Jin Kazama's research info on Devil Gene and Azazel...file copy and transfer already complete."

"What!" Lee snapped in disbelief. "Anything on the hacker's identity yet?"

"Working on it...newcomer is now accessing NANCY-MI847J and Alisa Boskonovitch, 48 percent comple-damn it! Current hacker code has self-destructed and is now untraceable...a new series of encryptions is replacing it, resuming copy-transfer. My program can't crack these!" Julia managed to lid her panic and turn to full concentration mode. "I'll have to make a manual attempt." She started typing and clicking furiously.

Lee quickly retrieved his phone. "I'll ask Lars if he has anything useful from Alisa. She must have detected the breach."

To everyone's shock - perhaps Alisa's, most of all - the gynoid reported that her top confidential database had already been thoroughly scoured by the same foreign hacker code. The robot girl was not even aware of the raid on her internal data systems, until Lee informed Lars of the intrusion.

Julia managed to pinpoint the hacker's source within a 198.9 mile radius before the new program finished and self-destructed as well. There was zero information available on its identity.

Lee sighed wearily. "Go to your studio and get some rest, Julia. I'm going over to the Yggdrasil's Mishima Zaibatsu. Lars and I are going to have a chat about approaching this 'newcomer'."

"But you'll need my-" Julia started to protest, when Lee held up his hand.

"Not tonight. I need you fully rested for tonight...in case we actually deem this new intruder a priority, and require your expertise at full speed, full capacity the next few days." Her employer-friend's tone conveyed no room for arguments.

Julia let out a heavy breath. "I understand. Please be careful, Lee." She made a note to cancel her medical examination tomorrow morning.

*****
Thirteen hours and 21 minutes later - Julia's studio apartment in Violet Systems...

Julia groaned as she woke up. The "newcomer" had shaken her up and would've given her a bad case of insomnia, but fortunately her physical and mental fatigue was enough to counter it. She managed to fall asleep before 4am, and her subconscious left her alone this time. The young scientist just had the longest, most restful sleep for months.

"Oh crap. It's past eleven!" Julia exclaimed to herself, as she peered at her alarm clock. As she was hurrying to her wardrobe, Julia suddenly halted as something occurred to her. Lee hadn't called or knocked on her door.

Her employer friend had always been especially sensitive about punctuality...working hours started exactly 9am sharp - or before. Or else penalties via decreased salary or benefits. Employee friends were not given any exceptions, either. And given the urgent situation that arose the night before...

Still clad in only a very skimpy crop top and scanty panties - both fabric-thin to the point of being almost see-through - Julia quickly grabbed her cell phone. There were 10 missed calls and 3 voice messages: Two missed calls from Lee's cell, 5 hours ago; One missed call from a hidden phone number, 3 hours ago. And 7 missed calls from Lars's cell, all within 40 minutes.
The 3 voice messages were all from Lars too, urging Julia to call him back ASAP. The young scientist cursed herself - she totally forgot to change her ringtone back from "vibrate" before she went to bed.

Just then, a sharp pounding resounded on her studio apartment door. "Jaycee, are you all right in there?!" It was Lars's voice, carrying a heavy note of urgency.
Apparently, Lee wasn't accompanying him. And the Violet Systems employer never granted his half-Swede ally an access card, just in case the latter's many enemies gets their hands on it. Which meant Lars must have forced his way into the building.

Julia was momentarily at a complete loss how to react or respond. Before she knew it, her door was violently splintered to pieces. The young scientist found herself staring at a slightly panting Lars Alexandersson in full Tekken force armor, who stared right back at her. Alisa was right by his side.

A few seconds later, Lars's face suddenly broke into a furious blush, accompanied by a thoroughly mortified look. He quickly turned his back to Julia, stuttering an apology. On the other hand, Alisa turned to look at him accusingly.

"I told you that Ms. Childress was perfectly fine and alone. My sensors never lie." The gynoid told her partner indignantly.

Only then did Julia register that she was still wearing her very immodest sleepwear...in front of the man who happened to be her biggest crush and idol. The young scientist felt herself burning with horrendous embarrassment, and frantically rummaged for her bathrobe and slippers to hastily cover her body.

*****
Five minutes later - Julia's studio apartment in Violet Systems...

Lars and Alisa had indeed been forced to smash their way through Violet Systems' robotic security guards, and scaring away all the confused human employees - in order to reach Julia, who for some reason didn't answer their repeated phone calls. The three settled down in Julia's studio apartment as Lars explained what had transpired, when Julia was over-sleeping like a baby.

"So...Lee never went to see you last night in the first place?" Julia asked, almost frantically. "Did you even get his call about his planned visit last night?"

"Yes, I did. But 10 minutes after he departed for our base yesterday, Lee called again to tell us he 'ran into a little trouble' along the way, but it was nothing he couldn't solve himself." Lars sighed. "We're so busy with our current enemies these days - not to mention Alisa had been single-mindedly preoccupied with 'self-diagnosis' on just how that foreign hacker got in without her knowing - that I just took Lee's word that he'd be all right."

The half-Swede then shook his head regretfully. "My troops and I were too busy countering G. Corp.'s sudden aggressive developments, since last night. It was less than an hours ago when I suddenly recalled Lee's intention to visit the Zaibatsu yesterday.
"We managed to locate the ruins of his private jet and robotic bodyguards - apparently slashed to pieces. That was when Alisa and I barged in to check on you." He flashed her an awkward and abashed glance, but the young scientist failed to notice in her worry for her employer-friend.

"Which means that Lee was captured...but possibly still alive, right?" Julia felt a trace of relief.

Lars did not answer her directly. Instead, he took out a tiny scrap of paper and stared at it. A brief sentence was scribbled on the piece of paper. "My gracious aide's parting words, right after I first sent a damaged Alisa to you and Lee that day, 4 months ago. 'Don't thank me yet,' my mysterious helper told me. 'Tomorrow, we might be enemies'."
A grim, ironic smile graced the half-Swede's lips. "Looks like my old ninja partner has finally decided to make good on his warning. But why is he raiding our faction of the Zaibatsu too, instead of just making non-hostile contact? I never showed any doubt towards him, when he claimed that he was working for the peace and balance of the world..." Lars wearily buried his face in his palms.

Julia gazed at Lars, who was lost in his own thoughts. So, Lars was obviously acquainted with Lee's assailant...and they'd even been allied closely enough to upset him. But this isn't the time to get sentimental...Lee may be in danger!

"Lars...have you or Alisa found further clues about Lee's kidnapper? I'm betting he's connected to that 'newcomer' hacker we came across last night." The young scientist got to her feet and went to her wardrobe. "If you two will excuse me, I'm going to get properly dressed and packed. I'm going to investigate that area of 200 miles I managed to narrow down last night. Good thing Lee gave me full access to Violet Systems' private flight vehicles."

Lars stood up as well. "You can't mean by yourself? The assailant took out all Lee's bodyguards and has subdued the 'Silver-Haired Demon' himself! You don't know strong and skilled that ninja is, but I do...he fought right by my side when we were taking on Azazel and Jin Kazama! Alisa and I are going after Lee.
"You get dressed and we'll take you to the Zaibatsu for protection first. You can definitely be of help to our Ygdrassil intelligence, in the meantime."

Julia stopped and turned to face the half-Swede. "That's exactly what your ex-partner wants, Lars. Why would he tip you off, otherwise? Since the assailant left me and Violet Systems alone, he obviously doesn't perceive me as a threat...combat or technical skill-"

"-on the contrary, Ms. Childress," Alisa suddenly interrupted in a firm tone. "Haven't you considered the possibility that upon possessing such superior levels of hacking technology, Mr. Lee Chaolan's assailant may have already identified you as the one who broke through those advanced codes, in the first place? He may even be fully anticipating you to join us in rescuing Lee, so as to kill three - or four - birds with one stone."

Julia stopped to stare at the gynoid thoughtfully. "You may be right, Alisa." She admitted. "But if Lars's ex-partner really was behind those hackings last night, your system defenses won't be sufficient to counter cyber attacks he may use against you. I need to be there for any spur-of-the-moment problems of that sort. We don't even know what Lee's assailant was after in the first place. But as of right now, I don't care...the priority is finding Lee, and ensuring his safety - if he's still alive."

The young scientist then turned back to face the new Zaibatsu head, and stare him squarely in the eye. "I won't let my G. Corp. fiasco repeat itself, Lars. I'm going to rescue my employer and friend, with or without your help. Or approval.
"You and Alisa should be the one staying in the Zaibatsu...just in case you never come back from this rescue mission."

The half-Swede looked stumped in frustration for a moment. Then he tilted his temples against his fingers, smiling a smile of defeat. "All right, Jaycee. You might as well come with us." He chuckled dryly. "The Yggdrasil faction will be very inconvenienced without Violet Systems' assistance. And it's true that I'll be helpless, should Alisa run into technical trouble."

Lars and Alisa went to return to the Zaibatsu...they'll be picking Julia up in a helicopter within an hour, at Violet Systems' heliport.

Right before he departed, Lars shot Julia a stern look. "Just remember, Ms. Childress. I'll be leading this rescue mission. Don't make yourself a load on this mission, by running off and doing things on your own." He warned her gravely.

The half-Swede's words caused Julia's heart to simultaneously drop and burn with indignation. But the young scientist said nothing and just gave him a brief nod.

*****
Two hours later, in the Zaibatsu helicopter...

The rescue crew was discussing possible infiltration rescue strategies, as Alisa directed the autopilot within the search parameters provided by Julia. The discussion was largely inefficient, due to their miserably limited information on their current target opponent.

Lars suddenly leaned back against his seat, taking a break from serious business. The half-Swede smiled wistfully, his gaze directed right at Alisa - who was fully concentrating on locating their target area and thus oblivious to it.

"You know, I'd dream of having a heir...or heiress for the current position Jin Kazama suddenly dumped on me." Lars murmured, not taking his eyes off the gynoid. "That laughably primitive 'Mishima Heir' clause wouldn't be so troublesome at all...if only Alisa was a human being. I could leave the Yggdrasil faction reigns in her hands, upon legal marriage and impregnation of my child...and concentrate on what I do best - military action. I'm fortunate to not have the 'Devil Gene' problem like Jin Kazama did."

Julia felt her heart rending at her Crush's loving, longing gaze and words directed at the robot girl, but forced herself to ignore the sensation. Someone so messed up like myself is not meant to have Lars's heart, anyways. She reminded herself. Instead, she tried to go along with the more light-hearted chatter.

"Lee once told me about that 'Mishima Heir' clause." Julia said. "Apparently, centuries-old Mishima Zaibatsu law dictates that only those of Mishima blood can inherit the Zaibatsu. Or a female spouse, upon impregnation of a Mishima offspring...although she will automatically loses authority once the child becomes a legal adult. Hard to believe that such a...conservative law is still alive and strictly enforceable in such a successfully modernizing empire." The young scientist then smiled. "My employer seemed so resentful when he explained the clause to me, over glasses of wine. I guess he hadn't quite gotten over his Heihachi Mishima issues, despite his own self-made empire of wealth."

The half-Swede turned and smiled back at Julia. "Lee certainly would've been a top candidate...at the very least, I'd have insisted he co-ruled the Zaibatsu with me. Handling the Mishima empire would be so much easier...if only I had a partner, who possessed strong management acumen, along with a definite sense of ethics.
"An co-partner of equal ranking, like my adopted brother..." Lars then looked down. "...or maybe even my half-nephew, if he was still alive."

Julia didn't know how long she remained in surprised speechlessness at Lars's last remark. The young scientist was jolted from her stupefaction by Alisa's sudden announcement.

"Signals of strong transmission activity detected 69.73 km southwest ahead...target area appears to be hidden base, 28.3 meters underground. Now detecting multiple means of entrance...approaching one with minimal signs of security and human presence within 17 minutes." The gynoid reported.

Julia and Lars looked at each other. The half-Swede flashed her a look of anticipation and encouragement. "Well, this is it. Get ready, Jaycee."

The young scientist forced down a deep feeling of dread that had suddenly churned in her gut. "Yes, sir."

A/N:

Julia's relationship with her tribe will be further detailed in the next few chapters.

OC Lei Wuji's fighting style is based on a self-designed character idea I had for Street Fighter x Tekken. Also by an old VS. game I never caught the name of, featuring a ponytailed little kid wielding a giant axe.

OC Lei Shenggang is a minor one-time character who will be mentioned briefly in a few occasions. "Shenggang" - "Triumph over the Unyielding".

OC Ingrid was created solely for the purpose of giving Christie an "upgrade" to her skills/competence and combat arsenal. The name "Ingrid" was found via Wikipedia, and then selected with the help of Street Fighter series.

OC Lei Wuji's character/backstory was inspired by Young Kindaichi (original manga), Jigoku Sensei Nube (manga), Sailor Moon (Manga), Yu Yu Hakusho, Rayearth, Hentai Kamen, Card Captor Sakura, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Ranma 1/2 (Manga), Rurouni Kenshin, Kare Kano, GTO, Naruto, Full Metal Alchemist, Shamo, Garfield, Street Fighter series, Mortal Kombat II, Final Fantasy 7 series, Mega Man X series, Rock and Rule, Assault on Precinct 13, Excalibur, Tai-Chi Master/Twin Warriors, Silence of the Lambs, Kick-Ass, The King Maker (2005), Iron Man Trilogy, Wanted, Dark Knight Trilogy, The Avengers, Master of Horror series, Grimm Adventures of Bill & Mandy series, Emily the Strange, Wuthering Heights (Bronte), Count of Monte Christo (Dumas), and original stories from&.
Wuji's physical features were inspired by a Korean(?) drama series I never caught the name of (only watched 5 minutes), and on 2 real-life female acquaintances. The Tekken character Feng Wei's character/background also an inspirational influence.

Julia's relationship with her tribe - and her speculations were inspired by Black Jack OVA series, Rurouni Kenshin, Naruto, The Eye (2002), and The Midwife's Apprentice (Cushman).

OC Lei Wuji's arsenal of Taichiquan, Yiquan, Liuhebafaquan, Fut ga, & Dim Mak was found via Wikipedia & Google Search.

Julia Chang's (currently) one-sided worshipful affection/idolization that she used to hold towards Jin Kazama (and now redirected at Lars Alexandersson) was inspired by Naruto.

OC Ingrid Monteiro's character was inspired by Demon Knight, Collateral, City of God, Shamo, Colombiana, The Coldest Winter Ever (Souljah), and Bow Street Runner series (Kleypas).

Ingrid's "message" to Christie (and Julia's means of delivering it) was inspired by Royal Tramp II and Demon Knight.