Suspicions and a Lunch Date

The following day at the police station, Lucia went to her desk to get ready for the day. It felt like déjà vu for her as after some time, she happened to find her friend Cody out in the city, but something was a bit off about that moment. Unlike that night weeks prior, she didn't catch him at a moment where he would likely get assaulted, but rather that something had happened. As her partner started to drive off, she had noticed the three criminals barely getting up, struggling from the pain they had suffered at the hands of a skilled martial artist.

However, it wasn't Cody, Guy, or Carlos who did it, but someone else. What made her question the situation was why nothing was reported about an assault that would take place. She was glad that the assault had been averted, whether she was on or off duty, she still would have done her job as a cop in the city.

"Hey, Lucia." The moment her named was mentioned, Lucia looked up and saw her partner Sean.

"Good morning, Sean," Lucia said and looked down and away, deep in thought.

"Something wrong?" Sean said.

"I want to ask you something," Lucia said. "When Cody and Carlos filled us on what happened last night, we happened to be rolling by when that happened, don't you think that someone could have called that in?"

"Come on, partner, usually someone has to catch it at the moment when something like that happens," Sean said.

"Yeah, but things have been slow for us lately," Lucia said. "It took a bit for someone to report that guy getting murdered in the industrial area. There had to be some people who witnessed that."

Just then, it hit Sean. "You know, my sister came to me this past weekend with the same thing."

"What did Vanessa say?" Lucia said.

"She asked me if I had ever been scared when seeing bad shit happens on the job."

"What did you tell her?"

"I told Vanessa that fear is a natural thing. I may put my ass on the line every day in the shit that I do and be man enough to do this sort of thing, but that doesn't mean that I don't ever get scared."

"It all goes with the territory with being a cop," Lucia said.

"Yeah, but you don't have a younger sister and a mom to take care of," Sean said. "I do. Which is why I sometimes wonder about that friend of yours and Vanessa's…friend."

The way Sean paused when he said that, it was almost as if there was a reason why he didn't like Vanessa hanging out with Kyle, and why he was skeptical about Cody.

"Maybe it's just me, but I think Vanessa might onto something here," Sean said.

"Like what?" Lucia said.

"Morgan, in my office now!" Just then, a voice had caught Lucia and Sean's attentions. A male cop in a suit stood at the door of his office with the door open. The door had the standard window with "Lt. Mark Abrams" imprinted on it. Much to Lucia's confusion, Sean wasn't called into his office.

Lucia walked into her lieutenant's office. "You want to see me, lieutenant?"

"Yes, I want to ask you something," Abrams said. "Where were you and Sims last night?"

"We worked our usual beat in Chinatown," Lucia said. "Why?"

"Last night, it had been brought to my attention that someone had assaulted three men near the Surf Bar, as well as a fight broke out at that bar."

"What?" Lucia recalled that she had rolled by that particular bar the night before after she and Sean had found Cody and his friends.

"Someone had told me that you and Sims were in the vicinity, and aided and abetted an assailant of the assault that occurred at that bar," Abrams said. "As for the other assault, three men told some of our men that they were attacked by a blonde woman. You sure you didn't abuse your power and use excessive force?"

The mention of a blonde woman was news to Lucia, which made her wonder about something. The two traits matched Lucia as she had blonde hair and was a fighter herself, but she didn't have any knowledge about this "blonde woman" that her lieutenant spoke of. Something told her that she needed to ask Cody something should she see him soon.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Lucia said. "With all due respect, sir, but fights go down at that bar all of the time, whether it's between patrons, or organized fights. I don't know why you haven't tried to crack down on that place."

"There is no evidence of any illegal fights taking place there," Abrams said. "But the question was why didn't you go investigate it?"

"It wasn't reported, at least I don't remember it being reported," Lucia said. "Even if dispatch didn't contact Sims and I about it, you would think that any civilians out there would have said something."

"Okay, so tell me about any assailants that you helped out," Abrams said.

"What assailant? I don't know what you're talking about," Lucia said. "I only gave a friend of mine a ride home. I don't know anything about any assaults that someone had caused."

"Are you sure about that?" Abrams said. "Because Evans and Walker had told me about how you and Sims aided a criminal out there."

When she heard the name Evans and Walker, it brought to mind only two people – Edward Evans, who liked to be called "Edi-E," and David Walker, who often went by Dave.

"People talk, but I was only helping a friend out," Lucia said. "Regarding any potential assaults that occurred, again, with all due respect, sir, but you're talking about a bar fight that could have happened anywhere. Do you realize that out on Metro City's streets that we have innocent people assaulted and/or killed often?"

Lucia's superior officer looked at her like she could have had a point. Whether the bar fight was an issue or not, Abrams felt that he needed to see that Metro City had a bigger problem. He had remembered what Mayor Haggar talked about in his speech weeks prior at that gala.

"Okay, I may have to take your word on this, but if I hear anything else about you helping criminals, I may have to take your badge from you, do I make myself clear?"

Lucia nodded in response while maintaining a mild look of resentment. Something told her that none of this added up. When she exited Abrams's office, Sean approached her.

"Yo, Lucia, what happened?"

Lucia stood there in silence for a few seconds. "Nothing too big, he just gave me shit about how we supposedly helped out a criminal and assailant to something that went down at the Surf Bar last night."

"Are you for real?" Sean said. "How the hell were we supposed to know about that?"

"I don't know, but something doesn't seem right about this," Lucia said. Just then, she looked up and saw two cops who looked bigger than some of the others, as well as were bearded. One was heavyset, but not too big. The other looked muscular than heavyset. They were Edi-E and Dave, respectively.

Dave saw Lucia and approached her. "Well, good morning to you, Lucia."

Dave said it a little more than a friendly fashion, causing Lucia to scoff and turn away in response.

"Hello, Walker," Lucia said, with an annoyed tone. "And it's Morgan to you."

"You know something, Morgan, we have worked together for a long time, why not call me Dave?"

"Because we are not that close, Walker," Lucia said with a somewhat snarky tone.

"That doesn't mean we can't be, I mean I had helped you out a bit while you were in the academy," Dave said.

"And I appreciate that, but I'm a little busy right now," Lucia said. "I have too much going on."

"Well, you know where I'll be if you need help," Dave said and walked away. However, Sean and Edi-E looked on with a bit of confusion.

As Lucia walked over to her desk, Sean caught up to her.

"What was that about?"

"Let's just say Dave feels like he is entitled to some respect from me, if you catch my drift," Lucia said, and the way she enunciated Dave's name was in somewhat condescending tone.

"Looks like that guy's been wanting a little more than just respect," Sean said. "It seems like he has it bad for you."

Lucia scoffed. "Exactly, but he knows that I'm not interested."

From a distance, Sean noticed that Edi-E was talking to his partner about something. After a few seconds, Edi-E had approached Lucia and Sean.

"Morgan," Edi-E said. "I must apologize for my partner's actions. He doesn't seem to know when to take no for an answer."

"Don't worry about it, I can handle myself," Lucia said.

"Still, I don't condone his behavior," Edi-E said.

"Thanks, Evans," Lucia said. Edi-E nodded and just as he was about to walk off, something caught Lucia's attention about Edi-E as she saw his left wrist. Edi-E wore a gold watch. It didn't look cheap, but rather expensive. Something was amiss about this, as a wristwatch like that was rather out of the budget of a cop's salary.

"What's wrong?" Sean said.

"Did you see Evans's watch?" Lucia said.

"No, why?" Sean said.

"I'll tell you later," Lucia said. "Come on, we got shit to do on the streets. Anyway, you were saying something about your sister being onto something."

"I'll explain later," Sean said.

At city hall, Haggar sat at his desk. Haggar's office had photos on the wall from his time as a professional wrestler when he wrestled for the Continental Wrestling Association (the CWA), as well as the tour he went on with the BWA, the Blood Wrestling Assocation, called the "Crash Carnival," which was to decide the new leader of the CWA through a wrestling tournament. Some of the pictures had Mike with his former tag team partner, Alexander the Grater, another one with two of his apprentices, Gunloc and Biff Slamkovich, as well as a photo with Haggar in the ring with large and muscular wrestler with long blond hair named Victor Ortega, and finally, the picture from his final match that had him posing with Jessica on his shoulder. He looked at some papers, and then a woman walked in.

"Mr. Haggar?"

Haggar looked up. "Hello, Janet, how may I help you?" Janet was Haggar's assistant.

"Yes, you may, there's someone here who wants to see you," Janet said.

"Who is it?" Haggar said.

"It's your daughter and her boyfriend," Janet said.

Haggar remembered that today he was going to have lunch with Jessica and Cody. "Send them in."

They could have called to tell me they were coming. Haggar thought. But he didn't forget that he was going to have lunch with Jessica, as well as Cody.

Cody and Jessica walked down the hallway accompanied by one of Haggar's bodyguards. At the door stood Carlos, with his hair done in a ponytail and wore a suit.

"Oh, hey, Carlos," Jessica said.

"Hi, Jessica, hey, Cody," Carlos said.

"Hey, Carlos," Cody said in a friendly manner, while Jessica looked at the two minor confusion.

"Mr. Haggar is expecting you," Carlos said.

As the two walked in, Jessica leaned in towards Cody and whispered, "You seem to be getting along better with Carlos."

Cody whispered to Jessica, "We've reached an understanding."

They entered the mayor's office as Haggar sat before them, taking one last look at some of the reports he planned to work on later.

"Come on in," Haggar said. "You know, you should have called to let me know you were coming."

"Dad, we had set this up a couple of days ago," Jessica said. "I thought you remembered."

"Relax, I'm not upset, it's just that this work is putting through some stress that I have a hard time remembering things," Haggar said. "I just need to put some stuff away and we can get going."

Jessica noticed some of the other bodyguards around. "By the way, where are Lucky and Biff? Don't they also work as your bodyguards?"

Jessica referred to Gunloc, whose name was Lucky Colt. Colt was his last name, but often liked to be called Lucky. Biff, whose real name was Aleksey Zalazof, liked being called Biff, which was part of his ring name.

"Only sometimes," Haggar said. "They are training for a tour at the moment. They still wrestle for the CWA, you know."

"Oh, okay," Jessica said. "I know they still wrestled, but I thought they worked for you all the time."

Haggar looked at Cody as well. "And I'm sure that Lucky doesn't really want to deal with you at the moment."

"Mike, that was a while ago," Cody said. "I'm sure he's gotten over it."

"Oh, I don't know about that," Haggar said. "I know you, Cody."

Haggar referred to a time when Cody and Jessica were backstage at a CWA event and Gunloc tried to hit on Jessica, who didn't go along with it. It didn't stop Cody from engaging in a brawl with the wrestler, however.

"Just letting you know, we have that gala this weekend and I want you two to be there," Haggar said.

"Oh, we'll be there, Dad, don't worry," Jessica said. Although Cody stood there in silence because he remembered the fights at the Surf Bar, although the fights were on Friday, as the gala will take place on Saturday.

The three, also accompanied by Carlos, left in a limousine to take a ride to Chinatown. The three went to go eat at a restaurant called Wong Brothers' Dragon Castle.

The restaurant had quite a setup as it had stairs to walk up from the Chinatown streets. The door had Chinese wordings on the signs above the doorway and on the door, along with the eatery's name written in English at the top and on the door. As the three walked in, there stood a rather large man, likely obese but also looked to pack some muscle, and wore a large hanfu that fit this large man, and had a large braid in a queue hairstyle and a fu man chu mustache. The man's nametag read "Hu Wong," but for some reason the name was crossed off and replaced by "Wong Who," which was handwritten.

"Hello, right this way, please," Wong Who said in a begrudging tone.

The restaurant had tables set up with white table cloths, with reddish brown pillars and carpeting, along with bronze plates on the walls with dragon symbols. It had the Chinese feel down to a T.

Some patrons looked up and saw who walked by them. Some of the patrons took a closer look and talked amongst themselves, saying things to the effect of "Oh my god, he's here!" and "It's the mayor!" Others saw it as no big deal. Also, with Haggar, Jessica, and Cody having bodyguards with them, they figured it was best not to go up to the mayor, along with his daughter and his daughter's boyfriend.

As soon as they were seated, they were asked if they wanted beverages. They all accepted as Haggar wanted water and a tea. Jessica said that she would have tea, as did Cody. After a few minutes, a young attractive Japanese woman came up with a notepad.

"Hello, I'll be your server," the waitress said.

"Wait, Rena, is that you?" Jessica said.

The waitress looked up and saw who she was serving. "Oh, Jessica? Cody?" Rena then looked at Haggar. "Are you the mayor?"

"Yes, I am," Haggar said. "Mayor Mike Haggar, at your service. I see you know Cody and Jessica."

"Yes, I'm new here," Rena said. "I'm so glad to see all of you. I'm still in training, so just tell me what you want."

The three placed their orders for their meals. Haggar ordered Roasted Peking Duck. Jessica ordered Chow Mein. Cody order Sweet and Sour Pork. Rena wrote the orders down and then walked away.

Haggar looked towards the couple. "Who is the waitress? I see that you know her."

"Oh, Rena?" Cody said. "She is Guy's girlfriend."

Haggar knew Guy as well, but this revelation threw him as he knew Guy to be rather quiet and stoic. Although Haggar and Guy got along, Haggar was surprised that Guy would meet a nice woman, considering how quiet Guy was. Like Carlos, Haggar knew that Guy took his martial arts training seriously, enough that he probably didn't find the time to meet women.

Jessica said, "So, Dad, how have you been? I am sorry I hadn't called much lately."

"Jess, don't worry about it," Haggar said. "I've been too wrapped up in my shit lately. So much corruption and crime has been all over the place that I don't know what to do with this city."

"Have the police done anything at all?" Jessica said. "I used to be able to go to class on my own, until one day some guys watched me in a subway train. I can't go outside alone without having to look over my shoulder."

Cody looked to Jessica, "Listen, baby, I can go with you to drop you off at school when taking the subway. Shit, if I have to drive you, I will."

"No, you have work every day," Jessica said. "I can't let you be late."

"Tom knows our situation," Cody said. "He knows that I have to drop off Kyle sometimes."

"Listen, Cody, that is what I wanted to talk to you about," Haggar said. "What if I had one of my bodyguards escort Jessica to the college, whether it's Carlos or any of my personal security, and I could accommodate another bodyguard for your brother?"

"I could understand for Jessica," Cody said. "But good luck with Kyle. It won't do shit. The kid is stubborn sometimes."

"I know," Haggar said.

Jessica said, "I have to go to the bathroom right now. I'll be right back." She got up and took off to the bathroom. Haggar signaled to Carlos to follow her. Cody was okay with this, as when the two discussed Carlos's respect and loyalty, it made him see that Carlos wasn't so bad after all, and Cody probably jumped to conclusions when Carlos talked to Jessica those times.

"Cody, I know you have a lot going on," Haggar said. "Whether it's working at Tom's Gym or taking care of your brother, I think you need to take a break. Your brother reminds me of how you were when you were younger. Shit, you have your moments of getting into some shit even now."

"I can handle everything, don't worry," Cody said.

Haggar took a deep breath and looked him dead in the eye. "Cody, I've known you since you were a kid. I remember hearing about the trouble you went through, which was why I didn't like Jessica hanging out with you at first. It wasn't easy having to take care of Jessica, especially after Nancy died. I even had to take care of you and Kyle when your mom was in and out of jail. I know that I had some people look after you guys when I want on my tours, even when you and Jess were teens."

Cody looked away in silence. He looked to his side and then down towards the table. He knew that Haggar had a point to what he was saying. When Haggar mentioned Nancy, he talked about his late wife, who died when Jessica was 12. It showed why Haggar cared about his daughter a lot.

"I know you think I'm a hardass sometimes, and on some days you might be right, but I just want what's best for Jessica, Kyle, and most of all, for you," Haggar said.

"You're not saying we should move back in with you, are you?" Cody said.

"I don't mind having you stay with me, but I'm just trying to help you out," Haggar said.

"Well, I guess I should appreciate it, especially with Mad Gear out there," Cody said.

At this point, Rena came back with the plates. At the same time, Jessica made her way back to the table where her father and her boyfriend were sitting.

"Okay, here you all go," Rena said.

Haggar addressed Rena. "Hey, so I hear that you are dating Guy."

"You know Guy?" Rena said.

"Yes, I do, he's a good guy, but very quiet," Haggar said.

"Well, we have been together for quite some time," Rena said. "Speaking of Guy, I'm going to meet with him later."

At that point, Jessica made her way back to the table. "Oh, the food's here. It's nice to see that I come back and the food is ready."

Haggar continued to speak with Rena. "Listen, I was wondering, we are attending a gala this weekend. I was thinking you and Guy should come."

Rena's eyes widened and jaw dropped, with a surprised expression. "Mr. Haggar, I can't."

"Oh, don't worry, I'm inviting you," Haggar said.

"No, I'm helping with the serving and catering at that event," Rena said.

"Oh, okay," Haggar said.

"But I could talk to Guy and my sister Maki about going, if they want to," Rena said. "I'll be there, of course."

"Okay, that would be good," Haggar said. "It was nice meeting you."

The three then start to eat their food.

Meanwhile, in the restaurant, Wong Who went towards the kitchen area, almost like he owned the place. It wasn't like he was just a lowly server or host going to the wrong area, he knew where he was going.

Inside the kitchen area, there were cooks and servers around, but the two main cooks, if they weren't chefs, were tall and muscular, but much thinner than Wong Who. They both had long braids, but one had a Fu Man Chu mustache, whose name was Won Wong. The other had a braid, but no mustache, but he also wore dark glasses for some reason, whose name was Liu Wong. It seemed that Hu, or as he liked to be called "Wong Who," was one of the Wong brothers who owned this restaurant.

"Hey, guys," Wong Who said to his brothers. "Do you still need me right now?"

Won and Liu looked at his brother. Although the two were busy in cooking meals, they didn't think their brother was a distraction as they maintained their focus to address him.

"Why, what's going on?" Won said.

"Graham and Bill told me to meet with them and some others later," Wong Who said. "Something about problems within our organization that I'd rather not talk about here."

Won and Liu turned to each other and nodded, like they knew what was going on.

"Don't worry, brother," Won said. "One of our other hosts has come in already. You're fine. Me and Liu will meet with you and the others later."

Wong Who nodded his head and walked out of the kitchen. As he walked along the restaurant, he saw Haggar, Jessica, and Cody. Most of his focus was on Cody, as he had heard of this man's reputation, at least as of late.

Later on, after the lunch date, Haggar went back to city hall. As he approached his office, his assistant Janet approached him.

"Mr. Haggar, I had received some calls earlier," Janet said. "One was from Metro City Police Lieutenant Mark Abrams."

"If he calls again, tell him I'll get back to him," Haggar said, barely making eye contact with his assistant as he approached the door to his office.

"But sir, that's not all," Janet said. "You also got a call from a Mr. Horace Belger. He said that he wants to meet and speak with you soon."

Just then, Haggar turned around to face his assistant with a look of confusion on his face. Haggar knew of Horace Belger, as he was a well-known and respected philanthropist in Metro City, as he had the means to help give back to some of the communities. Belger also ran against Haggar for mayor and lost.

What does this guy want? Haggar thought. "I'll try to contact him soon, thank you," he said to Janet.

Author's note: I'm back with this. Sorry if I didn't update it sooner. I'm focused on another story and in the process of finishing it, or at least getting close to the end. Plus, it gave me time to brainstorm more ideas for this.

Regarding the Wong brothers, I did a little deviation to a point with this. Initially, I had thought of having Won Won from Final Fight 2 own the restaurant and making him a composite character with Wong from Final Fight 3, but after asking a user, this person told me that I could use them as two characters. I changed Won Won's name to Won Wong, but he is still supposed to be the same guy from Final Fight 2. As you also saw, I made them brothers including Wong Who, and I gave Wong from Final Fight 3 a first name, because why not?

Also, the name for Mark Abrams is a reference to two members from an R&B group called Color Me Badd, which mainly existed during the 1990s. The name just came to me because I had listened to their songs not that long ago.

As for Rena working at the restaurant, I was inspired by a story I had read called "The Hero of Metro City" on Archive of Our Own, which mainly touched on the romance of Rena and Guy.

And finally, regarding the photos I described of Haggar's time as a wrestler, those characters were from the Saturday Night Slammasters games (also known as Muscle Bomber). I also changed the name of the initials because in the games, the CWA stood for Capcom Wrestling Association, which doesn't work because it references the company of Capcom. I also found it ridiculous how the Japanese version of the first game had different names from the versions outside of Japan, but were still used in the sequel. So for Gunloc and Biff Slamkovich, I wrote their alternate names as real names but go by different names as wrestlers. If I reference any other characters, I will use their common names.

Anyway, I will continue this soon.