"One of Many Paths"
A/N: WARNING, 7K WORD CHAPTER. ENJOY BUT TAKE IT SLOW...
"WAIT - HOLD ON!"
"The path we must take - the path we shall never infiltrate - "
"WOULD YOU JUST FREAKIN' SLOW DOWN YOU OLD BIT - "
"Minds wander - thoughts ponder - hearts are beyonder…"
"STOP!"
Zhong roughly yanked the Soothsayer's arm back, satisfied to see her wince in pain. She groaned, staring into the sky with a primal discomfort. The goat turned back at last, happy to observe Zhong having followed all the way outside the destroyed Palace Courtyard - all the way into an abandoned section of Gongmen, still "technically" under construction (read: metal pillaging from Shen's wolf forces)... but the arrival of the Jade Palace masters meant that the wolf soldiers formerly servicing this section of the city had left their posts in fresh pursuit of the "panda" and his team of "imbeciles".
Rotting posts, old houses, and decaying rooftops stretched far - bordered by the broken Palace Courtyard behind them. A thick cloud of residue smoke - from the Palace's destruction - hung over the low rooftops. Bright moonlight washed over the small space, or town. If Zhong and the Soothsayer were to continue onward, they'd find the exits of Gongmen's city gates straight ahead.
"What do you mean, a different path?" Zhong queried.
"You tell me," the old goat smiled back.
The Boss Wolf snarled, unsheathing his claws. "I follow you all this way - you don't say anything but mystical mumbo jumbo…"
"Correct, you followed me all this way," the Soothsayer noted. "Seems like you're already on a path."
Zhong's instinctive emotion was to choke the living daylights out of the goat.
Then she smiled.
Zhong awkwardly grinned.
"You stupid bitch," Zhong muttered, smiling. "Stupid little sayings and stupid little words…"
"Us mystically stupid bitches have to stay mystical," the Soothsayer noted with a small smile. "Admit it - that line made you laugh."
"It made me cringe," Zhong replied, smiling beside himself. "Alright - farewell old goat. Thanks for the chuckle. I'm off…"
"Where?"
Zhong paused, turning back to the Soothsayer. "What?"
"You heard me, where are you off to?" the old goat replied. "What path do you plan on taking?"
Zhong grew again frustrated, scrunching his brow while he wiped the sweat off his forehead. "I don't know."
"There it is!" the old goat responded gleefully, chipped horns wiggling. "There it is…"
Zhong sighed, watching her approach him. "What?"
"How long have you not known what to do?" the Soothsayer annoyingly queried, peering up at the taller wolf. "How long has your path been about following Shen?"
Zhong grunted. "All of my life."
"What changed now?" the Soothsayer forced, squinting while lowering her voice. "What made you lose your path?"
"Nothing!" Zhong spat. "I - I - I've been lost for some time now…"
Zhong suddenly stared at the old goat. He narrowed his eyes at her, coughing out some dust getting into his system.
"Oh," Zhong noted. "That's what you meant… "
The old goat smiled, watching the Boss Wolf pace back and forth. It pleased her that despite Zhong's natural anger and frustration - he was consciously preventing himself from hurting or screaming at her. Instead, he rapidly turned his gait and walked in circles, bashing his paws against her head in anger and mostly - confusion.
"Zhong, you're smarter than you let on," the old goat whispered. "I can't promise that changing what you've been doing your entire life - killing, stealing, the crimes - will get you to know what your path is…"
Zhong kept an avid stare at the goat.
"... but I can promise that you will have tried," the Soothsayer noted. "... that it wasn't all for nothing."
Zhong blinked. Some part of him was yearning - perhaps even desperate for - something different. He didn't know what it was - he didn't know what it could mean, but he knew a change was needed.
"If you want, you can follow me," the Soothsayer noted, turning away to make her way down the street leading to Gongmen's exit.
"Where are you going?" Zhong called out.
"Away from here," the goat simply replied, beard just whisking in the light breeze.
For some reason, that was enough for Zhong. The Boss Wolf began an awkward pace forward - but stopped himself.
He removed the crossbow from his back.
He stared at the blood-rusted hinges and moist arrow tips - face completely implacable. A surging rush of memories flew past him - some painful, some enjoyable, but mostly just numbed.
Long since buried.
He would unbury it all later.
"What are you doing?" the old goat called out, surprised to see him stop in the middle of the town.
"Leaving," Zhong simply replied.
The Soothsayer smiled genuinely for the first time, feeling the pain of Shen's changing personalities finally leave her.
Now there was hope - but not in the peacock - but in something else.
Someone else.
"Now you're getting it," the Soothsayer noted, walking to the gates.
Zhong threw the crossbow down, not even waiting for it to hit the dusty ground.
He made his way alongside the Soothsayer. There was this incredible feeling of confusion that still plagued him - and in fact, he was still a tiny bit angry with what the Soothsayer was saying - or at least tantalizingly hinting at. He knew a life back with Shen would be comforting - sure he might be angry for failing to kill the panda - Po - for so long, but he would ultimately take him back. Then Zhong could start again the life - the follower's life. But there was something else that the goat was offering - something abstract yet not vague, concrete but not specific - it was something.
Something different.
"Was there some Seeker running around when I was blacked out?" Zhong interrupted. "Please tell me that's a joke."
The goat sighed. "Don't even get me started on that nonsense."
. . .
The docks looked surprisingly peaceful at night time.
Moonlight - something that had perhaps become the staple for Gongmen's recent atmosphere - wafted down and illuminated half of the sea that surrounded Gongmen. Crystalline blue waves crashed and floated above on another, splashing against a series of wooden platforms and posts that highlighted the beginning of the Gongmen docks. Without its regular wolf soldier presence, the peaceful atmosphere was further interjected by the paucity of boats - just one boat stood alone, tied generously to the mast flying a bit beneath it.
In sharp contrast to the serenity, Five bleeding kung fu masters carried a just recently awakening panda through the narrow strip of wood leading to the sole boat.
"Wh - where - where are we?" Po slurred, head and neck bleeding profusely. "Are we - Shen - "
"Relax big guy," Mantis tried, ignoring his own broken limbs. "Try to ergh - just walk…"
"Tigress, what's the plan?" Monkey groaned. "Tigress?"
Viper followed behind, tapping the master gently on her torn knee garments. "Tigress, we need to think on what to do - we - "
Tigress wasn't paying attention. She merely marched forward ahead of the others, speed slow and mostly instinctive - she wasn't sure she would ever regain the ability to think logically considering how much had just went on.
"Yes, what is the plan?"
The Five masters stopped in mid-pace. Even Po - head drooping from all the sustained injuries - shockingly looked forward.
A small red panda - sporting his trademark green vest and ancient staff - gently walked forward. He was closely flanked by a reluctant fox, who bowed her head in shame.
"Master - Master Shifu," Tigress moaned, breathing heavily. "I - we - "
"Silence," Shifu noted, taking a look at his students more properly. "Let me take an educated guess, shall I?"
The Five masters and Po were far too shocked to respond, since they were still adjusting to the fact that Shifu rapidly appeared. Worsening matters was Yu's guilty expressions behind him, which made Tigress question what she had told him.
"You fools tried something to capture Shen," Shifu delivered perfectly. "It didn't work. And from the state of things…"
Shifu eyed all the bleeding places on his students' bodies, fixating particularly on Po's head and neck slashes - along with Tigress' shattered arm, not even bandaged yet.
"... Shen and his men, appropriately punished you for such poor foresight," Shifu finished. "That seem about right?"
"We had a good plan," Mantis filled in, earning a dangerous glare from Shifu.
"We were going to dupe Shen into - " Crane started.
"Quiet," Shifu again ordered, watching his five students and Po bow their heads. "The important part is that you did something recklessly and it didn't work. That's the lesson."
Tigress kept silent during all of this. She was utterly confused why no one had singled her out, had pointed it all out - instead, her fellow masters and Po merely kept their gaze downward, clutching their injured and mangled limbs and bodies.
"Where is the Seeker?" Shifu asked. "Tell him to stop hiding. No witnesses here…"
The Five and Po - if possible - forced their heads down even more. They were practically as still as statues by now. Even Yu was growing interested - the fox walked forward, gasping quickly as she realized the full extent of everyone's injuries.
"Boy!" Shifu called out. "Enough of the games! I need to punish you for many insolences…"
Yu saw Shifu pull out the red button, privately feeling disgusted again.
"BOY!"
"He was captured," Tigress let out, practically feeling the shocked stares of the other masters and Po. "Shen and his wolves took him. We - we couldn't get him back in - "
She paused, feeling her throat seize up. It was true that she had been injured, it was true that going for Alf probably meant a long list of other injured body parts - but she had felt the opportunity. If it weren't for Monkey - Tigress might have done it.
She must have.
She was so close.
"Excuse me?" Shifu noted, walking back closer to Tigress to pounce on his staff to meet her at eye level. "What did you say?"
The voice was so dangerous, so malevolent, that it reminded Tigress of the early days when he used to train her - before Po, before the Five even existed, before the Dragon Scroll - when a single wrong move would earn her the beating of a lifetime.
Yet Tigress' guilt wouldn't let her rest. The rest of the Five, Po, and even Yu looked at her as if she was a fool.
"He was captured," Tigress restated, feeling the throat grumble. "Shen did something to his collar…"
"He - he unmasked himself," Po called out, feeling bad for how much punishment Tigress was soldiering through alone. "He - he did it to save me…"
Shifu's face and body language were completely still. Po wasn't sure whether to talk, or stop talking - both seemed to result in awkward tension.
"He was able to save Po from having his neck sliced open," Tigress continued. "But once he - "
"What you're saying is that," Shifu interrupted, voice completely emotionless and cold. "The Seeker was unmasked, and captured by Shen. How many witnesses?"
Tigress gulped, eye swelling more. "Over twenty - or more. He - Alf isn't a secret anymore."
Yu startled, fear gripping her. There were so many things she was starting to regret.
Not speaking to him before.
Not caring what other people thought.
Not kissing him.
She had wasted so much time.
He never even got one clue how she felt about him.
All the time she was waiting - searching for perhaps the right moment. There were some opportunities, some places - where if she had the courage, she could have said something. She could have just grabbed him and shoved her lips against his, she could have spoken to him, Yu could have done anything to let him know - yet she had chose cowardice again, just like she always had. She had chosen the path of least resistance, of eternally assuming he would eventually notice her interest - and now there was no chance, no way for her to even relate how much he meant to her.
She loved him.
She cringed. She didn't even have the courage to say it.
Just like with her parents.
More memories. She shut them down.
On the other hand, Shifu took a pause of a few seconds. None of the rest of the Five nor Po knew what it meant, but fear shot through Tigress immediately.
WHIP.
CRACK.
BAM.
BOOSH.
BAM.
Shifu's hand flew back and forth - slapping Tigress savagely across the face, five times consecutively. Every other new slap opened up a scar, intensifying the bleeding. The rest of the Five and Po watched in horror.
"You continue to disappoint me," Shifu spat, getting close enough to Tigress' face. "I thought after the Dragon Scroll - there could be no way you could continue to fail me, but after all - "
CRACK.
"You really are - "
BAM.
"... a failure…"
SNAP.
"... of… "
BASH.
"... the highest…"
CRACK.
"... order."
Tigress' head spun like a swivel, not even daring to look up as Shifu kept up the slaps. He was adding fresh bruises to her face now. A small stream of moisture ran down Tigress' face - this was more distressing than anything.
Shifu raised his hand again.
"Enough!" Po protested, shambling his way over to Shifu and Tigress - breaking away from the scared grips of the rest of the Five. "Shifu come on dude - "
CRACK.
Tigress sniffled pathetically, gritting her teeth. Po felt a mild surge of anger arise. He tried to shove Shifu away - but only managed to lift his arms a bit due to the extent of his injuries.
BAM.
"I'm disciplining my student," Shifu growled. "Stay away, panda."
"She doesn't deserve this," Po groaned, trying to lift his arms to protect her. "Look at her! And you just start bea - "
"Po," Tigress tried, voice softer than any time he had ever heard it. "Po please…"
Po's lips quivered. The softness in her tone wasn't gentle or kind - it felt mutilated, hurt, even pathetic - it was so obviously borne out of pain that Po wanted nothing more to wrap his arms around her. Yu came up from behind, trying to tug him away. The rest of the Five watched in silence - or rather bowed their heads.
SMASH.
The last one caused a section of Tigress' white cheek to turn purple.
"She's your daughter!" Po forced desperately, shocked to see Tigress take this in submissive silence.
Shifu jutted Tigress' head up, sneering at the tears resiliently flowing down her cheekbones.
"What do you think, leader of the Furious Five?" Shifu spat, whiskers coiled up. "Have you led? Would you call yourself my daughter, right this moment?"
Tigress' mouth quivered, eyes closed.
BASH.
"ANSWER ME!" Shifu screamed.
"N - No…" Tigress faintly whispered. The softness - or rather, the complete shock in the tone - greatly upsetted Po.
WHIP.
Shifu slapped Tigress a final time, watching her head droop down as fresh tears fell to the wooden floor - staining them.
"Listen to me," Shifu now addressed to everyone, focusing on the rest of the Five and Po - perhaps even Yu. "Because of your incompetence, the Jade Palace is now in a very, very precarious situation… one that I might add, I deliberately abstained from preventing - just so you would learn this lesson."
"But Alf - " Po started.
"SILENCE PANDA!"
Po fell quiet at once.
"We have a Seeker in the hands of Shen, who's been exposed as being tied to the Jade Palace," Shifu bluntly stated. "I assume at the very least, you've found out where he's making his cannons."
Po saw Tigress's paw weakly shift to her waistband. He decided to act quickly, taking a small scroll out of her waistband to avoid having her be the center of attention again. The rest of the Five and Yu seemed puzzled by it.
"Noitacol," Po started. "Red, blue, yellow, dragon, peacock, four. Burn this message after reading it - Zhong, commander in charge."
"Wait what the hell?" Crane suddenly burst in. "So we do know the cannons are! Awesome!"
Shifu let out a mild, completely half-hearted nod. He paced around with Oogway's staff behind him - a bit of frustration coming through. A chilled breeze cut through the moonlight, freshly irritating his whiskers.
"The first word means location," Shifu immediately deduced. "But the rest of it - hmm."
Shifu continued his pacing. Po took the opportunity to look at Tigress, who still had her face down and was bleeding yet mildly crying at the same time. Awkwardly, he gently gripped her injured elbow, squeezing slightly.
She turned her head slightly upwards, smiling. Po flashed a grin back, but quickly disassociated when Shifu turned up again.
"I think I have an idea," Yu broke in, interrupting for the first time in ten minutes - the Five, Po, and Shifu stared at her. "Gimme a sec…"
The fox gently reached into her own waistband, pulling out the scroll - the scroll that had revealed so many answers about the Yongshi, the scroll with so many questions - then predictably pressed her paws against the underside of the mountain logo.
"What is that?" Shifu spat, anger rising again.
"Later," Yu advised, waiting for the scroll's magic to start working. "We've been - contacting people."
"We?"
"Me and Alf," Yu forced, watching Shifu's face boil in red rage - but she knew the next words would arrest his anger.
Ask the question you seek,
Or be weak.
"What the hell?" Mantis let out, seeing the black ink shift crazily.
"What?" Monkey noted.
"Yu what is that?" Crane forced.
Tigress dared to peer her head up - mouth going agape at the shifting ink.
"You two idiots have been talking with the wrong people," Shifu growled. "Where - did - you - get - that - scroll?"
"Just gimme a second," Yu yearned. "Scroll - what does Noitacol - "
She didn't even finish her sentence, as the scroll's ink shifted in tune with her thoughts.
The cannon locations are truly queer,
So burn the message as Zhong says right here.
Yu gasped. The extent of the scroll's magic was bothering her - asking generic questions about the Yongshi (which she hadn't even briefed everyone on) seemed creepy enough, but now the scroll was mind-reading? How did it even know about the cannons?
What kind of magic was this?
"I think it wants us to burn the message," Yu tried.
"Fox," Shifu started dangerously, leaping atop the staff again. "You and the Seeker have again proved your dishonesty by again going behind my back - and contacting Scrolls-know-who…"
The irony of this last phrase was lost on Shifu, but it was enough to make Mantis giggle too hard - then wince as his broken limb pain became more acute.
Yu ignored Shifu, prepared for the fallout later. "Scroll - if we burn the message - do we get to know the location of the cannons?"
The black ink transformed - almost angrily.
Do not question our judgements, fool.
It is the universe, we rule.
Burn it now, with gall.
Or watch China fall.
Yu huffed, scared. Partially it was because of how angry Shifu had been, but the fact was that overwhelming concern for Alf drove her to just get the Palace members moving and in pursuit of something instead of just standing here.
The fox brought out a piece of metal, striking it against a piece of gravel on the floor.
A spark emerged. She slashed it against the location scroll.
Several uneventful seconds.
The orange flame tore through the words.
"YOU BURNED THE SCROLL!" Mantis screamed.
"HOW ARE WE SUPPOSED TO FIND THE LOCATION NOW!?" Viper surprisingly screamed.
"YOU'RE TAKING ORDERS FROM A TALKING MAGIC SCROLL NOW?!" Monkey roared in infuriation.
Yu waited some more, smile gently creeping on her face.
The falling ashes were moving.
Yu, Po, and the Five gathered around the burning ashes. Shifu managed to leap atop his staff once more, peering above the rest to focus on the burning papyrus. The ashes were dancing lightly, almost acting with a mind of their own.
They crystallized into shapes and letters.
A giant black arrow pointing away - in a very specific manner.
Letters ran beneath.
5000 Paces West.
1200 Paces Right.
Follow the Arrow.
Outside of Gongmen.
South Entrance.
"Well that's one way to hide a secret area," Po guessed. "I suppose we were some idiots for believing the red green peacock bullshit was real…"
"Just a code, remember?" Crane deduced. "Shen's smarter than we think…"
"Not smart enough," Shifu noted immediately. "Everyone, focus on me now."
Instantly the group reacted. Yu and Po stuck together, gathering at Shifu's back while the Five dragged their injured bodies to the front of Shifu's eyeline. Only Tigress was hesitant - her head was still drooped down, lightly sniffling. She joined the group last, and stayed well away from Shifu.
"Do not think for a second that I am even remotely pleased with any of you," Shifu stressed, in particular flashing Tigress a filthy glance. "But the duty remains - we must decide now. Decide either to contain our security risk, or go after the cannons first."
"The security risk has a name," Yu spat, tears twinkling under stress. "Alf. Was rescue Alf too hard for you to say?"
Shifu merely grunted in exasperation.
"And why the hell are we putting it up to a vote?" the fox urged, feeling confused. "We save Alf first - then we go after the cannons! Right?"
Yu was shocked to see some of the Five keep their heads down, not offering immediate reassurance.
"Think about it Yu," Mantis noted. "Shen's planning to destroy Gongmen eventually - he hates this city! Us arriving probably only pushed him further…"
"He's thinking about destroying the city," Crane noted. "We give him more than a few hours - he'll level the city and will have too many cannons at that point for us to stop him."
"We need to be logical," Shifu forced, baritone growl coming back. "Focusing on rescuing the Seeker will only allow Shen to begin destruction - and possibly become too powerful for us to stop his conquest."
"Screw logic!" Yu cut across, confusion giving way to paranoia. "He's a part of this team just like any of you! He - "
"He's already captured, and thus likely being tortured and releasing information on us, the Jade Palace, and possibly even what happened with Tai Lung!" Shifu bit. "Personally, I'd let him fend for himself - he was captured on his own accord."
Yu absolutely couldn't believe what she was hearing. What was more irritating was Po's lack of defense, Tigress' silence, and the rest of the Five merely listening without protest.
No one thought this was wrong?
"Alf would never betray this group, despite how many times it's betrayed him," Yu growled with a snort. "Shen isn't interested in history - he wants Alf. The Seeker. You really think Alf'll be alive by the time we destroy the factory and get back?"
"Not my concern," Shifu casually slipped, further enraging Yu. "But as I said - we shall keep this fair. Vote."
Yu immediately raised up her paw, looking fiercely at everyone else. "I'm not betraying my - friend."
She even cringed at using that word. He was so much more.
Awkwardly, Monkey extended a paw up. "He's still a part of the Palace."
Even more reluctantly, Viper shot her head up. "We can't abandon family."
All eyes turned to the panda - who miraculously kept silent.
"Po put your paw up," Yu emphasized, tugging his arm. "Come on - we need to save Alf!"
Po shook his head gradually. "Shen - I don't know if this is real, but - he said the Seekers may have something to do with - with my mom and dad. With the pandas."
"I'm sure he said all kinds of bullshit Po!" Yu fought back. "But you know him! You know that - "
The fox sniffled, shocked that Po was not even reacting to her cries.
"The world hates him," Po reframed. "Shifu - us - everyone's felt some kinda weird way about Alf - maybe everyone's right. Maybe there is something dark and evil about the - "
"HE'S NOT JUST A SEEKER FOR SCROLL'S SAKE HE'S OUR FRIEND!" Yu roared, tears freshly bursting and running down her ragged garments. "HE'S YOUR BEST FRIEND! HE SAVED YOUR LIFE!"
Po's lips quivered, but he turned his head down resiliently. "I - I'm sorry. Until I know what really happened with the pandas - I - I can't trust anyone. Not - not even Alf."
"This whole boo hoo my parents are dead thing is getting old Po!" Yu savagely fired back. "Everyone has some dark shit in their lives! Stop with the whining!"
Po growled, moving away in silence. Yu's shocked face said it all - this was going nowhere. She scanned the surrounding docks and the circle of warriors again - Monkey, Viper, and her were in agreement, as Shifu and the rest of the Five (and apparently Po) looked on. But they needed more… at least one more for a tie, two more for a decisive victory…
Until another paw came up.
Mangled. Bloody. Broken.
Orange and white.
Tigress.
Shifu again paced over, leaping atop his staff to deliver a searing slap across her face yet again.
WHAP.
"Shifu relax dude!" Po squealed, covering Tigress with his body - watching her whimper softly against his shoulder.
"STAY OUT OF THIS PANDA!" Shifu screamed, full attention on Tigress' downcast head. "AFTER ALL THIS LECTURING - YOU STILL CHOOSE TO DISOBEY ME!?"
Po tried to stop it with a mangled paw, but it was too late - Shifu's paw bludgeoned Tigress' purple cheek fur.
WHIP.
Po's injuries - specifically the head and neck slashes - were making him drowsy. Blood loss was shocking everyone.
"Put your paw down, stupid girl," Shifu grunted.
Tigress' head remained down, fresh tears falling down.
But the paw was still up.
CRACK.
"I said…"
WHIP.
"Put…"
SNAP.
"Your paw…"
WHUMP.
"Down…"
Tigress' head was bruised so badly that fresh splotches of purple fur began spreading. Her face was fresh, tear-driven with moisture, Po had wrapped his good arm around her frame and held her tightly…
… yet the paw was still up.
Po wiped a few tears out of Tigress' eyes. He wasn't concerned about talking through it, he just wanted Tigress to remain stable.
She stuck her head a bit up, orange eyes flashing him something.
The same something he felt back at the ship journey.
He quelled the feeling. Now was not the time.
Tigress seemed to understand this as well.
"Daughter? You aren't even fit to be my water girl…" Shifu spat hurtfully, then turned to the rest of the group. "Fine! Four votes for saving our idiotic guest… all against?"
As predicted, Po's, Crane's, Mantis', and Shifu's paws and limbs shot upwards. Again, the inclusion of Po's paw enraged Yu - she wanted nothing more than to go beat the absolute daylights out of him.
But at least - it was four versus four.
"Right, we're going to go destroy the Factory first," Shifu commanded.
"Wait what?!" Yu let out immediately. "What happened to four versus four!? That's a tie!"
"Seniority," Shifu concluded. "In a tie, I might as well break it with my own opinion…"
"Since when was that a rule?!" Yu forced.
"SINCE NOW!" Shifu again yelled. "YOU'RE LUCKY I'M EVEN LETTING A FOOD DELIVERY GIRL VOTE! KEEP QUIET!"
Yu tried to say something more, but Tigress quieted her with a gentle paw grip. The fox was surprised at how gentle, how submissive it was - it wasn't Master Tigress gripping her, it was a heartbroken daughter.
"Crane, Mantis - heal each other's and everyone's injuries as much as you can," Shifu ripped straightforward. "We move out soon."
None of the Five protested. Po didn't even bother arguing. Slowly Crane and Mantis got to work - all of them ignorant of the fox that had departed the group, moving forward into Gongmen City in pursuit of her own goals. She wasn't thinking about the fact that Shifu knew about the magical scroll, was suspicious about her and Alf's "extracurricular" activities, or that the Factory might be dangerous. She wasn't even thinking about the idea that none of them knew where Alf was being held - or if he was even alive.
She only cared about him.
"She's gonna try to save Alf alone," Po noted, watching her walk underneath the three archways that lead into the ciity. "We don't even know where he is…"
"Leave her," Shifu continued. "With any luck, two of our unwelcome Palace guests will be gone in one move."
Po merely kept quiet, neither agreeing nor disagreeing with the sentiment.
. . .
"AGHH!"
Then nothing.
A few moments of silence.
His eyes crusted open again.
"ARGH! PLEASE!"
"Keep quiet, boy."
CRACK.
SKRIT.
SLASH.
"ARGH!"
Nothing again. Alf wasn't sure how many times this had happened - how many times he had lost consciousness due to to the pain of what was happening. Over the past few hours, he had somewhat understood his situation.
He was strapped to a metal table - arms and legs pinned down. He was definitely in some sort of cave - a massive, sprawling rock metropolis completely vacant of life except for the peacock in front of him. Awkwardly, there was an equally massive metal ship standing in the center of the huge cave - but Alf was too far and too restricted in movement to see it properly. His loose top garment had been torn off, leaving his chest and stomach completely bare.
It wasn't bare, actually. Over the past few hours, Shen had prided himself on defacing every inch of Alf's exposed torso - using a variety of instruments to his advantage.
The knife cut the most deep wounds. The metal cleaver had certainly crushed a few ribs. The heated metal rod had blackened a large stretch of Alf's stomach. The Seeker's torso looked like an ugly mesh of purple, black, and bumpy skin - intercut by fortunate stretches of untouched flesh. Some areas of skin were also ripped and torn - almost as if they had been "sampled" and stripped away.
The peacock brought the metal cleaver closer to a particularly reddened area of Alf's bottom ribs. "Last bone took five hits. Why do you think this one is taking more?"
Alf merely sniffled, eyes tearing up again.
Shen brought the cleaver down.
CRACK.
"Ugh," Alf squeaked out - voice too exhausted from crying, screaming, and begging to properly vocalize. "Please… just please…"
"Looks like this one took eight hits," Shen noted, prodding the freshly broken rib as Alf winced in agony. "Your anatomy truly fascinates me…"
"Why - why are you doing this…" Alf pleaded, embarrassed more that he couldn't keep himself from crying. "Just - just kill me… please…"
"Then your friends' sacrifice would have been in vain," Shen urged with a smile, then raised an eyebrow. "Or wait, was it the other way around? You sacrificing yourself for them… for the panda…"
Shen moved away, putting the cleaver down to examine his box of tools. He wrote several notes down in a small black scroll.
Alf drew in shaky breaths. The pain in the past few hours had overwhelmed him to the point where he hadn't even thought through the logic of it all - how Shen had procured a button (a different one, at that) that could activate his collar, where the cannons were, where he actually was…
...where Po was. Where the Five were.
Where Yu was.
He sniffled. He had to believe they were coming for him.
He had to.
"Hmmm… but as a physical specimen you seem quite disappointing," Shen stated, moving back to Alf's strapped down body. "Seekers - at least the ones the legends talk about - were tall. Strong. Robust… ferocious."
Alf grunted, trying to summon courage that he knew he didn't have.
"You're fairly tall for - an adolescent, I suppose," Shen observed, scanning across Alf's frame. "But your muscle mass is lacking…"
Shen dug a small blade into Alf's right bicep.
A burst of fresh pain.
Unexpected.
Shen began dragging the blade down.
"AHHH! PLEASE!" Alf cried out, pain taking him by surprise because of the unique location. "PLEASE!"
The muscle began obediently tearing.
Shen pulled out the blade, growing irritated. "Hmm… you clearly have obedience issues…"
Alf saw the green button make its appearance in Shen's grasp again. He tried to prepare himself.
Shen pressed the green button.
The fire came back.
"ARGH! AHHH!"
"Quiet," Shen forced. "Either take ten seconds - silently - of this while I set the dial to half - or twenty seconds at max."
Alf cried again, shutting his mouth with an immensely struggling will.
The longest ten seconds of his life ensued. Every second was torture.
Looking at Shen was torture.
Feeling like this was torture.
He was used to being powerless.
But this felt different.
He felt - like an experiment.
"Good boy," Shen noted, releasing the button while claiming his scroll back to write some more information. "Emotional levels easily manipulated - respond well to pain-based submission…"
Alf sniffled.
"You mustn't think this is all personal," Shen whispered, moving to Alf's head position. "The scientific and research opportunities that I have in front of me - well, no one could pass it up."
Shen suddenly unstrapped Alf's head lock, along with the rest of the straps pinning his arms and legs down.
Alf's mind was in shock, but his body was too injured to react appropriately. So he laid there in silence, gasping for breath as the cracked ribs started to interfere with his breathing. Shen was unfazed, clasping Alf's entire body to roughly pull off the blood-stained table, flopping him into an open rickshaw cart. Alf collapsed into the small cart, feeling the peacock rudely kick his arms and legs inside the cart's broad frame.
Shen turned him around, gradually pulling the cart behind him as he headed for the ship.
"I - I know your parents loved you, once," Alf tried, desperately trying to recall any information he had picked up on Shen over the past month. "You - you were in-line to rule Gongmen…"
"I was," Shen replied casually, eyes still forward and focused on the metal ship about five hundred feet away. "Things changed."
"If - if you feel you have an ownership to Gongmen," Alf croaked out. "We can make that happen! The - the Jade Palace has excellent - ergh - legal teams…"
Alf was referencing the incompetent Zheng of course, but the peacock didn't know that.
"No," Shen spat. "Truth be told - for what I've done - I doubt anyone would let me keep control of this city…"
Alf blinked, head bumping roughly against the edge of the cart as Shen pulled it nonchalantly. "What - what did you do?"
Shen sighed, stopping his pace.
The peacock turned around. "Many years ago - a prophecy came to me. From that old goat you and your friends saw earlier."
Alf remembered the Soothsayer instantly.
"A warrior of black and white - " Shen continued. " - a panda - would come to stop me, to keep me from ruling Gongmen."
"She can't have meant that," Alf coughed out, blood collecting in his mouth. "It - it was just a metaphor…"
Alf wasn't sure why he was vehemently trying to assuage Shen, get inside his psyche. His first thought was that it was just out of self-preservation - the longer he kept Shen off his torture stuff, and more on his inner turmoils - the longer the Five and Po had to come rescue him. He had to believe that.
Yet a deeper part of him was fascinated with the peacock - interested by his connection to the Seeker lore and cannons - something felt off, and that metal ship seemed to be connected. Alf's base level feelings towards Shen was utter hate - but inside, a quiet fascination came with how the peacock was able to get the button, know his anatomy, and in his own sick, twisted way - appreciate the Seekers.
Even if that meant reducing Alf's bones and organs to jelly.
Shen moved the cart along, again heading for the massive metal ship. "Metaphor it was not. She - she described them to me. Fluffy, large, fat creatures…"
Alf gulped, fearing the next few sentences.
"I enjoyed seeing all of them die," Shen recalled, lost in a dark nostalgia. "I loved seeing the source of my so-called destiny die…"
Alf restrained the urge to feel shocked.
So his suspicions were true.
Shen had committed genocide against the pandas.
Po's parents were dead.
Or were they?
"I don't like having a stupid prophecy determine where my life is going," Shen noted. "Would you?"
On the surface, Alf agreed. But on second thought, who in their right mind would decide to exterminate a whole species?
Maybe it was just the blood loss.
"No," Alf cautiously pressed. "No I wouldn't…"
"Ah."
Shen stopped, allowing Alf to picture where he was.
The Seeker groaned. They were at the front base of the tall metal ship, yet seemingly disconnected from the rest of it. Two huge frames - probably doors - were etched into the metallic wall in front of them. They were both rusting already, but it bothered him less than Shen's giddy face upon seeing it.
The peacock rotated the cart, knowing Alf's limp body would be powerless to resist.
Shen pressed a feather to a small portion of the metal doors.
Alf shuddered, a booming voice bursting into existence.
It was unlike anything he had ever heard.
Cold.
Heartless.
Blunt.
[LIFE DETECTED. PROCEED WITH THERMAL SCAN.]
Alf winced. The voice was so devoid of emotional overtones that it didn't even seem like it was a creature - it felt like some machine was producing the noise.
A small glass panel suddenly appeared on the section Shen had just touched.
"Touch your hand to the glass," Shen commanded.
Alf immediately knew the answer. "Screw off."
He didn't know what it was. He didn't know where he was. He didn't know what the hell was happening right now.
And he hated the peacock more than anything.
"Oh fine…" Shen motioned, roughly twisting and grabbing Alf's broken arm.
"ARGH!"
"Shut up, this won't hurt…" Shen forced, shoving Alf's open palm against the glass, watching the blood trickle down from his fingers.
A few moments of pause. Alf watched the glass panel reverberate.
The same booming voice came back.
[THERMAL SCAN COMPLETED. ACCESS AFFIRMED.]
"YES!" Shen screamed immediately. "YES YES YES!"
Alf's eyes went agape.
He was being used again.
What the hell was the ship?
It couldn't have been a Seeker ship…
It couldn't.
Alf felt like he was going crazy.
[IDENTIFICATION NEEDED. STATE DESIGNATION.]
"Designation…" Shen started, a bit confused. "Desgi - a name. Name! Tell it your name!"
Alf again refused, opting to firmly keep his mouth shut. Yet a large portion of him was growing interested - this had been the first moment he had seen something Seeker-related - something real, concrete, visible, tangible…
Yet he couldn't trust Shen.
Was this how the cannons were being built?
Stolen technology?
What was inside the ship?
"TELL YOUR NAME!" Shen screamed, punching Alf's already injured windpipe, then brought a blade close to the Seeker's eyes. "TELL IT, OR I WILL CARVE OUT YOUR VERY EYES!"
Alf again jittered, blood loss shocking him again. "A - Alf."
Another pause.
[DESIGNATION NOT FOUND. STATE DESIGNATION.]
Shen swung his foot down on Alf's injured ribs.
CRACK.
"GIVE IT YOUR FULL NAME!" Shen roared. "DO IT!"
The pain was making it difficult for Alf to say much. "Ergh - Alfalfa!"
[DESIGNATION NOT FOUND. STATE DESIGNATION.]
Alf was growing worried as Shen's face grew more angry, but also more curious.
"Ergh - Alfalfa Ping?"
How could the machine even know that?
[FALSE DESIGNATION GIVEN THREE TIMES. AUTO-LOCK ACTIVATED.]
The glass panel abruptly shoved back inside, as the metal doors still stood back in rusting decay. Shen screamed loudly, leaping atop Alf's crushed torso.
CRACK. Shen began the onslaught of punches against Alf's face.
"WHY - "
BAM.
"DIDN'T -"
THUD.
"IT - "
CRUSH.
"WORK?!"
THUD.
"YOUR FRIENDS TRICKED ME!"
BAM.
"ARE YOU EVEN A SEEKER!?"
CRACK.
CRACK.
CRACK.
Alf stopped feeling the hits after a while, drifting into unconsciousness. But not before a final burst of curiosity passed - at Shen, at the ship, at the button, the cannons…
At the Seekers.
At himself.
He didn't understand anything anymore.
A/N
Wooooo - wee! A longy but a goody!
Quite a violent chapter! But other than that, not much to say. Lots of plots/points/timelines here, so be sure to keep track of 'em all! I feel this chapter was good for characterization too.
Sidenote: I realized my chapters sort of work like this: a brief paragraph or two to describe the scene, then followed by a dialogue-heavy/action heavy setting. There are some pros and cons to this, but let's focus on the cons…
-Dialogue heavy chapters are fun for me, but also some lines can be cringey if you're not reading the line in the author's intent - I picture every line being said by the character, a la movie, or else the whole thing reads more like a play! So - try to read it like that, lol? I'll def. Try to improve descriptive aspects..
Support is great. Simple yet easy :)
~TW
