[center][b][I][color=00a750]Orphaned and stranded in the mountains, young Danny Rand was rescued from certain death by the immortal mystics of K’un-Lun. Under their tutelage, he mastered the martial arts, rising to become the lost city's champion. Armed with the chi of Shou-Lao the Undying, he now defends both K’un-Lun and Earth as the Living Weapon…[/color][/I][/b]

[img]https://i.imgur.com/mKXVqxL.png[/img][/center]

[b][I]The Red Lantern 
Chinatown, Manhattan[/I][/b]

Much of my life has been spent as a fish out of water – first as an orphaned novice of K'un-Lun and then as a stranger to my first home when I returned to New York – so it's a sensation I know all too well. It's the sensation I feel now, standing at the bar in this exclusive nightclub. After all, there aren't too many blonde-haired, blue-eyed patrons in this part of town. Though the clientele is doing little to hide their interest (or perhaps suspicion), no one has yet accosted me. Colleen and I had discussed sending her in alone, but it seemed unwise, given we didn't know what we'd be walking into. Besides, with all eyes on me, she's free to surveil the situation at her leisure. 

We found a matchbook for the Red Lantern in one of Feng's pockets. There's no indication from our research or the word of our informants that the establishment is [I]run[/I] by the Golden Tigers, but it's certainly a popular hangout of theirs, at least. I even spy a few familiar faces, though they don't seem to recognize me without my mask. Thus far, no sign of Feng. He'd have to be some kind of stupid to show his face in public so soon after the dust-up at the gambling den, but in my experience, criminals and common sense don't often mix. Besides, failing any other way to smoke him out, this is our next best lead. 

Colleen had been approached by Lin Zhao, the owner of Lin Properties Group, LLC, an urban development company with roots in Chinatown. Zhao reports that the Tigers have always given him trouble, but the threats and intimidation escalated once LPG took on a waterfront redevelopment development project on the Lower East Side. According to Zhao, the Tigers – led by Sun Feng – ordered him to halt construction or suffer the consequences. Sometime later, his eldest daughter, Yue, went missing. Though no ransom note was given, Zhao suspects that Yue has been taken as a hostage. He asked Colleen to get her back, who in turn called on me for backup.

[color=f26522]“Dry martini, please,”[/color] Colleen announces to the bartender as she returns to the bar. Neither of us looks at the other. As the bartender steps away to prepare the drink, Colleen leans forward on her elbows and whispers just loud enough to be heard over the music, [color=f26522]“A group of Tigers just came downstairs and ordered bottles in the VIP section.”[/color]

I pretend to sip at the cocktail in my hand, muttering one word over the rim of the glass. [color=00a750]“Feng?”[/color]

She shakes her head. [color=f26522]“Not that I saw, but some of them have their back turned,”[/color] she explains. Just then, the bartender returns with her drink, and she flashes him a wide smile. [color=f26522]“[I]Xièxiè![/I]”[/color] Spinning around so that she's facing the club, she rests against the bar and swirls her cocktail stick. [color=f26522]“I want to get a closer look.”[/color]

I set down my untouched cocktail. Reaching into my pocket, I pull out a handful of bills and toss them on the counter. [color=00a750]“I'll do it,”[/color] I whisper. That surprises Colleen enough to make her head turn, but she quickly corrects herself and pretends to be interested in something along the far wall. [color=00a750]“I've got a plan. Be ready to bail me out.”[/color]

Loosening my tie as I make my way across the club, I also ruffle my hair and adopt my best stagger. Stumbling up to the velvet rope leading to the VIP section, I mutter a few nonsensical words as I collide with a bouncer. He looks down at me with disgust and barks, “Where do you think you're going, [I]gwailou[/I]?”

I blink a few times before slurring, [color=00a750]“Hmm? Oh, umm, I… I just need to get up there.”[/color] I try to take another step, and his huge hand spreads across my chest, halting any momentum. I frown up at the bouncer and say a bit more adamantly, [color=00a750]“I said I need to get up there! There's… there's someone waiting on me.”[/color] I make a show of trying to brush past his outstretched arm, and when that doesn't work, I raise my voice further. [color=00a750]“What's the problem? What, you want, umm… you want money? Fine, here's some money!”[/color] I take out my wallet and make sure to fumble with the cash. 

Someone whistles, and the bouncer eases up the pressure – though still doesn't take his hand away. From the corner booth, one of the patrons smiles. “Let him in, Lao,” the apparent ringleader commands. He motions to the bills in my hands. “He can buy the next round.” The bouncer finally releases me, and I glare at him before stumbling to the booth. “What's your name, friend?” the man asks.

Instead of answering right away, I use my feigned drunkenness to scan the faces of the VIPs. At the far end of the booth, I spot our old friend, Feng, but that's not what freezes me. Sitting next to him is a girl I recognize, if only by photograph; I looked at the file Colleen put together often enough to recognize Lin Yue on sight. Our missing girl is no longer missing – and, more than that, in no apparent distress.

“Your name,” the Tiger lieutenant – for what else could he be, surrounded by such company? – repeats more forcefully. He's still smiling, but there's more of a shark than a curious bystander in it.

[color=00a750][b]“My name's not important,”[/b][/color] I say, dropping any pretense. Straightening to my full height, I continue, [color=00a750][b]“What you [I]should[/I] know is that I was hired by Lin Zhao.”[/b][/color] The table tenses at that name, none more than Yue who can't restrain a gasp. I lock eyes with her briefly to show that I'm speaking the truth. [color=00a750][b]“He wants you to back off the waterfront redevelopment project, and he demands the safe return of his daughter.”[/b][/color]

The lieutenant opens his mouth to respond, and Feng shoots out of his seat, but it's Yue who speaks first. “I won't go back!” she shouts, making herself sound more like a child than she actually is. “He doesn't get to control me!” As if reinforcing her autonomy, she reaches out and takes Feng's hand. So… [I]that’s[/I] what's really going on here. 

“Yue is quite happy here,” the lieutenant continues after the outburst. His tone drips with icy resolve. “And as for Zhao, if he thinks the Golden Tigers will sit back and concede turf to the Yangsi Gonshi, he is sorely mistaken. We will send him a message in the form of your corpse.”

And for the second time in as many attempts, it seems that Colleen and I will have to cut our way out of a Triad den.

[hr]
[b][I]Nightwing Restorations, Inc.
Upper West Side, Manhattan[/I][/b]

I suck air through my teeth as Colleen works the next stitch. [color=f26522]“Well, stay still, and this won't hurt as bad! Aren't you some kind of Zen master?”[/color] she admonishes me. It's a fair point, but if she wasn't standing behind me holding a sharp object, I'd point out that she's not exactly a deft hand with a needle. Clicking her tongue, she says, [color=f26522]“I can't believe you let one of them stab you, anyway. You must be losing your touch.”[/color]

[color=00a750]“In my defense, I thought [I]you[/I] had him.”[/color]

I can't tell with my back turned, but I'd bet that entire Rand fortune that she's rolling her eyes at me. As she finishes up the last stitch and snips the excess thread, she asks, [color=f26522]“So, what did your research turn up about this ‘Yangsi Gonshi?’”[/color]

This time, my grimace has nothing to do with pain. [color=00a750]“It's a rival syndicate that's been pushing into Tiger territory,”[/color] I explain. [color=00a750]“Apparently, the Tigers have been keeping it quiet, not wanting to appear weak. The waterfront project is just the next battlefield in an ongoing war.”[/color]

Colleen sighs. [color=f26522]“So, the money Zhao paid us is Triad money?”[/color]

[color=00a750]“Afraid so.”[/color]

[color=f26522]“And Yue?”[/color]

I shake my head. [color=00a750]“Just a young, dumb kid who happened to fall in love with her father's most hated enemy.”[/color] After Colleen finishes applying a bandage over the new stitches, I shrug back into my shirt. [color=00a750]“So, what do you want to do?”[/color]

Colleen meets my gaze, and she's got that look in her eye. Lin Zhao is going to regret using her as his puppet. [color=f26522]“First, we have a little talk with Zhao,”[/color] she says with steely determination. [color=f26522]“His payment just became a charitable donation in the war against organized crime. Then, I'm thinking we pay this waterfront project a visit and find out what he's trying to hide. After that? I'm open to suggestions.”[/color] As if for emphasis, she picks up her katana and loosens it in its sheath, inspecting the blade. 

[color=00a750]“Sounds to me like you plan to stop a Triad war,”[/color] I remark.

This time, it's Colleen who shrugs. [color=f26522]“Maybe. You up for it, Iron Fist?”[/color]

I can only smirk. [color=00a750][b]“Always.”[/b][/color]