Chapter 27

It was 2am and even though the early hours of the morning were creeping in, the nightlife of Wood Oak's Chinatown district was still buzzing and full of energy. Adam, Axel and Estel paced through the bustling night market that was still chiming with its large red lanterns hovering from above. The streets were an eclectic display of neon lights from every restaurant. Each one showcased many beautifully crafted Chinese statues of lions and dragons that were surrounded by gold and red embellishments.

"Are you sure this is where the call was traced back to?" Axel asked as the three of them rushed past a crowd of people queuing up for a busy restaurant.

"100 percent," Adam nodded with certainty.

"Remember, when we get there take a step back and let us do the questioning. You're not an officer anymore," Estel instructed.

"You're asking too much of me," Axel answered.

"I mean it! This is now an official SIF investigation and we're there to retrieve that record that Blaze took. If she refuses to give it to us, we'll have no choice but to arrest her. She's already wanted by WOPD, so let's not make matters worse".

"You gotta be kiddin' me!" Adam huffed with astonishment as the group finally reached the outside of the GPS signal they were using.

"What?" Axel asked with concern.

The trio then stepped to one side on the corner past another group of people queuing to get inside.

"Do you know who the owner of this place is?"

"How am I supposed to know," Axel shrugged at Adam.

"Rudra Shiva, our old friend's sister," Adam replied.

"Wheyda go Fielding!" Estel sarcastically remarked to herself, shaking her head with amusement.

"So you're saying Blaze is here?" Axel queried with surprise in his voice.

"It looks that way, genius! Now, like I said, stay back and leave the questioning to us cops will ya?" Estel insisted.

Adam was the first to walk into the premises with his friends behind him. The man at the front of the restaurant scanned him from head to toe, immediately recognising his face and the fact that the group were not here for dinner.

"The Grandmaster of Chinatown only sees people with appointments. You'll have to arrange another time…"

"We just wanna talk. We're not here to cause any trouble…" Adam calmly answered, flashing his silver police badge.

"Wait here please," the man immediately had a change of heart then he escorted them to one side.

After 5 minutes, a tall, muscular figure with long black hair, wearing a black sweatband appeared in the distance. He had on black loose pants and a black and grey vest. Even after all of these years, his walk still never changed. Estel had never had the privilege of meeting Leon Shiva in the past, but she could see just from the way he carried himself that he was an accomplished martial artist.

"So, after all these years you've finally come to pay me a visit then?" Shiva smirked at the group, cocking his head to one side whilst he folded his arms.

"You know exactly why we're here!" Adam answered.

Estel then jumped in. "We're not here to cause trouble, Mr Shiva. We just want a statement from you, as well as the record that's here under your premises".

"And what if I refuse to cooperate, officer Aguirre?"

"I don't think that's a good idea, given how much trouble you're already in with the Syndicate and all the dirt I have on your sister's activities. We're just after a favour, that's all" Estel candidly smiled.

"Screw all that, he knows we'll fight him for it if he doesn't cooperate", Axel interrupted.

"I said, let us do the talking…" Estel snapped.

Shiva smirked as he took a step forward towards his old rival, "now that would be a far more interesting way to settle all this, wouldn't it brother?"

Adam quickly intervened, stepping himself between the two men who were starting to square up to one another.

"No need to panic now, it's clear the two of us have done some growing up," Shiva said as he backed off. "But, I'd still love to see what 10 years of training out in the wilderness does to a fighter…"

"Just say the word and I'll show you," Axel snarled.

Estel shook her head, complaining to Adam whilst gritting her teeth, "I told you it was a bad idea to bring him along with us!"

To their surprise, Shiva then smiled, "come with me, I'll show you the record you came for. You can take it off my hands…"

He then led them upstairs through the dojo then out onto the roof terrace.

"This is nice," Adam observed.

The three of them stood still with caution, ready to act as they carefully watched Shiva taking out a black box from underneath one of the statues. To their relief, the only thing inside it was the familiar green record from earlier belonging to DJ K-Washi.

Estel casually smiled, "right, now that that's settled, we'll be on our way", she said, holding out her palm.

"I'll give the SIF this record on one condition," Shiva replied, still gripping onto it.

"What's that then?"

"All the charges against myself and my sister get dropped instantly. And I want the Y-Syndicate dealt with so that she can return safely to America. They're blackmailing us and they'll try to kill us if they know I've had possession of this record."

"Deal!" Estel nodded reassuringly as she took the record. "We'll be on our way now…"

"Wait!" Axel cut in. "Where's Blaze? Why is she working with you?"

Shiva immediately stepped forward, "I would usually reply, but why don't you ask her yourself? Unless she's made it clear she doesn't wish to talk to you…." He then reached for his back pocket to remove Axel's old phone. Shiva held the device in the palm of his hand for his former enemy to take back. Axel gracefully grabbed the phone, but anyone could tell he was pissed off by looking at his face. At that point, there was nothing else he could do and Axel could see his two colleagues were keen not to hang around any minute longer.

"Thank you for your time," Adam politely nodded as the three of them started to walk away.

"NOT SO FAST! That shit belongs to me!"

Suddenly, they heard a whip cracking over the ground by one of the exits of the terrace.

"What the hell is she doing here?!" Estel turned around agitated, witnessing Electra strutting heavily towards them.

"I'll handle this," Shiva replied, also feeling irritated.

"You and I made a deal! And now, you're handing that record over to them with ease? Have you lost your mind?!" Electra shouted.

"Even if we leaked this to the press, the only person not corrupt enough to analyse this thing is Dr Zan".

"You don't call the shots around here! Especially after I paid you $50,000 for that record!"

"And you, Ellie, forget who you're talking to and everything that I'm capable of," Shiva stood tall in front of her with his arms crossed, silencing Electra from her rant.

"And you're also forgetting what happens when you try to double cross the SIF," Adam smirked at her. "We don't gotta protect your ass for much longer…"

"What are you gonna let an innocent citizen fall at the hands of the Syndicate?" She asked.

"Who said anything about you being innocent?" Adam laughed.

"HEY!"

The arguing group of fighters immediately halted then they each turned around, surprised to see Blaze appearing on the scene.

"That record your disputing about actually belongs to me! I'm the one who retrieved it in the first place!" She warned, briefly giving Shiva an annoyed glare for giving away the record to them.

"Tell them…" Blaze insisted, locking eyes with Axel for the first time since earlier. "Tell them how I fought to get a hold of this after you set fire to the whole stage in there…"

"I had no choice!" Axel defensively shrugged.

"There's always a choice," Blaze hatefully stared back at him before she turned to Estel who was holding the record.

"Come on then blondie, hand it back before I'm forced to wipe this floor with your face…"

"Don't make me call for backup! You know exactly what they'll do if the rest of the police force finds you. We're not here to fight Blaze, we'll make sure this record reaches Dr Zan before it's leaked so that we can prove what is really going on. Then we can all get what we came for," Estel explained.

"No," Blaze shook her head. "Your punishment get's the twins and the Syndicate off lightly…"

"It's the law!"

"Fuck the law!" Blaze spat.

"What the hell happened to you huh? I thought I changed, but you….?" Axel cut in.

"Haven't I made it clear yet? I want nothing to do with you!" She warned.

"I get it, I can see you're still mad at me for breaking a promise to you, but don't take it out on them or what they're tryna do. You know that handing over this record is the right thing to do…"

"You don't know shit about the right thing!" Blaze laughed. "And you're right, I have changed", she proudly smirked.

The others couldn't help but stare awkwardly at the two of them as they began to throw digs at one another.

"What was it then Blaze, huh? Was it all the pills you were poppin'? Or the fact that you turned against everything you believed in when upholding the law?" Axel remarked.

"You'd better watch your mouth…"
"Or what huh?... Look I'm sorry for the way things ended between us, but…"

"Ended? You left me hanging by a thread with your bullshit promise about coming back for me! You used me like I was one of your flings."

"You probably were…" Electra interrupted, smirking to herself.

"SHUT UP!" Both Axel and Blaze simultaneously turned to shout at her.

"What did you think then, Axel? Let's have a bit of fun, get into her bed before I leave for good, but in order to do so, I'll make this girl believe I'm really coming back for her and that I'm madly in love with her…" Blaze sneeringly remarked as she tilted her head.

"I WAS IN LOVE WITH YOU!" He shouted back.

She couldn't help but laugh with sarcasm in her voice "you're a fucking joke, Axel. And I was too blind to see it…"

"Joke? You wanna know what's the joke?... You!... I mean, I expected you'd move on after all these years, but Murphy? My old work partner!? And the drugs? I didn't think you could stoop that low, and now, here you are shacked up with him!" He briefly glanced over towards Shiva.

"...er, her and I arn't and will never…" Shiva shrugged, embarrassed.

"I thought you were smarter than that Blaze, but clearly you're just another h-–..."

"Let's just go!" Adam interrupted, pulling his friend by the arm, before Axel could say anything else to Blaze.

"Ouch!" Electra mockingly smirked at her old female rival as she started to walk away.

Axel and Blaze ignored the others around as they stood there, coldly locking eyes with one another.

"Come on, don't be so harsh…" Adam quietly said to Axel as he cautiously gave Blaze his eye contact. He then insisted, pulling Axel back by the shoulder, "let's get out of here…"

"Gladly," Axel finally replied as he looked down at Blaze with disappointment on his face. He then turned around to follow the others out.

She stood frozen in the same spot without any reaction other than astonishment as she watched them leave. Shiva could tell Axel had damaged her pride and deep down, Blaze was beyond angry with him. If anything, she felt deeply upset after their altercation.

At that moment, the only thing Blaze wanted to do was sink back into the ground again and escape. She didn't care what she turned to or what cost to her life and well being it would take. She remembered how difficult it was when Axel had first left, but never expected in a million years that his return would stir up so much more for her. Shiva understood exactly what she was thinking about. Blaze had that look in her eye, where she was about to give up.

"Try to go back out to those streets, back to those drugs and you'll leave me no choice but to fight you. I care too much to watch you ruin your life again…" he broke his silence.

Blaze paused for a second, understanding that her friend and mentor was right. She had come so far in turning her life around that one small moment of chaos would tip it all upside down and then she would find herself in the darkest place.

"We'll make sure they punish the Syndicate as well as Tim who put you on the run. I gave them the record because I genuinely think that we're stronger if we work with them rather than against them. Especially now that Axel is back. Yeah, I hate the guy too but Adam and the others are our best chance at ending the Syndicate for good…."

"You don't understand," Blaze defeatedly shook her head.

"Then tell me….?" Shiva probed.

The two of them sat down by the ledge of the roof alone as they looked out towards the city lights in the distance.

"10 years ago…" Blaze paused, "we fought a really hard battle against Mr X and the syndicate…"

"You don't have to explain all that to me," Shiva half heartedly smiled.

"But, the plan was that we were supposed to capture Mr X, arrest him and bring him to justice in a court of law. Plus yourself and the others, but…"

"But what?" He frowned.

"But things that night went really badly wrong. He had a robot and a bomb connected to it. Mr X was ready to wipe out the whole city if he didn't get what he wanted. So we were forced to kill him. At one point during the fight, he turned on Axel and held the gun to his head. But I saved him. See, in the aftermath of it all, Mr X's kids and the remaining Syndicate assumed that Axel ended his life, but it was me who killed him…"

"You did what you had to do. Anyone would have…"

"But the Syndicate and the police assumed that Axel fled town because he was the one responsible for the kill. After that night, he retrieved the murder weapon, planted his fingerprints on it then had the police find it so that he would take the wrap for it if word got out to the organisation."

"Why would Axel do that though? You could have left, started your life again in London if you had to…"

"Axel always had planned to leave for the woods. It was his way of discovering himself as a fighter and finding true strength…"

"So what was the issue then?" Shiva asked.

"Just before he left, we started a relationship together. We were crazy about each other, but I didn't wanna get in the way of what he'd set out to always do. Ultimately, Axel left and promised he would come back, but he never did…" Blaze frowned, staring down at the ground.

"People break up and these things happen, it's life I guess…"

"It's not just that," Blaze shook her head. She then took a short breath before she carried on. "Soon after he left, the remaining members of the Syndicate and the twins ordered everyone to find him as they believed Axel was the one responsible for their father's death. That's probably why they made a deal with your sister. But in the process of it all, we had created two monsters…"

"Trust me, those twins were already monsters from birth." Shiva replied.

"Yeah, but their fighters eventually found me instead…" She sighed, taking a deep breath.

"What do you mean?"

"Tim set me up. At the time, I was working with him at the precinct and he was assigned by Bernstein to be my partner. One night, I fought alone against a whole motorbike crew, but they had the upper hand. They ended up taking me to an abandoned car park, then…" her eyes started to water, "... then they demanded that I reveal where Axel really was. But I didn't know where he was!" She huffed with frustration before continuing.

"So they waterboarded me to get me to talk. Then they battered every inch of my body until I was almost dead…"

"That's terrible. I'm sorry…"

"What made matters worse was that I was almost 5 months pregnant at the time…" she took a deep gulp, giving him the most distraught look as tears started to pour down her face.

Shiva had never seen Blaze so upset before and now, he finally understood why she had gotten herself into a mess and what exactly was blocking her powers.

"I…I'm so sorry… and you've kept that with you all this time?" He replied with sadness in his voice. "Did anybody else know?"

Blaze then sniffed as she nodded her head. "Yeah erm, Adam and Estel were the closest people who knew about it. I also lost my job when the Commissioner found out I was pregnant. And then there was Tim…."

"So he set you up, knowing about the baby? What a piece of scum!"

"I didn't find out until years later, after he ruined my life once again," she glanced down, feeling ashamed with the past.

"I take it Axel doesn't know any of this?"

"No. And he's not going to find out either. Please promise me you won't say anything, Leon! Blaze pleaded.

"I won't," Shiva sighed. "But I think you two should talk…"

"What?! You heard how he reacted tonight! No! No fucking way!" She snapped.

"It's up to you but, it's only gonna keep eating away at you and blocking your powers. Don't think I haven't seen it, you're so close Blaze. As horrific as the past is, you owe it to yourself for getting back up on your feet to deal with this once and for all! Just have a think about it…"

"I,... I…" Suddenly, Blaze felt lost for words.

He carefully put one arm around her as she rested her head on his shoulder, staring blankly down at the city below them as the tears on her face dried up. Blaze sat still thinking to herself and remembering everything from the past. "Tim, Barbon and the others are all going to finally pay for what they've done, I swear…" those words repeated over and over again in the back of Blaze's head that night.


Author's Note

So after the action and intensity of the last chapter, here was an emotional one for the characters. Even though the main characters are now stagnated in different groups, they all want the same thing in defeating the Y-Syndicate so ultimately, they won't have a choice other than to fight together. But Blaze especially, is still venting and not over the past.

I felt like this was also a great point in the story to have Shiva interacting with the other members after years of fighting against them. Hopefully they will now see another side to him and giving the record over to Adam was like an olive branch. So more will develop on this soon!

Please keep your thoughts coming in and I hope you enjoyed the chapter :-).