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Wu hung over the glass case upside down. Holding the can of air freshener, he sprayed it, revealing a red web of laser lights. He grinned. "You're learning, Mac. However, you forgot one space." With that he carefully lowered himself thru the very center of the laser web. Out of his sleeve popped a suction cup and glass cutter. Slowly he sliced the glass on the top of the case and then lifted out the circle of glass. Laying it to the side before reaching in and grabbing the small jade dragon inside. He then pressed the button that caused his cord to retract back to the ceiling. He flipped out of the skylight, landing like a cat on his feet. Pocketing everything. Grinning like the cat that ate not only the canary but also the mouse, Wu began to make his was to the edge of the roof. "Going somewhere, Wu?" Machiavelli said in his cold, smooth voice. Now Mac was the complete opposite of Wu. Where Wu had dark brown hair and eyes and tan colored skin, Mac had pale blond hair, pink eyes, and paper white skin. A true albino. He was taller then Wu and where Wu wore his black clothing to hide in the darkness, Mac wore his black clothing to add to his look of death. Even the ring he wore was made of solid black onyx. "Mac," Wu said with a grin, loving how Mac hated being called Mac, "you got your teeth fixed I see." "Give me the statue, Wu." Wu's hand tightened into a fist now. "That statue rightfully belongs to the Wey family and you know it." "And I care about that.... why?" Mac asked with a grin. Two burly men came up on either side of Mac, looking ready to fight. As the men approached the sound of whirling blades filled the air. Wu grinned. "Another day, boys." And as the helicopter buzzed low overhead, the men rushed Wu. As for Wu he grabbed the landing bar nearest to him and swung his legs out, knocking the men back just before the helicopter lifted into the air. Wu swung himself into the copter. "You so owe me one, Wu." Arnie said. Arnie was a black man, he wasn't buff like Wesley Snipes or skinny like Will Smith but somewhere in between. He made his living giving helicopter tours of San Francisco, on the side he gave flying lessons. Even though bullets were flying behind them as they got farther away, Wu sat back in his seat with relief. "Come by my house. I'll make you supper. I'll cook you up a jambalaya so good you'll think you were back in Louisiana." "Wu," Arnie said, "you have a lot to learn. I'm not from Louisiana! I was born and raised in Bangor, Maine, and I hate spicy food!" Wu looked surprised, then said, "Alright, lobster then." "No shellfish, it's forbidden, I'm Jewish." Arnie replied. Throwing up his hands in frustration, Wu exclaimed, "Great, now I need a Kosher cookbook!" Arnie sighed, "I suppose this isn't a good time to mention I'm a vegetarian...." Wu began to curse in rapid-fire Chinese. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Pearl sighed as she looked at her watch. In two hours she was to meet her parents and here she was, hopelessly lost in San Francisco, somewhere near Chinatown. She knew she should've taken a cab or even a bus, but she had chosen to walk because she needed to blow off steam. The last couple of days had been murder. Pearl was a comic book writer of a semi-popular sci-fi/fantasy adventure series and here for a week-long major comic book convention. The fans were giving her guff because she had some way out situations, like aliens and vampires, but she was just trying to stop being like all the other writers out there. Another reason people were treating her badly at the convention she was attending was because the lead female character had recently come out of the closet as a lesbian. Ruining the fantasy of every straight male in America. Also the other lead female character had a severe weight problem which made the straight men even madder - they didn't like a real-looking woman being able to be a hero. There were reasons for these things. Pearl was bisexual herself and wanted the world to know being bi or homosexual wasn't evil. Also Pearl was fat. At the age of 24 and the height of 5' 3" she weighed an even 270 pounds. Her eyes were a lovely almond shape and grey-green, but her hair was the world's most boring shade of brown - and brown hair on a woman is a boring shade to begin with. So by mixing two different hair colors, balsam blond and "true" redhead, she had colored her hair a lovely strawberry-blond. Pearl even dabbed it on her eyebrows which helped make people believe it was her natural hair color. As said before, people at the convention were giving Pearl a hard time. Ultra-conservatives wanted her to do away with the lesbian, and this included her parents! Sex-starved men wanted her to "cure" the lesbian and do away with the "fat pig." Thankfully because of the lesbian and over weight characters Pearl's series was now highly popular amongst feminists and the gay & lesbian groups. So sales were starting to go thru the roof. Still, it bothered her that so many others were getting on her case. And now it was revealed that Pearl also dabbled in fetish stories. Though as she pointed out, at least none of her stories ever involved anyone that even looked under 18. Pearl hated pedophiles with a passion and believed there should be a death penalty for child molesters. Straight people seemed bothered by this but Pearl's homosexual friends agreed with her. Not surprising since 95% of pedophiles are straight, white males. The other 5% was made up by straight women, straight men of minority groups, and the smallest percentage was homosexuals. As lost in her thoughts as she was, the little shop still caught Pearl's eye. It was one of those kind that specialized in imports for Japan and China as well as other Asian countries. There was an entire window filled with jade carvings. It drew her in like a magnet. Behind the counter was a smiling Asian man that seemed to want to fulfill every white person stereotype. Smiling too toothsome, his greeting too cheery, and yet a veiled hatred in his eyes. He was old enough to remember how things were before Martin Luther King Jr and other civil rights leaders. "Hello!" He said as soon as he saw her. "Can I help you?" "Well -" Pearl began, then saw the rings in the case. "Actually, those rings are beautiful." She pointed to them. Carved jade set in silver, each one an animal from the Chinese zodiac. "Oh yes!" Reaching down he took them out of the case. "Now each of these are an animal from the Chinese zodiac. What year were you born, miss?" "1976, the year of the Dragon." Pearl smiled, especially when his eyes registered a smidge of surprise that she even knew this. An hour, several dollars, and some directions later Pearl walked out with a new ring and the knowledge she blew the stereotype of white people stereotyping all minorities out of the water. She had shown remarkable knowledge to the salesman. Okay, granted she couldn't remember his name, but she was always bad at names. Pearl sometimes couldn't remember the names of her very own characters. Now, if only she could handle her parents as easily. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Mother," Wu protested even as the tiny, wizened woman led him down the stairs, "I don't see why we have to do this." Mrs. Wey rapped her son on the shoulder with her free hand and continued to drag him down the stairs. "Because you're 45 and unmarried and I want grandchildren before I die!" Chiu Wey was as surprisingly spry woman for her undeterminable age. At least two feet shorter then her son and a long time widow. She had single-handily raised her boy once his father died when Wu was only 7 years old. Dragging him off to America when Wu's paternal parents tried to take him away from Chiu. When Chiu made up her mind about something she always made sure it happened. And she had made up her mind to get her son married. The room smelled strongly of strange herbs and incense. A woman, amazingly looking even older the Chiu which was no small feat, sat at a table, preparing a pot of tea. Without looking up she motioned to the chairs, Wu and Chiu sat. The woman poured a cup of tea and Wu could see the loose leaves slipping out. Wu wrinkled his nose, he hated loose leaf tea, he always gagged on the leaves. And yet he found the cup forced into his hands. "Drink," the woman said, "and don't swallow the leaves!" "Thank you, but I prefer coffee." Wu said, trying to hand the cup back. Chiu smacked him in the back of his head and the old woman glared at him. Together they both forcefully said, "DRINK!" Wu drank, gulping the hot liquid down quickly. Then he began to sputter and choke on the leaves stuck in his throat. Chiu smacked him hard on the back and Wu coughed the leaves all over the table and the woman. She just stared at him thru the dripping leaves. Wu was frozen to his seat, unable to even offer to help her clean up. She snatched the cup from his hands and looked deeply into it, making soft noises in the back of her throat, pausing only long enough to wipe some leaves from around her right eye. "Your son," she said as she put the cup down and looked at them, "must marry the first single woman he meets who was born in the year of the dragon." Chiu thanked and paid the tea leaf reader, then dragged her protesting son back up the stairs. "Mother, I don't want to marry!" Wu hissed at her, angry and humiliated beyond belief. Marriage was a trap that Wu wasn't about to fall into. "You will marry and provide me with grandchildren!" Chiu said, reaching up to smack him behind the head, hard. "Stop being disrespectful! I'm an old woman." Rubbing the back of his head, Wu grumbled in Chinese but said nothing loud enough to be heard. Concentrating on this he didn't see the woman he ran into. A beautiful set of brown eyes looked up at him. Oh, she was stunning. Tan skin, a willowy figure, long dark brown hair. Perfect in every way. Including the short and tight skirt she wore and the blouse that showed off her round, firm breasts. "You," Chiu said, grabbing the woman's arm, "what year were you born in?" "The year of the Goat, ma'am," she replied. Chiu snorted, "Not the one, get out of here." Stamping her foot she chased the beauty off. "Mother," Wu whined, "she was beautiful!" "She wasn't the one." Chiu replied, dragging her son along like a rag doll. "You're too Americanized! You have no respect for your elders, none at all." Wu kept his mouth shut, this was true, he didn't respect his elders as he should. Besides that the sound of a struggle distracted him. Looking into an alley he saw a young white man trying to take the purse of a heavy set young white woman. The woman wasn't about to give up her purse. Shouting at the boy she held onto her purse with one hand while swinging a trash can lid at his head with the other. The lid was rubber but it did distract the boy long enough for Wu to come up behind him and deliver a kick to the back of his knees. The boy fell but came up again with a knife. He rushed Wu only to find his blade stuck in the rubber trash can lid. The woman spun the lid upwards quickly, ripping the blade from the boy's hand. Wu chopped at him rapidly, not seriously hurting the kid, but scaring him enough that the boy ran off as if the hounds of Hell were on his heels. "Thanks," the fat redhead said, brushing herself off. A jade ring with a dragon on it glittered on her finger. "Kids today. I swear the world's going to pot." "You'd be right too," Chiu said before her son could reply. Grabbing the woman's chin in her hands she looked at her. "Good bone structure, got some meat on her bones too, not like those skinny things you like, Wu, those girls would break in the first strong wind. Excellent hips, nice a wide. Good for birthing." Then Chiu dug her fingers into the woman's ribs, causing the poor redhead to burst out in laughter. "Very ticklish too. Excellent! Ticklish women are the best lovers. The more ticklish they are the better they are in bed. That's why your father picked me. What year were you born?" The woman gasped for breath after the brief but ruthless rib-tickling, then replied. "1976." "Hmm," Chiu said, racking her brains, "now that would be the year of the...." "Horse!" Wu said desperately, grabbing his mother's arm and trying to drag her away. "She's not the one either, on we go." "No," the woman said, "1976 is the year of the dragon." Chiu pulled away from her son with a wide grin. "She's the one! I am Chiu Wey and this is my son Wu. You are....?" "Pearl Banks. A pleasure to meet you but what do you mean by my being the one, pray tell?" Pearl's eyes were filled with curiosity. "The one to marry my son of course!" Chiu took Pearl's arm in her's and started to guide her out of the alley. "We must start making arrangements right away." Pearl looked at Wu like a deer caught in headlights. Trying to gently extract her arm, she sputtered, "Well, I'm sure your son's a fine man but - I'm not marrying anyone. Plus I'm late to meet my parents for lunch." "Wonderful!" Chiu said, holding tighter to Pearl's arm. "We can meet the in-laws! Wu, call a taxi." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Mr. and Mrs. Banks were more then shocked to see their daughter in the company of two strangers. Even more shocked when Chiu announced that Wu was Pearl's intended. "I am NOT marrying him!" Pearl growled. "I'm not marrying anyone. Ever." Chiu patted Pearl's cheek, smiling lovingly. "Of course you are, dear. It's been foretold." This of course did not make Mr. Banks happy. In fact he looked ready to scream. A stiff small-town Christian of the age of 59, Mr. Banks did NOT approve of even reading newspaper horoscopes. To him anything of that nature was works of Satan and he said as much now. Adding that there was no way he'd approve of his daughter marrying a stranger. His face, pocket-marked from bad childhood acne, was vivid red right up to the roots of his greying brown-black hair and his thick glasses waggled on his nose. Mrs. Banks, a short over-weight blond of 58, looked humiliated that her husband had gotten out from under her thumb and was causing a scene. As for Chiu, she just fixed Mr. Banks with an icy glare. His blue eyes locked with her brown. Suddenly he went pale and slumped back in his chair, not that you could really tell as Mr. Banks was naturally round-shouldered due to poor posture as a child. Food was ordered tensely by all except Chiu who chattered on about the wedding. When the food came both Pearl and her father picked up the chopsticks and wielded them expertly. Mrs. Banks used a fork for her duck. "So," Wu whispered to Pearl, desperate for something to say, "um - you eat Chinese a lot?" "Can't stand the stuff," Pearl admitted. "I'd rather have pizza, but dad's roommate in college was Chinese and dad burns ice water, so his roomy did all the cooking." "I hate Chinese food too," Wu admitted himself, "that's why I took cooking classes. A hamburger would be great right about now." He watched as Pearl dipped her food into a watery sauce. "Careful, that's real spicy." Looking Wu right in the eye Pearl popped her food into her mouth, chewed, and swallowed without even a tear forming in her eye. "A bit mild if you ask me." Wu was shocked. That stuff always took his breath away. Once he dropped some on his lap and his legs burned for hours. The next shock was when five men entered the room. He knew these men in their Polo shirts and Old Navy blue jeans. The leather jackets and Vans shoes topped off their outfits. Well, the back four were dressed like this at least, but the lead man wore a black pin striped suit. They pushed past the host and made a bee-line for Wu's table. Two men stood behind the Banks, one behind Chiu, one behind Pearl, and the leader grabbed Wu's shoulder and bent down, getting into his face. "There's a gun aimed at each one of these people. Unless you want someone to die you will tell me where the statue is." "You get out of here!" Chiu shouted. "We're planning Wu's wedding!" "Mrs. Wey," the leader said, almost - nervously?! - "a - pleasure to see you again." If one didn't know better one would think this man was scared of Chiu! "Get out of here," she repeated. "And you, stop pointing that gun at Wu's fiance right this minute! Have you no respect?" Wu wanted to shut his mother up but didn't dare move. He didn't want to get anyone hurt or killed. Not even the strangers dining around them. "Hey," Pearl said suddenly, catching the leader's attention, "catch!" With that she threw the bowl of spicy dipping sauce at the leader, hitting him in the eyes. At the same time she drove her left hand backwards, stabbing the gunman behind her in the leg with her unused fork. "IT BURNS! ARG! GET THEM!" The leader screamed, holding his face. Planting his hands on the table, Wu flipped upwards, taking his chair with him. It flew off his legs and into the two gunmen behind the Banks. "Get out of here!" He shouted to everyone. To the Banks he said, "Take care of my mother, please. She's all I've got." Diners began to rush out even as Wu went into a fighting frenzy. Arms and legs flying. He used anything that came to hand. Plates, cups, glasses, even chopsticks, managing to disarm the three gunmen that rushed in after him. They were not to kill him, otherwise they'd never find the statue, and one even said as much. As for Pearl she had grabbed the gun from the gunman she had stabbed and used it to fend him off as she ushered her parents and Chiu to the door. Her mother grabbed at Pearl's arm. Begging her to go with them. "No, someone has to help Wu now get out of here! Chiu, please take care of them! They're all I've got." Pearl gave them all a gentle shove towards Chiu who dragged both of the Banks out the door. Then Pearl rushed the bleeding gunman and smacked him upside the head with his own gun. It was a bit of a jump to do so but Pearl managed by throwing her weight into the jump. Unfortunately the blow caused a temporary numbness to Pearl's hand and she lost her hold on the gun. In the shuffle of running diners she lost the gun permanently. Thankfully she had also knocked the gunman senseless. So now there was just the other three to deal with for now. Rushing across the room, Pearl jumped again and landed on the back of one, bearing him down and smashing him on the floor. "Somedays," she grunted, "it pays to be fat!" As she rolled off of him and got to her feet, Wu was still battling the other two. They had an advantage being two instead of one. But Wu knew martial arts and also was to be kept alive so he was doing alright fighting off their blows with a serving tray. Pearl moved to his side and grabbed the arm of one as he tried to pull her out of the way. Though she had only taken one semester of Aikido she had excelled at it and she swiftly executed the move that left the man with a numb shoulder. Wu in the meantime had fought off his attacker and left him dizzy. At that moment however three more men entered the room. Wu grabbed Pearl's hand and dragged her to a window. Now the dining room of the restaurant was on the 2nd floor. So Wu knew they were going to have to jump and he told Pearl as much as they slipped onto the ledge. "Are you crazy?!" Pearl said, "You jump, I've got my own escape plan." With that she grabbed a hold of the gutter pipe and pulled hard. It gave a creaking sound and slowly started to break away as Pearl hung on. Wu watched her for a second and then jumped, landing on the canopy of the store across from them and rolling off. As for Pearl she rode that gutter pipe into a pile of stuffed animals. She jumped up and ran to Wu, already out of breath. "Go on, obviously it's you the want," she gasped. "And now you," Wu said, looking around he saw a delivery man pushing a rack full of clothing. He pulled Pearl over, threw a wad of cash and then the clothing at the man, got Pearl to stand on it and began to push. Running wildly into the street while Pearl clung to dear life to the metal pole meant for hangers. "I'm a comic book writer! Not a character!" Pearl shouted even as they barely missed being hit by a truck. They knew there was more men behind them for they had seen them. Wu also knew Mac spared no expense to get what he wanted. "If your mother thinks I'm going to marry you now she's insane!" Suddenly Pearl let out a panic screamed followed by, "HILL! HILL!" Wu jumped up on the rack with Pearl, putting one arm around her as they headed for a wild ride downhill. Pearl hid her face in his chest and put one arm wildly tight around him. She screamed into his chest as they rushed between cars at an insane speed. Wu felt an urge to become Superman and fly her out of here. He tried to steer but it was no use. They kept going down the hill, thru a stop light, and finally smashed into the side of a fire truck as it was turning left. They both flew off the rack and into the side of the truck. Pearl was stunned but still had enough to grab onto an extra ladder hanging from the side. Wu grabbed it as well and they clung to it and each other until the turn was finished and the truck stopped - thankfully they were returning from an emergency instead of heading towards one. They started questioning Wu and Pearl even as they broke out a first aid kit and treated their bumps and bruises. Wu was too upset to answer anything. Pearl, however, explained some men were trying to mug them and they had escaped on the rack rather then face their guns. They had lost control. "We're sorry about your truck, we'll help pay for any damages of course." "Don't worry about it, ma'am," the chief said as he dabbed some iodine on a cut on her forehead, smiling at her. "I always had a soft spot for redheads anyway." He winked at her. "Would've been awfully sorry to hear about you being shot by some street trash, right men?" The other firefighters agreed. After flirting with Pearl shamelessly, even though she seemed completely unaware to it though she responded favorably all the same, the chief hailed them both a cab and sent them towards the hospital. "Get some X-rays, you might have some bruised or cracked bones," the chief said, touching Pearl's face thru the cab's window. "And try to avoid the muggers." "Thank you very much," Pearl said with a smile, then sighed in relief as they cab went on. "He was flirting with you," Wu said, almost sounding jealous. "Bah," Pearl dismissed the idea with a wave of her hand. "No one flirts with me. I'm too fat to illicit any interest from men. He was just being nice." "Yeah, whatever," Wu snorted. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "What happened?" Mac said as he looked at Joe and his bandaged eyes. "Well, Wu's fiance...." Joe began. "Wu's fiance?" Mac said, surprised. "I didn't even know Wu was dating. So she threw the sauce in your eyes and stabbed one of my best men?" Joe nodded. "Between her and Wu - well, we couldn't get them. They escaped on a clothing rack - so the others tell me." "Typical Wu." Mac grumbled. "Never can fight conventionally. Remind me to tell you about the time he beat me up with a pair of knitting needles sometime. Right now however -" Walking over to a painting of a beautiful nymph running thru the woods, Mac fell deep into thought. "We've kidnaped Chiu before and are still recovering from her. Tell the others I want this fiance of Wu's." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Lionel," Pearl grumbled, "I'm fine, I can do this standing up." Looking at her editor/publisher, Pearl tried to get him to stop dragging the chair he had found in the back onto the stage. "I've just got some bruised bones and a sprained wrist. I'm not an invalid." "I don't understand how you came out so well when that Wu fellow had three broken ribs." Lionel said as he finally gave in and left the chair in place. Gently Pearl patted her bruised stomach and chest, both of which under her clothing were wrapped up. "I have a lot more padding to protect my bones." With her bandaged head and wrist Pearl was quickly assailed with "what happened to you" questions. So for once instead of fielding questions about her comic Pearl found herself enthralling her fans and non-fans alike with the tale of her adventure. Of course she repeated the tale about the muggers, with a lot more flair, but also told about how his mother was insisting they were meant to marry because of what a tea leaf reader said. "So," one of her fans asked, "are you going to marry him?" Pearl laughed, grimacing as it hurt. "As usual I'm probably going to offend a LOT of people, including my publisher who's been married to his high school sweetheart for years now - but I view marriage as a trap. You give up your privacy, your freedom, and for what? Nothing if you ask me. You can't do anything you wish to do anymore, you have to report in for everything. It's a waste." This caused murmurs of course, but at least no one was shouting at her. Then a voice piped up. One that sent a chill down Pearl's spine. "Nonsense! Now come off that stage, we have a wedding dress fitting in a half hour." Chiu started up the aisles, dragging the injured Wu behind her. "Ladies and gentlemen, the crazy lady who would be my mother-in-law." Pearl motioned to Chiu and shook her head. "For the last time, I'm NOT marrying your son! Not even if he was the last man on earth! I need a man in my life like a fish needs a bicycle." "So the fish wants to work on his saddlebags," Chiu replied. "Now come on, enough of this foolishness." "Look, Mrs. Wey, this is my job, these are my fans." Pearl motioned to the audience, "And I'm not leaving this stage until my time is up." "Um, Pearl," Lionel said as he walked on stage, looking sheepish, "your time is up." Pearl's forehead smacked the mike as her hands took a white knuckled grip on the stand. "This is SO not my day." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "This is humiliating," Pearl complained as the dressmaker draped white satin over her bandaged body. "I am not marrying him." "Yes you are," Chiu said. "Especially after I had to put up with your bossy mother. I don't know what your father sees in her." "You're pretty bossy yourself," Pearl snapped. "And you know that a daughter almost always ends up like the mother." Chiu chuckled. "That's what I'm hoping for, he needs someone to get him to settle down. Now get dressed and let's pick out patterns." Sighing heavily, Pearl got dressed. "I'm still not marrying him. I don't want to marry someone who has guns pointed at him on a daily basis." "It's not a daily basis," Chiu retorted, flipping thru the book. "Look, Wu is a good boy. It's just that.... Years ago the Wey family had a fortune in jade. For centuries we had many, many jade figures that were carved by master craftsmen in the Wey family. Then one day a man came along, a very bad man, and he stole the entire collection from us." A heavy sigh escaped Chiu and suddenly she looked so old and frail. "Little by little Wu has been stealing it back. Now he's got the most important piece, the last piece, and Machiavelli would do anything to get it back just to have one up on Wu." Taking Pearl's hand, Chiu traced her fingers over the jade dragon ring. "Wu never really knew his father. When he wasn't off on business he was too busy trying to get me pregnant again to pay attention to Wu. And then he died and I had to bring Wu here because his father's family wanted to take him away from me. Here they couldn't touch us. But Wu's heritage is important to him. When he found out that Machiavelli had the jade carvings he became determined to get them back." Pearl couldn't argue with that, still, gently she said, "Look, it seems like I misjudged Wu in that, but I don't want to marry him and I can see every time I look into his eyes he doesn't want to marry me either." A heavy sigh escaped her. "His eyes scream it - "My mother wants me to marry this fat pig?!" He wants to escape this as much as I do. Besides, today my parents are flying home and tomorrow I fly back to Costa Mesa too. I won't be back up to Northern California until the next comic book convention." Looking at Chiu, Pearl answered the unasked questions. "You saw my mother for yourself. Yes, dad's allowed to lose his temper once in awhile, but other then that he's firmly under mom's thumb. Each year I see him getting more and more submissive to her, weaker and weaker. Either he's submitting to her instantly or he's falling for her crocodile tears. Granted, mom hasn't had a happy life. Grandma's step-mother beat grandma, then grandma beat mom, and then mom's first husband beat her until he left her for an 18 year old, then, while it wasn't as severe or frequently as grandma's beatings - I mean, I was never thrown down cellar steps and locked down there in the dead of winter with nothing on but panties - mom did beat me. Every time she slammed my head into a wall, every time she smacked me across the face, I swore I'd never marry, never have children. I'd never let anyone else suffer that. Oh I love my mother, the beatings were maybe once every three years and the rest of the time she's very supportive and loving - but I don't want to marry and end up like her or trapped like my father. Submissiveness is fine in bed, but in the rest of life people have got to be able to stand up for themselves and say no." Chiu took Pearl's hand, "Your fears, they sound a lot like my husband's fears. He told me many of the same things. But people can over-come their past and their upbringing if they really want to. Pearl, child, you'll be good for Wu. Look how you both have already risked your lives for each other. And besides," Chiu said, digging her fingers back into Pearl's ribs and giving her a brief but vicious tickle, "if you ever get out of hand he can always tickle you." Pearl wondered if Chiu knew about her little fetish and the stories she wrote about it. Probably. After all, Pearl's fans and detractors both knew. "Chiu, you know I'm bisexual, right? I mean, would it be fair to Wu if while I'm with him I'm fantasizing about some woman I saw in the grocery store?" Softly, very softly, Chiu whispered to Pearl, "Child, I'm bisexual too. Often my husband and I did have another woman in the bed. Just with her we always took precautions so she wouldn't get pregnant and I would. It's nothing to be ashamed of. It's how we were born." "Aw," a man's voice rang out. He was a big man with longish black hair and brown eyes. With his ham-like hand he wiped a non-existent tear from his eye and then placed it over his heart. "What a touching family moment. Well, time for me to break it up." From inside his jacket he brought out a gun and aimed it at the women. "Chiu, it would be a pleasure to kidnap you again," the sarcasm was heavy in his voice, "but I'm afraid I'm here for Pearl this time." "You know," Pearl said, looking to Chiu as she secretly grabbed up a pair of scissors, "one day you'll have to tell me what you did to these guys." Grinning, Chiu said, "I made it so many of them will never have children." "Ouch!" Pearl chuckled, standing she headed for the guy with the gun, still hiding the scissors. When she got close enough her hand, the one with the sprained wrist, lashed out, looking to stab the gun hand. Instead her wrist was painfully caught in his free hand and the scissors dropped from numbed fingers. "Next time, Pearl dear, try not to do that in front of a mirror." The bad guy spun her around and jammed the gun into her back. "Chiu, give my regards to your son." With that he led Pearl out. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Chiu was trying to calm down a terrified Mrs. Banks on the speaker phone while Wu suited up. He flinched when he heard Mrs. Banks' sobs. And from the sudden authoritative/manipulative tone of Mrs. Banks' voice Wu saw a whole new side of the Banks' marriage. "I can't believe that my little girl is gone!" Mrs. Banks sobbed. "This is all the fault of your monster of a son!" "My son," Chiu hissed, "is not a monster!" "Oh right, that's why men with guns chase him!" Mrs. Banks snapped back. "He's probably involved in drugs!" "Enough!" Wu shouted at both his mother and Mrs. Banks. "I'm going to get her back. And Mrs. Banks, go see a shrink. You obviously are messed up in the head with those crocodile tears!" With that Wu slammed his hand on the disconnect and headed for the door. Behind him, Chiu smiled and whispered, "I think a June wedding would be perfect...."
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