Zero

Chapter 14Around late afternoon  

   

“Oh come Ken, don’t be sad. Its not like you’ll never see her again.” ChunLi consoled on him, patting him on the arm.  

The trio was now on the upper level of a double-decker bus. ChunLi sat by the window seat with Ryu beside her, while Ken took the seat in front of them. They were returning to ChunLi’s neighborhood after seeing Eliza off. And Ken was uncharacteristically moping.  

“She only be in San Francisco in two months….”  

“Two months is not a long time. Ten years of waiting, now that’s a long time.”  

“But you knew all along that he was waiting for you.”  

“You were waiting for me?” ChunLi cooed as she squirmed in her seat to face Ryu, both hands now on his arm.  

“Hmmm?? We reached our stop?” his eyes shot open. It was obvious that he had not followed a large part of the conversation.  

“Did I wake you?” she asked, changing the subject, she was worried that he seem even more out of sorts than before.  

“Felt sleepy after drinking that soup. Feel better now.” he smiled to assure her.  

“But two months is not enough to salvage my reputation from trouble seeking playboy and turn it to dull-as-Ryu nice boy.” Ken whined  

“Serves you right.” Ryu clouted Ken on the head, the blond boy immediately turn around, kneeling upon the seat to face Ryu and reach out to attack him. Ryu naturally fended of Ken’s attacks with much ease, the sight of which reduced ChunLi to laughter.  

“Hey guys!” ChunLi stood up to break up the fight.  

“There’s a carnival at the next stop, let’s have some fun to cheer Ken up,”  

Elsewhere  

   

When he reached the bottom of the stairs, the guards snapped to attention. The man in red simply nodded as the door open and they ushered him through, all the while they kept their eyes downwards to avoid staring at the wispy white qi that danced in his seemingly blind eyes.  He adjusted his cap that was marked by a wing skull emblem before moving on. Following behind him is a masked blond hair man.  

“Master!” The three young girls saluted him, the one with the quarterstaff led him further in while the other two trail behind him. Guards all snapped to attention as they passed.  

Reaching one cell in particular they stopped, within sat a man blindfolded and bound, he wore a red check shirt and dark pants, a pencil thin mustache mark his lip. A single gesture from the Master and a guard opened the gate. The two remaining girls slip from their Master’s back and into the cell.  

Together they flanked the prisoner and heaved him to his feet. The Master turned and walk away. The two girls with their silent prisoner followed behind the masked blond man and the girl with the quarterstaff.