"They used your mundane accomplices to triangulate your position. That or they followed her. I'm not sure which is more likely at this point. Either way that what did you call it? Safe house? It's compromised."
If you ever had an older woman tell you that everything is going to be okay, then you probably understand how I felt. It's the same feeling when an older black woman calls you Sweetheart, Or your nan makes your your favorite food. All of a sudden, things were looking up.
"You're probably too young to remember this, but several decades ago prior the blue coats did a thorough look the the under ground scene here. They uncovered a small but significant conclave of demonic cultivators feeding off the downtrodden. It was a scandal that rolled heads under the governors watch. There's a reason that his house symbol is the glaive. It wasn't that one before."
Xueyie and I were listening with rapt attention, the elder Kang and her faded (Korean traditional dress) in blue and silver letting it be known that this wasn't a demand but we damn well would be listening for our own good. Of all of the parents I had seen this far, she was the most inspiring. It was her husbands Nascent misogyny about having a daughter that had driven Egiya.
"It is said that one hundred demonic cultivator died that day. It is also said that only one demon is needed to start another conclave. So one wonders after the recent death of your cousin if they are to be blamed as few living have any memory of how they play their trade. It's true that they need to kill to advance, that the corpses have something to do with it but beyond that, I am at a loss. Would that I could fight this scourge alongside you...that would be a fitting end."
She stared off into the distance and withdrew for a while. Neither I nor my companions had any cause to redirect her attention with how good the food was to our hungry bellies.
I coughed after a while to draw her back in.
"Where was I? Oh yes, the current events. Have I said that I'm dreadfully sorry about your cousin, dear? I don't recall if I had or not."
"You did. Thank you. We will burn incense in her honor. She was a woman of quiet grace."
The gleam in her eye was briefly shrouded by another sip of tea.
"Would that we could all be known for our grace and not our strength or lack thereof. It's not a woman's face that she should be judged by, but her actions. Perhaps that is how I would want to be remembered. No one wants to be known as this-"
She gestured to herself and I knew she meant her shattered core. I couldn't imagine losing everything I had build up in the last how long had I been here? Had I already lost track of time? It felt like it had been a month since I started training with the Moon clan. How long had I been away from the girls? Too long.
"No one will know you as that after you help us bring them down. The fact that that have been flaunting their sign in plain view of everyone out here is just bad business."
Xueyie and Madame Kang looked at me like I had asked casually about their favorite cannibals.
"Their sign?" The elder woman asked.
"The ultraviolet tattoo on their faces?" I said.
"What's ultraviolet? And where on their faces?" Xueyie said.
"Min? Can you help here? It's why I didn't attack Maxine. She didn't have it. She's either not one of them like she said or she's hiding it super well."
"Light has various high and low shades and this particular part of it is usually beyond human sight. Higher level cultivators might be able to spot it, but it would be faint. The fact that Joe can see it opens up a lot of avenues for us."
---
I was going to need to assemble the crew. Moon Fei was effectively comatose and being
seen to by a Moon clan healer. His prognosis was worse than the last time he had gotten jumped. He was probably going to need to find a new line of work after this.
Moon Xiru was fired up.
"We need to take it to them. Before they cool off. Strike while the tea is still steeping. This one has a plan," he began.
"There's a shipment of pills coming in by airship that is due to be moved tonight. They move it under the cover of darkness and they shroud it in tea leaves. My contact is one hundred percent certain that they will be moving on this tonight. If we disrupt their supply chain then we can make them feel our pain."
"How do they move it? Pills are highly regulated. I know you said that they try to obscure it with tea, and this is a devious use of the tea brokers union to be certain," Moon Lee said.
The trade of pills was highly regulated and the import from some of the more settled lands kept the local Sects competitive. There was something about the area that we were in that made it more difficult to produce pills, but neither Moon Lee nor Moon Xiru knew all of the details. It was frustrating that they had a lot of the pieces but I really wish that there was something like Wikipedia here for me to reference.
Egiya had told me that knowledge was power, but also power was power. I was beginning to see why everything was behind a signed lifelong contract with a Sect or master. It all came back to intellectual property and the 'c word'. No, the other one. Fucking capitalism siloing information behind pay walls, this being one of the more egregious acts. Sects didn't share information and when they did it was the blandest milquetoast type of exchange. So to say that a cultivator who was close to the fourth realm not knowing what her peers with different concentrations did to advance was par for the course.
"Pills are highly regulated. Does that mean that they are taxed? Would the blue coats want a cut of their action?" I said.
"That or they would just take it if they were made aware of it," Moon Xiru said,"it's how they operate and make money for their benevolent association."
"Are you serious about the benevolent association? Because that's just ridiculous government overreach."
"Only the powerful can stop them. This one thinks that you are powerful and can deal with the kind of blue coats that would be on patrol. With auntie you will go far."
"Thank you cousin," Moon Lee said,"but we need a few more particulars about how they move their product if we are to meet them at a place of our choosing. Otherwise we would be trying to find a particular leaf in an orchard."
I liked the leaf in an orchard metaphor. It was better than the needle in a haystack that I would have used. I was also imagining having to raise up a police force to combat a town full of Dragon ball Z strength civilians and yeah "overwhelming use of force" barely described it. There were dozens of craters-clear evidence of a powerful brawl- that dotted just the alleyways. Several half statues in this neighborhood alone had been meticulously reconstructed several times by what had to have been generations of artisans. It was so off putting sometimes that it had to have been the case that as one point in time someone with Victorian sensibilities had to have been a lead on many projects.
"The point of the matter is that we have been reacting to what they're doing. I need to hit them where it hurts," I said putting a hand on Xueyie, "or more accurately, we need to fuck with them, let them know who is in charge."
I unconsciously flexed my knuckles. The pops came out far louder than I had ever intended. I heard a groan that had to have been from Min.
"No that's not me. He just had freaky joints," she said.
"Creaky joints at this stage? Perhaps we need to up your flexibility training," Moon Lee mused.
I gulped.
"Perhaps we can go back on track. Alright Xiru, we hit them hard and fast. What do we know about the courier?"
"The courier is an independent agent as such things are highly regulated and per union contact with the air shipping guild, but they will usually have an enforcer there to meet them. This skirts the rule against shipping things yourself but those rules are something that it would take a mandarin years to understand. We in the tea brokers union have a deal with the couriers local number five, so this one hopes that we can keep said collateral damage to an absolute minimum."
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"So, don't hurt the innocent guy, got it," I said, "what happens if he gets hurt?"
"Don't hurt the innocent guy," Moon Lee said, her voice not so much a command but an understanding that it would be in our best interest to do what she said.
"Understood."
"But he is the one carrying the thing we are after?" Egiya said,"What are we going to do, slap his security detail senseless and ask for his bag?"
"That's the part that we will leave to you as this one cannot be a party against a union member. But this one expects a sufficient bribe will probably work to help him onto our side."
"And I suppose that there is a table in the union contract of how much a courier is allowed to accept for a package of a known value?"
Moon Xiru smiled.
"This one has the relevant page right here as well listing the common cost of packages and it's known that the Red Fang prefer a specific tea. This tea, if in the quantity specified here, as their normal amount requested, has a known value. Bribing a courier, once his security has been dispatched, as you can see in table 1-F here is, and reading from the text: 'No less than thirty percent of the expected and stamped value of a package shall be given in the case of extortion to any courier forced to turn over a package.'' '"
I scanned the page and it went on as to how to claim extortion on ones taxes, pay taxes on bribes, and let's just say I stopped reading after that.
"This society has rules about stealing packages. Of course."
"Is it not the same where you come from?" Egiya asked,"As this is pretty common practice. There are several plays that reference this including what is that one called where the Sheriff goes rogue, Xueyie."
"The Emperor's diaries, and yes it includes several such segment."
With Moon Fei out of commission, Xiru and I were the only men in the room, and with the addition of Madame Kang, we were outnumbered four to two. Not that we formed a voting bloc, if anything Moon Lee and I formed one as we were both the strongest. I however wanted to do things as least a little bit democratically.
"It sounds like we are all on board with this. Do we want to take a vote and be all in. Madame Kang can break a tie. Min you can't because you're going where I am going."
"Perhaps we should give her a vote. She does a lot for you and she is her own person."
Moon Lee as the only one who had experience with a familiar spirit beast had all of the institutional knowledge in this regard. I treated Min like an extension of me. An inappropriate, snarky extension that I had to reel in, not unlike having a teenager on board.
And, like having a teenager on board, I wanted to include them in things- unless of course Min didn't want to vote.
"Min, you're a part of this team. Did you want to weight in, or suggest something different?"
"Can we not just get into an airship and leave Western Jewel? Once you have reached the level of a third realm cultivators interest, I doubt you will be able to avoid some sort of accommodation. Or conflict," she said the last part quietly.
"You don't think that Joe is ready for a fight against a third realm cultivator?" Moon Lee said, her face unreadable.
"This one does not know," Min said.
Then she began to look me up and down as if assessing me for my fitness for office. I worked for this, damn it. Couldn't she at least see that? I had things to do and people to tell that they needed therapy and no I had a full book right now so they could go and fuck off. I wasn't going to be helping these assholes.
"I guess I could just up and leave, but that would be betraying what I've built up here and plus they would probably follow me, wouldn't they," I said waiting for the knowing nods, "I see you're all nodding, good yeah and that leaves you all in the lurch. I didn't have some grand plan when I came here, but I'll be damned if they aren't going to get the full on Joe experience, while I have breath to draw."
Moon Xiru whistled in an approving manner.
"Egiya?" I said.
She had been spared most of the problems. Her cousin hadn't been murdered. She had been on stakeout duty.
"I can heal the courier if needed. It would be highly suspicious of us all to show up and I don't believe that they have tagged me as a part of the group yet."
"We're going to want to keep our faces covered then. Can you provide some sort of distraction?"
"If the honored spirit helps, then this is quite possible," She turned to the moon spirit.
"This is acceptable," Min replied.
"At last we are in agreement," Moon Lee said, bringing our attention back to the present.
---
There's some unwritten rule that goes a bit like this: if the bad guys reveal something in a monologue then it's destined to hurt the good guys, but if the good guys reveal their plans then it's as good as throwing out the plan. It could just be Murphy's law.
I want you to picture in your mind a strong looking man laying prostrate on a roof, but super cool like. There is nothing inherently good looking about this whole setup, but after an hour of waiting, I wasn't going to keep up the batman pose. I wasn't a hero wearing spandex, heck my robes were pretty drab grey and black.
Moon Lee had us out here like ninjas for hours before the courier would even arrive. You see I had planned this extensively with the crew. What I hadn't prepared for was the time that my super flexible oiled up dad bod decided to seize up. Yeah that was how I found myself in this situation to begin with. I was getting so bored that I was ready to meditate and that is not a place that I wanted to be.
Moon Lee was a bit better at keeping herself hidden. I could only see her when I looked directly at the spot I knew she had taken across the street from me. She had a sense for when I was looking and gave me a cheeky grin when I did.
Below us, the luscious locks of Jin Xueyie were wrapped up into a common shawl as she, a modern woman's Cinderella swept. She had dressed like a housecleaning staff who was trying to eavesdrop on some work drama that sprang up between her favorite manager and work wife. No, she didn't need to be there to hear this, but she was going to take her damn time thank you very much.
She was the most visible, but also conversely the most invisible because she was doing something completely ordinary. If you have to ask, she did pick the costume which she then got dirty herself in some authentic manner. If you had asked me about the difference between authentic dirt and not earlier, I would probably have looked at you like you had two heads.
My Moon spirit was playing an animated game of fetch that would look normal to most eyes. Cultivators of third realm and above were uncommon, and they would see through the ruse. We were banking on that.
After 5 minutes I was counting the shingles on the roof. I was on. After 10 minutes I began to stretch my quadriceps. After 2 hours of waiting in the dark, I started to stretch my lats. After 4 hours I was beginning to lose faith that the courier union had ever produced a reliable courier. Or for that matter, delivered a package.
It was about that time; that dark hour right past dusk when we got activated for our one false positive. Someone in a courier uniform walked past a very animated dog and nearly stepped on it. Thankfully the dog in question knew exactly how to deal with the problem and gave that person a reason to be afraid. Sadly, the dog did not have actual teeth and it being the first time that I ever wanted a dog to bite, somebody left me less than satisfied. The growl was deep and to be experienced. I briefly thought cujo was on our side.
Min wanted to shake him down but figured out quickly that it wasn't out man. Then that courier, due to the fact that he did not have anywhere near the right size package in his bag, kept going. We all kind of exchanged sideways glances after that as if perhaps we had let the butterfly through the net.
Moon Lee was the first to move. She in one quick movement jumped across from her roof to mine and sat next to me. Only the rustle of her skirts let me know that she was actually there. He would have been too easy for her to dress up like the rest of us. Sure, she wore gray but her underskirts were blue. I was all too aware of this fact when I turned.
"Doesn't anyone knock nowadays?" I asked her.
'You're always funny. Or rather, you always think you're funny.""
Her scathing comments took me aback.
"I suppose you're not in my side anymore then are you?""
"Oh I am. Just know that I'm learning some of you humor from your moon spirit. So watch out," she said.
"I don't think they're going to show up."
"I've come to a similar conclusion. Rather than waste this, I wanted to use this as training. Training for you and for the girls. Do you think that they will be okay with that? We can move on to the Moon compound. Either our tip was wrong and if so perhaps our lead is compromised or something else has happened and I don't like being a sitting bird out here."
"If you're willing to host, I am sure that they will follow on. I'm eager to test Jin Xueyies new limits. I am quite certain that you feel the same as well. And I haven't caught up enough with Kang Egiya. It's a shame really. Without the safe house as a schelling point, it's going to be more difficult to get us all together."
"You are all welcome at the moon clan. Nothing about what the towers have done changes anything about how we feel about you. By extension we include those that associate with us. The girls as you say need some special training in focus. I know just the person to do it."
"Is the person you Moon Lee? Is it? I would never presume to dream as to who that person could possibly be," I said giving my best, flirtatious grin.
She seemed to catch on easily, showing me a wide smile uncharacteristic of her normal stoic demeanor. If she had a Hinge profile it would say that she liked dogs and was looking for a not serious long-term relationship. I don't think she would have a Tinder profile.
"Of course it's me. Now. Let's get them so I can work my magic."
I saluted and then pulled on my bond with Min. It was our pre-agreed signal to fall back. It only took them a minute to wrap up fetch. Then our street sweeper eavesdropper finally concluded her work. The girls moved with the moon spirit between them as we watched from above.
When I call those two young ladies, girls it’s not meant in some demeaning manner. It is simply that I see them and think that they would want to be called girls. Moon Lee, on the other hand definitively wants to be called auntie or something else more akin to a title. She's not here as one of the girls even if deep down it's what she wants to be. A classic man can tell these things.