Vendetta Ch. 2 - Consequences
By Dare

Interpol HQ
The next day

Clothed in her dress uniform, Chun Li sat rigidly in the office of Commander Zheng Zhu Dao, the head of Interpol's China branch. She only partly listened to her commanding officer's oration, her placid expression masking her roiling inner storm of emotions. Anger, directed at herself for having been duped so easily the preceding day. Frustration, that Shadowlaw had found some way to come out on top. And finally grief, over the death of Donny Yinyang.

It was true that he had been a scoundrel, a thief, and a liar, but in the end, Donny hadn't been out to hurt anybody. From what she had read of his dossier on his colorful existence in China, he had lost his family when he was twelve and had taken to the streets ever since. He'd been nothing but small time, never getting mixed up with the Triads or anything really nasty. In fact, he'd been a snitch for the Hong Kong PD for awhile, at a price. In a nutshell, Donny was a decent man who'd simply had to survive. And he'd succeeded.

That is, until yesterday.

Yesterday, Donny's brief, but somewhat worthwhile life had come to a violent end. And for what?

Nothing.

Less than nothing.

The envelope he had ultimately risked his life for had been empty.

There were no papers, documents, blueprints, or microfilm inside it. No coded tapes or computer discs. Not even a single blessed scrap of paper. The military tacticians and criminal psychologists working with this Interpol operation could come up with only one possible stratagem that could have motivated such a fruitless effort: Donny had been used.

Distraction, diversion, bait.....he had served as the pawn for the unfathomable machinations of a dark force. A dark force that had also played her and Interpol for fools, no doubt strategically leaking the information that had led them and Donny out into the open that day. A dark force that she saw as the bane of her existence. A dark force that had a name: Shadowlaw.

Chun Li heard a crack.

The commander stopped. Both he and Chun Li looked down to see that she'd snapped her pencil in two.

"Is everything quite all right, Inspector?" Zheng said, his weathered, thin face crinkled in inquiry. Chun Li blushed ever so slightly, even though she was the only one in his office.

"Yes, sir. I'm fine." she ahemed. "Please, go on."

"Very well." Commander Zheng continued. "As I was saying, recent events have led Central Command to believe that Shadowlaw is maneuvering in some sort of scheme. A month ago, we intercepted a shipment of munitions to Barcelona, Spain. Two weeks ago, a death threat was made to Albert Sellers, America's chief minister of foreign affairs. Four days ago, we received word of Shadowlaw's militia moving in towards the Thailand border. The time proximity of these events are causing reasonable suspicion that they are up to something. Not to mention-"

Chun Li tensed. She knew what the commander would say next.

"Yesterday's occurrence is also proof of their advancement. The 'item' their courier was carrying was worthless in it of itself, so we can only assume that their plot was to draw attention."

Then, Zheng fixed his eyes on her.

"Or, more specifically, your attention."

Chun Li said nothing. It was well known to all Interpol agents who were working on the Shadowlaw operation knew of her personal enmity towards Shadowlaw. Ever since that fateful day in Brazil four years ago, she carried the deepest and darkest animosity against Bison and his terrorist organization.

"It's no secret, the almost extreme efforts you have made during the past few years. The research, the poking, the prodding, the absolute relentlessness you pursue Shadowlaw with has not gone unnoticed by your peers. Unfortunately, neither has it gone unnoticed by Shadowlaw, as well."

Still, she said nothing.

"We have reason to believe that the entire purpose of yesterday's incident was to draw you out into the open. The information was leaked in such a way that you would have gotten wind of it and handled the operation yourself. Once you showed up, the courier was expendable and was terminated before he could give you any information."

Chun Li gritted her teeth at the cold, impersonal words with which he described Donny. But, the commander's logic made sense. The sniper had to have been there for her entire exchange with Donny, and could have killed him at any time before then.

A small ball of something cold and heavy formed in her stomach, as it dawned on her that Donny may have died for her sake. Had died because of her. She had been the target, not him.

But then, why hadn't the gunman tried to shoot her?

Commander Zheng went on. "I suppose it's fortunate that the probable assassination attempt made on you was unsuccessful. But be assured, this means most likely that Shadowlaw is making efforts to eliminate those who they feel are a threat to them. Such dire measures indicate that they want no liabilities in existence when they make their move."

"Sir," Chun Li said at last, momentarily forgetting her protocol and rising up out of her chair to put her hands on the desk, "you're not suggesting that I resign from the investigation?!"

She had requested assignment to the investigation concerning Shadowlaw since day one, and her zeal for her work had slowly gone from green enthusiasm to cold obsession. Her commanding officers, such as Zheng, had seen this type of determination as useful, until they began to worry about her personal agenda getting in the way of the mission.

Their reluctance was reinforced by yesterday's other "incident".

After laying Donny back on the ground, Chun Li noticed that the shooting had stopped.

"Did you get him?" she yelled at the nearest agent.

He lowered his smoking gun, and sheepishly said, "No, ma'am, he got away."

Chun Li's eyes narrowed, and the hint of a tear of fury appeared. "Not in my town. Not today."

"Inspector?" said the young agent. Too late, she was gone.

Running to the edge of the building, she scanned for the quickest way to get down. The gunman was mostly like escaping on foot, figuring that the Interpol agents would not have nearly enough time to follow him. And he'd be right, if it was any other Interpol agent rather than Chun Li.

The building he had shot from was too far away for her to leap to, but not the building next to it. About twenty yards down at a slant, she saw a fire escape. Backing up, she then threw herself into a run.

When she reached the edge, she leapt with all her strength, flying through the air over the eleven story chasm between the structures. She heard her fellow agents cry out, and for a split second, she thought she wasn't going to make it.......

.........until her feet impacted solidly with the fire escape. The landing jarred her, but only for a second, and she most likely didn't notice, anyway. She'd have to thank Jackie for teaching her this trick if he ever decided to get out of the movie business.

Entering through a window, she saw that it was a condemned apartment building. As she ran down the stairs , she saw through another window that there was a wrecking ball about another two stories down. The plan she hatched was insane, but would work.

Reaching the window two stories down, she braced herself and then leapt to the top of the crane and grabbed the cable connected to the wrecking ball. Careful to control her descent, she slid the rest of the way down, landing on the wrecking ball just in time to see the assassin exit across the street.

With a enraged cry, she launched herself off the iron sphere, and tackled the retreating killer.

The two collided with the wall. Before he could retaliate, Chun Li grabbed the killer's black jacket and spun him and planted a fist squarely across his jaw and slammed him back up against the wall. Looking at the uniform he wore, a red and black bodysuit, she noticed the Skull and chevron icon on his left breast pocket. the symbol of Shadowlaw.

"WHO SENT YOU?" she demanded, tired of games. The assassin, apparently of Japanese descent, laughed and swore at her in his tongue. Unfortunately for him, Chun Li understood Japanese perfectly.

She jumped into the air and whirled her foot around to strike him upside the head. He crumpled, and then started to surrender.

Then the oddest thing happened.

The assassin's face seemed to change. It got broader, bigger. The skin tone changed from tan to gray. The slack mouth curled into a sneer. The eyes went white, losing their pupils. The face that resulted was one she knew all too well. Her heart began to pound rapidly, and it seemed that its rhythm was matched by a terrible laughter that sounded like it came from miles away.

BISON.

She rammed her forehead into the bridge of his nose, breaking it. Then she slammed her knee into his gut twice and then thrust her elbow into his face. As the killer clutched at his face in agony, she then stomped down on his knee, forcing him to he ground, where she began to thrash him mercilessly.

Even through his cries of submission, all Chun Li saw was that same face and heard that mocking laughter from all those years ago. Beyond all reason, she continued to pummel him.

"Oh, man!" someone cried. "Someone get her off him!"

Suddenly, she felt someone's arms seize her, and she tried to make whoever it was let go until she looked up and saw it was one of her fellow agents. He was looking at her with a mix of shock and astonishment.

She was about to ask him what his problem was until she noticed her hands were wet. Looking at them, she saw they were stained with blood.

Someone let out a whistle, and she saw that she had reduced the assassin's face to a broken mass of bloody meat. He was still alive, but beaten within an inch of his life.

It was the first time in a long while that she had lost control and behaved so irrationally, in fact years. But it was the first time that it had had such destructive results. It had earned her a reprimand, and the eligibility for court martial, but the reason that Zheng had gotten her into his office this morning in first place was by telling her they had suspended the charges.

But now, the possibility of being taken off the case she had worked so hard on was more terrifying and devastating than martial litigation. Right now, as her commanding officer, Zheng held her future in his hands. If he so desired, the Shadowlaw case would soon be no more of a concern for her.

"At first, that was an option." he said. "But on the contrary, facts are facts, Inspector. And the facts are that Shadowlaw is up to something big, and that you are simply the only Interpol agent alive best suited to lead the next step of the operation. It's all entirely up to you, of course."

That was a surprise. She hadn't been expecting that. She sat back down.

"However-"

She tensed again. She hated Zheng's "however"s.

"if you do decide to take this assignment, you won't be doing this alone. We have made arrangements for a joint effort with the US military. Here."

He tossed a manila folder on the desk in front of her. Chun Li opened it to find another dossier with a picture. It was that of a Caucasian man, built like a brick wall, with hard eyes and a brush cut that looked almost silly, considering that altogether the image redefined "tough".

"That man is Major William Guile of the US Air Force. He's your new partner."

"Sir?!" Chun Li looked at her commanding officer in hopes of finding a trace of jest in his features. There was none. "Sir, you can't be serious!"

"I am. If Shadowlaw is preparing for some kind of strike, we are going to need more firepower and support. And right now, the USA is the only venue left to us with the necessary resources. The only way we were able to enlist aid from them is if we allowed one of their officers to participate in the op eration. They requested that this Major Guile be taken on. From his service record, I believe you will find him most reliable."

"But, sir-!" Chun Li protested.

Zheng ignored her. "It won't be that bad, Inspector. All things considered, you and him have a lot in common. If you read that file, you will note that Major Guile's wingman, a Sergeant Charles Nash was killed by Bison four years ago, around the same time as your first encounter with him."

Chun Li nodded. She'd met another American soldier during her travel through the South Peninsula at the time. She didn't remember much about him, other than an interesting hairstyle and a deep booming voice.

Zheng got up out of his seat and began to the door. "Take the night to decide. I will expect either your confirmation or declination tomorrow morning."

Halfway out the door, he stopped. "In the meantime-."

Chun Li turned to face her commander. His expression was severe and his tone terse.

"-do consider this: Guile and Nash were apparently very close, Inspector. From what I hear, they were as brothers. If there is anyone else on Earth who understands this vendetta of yours, it will be him."

With that, Zheng shut the door to his office, leaving Chun Li alone with her thoughts, with only herself to seek answers from.