--Croft Manor--

"According to my research..." Lara Croft said, spreading a world map on a large, wooden table; "...similar events must have happened in at least seven other locations." Her fingers ran swiftly over the map, placing different colored pins on five positions on the map. "Right now, I can only precise five locations" She said, staring at the map and tapping her delicate fingers on it while holding a phone with the other hand.

Half way across the globe, Ming stood in a gym provided to the COF fighters for training purposes. He only paid half attention to the sparring match currently happening before his eyes, since he was more busily listening to the female voice on the other side of the phone line.

"What's even more interesting though..." Lara continued in her strong British accent; "...is that one of the places described on the manuscript seems to be Hawaii. Oahu, to be exact..."

"That's impossible." Ming said, narrowing his eyes only slightly. "Nothing out of the ordinary has happened here".

An audible chuckle escaped Lara's lips and was definitely not missed by Ming. With a smirk she slumped herself down on a large reclining chair, lifting her feet up to rest them on the table but making sure she wouldn't damage the map with her boots. "It's not like you would have noticed Ming. Had it not been for those ghost hunters and their trinkets, no one would have detected that change in energy. The manifestations, it would seem, were very subtle... if they truly happened" replied Lara to her adoptive brother.

"I see. So what are the locations again?" asked Ming. He then inwardly nodded and memorized the places listed by Ms. Croft.

"Sorry I can't help you out a little more, big brother... but I've got a score to settle in Thailand" Lara said casually, aiming a weapon at nothing in particular.

"Well you know me, sis... nothing I can't handle. Thanks" said Ming as he closed the conversation.

--Somewhere--

A young lady dressed in sports clothes, carrying a small bag over her right shoulder approached an Internet café in the corner of a very busy street. It was a sunny day, and the noise of all those walking around showed that the last minutes of morning we're already starting to count down. She entered the café and saw exactly what she had expected. Behind a monitor, she could see a hand reaching out a mouse. Beside that mouse, there were two empty coffee mugs and one in the process.

"He'll never cut the habit" – she thought to herself, since she hasn't yet seen a coffee maniac beyond Riq Pierantoni.

"Morning"- she spoke in an upbeat tone. Victoria's morning personality shone brilliantly and pleasantly well, as usual.

Yet without even a single look at his acquaintance, he softly replied, "More like afternoon... you're late".

It wasn't the first time Victoria had set plans with Riq; she expected such a response. But for once, she certainly had the right to reply, "I'm not late, you're early as usual, and you hate it when people make you wait... in fact..." Victoria looks at her watch "I'm seven min..."

"YEAH YEAH! Seven minutes early... morning then" Riq immediately interrupted, disabling her to finish the statement. The girl actually enjoyed his reaction. It wasn't customary in him to correct himself. With a tender smirk she answered his salutation.

"Morning. I can see you're doing better" she said, although Riq kept silent. Talking about his wounds made Riq rather uncomfortable. "You know, we haven't had a decent conversation ever since you arrived" Victoria commented, expecting Riq to break away from the monitor.

"Whatever" Riq replied ignoring her attempts.

Victoria grabbed an empty chair and pulled it right behind Riq. She sat backwards on the chair as she slipped her bag down to the side of her right leg. It was strange to see Riq using another computer other than his, so she had to ask.

"What are you doing?"

Still without any friendly looks at her, he replied. "Checking my e-mail."

"Checking your e-mail? Why not use your laptop?" Vic insisted.

With a small smirk in his face, Riq answered her question. "I left it at the hotel. I usually do when I'm gonna beat you up sparring."

Victoria let her jaw drop but with a surprised smile in her face. "OH! You didn't just say that!" Riq just continued to smirk, still gazing at the monitor. It wasn't wise for him to tease Victoria. When it comes to provocation, Victoria's the better agent. So, with a calm yet sarcastic wisp she countered.

"You know... just quit it, you're no good at trying to be funny... and if you're gonna come onto me, you might as well use one of those old cheesy pickup lines of yours." Without knowing, Victoria accomplished what she wanted; yet she didn't admit to herself. Riq finally pulled his sight off the monitor, took his coffee mug and drank of it, while finally taking a look at Victoria. And just before he returned to his monitor, she noticed a small grin behind the mug. As he returned to his computer endeavor, Victoria grew impatient, yet decided to maintain her sarcastic tone of things.

"Oh! This is gonna take forever! You have, like, 25 e-mail accounts!" She commented as if letting a deep sigh escape her voice.

"I've never told you about my e-mail accounts..."

"I know, but you just proved my point," Victoria answered while raising her left eyebrow.

Minutes were flowing, yet Victoria perceived them as hours. She was beginning to get annoyed, and so decided to agitate things a little. Victoria suddenly stared at Riq's mug while letting a slight simper adorn her mouth. It started to move towards her position and just before it came to arms length, she asked, "Can I try some of your coffee?"

Yet before she could grab the mug, Riq pushed it back to its previous position and answered, "You touch it and you lose your hand". Since Victoria feels totally confident around this man, she could care less about what he said. As she grabbed and lifted the mug, Riq added: - "Of course you can have some, you know I'm joking". It wasn't necessary for him to fix his previous comment, again, since she could care less. As Victoria lowered the mug and placed it back in its former place, she spoke before swallowing the last gulp of coffee she had taken.

"Mmmm... it's good, but we've had better" she spoke to herself and finished swallowing her sip, "and aren't you full of jokes today..."

"Of course we've had better, we're Puerto Rican... and it's better to be funny than a cranky morning person" Riq commented on both her remarks. Victoria seemed appalled so she took on her best provocation yet.

"I'm way funnier and more pleasant than you," she said as she pulled her chair and slowly moved closer to Riq. While he was practically hypnotized by the monitor, she silently reached his ear with her lips, and suddenly blew air into it.

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!" Riq instantly reacted with mixed feelings shining through. "Oh my GOD! You're blushing! You're still human!" Victoria answered to his outburst with a wide smile in her face.

Yet with a stiff tone in his voice, Riq replies, "I'm done here! Let's go, we're late!"

Riq got up from his chair and left mumbling while scratching his ear. Victoria's face changed from ecstatic to somewhat sad.

"It was just a joke" she whispered to herself. She lifted herself from her chair as she placed her bag on her right shoulder once again. She grabbed the mug, which still had a decent amount of coffee in it and walked out of the café.

--Fort Shafter--

In Fort Shafter, a man lay over wall calm inside a room. The image was as bizarre as it was gory. The floor was covered with dismembered, uniformed men. Blood stained the floor as some of it was already drying up. He had definitely finished his task a while ago. All he awaited now was a phone call to relieve him from his duties to hold ground. Rez was definitely beginning to grow bored and impatient.
As he looked to the side, he noticed there was a closed laptop over one of the tables. He approached it and opened it. The girl, who was crouching in a corner, noticed intriguingly interesting patterns of blood behind the monitor. She also approached the computer, but for different reasons than Rez. "Let's hope this dump's got free internet" Rez talked to the girl, but mostly to himself. By then, the girl was hypnotized by the bloodstains on the other side of the monitor.

Luckily for Rez, such places are commonly provided with Internet. So to help time fly, he began to connect in a gambling website he had previously gone to many times. Right before he was about to enter the pertinent information to play, he looked around and pulled a wallet out of the dead soldier beside him. "Good news, you've got no more bills to pay" he said as he opened the wallet and pulled out a credit card. But just as he was about to start a game, his cell-phone finally rang.

"About f--king time" Rez responded with his customary courtesy. Éléonore listened to the mumbling sounds coming out of the phone as well as Rez's responses. She paid attention as he paced around the room in midst of a phone conversation. "So it changes, huh? What do you want me to do with him then?" As the mumbling sounds continued, Rez grew aggravated from what he was hearing. "You know I don't do @#%$-work... Yes! It's @#%$-work... Whatever, I'm just saying you better make it worth my while." Rez spoke with increasing anger. "What about the runt?" Rez asked, yet what he heard made him only angrier. As he pressed the end button in his cell-phone he immediately felt an outburst. He threw the apparatus with all his strength and crashed it against a wall. Éléonore instantly shivered as she saw the man reacting. "Move it, rat... we gotta get me a new cell... cuz they just love it when I kill" spoke Rez with an indifferent tone, yet that last comment he pressed with rage through his teeth. The man closed the computer walking out of the room. The girl stood up shivering and somewhat composed herself as she walked away behind Rez.

--Koolau Mountains--

As the middle of the afternoon settled, a great amount of people invaded one of the greenest and most grown zones in the Koolau Mountain range. It was evident that something extracurricular was about to take place. The next fight of the tournament was about to start, and this zone had promised not only an interesting fight, but it also provided conditions that could aid the fighters as well as inhibit them. Truly, this area could was bound to exploit the most wondrous talents of each fighter; or would it?

The site was already crowded. Some of the audience stood on the ground along with the cameras and the crew in charge of the event. Others preferred a clearer view, therefore jumped and climbed all over the trees. They had all left a bare expanse for the fighters to manifest. The place was evidently full.

As the first two fighters approached the subtle arena, moving branches enunciated the coming of another observer. Ryu looked back, as he was waiting for her. Suddenly, the figure could be seen swiftly and almost silently jumping from branch to branch. Chun-li discretely approached Ryu's branch, as he had previously chosen a large, strong branch in her expectation. Her prudence was wise, as she did not intend to distract the audience, let alone the fighters, who had not yet commenced.

"You almost didn't make it" Ryu commented as a salutation.

"This is a lovely site" Chun-li added after looking around and settling. As she looked down and saw Ming about to face Dan, she smirked and said to her companion, "Well... this'll prove interesting. Let's hope he's ready though."

"I sparred with him a few days ago" said Ryu, extracting a concerned look from Chun-li.

"That's a bit abusive, isn't it Ryu?" Chun-li felt she had to reply.

"I went easy on him. I didn't have it in me to..." Ryu commented, yet his companion interrupted him halfway.

"You cranked up his hopes in vain."

"Hardly; he's more than ready to face Dan" Ryu commented as he smiled and waited for the battle to begin.

As both fighters faced each other right before the fight began, they seemed to differ in what's right and what's not before beginning. Ming effectively studied Dan's slightest movements and breaths. He strongly concentrated so to perceive Dan's chi. Ming was provided with a slight confidence, since Dan was apparently not as ready as Ming. Dan, instead of correctly preparing as Ming, decided to show off a little bit. He took his usual fighting stance, while flexing all his muscles and letting shrieks out as horrid excuses for Kiais. The audience was somewhat displeased, yet some couldn't help but giggle.

"Begin!" Shortly shouted the judge. Ming had decided to take a defensive approach in this fight, since Dan is known for furiously acting. Surprisingly, instead of quickly and aimless jumping at Ming, Dan intensified his act, flourishing war cries as peacocks do their feathers to flaunt. Ming continued to study Dan, but his ridiculous act was so erratic Ming couldn't even believe it. Finally, Ming decided to provide Dan a step for the fight to begin. So, exactly that he did. As he only gave one small step forward, Dan quickly rushed to battle employing all kinds of demented blows that Ming had no trouble at all to evade.

"Isn't that an insult to Ansatsuken?" Chun-li asked Ryu.

"I think that stopped being anything to Ansatsuken the minute he started" answered Ryu with a giggle cutting voice.

After his barrage of unruly attacks, Dan suddenly stopped. He let the weight of his body fall on his knees for a few moments as he caught some breaths. Ming felt as if he had to let him. It was humiliating enough as it was for Dan. He also took this opportunity to seek a better comfort in battle. The already calm man relaxed his stance and began to take off his jacket, which he had deprived himself from doing before as he studied Dan so deeply. Dan acted quickly. As Ming lifted his jacket over his head, Dan shamelessly exploited the occurrence. He quickly sprang a Dankuu Kyaku. Ming, under his jacket, felt Dan's chi revolt as he approached at high speed. Since Dan's Dankuu Kyaku announces itself with three kicks, one after another, Ming was successful at evading the third and only-landing kick. Unfortunately, Dan's leg got stuck between Ming's head and arm, tied by the jacket. They both fell on the ground and the situation only got worse. Both fighters were struggling to get out, provoking quite an embarrassment for each. Among all the mumbling and complaining of both fighters, Dan took advantage and sucker-punched Ming in what seemed to be the middle of his head behind the jacket. Ming stopped mumbling. As Dan rose from the ground, Ming seemed quite asleep. Dan quickly saw that his foe remained on the floor for the necessary five seconds. His joy was no other different to any other of his assets. He jumped and screamed in the most ridiculous way possible, only to remember that everyone was still watching. As he landed, he commenced his display of flexing and shrieking once more. Everyone felt appalled, as it was evident that Dan had won out of luck. Yet it was less amusing for everyone when the judge allowed the move as some sort of special grab.

"What can you say... it's street fighting" Said Ryu to a very dismayed Chun-li.

--Elsewhere--

"So how did you find this place?" Victoria casually asked her mentor as she balanced on a rock with her right foot. Around her, a crystal-clear river, about half a meter in depth was flowing. A short distance away, to her right, a small but pretty waterfall made its way into the creek.

"This is not the first time I've sparred here" Riq Pierantoni replied, approaching Victoria from behind and taking a quick look at the convenient array of stones and rocks that surfaced through the river's water.

Victoria skillfully spun around to face her mentor. Not losing her balance in the slightest, she continued standing only on her right foot. "So it's not your first time in Hawaii?" she asked with genuine interest.

Riq shook his head no. Victoria's left brow arched with curiosity but before she could attempt to pry more into his past, Riq interrupted their conversation to begin the exercise. "Do you understand the rules?"

"Yup. First one to fall into the water loses" Victoria replied with an upbeat tone. In one quick motion she switched feet, now balancing on her left one, and then rested her right foot on another nearby rock.

Riq nodded and casually stood in front of his student with his arms behind his back. "Ready?"

"Of course, but are YOU ready to get wet?" Victoria said with a slight smirk, bringing her gloved fists up.

Riq ignored her overconfidence and said simply, "Begin."

Immediately after her teacher's command, Victoria throws out a right jab, which is deflected easily by Pierantoni, then a left jab that is also evaded. In an attempt to break his guard, Victoria follows the attack with swift chain of jabs and finished the sequence with a strong right hook aimed at Pierantoni's jaw. Riq deflected the blow and redirected her arm to the center. Victoria, using the slight momentum this produced spun her body around to aim a strong roundhouse in the direction of her teacher's head. It didn't come close to it's target in the slightest since Pierantoni quickly took a few steps back, making Victoria's leg sail through the air in front of him.

Victoria recovered from her failed roundhouse, setting her left foot on the stones behind her. Her balance was tested slightly, as the stone she had set her left foot on proved to be a tad more slippery than the others. Riq, on the other hand, balanced on two rocks, his arms once again placed casually behind his back; his cool expression contrasting somewhat with Victoria's determined one.

With a small nod, Pierantoni signaled Victoria to continue. This time she tried her luck with a quick front kick, and then a side kick. The first was pushed aside by Riq's right forearm while the latter actually managed to contact Riq's left shoulder. Victoria didn't miss her master's look of surprise and the slight grimace produced by his still wounded arm. She quickly used the opportunity to aim another front kick at Pierantoni with her left leg. It was avoided, but she did manage to push aside his guard to slip in a fast right jab into his torso.

"I thought you were feeling better" she said, a small grin not leaving her lips. She quickly aimed a left hook at his face, but he stepped aside, grabbing her left arm as it sailed in front of his face.

"I am," he said, before pulling on Victoria's arm slightly, impeding her to produce any more movement with it, then threw his right fist into her nose.

Victoria didn't feel it hit however, and instead she was left staring at his fist about half an inch away from her face for a split second. She caught a glance at the smirk on Riq's lips before he slammed his right foot into the back of her knees, forcing her to fall back. Again, she did not feel the collision she was expecting, since Riq swiftly moved the fist that had been threatening her face behind her and pushed her forward with his palm.

The young woman fell forward, keeping herself inches away from the shallow water by levering herself on two quite slippery rocks with her hands. With a low grunt, Victoria pushed herself into a standing position and found Pierantoni patiently waiting for her to get back up. She caught a strange, almost unnoticeable look in his eyes. Was it amusement?

Pierantoni decided to test Victoria's defense. As soon as she was in an upright position he lunged himself towards her sending an array of punches in her direction. She easily avoided and deflected most of them except for three, which made their way through her defenses and into random spots of her abdomen. Victoria staggered back from the light impacts, her feet adeptly manoeuvring over the group of rocks.

Enid brought her fists back up to parry two incoming blows. She lifted her right knee in an attempt to thwart his aggressiveness but the Kajukenbo master eluded the attack. Not discouraged whatsoever, Victoria continues her assault with a chain of short, swift kicks. Though failing to break through Pierantoni's heavy guard, the strikes did succeed in pushing him into an area where the rocks decreased in size.

Confident she had found an opening, she aimed a low kick towards her teacher to sweep him off his feet. Pierantoni, however, easily hopped over Victoria's leg. Yet when he landed, his right foot partially slipped into the water and he was forced to a kneeling position to keep from falling.

"Ha! Gotcha!" Victoria's excitement shone in her eyes as she rushed towards Pierantoni certain she'd be able to completely drive him into the river. Pushing herself off the rocks, Victoria's leg cut through the air to slam itself against Riq's left shoulder. And the blow would have thrown him into the water, but Pierantoni not even bothering to stand up, deflected Victoria's attack. She in turn did not lose her balance, and now, standing right in front of her master tried another sidekick to his shoulder.

Enrique used his palm to redirect her leg and force the girl out of equilibrium, for now she balanced only on one foot as the other searched for some leverage. As he stood up, he simply pushed her standing leg out of balance with his hand. Victoria managed to arch her body backwards and steady her palms on a nearby stone to prevent from completely falling, the ends of her ponytail sinking into the water beneath her. She balanced her body on the rock, pushing her legs straight up into the sky as she took a quick moment to survey the ground now in front of her. Finding an appropriate spot, she let her body rock backwards and used the momentum to throw herself into a standing position.

Pierantoni crossed his arms in front of his chest. He shook his head only slightly with some apparent disappointment at his student's poorly planned outburst.

"Are we going to end this?" Riq said raising an eyebrow then rushed again towards Victoria aiming two hammer strikes towards her head. She blocked both and counterattacked with a short chain of jabs towards his torso. The last one was able to hit home, but did not do the slightest damage to the more experienced fighter. Both Kajukenbo fighters exchanged another combination of blows for what seemed like an eternity, most being blocked or evaded, and those that did manage to strike did not even wilt their determination.

In one last attempt to acquire the upper hand, Victoria thrust her left leg into the air at Pierantoni's head. At the last possible moment was Pierantoni slipping under the upcoming hit and he rammed his leg into Victoria's standing one forcing her to completely loose balance and take into the air.

An audible scream of surprise was heard as Victoria splashed into the cool spring water. She heard a chuckle escape Riq's lips as she rose from the shallow water, the strands of hair that had loosened themselves from her ponytail now plastered on her face.

"It's not funny" she commented.

"Not bad" Riq said, patting her head. "Work on your defenses. You can't expect to defend home if you're constantly lashing out." He added, before gently brushing aside the hair that was covering her eyes. "And get outta there... you don't want to go back into town looking like if you just walked out of a wet T-shirt contest"

Victoria's cheeks turned a deep shade of red. She splashed water with all her might in Riq's direction but he was already too much out of reach, rendering completely useless her attempts to get him wet.

--Back on Koolau Mountain--

The audience didn't have much time to complain. The second fight was taking place only a few moments after Ming's defeat. This next set of fighters was about to prove perhaps a better event. Guy approached the arena silently, studying his surroundings. Aaron Volpe took his position and quickly noticed that Guy was planning to use the environment as an advantage.

"Finally... a real fight!" said Natalie sitting in a branch under a well-shaded tree, obviously posing as Mien. Right under her branch, Jin stood over a larger branch watching anxiously.

As Volpe studied his opponent, he let a whistle escape his lips. "You're gonna be a handful; aren't you?" He said to Guy, yet he received no verbal response. Guy stopped paying attention to the surroundings and now placed a firm sight on Volpe. The veteran street fighter knew Aaron wasn't to be taken lightly. The judge saw them both ready and thus the fight began with his single command.

"Begin!"

Guy immediately took air. After reaching his first branch successfully, he started sprinting over to nearing branches, keeping away from his rival, yet never leaving sight of him.

"Oh! Am I good or what?! I soooo knew you were gonna do that!" yelled Volpe with a humorous tone in his voice. Aaron decided not to move, he only took his regular stance, but keeping a firm eye on Guy, who had now flown all over the arena's branches and trees. Volpe could almost see over the patterns of leaps that Guy was taking. It was then that Guy jumped in an unexpected direction. Volpe had too much a hard time following this abnormality. It was that same instant that Guy took his first chance and swiftly rushed over Volpe and stroke. Guy was successful at landing a punch right on Volpe's ribcage; left side to be exact. Yet almost instantly as Guy's fist touched Aaron's body, Volpe pushed Guy's arm and counterattacked right when Guy was rising for a tree. This punch made Guy flip and land on soil. Luckily, he landed on his feet and took almost no time to jump once more.

"You pack a wallop there!" yelled Volpe as he realized that Guy was using momentum to strike through his hard constitution. Volpe held the left side of his ribcage; hence it wasn't as easy to keep track of Guy as before. This time, Guy disappeared easily, and all Volpe knew next is that Guy was speedily running for a clear shot. "Aw man!" Volpe exclaimed as he felt Guy approach at such a high speed. As they made contact, Aaron was able to avoid the first blow. It was the other series of blows he wasn't able to block or evade. Guy ran away and quickly jumped over the branches again. "Those... were just... lucky shots... just lucky shots!" Volpe commented, but the coughing was chopping his words. Yet what disappointed him the most is that he couldn't land a single shot.

By now, the crowd was going wild at the sporadic bursts of action. The camera people were almost enjoying following Guy with their lenses, if only it hadn't been so hard. Volpe strongly retook his stance, but his pain could be read in his expressive face. He isn't one to proudly keep those feelings inside. Yet the set of expressions was just a covert for his thoughts. He was now plotting a set of moves to counter Guys. Volpe, now more than before, kept sight of his opponent. This time he meant not to trace a pattern of movements, instead he decided to depend on his instincts. He could not see Guy's intentions anymore, but now he could feel them.

"You know... this is getting boring!" exclaimed the now confident fighter.
Guy manoeuvred through the branches as a shadow moves. Yet Volpe was beginning to smile as he felt Guy's next attack approaching lightning-fast. Aaron turned around and let out his Kiai as he ran towards Guy. As they approached each other Volpe promptly moved slightly sideways only to connect his fist with Guy's.

They both let out deep screams that resounded all over the woods. The sudden pain was excruciating. "DAAAAMN! Damn, damn, damn, damn, DAMN!" added Volpe with a wide voice while he rubbed his hurt hand. Guy attempted to take distance, but Volpe immediately reacted and threw himself over his opponent. Even though he ended on the floor, he managed to grab Guy's ankle, making the rival fall as well. Volpe pulled vigorously but Guy manoeuvred his way to a standing pose. The standing fighter rose his leg in a straight manner and just when the talon of his foot was about to encounter the rival, Volpe managed to avoid and get up as well.

Desperately, Guy jumped right at his opponent yet threw his hurt fist carefully. Volpe took advantage of this situation. Both their stronger fists were harmed. This fight would no longer be decided by brute force or momentum, for all it matters. Volpe was now easily avoiding attacks and counterattacking. They both caused each other heavy damage in a small series of attacks and counterattacks. Yet Guy's patience ran dry.

"Enough!" Guy screamed as he leaped to a tree, but instead of stepping on it, he used a branch as a pole-bar. Right after spinning and charging his attack, he sprinted through the air with yet his strongest kick. Volpe measured this very well.

"Yeah baby!" Volpe whispered to himself since it was the exact move he was expecting. As the distance between the two men shortened, Volpe, in an erratic position, jumped toward Guy, grabbing him be the leg and redirecting the rival. Guy couldn't do anything but close his eyes as he welcomed the next tree right with his face.

Volpe landed with hardly any energies left. Hard as it may seem, he had defeated the veteran street fighter. It only mattered to stand for five seconds while his opponent lay on the floor. Among his heavy breaths and searing pain, Aaron could hear the countdown: 1... 2... 3... 4 ...

--Streets of Oahu--

Victoria's wet, squeaky shoes were impeding her walk. She had decided to go directly to the hotel and change. Riq had lingered behind taking this as a chance to go sightseeing, since the hotel is so far away from busy areas. It didn't provide him enough amusement though. It wasn't Riq's first time in Oahu, so after just a few minutes, he decided to carry on to his hotel room.

As Rez walked around the streets of Oahu, his new cell-phone was giving him some trouble. After all, stolen cell-phones don't come with instruction booklets, let alone mugged cells. Éléonore strolled behind him, yet her curiosity was beginning to hinder the man's speed. It seemed as if she was far too interested in the environment. It was probably her first time in such a highly populated area. Rez stopped his pace for a second and decided to close the newly acquired flip-flop phone and look around. His immediate sight was of great interest.

As soon as Victoria turned on a corner, Rez quickened his pace. He didn't know he would get so lucky as to accomplish his new orders so promptly. But as he walked towards Victoria, the girl behind him would still linger on her amazement. "You wanna look around then? Fine! Stay here, but you dare move a muscle from this spot and I make you use this as a pillow tonight" said a very angry Rez to Éléonore as he lifted his shirt and showed her the gun he had half-stuffed in his pants.

Evidently, the child remained motionless for a few moments, yet the minute the man turned the corner and his sight was no longer present, she relaxed in that same spot she had been left.

As Riq walked around the same street Rez had left his companion, he noticed a girl with a lost façade, but it was not worthy of his attention. As he walked right by the girl, he noticed she had locked a piercing stare at him. Her breaths accelerated as he walked. To Éléonore, it was time to accomplish her mission: to dispose of Enrique Pierantoni. The man had decided not to interfere, but Riq's good intentions got the best of him as usual.

"You ok, girl? Are you lost?" asked Riq as he stopped by the small figure. "Do you know where your mom and dad are?" He added after taking a few looks around. He then noticed red marks were beginning to shine in her face. "Whoa... not my business..." he said as he looked around once again and decided to walk away. "¡Que se joda! ¡Yo no soy el sacerdote del Exorcista!" He mumbled to himself in his native language as he turned the corner.

Out of fear, Éléonore could not accomplish her mission. Her breathing only intensified. She sat on the floor, holding her knees, rocking back and forth. At the moment her red marks shone the brightest, the girl stood up and desisted quivering. Her breathing suddenly regulated to a healthy, calm rhythm. By now, the girl stood proudly, showing hardly any of her shy traits. And as she felt her most intense hate, she disappeared in less than the blink of an eye, finally breaking free from he who she hated the most... Sergei Rezlorn Romanav.

The Library (Local Bar and Nightclub) -
2243 HRS -

The entire bar had walls lined with old bookshelves filled with books and yet it was highly doubtful that any of them had seen any reading in the past few years. At one end sat the long bar with a multitude of high barstools and numerous bottles of alcoholic beverages behind the counter. On the other end were four pool tables, all currently occupied, while in the center of the building was the dance floor, in the middle of four archaically designed pillars. The waitresses wore schoolgirl outfits with plaid skirts and white shirts while the barkeep wore a suit and tie. At one of the smaller tables along the walls sat Guile and Nash.

"SGT Heagy's actions are becoming a bit of a problem for us... especially since we're technically his superior officers here..." Nash spoke in a calm tone before killing the remainder of his glass of beer, quickly filling it back up with the pitcher that set on the table. "He's got high marks in direct action... relatively high scores in locating targets as well... in the field he's great... but for undercover work..."

"He's about as subtle as an A-10 Thunderbolt... problem is he reacts with an overwhelming amount of force... that... and his judgment sucks." Guile grunted a bit before he took a swing from his own mug of beer, his eyes briefly wandering over to a nearby waitress. "What we need is to teach that boy a lesson... show him the error in his judgment."

Nash appeared thoughtful for a bit before grinning and pushing his glasses up on his nose a little, "I believe I may have an idea... it may backfire but we'll still win in the end... What I propose is we speak with Mr. Ken Masters and....."

The Next Day -
1815 HRS -

John Heagy was currently dressed in his tactical black outfit, low crawling though a ventilation duct while pushing a heavy assault pack ahead of him. Weapons had to be omitted from his mission in order to lighten the load and make room for the special equipment, but he still managed to keep his Glock 19 with a less than lethal load, two 15 round magazines of fragmentation rounds, one 15 round magazine of 'Quicksilvers', and two XM84 stun grenades. The mission wasn't supposed to require any direct engagements but John preferred to error on the side of caution.

Strangely, John had been given more liberty with this assignment than he would have expected for a high level surveillance mission. Apparently a local recreational center was serving as a meeting ground for potential targets on the black list but the targets needed to be confirmed before the target area could be destroyed. John's mission was to set up a subtle OP at the target location and provide recon. Oddly, COL Guile had been strangely insistent on him aborting the mission should anything not feel right. He and Charlie both had stated several times to abort the mission at his leisure should anything seem out of place. Apparently the fly boys didn't think a grunt like him could take care of himself.

John snorted quietly to himself as he pushed forward. He would show both of them and complete his mission without question. The small video cameras and transmitters along with the equipment to install them were a bit heavier than he would have wished but no matter, he would finish the mission without fail. John would locate the target room, install the hidden cameras and escape back into the night. From the relative safety of the building across the road, he could set up an OP and monitor the transmissions as well as set up a sniper position to kill any targets that revealed themselves. He had already secured a room at the hotel and transferred the bare minimum amount of equipment, weapons, and ammo. He had even managed to set up a claymore on the window and another claymore at the door to ensure security. All he had to do now was finish this leg and head back to the rally point.

Faint voices begin to filter up and Heagy quickly froze all movements. Slowly drawing his Glock 19, John doubled checked the mark on the bottom of the magazine to ensure it was a less than lethal load then quietly advanced forward just a little until he came upon the vent. As he drew closer the voices begin to take a definite feminine tone, and worse, they sounded somewhat familiar. Years of training had ill prepared John for the visual assaults on his mental state.

The young Ryu fan-girl; Sakura, his partner in the tournament; Elena, and the female he had defeated so many years ago; Mika. The three were currently in varying levels of undress in what appeared to be a dressing room and clothing storage room of some kind. John went wide eyed as his willpower was unable to stop the flow of blood from his nose while he brought his gaze up away from the vent quickly before he passed out. The females mentioned were having a conversation on there good luck for getting the gift spa treatment though Heagy was finding it difficult to concentrate on the topic. His face stained a bright shade of red, Heagy decided it was best to continue on with the mission and started to push forward.

Just as he had started to move across the vent grating, there was a loud popping noise followed by the creak of metal. "There is no way my luck can be that bad..." John muttered to himself quietly as a chill ran down his spine suddenly.

Looking over slowly, Heagy noticed for the first time that several screws were missing from vent and felt a surge fear grasp at his very being. Cursing himself for missing such an important fact Heagy tried to react and rush forward. His actions were far too late however and the vent gave way, dropping Heagy from the proverbial frying pan and straight into the soon to be burning fire.

"I wonder why Ken was so insistent on us coming here tod-..." Mika's words were cut short as something, or more correctly someone dropped down atop of her. She let out a blood stopping scream and was quickly joined in suite by the other two girls. What happened next was extremely hard to follow. Heagy pushed up off the stunned Mika and was barely able to avoid a fierce kick from his partner in the tournament before a power uppercut from Sakura connected with him in the gut and sent him rolling across the ground. His assault pack that had been tittering on the edge fell from the duct and dropped down below, spilling it's contents across the ground. At the same time Elena recognized her partner as he sat back up slowly.

"John?" Elena asked in a confused tone as she relaxed just a bit before letting out a shriek and grabbing a nearby towel to cover her modesty.

"Heagy?" Sakura eased up from her stance, still wearing her undergarments she still grabbed up a nearby robe and threw it own as her surprise turned to anger.

"You... you... you..." a naked Mika had seen the cameras and she had seen John, there could be only one connection made. It was obvious that the crazy young man was fixing to set up some cameras in the women's changing area. Not surprisingly, she was less than happy at the moment.

Heagy quickly brought up his Glock 19 and took aim at her as he flinched a little seeing her healthy build and cut his eyes to the side as a second rush of blood begin to flow. "Wh-why are y'all here at a terrorist meeting spot?" he managed to get out weakly as he holstered the weapon and felt around for his grenades. Things were becoming increasingly bad and a retreat would be a wise move at the moment.

R. Mika started to storm towards Heagy with an angry expression when she tripped on some of the wires that had spilt from the pack and began to stumble towards John. That was when all hell broke loose in the building. A naked R. Mika stumbled into Heagy, causing the young SABRE operative to jerk and yank the pin from XM84 stun grenade prematurely as the spoon went flying off. John let out a shout and threw the grenade out of the room before panicking and pushing away from Mika then turning to run, tripping on his own gear and tackling Sakura.

His luck continued to falter as he somehow managed to end up on the ground with his head in Sakura's lap. The young Japanese girl let out a scream a split second before the flashbang grenade exploded outside in the hallway, blinding any unlucky enough to be standing outside while scaring the hell out of the entire neighborhood.

A large-set middle aged lady blinded by the grenade ran out of the hallway into the main foyer and straight into an expensive looking statue. The lady would be fortunate enough to survive with only 3 stitches while the statue would find it's way taken out of a young soldier's paycheck. A fitness instructor also caught in the blast stumbled into the men's latrine and let out a scream as a startled man touched her shoulder and asked if she needed help. She had also happened to be a 2nd Degree black belt and had taken the man down with a fierce knee to the groin in her panicked state. A startled lobbyist begins to dial 911 a moment before the automatic fire sprinklers cut on followed by the ringing of the alarm. The sounds of gunshots sent the frightened lady running from the building and into the streets, trampling over a poor hotdog vendor. The panicked mob of customers evacuating the building destroyed his business completely.

A half-naked Heagy ran out of the building with several scratch marks across his face and a blackening left eye, his uniform was half ripped off exposing much of his heavily scarred torso. An arriving firetruck swerved just in time to avoid Sakura, dressed in a bathrobe and brandishing a Glock 19 chasing after the poor soldier and taking pot shots at him at random. The fire truck took out a fire hydrant before smashing into a light pole and toppling it. Residents would be out of power and water for the next 27 hours before the situation could be brought under control.

Mika came out of the building next, clutching the scraps of her clothing to her modesty with one hand and holding the arm of the former lobby statue in the other before she joined in the chase, a look of pure murder in her eyes. A leering cab driver had been staring at the young woman before he smashed into the side of another vehicle, causing a 12 car pileup that would bring all traffic on the route to a standstill for nearly 8 hours.

Strangely enough, Elena seemed to be in a rather cheerful mood as she chased after the other three with one of the cameras in her hands. Her constant laughter and giggles would last throughout the film of John's attempt to escape and evade from the trio and his eventual capture. Heagy would repeat, "Sergeant Heagy, John! XBH1198!" as a less than happy Mika and Sakura would take out there aggression on the captured soldier. John wouldn't die this day on the battlefield but was carried in by the trio, duct taped to a larger pole and carried into the fighter's hotel as the video of his capture and torture was picked up by Guile and Charlie and 'discreetly' aired on the hotel big screen monitor inside the lobby.

Guile and Charlie chuckled as each of the men shook Ken's hand and thanked him immensely for pulling a few strings and helping to coordinate the whole ordeal. Heagy had failed the field test but it had proven more than entertaining for them. It had also left a lasting impression on the local population. The three men would later spread the truth of John's innocence to the angry trio, though it did little to quell their anger.