We finished dealing with the robbers and I was prepared to rush out of there when the staff member stopped me.
He quickly gave a bottle of water to each of us and thanked us profusely before we left, leaving the tied up robbers for the police to deal with.
We stopped a few blocks from where the robbery took place and sat down on a bench in the void deck, Dan huffing from both the exhaustion and excitement of what happened.
He opened the bottle and took a swig from it before letting out a breath, "Damn… Ok… I'm going to be honest. I can see why you want to do this."
I raised an eyebrow at him, "Do what?"
"This vigilante thing. The adrenaline rush feels great doesn't it?"
I frowned at him, "That's not the real reason I'm doing this."
He waved his hand, "Yes, yes, I get it. The whole 'power is given for a reason' thing. You have a responsibility blah blah. Still, you can't deny that this does have a certain feeling of rush to it."
"Sure, whatever you say," I sighed, deciding that it was already good enough that he was supportive of this and not against it.
"So this is what you do at night eh?" He asked after taking another swig of water.
I turned to roll my eyes at him, "If you forgot, I've only started doing this recently, ok? You're acting as though I've been doing this for a long time."
"Wait, really? I thought you were just bullshitting. So you really only just started this vigilante thing? What made you start then? Is it the reawakening?"
"Obviously. You already know my family doesn't exactly support my… Less than conventional work which doesn't really provide a stable income to begin with. What do you think they would say if they knew I was basically risking my life for free?"
"Ha! Your mom would probably tell you to at least charge them for saving their lives and if they can't pay, just kick them aside!"
I grinned, "Yeah, she probably would."
I then dusted myself and stood up, "Well… You ready to continue or was that already too much for you to handle?"
"What? You think I old already is it? We're basically the same age, you bitch."
"You're the one who is out here in the middle of the night because you finally managed to get some free time away from your family."
"What does that have to do with anything?"
"It means you're a bitch."
"Fuck you, let's go you… Wait."
He looked behind me and his eyes narrowed.
I would have thought he was trying to punk me but I felt a presence behind me and turned around.
A guy wearing a white t-shirt and black pants with his hair styled like those k-pop idols was walking towards us while smoking a cigarette.
Flanking him were another group of at least a dozen or so people who definitely did not look like they were just passing through.
More footsteps then came from around us and I realised we were surrounded as more people appeared from behind the void deck's pillars to encircle us.
Good thing our faces were still covered…
The t-shirt guy stopped in front of me and looked me up and down before puffing a smoke.
"So you're the two chi bai kias[1] making trouble for us, ah?"
Ah… Just from the way he's talking alone, I already know that this guy's one of the stereotypical gangsters you could find around here… They're probably all part of a gang or something… Did we walk onto their turf?
I narrowed my eyes at him, "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Don't talk cock. We saw you and your nabei [2]friend there running out of the store just now. Mother fucker, you think we stupid is it?"
"What? Were the people robbing the store your guys?"
"Abuden[3]?!"
I shrugged, "I guess your guys are just unlucky to meet us tonight then. What do you want?"
"What I want? I should ask what you want, you chi bai. You eat already nothing to do is it? Why you want play hero? How many times you come here and mess up our shit?"
I frowned, "Ok, this I really have no idea what you're talking about. We literally only just ran into your guys by coincidence tonight while we were getting a drink. We don't even come here usually."
"You don't lie lah. Ever since last month every single one of my guy got beaten up by you. Don't think I don't know. You really think I stupid ah?"
I immediately pieced the puzzle pieces together, "Ah… I know what is going on here. Someone else is screwing with your people and you were looking out for them and set this trap. We just happened to be in the area and got involved and you think that we were the ones who were doing all of this from… When did you say it started again? Since last month?"
He leaned forward and clapped me on the shoulder, "Wah… You good story teller ah? You a comedian is it? So funny! You think we don't know ah? Dressed in all black, wearing a mask and using the shadows like a cloak to beat up my brothers."
I frowned, "Using the shadows? What are you even talking about? I didn't do any of that."
He stepped back and gestured with his hand, prompting another guy to step out from the crowd behind him.
The new guy looked like he was beaten up pretty badly with his arm in a cast and his face still swollen up from several bruises that weren't even healed yet.
"Oi. Tell me, this is the fucker right?" That guy asked the newcomer.
The newcomer stared at me for a moment before turning back to the leader, "Um… Boss… It's not them… It's just one guy… And he wears a very weird mask, not a face mask…"
The boss guy just stared at the newcomer for a good long minute and even the others around him were looking at each other awkwardly.
I guess at this point, the boss guy knew he screwed up and tried to save himself from the embarrassment by turning to us.
"Ah fuck this. You still screwed up my bros so we're going to teach you a lesson anyway so fuck you!"
Damn… So we're still going to fight anyway…
Dan was already in his combat stance from the very beginning which was why he has been silent this entire time.
I prepared to rush the boss in front of me when someone at the back let out a shout of alarm.
Everyone turned back to look in the direction of the noise to see a cloaked guy standing over one of the gangsters that seemed to have been knocked unconscious.
The shadows seemed to be clinging to him as well and even his cloak looked like it was made of shadows.
Wait… Oh shit… Isn't that Sergei? The guy who has the shadow powers who escaped from some organisation to hide here? The same guy who I was fighting alongside as a Guardian candidate?
He's the one who has been fucking these guys up?
As though to confirm my thoughts, the beat up guy beside the boss immediately pointed at him with his good hand, "That's… That's him!!"
As though that was the signal, Sergei struck his arms out and the shadows underneath him flung forward and smashed into the faces of the two thugs beside him, knocking them both out.
I immediately joined in as well, rushing forward to deliver a punch towards the boss guy's face.
Unexpectedly, he managed to react to my attack and spun around to catch my punch with his palm, revealing his ability to be some form of enhanced strength as well since he managed to stop me.
"Chao chi bai[4]--"
I silenced his cursing by immediately punching my other fist at his abdomen, nailing him in the side and sending him flying towards a group of his followers.
I still held back a little since I wasn't sure if he had enhanced durability and didn't want to accidentally kill him.
Dan had already jumped into the fray and was knocking aside the thugs behind us, shrugging off their punches and kicks like they weren't even trying.
The three of us quickly dealt with the entire group and when it was obvious that the fight was not winnable, most of them turned tail and ran off, abandoning their 'brothers'.
The boss was still on the ground, completely knocked out and his hair a mess.
I turned back to Sergei and he obviously didn't recognise me which worked for me just fine.
"Thanks," I told him.
He merely nodded at me before he melted into the shadows underneath him without saying a word.
Hmm… So this guy is also going around acting as a vigilante. Interesting…
I wonder if Olivia knows about that?
[1] Chi Bai = Hokien for pussy/vagina, Kia = Hokkien for kid/youngster
[2] Nabeh = Literal translation from hookien is "Mother's tail" AKA mother's vagina.
[3] Singlish slang for "Obviously", equivalent to "No shit"
[4] Chao = Hokkien for "Smelly"