The Dragon Soldier's Story
Crow was opening up her eyes. She turns her head over to her indigo iPhone. The time was eight 'o'clock right now. The empath has gotten up and changes into her clothes. She was now wearing a royal blue blouse with a black jacket and a navy-blue mini skirt with pleats. After changing into her new clothes for today, the empath steps out of room to see Rose waiting for her outside of the room.
The daughter of Enya was wearing a black t-shirt that shows her stomach, a white cropped jacket, blue jeans and black sneakers. The two young women walks by Leo's room on their way to the common room. Sheila and Rick were making breakfast while Jill sets up the table and Misty was pouring orange juice into everyone's cup. John was placing some more water bottles in the fridge.
"Good morning, you two." Rick turns his head to the two girls as they entered the common room. "We got scrambled eggs, toast, hash brown and bacon for breakfast."
"I've made some tea for you, Crow." Sheila points to a black mug on the counter.
"Thank you, Sheila." Crow replied, walking over to the counter to pick up her mug. She walks over to the table to sit down and Rose sat down next to her. Rick sat at the head of the table as his girlfriend was on the other end. Misty, Jill and John sat down together across from Rose, Crow and an empty seat beside the empath. Their food and drinks were on the table along with some ketchup.
"Your scramble eggs are delicious as always, Sheila." Jill complemented the leader's cooking.
"Thank you, Jill." Sheila smiles at her friend's compliment.
"Your cooking skills have improved since you and Rick met ten years ago." Misty added.
"Do you remember the first time I cooked for you, Rick?" Sheila looks at her boyfriend.
"Yes. And I still won't forget that meal you made us." Rick chuckled. He won't forget the dish that Sheila made after they met ten years ago. Her meal did got him sick after making a recipe from her realm. Rick taught her how to cook and the more he taught her, the better Sheila's cooking has become.
"So, is Aria and Zuko at the airport right now?" Misty asked, taking a bite of her scramble eggs with ketchup.
John swallows his hash brown before speaking. "They should be on their way to their airport this morning. The plane should be there in half an hour or an hour."
"They'll be staying here for a few weeks." Rick replied.
"Which hotel are they staying at?"
"They're going to be staying at the Tao Palace. The Grand Mistress offered his parents and sister several weeks ago." Rick said. He took a drink of his coffee.
"What time are we leaving?" Rose asked.
"After we finish eating our breakfast. It's going to be tough to find a spot around at nine o'clock." Sheila answered.
"Alright." Rose nodded her head.
After breakfast, John and Jill started washing up the dishes and drying while the others left to brush their teeth. Rick was done in the bathroom and was waiting on his black motorcycle. He looks up from his phone to see the rest of the team coming from the elevator. He tosses a red helmet to John and tosses Rose's silver helmet to her. Sheila, Crow, Jill and Misty got into the red 2024 Subaru Impreza.
Rose walks over to her silver Yoshimura Suzuki motorcycle next to Rick's black Venom X Twenty-Two GT.
"Ready, everyone?" Rick asked them. They gave him a nod. Rick smiled and puts his black helmet on.
The roof began to open and a ramp appeared from the ground that went up to the outside world. They drove into the city. It was a nice ride into the city. Crimson Dusks found a few good parking spots near the entrance of Advent Sky Hospital. Rick looks up at the hospital.
"They're on the top floor." Rex approaches them with Cody. "Nice to see you."
"Good to see you and Cody, Rex." Sheila shook Rex's hand.
"Thank you, Sheila." Rex smiled.
"Shall we?"
Rex and Cody led the team inside the hospital. They took an elevator that reached the top floor. Everyone knew that James was given a special room at the request of Jame's parents. Bruce sent Tony and Adam to help Emily and Lynn guard the outside of James's room.
As they entered the hospital, John notices his sister Allie sitting down with Jack, acting leader of Crimson Dusks. Tori and Noel were watching the news as Cho was reading a magazine. There were two people playing a game of chess. A young man was wearing a black t-shirt, blue jeans green sneakers. He has jet black hair and blue eyes. The man sitting across from him was wearing a gray shirt underneath a light brown sweater, a white jersey shorts and red sandals. His blonde hair was long that reaches his shoulders and he has black eyes.
"Good morning, everyone." John greeted them.
"Morning, John." Allie smiles at her brother.
"How's your chess game going, Harry and Ron?"
Harry looks up from the game. "We just started playing right now."
"Have you met... James yet?" Misty asked them.
Ron stood up from his seat and walks up to Crimson Dusks. "We haven't seen James yet. When Tori, Jack and I went up there, Tony and a nurse told us he's still sleeping right now."
"When do you think James will wake up, Ron?"
"Half an hour is what I've been told. So all of us has been waiting here for a while."
"And where's Master Lee, Boris and the Grand Mistress?"
"Well, Lee and Suzu are talking in the courtyard right now and Boris went to get some breakfast from the cafe."
"The bagel twist and coffee aren't that bad." Boris added walking up to the group with a cup of coffee and a bagel twist. Cho and Noel was walking beside him. "Morning. How was the ride on the way in?"
"Not bad. We got some good parking spots near the front of the hospital." John answered.
"Do we know who's going in first to see James? Because we are a pretty big group." Jill pointed out.
She was right. Most of the three teams were here in the lobby. The room James was in is big.
"Perhaps we should have three or four people to go in there." Misty suggested.
"But which people of the three groups should see James first?" Rick scratches his chin.
"I think Jack, Tori and Noel should visit James first." Cho suggested. "The Dragon Soldier crossed paths with us before Leo left the Tao Palace and joined Crimson Dusks. Or maybe we could mix it up."
"Not a bad idea." Jack said.
"Okay, but what about forgiving James?" Tori pointed out.
No one said a word. Everyone looks at each other. Some of them were thinking about forgiving James and others were not. Jack looks at his sister. They knew James with Leo and Panther before the others. And now that James is alive and the Dragon Soldier after all this time, they need answers. Tori looks at the others and wonders if they're going to forgive James or they'll yell at him like Leo.
"Maybe Crow, Jack and myself will go now to visit James." Rose suggested.
"And I will go with you as well." A voice said.
Rick turns around to a young woman with short black hair and emerald eyes staring directly at Rick. She was wearing an athletic black tank top, khaki shorts and black racing sneakers. Zack was standing beside her.
"Glad to see you could join us, Evelyn." Rick smiled.
"Did you have the breakfast we made for you?" Shelia asked the daughter of Bruce.
"Yes." She answered. "Are we going to visit James right now?"
"He's still sleeping. James should be up in half an hour." Cho answered.
"Very well. I'm going to use this time to go for a walk."
"I'll join you." Crow replied.
The two started leaving the lobby and heads to the stone courtyard.
"It's good to see that Evelyn showed up here at the hospital." Tori smiled.
"Well, she is slowly changing when Evelyn arrived at the tower before Leo joined the team two days later."
"Evelyn does have the same personality as Leo, but there is also a difference in her personality. She is entitled, egotistical, condescending, rude, and unafraid to express her opinions. She's somewhat temperamental if not outright violent when confronted by her enemies. Leo and Evelyn both encourage to permit murdering one's enemies."
"I remember after Leo had a vision with the exiled prince the first time that afternoon, Evelyn took a couple of swords that was a family heirloom of her father and the two of them had a sparring match that impressed Bruce, his butler and maiden." Tori said.
"I will admit that Evelyn has little respect for privacy when she visited my room to look up information on Crow. She is easy to defy those around her if her terms are not met and defy her own father numerous times." Sheila replied.
"But for the past five years, Evelyn started developing to respect her father and still continuing to make improvements in herself. She started gotten used to socializing with others but can be a bitch sometimes and grew close to Crow and Leo. I can tell that she has matured considerably in regard to her family and the team while accepting us as a family."
"And moving onto Leo, he's nice, friendly, brave, strong, cold as ice and willing to save the day. He was sociable when he first arrived at the palace. Leo became serious after Fang's death in the Philippines and became less sociable. And after James's death, Leo's been training hard to become strong to prevent losing anyone like James and Fang. Leo didn't mind his adoptive father's distant and strict attitude during his vigorous training. It helped Leo to focus." Rick folded his arms. "Leo can be a dick as well."
"I remember hearing from Brock that Leo learned about death from Lee when they were in the hospital after Zhao was defeated. Leo overheard it from Lee Xeno and Ron in the ambulance on their way to the hospital. They can hear two doctors were talking about that Master Zen passed away from the wounds he received. Leo asked Xeno and Ron what do they mean that Master Zen passed away when Lee enters the room with the doctor. Xeno explained the meaning of life and death to Leo. She assured Leo that Master Zen will always live on in us." Boris replied.
"He never even shed a tear once over the years. Jack and I caught him lying on the ground with a broken arm after he pushed Boris out of the way when the ground crumbled since Leo eight years old." Tori added. "He almost has inhuman tolerance to damage and pain like Evelyn."
"True. But after Draco's defeat, Leo grew close to Crow and Evelyn. Those three would sit next to each other when we have dinner and train. Leo and Evelyn would mostly go out on patrol by themselves or Crow would join them sometimes, even in sparring. He did came to our birthdays, but never celebrated his own birthday. Leo is always looking out for his friends and teammates, especially when Crow started having nightmares while Leo was having nightmares too. He'll just say "I'm fine", but we all know that he's not." Harry stated.
"Not to mention he made some questionable choices when he kept being The Black Spirit a secret from everyone." John said. "Leo knew that The Black Spirit is a warrior who uses Tiger Style. After what happened with Enya, he abandons the mantle of being The Black Spirt."
"True." Rick said, looking at his watch. "James should be up by now."
"Then I'll see you later." Rose said to him. The daughter of Enya left the room with Jack and heads to the top floor.
There was a reception desk and the room was big. The tile floors were all white and the walls were painted an olive green. Rose knew that James's room was located down the hall after they all received the news of James after Serena and Ava found him. As they were walking down the hall, they both notice the door James's room was open and Tony, Adam, Emily and Lynn wasn't standing outside of the room to guard James.
Rose enters the room to see two women dressed in black robes. She saw Evelyn, Crow, Tony, Adam, Emily and Lynn standing several feet away from the two new visitors.
Tony was wearing a gray suit, a red tie, brown shoes and brown sports sunglasses. He has a brown mustache a short brown beard and brown hair with The Modern Pompadour. He also has brown eyes.
Adam has thick wavy brown hair and black eyes. He was wearing a football t-shirt white shorts and white sneakers.
Emily and Lynn were both wearing dark navy-blue uniforms. Emily's red hair was in a ponytail as her dark blue eyes stared at the new women.
Lynn's black hair with white streaks was long. She has light indigo eyes and a scar that ran from her right eye to her left cheek. She was slowly reaching for her iPhone in her pocket.
James, however was calm and had his arms raised. "Easy, everyone." He said to them.
"You should listen to him." The first woman said.
"And why the hell should we do that?" Adam sneers at her.
"Because Azel and I helped James out to take down the Sparta Organization a few weeks ago. Azel and a few others met Leo and saved him with Saber from Abra yesterday." The woman smiled.
"Who are you two?" Jack asks the two women.
"My name is Azel Granger and this is Risa Smith." Azel introduces her and Risa. "We're part of a team called Twilight Titans."
"And how do you know about Leo and Saber?" Evelyn asked them, looking at them suspiciously.
"A few other members and myself went to save Leo before he and the clone can be taken away by Abra." Azel explains. "He was starving when we met him."
"Abra?" Lynn raised an eyebrow. "We heard that name once five years ago."
"What does Abra want with Leo and the clone?" Emily asks them.
"Who knows. But Saber saved all of us before we can get crushed by the boulders." Azel began explaining. "We were stuck in that cave for a whole day and night because someone was blocking our ability to summon a portal. Leo and Saber teamed up together to fight a sorcerer named Akken who was blocking us to summon a portal. The rest of us had to fight Akken's henchmen in another part of the cave. After those two killed the sorcerer, we were able to summon a portal to get outside of the mountain at night and met up with Leo and Saber. He gave Saber a few pieces of meat for thanking her for saving him from Akken."
Everyone in the room became surprised when they all heard that. Leo and Saber working together? Leo thanking Saber for saving her from Akken? Isn't Leo supposed to be afraid of tigers? What the hell happened? Jack and Xiu looks at each other as Evelyn narrows her eyes at the two women.
"But Leo is fine." Risa assures them.
"Then where's Leo right now?" James spoke up.
"Leo is in Gongmen City right now with Panther. He took a couple photos of the dead corpses of animals that he found in the cave before Abra engage Leo and Saber."
"But how the hell did that clone ended up there along with those dead corpses in the cave?"
"I'm not sure, but Leo and Panther are looking into it right now." Azel answered.
"You mentioned that you helped James to take down The Sparta Organization as well." Rose mentioned.
"Perhaps you should let James explain about the organization. That is the reason why they're here, Azel." A voice said from the doorway.
Azel and Risa turns their head to the doorway to see Logan standing there.
"Hey, everyone." Logan greets them with a smile as he enters the room.
"Logan, what are you doing here?" Jack asks him with a confused look.
"I'm here as a member of Twilight Titans. I've been with the team for a few years now. I'll explain that later because you're all here to see James." Logan explains to them.
Crow and Rose looks at the current leader, Jack. Jack nods his head once and looks over at James. James opens his mouth, but no words came out. Silence took over the room for a few seconds.
"I can't believe you're alive after all this time." Evelyn spoke up to break the silence and walks over to the bed with Jack. "Everyone thought you were dead."
"I know." James slowly nodded.
"Have you realized what you've done these past nine years?" Jack starting to ask the Dragon Soldier.
"Yes. I remember everything I've done up to this point." James lowered his head.
"So how the hell did you survive nine years ago? You and Leo were seriously weak and injured." Jack said to him.
"A Sparta soldier named Natasha found me and took me to their headquarters in Russia. I became their first subject in The Dragon Soldier Program and came out as a worthy successor. They erased my mind and memory with the Mind Wiper Machine to perform electroconvulsive therapy. My memories were erased, and I was remolded into their liking. Dr. Molly was the one who used the Mind Wiper Machine." James explains to them. "I became hyperaware of my environment and susceptible to commands."
James paused for a moment before continuing. "They put me through many experiments and intense training. Sparta would painfully mind-wipe my memories when my mission is complete to be memory-free and emotionless towards those I killed. Natasha oversaw my training everyday. I was given my first task at the age of thirteen to assassinate a senator."
"And you got our attention that had Master Lee to send us to take down the Dragon Soldier." Jack said.
"Yes. I fought against you and Crimson Dusks for seven years now. Some of my missions was a success and others were not successful."
"But if your mind and memory were wiped each mission, how do you still remember of what you have done in the past seven years?" Evelyn asks him suspiciously.
"After my last battle with Leo here in this world, Sparta sent me to kill Leo. But then I found out Leo wasn't here. The organization had to punish me painfully when I failed a mission. But Azel and Risa stepped in and convinced them that they'll oversee my punishment. Once I reported to them about Leo's disappearance, they sent me to hunt him down and kill him. I've spent a few months tracking him down and I couldn't find him. And that's when I came across a portal. This portal led me outside of a village I didn't recognize. There were animals that were walking, talking and wearing clothes. One of them mentioned Leo was at the Jade Palace. I immediately left for the Palace without drawing too much attention to myself. He heard me behind him and looks over his shoulder to see me standing behind him."
James paused for a moment. "I challenged him to a duel and we had our duel in the arena of the palace. He nearly won the duel, but he became distracted after that panda calls out to him. That gave me the chance pull out my tactical knife and cut him. But he broke through my defenses and knocks the mask off my face after seven years. Leo became surprised and concerned, saying my name as he slowly walks up to me. I ended the standstill by throwing a smoke pellet and escaped. After hiding a few weeks, I've returned to the village where Leo and the panda spotted me. I led Leo away from the village and we lost the panda. Our fight was interrupted by a giant white tiger. We were both losing this fight and I was knocked out. Whatever Leo did caused me to come back my senses that broke Sparta's hold over me. Leo was seriously hurt and injured. The panda caught up to us and saw the white tiger before it left. I didn't went back with Leo and Po to the village because I was going to find the ones who helped survived my fall and make them pay."
"But then how did you get back to our world then?"
"I came across the same portal that brought me to where Leo was. But the portal sent me to Japan where I met Logan and Kaito. They brought me back to Russia where Azel, Risa, Dr. Molly and Natasha were waiting for me. We went to Dr. Molly's place and talked in private. I explained what happened about Leo to them. Azel and Risa were sent to spy on the organization and get information about the Dragon Soldier Program. They also found out that I will be training three candidates to join the Dragon Soldier Program. They chose those three candidates as my replacement if something goes wrong. When we got back to the organization, I had to lie to General Jay and Commander Jessie about Leo. Dr. Molly hated seeing my mind and memory every time I come back from a mission and getting punished. Natasha began to realize this was wrong. We did our training in the abandon Nazi camps. They agreed to Natasha's proposal to have the new recruits train outside as long as we obey orders."
"So what was the organization's goal?" Crow asks him.
"Their goal was World Domination." Azel replied. "We were told they're bringing peace to the world."
"They need to eliminate government officials that will become a dangerous threat. It also includes senators, world leaders, head of states and many others. Then that's where the Dragon Soldier Program came in."
"And what about the recruits?"
"Natasha and I had to train them ourselves. There was another reason why Sparta wanted to add those three recruits to the Dragon Soldier Program. Sparta wanted to create an elite death squad out of four people. These three recruits are excellent when I first met them and dangerous. If someone else obtain the Dragon Soldiers, they could use them a lot worse. They can hide in plain sight, infiltrate, assassinate, destabilize and take down a whole country in one night without anyone noticing. After Azel found out, we planned to betray them. We waited for a few months and began our attack that took them by surprised. Dr. Molly got a helicopter ready for our escape. Natasha stayed behind to deal with Commander Jessie while the rest of us took on Jay. Jay managed to defeat the other three Dragon Soldiers. I told Azel and Risa to get the others out of here while I stayed behind and murder the man who killed my cousin. I finally managed to kill Jay by stuffing a grenade down his throat before I shot him several times at the body. After Jay died, the base started to explode. Azel came back for me and summoned a portal to escape as the others already escaped. Azel and I ended up here in Wuji City."
"I told James to wait in the alleyway when I went to check up on the others. But when I came back, James was already by your three friends, who happens to be entering the room right now." Azel points a finger at Serena, Ava and Brock entering the room.
"But there's something else you should know. Whatever Sparta put inside me, I can still feel the effects."
"Hm." Crow and Rose looks at each other.
"Is there a way to get rid of the effects?" Jack looks at Azel and Risa.
"Dr. Molly has been working to reverse the effects for several months before she was abducted by Sparta. They're lying low right now with a friend. She needs all the help she can get."
"Good." Tony nodded.
"And knowing Father, I bet he's setting up a place for her right now because I believe he talked to you during the middle of night before we came here." Evelyn crossed her arms.
"That's correct." Xiu nodded.
"How come we never heard about you or Twilight Titans?" Rose asked.
"Just like all of you, we want to keep our identities a secret from the public." Azel answered. "And we have our own foes and enemies to deal with, especially crossing paths with Abra and even had to fight off those clones two years ago."
"I see." Crow nodded her head.
"Perhaps we should discuss more about this later at the Tao Palace for dinner tonight. I'm sure Lee and the Grand Mistress want to know about this." Jack said.
"Don't worry. Wang and Scarlet are already talking to them about it while we were talking." Logan said.
"That's good to know." Jack said.
"If you excuse us, we're heading downstairs to join the others." Azel said.
The two women exits the room and Logan started following them. This just left several members of different teams with the Dragon Soldier.
"Look, I just want to say I'm sorry for what I did to all of you these past nine years. I'm going to take the government's deal after I get rid of these effects inside me. I really should've died that day." James apologizes to them. "You don't have to accept my apology now."
Jack turns to look at him. "Sheila and I will return tonight to let you know if we will accept your apology or not."
"I understand." James slowly nodded his head. He watched everyone except Serena, Xiu, Brock, Tony and Adam leave the room.
They made it down to the waiting room where Sheila and the others were waiting for them. Jack notices Wang talking to the Grand Mistress and Lee outside in the courtyard and he notices Rick talking to Rex and Cody.
"You guys been told about James's story?" Jack walks up to the leader of Crimson Dusks.
"Yes. Wang told us everything about James and Leo. He already sent a message to Dr. Molly. They'll be coming over later on this afternoon."
"Where will they be staying for the night?"
"At Stark Manor."
"That's good to know." Jack said.
"We'll talk more about forgiving James later on this afternoon when we're back at the palace." Rex said to Jack.
Everyone agreed. Now that they about James's story, all's that left is to decide whether to forgive him or not.
Author's Note: And that's that for this chapter. I've finally watched Kung Fu Panda 4 and I got to say... it was good but not excellent. They should really work hard on how the Chameleon rose to power and took over the city and explained what happen to Zhen's parents. Anyway, this chapter took a while to come up with and I'm glad where I went with this. I hope you all enjoyed this great chapter, everyone! Don't forget to Follow, Favorite, PM and leave a review! See you all in the next chapter of this story, everyone!