Disclaimer: I do not own Dead or Alive or Ninja Gaiden, they are owned by Team Ninja and Tecmo.

Jahn Lee's Apartment

China

7:07am

Jahn Lee's eyes shot open when he felt the suns rays hit his face. He looked down and saw Lei Fang clinging to him, asleep. He still felt extremely sore from his wound, but felt he had enough energy to walk.

He slowly pushed Lei fang to his side as he lifted himself up to sitting position. He winced lightly in pain but could deal with it. He then pushed himself to his feet and stood, looking down at his bandages which wrapped around his lower stomach.

She did a good job

Lee began to walk into the hallway and headed towards the bathroom, he looked at himself in his mirror. He turned slightly to see the bandage knife wound, but it was fully covered by the bandage. He turned back straight and looked himself in the eyes.

If she was not there, I'd probably be dead

Lee felt the anger build in his head, he kept seeing their faces over and over again. He only felt this way once before when he was a child living on the streets, complete and utter rage. It was a dangerous feeling, almost uncontrollable.

"Jahn?" said a voice behind him, he turned and saw Lei Fang with tired eyes looking at him, "are you ok?"

"I'm fine," said Lee calmly.

"Don't you think you should get more rest?" asked Lei fang.

"I have no time for rest, I have to go," said Lee as he moved passed her and to his room, she followed behind him.

"What? Go where?" she asked confused.

"Lei fang, you have done a lot and I...I thank you,"said Lee as he searched his dresser for some clothes, "but now I gotta take care of something."

"Take care of what!? You nearly died last night!" shouted Lei Fang.

"The people responsible for this," said Jahn as he pulled out white collared shirt and Grey dress pants.

"Who is responsible?"

"That's not your concern,"

"Yes it is!"

"No it isn't,"

Lei Fang pushed Lee to the bed and held him down, he winced in pain as he struggled to fight her off. He then realized she loosened up and stood back up.

"I didn't even try to hold you down, but I was able to. What makes you think you can do this alone in your condition?" asked Lei Fang firmly.

"Because its my problem, not yours," said Jahn as he got back to his feet.

"You have to start letting people help you, being stubborn all the time will get you killed!"

"I don't need any help!"

"Well guess what, whether you like it or not, I'm here and I'm here to stay. You may not want any help, but you need it!"

Lee opened his mouth, but then closed it. He knew arguing was never going to work. He decided to try something different with her.

"Look Lei Fang, the people I'm going after are dangerous, if you stick with me you could die,"

"I'm not helpless Jahn! Let me help you, I can hold my own," said Lei Fang determined.

Lee looked at her for a while before lightly smiling

"You never give up do you?"

Lei fang smiled back, "nope."

Lee nodded and got dressed, he knew the danger which lied ahead. He knew he needed to find Christie since she would be easier to find than her friend.

They left the apartment and headed for the elevator, during the ride down, Lee looked at Lei fang. She was looking up in the air lightly humming. Lee smirked to himself and looked down

Guess its nice to have some company

Docks

China

2:27am

While on his way to the airport, Hayate felt that following Hayabusa while he worked would be better, He knew Hayabusa was not in his right mind and would be more ruthless in his search for Donovan. He followed him to the Dock and saw him cut down the men and enter the ship.

At least 30 minutes went by and their was no sign of Hayabusa or anyone else.

Where are you Hayabusa?

Hayate would have hated to enter the ship while Hayabusa was working, the unforeseen backlash of that decision was something he did not want to face. Yet as time went by, the decision was made for him.

Something is wrong

Hayate began to cross over to the ship, slowly removing his sword from his sheath. As he began to approach, he heard a loud noise. He immediately stopped and crouched, the ship began to slowly move. Hayate ran out of time and options, he jumped onto the deck of the ship and looked around.

The deck was clear of any real activity, which confused Hayate. Where were the workers? He saw the door which Hayabusa entered, he walked over and attempted to open the large door, but it was locked. He looked around and began walking around the deck in search of another door.

At the back of the ship, he saw another door. He checked it and cursed when he found it locked. He heard someone laughing above him, he looked up and saw a small ship window which was opened. He jumped to the window and looked inside.

The room appeared to be a bedroom, several bunk beds were inside which were all empty. In the corner was a set of stairs which led down, he could hear two people laughing and talking in an unknown language.

He entered the room and walked over the stairs, slowly walking down. He ended up in a small hall with one large opening on the side. He slowly walked over to the edge of the wall and looked around the corner.

He saw two men playing cards on a small table in what appeared to be a small break room. The men were regular sized and wore basic clothing, the only thing which stood out was the two rifles which lied on the table.

Hayate did not want to alert anyone on the ship, especially if Hayabusa was somewhere sneaking around. He was strictly here to make sure Hayabusa was safe and that was all. Hayate went back up stairs and looked around, planning his next move. It was then that he noticed a vent on the wall above the stairs.

Hayate moved to the vent and looked inside, it was large enough for him to fit in and may lead to more areas of the ship. The vent walls were rusty, yet again showing how maintained the ship was. Hayate removed the vent cover and entered the small compact space. It was uncomfortable, but it would help him explore the ship and search for Hayabusa.

He slowly crawled along in the vent, it was pitch black dark. Fortunately for a ninja, this was a good thing. His eyes adjusted well to the darkness, and he could somewhat see ahead of him if not far.

Hayate turned a corner and could faintly see that the vent went down. He moved to the opening and peered down the vent. He was unable to tell exactly how far down it was and due to the tightness of the space he was in, he would not be able to switch sides and go down feet first. This meant he had to go down head first, extremely dangerous even for a ninja.

Hayate refused to stop and took his chances, he moved over the hole and placed both his hands firmly on the rough walls of the vent. He needed to hold his hands tightly against the wall and slowly shimmy his way down the vent. As he began going down, he felt the heaviness of his body began to hurt his wrist. Luckily he was in good shape to take on the difficult task.

He kept moving down the vent, keeping calm and focused. As he descended, he could hear the faint sounds of people speaking. He found it slightly comforting, not used to being in such a compact space. It had been a while since he had a lead on Donovan, and what kept him going was knowing he was in the right place.

At least I think I am

Hayabusa Village

Midnight

Hayabusa was not often confused by any situation, he has seen his fair share of strange and unexplained things. Yet this situation was different from anything he ever experienced.

He silently sat inside his small room which contained a simple bed mat, across from his was Kasumi who sipped tea. His eyes never left her, trying to understand the situation. Kasumi lightly blushed, catching the stare.

"Why do you stare at me Ryu?" asked Kasumi shyly.

Hayabusa remained silent, searching for the right words. Kasumi stared back and smiled.

"You had a nightmare, you were moving around while you slept," said Kasumi.

"A nightmare?" said Hayabusa confused.

"You have them pretty often, I wish I could help with them in some way,"

"Is this the afterlife?" he asked simply, it was the only explanation he could come up with.

"What?" said Kasumi shocked.

"I must be dead, my father died long ago," said Hayabusa who then felt complete pain in his heart, "and if you are here, that must mean..."

"What are you saying Ryu? Your father never died, how could you say that?" said Kasumi slightly disturbed.

"Yes he did, he was possessed by..."

"Ryu, your speaking nonsense. Stop it," said Kasumi angered.

Ryu now knew something was wrong, why was she so quick to anger? Something told him to continue pressing her.

"I am not speaking nonsense, he sacrificed himself to protect me..."

"Stop it Ryu!"

"He was possessed by Jaquio..."

Ryu stopped talking completely, A kunai pressed against his throat, its user was Kasumi. Ryu looked into her eyes and saw complete anger, who was this person?

"Stop it..." said Kasumi lightly, Hayabusa slowly nodded. Kasumi lowered the Kunai as tears began to form in her eyes, she wrapped her arms around Hayabusa and buried her face into his robes, "I'm so sorry, I did not mean it."

Hayabusa lightly tapped her back, but looked forward with a completely straight face. In a normal situation, she would of never gotten a knife to him, let alone his neck. But the Kasumi he knew would never threaten him in the first place.

He had to play along and figure out what was going on, he had to act as they wanted him to act.

The real Kasumi's life may depend on it

Downtown

Magazine stand

10:22am

"Well it was nice seeing ya Helena, I will keep in touch," said Archer as he shook Helena's hand.

"Likewise, you know I don't really have to go. I have nothing really to do," said Helena casually, she enjoyed the company.

"Ya, but I gotta get working and I gotta do that alone for now. Maybe next time," said Archer as he opened the door to the parked Limo. Helena slightly sighed and got into the limo, Archer shut the door and the window went down.

"Contact me soon so we ca meet up again and exchange information," said Helena.

"Will do," said Archer as the limo drove off. Archer then turned towards the magazine racks and began browsing through the selection, stopping at a people magazine. Next to him was another man reading the same magazine.

"Ya know, Kim Kardashian looked better pregnant to me, all those curves were perfect" said Archer as he flipped through the pages.

"Careful, some might call that cheating," said the man next to him.

"Cheating? She's not my girlfriend Shepherd,"

"Good, that means she's available,"

"Ya I do not think either of us are handsome enough for her,"

"Speak for yourself," said Shepherd as he fully turned to Archer. He had short brown hair and blue eyes along with a large cut across his left eye. He wore blue coat and black pants with matching boots.

"So Shepherd, what you got for me?" said Archer.

"After searching around for a while, I found that the military had actually canceled their contracts with M.I.S.T after some questionable business practices. Most of this happened about a year ago."

"That's it?" asked Archer.

"Originally yes, but recently something interesting came up which might be related to whatever it is you are involved in," said Shepherd, Archer nodded and lit up a cigarette.

"Recently we lost a substance known as Harpus from our base in China, it's an experimental drug which the lab boys came up with."

"Whats it do?"

"By itself, it's a hallucinogen which kind of worked as a truth serum. Basically in your head, you are in a perfect dream. On the outside, you are giving information about what ever is asked of you. At least that's how it is supposed to work. People with a stronger will can usually decipher reality and maintain control over the drug. Be surprised how many people have a strong will,"

"Usually comes with the territory when you want to protect secrets," said Archer simply.

"Ya well, that all changed when we began working with this M.I.S.T organization, they were able to alter the drug significantly and even created a machine to use the drug more effectively. They were able to find a way to control the dream which the user would have, they could make it better or worse. Best way to describe it is that your brain creates the images, M.I.S.T controls the creations. The machine gathered all the information received as well as allowed them to control the dream."

"Real matrix shit,"

"Pretty much, the only problem was that it left most people in a coma. These people refused to leave the dream and would even fight to keep it going. Another thing that seemed to happen was that sometimes they could lose control of the dream, causing other issues. The government thought it to unstable to be actually used on the field, but M.I.S.T saw it differently. They wanted to use the substance to make super soldiers."

"How would they do that?"

"If you can completely learn about someone, then you could become that person. Imagine taking all the positive traits of someone and leaving all the negatives ones out,"

"Or taking information that you want and leaving behind information that you do not want," said Archer who was beginning to understand.

"Exactly, M. tested many things on our sites, particularly clones which our government was interested in. Problem with clones is that they would never be as good as the host because they lacked the traits which made their host so great. You could teach them anything you want, but something was always missing. With Harpus, you could give them those traits and add in whatever else you want, they would become perfect."

"And if the host stays in a coma, it would not matter because the information is already gathered," said Archer.

"Yep, of course keeping someone in a comatose state was not something that our boys at the Department of Defense wanted to be apart of, too much red tape. M.I.S.T on the other hand did not mind, which was bothersome. So DOD completely severed its ties with M.I.S.T and destroyed the drug, well almost destroyed it. The vial which was stolen was on its way to be destroyed"

"One fucking vial? This shit is that strong?"

"Yet again, not by itself," said Shepherd.

"And now that they have the vial, they can mass produce it," said Archer.

"If they can figure out the system to making it, yes. They were not involved in the initial creation of the drug, so that could prove to be difficult but not impossible."

Archer shook his head and look down, it was always about money or power. Powerful people making powerful weapons to have more power. It was a tune that Archer was used to and with him it was played out.

"It's only a matter of time before they crack the recipe if they haven't already, this could turn ugly once that happens,"

"Guess that means you better get to work and stop them. We have no evidence of M.I.S.T. Being involved in the theft so don't expect much help from the higher-ups. Far as they are concern, Harpus does not exist,"

"Ya, I know how it goes. Thanks a ton Shepherd," said Archer as he shook Shepherds hand, "ya know, I should ask on more thing. What would happen if they lost control of the dream?"

"It's actually strange, it's as if the harpus defends itself more violently. If the user begins to question the reality too much, Harpus will attempt to force the dreamer to believe. In a few cases, people have suffered major heart attacks due to how vivid the violence in the dream becomes. But very few have ever really questioned the reality."

"Thanks again Shepherd, owe ya one,"

"Shit after this, you owe me three!" said Shepherd as he began to walk away leaving Archer to his thoughts. He learned a great deal about what Donovan had planned, but why would he be in Los Angeles? If the vial was stolen in China, then why come all the way here? More questions which needed answers. At least now part of the puzzle was complete, now to figure out the rest.

At least this morning is starting off right

Ship

3:02am

Hayate stared through the vent looking down in what appeared to be a restroom, his trek through the vent was difficult due to the cramped space. Not to mention, he spent a great amount of time crawling through the vent. Hayabusa was probably already off the ship, but something deep down told him otherwise.

He popped off the vent cover and lowered himself to the floor. The restroom was standard, 4 urinals on one wall and 4 sink on the adjacent wall. In the corner of the room stood an enclosed toilet. The door to the room was a regular metal door. Hayate moved to the door and slowly opened it.

It opened to a long hall, several similar doors were along the walls of the hall. Hayate saw no patrolling guards so he moved into the hall completely and began heading down. As Hayate moved down the hall, he could hear what sounded like people conversing. He stopped at the door he heard the noises from and put his ear to it to try and listen in.

"Look, we are lucky we were able to regain control, he does not appear to suspect anything," said one man.

"She almost killed him, he now definitely knows something is wrong, the real Kasumi would have never reacted in such a way. He's not even answering any of are questions, he is suspicious." said another man.

Hayate heard them walk away farther from the door and down the room, he knew it was a bad idea, but he began opening the door. As it opened, the room came into complete view, several scientist were sitting at computers working while two other scientist stood at the other end of the room in front of a large machine.

Wait a minute!

The scientist in front of the large machine turned enough for him to see who it was, Victor Donovan. Hayate felt his blood boil at the sight of Donovan, he pulled out a kunai and readied himself to take him down.

Right as he lifted the kunai up, he stopped and noticed something else. A figure inside of the large machine.

Is that Ryu?

Hayabusa Village

2:22am

Hayabusa sat silently in his room, across from him was Kasumi who continued sipping on tea. He looked down at the cup in front of him, the water still steaming hot. It had been about two hours ago when Kasumi poured it for him, so how was it still hot?

Hayabusa began feeling a sense of dread as he tried to understand what was going on. Kasumi did not look remotely tired or fatigued in any way. He started feeling like she was watching him, making sure he would not leave.

"Why do you feel dread?" Asked Kasumi out of no where. Hayabusa could not hold back his shock, was she reading his thoughts?

"You ask too many questions," said Kasumi as she stood up, obvious anger on her face, "I do everything for you and you cannot just be happy!?"

Hayabusa was at a lost for words, he began to feel threatened by her.

"Threatened? You feel threatened? Let me show you threatened," said Kasumi as she grabbed Hayabusa by the collar of his robe and lifted him up. Hayabusa reacted without hesitation and stuck a kunai in her shoulder. Kasumi looked at the blade and dropped Hayabusa.

Hayabusa wasted no time and ran out room and outside looking around. The village was in a remote area and far from the city. He did not like not having a weapon, but he had no time to get one.

"HAYABUSA! WHERE ARE YOU!" shouted Kasumi from inside the room, she appeared at the doorway. The wound was gone and she stood with a look of complete rage, "so now you will attack me?"

Hayabusa looked to the trees and began running, jumping from tree to tree. He headed for the city, hoping that he would awaken from this nightmare.

What the hell is happening?

Author's notes: Sorry for taking so long to update, I just started my math and programming courses up so I have been completely focused on that, I'm almost done so hopefully I can put my attention back on this story. Hope you all like it, as always please R R.