One punch man: Attitude Adjustment
Ch.6: Back Alley Business
"Is everything set?" Spade asked as he sat at his desk with a cellphone to his ear.
"Yes sir. The rendezvous point has been scouted and the background check on the men selling to us came back legit. The package should arrive at your door before sunrise." A deep, professional sounding voice said on the other end of the call.
"And that's what I love about ya Jackson, always thinking about the job first." Spade said with a smirk as he lit the cigar that was hanging out of the side of his mouth. "Oh, and don't be afraid to get rid of those lads if it comes to it. Something tells me most people wouldn't miss them."
"Understood sir, we'll do whatever is necessary" Jackson said before hanging up the phone.
"Hmm...he really ought to work on his small talk." Spade said with a shrug before putting the phone down.
While Spade kept enjoying his cigar deep underground, Kathy was on the street in front of the Bulldog. She was also on the phone and was carefully paying attention to everything she was being told.
"Daddy, please stop worrying. I'll be fine." Kathy said with a sigh as she spoke to her father. "Yes...I promise I'll be safe. I really don't think he's going to try anything." Kathy said to reassure him, which apparently didn't work. "Look, even if something does happen...I have Mia and Jeremy around for back up." Kathy said; her expression changed to a casual smile once she saw Randal, Mia and Jeremy walking out of Ted's pawnshop. "Gotta go, say Hi to Mom and Steven for me." Kathy said before quickly hanging up the phone. "So, is everything set?" She asked Randal.
"Yup, 12:30 at the warehouse district on 10th street." Randal replied. "Most of the buildings are abandoned, so there's plenty of options for places to make a trade."
"Hmm...that gives us plenty of time. What to do, what to do?" Kathy said, her finger and thumb rubbed her chin as she smiled mischievously.
"What do you have in mind?" Randal asked, worried about the look on Kathy face.
"Well, T-World's only an hour away." She replied with a smirk.
"You wanna go...to a theme park?" Randal said with an eyebrow raised.
"Yes!" Mia said, jumping in excitement until she realized everyone saw her do it and then immediately blushed with embarrassment. "I mean...that sounds nice."
"Works for me, they've got a pretty big food court over there." Jeremy said just before his stomach started rumbling.
"Come on old timer, we've got the whole afternoon and evening to kill. As leader, I think it's important that our new member takes part in this very important team building exercise." Kathy said with her best mocking impression of someone in charge.
"Fine...but you're paying for my ticket." Randal said
"Ticket?" Kathy asked, giggling with amusement. "One of Daddy's friends owns the park, which means we all get a VIP pass."
Traffic on the way there wasn't a problem, it's surprising how many people don't want to drive in the same lane as a heavily armored vehicle that's twice the size of their car. Hundreds of cars were parked outside T-World, Randal could see one of the roller-coasters going by and hear everyone on it scream from the thrill of the ride. Once Kathy explained who she was to the front gate, they were let inside without any other questions asked.
"Ok guys..." Kathy said, the options running through her mind as she looked all around the park. "What should we do...?"
"Lunch." Jeremy said bluntly as he walked away towards the food court.
"Hmm...it has been a while." Randal said as he walked towards the roller-coaster he noticed on the way in.
"I'm gonna ride the bumper cars!" Mia said, no longer holding back her excitement as she ran off into the park and left Kathy at the entrance by herself.
"So much for team building..." Kathy said with a sigh, but then shrugged it off and decided to join Mia on the bumper cars.
Despite his initial doubts, Randal had to admit that Kathy picked a good way to pass the time. He forgot how fun it was to just sit back and let the wind fly into your face as a roller-coaster twists and turns in every direction. After enjoying a few more thrill rides, he found the others one by and joined them as they went through the rest of a park. Randal didn't mind tagging along, and it actually let him learn a few things about his new teammates.
The first one he met was Kathy, who was busy enjoying the carnival games. She won every game that required good aim without breaking a sweat. Her darts popped every balloon, her rings landed on every bottle and every target on the toy rifle range was hit in the dead center of the bullseye. By the time she was done, Kathy was dragging a cart behind her with four giant stuffed animals on it. One for each member of the team.
"So, which one do you want?" Kathy asked Randal cheerfully.
Randal already assumed that Kathy was a good shot, but the more he walked around with her the more he knew for sure that she loved being the center of attention. If she noticed a boy checking her out, she'd just wink and smile and reveled in the fact that her VIP pass let them skip all the lines. Along with that, she was actually recognized as a Hero more than once and made sure that everyone who noticed her left with a picture and autograph.
"Hey, you're a Hero to right?" A teenage boy said as he pointed at Randal.
"Yup, that's right kid." Randal said with a satisfied smirk.
"Yeah, I know you..." The boy said as he just realized who he was talking to. "You're Great Philosopher! Huh...I thought you'd be a lot taller. And where's your giant book?" The teenager asked with a disappointed tone.
"Do I look like some nut-job who runs around all day in a toga?!" Randal said, his face showing how insulted and angry he was. "I am nowhere near that old coots age, don't your eyes work you little brat?!"
"Okay...time to go." Kathy said as she frantically shoved Randal away.
"That's right kid, you better run!" Randal yelled as the boy fled in terror.
Mia was the next person they ran into, she was sitting down and patiently waiting for a woman to finish painting her face with kitty whiskers. Randal wondered if a nice, polite girl like her was actually cut out to be a Hero but then he had a chance to see just how strong she was.
"Hit Like a Hero! Come on people, step right up and see if you can Hit Like a Hero." A man with a top hat said as he stood beside a High Striker machine. "How about you girls, wanna see if you can make it up to S-Class?" He asked as he pointed at the marker just below the bell at the very top.
"I'll give it a try." Mia said, trying her best to hide a knowing smile.
"Okay little lady, just be careful." The man said in a condescending way as he gave Mia the hammer.
No only did Mia make it to S-Class, she actually hit hard enough to blast the entire bell off of the machine. Kathy smiled with pride and Randal was holding his sides from laughing so hard. The man who worked at the machine just stared at where the bell used to be in complete and utter shock.
"Umm...whoops?" Mia said as she gave the hammer back.
The last one to find was Jeremy but Kathy and Mia already knew where to look. If there was one thing Randal learned about him it's that Jeremy had a black hole where his stomach should be. They found him sitting alone at one of the food court tables surrounded by used wrappers, cardboard containers and even an empty pizza box.
"Oh, hey guys." Jeremy after he finished eating a corn dog. "Want some?"
After making Jeremy clean up his mess, the others sat down at the table. This also let Randal learn a little more about them. Kathy talked about having personal chefs that would make anything she wanted but even they couldn't beat T-World's fried chicken. Mia ordered a salad loaded with fruits and vegetables along with an extra-large sugar cookie for desert. Jeremy apparently just ate anything that was in arms reach but as they all kept enjoying their food Randal did get to learn something else about him.
"Wait...so your dad's the one that taught you?" Randal asked Mia to make sure he understood.
"Yes, my father is a world-renowned master of the Graceful Dancing Crane Fist. He's even faced the likes of Silver Fang and his brother Bomb in sparing matches." Mia explained.
"Oh yeah? Did he kick their asses?" Randal asked, now very intrigued.
"Sadly no, those two are considered the best among martial artists for a reason. But they both praised my fathers skill, and he took pride in the fact that he was able to hold his own. He still trains hard every morning and night, hoping he'll be able to best them some day." Mia said before taking another bite of her cookie.
"Sounds like an interesting guy." Randal said and then looked at Jeremy. "So how do your folks feel about all this?"
"Didn't tell them at first, I thought they would just freak out. But then I ran out of lies, so I told them everything and they were just...proud I guess." Jeremy replied with a lazy looking shrug.
"That's nice. Any brothers or sisters?" Randal asked.
"Nope, just my step-dads." Jeremy answered casually before grabbing another burger.
After they were done eating, they all enjoyed shows and rides at the park for a few more hours. It was getting dark by the time they left the park. Kathy was still hauling her wagon of stuffed animals as they approached The Bulldog. Jeremy would've been the first inside, but then seem to notice who was behind him and decided to turn around.
"Umm...ladies first." He said awkwardly as he stepped aside for Mia and then Kathy.
"Thank you very much." Mia said gratefully as she walked in.
"What a gentlemen..." Kathy said with playful grin.
"Like you said, ladies first." Randal said with a smirk as he gestured towards the door.
"Ha, ha..." Jeremy said with obvious sarcasm before stepping into The Bulldog.
By the time they left T-World and arrived near the warehouse district where the meeting would take place, the time was getting close to midnight. Just like they planned, Ted and his friends were waiting for them in an alley three blocks away from the meeting site. Before leaving the Bulldog, Kathy grabbed a Winchester rifle and a box of shells. Jeremy stuffed the pockets on his pants and his hoodie with multiple spray paint cans. Mia took a moment to close her eyes and meditate before exiting the vehicle with everyone else.
"You're five minuets late." Ted said impatiently. "I'm already stressed Randy, this ain't helping."
"Just relax, any sign of them yet?" Randal asked as he approached Ted, Chuck and Horace.
"We heard a handful of cars going that way man, they probably already got the place scoped out." Chuck answered.
"Yeah, I figured as much." Randal said. "You guys ready just in case if things go south?"
"Oh yeah Randy, all set." Ted replied as he showed off the small, snub nose pistol tucked into the side of his pants.
"I got a bat in the van." Horace said.
"And I was gonna bring a knife...but I forgot." Said Chuck.
"Be right back..." Randal said with a sigh before he walked back into the Bulldog and pulled a shotgun off of the wall. "Catch." Randal said as he tossed the shotgun to Chuck, who barely managed to catch it.
"Did I say you could borrow that?" Kathy asked with an eyebrow raised.
"If they're gonna do this, they at least get to defend themselves." Randal replied, not caring if Kathy had a problem with it.
"Fine, let's get moving." Kathy said before leading the way to the warehouses.
The warehouse district was surrounded by a metal gate and was across the street from a pair of fairly tall buildings. Kathy used a set of binoculars to spot two men with sniper rifles on the roofs of the buildings, which gave them a perfect vantage point over the meeting.
"Let's split up, take them out together." Kathy whispered. "Boys, you get the far one."
More alleyways behind the buildings let the two teams sneak past the snipers. As Randal and Jeremy got closer to their target, they looked up to see the sniper standing right next to the edge of the roof.
"Alright, we need to find a way in first..." Randal said as he looked around for a side door or a window they could climb through.
Jeremy was looking around as well, but his eyes were on the walls and the best place to get his footing. Before Randal even realized what was going on, Jeremy was already half-way done with skillfully jumping from wall to wall. He pounced on the sniper as soon as he reached the roof and after a brief struggle that Randal couldn't see, a single hand with a thumbs up signaled that Jeremy was okay.
"That's great...but how am I supposed to get up there?" Randal asked quietly.
Without saying anything, Jeremy's hand pointed to the right. Randal looked that way and then immediately felt like an idiot because there was a fire escape that lead to the roof right in front of him.
Kathy and Mia approached their sniper very quietly, Kathy noticed that he was wakling from one end of the roof to the other. This gave enough time to reach into her coat and pull out a blow-dart tube. She loaded the dart and waited until she saw the sniper come their way, then she blew into the tube as hard as she could and sent a tranquilizer flying into the side of his neck. The two women were worried at first because it looked like the sniper was about to fall over the edge, which could be noticed by others near by. Luckily, he only teetered on the edge before falling backwards. Kathy and Mia used another fire escape to make their way to the roof and could see their friends waiting on top of the building beside them.
"Hello handsome." Kathy said with in a very pleased way as she picked up the snipers state of the art rifle. "Let's see what you can do."
Both teams watched carefully for anyone dressed like a soldier nearby. The tactical gear and weapons the snipers had were more than enough to let them know that whoever was making this deal was well armed and ready to fight if they had to. There was still a little bit of time before the deal started, which gave both pairs a chance to talk about very different things.
"So what...do you just spray monsters in the face with that?" Randal asked as he looked at the spray paint can Jeremy was holding.
"Not quite." Jeremy said with a smirk as he pointed at the cap. "Twist left, just a regular can. Twist right, smoke bomb."
"That's pretty clever, you make that?" Randal asked.
"No, the Association does it for me. Now I don't have to worry about paying for paint." Jeremy said with a smile.
"Good deal." Randal said with a chuckle before reaching into his coat pocket to pull out a silver flask. "Want some? It''ll calm the nerves."
"Oh my god!" Jeremy said, overwhelmed by the smell coming from the flask when Randal offered it to him. "That smells like gasoline!" He said while trying not to gag.
"It ain't smooth, but it always does the job." Randal said with smirk before taking a swig.
Kathy observed each warehouse and the area around them through the scope on the sniper rifle. Mia watched carefully as well, but also checked now and then to make sure that Jeremy and Randal were okay.
"So...what do you think of the old man so far?" Kathy asked out of nowhere as she kept looking through the scope.
"Umm...Randal?" Mia asked, not sure why this was coming up all of a sudden. "He might be a little rough around the edges, but I think he seems nice overall."
"Yeah...that's my impression too." Kathy said in a very serious tone.
"But then, why do you ask? Are you worried about him doing something?" Mia asked with concern.
"No, that's not it. I wanted to be safe, so I asked Daddy to use his connections to give me access to Randal's personal files after I hired him." Kathy explained. "It turns out that Randal wasn't a very nice person before he become a Hero. According to the file, he spent almost his entire life being a criminal."
"What?!" Mia said, going from concerned to actually terrified. "H-H-How bad was he? D-Did he kill people or do anything...disturbing?" Mia asked as her mind went through so many awful thoughts.
"From what I saw...no." Kathy replied. "It seems like he was the type who got hired to show up and break someones leg if they didn't pay the boss. There was also plenty of theft and robbery charges, which means his two main jobs were probably breaking and taking."
"So...what are we gonna do?" Mia wondered. "I mean, we should at least tell Jeremy right?"
"Jeremy can barely care about what cloths he puts on, do you honestly think it will matter to him?" Kathy asked, taking her eyes off the scope to look at Mia.
"Well...no." Mia said, at first she waited to argue but then she remembered who they were talking about. "So what should we do? Just leave Randal be for now?"
"We'll keep an eye on him, but so far he seems like an alright guy to me." Kathy said as she focused on the scope again.
Another minute of silence went by and there was still no sign of anyone else around until Randal noticed Chuck's van at the end of the street, ready to move into the agreed spot when the time came.
"You know, I still don't get what brought you here. Kathy likes the spotlight and Mia seems like the type who does charity work for fun, but I can't put my finger on what makes you do all this." Randal said.
"Does there have to be a reason? I just...like helping people." Jeremy said, feeling no need to explain himself.
"There's a lot of ways to help people kid, but I'm always curious about what makes someone do a crazy job like this." Randal said to clarify.
"It just sort of happened." Jeremy explained apathetically. "I was in the middle of painting a good wall, then I smelled smoke and noticed a building on fire. I heard someone screaming inside and something just...took me over I guess." Jeremy said before he started to wonder something. "So why did you sign up? It doesn't even look like you want to be a Hero."
"That's...a long story." Randal replied, his mind wandering to a very important moment in his life. "Let's just say that someone talked into it."
"Oh yeah, who was that?" Jeremy asked as he kept observing the area.
"Well that's the thing, I don't really know." Randal answered, thinking hard about the person he met that day. "To be honest...it was just some random bald guy."
"Huh...weird." Jeremy said before noticing something going on below. "I think it's starting."
Everyone noticed a dozen men walk out of the now open warehouse in the center of the area. Most of them were dressed in the same gear as the snipers, but carried machine guns instead. They were lead by the man simply known as Jackson, who stood with his hands in the pocket of his trench coat as he waited for the merchandise to arrive.
Ted always showed up to a deal on time and told Chuck to park the van in front of the gate to the warehouses just in case they needed to leave quickly. They all got out of the van and Jackson seem to take notice of the weapons they were carrying.
"Are you expecting trouble?" Jackson asked as he looked at the shotgun in Chuck's hands.
"Not at all, you all seem like very legitimate businessmen. But like I always say, being careful pays off in the long run." Ted replied, even with all the pressure he was under he still knew how to talk to customers. "So, should we just get right down to it?"
"Stay there." Jackson said sternly to Ted, Horace and Chuck. "Get the package." He said while looking at some of his own men.
The soldiers followed orders immediately and opened the back of the van. One of them brought a large trolley from the warehouse where they also kept the vehicles that brought them here. After opening the back of the van, they were very careful about the way they loaded the crate containing the Shellhound onto the trolley. Once they brought it over to Jackson, another soldier used a handheld scanning device that showed various stats about the monster they were acquiring.
"Hmm...not bad." Jackson said as he analyzed the numbers.
"Hope you like it, that monster wasn't what I'd call easy to get." Said Horace.
"It'll do, pay them." Jackson said to one of his men, who tossed a small duffel bag full of money in front of Ted. "Now go."
"Sounds good to me, have a good night fellas." Ted replied as he took the money, which put him in a very good mood. "Say thanks to Spade for me." Ted said as they started to wall away, but only got to steps before the sounds of guns clicking made them stop dead in their tracks. "Oh no..." Ted said as he realized the mistake he made and turned around to see every soldier with their guns pointed right at him.
"How do you know that name?" Jackson said, his voice sounding cold and menacing.
Ted, Chuck and Horace were frozen with fear as the soldiers surrounded them. Jackson pulled out a pistol from his coat and seemed ready to execute all three of them without mercy, but he was stopped when he noticed a spray paint can land on the ground beside him. All of a sudden, Jackson was caught in a blast of bright pink smoke. In his few moments of disorientation, two more explosions of green and orange smoke went off. This left his soldiers completely blind, but Jackson's eyes were better and he could still see the silhouettes of the men he was dealing with. He raised his pistol at the figure shaped like Ted, until a massive shadow came charging through the smoke and hit him with a wrestling clothesline hard enough to made Jackson do a complete flip before hitting the ground.
"Open fire!" One of the soldiers said, he was close enough to notice Jackson being attacked and was about to raise his gun but then screamed out in pain from being shot in the shoulder.
"I don't think so." Kathy said with a cocky smile.
Before the other soldiers knew what was going on, Jeremy and Mia had moved in to join the fight. Both of them were good at fighting hand to hand, but they both had a very particular way of doing it. Even in the middle of something so chaotic, Mia could still show off her flawless technique. Her father's Crane style of martial was all about dancing around opponents with swiftness and grace until an opening is seen, allowing Mia to finish her opponents quickly with a powerful strike. She rarely had to use a closed fist, her fingers were kept together with her wrist bent to make the shape of a cranes beak. She used her fingers to peck, the back of her wrist for blunt force and her unexpected strength to easily toss men twice her size over her shoulder. She combined all of this with swift and flexible kiss to easily dispatch any soldier that got in her way.
When Jeremy fought, he didn't care about technique and relied on pure instinct. He punched, kicked, grabbed, elbowed and did whatever else he needed to do in order to win. Agility was his specialty, years of jumping from building to building had turned him into a self-trained acrobat. He jumped, dove and slid around two soldiers as they tried to shoot him only to get sprayed in the face with paint and then knocked out. Jeremy was also good at improvising. He noticed a soldier about to shoot Mia in the back, he picked up the rifle of a man he just knocked out and tossed it at the soldiers head before he could pull the trigger.
As all this action was going on, Ted was desperately trying to escape without getting shot. Unfortunately, it didn't seem like they would going anywhere because Chuck's van was having engine problems.
"Hurry up man, let's go!" Ted shouted as the fighting was going on right in front of them.
"Come on baby...don't do this to me..." Chuck said to his van as he kept trying to make it start.
In the middle of all the fighting, a soldier noticed Jeremy and Mia close together and tried to use a grenade. Kathy was able to shoot him just in time, but the grenade still flew out of the mans hand and rolled directly under Chuck's van. Chuck was too busy trying to start the van to notice, but Ted and Horace definitely saw the grenade and started to panic.
"Get out! Go, Go, Go!" Horace shouted as he shoved Chuck out of the drivers side door with Ted.
"Wait, but guys..." Chuck said as Ted and Horace grabbed his arms and dragged him around the corner of the metal gate. "What about my...?"
The gates wall was able to protect them from the massive explosion caused by the grenade destroying the van. After taking a second to make sure he still had all of his limbs, Ted let out a massive sigh a relief.
"That...was way too close..." Ted remarked while trying to calm down his breathing. "But I still got the money, so let's get out of here."
"Works for me." Horace replied. "Come on Chuck...Chuck?"
Ted and Horace turned to see their friend on his knees, staring at the smoldering chunks of metal that littered the ground. As they checked on Chuck to see if he was hurt, they could see tears starting to form in his eyes.
"My van..." Chuck said like a man who just lost a loved one.
"Damn...sorry Chuck." Randal said just after seeing the van explode, which also let him see Ted and the others get out just in time. "Oh well, back to work." Randal said as his eyes were fixed on Jackson again. "You've got two options, stay down or get hurt."
Randal took his time approaching Jackson as the man picked himself up from the ground. He was on one knee as Randal stood in front of him and just looked up with a defiant stare to make his choice.
"Alright, your call." Randal said before just before throwing a right hook, which was caught with an unexpected metallic sound.
Before he could even wonder what was going on, Randal's wrist was painfully twisted by the hand that caught his punch. This was followed by a punch to his jaw that felt less like a fist and more like someone just hit him in the face with a metal bat. After staggering back a few steps, Randal noticed Jackson stand up and take off his gloves to reveal metal hands.
"Let me guess...you're one of those android things." Randal said as he rubbed the sore spot on his jaw.
"The word you're looking for is cyborg." Jackson said as he took off his sunglasses, revealing his glowing red pupils.
"Like it matters, you're gonna be scrap either way." Randal said as he cracked his knuckles and then moved in to fight.
Randal took up a boxers stance as he tried to hit Jackson with a flurry of punches. Jackson wasn't only well trained, but also tough and had no problem exchanging blows with his opponent. Both hit hard enough to make the other stumble, but it wasn't enough to put them down. Eventually, Jackson got tired of testing each others grit and used a well timed opening to grab Randal's side so his cyborg hand to shock the old man with a massive surge of electricity. It caused Randal to cry out in pain and drop to his knees, which made Jackson smirk because the tables had now turned.
He took a moment to look around and Jackson noticed that his men were had been pushed back. Most of them were unconscious and injured but Jackson planned on dealing with others after Randal was finished. He grabbed Randal by the top of the head and intended to use his built-in electricity to fry the enemies brain. Just before he was about to engage the shock, Randal revealed that he had been playing possum and sent Jackson flying back with a hard uppercut. Before he could get up again, Randal pounced on Jackson and flipped the cyborg onto his stomach so he could pin his left arm behind his back.
"You move and I'll break it." Randal said as he put pressure on Jackson's arm.
"No need..." Jackson replied as he struggled on the ground.
All of the sudden, the hand on Jackson's left arm completely popped off of his wrist. Randal only had a second to be shocked before the hand used it's fingers to move like a spider and pounced directly onto Randal's race.
"Ahhh! Yoooo...Mthrrrr...fuueerrr!" Randal said, his words muffled by the metal hand clamping onto his mouth.
Randal ripped the hand away from his head and tossed it over the nearby warehouse as hard as he could. Jackson stood back up and replaced his missing hand with a long metal spike that came out of his arm. He knew there was only a split second to strike and took his chance, charging at Randal to impale his heart with the spike. Unfortunately for Jackson, he underestimated the reflexes of an older man without any augmentations. Randal was able to dodge the spike just in time and then grab Jackson from behind. His arms were caught in the vice-like grip, which left Jackson powerless to stop his head being slammed into the pavement by a German Suplex. His vision was blurry, likely from being concussed. Jackson could just barely make out Randal's broad figure standing over him just before he felt an elbow get dropped into his gut, making him spit up a mix of blood and oil before finally passing out.
Randal took a moment to look down at Jackson and admire the victory, even after all these years the old man could still take down someone who was literally built to be more than human. He did not get to enjoy the moment for long because he heard the sound of more people coming their way fast.
"Move in, Move in!" A soldier leading a squad of reinforcements said as they charged from behind the warehouses. "Protect the package!"
"Time to go!" Kathy shouted down to as she saw even more men then before heading their way.
Jeremy threw one more smoke bomb to help cover the escape as the three Heroes fled the scene with Kathy covering them until she knew it was time to run as well. Ted and Horace were able to drag Chuck away from the remains of his van before the reinforcements arrived, which meant that their plan had succeeded.
"Sir, are alright?" One of Jackson's soldiers said as he and a few others tried to help their commanding officer.
"I'm fine..." Jackson said after waking up, even through he was actually in excruciating pain. "Do we still have the package?"
"Yes sir, but the enemy got away and so did the men who mentioned the bosses name. Should we pursue?" The soldier asked to clarify their orders.
"No, let's just get back to base." Jackson replied as two soldiers helped him get back on his feet. "But if I see them again...they won't live long enough to regret it." He said as his one working pupil started glowing red again