Hei Nuwang stopped dead halfway down the steps. Someone was coming up the stairs towards her. Hei Nuwang listened. It was two people, both small in size. One of them made no footsteps. Certainly a snake. Hei Nuwang's purple eyes narrowed. She would not let anyone interfere.
She raised her paw, bending her fingers down towards the stairs. A layer of amethyst spread over the steps like a shiny purple carpet, making its way down until it reached the approaching threat. At Hei Nuwang's command hundreds of spikes shot up from the stone, much like those she had failed to murder the insolent Tigress with. Both the red panda and the viper leapt to the sides, avoiding impalement by inches. Hei Nuwang snarled. The mortals' habit of dodging her every attempt to kill them was getting old, fast. She could not, would not let them reach the girl.
She tried again, sending spikes shooting out through the walls and impaling the stone on the other side of the stairway. The red panda leapt straight up and landed safely on the topmost spike. The snake twisted her body in all directions so the spikes missed her completely. They swiftly climbed through the maze of the spikes and continued up the stairs. Hei Nuwang decided then that she needed a distraction.
Just then Izumi rushed down the stairs behind her and stopped at her side. Good timing.
"It is done, my lady." She said bluntly.
Hei Nuwang bit her lip. "Shifu and Viper are coming this way. Think you can distract them?"
Izumi's eyes lit up at the mention of Viper, and she pulled out three knives for each paw. "It would be my pleasure."
"Don't try to kill them. Not yet. I have a few choice words for Oogway's protégée." Izumi scowled and hissed quietly. "But afterwards you will have the snake, I promise."
Izumi looked happier as she turned to face the lower steps and went into her stance. Hei Nuwang stood beside her and focused all her attention on the approaching masters. Anything to take her mind off of what was happening upstairs.
When the red panda and snake finally showed their faces, Izumi moved like lightning. Shifu spun his staff in front of him, deflecting the knives before rushing at Hei Nuwang. Hei Nuwang summoned a pillar of amethyst that shot up and blocked his flying kick, refusing to let herself get distracted by Viper as she leapt at Izumi, fangs bared. She twisted her body to avoid the thrown knives. Izumi pulled out a long dagger and charged.
As the battle between the two women began, Shifu hopped over the top of the pillar and shot down at Hei Nuwang. He dodged the spikes that shot out the pillar in an attempt to impale him. Hei Nuwang realised he was getting too close and tried to step back. She received a punch to the nose that sent her reeling.
"Hei!" Izumi yelled as she blocked Viper's fangs with the flat of her knife. With her free paw she sent a flurry of knives at Shifu. As Shifu did his spinning staff trick again, Hei Nuwang seized her chance. Before he realised he'd been distraced, a streak of purple stone curled around his legs like a snake, making its way up his body until his arms were pinned together. As the red panda cursed, Hei Nuwang turned her attention to the shocked Viper. Izumi kicked her at the wall, and Hei Nuwang took the opportunity to send out two streaks of amethyst that grabbed her neck and tail and stretched her out straight as a chopstick.
Hei Nuwang rubbed her nose, smirking. "That actually hurt."
"Good." Shifu growled. "What have you done with Su?"
Hei Nuwang's smirk vanished. "What I have to."
"Really? You 'have' to murder an innocent child? A child who just so happens to be the reincarnation of your own mother?"
"It's for the good of the universe." Hei Nuwang said firmly.
"I don't see how killing the Mother of Mortals is good for the universe!" Viper yelled.
Hei Nuwang glowered. "I knew you wouldn't understand. Oogway didn't."
"You are not fit to speak his name!" Shifu spat.
"Oogway was not fit to breathe the same air as my mother!" Hei Nuwang spat back. "It's because of him that she died the first time!"
"That's a lie!"
"No, it's the truth." Hei Nuwang crossed her arms. "He forced her to give up her life for the sake of billions of worthless, helpless, pathetic mortals like him! Guess he considered it a sacrifice worthy of a 'kung fu master.'" She paused to let it sink in.
"You're deluded." Shifu said coldly. "Oogway knew the importance of sacrifice, but he would never force it on someone else."
"If you don't want to believe that your precious master isn't a saint, I don't really care. You're going to die, anyway."
"This isn't what Nuwa would want and you know it!" Viper hissed.
"She wanted true balance, and true balance is what she's going to get!" Hei Nuwang flicked a bit of rubble off the tip of Shifu's ear. His ear flinched as he glared hatefully at her. "Now, if you don't mind, I have some more intruders to ensnare!" She started to go down the steps.
"You know as well as I that Nuwa may not really be gone!" Viper said, her eyes becoming narrow slits. "If she's still somewhere inside Su, then she'll hate you. Forever."
Hei Nuwang stopped. She wanted so badly to turn around and eviscerate the snake, then encase her in amethyst and crush her into a little green ball. But she had made a promise to Izumi. She turned to the scarred bobcat. "She's all yours."
Izumi's teeth-baring grin was the last thing Hei Nuwang saw before she continued down the stairs.
The library was one of the few rooms that differed slightly from its sibling in the Palace of the Mind. Instead of an astrolabe, there was a great sapphire statue of a pretty female dragon. Instead of a spiral staircase, there was a great wide straight set of stairs stretching all the way from the top to the bottom, with narrow walkways that led to the middle floors.
Po and Eagle Jr. burst into the mega-awesome library to find it empty. At least it appeared to be empty. Likely not wanting to take that chance, Eagle Jr. looked to Po. "I'll search top to bottom. You check the second library." Po nodded without protest. Eagle Jr. looked from his face to his torso. "Be careful, you two."
As he flew up towards the top floor, Po patted his unusually warm belly. "He still cares about you. Isn't that great, Yujin?"
"Eagle Jr. and I went through so much together." Yujin's voice was the softest it had ever been. "I only hope he will forgive me for nerve attacking him in the other palace."
"Yeah, I bet he will." The entrance to the second library, where all the foreign knowledge was kept, was already open. Po entered to find the smaller chamber deserted. Po sighed forcefully. They were running out of time. "Can you sense Su, yet?"
"I'm trying, but something's not right. It seems like she's in two places at once."
Po blanched. "You mean she's been..."
"I didn't mean her pieces, you twit!" Yujin snapped. "There's one Su higher in the palace. The second Su is... coming this way."
There was a clatter of talons behind him. Po whirled round to see Eagle Jr. landing on the main library floor just outside the door. "Dragon Warrior, she's not here. Let's check the bathhouse!"
Po didn't reply, for he had seen a pair of glowing blue eyes peering out a black shadow on the floor behind the eagle. The panda stepped forward, opening his mouth to warn his ally, when the door slammed shut.
"Mother, no!" Yujin's cry echoed in Po's head as he slammed against the door. Something was holding the door closed on the other side.
"Don't be afraid." Said an unfamiliar voice. Po slowly turned. "She won't hurt him. She's looking for her present self."
Po blinked. He was staring at a white pheasant, who stared back from the centre of the room.
"Mengxiang?" Yujin whispered. The fire in Po's stomach churned.
Mengxiang smiled sadly. "Long time no see, sister."
"Why did she seal the door, Mengxiang?" Yujin asked, a sharp edge in her voice now.
"She's stalling you while she searches for her present self."
"You mean Su? Where is she, Mengxiang?" Yujin snarled, clearly suspicious. "And what are you doing here?"
"Su is in the throne room." Where Shifu and Viper are heading. Po's heart leapt. Maybe all wasn't lost. "But right now there is a far more immediate situation I have come to warn you about." Mengxiang stepped forward, casting away the sadness to look more serious. "You may not be aware of this, but Sutoraiki is dead."
"Dead?" Yujin said as Po remained silent in astonishment. "How is that a problem?"
"General Long Feng, the monster who oversaw the calamity of the Imperial City and the invasion of the Valley of Peace, returned to this palace severely injured from your last assault on his person. In a last ditch attempt to kill you he ingested nearly all the chi Sutoraiki had been experimenting with. The unnatural mixture of chi has turned him into an abomination."
There's a dummy born every minute. Reeling, Po's paw pressed against his face and slowly slid down past his neck and chest. His fingers felt the hardness of the large emerald he still wore. "I don't want to change the subject, but do you know where Tigress is? She's about my age, a tigress obviously, super pretty and bodaciously awesome?
Mengxiang exhaled softly. "She escaped her cell a little while before your arrival. She's trying to escape through the tunnels beneath the palace."
"She's okay?" Po's shoulders felt ten times lighter and he felt a little smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. He felt a comforting tongue of flame lick the inside of his stomach.
"For now." Mengxiang did not smile back. "There is however... a small problem."
Po's smile vanished. "Long Feng." Yujin hissed.
"Yes. He's been hunting her since she escaped. She appears to have eluded him in the tunnels, but she can't hide from him forever."
Po clenched his fist around the Heart of China. There's no way I'm letting that monster touch her. "How do we get into the tunnels?"
"The main entrance in the former bathhouse was blocked by Long Feng's rampage. Because of Hei Nuwang's renovations, I don't know another way."
"But?" Yujin said with a hint of urgency. Po found it a little comforting that she seemed just as eager to help Tigress as he was.
"I sense the presence of a former associate of Hei Nuwang's in the tomb." Mengxiang. "Perhaps he can tell you more."
"The tomb..." Po bit his lip. He couldn't leave Tigress now. Not when she was in trouble. Besides, Shifu and Viper were more awesome than he was. They could handle the Nuwa problem themselves. Right? "Thanks, Mengxiang."
"Yujin?" Mengxiang stared straight at Po's body. The sadness was back. "If there's anything you wish to discuss... anything... I'll be right here."
Po felt a silent message being passed between the pheasant and the swirl of red chi in his body. Then he tried the door again and found he could open it. Eagle. Jr. was on the floor, wings pinned together by rings of black ice.
"I tried to stop it..." He said, breathing heavily from anger as Po rushed to free him. "Those damn tentacles..."
"Su's in the throne room!" Po said before smashing the ice apart with his Yujin-enhanced fist. "Go help Shifu and Viper!"
"Wait, what are you going to do?" Eagle Jr. demanded as he stood up and flapped his wings to get rid of the bits of ice stuck in his feathers.
Po didn't miss a beat. "Long Feng turned into a monster and he's in the tunnels under the palace. Me and Yujin have gotta stop him while we still can."
Eagle Jr. groaned. "Guess it's just one of those days... be careful, and head straight to the throne room when you're done."
As he left the library through the open balcony, Po ran up the stairs. Crimson energy gave his legs and lungs the strength he needed to reach the stop without even breaking a sweat. Hold on, Tigress. We're coming, he thought furiously as he ran to the torch on the wall that revealed the secret entrance to the tomb. He pulled just as he felt Yujin's rage flare in his stomach, becoming an inferno that stopped short of incinerating him from the inside.
A second later he knew why. Hei Nuwang had just entered the library.
"Wheeeeereeee... where aaaaaaaare yooouuu?"
Covered in cuts and bruises, Tigress crouched low on the corner, her eyes adjusting to the darkness as she scanned the tunnel ahead for signs of a red and blue aura. Long Feng's growl sounded distant, but not distant enough.
"Eeeeembeeeer... Kill... kill you! What have I done?! Kill!"
Tigress swallowed, painfully aware of how invincible Long Feng had become, and how alone she was in this cold, dark labyrinth. It was the orphanage all over again, where she would crawl around the darkened corridors of the building, hiding from cruel bullies and ignorant caretakers. She couldn't fight him. She had to find a way out.
If he finds me, I'm dead.
