Fatal Fury Fan Fiction ❯ Fatal Fury - The Vengeful Spirits ❯ Chapter Eight - On the Prowl ( Chapter 9 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

 

 

All characters are the property of SNK/Playmore. I don't own them, the video games, or the anime.

 

Chapter Eight: On the Prowl

 

Andy Bogard reached the bottom of the ladder, and found his brother waiting there, holding up a wounded Joe Higashi. Terry Bogard glanced up at the open window they had just come from, a look of worry etched on his face.

“Hurry, Lily!” He shouted. “Climb down! Lily!” Terry's cry became more frantic. Andy and Joe had now turned their gaze to the window, as well. Andy knew what was coming next, and as much as he wanted to look away, he still found his attention fixed on the window, just like last time.

Sure enough, they saw a flash of blue light from a burst of chi energy, the shatter of glass, the body flying horizontally outwards over their heads. It seemed to hang in the air for a split second, but Andy could already tell that something was wrong. Instead of blue-green, the hair was dark red in color, and also longer, pulled back into a familiar ponytail. The clothes were wrong too. It was not the dress that Lily had been wearing that night, but a pink and gold kunoichi uniform.

Andy's eyes opened wide with horror. It wasn't Lily. It was Mai.

“Mai!” Andy shouted, trying to race towards the spot where her body was falling, hoping to catch her, but it felt like he was moving in slow motion. Mai's falling body, however, was not. After hanging in midair for another moment, Mai plummeted down towards the pavement. “MAI!” Andy screamed louder as the ninja girl struck the ground with a sickening crunch.

Andy's world suddenly sped back up to normal again, but it didn't matter now. He could barely feel his legs as he closed the distance between him and Mai, knelt down beside her, and gently cradled her broken body in his arms.

“Andy...” He heard her say faintly as she gazed up at him. “I'm... glad you're here.”

“Don't talk, Mai,” said Andy. “Save your strength. I'll... I'll go call an ambulance.”

Mai coughed, causing a thin line of blood to bubble up on one side of her mouth and trickle down her chin. “It's... too late, Andy,” she managed to say. “I'm not gonna make it.” Andy wanted to tell her that she was speaking nonsense, but he could see that Mai's beautiful brown eyes, which normally shone with a zest for life, were already starting to cloud over. “Just... stay here, please,” she continued. “I... want... the last thing I see... to be your face. Please, Andy... don't let go of me.”

“I won't, Mai,” he said, his blue eyes starting to glisten with tears. “I'll never let you go.”

She reached up, gently caressed his cheek. “Andy,” she whispered, her voice growing fainter. “Thank you... for making me happy. I'll... always... love you. Goodbye...” Her hand slipped from his face as her arm dropped to the pavement, her eyes rolled back in her head, she gave a final shudder, and then lay still.

Tears ran in warm, salty trails down Andy's face as he gently closed Mai Shiranui's eyes. “I'm sorry, Mai,” he whispered, his voice a strangled sob.

“Don't worry, Andy!” Called a deep voice from the window where Mai's body had fallen from. Andy turned and saw Geese Howard standing in the window's shattered frame, grinning that same heartless, sadistic grin. “I'll let you keep her body!”

In an instant, Andy's grief was replaced by murderous rage. He clenched his fists, fingernails digging into the flesh of his palms hard enough to draw blood, and rose to his feet. His blue eyes were cold steel as he glared up at Geese, who was laughing now. Andy focused as much chi as possible, intending to unleash a Hishou-ken large enough to vaporize Geese Howard where he stood...

Before Andy could finish, a fist hit him in the stomach, knocking the wind from him. He looked at Terry, surprise and hurt etched into his face as his older brother punched him again, bringing Andy to his knees.

“You killed her, Andy!” Terry snapped, fixing him with an accusing glare.

Andy shook his head. “No,” he said meekly. “It was Geese.” He then felt someone kick him across his jaw, and saw Joe next to Terry, standing on his own just fine now despite his bullet wound.

“You should never have let her come with you to South Town!” The Muay Thai kickboxer shouted. “You knew how dangerous Geese was!”

Terry nodded in agreement. “And you still let her get involved. You killed her!”

Andy wiped blood from his mouth, and stared up at them with pleading eyes. “No...” He said. “I wanted to protect her. All I ever wanted was to protect her!”

Terry and Joe remained impassive. The elder Bogard grabbed Andy by the collar, yanked him to his feet, and punched him in the face this time, sending him back down to the ground. “You killed her, Andy!” He repeated. “This is your fault.”

Andy curled into the fetal position as both Joe and Terry rained blows upon him, shouting, “You killed her!” Over and over, like a mantra. Andy didn't try to fight back. There was no point. Mai was gone, and maybe they were right.

“I'm so sorry, Mai,” he whispered again, tears once more streaming down his cheeks. “Please forgive me...”

“Mai!” Andy shouted as his eyes snapped open. He sat up, took a moment to look around. He was on the roof of the hotel where he had slept, using his duffel as a pillow and his jacket as a blanket. It was still before sunrise, but Andy did not want to go back to sleep.

He got up, walked to the edge of the roof, leaned against the railing. Despite the balminess of the Florida weather, Andy still felt a cold sweat on his face and the back of his neck. He gazed over the railing at the street below, nearly deserted in the early morning, and tried to get the images of that dream out of his head.

This was not the first time he'd had it. The first time had been not long after his discovery of the picture, and then, his cry as he'd awoken had been so loud, Mai had heard it in her room and come running. Andy had, of course, not told her about the dream. He didn't know why it was difficult to talk about, why it was so hard for him to share his fears. All he knew was that now, more than ever, he wished that Mai had stayed home.

But she was here, and it didn't look like that was going to change. So it was up to Andy to try and keep her from getting involved. After all, what good is all this training I'm doing if I can't even protect those I care about with it? And if I really care about Mai, I should be able to protect her.

“Hey! Guests aren't allowed up here!” Andy was taken out of his thoughts by a voice that called from the entrance to the stairway. He turned and saw a man dressed in a dark blue cap and coveralls standing by the open door. “What are you doing up here at this hour, anyway? Especially if you're paying for a room.” The man's eyes narrowed. “You are a guest here, right?”

Andy nodded, and picked up his duffel. “Yeah,” he said. “Just having girl trouble, as my friend would call it. Sorry I came up here.” He walked past the hotel employee and started down the stairs without another word. He spent the next hour until sunrise wandering the nearly deserted sidewalks, but found that he still could not shake the images of the dream from his mind.

Breakfast was a tense affair. The hotel offered a complimentary breakfast buffet, something that Terry and Joe would normally be taking full advantage of, but everyone ate lightly. Andy and Mai sat across from each other at the table, instead of next to one another as they would normally do. All through breakfast, they had kept their eyes on their plates, neither one looking at the other. Although Joe and Terry could sense something was wrong, they both chose to keep silent.

“Okay,” Terry finally spoke up when it seemed that people were done eating. “We have a lot of ground to cover today. Obviously, we need to get as much information as we can on the Jin Scrolls: whose spirit might be inside them, how many there are, and if there are any that Geese or whoever has not gotten their hands on yet. First place to start looking for info is obviously the library.”

“The scrolls are Chinese,” Joe spoke up. “And anyone who wants to collect them obviously couldn't go through legal channels. Terry, I know that you and Andy used to visit this city's Chinatown district with Master Tung all the time. You think you might still have any old connections there that could tell you something?”

Terry nodded. “That's a good idea, Joe.” He turned towards Andy and grinned wolfishly. “How 'bout it, little brother? Want to revisit the old prowling grounds?”

Andy couldn't help but grin back, despite his mood. “Two hungry wolves, just like the old days? Okay, let's do it!”

Joe rolled his eyes. “So, I guess I'm stuck on library detail again, only this time with Andy's girlfriend. Just shoot me now!”

“Relax, Joe,” Mai said with a smirk. “I'm housebroken. Besides, someone needs to keep you awake.”

Terry gulped down the last of the coffee in his mug. “Well, seems like we know what needs to be done. So, let's move like we have a purpose.”

The four of them rose from the table to begin their day. Before they split up, Andy moved over to Mai, gently placed his hand on her shoulder. “Um, Mai...” he started.

Mai shrugged off his touch and turned to face him. “Yes, Andy? Something you want to tell me?”

He looked her in her large brown eyes, once more shining with zeal, with optimism, with everything that made her Mai. Then he remembered how they looked in his dream, dull and clouded over in death. “Um... I hope you find something useful,” Andy said.

Mai nodded. “You too.” With that, she turned and went to follow Joe, leaving Andy to catch up with his brother.

A few hours later...

 

South Town Library

Joe had been drifting off to sleep, head nodding towards the heavy oak table he was sitting at, when he felt a sudden sting on his cheek, jolting him awake. He sat up, blinked several times, and by the time he looked across the table, the fan had already disappeared back inside Mai's clothing.

“Okay, I'm awake already!” He snapped as he rubbed his cheek.

“Watch your voice,” Mai said softly. “This is a library.”

“Fine,” Joe responded, dropping his voice to a whisper. He then frowned as he looked at what Mai was wearing: a pair of denim cutoff shorts that rode too far up her thighs, and one of her favorite tops: a small white T-shirt that exposed her midriff, and had the word MILK written across the front in large black letters. “And also,” he added, “that T-shirt is small enough to be a hanky. How the hell can you hide a fan in there?”

Mai shrugged. “Like I tell Andy whenever he asks me that same question: trade secrets of the modern ninja girl.”

“Is it also a trade secret for you to annoy me?” Joe shot back.

Mai giggled a bit as she turned her attention back to the book in front of her. “No, but I'll make that a point of business the next time my union has a meeting.”

The two of them fell silent for a bit as they resumed poring over the stack of books and papers on the table between them. Joe was about to drift off to sleep again when he heard Mai say: "Joe, can I ask you a personal question?"

Joe looked up from his newspaper, saw Mai looking at him from across the table. The expression on her face was serious, a seriousness he hadn't seen since the two had chatted in the hospital after Joe's fight with Krauser. "Depends how personal it is," he said slowly.

"What do you remember about Lily?" Mai asked him.

Joe shook his head. "If you're talking about the night she died, not much. I was a little woozy from blood loss."

"No, I wasn't asking about that," Mai explained. "I want to hear about that from Andy, when he finally feels like telling me. I was asking what you, personally, remember about her. What was she like?"

Joe was silent for a moment. Out of everything Mai could have asked him, he definitely wasn't expecting this. "She was ordinary," he finally said. "But... it was an ordinary that she wore like royalty."

“Really?" Mai leaned forward attentively, chin resting on her hands. Usually, Joe was a lot more crass and immature when describing an attractive woman. Now, he seemed introspective, searching for the right words but only barely managing to find them.

"She reminded me...” he said. “Of one of those fairy tales about a princess who was taken from the castle as a baby, and forced to live among the common folk until she was eighteen, and then she went back up to the castle."

Mai giggled softly. "I've never heard you use fairy tales to describe anything, Joe."

Joe was silent for another moment, then tried to continue. "She was like... um, well, like... she was... look, I can try to describe her, but it won't do her justice. You need to see her for yourself. Wait here." He rose from the table, and walked off to another part of the library. Several minutes later, he returned with another newspaper, opened it to the obituaries, and passed it across the table to Mai.

The obit for Lily McGuire was short, but Mai didn't read it. Instead, she focused on the photo that went with it: that of an angelic-looking woman with long, bluish-green hair, dressed in a flowing, low-cut white dress. She clutched a rose between the slender fingers of her left hand, her green eyes regarding it with a look that seemed filled with pain and sadness, despite the fact that she was smiling.

For a long moment, Mai stared at the picture with her mouth open, unable to speak. Finally she managed: "I... can see what you mean, Joe. I don't think I could have described her if I were you. She's absolutely gorgeous, the kind of beautiful that you just can't put into words. I understand now why Terry never wants to talk about her. I just wish I knew why Andy never talks about her, either."

“Terry is his brother,” Joe said.

Mai shook her head. “I feel like there's another reason it upsets him. But every time I ask Andy about it, he always changes the subject quickly.”

Joe scratched his head. “Andy's never talked about it with me, either.”

“I wouldn't expect him to. But even if he had, I wouldn't want you to tell me. I need to hear it from him. But... I think maybe I have some more understanding now. Thanks, Joe.”

The kickboxer shrugged, and turned back to his research. “Not sure what I did, but you're welcome.”

For a long while, they were silent again. Joe noticed that Mai kept glancing back and forth between the book she was reading, and a yellow legal pad on which she had been jotting down things that she thought were of note. After a minute, she dropped the pen rather suddenly and got up from the chair. “What is it?” Joe asked her.

“A name,” said Mai. “A name that keeps coming up. Hang on, I'll be right back.”

She came back a few minutes later with some books on the ancient history of China, then sat down and began to flip through them rapidly.

“So... are you just gonna keep me in suspense?” Joe asked her.

Mai shoved a few of the books from the stack in his direction. “If you want to help, check the glossaries in these and see if there's any mention of the name Qin Wang Long.”

Perhaps it was the urgency in her voice, but Joe actually found that he did as she asked, instead of sarcastically telling her to say “please.” He picked the first book off of the stack (“Great Generals of Asia Before the Year 1 AD”) and sure enough, he found the name. He thumbed through the book until he found the corresponding chapter, and then glanced over it.

“Says here he was a general and top military adviser in the Qin Dynasty, serving Emperor Qin Shi Huang,” Joe read aloud. “After Emperor Huang's death, he retired from the Imperial court, as he was unhappy with the new emperor who had been appointed. He thought the boy was too weak, too easy to influence, and anticipated he wouldn't be able to hold his father's empire together. Which is what eventually happened, as the young emperor and most of his advisers were slain a few years after Huang's death.”

Mai nodded. “I've read the same thing. Most of these books I've been looking at regard both Qin Wang Long and his father, Qin Kong, as legends. Apparently, Qin Wang slew over a thousand men single-handedly, and most people think that his father slew twice as many as that. Maybe more. And hello...”

“What?” Asked Joe.

“It's interesting,” said Mai. “The dates of death for both Qin Wang and Qin Kong have question marks next to them. Also, no one seems to know how they died or where they're buried.”

“Ordinarily, I would say that's because they lived so long ago that records might not have been kept very well,” said Joe. “But we are also dealing with spirit scrolls. Any mention of Jin Scrolls in any of these books?”

Mai shook her head. “Not yet. But it's a start. I'm gonna see if I can find anything more on Qin Wang Long's campaign history. Have you come across anything in the newspapers?”

“Nothing interesting,” said Joe. “Right now, these two generals are probably the best lead we've got.”

“Right,” said Mai as she jotted a few more things down on the pad. “You know, Joe, I almost hate to admit it, but we make a good team sometimes.”

“Yup,” Joe said with a smirk. “I'm the brains and you're the boobs.”

As before, the fan strike came so quickly, that Joe never saw it come out or get put away. After the stars cleared from his vision, Mai was sitting there reading her book as if nothing had happened. “Ass..” she muttered.

South Town – The Chinese District

Andy Bogard took in a deep breath of air as he and his brother Terry made their way down the crowded sidewalks. The air was a potpourri of familiar scents: smoked meats in store windows, car exhaust in the streets, incense burning in homes and shops, eggs and vegetables sizzling in the hot oil of tarnished woks, steam rising from the grates in the ground.

“I have to admit,” said Andy as he looked around at the bustle of mid-day. “I have missed this.” Andy might have found a new home in Japan, but a part of him would always belong to the heat and the pulse of the city.

Terry clapped him on the back. “Brings back a few things, doesn't it?” He said.

Andy nodded. “You can say that again.” After Jeff Bogard had adopted them, he and Terry would come here on Sundays with Master Tung to help him go shopping, though usually the two of them would wind up sitting in the bar drinking apple juice from rocks glasses while Tung played Mah Jongg and traded war stories with some of his old friends.

But before that, when he and Terry had been surviving on the streets by themselves, the Chinese district had been one of their favorite places to steal dinner. There were always plenty of carts on the sidewalks serving a banquet of spare ribs, spring rolls, fried prawns, and steamed pork dumplings, and the food was usually pretty easy to lift.

Andy spotted one of those carts, now. “Wing Lo is still serving people,” he said, pointing the man out to Terry.

Terry's own eyes also spotted the beat-up cart on the street corner ahead of them. “How many times did we lift from him?” He asked with a shake of his head. Then he turned to Andy, and said, “Okay, bro, time for us to improve our karmic score a bit.”

“What do you mean?” Andy asked. Terry said nothing, instead he approached the cart, and Andy followed close behind.

“Two orders of shrimp spring roll with extra mustard, please,” Terry told the old man pushing the cart.

“You sure?” The old man known as Wing Lo asked nonchalantly. “It's hot stuff.”

Both brothers nodded eagerly. “We're very sure,” said Terry.

“Five dollars,” the old man said as he wrapped the food in some parchment paper and held it out to Terry. The elder Bogard accepted it and handed Wing Lo a fifty. “Keep the change,” he said.

Wing's eyes opened in astonishment. “You... you sure?” He asked.

Terry nodded. “Trust me, it's something we owe you.” With that, he turned away and offered two of the rolls to Andy.

As Andy munched thoughtfully on a spring roll, he surveyed the busy street. “Where do you figure we should start looking?” Then something caught his eye, a familiar white and yellow awning right by the entrance to an alleyway. “Terry, isn't that...”

“Master Xiang,” Terry said with a nod. “Could he still be alive?”

“Let's find out,” Andy said, and the two of them started across the street towards the awning, which provided shade to a small wooden door.

The shop that they entered was dimly lit, the shelves full of assorted nick knacks that clearly did not move much, as many of them were gathering dust. The Bogards saw more than a few old figurines with strands of cobweb between the arms and legs. Behind the counter at the far end stood an old man with thinning white hair, a long mustache, and wide, scarred eyes that stared out at everything, but saw nothing. He had a chess board in front of him, and was lightly running his fingertips over the pieces as Andy and Terry approached the counter.

When he heard their footsteps, the blind man looked up from contemplating his next move. “It has been years since the hungry wolves have graced my doorstep with their presence,” he said warmly. “To what do I owe the honor?”

The brothers stopped suddenly in their tracks. “How did you...” Terry started to say.

The old man smiled. “Master Tung always said that sight is only one sense. We have four others. If you are truly his students, you will remember his first lesson...”

“A man who trusts only one sense cannot truly see,” Andy and Terry both said in unison.

The old man chuckled. “Very good.”

“It is good to see you again, Master Xiang,” Terry said as he and Andy both bowed.

“You as well, my friends,” said Xiang. He made his way out behind the counter and up the aisles towards the front door with no effort, as if he had memorized the position of everything in his shop. When he got to the door, he flipped the sign hanging in its window to read CLOSED, then turned back around to face the brothers. “Another reason I sensed you would be coming to see me is because I have heard rumors... whispers... that another of Tung's disciples has also returned, casting a dark shadow upon the heart of the city.”

“Geese,” said Andy. “That is why we've come. We were hoping you might have some information.”

Xiang made his way back down the aisle towards him. “Not up here,” he told them. “Please, come with me into the back.”

A short time later, the three of them were seated around a small table in the back of the shop, drinking tea as Xiang shared his news. “I had no doubts that xing shi fan, Geese Howard, was still alive, especially after hearing there was no body found. Evil as strong as his cannot be so easily overcome.”

“Fighting him was hardly easy, but I understand what you mean, Master,” said Terry.

“But this time, I feel as if there is something more lurking in his shadow,” Xiang went on. “Some dark spiritual force, very deadly, is augmenting his actions. I hope that the wolves have not lost their hunger for blood and vengeance. They will need every ounce of that hunger to stand a chance against the dark one.”

The Bogard brothers exchanged a quick glance. Then Terry turned his gaze back to Xiang. “It's funny you should mention dark spirit energy. We were wondering if you knew anything about spirit scrolls.”

Xiang sipped his tea. “That they are very powerful and very hard to come by. If one wishes to collect them, one must know where to look. And one must usually employ thieves to find them. But hopefully, one also knows how to use the scrolls or one is foolish to look for them in the first place. The consequences of misreading the mantra are often deadly.”

“Well, we know that Geese is no fool,” said Andy. “We think that he's been collecting Jin Scrolls. Have you ever heard of those, Master?”

The brow ridge above Xiang's sightless eyes raised suddenly in surprise. “I have, and it disturbs me that Tung's fallen pupil has found them out. More than one spirit inhabits those scrolls, and in life, those spirits were legendary in the power that they commanded.”

Andy and Terry said nothing, simply waited for Xiang to continue.

“Great generals of the Qin Dynasty: Qin Kong Long, and his son, Qin Wang,” the old master finally said after a long pause. “I remember hearing of a story in the Christian Bible once about a warrior who slew a thousand of his enemy using only an animal's jawbone. Qin Kong and Qin Wang once slew twice that number with their bare hands, if the stories about them are true. And I believe they are, for those stories to have survived over two-thousand years.”

“And now Geese wants to channel their spirits into his body,” said Terry. “This is bad...”

“How many Jin Scrolls are there?” Asked Andy. “Do you know where we might find them?”

“From what I've heard, there is only one more that needs to be found,” said Xiang. “Until very recently, it was in the hands of a fence. But I've heard that he sold it to a collector who lives right here in South Town.”

Andy and Terry exchanged another glance. “Do you know where we can find him?” Terry asked.

Xiang nodded. “Of course. There is pen and paper over there on the counter. I shall recite his address to you.”

Andy and Terry got up from the table and made their way over to the counter. A short time later, Terry had the slip of note paper with the address written on it in his back pocket. “Xiexie, Master,” he said as he bowed.

Andy bowed, as well. “Yes, Master, xiexie.”

Xiang rose from the table and bowed back. “Méiyŏu biyào gănxiè wŏ,” he replied. “Tung may be gone, but I still owe him a debt I can never repay. Were it not for his intervention, I'd have lost much more than my sight. I am happy to have been of service.”

They moved back out to the front of the store, and as Andy and Terry were about to take their leave, they heard Xiang call: “Lone Wolf!”

Terry turned towards the blind man. “Yes, Master?”

“I have followed your legend as it has grown, from the streets of this city, to Germany, to the Dead Sea,” Xiang said from behind the counter. “But the Jin Scrolls are said to contain enough power to make a man even stronger than a god. Keep your wits about you. And remember that the true strength of the wolf lies in his pack.”

Terry nodded grimly. “Thank you, Master. I will.”

In the alleyway opposite the entrance to Xiang's shop, two figures watched from the shadows as Andy and Terry Bogard emerged and started off again down the street. “Shall we move on them now?” One of them asked.

“Patience, brother,” said the other. “Do you see a scroll on them? Most likely, they don't have it yet. For now, we continue to follow them.”

“Very well,” said the first man, though his tone indicated that patience was something he was quickly running out of.

When the Bogards got back to the hotel, they went immediately up to Joe Higashi's room. He answered the door holding the notepads containing everything he and Mai had learned at the library. “Hey, guys,” he said with a yawn. “We got back from the library not too long ago. Learned some interesting stuff, too.”

“So did we,” said Terry. “I'm afraid that you'll have to tell us later. Andy and I found out about something we need to move on.” He pulled the slip of note paper with the address on it from his pocket. “There's a collector who lives right here in South Town who may have recently acquired a Jin Scroll.”

“You think Geese already knows this?” Joe asked.

“Probably,” Terry said with a nod. “Which is why we need to act on this info as soon as possible.” He stuck the paper back in his pocket. “Meet us down in my room in five minutes. Come dressed for action.” Terry then turned to his brother. “Andy, can you find Mai and tell her the same thing?”

“Sure,” said Andy.

“I think she said she was going down to the pool!” Joe called after Andy as the blond fighter started down the hallway.

It did not take long for Andy to find his girlfriend, as she usually stood out rather easily in a pool setting. He spotted Mai laying on one of the lounge chairs, wearing her favorite red and white string bikini, which was much smaller than the bathing suits being worn by most of the other guests.

He took a deep breath and approached her chair. "Hey, Mai," he said.

Mai Shiranui sat up slightly, and slid her sunglasses down her pert nose. "Andy," she said with a brief nod. “You and your brother have fun prowling?”

Andy nodded. "Yeah. We just spoke to Joe."

"Okay," said Mai. "So what's the plan?"

Andy paused for a moment. "Terry and I didn't find out anything useful. Right now, the plan is just to lay low here and rest up for the tournament tomorrow. I'll let you know if things change."

Mai nodded again. "Okay, Andy. Is there anything else you want to tell me?"

Yes, he thought. I want to tell you that this is for your own good. I want to tell you about my dreams, and how devastated I would be if I lost you. But I can't, not while my business here in South Town is unfinished. Andy shook his head. "No," he finally said.

Mai studied him for a long moment, then slipped her sunglasses back on and leaned back in the chair once more. "Then move. You're blocking the sun."

“Um... okay,” Andy said. Then he awkwardly added: “Um... do you need me to put any lotion on your back?”

Mai shook her head. “Someone already took care of that for me.”

“Who?”

She shrugged. “I didn't ask his name, because I didn't care who he was.”

“He?”

“It's no big deal, Andy. You weren't here, and I needed someone to lotion my back, so I asked some random person to do it for me. That's all. You know I would never have let him grope me.”

He nodded slowly. “Um... yeah... right.”

Mai raised her head slightly and placed her hands behind her head. “You're still blocking the sun, Andy.”

Andy shook his head sadly, then turned and headed back towards the lobby. When he reached the door, he turned and cast one last look at Mai's sunbathing form. "I'm sorry, Mai," he whispered, and then made his way inside.

From where she sat, Mai watched him go back inside. She was glad she was wearing sunglasses, since they kept the other pool-goers from seeing the sadness in her eyes. Andy, this would be a lot easier if I didn't love you so much. What is it you're so afraid to tell me?

"Where's Mai?" Terry asked as he opened the door and saw only Andy standing in the hallway outside his room. Andy had changed into his red and white fighting outfit. Behind Terry, Joe stood there dressed in his bright orange shorts.

"I couldn't find her," said Andy. "She left a note in our room, though. It said she was out shopping."

Joe did his best to hold back a snigger. Terry made a face, and then shook his head. "Damn," he muttered. "Well, we could have used her help, but we can't wait for her. We may already be too late."

Andy nodded. "Right. Let's move!"

The pool area was alongside the front of the hotel, where taxi traffic could be seen constantly pulling up to the main entrance. Mai's poolside chair faced out towards the street, so the ninja girl noticed when she saw Andy, Terry and Joe exit the hotel and hail a cab.

"Where do they think they're going?" She asked herself out loud. Andy had just told her the plan was to lay low. And yet there he was piling into the back of a cab with his brother and best friend. Terry was dressed in the only outfit he ever seemed to wear (jeans, white T-shirt, sleeveless red jacket and baseball cap), but Joe and Andy were both dressed for business.

Before she could call out to them, the cab had pulled away from the curb and was racing off through traffic. Mai got up, grabbed her denim cutoffs from which rested on the foot of her chair, pulled them on over her bikini bottoms, and headed inside. Once upstairs, she found nothing up in her's and Andy's room except Andy's travel clothes laying on the ground, thrown there as if he'd needed to leave in a hurry. Mai thought for a moment. She needed to find out where they were going, but there didn't seem to be any clues in here. She could break into Terry's room, but it would take time. Besides, I know an easier way.

Soon, she was back down in the lobby, chatting with the concierge. "You're sure you can't just give me the spare key to Room 327?" She asked sweetly.

The man shook his head. "I'm sorry, miss. The room is in Mister Bogard's name. I can only give the key to him."

Mai pouted, pursing her ruby red lips. "But I told you, he's standing outside the room with his arms full of heavy bags, and he can't find his key. If you could please just give me the key, I'll run it up to him and he can finally put all those bags down." She leaned across the desk, her large breasts threatening to spill from her small bikini top, and batted her eyelashes. "Pleeeeease? It would really help!"

The concierge's jaw dropped as Mai's generous cleavage was thrust only a few inches from his face. "Um, okay," he finally managed to squeak out. He reached into a drawer, pulled out a key, and handed it to Mai.

Mai snatched the key from him and stood up straight again. "Thanks, you're a doll," she said to the concierge, and blew the man a kiss, making the blood rush to his head so fast that he almost fainted. Mai didn't notice, however, as she was already heading towards the elevators.

Once she was in Terry's room, she immediately noticed the legal pads on the room's desk, which she and Joe had been using to take notes in the library. On top of that, however, she saw a slip of white note paper, which looked new to her. She walked over to the desk and saw an address written on the slip, along with the words "collector - Jin Scroll?" It was Terry's handwriting.

It didn't take Mai long to figure out where the Bogards had probably gone with Joe. "Andy, you lying son of a bitch!" Mai growled as she snatched up the paper and left the room.

When she was back inside her own room, it took Mai only seconds to strip out of her bikini and put on her fighting outfit. Then she was back out in the hall. "Andy, you had better hope Geese Howard kills you," she said out loud as she raced towards the elevator. "Because if he doesn't, I will!"

Mary Ryan had parked her motorcycle in the alley entrance across from where the hotel stood, allowing her to observe the stream of traffic moving in and out while she herself could stay unnoticed.

She spotted Terry Bogard, Andy Bogard, and Joe Higashi as they exited the hotel and hailed a cab. “Hm,” she mused out loud to herself. “Wonder where they're going in such a hurry. And why Romeo's girlfriend isn't with them.”

The cab took off down the street, and Mary pondered whether she should follow them. Her bike wasn't exactly inconspicuous, and Terry knew what it looked like. She decided to wait, as her cop instinct told her that Mai Shiranui hadn't stayed behind by choice.

Sure enough, she soon saw the voluptuous ninja girl burst through the hotel's front doors, looking ready to strangle someone. Mary saw that Mai was wearing the same outfit she'd had on yesterday in the gym. Is this city hosting a King of Fighters tournament, or Mardi Gras? She thought with a smirk of amusement.

The kunoichi moved to the curb and quickly hailed a cab. This time, Mary didn't need a cop hunch to know which direction Mai would be going in. Mary donned her helmet and started up her motorcycle. It was a good bet Mai didn't know about the detective's ride, so following her would probably be easy.

I really was starting to like you, Bogard, she thought as she pulled out into traffic after Mai's taxi. And I wasn't joking when I said I'd have no problems arresting you or your friends. I hope you're not doing what I think you're doing. Otherwise, this will hurt me a lot more than it will you...

 

To be continued...