Interpol: Hong Kong, China

Inside a small room of the large Interpol Headquarters building, there were three people sitting around a small table. A chubby man in a gray suit placed down two pieces of paper on the table. The other two, one male and the other female, looked at the papers from their spots. They read what the papers said;

You have been invited to attend the very first Blood Tournament. You have been chosen for the event because you have been recognized as one of the best of the best in all the realms. The location of the tournament is confidential and you will know once you get there. You must report to your transportation wherever is closest on time. We hope to see you there.

At the bottom gives out the various locations of the transportation with only two of them on Earthrealm; one right here in Hong Kong, and another off the coast of San Francisco, California.

“I thank you for reporting this to me right away,” the chubby man said. “The two of you received this invitation today to the tournament with it’s location confidential.”

The young female there nodded. “Yes Chief, Detective Lei Wulong and I got this in our office mailboxes this morning.”

The Chief looked over at the male, who was Lei Wulong, who sat in his chair in a good manner. He was a man in his mid-40’s and well fit for his age having been with Interpol for many years. His long raven hair was tied back in a single ponytail leaving a few strands of hair over his forehead showing his face better, it’s skin a tanned color.

Then, the Chief looked over again at the female agent, well known as Chun-Li Xiang. She sat in the same way as Lei in the chair next to him. She wore a white button blouse with a knee-length black shirt and matching high-heels. Her dark brown hair was done in two buns on each side of her head leaving a few strands of hair over her fair-skinned face.

Chun-Li looked down at the paper. “It does seem like a real tournament invitation…”

“But it’s the way it was written,” said Lei. “It seems suspicious, especially with the confidential location. It could be a real invitation, but you never know.”

Then, a knock came on the door. “Chief, I have a message for you.”

The Chief looked at the door and saw his female secretary through the small window on the door. “Come in.”

The young woman came in and gave the note to the Chief. The Chief looked over at the note then looked up at the secretary. “Thank you, you are dismissed.”

The secretary bowed to him before leaving. Then, the Chief looked at the two agents in front of him. “It seems that both the Los Angeles Air Force and Special Forces received the same invitation.”

“You’re kidding?” asked Lei.

“Nope,” replied the Chief. “Colonel William Guile of the Air Force received the invitation along with Lieutenant Sonya Blade of Special Forces. Colonel Guile had made the call and was planning to meet with Special Forces. He had the feeling Interpol received the same invitation and if so to give a call.”

“If there is a thought of meeting with both groups then I’m in,” said Chun-Li.

“You’re right,” the Chief replied. “Colonel Guile would like to meet with you at the tournament to investigate, notes the letter. Lei, will you be willing to investigate as well?”

Lei nodded with confidence. “I’m ready for anything, sir.”

“Good. Then let’s get everything arranged.”

The three of them got up and began making their way out of the room.

Later that day, both Lei and Chun-Li both got off at the same time. They walked out together still wearing their business suits. The bright sun was beginning to set down for the day as rush hour began to pick up. The both of them stood by the bus stop waiting for their buses to arrive to take them home.

They both sat on the wooden bench in silence. Other people began gathering around. Some were in business suits as well, a couple of them reading newspapers that they didn’t get the chance to read that morning. Some were in regular clothes with a couple of them listening to their walkmans.

Lei watched the people on the streets for a bit as he waited for the bus. Then, he turned his head to the woman next to him. “So,” he said in a whisper so that no one else could hear them. “What do you think the tournament’s about?”

Chun-Li had been people watching as well and was a bit startled when she head Lei’s voice. She shook her head a little and turned to him. “I’m not too sure, but I have the feeling we’ll get the same results as the Shadowlaw case.”

“A madman holding a tournament to recruit people into his work,” Lei said remembering the Shadowlaw case. It was a case he wasn’t involved in, but it was the biggest one just a year ago within Interpol. Chun-Li ran most of it, having a personal agenda against them. They had killed her father Dorai, once a famous detective of all of Hong Kong. The story of what truly happened to Shadowlaw and their leader Bison was still shaky and unclear.

“It could be more though,” Chun-Li continued. “I guess we’ll have to see when we get there.”

Then a bus pulled up. It’s indicator on the front showed that the bus was heading downtown. It wasn’t Lei’s bus, but it was Chun-Li’s. She began getting up as other people piled into the large vehicle.

“See you tomorrow Lei,” the young Chinese woman said as she got up, purse in hand.

“Zaijian,” Lei said in Mandarin. The male detective watched as Chun-Li was the last one to get on the bus. One she paid for the fare, the door closed and the bus pulled away. Lei watched the bus leave until it turned a corner and disappeared.

‘I wonder if…’ Lei began to think, but then he decided to push the thought away.

Coming out of the parking lot of the Special Forces Base were two men dressed in forest green Air Force uniforms. Both men seem to look a lot a like if you looked quick enough, but there were also obvious differences.

One stood at 6’2’’ and was extremely built. His blond hair was in a Mohawk-like style and had dark blue eyes which were a bit hard to notice because of the large bone structure on his eyebrow area, which didn’t really have eyebrows. By his complexion, he looked to be in his early 40’s.

The other was quite young, about the age of 21. Standing at 5’10’’, he wasn’t quite as build as the other man, but by looking at him, he was working on it having been scrawny his whole life. He too had blond hair, cut much shorter and spiked up a bit, and his midnight blue eyes were more noticeable.

The both of them made their way towards the office on the base. They were silent for a bit until the younger soldier spoke. “Guile, have you heard from Chun-Li yet?”

Guile nodded to him. “She called me early this morning, Wagner. Her and Detective Lei Wulong will meet us at the tournament location.”

The young soldier nodded. It wasn’t too ago that Colonel William Guile received an invitation in his office to The Blood Tournament. After reading it, he reported it to the government to let them know his suspicions. They also discovered that Special Forces also received an exact invitation. The Forces’ Lieutenant Sonya Blade was asked to handpick a team to come with her to the tournament. She had requested that two members of the Air Force, including the one who received the invitation, joined her team. It would be the three of them along with another, who’s name was not revealed since the person was only a free agent.

Soon, the two Air Force militants reached the main office. Only a single woman sat there doing work on her computer. Guile and Wagner approached the desk.

“Excuse me,” the Colonel said. “We have an appointment with Lieutenant Sonya Blade.”

The woman looked up. At first she had an annoyed look on her face, but once she saw that they were in uniform, her expression quickly changed to a more cheery look. “Ah, yes sir. Let me see if she’s ready to see you.” The woman quickly got up and went to the back.

Wagner sighed a bit. “She sure enjoys her job.”

Guile chuckled a bit. “Let’s go sit down.”

The pair sat down in soft green chairs. Guile sat straight in his chair like a professional while Wagner sat slumped back with his feet stretched out. The young militant yawned a bit wondering how long the wait will be. He looked around the room which only had the desk, other unoccupied chairs, a couple of plants in corners, and some framed photos of past military combat hanging on the white walls.

‘At least they should make this room a bit more exciting for long waits,’ he thought.

Guile looked over at Wagner and sighed as he saw his sitting position. “I swear, you’re still that 16-year-old kid I adopted back in the day.”

“Ha ha,” Wagner replied sarcastically before sighing to himself. He was thankful for Guile for taking him in then. Before he met Guile, he was nothing but a juvenile delinquent, having been orphaned at the young age of eleven when his family was brutally murdered by Shadowlaw’s leader Bison.

At least Wagner thought all of them died. It was only a few months ago that he discovered that only his parents died that day and his older sister Lisa lived, kidnapped by Shadowlaw and turned into one of their ‘dolls’ despite watching her die in front of his eyes. When Bison and Shadowlaw were mysteriously destroyed, all of the remaining dolls were taken into custody except ‘Viper,’ now Lisa’s nickname. It was rumored that a former Shadowlaw soldier kept her for himself and took her into his hiding.

Since then, it has been Wagner’s personal mission to search for his sister, but it hasn’t been easy. Never did he get any leads and when he did, it came to him too late.

Guile knew what he was going through for that years ago he went through the same thing when his best friend and trainer Charlie Nash went missing during a Shadowlaw operation. He did manage to find him though and was being used as a pawn of the organization. When Charlie regained himself, he saved Guile and Interpol agent Chun-Li, who he partnered with back then, by tackling the leader down, losing his own life.

Sometimes, Guile found it amazing how he and Wagner nearly shared a similar past. Though Guile was never an orphan himself or a delinquent, he and Wagner were like father and son.

Their thoughts were soon interrupted when the back door opened. The same woman who was at her desk just moments ago appeared from behind it. “Lieutenant Blade will see you now.”

Wagner sighed of relief as the two stood up and followed the woman down a long hall. It wasn’t long until they reached a door. The woman they followed opened it for them and they stepped in.

Immediately, the two people in the room stood up as the men entered the room. One was female wearing Special Forces’ tanned military uniform showing off her full figure and a green beret on her head. Her long blond hair was tied back into a low ponytail bringing out her bright blue eyes.

The other was a male, not in military uniform indicating that he was a free agent. He wore a white T-shirt, blue jeans and black military-like boots. He had dark hair which was spiked on the top and slightly sleeked on each side, and he wore black sunglasses over his eyes.

The four saluted to one another before the woman proceeded. “Welcome Colonel and Sergeant, I’m Lieutenant Sonya Blade and this is Special Agent Kenshi.”

“Nice to meet you,” Guile replied shaking hands with the woman. Wagner shook her hand after, then proceeded to shake hands with the male agent in the room as well.

“Cool shades,” Wagner said. “They look pretty expensive.”

“Um thanks, but they were pretty affordable,” Kenshi replied.

“All right, let’s start the meeting,” Sonya said. The four sat down in large leather chairs. Wagner discovered that they had the ability to spin and slowly began pushing side to side with his body.

Sonya took out a copy of the Blood Tournament invitation she received and placed it down on the table. “According to intelligence, there has been a rumor going around that there are small terrorist groups who will be in the tournament. This may include The Black Dragon.”

“I thought all the members of the Black Dragon were destroyed,” asked Guile.

“Apparently, a former member revived the group,” answered Kenshi.

“Plus,” Sonya continued. “There are possibilities that former members of Shadowlaw may be involved as well.”

At that second, Wagner stopped moving in his seat. ‘Lisa…’ he thought. With the rumors he had head about his missing sister, he began to hope that there was a possibility that the soldier holding his sister would be there and bring her along with him.

“So, what’s the plan?” Wagner asked.

“Well,” the female Lieutenant replied. “The boat leaving from San Francisco will be departing in a couple days. We’ll all meet there then and devise more plans.”

“If you don’t mind Lieutenant,” mentioned Guile. “I know two detectives of the Interpol Hong Kong Division who will be meeting us at the tournament location. They are Chun-Li Xiang and Lei Wulong.”

“I’ve seen their names in newspapers and heard they are the best in Asia.”

“Indeed they are.”

The meeting continued on for a few more hours. As that was going on, another Special Forces agent in the building waited impatiently in the lounge room of the base. No one else was in the room but her, something she was thankful for. Since the meeting began, she had been trying to kill some time, but the last hour had been killing her. This was all because Agent Kenshi told her to meet him here after the meeting.

She looked up a bit, her blue eyes staring off into space a bit. The woman smoothed out her dark hair a bit before leaning back into the couch she was sitting on. In a way, she was also hoping that she would be called out for another short mission, but that never came to be.

Just before the young woman fell asleep, she heard the door open prompting her to sit up more and turned to see who just came in. ‘Finally,’ she thought as she spotted Kenshi coming into the room.

“Hey Alex,” Kenshi replied walking over to her.

“How was the meeting?” Alex asked curiously as the male agent sat down next to her.

“Quite interesting to say the least. We’ll be leaving for the tournament on Saturday. And Sonya wanted to know if you can do her one favor?”

“And that is?”

“…if you could drive us to the dock?”

Alex sighed a bit. “Fine…but I don’t get why I wasn’t handpicked for this mission. The three of us along with Major Jax Briggs are all the main team. I know I’ve only been with you guys for six months, but still.”

“Sonya just wants to keep the team small and with the Air Force involved…”

“I know…I guess I’m just being a child about it.”

“It’s all right…but what I find funny is that the Sergeant of the Air Force is practically a kid.”

Alex stared at his sunglasses. “And how do you know that?”

“Trust me, I just know.”

Alex got herself up and stretched. “It’s going to be boring without you guys. Since Jax is on vacation for a month, I’ll be by myself.”

“Hopefully the mission doesn’t last too long,” Kenshi answered getting up as well. “I wish you could go with us. Something tells me it’ll be quite boring without you as well.”

Alex blushed a bit. “Yeah…but you got to do what you got to do. Maybe if I can get some time off, I’ll go back to my home state of Florida and stay with my aunt for a few weeks.”

“That sounds nice, you should do that.”

The two fell silent for a bit then, both not sure what to do next. Then, Alex spoke. “You do anything tonight?”

“I was going to do some training with my Tai Chi. If you want to join, I don’t mind.”

“That’s cool, but I think I’ll hit the hay for the night. Goodnight Kenshi.”

“Goodnight Alex.”

They both walked out of the room and went their separate ways. Alex sighed to herself, wishing that she was going to the tournament with the team.

In a small office of the Delta Red Base, a slim young woman sat in front of a desk occupied by a well-built older man. It was seven in the morning and the young woman was feeling quite tired from getting up so early.

“Good morning Cammy,” the man said.

“Good morning Colonel Wolfman,” Cammy replied. She took a hand and pushed back one of her two long blond braids back behind her, then adjusted the red beret on her head. She also wore a full green business suit with brown stockings and green high-heel shoes.

“I called you here this morning because we have an assignment,” Colonel Wolfman mentioned to her. He too wore a matching beret with long blond hair falling behind him. He also wore a gray tank top showing off his well-built muscles, blue jeans, and black boots. A long scar ran down his face over his eye.

Cammy looked at him seriously. “Do the others know?”

“Yes, I’ve already informed Lita, McCoy, and Ginzu. I would have had the meeting together, but all of you are on separate schedules and this assignment came to me fast and we don’t have enough time.”

Colonel Wolfman took out a folded paper from his suitcase and handed it to Cammy. Cammy unfolded the paper and read the information that was in it. “The Blood Tournament…sounds interesting.”

“Yes, it is interesting. The General asked us to investigate the tournament. Heavy rumors are going around that former Shadowlaw members will be there.”

Cammy nodded. She thought about her ‘family’ back in the states…Air Force’s Colonel William Guile and Sergeant Scott K. Wagner. They had taken her in and made her part of the family after years of being a Shadowlaw doll herself. There were things she could not remember and probably never will. Guile was like a father to her while Wagner was like a brother to her. She left them for Delta Red, a military branch located in her birth home of England.

She wondered if they knew about the tournament too. If anything, she promised Wagner that if she found anything about his long-lost sister Lisa that she would pursue her. The young British woman knew how much that mission meant to her brother.

Cammy had the urge to tell Wolfman about it, but held it back. She knew Wolfman didn’t want to hear anything involving personal agendas.

Once she let it all sink in, Wolfman continued. “As you see in the invitation, there are only two locations in the entire world which will take us to the tournament. The closest to us is San Francisco. A flight will be ready for us in 1300 hour.”

“Right sir,” Cammy replied.

Later…

Cammy let out a gasp as someone touched her shoulder. She had been asleep and was surprised by the sudden touch. She looked up and saw a blond woman standing over her.

“Cammy girl,” the woman said. “It’s noon! The plane leaves in an hour!”

Cammy quickly looked over at her clock. “Oh my goodness! I meant to take a small nap! Sorry Lita.”

“It’s fine, you’re lucky I was around.” Lita smiled at her. “I look forward to this tournament. Maybe we’ll get a chance to fight some cocky good-looking blokes.”

Cammy chuckled a bit. “Maybe. Meet me outside, I’ll get ready.”

“All right,” Lita replied before leaving.

The young woman sighed to herself. She turned to a framed picture she had on her desk. It was a picture of her along with Wagner, Guile, and Guile’s wife and daughter Julia and Amy. She missed them very much and sometimes wished that she was back in the states with them, but she loved the family she was with now, having been good to her since arriving at Delta Red.

Cammy shook the thought out of her head a bit. ‘I have to concentrate,’ she thought.

She got dressed in her Delta Red uniform, placed the red beret on her head, and headed out the door. As mysterious as the tournament was, she couldn’t help but look forward to it all.

To Chapter Three