November 15, 1999

Hartcourt, senior sub-commander of the powerful if secretive organization of White Arms, was having a field day. A week ago, he had had what he had sought: an excellent assassin unaffiliated with the White Guns and completely - if forcibly - loyal to them. He had put the plan into motion himself, with the go-ahead of Commander RedBarrow, and it had of course succeeded.

But had there ever been any doubt? He WAS, after all, one of the best strategists which had ever graced the cold lands of Denmark. He rose from his desk excitedly, and pushed an hand panel, allowing the plate covering the great bay window of his office. His smile widened a little as a familiar yet ever-spectacular sight which offered itself to him.

Before him was layed out what had once been a great underground cave which the fledgling White Arms had found nearly forty years before. The commanders of the time had wisely investigated it and found it as the perfect hideout. Soon they made plans and erected a small base inside.

And for fourty years, the cavern had been hollowed out, great cyclical ultraviolet lights fixed on the rocky ceiling, and tons and tons of machinery had rolled in, opening up a great hydro-electric center by rerouting great underground rivers. A thick layer of soil had soon covered the rock floors, and White Arms engineers and workers had soon put grass and young trees and saplings, while others layed in the foundation of immense structures, which had risen high indeed, enough to house twenty thousand people comfortably.

Offices had been built, as well as labs, while on the ground traning centers, small, self-contained factories, greenhouses, depots and a full-fledge hidden airbase had sprouted. By that time White Arms leaders and the best the ever-growing organization had to offer had congregated there, and it had be come the new headquarters. With an extremely expensive holographic system mimiking a real sky, it had truly become what it had been supposed to be: a true self-sufficient colony dedicated to exterminating dangers to the normal human race.

Even if it meant using weapons which hailed from those dangers or simply were those dangers.

As if on cue, the inter-office intercom beeped loudly. "Sir?" a voice inquired.

He wrenched himself from the splendor of the base for a moment. "Yes. What is it?" he demanded imperatively.

"She is here to see you, sir."

The fading smile on his lips flickered briefly back to life before disappearing entirely. "Excellent. Send her in at once. I am anxious to meet our newest operative." he said a bit sarcastically.

Within moments she stepped inside, shoulders squared, eyes defiant and containing an anger as fiery as her hair, dressed in a skintight bodysuit to prevent the concealing of weapons - something that particular woman was well capable of - and reaveling her shapely figure all too well.

Not that the beauty of the woman in front of him was even registered with this man, who loved neither woman or man, and was a sincere and harsh believer of the idea that sexual relationships was nothing but a loss of hormonal control, fit for weak people. The fact that almost all of the world disagreed with him never bothered him one bit. To him, a human being was a set of abilities and flaws, and the better the rating he gave one the most regard he gave the person. As such, he regarded the freelance investigator and assassin Sharon Dame with interest, not even bothering to note the hostile look she gave.

"Welcome to White Arms, miss Sharon Dame." he said simply. The glare only intensified.

"Spare me the platitudes, MISTER Hartcourt." she snapped "I'm here for one reason and one reason only: to make certain my sister will be kept safe. That's the only thing keeping you alive at the moment!"

The heated comment only brought him amusement. Armed, this woman could certainly be a deadly threat to him. But without weapons, not at all. He had extensive hand-to-hand training, concealed weaponry of his own, and there was the fact that only a second was necessary for him to bring in a dozen highly-trained White Arms guards into the room.

He didn't point all of this to her - no need to help the enemy too much, for she WAS an enemy - a TAMED one, but still one. He merely lifted an eyebrow. "Do tell. Perhaps. Then I assure you she is being well-treated in one of our containement cell, a state of being which will remain as long as you cooperate."

Her glare didn't lessen one bit, and his opinion of her rose. Such lack of trust in one's word pointed to a good deal of wisdom and instincts, very good traits in an operative.

"I'd like to see her first." she stated flatly.

"Of course you do. I'd ask the same thing myself." which wasn't true, since he had always been concerned about his own destiny and not that of others, something his two brothers had learned at an heavy price. However, it seemed to placate her just a little bit, and he did his best to widen the opening. "We will visit her after I have explained things here. Want to sit, miss?" he gestured to the sofa and chairs of his office quickly.

She hesitated, obviously still not trusting him - VERY good! - but finally seemed to decided that it would be better to glare from a sitting position, and so she sat stiffly and suddenly in the first chair she saw. He smiled slightly, and slowly sank into the sofa, nestling himself comfortably.

"Now that you're a White Arms Assassin..." he began

"Forcibly!" she spat.

He dismissed what she said with a gesture, and continued as if he hadn't been interrupted "...you must follow the orders that you are given to the letter. Once a mission is given to you, you must complete it. Setbacks and retreats are acceptable against a strong and resilient target, but the only accepted way to fail here...is to die trying to accomplish the given mission."

"I'm not surprised." she noted, passing an hand through her hair as if all this didn't bother her one bit.

He rose at that, walked to his desk, and within moments came back with a folder. "This is the first mission we want us to do, to test your will to follow our orders. It deals with a peron who could one day become a nuisance, and we wished that person eliminated." he handed her the file, which she took in uncertain hands, looking at the cover shakily for many moments before opning it.

Once she did, her face showed both surprise and despair. "No..thats..." she whispered.

"Yes, that is Adam Winters. I know you know the man, but I think it is within your skill level to handle him." he said simply, looking at her attentively.

"But Adam..is just a thief..."

"A very good one. In fact, a spectacular one, who is slowly amassing an impressive web of collaborators and contacts. Oh, its all sketches, of course, but you know that its only a matter of time before he solidifies his bases. The man is very ambitious and tenacious, something I can only admire. But we do not wish him to become any greater."

She seemed to struggle with the file itself, as if she was willing it all not to be happening, wishing to be as far away fromthis place as possible. Hartcourt knew this was more than just a little futile. Life didn't stop, reality didn't stop, just because you willed it. Life was a bitch and he knew it, revelled in it.

Life was a game. And as long as he knew this nothing could harm him. He bent slightly toward the distraught woman.

"It certainly can't be as hard as all that, can it?" he asked mildly "After all, your sister is more important than a man you helped train, isn't she?"

And even before she changed expression, even before she answered him, he knew what the answer would be. It was so self-evident to him that he never ever doubted what she would say.

People, after all, were people.

And if there was one thing that people were, it was being predictable.

Two days later...

Everick phased out of the shadows of an alley, scaring a dog and inwardly feeling very glad about himself. For days he had been looking for a particular individual, and even his lifetime of careful hunting had made it difficult. It was only today that he had finally stumbled upon a report that talked about a relatively average World Warrior named Allen Snider. The man had been in Shadowlaw files, and he'd found the man had been soundly defeated by Ken Masters years before, losing his titale of All-American Martial Arts Champion. It was said Allen had a grudge against Ken in particular and Shotokan in general, and he'd thought the man would challenge Ken.

Instead, the man had gone and challenged Ryu Hoshi for a formal fight, something the World Warrior Champion accepted - not surprising, since it is said Ryu never turned down a chance to fight and test himself.

However, Everick's business was most pressant, and even if he knew he was about to interrupt a fight - blasphemous amongst most street fighters - he never hesitated. Hesitation had never been built in his vocabulary, and the thought of being blashphemous was quite ridiculous a notion to begin with anyway, in his opinion. After all, the life of another fighter was in danger, and for some reason he couldn't yet entirely explaint himself, he wished to save that life.

That was where Ryu came in.

He was near. He could hear the shouts of encouragement of a crowd in the backstreet near him, the cries and curses of those who watched, and the screams and grunts of those who fought. The fight was under way. Time to go see.

He slipped out the alley and into the backstreet, and instantly took in the scene. There were a relatively large group of people in an open space between the dead ends of several streets, packed together, shouting as if the world was going to end that very minute. Uninteresting, these people. He focused on the center of the improvised ring.

Two fighters in martial arts gi were trading punches with each other - one brown-haired, asian, with a white gi and the other red-blonde, definitely caucasian, and sporting a very peculiar purple gi. He felt their auras to make sure, and smiled for a fraction of a second. He had found the one he wanted.

At present the fight was going very badly for Allen Snider, who looked winded and tired, his nose bleeding and his defense a bit jittery while Ryu looked far less tired, and barely marked. How long this had gone on, there was no way to tell for certain. But even though he was losing, the purple-dressed man did not seem to want to give up the fight.

Allen faked a blow, then shifted and kicked sharply to the Japanese's side. The other man moved slightly away, managed to catch the foot and throw it back in his opponent's direction, making him stumble, launching himself into the air while the American was barely back soundly on his feet, and just had the time to look as four separate, powerful kicks rammed to the side of his face one after the other in a succession no normal human could achieve.

"TATSU-MAKI-SENPU-KYAKU!!!!"

Both men went down to the ground, one to land safely on his feet and the other falling hard on the floor. Snider groaned, coughed, and shakily stood up, his eyes defiant and stubborn, while Hoshi only looked at the man a triffle sadly. Obviously Ryu was holding back - not a wonder when one remembered how his rival, Ken, had beaten Snider extremely easily. In short, this could go on forever.

And Everick had no time to spare. Bison had given him leave when he'd politely asked for it, but who knew when his master would choose to recall him? He had to end this exercise in futility immediately.

He stepped into the ring without pause, pushing people who tried to stop him aside without a problem, and stepped between the two combattants before they could renew their little bout. Ryu had seen him coming, and looked at him with vague wariness and vague eyebrows, probably both irritated and relieved the match was interrupted and also asking himself who the hell this dark-garbed man was.

Allen, however, was far more vocal, as he advanced closer to Everick in a stance which was as near hostility as he could make it in his state. "Hey! What the hell d'you think you're doing, man?!? This fight's mine and I'm finishing it!!" he shouted. Around, the crowd's shouts had given way to startled and irritated mutterings.

He ignored Snider, ignored the crowd, only letting his gaze rest on Ryu. "Ryu Hoshi, I have a very urgent need of your assistance. A life and a soul both are being destroyed as we speak, and you can save it."

He had him interested and intrigued, he could feel it from the slight shift of his stance, which lost a little of its wariness, and the arching of his eyebrow, arching which became much more pronounced suddenly. Everick didn't read the man's thoughts, but he could feel that many questions had suddenly sprung about his last sentence. Good.

Unfortunately, Snider didn't seem to think so, as beaten as he appeared to be. He was probably in an understandable rage over the fight which had been stopped by the Shadow Walker's stepping in, added to the fact he had been utterly losing the match. That probabbly explained why he suddenly grabbed Everick by the coat and brought him closer to his bloody, angered face.

"Now, listen here, pal. If you know whats good for you..." he stiffly started up.

He never went farther.

Lightning quick, using his whole strength and speed and skill put into that single effort, Everick buried his knee in the man's abdomen, giving it all the strength of a small piledriver. As the man gagged and gasp, the pain still coursing through him, he punched three times in the face, quickly, with every bit of chi he had. The third broke the man's nose as well as his consciousness, and the former American Champion, who had been replaced by a far better one, slumped to the ground, knocked out. The crowd became silent at the spectacle.

Everick's eyes glowed briefly. "I dislike threats, weakling. I aslso dislike one who interrupts a discussion. He turned back to Ryu, who had regained a very strong defense at the sight of his opponent's demise. The black-garbed man raised an hand to show he saw no need to fight. "Don't worry. I am not an enemy, nor have I wounded him badly. He will soon recover and again become the nuisance he appears to be. We have much to talk about."

Ryu didn't relax his defense, this time. "I'm sorry to say it, sir, but I dislike the way you handled that just now. That kind of behaviour isn't one to earn my trust."

"I don't wish for your trust, Ryu Hoshi. My name is Everick, and far below on the underground, I am known as the Shadow Walker. I serve Shadowlaw and Lord Bison without question. And if my master had asked for your death, we wouldn't be having thsi discussion."

A dark, thoughtful silence from the man was all he received in reply. He couldn't help but sigh. He hadn't wanted a fight. But it had happened, and things were getting out of control. With fighters, at this stage, there was only one way left: bluntness.

"Have you ever heard of an Interpol agent named Chunli?" he asked mildly.

Ryu's eyes became slightly perplexed, but didn't lose one bit of their wariness. He however nodded, even adding "I have heard the name once, from an army man I once talked to."

"She is the woman you must save. I'd do it myself, but that would put me in a sort of moral dillema it won't put you into. You are an honorable warrior, Ryu and I tell you that this woman, as we speak, is being beaten, raped, destroyed in mind and body by a man who finds his amusement in such doings." he stopped, looked at the World Warrior hard. "Can you tell me you won't help her?"

The martial arts specialist maintained his stance for many moments, tense, considering. But he had him again, in his thoughts it showed as clear as full daylight. A moment later it was physically confirmed by the soft grunt which escaped the man's mouth, and the slow lowering of his fighting stance. A long silence ensued.

Finally, the World Champion broke it. "I know your reputation, Shadow Walker, and I do not trust you. But you are right, I must check your story now that I know of it. Please explain yourself more clearly."

Everick nodded gravely, hiding the relief he felt inside. "Very well. First, we go to a more isolated place. Then, I will tell you all you want to know, and then you will decide. Sounds fair?"

Ryu nodded, and inwardly the tall, black-clothed man smiled in satisfaction.

His plan might work after all.

The day after...

"Wahahahaha! I never dreamed it would be so exciting to visit England!!"

"I'm glad you're enjoying yourself, Claudia, but is it necessary to keep taking pictures every minute?"

"Stop bugging me about that! I want as much souvenir from our days here as I can. Now you'll leave me alone if you don't want something to happen!"

"Better listen to her, pal! She's a devil when she's got that tone!"

"And whats THAT supposed to mean?!?"

This gently mocking, friendly conversation had been going on on and off for the last fifteen minutes and Claudia was having a field day out of it. She loved goading - perhaps a little too much, and being in a van with her boyfriend and two other friends made the situation downright irresistible. Although Area, sitting in the back next to the gigantic Alex, was very good at resisting subtle stings and fun quarrels, she knew how to handle he and their driver, Nathan, only too well. And why not? After all, they were visiting London and an old friend all in the same trip! Wasn't it worth some fun.

When Nathan had come over to ask if she and Alex wanted to come and cheer up Jeremy in his latest downtime, she'd said yes almost immediately, then proceeded to dragoon her muscled, street-fighting lover to agree as well. It hadn't been especially hard, since Alex had always wanted an all-out fight between he and Jeremy, a promise the two friends had made years before but which events and life had rendered nearly impossible.

Personally she wasn't too sure that afight was going to solve intimate problems like pregnancy and parenthood, but she knew better than to say it outloud. Who knew, after all was said and done, how fighters reacted to things? Alex, Area and even Nathan more than she ever could.

Their flight to London had been uneventful, despite the fact that both she and Nathan had fretted over the discomfort of being miles up in the air to the amusement of their significant others. When they'd arrived, gotten things into their rooms and met again, it had been decided that, why not take a day to visit the old city. After all, Jer didn't know they were supposed to visit, right?

So the entire day they'd roamed around, visiting shops, buildings and monuments and gawking at certain landmarks, while Nathan and Area discussed the architecture of every building they saw, Alex told whoever wanted to listen which parts of the town had been destroyed in the Second World War, which one had been subsequently rebuilt and so on, while she had taken pictures after pictures of every place and object of note she had seen, using up six whole films for them!

But as fun as that day had been, none had forgotten why they had come, and all had decided to go see their distraught friend the next day. And so here they were, in a roomy - or adequate in Alex's case - van, headed for the address Jeremy had given a few months ago, quite proudly, as his new home.

Area was busy counting off the number. "Nine six five...nine six seven...nine six nine...nine seven one... I wonder how it feels to suddenly realize you're about to become a parent?"

Nathan seemed to feel the question was directed at him. "Well, I suppose its gotta freak you out, at least a little bit. I mean its a big thing, quite life-changing."

Alex nodded. "You're right there. I heard fatherhood is supposed to be full of sacrifices and ordeals. Not always, of course, but sometimes, especially in the very beginning."

Claudia glared at the two males in one sweep, making Alex cringe slightly and Nathan cough. "What're you talking about?!? We get a lot more pain and suffering in sacrifices then you lofty males! We're the one who become pregnant, not you!" she glared at Alex even more "What do you know anyway?!?"

Alex raised his hands placatingly, sweat starting to gather under his brow. "Hey, hey! I didn't say girls didn't make sacrifices! I thought we were talking about Jer's situation! I didn't mean anything by it!" he said with a nervous chuckle.

She humphed. "Yeah I'm sure..."

"Aww, come on, Claudia..."

"Claudia is right - you guys just can't see it the way we do." Area noted while still counting. Suddenly she stopped and smiled. "But that really is all theory. Lets go ask people who are going through that life-changing event. We've arrived."

It was only too true. Beside them was the two-storied house with the nice lawn and driveway, exactly how Jeremy had said it would be. It lacked some of the niceties of most of the other houses around, but then again Cammy and he didn't pass as much time home as most suburban people did. Nonetheless, all was well-tended, probably an result of the couple's mutual disgust over any kind of disarray.

Nathan quickly parked the car, and out they were, her very tall and well-built boyfriend sighing pleasurably as he stretched out to his full height, unwittingly acquiring some amazed stares from some of Jeremy's neighbours. By unspoken signals, they then all headed to the door of the house.

"Ain't he going to be surprised." Nathan snickered softly as he knocked.

Claudia grinned. "Well, thats the whole point, right?" she answered lightly.

They waited for a few moments, and then saw a shape move on the other side, and turning of a doorknob, and then they were staring right in the face of a surprised Cammy.

She looked more haggard than Claudia had ever seen her being, if one didn't count the time their friend had gone to face his dangerous, murderous cousin by himself. She had looked anagry at him, but moreso at herself for letting him go, so much it had been readily apparent to both Alex and she.

The look was roughly the same now, except its bite was sharply drawn inward, at herself. Claudia personally found it a bit much for just being afraid and hiding a secret from one's husband, but then again, what did she know?

The look of inner darkness gave quickly way to stupefaction, and then she smiles, making the pain recede far back, if not completely. She seemed genuinely glad to see all of them.

"God! This is a nice surprise!" she exclaimed "Come in! Come in! Jer's just watching television in the living room. HEY, LOVE!! YOU'LL NEVER BELIEVE WHO CAME TO SEE US!!" she finally bellowed.

There was a shift from inside the house as they entered, and then Jeremy was there, his hair slightly dishelved, his face confused as he came to look. He came to a dead stop as he saw them, and Claudia took a great satisfaction at seeing him completely dumbfounded, if only for a very few moments. Then he beamed at them, delighted, with however a background of sadness which most people wouldn't have noticed.

But Claudia had known him since third grade, she knew the look of a Storm cracking by heart. From the quick side-look Nate gave her, she wasn't the only one to see it, either. She hide her disquiet with a smile of her own, and stepped forward to embrace her friend.

"Heehee! You should see your face! This made the whole trip worth it!!" she chuckled. Jeremy gave her a slight smirk.

"Like I could tell you guys were going to suddenly drop by from America? Why didn't you guys tell me you were coming?"

Nate and she waited until all the greetings had been exchanged, and then steered their friend away, until they were out of the range of the other threesome. Then Claudia gave him her best stare.

"All right! I know you're not feeling well, Jeremy Storm!" she said stiffly "We want to know the situation and then..."

"And then we'll help you out as best we can." Nathan finished for her. Jeremy stared at them both, not even trying to protest that he was feeling alright - they knew him too blasted well. He sighed, his eyes dimming slightly.

"You guys...you're not going to like this...but if you want to know, I'll tell you. Why not? Its been weighing too much on my mind anyway..."

Around the same time...

It just didn't make sense.

Guile went through the logs and reports of the airforce officers who had reported seeing a 'strange aircraft' in the sky for the past decade again. And again. And then he gave out a grunt of disgust and threw the papers on his desk in defeat.

The reports always stated that what they had truly seen were malfunctioning wheather balloons, or normal passenger carriers which had deviated from their normal courses because of in-flight problems. Problem was, Guile had cross-checked with the local air traffic charts, and in many instances there had been NO flights anywhere near the places the sightings had taken place. Now one thing he knew is that U.S. Airforce pilots were amongst the most level-headed folks he knew. He could believe that one or two might have made a mistake, but three dozen? Not a chance. Something was up.

And the military was involved.

He had known it the moment General Meridan, commander of New Edgar Base, had stiffly ordered him and his men to stop their pursuit of the strange carrier they had spotted over American soil. It had irked them all, and he'd gone to angrily confront the General, only to be received by stony silence and a few sentences intimating him to do the same. He had written his report the way events had transpired nonetheless, only to find that it had been mysteriously misplaced.

He almost felt like that guy in that show his daughter always watched...X-Files, was it? Like he was in the middle of a huge alien-human deal he had no part in.

Except that craft wasn't alien-made. It was made with cutting-edge tech and beyond cutting-edge tech, but the design, the architecture and the aerodynamics all boasted definite human quirks. But it didn't hide the fact that the plane they'd seen with their own eyes had been HUGE and virtually undetectable nonetheless. It wasn't something that came cheap. Someone who boasted even one carrier like THAT one had a LOT of financial wealth.

And that meant there had to be leads somewhere.

The problem, however, had been finding them. He'd gone through his contacts, and most had been unable to tell him anything about what he'd ask them. Others had been freaked, and many of THOSE had told him never to call him again. Only two had given him a name, and that was because these had been very honest chaps, extremely well-protected. They had given him only a name.

White Arms.

It had rung a bell faintly. He remembered hearing the name a few times while working deep underground, and when spying on Shadowlaw with Charlie. But that was it. Only a name. Nothing more. And he'd been unable to find anything about that organization in the files, even the restricted ones he had access to.

He wondered if he shouldn't call for some help, but decided against it. He'd put himself and his own family on the line with this, he wasn' about to involve others yet.

The phone rang. He checked his watch and winced. Seven oh five. He was darn late. His wife was probably calling in to tell him what she thought of late soldiers. He picked the phone gingerly and put it to his ear. "Hello?" he said carefully.

Instead of his angry wife, however, a distorted voice answered him, its tone urgent. "Guile! You must be careful! Three men are headed your way to try to kill you."

Guile was stunned by the declaration, but also found it ridiculous. How could anyone stage an assassination in the middle of an heavily-guarded base. Even Charlie and he used to think twice before doing something THAT suicidal.

The one on the other side seemed to be reading his very thoughts, however, as the voice became even more urgent. "Its no joke, Guile. They've cleared the whole level, as well as the one below and above you. No one will hear you! Prepare yourself to receive them!"

"Now look here, mister..."

"NO, YOU LOOK TOOTHBRUSH!" the voice shouted in exasperation "They're coming NOW, you understand?!? They coming up the stair RIGHT NOW! Don't be a moron and get READY!!!" the line immediately went dead.

Guile couldn't help but stare at the receiver for a good few moments, his mind in turmoil. Something here was wrong. He'd heard something he shouldn't have heard, but he was still in shock of the sudden call and warning. He needed to recap, to pull himself together...and most of all he needed to think.

His edginess, and perhaps his subcounscious heeding the warning he had heard, most probably saved him. Outside, he heard a slight creak, then another, denoting furtive steps, not those of an individual who would walk as if he or she worked in the place. He stiffened, listened more. Another creak was heard, almost just outside the door.

And then training and street fighter instincts took over, and soundlessly and quickly, Guile moved with the speed and grace of a panther, stepping to the side of the door frame, gathering the soundwaves which had been part of he and his best friend when they had taken part in a top secret experiment. He had no real control over what many of the great fighters he'd met called 'chi', but his own strange power source wasn't too bad, either.

And those who were now to the other side of the door would see just how much he knew how to use it.

They came in quickly, banging the dooor open with a kick and charging in, three men all in black with semi-automatics, showering his desk with bullets, making pieces of wood and paper fly. They were running high on adrenaline, lacking the control true proffessionals kept on the triggers. True assassins wouldn't have wasted a second on the desk, instead quickly relocatinf their target zone. Amateurs. All the better, for he wasn't one.

He moved to the side, right near them, surprising them. They pointed their semi-automatics on him as he whipped his arms backward for a second, gathering his sound force into coherence, and whiped them forward before they could fire.

"SONIC BOOM!!!!"

The yellow sonic-energetic attack slammed into them, topling them like dominoes and making them lose their grip on their weapons. There wasn't a single moment to lose. Guile brought his guard up, and attacked as savagely as he could.

The first didn'even have time to get up as he smashed his foot full force into the groaning face, knocking him cold and perhaps even killing him - he wasn't in a mind to really care which. The other two were almost to their feet at that point, and he dived for them. A swift kick to the ribs, followed by a combo of punches to the neck and stomach, left the second barely consious, whimpering.

The third, however, proved to be far more of a problem, he had regained his senses fully and had had time to regain his weapon, training it on him. He scrambled to the side avoiding the rain of death which followed, rolling and taking one of the other two guns by the cannon. Without a second of even the slightest hesitation, he too his hole-riddled chair and shoved it to the still firing enemy, who dodged it in second, stopping for mere moments. Moments Guile used to deadly efficiency, exploding the man's face with a full round of bullets.

Silence reigned. Guile looked around. Amateurs. This was meant to hurt him but not kill him. The organization of White Arms seemed to want to scare him off the leads he was following. And this seemed to be the first step.

Fine. Bring it on. He'd seen worse. Far worse. Except for the one who'd called.

Without that person, he might have been hurt badly here. He owed him or her. But what was worse was the word the person had used.

Toothbrush. A nickname given to him by...

He shook his head. It wasn't possible. He was dead...

Wasn't he??

The day after...

Appearing in the middle of the day just outside a private property wasn't exactly Ryu's idea of a good time. That the afore-mentionned property belonged to the world-renowned and feared assassin Vega managed to make it worse by a good half-dozen notches. And that the one who was transporting him there was reputed to be even more dangerous topped it all. This wasn't a good day.

But Everick had said that a person was being defiled and broken inside that calm-looking villa just a few dozen yards away, and he'd felt that he was telling the truth. And Ryu Hoshi had lived his life in honor - he simply couldn't ignore a call for help, even if it was an indirect one.

He turned his head to look at the Shadow Walker, he who stood as the mightiest Lord below Bison himself, and saw no emotion in the marble face or the deep intelligent eyes. He knew there were emotions in this being somewhere, only they were hidden inside a shell, controlled by the discipline and an iron will born of utter solitude.

Ryu understood. After all, wasn't he just that: a lone man without anything but the need to improve his skills?

"Why are you doing this?" he asked solemnly. Stiffly, Ken would have said of the way he asked, but he could tell no one made light of things with this man of the shadows. No, with this man, one was serious or did not speak.

And it took a while before the man spoke to him, gazing as he was in front of him as if he read the answer out of the very air. This man was an enigma, plainly and simply. In his travels he had heard rumors and tales of the Man Who Walks the Shadows. It was said that he was the best of the Circle Assassin, one who followed orders to the letter no matter what happened or the thoughts he might have on the subject. And yet some told of the times he had saved people for no reason people could tell. A merciless killer who helped others. How peculiar.

Everick finally turned to him slowly, his eyes emotionless and yet penetrating.

"Why? If I had to answer that question, we would need to delve far into my past, dusting memories only I will ever have access to. If I told you, I would have to kill you. And if I killed you, she would die. A waste I wish to prevent."

Not the kind of answer he wanted, but it did give him some sort of opening, one he couldn't help but pounce into. "And I thank you for that, but I fail to see why you did not save this woman yourself. With your powers and talents, it certainly would have been possible." and more subtle, he mentally added.

"Probably, but this would have put me in a strange dilemma. I work for Shadowlaw so I cannot save an enemy of Shadowlaw. Not directly, anyway."

"I suppose that is the best answer I am going to have." Ryu sighed softly.

A calm nod. "It is."

"Very well then. I will attempt to save this Chunli from the assassin Vega, but I do not wish to have to fight guards or servants. No one should be hurt by me except for Vega himself."

"No one will be. The servants are off for the next eighty-three minutes. And Vega is too vain to ever think he'd need guards."

Ryu nodded. This sounded reasonable. But then again, he felt Everick could talk about wading in the middle of a pack of hungry wolves wrapped up ham and make it sound reasonable and entirely feasable. But he didn't worry much. Guards he could take out if needed, and servants were an even easier business, if also an entirely unpleasant one.

Everick eyed him. "Do not forget this woman's life is solely resting in your hands from now on."

As if he needed to be reminded of THAT. Another thing he intensely disliked.

From as far as he could remember, Ryu Hoshi had never liked people much. Most were arrogant, selfish and concerned only about themselves. That he could have lived with. However, that self-centeredness also had the very direct effect of making men cause harm and suffering on other men. His mother had once told him, before she passed on, that it was the way mankind had chosen to become.

"But when you see injustice or horror, Ryu, please listen to your heart and step forward to help those who need it." she had told him "Often it will be thankless, but that will also keep away the darkness within you."

He hadn't understood then, and yet he'd vowed to the ill, dying woman that he would help people whenever he could.

Later, he had understood. The Satsu No Hado revealed its potency and darkness and reached through the power left him as his unknown father's legacy. It had grown larger in each year since his master had died and Ken, his best, his ONLY real friend, had gone back to his life and family in America. Every year spent on the road, alone, had increased the Dark Hado's strength over his will. Oh, it wasn't strong enought to destroy him yet, or take him over like it did Akuma, but it was there. Growing.

And only through the purest training and the occasional helping of others had he managed to stall it for so long.

He was tired, sometimes, so tired of it all.

He looked at Everick and bowed. "Thank you sir. I will do my very best to save her from this." he said.

The dark-garbed man nodded. "Yes, I think you will." and with that he shifted back into the shadows.

And Ryu started for the villa.