Street Fighter 2
Chapter 9
Guile watched as the pilots under his command drank, talked
and boasted their way through life. A number of 2nd Lieutenants
were chatting about leave time, a Major boasting about previous
kills, the sort of thing one would expect in pilot country. They
were a ragtag bunch, but when given a plane to fly with some
armaments under the wing, they were the best at what they did.
Shooting down the enemy.
Guile had just walked in after giving his debriefing to the CAG (Commander
of Air Group), pleased at how successful the mission had turned
out. The VX that Cammy had returned were to be transported in a
couple of days to a secret weapons storage facility near San
Francisco, where it would hopefully remain unused for a very long
time. That and the fact that they had destroyed an important arms
depot gave him a reason to feel satisfied.
Guile poured himself a whiskey, dumped a couple of ice cubes into
the glass, and walked to his usual spot. Charlie was sitting
there, polishing his Desert Eagle as usual, keeping his attention
to the job at hand. He was a real gun fanatic, Charlie. He paid
his dues to the NRA, kept guns in his dorm, his apartment,
everywhere. He even gave guns away as presents. That's how Cammy
got her CZ 75. Guile walked up to Charlie, in order to engage
polite conversation with him.
"Hey asshole, you finished with that thing yet?"
"Hey, it needs constant maintaining in order to keep it
working. If your gun screws up in an important mission, blame
yourself for not polishing it enough."
Guile chuckled. Charlie hated being taunted about gun maintenance.
"It needs….just a bit more….there, all set. Now
then, what do you want?"
"Hey, I just needed a friend to talk to that's all. You
wouldn't turn your back on a friend."
"I might."
"Even if that friend saved your life a dozen times back?"
"Okay, you got me there. Although you did abandon me once as
well."
"Hey, I thought you were dead."
"You shoulda double checked."
Guile winced. It was the reason why he took a part time career as
a Street Fighter. On a mission in Taiwan, Guile and Charlie's
helicopter was hit by a bazooka, and landed deep in Shadowloo
territory. Although they tried to run, Charlie was shot in the
leg by a stray bullet, and told Guile to go on without him. Guile
obeyed. After five minutes, Guile heard a burst of machinegun
fire, and a cry of celebration from the enemy. A week after Guile
managed to get out alive, they found only two dog tags, and a
pool of blood. They were Charlie's. Charlie was declared Missing,
Presumed Dead. Guile swore revenge on Bison for killing his best
friend, and entered the Street Fighter tournament that Bison was
holding, with the help of Interpol agent Chun Li,. He never
managed to get a chance, thanks to Ryu, who always won. However,
four years after Charlie's 'death', Guile undertook a mission to
rescue some POWs and hostages from a Shadowloo prison camp. One
of the prisoners was Charlie, tortured to the point of near death,
but alive. It gave Charlie a kick to be able to see his own grave.
While Guile recollected the past, Cammy strolled into the room,
wearing MI6 uniform. A few Lieutenants wolf-whistled her as she
walked past. The Major who was boasting about Shodowloo kills
before, suddenly turned and walked to the pretty soldier.
"Don't bother Major, you have no chance against her."
Guile said. The Major ignored him as he walked up to Cammy, who
was pouring a small brandy from the self-service bar.
"Hey there lady. Ah'm Major Sonners," The Major spoke
in his Texan accent. "How would you like to go out on a…"
"Date?" Cammy raised one eyebrow, "Well……"
She suddenly grabbed the Major's shirt with one arm, thrusted an
elbow into his stomach with the other, and flipped him over her
shoulder. Major Sonners crashed into the floor, and winced in
pain.
Cammy stood over him, "I'm sorry, but the answer will have
to be 'no', I'm afraid." She turned and walked towards Guile
and Charlie, while the Major staggered up to the laughs of the
other pilots.
"You know," Cammy spoke to Guile as she drew up a seat
between Guile and Charlie, "You've got to keep a better eye
out on your perverted wingmen, Colonel Guile."
"Hey, I let you do what you did to teach 'em a lesson. You
didn't think I wasn't caring for you, did you?"
"Very funny." She sat back, sipping her brandy.
"So Captain White, what brings you out here to pilot country?"
inquired Charlie.
"No reason, I just wanted to see how heavy in the hormone
department your pilots are before I came to have a chat."
"And your decision."
Cammy took a small sip of brandy before answering, "Well I
think your Major's level's decreased somewhat."
They chuckled at the expense of the poor Major, who had recently
left, rubbing his backside from the pain.
Sakura looked on as she made her trip to school. It had been
months since she was last here in Japan. The summer holidays had
gone too quickly for her, and she was annoyed when just as she
thought she was going to be training with Ryu again, she had to
return to school. It wasn't as if she wasn't enjoying school
anymore. Far from it. She was happy at school, the other students
respected her now that she was able to fight and protect herself.
The problem was that every day she spent at school, the further
away she would be from Ryu. She often felt that she wouldn't be
able to trace him anymore the next time she was allowed to leave.
Still, school was important, no doubt about that. It was her only
way of contacting her friend Hinata. Since Sakura met her, they
had been in a lot of events, most notably, the Justice High
School situation. Sakura had helped Hinata and a couple of her
friends against a problem with the principal of Justice High
School, who were kidnapping students and brainwashing them,
rather like Shadowloo with the Street Fighters, but on a much
smaller scale.
She thought about Shadowloo. Sakura, too was involved in that as
well. She only really took a small part in it all, because all
she wanted to do was become a fighter like Ryu. A World Warrior.
She noticed that Ryu was at first reluctant to fight alongside
Interpol, America, and others who were against M.Bison's evil
syndicate, but as time went on, he became a hero to them, thanks
to his victory over M.Bison. When Ryu left after being
congratulated, Sakura ran up to him when they were alone, and
asked him why he helped them. Didn't he turn into a killer
because he killed someone? He had never killed before.
Ryu answered Sakura's question, with a phrase that would stick
into her mind forever.
"Sakura, what makes a warrior different from a killer, is
that the warrior only fights whenever he is provoked. And what
makes a warrior human, is that they help someone in need,
regardless of who or what they are. Chun Li taught me that."
Chun Li. The Interpol detective. Sakura had only met her a couple
of times, but every time she saw her, she was always with Ryu.
Maybe they were more than just friends.
A jealousy grew in Sakura, but fell when she wondered what she
was so jealous about. Sakura was 17, Ryu was about 28. She
guessed that Chun Li was only a couple of years younger than him.
And she was pretty, no mistaking it, as well as kind. Ryu
deserves someone like that.
She suddenly noticed a black car driving towards her and then
parked next to her. Three men in black suits suddenly lunged out
at Sakura, attempting to grab her. Sakura was ready, leaping into
the air with a hurricane kick before the first man could make
contact. As the man fell, she turned to face the next one, and
launched her own version of the Dragon Punch, running with a
shoulder barge before leaping into the air.
"SHO-O-KEN"
The man was knocked back into the wall. A crowd of people watched
as this young girl was beating the crap out of three grown men.
Sakura always trained well. Every punch or kick she connected,
sending the men back. She didn't notice that a fourth man had
crept up from behind, then hit her side with a tazer. Sakura
screamed as she fell, the electricity giving her immense pain in
the back. The men grabbed her, dumped her in the back of the car,
and drove off.
The Police had given pursuit, but had been shot at by a man with
a Colt Anaconda, and were forced to withdraw.
Inside the darkened back of the car, Sakura lay unconscious,
unaware of the fact that she had been kidnapped by Shadowloo.