|
"I just
found more information about Shadowlaw," said Liang holding up a handful of papers. He placed the papers on the coffee table.
"What
about them?" asked Veronica.
Liang sighed. "Well, the bad news is, I'm still not sure how Bison has been resurrected,
but we did find some of their bases."
Everyone nodded. It had been a week since finding out that not only Shadowlaw
existed once again, but also that Bison has been resurrected. Everyone but Jasmine were now sitting in the den of their London
hotel trying to figure out what's going on. Jasmine's ribs had improved in recovering, but doctors still suggested that she
should stay in bed for another week.
"They did have a base outside of Barcelona, Spain, but it was destroyed seven
years ago."
Ryu, Ken, Guile, Chun-Li, and Fei-Long looked at each other knowing full well what happened that day.
"There
are other bases, mostly in Southeast Asia; one in Cambodia, Thailand, India, Taiwan, and the Philippines."
"They did
talk about Cambodia about seven year ago," said Guile. Wagner looked at Guile with confusion.
'Cambodia?' Wagner thought.
'How did he know about that?'
"We sent a military to check Cambodia," said Chun-Li. "But that base has been destroyed
as well."
"Seems like they have all of these bases are around because they don't want the military finding them," said
Ken.
"So then how are we going to stop them?" asked Veronica.
"We received a tip that there has been something
going on in Thailand," said Liang. "I'm not sure what it is, but I have a gut feeling that it has something to do with Shadowlaw."
"So
I'm guessing that we're heading to Thailand now?" asked Wagner.
"Yes," replied Chun-Li. "We figured since we got that
tip, we can investigate there first."
While this was all being discussed, Ryu was staring into space. He couldn't stop
thinking about Jasmine, who was recovering from her injuries in her room. He also couldn't believe that someone like Sagat
would do such a thing to a strong, beautiful woman like Jasmine.
'I can't believe he joined Shadowlaw,' Ryu thought.
"Wait!"
cried Veronica. "What about Jasmine? The doctors said that she still needs another week of rest."
"We'll have to talk
to them," replied Liang. "This can't wait. She can rest when we get to Thailand. Hopefully, we can get their approval."
***
The
next day, everyone was the plane that was heading to Bangkok, Thailand. The doctors had allowed Jasmine to go with them so
long that she rested when they got there.
Wagner was looking out the window thinking about all that has happened since
finding out that Bison has been resurrected.
'Whoever resurrected that bastard is going to pay,' he thought angrily.
'What was the point in doing that when all he's going to do is take over the world and ruin innocent lives?'
Guile
noticed how quiet Wagner had been. This surprised him because Wagner never shuts his mouth. Guile never knew who killed Wagner's
family until now. He knew that Wagner would need time to think things over.
Then, Wagner turned to him. "Guile," he
said. "Was it Bison who killed Nash?"
Guile became frozen in his seat. He had never told Wagner how Nash died. He thought
about it for a moment. 'Maybe he's ready to hear this,' he thought.
Guile slowly nodded. "Yes, Wagner. Bison did kill
Nash."
Wagner looked down. "That bastard. Killing any innocent person he pleases."
Guile sighed. "Yeah."
Wagner
looked up at Guile again. "What happened that day?"
Guile closed his eyes and leaned his head against his seat. "While
we searched for Ken and Ryu, Nash found the main control room. There, he tried to take care of Bison himself, but it cost
him his life. I found him when it was too late." He looked at Wagner seriously. "If we ever face Bison, don't try to take
care of him yourself. Promise me Wagner."
Wagner stayed silent and looked out the window again.
***
Nighttime;
Bangkok, Thailand..........
Everyone went out that night to look for clues about Shadowlaw. Ryu and Jasmine stayed
behind at their hotel since Jasmine was still recovering from her injuries, and Ryu stayed to watch her incase anything happened.
Ryu
stepped out of the bathroom after a long, hot shower. He was only wearing sweatpants and left the upper half of his body exposed.
He walked into Jasmine's room to check up on her.
Jasmine was up watching TV when Ryu came in.
"What are you
watching?" Ryu asked with interest.
Jasmine took the remote and shut the TV off. "Something in a language I can't understand."
Then,
she noticed his shirtless body. Jasmine expected herself to go into a trance, but then she noticed something disturbing. She
saw shiny scars across his chest, abs, and back.
"Ryu," she said. "Where did you get those scars?"
Ryu looked
down at himself and then slowly back up at Jasmine. He walked over to her and sat on the edge of the bed. Jasmine slowly sat
up.
"I was framec for a crime I didn't commit and I was sent to jail," Ryu replied. He pointed to his scars. "This
was their way to welcome me."
(Flashback)
A short fat man walked into a very dark room. In his hands was a whip.
Ryu
hung off the ceiling by a single rope, which was tied up on his wrists. He wore nothing but pants.
"I've been looking
forward to our meeting," the man said. He quickly licked his lips. "Like with all of the other inmates, I'd like to give you
a big, warm welcome.......my way."
Ryu stared at the man with emotionless eyes. He remembered Ken's words, saying to
stay out of the way of the inmates and don't try to cause any trouble.
The man got the whip out and only held one end.
"I hear that you claim yourself innocent. Well, this is what happens to those who lie." He took the whip and smacked Ryu right
across his chest. As soon as the whip made contact with his skin, Ryu could feel the sharp pain that seemed to go through
his whole body. He closed his eyes tightly and clenched his teeth trying not to scream.
After a few more whips, the
man laughed. "Why don't you scream?! Maybe I'll go a little easier on you!"
*Smack*
"Maybe even more easier
if you cried too."
*Smack*
"Come on!! Scream!!!"
The man kept smacking Ryu with his whip. Sometimes,
the whip would leave a line of blood on his body. Ryu tried his best to ignore the pain, but the intensity of it wouldn't
allow him to think of something else.
Ten minutes goes by and not once did Ryu even wince. The man finally grew tired
and fell to his knees out of breath. He looked down to the ground, seeing Ryu's blood dripping on the floor.
Ryu never
felt so exhausted in his life. What was worse was that even after the man stopped whipping him, he could still feel the whip's
enduring pain.
(End of Flashback)
Jasmine was horrified when Ryu told that story to her. She put a hand on his
shoulder. Ryu looked over at her.
"I've always known that you were strong," she said. "I just can't believe you went
through that. Even I don't think I could handle something like that."
Ryu nodded. The two become silent for a brief
moment.
Then, Ryu looked over at her. "Jasmine?"
"Yeah?"
Ryu sighed. "Back in Ukraine after the spell
was broken.......um, you kind of, um.......embraced me."
"Hmmm?"
"Why? I mean you didn't even trust me? You
even let me hold you when Sagat beat you."
Jasmine smirked a little. "Before you became processed, I started to trust
you. When you went to that strip club in Paris, Wagner was saying how surprised he was when you didn't even wince whenever
a stripper took off her bra. I didn't believe that until we went to Ukraine. There you punched that psycho for me when he
grabbed me. That was when I started to trust you."
Ryu blushed a little and smiled at her. "I'm glad that you can trust
me."
"No problem," Jasmine replied. "I really did want to trust you since the day we met in Hong Kong. I wanted to
tell you something, but I needed you to earn my trust first."
"What would that be?"
Jasmine grinned evilly.
"This might give you a bit of a hint."
Then, to Ryu's surprise, Jasmine leaned her face towards his and pressed her
lips against his. Ryu's eyes were wide open at first. He couldn't believe that this was happening, especially since it was
Jasmine who made the move!
Then, Ryu relaxed and returned the kiss. For a minute, they continued this and went into
a rhythm, opening and closing their mouths.
Soon, Jasmine pulled away and looked at Ryu's dark eyes. Ryu looks back
into her green eyes as well, seeing how beautiful she was in the dim light.
Jasmine lifted one hand and placed it on
Ryu's cheek. "I really like you, Ryu. I want to be with you."
Ryu smirked at her. "I've had feelings for you too. I
just didn't know when it was the right time, I........"
Jasmine placed a finger over his lips. "Don't worry about it
now, as long as we both know that we really like each other." She leaned towards him again and their lips connected again.
They
wrapped their arms around each other and increased the passion of their kiss.
'I'm not sure if it's 'really like','
Ryu thought. 'I have a feeling that it might be more.'
|
