The Bell Tolls - TBT Act 1 - Exit Wounds
[Toggle Names]Description: Chun-Li's investigations in Sunshine City turned up the wrong kinds of leads. Looking for the kidnappers and the criminal heart of Sunshine City, she uncovers evidence of a foreign criminal enterprise. Her investigations are cut short when an open call breaks out on the police radio: A prisoner being transported to a higher security facility in Sunshine City, was reported breaking out. The location: the Trainyards. The reason why; Yamazaki was transported to Sunshine City in the first place: to return him back to active duty in the Syndicate forces. Chun-Li must act fast to contain the psychopath, before his bloodlust turns away from Southtown, and straight into Sunshine City.
[YAMAZAKI]
It had already been over a month since the police had picked up Ryuji Yamazaki in Seattle after his assault on Masters Arena brought his rampage across the USA to a close at the hands of Ken Masters himself that began with his SNF fight in Philedelphia. The fact that he had to be properly identified and connected to all of the cases across multiple jurisdictions made things rather complicated, especially when compounded with the fact that he hadn't actually killed any of his targets (although one of the guards from Masters Arena was still in critical condition).
Things only got worse when a lawyer showed up out of nowhere to start complicating matters. Yamazaki himself never said a word when he had been brought into an interrogation room, merely sitting there with a sick grin on his face no matter what questions or threats were used.
Finally a transfer had been ordered, someone had found a way to upgrade charges to the Federal level, and a new facility in Sunshine City would be handling his detainment. It was a relief, all that would be needed was a transfer by train under the watch of some US Marshals.
Too bad the transfer had been arranged by Southsynd money.
With no chances being taken, Yamazaki had been heavily restrained, both arms locked behind his back or chained to his seat, his ankles shackled together. Three marshals were escorting him, taking care to ensure he was always under watch, despite the fact that he did little more than smirk the whole time.
Everything was going exceptionally well, right up until the train had pulled into Sunshine City.
Under careful watch and high alert, the Marshals start to prep Yamazaki for the last leg of transportation, and waiting for the perfect moment, the viper finally strikes. As one of the Marshals crouches down to unsecure the Yakuza's leg restraints from the floor, the psychopath's hand twists tight, still held in his restraint. There's a slow flexing of his esophagus as the small blade he'd crafted over all those weeks in his cells and hidden in his stomach is wrenched back up, and in a flurry of motion, his whole hand twists free of its restraint, his arm moving like a slithering snake, as if the whole time it could have easily slipped free of its bonds. In a flash, it's free. In slow motion, his tongue is fully extended, the make-shift blade presented on it snatched up in the blink of an eye, and in a flash the throat of the furthest Marshal turns into an explosion of blood, the flickering outline of an arm far too long and sinous fading between Yamazaki and the man.
The other Marshal on watch's reactions betray her as he eyes instinctively turn toward her partner, falling to the floor. A few seconds is all it takes for that same serpentine arm to slash out, cutting a sharp line over her face, catching both eyes in the process, a scream filling the compartment. The third with the keys, unprepared for the prisoner's sudden freedom of movement can't even raise his eyes before the psychopath's teeth latch down hard on his throat.
By the time the blinded Marshal has a chance to draw her weapon, shouting for the prisoner to stand down as she fumbles with her radio, the only other sound in the compartment is the jangling of keys, a prelude to heavy restraints hitting the floor. The stench of fresh blood in the air is overwhelming.
...
All across official frequencies, a call goes up, "This is Marshal Richards, prisoner transfer KL3795, we have three officers down, prisoner is-"
"GYA HA HA HA HA HA," a differnt voice interrupts in an awful laughter.
The last sounds of the message are a gunshot, a richochet, the heavy thump of flesh on flesh, and then nothing.
...
Finally, it was about time that Geese Howard had bothered to get things done. That weasily little shit of a lawyer had told him to play nice and take a vacation in the prison while things were arranged. Yamazaki would have probably smashed his face in if it hadn't been for the payment he was being offered to put up with this bullshit.
And there was a hell of a lot more of it waiting in Southtown when he got back to Japan, which must mean there was going to be some real fun with whatever trouble Geese was stirring up.
The fresh clothes and the proper knife had been stowed away in a suitcase just one compartment over, like he'd been told. Getting out of those ugly, orange prisoner clothes and back into some classy black was a relief, although there wasn't going to be time to waste washing up properly. Not that Yamazaki minded the lingering scent of blood that hung over him as he slipped out of the train car.
All he had to do now was meet up with one of Geese Howard's dogs and he'd be right back into things.
[CHUN-LI]
Too bad indeed.
Chun-Li has been in Sunshine City since her championship match with Duke. If it wasn't for the sheer amount of chaos unfolding there over the past weeks, the inspector's superior would have surely called her back in to explain why she thought it appropriate to harrass a citizen - even one with a record like Duke's - with questions about criminal investigations in Sunshine and beyond, live on pay-per-view with no lawyers present. Instead, she got off with broken bones, a stern reprimand, and a special task force posting that's kept her so busy digging into an endless parade of drug and kidnapping cases that she's hardly had time to train, much less publicly interrogate persons of interest.
When the call comes in, she's lucky to be within a few minutes of the Trainyard. Lucky a /few/ times over, she tries not to think: if transfer KL3795 is loose, the odds of the convoy having an officer capable of containing him are slim...
... and containing him might provide a valuable opportunity to gain some insight into the connections beginning to form across her investigations. Duke's unexpected presence in the city was the tip of an iceberg; she's only just begin to realize how much of the impenetrable mass lurking below stems from the Syndicate's influence versus the cartels from across the border.
Arriving several minutes too late for anyone aboard the train, Chun-Li roars into the Trainyard astride a motorcycle borrowed from the local force. Clad in the light blue button-down shirt; tight, navy slacks; and white boots of her professional uniform, her eyes are locked squarely upon the man dressed in black and dripping with red.
Given the glare, she probably isn't one of Geese's.
COMBATSYS: Chun-Li has started a fight here.
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Chun-Li 0/-------/------=|
[YAMAZAKI]
This whole alrea is a goddamn mess.
It's late enough that there aren't too many people paying attention around the trainyards, but it never really comes to a stop. Trains moving in and out as industry never stops. At any given moment, the path could be blocked, and ducking between the trains, you never know if there's another one coming around on the other side.
Kind of exciting. Eventually the tracks lead further out, past the active area and toward an area of disrepair, stacked with old cars left in disrepair, covered in graffiti and ransacked for anything of value.
hat guy is supposed to be around here somewhere, but now he's just wasting Yamazaki's time, stuck away in some stupid corner of the trainyard...
...and then there's that annoying whine of a police motorcycle. No denying that it's another cop just begging to end up in the hospital.
Yamazaki shifts forward, his right hand buried in his pocket as he turns to face the new arrival, flashing that awful grin as he turns all of his attention toward the woman. "What are you doing all the way out here. Don't you know it's a bad part of town, you never know what sort of dangerous guys hang around these parts, baby?"
COMBATSYS: Yamazaki has joined the fight here.
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Yamazaki 0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0 Chun-Li
[CHUN-LI]
The trainyard's a maze of metal bones and the last gasps of industry. Geese's man could be /anywhere/--
-- and so could Yamazaki. The inspector actually lets out a small breath of relief when she finally /sees/ him after spell of navigating the 'yard; she'd rather face the Syndicate's viper head on than be ambushed, any day of the week. As she gets within a dozen or so feet of the man, dirt and debris arc into the air, thrown by a sharp twist of the bike's front wheel as its chassis is wrenched into a sliding stop. A soaring, forward flip closes the rest of the distance until she's straightening up in time to thrust her right foot towards the top of his skull. If contact is made, she'll use it as a platform from which to spring away so she can land in her stance.
"Not /your/ sort!" she sharply replies mid-flight. "How'd you get /out/, Yamazaki? You should've been doped to the gills and locked down /tight/; they're /busy/ out here, but they aren't /stupid/."
She hopes. They aren't stupid, she hopes. Yamazaki isn't just some street tough with a knife; transporting him without personnel capable of handling him should've meant extra precautions on the technical/mechanical end of the equation. The question of whether the Marshals lacked the resources or knowledge, or whether Yamazaki managed to overpower even the sorts of preparations necessary to keep a fighter of his magnitude contained lingers as she thrusts her right leg towards the only person she can look to for answers, right now.
COMBATSYS: Yamazaki endures Chun-Li's Yousou Kyaku.
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Yamazaki 0/-------/------=|==-----\-------\0 Chun-Li
[YAMAZAKI]
The right amount of money being thrown around can make all sorts of little mistakes come together, and if you provide people with enough instructions and safety measures that sound reasonable, it can be pretty easy to overlook a lot of things that might otherwise raise some red flags. All it takes is one person being corrupt enough at the right level and everything can be pulled through.
None of that matters to Yamazaki, though. If it hadn't been here, he would have just had to break his way out of jail on his own. They did themselves a favor by making it so he only had to kill three people to get out of there... although the number might be getting up to four real quick.
"GYAA HAA HAA HAA HAA! They only had me in the first place because I thought it might be fun to take a vacation! Maybe if they'd sent another one I would have had to break a sweat!"
Now it's just one last stupid cop in his way before Yamazaki can get back to work, and this one was dumb enough to show up to try to fight him all by herself. As she's closing the distance, his left hand is already clenching into a fist, his knees bending slightly as he leans further forward, one leg back. No reason not to let her come charging into this, it's an opportunity to have some more fun.
He doesn't even try to move out of the way as she slams a foot into his chest, the full force of it managing to rock him back nearly straight. Sure it hurts, but for a guy like Yamazaki, that's not enough to push him back. As he starts to settle back forward with her rebounding, he surges forward, left fist held out back behind him as he closes the distance without hesitation, lashing out with a single fist aimed straight for Chun-Li's gut.
COMBATSYS: Chun-Li just-defends Yamazaki's Screw Blow!
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Yamazaki 0/-------/------=|==-----\-------\0 Chun-Li
[CHUN-LI]
A single fist meets the tip of a white boot when Chun-Li snaps a kick out to meet the madman's strike. The impact blows a ring of dust out from the two fighters for a couple of feet and sings a resounding note; the officer's leg twitches in the moments afterwards, but the angle of her counterblow combined with her having had the wherewithal to throw it before he could fully extend his arm means a marked lack of pain coursing through the limb.
"Let's /talk/ about vacations, Yamazaki," the officer says while setting her foot to the ground. "See, I met of your bosses in this very 'yard not too long ago, and he had his reason for being here, sure - 'business', obviously - but something about it didn't /feel/ right."
Rippling thighs visibly tense beneath dark material, and then she's gathered at Yamazaki's right in a crouch, arms back and head tilted towards the viper's eyes. "And since then, I keep finding dealers, pimps, muscle - you name it - imported all the way from Japan, freedy for whatever juicy chunks of Sunshine the cartels haven't already snatched for themselves. And now, there's /you/."
Blue chi billows out from her chest when she breathes in; as she lets it out, the crackling bands dance around her body and she rockets into the air, elbow angled towards his chin. Her trajectory's meant to take her /past/ him so that she can follow that rising strike with a quick pivot into a falling kick aimed at his back.
"How long has the Syndicate been in Sunshine City, Yamazaki?!"
COMBATSYS: Yamazaki endures Chun-Li's Rankyaku.
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Yamazaki 0/-------/----===|==-----\-------\0 Chun-Li
[YAMAZAKI]
The thing about Ryuji Yamazaki is that he's best used as a blunt instrument. None of the 'why' matters about any task he's given, so long as it comes with two things: an opportunity to make a lot of money, and the opportunity to hurt someone real bad. All of those schemes about taking control and trying to work things out to accomplish some grand plan don't mean squat.
"The only boss I've got is cash," Yamazaki retorts casually, still smiling despite it all. "Why don't you stop wasting all this time yapping like a mutt about shit that doesn't matter? I had to spend a whole lot of time playing nice and I could really use a chance for some excitement!"
Once again he doesn't even really bother trying to move, catching the quick blast of energy straight to the chest as she moves past and spinning with the force of it. Rather than catching him with the follow-up kick at his back, instead it lands on his shoulder with the Yakuza grinning like a maniac as he stares Chun-Li in this eyes.
"Those other cops went down too easy. I've been itching for some excitement, and you seem like the perfect date for me!"
With another flash of movement, Yamazaki's right hand flies out of his pocket, knife in hand as it whips across in a quick slash aimed for the Interpol agent's midsection before twisting back down around around, aiming for a straight stab into her gut.
COMBATSYS: Chun-Li blocks Yamazaki's Hydra's Judgement.
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Yamazaki 0/-------/---====|===----\-------\0 Chun-Li
[CHUN-LI]
"Right," Chun-Li sharply retorts as she slides into a landing and shows him the edges of her hands, "/Syndicate/ cash."
Yamazaki's wrist meets hers while he's mid-slash, guiding the blow from her body and leaving the man behind it hungry. She barely manages to shift with his follow-up when he proves more dextrous than she would've liked, wrists coming together around his to twist a deep stab into a shallow cut. "Nngh--" she groans, disengaging with a quick push against his arm. One of her hands twitches inwards to touch the blood slowly but surely oozing from her belly, prompting a furrowed brow rather than fear.
"Not really my type, Yamazaki, but if you wanna tell me about your itinerary here," she lowly continues while swiping blood across her shirt, "I'm /happy/ to listen. We can find a nice, quiet interrogation room, a straitjacket that really flatters your frame-- really get to know each other!"
Yamazaki's led with his chest so far and doesn't seem particularly bad off for it. Thanks to her experience with Duke, this makes her incredibly wary and just a bit relieved: he's clearly tough and/or nuts enough to absorb a fair bit of punishment... which in turn means that despite the uniform and her now-official posting in Sunshine, the champion fighter needn't worry about pulling her strikes much, if at all.
It's barely even an /option/.
When she charges after her declaration, the approach is noticably slower and more erratic, the agent darting from side to side with brisk, leaping strides that leave her on Yamazaki's left. Balanced on one leg, she draws the other around in a slashing blow meant to end with her heel colliding with the muscular target he's been so kind as to provide her up 'til now.
COMBATSYS: Yamazaki blocks Chun-Li's Medium Kick.
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Yamazaki 0/-------/---====|====---\-------\0 Chun-Li
[YAMAZAKI]
With his knife coming out with barely a prick, Yamazaki draws it back and slides his right hand back into his pocket, shifting back to his slouched forward, open stance. With posturing like that, it's a question of whether or not he's even got the actual fighting talent to do much besides take hits and come out swinging.
He's come up short so far, this cop is real careful and real quick. She's got a lot more skill than all three of those Marshals put together, and she's really hounding him with all of these boring questions.
"Who cares where the cash is from, if someone wants to give me some money to make someone else hurt, that's just a lot of fun," Yamazaki's tone shifts to one of near boredom, even as he shifts again, his left arm coming up to take the kick almost casually, finally showing some manner of defense.
"I'm not here to chit-chat, and I've seen what sort of clothes you guys like to put people in and I just gotta say, orange ain't my color." He slowly shifts back to that loose, open stance, his feet casually slipping along the ground, stirring up dust as he slowly repositions with no apparent goal in mind.
"I'll tell you what... why don't you try to hit me? Let's see if you can really impress me and if you do a good job, I can tell you the last thing that other chick with the badge said while she was sobbing her eyes out about not wanting me to kill her! She couldn't even see after I cut her eyes, just wailing like a little baby, begging those other two to respond while the whole room was coated in their blood?"
Leaning even further forward, Yamazaki's eyes grow bright with a sort of psychopathic glee, his mouth splitting wide, showing off every tooth in his mouth, his left arm hanging completely limp by his side. "Don't you wanna know what she said right before it was all over and I put her out of her misery?" he asks, slightly tilting his head as his tongue slips out of his mouth, spit drooling down along it as it waggles tauntingly.
COMBATSYS: Yamazaki charges his next attack!
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Yamazaki 0/-------/=======|====---\-------\0 Chun-Li
[CHUN-LI]
Yamazaki isn't the most subtle of the Syndicate's associates, but he's deceptive: if it wasn't for an Interpol dossier stuffed with full-color evidence of his prowess, the open stance and refusal to raise more than the barest minimum of a defense thus could easily inspire lassitude. As he leans in, leers, and taunts, she hears him practically /beg/ to be punished for his carelessness--
-- pictures a woman she's never met before, indistinct in his clutches save for the helplessness in her eyes--
-- and tells herself not to take the bait while blue and gold boil up from the depths of her being to course along her body. Her best bet is to not give him what he wants-- to pour everything into sheer, blistering speed and hope she can hit him before he knows it's coming rather than play a madman's game. It wouldn't be as easy as he wants to make it /look/, surely - lazy as it was, his arm came up awfully fast to intercept her last strike - but it would be better, /safer/ than trying to wipe the sadistic glee from his face.
Helplessness and blood streaming like tears.
Slender, shaking fingers clench and unclench. Brown eyes vibrate with the effort of merely smoldering rather than give the satisfaction of incendiary fury. The inspector's lips part in a shuddering breath that stokes the energy pouring over her into a brilliant flare; it clings when it recedes, briefly setting her skin alight with flashing colors that leave glinting trails in the air when she explodes in his direction. Her only verbal response to the question - the /challenge/ - is a wordless roar.
The rest isn't far behind.
Pivoting a few feet in front of him, she twists into a rising heel kick with enough force behind it to send him flying if it hits-- flying /with/ her as she continues to spin and kick until she reaches an apex from which to drive him back to the earth with a downward thrust from both feet.
COMBATSYS: Yamazaki fails to interrupt Tenshou Kyaku from Chun-Li with Empowered Sadomazo.
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Yamazaki 1/------=/=======|=====--\-------\0 Chun-Li
[YAMAZAKI]
Buried in his pocket, Yamazaki's right hand begins to clench with building frenzy. The need to inflict pain.
It doesn't matter if he's completely open, it doesn't matter if she can hit him, all he needs is for her to get close enough for him to strike. She just keeps putting up this front like she's actually concerned with all that phony bullshit like justice and order.
It's just another form of power. A way to inflict your will on others without being strong enough to do it yourself. The whole world claws and scratches for some measure of its own false ideals. People like Chun-Li are just so delusional that they let themselves be used without getting what really matters. Willfully blind in the name of "Morality."
It's just so much fun to see the truth appear before them after a bit of suffering.
And the instant she touches him, he's going to show her the way things really work!
It all goes out the window as her kick lands and he goes flying back, carried by her assault before his fist can even leave his pocket. Each hit carrying him further and sending him reeling back, slamming him into the gravel between the decaying tracks, his own blood starting to spill from his lips.
"GYAA HAA HAA HAA!" Even through the pain, that same foul laughter spills from his lips.
[CHUN-LI]
Landing shortly behind Yamazaki, Chun-Li sprints after the cackling viper with fire in her eyes. Chi vanishes between rapid, controlled breaths, leaving her noticably slower and not an iota less furious in her approach.
Cruel, sadistic, and utterly without remorse, Yamazaki is the kind of predatory bully she's spent years honing herself to face down so others wouldn't have to. Love and curiosity may have drawn her into Interpol's service initially, but the harsh realities of a world infected by individuals powerful enough to turn most men and women into chattel-- into /playthings/ for their twisted amusement required more from her. What her father taught her while he could /deserved/ to be put to the best use possible, giving her a responsibility to civilians and her fellow officers alike. Truth be told, if the Marshals had thought to ask the ITF for assistance with the transfer, she probably would've volunteered... but they didn't.
So all she can do for Yamazaki's victims /now/ is avenge them.
"Where was your NEXT stop, Yamazaki?!" she roars, drawing close enough to punctuate the question with a swift kick to the killer's ribs. "Why NOW?! Don't give me that garbage about a vacation-- what do they WANT with you?!"
"What does the Syndicate want from Sunshine City?!"
COMBATSYS: Yamazaki blocks Chun-Li's Aggressive Strike.
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Yamazaki 1/----===/=======|======-\-------\0 Chun-Li
[YAMAZAKI]
All of this begging and nagging. If Chun-Li bothered to understand the way the world actually works, she could actually do something to make the world bend to its knees for her. Instead she wants to waste her time trying to protect unimportant people. She's so strong, but just looking at her with that needy fear and desperation clawing up from the pit of her soul.
It's so pathetically hilarious.
The kick ultimately meets nothing more than Yamazaki's arm as he pushes back up to his knees, staring up at her with those wild eyes, his teeth smeared in his own blood as it drools out past his lips.
"Who the hell knows and who the hells cares?" Yamazaki replies as he pushes back to his feet. "They want to pay me and let me out of some pointless cell? That's their money. Probably need my help to get some more blood on the streets, but none of that matters."
Rising back up, even with his slouched posture, the Yakuza cuts and imposing, tower figure of psychotic intent, completely unconcerned with the pain that's been inflicted on him.
"I don't give a damn what they're doing, and I don't even know! GYAA HAA HAA HAA!"
And without hesitation, Yamazaki punctuates his point by surging forward at Chun-Li, lunging out to grab her by the head and then slam her face first into the ground with enough force to spring her back up into the air to be met with a downward sweeping axe kick into an unrelenting flurry of stomps and kicks. Every ounce of violence in his body being unleashed at once until he kicks her back up into the air and draws back his right hand as black and red energy bursts into existance around it before it's thrown forward in a violent gut punch, all of that energy spiralling into a fine point with enough power to erupt out of the other side.
COMBATSYS: Yamazaki knocks away Chun-Li with Yondan Drill.
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Yamazaki 0/-------/-------|=======\====---\1 Chun-Li
[CHUN-LI]
Chun-Li's pulling back to bury her fist in Yamazaki's gut when he surges. Her arm begins to shift up and his hand slithers past her barely existant guard to lock her in a vice grip.
Fortunately(?), she's still conscious when he leaves her in the dirt moments later. Still able to push up onto her hands and knees, allowing the blood pooling past her lips to drizzle out in syrupy threads-- able to feel the painful and horrific emptiness where violently focused energy invaded and burst through her. Her eye's swollen and further obscured by trickling blood, her nose is dripping; her ribs, searing.
But none of it really compares to the gnawing space where it feels for all the world like the sadist reached in and operated without giving her so much as a warning, much less anesthesia.
"S-/someone/ knows," she groans in reply to his questions, "and /I/ care...!" Her legs tremble as she retakes her feet and an arm wraps around her stomach. "S-Sunshine City... doesn't need you in it... anymore than /Southtown/ does...!" A narrowed eye locks onto Yamazaki. The inspector's hands nearly come together before her chest, leaving just enough room for a swirling pearl of blue and gold to form as she lids her eyes and breathes. Each breath that follows wriggles a knife just a little bit deeper into her lungs while rippling bands of chi begin wafting up from the ground around her.
"I think-- I think you'd look... /much/ better... in /orange/, Yamazaki."
Energy drawn from the scraggly clumps of grass and feeble flowers poking up through the dirt and debris littering the 'yard swirls towards the pearl crackling between her hands, trailing out behind her as she lunges to plant herself /right/ in front of the leering viper. Compressed force hovers before her when she swings her arms apart; yet more power surges from the depths of her Self, wrapping around her arms like scintillating minks as she draws back--
-- then slamming into the pearl and /detonating/ when she thrusts her palms forward. For the second time in as many weeks, a vast blue sphere shot through with crackling, golden arcs boils across the ground, ripping through the ground and the train cars as it seeks to consume the killer. A roaring, "KIKOUSHOU!" punctuates her point.
When the energy eventually fades, there are specks of miraculously untouched ground dotted with grass and flowers left in its wake amidst swaths of violently moved earth and Chun-Li is left gasping for air.
COMBATSYS: Yamazaki blocks Chun-Li's Kikoushou EX.
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Yamazaki 0/-------/------=|==-----\-------\0 Chun-Li
[YAMAZAKI]
It only takes one hit. The joy of inflicting all that pain, watching that look of superior disdain get ripped away from her face and consumed by violence. Every one of them thinks they're so remarkable with their fancy martial arts and codes. Formal dojos, organizations with belts.
All of it is bullshit!
Yamazaki is all the proof in the world that real strength is something you're born with, and the only worthwhile way yo get stronger is to fight like hell until you can bash their heads in! The only power in the world that really matters is the power in Yamazaki's right hand, and whenever they get to feel just how strong he is, they start to realize the truth about the world!
"You want to know things, you better have more in you than some goddamn light show! But I guess I got to show you the real strength, so why don't we see just what the hell you've got!"
With no sense of hesitation, Yamazaki just stands there, straightening up with a look of pure, psychotic glee in his eyes as that magnificent explosion of energy threatens to overpower him. To consume him in a flash of pure energy. He flickers completely out of view as the light overtakes him.
And then it fades, and Yamazaki simply stands there with his left arm raised in front of him, faint trails of steam trailing up from his exposed arm. The only other sign that anything has happened is the tears in his clothes, leaving the new outfit already tattered and dirtied from the fight thus far.
It's as if all the pain he's put through doesn't do anything more than thrill that psychotic core of his spirit.
"Too bad, maybe you could have done better if you didn't waste all that time worrying about some goddamn city. Who the hell are all these people? A bunch of weak nobodies just waiting for somebody with strength to take control. That's reality, maybe you should put down that badge, it's making it hard for you to see what's really there!"
Kicking up off the ground, the Yakuza brawler actually launches himself into the air, only barely twisting with an almost casual momentum, extending only one leg as he comes flying down at the Interpol agent, his right hand buried in his pocket.
COMBATSYS: Yamazaki knocks away Chun-Li with Diving Kick.
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Yamazaki 0/-------/-----==|======-\-------\0 Chun-Li
[CHUN-LI]
"Th--"
A leather sole smashes into Chun-Li's jaw, hurling her several feet along the madman's route-- leaving her at his feet when she lands. She turns, spits, and wipes blood from her mouth with a sleeve while forcing herself upright. Glaring up at sadistically gleaming eyes, she lowly utters, "-- they're people."
Then bellows, "They're /PEOPLE/, Yamazaki! Th-- nngh--" Bellowing can be a little rough on a woman with a riotously bruised jaw and glass studding her lungs and the sudden, searing reminder of Yamazaki's might leaves her clutching her chest with a grimace as she painstakingly picks herself up.
"-- they love each other," she hisses, still able to squeeze out venom and fire even if it makes her wince, "they want things-- NEED them-- they have as much of a right to live, to-- to seek those things out-- as /you/ do!" Grimacing through the final exclamation, she braces herself with a quick breath through the nostrils - not great, but better, slightly - that summons scintillating, dual-toned whorls around the lower halves of her legs.
She's yelling at a wall. She /knows/ she's yelling at a wall, and she's doing it anyway-- just like she did with Duke. Then, it came down to a mixture of professional imperative and sheer outrage at the infernal Syndicate enforcer's gall; now...
...
Anything, even a demonstrably useless waste of precious air, is better than dwelling on those unfamiliar eyes and the sound of desperate pleas gurgling into nothingness. She has a vivid imagination, her father always said so; it's one of the things that drove her as she worked to turn opera-inspired visions of martial artistry into a finely weaponized dance.
It's why she'll throw herself at Yamazaki until one of them /breaks/: /anything/ is worth holding the rampaging viper back from fattening his dossier or his stomach.
Dual-toned whorls become a tempest of blue and gold. The lower half of her body blurs into a storm of violence, seeking to pummel Yamazaki's chest with a dozen or more kicks delivered in the blink of an eye. Surging chi ripples around her legs a second later as she swings her right leg backwards, wrenching herself into a flip that leaves her upside down--
-- and /spinning/. Spinning fast enough to suck dirt, debris-- even wild-eyed enforcers, if they aren't careful or concerned-- inwards. There's no respite at the eye of her savage vortex, only crackling chi and highly educated feet.
COMBATSYS: Chun-Li blitzes into action and acts again!
[ \\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////// ]
Yamazaki 0/-------/-----==|=====--\-------\0 Chun-Li
COMBATSYS: Chun-Li successfully hits Yamazaki with Hyakuretsu Kyaku.
-* CRITICAL HIT! *-
[ \\\\ < > ///////// ]
Yamazaki 0/-------/--=====|=======\-------\0 Chun-Li
COMBATSYS: Yamazaki fails to interrupt Spinning Bird Kick EX from Chun-Li with Bombshell Bopper.
- Power fail! -
[ \\\\\\\\\ <
Chun-Li 1/-----==/=======|
COMBATSYS: Yamazaki can no longer fight.
[ \\\\\\\\\ <
Chun-Li 1/-----==/=======|
[YAMAZAKI]
She's starting to learn just what she's messing with! Everyone should know that Yamazaki is nobody to take lightly. All those bastards out there talking about him like he's nothing more than some kind of mutt. The only person who controls Ryuji Yamazaki is Ryuji Yamazaki! If people want to throw their money at him to complete a mission, then he's the one in control because they need HIM!
It's too bad she's still lost in all of that made-up bullshit about love and equality. The strong rule the world, and the weak live at their desire!
"Why are you wasting my time with all these lies? Nobody really gives a damn about anybody but themselves! All you do is bark about things that make you feel important, like you're better than people like me! Everything you do is the same as me: it's all about hurting people, but I know the real reason I do this and you're just pretending like it's not all about having power!"
Just let her get in close, he's just got to be able to get his hands on her! Once more, he just stands there, ready to deal with whatever punishment she wants to inflict!
But the Yakuza isn't quite ready for just how determined and focused Chun-Li is, with each hit striking hard and fierce. His short is torn open, blood spilling from his chest after the unrelenting barrage that leaves him completely unprepared as he's simply pulled into the whirlwind of continued violence, his own blood splattering out across the open ground before he's sent flying, crashing into the side of one of the abandoned train cars with enough force that it crumples inward and finally sheers open, with the Yakuza's brutalized body slamming into the far wall before collapsing down onto one of the ratty, worn seats.
There's no way to get back up from this. The Interpol agent's mission is all but complete until the sound of screeching tires fills the air, a black car with tinted windows suddenly pulling up with most of the doors flying open and men with sunglasses in dark suits spilling out.
There's only a moment of pause as submachineguns are readied and a flurry of bullets starts to fill the area, laying down surprising fire as another of the men rushes over to peel Yamazaki out of his dazed state and drag him back into the car.
In only a minute, all the men disappear back into the dark car as it peels off, hastily fleeing the trainyard with their package secured.
[CHUN-LI]
The rush of elated relief when Yamazaki doesn't simply emerge savaged and savage from the damaged train car meets the cold slap of his pre-flight venom.
"We're NOTHING alike!" she shouts after him, clutching her chest and trembling towards a knee after she does. "A-all you want-- need-- LOVE, is blood and mon"
Several machine guns go *BANG!*, *BRATATAT!*, *SKIDIKIPAPAP!*, and a handful of other, thundering notes that mean it's time to move.
Shifting on a dime from indignation to evasion, the Interpol agent sprints towards, then LUNGES through another car's door while bullets scour the ground she just occupied. Rolling through the landing, she comes up in a three-point stance and resumes her run through the length of the car, looking and listening for an opening to dart outside so she can disarm the intruders. Yamazaki might not know anything of use, but the men who rolled in with machineguns...
If Geese had an army of men with Yamazaki's mettle and might, he probably wouldn't need Yamazaki; /they/, she reckons, might just be able to be convinced-- and have something to say worth hearing, to boot. All she needs to do is burst out, drive the first shades wearer's face into the dirt beneath her boot--
-- double over in crippling agony when the gnawing emptiness and fast-blooming bruises she's been doing her best to ignore demand attention--
-- and-- stumble-- to her knees. The woman's hand braces against the edge of a doorway while trembles dance up her arm and a dark man is shoved into the back of a dark car. The trembling seeps into her voice when she protests, "N-no-- no, no, no--!" but a ricochet from a man leaning out of the passenger side window forces her fully into the safety of the train.
Rubber's already squealing the next time she dares stick her head out, treating her widening eyes to a rapidly shrinking car.
"/NO!/"
COMBATSYS: Chun-Li has ended the fight here.
Log created on 20:51:02 07/09/2018 by Chun-Li, and last modified on 11:17:24 07/16/2018.