Jackie Chan Adventures is not mine... not mine, not mine, not mine. The name Tiger Lily is from the fanfics by Alaer Kino.

HEING MEH

Chapter 12

"Here again." Bai Tsa stated while looking around herself on the streets of San Francisco. It was some time since she had last been in the city and those last moments had not been very pleasant. She had almost been broken by the shock of losing Tchang Zu and her own anger and hadn't known what to do.

And so she had wandered around before deciding to stay in New York.

Bai Tsa couldn't say why she had done that. According to her original plan she had been supposed to build her a new underwater empire, but had avoided and avoided that until had never even got started.

Everything had felt so empty.

In the ancient times she had had everything she needed. When she had been a child she had been protected by her older siblings - especially Po Kong and Tso Lan - and had grown to be a very playful demon. She had always come up with something fun to do and forced others to join her if they didn't do it voluntarily.

Back then everything had been so easy, even when their parents had died. At that point she had been an adult demon with an empire and many lovers. She had been strong, in good terms with even Shendu and her life had had a meaning.

But not anymore.

What use was it to build an empire in this world? She could never enjoy it if she couldn't announce the whole world of it and that the legendary Bai Tsa was back. But if she did that people would come for her and hunt her down.

And that wouldn't end before either she or all humans were dead. Boring.

So there was really no reason to build an empire. But what else could life offer her?

"I can almost smell Chan." Shendu growled next to her and the water demon glanced at her brother. She couldn't say why she obeyed him at everything, she was stronger and had the right to do whatever she wanted. And yet she was travelling with her younger siblings and looking for Viper.

No one replied Shendu, but the fire demon hadn't even expected that. He was just talking to himself like he always did when he was mad. Bai Tsa rolled her eyes. How stupid.

"Isn't this the street where Po Kong lives?" she asked then. Shendu nodded.

"I need to meet her. Our sister may have some information for me." he said. Bai Tsa wasn't sure if the mountain demon wanted to help her brother, but she was pleased with the situation anyway. She could leave Shendu and stay with Po Kong to reconsider the situation.

And decide what she was going to do.

At the moment she was on no one's side, she had helped both sides. But Bai Tsa knew that soon she would have to choose on whose side she was and she wasn't waiting for that moment. Either she'd join the mortals - the mere thought made her feel disgusted and sick - and be against her family. Or she could be on her siblings' side and destroy all that she had been building for five years.

She decided to see what Po Kong thought of and then make her own decision. After all, the mountain demon didn't hate mortals as much as Shendu did and could use her powers to stop the fire demon's plans.

Whatever they were.

Bai Tsa was greatly disturbed by the fact that Shendu didn't tell her what he was up to. Why did the dragon need Viper? What did he hope to gain?

She glanced at her other brother who walked side by side with her. Shendu had told Xiao Fung, the water demon could sense that. She felt insulted, why was an idiot like the wind demon allowed to know and she wasn't? Didn't Shendu trust her at all?

"This is Po Kong's house." Shendu stated and the three stopped on the pavement to stare at the high building that rose above of all the others. Just like the mountain demon to pick that one.

"Well, let's go in then." Xiao Fung suggested, but Shendu pushed him aside.

"I will go first." the dragon hissed and marched in. He didn't really know in which floor Po Kong's apartment was, but he suspected it was on top. What else would be good enough for the mountain demon?

The group of three demons rushed upstairs. They met a young woman who desperately tried to keep her twins in line and glanced at them suspiciously when they walked past. Shendu sneered at her and she hurried away from them.

"I don't understand why Po Kong hasn't driven mortals out. I would never live in the same house with humans." the fire demon stated when they arrived up. There were only two doors, but the other one was nailed down so they didn't even bother to try it.

Shendu tried the other door. Nothing happened.

"Locked!" he hissed angrily.

Bai Tsa roller her eyes.

"Maybe Po Kong is out. Or at work, if I remember correctly she has something to do with a bakery." she said. Shendu only growled.

"In that case we will be waiting for her." he announced and kicked the door so that the whole building heard it. With another kick the door broke and fell in. Shendu didn't step in though, he was sure his sister had protected her home with chi spells and he didn't want to find out what kind of spells they were.

"Xiao Fung." he said, "Go in."

The wind demon turned to stare at his brother.

"Why me? You wanted to be the first one!" he protested guessing what the fire demon was thinking.

"Because I say so." Shendu stated. Bai Tsa had to frown. Who did Shendu think he was? He bossed older demons around as if he actually was something and the water demon was starting to get really mad.

"What does your word weigh? You are too arrogant, Shendu." she said. The fire demon turned to stare at her.

"What did you say?" he asked.

"I am the oldest of us and decide what we do. If you don't want to go in first then don't, but Hsi Wu is the only one you can force to do it for you. And since he is not here all you can do is to wait here." she said.

"Should I just wait ?" Shendu asked.

"Yes!"

"Grr..." the fire demon muttered angrily and turned to peer in Po Kong's apartment. What he saw made him frown. "No use, she is not coming back in a while."

"What do you mean?" Xiao Fung asked. Shendu pointed at the chi ingredients at the floor and shrugged.

"She has travelled away magically. Apparently to see Dai Gui, maybe even Tso Lan. And knowing our sister she is in no hurry to return. She likes long visits." he said.

"So what are we going to do?" the wind demon wanted to know.

"We will find someone." Shendu replied.

That blasted Shin!

Hsi Wu stood alone on a deserted street and tried to push back his anger. It was no use though, he was furious and would have killed anyone who dared to disturb him.

Shin was trying to take his Jade!

The sky demon didn't know what the creature wanted with the girl, but it couldn't be anything good. And even if it was he would not share Jade with anyone. Jade was his and only his.

He would have to fight with the cursed one and destroy him for good, but it could prove to be difficult. Shin had won him once already, but since he had been in his human form at the time Hsi Wu didn't think it counted.

At the moment he was disguised, but now he was Jiong, the part time Dark Hand goon. It was the best option, the teen he was around Jade was not a very strong form.

"I will kill him..." he muttered at himself. Every cell in his body screamed at him and told him to find Shin and rip him apart, but his mind forbid it. He would do it eventually, but not yet. Only when he was prepared and had a plan.

"No use. You will never defeat me."

Hsi Wu heard the words only few seconds before Shin materialised in front of him. The demon had to take few steps back, he was very surprised. In his imaginary fights with Shin he was always the one who had the element of surprise on his side, never the other way around.

"What do you want?" Hsi Wu growled angrily.

Shin shrugged. He was in his young human from, the one he used when he fawned on Jade. He could have taken his other form too and looked stronger, but he thought it was much more amusing to kill Hsi Wu in this pathetic form.

It would make the sky demon's loss taste even more bitter.

He smiled.

"Do you really need to ask?" he asked sarcastically. Then he was moving and before Hsi Wu knew it Shin had kicked him and almost broken his jaw. The demon backed away again and glared at his opponent eyes blazing.

Shin would not get away with this!

Chow had acted pretty strange a while ago.

Oh well, it was probably not a wonder considering the dreams he was having again. There would have been no reason to get worried anyway, Chow had the habit of being strange at times.

But still... for some reason Finn was worried. Something had to be going on and it all had something to do with the things that they were not told. Things that everyone else but the three of them seemed to know and what they deserved to know too.

He kicked an empty tin on his way. He knew exactly where he was going, there was a pretty good pub near and he liked to sit there when he had some thinking to do. And he sure did now.

Maybe the wise thing to do was to go straight to Valmont and ask him what was wrong. But Valmont could be very stubborn when he was on the mood and if he didn't want to talk about it he wouldn't.

Especially if - hey, what was going on there?

Finn stopped on his tracks when he noticed something from the corner of his eye and to his slight surprise he saw Jiong. He couldn't say what he thought of the man, he seemed to be in pretty good terms with Valmont and when he was on a very bad mood Finn suspected that Jiong also knew about the things he didn't. But Jiong was a talented guy and had been useful for the Dark Hand, especially in the beginning of the re-building.

And Jiong was fighting with someone. With bad success apparently, his opponent gave him a hit after a hit. Finn was surprised again - this time it was more like a shock - when he realised that Jiong's opponent was nothing but a teenage boy.

"Talk about odd." he muttered at himself and watched the fight for a while. Both fighters seemed to be hiding their true strength and just testing how strong the other really was.

So... Jiong wasn't actually a member of the Dark Hand, but he had been involved with important operations so Finn counted him in. He couldn't call him his friend, his presence always made him more or less uncomfortable, but he would be damned if he let a kid to beat up anyone who had something to do with the Dark Hand. They would all lose their reputation!

Though he knew it was probably not a very good idea to get involved he hurried closer. It was beyond him how that kid could fight like that, but Jiong wasn't bad either. In fact, now that he was closer Finn saw that the man was doing better than before.

"Yo." Finn said when he arrived there. Both fighters stopped to stare at him for a while, they were both surprised.

Shin sneered maliciously.

"A friend? No use, you won't defeat me even if there were ten of you!" he laughed.

"Idiot." Hsi Wu hissed at Finn who in his opinion had just showed how stupid he was. Anyone with any brain function would have run away and avoided this fight no matter what. On the other hand, the mortal didn't know what Shin really was.

Finn frowned.

"Hey, I came to help. You seem to need some in beating up a kid." he replied. Now that he thought of it hurting children wasn't really something like him. "Kid, wouldn't it be better for you to just sod off before anyone gets hurt? You can't even imagine who you are dealing with." he said and Shin laughed at him.

"I don't know? I think it is the other way around, you don't even know your partner!" he replied gesturing at Hsi Wu. The sky demon glared at him. Now that Finn was here the whole situation had changed. If he took his real form his secret would be out for everyone to see.

On the other hand, the thought of Valmont trying to explain the presence of a demon to his Enforces was pretty amusing.

And he had no chance of survival in this pathetic form.

Finn gave Hsi Wu a confused glance, then he gave one at Shin. He seemed to have made his decision.

"All right dude. If you don't realise what is best, then..." he started. He thought about it. "Why are we fighting?" he whispered from the sky demon.

"You are fighting because you are too stupid to run while it is still possible. Why I am fighting is none of your business!" Hsi Wu replied.

Shin apparently decided that words were over, because he attacked the sky demon again and kicked him. Hsi Wu stumbled back, wiped blood from the corner of his mouth and answered the hit. He was not used to fighting in his human form and his movements were not as fast and agile as he wished they were, but he was doing pretty well.

Though not in Shin's opinion.

"Is that the best you can do?" he asked sarcastically. He enjoyed this, beating up a demon was always fun. Especially this one, he was the only son of Tiger Lily, after all.

Son of the Immortal hero... Oh, how Shin would enjoy killing Hsi Wu!

Suddenly he yelped when something hit him painfully in the back and he had to stumble for a few steps. He turned to look behind himself and realised he had totally forgotten about the stupid mortal who still didn't get it.

Blast.

Shin drew a deep breath and turned to look at Hsi Wu.

"Remember my promise? The promise of how I will hurt you and all those who are with you?" he asked angrily. He would never forgive anyone who managed to surprise him!

"Grr... I don't care about him!" Hsi Wu spat back. Shin shrugged.

"All right then." he said and raised his hand. His palm started to glow with bright light and then he released a mighty blast of energy at Finn who flew against a wall. The Irish shook his head and rose slowly on his knees.

"Uhh..." he moaned quietly.

"You should choose your allies better, that pathetic man is no good!" Shin laughed. "But now has come the time to end this. I can't allow you to interfere with my plans."

Finn managed to stand up.

"Hey Jiong, he is using magic. We've got no freaking chance." he warned believing his companion would get it and run, but the sky demon didn't even glance at him. They had come to this and he couldn't escape now.

And while Shin and Finn watched he started to grow. His skin turned grey, eyes got their healthy red glow and huge devilish wings sprouted from his back and spread above him like thunder clouds. His body became skinner and yet faster and stronger.

Hsi Wu stretched his muscles, it was so long since he had last been in his true form. Only now he felt truly alive, he could almost hear the blood running in his veins and his heart beating in his chest.

"Think again, creature!" he warned Shin, who didn't look very impressed.

Finn was another case. He realised the creature in front of him was a demon, most likely one of Shendu's horrible siblings, but he couldn't say which one. (AN: Remember, in Ni Tang universe Shendu's possession over Valmont's body stopped when they were on their way to open HW's portal so V's men have never seen Hsi Wu or Bai Tsa. )

But from the looks he guessed it was the sky demon.

"Dude, a demon!" he exclaimed in shock. Jiong was a demon! Demon, for God's sake! How could Valmont work with a demon? Or didn't he know what Jiong truly was?

Shin laughed.

"A sharp realisation, my mortal friend!" he said. Then he concentrated in Hsi Wu, who was now a much stronger opponent. Better to get rid of him as soon as possible.

Now that Hsi Wu had his wings and body he was much faster, nimbler and stronger than before. Shin knew that and didn't even try to attack the demon with kicks and punches, he didn't want to get in the way of Hsi Wu's sharp claws and teeth.

Hsi Wu jumped at his opponent and caught him in his claws. It was a while since he had truly hurt anyone and his demonic nature enjoyed it every time. Shin wasn't a mortal, but in his human form Hsi Wu could imagine he was one.

With the difference that a real mortal would have been insane with terror. Shin was not.

Instead of that he was smiling slyly and Hsi Wu was starting to feel the situation was not in his control after all. He didn't get to think about it any longer, in the next moment his whole body seemed to be on fire and he dropped Shin and backed away.

"I told you you are no match for me. I have my master's strength with me." Shin said smugly and watched as the sky demon fell on his other knee.

"What did you... do?" Hsi Wu asked and struggled to breath while trying to drive the pain away. He was not physically injured, but he still ached like someone had run him through with a sword.

Shin shrugged.

"You don't need to know that. Maybe I will tell your siblings when the time comes." he promised and raised his hand. Hsi Wu could only watch as the creature he hated so much created a glowing ball of energy and threw it at him. The last thing he felt was red pain and then nothing...

Finn had followed all this and tried to make himself move. All he wanted was to escape from the way of these magical creatures, but he just couldn't force his legs to work. Shin turned to face him.

"And you." he said.

"Hey, I have nothing to do with that demon, mister Mighty Warrior Dude." Finn explained. His fear seemed to amuse Shin, teasing mortals was always so much fun.

And it was a long while since he had last done that.

"You really think I care?" he asked his voice thick with sarcasm. Killing this man was not necessary, but he wanted to have some fun before giving the final blow to the sky demon.

Why not to kill the companions together?

Despite the fool's words these two clearly knew each other and pretty well too if the mortal had rushed to the demon's side. Shin had always thought that companions had to die together knowing that there was no one to revenge for them.

He kicked Finn making the man fall again.

"Hey!" Finn shouted in surprise. He got another kick and then a third one. He wiped blood from his face and tried to stand up, but every attempt was rewarded with a punch or a kick.

"Luckily for you I have no time to play today. If the situation was different you wouldn't die in days." Shin stated kicking him one last time before getting enough of it. Then he summoned another energy ball.

Finn watched in desperation, but he was also mad. He was sure this mess had something to do with Valmont's secret. Damn! If he had known what was going on he wouldn't be here waiting for the finishing blow.

The street flashed red again and Shin snorted. He watched the two on the ground, a demon and a human, both injured and bloodied. His energy balls never killed anyone, they just broke the victim's skin, few bones and made them lose their consciousness.

"And now..." he said softly preparing to kill the two, first the sky demon. He raised his hands, said a few words...

Don't kill him!

Shin flinched when he heard the voice in his head and stopped chanting. The echo of the voice rang in his head and he sighed.

"Why not, master?" he asked.

I still need him. Or do you want that my return is not possible?

Shin's eyes widened and he drew a deep breath. Hsi Wu was that demon?

Yes. the voice said reading his thoughts.

"What about the human, may I kill him?"

No. There is no time, I need you now.

Shin nodded at himself, glanced at his victims one last time and then disappeared in a flash.

Shendu stared at the glowing crystal of Zhing in victory.

"Unbelievable!" he hissed.

"What?" Bai Tsa asked in frustration. Only a short while after they had left Po Kong's house the crystal Xiao Fung had around his neck had started to glow and Shendu had got really excited.

"Yeah, what?" Xiao Fung asked too.

"Look! The crystal is glowing again, so the other guardian must be here too! Now we have Viper, the second guardian and Chosen of the Dreams in one city! Could this really be easier?" the fire demon asked. He had never thought he wound find all he needed this easily and soon.

"But none of them is in our hands." Bai Tsa commented.

"Not yet, but soon. First we'll find this guardian and then get Viper back. She must have ran to Chan so it might be that we need the Dreamed one before getting her, though." Shendu said.

"Who is the Dreamed one, by the way?" Xiao Fung threw in.

"Take a guess."

The wind demon didn't reply, just like Shendu had known. Xiao Fung wasn't sharp enough to understand his little brother's plans and Shendu had to ask himself why he bothered to drag the wind demon around.

Oh well, maybe family meant something to him too. Perhaps.

Bai Tsa frowned. She remembered she had heard of the Dreamed one and could almost remember what it was. But not quite, she had not read much as young. Her time had flown with some other activities.

She nodded.

"So he is somewhere there." she said.

"Yes he is. And he will soon be ours." Shendu added. He glanced at his sister.

"I suppose you won't let this guardian to escape? Because if you do..." he said leaving the threat open.

Bai Tsa snorted.

"I didn't let Viper go on purpose. And don't worry. If you are so afraid why don't you let Xiao Fung be the warden?"

"Actually guarding Viper was his job, if you don't remember. But someone came around and let her go." Shendu said. Bai Tsa didn't reply.

She wasn't sure had she let Viper go or had she just been too surprised to react. Neither thought felt comforting, she didn't want to betray her family because of a mortal, but she didn't want to be stupid and slow either.

She was just so confused.

"Come on, we shall capture this guardian before nothing goes wrong." Shendu said. The three continued keeping an eye on their surroundings in the case Chan or someone else appeared. They were in their human forms, of course, but their enemies would recognise Xiao Fung who stubbornly didn't want to change his ugly human form.

"I just thought of something." the wind demon said suddenly.

"Really?" Shendu said sharply.

"Once we have the guardian, where will we take him? We can't just go and buy a house a prisoner with us, can we?" Xiao Fung said. Shendu stopped to think about it. His brother had a point, and he was disturbed by the fact he hadn't thought of it himself.

He crossed his arms on his chest.

"All right. I shall fetch the guardian while you two find us a hideout. Something better than the warehouse Ni Tang chose, please." he said and snatched the crystal of Zhing from the wind demon.

"Hey!" Xiao Fung exclaimed, he rather liked the piece of stone.

"It is mine." Shendu reminded him and left.

"Idiot." Xiao Fung stated in irritation.

"What else is new?" Bai Tsa asked taking a glance around herself. "Well, what are we going to do now? Find Shendu a top class hotel? Preferably near the sea."

"Whatever we find, he won't be pleased."

Shendu didn't doubt his odds of capturing the mortal by himself. Mortals were weak and cowards, if the man - he was sure it was a man - didn't go voluntarily all he had to do was to demonstrate his demonic powers and that's it.

So easy.

He followed the road the crystal showed him. His target was not far away, the crystal never glowed if it was. The closer the demon came the more brightly the crystal shone and the more excited he grew.

Finally he stopped in front of a block of flats. The sixth floor, it had to be the sixth floor.

He stepped in and noticed the house was a very fine one, so his future captive was either rich or important. If that was the case taking him away could prove to be a little difficult, but the dragon was not going to let anything disturb him. This time even Chan wouldn't be able to ruin it all.

"Good day." he was welcomed warmly. It was done by an older woman who swiped the floor, she was probably the caretaker's wife.

"Good day." Shendu replied. In the form of Aaron Davidson he looked like a nice successful business man. "I came to see my friend. I think he lives in the sixth floor. Is he home at the moment?"

The woman frowned.

"Mister Kikuchi? He is always home and never goes anywhere. Probably because he has just moved in town and doesn't know anyone. And you know, he's apartment is filled with strange paper statues so he might be a bit odd too." she explained.

"I know." Shendu lied shortly. The woman blushed.

"Yes, of course. You are his friend." she said. It seemed like she had forgotten that a moment ago.

Shendu said her nothing more, but headed for the elevator. He thanked his luck for that no one decided to go up with him and he was allowed to be by himself. He looked around himself when he arrived at the sixth floor.

"Mister Kikuchi..." he muttered at himself and investigated the name plates. According to the name he was dealing with a Japanese person and Shendu didn't remember hearing that name ever before. That was good, if Kikuchi had just moved in San Francisco there was no way he could be involved with Chan.

The fire demon grinned at himself when he found the right door at the end of the corridor. He tried the door, it was locked. Just like he had expected, so he had to knock.

It took a while before anything happened, but then the door was opened. Shendu found himself staring at a middle-aged Asian man's dark eyes.

"Yes?" Origami asked. He didn't know this man, but hoped he was one of Valmont's. Maybe he was finally given a mission and would be free to leave this city behind him.

San Francisco was so disgustingly inartistic.

Shendu pushed past Origami and stepped in his apartment. The woman had been right, every shelf and table was covered in different paper statues, origamis. Either this man was a freak or very bored.

"You must come with me." he said.

"Why? You can't just step in and tell me what to do." Origami stated. He closed the door, he didn't want the caretaker's way too curious wife to find out anything that was not meant for her ears.

"I can because I need you." Shendu said.

"So you are one of Valmont's men?" Origami guessed. To his surprise the guest started to laugh.

"Valmont? Oh, I sure know him, but I don't work for him. He is more like my... step brother."

Origami crossed his arms on his chest.

"So what do you want?" he asked.

"You. I need you in my plan and it is necessary for you to come with me. We have a lot of work to do." Shendu replied. He was not going to tell this same story over and over again, so this man would have to wait until the fire demon had all the mortals he needed.

"What good is it for me?"

"I let you live. For the time being."

It was obvious that Origami didn't like this deal. He was of course more than glad to leave Valmont and do something else, but if he left with this man he would get in trouble with his colleagues and he couldn't afford it. Besides, no one who threatened his life could possibly be mentally stable.

"Unfortunately I must say no." he said rather unfriendly. Shendu had guessed that, but that didn't mean he was going to give up.

"That is not an option. I will have to force you to come."

"That could turn out to be difficult. Do you even know who you are dealing with?"

Shendu realised that the name of this man was probably not Kikuchi. If he was involved with the Dark Hand it was unlikely that he was using his own name. He shook his head.

"No, and I am not interested to know."

"Fine. Your mistake."

Shendu watched as his prey seemed to fold in two, turn flat and completely white. At first he was surprised, but then realised what was going on. He had to sneer in victory, this was getting easier with every passing moment.

"The scroll of Kiu Ma." he said to his paper opponent. "But I have some tricks too."

Aaron Davidson was not a frightening person so Shendu gave up that form and turned into the human form that was his favourite and which better described his true characterisations. The neatly combed dark hair was gone and replaced with longer brown locks that gave him a wild look. His eyes glowed bright red and a malicious sneer played on his lips.

"Your apartment is very small, so I can't take my true form. But if you are intelligent and know your own good you will understand that you are nothing compared to me. I am a fire demon and if you really want, we can see which is stronger, paper or fire."

Origami was starting to feel the day couldn't possibly get any worse.

To be continued...