Hooligans' Hideout, Geno City. Mobius
Afternoon
"...Hahahaha!" Anton was laughing with Johnny, exchanging some funny stories together. "Oh, that's a good one!"
"As you say: When there's a catholic chick wearing a chastity belt, there's always a backdoor." Johnny would say to him. Having to pretend to laugh along with the gang leader and subtly working his way into Anton's good graces.
"I know, right!?" Anton chortled loudly. "I've done that to a few of them when they came my way. So much for keeping out the Schlong Dragon from "cumming" into their "holy valleys", am I right boys?"
'How much longer do we have to be around him for...' Akira mentally groans, being apart of the conversation at the lounge room with the pool table and forced to listen to the degeneracy from the gang. 'Listening to his "jokes" makes me want to take an aspirin.'
"Yeah, man!" Ryder added with a laugh. "Nothin' holier than a hot chick with a divine tight ass~"
Monica was silent during the exchanges, sitting in the far corner of the room.
"And the results when you pull out of them makes it all the more worth it." Johnson Jerboa added as though speaking from experience. "Especially if they're slumped forwards face down, ass up and they're really into it."
Akira was thankful that Grady's a smoker and stepped away from the pool table crowd to get a cigarette to get him through all this just a little longer before their cue to leave this hellhole finally comes. Lighting it up with Grady's lighter and taking a long whiff of it, then letting off an equally long exhale with closed eyes.
"You're not Grady." A voice whispers to him, nearly made him jump as he snaps opens his eyes and cock his head in the direction of the voice's owner. Belonging to that of Tatiana Tiger with a cigarette in her hand.
"The fuck you on about pussycat? I'm Grady alright." Akira replied, trying to keep up the facade with her but the tiger shook her head.
"The real Grady would call me something a lot worse than pussycat and he certainly wouldn't have intervened in that beatdown earlier either..." The bombshell tigress leans back on the wall near him, smoking her cig. "I personally know the real Grady well enough to know that he's too much of a conceited little bitch to act out for the well-being of anyone other than himself."
"So what if I'm not?" Akira quipped. Trying to play cool in spite of his internal anxiety of being figured out by Anton's girl.
"I don't know what you and them are playing at but I'd suggest you'd all pack up before he finds out for your sakes."
"I'm not following babe."
"Whatever it is you're doing, it's not going to end well when he realises it's you and not Grady. Akira." Tatiana says his name very quietly to where only he can hear it.
"...What are you going to do?"
"Nothing. I'm just giving you a head's up and I ain't gonna do nothing about any of this unless it's your lives at stake. I am just going to keep continuing being Anton's girl. It's better for everyone that way."
"Do you enjoy it?"
"...I hate every waking second with him and his family. You don't know what it's like to being around a pack of beastly people with beastly manners while he dictates what I get for clothes or something more skimpy than this, treating me like I'm his doll to be played with. He's a wild animal. A waste of a specimen."
"If you hate him that much, why keep hanging around with him? You know what an ogre he is as a person."
"I have my reasons..."
"Like what? Like how you walked out on Manic and Little John without as much as a goodbye?"
Tatiana held a downcast look in her eyes. "...You wouldn't understand. You wouldn't unless you're in my shoes and know the big picture."
"I agree. How would I understand when we don't have a damn clue on what you were thinking when you abandoned them without explanation or why the hell you're still with him other than him wanting to gloat over Manic despite you hating his guts?" The wolf retorted, Anton rancorously laughing away in the background with his boys. "How would I know what was going through your head unless you actually explain it to me and them? Not the fabricated drug addiction story that Anton had spread about you."
"It's a complicated matter I'm not proud of ever doing but one I had to do out of necessity for their safety... You'll understand when you're in that same predicament yourself."
"Even if you know Anton's clearly in the wrong, hurting the folks in this part of the city and his gang wrecking havoc in it?" Akira side-eyes her. "Even extorting family businesses with the threat of taking their daughters to be sold to brothels to be sent to work against their will if those businesses don't keep up payments including Rockwell's. A guy who can live with himself for that is scumbag and I don't know how a guy like him can keep getting away with it scot-free while he goes on about the "natural order" of things."
"...There's a reason he's essentially an untouchable top player in these streets and you three trying to go against him will only lead you all to your early graves. Turn back now and drop it if you really value your life that much." Tatiana warns him. "A few other individuals had tried to take him down in the past before and all of them didn't live long. Despite what a pissant he is, he's got connections to bury you ten feet in the earth."
"I can't when there's innocent lives on the line. Lives that Anton will ruin if I just stand aside and do nothing about it." Akira shook his head. "We're being careful and subtle about this. By the time he finds out, it's all over for him."
"A few years ago, I'd be head over heels for you right there but not now..." The tigress mirthlessly chuckles to herself with a sad smile. "I've seen enough of the worst to make me world-weary and jaded. You're still young and innocent in spirit."
"That's what you people think and assume. I know the risks involved..." Akira retorted cooly. "I just choose to make the most of my current lot in life for better or worse."
"If I hadn't known any better, I'd have taken that as declaration of you having nothing to lose and you're doing all this with the knowledge that you'll be meeting your maker eventually."
"...That depends on how one interprets the statement." Akira puffs out his smoke through his nostrils. "Much like how we'd interpret the attitudes of historical figures through achievements, writings and records. We live as we die."
"Indeed..." Tatiana nodded in agreement before putting out her cigarette on the wall. "Just watch yourself 'Grady'. There's a rattlesnake ready to bite you in every garden."
"Yeah, whatever." Akira replied in his nasally Grady voice, seeing Tatiana return back to Anton's side before he would notice she wasn't close by. Witnessing the thuggish letterman jacket-wearing lizard groping the tigress' rear under her short skirt and laughing about it as he smokes away his smuggled cigar while she lets him do with no attempt to fight back as if she's long since resigned to the boorish treatment from the beastly gang leader or knows he'll get very angry when denied his pleasure.
Seeing a small snapshot into what she has to deal with everyday, every second in the last few years; no wonder she feels the way she does about him. Whatever her reason is for going with Anton, that's not a matter for him to be dwelling over.
It was then that Monica had approached Akira discreetly, asking him in a hushed whisper; "...Is... Is it true? You're trying to take Anton down?"
"Don't know what the hell you're on about or who says anything about taking the big boss down..." Akira's eyes shifts around the room, checking on if anyone else from Anton's company are looking or listening his way. Their attentions being preoccupied by the charismatic Johnny Lightfoot with Patty among them.
"I overheard your conversation with Tatiana. D-Don't worry, I won't expose you... I just... I was hoping you could... Help me... I just want to be safe..."
Then looked over at Anton a moment. "Anton doesn't actually care about my general welfare... Hell, he doesn't even care if I get picked up by pimps looking to add another ample-bodied girl to their rosters to work the corners."
"When he views the city the same way Dr Eggman viewed Mobotropolis when he was ruling it, I doubt he cares much about anyone's welfare but his own and maybe his family's..." Akira murmurs. "How do I know you're not going to snitch to him to gain his favour? Your friends over there had no qualms in doing that on their old leader and I didn't think Anton was tolerant of transgenders in his gang. Pretty out of character for him."
"Well to start with, I'm not actually trans. I just dress like a boy so that I can hide from the traffickers. That's all. And to answer your question, it's because even though I'm here with Anton; I still believe in Manic. I want to go back to him but I can't while Anton has such an iron grip on me... He claims that staying with him is the smart thing to do because no pimp or sex trafficker will touch me as long as I'm in his care but also said that if I left, that I would be 'unsafe' from them."
"What's to say he hasn't already given you up to one of them behind your back for some mobiums? Ever thought of that?"
"I've considered that possibility but... I'm too scared to actually leave the hideout, so I have no way of knowing for sure..."
"...Do you know of someone named Karmen?"
"I've heard of her yes. I believe Anton wants to have her sold off."
"Around fourth of February to be exact."
"Fourth of February?" Monica replied, surprised by him knowing the date.
"Yes. February 4th."
"Well, he has had his eye on her for some time…"
"Her father didn't let on to us that he was being extorted by your boss' goons nor the fact that the Hooligans has a foothold in Soucie Street. Your boss's been expanding again, isn't he?"
Monica nodded. "He's been expanding his territory with a twelve-block radius, pushing many other gangs off their turf…"
"How's he doing it without seeing retribution or retaliation from the other gangs? He couldn't be gaining all that without someone taking umbrage to his expansion."
"He seems to have the local police precinct on payroll. Namely, he has that Captain Krouch guy… Other than that, I guess the only explanation is his sheer intimidation factor or the fact the size of his gang is larger than the others."
"I find that hard to believe. He's more obnoxious than intimidating and beastly in behaviour too, same for his other siblings not named Tod." Akira scoffs, seeing Patty swooning over Johnny while Harley's doing the same for the indifferent Hud Veruca. "The fact he's taken a liking to the moniker tells me everything I need to know about him."
"So, what are you going to do about him?"
"Putting a stop to him."
"How are you going to achieve that?"
"We've have our ways."
"'We?'"
"I've said enough here. If you want to talk more without them around, meet me at Rockwell's..." Akira said as he puts out his cigarette. "You in or are you out?"
Monica was silent a moment as if thinking about it and eventually, she nodded. "Yeah. I'm in."
"I'll let him know when I'm done." Akira removes himself from the wall behind him as he goes over to rejoin the others, catching Johnny with a small audience of girls on his side while playing pool. The rabbit sparing him a glance before returning to his game with several of the girls were swooning over Johnny while three of the girls were fighting each other for the jacket-wearing rabbit's affections.
"Ladies, ladies... No need to be fighting over me." Johnny says as he turns to them, having taken a pool shot at the table and Anton taking his turn.
"She started it!" A jaguar girl growled, pointing at a brown mouse girl.
"Bullshit! You started it!" The mouse girl snapped back.
"Bitch, I'll cut your motherfuckin' tits off!" The jaguar snarled, pulling out and deploying a switchblade.
"Please, there's no need to disfigure one another..." The male grey rabbit decides to step in between them. "You're both equally beautiful as each other. Both examples of the Persian Flaw."
"The fuck's a Persian Flaw?" Johnson spoke up.
"An idiom from ancient times relating to the notion that carpet weavers internally leaves imperfections in the rugs with the belief that only those created from the one whom made all are allowed to be absolutely perfect. Imperfections that can apply to us people as well." Johnny explained. "Mortal imperfections to be exact and we all each have one of our own imperfections weaved into us."
The two girls blinked, looking at one another a moment as if the concept of this idiom was absolutely blowing their minds.
"To say you have a Persian Flaw is to say you're almost as great as one made by your own divine creator in spite of your inherent flaws." Johnny gives his charming saintly smile to both girls. "It is considered a wonderful compliment to receive."
"Ohhhhhh..." The two girls said at the same time as one of them smiled and added; "I guess that makes sense."
These two girls gave off the impression that they were very dim-witted and impressionable. The kind Hud enjoys Akira thinks.
"It really does, doesn't it?"
The jaguar girl nodded to that point. Putting away her blade.
"Yeah, no foolin'..." The mouse girl replied.
"Hey Johnny, you're up!" Anton called to Johnny as the rabbit went up to take his turn, scoring a two-in-one shot. The girls including Patty watching him shoot it in style while Akira watches his fellow teammate.
"And for a second..." Johnny pockets a third ball on his second go. "There."
"Oh my gosh!He got it on his second go!" Patty said in awe of the shot, looking to Anton like a lover would. "You're not gonna let him beat you at this, are you Anton?"
"Fuck no, I'm gonna beat his ass and it's Don Chairman Anton to you!" Anton blew air through his nostrils as he goes for his shot, getting a ball in and trading trades with Johnny a few more times til it was down to the last two including the game-ending 8-Ball. Johnny cleared the last of the coloured balls before turning his attention to the black ball.
"Say, can I ask you something?" Johnny spoke up, lining his pool cue and white ball up with the ball on the table.
"Fine. What is it?"
"What's up with your dislike for Sonic anyways? Did the guy do you wrong or something in the past?"
"...All you need to know is that I think he's a twerp who's on an ego-trip and only being celebrated because he's the "hero" of the hour." Akira can sense Anton's hesitation for a moment before he answered. "If he wasn't the one taking out Dr Robotnik, he'd be nothing more than a public menace. A cocky bastard just like that green rat til someone better comes along and I'll be the one vindicated by history for being the guy correct in his beliefs on Sonic."
"What about his friends?"
"Hmph. They can all go die in a fire for all I care including that mutant freak show for a sidekick if they're standing by that son of a bitch..." Anton replied darkly in response that left a slightly uncomfortable air around the room. "Where's his parents? I don't see them going up to say 'I'm proud of my son' anytime he's saved the day. If they're not dead, then they wanted no part of him in their lives and abandoned him at the first chance they got... Just like whoever birthed that ungodly freak into this world."
"Neither of us knows the full story..."
"Do I look like I give a shit about what the full story is? I hate his ass and I'd love nothing more to be the one to deprived him of what he treasures most. The day I see him in ruins would be a day of celebration." Anton said to him, eyes partly casted in shadow from the position of the shadows in the room and hiding the darkness of his eyes. "Even take his happiness away from him if I could. Are you going to shoot or not?"
Johnny wordlessly shoots the 8-Ball and it didn't go into the hole near it. The gang leader went next, managing to score a winning victory when the ball went into one of the pockets.
"AND THAT'S ALL SHE WROTE!" Anton grinned as he pumps his fist. "Looks like you got struck with the Persian Flaw after all boyo."
"Appears to be so." Johnny nodded to his nodded, doing it like he's agreeing with him. "Supposed you're the better player here."
"You're damn right I am! Woo!"
"Oh, Anton~" Patty cooed, throwing herself at Anton. "Mmmm, just seeing your victory against the newbie... It makes me so horny..."
Monica on the other hand, turned her gaze away as if disgusted by the spectacle of Patty embrassing herself like that.
"What a skanky tramp you are sometimes..." Hud said unprompted with an eye-roll, twirling a switchblade in his hand. "Dressed like one too."
"Hey, he loves me alright?" Patty responded, then looked to Anton and asked; "Right Anton?"
"Bro's got a point there..." Anton replied without hesitation as he pushes the vixen back. "You can be a tramp yourself around people that gets you turned on sometimes."
"Ain't such a polite thing to be saying about one of your own members as her leader." Johnny spoke up.
"But it's the truth bro, she'd spread those ass cheeks nice and wide for any dicks that comes her way and she'll take it no matter what her mouth says." Anton waves him off with little regards for Patty's feelings and speaking his mind. "She lays on her back for any man when taken to task. I'd say she's fit to be a sex worker with that lack of shame. Be useful than standing around looking pretty."
"Regardless, a good leader should be setting examples for their followers and that includes treating them with respect. Earning their loyalty so to say or else you'd risk having people ready to stab you in the back when the time comes."
"She's too dumb of a bitch to dare try anything with my brother lest she wants to be on the streets or sold off to the pimps to put her body to work." Hud interjected with a grin. "She wouldn't last a day without men like us giving her money to keep looking decent. Otherwise, no on else would want her basket case ass."
"Exactly!" Ryder added; "'Sides even with the gyaru look, she's still dead-sexy. Isn't she Mona?"
"Y-Yeah… She is…" Monica replied meekly.
"About one of the few things she's got going for her. Without the looks, she ain't worth a damn and probably die alone a junkie or a spinster. Not even Mad is interested in her and he gets randy with women." Hud scoffs with a scornful chuckle. Akira could spot the look of hurt on Patty after Hud's harsh statement and wondering on how often the vixen gets verbally bullied by her 'friends' behind closed doors with the way they'd talk about her like that. Chosen to be their punching bag when Tod's not about.
"And I lead the way I see fit. You worry about yourself slick. If it upsets her, then she ain't fit for the streets." Anton says to Johnny as his advisor came over and whispered something to him before the gang leader headed back to his office. Presumably to take care of some business up there or meeting with someone.
"Heeey..." Monica hears the ever unwelcoming voice of Mad Veruca from behind as she felt a hand run up her back in the ever unwanted physical contact before entering her field of vision. "What's with the looong look on yer face sweetie?~"
"It… I-it's nothing…" An incredibly uncomfortable expression appeared on her face as she recoiled from Mad's unwanted touch. She's well-aware of the horrific treatment he inflicts to his female victims, what a disturbed freak he is and how interested he is in her that she makes a point of sticking close with the others since she's afraid of being left alone around him. What he'd do to her.
"It doesn't look like nothing to me..."
"I-it… It r-really is n-nothing…"
"I don't know..." Mad puts more of his hands on her with one a little close to her chest, licking his lips with a lecherous smile. "Looks like you're being troubled by something... You can always talk to me honey..."
"She says it's nothing Mad." Akira stepped in. "Don't you have something better to do than bothering Mona here?"
"For a matter of fact, I do haha." Mad Veruca remembers something before walking away and leaving Monica alone. The wolf always thought something's off with him the moment he met him, the lizard's inability or unwillingness to take the hint from Monica told him as such.
Johnny sees Patty removing herself from the room with shoulders slumped while her friends chattered away without much notice of her absence and he decided excuse himself from the ladies to take a whizz somewhere to follow her out. Patty had gone off into a small common room with two armchairs, a small TV, and a mini fridge in it and plopped down on one of the chairs a moment. She sniffled, then proceeded to sob uncontrollably.
"Patty?" Came Johnny's soft voice, the rabbit having gently knocked on the door before entering and closing it behind him as he goes to sit on the armrest of the chair next to hers' to give the vixen some space. "You're looking down yourself. Something on your mind?"
"...Why do you care?" Patty responded, turning away in shame.
"What they did there was real nasty of them to say..." Johnny says to her. "Especially when nobody there either stood up for you nor called them out on it and I can tell from your face earlier that their words were hurtful for you... Plus I wanted to check on if you were feeling alright with the way the others seems to keep dunking on you or make snide comments about you under the pretence of 'banter' as they'd call it from my observations."
Patty looked down. "...I just... I do so much to please Anton but yet him and everyone else treat me like such shit... I just... I want him to love me... Love me like he does that dank-assed hoe Tatiana... Like what does he see in her that's so damn wonderful, huh? She ain't fine. She a fuckin' basic-assed skank. She wasn't even that fine when we were with Manic."
"Was that how you always felt about her or is it that because of the now?"
"...I..." Patty replied, taken aback by the question. "I... I guess it's a little of both... I was always jealous of Tatiana... But I also hated that she was so well-liked even though she's nothing special..."
"You don't have to be special to be well-liked, that's what kindness is for and maybe Tatiana sees the situation differently than you. There's always two sides to every story." Johnny said with an understanding nod. "And based on what I've seen of her around him, it's safe to say that she doesn't look happy to be Anton's girl. The look in her eyes tells me plenty without even having to ask her and if I didn't know any better, she looks like she'd rather be anywhere else but where he's at."
"You... You really think so?"
"I've been around enough people to know that relationship is not a happy one and she's the one trapped in it. The others mentioned how rarely she gets to be away from the Verucas or how one of them remarks that Anton seems to control what she gets and what she dresses as. It'd be one thing if both parties are happy with each other and in love with one another but I don't get that vibe from either..." Johnny shook his head. "The fact Anton casually talks about screwing other girls while she's right there tells me he's not exactly head over heels for her himself despite how it may look to you."
He'd clear his throat for a moment; "Perhaps it's all to do with Manic and her being your leader's girlfriend is nothing more than his way of taunting him, considering how much he has it in for him personally. After all, he did approach you and a lot of the others from Manic's gang with money to join his gang whenever he went to jail; did he not?"
"...Yeah... He did..." Patty admitted sadly, fidgeting to herself. "I... I didn't want to do it... But jeez... Anton offered a lot of money to us and offered even more if we stayed with him... I hate admitting it but... I felt so shitty for leaving Manic like that... Well, I suppose I'm the only one who likely feels that way..."
"You probably had little choice but to take it when he knows you were one of Manic's homies and other reasons personal to you. At least you're showing remorse for it which is more than I can say for a lot of the others..." Johnny said with a nod. "You want my honest opinion on you and him being a thing? Nothing you'd do would ever be good enough for him because unless you were as tight-knit with Manic as Tatiana was, he'll never acknowledge your love beyond it fuelling his ego in being admired..."
Then pointedly asks; "Plus, would you want to be in love with someone who treats one of his own family members like dirt to the point of trying to stomp their head in or not giving a friend of yours the protection they need from the pimps that was promised to them? You saw how both of them looked after coming out of the office, right?"
Patty looked up in realisation. "...Yes, I saw them..."
"Then imagine yourself in Tatiana's shoes, witnessing the one that calls itself your boyfriend take his rage out on his brother for brewing the tea wrong way as I have and having someone stepping in to stop him because it'd be bad for business if he ended up killing him in his own office..." Johnny shook his head. "If you're looking for someone to accept you, then he's the wrong one I'm afraid."
"…So, what should I do?"
"Well, what do you want to do?"
"...I... I don't know... I don't even know if Manic will take me back into his gang..."
"Ever tried reaching out to him?"
"No. And even if I did, I don't think Anton would be too thrilled about it if he had found out."
"What if I were to help you pass along the message to him? I know that's a lot coming from the guy who only just joined your gang now..." Johnny then gently cups her chin. "But you deserve a lot better than what you're getting from these bastards around here and... You don't want to deal with another second of Migu Veruca now, do you?"
"Ugh, Migu..." Patty groaned at the mention of her name. "Y'know what? If it has the potential to take me away from that bitch, I'm game. Hell, I could give you her and the rest of her family of inbreds if ya want."
"Inbreds? Thought they were naturally hideous looking because of their personalities."
Patty chuckled at that. "You're a funny man. Look, I can give you guys intel on them. I can't give you much but I can give you what I've gathered over the years since I joined."
"I mainly came here to check on you and how you're feeling after that unpleasant business but if you really want to help out, then I don't see a problem with that." Johnny smiled to her. "How are you now if I may ask?"
"A little better now..." Patty admitted. "I suppose we'll see where my mood is before the end of the day..."
"We all have days like those from time to time but as long as we remember what makes us happy, it'll get us through the day and then get us to the start of a new day. As much as I wanted to win the pool game, I knew dealing with a sore loser Anton would be no fun for anyone here. Yeah, I threw that game for him and he didn't even catch onto it despite how unsubtle it was when I did it."
"Honestly, I thought you were genuinely shit at it and was just talking big to impress him. You mean to tell me you're actually good at billiards?"
"I've gone against better players in my time including my own brother and he'd easily be running circles around Anton if we pitted them both at each other. A real natural at it. I knew he was still sour from earlier and if I wanted to still be alive, I gotta play shite to make him feel like he's on top. I doubt I'm the only one who had to do that with him and I already impressed him enough, no need to keep doing it. I'll show you how I really play some other time and you'll see the difference. Even teach you how if you're interested." He'd offer to her. "What's your talents?"
"Well... I'm really good at designing and sewing clothes... I kinda wanted to open a boutique once I was older and had more money..."
"But you couldn't realise your dreams with what money you did have. Hence Anton targeted you with the money..." Johnny can see why she left Manic for Anton in relation to her personal goals. "I'd like to see a sample of yours whenever you get the time and I can teach you some new skills while we're at it, unlock your potential."
Patty nodded, smiling a bit. "You know, I helped outfit Monica so she could be properly disguised as a boy. Got the idea from an old visual novel. There was a character who was a young boy who was bullied a lot, so he dressed as a girl to disguise himself and hide from the bullies. He... Well, things didn't end well for him in the game... Don't want to spoil you on it."
"Wouldn't have known that about her til you mentioned it. Good eye for detail you have."
"She's the only real friend I have around here… We need to get away from these guys but… It's just not easy to do…"
"We can help out." Johnny assures her.
"You can?"
"Yes." Johnny replied with a kind smile, taking one of her hands. "Between you and them, you're too nice of a girl to be hanging around with the likes of them. They're treating you poorly and I can't stand for that."
"Then please..." Patty pleads softly. "Help me out of this... Help us both to get away..."
"I will..." Johnny said as he kisses her hand. "I'll try my best and so will the others. Anything you can do to help us will be much appreciated and I'm sure Manic will understand your reasons for leaving his gang. In my opinion, I think you want somewhere to belong and having someone assure you that you're not worthless outside of your looks like that Hud keeps saying... Said person who's an absolute wanker..."
Patty nodded, giving him a slight smile. "Thank you..."
"You've got a beautiful smile. Anyone ever told you that?"
"Monica did, once…"
"Well, I think it's a lovely one too."
"Thank you." Patty replied, smiling again. Much bigger than the last one and a sincere one at that unlike the flirty one she gave him earlier at the bar.
"You're welcome." Johnny nodded as he took out a napkin packet and gives it to her. "Here, it's for the smudges."
Patty wipes up the smudges on her makeup while thanking him. Appreciating the gesture.
"I'm gonna have to get back with the others to keep up the act or else they'll start wondering what's taking me long." Johnny got off the armrest of the chair he's on. "You take care, okay?"
"I will. Thank you for that..." Patty looked at him with grateful eyes. Her sprits lifted after Anton and them made a point to stomp on it. Johnny flashed her his gentle smile before leaving her be and exiting the room where he's greeted by Akira leaning on the wall near the door. The rabbit turns to him.
"Been listening to all that?" Johnny would ask.
"I have been. Was going to come in to help but you seemed to have it under control and you got her on our side now. Her friend included. Plus I stuck around to make sure they weren't eavesdropping on you."
"Thanks. I had to go comfort her because no one else woukdvand I just couldn't let her be after what they did." Johnny sighs, rubbing his neck. "That needlessly cruel of them to do to her in front of the others. Worse still, they seem to do this to her all the time including Anton."
"Thus, you went in there to assure her that she's not worthless like that asshole Hud seems to think." Akira said, looking at the door. "She needed that comfort and we end up with another of Anton's guys on our side. Both out of place in this wretched hole along with Tatiana."
"What you were you and her talking about there?"
"How we should turn back while we can because of how dangerous he is and how she has her own reasons for sticking around with Anton despite hating being around him, reasons she's not proud of in order to keep him off her old leader... Whatever those reasons are, she won't say. I'll tell you more when we're out of here."
"Right."
"You said you'd help teach Patty new skills or help her see her potential."
"That I intend to keep my word on..." Johnny said with a nod. "They either call her stupid or worse and excusing it as banter. I think she just needs someone who can show her some guidance like a tutor or something to that effect... What I'm saying is that she needs people who can accept her and treat her with kindness rather than cruelty. Having more friends like Monica than friends like Harley. She may have left Manic for Anton but she's not happy to have done it unlike the rest of them."
"Same with Tatiana..." Akira then asks; "Can that offer extend to me too?"
"Of course." Johnny answered with a smile. "You only had to ask. Come on, just in case they get suspicious..."
Akira and Johnny would head back to rejoin the others in the pool room. Acting like they're disinterested with each other in front of the other Hooligans. Patty remained in the common room following Johnny's exit, taking a minute to give herself a self-pep talk and muttering to herself; "You're not worthless... You matter... Do what you love..."
She repeated this mantra under her breath a moment, then finally found the courage to leave the room and headed back to the rec room to rejoin the rest of the gang.
"...Yo, you're a chick magnet." Johnson was saying to Johnny, the rabbit nodding off to him. "How do you do it?"
"I can't really say Johnson..." Johnny glances over to Patty as she was coming in and winking to her before turning his gaze back to Johnson Jerboa. "That's something I have no clue about."
Akira acted like Grady upon his return, pretending to be the conceited asshole the real Grady is known to be and looked over to Tatiana whom gave him a curt nod of acknowledgment before looking away to watch the rest of the group. Patty had gone to talk with Monica in private for a moment. They returned to the room after a few minutes, the two separated to go socialize with the rest of the gang.
The chatter would die down as soon as a lizard in a police uniform appears. Everyone eyeing the policeman in question.
"Here to see the boss?" Hud asks the policeman whom Akira recognises as Captain Krouch. The shades-wearing uniformed cop turns his head to the knife-carrying Veruca.
"Yes." Krouch replied simply and Hud nodded as he led the policeman away. The stern-faced adult reptile sparing a glance at Akira on the way of the room and once he left to go up to Anton's office, the group started talking again.
"For fuck's sake, what does that crooked asshole want now?" Vance growled. "We only just helped him out a week ago!"
"A week ago?" Johnny raised a brow.
"Yeah." Ryder sneered in the cop's direction. "Fuckin' guy has nearly most of this side of the city under his dumb-assed jackboot. I heard many of his fellow officers are afraid of him."
"Yet he's been awarded medals, time an' again." Weldon added. "The guy's a crook but I guess it pays to have friends in high places. Makes sense that Anton would want to ally himself with him. It gives us a sense of protection from the cops, other gangs and even other people."
"There was this one cop from three years ago by the name of Jean who tried to build a case against him and Anton but he found out about it through one of her friends before they pinned charges on her as scapegoat for his men's crimes." Johnson told Johnny. "The case would have sunk the both of them if she had whistled to internal affairs about what him and his guys were secretly doing. She's living on the streets now and one of guys BB recently got a blowjob from her in exchange for needles."
"Yeah, she's a slutty homeless druggie now heheheh." Ryder said with a stupid laugh. "I'd love to empty my bin into her cum dumpster~"
"I'd fuck her brains out until she goes stupid." Earl added, smirking. "Literally, I'd stick my dick into her ear until I hit her brain before blowing my load inside her head."
Monica turned her gaze down, feeling very uncomfortable with the conversation.
"If she knew what they didn't want her to tell internal affairs about, why's she still alive?" Johnny questioned. "Wouldn't it be smarter to silence her instead?"
"Anton thought the same but Esco's convinced that she knows where the location of the copies of the evidence against the both of them are after they destroyed the evidence case seized from her and he ain't letting him do jackshit til he gets an answer out of her." Vance replied. "However he can't do nothing to her either without attracting unwanted attention to himself. So there's that."
"And if he finds out we're the ones that's been serving her drugs recently behind his back, our asses are as good as gone." Johnson added in a hushed voice.
"Yeah..." Ryder added, nodding and pressing a finger to his lips in the 'shhh' gesture.
"I still kinda wanna fuck her stupid..." Earl admitted. "Like doing her with a full-on hard penetrat—"
"Could... Could we not t-talk about that..." Monica said suddenly. "...P-Please?"
Patty gave her a discreet worried look as many of the male gang members looked at the mouse.
"Any of you been keeping up on the news lately?" Johnny acted quick and spoke up. "The Director of the Mobius Mint really kicked it huh?"
"Yeah, I heard about that one." Vance admitted, turning to Johnny. "Same for the recent museum burglary that happened this week in another city and the stuff with Sir Sidewinder"
"Yeah..." Ryder says. "Crazy stuff, man..."
"All kinds of crazy shit's been happening recently." Weldon added. "The again, things are usually pretty crazy here on Planet Mobius."
"The more those cases happen, the more I'm wondering when it'll come to this city and we'll start seeing incidents around it." Vance said, holding his pool cue in hand. "Thing's like a damn virus."
"Probably one of Dr Eggman's inventions." Johnson suggested. "I wouldn't put it past the fat fuck to do something like that."
"We have no proof that he's behind it though." Johnny pointed out.
"Guy's broke the whole damn world into pieces. Nothing's out of the norm with him."
"Yeah, pretty much anything goes with that guy." D.F added.
"What if it's someone like Naugis or some shit?" Earl suggested. "I mean, that guy have magic under his belt. Wouldn't put it past him to do something like this."
"It's Naugus you dipshit." Akira said to Earl.
"The guy's still ugly as sin. Seriously, he has a face only a mother could love."
"I can say the same about a number of guys in this gang."
"Oh, is that a fact?"
"Damn right it is." Akira nodded with a practised sneer. "Some of you lot has some sorry ass mugs."
"Whatever." Vance tutted. "You're just a vain asshole anyways. I doubt you're much of a man when you're the one being captive..."
Somewhere at an undisclosed location...
Afternoon
"...Anton's gonna have your asses for this when I find out who you are!" Grady growled with a blindfold over his eyes, wrists and ankles tied up. "You're gonna be sorry for all of this!"
"Yeah, I bet we will..." Said a voice nearby, "Til such time, you're ours bud."
"Alright, it's feeding time..." Grady felt something being forced into his mouth while someone is holding it wide open. "Compliments of us..."
To Be Continued...