The Fallout

Belger rolled out of the venue on his wheelchair while Rolento and his men stood there in wait for their boss inside a parking garage. A limousine rolled up close to them and went to a stop. El Gado and Holly Wood walked up to the doors. El Gado opened it. Belger rolled towards the open door and elevated himself from his wheelchair and went inside. In fact, he didn't need help getting into the vehicle. He did it on his own.

Freddie picked up the wheelchair and put it into the open trunk and sealed it. Once everyone was in the limo, they were off.

"What did Mr. Haggar say, sir?" Rolento said.

Belger poured himself a glass of champagne that he had in the vehicle. He then took a sip.

"The only thing I will tell you is that the mayor isn't smart enough to know what's good for him. I think those steroids messed with his brain."

"Mr. Belger, with all due respect, this man has a plan to make the city better," Rolento said. "He is right about the crime wave and plans to do whatever it takes to eliminate the crime element."

"But I have something he doesn't," Belger said. "I have a lot more power in this city than the mayor does. Mayor Haggar only thinks he has things under control, but he's wrong, and he knows it."

Belger looked out the window and looked around the atmosphere of Metro City, despite riding down a city street. He took another sip of his drink.

"One thing I suggested to the mayor is doing more funding for the police, but he doesn't know a damn thing," Belger said. "I'm already one step ahead of him in that department."

Rolento nodded his head. "One thing you should know, sir, is that my men and I keep the streets in line if the police won't do anything."

A smile rose on Belger's face when he heard that. "Oh, I know exactly what you mean."

Belger sipped at the champagne once more and smirked again. With his financial backing and business, he had Metro City at the palm of his hand, despite losing the mayoral election. But for some reason, he felt the power and influence he already had wasn't complete.

"Until the day comes, I have some ideas on how to let Mayor Haggar know that Metro City is ours," Belger said and then put his glass down. He then got out a cigar. Belger signaled to Rolento, who then got out a lighter and lit the cigar.

Belger took a puff and blew out the smoke. "All in good time, Rolento. That's all that matters."

Rolento nodded his head with a look of skepticism on his face.

At the Mad Gear lair, a meeting was called to action. Mad Gear members from Bred, Simons, Dug, and Jake to Two-P and J to Damnd and many others stood at attention. What were they waiting for? Only they knew.

First Damnd got beaten up, as well as some random lowly thugs got beaten up, as well as Philippe and his main thugs. Could Mad Gear be going through some problems at the moment?

Also attending this meeting were Edi-E and Dave, two of Metro City's finest, or so they believed.

Damnd looked at the two cops. "You should have done your fucking job and arrested those assholes who kicked my ass."

"Listen here, Damnd," Edi-E said. "It's not my fault you got your ass handed to."

"Haven't you heard of taking care of one of your own?" Damnd said.

"Hey, I don't know who did that to you, but as an officer of the law, I still do my job," Edi-E said.

"Sure, tell to that to big boss," Damnd said.

"Enough! Silence!" Everyone in the room all looked to their sides from the sound of that yell. The Mad Gear members spread out. Everyone from Damnd to Edi-E to Bred to others in the gang. Some members were women, too.

Out from the shadows walked Sodom, a tall man in a samurai outfit and helmet with a mask. Behind him was Retu, a kabuki warrior.

Sodom started to speak. "Retu had called for this meeting. He wants to speak to all of you."

Retu was about the same height as Sodom, if not taking into account that he stood a little taller than him because of his traditional kabuki sandals with the soles making him seem taller. The long hair and face paint gave off the vibe that he was as serious with the kabuki look as much as Sodom was with his samurai look. Also, given his size, he had an intimidating vibe about him.

"As your leader, it is my job to keep things in order," Retu said in a heavy Japanese accent. Despite the accent, his English was actually good. "Listen, none of us want to upset the boss, who is out tonight. Right now, I am looking at every one of you and I see some problems within our organization. Some of our leaders had been assaulted by vigilantes."

"Or people just looking to start shit," Damnd said.

"Silence, Damnd!" Sodom said.

Retu continued. "We are a family. A lot of people are here because the world does not accept you. The world doesn't accept people like us."

Retu looked at Philippe, along with his main soldiers, Elias, Eliot, and Joe. Despite the beating they took the previous night, they looked fine, albeit a little bruised. Jony and Atlas looked like they took a beating as well. However, those two only suffered a beating in one-on-one combat.

"Our only problem is that someone decided to take a stand against us," Retu said. "But you must know one thing. These are mere men. They are outnumbered against our organization. If we are one big family, then we should look out for one another. What happened to them, no one is at fault here. None of us expected any of this. If this were another gang, like any enforcers, lieutenants, from other gangs going after us, it is our duty to work together to stop the problem. I may get violent, but make no mistake about this. Our boss is not as forgiving as I am. Failure is never an option and if any of us fail, then that's your life right there. If it means taking out anybody steps in our way, then that's all we need."

Everyone started to nod their heads.

"Master Retu." A British-accented voice caught Retu's attention. The voice come from nearby as Retu saw Philippe raising his arm. This time he didn't have his clown makeup on but it was apparent that he had bruises on his face.

"Yes, Philippe."

"What happened last night was different. We got jumped by two people. They were highly skilled. They had skills in martial arts. None of us knew they were coming until it was too late."

"What do you mean?" Retu said.

"I mean, they moved like ninjas!" Philippe said.

"Ninja?" Retu said and turned to look at Sodom.

"Did you say 'ninja'?" Sodom said.

"Yes," Philippe said.

"We got our asses kicked by a fucking ninja!" Two P yelled.

Retu looked on at the other members of Mad Gear. Even Elias, Eliot, and Joe, along with Mic, and Mark nodded their heads. Retu had remembered not long before about how other fellow thugs in Mad Gear were beaten up by a female martial artist and talked about her ninja skills.

"What did they look like?" Retu said to Philippe.

"We didn't get a good look at them," Philippe said. "But the chaps wore red and white."

Just then, Retu had a look of "wait, what?"

"Except one thing," Joe said. "I noticed that one of them was a girl. She had blonde hair and wore a dress of some kind."

Retu quickly turned around and breathed hard.

"Do you know those people?" Sodom said.

"I think I have an idea," Retu said. "They practice a form of Ninjutsu called 'Bushinryu.'"

Everyone looked at Retu with confusion and concern, because to them, it seemed like he had history with practitioners of that martial art. No one knew for certain.

"A real ninja, huh? Interesting," Sodom said. "Sounds like someone I should challenge."

Sodom was the undefeated champion in underground fighting, but had his own venue for his matches. It was a wrestling ring somewhere in Metro City's underground. He was known for using sais or nunchakus in his fights, but when he engaged in any other battle, he would use a katana. This man was also known for being obsessed with Japanese culture.

From a distance, Damnd walked away with his usual band of cohorts like Jake, Bred, Dug, and Simons.

"Hey, Damnd, what about your little problem?" Jake said.

"Yeah, why ain't you saying shit about that fucker who kicked your ass?" Dug said.

Damnd chuckled a bit. "Because I got an idea of my own. Sure, that guy Cody may have gotten lucky and but he probably won't be as lucky next time. If he wants to fight the best we can offer, then I got the guys we need."

"What about that other guy?" Simons said.

"What other guy?" Damnd said.

"That guy with the long hair?" Simons said.

"We can give him a little challenge," Damnd said as he looked over and saw a couple of bikers in the meeting. "I think I have an idea right now."

Damnd let out a whistle. "Hey, Slash, Axl, over here, I got to talk to you."

Both Slash and Axl walked over towards Damnd and his crew. The two bikers led their own motorcycle club, but were also Mad Gear members and their fellow bikers were also a part of the organization.

"What do you need?" Axl said.

"How would you guys like to some extra money soon?" Damnd said as a grin rose on his face.

Meanwhile, back at the apartment, Kyle sat alone and flipped through channels and came across a movie on TV. It was a movie called "1942," a war movie that was released a few years prior. It was either that or "Ghosts 'n Goblins," a fantasy movie about a knight about who battles monsters to save his girlfriend.

Kyle also had one a bodyguard nearby. His name was Summers.

Bored out of his mind, he wanted to make a call. After what he went through the previous night, all he could think about was what Vanessa said. Kyle and his friends couldn't be any luckier to be alive, but she was all he thought about.

He didn't go anywhere because he was still shaken. His brother and his brother's girlfriend took off to some event while he was left alone. Kyle was offered the protection of one of the mayor's bodyguards, but he was still uncomfortable with the idea of someone watching over him, despite being by himself. So he declined. He said that he wasn't going anywhere. But Mayor Haggar insisted that he would have someone come and look after him as he saw that Kyle reminded him of how his brother used to be.

Kyle got up and went into the kitchen. He reached for the phone and punched in a number. The phone rang until someone said "hello."

"Hello, Ms. Sims, this is Kyle. Is Vanessa around?"

"Oh, hello, Kyle, uh, Vanessa is not feeling well right now. She hasn't left her room for hours."

Kyle looked down for a bit. All he could think was that he was at fault for what happened. He wondered if he didn't try fighting that clown and his goons that things would be different. But could they have started the fight if Kyle didn't try to protect Vanessa and Celeste. Even Paco was scared. Fighting hardened criminals was a lot different than going against a bully on the schoolyard.

Kyle sighed. "Well, tell her I called. I'm sorry to bother you."

"Okay, Kyle. I'll let her know you called." Ms. Sims said.

Kyle hung up the phone and leaned against the counter, looked down, and covered his face. He really messed up, or did he? At least Vanessa told him she commended him for trying to protect her, but at the same time, it wasn't a smart move to instigate that fight.

What did I do? Kyle thought.

Author's note: Merry Christmas, people! I am back. I took a break from writing because my "Dead to Rights" took a lot out of me and after finishing it, I was relieved. But I still have ideas for this story. So I will try to be consistent. I also must add that I was in school and doing other writing.

The film that Kyle watched is a reference to the game, "1942." I also mentioned "Ghosts 'n Goblins," because why not? I could have mentioned "Commando," as that could have gone either way with the top-down shooter or the Arnold Schwarzenegger movie.

I hope you all enjoyed this. I plan to continue where this left off soon.