Of Love, Honour, and Revenge Ch. 10
By Matt Lawson

Adon was looking pretty pleased at the way the construction process was going. Akura seemed to have a special gift of motivating the workers with fear. The workers were mostly slaves that Bison had rounded up from before, that Balrog's new agents from his small gang had rounded up. They thought they were free from Bison's slavery when he was killed......

The workers were endlessly building. Few of them got any resemblance of sleep. Even fewer were nutritionally fed. The food consisted of bread and water, that was it. Some of the prisoners, to satisfy their hunger, scrambled to find and eat the many insects living in the jungles of Brazil. If a slave died, he or she was easily replaced. Akuma didn't care, neither for that matter did Bison, just as long as the slaves continued working.

In a matter of two days, there was sufficient clearing for the major construction work to begin, although they let a few bits of vegetation grow in place in order to cover the temple itself. The servants were now busy tunneling below the Aztec temple, which was easier than thought, since much of the Aztec temple was underground anyway. The underground would store the runway, helipad, and missile silos. While they dug, 'Interior decorators' were busy reshaping the insides of the Aztec temple to suit Bison's needs. Already they created dormitories, barracks, training areas and other rooms for the Bison's soldiers. Later on, they would build the central command area. The top area, where Bison was resurrected, would soon be his own private area.

Outside, Shadowloo technicians, engineers and a few slaves were busy building SAM sites and bunkers. Scientists who had sold their outstanding knowledge for money will soon have their own research laboratory. Some of the soldiers had also located an abandoned airstrip only a couple of miles away from the Temple. Akuma certainly knew how to pick a location

Speaking of which, Adon though, isn't that top scientist of Bison's coming today? It might be a good idea to pay him a visit to give a report on the construction, just to see this scientist.

"Make sure the slaves get those SAM sites up. If we're spotted it's more likely that the UN will launch an air attack rather than send ground forces in a potentially hostile area." He barked at his commanding officers.

"Yes, Sir!"

He climbed down the observation tower and walked up to the temple's entrance.

"Ah! Doctor Tanaka-san, it's so nice to see you."

Bison stood up to greet his favourite scientist, Dr. Tanaka, an almost dwarfish Japanese scientist, a genius who's favourite thing apart from his work was money. He was almost bald with the only hair being streaks of gray tufts that aligned themselves with his brow. His eyes had a sneaky demeanor about them, which projected a shifty personality behind his horn rimmed glasses. He was able to create just about anything, medicines, machines, chemicals, weapons, anything. As long as he was paid handsomely for it. Fortunately for Bison and for the scientist, Shadowloo had the money.

"It's so nice to see you again, sir. When you disappeared I presumed the worse had happened."

"Come now, Dr. Taneka, you were worried about me?"

"No, I was worried about the fact that I wasn't going to be paid anymore."

Bison chuckled at Dr. Taneka's comment, knowing it to be so true.

"Heh, heh. How very modest. Are they here?"

"You mean my surveillance robots, of course. The limited materials I had meant that I could only create two of them."

"More than enough. Show them to me."

As soon as he said this, two cyborgs stepped into the room. They were shaped and looked like humans, save for metallic plates strewn around their bodies. On their heads, their left eye was replaced by state-of-the-art cameras.

"We've replaced the old camera's we had on the previous model with these new, smaller cameras. Just as powerful and precise, but more compact and easier to fit inside their heads. Because of this, we were able to place more human tissue around their faces, thus making them more inconspicuous when walking around following the target."

"Excellent. And the man I want?"

Our scouts have reported nothing.....yet. But these surveillance robots can cover more ground twice as fast.

Plus, all the data is transferred by satellite directly to my computers. The satellite that we launched three years ago is still there. It seems that the UN, even with the help of NASA, have not been able to find it.

"Our satellite? Is the Psycho beam still active?"

"Yes, but unfortunately, the satellite won't be able to be used as a weapon. We've transferred the weapon control systems and the power generator here, but unfortunately, the power generator does not have any power. We need the power of a couple of Nuclear reactors to charge it in time."

"We won't need to." said a different voice.

Bison and Dr. Tanaka turned and saw Akuma emerging from the shadows. He had been listening to their conversation the whole time.

"Dr. Tanaka, meet the man who saved my life." Bison raised a hand to point to Akuma.

"Spare me the pleasantries, Bison. I merely restored you to suit my own needs."

"And what may those needs be?" asked Tanaka, curious.

"Destruction, Dr. Tanaka. That, and finding one man."

"My surveillance cyborgs will do just that."

"They had better."

At that point, Adon stepped through the door.

"Sir. The construction going well."

"How well?" snapped Bison.

Adon, a little stunned by the way Bison asked his question, continued his report. "The slaves digging the tunnel should breakthrough in a few hours. I've ordered them to speed up production of the SAM sites in case of any air attacks. We have also found an abandoned airfield a couple of miles south of here that we can use for our fighters."

"Good. Stay there, Adon, I might have a need for you. Now, Akuma." He turned to Akuma. "What did you mean by the fact that we didn't need the nuclear reactors to power up our Psycho beam?"

"Nuclear reactors pale in comparison, when compared with the evil intent. This is why I want Ryu captured."

"Are you saying that If we place this Ryu into the power chamber, he alone can power up the Psycho beam? Preposterous!"

"You do not know Ryu, like I do." Akuma sneered at Tanaka.

"In the meantime, Doctor," asked Bison, interrupting a potential argument between Akuma and Tanaka. Akuma would kill the Doctor instantly. "I want you to activate the cyborgs and find Ryu. Then continue your work on preparing your laboratory."

"Yes my lord."

Bison watched Tanaka and the cyborgs walk away.

"Now, how is Vega doing in Thailand?" Bison muttered.

Near the Pacific Ocean....

Vega crouched patiently in the construction hold of the C-130 carrying the VX gas from Thailand. As tall as he was, Vega was able to hide himself pretty well. The transport plane was carrying the VX to a UN bio-chemical containment plant. Bison had only just recently given Vega new orders, and he was to carry them exceptionally well. It was certainly a lot better than searching for just one man. At least there was blood to spill.

The C-130 took off. Three F-16s were it's escort for the long journey to San Francisco. Vega sat patiently, polishing his claw.

In the F-16, Major Sonners, still bitter about the 'dumping' that he had received from Cammy, flew as escort leader. As cocky as he was, Sonners was a fine Wing Commander, able to dish out orders with the best of them. Still, jobs like this really p*ssed him off, since their wasn't any major enemy activity when flying escort. It bored him like h*ll.

"Sh*t. I could do with some action right about now." said his first wingman, Captain Grenard.

"Yeah, Ah know what you mean." replied Sonners. "Ah hate these escort jobs."

"Well, at least it beats sitting back in Pilot Country all day." said Lieutenant Mitchell, Sonners's second wingman.

"Nah. There's a h*lluva lot more fun in Pilot Country. At least you get drinks." was Sonners's reply.

Grenard chuckled. "Heh heh. And at least you can see cocky little Majors get beat by an English girl about five years younger than him."

"Shut up, Grenard!"

Sommers was getting tired of these two teasing him for his 'unfortunate choice'. He decided to chat to another pilot.

"Escort Leader to Alpha?"

The smooth voice of the C-130 Alpha pilot's female pilot, Major Elaine Darcine, responded. "Alpha here, what have you got for me, Sonners?"

"Clear sailing. It's an awfully lonely place in the world we're flyin' in. Wish you were here beside me."

"In your dreams, Escort Leader."

Sonners chuckled. Darcine was one he had his eye on for a long time. Darcine never showed it, but he suspected that she felt the same way about him. After this escort he'd probably take her out.

Vega looked at his wristwatch. Ten seconds to go till the beginning of the operation. He latched the claw onto his hand, and waited for the cavalry to arrive.

"Sir!" Mitchell suddenly noticed five flashing dots on his radar. "I've spotted five unknown signatures, 3 o'clock"

Grenard looked at his radar, "I don't see an....wait, I've got them. Five of them coming towards."

Sonners switched his intercom and hailed the new arrivals. "This is Major Sonners of the US Air Force. Identify yourselves."

No answer.

"This is Major Sonners of the US Air Force. Identify yourselves." He repeated, preparing his weapons.

Still no answer.

"Assume incoming are hostile, repeat, assume incoming are hostile."

"Great," said Mitchell, "some action!"

"All pilots, Break formation and attack!"

Vega heard the three escorts break formation to engage the five Shadowloo MIGS that were coming as decoys.

It is time.

The three F-16s flew towards the bogeys. They couldn't see them yet, but they would be coming up soon.

"Major, I've got Visual. Five MIGS, Shadowloo markings. They seem to be in a claw formation." Said Grenard.

"That's weird, they don't usually do formations." Sonners mused.

The five MIGS suddenly turned to the left. They were all going for one plane, Mitchell's.

"Mitchell, watch it, they're locked onto you!"

"What the..."

Mitchell saw all five MIGS homing towards him, firing their cannons. He swerved to avoid the incoming cannon fire, but took a hit in the engine as they overshot.

"I'm hit!"

Smoke appeared from the engine, but it wasn't lethal.

"Are you alright?" asked Sonners.

"Got me in the engine, but no major damage." Mitchell suddenly saw the five MIGS turn round and head back to him.

"Alright, evasive maneuvers!"

The F-16s broke off to avoid the enemy cannon fire. Two of the MIGS broke off to engage Mitchell, two to take Grenard, and one, the flight leader, to engage Sonners.

Mithcel swerved to avoid the enemy's missile lock on. The familiar beeping of the hazard indicator echoed on his mind as he moved the joystick in all directions.

"I can't shake them."

One of the MIGS peeled off from the engagement, leaving only one of them on his tail.

Guess he's getting bored.

The warning buzzer then stayed in a continuos noise. The MIG on his tail had made a lock, and fired a missile. Mitchell swerved hard to the left, releasing his Chaffs to break the lock. The Missile narrowly avoided him and locked onto the Chaff.

"Ha! You can't touch me!"

Suddenly, the hazard indicator told him another missile was fired at him, and not from the MIG behind him. The MIG that had broken the chase had crept up from below. There was nothing Mitchell could do to save himself. Mitchell's scream pierced the other two US pilot's ears as the missile impacted the Falcon's underbelly, destroying both it, and the pilot inside.

Grenard cursed as he heard and saw Mitchell's plane explode. But he was too busy with the two MIGS that was onto him to do anything about it.

"How the h*ll did these guys improve?"

He suddenly saw the two MIGS that had just killed Mitchell veer towards him and fire off two missiles in his direction.

"Well, sh*t."

The missiles hit his engine, and exploded behind him as half of his plane seperated from the destroyed half. He plummeted down to the sea below, and crashed into it in flames.

Vega stalked up to the two pilots, unsheathing a small throwing knife from behind him. With a claw in his right hand, and a knife in the left, he smiled at the thought of two easy kills.

In front of him, the two pilots. One male and one female. They were shouting through the intercom, calling the pilots in anger and fear.

"Escort leader what the h*ll is going on? Escort two?"

Vega placed the blade of the throwing knife into his hand and flung it towards the male pilot. The knife pierced the chair and ran straight through the pilot's throat, killing him instantly. The female pilot, Major Darcine, turned round in her chair and stared at a person wearing a white mask, with a claw outstretched to her own throat.

Behind the mask, Vega smiled.

"Mi mano, su vida."

He thrusted the claw deep into Darcine's throat, making her drown in her own blood. He pushed the limp body of Darcine away from the chair and took control of the C-130.

"Vega to Drakes, I have taken the plane and the VX. Kill them, and then form on my wing."

Sonners twisted and turned as he tried to shake off the wing leader. He noticed that two of the MIGS headed towards the C-130.

These guys are good. They've distracted me long enough to take out the C-130.

He called his intercom to warn Darcine. "Darcine, evade, there are two bandits coming towards ya."

There was no answer.

"Darcine, answer me d*mmit!"

"Darcine's dead, my friend. And so will you. Look up."

Sonners was shocked, partly because Darcine was dead, partly because he had failed, and partly because two of the MIGS were bearing down on top of him. They fired.

"Hail Mary, full of grace." murmured Sonners. He closed his eyes as the missiles impacted with the cockpit.

Vega smiled behind his mask as the last Falcon was killed. He pulled his mask off, and revealed his 'pretty boy' face to the now dead Darcine.

"A shame you cannot see me, my lady."

He saw the five MIGS form a delta formation in front of him. He steered the plane towards the newly discovered airstrip near Bison's temple.