The entire country side was frozen solid, frost clung to the grass, and every bit of water was transformed into a block of ice. All around were great mounds of snow, and not the usually dirty hard snow, but that rare fluffy variety that everyone thinks of when they think of snow. It looked like a scene out of a painting.
From a small window the pale face of a white bat dreamily gazed at the landscape. Slowly she looked down to the bit of parchment she was scribbling on.
"Bai-Ling! Pay attention you bloody bat!"
The bat squealed in surprise and nearly leapt into the air.
"Sorry sir" Bai-Ling said embarrassedly.
She sat in a room filled with six other rats, and another bat. At the front of the room stood Chin, her boss, leader of what was possibly the most blood thirsty gang in all of China (or at least that was what he'd say). Chin was smaller than her; Chin was smaller than all the other rats, in fact some would say Chin was the smallest rat in the world, it would be easy to mistake him for a mouse.
"What are doing scribbling anyway?" Chin asked suspiciously as he looked down at the parchment "What's this? A dancing octopus?"
"Er… its actually, you know, the field outside the inn" Bai-Ling stated timidly, pointing out the window.
"What? Oh those squiggly things are branches, that's a tree, er never mind pay attention!"
"Yessir"
"Now as I was saying" Chin began "The caravan is scheduled to stop in the town at tomorrow at noon, it's well guarded so I'm going to need everyone, and this time I mean EVERYONE to stick to the plan, Xiao"
A yellow house bat in the corner of the room looked down to his feet embarrassedly "Sorry sir, won't happen again sir"
"I should hope so, now, once the caravan stops I will locate the cart containing the rare jade statue, once I find this I will alert you" Chin said pointing to Xiao "You will then inform Team 1 to move into action. Team 1, that's you Bai-Ling…Bai-Ling? Bai-Ling! Pay attention!"
Bai-Ling immediately looked up from her sketch "Sorry sir!"
"You will then distract the guards, team 2 and I will then sneak up to the cart which should be armor plated, we will then use the gunpowder that Da-Ming smuggled in for us to blow a hole in the side of the cart and steel the idol, any questions? No? Good, Da-Ming bring me the gunpowder"
A large bulky rat stepped forward and presented Chin a wet dripping sack.
"Da-Ming" Chin said with forced patience
"Yes sir?"
"Why is the bag wet?"
"Well when I was getting it these imperial soldiers showed up and I had to escape across this lake, and well the ice kinda broke sir"
"The ice kinda broke" Chin mused
"Yeah and I fell in, but I got the gunpowder sir!" Da-Ming said happily.
Chin smiled, it wasn't a very nice smile. Slowly Chin opened the bag, and then he picked up a lit candle and dropped it into the sack. Da-Ming flinched, but nothing happened.
"This powder is wet you moron!" Chin shouted as he hurled the bag into Da-Ming's face.
"Sorry sir" Da-Ming mumbled rubbing his eye.
"Great! Just great! Now where are we going to find gunpowder!? My whole plan's been ruined!"
"Sorry sir"
"Shut up! We'll have to make gunpowder"
"How do you do that sir?"
"I thought I told you to shut up Da-Ming? We'll make gunpowder, we just need charcoal, sulfur and, oh let's see what was it…ah yes saltpeter"
"What's saltpeter?"
"The hell if I know it's just used to make gunpowder, we'll also need silver"
"Why silver?"
"To mix it you dolt! Silver doesn't spark, if I were using something else the whole lot of it could just go and explode! Now get going, Xiao you go find the sulfur"
"Where do I find Sulfur sir?"
"I don't know just find some!"
"Dong! Cheng! You two, go look for saltpeter"
"Yessir"
"What can I do sir?" Da-Ming asked eagerly
"You? Why you have the most important job of all, you go find the charcoal"
"Charcoal? Hey there's some!" Da-Ming shouted happily pointing to the nearby woodstove.
"Good job Da-Ming, well done" Chin sneered "You've finally done something right"
"I have?"
"Sure, put the charcoal on the table and get out of here"
"Bai-Ling you'll… Bai-Ling put that paper away before I take it away!"
"Sorry sir!"
"Go find some silver, and be quick about it!"
"But sir I don't have any money, how'll I pay for the silver?"
Chin pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. "*sigh* Bai-Ling we're bandits, we don't need money just steal the silver"
"Oh yeah, sorry sir I keep forgetting"
"Of course you do, now get going!"
"Yessir"
"Er… sir?"
"What is it Cheng?"
"Why don't we just get fireworks?"
"What?"
"You know, just steal a bunch of fireworks and use those to blow up the cart"
"…why didn't I think of that? Alright everyone go and steal a bunch of fireworks, I need a lot! Now get going!"
"Yessir"
"And hurry, we're going to rehearse this until everyone knows the plan, is that clear!?"
"Yessir!"
"Good, get going"
It didn't take long for the gang to return, and when they did they put the fireworks away carefully (Chin made sure they did) and began to rehearse the heist.
"Okay Bai-Ling do it" Chin instructed
"Oh I'm feeling feint" Bai-Ling muttered and collapsed in front of a pile of chairs representing the cart. For a while everyone was silent.
"…Da-Ming!"
"Oh sorry, uhhh…help someone"
"Oh for the love of-put some emotion into it you brain-dead oaf!"
"Sorry, Help someone help this uh…lady needs help!"
"Slightly better, okay guards move forward"
Cheng and Dong who were both dressed in a motley assortment of pots and pans meant to portray armor approached Bai-Ling.
"Alright now I sneak up to the cart place the fireworks and light, everyone got that? Good, here's the explosion BOOM! Alright? I grab the idol, then everyone scatters got it?"
"Yessir"
"Why aren't you scattering!?"
"We're tired sir"
"Tired? Tired!? We're planning the heist of the century and you get tired!? You bunch of ungrateful slack jawed nincompoops! After all I've done for you!?"
"It's just that we've been practicing since lunchtime"
"And?"
"It's nighttime sir"
"What? Ah yes it is" Chin said examining the sky "Fine, I guess you babies can have your little sleepy time, but you've better be ready in the morning, if you aren't ther'll be hell to pay do you understand me!?"
"Yessir"
The gang returned to their rooms. Cheng, Dong, Da-Ming, Xiao and the other rats slept in one big room, while Bai-Ling slept in her own room across the hall from them. Chin had his own room at the very top of the inn that the gang called their hideout. Bai-Ling laid in bed, trying to sleep. She rolled around a few times before getting up. She walked over to her window and looked out. She had never really gotten used to sleeping on her back, nor had she gotten used to sleeping at night.
She looked out from her window. The moon was shining beautifully, she remembered how much she used to love flying under the light of the full moon. The winter scene before her looked so gorgeous she couldn't help herself, she fished out a piece of paper and began sketching. She liked to draw, and one day she hoped to be a painter. She liked being a bandit, being a bandit was fun and adventurous, it was dangerous and exciting, but it also meant being mean, and Bai-Ling wasn't mean in any sense of the word.
Above Bai-Ling, on the top floor, Chin paced around his room muttering to himself. Occasionally he would stroke his long black mustache. On the work bench near his bed were many mechanical devices all in various stages of completion. A large and complicated looking crossbow sat gathering dust. He had meant to finish it, but had never gotten around to doing it. Carefully the rat laid various weapons onto the table, two butterfly swords, two sleeve arrows, sixteen different knives, five throwing daggers, a nan dao sword, and a single deer antler blade. He wanted to make sure he'd be ready in case something went wrong, which happened a lot.
Eventually Chin got tired and crawled into his own musty little bed and fell asleep.
It was the day of the heist, everything was going according to plan. Bai-Ling's act had fooled the guards. Silently Chin crept up to the armored cart and lit the fireworks. With a sudden leap he ducked behind a crate and waited, and waited, and waited. Cautiously Chin peeked out from behind the crate. The fireworks were unlit.
"What the? Why haven't these exploded yet?" Chin touched the fuse, it was damp.
"Sorry sir" Da-Ming mumbled "I accidently dropped the fireworks in a lake on the way here"
"What!?"
Just then the guards approached him, Chin prepared himself for battle, but instead of attacking the guard just began to laugh. Then everyone started laughing.
"Stop it! Stop laughing!" Chin shouted, but to no avail "Alright that's it I'll give you something to laugh about!" Chin reached for his sword, but it wasn't there, he had forgotten to bring it. He was a failure, he and his whole gang were failures.
"You aren't a bandit Chin" The guard said with a smile "You're just a scared little boy"
Suddenly the guard seemed much bigger, and then Chin realized that he had shrunken. He was a child again, a weak helpless child. All around him were the other children, he remembered their faces. Bullies from his childhood, they all pointed and laughed at him and he began to sob and call for his mother.
With a sudden jolt Chin awoke. He was in his bed, it was the day of the heist.
Chin gathered up his weapons.
"I'll show you who isn't a bandit" Chin muttered fingering the handle of his sword.
Chin's gang had an early breakfast before heading out to town. They waited, and waited and waited, and finally the caravan came into sight. The rhinos who were guarding the armored cart sat idly, taking a break from their long journey. Just as they were getting relaxed a white bat stepped deliberately in front of their cart and feinted. Suddenly out of nowhere a large rat rushed forward .
"Oh no someone help this lady needs help"
One of the rhinos rushed forward to aid the bat, while the other sat watching them, giving the scene his full attention. Meanwhile Chin crept forward carefully and lit the fireworks directly underneath the cart. He ducked away just in time. The explosion catapulted the cart into the air in a spray of colored lights and smoke. The rhino that had been resting on the cart was flung into a pile of rubbish. The cart crashed suddenly down upon the street, breaking into multiple pieces.
Chin recovered from the shock faster than the rhino did and rushed forward to the cart. The jade idol was there; unfortunately the explosion had broken it into several pieces.
"Bloody Hell!" Chin exclaimed. He had just enough time to snatch three good sized chunks of jade before the rhino came charging forward.
Chin, being a rat, was naturally agile and easily evaded the rhino's charge.
"Run! Run!" Chin shouted as he tripped the rhino. The rats scattered and the bats flew off.
The gang escaped safely to their hideout, Chin threw the chunks of jade onto the floor.
"Great! Just bloody great! The heist of the century and the idol gets blown to pieces!"
"Uh sir"
"Not now Dong! This is all your fault…er Da-Ming!"
"Sir?"
"You sabotaged the heist!"
"I did?"
"I Don't know how you did it, you evil blaggard, but I know you did!"
"Sir?"
"Shut up Dong! Is that your game Da-Ming? You just play the idiot, just waiting for me to lower my guard so you can strike! Huh!?"
"I don't mean to interrupt sir" Dong said "But this is good quality jade"
"Dong shut u- how good?"
"This stuff would sell for a very high price sir, I'd say each piece is worth thousands"
Chin's face was blank.
"… thousands"
"Each piece sir"
"Heh…heheh"
"Er… sir?"
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! RICH! We're rich!"
Chin began prancing around the room.
"Rich! Rich! Rich! After all these years, after all these long, horrible, pestilent years I've won! I've finally won! Me! Me, I won! HAHAHAHA! Victory! Oh sweet victory!"
"Sir you're scaring me"
"HAHAHAHA! I win! I win! Take that world! You thought you could stop me! No one can stop Chin the great! Chin the fearsome! Chin the awe-inspiring! HAHAHAHAHA!"
"Yay we won!" Da-Ming chimed in
"Ohh how wonderful it is!"
"What is sir?"
"Victory, Da-Ming, Victory"
Bai-Ling began clapping "So we did good sir?"
"You all made me proud today! All of you, even you Da-Ming, you somehow managed not to completely ruin everything, good job"
"Hurray!"
"Come on, I know a fence who'd pay us handsomely for this jade, hehehehehe" Chin giggled to himself "Rich! Rich! Rich!"
When the gang finally returned they carried with them great sacks of money, Chin counted each bag, twice. At last it became late, and Chin fell asleep atop of the huge sacks of money. Chin dreamed of fame and victory.
It was later the next morning when Chin and his gang were walking through the local village that they noticed, for the first time, the orphanage. It was a very rundown orphanage, snowmelt leaked through the roof and a cold wind blew through the holes in the walls.
Standing outside the orphanage was a rabbit with a bucket and a bell.
"Donations, donations" she called "Please donate; the orphanage is in severe need for repair"
Chin merely walked past her without even a second glance.
"Sir?"
"What is it Bai-Ling?"
"What are we going to do with the money exactly?"
"Spend it on weapons, weapons and mercenaries"
"Oh..."
"What do you mean 'oh'?"
"Well, I was just thinking, you know, we have more than enough we could, you know, give some to the orphan-"
"Over my dead body!"
"Sir!?"
"I'm giving the money I worked hard to a bunch of lazy orphans! If they want money so badly why don't they work for it!"
"…They're children sir"
"Oh like that's an excuse, I was helping my mother smuggle good since I started walking, children these days are just lazy!"
"We have more than enough sir, maybe we could just give them, you know, a little bit"
"I'm not sparing a single coin for any of those mangy little wretches! It's a cruel world and those who aren't fast enough get left behind, and that's that"
"…oh" Bai-Ling said, looking at her feet timidly "…sir?"
"What!?"
"Do you think I'm fast enough?"
"What? Yeah sure, whatever"
"Good"
"Am I fast enough sir?" Da-Ming added
"What? Shut up! Now focus, we need to find a blacksmith, I have a lot of new weapon designs I want made and the longer the talk the more time we lose"
It was late in the day when Chin and his gang came back from the blacksmith, loaded with weapons.
"Alright, we have enough money left to hire a good band of mercenaries, tomorrow, everyone get good sleep, because tomorrow we're going to hold tryouts"
"Tryouts?"
"Yeah tryouts, who doesn't want to join the fiercest gang in all of China"
As they made their way through town they stopped at an alley. There, being teased and pester by much larger kids, was a rather small mouse child. Chin shuddered, it reminded him much of his childhood, it was never fun being the runt of the litter. Chin remembered the other kids from the village, at first they used to play keep away with Chin with a ball, and then they got bored and started using Chin AS the ball. He remembered Hao, a hulking rat child from his youth; Hao once won a competition to see who could throw Chin the farthest.
"Sir shouldn't we do something?" Bai-Ling asked
"What!" Chin squeaked, suddenly jolted from his memories "…I mean why?"
"Sir they're picking on him"
"Well then he should learn to fend for himself now shouldn't he"
"Hey you cut that out!" Da-Ming called
"Da-Ming don't interfere"
One of the children, a large boar child, looked up at Chin challengingly, and approached.
"Boss he's coming towards us do something!"
"It's a kid you ninny" Chin growled "What the hell is a kid going to do to me-"
Just then the boar child kicked Chin in the groin. Chin went down like a felled tree. The children laughed and left, only the little mouse and Chin's gang remained.
"Are you okay?" Bai-Ling asked
"No I'm in an incredible amount of pain right now"
"No sir, I was…er…actually talking to the mouse"
"What!?"
"Yeah I'm fine" The mouse said
"What's your name?"
"Bang" the mouse said, looking shyly at his feet
"I'm Bai-Ling, and that is Chin"
"Hi Chin I'm Bang"
"I don't care, go away"
"What are doing out so late Bang?" Bai-Ling asked "Shouldn't you be home?"
"I'm looking for money; if I can get enough money my room won't be so cold anymore"
"Where do you live Bang? I bet your parents are worried sick about you, come on we'll walk you home"
"No we will not!" Chin growled
"I don't have parents, I live in the orphanage"
"Oh"
"Stop wasting time with that miserably little urchin, come one, lets head back"
"We cant just leave him out here"
"Fine take the little bastard back to the orphanage, the rest of you follow me, we're heading back"
Just then a frightened rabbit came running from across the street.
"Run!" The rabbit cried "He-Ping is here! He-Ping is here!" and ran off
"He-Ping?"
"He-Ping" Chin said with an evil smile "The Wing-Cho Butcher"
"Oh, he's well known?"
"Of course he's well known! He was destroyed an entire village, all by himself! How much money do we have left Dong?"
"Just about enough to hire He-Ping"
"YES! Boys this is it! This is the day that they will talk about, the day Chin's gang took China! Come one lets find He-Ping, Bai-Ling you met us later"
"Yes sir, come on Bang"
Chin and the rest of his gang left in search of He-Ping. It was a little later when they found him terrorizing a local inn. Before Chin or his gang could approach Bai-Ling came to them hurriedly.
"Sir! Sir! I need help!"
"What is it now?"
"Bang sir, he ran off before I could take him to the orphanage, he said he needed to find more money sir! Oh please help me look for him sir!"
"No! that little bugger has to lookout for himself, cant someone else help you?"
"No! Everyone's too afraid of He-Ping to leave their houses! Please sir!"
"Shut up Bai-Ling, I have better things to do with my time then waste it on some little orphan blighter"
"But sir he could get hurt! It's dark and cold!"
"If you want to find him then look for him yourself!"
"But sir, what if it was you out there, cold and scared and alone"
Chin froze. He had been cold scared and alone in his youth. He remembered once when he ran from the other kids, he had hidden himself out in the swamp and had gotten lost, it was hours before his mother came for him.
"I don't care!"
"But sir please! I cant find him by myself, I've tried!"
Chin remembered again when the bullies had pinned him down and glued feathers to his face, and how he had wished someone would come and stop them.
"Sir? Sir are you okay sir?" Bai-Ling asked "Sir? You're just staring at me, Chin? Are you okay?"
Chin remembered when the bullies had decided to give Chin a bath, they had dunked him in river nearby repeatedly until they got bored and left him there. He had cried for his mother for about an hour before wandering home, soaked and sobbing.
"Sir? Was it something I said?"
Once Hao had stolen Chin's favorite toy, a little rat doll, and had dangled it above his head. He would lower it just enough for Chin to be able to grab and then would suddenly jerk it upwards. This lasted until Chin threatened to get his mother, in response Hao merely threw the doll into the river. Chin had tried to retrieve it, but lost his footing and fell into the cold water. The river had carried him down stream for about a few minutes. He would've drowned if it wasn't for the log he got caught on. Once again he called for help, but no one came.
"BOSS!? SIR!?" Da-Ming shouted in Chin's ear, but to no effect.
Chin remembered once when one of the bullies had tackled him to the ground and "ALRIGHT!" Chin cried suddenly startling Bai-Ling and the rest of the gang "ENOUGH! I'll do it!" Chin shouted at no one in particular.
"You will!?" Bai-Ling asked happily.
"YES! Lets go"
Chin and his gang went in search of Bang.
"Alright everyone, split up if you find him bring him back to the orphanage and then tell the rest of us, lets this over with, if we're lucky we'll find He-Ping again before he leaves"
As Chin walked down the street he became aware of someone crying. As he investigated a nearby alley he found Bang, the little mouse was curled up in a ball behind a crate crying.
"There you are you little pissant" Chin grumbled "Come on get your mangy hide back to the orphanage"
"I can't go back yet" Bang muttered wearily "I haven't found enough money yet"
"Oh for the love of, get up you're going home!"
"I can't yet"
"Yes you can come here" Chin grabbed Bang and began dragging him off, but Bang got hold of a heavy crate and wouldn't let go.
"Come on you" Chin grumbled
"No!"
"Fine if I give you some money will you let go!?"
"Yes"
"Here" Chin said giving Bang five coins.
"That's all?"
"What do you mean that's all!?"
"This won't pay for the roof"
"Fine here's five more! Happy!?"
"No"
"Bloody hellfire! I'll give you more when we get there how about that!?"
"No"
"Fine you nasty little bugger! Here take it all you miserable little urchin!" Chin growled as he handed Bang a huge sack of money.
Bang's face lit up.
"Thanks Chin!" Bang shouted as he threw his little arms around the greasy rat.
Chin was stunned at first but then he spoke "Don't touch my jacket you'll get it dirty with your filthy little orphan fingers" he growled
The rat and mouse made their way down the street to the orphanage. When Bang arrived there a rabbit came rushing out.
"Bang!" She cried "I was worried sick about you, where have you been!?"
"I was getting money! Look!" Bang said handing the huge bag of coins to the rabbit.
The rabbit gasped "where did you get all of these?"
"He gave them to me!" Bang said and pointed towards Chin.
"I can't thank you enough sir" Rabbit said "This is more than enough to fix the orphanage"
A sudden realization dawned on Chin, he checked his jacket. That was the last bag of coins he had, the same bag he was going to use to pay for He-Ping. Chin was about to say something, but was suddenly overcome by an alien feeling. For a second Chin felt like he never felt before.
"…er think… nothing of it ma'am" Chin muttered awkwardly "If you'll excuse me I have to go"
"Bye Chin!" Bang called
Chin made his way down the street and found the rest of his gang. Slowly they began walking back to their hideout.
"Sir?" Dong asked "I think I know where He-Ping is, if we're quick we might be able to find him"
"Shut up Dong" Chin muttered as he slowly made his way through the snow.
The rest of the gang looked at each other, Chin didn't seem to be himself that night. As she followed him, Bai-Ling fished out a piece of paper and began sketching. She tried to draw Chin, but it came out looking more like a caterpillar, but she tried. She hoped Chin would like it, he seemed sad for some reason, though she couldn't guess why.