Chapter 18
2 decades earlier.
"Another great fight, I'm proud of you. You knocked that bastard out for six. Do you realize your now undisputed champion? AND when you started out they told me an MMA fighter would never succeed. Now look!" Steffan celebrates, pouring Axel another glass of champagne.
The two of them clang their glasses together.
"We both have all we need now. The money you've worked hard for during the past couple of years is enough to invest and set you up for the rest of your life. You'll never have to work again, kid. My assets, my properties, my businesses one day will all be passed onto you. My next goal for the New Year is in politics and I got a feeling you're not into that so I'll need someone to run my organisation here. You're the only one I trust to do it Axel. What do you think?"
"I, I err… I don't know" Axel sighs, placing his hand over his head with uncertainty.
"What do you mean?" Steffan's eyes widen.
"I knew this would be my last fight. But I came here to tell you that I'm leaving. I'm returning back to Wood Oak City tomorrow".
"But there's nothing left in that shit hole for you! Your parents are dead, your friends are here. All the success and money in the world is here waiting for you. You go back and you start from nothing with nothing. This is what I'm talking about…" Steffan explains, handing over a brown folder to him.
"What's this?" Axel raises his eyebrows.
"It's my will. It's everything, all the deeds to my organisation. I've already had a lawyer draw this up. When I die, everything will be passed onto you".
"What about your partner back in Wood Oak City? Or the family you once had?"
"My partner running things there is a crook. He's wanted to take over the organisation for decades now. You'll become his boss!" Steffan grins. "And as for my family, that's another story…"
Axel places the folder down onto the table shaking his head.
"This is the opportunity of a lifetime. You stay in the ring and you'll eventually die, you know the score." Steffan continues.
"You're right, there's nothing left for me back in Wood Oak City. But when you found me you made me a promise that night. You promised that we would find my parents' killers and bring them to justice. That was all just bullshit talk from you…!"
"Sit down…." Steffan orders. This time he takes away the bottle of champagne then pulls out something stronger for them to drink. "Both of us are gonna need this kid, drink up" he places a bottle of scotch and two glasses on the desk whilst the two of them take a seat opposite one another.
"Have you ever considered why I chose to bring you with me? In a city full of many incredible fighters with more experience, I wanted you fighting my corner".
"I don't know if I'm honest, but clearly you've wasted my time" Axel shrugs, pissed off and avoiding his eye contact.
"When you were discharged from the military you had nothing! You were broken and you were going down a path of destruction. I saved you…"
"No, you used me!" Axel hatefully snaps.
"Let me ask you something. Did your mother ever tell you the truth about your real father?"
"Does it matter? I got off lucky, I had someone who raised me and taught me how to fight. I had a father until he was murdered with my mom in cold blood!"
"Evan Stone was a good man and a great fighter. He taught you well, but your bloodline comes from elsewhere".
"My real father wanted nothing to do with me growing up. The man with the bloodline your referring to raped my mother then left her for dead!"
Suddenly, words shout out of Steffan's mouth, without a second thought. "That's not true! I loved your mother more than anything!"
There is a long, shocking pause between the two of them as Axel stares back at him in disbelief.
"What did you just say?!" He anxiously asks with his heart racing.
"I tried, I really did! But she just wouldn't allow it, I was never supposed to see you or contact you. Your mother and I were together and for a while we had an affair. But Amber decided in the end that it was best that we ended things. She never wanted a life of crime like this and I don't blame her. I wasn't ready to settle down either and she knew, even before you were born, that there'd be a possibility of abnormalities in your bloodline…"
"I don't believe what I'm hearing, you're sick you know that?!" Axel shouts back, jumping out of his chair.
"Whether you believe me or not, it's the truth. All of it! I can't count how many times I wanted to reach out to you and tell you the truth. I expected your mom to do it eventually when you were old enough, but she never did. This is why I'm leaving you everything, because you're my son!" He stands up with his hands now trembling holding the glass.
"Wait, I've been here with you all this time fighting…. If you cared you would have said something to me sooner! And as for mom, you never loved her. If you did, we would have already found her killer…..!" Axel suddenly halts his sentence after coming to a shocking realisation about the man in front of him. "You killed my parents, didn't you?" He asks, heavily breathing.
"No, I didn't! My partner, Mr X was the one who killed them," Steffan shakes his head, gazing straight into his eyes.
"But you could have stopped him! You gave the order, didn't you?" Axel stares back at him with his face reddened, about to lose his temper any moment now.
"I'm sorry son, your parents were hiding one of our enemies and a known fugitive, Dr Gilbert Zan. They also opposed every aspect of the syndicate organisation. There was a bounty on their heads as well as yours…"
"How could you do that?!" Axel breaks, slamming his fists into the desk.
"I saved you! I made sure Mr X spared your life and I took you with me to Asia so that no harm would come to you! You have to believe me!"
"You're full of shit! I want nothing to do with you or your organisation!"
"Axel wait! Before you leave, there's something I want to give to you. It once belonged to your mother… please just come with me and take a look…"
The two of them take the stairs down to the lowest level of Visser's offices, built within his own five storey mansion. There, they approach a large library which is something of a surprise to Axel who has never been to this part of the house before. Behind a large bookshelf across one of the walls contains a secret doorway that Steffan pushes open. Ahead of them lies a plain cold hallway with a large metallic security vault at the end of it.
Steffan punches a 4 digit security code to open the door.
"1119… your birthdate" he sighs as Axel walks forward next to him, still in shock with his arms folded.
"Inside this vault lies 50 million dollars. It's all yours as well as everything in that folder on my desk."
"I told you, I don't want it or any part of it! Just leave me to get on with my life…"
"Wait! At least take this then consider my offer. It's the most precious thing in this safe", Steffan requests, handing Axel a box containing a gold locket.
"You're too young right now to understand but one day, someone will come along and change your life for good."
He slowly opens the small gold heart pendant, revealing two photos of Steffan and his mother together. "But you killed her…"
"You don't understand, she betrayed the syndicate. There was nothing I could do, I had no choice…" Steffan shakes his head.
"Liar!" Axel shouts, this time losing his temper. He throws the locket back at him then unexpectedly strikes Steffan across the side of his skull with his fists burning with fire. This causes the syndicate boss to stumble back and fall to the ground, disorientated for a moment.
"Wait! Axel what are you doing?!" The man pleads from the ground, extending one hand forward whilst the other stays on the side of his bleeding head.
"I should have done this a long time ago…" Axel replies.
With one fireball, Axel aims towards the stash of money behind Steffan which immediately engulfs into a powerful inferno.
"No! Wait!" His father pleads, trying to get up to his feet but there isn't enough time.
Axel quickly acts, securly shutting and sealing the vault with Steffan inside it as the fire rapidly spreads. The last thing he remembers is Steffan's voice shouting out in agony to open the vault whilst banging on the door.
Axel slowly steps backward, walking away until eventually running from the burning building as soon as the alarms sound. He picked up the file Steffan left him on the way out containing the deeds to the old syndicate. Years later, Axel had that same file hidden in a secure place in Lima. Whether or not there was truth in what Steffan revealed, he was still responsible for the death of Axel's parents. Axel has never looked back since the day he burnt his father alive.
Present Day.
"So what now then?" Floyd asks as he stands next to Estel on the rooftop of an old derelict building. From a distance, they spot several planes stationed as well as a runway. This airport however is nothing like Wood Oak City's International hub for airlines. This is an old terminal that is only used nowadays for the occasional military aircraft and cargo planes. Therefore it was relatively easy for the Y Syndicate to gain control of it.
"We wait. That plane should be landing here in the next 15 minutes. As soon as they arrive, we advance forward" the blond heroine replies.
"Hey Ax? You ok?" Adam shouts after noticing his friend falling asleep on the ground against a wall.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Where's Leon?" He glances around yawning.
"Just over there. Go and talk to him…"
Axel cautiously gets up then approaches the boy on the other side of the roof who is on the lookout with a pair of binoculars.
"Are you ok kid?" He asks.
"Yeah, this side of the perimeter is clear so far," Leon informs him.
"Thanks, that's good to know. You did good fighting back at the concert hall. I'm sorry I upset you…"
There is a brief moment of silence between them.
"I saw you the other night when you were arguing with mom. When you flame punched that glass next to her head, I thought that was it. She's dead…"
"I'm so sorry." Axel heavily breathes, feeling guilty. "For a second there I lost control of myself and my chi, but I'd never ever do anything to hurt your mom, the baby or you and I learnt a valuable lesson that night. Lately, things have been difficult, I'll admit that. But there's no excuse for it. I shut you out along with everyone else and that was wrong. I'm sorry and I promise you I'll make things right again if you let me…"
"Ok dad" Leon nods with sadness in his eyes.
Axel sits on the ground next to him with their backs against the rooftop wall.
"Before you were born, I remember a time when your mom and I were at war with each other. I was practically her worst enemy!"
"Really?" Leon asks, surprised and now curious.
"Yeah! Axel laughs. "Looking back on it now it's funny but at the time she could have killed me".
"What happened then?"
"The city had gone down under the curfew of the syndicate. I had just returned from Japan after your Sensei and I fell out - he was also enemies with me back then by the way. Your mom had just killed at least five ninjas who tried to attack her in the subway tunnels. After I found her, she started fighting with me too."
"But you weren't one of the bad guys though!" Leon frowns.
"I made her believe I was before I left though. Anyway, she started fighting with me but in the end I refused to fight back. That pissed her off even more so she told me that only one of us would leave that place alive. So when she picked up a knife, I pressed it right here against my chest and insisted then that she'd be the one to make it out and not me. Of course she never killed me. If she wanted to she could have but I knew she wouldn't. Just like your mom knew I wouldn't if things were the other way round."
"I miss her," Leon sighs.
"I miss her too."
"Dad, can I ask you something?"
"Go ahead…"
"Do you miss your own parents?"
"All the time! They were the best and they would have loved you!" He smiles. "I never grew up with my real father though, he had nothing to do with us… Leon there's something you have to know".
"What is it?"
"That agent we're after, the one that came to find you. That man is my father," He quietly explains whilst looking down towards the ground.
Leon immediately glances back at him with worry on his face.
"Does he have fire like us?"
Axel nods back with regret. "I'll be honest with you kid, since he's showed up I've been a mess, but I will fix it I promise."
"Oh dad, I'm sorry" Leon wraps his arms around him, giving him a comforting hug.
"Whatever happens, I'll never be the same father as him. I know what he's like, he'l do anything to turn you or the others against me. If Steffan comes near us, don't ever believe anything he says or does. He's full of lies. Everything is gonna be ok though".
"I understand. I'm so tired dad," the boy quietly rests his head on his chest.
"I know. You can sleep on me while we wait ok?" Axel smiles. Before he can finish his sentence, Leon is already fast asleep in his arms. The two of them sit huddled up on the ground together, keeping each other warm.
Axel can't help but think back to that night with Steffan. Over and over again it plays on his mind like a broken record.
"Guys, some of our 'friends' have arrived! They know we're here!" Estel reports with enthusiasm. Adam glances over the roof after hearing glass bulbs breaking on the ground. They light up the area with electricity.
"Let's move, now!" He orders.