Polluted Jianghu: 新年少鹏

The green indicator light on the headset blinks off. You closed the radio. "Man I hate him," you turn to Lie Beihong. He nods. "He's got nerves of steel, I'll give him that."

"He sure didn't swing extraterritoriality just by being nice," Lie agrees. "Get back on the radio. I'll set one off and see he's still smiling."

You blink, ordering your arguments in your mind. "I mean, it's kinda past that, isn't it. I bet Si Fei had his guys searching the Pagoda the moment you told him. We'd better find another way, surprise him."

Lie Beihong raised the remote and pressed it. You prepared for a distant rumble and braced for shaking ground. But there was nothing. Lie Beihong blinks. You blink. He tried again. Still nothing. "Fuck," he muttered. "Teach me to show restraint. Next time I'm setting them off before the negotiations."

"Yeah, that sucks." You nod because you don't have any better retort. "Gimmie a blueprint. We can find a service-"

"I don't need a blueprint," the commie says, tapping his temple. "Si Fei replaced all of his, anyway. I just listened." Woah. You blink. The Colored Wolf Pagoda is a tall skyscraper that scraped one kilometer. And this guy just used some sort of perception art to figure out all the weak points (allegedly, you never did see the bombs go off) of the Pagoda. "Follow me, comrade."

The two of you set off, in silence. You pass malls and casinos, subsections of the Pagoda, empty but for the plastic covering every surface and piles of construction equipment. It seemed like the building was forever in a state of half finished. You have a feeling that when these new malls, with chic brands ready to go, and new honey pits, are completed, the ones on show would be shuttered. Again and again and again.

"You're with the Ma family?"

"Huh?"

Lie Beihong turned. "The Ma family. You know, corrupt roaders. I've seen you with the daughter."

"Oh, yeah. Just her, though."

"What's her angle with the yakuza thing?"

You shrug, walking past Lie. "Either some kinda vigilante fantasy or getting blackmail to go have a crusade on the corrupt bits of society. I don't know. Fifty fifty?" You think. "Forty sixty," you settle.

Lie catches up to you, in front of a door with a glowing green exit light on top of it. It's locked, so you were waiting for him. "The rot," he says, "is structural. The party through that capital was a leashed dog, but it is an ideology. It sprouts flowers on minds devoid of moral backbone. Even if you cut out the cancer, it is only hiding. So she's got the right attitude, but she'll never amount to much, especially with her family."

"Sure. How's the lock?"

He turns aside and gestures for you to do your thing. You do your thing- that is, punch a clean, circular hole where the lock is. The metal scrap skitters away on the other side. You open the door. "What's her family's deal?"

The words are like eggs swallowed in reverse. Like chunks.

The door swung open on silent hinges. You look up at the access staircase. Xi'an again and again and again.

"What's to say? You'll find hundreds of cadres like them. Hollow puppets without backbone!" the castigations float down into you. "Petty, venal, corrupt. We've become like Americans." White sheep of the family, then. Must be tough. "But- well, the speech can come later. You should introduce her to me when this is over."

"That's a pretty fast turnaround. What gives?"
He stops. You don't notice until you're on the same landing. "Are you accusing me?" His voice is thick. Devoid of mettle. "Doubting me?"

You stand your ground. "It'd be wrong to not doubt."

A knife flicks open. "I knew you were a reactionary all this time. I smelled it on you and now I know for sure."

You are icy cool. You didn't know what you expected, but you suppose that this is what happens when you put people on pedestals for no good reason. This is why all you need is the immortal dialectic. Everyone is more or less fifty percent good and fifty percent bad. "And you? Asking help from the toad Si Fei. Let's all be reactionaries together, comrade. There is nothing wrong, and," you wink, "the party does not need to know, eh?"

He hits you but you know it is not that hard. There is no intent behind the sudden backhand and it honestly doesn't hurt. "Fine," Lie starts back up the stairs. "But once this is over, we'll have it out if I see you again."

"Golly, will you?" You skip up, following him. You wonder what style he uses. It definitely won't be anything modern. Most Neo-Maoists, the committed ones, the lifelong ones, went Jackie Chan. Pick up whatever that works. A ladder, a hand drill, a gun, and go to town. Hopefully, he'll find you in a home improvement warehouse. That will at least be interesting and fun.

"It's not something to look forward to."

You consider this. "No, I'm sure it is." Oh, fuck. You missed your date with Remora. Left him hanging. That wasn't very cool of you, but you're at that time where you gotta move or sink. Maybe when this is over you'll find him again. Hey, you could take two at the same time, you're pretty sure about that.

"Hm. Well, elevator's here. C'mon."

This time, it's a perfectly average elevator. It is set in a normal wall and the scent of drain cleaner stains the metal and tiles. Lie Beihong hits the button and all there is to do is wait. And then-

"I t-told you you couldn't go up to the f-fourth floor."

IRON TOWER HUA LI BLOCKS YOUR WAY
[1.4] {Harmonious Society} Let Lie Beihong handle it. This is his op, after all. You're just tagging along.
[1.2] {Wrathful Manifestation} AIN'T SHIT: How tough can someone named Iron Tower Hua Li really be? Think carefully.
[1.1] {Chase the Red Sun} Comradeship: Even though you have your disagreements, you have to fight together. It will likely be faster, anyway.

You think fast. You come to a conclusion. You grab Lie Beihong, once-perfect soldier for and of Communism, by the collar. Lie Beihong grabs you, wine sodden, heroin veined, brain rotted, soldier for and of fortune, by the collar. Both of you have the same idea. Both of you throw the other, as best as you can with each other tangled up in this fucking dead knot of arms, thrown at Iron Tower Hua Li with the same grace as two eagles falling out of the sky after a disastrous midair collision.

Feet stagger into the elevator cabin. Feet fly out of the elevator cabin.

Because Iron Tower Hua Li picked both of you up by the scruff and threw you through three walls. You slide to the floor together, a crumpled pile of microfractured bones and bruises. God, she's strong. Like, stronger than Metalhead strong. Also, you need to find some other points of comparison. Remora, maybe? Your mind points out. Except no. He was a tricky dick, and you can't be strong and tricky. That's, like, illegal.

You may also have a concussion.

"Motherfucker," Lie Beihong pants. "You backstabbed me."

"Okay to be fair we had the same idea." A range of ultra violets swim in your vision. You blink. The colors turn into shapes. You see movement. Lie Beihong rolls away and you kick off the rubble to catch it.

'It' is a solid metal cable, whipping through the darkness. It wraps around you, but it's just dead metal. You tear it off and wrap it around your hand just in time to deck Iron Tower Hua Li in the face.

Except she has a plan when she gets punched in the face, and that's to grab you by the collar and the hip and wrestle you to the ground. One hand wraps around the cable wrap. Metal groans, a series of popping noises following. You hope it is not your bones.

Think fast. You strike her once in the side of her head. She doesn't flinch. Again. Nothing. The third time she slams a palm into your forearm, the other-

She's choking you with your own arms, you realise. Your right is pressed against your throat. Nothing fancy. Just press down until your windpipe breaks. Something wet splatters down on your cheek. "A. Are you crying?"

It's so absurd. She's got you dead to rights and she's crying about it.

"I. I don't want to-"

Her hold loosens just enough for you to shake your left arm free. Your fingers curl into butcher claws and you flick them at her throat vein. Miss, but you took some skin with it. You blame the light.

Your blood is up. Your throat is reforming itself You're bouncing on your heels as you and Iron Tower Hua Li pace around each other. A wrestler, huh? Good thing your fingers are trained to be like knives. You might come off better, if she doesn't twist your arm like a wet dishrag.

Okay, but where's Lie? He's fucking gone. You can't find the hide or hair of him. He fucked you, you realize. He fucked you better than you fucked him. Fuck fuck fuck.

"L-looking for this?" Iron Tower Hua Li holds something up in the dim light. "I-it's a pass card."

"I can't see shit in this light," you wheeze. Okay. Plan. Grab that and get to the elevator. How fast can you go?

The answer is pretty. You burst forward, cutting off whatever Hua Li was about to say, hand reaching for the card. You feel the plastic, pluck it out of her grip. She cries and hip throws you through the floor. Rubble and concrete dust rain down on you. The card slides out of your grip, and you can't find it in the darkness.

The floor bends and flexes when Iron Tower Hua Li lands. You scrabble up and cut to a sprawl when she tackled you.

That was the plan. She carries you like a plastic bag and crushes you against another wall. Which breaks. And then another. And another. And then-

You finally stop her. Your legs burn like a motherfucker and you can feel the soles of your shoes heat up from the friction, and that doesn't stop her from folding you up like a cheap chair and powerbombing you through the floor.

Again.

You spit out a mouthful of concrete powder. Your poor ribcage. It aches like hell. "Heyheyheyhey!" you yelp as you scrabble to your feet. Hua Li's a good distance away from you. "Aren't you worried about your goddamn tower? You're gonna destroy it yourself!"

You can see her shoulders twitch. "T-they'll just rebuild."

"Oh."

You dodge. Something very big whistles above your head. It's like, a giant pillar? What the fuck? Hua Li's holding the other end. Ooh. Iron Tower Hua Li. Now you get it. You duck under it and explode your knee into her nose. She sways back a little and grabs your legs, then swings you into the ground. This time, you're prepared. Halfway through you stab a thumb into the complex metacarpal fan. That loosens her up enough for you to wrap a triangle choke around her neck.

Halfway through that you realize that trying to outwrestle Iron Tower Hua Li is not a pro-gamer move. This is because she appears to be trying and succeeding at tearing your leg out of your pelvis.

You are in quite a sticky wicket, a part of your mind that sees the world in slow motion points out. Gristly sounds that are commonly associated with deboning chickens (haha, chicken, peng) are coming from the joint. All you can do is tear at the wrist, clawing strips of muscle and skin off of her arm you're grabbing.

Except she's faster. You are contemplating a life with one leg before a red shadow walks up to Iron Tower Hua Li and shoots her in the head with a nail gun. "Tough freak."

"Hey, that's ru-"

"That's literally what they're called," Lie Beihong says, throwing away the nail gun. "Iron Tower Hua Li, Second Freak of the Pagoda." Said Second Freak plucks… did she just rip the nail out of her skull? Metal.

"That's a shit ass name but I guess it's got brand."

Lie nods. Then the shitfucker jams a taser into your neck and it's all over but the convulsions. Seriously, you don't get him. Not at all.

When you come to, you see Iron Tower Hua Li searching the floor. "Where'd I put it, where'd I put it, oh no," she chants like a mantra.

You struggle to sit up. Muscles are still checked out of the building. "W-whazzat?"

The dark figure turns and looks at you. "The card!" she shouts. "I lost it! Oh, no. I've let that madman up a floor! They'll all laugh at me!"

[1.4] {Harmonious Society} Gift Of Gab: Commiserate with her. You have ample experience with getting humiliated. And then angle that for an in with Si Fei.
[1.2] {Wrathful Manifestation} Sucker Punch Her: Hey, she's not paying attention.
[1.1] {Chase the Red Sun} L(Mao): Oh, shit. Lie Beihong must have nicked it somewhere. That makes you laugh for some reason.