As Mantis, Crane and Monkey crept up the slanted roof of the pagoda to get a clear view of the royal palace, the bug thought back on the last hour.
In her current condition, there was no way that Mei Ling could accompany them on their royal rescue mission. So they had taken her to an undamaged tailor shop and down into the cellar, where they'd redressed her injury and made a makeshift bed out of the piles of blankets and fabrics. Mei Ling had cursed and pleaded for them to let her accompany them, but Crane was adamant that she would stay out of further danger until she'd recovered.
"Great. Absolutely brilliant." Mei ling had folded her arms, seething. "From kung fu master to damsel in distress."
Mantis shrugged. "Technically you're a handicapped bada-"
"No more arguing!" Crane snapped. "We have a royal family to save. Mei Ling, promise me you'll stay put." When Mei Lung looked away without a word, he added, "Let me put it this way. The less danger you're in, the better chance you have of seeing your son again."
Those last words gained the promise Crane wanted, and so now she was lying low in a cellar while the others were off doing their duty and saving the royal family. Mantis felt bad for her, but they all agreed there wasn't any other choice.
Crane was the first to the top of the roof, and he peeked over the tiles at the royal palace. Ten buildings and five streets separated them from the big wall, so it was unlikely that they would be seen. Mantis and Monkey crept up beside him and waited silently as he observed the scene. "How's it looking?" Mantis eventually said.
"Just like Mei Ling said. A guard every twenty feet, and two in each of the four corner towers. You'd think there'd be more."
"They're probably off dealing with Ember's living zombies." Monkey said. "Lucky for us."
Crane's eyes narrowed. "I can't see a possible route from here. We should get closer."
So they quickly crossed two streets until they were seven buildings away. The building they crouched on was tall enough for them to see inside the expansive courtyard. The royal palace stood at the far end, an unscathed complex of buildings which each had their own purpose. According to Mei Ling, Emperor Xian and his family were being held in the residential building near the large central hall where Long Feng commanded his army. Mantis saw that aside from two dozen soldiers patrolling the inside of the courtyard wall, the courtyard was clear. Not for the first time, he wondered where Po and Tigress were. If Po were here, he would be all 'we are the Dragon Warrior and the Furious Five and we are here to save royals and kick buttoey!' and Tigress would be dragging him back onto the roof and telling him that recklessly jumping in shouting boasts was just asking to be captured or worse. Wherever they were, he hoped they were still alive.
Crane was scowling. "I can't see any way to get in without being seen. What about you two?"
Mantis shook his head, and so did Monkey. "This Long Feng guy's really thought this through." The primate said. "We might have to do what Po would do and just wing it."
"Yeah. There's not that many soldiers. We could take them all out without them sounding the alarm." Mantis said.
Crane was silent for a few seconds. "It we do this, we should move in on one of the corners."
Mantis soon understood why starting at a corner of the wall would be best. Every guard on the outside of the wall patrolled in the same direction, moving clockwise around the perimeter. When a guard rounded the corner, they would be out of sight of the guard behind them for a few seconds, and so would Mantis, Crane and Monkey when they moved in to take him out.
And that was how they took out all one hundred and twenty three guards in under ten minutes.
"Smart plan, Crane." Mantis said quietly one they added the last soldier to the pile. "So much for winging it, though."
"Now for the towers." Crane said.
"We should go for that tower next to the tall tower by the moat." Monkey pointed to the moat that stretched between the residential building and the tower. "There's a bridge we can use as cover."
"Towers." Mantis grimaced. "I hate towers."
"And I hate bring drugged." Crane said. "So shut up."
Mantis wondered if he was ever going to live that down.
They silently climbed their chosen tower and each swiftly took out a guard. Then they leapt across to the tower and through a window, ending up in an empty room with walls covered in paintings.
Mantis stopped and turned to look back out the window. "You hear that? Sounds like the war's started up again."
Monkey and Crane joined Mantis. They couldn't see, but they could hear the chaos stirring in the distant streets. "It's just like we thought." Mantis said. "Ember's creepy minions are stirring up trouble, and Long Feng's creepy minions have gone out to deal with it."
"Once the battle's over, they'll come back." Monkey said. "We should hurry." They found the stairs and descended the tower, and it soon became apparent that the building was empty. As they reached the third floor, Monkey stopped by the open window. "What's that?" He wondered aloud. A second later his face fell. Mantis hopped onto the windowsill and saw what he was looking at.
Farther down the moat was a blackened, charred building almost identical to the residential building. Mantis knew what it was the second he set eyes on it, and he looked away. It had been nearly thirty years since the late Tujiu had led the attempted assassination of the royal family, and the ensuing city-wide fire that claimed so many lives, including that of Xian's father, wife and son in that very building. Mantis had never known his father before his mother ate his head. He'd never married or had kids. He would probably never truly understand what Xian had gone through, and he never wanted to. He promised himself that he would save Xian's remaining surrogate family, no matter what it took.
"Guys." Crane said softly. Monkey and Mantis turned away from the window. Monkey was quiet for the rest of the way down. Hopping down the steps behind him, Mantis looked at Monkey's Dao swords, the ones that had belonged to his dead father. He wondered if Monkey was thinking about him right now.
Regardless, they reached the ground floor and carefully approached the exit doors. Mantis pushed aside his saddening thoughts, opened one of the doors by an inch and peeked through. All he saw was the stone bridge with the thick stone rails they would use as cover. He gave the all clear and they stepped through. Crouching low behind the rails, they crossed the bridge to the doors of the residential building.
This was the hard part. The royal family would no doubt be heavily guarded, and it was crucial that they take out every single guard without the alarm being sounded. Then there was the matter of the second stage of their plan, in which they would go to the central hall and take out Long Feng. There was so much that could go wrong.
Speaking of which, shouldn't something have already gone wrong by now? Wasn't this just a little too easy? Why was the building so empty?
Then they reached the sealed doors of the emperor's bedroom where Mei Ling said the family was being held, and there was no turning back.
Monkey grabbed one handle, and Crane grabbed the other.
"Ready?" Monkey whispered. "Three... two... one..."
They burst into the room.
They stopped dead.
They narrowed their eyes.
"Aw holy crapping crap on a rice cracker." Mantis groaned.
"Damn it all to crapping hell." Monkey cursed.
"Crap." Crane glowered.
On the wide bed sat a smirking, scarred Izumi holding a flashing blade to a fuming, gagged Mei Ling's throat. Long Feng was grinning from ear to ear as he stepped out from the balcony, flanked by four gorilla guards.
"Took you boys long enough. I've been waiting for hours." Izumi sneered.
"What are you complaining about?" Long Feng raised an eyebrow. "You got to sit on the comfy bed. Drop your weapons, lads."
"How, Long Feng?" Monkey asked coldly as he slowly discarded his swords.
"How?" Long Feng asked. "With a sample of Mei Ling's chi, it was ridiculously easy to find her. When our dear Izumi found her all alone in that cellar, we knew you were coming." He waved his arm, and one of the gorillas stepped forward with a two pairs of eight point acupressure cuffs and a small cage. "I hope you runts learned a very important lesson from this."
"One armed rhinos are jerks?" Mantis suggested snidely.
"Have more respect for a grunt."
Lady Hei Nuwang had a huge smile on her face when she visited Sutoraiki in his laboratory. "Why so cheerful, my lady?" Sutoraiki asked as he looked up from his work bench.
"Long Feng has just reported the successful capture of Masters Monkey, Mantis, Crane and Mei Ling." Hei Nuwang grabbed a chair and sat down.
"So Long Feng was right. Mei Ling was a spy." Sutoraiki returned to his work, examining a bright purple fluid in a flask.
"Yes. She is being interrogated as we speak, but we suspect she was working for the Masters' Council."
"And what's the news on the Master's Council?" Sutoraiki picked up two smaller bottles and mentally debated on which to apply to his concoction.
"They're not making it easy, and if Ember and the Dragon Warrior weren't top priority I would have pulled all our resources on an all out invasion. They're not important, anyway."
He chose the bottle on the right and applied two drops. The liquid brightened very slightly. "And what about the girl? With the utmost respect, my lady, you never did tell me why you ordered her to be moved to my old laboratory."
Hei Nuwang's smile disappeared. "And I won't tell you now. Not yet." She folded her arms. "Anyway, she and the other prisoners are still missing. But our men are searching the mountains at this moment, so it'll only be a matter of time before they're found."
Sutoraiki put down his flask. "I hope so. I have heard some strange rumours about that place. Some of the guards have been speaking of malevolent apparitions, and some kind of creature crawling out of shadows."
"Then let us hope that our little runaways don't run into any malevolent apparitions." Hei Nuwang drawled with a wave of her paw. "Enough news from me. What about your own progress?"
"Going well." Sutoraiki held out the flask for her to see. "All I need is one more subject to test it on to make absolutely sure it will do what it is supposed too, and it will be ready for Ember."
"Oh, just use the tiger girl."
Sutoraiki blinked. "Not that I'm objecting, but isn't she supposed to be leverage?"
Hei Nuwang rolled her eyes. "You did remember to prepare an antidote for emergencies, didn't you?"
"Yes..." Sutoraiki inwardly cursed himself for forgetting. "So why on earth am I complaining?"
Hei Nuwang chuckled. "I'll have Izumi bring her in right away."
"I'll be looking forward to it."
The moment Hei Nuwang left the room, Sutoraiki set to work at once. He buzzed all over the room making preparations for Master Tigress's arrival. He made sure the cuffs on the table were still in foolproof condition. He gathered both the fluid and its antidote on his workbench. He pulled out some special tools, the ones with blades and hooks, just in case he felt like playing around with her a little. He doubted that Hei Nuwang would mind, so long as she was still alive when the time came to use her against the big fat panda.
Once he was done, he touched down on his bench and waited, smirking.
And then, somewhere close to his laboratory, he heard Izumi let out a scream that shook even him.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN SHE'S NOT IN HER CELL?!"
