Disclaimer: I do not own the charactes, all propriety are Namco's!
The guests could not take their eyes off the married couple sitting in front of the altar, in particular it was Ludmilla's ethereal beauty that attracted most of the looks of men and women. Everyone smiled believing that they were witnessing a happy ending: everyone except one. Because Steve Fox immediately understood what was really going on: he knew that Nina worked for Mishima Zaibatsu and that most probably those were the last moments of Morozov's life. Once again that woman was attempting to harm an innocent person. How could she be so cruel and ruthless?
In addition, he soon realized that if she had killed the man, she would have cut off the only chance he had of returning to fight, but despite that awareness he couldn't move a muscle. The assassin's icy gaze had literally hibernated him. He had been on his trail for months, to be precise from the day he infiltrated the Mishima Zaibatsu laboratories to try to find out as much about his past as possible. Obviously he had found nothing but a profile with very little information about his account, nothing he didn't already know. However, there was one thing that particularly struck him: the phrase "Steve Fox was conceived through artificial insemination". So not only he was the result of some scientific experiment, in fact he was born like any other human being, but the identity of his biological parents still remained a mystery. Also, the name of that woman, that "Nina Williams" kept popping up on the experiment lists where his was also placed, so she had to deal with him in one way or another. And her sixth sense told him that she knew something. A sharp pang crossed his left arm, where he sported that huge scar. Damn bastards ...
"And now we can proceed to the union of these two souls, so in love with each other." declared the priest.
Steve jolted. He was so lost in his thoughts that he hadn't noticed that the ceremony was already coming to an end.
"Would you, Liev Morozov, take Ludmilla Padlova as your legitimate bride and promise to love and honor her in health and disease, in joy and pain, in wealth and poverty until death do you apart?"
Morozov looked at Nina with that ravenous and scornful look, before answering with a bold and hasty "Yes, I do", Totally devoid of feeling.
"And you, Ludmilla Padlova ..."
The time had come: in a few seconds a Yakuza hired assassin would blow up the organ and it would be time to kill that bastard.
"... want to take Liev Morozov as your legitimate husband and ..."
But the priest was unable to finish the sentence that a deafening roar rang out from the back of the church, detonating the gate and firing splinters everywhere.
"What the hell ..." thought the blonde.
It wasn't the way the plan was supposed to go, there was something wrong! A few seconds later a troop of soldiers, about thirty men broke into the building, fully armed and started shooting wildly. The woman immediately recognized those angular armor and helmets black as pitch and red as blood. Why was the Tekken Force there? The panic spread in the blink of an eye: people ran everywhere, screaming, trying to dodge the blows and take shelter. Numerous stained glass windows broke due to grenades thrown from who knows who from the outside. Nina felt a tug on her arm and as she turned she saw the Russian intent on using her as a human shield.
"Sorry wifey... It has been a short but intense wedding." he croaked, running towards the exit while hiding behind her body.
Poor fool, he didn't know who he was dealing with: in less than a second Nina reversed the grip and threw him on the ground and before the man could realize what just happened, he found himself with his head already in the lethal grip of her hands.
"I soooo agree .. Hubby!" the assassin hissed, before breaking his neck's bone in a single sharp movement, leaving him dying on the floor.
Subsequently several gunshots reached the body of the tycoon, but if nothing he had not died by Tekken Force's hand. The woman nimbly dodged the bullets with a back flip and with impressive rapidity pulled the Magnum 44 out of the jar and fired, taking down five soldiers with few shots.
"WAIT! But... that's Miss Williams!" shouted a vaguely familiar voice.
"Yes, it's her! The traitor! Capture her! We will serve her head to Heihachi on a silver platter!"
The situation had precipitated: could she be that incredibly skilled, she was certainly not able to defeat twenty armed men with so little arsenal at her disposal; she had to be smarter! By now they had almost surrounded her and if she hadn't done something quickly she would have been in serious trouble.
"Sorry Miss Williams. We had been ordered to take that Russian out, so he would finally stop giving Zaibatsu a hard time, but who would have thought he was getting married to you! Evidently the scum follows other scum." said the soldier who had the girl right in his rifle's sights.
The assassin didn't get any upset.. She had recognized that idiot, his impudence and incompetence had given her a lot of trouble when she was second in command. He had an extremely high self esteem, but truth be told he was just a poor fool, very easy to get around.
"You are right, Ryu. The scum goes with the scum, so you'll soon be joining it."
Hearing those words Ryu didn't think twice and shot the woman, who nimbly rolled to the side and returned the bullet, hitting that insignificant man right into the chest. Everything happened so quickly that the soldiers had no time to react: soon the area was completely covered with thick smoke and suddenly Nina Williams was no where to be seen. She quickly ran towards the exit, but with great disappointment she realized that the it had been barred and she had no way to force it. Hitting a wooden door with shoulders wasn't certainly a good idea, but it was also true that she couldn't stay there; the smoke effect wouldn't have last long, she had to find a place to hide. She rushed up the stairs, which led to a sort of second floor, and soon spotted the door of what seemed to be the sacristy. Without thinking twice she hid behind it, finding herself in a dark room full of wardrobes and religious texts. She slipped inside one of them and closed the doors, hoping that nobody would find her. What was supposed to be a simple murder had become a suicide mission. She sighed with relief, observing her sumptuous dress whose skirt was now reduced to shreds ... If anything she was still able to deal with the most desperate situations ...
The smoke had thinned revealing a scenario of death and destruction: the marble floor was covered with rubble, blood and some dead bodies killed by stray bullets. Gradually the Tekken Force soldiers were regaining consciousness and collecting their scattered weapons around.
"So what now? What we do?" one of them asked, observing the disaster they had caused.
"Let's go back to the base, don't we?" another replied, observing Morozov's lifeless body slumped against the altar steps. "The Russian died, our mission is accomplished. A less nuisance to worry about!"
"Yes, but what about Nina Williams? She managed to escape. Heihachi won't be happy!"
"Our job was to murder Morozov, Miss Williams was not included in this. Heihachi will never know she was involved. There will be other opportunities to take her out, or she will simply be killed by someone else. Her luck will end sooner or later. " the man sentenced, with obviousness.
He was right, who would have thought that they would run into their former commander? Who knows why she was there?
"You're damn right! Come on guys, let's go back. We've already suffered enough losses. Damn that woman, six of ours killed! Six!
"Don't worry... She will pay for it ..."
Steve couldn't believe what had happened. He was miraculously alive! Once again the Mishima Zaibatsu had endangered him and sown death and destruction. Confortless he looked around, looking at all those lifeless bodies. Not far from him there was also Morozov's: he had numerous bullets stuck in the chest and the bone of neck broken. So she made it! To kill one, too many innocents had died too. Didn't that woman have a conscience? He absolutely had to find her, no matter how dangerous she was. The church was deserted, but Steve wondered if, apart from the victims, the other guests had managed to escape; he casually glanced towards the stairs and noticed the presence of an upper floor. So he decided to take a look up there: maybe there were wounded survivors there too! As he climbed the steps, he continued to fail to understand such devastation, which seen from above seemed even more terrible. It was horrible, and it caused a great anxiety feeling on him.
He wanted to scream, punch the punching bag until it was destroyed just to vent all that dispair. He spun around to go back, but something caught his attention; someone was watching him! It was only then that he noticed a door ajar on the end of the wall and decided to go check it out. Nobody right minded would have done soo, rather, would have run away from that place. He approached as silently as possible and opened the door of the sacristy, apparently deserted. Yet, like a magnet, his eye fell on a closet not far from him, from which a flap of white fabric emerged: he sneaked closer but as he was about to open the door, it slammed wide on its own. He didn't even have time to understand what was actually happening that the boxer found himself sorely lying on the ground, his chin aching from the strong punch it had just received.
"HEY!" he screamed, jumping onto his feet to chase his aggressor.
As he realized who she was, a rush of adrenaline began to flow through his veins: this time he wouldn't have failed.
"STOP!" he screamed, chasing the woman who was running down the stairs as fast as she could.
Unfortunately for her running on stiletto heels was not exactly a simple undertaking and they were the ones who betrayed her on the last step, making her lose her balance and tumble to the ground.
"Shit ..." she hissed angrily, trying to get up but in vain.
The boy had joined her and stood in front of her, barring her way. She was in the hand of one of those few people she never wanted to deal with. Steve tho suddenly found himself confused: now that his goal was there, right in front of him he didn't know what to do or what to say. Those glacial eyes, so similar to his were peering at him with an intensity that pierced him from side to side. He opened his mouth a few times, but no sound came out; he was surprised that she remained there to observe him, without trying to escape, she seemed troubled too by that meeting. So he decided to take advantage of his apparent moment of weakness to finally be able to speak.
"My earliest memory is of a Mishima Zaibatsu laboratory..." he began, involuntarily touching his defaced arm. "I don't even know who my parents are. The only one I remember was Dr. Kliesen: she was always nice to me. I infiltrated the Mishima Zaibatsu, and for several years syphoned out intel. Unfortunately none of it really led anywhere. But YOUR NAME did come up, time and time again... So tell me... What's your connection to the lab? TO ME? "
A moment of silence followed, during which Nina got up slowly: the boy's words had been hard and direct and she knew that the time had come for him to discover the truth about his past too. After all, she herself had suffered from amnesia and knew how frustrating it was to know nothing about yourself. On the other hand, she never wanted to be in such a situation, but she was cornered. sHe had to answer him.
"Those workshops were used by the Mishima Zaibatsu to create super soldiers." she began slowly, looking his interlocutor straight in the eye. "Their goal was to physically and genetically create the ultimate soldier. Of course, it all ended in failure... But judging by your left arm you must be one of the survivors."
The woman's words struck him deeply. So was that the cause he came into the world for? To become a war machine and serve those beasts for their evil purposes? At that moment Nina sighed deeply and turned away, turning her back.
"At that time the Mishima Zaibatsu had captured me and forced me into a cryosleep... It's only recently that I discovered that my genes were used in their experiments."
That revelation was like a lightning bolt! In Steve's head all the pieces of the puzzle finally fell into place, showing him the image of the truth he had been looking for so long.
"Wait ... So this means you are my mother!" he exclaimed incredulously.
But the reaction that followed was certainly not sweet.
"Don't get the wrong idea!" snapped the blonde, stretching her arm to keep her distance. "You will NEVER be my son, I couldn't care less about you .. If anything, you're a thorn in your side!" she answered dryly, observing him with narrowed eyes.
But nobody had time to add anything else, because a bullet missed them just for a couple of centimeters. Looking up Nina saw two armed Tekken Force soldiers who were running towards them with the serious intention to harm. But before she could do anything else, the boxer's arm waved her back.
"Get outta here... I'll take care of this!" he replied, running towards the two men.
Nina watched him for a moment before following his advice and running away.
Author's notes: hello there, it's been a while! Since we are all quarantined, why not using my spare time to start writing and translating this story again? So let's start setting the powders on fire and solving the puzzle! Actually I'm quite satisfied how it came out, setting aside the fact that the final scene is so well known, but actually it was exactly what inspired this whole chapter. As you know I'm trying to stay as uch coherent as possible to the original story but hey, I need to let my imagination work either ;) Hope you'll like it and to update more often from now on. Also thanks for the reviews you left me, they are so appreciated 3