Why did I put two male characters in a bathhouse together? Because it fit nicely with the last chapter and I thought it would make a unique change of setting. I'm not trying to start any kind of crazy crack shipping, I swear.

I also bring in another OC. "Chou" is pronounced "Cho" and is Chinese for "stink".

Chapter 8: The Deserter

"What in the name of the gods above gave you even the slightest idea that you could use our bathhouse?"

The old bathhouse next to the academy looked somewhat rundown, but was still fully functional after the Lang Qun's renovations. Kai Hui currently had the wolves stationed here on a specific time to bathe every night, which was met with a bit of resistance. To think that he actually had to force them to bathe on a regular basis. There was a reason why his own bath was separate from theirs. Aside from the overwhelming stench of wolf musk at such close quarters, he could simply use the privacy.

It was supposed to be private anyway. He certainly wasn't expecting Jin the Assassin to already be in it.

"I needed I bath, and this was the closest place I could think of. Sorry." The fox smirked at him, clearly enjoying his discomfort. Most of his upper body was sticking out of the water, showing off his white-furred chest. Hui wasn't sure if he was wearing anything below the water and he didn't want to find out.

He himself was wearing a silk bathrobe that he absolutely refused to take off now. He didn't want to get chased out of his own bath, but there was also no way he was getting in with him, so he settled for just sitting down at the egde and sticking his feet in, along with his ink-stained paw. Jin laughed at this. "Ah ha ha ha! Relax, buddy. I already got a mate. I'm not interested."

Hui glared at the fox contemptuously. "You certainly have a lot of gall coming back here after you failed your mission."

"Failed? I didn't fail."

"...How do you figure?"

"Well, I'm still alive, aren't I? So it wasn't a failure. More of a 'delayed success'." He actually threw up air quotes as he said this.

Hui rolled his eyes. "Yes, well you and your 'delayed success' can pack up and leave as soon as you're done stealing my bath. I have no more use for you."

"Are ya sure about that?" he asked slyly. "From what I hear, those two masters are still giving ya problems."

"You hear wrong. They are of no consequence anymore."

He was legitimately surprised when Jin saw right through his lie. "Oh please, don't give me that crap. Ya think I didn't notice all yer soldiers that looked like they had the snot kicked out of them? So ya got lucky and snatched those blueprints, but they are gonna get in yer way again, and ya need someone to put them in their place."

"And that someone is going to be you?" Hui asked, making no attempt to hide the doubt in his voice. "Forgive me if I'm not filled with the utmost confidence considering how that worked out last time."

"Delayed success!" Jin emphasized again. "Look, I don't even care about the money anymore. Those two have insulted my honor as a remorseless, bloodthirsty killer. I must have my revenge!"

Hui frowned. As much as he really wanted nothing to do with Jin anymore, he didn't have much to lose by hiring him again. At worst, he would still make a suitable distraction. "Make it half price and you have a deal."

"Deal! WOOHOO!" Jin slammed both paws into the water in celebration. The resulting splash created a small wave that completely soaked Hui. The Alpha wolf gave a slight growl and spat out some of the water.

At least he got his bath.

Outside the bathhouse, a pair of Lang Qun guards were on patrol, looking out for any intruders. Of course, they had no reason to expect any and so they weren't particularly alert. One of them was planning to take advantage of this. "Hey, did you hear something?"

His partner stopped for a moment and titled his head around. "I don't hear a thing."

"There it is again!" he insisted. "I think it's coming from over there." He pointed at the nearby bushes.

The other wolf sighed and started towards the bushes. "I swear, if this ends up like last time, I-"

*THUMP*

He didn't get the chance to finish that sentence. The first wolf had beaned him over the head with a rock while he was distracted. He collapsed to the ground unconscious. "Sorry, Lu," the first wolf said, wincing. "I couldn't take any chances."

He dragged Lu into the bushes and looked around warily, making sure that no one else was nearby. Then he sprinted into the forest without another second of hesitation. He knew he wasn't going to get this opportunity again.

As he ran, he heightened all of his senses and constantly looked back to make sure he wasn't being followed. It wasn't paranoia, he simply knew better than to underestimate the Lang Qun. He had been one of them until just minutes ago after all. By now, the other guards could have already found Lu and be on his tail at this very moment, tracking his scent. It was a foregone conclusion that they would find him eventually. He just had to reach Gongmen City before that. The Lang Qun wouldn't dare follow him there. Hui had specifically ordered them not to enter the city without his command.

After what felt like hours, the city's lights came into view. He couldn't help but smile once he made it into the city grounds without issue. He was so relieved that he didn't notice the diminutive antelope guard he had just sprinted past. Nor did he see him signaling to a few more guards up ahead. The next thing he knew, a large net was thrown over top of him, pinning him to the ground.

As he struggled to get up, he was finally overcome with exhaustion and passed out.

"So that makes seven now?"

Master Croc, alongside Master Ox, were standing at the gates of the prison, speaking to the captain of the royal guard. Apparently, they had just captured a member of the Lang Qun trying to sneak into the city and brought him in. Croc was quick to congratulate the guard on their performance. What he didn't say was how surprised he was that they actually managed to take down a Lang Qun by themselves. The tiny antelopes had enough self-esteem issues as is.

Ox didn't share in his partner's happiness. "So what? It's not like the other six did much for us."

"That's the interesting part," the captain said. "This one wants to talk."

That made both Ox and Croc gape in surprise. They looked at each other for a second just to make sure they had heard him right. They didn't want to say it out loud for fear of jinxing it, but maybe they finally had a glimmer of hope.

As the captain led them into the cell, they took a look at the wolf inside, tied firmly to a wooden chair. For interrogation purposes, his mask had been removed and they could see that he had light green eyes. He looked a bit saddened, but not as much as they would expect for someone in his situation. The captain let the masters inside and left them, knowing that they could handle this themselves. "So, I hear you wanted to talk to us?" Ox asked, glaring suspiciously at the wolf.

"Yeah," he replied, speaking in a deep, guttural voice. "My name is Chou."

Ox snorted. "That's a rather cruel name."

"My parents were jerks. At least they didn't name me Lang. There's enough damn Langs in the pack already." He let out a laugh.

While they talked, Croc stared closely at the wolf. He seemed familiar to him somehow, as if they had seen this particular wolf before. The way he laughed at his own joke was what made it click for him. "You're the nose-picker!"

Both Ox and Chou looked at him like he was crazy. Croc realized that statement alone didn't make much sense. "Erm...you remember when we were sneaking into the factory, Ox? Those two wolves we overheard?"

"Oh yeah. You're saying this guy was one of them?" Ox looked at him a bit closer as well, using his signature perceptive ability. His eyes narrowed in on his forehead. "You're right. I still see the bump from where I headbutted him."

"Thanks for that, by the way," Chou muttered.

"Enough reminiscing." Ox grabbed him by the collar and pulled him to his snout. "You have information, and we want it now!"

"Okay, okay. All you had to do was ask." Ox huffed and released him. Chou cleared his throat and continued. "As you know, the Lang Qun have the blueprints for the cannons now. We have a-"

"Cannons?"

"Yeah, that's what we're calling them now. Dumb name, I know. Anyway, we have two main hideouts. One is an abandoned kung fu academy a few li north of Gongmen City. The other is a foundry in a nearby town. We took it over without alerting the civilians and have been using it to produce the cannons."

Croc nodded. "Okay then. We'll gather the royal guard and launch an assault on that foundry."

Chou shook his head. "No good. Hui just sent the order for them to move out this morning. They'll be long gone by the time you get there."

"Then...we attack that old academy-"

"Won't work either. They must know of my defection by now and they'll leave the hideout."

Ox looked ready to punch him. "So what do you have to tell us that's actually useful?!"

Chou opened his mouth to reply, but stopped. He looked down at the ground. "Uh...nothing, I guess..."

"I knew this was a waste of time," Ox snapped. He turned and started to walk out of the room.

"I'm sorry!" the wolf cried. "I just wanted to help..."

"Why?" Ox looked back over his shoulder. "Why do you want to help? The other Lang Qun we captured didn't say anything."

Chou tensed up and snarled angrily. "Because I'm sick of the Lang Qun! I'm sick of Hui and his sadistic 'training'! You ever wonder how he got the other wolves to do whatever he wants just by whistling like that? It's because what he does is nothing short of brainwashing! He keeps drilling all these kung fu and etiquette lessons into our heads until we're just his living puppets!"

Ox and Croc were silent, both shocked by the wolf's sudden tirade. At this point, his anger evaporated away and turned into sorrow. "Most of us have already fallen under his control, and the rest are too scared of him to do anything about it. That's why I want to help. I want to bring him down."

"Eeesh, sounds like the Lang Qun isn't the big happy family we thought it was," Croc finally said, looking uncomfortable. They should've seen the signs sooner. The way the Lang Qun responded to such simple cues. The way that most of them barely spoke a word. Even the way they fought seemed more mechanical than animal. Living puppets was an appropriate term. It never occurred to them that Chou and his friend were just the luckier ones.

Ox walked up to Chou again, looking more sympathetic. "Please, if there's anything at all that can help us stop Hui, we need to know."

He sighed. "It's no use. Hui was very secretive about his plans. I have no idea how they're going to launch their attack...except..."

"Except what?" Ox urged.

"I'm not sure how useful this will be, but I remember this one time I heard one of the other wolves asking Hui about the attack. He said something like 'we will not attack from outside the city, but from below it'."

They stared back at him in confusion. "Below?" Croc asked. "There's nothing below the city...right?"

"Actually, there is."

They turned around and saw the Soothsayer standing at the door. "Soothsayer? How did you know where we-". Ox slapped his forehead as he remembered who he was talking to. "Nevermind. What do you mean by there being something below the city?"

"I am referring to the Undercity, of course."

"The Undercity?" he gasped. "That's only a myth!"

She smiled at him in that all-knowing way of hers. "I assure you that it's quite real. And by the sound of things, Kai Hui knows this as well."

"Alright..." Ox said slowly, still trying to wrap his head around the idea of a giant underground city right below them. This was the kind of thing that longtime protectors of the city should've been told. "How would that help the Lang Qun though? They would have to get into Gongmen to get to the Undercity, not the other way around."

"Unless they were to tunnel into the Undercity from outside," Croc suggested.

Chou suddenly shot up. "Oh! So that's why Hui sent all those digging tools to those guys at the foundry."

Ox looked at him blankly. "You couldn't have mentioned that part sooner?"

He shrugged. "I didn't think it was important." Ox grunted. The average wolf did not have Hui's intelligence, that was for sure.

"Anyway...since we don't know where this tunnel of theirs is, we'll have to get into the Undercity ourselves and stop them from reaching the surface."

"And how exactly do we do that?" Croc asked.

"We'll figure that part out when he get there."

"Oh boy..."

"Wait! Let me come too!" Chou shouted. "I can help!"

"How?"

"Uh..." He looked back and forth, trying to come up with something. "...M-my nose! I'll be able to smell the other Lang Qun long before you ever see them. That could help, right?"

"Fine, you can come. But we're keeping a close eye on you, understand?" Even if Chou had already proven himself, Ox refused to fully trust him. There was still the possibility that this could all be some elaborate trap.

Croc used his claws to cut Chou's bindings and released the wolf. He stood up and stretched out a bit, a big, goofy grin on his face. "Alright! Let's go on an adventure!"