Chapter 3

China Town

The next morning, she awoke feeling much better. She would need to take stock of her resources and allies. At least one nest of evil was destroyed. She felt the ley lines vibrate slightly as they were still realigning them selves. She had destroyed a facility that was using the power of the web of life to feed a machine to control the minds of the normal people it was focused on. The company had used the scientists they controlled to design other machines they could use to create power for themselves by force instead of working with what the world had to offer. They had succeeded in releasing a demon. That demon was what she had worked so hard these last weeks to destroy.

She looked around her retreat and found many supplies that would need replenished.

That night after a productive day, her avatar took her thoughts into her past again.

On the boat ride from China, she learned to control her appearance. The proximity to that many people for that long allowed her to understand the feel for different body types. She chose to look like a boy for a while. About her own height and weight but look a little older around nineteen.

San Francisco was a crazy town. There were too many people here. Many of them were lost. They had become so tied up grasping for things that they didn't care what happened to the world or anything else. She felt pressed on from all sides.

When she got off the boat, the authorities asked her questions about her family. She kept the answers as straight forward as she could but still kept the form of a boy. She had claimed to have family in North Dakota.

Life was so different here. She wandered over to China Town. One of the temples caught her attention. She went inside to meditate. She got her remaining set of robes from her case and wore them. In the main room, she sat near the back. Suddenly in her meditation, she felt herself in the presence of the strongest node she had ever felt. Mana strongly began to flow into her. Its presence filled her. She felt at peace. When she opened her eyes, she found she was the center of a group of worshipers.

"Oh blessed lady, the light of your transcendence filled us all with peace."

"May the light of peace guard and protect each of you," was her response. As she reached forward to touch the lady's head to complete the blessing, her sleeve pulled back. Most of the people there saw the scar on her forearm. A whispering set up in the temple.

One of the elders approached her, "Are you here to fight evil as the prophecy says?"

'How wide spread is that damn prophecy' she thought to herself. "What evil besets you that you would ask my help?"

"One of the gangs is trying to get supremacy over all Chinatown. The leader is a cruel and vicious man that will kill for no reason and often steals a girl and abuses her just because he can get away with it. The people are too frightened of him to fight back. His gang is large. If he and his lieutenants were removed the gang would be more reasonable."

"Are all of his lieutenants bad?"

"No there is one they call Scarface that actually has a good heart. He would control the gang if the rest were removed."

"I will need the use of a smithy and tools. Iron stock and coal as well. Afterward I may need a place to heal and rest. Are you willing to meet my needs?"

There was a murmured conversation. A different lady turned to her, "My granddaughter was taken. She was raped many times abused and beaten. She is still suffering but she lives. Many do not. My son has a smithy you may use. You may stay in his house. We will all make sure there is food to feed you. You may stay as long as you need."

Helen went with the woman. When her family came to this country the woman's husband insisted that they all take English names. She used the name Sally, her son's name was Bill and the daughters name was Sarah. Bill's wife had died two years ago.

Bill was at his forge when Sally brought Helen. "Mother, who have you brought home now? I have told you I am not seeking a wife."

"Bill be still. This is Helen. She will help all of us with our problems. To do that, she needs to use your forge. She will be here as long as necessary. Where is Sarah?"

"She is still in her room. You know that's where she stays since those bastards …" his voice broke.

Helen spoke with a quiet voice, "Sally will you introduce me to Sarah?"

There was something about her that made it impossible for Sally to say no. She took her inside and introduced her to Sarah. Then because it seemed the right thing to do, she left them alone.

Helen quietly talked to Sarah. She told the parts of her story she could, growing up in China, learning at the temple, helping people and then her own rape. She discussed her healing and learning how to work metal. This whole time, she was slowly using her healing powers to take away Sarah's pain and hurt. By the time, Helen was finished talking and Sarah had told what happened to herself, she was feeling much better. When they left the bedroom to help Sally fix supper she was even smiling some of the time.

Sally took one look at her granddaughter and hugged her. Then she walked up to Helen, "Thank you so much. She hasn't smiled since." She hugged Helen who wasn't expecting it. Then turned to the kitchen and continued working on supper.

Bill came in for supper angry. He was mad at his mother. He was mad at this interloper who was going to take over his business for a while. He was mad at the whole world. About half way through the meal, he realized he had been hearing his daughter's voice. He looked at her sharply a caught a smile as she was talking about something to Sally. He looked again. Yes, his daughter was smiling. He interrupted everyone, "What's going on here?" He demanded.

"Honorable son the monk has healed your daughter."

"What monk? All monks are male."

Helen simply moved her sleeves and showed him her arms. He sat there a moment. Suddenly he moved. Helen prepared herself for defense. She found herself looking at the top of his head as he bowed to her. "All that I have is yours. You have given me my daughter back. If I can help you in any way let me know."

Sarah got up and hugged her father, "Thank you father, I was afraid you would deny the use of your forge to her. She does need to use it to help others."

Over the next three weeks, Helen was able to craft a beautiful dao (Chinese Sword). She started with bar stock. With minor help from her spells, she was able to craft a multifold sword that most smiths would have taken six months to a year to create. She cut the nine symbols into the blade that represented the nine spheres of magic. On the last day, she performed a ritual that converted the iron to a magic metal lighter than steel and harder than diamond while still being flexible.

During the time she was making the sword, the family used their contacts around China Town to find where the gang leaders hung out. She also had them get her a simple white gee.

The day came and she was ready. They drove her to where most of the gang leaders hung out. She cast a shield on herself before getting out of the car. Wearing her sword on her back, she approached the building. The clubhouse looked like a bar from the outside. The second and third stories could easily be rooms for "working" girls. When she entered, she was able to tell who the leaders were from their descriptions and how they acted.

She turned toward the gang leader and said, "Are you the leader of the gang that has the stupidity of calling itself the Red Dragons?"

Immediately the leader jumped up. His honor was soiled. "You bitch. I was going to have fun with you upstairs but after I'm done with you there won't be anything left."

"You aren't man enough to do that and if this is the quality of the helpers you have, you would be better off starting a daycare. All you can handle are little children."

The leader was enraged. He leaped up to attack her, sending the table he was by flying. She stood there waiting for him. As soon as he came within range, she hit him hard in the solar plexus. No one saw the blow delivered. He came stumbling back into his friends. In a loud penetrating voice she asked, "Is there anywhere we can do this right to see if you have any skill, or do you just want to take this outside? I guess you could say I'm calling you out."

Scar stepped up, "There is an unused parking lot behind the building. Be warned that by calling him out, he can use anything he wants except a gun. You can't pull out a weapon until he does."

She didn't trust any of these slimes. She was positive if things looked bad someone would try to shoot her from the building. None of the leaders had any honor.

The leader and his lieutenants lead the way. Helen followed them. After her came the rest of the gang that was in the building. There was a large square painted on the parking lot. The fight started slowly. She used blocks and minor strikes only. The leader was going all out and could hardly ever touch her. After one strike knocked him back, one of his friends jumped in also. She didn't have any more trouble with the two of them than one. The other friends joined except for Scar. Now she was fighting five. She was starting to feel good about her workout when suddenly weapons appeared in their hands. Three were using knives, one using two sai and one nunchucks. They were definitely trying to kill her. She switched to mortal blows. The fight was over in just minutes. Four were dead and one had his hip completely shattered.

She turned to face Scar waiting to see what he would do. He bowed to her as one would bow to a superior. She returned it with very short bow. Addressing the members, she spoke, "We need to have a meeting. Gather all the gang. Be here tomorrow morning at 9:00 or suffer." She pulled Scar aside and asked him to meet her earlier at 8:00.

She went back home. She told the family she was staying with that she had won and she would be changing the direction of the Dragons.

The next morning she met with Scar to make sure she had his backing. Then she addressed the Gang, "Your leaders in ignorance picked the symbol of a red dragon to scare people into leaving them alone. That is not the true purpose of a red dragon it is a western idea. The red dragon is an earth dragon a protector of the people. You gathered together in a gang for your protection, that is a good thing. Your leaders turned that into a way to make them money not to really protect you. They stressed loyalty and leadership not for your benefit but for theirs. I also stress loyalty but for a different purpose. My purpose is to protect the people. Don't your families deserve protection from other gangs? Your businesses deserve to be protected to be able to flourish. You should be able to make honest money and be proud. We should be proud to be dragons. Once the people know we are there to protect them they will be proud to have us work with them."

"Some of you have problems. You have drug addictions or sex addictions. Some of you have no education. Some of you were made whores very young and don't know anything else. If you want help, we will help. Those of you who steal to live, this has to stop. We will protect our people. We will have honor. We want the shop people to trust us to the point they call us if they have a problem. Think of the pride in that, think of the honor. This will not happen overnight but we can do this. We will protect all Chinatown!"

"We will have a new symbol to show we are different. A symbol we can wear anywhere with pride. Scar will you come up here?"

She grabbed a new headband from a box behind her. "Scar do you swear on your honor to protect these people and help lead us in this new endeavor?"

"Yes, I do so swear"

She tied the headband in place. When he turned, everyone could see that it was expensive. It had a dragon in red embroidered on a white field. "My people I give you my second in command. You know him he did not agree with the old leader but chose to stay and help you his people. We are still red dragons but we wear it on a white background to symbolize our purpose of protecting all. May those who hurt our people beware!" With that, she put a headband on herself.

The crowd caught up in the moment started chanting "Dragon". Letting the go for a couple of minutes, she again spoke, "All of you who can honorably swear to protect the dragon and our people see Scar and swear. Those of you that need help with addictions or an education come and see me. Scar and I will be working with some of our people to see if we can find jobs for those of you who want them. Get with Scar in a few days for that information. Any of you who need food or a place to stay come and see us."

Over the weeks that followed, she used her talents to forge a second sword and a supple suit of armor out of the alchemical metal. The weight of the armor was not more than wearing sweat pants and shirt and it breathed very well. She also spent time converting base metal to gold and coal crystallized into diamond, these she sold through her contacts in Chinatown and set up an education fund for the needy of the area.

By the time she had been in San Francisco for a year, the lot of all the Chinese was much better. The red dragons rose to the task. They had to kick some out, but they became known as hard workers for the people. They reveled in the recognition. It would be something they would stay all their lives and be proud of it.