Chapter 5: The Poison Hand Part 2

As they were in Brian's hospital room, Samantha sat next to him, held his hand, and stroked his hair.

"So this guy, I get the feeling that he's more to you than just your partner, am I right?" Peter asked.

"Yes, Brian and I have known each other for about 10 years now. And we've been together for the last 3, " she said as she looked down at Brian, who was in a comatose state.

"I see; that explains why you're so determined to save the guy. But what do you expect me to do to help? I'm not a doctor or anything." Peter said.

"I know, but we have a theory that the one who poisoned him used something called the Poison Fist technique. It's an ancient Chinese martial art; I thought since you trained martial arts in China, you might know something about it."

"Sounds like you really are grasping at straws. I hate to break it to you, but I don't know anything about Poison Fist technique."

Samantha started to break down into tears as her last desperate attempt to help Brian seemed to have failed.

"Hold your horses. Don't go blubbering on me already. I said I don't know about it. But I've definitely heard about it before."

"Really?"

"Yeah, it was in a text in the library of the place I trained. If I call my old sensei, he might know more about it. But as far as I can remember, it's an old martial art with no known practitioners. Basically, no one knows if it's a real technique or not. So I wouldn't get your hopes up."

Despite what Peter had said, Samantha was overflowing with confidence as they called Peter's old teacher on the video call in the conference room. When they finally contacted him, he seemed concerned about why the FBI was calling him but was reassured when he saw Peter in the room.

"Ah, Peter, what are you doing with the FBI?" He asked.

"It's good to see you again, Master Bao; we have something that we need your help with." Peter said with a bow.

"It makes me feel a bit awkward for you to call me master; after all, the Grandmaster took you under his wing shortly after you arrived. You surpassed all of us in no time." Bao said as he returned the bow.

"Nonsense, you are the senior between us. It's only natural that I address you with the proper respect." Peter said. Samantha was a bit taken aback by Peter acting so respectfully, which was in stark contrast to her past experiences with him. "Anyway, we're calling because we could use your help. You're familiar with the text referencing the Poison Fist technique, right?"

"Yes, I've read it a time or two. What about it?"

"Are you aware of anyone who's ever actually mastered the Poison Fist technique?"

"What? Of course not. It's purely a theoretical technique. There are no reliable accounts of it having any practical applications."

"Well, sir, we have reason to believe that it was used to poison one of our agents." Samantha said, chiming in.

"We'd like to know if anyone else has asked you about the technique recently. Maybe someone interested in learning it from the text?" Peter asked.

"Not that I can recall. Not many students even peruse the library anymore. At least not since you left. However, you should know that several copies of the text have been made and can be found in Kung Fu academies around the country. If someone DID learn it, there's no way to know where they learned it from."

"I see. Well, that doesn't help us narrow down who the guy might be," Peter said, disappointed.

"More importantly, does the text mention how to cure someone afflicted by the technique?" Samantha asked.

"Actually, it does. In fact, there are two methods. The first is the simplest, which is to obtain the antidote from the user. You see, the technique works by soaking your hands in poison to let the poison sink into your fists. With that, of course, it is necessary to keep an antidote to ensure you aren't affected by your own poison."

"And we obviously can't do that because we don't have any leads in the guy." Peter said. "So what's the other way?"

"Well, unfortunately, the other way is more of a theory than a guaranteed method. But supposedly, if another user of the Poison Fist technique uses a stronger poison to afflict his opponent, then it will overpower the original poison, and it could be cured by the antidote of the second user."

"I see, so basically fighting poison with poison." Peter said.

"That being said, as far as I know, the man who poisoned your friend is the only known practitioner of the Poison Fist Technique. And it likely took him years to master. There's no one in the world who could perform this technique. At least not currently."

After reaching yet another dead end in their investigation, Samantha was finally about to give up any hope of saving Brian that she had left.

"What about me? Peter asked.

"Well, yes, it is true that you were the greatest prodigy to ever come to our school. It only took you a year to master all the forms of kung fu that the Grandmaster knew. If it were you, you might just be able to pull it off. But I'll warn you that this takes more than just martial talent to master. "Do you understand?"

"Yes sir." Peter said with a bow.

With that, Peter trained diligently based on Bao's instructions and the text. The doctor determined that Brian likely only had three days left to live. It took two days for Peter to master the technique. On the final day, Peter insisted that Brian stand so he could be struck by the new Poison Fist.

"Say why does he have to poison him by hitting him like that?" A junior agent asked. "Wouldn't it work just as well to inject him with the new poison then give him the antidote ?"

"I would think so, but he Peter insisted on making him "fight" for it." Samantha responded.

Brian barely had the strength to stand, when Peter struck him and sent him crashing to the floor. Samantha covered her eyes because she couldn't stand to watch.

"Come on! Are you going to just lay there and die? Or are you going to fight for your life?" Peter shouted at Brian.

Brian slowly struggled to his feet and as he did Peter sent him crashing back into the ground. They repeated this process over and over until Brian couldn't move anymore. He was then taken back to his hospital bed.

"There's absolutely no medical science that would explain it but I've seen patients with extremely strong wills to live defy expectations before. I think that's why your friend did things the way he did." The doctor explained to Samantha.

Brian was given the antidote as soon as Peter's new poison had taken effect. He had to spend several days in the hospital but he managed to make a full recovery.

After Brian had made his recovery and left the hospital Samantha went back to Peter's apartment to thank him for saving Brian.

"You don't have to thank me. It wasn't a big deal to me." He replied dismissively.

"Well, it meant the world to me." Samantha said wiping away her tears. "You know, together we took down Karasovitch and now you saved Brian. We make a pretty good team don't you think?"

"What do you mean team? I'm the one who did all the work." Peter said disgruntled.

"Well maybe, but still I do think that we should work together more often." She answered with a chuckle. "What do you say? Helping us out would be the easiest way to get your charges dropped."

Peter just blew raspberries and gave her a thumbs down as he closed the door in Samantha's face.

After a few days, Peter realized that he was low on cash so he ended up accepting Samantha's offer after all.