Chapter 11

July 20th,

Saturday

1996

Through the crossfire, she could see the tip of his hair. She always found his hairstyle, strange and often wondered if he had put gel in his hair to make it stand immaculately in place. But then again, seeing how supernatural the Mishima's were, she had put it down to their bloodline.

They weren't exactly like normal human beings, were they?

Kazuya walked out of the huge building across the street with a bodyguard in tow, Bruce Irvin. Nina had found herself a nice spot from the building across the Mishima Zaibatsu building that Kazuya had held a meeting in. It had been four days since she had prepared herself for this. It was either kill or be killed. Since she was a straight up Williams, she didn't chose the latter. Survival meant everything to a Williams; she had learnt that from her late father.

She hadn't changed since then.

But seeing Kazuya today, he changed a lot. Gone was the white gi-pants he had roamed around in as a free spirit before. Now, he had donned a violet suit with a red mascot and white shirt. He reminded her of count Dracula from that Bram Stoker's novel which her mother used to love. Nina liked the color purple, but she found it strange on Kazuya. It made him look somewhat...evil.

His eyes held nothing but contempt with everything around him as he marched across the street and she had her crossfire following him.

She heard the news, Kazuya had become a brutal leader since he took over the Zaibatsu two years ago. Not that she cared enough to stop him herself, she had always wondered if there was still a little bit of good left inside him like she had seen in their last encounter.

She could understand why he was the man he had chosen to be. She couldn't blame him. If she had been in his place, she would have done the same. In her eyes, it wasn't his fault.

But it wasn't her fault either as her index finger went straight to the trigger. Sorry Mishima, but I'll have to live.

Just then as she was about to fire, she caught a glimpse of the Japanese woman who she shared an apartment with. Kazuya stopped, whirled himself around to come face to face with the woman from Yakushima. Nina narrowed her eyes and was curious at the odd encounter.

Not the one to waste any time, Nina made an attempt to fire. "Stop right there, sister." That high pitched voice with a surge of venom accompanied the cold mouth of a gun kissing the back of her head.

Nina slid her index finger away from the trigger and took a deep breath, knowing who her pathetic intruder was. "Oh, it's you." Nina rolled her eyes, waiting for her younger sister to make the next move. "Well aren't you gunna shoot me?" Nina challenged.

"As if I want your brains splattered over my manicured nails." She hissed and slid the gun away from her sister's head. "I want a real fight." She raised her gun and brought it down to hit Nina in the head.

Nina caught her sister's reflection in the window and dodged out of the way. Anna was sent stumbling forward and began to attack Nina with her small handgun in a frantic manner. Nina had effortlessly dodged Anna's attacks and shot her a sarcastic smile.

"What's the matter, sister? Gunna cry to mummy?"

"I've trained enough!" Anna cried, lashing out in blind fury at her older sister.

Nina took her rifle and made an attempt to jab her sister in the stomach with it. Anna protectively pushed the rifle away from her stomach and grabbed it with one hand. Surprised, Nina was sent on the floor and Anna had straddled her. Nina felt the oxygen gush out of her system as Anna began to punch her with the butt of her own rifle.

"You, bitch. You terrible, terrible bitch!" Anna cursed, drawing blood from Nina's lips.

Nina struggled underneath her and curled her fingers into her sister's skin, pinching, scratching...trying to do anything to protect herself from this little monster known as her sister. She used her teeth and bit into Anna's hand, defended by the screaming from her banshee of a sister.

Nina's other hand went up to Anna's hair and she grabbed as much as her fists could find. Anna tilted her head back, worried about her precious conditioned hair. "Bitch, let go of my hair." Anna warned.

Nina saw neon spots dance right in front of her eyes as she came to her sense and finally managed to push her crazy sister off her. Anna ripped herself away from Nina and began to sob. "My hand!" Anna caressed her swollen hand, dressed with Nina's teeth marks.

Nina spat the blood out of her mouth, cringing at the disgusting metal taste of it. She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand as she staggered up. "Serves you right, bitch." Nina quickly looked out of the window only to find the woman and Kazuya Mishima gone.

Great, just great. Anna had such a perfect timing.

"What the fuck was that for? You fucking don't creep up on me when I'm in the middle of a job." Nina hissed at her sister, with furious dark eyes.

"Oh yeah, like I was gunna let you pop one in my boss' head." Anna snapped back, kissing her wounded hand.

"Your boss?" Nina's voice went high with surprise. "You're working for Kazuya?"

"Don't act surprised. You've been working for Heihachi Mishima." Anna rolled her eyes. "You would do anything for money, you whore."

"Says the slut who would open her legs to anyone." Nina retorted. "At least my services mean just killing people."

Anna blushed for a moment and then changed her tone. "He's my boss. I work for him as his bodyguard."

"Yeah, you slept with him." Nina observed, knowing that Anna would happily bathe in the scent of a Mishima simply because they weren't like normal men.

"I won't let you kill him. No matter how hard you try." Anna told her sister.

"Oh little sister, when have you taken anything but fucking seriously?" Nina chuckled. "I will kill Kazuya. I have to. It's my job."

In the dark, they stood in the empty office room with eyes glowing with hatred for each other. Both sisters knew each so well.

"I know you're after Kazuya because Heihachi will do something so bad to you." Anna finally said. "I know what he's planning to do to you, sis."

"You, rat." Nina folded her arms. With curiosity getting the best of her, Nina changed her tone to a more lower pitch. "What is he going to do to me?"

"You're scared." Anna observed. "You should be. You don't know these Mishima men."

"What is he planning to do?" Nina repeated, getting frustrated. She couldn't let Heihachi win in this situation, it would just humiliate her skills as an assassin.

"You can't kill a Mishima. You know that right?" Anna folded her arms too and waited for her sister to continue.

"I've tried to..." Nina frowned and remembered the time when she shot Heihachi. He survived. But she had not hurt Kazuya yet. Not even in the first tournament or the current tournament.

"You can't. Kazuya Mishima...survived a fall from the cliff at the age of five." Anna told Nina. "Heihachi survived a bullet to the neck. You shot him but he lived."

"So? They can die." Nina narrowed her eyes, she was not going to agree with her sister. Anna had to be wrong about the Mishima's, she had to be.

"They have electricity flowing out of their bodies, Nina. No normal human can do that. They're simply put... as...supernatural beings." Anna shrugged. "Even without my protection, you can't harm Kazuya. But I'm always going to be your number one rival. Remember that."

"Wow, I see you're obsessed with them." Nina scoffed. "Just friggin tell me what Heihachi has in mind."

Anna pressed her lips together and bent down to retrieve her gun. A moment of silence passed and Nina's stomach began to clench in fear. "I'm sorry." Anna mouthed.

Nina's eyes widened in realisation. "What have you done?"

She was about to charge at Anna who checked her watch. "Now."

Then members of the Tekken force barged into the room from all corners.

Some crashed through the window, some came crashing through the ceiling. It was if the room was being torn apart. She couldn't even move her feet, she had tried to find a way to escape but everything was a huge blur to her.

She was blinded by shards of glass and light as she was dragged across the room and thrown on to a desk with several men holding her down as they gagged, handcuffed and tied her feet together. Anna stood safely behind the men, watching them trap her helpless sister.

She began to yell, cursing at her sister, Heihachi and the men that had tied her down.

Her voice died as soon as the intoxicating scent was shoved deep into her system.

All she could think of was the doe eyed woman that glimmered before her fading sight.

She had been right, all along.

...

November 26th, 2017

Mishima men couldn't be killed.

It was a harsh fact that she had suddenly come to grips with. As she leaned against the cool bar with a coffee in a Styrofoam cup in her hand, Nina thought about the Mishimas. She had learnt of Kazuya's infamous resurrection. It was similar to her own experience of the cold sleep.

All this catastrophe that came along the Mishimas, Jin had been pushed into the centre of it. None of it made sense to her. The Mishimas always lived, no matter what. She had seen that now. The amount of times that the Mishima's had fallen, a normal human being would die. Her thoughts diverted to Jin and his plans of fighting Azazel. He had told her that only someone with the devil gene would be able to combat the ancient beast. She had taken his word for it and believed him, although a part of her wondered if there was anyone else who could take on the beast.

She hoped Jin was wrong though and held onto the hope that if Jin fought Azazel, he'd survive just like a true Mishima. After all, the devil gene was present in him. It had saved his father so many times.

If only Jin didn't end up being a test subject of science for a couple of decades like her and his father had been. There would always be a small glimmer of hope inside her that Jin would survive this whole ordeal but would he still be the same man that she knew?

...

When the thoughts had fully accumulated themselves in her mind, Nina kept her focus on the ground and walked out of the park in silence.

"Excuse me." A strange voice with a different accent came into her mind. Nina looked up and found a pair of the exact same blue eyes stare back at her.

"Whoa."

Nina blinked. It was him.

"I'd never thought I'd run into you again." Nina gave him a warm smile, she hadn't even thought about him for a while but now that she had seen him, it was refreshing.

"Me either." His smile was gone and was replaced by a look of hatred. Why was he staring at her like that? "But I know you're not getting in my way again." He added, speaking to her as if she had wronged him.

His eyes held nothing but contempt for her and he brushed past her, in a rush to get away from her. She spun around and called out his name. "Steve! Steve!"

He stopped, reluctantly with his hands in his pockets. Her heart almost danced when he stopped when she called him. Without wasting another second, she marched up towards him. "How have you been, Steve?" She mustered up the courage to speak to him and inquire about his day. She had to know, she had a right to know. At least he could give her that much.

"You're not my mother." He stated bluntly and she remembered her little conversation with Anna. She wanted to tell him the truth no matter how much of a bitch Anna was, but Nina had fought it and put Steve's safety first.

"Yes, I am." She swallowed. "But I'm not an ideal mother. I didn't willingly give birth to you or conceive you. Surely you can't hold me accountable for that, Steve?"

He said nothing and flinched.

"Listen, I know you're upset but I've always been like this. I'm not a family person. I can't try right now. I've...I'm too busy. Just know that I do...care." Nina forced, feeling strange. It was weird, having a nephew that was only three years younger then herself. It was very strange because she felt like a twenty four year old at heart.

"You could have at least contacted me back!" Steve hissed, refusing to look at her. "I searched for you for years. I even went against the wishes of my adoptive parents to find you!"

"You did?" Nina felt flattered and surprised.

"It doesn't matter anymore." Steve sighed. "When I did find you, you were some...woman who had her own life just as expected. I did hope you'd welcome me with open arms but I can't...please just leave me alone." Steve blurted and walked off in long strides, hoping that Nina did not catch up with him.

Nina let Steve walk off; even though she felt really rubbish right now, she knew it was for the best.

Steve could not be a part of her life.

...

Later that night, Nina had gotten a call from Eddy Gordo who had informed her about the attack on Bosconovitch's lab. She had a feeling it was one of Kazuya and Anna's antics. Lately, Kazuya had shown some love of explosives and Nina knew she had Anna to thank for that.

It was dark when she got there and found Eddy waiting for her at the back entrance. "Good that you came; I ain't going in there alone." Eddy muttered with a sour face and folded his arms.

"Jin's in there?" Nina asked and Eddy nodded.

"Yeah, he got there a minute before you did."

"Right." Nina nodded and pushed the door open. A stench of smoke poured out and both of them coughed. "Jesus, that's bad."

Eddy coughed louder, "Yeah, tell me about it."

The two of them walked in and found the huge rubble of mess inside. "What a mess." Nina coughed and fanned the fading smoke away from her face.

Just days ago, she had made a plan for protecting in this lab. She had failed and the whole security system was down. She was dreading on Jin's reaction because at the time, she had been confident about her plan. Obviously Anna had outsmarted her this time and fed Kazuya her plans.

It was going to be hard protecting Jin, Nina thought.

Nina and Eddy turned at the sound of approaching footsteps and found one of Jin's Tekken force member arrive in haste. He saluted them and informed them of what had happened.

At the mention of Lars, Nina had her suspicion confirmed. He had been the other party to have stolen the data. She thought about the Swedish man that she had entrusted the USB with on Jin's behest. It was nice to have finally have a face on the mysterious thief. She thought about Jin and how he'd take the news.

If only I had taken him out sooner, Nina regretted. She had been confused with things about Jin all this time. He had taken up most of her attention which is why she had remained one dimensional in the past. But what's done is done, Nina told herself and shook her head.

The Tekken force member then began to shuffle, he continued. "There's one thing that's bothering me though."

Nina narrowed her eyes and turned her face to see him. Eddy continued to stand still with his arms folded.

He took a step closer and spoke reluctantly. "Apparently..." He paused and held his hands behind his back, wondering if he was going to get the brunt of delivering the news. "...the secret service was guarding the lab at the time."

Eddy caught a glimpse of Jin behind him and Nina lifted her hand up to her lips. "Hmmm, that's strange. The lab has their own security force. The secret service wouldn't be there." She denied.

Jin hadn't mentioned this to her but then again, it could have slipped his mind; Nina wondered why Jin would hide this information from her. It was her job wasn't it? To know these things.

The Tekken force member replied, "But when we checked the ID's on the bodies we found, everyone was secret service."

Feeling something nag her, Nina turned around and forced herself to look at Jin who had his back turned away from the situation. He was deep in thought and she knew what he had done. She knew why he had done it.

But she had to get his attention; Jin was completely in his own world. "The secret service is your unit." Nina told him in her firm tone and placed her hands on her hips. "Care to explain?"

When he didn't reply, Nina hid back her frustration and turned back to the Tekken force member. "Anything else?"

"On the same day, a large amount of data was uploaded from headquarters to the server here. I checked with intelligence. But they were unable to trace the source as well as the logs."

"Hmmm..I don't like the sound of that." Nina responded, wondering whether it was Kazuya or Lars who had done the hacking. "Keep investigating." Nina told the Tekken force member who saluted her and quickly left.

After the sound of retreating footsteps, Eddy turned around and began to question Jin. Nina had turned around too, finding Jin in the same way she had a few seconds before.

Whatever was going on, she had dreaded that it was just the beginning.