Out Played

In a nearby hospital, a famous politician named Mathew Stronghold walks into a hospital room where his oldest son, Reilly Stronghold, is laid up with a broken arm and his youngest son, Duke, waiting by his side.

"What happened?"

Both brothers are silent for a moment.

"Some new kid at school- he attacked us." Duke answers.

Mathew Stronghold scowls at both his sons

"You let some punk kid do this to you?" He asks.

Reilly stays silent for a moment.

"He caught us by surprise." Reilly says.

Mathew scoffs.

"What's his name? I'll take care of it."

Meanwhile, After he gets out of school, John practices strikes on his wing chun dummy, while Katie and Malcolm secretly watches him. As John pauses for a moment, he turns around and sees them staring at him, causing a smile to appear on his face.

"You two want to try?" John asks.

Katie is a little hesitant at first but Malcolm steps right up. John then shows him how to stand, and how to strike the wing chun dummy.

"That's it, good job." John says, making Malcolm smile

Katie slowly steps up to the dummy, takes a stance and throws a strike.

"Very nice." John says.

A slight smile appears on Katie's face. As they are having fun, Alice walks into the room and sees the two kids smiling and laughing, enjoying the sight of it. John then notices Alice and stands up to his feet.

"Sorry, were we too loud?" John asks.

Alice giggles.

"No, it's not that. Some people are here to see you, said they were friends of yours."

John smiles, excited to see Rhea, Melissa, and Miguel. When he walks downstairs and to the door, he sees four men that he didn't recognize, secretly surprising him.

"Hey John. You free to hangout?" One of the men asks.

John pauses for a moment, before smiling.

"Of course, let's go." John says.

He then grabs his jacket, and turns to Alice and Frank with a smile.

"I'll be back soon, I won't be out late." John tells them.

Both Alice and Frank smile.

"Ok, kid. Have fun." Frank says.

John walks with the group of men without saying a word, catching them off guard a bit.

"He's just going along with this? We didn't even have to threaten him." One of the men whispers to the others.

"The kids smart, he didn't want to make a scene infront of those people in the house. Chances are, he knows who we are already." The second man says.

They soon make it to an alley where one of them grabs a metal bat from the wall.

"Since you didn't cause us any trouble, we'll make this quick." The man with the bat says.

As He walks forward, John glares at the man causing him to flinch a bit.

"What's with that stare? I've never seen a kid look like that. Maybe it's an Asian thing."

He then swings the bat, but John easily parrys the bat, surprising the group of men. He parrys another swing the bat, and lands a jab to his face, stunning him. Another man throws a kick, but John catches his leg and breaks it. As two of the other men rushes him, John lands a front kick to one's chest and a roundhouse kick to the others head. The man with the bat swings again, but John avoids it again, landing a reverse shuto then, when he drops to his knees, lands a hook kick.

One of the other men gets back to his feet to throw a punch, causing John to grab his arm, perform a shoulder throw, and break it. When John turns around, he gets punched in the face by one of the two men left conscious and scowls at him, putting fear in his heart. The man swings again, but John catches his arm and lands multiple thrust punches to his chest. The second man left standing swings, but John ducks causing him to punch his friend instead.

"Shit. Sorry Jerry."

John then lands an elbow into Jerry's face, knocking him out for good. As he and the last guy standing have a stand off, the man takes a boxing stance as John smirks. The man throws a right hook, but John does an elbow block. Then clutches his hand, then tries to throw a kick, but John does an ankle block, stopping him in an instant. As the man clutches his ankle, John lands a reverse Cresent kick, knocking him out.

As all the men are unconscious on the ground, John kneels down to one of them.

"Hey, Hey, rise and shine. Come on, get up." John says as he repeatedly slaps him.

The man slowly wakes up, then John grabs him by the face.

"Now, you're going to tell me exactly who sent you. And where can I find them." John says.

Meanwhile, in Mathew Strongholds office, he waits for a call from his men along with his son's.

"What's taking so long?" Duke asks.

"Shut up. I told them to take their time with him to get the message across." Mathew replies.

Duke and Reilly smile when they hear this, happy that John is getting beat up by the thugs on their dad's payroll. At that moment, Mathew gets a call from one of the men who attacked John.

"Is the job done?" Mathew asks.

A silence comes over the other end of the phone.

"Not exactly, sir. I'm afraid he beat all of us."

Mathew and his sons are shocked when they hear this.

"I'm afraid, your boys have messed with the wrong kid." The man says.

Mathew scowls.

"Excuse me?" Mathew asks.

At that moment, One of the men guarding the front door is thrown through it. The Strongholds look up and sees John walking into the room. Mathew hides his shock, hangs up the phone, and sits back in his chair.

"So, you're the one who did this to my sons. How did you get into this office?" Mathew asks.

John smirks.

"Past the men you had guarding the door." John answers.

Mathew stays silent for a moment, thinking how did he find where he was.

"I'm curious, since you're new to this country, do you know who I am?" Mathew asks.

"Mathew Adam Stronghold, a second term assembly member, now running for office." John replies.

Mathew smirks.

"And that didn't stop you from coming here? You must be either brave or foolish."

John then pulls out a phone.

"More like prepared." John says.

He then plays a video of Mathew doing illegal activity with known gangsters and criminals. This shocks the Stronghold family with this video.

"I also have files of your two douche bag sons too. They're not as discreet as you are, Mr. Stronghold."

This angers Mathew Stronghold.

"Do you think you can threaten us?" He asks.

"I wasn't the one who started this. And this isn't really as much as a threat as hiring a bunch of thugs to assault. Your son attacked my friend and your other son came to attack me." John says.

Mathew stays silent for a moment.

"What do you want?"

John doesn't answer for a moment.

"I'd like for my friends to never see Duke or Reilly Stronghold again." John answers.

Both Duke and Reilly are shocked when they hear this. Their father thinks for a moment.

"Fine. Consider it done, as long as those videos don't make it to the public." Mathew replies.

John nods and leaves the room as Duke is in shock by all of this.

"But dad!"

"Shut up! This is on you two, So no whining!" Mathew yells.

Duke holds his tongue, frustrated at all of this. He then stares at John while he walks away.

"Who the hell is that guy?" He thinks to himself.

The next day at school, all the kids that were bullied by Duke and his brother celebrate him moving while John stands by his locker with a smile.

"He's gone! He's really gone! Finally!" Miguel cheers.

As He, Melissa, and a lot more other students move through the halls celebrating, Rhea approaches John.

"You wouldn't have anything to do with this, would you?" She asks with a smile.

John chuckles.

"I don't know what you mean." John says.

Rhea then laughs, grabbing John by the hand.

"Come on, let's go celebrate with everyone."

John smiles.

"Ok."

The two then go to celebrate with everyone else.