One punch man: Attitude Adjustment
Chapter 3: Late Night Withdrawal
Randal woke up to the sound of his phone ringing on the dresser beside him. He yawned and rubbed his eyes as he answered it, the time on the screen said just past 5am.
"Hello?" Randal said with a tired sigh.
"Mr. Senior! Thank goodness you answered." A very panicked sounding worker for the association said. "A giant monster has risen out of the ocean and is making its way towards City-T. We are requesting that every nearby Hero head to the shore immediately."
"Of course you are..." Randal said while shaking his head. "I'll be there soon." He said before hanging up the phone and dragging himself out of bed. "Too early for this crap..." He mumbled to himself as he threw on his cloths and went out the door.
Randal didn't have a car, but he could run fast when there was no better option. As soon as he left the apartment cars were speeding past him to get further in land, people ran down the street screaming in panic. Just ahead, the sound of monstrous roars that echoed throughout the city could be heard. Bright flashes of light and deafening blasts were made from explosions, likely from weapons used by heroes or the military. He didn't live very far away from the beach, so it only took Randal a couple of minuets to get there and see what the urgent call he received was really about.
"You've gotta be kidding..." Randal whispered to himself with a bitter look on his face.
Sitting in the ocean, not far off from T-City's beach and slowly slithering closer was a gigantic nine headed hydra. Each head and the massive body they sat on were covered in sea-foam green scales with black, jagged spines running from the top of it's heads to the ends of its multiple tails. The heads were snakelike, each mouth had a set of teeth that were long as as spears and thick as tree trunks. Their size and ferocious nature was bad enough, but each head was also able to spit out a blast of water/bile that was strong enough to demolish a wall made of concrete.
Even before Randal showed up, more than twenty heroes were there trying to hold the monster back. Most were from Class A and B but there was also a handful of Class C's around to help people evacuate. Most who were fighting had to resort to swimming or looking for boats to approach the monster for an attack. Other heroes like Death Gatling tired fighting from the shore, shooting the monster with everything they had but that seemed to do little more than scuff the monsters scales.
Randal was smart enough to know he couldn't fight something like that head on, he looked around for ideas and saw a A Class hero named Heavy Kong throwing pieces of debris. It seemed like his best option, so Randal decided to do the same. Anything heavy that he could get his hands on was tossed at the monsters heads. Most just bounced off of their faces, but when Randal tossed a moped he managed to land a direct hit on one of the eyes.
After a moment of satisfaction, Randal realized that particular head was now looking right at him. It's mouth opened wide, seeing enough water fired out of their mouths already and quick reflexes let Randal jump out of the way. He dived across the sand just in time to avoid the hydra's head smashing into the beach.
Seeing a split second of opportunity, Randal jumped onto the top of the monsters head as it was being pulled out of the sand. Now dozen's of feet in the air, one hand held onto the monsters brow while the other punched the hydra's eye over and over again as hard as he could. He managed to puncture the eye and make it bleed, but that just seemed to make that particular head furious. Before Randal had enough time to react, the head he clung to started thrashing about wildly.
"Ohhhh shiii...!" Randal yelled until his grip failed.
In just seconds, Randal was tossed off the monsters head. He went flying past the beach and into the wall of a building across the street. Despite his head ringing and his whole body feeling sore, Randal still managed to slowly start picking himself up. He got back to his feet just in time to see the head he fought fire a blast of water directly at the building, burying the entire structure on top of him.
This took Randal out of the rest of the fight, twenty minuets went by before he was pulled out of the rubble by Smile Man and Butterfly DX. They filled him on what happened while he was unconscious. The heroes were apparently getting beaten badly until Tatsumaki, AKA the Tornado of Terror and the second highest ranked Hero arrived. According to Butterfly DX, the first thing Tatsumaki did was insult all the other heroes for not being strong enough to handle the situation themselves. Then the hydra fired water at her from every head, creating a cannon of water powerful enough to destroy multiple city blocks. Using her incredible psychic powers, Tatsumaki was able to easily shield herself from the blast. Deflecting the water as she floated high in the air made it seem like it was raining over the entire beach as the monster was killed by Tatsumaki using her powers to tie the Hydra's necks in a knot and strangle it. After being explained all of this, Randal had only one thing to say in response.
"This job doesn't pay enough." Randal said after coughing up debris dust.
Randal was lucky enough to walk away from the fight without any broken bones, but he was still walking home with a limp and decided it was for the best to take the next three days off. He spent his recovery time the same way he usually spent his free time, watching action movies and old episodes of his favorite pro-wrestling show. He also kept his eyes on the news, which is how he got to see some very well captured footage of himself getting tossed into a building by the hydra monster. When the three days were up, he made sure to stretch and exercise to double-check his body was ready to work again. After finishing the takeout food that made up his dinner, he slipped on his jacket and was about to leave but was once again met with two complete strangers standing outside of his apartment.
"Oh, Hello mister Senior." A teenage girl with a streak of blue and a white flower on top of her black hair said. "We were just about to knock, I hope we aren't bothering you." She said a polite bow of her head, standing next to two men in their twenties with all three of them wearing black business suits.
"Can I help you?" Randal asked as he looked at the girl and two men with her. "Are you guys interns for the association or something?"
"No sir, my name is Lily of the Three Section Staff. My friends and I are here to represent The Blizzard Group." She replied with a perky smile.
"Ohh...right." Randal said without much interest. "Your that Class-B club with a psychic in charge right?."
"That's right, and we've also heard of you. Your quick rise through Class-C, the list of monsters you've dealt with on your own and your impressive physical scores from the entrance exams despite your...um...age." She said while trying to still sound polite. "All of this has made Ms. Fubuki decide that you could be a strong new asset, which means you get the honor of joining the The Blizzard Group!." Lily said like Randal had won some sort of prize.
"I see." Randal said, his expression unchanged as he looked at the outfit one of the men behind Lily was wearing. "Quick question, is anyone getting married soon?"
"I...don't think so." Lily replied, feeling confused.
"And has anyone died in the last little while?" Randal asked casually.
"Umm...no" Lily answered, still not sure what was going on.
"Well then I guess your out of luck, I only wear suits for weddings and funerals." Randal said before starting to walk down the sidewalk. "You guys take care, tell your boss thanks for the offer." He said as he kept walking away.
"W-wait, Sir!" Lily said, caught off guard by Randal leaving so abruptly. "Please at least think about it, The Blizzard Group is an excellent team of Heroes!" She called out as Randal walked further down the street, even though she thought he was being very rude Lily still tried to follow Ms. Fubuki's orders.
"More like a gang to me..." Randal mumbled to himself as he kept walking.
Living in City-T for so long made patrolling it rather easy. Randal knew where to find every back alley and broken down building along with every shady business in town. After a few hours of strolling through the streets, a quick stop at one of his preferred bars was Randal's favorite way to unwind and take a break. It was also another good place to find information thanks to Randal being of friendly terms with half the bartenders in town, the other half just knew him as the guy who got kicked out after starting a bar fight. This time, Randal asked about the rise in crime after ordering a few pints but didn't hear anything that Ted didn't already tell him before.
"Alright, thanks anyway Dan." Randal said to the bartender after finishing their talk, he left money on the counter before heading out the door. "I guess finding these guys won't be so easy... " He thought to himself as he walked down the road, thinking about who else might be able to help him find some information.
As Randal kept walking the street, he thought about the different ways he could find the information he was looking for. As he went from one idea to the next, he stopped walking because he could hear a familiar sound coming from an alley beside him.
Halfway down the alley was a young man, he was a few inches under six feet. A little bit of dirty blonde hair stuck out from the dark green hoodie that was covering his head. He also wore grey sweat pants with small tears on both legs and sneakers that were clearly worn out. His cloths and shoes were covered in paint blotches of various colors, which matched the basic respirator mask he wore on his face. With a spray can in his hand, the young man was in the middle of painting the concrete wall on the left side of the alley. Four empty cans surrounded his feet, which showed just how long he had worked on this one spot. He couldn't hear anything around him thanks to the headphones blasting Reggae music into his ears, but he finally snapped out of concentrating on the painting when he felt a large finger tap his shoulder.
"Oh, hey." The young man said to Randal, his words and expression were completely lethargic.
"Hey there, doing a little art project?" Randal asked, noticing the young mans pale skin now that they were face to face.
"Uhh...yeah." The young man replied, not sure why some random old man would care about what he was doing.
"And I'm guessing you didn't ask before you went ahead and tagged the building, am I right?" Randal asked, his arms crossed while he waited to see how the kid would answer.
"Well...no." The young man said reluctantly.
"That's what I thought, so how about you do me a favor and hand me the...whoa." Randal said as he turned to see what the kid was painting.
Randal had seen a lot of different graffiti over the years, but this was something different. It appeared to be a massive, halfway completed mural of a jazz musician playing the saxophone. He could see the detail put into small things like the musicians fingers around the instrument and little cartoons of musical notes coming out the end of it. At that moment Randal realized something, this wall held up the right side of a an old record store he had passed by over the years more times than he could count.
"I'll give you this kid..." Randal said as he was still looking up at the painting with an impressed smirk. "You know what your...huh?"
As Randal turned to look at the painter again, he realized that the young man was suddenly gone. He quickly looked from one end of the alley to the other with no sign of the kid, not until he heard a voice coming from above.
"Hey, old-timer." The young man said, leaning over the roof of the building to look down at Randal. "Don't scrub the wall, I'm gonna finish it later." He said before running away.
"You little...!" Randal said through gritted teeth.
A part of Randal wanted to chase the kid, but another knew he wasn't going to catch someone who moved that quick and had a head start. Besides that, someone putting spray paint on a wall was not worth the effort. He took one last look at the work the kid had done before walking in the direction he was going before.
"Well if a little graffiti's all they got, this big crime wave should be easy to handle." Randal thought to himself.
With most of the night still left to go by, Randal took his time wandering around. Just like every night, the walk would take him to places and buildings in town that he recognized. This included the City-T Regional Bank, which he passed he by at 10pm. It stayed quiet until a little bit after midnight, when a pair of semi-trucks pulled into the banks spacious parking lot. As the trucks parked, two security guards came out of the banks front doors.
"Is there a delivery tonight?" One guard asked the other.
"No." The other guard said with a concerned look on his face. "Whoever you are, you need to get of the vehicle or leave right now!" The guard said loudly as both of them approached the trucks with hands on their holsters.
The two guards stood in front of the trucks for a few nervous seconds before one of the driver side doors finally opened. A beautiful woman stepped out, strutting as she walked. She wore red high heels, black leather pants, a matching black tank top and a blue denim jacket. Her hair was long, bright blonde and was probably being held up by an entire can of hairspray. Her cloths plus all the make up she had on made this woman look less like a truck driver and more like someone looking for the nearest nightclub.
"Evening boys, I really hope we're not bothering you." She said with a cute smile and a playful tone. "My friends and I are having some engine trouble, any chance one of you could be a dear and give us a hand?"
"Well, I actually know a thing or..." One of the guards said as he stepped forward with his best attempt at a charming smile.
"Stop drooling dumb-ass!" The other guard said as he pulled his co-worker back. "Look lady, I'm not getting fired over a pretty face. You need to take your car troubles somewhere else." He told the woman sternly.
"That's a shame, I was hoping we could all get along. Oh well..." The woman said before using blowing into her thumb and index finger to make a loud whistle.
Both drivers side doors opened and two men dressed in 1950's styled shirts and jeans came out. They both had jet black Pompadour hairstyles and sunglasses that matched in color. They were also both carrying Uzi sub-machine guns, just like the three identical looking men who opened the back door on one of the trucks from the inside and jumped out.
"Oh no..." One of the guards said, the hand on his holster trembling.
"Dammit!" The other guard said, quickly pulling out his firearm. "All of you stay back, I mean it!" He said as he waved his gun between the men as they approached, but it didn't seem to faze them. "I said get ba...!"
Instead of finishing his sentence, the guard just spat up blood after a hard punch in the gut by the woman who seemed to be in charge. He crumbled to the ground, gasping for air that wasn't there because the wind has been knocked out of him. The guard that was still standing panicked and tried to run, but he was caught by the back of his collar. He was forced to turn around and take a punch directly in the face, even though the woman had a slender frame she hit with more then enough force to knock the man out.
"Showtime boys" She said to the men behind her with a satisfied grin.
They were were quick to get to work. The group stormed into the bank, jumping over the counters and shooting every camera along their way to the vault. Three of them brought duffel bags and one of them was filled with explosives that were placed around the vault door in a complete circle. After the men stepped back and set the explosives off, the vault door just fell over because the wall supporting it had been destroyed. With that done, they moved in to start filling the duffel bags with as much cash as possible.
The woman in charge stayed outside, waiting for her men to come outside until a suspicious noise caught her keen sense of hearing. Around the corner from the building next store to the bank was another man dressed as a security guard. He had left earlier to get food for everyone working the nightshirt from the fast food place just down the road. He came back just in time to see the robbery start and dropped the bags of food he was carrying to pull out his cellphone.
"Please hurry." The guard whispered frantically into his phone. "You need to send police, or Heroes...I can't care who just send somebody!"
Before the man could say anything else, he felt a tremor of fear crawl up his spine. He could feel something close to him, something that had very bad intentions. He turned his head around the corner again, and the woman in charge of the robbery was standing right in front of him.
"No one likes a snitch sweetheart" The woman said coldly as she reached into her jacket and pulled out a rather large switch-blade.
In shock, the guard tripped over his own feet and fell flat on his back. He dropped his phone, and the woman crushed it with her heel as she slowly walked towards him with a menacing intent. She grabbed him by the collar and had the knife hovering over the skin on his neck before something caught her attention. She could hear short spurts of gunfire coming from inside the bank, so she settled for knocking out the last guard with a kick in the chin before going back to check what was going on.
The gunfire died down as she walked down the street. One of the robbers flew out the door and laid unconscious in front of the bank as a single man walked out of it. He had a well made, dark blue tuxedo on. His black hair was sliced back and there wasn't even a single strand out of place. A golden pocket watch was hanging off his right side and his dress shoes were recently shined. The monocle on his left eye had a silver frame and the boutonniere on his suit was a white rose. Despite the gentlemen's appearance, he also had a silenced pistol in his hand and was looking at the man he threw out the door while brushing a few specs of dust off his shoulder.
"Well, that was poor timing on your parts. Another hour and I would have passed by this area." The man said with a dapper British accent, walking away from the bank with a satisfied smile on his face until he noticed a woman approaching him. "Well hello there" He said in a flirtatious way, but his tone changed when he saw the knife in her hand and the irritated expression on her face. "Oh...I take it these were friends on yours." He said with obvious disappointment.
"Good guess, and just what are you supposed to be? Some kind of secret agent?" The woman asked in a mocking way.
"My former work is considered classified, but my current occupation is being the Rank 17 Hero in Class B. You may call me Burns, John Burns." John said after raising his pistol, ready to shoot the woman if she left him no other choice. "And what may I call you miss? I only ask so I know what to tell the authorities after you've been brought in." He said in with a confident grin.
"The name's Candy." The woman said before her eyes moved for just a moment to see her unconscious lackey not too far away. "And I'm not going anywhere with a snob like you."
In a split second, Candy rushed forward with a tight grip of her switch-blade. John fired a two shots but Candy was faster than he expected with both bullets only just missing her. Before he could shoot a third time, Candy dived toward her unconscious co-worker and caught his gun as she rolled on the ground. Without hesitating, she fired a spray of bullets that forced Jack to run and take cover around the corner of the bank. He took his time listening for Candy's footsteps, but heard nothing. He turned the corner with his gun ready, but she was nowhere to be seen. Suddenly, John was pressed up against the wall. Quick reflexes were enough to saved him, one arm was holding Candy back and the other held her wrist to stop her knife from stabbing into his stomach. She was stronger then she looked, and the tip of her knife was just millimetres away from piercing his skin.
"Tell me..." John said with strained breathe. "Would you like a flower?"
Candy did not have time to wonder what the question meant. The code phrase activated immediately and John's boutonniere released a pepper spray like mist that covered Candy's face. It forced her to step back, crying out in pain and rubbing her eyes as tears started to stream down her face.
"You prick!" Candy shouted in pure rage, she charged with her knife but was quickly disarmed and flipped flat on her back by John Burns.
"It seems like the fun is over." John said with a cocky smirk, his gun pointed at her chest. "You'll be coming with me now."
"Oh yeah?" Candy replied with squinted eyes, rolling over onto her stomach as she stood back up so John could not see her press a button on the high tech bracelet under her jacket cuffs. "I wouldn't count on that."
Just then, a loud sound came from one of the semi trucks Candy's gang brought with them. It was the sound of steam blasting out of multiple vents in the semi trucks rather large trailer. After a few seconds the steam stopped and the sound of heavy metallic clicking came next. After that, something seemed to to start moving in the trailer. Something large enough to rock it side to side, putting large dents into the walls as it thrashed around inside.
"What did you do?" John asked with concern, his gun still pointed at Candy.
"Let me put it this way cutie." Candy said with a smile even though her eyes were still bright red and watering. "One truck was for the cash...the other was for him."
The back doors of the trailer flew off the hinges and a monster the size of a van stepped out. It looked like a griffin in size and appearance. Covered in feathers, four razor sharp talons on each foot and a massive set of wings on it's back. It also had some features that were similar to a peacock. Feathers on it's head and neck were white but the wings and body were a vibrant shade of blue. On it's tail were very long feathers that had patterns that made it look like it was in white and yellow eyes. Oddly enough, the monster also appeared to have eyeliner on and professionally curled lashes.
There also seemed to be some sort of device on the Peacock Griffin's head, a metal helmet covered the monsters scalp with a glowing green sensor light in the middle of it's forehead. As the monster looked at Candy and John, it let out a terribly loud shriek and looked like it was getting ready to charge. Candy pulled down the sleeve on her jacket, showing the bracelet she used to set the monster free that also had a green light. Seeing this made the monsters head twitch involuntarily, the device had forced a new thought into it's brain. Now, instead of being ready to attack both of them; all of the monsters primal aggression was directed at John Burns.
"Oh bugger..." John said softly.
After another shriek, the monster rushed towards John. The talons tore up the concrete with every rapid step until it dived forward and swiped at John's face. He was fast enough to dive out of the way, rolling on the ground as he landed. Three shots were fired into the Peacock Griffins side as it turned to face John again. It screeched in pain, but the bullets only went a few centimetres into the skin. The monster began to flap it's wing until it was several feet off the ground before swooping down to try and claw art it's prey again. This happened over and over, with Jack being quick enough to dodge to monsters swipes but his suit received multiple tears in the process.
As all this happened, Candy quietly made her way into the bank. Her men were knocked unconscious, but that would not stop her from going into the safe and getting as much cash as she could fit into two of their duffel bags. Her eyes were still stinging as she ran back outside, but she could still clearly see John's cloths torn to ribbons and his body cut all over as he became more and more tired from dodging the Peacock Griffin's attack.
"Looks like the fun's over" Candy called out to John, mocking him with his own words.
John knew he had to ignore Candy toying with him, his eyes stayed fixed on the Peacock Griffin as it swooped around for another chance to dive at him. This was the chance John had been looking for, as he evaded the monsters attacks he also tried to study it's movements. If he was right about what he saw, there would just enough time to finally stop the monsters airborne assault. He reached into his back pocket as it flew right at him, quickly pulling out what appeared to be an ordinary pen. But then John pointed the pen at the monster and clicked the end of it, creating a incredibly bright flash that disoriented the monster enough to make it spin out of control. It tumbled close to John as it rolled along the concrete.
"What?!" Candy shouted in angry shock.
Seeing his moment of opportunity, John pulled his pocket watch off of the chain that kept it attached to his hip. He turned to look at Candy again, and smirked as he pulled off the watches latch release.
"Time's up." John said before tossing the watch at the Griffin, which exploded with twice the force of a normal grenade when it was just inches away from the monsters head.
The blast created a large cloud of dust and smoke that engulfed the monster and made it impossible to see. John was confident that his time bomb was enough to do the trick, but that confidence was was quickly shattered when the Peacock Griffin came flying out of the smoke. Her was too shocked to react before the monster sunk its talons into his shoulders and picked him up into the air. The pain was excruciating and being pulled higher and higher into the air just made it worse. When they were more than fifty feet off the ground, the Peacock Griffin let Jack go. For a second, John was left to free fall with no use of his arms because of the damage to his shoulders. The monster turned to face him and with one powerful flap of it's wings, it created a blast of wind strong enough to send John Burns flying straight down towards the ground. The impact left cracks in the pavement, Johns body was too broken to move as the monster landed next to him to finish with its prey.
"Now that's more like it." Candy said with a pleased giggle. "Time to go."
Candy took the bags she was carrying over the the truck that did not bring the Peacock Griffin, paying no attention to the men she was leaving behind for the police. As this happened, the Peacock Griffin kept Jack Burns pinned to the ground with one of its feet on his chest. Knowing he was helpless, John could only look away and close his eyes as the monster opened it's large beak to take the first bite of a new meal. He could feel the monsters warm breath on his face just before hearing the sound of approaching, rapid footsteps. John opened his eyes to see where the noise was coming from just as the figure of a large man slammed into the side of the Peacock Griffin with his shoulder, sending it flying into the wall of the bank close to the front door.
"You still breathing Slick?" Randal asked as he stood beside Jack, keeping an eye on the monster as it was slowly crawling out of the hole in the wall.
"Just...Barely..." John replied with the little bit of strength he had left.
"Oh, Give me a break!" Candy said angrily after she just finished putting the money in the truck, only to see her monster get knocked away by some random old man.
She hopped into the drivers seat as fast as she could to make her escape. As drove away, Randal watched with frustration because he wanted to go after the truck but knew he had to deal with the monster in front of him first. The Peacock Griffin was now out of the bank and was staring directly at Randal. The two began to slowly circle each other, both watching each other intensely as they waited to see who would make the first move.
Finally, the monster charged first. It lunged and swiped at Randal with a claw as he managed to jump out of the way. As it turned to face Randal again it was met with a right hook that was hard enough to make it stumble back a step. Before Randal could land another hit, the monster swiped in an upward motion and managed to slash him across the chest diagonally. The cuts were not too deep, but they still hurt. As Randal clutched his chest and saw the blood, it made his blood boil even more. He wanted to step in and pummel the Peacock Griffin until its beak was broken, but was blown back by another strong gust of wind made by the monsters wings. After a few moments of rolling backwards, Randal was able to get his footing and stand again. The monster took flight, rising higher and higher into the air as it stared at Randal with murderous intent.
"Come on...don't run now." Randal said under his breath as he anxiously waited to see if the monster would fight or just take flight.
Eventually, the Peacock Griffin dive bombed directly at Randal who was more then happy to meet the challenge head on. He ran a few steps before leaping at the monster and colliding with it. This turned into a midair struggle, the monster had little control about where it was flying while Randal was hanging from its neck. Talons clawed and dug into his back, but he fought through the pain. One arm clung onto the monster while his free hand frantically the Peacock Griffin's side with little effect. Randal tried to grab at the monsters face to blind it and felt the metal device attached to its head. He pulled on the device as hard as he could, causing the monsters head to bleed. The device was literally wired into it's brain, with the wires becoming noticeable as Randal was able to pull on the device enough to loosen it. The pain was too much for the monster to bare and it completely lost control. Both of them crashed into the street next to the bank, with Randal's back hitting ground which meant he was the one who took most of the fall.
It took Randal a few moments to shake off the bells ringing in his head. He was dirty, bloody and sore in almost part of his body as he slowly picked himself back up. He noticed the Peacock Griffin next to him, rolling and thrashing desperately on the ground as it clawed at the device on it's head. Thank's to Randal making it loose, the monster was able to dig the nail of its talon it between the device and its scalp and pry it off. The shriek the monster let out was so loud it hurt Randal's ears, but now that the device was off its attention was completely on Randal again. The blood running down its face and rabid looking eyes made the Peacock Griffin look even more vicious then before.
"I'm gonna cook you after this." Randal groaned, trying his best to stand up straight as his body shook and wobbled.
With another shriek, the monster looked ready to attack any second. Randal knew he was in rough shape, but he also knew that he wasn't going to outrun a monster like this. All he could do was hold his ground and hope for the best.
Just then, he could hear a small clanking sound by his feet and looked down to see a spray-paint can. Before he had time to wonder what was going on, Randal was hit with a huge blast of red colored smoke. He couldn't see anything in the dark red haze and dropped to his knees, coughing because some of the smoke from the blast went directly into his mouth.
As Randal gasped for air, he swore he could hear the sound of a rifle going off and the monster shriek in pain again. His hands were waving the smoke out of his face as he the presence of two people running beside him. The smoke started to clear and Randal finally caught his breath, he walked out of the fading cloud of red and saw something unexpected.
The Peacock Griffin was lying on the ground with a very large tranquilizer dart sticking out of its neck. The dart did not completely knock the monster out, but it was to slow and sluggish to pick itself up. Three people stood in front of the monster, all of them looked fairly young. A tall woman who Randal thought looked like a cowgirl was holding the rifle. A rather short woman in a sky blue, traditionally styled Chinese silk shirt and pants was standing beside her. Next to both of them was someone familiar, it was the same young man that Randal caught spray painting a building earlier that night.
"Hey old-timer." The young man said as the three of them turned to look at Randal. "You ok? Sorry we're late."