TEKKEN 8

Chapter XVII: What Mercy?

"Hmph. I hate this feeling of resistance." Kazuya Mishima unplugged the complementary earpiece from his ear before swiveling out of his chair, craving destruction upon the Zaibatsu once again. "So much time has been wasted as a result of involving children in our business, you mistake." The man gritted his teeth, his red eye glowing in the dimly lit room at the mention of his offspring.

Deeming this minute to be the right time to execute his long-awaited plan, he smirked, taking daring strides over to the wall that faced his desk. A square-shaped button illuminated the same color of his eye. It was one of the few sources of light in the room, which made it mesmerizing in a way; gleaming, almost as if it were screaming at him to press it.

And so, he did. A panel of the wall opened like a drawbridge, slowly revealing the Jack model behind it. Standing tall at a whopping two point eighty-nine meters, the robot remained in standby mode until it became 'alive' due to Kazuya's waking command.

The Jack's eye lids snapped open. Two yellow eyes shone, to which the Devil grinned, the most foul of ideas running through his mind like a marathon. "So this is the Jack 7.1 Plus?" The Mishima circled around the bot, examining every feature on its exterior. "Alright, you piece of scrap metal," he crossed his arms over his chest, "what are your most prominent capabilities?"

"System processing..." Beeps and clicks sounded from the Jack 7.1 Plus as it self-scanned its systems. "Capabilities include, but not limited to: Responding to commands, researching information, providing information, charging, spying, obligatory surveillance, flying, brute-force combat, explosive-related combat, and self-destruction."

"Oh? You're a bomb, too, huh?" Flashbacks from Hon-Maru appeared in his mind, reminding him of the mediocre assassination attempt for him and his father. His eyes found the gray control panel located on the back of Jack's lower leg. With a quick detachment of its lever, the control panel was exposed, vulnerable to the G Corp leader's ill-intentioned hands.

"Time to raise hell." He began to tamper with the new Jack model's settings, interested in seeing this bot's full potential.

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"Jin? S-Sir?" Leo stepped in front of the stoic Zaibatsu Squadron leader, making his steely eyes pierce into her sapphire ones. She cleared the lump in her throat, seeing him cross his arms with a hint of impatience. Was he always this intimidating? "What is it, Eleonore?" Her eyes widened upon hearing her full name slip off his lips. "How do you know my real name?"

"Research." Not missing a beat to answer, he viewed the sparring matches past her head. Curious, the German turned around, greeted with the one-sided fight between Asuka and Hwoarang.

"Asuka, can you bring it down a notch? I'm trying to talk to you." The Korean ducked a punch from the cruel Osakan, who wanted to cause nothing but pain for the red head. "Less talking, more punching." She grabbed his head, then slammed it onto to floor.

The nearby Leo flinched as Jin curved his lips.

"Asuka is inconsistent with her emotions when it comes to her teammate. She either wants to strangle him to death, or consider him nonexistent to her. I hope she does the former." Jin spoke, providing some background information as to why he chose to pair the brunette and the red head to battle. The blonde felt a bead of sweat run down her temple, praying for the barely conscious man sprawled on the floor. "What a tsundere."