By EliadS

The two Yakuza thugs drag Chunli across a long corridor. Her breathing is shallow and weak, her head bowed in her unconscious state. Blood is staining her face from the wound in her temple.

To add to this appearance are some ugly black bruises on her cheek and legs, all these decorated with nasty and deep gashes and cuts. Chunli coughs and her eyelids flutter slightly. Her eyes open into two small slits; She groans softly and blinks a few times.

"What the? Ow…godd*mnit…what happened?" She thinks as pain invades her, she grimaces and closes her eyes tightly.

"Well, Well, Well…lookie who finally woke up?" One of the men says and chuckles audibly, looking down at her.

"Rise and shine sleeping beauty…How're the ribs? Face? And back?" The other asks and laughs.

Chunli growls under her breath, her memory returning and with it her anger. "Now I remember…those f**king b*st*rds…" She thinks and struggles to regain her footing.

One of the thugs winks to his counterpart and grins before extending his foot before hers, thus tripping her.

She looses her footing and falls forward, banging her already injured knee into the metal surface again. She grimaces and chokes down the urge to cry out as the thud of bone on metal is heard.

The two laugh out loud, obviously finding her banging her knee onto the metal surface quite amusing according to their facial expressions.

"Did you see the expression on her face? Too bad I dun have a camera, cause that was a freaking Kodak moment!" One of them says

She bites her lower lip "When I recover from this…you two are gonna get a kick so far up you’re a**es…It'll knock sense into your pea sized brains," She thinks. This time she doesn't attempt to walk again, not wanting to be another source of the sick men's entertainment.

They lead her to a large metal door. One of them puts his hand on a pad. It glows in green before the door opens. "Here ya go, get to know your new inmates b*tch!" The other says before they both hurl her in violently.

"Oh and don't get too comfy though. Cause the boss is getting hungry and one of you wh*res will have to satisfy his nymphomania!" He adds

She hits the metallic floor heavily, her back emitting a thud upon contact. Then the doors slide shut. Chunli groans and rises to a sitting position. Moving a hand to rub her forehead.

"Chun? Is that you?" Sakura asks eyeing her curiously.

"Sakura? What're you doing here?" Chunli asks moving her hand to look at the Japanese youth.

"I could ask you the same Chun" Sakura says grimly.

"Me and Sarai here…well those thugs kidnapped us," She says, sighing. "Mom must be worried sick," She says, her face turning sad for a moment.

"Was on assignment to bust these slime balls. But it appears I underestimated them and here I am…" Chunli says and sighs

"So why'd they kidnap you Saky?" She asks trying to get up, but upon feeling her muscles ache and burn she decides against it.

"They're using us as bait for our friend. Using us to blackmail us and keep her in line. Luckily for us that sick and perverted b*st*rd boss of theirs hasn't tried to do anything yet." She says, her eyes narrowing upon mentioning him.

"So who's this friend the Yakuza are using?" Chunli asks while pulling herself toward the wall.

"I dunno if you know her, She's was in our high school…gonna join us in college soon too" Saky begins

"Karin Kanzuki? I know her…regrettably " Chunli mouths in surprise and then irritation.

"Heck no! You think Karin would pull her neck for me?" Sakura says.

"It's my friend Ibuki, She's a real good fighter and all, so they're using her to do their dirty work" She says.

Chunli nods "So that's why you were near those Yakuza…Again I've misjudged you girl…hope it doesn't cost me this time" She thinks, evaluating her current situation.

"You really know how to get yourself into deep sh*t Li…I gotta find a way out of here, but how?" She thinks and cups her chin in her right hand.

Footsteps are heard, as someone exits a warehouse. "You're welcome Seniorita…" A man speaks before vanishing into the night filled streets.

A woman is sitting beside table. She is wearing an expensive green dress and sitting cross-legged on a small black chair. She has long and smooth blond hair, which cascades onto two slender shoulders. Her eyes are deep blue and her complexion is a delicate shade of bright brown.

She chuckles to herself and holds a small microchip between two long graceful fingers. She allows a small smile to reach her full; reddish lips and her pearly white teeth escape her gentle mouth.

"Perfectly done…I know have the perfect bait for you Chiquita " The woman speaks in a soft yet sinister voice, speaking fluent Spanish as she does.

"You are to blame for my brother's demise…and now I shall avenge him. You shall soon feel my wrath" She speaks to herself.

"Senior Xavier will be missing this little thing, and when he does…he'll send you. Although I know you aren't in Shadowlaw girl…He uses you as he would any simple pawn. But worry not little one, he's about to lose you" She says again and looks at the black plastic plate in the center of the chip.

"To think something so small…can make even the mightiest of men grovel, this thing will come in handy when I negotiate with Xavier. I'm sure the senior will be very grateful when I give him back this little thing…for a price of course," She says.

"How I love an undergoing plan…especially when it's working according to my desires" She says and slips the chip into a small purse she's carrying. Then she gets up and walks toward the exit.

"You what?" Xavier's voice booms within his chambers. Shock and unbelievable anger apparent in his shouting voice.

"I apologize master, but when I returned to the site to retrieve the part…it had already been taken" Jason speaks through the video screen.

"You stupid! Idiotic Imbecile!" Xavier shouts and his eyes glow in bright purple. He slams his hands on the console, making the screen flicker with static for a second.

"Do you have any idea how important that particular part was to my plan?" He shouts and his body begins emitting dark blue and purple flames. He channels his Psychic powers and puts his hand on a special panel in his console.

A beam of purple exits a satellite dish, hidden in a niche in the mountain. It flies upwards and upwards until it reaches a satellite orbiting the earth. The Satellite changes its position and sends the purple beam toward a location on the planet. The entire process happening in around 2-3 seconds time.

"I…I…Ehhhaahhh!" Jason begins before clasping his hands on his head as a beam of purple hits a hidden panel in the right side of his head connecting him and Xavier psychically through the special circuits Xavier implanted especially for these occasions.

Pain invades Jason's mind and he falls to his knee crying in pain. His sunglasses fall of his eyes and his eyes are now uncovered and shut tightly.

"I…I'm sor…sorry mi…milord" Jason stammers and falls back the pain unbearable.

Xavier's eyes stop glowing and he calms down, removing his hand from the panel.

"You're useful to my cause at the moment Jason…so I'll let you live…but If you don't retrieve that part…you will suffer beyond your worst nightmares" Xavier says and presses a button, thus severing the video conversation.

Jason who's still in Tokyo rises to his feet shakily and leans on a nearby wall. "D*mn…didn't think…he'd go ballistic like that…mental memo…don't get on the master's bad side again…" Jason thinks and puts on his sunglasses again and rubs the right side of his head, just above the ear.

"So that's what that Godd**n psychic linker chip does! Always thought it was for communications only, Should've known the master isn't stupid enough to let me be totally free willed" Jason thinks, his respect for Xavier now growing.

"He's sly and smart…Now I'm really glad I'm not up against him…. No more pulling his strings…" Jason thinks and exhales.

"Now the real question is how the hell am I supposed to find that guy? He's not nicknamed the Ghost for not" Jason ponders and sighs to himself.

He then gets a good idea and grins evilly "Oooh…yes! Indeed that'll do nicely…It's just so perfect…" He thinks and begins walking toward the hotel he's lodging at. A perfect retrieval plan hatching in his devious mind.

Ibuki is sneaking down the dark corridors of the complex.

"So far…so good…no bozos to knock out" She thinks and looks around.

Suddenly she curses and hears a clicking sound. She doesn't think twice and rolls aside. An audible bang later a bullet hits her previous location.

"Me and my big mouth" She mutters and begins running towards a curve. But she stumbles slightly on a floor ventilation shaft. Then she hears gunfire behind her and curses. She recovers her footing and breaks into a sprint. But she's a second too late, She realizes as a bullet grazes her shoulder, cutting through her flesh and wounding her.

She clenches her teeth and puts a hand on the deep gash she has just received. She reaches the curve in seconds and turns to the left, leaning on the wall next to the entrance to the previous corridor.

"There she is! Get her!" a Japanese voice booms. Ibuki tries to move her injured arm and grimaces greatly. "D**m I hate guns!" She thinks and takes out a small flash bomb from a pocket in her uniform. She hears three sets of footsteps and prepares a suitable strategy.

She twists its base and hurls it into the bomb into the corridor. It explodes and blinding light engulfs the people approaching Ibuki's location. They cry in pain and she hears their weapons fall to the ground.

She then lets go of her wound and inhales deeply. "Focus…forget the pain…choke is down…see your target…seize your target…there is nothing but the target…the pain doesn't exist…it's only in your mind" Ibuki muses to herself the mantra Geki taught her to say If she was ever to be injured.

She then narrows her eyes and dashes back into the corridor. She sees 3 men all rubbing their eyes and shakes their heads. She approaches the first.

"What the?" He mutters as he sees a brown blur getting closer and closer. That's all her sees before something crashes into this face. He groans audibly before he feels a hand grip his face. But while she dashed toward she sees the other two fumbling for their weapons and curses "D*mn!".

Ibuki quickly pushes him into the wall, the back of his head crashing hardly into the metal surface. She then kicks off his body before he slumps to the floor after she hears the clicking of a pistol.

A bullet is fired and shoots out of the barrel of one of the thugs' guns. It misses Ibuki by mere inches and hits the thugs she kicked off in the neck. Ibuki calculates where the bullet hit and comes to the conclusion that the wound is fatal and the thug is probably dead.

Ibuki doesn't have time to think of the thug's unfortunate fate as her momentum sends her toward the source.

She spins around in midair, and then she extends her foot and kicks the firearm out of his hand. She lands before him and quickly punches his nose with her good hand. The blow is agile and powerful and the man's nose breaks under the force behind her blow.

She then sees something in the corner of her eyes and curses. The third thug begins aiming a gun at her; Ibuki finds a quick solution, though a risky one and improvises the only evasive maneuver she can devise under the risk of receiving a lead transplant.

She puts her hands on the shoulders of thug whom she recently punched and then kicks off the ground, flipping over him and landing behind him, She then hears another bullet being release from a pistol.

Then she hears a sickening squishing sound, and then a disgusting gurgling sound of a dying man escapes the throat of the thug she's hiding behind. She gulps and fights the urge to hurl before she pushes the body unto the final attacker with a kick to its lower back.

The soon to be corpse is sent flying forward, it slams into the man, it's momentum great. The surviving thug is knocked off his feet and falls to the ground. When his back slams onto the metal floor his gun slipping out of his reach.

Ibuki approaches him. He crawls on his side after pushing the body off him and just when he reaches the gun, Ibuki stomps on his hand, hitting it with her heel in one quick and powerful motion.

He cries in pain as multiple cracking sounds are heard. Ibuki growls under her breath and sneers under her mask, twisting her leg in a circular motion to enhance the effect.

He shouts and cries in pain as he releases his fingers from the pistol, now twisted and broken. Tears escape his eyes and he pants and sobs slightly in pain.

He holds his wrist and looks at his wounded hand. Then he looks up at her with big frightened eyes. "No! Please don't!" He cries and closes his eyes. Trying in vain to shield his face, but he is too slow.

She looms over him, her eyes mirroring her anger and disgust. That's the last thing he sees before Ibuki's foot slams into his cheek with such force it breaks his jaw and knocks him unconscious.

Ibuki then turns to leave. Suddenly she shakes her head and almost stumbles forward, slightly dizzy and nausea consuming her.

She looks at her arm and curses. A large crimson river is flowing down her sleeve. She crouches and rips off on of the dead men's shirts. She then ties it around her arm. She then secures it tightly and feels throbbing pain in her wounded limb.

"Might hurt like h*ll…but least I won't lose any blood…this'll do till I can tend to the wound at home." She thinks and returns to her previous path. But not before tying the surviving thug's hands and legs, and gagging him with some bloody cloth from the shirt she ripped only a few seconds earlier.

"All this exhaustion and lack of sleep have made me really cranky…and now these morons are going to pay…" She thinks and cracks her fists, grimacing slightly as it aggravates her wound.

During the recent occurrences, Ibuki's old conscience of not killing people was begin to thin and dwindle, the criminals were simply pushing the Shinobi warrior way too far for her to remain naive and not embrace her Clan's true ways. Yet Ibuki was still reluctant to kill, despite it all.

Yet now she isn't sure anymore, Can she bring herself to take a life? She now thinks to herself as she eyes the dead bodies. She didn't know, but she sensed she would soon find out.

"It would serve those murdering rapists right! If I weren't in a hurry I'd finish that whining little creep too, right? Oh I dunno anymore! Ya know what? F**k it all! I don't care anymore I'll pass that mountain when I reach it. Now I gotta save Saky and Sarai after I get X his stupid VB piece" She thinks and sneers under her mask.

X…if anyone deserves to die…it's you…When the time comes…You can be sure my conscience won't be there to stop me..." Ibuki thinks, and this time she doesn't feel remorse on the act of killing and deep inside her, she's slightly frightened due to that fact.

Now more carefully than before she continues toward the lab, which is nearby according to her instincts and gut feeling.

She keeps all her senses at the ready, her wound now a constant reminder of what'll happen if she isn't careful.