Match of the Millennium

Description: An unlikely culprit smuggles a Hungry Wolf back into Southtown, because what Southtown needs right now is another wildcard!

[KAIN]
At first consideration, it may seem a difficult, even insurmountable task to locate men such as Ryu or Terry Bogard in their endless quest for making movies, making songs, and fighting round the world. One of those, at the minimum.

The truth, however, is that they are not only men of remarkable power, but noteworthy patterns amidst their seeming eccentricity. Predictability in the chaotic is something of a specialty of at least one man in Southtown's upper echelons.

So it is that a simple message finds the Lonely Wolf, wherever he may roam. 'Gang war in Southtown; worldwide. G.H. is back.'. A simple message, and a chartered plane waiting for him. Should he (predictably, we might add) make that flight, Bogard would be ushered from private plane to private helicopter with little fanfare.

The methodology, the tarmac, even the timing are all orchestrated to avoid the press at both ends, to effectively smuggle Terry back into Southtown anonymously, and in perfect luxury. Leather appointments are accentuated with whatever drink or snack Bogard might desire to welcome him home, as the chopper wings its way to a helipad atop a towering luxury hotel in Southtown's richest neighborhood. The 'Highline'.

[TERRY]
Burgers. Fries. Shakes.

Lots of them.

That's what Terry Bogard has been chowing down on since he got luxury'd back into the mix of things. He's been out and about, wandering all over the world from sofa to sofa, from alley to alley and doing everything he could to get into as many fights as he could. Which, considering that he's Terry Bogard, didn't actually need much doing. Fights just sort of fell into his lap.

He liberated at least three different towns or villages or something along the way. It got nuts.

However, when a message got to him about his hometown getting Geese'd, that's pretty much all he needed to read.

Another shake finished and he looks up to whomever, if anyone, is attending to him to make sure everything runs smoothly. "... we're not out of fries, right?" There's a reason why he's also the Hungry Wolf.

[KAIN]
Terry is airlifted in complete with more fries and the finest of cheeseburgers crafted for his connection. After arrival on the helipad, the pilot salutes Terry and promptly departs, leaving Bogard high above the cityscape of Southtown, with few buildings rising above that upon which he now stands. One, towering above the others, Terry would likely immediately recognize as Geese Tower.

Less recognizable is the man standing at the far end of the vast rooftop terrace that dominates the non-helipad portions of the roof. A fountain burbles in the middle amidst forms of black marble, matching outdoor furniture and several canopies for respite from the sun completing the space. To all appearances, Terry is alone up here with the other, sharply dressed blonde.

Said statuesque German turns to regard Bogard over one shoulder, his finely tailored blue-and-white ensemble moving like a garment that was, in fact, made for the graceful youth. A white gloved hand beckons for the Legendary Wolf to approach, Heinlein's features stoic, difficult to read.

[TERRY]
Terry offers a nod and a wave towards the pilot, "Thanks." Gotta' definitely show some appreciation for the person that got him back to where he's supposed to be all of this time. From the sound of the message, a place where he should never have left.

Throwing his duffle bag onto his shoulder, Terry crosses the helipad and gets away from the flying contraption to get himself over in the general area of where he'll be chatting away with this personage that's dressed in the kind of clothes that he wouldn't even wear even if he could afford them.

The duffle bag gets dropped as soon as he's close enough to make it a statement. The food's gone and the Wolf is no longer Hungry. He's leaning more towards Legendary at this point. "You know what'd be a better welcome home present than those amazing burgers I just had?" Terry adjusts the gloves that are on his hand.

"Pointing me in the direction of who I need to punch." Bogard's here for business. Savin' Southtown business.

[KAIN]
It's almost too easy. If Kain wanted, he could simply sell the Wolf a target, couldn't he? Such returns are short-term, though-- and all too easily backfire. It's not really the man's style, nor the point of this perhaps overdue meeting.

"If only it were so simple as punching the right person." It's a complex and growing list. "My name is Kain, Mister Bogard. Myself, and my organization, are among the strongest in the hierarchy of the Southtown Syndicate."

There's no trepidation, no shame in giving Terry matter-of-fact information that, on its face, would make Heinlein and Bogard bitter enemies. "Events, forces are now in motion that destabilize that Syndicate, but threaten much beyond it. Tell me, how much do you know of the growing war?"

Kain has his guess, given the freshly arrived Wolf's simple bravado, but he opens the segue politely nonetheless. There's an honesty, a calm, a resolute power to the man's bearing that may give any knee-jerk anger pause. Even to Terry, it's obvious there's more to Kain's allegiances than the obvious.

[TERRY]
All the calmness seems to have faded from Terry's fade the moment that there is a definite mention of the Southtown Syndicate. He /hates/ those guys. He hates anything that isn't Southtown citizens being free from all oppression and other stuff that people don't need to be dealing with in his town.

That's right. His Town.

The town that he keeps leaving to fight people around the world but that's beside the point!

"I know I'm about to kick all your asses until you get the hell outta' my town."

Terry doesn't make any moves to rush at him or anything. He's not going to do that. Not just yet. He can still get some info from him, regardless of how messed up that info might be. So to prove that he's very intent on kicking some ass until these damn gangs are out of his town...

Terry Bogard cracks his knuckles.

[KAIN]
Part of Kain wishes to indulge his baser impulses. He came up on the hardest streets of this city, perhaps worse than Bogard had it. While their appearances could not tell more different stories, those appearances in and of themselves can be deceiving.

Heinlein pushes the desire to tear the Legendary Wolf's throat out to the back of his mind with nary a hint of animosity on his austere features. "Geese Howard would consume this city for his own gain." Kain concurs calmly, instead. "He would sell his soul, subsume his own will in pursuit of power." It might be hyperbolic; it's possible it's factual post-script to a deal with the devil that's already occurred. Instead of answering Terry's challenging stance with its like, Kain maintains honesty in uncharacteristic amounts.

"When he found my family I was still a boy, coming into my strength in life or death struggle, daily life for those forgotten in this city; in many cities. In myself, Geese saw a formidable weapon already walking a path he could mould to his ambitions." Clearly, something went very wrong. "In her...." Kain's jaw clenches, his expression visibly darkens.

The story jumps tracks momentarily, a deep breath steadying his voice as Kain steps back into the telling with the upswing. "Geese Howard used and murdered my sister. He acts with certitude but selfish short-sightedness destroying the rest. But simply knock him down, and the vacuum simply fills. Right now a madman called Duke eyes the throne, and should the Syndicate be felled, should you punch no less than Duke, Geese, -and- myself to incapacitation?"

Kain chuckles once, a humourless but nonetheless mildly bemused note, "It is Vega who compels the Akatsuki-gumi in their war on the Syndicate, Mr. Bogard. You /have/ heard of Shadaloo, I trust?" There's a dry, deadpan note to the otherwise somber material that certainly suggests that yes, a little bit of condescension seemed warranted.

[TERRY]
"Yeah."

Terry still looks like he wants to fight but he always wants to fight. He doesn't like hearing that Geese has ruined the life of someone else in the same way that his own life was ruined as a child. Sister. Father. Whatever. Family is family and maybe, if anything, that's the one thing that they can agree upon.

Geese Howard sucks.

"I heard of 'em but I also don't care." Terry shrugs. "I came back because you said Southtown was in danger." Heroic paraphrasing. "I'm back to punch that danger in the face. I don't care if that's you, Geese, Duke or Vega. I will kick all of your asses, one by one or all at once. Don't matter to me. I just want you out. Out of Southtown. Out of my life."

Terry narrows his eyes in Kain's direction. "Sorry about what happened to your sister." Genuine. That's the only way Terry knows how to be.

[KAIN]
"I am also sorry about your family." Kain replies smoothly, and with perhaps surprising sincerity. "Jeff Bogard was snuffed out for his strength, not his weakness. He was a threat to Geese, with the will to stand up, and so every option was on the table to eradicate that threat."

It's far from an excuse; to Kain, it's further indictment. "There is no accomplishment in rigging such a competition. It lessens everyone involved; it sacrifices the future for personal avarice."

Heinlein turns to face Bogard fully, considering the Wolf across the terrace, without approaching further. "What Howard would do to this city is a utopia compared to the nature of a creature like Vega." Kain speaks with some authority-- after all, the overlord once killed him.

"But yes. You are here to punch that danger in the face. For my part, I do not intend to leave. I intend to come out the other side of this conflict with my own holdings intact, and my position strengthened. I intend to make something better in this city, to enable the promise of humanity rather than keeping it crushed beneath a jackboot. If that makes me your enemy, Mister Bogard..." Kain's eyes narrow subtly, considering Terry closely.

"You are welcome to try."

[TERRY]
"Well."

And that's when Terry makes his move. Finally. It's a slow motion but one that's very telling of what he's planning to do. He takes a step forward, drops low and brings his gloved fist towards the rooftop with a swift and decisive motion, opening those fingers at just the right moment...

To scoop up his duffle bag.

"Looks like we're enemies then. Thanks for the lift home. And the food. And to show my gratitude, and out of respect for your sister, I'll make your ass the last one I kick. How's that sound?"
%ERTerry reaches up to straighten out the cap on his head. It almost looks like he's using that to signal for some kind of temporary truce with the new enemy he just made. Or something.

[KAIN]
"Satisfactory." Kain concedes, clearly not particularly alarmed at the implications. Convincing Bogard he's a different breed from Howard or Burkoff was never likely to be a matter of a few flowered words. "Watch your back out there, Bogard-- it's already promising to be a frenzy." The warning is unecessary, but offered anyway.

"The elevator on the right will take you all the way down to the service entrance, no one will know we spoke. It is to both our benefit it stays that way. I will be in touch if I can help you... reach that final challenge." The bemused smile holds no malice, despite the statuesque crimelord's impeccable confidence.

"Oh, and Mr. Bogard-- Welcome home."

Log created on 00:21:40 09/04/2018 by Kain, and last modified on 17:59:22 09/04/2018.