The confrontation between the thugs, Victor and Mearl draws a crowd. The nervous audience whispers to one another. The ongoing mutters grow louder with the thug’s unwanted attention, causing one of them to grow irate, until one of them snaps back at them.
Philip: Hey! What's up!? This ain’t your first time seeing us! If ya know what’s best for all of ya, then scram!
The crowd quickly disperses upon the thug’s outburst. The thug scoffs before returning his attention to the two in front of them.
Jorge: Drop all your stuffs. World’s too god damn complicated nowadays, so why don’t we make this simple for all of us, huh?
Victor: Uh...Sorry, but we--
Mearl grabs Victor by his arm, jerking him: This is bad, we have to get out of here now!
Mearl hastily turns to escape, but clumsily trips over himself.
Philip: Yo! You see that! They just tried to escape!
The thugs agree that they are done playing nice, and begin advancing on them. Meanwhile, Victor kneels down to tend to Mearl.
Victor: Hey man, you okay? What’s the rush?
Before he realizes it, the three thugs have surrounded the two. The three intimidatingly stare down at them,
Jorge: Hey…You tried to run away just now…? You’ve done goofed up right there!
Philip: We were being nice you know? Just wanted to keep things simple, like I said!
Mearl: Not good…
Victor: Look, I don’t know who you guys are, but this is clearly harassment. I’m sure this goes against this city’s rule. You could get arrested for this.
The three thugs look at each other confusedly.
Philip: HUH??!! Who do you think we are?!?!
Jorge: We’re Punk Riot!!! Ain’t nothing can stop us from doing whatever we want in this city!!!
[https://i.imgur.com/FT4DNPD.png]
Philip: Boy, you must be new here! Now that I think about it, you don’t look familiar! Must be one of dem folks that came here to sight-see! You know what, I understand! You’s new here, so yo ain’t up to snuff about the dos and don’ts around the parts.
Philip: Drop everything you have, and forget that you saw us.
Victor makes a quick reflection on what he should do. Before another alternative crossed his mind, his decision was already made, as he knew what was the correct thing he should do.
Victor: No, we refuse. – He says with determination.
Philip: Tch! Man, I told ya we shoulda just jumped these fools to begin with!
Thug 3: Whatever! Let’s just get it over with it! Also don’t damage the clothes too much, we can sell those as well!
The thugs encroach on Victor and Mearl. Victor brings his arm in front of Mearl as cover to prepare for what’s to come.
Suddenly, someone comes dashing towards them. Coming from their blindside, a blur appears before Jorge. Before his eyes could register anything, the thug blacks out. His head bobs in the direction of the strike. In the next near instant, A person wearing a fur jacket, blue jeans, and with messy black and red hair overlaying atop one another appears. With both his hands in his pockets, he kicks the next nearby thug in the temple. The head of the thug sways against the assailant’s shoes, firmly implanted against his head.
[https://i.imgur.com/8OPp98C.png]
The two bodies hit the floor in synchronization. The attack had happened so fast that the last thug, Philip, was unable to register anything until he saw the bodies of his companions on the floor.
Philip: …Huh…?
Panic-stricken, Philip falls on his rear. His whole body quivers with fear. Philip frantically scrambles away fleeing the scene whimpering.
[https://i.imgur.com/EvmufgK.png]
The attacker quickly rushes forward to Victor and Mearl. Before Victor could properly assess and respond to the situation, the person disappears right in front of Victor before making a sharp “pinging” sound. The attacker suddenly blips behind Mearl, landing a swift strike at the back of his head and knocking him out.
The core falls out of Mearl’s hand and the assailant quickly grabs the core. Victor hears the sound of Mearl’s body dropping to the ground, only to see that it was too late. In the distance, the mysterious attacker was already getting away at a blistering speed.
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Victor: Hey!!!
Refusing to give up, he hoists Mearl on his back, “Dammit... ! Get back here you…!” After taking a couple steps, his body drops down in exhaustion from the weight. It was then that Victor realized that running while carrying a person, no matter how light they may look, wasn’t easy.
*Meanwhile back at some random alley.
The surviving thug member makes his way back to a dark, obscured alley occupied by more Punk Riot members. Philip escorts his way to the end of the alley where three dark skinned thugs are located. The surrounding thug members form an open path between Philip and the three thugs.
The right thug has a hat shadowing his eyes and wears a thick hoodie with baggy pants. The left thug wears a yellow jacket that is zipped all the way up to his mouth. The thug in the middle is sat atop stacks of crates, exuding an imposing presence. His clothing consists of only blue jeans with a grey jacket wrapped around his waist, and a black vest with the rest of his well toned body exposed. Dreadlocks flow back from his head with a piece of red cloth wrapped around his forehead.
[https://i.imgur.com/rC3LXWL.png]
Philip begins to explain the situation to the three members, “Jorge and Lars have been done in…!”
Philip: We were trying to mug some dudes, until some guy wiped us out! He whooped our asses in a flash! Their bodies just dropped to the floor before I could even do anything!
The thug members remain silent listening to Philip’s story.
Philip: I think them guys could be working together, they set us up! When I saw our boi’s body drop, I freakin booked it! I’m sorry Jayce! But they not dead though I think! I could bring you to where they are right now--!
Jayce: No need.
Philip’s face twitches to Jayce’s response.
Jayce: No member of Punk Riot would be done in just like that. They’ll wake up on their own.
“Take me to the guys who attacked you.”
*At the mansion, evening time.
Sharon looks out the window at the sun setting, “It’s getting pretty late…”
Sharon: I’d thought that Victor would be back here first, but he still hasn’t returned….Could he still be at the lab…?
Tatsuo and Darren are playing a game of Jenga. Darren carefully plans where to place his block on the contorted swaying tower.
Darren: Maybe we should’ve gone to the lab instead of returning here.
Tatsuo on the other hand feels slightly disturbed, as if he could tell something bad is about to happen, albeit he doesn’t visibly show it.
*Back in the streets of Argonaut.
Victor struggles to find his way back to the hotel while carrying Mearl. With each step he takes, his body trembles and his breathing becomes more labored.
Victor: Damn…Where the hell am I….? *Huffs….It’s really no joke carrying around a person…
Victor (thinking): for how thin he looks, he’s actually pretty darn heavy…!
His mind wanders back to the times he has seen Tatsuo lifting various heavy objects and lifting people around, ‘Tatsuo makes it look so easy….!’
A sudden shouting snaps his awareness back – “That’s him! That’s him over there!”
Victor looks to see the thug along with the other three members he was talking to earlier.
Jayce: Are you the one who beat up my bois?
Victor: Huh??
Jayce: I’ve been told that two of my members today were attacked earlier, were you the one that did it?
Victor couldn’t believe what was happening right now. For all the events that have transpired today, he was tired of it all, “…Are you kidding me right now? I didn’t attack anybody! We were also attacked!”
Philip: He wasn’t the one that did it, it was someone else. He’s probably hiding nearby right now!
Jayce: Call your friend out right now, and give yourselves up. Course, you still hurt two of my bois and I can’t let that simply slide, somebody has to pay. so I’ll still have to beat you up.
Victor: I’ve already told you, we weren’t the ones who hurt your guys! I don’t even know the person who attacked them!
Jayce: Is that so? It would’ve been a little bit more comforting to have someone to share the pain with. Oh wells. You could’ve at least tried to lie your way out.
Thinking about it, Victor wonders if what the thug said about lying would’ve actually worked; if that would’ve made the situation any better. However, it was already too late for that.
Jayce: Hector, Malone, go for it.
The two gang members besides Jayce walk over to Victor as he places Mearl’s body down. Hector raises a fist. Victor hears a cracking sound and he suddenly finds himself on the floor.
[https://i.imgur.com/qsySykW.png]
What was that sound? Did that come from him? Did they break something? His jaw? He feels his nose swelling. He could feel the warmth of liquid dripping on the side of his face and from his nose. The taste of iron spread in his mouth. All of these become an afterthought as pain begins to udder throughout his body. Victor then realized… He was getting beaten up.
The two thugs ruthlessly pummels Victor. Victor is barely able to keep his eyes open for no more than a few seconds. In spite of the brutality, he desperately props up on his four and positions his body to cover for Mearl. More cracking sounds can be heard from Victor’s body. Blood sweats down on Mearl.
*Later on.
Jayce: Hmmmm. In the end he didn’t say anything huh?
Victor lies lifelessly on the floor with pools of blood surrounding him. His face is swollen purple and contorted so much, he wouldn’t be recognizable if it wasn’t for his hair.
The two thugs set their sights on Mearl and inch closer to him.
Jayce: Stop it.
Jayce’s command stops the two in their place.
He turns around with both hands in his pocket, “We’ll leave it at that. We’ve got a culprit to find.”
Jayce: He could’ve ditched his friend and ran for it. Instead he didn’t let a single hit land on him, nor did he scream or shout.
Jayce smiles in admiration, “He faced his beating like a champ.”