Life After OZ Ch. 9 (Part 2)
By Dan
The Final Fight trio carefully made their way through the back alleys of Metro
City, trying to stay as hidden as humanly possible. But it wouldn't be easy.
All three were dirty, and practically reeking of sewer stench. Dean (of course)
was the first to comment on the whole situation.
"Man, I want out of this clothing. It really stinks.", Dean said
quietly. Cody nodded, but nonetheless continued lurking in Metro City's
shadows. Guy kept quiet as well, opting to think out the situations ahead
rather than to listen to Dean's problems. Cody suddenly stopped the both of
them from walking by putting his arms out at either side.
"Um, Guy. Which way IS City Hall anyway?", Cody asked.
"Don't worry, we're on the right track. Just follow me.", Guy said
to Cody and Dean. But before they could continue they heard a clinking sound
just up ahead, followed by louder rattling...
"Um, what the f*** is that?", Dean whispered. Cody shrugged (like
in his SFA3 win pose), and Guy began to scan the area using his advanced Bushin
techniques.
"It's not anybody we know, that's for certain.", Guy said.
"So? Is a person nonetheless?", Dean asked Guy. Both turned to
Cody, but Cody was gone. They looked to see him quietly approaching the
rattling noise just ahead... A hiss then followed by the knocking over of
garbage cans made Cody yell out.
"WHOA!"
Dean and Guy quickly dashed to the exact spot. Cody wiped sweat of his
forehead with a dirty hand, then scowled remembering that his hand was filthy
with grime.
"It was just an alley cat, that's all.", Cody said reassuringly.
Guy pointed in the direction where they were headed.
"I suggest we keep moving. We don't have time on our side." Dean
and Cody nodded, and continued with Guy leading the way.
*****
Warden Ferguson drove his jeep back toward Metro City in silence. Sodom and
Rolento were in the back seat, making plans to apprehend Cody, Guy and Dean. As
he drove, the warden asked a question.
"So you two have bad blood with this Cody, am I right?"
"Yeah", Rolento said looking up from his schematics, "Cody
cost us plenty when we were in Mad Gear. Speaking of which, you aren't going to
try and flip the script on us, are you? Because if you want our help now, then
try and throw us in prison later, my comrades won't be too happy to hear of
that."
"Don't worry about that, Mr. Rolento", Warden Ferguson said.
"...Besides, I'm in too deep myself already. I'm expecting serious
consequences and repercussions for what I've ALREADY done."
*****
At the Haggar Estate, Jessica sat with Lucia and Maki, talking about the
past couple of months and all the dilemmas that Cody, Mike Haggar, and basically
all of them, faced. Maki was sprawled out on the lavish champagne-colored sofa,
and Lucia and Jessica were sitting in the chairs that matched the sofa.
"Oh wow. I'm remembering something.", Lucia said to the two.
"Remember when Jessica and Rena got into that big squabble not too long
ago?"
Jessica looked at her friend with a bit of contempt. "Do we honestly
have to bring that topic up, Lucia?"
"Actually, I'm glad she did, Jessica.", Maki said. Jessica turned
to Maki.
"What for?"
"Well, Rena wanted to apologize for what she said about Cody. Why she
didn't want to tell you face-to-face is beyond me. But she only said those
things because she was so frustrated at the fact that she wasn't with Guy
anymore.", Maki said both Lucia and Jessica.
"So THAT’S what was the whole problem? Her and Guy? Oh, man. I guess
we're all dating these 'bad boys'.", Lucia said with a slight laugh.
Jessica giggled also. Maki stayed silent, however.
"Oops. My fault, Maki. I forgot.", Lucia said with a wink. Maki
grinned a toothy smile then reassured her friend.
"Ah, don't worry about it. Besides, we've got other more serious things
to worry about right now."
*****
Eddy E finally left the holding center in practically a pool of his own
sweat. The guards followed close by, also sweatdropping and looking equally as
nervous as their partner.
"Oh, boy, it's not gonna' be good for us when the warden hears about
this.", Eddy said the two guards. One guard nodded as the other threw his
cap down.
"You know what?", the guard said in a rage. "I'm tired of
this. All I've been doing is getting shot at, and I'm chasing down a so-called
'criminal' who did nothing but help save this city. I'm pretty d*mn p*ssed off
with the warden myself."
"You know something?", the second guard said. "Me too! All
Warden Ferguson has done is put our lives on the line for his own benefit. Even
though it's in the job description, he's taking it too far trying to catch this
Cody guy!"
Eddy E looked at the two angry guards. "Sooo... What are you guys
saying, then?"
"Isn't it that bloody obvious?"
"WE QUIT!"
"What about you, Eddy? You honestly can't tell us that you're not tired
of the Warden. The man is nutso!"
Eddy E nodded. In fact, he WAS tired of all the put-downs, and not being
regarded as highly as he thought of the warden. Even though it was the warden
who gave him a second chance, he didn't feel that it was necessary anymore to
catch Cody. In fact, Eddy didn't really even care about Cody anymore. He was
trying to rebuild his broken life, just the same as Cody. It might've been many
factors that controlled Eddy's final decision, but he finally agreed.
"I quit too. I'm tired of working like this, I really am. Let the
warden do whatever he wants. I'm not facing all these illegal activities
because of him."
The two guards nodded, and each shook the other's hand. "So, now what
are we going to do?", one guard asked.
"I dunno'... um, see if the Metro City police force is hiring?",
Eddy suggested.
*****
The warden slowly drove by the block where the Haggar Estate was located. As
he did so, he turned to look behind him.
"Well? Are you two ready with the plan?", he whispered sharply.
Rolento and Sodom both nodded.
"Good..."
*****
Jessica, Maki and Lucia were all still in the house when they heard three
loud raps on the front door.
"Wow. Is that your dad, Jessica?", Lucia said turning to Jessica
in the process. Jessica shook her head no.
"Couldn't be. My father has the keys to the house." More raps on
the door, a very insistent knocking...
"Whoever it is, they need to get in...", Maki realized. Jessica
then had an idea.
"It's CODY!"
"Are you sure...?", Maki trailed off.
"Who ELSE would it be?", Jessica said getting to the door with a
smile. Opening the door, her smile vanished.
"Hello, ladies...", Rolento said with an arrogant smirk.
*****
"There appears to be a receiver off the hook. Please hang up, and try
your call again. Thank you, this is a recording..."
"Argh. Where IS Jessica?", Cody said hanging up the cellular
phone. Dean offered some words of solace.
"She's okay. The phone's off the hook, that's all."
"But why? For what reason?", Cody said, starting to get angry. Guy
nodded, agreeing with Cody.
"Something IS wrong. While I can't tell you exactly what, I know that
Jessica's in danger. SERIOUS danger..."
Cody looked at Guy. "Well what the h*ll are we standing around here
for? Let's move!"
"HEY! You're not going ANYWHERE!", a voice said from behind them.
Cody, Guy and Dean all spun on their heels to confront whomever the person was.
"And who are you?", Dean said.
"One of Rolento's henchmen..."
That's all the Final Fight trio needed to hear. All of them ran in opposite
directions, avoiding a virtual hail of blades directed at them with deadly
precision from above. Ten or twelve of Rolento's 'El Gatos' dropped from
balconies and fire escapes armed with batons and knives. One even had a pair of
sai.
"Get ready, heroes...", the leader trailed off with a cold voice.
Guy, Dean and Cody all got into their fighting stances. The henchmen made the
first move, wanting to take advantage on their impressive three-to-one
advantage over the Final Fight crew. Two henchmen attacked Cody simultaneously,
one swinging his baton, the other, charging with a blade. Cody neatly caught
the baton-wielding henchmen's stick, and used it to swing him directly into his
partner's blade.
Dean was avoiding the blades of two El Gatos with skill. One tried a quick
desperation lunge, then Dean sidestepped him, and watched in amusement as the
lackey went crashing into garbage cans. Dean had almost forgot about the other
one when he deftly sidestepped the henchman, and punched him square in the jaw,
sending the man staggering into Guy in pain.
Guy pushed the staggering man down to the floor as he quickly dispersed of
his enemies. They couldn't catch what they couldn't see, after all... One man
cried out in pain as he was thrown into a wall, another saw his own staff taken
away from him as he was clubbed over the head with it. One screamed like a
horror-movie damsel in distress as he felt his own blade pulled away from him
and placed neatly in his thigh. Cody and Dean simply cleaned house with the
remaining lackeys, and sooner than the Final fight trio might've wanted to, all
of Rolento's henchmen were taken care of. Most were groaning in pain, holding
various appendages, and others were simply knocked out. The leader was wide
eyed with fear, now. He didn't expect for this to actually be a fair fight.
"Um, I guess I'll be taking my leave now, gentlemen...", he said,
turning to flee. Guy stopped him immediately.
"WHERE do you think you're going, my friend?", Guy said. Pushing
him over to Cody, the lead henchman was now sweatdropping nervously as he
stammered out a reply.
"W-W-What are y-you g-gonna do to me?"
"Nothing, you chump. But you'd better tell us what we need to
know...", Dean said with a cold voice. Cody grinned at Dean's NYPD Blue
impression.
"You heard the man. What are you doing chasing us down? Spill the
beans, or you'll find yourself not able to walk in the next, ohhh, thirty
seconds."
Okay, I'll talk! Rolento sent us down here as a diversion."
"Obviously", Guy said folding his arms. "...But what
for?"
Silence. Cody growled, then backhand slapped the lackey.
"Okay! He and Sodom are kidnapping the Jessica girl!"
"WTF?", Cody said. NOW he was REALLY angry. Lifting the lackey up
by the collar, Cody growled.
"What...for."
The lackey gulped. "They're both being paid like twenty-five thousand
by this warden guy to capture you three."
"THE WARDEN!?!", Dean, Guy and Cody all said at once. Cody looked
up at the henchman, who he had suspended in the air.
"Where is he taking them?"
"I don't know... URK!" The grip on the lackey's shirt got tighter
as Cody was beginning to lose patience.
"I SAID WHERE?"
"I really don't know! They didn't tell me that part... honest!",
the henchman pleaded. Cody growled angrily again. Setting the lackey on his
feet, Cody then punched him in the face.
"WHOA! Cody! That's not necessary, man!", Dean said.
"Let him go, Cody. The man doesn't have any information...", Guy
trailed off. Cody punched the lackey one more time in the gut, then let him
drop to the ground. Watching the man as he vomited blood, Cody pointed a finger
down towards the fallen henchman.
"Let me find out you were lying to me. I'll find you, trust
me...", Cody swore. Turning in the direction they came from, Cody, Dean
and Guy started to run in the direction of the Haggar Estate.
"*Please be okay, Jessie...*", Cody thought to himself over and
over.
"*Please...*"
*****
Rolento and Sodom both had thought this would be an easy task, but it was
proving to be wrong. They didn't expect Maki and Lucia to be such advanced
fighters.
"Take THIS! YAH!", Lucia cried out, kicking Rolento in his
kneecap. Rolento surprised by the impact of the blow, staggered back, but when
Lucia tried to follow up with a kick, Rolento swung his tonfa baton hard,
knocking Lucia backwards and onto the floor.
Maki was attacking Sodom with speed-based moves. After all, she was trained
in the quick techniques of the Bushin style as well... Maki kicked Sodom who
took the full blow. Seeing that wasn't enough, Maki tried to follow up with a
palm smack. Sodom parried, then thrust his jitte forward, just barely missing
Maki's jugular vein. Trying his hand in another attack, Sodom charged at her
once more. This time, Maki flipped gracefully over Sodom. Catching him
underneath his arms, Maki used as much energy as possible to fling the hulking
samurai over her shoulder as she flipped past him, and power-bombed him into
the floor. Jessica was in the corner of the room, trying frantically to call
the cops.
"Hello? 911? I'm reporting..."
"Nothing at all.", a voice said, grabbing the phone from her. She
turned to see who it was and she screamed out.
"YOU!"
Warden Ferguson grinned evilly. Then he backhand slapped Jessica to the
floor. Lucia saw what just happened and ran towards the warden.
"You b*st*rd!!!", Lucia directed at the warden. Rolento let her
get past him. Then with a chuckle, he threw a grenade at Lucia. Hitting her in
the back of the head with it, Lucia turned around to see where it came from.
"Huh?", Lucia said quizzically. Rolento simply pointed down at her
feet.
-WHOOSH-
Gas filled the air around Lucia, burning her lungs with acrid smoke.
Coughing and wheezing for breath, Lucia slunk to the floor and was out like a
light seconds afterwards. Maki was still beating down Sodom, unknowing that her
friends were both captured already.
"Take THAT, you wannabe!" Maki said kicking Sodom in the gut.
Sodom groaned in pain as she staggered back. Suddenly from behind Maki, a cold
metal object was put right to her temple. She automatically knew what it was.
"We don't want a mess in here, do we cowgirl?", Warden Ferguson
said placing the newly-acquired pistol to Maki's throat.
"...I didn't want to do it this way, but that Cody left me no choice...
Now, are you going to come quietly or do we have to do this the hard way?"
"You've got my cooperation.", Maki said quietly. The warden smiled
from behind her.
"Good. Rolento? Take care of her...", Warden Ferguson trailed off.
"What do you mean...!", Maki exclaimed in fear.
Maki only felt the blow of Rolento's baton hit the back of her head before
she too, blacked out.
-Well, that's all for now. Part three will come sooner than this one did (I
hope). Props and respect to all who have continuously read this little piece of
fanfiction I've wrote. I'm out of here... for now, anywayz.-