--The Makai, close to midnight--

He stood perched on the balcony, shrouded by the darkness of nightfall, his body almost unmoving. Steel blue eyes stared down at the urban expanse below him, then to the rooftop of the building opposite him. His mind calculated the distance between the building and himself, pondered on whether he can cover such a distance in one bound, and imagined the speed at which he'd fall to his death were he to miscalculate his leap.

Within the mindset of Vega, such thoughts were commonplace, a reflection of the profession he specialized in: assassination. Killing people was perhaps the only thing Vega truly knew, save for observing and admiring the beauty of things.

It'd been several weeks to this day since he was assigned to this island. Not to undertake a new assassination, but this time to primarily keep an eye on Bison's latest project: Iwa Hoshi. Hardly befitting for one of my stature, a part of him thought. Vega, second-in-command of Shadaloo, and one of the world's top ten assassins, sent to be someone's babysitter? However, there were only a select few who know of his dark reputation. In public Vega was very much the celebrity, a socialite, famous matador of Spain, world-class fighter, and even recent owner of a successful line of action figures - better known as S-Dolls.

Thus, he fully understood his superior's decision.

Finding himself chuckling for almost no reason, Vega ventured back into the hotel room. Tomorrow he was scheduled to face Fei Long, but that's on the assumption he chose to make the appearance. His outcome in the COF tournament was of no concern to him, since his presence within it was nothing more than a suitable cover - with the chance to expand and promote his business venture as a bonus.

"Ah, my lovely collections..." he sighed to himself. They were really getting popular since the media coverage. Even among the staff of the organization he worked with, particularly one fan girl.

Shaking the thoughts from his mind, Vega let his eyes wander the sky. Should he deign to appear to the masses tomorrow? If he didn't, the fight was of no consequence to him. But the public... hn. Such pitiable people needed something beautiful to grace their mundane lives, and he could think of nothing more beautiful than himself, moving like a graceful predator, toying with prey and readying for a kill. The blood that ran along his claws in his mind's eye sent shivers of delight through him.

Fei Long might even prove a worthy adversary.

Yes, perhaps he would show up on the morrow.

With these thoughts, the assassin retired to his room to ruminate further within the dark workings of his mind.

~*~*~*~

--Undisclosed location, Waikiki, Oahu, 5:45AM--

Pierantoni's flashlight flickered on as he cautiously entered what from the outside looked like an abandoned warehouse.

"I'm in," he softly spoke into the tiny headset attached to his right ear. His hand then reached to switch on a small electronic transmitting device fastened to his belt, several colored LEDs glowing to life on its metallic frame. As he surveyed his immediate surroundings, Enrique unholstered his weapon, leveling it on his left wrist whilst holding the flashlight with that same hand.

"GPS tracker is up. I have you on my grid," came the voice of Cammy White from the FBI agent's earpiece. "You're clear." She continued, "Entrance is five meters west from you current position."

The memorized layout of the warehouse, as well as other relevant details replayed through Pierantoni's mind. Yesterday, another lead was eliminated by Umbrella, despite of the strong government involvement in his protection. Dr. Alan Wester was found mortally wounded in his Honolulu home. Luckily he lived long enough to pass on significant data to his would be rescuers. Again, no sign of the killer, no visible tracks... and although Pierantoni was highly comfortable in accusing the Corporation with the crime, not enough evidence was acquired for the case to survive in court.

Enrique's boots came to a hollow section of the creaking floor. He stomped on the area twice, easily breaking through the wooden panel to reveal a staircase leading to an unknown location beneath the storage house. He kneeled to take a quick glance into the entryway, only to cough and retreat just as quickly.

"You alright?" He heard agent White's voice again as well as some random typing on a keyboard.

"Fine. Smells like crap down there," Enrique replied, taking another peek into the darkness.

Enrique heard Cammy chuckle then waited a few seconds for instructions.

"Extending grid..."

"Acquiring data..."

"Clear. No sign of life"

"Roger that," Enrique said into the earpiece. He grimaced slightly as he took the first few steps down the stairs. The stench of humidity and decay coming from inside was almost proof that indeed no life had passed through that hole for a while. It worried Riq, since it challenged the validity of their lead. He continued forward, not holstering his gun despite Cammy's assurance.

Reaching the end of the staircase, Enrique put away his flashlight since, to his surprise, the small chamber was illuminated by the brightness emitted by three monitors. The silence of the dirty atmosphere was interrupted by the humming sound of the servers on the far corner, and several probing instruments as well as other seemingly medical supplies were scattered on the room's one metallic table. A numerous amount of crates and boxes were littered on the far back, darkness enveloping that particular area of the room.

Pierantoni made his way to the monitors. Luckily the servers were unlocked, with a few tappings on the keyboard he searched for any recently viewed data files. Flicking a particular switch on his headset Enrique activated a tiny camera, simultaneously provoking a video stream to appear on Cammy's screen.

"Are you getting this?" Riq asked just as he pulled a PDA from his pocket and hooked it up to one the machine's USB connection.

"What is that place?" Cammy's curiosity peaked as she studied the live picture playing in front of her.

"A lab of some sort. These servers were connected directly to the Umbrella intranet... until Dr. Wester got caught it seems..." Riq clicked on a button on the keyboard. "Streamlining the data..."

"Acquiring..." was the flat reply that came from the other side of the voice connection.

THUD!

The insisting pounding that came from the back of the chamber caused Enrique to instinctively pull out his weapon. "Freeze!"

Unknown and unseen to Pierantoni, Cammy's brow furrowed as she ran a search algorithm over the grid of the area. "Pierantoni, there is no one there"

The pounding continued. "I suggest you double check your readings, agent White" Riq cautiously walked towards the source of the sound. "Who's there?!" He yelled, turning on the flashlight again and aiming the light source to the back of the room.

Effectively, he found where the sound was coming from. It was some sort of metallic cylinder that stood almost six feet tall. The container had a lone glass window through which Pierantoni could clearly see a figure pounding on the hardness of its walls out of desperation. Several cable appendages made their way from the cylinder to the machines connected to the computer screens.

"Oh my God, there's someone trapped in there." Cammy's words only emphasized what Enrique was seeing.

"Calm down, I'm getting you out of there" Enrique said not knowing whether or not the person inside was able to hear him. Studying the container for a minute, he decided upon the easiest and fastest way the pry it open. Aiming his weapon at what seemed to be the cylinder's automatic locking system he delivered three gunshots to it, successfully releasing the security device. With a low grunt, he pulled the access door open, being pushed back somewhat by the force of the compressed air that escaped from inside.

And there was that stench again.

A young woman crawled out of the container, weakened; her ragged clothes clung to her bony limbs.

"Cammy, get the medics here now." He gently grabbed the woman by the arm, helping her up. Poor thing was cold as ice. "I'm here to help," he added, in case there was any doubt.

****

Elsewhere...

Data transfer complete The message appeared on Cammy's monitor screen and she for a second took her eyes off the video stream, removing a disc from her machine.

"Medical team on its way," she said, now looking again at the video and watching as agent Pierantoni helped the civilian up. She zoomed in on the stream, ready to capture the woman's face with the hopes of identifying her.

Ready to process image... She closed the dialog box and prepared to search the database.

Cammy White looked at the stream again and what she saw forced an audible gasp out of her as she jumped back on her seat.

****

The last thing Pierantoni heard was the startled gasp of Cammy White, just before his earpiece was knocked off and the woman he'd just freed madly pounced on him.
With a loud grunt he pushed her off, giving him one disappearing second to really study her.

Now fully standing upright, unkempt, stringy hair fell down to her shoulders, managing to draw attention to the worn, damaged features of her face. Her eyes, close to matching the near-grayness of her skin, gave Riq a lost, vacant stare. She gave Pierantoni what appeared to be a sneer, presenting to him a brief glance of stained teeth and blackened gums.

"Relax, I'm not here to hurt you," Riq asserted. Considering her poor and weakened state, her sudden outburst of strength and speed had definitely caught him off-guard.

Maintaining her sneer-like expression, the woman began to slowly move forward.

"Freeze!" Riq warned as he pointed his weapon at her bony form just as quickly.

A low, guttural growl was the only vocal response the agent got as the woman continued her advance.

"I said freeze!" Pierantoni boomed, just before he fired. To his surprise, the woman didn't so much as give a cry as the bullet tore through her thigh, nor did it halt her movement.

With a hungry growl she rushed towards Riq again, only to fall back several steps as two more bullets found their mark. Enrique's eyes grew wide as, with the first shot, the woman appeared unfazed by the blasts. Intermittent sunlight now shone into the room, and as the woman stepped into a passing stream Pierantoni noticed that, through her scarce hair, her right eye was beginning to rot.

Displaying a newfound agility, the creature charged at the FBI agent again, except this time Pierantoni was ready. A quick side step to his left placed him behind the woman. He pulled her left arm back in an awkward angle, satisfied only when he heard the cracking sound that rendered said limb useless. A swift kick to the back of her knees forced her into a kneeling position. Just as quickly Enrique grabbed her head, grimacing as the decayed flesh of the creature's cheekbones literally melted onto his fingers. He violently twisted her skull to one side, snapping her neck in one swift motion. Ironically, the undead being fell lifelessly onto the ground.

Enrique took several steps back, stopping only when his back touched the wall. His breathing was still uneasy, and he ignored the urge to swipe the sweat of his brow, coagulated blood still dripped from his fingers.

It was all true. The rumors about the corporation, the disaster in Raccoon City; it was all true. A knot twisted itself in Enrique's stomach. Unable to control himself any longer, he relieved himself of his dinner.

Finding his flashlight a moment later, Enrique looked for the earpiece he had lost in the commotion. Incapable of locating it, he reached for a hand held radio attached to the back of his belt and adjusted it to a certain frequency.

"This is alpha team kilo, do you copy sector zulu."

Interference, then after a moment the strong British accent of Cammy White. "Roger that. This is sector zulu. Back up is on its way."

Pierantoni had finally managed to calm his heaving breathing. "Send pathology team in... and Cammy?"

"Yes?"

"Tell that back up team to hurry. I need a f--king shower."

~*~*~*~

--The Makai, Room 105, 7:20AM--

Natalie yawned so wide it almost hurt, making blue eyes water in reaction. She blinked at the tears and what she referred to as "sandman crap", wiped her eyes for the fourth time since getting out of bed. Warm, comfy, cozy bed, with a warm, sexy, sleepy fiancé in it... Natalie had to make herself not walk back over and collapse amid jumbled covers, pillows and clothes. She'd rested so much since the fight that she felt spoiled, even though she still fell far short of doctor's recommendations.

She looked at herself in the mirror as she brushed her teeth, eyes still bleary from sleep and hair mussed in every direction. Still, she grinned at her reflection, the foam of her toothpaste running down her chin in an amusing manner.

Ah, the downtime had done her good. Time to sleep and eat like she was accustomed to, among other things. Speaking of, the downtime wasn't the only thing that had 'done her good.' She chortled quietly to herself as she continued brushing.

Once she rinsed, she peeked out of the bathroom and saw Jin still asleep in the bed. With a sigh she thought of how nice it would be to spend the rest of their time in Hawaii just enjoying each other's company, rather than her having to march off to work. They were supposed to be getting married (eventually...) and in most senses, practically were, but they barely had time to focus on each other.

An idea came to her, spreading a grin across her face. She grabbed her cell phone from the nightstand and flipped it open, adjusting it to the camera function. Then, carefully leaning over Jin, took a snapshot of him asleep, messy hair and all. Even as such, she thought he still looked hot and had to resist giggling at how the picture turned out. She set the picture as her phone's wallpaper, then leaned down and pressed her lips to his cheek, taking a shot of them both.

She was tempted to do more, but stopped lest she wake him. Besides, this would at least give her something to look at during the day, to remind her of why she was working so hard.

Then, she thought maybe he could use a reminder, too.

After a few minutes of shuffling through the play list on her laptop's media player, she'd lined up a few songs. As she had done plenty of times before, she commandeered his iPod and set it to download the songs.

It was an eclectic mix, ranging from introspective and thoughtful to seductive and risqué, all about her, of course. She had some of the same songs on her phone. It was a little silly, but she felt a little better about going to work now. Leaving her laptop to finish the transfer, she went about the rest of her morning routine.

~*~*~*~

--FBI main building, Honolulu, 7:50am HAT--

Walking into the FBI local headquarters, SAC Kyle Parker went through the monotonous and well-memorized routine to get to his office on the third floor of the building. In the elevator, he glanced at his watch and sighed to himself. Today would be the day, or rather, tonight would. He took his cell from his pocket and dialed a number, hearing the first ring just as the elevator doors slid open to allow him into the hall.

After four rings, right before the voicemail would come on, he received a gruff greeting.

"Thoughtful of you to pick up," he said as he walked past his secretary, who gave him a bland morning greeting and simply continued her meaningless tasks on the computer. Kyle ignored her and continued into his private office.

"Yes, I'm aware of that," he said to the person on the other end.

"Just be sure you're there on time... yes. Yes! I made sure of it."

He paused as the person broke away from the phone briefly to scold someone. Parker then continued when he knew they were listening again.

"If things go as planned, the delivery will be at around 11:45 tonight. I'll keep you and your people posted if plans change... No, I can't help that. I only have so much leeway here." He sighed and rolled his eyes. The man on the other end could be so irritating. "Look, I have to go, I have work to do. I'll be in touch just before the delivery." Without a further word, Parker hung up and sat down at his desk and the stacked files of reports upon it.

For the first time that morning, the Special Agent in Charge smiled.

~*~*~*~

--The Makai, 7:55AM--

The ringing sound broke itself through the stillness of the hotel room. A highly exasperated (yet too drowsy to show it) Victoria extended an arm to irreligiously smack her alarm clock to silence.

It did not stop.

Annoyed, she began striking the device with her palm... just enough times to hush it and hard enough to pop some random buttons off. Not that she cared much for it. With a content smile she wrapped herself into the warm, cozy comforter only to be awakened by the irritating ringing again.

This time she sat up. Looking to her right, she realized that the noise didn't come from her now battered alarm clock, but from her cell phone. She reached for it, flipping the lid open to see who would call at such an inhumane hour. Two letters flashed on the screen, in rhythm with the ring tone that continued to play.

"KK"

It took a second for the baffled Victoria to recognize the caller, remembering that she had been too lazy to type in "Karin Kanzuki" into her cell phone when she saved the number. After pressing the green button on her phone, she brought the receiver to her ear.

"Hello?" She spoke in an obviously grudging tone.

"Victoria, I need your help... I need you to come NOW!" The high pitched voice that came from the other side of the line obligated Enid to separate the receiver from her ear several centimeters, else risking some degree of hearing impairment.

"Wha-? What's wrong?" Victoria's hand made its way to rub the side of her head.

"It's an emergency! I'm in 3740 East Wetmore... Hurry!" The line went dead soon after.

With a deep groan, Victoria scurried to find a notepad and pen to scribble down the address, lest she'd forget it. It took all her might to jump off the bed and out of her PJ's.

~~~~

--3740 East Wetmore Drive, 20 minutes later--

"This is your emergency!?" A shocked Victoria stared at Karin Kanzuki in disbelief.

The latter sat on a styling chair, with several attendants working on her hair, manicure and pedicure. Her blonde locks were currently wrapped in gigantic rollers and her bangs were pointing in gravity defying angles. The heiress had apparently called Victoria over to help her decide which shade of ridiculously eye-blinding pink she should use for her nails.

"Oh, no, no, no, no! I was going with this one..." Karin wiggled in Victoria's face a nail polish shade that seemed to look exactly like the other twenty on display. "It's your hair that's screaming for help!"

"WHAT? What the hell is wrong with my hair?"

Karin sighed, mimicking exasperation. It was critical, Karin believed, that anyone and everyone who hung out with her had to look their best! With all the media and cameras floating around... and it's not that Victoria looked bad. On the contrary, Enid looked very, very good... for a common peasant girl.

"Vicky, please don't make me go there... obviously I don't have the time to enumerate all the..."

Victoria growled.

Kanzuki blinked.

"Stress! One of the primary causes of premature aging! If it helps you relax, you shall have the honor of sparring with me today. In preparation for your fight tomorrow of course."

"Lucky me," Victoria mused under her breath. She then pointed an intimidating finger at Kanzuki. "You... you are insane! And I am going back to bed."

And Victoria would have gone back to the comfort of her hotel room, had it not been for the army of stylists, hair dressers, manicurists, and from the look of the menacing tools in their hands... makeup artists that stood between her and the only exit from the salon.

"Oh, crap..." Was the last thought that went through Victoria's mind before being dragged into a styling chair.

~*~*~*~

--Room 105, 8:17AM--

By the time Natalie got out of the shower, Jin was awake and getting ready for the day himself.

"Good morning," she greeted as she toweled her hair in front of the bathroom mirror, droplets from the shower still clinging to and glistening on her body in places.

"Morning," Jin said through a yawn as he nudged a rambunctious Baka-neko away from his feet none-too-gently. The cat flattened his ears in response and took off, tearing across the carpet to find something else to harass.

"Sleep well?" Natalie grinned at him from beneath a curtain of damp hair as she finger-combed the strands to keep from running a brush through them before they were dry and risking damage to her long mane. Not for the first time, Jin wondered how she kept it from getting in the way of things.

"Hnn," he replied in his customary morning version of "yeah". Natalie figured he must have slept rather hard, since he was still squinting at the glare of the bathroom light.

"So whatcha gonna do today?" she asked, twisting her hair up in the towel to keep it out of the way while she dressed.

Jin shrugged as he turned the shower on, giving a sound approximating to, "I dunno."

"Gonna train?"

"Not really in the mood for it today."

"Go shopping?"

"Not likely."

"Arcade?"

"Did that yesterday. The games are getting boring."

"What about your PSP?"

"Beaten all the games on it, and the ones I haven't are boring."

"Okay..." Natalie smirked and rolled her eyes. It was, at times, as hard to keep Jin entertained on any one thing as it was to keep a kid from getting bored.

When he reached for a towel and saw that she'd used the last one, he sighed and turned the shower back off. "Hide the cat, we're gonna have to call room service again."

Natalie pulled the towel off of her hair and held it out to him with a blankly pleasant look. "Just use this one."

"But you've used it already."

"So we share showers but not towels?" she teased.

"I mean it's wet." He gave her a look that implied mild exasperation, which only made her grin.

"Relax silly. It's not that damp, but you won't have to worry about it anyway. Go on and take your shower, I'll call room service in the meantime. I'll probably be gone by the time they get here, but I can have the cages put in the closet and lock Freckle in here with you."

"Fine, but if he attacks me in the shower again, you might not have a cat when you get back."

She gave him a jesting poke that was intentionally sharp enough to make him emit a small grunt of pain. "Uh huh, and then you won't have a sexy, awesome fiancée like me anymore."

Jin's expression turned to mock confusion, "I have an awesome fiancée?"

Before he could continue the joke, he received two more sharp jabs - both of which he was unsuccessful at dodging - and a small shove towards the shower.

"Just get in shower before you get into some real trouble," she spoke in a flat voice, only to see him smirk at her over his shoulder.

"I think I can get out of it easy enough."

She cocked a brow and smiled. "Maybe, but you'd have to work at it. And I don't have time to be 'convinced' today, I'm gonna be late as it is." She sighed then and stepped closer for a brief kiss goodbye that turned into a deeper kiss and a squeezing hug.

"Have a good day," he said when she pulled back.

"You too, don't get too bored without me around," she replied with a grin, then turned to walk out of the bathroom and get some clothes for the day.

Jin watched her go with a trace of his smirk still on his face. As soon as he turned back around and had his hand on the adjustment knobs for the water, he felt sharp little claws dig into his ankle.

In the bedroom, Natalie heard the muttered invective and the feline shriek that followed, causing her to shake her head and laugh. Once she was dressed she picked up her holstered gun, wallet and phone and realized she'd received a text message.

Need to speak with you. Meet me at the following location.

One brow quirked, Natalie sighed and rushed to get everything done so she could leave quickly. Parker would not be pleased, but then, what else was new?