Gah, this one's a filler more than anything. This was originally meant to be part of a larger chapter, but I realised that the two sections don't really fit together. The other half will be coming up next chapter.

They were leaving.

The moment Emperor Xian had been told of what had almost happened to Su, his decision was made. In front of Master Shifu, his students, and Master Eagle Jr., he had declared that enough was enough, and the minute the son rose they would have the soldiers pack up everything and go.

Four hours had passed since Su had been saved from falling to her death, and the sun was by now steadily creeping up over the horizon. The vivid sunlight shone through one of the fortress's windows, illuminating the tiger in red as he made his way down through General Tujiu's private mess hall. The vulture had been absent during Xian's declaration, and the emperor thought that personally making sure he knew what was going on should be first priority. He wasn't doing this himself because the kung fu masters were too busy briefing the soldiers of their imminent departure. It wasn't even because Master Eagle Jr. had strained his injured wing saving Su's life.

To be honest, he was doing this because he was very angry.

It wasn't just that he was frustrated at being forced to remain 'safely' inside the fortress while the others ventured out and risked their very lives. When Shifu had told him of the strange words Su had screamed… "Ember! Don't let him find her!"… his curiosity had instantly been aroused. Of course he had no idea who this 'Ember' person was, but he had a feeling that he knew someone who did.

Who did he know had recently grown a bad habit of keeping secrets? Who had recently sent Colonel Sao to question and spy on a seven year old child genius? Who seemed more interested in discovering the fortress's secrets than getting himself and his soldiers out of this blood mess alive?

Xian knocked on the door of Tujiu's private study. There was no answer, and quick pull on the handle revealed that the door was unlocked. Xian stepped inside to find the room empty.

"Damn." He muttered. A second later he realized that this was a wonderful opportunity.

As General, Tujiu had a habit of recording everything in a personal log that he showed to no-one but Colonel Sao. If there was anything else Tujiu wasn't telling them, it would be in that log. It had to be around here somewhere.

Xian remembered his years as a young prince, being taught on the importance of stealth by Master Shifu himself…

"The point of stealth is to keep the enemy from ever knowing your were there. One who has perfected the art of stealth will stalk behind enemy lines, complete their mission, and disappear without a trace, no-one any the wiser. I myself have completed ninety-seven stealth based missions previously."

"Ninety-seven? That's one mission per year right?"

"If I thought that was a poor joke about my age, young man…"

"No joke I swear!"

"I have forty years experience in kung fu, have put away five hundred and twenty nine criminals to date, several of them smartass clowns like you, so why don't you just zip the lip, Xian?"

"Okay."

Xian chuckled to himself. So much had changed since then.

Back to business. Xian silently shut the door, so it didn't look like anyone was inside; since Tujiu was absent, there shouldn't be. He had to find what he was looking for before the vulture could return, see what he was doing, and try to cover himself.

Within one minute he had found what he was looking for; a single lengthy scroll inside an ornately carved wooden box.

"Right, let's see what you've been hiding." Xian said.

By the time he heard the sound of Tujiu's wings, Xian had learned all he needed to know. He put the scroll back in its box and turned to face the window just as Tujiu flew inside. His eyes widened in surprise as he touched down on the map table.

"Your highness! I didn't expect you."

"Where were you?" Xian asked coolly. "I've been waiting for you."

Keep calm. If you give him a chance, he may do the right thing and tell you himself.

"I was down in the camp. I was going to give the army some words of encouragement and brief them of the current situation, but Shifu and his students turned up and said that we were leaving this fortress. Is that true, your highness?"

"It is." Xian said. "I have decided that we can no longer stay. You couldn't have waited until you knew my final decision before going off to spit out some stirring speech?"

"I'm sorry, but my men don't like being left out of the loop."

"Neither do I."

"What influenced your decision?"

"Last night, the little girl almost sleepwalked to her death."

"The girl was sleepwalking?" Tujiu looked genuinely surprised, but not genuinely concerned. "I don't mean to question your decision, but don't many children do this?"

"Yes, but this time it was different. Su said something strange during her unconscious state. A name. Ember."

There it was. A look of recognition flashed across Tujiu's face for a millisecond, then it was gone.

"You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?"

"Er… no. I don't know who this Ember is." Tujiu said.

Xian sighed inwardly. Tujiu may have been at least partly telling the truth there. No mention of Ember had been found in the log. Time to change subject.

"I'll take your word for it, but that's not the reason why I'm here. Masters Po and Tigress tell me that you had Colonel Sao spy on the girl. Why are you so interested in her?"

"Have you seen the way she behaves and thinks?" Tujiu asked. "She's not like other children."

"Of course she isn't, she's a genius!" Xian rolled his eyes.

"Have you not considered the potential she has? The way she learns so much in so little time and uses her knowledge like a grown adult? With an asset like her-"

"She's not an asset, she's a seven year old kid!" Xian exploded.

"And that's what makes her so perfect! Within six months we could completely bend her to our will! The possibilities she could bring us are endless!"

Xian couldn't believe what he was hearing. It was clear as day that the vulture in front of him had lost his mind. His obsession with his own career and his ambition had fully consumed him.

Enough.

"Silence." Xian growled, silencing the vulture as he started to rave again. "You are not to approach that child again, do you understand me?" There was a steely glint in his brown eyes that made Tujiu flinch, but he wasn't prepared to back down.

"Your highness, you are being unreasonable-"

"And you are off your rocker!" Xian snapped. "I had a little look around in here while you were gone, and I have discovered that you deliberately caused the deaths of nearly one hundred soldiers!"

"Wait a minute."

"You sent them to their deaths!"

"Don't be ridiculous!" Tujiu shouted, but Xian wasn't stopping now.

"I just read your log! According to your own log, those one hundred soldiers were the only ones who knew about the existence of the tomb and apparently you couldn't afford to have so many witnesses! You didn't send those men out there to kill a monster, you sent them out there to die! Why would you do that, Tujiu?!"

"What, you think that just because you're the emperor, no-one would dare betray you?!" Tujiu shouted back. "You and I both know that many would kill to get their hands on the treasure within that tomb! I took steps to make sure we don't have an uprising on our hands!"

"Steps?"

So you really can see red when you're angry.

That was the last sane thought in Xian's head before he flung himself at Tujiu and pinned him to the table. The vulture's eyes widened in both shock and pain. No more regal elegance. No more Mr. nice emperor. At that moment Xian was a tiger, a tiger who right now was mad as hell.

"STEPS? THOSE SOLDIERS HAD FAMILIES, TUJIU! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT YOU'VE DONE HERE?!"

He had just enough sense to take his paws off Tujiu's throat and grip the front of his armor instead. He dug his claws into the metal hard enough to puncture.

"Do you have any idea what you have done?" Xian asked, his voice lower but still full of venom. Tujiu merely stared up at the enraged tiger. "You don't, do you? You're insane!" He took several deep breaths as his eyes bore into Tujiu's like daggers. "Well, I'm through with this. I'm through with your lies and your paranoia." He pushed himself off of Tujiu and took a moment to straighten his vest. "I am declaring you unfit for duty. When we get back to China, you are going to stand trial for mass murder. You'd better pray I don't bring back the death penalty."

He stormed out, leaving Tujiu alone with his insanity. He didn't bother looking back to see the vulture's expression.

When Xian explained what had happened to Shifu and the others an hour later, there was a heavy silence.

"Wow." Po said. Xian didn't respond.

"So… what happens now?" Shifu asked.

"We're still leaving, if that's what you mean." Xian said. "In the meantime, the first thing I want you to do is inform the army that I am now taking charge of this mission. Oh, and if they ask why, just tell them that Tujiu has become unfit for duty. I don't think they'll take kindly to his betrayal if they find out."

"We understand." Shifu said. "Crane, you heard him. Take Monkey and inform the soldiers at once."

Crane and Monkey took off.

"What do we do about Tujiu?" Po asked. "Now that we know he's crazy, shouldn't we lock him up or something?"

"Not yet." Shifu said. "Like the emperor said, no-one else can know that Tujiu betrayed his own army. It may raise some questions if we lock him up without known reason."

"But isn't he dangerous?" Tigress asked.

"Of course he is!" Xian said. "He used his authority to send dozens of men out to their deaths. But now he has lost his position, it will be very difficult for him to abuse that power any longer. Still, keep a close eye on him."

"I'll do the watching." Tigress said, her voice so cold Shifu almost expected the air in front of her to freeze, and he felt his own anger growing. In the midst of trying to destroy a monster, Tujiu had become one himself. There was no excuse for what he had done.

"Just in case, we should confine him to the fortress until everything's packed and ready to go." Xian said. "If he does try anything, you have my permission to de-feather him. That is, unless I get to him first."

Po let out a laugh then slapped his paw over his mouth.

"Sorry, this isn't meant to be funny, is it?"

"No." Shifu replied.