Adam
I arrived at a truly massive estate in the suburbs, paid the cab driver, didn't tip and approached the main gate. After pressing the communication button on the console, a voice, carrying a Chinese accent, coldly greeted me. "How may I help you, young man?"
"My name is Alex, Alex Jones. I came here to see the master of the house." I said, grinning like an idiot.
"I am sorry, there's no one in the guest book with that name, furthermore, I've been working here for decades and have never seen you before. Are you sure that you're at the right estate?"
"This is the Long estate, right?" I asked. "I am the illegitimate son of Long Oo."
Silence. "Let me check that with the master." Silence again. After five minutes or so, a different voice, shaky, but excited called me. "Alex, is… Is that really you?"
And that should be Jane - Alex's little sister. "Yeah, sis, it's me alright, or at the very least, what's left of me." This line sounds so cool, I can barely believe it, I sound like a valiant soldier that returned from war. Well, it somewhat fits with my cover story…
"... I'll open the gates, come to the house." The gates opened and I headed in. The place was truly massive - just the driveway stretched for more than half a mile, the gardens were filled with plants from all around the world, the pond had various, tasty looking, but probably not meant for eating fish and the house itself was a mixture of traditional Chinese with a dash of modern western architecture.
On the way to the house, I saw what I presumed to be Jane - a black haired girl with brilliant blue eyes - rushing towards me and I began running myself. When we finally met, she threw her arms around my neck and began sobbing. "It's you, it's really you, right, Alex? You've returned, I knew that you would, I never lost hope! For those two and a half years that you were away, I kept the hope that you'd return."
"Yes it's me… I lied through my teeth. I am finally home, but… Where's mom?" I asked.
Jane hugged me even tighter. After a few long moments, she finally broke the news that I already knew. "Mom… She's dead. Doctors don't know what happened, one day she was fine, the next… The next…" She began trembling.
I softly patted her head like a real brother would and tried to comfort her, but no matter how much I thought about what to say to someone that lost someone, nothing came to mind. What could you say to someone that has lost someone? What would comfort them? Finally, I landed on a two word answer. "I understand."
In this situation when I'm playing Alex - someone that was close to the deceased as well, I am the only person that can truly say that I understand what the other is feeling now, their pain, the suffering and the hopelessness. The ever present question of 'what could have I done differently to prevent this?'
After an uncomfortable while, Jane stopped crying. "Lets go inside, you must be hungry, you'll have to tell me everything that happened while you were away." She said. We entered the mansion where we were immediately surrounded by a few rich brats - a man - around 20 and a girl that looked to be 14 - Alex's half siblings - Calvin Long - the elder and Maria Long - the younger.
"You know as well as us that you're not allowed to bring any friends home, Jane." Calvin said. "Send this beggar home before he dirties the floor.
Jane tried to protest. "He's not a friend but a…"
"It doesn't matter whether he's your friend or boyfriend, he has to go. You should be happy that our prestigious family even took you in when you had nowhere to go. Unless…" Maria said with a smile. "Unless you wish to move out."
Maria, huh? What a poorly fighting name for a girl like that. I thought.
"Listen, he's Alex - my brother Alex that went missing more than two years ago, he's family." Jane pleaded.
"Even if he's the so-called Alex, you have no right to speak of us as family." Calvin sneered. "We do not associate with mixed-breed bastards."
It seems that all the shouting attracted someone of a bit higher rank, because the master of the house - the great and powerful old hag of a grandmother of Alex came down herself to see what all the ruckus was about.
Jane began pleading my case immediately. "Matriarch, this is Alex Jones - my brother - the one that went missing with his entire class more than two years ago. He's back now, please let him stay." Alex you bastard, you had such a good little sister all along? Lucky dog…
"Humph, why would I take in a runaway like him, he might steal something and run away again."
"He didn't run away, he went missing with almost 60 other people." Jane protested.
"Humph, how could 60 people simply go missing? There must be something fishy about it and I bet that that bastard has something to do with it." Long Hua scoffed.
"That can't be." Jane turned to me. "Alex tell them what happened."
It's my time to shine. I sighed. "Well, my memory is a bit fuzzy…"
"Don't listen to him, grandma." Maria said. "He's definitely lying."
"I just started, what makes you think that I am lying?" I asked.
"You're a bastard, all bastards lie!"
"Sound logic, but could I maybe finish my story before you decide that I'm lying?"
"NO!"
"Wow, tough crowd…"
"Are you mocking me?!" The little girl asked.
"Not at all, just stating the facts." I answered. "How am I supposed to explain myself without explaining myself?"
"There's no need, you'd just lie anyway!"
This girl is really getting on my nerves. I know that she's insulting Alex and not me, but technically I'm also a bastard. It seems that this family is indeed destined to fall. Keep up the smile, Adam, that stupid smile is the best characteristic of Alex, if it breaks, the mission is done for.
Sometimes those two brain cells that are bouncing in my skull accidentally meet and when that happens, an idea is formed. "Your Long family is a family with deep martial art roots, right?" I asked the matriarch.
"What does that have to do with this situation?"
"Martial arts isn't something that can be mastered in two years under normal circumstances, am I correct?"
"What are you getting at?" The old hag asked intrigued.
"If I showed you what I went through while I was away through a fight, would that be believable?"
"And what did you go through to warrant such confidence in your martial arts, boy?" The hag asked.
"Living on the front lines as a soldier, when everyday you see nothing but war, blood and death, you have no other way to survive, but to learn to fight." I said, silence followed my words, Jane gave me a very concerned look, as if trying to figure out whether I was lying to show off or actually went through hell.
Laugh filled the hall. "What, are you trying to act like some battle hardened soldier or something?" Calvin asked. "I thought that someone of your age would have already grown out of those silly fantasies."
"Why don't you try me then?" I challenged. "You wouldn't be scared of some rookie with barely two years of training, would you?"
This caught Calvin's attention. "Fine, you asked for it, let's do this." He turned to the hag. "Don't worry, grandma, I'll teach this phony a lesson for acting tough and insulin martial arts and then we can just throw him out."
The hag smiled maliciously. "Good."
We all walked outside on the lawn, when Jane caught my hand and dragged my ear towards her face. "I can see that you're confident, but, over the time that you've been away, Calvin has won numerous kung fu tournaments all over the state, he's far stronger than he looks."
I patted her head. "There's no need to worry, I am even stronger, there's no one and nothing in this world that could be considered my opponent." I could get used to the role of a cool older brother.
Jane shoved my hand back. "I am serious, he's strong and vicious, be careful."
Alex, you bastard, you really were a lucky guy.
"If you two are about done blabbing, let's begin!" Calvin shouted, taking off his top and revealing a finely chiseled body, then taking a defensive stance.
"Yeah, let's go." I answered, approaching him. The Long family practices the 'dragon' style of kung fu, because Long means dragon in Chinese - that's how reasonable people chose what to train in. It incorporates a wide range of techniques ranging from punches to kicks, sweeps, locks and takedowns and Calvin Long specializes in counters.
I wonder what would humiliate him more - me breaking through his counter or me countering better then him? I locked eyes with him, overall his stance was OK, but his chin was up, revealing his vulnerable neck. Even in a fight, the guy still has to look down on his opponent… That's my thing.
I walked up into striking range, no stance, wide open, but he didn't strike. This guy really likes to counter, huh? Fine, let's see you take this. In a flash, my fist connected with the guy's chest, sending him flying, surprising everyone around us.
He fell and stayed down, but not because of pain or because he was out, but because of the fact that he was sent flying by someone that he thought to be inferior. Calvin stood up, this time looking serious and took up the same stance as before, this time with his jaw firmly tucked in.
I once again approached, no stance, full of openings. Same strike, same outcome. He was on the ground again. He stood up again and went flying again, again and again until it clicked in his head that there was no way for him to counter my punches.
This time, when I walked up, no stance, full of openings, he was the one to attack with a straight. I parried the punch with my right hand, caught his hand with my left and twisted my body to put pressure on his extended elbow, then pressed down. He screamed in pain - music to my ears.
"Are you ready to give up?" I asked.
"Fuck you!" He answered. Then I pressed harder, more screams.
"How about now?" Go screw yourself!" More pressure, more screams.
"Maybe now?"
"Grandma, Get this bastard off of meeeeee!" I pressed even more when I heard the term 'bastard'.
"That's enough!" The hag shouted. "Let him go!" I obliged. "That was an illegal move you just did, so it doesn't count as a victory for you." The hag said to me.
Illegal move? That move is one of the cornerstones of the dragon style though.
I smiled. "Fine, I won't use that move again." This seemed to please the two fools. In the next four or five bouts, I perfectly executed different, legit, dragon style counters, just for the hag to tell me that they all are against the rules. Finally, I was given one last chance, if I did something illegal, I'd lose by default. So I did what I do best - something humanly impossible. I caught the fist flying towards my face with one hand and simply squeezed the piss out of the guy.
Believe it or not, that move was also deemed to be illegal, so I lost by default and the guy that I bashed around for a solid half an hour, invigorated by the win, said this to me. "Next time you won't be so lucky."
I turned to the hag. "I believe that I demonstrated my strength, while my moves might not adhere to the standard tournament rules, but you can't deny that they were executed masterfully."
"Cheap tricks, nothing more!" Calvin shouted. "If I really wanted to, I would have beaten you!"
I smiled. "I have no doubt, after all I've only been training for mere two years, while you've been trained from as early as you could stand." This seemed to infuriate Calvin.
He was about to say something, but the hag stopped him. "While your skills are nowhere near our family's, they are acceptable. I'll allow you to stay here until you're able to stand on your own two feet. But…" She added. "It won't be free, just like your sister, you'll have to work for it."
"And my job will be?"
She turned around and began walking away. "Teaching your unsophisticated, unrefined, crude and illegal techniques, so that our family's disciples would be able to learn how to fight against them."
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