Chapter Text
MKT Airfield, Darwin, Australia
2030hrs
February 7th, 2015
The full moon shone bright over the private airfield as CJ Cameron pulled her car up next to a small hangar. She hopped out of the car and with a spring in her step, headed into the hangar. Today marked the first break she’d been able to take from work in a while, and she was over the moon about getting to see some very special friends. To do that, she’d bought a secondhand Pilatus PC-12 from the Royal Flying Doctor Service, a propellor plane with enough range to get her to the Philippines. More accurately, she was headed for an archipelago located in the province of Mindanao, which hosted an unused US naval base with an airstrip. Why she went on these trips was anyone’s guess, for only CJ and a select few knew.
She trotted into the hangar, excited to take into the air when something caught her eye. Parked near her humble Pilatus was another plane, a fighter jet, that looked entirely out of this world. It was decked out in an all-black paintjob with no markings whatsoever, save for a white nose. An array of missiles hung from its wings, but it was those wings that held her rapt attention. In what apparently went against every law of aerodynamics, the fighter’s wings were swept forwards , not backwards like in a normal plane. It looked for all the world like a hawk (or a dragon) swooping on its victim. She made a mental note to look up what kind of plane it was on the internet when she felt something tiny pierce her neck. Pulling it out, she frowned as she recognized it immediately as a tranquilizer dart. She turned to see two figures walking towards her. Two men. Both were taller than her, but one of them looked utterly gigantic. The other was a more average size, but there was something ominous about his stride. Her next thoughts were a blur as the fast-acting anesthetic knocked her out and she slumped into the big man’s arms.
“Nice catch.” Knight said. “I didn’t know you were this good with the ladies.”
“Haha thanks boss. I suppose.” Rufus replied in his usual innocent tone. “Holy macaroni, look at this!”
“What is it?”
“Look at her face.”
Knight turned around and studied the features of their latest capture, evaluating them against the photos they’d been provided. Most of the info was spot on: 5’6”, about 110 pounds, blonde shoulder-length hair, light brown eyes. That was until he noticed the lady’s left cheek. Several grotesque scars streaked from her left eye to her mouth, like a messed up chelsea grin. That wasn’t in the memo.
“She sure reminds us of someone, doesn’t she?” Rufus said.
Knight thought for a while, and smirked. “She does. If she’s anything like the Scarecrow, we’ll have to watch her and our Chinese contact closely.”
V
Two hours later, over the South China Sea
CJ woke with a start. She was in some sort of plane, and airborne. Looking around her, she saw the oddest collection of paraphernalia she’d ever seen in years. Directly opposite her was a transparent gun-safe, armed to the teeth. Next to it was a fridge, and someone’s half-finished bottle of Mountain Dew. Beyond that was a pile of well-worn and read books and adult magazines.
Am I in a plane or in someone’s house? She caught herself thinking. She attempted to get up, but almost fell over.
“Ah!”
She made to move her arms but they had been zip-tied, the tie itself being handcuffed to a pole.
“Hello, Ms. Cameron.” Knight greeted.
CJ snapped her attention left.
“What do you want with me!” CJ barked. “Release me now, or I will bring the United States government down on your ass!”
Knight smirked derisively. A full beard grew from this one’s chin like weeds, and his eyes were obscured by a pair of Oakleys with yellow-tinted lenses.
“Ms Cameron,” he spoke. “You seem a bit pale. Would you like something to eat? Or a drink, maybe? We have a bit of a trip ahead of us.”
“Who are you?! Where am I and where are you taking me?!”
“Uhhh I’m guessing somewhere over the South China Sea, we’re headed for Guangzhou.”
CJ froze, alarm bells ringing in her head.
“No! We’re not going to China! You cannot hand me to the Chinese!” she screamed.
Knight raised his eyebrows, and turned to Rufus, who looked back and simply shrugged.
“Why’s that? Piss off someone important?”
“You don’t know the half of it.” CJ groaned.
“Try me.”
“Even if I told you, you wouldn’t believe me.”
“Shoot.”
“No. You assholes aren’t worth my time. You’re not Chinese, why bother telling you?”
“Hm. Fine. For the record, I probably don’t give two shits either, as long I see the money.”
“How much?”
“Not telling you, you ain’t Chinese.”
Several minutes passed in awkward silence. Knight helped himself to the half-open Mountain Dew bottle, holding it at a peculiar angle in case sudden turbulence caused him to spill the drink.
“Ughh it’s flat. Yo Rufus, got anymore unopened drinks?”
“Check for yourself.” Rufus called back. “If we need to restock, we can head for Hong Kong later, provided our client pays up.”
“Right.” Knight said as he gulped down a cupful. “Ahhh. Hey Cameron, sure you don’t want some?”
CJ snapped out of her reverie, glaring daggers at her captor.
Fuck off and let me die , she wanted to say, but her work was too important for her to leave behind. Far too important. She recalled the survival camps she went on as a girl, together with her brother and parents.
“Stay calm,” her father would say “And take whatever they give you, as long as you’re alive, you’re still in the game.”
She nodded weakly, opening her mouth as Knight gently poured the drink in.
“Thanks, I guess.”
“Let me know if you’re ready to talk.” he said as he fished out a Nintendo 3DS to continue his game of Pokemon.
“Wait, aren’t you mercenaries? You’ll do anything for the money, right?”
“You’re perceptive. Yes, when you put it that way.”
“Look, I don’t have many cards on the table right now, but I’m serious about being involved with the US government, I have a massive favor to call in.”
“Oh?”
“Get me out of this thing and we’ll talk. I can match whatever those Chinese assholes are paying you, to the dollar.”
Knight assessed the sorry looking figure of CJ Cameron. She was still physically weakened from being knocked out, but he recognized the grit and fire and intellect in her. Maybe you’re more like the Scarecrow than I thought .
“Fair enough, but hit me or my friend and you’re dead-meat. Also, we’ll have to bind you again when we touchdown.”
“Deal.”
Knight unsheathed a grim-looking combat knife from his vest and severed the zip tie. CJ fell forward but gracefully landed on her palms and recovered with a push up.
“That wasn’t so hard, see? Just cooperate and you’ll be fine. I think.”
“Whatever. Who even are you people?”
“They call me the Black Knight. Our friendly neighborhood pilot today is Rufus, I’m sure you’ve already been introduced to him.”
Rufus turned back and waved at the two, CJ returning his greeting with a scowl.
“I don’t suppose I’m out of the woods yet?”
“Nope. We’re too professional to let you just slip out of our hands.”
“I’m sure you are. I’m just happy you don’t have a reason to put a bullet in my head.”
“Yet.”
“Bite me.”
“If I was paid a million to bite you, I would.”
“Go fuck yourself.”
“I don’t have a wife so I do that on the regular.”
“Oh god damn you, are you always like this with everyone you kidnap?”
“...no. Because they’re usually dead.”
CJ pounded her head on the adjacent compartment. She’d rather have debated with a talking, fire-breathing dragon than a smart aleck bounty hunter.
“Look if you’re not willing to talk-”
“Fine. Ok.” CJ turned around, a thin stream of blood dripping from her forehead. She unclenched her fist and swiped a packet of cotton wool from Knight, pressing against the scratch. “We’ll talk.”
V
“Long story short, I got involved with one of the chief American ambassadors to China, and I don’t mean in the biblical sense.”
“Go on.” Knight said, nonplussed.
“We were on a tour group when we were...attacked. Somehow, I managed to bust his ass outta there without getting killed.”
“Did you know who attacked you?”
“Dunno.”
“Not even a smidge of an idea?”
“Eh.” CJ shrugged.
“C’mon, Cameron. I’ve interrogated too many poor dickheads to not know when someone’s hiding something from me, you can do better than that.”
“Like I said, you wouldn’t believe me if I told you the truth, only the Chinese know what happened.”
“I’ve seen a great many things in my life, Cameron. Things I wasn’t supposed to see. I’ve seen corruption and illegal espionage in the US military, I’ve fought people who wanted to start total war between America and the Muslim nations. Hell, I’ve even seen people who were fed alive to tiger sharks.”
You’ve got nothing to lose, CJ. Hit them with it .
“Oh really? Have you seen Jurassic Park?”
“‘Course I have, we’re not savages.”
“What if I told you the Chinese spent four decades building just that- their own Jurassic Park, to house a species of flying dinosaur which for all intents and purposes, we’d call a ‘dragon’.”
“A what?”
“Told you so.”
Now this was new to Knight. Not so much that she’d mentioned ‘dragon’, but the absolute conviction with which she said it. As if she’d seen one in the flesh.
“ Yes , my dear kidnapper. That was the look on mine and everyone’s faces when we saw them for the first time. Next thing you’re gonna say, you’ll ask if they had unicorns and mermaids too.”
“Did they?”
“No.”
“Color me disappointed.” Knight said, deadpan.
“Anyway, I was supposed to visit the zoo in order to find out what the Chinese were up to and do a write up on it, so was the American Embassador. The animals turned on their captors and the Chinese decided to ice everyone. Every. Single. Witness.”
“Why?”
“You can’t possibly imagine how ruthless Beijing is at keeping its secrets. Sure, they can rival America in military might, but culturally, they’re lagging. This...zoo, it was supposed to be their answer to Disneyland, but it failed spectacularly. They couldn’t have anyone getting out with it.”
“Believe me, I know. Me and Rufus here faced something like that a long time ago, but it was with Uncle Sam. They framed us for something that wasn’t our fault and we’ve been on the run ever since.”
“And here you are kidnapping and killing people for money, if not fun. Why? What makes you so different from them ?”
For the first time that evening, she’d been able to give him pause.
“There are times in your life when you make choices that send you down a road of no return. That choice was made for me.”
Knight took a moment to clench and unclench his fist.
“Looking back, I don’t know if I could’ve done anything to stop it, but I’d sure as hell try.”
CJ was tempted to barb him some more, but she felt saying nothing would have left a better message.
Suddenly, an ominous drone from the cockpit filled the plane.
“Boss! We have 5 tangoes on bearing 010, they’re locked onto us!”
“Who? And what kind of planes?”
“Flankers!”
“Flankers? What are the Russians doing all the way out here?”
“Hang on, I’m getting something.”
“Problem, Knight?” CJ raised an eyebrow.
“Cameron, I suggest you sit down, this might get bumpy.”
“Boss! They’re not Russians! It’s the Chinese!”
“Fill me in.”
“Uhhh, they’re requesting that they escort us to their carrier. We’re not going to Guangzhou anymore.”
CJ and Knight exchanged knowing glances.
“What happens if we fight our way out?”
“It’s not just the fighters, boss. We’re getting beamed by their long-range SAMs too. If we do anything, we’re toast.”
“...fine. Comply with the order. Cameron, remember the deal.”
“Aye aye, captain.” CJ grunted as she was restrained once more.
A minute later, the five Chinese jets encircled Knight’s plane, the Black Raven. They were J-15s, locally-produced copies of the Russian Su-27 ‘Flanker’. Called the ‘Flying Shark’ in the media, they were agile, armed to the teeth, and designed specially for use from China’s new aircraft carrier- the Huanghe . Grim expressions wore their faces as they saw the Sharks’ markings up close.
“I don’t like this, boss.” Rufus stated.
“You two got me into this mess, now it’s up to you to unfuck it.” CJ retorted.
Knight paced about the Raven, pursing his lips.
“Is there any way we’re getting out of this?” he asked Rufus.
“No can do. See it’s not just the carrier, she’s flanked by two Type-52D destroyers. We’re getting beamed right now so they probably have anti-stealth capabilities. There’s no way we can outrun them without getting shot.”
“Damn. We’ll have to find some way of commandeering the carrier then. Somehow.”
“Do I get a say in this?” CJ asked.
“Sorry, Cameron, but you’re disposable.” Knight replied, deadpan.
“I figured.”
“But we’ll try and save your ass. If we have the time.”
“I’d hope so. I suuure hope so.”
V
The Black Raven swooped to a full stop above the carrier Huanghe . Its normally stony-faced crew admired the bizarre jet as its engines worked in tandem with several micro-thrusters on its mid section to allow it to perch on the deck. Once Rufus depowered the engines, a platoon of sailors swarmed the Raven in a perfect semicircle, rifles up and trained on the cockpit as the jet’s occupants trundled out.
“Sailors, stand down!” a voice boomed in Mandarin. At once and in perfect synchronization, the sailors holstered their rifles and reverted to a stance at attention.
An older man in white paced towards the motley crew, stopping only to address the platoon commander, who immediately presented his crispest salute.
“Good evening, sir! What are your instructions?”
“You may dismiss the platoon, Lieutenant, but leave me with two of your number as escort.”
With that, the lieutenant singled out two seamen before marching the rest of the platoon off to their quarters.
The man in white turned his attention back to Knight and spoke in fluent English, “Good evening, Mr Knight, and associates. My name is Admiral Shu Shang and this is my carrier, the Huanghe. Welcome aboard.”
The handshake shared between them was firm, but cold in its delivery.
“Evening, sir.” Knight replied. “Were you the one who placed the contract?”
“No, I am not your client. Your client is awaiting belowdecks. Before you proceed, please kindly leave all your weapons with your associate, unless he is following?”
To that, Rufus shook his head. “This baby and I are inseparable.”
“Very well. Come, we do not have all night.”
With a shrug, Knight walked back to the jet, handing over his sidearm to his old friend, while leaning into his ear and whispering “You know the drill. Wait for my signal.”
“Is this gonna turn out like how it did with Scarecrow?”
“Maybe. Maybe not. We’ll see.”
Knight and the admiral escorted the bound CJ down the cramped hallways of the carrier, accompanied by one of the sailors from the earlier platoon. Unseen by the admiral or the grunt, Knight slipped his hand down the back-pocket of CJ’s jeans, palm-side inwards. CJ whipped around and shot Knight a withering glare, to which he surreptitiously winked and jerked his chin for her to keep walking. The group reached a storage room, where yet another man sat at a table. He looked up from his report and greeted the party with a thin smile as CJ was forced into the chair opposite him.
“Ah, the famous Black Knight! At last we meet!”
“You the client?”
“Yes. I am Lin Bei, deputy minister for internal affairs. I see you have brought in the target alive, as I requested in the memo. Well done.”
CJ maintained a deathly silence as Knight bound her arms and legs to the chair, staring at the floor.
“Truthfully, I was not expecting anyone to complete the job so quickly, considering how many other hunters were in on this.”
“What can I say, we’re professionals.”
“Your reward of 4 million US dollars will be transferred to your account, as soon as we have verified your account details. The admiral will accompany you there. Admiral, if you please?”
“It will be done, sir.”
Something clicked in CJ’s head. Unbeknownst to any of them, she knew Mandarin, and was even more fluent in it than in her previous escapade. She had read somewhere that it was bad luck to give or receive things in fours; the Mandarin word for ‘four’ sounded identical to ‘death’. Back in the Zoo, she recalled being taken to what was coded as an ‘emergency departure’ area for tourists, only for her to barely escape execution by the Chinese. Now, Knight was facing the same fate.
Of course . She thought. They’re going to kill anyone and everyone related to me or their zoo in any way. I don’t like Knight, but he’s my only ticket off this boat .
Craning over, she shouted “Hey Knight! Careful who you get in bed with! And don’t let the door hit you on the way out!”
Lin reached over and backhanded CJ.
“Quiet!” he ordered.
It seemed to be in vain anyway, Knight simply left without so much as acknowledging her.
V
“So.” Lin began with a sneer. “How did you know we’re going to deal with your fellow American friend?”
“He isn’t my friend” CJ growled, spitting a gob of blood on Lin’s report. “He’s your ally of convenience, and now you’re putting him down now that he’s not useful to you anymore.”
“Right right.” Lin continued, unfazed. “We do have our allies, but his death is nothing personal. As you have probably figured out, we will ensure any outsider who could possibly know about the project is silenced. Yours on the other hand...”
Lin stood up and paced about the room. “Did they tell you how much revenue the park was supposed to generate in its first year?”
“Hm, if I had to hazard a guess…50 billion USD.”
“Good try, but a bit conservative. No, we were looking at anywhere between 60 to 80 billion USD.”
“So?”
“So that’s why my wife pestered me to pump our life’s savings into the park. See, we don’t have a good business acumen, but her father...how do you Americans call it...had me by the balls?”
“Yes…”
“Had me by the balls! So I did that, and you jolly know what happened to my investment.”
“What do I care you made a bad decision?”
“No, this is more than money, Miss Cameron. Because of the scale of my investment, I had a specific army unit sent to clean up the park in case of any such accidents. My son was in that unit.”
CJ rolled her eyes for what seemed like the hundredth time that day. Men…
“I know what you’re thinking, Miss Cameron. You’re thinking what this has to do with you. Let me show you.”
The minister opened up a briefcase laptop, showing security camera footage dated March 18th, 2014. Several figures walked onto the bridge, some of them conspicuously armed with rifles. One of whipped around and seemed to project a billowing stream of fire, causing an explosion that landed everyone in the river below.
“Does that jog your memory, Miss Cameron?”
“Sure does, now you mention it. Which one’s your son?”
“The tall one, I can recognize his posture anywhere.”
“He got in my way, he had to go.”
Another punch, harder this time. CJ fell backwards with her chair, prompting Lin to saunter over and right the chair up, before punching her a third time. The minister took a moment to unclench his fist and resume his seat, while CJ could barely squint at him from her rapidly swelling eye.
“Nobody talks about my son like that and gets away with it.”
CJ sneered and spat another gob of blood.
“Beat me, torture me, kill me, it won’t bring back your son.”
“No, that’s not the point of why I had you brought here. I know I can’t recover my son or my money, the only thing left for me to do is serve my duty.”
Lin’s tone went low and deadly, “But I have other ways of breaking you.”
With that, he pulled out a satellite phone and held the phone to her ear.
“Hey, Chipmunk.” a familiar voice said.
“Hamish!”
Halfway around the world in a rural California suburb, Hamish Cameron was in equally dire straits. Under a half-finished overpass, he was kneeled on the ground with masked Chinese secret service agents pointing their suppressed handguns to his head.
“Hey. Glad to hear your voice, sis.”
“Bear, what’s going on?”
“Listen, they’ve got me cornered too, but they promised to let me go if you told ‘em where the remaining yellow dragons are.”
“That’s right,” Lin interjected “We intend to either capture or neutralize them, then use their DNA to start afresh.”
“Haven’t you fuckers had enough of playing god?” CJ spat. “Think about how many people died in your zoo, and that’s not even counting what happened during my tour.”
“Enough. Tell us where they are or your brother will die.”
CJ stared into space as she ran through her options. She wanted so badly to believe that Hamish would really be let go, but deep down, she knew the Chinese would be too ruthless to allow it. The question now was whether she’d allow them to find the dragons, to find Lucky. Her answer to that was a resounding…
“No.”
Lin blinked several times in surprise.
CJ continued “I hardly believe you people would be so merciful as to let him go.”
“I’m proud of you, Chipmunk. Goodbye…”
“Hamish…”
The gunshots rang out over the speakers, only to be mercifully cut off by Lin hanging up.
“NOOO!!!!” CJ wailed.
Lin watched her, unfazed with her outpouring of grief.
“I guess we have no more use for you, we can find the dragons ourselves then.”
Shaking his head, the minister reached into his back pocket for his pistol and cocked the slide. Lin never saw CJ finally undo the bonds Knight had left her in (he’d deliberately made them easy to get out from), nor did he see the switchblade he’d slipped in her back-pocket. She’d stabbed the blade through Lin’s wrist so hard that it tore right through Lin’s forearm and came out on the other side. In the milliseconds that followed, Lin’s arm released its grip on his pistol and it clattered to the table, the pain roaring up his arm. As soon as CJ yanked the knife free, bright red blood spurted from the wound. Lin instinctively clutched his arm in agony and in seemingly vain attempt to stop the bleeding. CJ knew she’d pierced his artery and he’d be dead within minutes- she couldn’t wait that long. She snatched Lin’s pistol and emptied the entire magazine into his chest, tears streaming down her face.
“You and your family can rot in hell.” she growled.
Taking a moment to catch her breath, she hurriedly undid the rest of her bonds and prepared to flee the carrier, by any means necessary.
Abovedecks, Knight stood on the edge of the carrier, escorted to this very spot at gunpoint by the same grunt from earlier. Of course, he never got his due payment, and Admiral Shu had long since retreated to his command center. Now, he stared at the waves, hands placed on his head. Without a second thought, the grunt raised his rifle and curled his finger around the trigger. The next few seconds saw a number of things happen. Inexplicably, Knight held two fingers above his forehead in a ‘V’ shape without turning around, and then, he swan-dived. Right off the carrier. Caught totally off guard, the grunt ran over to see where he went, but suddenly turned to hear an ominous whirring behind him. The last thing he saw was the Black Raven’s belly-mounted 30mm cannon spin to life, while inside the cockpit, Rufus averted his eyes. This was going to be ugly.
As Knight fell, he turned on his back, whipping out a pistol-like object and firing it at the chain holding the carrier’s anchor. It was a magnetic grappling hook- an MH-12C ‘Maghook’. After Knight’s adventures with the Scarecrow, he procured a compact version of what said Marine used for exactly this reason. The Maghook’s magnetized head stuck fast to the massive chain and Knight swang from it, looking for all the world like George of the Jungle, and then spooled himself in by retracting the head. Up above, he heard the Raven’s cannon fire off, and in the darkness, could barely make out the grunt’s bisected body tumble into the sea.
“Hey buddy,” he called into his communicator. “Nice work, you got the message. Now get ready to raise hell, I’m gonna pick up our Very Important Prisoner.”
“Sure thing, boss. Those destroyers are locking onto me right now, I can dance with them a while but you’ll have to get em off my back.”
“Roger. Knight out.”
With that, Knight pulled himself up and made his way back into the carrier.
Inside the command center, Admiral Shu perked his head up to the sound of the Raven’s cannon fire. Quickly wearing his boots, he snatched his walkie-talkie and contacted his Chief petty officers.
“What’s going on?!”
“Sir! The deputy minister is dead and the prisoner is escaping! They have opened fire on us, and we are sending every available man up against them!”
“What! Get all the men to their battle-stations, and radio the destroyers to come online! Bring me their fucking heads!”