Chance

Mei-Ling Chan’s Apartment

Two hours have passed since X began his in-depth conversation with Mei-Ling. Kamikaze and Mei-Ling are both sitting on the floor of her apartment holding one another. X looks over at his sword and wonders if he will ever be able to stop killing. He looks down at Mei-Ling who he’s cradling in his arms and slowly closes his eyes. While it seems that Mei-Ling has certainly passed out from crying X is more comfortable than he’s ever been. He seems to appreciate this young woman who has never stopped thinking about him since the first day that she laid her eyes on him.

A dark-skinned woman is standing in front of them both, X not paying attention didn’t even sense the woman in the room. As X slowly opens his eyes he gets startled at the sight of the woman. He reaches for his sword but it’s on the other side of the room. X begins to feel as though he’s finally at his end from opening his heart to someone. The woman standing in the room is wearing some type of robe she’s covered head to toe in some type of garb. She begins to lift her head and walk more into the light illuminating from outside the window.

Her eyes glow a pure white as they now can be seen, she’s dressed like a nun but it’s obvious that she isn’t one, the colors that she’s wearing alone shows that she is something other than someone from a religion. She points at X and begins to speak, “You have finally found your reason to die, your time is quickly approaching…” X looks at the woman as if he’s greatly confused and starts to say something as soon as he does Mei-Lings phone rings and X awakens to a sunny morning. Looking around confused he feels as if the dream that he just had felt too real to be just a dream.

Mei-Ling slowly opens her eyes and notices that she’s in the arms of a man. She slowly lifts her head up and looks X in his eyes, X looks back into hers as the phone rings continuously. As their eyes meet they stare into each other like children waking to see a fresh blanket of snow covering the ground. The answering machine finally picks up the call, it’s an advertisement for a deal on cable television. “I think I should get going Ms. Chan, I understand that you are on a never-ending quest to capture me but today just isn’t the day for me…” Mei-Ling looks away from his eyes and slowly stands up, she then sits on her bed and looks outside of the window, “Just because you decide to give a little clarity on the subject of my brother’s death, does not mean that you won’t be pursued by me.”

X looks at her face while she stares out of the window and nods his head to her words he grabs his hat and his sword and leaps out of the window. Mei-Ling starts to cry into her hands as she thinks about being held by a man she so hated her entire life. Mei-Ling then looks into her hands as her tears fall into them. X appears on a rooftop seven buildings away from Mei-Ling’s apartment, he can’t help but stare towards it, Thinking of what has just transpired there. At that moment X runs and jumps off the roof in the direction of the blazing sun with a look in his eyes that aren’t human.

Viceroy’s Apartment

“Okay Su and Sing, your contract has been settled and the people who are trying to kill you are dead,” Viceroy says. “So ladies, are you happy with this news?” Su and Sing look at Viceroy then at each other and smile. Su gets up and walks over to Viceroy, “Viceroy, may I ask you something?” Viceroy nods his head in acknowledgment. “You are something very noble, you trusted my sister and me. My question is, why? Didn’t you think that one of us would try to kill you at some point?”

Viceroy stands up looking at Butterfly weirdly and accidentally steps back into Meow. Butterfly starts to walk closer to Viceroy, “I mean, I know it crossed your mind at some point. Though, why is it that after all this time you’ve done nothing about it?” Viceroy looks at both ladies than at Meows stomach.

“I never did anything because family is more important than anything else. Sing is pregnant, your parents and brothers are all dead. The only person either of you truly have is each other.” Viceroy pushes pass them both walking over to his weapon, “Plus, if I really had to, I would kill the both of you.” Viceroy picks up his ax, “Must we call my words into action, ladies?”

Butterfly and Meow look at each other and laugh, Viceroy holds a face of confusion. Meow walks over to Viceroy and kisses him on the cheek, “We all know that already, it was just a joke Viceroy. It’s been a month since the day we made that deal. We’re sticking by it, our baby brother would’ve wanted that.” Butterfly walks over to Viceroy, “Primarily old man we wanted to thank you.” Suddenly the power in the apartment goes out. Everyone looks around seeing that everything went off. Viceroy checks his security warning device and it’s normal, not flashing at all.

Viceroy, holding his weapon looks out of the window. There’s nothing out there just the street. The power cuts back on in the apartment suddenly. Everything looks normal, except there’s an strange man standing in the middle of the room. The man has long white hair going down to his knees, with a white beard down to his waist. Wearing a solid red martial arts gi, with two swords firmly placed on his hip. Looking from Viceroy to the Ting sisters his face clearly visible of wrinkles and solid white eyes. Viceroy and the Ting sisters get ready to fight the mysterious old man. The old man then says something, “I’m looking for my grandson, I know he was here. Where is Kamikaze X?”

Viceroy, Butterfly & Meow all stare at the mysterious old man who just suddenly appeared in front of them. This man just proclaimed that Kamikaze X is his grandson. Viceroy firmly grabs his ax and looks the mysterious man in the eyes, “I don’t know whom you’re talking about sir, I advise that you leave here.” The mysterious old man walks closer to Viceroy, Butterfly and Meow then stand side by side to Viceroy. The old man reaches his hand out beside him and a separate long sword (around 52 inches) appears in his hand. He then taps the swords blade and a very low humming noise is heard. Viceroy, Butterfly and Meow’s weapons all come to his sword.

The three stand stunned as they look at the old man, as he begins to walk forward all of their weapons mysteriously fall to the ground. Butterfly jumps forward to engage in hand-to-hand combat with the old man, without touching him a mysterious force easily throws her to the side of the room. She crashes into the wall and hits the ground with a loud thud. The old man says again, “Where’s my grandson?” Viceroy pushes Meow behind him, he then looks the old man in his eyes and says, “I don’t know who you’re talking about.” The old man raises his left hand and Viceroy is drawn over to the mysterious old man. Viceroy has a look on his face as if he can’t breathe, while Butterfly still lies unconscious from the force that threw her. Meow slowly walks in front of the old man looking him in the face, his pupils aren’t visible at all but she stares into his soulless eyes anyway.

She begins to say slowly “I know where your grandson…” the old man released his grip on Viceroy and looked at Meow he then placed his left hand on her shoulder. “Where is my grandson child, I must find him immediately. If you know where he is you must tell me now.” Meow swallowed very hard and slowly turned around, Viceroy is watching this while slowly reaching out for his ax. “He is with an Interpol agent right now at her apartment she lives near Zaynon City. He’s there, we can get you the address and you can go see for yourself.” The mysterious old man looked her in the eyes then looked towards Viceroy, “You are his friends correct?”

Viceroy stopped reaching for his weapon and nodded his head in agreement. The old man then appeared next to Butterfly, he looked down on her as she is still unconscious and snapped his fingers… she awoke instantly. Butterfly looked up at the old man and said, “Who are you?” the old man dismissed his sword making it disappear like a puff of smoke. He looked to them all and said, “I am Crimson Lotus and when you have word from my grandson tell him that the time has come.” With those final words the old man known as Crimson Lotus vanished with the flickering of the lights in the apartment.

Viceroy picks up the weapons scattered on the floor and carries them over to the dining room and sits at the table. Butterfly and Meow both walk over without speaking a word and take a seat at the dining room table. Sitting there Butterfly, Meow & Viceroy all contemplate what just occurred. Meow gets back up and walks into the kitchen, Butterfly looks over at Viceroy. “Did you ever know that he had a grandfather?” Viceroy looks at Butterfly, “All of his family is supposed to be dead…” Meow comes back to the table with a tray carrying a teapot, sugar and 3 cups. She begins to serve the tea then asks, “His grandfather was so powerful… I’ve never seen Kamikaze X display such power, have you?” Hesitantly Viceroy looks at Meow, “No, Never… His skills have never peaked at such a level. That man, Crimson Lotus, I’ve heard of him before.” Meow and Butterfly both look at Viceroy at the same time. Viceroy looks at them sternly, “He’s supposed to be dead…”

“DEAD!” Meow shouts out. “Now I’ve heard of the supernatural and I know for a fact that there is a lot of unexplained phenomena in the world but he takes the cake.” Viceroy looks over at Butterfly, she’s staring at her butterfly sword.

“He stripped our weapons from our hands instantly, we were helpless.”

“Crimson Lotus could’ve killed us just now Viceroy we can’t handle that…” Meow says with a panicked look across her face. Viceroy grasped a hand from each of them, “He didn’t kill us, he only wants X…”

Viceroy’s phone begins to ring, it’s a restricted number so more than likely it’s a job. “Yes?” he answers simply. Static is heard momentarily then a muffled voice comes across the airways, “Your boy isn’t as good as he was talked up to be…” Viceroy stares at the phone and says, “Who’s this?”

“That’s why he’s going to get a nice little challenge.”  Viceroy looks at the phone again but this time bewildered. Looking cross, “Who are you talking about I think you have the wrong number…”

“No Viceroy, I don’t… Your Kamikaze X is atop a building right now. Turn on your local news it’s on there.” Viceroy signals for one of the girls to cut on the T.V.. It shows from an aerial view X surrounded by everyone with several choppers overhead.

Viceroy stands panicked looking on at the TV like he’s seen a ghost. Butterfly & Meow look on in a shock as well. The voice on the phone laughs, “I think you’ll all love the next surprise.” From the phone a loud “BOOM” is heard, Viceroy drops the phone from his ear & it hits the ground, on the TV a helicopter instantly blows up. Butterfly & Meow stand shocked staring at the helicopter in flames falling to the ground.

While watching all of this on TV Viceroy picks the phone back up & yells into it, “WHO THE HELL IS THIS??” There’s silence on the phone. On the TV there’s mass panic & an all out war on the screen. The silence on the phone ends when the muffled voice comes back on. “You ought to be happy. Your gonna get all the exposure that you ever wanted. Tell your boy I’ll be seeing him.” With that the line goes dead, Viceroy throws the phone into the wall. Butterfly looks at Viceroy with concern, “What are we going to do?” Viceroy staring at the TV without blinking pulls a cigarette from his pocket. “I honestly don’t know…”