Basement Floor: Underground Fight

For shit's sake, why did they have to spend the last few hours trekking all over Amore Mall?! The massive, money-sucking, godforsaken monstrosity of a building was always packed full of people every damn day. It was the one place on the island where everyone acted like normal human beings around John, despite being terrified of him everywhere else. The stores were always crowded with excited customers blabbering on and on about some inane bullshit, little kids were always running amok and there was always at least one screaming baby whose parents were ignoring it because they were too busy enjoying themselves. Every time. Every. Damn. Time.

Normally, John Wilder wouldn't come to this nicely designed hell-hole unless he really needed to go to the music shop. Shopping was definitely not his forte and most people realized this and left him alone when it came to the task. He hated venturing out into the hustle and bustle of the mall because it was always swarming with idiots, preferring to instead shop at the smaller stores on the Island. Not that he hated crowds - he enjoyed the crowds at gigs and arena fights. He just didn't like to be in them. Nor was he fond of spending hours upon hours in expensive stores.

And yet here he was, loaded down with an assload of bags of supplies for Celi's clothing line. Did she really need all this crap? He seriously doubted it. But it was his own fault for agreeing to the venture in the first place. When she'd called him up earlier that morning telling him she needed him to help her pick up some supplies, his man-brain focused more on the fact that she needed him and less on the shopping part. Now he was paying for it - hefting bags of supplies and random things she'd wanted to buy. What he couldn't understand was why. Didn't she have enough stuff already?

"F*ck shopping." John muttered under his breath. And he meant it. There were so many things he would rather be doing than shopping, so many other places he'd rather be... "C'mon John, hurry up! I don't want us to be late for our appointment at Devine!" Celi called from about three or four yards ahead of him. That was easy for her to say, she wasn't carrying all this shit! Not that it was too heavy for him, it was just awkward to carry and somewhat embarrassing to tote so many pink bags. Especially for a man of his reputation. But when he glanced at Celi's figure as her hips swayed with each step, his fiery temper died down a little. Damn temptress. The fighter thought to himself as he followed obediently after her. "Yeah...fine."

At the feeling of Celi slipping her arm around his - or, to be more precise, at the feeling of Celi's breasts pressed against the bare skin of his arm - John's attention immediately and acutely focused on the designer kissing his cheek. He saw several people eying the two of them with open jealousy, but before the fighter could snarl at them menacingly, the pinkette's seductively whispered promise of a surprise stopped him from scaring people shitless. Okay, so he'd behave himself. For now.

Maybe being here at the mall really wasn't as bad as he made it out to be. Perhaps it was simply that his aversion to the ignorant masses of the sprawling shopping center was self-inflicted and he was being a dick. It was possible that the place was actually a great place to shop, eat and hang out. Suddenly, John spotted a chubby guy in lipstick, a tube top and short shorts. Nope, he still hated this dump.

Celi couldn't help giggling to herself over her companion's antics. Sure, the mall wasn't exactly a paradise for those that liked to be left alone ~case in point, her wonderfully temperamental escort here~, but the young designer hardly thought it was as torturous as John made it out to be.

Heck, despite the less than desired stares from the male population, Celi was actually having the time of her life right now! Buying various things ~fabrics, shoes, and perfumes~, strolling through the bustling crowd with her favorite hothead by her side. Not to mention, she was thoroughly enjoying the envious looks she was receiving from said hothead's many admirers.

The young designer was well aware that those ogling fangirls would happily give an arm and a leg ~maybe even more~ to be in her place right now and have the infamous Wilder by their side. It was probably because of that bit of knowledge that the Shiel let her lil'devil come out to play and snuggled up closer to the fighter's side, hugging his arm close to her voluptuous chest, and giving his strong bicep a loving kiss before resting her head against him like a lover would.

The reaction was almost immediate, and Celi could practically feel the heated gazes directed her way. And as devious as it was, the designer couldn't help but inwardly giggle in sweet satisfaction, not only because John's fangirls were positively fuming in a jealous rage, but because she knew for a fact that the Wilder would no doubt notice a very important detail ~or lack there of~ about her outfit now that she was practically glued to his arm. "He's probably going to hate me for this, but what the hell? It's not like he can talk after all the crap he's put me through with that annoying habit of his!" Not that she thought it was a completely bad habit ~it did make her hot for more than one reason after all~ but turn about was fair play, and John had made her tongue tied and red in the face way too many times to count now thanks to his lack of dress. So Celi thought it was only right that she return the favor. "I wonder how he'd react if he knew my choice of attire was matching top and bottom....I supposed there's only one way to find out~"

"Well c'mon Cowboy, the sooner we get to that appointment, the sooner we can get out of this place" The college beauty urged, lightly tugging on her companion's arm in slight haste. Although whether that was for his sake or hers, she couldn't quite tell.

But no sooner had Celi uttered those words, did the loud cackles of a group of nearby drunkards screech through the air like a bunch of crazed chimpanzees.

They were a disgusting crew of men, all huddled in a dark corner of the mall's lowest level with beer bottles littered all around them. Their clothes ratty, and stained a puke-ish yellow from sweat and who know's what else. It was obvious that soap was something completely unknown to the men as each was covered in a nauseating layer of grease and grime, and the foul odor seemed to permeate the air around them let any unfortunate souls who passed by know just how long ago it was since they had bathed, and just how much beer they had had.

It was no wonder that anyone unlucky enough to have to pass by them tried to stay as far away as possible. And for more reasons than one! The group of drunkards were not at all quiet in their little dank hole, and openly mocked and shouted at those that happened to catch their eye. Hitting on women was by far their favorite pastime and it seemed like this time, they really got lucky when a pink haired hottie and her taller boy-toy appeared. The group of five may have been drunk as shit when the two showed, but they'd have to be idiots to pass up a chance like this!

"Yea Cowboy! Ya wouldn't wanna be late fur yur date!"

"Looks like someone's scorin' some hot ass tonight!"

"An what a hot ass it is!"

"How bout ya share some o'that Cowboy!"

"Yea! We bang'er and ya can't take what's left!"

At that, the drunken crew all howled in laughter, each pipping in how much they'd enjoy putting the violet-eyed bombshell they had spotted through her paces. To each of them, she ~and every other woman~ was nothing more than a slut who needed a good f*ck, and in their drunken haze, the intimidating man beside her was of no concern at all! After all, this "Cowboy" of hers was probably just some little shit who had managed to hit the jack-pot, so what the f*ck did they have to worry about? They'd just beat the crap outta him and then have fun with his little girlfriend!

The feel of Celi's arms pressing his own arm against her soft, full chest had him relaxing a bit. Just a bit. And only his temper was relaxing, his treacherous body was on high alert. The reason? The gorgeous woman on his arm wasn't wearing a bra and he could feel the curve of her breast through the thin layer separating her body from his. Damn that woman! She knew exactly what she was doing to him and he was almost at his wit's end! Not that he had all that much patience to begin with, but he was seriously considering dumping her bags, flinging her over his shoulder and making off with her right then and there!

The idea of making off with the sexy designer like the heathen he was was rubbing his already raw nerves and tempting him more and more every time he inhaled her perfume. She dressed that way on purpose, just to tease him, toy with him. She was so pretty, so perfect, prancing around for him and driving him insane. He was wound so tight, it was a miracle he hadn't snapped already. Just how long did she expect him to behave?! In fact, he was about to give into temptation when he heard a bunch of lewd, drunken idiots call out to Celi and himself. That did it. f*ck patience, f*ck manners, f*ck the fact that the police would probably be called.

f*ck it all.

"DIE, MOTHERFUCKERS!!" John snarled, darting around the pinkette with all her stuff still in his arms. Without any hesitation, he whipped the bag containing a couple pairs of shoes at the first imbecile he came to. It connected with his face with a resounding whack and sent him reeling backwards. He staggered backwards, but John didn't slow down. The hot-headed fighter just kept charging at him and ran him right over, stomping him hard as he trampled the thug to get to his buddies.

So they thought they could beat his ass and rape Celi, did they? Like hell! A solid, battle hardened fist buried itself in the jaw of the next closest drunk and the force of the blow knocked the man off his feet. John could feel the unmistakable feeling of the guy's jaw breaking against his fist but right now he could care less. He'd broken more than a few guys' bones before and was used to it. As his hapless victim fell, the fighter made sure to ram a well-muscled leg forward and drive a knee into his crotch. A garbled cry escaped the man who was now clutching himself.

John had blasted through two of those filthy bastards with no warning already. That left three more of them, unless the first two were stupid enough to get back up and try again. Let them try and see what it gets them. He didn't care whether they did or not, he was going to crush anyone who tried to come between him and Celi! If he didn't get to have her flat on her back naked and screaming his name, no one would!

It all happened so fast. One moment a bunch of neanderthals were squealing at her like a drove of hungry swine, and the next, John was out of her arms and darting around her, cursing up a storm and using her newly bought shoes ~her NEW shoes dammit!~ to bitch slap one of the pigs right in the face!

The designer for one, couldn't decide if she should be happy or pissed at her companion. While she absolutely loathed trash like that who took enjoyment out of harassing her, and was actually thrilled that for once she had a means ~AKA John~ of shutting their god awful traps, she also didn't take kindly to her newly bought ~and expensive~ purchases being used as weapons! Seriously, did John really have to use HER things to beat the crap out of them?!

But miffed as she was, Celi could only watch gobsmacked ~along with other bystanders~ as the rampaging fighter literally charged right into one of the swine and actually STOMPED on him while heading straight for his buddies. Where he promptly went bullshit on the next closest drunk, ramming a hardened fist straight into the man's jaw, and from the sickening crack that was heard, broke it before effectively nailing him in the crotch.

As soon as the second man went down like a ton of bricks though, gasping in pain, broken jawed and probably newly castrated, his drunken companions ~who had been shocked at the sudden attack~ snapped out of their own stupor. Their eyes filled with murder, screaming for the Wilder's blood, they wanted the little shit dead for messing with'em!

One reared his arm up, and slammed his beer bottle against the wall in anger, pointing the broken jagged edges towards the damned cowboy wannabe.

"YA LIL'SHIT! YU'LL PAY FUR THAT!"

His drinking buddies snarled in agreement, one brandishing a knife from his pocket, while the other pulled on a pair of brass knuckles as they moved to circle him. In their intoxicated rage, there was no way they'd let this lil'shit walk away alive! They weren't just gonna kill'em, they'd torture'em! Make'em pay! First they'd beat the crap outta him, then they'd rape his lil'girlfriend right in front of him, and only when he was sobbing his eyes out as they fucked her, then they'd kill the goddamn son of a bitch!

All it took was one barbaric grunt from one of them, for the three to charge John at once. Their weapons posed and ready to strike, and their bloodshot eyes raging for sweet sweet revenge.

The sight chilled Celi to her very core, these men wanted to kill John! "Oh my god!" She was panicked, she was pissed, she didn't know what to do! Should she just try to grab John and run? Call for help? A part of her just wanted to beat the living daylights out of THEM for even threatening John in the first place! ~never mind the fact the he could deal with them a hell of a lot better than she ever could~ But oh my god, they want to KILL John!

"JOHN!"

Celi's panicked scream of his name reminded him of the all too real danger she was currently in. There was no way he was going to let any of these scumbags near her. Fluidly bending his knees, he set the rest of her stuff on the floor and backhanded the bottle-wielding drunkard. Then one of his hands grabbed the guy's throat, the other grabbed his crotch and John hefted the guy up over his head like a sack of potatoes and threw him at the one with the brass knuckles. Both men went down like a ton of bricks with a grunt.

But there was no time to gloat.

The knife-wielder was coming up fast and John barely caught his wrist in time. The large, long, absolutely illegal switchblade the arena fighter always carried on him was out in a flash, the long blade out with a click and in plain sight. A dark grin twisted his lips and his stare was icy and hard. "Mine's bigger." He quipped, not just referring to the size of the blades. His blade arced swiftly, controlled enough just to slice only shallowly into his attacker's side as a warning that he had no qualms about drawing blood.

Yanking the wrist he still held, he flung the man to the tiled floor, disarming him in the process. "You stay away from her," John snarled, stepping on the downed man's arm, "That is MY woman. Back off...or I'll turn your blood to dirt." With that warning, he pinned his attacker to the floor by ramming the guy's own knife through his hand and down between the tiles.

Celi winced, turning away from the bloody sight as the drunk's unhindered howl of pain ripped through the air, causing a stream of frightened shoppers to go into a panic at the viscous scene. Sure, she hated scum like that with every fiber of her being, and thought he deserved every once of pain he was getting for who knew how many heinous acts he and his buddies had committed. But bloodshed of this magnitude wasn't something the sheltered Shiel was used to seeing, especially not by the hands of a man who, to her, had always kind and gentle with his touch.

It was actually a rather startling realization for the designer to see the her beloved Wilder like this. Of course, Celi knew that John's life had been anything but easy growing up. Heck, cage fighting was his very profession for crying out loud! But it was one thing to know something about a person, and another to actually see it in action. And seeing John like this, so cruel, so ruthless, so....dangerous ~like everyone had warned him to be~ actually....frightened her.

Celi shook her head almost immediately at the thought, even almost slapped herself for thinking such ridiculous things! There was no way in hell she was afraid of John! He was her friend, her support, someone who she cared about way more than she was willing to admit...there was absolutely no possible way she could ever be frightened of him! "Startled as hell, yea, but scared? Hell no! He's the same annoying, teasing, lovable, jerk he's always been no matter who's ass he's kicking!" With her stubborn mind thoroughly made up ~she was pissed, not scared dammit!~, Celi dared to turn back to look at the bloody scene before her, only to scream in pure unadulterated fear not a moment later.

They had been dismissed as being down and out the moment they hit the ground, tossed aside like a pair of fucking rag-dolls by some two-bit bastard with a hot as hell whore who was too good for'em. They were furious, they wanted to fucking KILL that lil'shit of a bastard! They wanted to fucking murder his whole piece of shit bastard ass family and then butcher'em some more! But even drunk as they were, as fucking murderous as they were, it was obvious that taking down that particular piece of shit wasn't gonna happen.

So as soon as they had gathered their wits, and untangled themselves from the floor, the last two remaining drunks made a beeline for the lil'shits hot as hell whore. The lil'f*ck was too busy with whats-his-name anyway to stop'em, and the two of them came to the unspoken agreement that they'd just grab the slut and go. They'd take their frustration out on her instead, since they couldn't rip apart her fucking boytoy like they wanted.

Celi panicked, jerking back to get away as the drunken berserkers made a grab for her, but she was too late. The bottle-wielding neanderthal shot out an arm faster than she could turn and run, nabbing hold of her arm with a large meaty hand. The designer flinched, suppressing the urge to scream as he tightened his hold on her frail wrist, and instead let her body move on instinct. Swinging her leg up, as hard and fast as she could, nailing the drunkard square in the jaw with her heel and making him loosen his grip on her arm enough for her to pull free.

Her freedom was short lived though as not a moment after she broke away, the other drunk swung a brass-knuckled fist towards her magenta haired head. Simply deciding to it'd be easier to just knock her out, rather than try and mess with a flighty fighting target.

"JOHN!"

The fighter's name rang through the air as Celi screamed for help, having only just barely dodged the attack that would have undoubtedly left her unconscious or even worse. The designer was by no means a defenseless damsel in distress, she could hold her own against even the most persistent of infatuated bastards if she had too. But these guys were no ordinary persistent bastards. They were drunk, they had weapons, and if the look in their bloodshot eyes was anything to go by, they would have no trouble killing someone in cold blood if they wanted too. And right now, with two of them hot on her tail, Celi's only hope was in the hands Samo's own rampaging "Rodeo" Wilder.

The sight that met his eyes as John turned around made his blood run cold, then suddenly boil in absolute rage. It wasn't bad enough that they'd wanted to rape her, now they were actually attacking her?! Leaving the other three nimrods on the ground - the one he pinned wasn't going anywhere anytime soon - he ran to Celi's aid immediately, targeting the man with the brass knuckles.

As John reached the man's side, his fist smashed right into the guy's face and staggered him right off balance. Taking the opportunity of having an opponent off balance, he kicked the man in the gut and sent him crashing to the floor before rounding on the idiot with the broken bottle. "You!" The Wilder snarled and grabbed him right by the face, "You're gonna pay for even looking at my woman!"

Even as he said it, his thumb pressed against the drunken man's eye. In one incredibly disturbing move, John roughly dug his thumb into the socket and popped the eyeball right out of his head, leaving it dangling as the man screamed in agony. There was no way that guy would continue to go after Celi now, not with the blood squirting out of the newly vacant socket. But no one could say John Wilder didn't have mercy. After all, it's not like he ripped it off the cord and stomped on it. He should get brownie points for leaving it attached!

With bloodcurdling screams of "AAAAAAAAAAGH!! MY FUCKIN' EYE!!" echoing through the basement and people rushing to either get away from the scene or towards it, John stormed over to the brass knuckled oaf who was starting to get back to his feet. He kicked him back down and started stomping ruthlessly on his rib cage until he was sure he'd broken several of them.

Satisfied, he stalked back over to the two that had been tangled on the floor, making sure to stomp on the crotch of the guy who was still pinned to the floor with a knife in his hand. He howled in pain, but John paid him no mind. His icy eyes were cold and hard as he moved towards the the two that were still a threat...

As the Wilder began to approach, blood on his hands and murderous look in his eyes, the remaining boozers scrambled off the floor and back onto their feet. One with the full intent of getting the hell out of there, and the other, wanting nothing more than sweet sweet revenge for what the bastard had done to them, to HIM!

He wasn't gonna let'em get away with it, the lil'shit! How dare he just fucking walk all over him! He didn't give a damn if the punk had broken one guy's jaw, stabbed another in the hand, broke one guy's rib cage to pieces, or even pulled out the other guy's fucking eye ball. HE WANTED THAT SHITS HEAD! And as drunk as he was he wasn't going to leave until someone left in a god damn body bag!

Growling like an angry bear, the drunkard started at the Wilder, fists clenched with every intention of punching through the lil'asses fuckin skull until he was a broken and bloody stain on the floor. Only the frantic and shaking hand on his arm from his sole remaining drinking buddy stopped him from moving forward like he wanted to, but even that wasn't enough to stop him for long as he merely shook it off with an angry shout of "PISS OFF FUCKER!"

"ARE YU FUCKIN CRAZY!? BASTARD'LL KILL THE SHIT OUTTA ALL O'US!!" The other drunk shouted in panic, clearly now completely sober and wanting nothing more than to run away with his tail between his legs. Half his face was a distorted mess, with one eyes completely swollen shut and his lip was busted and bleeding all over his chin. His free arm was holding his gut where he was sure there was something broken. The brass knuckles he had been brandishing earlier with such a drunken bravado were now left discarded on the floor as nothing more than a horrible reminder that they had pissed off the wrong guy this time round.

"YA THINK I'M SCARED?! I'M GONNA KILL THAT FUCKER IF ITS THE LAST THING I DO! AN YU CAN JUST GO SCREW YURSELF FOR ALL I CARE!!" With that, the raging drunk picked up the discarded brass knuckles from the ground, slipping the cold metal onto the grip of his sweaty hand and brandishing the raised jagged edges like a knife. "Yu an me, bastard! Let's roll!" He challenged, before taking of like a dart, ready to strike.

"Crap! Crap! Crap!" Celi muttered to herself from her new viewing point, she had taken refuge behind a stone column after John had come to her rescue and allowed her to escape to a safer distance. But now she wondered if it had really been for the best after all. The gore-ish scene of John popping out a man's eyeball, only to leave it a dangling bloody mess in its socket, had her hands flying to tightly clamp over her mouth and stomach in hopes that it'd help to keep her churning stomach at bay. "Oh god, I think I'm gonna be sick!" And now to make matters worse, the one drunkard that Celi had thought for sure was down and out and wouldn't be a problem, was now up and all but ready to attack John until his very last breath! "Could this day get any worse?!"

The faint, but apparent, commanding voices of not only Amore mall's security personal, but also Rai Island PD, told her that yes, it could indeed get worse. "DAMMIT!" She shouted, frantically searching the crowd the incoming security force. They were easily spotted not a moment later, the imposing figures easy to spot as they made their way through the nervous crowd and towards the commotion in order to deal with the situation at hand. The only problem was that the situation at hand was one where John was sure to be arrested in a heartbeat, never mind the fact that he was only fighting to defend her in the first place!

"What to do? What to do?" She had to get John out of here fast! Not only to save his own sorry ass, but for the sake of that idiotic fool who thought he could make it out of a fight with the deadly arena combatant and live! Although the designer honestly didn't give a damn about what happened to that annoying ass of a drunkard, Celi knew if John did end up murdering him ~and in front of the police no less~ there was no way they'd just lock him up in the county jail for a few months and call it even! He'd probably get sent to some heavy-duty penitentiary on the mainland thanks to the lengthy track record he'd collected over the years. And the designer would be damned if she let that happen to him now! The Wilder may annoy the hell out of her at times, but he had also done a damn good job of weaseling his way into her heart ~no matter how often she denied it at times~ and she'd be damned if she let these blow-hearted boy scouts in blue take him away!

So with that desperation in mind, Celi chucked the closest thing to her ~a rather expensive pair of Gucci stiletto pumps~ at John's head with every intention of getting the stubborn man's attention so they could get the hell out of there! "John! Unless you want to get thrown in jail AGAIN! Get your ass over here NOW so we can leave!" She hissed at him, desperately pointing toward the fast approaching law enforcement that was coming his way so that he could see how serious the situation was getting.  

Though Celi was only trying to help him stay out of trouble, the seasoned fighter couldn't comply. He was a bit preoccupied right then. At that very moment, John deflected and grabbed the weaponized arm that had gone straight for his face, twisting the arm backwards into a number four lock and bending that hand backwards farther than it could naturally go. Unfortunately, his mood was still foul when he could finally answer - and getting hit with a shoe didn't help - and it came out more gruff than he'd have liked.

"Get off my back, woman! I'm trying to save your ass!"

No sooner did he get that out of his mouth then a group of four police officers jumped into the fight to try and break it up. That turned out to be a bad move, as the moment the two young men were apart, they started blindly attacking the cops without realizing they were cops. This was quickly remedied by tasing both John and the remaining drunk, dropping them both heavily to the ground and causing their bodies to quake with tremors.

John realized with much irritation that he was getting arrested again. The familiar feel of the cold steel cuffs slid around his wrists, held behind him while he was unable to do anything about it. He hated the taser guns cops used nowadays but he couldn't blame the boys in blue for pussing out. He was dangerous if angered. But he couldn't even tell them he didn't start the fight, not that they'd listen to him...

At that moment, Celi really just wanted to tell the world and everyone in it to f*ck off and die. Her nice day out with John had been absolutely ruined! They had missed their appointment at Devine which had taken her a month in advance to book, her purchases were scattered all over the place either damaged, bloodied, or somehow stolen by punks who thought they needed a $90 bottle of Jadore perfume. She had been leered at, attacked, and mentally scarred for life by the worst group of drunken apes she had ever had the misfortune of crossing paths with. And now, her employee/friend/boyfriend ~whatever the fucking hell he was!~ was getting his ass tasered and carted off to jail because he couldn't put his damn testosterone and blood ridden fists down for just one moment and listen to her so they could get the hell out of there before the law enforced shit had hit the fan!

"Too late for that now though" Celi angrily thought, watching as another handful of cops swarmed over the scene now that John and his drunken adversary were down and incapable of movement. A part of her, the more angry and hurt part, thought that maybe John deserved getting his ass handed to him for a change. She hated that her favorite Wilder had yelled at her, especially when she had only been trying to help! After all, she didn't want him to get into this kind of trouble, and especially not because of her! But he just had to go and ignore her attempts at saving his sorry ass, the blasted moron! "Damn idiot! Maybe I should just let them haul his ass off to jail!" But annoyingly enough, Celi knew that no matter how mad she was, she could never let them do that to John. He had protected her, and while yes, the fighter had gone overboard with it, it was only because the damn idiots didn't know when to stay the f*ck down.

Now she had to somehow "rescue" John from the police. The only question was, how the hell was she supposed to get him off the hook? She couldn't very well rely on any of the other witnesses to stand up for him. The fighter's reputation for causing trouble at the drop of a hat was all too well known after all. And to those who had seen the fight, and yet not hear what was said, they'd have only seen John brutally beating the living crap out of the men for no reason other than his own need to fight. That left Celi with only one plausible option, to throw herself into the scene as a hysterical, irrational, sobbing, girlfriend who wouldn't listen to a damn thing they said to her and hope to fucking God that the cops weren't up for dealing with her shit and would just let John go. And if that didn't work, then Celi was going to have to call in the best damn lawyers in the fucking world, because she knew there was no way in hell that these cops didn't think that John was solely to blame for all this shit. "Oh well, here goes everything"

With a horrified shriek that could put a horror movie victim to shame, Celi came flying out from behind the column she had been hiding behind and quickly grabbed a hold of the collar of the closest cop she could get her hands on, her eyes filled with tears and her whole body shaking with emotion as she started on her hysterical rant. Luckily for her, she was already close to breaking down into a crying mess from all the shit she had to go through today, at least this way it actually might do them some good.

"WHATAREYOUDOING?! WHYAREYOUTAKINGJOHNAWAY!? OHMYGODAREYOUTAKINGHIMTOJAIL?! WHYAREYOUTAKINGHIMTOJAIL?! ANSWERMEGODDAMMIT!! HEDIDN'TDOANYTHINGWRONG!! WHYARETAKINGHIMTOJAILWHENHEDIDN'TEVENDOANYTHING!? AREYOUINSANE?!  ANSWERMEWHYAREYOUTAKINGJOHNAWAY!?"

Somewhere in there, Celi was sure she had heard the cop try to speak over her hysterical shouting, possibly trying to calm her down so she wouldn't cause anymore of a scene than she already was, but she couldn't be quite sure since she had set her volume at max and really couldn't hear a damn thing he was saying. She did notice though, that he had tried to take several steps back away from her, but her death grip on his uniform, along with her persistent need to be right up in his face to make this as uncomfortable as possible for him, wouldn't allow him to escape her clutches so easily.

Finally though, another cop came into the scene to try and help "calm" the seemingly distraught and agitated female down. "Please miss, you need to calm down! That man over there is known for being highly dangerous. It's best for everyone that we take him, and the other offender, into custody while the paramedics take care of the injured victims"  The officer said, trying to steer her away from his co-worker without causing her to go into another hysteric.

"OH HELL NO!" Celi whipped around to glare at the officer who had dared talk about John as if he was some killer wild animal, while those drunken bastards were just some of his helpless victims! She had intended to just play the helpless girlfriend, crying and pleading with them until they didn't know what to do with her crying mess, and she could eventually make them realize that John hadn't done anything wrong ~well mostly, anyway~ But if they wanted to label John as the bad guy from the get go, and not even try to figure out what had really happened, then the kid gloves were coming off! "To fucking hell with trying to weasel him out of here the peaceful way, I will force my way out of here at gun point if I have to!"

"No, I will not calm down! But you need pull the shit out of your god damn ears, wipe the piss from your sorry ass eyes, pull that fucking high horse out of your ass, and do your damn job cause you, sir, suck at it!" The designer hissed at him through clenched teeth, punctuating each of her insults with a jab to his chest. She had let go of the other officer in favor of knocking this one down a peg or ten, because god only knew that the man needed it badly if he thought for a second she'd let them screw John over while she was still around!

The officer in question looked ready to refute, he knew what he was doing dammit! The Wilder's have always been trouble around the island, especially John Wilder, so it didn't take a rocket scientist to know that if he was here and there was trouble, then hewas the cause. But the withering look in this woman's eyes, like she was wasting time dealing with the biggest imbecile in the world, and was all but ready to tear into him like an angry tigress if he should even try to question her on this, made him want to hold his tongue. But, looking around at his fellow officers made him realize he was the officer here, not her. He knew what the problem was, and he was all but ready to tell her too, make her see how much of a problem these Wilder boys really were. He never got a single word out before she whipped her finger to his face, silencing him like a scolded child facing down against his angry mother.

"Don't, even try. If you even think for a god damn minute I don't know what I'm talking about, then let me tell you what's really going on here since you don't have half a brain to figure it out for yourself! These 'victims' as you call them were all piss ass drunk in public, they were disturbing the peace and harassing innocent women like myself, they had attacked us with weapons with the intent to kill him and rape me, and now here you are trying to tell me my boyfriend is the dangerous one because he was defending me from these bastards?! Something is screwed up here mister and let me tell you, it's not him, its you and your fucking logic! And if you think for even one god damn minute I will let any of the officers here get away with putting him in jail, then I can assure you that not a single one of you will be able to get a job as a damn museum security guard by the time I'm through with you!"

As Celi's enraged threat echoed off the walls of the mall's basement, another voice was heard. "You listen to that girl, young man!" A somewhat shaky, but stern voice called as a little old lady stepped out from the surrounding crowd, "I saw those hooligans attack her! That Wilder boy was protecting her!" The elderly woman shook her cane at them in emphasis and after a moment that seemed to stretch on forever, another woman shouted out, "I saw it too!" This one seemed not much older than Celi and had her son with her, nodding in agreement.

"There are beer bottles everywhere!" Shouted a male voice.
"Are you cops blind?!" Shouted another.
"Leave John alone!"
"That's profiling!"
"Police brutality!"

One after another, shouts came from the crowd defending John and his actions. He was stunned - and not just because of the taser. Why would these people defend him if they were so afraid of him? It didn't make any sense! Unless... unless these people were actually... Suddenly, it all became clear to the downed fighter in that moment. The people defending him from the island's law enforcement were his fans from the arena! The very same people who cheered for him in every fight were now stepping out of the anonymity of the darkened arena seats and supporting him outside of the arena!

At the loud and growing protests from the crowd around them, the squadron of officers back peddled at the realization that they'd have a lot more trouble on their hands than just one crazy ~albeit scary~ diva who apparently was all but ready to cart them off to the doghouse to protect her Wilder. But what the hell? Didn't these people get it?! They were the officers of the law! The upholders of peace and justice, and everyone and their dog knew that the Wilder bunch were the worst bunch there was when it came to starting shit! So why the hell were they sticking up for him and saying that they were in the wrong?!

Celi smirked at the officers' confusing as the crowd around them grew even louder and more boisterous at the cops' false accusations of her favorite Wilder. "As you can clearly see officers, you have plenty of eye-witness accounts right here to tell you just how wrong you are in your incredibly false accusations. I suggest you listen and actually get your damn facts straight before you end of causing a riot, because I don't think the 'brave soldiers of justice' of Rai Island will be all that popular once news gets out that you sent an innocent man to jail while letting a group of armed and dangerous rapists go free"


At her words one officer, the one who had been completely silenced by Celi earlier, spoke up in defense. "Now see here miss! That is no way to speak to officers of the law! I don't care what your relationship to the Wilder is but everyone knows their all bad news so step back and let us do our job or we'll just have to arrest you as well!" The man in question looked mighty proud of himself for speaking up to the gorgeous but terrifying woman, maybe that would show her that she should just sit tight and let the 'professionals' handle things from here since clearly these people were in a state of hysteria because of the violent act they had to witness.

"Actually, I'd have to agree with that woman there my boy. I suggest you all stand down and release mister Wilder over there so we can properly get to the bottom of things" Said the calm but booming voice as it swept over the area, causing any able officer to immediately stand at attention in fright.

John was surprised to see the chief of police show up all of a sudden, and defending him no less! He swayed a little on his feet, but remained standing. He nodded to the chief grateful for his intervention. He was a much older man and would probably retire within the next ten years. If there was one thing John was thankful for, it was that the chief was a fair man, even if John saw him regularly. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a store clerk rushing out towards them with what looked like a video tape in his hand. "I have surveillance footage of the whole thing!" The scrawny teenage clerk was shouting as he dashed towards the scene.

"Perfect, that'll make getting to the bottom of this fiasco a lot easier. Let's pop that sucker in and grab us some popcorn then shall we?" The aged chief chuckled, feeling a little less stiff now that his job seemed like it would be a bit easier. While he was never the type of man to hold a grudge, when dealing with any of the Wilders there was always bound to be some kind of mess he'd have to deal with; be it an ornery officer who had a personal bone to pick with one of the pack or just the sheer amount paperwork from all the reports and files that got turned in along with the troublemaker in question. Not to mention the storm that always came after one of the Wilder boys was carted off by one of his men. A wise man once said that Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, but not even Hell could compete with Elaine Wilder on a mission, and that woman had come into his officer more than a few times armed to the teeth and ready to fight to get her boys back.

The old officer shook his head at the thought of the Wilder matriarch, she was some kind of woman. If she and that old dog of hers, Spike, weren't so head-over-heels in love with each other he wouldn't have minded gunning for the feisty petite himself all those years ago when she showed up on their little island. But that was all long in the past, and looking at one of her boys now, he could safely say that taste in women was definitely in the Wilder genes and that he would have never stood a chance.

Standing almost a good foot shorter than the man she had been fighting tooth and nail for, the old chief had no doubts that that fiery little flower would have torn his men to shreds -in all sense of the word- if they saw fit to fight her on her man's freedom. The aged man certainly couldn't fault her for it either, since his men had been behaving like complete idiots during such a potentially dangerous case. But it seemed like the tides were finally in this old dog's favor as things were quieting down enough for this mess to be resolved.

"John, if you and your girlfriend over there wouldn't mind coming with me to the security room to view this tape, I think we'll finally be able to get all this crap figured out and hopefully you both on your way"

"Of course, Sir" Celi cheered politely as she moved closer to John's side, she was practically beaming at this point. Partially because of everyone's surprising support of John and partially because of the gobsmacked, whipped dog look of all the officers who had been against him in the first place. "Take that and rub it in your asses ya motherfuckers!"

"Sure thing, Bud." John replied and followed the older man and Celi into the security room. It was kind of a small room, cramped, but it fit the three of them easily. At least it wasn't the back of a police cruiser or a jail cell. Granted, he could handle those fairly well as he'd had plenty of time to get used to them over the years. It was what came after that was the part he didn't like. Particularly the part where his mother would show up and terrorize the police officers, going on a one woman rampage and causing a scene so horrific that no one dared speak of it once she got her way and finally left. If that wasn't the most embarrassing thing in the world, he didn't know what was. Luckily, she wouldn't have to scream too much at the chief - if at all - and he or his brothers would be released without much fuss. It wasn't as though they were murderers, thieves, druggies or rapists after all.

But it was the disappointment in his mother's voice they all feared the most as she yelled at them - loudly - all the way home. If there was a way to get the profiling to stop, John and his whole family would be all over it. And it seemed that Celi was on that same train of thought. There would never come a day where he'd ever regret getting tangled up with her. He gave her a smile as they took their seats and began watching the footage of the surveillance tape. Lo and behold, it had caught every single aspect of the fight, right down to where the police profiled him. John looked over at the old police chief. He'd never disliked the man. In fact, if all the officers were like him, life would be easier overall.

The designer returned John's smile with a satisfied one of her own before resting her head against his shoulder with a tired sigh. She was thankful that things were moving so smoothly now, especially since the elderly officer was helping them out and actually willing to listen to them, but she was exhausted from everything that had happened and wanted nothing more than to grab John and get out of there so they both could rest. "Just hold out a little longer girl, then we can go home and be lazy-asses as much as we want"

With that thought in mind, Celi turned her attention to the footage before her, watching with more than a little resentment as the frightening events that played out one after the other. It was like re-living a horrible nightmare, but only it had really happened and would probably still haunt her for a long time to come. The rosette knew she was only lucky to have made it out of that whole ordeal because John had been with her at the time, in fact thinking about it, if it had been anyone BUT her and John then whatever poor woman those rotten pigs had managed to catch would have been left raped and broken. And they would have probably not been caught at all.

The thought made her shudder in fear and she gripped John's forearm just a little tighter in reassurance.

Meanwhile, the aged chief watched the video from start to finish with a critical eye, spotting every detail that had been described to him and making mental notes of small events that hadn't been mentioned. So far though from what he could see, everything was playing out exactly as the young couple with him and the eye-witnesses had described.

The two had been minding their own business until a group of men who had been clearly drinking started to agitate them by threatening the young woman, knowing a Wilder man's temper and possessiveness the way he did, it was no surprise that the young man had immediately come to his woman's defense in the most direct and brutal way possible. From there, the drunkards in question had proceeded to produce a series of weapons and attacked the Wilder, and then once it looked like the odds weren't in their favor, went for grabbing or attacking the woman instead. Of course they didn't succeed in either and from there it just became a shit show of the young Wilder handing them all their asses and then some until the police had shown up. There, the police chief could plainly see his own subordinates profiling the Wilder for well, being a Wilder, while the agitators themselves were being considered casualties of his "rampage".

"Good grief..." The man muttered to himself as he pinched the bridge of nose, not needing to see anymore since it was basically what he had walked in on; the young woman and eye-witnesses berating his officers for profiling and testifying FOR the Wilder to be set free. The boys back at the office were going to get a kick out of this one for sure, not to mention the news bureau that absolutely loved to keep track of the latest "Wilder VS Police" escapades...

"Alright you two, here's how it is" The man said, standing up from his chair and bringing back all his authority as Chief of Police. "It looks like your story checks out, so you're both free to go, but we'll need you both to come in some time later to get things straightened out. Mostly for reports and all that shit, but this one" He said, pointing to John with a hard face. "Did whip out a weapon of his own, as well preformed some acts of violence that were a little too brutal to be law abiding. Considering the situation, I can mostly file all that under self-defense but we are going to have to have a talk about that, so be at the station in no less than a week. For now, I suggest you both head home and get some rest" At this, the man cracked a small smile. "Your lady friend there looks like she could very much use it after that whole ordeal and she'll certainly need it before all the questioning"

With that, the elderly chief gave a friendly salute to them both before exiting the small room, they may be able to go home and rest but he still had plenty of work to do. Starting with carting those drunkards off to the nearest jail cell and ending with him giving his whole unit an earful about profiling without any of the facts.

The chief was letting him go. The chief was letting him go. What?

"What?"

John was confused at this new and alien concept. "I'm not being arrested?" He asked, clearly unused to such an occurrence. It was only last month when he'd been arrested for walking down the goddamn street! Not kicking someone's ass. Not being remotely menacing. Just walking down the street on his way to buy a case of water for a construction job. His mother had threatened to file a lawsuit if the police ever repeated that grievous error. But he was still followed around by the occasional cop every so often. "I don't understand. I know Ma has you guys on speed dial, but I don't think she knows about this yet." He shifted uncomfortably in the handcuffs, which were still keeping his arms 'safely' behind him.

He turned his ice blue eyes towards Celi, clearly baffled that he was actually being treated like a normal human being for once. He raised his eyebrows at her, a silent question of 'what the fresh heck is goin' on?' written all over his face. It almost seemed like it was too good to be true. It was completely surreal. It was because of the well-dressed rosette with the designer bag and a no-nonsense attitude, it had to be. Well, he wasn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth, so if they were letting him go, he wouldn't make a fuss. He'd just have to thank her later.

The aged chief stopped at the door and laughed. "No Mr. Wilder, your mother doesn't know about this little event yet, and if I have my way she won't. That woman scares my men half to death every time she comes in guns blazing for you boys and most of them would probably move off the island to become cabbage farmers on the mainland out of fear of her wrath should she find out what happened here today. Can't say I'd blame her though, plume fools that lot are, I have half a mind to relieve them for a stunt like this" He shook his head in a bemused tisk-tisk fashion. "But unfortunately I can't do that just yet, they're idiots, but they still have some work to do. Now c'mon, lets get you out of those cuffs so you two can be on your way"

Celi silently laughed beside John as she heard the chief's words, she rather liked the man, he was strict but still had his wit to him and wasn't willing to let the famous Wilder reputation get in the way of him doing his job right. It was a shame there weren't more people like him, then maybe John and his family wouldn't have to deal with so much trouble all the time. But for now, she was just thankful this man could see clearly enough that he was willing to let John go almost scot-free.

"You heard him John, you're not being arrested and that's that. So lets not keep the man waiting and then head home, ok?"