Life After OZ Ch. 2
By Dan

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Location: Ozwald Penitentiary

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Warden Ferguson idly smoked a cigarette while waiting for his transportation to arrive. He was flanked by a guard on his left, and Eddy E on his right. Eddy was nervous about this new endeavor that the warden had planned- a special task force to retrieve Cody. “*All these guards... for just one man?*”, Eddy E often thought. But he knew that Warden Ferguson was not a man who took lightly to escaping prisoners.

“So boys,” the warden began, “Are you ready to find that outlaw coyote Cody?”

“Yeah. We’ll track that inmate down, and toss him back in with the rest of the garbage, boss.”, the guard said. The warden looked pleased with his response, and turned to Eddy E, who gulped nervously.

“How about you, boy? What, you ain’t got the testicular fortitude to reply?”, the warden said with a chuckle. Eddy E finally replied.

“Sure. I’m r-r-ready, boss.” A jeep suddenly pulled up to the spot where the trio were waiting. Another guard was inside.

“Where to, warden?”, he said opening the door. The warden, Eddy E, and the guard got inside. After throwing away his cigarette, the warden replied:

“Metro City.”

“Yes sir”, the guard replied. After switching to “drive”, the guard drove off towards the warden’s destination.

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Location: The Haggar Estate

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Dean was still grumbling about that cop that arrived at the house a couple of hours ago. Guy quietly sat down, obviously in deep thought. Lucia was watching the television, trying to catch a possible report on Cody’s whereabouts. Jessica was beginning to fix dinner for all of them, and Mike Haggar was making various phone calls (and answering them as well). Haggar was finally frustrated at having to call and receive all these numbers, and finally slammed the phone down in anger.

“D*mn! I cannot make a simple phone call anymore! Every other two seconds it’s the news channels asking for some information on Cody, or it’s the police reminding me that I shouldn’t hide Cody if I see him!”, Haggar said.

“Whoa,” Dean said. “Calm down, big fella’. I don’t wanna’ see you upset, that’s for sure.” Haggar agreed, and calmed down. Lucia, who was still watching the television, suddenly went wide-eyed.

“Um, guys... Check this out.” Haggar, Dean, Jessica and Guy all went to see what Lucia called them about. It was a tv. report on Cody!

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The News Report

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“Metro City’s hero turned fallen angel. We’ll give you the inside scoop on Metro City most (in)famous new criminal, Cody. More after this commercial break.”, the reporter said. Lucia shook her head, and even Guy was seemingly disgusted.

“That... really... sucks.”, Guy said with a hint of anger. Another ring from the doorbell made everyone’s head turn in that direction.

“It’d better not be a reporter!”, Dean said in a mock singsong. Two feminine voices responded.

“Open the door, Dean.”

“Yeah, and hurry!” Guy walked to the door, and opened it. There stood Maki and Rena. Rena saw Guy and her smile faded a little. Guy somewhat turned his head away from Rena’s, prompting Maki to look at both of them.

“Come in.”, Guy said with an outstretched hand. Rena walked by him. Maki trailed close by. She stopped to whisper to Guy.

“Still haven’t patched things up with Rena?”

“Obviously.”, Guy whispered back sharply. His sudden rudeness surprised Maki. “*Serves you right, then, o’ Bushin Master.*”, she thought. After closing the door, Guy noticed Rena was in the spot where HE was sitting. Maki told her to move over, and she did. Dean walked by Rena to give her a hug, and as she hugged him, she somewhat took a quick glance at Guy. Guy suddenly turned angry, which was something he didn’t do. But instead of getting mad, he excused himself.

“Hey. I’ll be back.” Haggar turned to him.

“Where are you going, Guy?” Guy opened the door, and turned back.

“I suddenly feel the need to blow off some steam.” Guy nearly slammed the door as he left the house. Lucia looked at Maki.

“What’s THAT all about?”, Lucia asked. Maki shook her head.

“I’d tell ya’, but then I’d have to kill ya’.” Lucia already had gotten the idea. After all, Maki was never good with secrets...

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Location: Somewhere by the docks of Metro City

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With a groan, a strange form arose from a seemingly endless sleep underneath the docks in the sand. This figure looked up in-between the planks of the boardwalk. Even though it was nighttime, the person was keeping an extremely low profile.

“*Geez... With what I’m wearing, I’ll stick out like a sore thumb, even in this darkness.*” A sudden small booming of thunder made the person curse. “*...And rain.*” The mysterious person quietly tiptoed underneath the dock. The figure knew that all sorts of illegal activities were going on above, but the person realized that it’s not possible to stop them now.

“*But what I COULD do, it try to get a change of clothing...*” The person with a pained grunt hoisted himself onto the docks. Looking around, the figure tried to find a bar. “*Ah... bingo.*” The person walked slowly to the dimly lit bar...

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Warden Ferguson’s Jeep. Destination: Metro City

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“Well, here we are.”, the driving guard said, slowing down the jeep. The warden looked up at the small mansion. Looking at the driveway, he saw a Lincoln Continental, a Lexus GS400, and a Mercedes-Benz E-Class.

“Now, Eddy. You SURE this is the place, right?”, the warden said with narrowed eyes. Eddy E gulped once more. He had been doing that a lot lately...

“Yes. This is the place. 1125 Metro City Drive.”, Eddy said wiping sweat of his forehead. The warden hopped out of his jeep and lit a fresh cigarette.

“Well then what are we waiting for? Let’s pay Mr. Mike Haggar a visit, then!”