Streets of Toronto

Chapter One

Wood Oak City. A fine city located in the country of Lima. Cars and people hustled and bustled, the roads and walkways were beautifully exotic-looking, and the sunsets were something to behold. In the past, it was an ordinary, happy, and peaceful city. Until, a crime lord known as Mr. X had acquired a powerful grip on the city, effectively taking complete control of it. As a result of this, the city quickly turned into a cesspool of crime and violence. Robberies, beatings—it seemed as though no one was safe from the filth spread by Mr. X's syndicate.

Blaze Fielding cruised down the road, a smile set upon her features. She, along with two of her best friends, Axel Stone and Adam Hunter, were brave ex-cops that had long turned in their badges, having been sick of being on the city's police force, which had been corrupted at the time. The three weren't corrupt cops themselves, however. In fact, they were the only good cops on the force. But with no badges, there was only one other way to cleanse the city of the filth that was The Syndicate.

Going vigilante.

And they opted to go about it this way. Knowing exactly what they were getting into, Blaze, Axel, and Adam took to the streets, now with the freedom to get rid of the thugs themselves. They fought hard—between Blaze's masterful Judo techniques, Adam's expert Boxing skills, and every martial art under the sun that Axel had mastered, the trio fought their way to Syndicate HQ, where they laid waste to Mr. X himself, marking the end of the bad spell of the city—or so they thought. Things were peaceful for about a year, before he returned, somehow alive. This pattern would continue a number of times, but fortunately within those times, they had expanded their team in the form of Max Thunder, Axel's good friend, Sammy (Skate), Adam's kid brother, and Dr. Gilbert Zan, an ex-RoboCy scientist, now against Mr. X.

Blaze happily sighed, glad to be able to let her guard down. And this time, it appeared that it would finally get to stay down. It was again, about a year since X had been dead, and there had been no signs of him returning. No crime, no senseless violence, even the police force was still clean and honest. They had finally done it, and as the setting sun bestowed its golden rays upon the street, Blaze was planning how to relax. Perhaps her and her team could just spend time together enjoying what the city had to offer? Definitely. But she was tired on this evening, and rightfully so. She'd been overworked at her current job as a Private Investigator, looking into three alleged cases on cheating spouses and two child custody cases. So for tonight, she figured she'd just kick back on the couch with a drink. Yep, that sounded good. Just as she pulled up to her house, her phone rang, rattling inside the console. She looked at the caller ID, and seeing it was from Murphy, she smiled and answered the call.

"Hey, Murphy," Blaze greeted tiredly, yet pleasantly. As Murphy spoke to Blaze, her eyes slowly widened with his words. She pressed the phone closer to her ear, listening intently as thoughts raced through her head.

"Okay, thanks, Murphy." She said finally, hanging up the phone with that determined look in her pretty brown eyes, no longer tired. She then scrolled through her Contacts, intent on making a call herself. Once she found the desired number, she pressed dial. She held the phone to her ear, her facial expression unchanging as it rang several times before the person on the other end picked up.

"Hello, Blaze."

"Hi, Zan, I need you to be at my place ASAP. . .tell the others to do the same." She spoke hurriedly into the phone.

Not much later. . .

Inside the house, Blaze, the house's owner, Zan, Axel, Adam, Skate and Max were all present, and seated on the couches in Blaze's house.

"What's going on, Blaze?" Axel asked the brunette directly.

"Yeah, Zan said it was urgent!" Skate jumped in, wanting to know what could possibly be the issue, now that their nemesis was assumed to be finished.

"Don't tell me. . ." Adam started, before being cut off by Blaze with a silent nod and a knowing look.

"Yeah. X is back." Blaze informed. The news came something of a shock to everybody. They had been so sure that X was out of the picture for good this time."

"What? I thought he was down for the count!" Axel growled, his anger rising. He was really getting tired of this from X. It seemed that no matter what, he would always be able to somehow come back from the grave.

"That's not all, though," Blaze continued, causing them all to give her questioning looks. She continued speaking. "He's apparently moved his operations to Toronto, Canada."

"Toronto?" Max repeated.

"Why would he do that? I mean, what's the point of moving The Syndicate all the way up to the freakin' north pole?" Skate quipped, though his tone did reflect genuine curiosity regarding X's latest relocation.

"It appears that he is learning from his mistakes. He has grown tired of constantly being defeated by us here, so he is choosing to target Toronto, a defenseless city, where there are no heroes to stop him." Zan inferred. Blaze nodded.

"That man is so power-hungry, it's sickening." Adam said, crossing his strong arms with a deep frown.

Blaze looked at her team, a certain smirk came over her features. "Are you guys thinking what I'm thinking?"

"We all hop on the next flight to Toronto and kill the bastard?" Max said, inviting a battle-ready smirk onto his face and cracking his knuckles. Blaze gave a mere nod in response, still smirking.

"Heh, heh, sweet!" Skate shouted, pumping a fist.

"I'm on board," Axel said, his expression hard, per usual. "If X is in a new city now, it means that that Toronto will face the same kinds of hell that Wood Oak did because of that son-of-a-bitch."

"And I think I speak for all of us when I say: We just can't leave the people up in Toronto hanging. Not when we know what X is capable of." Adam added.

"Agreed. It may not be our city, but we need to act. Just like Adam said, we can't leave Toronto to suffer. We know just what it's like to live in a city run by that man. We can sympathize with them. Besides, if we don't, X could expand The Syndicate beyond Toronto, to all of Canada. The less he owns, the better."

"Well, how much territory has he taken over so far?" Max inquired.

"I wish I knew," Blaze answered with a sigh of exasperation. "Murphy didn't say when he dropped me the intel. He just told me that X is in Canada now."

"Not to worry, for I can easily determine that using my sensors once we arrive," Zan assured with the hint of a smile, which faded instantly with his next low-spoken words. "But for now, we must make haste."

"Right on!" Skate exclaimed, getting up with the rest of the team. "Time to show that dick wherever he goes, we'll go!"

"There's a website I know of that gets you plane tickets super cheap," Blaze said, pulling her laptop onto her lap and opening it. "I'll email it to you guys, but in the meantime, it would be a good idea for you guys to start packing."

As the five other males nodded in agreement, the collective team of six bade each other farewell, Blaze watched as they filed out her front door, closing and locking it behind Adam, who was the last to exit. She sat back down, and got to emailing the site to her friends. Once that was done, she made her way to the flight of stairs leading up to her room, to pack her things as well. As she ascended the steps, she narrowed her eyes, the hint of a smirk appearing on her features.

Whether you know it or not, X, we're coming.

******

A/N: Hello everybody! Here is my first fanfiction that involves something non-SEGA (even if it is only half of the fic), and yes, the Scott Pilgrim side of things will be in the next chapter. I will also be giving the "unnamed backup cop" from Streets of Rage 1 the name of Murphy, as he is called in the comics, even though the continuity is of the SoR games.

So with that, I'll see you in the next chapter!

- Stefan 42