For Re-Fundzel

"Until when are you going to pay us?! HUH?!!!"

"I-I swear I'll make it up to you by next week"

One of them then did the typical crunching of their knuckles to make themselves look more intimidating.

Crunch! Crunch!

...

John Doe first ducked and slowly inched towards them, then hid behind one of the abandoned cylindrical containers. Although he would have been able to max his mobility and stealth if he could hide inside the cardboard box in front of him. Like a certain character in a certain game where the console is made out of solid metal, and different types of gears.

"And how many times have we you told us that?"

Pow! Pow! Kapow!

Such a shame that it was too near the hooligans who were beating up the supposed victim, and if he moved outside of the container then he would have been easily exposed.

"Whatever dude. Let's just get this over with and harvest his organs."

"Yeah, you're right dude." 

John Doe then stuck out his head to get a closer look at them, and the very first thing that he noticed was that the scrawny guy on the ground was wearing glasses, a cracked glasses to be exact from all the beatings that he took directly to his face.

Then as he tilted his head upwards, he saw two big dudes with muscular builds. They also had the same haircut, with spikes extending from their necks to their foreheads.

Then one of the spikes at the front of their foreheads suddenly extended-

Psk! Pssk!

Which both of them grabbed and plucked out.

Sching! Schiing!

The spikes ringed like they were swords being unsheathed from their scabbards, it had become apparent that those were not just hairs, those were their actual weapons.

However, in the middle of it all, at the suspenseful situation that was supposed to frighten him, John Doe couldn't help but giggle at the absurdity of their choice of weapon.

Which the two of them immediately noticed, cause John Doe cracked up softly.

"What?"

"Who's there?" As both the hooligans turned their heads around.

With their faces turned, revealing the holes on their foreheads, they looked like unicorns that had their horns removed. The sudden reveal was just too much for John Doe to handle; his giggle escalated into a full-blown laugh.

"HaHaHaHa!!!" John Doe laughed loudly before finally gasping for air.

In return, their faces couldn't hide the anger welling up within them; their infuriation caused the veins all over their faces to bulge.

"He's mocking us, Big Brother," the guy with a smaller build spoke English with a Japanese accent, especially accentuating the word "Big Brother."

"Don't worry Little Brother. I'll beat him up" His brother replied with the same manner of delivery and with the same accent.

Their faces now drawn with much more details, and with the shadows suddenly covering their eyes. Showing just how serious they are; surely, they now meant business.

The big brother threw the spike he was holding and barely grazed past John Doe's face.

Swoosh!

John Doe felt the strong wind brushing his cheeks, then the burning sensation with his blood dripping at his side. He copied their expression, not because he meant business, but because deep down, he was shaking, nervous about what would happen next.

"The next one—Wouldn't miss" as the big brother plucked out another spike that popped out from his forehead.

John Doe, for the first time experiencing it, felt cool and intimidated at the same time. He thought to himself that, 'That line goes hard.'

But all of that nonsense was interrupted when the little brother plucked out another spike from the middle of his head and lunged at him with intense killing intent, not hesitating even with how the narrow gap is between the alley walls. Because that's just how much he trusts his brother.

Fwoooosh!

In reaction to this, John Doe instinctively jumped backwards and started pulling out his revolver out of the system's inventory, that he had been preparing ever since they became aware of his presence. He just wanted to use it at the right timing to catch them with the element of surprise, as bringing it out way too early would shift their focus on the gun in his hands and make them prepare moves accounting for it, thus making his next advances way too predictable.

However, he did not expect them to just rush at him like that, as one of them threw their spike just now, therefore it was only right to assume that the little brother was the melee combatant while the big brother was the long-ranged combatant.

So, he concealed the revolver's body using his right hand, positioning it next to his left chest, and raised his left arm to the front to provide further cover. Additionally, another reason he raised both of his arms was to protect his vital organs from both the attacker in front of him and the looming threat at the back, just in case he wasn't able to draw his gun fast enough.

Thus, the battle turned into whether John Doe can pull the trigger of his gun first, or can the little brother reach him first.

With both of them suspended in the air, hearts throbbing and adrenaline rushing, time seemed to slow down. Every movement, every breath, felt stretched out, frozen, as if John Doe were caught in a moment that would never end...

But of course, it was just their perception that heightened on a very short period of time, one second to be exact. Therefore, the time still flowed normally, and everything was back to normal speed.

Their position resumed with the little brothers' right hand ready to stab him, and that meant that John Doe wasn't able to pull the trigger of his gun fast enough, so with his left arm he just tanked the incoming attack.

Squelch! 

It penetrated deep into his left arm, however that gave John Doe the ability to alter the momentum of the little brother, and to make his body block the incoming cover fire of spikes from the big brother midair by pushing his body slightly to the left. One of the disadvantages of being in a narrow environment.

For a moment John Doe flinched, because the pain had been amplified several times more, the sensation was new to him. Although that wouldn't have been the case back then when he was a clone without a free will. Before finally placing the gun directly to the little brother's temple.

And just as the dual wielding little brother was about to stab him with his other arm-

Bang!

He shot out a single bullet strong enough to pierce through a fellow low-level combatant, especially since he pointed it directly at his head closely. Additionally, the revolver that he used was something that he rebuilt to match his level. So even though the bullets were made out of metals and not strong enough to blow the entire head off. nevertheless, the bullets are still able to be imbued with mana.

The little brother's corpse stood in front of him bleeding both from his head and at his back, where he slowly loosened his grip from his solid hair that was stuck on John Doe's left arm, before finally falling down into the ground.

Thump!

One cold thump rang through the other brothers' head, which made him grit his teeth.

The other brother then screamed loudly, "BROOOOTHERRRRR!!!" He was now in a frenzied state.

He plucked out all his hair and started throwing them one by one into John Doe's direction.

Fwoosh! Fwoosh! 

Fwoosh! Fwoosh! Fwoosh!

However John Doe just hid behind the containers on his side, which he made use to switch between offense and defense. His strategy, aimed to gradually tire out his enemy while minimizing his exposure to danger.

But the same could not be said for the big brother, as he didn't have anywhere to hide behind. He found himself in a completely open area. He also hesitated to approach John Doe, as he didn't seem to be adept at close combat, even though he was big. His muscular arms seemed to be much more suited for throwing rather than direct combat.

With this, it was just a matter of time before John Doe's enemy would fall down, his victory was assured.

...

Bang!

The big brother took the final bullet, causing him to lie down next to the wall besides him. Seeing that his enemy was now bald and could no longer fight back, John Doe began to approach him.

"Tell me how I can contact the black market in this area. If you want me to spare your life." John Doe said in a intimidating and firm tone.

"NO! You're not getting anything from me!" The big brother matched the firm tone with a much stronger voice showing his resolve.

John Doe confused with what he just said asked, "Do you not value your life?"

"Me? Value my life? HAHAHAHA! Just know this, my brothers will avenge me. Soon they will all be coming for you, especially my boss, Sir Mohawk. You're no match for him. Cough! Cough! Cou-

-Now! What are you doing? Finish me with your gun already! or are you just trying to prolong my suffering? Are you a coward who can't finish what he started?" The brother declared in a serious tone.

The brother then said his final words, "For Re-Fundzel"

Bang!

"Sigh" John Doe walked away disappointingly, with his time and efforts being wasted, and not even gaining anything from this encounter.

Pitter-Patter Pitter-Patter-

However just as he was about to walk out of the alley, a voice reached out to him, "I-I may not know how to contact the black market, but I know someone who does a similar job, if not just as good."

Then as John Doe tilted his head back, the man wearing the glasses followed up with, "I'll you bring you to him, if you help me get out of here."

The man used his information as a bargaining chip for his life...

***

Along the vibrant and chaotic neighborhood, filled with drunks, peddlers, and beggars, John Doe followed the directions provided by the man. They navigated through the maze-like streets until they reached a discreet back-alley bar. Wherein they then entered through a secret passageway, after they slipped in unnoticed through the back door.

Thud!

They both opened the door forcefully and sat down at the nearest chair they could find, because of their fatigue.

Huff! Huff!

"Oh? Ken who's this guy you brought with you?" as the middle-aged man calmly approached them.

Then upon John Doe relaxing he noticed that the middle-aged man who approached them had silver hair and also wore glasses, albeit he looked much more refined than the young guy next to him. He emanated a gentlemanly demeanor with his gait, the way he talked, and even with him wearing a bartender's uniform.

"He saved my life, Grandpa" Ken spoke while still catching his breath.

"I see" The middle-aged man replied while taking out medical supplies.

The middle-aged man then started to tend to their wounds and introduced himself to John Doe, "Hi, my name's Alfred, may I ask for yours?"

John Doe then replied, "My names Edward, you may call me Ed for short, Alfred."

"From the bottom of my heart, I would like to thank you Sir Ed, for saving my disciples life." As Alfred finished their treatments in that short amount of time.

Ken then interrupted their conversation "Never mind that grandpa, Edward is a customer."

"Then as a repayment, would a discount be fine, Sir Ed?" Alfred asked.

"Okay" Which John Doe quickly agreed to.

...

"So, what would you like to order Ed?" Alfred asked.

John Doe without hesitation replied, "I would like to buy a User's Interface" 

Alfred's then tilted his head towards a door at one of the corners of the room "I see then follow me through here"

Click! Click!

The room was fairly dark, with the cold air breezing through the ventilation, as a matter of fact it was freezing enough to produce smokes.

Alfred then opened one of the containers-

Clack! Clack!

Revealing a bunch of hands that were amputated from the wrist down, all of them were cryo frozen so it was hard to tell when exactly they were amputated.

"Let me just defrost this one. You may wait over there or outside." Alfred said nonchalantly.

In which John Doe followed obediently.

...

"This will cost you about 800 thousand Ç. But I'll just discount give you and make it 700k Ç. Are you still willing to go through it?"

"Do you accept clothes as a payment?" John Doe Asked.

"Clothes?" Alfred exclaimed.

John Doe just handed over Jane's clothes, "Here." 

Alfred then brought out his monocle and inspected it, " Ohoh? I see this thing's made out of Monster skin, this would cost about a million Ç in the market."

"Forgive me for my insolence just now Sir Ed," Alfred replied apologetically.

John Doe, flustered then replied with, "I-It's fine Sir Alfred"

...

In the end after the operation was successfully done, as John Doe was preparing to leave, their final conversation went like this-

"Then I'll wire transfer you the 300 thousand Ç Change"

"Done! Make sure to not take out the bandages for a week, so that you don't suffer complications."

Thank you and please come again Sir Ed"

Pitter-Patter! Pitter-Patter!

John Doe then walked out of the bar and blended in among with the humans. Unknowingly black mists formed underneath the bandages where his wounds is located.

Now with a Users Interface, and finally finding a place to settle down. He thought that he was one step closer to being a human.

...