Obsidian Solace

 

 

Chapter 2

Devils and Brits

 

            Christie’s mind whirled with ideas. None of which would really help the situation any. Three men held her to the ground while five men surrounded her training partner, Jin Kazama. It was a little insulting that they would put less people in charge of her. She thought these masked men sexist and rude, and definitely uncalled for. She had to do something. One of the men had his foot on Jin’s neck, ready to crush him at any moment. It was all up to her.

            She studied her position and Jin’s carefully, trying to come up with a plan. She’d have to be careful. That man may crush Jin’s neck before she even got to him. It was rather frustrating.

            One of the men said something to Jin in Japanese that Christie couldn’t even begin to understand. It sounded threatening. However, Jin seemed to remain calm despite the foot on his neck. He answered back in Japanese slowly and carefully. Keeping their full attention, and even having a little bit of a calming effect on the men.

            Leaves teamed up with the wind, whistling warnings of strong wind. A man on her left looked over her body suggestively. His eyes exposed behind the mask showed the all-too-human signs of a middle-aged man. Christie almost gagged as she watched him run his fingers along her arm, even though it was well covered by her coat and Jin’s jacket. The man laughed quietly as his hand made its way down to her pants, feeling her skin in the holes on the sides.

            Crying out in disgust, Christie soon felt a hand clasp over her mouth, it belonging to another one of the men. He whispered some Japanese words into her ear. She didn’t need to know Japanese to understand what was going on. She closed her eyes tight and screamed in defiance, the noise muffled by the hand. Two wet lips found their way to her cheek. Her eyes remained closed as she held back whimpers. There was no way she would allow herself to be weakened to the point of whimpering.

            Christie waited for the next dreadful step, whatever it may be. It never came. Only the sound of surprised cries, drowned out by the angry leaves, snapped her back to reality. Once she realized that she was no longer being held down, she opened her eyes only to look into two familiar refulgent circles. It couldn’t be possible. What were the possibilities that she’d run into the same… creature twice in two days in Tokyo in two different districts? This was too weird.

            Suddenly, the Brazilian girl realized that she could still be in danger. How could she trust that this other side to Jin wouldn’t harm her? She couldn’t… but if it were intending to harm her, would she be able to get away? It was worth a try. What was there to loose?

            She got to her feet slowly, watching it watch her. Bodies laid sprawled around at her feet. She backed up slowly, trying not to make any sudden movements. The wind was getting considerably worse, threatening to blow her over at times. She stumbled, and before she was able to regain balance, she tripped over one of the bodies and was once again, on her back. This was a bit of an advantage though. With certain opponents, she was more vulnerable standing up. This time there would be no letting her guard down, even though she did find the demonic creature in front of her strangely attractive.

            Jin’s evil side took a few steps toward Christie before flying into the air, swooping down on her, grabbing her roughly by the arm, and flying up into the sky. It’s fierce piceous wings beating strongly against the wind. Christie’s body dangled, being abused by the ferocious air currents. Her free arm eventually was able to grab onto the arm of the creature, so that her captured arm didn’t get ripped right off of her body, even though it felt like it was too late to save it from being dislocated. She struggled to fight back the tears of pain, keeping her eyes closed and waiting until it was over.

            What would Eddy do? He wouldn’t be afraid, would he? Perhaps he had dealt with stuff like that when he was there. Maybe he was dealing with stuff like that at that very moment. Christie comforted herself with the thought of Eddy, the thought of seeing him again. It was so cold. It was difficult to maintain the image of Eddy with freezing wind hitting her directly in the face. Why did this evil Jin have to fly against the wind? The tournament was in 5 days! Was it purposely trying to make her sick before the tournament? And injuring her arm at that!

            Eventually the demonic Japanese boy swooped low to the ground and dropped her in front of an abandoned warehouse. She got to her feet, ready to run for it when the creature came at her, grabbing her by the waist and forcefully tumbling into the warehouse through a broken window.

            “Shit!” Christie sighed as she helplessly watched the creature loom over her. It’s wings folded in behind its back as it leaned over, in position to begin tearing her apart, but before it could begin, something happened. It’s eyes closed painfully and it suddenly lost consciousness. In a matter of seconds, Christie had an average looking young Japanese martial artist asleep where he fell on her legs. She cradled her sore arm, checking over it, and happy to see that it wasn’t dislocated after-all. A muscle was just pulled, and her arm had been extremely close to getting dislocated. She’d probably have to cut down on handstands a little bit.

            She carefully slipped her legs out from under Jin. Unfortunately, they didn’t work as she had hoped they would and when she attempted to stand, she was forced to fall back down. Christie was exhausted. Not wanting to fall asleep by Jin incase he went evil again, she placed his jacket back on his own shoulders, and then crawled into the next room, hoping he wouldn’t even know she was there when he awoke. Almost as soon as Christie was curled up in a corner, she was asleep.

 

            Screaming and cursing sounded off throughout the warehouse. Christie was brought to a rude awakening when she heard loud thuds and bangs coming from the next room. It was definitely a fight going on, but between who? Her mind raced over the happenings of the previous day, bringing her to the conclusion that it must be Jin in the fight. Who was he up against? Perhaps this was gang territory. Christie got to her feet, realizing that Jin might need some help, even though he had an inner demon. She stood up and peaked into the next room, spotting, not Jin, but another young man, and some street thug battling it out.

            The thug released a powerful blow, hitting the man in the stomach and causing him to double over. Christie got ready to intervene when something stopped her. Her intuition told her to stay put for another moment. It was hard to wait. The man looked like he was in pain. Any normal girl, who knew her way around a fight, would pitch in a few extra blows in his defense, but something told her that one little mid punch was just a drip in the bucket.

            The man quickly straightened himself up, and caught the thug’s leg that was in the midst of kicking. The foreign young man gave the leg a sharp twist, causing the thug to fall onto his stomach, moaning from the pain. The man’s aura became all too visible, sporting shades of sickly green and black. Christie watched in horror as the Blue-eyed man systematically fractured both of the thug’s arms. As the screaming got louder, he seemed to get a little freaked out, solving his problem by jabbing the thug in the throat, causing him to cough silently and loose all ability of his voice. Soon, the man was leaning over the thug with a large piece of broken glass. Raspy whimpers escaped the thug’s throat. The room fell silent. Sickeningly silent, until finally the glass was shoved into the thug’s mouth, pointing upwards. The man held it still while he waited for the thug to stop twitching. After awhile the thug stopped, but the man noticed a rise and fall of the enemy’s chest. He twisted the glass sharply and then stood up, wiping his bloody hands on the wall.

            Christie stood there, devastated, staring at the thug’s body as she grasped onto the doorframe as if her life depended on it. Then it happened. The man with the glowing aura turned his head slowly. She silently willed her body to duck out of sight before it was too late, but her body was not working with her. He spotted her.

            The man turned around completely, facing her. A ghastly smile crept onto his face, causing Christie to gasp. At least she knew she was still breathing. He took a step forward, but his vicious eyes softened, and the smile, and visible Aura deserted him. He looked like a normal European man. He had to lean against the wall in order to keep himself from falling from the sudden change from evil to… Whatever he was.

            Silence continued to surround them. They watched each other carefully, one terrified and the other exhausted. The man eventually gained enough strength to stand up straight and he looked back and forth between Christie and the thug, suddenly looking very regretful. She watched him, wondering if she’d be able to get away if he decided to attack. It was hard not to get herself down by imagining all the possible outcomes. She watched helplessly as he took a couple steps toward her.

            “Who are you?” He asked, breaking the suffocating silence.

            Christie remained silent, muted by uncertainty. What had been going on? Why were they fighting in the first place? What was this guy?

            He looked back at the thug, “Bugger… This makes me look like a bit of a shady guy, don’t it? Err… I’m not going to hurt you. That bloke was one of the many assassins after me. I had to kill him or he’d kill me.”

            “… Why are you being hunted?” Christie finally asked.

            “Because some fat cats were being stupid with their pence when betting on my fight. They put a lot of money on my opponent and wanted me to throw the fight so they’d win. I ain’t about to ruin my reputation, so I did away with the bloke and now there’s a bloody price on my head.”

            Christie went back into the room she slept in so she wouldn’t have to look at the dead thug any longer. The guy stood in the doorway watching her, studying her. She looked back at him expectantly, “What’s your name?”

            “I asked you first.”

            “I’m not the one who just killed a man. Tell me who you are.”

            He nods, “That’s fair. I’m Steve Fox. You?”

            She assesses him carefully, “So Steve, what were you and your little groupie doing in this building?”

            “Some bloke with weird hair… A kind of vertical spike, like a troll doll, right, only shorter, and he had wings too,” Steve told her, “I seen him shuffling in here like he was wounded or something, and even though he looked like a bit of a dill, I figured he could probably use some help, ya know? So I came in after him, but when I got in here, he wasn’t here. He probably went upstairs or something, aye? I was going to look for him, but then that hitman came out of nowhere and attacked me!”

            Christie’s eyes widened, “Wings? Shit. We got to get out of here! He’ll kill us both… Let’s go!”

            Steve looked at her in confusion, but obeyed, silently following her through the previous room, past the thug, and out into the rain. He noticed the woman limping slightly and holding her arm. Did that guy hurt her?

            She walked past a red Saab and Steve stopped, “Uh, miss, this is my car.”

            “You’re not from Japan, what’re you doing with a car?”

            “It’s a rental,” He winked, “Now come on. I’ll take you to the hospital.”

            Christie almost refused, but remembered that she had no idea where she was. Not having a choice was quickly becoming a way of life. She reluctantly got in the car, and Steve did the same.

 

            The female doctor walked into the room, eyeing the clipboard in her hands. Christie sat on the examining table waiting for the news, lecture, or even the prescription. She was sore all over, but it didn’t feel like anything serious. It just felt like she had a rough workout the day before. Nothing more. When the doctor regarded her with concern, she had to struggle to keep the panic down to a minimum. What the hell could possibly be wrong? Maybe the doctor was just trying to psyche her out, or maybe the doctor always looked at patients like that.

            The older Japanese woman sat in a chair near the sink, “Looks like you had a hard day, Monteiro. These look like football wounds.”

            Christie shrugs, “I guess I was tackled pretty hard yesterday…”

            “I’m sorry but I have some bad news.”

            “Bad news?” Christie asks, “What happened to ‘I have some good news and some bad news’?”

            The doctor shakes her head, “I don’t think any of the news I have would be thought of as good in your opinion. You see… Whatever happened to you yesterday caused a lot of internal damage. It almost looks like you were skydiving in a hurricane, if you will. We must put you into surgery as soon as possible, because there may be some internal bleeding and that can be deadly.”

            That wasn’t very promising news. Christie looked at her hands and asked in a small voice, “What about the tournament?”

            “I’m afraid you won’t be fully recovered by then. I’m sorry.” With that said, The doctor got up and left, leaving Christie alone to indulge in her self pity. Damn that Japanese devil boy! How was she going to find Eddy under the given circumstances? It couldn’t be hopeless, she wouldn’t accept that.

           

 

            A car honked loudly, causing Jin to whirl around and loose his balance. He fell clumsily into a bush. The car slowed to a stop in front of him and a blonde man stepped out. He looked American, but one could never tell for sure. The man smirked, watching Jin scramble to his feet, “Sorry about that. You’re the bloke I saw go into that warehouse ain’t you?”

            “Warehouse?” Jin muttered, dusting himself off, “What are you talking about?” As he brushed some thorns off his Jacket, he suddenly remembered Christie. He remembered tackling her into a warehouse like it was just a scene in a movie he watched years ago. He had gone back to the warehouse without knowing, but he had no idea how this man could have known. Did the man see him as he was or as the creature?

            “I’m Steve Fox. Put ‘er there!” Steve grinned shaking Jin’s hand. “I saw you go into the warehouse earlier today I thought you were in some kind of trouble cuz you looked like you were wounded so I followed you in.”

            Jin eyed the man suspiciously. What was the reason for stopping him? Obviously it couldn’t be just to tell him that. Was this man to be his next enemy? As if Jin didn’t have enough enemies. “I really must be going. I’m sorry if I have caused you any inconvenience.”

            Steve’s eyes flared with anger. He lunged forward, knocking Jin behind the bush and pinning him there. What the hell was his problem? Jin apologized and didn’t understand how that could piss this guy off so much? Maybe it was a mugger, or maybe even another Hwoarang. Great. Just Great. All Jin needed was another guy like Hwoarang on his case.

            A woman across the street quickly ushered her children inside a house, A couple other people stopped and stared. Jin made sure his face was hidden from the spectators. The whole scene was uncalled for and Jin wasn’t about to allow his being there to be revealed to his grandfather.

            “I’m not the one you should be bloody apologizing to. There’s a girl in the hospital who was scared to death of being in that warehouse while you were in it. It kind of makes me wonder what you did to her,” Steve accused quietly.

            Christie! Jin, himself wondered what he had done to her. How did he get to this part of the city, and more importantly, how did she? What was she doing in the hospital? Jin was sure he would have remembered if he had really hurt her that badly. Who was this guy and what had he to do with Monteiro? “Which hospital?”

            “Yeah, right, I’m really about to tell you which hospital I put her in!”

            “Is she hurt badly?” Jin asks almost in a panic.

            Steve shrugs, “Doctor wouldn’t tell me much but I seen them wheel her off to the emergency room, you fucker!”

            Emergency room? Damn! Jin had to think something up quick! He had to get to her. She was obviously here for a tournament, and Jin felt too guilty about screwing her out of her chances to just sit back and let her suffer. That Steve guy most likely brought her to the closest hospital, right? That’s exactly where Jin would look first, as soon as Steve got the hell off him, of course. “Please let me up, I have an appointment I must attend.”

            “With a psychiatrist, I hope.”

            Jin looked at Steve in wonder, “Actually yes…”

            Steve rolls his eyes, “Alright wise guy, why you seeing a psychiatrist? Do you put girls in hospitals very often?”

            “No. Not very often. I’m in therapy for my Dissociative Identity Disorder.”

            Steve grins, “How gullible do you think I am? If I let you go, you’re probably going to hunt her down and finish the job, whatever the job was in the first place. It’s not going to happen. I ought to kill you right here!”

            Jin sighs, “Please don’t make me prove my disorder. I really hate it when my other face shows… Alright. Do you have a gun?”

            “… Maybe.”

            “Shoot me.”

            Steve studied Jin, realizing that the Japanese boy was completely serious, “You are fucking nuts. I don’t know if DID is your problem but you definitely have some sort of fucked up chemical imbalance.” He looked at the spectators, “Look at em. They’re bloody idiots watching as if this were a fucking film. Do you think they’ve called the police?”

            “No. Even if someone had, the police wouldn’t show up for another two hours if not more. This area isn’t exactly the most important to the authorities,” Jin explained quietly, not wanting to be overheard and recognized, “If this place was swarmed with cops, I wouldn’t even be here.”

            The two boys remained silent for a moment and considered each other. Steve’s grip didn’t even loosen for a millisecond, which annoyed Jin. This guy couldn’t keep holding him down without a single flaw for long, could he? Was there nothing that would enable him to get to Christie?

            Then it happened. Jin watched as Steve’s eyes quickly flicked over the body beneath him. Jin didn’t hesitate, not knowing, nor caring, what Steve was looking at or why. He lifted his knee, shoving Steve off him and onto the sidewalk. Not a second later he was up on his feet and sprinting down the street, struggling to keep his hood up over his head. Steve got up and watched after Jin in bewilderment. After a second or two he shrugged and got back into his rental and drove off to the hospital.