The Dragon Awakens

Chapter Eight

Lanie finished pitching her own tent outside the perimeters of the barracks where the rest of the soldiers had cast her after they picked up the last of the rice. Lanie's back was aching from all the bending over and she couldn't believe her ancestors used to actually pick up rice for a living.

"Knock, knock." The flap of her tent moved aside and Mushu strode in, sleeping bag clutched under one arm and a backpack over his shoulder.

"What are you doing in here? Why don't you have your own tent?" Lanie sat up from laying down her own sleeping bag, as comfortable as her own bed at home would be. She was wearing only a tank top and athletic shorts and glared at Mushu for the intrusion to her personal space.

"Oh relax, I'm as uninterested in you as I am in men," he snapped, laying out his own sleeping bag next to hers. "And I didn't bring a tent, we weren't supposed to be here this long. Also I don't like the dark."

"Wait, back up. You're asexual?" she asked, surprised. Her roommate at boarding school had been asexual but did have a deep love for books and flowers. In fact, they had overtaken the room. Lanie didn't mind though, she appreciated the colors the flowers brought to the room and the books were as much there for her as they were for her roommate. 

"If that's the word for it then yes." He took a pillow out of his backpack and fluffed it up and then laid down, pulling out a laptop and resting it on his stomach. Lanie turned on a lantern to hang at the top of the tent and turned off her other lights. Crawling under her sleeping bag, she turned to look at Mushu.

"So, uh, what do we do now that our target is gone?" she whispered, trying not to think about how for the first time in three years she had failed her mission. She'd heard of the infamous wrath of Dragon Army if you screwed up a mission, but she'd never been on the receiving end of it and she didn't want to be now. She received medals, not reprimands and warnings.

"I'm working on that. I might be up for a while but I promise we'll have a plan in the morning," he gave her a brief smile before turning back to his laptop.

"We?" she sat up, leaning on her elbow. She had never worked with anyone in all of her missions, only solo. It was always: get the envelope, do the job, go back to her normal life. Mushu was one of the only branches she'd ever come into direct contact with for such a long period of time.

"Yep! You and me. We're a package deal until this whole thing has been seen through," he beamed and Lanie groaned and flopped down on her pillow.

"I've never worked with anyone before so I apologize now if I come off a bit... Standoffish and rude," she blurted, rolling over so her back was to him.

"Apology accepted but I can be my own kind of feisty. Now just get some rest, you've got a long day ahead of you tomorrow!" But Lanie's only response was passing out in a sleeping bag, in a tent, under the stars.

_+_+_

"Wakey, wakey!" Lanie felt something tap her leg and she sat up, looking around her wildly. Her eyes settled on Mushu who kneeled in front of her with a bowl in his hands and a smile on his face.

"I hate you," Lanie growled deeply, flopping back down. She pulled the blanket over her head but it was quickly yanked back away from her.

"Look, you don't have a lot of time to get ready, eat, and allow me enough time to go over our new plan so get your ass up," Mushu reached forward and actually slapped her ass with the back of his hand and Lanie bolted upright and lunged for him. He dodged her while also managing to not spill the bowl he was holding.

"Don't you ever fucking touch me," she hissed, grabbing his collar and holding his face less than an inch from hers. "My one rule for you. Got it?"

He nodded furiously, and she released him, pushing him away. Nothing traumatizing had ever happened to Lanie when it came to guys and her body; mainly due to how protective of it she was and how little contact she had with the male species. She just held very firm boundaries and her butt was definitely in the "no touch" zone.

"I'm sorry. Anyways, here's your breakfast. I slipped some energy powder and muscle strengthener into it as well," he handed it to Lanie who looked down at the porridge-like substance with two eggs and a bacon strip on it that was smiling at her. Lanie rolled her eyes but dipped her spoon into the mush. It tasted like the brown sugar and cinnamon oatmeal her mother used to make on Saturday mornings when she was a toddler.

"So the plan?" she asked, crossing her legs and spooning more oatmeal into her mouth.

"Right. The plan. So I may have hacked into some accounts and talked to some people, but basically after your training here you'll be rendezvousing with the Commander in the Tung Shau pass to ambush the HUNS terrorist group. In fact, I'm not even sure the Captain knows that yet. Your new objective is to advance through the ranks and befriend the captain enough that you're allowed into the tent with him when he goes to meet his father," Mushu explained, flipping through a notebook.
    "But in case that wasn't hard enough due to your advance training and easy ability to outdo probably the captain-" Lanie snorted as she shoveled down more oatmeal, "you need to lay low. As best as you can."

She raised an eyebrow as she swallowed the last of the oatmeal. "Lay low? I'm sorry, that's not in my vocabulary."

Mushu sighed and poked his head out of the tent and then threw her the bundle of clothes from the corner. "Well, you better learn. The troops just left for their morning jog." He grinned at her and she sighed heavily and threw on her clothes in approximately thirty seconds and was sprinting down the hill toward a receding group of men all jogging towards the mountains.