Board Fighters II
Chapter 39 Part 2 Breaking Free
Writer: Cherie (w/Gouki and Iwa)

 

 


HAWAII CONVENTION CENTER

Under most circumstances any fights involving the chronically absent Iwa tended to garner low spectator attendance. On the whole it worked to her advantage where unnecessary attention was concerned. On the other hand it also made it easier for Guile and his team to keep an eye on her. Considering that this match was against a titan like Ryu, it was pretty much a forgone conclusion as to the result of the match.

The carpark where the match is concern was filled with people milling about the roped off area. The location operator was probably trying to recoup the potential loss of capital where this match of the low viewership is concerned by renting out the centre to its local anime club for its activities. If for whatever reason that there was a fight, it would be a bonus event for the convention goers.

For some reason, the theme for the VGMAD Oahu-con (Video Games, Mangas, Anime, Dolls) was decidedly Espionage considering the number of cosplayers in replica stealth suits, cyberpunk costumes and the handful of cardboard/fiberglass cyborgs.

Making the best of this situation was the Spanish ninja who had decided to set a booth in the carpark area to advertise his line of action figures and dolls. Mainly the line which adhered to the Epsionage theme of the convention. Loose accessories and outfits included as well. He even threw in a discount for anybody who would buy two whole teams of heroes and the so-called 'villians'. He also had a camera set up to record the match if his partner decided to show up.

A nondescript grey van drove up and the first to alight was Guile. Scanning the area he frowned at the sight of the various 'strike teams', cyberpunk/gal, cyberninjas, some cyborg replicas costume and a handful of 'one man army' skulking around underneath a cardboard box like it was the latest trend in espionage. It made him wonder who in the right mind would use a cardboard box to infiltrate an enemy base.

The long hair cowboy who kept 'shooting' at the cardboard boxes would have been a little out of place though. Of course no convention would be complete without an evil boss or two along with some lackeys. Some kids he knew would feel quite at home in this place, if he could find them.

"Geeks…" Guile mumbled under his breath.

"Be nice Guile. Be nice." Charlie's voice buzzed from the receiver in his ear. "Some of us depend on the fickleness of these guys and gals to maintain our continued popularity." From the background noise Guile knew that Charlie was in one of the section of the crowd.

"What are they gonna do? Write a Yaoi fic about you and me?" he asked dryly.

"They could already have done so. Maybe even make a voodoo doll out of you." Cammy added. Being their sniper she had the advantage of viewing the area from higher ground.

It wasn't so much the geekdom surrounding him that bothered Guile. It was more the fact that some of these cosplayers wore attires so similar to a certain someone in his custody that all she needed to blend into the crowd was to don a blond or navy blue wig. He had a feeling that this whole event was too much of coincidence.

"They're Shirow's girls." Charlie chimed in. He knew what Guile's attention was on. "They came from different manga but he drew the girls to look similar except for the colour of their hair."

"You're into manga?"

"Not really. It's just to kill time. There are some strange parallels between work and it though. The Major is kinda cute but Cammy doesn't like her robotic background, even though she's capable of ripping apart a large mecha with her bare hands. I think you both would prefer the blond Captain." Charlie laughed.

"Geeks." Guile mumbled again.

"Be nice, Guile." Charlie laughed.

"Your ten-o-clock Colonel," Cammy said, indicating something noteworthy in the crowd.

His attention was directed back to the Spanish ninja. He had with him two young ladies both wearing an altered qipao over their dark blue bodysuit.

"They're Dolls, Colonel. The Chinese Sisters." Cammy informed him. As if they caught on he was glaring at them. They waved in his direction and the Doll with the hairbuns and long pigtails waggled a Guile figure at him.

He snorted in an offended manner. If his comrades were laughing about this he hadn't heard so much as a peep out them.

"Pierantoni?" He checked in with the quietest member of their group. He had been quite affected by the disappearance of his student and his previous conversation with Iwa seemed to have strengthened that.

"I'm here," was the response.

"Keep your eye on the runt."

"I will."

"We'll find her. We'll get them all back." Guile assured him.

"Thanks."

Satisfied with what he had seen so Guile returned to the van and knocked on the door. It slid open and Iwa hopped out. Her attention was immediately drawn to the two waving Dolls at the other end of the carpark. Naturally she waved back until her view was blocked off by Guile.

"Look kid. Off the record I hope you'll come back to us. I'll definitely try to pull some strings for you. And if you want to stay away from him I could take over your case and take you under my wing. And I'm speaking as father with actual parenting experience."

Iwa looked at him and was about to comment on something regarding his parenting history in connection to vengeance against her Master, but instead she chose not to say anything about it.

"I'll think about that." She gave him a sad smile and headed into the area. Ryu was waiting for her.


NAN PROVINCE

Once inside the new room, the pair took the chance to visually explore their surroundings. East of their current position were a pair of doors, while across from them was a large stone pillar, with a blue gem-like stone embedded onto it. Lastly, in-between the pillar and the door, partly illuminated by a single ray of moonlight, was a circular, ornate design engraved onto the ground.

Juli immediately headed towards the door, leaving Pablo behind to observe the floor engraving. Much to her chagrin, however, there was no such hidden switch on the nearby walls as with the last door.

"This device… it's like a… celestial calendar of some kind," Pablo spoke aloud, as if absorbed in his own thoughts to care about anything else. He stared critically at the spot of moonlight upon the dial, where he then followed the beam of light upward, towards the pillar, and onto the azure stone, which appeared to be glowing. "And that pillar must be the 'key' to opening the door...?" A final look at the door soon confirmed his suspicions, as it too brandished an identical stone directly above it.


"So how do we open it?" Juli questioned. Despite his occasional annoyance and recklessness, the man was not short of intellect whenever a situation called for it. She wouldn't admit it to him, of course - his ego was already big enough as it was.

"That stone on the pillar must help open those doors using the moonlight," Pablo explained. "But only if it hits the stone above them at the right angle… whenever that may be."

"At the right angle?" Juli frowned as understanding and realisation gradually sunk in. "We don't have time to wait that long."

Pablo flashed an all-knowing grin at Juli's comment. "Diablo knows. That's why it'll be done Diablo's way."

With her arms crossed in a mix of intrigue and anticipation, Juli simply watched on as Pablo placed his wrist - or rather, the diamond-encrusted platinum watch that covered it - over the spot of moonlight and tilted it at an angle to direct and refract the beam of light onto the stone above the doors. Upon contact it slowly generated a bright glow, before the sound of rumbling reverberated across the room as the doors slowly parted, as if reluctant to do so.

"Good job," she said approvingly. From where they stood they could see right into the room, as well as their prize, perched invitingly on a small shrine table of some kind. "Now that our latest task's complete, we'll need to get an update on what exactly our dear friends have been up to…"


HAWAII CONVENTION CENTER

Coming out of their van Ryu was accompanied by Chun Li. Trailing them from a discreet distance was the FBI agent Riq. As was expected Ken had intercepted the couple.

"Ryu. CL." Ken greeted them and received one in return. "Frankly I don't know how you guys are able to deal with missing kids the way you do. Another one of mine went missing. I want them back and I need to speak to your runt and she better not let herself go missing." There was sarcasm in his voice.

"So does everybody." Chun Li answered in a tired voice. They had all danced this dance too often.

"Fine. Then I'm gonna say this only once. Keep her out of the hospital or they'll retrieve her and we lose the one source of information in this whole damn mess. I hope you'll let go of this ego thing of yours and just make up with her. Too many kids have disappeared Ryu. She might knows how to find them and we need her back on our side. If you're sick of playing mentor to these kids, just throw her case to me and I'll see if I can get Guile to pull a few strings. I'm a father and I don't mind having another one of these kids running around the house."

"I'll do what I can." Ryu said in that non-committal voice of his, brushing Ken aside he headed into the designated area.

"Guile slapped quite an amount of red tape on you didn't he?"

"You think? You could always ask Guile you know." A slight movement on Chun Li's part indicated the presence of the Colonel at the other end of the carpark. Turning around he spotted the Guile speaking to Iwa. The show was about to begin.


OWNER'S OFFICE - THE MAKAI

"I just received this email. So does this mean I can't borrow him to run errands for me?" Karin asked over the phone.

Meliza laughed. "Yes, you can't borrow him anymore."

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Karin asked dubiously. "Granted, I know next to nothing about your peasant boyfriend's employment experience, and I'm sure he can handle the responsibilities, but..."

"I can't think of anyone I'd trust more to handle the job, at least for the time being until the tournament is over," Meliza declared firmly. "Do me a favor? You're the only one who knows about our relationship, other than Victoria, but-"

"Say no more," Karin interrupted. "No one needs to know he got the job because he's sleeping in the penthouse suite."

"Thanks." Good old Karin. Blunt and to the point.


ROOM 105 - THE MAKAI

Jin rolled over onto his stomach, staring glumly at the closed curtains of his empty hotel room. What the hell was he going to do? The buzzed feeling he'd had late last night could be a welcome distraction, but he briefly wondered if he wanted to go through with that again. He slowly sat up, rubbing the back of his head. He could feel the after-effects of too much alcohol, and while he was fully functional, it still wasn't the most comfortable feeling. He needed water.

He got off the bed and immediately noticed that the lid on Happy's cage was off, Rosie's knocked over with the door open. And both animals were nowhere to be seen.

Damn. He could have sworn after Freckle's biting session that all the cages and animals were intact. Jin pushed curtains aside, bedsheets, and he even dropped down to peer under the bed. Nothing. He moved to the dresser and TV, trying to look into the space against the wall. Nothing.

Jin moved into the bathroom, checking the tub, sink, and toilet.

Wait a minute...Where's the cat?

He went to the curtains of the room again, pushing them aside to see an empty balcony railing. Jin moved towards the table of cages again, noticing that Rosie's cage was on its side.

Damn...

Jin yanked the nightstand phone to his ear, pushing a button. He paused as a knock came to the door. Jin hung up the phone and went to answer, checking the peephole to see a tall, Polynesian man dressed in a white shirt and black slacks. He opened the door a few inches, just enough for his head to stick out.

"Yes?"

Jin immediately recognized Freckle held up by an arm the size of his head. What the hell? Behind the man, Jin recognized the housekeeping lady assigned to their floor, holding a clear container with... was that Rosie??

"Hello, Mr. Kushina," the housekeeper said with a friendly smile. "Your pets escaped..."

"Thanks..." Jin accepted the bowl, noticing that the man quickly jumped away to give her room.

"There's one more... a frog?" Henry was the man's name, based on a quick glance at the nametag.

"Yeah..." Jin carefully placed Rosie back in her cage and took the cat in his arms.

"It escaped down the elevator," Henry announced, waving at the housekeeper as she graciously took her leave. He pushed a button on the radio strapped to his hip. "M1, this is M2, what's your twenty?" He paused for a moment. "Yes, sir, they've been returned. I'll let him know." Henry turned his gaze to Jin. "My supervisor lost sight of your frog. Last he saw it ran through the housekeeping department."

Jin shot Freckle a look. "I think I know how we can find it."


LOBBY - THE MAKAI

Jin stepped out of the elevator, Freckle in hand with Henry behind him. They rounded the elevators in the direction of the front desk. Jin spotted an Asian man speaking to the lady behind the desk and he instantly recognized him. He had seen him a few times around the hotel, especially after he and Natalie had just checked in.

The man said some final words to the lady at the desk before making his way towards them.

"Mr. Kushina?" The security supervisor's pale gold nametag with navy blue lettering spelled out 'Devlin'. He was dressed for office work, lacking in the security uniform, and a pair of Rayban sunglasses was perched on the top of his head.

Jin nodded confirmation.

"Mr. Motu tells me that you know how to find your runaway amphibian."

"Right here." Jin held up Freckle. At the supervisor's doubtful look, he said quickly, "They usually know how to find each other whenever they get loose."

Okay, that sounded ridiculous. The man probably thought he was crazy. To make it even worse, Freckle peered up at the other man and meowed as if to say 'Yes, I can find our friend, I promise'. Jin half-expected a sarcastic remark but internally applauded the man for his neutral expression by not making this any worse as he addressed his subordinate.

"Go ahead on patrol... I'll go along on the next one."

"Yes, sir."

Just as Henry left, the lady at the front desk answered the phone, told the caller to hold on and pressed the phone to her shoulder. "Mr. Cai?"

"Yes."

"That was the cabana. The bartender says that a few guests spotted a frog sitting on a lounge chair watching the pool."

Jin quickly headed in the pool's direction, with security closely behind.

A small crowd had gathered by the pool. Jin was relieved to see that the runaway pet was perched by Fei Long's foot. Several female guests were sitting around the movie star, either to ogle at the movie star or the frog, he wasn't sure.

"Hey," Fei Long greeted his friend with a smile. "Long time no see."

"Yeah..." Jin leaned forward to pluck the animal off his friend's chair. Happy's webbed feet clung to his hand.

"Aww...are you taking him away?" a random girl groupie asked.

"You're in for it if she finds out that you let that escape," Fei teased.

Jin nodded and turned away. He didn't miss his friend's suddenly serious expression. Normally, he would have bantered with his friend, but he just wanted to get back to his room and... and do what? Sleep?

Where did all these people come from, anyway? They were talking to the frog as if it was a baby. The security supervisor's eyes were now shielded by dark sunglasses, his expression revealing next to nothing, so it was hard to tell if he was annoyed or amused as the groupies lamented the loss of their mascot. Probably annoyed. Jin was getting annoyed listening to them.

After a moment, Devlin nodded his head once in his direction. "Follow me to the security office. You have to fill out some paperwork."

Probably standard procedure. He really had other things to be worrying about. It wasn't as if anyone got hurt...

Once at the security office on the floor that overlooked the lobby, Devlin entered through the door while Jin stayed outside at the waiting window. From his vantage point, he could see that the office had a view of the beach and pool area, complete with two cubicles side by side with phones and computers, the monitors showing different camera angles of the property. Closer to the back of the office, near the window, an oak desk with two computer monitors and desk phone.

He waited as the supervisor slid open the window.

Devlin produced a clipboard with a paper and pen. "First page lists the lost item that you're retrieving, so initial and room number. You need to list on the second page every animal you have in your room and describe them as accurately as possible."

"For what?"

An arched brow was the response. "Just in case. If your pets wander off again, my men will know not to call animal control and instead, will just return them to you."

"Never had to fill one out before," Jin muttered under his breath.

"You do now," came the smooth reply.

Jin glanced up, surprised the man had heard him. He quickly wrote down each animal with a basic description and handed the clipboard over.

"In the back, there's a waiver saying that you won't hold the hotel responsible in case your pets are injured, missing, or dead."

Who was this guy, the pet Nazi? And since when did this policy come up, anyway? He didn't remember having to fill this out at front desk...

As if reading his mind, Devlin said, "A lot of guests have taken to bringing pets for an extended stay, so we recently started having guests fill out these forms."

"Is that it?" Jin gave him the clipboard back.

"No. Just make sure that you and your girlfriend take better care of those animals. Luckily some of our housekeeping doesn't mind them, but guests might."

Just what he needed, a lecture. He couldn't help Natalie, and he couldn't even control her stupid pets.

Jin studied him for a few seconds. He had the very strangest feeling... "Have we met before?"

The supervisor looked up. "I don't think so..." An enigmatic smile appeared. "Not unless you've been frequenting four star hotels across Asia the last six years..."

Well, that would explain the lack of Hawaiian accent and slang. Not that he really understood what the staff was saying, anyway.

Jin turned away, Freckle and Happy secured, heading back to his room. The cat meowed once and the frog croaked as a response. Jin glared at both of them for a few seconds, noticing that the pets demeanors instantly changed, their heads bowing as if they were children about to be grounded. Right. He wouldn't put it past the cat to dig its claws into him once they were safely away in the hotel room.


LONDON, ENGLAND

The tea was particularly sweet today. Rose carefully sipped from her cup, enjoying the flowery scents from the garden and the peaceful late afternoon.

"Excuse me, Lady Rose. You have a phone call from a Mr. Jacob Turner." Her attendant dutifully held up a cordless phone.

"Thank you." Rose accepted the device and held it to her ear. "Hello?"

"Hey," Turner's voice greeted her. "I just wanted to let you know what's going on…"

"Everything all right?"

"So far. I've secured two items, and they're both safely locked away."

Rose fought back a sigh of relief. She had been a little worried…very worried, considering she hadn't heard from him in a long time. Still, now that he was on task, he had to do a better job of letting her know what was going on. A look in the mirror this morning and she had found at least four more white hairs. She was still too young for that. "A friend told me that he saw Veracruz and his partner in Thailand several days ago."

"Did he retrieve…?"

"He's not sure. So far there has been no sign of him leaving the country," Rose answered.

"All right. Esperanza and I leave the day after tomorrow. We'll just have to get there before he does…" The seriousness in her friend's usual cheerful tone reminded her once again how important his assignment was.

"Do what you can. Be careful. And Jacob?"

"Yeah?"

"Do not wait too long before the next time you update me on your status."

"Sorry about that." She could practically see the grin on his face based on his tone of voice. "You sound like a mother."

She couldn't help but smile a little at that. "Goodbye, Jacob."

When they hung up, Rose took a sip of her tea, her lips pursing at disgust at its cold temperature.


HAWAII CONVENTION CENTER

There was a murmur in the crowd when they realised that there was going to be a fight after all. The various spectators took the seats provided as camera flashes went off. Ryu took his place in the centre of the carpark. He was separated from Iwa by a slab of concrete curb about three feet in width between them. The referee standing upon this man-made island seemed satisfied with the appearance of both fighters and began the match with a single word.

"FIGHT!"

Iwa made the first move, springing up over the curb the moment the referee scurried away, the flash of blue qi upon her fist signified an old trick by now. Ryu simply moved aside, allowing the ground to be her target. He took a defensive stance as she rolled aside. There was a gathering of qi as she unleashed a projectile; easily enough he neutralised it with a Hadoken. Knowing very well she would follow with a rain of furious punches he intercepted her with a roundhouse that sent her flying towards the wall.
In mid air Iwa managed to regain her balance and used the wall to bounce back at him with a flying kick with enough force to make him stagger just slightly. The sudden ignition of the qi fist forced him to continue blocking, but she took advantage of that instinct to leap over his head and knee him in the back. Landing to ram an elbow into Ryu's back and following up with the two hit exploding qi fist.

Aside from a mild bit of disorientation he was fine. Ryu recovered quickly enough, slapping away the jabs and the left and right hooks. He sensed a building up of anger in her. It was disappointing that she was reduced to this instead of being able to fight him in top form.

"What have they done to you?" He voiced out his frustration, still fending off the poking jabs. She pulled back immediately giving herself enough space for a low kick to his knee that was followed by one to his abdomen and one to his chest.

"Fight back!" she almost screamed. Frustrated by his defensive stance, she leapt back, gathering a ball of qi in her hand and slinging it towards Ryu. He stepped aside, forcing him to endure another slew of jabs. He tried to back off but Iwa chased him with a roundhouse. Blocking it with his forearm Ryu threw Iwa off balance somewhat.

Before she could regain her balance Ryu dashed forward, pinning her against the wall with one fist looming in the air ready to strike. He had made sure that there was no way that Vega's camera would be able to pick up what he'd say via audio or through lip reading.

"What have I said to you?" Ryu demanded. Silence answered him. There was no way she could answer this question since Bison had skewed the facts. He had to find a way to get through to her. Her destructive anger could end up hurting herself as well as others.

"What have I said to you?"

"You left me to die! You turned your back on me!!!" Iwa practically screamed.

"Not what I did but what I said!" A low growl came from Ryu. In a moment of frustration his fist smashed into the wall beside Iwa. It could be considered a threat.

"Do me a favour. Stop holding back," she taunted him. Was she desperate to change the subject?


"He knows you're pulling your punches. And you're responsible for my failure he'll have me whipped to an inch of my life when I go back."

"And you still stick with him."

"At least with him I know where I stand." She smirked

Ryu realised now what Bison was trying to do. If he were to beat the sense out of his wayward ward in this match it would prove to her he no longer cared. Yet if he were to hold back he would still be admitting to some sort of guilt. Both ways painted Ryu in a very bad light in Iwa's eyes. With a roar of frustration, he grabbed Iwa by the vest front and threw her across the carpark. He ignored the curious gaze that came from Chun Li.

"Throwing me away now? Typical." Iwa laughed as she landed on her feet, brushing away some amount of debris on her outfit.

Clearly upset now, she dashed towards him, springing into the air when she gained enough momentum. Dashing forward put Ryu out of her stomping or kneeing range. She had to land, and when she did Ryu slid forward, ramming his elbow into her to throw her off balance. Ensuring he had a grip of her vest as his legs went into a half squat, his gathered qi aided his leap into a beautiful Shoryuken. Unless Bison was taking a lot of time out to analyse this match, he would not find this sneaky little subterfuge. Reaching his apex he let her go.

As he descended he studied the crowd. Some of the concerned familiar faces had been on the receiving end of a true Shin Shoryuken. They knew the damage it could do as Iwa landed heavily onto the ground.

There was a murmur in the crowd as Iwa rose shakily to her feet. Ryu stepped in front of her.

"Tell me what I said to you." He was challenging her memory. "You can't remember can you?"

"Stop screwing with my head!" She screeched, blindly throwing a punch at him. Easily enough he caught it.

"Tell me what I said to you." He ignored the build up of her qi. Would she be that destructive to utilise the Wave at this close range? He hoped not.

"Tell me where I went wrong. I have to know what I said to you to know what I did wrong. I want you back with us." He tried pleading with her.

"Too late." Two orbs of qi had formed in her palms.

"No!!!" Ryu sensed the inevitable build up for the Kisatsu Wave. At such close range the damage would be serious for the both of them. It did not matter to Bison if Iwa injured herself fighting him just as long as she did some damage to him whether physical, mental or emotional. Bison would definitely have to pay for this.

In that split second the only thing Ryu could do and may eventually regret doing in defence for the both of them. He unleashed a Hadoken that caught Iwa's Psycho Wave just as before it could be fully formed and neutralised most of it, but the backlash of which sent Iwa hurtling into the crowd. Ryu looked helplessly to Chun Li and shrugged. It had to be done and she knew it too. Hopefully they wouldn't have to send her back to the hospital.

It did not take long for Ryu to be declared the winner of this match. Somehow it felt empty to him.


-*-


Guile frowned at the sight before him. His team was on alert the moment Iwa landed into the crowd. Mere moments passed and the match was declared over in Ryu's favour. It was time to retrieve her before the medics did.

Before Guile could even take a step forward it happened. There was a mini explosion somewhere that spooked the crowd. Somebody pushed someone else and somebody else had fallen. The crowd was whipped into a panic with so many people running this way and that to flee any more potential destruction.

"Move! Move! Move!!!! Pierantoni!!!!" Guile ordered his team. The Agent was supposed to be the one nearest Iwa.

"I'm on it!" Riq responded.

From the corner of his eye Guile spotted Vega leaping out of his booth and he gave chase. Catching up with the Spaniard, he found that someone had been pinned down.

"Let him go Vega." Guile ordered

"Can a man not protect his merchandise? The peasant tried to steal my merchandise in the melee. Would you like to redeem your doll Colonel? Your lovely daughter had already ordered a few companions to round up the whole team." The Spaniard smiled, grabbing the Guile figure from the thief he waggled in front of annoyed Guile.

Throwing a glance towards the Doll booth the two Chinese Dolls were had remained within.

"Dammit. Cammy! Status!" he barked a furious order.

"I lost sight of her Colonel."

There was nothing from Charlie or the Agent. Guile cursed once more. They had to keep searching.


-*-


"Can you stand?" The voice sounded familiar but it was not an option for Iwa. Whoever it was had practically dragged her to her feet. Someone was fiddling around with her head but she was too weak to swat it off.

Through partially open eyes she knew they were making their way through the panicking crowd. Regaining her ability to move in step with them she took the opportunity to study her rescuers. The one who dragged her off was dressed similar to the short blond haired character that most of these people seemed to be cosplaying. Flanking Iwa were three more male characters that made up her team. And covering her rear was the cyborg guy character from said manga. Reaching a row of parked vans, they spilt into two teams. Iwa and the blond and the enforcer with the long dark hair took one van while the other three took another.

After getting into the back of the van with the blond, she finally realised who it was when the wig was removed.

"Change out of your clothes little sister, and give me your equipment." The French doll said as the red haired doll Février threw a backpack to Iwa.

Iwa did as told and the Doll took a small laptop and began scanning the files in Iwa's digital electronics just in case Guile and company had planted a digital bug. Satisfied she removed the operating and memory chip from Iwa's equipment and loaded it into another set of equipment, just in case there was a physical bug. Février placed the equipment inside a box and pasted a shipping label onto it.

"Has Master any orders?" Iwa asked

"Master says stay until the tournament ends. Where you go is up to you. If you can't get anybody else in till then. He would have to find a way in for you."

"Any news of who else in whose hands?" Iwa asked, the curiosity was getting to her. The doll frowned at her for asking such a question.

"I know as much as you do."

The van eventually came to a stop, which Iwa hopped out of.

"Take your time to go back little sister. Master says stay away from the Colonel. I doubt we could put another stunt like this." The Doll saluted her as the van drove off. Iwa looked back at the road before her. Her head was hurting quite badly. She was now at a place called Chun's Beach. There should be some manner of accommodations she could rent and rest in.