Lài Fang does some research and has a windfall of good fortune!

Fang had been in places like this before, since it was her responsibility to do the shopping. But the tiny amount of donations, and money the government paid to her and her sifu, was all taken up by food and necessities. This was one of the few times she was selecting something, not just picking up items on a list.

The small convenience store was dingy and musty. Half the flourescent lights were out. If not for the shopkeeper sitting motionless in the shadows behind a pane of bulletproof glass, it would look closed.

There was a huge selection in the magazine racks. the first things to catch Fang's eye were some comic books about cowboys and gangsters shooting each other. "Zhēn tǎo yàn!" she huffed. "What filth they are teaching kids these days! No wonder the legendary heroes have their work cut out for them..." she reached out and ran her fingers over the cover of a news magazine showing a beautiful blonde girl in a cape holding s soot-covered little boy in her arms. The cover said 'Excellence Girl makes triumphant return to Acropolis City, rescues children from burning building! Fire department mulls latest round of budget cuts!'

"All that they do without any training, just their natural 'gifts'. If I can just get a chance, I'm sure I can find a way to make them take me seriously, too. Hmmm..." she then turned to a magazine showing the white-clad vigilante, 'Bright Owl', announcing his retirement, and the police department reluctantly dismantling the special spotlight made to signal him on nights when he was needed. Fang took it out and began to read the details, particularly enjoying the photos of the caped crime-fighter striking poses. "Now there's a real man." she said with a slight smirk of excitement. "He doesn't need to cheat with mutated powers. If he can do it, then-"

"HEY!" a deep voice barked at her. "This isn't a library."

"It... it isn't?" Fang said, genuinely confused. "But there are so many books..."

"For sale. Two dollars and fifty cents, missy." the voice came. "If y'aint gonna buy anything, run along."

Fang walked up to the window. The shopkeep was a middle-aged black man with a greying moustache, who hadn't even looked up from the newspaper he was reading as he slouched in his chair.

"Ah, yes. I require your aid, bookseller." Fang said.

"Make it quick. I'm busy." the store owner said, idly flipping to the sports section of his broadsheet.

"I need a magazine to teach me techniques for meeting men and having pleasurable sex." Fang said innocently.

"Aisle two, by the window on the left." The store owner didn't even look up from his paper.

...

"Wow. I thought this subject might be hard to find, but there are a lot of booklets about this!" Fang had annoyed the shopkeep by paying for the three magazines in her hands with small change she'd scrounged up at school over the past few months, and was now sitting on the curb outside to read. "There must have been twenty or thirty separate magazines, all about the same thing! I always thought it would be easy to find a man, but now I see I was once again being arrogant and overconfident. This will be more of a challenge than I thought. Let's see.." she flipped through. "Exercise tips? No need for that, my body is a finely-honed sword! Let's see... 'how to land a rich man'? Maybe I'll save this one for later, right now I need to meet someone less respectable. Ah, here we go! The practical information!"

Fang leafed through the magazines and gasped lightly. "Zhēn méi xiǎng dào! So I have to shave myself? Including... down there?" She reached down between her legs and stuck her hand into her underwear, feeling the wiry mat of pubic hair. "I suppose it can't be helped. Oh, and makeup too. And nail polish... And then, I'm supposed to get the guy to buy me a drink? Shit! I can't do that, I'd get arrested, and it's against the Holy Buddha's precepts anyway. I don't think I brought enough money for all the things I'll need. Maybe that grumpy shopkeep has some chores I could do..."

The scuffling of feet got Fang's attention. Looking up, she saw she was surrounded by several young men in muscle shirts, some wearing flashy chains around their necks. "Hey baby. You look like you're ready to party. We're just 'bout to head to one. Why don't you come with us? We're gonna have drinks, some smoke, whatever you're looking for..."

Clapping her legs together, Fang realized she might've been observed putting her hands between her legs. 'Oh!' she thought. 'This might be the kind of person I'm looking for. But... this is too dangerous a place to be meeting like this and I can't let my sifu get word that I was somewhere with **** or ****. Besides, I haven't finished my preparations.'

Fang hopped to her feet, clasped her hands together, and bowed to the five leering guys crowding around her. "I sincerely appreciate your offer! However, I can't go right now. I'm studying for an important examination. And besides, I should... oh, what did they always say in those boring lectures at school.. 'Just say no'. I am 'saying no'. Maybe there's a nicer, more law-abiding place we could go instead, when I'm ready in a little while?"

The punks exchanged glances and smug laughter. "You out here by yourself? That's not safe for a sexy little asian girl." A couple of them came close to her, cutting off her escape route from the left and right. "Just don't do anything stupid and you won't get hurt. Understand? Let's go, it's time to party."

Fang stumbled as they started pulling her along. "Ah...! Nǐ gěi wǒ tīng hǎo! I'm not going anywhere with you! Take your hands off! I'm warning you!"

The leader of the small gang laughed contemptuously. "Dumb bitch. Don't listen to her, she wants it. C'mon, this way, 'round the corner." he took a few steps, leading the way, but then heard a series of high pitched shrieks. At first, he thought it was just the girl calling for help. But she sounded more angry and forceful than afraid. And then, the high-pitched shrieks he heard were his friends, crying out in pain.

"The fuck...?" he asked as he turned around. "Keep that bitch qui...et?"

Just a moment after he turned around, all four of his 'hood buddies dropped to the ground, one after the other. Some started rolling around in pain, and others were completely still and silent, out cold (and hopefully not worse). The lithe asian girl was striking a pose that looked like it was from a kung fu movie, which she relaxed and resumed her normal posture.

The dumbfounded thug couldn't think of anything to say as the unamused-looking asian girl took several steps towards him. Fumbling in his pockets, he pulled out a switchblade. "S-step off, bitch! Don't come no closer, I'll fuck you u-AH!"

A split second after he flicked the switch to extend the knife, the girl's hand lashed out, and a shooting pain filled his arm. His hand went numb and the knife clattered to the ground. Before he could even run, the girl took both hands and jammed two fingers into each side of his neck. At first he thought she was about to strangle him or something, but then she calmly dropped her hands to her sides.

"...huh?" was all the thug could manage.

"Those were pressure points." Fang said sternly. "That sensation you feel is the blood supply to your brain being pinched off as your arteries constrict. Unless I reverse the mírén de sǐwáng zhī wò, you have 108 seconds left to live. Oh, actually more like 90 by now."

"WHAT?!!" his eyes went wide and he wrapped his hands around his neck. "You're joking, right?"

Fang was counting down on her fingers. "I need you to tell me where I can get some money for honest work, on short notice. Eighty seconds, now."

"Here, here! Take it! I don't wanna die!" the youth frantically pulled out his wallet and emptied it on the ground.

"No, no. I'm not a common thief. I could only accept money for proper labor, or as a donation." Fang said calmly.

Teeth chattering, the young man noticed that his vision was already starting to get dim, and the sound of her speaking was getting distorted. "It's a gift, it's a gift! Just turn this shit off!"

"Thank you!" Fang bowed politely as the young man sank to his knees, gasping frantically for air. "Oh, and could you please tell me a nice place to meet people in this neighborhood where they don't serve any ****?"

"Shit shit shit! G-go to Rockyanos! It's where all them preppy boys hang out! Oh God, please, I'll never come up on you again! I... ughghhkkk... going dark..."

Fang clapped her hands against his neck a second time, striking different spots, just before darkness overtook him, and he slumped to the ground, curling up in a ball... and noticing an unfortunate wet sensation in his boxer shorts. Fang bent down to collect the dropped bills as he awkwardly crawled away.

...

"What the fuck happened out there?" by his casual tone of voice, the store owner didn't sound like he was all that interested in knowing.

"Nothing you need to concern yourself about." Fang said, clasping her hands and bowing politely. "Now, I need a shaving kit, this brand of lip gloss, this brand of nail polish, and this brand of condoms." she held up one of the magazines, pointing to the advertisements.

The shopkeeper raised an eyebrow and frowned. "...you got some ID on you, Miss? Do your parents know you're out here?"

"ID?!" Fang screwed up her face and dug around in the small pocket on her dress, pulling out a green rectangle. "Ai yah! **** lei! Again? I am so tired of being harassed over this! Here!" she pushed it up against the glass. "I have my green card right here! And for your information, my parents were executed by the state eleven years ago!"

The convenience store owner straightened up and dropped his newspaper. Looking at the card, it confirmed that Fang's date of birth was in 1981, meaning she'd turned 18 a few months ago, but more importantly, he'd clearly said one of the most insensitive things possible. "Holy shit! I'm... I'm so sorry. I didn't mean it that way, I... had no idea. That's not long off from when my uncle was put in the gas chamber. It was some bullshit the DA's pinned on him just because he was a man of color in the wrong place at the wrong time. I was just worried about you, that's the only reason I asked. You have my deepest sympathies, I mean it."

Sighing, the man looked under the counter and started collecting her requests. "Listen... we'll call it on the house this time, alright? Way for me to say sorry for making such an ass of myself like that."

"Good!" Fang nodded, looking quite proud of herself. "I will remember your gracious gesture in the future!"

"Uh, sure. And I appreciate your business but... please, be careful? There's some bad guys in this city, you know... Huh? What the hell is that?" The store owner leaned forward, seeing the red and white flashing lights as an ambulance and a team of paramedics pulled up outside his convenience store.

"Damn, I hope nothing happened out there that anybody is gonna sue me... for...?" He blinked in bewilderment, as the dark-haired girl in the excessively snug red dress was nowhere to be seen. After looking away for just a few seconds she'd vanished like a ghost. But the bag of cosmetic supplies (and prophylactics) he'd left on the counter was gone.

"Huh? Where'd she go?"