Payback from the Family

It was a foggy afternoon when four Dutch men in their early twenties stepped off the plan and arrived at the islands of Japan for the first time. To anyone who didn't know them, they may not have appeared to be particularly unusual, at least not as foreigners go, but there was something special that brought these men here. Each of them was fairly well-built: not bulky by any means, but not particularly scrawny either. Though they were, for the most part, similarly dressed, they lacked any sort of resembling physical features, and yet they openly called each another brothers. And though they all appeared relatively calm and civilized as anyone else, they were here on a mission. They were here for some payback.

Finding where they were going took some detective work, but by that evening, they tracked down who they were looking for to a small bar in the middle of Tokyo; a slender young redheaded woman, currently minding her own business at the bar. The woman in question wasn't exactly famous by any means, but she wasn't nobody, either. All four of these men had seen her perform on television, a wrestler in the female wrestling league AFW. Though she was a relative newcomer, she had made a reputation for her success, and perhaps her brutality as well. All four men approached at once, the smiles they wore as tailored as their suits.

"Hey there, excuse me," one of them asked as he tapped her on the shoulder, the shortest and youngest-looking of the group, distinguishable by his messy but attractive brown hair and scruff that adorned his chin, "you are Emily Blakowicz, yeah? The wrestler on television?" he asked in a charming tone. "My brothers and I have seen your work, and we just had to say, you seem like a very tough woman."

Emily found her evening relaxation interrupted by a rather handsome man. Not bad. He had company. Better. He was asking about her wrestling career. Could be worse. Fresh off the match against Kelsi, Emily was feeling pretty good about how things were going, but this was her time away from the ring. Here, she wasn't Emily Blaskowicz, one of the AFW's many sadistic bitches. Here, she was Emily Blaskowicz, hedonist and party girl extraordinaire, amongst other things.

Still, he was cute, and he'd do for company, along with his friends.

"I guess you could say that," Emily said simply, bottle in hand, "But I'd rather just enjoy a drink and maybe some company than talk about my chosen career path. If you really want to hear it, though, I suppose I could humor you."

The man chuckled in response as he ran a hand through his hair. "Well, you see, my brothers and I are just big fans of athletics, really. You've got a good record, it's really quite impressive. But, uh, there was one thing that was bothering us," he added, turning back to his brothers as if to make sure they were all on the same page. "the first little event we saw on the tv had you and two other girls all beating up one girl who had already lost! And, I dunno, that just doesn't seem that sportsmanlike..." his smile grew a bit fiercer as he continued. "But, we all figured to give you the benefit of the doubt on that one. So, as a professional athlete, we all figured you wouldn't go ganging up on some poor girl if you couldn't handle it yourself, and as fans, we couldn't help but want to give you the opportunity to prove how much better you'd fare in the same position." For a moment, all four men looked at one another, smiling, but when the foremost speaker turned back, his smile was gone, and his tone darkened. "So here is what is going to happen. We, all five of us, are going out back, and we are going to do to you what you did to her. Or, if you try to make a scene about it, we'll do it right here. It is your choice."

As much as Neske hated being cooped up in the hospital, getting out was a brilliant feeling, and it was made that much better by the dumbfounded look on the doctors' faces when she recovered twice as fast as expected. She managed to head back to the arena and retrieve her stuff, fitting in her brand new laptop in with her old one, when she was headed downtown, looking for a place to stay the night, or maybe somewhere to get something to eat. Or drink. Drinks sounded good. She also needed to find something she could give Hisui, as a gift.

Of course, the only place she really knew around town was this quirky little bar she had been to. But last time she was there, it turned out to be the hangout of Emily Blaskowicz, probably the only woman she could really call an enemy, and she'd already made a scene there. Shame, it was just around the corner here, and she really liked some of the local beers they had. Maybe just a peek through the window, to see if the bitch was here this time.

Neske let out a dissapointed sigh as the glint of brilliant red hair caught her attention right away. Yeah, Emily was there alright, flirting with a bunch of forige-

Wait a minute. What the fuck?

Emily considered the man's words for a little longer, doing her best to hide how her heart was racing at the moment. This was definitely not good. Four on one was horrible odds, no matter how you sliced it. Well on one hand, in here she probably wasn't going to get much support, and any possible weapons she could use would be out of reach...Out back however, much harder to get away, and much more room for them to work with...

Finally making a decision, Emily finished her beer and allowed a moment to appreciate the smooth liquid. Getting up from her seat, bottle in hand, the redhead allowed a sigh.

"Fine then," Emily said, "Let's get this over with."

The young man frowned slightly at this woman's resignation. He almost felt bad for doing this, but what she did to Neske was unspeakable, and payback was payba-

"What the flying fuck?!" a higher-pitched, but still thick Dutch accent rang through the room, and nearly all at once, all four men turned their heads towards the source of it.

"Neske?!" they exclaimed, out of sync but in matching tones.

"You guys show up in Japan, and the first thing you do is flirt with some fucking redhead? Nobody thinks to fucking call me?" She stormed over, grabbing the self-imposed leader by the collar. "How long were you guys going to be in town? Were you even going to let me know? I don't fucking- agh!"

Each of the four men were larger than either of these girls, and between that and their numbers, they seemed to have a lot of confidence with their earlier threats. But right now, this scrawny little girl seemed to have all four of them absolutely terrified. Fortunately for them, her aggressive hold quickly switched into a tight hug, and all four of them soon joined in. "I missed all of you guys so much, you know that?" she said into one of their shirts. The warm moment lasted a little longer before the five of them parted, a genuine smile on all their faces. "How's Hannes? Or Bas? Jacob, did you get in with that agency? What's been going on with you guys?"

One of them, the largest of the four, stepped in the conversation. "Yeah, it went great. What about you, Neske? How's Japan? Have you finally got a boyfriend?" The last comment elicited some roaring laughter from everyone but Neske.

"No, I don't have a fucking boyfriend. Look, this place kinda sucks, let's go find somewhere with better drinks and I'll tell you everything, okay?" The men seemed to agree with this, and the five of them started to head out before Neske jerked back for a moment. "You guys wait for me outside, I'm gonna apologize to this poor girl for you guys' being creeps."

"We weren't being creeps, Neske, we-"

"Just fucking get out there!" she interrupted with a laugh, before turning to Emily. As soon as she was sure her brothers couldn't see her face, her tone darkened significantly, but seemed to be a look of determination and a bit of sorrow, rather than fear or anger. Wordlessly, she gestured for Emily to sit down at a table nearby, before taking a seat herself.

...You have got to be fucking shitting me. I'm hallucinating. No way in hell is...how...Why?!

To the redhead incomprehensible surprise, just when Emily thought she was probably going to have the shit beaten out of her, when she was prepared to go down fighting, it's Neske, of all people, who saves her ass. The fact that the bitch probably shouldn't be up and about so soon was honestly the least of the redhead's concerns.

Watching the men file out with no small amount of disbelief, Emily followed Neske to the indicated table, sitting down alongside the other redhead.

"The hell was that about?" Emily asked incredulously, "They were about to beat the shit out of me?! After everything I've done to you, why the hell..."

At first, Neske just rubbed her temples and sighed, trying to suppress the jitters and push back the tears that wanted to make their way forward just by being around this woman. After a moment, she made cold, stern eye contact. She wanted to make sure what she said was heard clearly.

"Look," she stated plainly, "I don't really like for you. No, I... I hate you. You ra-... raped me, on live tv. You put me in the hospital, and when I got out, you beat me up again. When people so much as mention your name, I start to feel anxious, and even just being here has me about to..." she trailed off, partly because she made her point and partly because she didn't want to give Emily the satisfaction of hearing that she wants to cry.

"But those boys, they're my family. They're good guys, loving guys, who helped make me who I am today, and I owe so much to them." She stopped to take another sigh before continuing, "Look, if you want to beat me up in the ring, or fuck me in public, or take me out back and put me back in the hospital, that's your business. I mean, fuck you, but it's still your prerogative. But I will not have my family reduced to a bunch of fucking thugs just to get some petty revenge. Maybe I'll get you back in the ring one day, maybe not, but I will not stand to live knowing the people I love stooped down to your fucking level on my behalf."

For a moment, Neske paused, giving Emily a moment to respond and to let what she just said sink in, before she slapped a handful of money on the table. "Have a good fucking day," she spat, before standing up and heading out with her brothers. As soon as Neske passed through the door, her attitude did a full 180, the laughs and cheers from the group clearly audible from inside as the five of them headed down the street.

Emily sat there, stunned, as Neske went on, remaining silent throughout the entire tirade. The redhead sat there, saying nothing even as the Dutch girl simply left with her friends, their laughter drifting back into the bar as they went off.

For the first time in a while, Emily was truly shaken by this. After all she'd done to the Dutch girl, Neske had stepped in on her behalf.

Down...to my level?

That very idea brought the redhead back to her early days, spent in squalor, where wit, will, and strength were what won you the right to live, to survive. In truth, she thought she'd moved on from those times, but it seemed that she might be wrong about that.

...But...that's who I was, like it or not...So maybe it's not so bad to be like this.

Still shaken, Emily left the bar, heading back to her humble apartment as she tried to sort out the whirling mess in her head.