Broker

Chapter 47

The room was small and spartan, neat to the point of anxiety. Every surface meticulously cleaned, with what little decoration that adorned the walls the only thing that stood out. In the rear of the room a twin bed pressed up against the wall to provide additional space. The dining table folded up next to it. The kitchenette had been cleared of anything that might be knocked off, everything stored neatly inside the few cabinets provided with the residence. The television had been built into the wall, affixed in a way that made it difficult to add peripherals.

She sat in the center of the room on a padded mat, her legs crossed in the lotus position. Her eyes closed, her lips pressed tightly together. Her black hair hung around her face as it tilted down towards her cupped hands, right beneath her bellybutton. She wore only a pair of military fatigue pants and a tank top, she’d eschewed jewelry, embracing a life of simplicity. Not a dollop of makeup on her flawless face to smear as a droplet of sweat slid down her temple to her chin.

She felt the ambient energy in the air, the strange ethereal presence that reminded her of static electricity. She could sense it, grasp it, pull on it, and subsume it into her body. It felt dank, though, sickly. The air of the city was not conducive to what she was doing with it. Even so, she had nowhere else. She took a deep breath and allowed the energy to enter her body, exhaling as it circulated through her limbs and into that spot just beneath her navel. She felt the pressure build at a spot in her arm, a faint moment of pain, then she exhaled and what felt like a clog opened up to allow the flow to move even more easily.

She tilted her head and her eyes opened a crack. She looked at the door across the room and quietly rose to her feet, crossing the distance in a matter of seconds. She stood at the door for a heartbeat, her expression unreadable, eyes fixed on the smooth white surface. Something rustled on the other side and she gripped the handle, pulling it down and stepping back to let the door open. On the other side, a trio of men blinked, startled, and looked up at her as she stared down at them. They were all wearing military uniforms.

They hurriedly snapped into quick salutes, the man at the front, slightly older than the others, introduced himself; “First Lieutenant Wu Chang greets the Lieutenant Colonel!” He said quickly, “This is Second Lieutenant Liu and Officer Cadet Gongsun.” He said, gesturing to the men to his left and right respectively.

She eyed the First Lieutenant for a moment before returning the salute, “Lieutenant Colonel Lian Chunhua greets her Comrades,” She stepped aside, “Please enter,” She turned on her heel and walked from the door, “I haven’t made tea,” She clipped.

The three men looked at one another before hurrying inside as she walked to the solitary wardrobe set against the wall next to her bed, she opened it and pulled out her military uniform, the two stars and bars set on the shoulders. She set it on her bed before pulling the next thing out of the cabinet. A sword in a black lacquer sheath, a gold chain set into the sheath would allow it to be strapped to her waist. She set it on the bed as well and glanced back at them. They shifted uneasily for a moment, “Hurry up,” She ordered, turning back to her bed, “I’d like to hear my orders and get changed.”

They looked uneasy for a moment before the First Lieutenant cleared his throat and saluted again, “Lieutenant Colonel Lian Chunhua, you are hereby ordered by the People’s Liberation Army to assume the role of a Hero for our glorious nation. You will retain your rank, but will be assigned as a warrior to fight against the monster scourge that has risen from Pandora’s Flash.”

She froze, her shoulders tensing for a moment before she relaxed and turned to face them. She thought back to the mandatory testing that took place across the nation just a day before and the reaction to the golden-orange glow of the sphere that she’d touched. The testers had been visibly excited. They hadn’t bothered with the physical fitness examination after they found out about her military background. She glanced between their faces for a moment before nodding, “I accept this assignment.”

The First Lieutenant swallowed, she wondered if he was afraid of her, he cleared his throat and stepped forward with an envelope and handed it to her. She took it and opened it. Inside was an identification card marking her as a Mythic-Tier Hero and giving her a codename. She glanced up at them, “Black Lotus,” She mused thoughtfully before pulling out her wallet and slipping the card inside. She checked the letter that came with the card, it came with additional orders as to what state guild she would be assigned to and where she would have to move. She glanced around her quarters, there wasn’t really anything worth moving.

“I’ll get packed, wait outside,” She ordered. They didn’t hesitate, they quickly scurried out the door and shut it behind them. She let out a lonely sigh and sat down on the bed, looking the document over again and pressing her head against the paper. “Damn it…” She thought about the small community she’d grown to know in the area, the kindly woman next door who brought food over now and then. The kids who would greet her as she left on her morning runs. The many smiling faces she was leaving behind without a word.

She hung her head and let out a breath before snatching up the remote and turning the TV on as she started to get dressed. 

“Russian-born American National, Sonya Chernovna, who’s speech at the American Congress instigated the Hero Movement, was briefly captured by hostile light-touched calling themselves ‘villains’. She was later found safe and returned to her work. Miss Chernovna has contributed significant munitions resources to the party’s efforts to suppress the monster attacks across the country. The President issued a statement wishing her well and condemning the unlawful use of light-touched abilities,” The woman on the screen said.

Chunhua glanced towards the screen and paused, a woman made out of snow stood centered on the screen, her eyes were the most vibrant pink she’d ever seen. She looked delicate but also… Strong, Chunhua thought, I can feel her spirit just looking at her.

Her eyes lingered on the screen until it changed to footage of the President speaking at a podium, she caught herself and turned away, listening again as she got changed.

“The advent of the Pandora Committee has led to the first round of friendly talks with the Americans in decades, while there are things that may never change and never be forgotten, this new era marks a turning point that we can look forward on. It enrages me that someone would dare lay hands on the person who heralded this new era. If ever Miss Chernovna is seeking sanctuary, our great nation will provide her a home,” He said, “And to the villains that dare stand in the way of our nation’s peace. We will bring you to a proper justice.”

She reached for her sword and hesitated, “She was… really pretty,” She murmured before shaking her head and clearing her throat, snatching up her sword and strapping it onto her hip. She ran her fingers through her hair and turned on her heel, grabbing a backpack out of her wardrobe and going around the room, plucking up what few valuables and mementos she wanted to keep. After that, she made her way to the door before glancing back at the lonely room, she let out a sigh and threw the door open, stepping outside.

–

Chunhua sat in the back seat of the car, silent, as it pulled out onto the street. The cadet drove while the second lieutenant sat next to him. The first lieutenant sat to her left, trying to look as calm as possible despite constantly glancing over at the sword in her lap. She kept her eyes closed but was still aware of his fidgeting, growing tired of it she opened an eye and glanced his way, she opened her mouth to speak when a sudden crash drew her attention away. A shout rang out and she peered out the window.

Her eyes narrowed, “Lurker,” She said and pulled the lock on the door.

“Colonel!” The lieutenant gasped, “What are you doing?”

“I’ll be right back,” She said flatly and pushed the door open.

“But we are under orders to get you to your new-” 

She held up a hand to shut him up as she drew her sword from the sheath, ahead of her, lumbering out of an alley, was one of the massive lumbering beasts that could somehow disappear at a moments notice during the night. The Lurker’s enormous shoulders tensed as it swept a car aside, bearing its teeth and letting out a terrible growl. A man fell to the ground and tried to scramble away from it just as a pair of hounds darted out from beneath the beast, their tongues slavering as they leaped at the fallen man.

Petals exploded in the air, pink blossoms that drifted across the street. The two hounds landed on either side of the man and took a few steps before falling to neatly chopped pieces, inky blood pouring out of their corpses. The man let out a shriek and scrambled to his feet, running away. The lurker looked down at its dead minions and then sniffed the air. Behind her, the cadet spoke, “Do you… smell that?”

“Plum blossoms?” The second lieutenant murmured.

Chunhua strode around the stopped cars, her eyes fixed on the monster. Its gaze lingered on her for a moment before its lips pulled back in a terrible snarl. She narrowed her eyes and began to step in an irregular pattern, her footsteps becoming louder even in the noisy space. The sound echoed, the creature whipped its head left and right in confusion, trying to figure out where the noise was coming from. She let out a breath and a faint mist slipped from her lips, she pulled her weapon up parallel with the ground and stepped twice.

There was a flash of movement, then suddenly she was in the alley behind the beast. Illusory petals falling around her as she looked back at the car she’d stepped out of through the hole she’d left behind through the Lurker. It collapsed in an instant, its remains twitching only once before going permanently still. She flicked her blade to get the blood off of it and returned it to her scabbard, letting out a steadying breath and closing her eyes. 

She pressed her hands together and felt the last flickering remnants of the energy that the creature seemed to be composed of. It leaked out into the air. She breathed deep and felt it enter her body, cycling through her before entering that spot beneath her navel. After absorbing it, she simply walked around the body, glancing only once at the few civilians who were watching her with awe and wonder. She nodded to them before returning to the vehicle and slipping back into her seat.

“Carry on, cadet,” She ordered the young man in the driver’s seat who jumped and immediately set the vehicle back into gear as traffic resumed.

“Amazing…” The second lieutenant breathed, unable to take his eyes off of her as he turned around in his seat, throwing decorum aside, “Straight out of a comic book.”

She set her weapon on her lap and huffed out a breath, “It was nothing, I have heard that there are far stronger and stranger creatures in Dharan. The Lurkers and Hounds that were the advance force of these monsters are childsplay now.”

The First and Second lieutenant exchanged looks, the First Lieutenant cleared his throat, “If… if I may ask, what is your ability? It was hard to tell. Swordsmanship, perhaps?” He asked.

The Second Lieutenant tensed, “Sir!”

She peered at the First Lieutenant for a moment before glancing at the Officer Cadet. According to the orders in the letter, the nature of her ability was a state secret that could only be discussed among those of officer rank and even then, specific details were only to be covered with those of around her own rank and higher. She noted the nervous excitement on the Second Lieutenant’s face and couldn’t help but crack a small smile. It couldn’t hurt, she supposed.

“My ability is called Lord of Jianghu,” She said.

The Cadet coughed and the two higher ranking officers blinked at her, “You know its name? I thought that was hard to learn,” The First Lieutenant asked while the Second Lieutenant seemed to be having some sort of excitement induced attack.

Chunhua shrugged, “My ability provides a certain level of introspective awareness,” She said simply before glancing at the Second Lieutenant, “Is… he okay?”

The First Lieutenant sighed, “He reads a lot of martial arts novels.”

“You’re a cultivator? A real live cultivator? That means you get stronger, right? You have to meditate and cycle and uh…” The Second Lieutenant started to babble, waving his hands. 

She raised her hand to her lips and offered a small titter of a laugh, the three men went silent and turned a little red in the face. She ignored the reaction she got from them and gave the excited man a smile, “Yes, that’s pretty much how it works.”

“Th-then that was the plum blossom technique!” He said excitedly, “How did you learn it, though? That stuff is only in books.”

She shrugged, “The techniques just come to me.”

He stared at her in awe and she settled back into her seat as the First Lieutenant gave him a scolding look. She closed her eyes and took another breath, concentrating on her core and the energy inside. She overheard one of them hush the other and she imagined they were trying to give her a little privacy. She appreciated it, but it wasn’t necessary. She wouldn’t be doing this for long, her mind was too filled with what was coming in the future.

Ahead of Chunhua was a life of violence, monsters, and bloodshed. She sighed and opened her eyes, pulling the orders out of her pocket again and looking them over one more time. Her fingers tensed a little as her eyes drifted over the line that had shaken her the most. Just a few words that changed her life forever.

Lieutenant Colonel, Lian Chunhua, Mythic-Tier, Black Lotus, you are hereby assigned to the international strike force under the direct oversight of our nation’s branch of the Pandora Committee, effective immediately.

I wonder if I’ll get to see America…

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