Richard entered the dark room; the lights from torches flickered on, revealing the whole place in their view. Gray handlebars and chains dangled on the ceiling. A long red carpet rolled out on the floor, leading up to the throne where the leader sat, resting his elbow on an armchair.

Richard’s eyes widened once he figured out who it was. “No way. I had a feeling you were involved in this, but you’re the leader?” He looked up at the figure. “I never thought you’d be here, Ken.”

“Well, well, well...” Ken started, his eyes narrowing. “What brings you two here?” He asked Cyborg and Lightning.

Cyborg and Lightning pushed Richard further into the room before closing the door behind them.

“We came to bear you some news,” Cyborg replied, pounding against his chest.

“I take it you didn’t do what I asked for you to do?”

“Well, yes, and no.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Well, we found someone that might fit the bill.” Lightning mentioned, pointing at Richard, who glared at the leader. “But we wanted to bring him over here.”

“We wanted to make sure this was the right person you talked about,” Cyborg added.

“Yes, he’s the one,” Ken muttered. Everyone else stayed silent. “Why don’t you kill him now?”

The two members hesitated. “We were also wondering if you could give out the punishment instead.” Lightning suggested.

“I see.” Ken scratched his chin, pondering over the possibilities. “In that case...”

“Why are you doing this?” Richard spoke up. “Why are you doing this to me?”

“You don’t understand, do you?” Ken got up from his seat and walked toward him. “My fellow men heard about you and what you’ve been up to.”

“I don’t recall doing anything that would upset you?”

“Remember when you flirted with Kelly when you first met her?” Fawn reminded him.

Richard paused. Once he recollected that moment, it clicked. “Oh, yeah...” He crossed his arms. “I don’t know if what I did counts as flirting. Although, she is pretty cute, but—”

“A-ha!” Ken exclaimed, pointing at him once he stopped moving. “So, you admit it!”

“How was I supposed to know that she was married at the time?” Richard exclaimed, holding his hands in defense. “I stopped when she told me—”

“Hold on. Did you just say, ‘was married’?”

“Well, why were you two fighting in the office—?”

“Wait, were you eavesdropping on us?” Ken thundered. He looked down at his hands and clenched them into tight fists. “You shouldn’t stick your nose into other people’s businesses!”

“I wanted to help.” Richard insisted. “I don’t want to see Kelly upset, and I...”

“Oh please, compared to me, you don’t know her nearly as much!” Ken shouted and shook his head. “You’ll never understand her like I do! Why does she tolerate you so much?”

“But I—”

“Shut your trap!”

“Maybe she left you cause you’re a whiny, immature brat.” Richard turned away and muttered.

“What…” Ken was speechless.

He and Kelly had been through and lost so much. The duo left their old hometown for the big city, hoping to start life over and move on. It hadn’t worked, as it caused more internal struggles in the long run. Both grew distant and held their resentment in, neither certain on who to blame.

Ken wanted to work things out and figured Kelly wanted to as well. The problem was he didn’t know how to explain it. Instead of talking it out, Kelly would rather drink her problems away.

Not only did she choose to discuss her frustrations with someone she just met, but might also be responsible for ruining their lives? Now Richard had the audacity to make that remark, even after the information presented to him?

“What did you just say...?”

Uh oh, this isn’t good. Fawn thought, twiddling her fingers.

She had a hunch things would go downhill after he failed to keep his mouth shut. He didn’t think about what he said, especially to the leader of an underground gang.