Poison City

“Stop with the bullshit. Let’s go.” Captain Ko held his palm at the wound on the one-legged man’s waist and used his Qi to scorch the wound. This made the one-legged man grimace and gasp in pain, but it managed to stop the bleeding.

“Don’t be a fucking fool. You need to stay alive so that all you did won’t be in vain.” The one-legged man pleaded: “Please, just - just leave me here - ”

Before the man could even finish his sentence, two men in black barged into the kitchen through the backdoor of the building. Captain Ko swung the one-legged man’s double barrel shotgun and fired both shots in a matter of half a second. Blood, brains and body parts splashed all over the ground outside of the window.

Footsteps enclosed from other corners of the house, Captain Ko had no choice but to go upstairs - in the hopes that there would be other ways to escape through the second floor or third floor windows.

“Shells… Shells …” The one legged man reached into his pocket and pulled out three shells and gave it to Captain Ko: “I - I don’t have many more… Might still have some in my other pockets… Please, just stay alive…”

Captain Ko took the shells, but at the same time felt the weight of the one-legged man entirely falling in his arms. He checked the heartbeat and the breathing pattern of his friend - he was gone. More blood went through the one-legged man’s clothes and trousers, soaking up Captain Ko’s sleeves and pants.

“Dammit, Bob.” Captain Ko sighed and set the one-legged man down in a relatively hidden corner: “I’ll come back for you. I promise.”

Without having to carry his friend, Captain Ko easily hopped to a neighboring building through the second floor window, carrying the double barrel shotgun and the remainder of the shells.

“Only one of them’s here. Where’s the other one!” The barks of the pursuers came from the first building.

“Look around! Look around!” “He can’t be far!”

Carefully loading two shells into the shotgun, Captain Ko placed the lead box on the floor in front of him. After a short moment of consideration, he took out another slender wooden box from inside of his jacket. Inside of it rested a long, hollow bronze needle with arcane symbols engraved on the inside. Contained within the needle was some kind of special ink, made meticulously with a few dozen materials.

Dark power and energy was ingrained in almost every page of the torn book. After it had come back into his custody, he had tried numerous ways to destroy it. But just like the dumpster who wouldn’t move, it was impervious to any of his attempts. That was, hopefully until now. 

The thought of sending the book to someone in a position of power as evidence against “them” flashed through his mind. But just like what he and his friend discussed earlier: it was not the same time as when they first got a hold of it. The people who would have been willing to try had already, and almost none of them had met a generous fate.

That would leave them with only one choice. To destroy it once and for all. As for the other parts of the book he simply had not the time nor energy to worry about them. One Pearson family was quite enough for an ordinary person like him.

“Wise, powerful Taoist Masters watching over me from the heavens. Please lend me thy power, for I am about to tie my fate to the destruction of this construct evil.” Captain Ko chanted the spell in a low voice and raised the needle up high.

A loud screech exploded from the book and along with it blasted out a chilling energy shockwave. Captain Ko took the blast, barely flinching as he infused all of his Qi into the needle before jamming it right at the torn book.

Scales and shells like those from a giant lizard made of black smoke appeared between the tip of the needle and the paper. In an instant the needle glowed orange and was engulfed in a golden flame. Captain Ko’s life force gushed from his fingers into the needle, almost drying his hands and arms up in less than a second.

Dark scales and shells splintered and burst everywhere before they were swallowed by the fire. The tip of the hollow needle penetrated the protection of the black smoke and made its way onto the top page. A ring of char and burn expanded from the point of contact. With each inch the tiny ring of ember and dark flame crawled through, the book itself shook, dark smoke and foul, thick tar seeped from between its pages.

Footsteps approached as Captain Ko roared and pushed his Qi into the needle while pressing the needle down bit by bit. The cursing and screeching voices grew desperate and furious, in the background one could even hear the low roars from some kind of beast.

Blood dripped from the corners of Captain Ko’s eyes, his mouth and his nostrils. The inside of his lungs and bones kept alternating between being scorched by fire and being frozen in the deepest tundra.

“He’s here! Come!” More voices and footsteps converged into Captain Ko’s position. The men tasked with following and tracking the hidden saboteurs from decades ago charged into this empty building, armed with knives, swords and guns. If there was no one else in this building, great; if there were, then too bad for them.

“Boom!” The door was kicked down, two men charged in.

On the ground sprinkled a few droplets of blood, a mangled and twisted metal needle, and a pile of burned paper ashes, with barely a few page corners left intact.