27 Chapter Twenty-Seven: Don (2/2)
”Tanya!?” The man asks.
”Hey! Don!” Tanya says as she walks up to the man and hugs him.
Don grabs Tanya gently by the face and says ”You haven't aged a day!”.
”We all know you're lying about that” Tanya gleefully says, ”You dumb, chubby, silver tongued jackass!”.
The two began laughing loudly. Don then says to Tanya ”You still have a way with words! You still raising the kid with that one guy? What's his name again?”.
”No” Tanya says. ”That good for nothing bastard couldn't handle having a child. He left before she was born”.
Don then looks over Tanya's shoulder, at The Six Guns crew and asks ”You're not with these people, are you?”.
”Okay” Rose says, ”now I'm VERY lost! Can someone fill me in?”.
Don walks around Tanya, and gets close to Siran. ”So you're the people who gravely injured five of my men?”.
”Wait, what!?” Tanya yells.
”You're men attacked one of mine” Siran says to Don, directly to his face.
”You forgot to address me” Don says. ”You'll be addressing me as Sir”.
”Yeah, that's not happening, buddy” Siran says. ”I came all the way here because I thought that maybe we can settle this with words. You know, like adults?”.
Don laughs, then everyone else besides Tanya and the crew laughs. ”Yes” he says ”words. You know, you're lucky we were able to save our men from death. Otherwise, posters of you would've been placed all over town, and you would've been hunted down like dogs. What makes you think an apology will have any merit here?”.
”I never mentioned an apology” Siran says. ”I'm here to warn you. I will overthrow your reign here, unless you come to the understanding that you now work for me”.
”Wait, what are you doing?” Alex asks.
”And why should I take you seriously?” Don asks.
”Because” Siran replies, ”if only one of my people can take down a group of your men for starting a bar fight, what do you think I'll do to you if you decline?”.
Don snaps his fingers, and all the men surrounding them pull out a gun. At that moment, Holly uses her digital art skill, Dokkaebi. A giant digital shield in the shape of a goblin surrounds the crew, completely protecting them. Each of Don's men fire at them, but none of them managed to even put a scratch on Holly's shield.
”You're out of your league here, Don” Siran says. ”Now, do you want to talk, or do you want to fight?”.
”Who are you people, really?” Don asks.
”No one ever told you?” Siran asks. ”We're The Six Guns, and we'll be needing your assistance in the future”.
Don crosses his fingers and folds his hands as he thinks. ”I'm listening” he says.
”What's your opinion on The Ly'Lum?” Siran asks.
”Of course, they're enemies of ours as well” Don replies calmly.
”And you probably know this by now” Siran says, ”but we're currently their greatest enemy”. Don nods as Siran continues to talk, ”and we'll need places to hide as we form plans and armies against them. So I want to make a deal. We'll not only never attack one of your men again, but we'll even protect them from here on out. In return, we want you to secure a hideout for us. One that we can use as a base of operations”.
”And you think that settles the score between us?” Don asks.
”If you want to take a swing at me” Siran replies, ”then by all means, take a swing”.
Don laughs and says ”then in that case, I have something in mind! A game, of sorts. I need to know if you're strong enough to keep your word as well as strong enough to hold your own ground. Since you've given me the choice to 'take a swing' then allow me to upgrade this to my little... game and we have a deal”.
”Wait a minute, Syr” Zia says, ”I don't think-”
”Then we have a deal” Siran says.
Don smiles and says ”Good. Then this is my little game”.
The crew was taken to this small colosseum, and Siran was taken to the center as the rest were taken hostage as an audience. Several men walk into the colosseum with Siran and surround him. Suddenly, a microphone is turned on and Don's voice could be heard over a set of speakers that surround the colosseum. ”Remember the rules, Siran” Don says. ”If you kill or hurt any of my men, the deal is off. As well as, for every one of my men killed, we will kill one of yours. You survive the constant assault for one hour, and you're the winner. If, and that's only if you win, will I accept this deal”.
Siran slowly takes his hat that has been hanging on his back from the lace around his neck, and slowly puts it on top of his head. A bell is heard and the men charge at Siran. The men swung at him with daggers, bats, knives and crowbars but Siran dodged every attack with ease. The men were fast, but Siran was much faster. He moved so quick, each of his movements were like a blur. Siran kept one hand on his hat, and wore a big smile as if to taunt them. Over and over, the men attacked and Siran always got away. Eventually, the men started pulling out guns. At first, the men thought they had Siran trapped. But every time it seemed like they almost had Siran, he always managed to move somewhere else, using things like illusion magic to avoid every hit. One by one, the men started to pass out. After the last man collapsed, Siran walks up to the nearest gangster that lay still on the ground. He checks his pulse with his fingers and then stands up. ”Looks like they used too much magic and it took a toll on them” he says. Siran then looks at Don and says ”looks like they've all passed out! What do you say to ending this game early?”.
Don clenches his fists in anger. ”That's impossible! How are you still standing? I won't let you have your way so easily!” Don shouts. ”I swear, I'll-”
”Wait!” Tanya shouts as she stands in front of Don. ”These are good people. I understand what they did, but you've gotta trust me on this. You know I've always had a good eye for discerning what kind of people anyone is or could be. Give them a chance, I know you'll work well together”.
Don slowly turns his head back towards Siran and asks ”So our men can take care of our business freely, and you guys will keep the government and their militaries off of us, right?”.
Siran nods and says ”You have my word”.
After debating with himself, Don snaps his fingers and the gates for the colosseum open again. All the men surrounding the rest of the crew put away their weapons, and everyone gathers at the center where Siran is. Don finally meets with the crew once more and says ”I'll show you to a place we can set up as a hideout”. Don then whistles and his men follow behind him as well as the crew. Some of his men pick up and carry those who passed out and bring them with. Eventually, they come across an empty and abandoned bar that's ironically across the street from the bar that they got into a fight at, Ace of Spades. As they get inside, the place was dirty and hollow. There were no tables or chairs, cobwebs and dust was everywhere, this place was a complete and empty mess.
”This place will be perfect” Don suggests. ”I can have some people fix this place up and make it into a fully functional bar. However, the bar will only serve as a front. There's areas in the back that lead to a basement. From there, you should be able to carry out and discuss plans without being overheard. Don't make me regret my decision, or else”. Don then walks away, leaving his men there. His men start cleaning and a few of them leave. After a while, some more men come back with tables and chairs. Eventually, trucks start coming in, with all sorts of different liquors. The team stayed to help clean the place out. At the end of the day, it looked like the bar was almost ready to open. There was still a lot of work to be done, but it wouldn't be long until the place would be full my operational. The team goes back to the hotel to sleep and Tanya had went with them for the time being.
”I can't believe you guys picked a fight with Wolf Pack!” Tanya exclaims.
”We didn't pick a fight... they did” Zia says.
”You guys are the craziest people I've ever met!” Tanya says. ”And I was married once! You somehow managed to surpass the craziness of my ex-husband!”.
”Don't worry” Siran says, ”I'm not going to boss them around and stuff, I just need a place to fall back to”.
”That doesn't help at all!” Tanya says.
”Anyways” Siran says, ”thanks for sticking up for us back there. You mentioned before that you appreciated that we stick up for ourselves and fight back against The Ly'Lum, right?”.
”Yeah, why?” Tanya asks.
”Well, I'd like you to help us stand up against The Ly'Lum” Siran says as he hands a silvery card over to Tanya with the number 3 on it. ”You can be both a mother and a hero for your daughter, if you're worried about her being raised under the reign of The Mages. What do you say?”.
”What am I supposed to say?” Tanya asks. ”This seems like too much responsibility to handle. You know I'm a mother first”.
”And that's perfectly fine” Siran says.
”I guess I'll consider it for now” Tanya says as she puts the card down on the floor of the hotel and lays down.
After a while of everyone laying down and failing to find sleep again, Rose eventually asks amidst all the confusion from the day they just had. ”Did we just become mob bosses?” She asks.
”Uhh... yeah, I think we did” Finn replies.
”Oh” Rose replies, still very confused about what happened.
”Anyways, get some rest” Alex says.
”Yeah” Siran agrees, ”tomorrow we've got to finish up our new hideout and then we have to take Demetri out of Vega”.
”Yeah” Finn adds ”because, y'know, handling a crazy yet somehow slightly friendly mob boss and a crazy Russian known for making both cybernetics and explosives, in the same week isn't at all disheartening”.
”Enough” Holly says, ”you're acting like we haven't been through worse”.
”But...” Finn asks, ”have we been through worse?”.
After a while of arguing, everyone finally finds sleep. The night slowly came to an end. The crew slept peacefully as slowly, but surely, the next day began.