1 Fine China part one, by Matthew Werner

It was the average Wednesday, no omega­-level or world busting threats. Everything was normal; your usual bank robbery or assassination here and there. Today was the latter, or so it seemed.

The red­-dot was on a man a good two hundred seventy-­five feet away when I tackled the merc. He was one of the few whom I hadn't immediately recognized, so he must've been very new or very underground.

Druid had helped me track him down, and was a few feet away from me.

"Let's take him to one of my hideouts," I said, "To identify and interrogate him."

Druid nodded and put his staff in a sling on his back and walked over to help me carry this guy.

We got there less than ten minutes later. Druid opened the door as I carried the assassin, who was kicking and biting like a little toddler, in a fireman's carry. He almost snapped his jaw trying to bite at my armor on the way in. I sat him in a chair in the middle of the room as Druid bound the hitman to it with an enchantment and a talisman to bind it properly.

"So tell us," I said as I knelt at his feet, "What's your name? Who do you work for? What businesses are you in?"

"Never," the thug said as he spat in my face.

Druid, standing near the door said, "Uh, I'm just, uh, going to stay watch outside, okay? When you need me, holler," he said just before he quickly power-walked out of the door.

The enforcer was short, young, Asian, and had scrappy, uncleansed hair. He

was wearing a white, sleeveless shirt.

I walked behind him, and cracked my fingers, before resting them on the backs of his shoulders.

"What's your name?" I inquired.

Shivering, the boy answered, "An Chi."

"There anything I could do for you, An?" I asked.

"What?" the boy said, shaking and surprised.

"Your life as you knew it, well, actually just your life, is over." I said, squeezing his shoulders slightly, breaking them, causing him to screech, "There's no changing that. But if you have anyone you want me to set up their life for, then I'll do it. In exchange for my assistance, you'll give me any information I need to know."

The boy winced and asked, "I... I thought that you'd torture me."

"Torture doesn't work in real life," I said, "It just leads to misinformation because people are going to say anything to end torture, regardless of how true it is. But I need to have the façade that I do because that's massively intimidating and can scare some people out of resorting to criminal activities. People are afraid of torture, surprisingly."

I liberated him of my grasp and strolled in front of him, "Got a girlfriend?"

He shook his head.

"... Boyfriend?"

He shook his head again, but his face turned into a state of being perplexed.

"Ah, you're pretty young," I crossed my arms, "Parents?"

It was then that the boy began to cry, and did so for a good while.

"... I guess not." I said.

"Anybody at all?"

"Uh, my aunt used to live with me, but she left for Shenzhen a few years ago. You could help her out."

"I'll find her." I said assuringly, "Now: Who do you work for? Where? In what business or businesses?" I demanded again.

He started sobbing a little again, but finally calmed down and said "Chao Bo is my boss. We work in drugs, extortion, and assassinations. I

came here to eliminate one of our competitors. We operate out of Shanghai." he said and went back to his whimpering.

"Hey, Druid, you can come in now!" I called.

Druid walked in as I pulled out a Colt 1911 from its holster on my hip. He created a small force field in front of himself, protecting himself from the bullet, as I shot An Chi in the head.

"Read his mental synapses to see if he was being legitimate." I said.

No protest or debate; Druid just did it.

I walked into the washroom, which immediately started pouring gallons of water on my armor, cleaning the blood off. The dryer function hadn't even begun when Druid yelled to me.

"Hey, he wasn't being facetious!"

"Then we're off to Shanghai," I said as the dryer finally kicked in.

We got to the Emissaries of Justice (or EoJ) launch depot about ten minutes later. I jumped into my private mini jet, as Druid stood outside.

Druid's residual magical essence made him unable to travel in confined spaces with technology for more than a few minutes, and since this was such a low­-risk mission, I didn't necessarily need his firepower. So the team-up ended and I began to fly to Shanghai.

Two hours later, I reached another EoJ launch hangar and landed my jet. I left my telescopic sword and the rest of my extra gear. I only really needed my shock bow, kunai, and katanas. Again, I really didn't need the extra firepower or weight. I got out of the jet and walked past some guys from Evacrew. They asked if I needed any help, but I told them no thanks. I'd already left behind one of the strongest men on the planet and my best weapon behind, and if I did need the help, I'd call them in.

I left the hangar and was directly in downtown Shanghai. I wanted this job done ASAP, just in case we had to deal with some omega-­level threat in the next week, and then I'd have to leave this job and probably would never get back to it. In the old days, I might be here for a month. Of course, I'd look have someone look into Chi's aunt later, and then support

her in whatever way she needs. But for now, I'd only be here a day. So I hacked into the city's communication network and found where An Chi had lived. I climbed up a building, and ran from rooftop to rooftop, and found his apartment building. A dinky, most likely bug­-riddled hellhole with no redeeming qualities. The kind of place that fosters the scum of our time.

I broke into An's window and found myself in what looked like the "average" American family's house. I found a few family pictures, all with a young An Chi and an elderly couple. The last picture didn't have the elderly woman, whom I assumed was An's mother figure. An and his father figure both looked sad in the last picture. I doubt that Chao Bo was An's father figure because behind the picture frames, I found two urns; likely the two adults in the family pictures. They were both ornate, with fancy encrusted designs, and looked ludicrously expensive.

I walked into the adjacent room and found it riddled in bullet holes, with guns and ammunition strewn haphazardly across the walls and floors. The paint was peeling off the walls here, unlike the room I had just been in. There were urine and blood stains on the floor's rug and dirty footprints on the parts without. The exposed parts of the floor were an ugly, cheap linoleum, and I found a gigantic shit in the corner.

I've studied psychology for a long time, but it was obvious who An was as a young man. He may have been considered by some to be weak in Silver City, but he obviously had a passion for his family.

I picked up the guns and threw some straps over my shoulder.

Might as well take the extra supplies; you wouldn't believe how many guns we go through as Emissaries. Once I was done gathering the gear, I walked back into the main room of the apartment.

A moment later, a man who resembled a younger version of An's father figure walked in with six big guys, all over seven feet tall, and looked like they were on 'roids. The man whom I can only assume was Chao Bo looked exactly like An's "dad", just younger, though he still had greying hair. Possibly an uncle or close family friend.

He nodded his head to his men, who immediately charged at me. I quickly discharged a submachine-gun I'd taken from An's armory, firing two short bursts into one of the thug's necks. I jumped, spun around mid­air, and smacked another across the head with the gun, snapping his neck. I dropped the gun, and pulled three kunai from my strap vest, and threw two into one of their eyes. I ran at him and swept my other kunai across his neck. I threw it behind me, into a thug's chest, and then spin kicked it through. I then pulled out my shock bow and shot the two remaining thugs in their heads, lobotomizing them. Then I put it back on my back and stared at the man who was still at the door. He was silent, and did not move, so neither did I.

After a few moments of staring, I retrieved all of my arrows, kunai, and the SMG. I looked over my shoulder at the man, but he had not yet moved.

I turned around and pulled both of my katanas out of their sheaths, but then he also turned around and zoomed out of the open door. I gave him a five-second head start and then ran after him. I ran at a brisk pace (for me) and still was gaining on him a tad too quickly. I forced myself to slow down. Then, as he ran around a corner into an alley, I climbed up the building to the roof. I let him think he'd lost me in the alleyway, as I was staring at him from above. I followed him for about thirty seconds and reached a little shop.

He was about to enter as I jumped down in front of him, "Go in and let the rest of your thugs off today, or I'll kill you right now," I bellowed as I raised a gun to his head.

He did it.

I came inside after he let them off and commanded, "Show me where you produce 'the goods'."

He nodded and walked me into a nearby room full of little Chinese kids working on "production". About forty of them.

"You're going to tell me the names of every single one of these kids and let them off. I'm going to set them up for life. You. You're going to give up this industry, and you're going to live up to the memory of An," I continued.

Chao froze up.

"Live right, for him. If you don't, I'll be back, and you'll damn well regret it." I finished.

He walked over to a sheet of paper by a wall and picked it up. He then turned around, walked back to me, and handed it over. It was exactly forty­-six names long; obviously the names of the kids.

I looked towards the kids "Zàizuò de gèwèi. Xiànzài líkāi. Dàn liú zài wàimiàn," (All of you. Leave now. But stay outside.) I demanded to the children, who promptly got up and left as told, chattering to one another.

I heard some say "Shuí shì?" (Who was that?).

"Jiào wǒ de Yǐngzi Māo." (Call me Shadowkat.) I answered.

I immediately sent a message to Evacrew to meet up at this address and pick the kids up and bring them back to the hangar.

When all of the kids had left, Chao Bo asked me, "Nǐ huì shuō pǔtōnghuà ma?" (You speak Mandarin?)

"Shì de," (Yes.) I responded, "Nǐ néng tīng dǒng yīngyǔ?" (You can understand English?)

"Shì de.