OUTSIDE THE ROYAL WOODS MALL

Once Lincoln and the random stranger finally made their way out of the mall, the two walked behind a dumpster where they were out of sight from people. The young boy then quickly jumped away from the man, pulling out his snub nose revolver and aiming it at the man. The man didn't hesitate at all, as he reached into his jacket and pulled out a large silver Desert Eagle. The size of the gun almost made Lincoln retreat in fear. As the two held their positions in the standoff, Lincoln's hands were visibly shaking, and sweat began to pour down his face. He was clearly scared. Meanwhile, the man in the leather jacket held the large pistol steadily and calmly. He looked at the boys' nervous eyes with a deadpan look. Eventually, the pressure overcame Lincoln, as he dropped his guns and held his hands up defensively.

"Please don't hurt me…who are you"? He whimpered. The man just looked at the boy with a raised eyebrow, before bursting into a fit of laughter much to the confusion of Lincoln. After a few awkward seconds of laughter, the man holstered his pistol back into his jacket, before reaching down and grabbing the snub nose revolver that Lincoln had dropped, handing it to Lincoln with a smile. Lincoln stared at the gun for a bit, before hesitantly grabbing it and tucking it behind his pants.

"God you're such a fucking pussy, but I guess that's not a shock. You're only a little kid after all. Relax little man, I'm not gonna hurt ya". The man said. He then reached into his pocket where he pulled out a small white card that had a picture of Lincoln's face, name, school name, and school ID number. It was his school ID card. "I gotta tell ya, little man, you need a be a lot more fucking careful of where you drop shit like this", he said with a grin. Lincoln felt as if his soul had left his body. He was speechless, as the fear had begun to rise up. The man threw the ID at Lincoln, who caught the card and looked down at it, before looking up at the man in shock. "It fell outta your pocket when you and that other person were destroying the Heights last drug compound last night. Relax kid, you're lucky I found it and not the cops or Height's thugs", he said reassuringly.

"Who are you"? Lincoln asked. The man pulled out a cigarette and lit it, inhaling, and exhaling a large cloud of smoke. He looked down at the boy and smiled.

"My name is Tommy. Tommy the Barbarian I'm a member of the Devil's Riders Motorcycle gang", he said before turning around to show Lincoln the patch behind his leather jacket. It was a motorcycle crew logo, with a devil riding a horse in the middle. The top curved outline read "DEVILS RIDERS MC". The bottom curved outline read "MICHIGAN". Lincoln suddenly remembered what Mickey had told him. The Devil's Riders use to traffic drugs and guns for the 54th mafia, before breaking away for unknown reasons.

"Well, what do you want"? Lincoln asked. Tommy grinned, letting the cigarette dangle from his mouth before exhaling a cloud of smoke.

"I don't know who you are kid, or why someone as young as you is involved in this. But I watched you fuck over those Height fuckers, who have been a major fucking pain in the ass for the Devils Riders. After the shit you pulled last night, consider me someone who has a common goal", Tommy said, inhaling and exhaling another cloud of smoke. Lincoln just stared at him, not knowing where he was going with this. "So", Tommy continued, "how about you and I work together? I don't know who the fuck you're working for and honestly, I don't fucking give a shit. My bosses don't care how it's done, as long as those Ballin Heights motherfuckers die off. So, let's help each other. With those fuckers gone, more money for us, and our bosses are happy. Oh, and more money for you and me especially". Tommy explained. Lincoln stared at the man for a moment, not knowing what to say. He didn't know if Mickey would be okay with this, as this man was from a different criminal organization entirely. Still, it would be more money for him, allowing him and Taylor to pay off their debt quicker. With reluctance, Lincoln nodded his head.

"All right fine, as long as I'm getting paid", he said hesitantly.

"Fucking right on little man", Tommy excitedly said. "I'm glad you said that. I actually need your fucking help with something tonight. We have a couple of guys from New York meeting me and another guy at some abandoned buildings in Detroit. They're coming in with over 80 kilos of heroin. Have you ever done any business with drugs directly"? Tommy asked. Lincoln shook his head in response, which made Tommy smile. "Well shit, you sure fucking will little man after tonight. You're gonna make some real money. 80 kilos are worth over $4,000,000. That's $50,000 a fucking kilo. You and I are gonna meet these guys. I'll do all the talking; I just need you to watch my back. You'll have another two buddies of mine, who are also Devils Riders, with you. Outside the building will be my homeboys T-Bone and Chainz. They're members of the Dogs Inferno street gang, the second largest African American gang after the Ballin Heights. They'll be in a truck that we'll use to haul the package all the way to Rogers City. Where we'll get in a boat and go across to Lake Huron to Canada. A squad of Devils Riders and Dogs Inferno we'll be waiting for us to pick up the drugs. We should be back at Royal Woods by Saturday night". Tommy explained. Lincoln shook his head at all this. This was insane, even for him. A $4,000,000 drug deal was another level, especially without Mickey's permission or Taylor with him. Let alone with random people from different criminal factions. Also, it would last all night into the next day. Traveling three hours up the state of Michigan, and another hour to Canada? It was too much for the boy, especially since he barely got through the arson job from Misty earlier in the night.

"I can't do that, that's crazy! I'm sorry but this is way beyond me", he said. Tommy just rolled his eyes, before leaning down to Lincoln's eye level.

"Did I mention that all of us are taking a cut of the earnings? Meaning you'll be going home with an easy $400,000", Tommy said. Lincoln's eyes shot wide open. $400,000 was almost half a million. It was way more money than he made with the repo or arson job. It was more money than his entire family had. Maybe even more money than a majority of citizens in Royal Woods had. Suddenly, the boy began thinking. If he pulled this off, he could pay off a fraction of his debt, and still have a lot of money. The money he could use for himself, or to help his parents or sisters. This drug job suddenly didn't seem all that bad. I mean, it was just picking up and delivering. Simple as that.

"…Fine. Let's do this", Lincoln said agreeing to the job. Tommy's smile widened, as he was beginning to get excited. "But first, let me call my mom and tell her that I'll be sleeping over at my friend's house", Lincoln said. He proceeded to dial his mother, who quickly answered the phone. He could hear Lilly crying in the background. After asking for permission to stay over at Clyde's house, his mother agreed, sounding as if she was busy dealing with Lilly. He hanged up the phone and looked at Tommy, giving him a stern nod.

"Excellent! I feel you and I loud, are gonna be good business partners kid", he said before exiting behind the dumpster. Tommy began walking across the mall's parking lot with Lincoln following behind him until they both walked up to a black Harley Davidson Bobber with high handlebars. Tommy hopped on the bike, revving the throttles, and letting the bike growl like a dragon. It was a sight that was cool to Lincoln. Tommy then handed Lincoln his helmet and grinned.

"Hop on kid", he said. Lincoln smiled, before hopping behind Tommy and wrapping his arms around him for stability. With that, Tommy jetted out of the mall's parking lot and headed out of Royal Woods, taking the highway to Detroit.

ON THE SOUTH SIDE OF DETROIT

The ride to Detroit was about an hour long. It was Lincoln's first time ever being in the area. He could see the skyline of the motor city shine above the horizon in the far distance. Though for now, the boy was on the outskirts of the city on the south side of 8-mile road. Lincoln watched as they passed the abundance of abandoned and decrepit buildings. Strips of torn-down shopping areas next to poorly managed liquor stores and strip clubs. It was hard for the boy to believe that just north of 8-mile rd. across the city's borders laid a suburb of mansions and wealth. Mixed with peaceful lands equivalent to Royal Woods. A stark contrast to the area he was currently in. It reminded Lincoln of just how well he had it in life. Eventually, they came to a stop in an abandoned three-story building in the middle of a run-down and destroyed townhouse community. Tommy pulled up around the back of the building, where two other Devils Riders bikers were waiting next to their choppers.

"Fuck, there he finally is", one of the men said. He was an older-looking white man, with white hair and a white mustache. He was big and muscular and was wearing a white t-shirt, a black leather vest with the MC logo behind it, blue jeans, and black boots. To the left of him was another white man with a goatee and long black hair, though, he looked much younger in comparison. Looking just slightly older than Tommy. He was wearing a black hoodie, a black leather vest with the MC logo behind it, a backward black cap, blue jeans with a wallet chain, and black boots. In the truck next to them were two black males. In the driver's seat was a tall skinny man, who was wearing a black Detroit Lions hat, a white baggy t-shirt, blue basketball shorts, white sneakers a silver chain rope, and two diamond studded piercings on both of his earlobes. Sitting next to him was a heavier-set man. He was wearing a black durag, a black Detroit Tigers t-shirt, black jeans, and black boots.

"Tommy, who the fuck is this lil' shit"? said the man in the driver's seat.

"Relax everyone, this here is a friend of ours. He's the one that caused the destruction of the Heights drug labs last night", Tommy explained. The rest of the men suddenly beamed with curiosity at this news.

"Motherfucka. You tellin' me it was this lil' man that blew up them Height's niggas labs"? Said the man in the passenger seat.

"Woah. Right on dude. Little kids all right in my books then", said the black-haired biker. The older white-haired biker stared at the kid curiously, crossing his arms and looking up at Tommy.

"But why is he here Tommy? He's just a kid", He said with a deep voice.

"Oh, will you relax? The kids clearly got fucking skills, and we have a common enemy. He can be useful to us. I'm just fucking tagging him along to help the kid out and better know what he can do. Besides, don't talk about age Henry. You started robbing fucking trucks at 11 motherfucker", Tommy said. He looked over to Lincoln and began to introduce everyone. "This old fucking cranky bastard is Henry, A road captain for the Riderz. The tall dude beside him is Jason, a brother at arms. The two homeboys in the fucking truck are T-Bone on the passenger side and Chainz on the driver's side. They're with the Dogs Inferno street gang. They're working with us on conquering the drug routes here up North, which is primarily owned by the fucking Ballin Heights", Tommy explained.

"…All right fine, but if this kid fucks up, I'm killing him personally", Henry said. This made Lincoln worried, though Tommy just wrapped his arms around him and pulled him closer. Happily exclaiming, "Oh don't get your panties in a bunch Henry. This motherfucker fought off an entire Heights hit squad and survived. He'll be fine. Now come on, we got some fucking drugs to take and fucking money to make". The three bikers went behind the bed of the truck, where two duffel bags were placed. Jason grabbed one of the duffel bags and opened it up, revealing it to be full of hundred-dollar bills. He looked up at Lincoln and smiled.

"We're going to be buying the shit with this dude. It's pretty rad", he said in his surfer accent. Henry took the other bag, opening it up and revealing a bunch of firearms. He took out a sawed-off double barrel shotgun, along with a box full of shells. Jason grabbed a sawed-off pump shotgun, also taking a box of shells. Tommy grabbed an MP5 submachine gun and 4 clips. He then grabbed a solid black Glock and handed it to Lincoln along with 4 clips.

"You might want to use this instead of that little ass revolver kid. Just in case shit gets messy", he said with a wink. Lincoln nervously took the gun and ammo, replacing it with this snub nose revolver, which he threw into the duffel bag. Tommy also handed Lincoln a black Detroit Tigers hat and a black bandana. "Put this on kid. You don't want anyone knowing who you are". Lincoln obliged, putting the hat on backward and tying the bandana around his face, concealing his lower face. The other three bikers did the same. Now all armed and disguised, the three bikers and Lincoln began to make their way inside the building. Before entering, Tommy looked back at T-Bone and Chainz.

"Y'all know what to do"? He asked. Chainz nodded his head, as he cocked the pistol he had in his hand, making Tommy smile before he headed inside the building with the rest of the guys. The building was abandoned and littered with trash. Graffiti plastered the walls like art canvases. Lincoln could smell the putrid stench of urine and fecal matter. A couple of homeless people were asleep along the stairs, and random crackheads were in abandoned rooms spazzing out on drugs. Seeming to not notice or care about the men making their way up the stairs. It was a place that Lincoln did not want to be in any longer than he had to. As the men approached the 12th floor, they checked their weapons and ammunition, insuring that everything was good to go.

"All right, let's make this shit quick and clean. We buy the drugs and get out to Roger City and Canada as quick as we can, aight"? Said Tommy. Everyone nodded their heads in agreement. He then looked over at Lincoln. "We don't use our real names for jobs like these. We use Code names, so what do you want me to call you kid"? He asked. Lincoln thought for a second, before coming up with something.

"Just call me Loud Ace", he responded, thinking about his favorite comic. Tommy smiled from behind his bandana, nodding his head in agreement before turning back around to the door in front of them at the top of the stairs. He took a deep breath, before entering the door. Upon entering the room, they were met with an empty room, where there were three men standing in the middle. The man at the front was a tall white slim man with blonde hair. He was wearing sunglasses, a button-up pink shirt, tan cargo pants, and white sneakers. To the left of him was a shorter Hispanic man, with slicked back black hair, sunglasses, a brown leather jacket with a white dress shirt underneath, tan slacks, and brown shoes. On the other side was another tall white man with ginger hair. He was wearing a red t-shirt, a gold chain, black cargo pants, and black boots. In front of them were 12 backpacks laying at their feet.

"Hello gentlemen, I assume you have our money"? The man at the front said. Jason showed them the duffel bag, unzipping it the reveal the cash. The man at the front lowered his glasses and grinned. "Excellent, then we can presume business. He snapped his fingers and the short man next to him walked up. He grabbed one of the backpacks and opened it up, showing blocks or brown muddy bricks wrapped in plastic. He took out a pocketknife and lightly stabbed into one of the blocks, leaving some of the substance along the knife. Tommy looked over at Lincoln with a serious face.

"Loud Ace, go bring that knife over here", he ordered. Lincoln nervously walked up to the man, retrieved the knife from his hand, and walked back over to the bikers. He handed the knife to Henry, who took a quick sniff of the substance. The old man then took a tiny taste of it, before looking up at Tommy and grinning with a light head nod. Tommy smiled and looked back at the three men.

"As we promised, the purest Heroin money can buy. So, do we have a deal"? The man with the pink shirt asked. But just before Tommy could answer, the sound of gunshots outside alerted everyone in the room, followed by the sounds of police sirens approaching. Tommy, Lincoln, and the other two bikers quickly looked over at the three men standing in front of them in shock, before the three men quickly removed their sunglasses and pulled out Glock pistols, aiming them at the Bikers.

"DETROIT POLICE DEPARTMENT, FREEZE MOTHERFUCKERS, YOU'RE UNDER ARREST", the man with the pink shirt yelled. Tommy quickly fired his Uzi, barely missing the man with the pink shirt as he jumped behind a flipped-over desk. Lincoln quickly jumped beside him, as Henry and Jason took cover at the front entrance. The other three men opened fire, while also taking cover behind objects, leaving the backpacks in the middle of the floor.

"What the hell is going on"? Lincoln asked, covering his head as bullets flew passed over the desk. Tommy fired back, hitting a couch that the man in the red t-shirt was hiding behind.

"Fuck, this was a sting operation. They're fucking undercover cops. There must be fucking cops outside too", Tommy said. They could hear rapid gunfire from outside the building, as they continued to return fire on the undercover cops they were in the room with.

"What do we do"? Lincoln cried out. Tommy reloaded his Uzi, before angrily looking at Lincoln.

"Fucking shoot back Loud. We need to grab those backpacks and get the fuck back down", he said, before firing out back at the undercover cops. Lincoln tried to calm down, as he pulled out his pistol and peaked his head from behind the desk. He could see the short Hispanic cop taking cover in the door frame of a bathroom, firing his gun at Henry and Jason. Lincoln began to shoot at him, missing every shot. The cop took cover and then began to shoot at Lincoln. Lincoln rapidly shot at him, blindly shooting without any aim. He managed to shoot the short man in the stomach, causing him to fall to the ground in pain as blood began to pour from his stomach.

"Nice fucking shot kid", Henry yelled, as he we are reloading his shotgun. Although Lincoln felt bad for killing a cop, he had no time to be guilty right now. At this point, he already accepted killing and knew that going to prison was not an option for him. The cop in the pink shirt began to open fire at Henry and Jason, managing to shoot Jason in the throat. As the bullet went through his atom's apple and out the back of his throat, blood splattered over the floor. Jason's lifeless body fell to the floor, as a fountain of blood sporadically shot through the back of his neck. "FUCK, JASON", Henry yelled. In a blind fit of rage, he fired both shells at the cop in the pink shirt. Both shots hit the cop's face, blowing his off entirely. Lincoln covered his face as the dead cop's brain chunks and skull fragments splatted around the room, covering the boy in some blood. Tommy then stood up and fired his Uzi at the last cop with the red t-shirt, hitting him in the shoulder, and causing him to fall to the ground. Henry, Tommy, and Lincoln then ran to the backpacks, gabbing 4 bags each. As they ran out the door, Tommy grabbed the duffel bag of money from Jason's dead body cursing himself as he gazed at his friend's corpse. The three of them then began to make their way down the building. With them out of the room, the last cop with the red shirt grabbed his walkie-talkie and painfully sat himself up. With gritted teeth, he turned on his radio.

"This officer Alex on the twelfth floor of the abandoned Co-star building. Both Officer Diego and Captain Ryan are down. I repeat, both Officer Diego and Captain Ryan are down. Suspects have grabbed the heroin and are now leaving the scene. All unit's dispatch to my location. The suspects are believed to be Tommy the Barbarian, Grizzly Henry, and a new kid called Loud Ace. Proceed with caution". He said. As Lincoln, Henry and Tommy made their way out of the building, they were met with immediate gunfire from uniformed police officers taking cover behind their cruisers. Chainz was taking cover behind the driver's side door, firing an M16 assault rifle back at police. Tommy and Henry began to shoot at the police, as they made their way to the back of the truck. Lincoln followed closely behind, narrowly avoiding incoming bullets. They threw the heroin and money into the bed of the truck and began to make their way to their bikes.

"LOUD ACE, GO WITH CHAINZ IN THE TRUCK. WE'LL BE CLOSE BEHIND", Tommy yelled, as both him and Henry hopped on their bikes. Lincoln made his way to the passenger side of the truck but stopped in fear when he saw the dead body of T-Dawg lying face down on the floor in a pool of blood.

"Shit", he said to himself. He hopped over the dead body, and climbed inside the truck, closing the door as he got situated. He immediately took cover behind the dashboard, as bullets began pounding on the glass and the inside of the truck. Chainz fired back for a bit, killing three cops before climbing back into the truck. He started the vehicle and quickly drove out of the lot, followed by Henry and Tommy who were firing at the remaining cops, killing the ones that were left.

"Man, what the fuck happened? Where the fuck Jason"? Chainz hysterically asked, trying to get out of the maze of abandoned buildings and houses.

"It was an undercover sting by the Detroit police. Jason's dead. His body is still up in that building. What the fuck happened to T-Dawg"? Lincoln asked as he tried to catch his breath.

"Shit, the big ass nigga took a fucking shit ton of shots to the chest. After y'all motherfuckas' went inside the place, fucking pigs began swarming us out of nowhere. We had to fight off those assholes", explained Chainz. Lincoln reloaded his pistol, checking out the window to make sure Henry and Tommy were still behind them

"There were three cops up there with us. The second we heard the shooting; they pulled out their guns and announced themselves as Detroit officers. We didn't have a choice but to fight them. I managed to kill one, and Henry killed another. We downed the third one before grabbing the drugs and cash and getting the fuck out of there", Lincoln explained. Chainz kept his eyes on the road, as sweat poured down his face.

"Man, this is fucked. But at least we got the fucking money and heroin. Let's just get the fuck outta here before more fucking pigs show up looking for us", he said. Lincoln took a deep sigh, leaning into his seat and staring outside the window.

"Yea…let's just get out of here", he said.

ROYAL WOODS MALL MOVIE THEATRE

"Man, that movie was awesome"! Clyde excitingly declared. It had been over two hours, and Clyde and the rest of the group had just finished watching the new Ace Savvy movie. As they exited the theatre, Clyde, Liam, Zach, and Rusty were talking about the film, while Stella just quietly thought to herself. She had been thinking about Lincoln all day and couldn't shake off the feeling that something wrong was going on. Just then, she snapped out of it when she heard the voice of a familiar individual from school.

"Oh…it's you dorks", Anderson said. Taylor, Pablo, and he had just finished watching a horror movie in the same movie theatre and were walking out of their theatre when they ran into Clyde and the group. The two groups stared awkwardly at each other, not knowing what to say. Taylor examined the group, noticing that Lincoln wasn't present.

"Hey, why isn't Lincoln with you guys"? she asked curiously. Stella crossed her arms and looked at the girl in anger, while Anderson could feel jealousy begin to rise.

"He was with us, but then went off with some random stranger who he said was a friend of his older sister", Zach responded. Taylor was now very curious and proceeded to try and ask more questions. Though, Stella put her foot down at this.

"What Lincoln does isn't of any concern to you" Stella angrily declared. Taylor could feel her blood begin to boil, as she glared at Stella.

"The fuck did you just say to me"? She began, though, Clyde and Pablo quickly stepped in between the two girls.

"Whoa whoa whoa, let's all just relax here", Pablo said, trying to calm Taylor down.

"Yea. Look, Lincoln said that you were pretty cool. And if he says something, then I believe it. I think we got off at the wrong start…so why don't we try again and get to know each other"? Clyde tried to reason. Anderson and Stella both yelled "HECK NO", At this. Taylor just looked to the floor, rubbing her arm as she thought about it.

"Did Lincoln really be honest with them about us being friends now? Damn, I feel bad now. These dorks are his closest friends after all. I guess I should try and get along with them for his sake", Taylor thought to herself. Though, Anderson however, was clearly against this.

"No way! Look, Taylor, I don't know what's up between you and the white-haired baby, but I promised I wouldn't ask about it. But still, there's no way I'm going to hang out with these dorks"! He said. Stella crossed her arms and nodded her head in agreement.

"Yea Clyde, I'm not going to hang out with these three jerks"! she said. Pablo looked over to Anderson and tried to reason with him.

"Look dude, you said you wanted us to grow up and change. Well, how are going to do that if we don't get along with people"? He said. Anderson just stared at him, before sighing in defeat.

"Dangit… all right, we'll give it a shot", he responded. Clyde looked over to Stella and proceeded to give her puppy dog eyes, to which she couldn't say no.

"All right fine Clyde, just this once. For Lincoln's sake and to end this stupid feud", she said in agreement. With that, the two groups agreed to talk to one another at the mall's food court.