TEKKEN 8

Chapter XVIII: Devils and Detonation

"Everyone, get away from the window! Now!" Alisa Bosconovitch ordered as she employed her wing-like jets to launch herself past the wooden doors. Her words brought the members to their senses, Hwoarang hauling the three people within arm distance, which happened to be Asuka, Lili, and Leo, away from the clear glass and as far as they could run with five seconds to spare.

"What the hell is going on, Alisa?" A panting Lars asked, followed by Lee and Josie. The trio dashed up flights and flights of stairs, trying to match the hasty pace of the flying Alisa, who claimed there was an imminent danger nearby. "Get cover immediately! That Jack contains an explosive!"

Three.

Forming her fists into rockets out in front of her, she locked on her target, which was dangerously close to the building. Her lower arms shot from her system, smashing through the glass to meet the Jack model.

Two.

As if everything were happening in slow motion, Lars' heart thumped in his chest, seizing the female android and diving to the floor.

Lee and a teary-eyed Josie braced themselves behind a table.

Hwoarang stumbled over his feet while running, pulling the three by his side down with him as their bodies struck the ground.

One.

Jin stood firmly with a frown on his face, eyeing the sheer view of Alisa's rockets intercepting the bomb-carrying robot.

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The pig-tailed woman's mind was on the verge of becoming blank, unable to register the panic that set off in the lobby after hearing the chilling explosion from above. Her breathing labored, her eyes following the frantic people evacuating the building. From the inside, Xiaoyu saw a flaming piece of debris fall into the mass of people, landing on a few amongst the crowd.

Tears gathered in the secretary's eyes, hearing the screams of horror as a man caught on fire, running helplessly until he burned to death. She cried out, the smell of smoke attacking her nostrils. That was when something clicked, her feet taking her up the stairs. Adrenaline blocking out her rational senses, she pushed people out of the way of climbing of the endless amount of staircases.

"Please be okay, everyone! Please be alright, Jin!" She blubbered, more smoke entering her line of vision. The Chinese's path became darker, more obstacles threatening to prevent her from reaching the room her teammates were in prior to the bombing. "Come on!" She screamed in frustration, kicking a splintered door down, exposing the fire and wreckage inside the room.

Waving the toxicity away from her face, she coughed, anxiety crawling down her spine. Smoke shrouded the piles of gray cement and fire, from what she could make out. Before her was the Zaibatsu Squadron's training room post-detonation: electrical wires exposed, most office material turned into ash, heavy rubble threatening to cave in to the floor blow, smouldering fires serving as a painful reminder to the woman that her co-workers may be dead, and a gigantic crater where the wall on the other side once was, giving the secretary a shoddy view of the affected buildings in the vicinity also suffering from the lethal blast.

"Jin! Hwoarang! Asuka!" The woman screamed over the sound of ambulances and the distraught beings outside. "Lili! Leo!" She searched the rubble for anyone, anything. "Lars! Alisa!"