Chapter 23: The Secret To Hitting On Women Perfectly

Hey, readers! Now, I figure this would be a good time to answer a question that I've been asked a few times before: what are my writing inspirations? Well… to put the answer as simple as possible, there are too many to count! I mean, you know I like to put all sorts of anime and video game references in here, but those are more like cameo type things. If I had to say I was inspired by something directly, then I'd say my drama sections are mostly inspired by Neon Genesis Evangelion. But, I bet you figured that out already. I mean, I have a weird calling to dark stuff, not just Eva. Berserk, Drifting Classroom, Perfect Blue, you know, stuff in that category. Well, I hoped that answered that question! Now let's get to the story!

xxx

Wednesday, as compared to the previous day, was way, WAY more exciting.

That was the day Sun and Neptune were to going to try and find a lead on Roman Torchwick and the White Fang's hideout.

Of course, their only initial lead was located in a rather specific night club in Vale City. After all, Junior's club was not only the place to buy black market weapons and hardware, but also the place where all sorts of criminal scum liked to hang around. It was just that type of place.

So, it really did stand to sense that Sun and Neptune had to go there to learn a little more about the people they were chasing.

It was around the time when the sun was setting when the hunter duo arrived via taxi. Well, they couldn't just arrive smack in the middle of the day, like last time. It was called a night club for a specific reason, after all.

Walking up to the club entrance, Neptune and Sun were embroiled in one of their usual off-topic conversations.

"Dude, just sayin', you're not gonna get any numbers in there," Sun chided.

Neptune pressed his lips together. "Hey, I got the charm, man. I got the threads, I got the lien, I got all I need!" he replied.

"They're all buncha fuckin' crackheads in there! If you're gonna get any tail, it's gonna be some from junkie!" pointed out Sun.

"Don't go insulting those ladies!" Neptune protested back.

Sun looked completely bewildered. "Fuckin' what?! What ladies? We aren't even inside the fuckin' club yet!"

"It's for future reference!" Neptune heatedly advised.

Rubbing his forehead with his fingers, Sun groaned, "Look, can we just get inside without any of this bullshit? We gotta mission, man."

Huffing, Neptune shot a grimace at Sun. "Fine."

Now that the two had stopped their bickering, they made their way inside the club with little resistance. It wasn't like the bouncer at the door bothered to card them. In fact, if Sun and Neptune had to guess, the club probably got a lot of its "legal" money from underage customers. Now, they could bust the club for that, but that was too small of an issue to deal with right now. Sun and Neptune had much bigger fish to fry.

Walking into the main area of the club, Sun and Neptune scanned around the dance floor. Since the night was still young, the crowd was a little smaller than what they expected. But, that didn't mean there wasn't a sizable crowd to begin with. There was the right amount of people needed to start a writhing mass of bodies in front of the DJ station.

"What now?!" Neptune yelled over the loud music and noise.

"We find a White Fang dude!" Sun shouted back.

Neptune looked around the club and scratched his head. "How do we do that?!"

"Look for a suspicious guy! Like, wearing White Fang stuff! They LOVE to show off!" advised Sun, who was also looking around.

Looking over the dance floor didn't net them any results. Instead, Sun motioned for Neptune to follow him. They were going deeper in there.

Sun and Neptune barely managed to squeeze through the mob crowding the dance floor. Normally, it would be uncomfortable to be tightly squeezed against people, with all sorts of body parts rubbing and grinding against you. Well, Neptune wasn't a person who let something like that annoy him. Instead, he drunk it up for all it was worth. To him, having a bunch of woman brush up against him while they were dancing was all part of the club experience. And really, why should he hate it? This was the closest thing he'd gotten to real action in… well, ever. Hands didn't count towards that stuff.

Neptune suddenly bumped into a still Sun. He'd stopped moving in the middle of the dance floor, and was looking at something off to the corner of the club. "Hey, over there! He's wearin' a uniform!" Sun pointed out.

"Hey, we're not done looking in here!" Neptune yelled. "I mean, we should talk to these people!"

Sun immediately didn't buy Neptune's excuse to be around hot women. It didn't really help that while he was coming up with bullshit, he briefly paused to gawk at a rather curvy woman's ass. "We're not here to get fuckin' numbers!" Sun shouted. "Now, c'mon!"

Neptune groaned as he hesitated. All of these asses and tits were just a delight to the senses! But, unfortunately for him (and fortunate for the case), Sun grabbed him firmly by the arm and began to drag him out of the dance floor crowd. Well, shit. So much for enjoying all the T&A.

Sun dragged the reluctant Neptune over to a secluded booth in the corner of the club. It had some privacy walls, so it muffled the sounds and music of the club slightly. Well, enough to talk normally and not shout like a madman at someone else. It was certainly convenient, that was for sure.

When the pair stopped, Neptune finally got a good look at what guy Sun was looking at earlier. The dude was a god damn buff meat castle. He had no sleeves, so Neptune guessed that they just exploded once he slightly flexed his arms with them on. He also had closely cropped black hair, styled in a buzz cut. Oh, and the most important thing of all, he was wearing a full-faced mask. Just the type a White Fang member would wear. From the looks of it, the guys sitting around him were also White Fang members, as they were also Faunus people. That, and the fact that their small masks were also poking out of their pockets was a dead giveaway.

"Hey, you guys!" Sun announced with a wide grin.

The large man turned his attention towards Sun. "What do you want?" he asked in a deep, dismissive voice.

"Is it fine if me 'n my buddy here hang out with you guys? Drink, gamble, do that shit?" Sun pushed.

The large man only gave the two of them the briefest of glances. "Piss off," he replied.

"C'mon, ya sure you don't wanna bet a little?" Sun pushed ever further.

"What point of 'piss off' did you not get?" the large man growled.

Neptune looked around frantically. This was a good lead, maybe the only one they would get here. He needed to say something quick to hold their interest. Then, suddenly, he noticed one of the Faunus people was wearing a holster. He had a revolver on him.

"Vacuo roulette!" Neptune suddenly blurted out.

"Huh?" went Sun.

"What?" grunted the large man.

"I'm asking if you want to play some Vacuo roulette. I bet you like that type of stuff," Neptune said with a cocky grin.

"You wanna play me?" the large, masked man asked.

"…Yeah," Neptune replied before gulping. He had no idea where he was going with this, but it seemed to be working. He was locked in now.

Then, all of the sudden, the table erupted into laughter, including the large man. Sun and Neptune stood around awkwardly, waiting for an actual reply to that challenge. "Haha… Okay, human. Deal. I'm gonna enjoy seeing your brains on the table," the large man sadistically chuckled.

Neptune nervously gulped again. But, at least his gambit had worked. One of the Faunus people scooted over, to allow Neptune to have a seat at the table. Anxiously, he sat at the table and waited for the revolver to come out.

Once the Faunus henchman unloaded his ammo from the revolver, he set it on the table. Setting it in between them, the large White Fang member asked, "You wanna bet anything before you die?"

Replying with a shaky grin, Neptune said, "If you win, I'll tell you how to hit on women with one-hundred percent success."

"And if you win?" the large man asked. His tone indicated that he clearly didn't expect Neptune to win at all, and that he was just toying with him.

"You tell me where your buddies hang out. I might want to join in," Neptune replied.

Even though nobody could see it, the large man had a wicked grin on his face as he said, "Deal." He wasn't expecting this yuppie to win at all. After all, he had the odds in his favor. It was all but guaranteed that he would win.

Taking the initiative, the large masked man took the revolver and spun the barrel. Without any hesitation, he pointed the revolver's barrel at his temple and pulled the trigger. Only a click rang out, not the sound of a gunshot.

"Your turn," the large man said, sliding the revolver towards Neptune.

Taking the revolver in his hand, Neptune carefully weighed it. Wait, something was off about this gun! It weighed different… different than the six-gun he got from the police station. The distribution of mass was more off than a six-shooter. Wait! This revolver held seven bullets! This White Fang guy was trying to bluff him!

Now that he knew his odds, Neptune felt a little better. He could afford to act a little more confident. But, it was in his interest to act nervous. So, he hesitated a little when he put the barrel of the gun up to his head and pulled the trigger. Nothing came out, fortunately.

"Your turn," Neptune said nervously, sliding the revolver over to the large man.

The large man decided to spice things up a little with his turn. This time, he put the gun under his chin and pulled the trigger. Once again, nothing came out. Lucky him. "Next," he graveled out.

Taking the revolver, Neptune tried to determine where the bullet currently was in the cylinder. Ah, from the weight of it, there were two more turns after this one. Then, the person on that last cylinder would get rather deep new piercing. This time, Neptune put the barrel in his ear as he pulled the trigger. Nope. No bullet this time.

Sun and Neptune could feel an aura of menace radiate from the masked man as he picked up the gun. This time, he put the end of it directly against his mask, on his forehead. With no hesitation on his part, he pulled the trigger. Then, slowly, he calmly placed the revolver on the table.

"Looks like you lose, boy," the masked man sneered. At that, the other White Fang members began to laugh cruelly at Neptune's perceived fate. Raising his hand, the large man got his cronies to stop chuckling. "Now, that secret, before you die with it."

Instead of a response, Neptune quickly grabbed the gun and placed it against his temple. Trying to be as stone faced as he could, he pulled the trigger. Click. Nothing. Now that made the others fall completely silent.

"This holds seven bullets. Your turn," Neptune stated, sliding the gun back over to the large man.

The White Fang members looked at the large man in shock. "What're ya gonna do, lieutenant?" one asked.

"…You know your stuff," the lieutenant flatly complimented. Then, with lightning reflexes, he grabbed the revolver and pointed it at Neptune. "But you're not as good as you think."

Then, all of the sudden, Sun whipped his own service revolver out of his waistband and pointed it at the large man, apparently a White Fang lieutenant. It was a real standoff now.

"I think we want your part of the bet now," Sun said through gritted teeth. That was all Neptune needed to hear in order to pull out his gun out of his jacket. Now, this standoff got much more lopsided.

"Go on. Tell us. Either way, you're gonna die here," Neptune said, trying to sound badass. It kind of didn't, but in the tenseness of the situation, nobody noticed or cared.

Seeing that he didn't have the ammo to deal with two gun wielding people, the White Fang lieutenant slowly put the revolver up to his forehead. "Go fuck yourselves!" he spat, before pulling the trigger.

With a loud crack, the bullet ripped through the White Fang lieutenant's mask and into his skull. All of what he was and ever would be splattered against the back wall. As the grey brain matter, skull fragments, and blood slid down the wall, the bullet embedded itself among the organic remains.

While everyone at the table froze in shock, multiple people in the club heard the gunshot and began to scream in panic. A large commotion broke out, as not only people tried to escape the club, but as Junior's men pulled out their own weapons and pointed them in the direction of the noise.

Out of the blue, one of the White Fang members slugged Neptune in the face and knocked him to the ground. As he began to struggle with Neptune for his gun, Sun shot at the White Fang members who got up to attack him.

On the ground, Neptune was losing this battle of strength. The White Fang member had nearly gotten the revolver out of his hands. In desperation, Neptune bit on the man's hand as hard as he could. While the White Fang member yelped in pain, Neptune took this opportunity to shove the man off of him. Scrambling up to his feet, Neptune shot the man in the gut while he was still on the floor. Once down a few more to go.

At the same time, Sun managed to duck out of the way of one man's punch. Then, grabbing the man's fist, Sun shot the White Fang member twice in the stomach and once in the head. A classic bullet drill technique. Dumping his attacker to the floor, Sun prepared to face down the other two White Fang men coming towards him. However, through sheer luck, one suddenly cried out in pain and fell face first onto the ground. In his dying throes, Sun noticed that he had been shot in the back. Then, looking in the direction of the shot, he saw a black-suited gangster pointing a handgun in his direction. Then, another bullet ripped through the air and nailed the other White Fang terrorist in the shoulder.

Crying in pain, the man began to retreat towards the club's exit. Thinking quickly, Sun knew he had to catch up to this man. He could tell them where the White Fang hideout was!

"Nep!" Sun yelled, ducking to avoid gunfire. "Follow that guy!"

"Got it!" Neptune said. He tried to follow after the man, but shots from the gangster began to fire in front of his path. Almost on reflex, Neptune grabbed one of the nearby booth tables and held it up to his side, as a shield. Noticing this, Sun got behind the impromptu cover.

The pair barreled their way through the crowd, following after the fleeing suspect. The table did its job well, as Neptune could feel the shock of a bunch of bullets fired into the table top.

"Drop it!" Sun cried as they reached the exit doors. Complying, Neptune dropped their cover and dashed outside.

Sun and Neptune quickly looked around, trying to find the fleeing man in the crowd. Suddenly, Sun pointed out to Neptune the man. He was holding his arm, and climbing into a nearby car.

"He's gettin' away!" cried Sun as he and Neptune ran towards the car. Unfortunately, by the time he reached the sedan, it started up and screeched out of the parking lot.

"Fuck!" Sun swore as the car skidded onto the main street.

Neptune was already trying to think of a solution to this issue. Then, seeing another car starting up, he grabbed Sun by the arm and dragged him towards it.

Yanking open the car door, Neptune pulled out his badge and flashed it to the terrified club patron. "VCPD! I'm commandeering this car!" He didn't wait for a reply as he dragged the man out of the car and climbed into the driver's seat. Sun, seeing this all happen, quickly lid across the hood and got into the passenger seat.

Now that they had wheels, they could chase after the White Fang member. He was their best bet to find out where the bombs were! They needed to catch up to him!

Now the chase was really on.

xxx

Man, a lot happened this chapter, didn't it! Well, don't worry, the action isn't over! This is only the beginning! Get ready for some more next time, coming up! Now the heat's really starting to rise in this story! And don't' forget to tell me what you think of this scene in the review section!

This is The Draigg, and I'm really feeling the heat now!