Disclaimer. I don't own anything.
Disclaimer 2. Don't own that either.
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Robbie'd contacted everyone he could think of, everyone who'd have even the least interest in helping him or Cat, no one was willing to help. They all seemed to either think Gideon was a good man, that it would be bad for Cat to break it off with such an influential guy, or feel that they weren't in a position to do anything about it. Even Beck, who Robbie knew had a strong moral streak, seemed unwilling to risk his future and his face by angering the G-Man. He was on his own.
Still, he knew that he was in the right, and that love was on his side. Plus, a lifetime of being bullied had left him able to take a beating fairly well, and recover reasonably quickly. So he felt that maybe he could take down some of Gideon men, and reduce the odds. Also, he knew it was only a matter of time before the G-Man rewarded his 'Hipsters', and the moralist inside Robbie wouldn't allow him to let that happen to whatever poor girl was going to have to put out for them.
After a quick bit of research, he found his first challenge in the former and current "Hambone King", Gerald Armpeg. Robbie wasn't too worried, Gerald was like him, more of a performer than a fighter. But whereever Gerald was, you could bet Merl would be there too, and the follower was more likely to cause trouble. Still, for Cat, Robbie felt he would do anything, so he had to face his fears and hambone his ass off.
"Yo, Gerald, I've come with a challenge. You up to it?" Robbie asked.
"And what kind of looser challenge would that be?" Merl asked.
"If I win, you walk away from Gideon. He's bad news, and you'll do better without his help. If I lose, then I won't ever challenge your Hambone superiority again." Robbie hoped the deal would seem good enough.
"Al right." Merl said. "This way." He pointed towards the ally in the back. "This won't take long. Mrs. Lee. Just wait for us to get done and come back." He told the entire restaurant. Robbie knew something was up, with Merl doing all the talking, but he was committed. He suspected this wouldn't be a standard hambone challenge as walked out the back door.
As soon as they were clear of the restaurant, Merl grabbed Robbie and held his arms. "Did you really think we'd take your challenge seriously?" Gerald asked. "Gideon gets what he wants, and his influence keeps us going to all the cool parties. I'm sorry, Mister Shapiro, but this Hambone contest will be a little different. I'll be hamboning all over your face." With that Gerald started slapping Robbie. After multiple weaker slaps to the face, the hambone King pulled his arm back to deliver a mighty blow, only for someone to grab his arm.
"This just doesn't feel right to me." Andre said. "Besides, if you recall, I told you once that if you fought him, you'd have to fight me."
Merl let Robbie go, and moved to tackle Andre, as the musician threw Gerald into the wall and stepped back, an ethereal voice was heard to say "Fight" as a large "VS" appeared, just for an instant, in the air. There was also the sound of a bell.
Merl was stronger than Robbie, but his style was just brute force. He swung, and grabbed, with no real idea of what he was doing. Andre, meanwhile, was a boxer. He fell back into his stance and got on his bicycle. Backpedaling to stay out of Merl's reach and picking his shots. Each left handed jab seemed to come out of nowhere, and Andre was in control.
That's when Gerald reentered the fight. The weaker of the two friends lept out and tangled himself in Andre's legs. As the musician fell, Merl was on top of him, hitting wildly and trying to grab Andre's hair to slam him into the pavement. Seeing his friend was in trouble, Robbie grabbed Merl and pulled with all his might. They tumbled down and the bigger guy started wailing on Robbie. For a short eternity the fists kept raining down on the nerds head, until he was suddenly freed of the assailant.
Andre had recovered, and took the time to slam Gerald into the wall, this time head first. The "Hambone King' was out.
Merl snarled, anger rising, then he charged Andre. The musician just side stepped, then started laying in the heavy body blows. Merl was in trouble. Andre knew how to throw a punch, and his blows were rocking the enforcer. Andre was setting him up, moving him into position for the uppercut. While that one blow wasn't enough to finish Merl, it rocked him hard. The enforcer was rocking on his feet, and Andre knew the fight was over. With a mighty heave, he threw Merl into the wall, and landed a few shots into the boys back. When he stepped back, Merl slid down the wall and into unconsciousness.
The etherial voice echo'd "Winner."
Andre was panting. "This was stupid. G-Man's going to know we did this, and he'll send one of his guys to beat us up."
"So?" Robbie asked. "Are they really that much tougher than you are?"
"YES!" Andre yelled. "These guys, they're nothing. Barely a blip on Gideon's radar. His enforcers, those guys are bad news. And when they come for us, they'll hurt us far worse than we did to these two. That is, if the police don't arrest us first."
"Then maybe we should talk to the police first." Robbie said.
"What good would that do. Gideon owns the police." Andre lamented.
"Not all of them. Most cops aren't on the take. If we can get one honest cop to help us out, maybe we won't have to worry about my crazy plan to fight them." Robbie said.
"Good luck with that." Andre replied.
"Don't go. I'm not on that good a terms with Tori's dad. I need you to back me up, let the man know what's going on." Robbie pleaded. For several seconds, Andre wavered.
"Okay, we can talk to him. But I suspect he wont be able to do anything. Think about it. Tori's always been the one who seeks to help people out, you and all the weirdo's of Hollywood Arts. Now she's dating who Gideon tells her to, ignoring her friends. That's not Tori." Andre said, pushing his point. "You'd think she'd have gone to her dad the moment she knew Gideon was using enforcers to make people do what he wanted. But no one investigated Ryder's assault."
Robbie stood there, contemplating what his friend had said. But he had to do this, and if he was being honest with himself, he needed Andre. The bus would take forever, he needed the ride.
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Hope you liked chapter two. Please review.
There are ten more chapters. More reviews means I post them faster. Lass reviews and it's once per week.
