What went Down 2

The room felt tense.

Saffi was sitting across the table again, and facing Mazino once more.

The scent of tea was alluring as Saffi felt the steam from the cup hit his face. He was very well tempted to drink it to get rid of the taste of blood in his mouth, but he instead chose to stare at the cup in silence. However, he held it ever so tightly in his grasp.

The two high schoolers were staring at each other and communicating through signs about how they felt and how bad the situation looked to them.

The gangster who had moved out of the way before Saffi was attacked watched over his badly beaten friend from a distance. He was going to take him away and apply first aid to him, but Mazino rebuked him.

The one who Saffi beat up was left in pain on the floor and would make some barely audible groans now and again. And if not for that, they would not know whether he was still alive.

As for Marzi, he was sitting across the table from Saffi, playing with a spoon in his hand. He was twirling it around and watching it spin between his finger and plate, and he even closed one eye to get a better look at it.

After a while of this silence, Saffi spoke first, "What are you doing?" he asked. He could no longer sit by and watch a grown man, and not just any man but his captivator, play around instead of saying something.

"Oh me?" Marzi asked as he twirled the spoon around again and made it do a backflip. "I was waiting for you," Marzi replied as he reached a hand out towards Saffi.

"What?" Saffi asked baffled.

"You seem to be the type not to say anything when you don't want to," Marzi said as he flipped the spoon again, caught it in the air mid-fall, and then pointed it at Saffi. "So I figured I would wait for you to say something before I did."

"And now it seems like you are in a mood to talk. So let us have a conversation," Marzi said with a clap. This was a sign for the two boys behind him to get to work and clear the table out for him.

They took away the empty tea cup Marzi had finished while Saffi got beaten up by the gangster earlier and then took away his plate, motor, and pestle. Clearing up the table, they reached to get the teacup from Saffi, but he didn't hand it over to them, instead, he moved it away.

When Marzi saw this, he signaled them not to take that cup away from him but to leave him.

"So, what do you want to talk about?" Saffi asked as he placed the cup in front of him once more.

"Saffi, I'll be honest. I want you to come and work directly under me," Marzi answered firmly.

Saffi's eyes widened as he almost stood up from his seat. He was filled with anger and confusion as he couldn't make sense of his situation anymore. He imagined himself lifting the table up and flipping it over.

Saffi squeezed the cup, almost to the point where either his hands would be bleeding from doing so, or the cup would be cracking from the pressure. He looked down at it as he bit his lip to prevent himself from screaming out enraged.

"I am uninterested, can I go home now?" Saffi blurted out in a fit of composed rage. He didn't yell nor look at him, he just said the words as slowly as he could, and as carefully. As much as he was upset to hear such a suggestion from someone like Marzi, he couldn't just say whatever he wished.

"I'm sorry, but it is not that simple," Marzi explained.

"Then what is it!" Saffi yelled as he stood up from his seat letting go of the cup. Remembering his situation, he looked over his shoulder and saw that the 3 extra people were still watching over his conversation with Marzi, intently. Saffi composed himself but he didn't sit down nor touch the cup. He placed his hands on the table firmly and made his point clear.

"You see, that's what it is. Saffi," Marzi said as he paused for a little bit to make sure that Saffi was listening to him carefully. "You are tensed beyond what you can handle. So much so that you are a danger to yourself right now."

"You seek to prove yourself to such a degree that you placed yourself in harm's way for a group of people who ran away the moment that they realized that you could take their fall for them."

"And what did you achieve from that? Not even a thank you."

These words had hit Saffi deeply in his chest. He didn't want to admit to it, but everything he heard so far had felt so accurate that he would be a liar to himself if he claimed that there was no truth to it.

He remained speechless and... ashamed.

Marzi saw the hesitation in his eyes and replied, "But it wasn't a wasted effort. Despite being a failed attempt, it was still an attempt to achieve something greater than you or others think you are capable of."

"So what of it! This still doesn't explain why you would ask me to join a group of thugs like this!" Saffi rebutted.

"Because we are a family. One that looks after one another and helps each other grow. I see in you the potential to accomplish great things, you are simply lacking one thing," Marzi said with a pause. "Me," he finished with certainty.

"Family?" Saffi asked with a raised brow as he looked behind himself to see the gangster he had beaten up earlier still injured and lying on the floor, groaning in pain.

Marzi glanced over to acknowledge him as he said, "That one there is a bit hard-headed. He does not easily listen to reason so I have to be a bit tough with my love for him to learn and grow."

"But if you ever feel uncomfortable with him around or with anything else, then I will permit you with the ability to leave the family whenever you want. Although even if you leave, we will still care for you as family."

Marzi then took off one of the bracelets he was wearing and slide it over for Saffi to take a hold of. Saffi didn't touch it, but his eyes did gaze upon it for longer than he intended.

"But just because you say that, doesn't convince me to stay. I don't want to have to oppress innocent people and students like you do. It doesn't sit right with me!" Saffi expressed.

"Then you won't have to. And don't think for a moment that we will continue to do so on the side. Once you join the family, we will stop harassing any so person you say we shouldn't. And you can tag along and see for yourself should you feel we would be lying to you." Marzi replied with his fingers interlocked between each other on the table.

"I wouldn't want to create a wedge between someone I would accept into my family."

The people watching from the side were astonished. From the sound of it, their boss was willing to change their entire organization for the sake of one boy. To them, this was all too much.

But to Marzi, this wasn't enough if it wouldn't convince Saffi to stay and join his family.

"I get that you want me to join. But this isn't me, I can't, I don't want to, I'm not going to join a gang. I don't want to have to become..." Saffi stopped himself as he caught his own words.

He sat back down and caught the cup in his hands once more as he began to rub his finger up and down the side of it. It was no longer warm, and barely a source of comfort to him.

But holding onto it made him feel like he still had something that he was sure about.

 Saffi was conflicted, and Marzi was sure about that. But something still kept him from giving in to Marzi's offer. As to what it was, Marzi was unsure, but regardless, Marzi was closing in on a breaking point.

"I understand that you would feel conflicted. Most people would, and you have every right to feel that way. But just understand, that not everything that has a bad reputation is bad. There are always odd ones out."

"The one obstacle that prevents people from understanding each other, is the misunderstandings of the people that came before them. This leads to a wedge that ends up being built, and as I've mentioned before, I dislike wedges."

"The moment we are willing to give a chance to something we don't understand, in order to understand it better, is the moment we can properly form an opinion of what we truly feel they are like."

Marzi stretched out a hand towards Saffi as he said to him, "Saffi. Let us put behind the past of those who came before us. And try to understand each other now."

Marzi was very sincere when he said those words, and it was in such a way that it had even gotten through to Saffi a little bit. Saffi remained silent in thought for quite a while.

There were many reasons as to why he could, should say no! But to do that would mean to disregard everything that had been said to him so far from Marzi. So in the end Saffi asked himself, 'Is there really a downside to me joining?'

'I could have someone who would teach me how to fight and stand up for myself, and at the same time, I would be putting an end to harassment of innocent people if I joined them. I would be like looking out for them'

And I feel like Marzi means the words he has been saying, but, 'how would Mikey feel?' he thought to himself as he pictured a scene of Mikey smiling at him.

Picturing that smile, he could almost vividly remember what Mikey had said to him before and would probably say to him now.

'You look out for me plenty already. So you don't have to feel like you need to do more.'

"Alright, I've made up my mind," Saffi said with a satisfied expression.

Marzi noticed the change in his demeanor.

"I am sorry, but like I said. I will not be joining your family," Saffi said as humbly as he could as he let go of the teacup in his hands.

Mazino went quiet for a while as he was thinking about what to say next to try and get him to reconsider, but seeing the determination in Saffi's eyes, he knew that any more efforts after this would be for naught.

"Alright, it seems you've made up your mind, and that I cannot convince you to change it. I respect your decision," Marzi responded.

Saffi smiled upon hearing this.

"Boys, break his legs," Mazino yelled calmly.

"What?" Saffi asked in shock.

The next thing he knew, he was being dragged across from the table with so much force that it caused the teacup to fall onto the floor and spill all of the tea inside it. The two high schoolers were dragging him by his arms as he tried to turn and twist himself out of their grasp.

Saffi screamed as he tried to scratch and bite his way out of this. He tried everything he could do to free himself but it was to no avail. He simply wasn't strong enough, and there was no rush to carry him through this time.

"It's such a shame," Mazino said as he watched from his seat. "I saw a bright future with you."

As the remaining thug closed in on Saffi carrying a bat in his hands, all Saffi could do was close his eyes and pray that it wouldn't hurt as much as he knew it was going to.

"BOSS!" Someone yelled from the outside of the building.

The man dressed up as a police officer who Mazino sent out earlier came back screaming.

"What is it?" Mazino asked disinterested as he kept his eyes on Saffi.

"There's trouble by the front gate. We are under attack by another gang!" he cried.

Mazino now looked towards him as he worriedly asked, "Another gang? Which gang would dare to attack us in broad daylight?"

"It 's-it's," the guy stuttered to say out loud as though in shame. "It's a gang of middle schoolers," he cried.

Mazino rubbed his fingers across his eyes. "A gang of middle schoolers? Enough with the jokes, just let the people at the front gate take care of it."

"That's the thing, boss! They already took down the front gate!!!" 

As the guy said those words, the door behind him opened up and he was might with an axe kick straight down to his head. It was a kick so hard that his head went into the ground a bit.

"Saffi you idiot, I've come to take you back!" The voice of the intruder said as he yelled towards Saffi.

When Saffi looked to see who it was, he was relieved as he cried, "MIKEY!!!"

And he wasn't alone, the entire California Avengers were there right with him.

"Oh, it looks like you brought yourself into a batty situation there," Mister Smiley teased as he placed a hand over his closed eyes to take a closer look. "How'd a weakling like you even end up in a place like this?"

"Hey Smiley!" Dragon said as he karate-chopped his head. "Don't go saying harsh things to Saffi. He already looks as pathetic as it is."

"I don't think that is any nicer," Mutt whispered from behind.

Mazino took a look at everyone in front of him and then lingered his eyes on Mikey for a bit. And to his surprise, Mikey glared right at him in response to it.

"That kid looks like he wants to kill me. Interesting," Mazino said as he stood up with a smile on his face.

"At the very least, this will be entertaining."