We had just returned from my old place to find that we had unexpected visitors, and to boot they were on nice heavy bikes. They also had a couple military grade transport vehicles with them. I had no idea how many there were, but there had to be at least thirty, maybe even more. Max, Maya and Candy decided to follow me to see what was happening; I let them follow me, surmising that being by my side was probably the safest place for them.
We made our way around the house. I was happy to see that there was not yet a brawl, but things didn’t look completely friendly either. Two walls of men had formed, on one side was my gang led by Domenic and Ed, and on the other was a large group of bikers wearing colours I had never seen before. I hollered in my best drill voice: “What is happening here?”
Both groups turned their attention toward me, the leaders walked over; I motioned for them to stop when they were five feet from us. I spoke again in my drill voice: “Pain, Ed,” I pointed to the two men from the other groups and continued: “What are your names?”
The larger of the two men, he was almost as tall as me, answered in a firm voice: “I am Adolph and this is Randal.”
He was about to continue when I interjected still in my drill voice: “I am Vinny, I lead these men. What are you doing on my turf?”
Randal replied in a submissive tone: “We seek an audience with the man who has crushed Snake.” He looked at me hopefully as he continued: “We have been told that you are that man.”
I smiled and in a casual tone added: “You have found me, what is it you want from me?”
Adolph replied: “We were told that you were a mighty leader and a powerful warrior.”
I shrugged and retorted in an aggressive tone: “I will only ask once more, what do you want from me?”
Adolph’s face turned red with anger as he lunged forward and tried to punch me. I caught his fist mid-air, stopping his flight, and smashed him to the ground. He was winded, his gang raised their fists and got ready to strike as Randal hollered back to them: “Stay right where the fuck you are or I will kill you myself!” They all froze and waited. Randal bowed and said in a submissive tone: “Please forgive Adolph for his impertinence. He is a decent leader, but not much for diplomacy and has never really been able to recognize a dangerous situation.”
Adolph was crumpled into a ball, trying to recover as I said: “Should I pick him up, or can you answer my questions?” Before Randal could answer, Adolph rose and tried to punch me again. This time I parried his hand and landed a weak blow to his gut, sending him flat on his ass clutching his stomach. I moved forward, grabbed his leather jacket firmly and using only my left arm picked him up and held him a few feet of the ground as I said: “Are you going to calm down and shut up, or will I have to get rough?”
He waved his hands in surrender, so I put him down and let go as Randal said: “Thank you for your self control, from what I have heard of your skills, I presume that you did not hit him hard.”
Adolph was frozen with fear as I replied: “I saw no real danger and did not see a reason to put him in the hospital before finding out what you wanted.”
Randal replied: “That is mighty big of you. Anyhow, we are here to thank you for making Snake pay for his crimes and to see if you would be willing to take on new members.”
I replied: “I would be willing to consider it, but first I must know why you wish to join us, and exactly how you found us.”
Adolph replied: “We want to join you because you’re strong and because you are not as foolish as Snake.”
Randal added: “And I am the one who found you, I had one of my boys tail that convoy of yours.”
I smiled: “Ok you’ve shown yourselves to be resourceful, but what does your gang have to offer us?”
Adolph stood proud as he said: “We offer the one thing all true leaders want and deserve, loyalty; that is if you can prove you deserve it.”
I smiled as I replied: “That is the wisest thing you’ve said all day. Good answer, so how do I earn your loyalty?”
Adolph replied in a casual tone: “From Randal’s info I predict that you could take on twenty of my boys easily.” I nodded, and then he continued: “But in order to show your strength as well as your strength of character, you will have to take on twenty of my boys and not hospitalize any of them.”
I smiled and said: “Sounds like fun, my boys will certainly enjoy watching this, so how many guys do you have with you today?”
Randal replied: “We brought a small group of fifty soldiers and thirty other men. Our gang has just shy of five hundred members, including the women and children. We are nomadic and have set up camp in a camping ground close to the city. We would appreciate having a better place to make camp and would gladly help where we could.”
I replied: “Sounds fair to me, Pain and Ed can make arrangement for you to have tents and a place to stay. But first let’s get this little challenge under way.”