The Matters of Power

Chapter 30- The Eastside Gang [5]

Whether this was their plan or just a convenience for them, I'm not letting them get away with what they've done. One of the skinnier thugs steps forward and tries to attack me first but he's too slow for me to dodge, pushing him back for breathing room. The rest of the alley devolves into a hectic brawl against us and them, plenty of swings and blocks go around while I barely manage to avoid getting hit and supporting my allies. Yan delivers a kick to the heavier thug's legs that drop him on his knees when, in a grand display of teamwork, Quarter follows it up with a jump kick directly to his nose, knocking him out on the spot. I look in awe of their fighting capability but get myself together just as I see two of the remaining thugs trying to attack me from my front and rear. I duck below a thug's punch just as the other was about to hit me as well and managed to hit his own comrade, giving me the opportunity to sweep the stunned thug's leg to painfully hit him right in his sensitive area... with me finally elbowing the last standing thug in the neck.

An aura of silence fills the alley as Swift Cross and I appear to be the only ones left standing. I breathe a sigh of relief and head towards the other guys who look surprised at me for some reason. "Yo, Marcus," Yan places a hand on my shoulder and gives me a thumbs up, "nice job holding your own, and to think you had a neat move like that hiding away from us." He probably must be talking about that move I did on those two grunts, despite it being an improvisation that I acted on a whim. "Oh, well, it was a surprise for me too, as-" I hear someone grunting in pain and we look towards the noise to see that one of the Eastside gang members is conscious and dragging toward a wall to stand upright. Quarter slowly approaches him, every step he takes slightly scaring the thug. "Woah, woah!" He suddenly says, "Look, I'm sorry for trying to fight ya, hell, WE'RE sorry. Just don't hurt me!" He looks about ready to wet his pants, but Quarter places a fist close to him on the wall. "I won't you if you tell us where your 'comrades' are based in this area."

"I couldn't do that! The guy in charge is scary enough as he is and if I go back they'll make my life a living hell." Just as it looks like Quarter is ready to beat the information out of the thug, a phone goes off with a notification leaving us puzzled. "Hey Marcus, that your phone?" It couldn't be mine, I always keep mine on vibration mode so that means- "Check his pockets," I say, "it might be his phone." Sure enough, when Quarter rummages through the pockets of his pants, a phone is found and with a recent notification from 'NUGGET (BOSS)':

"Hey, when are y'all done with ye scouting run? We need ya back at Who'd Unit Storage soon for furniture organizing. Oh, and there's soda innit if you help out."

Despite the pretty bland background, his phone has a Lock Screen password so we can't investigate further, and it doesn't seem like he's going to help with that. "We're done here." Quarter turns off the phone and puts it back in his pocket, "Just so you know buddy, there are better things to do with your life than be some thug. Let's go." The others start to leave the alley, but I stay still and look at the thug, who in turn looks anxiously at what I'll do next. There must be more that I can do to get more information than what is given to us, which is pretty slim and broad at best. Suddenly it hits me that I still have the Psychometry skill that I can use for this situation! Even though I have to invade his privacy to access information, I figure it'll be a small price to find out if what he said was the truth. I reach out my hand towards his arms that has the most exposed skin, clearly starting to panic as he doesn't know what I'm trying to do. "Hey! Marcus!" Before I can make contact, Yan shouts from the end of the alleyway and turn my attention to him. "Come on, we don't have all day here!" Not wanting to make a bigger scene, I forget about the idea of using Psychometry and walk towards Yan and the others. I can hear the thug sigh in relief behind my back, though I don't know how he should be. "What was that all about?" Yan asks me as we start to walk back towards The Mara's Place. "It was nothing, I just wasn't sure if you could trust what he said." As much as I wanted to say more, I keep my mouth shut and stay with the minimum.