The Panda and the Turtle (Book 2)

Chapter 10: Sneaking In

Meanwhile, Vee and the Furious Five stealthily approached the factory. They leapt over the outer wall, past two wolf sentries, and hid behind a pile of gunpowder kegs close to the entrance. Tigress spied several cannons through the partly open doors before they closed.

"If all of those weapons leave the building, China will fall." Tigress informed.

"We bring down the building!" Viper said.

"Hey guys! How about this?" Mantis asked, as he stood on top of a powder keg.

He rubbed his 'thingies' over a tiny pile of gunpowder. Whoomph! A small flames went up in his face, that turned it black with soot and sung his antennae.

"This will work." Mantis said.

"Alright, let's go." Tigress ordered.

"I can't feel my face..." Mantis commented.

Vee used a healing spell on Mantis while her friends picked up the powder kegs and set to work... as in the distance, Po pole-vaulted onto a walkway and into two wolf sentries. He knocked them both out and picked them up before he snuck along the walkway using the bodies as cover. He passed a disgruntled Boss Wolf, who muttered to himself on the way.

"Did you hear him call it the year of the 'peacock'..." Boss Wolf scoffed.

Po waved using a sentry's arm.

"Hey." Po greeted.

"Hey." Boss Wolf greeted back.

Po moved on, eventually he stopped in front of a wall.

"Hey, on your feet!" A gorilla ordered. "And wipe those stupid grins off your faces!"

The gorilla appeared and picked up the two wolves as Po crawled inside through a window above him. He found himself on a walkway high over the metal vat and the conveyor belts that transported metal into it. Po snuck across the walkway, and spotted a peacock-shaped silhouette in the smoke on the other side of the large room.

"Move, you dogs!" Shen commanded. "Faster, faster! Load them all!"

Po climbed up a ladder and rolled across another walkway. He reached other end and...

"Greetings, panda!" Shen greeted.

Shen emerges from the smoke on a walkway just above Po. Po spotted the eye emblem on his tail feathers again and shielded his eyes, that barely resisted another flashback. Suddenly, Vee appeared from teleportation and shot an arrow at Shen, who avoided that easily.

"Ah, the lizard girl." Shen teased.

"I'm a turtle." Vee snapped.

"Seriously?" Shen asked.

"Vee?" Po questioned. "How did you get here?"

"I have aura senses, remember?" Vee reminded. "I was able to sense that you were in danger and rushed to help."

"Thanks, but I got this." Po assured, before he glared at Shen. "Tell me what happened that night!"

"What night?" Shen asked, mockingly.

"That night!" Po replied.

"Ahhh... that night." Shen recalled.

"Yes!" Po snapped, before he faltered. "We're talking about the same night, right?"

"Yes, I was there." Shen informed. "Yes, I watched as your parents abandoned you, it's a terrible thing."

"Don't listen to him, Po." Vee said.

"I believe it went something like this!" Shen continued.

Shen cut a chain and a suspended bucket swung into Po and Vee, that sent them dangling over the floor far below.