Gathering his nerves, quickly pacing himself towards the address written in the note, Ron had to remember to hide most of his gear. The last thing he would want for himself was to show up with a bag that screamed: "Look at me, I'm the vigilante."

"Just a block away…" he mumbles as he inches closer. Taking careful glances at his surroundings, he noticed no one was following him, which was good for him. No way would he be able to wear a mask or anything like that during the matches, he'll have to settle for his civilian guise.

Taking a sharp breath, he bangs on the door. A slide opened in front of the door, revealing a heavily bearded man with a shaved head. The man didn't say anything to Ron, rather staying silent. The blonde boy took his cue to say the code word.

"The Reaper's opened the gates." Upon hearing those words, the man opened the door for him. He entered without batting an eyelash, the stench of cigar smoke and alcohol permeated the area. He saw another person leaning on the wall.

"Sorry kid, standard procedure, can't have weapons in here." He said as he was prepared to check him.

"Fine by me." The man searched him to see if anything as such was present… to his surprise… there weren't any on his person.

"Follow me." The man said. He went down the steps to hear bombastic music along with the screams and cheers of audience members. Looking at the crook luring him to the caged ring. He turned to speak to him.

"Question… how do I get to see the big man in charge of this?" Ron asks.

The man scoffs "You wanna see the big man, you're gonna have to prove that you can survive this ring. Lotta guys like you ask the same thing… you don't need me to tell you how that turned out. By the way, you'll need to remove your shirt." He answers.

"Tch, fine by me." He says as he takes it off, placing it atop his shoulders. He gives it to the guy without looking at him. His attention was focused on the opponents fighting in the ring. A bald burly man with brown eyes and a stubble for a beard fighting a young blonde man. The younger man was at a disadvantage, for he has a bleeding lip, a bloody nose and his consciousness slipping away from him as time progresses.

The man got up close to him, the younger man's body was pressed against the cage as the older man attacked him with hooks to the ribs, seeing that it was unguarded and his opponent was protecting his face. With the last hook, the man instinctively held his ribs, leaving his face open for a left uppercut, knocking him out in the process.

The cheers grew louder as the muscular man reveled and savored his victory. His smile and laughter revealed a missing tooth and a silver molar. For the loser, his bruised pride and nearly broken body was dragged out of the ring by the 'officials'.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, that was a spectacular fight, but I know that this isn't gonna be the end for tonight… so what do we say for another challenge?"

The people cheered at the announcer's commentary. Some of the officials gave Ron hand wraps. Least it looked sanitary and smelled new, otherwise, the blonde boy would see this establishment in a lower expectation. As he was wrapping his hands, the announcer told the gamblers to place their bets in the ring. The officials knew that Ron was going to be here… well they know him as Dean, so that'll take something off his shoulders.

The people were clamoring among who was going to come out of the fight on top, some mentioned 'Dean' since the last guy was in two other fights and was losing stamina as the matches were ongoing for him. Others still placed bets on the big man since they see Ron as some rookie or a bum fighter.

With raw focus and a closed heart, he entered the cage, waiting for the bell to ring for his upcoming battle.

'Ding Ding'

The bell sounded as the two opponents circled each other. Ron saw the man looking down on him, believing that his size and unknown experience would be enough to intimidate his enemy.

He faked a charge, trying to get Ron to flinch, but he didn't move away, in fact, the tactic failed to scare him.

In fact, it only annoyed Ron.

He sighed inward and walked toward the big man, desiring to end the fight as soon as possible.

The man charged at the young ninja, aiming to perform a takedown. Ron sidestepped and tripped him, leading him to fall onto the gate face first. Before the man could even get his footing, Ron ran forward, jumped with the momentum he had and delivered a flying knee to the man's temple. He staggered and fell to the other side of the cage. As he got his footing, he could see a glimpse of Ron's movements as he pressed him against the cage and started to perform several jabs and hooks onto his torso, hoping to bruise or maybe break a couple of ribs. He ended a combination with a left uppercut and took a step back.

Not learning his mistake, the man charged at Ron again. But this time, Ron countered with an oblique leg kick, it caused the man to jolt forward and exposed himself to be in a head clinch. As Ron placed his hands on the back of the neck of his opponent, he took his right knee and attacked his ribs twice, his last attack went for his face.

Ron then grabbed his left arm with his left hand, then he used his left leg to use his opponents leg as a step ladder, his right leg went over the opponent's head and wrapped itself onto the front of his neck. Ron's momentum caused the man to fall forward to the ground. Meaning only one particular event happened to him: Ron successfully performed a flying armbar.

But rather than snapping the man's arm, he went to stand with the submission hold, while he held one of his arms with his own. Ron used his free arm to bash his enemies head in. The more punches were delivered, the less of a struggle it became, as his consciousness drifted away from him. The officials stopped the fight, pushing Ron off of his enemy, and declaring him the winner. Depending on who the crowd was, some were happy that they bet on the right horse, others were none too pleased.

"Would you look at that! A stunning victory by a new face here in the arena, but if I may be so bold to say, would he survive his second opponent?!" Some cheered at the prospect of him doing so, other jeered that he would not. But it wouldn't matter to him, as long as he earns the favor of these guys in order to get close to the boss and Walter and any other people in his 'debt', it's enough for him.

"Alright, lets give Dean Andrews a fighter of his speed… so place your bets and let's see for ourselves if he's got what it takes!" The announcer says.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, we've known this fighter when he stepped into this ring, he amazed us, because of him, we won a lot of bets with him…" the crowd chuckled at that. "But more importantly… he knew how to get this crowd pumping." May I present to you, the main event for tonight, the 'Hunter Killer', the Hellstorm… KYLE Q. LUSS!"

The crowd was ecstatic upon seeing the boy of Ron's age, brown hair, shaved on both sides, yet a strip of long hair remained at the center. His dark brown eyes focused just like his. A noticeable scar on his shoulder exposed itself as he took of his shirt. A tattoo of a Bowie knife stabbing a snake was located on his left wrist.

"Heh, so you're the new guy." Kyle said. He rotated his right shoulder three times.

"Just trying to see the big guy upstairs." Ron said.

"Gonna have to get through me first." Kyle finished.

Kyle and Ron walked toward each other, the blonde boy starting with a push kick emanating from his left leg which Kyle sidestepped, Ron then followed up his attack with a right leg kick, which landed on Kyle's body, then tried a left hook to his jaw, but it was ducked, only hitting air.

As Kyle dodged the attack, he then performed a right uppercut, which was actually a feint.

Ron noticed it at the last minute. 'He faked me out?!' His mind screamed as he was hit with a left hook. Ron staggered back and felt a pair of arms wrapped around his torso. He then felt his body rising from the ground, from behind Kyle lifted and slammed him violently onto the floor. Kyle had the dominant position, he was hoping to place him in a rear naked choke from his current position. A pair of hands were guarding his neck and a pair of legs was rising from the ground and pressing Kyle onto the cage.

"Nothing personal man, it's just for the cash." Kyle remarked to him.

Using a free hand to punch Kyle continuously in the face, with his weight pressuring the fighter onto the cage. Ron wrapped his hand onto his opponents torso, preparing himself in the mental and physical aspects. He performed a judo hip toss, delivering sweet revenge and gaining the upper hand.

"AAAH!" He groaned. "Dick!" He called Ron.

The crowd was cheering at this fight. Both fighters were experienced and were putting on a good show. It even caught the eye of the ringmaster, looking intrigued by this battle. It was usually average guys and the fights may have been exciting at first, but unlike his patrons, their combat grew lackluster, for there was barely any creativity, any excitement… any elegance. He would've dared to gamble on one of the boys, he felt the blonde had a better chance… but the last thing that someone would want to leave a business decision to, is chance.

Back to Ron, he got up from slamming Kyle and placed him in a head clinch, delivering knee shots to the body, then pushing him away from him. Kyle tried to do a push kick as well, but Ron shot for his opposite leg. As his arms wrapped around Kyle's leg that balanced him, he hoisted him and slammed him to the ground once more. Taking him down via single leg, he tried to attack him while in half guard, showing his prowess in wrestling beforehand.

Kyle escapes from his position, he sees another leg kick that was going to hit his body. It landed, but he also had the time to grab it, leaving Ron to hop for balance. The crowd believed that the Ron was going to be slammed like his opponent did. But that counter only served as an idea for him. He got close enough to hook one of his arm on the back of the neck of the boy styling a Mohawk. Ron then wrapped his legs around the boy's grabbing arm, preventing it to escape.

"Oh no! Screw that!" Kyle said as he knew what he was in for and desperately attempted to escape his predicament.

Kyle fell forward, he was placed in a chokehold. He tried to slip his arm away from the tight grasp. His other hand attempted to pry Ron's hand away from the submission, with no success. Slowly but surely, he lost consciousness, he didn't want to tap out, he didn't want to lose the battle and yet, he's lost his strength, his body could no longer take the pressure. He didn't tap, but he did pass out.

The officials pried Ron and Kyle apart, announcing the blonde boy to be the winner. One of the guys who escorted him to the ring came up to him.

"You wanted to see the big guy right? Now's your chance."

He cracked his neck. "Ok." He took a look at the martial artist he faced. 'Well I survived him, but he's not as good as Kim though. But I'll give him credit for tagging me with that punch.'

Making his way upstairs with him and another guy tailing them, the door opens to a middle aged man donning a fancy suit. He chuckled to himself while looking outside his window.

"That was beautiful y'know, taking out that first guy was one thing… but Kyle gives those bums a run for their money. But when I saw that fight, I looked at you and I thought to myself; 'This guy looks like he's already won'. Y'know I could use a guy like you, the pay's good, and maybe soon enough, you'll be a champion in this arena. I know it's been two fights, but I know potential when I see it."

"Hm, that's sounds promising…" Ron says. "But I'm here on business as well."

"Is that right?" The man asked him.

Ron rubs his nose. "Yeah, I was hoping to help pay off a debt, good friend of mine got himself into some trouble."

"Hmm… it wouldn't be that old guy down at that old gym was it? I forget his name… what was it?"

He could feel his eye twitch at his subtle yet snide remark. "Is there a way to repay the debt, without that much of a hassle? Honestly, I like the fights here, well being in one mostly."

"Hm, kid… there's no way that you should pay back that debt, much less get yourself involved in that kind of mess." He said as he laid back on his chair. "Now, the job offer, that still stands… so whaddya say?"

The two men behind him were waiting for Ron's answer, preparing themselves to clock him if he made got any stupid ideas.

"Why not, I like this stuff anyway, but I'd like to say one more thing…" his eyes and the tone of his voice shifted into a serious one. "You've should've taken the damn deal.

He elbowed the guy on his right, kneed his left opponent and removed his pocket knife. He grabbed the right guy's hand and pulled him close enough to stab him in the temple of his skull. As he pulled the knife out, he slit the other guy's throat and then threw the knife at the boss's shoulder. It caused him to fall on his chair, gritting his teeth and groaning in agony. His head was sweating at the prospect of being so vulnerable at a time like this, Ron lunged towards him and placed his hand on the knife, pressuring the wound even more.

"Y'know, it's interesting to me, a guy gets into debt, you tell me to stay out of it, considering that the man's a friend of mine. Ay-yi-yi, this does not look good for you. Now… here's why I'm really here… you put a lotta people in debt right, break legs, property and all that classic crap but uhh… you've got a lot of clients from what I've heard."

The man tried to use his free hand, only to feel the blade twisting deeper, causing pain excruciating for him.

"I really wouldn't do that, trust me. I mean this is coming from a stubborn guy. Wait, where was I?" Ron zoned out for a split second, wanting to remember his answer. "Oh yeah, you're going to free all of your clients from debt, no more of this loan sharking BS." Ron flicked the mouse of the man's desktop and pressed random keys. The computer was unlocked, meaning there wasn't a need to reenter a password. "Huh, and you're doing you're debt stuff right now, convenient."

"Boy, stay away from…" he couldn't finish his sentence since he felt Ron punch him in his throat.

"Could you not say anything? I'm trying to work here, thank you." He says as he goes through a plethora of accounts that were indebted to him. It didn't take long, but he was able to expunge all his clientele or victims from paying whatever they allegedly owed to this crooked bastard.

"Ok, now that that's done…" Ron took the knife from the man's shoulder and stabbed it into his chest. "Ok, can't go back down there without making me suspicious, I'll need a diversion or maybe I'll just sneak out, find a way out of this. He looked around to see a fire alarm. He had an idea… but it was a bad one and he wouldn't believe it would work. He looked under the late boss's desk and tried to see if there was any silent security alarms that would be present.

'Hmm… to my luck. But if I can't sneak past, them, I'll have to fight my way through. Well they'll mostly want to see the corpse of their boss…' He looks outside to the arena, 'I could find a breaker, shut it all off while I make my way out of there in the dark, their line of sight would be limited, as would mine. But that's the best chance I've got…' he looked around and saw what he wanted in the same room. 'Bingo.'

Ron set his plan into motion, he opened the main breaker to reveal the several switches, labeled. He went back to the desk and pressed the alarm at the bottom of the desk, some of the guards were on alert and rushed to the office. Ron quickly shut off all the electricity, causing commotion to run rampant, whether for the audience or for the security team. So far, everything was good. Then, he pulled the fire alarm, hoping that it would mask any sound he would make, if the alarm alone didn't, then the panicking of the crowd did. Next he hid in the room, waited patiently for the team to show up, as they opened the door, they spread across the room, flashlights in hand, seeing his chance, Ron escaped the room with no one detecting him, retaining his memory of the area, along with several flashlights from other people's phones, he made his way to the entrance, taking his shirt and walking out of the door.

He couldn't relax yet, as he got further away from the arena, he went to find his gear. Equipping it, and getting away as soon as possible.

"Alright, now one last stop." He muttered to himself.

Middleton General Hospital

The days went slowly for a young teen in the medical center, the days couldn't end fast enough for him to tolerate. How he would wish to go back out and just do what he needed to do… but for some reason, some scared thug's random actions caused all of it to come crashing down.

Ned was bored, an arm was in a cast, a bandage covering his cheek, and his eye was finally recovering from the swelling it endured. Even if the doctors were doing their job, he'd like it if they laid off on checking his vitals at inconvenient times.

"He's in this room right here sir." One of the nurses said.

"Thank you." The voice of someone else said. He could deduce that it was someone other than his parents.

"Hey Ned." Ron greeted. "Sorry I didn't show up earlier, I was held up with some things."

"It's okay… kinda boring here anyway, so you're not missing much." He tried to adjust himself on his hospital bed. "My parents came here not too long ago, they visit for the most part, so I'm not really lonely."

"How are you holding up after the… y'know?" Ron had genuine sincerity in his voice, to see a good person like him in this state, he may have been an oddball but he didn't deserve this.

"Yeah I'm ok, a couple more days and I'll be on my feet again." Ned paused to look at Ron's face. "What happened to you?" He asked. "You look like you've gotten into a lot of trouble."

He could do nothing but sigh. "Yeah, I uhh… had to help some people out… same as you… and uhh…" Ron cleared his throat. "It wasn't pretty."

Ned sighed at his response. "Why did I have a feeling that you would say something like that?"

"I dunno…" Ron leaned on the wall with the window right by his shoulder. "Listen uhh… I get it… I mean if you don't wanna work at Bueno Nacho again, I can maybe help you find somewhere else to work. It's the least I can do."

"You kidding?" Ned asked. "Look it's nice of you to look after me like this but… Bueno Nacho didn't put me in a hospital, much less a cast. It wasn't always like that, with the protection rackets and everything… and now it's starting to make a comeback as a regular hangout. Getting jumped like that doesn't just happen there, it can happen almost anywhere if you're not careful. I'll still work at Bueno Nacho, but it's because of you it's safer. Also, I heard about…" Ned didn't wish to finish the sentence.

"Yeah… you don't have to say anything else." Ron lamented, seeing as he knows that it's referring to the murder that happened not too long before his hospitalization.

"Listen Ron, you're a good guy and all, but can I ask you… when was the last time you actually just took a break?"

Ron took his cue to sit down on a chair facing the teen's hospital bed. "I had time to spend with Monique but…" he drifted away from conversation after remembering that he revealed to her his ultimate secret. He didn't know why, but there was a connection, with her, Ned, Felix, and even Kim to a degree.

A connection he'd swore to never create.

Middleton was nothing but a town to him, merely hunting grounds for killing scum that stalk the streets and harm innocents… even so he was born here.

People here teemed with different personalities, different outlooks, yet they befriended him. He had some mutual feelings towards that as well, despite knowing that he had a mission, and his goal was to achieve it and vanish.

He never actually took a break, he simply blended in, with accordance to the mission parameters he beset for himself.

So he never took a break. "I guess I never did." Ron mumbles.

"See, there it is. You've been looking after guys like me… but what about you? It's not gonna hurt you to get out and live a little y'know. Heck if you wanna talk with Monique like you did… it's fine too. Your life is more than just working and surviving… your life is something that YOU should live."

Ned's advice resonated within Ron's mind. The blonde boy got up and tapped the teen's uninjured shoulder. "Ok man, I have to go, it's getting late for me."

"Ok Ron and hey…" The blonde boy turned to face him. "Getting a pet to look after is good for you too."

With that Ron departed, but as he was… he contacted Walter, the gym owner. Giving him the great news of him being free from debt, followed with his money being returned to him.

The old man was elated towards hearing the news, with the money being returned to him… with interest, he would be able to make some repairs and buy new equipment. Renovated enough and this gym can bring in revenue than it did previously, even so, it may take awhile. Walter decided to award Ron, however he decided that he would wait until tomorrow, should the blonde teen decide to show.

"Getting a pet huh? Hmm… maybe that wouldn't be…" Before he could think about it further… Felix contacts him.

"I take it everything went ok with the gym problem?"

"Yeah, everything's settled. I'm thinking I should be able to take a break from what I'm doing for awhile." He exited the hospital and stood in front of the entrance.

"That's something… what brought that up?" Felix asked in curiosity.

"I dunno… I guess talking with Ned… well he has a point. I mean, shouldn't I more than just a killer? It's just… there's more here to do and… it wouldn't hurt to live a little." Ron said.

"Hey, it's your life man… but I found something out… something unreal." Felix said. Upon mentioning it, he felt his throat swell upon speaking. "Ok umm, six million dollars was sent towards the Middleton Space Center, courtesy of Jack right? But I cross referenced that amount of cash and it's purposes to old phone records and emails… and I found out that the money wasn't a donation… it was a bounty. Apparently it went to the Robotics division, in particular."

Ron paid particular attention towards this. "Give me a list of every single individual who were employed at the Space Center when the bounty was issued. Also pay particular attention to those in the Robotics Division. I also like a date as to when the bounty was issued and terminated. If it's what I'm thinking, then I'm already close."

"Ron, that's fine but… Kim's father works there as well… but he's a rocket scientist. He's a good man and… Kim and you have a… thing… but not her family man… can you at least promise me that?" Felix begged him.

"He's got nothing to worry about, unless it was him who killed my parents. But there's still something that I need to solve. Hench had the cash, the killer did the deed, but who gave the order?" All of this circulated in Ron's mind as he walked home. He didn't want his mind to dwell on these matters any more than he has to.

He needed time for himself, time to live as a teenager… and make amends along the way.