A/N: I made this after playing DOA4. I was super pissed that Dante appearing in Soul Calibur 3 was just a hoax. But hey, I always thought he would fit better in DOA. This story takes place a few weeks after DOA4 and a year or so after DMC 2. Hayate and the Ninjas have destroyed the DOATEC Tritower and Dante has returned to his shop after taking down Argosax at the Vidu Mali Islands.

Disclaimer: Devil May Cry is owned by Capcom, Dead or Alive is owned by Tecmo and Team Ninja. I own diddly and if one or all of said companies sues me, they would only lose money.

This is my first story so praise me, flame me, I do not care, just be honest.

Dead or Alive 4: The Devil Factor

Chapter 1-The Mission, The Plan, and The Devil Man

Three miles north of the Mugen Tenshin Clan village

Japan

Tuesday-10:26 p.m.

Hayate gazed across the forest he loved so much. Whenever he needed to think or simply to be alone, he came here. He stood atop the highest branch on his favorite tree, the one he stood on when he trained his newly made ninjas in the wilderness.

Tonight, he was thinking about his recent victory over DOATEC and the destruction of the once mighty Tritower, the very symbol of DOATEC's power. When he and the others returned to the village, they got a hero's welcome. The villagers congratulated him on bringing down DOATEC and his fellow ninjas seemed to swell with pride about their leader and the justice that they exacted.

However, only a fool would believe that the battle was truly over. Destroying the Tritower was indeed a great accomplishment, but it was only the beginning.

DOATEC was a vast corporate empire. It would take time and manpower to locate and destroy the rest of DOATEC. Both of which was on short supply to him. He lost a lot of good ninjas when they stormed the tower. Only Ryu, Ayane, a handful of the ninjas he brought with him, as well as himself, made it back. The ones that did not make it back met their end at the hands of DOATEC's private soldiers and their diabolical machines and weapons. They had been avenged, but their names and faces would forever be etched into his memory.

"The tower might as well have been a military fortress" Hayate mused to himself.

He needed more ninjas. But more importantly he needed time. DOATEC would most assuredly strike back once they get their bearings. He would rather hit them again then try to fight off an invasion of his home. Ryu lost his clan to invaders. He would not lose his the same way.

His sister, Kasumi, entered his mind. "If she where to rejoin us…"

He quickly pushed that thought out of his head. She chose to abandon her position and become a runaway. Even if he did want her back, the Mugen Tenshin Clan laws were absolute. And he did want her back.

He remembered the time when they were children, how she skinned her knee while she was playing with the other children. He carried her back home and tended to her wound when their mother was busy. She always looked up to him, always came to him when she had a problem, and always tried to make him smile.

Those days where long gone and he knew it. But, he still wished he could relive those times. When he did not have the burden of Clan leader. When he did not have to worry about brining justice and honor to the world. When he did not have to order the assassination of his own sister.

"No matter. It is still my duty as clan leader to take these responsibilities and carry them out," He reminded himself.

He looked up at the night sky and wondered to himself, "If we fail, if I fail, then I suppose Kasumi will truly be free from us."

He took one last look at the forest, leaped from the tree branch, and disappeared into the darkness the forest provided.

Devil May Cry building

United States

Wednesday-11:42 p.m.

"Bored, bored, bored, boredity, bored, fucking BORED!"

Dante was mentally and repeatedly going over how un-stimulated he was. Ever since the incident on Vidu Mali, it had been slow for Dante, in terms of work. In fact, the only times he had not been bored was on his three big missions. The incident with the Temen-ni-gru, the attempted second coming of Mundus, and the summoning of Argosax. Each was too far apart and too long ago.

Dante sat in his trademark position, in his comfy, oversized chair with his feet upon the desk. He was dressed in a black, button-up dress shirt with the top two buttons undone. He wore red pants, black boots, and black motorcycle gloves. His latest red coat was hung-up on the coat rack. This version was a dark red leather coat, ankle length, with a slit in the middle of the back that came from the bottom up to center of the coat. Unlike his other coats, this one did not have any gun holsters placed on it. His guns, Ebony & Ivory lay askew on his desk and his sword, Rebellion, sat propped up on the wall behind him.

Heavy rock music blasted from the jukebox at the far corner of the room. His pool table, drum set, and other pieces of furniture were still standing in their respected places. The only notable differences that could be seen were the addition of the heads of the demons Dante had slain. One trophy that stood out was the body of a Hell Vanguard held up by two scythes that were taken from other Hell Vanguards. The remains of Marionettes, Sin Scissors, Goatlings, the many kinds of Hell Jailers, and various other demons were decorated across the walls of the Devil May Cry. The only exception was the wall behind him, which held the many Devil Arms and guns he had obtained during his missions. The Alastor, the Vendetta, the Cerberus, all of his Devil Arms was on display with the guns placed in a glass cabinet.

Trish was laid out on the sofa, reading a trashy romance novel she picked up a while back. Normally, Dante would give her a hard time about reading that "lovey-dovey bullshit" as he put it. But right now, Dante was so bored that even he thought about giving it a read.

Trish still wore her black leather outfit, but she added a few extra touches not too recently. She sewed the outline of the woman on the Devil May Cry sign in red on the back of the black leather jacket she would wear sometimes. She also wore two black gun holsters across her hips where she placed her own custom made guns, modeled after Dante's, the Noir & Blanche. French for black and white, she thought it gave them a sense of elegance and beauty. Dante thought she was just a copycat.

Lucia was sitting on the leather recliner, cleaning her various blades and knives that were neatly arranged on the coffee table. She was cleaning the left blade of her Cutlaseer set, the same set she used to kill Arius. She took great care of her weapons and had since added more to her collection, including balanced throwing knives. She still wore her grey outfit, but she began to show interest in the American clothes she saw in the window shops.

After Argosax's destruction, Lucia decided that she did not need to stay on the islands and went with Dante to stay with him. Lucia was a valued friend and partner, but he was afraid that she and Trish might not get along. To his surprise, they became fast friends.

As for Lady, he still saw her from time to time, but she still wanted to hunt by herself, for now. Each time he asked if she wanted to join, it took her longer to answer. It was obvious she was still upset about the incidents of Temen-ni-gru, maybe having some friends nearby could bring her around.

Letting out a deep sigh, Dante reached out to grab a slice of pizza from the pizza box next to him.

"Might as well close up for the night, ladies. It's obvious that nothings going to happen." Dante informed.

He heard affirmative murmurs from Lucia and Trish.

Before Dante could get up from his seat to lock-up, the front door swung open. A man step inside, a fat man who wore a simple outfit of a striped shirt, jeans, a coat, and a cap that New York cabdrivers used to wear.

"Hey Dante! Ya there?" The man bellowed with a hint of an Italian accent.

"Enzo." Dante groaned, "What the hell do you want?"

"A fine howdy-do to you too, Dante." Enzo replied. Enzo was Dante's liaison, the man who held on to Dante's money, looked for jobs, made background checks on clients, and other tasks. In a since, he did all the work the Dante would not do to keep the Devil May Cry operating. He also had a nasty habit of drinking away his share of the profits.

Enzo helped Dante start the Devil May Cry since before Dante had a name for it. He also got on Dante's nerves with his insistent complaining when Dante passed on jobs that were "boring". He threatened to fire Enzo numereous times, as well as other unpleasant things. In the end, Dante always let it go. After all, if he fired and/or killed Enzo, he would have to start doing Enzo's job. And that included paperwork. Dante absolutely loathed paperwork.

Enzo looked at Dante with a wide grin "Guess what, Dante."

"You finally discovered that you have dick?" Dante replied.

The sound of Trish and Lucia snickering filled the Devil May Cry.

"NO!" Enzo growled while throwing a glare at Dante's two lady friends. Both of whom where still doing what they were before Enzo arrived, acting like nothing happened.

"I got YOU a job." Enzo declared. "A good one too."

"You mean like the so-called kidnapping case that turned out to be just a missing cat?"

"Hey, cut me some slack! I didn't know that the old broad who contacted me was senile. Besides, this one is on the up and up. I promise"

"Your promises are as trustworthy as carnival games."

Enzo ignored Dante's last statement. "Ever heard of DOATEC?"

"You mean the one that's one of the largest and most powerful companies to ever exist. Who makes everything from robotics to soap?" Dante had a mock look of confusion on his face. "Never heard of them. Who are they?"

Enzo rolled his eyes. "Very funny, Dante."

"Thanks." Dante replied with smirk.

Enzo took a deep breath and continued, "They also host and run a little martial arts competition as well, 'The Dead or Alive Tournament'. The fourth one just ended."

"Well la-dee-daa. What's that got to do with me?" Dante said sarcastically.

"Didn't cha hear? The DOATEC headquarters was destroyed during the end of the DOA tourney."

This perked Dante's curiosity. "Oh? What happened?"

"According to the DOATEC spokesman, terrorists bombed the place."

Dante felt his curiosity being replaced with disappointment. "Everything's about terrorists, nowadays."

"Anyway, one of DOATEC's bigwigs, a Professor Donovan if I recall, wants to hire you."

"For what, to kill the terrorists? That's the army's or even the government's job, not mine."

"I don't know what he wants, but he set up an appointment to meet you and discuss it." Enzo replied.

"Let me guess, you accepted?" Dante stated.

"It's either this, or back to rescuing wittle kittens." Enzo said with a laugh.

At that moment, the phone rang. Dante brought his leg up and slammed it down on the desk. The receiver flew off the catch and into the air landing in Dante's outstretched hand.

"Devil May Cry" Dante said into the phone. Silence filled the room for a grand total of three seconds "DID I SAY THIS IS JACK'S PIZZA PLACE? WRONG NUMBER, JACKASS!"

Dante flung the phone and the receiver landed in the catch perfectly.

Dante felt Enzo looking at him with that stupid smirk of his. He looked up and was proven correct.

Dante let out a low groan, "Fine, when and where?"

"Tomorrow, 7 o'clock and, get this, he wants to see you at The Haven! Pretty sweet, huh?"

That definitely got Dante's attention. The Haven was THE most classy and expensive restaurant in town. They where always booked on reservations. It took someone with a lot of money, or power, or both, to get a table at a moments notice.

Dante got that feeling he only got when he knew something big was going down.

The Haven

United States

Thursday-7:22 p.m.

Donovan looked at his Rolex for the fifth time that night. He was dressed in a very fine Italian suit. The best money could buy. His white hair was slicked back and his glasses where set firmly on his face. His Italian shoes, polished to the nth degree, cost him a pretty penny as well.

"He's late." He muttered to himself.

The Haven was located in a large and posh building made to look like a temple of ancient Greece. Greek statues and paintings filled the room. Musicians in tuxedos performed classical music for the diners. There were many tables around. All of them were filled. Donovan had to grease a few hands in order to get a table on such short notice. It did not matter to him. Even though those accursed ninjas destroyed the Tritower and DOATEC's stock plummeted, Donovan still had quite a bit of money left.

Donovan sat at a table close to the wall in order to remain inconspicuous. He was still a hunted man. If it was not the Mugen Tenshin ninjas and their failed experiment of a leader, than it was that nut-job assassin, Bayman.

"So many enemies, not enough time to deal with them." Donavan thought.

A flash of red caught his attention. He looked up and saw a young man in a red leather coat being lead to his table by one of the greeters. The man in red was getting a lot of looks from the patrons and staff. Some looked at him with distain, others looked at him with curiosity, most of the young females in the restaurant looked at him with great interest and whispered things to the other young females nearby. After showing him the appropriate table, the greeter departed and Dante sat down.

"Mister Dante, I presume?" Donovan asked.

"Yes, hold the applause." Dante quickly replied as he leaned back in his seat and threw an arm over the back of his chair.

Donovan thought the man would look more comfortable at a fast food joint with the other Joe six-packs. He quickly gathered his thoughts. "I've got enough enemies. I shouldn't be trying to make brand new ones." He thought to himself.

Donovan looked at Dante with a smile and an outstretched hand, "My name is Professor Victor Donovan of DOATEC."

Dante looked at Donovan's hand then back to his face. Dante would rather shake hands with a rabid dog. But to save face, he took Donovan's hand, gave it a quick pump, than let go.

Donovan could instantly tell the man needed to develop some social skills. But socializing is not what Donovan had in mind for Dante.

"I have a very important job for you, Mr. Dante." Donovan stated as he took out a piece of paper from his suit.

"And what is that?" Dante asked as a waiter poured the two men some wine then asked if there was anything else he could get for them.

Donovan said no, waited for him to get out of earshot and answered Dante's question. "I need you to deliver something to the person in this picture."

Donovan set the photo face down on the table and pushed it to Dante.

Dante did not even take the photo when he replied, "Forget it Doc. What do I look like, UPS?"

Donovan took a sip of wine before he responded. "First of all, it's Professor. Secondly, the person in question cannot be…accessed…so easily."

"In fact," Donovan continued, "I really don't trust the postal service with this parcel. It is rather…valuable."

Dante did not like the fact that Donovan had to pause to find words to use. It was a sure sign that something was fishy about the assignment. And for Dante, fishy meant very illegal.

Dante finally took the photo, flipped it over and took a look.

The photograph was of a beautiful, young Asian girl. She had auburn hair and eyes. She wore a sailor schoolgirl uniform used in certain Japanese schools. He knew this, because many strip joints that were favored by Japanese businessmen had women dressed up in these getups. The girl in the photo was talking to other girls as she was walking down the street. The photo was obviously taken without her knowledge.

"She looks young, REAL young, maybe mid to late teens. She's built too. I mean, no way she's that young and have that big of a chest." Dante thought to himself.

Donovan noticed that Dante was rather interested with the photo. "Pretty, isn't she?"

Dante's head snapped up. "What? Oh, yeah! Yeah, she is…something else."

"Damn it! Now I'm sounding like Professor Gramps, over there!" Dante thought to himself.

"Well? Do you change you mind?" Donovan asked with his hands clasped in front of his face.

Dante stared at the picture again, this time thinking over what Donovan had asked him to do. "What's the package?"

"It's small. A box about 6-inches long, 3-inches wide…"

"No, what's in it?" Dante interrupted.

"I am afraid…"

"That it's none of my business." Dante finished, he had heard the same line many times before from pervious jobs. "Yeah, I get it."

"It's nothing illegal or dangerous, I assure you." Donovan reassured.

"Yeah, sure." Dante trusted this guy as much as Enzo.

"Where is she?" Dante inquired.

"In Japan. Tokyo, Japan to be precise. She is attending an all girls' school there. She is also living in an apartment near the school, room 403"

"I thought you said she was hard to get a hold of. Sounds like you know where she is pretty well."

"I also said that I don't trust the postal service." Donovan replied matter-o-factly.

"How much?" Dante was waiting for this part.

"1 million dollars, U.S. currency of course. Half now, half later." Donovan was starting to smirk. Dante hated guys that smirk alot.

Dante examined the picture some more, weighing the facts with what he was feeling at the moment. He did not like the information that was given to him. There were too many questions he wanted to ask, and he had a feeling he would not get the answers he wanted. On the other hand, that 1 million was sounding nice and it would give him an excuse to get off his ass and stretch his legs.

Dante reached into his coat and pulled out his Coin of Fate, like the one he used on Vidu Mali. This one, however, did have two opposite sides. The head was the outline of the woman on his sign. The other side had Devil May Cry written in elaborate, cursive letters.

He flicked it into the air and snatched it when it came back down. He opened his gloved hand. Donovan watched with curiosity.

Woman. Heads.

"I'll do it."

Donovan's face grew a large smile. "Good to hear, Mr. Dante." He reached into his suit's other pocket and provided the box he described earlier. It was indeed small and wrapped in blue paper.

"I have made arrangements for my private jet to take you to Japan, tomorrow at 8 a.m. sharp."

Donovan's smile disappeared and he shot Dante a serious glance. "And I do mean sharp."

"Yeah, yeah." Dante replied while waving a dismissive hand. "I got it, doc."

Dante put away his coin and the photo, grabbed the box, chugged down his wine, and got up to leave.

"Under no circumstances are you to open that box, Mr. Dante." Donovan then growled out, "And it's Professor!"

"Whatever." Dante replied as he put the box in his coat pocket. "Oh, before I forget, what's her name?"

Donovan's sinister smirk appeared again. "Her name is Kasumi."

Dante looked at Donovan for a few seconds more, then turned to leave.

"I don't like this at all. And if that Donovan creep tries anything funny…" Dante thought. He left what he was going to do to him open, since he was sure whatever he thought up of, he could top it later on.

Donovan waited until Dante left, then took out his cell phone. He keyed the number in and held the phone up to his ear as he waited for a response. In three rings, someone picked up.

"What is it?" A cold voice asked

"It's me. He accepted." Donovan reported.

"Good. I'll make sure he gets a warm welcome once he arrives." The other man hung up.

"I'm sure you will." Donovan said as he hung up and put the phone away.

"The chess game is ready, Mr. Dante. What will be your first move?" Donovan said as he took another sip of his wine.