311: Vulnerable 

Vulnerable 

Wang Chao picked up the olive green mug with white writing closest to him: "Five things you should know about my wife," he read, his eyebrows scrunching in confusion. "1. She is my Queen. 2. She is a bit crazy and scares me sometimes. 3. She can't control her mouth. 4. She has anger issues. 5. Mess with her and they'll never find your body."  1

Finished reading the mug, Wang Chao looked up at Liu Wei and Liu Yu Zeng. "Well, it's not like it's wrong," he said with a shrug and went over to the coffee pot on the counter to pour himself a drink in his new mug. He had to fight hard to not laugh out loud at it.

Liu Yu Zeng picked up one for himself and followed Wang Chao. "I think I am finally learning why she has such an extensive collection of mugs," he said with a shrug as he waited for Wang Chao to pour his coffee before taking the pot for himself. 

"She would have made a great Syndicate leader," said Liu Wei with approval as he took his matching mug over with the others. Points 2 through 5 spoke to that. 

Wang Chao and Liu Yu Zeng only hummed in agreement with the other man's statement. "She would have made a great matron for the Wang family," said Wang Chao with a smirk as he looked at the other two men. Finally filling up his cup, he handed the pot of hot coffee to Liu Yu Zeng.

"And an even better matron for the Liu family," countered Liu Wei with a smirk of his own.

"Or we would make great patrons for the Li family," pointed out Liu Yu Zeng as he took his coffee over to the table and sat down.

"I think I like that one better," admitted Wang Chao as he too went over to the table and continued to look through the mugs on it. They were all clearly meant for Li Dai Lu's different moods. 

"Would make the most sense," added Liu Wei as he finished the pot of coffee and immediately started a new one. He knew that Li Dai Lu was sleeping right now and would probably want a cup as soon as she woke up. He just wondered what cup it would be in.

"But we won't be part of any family if we can't figure out a way to get out of our current situation," said Liu Yu Zeng as he put his feet up on the chair beside him and stretched out.

"True," agreed his brother as he pushed Liu Yu Zeng's feet off of the chair, brushed it off, and then sat down. "So, what is the plan?"

Wang Chao let out a snort of disdain. "No idea," he admitted with a sigh as he sipped from his coffee. "We will need the scuba gear on and working," he said slowly, a plan starting to form in his head.

"That is a given," snorted Liu Yu Zeng. "Unless you and I can create a bubble of air around our heads in order to be able to breathe underwater."

"Let me guess, you saw that in an anime once," sneered Liu Wei, not really considering the idea.

"I also saw zombies in a movie and multiple tv shows, but that doesn't mean those don't exist," retorted Liu Yu Zeng. He would not be upset that he enjoyed anime in his downtime, as little as there was. 

"Ah, but our zombies are not the same," rebutted Liu Wei looking at his little brother with the superior air that only an older brother could pull off. 

"And maybe the air bubble would need to be done differently too," said Liu Yu Zeng with a shrug. As far as he was concerned, it was always important to have a backup plan. Or in this case, a backup air supply that couldn't be ripped off of his back. 

He thought about it a bit longer. "I think there are a few ponds around here, should we test out the theory?"

"You are more than welcome to," said Liu Wei with a shake of his head. "I am going to get the water guns in order and make sure that we have plenty of ammo for them."

"The guns won't help if you can't breathe," snorted Liu Yu Zeng.

"Then you go out and figure out the mechanics of using the air power to supply yourself with oxygen. Once you have it figured out, you can come back and explain it to Liu Wei," said Wang Chao effectively putting an end to the bickering. 

"Liu Wei, you will make sure that the weapons are in order. We know the flechettes won't cause permanent death, but maybe it will cause enough pain that they either let us go or swim off."

"Understood," said Liu Wei as he adjusted his glasses. He was finally back in his comfortable clothes of a three-piece suit with a white dress shirt under his jacket. Even Wang Chao had gotten dressed in his pre-apocalypse style of a suit and tie. 

Liu Yu Zeng was in a simple pair of dress pants with a bright red dress shirt. The arms were rolled up to his elbows and he had on his shoulder holsters with two guns in them. If Liu Wei was a betting man, he would put money on the fact that his brother had at least four knives strapped to various areas of his body.

All four men were shaken up by their near brush with death. In fact, if Li Dai Lu hadn't brought them into her space, then they would have been dead by now. That type of vulnerability went completely against the men's core belief that they could survive anything and everything. 

And when that happened, you reverted to a time when you felt in complete control. In their case, that was power suits and hidden, or not-so-hidden weapons. 

Liu Yu Zeng even had taken his rings out and was playing with them on his fingers. They were thin bands of silver that, if a switch was triggered, would have a spike come out from on top. They were a modified version of brass knuckles that his grandfather gave him when he first became an enforcer.

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