Chapter 121:

Ace waited for a few seconds, and Stella resumed speaking again: "Look, we are just wondering as to why someone so cool would want to hang out with those washed-up hicks. If you want, come with us today, we'll show you the real skate-crew life, and if you like it, you are welcome to tag along whenever, if you don't… Then that's too bad. That seems fair right?", she tried her best to make her offer seem reasonable.

'I don't particularly owe the others anything… Oh, well, I might as well go with them today, not that I will leave the others, but I am curious as to what exactly it is that they get up to.', Ace thought, "Sure, let's do it."

The others smiled, and Stella grabbed his arm, dragging him along excitedly.

***

"We are going to a bonfire party now, the great thing about them is that since they are pretty much underground, it is dark, even if it is early in the afternoon now.", she was chattering away excitedly, and Ace just nodded along.

'New experience I guess, but I need to be careful, if it seems dodgy, I have to leave, I have no plans of ending up arrested or chase by the police after attending an illegal party.', "So, where is it?", he asked, curious as to how much they would have to skate to get there.

"Not much,", one of the boys, Nigel, said, "It is not far, about 10 minutes max, we should be able to get in no problem, Ran's brother is pretty much our free pass.", he grinned and pointed at one of the girls, Ran, he assumed.

'Ok, so chances are he is known in the streets, and most likely a criminal, this is getting more and more interesting, but I have to keep watch, this could be potentially bad - not that I care.', he thought, I was not a stupid assumption, anything that got you through the doors of an illegal party, especially considering it was the younger sibling, who was a minor, and was coming accompanied by a bunch of friends, was probably not fully clean. He definitely was not a cop, or at least not a dirty one.

They skated and talked, weaving through streets and alleyways, until they arrived at a semi-deserted area, where there was a small group of men smoking and drinking, just in front of some metal doors. As they saw them they frowned, but once they spotted Ran, they let them all pass, with not even a frown on their faces.

'Damm, who the hell is this guy, these people did not even act annoyed or surprised, almost as if they would not dare to shoot a disapproving glance. This is just getting more and more interesting, but I have to keep my wits about me, this could get ugly real quick, all it would take was an annoyed rival, or a pissed off subordinate.

As they went in, the ambience assaulted them, a combination of smoke, heavy music, and loud talking. Ace saw people doing all kind of drugs out in the open, and as they saw them, especially the others who clearly looked like minors, they did not even bother to hide them. One going so far as to offer Nigel a line of coke. He seemed about to go for it, but then Ran pulled him back. The man seemed sad, as if he had just had a toy requisitioned, but soon seemed to forget about it, opting to snort the line himself.

'Well, that's not exactly good, although we do know now that Ran knows how to handle herself on the streets. Regardless though, we should probably not be here, even if Ran's brother's reputation seemingly keeps us safe, you never know.', his thoughts raced, and he was about to turn back and leave, when another group of younger people came up at them.

'Well sh*t, I am pretty sure this is happening.', Ace thought, looking over at where they found themselves, they were in the lounge bar, a lot of open space, with tables and booths that were safely secured to the floor. ' Ok, that's out.', Ace noticed, however, bottles and glasses on tables, and near one sneakily, grabbing it without anyone noticing, since it was on an empty table, and people were looking to see what would happen.

The group got closer, and from her profile, Ace could see that Ran was frowning.

"What do you want Slyth? Move, I ain't got time.", Ran said, the boy, Slyth, a genuine ugly f*cker, smiled grotesquely, "Oh come on, I know you always got time for me babe. Why do you come here anyway? You guys are too small to drink, and all you do is cause annoyance by bringing in your little, tiny 'friends'."

Things were heating up, and Stella had noticed as well, the others, however, had brave smiled on their faces, believing that they would be kept safe by the supposed shield they had over them.

'These guys are either rivals or crazy, but regardless, they are looking to start something, so I should probably wait for it to begin and then leave.', Ace thought, looking for escape routes, while also paying attention to the confrontation.

Things were getting more heated, and now even the others knew something was going to happen, the people were getting excited. It took exactly 27 more seconds until Slyth tried to palm Ran's chest, and she grabbed his fingers, folding them fully backwards, a loud snap, followed by his loud shrieking came out. Before anything else could happen, Ran had kicked him in the balls, and punched his nose in, leaving him bleeding on the ground.

It did not take long however, for one of the grunts to tackle her to the floor, and begin to pummel her.

Ace was there in a second though, and kicked his head with such force that it seemed as if his head was about to be torn off. It was not full strength, but enough to knock him out, and give him some serious neck pain for the next few weeks.

"Are we doing this?", Ace asked, and then Ran responded, panting heavily, adrenaline coursing through her veins, "Yeah, but we can take them, I have seen you tussle, so we should be ok, they thought the others chickened out.", and after looking back, she saw them there looking shell-shocked, "Which it seemed they did."

It was at this point that the rest of the grunts, 5 of them, were shaken out of their reverie, and spread out, walking towards them.

"Anything goes?, Ace asked. "Yeah, but no guns, not that I think you got one.", she responded, giving him a quick look as if confirming something. "Ok."

Two grunts ran at Ace, and he picked up a bottle from a nearby table, smashing it on his head before they could do anything about it. The full power hit knocked him out cold, and the shards of glass went everywhere. Ace had covered his eyes with his hand, so that was safe, but he got a few small scratches.

The second grunt stopped, but after a second of hesitation, continued towards him. Ace dodged his first punch, then grabbed his wrist, and twisted his hips, launching him over his back. He landed hard, and Ace kicked his head just for safety.

He looked back at Ran, who was just finished with one grunt, Ace spotted the other two running away, probably scared at their brutality.

Ran smashed her shoulder on the guy's nose, and then looked at Ace, a manic smile on her face, "No mercy.", Ace nodded. "Well, I should probably take them back to the park, you got this?", Ace aside, and she nodded. "Yep, I'm all good."