Angel answered him, and annoyed Minato by the way she answered. “Yes well, then I suppose those people eyeing us there in the back are your pack? I did not know the Wolves protected their cumdumps with armed escorts of cyborg gorilla's and other skanks. Your leader must appreciate a good cumdump. Or maybe you are not a cumdump. I wonder which it is, but don't answer me, I like the mystery that surrounds your little group of friends.” He smiled at her, tilted his head and then continued. He listened to Knox, then Angel, as she cut in before Minato could talk to Knox. “Yes well, you see, Knox here is a very good friend of mine.” He grabbed Knox by the hem of his shirt, at his neck, and yanked him up. Minato was not exactly a powerhouse but the boy was practically light as a feather to anyone but a baby. He attempted to push and shove Knox with him to the bar to talk some sense into this baka, who was apparently even worse at gang related stuff than Minato himself, but then mr. Gorilla cyborg ''look at my iron arm'' walked up and grabbed Minato by the shoulder, and did the same to Knox. Knox was being a dumbass again and let on to the pain, but Minato tried to ignore it best he could. It hurt like a bitch though, so he couldn't blame Knox.

“Ah yes. See I told you Wolves hunt in packs. How long 'till the others start pulling guns and aiming at us? We can have a real Mexican standoff here!” He tilted his head and smiled again, unaware he was mocking the Wolves leader. Minato turned to face the Cyborg gorilla and winked at him. “Nice arm, where did you find it, the scrap metal yard? Yanked it off of some car? How much horse power does it have, oh wait, I can tell, a pony?” He smiled at him and lowered his hands to his side, clenching them into fists. “You might wanna keep this cyborg robot person in check, um, miss something something. I have no intention to die today, try again tomorrow.” Minato's stance changed a bit, getting ready for a fight, though it was not something he himself noticed.

Then the skank changed her attention to the fellow which Minato didn't even know. Perfect, good chance to get this idiot away from the conversation. Minato grabbed Knox by the back of his neck and pulled him with, heading to the bar. He made sure to give Knox an annoyed look as they walked, and as soon as they were out of hearing distance he'd start talking to Knox. “Hey man, great idea to talk to the rivals. Ryker would enjoy that! What the fuck were you doing? Even I know that even talking to them gives off bad vibes, man. What did she try to do, kiss you so you'd tell her where our people live? Have sex with you for the location of most of our money? You're lucky that the guy with.. fuck I don't even know him. Damnit Knox, get my beer.” He was visibly annoyed at the kid for messing up so early in the evening, heck the fight hadn't even started yet! If this was all that Knox would be good for they'd be best off leaving him in a cage and force feed him dog treats, ksu. He'd let the kid go and would look around for something else to focus on. There was the table they were just at, and where they kind of abandoned that fellow.

And there was D.J. What the hell, she told Minato to not go here at all, and now she was here, wearing some.. what the.. wait, was that D.J? Minato rubbed his eyes and looked again. It was some girl with the face of D.J strapped onto some lady-like figure with a dress on. How did this happen? And why was she at the Bookie? Was she.. holy hell she was flirting with the Bookie. Without even telling Knox and leaving him free to walk off again, he walked off closer to D.J to listen in a bit. "...perhaps, perhaps you can help me out? I've, uh, I've got cash, more of it than I know what to do with, any tips on who I should put it on?" Wow! D.J was not so smooth with the flirting! He mimicked her a bit, accidentally doing it out loud. “I've, uhhhhhh, uhhh, I've, uhhhhh... .. perhaps, perhaps you c-can.. perhaps..” Okay, maybe he threw in a bit more uh's and perhaps' than she actually said, but it was funny to Minato. Not realizing D.J was busy with some elaborate plan to get money for their gang, he walked up behind her, sort of fucking over the entire line behind D.J waiting for her slow ass to finish betting, and tapped her shoulder softly. “Hey!” he blurted out, excited and enthusiastically. It seemed as if he had already forgotten about the entire situation back at the table. “I think we may have a situation! Some random bad ass ''look at me I am not scared of anything'' walked up to us and he sort of nodded me towards Knox, who was apparently hanging around with some of our, uh, friends from the other side of town. Long story short, cyborg gorilla is threathening us. How was your day?”

Millie sensed the trouble before she saw it. Victor left to go see Angel and Millie’s eyes were on Deon fighting in the ring. Then something in the air changed and the hairs on Millie’s arms raised. Something was about to go down. She turned her head towards Angel and Victor and saw the crowd around that area of the bar steadily growing. There were more Lost Ones here tonight than Millie had realised. Millie stood up to make her way to the table and, just as quickly, two of the Lost Ones disengaged from the group and walked towards the bar. Millie quickly made her movements look more natural, settling herself on the bar close enough to them that she could hear what they were saying. She tossed her hair over to the side of her they were stood on, so they wouldn’t think she was paying attention, and leaned her elbows on the bar, requesting a drink from her friend the barman.

What did she try to do, kiss you so you'd tell her where our people live? Have sex with you for the location of most of our money? Millie had to admit, that was a pretty common tactic, especially coming from Angel, and she wouldn’t put it past her. Still, Millie didn't exactly enjoy them talking about Angel that way. One of the Lost Ones left his friend, who remained at the bar looking none too happy from what Millie could see through her hair. She flicked it back, moving so that it appeared she was simply stretching. The gun in the back of her jeans was very well hidden, considering, but she threw on the jacket she had brought anyway.

“I’m freezing.” She said, nonchalantly, to the guy who remained behind at the bar, whom the other had called Knox. If Angel hadn’t succeeded in getting information out of him, maybe she would. She glanced at him and gave him a slight smile and a shrug. "Got stood up."

Minato must've seen his opportunity to get out of there while Angel(ica) was temporarily distracted by talking to the boy who had come up earlier. Since she had told the guy with the prothetic arm to release them, he and Minato were quick to bounce. Knox felt a grip on the back of his neck that wasn't the Wolf's. It was Minato's, and he was dragging him again through the club until they were a good distance away. Once Minato released him, he turned to face him with a look of annoyance visible on his face.

“Hey man, great idea to talk to the rivals. Ryker would enjoy that! What the fuck were you doing?" he chided him. "Even I know that even talking to them gives off bad vibes, man. What did she try to do, kiss you so you'd tell her where our people live? Have sex with you for the location of most of our money? You're lucky that the guy with.. fuck I don't even know him. Damnit Knox, get my beer.”

Knox blushed lightly and just shook his head.

"No, no," he assured him. "We... We were just talking about... Well, we were just talking!"

He opened his mouth to explain to Minato that his beers were probably long gone by then, but the impulsive kid had already turned to leave without saying another word. Jeez, was he that mad? Knox just stared off into the crowd scratching his head. He had already lost track of where he had gone. What was he to do now? Damn, and he had left his Natty light at the table too...

Right as he was about to wander back off into the crowd, perhaps to talk to Angelica, a female voice spoke out loudly next to him. It was smooth and cool, which it also struck Knox as friendly and trustworthy.

"I'm freezing," she told him casually. "Got stood up."

Knox turned to faced her directly. She was about five inches shorter than he, but she was visibly older with long brunette hair. She was playing it super cool, leaning back, and only looking at him from the side. Knox sighed loudly and wished he had a drink, as both of his buzzes were beginning to ebb.

"Why'd you agree to meet someone in a dump like this?" Knox shouted over the music. He looked around to justify his point—the place was crawling with all kinds of human trash. Her date probably got seduced by a mob of hookers on his way in. He laughed at the thought. His gaze came back to the woman and he smiled, but this smile was mostly at his own luck. It was quite a pleasant surprise that he had been meeting all these pretty girls all in one night, and at a dump like this... Even though one of them was apparently a gangster and kinda sketchy. Either way, he wasn't going to complain. Maybe he'd soon have a fan base like Deon!

At that moment, however, his smile dropped as Minato's exasperated words rang out through his head.

"Wait," he said suddenly. "You're not gonna seduce me for information, are you?" He stared at her, and then laughed stupidly. Maybe it'd be worth it...? No, no, he couldn't betray his gang. They'd have his head. Or... whatever. Do something tortuous without killing him.

Jake had a hard time believing the situation everyone got themselves into already. All of this was so disorganized. Only four people knowing the plan including himself, Fitzy, Ryker and Deserae. These other two had no idea what was going on. In his mind, Cotton thought this type of structure had no chance against a planned, cold, and calculated gang system the Wolves probably adhered to. But, at the same time, the sense of surprise and improvisation had high value. A group that achieved their goals through unpredictable means had a significant advantage. After all, the Wolves had no clue to the reason he was there.

His fists clenched. Uneasy around the sudden swarm of these gangsters. The man with a robotic arm caused him to think about drawing his concealed pistol. He considered putting his fist into both Minato and Knox's faces now that he knew Knox was a Lost One. These two drew far too much unwanted attention to themselves and at this point, it was getting them close to being killed.

And, before he knew it, suddenly Minato stormed off with Knox in tow. That one had a lot of excess energy and was all over the place. As they disappeared back into the crowd, his eyes returned to meet Angel's. Unflinching. Victor hadn't left his mind either. Alert and prepared for any type of situation.

He gulped down more of his Jack Daniels. Angel was sharp and already wary of him. Her appearance didn't fool him, so he was just as on edge as she was. At this point, he figured it might pay to keep her distracted.

"I don't run with gangs. Don't know those two, but it doesn't mean I'm not going to watch out for some naive kid who doesn't know what he's getting himself into."

Jake pulled out his pack of cigarettes and sat down. The alcohol calmed his nerves. There was a mixed look in his eyes. A resurfacing of his old self as a charming smile appeared on his lips. "And who is to say I didn't want to have a drink with you myself?" A warmth in his gaze. But, still a lingering coldness and a glint of sadness that never went away.

"What do you say. You already know you're in good hands. And you have friends all around to protect you." He shot a quick glance to Victor. Shuffling a cigarette out of the pack, he held it out to Angel.

"So. How about it, beautiful?"

He hoped she would say yes. Keeping as many eyes off of Deserae was the best option at this point. She seemed like she knew how to handle herself. As long as the bookie was like most of the other guys around here, she'd be fine.

Millie knew exactly how she looked, standing there in her monochrome outfit that brought out her tanned skin, her décolletage tantalizingly on show, as well as her flat stomach. Knox as she understood his name was, looked her over and she could see in his eyes that he was doing the classic guy thing and appreciating her body.

"Oh, I don't know." She told him, turning her back to the bar and resting her elbows on it, "He was cute, it was his suggestion. I've never actually been down this way before," She glanced up at Deon in the box, "He's pretty good, huh?" She noted.

"Wait," he said suddenly. "You're not gonna seduce me for information, are you?" She frowned, like she had no idea what he was talking about. He didn't look very old, and he was almost definitely younger than her, but he was taller, clasically bigger built. She didn't know what his temperment was when it came to girls and she had met men who had no problem being violent towards them. Hell, she had fought men who had no problem beating up women, though a fair few of them were no longer around, Hayden, Deon or one of the other Wolves dealing with it for her, after she came home bruised and sore. If Knox found her out, though, she could be in big trouble. The frown on her face gave way to raised eyebrows and a smirk.

"Boy, I'm in the wrong place if that's the kind of shit that goes on down here." She joked, teasing him. She smiled and held out her hand. "I'm Amy." Noone outside of the Wolves knew her as anything other than Millie, so there was an extremely limited possibility that he would trace that back. Anyway, it was better to have a name she knew she would answer too, instead of changing it completely and immediately giving away her cover as soon as he shouted her name across the crowded bar.

Angel merely regarded Cotton’s reply with a blatant sneer. Even if he was telling her the truth, she had no reason to trust him anyway. Though he did know the right things to say. It was quite obvious he wasn’t as stupid—or perhaps careless—as Knox or his friend.

“What he’s getting himself into?” she repeated sarcastically. “We were just talking! What was I going to do, flirt him to death? Jeez.”

He had helped himself to a seat and pulled out a pack of cigarettes. All of a sudden, he flashed her what she could only assume was a rare smile as he dropped a somewhat flirtatious remark. Angel only stared back at him with a frown, resting her cheek on her fist. She had gotten used to his normally dismal demeanor, so this was actually quite an uncomfortable change for her. She didn’t know which side of him she preferred over the other.

He held out a cigarette to her, though she hesitated a second before holding up her hand to politely decline it.

“Sorry kid,” she said. “Only one a day for me. Can’t get myself addicted to those.” For a brief, terrible moment, the image of Hayden in his hospital bed came to mind. Without an outward change in expression, she quickly shooed the thought away and reminded herself that she needed to remain focused.

“Although I have no such limit on booze.” She figured it’d be too much of an effort to get up and grab her vodka bottle on the other table. “And if I assume you’re going to be a gentleman, you’ll have to buy me it.”

She winked at him.

“And if you think that’s being manipulative,” she added, “then you’ve seen nothing yet.”

---

The girl’s smooth reply was enough to clear Knox’s hazy mind of any doubts that may have previously surfaced about her. After that, she introduced herself as Amy and held out her hand to Knox to shake. He reached out and gave it a firm shake as he smiled at her, perhaps a little too widely.

“Nice to meet you Amy,” Knox replied, still beaming at his wonderful luck. It actually felt nice to go out and meet new girls like this. Under normal circumstances, he would try to “get some” from one of the girls in his own gang, but it was much easier with strangers who didn’t know you personally, or who weren’t even acquainted with you. Knox believed one of the hottest girls in the Lost Ones was Desarae, but… She had that strong tomboyish disposition that sometimes did a good job at eclipsing her good looks.

Knox leaned forward onto the bar next to Amy, and for a few seconds he looked down at his arms. Then he turned to her and asked, “So if you usually don’t venture down this way, I’m guessing you’ll need someone to protect you, huh? Since your date’s nowhere to be seen and all.”

Trying to be somewhat discreet, Knox flexed the arm that was closest to Amy, though it wasn’t much. The farthest extent of a workout they had ever seen was maybe having to pull himself up on a ledge after an undershot jump. He noticed the blatant mediocrity for himself, but he just broke into another fit of laughter.

Deserae's jaw literally dropped when Minato approached her so callously. She wasn't sure whether to be entirely pissed off at him, or to just be utterly shocked by his sheer stupidity. Just what the hell was he trying to do here? Get them BOTH killed? Thinking quickly, and shooting a quick glance to the bookie who was now beginning to eye her suspiciously, she shook her dumbfounded look on her face and said,

"Look, kid, I don't know who you are or what the hell you're talking about. I suggest you find your dealer, and leave me alone. I want no part of your drug exchange."

She couldn't help but to shoot the bookie another quick look, hoping to God that Minato hadn't screwed this up for them. The thought alone of what the bookie might do if he had caught onto their little scheme had her eyes then darting around her immediate surroundings, trying to get eyes on Cotton. Would the surprises ever end? She found him talking to Angel...the leader of the Wolves of all people! And he seemed to be grossly into whatever it was that they were talking about.

Anxiety began to rise up in her as she, for the moment, felt like she was alone. Minato knew nothing of the plan, nor could she brief him on it to get him to stop acting so...so dumb. She was screwed, and the subtle hand gesture the bookie gave to signal over a few bigger guys (more than likely the 'security' around here) didn't help the anxiety at all.

Deserae took a brief moment to shut her eyes tightly, willing the room to stop spinning, attempting to release the tight knots that were forming in her gut and to keep her skin from getting any hotter. She should have never agreed to this; she knew from the get-go that she wasn't capable of doing the job...why couldn't she had just stood up for herself against Ryker and simply said 'no?'

Because she felt like she had something to prove; that's why. Not to The Lost Ones, but to herself.

The two large men were practically upon her by the time she felt stable enough to not vomit, and as soon as she opened up her eyes, she quickly reached out for Minato's wrist, tugging on it harshly to get his solid, and undivided attention.

"Run."

Minato looked at D.J for a second before his smile turned into a frown. Had she already forgotten him? “Uh, I talked to you this afternoon in the chopshop, how do you mean you don't know who I am? And there's no drugs deal, they are threatening to hurt us D.J.. I am not joking around.” He was starting to doubt himself. This wás D.J, but D.J wouldn't wear dresses from what he estimated. Was he truly mistaken? D.J then closed her eyes. What the hell was going on? He extended his arm forwards to D.J's shoulder so he could shake her around a bit. “D.J? Don't enter trances or something when .. um, D.J?” He pulled back his hand and looked at the gigantic gorilla's, though they weren't cyborgs, and froze in his place. D.J then suddenly opened her eyes, and grabbed him by the wrist. She tugged it hard, forcing Minato to focus on her next exact words.

"Run."

Minato stood still while she would already be running away, looking at the two gorilla's. Run? Good idea, probably. Most likely. But first.. he reached out for the bookies table, including the large wad of cash that was currently laying there. No idea why, probably as ''change'' for whoever wanted to bet 50 but only had a 100 or something. He grabbed the edges and threw the lightweight table over, into the way of the gorilla's, who were then forced to shield their faces as a reflex. This was sure to get the attention of anyone in the area. And if the table didn't, the large wad of dollar bills flying through the air surely would. Hordes of poor people already rushed to the scene to grab what they could - nevermind the risk of getting caught by a security member of the area. Minato stumbled backwards and turned around, and followed where ever D.J would run off to. During the escape, he'd yell at her: “We can't leave Knox, D.J! He'll probably tell everyone that we are super badass people and probably where we live, too!!” but despite yelling this, he'd make no attempts to go and get him because that would probably be a dumb idea.

However, a new danger appeared. Three new large gorilla's were now barging up the stairs to the bar area that they were in, probably alerted by the wads of cash in the air, and the poor people suddenly getting very excited. Now, this wouldn't be much of a problem because they wouldn't know D.J nor Minato, but one of the other gorilla's had somehow caught up and now came in from the back, yelling at the others. “Joshua, stop those two!” One of the three gorilla's in front was apparently Joshua, and he alerted his two gorilla-friends with the stupid monkey language. “Ooh.. OOH AH! Ooga stop woman and man! Man and woman, BAD! OOGA!” he yelled out. Okay, not really, but that's all Minato really heard anyway. His exact lines, or what D.J would probably hear would be closer to something like; “Peter, Mark, go to the left, I'll stay here. If Rex catches on he will stay behind them and we can encircle them, unless they plan on running through that wall, hehe.” But before Peter and Mark would have a chance to flank them, Minato would grab D.J's wrist with his left hand, and place his right on her back, pulling her with him to the left, forcing the security gorilla's to chase them again. However, now they were headed for the place where you can't really escape, cause there were no exits. Unless you counted jumping down the railing into a mass of people as an exit.

Minato let go of D.J once she was headed in the right direction, and looked around to see where the gorilla's were, unaware he was charging into a table. A table where Angel, Cotton and Cyborg Gorilla were still sitting and standing around. Minato's world suddenly turned around and spun, as he flew over the table, taking the table with him as a souvenir. By now the entire pit fighting area was up in arms, and it wasn't because Deon was doing so great in the fight. It had nothing to do with the fight, really. By the time Minato stopped tumbling he was soaked in drinks that were still on the table, and covered in the ashes of the ashtray that had been used by about 50 people beforehand.

He stood up and turned around, looking at superskank 3.0, or also known as Angelica, then Cyborg monkeyman from space with metal hand, then at Cotton, the super bad ass fellow with no traces of emotion in his face. He righted himself, standing up straight, still looking at them and not saying a word. He patted down his clothes a bit, wiping the ashes off of him. He opened his mouth to say something funny, but two out of four gorilla guards were already approaching him, so he simply turned around and started running again, trying to find D.J in this clusterfuck. God, why couldn't they just run in a circle and lose the dumb guards, go down the stairs and go home. But noooo, mister security gorilla had to have a brain and be able to find them in this big mess! He just wanted to find D.J, so they could atleast get caught together. He had no intention of being the only one to get caught, or the only one to get beat up, or whatever. And he knew he couldn't really count on Knox to get them an escape, unless right now Knox would suddenly turn into a grown man who went through puberty and got a bit of muscle on him.

Victor saw the asian dude begin running from the bookies after snatching something off the table, he watched the struggle for a while laughing his ass off. He knew the big guys would crush the asian if they caught up to him, Victor was pretty drunk, the big men were in his path while sprinting after the asian, before Victor knew it he had thrown his metalic arm out close lining one of the big men. He hooked into Victors elbow and fell on his ass, Victor threw one leg over him and leaned down into his face.

"GET FUCKIN DROPPED BITCH" Victor shouted in laughter, it didnt matter who he fought at this point but he was gonna fucking fight tonight, "WHO ELSE WANTS SOME?!"

Victor looked around and let out a true battle cry, the music was no longer deafening to him, it was pumping him up, anyone was fair game to him at this point, Deon couldve walked up and Victor still would have taken a swing.

"Not at all." Jake forced out a laugh. "I was taught to be a gentleman to girls. I guess you could say my mother and father raised me right." That was a bold lie. Cotton had no traditional upbringing. But I guess not a lot of people did who lived around these parts. In that sense, Jake and Angel were the same people. The childhood paradise that was supposed to be theirs was long lost. Forever tainted.

He slipped the cigarettes back into his pocket but kept one behind his ear."I'll get you that drink." And right as Cotton was about to shout out to the bartender to get his attention, things started going south real quick. Minato had royally fucked everything up by going off the wall and creeping up on Deserae while she was trying to work the bookie. Obviously the bookie was a sharper eye than he imagined. Club security was on them like lightning. This was bad, and the mission was all but a massive failure. Yet, Cotton wasn't ready to turn his back yet.

Finish the mission. Those words were imprinted in his conscience. Burned into his mind in the hell of combat training. A trained killer. Jake was prepared to find a defensive standpoint and fire a shot of his pistol into the bookie's leg to stir the entire crowd. Fortunately, a stroke of luck saved the Lost Ones. A wolf, Victor. The one with the metal arm dropped one of the guards. Security would definitely forget about Deserae and Minato and target the bigger threat. With security tight on them. He had to find Deserae.

Cotton turned from Victor to Angel. "I think we'll have to to delay our little drinking date, gorgeous. Your friend is getting himself into quite a bit of trouble. Catch you later." Jake stood up and shifted out into the crowd. Disappearing. Blending in well with his surroundings. He frantically scanned the entire club, looking for any trace of Deserae. She wasn't with Minato. He had no idea where Knox was at this point. His view of the bar was obstructed until finally, he caught the view of D.J.'s dress. He made his pass through the crowd and got right behind her. His hand rested on her shoulder. As if anticipating her to be startled, he said, "Relax, look. Listen to me quick, understand? One of the Wolves just did us a favor. All the eyes here are on them, or on the fight. The bookie is all yours. I'm going to put a gun to his back… Concealed, very fast. You take the box and run. I can handle myself. Now, we don't have much more time. Are you ready?"

Logan watched as Victor's drunken ass sped off to save a fair lady who certaily would never be his. She sighed. He was a blind cyborg. Brute strength wasn't everything and neither was lust nor love.

She sat there and watched as people flew in and flew out of the conversation, a bit ammused by their vibrant colors.

She ordered a water from the bartender, trying weakly to prevent a rather malignant hangover. She blinked in and out of sleep, sitting up in her chair. She startled awake when she heard commotion. Money was flying everywhere and so were people. Almost everyone in the bar scrambled for the bookie money while the security guards chased the asain guy she saw earlier.

"The fuck?" The young wolf asked herself as she stood. She looked over towards Victor and he was still there, drunken as ever, tripping some fatass. She hoped that the asain guy wasn't some Losty. God help her if this turned into a small war.

Sure, she was fine with a few gun shots but the thought of actual warfare scared the shit out of her. This government was barely intact, spending all its money on military to stop riots. And if the gangs started shooting out on the streets, who the hell knows what would happen? Would the military mistake it as riots and wipe them out? Would they be able to fight the army if they came? She didn't know. Logan had no way of predicting a future or even imagining one at this stand point.

Amy smiled, endearingly, at Knox's comment about her needing someone to protect her. Near them, Millie heard Victor scream something. Her eyes stayed on Knox, but her ears listened to what Victor was screaming behind her back.

"GET FUCKIN DROPPED BITCH" She frowned and glanced around. "Who the hell is that?" She said, making out she didnt know the voice. Turning, as if to gather who is was, Millie caught Victors eye and tried to communicate with him. What the hell are you doing.. Something was going on with him, he had gone crazy.

"Jesus," She turned back to Knox. "Some people just go out looking for trouble." She noted him trying to flex, and the laughter that ensued. "You're probably right," She said, laying a hand subtley on his bicep, "I could do with a little protection, but...I didn't get your name."

Deon, however, was completely oblivious to everything that was happening outside of the ring. The referee had signaled for the two boys to begin their first round since all the bets had been placed, and on count two, rather than three, Spike charged Deon, determined to get the first hit in. He swung a right hook but Deon saw it coming from a mile away and ducked his head down with a smile on his smug face. Spike tried again with a come-back left hook but Deon put up his arm as a barrier, however the moment Spike's left hook made contact, he swung his right arm into another right hook and clipped Deon's jaw straight-away with his fist. The smile never left Deon's face though as Spike continued throwing right and left hooks, and all Deon did was back up a few steps watching the man swing his arms like an angry gorilla, miles away from it's mark. Finally when Deon had enough playing around, he caught Spike's left elbow with his hand and used his foot to trip the taller man to the ground and forced him to land on his hands and knees. Deon's opposite hand swung around and held Spike by the back of the neck, holding him in a position there.

"Nice hook." Deon taunted Spike and then let his grip go and backed away into the center of the ring where he had once been. Spike jumped up and charged Deon like an angry rhino and buried his head under Deon's arm, wrapping his arms around Deon's waist in an effort to lift him up and slam him down onto his back, but Deon's dense muscle gave him the advantage over the bigger guy and just had to push his body weight down onto Spike's bent-over back to collapse Spike down onto his chest on the mat. Deon pushed Spike's face into the mat even harder after that, rewarding the taller man's futile efforts with a simple bitch slap across the face that the crowd seemed to love.

Spike got back up though, and saw that one of the people in the crowd had their arms through the bars. It wasn't too much, they were just holding themselves there with a red solo cup half-full of some kind of liquid in it, but it was just what Spike needed. Instead of attacking Deon straight on again, he slapped the cup out of the man's hand, spraying Deon's face and chest with the warm beer and in the couple seconds that Deon couldn't see, began hooking right and left once more and beating the hell out of Deon's face.

Deon just backed up a few feet though and pointed at Spike, laughing,

"Ahhhh..." He shook his head and smiled, giving him kudo's for playing dirty. "...that, that was a cheap one..." He went around the cage and slapped high-fives to those close enough to put their hands through. "...but you are good; you've got a good center of gravity." He commended. "But that old school boxing shit...that, that just doesn't fly around here...not with me. You gotta mix it up." Deon had circled back to Spike and just as he finished speaking, he ran the couple of feet towards Spike and like a football punter, brought back his right leg and kicked the weak point of Spike's knee on the side, nearly causing the tall man to fall back down.

"Stings right? I bet it does." Deon threw his fist forward and Spike brought up his hands to block, but that was only a distraction and Deon sent his leg kicking at Spike's leg once again, hitting the same spot but on the opposite side. Spike managed to keep his balance, but it was obvious that he was now favoring that leg and had to hop around a bit to keep his balance.

"Aww, your leg's all jacked up. Can't put any weight on it maybe?" Deon charged again, clotheslining Spike around his center which brought Spike down hard onto his back. Deon circled Spike as he tried to get up, and by the time he was able to get onto one knee, he noticed that Deon was standing straight above him and looking down on him.

"And now for the bad news...it's gotta end...with you looking like a bitch." Deon smiled broadly. Rage infused, Spike shot up onto his good leg, using the momentum to swing his arm around to get in a good shot but again, Deon saw it coming and grabbed Spike around the arm and twisted it, sending Spike flipping over Deon's arm and back onto the ground. Now like a turtle stuck on it's back, Deon hopped over to get on top of Spike and swung both arms, alternating punching out Spike's face.

The crowd went wild and Deon got off of Spike, giving the man a chance to get back up.

"Oh c'mon. It's not over, get up. Get up!"

Spike tried to get up, but again Deon only gave him the chance to get onto his knees before Deon sent out a round-house kick straight into Spike's face sending him flying a good few feet and down onto his chest, knocked completely unconscious.

Deon turned back to his crowd and lifted his arms up high in victory, shouting and screaming with them, reveling in both the glory and the knowledge that there would be no round two.

Victor watched as several other security guards showed up around him, they seemed to flow from the crowd. He spotted about 3 in front of him, each looked capapable of killing someone. Victor smiled and put his fists up and planted his feet, he saw Milly and watched her give him a look. In his drunken state he couldn't tell what she was doing and he ended up winking. He saw movement out of the corner of his eye and he turned right into a metal coated fist. Victor fell hard and touched his hand to the side of his face, he felt blood, he looked up and saw one of the security guys had a pair of brass nuckles with studs on them.

"That's how you think it's gonna be?" Victor said standing up, the same man tried a second hit as Victor got up but Victor easily moved and brought his shoulder into the mans forehead. Victor pushed himself up and hit the man in the face with his left, then threw a kick in the mans groin. He felt arms wrap around his own and hoist him back, he kicked his legs but he was too fucked up to flip himself over the security guards. He struggled but he knew it was of no use, they had him. He spotted Angel sitting with Cotton, Millie and the runt, Logan not far from them, Victor figured Angel could handle herself and Millie had Victors .45 along with Logan. Victor let himself be dragged outside, they tossed him outside into an alleyway and delivered a few final kicks to his stomach before letting him be. Victor sat laughing on his back and just laid there looking at the sky, he heard heels clicking off to his left and looked towards the door. He saw the pretty eyed girl from earlier she walked over to him and knelt next to him.

"Let me help you up," She said with a smile, Victor waved her off and stood on his own not wanting to seem weak, "So why'd you help that guy he wasn't from your outfit."

Victor looked at her and showed he was a bit confused, she smiled and put his arm around her.

"They were chasing a Lost One, you're a Wolf, Shouldn't you have like helped them?" She said confused, Victor smiled down at her.

"I just felt like fighting, I'm too drunk to give a shit anyway." Victor was slurring a bit but his sentences sti came out, "So what's the plan from here?"

"No one is at my place," she said with a smile, Victor didn't know this girls name, how she knew who he was, or who the lost were, if she was one of them. He had no idea if this chick was gonna kill him in his sleep, but fuck it like it would matter when a chick as hot as her offered him a place to stay. He smiled and motioned for her to lead the way

Deserae didn’t stop to look to see if Minato had comprehended her order or not, the one thing she needed to look out for right at that moment was herself and if Minato was too busy being…well, himself, then that was no longer her problem. She began to run as soon as the very word left her lips, hopping out of her high-heels and abandoning them behind her to give herself a better advantage to slip away on foot. There was no way in hell she’d be able to get anywhere very quickly with those damn things on.

She pushed herself forward, dodging her small frame into the larger groups in an effort to lose anyone who might be trailing her, only pausing to look behind her when she heard Minato calling after her.

“We can't leave Knox, D.J! He'll probably tell everyone that we are super badass people and probably where we live, too!!”

Deserae couldn’t see the Asian, but his words were as clear as if he were standing right next to her. Knox? Was he another new member of The Lost Ones? It was a name she didn’t recognize, but that thought was soon pushed to the side as more voices stuck out in room.

“Joshua, stop those two!”

“Peter, Mark, go to the left, I'll stay here. If Rex catches on he will stay behind them and we can encircle them, unless they plan on running through that wall, hehe.”

Suddenly a grip found its way around her wrist and Deserae flipped herself around, pulling her free fist back ready to punch when she realized that it was just Minato. How the hell did he get around this place so fast? She ran with him to the railing that opened up the main floor of the cage fight, ignoring the sticky gunk her bare feet were now collecting from the hard tile floors.

And then, Minato was gone…again. The poor kid had been picked up and thrown across the room to be covered in drinks and ash and flying table shrapnel. It was far past the point of feeling sorry for him though; ideally this was his entire fault. Deserae looked in the opposite direction just in time to see a man with a prosthetic arm drop one of the larger guards. Squinting to try to identify the man better, she couldn’t make it out but she was certain that he wasn’t a Lost One; but who knew anymore? It seemed that The Lost Ones were recruiting all sorts of new meat today.

It wasn’t all that tough of a decision for Deserae to start walking away from Minato, she knew that it would be easier for him to find her anyway in this mess, and she still needed to find a way out. Pushing through the crowd again, yet another arm reached out to grab her, however she didn’t even have a chance to react before she heard the Cotton’s familiar voice in her ear.

"Relax, look. Listen to me quick, understand? One of the Wolves just did us a favor. All the eyes here are on them, or on the fight. The bookie is all yours. I'm going to put a gun to his back… Concealed, very fast. You take the box and run. I can handle myself. Now, we don't have much more time. Are you ready?"

Fuck

This wasn’t going to end well, she knew that, but admitting it to someone else was something else entirely. The entire screw-up had her on edge and feeling absolutely sick; she was surprised that Cotton didn’t mention anything about her body shaking like she had pneumonia; at least that’s what it felt like. The words ‘I can’t’ kept forming at her lips, but each time was swept away with her own inner struggle, trying to tell herself ‘yes, I can.’
Suppressing the urge to vomit for what felt like the hundredth time in the last thirty minutes, she finally met Cotton’s gaze and gave a pathetic excuse for a nod, signaling that she was in.

“Right behind you.”

If this didn’t work…she swore to herself right then and there that she would never speak to another male again.

Lights flashing, crowd roaring. It was chaos. People everywhere. Dancing, cheering, drinking. This cesspool of animalistic, primal emotions of humans was not working well for the new Lost Ones. But, luckily for them, Cotton had a smoke and a drink. His nerves were steeled. That glint of warmth in his eyes while talking with Angel was gone. He was now all about the mission. Accomplishing it at all costs was of utmost importance. A slight feeling of satisfaction crept through him when Deserae agreed to follow him. Finishing the job by himself wasn't something he'd look forward to, but would do it if it came down to that. He simply nodded and used his arm to cut and weave his way through the crowd like a combat knife slicing through the jungle. It didn't register to him that the fight was over until he saw Spike on the ground out cold with Deon standing victoriously over the body. That had ended rather quickly. In the back of his head, he noted Deon as someone not to be taken lightly. Even with his soldiers training in close quarters combat, he would have to be on guard.

Cotton knew that Minato and Knox were around here somewhere. At this moment, he only hoped they would get out fast if things got way out of hand. One bullet in the air would be enough to scatter the crowd. The bouncers were closing in on Victor, and that's when Victor showed himself to be a formidable opponent as well. Although, he thought his moves were a bit sloppy. Drinking could do that to anyone. The Lost Ones were rivals with that group? From what he could tell it was David against Goliath. But David won… However, this goliath of a gang was organized top to bottom with killers. A lethal mix of cunning and fighting ability. The Lost Ones must have been excellent tacticians and users of stealth to be around for as long as they have been. With this group though, Cotton knew there had to be some sort of change in how things were structured. Everyone's lives were at risk.

Eventually, Jake crept up behind the bookie. If there was anything Deserae noticed about him at this moment was that he was not the same person she had met earlier. Calmed by smoke and alcohol. The noise seemed drowned out by Jake as he gripped his pistol. A cold, thousand yard stare as he looked at the bookie from close behind. As though his gaze ripped right through the body of the man. A man not wanting to kill, transformed into the merciless monster. The darkness risen again, the darkness created from blood and iron. That icy stare glazing over his eyes as he pressed the gun against the bookie's back.

"Take your foot off of the box and push it lightly behind you. If you move your head or do anything else, it's over. I will bury a bullet into your liver and let you die a slow and painful death. Or I'll snap your neck and leave your dead body right here. Is that money worth your life?" No stutter. Nothing betrayed the intent behind those words. Deep down he did not want to pull that trigger. But his voice carried every weight of his words.

His killer's eyes shifted over to Deserae for one second for her to grab the box once the bookie pushed it backwards. This was it… This was his entrance to the gang world, and a chance for D.J. to prove something to herself.

Knox looked over at the fight as well. At this point the fight was now well over. The smaller, beefier guy had won by a landslide it appeared, and he was definitely milking the excitement from the crowd. Knox was too distracted by the pretty lady at his side to notice, or even care, about the rest of the commotion going on around the bar then. He just figured that was the kind of shit that happened in fight clubs like this all the time.

"The name Knox," he replied when Millie had asked about his name. "Like Knoxville..." His voice trailed off when he noticed she had lightly placed her hand on his flexed bicep. He stared at it for second before he looked up to her eyes.

"Am I...getting any signals from you right now?" he asked. Most would've thought he was just joking around by asking such a stupid question, but his expression was completely serious.

---

About a thousand events seemed to unfold within a matter of seconds. At least, that's what it felt like for Angel. Right when Golden Boy had turned his head to what she presumed was order a drink, all hell broke loose. Someone came crashing through their table, sending drinks, ashes, and glasses all into the air. Before she had time to even process what was going on around her, some security goons starting barking at each other and were coming for them direction.

Thankfully, Victor, in his drunken and more energetic state, was ready for a fight, and he did a pretty good job at stopping them. Angel was about to turn to Cotton to say something, but he beat her to it.

"I think we'll have to to delay our little drinking date, gorgeous," he said. "Your friend is getting himself into quite a bit of trouble. Catch you later." With that simple farewell, he slinked off into the crowed silently. Angel turned back to Victor, but didn't bother to stop him. She actually was grateful that he had reacted so rashly. Now she didn't have to worry about any security guards coming after her. He got into trouble, but he knew how to get himself out of it unnoticed, usually.

The beat boomed and strobe lights lights flared from left to right. Just standing where she was, just watching everything, was oddly entrancing. Angel found it easy to just lose herself in the loud music. She shook her head and finally came to. Unlike Cotton, she wasn't on any kind of mission tonight, so she wasn't feeling stressed to get anything done. She actually just felt like dancing, but a gut feeling told her she should at least try to regroup with some of her Wolves. Maybe she could find Millie.

She turned toward the bar, where she had last seen her, and caught sight of her with a boy. Wait, she knew who that was! It was Knox, that little stoner boy she had talked to earlier. Millie must've been going in for round two. Angel smiled devilishly and stalked up toward them, giving a wink in Millie's direction.

"Are you flirting with that cutie too?" Angel called out to her.

Knox’s eyes were serious as he asked the question, but Millie giggled it away. “Well, if you’d rather not get signals...” She said, leadingly. She lifted her hand from his arm with a pout, picking up her drink and taking a sip again. She smiled at him, teasingly, over her glass, her eyelashes fluttering. Millie knew exactly how to deal with men, having been raised around them and predominantly by them.

Millie saw movement out of the corner of her eye and spotted Angel get up from her table. As her friend looked around, she caught her eye and winked. Millie gave the slightest smile back, but frowned slightly when Angel started walking towards them. Knox had been talking to her earlier, if Angel came over acting like she knew Millie, he would be onto her straight away.

"Are you flirting with that cutie too?"

“Um…do I know you?” Millie asked, apparently confused, but she knew Angel would detect the message in her voice. I got this. What are you doing?

Knox’s eyes were serious as he asked the question, but Millie giggled it away. “Well, if you’d rather not get signals...” She said, leadingly. She lifted her hand from his arm with a pout, picking up her drink and taking a sip again. She smiled at him, teasingly, over her glass, her eyelashes fluttering. Millie knew exactly how to deal with men, having been raised around them and predominantly by them.

Millie saw movement out of the corner of her eye and spotted Angel get up from her table. As her friend looked around, she caught her eye and winked. Millie gave the slightest smile back, but frowned slightly when Angel started walking towards them. Knox had been talking to her earlier, if Angel came over acting like she knew Millie, he would be onto her straight away.

"Are you flirting with that cutie too?"

“Um…do I know you?” Millie asked, apparently confused, but she knew Angel would detect the message in her voice. I got this. What are you doing?

Knox’s eyes were serious as he asked the question, but Millie giggled it away. “Well, if you’d rather not get signals...” She said, leadingly. She lifted her hand from his arm with a pout, picking up her drink and taking a sip again. She smiled at him, teasingly, over her glass, her eyelashes fluttering. Millie knew exactly how to deal with men, having been raised around them and predominantly by them.

Millie saw movement out of the corner of her eye and spotted Angel get up from her table. As her friend looked around, she caught her eye and winked. Millie gave the slightest smile back, but frowned slightly when Angel started walking towards them. Knox had been talking to her earlier, if Angel came over acting like she knew Millie, he would be onto her straight away.

"Are you flirting with that cutie too?"

“Um…do I know you?” Millie asked, apparently confused, but she knew Angel would detect the message in her voice. I got this. What are you doing?