Disclaimer: I do not own the charactes, all propriety are Namco's!
"This way" shouted the man to his companions, pointing the flashlight against the wall where Nina's shadow was instantly projected.
"Is it she?" asked a croaking voice from behind.
"Of course she is! Come on! Move..." the other replied.
Nina felt the steps coming closer and closer, probably belonging to at least three men. What would happen to her now? She was exhausted, she hadn'the strength, nor even the will to fight. She just squinted and turned her face when the beam of light hit her.
"She's here! She's alive!"said the man striding closer.
He knelt next to her and placed two gloved fingers against her carodite to hear the heartbeat. She stayed still as the Tekken Force soldier clumsily tried to figure out how she was doing.
"Miss Williams, ma'am, do you hear me? Are you hurt? Are you okay?"
She snorted in front of that flood of questions, but at least the soldier didn't seem intent on hurting her.
"I'm fine, Chomei." she murmured reluctantly, acknowledging the lieutenant of the Tekken Force.
She felt definitely better immersed in silence.
"Oh, thank God, here guys, Miss Williams is conscious! Do you need a hand to get up, ma'am?"
"No, I can do it alone!" she replied dryly, but didn't move.
"Madam, are you sure to feel well, do we have to call for help?" Gaho asked excitedly, shifting the weight nervously from one leg to the other.
"What help and rescue, tsk!" snapped the blonde badly, forcing herself finally to stand up.
Unfortunately for her, she hadn't taken into account the fact that remaning still for too long her muscles could not give direct answer, and also that she was more hurt than she thought, so she stumbled badly and had it not been for the sudden Chomei's help, she would have found herself again on the ground.
"Damn it," she murmured through clenched teeth, trying to gain stability.
"Miss Williams, are you sure to..." but as Hiroya, the third soldier present, intercepted the woman's killer look, he didn't dare uttering a word.
"We have to get out of here! The others will be wondering where we are, we have to go back to the base to report!"
"Are you really that stupid, or have you just hit your head?" hissed Nina, who had finally regained her balance and now tried in vain to remove the dust from her irremediably ruined catsuit. "Do you really think that going back to the base to report to that damned old man makes sense? Maybe it does if you want to get killed so bad, but then you shouldn't have saved yourself from the explosion!"
"K...K...Killed?" babbled Gaho, taking a step back.
Nina as always managed to instill fear to anyone, even in moments of weakness. Her fame as a glacial and ruthless woman preceded her and earned her the esteem of anyone within the Zaibatsu, not to mention that she was the right arm of the previous boss. No one sane of mind would have ever dared to make a crap to her, or lack respect.
"If you think that Heihachi is a tolerant and compassionate man, willing to forgive you for this mess, well, go and report!I'm done with it, but don't complain if at best you'll end up with all the bones broken! And remember that it could easily end up worse!"
The three men swallowed in unison, aware that what was said by the woman was the sad truth. The old Mishima didn't tolerat failures, they were also warned before embarking on the mission: "I do not give second chance!". And if Nina herself refused to come back and face that beast of a man, there was no chance for them to come out unscathed.
"So what will you do, ma'am? What will Mishima Zaibatsu do without you?" Chomei asked timidly.
"Without me? If I were you, I'd run away as far as possible from here... My time is over, plus I should never ever have taken the reins of that damned business!"
"But Mr. Kazama has specifically wanted that ..."
Hearing that name was like a shower of icy water. The blonde gritted her teeth, aware that what was said by Hiroya was true, but what could she do? She may have been deadly, strong and clever, but she was a mere human in the end, and as such she could have never opposed to such beasts like the Mishimas. However, this reminder caused her a huge annoyance, which she wasn't able to contain.
"Jin... Kazama... I do not owe him anything now!" She growled. "I'm not going to go back and risk that madman killing me, for which purpose? It's not my right to rule that cage of fools, nor even mu duty to end this damn war! And if you were a minimum smart you would do the same!"
A deafening silence followed, full of tension. The three soldiers were appalled at the reaction of their superior, they would have never imagined seeing her lose her temper like that. She had pronounced the name of his former protege with such ferocity that for a moment all three had been afraid that she would jump on them and break their neck bone, as they had seen her do so many times during fights. She had never pulled back when it was time to get her hands dirty, she had always been admired by anyone for her graceful, but deadly style, for her coolness and cunning that she was never without, even in the most difficult situations. Now she didn't even seem to ber herself, so they figured they had touched a very painful key.
"Alright, ma'am, you're right as always, but we cannot leave our brother soldiers in the Tekken Force, there are corpses everywhere, the unit is decimated, they need us! We have sworn loyalty to the army and we can't take it back ... I hope you understand."Chomei murmured ruefully, bowing his head.
If Gaho could have had the chance, he would have escaped on the spot, following the killer's advice, but was held back by Hiroya, who nodded to his friend's words. The fear of returning was great, but the humiliation of deserting was too much to bear. If they should have succumbed, better to do it like real men, not rabbits. Obviously no one dared to expose the comparison to her.
"Well, if anything, you're not a bunch of pussies, as I've always thought! The choice is yours, I've warned you anyway." she sighed, resting one hand on her hip, as she always used to do.
Despite that little outburst, she was still herself, Nina Williams, the deadly bodyguard that everyone had learned to respect and fear.
"What will you do, Miss Williams, if I can ask?" asked shyly Hiroya.
Nina didn't answer immediately, even if it wasn't a particularly complicated question. Yeah, what would she do with her life from then on? Now that she had known the power, the fame, who had got used to be in charge? No, it would not have been her.
"I'll get along... I hope you can do the same." she concluded, before heading for what was once the exit.
"Miss Williams, ma'am..." Chomei called her, after a few steps.
She turned slowly and saw the three men standing at attention, as they used to be during the inspections.
"Take care..."
These words were definitely unexpected, but they didn't manage to scratch the cold face of the woman. Nevertheless she appreciated them, knowing that she had done a good job. Since she had been in command of the Tekken Force, the army's abilities had improved incredibly and this was only thanks to her.
"You too..." she whispered.
A solemn military salute followed, before turning around and resuming her way out of that ruined skyscraper. She looked up at the starry sky again, knowing that when all those stars were going down, another life would have begun for her.
Hello, people! Sorry for not updating the story for this long, but my work's schedule is pretty pretty busy. Luckilly for me a bunch of chapters are already done, so all I have to do is publish them. So, what about this one? Ath first reading it may seem a pretty boring and useless one, but its a needed passage to let the story continue. It doesn't happen nothing importat and I gotta admit I struggled to write it down, since dialougues isn't my strong suit, but it will be linked to a next episode. What I really wanted to do was underlinining the reletionship between Nina and TF'S soldiers, focusing on the respect they had for her. If during Tekken 6 she is mostly portraited as Jin's bodyguard, in Tekken 7 is pretty evident how she's able to manage an army all alone. She's such a beautiful war machine and his enlight even more her cold and smart side. With all that said I let you wait for the next chapter, which will be more dramatic and introspective. See you!