~Flashback ~

-U.P.R.F., Indoor Airfield - Green sector, 14:15 HAT, circa The Heist (Part 2)-

Iwa had finished her lunch and the briefings were kept short to avoid overwhelming her and now she was down in the airfield overseeing the unloading of equipment. She had kept to wearing the white lab coat over her sneak suit as requested by Doctor Yamada, quickly noticing the difference it had made. Few people paid attention to her, much less so after she kept her streaky hair in check with a bandanna and donning a pair of spectacles. She looked positively dorky and much like another one of those lab assistants with bad taste in hairstyles.

She had found an ID-Access card in one of the pockets and clipped it on her pocket as required. She noted with interest that instead of a standard issue Escorted Visitor card, the one she had on granted her access privileges equivalent to that of Doctor Yamada. How the good doctor managed to get her something like this she would never know.

Checking her mobile phone she noticed that from here the reception to the outside world was still quite weak but not as bad the reception inside the building. Checking the other applications, the only one that was working fine is the Maru-cam. Her little partner had pretty much mapped out the top floors and was cautiously working the current levels

Footsteps came to halt at a respectable distance behind. Turning in response she noticed Doctor Markus and with him a Shadaloo solider dressed in a dark T-shirt and Camo pants. She acknowledged his salute with a slight nod, but seeing the lab rat in a cage made Iwa raised an eyebrow.

"Come with me," Doctor Markus said quietly to her. "I have an important task for you, and this is Jeff Zhang."

"I see."

"Is that his?" The doctor pointed to a crate full of weaponry and Iwa nodded.
"Is his wallet in there. Does he have a credit card?"

Iwa rummaged through the crate and handed over the article in question. The Doctor rummaged through it and smiled upon finding all the required articles. He handed it over to the solider and they headed for a waiting helicopter. Following them Iwa sent a thought to Maru, Stop, Nest, Rest. The squirrel would make his way back to her quarters; she had no intention of working him while she was away.

"I don't know where you found him but he's a bit taller than the Ookami, and a bit prettier." Iwa mentioned as she boarded the waiting helicopter.

"Jeff is the closest in resemblance I can find in our entourage at such short notice." As the helicopter made its ascent Doctor Markus began to explain their situation.

"The med-techs found a tracer on the Soldier. From what we know it operates on body heat and would give out a signal once every 24 hours. What we don't know is if the location of the Faculty has been compromised or not."

"Why not just destroy the thing?" Iwa removed her bandanna and labcoat. It was pretty obvious that there was fieldwork to be done.

"And chance the fact that this is his last known location? No." Markus replied. "Yamada had managed to convince Umbrella to listen to what I have in mind. It was either this or our entourage would pack up and leave. We only have minor equipment to lose." He shrugged, indicating that Umbrella would stand to lose more. "We replanted the tracer in the lab rat. Meet Ratty." Doctor Markus indicated the rat and Jeff held it up for Iwa.

"Hypothetically speaking. From what the Soldier's support team knows is that he should be chasing you down since last evening. Unless they have some means to investigate. They would find that in his trapping you in the warehouse had led to a fight breaking out. One of you was captured and taken deep into the woods. It's logical to assume either he intends to drag you to one of the military bases in that area," Doctor Markus pushed his glasses up and seeing he still had her attention, he continued.

"And seeing your Silent Haunted Woods trick I believe you have managed to escape and was mostly in hiding. As there is a limit of how long you can or want to maintain your trick. It became a hit and run affair until probably around now where you have made your way into the open and quite far from where you once were. We'll be landing in Ewa Beach. From there, rent a car and make for-"

"Say that again?" Iwa interrupted.

"Ewa Beach." Doctor Markus was a little annoyed with the interruption.

"There's actually an area named Ewa?"

'Yeah. You didn't read the map?"

"The spelling threw me off. Why you pick that spot?"

"Well, he's supposed to be chasing you and there is a military base near there. You're egotistic enough to pick an entire district with your name if he was chasing you, no?" Doctor Markus shrugged.

"Well yeah... the irony of it all..." Iwa began to study the map and raised an eyebrow at the name of the Forest reservation nearby.

"Then stop interrupting... as I was saying. From Ewa Beach, rent a car and head north. Keep heading north until you both get to the Haleiwa boat Harbor. Just so you both know, US military bases dot the route. I doubt neither of you would appreciate a stopover and especially not Jeff." He pointed out the various bases along the highway they would have to take. "When you get there, rent a boat to Kauai" Doctor Markus pointed at an island north of Oahu. An airport had been circled with red ink. "Reaching Kauai. Find your way to Lihu'e Airport where I'll be waiting for both of you. I'll take you back to base and Jeff will take Ratty with him."

He then began to brief Jeff. "There will be two cargo planes. Whichever you take. The other one will get a one hour head start to Singapore. Whenever or wherever the 2nd time the tracer gives out the signal it would have shown that the Solider was already on the move, and for whatever reason had broken contact. They might not think much about it since he seems to be chasing you to your homeland. Where he might have to spend a few days to get back on track since he doesn't know your other identity there."

"You have a point." Iwa began scribbling something down.

"So only when you resurface back on Oahu for your fight would they realize that he was really missing or the Master had done a major number on his head and he's off chasing shadows, but they wouldn't know when and where it happened since you both were island hopping. And once Jeff boards the plane, he would be given the identity as one of the plane's delivery crew."

Iwa gave a small nod, and then turned to Jeff. "While you're in Singapore, buy this with his card and ship it express to the kid," she handed him two notes

'Battle Gear Soldier - Crocodile Camouflage x1 Cyber Gal - Shadow x1, Cyber Gal - Electra - x1' It was a list for action figures with an address for a shop written on it and written upon on the other note. 'Prezzies for the kid. I can see him but I can't steal him. *LOL*'

"You're still going after the 2nd Fiddle's kid?" Doctor Markus asked.

"Nah. Just to worry his daddy, and I'm paying a favor back," Iwa replied with a smile. "And while you're in Singapore, someone will meet you and arrange for transport to back through the Pacific islands. Eventually you'll end up in San Francisco en-route to a Shadaloo branch in Las Vegas. Remember you have to keep the rat alive until then, and dump it on the Masters' estate when you reach San Fran." She had a finger on the rat's snout. 'Find Mel' was a simple little nudge.

She noticed Doctor Markus looking at her thoughtfully. "What?"

"You're doing it again? Aren't you?"

"Can you tell?"

"I assume you are... but I really would like to study your brain when you do that." Doctor Markus noted.

"You might get the chance."

"Does it work on people?"

"Too complicated for me. Only Empath and Mahou Shoujo (Magic Gal) can work on people."

The helicopter landed on an isolated part of the beach. Seeing that the coast was clear. Iwa disembarked.

"You have a fifteen minutes head start. If Jeff catches up with you, he's allowed to pummel you. Go!" Doctor Markus called out.

"What?!" Iwa wanted to argue.

"Tick tick tick..."

She glared at him before turning and breaking into a run.

~ End Flashback ~

====

-The Makai lobby-

Luke exited from his hotel room, a night of rest after the energy consuming training of the day before. He was clad in an orange tank top, green shorts and sneakers. Anxious for his next challenge and his chance at Ken Masters, he headed to the hotel fitness room, a little weightlifting in mind.

I aced that cigar chomper, but it sure wasn't easy, he thought, recalling his victorious fight three days ago. It's a shame that Guile's out, I really wanted a chance to fight him too, but take what you can get as they say.

Unknown to Blaze, a figure eyed him from not too far. Suddenly, Luke felt a blast of smoke hit him in the face.

"What the hell?!" Luke blurted out in-between coughs, waving a hand in front of his face in a somewhat exaggerated manner.

Standing several feet to his right, dressed in white shirt, tie, and grey slacks, was Enrique Pierantoni himself once again.

"You...?" said Luke in surprise. "What's the big idea?"

"Payback for my last cigar, kid," he said. "Your concern for public health is appreciated, but these..." he made a gesture to the cigar in his hand, "...are expensive."

Luke waved the smoke off his face again and coughed. "Look, if it's a rematch or trouble you want..."

"Far from it," Enrique replied. "Just wanted to say that was a good fight the other day. You've got skills"

Blaze blinked. "Uh... thanks. So do you. Those were quite some moves you had there."

Enrique merely produced an almost unnoticeable smirk before replying. "I wouldn't get too comfortable in the finals if I was you. Keep your guard up."

"I intend to," said Luke.

"Good. Take care." Riq said before turning and heading away.

Sheesh... strange guy there, Luke mused to himself. "Maybe he's just lonely or something. My sensei once told me that sometimes even the greatest fighters hold great burdens and sorrows that even strength and skill can't overcome." Blaze shrugged. "Well...whatever it is that's eating him, smokes, drinks... I hope for his sake and that he overcomes it."

With that last thought in mind, Luke trailed off to the gym.

====

London, England

Esperanza quietly unlocked and opened her side of the connecting door between Jacob and her hotel rooms after knocking. After what happened at the museum, they, along with many others, had been questioned regarding their account of the incident. She hadn't slept much and she had a feeling he hadn't either.

Her guess had been right. Her partner was sprawled face up by the foot of the bed with his head resting on a pillow, and to his right side, spread over the bed were various maps and notes. He was still partially dressed in the suit he had worn at the museum, the shirt untucked and unbuttoned halfway down his chest, the jacket haphazardly thrown over a nearby chair.

"Turner?" She hated to wake him, but after last night, they needed to figure out what to do next. And it was already past lunchtime. Esperanza watched dubiously as he shifted slightly, his eyes still closed. Hesitantly, she reached out to touch his shoulder. One shake.

Nothing.

She frowned, perching on the corner of the bed, shaking him another time.

Nothing.

She sighed, looking away. So much for that. The man was out cold. She moved to wake him up again, only to find a pair of blue-gray eyes staring up at her. Esperanza was so startled she tumbled off the bed falling into an unladylike heap.

"You okay?" He had rolled to one side, peering down at her from the edge of the bed.

"Yes, I'm fine," she assured, quickly getting to her feet.

He rubbed his eyes sleepily, stifling a yawn. "What are you doing in here?" he asked.

"Were you looking for something?" ...

"I wanted to talk to you about what happened."

"Now?" he asked incredulously.

Her eyes dropped to his state of clothing. "Oh. You'll probably want to shower first...eat first...and...um..." Inwardly, she frowned at herself. Why was she so out of focus today? Of course he wasn't ready to talk about the incident last night. She'd just shook him out of REM sleep. Her eyes strayed to the maps and notes. "Have you been reading all night?"

"Yeah."

She blinked. "What time did you sleep?"

A slight frown formed between his brows. "Don't remember...I just remember that the sun was already up when I did."

She watched as he sat up to organize the papers, not missing his faint hiss of pain.

"Are you all right?"

He winced, placing a hand over his solar plexus. "Yeah..." Before the police questioned them last night, he had pulled her aside and told her about Veracruz taking the item. Esperanza paused, spotting a newspaper article with the headline, 'Tournament Participant Found After Missing for Several Days'. She gingerly picked up the article, her eyes quickly skimming the words. The article was several weeks old, printed around the time that Ming's body had been found by the Coast Guard near Oahu. Jacob immediately snatched the article away, quickly putting other notes and other items into a neat pile.

"Sorry about that. Just...trying to figure out where...artifacts were..." he mumbled.

Esperanza shook her head. "No... it's okay."

"I'm... sorry about your friend."

She nodded. "Me too." She glanced at him, the sympathy clear in his eyes. He sighed, settling on the bed next to her.

"It looks like he's going after all of them..."

"I know. He's dangerous. You know that," Esperanza spoke up.

"I knew that way before I stepped on Peru."

"And you still want to go through with this?" Esperanza asked. "Knowing what kind of person he is?"

"I was about to ask you the same thing."

Esperanza lifted her chin. "I'm fully aware of what could happen if we run into him again. Still...we can't let him take the remaining items."

"Believe me, that's my plan," Jacob answered with a wry smile.

"So where are we going next?" she asked.

===

-The Makai-

At the hotel's café Jin finishes off the remains of his breakfast, it being a combination of almost every item available under the Makai's 'Breakfast Menu'. Normally, it was unlike him to eat so much, but ever since his match with Natalie yesterday he hadn't eaten anything. Plus after having spent the night with her in their room, it certainly didn't hurt for some 'refueling'.

"Yo, Jin!" said a voice, belonging to Fei Long.

"Hey Fei, wassup?" Jin replied as the two grasped palms.

"Me and Honda saw your fluke over Natalie," Long joked. "Nice work."

"Nothing I couldn't handle," said Jin, shrugging. "Natalie's resting back at the hotel room right now, if she hasn't left by now."

"So you guys made up then?"

"Well, let's just say a lot more than making up took place last night," came the response.

"Ah, I... see," said Fei, arching an eyebrow with an all-knowing smirk. "The rest of the tournament is looking pretty interesting," he continued, changing the subject. "With your victory, that Luke guy, Alex, and Ken's the other day... it should be cool to see what the Quarter Final lineup will be when the dust is cleared."

"Yeah, and you gotta make it past Vega yourself," Jin pointed out. "Only to end up losing to me in the final 8."

"I'm sure Vega will end up being a better challenge than you," Long playfully retorted. "But for now, I was thinking of going to the arcade, where I could stomp you in a game of DDR."

"I've gotten better, you know," Jin states flatly, matching it with a flat look.

Long scoffed. "Hopefully as good as your girl if you wanna have any chance against me. So, you up for it?"

"Alright, let's go."

====

-Room 105, the Makai-

Blue eyes rolled beneath closed lids shortly before Natalie woke, looking around groggily. She groaned softly at the sunlight peeking through the only available crack in the curtains to glare right in her eyes, prompting her to roll over. "Oww..."

Her thighs hurt! And her back, just a little. She could have sworn she healed herself the evening before...

Her sleepy mind, so euphoric in its previous rest after so many days of lacking, struggled to catch up as she sat up in the bed, eyes falling on her reflection in the mirror. "Oh..." The previous night came flooding back to her mind, and she fell back against the bed with a soft giggle, pulling the covers back over her head. So that was why she was a bit sore. Well, it was much better to be a bit roughed up by something like that than by a fight, she decided with a grin and another giggle. It was really too bad Jin had apparently already gotten up.

She felt Freckle pouncing playfully on her feet and wiggled her toes in accordance to his little game. While he grabbed and gnawed at her through the thick shield of the blankets, Natalie reached over to the nightstand to her phone. She turned it on and looked at the screen, curious.

"You have 17 missed calls and 19 messages."

She grinned and typed a quick text message, found her boss' number and pressed 'send'.

Then she turned the phone off, laid it back on the stand, and went right back to sleep.

***

-FBI building, Honolulu-

Parker's cell phone beeped and he quickly took it from his desk, muttering, "Wynshire, this better be you and you better have a damn good explanation..."

He was satisfied when he saw the text was, indeed, from his disobedient agent. He was not satisfied, however, at what it said. Resisting the impulse to fling the phone across the room, Parker called Natalie's cell. After four rings, he got the automated response.

"We are sorry, the wireless customer you are calling is not-"

He hung up with a muttered curse, pulling out another form to fill out while miles away, Natalie snoozed peacefully, perfectly content to ignore him for the rest of the day.

====

-COF Arena, 13:48PM-

"Winner... Ryu Hoshi!"

The crowd that nearly filled all the surrounding stands were on their feet with deafening screams. Most of them, at least. Those supporting Sakura most just sat in their seats, prepared to leave or clapped half-heartedly.

On the arena floor, Ryu simply raised one hand in a short gesture to the audience before kneeling by his former would-be pupil. Sakura, nearly unconscious, cracked one eye open to peer at him with a grimace. "I take it I lost..." she mumbled.

Ryu half-smiled with the side of his mouth that wasn't swollen and throbbing with pain from and earlier Shoryuken attack. A nicely modified one, at that. "Yeah, but you've gotten much better."

Sakura groaned softly. "Tell them to shut up... my head is pounding," she whined quietly, shutting her eyes tight. When it passed, she looked back up at him with a tiny smirk and said, "Apparently 'better' isn't enough... I've still got some learning to do."

As the medical team came out, Ryu was already helping Sakura onto her feet, to the further delight of some members of the audience. The medics looked them both over, Ryu being far from unscathed himself, but were waved off from helping them to the backstage area. The older warrior allowed the younger to be supported on his shoulder, which she accepted with some chagrin. Years ago, Sakura would have felt giddy at any attention her idol gave her. Now, her pride had grown along with her talent, but she wasn't yet above the help of a friend, as she had to firmly remind herself.

"Ryu-sensei," she still attached some term of respect to his name, more often than not. "I'll be alright from here." She extended a battered arm, which he clasped with a small smile. "It was a good fight," she added.

He nodded, somewhat distractedly. "Yeah, it was."

The medical team interrupted them, bringing to attention the fact that Sakura needed treatment. Ryu nodded and backed away to give them room, then turned to go. Sakura called out as he did, "Good luck in the tournament!" Like he'll need it, her mind then chided softly.

Ryu walked towards the lockers where the fighters could store their regular clothes, take showers and prepare for a fight, or recover from one. He grabbed a bottle of water from a cooler and sat on a bench, sighing. No longer in the middle of a fight, his mind was distracted with the events of late, surrounding his adopted daughter and coming back to spite him.

Brown eyes became thoughtful, even worried. Fighting Sakura had been a challenge in more ways than one, since every now and then, the young woman with the short brown hair reminded him of one with short black hair, now with streaks of red.

Taking a deep drink of the water, Ryu wondered where she was and what she was doing...

====

-U.P.R.F, Level 4 - Cafeteria-

Iwa sat slumped over the table as if she had difficulty keeping awake. Occasionally she made the effort to rise but was unable to. Fortunately for her, no-one seemed to pay much notice. There were a few workers who had been working for days virtually non-stop, which was now beginning to catch up with them, making Iwa not seem so much out of place, despite it being in the afternoon.

Doctor Yamada's team was scattered all over the section as well. Looming over their subordinates, equally exhausted, listening intently to their never-ending complaints or showing concern over certain assistants. Occasionally they would squat down by their exhausted abide side to check if all is well indeed. It was a scene of affable comradely borne of having to look out for each other in a foreign place, but where the Shadaloo folks were concerned, this was just another meeting that had to take place with a bit of subterfuge.

"Are you coming down with something?" Doctor Yalana squatted down by her side.

Iwa smirked, shaking her head with a 'no'.

"It's amazing the things we can't commit to reports," Yalana commented, putting a hand to Iwa's forehead.

"Paranoia at work? Or jealousy?"

"A little bit of both. If the rumors our people heard are accurate, our little Soldier turned out to be a better catch." She shone a light into Iwa's throat.

"Not all Shotos rank high on the tier. He's one of the two lower ones."

"Good, no sign of inflammation. I still have to take a sample of your blood and give you a dose of vaccine just to be sure. Seasonal flu is a nasty thing. Where would you be working later?"

"Likely in my quarters. Unless I can make it topside and map the area."

"They have guard posts up there."

"Unless they burn down the whole forest they won't be able to find me."

"Work in the cells." Doctor Markus sat down beside them. Both women looked at him with curiosity. The other three soon joined their table. "Our little friend was highly cautious for the better part of yesterday. We have the chip installed. We just want to monitor him a little bit more to ensure it's working before we make him run the stimulator."

"And here I was thinking I be free from his Doom Gaze," Iwa shook her head and sigh. "So... you think I can change that?"

"He thinks he's a POW. Yet we were hardly conventional with him. I believe with you around we can turn his way of thinking upside down. And if it works with him, it will work for your other friends as well." Doctor Markus took a sip of coffee.

"What was his rank?" Doctor Ryan added

"Eh?"

"The Essences made up the core group right? Reports mentioned that there are friends and siblings. Where does he stand? There's some kind of hierarchy right?" Doctor Ryan asked again.

Iwa had to jog her memory back some years. There were quite a large number of folks and much had happened.

"Uh... there's a couple of cliques. I was mostly with Magic, Yin, Power, a very strange Investigator and some other folks. He was mostly... with, um... Emotions and the rather cute Wisdom... Known to you as Empath and the Reno's DNA source. We... were mere acquaintances. Eeee... I think I hardly spoke to him at all..." The realization hit her only after this long.

"There's the chance that his hesitation stems from trying to restore the Status Quo." Doctor Markus deduced

"The Essences weren't meant to be distinctly good or evil." Iwa checked on Maru through her mobile phone. The squirrel was still resting, but had managed to send her some new images she hadn't seen yet beforehand.

"I doubt he rather not chance it And I doubt he's even aware that he's doing it. To him his loyalty is divided between the old friends and the mission. The need to do the right thing, but the right thing may not be the smartest thing to do. I believe that the same can be said of your other friends. This would be a very interesting study indeed." Doctor Markus rubbed his hands in glee.

This seemed to give the team something to look forward to for the rest of the day, with the basic plan outlined and certain factors amended. The conversation eventually evolved into some other mundane thing as more Umbrella personnel entered the area for their meals.

Peering at her mobile phone Iwa smiled upon seeing the recent images the Maru-cam had sent. It was an unconscious Sean lying inside a cell. Knowing where he was had solved part of the problem. Stealing him might be a problem since she had no access to his section of the cell. What got her curious though was what Umbrella would want with a low-level Shoto like Sean.

No matter, she thought to herself. It was time to start work again.