9. Fire and Ice

Amidst the complex machinery, wires and pipes of the basement of the John F. Kennedy International Airport, clanging and swishing sounds can be heard.

Then there was a crash.

Moments later a thud.

And the clanging and the swishing returned.

"Daga!" This was chanted by Nigel Smith, an American who claimed to be from the Immigrations Office, as he threw a dagger bearing symbols on its blade and pommel when he lost one of his axes to his Chinese opponent, Quan Tie.

Quan jumped over the flying dagger, twisting in mid air just as Lucas Jorgen, an African-American associate of Nigel, held both his hands in front of him as if holding a basket ball, thrust them and chanting "Magliyab" to release a fireball toward the still descending Chinese.

The Chinaman was himself forming a ball in his left hand and as he finished his 360 degree twist in mid air pushed it toward the fireball chanting, "Nyebe!" A snowball flew to the fireball liquefying on contact and extinguishing the flames while JJ Junco, a Filipino that is being accosted by Nigel and Lucas watched the battle in horror.

When Quan Tie landed, he was met by a right hook from Nigel that avoided by twisting his body by almost a quarter. He then pushed his upper body forward, left hand striking toward Nigel's right deltoid muscle are with palms open, fingers extended and joined, its tips thrust like a cutting knife to the American's muscles soliciting pain in the process.

Quan followed this move by a punch in Nigel's solar plexus kicking the air out of his opponent. He then stepped back to avoid a drop kick from Lucas.

Lucas, now standing between the pained Nigel and Quan swung his right hand to drive a right backhand punch at the Chinese.

Quan blocked the strike with his right arm with a backhand block. He then turned his hand to seize Lucas by the wrist, pulled his enemy's hand to the right while he pushed his left hand, palms up toward Lucas' elbow breaking the joint with the heel of his hand. Letting go of the now injured right hand of the American, Quan pushed his right hand to the right side of Lucas cracking some ribs. He then repeated the left hand attack hitting Lucas by the jaw with the heel of his left hand.

Lucas went down on one knee from the pain. His movement cleared the way for Nigel who delivered a flying side kick toward Quan, hitting the Chinese square on the chest pushing him backward.

As he swung his arms around to regain his balance, Quan chanted "Shuriken" as he released one throwing star after another from each hand as he continued to swing them alternately.

Three of the stars hit Nigel in the chest and arms while he was able to avoid the rest.

Quan then move his arms in a circle in front of him ending with his right hand pointing upward, palms open, fingers extended and joined over his left hand with palms up assuming a Buddhist praying pose. He then chanted "Bomba." This chant blew up the shurikens he released causing sever physical damage and shock to his American opponent.

Just as the blast reverberated on the basement walls, Quan and JJ heard what appeared to be a hand slapping the floor and the injured Lucas chanting "Alon." A wave of concrete flooring then began to form rushing toward the Chinese. Concrete rubbles flew toward Quan including pieces of steel as they break up from the flooring.

Quan again moved his arms in a circle in front of him but instead of ending in a praying pose, he ended with both hands in front of him, palms open, facing the flying projectiles from the debris.

"Kalasag," Quan chanted as a circular shield with symbols and drawings materialized in thin air blocking the deadly debris.

JJ, still trembling from shock jumped back when he heard Quan Tie saying, "I believe we should leave."

"What," asked JJ. "Who are you? Who are these people? What have I got to do with you?"

"In time Mr. Junco," Quan said assuringly. "All in good time. But for now, it is time for us to leave. The explosion could have caught the attention of airport security and they are probably on their way down. And besides, you don't want to be here when their friends arrive," pointing to the now unconscious Lucas and Nigel.

"What about my wife and son," protested JJ. "I have to get back to them," he said as he started to rise.

"They have already been taken cared of," said Quan stopping JJ from standing,

"Taken cared of," said JJ worried for his wife and young son. "What do you mean taken cared of?"

"So many questions, so little time," mused Quan.

They hear footsteps and commotion outside the door above them.

"We must be going," urged Quan. "Like I said, all in good time and our time here is not going to be good."

JJ looked up at the door to the airport lobby and contemplated on what he should do. He then looked at Quan who is waiting for him and urging him to come along with him.

"If those security personnel catch you, they will think you are a terrorist and put you in jail," explained Quan and then turned his back on JJ as he walked toward the dark.

JJ needed to decide fast and he decided to try and trust the Chinese. He walked down the steps and followed the Chinese disappearing in the in the dark amidst the machinery, wires, and pipes in the basement of the JFK International Airport.

8. Eagle vs Dragon

The John F. Kennedy International Airport located in New York City caters to more than 19 million passengers a year. Its service areas provide its guests with conveniences while waiting for their scheduled flight. The passenger terminals are located in circular arrangement in the middle of the airport. Below grounds, machines work round the clock to provide support to the massive structure. In its bowels, three men stood frozen. Their gaze directed upon a small glow on their right amidst the concrete pillars, pipes, and metal structures.

The sound of something whipping through the air broke their silence. From the direction where the sound came from are two large curved swords spinning in the air like boomerangs. An ax thrown by a white American wearing a dark pin striped suit stopped one of the swords. The other one was diagonally parried by another American, an African-American, and spun towards the wall only to vanish in thin air much like the ax and the first sword.

The white American known as Nigel crossed his hands in front of him and drew two axes from thin air. His comrade, Lucas took a step to stand beside him holding his saber ready.

"Who the hell are you," demanded Nigel. "Show yourself!"

The soft steps of Kung Fu shoes can be heard as a man in black traditional Kung Fu uniform emerges from the dark holding two Chinese swords.

"I am Quan Tie," he introduced, "and I claim Mr. Junco."

"Like hell you are," said Lucas, advancing on the Chinese.

Quan stopped with his right foot leading his left, feet on 90 degree angles and shoulder width apart. His right hand holding the dao in front of him as his left hand held the other dao upright behind him, his left fist level and pressed against his lower back.

Lucas swung his right hand, palms up, horizontally to strike Quan in the chest.

Quan bent back while twisting his body to his right to avoid the strike while maintaining his stance. With fluidity, he raised the sword in his right then thrust at Lucas, his trailing left leg pushing his body forward while he bent his leading right leg.

Lucas' recovers the strike and parried the thrust with his saber while side stepping to his left. Once he had pushed the sword some distance away from him, he reversed his hand movement to strike Quan in the neck.

Quan bent his head to his left while Lucas' saber whizzed through barely grazing his ear. He then moved his trailing left foot wide diagonally to his left assuming a crouching position while reversing the blade of his sword to face his black opponent and swing it toward his opponent's abdominal area.

Nigel saw and opening and stepped forward, his right hand raised to slam his ax on the Chinaman's neck.

Quan recovered from his strike and pulled his body with his left foot while sliding his right along the floor just in time for the ax to pass inches from his heard. He continued his movement sliding his right foot behind his left foot as Nigel turned to swing his ax-wielding left hand horizontally to the Chinese.

The Chinese bent his body on his waist to avoid the ax while twisting his right hand by the wrist to move his sword blade from his right hand side toward his left, the face of the blade resting on his left shoulder, cutting edge pointed leftward. He then swung his right hand toward Nigel who jumped back away from him toward his right.

As Nigel moved, Lucas came into view. His hand no longer holding a saber but held in front of him, his fingers extended and apart. His other hand is held in the same way as if holding a battering ram pushed against him. Light flowed from both his arms towards his hands.

"Shockwave," yelled Lucas and pushed his hands forward as a ripple of air escaped from them and hurtled toward the Chinese.

Caught off-guard, Quan only had time to cross his arms in front of him and braced for impact. The impact threw him off toward the pipes and machinery behind him. The Chinese crashed through them, his head banging on a pipe running horizontally.

The two Americans paused and observed. Waiting for something to happen. Then they heard footsteps scurrying up the steps.

Nigel and Lucas both looked at the direction of the noise saw their target, JJ Junco clambering up the stairs.

"Stop him," Nigel shouted toward Lucas who as nearer to the escaping Filipino.

Lucas took a step forward with his left foot, held his hands together, fingers curled close, his left hand palms down while his right hand was held palms up. Both hands were held together, his left index finger and thumb next to his right pinkie. He then pulled his right hand toward his back while pushing his left hand a few inches forward. Light crawled from his arms as a rod of light formed between the separating hands. A spear with metal edge and iron rod materialized from the rod of light. As his right hand reached its farthest point backward, Lucas released the hold of his left hand on the spear, slid his left foot about four inches forward and heaved the spear toward the fleeing JJ.

Just then, a sai flew through the air, catching the spear between its main center prong and its tsuba -- one of the two unsharpened shorter prongs. The force the sai was thrown was so great that the spear was pushed away from its trajectory. Both weapons vanished in thin air.

"As you Americans say," a voice from the dark said. "It is not over until the fat lady sings," Quan continued as he emerged from the dark patting dirt from his clothes.

"The hell with the fat lady," Nigel sighed as he rushed toward the Chinese. Behind him, Lucas produced another saber and started after Nigel.

7. Basement

John F. Kennedy International Airport. Van Wyck and JFK Expressways lead to and from the airport's rotund. The JFK Expressway runs through the space between Terminals 7 and 8 from the North while Van Wyck runs through between Terminals 9 and 1 from the East. The airport is also served by the AirTrain JFK that operates between the airport, the New York Subway and the Long Island Rail Road including. It is connected to the terminals as well as rental car facilities, hotel shuttles and the parking lots.

It is a vast complex of people, machinery, and electronics that supports 19 million passenger a year that go through its terminal that are constructed around a rotund. On the ground and upper levels are service areas for the passengers like restaurants, lounges, check-in and customs areas, and the baggage claim areas.

Underneath it are baggage and cargo handling facilities, electrical machines, plumbing, and back-up systems that will keep the air traffic controller operational in case of power outage. These sections are connected to several access doors through stairs, elevators, and ramps.

An exit door opens and three persons came in. One of them is holding another one in front of him while the third closes the door behind them.

"Don't worry Mr. Junco, you will not be harmed if you fully cooperate," assured the African-American holding the man who is much smaller in height and build. The smaller man's name is Jeffrey or JJ as his friends call him.

They take him down the stairs toward a darkened area beneath the moving conveyors and large pipes.

"Please," demanded the white American with them, "don't make this hard on yourself."

The white American introduced himself to JJ at the check-in area as Nigel Smith. He also introduced the person now holding JJ as Lucas Jorgen.

Nigel pushed his dark pinstriped coat aside with his right hand and drew his Glock-9 semiautomatic pistol and pushed it at JJ's chest.

"Now, stand still," Nigel ordered. "We only need to talk to you."

This time, Lucas loosened his grip on JJ's mouth and slowly released his left arm.

"What," asked JJ. "Just talk? Why bring me all the way down here for just a talk," he demanded.

By this time, Lucas has left his place behind JJ and joined Nigel. JJ tried to step back but he hit a concrete column that supported the airport's structure.

"We need you to answer a few questions," Nigel explained holstering his pistol.

"We want to know if you had any unusual experiences lately," asked Lucas.

"Well," JJ began to explain, "this is the first unusual experience I had. First, you introduced yourselves as immigration officers and then you suddenly drag me down here which does not really look like an immigration office. Yeah, this is my first unusual experience."

"That's not what we meant," interrupted Nigel putting his hands on his waist. "Have you had any unusual dreams? Have you seen any unusual things happen in your surroundings?"

Before JJ could answer, Nigel's cellphone rings. He fishes out of his pocket, looked at the display and open's the clamshell shaped phone to answer the call.

"Yes," he said turning his back and walking away while Lucas stayed to watch over JJ. "We have him. He's right here where we told you we'll take him."

Lucas turned his head to look where Nigel is holding his hand out as if to signal JJ to stay put.

JJ took this little distraction and tried to run for the stairs.

"Hey! Come back here," shouted Lucas as he started to run after JJ while drawing his 9mm Beretta M-93.

"Shit," muttered Nigel. "I'll call you back, our subject is trying to run away," Nigel told the caller as he began to run after JJ also drawing his gun.

JJ was two flights up the stairs when a bullet hit the handrail just above his right hand. He froze on his tracks.

"Freeze a*****e," Lucas shouted after JJ.

Just then the three men noticed a small glow on their right amidst the concrete pillars, pipes, and metal structures. Then they heard something whip through the air. They looked at the direction where the sound came from as two large curved swords spun in the air like a boomerang from the dark toward their direction. One of the spinning swords was stopped in mid flight by an ax thrown spinning towards it while the other one continued its spin towards Lucas.

As JJ watched the sword in flight, his eyes caught a glimpse of light shining from Lucas' direction as he drew a saber with his right hand. Lucas continued the drawing motion swinging the sword diagonally and clockwise toward the sword to parry it. As the saber hit the sword, JJ saw the other sword and ax separate from their impact and vanish in thin are along his left peripheral vision. The second sword was successfully parried and spun away and vanished into thin air.

Nigel crossed his hands in front of him to draw two axes from thin air as Lucas took a step to stand beside him holding his saber ready.

"Who is that," demanded Nigel. "Show yourself."

The soft steps of Kung Fu shoes can be heard as a man in black traditional Kung Fu uniform emerges from the dark holding two Chinese swords known as the Dao.

"I am Quan Tie," he introduced, "and I claim Mr. Junco."