Author's note: Thanks for waiting!

This chapter pretty much foreshadows certain events, which will eventually occur the next night. Hold on tight!

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The Quiet Man: Revised and Reanswered

Night 2

Everything seemed normal. Customers were storming in, especially Alex, who was waiting patiently for the thugs's comeuppance. Taye and even Mr. Swank were trying to keep everything in line, and Shirley was working hard as always.

Then, I notice Taye heading towards me, and he began to explain how his girlfriend, a singer named Lala, was getting letters from an unknown stalker. He also explained how she was going to perform tomorrow night, as well, and insisted that I pick her up and escort her to Moonrise, hoping she was safe.

With my sign language proving to be successful, I had reassured Taye that everything would be A-okay, and he smiled confidently. After that, I began to remember Alex's promise, and went to ask him.

'Do you know where those thieves hang out?'

"Someone told me they usually spend their time at the docks."

'Good.'

With a nod of approval, I left the club, looking for the thugs.

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After some time investigating, I was able to locate the docks, where I saw some SOL33 thugs that certainly looked exactly like the ones Alex described to me about. The trio were busy talking about how they used an innocent man's wallet to buy some high-quality drugs, and laughing about it, too.

As I stepped closer to them, they suddenly looked over at me, until one of them asked, "If it isn't that Dane fellow! Sounds like you're on that punk's side, aren't you? You really wanna get his stuff back, right?"

He pointed over to the stolen possessions that once belonged to Alex, and I nodded a simple 'yes' at them, before the same thug grabbed me by the throat. He slammed me against a pole, and was about to punch me in the stomach, when he felt me punch him in the face, his grip effectively letting go.

I gave him some more punches, before landing a swift uppercut on him. The other two, having watched their friend land on the ground, took out their knives from their pockets, ready to slit my throat open.

Though I gave one of them a knee to the stomach, as well as flurry of punches to the torso, he was close to stabbing me in the hand. Luckily, he just gave me a small cut on the front of my hand, but I would quickly take his knife, and stab him in the neck.

He groaned as he clutched his neck, trying to stop the wound from bleeding out. This left me with the last of the trio, who cracked his knuckles before lunging at me and giving me several punches, most to the torso, and a couple to the face.

My nose was nearly bleeding, but since I had a lot of fight left in me, I decided to shove one my knees into his jaw. Following it up with a few kicks, I concluded the combo with a roundhouse kick, effectively beating him down.

Once all three were defeated, I was able to obtain Alex's wallet, and his stolen possessions, before I traveled back to Moonrise.

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As I came back, I found Alex and gestured him to walk up to me. He had a very big grin as he noticed I had his possessions, before I gave them to him.

"You did real good, kid. I'm forever in your debt. By the way, here's some of the money I brought with me; buy something cool for someone you like." he told me, before handing me several 20 dollar bills.

'Thank you.' I said with my sign language.

"No problem." he replied, before he decided to go grab himself a celebratory drink of sorts. Speaking of drinks, I noticed Shirley at the bar, and I went to sit near her, hoping to speak to her.

She was quick enough to notice me, and asked, "Dane...is your nose okay?"

I was just finishing up cleaning my knuckles on my jeans when I look up at her, and nodded. 'One of those assholes almost broke my nose.'

"Maybe you should use Babcock's handkerchief."

I was surprised, but I nodded in agreement, before I went to locate Babcock, in the middle of talking to some friends. He looked over at me and asked, "What do you want, Dane? I'm busy here."

'Let me have your handkerchief.'

"Oh, this?" he asked, taking out his handkerchief. "Hell no. Go find your own hankie."

I scowled, before snatching it from his hands and using it stop my nose from bleeding. "Aw, come on! What the hell?! That is a fancy, high-quality hankie, and it belongs to me!" he exclaimed out of annoyance.

After using it, I threw the handkerchief back at him, before giving him an offensive gesture - flipping the bird, if you will - before I got back to the bar.

"So, did you fix yourself up?" Shirley asked.

'Yes.' I nodded, before I noticed her letting out a small sigh. 'Is there something wrong?'

"Lately, I've been having this guy follow me home every time I get off my shift at Moonrise. Especially since I could hear pretty loud footsteps behind me. Funny thing is, he never enters my house."

'That's odd; you have a stalker like Lala, right?'

"Yeah, I think so. Maybe one of these nights you could deal with him? And maybe, just maybe, I could find a way to repay you." she said, letting out a genuine smile.

'I'll do what I can, Shirley. Thank you.'

Finishing up my sign language, I ordered a margarita, choosing to take a break from my job for the night.

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Night 3

Tonight was the night Lala would perform at Club Moonrise, and as I got into my vehicle, I started it up, and travelled to her apartment. When I got there, she looked out her window, and instantly left her apartment to get outside.

As she quickly got in the car, she looked at me and asked, "Are you the enforcer from Club Moonrise?"

'Yes.' I replied with a nod, before starting up the car. 'And you must be Lala, right?'

She nodded, and replied, "I'm Lala; do you have a name?"

I took out a piece of paper, as well as a small pen, and wrote down my name on it. When she took the paper, she looked at it, and then turned to face me again. "Your name's Dane?"

I nodded again, and she smiled. "You're actually kind of cute." she simply told me.

Her words made me blush a bit; I was pretty awkward when I was around Shirley for the first time, but I kept my cool as I began to come out of my shell and Lala certainly was no exception.

"You know, there's something I really need to get off my chest." she began. "When I got out of college, I wanted to become an actress or a singer. When I decided a singing career would be good for me, especially since I've been also playing the piano since I was younger, I ended up getting myself a really horrible manager. His abusive attitude towards me started taking a huge toll on my happiness, and I just want everything to come to a close. In other words...I just...I want my life to end."

As she finished, she frowned as she stared out the window. "But then I met this rather handsome gentleman, and I asked him if he could help me out with my troubles, and he agreed. Then he wrote me letters, often smelling of sweet perfume. As much as I enjoyed those letters, I had to pretend they were threatening, so I reminded my boyfriend Taye about it."

I was simply surprised by her words, and frowned as well, feeling some sense of remorse for her. But I couldn't help but notice how she was a much younger version of my mother.

Wait...something's wrong...

What the fuck is wrong with me?

I shouldn't think about it!

Taking a deep breath, I continued driving, up until I looked to the side and noticed something odd. A figure that looked exactly like the Quiet Man was in the crowd, but when I blinked, he was gone.

It was some sort of hallucination, but I didn't want it fazing me, and kept going until we finally reached Moonrise.

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As I entered the club with Lala, Taye excitedly went over to her and hugged her, sharing a kiss with her, as well as offering her a bouquet of roses. I didn't seem to care that much of Lala dating another man. After all, Babcock, and sometimes Alex had been bugging me about the chance to confront Shirley about her feelings for me.

Nevertheless, Lala began to sing on the stage as she performed the piano with stunning proficiency. If only I wasn't deaf, I thought to myself, I would've found her singing voice to be quite lovely.

Unfortunately, something unexpected happened as several SOL33 thugs invaded Moonrise, thus confirming all of this to be an ambush. I also took notice of a figure that dressed like the Quiet Man, storming into the club, and taking Lala with him.

I believed him to be her stalker, and was certain I could track him down. However, with the SOL33 gang nearly destroying Moonrise, and attacking (and sometimes murdering) Liberty members and even patrons, I was far more focused on them than him.

With me up against four of the thugs, I went right after the first one, punching him in the torso, as well as the groin, before I got caught from behind by the second. Putting me into a chokehold, he tried to choke me to death, when the sound of a bottle being hit on his head prompted him to let go, as he swiftly fell to the ground.

I noticed that the bottle belonged to Alex, and he let out a small smile, before we decided to deal with the remaining two thugs. I noticed that Alex was rather skilled in karate, as he gave his enemy several kicks to the upper area, before uppercutting him. With only one thug remaining, I took the broken bottle, and aimed right at the last man.

He attempted to stab me with a knife, but I caught him offguard by stabbing him in the torso with the bottle, before I threw it away and began conducting a series of punches and kicks. And yet, through all of this, including the ambush and Lala getting kidnapped, I felt as though I was starting to crack.

Then, a rather familiar face entered the room, crossing his arms. I knew for certain that it was Isaac, who said, "Well if it isn't the little fucking wimp from years ago!"

'Isaac...I know you!' I said through sign language.

"If it weren't for your dumb dad, I would've just fled like Taye!" he exclaimed.

I decided to take him on, punching at him several times, but it looked like he was unfazed by these attacks. He then grabbed me by the throat, about to punch my lights out when a fellow Liberty thug shot him in the shoulder, making him growl as he clutched the area.

"Fucking hell, you trying to get in the way of me killing this punk?!" Isaac asked him.

He then looked at me, Alex and finally the Liberty thug, before he grit his teeth as he punched at the wall with one of his fists, and then taking leave.

As he left, I felt images of Lala interspersed with my mother flash before my eyes, before I fell on my knees, covering my eyes as Alex rushed over to me, asking if I was allright, all the while Swank was aghast as he noticed the club nearly destroyed.

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I felt as though I had a mental breakdown, and to try and stop me from losing my shit, Alex offered me a drink from home. I nodded in agreement, and he took to his house so that we could have some green tea and talk.

"Is there something wrong, kid?" he asked me.

I take a deep breath, before using the power of sign language with, 'I don't know why I keep getting images of Lala and my mother in my sight. I don't know why they look so alike...what the fuck am I gonna do?!'

I took a sip of the green tea, hoping my nerves would relax, and Alex reassured me by saying, "I'm certain you'll find her. It might take a few days, but trust me, it'll be all worth it."

I was surprised by his words, but I smile as I nodded my head 'yes'. Sooner or later, I will track that man - and even Isaac - down!

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And so The Quiet Man has come into play...And while Dane has to deal with him, he's also gotta deal with Isaac, as well as a mysterious man in pursuit of Shirley! All this and more in the next chapter!

With love for my fans,

Chrissy