Chan let out a roar of rage, slamming his clenched fist into the wall hard enough to dent metal. "That bastard!" he snarled. "He dared..."
Jackie sank to his knees, sobbing. "The girls...I...what am I going to do now?"
Both remained where they were, lost in their own turmoil. Jackie desperately wanted to save the girls, but every plan he came up with presented so many risks he didn't dare try them, and he knew he couldn't wait too long or the Dark Hand would find the Talisman half Jade had, and then something really bad would happen. Chan, on the other hand, was filled with uncontrollable rage, and wanted to march right down to the Dark Hand's building and rip out the white-haired man's heart...but if they saw him coming, the girls could get hurt. And all they'd have to do is send those shadow ninjas at them, since their Dark Magic nature would hurt the fillies just from touching. He had no plan.
Jackie was finally the one who broke the silence. "...this is all my fault..."
"Your fault?" Chan snapped in confusion. "I'm the one who tried to trade the Talismans for cash-"
"I'm the one who made you," Jackie interrupted. "You were right. I was so determined to try and stay happy I refused to face the pain and anger. Everything I felt made me a bad person...I balled it up into you. Because I couldn't face the world for what it really is...they're gone..."
Chan stared at him for a time. Finally, he spoke up as well. "We're both to blame for this," he said simply. "I was so focused on finally making you pay for lumping all your suffering onto me that I lost sight of my real job: keeping them safe. I was happy to take risks I shouldn't have."
"I don't know what to do..." Jackie murmured softly.
"Duh," Chan responded. "We save them."
"But how?" Jackie demanded despairingly.
"Together."
Jackie jerked his head up in response.
Chan snorted. "I may be strong enough to protect them, but I also plainly can't do that on my own. And even if I could...I can't raise them healthy. For their sake, I need you."
Jackie lowered his gaze. "I'm not strong enough to save them. I'll hesitate, show too much caution, and all will be lost. I can't save them..." He lifted his gaze to look back at Chan. "...without you."
Chan nodded. "Then we're in agreement. I know where their base is. What's the plan?"
"What sort of building?" Jackie asked quickly.
"Tall, lots of floors, elevator in the back," Chan detailed swiftly.
Jackie rubbed his chin. "Room for plenty of troops...and they'll see us coming in. We'll need to find a way to keep them from threatening the girls to stop us-"
"I'm on it," Chan stated quickly as he turned and grabbed Captain Black's security pass card. "How do we know where to find the girls?"
"Top floor," Jackie responded immediately. "Even if they won't have them there initially, once they see us coming they'll run there. Only logical."
Chan nodded and left the room. Before long, he came back with two technological looking swords. He passed one hilt first to Jackie. "We go in swinging these," he stated firmly, gripping the hilt of his. It instantly began to vibrate, energy humming along the edge. To demonstrate what it did, he swung it at one of the broken pieces of furniture from their earlier fight. The blade sheared through effortlessly.
"Wha!" Jackie yelped, leaping back. "We can't use these! They're killing weapons!"
"The shadow ninjas are magic constructs, not really alive," Chan stated bluntly. "As for the humans, they either know to get out of our way, or are willing to threaten children to get what they want. Either way, I won't hesitate to swing...and if you want to save the girls, you can't either."
Unable to find fault with this, Jackie nodded sadly.
Valmont was not happy as he placed the Talismans from out of the tackle box into the slots on Shendu's stone body. On the one hand, it seemed they had all the Talismans they needed, and he'd soon get the promised reward. On the other hand, Hak Foo had captured the four girls, which meant that he'd soon have two Chans out for his blood. On top of that, Tohru actively showed signs of mutiny over the situation, much as Valmont expected he would.
Admittedly, if Valmont had his way, Tohru would have taken the girl, the ponies, a huge check, and an apology letter and made straight for Uncle's Rare Finds. However, as soon as he'd laid eyes on them, Shendu had insisted the fillies be chained up close to the wall, stating flat out that he'd take care of things personally. Valmont had worked too long in the criminal world to have any doubts about what that meant.
Still, he silently counted out the Talismans. He kept telling himself he had come too far. The treasure of Shin Shi Wa would give him more than enough to retire, and never touch any enterprise ever again. He'd buy his own island and never think about any of this. He was through messing with magic if he could at all avoid it.
When the tackle box was empty, however, he had only inserted...eleven and a half Talismans. "Where is the other half?" Shendu demanded angrily.
"If it please you, I shall find it," Hak Foo offered eagerly, plainly trying to redeem himself in the eyes of both employer and client.
"By what method?" Shendu inquired carefully.
Grinning, Hak Foo walked over to the girls. Shendu's Dark Magic aura had weakened the fillies' magic to the point they couldn't get themselves free this close, and with eleven and a half Talismans installed they were completely powerless. He then bent over Jade. "You will tell me of your own free will where the remaining Talisman half is quickly, or one of these three will tell me slowly." He cracked his knuckles. "Your choice."
Jade whimpered, looking down at her shoe. She hoped Jackie - either of them - found them soon.
As Chan had predicted, the sight of two Jackie Chan's with angry expressions cutting their way through the front door with vibrating swords that cut through glass without it shattering, wood without splintering, and stone without stopping resulted in every human guard running in any direction but the one they were approaching from, leading the path clear for them. "Let's go," Chan stated gruffly as they made their way to the elevator.
"Ooh! Express!" Jackie pointed out with a grin. "Only one floor to go to!"
"Then that's the floor we're going to," Chan stated firmly as the door closed around them.