Originally, Austin thought it was time for him and Vlad to part. After all, he had already stayed at his house, and gotten a lot of information from him, but what he was looking to do would be extremely dangerous, especially for a normal person like Vlad.
However, when he and Killer had split up, Austin had made a simple mistake, how was he meant to find Killer? Without Killer, then he wouldn’t be able to find the gang or where this underground fight was going to be.
Which was why, once again, Austin was waiting outside the school Vlad went to. While waiting, he couldn't help but continue to think about the Shadow fighter.
‘The Shadow Fighter was fast and nimble, and skilled at fighting a bit like Innu. Only the movements were faster and tried to hit vital points that would do more damage. Judging from the small frame the Shadow Fighter didn’t have a lot of strength. Which just makes it more impressive because usually those types would be scared.’
The other thing that came to mind, was why the need to hide one’s identity. What benefit did it have? Wouldn’t they be able to control the crap that goes in schools more if people knew their face, and if they had a big gang backing them.
The school bell rang and as the students walked out, they couldn't help but point, stare, and whisper about Austin. Many recognised him and heard the stories about Big Mask seeing how he returned, many thought that he had returned to cause more trouble.
It didn't take long for Vlad to hear these rumours which caused him to rush out, and run to where Austin was.
“Come on, let's get out of here, before another problem happens.” Vlad said.
As the two walked away, Austin explained his conundrum, and of course Vlad knew where to find Killer, he also insisted on coming with Austin and wouldn’t tell him where, unless he was brought along.
“Alright, but for someone who isn’t a fighter himself, you seem to be really involved in all of this fighter stuff.” Austin said.
Vlad embarrassingly rubbed his head.
“Maybe it's because I can’t fight, I’ve always been fascinated by those that can, I mean sometimes I imagine if I could fight, what I would do, maybe I would be someone like the Shadow Fighter.”
Vlad and Austin had entered a row of corner shops that would sell drinks, cigarettes, newspapers and the odd snack here and there. The outside walls were covered with spray paint, and to no one's surprise it looked like Vlad was on the ball because Killer was right there, just outside of the shop.
HIs face was still very swollen from what had happened earlier in the day.
“I can’t even eat anything, my mouth hurts so much, where did that big ape even come from, I couldn't find any information on him.” Killer complained. “I guess he wasn’t serious about that gang stuff, I hope I never have to see him again.”
A large shadow was cast over Killer, he was sitting down on a low hanging wall behind some bushes, and turning his head up, he looked at the person that was blocking the sunlight with a stare, but that stare quickly changed to a shiver.
“You're here, it's Big Mask!” Killer said, falling backward off the small ledge and into the bushes. His other so called friends had already walked off, not wanting to get involved or hurt.
A hand was offered as Austin pulled him out of the push with ease. It was the first time Killer had been handled so easily. He wasn’t heavy by any means, but still it was unusual for him to be chucked around so easily.
“Right, so it looks like you remembered that we have that event tonight, and I was supposed to introduce you right, sure, sure, come on let’s go, we wouldn’t want to be late.” Killer said, already walking off.
Inside he felt despair, because how was he meant to explain all of this to his leader, Herbert.
Austin had been to his fair share of underground fights, so he wondered where this one was going to be, that’s why when they had gone up to the hills in the countryside, he was fairly surprised. To get there, Killer had used his motorbike, and handed one of his friend's motorbikes for Austin to use.
Since his friends had ditched him, Killer didn’t really care what happened to the bike, and he doubted he would complain when he knew it was Big Mask who took it.
Upon arriving, the crowd was a lot larger than Austin was expecting, there seemed to be around a 1000 people here, if not more, and unlike those in the city, they all looked well fed and dressed.
“Is it usually this busy?” Vlad asked.
“No… I mean, the Phantom Brawl would draw in a big crowd, but this was meant to just be kind of practice for that.” Killer said.
Parking up, they started to move and could see a makeshift cage, it looked quite official, similar to the one in the AFA. As they got closer, a bald headed man with black leather jacket noticed Killer and ran over.
“There you are!” The man said, grabbing Killer by both arms. “I thought you weren’t going to turn up. Today is a big day we really need to impr—” The man’s speech started to slow, because he noticed that Killer was badly hurt, swollen and bruised all over the place.
“What happened to you, Killer… what happened!”
The man shouting was Herbert and was the leader of one of the small gangs in the city and Killer was his student that was meant to enter the Phantom Brawl.
“You idiot, how could you do this, today of all days. The Scavenger's daughters are here! This could be a big deal for all of us!” Herbert said.
After the shaking was done, Killer finally got some space to give some answer.
“Sorry… but I found a replacement for myself, he will be taking part instead.” Killer pointed at the large Austin.
*****
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