Chapter 2: The One Eyed Warrior.
"Smooth Criminal" by Michael Jackson begins.
He didn't know why he kept making these trips during the day; it was an incredibly stupid move for a tactician like himself to make. The best time to do things like this was at night, when he had a better of chance of getting away unseen. Still, the sun was high in the sky and there was nothing he could do about it now - he just had to get in, get what he needed, and get out.
The one-eyed commander carefully padded across the rooftops of several houses as he made his way towards the farmer's market of Gongmen City. He was always mindful to keep to the shadows and when he couldn't he jumped from roof to roof so fast he was sure no one would be able to make out the black and gray blur even if they saw him. He hoped so at least. He couldn't afford to let any of the Gongmenites know he had played a stunt like this, sneaking back into their city, because it would lead them straight to the other wolves.
Three months had passed since the failed invasion of Gongmen and pretty much all of China. The city was an absolute wreck. Huts were destroyed, the wharf was burnt to a crisp, and the Tower of the Sacred Flame, which had been an icon of the city for generations, was in pieces - all of this was collateral damage of Shen's war. In just a few weeks he and his minions had devastated Gongmen City, leaving Masters Ox and Croc with one hell of a mess to clean up.
Po and the Furious Five had offered to stay and help rebuild but the older Masters insisted that their place was back in the Valley of Peace, protecting their people, and the longer they were away the bigger risk of something happening there, so they sent them all on their way.
Instead they recruited the help of the royal palace guard (the ones that were actually still loyal to the city) to help them clean up. For the record, they were some of the worse fighters Zhong had ever seen (nowhere near as good as their mentors), but they got the job done of keeping the city on its feet during its time of weakness.
While Ox and Croc focused mainly on rebuilding the palace/courthouse, the wharf, and other important structures, the guard cleaned the rest of the village (an effort that still wasn't finished yet), while keeping out unwanted intruders who might take advantage of the city's lowered defenses.
They were the reason Zhong was crawling along rooftops and hiding in the shadows of alleys; they might be sorry fighters but if just one of them caught sight of him and reported his appearance to their superiors, Ox and Croc would know Zhong's pack was still in the area and hunt them down.
Even though more than a hundred bodies had been found in the wharf, the masters knew the body count should have much bigger and realized that part of Shen's army had managed to survive and escape. They knew they had to still be somewhere in China, but didn't have the time or resources to go looking for them.
So instead of leaving the forest and hiding somewhere further away like his men had suggested they do, Zhong had his troops remain exactly where they were; knowing the royal guard would never think to look for them right under their noises. It was a risky move but a successful one nonetheless.
Of course Zhong always pushed their luck when he did crazy stuff like this - sneaking into the capital city to steal food and supplies for his pack. Hunting had been almost nonproductive lately and they were all going to go hungry if he didn't do take this risk. His lieutenants, Tai and Jing, suggested coming with him, but he only told them the same thing he always told them whenever they would ask - he worked better solo.
So the canine looked all around him, and as stealthily as he could, jumped down to the street, never making more than a soft thud as he landed. A bit paranoid (and rightfully so) he looked around him again, and made his way towards an abandoned bread cart. Well, not abandoned, just left unattended for the moment while it's owner was away; which meant he didn't have much time.
Zhong picked up a loaf in his furry paws and observed the grainy wheat food, grimacing slightly. It wasn't meat, but it'd have to do. "Leaf eaters", he thought, wondering why some people actually enjoyed eating these things. He stuffed more than a few loaves in the burlap sack he had brought with him, but stopped halfway.
He and his men had already destroyed most of these people's homes…and now he was stealing their food. Talk about rubbing salt in their wounds. He quickly shook off the thought and resumed his pilfering; after all, anything for the survival of the pack, right? So why did his own words from so long ago sound so bitter now?
He moved a few alleys down and found another unattended cart, this one filled with apples. The fruit definitely tasted better than the bread, but still wasn't filled with juicy red blood despite its deceptively red appearance.
Speaking of the color red….
The owners of Gongmen's liquor store really shouldn't haven't left their backdoor unlocked, considering the precious substance they sold there.
It had been way too long since Zhong had tasted any kind of delicious alcohol on his lips, and considering how tense things were back at the camp he knew his men wouldn't mind him bringing some back to speed up the long, boring nights either.
By the time he was done stuffing bottles into it, the sack was half-way full. He only had one last thing he needed to pick up – medical supplies.
Though they were out of action, injuries within the pack still happened quite often; whether they were accidental, self-inflicted, or the result of two wolves pissing each other off. Now Xen was a good doctor, but even he needed real material to work with – bandages, ointment, and other stuff that Zhong didn't really give a damn about but knew was necessary.
Stealing from the hospital would just be plain crazy (even for him), so he chose to loot one of the local healers. Unfortunately for him the family was still at home, so as quietly as he could he climbed in the upstairs window, raided their rooms for all the doctor-y stuff he could find, and got out as fast as he got in.
His task was complete, and he couldn't get out of Dodge quick enough.
But despite how badly he wanted to just leave and be done with this part of the day, Zhong couldn't stop himself from stopping and looking down at the street below, when he saw something troubling out of the corner of his eye.
It was troubling because he saw two men, a pair of bison, hassling one of the village women. They weren't part of the city guard, just two of the city's annoyances; and the female wasn't like the other villagers. She was a gray wolf.
Imagine being a gray wolf living in a city full of leaf eaters after your kind just destroyed said city? Life would suck pretty badly. And Zhong knew that because he sometimes saw the difficulties of her life firsthand when he snuck into Gongmen; he could never stop himself from watching.
The unfortunate girl, whose name was Shu by the way, had come to Gongmen City about two months ago. She was just one of the many people who came there every year to start a new life in the metropolis. She had expected to be one of the first wolves living in the famed city for generations. Instead when she got there she found out her dream town was a wreck and she was very unwelcome by her neighbors, who either ignored her or told her to leave.
Of course she stayed, and Zhong had to admit he admired her stubbornness and unwillingness to back down. She wasn't exactly a sight for sore eyes either. Yeah maybe he felt kind of perverted having his eyes on a she-wolf who looked to be about half his age, but she was just the kind of female he would have fallen for in his youth. The kind he'd like to be his mate, if things were different and his life wasn't totally screwed up. And that's saying something, because the boss wolf wasn't a man who was easily impressed.
Anyway, the Shu girl's problem at the moment was that she was being followed around everywhere by two brothers who didn't seem to understand the meaning of the word 'no'.
"Come on, just one kiss", one of them coaxed sleazily.
"I want one", the other slurred.
Shu (who after saying no the first time had been trying her best to ignore them) turned around and frowned at the pair. "Are you drunk?", she asked, having a pretty good idea about what the answer would be.
"We might have had a few shots down at the tavern", the older one said nonchalantly, or as nonchalant as a drunk guy can get.
"I know, we can share you", his younger sibling suggested out of the blue.
Shu scowled. "You can't 'share' me, I'm not a prostitute. Now get that through your thick, inebriated heads", she growled, obviously offended.
"Inebriated?", the younger one asked, obviously confused by the really big word she just used.
"Hey you're the one walking around in public dressed like that", the older sibling shot back.
Shu glanced down at the flower dress she had picked out for herself that morning. "And what's wrong with the way I dress?", she asked, growing impatient.
"It is pretty short", Zhong noted, grinning to himself when he saw how it just barely went as low as her knees.
"You're a tease", the horned mammal told her.
Shu narrowed her eyes and turned on her heels. "I don't have to listen to this", she decided, walking off with her head held high.
She didn't get very far however, before her arm was caught in the grip of a very pissed off bison. "You're not going anywhere until we get what we want", the voice of the older brother said from behind her.
"Yeah, we've waited a long time to find a girl who's at least close to our size, and attitude problem or not you'll just have to do", the younger male added, flanking his big brother like Shu guessed he always did.
The lupine sighed in frustration. "Well boys, you picked the wrong girl to mess with", she declared, before she bent over and tossed the bigger animal over her shoulder. He landed flat on his back in the sand and his younger sibling had just enough time to realize what happened before his face was met with Shu's foot.
"Oh-ho!", Zhong chortled, a childish grin on his face as he watched the troublemakers get their butts kicked by a girl. And one of his kind to add to the pleasure. This was getting good.
Still, he had to get back to the forest before someone saw him.
Any minute now.
The older brother snarled, and wiped dirt off his clothes. "You're gonna pay for that bitch", he promised.
Shu's unfazed expression remained the same as he charged towards her. She waited until he was right on top of her before she stuck out her foot and tripped the goon up, humiliating him once again.
"She's pretty smart too", Zhong noted as he saw how quickly the girl thought on her feet. Then he noticed the other of the two men sneaking up behind her. He almost, foolishly, shouted at her to watch out, but kept his mouth closed and let the scene play out uninterrupted.
Shu found herself tackled to the ground, buried underneath a ton of bison weight, her face only a few inches away from that cretin's. "I told you I'd get that kiss", he taunted her, as he inched towards her lips. He came close but didn't quite make contact, because even though Shu couldn't move her limbs she could still move her head. The she-wolf head-butted him with all the force she had and the bison screamed, falling to the ground besides her.
Zhong, feeling just like an idiot, raised a paw to his mouth to keep himself from laughing his ass off. It was just that funny. And he hadn't laughed this much (real laughter instead of the bitter, mocking kind) in years.
Still, Shu couldn't keep it up forever. It was two against one, and no matter how crafty she was her opponents were still bigger and stronger than her – and likely had more stamina. She would tire out before they did.
Oh, he really should be going.
Suddenly Shu felt herself being lifted into the air and then sent crashing back down like a rag doll. Big brother had returned and literally threw her into the ground in a drunken rage. "That's it whore, we're done playing around!", he snarled, close to his breaking point.
The younger bison, whose head was still bleeding from Shu's last assault, shared his brother's expression of both fury and lust as said brother helped him to his feet. "I'm going to enjoy this", he said, trying to make the female afraid.
It didn't work.
As the two made their way towards her, she stood her ground instead of running away or calling for help (no one would have come anyway, almost everyone there wanted her gone). She was like a rock standing up to the oncoming tide.
But before either one of the threesome could make their next move, the bigger bison realized his little brother wasn't standing beside him anymore. He looked up to see a screaming mammal being dragged upwards by a long black arm, connected to what looked like a crazed, one-eyed lupine clinging to the side of a wall like Spider-Man. Shu's back-up had arrived.
Greeting the would-be rapist with his fist, Zhong let the stalker fall back to the street – right on top of his brother – and jumped down after him.
Shu looked away, expecting him to seriously hurt himself, but the older canine landed agilely on both feet and wasted no time in continuing where he left off. Not wanting to give them time to call for help, see his face, or even realize what the hell was happening, he slammed their heads together, knocking them both out cold.
Once he was sure the job was done, he let the scum slip from his fingers and land side by side on the street. When they woke up, suffering from an even bigger hangover headache than usual, they wouldn't bother Shu anymore.
"Amy and Rory" by Murray Gold begins.
Shu, mouth wide open, stared right at him as soon he turned his attention back to her – getting a nice good look at his face. Like most of his kind he was tall and lanky but also plenty muscular. He had a mohawk, short floppy ears, one good eye with a crimson iris, a goatee, lots of fur, and seemed to be wearing poorly-made homemade clothes (whoever sewed them obviously had no idea what he or she was doing).
"Who…who are you?", she asked. She almost expected him to say 'the midnight stranger', but that wouldn't have made any sense. Instead the gray wolf ignored her and bounded into the air, scaling the wall he just jumped down from and disappearing over the rooftop.
Once he was out of eyesight Zhong cursed himself for being so stupid and getting involved. He would never have let that girl seen him if he hadn't thought she was pretty. At least, that's what he told himself.
He growled and shook his head, tossing his sack of stolen items over his shoulders and running away in the direction of Gongmen Forest. He wouldn't be taking any more trips into the city anytime soon.
Shu meanwhile was left trying to piece together what just happened. A random stranger just saved her life. Another wolf just saved her life. And he jumped down from someone's rooftop, which meant he must have already been hiding there, watching the whole thing. Spying on her.
That would have been totally creepy if not for the fact that for a stalker, Shu thought that one-eyed guy was pretty cute. Not exactly a sight for sore eyes.
Author's Notes:
The Wolf Boss is often written as a lover of all kinds of alcohol in fanfics (like "The End" for example). For whatever reason, I've always thought this fits him and his reckless personality, so I decided to continue the 'tradition'.