After the Fact

Three days later, Kyle went to school. He kept himself distant from his brother and his brother's girlfriend. He didn't talk to his friends throughout the weekend, despite Vanessa trying to reach him, as well as his friends Lou and Paco trying to call him. Cody and Jessica expressed some concern, but Kyle didn't want to talk about it, especially after what he had witnessed.

When lunchtime came, Kyle went to go sit at a table. He didn't look at anybody. However, Vanessa walked in with Celeste, Paco, and Lou. They saw Kyle sitting all by his lonesome with his head down. All Kyle could think about was that gang execution that he had witnessed.

"Kyle?" The moment he heard his name said by a girl, he looked up and saw an African-American girl with light-colored eyes standing before him. It was Vanessa, who had the rest of their clique with her.

"What do you guys want?" Kyle said with an annoyed tone.

"Kyle, what do you have to be like this?" Vanessa said. "I tried to reach you for the past few days. Cody told me that you didn't come out of your room all weekend. What's been going on? We've all been worried about you."

"You know what's been going on," Kyle said, as he sounded so straightforward in his voice.

Paco cut in, "Kyle, I don't think you should worry too much about what happened."

The rest of his friends sat down around him.

Lou said, "We all watched the news about what had happened. It turned out that the guy who was killed was some criminal himself. His name was Teodoro Torres and it was said that he was a Mad Gear member."

"What's your point?" Kyle said.

"I'm just saying that he wasn't some innocent guy we could have or should have helped," Lou said.

"So you think he deserved to die like that?" Kyle said.

"That's not what he's saying," Vanessa said. "What he's saying is that what happened, he might have caused problems within the gang and we don't think those guys saw us. Nobody said anything about potential witnesses."

Celeste cut in, "Come on, Kyle, we're your friends. Vanessa cares about you. I don't you should worry too much about this."

Despite having witnessed an execution, Kyle realized that their friends had a point. While he and Vanessa saw it first-hand, and it was a rather traumatizing experience, with a lot of the chaos that had been happening in Metro City, it was a bit of a relief to know that the murder victim wasn't completely innocent in this case.

Vanessa went and sat next to Kyle and put her arm around him. "It's going to be okay. Remember, my brother is a cop and he is doing his best to keep the streets safe."

"You're right," Kyle said. At that point, he had calmed down with some relief.

By the time evening rolled around, Cody had finished his shift at the gym. He told Jessica that he was going to meet with Guy at a dojo that he trained at, as well as worked.

Cody took off to the dojo. It was nighttime, and it would seem that it was closing time for the dojo, but he looked through the door and the layout of the place had Japanese kanji symbols on the walls with red coloring, along with weapons and padded mats. He saw Guy, wearing a red and white karate gi, sparring with a dark-skinned man with long brown hair and wore a blue outfit. Cody looked at this guy with an expression of "what is he doing here?" The man was Carlos, who delivered a punch but Guy blocked and then dodged when Carlos delivered a high kick. As Cody approached the two men, Guy and Carlos bowed to one another.

["Excellent, Carlos, you have progressed a lot,"] Guy said to Carlos in Japanese.

["I try, but I know that I'm not on your level yet,"] Carlos said. ["Your Bushin style is something else."]

["Patience, my friend, there is more to learning than to just get good,"] Guy said. ["I know you have been training hard. I feel like I'm still learning every day."]

["Next time we will use katanas, part of my personal expertise,"] Carlos said.

["We'll see about that, my friend,"] Guy said and they shook hands.

A clap was heard. The two martial artists turned to face Cody who had just walked in.

"Cody, you have arrived," Guy said. "I was just training with my friend, this here is…"

"Carlos, yes, we've met before," Cody said and turned to Carlos while not looking him in the eye. "Hello, Carlos." He said in a somewhat annoyed tone.

"Hey, Cody," Carlos said in a different tone. "Come on, why are you being like this?"

"You know why," Cody said.

"Is it because you saw me talking to Jessica a few times? You're still mad about that?" Carlos said.

"Is there a problem here?" Guy said.

"No, it's not a big deal, it's just Cody thought I was trying to take his girl one time," Carlos said to Guy, and then shifted his attention to Cody. "Look, I already know that Jessica is your woman, and out of respect for you, and the mayor, I wouldn't try to hit on Jessica, okay?"

"Are you sure about that?" Cody said.

"Come on, the mayor is Jessica's father, the man will snap me in half," Carlos said. "I'm surprised he hasn't done that to you."

Cody chuckled at that remark. He knew that Carlos lived with Haggar and also was his bodyguard. Although Carlos tried to flirt with Jessica one time, it probably wasn't a big deal. Carlos figured that he should be more afraid of Jessica's father than Jessica's boyfriend.

"Okay, I'll take your word for it," Cody said and stuck his hand out as Carlos grabbed it and shook it.

Cody looked towards Guy. "Are you ready?"

"Yes, let's go check it out," Guy said.

"Wait, what's going on?" Carlos said.

"Guy and I are going to check out the Surf Bar," Cody said. "But not to go get drinks, but to see about stuff, like fights."

"Wait, did you say fights?" Carlos said.

"Yes, I hear that they have fights take place there a lot," Cody said. "I want to see about getting in."

"Whoa, wait, Cody," Guy said. "Are you sure you want to do this?"

"I want to see what is out there, I'm always looking for a challenge, just like you are," Cody said.

"Yes, but…," Guy said.

"Well, there may be some money involved, too," Cody said.

Carlos added, "Hey, I might want in on this. I'm always down to kick some ass. I could also use some extra money."

Cody looked towards Guy. "Come on, Guy, what do you say? Besides, if there is money involved, you could use to help support Rena and her family."

Then it hit Guy like a ton of bricks. Rena was Guy's girlfriend who lived in Metro City with her sister and her father. Guy was an apprentice of Rena's father, who was a master of the style that Guy practices, Bushinryu Ninjutsu, but had since retired and passed the mentorship onto Guy's current master, a man named Zeku.

"You may have a point, Cody," Guy said. "Come on, let's go."

Guy went and locked up the dojo as Cody and Carlos waited for their friend. After the dojo had closed, the three men went and walked a few blocks to the Surf Bar. It wasn't too far from there. They were in Chinatown and though it was the start of the week, the nightlife was still active. It also seemed that Cody and Carlos started to get along better after Carlos had told him that he respected Cody's relationship with Jessica, as well as respected Haggar.

It took about 15 to 20 minutes to get to the Surf Bar. The sign had the name in red lettering and a picture of a brunette woman in a bikini. Right by the front door, there was a neon light sign that said "bar" with different-colored lights for each letter of the word. For a Monday night, this place was still rather busy. Maybe not as busy as it would be on a Friday night or a Saturday night, but there were still people there. They walked in and patrons were seen hanging out, talking, and drinking. Some men tried to pick up on some women.

The three men looked around. Over at the bar, there stood a tall, muscular, and bald man with a mustache behind the bar. He was seen cleaning a glass, but he had an intimidating look to him. He was known as Callman.

Cody led Guy and Carlos towards the bar. Unbeknownst to them, some guys looked at the trio with suspicion. It was Two P and J, along with Mic and Mark, who stood there with Damnd, who wasn't there with his usual posse consisting of Bred, Dug, Jake, Simons, and the others. There were also two women who were head-turners and wore some rather revealing tops and short shorts, as well as a biker cap. One had pink hair, who went by Poison. The other had orange hair, who went by Roxy.

"Oh, shit, it's them," Two P said.

"Who?" Damnd said.

"Those guys," J said with his British accent and pointed towards Cody and Guy. "A few days ago, those guys kicked our bloody arses."

"Those fuckers got lucky, that's what I think," Two P said.

Poison and Roxy looked on. A smirk arose on Poison's face when she saw Cody. Roxy did the same, but she was mainly checking out Carlos, whose long hair was quite a drawing factor to her, but Poison's expression was a tad different from just attraction.

"Which guys beat you up?" Roxy said. "Was it that guy with the long hair?"

"No," Two P said. "It was that guy with the blond hair and the Asian guy with the short hair."

"Really?" Poison said. "Well, looks like we found some contenders."

Damnd looked towards Cody. He slid his sunglasses down, almost as if he recognized the man.

Meanwhile, Cody approached the bar. Callman looked right to the three men.

"Hello, chaps," Callman said, surprising the three men with his British accent. "What could I get for you?"

Cody went to do the honors to talk. While Guy and Carlos stood with him, the two had a sense that something was amiss. Carlos turned around and noticed some men mean-mugging them. Guy figured the same thing, but only suspected it through his peripherals.

"I don't want to drink, I had heard that fights take place here," Cody said.

"Are you a bloody fucking cop, mate?" Callman said.

"Do I look like a cop?" Cody said. "I'm just asking how we could get in. My friends also want to fight."

Callman chuckled. "You think it's that easy to get in, mate? This isn't like trying out for a bloody sport."

A tap occurred on Cody's shoulder. Guy whispered to Cody's ear, "We have trouble."

Cody turned around and saw Damnd leading four familiar men and two women.

"Oh, shit."

"Let's get out of here, now," Carlos said.

"You fuckers aren't going anywhere," Damnd said. "I know you. You tried to fight me and my boys that one night. You didn't learn shit, did you?"

"I learned that you had to rely on eight guys to take me down," Cody said. "You're fucking lucky that the cops came when they did, or else I would have taken you all down."

Damnd laughed, as did Two P, J, Mic, and Mark. Poison and Roxy smiled but didn't laugh.

"You really think you would have taken us all down?" Damnd said.

"Well, my friend and I took down those losers over there," Cody said, referring to Two P, J, Mic, and Mark. "Maybe you did need eight other guys, especially if you had to resort to beating up an old lady."

"Oh, you're trying to get smart now, huh?" Damnd said. "Let's see how well you do fighting on your own."

Cody signaled to Carlos and Guy to back away, while the two looked at each other with confusion.

Guy leaned in towards Cody and whispered, "You don't have to do this. We can just leave."

"No, I got this," Cody said and put up a fighting stance.

Both Guy and Carlos signaled to each other to step in if more men get involved. Cody looked Damnd dead in the eye. Damnd initiated the attack by throwing the first punch, but Cody ducked and delivered a hard right hand to the man's stomach and a hard uppercut to the man's face. Damnd's shades fell off. Two P quickly picked up his comrade's shades.

Damnd had some inches on Cody, as well as was more muscular than him. He quickly rushed to tackle Cody and grabbed him by the legs and slammed him right to the floor. Many patrons looked on and saw what was going on. A bar fight had broken out. Damnd held Cody down and slapped him in the face and started to choke him, but Cody held his breath and delivered a double-slap to both sides of Damnd's head and then shoved Damnd right off of him.

The two were on their feet. Many of the bar's patrons watched as this fight unfolded, as did the other Mad Gear members, and Callman, the bartender. Damnd looked at Cody and rushed to jump and deliver a dropkick towards him, but Cody quickly dodged and grabbed him and ran him towards the bar and bashed Damnd's head right to the counter. Damnd was all bruised and bloodied from the punches he received from Cody, as well as having his head bashed into the bar counter.

Two P, J, Mic, and Mark all glared at Cody for what just happened and went to tend to their friend and fellow comrade. As Cody approached Guy and Carlos, a female voice had said, "Damn, big boy, where did you learn to fight like that?"

Cody turned around and saw Poison and Roxy.

"That was some serious skill, handsome," Poison said in a rather flirty tone.

"You ever think about fighting for money?" Roxy said.

"What's it to you?" Cody said. He looked at her and he moved his face forward to take a closer look at her.

"Well, we have fights here every Friday night," Poison said. "There is always good money involved, if you got the guts and skills to step up to the plate."

"Okay, how do I get in?" Cody said. "Or how do we get in?"

"Well, after seeing some of your skills, you're already in, big boy," Poison said. "But your friends, I think we could squeeze them in this coming Friday."

"But we have a full card already," Roxy said.

"Hmmmm, I'll see about coming in this Friday," Cody said. "But trust me, my friends are good fighters as well. We'll be here this Friday, and maybe next Friday."

"Oh, we'll hold you to that, handsome," Poison said. "By the way, I am Poison, and this is Roxy." She said introducing Roxy to the trio. Roxy shook their hands and gave Carlos a rather flirty look to him, as he smiled back at her.

"I'm Cody. These guys are Guy and Carlos, and we shall see, we may come back this Friday," Cody said. "Come on, guys, let's go home."

As soon as they exited the bar, Carlos said to Cody, "Man, that was some impressive shit back there. Where did you learn to fight like that?"

"Growing up in the streets, as well as learning how to box in the gyms, sometimes you need the skills to survive," Cody said.

"Shit, man, that was crazy," Carlos said.

Guy stood with his friends in silence as he looked around as the night sky had darkened some parts of the area. Despite there being street lights, it was dim enough that not a lot of people could see what was happening around them. However, Guy noticed a young woman walking all by her lonesome, and a good 10 feet behind her were two men, following this woman.

"Cody, Carlos, we have a problem here," Guy said. Both Cody and Carlos looked up and saw that the two men were closing on the woman, who started running as she knew that the men were following her. The two men didn't say anything. They knew that the men would harm her in different ways.

The trio started to run towards the men and the woman. At that point, a man had peered out of an alley and grabbed the woman. A shriek was heard, as well as the sound of a motorcycle engine, which at that point had stopped. What did that mean?

But the thugs were still a bit of a distance away. Only a couple of other shrieks from the woman were heard, but were quickly replaced by the sounds of men yelling in pain and the sounds of people being hit, like the sound of someone receiving punches and kicks, and finally, the sound of a yell when someone hits a move.

By that point, they caught up to the alleyway. The same woman from before quickly stood up, with a look of confusion mixed with awe, as another woman stood before the three men, who lied on the floor in pain and had bloody noses and jaws. At the center was a blonde stunner who picked up her leather jacket and held a tonfa in her hand. Carlos looked at the woman, who appeared to be the one who did all of this to these men.

"Maki?" Guy said.

The blonde woman looked up. Despite her blonde hair, she appeared to be of Japanese descent. All she could say was, "Guy? What are you doing here?"

"I should ask you the same thing," Guy said.

"This woman saved my life," the woman said and looked to Maki. "I can't thank you enough."

"I heard the screaming from the other side, I couldn't let them hurt anybody," Maki said, and then pulled out a few dollars.

"I can't take this," the woman said.

"No, you need to get home safely," Maki said. "It's okay."

The woman nodded her head and pulled out a few dollars.

"You did well, Maki," Guy said. "Have you progressed?"

"I train as much as you do," Maki said and looked towards Cody and Carlos. "Oh, hey, Cody."

"Hi, Maki," Cody said.

Maki then looked at Carlos. "And who are you?"

"I am Carlos, I am an old friend of Guy's," Carlos said with a smile.

"I'm Maki, Guy and I go way back," she said and looked at Guy. "Listen, I'm about to go home. Rena should be home and I have to check if my father is okay."

"I'll be home soon," Guy said. "Don't worry about me."

"Okay, I'll see you then," Maki said.

Guy lived close to Rena and Maki. In fact, he lived next door to them. Although he was close to the Genryusai family, he didn't live with them, mostly out of respect to the patriarch of the family, who happened to have taught Guy for a bit, as well Maki.

Maki walked towards the other end of the alleyway and approached her motorcycle, kicked up the kickstand and started up her bike and took off. Carlos was impressed by this woman's fighting ability that he wondered if she should take part in those fights as well.

Guy looked towards Cody. "What got into you back there?"

"What are you talking about?" Cody said.

"You were quick to endure in battle without a second thought," Guy said. "You couldn't just walk away."

"I don't know, I just felt the urge to fight, especially when I saw him one night and he and some other thugs harmed a defenseless old woman," Cody said. "I couldn't let them get away with that."

"Well, those men are evil, so in some ways they deserved it," Guy said. "But there is a time and a place for battle. I don't think that was it."

"I guess you're right," Cody said. "Anyway, I should get home. Jessica's probably worried about me. Speaking of which, I was wondering maybe we could a double-date soon. You could bring Rena along."

"Oh, I'm not sure," Guy said.

"Oh, come on, it would be fun, it could give Jessica and Rena time to get to know each other," Cody said and then looked towards Carlos. "Or maybe a triple date."

"What?" Carlos said.

"I saw the way you were looking at Maki," Cody said.

"Not the case at all," Carlos said.

Guy said, "I saw it, too, Carlos."

"Okay, I was a bit impressed by her ability," Carlos said.

"Riiiiiight," Cody said. "Anyway, I'll catch you guys later."

Suddenly, a police car pulled up. The lights weren't on, nor were the sirens. The window on the driver's side rolled down. "Cody?"

The sound of a woman's voice caught his attention and looked towards the cop car. A short-haired blonde woman called for his attention.

"Lucia, what a surprise," Cody said.

"Is everything okay?" Lucia said.

"Yeah, things are fine," Cody said.

"Listen, my partner and I are off duty right now, would you like a ride home?" Lucia said.

"Sure, I could get a ride," Cody said.

"Maybe we could give your friends a ride, too," Lucia said. "I'm Lucia, by the way."

Guy and Carlos introduced themselves as well. Guy told her that he was fine as he didn't live too far from there. Carlos lived with the mayor and accepted the ride as Lucia was fine with it. The two got into the backseat of the police car and they were on their way.