Chapter 5: A Prelude, Pt.1
Klub 007 Stráhov Prague, Czech Republic, 11am
Hesperia looked around at the club. It was large enough for a band of this caliber to play in. She jumped on the chance, despite being a pop star, she loved metal.
But metal didn't pay the bills or allow her to secretly perform vigilante acts while traveling. Pop music assures she gets these gigs, and she can sneak around afterwards.
The vocalist was a pleasant man, tall in stature, bald and tattooed. Finnish, he spoke with a heavy accent, but he still greeted her warmly. The rest of his band mates followed suit, as they were setting up for their performance.
Hesperia watched on as the vocalist did his vocal exercises, a mixture of harsh growls and harmonizing clears that she was surprised came from him.
Kurtis Stryker was with her, and he watched on, keeping an eye on her. She had requested either him or Kabal come with her, just in case. As her ever-authoritative father figure, Kurtis agreed.
He made sure to stand close enough to Hesperia so that the vocalist wouldn't get any funny ideas.
Kurtis really was like this for any guy who comes near her, she understands, based on her past. He and Kabal helped raise her as she remained in Switzerland, and they returned to New York City. She was too..as Kabal put it..fucked up to return to civilization just yet, so they put her through a reform program and helped her with anything monetary she needed. Now they jump back and forth between New York City and Switzerland, keeping an eye on her.
Now that she's a fully grown adult, twenty-one years old, Kurtis misses when she was smaller and easier to hold. Now she's like a muscular fitness model. Tall, long-legged, thighs that could crush mountains if she wanted to.
Kurtis and Kabal are still bigger, but...
They watched as the band did their soundcheck, then they left to have lunch.
"Be back here for check in, Miss Stryker." the band's manager said. Hesperia nodded, and giggled as she took Kurtis' hand, leaving with him.
"Miss Stryker?" he asked. She winked. "No one needs to know my real last name. Besides, doesn't Miss Stryker make me feel like your daughter?"
"It does." Kurtis said with a smile as the two entered a nearby cafe.
"So..any leads yet?" she asked, looking at the menu. "Not yet. Though Kabal heard from Johnny Cage who's still making that movie in Vienna, something stinks around there. Black Dragon stink." he replied.
"Perhaps we'll check it out. Listen..we got another mission tonight, after the show." she said.
A waitress came by and served them their drinks, black coffee with extra cream for Kurtis and a raspberry lemonade for Hesperia.
She kept her meal light as she would possibly be moving around for this performance tonight.
"You and Kabal will there tonight, yeah?" she asked. "Of course. We want to see you perform, and I want to make sure the band behaves. Something tells me these metalheads haven't seen a girl as pretty as you in a long time." he said with a wink.
"Oh shut up, dad." Hesperia said with a laugh. She hugged Kurtis, then put a pastry in his mouth. "Don't be so pessimistic."
He returned the hug, then spun her around, putting her on his shoulders.
It wasn't every day that Hesperia called him 'dad' and even though it was sarcastic, he was still very happy.
Together, the two walked through the city square, when Kabal joined them.
"Sorry I'm late." the speedster said, running up to them. "I wanted to get a gift for Hesperia for her performance tonight."
"Aren't you supposed to give it to her right before she hits the stage?" Kurtis asked.
"I feel like you two going to my ballet recital." she grinned.
"You're better suited for kickboxing than ballet, ya know." Kabal said with a wink.
Castle Vrbada, 9am
All was quiet when Tomáš woke up this morning. This time around, Bi Han and Kuai Liang were not by his side.
There was a small piece of candy at his side on the nightstand, in yellow wrapping, it had to be from Kuai Liang.
He sighed. He didn't wish him goodnight last night, apologies...
The prince looked out the window, when Bi Han was there kneeling at his sill.
"Good morning, my prince." the elder Lin Kuei said with a smile.
"Hi."
The response was a little odd. Cold, almost. Bi Han tilted his head. "Everything ok, Tommy?" he asked.
"It's Tomáš, not Tommy. You haven't called me that in years."
"Hey."
Bi Han walked into the room and stood in front of the young prince.
Something was wrong.
"Look at me, Tomáš. What's going on?"
Tomáš didn't make eye contact. He didn't want his friend to see his bloodshot eyes. "Hey..come here...look at me."
He tilted the boy's chin and looked into sad, dejected eyes.
Instead of speaking, he pulled the prince into his arms.
"Did you cry again overnight?"
"I'm a prince." Tomáš growled, "I don't cry. I'm not weak."
"It's only me and you here, you don't have to act tough."
Tomáš couldn't be more grateful for Bi Han right now, the man who stepped up to be his big brother, when there were things he couldn't talk about with his father, Bi Han was right there, always there for him.
The prince grabbed onto his shoulders and buried his face into his neck, sobbing.
"What the hell happened, did someone..hurt you..touch you?"
"No..no..not that." Tomáš finally said.
He sighed.
"I had a long talk with my mother before bed. She said that you and Kuai Liang aren't really my friends. That you two are deadly assassins, too dangerous to be around. I..had nightmares, that you two killed me...that you two left me."
Bi Han smiled.
"Now you mock me?" Tomáš snapped.
"You do realize how ridiculous all that sounds, right?"
The prince looked up at him and Bi Han wiped away a stray tear.
"Prince Tomáš..you've been a part of our life the moment Kuai Liang and I rescued you from the Black Dragon. We had been tracking them for a while, but to see a crying ten-year-old chained to a wall in the basement of their warehouse got our attention. The moment you looked at me, crying, snotnosed and piss all over yourself, I knew I was in for the long run."
Tomáš blushed. "I'm sorry you had to see me in that state."
"You were ten. Terrified. I'd probably do the same in your position. None the less, we became your guardians, Kuai Liang and I. And later, your friends. Yes, we're assassins, we kill. We do missions for the Lin Kuei, but we're still your friends."
The prince was silent for a few seconds. "You're right..I shouldn't..doubt you."
Bi Han smiled at him and patted his cheek.
"You're growing. You're confused. Your mother speaks words that makes you think, that's all. We have no reason to kill you, and Kuai Liang and I adore you. You're stuck with us."
"I'm trying. I really am." Tomáš sighed. "Stop being greedy." Bi Han smiled. "E-excuse me?" Tomáš asked in confusion. "Stop being greedy and keeping your burdens to yourself. Let me and Kuai Liang hold some of it."
He patted the boy's head, causing the prince to laugh and smile.
"What are you volunteering me for?" Kuai Liang asked, entering the room. The sound of the younger Lin Kuei's voice broke the mini silence in the room and the prince flinched in Bi Han's arms.
"Ah..sorry." Kuai Liang said sheepishly.
"I was just saying, our little prince tries to hold on to too many burdens in his young life, look, his hair is all grey from it." Bi Han said, rustling the prince's hair.
"This is the hair I was born with, asshole." Tomáš said with a pout. "And cursing! You naughty boy." Bi Han said.
Tomáš looked at him with a haughty look, and all three laughed.
"What, you think I can't curse like an American sailor?" He was about to speak, when Bi Han held up his hand. "Your mother would slap you across the mouth with a soap bar if you keep that up."
"Then I'll leave it between us." Tomáš winked.
His stomach growled, and he blushed, holding his hand to it. "Breakfast time?"
"Yes! I'm starving!" Bi Han cheered.
"I wonder if mom is cooking again." Tomáš said, "because I'm not trying to get sick again."
"That was all those cakes and cookies and pastries you ate at the festival, Tomáš." Kuai Liang said. "Oh hush, you ate them too." the prince pouted.
"Not as much as you." the younger Lin Kuei countered.
"Oh you're right. But I couldn't stop. Mom never lets me eat like that, so I went a little overboard."
"I'm surprised you didn't hurl during the band we saw, honestly."
"Which one? We saw maybe three."
"The last one, where we went into the crowd."
"Oh."
The prince shrugged. "Best for them, I suppose. The crowd, I mean, that I didn't throw up then. I don't think that pretty lady who threw me would have liked that."
"What pretty lady?" Kuai Liang asked, raising an eyebrow.
"I don't know, I remember as I was..what do they call that..crowd surfing, I noticed a girl grab my leg and throw me. She was yelling about something and threw me like a doll." Tomáš shrugged.
"She must have been pretty strong to throw you like that." Kuai Liang said. Bi Han listened in on that conversation, they're talking about that pink tornado again. He hadn't realized that the woman had thrown Tomáš during that performance. It made him chuckle, something about Tomáš being thrown around by women was amusing.
Then again, he thought, his mother does walk all over him, too. Well, he'll teach Tomáš how to be more assertive.
"Come on, Kuai, let's go eat, I'm starving!" he heard Tomáš say, grabbing his best friend's hand. Bi Han watched with a smile as the two younger boys ran out the door and towards the stairways, to the dining hall.
He cringed when he heard a crash, and Kuai Liang yelled, "I know you're hungry, Tomáš, but don't take me with you!"
Bi Han ran out of the room and to the stairway where they saw Tomáš laying out in the middle of the stairs. "Oww.." he groaned. "What happened?" the elder Lin Kuei asked. "Dumbass tripped over his own feet." Kuai Liang said. "I did not! There was a crack in the floors!" Tomáš pouted. Bi Han looked behind him to look for any cracks and he chuckled, walking down the steps to where the prince was.
"There's no crack, sweetheart, the floors here are meticulously cleaned and maintained. Kuai Liang and I do this every morning."
The elder Lin Kuei helped Tomáš up to his feet and examined him quickly. "Anything hurt?"
"Except my ego." the prince said, rolling his eyes.
They were soon joined by Tomáš' parents and both siblings took protective stances beside their prince. Bi Han noticed Queen Jindřiška eyeing him suspiciously, when she spoke. "Is everything ok? I heard a loud crash and-"
"I am just fine." Tomáš said, in his attempt to stand up straight. But he soon groaned in pain and hunched over, grabbing himself below his stomach. His mother raised a high eyebrow. "Ok maybe I may have tripped down the stairs and bumped myself into the edge of a step."
"How does this happen, Tomáš, were you running too fast?" the queen asked. The prince sheepishly scratched the back of his head. "Or did either of you bump into my son and cause him to fall?" she asked, looking at the Lin Kuei siblings. Kuai Liang looked as if ready to respond, but Bi Han lightly slapped his ass to get him to stay quiet.
"I was a little foolish, I admit, mami. I fell down the steps because I was hungry and excited for breakfast. My mistake."
Both the king and queen looked at their son and sighed. "Be more careful next time. There are valuable things in this castle, and I do not need you being a hyperactive child and destroying them. We will see you at the breakfast table. Wash up and join us soon."
When they left, a cold air flew past the three, and Kuai Liang turned to Bi Han, whispering in his ear a curse in his mother tongue.
Once they were gone, Bi Han asked, "Did you really hit your balls on the edge of a step?" "It's the strangest thing, really." Tomáš said.
All three laughed, then split up at the end of the steps, where Tomáš was to meet his parents for breakfast.
The prince watched in surprise as his plate was filled with food after food after food. "Mami, this is..-"
"Eat up, you're nothing but skin and bones!" King Václav said, looking at his bewildered son. "Are you attempting to get me to refill myself after my bout with nausea yesterday?" Tomáš asked. The king nodded. "The kingdom demands a strong heir, I need you strong, too."
The prince shrugged. "If you say so."
"He'll regret that in an hour or so." Bi Han said, watching from a distance.
Klub 007 Stráhov, 6pm
Load in times, Hesperia watched as once again, the band began to set up the stage. They should have had this stuff ready an hour ago. Sure, there was a mini rainstorm that washed over the city, but that was two hours ago. Incompetence? Maybe.
Kabal and Kurtis walked over to her, that fiasco over and done with. She was given one VIP slot but needed two for both of them, and she had asked the band's management if she could have two VIP slots for them.
"But they're both my parents. Both my fathers." she said. The VIP list was filled with media people and others who Hesperia didn't really care for, but she wanted both men there. She didn't often call both men her fathers because she feared backlash, but Kabal and Kurtis didn't mind it, or simply ignored it. They've faced worse before, having begun a secret relationship within the NYPD about fifteen years ago, nearly having their cover blown when Kabal faced a near fatal accident on the job, till now, where they both help raise Hesperia.
The band's manager finally allowed her to have two VIP slots for the two men, and she graciously thanked them.
Because if either man couldn't come, she was not going to perform.
Not that she was being a diva or entitled, but if this was the way management was going to treat her and the people most important to her, then there was no reason for her to give them her valuable time. That, and she knew there had to be some underlying judgement based on the two of them.
"A girl can't have two daddies..."
Oh she heard it all before. They asked her where her mother was, and why two gay men were raising her. A girl in her teens, Hesperia really didn't have an answer for that. She just shrugged. Her mother probably got rid of her, something happened to where she ended up in Black Dragon custody.
Whatever. Now wasn't the time to dwell in negativity.
She was backstage in a dressing area, when Kabal and Kurtis walked in to see her. Kabal gave her his gift, a custom-made necklace of his beloved hookswords made from the same material as the swords. She beamed and hugged him, while Kurtis hugged her as well.
"Go break a leg, kiddo." they said in unison, watching as Hesperia, now Tuxedo Mask, put on her facemask and top hat, smiling as she entered the stage.
forgot to put in these notes. So uh...yeah, Bi Han is pretty much out of character here, most of the characters are as this story deviates from canon. With everything I've seen in MK1 with Bi Han compared to Kuai Liang, I find Bi Han a bit easier to write. And his role as an older sibling side by side to a character without a sibling like Tomas, it just works. I'm really not trying to have Kuai Liang as just..there, but we'll see more of him come out of his own shell soon enough.
And as you can tell, we have a little plot thing going on, the Black Dragon causing misery in their wake. We'll see how this plays out.
And yes, Kabal and Stryker are canon, you can't tell me otherwise :p
