Author's Note: A little on the short side, but one filled with some interesting stuff. Let's just say you'll find out a lot about our main villain and our new tiger friend. So, let's get on with it!

Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN KFP! (I wish I did)

Enjoy.

Traitor

Zhongcheng bursts through the base's massive wooden door, cracked mask held in his paw and a searing, hellish anger forged onto his sweat-coated features. That impudent scum has finally decided to show his face, and right when I had the dragon warrior in my clutches! This thunderous roar echoing in his mind, the commander marches his way over to the army barracks, his grip threatening to crush the mask into pieces. If only that were the worst of it. His mind traces its way back to how he had first been spotted. How? I was hidden in shadows, he was too far away to hear me, I hadn't given myself away. How the hell did he see me!? He pushes aside these questions for the moment as he sees the Wu sisters approaching from the corner of his eye.

"You have certainly seen better days," Wing begins, her mocking grin clear to see through her face bindings, though the deathly glare given to her by the wolf quickly wipes it away.

"And we can tell for certain that no imperial guard could cause this kind of distress," Wan continues, wearing a calm look that only teeters slightly on the salacious side as she takes in his burning blue eyes and fur matted in sweat.

"So, what has happened?" Su Wu finishes, her singular yellow iris asking its own question about Zhongcheng's bout of anger. This isn't simply a plan gone wrong, but something deeper. Something that she may not want to pry into lest she invites his wrath upon herself.

He stops right by the door entering into the army barracks and turns to face Su-Wu in particular, "The furious five and dragon warrior have arrived." Wing and Wan exchange glances, devious smiles taking hold of them as adrenaline begins to course through their veins. Su Wu's expression doesn't change, remaining stoic and unmoving. Dark blue eyes dart between the three snow leopards, "Our forces will move out soon. In the meantime, do fetch Gongjiang for me, I need to speak with him in private." His corrosive tone poisons the very air around them, making the red flames of the cavern's torches shiver in fear.

However, one sister stands defiant, "We aren't your messengers." Wing answers back, eyes narrowed and tail thrashing around as she scowls at the 'commander'. Her eldest sister snaps her head to her, glaring at her with an incredulous frustration.

Su-Wu turns to face Zhongcheng again and opens her mouth to say something, only to be interrupted by said wolf, "You are whatever I need you to be." His voice is deep but not grizzly, venomous but not scathing, wrathful yet lacking ferocity. A calmed, seething timbre embeds his words as his eyes glow brightly, sending chills down the three sisters' spines. "And if not, then you will be whatever I want you to be. Have I made myself clear?" With this cold question Wing's defiance digs its own grave and jumps right in, tail now limp like a useless length of rope.

"Of course, commander." Leaving no room for her sisters to argue, Su-Wu bows as she says this, her sisters following suit. They leave soon after, a silent yet pregnant tension between Su and Wing as they head towards the construction area, allowing the white wolf to finally enter the barracks.

Slamming the door on his way in, Zhongcheng storms his way over to his desk, haphazardly dropping his damaged mask onto it as he places his paws atop it. Dark blue eyes linger on the detailed map of the emperor's palace. Its pavilion and barracks inciting memories both fond and infuriating, memories of him training alongside his 'brothers'. A humourless smirk carves itself onto his face until he focuses his gaze on the illustrious tower at the very end of the walled-off complex. He remembers how he had stood at attention whilst taking orders from the then-emperor with him right beside him. For a brief moment he considers him possibly being mistaken, but he knows for a fact that that bo-staff belonged to Zhonglei and no one else.

Interesting to see that you no longer serve the emperor, yet still remain as his lap-dog… Why? He chuckles to himself at the absurdity. Why bother leaving the imperial army if you will just come back to him? Why would you… That momentary smirk wipes itself off his face as he turns to look at his old imperial chestplate, its golden phoenix emblem now a faded, garbled mess of scratches whilst the rest of its metallic surface is covered in dust. He had done many things whilst bearing that crest. Some noble and heroic, others perverted and lustful, most questionable or downright monstrous. None that he regrets. A single memory comes to his mind, a moment in time that he should have perceived as a warning of what was to come.

Clang!

Two mugs clung together, a tiny bit of baijiu spilling out of each, as rhinos, leopards, oxen and jaguars danced around the imperial army barracks. Some soldiers had danced on the tables whilst others simply stomped their feet to the folk tunes played by the few musically gifted men in their squadron. A great victory had been attained against an invading Mongolian force of yaks and pangolins, "Great work, brother!" All thanks to a certain white wolf.

Zhongcheng and Zhonglei chug down their baijiu with the commander having to stop halfway through whilst his golden tiger general drank it all up and gave a great, loud burp. They shared a laugh with each other right as Gonjiang made it back with three more mugs and a massive plate of dumplings. "There you are! Haha!" Smiling wide, the bison placed all of his items on the table, he grabbed his two superiors and gave them an embrace capable of crushing anyone's spine. After a few moments, he released them and sat down next to his wolf brother on the right whilst his tiger brother was sat on the wolf's left. "Well done, boys! We've got them on the ropes!"

"Amen to that!" The tiger general bellowed as the three of them grabbed their new mugs and clung them all together, drinking until their breath caught up to them. "Pretty soon this whole war will pass right by! Especially with us in charge!"

"I think you mean me." Gongjiang chuckled at his wolf brother's cheeky response, whilst Zhonglei had only gained a curious expression.

"That reminds me," The golden tiger's paw slipped on a bit of baijiu, making his chin smack the table and his brothers to guffaw like hyenas. He gave out a drunken laugh in response, "Heh heh, hey shut up, shut up." After clearing his throat, Zhonglei continued his inquiry, "I was wondering how you managed to get a random pangolin soldier to rat out all of their tactics to you."

A proud grin covered the wolf commander's face as his brothers looked to him expectantly, "Hmph, more like he squealed." He took a sip of baijiu and placed his mug back down, "It was a fairly simple affair once I decided to stop playing games."

Though Gongjiang's interest had only been amplified, his golden tiger brother had only looked on in confusion, "What do you mean?"

Zhongcheng's eyes held a dark question, "What do you think I mean? I stopped bluffing. Near the end of the interrogation the poor sap was practically purple, there were bruises everywhere. Even so, he refused to talk." Ruby irises shrank in concern, the tiger general's mind having imagined the torment that pangolin had gone through.

"So, what did you do then?" Their bison brother inquired, genuinely curious as to how such a resilient soldier could be 'coerced' into revealing his entire battalion's battle strategy.

With a sickening grin, Zhongcheng had unsheathed his dagger and placed stabbed it into the table, "I had carved out the armour plates on his back. With each time he had withheld information or blatantly lied, I would cut off a scale of his armour and punch the place it used to be in." Both his brothers' eyes widened yet they held vastly different emotions. Gongjiang was simply impressed that it took that much to break a single soldier, whilst Zhonglei was horrified that the wolf would stoop to such a depraved level. "By time he had finally revealed his army's secrets, there was more blood than armour." A disbelieving chuckle exited the commander's maw, "Honestly, I don't understand some of these people. They say they're willing to die for their home and yet they plead for life the second they get close to it."

Whilst Gongjiang had laughed alongside his wolf brother, the tiger general simply stared into space, the pangolin's pained cries echoing in his mind as the image of his own wolf brother tearing out his natural armour brought a terrifying chill to his skin. Zhongcheng had noticed his tiger brother's silence, smiling at his squeamishness to anything that isn't 'righteous'. "Zhonglei, I only did what had to be done. If that stupid pangolin had just told me sooner, he could've avoided a lot of pain." The golden tiger only gave the wolf a side-glance in response.

"Besides, if he hadn't done it, we wouldn't be one step closer to ending the war! Now cheer up, brother! It's a time for celebration, not grieving for a single worthless tool." Though these were meant as words of encouragement, the bison had reminded his feline brother of the tragedy of war, only amplifying his pain for the tortured pangolin.

However, after much thought, Zhonglei had eventually regained his smile, taking the wolf's word that it was an exceptional circumstance, nothing more. "You're right. Ending this war is all that matters. To victory!" He held out his mug of baijiu in front of him, with his two brothers clanging their mugs on his.

"To victory!" They both said in unison before all three of them drank from their mugs, the alcohol tasting far more bitter for golden tiger than it had moments before.

As they started to feast upon their dumplings, Gongjiang chuckled to himself, inciting his brothers' attention. "What is it?" The wolf commander inquired, a wholehearted smile on his face.

"I can only imagine how baba must be celebrating." The bison could barely hold his laughter as he was saying this sentence, with Zhongcheng joining in once he had imagined the scene himself, "He's probably drunk in a ditch somewhere, having a fist fight with the air." They only laughed harder at this, with Zhonglei's smile widening at this thought.

But then, out of this hilarity, came an interesting comparison. "I imagine my brother will do much of the same." Both the bison and wolf gazed at their tiger brother with expressions of confusion and bewilderment, "Yeah, he's a terrible drunk."

"Wait, you have a brother?" Gongjiang asked with an incredulous voice, completely baffled at how neither of them knew about this before. To both of their surprise, Zhonglei nodded as if he had spoken of him hundreds of times when neither of them could recall a single time he had even mentioned having one.

"Right, and what does he do?" A mocking tone embedded itself in Zhongcheng's voice, the wolf certain that this 'brother' of his was some sort of joke that was awaiting a punch line.

Alas, it wasn't, "He's a warrior, like me. He's in charge of protecting our village and making sure that no bandits or thieves attack." It was the tiger's turn to be confused as he was sure that he had mentioned his big brother before.

Still unconvinced, the commander inquired in the same mocking timbre, "Mhm, and where is your village? Actually, what even is your village? I thought you said you weren't exactly raised in a regular 'village'." Gongjiang stared at the tiger alongside his wolf brother with a raised eyebrow, his story making little sense. Zhonglei didn't answer immediately, taking a few moments to ponder his response. Something that had confused the two inebriated soldiers. Did he not even remember what his home was like? Or was he just that drunk?

Finally, after several moments of thinking, the tiger answered. "Well, to be frank, I wasn't… I was raised in a strange, underground village filled with tunnels and caves and other passages. That's why I don't really mention it all that often. They're really touchy about robbers and thieves." Zhongcheng and Gongjiang looked to each other with surprised eyes, this revelation completely catching them off-guard. That is, until they confirmed a single thought in their minds.

Yes, he was that drunk.

They burst into a hysterical fit of laughter, "That has to be the dumbest thing I've ever heard!" The bison managed in between his howls of mirth.

"Yes, perhaps you should take it easy on the baijiu, Zhonglei. If you're anything like your 'brother' it might get really bad!" Zhongcheng yelled out before laughing even harder at the absurdity of it all, neither him not Gongjiang noticing the darting eyes and nervous laughter of their tiger comrade.

His claws unsheathe into his desk as a rancid snarl escapes his throat. He wasn't drunk, he was just considering whether it would be less believable to lie or tell the truth. To think that both him and Gongjiang had fallen for it. How could they be so foolish?

Zhongcheng turns back towards his desk as he looks to the map of the city, not entirely sure of what he is looking for yet absolutely certain of its existence. You have another purpose here, don't you Zhonglei? But what could it be? And why does it involve the emperor?

"You wanted to see me, commander?" His bison brother's grizzly voice ripples through the air as the door shuts behind him, an air of coldness akin to the ghosts of the past that have ripped itself back out of the wolf's mind.

At this, the commander turns around, his expression the definition of frustration. Amidst all of his memories of the golden tiger and his growing speculation, there is only one thing he can say for certain. "An old friend of ours has returned."

Ooh, I am such a tease! I'm fairly certain you lot have connected the dots already, but don't worry, all will be revealed VERY soon. Like, as in, the next few chapters. Trust me. So, stay tuned! Until next time :)