| Fan Fiction |
by SilverDragon
Selina returned to the ballroom, finding Yi Xia in the centre of the room with Calvin once more by his side. He was conversing with a rather tall man in a black suit, who seemed to be in his mid forties. His hair was cropped short and he stood with one hand in his pocket, the other holding a wine glass in between his fingers. As Selina approached, Yi Xia sent her a dangerous glare before returning to continue talking with his guest. The exchange went unnoticed.
She bowed at Yi Xia once she had reached his side. “Please forgive me, Master Chen. I became preoccupied with checking that the night was progressing smoothly that I forgot to return to your side.”
Yi Xia waved off her apology. “Whatever. Now that you are here, I would like to introduce you to Superintendent Li Lang, head of the Special Investigations Unit. Li Lang; this is Selina Ren, my personal secretary.”
Li Lang and Selina exchanged a bow of their heads in greeting. “It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Miss Ren.”
“My pleasure as well, Superintendent Li Lang.” She peered at him with a cold indifference and smiling gently, all the while sizing him up. Yi Xia would require her to give an assessment of him later.
“Now, we were speaking of a rather tough case that your unit has been struggling on for a couple of years, weren’t we?” continued Yi Xia.
Li Lang smiled. “Ah yes, but I don’t wish to bore the lady with such terrifying tales of murder.”
Selina smiled up at Li Lang. “Please do not mind me; I am fine with such tales.”
“Very well,” nodded Li Lang. Turning back to Yi Xia he said, “What I am about to tell you is somewhat classified, but I believe it is in your best interests to know. We have been mystified by a series of killings that have been happening for several years, killings we have every right to believe are assassinations. This assassin tends to prefer using bladed weapons to kill their targets, sometimes making the cuts so carefully that it would take the victim some time to die. A rather frightening entity, wouldn’t you say?”
“Yes… frightening indeed,” said Calvin in an off-handed manner as he gazed away with a bored expression.
“After some time, the only piece of information we were able to ever gather was that this one assassin went by the alias, ‘Dawn’. And that is what we have named the cursed case.” Li Lang took a sip from his drink as he observed their reactions to his tale.
Selina had her eyes downcast, her face as expressionless as always. Calvin stifled a small yawn as he continued to stare at nothing in particular. Yi Xia nodded his head, a somewhat troubled expression on his face as he stroked his chin.
“That is really an unsettling tale. I am troubled that such a fiend has been able to escape the clutches of justice for so many years. I wish I could do something to help.” He suddenly looked up, his face brightening as an idea came to mind. “I hear that your department has been lacking in funds for some time. Perhaps I could help alleviate your troubles in that area?”
Li Lang let out an uncomfortable laugh as he shook his hand to wave off Yi Xia’s generosity. “Oh no, I cannot do such a thing. I thank you for your thoughtfulness, but while it may seem to you as an innocent gesture, to others it will look like a bribe. We cannot afford to tarnish both our reputations with corruption allegations, now can we?”
Yi Xia joined in with Li Lang’s laughter. “That completely slipped my mind, Superintendent. A mind as sharp as yours is truly fit to run the SIU.” The laughter died down and Yi Xia looked at Li Lang seriously. “But remember, Superintendent; you have my full support in this case. I wish you luck with capturing the culprit.”
Li Lang bowed deeply. “Thank you, Mr Chen. But the actual task of capturing Dawn is not mine but Detective Danson Tang’s. He is the lead detective and I believe he is finally making his way over to me with his partner, Detective Ella Chen.”
The three of them followed Li Lang’s gaze, their eyes taking in every detail of two detective’s images. Danson smiled at Selina, but she did not return the gesture. Calvin noticed the smile and turned to peer down at Selina, a mild look of curiosity in his eyes before he turned away. The pair came to stand beside Li Lang, polite smiles on their faces. Danson continued to sneak glances at Selina but was disappointed when she kept her eyes downcast.
Li Lang turned to address Yi Xia, his face beaming as he presented his two proudest detectives. “Mr Chen, may I introduce you to Detective Danson Tang and his partner, Detective Ella Chen. Ella, Danson; this is Chen Yi Xia, his son Calvin Chen Yi Ru and his secretary, Selina Ren.”
They all exchanged their greetings and Yi Xia was the first to speak. “As I was saying to your superior, your team has my full support in trying to capture this ‘Dawn’ character. A creature as vile as that does not deserve to exist.”
Danson smiled, as he stared at Yi Xia confidently. “I must thank you greatly for your faith in our abilities to capture this assassin. We are honoured and will do our best.”
Yi Xia returned Danson’s gaze smiling, his eyes masking his true thoughts. Deep down Yi Xia felt that this boy would soon become a nuisance. But for the meantime, he decided that he will let him live.
“Am I interrupting something?” asked an enthusiastic voice to their right all of a sudden. The group turned to see Jiro standing there with a small grin on his face, Chun standing just behind. As Chun noticed Ella’s presence, he raised his glass a little in greeting. Ella felt the urge to poke her tongue out at him but she managed to refrain from doing so.
Jiro took a step forwards to the crowd, turning to look at everyone in turn before finally resting his gaze on Yi Xia. “Mr Chen Yi Xia… My, it really is an honour to meet you at last. You are the legend among legends in the corporate world. Allow me to introduce myself; I am Wang Dong Cheng, CEO of Wang Distributions. A small company compared to your multibillion dollar empire, Mr Chen.”
Yi Xia glared at Jiro, his hand tightening around his glass slightly. Jiro noticed the tiny movement and smiled inwardly. ‘So the old bastard knows.’
He then turned to indicate his friend. “Oh, I must introduce my dear friend Wu Chun, son of Senator Wu Lang. But I am sure you are all well acquainted anyway.”
“We have met on several occasions,” said Chun with a small smile.
“Yes… we have…” said Yi Xia, gazing at Jiro suspiciously. He knew the boy would have already realised that he knew who he truly was. There had to be some motive behind his sudden appearance before him tonight.
Jiro now turned away from Yi Xia to look at Li Lang. “Superintendent Li Lang. It truly is a pleasure meeting you here again.” He held out a hand which Li Lang shook firmly.
“Yes, yes… a pleasure indeed. My department can never be more grateful for your help with a major drug deal bust the other day. Because of you, we were able to do great damage to one of The Five. I’m sure it would be some time before the Chu Jian will be willing to move again,” said Li Lang with an enthusiastic grin.
Yi Xia stared at Jiro, his rage barely kept in check. He had heard from Da Dao last night about it but they had been unable to figure out how the information was leaked. ‘So it was this conniving little upstart who caused it all.’
Jiro grinned modestly, looking away. “You praise me too highly, Superintendent. I was only doing my duty as an honest citizen.” He peered up at Yi Xia, his grin appearing innocent to all except Yi Xia and Selina.
“Well, I must not intrude further. I bid you all a good night and welcome back to Taipei, Calvin Chen.” He held out his hand for Calvin to shake, which Calvin glanced at first before shaking it uncaringly. Jiro left and Chun followed, but not before exchanging his pleasantries with the two Chens.
Selina watched Jiro and Chun walk off, feeling somewhat troubled. She glanced up at Yi Xia, noticing the ever familiar tensing of his jaw line that indicated his suppressed rage. She sighed inwardly as she turned away.
‘War has been declared.’
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A/N:
Okay, so that was perhaps an interesting way to end the night, huh? ^^ But a little short =( I didn't go into how Selina felt about Danson being on her case as it didn't quite fit here. That'll come in later. Oh, and the police will refer to the gangs of Taipei as 'The Five'. :D
Next Chapter: To the past, ten and a half years ago...
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15th December 2007
12:13 AM GMT+09:00
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