Jumping off the Quinjet onto the snowy landing beneath them, Spidey looked up and saw the dim lights of the mythical city of K'un L'un. The lights were shining through the night in the near distance at the end of a long stone path upwards. Its oriental-inspired architecture ablaze with colorful decorations for the time of year they were in.

"The path to enlightenment awaits." Iron Fist spoke, leading the team upwards through the snowy weather.

As they approached, they passed villagers who graciously bowed in the return of their champion, Daniel Rand. He returned the gestures in the same manner, speaking something in their native language. Entering the city, they passed various shops, restaurants, and locations of interest on their way to the Great Hall; where Danny was directed to meet his old master, Lei Kung.

None of the city seemed too perturbed by anything, which relieved Iron Fist. Whatever situation Lei Kung summoned him for, at the least it didn't disrupt or worry the citizens. Then again, the people of K'un L'un have seen some scary monsters burn through the city multiple times throughout their existence.

"I knew I sh-should've brought a sweater, h-hoodie, or s-something!" Ava remarked, shivering and holding her arms.

"Wasn't there some cold weather gear in the Quinjet?" Luke inquired, pointing back to the mile or two stretch they had just walked from.

"I'm not walking all the way back there!" She answered.

"Ha!" Sam snickered. "Would've been a waste of time anyway! Coulson had some agents clean the Quinjet out yesterday, they took out the cold weather gear in the process and forgot to put it back!"

"I wonder why they did that..." Peter voiced his wonder.

Sam shrugged as he floated through the air in his Nova armor. "I don't think ANYONE would've expected for Danny to get a call from K'un-L'un asking him to head over there immediately!" Sam sarcastically added.

"Just you wait until Nick finds out we left without telling him." Luke sighed. "Our heads will roll."

"Don't worry, our ILLUSTRIOUS leader will shield us from Fury's wrath!" Sam egged Peter on.

"Shut it, Sam."

Danny stopped and turned around, raising his right hand.

"Please, friends. We are here. Now is not the time to squabble. In the Great Hall, in peace, we must enter."

"Okay, Yoda." Sam murmured, prompting Luke to sucker punch him in the side.

As they entered, they walked into a magnificent room about the size of a basketball court. Its walls were made of wood, carved with designs only known to the people of the orient. In the center was a large fire, basking its rays on top of a pile of wooden logs. The smoke rose up through an opening in the high-ceiling. Around the fires were long-tables, each able to fit at least thirty or forty men. At the far end, beyond the fire and the tables, the group spotted two individuals deep in conversation. One was tall and masked. His grey mask the same shape and design of that of Iron Fist's while two sashes ran diagonally across his bare upper body in different directions, with a giant gold circular disc where the two sashes crossed with a unique box-like design on top. He wore a gold sash around his waist and his grey pants matched that of his mask.

"That is my old master, Lei-Kung." Iron Fist pointed out to the rest of the gang as they walked towards them.

The other was only slightly shorter than Lei-Kung, about 6 ft. tall. He was masked as well with Iron Fist's similar mask design, but it was black in color. He wore a black and slightly leathery looking overcoat with metallic bracers at his wrists, his hands were gloved in black. His legs were covered in some sort of protective metallic plating and he wore shin guards that protected the lower half of them.

At his chest and around his back were dark plates of armor with the same metallic plating, it covered his undergarments. A painted black scorpion was centered on his chest plate. His belt buckle was the most distinguishable accessory, featuring an engraved scorpion design on the rough metal.

"And that is...Hei-Xie?" Iron Fist questioned in disbelief.

Lei-Kung turned towards the only other guests in the Great Hall, raising a hand to halt the conversation between him and Hei-Xie. A faint smile dashed across the tall master's face as he approached Iron Fist. Hei-Xie looked over, his exposed lower half of his face expressionless.

"Master Lei-Kung, I have returned as summoned." Iron Fist formally bowed towards his old master.

"Iron Fist, I thank you for returning to us as fast as the skies allowed you to. I did not want to disturb your pilgrimage throughout the world for this...urgent matter." Lei-Kung sternly spoke in his thick oriental accent upon return of the bow.

"I am the Champion of K'un-L'un, master. My duty here precedes my duties elsewhere."

Hei-Xie seemed to let out an unconvinced grunt as he slowly approached to meet with them.

"And K'un-L'un is grateful." Lei-Kung assured Danny, looking past him towards his friends. "I see that you brought your team of allies as well, Iron Fist."

"Yes, master. Power Man, Nova, White Tiger, and Spider-Man will help assist me in solving whatever danger K'un-L'un faces."

Hei Xie's eyes wandered through the team. His mask did well to conceal his eyes but the team could see that he was eying them, possibly attempting to calculate their weaknesses. Lei-Kung noticed this, glancing over at the shadowy character.

"Iron Fist, I know you remember Hei Xie." Lei-Kung addressed it.

"I do, master. I did not expect him to return to us after...what had happened with him." Danny's tone turned subtly harsh in its conviction.

"It's good to see you again too, Daniel." Hei Xie's voice was deep, but hinted at his age. He sounded rather young, around Danny's age or a little bit older. There was a sort of streetwise tone in his words. It was different, being that Lei-Kung and Iron Fist were two very formally spoken individuals.

Danny didn't return a word to him, turning his gaze to his old master.

"The situation is dire, Iron Fist. Hei Xie's involvement to fix it will benefit K'un-L'un." Lei-Kung assured him.

Danny calmly nodded, unconvinced.

"Well, cool get-up, dude! You look like a hidden ninja-version of Neo from the Matrix!" Nova spoke towards Hei Xie, which caught him by surprise.

"Nova, shut up!" Power Man whispered.

"No, seriously!" Nova flew a little closer. "Dude, you're like...an evil twin version of Iron Fist!"

"Nova!" Power Man and Spidey both yelled at him.

"Alright, alright. Chill." Nova floated down until he landed. Nova extended his right hand. "The name's Nova, interstellar king of the galaxy!"

"Bitch." Power Man coughed.

Hei Xie silently shook Nova's hand, firmly.

Nova flew back up afterwards."Strong silent type, that guy." Nova whispered.

Spidey shook his head as he criticized Nova's nonsense and looked back at Hei Xie. "I'm Spider-Man, friend."

"Power Man." Luke raised his right hand in a peace gesture.

Ava, still shivering from the cold, merely waved in greeting. Her warm breaths visible through her mask. Hei Xie noticed this and fixed his gaze on her, almost instantly.

"Well, Iron Fist, your team can rest while you and I discuss the issue. I am sure the trip up here has been exhausting." Lei-Kung started speaking. "I will have my monks..."

"Wait." Hei Xie raised a finger to silence Lei-Kung, his gaze still fixed on White Tiger. Lei-Kung seemed most offended by what Hei Xie had just done, almost angered. Hei Xie approached Ava and took off his overcoat, revealing his very muscular and tattooed arms. The overcoat's inside revealed that it was lined with soft black fur.

He held it in his hands as he stopped in front of Ava. "Here. This will keep you warm."

White Tiger looked at the coat and then back at him, her gaze filled with gracious wonder of the man that stood before her. She nodded and he helped put it around her. She wrapped herself tightly in it.

"Wow!" She exclaimed. "This is REALLY warm!" She looked back at him. "Thank you, Hei Xie."

"You're welcome, White Tiger." A faint grin swept across his face. He turned to walk back to Lei-Kung's side. As he stood, he kept his gaze fixed on her.

"As I was saying..." Lei-Kung continued, expressing slight anger and annoyance towards Hei Xie. "….I will have my monks escort your team to rooms we have set aside for them."

"Sounds good. Thank you, Lei-Kung." Spidey spoke on the team's behalf.

Lei-Kung waved and a small band of two or three monks, all heavily aged with white hair stretching across their heads, approached them. They wore a pristine white robe that bore the symbol of K'un-L'un. They bowed towards the team and gestured for them to follow them out of the Great Hall. The team walked away, leaving Iron Fist with Lei-Kung and Hei Xie.

"You going to ask for his number yet, or what?" Nova jokingly asked White Tiger as they approached the exit.

"Nova, I'm going to tear your insides out if you keep talking!" Tiger lashed back. She looked back as they exited the Great Hall. Hei Xie was still gazing at her.

After the team had left, Hei-Xie kept his gaze seared onto the wood of the great hall doors where the team had exited out from. He leaned his back against one of the pillars supporting the great hall's ceiling and withdrew a sharp dagger from his belt. He twirled the scorpion tail shaped dagger in his right hand as he kept staring at the doors, his mind consumed with thoughts of the mysterious woman he had just encountered.

Ignoring him, Iron Fist directed his attention to Lei-Kung.

"It is good that you have brought our allies along, Iron Fist. The situation at hand...is most dire." His old mentor stated.

"Why have you brought me, master?"

Lei-Kung sighed. "Well..."

"It's Davos." Hei-Xie blurted out, glancing over to Iron Fist.

Iron Fist's eyes widened.

"Steel Serpent?! H-how? I thought we..."

"He's not dead." Hei-Xie moved away from the pillar and approached the two of them with his arms crossed. "We cast him out into a nether-realm, Daniel, we didn't kill him. Eventually, Davos was going to return. Now, he's got his sights set on K'un-L'un, and probably his father."

"I brought you both here to help bring him back to the light. I still believe my son can be saved. You both knew him when you were both young. He will listen to you."

"We're the ones that CAST him out of this realm, Lei-Kung. He'll be pissed off more than anything. I don't understand why you summoned me, let alone summon Daniel back here. K'un-L'un is lost." Hei-Xie angrily protested.

"You speak blasphemy, Hei-Xie!" Lei-Kung thundered. "Know your place!"

"No." Hei-Xie calmly responded, placing his dagger back into his belt.

"Why are you so lost, Hei-Xie?" Iron Fist inquired. "Your arrogance forced your exile from K'un-L'un and even when you have been allowed to return...you still show insolence?"

"Easy to compare me when you're the one with the Iron Fist, Daniel." Hei-Xie coldly answered, turning his attention to Lei-Kung. "Look, I'm not going to play nice with Davos if he shows up, Lei-Kung. If you want to re-think your strategy of if and when he returns, I'll be in town. Until then, leave me out of it."

With that, Hei-Xie stormed off out the doors of the great hall. Iron Fist and Lei-Kung watched as the former exile stormed off, just as he did several years ago into the snowy streets of K'un-L'un.


A/N: This is something I came up with a while back, but I lost my inspirational juice along the way and ran out of ideas. Let me know if I should continue it. Also, a big warm thanks to my good friend Aferus. He worked with me on ideas for this, hell, he even helped with the writing!