PIK-A-SIDE IV (Ch. 25)

Raven watches shocked a practically naked, mud covered bleeding teenage boy stumbles into the store crying, Jimmy.

"I'm sorry!…I'll accept any punishment!, I'll pay you back! I'll ...."

"Jimmy it's fine" Raven interjects.

"Should we go inform the police?" Laura inquires indifferently.

Kaytlin levels her frown towards Jimmy before interjecting,

"No not yet, even if they do help he'll be arrested too, my sister knows someone who can help, i don't have my cell on me so i'll have to go by cab, it'll take give or take an hour? To go tow and fro, Raven, i'll call you when i'm home" she ststes before swiftly exiting the store

"What do you want now Aylin",

"I'm guessing you haven't slept because you've been on your rig?" She replies, "i need your help, Head over to the location i just sent you"

"What's in it for me?", (This money gobbling b...hugh) "five",

"Million?" Came a cheeky reply,

"Hundred" Aylin huffs....

"Thousand?", The voice interjects,

"get your ass here now!" she all but growls before cutting the line, (if dad's tech genius can't do it then there's really nothing to be done).

Walking beneath the rainy midnight sky multiple men bow as Duke walk past them, umbrella in hand before stepping into the next street. He comes to a halt a few feet away from Konan who stares him down,

(I doubt even taking him together is going to be enough),

"Duke Wade, or should i call you senior?, The Youngest leader of DEALERS, i was shocked when i found out who you where. Not so much after. Illegal gambling hmm?",

"Ahh the lunin, your quite far from home or did i not warn you well enough?" Duke replies oozing absolute disinterest

"Personally i don't....",

"Konan....enough" Yanick interjects, "return the kid's money asshole"

"I've heard of you guys, a crew made by a bunch of first year children, ah the name slips my mind, REDUNDANT?, is it?" Duke inquires.

Holding back his very visible irritation Konan keeps silent while watching Duke like a hawk

"Say i did have the money, what of it?",

Yanick steps forward still staring Duke down, "No need to talk too much, I'll just have to beat it out of you" he proclaims raising his fists and dropping into his stance.

"Yanick wait!, This is his home ground!" Konan yells trying to get him to calm down,

(we should've brought more people!)

"Home ground?, Home ground?!, Do you actually think i'm scared of you kids?" Duke states throwing aside his umbrella while sporting an absolutely insulted look, the rain in and around him steams as his clothes remain dry beneath the rains ardent onslaught, Yanick's eyes flash his face growing grim,

"Konan leave",

"Yanick i..."

"Leave!" He yells barely twisting away from on of Duke's heated fists, spinning in place Yanick's elbow misses by a hair's breath. Yanick follows by using the momentum to spin again before motioning into a kick, Duke raises his guard taking the impact before quickly re-centering, bursting towards Yanick who mirrors him, Yanick using forces his quads to tighten before falling forward to send his momentum to force himself a back flip motion to deliver a scorpion kick to Duke's face who drops to a knee, to dodge growling in frustration, Duke's body heats up going beet red with heat as steam pumps out from his pharynx, Yanick centers himself low, compressing his lower muscles till he feels his bones groan in protest, Duke launches himself forward in reply, basically teleporting before him his fist inches from Yanick's face, unable to dodge Yanick tenses his neck as his head snaps sideways from impact, Duke catches him flight by the collar proceeding to pummel him senseless before eventually dropping him, unconscious.

"Cheeky son of a bitch, it's quite amazing you could last this long" Duke states washing his bloody fist with the in pouring rain.

Konan who'd refused to run stares tensely in equal parts fear and shock,

(I've never seen anyone do that!, That's not human!, That's not something a human should be capable of doing!),

Looking disgruntledly towards Yanick's unconscious frame Duke turns on his heel before picking his umbrella.

"Take him... let's try this sometime when you've actually learned some martial arts" Duke states before walking away, much to Konan's relief

"Well this isss quite disappointing" said a black short haired teen sporting a bob cut, while now standing just beyond the closed store doors he steps in to the sight of Aylin and another attractive young girl beside two goblins, not bothering to introduce himself he gets right to the crux if the matter,

"Explain" he says, listening to the group give him a debrief on the issue at hand,

(illegal gambling), "it's a sight to see" he says towards Aylin,

"What is?" Ayin inquires

"You,....you helping people, you who usually doesn't care for the problem of others…could there be someone you li....." He replies pausing at the sight of the two goblins he swiftly turns his attention towards Laura with a face of revelation,

"ahh...so you like girls" he states as a matter of fact

"Focus!" Aylin growls.

"Hmm?, the charge system works by transferring the money first, then sending payment receipts and awaiting confirmation right?"

"Yeahh" jimmy drawls barely understanding the boy

"Hmm, it's largely manual then, they must have a group of people working full time or a laughably small customer base though I'd say it's a bit if both, they're far from the only site that's started running pik-side as a game product"

Getting off the counter the boy unzips his bag before pulling out a laptop,

"The server's in the country, using a local VPN makes it affordable, I'll get your money...the rest is mine, but we'll need several more people to get this done"

"How many?" Raven inquires

"Three" came the curt reply,

Walking in at almost the same time James and Jay walk in one after the other after waiting for several minutes Raven calls again before listening to it go into voicemail, (maybe Yanick's asleep),

"Any luck?" the boy inquires to a shake of the head in reply, "this will have to do then"

Duke pauses stopping mid stride, Konan watches as he pauses at the sight of a silhouette, a man, young, probably slightly older than they are in a gray suit and black shades,

"It's quite a rare sight nowadays, to see two shifters fight in the open"

"Vin Jin....it's been a long time, are you here to see me?" Duke inquires looking towards the man in shades

"Yes" he replies pointing towards Yanick, "do you know him?, He's got quite the name.. Yanick if I'm correct?, Your quite talented but you've got no brain, still a ways away from being his match...after all he was once number one of my possible successors" Vin states looking back towards Duke.

"Was?!, What the hell are you trying to say?!" Duke inquires steam rising in correlation to his agitation.

"As of today you are hereby disqualified from the race to be my successor" Vin smiles staring towards a shocked Duke

"Why!! Why?!" Duke shouts.

"You've got an illegal business, one of my rules for successor-ship is to never have something that can get him or her arrested or at the very least don't directly be involved, it's a shame Duke i quite liked you", Throwing aside his umbrella he proceeds to slowly take his blazer off, "I'm sure you're wondering how i know this, you see i work under a certain princess and one of her problems has your name on it, that 'kid' is with her as well so this matter will definitely reach the boss's ears, (once he's done taking your money of course), Vin mused to himself,

"I'm simply here for a cleanup job and to help you....shall i say 'revise' your statement" Vin replies while donning his smirk, Pulling off his clothes Duke's lips contort into a mocking smile,

"Things are much different than thet where Vin, you see i did a bit of research on you, Vin Jin and Jhon Wuu, the work you do for whoever it is you work for isn't illegal per say, but it can definitely put you two in the 'Can', that's why your so afraid of the law, after all it's quite shocking news, how much does your team make again?, Six hundred million credits?" he concludes to the shock of Konan and the now woken Yanick…

"i don't care who your boss is, i'll be done when i've buried you and take it all"

"A shame really....and here i thought at the very least i would let you live", Vin replies pulling off his shades exposing a jagged scar covering the area above and between his eyebrow and around his left eye, but more imposingly are his obsidian black eyes and white irises that glow beneath the starless night seeming to suck in the light around him, Yanick who is now barely conscious immediately recognizing the eyes, forces himself up pulling Konan along

"Yanick wha..."

"QUIET!" Yanick growls hurrying his wounded frame along with Konan's aid,

(I'm not strong enough yet, if we don't leave while he's distracted we're dead, i can't let Konan get hurt),

Vin stares now sporting only his black shirt rolled up to his elbows stares Duke down, his white irises glistening like two beaming flames,

"now.....shall we?".