In School Suspension [JENY]

[WONG CHENLEI]

Night fell early in Providence.

The sky was a dim, orange-pink haze when Wong was let out of school; by the time he made it back to the apartment it had shaded decisively into a deepening purple. Streetlight blotted out the stars, white and copper fluorescence complimenting the endless stream of cars and pedestrians sloughing through city's congested roadwork. There was a chill in the air, not a true, winter cold, merely a cutting wind and the lingering suspicion that a storm was on the way.

It couldn't have been later than six: his Sis wouldn't be back for some time. He should be inside, preparing supper. Preparing his excuses. His apologies.

Wong wordlessly spun his key ring around his index finger, as he stared at the ugly, brown and redbrick edifice that was his home and several other families besides. An inexplicably giant column that read RISING SUN in blocky white capitals glared at him from up above, as if silently reproving his hesitation. He flipped it off, just in case.

Somehow, the idea of entering seemed like it would make it official. He had, not to put to delicate a note on it, fucked up. Fucked Up, even. In School Suspension, Saturday detention, permanent note on his record, the possibility of expulsion if he kept this behavior up. All things considered, not quite the side he wanted to show his sister. Or anyone, really. Poor impulse control was not classy. It was just… juvenile.

And he couldn’t even figure out why he had done it either. It had seemed like the same old social barbs, a few trying nicknames that meant nothing to him, had suddenly transmuted into becoming completely insupportable. And he had… acted. Thrown the first punch and the rest of it was a story that could be read in the lumps and crisscrossed red scratches across his arms.

His face, of course, was fine.

The same could not be said for Daniel and Matt who would be sporting quite a pretty set of racoon eyes for the foreseeable future. The thought didn’t make him smile, just feel more guilty. There was really no excuse for picking on the weak, even if there were extenuating circumstances.

Wong scratched his head. Scuffed the toe of his shoes on the curb. Sighed.

Might as well head in.

[/justify]

[JENY CHENLEI]

There she was, up on a high skyscraper, somewhere in New York, standing still as her SNIPERKIND was out; trained on the spot her target should stop at. Learning how to balance a conversation and a hit was totally not an easy task, but she had to learn to train to multitask that way. But Jeny did speak truth, if she needed to stop this life for her brother, she would gladly take someone else up on the mantle like her past mentor did.

To think that was only a short while ago, now green eyes looked down at passing scenery from the small plane, the sun was setting and her payment was in her account. It wasn’t the easiest life to live but you gotta live somehow, especially being the older counterpart Jeny wished to shower Wong with love. But sadly, with today’s learning, this is gonna be tough love. She hadn’t quite thought up of what punishment would be brought down on the boy, considering the fact that he was now 16. The first thought that sprung up in her mind was taking away his computer, ever since getting to America he had spent most of his time on that darn thing. Actually thinking about it, she has, too, both for private and fun measures.

Walking through the terminals and through the airport, she felt conflicted; Wong had become so angry since moving into the states. It wasn’t an easy life both were easy on either of them but she really wanted him to talk to her yet she still wanted them to have the fun relationship that they’ve working on for like ever or so it felt to her. Stepping into a cab, she watched the scenery of Providence pass by, she hoped coming to a small place that was still big enough for Wong would keep him happy, her job actually brought her hear, politics and all, it keeps her busy.

The cab stopped where a bunch of apartments, she paid the driver before she stepped out, the night air was crisp. Jeny was scared to walk into her home and see the damaged boy, if there were any injuries at all. Looking up at the moon, it was about nine, she checked a watch she kept on her when she would go out. He would still be awake, probably sitting in the living room, shame in his eyes. She hissed in anger, throwing her head back; this needed to be done and done right now. She slowly made it for the door, opening the door and stepping through ready to make a scene if necessary.

[WONG CHENLEI]

Entry into the building was a lot less dramatic than Wong anticipated. One foot in, and then the other, and the door swinging shut behind him while he fumbled with the keys to room 288.

All in all, kind of anti-climatic.

Wong shook his head, amused: what had he expected? That a meteor would fall on the apartment building and squish him flat?

Pssssh. How melodramatic and teenage.

Taking the stairs, he nodded politely to Mrs. Morales, as she walked down, making it to his room in good time.

The door opened with a tinkling of wind chimes. Kind of garish, but for some reason his Sis had bought it. Said it was good not to be surprised by visitors or something of the sort.

Like usual, it was dark inside. The days his Sis was around were vanishingly small, long hours, blah blah. In Providence, he sure as heck wasn't the only one: with two in five kids under the poverty line, their little family was doing pretty darn well for itself.

All things considered, excellent, really.

Wong flicked the lights on, revealing a spotless, sparsely furnished home. A vase or two with Chinese characters were the only conceits they had kept as to their country of origin, the rest might have come out of an IKEA catalog. Parts of it probably had, in fact.

Wong kicked his shoes off, mentally ticking off what he needed to do.

Homework, supper, snack for his sis. Keep it simple.

________________

The wok was on fire.

Wong cursed every half-competent, swindling electrician as he danced around on the flaming kitchen utensil, incipient panic on the verge of making him attack it with the fire extinguisher: he'd been promised that that stove was perfectly fine! Perfectly fine stoves did not set pots and pans on fire at a low heat, in fact, he was pretty sure that stoves did not set pots and pans on fire at high heat either. Sort of outside their designated specs.

All he wanted was a gigantic bowl of fried rice, was that really so much to ask?

His eyes switched from the fire alarm, to the still flaming pan. Three, two -

Tossing the pan into the sink where it landed with a hiss of steaming metal, he frantically waved at the fire alarm with a rice-encrusted wooden ladle, praying it wouldn't go off-

It didn't.

But by the sound of the tinkling chimes, his Sis was back.

He swallowed thickly.

Um.

"Welcome home," he said, a bit meekly, waving the wooden ladle in welcome. "Um, give me a sec."

[/justify]

[JENY CHENLEI]

Ah, the lovely sound of the chimes she bought, home sweet home. The lights were on and the wafer of food could be smelt coming from their small kitchen; no wait, was this burnt food. Take off her shoes, Jeny narrowed her eyes, this boy better not be setting a fire, she slowly stalked to the kitchen and looked at the scene.

A wary smile crossed her face, after a long day at the office, heh; it was nice to come back to this. “Uhhuh, just take your time.” She went to the living room, taking off her jacket and shimming out of it, laying it on the couch.

Once more she made her way back to the kitchen. Smoke lightly floated around the room; Jeny crossed her arms and calmly looked around nodding slowly before rubbing her forehead. “Well you do know you can eat out.” She slightly sighed, making it for a wall and leaning back on it.

She rested her arms to her side once more. It was time.

“So, what punishment did the school issue for you?” Her green eyes laid on him, coolly calculating as if he were her victim, of course at least she wouldn’t shoot him; Jeny would never have the courage to any harm to him.

Thinking about it, this wasn’t the way that she wanted to end her day or during her mission, thankfully everything smoothed out right before the pull of the trigger or else she might not have been back at this moment.

[WONG CHENLEI]

Wong nodded gratefully, before re-entering the kitchen. The fire alarm had failed to go off which was one good thing, his sister had caught him at an awkward culinary moment which was less of a good thing.

Still, she was back home, which was awesome. Wong always had the strange, lingering sentiment that one day she'd simply disappear, and it'd be all his fault. The feeling was weirdly intractable, more like a premonition than a mere doubt. It hurt is what it did, almost as if it had already happened, as if it were written in the stars, or something equally poetic.

When he was younger he had begged and pleaded for her not to leave. He still wanted to, but he was grown-up and that sort of behavior was no longer proper.

"Well you do know you can eat out.”

Wong started, freezing up. His neck gained a kink as he refused to let it whip around. Slowly he relaxed, shaking his head ruefully. She had snuck up on him again.

"You surprised me," he admitted, returning to the dish. He allowed himself a quarter-turn, a more natural one. Her nose was wrinkling at the smell. "Don't worry, it's totally salvageable. Probably even edible!"

The joke rang a bit hollow, given the circumstances, but he had to try.

Apparently she knew it too. Her next question cut straight to the bone.

"In school suspension," he replied, returning to the dish. He sighed, feeling mulish. "Ten days."

[/justify]

[JENY CHENLEI]

Wong was deep in thought once she reentered into the room. Jeny barked out a laugh; sometimes she forgot she sneaked around, it was for her own good, it was protection, if you had the upper hand in a battle then you don’t die. If Wong was into fighting as much as she was, Jeny had planned on making him her protégée, alas Wong only wished for a simple life and Jeny respected that.

But then it seemed like she had kept her second life a very well kept secret, before she would go on her missions, which for a young girl lasted quite a while, he begged her not to go, his face going red, it was adorable. Of course, Jeny kept a straight face before finally leaving their home, crying herself as her master reprimanding her for crying.

“I’m sorry.” A large smile was on her face, her eyes shown amusement. “I should learn to stop doing that to you. You might suffer from a heart attack, eh?” She tilted her head to the side; her smile grew largely that she needed to close her eyes.

She smile then flattened into a straight line, a playful one at that. “Well, if you believe that, then fine.” She sighed and shrugged. “I think I’ll get something to go as much as I appreciate your help.” She smiled lightly up to him.

“Wow, ten days.” She crossed her arms once more, putting a hand under her chin. “You do know I’m your sister.” Jeny sighed, looking down at the cheap luminous tile, “And we don’t have parents, I am your guardian now. This requires me to have a ‘home punishment’, as well.” She quoted her words, using her fingers.

“I’m thinking I’m going to have to take away your computer privileges, seeing how you like being on it so much. And it’ll be for the ten days, additionally.” She rubbed the back of her neck pressing her lips together. The deed has been done but it broke her heart having to say that. Being in an area that doesn’t have much to off a kid his age, the computer was like a life line for both of them.

[WONG CHENLEI]

Wong nodded miserably, he had expected a punishment of some sort to be meted out, revoking computer privileges wasn't exactly terrible, he had never really been the sort to hang out in front of the screen all day, technology had the bad habit of fizzling around him at inconvenient moments. His sis thought he used it mostly because she was home late and at that point there wasn't exactly much else to do.

Still, he had promised his friends...

He went back to stirring the rice, taking the time to consider how he would word the request. He wasn't trying to be manipulative, exactly - sheesh, that sounded conceited. Even in his head. Manipulate his Sis? He'd have better luck getting the secret service to let him in on the private details of the president or something. Sis was a locked book and everything.

Er, closed book. Darn metaphors. He was always mixing them up.

He sighed.

"Can I send a quick e-mail to my friends? I promised them I'd be playing a game with them, guess I'll just do it a bit later or something."

[/justify]

[JENY CHENLEI]

Oh that nod, how she wanted to go over and hug him, but he needed to know that he was being punished and her decision was final. Dang she had a lot of power in her hands now that she realized it; ok now no corruption, she’s done well all these years.

He went back to the rice, salvaging whatever he could and Jeny moved from the wall and walked over to the table and sat down. Looking at it, it was tiny and only meant for two people. She rested an elbow on the table and her chin into the palm of her hand, reassuring herself she had done the right thing. Jeny was gone and all of this had to happen, Jeny slowly tapped her foot in thought and gnawed on her bottom lip. Happy and sad, worst combination ever.

Jeny’s eyes flickered up when Wong sighed; did h want something? Her foot tapping stopped but she still bit off a little bit of skin from her lip. It wasn’t a bad request, he did need to let people he was going to be out for a while and it wouldn’t kill either one of them, or at least to the knowledge that she had now and not of the future. In return she sighed back, but hers was more on the thoughtful side, she gave a shrug. She trusted him to do something right and if she felt he wouldn’t have well let’s say shit would hit the fan then.

“Yeah, you can tell them you’re going away. I don’t want them to worry about you.” Jeny smiled lightly, releasing her chin from her hand and resting it lightly on top of her other arm.

[WONG CHENLEI]

Wong breathed a sigh of relief. It'd be terrible to Tori with whom he had proposed the game, and to Pete too he supposed, and the rest of their friends, of course, if he simply dropped off the grid. But his Sis, like usual, was an able negotiator, and this way, even if everyone wasn't happy, they would at least be mollified to a certain extent.

"Thank you," he told her. The stir-fried rice had been done for a while, he carefully emptied it out into the bowl, trying to look innocent. "This is probably an impolitic moment to mention it, but maybe after my punishment has been exhausted, I could talk about a game we were planning to pl-"

The lights, at that precise instant, decided to die. The ceiling fan stopped whirring, the buzz and hum of a dozen different background appliances as well. Wong blinked.

"Power outage," he noted unnecessarily.

[/justify]

[JENY CHENLEI]

That made him happy, she kept her smile. She nodded a little, Jeny wasn’t a pushover but she knew when something was good for another person, but her gullibility on the other hand was a little bit of her weakness, but she wouldn’t tell anyone that.

Jeny leaned back in her chair now, listening to another proposal of her brother. How interesting, a game he says. Just as he was about to finish his request the lights flickered out, leaving them both in the dark. Jeny closed her eyes lightly letting them readjust before opening them; she grunted in agreement that this was of course a power outage.

A shiver went down her back, almost as if something was hiding in the background, watching and waiting for them to make a move. Jeny stood up slowly, her heart pounded and her lips pressed together.

She looked up at the ceiling and then to the door. “Hey, think you can go to the neighbors for me? I think our batteries in the flashlight went out a while back and they might have some.” Jeny looked over at the silhouette of Wong before looking around the room. If one looked close enough, they could see a dark figure in the background someone just like her, a trained assassin.

And this was their perfect time to strike.

[WONG CHENLEI]

Wong nodded, albeit confusedly. He was sure they had bought fresh batteries just a little over a month ago. Still, their flashlights required the big honking ones, not the AAs. They were proper flashlights after all, not the little penlights that you could attach to keychains whose refulgence was little better than the glare from a blinking LED display.

Still, there was something in her voice that told him this wasn't the time to argue. Not quite panic, or fear, more like a controlled adrenaline rush. His night vision was beginning to adapt, he could at least make it into the hallway unhindered. He was supposed to be something of a gymnast after all.

"You mean the Morales?" he asked, hands groping for a solid surface. He found a wall and followed it, footsteps padding into relative silence. It seemed like he could hear each of his breaths. The dark was making him paranoid, there was nothing to fear, right? Sheesh.

He grabbed the flashlight from the drawer. As advertised, it did all of nothing when he clicked it on.

"I'll be back soon," he promised, making his way towards the door.

[/justify]

[JENY CHENLEI]

Jeny started biting her lip, the sooner Wong would get out the sooner he would be safe from the unseen danger. She stood up slowly, getting out of the chair’s way and sliding it so she wouldn’t trip over it. Her green eyes flickered around and narrowed, now there seemed to be more, damn these guys were good, no amateurs here tonight.

“Oh, yes, the Morales are correct.” She smiled with a nod, but stopped surely knowing Wong couldn’t see it. Ok, it didn’t matter to her who he went to, but she did need him to know that there were men in her waiting to take her down.

It seemed like Wong was missing all of the men or these men were avoiding him, well that made her job easier they were here for her and only her or so she hoped deep down inside.

“Ok, we’re alone, if you want to come out of your hiding place.” Jeny crossed her arms in a huff; three men came out, each in dark clothing each taking their own spot in the small kitchen.

”Very humble home.” The first one she spotted spoke, the leader possibly.

“Mmhm, gotta keep my brother in the normal side of life.” Jeny started to play with a strand of hair.

The man chuckled before continuing. ”Mr. Dallas has a fine on your head.” Jeny grunted, well the time would have had to come sooner than later, she’s been on this job for too long. ”And we’re here to take you to him.”

“He wants me alive? Well I’m shocked now.” Jeny scoffed a smile swept her face, her hand ready to get out her strife specibus, a battle would be happening tonight. Well wasn’t that great were her thoughts. “Can we do this another time? I’m having family time and I just grounded my brother.”

”You can ground your brother?”

“Well, yeah if you’re the only family he has.” Jeny rubbed the back of her neck.

There was silence in the room, a cowboy showdown was happening, each calculating what each would do. Maybe bringing up she had a brother wasn’t her smartest idea but there was no time in getting mad at that, she would take them down in the heart beat before they would touch them.

Suddenly one of them men jumped in front of her and punched her in the face sending her flying shortly. Jeny didn’t realize what had happened till she saw that she was on the ground. “Damn, that was a good punch.” She jumped back up onto her feet and jumped for the man who punched her sending him flying back and onto the still hot stove. The man screamed the other two then made their way for her.

Jeny brought her HOOKSWRDKIND, both backed up giving her enough room to run into the living room. Lights from the outside streamed into the room, letting her see the furniture.

”You should make this easier on you and your brother.” She man brought out his KEYKIND, Jeny’s head jerked back, wait that was a gun what was she thinking.

“Over my dead body.” She smirked up to the two men.

”My dear, we can make the easy for you.”

“Yeah I know my cheek is still throbbing.” She headed for the leader of this group; he jerked her by her upper arm and swung her until her body once more hit a wall. The breath from her body left her, well this wasn’t her night and it was getting worse.

Deep down she only hoped her brother wouldn’t come into this.

[WONG CHENLEI]

Wong opened the door, triumphant, “Sis, the Morales didn’t have a spare battery, but they had a crank-up flashlight that -”

There was a moment, just a hair's breadth, of stunned silence all around.

It was interrupted as the flashlight clattered on the ground, and as if time had gotten a signal to hit fast forward instead of play, everything sped up: Wong heard the sharp retort of a gun, the muzzle flash blinding him even as he leapt aside, a neat, precise salvo of shots thundering over his head, punching a trio of holes through the wall where his torso had been just a second before.

Saberkind was already in his hand when he got up from his roll, long childhood of practice making up for the static of blind, panicked possibilities mingling in his head.

Thieves? Murderers? Kidnappers? Had they HIT his sis? What were they-

Shotgunkind was in his face - how many people were there?? - panic made him throw his blade, an unorthodox move that landed with a spray of blood as it glanced off the knuckles of the man’s hand. Another boom went off as the bandit clutched the trigger in reflexive pain, aim wide, shot chewing a hole through the upholstery even as the man swore an abortive, bloody ‘motherfuc-’.

Wong was already in motion, high kick nailing the psycho in the face, feeling teeth crunch, even as his brain screamed ‘too showy’-

He whirled towards his Sis-

And screamed as something tore into his knee. His leg buckled as he fell, unable to support his weight.

Shot – he’d been shot! Clamping his teeth down he whimpered in pain, hands scuttling for the dropped shotgun.

“I’d keep my hands to myself if I were you, kiddo.”

Wong turned, pain-blurred vision tracking the man with the gun. He was still on the other side of the room, there was a long gash over his eye, presumably where Sis had cut him, during their fight. It had all happened so fast-

The gun inched upward until it was level with his head.

“Now, dear, perhaps you’d be more amenable to a simple chat.” His voice had a weird affected drawl. “Mr. Dallas hates to be kept waiting. Or we could always-” the gun waved in Wong’s direction, “continue our conversation violenceways. I’m open to both options, y’see.” Malevolent eyes glinted in the darkness. “Personally I’m hoping you’ll pick the latter.”

[JENY CHENLEI]

Well, that was ironic. Her head whipped up from where she crumpled on the ground, dread filled her eyes and a small prayer to someone or something out there was. Gunshots then ran through the air, at first there were three then the sound of rolling had Wong been hit, everyone in the living room eyed the area, seeing the bright flashes of the bullets leaving their chamber.

Then a man screamed, which living with Wong for so many years it wasn’t him. Once more a gunshot struck through the air a curse was breathed out before finally the horrifying sound of breaking teeth sounded in the silent room; of course one learns not to flinch as much mundane sounds after being in the business.

But this moment went by so slowly, another piecing sound of the gun went off the, and Jeny saw her brother drop to his knees, he would probably go into shock because of that, he was grunting with. Jeny’s face shown shock but slowly wrath started to cross her face.

”Personally, I’m hoping you pick the latter.” Rook kept the gun steady with hands; the wound she gave him moments ago didn’t seem to affect him.

Her eyes narrowed dangerously, first thought was how did that other man get over there, but then again getting injured made you forget a lot was happening around.

”Of course, Mr. Dallas might not kill you.” The man purred, keeping his eyes on Jeny. ”He might put you in some position that’s more suitable for such a young girl. You must get tired of shooting people all time.” Rook looked over to Wong. ”And your brother over here must miss you when you go out for long missions, too.” Rook looked back to Jeny, who slowly got up, finally regaining her own ground. ”Ah, ah, ah. Remember who has a hostage.” Of course, Jeny already know what would happen if she went for her weapons that were on the ground.

Guess there was always a first time when being the other side of the gun. This didn’t actually happen the first time, her HOOKSWRDKIND came from a man who almost loped her head off both were going for the same target, both needing the money; but Jeny was faster than this man, hi name escaped her, maybe if this passes by and no one dies then Jeny will research into the man.

“Fine then.” Jeny growled out, “I’ll go with you. Just don’t harm him.” Her voice wavered. Jeny needed to get both of them out and Wong needed to get medical attention. If she got Rook out of there and strike at the right moment then she could save her brother.

”Ah, that’s a good girl.” Rook seemed happy that Jeny was cooperating now. Jeny looked down at her brother and then back to the man, he walked over to Wong, grapping him by the cuff of his shirt.

”Wow, you a big boy.” He laughed, ”You sister here didn’t teach you a lot of basics huh?” Jeny gritted her teeth, how hard was it to keep a boy in the normality of life? Answer was that it could be hard.

“Keep your hands off of him!” Jeny screamed her hands tightened up. “You’re here just for me!” She stepped forward but stopped as the shotgun was dangerously close to the boys head.

”Well, I’ve gotta have a supremacy here. And I think he’ll do.” Rook smiled brightly, ”Now I know you’re injured but if you come nice and silently without a fight I could save your life.”

Jeny eyed the man and then looked to Wong, her teeth still gritted. “Listen to the nice man.” She strained out; so much power was going into not pouncing and beat the living shit out of the man. All Jeny knew is that she needed more space between all three of them.

[WONG CHENLEI]

Even as pain shut down most of his ability to think rationally, a piece of him focused on the conversation with a cold, callous clarity that should have alarmed him. Words floated above him, ignored as he zeroed in on the threats.

"-position that’s more suitable for such a young girl."

His eyes took in that leering gaze, the subtle, suggestive waggle of eyebrows, the automatic sneer that the gunman wore, he filtered them in and looked for a suitable match in his repertoire of human interaction.

A burst of primal anger nearly floored him, he could feel it claw at his brain, attempting to send him into a fugue of frothing, rabied violence. He staved it off, rage was useless here. All there was in that direction was doom. He had to go cold. Cold as ice. What was it his sister had said? A chance. No matter where, no matter when, there would always be a chance.

Just had to wait for it.

More words, the gunman liked to talk. An exploitable weakness. He listened with one ear, filing away the revelations for an after, should it exist. Later he would reflect on them, but right now they were immaterial. He was glad for the pain, in a way. At full thinking capacity he would have been useless, too distracted by his own brain.

But now, now he could feel doom's hand on his shoulder, and in response his horizons narrowed to the shallow pinprick of possibility.

He let himself be grabbed and hoisted, implacable strength forcing him up, nearly onto his wobbly leg.

The man uttered hollow promises of life.

Wong's gaze flickered to his sister. She couldn't act. Not with him in the way. He nodded slowly. The gunman smiled, revealing a silvery tooth, grasp relaxing a fraction.

In that moment, he lunged forward and clamped his mouth down on the gunman's wrist.

[/justify]