Xue Bai

Name:Xue 'Sue' Dragovich
Gender:Female
Team: Solo-hero
Tier: Street
Location:Reach City

Background:

The pagoda garden was hidden at the top of a high-rise. The blare of sirens, the clack of the subway, and a cacophony of voices below occasionally cut through the silent trees.

The grandmaster judged the girl kneeling before her. Her skin was white as snow, her lips red as blood, and her long hair black as ebony. She could knock most men out with a smile, and she knew it.

“Please, you have to help me,”

“Do I now?” Grandmaster Leopard said contentiously.

Grandmaster Leopard was old enough to be Sue’s Aunt. Her skin was an onyx wall with tribal tattoos carved into the sides. Her body was sinewy, almost gaunt. She lit incense while the girl begged.

“Yes. You knew my father. He ran the Golden Dragon Tong out of Reach’s Chinatown. But, it all went wrong. There was this woman, my stepmother,”

“Meredith. I know who she is.”

“Yes, I apologize,” Sue said sweetly, “Meredith. She, well everything was fine. I had everything a girl could need, but then, when father became sick… I think, I think she killed him.”

“That sounds like Meredith.”

“And then I had to run. She sent people after me. But Daddy always told me that if anything happened I should find the Grandmasters. That you’d help me; that you’d fight for us. Please, she’s taken everything. I just want my life back. Will you help me?”

Grandmaster Leopard lit the last incense, then snuffed out the match.

“No. Now get out.”


Personality

Sue struggled with the word no.

“I’m sorry?”

“You heard me,”

“But you promised!” Sue exclaimed, “Dad said,”

“We’re obliged to help him,” Leopard replied, “You aren’t your father.

“But, please I need you to save me, I,”

A speeding fist caught Sue in the throat. She fell to her knees and clutched the area tenderly.

“Why?” she croaked.

A lightning kick landed in her ribs. Sue collapsed in tears. The Grandmaster placed her bare foot down on the beauty’s face and pressed it into the dirt.

“I don’t need to save you. No one needs to do anything for you.”

The girl whimpered and Leopard pressed harder.

“You’ve had everything given to you your whole life. Because of who your father was, or because you were beautiful. But you will never get that life back. Do you understand? You are not a princess. Do you hear me? Huh?”

She kicked her again.

“Say it!”

“I’m not a princess!” Sue cried.

“You will fight your own battles!”

“I will fight my own battles!”

The grandmaster released her.

“Good to hear. If you’re willing to fight for it, then maybe I can put aside my disgust.”

She then reached for a pair of nearby gardening shears.

“Your hair is very beautiful. Just like Mommies I suppose.”

Sue crawled back up. The shears landed before her.

“Bear will be up at sunrise to start your training. If you haven’t cut all that off by then, I’m personally tossing you off this roof.”



Iron Will standard: Bear Style: Vitality, Stamina, and Durability

Sue was shoved inside the empty meat locker. The cold bit at the new bald patches on her scalp. She swaddled herself in the sleeves of her cardigan.

Grandmaster Bear strolled in behind her. He had thick curls of black hair, a chest as broad as an anvil, a biker moustache, and wore a black leather vest displaying his impressive chest hair. He breathed in deeply and smiled.

“All right kiddo, let’s get started.”

He sounded nice. Sue nodded.

“All right then. First things first, take off your clothes.”

“What?”

“You heard me, everything except the delicates.”

“But I,”

“You don’t have anything I’m interested in,” he said harshly, “now do it.”

Sue cautiously pulled up her sweater. Shivers rippled up her back. Then came the rest; shirt, belt, and pants. She stopped and Bear stared down at her feet. Sue timidly removed her socks and boots. The frozen floor stung her soles.

Bear took her clothes in a pile and tossed them out the door. Then he shut it behind them. Sue clutched her chest and shook in every direction.

“All righty kiddo, here are the rules. We are going to stay in here till you’re ready. I am going to periodically beat the ever-loving shit out of you. There’s no food, and if you try and sleep I will beat you awake. You leave when I say you can. Good? Your training begins now.”

A haymaker landed against her chin and knocked her off her feet.



Strength superior: Tiger Style: Aggression, Directness, Inner Power

Sue’s hair was coming back as stubble and Bear’s leather jacket did a good job of covering most of the purple bruises from her time in the meat locker.

She was flat on her back on a steel bench, halfway through a benchpress with one hundred pounds of weight on either side. Her skinny arms rattled as she breathed through her teeth.

Grandmaster Tiger stood at four foot three, her hair colored with stripes of orange and black. She spun a fifty-pound weight on her forefinger like a coin, then slipped it onto the end of Sue’s pole.

Sue grunted. Her arms lowered against her will.

“No, I can’t…”

“Wow, you do whine a lot,” Tiger replied.

She then casually slipped another fifty pounder to the other side. Every muscle in Sue’s arms ached and she started to lose her breath.

“Seriously princess,” Tiger snarked, “did you ever lift before today or did you just save your energy for painting your nails?”

“My arms can’t,”

“THEN STOP RELYING ON YOUR ARMS,” the dwarf said. She temporarily lifted the burden with one hand.

“Focus inward. If you’re really Dragon’s daughter then you’ve got it in you. Just fucking use it and stop whining!”

She let go and the weight fell back down. Sue dug deep and pushed.

“Come on Princess, pretend like daddy was watching.”

“I’m… not… a…. PRINCESS!”

She pushed the bar up.

“One.” She grunted.

“Keep going Princess,” Tiger demanded,

“Two…Three…”

Tiger grinned and grabbed another weight.


Agility superior: Monkey Style: Flexibility, Creativity, Grace

Grandmaster Monkey dangled upside down from a radio antenna by the crook of his knee, his snow colored beard dangling over his face like a silk rope. His face was wrinkled and his poncho dirty.

“Come, come, youngster, do as I do. Don’t get distracted down there.”

Sue clawed her way to the rooftop. She had pounced, leaped and parkoured up a two-story building just to get that far. As she slipped up and over the roof she dragged two lead ball and chains, one attached on each foot.

She steadied herself then leaped for the antennae. The balls clinked together like an executive’s desk toy as she climbed.

Monkey laughed at her. She hated his fucking laugh.

The old grandmaster flipped off the antennae and onto the roof below. He ran on all fours off the edge, grabbed a far rain gutter and shimmied across it like Tarzan.

Sue sighed and jumped off the antennae landing cleanly. By then the Grandmaster had already made it to the next roof.

“Come now youngster, do as I do. We still have three more miles to go!”

Sue jogged after him and leaped from edge. She caught the rain gutter seamlessly. It broke and she fell. She kicked off the wall and landed in a dumpster in the alley.

An irritating laugh echoed down from the rooftops. She grunted and hopped up and out of the filth. She started scaling the wall, the iron balls constantly clacking together below her.



Reaction speed standard: Crane Style: Focus, Efficiency, Caution

Sue stood one-legged on a single pole above the deep end of an empty pool. Two months ago the mere vertigo would have made her squeal. The top of her hair had come back in, but she had started ritually shaving the rest.

Miss. Edwin’s Etiquette Guide for Girls was flat on top of her head. On top of that was a cup of tea. Not a drop had been wasted yet.

Grandmaster Crane was maybe thirty-five, lanky, with a white suit and a gold stud earring. A modified skeet shot machine was aimed right at Sue’s torso. It fired. Sue slipped out of the disc’s path and it whizzed by. Crane paced back and forth.

“So he didn’t mention me?”

“No,” Sue said calmly, “You two used to be an item?”

Two discs shot out in a quick volley. Sue smashed one with a jab, crumbling it to dust, and easily dodged the other.

“Yeah, a long time ago,” Crane said wistfully, “ I just thought he might have said something. But Bear was always quiet. Ah well.”

The machine fired, a disc blurred straight for her head. She snatched it from mid air. Sue smiled. Crane nodded and flipped the machine off.

“Wait,” she said, “What are you doing.”

“You’re done here,” Crane said back, “It’s been great having you this week, but you’ve learned what you needed to. You need to move on to your last master. Give the old bitch my love.”


Super Speed standard: Leopard Style: Patience, Observance, Speed

Grandmaster Leopard didn’t bother with special training exercises. You were either ready to fight or you weren’t. Sue dodged like Crane taught her to, punched like Tiger showed her, and kept her footwork light like Monkey’s. But more often then not, Bear’s lesson in taking a punch was more useful.

Sue blinked and instantly felt Leopard’s foot slam her shin. When she opened her eyes Leopard had already moved back into stance. Sue leapt forward with a cobra punch; it swung by open air.

Leopard slid to the side and jabbed her kidneys while the girl tried to regain her guard.

“Is that all you learned princess?”

Sue shook it off and kept advancing.

“Stop calling me that,”

Leopard roundhoused for her head, and Sue pulled back.

“Why not? A few months of purpose can’t undo years of waste.”

Sue punched back and missed as well.

“Your father could have made you something more,” Leopard continued, “but instead he raised you to be just another spoiled brat. A princess.”

The two women circled each other, ready to pounce.

“Sure,” Sue said, “and I bet if he had married you then you would have never let your daughter become weak, right? That’s what this is really about; he didn’t pick YOU.”

Sue ducked as Leopard punched, then swept her foot under Leopard’s legs. She fell to the gravel and Sue punched straight down; her fist stopped an inch from Leopard’s nose.

“But I’m not his little princess anymore.”


Martial arts superior: The Five Forms 

Rain pelted the pagoda’s walls. Inside, Sue took a gulp of whiskey.

“I still don’t understand. Dad always mentioned six grandmasters. I’ve only learned from five.”

“There were seven,” Leopard said between shots, “including him, but he never admitted it; always liked to think of Dragon style as being somehow special. He even called us ‘the six dwarves’, which pissed off Tiger for obvious reasons.”

“Fine, seven masters. Where’s number six?”

Leopard’s eyes were glassy. She had a fleeting peal of shame.

“Grandmaster Snake. You’ve already met her.”

“… Meredith.”

“That’s why we couldn’t get involved; we would have stopped her if we could. But she comes at you from the side, slithering. It’s how she moves, how she thinks.”

“She won’t be slithering much longer.”

“You’ll have to fight through your father’s old Tong to get to her,” Leopard warned, “But when you do, guard your pressure points. Avoid something she calls the ‘Sleeping palm’. ”

“Right.”

Sue stood. Leopard raised a hand after her.

“There is one last thing to mention, Princess. Your name’s is ‘Xue’ not Sue.”

Xue paused.

“What?”

“Xue Bai. I don’t know why they Americanized it, but when you were born, he called you ‘white snow’… Maybe you don’t care, but for what it’s worth, I thought I’d remind you before Snake kills you.”

Leopard then waived her off and drank. Xue bowed deeply, then smirked,

“For what it’s worth, you would have only made the second worst stepmother my father could have picked.”