"Let go of me," Lord Shen demanded venomously. 

"And let you go around hurting or killing people?" Tai Lung asked. "Over my dead body!" 

"Well, if you insist...." Lord Shen told him. He maneuvered his wing slightly and launched a blade right into the snow leopard's stomach. Tai Lung jumped back with an anguished cry, releasing the peacock and clutching the blade and his wound. Lord Shen rolled over and swiped his other wing at Tai Lung's face, extending his blades and slashing the snow leopard's face. The force nearly knocked Tai Lung over, causing him to steady himself with his paws. Lord Shen then used his metallic talons to grab the snow leopard's throat and pull him up to his face. Still in pain from Shen's blade, Tigress could do nothing but nurse her wound and watch the scene before her in horror. 

"Too bad you don't have any smarts," Lord Shen mocked, squeezing the snow leopard's throat tighter. "You're completely and utterly useless without them."

"Let him be, Shen!" Tigress demanded, getting to her feet as best she could. "Your fight's with me." 

Not releasing his grip, Lord Shen looked over at the master with a cackle. "Let him be?" he repeated. "I believe, my dear, your description of him earlier was that he was a murderous criminal with a bad history with the panda. And you want me to 'let him be'?"  

"You've hurt him enough!" Tigress told him harshly as she watched puddles of blood form around the snow leopard. "And he isn't your problem, he's Master Shifu's." 

"That's not the panda, is it?" 

"No." 

Lord Shen looked back at Tai Lung and examined him for a second before chuckling to himself. "Well, I suppose you have a point," he admitted. "This barbaric Himalayan is as good as dead anyway." 

The peacock tossed Tai Lung roughly to the ground and immediately dashed towards the master. Despite still being in pain, Tigress attempted to fight him, hoping to hold him off long enough so that she could escape and alert Shifu. Though she did do well for a second, it didn't take long for Lord Shen to knock her down and deliver another painful strike, this time to the back of her heels. Tigress crashed to the ground crying out in pain and clutched her injury, trying to hold back tears forming in her eyes. Shen tightly grabbed her by the shoulders and the metal on his talons dug deep into her back. She managed to suppress a scream as the talons dragged her backwards, only to suddenly release her after a sound of pain and alarm was heard from Shen, which was almost simultaneously followed by what sounded like metal falling to the ground. 

"Why you little-!!!" Shen snapped. 

"Tigress weakly lifted up her head and saw Lord Shen swiftly pick up a reddened blade and throw it forward. Tai Lung, still in terrible shape, just barely managed to avoid a messy decapitation. The master was able to witness him crumple into an injured heap for a split second before she was once again yanked backwards. This time, she was dragged along much faster and soon felt herself being lifted high into the air. Before she knew it, she was over the roof of the training hall and right in front of the gate leading into the courtyard. Tigress was unceremoniously dumped onto the ground and left to attempt to weakly get to her knees. As she managed to sit up, she saw Lord Shen walk over to the front door of the training hall. To her shock and horror, she saw several gunpowder barrels and fireworks lined along the building's perimeter. 

"What are you doing?" she demanded. 

"Completing the next phase of my plan," came the answer. 

The master then saw a spark and before she could even scream at him in protest, the entire training hall exploded and the arena itself was soon covered in suffocating smoke, wooden splinters, and the remnants of the weapons inside. The only thing left standing was the Jade Tortoise which rotated slowly from the force of the blast. 

Centuries of training and building loyal masters. A building that had seen grandmasters, warriors, and villains alike pass through its doors. 

Gone.

A wave of shock filled the master. A wave of numbness. A wave of disbelief. All quickly followed by fury. She leaned on her arms, wincing in pain, and tried to get up before anything else bad happened. However, her ankles sent a shockwave of excruciating pain throughout her whole body and she fell back onto her knees with a cry. Lord Shen, having already been walking back over to her, laughed in response. 

"I admire the effort, really," he said. "But I do have a schedule to keep." 

He then grabbed something from behind him, swung, and hit the master hard in the head. Tigress immediately collapsed to the ground and felt the pain in her head consume her to the point of.........

When Tigress was finally able to regain her focus, she tried her best to move, but to no avail. She groaned, wincing a bit as her head throbbed in pain, and took a look at her very elevated surroundings. 

Oh. Great. I must have passed out. I guess I'll give him this: he really knows how to land a hard hit. I thought the only thing he could do was make those terrifying canyon things....

Sometime while she had been unconscious, Shen had brought her to a rather tall building, (one of the abandoned royal palaces by the looks of it), and hung her from one of the windows wrapped tightly in chains. Just in front of her was one long platform, clearly added on by Shen for some odd reason. Though within a second, this reason became obvious. 

"Ah, you're awake finally," Shen said, walking across the platform to talk to her. "Enjoying the view?" 

"I'm surprised you're not aiming one of your weapons at me," the master replied flatly. 

Lord Shen laughed. "That would defeat the entire purpose of your being here," he explained. "No one stops my work. You're simply my little flag to lure that panda in here." 

Tigress gave him a threatening stare. "You're a fool," she told him. "He can easily destroy your weapons. What makes you think that this time will be any different?"

Lord Shen paused for a second, clearly thinking that over, but then sighed irritably and walked over to inspect the cannons he had ready. 

"Where did you even get the material for that?" Tigress asked. 

"A lot of scrounging and a few underhanded dealings. I admit it's not as impressive as my last army, but it'll have to do." 

Silence fell back over the room for a little while before Tigress spoke back up. "And what exactly are you going to do once you've taken out Po?" she questioned. "You wanted all of China but you have no army and only a few weapons to try and kill someone. Even if you succeed, what then?"

Lord Shen stopped by one of his cannons and didn't say a word. The master assumed he was thinking over what she said. After what felt like an eternity, he admitted, "I suppose I didn't really think that next part through."  He paused for a little while and then turned back to Tigress. "Truth be told, my dear, I don't like to pursue a half-made plan. Although I also don't like to leave a good job half-way done...."

Tigress saw him stare at her, his beak curling into a grin and a look of deep interest crossing his face. "You like finishing a job though," he guessed. (Correctly). "Perhaps we can come to an arrangement. I let you down and you help me and my creations hide out. Then you feed me supplies and I could be grateful enough to not destroy the panda in our final battle. Or...we continue on to our final showdown and you'll be condemned to be my slave for the rest of your life." 

Choose what happens next. Skip to chapter: 

十九- Tigress agrees to Lord Shen's proposal

二十- Tigress refuses Lord Shen's proposal