The Gaze of Caprice (The Caprice Trilogy Book 1) (28 page)

              Master Song had taken his time to warm up his pupil and then decided not to say anything.  He didn’t want to weigh down Xiaoyu’s mind by telling him something.  He studied the other boy head-to-toe and thought of a way for Xiaoyu to best him, but he said nothing to Xiaoyu.  Master Song had been instructing for a long time and understood its limits.  Not all principles were worthy of instruction, some things were life-taught and self-learned.  Master Song knew the path to execution could be a guided one but the path to victory had to be found.  He could see clearly the boy was older than Xiaoyu; he thought a little reminder wouldn’t be disruptive.  He put his hand on Xiaoyu’s shoulder and said one word,
adapt
.  The other boy took no punches and threw no kicks.  He found space enough to stretch by himself.  He stretched silently for the better of ten minutes.  When he stopped he was ready.  The large man who first met Master Song and Xiaoyu waved Xiaoyu over.  The other boy understood he was to approach also.  As the boy came closer, Xiaoyu looked at his eyes.  They were dark.  Not a deep darkness but dark as if the light in his mind were broken or out.  Xiaoyu kept looking at the boy’s eyes, even when the boy met his gaze he didn’t stop staring.  The large man began to talk.  Xiaoyu couldn’t hear him; he only heard a low-pitched buzz sound that seemed to come from the other boy.  He heard another sound that he recognized as his own heartbeat.  The large man backed easily away, the boys stayed.

              The garage sat in silence.  Xiaoyu’s heart was steady but his mind was racing with old habits.  His mind began to classify the other boy, something it did with all opponents.  When his mind began to settle, Xiaoyu realized the boy was a drone.  Fighting was his one function, even if he would die in the process.  He had no higher purpose.  The Flyers and the Moons looked intently at the standoff.  The set up was the most interesting nature could cook up—a fight between two different species.   But the species weren’t Mother Nature’s creations.  A car horn shot from one end of the garage to the other to start the fight—drone versus dragon.  The boy drone responded quickly throwing his long legs at Xiaoyu.  Xiaoyu blocked the first kick and the second, the two were repeats.  Xiaoyu hopped to his left so as not to give the boy a stationary target.  Realizing that he could no longer kick with the same leg, the boy paused to try to think of something else.  Xiaoyu saw an opening to counter but decided against it because he was still studying his opponent.  Xiaoyu did a quick leaning lunge at the boy just to test his reaction.  The boy jumped backward.  Xiaoyu thought it was a mistake.  He thought the boy should have capitalized by knocking him further off his center of gravity.  One of his long-legged kicks could have sent Xiaoyu flying to the floor.  The drone had simply not thought of it or reacted quick enough.  Xiaoyu’s understanding of the boy deepened.  His legs were the parts he saw as weapons.  He could only think of attacking with his legs.  That was the creature he was.  The drone faked with his left leg then kicked with his right.  It was a different strategy but more of the same.  Instead of blocking the kick, Xiaoyu pushed the boy’s leg down and moved in to counter with a spinning sidekick that landed on the left side of the boy’s pelvis.  The kick hurt the drone even though it had missed its mark.  The drone was noticeably irritated by the pain in his pelvis and the irritation began to show.  He closed the gap between Xiaoyu and himself without realizing the loss of his long-leg kicks.  The drone tried to get close and engage Xiaoyu in a boxing match.  The drone threw different punch combinations at Xiaoyu, who used his arms as a shield over his face.  One punch landed directly against Xiaoyu’s arm forcing his forearm into his face.  The force of the blow sent Xiaoyu stumbling backward but he stayed on his feet.  Xiaoyu tried to recover quickly, but the drone immediately covered the space between them.  He tried to overwhelm Xiaoyu with another series of punches.  Xiaoyu instinctively raised his arms in front of his face as a cage.  As his arms absorbed punch after punch, his mind went into overdrive.  With an idea in place, he started to back up to draw the boy even closer.  Realizing his punches weren’t delivering maximum effect the boy hit Xiaoyu with a right hook that circumvented his arm-cage.  The right hook hit Xiaoyu square in the bottom of his left jaw and sent him sideways in a wobbly motion.  The idea in Xiaoyu’s mind overrode the pain in his face.  Xiaoyu tilted his head down as if riddling from the pain of the blow.  As the drone came in to close it out, Xiaoyu charged at his waist.  Wrapping his arms around the drone’s waist, Xiaoyu stretched his left foot behind the boy and twisted both their bodies around, causing them both to lose balance.  Xiaoyu tucked his head into the drone’s gut, which felt like a bowling ball when the boy’s body hit the floor. 

              The drone coughed out the wind, forced up by the impact.  Xiaoyu kept his head low against the boy’s body, biting deep into his mouthpiece.  While the drone was still feeling the impact of the fall, Xiaoyu hit him with a hammer fist to the left cheek.  The drone had forgotten he was in a fight.  He began flaying his arms like a bee on its back.  Xiaoyu kept his teeth tight and his chin poked into the drone’s stomach.  The drone started to slap him on the head while wrapping his legs around Xiaoyu’s body.  Xiaoyu reformed his arm cage to protect his head.  He realized putting the boy on the floor, took away his ability to kick, but it wasn’t an absolute advantage.  The drone now had his legs locked around Xiaoyu while slapping him in the head.  The drone’s hits were an annoyance if anything, but Xiaoyu couldn’t think of what to do.  His heart began to beat faster as the drone slapped his head.  Xiaoyu’s heart began to speak so loud he couldn’t hear his own thoughts.  His heart demanded brutal violence over strategy.  Without thinking, Xiaoyu locked his hands together to form a mace.  No longer using his arm-cage a few of the drone’s hits landed on Xiaoyu’s face.  Xiaoyu raised his arms high and pushed off the floor with his legs to leverage his body.  Xiaoyu brought his mace down hard on the drone’s face.  The blow angered the drone making Xiaoyu quickly recover his arm-cage.  The arm-cage absorbed the drone’s hits for only seconds before Xiaoyu exploded out of the cage and hit the drone in the jaw with a mini right hook.  Xiaoyu could feel the drone’s legs loosen their grip.  He head-butted the drone in the sternum as he rose to his feet.  Xiaoyu stepped on the drone’s stomach then on his face before ending up on solid ground.  Xiaoyu used his solid footing to launch an assault on the drone’s head with his feet.  He kicked the drone in the cheek, breaking the bone.  The pain forced the drone to cover his head with his hands.  His head and hands got kicked.  It was clear the drone wasn’t in the same condition he once was, but Xiaoyu didn’t know when the fight would be over.  He kept kicking the drone in the head.  The drone tried to get on his feet and run in the opposite direction—away from Xiaoyu.  Xiaoyu pushed him hard in the back felling him on his knees.  Xiaoyu stomped on the drone’s left ankle, a warden punishing his prisoner for attempted escape.  The drone’s ankle flattened in an awkward direction.  A small noise came followed by the drone’s shriek.  Something gave—a bone, a ligament or a tendon.  Xiaoyu jumped on the drone’s butt before dropping to his knees on his back.  He grabbed the drone’s head and forced it down to begin a series of hard blows to the base of the drone’s skull at the neck.  This was one technique, despite so many others, that Xiaoyu had learned from his master.  After the fifth blow to the back of his skull, the drone was unconscious.  Xiaoyu realized he could do more harm to an unconscious drone.  He rose to his feet to start another series of kicks to the drone’s head.  The Flyers and the Moons alike were surprised by Xiaoyu’s willingness to assail an unconscious opponent.  To Xiaoyu an opponent was an opponent, conscious or not. 

              A car horn sounded that drowned out the sound of the first kick to the unconscious drone.  Xiaoyu understood it was time for him to stop.  He stood over his opponent not knowing what to do.  Xiaoyu wasn’t familiar with procedure.  For him, there could be another horn or another opponent.  If there was a second boy waiting in one of the
Mercedes
cars, Xiaoyu wanted the boy to see him standing over his opponent.  He wanted the image burnt into the back of the boy’s mind.  There was no other boy for Xiaoyu to fight.  If there were, the Flyers wouldn’t have fought him against Xiaoyu.  The Flyers didn’t know much about Xiaoyu.  But they knew he had a deep understanding of damage and that was all they needed to know about him, that and his adaptability.

              All formalities were taken.  The large man approached Master Song with extended hand.   The two men shook hands much like they had before the fight.  Two medium-sized men from the Flyers hoisted the drone by his arms and legs carrying him back to the
Mercedes
he came from.  Flyers and Moons met each other halfway to shake hands and exchange words.  Uncle Woo didn’t move.  His counterpart from the Flyers was absent so he only shook hands with those who came to him—most Flyers did.  Xiaoyu looked at Master Song, who gave him a slight smirk.  The Flyers made awkward noises as they piled into their black cars.  The fight left them in an awkward position.  The boy, the drone, would need extensive medical treatment but they didn’t know if it was worth the investment.  He was worth a lot when he could carry his own weight, but they didn’t think they would recoup their investment if they paid to fix him.  They received a hint as they filed out of the garage.  The oil-soaked image of the towering Kowloon East Medical Centre reflected on the black exterior of the
Mercedes
cars as the Flyers drove away.  As was tradition, the losers left first.

              The Moons stayed and had cigarettes.  A man went to the back of the
Mercedes
Uncle Woo stood in front of.  He popped the trunk and returned seconds later with a wooden box.  Xiaoyu watched as the Moons’ senior members levied the box for cigars.  They were noticeably loud with the Flyers gone and the mood lightened as they laughed and joked, puffing on
Montecristos
.  If he hadn’t realized it before, Xiaoyu understood the Moons were a tobacco culture.  Xiaoyu stood near Master Song, who had nothing to say, at least, not in front of the Moons.  Time passed and the Moons puffed away before one broke the huddle and walked toward Xiaoyu, it was Uncle Woo. 

              “
How about celebrating with a good meal
?” asked Uncle Woo, “
You hungry
?”

              “
Yes
,” said Xiaoyu.

              “
What about you Mr. Song
?” asked Uncle Woo.

              “
If you pick the restaurant
,” said Master Song, “
He knows all the great places in Hong Kong
.”

              “
My father always said you can do everything with good food in your stomach, without it you’ll do anything
,” said Uncle Woo.

              “
I believe him
,” said Master Song.

              “
Just follow us out
,” said Uncle Woo.

The
Mynah Prime Palace
had no connection to the Triads other than being Uncle Woo’s favorite place to eat.  Uncle Woo was so fond of the restaurant that he was a frequent visitor, even though the restaurant was in Mong Kok, the Golden Masters’ territory.  The restaurant did good business but the Triads couldn’t have such a restaurant because the food ingredients and overhead were too costly.  The restaurant had a
Peking Duck with Lemongrass Sauce
that satisfied every time.  It also had a wide assortment of seafood and a chef who specialized in all types of seafood.  Uncle Woo often bragged the chef was a cousin of his, which had been true at some point in time.  Uncle Woo insisted Xiaoyu sit by him and he took time explaining the best dishes to Xiaoyu and how they were prepared.  Uncle Woo had decided early that he would develop a sense of culture to hide his smuggler beginnings.  This deepened the relationship between him and Mr. Cheung.  Mr. Cheung knew he had started out as a young man from wide-open country in Guangdong, who ended up driving a boat around the waters of Hong Kong.  Although Uncle Woo had become cultured over decades in Hong Kong, Mr. Cheung knew he had simple origins and was always more comfortable keeping things simple.  Uncle Woo had Mr. Cheung remind him often.  

Like Uncle Woo, Xiaoyu had learned to navigate muddy waters.  The two took to each other immediately.  Xiaoyu was also from a small rural place, but had learned to adapt to a big city.

“
Which one do you like the best
?” Xiaoyu asked.

“
That one there
,” Uncle Woo pointed to the
Peking Duck with Lemongrass Sauce
.

“
Good enough for you, good enough for me
,” said Xiaoyu causing Uncle Woo to smile.

“
Two ducks with lemon sauce for right here and here
,” said Uncle Woo to Mr. Cheung’s chubby driver, designated to put in the table’s order.  Xiaoyu spent much of his time telling Uncle Woo about himself and eating duck.  Uncle Woo was genuinely interested.  Over the meal, it was decide that Xiaoyu and Master Song would continue to train at the warehouse but Xiaoyu would no longer live there.   He would get his own hotel room again.  Master Song would pick him up mornings and drop him off evenings.  It was also decided that he should regularly spar against other boys at a local gym.  They solicited suggestions about how to hide his tattoo.  They decided he would have to wear long sleeves when training with other boys.  Uncle Woo was noticeably excited; he had only met one other Jade Soldier in his lifetime and it wasn’t for the Moons.  He knew the last time the Moons had one, but it was decades earlier before he was high-ranking.  He would never have been in the same room with the Dragon Head in his early days, and Jade Soldiers guarded Dragon Heads.  He spent his years as Dragon Head trying to make the Moons more horizontal and less hierarchical.  There was one other thing decided at the table and it frustrated Xiaoyu.  Uncle Woo considered himself too old to need much protection, especially by the time Xiaoyu finished his eight years.  It was decided he would serve as the primary protector of Deni Tam, the Moons were looking toward the future.  But they didn’t tell Deni.