Of Love, Honour and Revenge Ch. 25
By Matt Lawson

Cammy stood at the crest of the hill looking towards the jungle she was approaching with the jeep she hired earlier. She hadn't passed any Shadowloo soldiers when she landed, and she hoped she wouldn't spot any before she made contact with Blanka, either. It was chilling to feel that despite all the warmth the jungle in Brazil provided, she was so close to a place as cold as Shadowloo, especially when it had a leader with a heart as cold as ice, if of course, he ever did have one.

She checked her watch. 08:02 a.m. Slipping her special gloves on, she went back to the jeep and turned the ignition. The engine hummed to life as she put it in gear and pushed the accelerator down slightly. The hill's steepness would provide sufficient momentum, she didn't want to come crashing down into the jungle.

She woke up earlier in the morning to get herself prepared for the mission. She wore her MI6 uniform, the green one-piece leotard with camouflaged tights, and red beret. At her side, her CZ 75 was holstered, the hammer pulled back with the round in the barrel, and the safety on in its cocked-and-locked position, her preferred carrying style. If she needed to use the gun, she could switch the safety off as she drew it out, and pull back the hammer with more ease than if the hammer was still forward, stopping that split second delay in pulling the trigger, and the hammer, back. In a gun fight, a split-second was all that was needed to determine the winner and the loser.

She entered the edge of the jungle and switched the jeep off. Slinging the back-pack which lay in the passenger seat beside her on, she climbed out of the jeep and entered.

The jungle trees towered over her as she hiked through, trying to remember where she met Blanka the first time. The sunlight was almost covered by the rainforest trees as she hacked her way through the vines.

It was coming up to midday and she'd only been able to walk through a few miles of jungle.

Suddenly, she heard voices. They spoke in Portugese, which Cammy was able to translate.

"Where's that thing? I swear I'll kill that thing before anyone else does."

"You couldn't kill it when it was just sitting there eating that snake, what makes you think you could kill it now?"

"Shut up Antonio! You put me off, chewing that gum in my ear all the time."

"At least my breath doesn't smell like a civilian's underpants during the civil war."

"Will you shut up! If that thing grabs us we're both gonna be joining that half-eaten snake we left behind."

"It'll be disappointed then. Your brains so minute that if it cracked your head open, there wouldn't be enough to cover a water biscuit."

"Shut up!"

Cammy had to smile at the two Shadowloo agents arguing amongst themselves. However, a serious problem remained in that they were hunting Blanka, the very thing she was looking for.

She decided to give Blanka a chance of escape and take the two directly. She peered out of the cover she was hiding behind and looked at the two agents. They were carrying French FAMAS assault rifles fitted with modular high-explosive munition launchers and day/night target-tracking systems.

Still undergoing field trials by the French military, these adaptations of the standard FAMAS guns that Shadowloo normally used represented the state of the art in small arms, and were not slated for mass production or issuance to general infantry troops until 2003 - two and a half years in the future.

Cammy was a little disturbed by this. Bison always made it a point to stay ahead of the game. It cost money, true, but unless one was willing to accept failure, the expense was more than acceptable. And he himself was paid handsomely enough, with all the drug deals and other illegal activities Shadowloo was involved in, that he didn't mind spreading the wealth.

However, due to the fact that these were still very recent additions to the FAMAS, Shadowloo had to have only a few of the little b*st*rds at a time. They were obviously using them for jungle patrols, where the target-tracking systems would be required.

They would, however, be a nice little addition to Cammy's 'arsenal'.

She drew out her CZ 75 and switched the safety off. She was going to have to aim very precisely to take out the first one, and rely on her skills to take down the second one. She pointed the barrel till she felt it was aimed directly at one of the agents' throats, then pulled the trigger. The hammer jerked forward and slammed into the back of the round, launching the 9mm Luger/Parabellum round with high velocity into the throat of the agent on the left. The man choked on his own blood, which spurted out in ever increasing amounts as he died. The other agent, surprised, ran away to the side, Cammy firing rounds at him. Suddenly, she couldn't see him anymore. She waved the gun, looking for him, then got up to give chase. She had only managed to stand when she felt the nozzle of the FAMAS press against her head.

"Freeze! Get up!"

Cammy raised her hands and stood up slowly, twirling the trigger ring of the CZ around her finger so that she was holding the barrel of the gun. She turned round and looked straight down the barrel of the FAMAS. The agent who she had been shooting at earlier was its owner.

"Pretty tasty-looking b*tch aren't you?"

Suddenly, a large green object fell from the trees and dug its fangs into the man's shoulder. The man screamed as the beast emitted several thousand volts of electricity. The man slumped dead onto the floor, his flesh completely charred and smoking.

Suddenly, the beast dived onto Cammy and pinned her onto her back, snarling it's fangs.

"Blanka! It's me, Cammy, remember! It's me!"

Blanka snarled a bit more, then his face turned to one of surprise. He drew his lips back in happiness and jumped off Cammy.

"Ugh ugh. Friend Cammy here! Blanka happy."

Cammy slowly got to her feet. Blanka was jumping up and down in his usual playful mood, doing little back flips in mid air. Her eyes rolled back to think that she would be working with the immature creature again after two years. Then again, it wasn't Blanka's fault that he was raised in the wild jungle of Brazil.

She picked up the improved FAMAS, taking the clips and munition rounds and placing them into her backpack.

"Hello Blanka. It's….uh….nice to see you again."

"Ugh. Me happy to see friend Cammy. Me want help her."

"Well……I think you could help me. I'm looking for an Aztec temple. Do you know where it might be."

"You look for skull-wearing people base?"

Cammy was stunned. How the h*ll could this creature know what she was looking for?

"Yeah. How did you…?"

"Ugh, ugh. Me move through jungle and see Aztec temple. Me see many skull wearing people enter and work there. They see me and shoot metal at me."

"Can you take me there?"

"Uwaoo. You follow me, I help."

Blanka dashed off. Cammy followed him through the jungle, running like crazy to keep track. At last, she was getting somewhere.

Chun Li's head jerked up when she woke. For a brief moment, she couldn't recall where she was. The last thing she remembered was being pushed by unseen hands towards the wall. She then managed to make one brief look at Ryu before she blacked out.

She remembered where she was now. She was in the dungeon she had been in before the dinner. They must have carried her here while she was unconscious.

"So you're awake now."

Her head snapped towards the towering figure of Sagat. He was watching over her, like some sort of one-eyed guardian angel. Now that she was awake and alive, he had no need to look after her any longer. He walked to the middle of the room and sat down.

"How was dinner?" Sagat asked as he sat, bending his legs from the lack of space.

Chun Li didn't reply. She was looking for Ryu to even listen to the question.

"Where is he?"

"Who? Ryu? They took him away to prepare him for a fight between himself and Akuma. They start tonight."

"But……Ryu could be killed."

"I know. But there's nothing we can do about it now."

Chun Li buried her head between her legs, her heart feeling like it was going to sink into her stomach. "This is all my fault. If I hadn't persuaded Ryu to help, he would never have been such a target for Shadowloo."

"Listen, Chun Li. Ryu's always been strong. He defeated Bison, a man that few thought that they would be able to beat, remember? But he could have chosen not to help. It was his own choice."

"I know. But I pushed him too far."

"How do you know that? Maybe he wanted to help you. Maybe something was driving him into helping you to destroy Shadowloo. Whatever it was, he made that choice for himself. It's not your fault."

Chun Li raised her head, surprised that Sagat was speaking about Ryu like this. "You know, you're speaking very highly about a man who ruined your life, aren't you?"

"True, he did scar my reputation, as well as my chest. But that doesn't mean I don't respect him."

There was a short pause. Then Chun Li spoke up again.

"Where's Sakura?"

"She cried herself to sleep. She feels the same way you're feeling about Ryu. I suppose that since he helped her so much, she has as great a feeling towards him as you do."

Chun Li smiled. To think that a man that kept to himself as much as Ryu could be so kind and selfless to others.

Suddenly, two Shadowloo agents opened the door and walked in, grabbing Sagat's arms. Expecting Dan to come in, Sagat was surprised to see Adon walk in.

"Time for another torture session, Sagat."

"Where's Hibiki? Why is he not here?"

"Hibiki's not doing it this time. I thought it might be fun if I did it for a change."

"Ahhh. So the student deprives the idiot of his fun, huh?"

"I'm not your student anymore, Sagat. Don't treat me like I still am."

Adon followed this remark with a kick into Sagat's stomach. Sagat folded over, gasping for air as the wind was kicked out of him. He was still gasping as they dragged him out.

Before Adon closed the door, he stopped and turned his head to speak to Chun Li.

"Hope you enjoy your time alone, detective."

He closed the door and locked it.

Chun Li sat on the stone bed. For the first time in her life, she truly felt alone. More lonely than she ever felt in her apartment back home in Hong Kong. She started to cry.

She hated being lonely. Ever since her father died, she was often alone, without anyone caring for her, not knowing how she felt. Times at school were often spent by herself, with very few friends looking out for her. They didn't want to hang out with such a depressed child. The only comfort she ever had was from Gen, the man who took her in when her father died, and Fei Long, the only one about her age who would actually talk to her.

When she became an Interpol agent, her loneliness was cut out from her sheer determination to destroy the man who had ruined her life. But she realised that she couldn't destroy such a huge organization as large as Shadowloo by herself. So she became more open to others. They believed in her, and that made her happy. She met friends from other parts of the world, from Guile and Charlie in America, to her best friend Cammy. She felt her loneliness was finally cast away when she met Ryu, the man she later fell in love with. Now that he was gone, she felt the pain of being by herself again. Perhaps forever.

It was something she wanted to remove from herself permanently.

She buried her head between her legs and prayed that Ryu would be alright, not only for himself but for her own sake as well.