FIC: Ultimate Hate 12/??
Title: Ultimate Hate: Consequences II
Fandom: Tekken
Pairing : Kazuya/Lee
Disclaimer: I do not own Tekken or any of its characters. I am not making any profit from this.
Rating: R
Warnings: Incest, violence, language, angst.
Previous Chapters: http://thegreymoon.livejournal.com/22845.html
Part 12
The dogs growled, lurking between their master’s legs, but they made no other obvious signs of aggression, pacified by threat of his displeasure.
Sweat dripped down Senn’s nape and under the collar of his shirt. He knew that the demon could smell his terror on him, perhaps taking some twisted pleasure in tormenting him like this, because it was in the creature’s sadistic nature to feed on the misery of others and Kazuya had always revelled in the obvious fear of those before him.
“Yes, my lord,” Senn responded hoarsely, reminding himself that the dogs were chained. No matter how strong, they still couldn’t pull out the bolts holding them in place, unless they were released intentionally and he knew that if Kazuya wanted to hurt him, he could do far worse things than letting his dogs tear him to pieces, because he had done them to him already.
Kazuya’s cruelty and his punishments remained raw and vibrant in his memory, regardless of the passing time. If given the choice of which monster’s rage he’d rather face, Senn would have definitely picked the dogs over their master at any time. Pulling himself together, he gathered up his files and rose gracefully to his feet, dusting off his pristine, elegant suit, even though he couldn’t stop shaking, no matter how hard he tried.
“Do you have the damage report ready for me?” Kazuya asked.
The scars on his face were very wicked in the contrast of light and shadow. The signs of his paranormal transformation were gone from his body and with the exception of his red, burning eye, he appeared very human. He looked clean and almost civilised, which happened rarely when the Devil gene was upon him, but this time it appeared as if he had made the effort to wash himself and to dress, even though the latter had been abandoned half-way.
He wore smart, grey pants that seemed to belong to a suit, but he remained barefoot, with the belt around his waist undone. In a concession to neatness, his sleeves were rolled up to the elbows, apparently to avoid getting blood on the white, pristine shirt. He had not bothered to tuck in and it was only partially buttoned up, revealing a vast expanse of his scarred, muscled chest. A tie was draped loosely around his neck as if he had intended to put it on, but never gotten around to actually doing it.
“Yes, my lord,” Senn replied, horrified by how little control he had over his shaking voice. “The preliminary report is finished. The final numbers will not be available until the crews clear the rubble.”
Kazuya seemed collected and calm, with no visible trace of the devastating rage that had possessed him only hours ago, but when he spoke, there was something tired in the tone of his voice; something injured, vulnerable and raw, which signalled for caution, because there was no knowing what could trigger him to explode next.
“Preliminary will do just fine,” he said and reached into the bowl by his side, taking out a large piece of red, slimy meat and ripping it in two. Senn looked away and swallowed, trying in vain to moisten his dry lips. He had to keep talking to distract himself from the sickening sight in front of him.
“The administrative headquarters of G- Corporation have been completely obliterated in the explosion,” he said, “but the fires were stopped before they reached the other departments. We lost the main computer, but the backups were all updated, so the data itself is intact. We were especially lucky that the laboratories were preserved. If the oxygen pipes had caught fire, the damage would have been devastating. Unfortunately, the estimated costs of cleaning and reconstruction are still going to be in billions.”
Kazuya rolled his eyes, unimpressed. “What about casualties?” he asked.
Senn shuddered. “So far, we have recorded thirty nine of the staff members who were on duty last night as missing,” he said. “It is presumed that all of them were trapped in the building when it collapsed and consequently killed. We do not have the information about who else might have been inside at the time.”
“Thirty nine?” Kazuya tilted his head, sounding... disappointed. “Only thirty nine?”
“Like I said, we do not know who else may have been in the building at the time and it is unlikely that even with the clearing of the rubble, we’ll be able to come up with the exact number,” Senn said, confused by his tone. “Most of the victims trapped inside were likely to have been vaporised during the explosion and will never be identified! We were fortunate that it was night, or the death toll would have been far worse.”
“Some fortune that is,” Kazuya grumbled darkly.
“My lord... I don’t understand.”
“I can hardly make a statement with thirty nine, now can I, Mr. Secretary?”
“Statement, Sir?”
Kazuya stood up from his seat and glared down at him, as if irritated because he had to explain something so obvious. He picked up a pitcher of water and poured it over his hands, washing off the blood. Senn felt sick all over again as he watched the crimson stream spill into the basin, but soon enough, the water ran clear once more, even though the nauseating smell still permeated the air.
“The world is demanding to know what happened here last night!” Kazuya said with easy sarcasm that clearly stated exactly what he thought of the rights of the general public to be promptly and accurately informed. “We need to give them an explanation.”
Senn was almost relieved to hear that, but he knew better.
“That... that would be good,” he said carefully. “We are besieged by reporters. I have had the prime minister of Japan himself on the phone the whole day. Not to mention the ministries of defence of more than three dozen countries that we cannot afford to ignore! The longer this goes on unresolved, the more wary they are going to become. We need to issue a statement as soon as possible, if we are going to salvage the mess.”
“We shall hold a press conference!” Kazuya declared, picking up a clean towel and wiping his hands.
“And tell them what?” Senn asked suspiciously. He had a feeling that he wasn’t going to like the answer.
“That we were victims of a terrorist attack,” Kazuya replied.
“Terrorist attack?” Senn gaped. “What... What terrorist attack?”
“The one perpetrated by the Mishima Zaibatsu,” Kazuya said.
“But... but that isn’t true!”
“There is a fine line between truth and lies, Mr. Secretary,” Kazuya said coldly and crouched down to pet his dogs. “The difference is only in who believes them! What we perceive as right or wrong is relative, and very dependent on whose needs it serves to promote it as such! You should know that! You built your career on it, after all!”
Senn closed his eyes and said nothing in his defence, because there was nothing to say.
“But... but why are we doing this?” he asked.
“Because I need a reason to attack them!” Kazuya hissed. Sensing his ill temper, the dogs turned towards Senn and growled. “This will give me the excuse I need to bring my military out into the open!”
“But, sir...” Senn stared at him, horrified by what he was implying. “That could cause an armed conflict of enormous proportions!”
Kazuya raised an eyebrow at him.
“You mean like... a war?” he mocked and Senn’s face drained of all blood. “Yes, Mr. Secretary! That would be the point!”
“The Mishima Zaibatsu will never take responsibility for it,” Senn replied softly. “They will deny perpetrating the attack.”
“They can deny it all they want!” Kazuya smirked. “There is no use in affirming something that nobody believes! Thanks to the... activities put in motion by my beloved son, the sympathies of the world are on our side! The media will report whatever we tell them, because it suits their own purposes for the general public to believe what we too want them to believe! Many, many people lost a lot of profit, thanks to the Zaibatsu and that’s all that your precious truth amounts to, really! A calculation. There is your civilisation for you, an instrument of greed, manipulation and politics, which is why I fully intend to cure humanity of these shortcomings! A little chaos will do it good!”
Senn gripped the files in his arms, shivering visibly.
“Will... will you be holding the conference yourself, sir?” he asked hoarsely, barely making his throat work to force out the words.
“No,” Kazuya declared. “You will be! It is not yet time for me to appear publically. Besides...” he took Senn in from head to toe and smiled wickedly. “You are more... presentable, and in the temporary absence of the ambassador I would prefer, you will have to serve! We wouldn’t want to scare all those precious, sensitive souls into turning against us, now would we?”
“No, sir,” Senn whispered.
“But I need more casualties,” Kazuya mused, scratching the belly of one of his dogs and putting his arm around the other when it propped itself up on to its hind legs to lick his face. “Thirty nine isn’t a particularly gripping figure. It is hardly a number that will warrant a declaration of war.”
“Should we lie about that too, my lord?”
“Hn.” Kazuya scowled. “Lying is such a bad word for it. Let’s call it... embellishing the facts.”
“The number of employees in the G- Corporation headquarters is public information. It will be easy to prove or disprove.”
“And if we count the prisoners?
Senn blinked
“Prisoners, sir?”
“Yes. The witnesses to last night’s events that I still haven’t decided what to do with and who I have pleasantly accommodated under my building, for the time being.
“Umm... I cannot be certain sir.” Senn whispered
Kazuya glared at him for the disobedience, knowing very well that the exact number was ingrained in his mind and that it would torture him with nightmares for years to come, but that he did not want to say it out aloud.
“Try anyway, Mr. Secretary,” he drawled, “lest I be tempted to add your name to the casualty list too.”
Senn swallowed the lump in his throat, knowing better than to provoke him further.
“Two hundred and forty two,” he said at last.
“Good. That is good. Much better than your previous estimate,” Kazuya smiled, mocking his distress. “It is such a nice number too! A catchy one, which is good, because we will be using it a lot! It’s a pity, though, that we have only one ruined building to show for... We would have had a much more gripping image to work with, if the labs had blown up too!”
Senn closed his eyes, unable to look at him.
“Speaking of the prisoners, sir,” he began. “I’ve had people from Violet Systems on hold the whole morning.”
“Violet Systems?” Kazuya said sharply, lifting his head in attention at the mention of the name.
“Yes,” Senn said. “You’ve had all of their people... removed this morning. The company is worried. They want to know why they cannot get in touch with them. The US Department of Defence is backing them up. Violet Systems is their biggest supplier of weapons and they are not impressed by what could be perceived as an attack on their people.”
“What did you tell them?”
“Nothing,” Senn said. “I did not know what to say.”
“Good. That is good. The merger with Violet Systems cannot be compromised.”
“But what shall I tell them, my lord?”
“Tell them that their people perished in the fire!” Kazuya said easily. “They were unfortunate victims; caught in the wrong place at the wrong time! It won’t be far from the truth anyway. We’ll offer their families condolences and compensation, which should put an end to it.”
“Sir... is that really necessary?” Senn dared to ask and his voice was nearly soundless. This was a death sentence to them all and though he had suspected it before, it was now made official.
“Of course it is necessary!” Kazuya barked angrily. “I cannot have Lee’s little spies running around here at a time like this!”
“Lee’s... spies?” Senn repeated, aghast.
“It has taken me... years to find him,” Kazuya closed his eyes and his face twisted in something that nearly resembled... pain. “Years to lure him this close! Lee is clever. Lee is cautious and if only one of his rats was to report back to him with even a hint of what really went on here last night, he would go into hiding at once! He is at home in the USA and my influence there is... not what I would like it to be. I would not be able to ferret him out again! At least, not before I lay the entire fucking continent to waste, which could take me ages and I... I cannot wait any more. He has been away from me for far too long.”
“My lord...” Senn stared at him in mortification. “Are we merging with Lee’s company, because you are hoping to find him there?”
“Violet Systems is not his company!” Kazuya growled and the dogs bared their long, white teeth at him, backing up his aggression. “It belongs to me, along with that sneaky, treacherous little bastard who has stolen and appropriated it for his own! I will have both of them back right now, or I will see to it that the world burns, until I do! And then, I will make damn sure that he never leaves me again.”
“My lord, you do realise that Lee Chaolan has not been sighted for almost two decades now?” Senn asked carefully. “Even though the Violet Systems continue to use his name, there is no evidence that he is still alive!”
Kazuya roared and rose to his feet. The dogs went wild, barking viciously and lunging forward in spite of the chains. Kazuya reached for something and threw it towards him. Abused paper rustled as it flew through the air and Senn reflexively took a step back, dropping his files in a clumsy attempt to catch the flailing thing.
“Here is your bloody evidence!” Kazuya sneered angrily and both of his eyes flared very red. “Oh, he has been sighted, all right! He has been sighted by half of the fucking planet!”
Senn backed away from him in horror and looked down at the paper in his hand, noting that it was a brand new copy of the tabloid he had seen last night.
Kazuya made his way down the stairs with slow, deliberate steps.
“And speaking of my wayward brother, Mr. Secretary,” he hissed, “why don’t I hear any sounds of construction above me?”
White faced and wide eyed, Senn blinked at him.
“My lord... in the light of recent... events, we have recalled all the workers and employed them at the site of the explosion as a matter of priority, providing relief for...”
“No!” Kazuya yelled at him and the very walls seemed to shake from the power of his voice. “No! That is not acceptable! Bring them back at once! There is no greater priority to me than this! The reconstruction must go on as planned! Do you hear me? It must go on! The apartment has to be ready before the merger takes place!”
Oreck Vacuum