Of Love, Honour, and Revenge Ch. 13
By Matt Lawson

Ryu sat down to a Chinese meal of Egg fried rice, noodles, Sweet and sour pork, Chicken with cashew nuts in yellow bean sauce, and other assorted options. Chun Li looked on with a smile as Ryu devoured it greedily. If there was one place where Ryu sometimes forgot his manners, it was at the dinner table.

Ryu paused, then put his bowl down. He noticed Chun Li looking at him.

“Oh, I’m sorry. It’s just that I haven’t eaten for so long that I forgot about everything else. I apologize for my lack of manners.”

“No, don’t worry about it. If you didn’t do this, I’d be worried that it wasn’t you. Go ahead.”

Ryu continued eating. After his seventh mouthful, in almost as many seconds, he stopped to talk to Chun Li. They talked about their lives since they last met, about what happened since Ryu destroyed Bison’s empire by destroying the man himself. Ryu listened while Chun Li told him about the drug busts, The missions that Guile, Charlie and Cammy were involved in. Ryu only heard about Cammy once, when Chun Li told him over a year ago about Cammy’s temporary adoption by her. He wanted to know more about the British agent, and kept asking questions. Chun Li answered all of them with a satisfactory response.

Chun Li then stopped talking, and started listening when Ryu told her about Ken’s marriage with Eliza.

“Wow, Ryu. I never thought you would make such a best man.” Ryu smiled at the compliment. “Thank you. I didn’t actually do much, I just watched Ken get married, eat, and did a speech, that’s all.”

They ate some more, and Chun Li started again.

“So, Ryu. Do you think you’re ever going to get married?”

Ryu stopped, and slowly put down his bowl, embarrassed. She chastised herself. Chun Li, you idiot, what sort of question was that to ask Ryu?

“I don’t really know. Sometimes I wonder if the path I travel on is actually leading me somewhere.”

“But if you met someone you loved, would you marry her?”

“Would you?”

A counter question. Now it was Chun Li’s turn to feel embarrassed. She had not expected to answer such a question. Then again, neither did Ryu.

“Well, I…..um, that is….”

In the end, they just burst out laughing.

“I’m sorry Ryu. I shouldn’t have asked.”

“No, it’s alright. I shouldn’t have continued.”

“Well, it’s just that…..”

Just when she was about to continue, the phone rang.

“Ugh. Just a minute.”

She walked over to the hall way to pick it up. “Hello?”

Ryu listened to Chun Li’s monologue conversation with however was on the other line. “Cammy! Hi, how are you doing!”

She sounds happy, thought Ryu.

“It’s so good to hear from you……No that’s alright, I’ve got a friend round, but that’s all……..It’s Ryu, you know? The guy I told you about when I brought you here.”

So nice to be known just about everywhere, thought Ryu with a hint of sarcasm. He never actually expected to be so popular.

“What? You’re coming over? Great, we can catch up on ol…….sorry?” Her voice changed from one of surprise and happiness to one of concern.

She seems worried. Has something happened?

“Shadowloo?”

Ryu’s interest piqued when he heard the name.

“What happened?………Oh my god. When will you be here? Okay. I’m on my way.

Don’t worry, I won’t say anything. I’ll be there in five minutes.”

She quietly put the phone and returned to the living room.

“Ryu, I’m sorry. I have to go to Interpol Headquarters for a few hours.”

“Has something happened?”

“I’ll find out. Could you just stay here while I’m gone? Your hotel’s miles away, isn’t it?”

“Okay.”

Security was tougher at the Interpol Hong Kong division than Chun Li had expected. In fact, security was even tougher than it looked, because a man holding a weapon just looked like a man holding a weapon – from a distance you couldn’t tell the difference between a plain cop and a trained expert. On closer inspection, Chun Li decided that the guys where the latter.

Cammy had told her why. An important General was coming to Hong Kong to tell some important news to Interpol. Chun Li, as the head of the squad against Shadowloo, was the one to be briefed first.

She stepped out of the car, turned to lock the door, and was immediately greeted by a marine.

“Detective Li?”

“Uh, yeah?” Chun Li said, turning.

“I’m Corporal Weldon. I’m here to escort you to the briefing room, ma’am.”

They arrived at the briefing room after five minutes of walking. As soon as she entered the door, she was immediately greeted by Charlie Nash, and Cammy White.

As soon as they said their ‘hellos’ the US General stood up.

“Sit down please, Miss Li.”

Chun Li sat on a chair next to Cammy, and turned to face the General.

“My name is General McGruder. I’m in charge of the operation against Shadowloo in Thailand.”

“I’ve heard all about you, general.” Chun Li said in reply. “Three tours in Vietnam, Panama, Grenada and Desert Storm. Two purple hearts, a silver star and a congressional Medal Of Honour. You could probably described as a legend.”

“Thank you for the compliment, Detective Li, I’ll take that in mind. Right now, We have a very delicate situation that I think you might be able to help us with.”

“If it concerns Shadowloo, I’ll be glad too.”

“Then prepare for a shock, Detective. You might not like this.”

The lights were turned off, and a film projector switched on. A black square appeared on the whiteboard at the front of the room.

The General started. “Yesterday, a C-130 carrying several rockets and some VX-gas warheads was hi-jacked and overtaken. Our escort was destroyed by five highly trained fighter pilots flying MIGs carrying the Shadowloo insignia.”

Cammy interrupted. “Our old friend Vega was inside the plane at the time. He killed the pilots on board.”

“VX?” questioned Chun Li. “I thought they were all sealed off in that holding pen near San Francisco.”

“They were, but not anymore.” replied Charlie.

“The military bio-chemical weapon depot was attacked today at about 10:30 am Hong Kong time by Shadowloo forces. They stole every VX warhead in the place, as well as the remaining rockets.”

“How is that possible?” Chun Li asked with surprise. “Could Sagat be behind it? He was rescued from prison two nights ago.”

“We thought that, but Sagat doe not have the tactical skill to conduct such operations. Only one man has the skill to think up plans like this and execute them with such precision. M. Bison.”

“But he’s dead.”

“We thought so too…….until we received this message.”

The film was rolling, and the communication that the USAF in Thailand received flashed onto the whiteboard. Chun Li stared in horror as Bison talked about his plans. When she saw the VX poisoning of the innocent civilians in Brazil, Cammy could see that Chun Li was having a very hard time holding back her tears. Her stomach twisted as if she was going to be sick. Bison, the man that had ruined her life and killed her father when she was twelve years old, the man who had killed and ruined hundreds of innocent people’s lives, was alive.

When the film ended, the lights turned back on, the General continued. “There were no picture anomalies detected. There can be no mistake. Bison is alive, and is back as the leader of Shadowloo.”

And at those words, Chun Li stormed out of the briefing room in tears.