Nguyen Hue Street, Saigon
…
SCREAM! SCREAM!
SNAP! SNAP!
BUMP!
SNAP!
BUMP! BUMP!
SCREAM!
"Outta the way, outta the way! Move!"
"Run!"
"Get outta here! Go!"
BLARE! BLARE!
"Everyone head for the designated exit points and proceed to vacate the quarantined area immediately!"
A simple sentiment shared amongst the senseless sounds of Sony snaps and Canon clicks coupled with the equally senseless screams of scared citizens in clamoring crowds as they frantically fled for their lives, all while wailing whistles and searing sirens of local law enforcement were fighting a losing battle to maintain what little order they could in the ensuing chaos.
It was meant to be the end of another mundane Monday morning for the city of Saigon and her hardworking citizens. A couple of street side shish kebabs and spring rolls sold under the sun here, some sweet soup with a side of sugarcane shakes sold under the shade there and before the day was even done, they could close up shop early for an easy evening out on the town filled with all the hard and heavy drinking, ceaseless cigarette smoking and off-key karaoke singing they could possibly want, same as any other day of the week.
At least, until the first fist was then thrown.
STRIKE!
SLASH!
SCREAM! SCREAM!
Armed assailants, one simply sighted by panicking passerby as a burly black boxer in blue with red boxing gloves and the other as an underdressed matador in a mask sporting a snake tattoo on his built bare chest and what could have only been described as a literal set of sharp, steel elongated claws on his right hand, had sprung a seemingly sudden and sporadic assault against the crowd of citizens from the shadows, causing the perpetual panic of the people that had been unfolding for the past couple of hours.
SLASH! SLASH!
STRIKE!
SCREAM! SCREAM!
"Run! Run! Run!"
"What's happening!?"
"I don't know! Just run for it!"
Police were rapid to respond and report to the scene of the crime as soon as the screaming, shouting and slashing had started, with incoming convoys of countless motorcycles, squad cars and pickup trucks pouring in through every intersection leading up to the long stretch of road, their sirens searing and squealing loudly as they successfully surrounded the area and moved in to evacuate the escapees.
But the chaos continued on.
SCREAM!
BUMP! BUMP!
SCREAM!
Clamoring civilians cobbled and cluttered against each other like corralled cattle in a fence as they made a desperate mad dash for the designated exit points and marked vehicles, pouring through in neverending droves of deranged and demented dozens and costing the nearly overwhelmed officers valuable time as they desperately held the line as long as they could until the last citizen managed to make an escape, allowing the force to quickly seal off the street and surround the stretch of road, their firearms drawn and poised to shoot.
And as they closed in on the center of the stretch, their precarious predictions on the provocation that led to the assailants springing their unprecedented assault upon the crowd seemed all the more feasible.
Although they fear that they may be too late to be able to have so much as a word with the one who was holding them off long enough for them to get here by the time the belligerent duo were done with her.
—
Gods & Demons around the World - Chinese Dragon
Out of the countless species of fearsome dragons that decorated the diverse cornucopia of human cultures around the world, the Chinese dragon, or long, inspires the most royalty regality alongside its frightening ferocity. Characterized by its snakelike body, crown of antlers and long bearded tendrils, these serpentine creatures are said to ride on the Asian winds as a symbol of life and power for the people and every year, multiple festivals are hosted in honor of this majestic mythical creature, especially during Chinese New Year.
—
…
"YEOWWW!"
SLASH! SLASH!
One high ranking member of an anonymous international organization hell bent on the ushering in of the ultimate new world order and bringing the helm of humanity to its knees? A most dangerous dance with the devil himself where one wrong move meant a brutal and bloody death.
"RRAGGHH!"
STRIKE! STRIKE! STRIKE!
Two high ranking members of an anonymous international organization hell bent on the ushering in of the ultimate new world order and bringing the helm of humanity to its knees on the other hand? An empty open casket at the eulogy without so much as a speck of hacked hair to pay tribute to the body by.
"HHIYYAAAH!"
STRIKE! STRIKE!
And as Interpol agent Chun-Li flew in with a fury of fast fists and killer kicks to ferociously fend off her would-be pair of assassins for as long as her laborious legs could manage until her backup arrived, one thought rang rigorously in her mind.
'I really wish Guile was here right now.'
But unfortunately for her and fortunately for her assailants, Guile was not here right now. He was on a diplomatic envoy on behalf of the United States government halfway across the continent to her majesty in United Kingdom in order to secure interagency aid of its Delta Red special task force division in order to locate and lock up former members of Shadaloo who have went on the run and were now in hiding around every corner the world after the organization's seemingly complete collapse just a year earlier.
But Shadaloo was not one to toss in the towel so soon. She should have known that an underground organization like them would have had too many eyes and ears around the world to have allowed the fall of their sinister syndicate without any contingencies to ressurection should the inevitable were to befall them. And now, she along with the rest of the world were going to have to pay the painful price for such misjudged assumptions of an easy victory.
Speaking of paying the painful price for such misjudged assumptions of an easy victory.
"STRAIGHT!"
STRIKE!
"GAHHH!" the Interpol agent was sent soaring across the stretch of road by a calamitous cross from the brutish boxer as her limp body twisted and tumbled uselessly on the rough and ragged edges of cold, hard tarmac before coming to a complete stop, her arms shaking sharply as she struggled to force herself off of the ground and resigning her to simply turn her hurting head towards her two approaching assailants with the hardest glare her eyes could muster instead, with the boxer taking a smug step and smirk ahead of his cohort.
"That the best you got, copper? I've made mincemeat outta small time suckers who put up a better challenge than you, and that was ten years ago? What do you think, Vega?"
The matador in the mask sauntered up next to the boxer before removing his pale facial adornment, revealing an equally mocking smile lining the lips of his own.
"Sí, Balrog. And to think that this is the same fiery rosa who destroyed my beautiful face before." his left hand gently slid up to the side of his cheek where a small black bruise was visible for all to see before letting go to make a quick note of the new armed arrivals in green surrounding them.
"Ah, I see that your excited entourage has finally allowed themselves to be known. Bueno." he then placed his mask back onto his face. "An audience such as this deserves a visage like myself to witness as I cut this hermosa flor into red running ribbons."
He raised up his set of sharp cold, claws for them to see, the mere sight of the deadly adornment nearly putting all the officers on the scene into a panic as their fingers poised onto the trigger of their weapons, only stopping from pulling when the interpol agent in oriental blue and gold was quick to hold up a signaling hand for them to stop.
"Hold your fire!"
"B-But agent Chun-Li-!"
"You pull that trigger now, and none of us will be walking away from this place alive." As heavily hesitant as they were to simply leave a fellow law enforcement officer in multiple cuts and bruises helpless and at the mercy of her attackers like this, the men in green eventually relented at her orders and lowered their firearms, albeit only slightly while the boxer pumped his fists in arrogant taunt.
"That's right, officer. Call off your backup boys. This is between you and us, two on one." Vega was quick to assume a fighting stance as did the bruiser, gloves and claws poised to strike.
"So what's it gonna be?"
Chun-Li stifled a hard breath as a dusted arm wiped away at the blood that was leaking from her mouth before slowly but surely, she found herself moving higher and higher from the ground.
On her knees.
To a foot.
And finally her full height, white boots planted firmly onto the tarmac and her hands stretched out in an attack position, a steeled and determined glare sharpening her eyes as the bruiser simply smirked at the show of defiance.
"Huh, it seems the blue bombshell still got a bit of pep in her step. What say you and I put that up to the test, huh Vega?"
"Sí, Balrog. I've been saving for the day I could paint a pretty picture on that beautiful face."
His clawed hand gleaned at the reflection of the midnight moon.
"And I'll start by plucking out her eyes from her bloody sockets!"
LUNGE!
"KYAOOH!" a vicious first dive with steel claws outstretched from the masked matador resulted in Chun-Li being quick on her feet to a simple side step to the back, dodging the strike from her attacker before retaliating with one of her own.
"HAZANSHU!" a short hand stand followed by a full front flip landed her foot right on top of Vega's mop of blonde hair, inciting a pained grunt from the masked matador as his face fell fast and firmly onto the cold tarmac before making a rebound to meet another vicious assault from the Interpol Agent.
"TENSHOKYAKU!" fast consecutive kicks to the chest sent both her and Vega into the air before finishing off with a crushing kick to his skull, sending him flying back with a short skid and stop towards Balrog, the bruiser making a small scoff at his cohort's incompetence before zeroing in on Chun-Li, his fist reeling and ready to throw.
"You may have put that gaudy dancer down for the count, but let's see you taking on a real champion!"
"You talk too much."
"RRAAGGH!"
CHARGE!
A ferocious first launch from his feet firing into a fearsome full-on buffalo charge had Balrog connecting head-first right into Chun-Li, the Interpol agent only managing to mitigate the injury with a carefully placed block to her midsection.
But the boxer was not to let up after that first charge and quickly followed up with a vicious right uppercut to her chin.
"UPPER!" the woman was caught completely off guard by the uppercut as she fell into a short stir, leaving her disoriented long enough for Balrog to land a bone crunching head butt followed by a stomp on her foot.
"EAT THIS!"
And a powerful left hook connected to the side of her cheek.
STRIKE!
"GAAHH!" the Interpol agent staggered a few feet away from the boxer, desperately trying to maintain her footing, but just as she had regained some semblance of sight, the masked matador was right on top of her with a flying knee sending her skywards.
STRIKE!
Followed by his bladed claws unfurling.
"BLOODY HIGH CLAW!" a series of successful zigzagging slashes to the body sent her flying higher, and higher, and higher until the last most vicious violent slice.
SLICE!
SLICE! SLICE!
…
SLICE!
"AAAGGGHHH!"
And with one final pained gasp, Chun-Li fell loosely to the ground, long lacerations and brutal bruises adorning her every form and her blue and gold qipao dress laced with several bloodied cuts and scratches as she laid on her back, her breath heavy and heaving and her body aching as was the disheveled flaying of her brown hair.
"Chun-Li!"
SHING!
…
"I would not be so hasty, if I were you. The fun part is just about to begin."
"I'd listen to him, chumps." the bruiser pumped his fists mockingly.
The officers frustratingly fiddled with their firearms with aggravated grumbles at the masked matador and boxer. As much as they wanted to aid the critically ailing Interpol Agent, they knew full well the dangers that the two high ranking members of Shadaloo posed and the first sign of a bullet would mean the death of Chun-Li followed by the rest of them.
There was nothing they could do, aside from simply standing back and helplessly watching the two assailants proceed with their sinister scheme on the downed woman.
"Good, now if you would just settle down, we'll be with you in a moment." the matador and the boxer began making their way to the downed woman, Vega's claw itching to make its first bloody peel on her skin.
"It's a pity for such a ravishing visage to go to waste." the matador smiled a sly smirk from underneath his mask. "But there's always another, so you won't be missed, hermosa."
Struggling to get up, Chun-Li held onto the bloodied side of her white waist sash while supporting her upper body with the other before turning to the approaching Shadaloo agents.
She had never imagined for it to go like this, but even then, she had moments where she wondered what her life would turn into without Shadaloo to motivate her. Seeing their complete and total downfall meant everything to her ever since she joined Interpol. To see swift justice be served on the organization that had brought so much suffering and misery to humanity in its short lived bid for total world domination.
But none of that mattered now.
She had done her duty as far as she could and this was to be her final mission.
And as Balrog and Vega stood before her, their dark imposing shadows casting down like the haunting black robes of the reaper himself, Chun-Li refused to allow herself to show any form of fright or fear and she simply stared back at them with a small scowl, determined to be defiant in the face of the end.
"Say goodnight, copper."
The boxer raised up his red fist, ready to finish her off.
RUMBLE!
…
"What the…? Huh, that was weird." Balrog quickly shook off the sudden shaky feeling he felt in his legs before turning back to the downed woman.
RUMBLE! RUMBLE!
"Okay, what the hell is that!?" the bruiser was getting very annoyed at the sudden shaking happening beneath his feet, and it was not long before the masked matador began to feel it as well, and even more violently at that.
RUMBLE! RUMBLE!
SHIFT!
RUMBLE!
SHIFT
"What the… what is this!?" he pointed his steel claw accusingly at the equally confused Interpol agent on the ground. "Is this your doing?"
"Wha-don't look at me! I'd assume this is something you'd do."
"Well, believe it or not, it's not and it's really starting to piss me off!" the boxer's balance soon faltered as he fell flat on his backside with a hard thud, the violent shaking and quaking never stopping as he did so.
SHAKE! SHAKE!
"Woah!"
"What's happening!?"
By now, the shaking and shifting had become more and more violent, resembling that of a small but steady earthquake as it spread beneath the tarmac. The surrounding officers braced themselves as the rumble grew larger and larger, being careful as not to suddenly prematurely discharge their weapons gripped tightly in their hands.
CRACK! CRACK!
"Over there!" the three confused fighters followed the fingers of one of the officers towards the ground.
A small fissure that was growing ever faster by the second, breaking bits of loose tarmac and earth apart as it criss-crossed itself away from the central crack, taking up large chunks of road in its path and barely stopping all the more suddenly at the fighters' feet.
An eerie silence lingered in the air for a short while.
BOOM!
A violent eruption burst open from the center of the crack, sending thick clouds of dust and small chunks of hard tarmac into the air and barely missing any officers that were close in its vicinity.
Acting on instinct, the officers were quick to draw their firearms and aim squarely at the newly formed hole in the ground, the matador and the boxer making no effort to threaten them nor did the downed Interpol agent made a move as they were distracted for they were all curious by this sudden change in events.
Whatever it was that could have made that small earthquake and fissure could not have been anything small, and just the thought of that was enough to put an intimidation factor into their imaginations as to what the creature that caused all this could be.
And then, an emerging humanoid shadow obscured by the still present clouds of dusts in the air looming from out of the hole, followed by every officer frantically aiming their weapons at the mysterious and possibly dangerous creature.
"Freeze!"
"Put your hands up!"
The shadow did not make a move, nor did it head to the instructions of the officers as the cloud of dust slowly began to finally dissipate, anxiously revealing the form of the mysterious figure one layer at a time.
And as the last speck of dust disappeared into the midnight moon and the parts of the mysterious figure began to come together into one whole figure, a single thought was raised in the minds of every single person present at the scene of the crime.
"What the hell?"