Synopsis: Taylor Hebert moves into Chinatown. Lung and Oni Lee must investigate mysterious...
Big Evil in Little China (Worm AU)
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1. White Girl
Numen
Long Time Creeper
- Location
- Canada
Synopsis: Taylor Hebert moves into Chinatown. Lung and Oni Lee must investigate mysterious murders in their apartment complex while dealing with the struggles of everyday life and the hidden traumas of their past. Grace has a chip on her shoulders and can't deal with the insanity of her new gang, but fortunately she found another white girl to share the experience with. Welcome to the Chinatown Hood, where enlightenment can be found next to certain death.
Numen Presents
Big Evil in Little China
A Worm AU
Chapter 1: White Girl
Although no one could have known, the troubles begin on Sunday night, when the white girl moved into the small apartment complex by Tong Ren St. and King St. in the Eastern edge of Brockton Bay Chinatown (otherwise known as "Asian Bad Boyz Territory").
The white girl was a lithe and lanky creature, with a mouth too wide and eyes too wide, and the more Annie Kim looked at her, the more it became obvious that she was underage. Annie wasn't racist- she had a healthy dose of ethnic nationalism, but that was curbed a bit thanks to Lung's "Pan-Asian" platform. Personally she was a bit skeptical of the ABB gangleader's message, afterall, didn't grandpa use to talk about how the Japanese tried to justify their conquest of Asia with that whole "South-East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere"? She kept her doubts to herself of course, it's no good voicing such dangerous things to Lung. He has no problems hurting women. Everybody knew about The Farm- bad and disobedient girls ended up there. Or if you're not Asian.
She watched the foreigner approach, dragging two large suitcases behind her. She wore jeans and her white wife beater hugged her thin frames, her bra showing through the thin fabric.
Annie could almost imagine her as a skinny Asian gangbanger with tattoos- almost. But she was too white and her hair obviously too feminine for that image to stick. She plastered on a fake smile for the foreigner and tried to greet her. There was no point being rude- even white people, Empire sympathizers the whole lot of them are- deserved hospitality. Wang-Obasan was very clear about that- but she was Taiwanese, so who knows what weird things she believed in?
"Sup, white girl. You a new tenant?"
White girl fixed her blank eyes on her- there was something dark and creepy about them. Something painful too. Annie had seen a few times in some of the boys and the ABB gang members (which was most of the boys to be fair).
She'd seen a good deal of eyes like that on some of the nightwalkers and Merchant scums too. She decided that the white girl was definitely hooked on something. She's probably a former merchant victim or hoe or something.
The white girl nodded and muttered a short reply.
"Yeah. Name's Taylor."
Annie nodded respectfully and watched the girl rang up the elevator. There was an awkward silence as she waited for the white girl to wait for her elevator. Now wasn't that a tongue twister?
At fucking last, the elevator doors opened with a ding and the white girl- Taylor, she had to remember was her name- dragged both of her giant suitcases in, passing by a hulk of a man stepping out. His tanned skin and bulging muscles meant that he was obviously a gangmember.
The man glanced at the white girl but dismissed her with a snort. The ABB wasn't specifically racist against white people per say, it's just that Asians come first. That was the creed. As long as white girl- Taylor- kept her head down and pay her rent, it was all good. Step out of line and bad things was going to happen to that skinny ass. Annie was honestly too jaded to care, besides, her mind was occupied by the familiar man.
Annie quickly made sure her hair was tidied and she greeted the man with a big smile.
"Hey Kenta! Looking good."
He glanced over with a disinterested gaze and nodded, "Annie."
Then he stalked off to Heaven knows where. Probably to smoke a joint. Annie sighed dreamingly, forgetting all about white girl.
She would only recall the first white girl when the second white girl, some half-blood snotty bitch by the name of Grace moved in later that week.
"Aiya! Aiya!"
Annie looked up to see a distraught looking Wang-Obasan waddling down the hallway, looking East and West in a panic.
"Wang-Obasan, what's the matter?"
Junpei, a nearby ABB gangbanger who was smoking with his upper half leaning out on the balcony that formed the outer walls of the hall turned around in concern.
"Mr. Mimi is missing!"
Annie gasped. Mr. Mimi was all that was left of Wang-Obasan's late husband. She hurried over and patted the anxious older lady on the back.
"I'll help you look for him."
She looked up and stared at Junpei.
"What?"
"You should help too!"
"It's just a cat."
Annie glared at him.
Junpei snorted and ignored the Korean girl and the Taiwanese granny. Whatever. He was a warrior of the ABB- finding missing cats wasn't part of his responsibilities.
"Junpei."
He jumped at the voice and glanced over at the hulking form of Kenta.
Kenta tilt his head towards Wang-Obasan and Annie Kim and growled.
"Help Obasan find her cat. Be a man."
Junpei wanted to argue, but self-preservation instincts kicked in. The bastard was way out of Junpei's weight-class and higher on the pecking order, so he had no choice but to comply.
"Yes…Kenta."
They searched all day, into the evening. Junpei even roped some of the gangbangers lower on the foodchain to help out.
They found a bunch of other cats, and some strays- but there was no hair or tail of the venerable Mr. Mimi.
Nothing came of it.
Obviously her home shrine was too small and Lord Guan was too busy dealing with cosmic concerns (or maybe how to beat the Empire's heathen gods so as to ensure victory for the Asians) to deal with a mortal's pet cat. Scion was busy rescuing other cats and Hero was probably off inspiring Tinkers to invent things. Having rationalized the lack of divine action on the part of the gods, Wang-Obasan walked down the street to the local Joss House and offered up some incense sticks to Tudigong, the elderly and smiling genius loci of Chinatown. He looked just like the Tudigong in Mado township in Tainan Taiwan where she had lived during the first half of her life.
She prayed in Taiwanese Hokkien, "Oh Tudigong, god of the city and of Chinatown, please return Mimi to me, he's all that's left of my late husband. Please, please."
Afterwards, she paid a donation of twenty dollars and twenty-five cents in the alms box, and drew several lots. Her face paled at the prophetic words of Tudigong:
"Evil energies abound. Great Misfortune. Hold fast to righteousness."
"Maybe he's sleeping in?"
Kenta shook his head, "I checked his room-"
Annie didn't quite want to know how Kenta was able to access to Junpei's room.
"- and it was untouched. The bed didn't look like it was slept in. His takeout wasn't touched either."
Kenta turned to Kai Lee, his subordinate and another high ranking member of the ABB and asked, "Did Junpei owe someone money or something? Why'd he skipped out of town?"
"Not that I know, Kenta."
"Curious indeed. Well, check to see if you can find his body- people go missing all the time, but this is right in the heart of our territory. That's concerning."
"Hai, Kenta."
Annie decided she should maybe offer some incense to the gods and pray for Junpei's safe return.
Numen Presents
Big Evil in Little China
A Worm AU
Chapter 1: White Girl
Although no one could have known, the troubles begin on Sunday night, when the white girl moved into the small apartment complex by Tong Ren St. and King St. in the Eastern edge of Brockton Bay Chinatown (otherwise known as "Asian Bad Boyz Territory").
The white girl was a lithe and lanky creature, with a mouth too wide and eyes too wide, and the more Annie Kim looked at her, the more it became obvious that she was underage. Annie wasn't racist- she had a healthy dose of ethnic nationalism, but that was curbed a bit thanks to Lung's "Pan-Asian" platform. Personally she was a bit skeptical of the ABB gangleader's message, afterall, didn't grandpa use to talk about how the Japanese tried to justify their conquest of Asia with that whole "South-East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere"? She kept her doubts to herself of course, it's no good voicing such dangerous things to Lung. He has no problems hurting women. Everybody knew about The Farm- bad and disobedient girls ended up there. Or if you're not Asian.
She watched the foreigner approach, dragging two large suitcases behind her. She wore jeans and her white wife beater hugged her thin frames, her bra showing through the thin fabric.
Annie could almost imagine her as a skinny Asian gangbanger with tattoos- almost. But she was too white and her hair obviously too feminine for that image to stick. She plastered on a fake smile for the foreigner and tried to greet her. There was no point being rude- even white people, Empire sympathizers the whole lot of them are- deserved hospitality. Wang-Obasan was very clear about that- but she was Taiwanese, so who knows what weird things she believed in?
"Sup, white girl. You a new tenant?"
White girl fixed her blank eyes on her- there was something dark and creepy about them. Something painful too. Annie had seen a few times in some of the boys and the ABB gang members (which was most of the boys to be fair).
She'd seen a good deal of eyes like that on some of the nightwalkers and Merchant scums too. She decided that the white girl was definitely hooked on something. She's probably a former merchant victim or hoe or something.
The white girl nodded and muttered a short reply.
"Yeah. Name's Taylor."
Annie nodded respectfully and watched the girl rang up the elevator. There was an awkward silence as she waited for the white girl to wait for her elevator. Now wasn't that a tongue twister?
At fucking last, the elevator doors opened with a ding and the white girl- Taylor, she had to remember was her name- dragged both of her giant suitcases in, passing by a hulk of a man stepping out. His tanned skin and bulging muscles meant that he was obviously a gangmember.
The man glanced at the white girl but dismissed her with a snort. The ABB wasn't specifically racist against white people per say, it's just that Asians come first. That was the creed. As long as white girl- Taylor- kept her head down and pay her rent, it was all good. Step out of line and bad things was going to happen to that skinny ass. Annie was honestly too jaded to care, besides, her mind was occupied by the familiar man.
Annie quickly made sure her hair was tidied and she greeted the man with a big smile.
"Hey Kenta! Looking good."
He glanced over with a disinterested gaze and nodded, "Annie."
Then he stalked off to Heaven knows where. Probably to smoke a joint. Annie sighed dreamingly, forgetting all about white girl.
She would only recall the first white girl when the second white girl, some half-blood snotty bitch by the name of Grace moved in later that week.
+++
Tuesday afternoon, Wang-Obasan complained loudly to Annie that her Cat, Mr. Mimi, was missing.
"Aiya! Aiya!"
Annie looked up to see a distraught looking Wang-Obasan waddling down the hallway, looking East and West in a panic.
"Wang-Obasan, what's the matter?"
Junpei, a nearby ABB gangbanger who was smoking with his upper half leaning out on the balcony that formed the outer walls of the hall turned around in concern.
"Mr. Mimi is missing!"
Annie gasped. Mr. Mimi was all that was left of Wang-Obasan's late husband. She hurried over and patted the anxious older lady on the back.
"I'll help you look for him."
She looked up and stared at Junpei.
"What?"
"You should help too!"
"It's just a cat."
Annie glared at him.
Junpei snorted and ignored the Korean girl and the Taiwanese granny. Whatever. He was a warrior of the ABB- finding missing cats wasn't part of his responsibilities.
"Junpei."
He jumped at the voice and glanced over at the hulking form of Kenta.
Kenta tilt his head towards Wang-Obasan and Annie Kim and growled.
"Help Obasan find her cat. Be a man."
Junpei wanted to argue, but self-preservation instincts kicked in. The bastard was way out of Junpei's weight-class and higher on the pecking order, so he had no choice but to comply.
"Yes…Kenta."
They searched all day, into the evening. Junpei even roped some of the gangbangers lower on the foodchain to help out.
They found a bunch of other cats, and some strays- but there was no hair or tail of the venerable Mr. Mimi.
+++
Wang-Obasan prayed at her home shrine to the idols of the righteous Guan Sheng Di Jun (ceramic sculpt of a bearded man in green robes wielding a mighty halberd), Scion the Living Buddha (A porcelain effigy of the World's First Superhero), and the Supreme Virtuous Martyr Prince of Tinkers (A painted wood statue of Hero, rayguns raised).
Nothing came of it.
Obviously her home shrine was too small and Lord Guan was too busy dealing with cosmic concerns (or maybe how to beat the Empire's heathen gods so as to ensure victory for the Asians) to deal with a mortal's pet cat. Scion was busy rescuing other cats and Hero was probably off inspiring Tinkers to invent things. Having rationalized the lack of divine action on the part of the gods, Wang-Obasan walked down the street to the local Joss House and offered up some incense sticks to Tudigong, the elderly and smiling genius loci of Chinatown. He looked just like the Tudigong in Mado township in Tainan Taiwan where she had lived during the first half of her life.
She prayed in Taiwanese Hokkien, "Oh Tudigong, god of the city and of Chinatown, please return Mimi to me, he's all that's left of my late husband. Please, please."
Afterwards, she paid a donation of twenty dollars and twenty-five cents in the alms box, and drew several lots. Her face paled at the prophetic words of Tudigong:
"Evil energies abound. Great Misfortune. Hold fast to righteousness."
+++
Annie was shocked to hear that Junpei was missing. Kenta came around to ask her about it- but all she knew was that they had split up to look for Mimi. She didn't see him after that and assumed he must have gone home.
"Maybe he's sleeping in?"
Kenta shook his head, "I checked his room-"
Annie didn't quite want to know how Kenta was able to access to Junpei's room.
"- and it was untouched. The bed didn't look like it was slept in. His takeout wasn't touched either."
Kenta turned to Kai Lee, his subordinate and another high ranking member of the ABB and asked, "Did Junpei owe someone money or something? Why'd he skipped out of town?"
"Not that I know, Kenta."
"Curious indeed. Well, check to see if you can find his body- people go missing all the time, but this is right in the heart of our territory. That's concerning."
"Hai, Kenta."
Annie decided she should maybe offer some incense to the gods and pray for Junpei's safe return.
Last edited:
- Location
- Mandaluyong City
When the word China was mentioned, I thought this would be involving Yangban agents trying to kidnap BB's capes
Dromeosaur
Feathery Raptor of snowy planes and frozen sea
- Location
- The land of Trees and Squirrels
Quite interesting and original idea with often underused characters. Watched.
I can't help but think it might be a crossover/fusion with the cult classic movie "Big Trouble in Little China" Maybe it's just the similarity of the names, but I just can't shake that feeling.
- Location
- United States
Oooh, this is a really unique premise! I hope it doesn't lean too hard into the 'horror' angle though, I mean, write the story you want to, of course, I just don't have much of a stomach for horror stories. I like mysteries though! So I'm really curious to see how this goes! Watched!
2. Orientation Day
Numen
Long Time Creeper
- Location
- Canada
Chapter 2: Orientation Day
Oni Lee gazed down at the mangled corpse of Mr. Mimi in the first floor large garbage can.
"Holy fuck. This was done with a knife." Ando said as he knelt down to check the corpse of the cat. "No offense to you Lee, but I have to ask, did you do this?"
Oni Lee merely glazed at the Ando with unblinking eyes- or seemingly unblinking. It was hard to tell with that demon mask.
Ando sighed and stood up.
"Great. If whatever did this to Mimi was also behind Junpei's disappearance, do you know what that implies?"
Oni Lee stared at Ando. An intellectual giant he was not.
Deciding that an answer was probably not forthcoming, Ando continued with his imitation of a police detective (he watched enough TV to know how it worked).
"It means we have a serial killer. In Chinatown. Probably in this very apartment building. People might panic. Somebody might call the cops. "
Oni Lee finally grasped how bad that was. It meant that the police might get involved. Which meant that the PRT might be involved.
That was not good. Kenta was going to be pissed.
"You the new girl?"
Grace looked up at the crooked teeth of some Asian jackass who was leering at her wet and dirty lingerie after they stripped the Prison Uniform from her en route to a containment facility for dangerous new triggers.
The Cornell Bomber sneered at 'Jackass' and give him the mantra for good health and happiness, "Fuck you and your mother."
'Jackass' growled and was about to retort, but a rough hand shoved him away from her. A Masked Demon loomed over her.
"New Girl. You are now a member of the Asian Bad Boyz."
"The who?"
The cape tonelessly repeated his statement, "The Asian Bad Boyz."
"Wut."
""The Asian Bad B-"
"No you idiot, I meant I have no idea what the flying cocksucker the Asian Bad Boyz is. Is that some kind of third rate amatuer metal band or some shit? What are you guys even, terrorists? Who the fuck are you, Captain Kabuki?
The cape stared blankly at her, while 'Jackass' was laughing his head off. He stopped laughing suddenly and dropped to the ground while spraying blood all over the room. Captain Kabuki put his knife away.
Grace wiped a patch blood away from her right eye and and grimaced in disgust, "Ewwwww. Fucking nasty. He probably has STDs or some shit."
"Is she awake?"
Captain Kabuki looked behind him and stood up straighter.
"Yes Lung."
A hulking mass of premium man-meat entered Grace's line of sight and she whistled. If Alice Hong or Emma Bradshaw (hoes that they are) saw this guy, they would be lining up outside his dorm room with a hundred bucks in cash clutched in each hand.
The masked hulk with the metal dragon gimmick growled down at her and snorted some smoke (what the fuck?) out of his left nostril.
"I am Lung."
Grace nodded, "Yes. I get that."
"I am Lung."
"Yes. Badly mangled mandarin or hokkien for Dragon. I get that."
Dragon-man pointed towards Captain Kabuki.
"This is Oni Lee."
"Seriously, you're not Captain Kabuki?", somehow, everything that happened the past week or so didn't faze her overtly much, but the fact that Captain Kabuki wasn't actually Captain Kabuki floored her. A sudden though trickled into her consciousness and she couldn't help but run her mouth at the scary-throat-slitting-dimwit, "Fuck, don't tell me your actual real civilian name is Lee."
Oni Lee nodded his head, "Yes. My name is Lee."
Grace stared at him in disbelief.
Lung cleared his throat.
"You work for me now."
Grace narrowed her eyes.
"And if I say no?"
"Then you die."
Grace shivered and clutched her half naked body tighter around her. She thought back to her last conversation with her mother, before she left for Cornell.
"You better get perfect marks, top grades. And don't you go run off partying with those other hoes- you know how them white girls be like. And white man are shit too, useless, like your father."
"Fuck you ma, you don't get to dictate my life!"
"I am paying for your education! I am your god!"
"I am going to be more successful and more happy than you'll ever be, you useless woman!"
Grace looked up at Lung and then over at Oni Lee. They're not white. They're not hoes. So her mom was probably okay with that. But then again, they were also clearly criminals and 'bad boys'. And with a sudden glee, she realized just how much she could shove the finger up her mom's asshole.
She was going to join a fucking gang. Or Terrorist organization. Or the Yanbang. So sue her, she never bothered paying attention to the cape scene and had no idea who the two Asian superpowered freaks were. But she was gonna join them and fuck shit up.
Fuck you ma. I am a gangster. All will fear the name of Gra- no. They will fear the name of BAKUDA!
But she was gonna rebel hard. She smiled and began cackling. The reign of Bakuda was near.
"Okay, I am in. What the fuck do you guys do?"
Lung closed the car door, seated next to Grace. Oni Lee climbed into the driver's seat in front and revved up the engines. The automobile was some kind of half-illegal humvee, with oversized wheels.
The leather seats was kind of bouncy too and Grace fingered her vintage gas mask and the wife-beater that the Asians seemed to favour around her.
So Ghetto.
"Okay Lung, so what we doing? We going to hit an Empire hideout? I fucking hate Nazis. I mean, everyone does, so-"
Lung held up a hand for silence. He turned to her, Dragon Mask making him look somewhat more menacing in the early morning lighting.
"We going to be going over an average workday for us Parahumans of the ABB. Most of it is just checking up with our various assets and lieutenants, and some of the affiliated minor gangs or gambling dens and brothels that pay homage to us. We gotta show them we're no good mutha bitches and put the fear of the Dragon into them."
Grace just stared at him.
"Oni Lee, let's get started."
[NSFW lyrics]
Grace got a firsthand account of the how the Chinatown Hood was ran. It was ghetto as fuck. The Humvee roared down a marketplace full of shoppers who screamed and fearfully backed off.
Oni Lee hopped out of the humvee and gestured for Grace to follow. Lung nodded at her, "Go with Lee and see how we do things."
"Okay, but what about you?"
"I will be sitting in the car, looking menacingly at anyone who looks at me the wrong way. Trust me, it's more effective this way. Sometimes, when I am really lazy, I get Cho- the fat idiot who lives in the apartment block you'll be staying at- to wear my mask and pretend to be me. Somehow, nobody notices the difference."
Grace stared at him in dumbfounded disbelief, and silently slipped out of her seat and followed Oni Lee into the Hong Kong styled eatery.
The owner, a Mr. Chai was whimpering in terror. His customers had long since fled.
Lee walked right up and punched Chai in the guts. The older man gasped and dropped to his knees.
Lee grabbed him by the scruff of his shirts and lifted him up.
"You peddling Empire drugs in Chinatown. It doesn't suit Asians well, we don't use that clean shit. We ghetto as fuck. So you giving some of the boys the runs when they run to the toilet. You understand what I am saying."
Chai babbled something in Cantonese and Lee punched him in the jaw and roared angrily, "Speak English, you goddamned chink! I don't get your gobbledygook!"
Grace stared at Oni Lee in confused outrage.
Finally the Demon dropped the bleeding and crying Chai on the ground.
"You buy China White from now on. Come by the warehouse at Hong Street and pick up a packet. We'll charge you only two-hundred percent more than usual. This time. Next time, we slit your throat. Bitch."
He kicked him and walked out, gesturing for Grace to follow.
"Where did you learn to talk like that? I thought you were...mentally disabled," Grace asked.
Oni Lee shrugged. "I saw it on a Hong-Kong gangster flick once. It comes easily now."
The half-Asian woman was nearly catatonic at the admission.
The Humvee crashed through the warehouse doors and Asians scrambled backwards in fear. A few scantily clad women screamed in fear.
When the dust settled, they could see Oni Lee in the driver's seat and the glowing eyes of Lung staring at them from the back seat. Some gas mask wearing bitch was sitting next to him. Most wrote her off as Lung's new squeeze.
Lung spoke from the backseat.
"You guys been fucking hoes. That's fine. Real men fuck hoes, that's natural."
The gasmask bitch twitched.
"But you've been fucking hoes that aren't mine."
Everyone froze in terror.
"Those hoes-" The Dragon of Kyushu gestured at the assortment of white, Asian and black prostitutes scattered around the warehouse,"- work for me now. I will be sending a new pimp to usher them to one of my brothels."
He then stood up.
"As for you unfaithful lecherous bastards, you'll all be fined $1000 each. Be sure to fuck Lung-certified hoes from now on. Got it?"
They nodded.
"Bring me the pimp who's running this place."
There was some jostling and finally some middle-aged guy was shoved to the front.
Lung chuckled.
"Mr. Luo. You do this to me? I bought you Wonton Soup. I had tea with your mother!"
Luo gulped audibly and wiped a chubby hand over his sweating forehead.
"L-lung. M-m-boy! Uh, I was expanding your operations for you."
Lung nodded and gestured to the unmoving gas-mask girl.
"Bakuda. Time to prove your worth. Blow this motherfucker up."
Before Mr. Luo could so much as blink, a metal orb was shoved down his mouth and the gas-mask girl was climbing back into the Humvee.
"Fuck this shit Lung, I am ready for dinner. Let's go. You two are insane."
Luo blew up before he could get a word in.
"And this is where you will be living."
The crumbling, dilapidated apartment complex was a sore point to Grace's eyes. Her mother was relatively wealthy. She came from a good part of town in a well developed city. She went to a good University.
This shit she was staring at was like staring at Michael Croft's hairy balls.
"Fuck this shit. I deserve better than this run-down ghetto crap!"
"It's Chinatown," Lee piped in. "That should explain everything."
Lung nodded, "Besides, we live here. Are you telling me the House of the Dragon is somehow unbefitting of a lowly mortal like you?"
Grace grumbled loudly.
"Come on, hoe, let's go."
"I am not a hoe."
"All women are hoes before the Dragon."
Oni Lee parked the Humvee in a out of the way garage and stretched his arms.
"I am going to sleep."
Lung nodded.
"Don't sleep too long, we have investigations to do tonight."
Grace blinked in confusion.
"Investigations?"
"Some serial killer is stalking the residents of the building. So far we have one missing man and two missing small animals."
Grace stared at the two of them.
"What the actual fuck!?"
Lung threw her a key which she caught.
"Key to your room. Don't lose it. Don't follow us. When we trust you, we will reveal our civilian identities to you. Stay down and don't cause problems."
Grace could only nod as the two men stalked off into the evening light.
"Okay. Even my shit dorm-room wasn't this shit."
She hefted her gym bag which she had stashed her costume and mask in and was about to waltz in when a female voice called out to her.
"Oh, you the new girl?"
Grace turned around and came face to face with the dead sorrowful eyes of some crazy tall white bitch in a wife-beater (what was with the wife-beaters?).
"Hi. Name's Taylor. What's your name?"
Grace just stared at her. She closed her eyes and groaned.
"No fucking way. Are you telling me they segregated white people together? I am not even full white! This place is so racist it's not funny!"
Taylor just stared at her for a bit and she smiled and chuckled.
"You're new to Brockton Bay aren't you?"
Grace sighed and nodded. "Yeah. Name's Grace."
"Nice to meet you Grace. Us white hoes should stick together huh?"
"I am not a hoe."
"Chillax, it's a figure of speech."
Oni Lee gazed down at the mangled corpse of Mr. Mimi in the first floor large garbage can.
"Holy fuck. This was done with a knife." Ando said as he knelt down to check the corpse of the cat. "No offense to you Lee, but I have to ask, did you do this?"
Oni Lee merely glazed at the Ando with unblinking eyes- or seemingly unblinking. It was hard to tell with that demon mask.
Ando sighed and stood up.
"Great. If whatever did this to Mimi was also behind Junpei's disappearance, do you know what that implies?"
Oni Lee stared at Ando. An intellectual giant he was not.
Deciding that an answer was probably not forthcoming, Ando continued with his imitation of a police detective (he watched enough TV to know how it worked).
"It means we have a serial killer. In Chinatown. Probably in this very apartment building. People might panic. Somebody might call the cops. "
Oni Lee finally grasped how bad that was. It meant that the police might get involved. Which meant that the PRT might be involved.
That was not good. Kenta was going to be pissed.
+++
"You the new girl?"
Grace looked up at the crooked teeth of some Asian jackass who was leering at her wet and dirty lingerie after they stripped the Prison Uniform from her en route to a containment facility for dangerous new triggers.
The Cornell Bomber sneered at 'Jackass' and give him the mantra for good health and happiness, "Fuck you and your mother."
'Jackass' growled and was about to retort, but a rough hand shoved him away from her. A Masked Demon loomed over her.
"New Girl. You are now a member of the Asian Bad Boyz."
"The who?"
The cape tonelessly repeated his statement, "The Asian Bad Boyz."
"Wut."
""The Asian Bad B-"
"No you idiot, I meant I have no idea what the flying cocksucker the Asian Bad Boyz is. Is that some kind of third rate amatuer metal band or some shit? What are you guys even, terrorists? Who the fuck are you, Captain Kabuki?
The cape stared blankly at her, while 'Jackass' was laughing his head off. He stopped laughing suddenly and dropped to the ground while spraying blood all over the room. Captain Kabuki put his knife away.
Grace wiped a patch blood away from her right eye and and grimaced in disgust, "Ewwwww. Fucking nasty. He probably has STDs or some shit."
"Is she awake?"
Captain Kabuki looked behind him and stood up straighter.
"Yes Lung."
A hulking mass of premium man-meat entered Grace's line of sight and she whistled. If Alice Hong or Emma Bradshaw (hoes that they are) saw this guy, they would be lining up outside his dorm room with a hundred bucks in cash clutched in each hand.
The masked hulk with the metal dragon gimmick growled down at her and snorted some smoke (what the fuck?) out of his left nostril.
"I am Lung."
Grace nodded, "Yes. I get that."
"I am Lung."
"Yes. Badly mangled mandarin or hokkien for Dragon. I get that."
Dragon-man pointed towards Captain Kabuki.
"This is Oni Lee."
"Seriously, you're not Captain Kabuki?", somehow, everything that happened the past week or so didn't faze her overtly much, but the fact that Captain Kabuki wasn't actually Captain Kabuki floored her. A sudden though trickled into her consciousness and she couldn't help but run her mouth at the scary-throat-slitting-dimwit, "Fuck, don't tell me your actual real civilian name is Lee."
Oni Lee nodded his head, "Yes. My name is Lee."
Grace stared at him in disbelief.
Lung cleared his throat.
"You work for me now."
Grace narrowed her eyes.
"And if I say no?"
"Then you die."
Grace shivered and clutched her half naked body tighter around her. She thought back to her last conversation with her mother, before she left for Cornell.
"You better get perfect marks, top grades. And don't you go run off partying with those other hoes- you know how them white girls be like. And white man are shit too, useless, like your father."
"Fuck you ma, you don't get to dictate my life!"
"I am paying for your education! I am your god!"
"I am going to be more successful and more happy than you'll ever be, you useless woman!"
Grace looked up at Lung and then over at Oni Lee. They're not white. They're not hoes. So her mom was probably okay with that. But then again, they were also clearly criminals and 'bad boys'. And with a sudden glee, she realized just how much she could shove the finger up her mom's asshole.
She was going to join a fucking gang. Or Terrorist organization. Or the Yanbang. So sue her, she never bothered paying attention to the cape scene and had no idea who the two Asian superpowered freaks were. But she was gonna join them and fuck shit up.
Fuck you ma. I am a gangster. All will fear the name of Gra- no. They will fear the name of BAKUDA!
But she was gonna rebel hard. She smiled and began cackling. The reign of Bakuda was near.
"Okay, I am in. What the fuck do you guys do?"
+++
Lung closed the car door, seated next to Grace. Oni Lee climbed into the driver's seat in front and revved up the engines. The automobile was some kind of half-illegal humvee, with oversized wheels.
The leather seats was kind of bouncy too and Grace fingered her vintage gas mask and the wife-beater that the Asians seemed to favour around her.
So Ghetto.
"Okay Lung, so what we doing? We going to hit an Empire hideout? I fucking hate Nazis. I mean, everyone does, so-"
Lung held up a hand for silence. He turned to her, Dragon Mask making him look somewhat more menacing in the early morning lighting.
"We going to be going over an average workday for us Parahumans of the ABB. Most of it is just checking up with our various assets and lieutenants, and some of the affiliated minor gangs or gambling dens and brothels that pay homage to us. We gotta show them we're no good mutha bitches and put the fear of the Dragon into them."
Grace just stared at him.
"Oni Lee, let's get started."
[NSFW lyrics]
+++
Grace got a firsthand account of the how the Chinatown Hood was ran. It was ghetto as fuck. The Humvee roared down a marketplace full of shoppers who screamed and fearfully backed off.
Oni Lee hopped out of the humvee and gestured for Grace to follow. Lung nodded at her, "Go with Lee and see how we do things."
"Okay, but what about you?"
"I will be sitting in the car, looking menacingly at anyone who looks at me the wrong way. Trust me, it's more effective this way. Sometimes, when I am really lazy, I get Cho- the fat idiot who lives in the apartment block you'll be staying at- to wear my mask and pretend to be me. Somehow, nobody notices the difference."
Grace stared at him in dumbfounded disbelief, and silently slipped out of her seat and followed Oni Lee into the Hong Kong styled eatery.
The owner, a Mr. Chai was whimpering in terror. His customers had long since fled.
Lee walked right up and punched Chai in the guts. The older man gasped and dropped to his knees.
Lee grabbed him by the scruff of his shirts and lifted him up.
"You peddling Empire drugs in Chinatown. It doesn't suit Asians well, we don't use that clean shit. We ghetto as fuck. So you giving some of the boys the runs when they run to the toilet. You understand what I am saying."
Chai babbled something in Cantonese and Lee punched him in the jaw and roared angrily, "Speak English, you goddamned chink! I don't get your gobbledygook!"
Grace stared at Oni Lee in confused outrage.
Finally the Demon dropped the bleeding and crying Chai on the ground.
"You buy China White from now on. Come by the warehouse at Hong Street and pick up a packet. We'll charge you only two-hundred percent more than usual. This time. Next time, we slit your throat. Bitch."
He kicked him and walked out, gesturing for Grace to follow.
"Where did you learn to talk like that? I thought you were...mentally disabled," Grace asked.
Oni Lee shrugged. "I saw it on a Hong-Kong gangster flick once. It comes easily now."
The half-Asian woman was nearly catatonic at the admission.
+++
The Humvee crashed through the warehouse doors and Asians scrambled backwards in fear. A few scantily clad women screamed in fear.
When the dust settled, they could see Oni Lee in the driver's seat and the glowing eyes of Lung staring at them from the back seat. Some gas mask wearing bitch was sitting next to him. Most wrote her off as Lung's new squeeze.
Lung spoke from the backseat.
"You guys been fucking hoes. That's fine. Real men fuck hoes, that's natural."
The gasmask bitch twitched.
"But you've been fucking hoes that aren't mine."
Everyone froze in terror.
"Those hoes-" The Dragon of Kyushu gestured at the assortment of white, Asian and black prostitutes scattered around the warehouse,"- work for me now. I will be sending a new pimp to usher them to one of my brothels."
He then stood up.
"As for you unfaithful lecherous bastards, you'll all be fined $1000 each. Be sure to fuck Lung-certified hoes from now on. Got it?"
They nodded.
"Bring me the pimp who's running this place."
There was some jostling and finally some middle-aged guy was shoved to the front.
Lung chuckled.
"Mr. Luo. You do this to me? I bought you Wonton Soup. I had tea with your mother!"
Luo gulped audibly and wiped a chubby hand over his sweating forehead.
"L-lung. M-m-boy! Uh, I was expanding your operations for you."
Lung nodded and gestured to the unmoving gas-mask girl.
"Bakuda. Time to prove your worth. Blow this motherfucker up."
Before Mr. Luo could so much as blink, a metal orb was shoved down his mouth and the gas-mask girl was climbing back into the Humvee.
"Fuck this shit Lung, I am ready for dinner. Let's go. You two are insane."
Luo blew up before he could get a word in.
+++
"And this is where you will be living."
The crumbling, dilapidated apartment complex was a sore point to Grace's eyes. Her mother was relatively wealthy. She came from a good part of town in a well developed city. She went to a good University.
This shit she was staring at was like staring at Michael Croft's hairy balls.
"Fuck this shit. I deserve better than this run-down ghetto crap!"
"It's Chinatown," Lee piped in. "That should explain everything."
Lung nodded, "Besides, we live here. Are you telling me the House of the Dragon is somehow unbefitting of a lowly mortal like you?"
Grace grumbled loudly.
"Come on, hoe, let's go."
"I am not a hoe."
"All women are hoes before the Dragon."
Oni Lee parked the Humvee in a out of the way garage and stretched his arms.
"I am going to sleep."
Lung nodded.
"Don't sleep too long, we have investigations to do tonight."
Grace blinked in confusion.
"Investigations?"
"Some serial killer is stalking the residents of the building. So far we have one missing man and two missing small animals."
Grace stared at the two of them.
"What the actual fuck!?"
Lung threw her a key which she caught.
"Key to your room. Don't lose it. Don't follow us. When we trust you, we will reveal our civilian identities to you. Stay down and don't cause problems."
Grace could only nod as the two men stalked off into the evening light.
+++
Grace pushed the key into her lock and turned. There was an affirming click, and she pushed the door open.
"Okay. Even my shit dorm-room wasn't this shit."
She hefted her gym bag which she had stashed her costume and mask in and was about to waltz in when a female voice called out to her.
"Oh, you the new girl?"
Grace turned around and came face to face with the dead sorrowful eyes of some crazy tall white bitch in a wife-beater (what was with the wife-beaters?).
"Hi. Name's Taylor. What's your name?"
Grace just stared at her. She closed her eyes and groaned.
"No fucking way. Are you telling me they segregated white people together? I am not even full white! This place is so racist it's not funny!"
Taylor just stared at her for a bit and she smiled and chuckled.
"You're new to Brockton Bay aren't you?"
Grace sighed and nodded. "Yeah. Name's Grace."
"Nice to meet you Grace. Us white hoes should stick together huh?"
"I am not a hoe."
"Chillax, it's a figure of speech."
Last edited:
- Location
- Down Under
My poor brain cells .... please continue.
.... please continue.
eternal-potato
He who vegetates
- Location
- Moscow
This is even more cracky than I initially assumed.
ecs05norway
Zenryoku Zenkai!
Okay, first snip caught my attention, I liked it. Second... That's an omake, right? Way too much parody to be a real chapter.
Numen
Long Time Creeper
- Location
- Canada
Mood whiplash was intended.
T1203
Field Surgeon
- Location
- Earth
It was most certainly achieved. I have to ask, everything in this second chapter is completely canon to this story right?
Numen
Long Time Creeper
- Location
- Canada
Yes. I enjoy alt character interpretations. Lung and Oni Lee have depths to them you haven't seen yet, but suffice to say, they have issues and they work hard to live a fulfilling and meaningful life.
ecs05norway
Zenryoku Zenkai!
And it was way the hell too strong. The Lung/Bakuda segment veers right off the road and into a twenty-car pileup of utter stupidity. This isn't "mood whiplash", this is "Leslie Nielsen's Worm". Very definite down-vote here.
Numen
Long Time Creeper
- Location
- Canada
Understandable, though I hope you stick around long enough to get where I am going with this fic.
3. Escalation
Numen
Long Time Creeper
- Location
- Canada
Chapter 3: Escalation
Grace sneezed violently at the dust flying everywhere in the single room dorm. There was a dirty cubicle that doubled as a toilet. Thank god it had seats and everything, because she had half-expected one of those squat-down-to-shit toilets you'd find in Asia.
Footsteps sounded behind her and she spun around, hands clutching for grenades that wasn't there.
Shit, left it in my bag. She was not making that mistake again. Thankfully, it was only her next door neighbour, the other white girl; Taylor.
"Fuck! You gave me quite the scare there, Taylor."
The younger girl had the grace to look sheepish. "Sorry. I was bored and decided to come visit. I should've knocked, but you didn't close the door properly."
Grace nodded and looked back at the table she was trying to dust off. "It's fucking nasty in here. You'd probably be better off back in your own room."
"I can help."
Grace stared at her.
Taylor stared back, eyes determined.
"Why?" Grace all but spat at the other girl.
She knew that wasn't something a nice person says the moment the words left her mouth, but just a week ago, Grace was holding her University hostage and blowing up classrooms, so she figured it couldn't damage her conscience anymore than it was already.
Taylor didn't look fazed, but for moment, her eyes became alive.
"Because I don't have any friends here. I mean, I tried talking to Annie, but I don't think she likes me...or my skin colour...very much."
For just a moment, Grace saw herself in Taylor. Young. Alone. Bullied. Troubled home life probably, because why else would a teenage girl be living by herself in gang territory? Sure that was fairly common, but teenage white girls living in the heart of Asian gang territory? That was definitely not normal.
It goes without saying that Taylor probably didn't have friends, period. Because if she did, she would be slumming with her friends and not toughing it out in gangland.
Grace could only really say one thing now.
"Okay. You can help. But…"
She pointed towards the bathroom.
"You're cleaning the toilet."
Taylor scowled and flipped her the finger. "Fuck you."
"You can't afford me, Tay." Grace sniped right back.
It was the beginning of a wonderful not-quite-friendship.
Kenta slammed the door shut, locked it- both locks- and tore off his wife beater before sanking down on his comfy lay-z-boy. There was no need to flick on the light, his enhanced night vision was superior enough.
He groaned and stretched his neck. That was a hard day- and it's been awhile since he had that much fun confusing a new recruit. He chuckled and thought about the shenanigans and mind blowing revealations he would heap upon Grace tomorrow.
He glance at the clock with the classic Bagua design at the top of the wall, ticking silently in the night. Nine 'O Clock. He still got time before he has to go sniff around and try to catch a probable serial killer.
Kenta has seen enough movies and read enough mangas to know that a missing person, a missing cat, and a missing rooster meant that a psycho killer was nearby. The bird in question belonged to Mr. Zhao, who ran a chicken farm next door, operated out of his backyard. Technically it was against city-by-law, but this was Chinatown, so the city can go fuck itself. Of course, precisely because it was Chinatown, Mr. Zhao immediately complained to Kenta who then theoretically "reported" the situation to Lung, who was the defacto mayor and police of Chinatown.
Such was the duties of the Dragon.
Deciding maybe some TV was in order, he picked up the remote and flick on the antique cathode-ray tube powered television. The pre-tinker quality hurts the eyes to look at. Kids these days will never understand.
The Godfather was playing on one of the movie channels. He immediately switched the channel.
"I'll leave shill like that to Lee."
Kenta preferred a superior type of entertainment.
Rom-coms. Specifically, Spring Flowers Bloom Eternally. An exciting North Korean drama produced after part of the country was annexed by the C.U.I. after the destruction of Pyongyang. It was probably ironic that Behemoth's destruction of the Kim Regime ended up benefiting the people, and despite the C.U.I's xenophobic tendencies, they allowed South Korean movie directors to use part of North Korea as a glorified hollywood studio. City-sized movie sets were built over what had once been concentration camps.
"There we go. Let's see if Soo Mi finally confesses her love to Amanda." Even though Amanda is married. Spicy. The extremely graphic sex scenes were widely lauded as a landmark television milestone. But Kenta didn't care about that.
He cared about the romance. It reminded him of the sweet innocence (for a given measure of the word) in his youth. Of the carefree days of spring, when hope was still possible, back before Kyushu. Back before the Yàngbǎn. Before the Woman in Black. Before Lung. Back when life made sense, and the hero always get the girl. But real life didn't work like that.
In real life, the hero loses the war, the girl was forced to leave and when they meet again, she had married someone else and then everything sucked so much it actually hurts.
It still hurts. Hurts that don't heal.
He sighed. Life sucks. But it was life. Something many don't even have anymore, especially his friends and family on Kyushu.
And he have a duty to his people and to the people who chose to call Chinatown their home for however long he ruled. He wasn't running a charity. He wasn't even really running a business. There was no lofty goal or ideal to thrive towards unlike the Empire. There wasn't the total anarchy of the Merchants. Or the heroic ideals of the PRT.
For the Asian community, always it was about protecting themselves from a hostile and uncaring universe. A sentiment Kenta knew all too well.
He was just delaying. Delaying the end of everything.
And he was content with that.
On screen, Soo Mi grabbed Amanda and kissed her, much to the latter's shock.
Kenta grinned.
Kai Lee put away his costume and closed the closet. Wearing nothing but a boxer, the Demon of Brockton Bay ambled over and sat down on his prized wooden stool. He fondled his hairy mustache, absently chastising himself for forgetting to shave again.
Back straight, the Taiwanese man gazed blankly at his high definition forty-two inch plasma screen television. Real men invest in good appliances- the advertisements said so.
He cleared his throat and spoke monotonously.
"Siri, turn on the TV."
An equally monotonous voice replied. "Yes, Kai."
Let's see what was on...
"Spring Flowers Bloom Eternally?" Kai grimaced in disgust. That was for weak wall flowers and teenage girls. This was according to the gangster movies he watched.
"Siri, change the channel. Show me something educational."
"Searching. 2,710 Results found. Top result; Scion documentary."
"No. Something violent."
"Based on previous viewing patterns...top recommendation...Godfather."
Kai nodded. Yes. That was always worth rewatching.
There was something very wrong with him, but watching movies help. He often forget how to act around other people. But he was Oni Lee. And Oni Lee was a gangster.
So he should act like a gangster.
It just made sense.
The Godfather spoke on TV. "...don't ever take sides with anyone against the Family again. Ever."
Kai nodded and repeated after Michael Corleone. "Don't ever take sides with anyone against the Family again. Ever."
He was going to use that line the next time.
"Charge me double will they- for this ghetto shit! Fuck!"
Mr. Chai threw the packet of shit heroin, China White onto one of the tables with his still working arm. His other arm was in a cast and his shins hurt like hell. He scowled angrily as he stared at his empty restaurant with one eye. The other eye was black, bruised badly and was now swelling dangerously despite the bandage and the medicine he applied earlier.
Business was going to be bad for days now and the clients who he had been smuggling Empire drugs to would no doubt have moved on to another provider by now- cause Oni Lee's beating had been quite public and everyone in town knew now.
"Fuck!" He screamed again into the night. He didn't care if the neighbours hear and go running to Lung. They didn't have the balls nor the will to interfere anyway. The streets was empty at this time of the night, nobody was out and about unless they were committing a crime. Or stopping one.
He feared the Dragon of Kyushu and his pet Demon. He really did. But sometimes it was easy to forget that they were cutthroat and merciless. He would watch them drive around in their Humvee, acting like retarded grade school kids imitating Godfather and he forgot how dangerous they really are.
The hand of the dragon was light- it was barely felt actually by those who lived under its protection. But for those "in the business", whether that was running one of Lung's brothels or distributing drugs produced by University dropouts under his employee, if you were part of his "company", you don't get away with corporate espionage. Not now. Not ever.
A Dragon has his pride. Chai understood that. But it was not only dragons that have pride. A Dim Sum Chef from Hong Kong also had pride.
The chimes he tied to his door rang and heavy footsteps could be heard entering his eatery.
Thud thud thud. Each step made a chill go down Chai's spine. He heard the stories. He saw the footages. He heard of the questionable casualties. He knew what the killing machine behind him was capable of towards criminals.
It stopped behind him.
He turned and found that his mouth was dry.
Parting his cut lips, he managed to utter, "A-armsmaster. You..uh... came."
The hero's response was swift. Mechanical. Efficient. And the voice was stone-cold.
"Wunlung Chai. You said you had information?"
The two red eyes glowed in the dark and mechanical servos whirled as the local Protectorate Leader regarded the packet of heroin on the table.
"That is illegal to possess."
Chai nodded. "Yes. But it was necessary, they forced me to buy it."
"So I've heard."
"I know where-"
The Hero's voice was harsh. And impatient. "I am well aware of where The Warehouse is located Mr. Chai. Everyone does."
Struggling to contain his fear, Chai babbled. "Wait. You don't understand. I know where he lives. I know where Lung lives. I know who he is!"
There was a moment of silence.
"That's against the unwritten rules."
Chai looked up at the two red eyes and spoke. "B-but you don't care do you?"
Silence.
Chai stuttered as he spoke very quickly. "L-look, you don't have to attack him in his sleep.You can call him out- in his own territory, in his very own residence, he won't be able to refuse. H-he has to save face in front of everyone!"
Silence. And then…
"Tell me more."
Chai grinned. And told him everything he knew.
Armsmaster unclenched his hand and Chai dropped to the ground, his throat utterly crushed.
He stared at dead man and said, "You're right. I don't care about the rules. But neither do you."
Pointing his halberd at the corpse, a stream of fire exploded from the tip and incinerated the body and spread quickly to the nearby tables and up the wall.
The hero spun around and marched out. He didn't rode his bike here- too recognizable and it would invite too many questions from Piggot. Instead, he engaged his armour's stealth features and became nothing more than a haze, virtually invisible in the night.
He had plans to make.
He used his eye to reopen his communications unit and immediately Dragon spoke up.
"Colin! Where were you?"
"I was trying to meet with a deep cover contact, had to turn off all comms for him to agree to talk. However, it seemed like someone knew and they set fire to his residence before I got here. He's likely dead."
"Damn."
He felt slightly bad lying to Dragon, but he wasn't going to pull any punches when he cleans out the ABB for good and it was more efficient that there was no witnesses. He was already on thin ice for use of excessive force, he had to be careful- at least, on camera.
Fat Cho was the resident chef and worked in the dumpling bar on the first floor of the Tong Ren street apartment complex. Sometimes he doubled as Lung. That was always fun and pays well.
Two white girls had opted to eat here this morning- first customers even- and well...he wasn't racist. Besides they would've been vetted by Lung and if Lung was fine with them, he was fine with them.
"A small beef dumpling please." Ordered the older one- and by older, Cho meant that she had curves and would give boys wet dreams with a stare.
The younger skinnier girl ordered a vegetarian dumpling. Large size. Skinny brat probably had good metabolism and never need to diet- Cho was almost jealous.
"Coming right up." The balding chef went to the kitchen in the back and opened the heavy freezer as he tried to grab a bag of dumplings.
And he screamed when he saw Annie Kim's stiff body hanging naked from the ceiling by red plastic cords, face blue from suffocation.
His customers ran into the kitchen at his scream and gasped in shock.
"Holy shit!" The older one yelled.
The younger one gave a startled cry and said, "Oh no. Not again!"
_____________
A/N: I hope that my depiction of Armsmaster wasn't too radical. We knew that in canon he was already very capable of murdering people in cold blood, during the Endbringer Truce no less.
Grace sneezed violently at the dust flying everywhere in the single room dorm. There was a dirty cubicle that doubled as a toilet. Thank god it had seats and everything, because she had half-expected one of those squat-down-to-shit toilets you'd find in Asia.
Footsteps sounded behind her and she spun around, hands clutching for grenades that wasn't there.
Shit, left it in my bag. She was not making that mistake again. Thankfully, it was only her next door neighbour, the other white girl; Taylor.
"Fuck! You gave me quite the scare there, Taylor."
The younger girl had the grace to look sheepish. "Sorry. I was bored and decided to come visit. I should've knocked, but you didn't close the door properly."
Grace nodded and looked back at the table she was trying to dust off. "It's fucking nasty in here. You'd probably be better off back in your own room."
"I can help."
Grace stared at her.
Taylor stared back, eyes determined.
"Why?" Grace all but spat at the other girl.
She knew that wasn't something a nice person says the moment the words left her mouth, but just a week ago, Grace was holding her University hostage and blowing up classrooms, so she figured it couldn't damage her conscience anymore than it was already.
Taylor didn't look fazed, but for moment, her eyes became alive.
"Because I don't have any friends here. I mean, I tried talking to Annie, but I don't think she likes me...or my skin colour...very much."
For just a moment, Grace saw herself in Taylor. Young. Alone. Bullied. Troubled home life probably, because why else would a teenage girl be living by herself in gang territory? Sure that was fairly common, but teenage white girls living in the heart of Asian gang territory? That was definitely not normal.
It goes without saying that Taylor probably didn't have friends, period. Because if she did, she would be slumming with her friends and not toughing it out in gangland.
Grace could only really say one thing now.
"Okay. You can help. But…"
She pointed towards the bathroom.
"You're cleaning the toilet."
Taylor scowled and flipped her the finger. "Fuck you."
"You can't afford me, Tay." Grace sniped right back.
It was the beginning of a wonderful not-quite-friendship.
+++
Kenta slammed the door shut, locked it- both locks- and tore off his wife beater before sanking down on his comfy lay-z-boy. There was no need to flick on the light, his enhanced night vision was superior enough.
He groaned and stretched his neck. That was a hard day- and it's been awhile since he had that much fun confusing a new recruit. He chuckled and thought about the shenanigans and mind blowing revealations he would heap upon Grace tomorrow.
He glance at the clock with the classic Bagua design at the top of the wall, ticking silently in the night. Nine 'O Clock. He still got time before he has to go sniff around and try to catch a probable serial killer.
Kenta has seen enough movies and read enough mangas to know that a missing person, a missing cat, and a missing rooster meant that a psycho killer was nearby. The bird in question belonged to Mr. Zhao, who ran a chicken farm next door, operated out of his backyard. Technically it was against city-by-law, but this was Chinatown, so the city can go fuck itself. Of course, precisely because it was Chinatown, Mr. Zhao immediately complained to Kenta who then theoretically "reported" the situation to Lung, who was the defacto mayor and police of Chinatown.
Such was the duties of the Dragon.
Deciding maybe some TV was in order, he picked up the remote and flick on the antique cathode-ray tube powered television. The pre-tinker quality hurts the eyes to look at. Kids these days will never understand.
The Godfather was playing on one of the movie channels. He immediately switched the channel.
"I'll leave shill like that to Lee."
Kenta preferred a superior type of entertainment.
Rom-coms. Specifically, Spring Flowers Bloom Eternally. An exciting North Korean drama produced after part of the country was annexed by the C.U.I. after the destruction of Pyongyang. It was probably ironic that Behemoth's destruction of the Kim Regime ended up benefiting the people, and despite the C.U.I's xenophobic tendencies, they allowed South Korean movie directors to use part of North Korea as a glorified hollywood studio. City-sized movie sets were built over what had once been concentration camps.
"There we go. Let's see if Soo Mi finally confesses her love to Amanda." Even though Amanda is married. Spicy. The extremely graphic sex scenes were widely lauded as a landmark television milestone. But Kenta didn't care about that.
He cared about the romance. It reminded him of the sweet innocence (for a given measure of the word) in his youth. Of the carefree days of spring, when hope was still possible, back before Kyushu. Back before the Yàngbǎn. Before the Woman in Black. Before Lung. Back when life made sense, and the hero always get the girl. But real life didn't work like that.
In real life, the hero loses the war, the girl was forced to leave and when they meet again, she had married someone else and then everything sucked so much it actually hurts.
It still hurts. Hurts that don't heal.
He sighed. Life sucks. But it was life. Something many don't even have anymore, especially his friends and family on Kyushu.
And he have a duty to his people and to the people who chose to call Chinatown their home for however long he ruled. He wasn't running a charity. He wasn't even really running a business. There was no lofty goal or ideal to thrive towards unlike the Empire. There wasn't the total anarchy of the Merchants. Or the heroic ideals of the PRT.
For the Asian community, always it was about protecting themselves from a hostile and uncaring universe. A sentiment Kenta knew all too well.
He was just delaying. Delaying the end of everything.
And he was content with that.
On screen, Soo Mi grabbed Amanda and kissed her, much to the latter's shock.
Kenta grinned.
+++
Kai Lee put away his costume and closed the closet. Wearing nothing but a boxer, the Demon of Brockton Bay ambled over and sat down on his prized wooden stool. He fondled his hairy mustache, absently chastising himself for forgetting to shave again.
Back straight, the Taiwanese man gazed blankly at his high definition forty-two inch plasma screen television. Real men invest in good appliances- the advertisements said so.
He cleared his throat and spoke monotonously.
"Siri, turn on the TV."
An equally monotonous voice replied. "Yes, Kai."
Let's see what was on...
"Spring Flowers Bloom Eternally?" Kai grimaced in disgust. That was for weak wall flowers and teenage girls. This was according to the gangster movies he watched.
"Siri, change the channel. Show me something educational."
"Searching. 2,710 Results found. Top result; Scion documentary."
"No. Something violent."
"Based on previous viewing patterns...top recommendation...Godfather."
Kai nodded. Yes. That was always worth rewatching.
There was something very wrong with him, but watching movies help. He often forget how to act around other people. But he was Oni Lee. And Oni Lee was a gangster.
So he should act like a gangster.
It just made sense.
The Godfather spoke on TV. "...don't ever take sides with anyone against the Family again. Ever."
Kai nodded and repeated after Michael Corleone. "Don't ever take sides with anyone against the Family again. Ever."
He was going to use that line the next time.
+++
"Charge me double will they- for this ghetto shit! Fuck!"
Mr. Chai threw the packet of shit heroin, China White onto one of the tables with his still working arm. His other arm was in a cast and his shins hurt like hell. He scowled angrily as he stared at his empty restaurant with one eye. The other eye was black, bruised badly and was now swelling dangerously despite the bandage and the medicine he applied earlier.
Business was going to be bad for days now and the clients who he had been smuggling Empire drugs to would no doubt have moved on to another provider by now- cause Oni Lee's beating had been quite public and everyone in town knew now.
"Fuck!" He screamed again into the night. He didn't care if the neighbours hear and go running to Lung. They didn't have the balls nor the will to interfere anyway. The streets was empty at this time of the night, nobody was out and about unless they were committing a crime. Or stopping one.
He feared the Dragon of Kyushu and his pet Demon. He really did. But sometimes it was easy to forget that they were cutthroat and merciless. He would watch them drive around in their Humvee, acting like retarded grade school kids imitating Godfather and he forgot how dangerous they really are.
The hand of the dragon was light- it was barely felt actually by those who lived under its protection. But for those "in the business", whether that was running one of Lung's brothels or distributing drugs produced by University dropouts under his employee, if you were part of his "company", you don't get away with corporate espionage. Not now. Not ever.
A Dragon has his pride. Chai understood that. But it was not only dragons that have pride. A Dim Sum Chef from Hong Kong also had pride.
The chimes he tied to his door rang and heavy footsteps could be heard entering his eatery.
Thud thud thud. Each step made a chill go down Chai's spine. He heard the stories. He saw the footages. He heard of the questionable casualties. He knew what the killing machine behind him was capable of towards criminals.
It stopped behind him.
He turned and found that his mouth was dry.
Parting his cut lips, he managed to utter, "A-armsmaster. You..uh... came."
The hero's response was swift. Mechanical. Efficient. And the voice was stone-cold.
"Wunlung Chai. You said you had information?"
The two red eyes glowed in the dark and mechanical servos whirled as the local Protectorate Leader regarded the packet of heroin on the table.
"That is illegal to possess."
Chai nodded. "Yes. But it was necessary, they forced me to buy it."
"So I've heard."
"I know where-"
The Hero's voice was harsh. And impatient. "I am well aware of where The Warehouse is located Mr. Chai. Everyone does."
Struggling to contain his fear, Chai babbled. "Wait. You don't understand. I know where he lives. I know where Lung lives. I know who he is!"
There was a moment of silence.
"That's against the unwritten rules."
Chai looked up at the two red eyes and spoke. "B-but you don't care do you?"
Silence.
Chai stuttered as he spoke very quickly. "L-look, you don't have to attack him in his sleep.You can call him out- in his own territory, in his very own residence, he won't be able to refuse. H-he has to save face in front of everyone!"
Silence. And then…
"Tell me more."
Chai grinned. And told him everything he knew.
+++
Armsmaster unclenched his hand and Chai dropped to the ground, his throat utterly crushed.
He stared at dead man and said, "You're right. I don't care about the rules. But neither do you."
Pointing his halberd at the corpse, a stream of fire exploded from the tip and incinerated the body and spread quickly to the nearby tables and up the wall.
The hero spun around and marched out. He didn't rode his bike here- too recognizable and it would invite too many questions from Piggot. Instead, he engaged his armour's stealth features and became nothing more than a haze, virtually invisible in the night.
He had plans to make.
He used his eye to reopen his communications unit and immediately Dragon spoke up.
"Colin! Where were you?"
"I was trying to meet with a deep cover contact, had to turn off all comms for him to agree to talk. However, it seemed like someone knew and they set fire to his residence before I got here. He's likely dead."
"Damn."
He felt slightly bad lying to Dragon, but he wasn't going to pull any punches when he cleans out the ABB for good and it was more efficient that there was no witnesses. He was already on thin ice for use of excessive force, he had to be careful- at least, on camera.
+++
Fat Cho was the resident chef and worked in the dumpling bar on the first floor of the Tong Ren street apartment complex. Sometimes he doubled as Lung. That was always fun and pays well.
Two white girls had opted to eat here this morning- first customers even- and well...he wasn't racist. Besides they would've been vetted by Lung and if Lung was fine with them, he was fine with them.
"A small beef dumpling please." Ordered the older one- and by older, Cho meant that she had curves and would give boys wet dreams with a stare.
The younger skinnier girl ordered a vegetarian dumpling. Large size. Skinny brat probably had good metabolism and never need to diet- Cho was almost jealous.
"Coming right up." The balding chef went to the kitchen in the back and opened the heavy freezer as he tried to grab a bag of dumplings.
And he screamed when he saw Annie Kim's stiff body hanging naked from the ceiling by red plastic cords, face blue from suffocation.
His customers ran into the kitchen at his scream and gasped in shock.
"Holy shit!" The older one yelled.
The younger one gave a startled cry and said, "Oh no. Not again!"
_____________
A/N: I hope that my depiction of Armsmaster wasn't too radical. We knew that in canon he was already very capable of murdering people in cold blood, during the Endbringer Truce no less.
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- Location
- United States
Many people have speculated that if we knew exactly why the white girl had said that we would know a lot more about the nature of the story than we do now.
Numen
Long Time Creeper
- Location
- Canada
Grace: What do you mean not again? Like, "oh no, dead naked people hanging in the freezer" not again?
Taylor: Uh, I meant, oh no, another missing person! Found person. Dead found formerly missing person.
Grace: You are definitely not suspicious.
Taylor: I am definitely not.
Grace: But now I don't want to be alone with you anymore.
- Location
- Europe
Prediction: Taylor has a power somewhere between Taylor from It Get's Worse and August Prince from cannon.
The reason she moved here was to be away from anyone who had pre-existing hatred for her, or from people who she cared about.
That girl, Annie Kim, was about to spit in Taylors food, but instead either found herself fatally depressed, or was compelled to do it.
Chloe Sullivan
Subdefective
- Location
- 1630 Revello Drive, Sunnydale CA
A Hoe is a gardening implement. Ho as slang for "whore" is spelled "Ho"
I should know, one of my friends has that for a last name and giggles endlessly about her plans to name her child Ima.
I should know, one of my friends has that for a last name and giggles endlessly about her plans to name her child Ima.
Amazing parody so far! It's kind of sad that it feels like you're treading new ground here given the hulking mass of Worm fanfiction, but suffice to say this is a nice change from the norm.
And yeah, if you've never seen 'Big Trouble In Little China' and expected this to be 100% serious you need to watch that movie. Now.
And yeah, if you've never seen 'Big Trouble In Little China' and expected this to be 100% serious you need to watch that movie. Now.
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- Location
- Australia
I need to see this movie one day. Taylor is clearly a witch, or cursed! Probably not, but the thought amuses me.
Alucard and Lee both have the same choices in TV, I wonder if Lee dabbles with Adventure Time as well. Although Lee uses Apple TV and not Netflix, so he's kind of a sellout.
Alucard and Lee both have the same choices in TV, I wonder if Lee dabbles with Adventure Time as well. Although Lee uses Apple TV and not Netflix, so he's kind of a sellout.
- Location
- Over the hill and far away
Was Big Trouble the Jackie Chan movie or the one with the trucker?
The one with the trucker.