Obligatory disclaimer: I did not create Street Fighter II, or any of the game's characters. Obviously. Street Fighter II is the property of Capcom.

Part 1: Choices and Discoveries

by Evil Wild Lex

France

The night was calm; the only clash to be seen was that of dark against light. The dark blue, almost black sky blanketed the world, but the softly glowing stars and the man-made lights below fought valiantly against it. It was a quiet struggle in an otherwise still night. A few people were still awake and walking the streets of the cities, bundled in warm winter coats to shield themselves from the cold. Most, however, were nestled comfortably in their beds while the gentle fall of snow caressed the ground. A similarly peaceful atmosphere could be found in the countryside, in the extremely few unpopulated areas of France. A faint wind rustled the trees, while animals that hibernated for the winter slept without disturbance.

The tranquility spread even to a place where people were normally rigidly alert every hour of the day. Even France's Interpol facility had surrendered to the sweet temptation to rest. That would prove to be a mistake. Taking advantage of the lax security, a slim form dressed entirely in black darted almost silently through the long hallways. The ebony-clad figure paused before going around corners. Security might be lax, but that didn't mean there wasn't any night staff around to interfere with possible plans. Nobody could be aware of what was going on until it was too late for anything to be done about it.

The pause continued as one of the Interpol staff on the night shift meandered through the hallways, only at the facility at this hour because someone was required to be there at all times. The gruff man grumbled about having to take this shift without any decent coffee being around to keep him awake. He barely even glanced down the hallway the darkly clothed individual occupied before continuing on his own way. The pause continued for another couple of seconds before the determined person progressed towards the most heavily guarded area of the entire building to liberate someone who had lived in captivity for his entire life.

The next few motions went so quickly that no normal human, no matter how finely tuned his or her reflexes were, could have found the time to act in retaliation. First, an expertly thrown knife was launched through a security camera, taking it offline. Next on the agenda were the two armed men standing guard over the person who was to be freed. They stood only ten feet from each other, on either side of the heavily enforced cell/sleeping quarters of the prisoner. The black-clad figure soundlessly snuck up to the nearest one, and delivered a chop to the side of his neck that knocked him out instantly. A second after the taller of the two men heard the smacking noise of the effective attack being executed, he turned around to see his co-worker slump over unconscious. The two seconds he took to stare at the crumpled form of his fellow guard were two seconds two late for him to even see the same attack coming at him. His knees buckled an instant after the hand drove into his neck like a knife, and he too fell, helpless.

Keys were taken from their possession, and after a minute of figuring out which key went into each of the several heavy duty locks, the titanium door was quietly swung open.

"Spartacus, wake up." A young man, roughly seventeen to nineteen years old, stirred at sound of his name. He opened his white, pupiless eyes, and turned to face the darkly clothed person in the doorway. He prepared to attack.

"It's me," the familiar voice said irritably. "Don't even think about it if you want to get out of here, Spartacus."

"What are you doing, Athena?" the teenager demanded of his half sister. She casually took her black hat off, revealing dark red hair she'd pinned up.

"What can I say? I got sick of Interpol making decisions for me and thought you might feel the same way." As she spoke, she dragged the smaller of the two men into the room. He was only 5'8", two inches taller than herself. His clothing wouldn't fit perfectly, but it would do. Without hesitation, she removed his coat, shirt, belt, pants, and shoes, while Spartacus dragged the taller of the two men into the cell as well.

Athena didn't bother changing, and instead pulled the uniform on over her form-fitting black outfit to give herself a little more bulk. She kept her back to Spartacus as he made a costume change. A few minutes later, the siblings stepped out of the cell and locked the two guards inside. After shoving her hand casually into the pocket of her new pants, Athena discovered that their previous owner had kept sunglasses in them, presumably for driving. She passed them over to Spartacus to hide his distinctive white eyes.

"We're going to leave through one of the ordinary exits," she instructed in a whisper. "Just walk past anyone you see like nothing's going on." Spartacus was clearly excited to be finally free, and she could feel little jolts of his power threatening to escape, but he understood the necessity to keep under control, just for now.

The pair walked casually but quickly through the halls, as though they were young guards who were just finishing their shifts, and eager to go to a nice warm pub for a drink before going home. For the most part, they didn't run into anybody. Staff was mainly here at night because they were required to be; so that someone would be around in the rare chance something went wrong. As nothing had in years at this facility, the people on night shift were either grumbling about having to patrol the building, playing computer games in offices, or drinking coffee and playing cards in the staff room.

When they were just leaving, a lanky blonde haired man in his thirties plowed past them, turning to mutter "You lucky bastards...you're going home while I have to come in and see what's wrong with the damned camera in the max security area!" After he'd gone around the corner, Spartacus and Athena increased their pace just a bit as they walked straight out of the building. As soon as he came across the camera and saw how it had been damaged, the entire building would be put on alert. They had to be long gone before that happened.

Luckily for them, Athena had brought transportation and left it nearby before slipping into the Interpol building. A brisk walk in the cold, past the gates of the parking lot, over to where the outdoor security cameras could not see, they hopped into a rather non-descript navy blue car and drove away.

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The next day

Brazil

In a dark circular chamber filled with screens that were off at the moment, thousands of buttons, and several devices known only to a few select people twisted enough to dabble with them, one man sat. He looked as though he was in a trance, seated in an enormous and rigid chair that looked like a futuristic throne. His arms were on the armrests, and visible sparks of power coursed around them. The sturdy, firm-jawed man was in deep meditation, focusing on his memories of the past before his mind twisted and turned them until his focus became nothing but pure and raw hatred. What had been sparks of power a minute ago became waves of power surging all around his body, and the grand seat he occupied. He held onto this hatred, and let his power grow and light up the darkened room. . .

Until a sound interrupted him. The beeping of someone paging him began its intrusion faintly, then rapidly progressed until the noise was so irritating, it was maddening.

"WHAT?!" he snarled, answering the call when his concentration was completely broken.

"I'm sorry if I've interrupted anything, Master Bison," said a soft-spoken man on the other end of the phone line, "but I have some news I thought you would like to know about right away."

"Go on," Bison commanded after letting him squirm for a minute. George Clarke, also known as Pouncing Cougar to a very select few people, was not someone that would report to him unexpectedly without a very good reason.

"First of all, let me congratulate you sir, on being the father of two strong children," Cougar began.

"Mr. Clarke, what are you talking about?" Bison asked calmly. He wanted to see where this was going, but he wanted his faithful servant to get to the point, as well.

"In the past twenty-four hours, two people disappeared from Interpol's custody. One from a training center in Scotland, and that night, the other escaped from an Interpol facility in France. Interpol is in a panic, because those two people happen to be your biological children." Cougar paused, and let the information sink in.

"Continue," Bison instructed. "You've sparked my curiosity at the very least."

"Both of the children were created with genetic samples of yours that the British government collected in an incident quite a few years ago.... the only time you've ever been in government custody since you appeared in Shadowlaw, if I'm correct."

"Yes," Bison said curtly, not wanting to disclose anything more on the subject. He remembered the incident well enough. They'd thought him to be nothing more than a drug dealer involved with Shadowlaw at the time, and had collected quite a few sorts of samples to test if he'd been on anything at the time of questioning. It hadn't taken long before he escaped and they realized exactly whom they'd had in custody.

"The boy, Spartacus, was created first. Interpol thought that the best way to bring down Shadowlaw would be to create someone as powerful as yourself to kill you. Unfortunately for them, he turned out to be a younger version of yourself, and they found it difficult to control him. Their second experiment was Athena. One of their female agents donated an egg, and their second experiment proved to be more successful. Like Spartacus, she inherited your abilities, but nothing else."

"This is interesting," remarked the head of Shadowlaw from his chair. "But I won't have much use for children yet..." He'd been held in custody about fourteen years ago, and while he didn't know how long the procedure would take, he very much doubted either the boy or girl was over twelve years of age. There was potential, and he would certainly have them watched over.

"Actually sir, they are physically young adults. You'll find them useful immediately."

"Do you know where they are yet?"

"Interpol suspects they have gone south.... I share this suspicion. I'll report to you the instant I have more news."

"Very good, Cougar," Bison told his spy within Interpol. "I hope to hear from you soon."

"Yes, sir," said the agent's calm voice before the conversation was ended.

For a few minutes, Bison went over this new information. He was a father. Furthermore, his two newly discovered children seemed to have every reason to hate Interpol, and had inherited his abilities. Suffice to say, the possibilities were very pleasing indeed. A small smile quirked onto his face, and slowly contorted to become one of the full-fledged malevolent grins he was well known for. He could hardly wait for the family reunion.

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Well, that's chapter 1 of my first Street Fighter II fanfic. Don't worry, plenty of other characters will show up later on. ^^ Please review.