Curse the Mainframe! 52 Lying Randy

"Hand over the money, and no one gets hurt!"

"Randy, you sorry-looking snot-nosed two-faced bastard! Didn't your sorry band of misfits leave the town yesterday! Good riddance, I say!"

There was a cry of pain as the sound of flesh meeting flesh was heard.

"Shut up! Don't you fucking bring them up again, or I'll kill you! Hand over the money!"

There was a brief scuffle as the other voice that was being robbed cussed him out.

Alec inwardly rolled his eyes hearing the standard villain lines that were so prevalent even in real life. Where were they all getting their cues from? Third rate books? Movies? Did this world even have movies in the first place?

From the way the tattoo parlour owner was cussing out the other nonstop, it seemed like he agreed as well.

On the other hand, Philip straightened up as he heard the voice, alarmed.

Henry was out of the flower shop like a shot, not giving anyone else the chance to react. The door's bell swung repeatedly after he threw open the door. There was a vein in his neck that was bulging, giving him a murderous appearance. His lips were pulled back in a snarl, showing his teeth.

Henry gave off a feeling that he would explode at any given moment, so they didn't stop him.

Elias and Alec exchanged a look when Philip hurriedly left from the front door as well.

"Let's go take a look?"

Across from the flower shop, there was a tattoo parlour, which was the place which was getting robbed. Why it wasn't the flower store being robbed instead of the tattoo parlour, Alec wouldn't know, but he put it up to the robber lacking a bunch of braincells to make rational decisions.

The owner of the tattoo parlour, who had somehow managed to move the robbery to the street, scuffled with Randy on the floor. There was a knife lying in the distance, where the tattoo parlour owner presumably disarmed Randy.

The moment Henry laid his eyes on Randy, he joined the fight without a second thought.

As Randy went in for a punch to the owner's face, Henry grabbed a fistful of the man's hair, dragging him backwards and drawing a pained cry from the robber.

Randy's hands scrambled up to the hand that was gripping his hair so painfully. "Fuck! Get off, man!"

Henry threw Randy to the side, causing him to land in the debris of the shattered glass that had scattered all over the street.

Before Randy could react to the sudden change in his plans, Henry was already straddling his body and throwing punches at Randy's face. Henry's face, in comparison to Randy's pain, was contorted in a mix of anger, sadness and disgust.

Alec smiled, clicking his tongue when he saw Randy lifting a knee to try and retaliate. He stomped down hard on the man's leg, drawing out a muffled scream from the man.

Elias and Philip looked at Alec and wondered whether or not they imagined him clicking his tongue.

"Mr. Henry, you're not paying enough attention." Alec felt shivers go up his spine at the sheer violence in front of him. It wasn't terror, but something else… the chills made him feel alive in a sort of way nothing else did.

Henry paused slightly as Alec's words penetrated his ears. That's right. After all, Randy had still been a part of his team, and knew his attacks in and out.

Now more vigilant that the blind rage he'd been feeling cleared somewhat, Henry got off the man, planting a solid boot onto his soft middle. Randy made a sound like a dying cow.

Henry sneered at the pathetic sight. How could he ever have been so blind choosing friends like this? No wonder Philip always said he had bad taste.

"Look what the cat dragged in," Henry sneered, grinding his foot down harder.

Randy, who had been just about to fight back, froze up hearing his voice. "H-Henry? Why are you still alive?" Then, he rapidly backtracked as if he could still save himself. "You gotta help me, man! Briggs and Gred are crazy! They killed Gary and tried to kill you! I had no choice but to come back. I had no choice! I didn't want to do this!"

Henry's lip curled lightly hearing his words. Just how stupid did they all think he was?

Just looking at the pathetic mess that the man had become, Henry even felt his anger die off due to how pathetically he was behaving, with blood and snot all over his face.

Henry felt the urge to wipe his hands. Disgusting. Just how blind had he been? Allowing his emotions to get in the way of his judgement was the worst thing he could have done. The signs were all there, but his own emotions had blinded him. Henry was utterly disgusted at how weak he had been.

Tom rolled over from where he had been wrestling with Randy earlier, his blonde hair a mess and several scratches on his face and arms. He flexed his tattooed arms, causing Alec's already almost non-existent respect for Randy to plummet even further.

Clearly Tom and Randy, from the way the two of them conversed at first, at least knew of each other.

The man running the tattoo parlour was obviously trained in combat and wasn't a compliant little civilian with no training. With those tattoos, muscles and that terrifying expression on his face, Alec couldn't even vaguely comprehend why Randy had decided to rob that store of all places.

What even?

Alec thought that he would only see things like this when cannon fodder threw themselves at the Main Character, but he guessed not. It was things like this that made him question whether or not he had overestimated humanity.

"Henry! You no-good c*cksucking bastard! Take your pathetic band of merry misfits and get the fuck outta our town!"

"Hey," Philip stepped in, holding his hands out to the angry Tom. "Cool it. Henry's not part of them anymore. In fact, they tried to kill him yesterday."

Tom frowned and scrutinized Henry, who still carried an expression of murderous rage on his face.

What he saw must have satisfied him, because he calmed down all of a sudden. "Always knew those four were a bad lot. Never polite to the elderly," Tom spat, going over to kick Randy a few more times just to make him hurt more. The resulting yelps were very therapeutic.

Randy struggled to get up, looking like an overturned tortoise, only to get kicked down every time he tried to get up.

"Henry, bro, you gotta believe me. I didn't want to do that, you know!"

"Really. So, what was their plan after they left town?"

"They're heading to Welkton City before going to Yraii. They want to sell the… you know."

Alec inwardly raised a brow, but he supposed that made sense. After all, Welkton City was the closest city to this place. With big enough facilities that might hold interested buyers, whatever it was that they were selling would see an increase in monetary value just from going to a larger city with richer patrons.

Based on what he could infer, since Henry's old friends had betrayed him after their hunting trip, he supposed that they found something of immense value to sell. Most likely a creature.

By now, the murderous rage on Henry's face had been wiped off, leaving a shuttered expression.

Tom patted Henry on the back sympathetically. "Thanks for helping me out. I'll give you a discount any day."

Tom scanned the rest of them, his expression changing when he realized that Alec and Elias were standing there.

They looked like sons of some sort of fancy clan or sect out on a tour, and Tom had been the one who showed them a scene of carnage. Tom rubbed his nose, embarrassed. "You too."

"Come on, I already told you what I know. Help me out a little. Does our relationship mean that little to you?"

Alec rolled his eyes. Inwardly, that was. Ah, how he wished he could physically do that. It just wasn't the same not being able to show his displeasure physically.

Henry scoffed. "After being the one who planted that knife in me, you think that's going to work?"

Randy's expression went through various expressions before realizing he'd been tricked.

Henry kicked him in the face before he could say anything else, sending him into the realm of unconsciousness.

Grabbing Randy's foot, he dragged him across the street, the sounds of a body being physically dragged sounded in the silence left behind.

Alec was reminded of the way Bunbun had dragged Elias across the room last night to the bathroom.

Alec shrugged inwardly. It wasn't his problem. "Dinner?"

Chapter end

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