Untitled Ch.6
By Shadow Dragon

"I.. I..." Dan mumbled, feeling suddenly tired and sleepy. He fell down on his knees, the mind-numbing pain worming through his body. His head felt surprisingly light, and seriously wondered for a moment if this was it.

"Say good night, amateur." Gen chuckled smugly as he tucked his arms into the folds of his robe, waiting for Dan to fall unconscious.

"I'LL MAKE YOU PAY!" Dan screamed as he lunged forward, using the last bit of his strength to tackle Gen to the ground. Gen was obviously not expecting such a bold maneuver and his surprise showed on his face as he was pushed roughly to the ground. Dan stood up, noticing that the pain and numb had vanished.

"Hah, it didn't work!" Dan boasted.

"Only because you broke my concentration. But that won't happen again!" Gen growled. Dan saw his foe's hands weave in the same pattern again, and rolled forward, taunting his opponent right in the face.

"You fool! Don't you know how risky that was? No ordinary fighter would provoke me when I'm about to execute the Death Point Curse unless.. unless.. you know the Death Point Curse?" Gen's voice died down to a whisper. Dan flashed a smile.

"Can't you feel it? Your arms are getting heavy, pops. They're so heavy you can't even move them."

Gen looked down at his arms warily. He flexed them a few times. "What are you talking about? I can still move them." Gen looked up just in time to see Dan bring a wooden crate down to smash it on Gen's head. Gen looked at Dan blankly for a second, then collapsed on the ground, into a puddle of water.

"Looks like you'd better get your clothes cleaned too!" Dan laughed. He turned to Charlie. "C'mon, Charlie, lunch's on me today." He looked down at his gi. "Ewww.. then again, I think I'd better have a trip to the laundromat first."

Charlie stiffened. "Dan, do you feel something?"

Dan concentrated for a while. "You mean, like energy or something?" He could sense the slightest wisp of energy radiating from somewhere underground. "So what? That might just be any of the other fighters.."

"You don't know Bison very well, do you?"

"Why?"

"This energy is Psycho Power."
=====
Chun Li's head spun as she reverted back to consciousness. A look around her surroundings indicated she was in a prison cell of some sort, her wrists tied by ropes which hung her several feet above the ground.

*Where am I?* Chun Li wondered. Then she remembered following Bison back here and get trashed by Sagat. The first thing she could sense was a powerful aura of Psycho Power which surrounded this place. She gulped. The last time she felt such powerful energies was when she had met Akuma, the master of the Dark Arts of Shotokan. Instantly she summoned a Kikouken blast to burn through her ropes and landed neatly on the floor.

"Whoever tied me up, he wasn't very smart," Chun Li mused aloud as she inspected the iron bars. Channeling her chi into her legs, she lunged forwards, delivering a flurry of lightning-quick kicks at the door. But there was a loud *CRACK* as the electrified bars released their charge upon contact with Chun Li's foot, throwing her against the far wall of the cell.

Undeterred, Chun Li got up again, this time hurling a Kikouken at the cell bars. This time the door burst right off its hinges, allowing Chun Li to step through unhindered. Chun Li looked around. She was standing in a corridor leading both left and right. She could sense two sources of chi energies radiating somewhere in the subterranean complex, but she couldn't pinpoint their exact location. With a shudder she suddenly realized that this might be Bison's base of operations on Brazil.

The tramp of booted feet echoed down the hallway. Chun Li barely had time to slip into the shadows, praying that the guards wouldn't notice her. Fortunately, none of them did. Chun Li decided to follow them, knowing full well she would have trouble finding her way through the complex by herself.
=====
Chun Li was starting to feel fatigued now. She had been tailing the troop of guards for five hours around Bison's little playground without any sign of the exit. She felt annoyed. Grabbing one of the guards and forcing him to tell her how to get out would be nice, but she decided against it. For one, all thirteen of them were armed with an array of pistols, shotguns, daggers, truncheons and other weaponry. Two, for them to raise an alarm was the last thing she needed. Chun Li yawned boredly

One of the guards suddenly turned around. Chun Li slipped into an adjourning passage hastily, silently berating herself for her carelessness.

"Whatzat?" she could hear a gruff voice bark.

"What's what?"

Pause.

"Nothin'.. mah ears mus' be goin' soft," Chun Li breathed a sigh of relief. She started following them again, but stopped as soon as she saw a door down the passage, marked "CENTRAL COMMAND ROOM".

Chun Li grinned.

Pushing the stainless steel door open, Chun Li could feel a draft of wind escape from the room with an audible 'hiss'. She stepped inside.. and gaped.

The room was huge. So huge, in fact, that Chun Li could hardly see the walls. The ceiling was totally beyond her sight. Lined against the wall opposite the door was a whole row of super computers, beeping and flashing their lights occasionally. Nervously Chun Li took another step, her soled shoes clicking against the polished steel floor. Discovering she was alone, Chun Li walked to the computers quickly, tapping on the keys to request an auto map of the complex. Within seconds a 2D plan flashed on the screen, a red dot indicating her current position. With a satisfied smile, Chun Li requested a printout and ripped the paper off the line feeder.

It was then that she noticed a machine humming quietly in a corner of the room. Ordinarily she wouldn't have paid further attention to it, but she could see wisps of energy escaping from it occasionally. Her curiosity piqued, Chun Li tapped a few more keys, hoping to access some info about the machine, or, if she was lucky, a record of Bison's criminal operations.

*Funny.. you'd think such a computer system would be equipped with an alarm of some sort..* Chun Li wondered just as her hand brushed past a red button accidentally. Instantly red lights flashed as a siren wailed.

"Oops.."

The door to the room burst open instantly as the patrol of guards Chun Li had been following earlier burst into the room and aimed their rifles at empty air. "Eh?" one of the guards scratched his stubbly chin as he looked around.

A blue blur dropped suddenly from above and kicked him in the face. The other guards whirled around, but Chun Li was moving even as they were raising their weapons, dodging a line of bullets neatly. "Kikouken!" A bolt of energy knocked down most of the guards like skittles, throwing them back through the door.

*CRACK!*

Chun Li turned around to see a sweating guard holding a rifle with a broken butt, damaged by it's impact with Chun Li's head. The guard dropped his rifle turned to run, but Chun Li grabbed him by the scruff of his uniform, pulling him back with a jerk.

"What is that thing?" Chun Li pointed to the machine she had seen earlier, pulling the guard up to her face level. The guard gulped nervously.

"I.. I don't know, miss.."

Chun Li slammed him against the wall of the passage. "I said, what is that thing?"

"I really don't know.. please, please let me g.."

Chun Li slammed him against the other wall, this time charging up a ball of energy with her free hand. "Now listen carefully. I'll only be asking this one last time. What is that thing?"

The guard gulped again. "Ulp.. okay, okay... that machine is something Bison uses to collect energy from the fighters. I'm not really sure.. please please let me go.."

Chun Li could see the blind terror in the guard's eyes. With a swift crack to the head she rendered him unconscious before exiting the passage and entering the corridor. Already she could hear gruff voices and the tramp of booted feet, the whole complex set alive by the emergency alarm.

"There he is! Get 'im, men!"

A spray of bullets zipped through the corridor, missing Chun Li by bare millimetres as she weaved and dodged about, trying to confuse her pursuers. Turning down a junction, her heart raced as she heard the sound of leather boots pounding the floor coming from the front..

"HWAAARR!" Chun Li stopped abruptly as she saw a hulking man, dressed in official boxing gear, appeared in front of her. A split-second later a massive fist smashed itself into Chun Li's face, cracking her nose as she received the full impact of the blow.

"Ha ha, lil' gal, maybe you ain' as strong as I thought you were after all!" Balrog cackled gleefully. "Now you can be good and come with me nice and quiet, or you can come with me nice and quiet and unconscious!" Balrog yelled as he swung a second fist, which Chun Li tried to evade, but she was dulled by the intense pain from the first blow and didn't react fast enough. A storm of blows followed, and Chun Li could only try her best to block. Even then, her injuries made the blocked shots hurt like hell..
=====
Bison frowned as he saw the fight telepathically. What was that fool Balrog doing? He was supposed to knock her unconscious. At this rate Chun Li was going to be dead before his Psycho Drive could absorb all the energy she could give. But just to be sure anyway, he sent for Cammy and Vega to guard the exit. Chun Li wasn't going anywhere.

=====

Vega regarded the cybernetic hybrid standing besides him with unease.. and perhaps a little apprehension. Cammy had hardly moved at all for about an hour now, just standing there with her arms crossed. Vega took another sip from his flask of tequila.

"Someone's coming," Cammy said casually.

Vega put down his flask. "How far are they?"

"At 9 metres and closing in."

Vega snapped on his claw and leaped up on a beam nimbly just as the doors rattled.

"Rats.." Dan said. "It's locked." He gave it a solid kick. Still the doors refused to open. Dan drew back his arm and swung it forward.

"Gadouken!" the doors burst open readily as the locks snapped. Dan stepped inside and saw a young girl of about 17 stand in the middle of the room, a cigarette dangling from her lips. "Uh.. Charlie? Who is this?"

"Like I'm supposed to know. Hey," Charlie turned to Cammy. "did you see a.." "CANNON DRILL!" Cammy launched herself in a spinning kick at Dan, who blocked it just in time. "SPINNING KNUCKLE!" Dan missed it this time and was thrown clean across the room by Cammy's fist.

"Oww.. that girl sure can fight.." Dan mumbled under his breath and stepped aside to avoid another Cannon Drill. Cammy launched herself at Dan with a multitude of kicks, but Dan was ready this time and swung a fist at Cammy's gut as she descended from her jump.

"Okay, little girl, I take it that you're one of Bison's cronies," Charlie said as he stepped from behind, lifting Cammy off the ground by the neck of her clothing. However Cammy delivered a back kick to Charlie, forcing Charlie to loosen his grip on her.

"Give it up, you can't beat the both of us," Dan fired a Gadouken at Cammy, stunning her for a few moments. He was about to smash her with a kick to the face when he felt something sharp poke the back of his neck. Dan froze.

"Now, senor, you leave Cammy alone," Dan heard a smooth, civilized voice from behind him. "Cammy! You deal with de Melican.. I'll finish this loser off meself," Vega grinned wickedly as he thrust his claw forward, trying to skewer Dan's throat, but Dan felt the pressure increasing and whipped himself aside, escaping only with a deep graze. Yelling in anger, Dan charged forward with a flying knee press, striking Vega's mask. Being made of aluminum, it didn't crack, but Dan's attack pressed the mask tightly into Vega's face, effectively cutting off his oxygen supply until he prised it off with his claw.

Gulping in deep breaths, Vega turned on Dan who was chuckling at the comical scene. Enraged, Vega leapt back against a wall and lunged down at Dan, his claw extended towards Dan, who uppercutted Vega, knocking him back, but Vega flipped expertly in mid-air and dashed forwards on touching the ground, striking in complicated patterns with his weapon. Dan raised his arms instinctively to block, but Vega's claw sliced through his flesh nevertheless, drawing blood. "OWW!!" Dan turned to Vega, who was tapping a foot in mock impatience. Seeing Dan turn his attention back on him, Vega swiped his claw at Dan again, who was smart enough not to block it this time, but lunged forward, slapping a Gadouken point-blank at Vega's face.

"KOURYUU REKKA!!" seeing Vega stunned, Dan seized the advantage and rammed into Vega with a pair of uppercuts, striking Vega repeatedly in the groin, stomach and torso. The final hit brought a sickening 'crack' from Vega's chest, and Dan winced as he realized that he had just broken Vega's ribs.

"Yeah!" Dan yelled, raising an arm in triumph. "C'mon, Charlie, let's.. huh? Charlie?" Dan turned just in time to see his partner charging on Cammy with a Crossfire Blitz attack, knocking his opponent out as well.

"Hey, good job!" Dan smirked. "You know, she IS kinda attractive.." Dan eyed Cammy's revealing attire. "Too bad you had to beat her up."

"...."

"Okay, okay.."
=====
Chun Li evaded yet another fist and countered with a Lightning Kick, but all Balrog did was grunt before pressing home with another barrage of blows. Chun was starting to get worried by her apparent inability to damage Balrog in any way. She hopped around, dodging Balrog's hamfisted attacks, but she knew it was only a matter of time before her stamina run out. She tried a Sen'en Shuu at her foe; again with no effect. Again Balrog unleashed a flurry of punches at the Interpol agent, who leaped out of harms reach. But this time, Balrog changed course in mid-punch, doubling back and rammed his fist upwards just as Chun Li leaped above him. His aim was accurate, and Chun fell on the floor, coughing up blood.

"Com on, gal, give up!" Balrog yelled as swung his fist forward, missing again. "I don' wanna hurt yer, so don't make me!"

"That depends on whether you can do it or not, goof," a voice spoke in Balrog's ear.

"Huh?" Balrog turned to see a man dressed in a pink karate gi. Balrog stuck out a fist, intending on punching this man's face inside out, but Dan caught the gloved hand neatly

One kick to get Balrog in the air, then..

"CERTAIN! VICTORY! RELYING! ON! NOBODY! BUT! MYSELF! FIST!!"

"Yahooey!"

Balrog's unconscious form dropped with a thud on the floor.

"K.O.! I win!" Dan smiled at the senseless man. "Oh.. hi, Chun!" Dan looked up to see a battered Chun Li, barely able to stand.

"Dan! There's guards behind you!" Chun Li yelled just as a brilliant flash of light erupted from behind the guards, blasting them out cold. Charlie stepped over the unconscious form of the guards, pausing to pick up a rifle.

"M-16s! I always wanted one of these," Charlie exclaimed with surprise.

"These are most likely illegal weapons.. keep one," Chun Li smiled weakly before collapsing on the ground from utter exhaustion. Dan intercepted her fall and slung her over his shoulder. "C'mon, let's get outta here," Dan gritted as he hauled Chun Li along.

*That's it, Chun, you're going for a diet.* Dan grumbled under his breath.