I don't own Jackie Chan Adventures. There are some guns and violence in this chapter, so you might want to skip it if you can't stand that sort of thing.
NI TANG
Chapter 22
The nightly sky was lit by thousands of stars and the sounds of the city rose up above the buildings. Cold wind blew around the roofs and made Ni Tang's white hair flow behind him. He kept his eyes closed and let himself enjoy the night.
Of course he would have felt better if he was allowed to take the maskoff his face. He didn't dare to ask his brother, the mask had been a present and who knew how badly Hsi would be hurt? He had got a lot more self-confidence after the time he had spent alone, but he wasn't ready to anger the only siblings who seemed to care about him.
And he would never be completely free, wore he a mask or not, he would never be able to break the chains that imprisoned him on the ground. When leaping high on the roofs he could almost imagine he flew, but only almost. He would never learn to truly fly, it was for Hsi Wu only.
The moon was hidden from view for a short moment when a winged figure flashed in the sky and after a while Hsi Wu landed in front of Ni on the roof. The sky demon drew a deep breath and grinned, this was the very it!
He and Ni had left the gloomy warehouse to enjoy the night of San Francisco and left Shendu to be responsible of Jade. The fire demon's back was still sore and he was in a bad mood, but Hsi Wu didn't think he'd dare to do anything to the slave.
They hadn't come here to play and have fun, Hsi wanted Ni to learn at least something during this night. Ni Tang wasn't very sure would it work, but at least he was ready to try.
"I don't like this city. Too much people packed in the same place and their buildings are too high. They have no right to occupy the sky!" the sky demon hissed angrily.
"I don't know Hsi... I don't think there's anything wrong here. And I like high buildings, with them I can almost fly," Ni commented and the sky demon slit his eyes.
"Are you saying you would try to invade my element?" he asked in suspicion and Ni shook his head quickly.
"Of course not, brother, my element is enough for me. And I could never become a sky demon anyway," he hurried to explain and Hsi nodded even though the suspicious glint didn't leave his eyes. Ni Tang was far away from where he belonged, there were no freezing blizzards or the winter darkness this south.
But he doubted he had to worry, Ni wasn't a power-hungry or stupid demon and wouldn't dare to threaten his brother's position.
"It's midnight soon, we have to hurry if we want you to learn anything tonight," the sky demon said thinking what he was actually going to do. He wasn't a teacher, he was way too impatient for that. But he was clever and creative and he knew he had already come up with something which would be fun. But he just had to see if it was useful or not.
"At night people roam this city looking for experiences. What do you say if we help them a bit?" he suggested smiling slyly.
"I like the idea," Ni agreed even though he didn't really understand what Hsi was up to. From the twinkle of the sky demon's eyes he guessed it had to be something special and he had nothing against that.
"I thought so. Come!" Hsi Wu told and jumped down the high roof. He spread his huge wings and wheeled nimbly down between the buildings, not even paying attention to what he was doing. He couldn't crash with anything, he was too used to his wings.
Ni Tang didn't hesitate but jumped down too after making sure there was another a bit smaller building which he could land on. Despite his agile movements he had his limits and he didn't want to find out how high he could fall and still survive.
He landed softly on his feet and didn't stop to wait but continued in the same direction where Hsi Wu had disappeared. The sky demon was faster, he didn't have to plan his next move like Ni and he could fly just everywhere he wanted.
But the polar demon wasn't going to be worse than his brother. Unlike Hsi he had had time to learn to know the city and he dared to say he knew it pretty well. He knew where everything was and if the situation demanded it, he could find a safe place.
Where had Hsi Wu gone? The sky demon could be anywhere and Ni didn't want to spend the whole night looking for his big brother in this labyrinth of buildings. Hsi would be somewhere high anyway, the sky demon wanted to avoid landing as much as possible. From the streets it would be too difficult to catch wind under his wings and he might not be able to jump in the air as fast as he had to.
Ni looked around, he had come pretty long way down now, should he climb up again to find his brother? Or should he stay here until Hsi bothered to appear? He frowned in frustration, he didn't consider this humorous at all.
The sounds of the nightly traffic was easier to hear now and Ni stopped for a moment to wait and listen. He knew that as an ancient demon he shouldhavehated the noise the humans made, but to his surprise he had already noticed he liked it. Something in the noise of cars, other vehicles and humans made him feel homey, the sounds seemed to comfort him as if he was surrounded by a strange world.
"Over here," a voice said and Ni turned around. He didn't recognise the voice, but it sounded very familiar and he tilted his face in suspicion.
"Hsi?" he asked and the sky demon appeared in his familiar human form. Ni frowned to himself, he should have noticed if Hsi was this close. And yet he had had no idea about the brother's presence and it worried him. Were his senses really this horrible? And if yes, then why?
"It's me. I decided to get adaptedto thesurroundings. We are going down," Hsi said imply. Ni Tang didn't really like the idea, he was hunted on the streets and he would be unprotected there.
"I don't know if that's a good idea. We could be caught," he said and Hsi's expression just brightened.
"Demon hunters?" he asked hopefully and Ni nodded.
"They are after me," he said.
"Even better, this is just as perfect as I hoped. Come on, we don't have the whole night," Hsi said and wings grew from his back so that he looked like some kind of human-bat hybrid. He jumped down landing easily on the street and when Ni Tang was next to him he was human again.
Hsi Wu in his child form was small compared to Ni Tang, but he still led the two. They had landed on a dim street which was not lit by street lamps or neon lights and the sky demon quickly stepped on the more crowded pavement.
There where humans around the city, some returning to home after a heavy overworking, some didn't seem to have a direction at all and some were just going to have some fun. At this point everyone had enough work and thinking to do and so they didn't notice the small boy and his adult companion, who was dressed very oddly.
"I don't like this," Ni said glancing around. All they needed was a one shriek or a suspicious person and the men after him knew where to find some action. There weren't many of them and it was unlikely that they were right here, but Ni didn't like taking risks.
Hsi Wu snorted. "Come on Ni, are you really afraid of a group of pathetic mortals?" the sky demon asked a bit sarcastically.
"I'm not in a playful mood," the polar demon said as an answer and didn't understand what Hsi wanted. They were supposed to practise and he should try to learn to master his powers, but this was no use.
"But I am," Hsi Wu answered grinning. Then he suddenly stopped and Ni almost collided with him. The sky demon turned to face his brother and drew a deep breath, like preparingfor something.
"Aah! A demon! Help!" he shouted as loud as his lungs allowed and Ni stared his brother understanding nothing. What kind of stupid game was this and what Hsi expected to gain?
"Hsi? This isn't funny," he warned but the sky demon backed awaya few steps as if he was really terrified.
"Don't touch me demon!" he snapped and looked around. He was sure something would happen soon...
Agent Tag sipped his coffee and kept a close eye on his surroundings. He and afew other men from Section 13 had spread around the city of San Francisco to patrol, and he was the only one of them around here.
The city was hugethat a handful of men could do nothing and it was likely they would never capture the demon or even see him. The reason was of course that it was unlikely for the demon to be stupid enough to step on their way. There weren't enough of them and the situation wouldn't change, this wasa totally unofficial mission and they all would loss their careers if the supervisors ever found out.
But this risk wasn't enough to make Tag leave his old friendin trouble and he was also interested on a personal level. You didn't chase demons every day, even if you were a secret agent and he was going to take everythingout ofthis.
Or he'd try, it seemed nothing would happen. Just now he was standing in a corner a plastic cup in his hand and dressed in a jacket he would never wear in his free time, even if he was paid.
Under the jacket he had some of his favourite guns and all kinds of other useful items he believed he'd need if the demon really stepped in sight. He didn't really know if you could shoot a demon, but he was ready to try.
A loud scream reached his ears and only the practise he had got through years stopped him from dropping his cup. Tag didn't waste time, he had clearly heard the word 'demon' and he knew something was wrong now.
The voice belonged to a young boy, most likely about ten of age. Tag didn't bother to stop to think what someone that young did outside at this time of the night, but increased his speed to find him as soon as possible. Who knew what the demon was doing to the poor kid?
It was easy for him to find the right street because the shrieking didn't stop and he hadn't been very far away from his destination anyway. Tag stopped immediately after rounding a corner, it wouldn't be wise to run straight into the demon's arms.
What he saw first was a demon about the size of a man dressed in black. He was the same one he had seen when patrolling the harbour. This close the creature looked more inhuman and reminded Tag of this certain cartoon character he had once seen, he just couldn't say which one.
Next he saw a small boy who had finally closed his mouth and waswatching him with huge brown eyes as if he waited for something. He seemed to be okay, he had no wounds and Tag didn't see blood anywhere. So he had arrived just in time, the demon hadn't been able to sunk his claws into the boy yet.
If he even had been going to do it, this demon wasn't really the dangerous monster Tag had always imagined demons to be. He had no claws, sharp teeth or horns and he looked way too fragile to be able to do anything. Then again, he was newin this and who knew what cards this guy had up on his sleeve?
Tag drew out a gun and pointed it at the demon hoping he would recognise it and know fooling around wasn't wise. He knew the gun wouldn't match the demon in the long run if he could do some kind of magic, but what was important was to win some time so this boy could hide.
"Leave immediately and return to your home. I'll take care of this," Tag said not taking his eyes from the demon who had stiffened and was watching him sharply. The boy glanced at the demon once more and flashed Tag a smile he would never call thankful.
"Sure. Do whatever you have to," he said and Tag had to frown, that wasn't something he'd expect a child say in a situation like this. The boy ran nimbly past him and disappeared.
Tag took a better grip from the gun and slit his eyes.
"All right demon, come with me and - " he started but in the next moment the creature had leaped into the air and grabbed the windowsill of the building next to them. He lifted himself on it and climbed up, the roof was too high for him to just jump there.
"Wait! Come back!" Tag shouted and raised his gun to shoot the demon in the leg and to make him fall, he didn't want to kill him yet, they had to get all the information they needed.
Ni Tang managed to climb on the roof just when Tag fired and the bullet hit the stone wall where he had been just a moment ago. He didn't waste his time but ran quickly across the roof leaping on the next one, he had to get away and soon.
He couldn't understand why Hsi Wu had done this, did the sky demon want to make fun of him? Ni slit his eyes, he had thought Hsi was above of that kind of activities after suffering it himself for so many years. But that had been pretty naive actually, they were both demons and trusting each other was very dangerous.
But he didn't have time to ponder his brother's treacherous nature, he had more important things to do. The polar demon knew that the human wouldn't be happy with one missed shot and would most likely rush after him. Humans had the nasty habit of not understanding when it was the best to give up.
He was of course much faster than the human, but who knew what this particular man could do? Just anyone wouldn't do something as dangerous as hunting demons and Ni knew he had to be careful. He sure wasn't going to end his days just because some mortal fool happened to have luck.
Tag's shot had stirred common panic on the street, almost everyone imagined they were dealing with some sort of criminals and they tried to hurry away. It fit Ni perfectly, the more noise and confusion the better was his chance of getting away.
Why didn't he stay and fight? He was sure all of his siblings would have done it and be drinking the blood of the enemy, but at the critical moment he hadn't even considered about attacking an armed man.
Where should he go? He didn't want to return to the warehouse just yet, if the man somehow managed to follow him he would find their hideout and even though they were planning moving away he didn't want to give him any clues. So the wisest thing to do was to shake him off.
He leaped higher and glanced below him, he didn't see the man anywhere, but you could never be too sure, some people were annoyingly stubborn. Ni stopped for a moment to listen but continued soon, he wanted to end this hunt as soon as possible.
Tag had known the demon was agile, but he had never believed he would just jump away like that. Immediately after recovering from the shock he had rushed after him and tried to guess where the demon could go. San Francisco was a big city, but he had hunted many crooks in his life and he didn't think this would be any different.
"Coming there, Greg," he said into a small radiophone. The wisest thing to do now was to contact the other agents and get them to hunt the demon too. He couldn't get too far now when they had spotted him.
He wasn't sure if he wanted to kill the demon, he had seen more than enough death during his years as an agent and killing wasn't unfamiliar to him, but this guy could have some useful information. Then again, if the only way to stop him from escaping was to blow his brain out Tag wouldn't hesitate.
No one stopped him when he ran on the street and nobody was interested in where he was going or whether he had the right to carry a gun in the street or not. Not that he would have cared, the importance of this mission won everything else.
If he caught the demon it would solve everything that concerned Black right now. Firstly, they'd finally be able to free the girl the demon kept as a captive. Tag didn't really like children, but he still didn't want anything bad to happen to her.
It would be so much easier if he too could climb up and follow the demon, but he knew his limits and despite his good shape he was not an acrobat. The demon was incredibly agile and Tag didn't think even Jackie Chan could follow him without some trouble.
So he had to run on the streets and hope that even if he lost the demon one of his companions would be able to capture him.
Tag didn't feel tired at all, he was in a good shape and the excitement of the hunt kept him spry. He climbed over a fence and landed on the other side not stopping to think where he was going. He couldn't see the demon, but at times he thought he saw something flashing against the night sky and could only hope he wasn't hallucinating.
Hsi Wu frowned angrily, what kind of game was Ni Tang playing? Why didn't he attack the human and get rid of him? He could do it, right? He himself would already have torn the man's throat open. Why did his brother escape?
The sky demon sighed and spread his wings, jumping in the air and wheeling between the buildings keeping an eye on Ni without him noticing it. He had trusted that a dangerous situation would wake up Ni Tang's sleeping powers and make him attack the human, but that hadn't happened. In fact, now that Hsi thought about it he noticed how Ni had changed.
He couldn't say how or why, the difference wasn't anything you could see, it was just a feeling. He hoped his imagination had created it, the change sure wasn't for better.
The best thing to do was to speak with Tso Lan as soon as they freed the older brother. Hsi Wu knew he wasn't a very good teacher, but the moon demon had to know a way to help Ni Tang.
Ni stopped and tilted his head, would he dare to return now? He didn't see the human anywhere and he had probably already lost his tracks, he would be paranoid if he continued to escape.
Yes, paranoid and a coward. Ni knew too well no other demon would have escaped from the way of a mortal man and that disturbed him the most. What would Hsi Wu say?
Well, whatever it was the polar demon decided not to care. The sky demon was the one to blame for this mess and he wasn't going to listen if Hsi didn't have anything intelligent to say.
He was so concentrated in his own thoughts that he didn't hear anything before it was almost too late. He jumped away right before a new bullet sank in the wall behind him. Had the human really managed to follow him this far?
He crouched down in the shadows and slit his red eyes keeping an eye on the surroundings. He found what he was looking for pretty soon, some distance away there was a man who also had hid himself in the shadows. But he wasn't the man Ni had confronted before.
It seemed this one thought he could hide under the searching gaze of the polar demon, what a stupid mortal. He had to be one of the hunters after him, pity he had run right into his arms.
"Show yourself demon, I know you're there," the man said thinking that if he didn't see the demon the demon couldn't see him. An idiot.
For a while Ni Tang considered his options. Maybe he should prove the others he was just like them and couldcommit a senseless murder? He had no memories of what human blood tasted like and maybe the imperfection inside him was because of that? Maybe he could never be himself if he had no experiences about what most of the demons thought to be the best way to kill time?
Yes, maybe that was the best solution. He'd kill that human somehow, either by choking or just beating him up. That wouldn't be very discreet, clean or easy, but wasn't that the fun?
He tightened his muscles to attack him and drew a deep breath. Just when he was about to leap down he felt how someone grabbed him from behind and he yelped in surprise. Why hadn't he heard the attacker? As a demon he had an excellent hearing, why didn't it work? It felt like he was... slowly falling apart?
"I got you now demon," the man said. Following the demon had been difficult, but with Tag's advice he had done much better than he had dared to hope. Black would be very pleased, the cause of this mess was now in their hands.
"I don't think so," Ni answered and tried to struggle free, but stopped when he felt something solid pressed on his side. He didn't even have to think about it, somehow he just knew what it was and that he couldn't afford doing anything stupid now.
"One wrong move and you are an ex-demon," the man, let's call him Audrey, warned and nodded at his companion on the street.
"Hey Greg, call Tag here so we can get this beauty in," he said and Greg nodded.
"Right away," he said.
"So... At first you could tell us your name," Audrey suggested and Ni frowned. He couldn't believe he had been captured by a mortal and was in a situation like this, where had all of his powers disappeared?
"Quickly now. We have a lot of time, but - "Audrey started but was never allowed to finish. A huge winged creature rushed from somewhere and sunk his sharp claws in the man's chest, making him fall on the hard roof.
"You pathetic mortal! How dare you to touch my brother?" Hsi Wu growled furiously and dug his claws deeper. Audrey screamed and his black jacket was soon wet with blood as the demon ripped him apart.
"Audrey! What's going on there?" Greg shouted in worry as he couldn't see what was happening. Ni watched as Hsi was totally consumed by his anger and he wasn't sure about what he should think. He had believed seeing the man suffer would make him feel pleasure, but somehow he just felt sick.
Hsi Wu licked the blood from his claws and eyed the still living man eyes twinkling with amusement. It was so long since he had last time been allowed to taste human blood and the flavour was so sweet and overpowering! He wanted to rip the man totally apart and drown in the kill, that was all he could think about.
Blood dripped from the corners of Audrey's mouth and when he tried to scream all he managed was unrecognisable wheezing, which just spread the blood around. His eyes didn't see anything anymore and he tried desperately to push the sky demon away.
Ni Tang watched as the sky demon sunk his claws in Audrey's chest again and he had to turn away. He was ashamed because of his weakness and he tried not to hear the man's last desperate scream and Hsi's excited breathing. He didn't want to smell the blood, he could almost taste it as if he was the one who had killed the man.
And just a moment ago he had been about to do the same. Could he really have done it if he wasn't a demon enough to look when his brother slaughtered someone? Ni clenched his fists, this made no sense anymore!
Hsi Wu stood up from the body and his red eyes glowed with excitement when he turned to face his brother. This night sure hadn't gone to waste!
"I think it's time to return, Ni," he said spreading his wings. Ni nodded but didn't say anything and it made the sky demon frown. "Ni Tang?"Hsi Wuasked suspiciously, something was bothering the polar demon now.
"I don't understand the meaning of this lesson. I learned nothing," Ni said blaming.
"It's not my fault, I had planned everything! You just should have attacked the man immediately and that would have woken up your powers!" Hsi defended himself. He had been so proud of this plan, it was brilliant and even Tso Lan would haveappreciated it.
"Well, it didn't seem to work!" Ni snapped and was surprised to notice how sarcastic his voice sounded. Hsi Wu slit his eyes and his expression darkened.
"Don't take that tone with me, brother. Remember your position," he said and jumped in the air.
"Come," he told and after a short moment of hesitation Ni Tang followed his brother.
Shendu's sensitive nose smelled blood long before Hsi Wu stepped in and he frowned, it seemed his little brother had had some fun. He was jealous, he himself wouldn't be able to kill anyone in a while.
"Any luck?" he forced himself to ask and was surprised to notice how cold Hsi Wu and Ni Tang seemed to act around each other.
"Hardly, I'm starting to think Ni has no powers at all," Hsi answered angrily.
"Says one who couldn't teach a bird to fly."
"I already told you not to talk like that to me!"
"Why not? Should I just calmly take everything that is thrown at me? I could have died just because you wanted to give your stupid idea a try!"
"No you wouldn't, I followed you all the time and entered the game just at the right moment!"
"Oh, so now you are both my teacher and baby sitter? No thanks Hsi, you can teach me but if you try that again, I'll find someone else to give me advice," Ni said coldly and climbed to sit on a box. He knew how arrogant he was being, but it was getting more and more difficult to silence the rebellious flame inside of him.
Shendu watched to two younger demonsininterest, it seemed something very unexpected had happened between them. He glanced at Ni Tang in thought. And interesting too.
He had white hair, that was something Ni Tang could immediately say. It was tied on a loose ponytail and flowed behind his back in waves. Few locks of hair hung freely framing his face and Ni noticed he found the face of this mortal very interesting.
Sky-blue eyes twinkled.
Ni didn't know why, but something in them disturbed him much more than anything ever had, and he felt the desire to drown in them forever.
The man was wearing a green suit, which seemed very familiar to Ni, almost calming. His whole appearance was relaxed and a total opposite of the demon's own mental confusion.
The man opened his mouth to say something...
Ni woke up with a flinch. He had fallen asleep...
Who had he dreamed about?
He glanced around in the warehouse, Bai Tsa was still missing, Hsi had left somewhere, Jade had curled up to sleep and even Shendu's eyes were closed. The dragon probably tried to sleep to forget his aching back.
Ni sighed, he had thought everything would clear the longer he waited, but the opposite had happened. What was going on inside of him?
And in the darkness Shendu smiled without anyone else noticing it.
To be continued...
