Oh, would you look at that, the midway point!
And for the lovers of blood and carnage, this is for you.
The day would pass in such a slow droning march, it was mind-numbing. Maybe it was just that annoying mental illusion where time came to a crawl whenever you were waiting for something. Time didn't move any slower or faster regardless of the mood you were in really.
Juri just missed her bike. And…something else. She was always so restless whenever she found herself alone in the abode without Ken to keep her company. Almost out of some sense of childlike curiosity, she considered asking if she could join him for work today. Not actually moving hay and clearing horse manure. She'd just watch. Just watch Ken.
She busied herself with puttering about in the motel room, getting dressed, getting cleaned, staring down her phone, and eventually after some introspective pep-talking, going outside. Just like yesterday, the town was like recently vacated ruins with the occasional citizen shuffling down the sidewalk. It wasn't as foggy anymore though still rather misty. Juri could actually see the occasional cars and one bus that drove past her today. The diner was but a few minutes walk away from the motel and it was her first destination.
Today, Elise was replaced by Marianne; older, calmer, and celibate. Not some doe thirsting for some buck trying not to despair at his mate leaving him. She took Juri's order of bacon, eggs, pancakes, and toast with a few sausages and a smoothie and left with no extra bells and whistles.
Juri sat in the same spot as yesterday, staring at the memory of Ken in front of her and hearing the echo of his story. He had looked particularly worn out then. He looked sunken in on himself while he talked about Nayshall. Moments away from sinking into absolute despair. A stellar example of why it was best to fight only for yourself.
Juri didn't know Ken that well before all of this, but she remembered his spunk. His abrasive, loudmouth attitude. His fighting spirit. The spirit remained. But the man from which it came had changed. Juri wondered if he was aware of it; how it fundamentally morphed him into a quieter, calmer version of himself, marred by brittle emotional stability.
When all of this was over, then what? What would be he like?
How much would change? Such a question struck Juri as self-reflective because she herself had, much to her shock, changed. She was thinking quite a lot about Ken and his well-being. In her mind, he still sat there, waiting for her, holding out his hand to her. In her mind, she'd like to take his hand.
And if she did, then what? Never mind if she could. She probably couldn't. She shouldn't.
Evening swept over the sleepy town by the time there was a sound knock on the door and Juri went to answer. In the doorway stood Cammy and pointed towards a car in the parking lot.
"We got the call," she said like the military lady she was at heart. Not-yet crazy cat lady notwithstanding.
They left the motel then and in comfortable silence, Juri settled into the car – on the backseat like some kid driving with her parents. She didn't bother with a seatbelt as the car pulled out of the motel parking lot. She didn't bother listening to the inane conversation between Cammy and Guile, settling to stare at the passing streetlights.
"I can't wait until all of this is over. I thought that, with Charlie being alive and well, I could sit back and just relax with the girls," Guile complained into the silence of their ended conversation.
"Yet you are here," Cammy reminded him on a purely logistical level and really, it shouldn't surprise him. Still, he made a face.
Well, he was bit of a dick. Juri should honestly have gotten used to that by now. She'd love to make a little sound of affirmation, but she was better off being quiet. She stretched her legs out and leaned back in her seat, noticing the sudden lack of streetlights around them.
Even before then, the roads practically stood deserted. Now, it was like they had driven off to a different world. The car was drenched in darkness except for a few specks from the console and the blaring headlights. It reminded Juri of the first time, she was taken to Shadaloo's base.
Bathed in darkness, surrounded by the wilderness. Stuck in a vehicle with a lot of other poor, unfortunate souls and soon-to-be orphans of circumstance. Acidic. Juri sighed through her nose, watched the gravel road, and submitted to the silence.
"Assuming this is the end to it all; where will you be standing?" Cammy asked a few miles past open fields and a distant water tower. Juri quickly realized the question was meant for her.
She shrugged. "Wherever fate drops me off."
It was an easy answer to a difficult question. Cammy, who thankfully didn't understand the nature of what was happening in Juri's mind huffed in disappointment. With Guile around, Juri wondered if this discussion would end in disaster, but he was quiet, drumming his fingers against the steering wheel. And his silence was like the greenlight, Cammy needed.
"Well, I was looking at flats the other day and there's this lovely place in Vauxhall, I think you'd like. I could set you up, make you comfortable, and keep an eye on you."
"Uh-huh," Juri nodded along.
Cammy breathed out through her nose in dissatisfaction and added; "Just to make sure you don't start any trouble or burn the whole district down."
Wholly facetious but Juri gave into the snicker, turning around so that she had her legs across the entire backseat. She'd rather start fights than fires.
"A Bengali could keep you occupied," Cammy exclaimed with excitement, and this time, Guile chuckled with amusement like she was his daughter.
Juri snorted in disagreement but didn't feel like discussing the details or the hassle of owning a goddamn pet, let alone living it up in jolly ol' England. What even was a Bengali? Juri never thought to ask, and the curiosity left her like the snap of fingers when the car stopped. In the middle of absolutely nowhere. Juri still stepped outside, breathing in the thick scent of foliage and the distant stench of fertilizers. Certainly, a perfect place for a criminal to hide.
"Okay so…" Guile poured over the map, he had copied from Ken, quietly trekking along a downtrodden path that was lit by a flashlight from Cammy. Cicadas and distant wildlife filled the silence under crushing grass like an audience whispering before a performance. Anticipating, much like Juri. Especially when something structural broke the scenery of black wilderness.
The fabled compound consisted of old farmland with brick barns and byres clustered together, guarded by a rotting wood fence. A dirt road led to its center where a single lamppost stood. Assuming its homely outer shell wasn't just a façade, sneaking inside would be insultingly easy. And that was what Juri would like to do as well but there was the issue of Ken.
Ken who had taken refuge in some nearby bushes. He probably wouldn't have been spotted if not for Guile. Almost as they had planned this. It left Juri a little cold when she wasn't in on the plotting. But suppose mindless attacking was about the only thing expected from a spider dragon.
"I spent the evening mapping out the perimeter. There are seven, maybe nine or so people there currently. No signs of Damnd. I guess we'll have to wait until he shows up," Ken crouched down behind the thorn bush. A faint scent of equine emanated from him.
"And the rest of the area?" Guile asked.
"Flora and some old automation scrap here and there."
From where they stood, it provided a view over the inside of the compound. Several cars stood parked under the light, some clearly eaten up by rust. There were windows in the structures, but their interior was obfuscated by the light. The massive lamppost happened to have a generator attached. And Ken pointed at it like it was a statue. The key to their success.
It was going to be a long night. A wild night. A dangerous night. Juri's body trembled with aching desire. Familiar and soothing. A distraction. A boost to her confidence for the simple fact that she knew she could win. Hunt down criminals in the middle of the wilderness. Spend the night chasing them like a beast. She stared at Ken, and he looked directly at her, telling him that yes, it was going to be her night. Yes, she would gladly be his dragon.
"I'll take care of the generator. As soon as the power goes out, we go on the attack," Cammy stood up and adjusted her gauntlets, making a sweeping arch to circle the property while hiding in the shadows.
Juri watched her slither past the trees, the fence, and hugging the walls, wondering why they just didn't kick the door down and went in guns blazing. That was just the downside of doing this with others. You were only as strong as the people chained around your ankle.
But Cammy was fast, standing between two byres and crouched behind the skeleton of a car. Its shadow provided the cover needed for her to slink towards the lamppost and eventually, finally, shut the light off. The compound was smothered in darkness sans flickering candlelight from the surrounding buildings. Several figures poured out from the doors, and it was the beginning of the game.
Juri moved independently past bushes and trees, jumping over the rotting fence, jumping into the chaos. Bodies moved, voices talked in panicked orders, a fight broke out. She had no way of knowing where either of her allies were, but she didn't care to look.
A flashlight, then two, then five passed their glow across individuals in quick, random bursts. Someone, probably remaining within one of the barns, tentatively held a projector of light from the attic. It was a smart idea if they had hoped to see the absolute chaos unfolding.
And yet there were no signs of Damnd among the vermin.
Juri's eyes adjusted to the contrasting light and darkness while she looked around. A figure, tall and wide of frame began running from the pack, into the woodlands behind the compound. She didn't quite get a good look at whoever they were before she gave chase. Juri sprinted across the ground, sliding over the hoods of cars, and easily leaped over the remains of another fence.
Her ears were rushing with blood, drowning out all noises but her heartbeat, her breathing, and the distant huffs of her prey. Her eyes homed in on the flashlight in their hands. The figure ran down a padded path through the forest. They sprinted across a wooden board lying over the discarded open bed of a dump truck and jumped off its ledge into darkness.
Juri followed right behind, across the wood, and faintly spotted a car by the ledge. She jumped and landed on her feet, in the middle of more open fields. It was the chase, the thrill that Juri had been waiting for, like a wolf spider patiently waiting for prey.
She stopped to peer over the nothingness to spot the figure while the world went eerily quiet around her. Her heart pounded behind her chest in a labored rhythm, but she was filled with-
Sudden footsteps pressing against pebbles and the flat underside of a shovel to her face caught her so violently off-guard that it snatched her breath away. The impact knocked the back of her head against one of the car's windows. Glass flew everywhere while she crumpled to the grass and gravel. She lay dazed, still piecing together what exactly went wrong. Piecing together how badly her nose had been broken. She glared up at the figure standing over her now.
Another mountainous man stared at her with the infantility of a child. His curious, childlike but triumphant gleam was the final vestige in her vision before she closed her eyes.
When Juri woke up, there was light. Sharp and industrial like a surgery room. Portable, she found out once her eyes adjusted to the glare. She lifted her head because, as she quickly found out, it was the only body part not bound by layers upon layers of duct tape. Ironically it was also the only part of her body aching.
Her nose had gotten numb with pain and blood oozed out of her useless nostrils, pouring all over her thighs and knees. She sat in a chair in the middle of what looked to be an old, abandoned meat processing plant. Rust and grime covered discarded meat grinders but not the several hooks that hung from chains in the ceiling. Those looked suspiciously clean. So did the several crates covered in tarp.
"You're awake. Good," Damnd's voice exclaimed with all its feigned sincerity.
Slowly, Juri shifted her eyes to the man standing a few tens of feet away from her. Probably as an act of caution. Smart. His grin widened while he ran his tongue across the blunt edge of a dagger in his hand. If he was trying to intimidate her, he was utterly failing.
Next to him stood a new face; the same that had stared down at Juri earlier. The face of the man who smacked her in the nose with a shovel. Tall but without a malicious bone in his body. Maybe demented judging from that brown teddy bear in his hand.
"What are we gonna do with her?" he asked, tilting his head like a child.
He turned to look at Damnd and his entire disposition screamed tagalong. Juri had seen this type of person often; some poor sod getting roped into grinding for drug lords and crime bosses. Maybe he didn't even know what he had gotten himself into. Maybe he could be reasoned with.
"Punish her, that's what. Remember, we punish bad people, right?" Damnd sheathed his knife but never looked at the poor sod.
"…Yes," the man nodded on cue like a well-trained puppy.
Aha. So just outright manipulation. Well, this should be easy, Juri eased herself into thinking.
"Good. Now you go outside and play. Keep an eye out for bad men," Damnd gently slapped the giant on his shoulder and he sauntered towards the back of the building, soon swallowed by the darkness.
Well, shit. What now?
Damnd only took a few steps closer. "Juri, was it? You know me as Damnd but my first name is Thrasher. Thrasher Damnd. Nice to meet you."
"Cute," Juri opened her mouth and tasted nothing but her own blood. "For such a big, ugly douche, you're fast."
"Thank you, thank you," Damnd's grin somehow grew wider. He sauntered over to one of the crates and sat down on top of it in one swift but cautious movement. "I think we got off on a bad start. You're a brutal but strong fighter. You're a daredevil. You're dangerous. I can see the drive to fight in your eyes."
Juri huffed. She knew exactly where this was headed. She had gotten the same proposal before. Often as a plea, a fake promise, or, as in this case, a threat.
"Good for you," she deadpanned. "You can actually see at night with those shades on."
"Yes. And by the by, I think you'd be better served if you began working with me. You don't have to worry about saving pretty boys. You can spill as much blood as your heart desires. You'll get paid pretty handsomely."
Something inside of her began to curl and hunger after the promise of malice. Juri couldn't stop it. She couldn't stop that lingering, aimless habit. And in that, she found, oddly enough, shame. For the first time, she felt contempt for the monster she knew herself to be. Violence was her medicine however, but it was on the same level as alcohol for depression.
Spill blood, get blood spilled.
The serenity in feeling nothing but bodily harm was waning.
Hurt others. Get hurt by others.
"I don't need your money, asshole," she bit out her words, quiet and self-contemplating.
Ouroboros.
"But you do need the thrill. I could give you that and so much more than your boyfriend is providing. I guess his dick is good if you stick with him after all," Damnd felt safe in his argument enough to shorten the gap between them.
Juri bit the inside of her cheek, wondering if Damnd knew the depths of his words, wondering if she'd be able to find some purpose in life again should she give in to her vices, wondering if Ken would forgive her, wondering about Ken in general.
Sounds from the darkness were a merciful interruption to Juri's thoughts and for a moment, she hoped that it was Ken and others kicking the doors in, guns blazing. But fucked up people like her didn't deserve good things. Fate had a funny way of being consistent with that.
Dug and his massively tall chaperone walked into the light. They were no longer the bloodied, broken messes, Juri had left them. They stood, healed and vigorous in the light but with eyes as hollow as the vacuums of space and the disposition of rabid, bloodthirsty dogs.
"Hey, it's that bitch!" the broader of the two bellowed with spittle flying through his mustache. His words came out as a slurred mess and Juri quickly deduced that the man was drunk. A shock that he even recognized her.
"What the hell are you two doing here?" Damnd asked, so perplexed that his smile faded.
"There's a raid at the base. We got away but the others…" Dug trembled through his explanation.
Surprise, and as that passed, relief. Juri smiled with all her blood and viscera. "Whoops. My bad. Didn't tell you that. Your good friends in Chinatown sold you out."
Damnd's eyes were hidden well behind his shades but the pause that passed through his body was an admission in itself, shock. Even as he smiled, she could smell the fear, the desperation from him. "You are one shrewd little vixen, aren't you?"
"I have my moments."
"Good thing your little friends don't know about this place," he unsheathed his blade and rested its tip against the middle of Juri's collarbone.
"Can't be that far away, can we?" she raised a brow. Apathetic from the tip nicking her skin and sending a thin line of thick, hot blood running down her chest.
"Can't find you living either – unless you take me up on my offer?"
"Offer or threat? You should be careful with giving me job offers without earning my loyalty," Juri narrowed her eyes. She found a moment's solace in the memory of Seth's demise. "The last criminal to do so ended up getting his shit pushed in – because I played him like a fiddle."
Damnd gave her a curious look like he was intrigued to know more. If he was scared, his expression betrayed nothing.
"This one is tough, Thrasher. She won't crack so easily," Dug spoke with feigned bravado. Well, he wasn't wrong.
And just to punctuate this, the tall man snatched Damnd's knife from him and drove it into Juri's thigh with such speed and agility that she didn't notice the pain until after the blade had been pulled out. Left in its wake was a gash that oozed blood through the fabric of her pants. Its stinging caused her to quietly hiss.
Nothing she wasn't used to.
"Let's break her once and for all," The tall man tossed the knife to the ground and lurched at Juri.
Tied up with the tape, there was little she could do but wriggle and curse while he lifted her off the chair and hooked her to the chains from the ceiling. She could feel the edge of the hook between her wrists, so if she consistently moved…
The tall man clasped his massive hands around her hips, palming the bones with a firm grip. He stared at her with his lazy eye. The same eye, Juri had kicked in. Yet his gaze burned thick with hatred like the words he spoke. "Words have consequences. You're just a big-mouthed brat. I'll break you, then put you out of your misery."
Whatever he planned, would not result in Juri's death right away. She tried not to think of what he intended, out of boredom, out of impatience at being bound. Out of fear when the answer became clear. The tall man slid his hands to the waistline of her pants and tried to wring them off her. In the moment, he got a hold of the fabric, he unintentionally ripped something in half inside Juri.
Fear turned to desperation, turned to dread, turned to fury.
"Atlas, I don't know if this is a good idea. Girls are nice but this is…" Dug pled but remained where he stood and tilted his head just enough to reveal his dark eyes behind his shades. Atlas ignored him while he reached for his own belt buckle. He was slow, sadistic, and meticulous, easing his pants just below his hips to reveal the pubic hair and the base of his disgusting manhood.
Visions of old flashed before Juri's eyes; her on the ground as a child with a man on top of her, surrounded by fire and brimstone. Surrounded by the smell of her parents' blood. Memories of Bison touching her while he taunted and threatened her with death and rape. The delight at her defeat while he ripped out her eye.
People who preyed on the weak. Weakness. Submission. Defeat. Utter and total helplessness. Hopeless and despairing. Standing over the corpses of dead parents. Feeling, never feeling again.
So, when Atlas touched Juri with his hands sliding across her bare legs to the rim of her panties, the beast within her was unleashed. She twisted and turned until the friction with the hook tore away at the duct tape, and she landed on the ground with a sound thud. She tapped into the bloodlust, into the power of the Feng Shui, and ripped herself free. In the carnage, total chaos spread through the building.
Juri couldn't register the things that were happening around her. She knew her body moved, hastily pulling her pants back on before she went on the attack. Her mind was numb and storming all the same, in too deep yet above it all. Never catching how she pounced on Atlas, kicking him until he rose into the air, shattering his jaw, stomping his skull to the ground with a sound crack that split his head open, spilling blood and brain matter everywhere, then kicked at him some more. Until there was nothing but sludge under her shoes.
A raw scream of shock and horror came from Dug when he realized Atlas was dead, but it was too late for him. Juri descended upon him next. He ran, trying to flee from the slaughter with scared yelps ringing from his throat. Cries for help. Desperate beggings to Damnd who was already standing by the far end of the building.
Dug continued to whine and in turn, it continued to infuriate Juri. He, who was complicit in her subjugation. He stopped and turned around, tears in his eyes, snot running from his nose. He begged and pleaded, cried for mercy. Promising her riches, promising her influence, condemning Atlas, apologizing for his complacency. He fell to his knees and wept when Juri grabbed him by the dome of his skull.
Hurt. Get hurt.
The power of the Feng Shui tore through her body and seared through her muscles. She didn't care about the burn.
Spill blood. Get blood spilled.
Dug shrieked, she smiled. It was the last thing he saw before she forced his face into the incoming blow from her knee. His screams of pain were what she lived for. The life leaving his eyes as she wrapped a chain around his neck to strangle him excited her beyond what was articulate, beyond what was healthy.
Then there was Damnd.
He was already running through the entrance when Juri gave chase. By now, the power of the Feng Shui was like a constant ache. A reminder that her limit was reached. She'd feel it tomorrow. Feel it while she sat at the diner with Ken, eating pancakes and salty scrambled eggs. Know that he'd look at her with concern while she sagged in the booth. Black dots filled her vision while she sprinted down the gravel road. Her footing grew sloppy, and her sharp eyes blurred. Aching worsened, body stopped to remain standing.
And from the distance, a sharp light grew brighter as it cut through the darkness. Damnd realized too late that it was a car and he stopped to raise his arms moments before it slammed into him, possibly breaking his kneecaps. It happened so fast yet slow at the same time while he flew over the vehicle, tumbled over its roof, and landed on gravel with a hard thud. The vehicle's tires slid across the ground like someone had hit the brakes and three figures poured out from its shadowy innards. Two went to inspect Damnd.
One went to Juri.
"Juri…" that voice called to her, gentle but uncertain. Almost drowned out by the throbbing in her head. Ken came closer to the point where she could see him despite the blur.
She caught a whiff of his scent or deodorant or whatever and it was familiar. It smelled of him but it smelled of man. A man who took a few tentative steps towards her and lifted his arms in a gentle welcome. But he was a man and that had been a threat by and of itself.
"Don't touch me!" Juri hissed, far too weary to sound biting. The Feng Shui Engine shut off and jointly, so did her body. She collapsed onto the ground, paralyzed from exhaustion.
Yet now, her mind cleared from its murderous haze, and in its place, came shame over her instability. She had to close her eyes in guilt so she couldn't see the disappointment in Ken's eyes when he inevitably detected the blood on her. He remained standing by her side; she could still smell him. That scent snuck closer and invaded her personal space; turned out it was just from the jacket, he put over her broken body.
The last thing, Juri heard was the fading echo of Ken's voice comforting her. Like her mother would.
"It's over. It's okay."
When they returned to the motel, Juri's mood improved. That was, despite her nose not working. Ken, the perpetually temperate and considerate nursemaid that he was, dumped Juri in the bathtub while he sat on the edge and observed the injuries like a vet cautiously observing the hissing cat about to get a vaccination.
He stood up and left for half a minute before he returned with the med kit and a couple of pills. Juri swallowed them dry and sat waiting for the familiar dull. He put her head between his hands, and they were warm. Firm but gentle. Contrasting what he did next.
He moved away from cupping her cheeks and grabbed her jaw to position her head, then got a hold of her aching nose to gently push the bone and cartilage back into place. Blood gushed from her nostrils, so he eventually stopped wiping it away until after he had applied the nose splints. The process lasted for little more than a minute, but each gentle touch had shot jolts of pain through Juri's entire head.
Ken smiled at her, tender and brought. Juri found herself unable to murder him, let alone be furious at him. Not for his care; just for circumstance. He still fucking touched her too. He probably wasn't aware of it but him being…well him was the exact kind of overly generous courtesy that managed to disarm Juri. All of her. Strip her naked to her emotional core but without the awareness to even see it. And probably without the shrewdness to use it as a weapon.
What would he do if he did spot it? Run his hands across the scars, the open, festering wounds, and touch the blood? Ignore how it trembled and shrieked at him to go away out of fear and hurt? Or would he just ignore it and play into Juri's comfort zone of pretending not to have feelings?
Ken didn't strike her as a man who took advantage of others anyway; either too stupid or too kind. Maybe both. Mostly just good. He was really good. Even to Juri, who hadn't quite felt so weak in the presence of someone before. She, who probably didn't deserve or want to feel anything other than lingering chaotic urges. Now she understood why she let herself sleep next to him, why she let herself lean against his palm.
It was as delightful as it was painful. That emotional core reacted in agony, screaming bloody murder while Ken cleaned her face of gore and guided her to the bed, making sure to really fluff up the pillows and giving up his own to elevate her head. He did it without question, because of course he did.
When her eyes stung and something too salty for blood and too aching for sweat rolled down her face, he brushed it away too without question. She hated feeling. She hated crying. She hated how ugly and weak it made her look. How it hitched her breathing and caused her entire chest to jitter. How every sound she made, was a helpless sob that caused her entire throat to ache.
How endless it was.
Ken sat by her side, mercifully quiet, lacking prejudice but blessed with tolerance. He didn't touch her even if she now wanted him to. She couldn't debase herself by pleading for comfort, despite desperately needing something right now. She curled into herself and that must have been a sign for a hand to gently land on her shoulder. It was a subtle but effective gesture because of course, it was.
He remained close by, until she grew weary of her stupid pain, dreaming of him – because of course, she did, the hopelessly adoring creature that she was growing into.
And thus, the romantic subplot is starting.
So, in case you're wondering about the throwaway comment about Charlie being well; this story takes place in the same universe as all my other Street Fighter stories, hereunder Ad Astra which is about Charlie and him being well.