AIRDRIEONIAN RHAPSODY: THE A1 LIST

PROLOGUE

Southtown, 2006. Somewhere in the evening.

There was a gang of three thugs hanging out at the edge of the park, having a break after their usual heist.

"Hey, so what now?"

"Hmm? What what?"

"I mean how do we spend the money today?"

"Ha ha. I say we go to the clubhouse and get some nice girls for fun. "

"Well, I don't think that's gonna happen." Said a woman from behind.

"Huh?" they turned back and saw a woman dressed in black and yellow tights (or whatsoever) standing not far from there.

"Who the hell is she?" asked one of them.

"Playtime's over." She said, as she walked up to them. "You've got a bounty on your heads."

"Wait, that must be Lien Neville, one of Don Duke's assassins." Said another.

"Whoa, it's really her? Well, time to play with her then." The first person stepped forward once more. "I've heard of you during Don Duke's time around here. So, let me see how good you really are."

"You're gonna regret this, after all you can't escape." Lien adjusted her zip before she dashed towards them.

"Yeah, come on, baby!"

However, less than a minute later Lien was the only one standing there. The three thugs laid on the ground defeated. Lien combed her hair and adjusted her device on her hand.

"I told you earlier, now I get my reward." She dragged the gang leader off the road down to the other end back to the sweepers association. At the same time she looked at the time. "There's still time for another one."

Since Duke was defeated by Alba, Soiree and Terry, Souhttown was at peace once more. Yet, the unemployment rate and crimes remained at large, possibly because there was no one to control Southtown anymore at the moment, giving more freedom for everyone to try to seize power. And to curb this problem, a sweepers association had been formed. People from everywhere entered this group to hunt down criminals and get paid for each one they caught. This bounty hunting for money style had become a craze in Southtown, making it a haven of hunters in just a year after Duke escaped from here.

Later that night…

Rock Howard was at the basketball court with his ball. It was getting late, but he still had the mood to play on.

"This is getting bored. Where have all the tough guys gone to?" he thought. The last time he caught a tough guy with a big reward on his head was merely a week ago, yet the money went down the drain just like that, after being shared out with the rest of his gang members.

"This is getting nuts." He threw the ball to the net. Missed. The ball rebounded and bounced back to him. It rolled past him until the other corner. Rock looked at it and stopped, as a familiar figure stood near the ball.

"Well, how it's going, son of Geese Howard?"

"Why, you…Billy?"

"Well, you do remember me at least. After all, I was your father's most loyal bodyguard he ever had."

"What the hell do you want from me?"

"What I want? That's very easy. Rock Howard, son of Geese Howard, leader of Geese Connection. Now it is time for you to rise back up and rebuild the empire that you should have inherited from your father. You should be the next leader, and Geese Connection shall rule Southtown again."

"In your dreams, you freak! I won't take over the place of the man with that many sins, especially what he had been doing with my mother. He doesn't deserve to be my father!"

"Talk as you want, but you can't never escape fate. You are a Howard after all, so you must take responsibility of your father." Billy held his stick down.

"Never ever. No one can force me what to do now."

"Well, in that case, I'll have to use the harsh way. And to think about it, Terry must've been poisoning your mind about your father, since you're living with Terry and Terry's your father's enemy." At that moment, Billy held his stick up front, getting ready for battle. Rock moved back and lifted his hands to attack.

"You won't be able to escape this fight. I'll fight you and show you what it means to be in the Geese Connection line." He said again. Rock just kept quiet.

"Sounds like fun. Can I join in?"

The two of them were surprise by the voice and turned towards the fighter that appeared. It was Lien, again.

"You…?" Billy turned to her.

"This seems to be a fight to remember. I never expect to see Billy Kane back in Southtown."

"You're Lien Neville, the gorgeous assassin, aren't you? I've heard things about your notoriety here during Duke's reign."

"Oh, so I'm already that famous even outside? But that doesn't matter."

"Doesn't matter? What do you want from me? Or maybe from Rock?" he snarled. Rock just looked on.

"Right now I'm a part time sweeper, earning other income, but then, that's the main thing to say. Billy Kane, you've got a bounty on your head, and I'm going to get it today."

"Oh yeah?" Billy turned back to Rock. "Rock, you're gonna deal it later. So move back."

"You don't tell me what to do! I don't care what's gonna happen here." Rock snorted back.

"Well, Rock Howard, the truth is, I'm also here for you. But since Billy's reward is much much higher than you, you're next after this, so please stand back and watch the show." Lien pointed at him. Rock could not believe it.

"Well, no one's gonna touch him other than me!" Billy swung his stick into a nanchaku at Rock. He had to leap backwards to avoid it.

"What the…?"

"Just move aside! I'll deal with her first!" he combined back his stick and rushed to Lien.

"Let's make it nice and fun." Lien unzipped her jacket, revealing part of her breast as usual, before dashing forward to counter Billy.

"Damn it." Rock rubbed his face as the two of them. Billy immediately slammed his stick right in front of her. She dodged it and tried to slash him with her hidden blade. The fight went on for some time, but eventually Billy was gaining an upper hand in the fight.

"Damn it, she's gonna get killed. But… she's after me as well. What am I suppose to do?" Rock clenched his fist, unknowing what to do as he watched the fight. At that moment, Lien was slammed to a car nearby.

"Urrgh, requesting backup!" she commanded with her device. A laser beam was shot at Billy, but he managed to leap aside, destroying that spot in an instant. Lien and Rock were also thrown back by the momentum and in the chaos, she dropped her device.

"That was nice shot, but you need to be faster." Billy spanned his stick, creating a fire spin attack. "Die!!!" The tornado of fire came burning to her. She couldn't avoid it on time.

"Raging Storm!" Rock appeared in of her a of a sudden and countered the flames with his ultimate attack, breaking the fire off.

"Why you… why are you helping her?" Billy was mad now. He held his stick up again.

"Why? Why are you doing this?" Lien looked at him. He only smiled back, before he went down to his knees. Billy dashed to them again.

"Don't say I owe you this." Lien quickly got up, rushed forward, and aimed a kick at Billy. However, her act was getting slower. Billy aimed his stick and slammed her. She grabbed the edge trying to pull back, but Billy held his strength and held her high up at the edge and tried to shake her off.

"Get down, you idiot!" he shook her here and there, and she fell back to the car which was already damaged by the earlier blow. Rock stood back up upon realizing.

"Ah, damn. Raizing." He mumbled, and then charged towards Billy.

"Oh, so you wanna play again. Well, then me see the true strength of the son of Geese!" he charged forward as well.

"Burning Knuckles!" Rock unleashed his skill. Billy blocked with his stick.

"That wont' work. I knew you learnt some of Terry's moves, and I'm used to it!" the other end of his stick spilt into his nanchaku and hit Rock at his chest, sending him flying backwards. Billy charged again without combining it back.

"Urrgh, Kick Back!" he touched the ground with his hand and pushed himself back up. "Crack Shoot!" his leg slammed right above Billy's stick, sending him down to his knees, crushing part of the ground as well.

"Very impressive." Billy was still able to smile.

"What the…?" Billy slammed him up into the air and slammed him to the building wall. Rock got back up.

"Cough, cough. This is not good." He thought. Lien was taken by his attitude.

"Why is he doing all of this? I have to… the device. Where is it?" she went to the cars to find it, before it was too late.

"You still wanna do it, Rock? Quit that already, and hold on to your responsibility as the one who shall revive Geese Connection." He stood there.

"Ha… you're annoying me, you know? If you really want to revive it, why don't you do it yourself?"

"Me? Because I need support from the Howard themselves to revive it, other wise no one would want to bow back to Lord Geese. You are his son, and yet you took things for granted. Where's your pride?"

"I have my pride as a free person in Southtown. I listen to no one, especially to those like you who had connection with him." He smiled and held his hand up again. Lien continued searching for her device without being remembered by Billy.

"You're a failed brat after all. Since you won't want to inherit your father's legacy, you might as well die!" he charged forward again. Billy waited for him to come closer.

"I'm running low on energy. Looks like I'll have to focus all now." He waited for him.

"You're dead!" Billy's stick broke into countless pairs of nanchakus, his ultimate attack. (I forgot the name of this move. Can anyone tell me in your review?) He slammed them at him.

"Terry's style: Buster Wolf!!" Rock charged through tem and burst his powers at him, pushing him back. He slammed the sticks down to stop and charged back. Rock leaped into the air with his last might.

"Dream Cancel: Power Stream (Once Power)!" He slammed his fists down at him. Billy still had the power to block the attack and leaped aside.

"Requesting backup!" Lien got her device and commanded it.

"Huh?" Shit!" Billy remembered her. The laser beam shot right above him and exploded. The whole area was covered with smoke. Rock went back to the spot. When the smoke cleared, Billy was nowhere to be seen.

"Got it." Lien said from afar.

"He won't be dead that easily." Replied Rock. Then he turned to her. "You said you had business with me too. So what now? Aren't you gonna do it?" he stood there offering his body. Lien looked at him for some time, before she smiled.

"Maybe next time." She turned away.

"What's up? Is it because we owe each other right now? Or this is gratitude?" Rock knelt down, tired.

"Who knows? After all, it's that late right now, and I just lost a bounty reward. I'll have to reorganize my sweeping list again first. But the next time we meet directly, there will be no mercy." she walked away, leaving him alone in the dark with the moonlight sky.

"Lien… thanks." He looked up the sky. "Oh, gotta go back now, Terry might be worry." He looked up again. "Mum, thanks for the love. I won't let anyone harm you anymore, even after death." He got up and walked away slowly from the area.

Meanwhile…

At Southtown harbor…

K' and Kula were waiting at the jetty, They seemed to be in a hurry.

"K', can you still go on?" she went closer to him.

"Hmmm, I think so. Didn't expect Ralf to treat me like this. We need a new plan. What's taking Maxima so long?"

"K', I think you should rest first. You can't go on with those kind of wounds. You can let us finish the investigation."

"Ai, whatever." He groaned.

"Ah, there they are!" Maxima and Whip arrived in a motorboat. They helped K' into the boat and then sped off.

"Got any news about Mikashima so far?" Asked K'.

"So far not yet, but we'll find out sooner." He replied.

"K', take this." Whip attached a plaster on his arm.

"Thanks." He replied. They sped on, out of Southtown heading for Miami.

At he same time, another interesting event occurred at the other end of Southtown during Rock's battle with Billy.

A Chinese girl in a traditional outfit seemed too big for her was surrounded by four men. They were wanted criminals. She just stood there in silence, her long sleeves dangling down the ground covering her hands.

"What a nice girl, what are you gonna do with us? Stop playing there and come to us." Said one of them.

"Yeah, this should be great. Never seen her around before." Said another.

"You won't live that long to say that again." She replied with her wide eyes opened.

"Huh? How arrogant. Who do you think you are? A girl shouldn't be that rough, you know?" the earlier guy got angry.

"Xiao Lon." She introduced herself. "And you guys got a bounty on your heads, for I am a sweeper."

"Huh? A sweeper? Ha ha ha! A girl like you can be a sweeper? Then show me what you got. I'll be honored to challenged you till you cry." The first one went forward.

"You'll regret for this." She held her hand up and unexpected blades came out of her sleeves. Before he could react to it, he was on the ground, moaning in pain. His body was full of slashes in an instant.

"What just happen?" the rest became panic. "She's really this tough?"

"You're all mine. Time for the reward." She dashed towards them with her blades out and slashed them without any hesitation.

"Aaargrgghhh!!!!"

Not even a minute, Xiao Lon was the only one still standing there, with the rest of them groaning in pain on the ground.

"This should earn me enough money for the time being. Plus without Rock and the gang around right now, it's really enough for me." She giggled with a sly smile. "Ah Ke, I'll help out in the fastest time. Mei Kuan See. Soon I can gain more info about him, as long as there is this money." She hid her blades back into her sleeves and went to them to drag them down to the association for the reward. From far, Makoto Mizoguchi was observing her in agitation and full of tension.

"Man, she sure is fast. I don't even had the chance the chance to help her. I guess I couldn't show my skills yet, what more earn some of the reward. Ah, daijobu, I shall be able to catch my own one later, and prove to them how great I am." He walked away in a boastful mood. Suddenly his handphone rang. He went to a corner and answered it.

"Mushi mushi. Oh, Ryoko-chan, oyasumi. Nanika? It's late here you know? Anything up? Oh, I got it. Ja, oyasumi." He walked on. "Gotta check out the list of bounties again."