CHAPTER 80: 80

"Rather brave of you to come waltzing in here just like that," said Zhan, head cocked to one side and eyes gleaming in the shadows. "That, or stupid."

"What can you do to me?" asked Misha. "Cheungyi’s just outside."

"I could take you as a hostage, use you to bargain my way out."

Misha half nodded, half shrugged. "True, but I don’t think you will."

Zhan’s eyes narrowed. He was... honestly a little curious as to why this Misha wasn’t in the least fazed by his threat. The dragon had seen his power before and should know that even in this current situation, he could still do a lot of harm - the binding on his wrist only dampened his powers, it didn’t seal them.

"Why?"

"Because I’m going to make you an offer you can’t refuse," said Misha with much enthusiasm.

Zhan stared at him.

"Sorry," apologised Misha. "I’ve wanted to say that line for a while."

"If you’re just going to joke around, can you go joke around somewhere else?"

"I’m not joking. Promise." Misha cleared his throat. "Right now, Yeung Serng Yin is on her way to rescue Bran, and you know how powerful she is so she’s going to succeed. Once she finds him, you’re not going to have anything left to bargain with, so what I’m offering you, is a chance to get what you want."

"What do I want?" asked Zhan.

"I’m not entirely sure, so you’re going to have to tell me, but my guess is that it has to do with defeating or destroying something. That’s why you stole Bran’s sword."

"Morgan and them are more than capable of getting things done as long as I wait," said Zhan. "Why should I work with you instead?"

"Because you’re not really working with them."

The statement hung in the air. Zhan had assumed this guy was just some rich spoilt kid, all money no talent, but perhaps he was wrong.

"Go on," he said.

"From what I’ve seen, your official goal, the one you and Morgan and Artemis are aiming for, is capturing me, but the two times when you had the upper hand - once in the Under City and once in the flat in Kowloon City - instead of completing your job, you went after Bran’s sword - the first time; or you went after Bran demanding to know where the real sword is - the second time. That tells me that not only do you have your own goal, but your own goal is a higher priority to you than your job."

"And your guess about me wanting to destroy something?" asked Zhan.

"Your actions," replied Misha. "When you stole Bran’s sword, the first thing you did was test it out on the walls in the Under City, then when you broke the sword later, it became pretty obvious that you have a problem that it couldn’t solve."

"And what makes you think you can solve it?" This was the most important question.

"As long as what you’re trying to do isn’t immoral, or going to hurt anyone, the SSD will help you too."

Now that was not something Zhan had been expecting and it took him a few moments to process its implications. "The... SSD is willing to help me?" he finally asked.

"Yes."

Zhan’s eyes narrowed. "And your proof?"

He thought Misha would have to either stall or make something up, but the boy immediately pulled his phone out and turned it to show Zhan the video call that was currently going.

"That’s Xu Yidi," explained Misha. "He’s just outside. He’s the one who helped me get in here."

Zhan leaned forward a little, squinting to see the man on the other side of the screen. Yidi, seemingly taken unawares, looked around nervously then gave a shy wave.

Zhan couldn’t help giving a little wave back. There was something non-threatening about this Yidi that made it hard for him to keep his guard up.

Bah, to hell with it. He knew neither Morgan nor the others were going to come get him out of here, and they certainly wouldn’t be bargaining with Whale Toes. This meant that if he wanted to cut some kind of deal, he’d better do it quick while this Misha still thought he had value.

"Say I agree," said Zhan, "what then?"

Like he’d been expecting this response all along, Misha replied. "First, you explain your problem to me and Yidi and we go figure out if we really can help with your problem or not. Then, if we can, we start on it while you tell us about what we want to know."

"You realise you’re putting yourself on the backfoot doing things in that order," Zhan found himself saying.

Misha shrugged in response. "It’s not about trying to get an advantage, it’s about doing things right. I don’t want to promise you something then realise later that I can’t deliver."

The tone of the conversation reminded Zhan of one he’d had many, many years ago, one he thought he’d already forgotten and it hurt to remember it.

"There’s a cave," began Zhan, shifting to hide his discomfort, "in the cave is a slab of jade. I need to break it."

"What’s happens if you break it?" asked Yidi, his voice crackling a little over the speakers.

"I’ll tell you after you see if you can break it," replied Zhan. "Give me an inscription paper and ink and I’ll draw up a teleportation spell."

"I’d rather you told me how to cast the spell, if that’s alright," said Misha with a bright smile.

No, the kid wasn’t stupid. Zhan sighed and sat back against the wall. He could imagine about a dozen different ways this collaboration could go wrong, but right now, it wasn’t just his best option, it was his only option.

"Fine."

--

Bran stood sullenly in the lift, staring out the glass at the illusory city down below. From this angle he was able to recognise a few buildings, the IFC and Lippo Centre (two buildings local to the city) and a few non-local ones like the Shard. In fact there were quite a few buildings among the gleaming toothpicks that Bran was pretty sure he’d seen in London.

Not that he especially cared.

His latest escape attempt had been definitively foiled and all he had to show for it was the flimsy box cutter he had hidden up his sleeve.

"Cheer up," said Morgan, elbowing him a little. "We’re having breakfast."

Bran ignored him and moved a little away. It had naturally been Morgan who had nabbed him before he made it to the exit and the effects of the energy draining charm were still around. This had made it next to impossible for Bran to escape Morgan’s perfectly aimed snares.

Morgan sighed. The lift continued to speed downwards.

They were not alone in the small box. There were three others, two sciencey looking individuals in lab coats and another who looked like a stereotypical accountant. Bran guessed this last man was not an accountant and merely unfortunate.

One of the lab coated women turned to the not-accountant. "Have you double checked the files? I noticed there were some edits made this morning..."

Before the not-accountant could reply, the other lab coat intervened. "They’re all fine. I checked the files and the PPT right before heading down. Everything will be okay."

The first speaker nodded though she was clearly still worried.

Bran eyed the group, then glanced at Morgan. When they said ’ppt’ did they actually mean ’PowerPoint presentation’?

The lift slow and came to a stop and everything filed out.

Unlike the other floors Bran had been on up till now, this one looked the most grounded and normal with no fancy glass walls or fancy lights or anything like that. Instead, the walls were a sloppy, off-white paint job and the floor was a well marked up grey. If anything, it looked like some back area of a school gym.

Morgan stopped Bran by a door while the others continued onward.

"No breakfast?" asked Bran.

In response, Morgan opened the door to reveal a small but well stocked pantry. He grabbed a can of tuna and a block of cheese then held them out.

Bran raised an eyebrow but took them. Despite his attitude he was genuinely starving.

He teased open one end of the cheese wrapping and took a quick nibble. "What’s happening now?" he asked. If there was one food he missed from Pretan it was cheese.

"Now is the presentation," replied Morgan. He looked at his watch and Bran was suddenly struck by how normal the whole scene looked. Had this been only a few months ago, it would have been normal. How many times had he and Malcolm downed cans of various food while too busy to cook anything else?

"Why are you doing this?" Bran found himself asking in a small voice. He didn’t want to sound so weak and pathetic, but he couldn’t take it back now and if anything, it took Morgan by surprise.

The man didn’t reply for a few moments and finally looked away.

"If you knew you could create a better world for Misha, but in the process you’d make him hate you, would you do it?" he asked.

Bran stared at him, cheese forgotten. What did he mean by that? he wondered, btu before he could ask, a door opened a few metres away down the hall and a highly strung woman with a large headset on her head came out. She looked either way then spotted Morgan and Bran and gestured to them vigorously.

"Quick! It’s starting!"