Burning Monday: (Dane Monday 2)

by Liggio, Dennis

  "Husband is still missing, I'm going to find him!"

  "Do you know where he is?" asked Abby.

  Meilin shook her head. "No, but I am done waiting around."

  "Dane is out looking for him! I think..."

  "Did your rescue succeed?" asked Meilin.

  "Yes, but then he ran out again without telling us..." said Abby. "I'm used to him running off to chase a windmill. I'm not used to him leaving me behind."

  "Then we should go out and look for both our partners," said Meilin.

  Abby looked at her funny for a second, realizing that Meilin might not have realized the nuance of the two different definitions of partners. "Perhaps," said Abby. "I'll help you look, but can I stop in my apartment first. I want at least a change of clothes. I still smell like wet dog from our scuffle with the bikers."

  Meilin conceded this short interruption and returned upstairs with Abby. Meilin was suggesting she could put on a kettle of tea for Abby to soothe her stress when they opened the door and found someone sitting on Abby's couch.

  Abby shouted in alarm but a second later recognized the person. He was the strange man she had encountered in the alley, who she believed had saved her life. His hat was in his lap, his walking staff and rucksack leaning against the couch. His sandals were off and he was airing out his bare feet.

  "Oh, hello," he said. "I was wondering where you were."

  "He was not here when I left a few minutes ago!" said Meilin. Then she looked closer at the man. "It's you! Trouble!"

  "I don't believe we've met," said the man.

  "Yes, I think you've made sure we've never met on purpose!" said Meilin. Turning to Abby, she said, "Before we left China, everything was fine. We were happy - happy enough! Then this man showed up, had a single conversation with Husband, and then suddenly we fled our homeland never to return." She turned back to the man and pointed an accusing finger. "You may not have seen me, but I saw you."

  "I did not want to cause undue stress," said the man.

  "You made us leave our home behind!"

  The man shrugged. "Better your home than your lives. But honestly, that was not the advice I gave. It was simply the choice your husband made."

  "Do not assume that because Husband is not here that it is appropriate to mock him!"

  "No insult intended," said the man, bowing his head and casting his hands wide.

  "This still does not answer why you're in my living room," said Abby. "I was grateful for your help, but had no idea you would follow me home. I'm not comfortable having you here."

  "Of course, no disrespect intended," said the man, putting on his sandals and gathering his items. "I need only say a few words before I am due elsewhere."

  "Like the White Rabbit?" said Abby. "Late for a very important date?"

  "I just go where the way takes me," said the man.

  "And just as wishy-washy as I expect of a Daoist," said Meilin.

  The man simply smiled embarrassedly and shrugged as he stood up.

  "If you have something to say, say it," said Abby.

  "If you wish to see your husband, you should head over to the Jinmu project," said the man. He started to walk past them to the door.

  "That's it?" said Abby. "Mysterious tip on where to go and then you're out? Why should we not think it's a trap? Why should you bother to help?"

  The man paused and looked both of them over, his gaze falling on Meilin last. He looked her up and down, lingering on her form, seeing something Abby didn't. He nodded. "I care deeply for your husband, but I vowed to respect their choices. At the same time, I know you have your own choices. I know you're his true strength and I know he needs you, as you will need him."

  "Then why don't you help him?" said Abby.

  "I must keep myself uninvolved," said the man. "He must make his own choices and deal with his own consequences."

  "But if you care for him, you would help!" said Abby. "That's what loved ones do!"

  "The way must be respected -" began the man.

  "Ah, just like every other useless Daoist!" interjected Meilin. "No compassion! Useless to all except for their selfish pursuit of their version of the way! Learn esoteric knowledge, gain power, live centuries, do nothing! You might as well have died centuries ago for how you participate in this world!"

  The man's smile faltered. "We aspire to be detached. The way is indifferent."

  "But people are not," said Meilin. "No matter how much you aspire to not be a person, you still are one whether you like it or not!"

  The man's smile completely disappeared, becoming the frown of someone deep in thought.

  "There's something more to this," said Abby. "What's happening at Jinmu?"

  The man walked to the door, still in thought and troubled over Meilin's words. He paused and turned back to them. "He's going to meet Mingxia. He needs all the help he can get." Then without pausing for a response, the man walked out the door and out of their view.

  "Who is Mingxia?" said Abby.

  "She's the woman that Husband thinks I don't know about," said Meilin as she grabbed Abby's hand to rush out the door.

  Trial by Fire

  The back of the van opened up at the construction site. They had driven up to a large fenced off area that was the reconstruction of North Egan. Encompassing many blocks, the fence was covered with the Jinmu Construction logo and posters from the "A Better Avalon For Tomorrow!" campaign. Since it was night, the protesters who stood in front of the gates every day were gone. Not everyone wanted North Egan rebuilt as high priced condos and offices, particularly the residents who lived there in lower income homes before a giant demon destroyed most of the neighborhood. The former residents had been protesting along with concerned college students from Avalon University, but each day the amount of protesters diminished. As construction progressed, it became clear to residents of the city that this was something that was going to happen whether they liked it or not.

  At night the area was patrolled by security guards who were heavily armed, far more than anywhere else in town. The Jinmu Construction Group was run by the Red Heaven Triad, which was in turn run by the Thousand Hands. It was the triad which was taking no chances with their security. The Red Heaven knew that almost all unhappy residents and protesters were harmless, but it was an unrest that in some cases might end up with a few extreme members sneaking into the site to try to sabotage the construction. The triad wanted no chance of that happening and so they armed the guards well. They would rather have a scandal of a dead trespasser than have bombs planted in their construction site. Life wasn't as important as money.

  On this night, the regular security guards were sent home, swapped out for a different roster. With major members of the Thousand Hands in from China and one of the Thousand Hand hit squads on an op in the city, the security was tight and populated with Red Heaven members. They openly displayed submachine guns as they patrolled the area. It was two of these heavily armed triad members who opened the gates for the van.

  Dane, Scar, and Wong were escorted into the largest building in the site. It was mostly still a frame of steel girders, wooden platforms, and a few areas of poured cement. It was very well lit, so they saw the Triad members and the masked Thousand Arms members more clearly. Dane still thought the masked men looked like ninjas, but the enhanced light did allow him to notice that the masked enforcers' clothes were actually a very dark red rather than the black he had previously thought. Was red still a ninja color? Dane admitted he didn't know - so far his line of work had been more robot-centric than ninja-centric. Maybe that would now change.

  "Do these guys work for the mob or something?" said Scar, looking at the construction and the men with guns.

  "Technically what you would call the Chinese mob," said Wong.

  Scar whistled in appreciation. "Learn somethin' new every day. Didn't even know they had their own mob. Guess I need to make one of my boys learn Chinese so we can deal with them."

  They were taken to a set
of two construction elevators. The three men were squeezed into the elevator with their squad of Thousand Hands captors. Then with a loud whirr, the elevator started climbing upward. It was cramped in the elevator, despite it lacking real walls, some of the Thousand Hands pressed against the railings and frame. It was particularly uncomfortable for most because Scar had no shirt nor shoes and nobody wanted to stand too close to the big half naked guy.

  "You're all going through a lot of trouble if you're just gonna whack us," said Scar. "Tossing us off your own building seems pointless. And you should know I don't whack easily."

  "It's fine, it's fine!" said Dane. "This is the part where they take us right to the head villain! They talk for a while, we learn their evil plan, we point out the weaknesses in said plan, then everything goes wrong! It'll be fine, Scar! Even if you are sort of a bad guy, you're not the Bad Guy, so you'll be okay! Just don't begin arrogantly talking about how you've waited for this moment or how everything is falling into place and everything will be okay!" Dane looked around at the masked Thousand Hand members. "You guys I'm not so sure about. Anybody got a back story? Tragedy? Hidden destiny? No? Well, I bet you guys will still be okay. But maybe don't volunteer for anything!"

  Mouse Mask and Ox Mask had worked together long enough that even though they were wearing masks, when their gaze now turned toward each other, both knew what the other meant: Who the hell is this guy?

  The elevator reached the top of the building and the doors opened.

  As they disembarked near the edge of the roof, Dane could see why this building was selected as a meeting place. It was the highest building out of the new construction and the roof looked out over the whole area and much of the city. Below him he could see the restricted area with the remains of the Terminus Hotel. He thought it odd that with all this construction that nobody had cleared the rubble. Instead, an additional fence was around that area, making it oddly protected within the already secure area of the construction site.

  Dane's look over the side was interrupted by a bump from a masked man, prodding him to start walking. Turning to the rest of the roof, he saw that rather than being just a frame, the top of the building was finished enough that it had one complete surface over it. It had been specially prepared as per Mingxia's orders. Candles and braziers with flickering fire marked the area, surrounding the floor and lining a pathway covered with a long red rug. Members of the Thousand Hands lined the side of the rug, crouched in a bow with one hand touching the floor in respect. They all wore red - either assassin clothes or robes - and all wore animal masks. At the end of the rug was an ornate gold and red lacquer throne. The space had been carefully arranged to be perfect for tonight. It was a throne room and also a court of judgment.

  Dane's masked escorts stopped them in place. Dane saw Mingxia on the throne, the same woman he had seen at Wong's shop. She was beautiful and deadly in her red robes, her dark hair pulled up and held by golden jewelry before it cascaded down her back. An imperious queen, she was awe inspiring to all her followers. To Dane and Scar, she was impressive. To Wong, she was everything he had feared. The inevitable past he had fled for so long.

  "Come forward," called Mingxia.

  Scar rolled his eyes at the ridiculousness formalities, as they could have just walked up to her instead of stopping and now starting again, but nudges in the back of the three of them from the masked assassins had them walking down the red rug.

  "Halt!" called Mingxia when they were only half way, keeping them within comfortable speaking range of her but not immediately in front of her.

  "Stop, go, stop, go," said Scar. "Honey, make up your mind!"

  "Who is this?" said Mingxia.

  "He was with the Betrayer," said Mouse Mask.

  "He is a great Wolf spirit!" said Wolf Mask fervently. "We thought them gone, but here is one in the flesh!"

  Mingxia looked over Scar more closely. Her lip curled. "You are mistaken. This is no spirit. This is a demon - a half man, half beast abomination!"

  "Why don't you come over here and say that, honey?" said Scar. "Or are you only tough when you're hiding behind your minions?"

  Mingxia laughed imperiously. "Perhaps later I will indulge you, little demon, but for now I have bigger concerns."

  "Normally I find fear a tasty delicacy," said Scar, "but right now it's just annoying. I don't got time for your fear. Come on, let's go. Let's settle this now, I got things to do." He stepped forward.

  Immediately all the Thousand Hand members near him were on guard. Scar looked at all those around him with a smile that made it clear he was unimpressed. He took another step toward Mingxia. The masked warriors looked to Mingxia in askance. She nodded. They sprung into action, leaping upon the space where a man had been, finding as they pounced that now there was an enormous white humanoid wolf.

  Claws and fangs out, Scar ripped into his enemies. The air was filled with fire, smoke, blood, and torn red fabric. While Scar was indeed a terrible opponent and in a better situation probably capable of taking down most of the soldiers on this rooftop, his overconfidence was his undoing. His opponents were martially trained and possessed the esoteric arts of fire. But more than that, there were just so many of them coming at him at once. In just a moment, Scar was drowning in an undulating sea of red bodies, white masks, and burning fire. He fought ferociously, but eventually he was drowned under that tide of masked warriors.

  Most backed off to reveal Scar being held down by a large number of masked Thousand Hand members, like Gulliver on a very strange travel. The wolf fought for a moment, but when there was clearly no way it could move, it reverted back to Scar.

  "Alright, I'll concede this one," said Scar. "You kids have given me a good workout."

  Dane looked at the masked figures that walked away. Some were wounded and bleeding, but thankfully none were dead. Dane didn't like death, especially not such frivolous death as this would have been.

  "A workout?" said Mingxia with disbelieving amusement.

  Scar laughed. "Helps me take the measure of things. So I can't take out everyone on this whole rooftop. Good to know. Now I don't sit here wonderin' that while listening to you say stupid crap."

  "I could just have you killed," said Mingxia.

  "You could try," replied Scar, still held down by the Thousand Hands.

  Mingxia shook her head. "I don't even care about you."

  "The feeling is likewise, sister," said Scar.

  Mingxia rolled her eyes. "Let him up."

  Ox Mask, one of those holding Scar down, looked at her. "What?"

  "Let him up," repeated Mingxia. "I've met his type before. He's done his token resistance. Now he's going to stand aside and let me do what I need to. Or else I'm going to throw him off the side of this building myself. Right?" There was a pause. "Right?"

  Scar chuckled. "You remind me of my ex wife. Ex wife... and for a reason. But you're right. I'm done for now."

  With reluctance, the Thousand Hand members let Scar up and stepped back. Scar stood up and stretched, then rubbed his arms where they held him. He was also now very naked, something which didn't bother him, but which now made even the Thousand Hand members uncomfortable with. Scar walked over to Dane and Wong, who both took a step back. Scar just smiled.

  "I had to try," he said with a shrug.

  "Fei Zhang, Betrayer, step forward!" called Mingxia.

  Instead of Wong stepping forward, Dane rushed ahead. He stepped near the throne, getting as close as he could before the masked assassins bristled and began to move to intercept him. Dane stepped back to show he was harmless. Then he stuck out his hand.

  "Hello, I'm Dane Monday! I know we met briefly in Chinatown, but I had other things on my mind and you did not introduce yourself either! Who might you be?"

  "Fei Zhang, did you bring your lawyer to argue your fate?" said Mingxia with vague amusement. There were some chuckles from the Thousand Hands.

  "I'm not a lawyer," said Dane, reluctantly retracting his hand, unshak
en. "But I am someone who solves problems! And as I see it, this is all some big misunderstanding! We're all reasonable people. Let's just talk out our grievances. I think we can get this all done without any fire, executions, or destruction!"

  Mingxia laughed, but there was no mirth, just a harsh sound. "You come to my court and tell me how to carry out my own justice? I cannot tell if you are crazy or simply an idiot."

  "You would be surprised how often I actually get that question," said Dane. "But I'm making the first concession toward diplomacy! I'm willing to let bygones be bygones. You nearly killed someone dear to me in Chinatown. I'm still not sure exactly how she survived, but I am willing to not hold that against you. I'm sure that Wong and much of the local community feel the same. Maybe if we all bring up our grievances we could... I don't know. Maybe they all cancel out! Some math that says this equals this and that! Maybe just talking things out will make things better!"

  "The longer you talk, the more my patience thins," said Mingxia. She waved her hand dismissively. "Put him back with the rest!"

  Masked warriors grabbed Dane's arms. "Wait!" he shouted.

  Mingxia raised her eyebrow to him, but the Thousand Hands did not let go of him.

  "Did you send the serpent?" said Dane.

  "Serpent?" said Mingxia with confusion.

  "What about the Sphere?" said Dane, as he wrestled against the assassins. "Was it you? Do you know the guy in the suit?"

  Mingxia shook her head and dismissively waved her hands. The Thousand Hands walked Dane back to his friends, tossing him forward so that he stumbled into Scar, who stood tall and unimpressed. Dane stood himself back up.

  "Well, that didn't work out as well as usual," said Dane.

  "Does this actually work on your other villains?" said Wong.

  Dane shrugged. "It's 50-50. Some of them like to talk and many like to gloat. A good gloat is just a few well said sentences away from a reasonable conversation in my book. But this is a tough room. She is not having that at all!"

  Wong nodded. "I didn't think there was much you could do."