Rise of the Dragon

Chapter 3: The Yakuza Connection

     Bruce touched the ground, and quickly detached his parachute. With his identity shrouded by the night, he started walking towards the coordinates Norris had given him. Bruce never had such painful emotions in his life. He was walking through Hong Kong, his home. He knew that city like the back of his hand and everywhere he looked, he recognized parts of his old life.

     Bruce walked past shops until he came up to a diner owned by his childhood friend, Chen. Bruce put his hand up to the glass door of the diner and closed his eyes. He remembered the good times he shared with Chen as a child, and decided to see him again. He pulled his hood over his head and went to open the door. It was locked. Next to the door was a picture of Bruce and a note that read "Closed. Mourning the passing of Sifu Lee." As he read this, a tear came to Bruce's eyes. He wondered how he could go on with this mission - how he could continue hurting those he loved. He turned away from the store and began to run. Bruce resolved that he would allow no more distractions. His mission had to come first, only when he completed his job could he return home.

      After another thirty minutes of travel, Bruce reached the warehouse that the arms trade would soon take place at. He approached the brick wall of an adjacent apartment building and rubbed his hands together. Then Bruce leaped up and kicked off of the wall, grabbing the back of a fire escape. He quickly shifted his hands onto the base of the railing and pulled himself up. Once on the fire escape, he silently went up the stairs onto the roof of the apartment.

     "Dragon in position. No signs of any targets yet." Bruce spoke into his wrist com. As he said this, the first of the armored vehicles approached the warehouse. "I spoke too soon. They are here. Right on time." Bruce corrected.

     Bruce ran and jumped from the roof of the apartment building into the warehouse. He cut a hole in the glass roof and silently entered. He watched as about fifteen people walked into the warehouse. Among them, Bruce noticed four armed guards - two for the Yakuza and two for The Tiger's men. They stood in pairs on either side of the table. Bruce smiled; this was child's play for him.

    He dropped from the roof down towards his targets. On the way down, he threw a knife, into the hand of one of the guards and landed on the shoulders of another. He turned towards the guard next to him and flipped him over the table. This was followed by a swift kick splintering the table into the last guard. Bruce followed up with a volley of swift kicks to the legs and heads of the guards. He continued toying with the guards until he realized that his actual targets, the arms traders, were escaping.

     "Gaisi De." Bruce said under his breath and began running after the arms traders as they left the warehouse.

     "Dragon! Abort, now! You can't risk getting caught by police." Norris yelled through the radio.

     Bruce ignored Norris and continued his pursuit. Once outside, he saw The Tiger's men speed away, but caught up with the Yakuza men as they attempted to get into their truck. Bruce opened the door and pulled the lead trader out. The seven others got out of the truck to fight their attacker. The Yakuza men took out knives and started at Bruce.

     Illuminated by a streetlight, Bruce smirked, and his instincts took over. He pulled out his yellow nunchakus and struck the one man across the face. He kicked the weapon out of the second combatant's hand and threw a swift back kick into face of a third man. All of his foes backed up to gather themselves. Bruce stood ready and waited.

     Bruce let out a long "Hwaaaa," as he prepared to strike like a coiled snake. Then in a split second, the Dragon launched himself at his foes and struck each of them down in succession. His nunchakus appeared as a blur of yellow while he furiously swung them at his foes. Once they all lied unconscious, Bruce spoke into his wrist com "Norris, send a helicopter to pick me up. I got them."

     "Copy that." Norris responded angrily.