A Cursed Relationship Pt.2

Earlier, at the S.I.N. research facility...

"Mistake number twenty-seven: when enlisting the assistance of a small but skilled army, dress the part of a soldier in need of reinforcements! Good god private, just where is your uniform?"

"I don't believe that is-"

"Mistake number twenty-eight: when you talk to a superior officer, the first and last word out of your mouth will be sir, and it will be loud!"

"If I could just get a momen-"

"Mistake number twenty-nine: interrupting a senior commissioned officer!"

Seth sighed and rubbed his temples. In hindsight, contacting the Mad Gear gang out of the blue was not the best and brightest idea the synthetic human had came up with. The gang of ruffians knew Metro City like the back of their hand, and their expertise could be used to S.I.N.'s gain in future operations. That was if there was someone reasonable to make a deal with. Rolento was the one who answered the call, and he was quite possibly the most militant man Seth had ever had the displeasure of speaking with.

He shot a disgusted look towards the communications console and found the soldier pacing about on the screen. A few grenades hung on his tan uniform, but one was currently being tossed about in the man's hand. As he ranted, he would occasionally and dangerously bat the grenade about with his green staff. The man was very skilled, but there was an insane air about him that made Seth doubt his authenticity. He raised a finger and opened his mouth to retort when...

"Mistake number thirty!"

"What?" Seth roared. "You infuriating madman, just what have I done now?"

"Mistake number thirty: making twenty-nine mistakes!" Rolento barked as he twirled his staff. "Private! You have a lot to learn about strict discipline! If you wish to ask for reinforcements, you must follow proper protocol!" The soldier stood at attention and saluted. "I am now invoking a code of radio silence as punishment!"

"Don't you dare cut me off," Seth growled as he sat up from his chair.

The console screen darkened as the Mad Gear member cut off communications. Before Rolento's image faded away, Seth could have sworn he saw a smirk. The man was definitely insane if he believed he could get away with this incident. This was one opportunity that would probably never present itself again, but as Seth came to realize, there was no point in lamenting over it. It was now in the past, and if anything, it provided him with a valuable lesson: don't deal with crazy ex-soldiers.

Seth grumbled under his breath and sat back down at his desk. The operations in Metro City would take place without the help of the Mad Gear gang. There wasn't much that a dominatrix, her giant partner, a crazed soldier, and a man obsessed with Japanese culture could do, now that Seth had time to properly think. At the very least, they would pose a minor problem for the city until the mayor decided to step in. Personally.

Just as Seth began to find peace in his files, the voice of a woman shattered it completely.

"Hey Seth! You called?"

Juri darted into his vision with an almost childlike energy about her. Ever since the mission to harass Shadaloo in India, she had been very active to the point of being annoying. Her enthusiasm knew no bounds, but there was nothing pressing to assign to her upon her return. Seth decided to overlook her behavior, as he usually did. It was inane to try to predict her behavior anyway.

While she was very active throughout the night, the woman was absent from the corridors of the facility during the day. The woman almost never slept in, and having her not pester the scientists made the facility seem empty. Seth did not notice her absence until it was in the evening, and when he did, he sent for her. When Juri was found, he was flabbergasted at the fact that she had slept through three quarters of the day. Juri must have overexerted herself, or something was wrong with her eye.

Seth could care less about his confidante's condition had she been anybody else. However, she had his creation in her left eye socket, and that made her valuable. In order to properly work for S.I.N., the woman needed to be in peak physical condition. She had to be able to function at her highest capabilities at any time in the day, and any anomaly was to be quickly addressed and fixed. The Feng Shui Engine had a tendency to influence her behavior, so that meant that if something was wrong, it was usually the eye's problem.

"Err, yes," Seth said as he folded his hands. "You slept in for a much longer time than you usually do."

"I did?" Juri asked as she scratched her head. "Come on, you're such a sleep Nazi. I like getting my eight hours. Two more never hurts."

"Juri, you slept three times as long today than you usually do. It's the evening now."

"Eighteen hours? Damn, I must have been tired. Oh well, no harm done. I feel absolutely perfect after all that rest." Approaching Seth's desk, Juri placed her hands on her hips. "Now, forget about sleep schedules and your stupid plans for a minute and check this out."

Juri parted her lips and grinned wide enough to show her white teeth. It was the usual toothy grin, but in it, Seth found something that was anything but usual. The Korean's canines were elongated, forming fangs sharp enough to make a demon blush. Now Seth was much more interested in his confidante than he was a minute ago.

"Are those... fangs?" Seth asked.

Although he knew the answer already, Juri nodded and brushed her newly acquired fangs with a finger.

"Cool huh? Better than that, they're not just for show." She clicked her teeth together in demonstration. "Intimidating too! Wait till the nerds in the lab see these babies..."

"Just how did this happen?" Seth wondered. "Humans do not possess elongated canines. I'll have you know that this is not an upgrade or feature provided by the Feng Shui Engine, Juri."

"I figured as much, so I came up with a theory."

"Juri..."

"No no no, hear me out. My fingernails are sharper, my eyes glow in the dark a little, I've got fangs, my skin is pale, and I've slept through the entire day." Juri's eyes twinkled with wonder as she twiddled her fingers. "I must be turning into a vampire! Finally, now I have an excuse to bite people!"

"Some of the things you say make me wonder why you're my confidante, but that right there has to be the most absurd thing I have ever heard," Seth said.

Juri giggled softly to herself before escalating into full-blown laughter. While it would have been an interesting concept to be a vampire, such creatures did not exist. It was a shame, really, as most of her missions were done under the cover of darkness. A few characteristics of the fabled champions of the night would have served her well. Blood would not have been a problem given her line of work, and it wasn't as if her enemies were as prepared as Van Helsing was. She could be virtually unstoppable, but it was nothing more than a simple delusion.

"Oh please, you actually thought I believed that?" Juri asked as she came down from her bout. "I'm wild, but I'm not insane."

"You're an uncouth shrew, but you're the best I have at the moment," Seth replied. "Come here, I want to look at the eye myself."

"Ugh, fine," Juri mumbled.

The woman placed her hands on Seth's desk and leaned forward. A cold chrome hand slid under her jaw and cupped it securely before pulling her down to her boss's eyelevel. Unnatural blue eyes bore into bright violet ones as Seth analyzed every minute detail. The Korean's pupils were thinner than usual and glowed just slightly with a strange and animalistic hunger. Even the left pupil, which as a whole was the Feng Shui Engine, had the same shape as the right. It was concerning for the creator, but it was not pressing.

"Hmm… There's something amiss, but it's not too severe," Seth muttered as he released his confidante from his grip. "It's probably a glitch, although I'm not sure how that relates to your new features."

"If it's not a bad thing, it's a good thing."

Since there were no visible and unwelcomed side-effects of the glitch, Seth couldn't help but nod at his confidante's statement. Her performance with the Feng Shui Engine had exceeded his expectations, and her desire for excitement guaranteed that she would continue to use the device. Despite the malfunctions that would occasionally befall it, Juri considered the eye her 'favorite toy'. Absolutely nothing permanent had befallen her on account of the eye, and the new fangs, although out of place, could possibly do their part in future extortion attempts.

"Did you call me up here to ogle me, or did you have something for me to play with?" Juri asked as she folded her arms across her chest.

"A new assignment? No, nothing of the sort," Seth said dismissively. "However, I do have information on an upcoming assignment."

"Lay it on me."

Seth rose from his seat and turned to a set of consoles for a moment before speaking.

"I have received word from our sources in America that there's been an increase in Shadaloo activity. It would seem that our mutual friend Bison is none too happy about the recent attack against his precious dam base in India- excellent work, by the way," Seth added as he turned to pace about. "While Shadaloo is nothing more than a shell of its former self at the moment, their name still carries great weight amongst the various gangs and crime syndicates in America. If they were to support Bison in his efforts to rekindle his empire in North America, our own foothold will become all but nonexistent. We have studied their movements long and hard enough to… oh…"

With words like 'long and hard', an immature giggle from the Korean was as likely as the sun rising in the morning. Seth grimaced and waited for her to call him out on his slip-up, but she remained silent. Perhaps she was just saving the moment for later. If that was the case, Seth wanted to get the humiliation out of the way quickly instead of having to endure the woman bringing up his faults in the future. He shrugged and continued his train of thought.

"We have studied Shadaloo's activity enough to know that they will head to the eastern coast. Before you came in, I had the misfortune of speaking with one of the leaders of the infamous Mad Gear gang that is situated in Metro City. Before his mental illness began to speak for itself, he revealed that they have not yet been contacted by Shadaloo. This provides us an opportunity to enlist their services, or at the very least…" Seth coughed awkwardly. "At the very least, they can impart some of their 'street knowledge' onto us."

The silence was deafening. It seemed that Seth was the only one in his office. Usually, Juri would interrupt like a harpy with her snide comments, or at the very least some coo of anticipation. Seth turned his head to stare at her and found that she was listening diligently. That was what it looked like at first, but upon closer inspection, he noticed her eyes were not focused on him. Instead, she was looking at something to his right.

Seth followed her gaze to a large fish tank filled with a variety of rare and exotic fish. It was an addition he remembered fondly, for Juri expressed no interest in it whatsoever. She did, however, remark that fish were one of the most boring animals in existence, and in a rare moment of generosity, she offered to get Seth a shark to spice up his office. Obviously he turned down her offer, and she never bothered with the fish again. Now, it seemed that the animals swimming about in front of her were the most interesting things in her life.

Watching the woman for a moment, Seth snapped his fingers.

"Juri, are you paying attention?"

Juri snapped back and gave Seth her full attention. She blinked once and nodded.

"What did I say?"

"Shadaloo may be gaining support with two-bit thugs. Metro City is going to be their next target. Mad Gear gang could help us," Juri droned out.

"…Alright then," Seth muttered. He turned back to the consoles and brought up a small map of Metro City. "Now, we need this foothold in America, and if we are able to nab one of the largest American cities in the process, the entire eastern coast will soon come to support us. But of course, they will not know that they are doing so. Shadaloo is the household name, the boogeyman underneath the bed. S.I.N… well, we're in the closet, but we are always ready to strike at a moment's notice."

The sound of water splashing caught his ear, and he turned his head to look over at Juri. She was staring at him with an exasperated expression, as if she was infuriated that he was checking up on her. Other than the slight glistening of damp gloves, Seth found nothing out of the ordinary.

"In a week's time, we are going to take the city on our terms, and the Mad Gears are going to assist us, whether they agree to it or not." Smiling wickedly, Seth sat down in his chair and folded his hands. "A disturbance here, a distraction here… it will be all we need to remove the self-righteous officials that are troublesome for any organization looking to ascend. I need you to be ready in case things go sour. I suggest you prepare accordingly."

Seth watched as Juri gave a toothy grin and nodded. He knew his confidante would prepare for this operation, as it would provide her a break from the monotony of S.I.N.'s usual business. Courier duty was wasted on her, and she was a much better fighter than she was a talker. Her honeyed words and sly charms had made her a favorite among the researchers, but she was overshadowed by Crimson Viper. This time, the operation would be all hers to enjoy. For Juri, it would be a gift.

The woman turned to leave the office and only stopped when she found herself back in the corridors of the facility. When the doors to Seth's office closed, her grin vanished completely. She opened her mouth and picked at her teeth before she managed to pull something out. When she held the object up to look at it, she widened her eyes and gagged.

Dangling between her thumb and finger was the small bone of a fish.

'What the hell's gotten into me?' she thought, flabbergasted.

She looked about to ascertain nobody was looking before she threw the bone off to the side. Under no circumstances would she have conceived the idea to grab a fish from Seth's fish tank, nor would she have the nerve to actually eat it when she got it. There was just something about that yellow flounder that caught her attention and would not let go. In fact, every little gilled animal had caught her eye. It was as if she was supposed to pay attention to them, but eat them?

There were many ideas and thoughts that she had acted on without a second thought, but this eating of a fish was not one of them. She did not even think for a second. It was as if it was an instinctual need. Surely she was not too hungry. She was famished, as she had slept through most of the day, but that was not enough to nab a fish and eat it up bones and all. If her hunger had persuaded her to do that, she figured she would have to silence the voice in her stomach before it gave her more inane suggestions.

After satisfying her stomach and getting in some late night training on a practice dummy, which she managed to shred when she practiced backhands and punches, she returned to her quarters. There was nothing left to do in the day except sleep, but certain problems arose that prevented her from doing so. Something had her riled, and she did not welcome the feeling. It was a massive headache coupled with her unexpended energy that kept her awake.

Juri did not understand why her head ached, as she had suffered no blows there. She also was not hungover from a night of drinking. The first thing she did when she returned from India was pester the few scientists that were up at the time, so the pain made no sense. To her, it felt as if someone was attacking the sides of her head with a cheese grater. The irritating feeling bothered her to points where she could only hold her head and grimace. A few couple aspirin coupled with some water did a pathetic job of alleviating her pain, and she wondered if she would ever get to sleep.

Fortunately, Juri did eventually drift off to sleep. Unfortunately, it was a very short sleep, as her alarm clock rang out after only two hours of it. The sound was excruciatingly loud for her, louder than it should have been. Ignoring the feeling of Déjà vu, Juri kicked her nightstand and destroyed the alarm clock. She would not stand for screeching in her ears after an agonizing headache.

When she moved about to perform her morning rituals, a few peculiarities made themselves known. Juri noticed that the smallest of sounds became louder and the more muffled sounds became clearer when she focused on them. It would seem that her sense of hearing had improved, and the same could be said for her sight. There was no need to turn on the lights, as the dark room she woke up in was bright enough to her naked eye. In fact, every sense seemed much more acute that usual, but Juri was not complaining.

There was a grunt in displeasure when she noticed her purple fingernails. They were sharper than they were yesterday, and if Juri didn't know better, she would have called her fingers claws. Fighting would be much more interesting with them at her disposal. A lot of people froze at the sight of their own blood, and the sharpened fingernails practically begged for Juri to see that. The claws on her hand gave Juri a terrible sense of foreboding, and instead of accepting them as they were, she decided to whittle them down to a manageable size.

She turned to a small, private bathroom and looked through a few cupboards before finding a small bag filled with toiletries. As she took out her filer and began to work on her nails, Juri glanced up at her reflection in the bathroom mirror. Other than a few subtle changes, she was still herself. Same black and purple breastplate, same baggy white trousers, same black belt, and the same black and purple accents. She was too preoccupied with her headache and boredom to take off her clothes for sleep.

Her violet eyes shined lightly when she stared at them. She had heard the scientists speak about a 'bleeding effect' that came from using the Feng Shui Engine, and that one of the effects would be fierce violet eyes that glowed faintly in the dark. Since the effect was coupled with increased energy and vitality, Juri never lost sleep over it. Glowing eyes didn't seem too bad as long as they served their intimidating purpose.

Juri sighed as she looked at her hair. Not only had she neglected to take off her outfit, but she had left her hair up in its usual hairstyle. Two raven-colored bangs flanked either side of her face and two small hair buns rested on top of her head. The buns looked eerily similar to the fangs of a spider, or the horns of a devil. Purple rings accented the buns, but their role was merely to support the hairy bodies. Juri was about to start on her other hand's fingernails when she caught movement in her field of view.

"Hmm?"

One of her hair buns twitched just slightly enough to catch her attention. Juri looked at it for a moment before shrugging. One of the perks of having such an odd hairstyle was that it was distracting to other fighters. Any bit of movement that wasn't attributed to attacks was welcomed, be it the swish of a belt or the gentle sway of hips. Shaking her head, Juri tried to get back to her filing job when the other hair bun twitched in the same manner as the other.

Upon closer inspection, Juri found that her purple rings had either shrunk or left their color behind, as she could see her hair buns had two small purple streaks each. They were spaced about like her purple rings usually were. A quick reach up to one of them revealed that her purple rings were actually nonexistent. Between her fingers, Juri did not feel the familiar raven-colored hair, but something completely different. It was soft, fleshy and... Was that fur?

Widening her eyes, Juri watched as both 'hair buns' twitched again.

"A-are those…"

---

"…Cat ears?"

Juri looked up at Cammy and scowled. After she had finished screaming about her newly acquired ears in the comfort of her room, she had thought back to what might have caused such a terrible transformation. The Feng Shui Engine would never malfunction to the point of twisting DNA, and Seth wouldn't be stupid enough to directly torment her. She was not injected with any strange fluids, nor was she exposed to any of the typical comicbook radiation or bites that usually brought about change.

India provided the answer. Ever since her return from that dreaded place, things had started to change for the worse. Juri had not made contact with any of the locals other than when she was moving to her extraction point, and none of them had done anything to her. They were too frightened of her to even lift a finger. No, the only person who could have brought upon her animalistic change had to be someone who hated her.

When Bison contemplated his own mortality, he created a perfect female clone of himself complete with all bells and whistles attached. Cammy White was that clone, and technically the daughter of Bison. She broke free from his mind control and rebelled against her creator, eventually finding herself in the employ of a British paramilitary organization dedicated to stopping Shadaloo and other crime syndicates. Because Cammy was a perfect clone of the dictator, she had the potential to use the infamous Psycho Power.

However, Cammy's soul was much more pure than Bison's was. All that was good had to be purged from her heart before she could utilize the power, and yet, Cammy had no desire to do so. To become another Bison was a fate worse than death. In a rare moment of inconceivable hatred and vengeance, the doll must have accidentally tapped into her power while wishing ill for Juri, thus, a curse. The Korean figured her theory made very little sense, but it was much more understandable than anything else she had.

Besides, who else but a maniac cat lover would have the nerve to turn her rival into a cat?

"That's right, look at me," Juri growled. "Revel in your accomplishment. You won't live long enough to regret it!"

Juri pushed herself up of from the ground and came at Cammy again. The Englishwoman was still quite shocked from seeing Juri with many catlike features that she hardly noticed a kick until it connected. She stumbled to the left and suffered a follow-up strike that knocked her to the ground. Cringing from the pain, Cammy rolled over to avoid a downward slash of claws.

"Hold still!"

From her words to the way her eyes radiated sheer hatred, Juri honestly wanted Cammy dead at her feet. She would not stop her assault until then. This was nothing but a misunderstanding, or a misconception on Juri's part. Cammy had done nothing wrong to her besides performing her duties, and that in part may have mildly annoyed those criminal minds unfortunate enough to experience the sting of the Killer Bee.

But Juri did not know that.

The two fought tooth and nail in the dimly lit alley. Because Juri's condition was so foreign, Cammy tried her best to keep her distance. The Korean never did let her have even a second of rest with her kicks of pursuit, and as a consequence, she let herself completely open to attack. She was on the offensive and did not even think about defense until Cammy grabbed onto her leg. She tried to shake the woman off, but Cammy's grip was firm.

In the blink of an eye, Cammy leaped up onto her opponent's shoulders and rammed her head down. An audible clunk echoed through the alley as skulls bashed against each other. Dazed and in pain, Juri began to fall back only to have Cammy slide off her shoulders and grab onto her arm. A painful twist put tremendous strain on Juri's arm before she found herself flat on her stomach with asphalt in her face.

'This is the stupidest idea I've ever had,' Cammy thought as she reached for the back of Juri's neck. 'But it's the best I have at the moment…'

Juri felt fingers brush against her neck and hissed again. She tried to push herself up, to kick Cammy once again, but something happened. Every muscle in her body tensed and locked up when the back of her neck was grasped. It was an odd and calm feeling, and Juri briefly thought of her mother. The thought vanished as quickly as it had appeared when Cammy pulled Juri up off the ground by her neck.

The Englishwoman stared at the Korean in her grasp with shocked disbelief. She looked like she was paralyzed in her grasp. The only thing that betrayed that concept was the fact that Juri's eyes darted about before settling on Cammy. Cats were known to become paralyzed and calm when someone grasped them by the scruff of their neck, and if Juri had a few feline features, it was likely that the same tactic would work on her.

"Well… this is certainly a surprise," Cammy chuckled.

"L-l-let g-go of m-me…" Juri grunted through a frozen grimace.

"Let go of you? Why? So you can scream and try to kill me again?" Brandishing a fist near Juri's face, Cammy continued, "You'll pay for what you've done to me, to Guile, to Chun-Li, and my sisters. I should turn you in right now, but you wouldn't get justice."

"W-why?"

"You're different. Cat ears, cat eyes, claws, fangs…" Cammy looked around at Juri's backside and narrowed her eyes. "No tail though… Still, you wouldn't rot in a cell. You'd be placed in a laboratory to be examined, and you'd receive treatment in there than you would behind bars."

When Juri began to squirm in Cammy's hold, the woman retaliated by readjusting her grip on the back of her neck.

"Let me clarify something for you, Juri," Cammy said, hissing her enemy's name. "If you thought your condition was my doing, you're not only wrong, you're insane. But that's nothing new now, is it?"

Juri's ears flattened against her head at that comment.

"Prisons and laboratories are out of the question. I can't have you running around London in your current state, but I'm not going to let you out of my sight." Cocking a sneer, Cammy lightly tapped Juri's nose with a finger. "Ohohoho, I've got just the thing for you, Juri."

"W-w-what?"

"My brand of house arrest."