Judgment Night in Chinatown
Author's note: This will be centered on Haggar and Guy. This is on Round 4B.
It was nighttime in the Westside of Metro City, where Asian districts were common, particularly Chinatown, where Haggar and Guy were told that there had been some other Skull Cross members. Metro City was ridden with crime, but what was the criminal element in Chinatown? They already found a crooked cop who may have had something to do with the riot, as well as came across a tough club owner who happened to run with the Skull Cross Gang. Then again, it was crazy to see a loner-type be a member, but have little to do with their activity.
The question on the minds of both men was why they were told to come here. Did the members sell out their other fellow gang members and lieutenants? Or were they beaten so badly that they had no choice but to tell the vigilantes?
It didn't matter. Haggar and Guy were on a mission. Night had fallen and Driver had dropped off the two vigilantes at a bus stop nearby. Why at a bus stop was anybody's guess. Maybe this guy worked for a bus company before and when he left that life, he probably joined the Skull Cross Gang.
Guy was the first to walk out of the bus and looked ahead of him and saw how much bright and colorful that part of Chinatown was. It was only approximately 7 or 8 at night, so it wasn't that late that the nightlife could be booming, except it wasn't, as the attack and riot from earlier may have caused some people to want to stay in.
"Hold on, Guy, I'll be right out," Haggar said as he stood right in the doorway of the bus and then turned his attention directly towards Driver. "Listen to me, my friend and I appreciate what you've done for us. I promise you that I will not turn you in, but only in exchange for helping us. If you decide to leave this life behind us, I will not let the MCPD know and have you thrown in jail. Do I make myself clear? I probably won't even have Caine get put in jail, either."
"Yes, sir, Mr. Mayor," Driver said. "Good luck."
Haggar nodded and then exited the bus to walk with Guy.
"So what are we looking for?" Guy said. "That bald guy or that dirty guy didn't tell us where to go. For all we know, they probably sent us on a wild goose chase."
Haggar said, "There has to be someone around here who may a thing or two about this place. When Cody and I checked out this area four years ago, I was suspicious about the Surf Bar having something big go down. Cody thought that it was just a wild night there, but then we found out it was fight night over there."
"If only that guy Dean was with us," Guy said. "He seems to know a lot about these guys. But it turns out that he and Lucia are out scoping another area. Wait, didn't you say that they would meet with us?"
"They will, but they're probably caught up right now," Haggar said. "They'll meet with us soon. They said they'll be here."
As they continued to look around the area, the streets of Chinatown appeared to be empty. Or so they thought.
"Hey." Haggar and Guy quickly turned their attentions in the direction of where that word came from. Right from down the corridors near a building with red walls and pillars and a dragon symbol on the end of it, out came a clean-shaven Caucasian man wearing a T-shirt under some type of suspenders. Another was a Caucasian man with a beard and a leather vest and blue jeans. The other two were African-American men with shades on. One of them was bald and was wearing an orange shirt under some dark overalls. The other had a crew-cut and had a dark green button-down shirt on with ripped off sleeves and wore dark green pants.
"Wait," Haggar said. These men appeared familiar to the duo. "Bred, Jake, Dug, and Simons? Is that you?"
The quartet of men was of former members of the Mad Gear Gang. Then right out from behind, a British voice had said, "Mayor Haggar, how nice to see you and Guy again."
The duo turned around and saw another couple of familiar faces. One had spiky blonde hair and was wearing a familiar yellow and blue jacket, except it had sleeves. The same could be said about the other man, who had a red Mohawk, except the rest of his head looked like it was buzzed, not completely shaved and was even wearing shades, even at night. Like the other man, he had a familiar orange and green jacket but had sleeves on it. The British accent came from the man in yellow.
"J, Two-P," Guy said. "I remember you guys."
Without hesitation, Haggar and Guy put up their dukes as if they were ready to fight.
"Hold up," Bred said. "We don't want any trouble. We're not looking for a fight."
"What are you talking about?" Guy said. "You guys were in Mad Gear."
"So we think you might be part of Skull Cross," Haggar said.
Jake stepped forward. "We don't run with those psychos."
"I beg a pardon?" Haggar said.
Two P, who has an American accent, said, "You said you guys are looking for someone around here. I think we all might know where to find what you're looking for."
Haggar looked at the two guys and the other four guys who were close by with a look of skepticism on his face. Guy had some skepticism on his face as well.
"Wait, so you guys don't work for the Skull Cross Gang?" Haggar said. "How do we know you guys aren't lying to us?"
Dug responded, "After the fall of Mad Gear, we just did our own thing. But some guys tried to ask us if we wanted in."
Simons added, "But then we saw what kinds of things that they do. One of their high-ranking members is a freakin' psycho, man. Shit, one of their soldiers seems like he could be a cannibal. That short dude with the long red hair gave me the creeps."
"Also…" a female voice said nearby, as Haggar and Guy looked right down the corridor that was close to a Chinese food truck that was right by a building that was across the way. Out came two females who were wearing short shorts, leather hats, and leather jackets over some rather revealing tops. One had long purple hair. The other had long orange hair. It turned out that Poison and Roxy, formerly of Mad Gear had been close by as well.
"Some of those guys seem to be thirsty for blood," Roxy said. "I mean, sure, we used to be pretty violent at times, but not like those guys."
Poison added, "I mean we didn't go so far as to bomb some buildings in the city."
"Poison and Roxy," Guy said. "Nice to see you two ladies again." He said with mild sarcasm.
"Bred is serious," Roxy said. "We're not looking for trouble. We're trying to help you guys."
"What are you two ladies doing out here?" Haggar said.
"Well," Poison said. "We're trying to find Hugo and Junior to see if they want to find other ventures. I tried talking to him about me being his manager and Roxy maybe being Junior's manager for the wrestling circuit."
"But in the meantime," Roxy said. "We also need some money, so we are also…"
"Don't say it," Haggar said. "I have a good idea what you're about to say, but you two girls should not do that."
Poison then added, "However, we found out that they are part of the Skull Cross and it's going to be hard for us to get to them."
"Well, this is quite a reunion," Haggar said. "I'm surprised that I don't see the rest of you guys."
Bred said, "Hey, just because we're not in a gang or anything like that doesn't mean we can't be friends or anything like that. I got my brothers right here, ain't that right?"
Jake, Dug, and Simons all nodded and padded Bred on the shoulder.
"Besides," J said. "Everyone is off doing their own thing. El Gado and Holly Wood are with Rolento trying to put together their own little army."
Two P added, "Axl and Slash, Bill Bull, Graham Oriber, and Wong Who, we see them sometimes, but not a lot. Damnd went off to the Caribbean. Sodom had tried to get everyone back together. Abigail is too busy running his garage but will be a bouncer if needed. Edi E is still on the force. He even tried to get us to be his snitches for him. I said hell no."
"But you guys are trying to snitch for us," Haggar said.
"That's not the same thing," Two P said as he pushed his shades down a bit to reveal his eyes. "They also tried to recruit us, because we worked with their main guy Black, as well as his second-in-command Stray, but I see the way they handle shit. Stray is a nutjob. As part of an initiation process, Black had some of his guys jump some random guy who was trying to join, as well as shoot up some places. I know we've done some terrible shit, but I'm not proud of it, and neither are the rest of us. We want to help you bring them down."
Bred walked right up to the mayor and the Bushin ninja. "There's a restaurant very close by that I think that the Skull Cross Gang might run. I think one of their lieutenants is the owner. It's actually on the corner right there." He point right to the building that was right next to the Chinese food truck.
"You'll find your answers there," Bred said.
As the former Mad Gear members stood in front of Haggar and Guy, he saw a short thug with a German soldier helmet and a white tank-top with suspenders and long green pants and long black boots. The man was Fritz, a Skull Cross soldier, and he had similarly-dressed men with him.
Fritz and the other two men raised their arms and looked like they had something in their hands.
"Oh shit, everyone, break!" Bred yelled. Everyone turned around and saw Fritz and his fellow soldiers throw those objects. Everyone, from Haggar and Guy to the former Mad Gear soldiers made a break for it.
However, Guy had other ideas as right when Fritz was about to throw the grenade, he quickly dashed right towards him and delivered a quick and strong spinning kick towards him and it sent Fritz dropping to the ground. In a quick moment, Guy went back to his feet and then spun around and delivered a hard elbow and another spin kick to the other two guys with Fritz.
But that wasn't just the bad part. Haggar looked at the explosive that Fritz had thrown and quickly dove and right when it was about to hit the ground, he landed on his bare chest on the pavement with open hands and caught the grenade. But that wasn't all. Haggar threw the grenade to what appeared to be an empty area, with no people around or anything and watched as it hit the ground and then boom!
Haggar then looked at Fritz, who lied on the ground with a bloody nose and breathed a bit. He picked him up and then pushed him right close to a light-post with a serpent-style symbolism close to the light.
"Okay, asshole, I want to know what's going on here," Haggar said.
["I'm not saying shit,"] Fritz said in German.
"Speak English!" Haggar said.
Fritz took a deep breath, and said in a German accent, "Me and my men come here on orders from Black and Stray. We've been told to take out anybody on the streets that are messing up our business."
"Well, you better tell Marshal Black that we are coming for him," Haggar said and then pushed Fritz back into the pavement.
The former Mad Gear members stood there and looked on.
"Man," Two P said. "I remember thinking that the mayor was pretty rough when we dealt with him before, but he's gotten worse."
"When the city has gone through problems with gangs, as well as going around the world to deal with other Mad Gear guys, can you blame him?" Bred said.
Haggar and Guy went up the stairs that was adjacent to the Chinese food truck. They walked up and found a door to enter, which had some Chinese symbolism around it. Ranging from Chinese characters written in Hanzi symbols that symbolized what was said over the English translation, as well as other symbols like a Chinese dragon.
"This must be the place," Guy said, with his stoic demeanor, as he opened the door.
The two walked in and passed by a planter in the entrance hallway. The restaurant had a Chinese theme to it, with reddish-orange flooring and pillars, as well as Chinese dragon symbols on the walls right by the tables in the dining area with plates and napkins set up there.
Except one thing, it didn't look like they were expecting anybody to come and dine that night. Oh no, not the case for that night.
A couple of guys were just hanging out and talking. One looked similar to Joe, as maybe it was someone who is sort of an underling to him. Another was just a random thug, as well as what looked like one of May's girls.
"Oh shit," one of the thugs looked over at the duo coming in. "We got company here."
The two male thugs, as well as the female thug, and then from behind, a tall and muscular thug appeared wearing a white tank-top and red pants. It turned out that it was Andore.
"Hey, you two ain't got no business coming in here," one of the thugs said as he tried to poke Haggar's muscular chest. "So get out of here, before we…"
But then Haggar grabbed the thug by his hand and then twisted him, as he started howling in pain. He then delivered a hard clothesline right to him. Just then, several random Skull Cross thugs came out, through the entrance and through the kitchen area, as well as the restroom area.
Guy looked to Haggar and signaled to him as he looked up at the ceiling and then tilted his head towards the entrance/exit door and then looked up at the ceiling once again. Haggar figured out what he means and then mouthed "go" to him.
Guy looked towards several thugs, as he looked in front of him and then turned around behind him. He gave them all a signal of "come on!" Every thug started to approach him. When he was being surrounded, he quickly leaped and then went over another thug and then got to the main entrance area. He signaled to them once again as they all started to walk towards him. He quickly opened the entrance door and then jumped right to the ladder nearby.
As he climbed, he looked down and saw that some of those thugs followed him outside.
"He's going to the roof, let's get him!" One thug said.
Guy continued to climb to the roof as he saw that a lot of them were ready to follow him. One guy reached and made contact with his right red and white Nike shoe, but Guy stomped on his hand. The thug tilted backward from the ladder, but quickly regained balance as his right hand went back on the rung again. It wasn't long until Guy had reached the rooftop.
Meanwhile, back inside, Haggar was alone as he stood before a man who stood nearly 8 feet tall. It was none other than Andore. This wouldn't be the first time that these two would cross paths. Haggar even dealt with other members of that family.
Haggar looked right toward Andore and said, "Andore, when are you going to learn crime doesn't pay?"
"Andore will smash you," the gigantic man said in a German accent.
Haggar smiled a bit. What was funny was that moments ago, he had run into two familiar ladies and they had talked about him and his brother. Maybe getting into wrestling would be a step in going straight.
But it wasn't time to reflect on that, as the big guy charged right towards the mayor and delivered a hard right hand to his face. Right when Haggar dropped to the ground, Andore jumped up and delivered a hard elbow drop.
Andore then picked him up and then lifted him off the ground and started choking him. Haggar looked right at the big man in the eye, as he had trouble breathing. The only thing he could do was try to hold his breath, as he put one thumb to Andore's right eye and then the other to his left eye.
Andore screamed as he let Haggar go. Haggar fell to the floor, but he didn't care. It was right then when Haggar got up and then rushed towards Andore and gave him a hard tackle. He delivered a hard punch to his face while he was on the ground, but Andore quickly shoved him off. He picked Haggar, but rather than choke him, he threw him right towards a dining table. He watched as the mayor fell right onto a table, causing it to knock over and break a couple of chairs in the process.
Haggar slowly crawled as he tried to catch his breath in the process. Andore went right to the mayor's feet as he lied face down and crawled. As Andore got closer to grip Haggar's ankles, Haggar kicked Andore right in the chest. Haggar turned his body around and got to his feet and tried to get a second wind.
"So you want to play that game, huh?" Haggar said as he stood before Andore with his stance.
But there was no time, as he rushed right towards the tall and muscular thug and delivered a hard lariat.
He then lifted him over his head in a gorilla press slam position and then lifted him a couple of times over his head. He then threw him but in that moment, Haggar jumped up and flipped over as Andore was falling upside down and grabbed him to drive Andore to the ground. But he was not done yet, as Haggar went right side up as Andore was still upside down and then jumped up and did a spinning piledriver to the ground.
It was enough to take the wind out of Andore. Haggar knew that he wasn't dead and was sure to encounter him and/or Junior later, but it was time to have a word with the owner.
Meanwhile, on the rooftop, Guy stood there with his arms folded and crossed as he awaited the other Skull Cross thugs to meet him at the top.
The lights in Chinatown were so garish, with lights on in the buildings and the rooftop having an advertising sign for some kind of tea with a kabuki figure right against the neon light sign for the brand.
Several thugs stood before Guy and were ready to jump him. Guy popped his knuckles. A few thugs rushed right towards him, but he was ready as so much energy was on display as he laid a few punches and kicks right to the bodies of the criminals.
A few others were carrying weapons, ranging from knives to lead pipes, even to glass bottles that they broke before heading to the roof.
This was nothing knew for him. He had been through this before. The difference now was that he had learned a few extra moves, as well as dealt with different types of fighters in his own little training quest. These guys were just street criminals. Some may be skilled, as he even dealt with some not just with the Skull Cross Gang, but also the Mad Gear Gang. However, these guys had nothing on him.
In just a quick moment, he jumped up and spun around to deliver a hard hurricane kick to each of the thugs around him.
He wasn't done, though. Two thugs who were carrying a lead pipe and a chain were ready to rush him. It didn't seem like these two were that smart, as they all saw their cohorts drop from Guy's wrath.
The man with the chain swung right towards Guy, who backed up and ducked at each attempt. Guy quickly dove out of the man's way and then dashed right towards the wall and jumped right on it and quickly turned around to deliver a dropkick right to the man's face causing him to fall backwards.
The other man with the lead pipe then swung right to Guy's back. Guy fell face down on the ground as the man swung the pipe right to his back.
"That Kung Fu shit ain't gonna work here," the thug with the pipe said.
"There's one thing you should know," Guy said as he quickly turned his body around and then kipped up and then kicked the pipe off the man's hand.
"Kung Fu is a Chinese martial art," Guy said. "This is Bushinryu Ninjutsu, which is Japanese, and I am Japanese." He stood there with a glare in his eyes.
He delivered some quick punches right to the man's torso, ranging from his chest and his stomach and then topped it off with a hard left hand palm strike right to the man's face. He sent him flying right towards the neon sign of the tea advertisement, causing sparks to fly and Guy was certain that the man was shocked, literally, in the process.
The man that Guy dropkicked before saw that happen and looked right at the ninja and said, "Screw this. You win." He then took off running.
Right then, it was time for Guy to check on his friend to see what was going on in the restaurant.
Haggar went into the kitchen area of the restaurant. Oddly enough, there was pan on the stove, which looked like something was cooking. As well as some smoke coming out of a pipe near the stove. He even saw some food on cutting boards and such. Could someone have been cooking for Skull Cross members?
Right through Haggar's eyesight stood a man with a long braid over a mostly shaved head. For some reason, the man wore a green toga and beige shorts and also boots. He then turned around and had a handlebar mustache and sunglasses. It was Wong, another Skull Cross lieutenant.
Oddly enough, there was something about this man that reminded Haggar of when he, Maki, and Carlos went to Hong Kong on their adventure out of the country. In fact, he reminded him of Won Won, who ran things in that part of Hong Kong for Mad Gear.
"Ah, our own mayor decided to crash my special dinner," Wong said. "I also heard that you had damaged my restaurant out there. You might have to pay for the damages."
Haggar scoffed. "I don't have time to hear your complaints. I heard that you are a member of the Skull Cross Gang. I am here to get some answers on where to find your leader. I am going to bring you guys down for good."
"I was just making dinner for my guests outside," Wong said. "Now that we have power over the city, I don't have to worry about other gangs or mafia to come in anymore, because we have all overthrown them."
Haggar realized what had happened with the other gangs and syndicates. Mad Gear had their own brand of power, which meant that Skull Cross had their own brand of power as well.
"You ruined my restaurant and you decided to crash my party," Wong said. "For that, you must pay."
He then picked up his prayer beads that were on a counter and started swinging them around. "It's showtime!"
Wong swung his right hand with the beads on there to try to whip Haggar. He managed to get him right on his left shoulder. Haggar laid a body blow right to Wong's gut and then tackled him and then also wrapped his arms around him to deliver an overhead belly-to-belly suplex. Once Wong landed on his back, he sat up and got to his feet and quickly rushed right towards Haggar, whose back was turned towards him, to lay a tackle of his own into him.
Once Haggar fell to the floor, Wong stood there as Haggar slowly sat up, but that gave Wong a window to jump and do a roll attack right to him. Haggar fell to the ground once again.
Normally, a guy like Wong shouldn't be much of a problem for Haggar. In fact, he had dealt with different threats before. Haggar wouldn't think it's because of his age, because he had dealt with Callman earlier. Even though he was a tough customer, Haggar managed to take him down. But the likely cause of Haggar's current vulnerable state was when he dealt with Andore moments ago. The way that giant just threw him around was just enough to a bit of wind out of him.
Wong approached Haggar once again and then picked him up to his feet. He then wrapped the prayer beads around his neck. But rather than strangle him, he dragged him over to the stove and then turned on one of the burners and then grabbed Haggar by his ponytail and then pushed his face towards the stove.
"This is for ruining my restaurant and for ruining our celebration dinner!" Wong said as he tried to push Haggar's face into the stove, but Haggar put his hands right at the edge of the top near the knobs. He was not about to be burned if he could help it.
Out of nowhere, the door to the kitchen had opened. Wong quickly turned around and saw a martial artist in a red outfit. It was none other than Guy.
"What the hell?" Wong yelled and then let go of Haggar. Guy quickly went in without any word and jumped up and delivered a hard dropkick right to Wong's face.
Haggar knelt right before the stove and then turned around to see Guy, who then let out his hand to help his friend get up.
"Thank you so much," Haggar said.
"No problem, Mike," Guy said.
Haggar and Guy looked right at Wong, who then got up.
"Let me handle him," Haggar said. "He's mine." Guy nodded.
Haggar rushed right towards Wong and delivered a hard clothesline right to him. He used all of his strength to pick him up over his head and then threw him right to the floor. Wong slowly got up, except his back was turned towards him this time. Haggar used this opportunity to grab him from behind and put him in a Full Nelson to deliver a Dragon Suplex. It flipped Wong over as he lied there face down. He tried to look up, but then his head dropped to the floor once again.
In only a minute, he regained consciousness. Haggar picked him up and then pushed him right towards a wall adjacent to the backdoor of the kitchen. Guy stood right next to Haggar.
"Okay, tell me and tell me now," Haggar growled. "What exactly are you guys planning? You said that this was supposed to be a celebration dinner or something like that."
Wong took a deep breath. He had no choice but to crack.
"Okay," Wong said. "One of our other lieutenants was bringing in some weapons. Black had paid a large sum of money to some arms dealers in other parts. We were going to use those arms to take out anybody who gets in our way. That whole bombing today was just to send a message to you and the MCPD to let you guys know that we're in charge now."
Wong paused and took another deep breath. "You want more answers? There's a plant nearby that has someone in charge to let you know what else we're doing. It's a factory for Sims Inc."
"Sims Inc?" Haggar then realized where he heard that name. It seems that there is a building in Uptown Metro City that is for that company. Maybe it's a front for the Skull Cross Gang's base of operations.
"Anything else you might know?" Haggar said.
"That's all I'm going to say," Wong said.
Haggar nodded. He quickly let go. He felt like pushing the crooked chef to the ground, but he realized that he was not worth hurting some more after what he just went through.
Haggar and Guy went out the backdoor and through an alleyway. Out of nowhere, an MCPD cruiser rolled up. The window rolled down, as a woman with short blonde hair was in the driver's seat. It was Lucia. Dean was sitting in the passenger's seat looking at the picture from before.
"Hey, Mike and Guy? Is that you?" Lucia said.
"Yes, it's us," Haggar said. "We just got word about how there's a factory close by that may give us even more answers."
"Funny, that's where we are headed," Lucia said. "It seems that it's run by Sims Inc. In fact, I think it's only a block away."
Lucia put the car in park. She and Dean stepped out.
"Now that we're all here," Lucia said as she stood right before Guy and Haggar, while Dean walked around the front of the car to meet with the rest. "Let's go see for ourselves."
"Right," Guy said. "Let's finish this."
Dean and Haggar then nodded their heads and were off to scope out the factory.
As the quartet walked off, from a distance, the same man from before with purple pants and a green overcoat walked up close to the cop car. Stray popped his knuckles and went through the pockets of his coat and got out some brass knuckles for both of his hands.
"I'm coming for you, Dean," Stray said. "I'm going to finish what I started." He then gave an evil smile to the quartet.
Another note: First thing I must say something that I forgot to mention in the previous chapter. I know it may seem a bit over the top for Lucia and Dean to have those powers, but keep this in mind, Final Fight shares the same canon as Street Fighter, where you have various martial artists throw fireballs, a man-beast who emits electricity, a yoga master who breathes fire, etc. You get the idea. Plus, they have those moves in the game.
Also, I wanted to have former Mad Gear members make a cameo. Poison and Roxy wanting to be managers for Andore and Andore Jr. makes sense because I think one of the Andores was Hugo in the Street Fighter games, while Poison is his manager. Oh, and like in my Final Fight 1 story, Poison and Roxy are female. I don't need to get into the big controversy surrounding those characters. In my mind, I like to think that Poison and Roxy are actually female.
Back to the cameo, I didn't want to bring everyone back. I can't just have Axl and Slash appear, or even the overweight guys like Bill Bull, G. Oriber, and Wong Who appear (I read that G. Oriber's name is Graham, which was I mentioned it in the dialogue). Same with some of the bosses.
One more thing, I kept on watching some long-plays and regarding Round 5, the second-to-last level, it starts off in a sewer. But if you go the route of either fighting Caine and heading to Chinatown, or starting in the sewer and getting out to Chinatown, you start that stage right near an alleyway.
Like I was doing for the previous chapter, I kept on studying the logic of bridge to dock and then studied the sewer to the entrance of the factory. The former seems a lot more plausible because I know that a bridge can separate from the land to an island. However, the sewer to the entrance of the factory doesn't make sense when you seen an alleyway with light-posts in the background. So it's unlikely I am going to do the sewer bit, unless I come up with something, like I did for the previous chapter and this one. For example, the fight on the roof. In the game, you go to the roof and to the restaurant. I decided to do it a different way.
Anyway, I will do the next one soon.