It was many hours before Ryu regained consciousness to rejoin the aches and pain running along his spine. His entire body refused to acknowledge the urge to get up and attempt to escape. The pain alone would have been enough to keep him sedated but his mind would not allow it. He remembered what had brought him to this state with surprising clarity. Right down to his last moment of hell upon seeing Ken in the arms of their most vile enemy. Not only had Ken been sitting on Bison’s lap, but in all honesty, Ken had appeared to be the one who had initiated that contact.
"No…" Ryu shook his head, grabbed his temples with the grip of his strong fingers. They were covered in blood, his blood no doubt. He coughed and doubled over, wracked by convulsions which could have killed any normal man. However, Ryu was not any normal man nor would he give up just like that. He was a Shotokan master, one of the select few to make it to Sensei Gouken’s training grounds. And the only one to surpass the teachings of his master. This was further emphasized by his need for revenge and to save his love from the hands of death. Ryu didn’t give a damn if his body fell to pieces the next time he sat up. He would not lie down like a whipped dog and let Bison dictate the method of his next torture session.
"I see that you are as much a threat as my lord said you would be."
*It can’t be.* Ryu staggered to his feet, raising his head to look into the eyes which had once loved him. There was no sign of that love now. "Ken!" *What has he done to you?*
During the time Ryu had spent in his cell, Ken had found the time to change his uniform. Or Bison had decided to do it for him. Ken was now dressed in tight, black leather pants, matching boots which gave him an extra few inches on Ryu’s height. Other than the thorny collar which circled his neck, Ken wore not much else save for a whip which hung from the waistband of his pants. Even his hair flowed freely past his waist, not tied back as it usually was. There was something very different about the way Ken walked, posed and spoke. Ryu couldn’t quite put his finger on it.
"What the hell are you wearing? Ken, we have to get out of here. How did you get in?" He approached his love only to be slapped back to the ground. Ken sauntered over to Ryu, his hips swaying slightly, lips parted almost seductively. "What is the matter with you?!!"
The tight leather constricted against Ken’s flesh as he knelt down to Ryu. "I should be asking you the same thing." He took hold of Ryu’s hand and forced him to stroke the shiny, smooth material which molded to his legs. "Isn’t this what you’ve always wanted?" Ken’s voice was now only a whisper, a moan of anticipated desire.
"To be enslaved by that bastard, Bison? Are you out of your mind?" He willed himself to look away from his friend, to see anything but how luring Ken had become. The man’s every word and movement contained implications that Ryu was not about to explore. But…he could not release his hand from clamping down on Ken’s inner thigh to feel how relaxed the muscles were.
"Ohhh…Ryu, you know what I want." Then he was moving his hips down into that firm hold, brushing his constrained erection to Ryu’s fingers. "You can have me in any way you want. I’m yours."
"Stop it! Get a hold of yourself!" Ryu yanked back his hand as if it had been electrified. "Do you know what Bison has done to your head? You aren’t his little plaything…you’re my lover. I don’t need to have you throwing yourself at my feet."
Ken was amused. "Don’t you? Ryu, you’ve never been a man of action. If you had been, you would have taken me before Bison did." He moved even closer to Ryu, his body slinking over the ground like a feline. When Ryu backed away, Ken caught him in a kiss. Grabbing his short hair and literally purring as their tongues touched.
For a little while, Ryu participated, needing Ken to bring him back from the terror which had become his friend. It was almost relieving to wrap his arms around Ken and hold him tightly. But he could not take advantage of his love in this state, not when it would undermine their relationship in the future. "No!" Again, he shoved Ken to send him sprawling over the cell floor. "I won’t touch you while you’re acting under Bison’s mind control."
"Why not?" Ken nearly pouted when he was rejected from his offered toy. The instructions from his lord had been specific. Seduce the prisoner and play with him for a couple of hours. In that time, Bison would have the world at his fingertips. Ken would not fail his lord.
"Because you don’t even know what you’re doing. Now, get into that corner and do as I say." Ken could not be trusted, not during his memory lapse which had been imposed by Bison. There was a purpose behind Ken’s presence and Ryu did not want to find out what it happened to be. So, he got up and dragged Ken over to the far corner by the loose waist of his leather pants. "You are going to keep quiet until I can figure out what to do."
"Mmm…your hands are so powerful." As he was led to that corner, Ken brushed up against Ryu, grinding his hips against his love’s groin. The friction caused Ryu to hiss through his teeth as he became hard. "If you won’t make love to me then I’ll just have to persuade you."
A tingle of numbness rushed up Ryu’s arms as something tight coiled around them. Ken’s whip! "Quit your kinky games!" He moved one arm out of the loops before they could tighten. His other arm was mercilessly snagged in a choking grip which hauled him over to Ken for another kiss. This had gone far enough. As the whip slackened a bit when Ken moved to him, eyes closed unsuspectingly, Ryu acted. He escaped it and reversed the length of it to bind both of Ken’s wrists. "I said for you to stop it and I mean it." His eyes wavered when Ken accepted his situation to merely rub up against Ryu some more.
"I want you…inside of me."
Before Ryu knew what he was doing, his hands had ventured onto Ken’s chest, stroking down to feel the smooth flesh there. Traveling lower still, tracing the rib cage to feel Ken laughing softly. The laughter stopped as he met up with leather, caressing the part of Ken’s narrow hips which disappeared inside the fabric. One of his hands dipped beneath the waistband, sensing the strong abs which clenched upon being touched. Lower still and one finger brushed a cluster of silky fine hairs which bristled when stroked. Ken’s flesh was very soft there, vulnerable even. Somehow, Ryu managed to be extremely gentle, not wanting to hurt Ken but needing him badly. His patience was rewarded by a shaky intake of breath and more moaning.
"You are the only thing which is keeping me sane right now." Ryu’s free hand slid over Ken’s tight ass, stroking it beneath the leather. He clenched his fingers and grasped tighter as he struggled to get his other hand further inside the pants. It encountered Ken’s wet erection and eagerly stroked.
A sharp cry escaped Ken as Ryu’s hand closed into a fist around his cock. He tried to move away but had nowhere to go with the leather pressing that hand to him. "Wait…"
Ryu paused to see a flicker of emotion go through his lover and stun him. "Ken…do you remember now?" He withdrew his hand to wrap his arms around Ken. "You were meant to be with me, not Bison. We are lovers and have vowed to always remain so."
"I…" He was on the verge of admitting he did remember when Bison teleported into the cell using his psycho powers. "No! There is only my lord Bison."
"I’ll kill you!" Ryu leapt at Bison, arms out in front to choke the man until he coughed up his innards. But, he was struck by a ball of psycho energy which knocked him clear across the cell.
"Ken…come here my willful slave." Bison snapped his fingers for Ken to come home to his master. And he did, not flinching as a massive hand swept over his body. Touching and groping as he pleased. Bison slid one hand between Ken’s legs and moved it upwards until he was rubbing the underside of his slave’s cock through the leather. Ken moaned and leaned back into Bison, hips thrusting with the motion. "Why don’t we show Ryu just how faithful you are to me."
"Yes my lord."
"Ken!" Ryu tried again but was blasted by another psycho ball of fire. He bit back a scream to watch as Bison bent down to lick one of Ken’s nipples, pinching the other between two fingers. And Ken was enjoying every minute of it, pushing into the contact with no fear at all. "Let him go!"
"I could do that but he would not leave me. He is my dark prince. If you are a good prisoner, he might even perform for you." Bison watched Ryu’s reaction as he pushed his hand inside Ken’s pants to repeat what Ryu had been doing just minutes before. The fabric tore with his might so that he could see everything that Bison did. A sickening feeling began to build within his stomach. He turned his head to the side, avoiding the scene which disgusted him. As he did so, a sparkle of pain caught his attention. A single tear slipped from the corner of Ken’s eye, falling silently to his belly where Bison’s hand was caressing.
It made Ryu fight back his own tears even harder to figure out a way to save his beloved Ken.
**
"Are you sure this is the right way?" Chun Li rushed after Cammy, doubting the former MI-6’s sense of direction. "You were tied up on that ceiling for days according to your account. What if Bison implanted a false map inside of your head?"
"He didn’t. Will you just trust me? We have to rescue your friends before Bison does something awful to them. He’s been planning on capturing Ryu and Ken ever since they defeated him. He was particularly bitter when Ryu destroyed one of his clones. They took years for him to create."
"Boo hoo!" The Chinese Interpol agent swung Cammy around to face her. "Bison deserves an icy grave and a one way ticked straight to hell. I don’t give a damn about his destroyed inventions or his quest for world domination. All that is important to me is Ryu and Ken returning to safety. Once we get to them, you must transfer the cure from your bloodstream to Ken’s. Only then will we be free of Bison’s influence."
Cammy sneered at Chun Li disrespectfully. She leaned up against the corridor wall, hands on her hips. "You don’t get it, do you? Bison is not some terrorist holding a bunch of nuclear warheads and a mini troupe of dupes on drugs. He is more than you realize. You can go ahead and blow up this base like Interpol did to the last one. I bet Ryu could probably kill Bison with another shinkuu hadouken. But it won’t end there. Bison will reappear again, rebuild his empire of clones and start all over. He won’t release Ken or trade him for anything. He will continue to defeat you until your self esteem is so wasted that killing you will not be necessary. Bison is like a god."
"WHAT?!!" Was she hearing this correctly? "You can’t believe that. No one has that much power, it’s impossible."
"For you and I, yes. For Bison, he rules with an iron fist. Try to dislodge him from his throne and you will see what I mean. Look at what he did to me. Even Ryu’s fireball could not phase him. Nothing can permanently stop Bison."
Chun Li grit her teeth and stormed off down another path.
"Hey! Where are you going?"
"You’re full of shit! Bison can be stopped and I’m just the woman to put a bullet inside his brain. I don’t trust you, Cammy White. From now on, you follow my orders or I will have to presume that you are as guilty as Bison. This is not a time where I can afford to be careless. Not when my two best friends are going up against who the hell knows what." She continued until Cammy somersaulted in front of her.
"Don’t be so reckless! I told you it was the other way."
"It makes no sense. You’re leading me upwards instead of down. Why would Bison be holding Ryu and Ken on the top level? We came from that direction on the way in and there were no holding cells or chambers up there. Whether you realize it or not, Bison is still manipulating you." She grabbed onto Cammy’s arm and dragged her towards a set of stairs. "You wanted to be free of his control, well here’s your chance. After you." She watched as Cammy climbed down before following. There was no room for mistakes or errors in this mission. If she took a wrong turn, Ryu and Ken would be dead before she reached them.
**
"Wasn’t that good, my pet?" Bison rolled over on the bed and stroked one hand leisurely down Ken’s side. His slave was panting and moaning beside him, gripping the pillows with whitened knuckles. "Ken?"
"N…no." Ken shivered, mind locking away the pain receptors which threatened to render him incapacitated. His legs were quivering, thighs bathed in a mixture of semen and blood. He felt so nauseated, about to faint at any second.
"What did you say?" Bison wrenched Ken up by his hair and glared into his big, brown eyes. He noticed the fever there but couldn’t have cared less.
"Yes, my lord," came the weakened response.
"Good. Now get dressed. We will eat soon and I expect my pet to be on his best behavior."
Ken stumbled into the bathroom, not stopping until he sank into a tub full of warm water which had been prepared for him. Lord Bison had a thing for cleanliness and made sure his slave was well looked after. But it was not fun for Ken to lie there, shivering despite the warmth of the water. It stung him in places where his tender flesh had been torn or bruised. Reminded him that there was more to come. If he was at Bison’s side of his own will, why did it feel so awful? Ken couldn’t stifle the sobs which suddenly escaped him. Was at a loss to hold back the tears which assaulted his bruised cheeks. He wanted to leave Bison by any means possible. Somehow, he knew that he was stuck with Bison whether he liked it or not.
Outside of bathroom, Bison heard Ken’s crying grow louder when he struggled to pull the leather pants over his sore flesh. The man chuckled to himself before going inside to fasten a leash to Ken’s collar. He led his slave to the dining hall where Ryu was refusing to eat. Already, three of the servants were motionless on top of the table. They weren’t dead but not far from it either.
When Bison entered the room, Ryu shot him a look of pure, unadulterated hatred before gazing over at Ken. His lover was not walking properly, barely able to hold his head up as high as he did. There were guards outside of the room that dispersed when Bison gave the order. He remained in the doorway for a moment before giving Ryu an evil grin. "I’ve decided to be generous tonight. You may reacquaint yourself with Ken while I attend to some escaped prisoners. Enjoy yourselves." He tossed the leash to Ryu who reflexively caught it. Instead of walking out the door that he had come in, Bison teleported away.
"Ken, are you all right. Did he hurt you?" Ryu rushed to his lover to unlink the leash from the collar.
"Worse than that…I remember everything." Ken’s eyelids fluttered shut as he collapsed into Ryu’s arms in a dead faint.
This was his chance, the moment he had both dreaded and desperately waited for. He needed to restore Ken’s mind to its former state before Bison returned. The method in which he needed to use to reassemble Ken’s broken thoughts would not be pleasant. It meant that he would have to delve into the mind of the man he loved. To violate him just as brutally as Bison had done to block Ken’s memories. But Ryu couldn’t think of any other way. While the guards were on orders to keep their distance, Ryu closed his eyes and used his latent psychic abilities to touch the edge of Ken’s thoughts. They were running rampant, not one focused among them. So Ryu breached Ken’s shattered barriers, beginning to pick up the pieces of a life that Bison had carelessly destroyed.
**
Hours after Chun Li and Cammy had escaped, they were still nowhere closer to finding Ryu and Ken. In fact, Chun Li had become pessimistic, suspecting Cammy of leading her into confusion. Then there was the small problem of needing to use the washroom facilities. No matter how many times Chun Li had trained with Interpol for long battle sessions, they always forgot to include looking for a bathroom in case of an emergency.
"Couldn’t you have gone before we got this far?"
She gave Cammy a dirty look while peering into an empty room. "If there had been one all the way back there, I would have used it."
"I think I know where…"
"Don’t speak to me. I can find it myself."
"That’s what my team leader always said when we went to parties. Men never stop to ask directions." She began to giggle. "Maybe you have a masculine personality."
"Fine!" Chun Li stalked down the hallway until she found one of the patrolling guards which they would have trashed sooner or later. She grabbed him in a headlock and spoke menacingly to him. "If you don’t tell me where the bathroom is, I’ll snap your neck and send your head rolling down the stairs."
He was only too happy to oblige and give her the information before she smashed his head into the wall.
"See. I don’t need your help."
The two women found what they were looking for and returned to their seek and destroy mission shortly afterwards. Unfortunately, their target pinpointed them first.
"May I help you ladies?" Bison cackled from behind them as his glowing form teleported into view. He sure knew how to make an entrance with his mouth open so wide that they could see his large molars grinding together. What a horrible smile to look at upon whirling around.
"You’re going down, Bison!"
"Oh, surely you can come up with a better line than that, Chun Li. And I doubt your superiors would think too fondly of you coming onto me like that."
She growled and drew back the palms of her hands, ready to launch her kikoshou as soon as Cammy moved out of the way. But the girl beat her to it, diving at Bison in a menacing "Cannon Drill!" which she shouted out loudly. It connected but didn’t so much as put a dent in his shoulder. She landed, spinning back to elbow strike him in the chest, twin braids chasing after her. And it was those long threads of hair which Bison used to grab hold of, stop the girl dead in her tracks and heave her headlong into the wall. Cammy hit with a dull thud and sank to the floor upside down, dazed and groaning.
"You may have defeated her easily but I am more of a challenge."
"Please, be my guest." Bison lowered his guard and stood there leering, giggling like an insane school girl. "Give me your best shot."
"KIKOSHOU!!!" Her imitation of Ryu’s fireball sprang outwards from her body, creating a massive bubble of energy. In Ryu and Ken’s motions, they were able to actually release the mass of power from their hands as a moveable force. She had different methods and concentrated all her strength into one concrete ball which burnt flesh on contact. If she prepared herself well enough, her kikoshou could electrocute Bison from his toes to the red blood cells inside of him. If he had any to speak of. But she was not fighting a normal adversary. This omnipotent man was worse than any opponent she had ever faced. No weaknesses. She couldn’t even form a strategy to beating him when he didn’t follow regular patterns. One minute he was there in front of her, the next he reappeared to her right blind side. "Shit!" And his hand grabbed her arm, yanking her high into the air.
"I didn’t think that a puny girl such as yourself could come close to matching the strength of Hoshi Ryu. And even he had a breaking point." He laughed at a private joke that Chun Li was not aware of. "Or should I say tearing point. Well, we can’t win at everything I suppose. Not you weaklings at least. To me, you are but ants beneath my feet and I…I am a god!"
"With one heck of a bad ego!" She twisted around, prepared to kick his head off or die trying. A voice stopped her, one that she recognized but couldn’t be certain of. It was Ryu and yet it wasn’t.
"Chun Li…he is mine." Ryu walked past her as she was dropped ungraciously onto her butt. Bison obviously had more interest in his male captives but why?
"Ah, Ryu…so you’ve managed to escape my pitiful guards. I would applaud you if it weren’t a pathetic feat that any simpleton could have accomplished. And what of my faithful pet?" His red eyes glared behind Chun Li to Ken who didn’t want to get involved. Chun Li couldn’t believe her eyes when she saw what her friend was wearing. There was shame lurking above his head but he only remained silent, eyes downcast. "Come to my side, Ken…where you belong."
"I won’t allow you to ever go near him again." Ryu matched Bison’s stare, challenging him. "His mind has been healed from your brainwashing once and for all. All he needs is a transfusion of Cammy’s blood. Then, he will never have to remember you or your ugly face again. I will defeat you, if not on my own then with the help of those I care about. We won’t remain on our knees for a sick bastard, not to entertain you any longer."
"Big words for a little man. So be it. Come and play with me, Hoshi Ryu. Bring your playmates into my arena where we will decide who the greatest fighter is. Your prize will be something worth fighting for." Bison began to dematerialize until everyone had their attention on him. When he teleported again, it was with Ken struggling in his arms. "Find me if you can and Ken will be yours. Fail and…well, I’m sure you know what will happen to dear Ken if you do."
"NO!" Ryu leapt at them, clawing at Bison’s fading body as he vanished and took Ken with him.