Excursion 13: When the Dust Settles…

"Hey, wake up!" Said Fyky, shaking a passed out Black Hawk.

"Doc, he's not awake yet."

"Give him some time, he's completely out of energy," replied Doc.

Black Hawk begins to open his eyes. He looks to his side and notices the fallen Weaponsmith.

"Doc, he's awake!" Said Fyky, as he begins shaking Black Hawk's collar, "how'd the fight go? What happened?"

"Hey Doc, pick up that guy for me." Said Black Hawk ignoring Fyky's questions. Fyky wore a confused expression on his face as Black Hawk ignored him.

"Alright," replied Doc.

The three leave the warehouse. It was eleven o'clock in the evening.

"Hey, Stringbean, you know any diners round here? I'm dying for some pancakes," said Black Hawk.

"Yeah sure, ummm I think there's one round the corner of St Lorenzo Street, should be open." Replied Fyky.

"Good, lead the way," said Black Hawk.

*** At the Diner ***

24th, St Lorenzo Street was home to Romeo's Diner. It was a nice little spot, it had twelve six person booths, ten tables, it looked straight out of the fifties. The three enter the establishment, the passed out Weaponsmith hanging on Black Hawk's shoulder, and the three sit in a booth, where Fyky is forced to sit next to the passed out man.

A server comes out, "hey huns… my name's Donna, here are some menues, ummm is your friend alright?" Donna asked.

"Oh don't worry about him," Black Hawk says, then he leans towards her, and loudly whispers "he's been hitting the bars a little too hard."

The confusion hasn't left her face but she can only accept it, and she leaves.

"So Stringbean, how was your first expedition?" Asked Doc.

"Well, it was fun, the fight I had with the fish guy was incredible, I had to use all of my techniques. Is every fight like this?" He asked as he pushed away Weaponsmith who kept slumping over onto his shoulder.

"Well, not always, only in the beginning, as you get stronger, fun fights are not as easy to find," replied Doc, holding back laughter as he watched the most formidable member of the Green Gang slumping over as if to kiss Fyky.

Black Hawk whispers something to Doc, causing both of them to pound the table laughing.

Fyky's wondering what they're joking about, so he asks "what's so funny?"

Black Hawk says, "I don't know kid, it seems your friend over there's about to kiss you."

The two broke out into laughter.

"Wow real mature guys. That's some real class from a pair of forty year olds," said Fyky looking at them angrily.

Doc and Black Hawk began frowning. "I'm only thirty two" said Black Hawk.

"And I'm thirty three," said Doc.

Fyky began laughing.

Twenty minutes had passed and ten plates, five pancakes each, four plates with three egg's scrambled each and nearly two pounds of bacon.

"You guys are going to eat all of that?" Fyky asked with a shocked tone.

"No, no, I'm sticking to my eggs and bacon, Black Hawk here though, he needs to eat all of this," said Doc.

"Yeah!" Black Hawk said in a muffled voice as he stuffed his face with pancakes and bacon, "damn I love this stuff Doc!"

Fyky thought to himself that his hero couldn't have been grosser.

"Say, why'd we go after these guys anyway?" Asked Fyky.

"Hmmm, ok so you know how there are a bunch of different gifts out there right? Well some groups sell gifts in the Black Market. The main guy in charge of that is a guy called V-Snyde, and seems that this Weaponsmith guy was a famous associate of that force." Explained Doc.

"So why wasn't there more people in charge if they wanted it to be secure?" Asked Fyky, suspecting something is missing from Doc's explanation.

"Well, that's what we're trying to figure out. Remember when I read through those files and documents, well I sent them to HQ, they're analyzing a bunch of stuff to figure out what V-Snyde was using the Green Gang for."

"Hmm at least it's over now—"

"You said it Stringbean!" Yelled Black Hawk who just paused his engorgement for a few seconds.

"Yeah, but that might not be the case. There's been an unsubtle increase in gift circulation recently," said Doc, "I've heard Zharkov's making a move, even the Triad are acquiring some big ticket gifts."

"Who are those guys?" Asked Fyky.

"Their bigwigs in the underworld, Zharkov is a crime lynchpin in Moscow and the Triad is a massive crime org focused mainly in Beijing," explained Doc.

"Pretty exciting time though," stated Black Hawk, "I see a lot of interesting fights soon, we might even see a big mobilization operation, you're lucky Stringbean, we've never been this active before."

"Wow… what an honor," said Fyky sarcastically.

"After this Stringbean, is there anything else you want to do before going back to HQ with us?" Asked Doc.

"Hmmm…" Fyky thought of so many things, he thought he could say goodbye to his girlfriend one last time, or talk to his friends at the university, but he's realized that that part of his life is over, now he must commit himself to combat and improvement, he must make up for his mistakes. So he confidently replied, "no, I don't think I do."

Black Hawk was finally done with his dinner, he handed a hundred dollar bill to Doc. Doc then stood up from the booth, walked over to Donna and handed her the hundred, "keep the change," he said.

"See that! Doc's got that lady killer charm," said Black Hawk to Fyky.

Fyky interrupted and said "and you don't?" Causing Black Hawk pout.

"No I do, I've had tons of girlfriends, I'm a lady killer too."

"Really? I don't see any."

"Of course not they're in another city—"

"Hey kiddos, let's bounce?" Interrupted Doc.

"Alright." Fyky replied.

"Hey wait! Doc I need to settle something…" said Black Hawk, but Doc and Fyky ignored him and continued to walk away.

Black Hawk got up from the booth, carrying Weaponsmith on his shoulder and started chasing after them.

Now Fyky was ready to see HQ, and meet the other hunters, nothing could get him more excited.

… To be continued.