(Disclaimer: The characters appearing in this story belong to Tecmo. The story is BASED on plot by Tecmo from the 4th Dead Alive game.) Please also realise that there are MAJOR Spoilers in the following story. If you have not played the game yet and don't wish to learn of the character endings, then I suggest you do NOT read this. This is your FINAL warning!

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Dead or Alive 4 - Endgame
By Kochan

Chapter I - The Divine Wind

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An unnatural darkness shrouded the German city of Freiburg.

The unholy cloud overhead starving the streets and buildings of moonlight was a hundred and fifty meters in length, sheathed in Titanium Alloy. Light Assault Dirigibles were used by those who could afford them for border patrols, storming skyscrapers and boarding larger passenger and freight airships. This particular one, commissioned by the German Headquarters of DOATEC, the Douglas Organic & Anthropomorphic Technical Enhancement Corporation was investigating a security breach on the north perimeter.

Hayate didn't intend on making its search any harder. He hoisted his compound bow and sprinted across the top of the office building. They would find his heat signature if they couldn't see the white of his uniform as he leaped from roof to roof. The airship turned towards his position as he'd hoped and he descended down into the dark alley below. Not being able to track him from above meant they would have to search…on foot.

The dull hum of the Dirigible engines grew to a low roar as the stars disappeared from view above. Next came the hiss of pressurised cabin doors opening and the whip of rappelling cables. Hayate ignored the stench of old vegetables in the alley and stowed his bow under a pile of discarded cardboard. He wouldn't be alone for long.

He moved two alleys away to watch as half a dozen shadows descended from the airship towards his last position. Their searchlights cut swathing paths through the night: deadly tentacles slinging down from a bloated, noxious jelly fish. The Shinobi skirted the concrete wall of the buildings to keep off the rain-sodden ground for stealth as he circled around behind his quarry.

Combat boots trudging on asphalt and splashing through water mixed with the static of wireless communicators from around the corner. Hayate's blade was drawn as he moulded himself to the cold concrete of the corner wall. Easing the tip out showed three of them flush against each wall in the reflection.

Flak Jackets, Night-Vision helmets and MP5 Sub-Machine Guns. The corner of his lips curled by itself. An army couldn't stop him tonight and they'd sent a riot control squad. They advanced around into the darkened alleyway in typical Special Forces fashion and Hayate closed the distance as the last man rounded the corner. The tailing guard had been left a short distance behind.

Perfect.

He had possession of the longest and sharpest sword of his clan. The three foot long blade was capable of cleaving half inch steel plate and carving rock.

The only warning the man would even have had was the squeak from Hayate's gloves as he gripped his sword hilt. The Shinobi felt the rush, the tension charge within him before he delivered the blow. Kevlar plating, bone and flesh all parted ways as Hayate split his victim from collar bone to crotch in one savage, diagonal slash. The man twitched for a split second before falling to his knees. Blood sprayed from between the two new segments before they pitched upon the growing puddle of crimson.

Hayate likened the few warm drops that had found their way upon his face to an ancient war ritual.

It had begun.

Severed lungs and shock had frozen his first target's voice but the clatter of the weapon on the ground had drawn the attention of the others. The Shinobi sheathed his sword and leapt to the far wall in a single motion. The alley burst into chaos with the flare and chatter of haphazard gunfire as he turned the wall into his ground and sprinted past the squad. Panic and terror were his weapons as well as his blade and he could almost feel them consume the men below as they searched for him.

The five had seconds to live...and he knew this was beginning to dawn upon them.

He soared through the air over them and twirled on descent, a shadow of death that knew no mercy. The blade came down on landing to end another man's life in the same fashion as the first. The next soldier had already been emptying his weapon into the sky before Hayate opened his rib cage in a blood splattered upward slash.

The third had found time to level his weapon. Hayate didn't pause in kicking the barrel aside before rewarding him with two feet of Japanese tempered steel through the chest. He leapt away as the body was riddled with bullets: desperate, less than noble attempts from the last two soldiers to save themselves.

The Helmet Splitter was a single vertical stroke that struck with ample force to penetrate the protective head armour of the olden day Samurai. Hayate employed it to cleave not only helmet, but skull, brain and even the infrared goggles on the next man's head. These short circuited in a bright flash as the blade passed through and beyond.

The last soldier had retreated some distance; his movement jittery as though he was deciding whether to open fire or flee. Hayate didn't give him a choice, launching himself straight in like a panther whilst he drew a shuriken from his tunic. A flick of his arm sent the throwing blade deep into the man's forehead just above his goggles. His foot connected against the helmet to finish the job with brutal force, sounding a satisfying 'crack' as the head twisted out at an unnatural angle. The body was limp before it crashed to the ground in the corner of Hayate's eye.

Instinct snapped his blade out and backwards in his wrist to flick the blood off before he sheathed it down his back once more.

Thirteen seconds. He wasn't even breathing hard.

His gaze swept the carnage before it rose to the sky once more. There was the airship, running parallel to the highway.

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It hadn't taken long to find a bus bound for the A5 Expressway. The driver was oblivious to his crouched presence on the rooftop, as were the crew of the Dirigible ahead. Buildings flew past at eighty miles an hour and while Hayate didn't appreciate the exhaust fumes, the cool wind through his hair and uniform were a welcome relief to the stagnant air of the concrete jungle.

He didn't like the waiting. The thoughts fuelling his vengeance haunted him. One image in particular: A beautiful girl with dark brown hair that reached to her waist. She'd been floating unconscious in a vat of amniotic fluid, violated, tubes pulsing in her veins and every orifice, wires where there weren't tubes. At first, he'd found her familiar, but only knew that he wanted to help her. When twenty-three years of memories crashed back into his head he knew it'd been his sister Kasumi, the single most important thing to him in the world...and he hadn't been able to do anything for her. The image of her body spasms about those tubes still gripped him with rage and carved a frown into his forehead, even now.

But despite what they'd both been subjected to, Kasumi had always been in disagreement of any plan spawned of vengeance against those responsible. Hayate loved the peace-loving and non-violent nature that she'd inherited from their Mother but this time, it'd almost undone him.

He'd met with her days earlier upon the suspension bridge close to their village. She'd heard about the plans from Ryu and risked everything just to speak with him. Her voice had been like that of a Siren's when she'd asked for him to reconsider his actions: He'd looked deep within himself and had known that she meant well. Kasumi knew almost everything about him, and much as he'd appreciated seeing her once more, he'd forced his own eyes closed lest she saw through them into his heart. Hayate had never been more thankful for Ayane intervening when she did. Harsh and untrue as her words were towards his sister, it'd given him the opportunity he'd needed to leave.

The movement above dragged him back to the present. The airship was turning about: they'd seen him approaching.

The bus was signalling to exit the highway and a quick scan found a container truck three lanes over. Traffic was light, but sufficient for his intentions. The Shinobi gripped his bow and launched himself onto the sedan cruising to his right. No pause as he hopped to a passing four wheel drive before his last jump landed him atop the driver's cabin of the truck.

Both cars had almost swerved out of control before their respective drivers leaned out the window to scream profanities at him but he couldn't care less.

The truck slowed and he ignored the sudden swerving on drawing his blade before plunging it through the roof into the cabin.

Hayate didn't bother looking at the driver's expression from having the length of his sword an inch in front of his face as he leaned down to snarl his instructions. "Schnell! Schalte das Licht ab! Deine Fuss auf dem Gas dauernd tun! (Faster! Turn the lights OFF! Keep your foot on the gas!)"

The Shinobi readied his bow. The dirigible's thicker armour below was capable of withstanding direct hits from high explosive ammunition, but every behemoth had its weak spot. This one had a tiny gauze cooling vent to the portside hydrogen cells just under the front curve of the airship. Despite this, even a tank shot to this area wouldn't have been a threat.

He loaded his one shot: an Eight Hundred gram Depleted Uranium Flechette arrow.

Angry orange flashes flared above and on the glass fronts of the buildings as the gun batteries on the airship's underside opened up. Twenty millimetre tracer rounds shredded asphalt and truck body around him like a meteor storm but the Shinobi stood his ground. The gunners hadn't Infra-Red aids and would have trouble targeting the truck with its lights off, let alone him. The truck swerved again but didn't slow and Hayate knew the driver believed he'd make good on the threat from the few feet of steel sharing the cabin with him. He drew his shot and the split limbs at each end of his compound bow sprang apart like a falcon spreading its wings for the hunt.

Hayate had considered his mark earlier: A panel less than a foot wide, several hundred meters high, all this from a fast moving platform and shooting into a night sky where the target was next to invisible: An impossible shot for even the best archer.

But none of that mattered. This was where the Mugen Tenshin Leader slipped into his own world.

The thunderous roar of automatic cannon fire from above, the whine of tracers chewing metal and the rumble of the truck engine receded to silence. The buildings sweeping past on both sides vanished. The wind...his very element, became still.

There was only the target and him.

That familiar blue glow illuminated the arrow head as he recalled his father's words to him on the first day he'd drawn a bow, just as he did with every shot.

'Channel thy self unto thy arrow and it shall not stray from thy mind's path.'

'Become the arrow...and your flight shall be true.'

He'd already envisioned soaring through the darkness, past the glowing metallic rain of death to strike into the demon's eye.

The Shinobi loosed his shot, watching the blue glow streaking towards the airship before vanishing as the world returned to his senses.

Upon impact, the nose of the arrow would fracture and the release of heat along with a mini detonator would cause the uranium to disintegrate. Once striking air, the uranium dust would combust to create a super-hot ball of gas, sweeping in through the cooling shaft hungry for oxygen...only to find the precious banks of Hydrogen cells.

His arrow transformed into a flame serpent, rippling along the seams of the airship. Night turned to day as the port side cells erupted in a brilliant flare of four massive fireballs. The dirigible plummeted down towards him and he watched as the driver flicked his lights back on to dodge falling debris. No one would be foolish enough to let off the accelerator now.

The starboard cells gave up their reserves in a similar explosive display of sound, light and heat, shattering the windows of buildings on both sides. Hayate shielded his eyes and face from the shower of glass and twisted metal as the truck passed under the dying gas giant.

There was no need to watch. He heard it crumple into the ground and felt the heated wind surge out from behind him as the airship incinerated itself and everything onboard with the last of its own gaseous life essence.

Hayate sheathed his sword and looked to the horizon: The towering spires of DOATEC was the Demon's lair from which the behemoth had come. This was where it had all began...and this was where it would all end. The mere sight of it caused his back to tingle, his teeth to grind and his fists to clench by themselves.

Men...no...Demons had died by his hand. Many more would soon follow in this long night of reckoning, after which none of the atrocities committed against him and his own would ever be repeated...upon anyone.

They'd made the grave mistake of mending him with intention of using him as their puppet to kill and destroy. Never had they imagined that the same puppet would return to serve them truth in the form of a three foot long blade. He and those with him would not only cut the strings to their puppets, but sever the fingers and hands that held those strings before decapitating the corporation and burning its body.

Tonight, he was the Kamikaze, the Divine Wind of the Tenshin Mon. With the fire of the Hajin Mon, Hayate would deliver justice to them in the form of a hellish inferno consuming Demon and human alike for crossing the people of the Mugen Tenshin.

Author's Notes:

LAD: Light Assault Dirigible - Just like the one in Ninja Gaiden, where you can see it boarding the Passenger Liner Ryu's on. In the DOA/NG world they use airships to get around rather than just Jet Airliners. Keep fuel costs down probably.

DOATEC: Douglas Organic & Anthropomorphic Technical Enhancement Corporation/Center (copyright - me )
Yes, my own creation which I think suits far better. With all due respect to TI and his associates, I personally think Dead or Alive Tournament Executive Committee is a rather silly name. For anyone who's wondering, Anthropomorphic basically has to do with Human Attributes and Characteristics.

Kamikaze: This is often misassociated with the Japanese suicide pilots in WWII who piloted their planes with bombs into US and British Naval Warships. Though the Kanji is the same, the term used for the suicide pilots was actually 'Shinpu'. The Kamikaze or the Divine Wind actually refers to the typhoon in the 13th century which destroyed much of Kublai Khan's Naval fleet when he was preparing to invade Japan. As it forced him into retreat, the typhoon was believed to have been sent by the Gods, hence the words 'Kami (God)' and 'Kaze (Wind)'.

Hydrogen: Hydrogen seems to be the main lifting gas used in the airships we see in the DOA/NG world. Kind of silly because the only ships you ever see are the ones which blow up One thing I can think of them using it as opposed to Helium is because Hydrogen has higher lift rate than helium.

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1st class pwn4ge by my favourite Shinobi (I think it's quite obvious who my fav Kunoichi is ). One again - this is BASED on the DOA4 ending as I decided to tweak (quite) a few things to fit my story. Hope it was an interesting read nonetheless :) Kudoes to my lovely German Ambassador/Foxy Lady who helped me out with my non-existent German! This is without doubt, the FASTEST I have ever drafted, formatted and posted a story of this caliber. And yes - much as the plot isn't quite all mine, I AM proud of what I've achieved ;)

Till next chapter (Ryu's turn)!