Coyote was itching to get out of his monkey suit

"What's taking those idiots so long?" He said aloud.

"Which idiots are you talking about Johnson?"

"Thompson and Jackson." Coyote replied.

"Have you found the source of the disturbances yet?"

It's me you big fat moron. I think I'll turn it up to eleven cause of this.

"Not yet master."

Wolf finally realized that Wraith was talking in a southern drawl, something he had never heard before.

What the hell? he thought as he started going over Wraith's dossier in his mind. He remembered that his XO was from Texas...he just didn't have such a thick accent.

Wow...for him to have lapsed like this is kinda weird. Wolf thought. Maybe it's a medicine-related thing...or something like that.

"Um...just how much morphine have you had today, Wraith?" Wolf asked.

***

Beowulf was ambling about the destroyed remains of Mastermind's Hawaii comms center when the agents finally showed up.

"Prepare to be deleted," Thompson said as he drew his Desert Eagle.

"Eh...I don't think so." Beowulf said as he blurred towards Thompson and leapt into him, downloading his programming into the agent's shell program and overwriting the Thompson program. Beowulf's original shell was immediately whisked away to its backup terminal within Wolf's Trans-Am.

Jackson was trying to figure out what the hell just happened when J2 subverted him by diving through his back.

Beowulf looked over his new, temporary body. "Hmm...it feels weird not having fur," he commented. He turned to Jackson, now completely taken over by J2. "So what's the next step?"

Wraith smiles and looks down at the bed, fiddling with the tubes coming out of his arm. "Jus' enough to get me lightheaded."

Scrya laughs softly and glances over at Wolf while sitting next to the bed. "He hasn't had any in a few hours... he made a fuss last time they came in."

J2, now Jackson, raised an eyebrow and put her shades back on. "Now we pay MM a visit." She activated her codec and called MM. Report... "The two rogues have been deleted." Excellent, at least you two aren't as incompetant as Johnson. Back to base for now. J2 gave Beowolf a look, "easy as cake."

Wolf grinned slightly. "All right...just checking" he said to Wraith. "Just take it easy the next couple of days, and you should be fine in no time."

He paused for a second. "The murder charges have all been dropped as far as what happened in Los Angeles. I think it's safe to return there now. If you two don't need anything from me and Kaitiln, I think we'll head back to Chicago, pack up, and get resituatied in LA." He nodded to Wraith. "Once you get out of here, feel free to report back to Base Los Angeles when you're feeling up to it. There shouldn't be any need to rush things...take your time."

***

Beowulf and J2, disguised as Thompson and Jackson arrived at the entrance to Mastermind's inner sanctum. Within their disguises, Mastermind was clueless as to their real identity.

"I'm detecting a lot of interference along MM's communication channels." he whispered to J2 as he tried to maintain the stoic appearance of an Agent. "Looks like Coyote's decided to have some more fun."

Angel sneezed.

Effectively after bringing him back to life twice, the doctors got him stablized.

It was highly likely that had he been conscious he would've been giggling at how he almost killed himself, again. This, however, would likely kill him as well.

"A'ight, Colonel... ah'll just sit hurr n' starve, with what they're feedin' me..."

Scrya smiles and almost giggles, watching him with an almost peaceful gaze.

Monk was blinded for a sec, but that was only because the light bulb thaty provided light was gone. His eyes were adjusting to get a veiw of the room only two see two figures run out of the room. One in a suit, one in black. It was obvious that his back was facing Monk, no beady eyes were there. He lept over the First Order killer to get between him and the delagate. Hearing the bullets and clanging of swords in the room, he turned and hesitated running. That pause was just enough for the assassin to rush on by. No wound, nothing, just run right by. He took a step towards the room. Jade! He tooko a step foward when he heard another scream. His head in a blur, he saw the killer standing over the Frenchman. No! The mission!! That comes first... That's how she would want it!

It took a split second for the fist fighter to reach the assassin grab him by the back of the throat and throw him aside, a ragdoll hitting and crashing through the wall. He looked for the right word, then decided to repeat what she had said. That got him to move las time. "Uh... Vas maintenant, cours...?" The suit only nodded, then continued his run down the long narrow hallway. Monk breathed a sigh of relief. Whatever he said, it worked.

However, the relief was short lived, then replaced with a stinging sensation in the back, a wall running up towards him, then after that, laying in a heap of brick and stone on a cold concrete floor. Pushing up, bringing rubble up with him, his feet once again stood on the ground as he turned and looked into a pair of beady green eyes. He glared and scowled at them, cursing them for being green. The only person allowed to have green eyes was... Another trip to the back of the wall, landing on his back and sliding down.

He did notice the fist that had forced its way into his chest, but he could feel the dull numbing sensation of it now. He looked up, his brown eyes now with a tint of red to them. "Who are you!?"

"Names do not matter..."

Monk slowly stood up, not from pain, just as instinct. "I will ask again. Who... are you?"

"You do not need my name, for you will not be able to repeat it anyway."

Monk circleed his shoulders twice then clenched fists at his sides. "Who... are you?"

"You wish to know me? You wish to know my face and name? You wish to see the person who will be your death?" The masked man was now no longer masked, the black vail being grabbed and ripped off his head, now skin showing. Around the green eyes was a bald globe, no hair, no scars, nothing. If this had been a fighter, he was the ultimate for no battle wounds were on him at all.

Monk glared at him, "I now know your face, now attach a name to it."

"You do not know the name, Monk was it? The name you took for yourself." Monk narrowed his eyes a bit to try and sort out the puzzle. "It is I, Akio. Do you not remember?"

It took a minute, but Monk's face relaxed, into a face of horror. "Akio!? He got to you too?"

"He GOT to me? No!" He laughed. "No... I chose to follow him. It was my choice to believe in the all mighty power that was Mastermind."

"Mastermind is not a God!"

"Says the only son of Mastermind!"

"I am not his son!! Nor will I ever be!"

"You have powers he can only imagine at times! You have no idea what you are capable of, do you?"

"And you do?"

"I do..." He took a step foward, "I have listen to the stories of you. Myth... the man that couldn't be killed. The ultimate fighter, the one who would take over if Mastermind was to fall. You were his son."

"Stop saying that!"

"Why do you eny it? It is an honor. However, it is an honor I will take from you. He had put a bounty on your head to the rest of us First Order. Most of them discharged it, being glad of the position they were in but I... Oh but I grasped the chance. I have made it my mission to become more powerful than anyone can concieve."

"What is my bounty?"

"The person who brings proof of your demise is awarded the right hand of Mastermind."

"...to become the next akin."

"Yes. So you see, I will destroy you, take your head back with me to Mastermind, and take my place next to him as heir and son of the God himself!"

"Akio... listen to me! He has warped your brain. He is only using you to defeat me. If he is as powerful as he says, he should come and destroy me himself. I don't know what he did to make you turn to him, turn your back to the light, but I shall help you."

"It wasn't he who made me turn from the light! No... He made me turn INTO the light! It was you who turned me away from it!"

"Me? What did I do?"

"You don't know? How can you be so selfish? I loved him as much as the next student! But you had to kill him, didn't you?"

"Kill him? Who?"

"Master... Master Anzai."

"What? I killed him? He was dead when I left. That is what I heard."

Akio swung at the air, "Stop with the lies! You know full well that you took his life from us!"

"Explain!" Monk's body was getting tense.

It was odd to see a tear in his eye, but Akio was indeed crying, "I was in charge of watching him when you left. I would sit by his side and watch him. Yes, his mind left us, everyone told me that he had died, his sould had left us. Doctors told us that his mind had stopped. They tried to take him away from us, to stop his body and bury him. I stopped them." His head dropped. "His body was still alive, and I wanted it that was until his soul had returned. I waited years... years upon years... my life wasted to make sure that kind old man lived. Then one fateful day, while watching him, his eyes opened, and a smile formed across his face. Three simple words came from his lips. 'He is ready..." I grasped his hand and asked who. He looked at me, 'Monk." He coughed up blood, then faded from me, mind and body. He died that very day." His head shot up, his green eyes now gone, red filling the gap. "It doesn't take a genius to realize that you destroyed his soul in its wondering!"

Monk lowered his head. "It was what he wanted..." Akio gritted his teeth, but stayed quiet. "He visited me and asked me to fight him, to help ease his soul into the afterlife. I didn't want to..."

"...but you did!!" Akio screamed out the rest of the sentence. "And now I shall help ease your soul into the afterlife to meet him!"

Monk raised his head slowly, tears now in his eyes, "It was what he wanted!"

"I don't care! You shall die here today for your sins!"

"I have too much to live for! I was given from him a gift! A gift of life and renewal! I will not let you take that away from me!!"

"DIE!!" Akio charged at him full throttle.

OOC: Ok... enough back story, time for the actual battle! (Sorry for the double, but with time off, and a renewed creativity swelling within me... Make up for good times!)

The fist was coming fast for Monk's face, but it wasn't too fast for his own to block the speeding bullet. His left pushed aside the flying hammer, then pushed his right fist into the assassin's stomach, sending him to the ceiling, sticking to it for a second, then fell to the ground. He flipped himself up and swung his legs under him; break down dancing the best way to describe it. Monk easily leapt over the swinging legs, and smashed his feet down onto cold concrete, Akio's body now rolled over to the side so he would take no damage. Monk, now with his feet planted, leaned to a side and dropped an elbow into Akio's rib, causing him to scream in pain. The noise was temporary as his hands grabbed Monk's forearm and hurled him to a wall, his face and torso smashing into it. The fist fighter slid down it, with his knees to the ground, one hand up on the wall, the other hanging limp to his side. Shaking his head and spitting out some blood, he moved just in time to catch the leg that was coming towards his rib and tossed the First Order into the wall right next to him, a nice new imprint of the fighter now in the wall.

The figure stayed for a minute, then fell out curled into a ball and jumped to his feet, a smile playing across his face, blood in the gaps of his teeth. "You are good as He says Myth..."

I am... MONK!" He brought a fist from in front of him to the light, swinging his entire body around with it towards the white and red that was his mouth. It was too slow however because a hand met up with his wrist, the opposite fist now seeking for Monk's ribcage. A trap was there to catch the weapon from hitting, an open palm to catch the entire fist in. Knowing the upper body was useless; Akio swung his leg up, only to have the other one kicked out from under him.


He now lay sprawled out on the ground, his eyes wincing in pain. "Akio..." His eyes glanced up at the old man looking above him. "You should know better... do not leave yourself open to such an attack."

"But Master... How was I supposed to know that he would have attacked the free leg instead of blocking?"

"Because he knew that dropping you to the ground would be more to his advantage then stopping yet another attack." Master Anzai grinned and looked to the other student. "Well done Monk. But your attack could have been cleaner. If you had waited just a split second longer, it would have been you on the mat, not your partner."

Monk let go of Akio and bowed. "Yes Master." His hair was now missing, but the red bandana still was tied around his head, the white judo outfit stained with sweat.

"Again." Master crossed his arms.

Monk extended a hand for Akio a kind smile on his face, which was only smacked away, "I do not need your help."


The assassin got up onto his own two feet and stood ready for round two. Monk was opposite him, his stance also ready. It was obvious this fight was going to take some time, but both knew the other would not give in, or give up. A sly smile played across Akio's face, "I see your tactics haven't changed much from the monastery." Monk kept a cool aura about him. "Not talking anymore? All right, the battle will speak words for us!"

______________________________

If the battle was words, than this speech would have lasted about 2 hours. The room was in shambles, rubble and rock everywhere. There were indents on the walls from the two fighters, along with blood from both. The only difference between the actually combatants was their body. Monk's was covered with scrapes and dried blood and sweat. His shirt had long ago been ripped to shreds revealing his bare chest, only for more holes and blood to fill them. Bruises too have already formed on the fighter's body. Akio however was absent of any war marks, his nanos doing a good job of fixing him up at every pass. The only thing that made him human was fatigue. Both their breathing was slow and deliberate. "Myth... you are getting tired..." Akio taunted.

"I would be gloating too much there. By my count, you are panting as well." Monk's lips curled up into a broken smile.

"I shall never lose! Especially to someone who no Augs...!" He 'screamed', if by screaming you raised a voice just above talking level.

"I am as you said, tired on one knee. Come and strike me down."

Akio's eyes opened up wide for a second then relaxed back down, "You know... as the friends we are... I'll give you a moment to recuperate."

The two continued to breathe for a few minutes, no action going between the fighters, until a small smile played over Monk's face. "Reminds me of the past. You?" Akio gave him an odd look. "We were always partners. We would always be called upon to spar with each other and while all the other students were done, we would be fighting into well into the nights..."

Akio for once grinned lightly. "Ah yes... I remember those days. Good times we had." His panting slowed. "But no more Monk. I was sent here to kill you."

"What of the Frenchman? I thought that was...?"

Akio shook his head. "Yes... that is the skin. I myself however was sent here to kill you. You want the truth? This is just a diversion." Monk gave a surprised aura as a grin came over Akio's face. "Yes... my partner was the one to kill the leader of this group, then the delegate."

"Jade..."

"Jade? Is that her name?" Monk nodded lightly, sweat dropping from his forehead. "I have to say congrats. You found a good girl." Monk looked up in confusion. "I don't know what it is... but there's an aura about her."

"You were always good with that Akio. You were always able to tell who was good and who wasn't."

He nodded, then fell to both knees, tears welling up in his eyes. "Monk... I'm afraid." Monk stood upright and dragged himself to his old friend. "I have... changed. You have no idea of the amount of blood I have seen. There is no redemption for me. I will never see Master Anzai again."

An arm was placed on his shoulder as Monk leveled himself to Akio. "Of course there is. You have been played. He took advantage of your hate and anger of me to his own will."

"Monk..." Akio, the assassin kept his head low. "Please..." Akio, the scared little monk looked up with tear-filled eyes, "Please... destroy me... before..." He grabbed his head and shivered, "No... No!! NO!!"

Monk got to his feet as Akio began squirming, "Do not do it! No... Arrg...!" He removed his palms from his head and looked at them, watching as they increased in size, following them was his arms and legs, muscles now noticeably swelling. Last came his chest and torso, a cloud of red swirling about him. He stood up, now a few inches taller than Monk, not to mention a few inches wider as well. His strength or speed couldn't be measured, as a fist cut through the air and sent Monk through a wall, the first pain he felt the entire battle. Monk stood up slowly, feeling everything in his body move. Akio grinned, "I bet no one told you about the berserker program that was installed in a few select."

"Akio...! Stop this!!"

"Akio is no longer here. You asked for Mastermind to come and fight you... and guess what?" A wider smile playing across his face. "I am here to destroy you..."

Monk gripped a fist in anger as he stood up slowly to the behemoth of a man. "I guess this is where it ends..."

Jade had followed the trail of destruction, after securing the French delegate. Her nanos were slowly working, but she still couldn't afford to pull the shard of metal from her shoulder, for fear of causing tissue and nerve damage. It still bled nicely, but her nanos kept supplying her with fresh blood, so she plodded on until she rounded a corner and saw a battered Monk facing a mountain of a man. She reached for an EMP grenade, but found her belt empty of them. Shit...I must have dropped them during the fight She saw that Monk was breathing heavily. Well, I have to help him... Unholstering two of her handguns, she walked slowly up to Monk. "Monk, I took care of the first assassin..." She saw him look at her shoulder, "It's nothing. Let's finish this off and get out of here." She looked at the hulking monstrosity in front of her. "Die!" And with that, she opened fire.