This was originally going to be one chapter until it started getting ridiculously long for my standards and I decided to split it. So now you get one more cliffhanger than you would have before! Yay!

Chapter 10: Fight Fire With Fire

The silence in the Undercity was even heavier than usual. Chou had still not budged from his spot across the room and Ox and Croc both knew that this was something that needed to be resolved soon. It was only a matter of time until the Lang Qun showed up and that was going to be an uphill battle already without this conflict between teammates.

"You need to apologize," Croc stated bluntly.

"Oh come on," Ox protested. "You know I didn't mean anything by what I said."

"Yes, but he doesn't. And I honestly can't blame him. I mean, it's no secret that wolves are one of the most heavily discriminated against species in all of China. You probably opened a lot of old wounds for him."

Ox looked away, starting to feel really guilty. "...Alright. I'll apologize. I'm not really good at that kind of thing though."

He got up and walked over to where Chou was sitting, trying to make his casual hoofsteps as loud as possible in order not to startle him. He must have been pretty lost in his thoughts as Ox still saw him jump a little when he sat down next to him.

"Uh...hey." Ox wanted to slap himself. Was that really the best he could come up with?

"Hey..."

Ox wasn't good at apologies and he also wasn't good at beating around the bush. "Look...I'm sorry about what I said. I didn't mean to offend you."

"I know," he said, surprising him. "I'm sorry too for...well, losing it. It's kind of a sensitive issue with me."

Ox started drawing circles in the ground with his hoof, unsure about whether or not he should press the issue. It wasn't a decision he had to make as Chou continued, speaking softly. "Like I said, I wasn't born yet when my pack still lived in Gongmen, so I can't say I really understood what went on there, but I know a lot of guys who did."

"Was it really that bad?" Ox asked. He didn't know what really happened either, since he and his friends had come to the city long after Shen's banishment. And most of the information they had learned about the incident was about Shen, not the wolves that followed him.

"According to them, yes. And I wasn't totally free from it either. Any time I entered a town or walked into a store, I always got these...looks. Like everyone was expecting me to try to rob them at any moment. I mean, I was technically a criminal by association with Shen, but I don't think most of them knew that. That's actually why I joined the Lang Qun in the first place. Hui promised to make us 'civilized' and 'respectable' and I couldn't turn that down. I don't know if you really understand, but..."

"Don't worry, I understand," Ox reassured him. "So, we're cool?"

Chou smiled. "Yeah, we're cool." The two did a small fist-bump and broke out into laughter. Suddenly, Chou stopped laughing and his nose shot into the air, sniffing around rapidly. Ox stopped as well, getting a very good idea what this was about. Chou confirmed his fears a moment later.

"The Lang Qun. They're close."

As soon as Croc saw his allies running frantically back towards him, he knew instantly what was going on. They quickly chose an ideal hiding spot on the roof of one of the more intact buildings and crouched down low, waiting. "Are you sure it's them?" Croc asked Chou, somewhat redundantly.

"It's a large group of wolf scents traveling together, along with a strong scent of gunpowder. Yeah, I'm pretty sure."

"Quiet!" Ox whispered harshly "I think I hear them." They all went silent and listened closely. Because of how quiet the Undercity normally was, it took little effort to hear the Lang Qun's approach. They entered the room through a doorway to the far right. Kai Hui was at the front of the group, looking as refined as ever, followed closely by several rows of Lang Qun soldiers marching in steady formation.

But what came next was what really drew their attention. Cannons, a half-dozen of them, were wheeled into the room one by one. That was unmistakably what they were, yet they were distinctly different from the ones they remembered. While Shen's cannons were modeled after various predatory animals, every single one of the Lang Qun variety was wolf-shaped.

"That's...a lot of wolves," Croc whispered nervously.

Ox gripped the edge of the roof tightly. "And those cannons look like no joke either."

"Hold on, there's one other scent I'm getting," Chou said, sniffing around the air a bit more. "Smells like...a fox."

They both paled, getting the implication instantly. "You have got to be kidding me. Not him too," Ox groaned. They had only just recovered from the injuries they got from him last time.

"Sure enough." Croc pointed at the back of the crowd. Taking a nap on top of one of the cannons, one leg dangling over the side, was Jin the Assassin. "Not to tempt fate again, but I'm pretty sure this couldn't possibly get any worse."

"Whatever we're going to do, we need to do it now," Chou warned. "Or else they're gonna march straight past us and into Gongmen."

Ox looked across the crowd, using his powers of analysis to detect weaknesses of a different kind. He smiled. "Then it's a good thing I finally have a plan."

The Lang Qun continued their march through the square, drawing ever closer to conquest with each step. One of the wolves at the very back wandered just a little too close to the ruins and was suddenly yanked out of the crowd by a strong pair of hooves. He was knocked out with only a dull thump and the others were none the wiser. A few seconds later, another wolf was pulled from the crowd, followed by two more.

It was tempting to see if they could take out the entire army like this, but the trio's goal was only to get rid of the wolves that stood between them and the giant death machine known as a cannon. Just as one of the wolves wheeling it in noticed that there was no longer anyone behind him, he was violently bashed over the head by Croc's tri bo yao. The others were quickly taken out in the same manner and now the two masters plus wolf were in control of a cannon.

The rest of the army had become aware of their presence by now and started to rush them when Ox swiftly lit a torch and held it above the fuse. "Freeze!"

They froze. None of them were willing to be the guy that got blown apart for trying to be the hero.

This had now caught Hui's attention, and the Alpha wolf hopped on top of the frontmost cannon to look at them. He seemed decidedly unimpressed. "Is this really the best you could come up with?" He shook his head condescendingly. "And here I was worried that you might actually be a threat. What are you planning to do? Hold the entire Lang Qun hostage with one cannon?"

"Haven't we already covered that I don't do negotiations?" Ox smirked and promptly lit the fuse. The Lang Qun immediately scattered to the sides to get out of the path of the cannon. They had plenty of time and training to get to safety, so no one was in the line of fire when it went off.

The next cannon down the line however, was directly in it's path.

"No!" Hui gasped, realizing all too late what they were up to.

The cannonball shot out of the barrel and soared through the crowd of shocked wolves to strike the cannon right in the back. What Ox had detected earlier was a structural weakness. Cannons had pretty tough plating, but another cannon could easily destroy one. And so it did, blowing the machine to pieces and scattering it with the rest of the ruins.

Taking advantage of the resulting chaos, Ox scooted to the back and kicked the ground as hard as he could, rocketing their cannon forward on its wheels. The Lang Qun continued to panic and scatter as Hui desperately tried to bring them back under control.

Croc, holding a large box of ammo, passed another cannonball to Ox. "Can I just say that this is the most insane plan you have ever come up with?"

"At times like this, insane plans are the only ones that work!" He shoved the cannonball into the barrel, lit the fuse, and watched as the next cannon in the line exploded.

Hui, who had given up on trying to restore order, instead yelled to the most useless mercenary he had ever worked with. "Jin, do something!"

The fox, having somehow managed to sleep through the explosions, only started to awaken now. "Huh...whazzat?" He slowly sat up and rubbed his eyes, giving him a clear view of the cannonball heading towards his sleeping spot next. "HOLY PISS-STAIN!" He practically dove off of the cannon as it exploded, landing head over heels in a pile of rubble.

Hui slapped his forehead. "Why did I hire him again? Why?"

It was at this point that the Lang Qun finally calmed down enough to retaliate. As the speeding cannon passed by, two sword-wielding wolves managed to leap on top of it. With Ox and Croc both busy manning the cannon, it was up to Chou to fend them off. He used his dao swords to block the swings of his former packmates, but was unable to land any blows of his own. Not until one of them suddenly stopped attacking and stared at him in recognition. "...Chou?"

Chou brought up a foot and kicked Lu off the cannon. "Sorry!...Again!" The other wolf wasn't so hesitant and struck at him again, but Chou now easily disarmed him and knocked him off as well. "How we doing up there?" he called back. The sound of a fourth explosion answered his question.

There were only two cannons left now: theirs and Hui's.

"So that's how you want to play," Hui said, his voice dangerously low. "Fine. I'm willing to make sacrifices for the sake of my brethren." He grabbed a torch off of one of his wolves and lit the fuse on his own cannon. The masters' cannon was lit as well and the two cannonballs shot out of them at the same time. They collided in midair, creating another explosion that threw the Lang Qun to the ground and formed a large cloud of smoke.

Hui watched the smoke closely, not able to hear anything over all of the other sounds around him. The first thing he saw was a faint shadow, and then the other cannon came roaring out of the smoke, the three riders still perfectly intact and already having another cannonball loaded and aimed straight at him.

Hui's eyes widened.

"On it!"

Jin the Assassin threw himself in between the two cannons and pointed a crossbow at the approaching one. Right as the cannon was about to fire, Jin shot an explosive bolt into its mouth.

"Unbelievable. Five cannons destroyed!" Hui paced back and forth angrily, venting his frustrations to everyone around him.

"Hey, at least we got em," Jin said. "Bet yer happy that ya hired me now, huh?"

"Hmph," Hui grunted, not willing to acknowledge that.

The trio of Ox, Croc, and Chou were in front of him, all of them heavily chained and forced onto their knees. They were all covered in burns from the exploding cannon they had just been riding on, as well as some minor bruises when they were forcefully thrown off, but otherwise looked no worse for wear. Hui walked over and looked down at them. "You really thought you could stop us, didn't you? All by yourselves? You certainly are a tenacious pair, I'll give you that. But now I finally have you in my grasp."

"Yeah, but good luck taking Gongmen City with one cannon," Ox taunted.

"One cannon will be plenty with how afraid the people are of those things, especially without their precious masters to reassure them. And I can easily produce more now that I have the blueprints." Ox and Croc looked down dejectedly. "As for you," Hui turned his attention to Chou, who refused to meet his gaze. "I can't believe that a member of my own pack would betray me like this." He almost seemed saddened about it.

Chou perked up a little. "You...still consider me a member of the pack?"

Hui smiled, in a surprisingly warm manner. "Of course. You might have a few bad habits, but you're still Lang Qun as far as I'm concerned. And I would be happy to accept you back as long as you swear your loyalty to me."

Chou looked up and smiled back at him. Ox and Croc both watched him anxiously, wondering if he was about to turn on them. But as they soon learned, he was smiling for an entirely different reason. "In that case, I still have all the rights of a pack member, don't I?"

Hui cocked his head to the side. "What are you getting at?"

The look Chou flashed him next was one of pure defiance.

"Kai Hui, I hereby challenge you for the title of pack Alpha!"