Bitter Cold
Sheng sat at the camp the next day still furious as Liexing cooked breakfast. "You were a little scary yesterday," Liexing mentioned.
"How so?"
"That's the first time I've ever seen you lose it like that," Liexing explained.
"Sorry, I'm just upset about this. I'm starting to question if I can still kill people," Sheng sighed.
"You wanted a challenge. Don't worry, we'll find a way to finish the panda."
Meanwhile at the Jade Palace, Po came up with an idea to learn something from Sheng and Liexing. "It's not the best idea, Po," Crane countered.
"We know nothing of these people, and if I want to see the light of day again, I need to do this," Po replied. Tigress placed her hand on his shoulder.
"It's very risky and there's a very small window for success," she said, worried. Po patted her hand.
"I've done it before," Po assured.
"Very well, panda," Master Shifu replied. "Prepare for your journey." With that, Po quickly went to his room. He was finishing up a little project when Tigress came in.
"Is that a robe, a pair of pants, and a hat you made?"
"Yeah, I've been making it ever since my first encounter with the Killers," Po explained. "It's not quite ready yet."
"Maybe I should come with you," Tigress offered.
"No. Trust me when I say I'll be fine," Po replied. He got his things and started out the door.
"Oh, if you are in hand-to-hand combat with these guys, dislocate their arms for me. For shooting at us," Tigress said deviously. Po chuckled.
"I'll try." He went down the mountain, through the village, and out to the snowy mountains. The Killers saw him.
"He's alone, going to an unfamiliar terrain, and no backup in sight. Why?" Sheng carefully observed.
"Come on, we are used to snow and ice. Let's get packed and get going," Liexing hurried. Po went to the nearby snowy mountain range, knowing that the Killers were right behind him. As he ascended into the white clouds above, he could see that there was a blizzard raging the mountain. When the Killers got there, they could barely see.
"Honey," Sheng shouted. "Use the fire arrows." So she lit some arrows and randomly shot them through the blizzard. Po saw one of them pass way over his head.
"Why would they shoot so badly? That was nowhere near me," Po asked himself. The flame somehow still burned in the snow. Then there were other flaming arrows near him. It wasn't until he crossed in front of them at he dodged an arrow aimed at his head. "That's why. They're using these things as light and if something passes it they can get a reasonable shot." So Po began covering the fires were snow.
"Darn it," Liexing muttered, "He figured out the attack. He's stomping out the fires."
"Then we know where he'll pop up," Sheng said, rushing towards one of the flames. Po was about to snuff out the last arrow when Sheng jumped on him. Po threw him off his back and down at the ground. Po tried to punch him but Sheng dodged the hit. Sheng pushed Po away with his legs. Liexing jumped on Po's back as well. Before she could pierce her knife into him, Po fell on his back, nearly crushing her. While she was knocked out, Sheng came charging at him with his sword. Po ducked and jumped over every swing Sheng swung. Finally, Po grabbed his hand, punched Sheng in the face, and let the knocked out hyena fall into the snow. With both of them knocked out, Po was about to leave them there. He looked at them and saw the snow already covering them up. He groaned. His conscience wouldn't let him leave them there. He spotted a nearby cave. Po managed to carry Sheng and Liexing to the cave. He bounded their hands and feet behind them. Po also took a bomb from one of their pockets. To wake Sheng up, Po punched him in the arm hard enough to dislocate his shoulder. "OOOWWW!"
"That was from Tigress for shooting at us," Po said. Sheng struggled to move the arm but he couldn't. Even if he could, Po had bounded his hands. Sheng could see Liexing next to him bound as well. He growled at Po. "Don't worry, she's just sleeping. Now, you're going to supply me with some answers. Who sent you?"
"Sorry, no telling," Sheng singsonged. "Besides, it's against our code to tell the target who ordered a hit on them."
"You guys follow a code," Po asked.
"Hey, we're not just some merciless killers, though sometimes we are. We have standards as well."
"Is one of them that you can't kill people who aren't the target," Po questioned, "Is that why you haven't killed my friends?"
"Why do you ask? Are you saying you want us to kill your girlfriend, the tiger?" Sheng smirked.
"She's not my girlfriend," Po harshly answered back.
"Aw, I thought she was. I mean the amount of stuff she says about you in her diary."
"She writes about me," Po wondered. "I mean... that's not the point."
"So yes, we do have a code not to kill your girlfriend."
"She's NOT my girlfriend," Po growled out.
"You should work on that," Sheng smiled. Po groaned.
"How high is your fee," Po asked.
"Why? You want to kill someone after we kill you?"
"I'm asking."
"19 million yuan for each head and only up to three heads per job," Sheng explained. 19 million yuan is about 3 million US dollars.
"Only princes and emperors can afford that," Po exclaimed in shock. "Which prince wants me dead?"
"I didn't say it was a prince," Sheng explained. Po knew he wasn't going to tell him who, but he had to play his game in order to find out.
"Okay, what you're 'not' telling me is that my enemies have gathered together to put an end to me?" Po guessed.
"Wow, you are smart," Sheng teased. Po glared. "Any more questions?"
"Yes, what is a white hyena doing in China?" Sheng's smirk fell after that.
"Since you've been able to last longer than my other targets, I'll tell you," Sheng said. "My story is much like yours. My parents moved here because an albino hyena wouldn't make good news. I was picked on and I became an assassin to stop it. When the training became jealous of our skills, they tried to kill us, but we finished them all."
"And Liexing," Po asked.
"That's Mrs. Killer to you," Sheng joked. "Her village was raided and she was left alone. Like your girl- I mean the tiger's life, I imagine." Po sighed. He picked up his things and walked out the cave.
"When she wakes up, have her bite the ropes," Po said.
"Why would you tell me how to escape?"
"Because you would have anyway," Po simply replied. "She'll help you relocate your arm and help you out with the snow wall."
"Why don't you just finish us off?" Po turned around and smirked at him.
"That would be something you would predict me to do, isn't it? Besides, where's the fun in that?" Po smiled. He set the bomb to go off. He threw it at the top of the cave and ran for it. The bomb made the snow cover the cave almost completely. Sheng sighed. The stinging pain in his dislocated arm was proving to be intolerable. He wiggled onto his side and slammed into the rocky ground, fixing his arm.
"Ah, better," He sighed. A while after that, Liexing began to wake up. "Evening sweetie."
"Evening, it was just morning a minute ago," Liexing groaned.
"You've been out for a whole hour by my guess. Po knocked us out and sealed us in the cave. He left us a torch, little food, and we're bound with ropes. Can you take those pretty pearly whites of yours and cut the ropes?" Liexing wiggled her body over and started to gnaw at the ropes.
"Why did he leave all that stuff," Liexing asked with a full mouth.
"He asked a lot of questions. About us, about the code, and other things. He didn't seem like he wanted to kill us in the first place," Sheng replied. "OW! That's not the ropes, sweetheart."
"Sorry." Liexing was able to gnaw through the last binding rope. Sheng grabbed his sword, cut through the ropes on his legs, and took care of Liexing's ropes. "So we pursue him after we get out of here?"
"No, we have to stock up on arrows. We'll have to make some more arrows and more poison when we get back," He said cutting through the ropes.
"That's going to take a while," Liexing said.
"We don't have a choice. The panda has made us use more ammunition than we planned to." Sheng said. He turned his attention to the wall of snow. "We can't try to claw our way out." Liexing drew out a mini shovel. "You really are full of surprises," Sheng smirked. "This is going to take a while."
to be continued.
