Here's the one you were waitin' on, Doc. All of Shu's not-english stuff was run through Google's default "English-to-simple Chinese" translator, so I apologise if anything's incorrect there. Translations are available at the bottom of the post.
I got two more oneshots in the immediate planning stages after this, then Im'ma take a break from re-introducing characters to focus on building the one's that'll be present. Shu's bio ought to be up sometime in the next day or so, as I need to make a couple revisions to it following the end of this story.
It's funny though, when I was writing this I came to the realisation that Shu-Fang is terrifying if you stop and consider her character in detail.
Hope you guys enjoy!
008 - Night of the Adorable Dead
[spoiler]Forested Area, some distance from RPM City, late-evening
Marcus' eyes darted around the clearing, though his panic made it impossible for him to really focus on the things he was seeing. His breathing was sharp and ragged, and he was twitching madly from a barely-suppressed sense of terror. How had things gone so wrong?
His afternoon had started innocuosly enough. His boys had raided a few places, threatened a few civilians and then retreated to their hideout in this forest to count their spoils in relative peace. Then, they received a message from their spotter that piqued their interest.
Going to investigate, they'd found a young girl, practically a child, sleeping in a hollow at the foot of a partially fallen tree. Even then, he'd known there was something off about her. He didn't know if it was the eerie blue-green tinge to her skin, the piece of paper attached to her forehead or the strange -chinese?- looking clothes she was wearing, but he'd gotten the impression that something just wasn't right about her....
Flashback....
Brady blinked, not quite able to process what he was seeing. "The hell!? What the hell is a kid doing here? How'd she get past all the traps we set?"
Adrian, the spotter who'd intially discovered their intruder, studied her carefully. "I don't think she did." He pointed to a series of jagged holes in the cloth covering her right shin, barely visible in the dim light that was managing to penetrate the dense foliage above them. "Looks like she got caught in one of the bear-traps we put down....It's strange though, I don't see any blood...."
Strowman, the muscle of the group, grunted. "Who gives a [parasitic bomb] how she got here? I say we wake her up, have a little fun with her, then gut the [sonic slicer] and leave her for the crows."
Marcus considered the proposal. He was getting an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach just looking at her, but then he shrugged. "What the hell, we got a good haul today, we deserve to celebrate a little". Nodding his approval, he motioned for Strowman to wake her up. The big man took a confident step forwards and nudged with her with his foot.
"Hey kid, naptime's over. Time to get up."
She shifted, and opened her eyes, looking around blearily. "....mm? Wu...what...time's..." -She stopped when she noticed the group of men staring at her. "Oh, Nǐ hǎo!. Who're you?"
Strowman chuckled, though there was no warmth in it. "Girlie, that's the last thing you need to worry about right now." He cast a lecherous gaze over her. "Mmm, a little young, but I think we can have some fun together. Make sure you scream for me, yeah?"
The others in the group shifted slightly, backing up to give the larger man a little more space. The girl bowed her head, the tag on her forehead covering her eyes as she put two-and-two together. "Huh? What're you.....oh. Oh. Ew."
Strowman chuckled again. "Looks like you got the idea. But first...-" He bent down and ripped the paper from her forehead, crumpling it in his fist and tossing it off to the side "-...let's get rid of this damn thing. I like to look my women in the eye."
The girl went rigid as soon as the tag left her skin, and her eyes glazed over for a moment before refocusing. The men around her weren't afforded a good enough look to notice, but her countenance was noticably darker than before.
Strowman grabbed the collar of her shirt and hauled her roughly to her feet. She swayed a little, before settling into a rather-stiff looking posture. The big man gave a toothy grin. "Looks like you're not quite awake yet. Don't worry, I'll help ya loosen up...."
The girl tilted her head back to look up at him, and his grin froze as he spotted the manic glint in her eyes. When she spoke again, her tone was...strangely relaxed, though Marcus thought he could make out an undercurrent of something distinctly dangerous in it. "That's a kind offer to make, mister. I think I know what sort of "fun" you have in mind.....I think it's only fair to warn you, though, I'm something of a biter..."
Before anyone could react, she'd leapt up and clamped her teeth around the side of Strowman's massive neck. His initial grunt of surprise turned into a moan of pleasure, and finally, a distressed shriek as she bit deeper and deeper into his skin. Brady and Adrian rushed forward and attempted to wrestle her off of him. They succeeded, but there was a wet ripping sound as her head jerked backwards from the force of the motion. Strowman went down with a scream and started thrashing around on the forest floor, one hand clamped over a gaping wound on the side of his neck.
His comrades released their grip on the girl, and she landed face-first in the dirt with a soft thud. Slowly pushing herself back to a standing position, she watched dispassionately as her would-be attacker gave another wet gurgle and fell silent, his body going limp as the blood pouring from his neck formed a rapidly cooling halo in the dirt around his head. Noting with some amusement the look of pure fear on the faces of his friends, she spat out the lump of muscle and artery she'd been holding in her mouth, and licked her lips, savouring the taste of blood on her tongue. Adopting a childish pout, and completely disregarding his friends for a moment, she addressed the corpse. "Aaww, are we done playing already? Zhè tài zāo gāo le....." She shifted her gaze back to the others in the clearing with her, and barely suppressed a smirk at the switchblade one of them was holding.
Marcus was freaking the hell out. They'd been looking forward to a little fun, and this weird-looking [sonic slicer] had just torn Strowman's throat out. Shooting a nervous glance at his fellows, he noticed Adrian holding his knife, and didn't hesitate to call out "Wh-what the hell are you waiting for, dumbass!? Stab her already!"
Adrian was to be commended for his bravery. With a cry that was half anger, half blind terror, he rushed forward and buried the knife up to its' hilt in the girl's heart. She rocked backwards, and he gave a cocky, if still rather shaky, smirk. "That's what you get for [tornado fang]ing with us, you little [sonic slicer]. Not so confident now, are you?".
His smirk vanished at her response. She giggled. It was only then he noticed that she didn't seem to be bleeding. Slowly, one of her arms inched upwards in a slow, jerky fashion and yanked the blade free with seemingly no effort or discomfort. She stared at it for a moment, then looked up at him, a disturbingly innocent grin on her face. "Oh, are we changing the game? Yay!" She flicked her wrists, and there was a flash of silver and a muted roar before Adrian went down in a shower of gore, his torso sliced clean open by the miniature chainsaw that seemed to just appear from her sleeve. He was dead before he hit the ground, and the other two stared in mute shock for a brief moment before turning on their heels and fleeing into the darkness of the bushes.
The girl cocked her head to one side and studied Adrian's body for a moment before she realised his friends had disappeared. Halting her saws for the time being, she looked for signs of a trail to follow. "We're playing hide-and-seek now? This is so much fun~!" Hopping off in pursuit, she called out in a sing-song voice "Zhǔn bèi hǎo le méi yǒu, wǒ lái le~!"
RPM City, Xhai's base, late-evening
The door to the consultation office swung open as Shani moved through, the demi-frog stopping just short of the desk where Xhai was currently sat, studying some paperwork with a look of intense concentration on his face. When he noticed her, he leant back in his chair, rubbing his eyes tiredly. "Hey Shani. Something up?"
Ignoring his half-hearted attempt to stifle a yawn, she fished around in the breast pocket of her shirt and produced a small stack of photos. "You could say that. I might've found us a job."
That got his attention. "Really? Let's take a look, then."
She handed him the photos, explaining what she knew of the situation. "This'd be another bounty-hunting job. The men in the photographs are known thieves, murderers and....they do other unpleasant things, too." She shuddered, not able to finish the sentence in the way she'd intended. Xhai apparently caught the implication, though, and gave a predatory smirk at the thought of bringing these scumbags in.
"The lowest of the low, then. You have an idea of where we should start looking?"
She nodded. "Yep. Apparently they were seen heading towards a forest somewhere north of here after their last job. I'd be willing to bet they have some sort of hideout there, or something."
That was good enough for Xhai. "Great. I'll go get us a rental car. Meet you back here in twenty?"
Shani did a brief mental calculation, and shot him a smile. "That should be fine. I need to run a quick maintenance check on my gear, anyway."
The two left the office in companionable silence, each mentally preparing themselves for what could turn out to be another interesting job. Marcus Donahue and his gang would never know what hit them....
Forested Area, some distance from RPM City, late evening
Marcus froze as the faint echo of a scream -Brady's scream- reached his ears. He fought back another wave of panic and steeled himself to make a run for it. He could get caught by the police as soon as he made it free of this damned forest, at this point he didn't give a [parasitic bomb], he just wanted to get out of here. He managed a few short, shaky steps when a high-pitched giggle rang through the clearing. He paled, and started shooting panicked glances at the shadows around him.
"[parasitic bomb]! Where is she...!?"
The sound of faint, if rather awkwardly paced, footsteps echoed from somewhere behind him, and Marcus spun on his heel just as the girl appeared from out of the bushes, her arms held directly in front of her in a classic "zombie" pose. The reason for the awkward noise of her approach was revealed as she cleared the treeline. She was hopping, her legs locked in a stiff-legged pose as she stopped and gave him a cheery wave, a bright grin splitting her face. Some long-buried part of him reflected that she'd actually look kind of cute if not for the large patch of gore currently staining the lower half of her face.
"Yay! I caught you!"
Taking his stunned silence as permission to continue, she started moving towards him. "You and your friends were pretty bad at this game, y'know? The whole point of hide-and-seek is making sure you don't get found." She stopped a few feet from him and planted her hands on her hips, leaning forward slightly and adopting an indignant expression. "Hey! You didn't go easy on me just 'cause I'm a kid, did you?"
Marcus was dumbstruck by the sheer air of casualness she was emanating at this point, almost as though she hadn't just brutally murdered the rest of his gang, and it was a long moment before he was able to find his voice. "W-w-w-w-WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU!?"
Her eyes narrowed. Apparently, that had been the wrong answer to her question. She shuddered for a moment, and when she met his terrified gaze again her eyes had regained the near-insane glimmer they'd possessed when she'd killed Strowman and Adrian. Reaching into the front of her shirt, she removed a small, white object. A straw, the somehow still rational part of Marcus' mind noted. Idly twirling it between her fingers, she addressed him again, with the same air of casual friendship she'd previously shown. "Say, have you ever been to the beach? I had some friends once, and they showed me pictures of a time they went. I wanted to go, but I don't like sunlight much....-" She trailed off, staring off into the treetops with a look of fond reminisence "-...anyway, in some of the pictures, they were drinking from coconuts! They'd cut part of it away and stuck a straw in it. They looked like they were having so much fun! I've always wanted to try one, but...."
She turned from her musings and studied the man in front of her more closely. Now that she thought about, he was a little overweight, and with the beard and his hair....Her eyes lit up in delight, and a quick flourish of her wrist had one of her saws whirring into life as she slowly advanced towards him.
"Hey, I just realised! Your head kinda looks like a coconut! Maybe you could help me out?"
Marcus did the only thing a man of his bearing could do in a situation like this. He soiled himself and passed out. On the upside, at least being unconcious meant he couldn't feel what happened next....
Xhai moved slowly through the undergrowth, Shani crawling along beside him. The dense foliage and uneven ground made her preferred method of travel somewhat impractical, and since they were heading into a potential combat situation, they'd agreed that a stealthy approach was probably the best option. Suddenly, the demi-falcon stopped dead, sniffing the air.
"Hey, you smell that?"
Shani mimicked him, and her nose wrinkled as she detected the scent she figured he was referring to. "Yeah....is that....blood?"
A few minutes of careful exploration led them to the source of the smell. Xhai nudged Strowman's corpse with his foot, making sure to keep his eyes away from the mess that was Adrian's.
"Well, I think these were the guys we were looking for. Emphasis on "were"."
He crouched down to inspect the body, the thin shafts of moonlight now poking through the treetops providing just enough illumination for his enhanced eyesight to make out the details. "Looks like this guy died from a neck wound.....no idea what caused it, though..."
"I might have an idea." Shani moved over to him and pressed a ball of crumpled paper into his hand. "Found it at the base of a tree over there. Look familiar?"
Xhai straightened it out a little, and his eyes went wide at the sight of the characters inscribed on it. "This looks like the tag Shu-Fang wore....you don't think....?"
Whatever Shani didn't think was cut off by a distant roaring noise. The two Aspects shared a look, and Xhai shot a significant glance towards the treetops. Shani nodded in understanding, and after a brief moment to find a suitable spot, her tongue shot out, and she disappeared into the shadows above his head. Pocketing the tag, Xhai cautiously advanced in the direction the noise had come from, trying to keep his pace light and steady so as not to give away his presence.
It didn't take him long to find what he was looking for. Positioning himself just inside the treeline, he shifted slightly, peering into the clearing ahead of him. He was both happily surprised and slightly sickened by what he saw. Shu-Fang was sat in the middle of the clearing, lit up by a large moonbeam, a headless corpse sprawled out on the ground behind her. Xhai felt his gorge rise in his throat once he got a better look at what she was holding: a severed head, with a straw sticking out of the stump that used to be its' neck. "Looks like a coconut", the morbid part of his mind noted.
She must have sensed his presence somehow, as she lurched back to her feet, discarding her "cup" and tucking the straw back into her shirt. Taking a single, juddery step forward, she called out "Hello? Is someone there?"
Xhai's mind was whirling with possible outcomes for this scenario, but he fought back the urge to run, and slowly, ever so slowly, rose from his crouch in the bushes and stepped out where she could see him, keeping his hands raised and trying his damndest not to make any sudden movements. An unsealed Shu-Fang could be dangerously unpredictable, so it was in his best interests to avoid spooking her.
Shu watched his approach with a curious expression, and when he stopped just short of her, she hopped up to get a better look at this oddly familiar newcomer. Staring up into his face to get a better look at him, she ticked her head to the side and asked "Have we met before? You look like someone I used to know."
Inwardly breathing a sigh of relief at her light tone, Xhai fought to keep his voice level as he responded. "It's me, Shu. I'm Xhai, remember?"
Her eyes glinted dangerously, and an ice-cold hand wrapped itself around his throat. Despite the size difference between them, Xhai found himself being forced to a knee so that she could look him directly in the eye. When she spoke again, her tone was icy. "That's not funny. I used to have a friend called Xhai, but his eyes weren't as scary as yours. Besides, he died." Her other arm rose up, and with a quick flourish Xhai found a chainsaw being held level with his face by an angry looking jiang shi, the whirring teeth dangerously close to the bridge of his nose. "Now, I'm going to ask you again. Who are you?"
He was saved from his impending evisceration by a pair of muted cracks from somewhere above them. Evidently Shani had felt the need to intervene. The first bullet richocheted off the flat of the saw with a clang, throwing it to the side and away from Xhai's head, and the second tore through Shu's arm just above the elbow, tearing it off and knocking the undead girl back a step from the impact. Xhai ripped the hand from around his neck as soon as he felt the vice-like grip on his throat slacken, and dropped to his knees with a loud gasp, lungs working double-time to restore some oxygen to his body.
Shu-Fang recovered from the momentary surprise of losing a limb to see someone drop down from a tree next to the man who claimed he was her dead friend. This one looked familiar, too.....
Shani's first instinct was to check on Xhai, but the brunette waved her off as he shakily regained his footing. His face was pale and coated in a thin sheen of sweat, but otherwise he appeared to be fine.
Shu stared at the stump that used to be her right arm for a moment, and glared at the one who'd apparently shot her. "Hey! That wasn't very nice! I liked that arm!"
Shani shot a concerned glance towards her companion, and was surprised to see him meet her gaze and then flick his towards Shu. "Ah, that makes sense."
Shouldering her rifle, she hopped forward so the smaller girl could get a better look at her. Offering a tentative smile, she spoke in what she hoped was a reassuring tone. "Hey Shu, it's been a while, hasn't it?""
The jiang shi froze at that, eyes going almost impossibly wide. She only knew one person that moved like a frog. In a timid, hesitant tone, she responded "Sh...Shani?"
The demi-frog nodded. "That's right, Shu. It's me."
Shu-Fang reeled backwards, the bloodlust in her eyes fading. She stared at the man standing behind her friend again, and something clicked in her brain. He looked a little different than how she remembered, but....
Xhai's breathing and posture had just about steadied when he was almost bowled over as his undead friend slammed into him, clamping her remaining arm around his waist and sobbing into his chest. "Duì bù qǐ, Xhai....duì bù qǐ...duì bù qǐ....duì bù qǐ!"
Gently, hesitantly, he placed his hands on her shoulders and pushed her back so he could look at her face. Her eyes were wet with unshed tears, and a slowly growing damp-patch on his shirt was testament to just how upset she was. "It's okay, Shu. I know you weren't quite yourself." He fished around in his pockets and retrieved the tag Shani had handed him. "In fact, this is yours, isn't it?"
She let go of his waist to accept the tag, and studied it carefully for a moment. "Yes, I think so. This won't work any more, though. I remember there were these really nasty men. They said some mean things to me and then one of them ripped my seal off. Things got really fuzzy after that." Looking around the clearing, she spotted the remains of one Marcus Donahue. "Oh. I guess I did that. Whoops." She scratched the back of her head, a sheepish grin adorning her features.
Shani had retrieved Shu's arm from the dirt where Xhai had discarded it, and offered the bluenette an apologetic look. "Sorry for shooting you...."
Shu laughed. "Ah, don't worry about it. Just find me a needle and some thread and I can reattach that no problem." She took a hop forward, but the missing limb had thrown her balance off, and she almost collapsed face-first into the dirt. It was only Xhai's hand snagging the back of her shirt that stopped that from happening. She gave a nervous giggle after he'd helped her regain her balance. "Aheh....I guess I need that arm more than I thought, huh?"
Neither one of her friends could fight the amused smiles that spread across their faces at her antics. With a brief, muttered apology, Xhai bent down and scooped Shu up in a bridal-style carry. She blushed at the action, her cheeks colouring a faint green, but she looped her remaining arm around his neck regardless. He shot her a grin. "Sorry, but I figure this is easier than letting you flail your way back to our car. Gotta get you home before daybreak, right?"
Shani appeared at his side, still clutching Shu's currently detached limb. "It's great that we found her, but what about the job? We kinda needed the money."
Xhai grimaced. "I guess we can't do anything. It'd raise too many questions if we tried turning the bodies in, and letting the police know about this would be a whole 'nother hassle." He met Shu's eyes again, and another thought struck him. "Hey, Shani? I hate to say it, but I think Shu's gonna need another seal to stop something like this from happening again. You think you could make one?"
Shani considered his question for a moment. "I think so. It won't be as strong as her last one, though. I'm not particularly skilled at that kind of magic."
Shu blinked. "Don't worry, I promise I'll be good, and only hurt people who really deserve it."
Xhai chuckled. "That'll work. I guess we'll just have to make sure you don't get too angry or upset in the meantime, right? C'mon, let's go home and get you cleaned up. I'm sure Saden and Leo will be happy to see you again."
Shu positively beamed at him after he said that, but Shani had stopped dead, a look of horror creeping across her face. "Xhai, I just thought of something. If she gets upset before we can seal her, she'll get all murder-y again, right?"
Shu gave a hesitant nod. "Yeah, sorry....it happens and I can't really control myself."
Xhai blinked, not entirely sure what his friend was getting at. "She already promised to try and control herself, so what's the problem?"
Shani's response was a single word, uttered with the kind of gravity one would normally apply to something like the apocalypse. "Ky"
Shu looked confused. "I don't get it. Who's Ky?"
Xhai didn't respond. He was too busy staring in slack-jawed horror at something only he could see.[/spoiler]
Translations (what I got out -> what I put in)
[spoiler]Nǐ hǎo - Hello!
Zhè tài zāogāole - That's too bad
Zhǔnbèi hǎole méiyǒu, wǒ láile - Ready or not, here I come
Duìbùqǐ - I'm sorry[/spoiler]