Open Punch Man: Attitude Adjustment
Chapter 30: Ready to Rumble
The elevator open with Randal being the one to emerge. His only direction was forward as he walked down the hallways towards a door that was decorated like the entrance to a cardinals haunted house. Stretching out his and cracking his neck, he prepared for one more fight that would put a stop to all of this. Although painfully aware of his current condition, Randal considered it positive. Beating that waste of skin after taking everything he had to throw at Randal was going to make winning all the more satisfying.
Someone else could be heard on the other side of the doors as Randal got closer. Ice colliding with the inside of a glass, a match being struck to light the tip of an expensive cigar, fast-paced heavy metal music blaring; for a moment the old Hero was reminded of better times walking into one of The Road Devil dingy hangout spots. Just as soon they came, the good memories faded when Randal remembered who was probably waiting for him up ahead. In no mood to be subtle, Randal kicked one of the skull-marked doors hard enough to break if off the hinges.
"Randy Boy, there you are!" Spade said, leaning on the edge of his desk with a cigar in one hand a glass of scotch in the other. "Glad to see ya, I was starting to worry those old bones of yours buckled and gave out." He was hoping to hear some witty banter, but Randal just stared him down. "Thought about just cutting my losses, but I had to come back here and take care of some things. Scrub some files, bag the backup cash and of course..." Spade explained while putting down the glass and picking up the Ace of Spades on the desk beside it. "Grab my lucky card."
Letting the crime lord run his mouth, Randal impatiently waited for Spade to cut the casual act and really drop his guard. His nostrils flared with furrowed eyes, there was no attempt to hide what Randal had in mind once he saw an opening.
"You know...it's actually funny when I look back. Like most I hate to admit when I'm wrong but that little group you put together made me see it. The Association's still full of twats, but those twats have got some effective muscle on their side." Spade remarked, taking one more long drag from his cigar and ignoring the pain in his chest before placing it on a nearby ashtray. "Guess that means I have to crank things up a few notches with my next project. Who knows, maybe I'll get enough heavy hitters together and start an Association of my own...any chance you'll be the first to join?" He asked with a mocking smirk, his arms open like he was waiting for a hug.
"Are you done?" Randal growled as he stepped forward.
"...I guess so." Spade sighed, letting go of his hopes for witty conversation. "It really did hurt when it turned out you were full of it. Not many old school blokes like us around anymore, woulda been nice to work with someone who gets how it all used to be. Oh well..." He said as he walked over to his wall of medieval weapons.
Rubbing his chin, Spade took his time looking over all the options mounted in front of him. Even with his back turned, Randal could tell the man who tried to recruit him was ready to defend himself. Spade's fingers took hold of a black, jagged battle-axe grip; checking the feel of it before he decided this would be the one to use. With the choice made, Spade turned around and stepped aside for Randal to do the same.
"Go on, take your pick." Spade said with pointing at the weapons, he was curious to see what Randal would go for.
"Don't need one." Randal said with a single, slow shake of his head.
"All right..." Spade replied with a chuckle. "Suit yourself!"
With those last words, Spade ran forward and tried sink his axe into the middle of Randal chest with downward swing. The villain was fast, but the Hero was quick enough to side step and catch Spade in the jaw with a well-timed jab. Stumbling back a few steps, the former Hero rubbed his jaw as he laughed with pure entertainment.
"I can see where all those nicknames came from!" Spade said as a compliment before jumping in again.
Randal bobbed and weaved multiple axe swings as his opponent attacked with a surprising amount of grace. Spade attacked from every direction he could, thinking he was pushing Randal back towards to wall of weapons. This was actually just a ploy, Randal waited until he was close enough to the wall to sidestep Spade's attack and then grabbed the villain by the back of the head to press his face into the wall. Keeping his head restrained, Randal took advantage with three hard underhand punches into Spade's lower back.
Swinging his elbow into Randal's nose got Spade out of the large man's grip, he tried to bring the axe down on Randal collarbone but the Hero was able to catch the blade in the middle of his swing. The two struggled to gain control, both of their arms shaking until from effort until Randal finally managed to push the axe into the wall. With the blade stuck, Spade realized he had to switch to defense and rolled back to avoid another stiff punch. Not letting up, Randal tried to hit a clothesline but Spade was quick enough to duck. Turning around only lead to Randal taking Spade's boot, feeling his nose compress after getting hit dead center in the face. While Randal groaned in pain, Spade smiled as he remembered something.
Running forward, jumped and laid flat in midair while his arm completely wrapped around the Hero's thick skull. This let Spade hit the intended target with Running Neck-breaker, pulling off a mood in a way that ignored safety and made sure Randal would feel the back of his head slamming Spade's shoulder. This ringed Randal's bell for a few seconds, he rolled to the side and clutched the back of his head while trying his best to get rid of the white spots he was seeing.
"Heard you liked a bit of wrestling Randy Boy." Spade mockingly remarked as he got back to his feet. "And since there's no ref, we'll have to make this a Last Man Standing match!"
"Fine by me..." Randal muttered under his breath, regaining his focus with help of pure rage.
With fluid motion, Randal rolled again once. Spade was excepting brute force, getting ready to smack Randal away when he tried to get up and tackle him. Instead, the old pro-wrestling fan caught his opponent off guard with something more technical. One stretched out, pinning Spade's feet to the floor as the other leg swung up to hit the villain in the joints behind his knees. This caused Spade to fall forward, landing on his hands and knees. Randal tried to finish the fight quickly by his arm around Spade's neck to apply a Sleeper Hold, but the crafty bastard managed to get a hand in between the arm and his throat.
It was now a test of strength, despite Randal having the clear advantage in muscle mass Spade was one of the lucky few humans with power that went beyond normal physiology. Squeezing hard, Randal tried to keep Spade on the floor as applied pressure. Pushing hard against Randal's grip, Spade slowly but surely pulled himself back up. With that done, he could put all of his strength into resisting the hold. After pushing the arm away a few inches and giving his throat enough space to breath, Spade used his free arm to plant his elbow into Randal's right side. It was a perfect shot just under the ribs, hurting the Hero enough for Spade to spin around and smack Randal across the face with his forearm.
The hit made the Hero involuntarily turn to the side, leaning forward after dealing with the elbow. Leading with a lifted leg, Spade rushed forward and tried to make his knee collide with Randal's jaw. The broad man was quicker then expected, lifting his head and pushing Spade away so he could grab the slippery bastard from behind. As he was tossed over Randal's head, Spade took control of his momentum to flip backwards and land on his feet. Realizing his move as reversed, Randal turned around to punch Spade again but was too slow.
In a moment of smug satisfaction, Spade decided to show off his agility. As Randal turned the villain leapt forward, leaning back enough to let his legs catch and hook onto Randal's shoulder. With his hands on the ground, Spade maneuvered his body and the person he was attached to to spin towards the bar. Then he used all the strength in his lower body to pull Randal into a Hurricarana that sent him over the bar and crashing into most of the bottles set up on the shelves behind it. Now soaked in liquor and covered in broken glass, Randal used the bar counter to pull himself up.
"Hate to see good drink go to waste..." Spade said as he sauntered over to his desk. "But it does give me an idea..."
As Randal rose his head above the bar, he heard a click along with the sound of a lit flame. He was focused on Spade, ready to jump over the counter to attack but then something dropped into is view. A lighter, perfectly tossed to land at Randal's feet in the middle of all that liquor he just spilt.
The entire bar was engulfed in flame and Randal was no exception. His tattered pants and Jackson's trench coat quickly caught fire as he began to cough violently. Picking up his glass again, Spade finished his drink while he enjoyed watching Randal try to pat out the fire on his cloths and then dive over the side of the bar to roll on the floor. Distracted by the little bit of flame still on his cloths, Randal could not stop Spade's knee from connecting this time. Blood sprayed from his mouth just before Randal's head went through the nearby wall, his body slumped as Spade stood over him again.
"Don't pass out on me now." Spade remarked, pulling Randal's head out of the wall to enjoy his barely conscious expression. "Not after all that build-up!"
Savoring the moment, Spade was too focused on the Heroes battered face to notice what was held in his right hand. Just before he rolled away from the bar, Randal noticed a bottle of wine that was intact grabbed it. As his eyes opened to see Spade mocking him again, he let out a battle cry as one hand grabbed Spade's by the shirt and the other shattered the bottle across the villain's face. Spade cried out in pain, a mix of blood and red wine trickling down his neck.
A shard of glass pierced his left eye, leaving Spade half blind as he threw a wild downward punch. Randal blocked and counter with a punch of his own, hitting Spade in the gut which left him open for Randal to grab by the throat. Spade's neck was strong enough to survive Randal's grip, this made the Hero decide to spin around and then toss Spade into the wall behind his bed. The wall cracked from contact, the body rolling and then partly handing off the edge of the mattress. Taking a step towards the villain again, Randal stopped and looked across the room. The pride that would come with taking his enemy down on his own was replaced with a worn-out patience and a desire to end the fight decisively.
There was plenty of options as he approached the wall of weapons. He wanted something blunt and effective, making Randal's eyes drift toward the Kanabo that took up most of the space on the wall's right side. Eight feet long of pure, forged iron with everything covered in extra steel studs. To most, it would be far to heavy and cumbersome to wield in war but to Randal it was just a comically large baseball bat. With one hand, he easily plucked it off the wall and let it rest on his shoulder.
Pushing his face off the floor, Spade had just enough time to see Randal's new weapon before the big brute tried to bring it down on his head. Rolling out of the way, Spade got off the bed just before Randal's Kanabo turned the frame into splinters and made stuffing from the mattress scatter around the room.
The crime boss snickered, it seemed like he was getting under Randal's skin. His moment of satisfaction was short lived, Randal swung his direction with surprising speed. The Kanabo's reach kept him from dodging again, leaving Spade no choice but to brace the hit with his arms. It sent him flying over the desk and into the metal doors with enough force to knock them out of place. Spade could tell his left forearm was broken immediately, but just laughed it off.
"Oh yeah..." Spade said, dragging himself up with the door frame as he locked eyes with Randal again. "That's the savage I was looking for!"
Trying to rush again, Spade didn't get far before having to duck the Kanabo being tossed his was. It was thrown with enough force through half of the hallway. Ready to move again, the villain looked ahead but his opponent was gone. A large shadow cast over his body, Randal used the momentary distraction to get a running start and then jump off the in between them. His eyes glanced up to see Randal hands clenched hands pressed together, it was all he saw before the Double Axe Handle collided with his skull. The around the hands rippled from the impact, Spade's face went to the floor in the blink of an eye. Similar to the knee he landed on Randal, Spade was clearly out of it and struggling to stay conscious.
"Stay down!" Randal shouted, the veins in his neck showing.
The shouting helped Spade stay awake and those two simple words brought him back to all those glorious days in the fight pits. No, he wasn't giving up just yet. Not when things were really starting to get fun.
"You kidding...?" Spade said using sheer willpower to get up again, his face was covered in crimson. "I got plenty more in the tank."
After a long staredown, the two lifetime fighters had an unspoken understanding that let them now all this was going to end. At the same time, each grabbed a the others shoulder. With neither going anywhere, all that was left was taking turns punching each other in the face with everything they had left. It was a slow exchange of blows at first, but pain and the need to win fueled them both enough to tap into a superhuman second wind. Their punches got faster and faster until their hits moved with a blur, both of faces getting pummeled but neither refused to quit.
Finally, a punch to Spade made him break the hold as he stumbled back. Vision blurred, feeling agony with every breath; Spade tried to stand up straight but could only wobble. Randal wasn't much better, spitting out a bloody before making a slow gesture to finish what they started. Even though he was barely conscious, Spade knew what the Hero was letting him do. With one more sloppy step, the man who caused all this trouble threw one more weak punch. After swatting him away, Randal grabbed Spade by the hips and turned around put Spade through his own desk with a Spinebuster. Just like the bed, the only left of the desk was scattered in tiny pieces.
"Damn..." Spade mumbled, his hand shaking as he picked up a wooden shard. "Paid good money for that..."
"This...is over..." Randal groaned, his voice sounding horse. "I bet the suits...at the association...will be real happy to see you again..."
"Maybe..." Spade remarked, his lips twisting for a moment but then settled into a faint smile. "But I don't think...you got the time to bring me in."
"Cut the crap, you're men got beat and all your monsters are dead by now." Randal said, starting to catch his breath.
"Again...Maybe...but I'm not talking about them." Spade said with a sinister undertone. "I let something out...something that turned out...to be a bit too wild...even for someone like you and me. You could bring me...but you can't try to save those brats at the same time."
It was obvious Spade wasn't someone to be trusted, but a familiar chill went down Randal's back as he listened. He wanted to believe the odd quakes from before were nothing, but the smug villains expression said otherwise. If that was the case, something else would have to be done about Spade. Now realizing how much smoke had filled the room and hall, Randal also noticed the fire started at the bar was spreading along the walls and roof. He also noticed something else, something that was blown off the desk once it was broken.
"You know what the sad thing is?" Randal asked as he bent down to crab Spade's lucky card. "If you asked me to join you a little while ago...I probably would've said yes."
With one more stare, Randal made sure Spade saw the Ace before tossing it into the fire and walking away. His mind now occupied with something more important, maing sure his team was getting out of this alive.
After hearing the elevator doors closed, Spade tried to hold back coughing as the smoke hovered over him. Taking his phone out of his back pocket, the screen was shattered but luckily it still worked.
"Rose...mind coming back up for a minute?"