It was a frigid day in New York, yes it was winter an obvious cold time of the year but today was like no other. Just walking outside took your breath away and without proper clothing, the risk of frost bite would occur in no time. Bubbles debated on if she actually wanted to leave the HQ or cuddle up by the fire under a blanket with her container of bubbles. She really wanted to just stay and not venture outside but the HQ was eerily quiet, not a soul was in the building. 

See today was the day of the fighting tournament. It was this little club that Insomnia had thrown together. Well it used to be small, what started out with a handful of people had grown into this massive underground empire. It was still meant to be a secret, even though most everyone knew about it. There were these rules that came along with it but for some reason Bubbles could never remember them. She had them written down somewhere, perhaps that piece of paper was still in her pocket.

Reaching her hand in her pocket she came across two pieces of paper. Opening the first up were the rules. First rule: We do not talk about....

"Oh yeah... well since I'm not allowed let me get rid of this."

Taking the piece of paper she tossed it into the roaring fire, the paper quickly burned into ashes. Content with that evidence being destroyed she opened up the other piece of paper. It was a reminder from Insomnia, which read:

"Don't forget today is the today. Yes TODAY! You best not miss this or else... Insomnia."

She let out a big sigh. "Well I guess that answers that."

With a bit of pep in her step she made her way to her office. She put on her coat, her scarf, her ear muffs, her boots, her gloves and then finally her fluffy wool hat. Even though the building was right across the street, she wasn't going to risk the possibility of losing any digits due to this cold weather.  She then made her way to the front door. She stood in front of that door and took a big deep breath before opening it.

"Just do it already." She thought to herself. In one motion she opened the door and took a step outside. Almost immediately the thought of turning back around entered her head but she couldn't, she was expected to be at the tournament and in fact she was running late. She turned closed the door behind her and rather quickly made her way to building across the way.

There were a couple people outside, just some of the rift raft that had been trying to gain access but were denied. They were the ones that hadn't proven themselves just yet. Bubbles made her way through the small crowd of people, making her way to a large wooden door. With a couple knocks the small peep panel opened up. She couldn't tell who it was just by looking at his eyes but there was no hesitation from him opening the door.

A smile beamed on her face when she seen who it was.

"Ah Fink, they got you on door duty today?"

With a smirk and nod he let her in.

"Where's the boss at? Do you have any idea?"

She watched as Fink stood up on his tiptoes, giving a quick look around.

"Not a clue, though he is here somewhere. Cause I haven't seen him leave."

With a smile Bubbles patted Fink on the shoulder.

"Alright, well let me go have a look. I need to show some face otherwise I might get in a bit of trouble. You know, the whole or else thing."

With a quick see you later to Fink, Bubbles made her way down the hallway. It was the back entrance of the building so there was a bit of maneuvering to do in order to get where the actual fights were taking place. The place wasn't well maintained, in fact it wasn't maintained at all. The walls down the hallway were all torn up and the sections that weren't were marked up with graffiti but for some reason it added to the ambiance to this underground thingy.

You could definitely tell that something was going on, well the fact that a fight was going on. The sounds of screams and cheers echoed through the basement of building. Hopefully she would be able to just sneak in like she had been there the entire time, without anyone noticing.

She made her way down to the end of the hallway and hooked a left. Turning the corner she ran right into someone, it knocked her back a couple steps. The man quickly turned around. It was RomanReigns.  

"Roman! Why do you always seem to jump out at me like that."

She gave him a look up and down, he was extra oiled up today. His cut off shirt which was showing off his oversized muscles. His face looked perfectly in tact though, so either he hadn't fought yet or it was quite the easy fight. Before she was able to say another word someone crept up behind her, put his arm around her and started to sing. It could only be one person. With a quick turn of her head there he was TopGun. 

"What's with you and that song?" She said with a chuckle. "You know what, I can't even right now, I need to find Insomnia before he or else's me. So I'll catch you guys later, oh and Roman good luck if you plan on fighting."

Taking a couple more steps down the hallway it finally opened up to the main area. Standing just on outskirts of the hallway entrance was Rayden and Freeman who were both drinking a beer and having a laugh. Bubbles who always seemed just a bit late in every conversation she ever joined looked at the pair with a smirk. 

"Hey you two, I'm here. Hopefully not for too long, there's a nice fire waiting for me back at the HQ."

The pair laughed. Rayden reached down to a bucket that was right next to her, put out a beer and handed it to Bubbles.  "Drink up, you aren't going anywhere for a while."

Bubbles sighed, she was hoping to make this a quick show face and bounce. Though it seemed more and more that that wasn't going to happen. She took the beer from Rayden and put it in her pocket. The drink would have to wait, she needed first to still find Insomnia.

"Either of you know where the bossman is at?"

Rayden pointed but then quickly took her finger back.

"He was just over there, he's around here somewhere."

With a smile Bubbles excused herself.

"I'll catch you guy in a little bit, I need to go find him before he or else's me."

So Bubbles started walking through the crowd. There were a lot of familiar faces out there, it almost seemed as if most of the New York criminal world was here plus some. Bubbles walked by Spiral and Yacht who were both engaged in some kind of intellectual discussion. She gave them both a nod as she walked by. Next she came across the ladies of Star Crossed. Luminosity, Serana, and Sofia were just mingling with the others. Though they did have quite the decent crowd around them, which made sense. I mean come on they were the ladies of Star Crossed, nothing else really needed to be said.

With a smile she continued onward, coming across Syndicate who was definitely over dressed for the occasion. Though it wasn't out of the norm, standing next to him was his lovely right hand Adorkable. With another smile and a quick hello she continued looking for the boss.

"Why is this such a task trying to find him?"She thought to herself.

She then saw someone she knew quite well, ReignMan was propped up against the one wall. Almost as if he was waiting for someone or something. She knew she had to find out so she made her way over to him.

"Hey! What are you doing here?"

"This is the place to be today, duh!"

Bubbles just shook her head and took the beer out of her pocket that she had gotten from Rayden.

"I know you probably were expecting me to find you and stay but I can't right now. I have to go find Insomnia before he or else's me. So here have a beer and I'll be back as soon as I can."

Handing him the beer and giving him a sweet kiss on the cheek she continued her quest. This time she came across Honesty and Snowball, the pair was bickering like usual. It was like they were long lost brothers, they just loved to annoy each other.

"You guys know where Insomnia is at?"

Snowball took a quick moment and nodded towards the stairs that led even further down.

"Thanks!" She said with a smile. Just as she was about to head down the stairs she spotted him. He was walking up the stairs.

"Ah ha! There you are! You know how hard it has been to find you. Also now you can't or else me, so ha!"

Recently Insomnia had taken over "Lou's Tavern" turning it into his own personal playground for underground fights and tournaments which would spark high end bets from time to time by spectators. Sometimes all you could hear were the flat hard packing sounds over the yelling, or the wet choke when someone caught their breathe and yelled "Stop!" You weren't alive anywhere like you were there. But fight club only exists in the hours between when fight club starts and when it ends. 

Insomnia was downstairs in the garage going over homework assignments for each fighter to finish before tonight's big tournament. Normally every week he would hand out new tasks in an envelope to be completed before returning. 

"This week each one of you are going to go out and start a fight, with a complete stranger and your going to lose."

Lighting a cigarette he smirks at the group before hearing someone light footed creeping down the stair well, it was Bubbles in her puffy clothing smiling waving at the fighters. With a nod Insomnia has everyone exit the room upstairs being dismissed until later tonight.

"Hey! Good to see you made it, looks like you remembered and found the place easily enough."

Smirking Insomnia walks up to Bubbles nudging her asking "You going to enter in tonight's big fight?" jokingly he prods at her muscles but knew she could also potentially kick everyone's ass and win.

"Shall we also head upstairs and see what kind of trouble is brewing upstairs?" 

Raising his hand outwards he offers Bubbles to take the lead.

Tonight was a good night, fighting was something I was used too. It was an opportunity to let everyone else in the city see what I was made of. Normally I wasn't one to show off in front of others, but it was finally time to let the boss man know that I had been working out again. Secretly planning on opening a gym in the forgotten business district of New York city. That didn't matter though, tonight was about finding enjoyment in what I thrived for, pain. I had driven in with my good friend and Manhattan counterpart Syndicate. We had shown up early, he was the accountant for any of the larger bets that were coming in from outside of the city. Competitive fighting was always something the public found exciting, but only the wealthy could afford to place bets in this tournament.

I hung out doing push ups as Syndicate continued to count the money that was coming in by the suitcase. A man of money this wasn't an issue he noted it on his paper work and moved on to the next bet. I was pumped, more then excited for my turn to fight. Standing up from doing a repetition of push ups I punched a huge hole in the wall from the adrenaline that was flowing through my veins. I popped some more amphetamines as I walked out of Syndicates office and into the hallway. I paused and cracked my neck from left to right, stretching my shoulders I exhaled. Just then I felt a sudden thud, to my surprise Bubbles was standing in front of me after I turned around. 

Smiling in excitement I acknowledged the person that was in front of me was someone that was near and dear. With a quick handshake I could tell this was not the time for a warm embrace. It must of been all of the oil I just lathered onto myself. None the less Bubbles asked if I had seen the boss man lately and I was absolutely clueless. I pointed off in a direction that was opposite from the way she had come in, there was only one other way.

Just as I had pointed, my second in command Topgun had shown up. He was whistling some kind of off beat tune I didn't recognize, but it sure brought a smile to Bubbles face. They conversed for a second before she was on her way and I was left alone in the hallway with my right hand man. Just then the mood turned serious as we both knew here in a short time I would be fighting one of my toughest opponents to date. This was a fight I had been looking forward too as the man I was facing had been running his mouth for quite some time. He had won a bunch of professional fights and for some reason this guy was calling me out by name. This wasn't a normal situation as I was known for fighting in the underground and had gained quite the backing. So Insomnia decided it was in his best interest to run a tournament so I could fight this guy. 

Syndicate had finally finished up tallying up the bets when he exited his office. Looking over to Topgun and myself he smiled, not sure what he was thinking but he smiled. I looked back to Topgun and he shrugged as he was uncertain as well. We both looked back over to us and Syndicate told us the boss man had just made his way up stairs. He was waiting for us, it was my time to fight. This guy was double my size, but I had fought people bigger then him in the past. It was time to ruin his ego, thinking he was going to come into my city and challenge me. I put my hands over my face in anticipation and pushed my hair back. I began to follow TopGun and Syndicate downstairs, the music was loud and the others below were even louder.

It had sounded like the excitement of a fight had just died down as I made my way down below. Walking the steps one by one I seen a lot of familiar faces as I made it to the bottom. Shaking hands with plenty of familiar faces they wished me luck on my fight tonight. I walked over to a table where a few men were sitting and took the shots that were already poured and downed them. Yelling after taking the shots I flexed at both the men sitting down. The look on there faces was priceless, you'd think they were the ones about to fight. Just then I saw my opponent from across the room. My blood began to boil as I saw the man I was ready to decimate, just then I felt a hand on my shoulder. It was my Godfather Insomnia, for a short second I forgot about the fact I had just seen someone I hate true hate for. I embraced him, giving the man I fought for my undivided attention. 

Tony landed in NY it was very cold compared to Vegas.  He wondered why anyone would want to fight here when it was so cold.  Moving through the airport he had his luggage and there was a sea of cabs all hoping to get a passenger.  Tony got into a cab and handed the cabby the address.  They got there in record time however Tony had ideas of shooting the cabby a few times as Tony was slushing around in the back. 

Tony looked at him but decided its a nice night and he was there to check out the match's maybe he might find a few good fighters that he can turn pro and make a few bucks.  Tony liked the idea of owning a few professional fighters and travelling across the country setting up big dollar fights.  Tony saw Fink and handed him the tickets then he walked in with Frankie and several bodyguards.

Tony looked around as he was lead to his seats by an usher the group hand ring side seats and he was dressed to impress but he knew it would get hot but he couldn't remove his jacket because he was carrying underneath it.  He sat down an then a food handler approached yelling cold beer, hotdogs, popcorn and candy here.  Tony nodded to one of the guards and they went to the man.  They both walked over and Tony purchased Beer and hotdogs for him and Frankie and the guards. 

He sat there then he saw Bubbles as she approached she waved and he waved back then she took her seat in the same row but at the other end.  The announcer was calling out the order of the fights and that it would be starting soon.  He announced the sponsors and the locations of the rest rooms and food stands. 

Tony exhaled and pulled out a pad he wanted to take notes on each fighter win or lose he like fighters with heart.  He had trainers that could help improve there skills.  He knew win or lose he would still make a buck after meeting AR he was into sports, betting and fixing and AR was the best.  The 1919 world series proved it, AR never spent a day behind bars and made a million dollars off of it. 

Tony knew that Bubble would not have sent him tickets if these boxers were no good so the entertainment was going to be exciting.    

As he was headed upstairs Insomnia notices his friend enter the room, quickly getting riled up after seeing someone he disliked. As words were exchanged he started to remember why this foe looked so familiar. The guy was an undercover officer who had arrested RomanReigns recently over a public intoxication charge, his beloved lawn mower was shipped off to the junk yard and demolished. I think he always held a grudge and was more pissed off about the damned lawn mower than spending time in jail.

Looking over at Bubbles he raises his eyebrows and motions to go stop this before it got out of hand. Unlike the rest of us we could blend into the crowd, Roman on the other hand was a massively stature guy who stood out. Knowing he was a recognized celebrity in the fighting community we couldn't let him miss his big fight tonight.

Insomnia had been itching for a fight all day while watching others bash it out. Just in time he stops RomanReigns, placing his hand on his shoulders cracking a smile. I think this is where I shall pull the rank card and have you sit this one out, let me smash his face into cookie dough.

Noticing several new people entering the basement he cracks a grin while whistling to get the mans attention. Insomnia glares down the man while slowly approaching him ready to strike at any moment. 

Sam heads over to the address on the invitation card he received earlier, he didn’t know what to expect once he reached there but when the invitation is from the Right Hand of the Godfather of New York, he knew he needed to be there. Once reaching the destination, there was already a crowd gathered there, from the outside it was just a normal ordinary building, nothing really special. He lights a cigarette and decides to make a closer observation, he weaves through the crowd before reaching a wooden door, he pauses before knocking and after a few moment the metal slider peephole slides open and a pair of eyes looks at him and without saying a word Sam holds up the invitation he got earlier and immediately the peephole shuts close. Sam thought for a while that he was at the wrong place and was about to turn away before hearing the door unlocking from inside, an intimidating figure of a man can be seen guarding the door as the man waves Sam in, Sam gives a respectful nod towards the man before stepping inside. 

Once inside Sam walks along the narrow hallway which leads to another section of the building which was a rather open space where he could clearly hear loud cheering and screaming coming from. The smell of sweat and alcohol fill the space and immediately Sam knew exactly where he was. Sam tried his best to move through the crowd to get a better view of the fights. He finally found a spot just not too far from where the fight is was happening. He waited with full of excitement as the next fight is just about to begin.

Syndicate modeled his third office after the one at his headquarters, the back bar room was not nearly comparable in size to his office on the top floor of the bank. His desk sat along the back wall and a large two door safe sat in the corner, the reflective steel shined a perfect reflection of the rest of the room except for the twin dials and handles that needed to be opened simultaneously.

Syndicate's father was one of the best safe crackers he had ever heard of but he always talked about this safe, his greatest oponent, the Worthington Industrial Knox Defender. His father had only ever cracked this safe once but it was with Syndicates help as both sides needed to be opened at the same time. Syndicate was able to open this safe by himself, however that was only because he paid for it and actually knew the combination. 

Godfather Insomnia had tasked Syndicate with the job of setting the odds and taking the bets, he knew Syndicate was a money man and well trusted with the safety of large sums of cash, he did run a bank after all. Syndicate was happy to do this job on the side and it worked out for everyone, especially Insomnia who didn't have to worry about the money, in fact he was mostly there out of passion for the fights it was merely a bonus that there was profit to be had. Insomnia was able to run things, set them up and enjoy them without having to sit behind a desk all evening. 

The noise from the basement was getting louder and the queue for placing bets was dwindling down, he checked his watch and noted the time, the window to place bets had come to a close. He drew a line on the ledger and began to look over the numbers, as long as Roman wins the big fight of the night Godfather Insomnia was going to make a lot of money, like go to space in a cowboy hat rich. Syndicate stood and looked out into the hallway. There were no more bet placers to take in, it was just Adorkable, RomanReigns, and TopGun that were staying nearby as was customary while the money was outside the safe. "Make sure you win tonight Roman" Syndicate said as Bubbles wandered up to the group asking about Insomnia and admiring Syndicates suit. Roman nodded to me as well as Bubbles and pointed down the hallway. 

"I'm going to secure the bets and then I'll be ready to close up." Syndicate said as he reentered his office. Roman and Topgun stood outside the door while Adorkable came inside the office and locked the door. Syndicate placed a single briefcase on top the desk and opened it up, he stuffed a large sum of money into it and closed the lid. Adorkable waited patiently as he began spinning the dials on the safe, he switched back and forth from one door to the other and then grabbed both handles and opened them. The left side was filled with rifles, a small shelf at the top was stacked with ammo boxes and a sidearm while the right side was lined with shelves full of briefcases. Syndicate stuck the briefcase from his desk onto one of the shelves and then closed the doors. "Just one briefcase tonight Boss?" Adorkable asked as he spun both dials, and looked up at her, "Nope", He smiled and continued on with his day. She unlocked the office and they both carried on into the hallway, a look of confusion sat on her face as she thought about how Syndicate always seemed to be a combination of insane and genius at the same time, she was sure there was a reason only one briefcase was loaded into the safe and she was sure she would find out in due time what that reason may be. For now though they had met up with Roman and Topgun and locked the safe into the office with the door key, then the group headed down the stairs to watch the event unfold. 

"Yeah of course I'm going to fight, I'm totally ready for it. Can't you tell?"

Bubbles rolled her eyes and gave her head a slight shake. She knew just as well as Insomnia knew, that she wasn't much of a fighter. Though she still wasn't one to completely mess with. Just cause of her short stature didn't mean she didn't know how to handle herself. Just then the pair heard a bit of a commotion coming from upstairs. It wasn't your normal fight cheering, this was something different.

The moment they made it to the top of the stairs it was apparent what was going on. It was RomanReigns who was face to face with the same officer that arrested him a few days earlier. This wasn't good, even though we all knew Roman would be able to kick his ass. This was just not the time for it. Roman was due to fight here shortly, there was a lot of money riding on him. He needed to be in tip top shape.

Insomnia motioned for her to get Roman out of there and without hesitation she pushed through the crowd of people. Many of the people she knew she nudged out of the way. SamStone caught an elbow to the side someone else definitely got their foot stepped on, it wasn't meant to rude on her part but she had a situation to defuse and quickly.

Bursting through the crowd of people she pushed her way right in between Roman and the officer. She gave the officer a shove which pushed him back into Tony-Dicaprio then gave Roman a punch in the chest. It wasn't anything he couldn't handle but it got his attention. She could see the rage in face, for a moment she thought she was going to get decked. That was until he looked down and noticed who it was now standing in front of him. Almost instantly his rage subsided as Bubbles looked up at him.

"Not here, not now! You got it?"

Roman opened his mouth and was about to say something when the officer came charging back towards him. Bubbles still in the middle got briefly pinned against the both of them. At the top of her lungs she yelled "ENOUGH!"

She extended her arms giving both the guys and herself a little bit of space. Turning her head towards the officer she gave him a nasty look. 

"If you don't back the fuck off and now you won't be leaving this place alive. Do you understand me?" The officer looked at her and smirked. "I'm the law little girl."

Bubbles chuckled briefly before taking a deep breath.

"Do you think the law matters here? Do you not realize all the people you are surrounded by? Do you realize that all I have to do is give a nod and your kids grow up without a father?"

The officer quickly looked around the room, noticing the company he was in. His face went blank as he took a step backwards.

"Alright, alright I'm done."

Bubbles then looked back towards Roman.

"Go cool down, find TopGun and grab a drink. Just not too many drinks, cause you're slated to fight sometime soon."

The tension was in the air, the commotion had turned to completely the second Bubbles stepped in between the two men. The silence was staggering, everyone stood there awaiting the outcome. This was the first time anyone had acted out before a fight, a few of the men were looking over in Insomnias direction awaiting his reaction. The blood was flowing through my veins like a locomotive, the amphetamines I had took earlier were kicking in and I had zero patience left. I cracked my neck from left to right, instantly flexing in front of the officer showing off how ripped I was through my tank-top. I let off a loud yell into the air to let him know that I was more serious now then ever. I turned around and began to walk away when the officer had sputtered something under his breathe.

I turned around, sprinted right for the punk officer and jumped over a few of the spectators that were in the way connecting a super man like punch to the officers face. 

"You've got to be fucking kidding me!", Bubbles yells!

There was blood everywhere, if I was going to get in one punch I was going to make sure it was a good one. The corrupt officer went straight to the floor, he was out cold. Before I had a second chance to finish him off I had TopGun and Insomnia holding me back. They were done, not willing to let me ruin the night they dragged me over to the bar and made me sit down. Bubbles was already behind the bar pouring me a tall whiskey. 

"See? Drink, cool down...", she said sarcastically as she pointed to my drink.

I was pissed, I didn't care who I was fighting at that point. I downed the entire glass of whiskey as if it were a shot and stood up looking around for someone to start another fight with. Just then I saw Syndicate walk into the room with Adorkable and take there seats in their usual spot. I looked over to Insomnia and nodded as if I understood I had already crossed the line with him and knew not to further the problems.

He was beyond pissed with me you could see the look in his eye. As I went to walk away again he put his hand on my shoulder to stop me. Turning to look at him he politely gestures for me to sit back down and take my seat. At this point Bubbles was sitting at one of the other chairs at the table with us. Topgun stood behind me as if he were waiting on me to make another move again to slow me down. 

"I'm tired of this shit, I'm tired of it all!", Insomnia spoke out instinctively. 

I knew what was coming next, but the rest of the audience was in for a treat. Not too many got to see Insomnia in rare form. With a deep breath he loosened his tie from his neck. Stretching it out he took it off placing it on the table in front of us. Just then in the distance you could see the man that I was supposed to be facing tonight walk in. This guy made me look small, though I was the favorite tonight it was going to be no easy test. Insomnia walked towards the circle of people watching the fight and they parted without even looking they just sensed he was there. Making his way into the middle the other fighters knew that there time was up scurrying over to the side. 

Without hesitation Insomnia called out my opponent and told him to get his ass into the ring. The giant man glanced at Insomnia and laughed, he was more then outmatched in this one. He had won plenty of fights in the past, but what were were about to see tonight was going to be one for the ages. Insomnia took his shirt off as the giant fighter made his way into the fighting arena. Everything was a mess, there was absurd amounts of money being thrown at Syndicate. Everything was beginning to become chaotic and no longer controllable. Everyone seemed to be getting riled up by the fact that Insomnia was gonna fight tonight instead.

Just then out of no where we heard a huge crashing sound coming from the back offices. It was enough to bring all of us out of our seats and get our attention. Insomnia looked over to us and put both of his hands up in the air confused, but he was about to be in a huge fight. Wasn't much he was going to be able to do to help us out it looked like. Syndicate was still in his seat, but it looked like Adorkable was getting up and Bubbles was already on her way to the back. I threw back another drink, figured those two had it under control, besides I didn't wanna risk leaving the boss man open from a larger attack if I had to pull this giant off of him.

Bubbles was in the midst of pouring a drink for herself when she heard a loud crash and a boom coming from the back offices. The entire place went momentarily silent as the crash echoed through the basement. The silence didn't last long as one of the spectators of the fight yelled out. "KICK HIS ASS." The crowd immediately turned back around towards the ongoing fight, the yelling and the screaming of the fight crowd quickly ensued.

Though something still wasn't right, that wasn't a normal sound. She couldn't exactly put her finger on what it was but she did know it was coming from the back offices. Suddenly it hit her, it was the fight night. Syndicate's office was back there and it was filled with money from tonight's betting. 

"Ah, fuck!" She thought to herself. If that money was gone Insomnia wouldn't be happy. Even though he really didn't care so much for the money, it did help fuel his empire and his empire is something you just don't mess it. If that money was gone she could hear him now, or at least what he would say... "You all better find who took that money, or else..."

He was a good one for using or else, which she really wasn't sure what the or else really meant. Though she didn't want to find out. Maybe it was just his scare tactic or perhaps the or else actually meant or else. 

Bubbles shook her head quickly, she was thinking about this way too much. There were other pressing issues at hand. With a head nod she signaled for RomanReigns who was putting down another drink after knocking the officer out. Yes the same officer that Bubbles told him to walk away from.

"Roman, might need some backup. So come on."

Pushing her way through the crowd heading back towards the back room, she turned down the hallway to seeing black smoke trickling out from the office door. With a bit of pep in her step, she made her way to the office entrance. Syndicate was standing at the desk, three briefcases were laid out in front of him.

Bubbles surveyed the room, Adorkable was knelt down by the safe. The safe's door was blown completely off and the walls around the safe were burnt and still slightly on fire. In front of the desk lay the bodies of two bodyguards, who both had numerous puncture marks in their chests. With a sigh Bubbles looked up at Syndicate.

"How much did they take?"

Syndicate smirked.

"Nothing, they took nothing... The safe is just a decoy, all the real money is in these three cases."

Bubbles let out a sigh of relief.

"Well that's good at least, did anyone see who it was? Bubbles looked back down at the dead guards. "These poor guys, who are they? Does anyone even know their names?"

​​​​​

Tonight was the night.. fight night! And Reign didn't have too terribly far to go to get there. Insomnia was holding the big event tonight. An event that was generally held under wraps had now become a bit public. Mother nature had no problem roaring her ugly face tonight either. It was frigid outside.. cold as ice. 

Sitting at his desk, packing up his bag, he picks up the phone and calls downstairs..

"Hey.. it's me. I need the car brought around front.. and blast the damn heat so I don't freeze to death."

the voice on the other end says.. "Boss.. I can definitely turn the heat up, but you know you're going down the street, right?"

"Don't get smart on me, kid! Just make sure it's nice and warm in there. 5 minutes." Reign hangs up the phone and finishes packing his duffle bag. He makes his way to the car, 5 minutes later, and hops in the car to warmth and heads down to the event.

After parking the car, Reign jumps out with his bag and walks down the alley. He wondered who he'd see manning the front door. As he walks up he see's Fink standing there. 

"Fink! Good to see you old friend. Looks like a lot of people are here tonight, there's a ton of cars parked out there."

"Pretty full house tonight, Reign. Enjoy yourself in there, my friend."

..with a smile and nod, Reign enters through the door and inside the warehouse. 

As he walks around the corner to the corridor, he see's Spiral and Yacht talking to each other at the far end.

"Gentlemen! Great to see you guys. Either of you participating tonight, or just spectators?"

Spiral looks at Yacht and back at ReignMan.. "Hi. No fighting for me. Yay!" then chuckles to himself. Yacht followed by shaking his head.

"Right. Well you two have fun.. maybe I'll see you down there." 

Reign heads down a flight of stairs and onto the floor below. The room was full of conversation. Many of New York's residents were scattered about the room. Just as he'd thought, by the looks of the packed driveway. 

He wanders about the room seeing all his family and friends talking and appearing to be enjoying themselves. Reign was on the lookout for someone in particular.. but she definitely wasn't in this room. Continuing on he bumps into Adorkable.

"ReignMan! I'm so glad you could make it. How you been?" giving him a quick hug.

"Adorkable!! Always great to see you. I'm doing well, thank you. Hey, have you seen.." 

..before he could finish, Syndicate runs up and starts handing out glasses of champagne.. stumbling up more like.. and motions for Adorkable to follow him. Reign watches them wander off and continued on his own search. Finding himself in the next room, again full of people, he started to smell the sweat emerging from the floor below. 

Walking through the crowd, Reign continued to greet his friends with hugs and hand shakes.. still looking for someone in particular. He reaches the other end of the room, failing to find her, he finds a spot on the wall to lean up against. He figured if he stayed put, maybe he'd have a better chance. A few moments passed when he see's RomanReigns and TopGun walking past. Roman looked extremely focused.. and a little hungry. Certainly a participant in tonight's event. Reign shot them a smile.. "good luck tonight, Roman!"

Not long after they go by.. he hears a woman's voice speaking hurriedly to others. Unable to make out what she's saying.. he knew this is who he'd been waiting for. Figuring he'd lose her trying to fight the crowd to get to her, he waited against the wall. Bubbles made her way through the room asking person after person the same question, which Reign still couldn't quite make out. Then he see's her make eye contact with him...

"Hey! What are you doing here?"

"This is the place to be today, duh!"

Bubbles shook her head and took a beer out of her pocket that she had gotten from Rayden along the way.

"I know you probably were expecting me to find you and stay but I can't right now. I have to go find Insomnia before he or else's me. So here have a beer and I'll be back as soon as I can."

Bubbles gets up on her tippy toes and kisses Reign on the cheek before rushing off to find Insomnia. 

Sam spots a commotion nearby, there was a group of people gathering as Sam moves closer to observe. A towering figure of a man stood out from within the crowd, and it seemed like the man was exchanging words with someone. “Dirty cop!”, a voice yelled from inside the crowd as Sam pulled himself closer, his small size certainly made it easier but not without catching a few stray elbows to the head and rib. Sam’s eyes widened as he realized, the man that was at the center of attention at the moment was RomanReigns, leader of “The Hounds of Justice”. 

Sam could only guess that the man RomanReigns was talking to was a dirty law enforcer and Bubbles was in the middle of the two trying to separate them. Sam readies himself and positions himself behind the officer but even before Sam was able to steady himself, Roman flies through the air and lands a perfect punch to the officer’s skull, Sam got caught under the falling weight of the officer as the two of them fall to the ground when Sam instinctively tries to catch the officer.

Sam got up to his feet and patted the dust off his jacket, Sam looks down to the unconcious officer, “you piece of.. “ and before Sam could finish his sentence, Sam could see a few started to move in a alert manner towards one of the back offices. 

Adorkable turned her attention from the safe and towards the two dead guards on the ground, she started to root through their pockets for any forms of identification. Syndicate gave a nod towards Bubbles and the door she was standing in front of, she knew already that he was asking her to lock the door before he started to count money. Upon hearing the deadbolt spring shut he unlatched the briefcases and began to pull the cash from inside. He quickly made tallies on his ledger sheet and made his way over to the safe. He inspected the hinges that were blown off and the large door on the ground. The inside of the safe was lined with soot, had there been real valuables inside these thieves were surely risking the integrity of them by causing this much damage. Though if the two dead guards were part of this team, it was evident that we were not dealing with experienced thieves. Syndicate checked the rifle side of the safe and of course he was missing the sidearm that was tucked on the top shelf. He stood on his toes to survey the area and much to his surprise he found a few drops of blood where the handgun used to be. 

Syndicate inspected the inside of the safe where the briefcases were stolen from, four rectangular outlines sat in the soot where the briefcases used to be. Syndicate began to speak, "I had filled them with bricks and topped them off with a couple hundred dollars to make them appear to be loaded with cash, whomever this was did not have time to fully inspect the case and based on the weight of the briefcases we are looking for two people that left this room with the bags of bricks." Syndicate chuckled to himself at his cunning ability to 'honeypot' his adversaries. Adorkable could not help but chuckle as well as she began to understand the method behind his madness. 

Bubbles was clearly still worried about getting an "Or Else" from the boss and was not too receptive of their chuckles, "So how much did we lose and who the hell are these people?" Syndicate walked over to his desk and circled his final tally, "Including the value of the bricks and briefcases we lost about $2,843." Adorkable and Bubbles eyes widened at the exact figure, "Give or take... I'm not sure who these guys are but assuming Fink heard the noise he isn't going to let these guys go out the door with four briefcases before the fights are over which means they are still in the building. One of them is bleeding, I'd check the bathroom, be careful though, they are armed and not afraid to lose men."

The $2,843 wasn't much in relations to what they could have stole but it was still the principle. You let one pair get away then more will do it down the line. This was something that just couldn't be, they had to be found and they had to be put in the ground. Hearing Syndicate talk she looked down at the blood trail leading out the room. It hooked to the right, which led right to the fighting arena.

"Alright, I'll go check the bathrooms but first I want to go talk to Fink. Make sure he didn't let the other one leave."

With that she headed out the door and headed to the backdoor, the spot where Fink was posted up. Turning the corner a ray of sunlight shot down the hallway. Her heart began to race, there would only be one reason light would make it down that hallway. That was only if the door was opened. She could see at the end of the hallway someone leaning up against the wall, sitting on the floor. She hurried down there as soon as possible. 

Her eyes opened up wide, it was Fink. He was holding his hand over his neck, blood streaming down. It looked as if someone opened a faucet and just couldn't turn it off. Quickly she knelt down, took her hand and helped put some pressure on the wound.

She began to scream at the top of her lungs. "HELP... WE NEED THE DOCTOR, SOMEONE... ANYONE... HELP..."

She looked back at Fink and could tell he was fading and fading quickly.

"Just hold on buddy, help is coming... Fink...Fink... Stay awake."

He could barely keep his eyes opened.

"Did you see who it was?"

He nodded off, Bubbles gave him a shake. His eyes opened back up slightly.

"Did you see who did this to you?"

With every last ounce of energy he had he muttered what he could.

"Ken...n..y..."

"Kenny... Kenny who?"

"Will....sssoonnn."

 "Kenny Wilson?"

He took a big gasp of air and then everything went silent.

"Fink... Fink..."

A single tear ran down her cheek. He was gone, there was nothing she could have done to save him. Standing up she placed her hand on the wall leaving a hand print of blood.

Sam lingered around the fighting area, he leaned himself against the wall which was directly facing the back office so he could get a good clear view of the area. He lit a cigarette as he waited, and aside from the loud and drunk crowd gathered there, nothing looked out of the ordinary.

Sam’s attention shifted from the crowd and fighting area as there were movements coming from the back office, he pushed himself against the wall and threw his cigarette to the floor before taking a few deep puffs. The first to exit the room was Bubbles, even though she looked  composed, but there was a sense of urgency in her movement. Today was supposed to be all about the fights, even Sam was looking forward to knocking back a few drinks but after the incident earlier with the officer, certainly changed the mood a bit.

As Bubbles disappear into the hallway, Sam quickly followed. He knew that Bubbles was more than capable to look after herself, but he can’t possibly let someone as important as Bubbles wander alone, furthermore her guards are nowhere to be seen. As Sam approach the hallway, a sharp scream for help can be heard from inside the hallway, “Bubbles!” he thought to himself. Sam quickly rushed into the hallway to find Bubbles standing over someone. “Ms.Bubbles you okay?” he called out, Sam cautiously approach the pair and stopped a few steps away, he looked down and immediately recognized the man on the floor, it was the man Sam met earlier at the entrance. There was an open wound on the man’s neck and with the amount of blood that the man lost, no one could survive. 

The man’s shirt turned red due to the amount of blood coming down from his neck, Sam said a few prayers under his breath before turning towards Bubbles. After making sure Bubbles was not hurt, Sam looked to the body on the floor again while saying, “I’ll bring the body somewhere else, you just go ahead and do what needs to be done Ms.Bubbles.”