A/N: Thank you so much for taking the time to read my story! The events take place during the TV series as if the OC was there the whole time. I will mostly stick to the original plot but I may tweak things as I see necessary and I will also be adding pieces. As the description says, it follows Ivory and the Dark Hand enforcers as the main characters rather than Jackie and his family. Please leave a review – tell me if you like it, if you don't. Or if you just want to chat!
"Valmont, I trust that you and your men can retrieve the first talisman. This is the first of the twelve that I must acquire." A sinister voice hissed from a golden statue adorned on the wall of a long hall. The magnificent dragon hung behind a desk, in front of which a white haired man stood.
"I can assure you Shendu, we will not fail. And I trust our services will be compensated..." The man spoke with a distinct British accent. He adjusted the yellow tie which decorated his green suit.
"Yes..." the dragon hissed as its eyes glowed red.
"Well I must be leaving; I don't want to miss the flight," Valmont disclosed curtly. He briskly left the room and took the elevator to the roof. He boarded the helicopter where his subordinates waited.
"So, Big V, what's the plan?"
-o0o-
Four men stood on a cliff overlooking the ruins of an ancient castle. They observed three figures emerging from the entrance closely followed by a crescendoing scream. A part of the ancient side wall burst and a man was ejected out of the ruins. Perched on a shield, he made his way down the side of a cliff to the other explorers.
The leader of the stake-out group watched this man closely. He observed him and his possession as they left the area. Valmont ordered the group with unmistakable authority.
"Follow him."
-o0o-
The men traced him to their own city of San Francisco. With various resources, they discovered his occupation and residence. Jackie Chan was a university archaeologist lodging with his Uncle in a shop. The pursuers located the shop in the bustling Chinatown and planned to pay the Chan's a visit.
The three subordinates stood before their boss at the end of the long hall. Valmont was preparing his men to retrieve the talisman and shield from its current owner.
"Offer him any price and does he refuse, give him a day to think it over," he instructed.
"Get the shield, pay the man, bring it back. I got it," listed the orange haired crony.
"And before you go, Chow, something er arrived for you and it is in the common room. Please go take of it," Valmont requested with slight disgust.
"Oh I wonder if it's that new jacket I ordered!" the shortest companion suggested eagerly as they left.
"Or maybe it's some of those homemade cookies from your mom!" the larger one guessed.
"You do love those cookies, don't you, Ratso?" Chow replied with a laugh.
The two argued about the mysterious delivery until they got off of the elevator. They even prompted their comrade, Finn, to what he believed it was. He thought it was probably just a large stack of bills.
They arrived in the common room to be greeted by a young girl sprawled across the couch. She idly flipped through channels on the TV. The men entered from behind the couch and just stood in the doorway. Finn nudged his friend and urged him to do something. Chow took an uncertain step towards the couch. Before he could speak, the girl noticed him and jumped up to greet him.
"Hey, cuz, long time no see!" she greeted enthusiastically.
"Aha yeah hi," Chow responded with uncertainty.
The girl stared at him for a moment before retrieving a picture from her pocket.
"I brought this in case you didn't remember me..." She handed him a picture of a small boy sitting on the ground with a crying baby. "That was us. Um a long time ago."
All Ratso could say was "Whoa".
"Oh I remember now! You guys live on the other side of the country. In uh-"
"Yeah Massachusetts," she finished. The girl reached in her pocket and pulled out a letter this time. "This is for you." She handed it to Chow.
He took a minute to read the letter then another to take it all in.
"So you're going to one of the top private schools here and you were hoping to crash with me?" he confirmed.
"Yeah pretty much."
"Well we gotta run an errand. Why don't you wait here and then we'll go out to dinner later," he said as the men began to walk out of the door. "See you later Iris."
"Uh it's Ivory but yeah I'll see you," she corrected rather awkwardly.
-o0o-
While everyone was out, Ivory took the opportunity do some exploring. She reviewed the places that she had already seen. When she had arrived, she entered through the main glass doors of a multi-story building in the business district of the city. She made her way to the elevators in the back of the busy lobby. Reading the sign, she was not able decide her destination floor. Luckily a doorman noticed her confusion and delivered her to the correct floor. Buzzing in a message to the boss, he left her in the common room on the 12th floor. On this floor, she began her exploration.
The common room included a sitting area with a couch, some chairs and a flat screen TV. Next to this was a foosball table which could be rearranged as a pool table. On the other side of the room was a kitchen area with a small kitchen table. Ivory checked the refrigerator but there was only a half filled carton of milk and some cheese.
Meandering down the hallway, she noticed four doors which were widely spaced. All of them were locked so she decided to explore another floor before getting ready for dinner.
By the elevator, there was a sign that read the details of each floor. The 11th, 12th, and 13th floors had an asterisk which denoted Dark Hand.
"Well that's pretty ominous," Ivory said aloud to no one.
Choosing the 13th floor, she took the elevator up a floor. She exited into a narrow hall lined with potted plants and ending with a door. The window on the door was hazy and what lay beyond it was a mystery. Ivory could hear a British man shouting exasperatedly. Not wanting to interrupt, she returned to the common room to get ready for dinner.
She hauled her suitcase into the bathroom and pulled out a pair of jeans. Replacing only her sweatpants, she decided that it would be alright to continue wearing the fitted t-shirt she currently had on. It showed off her trim figure and toned arms. And it was comfortable - can't go wrong there.
As she finished in the bathroom, she heard the boys returning from their errand. She made her way to the common room as they discussed dinner plans.
"Boy am I starving!" Ratso exclaimed.
"Well we are going to have to walk since the cars been busted," Finn mentioned to the rest of the group.
"That guy was crazy! And to think we're gonna have to see him again. Hey Ivory, ready for dinner?" Chow had noticed that she entered the room.
She followed them to the elevator as they continued to banter.
"Man, Big V seemed pretty ticked. I don't know what's worse, that archaeologist or Tohru's arms," Finn rambled.
They turned their attention to the girl once they reached the elevator.
"It has been years since I last saw you. How old are you? You must at least ten or eleven now." Chow started to make conversation.
"Well actually I'm 16 now," Ivory replied.
"Oh really? Well time sure does fly," Chow chuckled awkwardly.
There were a few moments of uncomfortable silence before Finn finally spoke up.
"So what brings you to the West Coast?"
"All the schools around my home are too easy. I needed 'more challenge to keep my mind occupied'" She quoted the lecture that she had heard many times. "So there's a good school over here that I'm supposed to attend."
"Well you'll like it here. There's a lot of stuff to do," Ratso kindly mentioned.
Ivory smiled at the warm welcome as they left the building. She got a tour of the area as they walked to the restaurant for supper. Nearby, there was a convenient store, a large library, and a park. A few blocks over were a bunch of apartments.
"We all live over there right now but we're planning on moving into the apartments on the same floor as the common room. There are four bedrooms so you can have one too," Chow explained.
As they reached the restaurant and waited to be served, Ivory took a turn asking questions.
"So what exactly do you guys do?" she asked first.
"Well sometimes we like to watch cartoons."
"Or go to the mall."
"Or get down and funky at the roller-rink!"
Ratso, Chow, and Finn's answers were nice, but not exactly what she meant.
"Oh, well I meant for work," she specified.
The three of them looked at each other nervously before giving cautious answers.
"We work for a, uh, shipping company. It's the largest around," Chow replied.
"You know, all sorts of rare, high class goods," Finn added.
"Usually smuggl-" An elbow to the gut cut off Ratso's thought.
"What he means is, our work is very secretive. Don't want anyone snooping around our highly successful business," Chow covered up.
They sat in awkward silence until their food came. Ivory was thinking about how conspicuous these characters were being.
Towards the end of the meal, a ring sounded from Ratso's pocket. He pulled out a large phone and an image of Valmont appeared on the screen.
"We have a lead on the talisman. You can find the Chans at the Noodles Noodles restaraunt in Chinatown. I trust you will not fail me." And the screen was blank.
"I'm guessing that's your boss?" Ivory asked.
"Yup that's good old Valmont. You better go outside and get a head start while we pay. We need to... run another errand. Just turn left when you get outside," Chow ordered.
Ivory did as she was told and began the tread to Chinatown.