Okay, I admit it: the last chapter was a bit skimpy. Our heroes meet up and our protagonist was sent to china…not the most interesting developments (though I think Penny made quite the first impression, no?). You want to see some violence, correct? If so, this chapter will disappoint. Or not. I haven't actually written any of the chapter at the time in which I am writing this paragraph, but I have enough plot points for the next two chapters, so we'll see how this goes.

For those of you who read my distrac-uh…I mean, my extra story, how did you like it? Was it worth your time? I hope so, b/c otherwise my soul will ache with…aw, who am I kidding. I'm white! I don't have a soul, and I'm proud of it!

Okay, so I am going to try to get this out in as short a time as possible. I have a (mostly) free weekend, and classical dubstep (how great is that?) to keep me company. Next up is some Lindsey Stirling :). (Hehe, word autocorrects to a little smiley emoticon). One might say: "why classical dubstep?" Well, it doesn't have any words. Have you ever been typing and suddenly the music lyrics form on the page? It's like I'm on the highway to hell…see what I've done? Confused? Then maybe you should brush up on some good music, or be blinded…by the light (no?). Whatever, it doesn't really matter if we make it or not! XD I'm not that amusing, but my attempts to be usually are.

As always, asterisks represent more detailed explanation/research on the current subject (such as technology and terminology). They aren't usually essential to understanding the story, but people seem to like them (at least I haven't heard any complaints…), and I admit that I take pride in bringing the most scientifically accurate material I can to the figurative table (as I don't often use one when typing), or at least as scientifically accurate as a magical fantasy multi-fiction fusion adventure can be.

Again, the title has a lot of thought put into it, and is important, as it really sets up the entire chapter. If I can't think of a good title, then I don't write anything until I do. If you haven't already skipped all of this, then I applaud you *applauds*, and will your true name has been written down in the record of this universe, so that you may be reincarnated in the next one. Now you can laugh at all the suckers who didn't read this while you're reading the best authors…in the next universe (though of course, due to properties of space-time fluctuation, it will be as if they never existed, so you couldn't really laugh at them, but whatever).

Chapter 9

Rift of Divergence

Jade Nishimori was a seemingly tireless machine of ruthless efficiency. No one ever saw her sleep or show the slightest sign of fatigue. A few associates had wondered if she was actually a robot, but their misgivings were quickly displaced when she ate and drank like everyone else. She was often seen at all times of the day and night, and she was one of the few "24-hour" agents, which meant that she could be called to any assignment without warning.

This did not mean that she was never fatigued; in fact, a large rush of adrenaline and over a day without sleep before the flight to china-during which she had plans to finalize, reports to write, and calls to make- had wearied her. This was not a one-time thing; she often felt a bit strained as shorter missions turned into much longer ones, such as now. This would be quite the problem if she had not mastered an extremely useful practice: meditation*. When Master Xu brought it up (he was giving her a quick lecture on the history of some different types of martial arts), she hadn't thought much of it, but when she heard about the possible benefits, she decided to try it out. Sitting in her room, she had closed her eyes and concentrated on nothing in particular, not expecting what came next. The feeling was hard to describe…not floating, more of a controlled fall through empty space. Her consciousness, no, her point of view, had shifted to the center of her being. She wasn't sure what to do next; she wanted to stay in that state for as long as possible, but she could feel it slipping away…feel herself slipping away to the fullness of reality. She was astonished, to say the least. Hours had passed, and she had been aware of the time, her surroundings, but simultaneously it had seemed but a moment in that timeless pocket of higher awareness, a fleeting glimpse of what many described as "nirvana".

From that point on, Jade had read all she could on the subject, practicing regularly and experimenting with new techniques. For some reason, it came easily to her, sloughing off physical distractions and immersing herself in meditation for hours at a time. She found it exceedingly convenient to meditate in lieu of sleep, as she remained aware throughout.

So she sat down on the floor of the plane** (her position didn't really matter, but it was the style she was most comfortable with), closed her eyes, and spent the rest of the trip in silent meditation.

Section 13, ten hours ago…

Captain Black looked a bit skeptical. "China?"

Penny resumed her presentation, the projector now showing a satellite photo cropped to show a particular building. "Yeah. To be precise, M.A.D. intends to hit The Palace Museum. Unfortunately, I have no idea just what they are going to steal." She shrugged apologetically.

Black sighed. "All right, I'll get Interpol; have local law enforcement take care of it."

"I wouldn't if I were you, sir." Before Black could protest, Penny addressed the room again. "Sorry, Captain, but the police just aren't going to cut it. M.A.D. is sending in their best agent for the job; Dr. Claw only sends them to do the most difficult and important tasks, so we can infer that there is something very important in that museum that Claw needs, or his plan fails."

It was Jackie's turn to speak up. "What can you tell us about this agent?"

"Not much, but I think showing you will be more expedient." Tapping a key, Penny called up a rather grainy shot of what seemed to be some sort of compound captured from an aerial view. "This was taken two months ago by a drone I was test-running after I got a tip that Claw was sending his top agent to deal with a renegade smuggler in Brazil who tried to blackmail him by refusing to send him the merchandise he asked for." Looking closely, one could make out a darkly clad individual making their way to the front gate, where multiple men stood guard. More men, presumably guards, patrolled the grounds with various high-powered weapons. "This," Penny jumped ahead to the next slide, "was taken five minutes later." The next shot was from a slightly different angle, and showed the same individual inside the courtyard, surrounded by a few guards; the rest sprawled out on the ground, displaying a path of devastation reaching back to the main entrance. The agent was caught in mid-strike, their leg seeming to rest on one of the opponent's necks. "And five minutes after that, they're gone." Penny didn't bother to show another photo, instead zooming in on the agent, the pixilation causing the image to become even more distorted.

"Are you saying that one man took out an entire smuggling operation singlehanded? That's damn impressive. I should get him to sign up here." Black was joking, mostly. Tag, his best agent, was remarkable in the field, but even he wouldn't be able to resolve a similar situation so quickly.

Penny scowled. "One, we don't know the gender of the agent, though it's likely a "him"; and two, due to the fact that they killed fifteen men with an obviously blatant disregard for human life, I doubt they'll take you up on your offer."

Black just opened and closed his mouth, no sound escaping. Jackie was disgusted. "Are you saying Claw employs a killer to steal for him?"

"It gets worse. I tried to discover the agent's identity, but all I could find were old mission orders. I Cross-referenced the places and times with media entries, and what I found was…" She shook her head and pulled out a list. "[Phoenix, drug lord who got out of line, twenty-seven dead. Rome, gallery theft, two dead. Meyrin Switzerland, Laboratory raid, five dead. Kyoto, arms deal gone bad, eighteen dead…fourteen dead…twenty dead…]" She raised her head, a steely glint in her eyes. "This person is extremely dangerous, a cold-blooded mass-murderer who makes Ted Bundy*** look like a misunderstood child. I've seen the coroner reports: the severity of the beatings point to a hedonistic killer-one who derives some sort of pleasure from crushing a person with their bare hands." Penny pulled a face, remembering the concealed horror and repulsion in the doctor's notes, the gruesome photographs of the victims' mangled features.

There was a moment of silence before Captain Black made a decision (he was a good leader because he made tough decisions and acted where others would waffle). "All right, priority mission, we're going to China. We leave in an hour. Whatever you don't have we'll get there." He turned to Uncle and Tohru "I don't know what they're trying to steal, but if that magical urn is any indication, we may need your expertise." The Chans and Tohru left, Uncle muttering about not knowing what to pack, and how he had to do "Reeeeesearch!" on the Néngyuán container.

Black was left with Gadget, Penny, and Brain looking at him expectantly. "Gadget, you have experience fighting M.A.D., I'll need you on the scene." He swung his gaze to the left (his left, not yours). "You, um…"

"Penny." Penny supplied helpfully.

"…Right. Penny. You can come along if you want, but only if your Uncle is okay with it, and you have to stay at base-ops; I don't want you going anywhere near that maniac." Normally, he wouldn't even think of letting a teenager accompany them, but she was obviously mature for her age, and well informed…a little too well-informed. He doubted her information came from legal sources. Hell, even the spy-drone seemed pretty iffy. He would have to have a serious talk with her about following the law in the near future, but for now he had much bigger fish to fry.

Close to an hour later…

Tohru walked in heavily, weighted down by a number of large tomes he was carrying-research for the flight over-followed by Uncle (who was complaining of pressure changes being bad for his bones), and Jackie, who was carrying two large duffels, as well as a small suitcase for himself (as his job called for extensive travel, he had long learned how to pack light). Gadget and Penny were already there, the inspector having told Chief Quimby of the latest developments, who promptly gave him permission to go. Black walked in a bit late, apologizing briefly. "Sorry, had to give orders on what to do while I'm gone."

Jackie raised his brows, only slightly surprised that his old friend was accompanying them. He must be worried about the whole "destroy everything from here to Dublin" thing; Jackie couldn't blame him, he was anxious as well.

Right as they were about to board the plane, however (Black had chartered a Section 13 jet and got authorization to land in Beijing, not the easiest task for a black-ops arm of the government normally, but the Chinese owed him a few favors), an agent ran up to them. "Captain Black! There are two members of the CSI here…with a signed order from the president!" Black cursed under his breath. "Of all the times…I knew the CSI would come eventually, but they have terrible timing." He sighed and patted Jackie on the shoulder. "Sorry, pal, looks like you'll have to do without me on this one." As he walked away, he gave them a two-fingered salute.

Jackie wondered what the CSI was doing there, but assumed they wanted Black to consult on a case or something like that. Getting on the plane, he deposited the luggage in their proper places and took a seat in one of the dozen comfortable reclining chairs, truly relaxing for the first time in hours. His rest was short-lived as Uncle plopped four books in various states of dustiness onto his lap. "No time for rest, must find out more about the Néngyuán container you acquired." Jackie groaned, but complied, beginning to pour through the condensed, confusing scripts.

Penny watched as Uncle (what an odd name), Tohru, and Jackie searched through random books. She tapped Uncle on the shoulder, and his head spun around to focus a biting glare on her. Penny, undaunted, asked her question. "What are you looking for, anyways?"

"Information on the Néngyuán container. If we find out it's uses and related items, we may find out what this M.A.D. character is up to."

Penny didn't put much faith in magic, but she had an open mind. "Can I help?'

Uncle looked at her scathingly (to be fair, he did that to everyone). "Can you read ancient Chinese dialect, hmmm?"

"I dabble."

Uncle simply huffed and shoved a few books into her hands. Taking that as a dismissal, Penny went to work.

Now, you may find it odd that a young girl such as Penny would know any ancient languages, but an inquisitive mind, free time, and a rather high IQ can create quite the knowledge base. Now, Penny wasn't a linguistic genius, but she had spent enough time working with various languages that she had created translating software that incorporated many programs for individual languages, as well as a few she helped develop, to create a high-functioning amalgam of knowledge that she was actually fairly proud of. She accessed it and was soon absorbed in the translating process. Gadget chatted with the section 13 agents about everything from gardening to football.

Hours passed, and they broke for lunch, which Tohru prepared in the plane's kitchen area (it was quite the fancy plane), allowing Penny to help. More time flowed by uneventfully, until there was a sudden exclamation. Everyone turned towards the noise and found, to their surprise, Brain pointing to a place in a large volume that was in a language unrecognizable to everyone present…besides Uncle, of course. "Aiyaaaah! Now Uncle has seen EEEverything, a dog reading Abjad-Phoenician!**** Let Uncle see what you've got here." Uncle adjusted his glasses and peered at the page for a long moment. " Hmmm….I see what you mean; there is mention of an age-old vessel of energy here that warrants further study….this may be just what we are looking for." Everyone stared at Uncle, waiting. He looked up from the page, annoyed. "Stop bothering Unce! You think Uncle can just translate rare Phoenician manuscript like it's Macedonian? No! Now go away!"*****

Penny gazed out the window at the expansive metropolis. Beijing, over six thousand square miles with a population of around twenty million, with enough historical sites to keep tourists around for weeks; home of the Great Wall, Tiananmen Square, the Temple of Heaven.

The Forbidden City.

[End Chapter 9]

Welcome to the wonderful world of line breaks! On a different note, I didn't even think this chapter would go the way it did, so I didn't get everything I wanted to in ("then why didn't you just write more, cracker?" | "...shut up."). The title still works, but I would put more in if it wouldn't just make it obnoxiously long (like 2-3 chapters...I meant obnoxious to ME, damnit). No checking my work as per usual, so any glaring mistakes just tell me. Please. A while ago someone told me that at the beginning of chapter 2 I said "or the the car in the parking light with it's headlights on"...that's the kind of stuff I'm talking about.

They're all at the city, ok? Well I guess that it's more like they're in the airspace above it, but that still counts, as they'll be on the ground next chapter. Sorry it's taking so long, but there were a lot of things that needed to be done. I was getting too many asterisks there XD. Five in a row? Ridiculous.

Okay, so I got sick Monday, and started really feeling it Tuesday, so I went down to target (yes, they have those in Canada), got myself a bottle of Nyquil and downed a few doses. Some people fall asleep with the ingestion of antihistamines. I am not one of those people. It says to not overdose, but I almost always do with these things (either that or mix and match XD). Not working? Simply take more every two hours or so (less on an empty stomach, as it metabolizes more quickly) until the effects are felt. Dayquil doesn't even do anything for me. So yeah, that's my story, how're things with you?

Oh, and Néngyuán is just the Chinese word for energy. Now you know (props to those of you who just thought "and knowing is half the battle!").

*There are many forms of meditation, and the practices and effects vary accordingly, but all involve a concentration technique (such as staring at a flame, or repeating a menial task) as a basic ritual. Many things have been attributed to meditation: from closeness to a divine being, a superior sense of self, better focus, reduction of stress; to levitation, invisibility, colossal strength, ESP, and immortality. Now, some of these claims are extremely unlikely, but meditation has been known to cause a significant boon to health, balance, creativity, and intelligence. Jade, being incredibly adept at meditation, can actually cut down on the hours of sleep she requires by meditating. It is nigh on impossible to not sleep, but it is possible for a master to reduce sleep to about 2 hours a day. Neat, huh? I have reached states of meditation before, but I am neither well versed nor skilled in the art. I have taken no lessons and have a paltry amount of information on the subject, but this is probably similar to what meditation is like. If you are an expert (all you monks out there reading this…shame on you for indulging in the pleasures of the world), then feel free to correct me, otherwise this shall be regarded as fact.

**This is, of course, a private M.A.D. jet, so she can sit wherever le baise she wants (pardon my French). See? That's how "pardon my French" should be used. On a side note, one of my favorites movies is Cyrano de Bergerac (it ranks up there with V for Vendetta and Twelve Angry Men)…I'm saddened by the fact that many people haven't seen any of those great movies, but grudgingly accept that the era of great movies has reached it's twilight. *lets bad pun sink in* Yes, a bit of a long setup, but I think the results speak for them-…do I hear crickets?

***Yes, I know Ted Bundy wasn't a mass-murderer, he was a serial killer with a twisted personality, but there aren't any widely known mass-murderers, so for comparison purposes he counts. The list? Those are a few of Jade's previous missions. I may make a career timeline for Jade, but to be honest, that sounds really tiring atm, so no promises. Yes, she is a bit violent, but I have already hinted at why that is, and will probably address it later.

****All right, I cheated to make it sound cooler. Abjad is simply the type that the Phoenician alphabet falls into, it being a consonant-based writing system with vowels interjected by the reader. Why can Brain read this? Maybe you'll find out...

*****Accurate translation takes a long time, even if you are incredibly skilled like Uncle is. One must take into account the time period from which it came, the context, and the most likely word to translate the symbols into (some symbols only have a rough English translation or contain ideas that are hard to put into different languages). For example, there is a symbol in the Olmec writing system that can translate to either "heart" or "soul". If you translated it incorrectly, you may think they were quite similar to the Aztecs in nature (that is, if you didn't know that the Olmecs came first, so technically the Aztecs would be similar to them), but in context find that it refers to "a being that is within the body, yet separate", which is undoubtedly the soul.