Midnight had just passed and Ulrich was walking down an alley with his hands in the pockets of his jacket. It was a chilly night with the crescent moon hanging in the sky shrouded by small grey clouds. The buildings he walked between were covered in graffiti and grease stained with decay rotting it away. Dumpsters and metal trash cans were lined against the building with a pungent odor that makes people want to hold their breath as they pass.

Ahead of Ulrich was a group of people. Most of them were punk teenagers, bikers, drug dealers, and prostitutes. A teenaged boy Ulrich saw tucked an item into his pocket after doing business with a dealer and walking away. When Ulrich passed the dealer the man looked at Ulrich.

"Need some fun for tonight?" The dealer asked Ulrich. Ulrich stopped then turned around.

"Not from an asshole who has no problem giving drugs to kids," Ulrich said then stepped toward him.

"What're you, a cop?" The man asked Ulrich. Ulrich quickly grabbed the man by his collar and pushed him against a wall.

"I'm worse than any cop you'll find. I'm not afraid to use physical force to get my point across. If I see your pathetic ass again on bad circumstances you'll need to take your own drugs to forget about what I'll do to you," Ulrich said then three him to the ground. The dealer got to his feet and ran down the alley Ulrich came from, looking back once to see if Ulrich was following him.

"The unbeatable Ulrich Stern does have a conscious after all," a man said to Ulrich from the street corner. Ulrich turned and was facing a man with long black hair, jeans, and a black leather jacket similar to his own. Ulrich had a feeling he'd meet this man before but couldn't remember when.

"Haven't I seen you before?" Ulrich asked in hope to jog his memory a little, then put his hands back into his pockets.

"I was your opponent in the last tournament. In case you've forgot my name is Blank," Blank said then placed a cigarette to his lips and lit it. He took a deep puff that dug into his lungs.

"What do you want?" Ulrich asked.

"Your help," Blank said ten pulled a side of his jacket open. On his chest was a police badge, and hanging off of his shoulder was a loaded pistol in a holster.

"If you're a cop, why didn't you stop the dealer that was just here," Ulrich said, a little unconvinced as he pointed down the alley to the dealer still running. When the dealer hit a main street a police car swerved to a stop and the police swarmed the man and cuffed him.

"That kid you saw earlier who bought some merchandise is in that car as well, you were saying?" Blank asked bluntly then took his smoke with two fingers, inhaled then placed it back to his lips.

"What kind of help?" Ulrich asked then started walking again. Blank exhaled the smoke then started to follow him.

"Your employer, Douglas Wilkenson has quite a reputation as being involved or possibly in charge of a large chain of illegal actions and events," Blank said then placed the smoke on his lips again to inhale.

"What does that have to do with me?" Ulrich asked then stepped off of the curb to cross the street.

"You have inside work directly for Wilkenson. I can go undercover all I want, but that won't get me through many doors. You've been personally involved, so if you cooperate your case might be dropped for assisting an investigation. Wilkenson has been in trial four times but with scared off witnesses and bribes he hasn't been sentenced. If we break up a club, he simply builds another one and the whole things starts all over again. That's why we need you to help get hardcore proof."

"He's just my manager," Ulrich said.

"He's a murderer, rapist, drug runner, kidnapper, pimp, and so much more. The last club we managed to break up three years ago we found preteen girls who had been kidnapped being used for his customers and clients pleasure. We found overdosed teenagers, drunks, rapist, dozens of wanted men having a good time for every imaginable crime."

"It's not my problem," Ulrich said then finished crossing the street.

"It will be Ulrich. Once you're too far into this life style the only way out is in a body bag. If you help, you will be protected, or put into witness protection if necessary. If you don't, you'll go down with him. Some serious shit must have happened to you to make you this desperate, but putting Wilkenson behind bars is the first step to a safer and better life."

"What the hell do you know about me?" Ulrich asked.

"I know you used to be a minor league soccer player, but right now Wilkenson should be your concern, and taking him down. If you lose Ulrich, get sick, or you just can't fight he won't care about you. You honestly think you're the first kid he's done this to. You're a phase, the flavor of the week, and once he's down with you, that's it."

"I never lose," Ulrich said then started to go into the basement club. They were now in a crowd of smoke and alcoholic people.

"Think about this kid, once you go down there, this conversation is over."

Ulrich didn't stop, he just went down stairs without looking back.


Yumi quickly followed a block behind Hiroki who just turned another corner. When she reached the corner he crossed the street and walked into an alley. Yumi followed him and saw him walk into a crowd of people. Hiroki exchanged talk with his friends then proceeded down into the basement of the building. Yumi's walking turned into a jog to up with him.

Yumi ran around to the stairs and looked down before proceeding. Hiroki was in her vision for a moment before he disappeared from her angle of view. People walked based her into the bottom of the stair were the sound of loud music vibrated the concrete walls. After taking a breath she walked down the stairs and finally saw where Hiroki was going.

It was an underground club. The smell of alcohol was overwhelming, and the music was deafening. Some women Yumi saw were talking with men before taking a few bills and leading him into a separate room. Men and woman sat at the bars placed around for drinking, and people placed bags into their pockets while their business partner counted the money. Female dancers were payed to go on the top of tables and strip for an extra fee. Yumi heard the sound of cheering and saw a large cage in the center were a fight was going on./

Yumi walked to the cage and a saw the brawl that was causing the cheering. The men threw punches at each other, and the crowd cheered loudest when the blows connected. It seemed like a fairly even fight, but Yumi had to find her brother. After a moment she saw Hiroki in the stands and pushed her way toward him.


Ulrich found it safe to say this was a fairly difficult fight. The man was larger then him to begin with, and he had technique to compliment his speed, size and power. The only way Ulrich found to beat him possible was to counter attack the entire fight. He had to keep his distance, and let him attack him, only striking when he knew it would connect.

Five minutes into the fight Ulrich found the biggest opening he had seen in the entire fight so took it. Ulrich delivered a block to his side then struck his face with the opposite hand. The man wobbled against the fence and was kicked before he could really recover. Grabbing his shirt Ulrich flung him into the sand and began to walk toward him before he saw something out of the corner of his eye.

Ulrich wasn't sure who he saw but she made him stop. The woman had grabbed a boy from the crowd who seemed shocked to see her. As she dragged him away she looked at the fight, and froze as well. The woman looked down at Ulrich, and Ulrich looked at her while mouthing a name.

'Yumi?' Ulrich asked to himself then was tackled into the chainlink. The man had caught Ulrich at the worst moment and took every advantage. Before Ulrich could fight back he was sent sprawling to the sand aching. The man kicked him in the ribs twice to keep him down. Ulrich coughed and was down long enough to be considered out.


Less than an hour later Ulrich was being held up by two muscular men in a side street. A third man beat him severally while Mr. Wilkenson watched from the wall. This had been going on for several minutes already, and it took almost everything he had to stay conscious. He felt a few of his ribs were broken, and blood was dripping off of his nose and to the cement ground below him. His entire body had gone limp, and the men dropped him to the ground.

Once his body made contact the three men continued by kicking him while he was down before Wilkenson told them to stop and stepped forward. The men picked him up again and Wilkenson looked down at him.

"All you had to do was win," Wilkenson said to Ulrich then kneed him in the stomach. Ulrich grunted loudly and spat blood onto his former managers shoes. Wilkenson punched Ulrich twice then opened his coat pocket and pulled out a loaded pistol.

"I really should just kill you here, I'd be doing this world a favor," Mr Wilkenson said then pressed it into Ulrich's skull.

"No one would miss Ulrich Stern," He said then smiled, "But that's too nice for me."

The two men dropped Ulrich on the cold concrete and left him laying there in pain and bleeding. They knew he wouldn't last the night, so shooting him wasn't really necessary.

"If he somehow appears at a hospital, my employees will call me. If he does, go there, and kill him," he said then left the alley to his parked car. Everyone got in the car and drove off and out of sight.

Ulrich lay on the ground with his head facing the leaving car. He tried with everything he had left to move but nothing was working. His body was throbbing, and slowly blood pooled around his body. The last thing he remembered before the pain knocked him out, was soft footsteps from behind him. They stopped a few feet away and a woman came into his view.

"Ulrich," The woman said sadly, before he passed out.