Master Shifu (Part I)

Kyle's thoughts shifted back to the present, and giving his sister one last look, he turned back work. He clicked several times and typed a few commands as he navigated to find out more on Rex Industries.

Rex Industries is the company that is owned by the family of his previous life. He had never really paid any attention to it then, for he had only been a company secretary to one of the managers. At that time, only the job was important but not the actual running of the company.

Now, however, he had to observe its growth properly. When did Rex Industries suddenly get derailed and be connected to the Underground? There had to be some signs. This was what he was looking for. He needed to know how it worked in order for the plan to run smoothly. They had planned for so many things, and he didn't want it to fail just because they didn't understand the target properly.

Phase One of "Operation Master Shifu" is nearly complete.

Kyle picked up the "Operation Master Shifu" File from the box of file titled, "Skills". There were 6 box files in total: Skills, Agents, Funding, Underground, Allies and Connections. In each box file were plastic files, with the label "Operation [So-and-So]". In short, there were 6 main areas that Kyle was focusing on, and each area had its plans on how to achieve it.

Phase One of Operation Master Shifu involved getting Master Shifu. Phase Two involved learning from Master Shifu. Phase Three ... was still in the works, as it depended on whether Kyle successfully managed to get the inheritance. He couldn't plan on what he didn't know he would learn now, could he?

Kyle then took the small paper file within that plastic file. That was the file that contained data on Master Shifu. Although Kyle already knew the data that was contained in it, and although he now had a photographic memory ... he still like to actually see the data whenever he could, rather than it being played out in his mind. He also enjoyed flipping through physical pages rather than scrolling through the computer screen.

There was just something magical about touching a book, or flipping through pages. The smell of paper, the touch of paper ... Kyle shook his head. He was getting distracted now.

Reading the details again, he looked at the picture of Master Shifu. It showed a wizened old man, his head full of white hair that was unkempt and was slightly below the shoulder. He was sitting at a road side stall, drinking beer straight from the bottle. His back was stooped down as if it could not bear the weight of the world any longer, and one leg was up on the stool as if it didn't care about anything. He gave a rather pitiful figure.

There was another picture, this time it zoomed closer, and focused on his face. . His dark eyes was rather empty, with sadness mirrored within it. Although his face was full of wrinkles, it couldn't hide the fact that the face had been rather handsome when he had been in his prime. Even now, if he actually cleaned up, he would look dignified rather than ... "old".

Master Shifu was a highly skilled martial artist, and had worked for the Government in Country J. Although the official title was a simple 'military advisor', he was actually one of the main forces behind the elite secret guards. Just like the ninjas had been the hidden dagger in the olden days, so was Master Shifu.

He was also a tactical genius, though he never took credit for them. He often attributed it to his team, and that it was a team effort, but everyone who had eyes would know the truth.

Kay somehow managed to get classified information about Master Shifu's exploits, which also included the operation that cause his only son's death. In the report, and unknown to Master Shifu, it was actually an assassination. Worse, from the 'higher ups'.

Although Master Shifu's loyalty was unquestionable, they did not trust him fully. He was just too powerful, and too popular. They didn't kill Master Shifu as that would have raised too many questions, and his son would have done all that he could to find out the truth. Thus, the hit was ordered to kill Master Shifu's heart and have him retreat voluntarily.

It worked.

It was said that Master Shifu was so devastated by it and that he blamed himself entirely for his son's death. His wife apparently also blamed him and left him, leaving him alone to wallow in regret and self-blame. His son had been his whole world, and he never recovered from that event.

Kyle clenched his teeth and almost banged the table but managed to stop in time when he remembered Kay was sleeping. No matter how many times he read the report, he couldn't help the intense emotion that welled up within him.

He hated those responsible immensely. Master Shifu had dedicated his entire life for them, and what did he get in return? Pain. Abandonment. It mirrored his previous life so much that he felt like Master Shifu was a soul mate. Not of the romantic kind, of course.

Kyle flipped through the files containing the information of all those responsible for the 'hit'. This was what he was going to use to get through to Master Shifu. In fact, he had already sent several messages in the past few months to Master Shifu, hinting at the fact that his son's death wasn't an accident. Once it appeared that he was starting to believe it and his interest was at its peak, Kyle's representative in Country J actually met up with Master Shifu.

It didn't take long to convince Master Shifu about the truth of the incident. Kyle smiled as he recalled the video conferencing that had occurred between him, Kay and Master Shifu just three weeks ago.

At that time, it was Agent Oreo that had been deployed to Country J to negotiate with Master Shifu. Agent Oreo was an ex-military personnel that was part of Kyle's Infiltration Team. He had been their first hire, two years ago. Kyle managed to get him on board simply by saving his family, and he is now one of their most loyal man. Still, that is a story for another day.

The funny thing was, Agent Oreo accepted his handle without question, despite it being a cookie. The buff, scarred face man did not mind being called "Oreo". Kay was responsible for that. Kay's choice of code names for their Infiltration Team was rather unique, but fitting. She had said, that the Infiltration Team is like a cookie, "Now you see it, now you don't". So everyone in the Infiltration Team had cookie names.

When Agent Oreo visited Master Shifu, it was at the latter's house. Agent Oreo was dressed casually, in T-shirt and jeans, so as to avoid raising any queries. Master Shifu watched the middle-aged, dark skinned muscular man typing on the keyboard of the laptop, his face devoid of any expression.

"Sir, I have arrived," Oreo said to the computer screen. A deep voice responded, "Good. Clear?"

"Clear, Sir," replied Oreo before turning the laptop around and showed it to Master Shifu.

Master Shifu looked at the dark screen, and could barely make out the outline of two figures. The face could not be discerned at all, but he could make out from the body shape that the individual was a young man in a suit. Behind him was a young lady, who had a hand on the young man's shoulder.

"Master Shifu, it is an honour," began the young man, "I am sorry I cannot show you our faces, but the less you know, the better."

Master Shifu nodded in understanding. The young man in front of him continued, "You can just call me J, while my associate is K and our organisation is known as MIB."

"J", was of course, Kyle and "K" was Kay. What Master Shifu was looking at wasn't really them, of course, but a digitally mastered figures of themselves. The voice synthesizer also gave them adult sounding voices, so no one knew that the real people were only toddlers. With it being so dark, Master Shifu wouldn't have known that he wasn't looking at real people.

Kyle then proceeded to give further details about the whole incident, showing proof of the people's involvement. As Master Shifu's listened, his face changed visibly, anger evident upon it.

"I know you want revenge, and I can help you get it," said Kyle, "Are you interested?"

"Why? Why would you want to do that for me?" Master Shifu asked.

"For what you can do for me in return," Kyle responded simply.

Master Shifu looked at him with wide eyes, not believing what could he, a drunken old man, could possibly offer the young man? Even from this short exchange, Master Shifu could tell that the person in front of him was not ordinary. His intuition told him so. It was the same for the lady behind him, even though she never said anything.

The two weren't simple. What could they possibly want from him?