--Somewhere over the Pacific Ocean, 2:25 HAT (Hawaii-Aleutian Time)--

The aroma of coffee and soup brought him out of his sleep. This is the last time I'm gonna sleep so late, he thought to himself as his head was hurting from the bad dreams he had. There was much he had to do today, like reporting to back to his team, tracking Iwa for today and hopefully luring her into capture. It's gonna be a long day today...

John reached for his watch hoping he hadn't overslept. A sharp intense pain in his shoulder instantly woke him up screaming. Memories of what happened came back to his mind, informing him that it wasn't a bad dream after all. At the moment he's chained by his good arm and legs to the poles and bars of the cargo hull of what he thinks is a Chinook. The chains offered him limited movement.

Furry little Maru scurried over to see what the fuss is about. He glared at the pesky little critter that was chewing on a walnut. His stomach grumbled reminding him that it had been a while since he ate. Maru ignored him and scurried to the front of the aircraft, where Iwa was, seated on a crate and finishing off a bowl of instant noodles. His stomach growled again.

"Don't look at me like that. I'm not allowed to feed you." Iwa said, disposing the empty bowl into a trash bin. She then disappeared into the cockpit, leaving Maru to watch over him. Taking the opportunity John scanned his surroundings. There were quite a number of crates in this aircraft. He notices a familiar weapon belt peeking out of one of those smaller crates near the one Iwa sat on. Even if his weapons are in there they're too far to be of any good.

Iwa returns again and is now standing just beside him with a warm cup of coffee in hand. Her eyes are barely open. Yawning she made her way back to her crate and called Maru to her. Iwa strapped on him the Maru-cam and added on another device. She lets Maru run around the hull as she checks into her cellphone.

"Yeah it works." She confirmed, with one hand on her earpiece. Once again she disappears into the cockpit.

He felt the Chinook descends and Iwa returns to his side while the rear doors of the aircraft opened. Shadaloo guards came into view and saluted Iwa.

"You want to walk in on your own feet or do I have to ship you in?" She pointed to an empty crate.

"I'll walk." John answered and one the guards came in to release his bonds. No one seemed to notice that Maru had scurried out of the aircraft.

--Umbrella Pacific Research Facility, Ground Level--

Disembarking from the Chinook, John found himself in an indoor airfield. To his back the huge doors close, shutting out the night sky and the salty sea. It appears that the Facility was built within a hilly island. He noticed another group of soldiers patrolling the area as well. A red and white umbrella insignia differentiated them from the winged skull guards. Escaping would not be easy.

"You're welcome to try." Iwa added, yet did not stop him from committing to memory the layout of this place.

Two guards from the different camps came to him with some kind of scanner and ran the device, scanning him from head to toe. He had nothing else other than a T-shirt and his camo pants.

"He's clean," they both agreed, allowing them to continue their way. Grudgingly, he followed the guards into the main building and stepped right into a common lobby of sorts. With the amount of scientists and staff milling about, it occurred to John that he might not have been brought in the usual way.

Continuing deeper into the facility he noticed there are two different camps of scientists and staff gawking at him and a number of them had this lifeless, sleep-deprived look about them. He heard snatches of conversation amongst the two camps

"Live specimen... second one this week."

"Is he ours?"

"Paranoid Squirrel... our shipment... The Toy Soldier...! Squee!"

"Damn... they beat... to the... Soldier."

"Yamada! Trade you two tyrants for your super soldier..."

"...."

"...throw... Alexia and Wekser..."

"...Um..."

"DNA of The Big Boss..."

"Oh shut up! Doll-sama!!!" One of the scientists pushed away another and made his way over. A look of annoyance showed up on Iwa's face for a mere moment. Their party naturally halted. John thought he saw a chance to escape when a few Shadaloo based scientists made their way over.

"Doll-sama!!" The apparent leader of the group called out again. John guessed that he was in his early thirties, Japanese, slim in build with a head full of spiky dark brown hair held up by his Shadaloo bandanna.

He looks like-

John thoughts was cut shot when the scientist stood face to face, staring at him with bloodshot eyes and mouth wide open. His thick glasses had magnified the veins in his eyes. A huge bead of seat formed upon John's brow.

"Is this who I think it is?!" Yamada squealed like an excited fanboy who just received a prized collectible. "Oh Ookami-kun!! So nice to be finally working with you!" He started moving around John studying him this way and that.

"Doll-Iwa. Uh... could you and the Ookami kun... you know. Please? For me?" Yamada pleaded, his hands clasped in front of him. Iwa was hesitant at first but still she lifted her right hand up. Her ghostly blue qi ignited from the tip of her fingers and engulf her hand. There were a number of gawkers oooh-ing and ahh-ing to the effect. She looked at John, intending him to do something similar.

"Do it. But you better not throw it," she warned.

Holding up his left hand, John summoned his qi and let it coalesce to the size of a tennis ball on his palm. Yamada excitedly studied it pointing out this and that to his colleagues and took down notes.

"Natural and amalgam qi are distinctively different. How much can an invasive qi affect a local qi? Does the type of host affect how the Master's qi behave...?" He stopped what he was doing when Iwa extinguished her qi.

"Doc, I'm sure you would like to examine the Ookami more closely, but our Master would like the Ookami fixed and settled in."

"Of course, of course. I tend to forget myself!" He stood aside letting them continue their way.

-*-

The number of gawking folks dwindled steadily as he was escorted further in, turning this way and that fork. Down a couple of levels and through another locked corridor. Eventually he reached another fork in the road. Two sets of guards stationed at the separate entrances like quite a number of places they had passed through.

Going through the entrance with the Shadaloo guards John was led towards his holding cell – 10 ft long and 8ft wide. The single metal bed and toilet were diagonally opposite each other. There was no window to tell him what time of day or where he even was. There is, however an air vent with solid metal bars. Even if he could break in there, getting his bearings would be quite a challenge.

Iwa had entered the cell with him but her sleepy attention had turned to her cellphone.

"No reception... no surprise," she mumbled.

She headed towards the air vents and started tapping the metal buckle of her watch against the bars. After a while a very dusty little head popped out between the bars.

"Sharp drop for a long walk..." Iwa mumbled, staring at her cellphone. Brushing some cobwebs off Maru's head, she motioned the critter back into the air vents and to his task.

John decides to push his luck as he inches closer to Iwa. If she were having trouble staying awake, then it wouldn't be too hard to take her down. Except Iwa now suddenly turns around, whipping out a survival knife as she falls into battle stance. The business end of the blade gleams wickedly.

"I was right in pushing you as an Active Doll, but if you escape now you'll miss the chance to play hero for the others," she smiled through barely open eyes.

John backs away with one hand in the air and the other hanging limply.

"You probably figured out this isn't a Shadaloo facility and the only thing standing between you and Umbrella is us." Iwa walks towards John, backing him against the wall.

"Since you'll be more useful to the Master as a live Host or Active Doll. Or even a Passive Doll if all else fails," she sheathed the blade and offered it to him. Wary of her tricks John carefully picks up the knife. "Feel free to kick up a fuss if the Umbrella people try to get their paws on you. But if you hurt my people. I'll make sure you wish that Master had a Zombiefied Doll project instead." Iwa yawned again and left John in his cell to his thoughts

====

"That's the last of them," Special Agent Wynshire says as she cuffs and loads a slightly-battered criminal into a police van. The officer nods to her and shuts the back doors, then goes about milling around the scene much as the rest of the cops do. Natalie and one other Fed had remained on the scene to help with the clean up, even though the guys they caught aren't the ones they were looking for.

Hoping to get another bust on some body smuggling, Natalie and a team of government agents had been dispatched on a lead to this building where some shady activity had been going on. Unfortunately, it only proved to be a run-down facility where a hell of a lotta weed was being grown. Wynshire sighs heavily.

Hauling in idiots for producing and selling drugs is fine and dandy, but not what she hoped for. I'm about to miss my fight with Jin for all this?? she thinks just as her cell phone rings.

The ring tone - a clip of someone screaming in agony - tells her exactly who it is.

"Don't you have someone better to harass?"

"I'm not in the mood for it today, Wyn. You done there? I need your report filed soon, and then we need to interrogate one of the guys you picked up. Turns out our informant says the guy knows more about illegal activity in the area than possibly any of our past leads."

A heavy sigh is all Parker hears.

"What?" he asks, "Can't afford too many breaks, Agent. Would you rather be at the arena right now having your teeth knocked in by your boyfriend?"

"Fiancé," Natalie corrects.

A chuckle can be heard on the line, "We'll see."

Blue eyes narrow as her mouth screws into a tight frown. She is tired, and of much more than the near thirty hours she'd been without sleep. No, that is minor compared to his constant insults to her and her relationship, and his efforts to run her into the ground and bury her with work. She is more than ready to remind him - in some small way - exactly where her priorities lie. It takes only a moment's serious thought before she replies. "Yep. We'll see."

Abruptly, she hangs up on him. Parker mistakenly assumes that his personal work-dog is on her way to file a report. Instead, as Wynshire gets into her car and squeals out of the parking lot despite the other Agent's protests, she heads for the stadium where today's fight is scheduled to take place.

====

--King's Road, Chelsea, London, 17:37 GMT--

Originally a private royal road for the benefit of Charles II - King of England, King of Scots, and the King of Ireland - the King's Road is now famous for being one of the most fashionable shopping streets in London. As a result, this mile long stretch of road is littered with a vast variety of shoppers almost daily. It's almost customary for one to dress for the occasion when coming here, which is evident from the numerous number of males garbed in expensive suits to the fashion-conscious females with carrier bags branded with the names of expensive shops all over them. In addition, there are those who are content on not spending any time shopping here, instead sitting back at the many cafes, pubs and bars along this road and surveying the passers-by, often hoping to spot a celebrity or two.

"I'll be honest, you never struck me as the avid shopping type," Esperanza admits. "Between this place and Oxford Street, I'm beginning to wonder if this is the real reason you've brought us to London."

Her and Jacob are currently at Starbucks, the both of them having chosen to take a momentary break from shopping. Currently resting next to her legs under the table are two shopping bags: one from Shellys, and the other from the bookstore Waterstones. Jacob's shopping bag also reveals his shopping exploits: one from French Connection, Reiss, Gap, and, like Rios herself, a bag from Waterstones.

"'Avid' is such a strong word," Jacob replies with a chuckle. "Besides, I feel it doesn't hurt to spoil yourself every once in a while." He takes a sip of his beverage, and then gestures to Esperanza's Shellys bag. "Speaking of which, those are some nice shoes you bought," he comments. "They really suit you."

"Thanks," Rios says with a polite smile. It wasn't often that she went shopping for anything beyond books, food and other necessities - even more so when it came to the latest, fashionable and subsequently expensive clothing. Yet over the past two days, there was something about this city that seemed to make her feel differently, if only a little. The shoes were nice-looking, cute even, and they did look good on her the moment she'd tried them on. Turner had even offered to purchase them on her behalf but she'd politely declined.

Jacob gives one of his easy smiles, in keeping with his friendly nature. "Well, as much as an "avid" shopper like me would like to stay here longer, we'll have to head back soon. Tonight's exhibition is in a few hours."

The exhibition Turner speaks of is to take place at the British Museum later this evening, centred on a selection of rare artefacts once excavated from various historical sites throughout the British Isles, notably from places such as Stonehenge. Stored away for safety for hundreds of years, the public would be given a small opportunity to view these relics before being stored away again. All signs pointed to the artefact of interest being amongst that number, and while Esperanza's knowledge of ancient British history is lacking, Stonehedge had been listed as one of the sites of the strange anomalies according to Ming's report.

"Yeah, you're right," Esperanza replies. She takes a swig of her beverage, but doesn't attempt to completely finish it. "I'm ready to leave whenever you are."

Jacob's response is to gently rise up from his seat, and Esperanza follows suit, the both of them grabbing their belonging and eventually leaving the café.

====

--COF Arena, Honolulu, 10:34 HAT--

How long has it been now? Five? Six? Seven minutes?

Not knowing the answer to his question - and not really concerned about it either - Jin continues to patiently remain where he is, at the stadium's centre. He only has to stay here for a total of ten minutes, and then by default he'll qualify to the next round. Granted, there was a chance that she could still show, but Jin has long resigned himself to the opposite. Like him, the stadium audience also shares this sentiment, except their current reaction leans more towards the undignified. It is what it is, Kushina thinks. Now was that towards the crowd, or himself?

A sudden rise in cheering and jubilation breaks Jin out of his thoughts, and his senses alert him to an energy signature he instantly recognises. Breath coming out in hard puffs, Natalie rushes through the participant's entrance, flashing her ID on the way. She is in a full run, nearly knocking over anyone in her way as she gets to the walkway under the stadium seating, and finally slows to a jog as she approaches the centre stage. Panting slightly, Mien squares her shoulders and strides amidst much fanfare to the outlined area where Jin awaits.

On her way, she slips off her blazer (along with her holster, concealing her gun) and pulls the pins from her hair, letting anyone who failed to recognize her before see her trademark long hair and jewellery around her neck and wrists. As she stops about ten feet from her opponent and lover, Natalie gives him a strange look that is a mix of resignation, slight wryness and fatigue.

"I hope you didn't skip any practices thinking I wouldn't be here," she says as she hands her blazer, the holster inside, and her cell phone - which should be ringing soon - to the referee.

Jin throws at Natalie what appears to be a clinical gaze. "You showed. Did he put you up to this?"

Natalie's face immediately goes into a cross between an exasperated look and a scowl. "If that's what you think I'm walking my ass right back out of here."

Kushina breaks into a grin at that, throwing up his hands in a mock surrender. "Only a joke, Nat," followed by a slightly more serious tone as he adds, "I'm glad you're here."

"Bad, bad timing for it..." Natalie says with a vague hint of a wry smile. "In fact, I almost thought for a second you might have preferred not fighting me."

"Far from it." He then settles into his stance. "Let me know when you're ready, okay?"

Natalie responds to this by flicking one hand through her bangs before taking her stance.

It's Jin who starts things off, exploding into a burst of speed manifested in the blur that's his leg, screaming toward Natalie's shoulder. The attack fails to connect, yet Kushina recovers quickly in time to prevent a possible counterattack as both his left and right legs slash outward. Natalie avoids the first strike but is forced to guard the second, to which Jin takes the opportunity to zone in for a closer range offence.

Aware of his advantage of strength in closer combat, Natalie drops low in a spinning kick aimed at Jin's knees, but the latter simply hops over and remains closer than the Agent wants him to be. As Mien stays low to the ground letting the momentum of her failed attack propel her half way around, she plants both hands on the ground and lashes out with her left heel toward Jin's thigh. Kushina reacts this time by managing to grab her foot, and though Nat is currently facing away from him, that turns out to be exactly what she expects.

The instant his hand touches her foot, her body spins toward her left, hands pushing her upward as they leave the ground as her right leg comes up with a higher kick at chest level. Jin leaned back to avoid the attack, but the spin tore Nat's boot out of his grip and the one-handed flip she performs directly after places her back out of reach.

The courier doesn't retaliate immediately as the crowd expects, but decides to adjust his gloves. When Kushina does make his move, he attempts a different strategy by charging forward and leaping into the air, letting his momentum carry him forward as he homes in on Natalie's position for the second time with an aerial roundhouse.

Wynshire uses both forearms to guard the impact, and Jin, while still airborne, throws his body into an arching overhead kick poised for her shoulder. Natalie serves to remind Kushina of her speed as she critically backs away from the attack. Jin lands but remains undeterred by throwing out a left and a right, followed by a sweep. In an impressive moment, Natalie parries away the punches without even moving backwards and skilfully avoids the sweep by lifting her feet off the ground, planting a palm on Jin's head as leverage, and somersaulting over Kushina in the midst of his move to land behind him, causing the lovers to end up standing back to back against each other.

The audience cheers at the display but Wynshire ignores them, launching her right heel back in a snapping hook motion, again aimed at her fiancé's knee. Her foot meets with nothing but air, as Jin has already moved to the side. She lets the motion follow through to spin around, barely getting her guard up to block an incoming punch.

Jin's fist rattles the bones of her forearm and forces her two steps back, making her wish she'd worn her armguards. She might've, but she had no time before arriving here, which is the reason she's wearing her work clothes even now. If being tired and already worn out isn't bad enough, her dress slacks and long-sleeved button up are a bit restricting, even stifling. Yet Natalie is able to ignore this, in addition to the screaming crowd as she blurs forward in an axe kick that Jin dodges by a hair, followed directly by a back kick towards his midsection.

Without a second thought, Jin hops out of the kick's range. It was almost frustrating, he notes, how he's been unable to land a single blow successively in this match. Taking advantage of the distance this time, Jin quickly executes a circular motion with his hands, initiating his Gyounen technique. Natalie immediately recognises the move and acts accordingly, drawing in some ki before using it to propel herself forward and airborne, transforming her entire form into a blue-white energy blur, in her signature Neo Shift dash. If successful, she hopes to at least cause Jin to end the technique prematurely whilst taking advantage of his subsequent vulnerability.

Gold-coloured eyes snap open in time to scope the lithe figure now descending towards him with breathtaking speed as Natalie ends her Neo Shift, just as he too completes his own technique. Natalie senses Jin power rise suddenly as a confident grin flashes across his face, drawing back a clenched fist. The still-airborne agent suspects what's coming and hastily draws back one hand for a split-second before snapping it forward in counter response.

"Hageshii Hinote!"

"Neo Blast!"

A burst of black flames collides with a swirling globe of blue, negating each other in the process. With the additional power provided to Jin thanks to the Gyounen technique, his burst of energy is the stronger of the two and thus propels Natalie backward. Though unharmed, Natalie meets the ground with unsure footing. She looks up and raises her guard just in time to block a roundhouse kick, but the force of the blow, combined with her lack of balance causes her to stumble, guarding arm swung wide as she is spun. Coming about face, blue eyes widen and her body tenses reflexively in response to the knife-edge palm inches from her throat and coming in fast.

To Natalie's surprise, Jin stops his attack at the last moment and brushes his fingers against her cheek. Natalie stares at him in a mix of shock and wariness as his hand retreats, leaving both fighters standing at arm's length and neither in fighting stance. The audience's response is divided; some cheer at the romantic gesture whilst others boo at the lack of a crippling strike.

"Why didn't you go for it?" Wynshire asks. Though she is already feeling the effects of prior exhaustion in the forms of slight dizziness and lack of her usual power, she has no desire to be pitied or coddled in this fight.

"Just one of those moments," Jin responds coolly with a shrug. "Or would you prefer me to be strictly serious instead?" he adds with a grin.

"I'm sure that's what half the crowd wants," Natalie answers just as coolly. "Besides that, I'd prefer you not wear kid-gloves with me." Reaching to her collar, she slips free an additional two buttons from her shirt and repeats the same thing at the end of the shirt's sleeves, rolling them up to her elbows, allowing slightly more freedom for her arms. Natalie knows she won't win this, even if she had intended to. She is going to wear out too soon, but she still showed up for a fight, and fully intends to have one.

"Very well, Mien," Kushina says. He slips off one glove, followed by the other. "Then let's give them a show..."

====

--The London Hilton on Park Lane, Mayfair, London, 20:05 GMT--

From his position on the room balcony, the five-star hotel offers Pablo a pleasant view of the city's skyline, and of the Mayfair district stories below. Veracruz appears to slip into thought for some period as he stares blankly at the high-rise residential and commercial buildings before him, which begin to light up in response to the approaching night. He pulls himself away from his thoughts long enough to finish off the remaining contents in his wine glass, and then turns to walk back into the hotel room.

"We make our move tonight," Pablo says.

It's more of a reiteration than an instruction on Veracruz's part, though. For the past two days, he and Juli have been planning and strategising towards this moment. Instead of having to venture into caves and tombs, their next target was simply at a museum. Granted, it isn't just any ordinary museum, or just any ordinary exhibition room, but Pablo was never one to let such details trouble him. Thanks to Juli's work, they'd acquired a detailed map of the room the artefact would be showcased in, and his frequent visits to the museum had supplied him with information on suitable escape and entry points. Tonight was the last night the exhibition would be open, so tonight is their last opportunity to make it happen.

"I'll inform Evans on the update," Juli responds as she keys in some commands on her laptop. It soon connects her with Stephen Evans, head of Shadaloo's British department, who appears to be at some kind of office.

"Agent Juli," he greets respectfully. "Is it time?"

"We move tonight," Juli replies. "The exhibition should be coming to a close in less than an hour. Ensure you have everything prepared and set up as we discussed."

"Understood. I'll have several of my men dispatched effective immediately."

"Good, just make sure you don't set things off until you get the signal," Juli warns, then severs the connection. Looking at Pablo, the Shadaloo operative casts him a wary look. "You sure you know what you're doing?"

"Diablo always know what he's doing," Veracruz says, his voice dripping with confidence. "Whether it's stealing, killing, or pleasuring a woman." He throws Juli a leering look. "Of course, as always, the third option remains available from me to you..."

"Stick to the point," Juli says flatly. To her surprise, Pablo actually does so this time, as opposed to throwing in another one of his distasteful comments beforehand.

"If your boys do their job, snatching the relic will be effortless," he states. "Then your boss can pay me and we'll move on to the next target."

"Assuming you get the job done this time," she reminds him.

"What happened in Peru wont happen again," Pablo assures, his confident expression still intact. "One doesn't plan on letting our dear friend Esperanza and her new partner get in Diablo's way this time..."

====

--COF Arena--

Natalie holds her ground as Jin rushes in and blocks his strike with her forearms. Both fighters appear to remain frozen in this state for a single second until Natalie's left palm lashes out and successfully meets Jin's right temple. A visibly stunned Kushina reels backward and it's now Natalie who switches onto the offence: first with an alternating series of hooks, a gut punch, followed by an uppercut. The courier reels further backwards, and Wynshire moves in to extend her assault with a wheel kick towards his face, except Jin suddenly springs forward to cut off the attack.

Natalie is unable to cancel her attack in time as Kushina performs a backward somersault, avoiding the strike whilst striking his fiancée at the same time. Jin then chains the initial blow of the Sakkyaku Geki into a blur of multiple leg strikes that ends with a lunge kick to the gut. Wynshire is driven back a considerable distance across the battlefield, but then unleashes a full backflip at the last moment to land on one knee. She rises up slowly and brushes one hand across a cut on her lower lip, where the initial strike of Jin's technique had landed.

Ignoring the pain in her midsection Natalie takes to the air and hurtles back down at Jin with a straight punch that's blocked, and then a wide sweep that Kushina leaps over, completely turning Natalie around in time to see Jin land with his back to her. Jin senses Natalie's approach from behind and pivots his body around to lash out with a backfist, only to have it parried away. Out of the corner of his eye he sees Natalie's glowing right hand and tries to leap back, but isn't fast enough.

With a short cry, Natalie hurls her hand forward directly at Jin's midsection in a palm strike, causing a flash of energy to erupt and coalesce itself into a burst of cerulean flames around the point of impact. The Neo Blaze rockets Jin away from Natalie, yet the agent is not done as she executes another Neo Shift to catch up to the airborne Kushina, leaps up to grab his shirt collar with both hands and plants her feet on his chest. A split-second later Natalie pushes herself off him, slamming Jin with enough force to make him bounce.

Much to her surprise, Jin is somehow already on his feet as she feels his hand grab her ankle and drag her downwards. Jin swings his body around once, then twice, to gather momentum before he relinquishes his vice-like grip on Natalie's leg. Natalie is slung into the air as her hair flaps wildly against her face, partially obscuring her vision. Somehow Jin is directly underneath her. Natalie is caught in mid-air and driven into the ground with Jin's Gourin air-throw, and for a moment it doesn't look like Natalie will get back up, but she does by a count of five.

"Well, how's that for a performance?" Kushina teases. He executes a second Gyounen, yet does not immediately attack.

Natalie brushes splayed fingers through her dark hair, sweeping it back from her face to let everyone see her grim smile. Dear God, I'm so tired, she thinks.

Not only mentally, but her body is already wearing too fast and aching, and she hopes the cameras watching aren't picking up the uncontrollable shaking of her hands. Still, she refuses to lie down just yet as signalled by her rise before the full count. While Jin gives her those brief seconds to recover her stance before zeroing in, Natalie takes the chance to draw on her ki again.

He comes in every bit as fast as she would expect of him, blurring forward into a straight kick. She blocks with both forearms, again feeling the sharp pain and following numbness caused by the force of the blow. Twisting at the hips, Jin moves into a spinning kick aimed at Natalie's left side, but as he realizes too late, Natalie's right fist is already on a course to intercept as she throws her weight into a punch that not only deflects his attack, but cracks her knuckles into the bones just above Jin's ankle. The latter makes a hasty effort to hop back, briefly favouring his left leg.

Instead of giving him time, Natalie immediately follows him. Through a series of quick punches, she strikes hard and fast, though is blocked almost every time. Panting with the effort required to keep pushing her body, the agent begins putting more force into each punch, which in turn makes her a tiny bit slower. Yet when Jin tries to take advantage of this and get in a hit of his own, he finds she was feigning desperation in the punches as the second his guard opens, one lightning-fast fist rattles the left side of his jaw. Letting him turn with the momentum, Natalie's next target is low on his back, toward the kidneys, yet just as soon as she landed the hit she feels a hand on her forearm. Ignoring the burst of pain in his lower back, Jin spins and yanks his fiancée forward into a palm strike, forcing his ki into Natalie's stunned body. "Kusho!"

Eyes wide at the pain, some part of Wynshire's mind distantly registers the move is made more powerful by his earlier Gyounen technique. In mid fall, she is assaulted by three more consecutive hits, the last of which being Jin's left fist hammering down against the middle of her ribs and driving her against the ground. The crowd by now is ecstatic. Kushina can hear her gasp for air after a time-slowed couple of seconds, but he fails to move back quickly enough to keep her from grabbing his wrist. Hard as she can, the winded fighter yanks her lover's arm to one side, pulling him off balance enough that she can roll and leap onto his back as he hits the ground. Pinned beneath her, Jin wonders for a second if she plans to just wrestle him down now, and almost smirks at the idea. It is obvious to him he has much more strength in reserve than her, but as he moves to push himself up with her arms wound around his neck, she kisses his cheek before whispering, "You won't mind if I borrow this, hun..."

Jin's attempt to rise is halted the second he feels his own energy leaving him, courtesy of the almost gentle, caressing hand against the side of his face. Natalie concentrates hard on taking life force from him to substitute for her own lacking reserves whilst gold eyes widen considerably. The Neo Drain is something Natalie has never used on him, and its effects are immediate. The audience, however, has no idea what exactly is going on and some cry out for the warrior to throw the girl off him and resume his offence. Others shout for a finishing blow of some kind from the young woman, thinking her 'choke-hold' isn't working fast enough.

A mere moment after the Neo Drain started, it is cut short when Jin gains enough control over his briefly-listless body to launch himself up and back, falling on Natalie and making her relinquish her hold on him. He rolls away quickly and she stands, feeling the slightest bit refreshed with the stolen energy. Jin blinks a couple of times to regain his bearings but is able to form his stance once more, prepared for the next phase of this bout.

====

--British Museum, Russell Square, London--

"It certainly is crowded..." Esperanza says as Jacob escorts her into the British Museum's main exhibition room. Moments before, the museum's retainer had just finished welcoming all the visitors to the last showing of some of the country's most prized artefacts. As such, it is something of an event.

Glass cases, behind which were treasured, priceless relics from history long past, line the room on three sides and in the centre. Men and women mill about with educated historians guiding them, all dressed in evening wear that makes Esperanza feel a little plain in her white, knee-length dress and knit shawl. Jacob is wearing a black jacket and matching slacks, with a dark blue shirt. Both drift from one exhibit to another, inspecting each displayed piece.

When they reach the last case in the room, Jacob sighs, "None of these are what we're looking for."

Rios eyes him curiously, wondering how he knew by glancing. She had wanted to linger at more than a few showcases, but got pulled gently along by her escort. "Then is it even here?"

"There's a small portion of the exhibit in the next room," he replies. "Let's check there."

Once they step into the adjacent, smaller room, Jacob breaths a sigh of both relief and anticipation. He recognizes most of the items as being of Celtic or pre-Celtic origin, therefore anything from Stonehenge might be placed in the same room. He steps forward, followed by Rios, and begins scanning over each display.

"Have you seen the Domhan Brón?" a voice asks from Turner's left. Jacob looks to his side to see a smiling, elderly man with thick glasses that make his eyes appear a little larger than they are.

Jacob smiles and replies in an interested tone. "I don't think so, can you tell me more about it?"

The man gestures, "Certainly, that's it right there. It's only recently been added to the collection..."

As soon as Jacob sees it, he knows. On a necklace of polished amber and stone beads hangs an amulet of smooth, ancient wood, so old it has petrified and thus been protected. The edges of the egg-shaped, flat pendent are carved in complicated knots much like what decorated most Celtic jewellery long ago. Jacob moves closer, taking in finer details. In the centre is an image of a sphere cracked with a tear shape in its middle.

"The Sorrow of Earth?" he asks in regard to the name's meaning.

"Or Earth's Sorrow... the name is still under discussion," the old man chuckles. "It was found by a group of archaeological students on a small dig near Stonehenge. It was really quite a coincidence, perhaps the storms eroded a bit of the soil..."

As the old man rattles on, Jacob stares in relief and wonder at the artefact, Esperanza at his side making the connections in her own mind.

"Ah, if you'll excuse me," the man says when a young couple asks him to tell them about another display. Jacob nods with a brief thanks, and the old man walks away with a smile to the other side of the room.

"Is that it?" Rios asks.

Turner grins in amazement. "Yes, it is."

As the words leave his mouth, the museum's alarms suddenly blares into life. A nearby woman screams, whilst several members of the public stare around at each other in slight confusion, clearly caught off-guard by the incident. Seconds later the room becomes a hubbub of activity as the people begin rushing out.

"This time of all times to run a fire drill?" Esperanza asks, then instantly regrets it. Stupid question...

"Talk about bad timing if that's the case," Jacob replies. He hadn't even got to completely view the Domhan Brón; especially since it was the last chance he had to see it now. Whether it's instinct or otherwise, something inside him tells him something's not right. Then he sees it, out of the corner of his eye, spiralling towards his general direction as if in slow motion.

A hand grenade.

"Move!" Jacob yells, reaching for Esperanza's arm. The grenade strikes the ground once and clatters further along the floor, causing a curious Esperanza to turn and see what the sound is. Jacob tries to warn her, yet his voice is drowned out as the room instantly ignites with a brilliant flash of light and the sound of an explosion fills his ears.