Ringkeeper - Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

OOOOO4OOOOO

"Shaun! Are you okay?!"

In the end, she never ended up meeting up with Katy at the bar. Following the intense showdown between brother and sister in front of the whole club, Dryaa burst into the back room Jon Jon led her to. Shaun, all dressed again now, shirt and all, was holding an ice pack to his swollen lip. 

"Are you kidding? You totally kicked his ass!" cried Katy. "And then his sister kicked it again! Majorly!"

Xialing smirked at this. She had been staring intensely at Dryaa up till now, ever since she had entered the room.  

"Are you okay?" Shaun returned.  "I didn't want to hurt you - hurt either of you. Where did you learn to fight like that?"

She shrugged.  "I took some classes, practiced lots..."

"It was badass!" There was rustling as Katy was trying to stuff a huge wad of money into her belt pocket. 

"Where'd you get all that money?" Shaun asked. "Wait, did you bet against me?!"

"No!" Katy scoffed. Then she was quick to change the subject. "And speaking of badass-" She waved to Xialing.  "Hi Xialing, I'm Katy. You're like such a badass, everything you do is like so cool - that was really cool."

Xialing smiled.  "I like your pants." She nodded to Katy's bright, neon green trousers. 

"Thank you, thanks, yeah."

Xialing's smile fell as she turned back to her brother.  "What do you want?" she demanded.

"The Ten Rings ambushed us in San Francisco," he explained. 

"I saw the video."

"They took my pendant. We think they're going to come for yours next."

Xialing's hand reached up to gently and affectionately touch the pendant around her neck, identical to Shaun's. 

"I don't know what he wants with them," Shaun continued. "But we both know it can't be good."

Xialing regarded him for a moment before  turning back to the ladies.  "You know what he said to me before he left? 'I'll be back in three days.' And after three days I went to our mom's shrine and waited. Three days turned into a week, a week turned into a month, and a month turned to six years. That's how long it took me to realize I didn't need him anymore. I built this place on my own - I didn't need you then, and I don't need you now. 

"Xialing-" Shaun tried again, but she wasn't paying attention to him anymore - no, her attention was back on Dryaa. 

"You-" She nodded to her. "You look familiar."

"Well there was a whole conspiracy going on about look - alikes-"

"No, I know I've seen you before. It was after my brother left, you came to the compound and were talking to our dad. You looked the same, though that was twenty years ago."

"Wait, what?" cried Shaun.

Xialing continued to eye her. "I saw you fight - you fight like him, like Dad."

"Wait, that's what I thought too," Shaun agreed. 

Finally, she met their gazes.  "Or he fights like me."

"What?"

Xialing eyed her. "What are you doing here?"

"Helping them help you."

"Why?"

"The postcard," said Shaun. 

"What postcard?" Xialing demanded. 

"The one you sent me."

"I didn't send you anything."

Shaun sighed and withdrew said postcard from his pocket, handing it to her.

She took one look at it. "I didn't send you this."

As if on cue, just as they were realizing, the lights shut off and an alarm started blaring throughout the entire building, sending people scrambling all around. 

Looked like the Ten Rings had caught up to them once again.

(Yay, the movie is on Disney+ now, so I have full access to the script! ;) 

Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed! :))