Author's Note: Whooo! Another chapter out for you lot! It may not be as long, but I feel that it reveals quite a bit. Also, there's a little surprise for you lot which I think you'll enjoy. A few things. 1. KFP 4 IS CONFIRMED! I'll say more of my thoughts once the chapters done, but just know that the second that news hit, I had a massive smile on my face. 2. Yesterday I went to my very first live metal concert. IT KICKED ASS! Granted my ears are still recovering from the loud music and my neck is sore from headbanging so much, but I had a fantastic time! 3. I made a reference in the very first chapter of this story to another fanfic on the website. It's a bit of a reach but I didn't want to make it too obvious. I'm hoping you guys can figure out what that is before the next chapter comes out. Anyways, enough about me, let's get on with this!

Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN KFP (FINALLY, ANOTHER ONE!)

Enjoy.

The Power of Fear

"Attention!"

A booming voice forces the eyes open of a rhino soldier, who gasps for air as his head darts around the place. He tries to move only to hear the rattle of chains binding him to a chair. His senses coming back to him, the imperial rhino takes a proper look at his surroundings, yet he is unable to make out the edges of the room. In fact, most of the room that he's being held captive in his drenched in shadows, the only source of light being a flickering lantern hanging above him.

"At ease, soldier." There is that voice again. Is that his captor? How did he even get here? Where even is he? Too many questions fill the rhino's mind as he tries his best to remember the events of the last few hours. He was patrolling the streets with his squadron as per usual until a black blur had managed to speed past his comrades, knocking out his commanding officer immediately. Before he could even try to retaliate, everything went black.

As if to answer the rhino's silent question, a figure steps out of the shadows. A white wolf adorned in black armour with the crimson insignia of lord Shen painted on his left shoulder plate. "Wait a minute… You're… you're supposed to be dead." The soldier's drowsy voice cracks as the dryness in his throat suffocates him.

Zhongcheng chuckles in amusement at the rhino's confusion, "I take it you weren't present for my 'execution'." His explosive tone from before weaves its way into a smooth timbre that still radiates with an unspeakable power.

A venomous scowl takes hold of the soldier's face as his eyes scan the room once more, realising that he is the only one here. "What did you do to my friends?" He growls out, trying his best to assert some kind of control over the wolf. In response, Zhongcheng steps closer towards him, a demented smile carved into his face.

"Your fellow soldiers are fine, my dear boy. They're all fast asleep in the other rooms." A feigned softness injects itself into his voice, the commander clearly elated for whatever will happen next. "In fact, you're the first one in your squadron to have finally woken up." They stare down at each other. Brown burning with fury whilst dark blue seem to be searching for something within the soldier's gaze.

"Wh-what do you want from us?" A pathetic stutter stumbles out of the rhino's mouth, whether it be out of fear or exhaustion could be anyone's guess.

Dark blue irises shift their gaze up to the ceiling, the wolf mockingly acting like he's mulling over his explanation. "I need soldiers." Confusion puppeteers the rhino's countenance, "I believe it is fair to say that the emperor's rule has been… relaxed for lack of a better word. Bandits running amok in the streets, corruption with wealthy officials." He takes a brief pause to gauge his captive's reaction, "Kung fu masters almost bringing all of China to an end. To call it chaotic would be a kindness."

"And you're asking us to rebel?" A disbelieving inquiry is spat out by the soldier, managing to pick up on exactly what the former commander was trying to offer. "As if that's gonna happen. I know for certain that neither me nor any of the boys would ever consider doing that." Zhongcheng's face falls slightly, allowing the rhino's to rise up in its place. "The imperial army lives to serve the emperor, or have you forgotten that, Zhongcheng?"

To the soldier's surprise however, the former commander's smirk returns as he is finally able to pick out what he has been trying to find in his eyes. Resilience, "Good to know that not much has changed then. Although, it would've been much easier for you if you had simply accepted."

Scoffing at his threat, the rhino asks again, "Or what, you'll kill me?"

"No. That would be a waste." Zhongcheng responds with an ominous edge in his voice, "I have much better plans for you." Before the rhino can even try to utter another audacious response, the wolf quickly pokes his forehead with his index finger, a blue light rippling off the point of impact. This blue light burrows its way into the rhino's skull and injects itself into his veins, traveling down towards his eyes before stabbing them. Feeling these needles of energy sinking into his eyes, the soldier shuts them tightly in some attempt to alleviate the pain coursing through his head. As the rhino grits his teeth and grunts at the searing pain pulsing in his mind, Zhongcheng's eyes glow brightly with an insidious blue light.

Just as the rhino is about to scream out in agony, the pain suddenly stops. After a few seconds, he opens his eyes to see him back in his room within the imperial army barracks. All he can do is look around in confusion. How did he get back here? Where is Zhongcheng? What happened to- This last question is soon interrupted by the stench of smoke inflaming his nostrils. Fear takes his eyes hostage as he bursts open the door of his room only to be blinded by a thick veil of smoke. Coughing up a storm, he tries to waft away these blackened clouds with his arms to little success. He looks down to the floor as the roaring fire deafens him. If he wasn't coughing, he would've gasped. Right before him lies on of his leopard comrades with half of his face blackened by the fire's merciless embrace. His vision begins to blur as he moves through the suffocating grip of the flaming barracks, another corpse of one of his friends appearing as a blur. Carbon monoxide fills the rhino's lungs, and his mind begins to drift away into the land of unconsciousness. More of his soldier brothers are presented to him by the malicious smoke, making his heart drop further into darkness just as his body drops to the floor and his eyes shut. As he enters the empty void, the sounds of the fire soon fade away and the rancid odour of smoke evaporates. Fear still grips his heart as its beating slows, its pace now reduced to a crawl.

"Soldier!"

His eyes flash open as the barking voice of his commanding officer drags him out of this obsidian abyss. Taking a deep breath, he frantically darts his head around the place until one horrifying sight fills his vision. The emperor's palace and all of its surrounding buildings lit up like a bonfire. Dying screams and pleas for help are all drowned out by the fire's bellowing laughter. "Soldier." He looks up to see a dark grey rhino offering his hoof to him and accepts the offer without hesitation.

"Commander." His salute is deformed by his laboured breaths.

"At ease, brother." Placing his hoof on the soldier's shoulder, the commander scowls, his eyes engulfed in a vengeful flame. "I don't know who would have the gall to do this," as the commander pledges, his soldier's irises dissipate whilst the whites of his eyes bleed a sickly blue hue. Glowing blue orbs greet them with satisfaction as Zhongcheng continues, "But we will make them pay for what they've done."

His smirk widens as his soldier gazes upon him with fierce yet hollow eyes, "Sir yes sir!" Saluting yet again to his commander, the rhino has little idea of what is really going on. He hadn't realised how much he had choked, yelled, and writhed on the ground at first. He hadn't a single clue that the wolf had released him from captivity only to remain trapped in his service.

Now absolutely certain that his subject has fully come around, the wolf commander opens the door leading out of the room. "Good, now join the other survivors! We've got a lot of work to do!" The rhino obeys him without a second's hesitation. He leaves through the door with Zhongcheng following behind, his dark blue eyes no longer glowing. They exit out into the underground base of the wolf's army, the very room they have just been in being particularly used for interrogation or, Zhongcheng's preferred method, torture. As his rhino soldier marches away towards his army's barracks, the wolf commander notices Qipian waiting outside with a questioning glance. A questioning glance that already knew the answer. An answer that Zhongcheng is a tad too pained to admit, "It seems the imperial army's loyalty hasn't faltered."

"As I predicted." The Komodo dragon's slippery voice lathers in the satisfaction of being proven right, though it is laced with irritation. "You know that the soldiers in the forbidden city are hand-picked by the emperor himself, I don't see why you bothered wasting time with those fools."

A smirk lines Zhongcheng's face as he stares at the retreating rhino, so caught up in his little fantasy. It's somewhat adorable in a demented way, "Well, even our dear child of heaven can make mistakes. Brown-nosing can be mistaken for loyalty and strength is often faked. After all, every stone wall can be broken if the right tool is used." He would know that from experience. Countless amounts of 'fearless' bandits and opposing soldiers were proven to be whimpering vermin by his paws.

Qipian lets out a sinister chuckle at his commander's statement, "Well, the emperor certainly isn't the best judge of character." Joining in his mocking laughter, Zhongcheng looks back to the Komodo dragon currently advising China's godly leader. After this brief moment of levity, the advisor's smile shifts to a frustrated grimace, "But you were still wrong about those soldiers."

"Perhaps." Zhongcheng's smirk doesn't leave his face, "What you fail to realise, however, is that even in their steadfast resistance they had provided me with something useful."

"Is that right?" Scepticism lines the Komodo dragon's features as his wolf comrade continues.

"You see, for the past few days I have been messing with the minds of weak people. Citizens merely minding their own business. Now, there has been one particularly alarming possibility that I needed to test. To see how a strong-minded person would fair. To see if their willpower would be enough to take back control." Yet another chuckle seeps out of Zhongcheng's grinning maw, "As you can see, their resilience has been proven to be worthless."

Impressed by the wolf's thinking, the Komodo dragon's rancid smile returns, "I see. Excellently done, commander. Now if you'll excuse me, it is getting late, and they will certainly take notice of my absence fairly soon."

Zhongcheng scoffs at his reptile comrade, "Yes, yes. I'm sure you have plenty of luxury foods and concubines to attend to." Qipian rolls his eyes as he makes his way over to the underground lair's exit, with the wolf commander folding his arms over his chest. As if he was wrong about the Komodo dragon's oh so important role within the empire. Yes, his closeness to the emperor cannot be denied, but aside from 'advising' him, what else was he meant to do? Sometimes a hint of envy crosses Zhongcheng's mind whenever he is reminded of Qipian's role in his plans.

However, this Komodo dragon was simply the only person who could even set foot within the imperial palace let alone become one of the emperor's advisors. Unlike him and Gongjiang, that treacherous reptile doesn't have a single blip on his record. Unlike them, he was born into a rich family and raised to be a governor in Gongmen city. A governor that had no business dealing with the likes of them. On the surface. Very few people know of his support for the creation of Shen's weapons. Even fewer people knew of him aiding the peacock in funding this endeavour, and by the time he was banished, the demented lord's name was seldom mentioned by him.

Or at least, he was never mentioned in public. In truth, he had remained as Shen's only contact within his home. When Shen had planned his return, Qipian had provided them safe passage into China's waters. Not only this, but the two lords had plotted something far bigger. That Qipian would infiltrate the emperor's palace and find a way to weaken their forces when he had planned to invade. Of course, this hasn't exactly gone to plan. Luckily, it hadn't gone to waste. Around the time the Gongmen invasion had begun, Zhongcheng had found out from Shen's right-hand wolf about the Komodo dragon's covert operation. When their plans had ultimately fallen apart, the commander had ordered a tactical retreat and regrouping outside the borders of China, making sure to keep communications going with Qipian as they had plotted away for the past two years.

With his deceptive comrade heading back to his post, Zhongcheng walks into his office and stands by his desk, gazing thoughtfully at the maps littered all over it. On one side is a map detailing the entirety of the forbidden city. From every major building to every dank and murky alley. For each pathway is a scribbled description to accompany it, whether it be plan A or B. On another side is a map of Gongmen city with a separate map of one of Shen's abandoned cannon facilities stapled to it. A few notes are etched onto it, but they are fairly recent in light of Gongjiang's frustrating revelation. In the centre of all of these maps, is a detailed layout of the emperor's palace. Once again, the commander would have to applaud Qipian for managing to retrieve this without anyone batting an eye. Battle formations, routes for silent infiltrations, sightlines for assassinations; Whatever idea the wolf could possibly think of is planted all over this map. Assuming he even needs these annotations anymore. By this point, the wolf has them all memorised to every last detail.

After giving these maps a look over, he thinks up yet another strategy that could be used when the time finally comes. He opens one of his desk drawers to retrieve a brush until a particular painting catches his eye. One of a desolate cabin that, for all intents and purposes, looks more like a corpse. In fact, its fairly fitting for the person who had once inhabited the place. A necromancer who went by the name of Fuhuo. Smirking at the mention of that foolish raven, Zhongcheng thinks back to when Qipian had been informed about Nuba's demise. It had been a good week or two since the white tiger's rampage and, upon the emperor's request, grandmaster Shifu had indulged them in the whole story. A story that had intrigued the wolf almost immediately.

Up until three months ago, he had been at a complete loss on how to go about his plan to claim the mandate of heaven in honour of his fallen lord. After all, considering how powerful the jade palace masters had become, the idea of beating them was all but impossible. But once he had heard about Nuba's past as a kung fu master and Fuhuo's involvement, he had but one thing to do. To find out how she had attained such unimaginable power.

"What good is plotting away?"

"When things need to be done?"

"And no action is taken?"

A pleasant smirk forms on Zhongcheng's face as three sly voices slink their way over to him, finishing each other's words in a slightly sinister way. He looks up from his maps to see three leopardesses adorned in ninja garb, standing in the centre of the room. Three snow leopardesses known as legends among both bandits and imperials alike. The Wu sisters. Part of the wolf feels embarrassed for not hearing them come in, then again, their ability to sneak in and out of anywhere as if they are mere ghosts, isn't a secret. In fact, they have taken advantage of this several times before, seeking to uncover the commander's plans to satiate their natural curiosity. Curiosity that often has the wolf on edge. "Nothing needs to be done just yet, for all of the pieces are falling in place."

"Is that so?" On the right of the trio stands Wing Wu, whose sceptic glare slices through the air in its ferocity. "And how come your plan requires such patience? Why not press the advantages we already have?" She practically spits out, her voice just as cutting as her unyielding stare.

Zhongcheng lets out a quiet scoff. As if he had never thought of that. Of course, taking advantage of Qipian's position of power to its fullest would be a brilliant way to make the emperor's rule crumble. But there is one thing that all three of them seem to be missing, "Let's say we do press our advantage. Let's say that we plot some sort of assassination or find a way to put Qipian in the emperor's seat. What is to stop the dragon warrior and the furious five from intervening?"

"And putting the forbidden city in a state of panic will keep them away?" On their left side stands Wan Wu, in spite of her irritated face, the commander is able to pick out a lustful twinkle in her eye. One that has rarely ever been absent in his presence.

The snow leopard in the centre steps forward. She folds her arms together as she gives the wolf commander a look of intrigue rather than annoyance. Su Wu, their leader, has a scar that runs over her faded right eye and is the only snow leopard that has her face mask pulled down. "We apologise for interrupting whatever it is you're trying to plan out, but as you can see, my sisters and I fail to see why you aren't opting for a far more subtle approach."

"And if your plan is to go loud, then why keep us here waiting?" Wing Wu adds only for the lead sister to motion her to stop.

Dark blue irises gaze into three pairs of yellow… minus one. Thought it would be in his best interests to reveal his entire plan to them, there is simply too much of a risk in case one of them gets captured. They're bandits after all. If there is a single thing that could be in their favour at his expense, then there is no doubt that they would rat him out. Then again, they have been patient thus far… A moment's silence is held between the four, one layered with scepticism and doubt. Before this deathly quiet can suffocate them, Zhongcheng makes up his mind. They've waited long enough.

"To put it simply, there are many ways to tear the mandate apart from the inside. Fear spreads fast when there is nothing to grasp, nothing to cast the blame on." He moves away from his desk and over to the three snow leopards who watch on with a renewed interest, "When consumed by fear, the mind makes rash decisions. Ones that can cost them dearly, and a terrified mind can always be used to our advantage."

A sickening smile forms on Su Wu's face as her sisters look to each other, impressed by the wolf's ideas. "I was wondering why those soldiers you kidnapped have turned so… submissive."

"Turning the emperor's own army against him." Wing Wu mutters to herself, admiring his audacity to do such a thing.

The lustful twinkle turns brighter within Wan Wu's eyes as her lecherous smile can be seen under her mask, "Very clever."

Ignoring her sister's seductive timbre, Su Wu has merely one more concern to address, "However, that doesn't account for the furious five and dragon warrior. What's your plan for them?"

Zhongcheng gives the snow leopardess a smug grin before replying, "The answer is before your eyes, you just have yet to see it." Before he heads back to his desk, the wolf notices the flirtatious glance given to him by Wan Wu and returns it in kind, inviting a quiet purr from the snow leopard. As he heads back to his desk, his eyes return to the maps, more plans brewing inside his mind. "I believe it is now I who must apologise for making you wait further, but in order for this all to work, I'll need your patience."

"Oh, we don't mind, commander." Su Wu assures the wolf.

"As long as we're made clear on what needs to be done." Wing Wu's sharp tone slices through the air.

"And when it needs to be done… Handsome." Wan Wu adds in a sultry voice. Zhongcheng grins at the salacious remark, practically hearing her sisters turn their heads to her in question.

After a few moments of complete silence, the commander looks up only to see an empty space in the centre of his office. He shakes his head before analysing the maps before him once more, his ultimate plan beginning to piece itself together as the terrified screams of the forbidden city's citizens ring out in the night's chilling air.

Yeah... Zhongcheng has some pretty bad things planned, and I know for a fact that there will be something going on in the later chapters that will probably make some of you hate me. As for the Wu Sisters... pretty neat, huh? I loved writing for them in legacy of darkness, so I thought why not include them in here? Now, for KFP 4. Though I am happy it is announced, part of me is a bit disappointed that Fragile Hearts is now an AU story instead... Eh, what can I do? Otherwise, I am extremely happy with the announcement but I am tempering my expectations. Not that I don't trust dreamworks, I do. But there are a lot of directions they can take this and I hope that they don't go with 'passing the torch' as it were. As for TiPo... I would really like it if they did get together but if they don't, then I don't particularly mind. Anyways, I hope you've enjoyed this chapter, and until next time :)