Author's Notes: Okay, so one person reviewed so I will keep my promise and post the second chapter of three. Have at it^_^

Chapter Two

"Go ON! GET OUT OF HERE!" I yelled. I couldn't believe it: the guy Kalin had sent me after was just a kid; he couldn't have been much older than some of the kids Martha took care of. He scrambled up and sprinted away as Yusei came up beside me.

"Why'd ya let him get away?" he asked. He was just like Jack; couldn't see what Kalin's real intentions were. I turned away so angry at the world and thrust my fist into a brick wall. "Hey, you ok, Crow?"

"No, I'm NOT!" I didn't mean to yell at my best friend, but I couldn't help it. I turned back around to face him. "Don't you see, Yusei? Don't you see what Kalin's doing?"

Before he had a chance to respond, there was a commotion from not far away. We both took off towards it, darting threw the same hole in the chain-link fence that kid had disappeared threw a moment earlier. I had a bad feeling about what was going down, and as we stumbled on the scene, it was evident that I had reason for it.

"That'll teach you to run from the Enforcers!" Kalin sneered, his foot inches from that same kid's face that I had let escape. That was it; that was the last straw. I took off running again from where I had skidded to a halt and knocked Kalin away from the poor kid with a flying tackle. We would have been in an all-out fist fight in moments if it hadn't been for Yusei and Jack; Yusei had me while Jack held Kalin back.

"Lemme go, Yus'! Lemme GO!" It took a minute but eventually Yusei let go of my arms; they had started going numb from the way he had held them.

"I'm done, Kalin! I won't do this anymore! You hear me? I'm done terrorizing kids!" Before anyone could say anything else, I turned and walked away down the alley. I didn't know if Jack and Yusei would stay, but I sure as heck wasn't. I got my answer a moment later as I heard another pair of footsteps behind my own. I glanced back just in time to see Jack turn a corner; I knew where he'd go. He'd always liked an old stage theater near the center of Satellite. If - and it was a pretty big IF - Yusei left too, I knew he had a couple of friends that lived in an old subway station that he could stay with. But me? I didn't know where I was gonna go. 'Guess I'll just wander around for awhile,' I thought, shoving my hands into my pants pockets and wincing at the pain in my right hand.

I didn't intended to go there, but somehow I found myself at the Daedalus Bridge; I always did like this spot. It gave me hope that one day Satellite and New Domino City would be connected even though this bridge had been here for years, untouched.

I turned my head, glancing down an alley at the sound of kids playing. There were about ten of them, all running around and splashing in the puddles still standing from the previous night's rain. The oldest couldn't have been more than ten or eleven years. I thought back to when that would have been me; me, Jack, Yusei, Jori, Kena, and Keoka. I sighed. Why couldn't it have stayed that way? Why did everything always have to change? Why did everything good that happened always have to turn 180 degrees back to something worse? I don't know why I even try; nothing ever seems to get any better...

Some one called out to the kids, snapping me back to the present. I hadn't seen anyone old enough to have a voice that deep, but then a figure stepped out of the shadows of the one of the dilapidated buildings. He was tall and muscular with wild brown hair and stubble on his chin. From that distance, I couldn't tell what color his eyes were, though they were dark. He said something to them in a voice too low for me to hear, but the kids obviously weren't happy; they all sighed and grumbled and I heard a few of them whine, "Aww! But why Big Brother?"

At first I thought he hadn't noticed me standing there, watching, but then his eyes locked with mine. Without breaking his gaze, he came towards me, stopping about ten feet away.

"Hey! Aren't you part of the Enforcers?" he called out accusingly. So that's what he must have said to those kids: 'It's time to go'. He was taking them away from here because of me. I made a silent note to thank Kalin for that the next time I saw him.

I shook my head and sighed. "Not anymore." He visibly relaxed at that revelation, though not completely; he was still on guard for the safety of those kids, and I couldn't blame him for it.

"Good to know. Where you headed?"

"Nowhere."

"Why'd you leave?" Man, this guy is nosy!

"Couldn't stand what Kalin was doing." I shook my head again. "It wasn't always like this, you know."

"I know; I remember. I used to admire the Enforcers for taking out the duel gangs that were terrorizing everyone. You guys were making some good out of bad situation." Wow, wasn't expecting that. "The name's Pearson." He stepped closer, offering his hand for me to shake. "Robert Pearson."

"Crow Hogan," I replied, closing the distance to shake his hand. He didn't let go though; instead, he turned his wrist so the top of my hand was facing up. I hadn't thought about it before, but the knuckles of my right hand were swollen. And of course that was also the hand Pearson was staring at as he raised and eyebrow and asked, "What did you do? Punch a wall or something?"

"Actually, yeah," I replied as he let my hand fall. "That was kinda part of the breaking point today."

"So what happened anyway?"

"It's a long story... very long story... "

"Say, you got somewhere to stay?" Well that wasn't an abrupt change of subject or anything.

"No... Not really... "

"Then you'll have plenty of time to explain. C'mon." He clapped a hand on my shoulder and started back down the alleyway towards the group of kids still waiting for him there. I didn't have much choice; it was either go with Pearson - someone I knew nothing about - or freeze on the street somewhere in the autumn chill. Night was coming on quickly now, and Pearson looked back at me as he reached those kids. I made up my mind and followed him down the darkening street.

Author's Notes: Yeah, I know this wasn't how Crow met Pearson, but this si just how it worked out best for my story. Sorry.

Anyway, review if you wanna see how this whole thing ends^_^