Chapter 6: The Enemy of My Enemy

My name is Zachariah Wing Barons, and at the moment, I was about to face off 100 men with the King himself. We both got ready for them to charge at us. I could take on 10 at most but 50? I never tried nor do I think it's actually physically possible to fight off 50 at a time. This was of course with the pretence that my partner could carry his own weight. The King glanced over at me, "Order your partner inside the car if she isn't the most physically capable."

"Don't underestimate her. Julie will be able to handle herself."

"Very well."

I rolled my shoulders and thought to myself that this was the stuff of movies. Literally one man fighting 10 or more guys was make believe, and now I had to fight 50. I glanced over at Julie, "Julie sweetie, remember if you need help just say so okay?"

"Hey! I might not be like you two but I'm pretty sure I can beat up a thug or two."

"Okay my love," I teased.

"If you're done playing," the King interrupted, "brace yourself, they're coming." The enemies tensed up and formed a horseshoe around us. As if a silent signal went off, the two in front of us began charging at us. "Here we go! HOLD NOTHING BACK!" The King ordered. The two men jumped into the air and in perfect sync and reaction, the King punched his guy out of the air as I kicked mine. Then the brawl began.

In response to us shutting down the first two, the rest of the crowd blitzed us. I had the 49 on the left and he, the right. In order to throw my attackers off guard, instead of defending, I attacked. I ran up and stepped on one of my enemies using him as a trampoline to launch me toward his ally behind him. The thug behind him was met with a flying tornado kick. There was another guy at my right, I bicycle kicked him upwards, launching him off the ground, and followed with a right roundhouse to ribs. Behind me, another one was trying to hit me with a left hook. I deflected it promptly. I grabbed his wrist and pulled him towards me, making him off balanced. I kneed his face as he began to collapse in front me, knocking his head skyward only to be followed by a right elbow strike to his jaw.

Meanwhile, the King showed how adeptly skilled he was at striking. I couldn't see what form of martial arts he was using but it seemed like his version of kickboxing. He weaved under a jab of the foe in front of him; then, he countered with his own left jab to a right uppercut to a back kick from taekwondo. He wasn't using kickboxing. He was an MMA fighter. His next opponent rushed up to high kick him, but he parried. He deflected the kick, and swept kicked his assailant. Another was approaching from behind, using his momentum from the sweep kick, he performed a reverse roundhouse kick with his left, striking the chin of the guy behind him. Then, when he came back around, he finished the man swept on to the floor earlier, with a kick from his right, performing a swift three hit combo.

We regrouped, back to back, staring down our opponents. No matter how you looked at it, we were severely outnumbered. With his voice closer to me, I could tell now, the King was using some voice distorter, so I couldn't recognize his voice. "I think we bit off more than we could chew."

"You think?" I responded. I surveyed my surroundings. I had to be more conservative with my energy, but because these guys were doped, I had to hit them hard so they would stay down. "We have to split up," I suggested, "there's too many, but if we spread them out thin to where we only have to fight one at a time-"

"We might have a chance of kicking all of their asses."

"Exactly." I tensed up and clenched my fists. "On three. Ready…One...Two...THREE!" I sprinted towards the people in front of me, surprising them and leading them away from the bulk. When I turned around to see how many I had to deal with, I saw that the King had done the same as me. Good, now we could take them out. I began to promptly deal with my side of the problem until I realised I forgot about someone. I forgot about Julie!

Julie was surrounded by five men. "JULIE!" I screamed.

"SHUT UP!" She replied back at me. It seems I also forgot, Julie was no bystander. She could hold her own in a fight. One of the men surrounding her jumped at her, so she stepped back and flung out her baton from her right hand. She had one of those? Anyways, she flung out her baton and swatted that dude right out of the air. The next guy came lunging at her and threw a straight left. Julie ducked under his fist and, with the hilt of her baton, uppercutted him. While he was suspended in the air, she quickly circled around him and locked him in a reverse guillotine hold with her baton. While he was on her back, she used his weight and flung him over her shoulders, performing a shoulder throw. The next guy caught her by surprise, and disarmed her. Knowing that physically she could not over him, Julie opened the car door and flung herself to the other side, in order to create some space. On the other side there stood another gang member, but Julie kicked him in the abdomen as she was transitioning over. With his crumbling posture, She kneed him in the chin. The fifth member that surrounded her tried to low kick her, but what he didn't know was that Julie was taught some martial arts by yours truly. She checked his low kick with her own, and proceeded to thrust kick him. This didn't knock him out, but it did help her create space. The man that disarmed her tried to pounce on her from above, however Julie reacted and stepped back. She was now adjacent to the car trunk. With two foes in front of her she had to recreate some space. She noticed that the man that disarmed her was not holding her baton, meaning it was still on the ground on the other side. Julie flipped over the car trunk and picked up her weapon. The man that disarmed her was chasing after her by crawling on top of the car, but Julie responded accordingly. She turned around swiftly and smacked him in the face with a hard yet swift backstroke. Only one remained. The last remaining gang member decided that it was all or nothing. With his pride injured by having his friends being bested by a woman, he threw a careless punch. Julie intercepted his attack and locked his fist with her baton. Using joint manipulation, she quickly brought him down to his knees and struck him with a quick strike to the head.

I laughed and shook my head a little. I was worried for nothing.

********

"Jessica…I'm…" Arthur's voice faded out.

"Arthur?" Jessica called out to no avail. All she could see and hear was Arthur's fading voice and presence. "Arthur what, are you saying?" Just then Arthur began to fade away. He began crumbling away and becoming dust. "ARTHUR!" Jessica screamed as she opened her eyes. It was just a nightmare. She looked around and recognized she was still in the hospital. She rubbed her eyes, "Tears? Was I scared?" She shook her head. It was only a dream, nothing more. Yet, it felt so real. It felt like it was telling her a message. That her best friend was slipping and disappearing. She turned on the T.V to watch something, anything to distract her from her train of thought. The T.V was defaulted to the news, and there she saw what her dream was trying to tell her.

The news anchor was reporting about riots, and chaos all over the suburban areas of the city. They were reporting about the recently formed cult, "Freedom Cry." They showed videos of molotovs being thrown, houses broken into, cars being thrashed, absolute chaos, absolute anarchy. The cultist called this, "The Night of Tears."

Jessica stood from her bed and looked out from her window. There was a red, orange glow in the horizon. It wasn't the sun. It was the city burning in the night. She could almost laugh at herself. Half of the city was in chaos, and all she could care about was Arthur. Arthur lived in the suburban area.

********

"Hah...hah," I panted. I couldn't think about how long we were fighting, but there were only a handful left. My left arm was heavily bruised from taking a blow that was meant for Julie. I suffered a few blows to the body and a couple to my face. There was blood gushing down the left side of my face, blinding me for the most part on the left. "Only four left," I muttered to myself. Yet this was a tall order. I could barely stand from fatigue. The King came by and rested his hand on my right shoulder. "Take a break detective, I got this."

"Yeah right, you're even more beat up than me."

"Suit yourself."

I gathered myself and took a deep breath. "Four more." With that, I rushed towards the remaining four enemies, the King followed. I jump kicked the first one I saw. His ally thought he saw an opening, but "my" ally covered me. The King blocked the hook that was meant for me, and proceeded to shoulder throw him. Right before the activist could stand, the King sent a straight punch to his cheek bone. Two more. "I get left," I declared. I blitzed the Freedom Cry member on the left. I intercepted both of his attempts to attack me and returned my own. I kicked him in the gut with right, followed with a left crane kick, jumped and did a right crane kick, essentially a triple kick. With my right leg still suspended in the, I brought down performing an axe kick on his shoulder, plummeting him to the ground. The King weaved under his opponent's punch and grabbed him by the shoulder. He quickly rotated his hips and threw the guy upwards. As the man was floating in the air, this King struck a powerful punch to his guy and slammed him into the ground. I looked around and gasped for air. It was over. "VERY WELL DONE! EXCEPTIONAL JOB YOU TWO! OUTSTANDING!" The voice that instructed the little gang we fought earlier spoke again. "As expected from the Genius Detective and his majesty himself."

"Cut the crap," I interjected, "you lured us out here didn't you?"

"Awww, how'd you know detective?"

"The skyline... it's orange. That's definitely from fire. You caused a ruckus so I would be called out. Then, sent an army not only against me but against the King. This was a distraction wasn't it?! You had something bigger planned."

"I see you are quite skilled. Yes it was a lure, a bait but not for you, but for his majesty. I knew he would come if I made enough noise out here, he would show up. You were just a happy side effect. And as you two were busy brutally beating my poor innocent family, I sent the rest to burn the city!"

"Zach! They're saying riots are breaking out all over!" Julie called out from the car.

"What are you aiming for?" I questioned the voice.

"A clean city. A 'JUST' city. A haven with no heathens. As such my family is cleaning the filth as we speak."

"BULLSHIT!" The King finally spoke. "You had these guys higher than the fucken Empire State. If anything is filth here," he pointed towards the direction the voice was coming from, "it's you shitbag."

"Ah yes, your voice and tone and choice of words have truly shown me. You are beyond saving. YOU ARE THE VERY EVIL WE SEEK TO RID OF!"

The King stepped forward and clenched his fist, "Oh trust me. I 'AM' evil. And that's why I'll swallow up you and your twisted justice."

"WHY TO EXACT YOUR OWN?"

"My own what? Justice? No….to exact vengeance."

"Ha….HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I HAVE AN ARMY! YOU ARE ONE! SURELY YOU CANNOT THINK TO WIN."

"I'll show you why I was so feared. Plus I've deduced something. You're 'army' isn't so great anyways. Your only advantage is numbers and it isn't even that big. From what I can tell in the distance it's only the suburban areas of the city. The smallest districts. You only have a handful of goons. Goons that don't even have proper cognition skills due to your very drugs poisoning them. Count your days. I'm coming for you."

"I shall greet you with a red carpet your highness."

The King looked at me, "I'll see you around detective."

"What?"

From the distance, I could hear a motor. Sure enough, a biker came by and swooped the King up and took off. "ZACH!" Julie called out. "Hurry they're calling for all hands on deck."

"Coming." I got in the car. I thought to myself, "Was the King really evil?"

"Zach," Julie interrupted me, "you could've arrested him. You were right there."

"I know."

"Then what-"

"Right now he's an asset. You saw how he fought. Right now though he is our enemy. He's the enemy of our enemy."

"Very well. Let's go stop these riots why don't we."

"Let's." I sighed. Freedom Cry, what were they? The King called his numbers insignificant but enough to overwhelm the suburbs? That's a whole lot of dudes. The night was going to be long indeed