Saving the Villain

"Talk shit about her again and I'll shove shit back inside that foul mouth of yours."

Sensing the menace from Maxen and Luke, the smile on the rest of the delinquents' faces slowly disappeared. They all stood to their stature, darting their eyes between Maxen and Luke, and to that pretty young lady.

The three of them looked good at a glance and even looked better the longer they stared, but none of them dwell on that. What came into their heads was that… good-looking people like them, tend to have weak fists, but good punching bags. There was so much more to break on them.

"Hey." Cosette raised her chin, her hand still buried in her silky hazel hair. "Before you tell me you won't hurt me, make sure I… and these two won't."

Without a second hesitation, Cosette balled her other hand into a tight fist and launched an uppercut at the guy Maxen was holding. Her attack hit the right stop to knock him out, and Maxen let him go at the right time, allowing the guy's body to land on the ground with a thud.

Both Maxen and Cosette looked down at the guy with a thick layer of frost covering their eyes. He wasn't surprised by her violent reaction, knowing her nature. And Cosette wasn't surprised Maxen didn't react strongly.

They slowly lifted their eyes, and for some reason, the glint in their eyes appeared red. Luke's eyes were also glinting, flexing his fingers as if to warm them up for what he was there to come. Luke hadn't used his fist in a long time, and for some reason, he was itching to use them right now. These kids were a good excuse to vent the pent-up frustration he had bottled.

Both parties stood still, allowing the wind to blow past them discreetly. When one of the delinquents yelled, a brawl ensued. Nine against three. Yet, nine delinquents who only learned how to fight in the streets were no matched against the three of them, who trained to protect themselves almost all their lives.

Cosette and Luke were both well born to boot, and because of their position in society, learning self-defense and how to fight lest an unfortunate event occurred was not a surprise. They had trained since young, and after years of training, they had mastered the art of martial arts.

Cosette might've rusted a bit, but Luke had always attended his classes even before he fled home. Hence, he was able to use everything he had learned. Meanwhile, Maxen, although just started attending all those classes last summer, he was born a warrior and a survivor.

Unlike Cosette and Luke, Maxen was first introduced to street fights and to bullying. Therefore, even if it was a terrible thing to admit, Maxen's foundation was solid. Enhancing the skills he learned in the street and the gang fights Remo dragged him, Maxen had taken down his enemies swiftly.

After a lot of yelling and grunting, the nine delinquents ended up loitering the concrete ground of the streets. Cosette, Luke, and Maxen remained standing with Luke dusting off his hands while Maxen didn't even break a sweat. Meanwhile, Cosette only fought two, but her back and forehead broke out in sweats.

"Bastards!" she yelled after picking up one of the delinquent's phones to check the clips they were talking about. She did open one clip, but couldn't stomach finishing it. Cosette kicked the side of the already unconscious delinquent in irritation.

She had only seen the first ten seconds of the clip, but it was enough to bring her blood to a boiling point. The clip was disgusting with multiple students forcing a female student to do a dreadful thing. More than her anger at these guys, she felt remorseful and sorry for the female student in the clip.

"I'm going to kill them!" Cosette was about to kick the guy again, only for Maxen to hold her wrist to stop her. Her eyes were burning as she looked back at him. "Don't stop me."

"That's enough, Cosette," Maxen said, but she ground her teeth.

"This is not enough," she argued adamantly. "I don't know her, but I sympathized with her. I bet this poor girl wished to just die after what they had done to her."

"They will pay." Maxen tightened his grip on her wrist and lowered his head, looking at her straight in the eye. "You don't need to kill them to make them pay."

"I'm with Max this time," Luke chimed in, glancing at the delinquents on the ground. Some were still conscious — Maxen and Luke purposely left a few of them conscious so they could carry their friends. "Let's delete the clips on their phones and keep a copy to ourselves. It'll be used as evidence, unless, you want to kill them now and make them the victims."

Cosette ground her teeth in anger, but after listening to Maxen and Luke, all she could do was huff sharply. She snatched her wrist away from Maxen and kept her chin up.

"I hate juvenile kids," she muttered, walking over to the other delinquent to search the other one for his phone. "Just because the law protects kids, they take advantage of it. I'll make sure these guys rot in hell and won't see the light of the day again!"

Just like how she searched for the first guy, she also checked all his pockets until she found his phone. The guy also had a clip, which wasn't surprising, since all of them probably had them. In that case, they could just show the clip to their victim to make her agree to everything they want.

Luke and Maxen looked at each other and nodded. When they broke their eye contact, Luke marched to the other delinquent and kicked his torso mildly.

"Oy, stop playing dead and help us delete the clips," he commanded, but still pretended unconscious. Only when Luke kicked him again did the guy grunt and woke up. "You heard me right?"

"Ugh…" the delinquent hugged his stomach and looked up at look. When Luke raised his foot again, he panicked. "Yes! Yes! I will!"

"Good." Luke nodded in satisfaction. "Don't wait for me to kick you all before you stop pretending unconscious."

He then clapped, watching some delinquents rise like zombies. "Get to work and chop-chop! Passed me your phones right after so I can check if you really deleted them. If I see a secret hidden clip, I'm going to kill you."

The delinquents grunted, but they could only crawl to their peers to do what they were told. After all, they underestimated the three of them. They were good fighters but weren't heard in most gangs in the area. Even that pretty girl who confronted them was strong. Although she was already down two of them, both were knocked out and at least lost a tooth.

Maxen and Luke were much more tamed than her as those two purposely didn't knock everyone down. Still, they were aware both guys could be just as crazy as Cosette if they were only consumed with rage.

As Cosette and some delinquents searched those unconscious delinquents, deleting the clips or just factory resetting them while Luke would check the phones carefully, Maxen squatted down in front of the person these delinquents were ganging up in the first place.

The second Maxen lifted the person's unconscious face, his eyelids drooped.

'Remo," he thought, glancing at the other delinquents. 'Why didn't you fight these jokes?'

Maxen slowly set his eyes down on Remo. The latter's face was already swollen and bleeding; Remo was pretty much beaten up. However, Maxen knew this guy. This was one of the guys who were all these little delinquents would be wary of.

Remo's physique was bigger than a normal high schooler. And since Maxen knew him, he was aware Remo was raised in the street and had been fighting all his life. That was how Remo got his short patience, but also, this twisted loyalty.

For this Remo guy to let these delinquents bully him without fighting back… Maxen had mixed emotions about it. Maxen remained silent as he pondered about things, staring at Remo's unconscious face silently.

"Are you sure these are all the copies?" Luke questioned a delinquent with a sour expression; he hadn't seen a second of the clip, but seeing Cosette's reaction, he was certain he wouldn't want to see it.

"Ye — yes!"

"If I figure out you're lying, I remember your face." Luke bent over and looked at him with a dead expression. "I'm going to kill you, then."

pAn,Da-n0v e1,c "I swear in my grandmother's grave! We don't usually make copies and just pass it among the group!"

"Okay, good." Luke rocked his head and then glanced at Cosette. She looked back at him, still evidently pissed as she folded her arms under her chest. A deep exhale slipped past Luke's nostrils and marched towards her, hooking his arm across her shoulder.

"Come on now, Cozie. Don't be upset anymore. I'll buy you ice cream, okay?"

Cosette just glanced at him, but her frown remained. Luke chuckled, keeping his arm across her shoulder.

"Hey, Max. What should we do now?" he asked, gazing at Maxen's back.

"Let's take this guy to your place," said Maxen, looking back at Luke and Cosette's vantage point.

"Huh? Shouldn't we bring him to the hospital?" Luke scrunched his nose up, only to furrow his brows when Maxen stood up, giving Luke and Cosette a chance to see the person these people were beating up before their altercation with them.

"No need," said Maxen, glancing over his shoulder before setting them back to Luke and Cosette. Although Luke had his arm over Cosette's shoulder, he didn't feel anything negative as they didn't look anything special other than being close friends. Cosette was very pissed after all.

"This guy is stronger than a cow, so he'll just need some rest and first aid. Let's carry him to your place."

Luke was a bit hesitant, but since it was Maxen who was asking him, he nodded. "Whatever you say, boss."