Getting Gutou Daisui was easier said than done, mostly because they had to find him first. And considering he'd only recently escaped prison it came as a surprise to none of them that he was not walking around in broad daylight.
Tigress couldn't help the small growls of frustration that kept coming out of her. She didn't want to be mad at any of them, they were all doing their best. But their best was not enough. Bao Gu needed the money, or else it would close and then where would her parents be? They were the only family she had...
"You know he may not even be in this part of China." Came Crane's slightly quivering voice. He was scared of her. Just like all the children in the orphanage, he was scared of her. The growl escaped her before she could stop it, and the avian stumbled slightly in his step. This only served to tighten her already shaking fists.
But there was some truth to his statement. They were in a town not far from Pinqu, where Gutou had first been apprehended, but there was no particular reason for the lynx to show up here.
"Calm down Tigress." Viper soothed. "And don't worry Crane. Even if we don't get to Gutou we still have my dad to fall back on."
Another stab of jealousy made Tigress growl. The snake had parents to fall back on, a mother and father that supported her... She took a breath inside herself. She needed to remain calm, for her parent's sake.
"Yeah." Agreed Mantis, also eyeing Tigress with hints of worry. She was walking stiffly, her paws clenched into fists, growling ever-so-often.
Monkey could feel the tension in the air around them, and never a big fan of the feeling, decided they could chat about... anything. In truth he hadn't really gotten to know much about his peers. They'd beaten Boar together, sure, and he had the gist of their personalities, but for people who lived together that was remarkably little.
He knew Tigress had once been in an orphanage, though she rarely talked about that. He knew Mantis had been an aspiring doctor at one point, and had also beaten up the Wool Stealing Croc Bandits due to some excellent use of patience. He knew Crane had been a janitor at Lee Da, before getting transferred to another school, where he'd also served as janitor (it was optional apparently). And he knew all about Viper's father, Grand Master Viper, but very little about the snake herself.
He was taken out of this train of thought when suddenly, Tigress' paw shot out in front of him. Her voice was barely more than a whisper.
"I think we found him."
The figure she was referring to was as pink as the wanted poster, though his face was hidden under the rim of a long, black hood. They walked slowly, as if trying to hide a limp. Deliberately they made their way over to a restaurant, and spoke in a hushed voice with the cook.
"Okay." Said Tigress. "Crane, eyes in the sky. Viper, you and I cover this way, Monkey, make sure he can't go out back. Mantis, you go head on. Wait for my signal."
They all nodded and assumed their positions. Tigress could feel her heart beat steadily intensifying. This was it. If they could bag the lynx then her family was safe.
She gave the signal, a singl nod.
Mantis ripped the hood off the figure's face, declaring boldly "Your ass is mine!" Only for his eyes to widen in shock when he found himself facing, not the young killer on the wanted poster, but rather an old lady, shortened and wizened by age.
Then the bug gave a quick glance at the chef, who was the spitting image of her.
"What have you got against my grandma?" He demanded, eyes narrowed intensely.
Mantis gulped and raised his thingies into the air. "I can explain."
"We just lost all our savings." Shock filled Crane's voice.
Fury would have filled Tigress', but she forced herself to remain in control and to keep her mouth shut. Tempting though it was to blame Mantis for his poor choice of words, it had been she who had made the mistake of spotting the old lady in the first place.
Focus Tigress, focus. Your family needs you now! She tried not to think how many times she'd needed her family, but they had never been able to help her. She wondered did they feel the same, gut-wrenching helplessness as she did. Probably not.
"There's still my dad." Viper said warily. The snake was sure someone would eventually get tired of hearing her repeat that.
"I could try another show." Monkey offered.
"No!" Mantis, Viper and Crane exclaimed in unison. The simian blinked and shrugged, sighing deeply. His jokes had never been that good. Turning away he noticed a hooded figure walking into the same restaurant without trace of a limp. His clothes were brand new, but too big for him. Stolen, perhaps?
"Hey, that looks like our guy." He pointed out as slyly as he could.
Tigress' eyes narrowed. "Are you sure?" She really didn't want another one of those incidents.
"What if I shout his name and see if he turns around?" Mantis offered.
"Yeah, give our position away." Crane muttered sarcastically. "I'm sure he won't start running the second he realizes we're talking about him."
Still, it seemed like a good idea. "GUTOU DAISUI!"
The figure froze, the whole street froze, even Tigress, Crane, Viper and Monkey froze. If he had been smarter, the assassin would have shrugged and continued walking away. Instead, he bolted.
"Well, that worked." Mantis couldn't help giving Crane a satisfied smirk.
"Yeah, he's only running away!" The avian shot back, before swooping into the air.
The black cloak billowed behind the lynx as he ran. Tigress was bounding on all fours, she was quicker than him, she knew she was. She'd been training for years. She pounced, claws outstretched. The figure changed direction, and Tigress missed by an inch. Unable to stop her momentum she hit an apple cart, while the lynx scrambled up a wall and onto a roof.
Monkey was a faster climber, and leapt over him. "You are under arrest!" The simian declared, ready to use force if necessary.
The lynx raised his paws in surrender, and Monkey let his guard down too quickly. His belt was pulled free before he knew what was happening, and then it was being smacked across his face. If his cheek didn't hurt so much he'd have complained about someone stealing his move, but the cat was getting away.
Gutou jumped from rooftop to rooftop, scrambling desperately, despite the uneven surface below. The tiger was still giving chase, though was not as steady on the sliding tiles. The monkey was catching up quickly. He did not see the snake before it was too late.
The assassin tripped and slid forwards. He ran out of roof instead of momentum and fell to the ground below. He rolled to the side to avoid Mantis' kick, and swatted the bug away before scrambling back to his feet and continuing the chase.
Tigress saw him hurtle forwards and pounced. Her feet left the rooftop and for a second she was soaring through the air. She twisted mid-fall, landing an outstretched foot to the side of her opponent's head. The lynx skidded into a wall, his head no doubt ringing from the blow, but he was quick enough to swerve away from Tigress' next attack. His reply was a swift jab to the ribs. Tigress tanked the attack, and smashed his form hard against the wall. Stumbling, the lynx threw himself into a roll, before steadying himself in the middle of the street. The hood fell away.
Viper was surprised by how much fear there was in his face. Most criminals she'd seen her father deal with (or dealt with herself) had been mindless brutes, this one didn't even seem fully grown. Unhealthily thin despite the pouchy face, his lack of fur further drove home the image of someone slowly dying of illness. Still Viper reared back and entered her stance. This was too important to Tigress to just throw away.
He was surrounded. Mantis, Monkey, Tigress and Viper guarded every way around him, and Crane made sure he wasn't going anywhere above.
Tigress took a deep breath, this was it, she'd done it. There was only a small hint of hesitation as she made her move. He had gone to jail for a reason, she assured herself.
"Nobody move!" He demanded suddenly, removing what looked very much like an explosive from his cloak.
"Calm down buddy, we're not gonna hurt you." Mantis assured. "We just need to claim your bounty so we can stop Ba-" Before he could finish his sentence the lynx had lighted the fuse and hurled it in the direction of a window.
Instinct made Crane dive , Tigress pounce, Monkey leap, Viper launch and Mantis hop. They were warriors, trained to save lives, and not even the threat of loosing their bounty could stop them going for the bomb. Their appendages all grabbed it at the same time, just as the fuse reached it's middle.
A puff of smoke burst out of the thing, which fell apart to reveal a bunch of dust and a kind of spring mechanism. Crane blinked.
"Oh right, it was just a smoke bomb." Mantis said, taking a huge sigh of relief.
Then they turned back and found that Gutou was nowhere in sight.
Tigress gave a roar of frustration and half-heartedly raced down one street, while her mind told her to go down another street and her instincts highlighted a third. Yet the lynx had vanished.
She stood up, angry, but did not know who to be angry with. They had all dived for the bomb, which in the end had not even been a bomb! And they had had him cornered.
As she walked back to the other four as casually as she could, noting with great disdain the way Monkey and Crane seemed to edge away from her, much like the children at the orphanage, she was greeted by a grinning Mantis. She was tempted to squash him then and there.
"Looks like Gutou dropped something." He was holding up a map, which Tigress hurriedly snatched up. It showed every orphanage in their province, and every orphanage had a small red cross drown over it. Except for one. The very one etched forever in Tigress' memory.
Footnote: Yeah things are moving really quickly aren't they? Well I decided, since this fic is mostly based off of Secret of the Scroll I'd take a leaf from their book. So if you've seen it you'll probably remember that it's only 20-ish minutes. Characters move from one place to another really quickly, and most of the emotional bits were dealt with with minor details in the animation, ie Tigress' eye. When I said this is a short fic I mean it's a short fic. (5 or 6 chapters depending on if I add a filler chapter) I want to see how much development I can get out of these characters without devoting a lot of time into their thoughts. The exception I suppose is Tigress but even then I'm not really going as deeply into her head as I normally do. Or maybe it's just a not yet :)
For those of you who know who Gutou Daisui is, this takes place after Back In the Day: The Assassin, though I work by a less specific timeline now (as in I'm not sure exactly how much time has passed between those two stories) just know that he is still young.