Reinforcement

--- Last Time ---

???: Uuuuuh huuuuuuh…..Welp, I’m afraid I have to cut this short. Like I said, I’m going to have a lovely time cutting down my new prey, so I’ll have to indulge in your fantasies some other time. I’ll save you a souvenir! Ciao.

Little Flower: Y-yeah bye! Be careful!!!

*The device cuts off. With a sigh, ??? turns his attention to the city and his expression shifts to one of a humourless smirk*

???: Well then...Let’s get started.

--- Beijing, China ---

*Traveling through the city two man are hastily sorting through data, and quickly sends an email before one reaches out for his blade. And fastening it to his side. While the other collapses his own and fastening his protective gear, finishes sending off his group out to action*  

X: I didn't plan on using this so soon, but the way things are going… No.. I have to steady my nerves.

Y: Do you really think now it the time to be putting things on the back burner? Seriously, we have enough to deal with with a potential undead bouncing army and you’re complaining about a weapon you didn’t want to use. I thought you wanted the Jiangshi gone?

X: That’s not what I meant and you know it. Unlike you, I don’t raise my sword unless I’m certain I’ll land on my target. But this seems… off somehow?

Y: Other than….you know, the army of undead? *sarcastically* I can’t think why. Look, I don't think even the dumbest person could see this as anything but an ‘off’ situation. Hell, even the master knows something is off and he’s not even been in the country more than half a day.

X: Again, that’s not what I mean. Not quite, anyway. I doubt that the means to this attack is just a wide spread panic. A terrorist attack doesn't seem to fit the bill…. the … No, it’s like there’s something or someone who is the real mastermind behind this.

Y: *Sighing* ...That’s what I meant. No one ‘accidentally’ does these things, and whoever has been using spells to reanimate these Jiangshi would have no reason to start this as a ‘terrorist’ without at least giving some form of explanation to justify what they’re doing. Instead, we just have an attack without even an ultimatum or a demand. As I said, It’s something we know, here, even if we don’t know exactly why this is happening. But honestly, our first point of interest is getting those unnatural things away from our people. Then we can think about the whys. But if we focus too much on speculation, more people will die first.

*Y sighs again, looking over to X with a grim expression on his face*

Y: It’s not to say we can ignore it either, otherwise this will just happen again. But right now, our priority is saving our people. Then we can go after the one controlling these things. I know for sure that the Master will personally want to take the time to…’politely’ question whoever is responsible.

X: Yeah, yeah. I understand… It still bugs me to no end, though. But then... well, I’ll jump that hurdle when I get there. If possible, I’ll do my best not to raise my sword… not unless I have to. Well, I’m leaving first. Good luck!

Y: Make sure not to die out there. I’d rather not have to deal with all your paperwork if you make a blunder.

X: So, I’m only a secretary in all this, huh? Nice to be appreciated. I’m nothing more than an office worker...jee, thanks. Well that’s eons of friendship down the drain.

Y: What, you mean that isn’t a stack of papers in those boxes, Mr ‘Everything must be in a proper order’? Hey, all I’m saying is that your wisdom is more bookish than me. I’m the one who fights more than you after all. Just take it as a compliment, Bookworm. Anyway, I have my own job to do, too. Say hi to those Jiangshi before you gut them for me!

*Laughing, Y leaves X’s side to head to his mission point*

X: Well, best make a move on, then.  

--- A Few Hours Later ---

X: Well, I didn’t have to look far to find you. Look at all this…. Like a virus spreading throughout this land….  But which direction…. Where’s the source….

*Droves of Jiangshi come though the surrounding areas. Screams and the smell of blood drenches the air. Suddenly X’s eyes shoot open*

X: there I've found it 20 miles north!

*Some distance away from the chaos of the Jiangshi, ??? is aiding in the construction the latter parts of what will become a bunker for any civilians that need escape from the Jiangshi’s attack. Looking over the plans, he occasionally flicks through the reports sent from the subordinates, relaying the information from their individual investigations. As his eyes zero in on part of this, he grits his teeth with a hissed breath*

???: Is he serious? Undead are making their way into the city and the people in power are refusing to even believe it as more than superstition? Do they seriously favour their jobs over the lives of those in their care. *a snarl plays on his lips* This is why I really hate humans sometimes!

*Running a hand through his hair, he forces himself to take a deep breath before whirling around to see that there are people approaching. Noting the markings on their clothing as underlings to Y, ??? forces himself to relax.*

???: And it seems that the competent help has arrived. Thank goodness. I thought I was going to have to deal with obnoxious trash that prefers their job in ignorant bliss rather than the lives of their people. What do you have for me?

Recruit 1: What do you expect, sir? ‘Something like that could never happen to me, in this day and age. Besides, the mystic does not exist, right?’

Subordinate 2: That’s the issue with today’s world. I have an idea, but I’ll need a few hours to implement it.

???: Sometimes, I wonder if I should never have left….*Snorts bitterly, before shaking his head* Forget them. If they die, it’s their own fault. We warned them. Though I suppose I’ll keep an eye on them for when their petty little world shatters once they see the truth for themselves. As for this idea, do it. We have little time as it is, so anything to keep innocent people from getting hurt due to their lackluster leaders is beneficial.

Subordinate 2:  Then give me two hours. I’ll pull a few strings and see what I can do. People are my forte, after all. I’ll report back when I’m done. Later

*Subordinate 2 walks off into the crowd and leave the recruits to ???*

???: Heh, well, I knew there was a reason that I wanted him in my team. *Turns to the Recruits* Have you been made clear on the situation at hand?

Recruit 2: Yes sir, we were briefed on the way down here. We actually had a run in with the vermin on our way. There’re about 2-3 days away right now. But, hopefully, with the traps we set up, we should have a an extra day or so…

Recruit 3: I’ll know if they have got past it or not - I left a few devices around to show me their movement from this side of the city. I have the intention of doing so for the rest of the surrounding areas, just in case they decide to get smart with us. I doubt so, but I’d rather be safe than sorry.

???: Excellent work. With the shelters almost complete, this will give us time to also incorporate enough of a strategy to minimize the further damage and see to it that we also don’t end up with casualties among the fighters. If you can help with the shelters and evacuation of those in the outskirts in the meantime. But for now...

*??? turns to the first recruit*

???: If you can report to me about their movements, anything at all you’ve noticed about them. That way we can formulate the best way to dispose of the trash. While Jiangshi have weaknesses they all share, we have no way of knowing if the Priest that’s controlling them has something else in mind without looking at their patterns. This doesn’t seem to me like a run of the mill terrorist, after all. Something else is in the works…

*Subordinate 1, with an arm around a young girl.*

Subordinate 1: I think this adorable one can help us a ton.

Girl: Um.. Well, I know how to defeat them… um, I… um.

Subordinate 1: Now, don’t be shy. I know he looks scary, but he’s a big old softy at heart, ok? So you don’t have to be scared!

Girl: OK! Um well there's a few ways to get rid of them, or at least get them running away! Bells are good, a roosters crow, fire and a sword made from a peach wood tree. And, in doubt, a mirror or any reflective surface will do. If possible, I think using fire should only be a last minute option.  We don't want the whole of china burning. Hehehe.

Subordinate 1: She was an apprentice of a local Taoist Priest that died a little while back. When she saw that I was one of Pandora's agents, she decided to tag along. Also, you were doing something a little sneaky with the local youths, weren't you?

???:  Well, it seems her training has paid off, then. She is quite correct on her combat methods, assuming we can get ahold of enough. One of my Subordinates is, after all, doing their best to distribute bells, at the very least. Getting a sword made of peace wood might be a little difficult on short notice, unless any local Taoist Priests have any on standby. As for fire….if it comes to using it, it won’t be too much of an issue, at least where creating it is concerned. I have a certain flare for pyrotechnics.

Girl: You’re not an arsonist, are you!?! Grampa...AH, I mean, master said ‘if you play with fire, you gonna get burnt’, so that’s a nono!

???: Ah, no, you could say that I’m more like a person who does fire special effects in shows and the like. I’m not the type to just use fire in a way that can hurt people - which is our main problem with just relying on fire without a plan. We need a way to contain it, so that it doesn’t become out of control. If all we end up doing is raising the whole city to the ground then it would be no different than us doing a complete purge. We want to save people, after all. Speaking of people, you mentioned ‘youths being sneaky’ - these ‘youths’ wouldn’t happen to know anything about the Jiangshi, would they? After all, you wouldn’t have approached us, with the information about how to defeat them, if something didn’t tip you off.

Girl: W-well…

*She rolls up her sleeve*

Girl: Well, I’ve been giving out these bracelets and charms. They have a little magic in them. The charms are used to repel evil. But I’ve been saying they are for good luck with chams and the bracelets are love charms. When actually they are wards against evil and they repel our little problem. I’m not as strong as master so I’m not sure how effective they will be, so…

???: Well, they certainly are helpful. I know a little about Jiangshi combat, myself. Considering those in charge are adamant about not believing in the threat, then at least the youths won’t suffer. As long as the charms work long enough to get into the shelters, then that should help.

Girl: Thats good, Im happy then! Oh, here, take one, my last one left. It might come in handy. Well, I’m off now - I need to make more charms and bracelets and get them out there. OH! And, if you can, use this peach sword. It was gramps - Ah! I mean, masters. If you can use it, go ahead. I’ll be taking it back when this is all over, k? Bye now!!!

*She leaves just as quickly as she arrives. Subordinate 1 waves her off as she does so.*

???: Hm….It’s a little convenient that she was there, knowing all this about the events, with all of this pre-prepared….I hope I’m just being paranoid. *glances at the peach wood sword.* ….For now, at least we have something, though it’s unlikely we can get many of these at short notice. I have fire at my disposal, so the sword can be used by a sword user with no fire abilities. As for the other things, I have someone working with bells right now, but does anyone have access to access to mirrors or roosters at short notice?

Subordinate 1: I don't know… Sir, I think you should at least keep those items on your person. Just my opinion. N I don't think you’ll get a live rooster, but if I tinker with the settings on the communicator, I can probably send a signal to most mobile devices to create a rooster recording. Will that work?

Recruit 2: I could do the same to any device that happens to have a speaker attached. It's easy enough. But we’re gonna struggle once the sun goes down. Their activities are going to get worse by then. Well, what little time day 3 will give us. We’ll be fighting until the sun rises again. Then this should settle down by then. We’ll need to stop them by then.

???: That’s why the sword might make for better use in someone else’s hands….*grits teeth* but….roosters, for now, there’s nothing that says that the rooster call needs to be a live one. It’s possible it might work still, but we shouldn’t rely on it. Still, get to work on distributing that. What about mirrors? The more combat methods we have, the better chance we have at stopping them before the sun goes down. If it gets to that point, we’ll need to use the fire plan. But even then, we still need a containment method.

Recruit 2: give us an hour we do a test run of the rooster call the missions… that might be a little difficult to recreate…

Subordinate 1: she did say any reflective surface would do as long as the windows are shiny enough and the areas clean enough we’ll be fine… saying that we could lead them into a trap. In the file it did say that they were afraid of there own reflection. If we corner them into an area and then dispose of them in bulk then that would quickly reduce our vermin problem.  What do you think boss?

???: Hm….It would certainly work, especially if we can box them in. Quite the shame we don’t have a convenient hall of mirrors, but we can make do. With the bells and rooster sounds, it should be easy enough to gather them all in one place, box them in with the mirrors and burn the lot of them. We just need to make sure that we can implement the strategy without losing people on our end. Those of you not helping in the evacuation, gather what you can that’s reflective, be it mirrors, polished shields, shiny metal plates, anything. The more the better. Then we can see exactly what we have to work with, and if the plan is viable. Anyone else have any thoughts on the matter?

Subordinate 1: Nothing for now, sir, but we’ll tell you if anything comes up. I’m going to set up the audio for the rooster, then I’m going to find out where that girl is. I wanna talk to her again. I have more questions for her.

???: Then you all know what needs to be done. We need to have every advantage we can get. *Clenches his fists* I….don’t want anyone else to die because of this. Once you’re ready, inform me. We don’t have much time to waste. Dismissed.

All: Sir!

[END]