Flashback
Author's note: Okay, some of these bits from one of the flashback sequences may possibly push the limits of the rating. If you think I should change the rating, please tell me. This will be a dark chapter. Thank you.
After Haggar and Guy took off, Dean kept walking with Lucia not far behind him. In fact, Dean walked as if he was alone, even though he wasn't. Even if they were walking together, it's common for someone to be ahead and the other to be behind, but in this case, Dean, in his mind, was all alone, even though Lucia offered to accompany him.
But why did she want to help him? That was the real question.
"Hey, Dean, wait up!" Dean suddenly broke from the trance he was in as Lucia called for his attention. He turned around and noticed the female detective walking fast to try to catch up to him.
"Look, Lucia, detective, whatever," Dean said. "I know you want to help me, but this is my battle. I could have done this all on my own. I don't know what the mayor and Guy are up to, but this is my fight and mine alone. I don't need your help."
Lucia responded, "Dean, I want to take down the Skull Cross Gang as much as you do, but all you have told us so far is that someone had killed your family and that motivated you to bring them down. I just want to know more, that's all."
"I'm not here to make friends," he said. "I'm here to avenge my family's murder. I know a lot about these guys and I will make sure that they all pay for what they did."
"I know that," she answered. "But if we're going to work together, can you at least fill me in on what happened?"
Dean sighed. "Listen, Lucia, you seem like a nice woman and all, but what happened to my family is something I don't want to talk about."
"I know that, but you should also know that I am an officer of the law. I really need to know what happened. I can help bring those other men we dealt with to justice."
"With all due respect, Lucia," Dean paused before he said her name. "But it would take more than just putting them behind bars to bring them to justice."
"As a cop, I need to know something," Lucia said.
"Why?" Dean said.
"Because when we all met up earlier," Lucia said. "I saw you looking at a photo. I want to see that picture. As an officer of the law, please let me look at your picture."
Dean squint his eyes a tad and shook his head. "Why should I?"
"Because I think I may know something about your family's murder," she said.
Dean's eyes bulged when he heard her say that.
"You don't know shit!" Dean yelled. "You really can't know. The cops never found out who did it, but I know who was behind it!"
"Please, just let me see and I'll give it right back," Lucia said. "I need you to tell me what happened. Tell me your side of story and I will tell you mine. Okay? You have to trust me."
Dean sighed once again and then reached for his wallet. He went to his pictures and then got it out and handed it to her. She looked at the photo and some of the people seemed familiar to her. Not that she had met them before, but more that she had seen pictures of some of the murder victims.
Suddenly, she breathed and shook a tad, as well as one of her eyes started to moisten. Dean looked closely at her and said, "Lucia, are you okay?"
Just then, she gave the picture right back to him. She saw a bench close by and went to sit down. Dean followed her and sat right by her. While Dean was overrun with emotion over this whole situation, it was surprising to see Lucia was upset about it. Though she felt his pain after he shared some details earlier, this seemed to have hit home for her.
Lucia looked down and wiped some of the tears from her eyes and took a deep breath. She turned towards Dean. "Please, tell me what happened. I am here to help you, and then I will tell you my side of the story."
Dean nodded his head. "Okay, you really want to know? Here's what happened…"
A few weeks before.
One night, Dean went to the Surf Bar in the Westside of Metro City to take part in some fights. Despite Haggar dealing with the people at that bar years prior, that business never shut down. However, the underground fighting area had started operating again a year prior.
Dean fought an opponent in the cage that was set up in the patio like how it was set before. The odds were in Dean's favor, as he had been winning a lot of fights lately in different circuits, including a fight arena that was in a basement adjacent to a subway station.
He had won a few fights that night, as he wanted to get a good amount of money to support his family. He was thinking that maybe it was time for him and the rest of his family to move out of Metro City or at least move to better parts of it.
That same night, Dean was about to leave the Surf Bar to head home. But then suddenly…
"Hey, Dean," a man said. Dean looked over and saw an African-American man with sunglasses and a beret, as well as a Caucasian man with a pompadour haircut. Then came two other men with blonde hair and wore suspenders with no shirts.
"What do you guys want?" Dean said. "I have nothing to say. I already told you that I am not interested in joining you."
"Really?" Johnny, the man with the beret, said. "That's funny, because Stray wants to have a word with you about that."
Arby and Fat Jack came out from the sides and then knocked him down. Billy and Ray picked him up and G put a bag over his head, as he would regain consciousness very soon.
The Skull Cross Gang members took Dean to do what appeared to be a lair. He didn't recognize the place, but from the looks of things, it appeared to be a garage of some sort. He was hanging onto something, like ropes of above him. He had no shirt on, with his muscular upper body baring but he still had pants on.
From a distance, he had heard some voices.
"How in the hell would Caine even let you use his place to do this? You know he don't like nobody coming around here."
"Relax, I paid him some money. I told him we needed to use it for something important. He'll be out of our way. That guy doesn't like to be around people anyway."
Dean looked around. He noticed G and Johnny standing in the garage with him. G looked up and then went outside.
"Hey, you guys, that guy is awake!" G yelled.
At that point, a lot of the underlings of the Skull Cross Gang had walked in, everyone from Billy and Ray, to Dirk and Rick. Even May and some of her cohorts had walked in, as well as Joe, who was even wearing his gas mask at that point. The only ones who weren't seen were Arby and Fat Jack, and also Andore and Andore Jr.
But the last guy who walked in was a man in a long green coat and purple pants, as well as long purple hair and had some shades on. Dean looked right at this guy, who had a sinister smile on face.
"Well, look who it is," the man said. "You refused our offer a few times to join us. And now you're here with us. Isn't that funny?"
The man, along with a few others started laughing.
Dean looked right at him. "What the hell do you want from me, Stray? I told you I don't want to join you guys."
"What kind of choice do you have? If anything, this is an initiation," Stray said.
"Initiation? I never agreed to this bullshit!" Dean said.
"You can only make so much money by fighting in the circuit," Stray said. "You run with us, you can make more money."
"You guys are scum," Dean said. "I would never join you. The Mad Gear Gang even tried to get me to join them when they were around."
"Mad Gear only wished that they could be like us," Stray said. "We may have been connected with them, but they're gone and they couldn't do half the shit we can do."
Stray raised a fist, which had spiky brass knuckles on it. "Like this!" And then he swung his right hand right to Dean's bare chest. "And this!" He then swung his left fist, which also had spiky brass knuckles wrapped around it.
He punched Dean's torso a few times, ranging from his chest to his abdomen. With the spiky brass knuckles a factor here, blood emitted a bit from Dean's torso.
"What's up now?" Stray said. "Doesn't feel too good, does it? This is just the beginning."
"What do want from me?" Dean said.
"I want to show you what we do to people who mess with us or turn us down."
Just then, a car had pulled into the garage. The thug known as Driver had parked it into the garage. With the garage doors being open, there was no real worry about gas fumes. However, Stray had some plans of his own.
"Hey, I want you to pop the hood and start up the car again," Stray said.
Driver said, "Hold up, what?"
"Just do it!" Stray growled right at him.
Stray saw some jumper cables lying around. The other thugs just stood there and watched as Stray clipped the jumpers onto the car battery and then clipped the other ends onto Dean's chest, his nipples at that.
"Time to give you a jump, Dean," Stray said and then laughed evilly. He signaled to Driver to hit the gas, causing the electrical current to enter Dean's body, as the other thugs just stood there and watched Dean shake from the shock treatment he's been given.
Stray looked at Dean as he still shook, but he continued to breath. He looked right to Driver and signaled him to do it again. Driver hit the gas pedal, causing yet another electrical charge to go right into Dean's body. Stray convinced Driver to give Dean a third jump.
After the third shock, Dean shook and continued to breathe. Stray went ahead and punched Dean in the stomach.
"How are you not dead, asshole?" Stray said.
Rick and Dirk, the claw-wielding thugs approached Stray and asked if they should just finish him off.
"No, I have an even better idea," Stray said with an evil grin on his face. "I know a better way for him to see things our way."
May and her cohorts cut the rope to have Dean drop to the floor. Everyone left the room soon after.
"…So later on, I managed to make it home," Dean said. "I found the bodies of my mother, my father, and my younger brother and sister. There was blood everywhere. My mother was barely breathing when I found her. She told some really bad people came to the house and ransacked it and then brutally tortured and maimed everyone. Right after that, she died. Also, you now know how I could shock people the way I do. I'm lucky to be alive from all that torture, but at least I have that ability now."
Lucia put her left hand to her mouth. Suddenly, a tear started to drop from her left eye.
"Listen, don't feel bad for me," Dean said. "This is my fight."
"I can't help it," Lucia said. "But there is also something you should know."
"What's that?"
Lucia took a deep breath. "Okay, here's what happened…"
A few weeks before.
Sometime after the bodies were taken away, Lucia and her partner Sean Carter went to investigate the crime. Lucia and her partner were detectives of the Special Crimes Unit, which specializes in murder, as well as sexual assault and other related crimes, as well as organized crime.
The Crime Scene Unit was taking samples for evidence and stuff. Dave went to check out the crime, as well as another Metro City police officer, Edi. E.
"Oh, Lucia, didn't expect to see you here," Dave said.
"Well, it's my job, isn't it?" Lucia said. "Carter and I are here to investigate this brutal murder."
Edi. E asked, "Do you know if anybody survived this?"
"Good question," Carter said. "We were told that four bodies were found last night. A neighbor said that another family member was seen entering the house but left not long after that. Nobody knows where he is."
"What do we got?" Dave said.
Lucia replied, "From what I can tell, an older man and older woman. Two young victims, young man and young woman, possibly boy and girl. They seemed young, like maybe older teens or maybe at least 18 or 19, maybe younger. I don't know. But I didn't see another family member like we were told. We came here the moment someone had called."
Edi. E said, "This seems like the work of a real professional. It's like he planned how he would slaughter this family. Do you think that this is the work of a gang attack?"
"I don't know," Carter said. "Then again, home invasion attacks can be initiated by gangs. Who knows?"
"Excuse me a sec, I got to make a call," Dave said.
Lucia looked around. There were bloodstains everywhere and someone had outlined where the bodies were found. She looked around and noticed what appeared to be a family portrait. She noticed that the descriptions of the bodies matched the bodies, but then she saw another family member. He was older than the other two children of the family, like maybe he was the eldest child. This picture appeared to be from a while ago. She then saw what appeared to be a more recent picture. The two young victims appeared older; almost as how old they were at the time of their deaths.
She continued to check out the area, until she heard what sounded like Dave on the phone. She hid behind a wall.
"Listen, did you actually do this?" Dave said. "We are searching the house. This definitely sounds like your kind of work."
Huh? Lucia thought.
"Don't play dumb with me, Stray! I know what you do and how you do it," Dave said. "Now we're dealing with blood on our hands."
"Blood on our hands?" What does he mean? She thought.
"Look, when we have to get Black out of jail, I will help, but you need to cover your own mess next time," Dave said. "I can't bail you every time. I'll talk to you later."
Lucia then quickly moved away so that Dave wouldn't see her. She then continued to investigate. But what was really on her mind was about the man in the photo. Where could he have gone? She felt the need to ask the neighbor about this. She picked up the photo and then walked towards the neighbor who was being questioned.
"Excuse me, miss, I have to ask," Lucia said. She pointed to a particular person in the photo. "Is this the main that you saw enter the house and then left not long after?"
The neighbor nodded her head.
"Do you think he was responsible for their deaths?" Carter said.
"What? No!" The neighbor said. "He loved his family. He wouldn't do that."
"Did you see anybody else enter the house at any point?" Lucia said.
"I got home sometime after my neighbor went inside," the neighbor said. "He seemed like he was hurt. He was moving in a weird way. He couldn't have done this."
Lucia somehow believed the woman. When she overheard Dave talking on the phone, her suspicions rose a bit. She suspected that Dave was a bit corrupt, but how corrupt was what she wondered now. As for the missing person, there had to be more than met the eye.
"So yes, I did investigate your home, but what was on my mind was what happened to your family and who was responsible," Lucia said. "After what you told me, everything started to make sense."
"Why didn't you tell me?" Dean said.
"Because I didn't put two and two together until now," Lucia said. "I want to help you bring down the Skull Cross Gang. Mayor Haggar wants to bring them down just as much as I do, and just as much as you do."
Lucia then gave Dean a hug after having this talk. "We're in this together."
Dean just shook her hand from it and then hugged her back. "Just know one thing, Lucia, Stray's mine. He will pay for what he did to me and what he did to my family."
Lucia nodded. Then out of the blue, an MCPD squad car had pulled up. The window had rolled down.
"Lucia, is that you?"
Lucia turned around and saw the driver. It turned out to be Detective Carter.
"Sean, what a surprise," Lucia said.
"Yeah, I didn't think you would join the fight against the Skull Cross Gang," Sean said. He also couldn't help but look at how she was dressed.
"I am helping this man out, as well as Mayor Haggar and a friend of his," Lucia said. "But I still uphold the law in this situation. This man and I are going to check out the docks to see what the Skull Cross Gang has there."
"I see," Sean said. "Anyway, you want a ride? I can give both of you a ride over there."
"Are you sure about this?" Lucia said. "I mean I think that our captain will find out that I took the law into my own hands here."
"I won't say a thing to him," Sean said. "Besides, a lot of the precincts have their hands full because of the riot. Everything has gone to shit. And yes, I am sure about giving you two a ride right now. I'm serious."
Lucia then looked towards Dean, who nodded his head in the process.
"Okay, let's get going." She said.
Lucia entered the front passenger seat, while Dean had gone into the backseat. It didn't matter if that was the area where a suspect would sit. This cop was willing to do his partner and Dean a favor. They may have to return it someday, especially with everything that was going on in Metro City.
Another note: Wow, this went a little longer than I thought. I will try to put in some interludes because I am trying to do a little more characterization this time. When looking at my Final Fight 1 story, I know I had made it a novelization of the arcade classic. But really, we knew very little about some of the characters.
The next couple of chapters will be Lucia and Dean going to the docks, while Haggar and Guy go to Chinatown. Expect a few cameos in the Chinatown chapter. I even had Edi. E make a cameo. Fun fact: I found out recently in the game that you could go to Chinatown in the second to last stage. Capcom really did a good job with the multiple routes that you can take in Final Fight 3.
Oh, and if you're wondering, I do kind of ship Lucia and Dean, but I am not doing a forced love story in this story. I'm having more like Lucia feels something for Dean, who may share the same feelings, but is too focused on getting his revenge. Maybe one day I'll do a separate story on those two.
Also, the character of Sean Carter is a reference to Jay-Z, except his real first name is Shawn.
One more thing, so yes, I had it be that Lucia had investigated the crime scene and suspected that Dave was corrupt. But if you want an explanation about Lucia suspecting about Dean and not knowing who he was at the beginning, think of it this way: He just walked into Haggar's office and she turned her attention towards him. She wouldn't just recognize him on the spot from just the picture.
That's about it. Until next time, people.