Description: Ken pays a visit to a younger fighter, in hopes to gain his assistance in things to come.
Every since Quon had that conversation with Sagat, there have been changes in his life style. The changes were slow at first, he still took refuge in shelters, opting to build up his money gradually so he could afford to live in an apartment but his work out regime became more intense, rivaling the training he put himself through when he ended up choosing to go to jail for drunk driving over doing Vega's bidding. The next change was during his fights in underground venues. He no longer seemed to be going through the motions and coasting along on his talent, doing just enough to get paid and rolling out.
Soon he was no longer living in the shelters and was in a Gorin Heights apartment. But there was a more subtle change that could only be seen if you looked closely at him throughout the entire process. Quon no longer looked like a man who had nothing to live for. He had goals and ambitions even if in the end, they were no longer the dreams and goals he had when he came into Southtown.
The Chongquan prodigy finds himself sitting alone in the lobby(other than the security staff on duty), watching TV and enjoying the resting period between his morning workout and afternoon workout. Everyone else is at work, and Quon's job in particular starts when everyone else is going to bed.
Some people are truly harder to track down then others, and then there are those who are utterly impossible to track down unless they want to be found. Fortunately, Quon is only hard to track down, but not impossible. Ken Masters has spent a fair amount of time trying to figure out one of the rising stars of the Neo League suddenly went off the wall, and then vanished to live a life of a vagrant. It wasn't until the encounter with Sagat did he finally start to connect the dots.
Recent events have spurned a renewed intrest in hunting down Quon Chen, especially because the poor man may be in for yet even more disruptions from the shadow organization that seems to be hell bent on ruining lives, and the Cloned Chin seems to believe that striking at Ken is the right way to start that once again.
The blonde Ansatsuken master opens the doors of the Apartment complex, stepping into the lobby. There is a fair bit of surprise on his face as he spies one of the few people he's been actively searching for now.
"...How've you been Mister Chen?"
The Chinese fighter glances up from the TV to see the man who was famous for the many dollars he had made off of fighting entertainment as both a fighter and producer, a man who has championships to his name, a man who Cammy want him join in smashing his face when he went off the deep end due to being corrupted by rage that seemed to be aflicting people worldwide. There is a bit of surprise on his face but there is no longer the awe he would've carried when he first came to Southtown due to a reaction of meeting a variety of celebrities with mixed results.
It takes a few moments for the surprised look to fade away. With regained composure he replies, "Well, I've been better but I'm steadily improving..." After a pause, he adds with a guarded tone, "...for now." After all that he's been through and his experiences with the fighting elite, it's understandable. He's waiting for the other shoe to drop, again.
"But enough about me, Mr. Masters. To what do I owe this honor?"
"When you vanished from the Neo League, and completely went off the grid, I was curious as to why. I was rather surprised that someone would.. have such a horrible string of bad luck. If it could even be called that. I have a good idea why, especially after some recent events.. But I would like you to tell me everything that happened, and hopefully.." Ken holds up an unlabeled VHS tape, which he then lowers once more.
"I need help with something. If I'm right about what happened, then I'm pretty sure you may want to assist with this." The blonde man stares at the younger fighter, knowing that this is truly a make or break situation. This wasn't the first person Ken would come to.. but it truly wouldn't be the last.
"First.. I'd like you to see whats on this tape. Is there any place we can view it in private? Its.. not something I want being viewed by the general public."
"String of bad luck?"
Depending on how one looks at it, it may have been a string of good luck that has kept him alive in spite all Quon's been through. Quon in particular is not one of those people who sees it that way. "The way I figure, you've probably heard at least part of what had happened. Who at least gave you the partial information?" Just asking that question will give him at least some idea of how much information to give and what things he needs to talk about to clear them up.
The one bad thing about getting that apartment and going back on the grid again is now he's easier to find, probably better that it was Ken that found him instead of someone else. Though part of his standoffishness originates from wondering whether or not Ken with all he's been through recently with Vega, wonders if Ken being here might just bring Vega along as well even if it wasn't the intent.
He takes a deep breath as he looks at the tape. "Considering what I have seen recently, I'm willing to at least willing to listen to." Quon gives a nod to the security staff, and gestures for Ken to follow him to the elevator. Eventually Quon takes Ken to his relatively spartan apartment and turns on the TV and then VCR.
"No one really, but I got a funny feeling when I started doing more indepth investigation on the side with it. Generally, when things started going downhill for you, there was one lone constant. A blond woman with long braided hair. From there, it was figuring out who this woman was. Which, upon finding that out.. I had already realized who she worked for a long while back due to a hunch, and making fun of Megachin." Ken seems to be a bit dismayed over the reality of the situation, leaving him to wonder truly if this is going to be a wise idea in the end.
Once they enter the apartment, Ken slides the tape into the waiting VCR, allowing the fight to play from the start. The footage seems to be from one of the few cameras that were taken along, providing a wide field of view to what exactly is going on. Silence eminates from the blonde US Champion, until the first set of gunfire starts to go off.
"His whole purpose was to merely play a 'game'. I walked right into his ploy, played along, and in the end it cost people their lives.." The tape continues to play, only for the static signafying the end of the tap to take over.
"After what I went through in the King of Fighters tournament... I do not want this kind of game to be played again."
Quon watches the whole thing in silence at first and then the gun fire begins and his mind thinks back to the time in China when he encountered Shadaloo for the first time. Soldiers opening fire on a man who clearly couldn't defend themselves because he was unconscious. In that tape, he sees that it's all of the same just on a larger scale.
The young fighter's emotions are a cocktail of unpleasantness. Anger is mixed with repulsion and sadness. He wants to puke, he wants to break something, he wants to scream in rage and it's only through Quon's mastery of his external manifestations of emotion if not the internal(the internal control of emotion was always Antoine's forte in comparison to him), that keeps him watching in silence.
"Now that you shown me that, I think it's fair that I clear things up. Actually, things started before I met Cammy. I got on Megachin's bad side by unintentionally interfering with some type of shipment or something. They were slowing down traffic, someone got pissed off and tried to circumvent them, got shot at and crashed, I went to offer first aid and they shot at the car before I got close. I fought them and was whooping real good until they decided that dying by holding me down so I could get shot up by a helicopter was a better idea than taking all of them out. I probably wouldn't have survived if Sagat hadn't pulled me out of that pile. After that, I tried to lay low and stay off their radar but Cammy happened to take a liking to me for some reason. Broke into my dorms to hang out, eat lunch together, etcetera. Megachin didn't like her wasting time with me so he decided to give me a visit but also told me that I was to continue hanging out with her until further notice and to give me an assignment. Rather doing said assignment I decided to get myself arrested instead."
His fist curl up in anger as he continues to recount the story or rather a summarized version of the events but he manages to keep a calm voice in spite of it. "Because I got arrested, I got expelled from college and so I tried to hold down a regular job while still trying to get work as an actor, then a girl in a similar uniform to Cammy but with purple hair popped out of the fridge to kick my ass, and I drove her off but not without getting severely injured in the process. Lost the deposit on my apartment, lost my job and because of the lack of cash flow and the hospital bills eating up my savings, lost my apartment. Then Cammy was ordered to kill someone, I don't know who and I was supposedly supposed to assist and I figured that I was supposed to be killed if I kicked up a fuss based on what she was telling me. There are only two reasons I survived that night. I didn't have the heart to kill myself, and Cammy refused to kill me and let me walk away once I ruined things by shattering the window."
"He has to be stopped.. I never once wanted to be involved in this kind of thing, but its too late now. I'm not going to sit back and let him run loose anymore." After seeing that chain of events that transpired only just a short amount of time ago, then hearing Quon's tale.. Ken is ready to give the funny looking tyrant the war he wants.
"Life has a funny way of making us do things we never wanted to do. Its only a matter of time before he comes after my family directly, hoping to get another rise out of me. I'm not going to let him have that luxury. So, that being said. I have something to ask of you Quon. You've suffered because of him, and had your life wrecked. This isn't a noble good versus evil ordeal. This is people finally saying enough is enough, and putting a stop to the nonsense before it starts to get worse again."
Ken stares at the younger fighter for a few moments, before extending his hand towards the man. "I want you to come with me. If there are others you can convince, then tell them to come along. I'm not going to let this shit continue anymore. Shadaloo is going to start gearing up to go to war with the world again. I say we stop them before they have the chance, and prove once and for all that Vega isn't a god like he pretends to be."
"As I told Sagat when he approached me with a similar deal, I'm in." He glances at that now static filled TV screen as he attempts to find the exact words he wants to say. "When I first came to Southtown, all I was thinking about was coming here, going to school and getting into fighting to jump start an acting career. I also told Sagat that I know I can't go back to acting because I can't risk someone killing the people I work with to get to me." He points at the TV screen. "That right there confirms it. And well if I can't have my happy ending, I'll make sure that Vega doesn't get his either."
"What I didn't tell him, is that I couldn't look my friend Antoine in the eye either if I said no especially after all the bullies he had to deal with in learning Chongquan."
"Yeah. This is something that I'm taking very personally now as well." Ken reaches down and stops the tape, letting it rewind so he can ensure its ready for his next 'house call'. A slow sigh escapes his mouth as he turns to face Quon once more.
"When we finish dealing with Vega.. I'll see what I can do to help you clear your name. You deserve the second chance."
Log created on 12:23:10 01/18/2012 by Ken, and last modified on 18:20:22 01/18/2012.