Rebirth in the Apocalypse: Third Time's a Charm



Another man, older than the first, with white hair and a white beard, got off his bike and walked over to me. I could feel my men stiffen, but I held up my hand, forcing them to stay put.

"Listen, little girl," said the man as he came to a stop in front of me.  This time I held up a hand to him. "I am his little girl," I replied, pointing to Wang Chao. "And unless you are going to apologize for waking me up, I suggest you stop talking, turn around and take your men away before you no longer can."

The man stared at me. "My name is Li Tai Shun," he said as he looked at me. "Your boys disrespected mine."

"And?" I asked with a smile. "Like you said, my boys. They can start all the shit they want because I will be there to clean up after them. Now, fuck off."

"I don't think you understand what needs to happen. We want those bikes. We will have those bikes. It is really that simple."

"Simple?" I repeated as I burst out laughing. "You think it is simple to take something that belongs to me? Sure, let's try it."

The man didn't flinch as I walked right up to him. "Lin," I called, remembering that he was the one that Cerberus was talking to. Not to mention if he was Liu Yu Zeng's ride, he must have some of his characteristics. "Come here."  The motorcycle with white lights came out of the night like it was a monster from the darkness and drove over to me.

Liu Yu Zeng got off and went to stand beside me, leaving the bike behind.  Li Tai Shun smirked at him before he turned his attention back to the bike. "Thank you, Lin. But it would have been so much easier if you had just submitted it to us beforehand."  Walking over to the bike, he swung one leg over and sat down.

Looking the bike over, he couldn't help but laugh in triumph.

"You are mistaken," I said with a shake of my head. The other man turned to look at me, one hand resting on the handlebar and the other on his thigh.

"Oh yeah, little girl? How am I mistaken?"

"That isn't Lin," I said, pointing to Liu Yu Zeng. "He is." As soon as I pointed to the motorcycle under the stranger, Lin took off, becoming nothing more than a lightning bolt in the darkness as he took off with the leader of the motorcycle gang.

I leaned against Liu Yu Zeng and just relaxed as Lin took our new friend for a spin.

I watched as the rest of the 'gang' hurried after their leader, but something told me they wouldn't easily catch up unless Lin wanted them to.

"Did you have a good nap, Sweetness?" cooed Liu Yu Zeng into my ear as he held me tighter.I think you should take a look at

"Too short," I grumbled. "Someone was trying to blow things up." Liu Yu Zeng cringed at my words. "Yeah, sorry about that."

"Why didn't you guys just kill them before all this crap?" I asked as Lin shot through our little stop again, the big, scary man on his back screaming like a little girl. I smirked at that idea.

Liu Yu Zeng looked at me, confused for a few minutes until he understood what I was trying to say.  "Honestly, it didn't occur to us," he admitted.

"What do you mean it didn't occur to you?" I asked, stunned.

"I mean, remembering that we have powers, that the powers still work even if we can't see the enemy. All that sort of stuff is…new. Think about it this way: I am 26 years old, and for the past 22 years, I have been trained to react to a situation in a particular way. Now, in the past 5-6 months, I have developed new powers. Which are fantastic, but it will take me a bit of time to re-train myself to call on them in an emergency instead of my gun, or my knife, or my fists."

I thought about what he said. It was a lot like me. I wanted to be stronger and not immediately think that I needed to save people all the time. But sometimes, it was hard to remember that I was trying to switch over to a new leaf. I remember reading one of those inspirational quotes in my first life, and it said: 'Be patient with yourself. It has taken a lifetime to become the person you are. It is not possible to change everything overnight.' In my case, it took two lifetimes to become who I am. I doubt a year and a half is that long in comparison.

So maybe that is what we have to do: change our thinking, retrain ourselves, and be forgiving when we relapse to what we know. "Okay, then why don't you try using your powers now?" I asked. "I mean, if you need to learn all new skills, now is as good of a time as any to start." I looked at the other three men as they got off their bikes, took off their helmets, and came over to where Liu Yu Zeng and I were watching the show.

"How do you suggest we start?" asked Liu Wei as he adjusted his glasses.

"Chen Zi Han," I said slowly, a plan forming in my mind. "Before Lin makes another pass, form a ramp that is the width of the road. Make it whatever size you want." I called back my blue flame so it was just enough that we could see but not enough that the bikers would also be able to see what was going on.

Chen Zi Han nodded and raised his hand. It took him some concentration, but his powers, unlike all the other guys, required him to use all three at the same time, so he was more used to calling on them than the others.

We heard the screams of the leader coming closer to us, and we watched the ramp raising out of the road and into the sky. "Liu Yu Zeng, let Lin know what is going to happen."

"How?" he asked concisely.

"Mental connection. There should be one already forged, but if not, picture him in your head and try to speak to him."

Liu Yu Zeng thought for a split second before nodding his head.