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To Thrive and be Victorious
CHAPTER 6
Rose and Rouge's motel room was about as humble and ordinary as you'd expect, consisting of nothing more than two beds, a couch, a table, a TV, and a bathroom, and not much else when they could have easily stayed in whatever hotel Noire and Blanche were staying in. But that's probably because they were only planning to stay in Vale for a few days and only needed a place that was good enough for the time being while they spent their money on other things. Not that I'm complaining. For all I knew, they could have gotten lower standards and picked the crappiest, sleaziest motel in the kingdom to rent, but thankfully that wasn't the case.
We discussed our plan of action at the hotel within less than a couple of hours. We thought about how to approach the boss who was named Hei Xiong, who usually goes by the moniker of 'Junior', and get him to admit that he was behind a drug trafficking ring until the cops arrive and do the rest so we can all go home and call it a day. While Sun and Neptune would be there for official business, I was the one who would do most of the persuading. Sun and Neptune figured that since I was responsible for Torchwick's arrest then maybe I could get him to give in to our demands.
There were also some bodyguards that we needed to get past one way or another, especially the duo known as The Malachite Twins who I was told were aura-users with Huntsman training. Get rid of them, if necessary. Learning about the twins made me realize this thing just got a little complicated since I realize I would have to do more than just threaten a big guy with the power of my fame. It's like Torchwick's pint-sized accomplice all over again. It made me glad that I called for my sister's help, otherwise, I doubted we would even last with this.
We also looked up The Crimson Panda on the holonet to study its exterior as well as the few pictures of the inside. And for what they're worth, we also checked some blog posts about the club, especially regarding the gang, Junior, and the twins.
Furthermore, Sun and Neptune showed me evidence that confirmed the gang's activities, just to dispel any doubts that we might be pursuing the wrong gang. Some examples would be a photograph of a Triad member dealing narcotics with someone and transcripts of interrogations from apprehended Triads provided by the PD. All we needed to do was interrogate Junior and find a way to arrest him. Destroying the club was optional, preferably with little or no civilian casualties.
While not entirely that complex because of our limited information and resources. The plan was elaborate enough that we even had backup plans prepared just in case things don't work out very well. Not to say there weren't things to be skeptical about. We were still making a huge gamble after all. I thought that even if we succeeded, we might get the attention of the greater Triad organization the gang is working for. I heard they were one of the most powerful criminal organizations around the world and they could put me, my friends, and my family on their hitlist after this.
But then again, being a large criminal organization meant nothing to my family so long as we maintain close ties with the Watchers and the Atlesian government. In the best-case scenario, the Triad higher-ups will realize that retaliating against us will not be worth it and they would have to accept the fact that their Valish division made a very big mistake and that they should just move on from it. Plus, I doubted that Junior and his buddies would risk killing one of Vale's rising stars in his prime. It will give them more unwanted publicity that would get them shunned for doing that. It was one of the things I was sure going to take advantage of.
We spent the other part of the afternoon surveying the area, supplying our gear, and practicing until nightfall arrived. The Crimson Panda was open for business and it was time for us to initiate our operation.
When we entered the crime-ridden streets of Vale's underbelly, I was anxious upon seeing its deprived atmosphere. It was basically the city's own mini-Mantle, the buildings in the area appeared either impoverished or dilapidated with half of them being covered in graffiti; the smell of smoke filled the air while most people on the streets looked like they were one step away from stabbing you and taking all your money. And I thought Downtown Vale was bad, mind you, that's a place where seeing a poor schmuck bleeding with seventeen or more stab wounds in the middle of the street was considered normal and a stale of the city's culture. Thankfully we were riding on a cab when we traversed through the place as walking through it would be difficult without any weapons for self-defense except a few dust crystals since we were all unarmed after me and the boys put our weapons in my locker as part of the plan a few hours ago.
We left the cab as soon as it arrived beside the entrance of the alley near Silverlock Street, where we would rendezvous with my sisters. As we got off the vehicle, we went inside the dark and smelly alleyway. The ground was littered with papers, garbage, and beer bottles with a few rats crawling around. Traversing through it with barely any tools for self-defense wasn't exactly something you call a pleasant experience. Thankfully we reached the rendezvous point where Rose and Rouge were waiting before an unwanted encounter could take place.
The two were leaning behind the back of the building that was facing the Crimson Panda with Rose's bike parked at the side, both were armed with their respective weapons. "Good, y'all are here. Ready to get this thing started?" Rose asked when she saw us arrive, her familiar voice with its rural accent soothed us from the fear we were having.
"I'm ready when you are," I said before taking a deep breath, instinctively looking at my side for anything worthy of prudence, only to find nothing but a cat leaving a dumpster before facing them again. "Don't forget your cues."
"You worry too much, we'll always have your back, baby bro," Rouge reassured as she pumped the barrel of her dust cannon before reciting one of our better-sounding family's unofficial mottos. "Don't forget, we're Arcs. Our auras are bigger than our enemies' egos combined. They'll break themselves before they could ever break us."
I felt more encouraged upon hearing those words. This is one of the examples of how Rouge can be a good old sister when she wants to beneath that troublemaking personality.
Before giving my scroll to Ren as he would be doing the honors by sneaking it in, fooling the guards into thinking they have everyone's scrolls confiscated so we could call for backup or summon our weapons. Rouge handed me a burner scroll to pass off as my own, using it as a decoy for the guards to take away. Neptune was able to put my ID in there so I could show it to the bouncers. Ren was going to sneak my actual scroll inside. We're going to need it to send the signal and get all of our weapons while it records everything inside.
"Be careful, there are civvies in there just tryin' to have a good time. Among the lowlife sons-o'-bitches that hang out there," Rose told me.
"I haven't forgotten that." Innocents at the club were one of the obstacles we expected during the mission. Luckily we prepared something to keep them away from the incoming crossfire.
We faced the direction of the club. I still had some doubts, thinking that this might not even be worth it. But I already made up my mind. Besides, it wouldn't be my fault that the club gets trashed again. Trafficking illegal drugs while threatening adamant investigators was already a recipe for disaster and we're just there to deliver. Even most crime bosses know this hence why they stay away from the stuff despite their value in the underworld.
"Here we go," Sun puffed.
"Hope this works," Neptune urged.
"The stakes aren't any higher than the ones we faced before," Ren exhaled, trying to sway any more doubts that could hinder our operation. "As long as everyone remembers their places and everything will go as intended."
"Thank you, Ren," I nodded at him with approval. By that point, I already had enough encouragement to continue pressing forward.
"You're welcome."
We left the alley and saw the club across the empty street near the infrastructure. The electronic dance music that was playing inside could be heard outside the entrance, albeit slightly muffled. For a nightclub, the exterior looked relatively inconspicuous, barely looking different from other buildings in the area. There was only a single small red neon sign depicting a bear's head with the club's name below it as well as two men wearing dark suits, accompanied by a fedora and red tie, guarding the entrance. And it was something you'd expect from a shithole nightclub that attracts criminal low lives.
With a single gulp, we went through the streets and approached the two bouncers. To say that they weren't happy to see us, particularly the two pseudo-detectives they were told about, was an understatement. "You two have a lot of nerve showing your faces here," The first bouncer said before they took a good look at me, "And who the hell is th—?" Their faces then shifted to nervousness. "Oh." I could feel fear in their eyes behind those red sunglasses that they were still wearing during nighttime for some reason.
"Hi," I greeted laconically. Further introductions weren't needed since evidently my face and my clothes were enough to give them an impression of who they were talking to. The trepidations I've been hiding internally weren't thankfully a part of that and I made sure of it.
"We just want to talk to your boss," Sun said with a forced grin.
"Don't worry, there is nothing on us. We don't plan on starting something." Neptune lied as I hid a crossed finger behind my back and gave the two bouncers a reassuring smile.
"Oh, of course, he was expecting you clowns," One of them said. "You still need to show us some ID. Standard procedure and all."
We all complied, taking out our scrolls from our pockets and showing them our respective IDs. The first bouncer nodded. "Good. Now give them to me," he said before turning to me. "Since your friends have been snooping around, I don't trust you to bring any of these in so we're keeping them until you leave."
"Fine by me," I shrugged with a smile. It was just as we anticipated. They didn't want to bring any one of our scrolls inside in fear that we might use it against them, thankfully we came in prepared for this exact moment. We've let them confiscate our scrolls while they remain oblivious to the fact that I gave them a burner scroll that just has a fake copy of my ID in it. As I expected, they didn't even bother to check twice. I guess lawbreakers aren't just that good at enforcing their own rules.
"Don't worry, we promise you'll get it back once you're out. Now, all of you stand still for a second. We just want to make sure you don't have any other unwelcome hardware with you," the same bouncer said. We stood still as they proceeded to search our bodies for anything else. They found nothing from us aside from Sun and Neptune's junior detective badges, much to their mockery.
"Okay. You're all clear to go," The bouncer stepped back after he finished searching our pockets. "You're the boss's problem now."
Indeed he is, I thought, feeling smug underneath my friendly face. Ren gave me a wink, indicating that they could not get a hold of my scroll that he was hiding, much to my satisfaction. The lack of any resistance from any of us should have made them suspicious but it looks like they weren't paid enough to bother with that. They also failed to check if the trackers were off which made this club's downfall more inevitable especially since Neptune mentioned that the PD was monitoring their location while they were both active with the case. Good job fixing it, lazy bums.
"Oh, you're a lifesaver." Sun grinned at him. He was confused about what he meant by that but he immediately dismissed it as a weird compliment.
Ren briefly pulled my scroll out of his sleeve to assure me that it was safe. I smirked knowing that things are going well so far. Who knew the magic tricks Ren taught me for that stupid talent show would come in handy?
We finally entered The Crimson Panda. The music became much more audible as I got my first taste of the interior. The colors were mostly black and white with red being the most colorful thing the club has. The lights, walls, and floors change to one of those colors from time to time. I guess this is why they call it that.
Although it was prettier than what was outside, it was… aesthetically unpleasing if I were, to be frank. My eyes felt like they were being assaulted by the place's ugly use of the color scheme, especially when it fades to white, it blinds me just by looking at it. I couldn't tell if it was a nightclub with an overly-grim theme or if I somehow made it to the fucking Grimmlands which is said to be hell's rooftop.
I know that decadent clubs like this tend to have this sort of motif but I'm pretty sure they don't even look this stupid. The fact that everyone was wearing the same colors including the DJ with his stupid ugly-ass bear mask that makes the Ursae less of a pain to look at did not help. If terrible aesthetics was a crime then consider adding this to the list of felonies this gang has committed. It made me want to trash the place and beat everyone up even more which was just the motivation I needed when I got myself into this heaping pile of crap.
Almost everyone stared at us, most of which were the thugs in uniforms who were fidgeting upon seeing the so-called 'Butcher of the White Fang' or whatever walking around, stepping back when I pass near them. Other civilians were awed and were chattering that the current white knight of Beacon was before them, that is if they weren't whimpering in fear along with the Triads. Good, I thought. while I wasn't one to brag and while I was far from the scariest person hiding under bad guys' bed, I was going to give them a good reason to be scared of me, just so I don't have to be scared of them myself.
We found 'Junior' when we saw him at a bar, sitting on a stool between his pretty bodyguards who admittedly look too good for this place. It wasn't hard to identify him, his relative appearance made him stick out from his men even though he only lacked a hat and wore only a vest on his shirt. And the raven-haired twins clad in red and white respectively sitting next to him made it blatant that it was him.
"Hei Xiong?" I asked when we approached him. All the nearby henchmen faced us. We were perturbed by this but we were able to hide it especially since we were aware that they were just as, if not more scared than us, courtesy of my presence.
Of course, the first thing Neptune did was flirt with the twins. "Hello again, ladies." He greeted, winking. Unsurprisingly, the two looked away in disgust. I'm not going to stop him if that's his way of coping away his anxiety so long as he focuses on the plan.
Junior gave me a good look before he spoke, "Hey, aren't you the kid that has been making moves a lot recently? What are you doing here?" He asked before he looked at Sun and Neptune. "Oh great, you two. Still snooping as usual I see. And I thought you wouldn't show up. Guess I'm wrong." He looked back at me, "Need a drink?"
"No thanks, I'm good." I was still too young to drink, after all. I doubt I would be big on alcohol when I'm old enough. I like my lever just the way it is. [1]
"That's a very serious accusation you're making, kid." He said before groaning. "How many times do I have to tell you dumbasses? I run a perfectly legitimate business here. You'll find nothing that you're looking for."
Yeah, right, I thought. As if the armed thugs wearing the same colors didn't give the impression that this club was owned by a gang that had a record of involvement in illegal activities. I could see it on his face no matter how much he denied it. I have been lying a lot myself to know that someone is hiding something that you can say I've grown a lie detector inside of my mind. "Prior evidence says otherwise. You might want to fess up. They might even give you a more lenient sentence and they don't have to raid this place."
"Like I said before, we're not hiding anything. Even if we are—which we're not! Then what are you going to do about it?" He bellowed.
"We have a warrant," Sun pointed out. "Can't show it right now because my scroll was confiscated. We can search the place if we have to, like it or not."
"You can wipe it with your own ass for all I care!" Junior slammed the bar's table, almost making his glass spill. He then looked around and noticed that a few of his guests stopped whatever they were doing to watch them with unmistakably frightened looks. I was pretty sure some of them already are since I noticed a few that left in a hurry when I started to show up. Considering what I've heard about what happened to this place before, they know what's up and I'll give them credit for being wise enough to ditch the place. "Let's take this upstairs before you scare my patrons away, shall we?"
His suggestion barely conflicted with our plan so we didn't object to following him to the VIP floor. We continued our discussion in a room with leather chairs and a balcony that overlooked the dance floor. The chairs were admittedly quite comfortable and the room space was relatively small which means it could only fit a few thugs for us to worry about especially while we still didn't have our weapons yet.
Junior sat on the sofa with the twins between him. We sat on the chairs in front of him while a handful of guards stood around. "Let me get this straight; you two brought in this guy because you think you could use him to scare me?" He said before making a chuckle. "If that's the case, try harder. You might as well have brought your mommies with you."
Little did he knew we were barely even starting. "I remember Torchwick giving me that look," I asserted as phlegmatically as I could, staring at his eyes, remembering that Neptune told me that he once made a deal with him. "And you know what happened to him right?"
The mention of that name made his smirk upside-down. Meanwhile, the twins looked somewhat impressed, simpering at me over what they just heard. "Perfect, another annoying blondie, and it's a guy this time," Junior complained.
"Wait, wasn't I the other annoying blondie?" Sun wondered.
Junior did not answer him, though by the looks of it he might as well be one to him. He was probably referring to Yang, as I recall Neptune telling me that she was the one responsible for the previous destruction of the Crimson Panda. It sounded like something she would do, given her record. If that was the case, we should have got her involved to maximize the pressure but it was already decided by that point that the party was full.
"It's really a shame because I kinda like you. You got balls, I'll give you that," Junior said to me. As much as I'm used to compliments such as these, it felt weird hearing this from a gang leader who I was planning to arrest. "So what will it take for you to scram and leave us alone? Money? Women? Booze?"
I was already rich, I'm pretty sure my family makes more than how much the club was worth. And I already have too many girls chasing after me that asking for more would be self-harm. And as I said before—I wasn't the drinking type yet. If anything, he was only digging himself deeper. "Now you're just bribing us. I don't think you'd offer me anything if you don't have anything to hide."
"Look, we don't do much. Outside of managing this club, we mostly just sell protection and export legal goods. That's it." He claimed.
Well, now that he mentioned it, I wouldn't have hesitated to loot the latter once I was done if the police didn't need as much evidence against the gang as possible, provided that he wasn't lying when they claimed that they were legal.
"If your businesses are about as legitimate as you claim they were, then why did you threaten these two to stay away?" Ren pointed out, slightly raising his voice from his usual tone.
"Because your brats won't leave us alone!" Junior snarled. "I don't care if you have badges, I don't take kindly to those who wouldn't quit harassing me and my business!"
"And there's a reason why they won't," I said. "You're the go-to guys for organized crime for this part of town. Almost everyone knows this. It's an open secret."
"For crissake, even if that's true, we're still not hiding any drugs around here. We don't touch that shit because we know it is not good for business. We're just a club of gentlemen who want to give people a good time."
Right, and I'm not some secretly-wimpy country boy with a fixation for northern tea. If he truly was aware that drugs weren't good for business, then we simply wouldn't be here. Sun and Neptune showed me enough evidence for the contrary which is why I haven't bought his adamant denials of harboring narcotics.
"Like, feeding them illegal drugs?" Neptune asked in an attempt to sound clever. He ended up being too successful with that, to say the least.
"Now you're just pissing me off," Junior hissed as he stood up. "I'd be happy if you get out of here now. I'm giving you twenty seconds before I have to beat your asses up myself."
"Look, we're not here to cause trouble." I lied, "If we wanted to, we could have easily got in here with guns blazing. We just wanted to hear what you have to say about these accusations. If that's what you'll want then we'll leave. We got what we came for."
He leaned from his chair. "Good because you're not going to get anything from here, maybe aside from some ass-whopping if you keep bugging me. Now get lost."
We were about to stand up and initiate Attack Plan Charlie (send the signal, make as much damage as possible until he confesses, then let the police do the rest.) Even if we complied and left as he said, it won't stop the Triads from hunting us down because of how we confronted them.
Suddenly a Triad member arrived upstairs with some news for Junior, which happened to be very convenient in our favor. "Hey, boss. Just so you'd know, the next batch of obscura[2] just came in."
After hearing that, we decided to stop and stay there for a moment. It felt just too contrived and the timing was just too perfect that I have to thank whatever Gods for to as we were able to hear this at a very convenient moment.
"Right, right, right. Now buzz off, will you?" Junior insisted, faintly but noticeably panicking. The thug remained, much to his annoyance.
"Speaking of which, one of our girls said that she needs more of them. Her is name Stacy, I think. She said she can't keep servicing any more clients without them," the thug continued to prattle, thus giving us everything we needed to confirm that Junior and his Triad playmates are indeed guilty.
Junior's face turned so red that he was almost close to having steam come out of his ears. "Alright, I get it!" By the way, my scroll was still recording everything that was being said.
"Oh, and some guys complained about the smell at the backroom gambling den." The thug kept spilling the beans that Junior lost his patience. He stood up and marched toward him. "We found out it was the rats that were hiding in the—"
Before he was able to finish, Junior pulled him by his tie. "I already fucking know about that, Zhou. Now take a break before I break you myself." There was a short pause there before 'Zhou' obeyed his word.
"Okay, boss," he said with a hint of fear in his voice.
After Junior let him go, he left and went downstairs. I have to thank this guy sometime. Too bad he must have ended up like any other thug in the area because he's probably the most cooperative gangster we encountered that day, even if it was unintentional. This guy should get a shorter sentence for accidentally snitching his gang, assuming he's still alive as I write this.
The boys and I all looked at each other before nodding with a few smirks. "Okay. That was something. We're leaving now just like you wanted us to do." Sun said as we tried leaving the room.
"Hold on. How much did you hear?" Junior asked.
"Uh, you telling us to go away for the umpteenth time? We get it now. We're out of here." I jeered, technically speaking the truth. We tried to head for the room's exit only for some thugs to abruptly block us.
Junior chuckled. "Not so fast. Maybe I have something to do with you first."
"Oh, and now you want us here," I said sarcastically while maintaining my smug demeanor beneath my apprehensions, darting glances at any potential escape routes from where I was at.
"I admit maybe, we do have drugs. How about I invite you to try them out," Junior continued as the twins stood up and they walked slowly toward us. "It'll help you forget."
My heart rate was beating so fast that I almost reached for my holster out of instinct even though I was well aware that my gun wasn't there. Made me wonder whose idea was this—before realizing that it was mine and I have no one but myself to blame. It made me think that I should have refused when I had the chance.
"Whoa, hey, go easy on me, girls," Neptune said to the twins as they walked closer and rolled their eyes at him as we began to step back very carefully. His continuous attempts to flirt with the twins almost tempted me into using him as a human shield so that those girls would stay away out of repulsion. He would have been very likely to be okay with it as long as he gets their attention; it would have been a win-win for us both.
"You know. It's a good thing you were nice enough not to bring any of your toys," Junior chuckled again while giving a sinister smile. "Look, kid, I like you. I really do. It's why I haven't killed you yet. In all honesty, I'd hate to do that to you. Because I made a ton of money betting on your team and I feel like I should at least thank you for that."
You should have stuck with that as your source of income then. This could have all been avoided and we didn't have to ruin your business, and I wouldn't have been in this mess.
He continued, "But as long as you have Pyrrha Nikos on your team, I don't need your blond ass. Sorry, hero, but I don't think you won't be able to take the match tomorrow."
A couple of guards blocked the nearest exit behind us, trying to trap us. I knew what Junior was about to do to us which meant I had to take action. Before I try anything too dire, however, I attempted to put them into their senses first. "Are you sure you want to go through with this? Do you know who I am? I am an Arc! My great-great-grandfather has a statue in a park in this city! You lay a finger on me and you're going to wish you were never born! You hear me?!"
This seemed to have frightened the thugs, making them very hesitant to come forward, including the twins though only by a slight margin. Junior meanwhile remained adamant. "So what? If I'm going to get screwed over either way, I might as well teach you a lesson, you stupid brat! I have connections too, you know!" He aggressively growled.
"Not as big as mine," I replied, trying to remain comparatively calm to maintain control of the situation as we continued to slowly step back. "You're not thinking this through, Junior. The smartest thing you can do right now is to let us go and maybe we'll ask the cops to give you a shorter sentence."
"I would rather die than let your blondie ass humiliate me that easily and take me to jail!"
Your funeral then, I thought. He left me no other choice. His enduring tenacity would have been admirable if he weren't being so foolish and annoying, so I had to teach him his lesson the hard way.
Before the situation could get any worse, I looked at the dance floor to see if it was clear and I saw that there were only a couple of people dancing at the side. I turned to Ren and finally gave him the nod. He got the message and entered my locker's launch codes on my scroll while hiding it behind his back, without even looking at it. Sorry Junior, but we're about to crash this party, I thought.
I heard a beep that indicated the locker's launch, something the Triads failed to notice. I looked at the dance floor from the balcony to find the red landing beacon where it would drop to, only to find nothing even though the dance floor was fairly empty and we intended to aim it there when the drop radius was free of civilians. I assumed that it was because the bright lighting of the club made it less visible but after a few seconds—I found out why. And I felt very stupid…
There was a loud thud on the ceiling as a crack appeared while the ground shook slightly. The lights flickered and the music stopped, alarming everyone inside the club. Not a single locker dropped into the floor, and it's because the locker actually landed on the roof since it wasn't strong enough to break through it. I lost my smug expression and held a palm to my own face when I realized this.
While the Triad gangsters were murmuring about what just happened, I leaned toward my companions and whispered, "Why didn't you remind me that the lockers couldn't get past the roof?"
"You sounded like you knew what you were saying," Ren answered with a shrug.
Yeah, well, it turned out that I wasn't. I admit I'm dense sometimes. [3] Not noticing that one critical flaw that would essentially botch the plan. Thankfully, this setback wasn't that bad. At least we could still knock out the thugs and take their weapons in the meantime. Rose and Rouge would still get the signal and will eventually come in.
"What the hell was that?!" One of the thugs wondered.
"I don't know. Check the rooftops. It might be because those damn snowmen dropped something from their ships or something," Junior ordered. The thugs obeyed and left the room, giving us less of them to worry about when the assault began.
Before a few of the thugs could go outside from the back door. Rose kicked the door open, knocking out the first thug behind it. She twirled her revolvers as she whipped them at the other thugs. One of them tried to shoot at her, only for Rose to shove his arm upwards, making him aim and fire at the roof before his forehead got clouted by the grip of Rose's revolver. Rose uses the thug's shot as a warning for the remaining clubgoers inside. "Everybody out now!"
There was no need to call the cops. We knew that at least one of them would presumably do it for us. Even if they don't, the police would still inevitably come since they were tracking Sun and Neptune's scrolls after all.
Guests began screaming as they ran toward the nearest exit while the thugs started panicking as well. Sun summoned his light clones which he used to help us knock out the thugs in the VIP lounge before taking their pistols. In my case, I turned to the thug behind me before he was able to draw his pistol. I grabbed his wrist and twisted his arm as I pointed his gun toward him before pushing him down with my foot and swiping his pistol. One of Sun's light clones did the rest by punching his face out cold.
Everyone was now armed after taking a weapon from an unconscious thug. Ren, of course, was still dual-wielding, holding two pistols he took from two different thugs. We aimed at a very furious Junior. "Godsdammit, it's happening again! Get them!" He commanded the twins who both nodded and stepped in front of us.
We opened fire at them as they began deflecting bullets with their weapons that were respectively attached to their arms and legs. While we were at it, Rouge barged in from the front entrance, creating an explosion that knocked out nearby thugs.
"Yippee-ki-yay, motherfuckers!" she cried out before swinging a thug, making him fly across the room, breaking through two glass pillars until he crashed to a wall before falling off of it. "Home run! That's right. Run home to your mommas!" A few of them were smart enough to take her word while the rest were provoked by her.
Eventually, Ren managed to lure away the twins while Sun and Neptune went downstairs to help my sisters deal with the hostiles. It was then I noticed Junior aiming his rocket launcher toward me. I jumped away from the balcony and into the white-tiled dance floor as his rocket missed me upon firing.
When I landed, I looked up and noticed the crack in the ceiling where my locker landed. It was about to crumble while the medium-sized disco ball was barely hanging. Junior caught up with me and faced me as his weapon turned into a baseball bat.
Without another word, I fired two rounds on the crumbling roof without looking up. Despite my blind firing, one of my shots was able to hit the disco ball's mount.
Junior was baffled, thinking that I was shooting aimlessly. "Was that supposed to scare me or someth—?" he spoke up before the roof crumbled and the disco ball fell on him, knocking him out unconscious on his own club's dance floor. That's gotta hurt.
"That's a disco fever if I've ever seen one" I snarked. [4] With him knocked out, it made a significant effect on the Triads' morale. I noticed more of them routing to the exit after witnessing that their boss got knocked out. I didn't forget to take all of the contents of his wallet. He was carrying a lot, I presumed that they were drug money and thus count as evidence so I can't really touch them even if I wanted to. I had a lot of money anyway, and the bounty reward, if I were to get any, would be enough to get me to buy new combat boots.
Along with some debris, my rocket locker dropped as its impact cracked the tile it fell into. It opened, showing off all the weapons stored inside.
"Oh, thank Gods!" I dived in and grabbed my sword, its sheath, and my laser pistol. I put my sheath and holster at my belt before spotting two thugs charging toward me with the intent to kill. I threw the pistol that I took at the first thug and it hit his head hard, making him fall to the ground as his hat fell off, his forehead visibly bleeding. I took my laspistol from my holster and shot the other one in the face.
Ren, Sun, and Neptune shortly came in and grabbed their respective weapons. They used their ranged function to fire at any thugs who were trying to shoot us down. One of the thugs even fell from the balcony and landed on another thug after getting shot at. I turned and saw that the shot was from Rose's rifle. She gave me a single thumbs up before going back to shooting.
My companions spread out, continuing to clear out other parts of the club. I looked at my front and saw two hostiles approaching me, only that it wasn't your regular run-on-the-mill thugs but the dangerously attractive Malachite Twins themselves.
"Looks like Junior got beaten up by a pretty blond again, Miltia," said the white one with the bladed heels. For a couple of murderous henchmen working for a criminal organization, they sounded like conceited high school cheerleaders. I wouldn't be surprised if Yang hung out with these two before. "I'm honestly impressed. Too bad we still have to punish you for making a mess, cutie."
And just when everyone split up. Perfect.
"Indeed, Melanie," the red-colored twin said to her sister as she readied her claws. "Nothing personal, handsome, but we have a job to do." She stormed toward me while Melanie, the one in white leaped above me and toward my back. I parried the strikes coming from Miltia's claws as I aimed my laser pistol toward her behind me. I fired my laser pistol as she avoided it by sliding down, trying to sweep my feet on the way. I jumped above her and tried thrusting my sword downwards while she was on the ground, but she was able to slide past me before I could stab her. In situations like this, I would have used dust to my advantage, but unfortunately, I came here without anything in my pocket and there wasn't much I could weaponize in the environment against them so I was stuck with the good ole' hack n' gun.
I switched my pistol with my shield. I began swinging my sword and shoving my shield at them as they deflected it with their respective weapons and vice versa. While the fight was taking place, they were arguing about who gets a piece of me.
"He's mine!"
"No, he's mine!"
It was the most bizarre experience J had during this mission. Girls fighting over me was something I was still trying to process, but literally fighting over me while I defend myself from them took it to a whole new level. I would have actually appreciated it if they did actually fight over me rather than just argue who gets the most of my attention; I might not even have to deal with them. On any other day, I would have been happy to have these two attractive women serve me, but at the moment. I was busy making sure that I don't get scratched or get stepped on by a bladed heel in a painful and unsatisfying manner.
I parried away Miltia's claws before Melanie leaped toward me as I raised my shield, pushing me back slightly. I collapsed my shield and drew my pistol, firing at the white twin. It prompted her to make backflips as she dodged the laser fire. I used my sword to block off the following scratches from Miltia. I raised my pistol and aimed at her face, only for her to duck as she tried to sweep off my legs and make me fall to the ground. I needed these two to be at a distance. Their fighting style has a huge emphasis on close-quarters combat so it means that fighting in range wasn't their best suit. Unfortunately, I think they were aware of this which was why they were trying to keep me close to them as much as possible. If the others, particularly Rose, weren't so busy, I would have asked for help.
Melanie ran in and jumped with the intention of landing toward me on her heels. Thankfully I was able to grab my shield and expand it as she lands, making her flip back to the floor.
I stood up and faced the two. Sun and Neptune then came in beside me with their weapons drawn. "We'll take care of this for you, go!" Sun said to me.
"Aww, we were just having fun with him," Miltia whined.
"Another time, ladies," I gave the two boys a nod before leaving the center of the dance floor. Sun was swinging his nunchucks against Miltia and her claws while Neptune was whirling his trident (which I was tempted to call by its name) as Melanie flips around while trying to hit him with her heels.
More thugs with terrible life decisions approached me with pistols, hatchets, and cleavers. I sprang toward the first person, pummeling his chest with my shield before using it to bash his face and knock him down. I switched my left hand with my pistol while the thugs charged around me. I whirled my sword around, slicing down the thugs that tried to come near me while I blocked their weapons, simultaneously shooting the hostiles that were in range. The laser fire blended well with the club's aesthetic so not many noticed it before it hit them. Blood began to paint the white dance floor red, not that it made much of a difference to the overall design of the interior. One of them tried to throw a cleaver behind me. I ducked right in time and it landed on the face of the thug that was on my front.
Ouch. I was wondering when they will try to throw a cleaver. You can't say you're facing Animan gangsters without at least one of them throwing some kind of knife at you.
To show that knife thrower my gratitude, I turned back and shot him in the leg so he would visit a jail cell instead of a morgue unlike some of his unfortunate comrades. It was the nicest thing I could do to a member of a criminal organization who attempted to kill me with a knife in a dire situation.
I parried the thug's hatchet before slashing his torso, thus disposing of the last thug of that group, the DJ then ducked out from his booth with a machine gun. He opened fire at me as I slid through the cover behind one of the glass pillars. I ducked behind it as the DJ fired at the pillar. Splinters of the glass rained above me while I remained in cover. Once his magazine ran out, I was clear for a shot. I stood from cover and fired at his head. Thanks to the ridiculous size of the mask/helmet, it was easy to hit him and he was killed with a single shot. He fell to the ground with a hole in his head. Can't imagine dying while wearing that.
I looked to see what the others were doing. Rose was still shooting gangsters left and right, sometimes simultaneously, getting rid of the last groups of Triads. Rouge was standing above the bar's table swinging thugs away with her bat before picking up a bottle and then smashing it in an unfortunate goon's head. Ren was facing a bigger, fatter thug with a stature slightly taller than me. The fat thug tried clobbering him with his silver brass knuckles, only for Ren to dodge every single one of them. He managed to climb onto his back, making him walk around the place uncontrollably. Ren hit his head with one of his machine pistols repeatedly until he was knocked unconscious.
He gave me a nod as he reunited at my side. The club was running out of thugs, with most of them either dead, unconscious, or have taken the hint and left. Rose and Rouge approached me as they were also finished with their respective fights; I gave the former back her scroll. The only thing left to deal with was the other pair of sisters who were still engaging with the junior detective duo. The fight looked like it was stuck in a stalemate, with neither side having any advantage over the other as if the fight was going nowhere. So I decided to speed things up for them, in my side's favor of course.
"Rouge, you know what to do."
She gave me a smirk before changing her baseball bat into its dust canon form, unfolding the charging handle from her bat as the muzzle opens. "Hey, Nep Nep!" she shouted.
Yeah, well, we really needed to work on our callouts, but it worked out so well so I didn't think about it much.
Neptune turned to us and nodded, acknowledging that he got the coded message. "Sorry, darling," he said to Melanie after swinging against her boots while she was in mid-air as Rouge fired a round of ice dust behind her and created a thin, icy puddle.
"Ugh. Don't you call me that, you ner—!" Melanie retorted before stepping back after seeing Neptune lunge toward her, not noticing the ice puddle that was behind her. She slipped and then slid across the dance floor before getting shocked by a blast of electricity from Neptune's blaster.
"It's intellectual, darling," Neptune said in a relaxed pose.
Now with her out of the way, it's time to finish off the other twin. "Rose, Ren," I said to them.
"Hell yeah, brother!" Rose cried out as she and Ren moved into their positions.
Sun was blocking off a series of attacks by Miltia's claws using his staff. Ren dashed to the other side until the two combatants were in between him and Rose. Miltia was puzzled upon seeing this. Before she could do anything about it, Ren and Rose opened fire on her.
Rose fired with one revolver and then switched to the other after its chamber ran out of bullets while Ren was shooting with both of his pistols at the same time. Miltia's fighting style gave her very little room for defense so it was easy to overwhelm her with numbers that were more than she was expected to face. Miltia was pinned down, engulfed in gunfire coming from both of her sides that gave Sun an opening. Sun repeatedly struck her with staff while pushing her back. He then swiped his staff at her face, knocking her to the floor along with her remaining aura.
Seeing as there were no more hostiles on the premises. We all panted. The club was now in shambles. Bodies of gangsters were lying almost everywhere, blood decorated the floor along with some walls, and all but one of the glass pillars were shattered. One of the spotlights on the ceiling above the dance floor even fell as we examined the aftermath of the fight.
"That's all of them," Ren wiped the sweat off his forehead.
Sun rested on his staff. "That was some party."
"Told you we'd make a mess," Rogue said, going back to the bar to pour herself a shot.
"The chief is going to yell at us, won't he?" Neptune asked.
"Ya' gotta send every lawless bastard a message though. The police will at least be thankful," Rose said before putting his elbow on my shoulder, "And besides, now that your reputation is gonna grow again, you can make every criminal wet their pants when they see ya', baby brother, which means less trouble for ya' for the future."
I exhaled deeply at that remark. "I hope you're right."
We heard sirens coming outside the club. A few seconds later, cops stormed in from the front entrance with their guns drawn. Thankfully I looted almost everyone here before they could arrive. "Freeze!"
"Oh shit, five-oh is here," Rouge groaned. "Great. And I wanted to party in this place after we're done."
"Better late than never," I put away my weapons while preparing to converse with them.
"Don't do anything stupid this time," Rose told Rouge as she holstered all of her weapons and instinctively put her hands up while holding her scroll while it displayed her Huntsman license. She was the only one among us who had one, and this wouldn't be the case if Rouge didn't act so carelessly after graduating. It was enough to convince the cops that we were on their side.
"Whatever," Rouge replied.
The cops examined the area for a moment and saw the mess we caused. "Bloody hell! What happened here?"
"Junior Detectives!" Sun and his partner flashed their badges at them. "We're on a case. You can say it's more or less solved now."
"Did you lads cause this?" One of them asked.
"Yeah, but we couldn't have done it without the help of these brave citizens," Neptune gestured at the three of us siblings.
"Oh, we're not exactly citizens," I corrected. "We're from the Gallics and he's from Huaxia I think," I gestured at Ren. "But you're welcome."
One of the coppers recognized my face. "The Brothers' crotches, are you that lad from Beacon? Me daughter's been talking a lot about you."
"Yep. That's me," I said rather unenthusiastically before forcing a smile. "Just warming up for tomorrow."
"Didn't know you were this much of a nutter to take on this whole club. I can see why kids fancy ya a lot."
"As usual, you yanks caused quite a ruckus in here," The police sergeant stepped in. "There's going to be a ton of paperwork over this no doubt. I hope this is all worth it."
"Oh trust us. Not only there will be fewer drugs on the streets, but we also put a huge blow to one of the major crime syndicates in the kingdom!" Sun reassured. The sergeant was slightly impressed but wasn't fully convinced.
"Aside from the drugs they're hiding somewhere here, they also mentioned an illegal gambling den somewhere in the backrooms," Neptune added.
"We'll look into that, thank you. Good riddance I won't be hearing much of these Triads from now on. They've been bothering me for a while now." The sergeant looked at the cops surrounding an unconscious Junior who was waking up.
The first thing Junior saw after regaining his consciousness was cops pointing their guns at him. I don't know about you, but I think that he wished he remained unconscious. His hands were immediately cuffed afterward as the cops did the same to the other surviving thugs.
"We're going to need a lot of handcuffs and body bags for this," the sergeant murmured.
Another officer suddenly came from the front entrance and called us. "Oi. Detective Huntley wants to see you. We'll take it from here."
I made an exasperated sigh. "Here we go again." The good news is that I'm finally done with that place. The lights in there are going to haunt my dreams but I'll feel better knowing that place is basically gone now.
=o=
1. This was clearly written long before he developed a taste for amasec, much like his Father. Needless to say, this line did not age like the brand of wine that grew to his liking.
2. An addictive hallucinogenic drug that puts the user in a dream-like state that lasts for a few hours before wearing off. Once the effect fades, the user will suffer into a deep depression until they consume another dose of the drug. The drug's strong addictive substance made it strictly banned in all kingdoms but is still being used by certain cults as part of their rituals.
3. Well, that took him long enough to notice that.
4. I swear, you're worse than Yang sometimes.