RISING PHOENIX ACT SELECT

CHAPTER 23: FRACTURE POINT

Right before Ramone closed the door, they found the light switch to the then pitch-black room and flicked it on. They could both hear the emcee on stage starting the prom. After shutting the door, one single incandescent light bulb hanging from the ceiling turned on, providing a weak source of ambient lighting for the whole room. The room seemed to be constructed differently and in a rather decrepit state, a far cry from the rest of the venue. The paint was starting to peel off, revealing the concrete behind it, which made the room feel like an afterthought. It seemed like it was just being used to dump whatever wasn’t being used, as evidenced by all the broken wooden chairs and tables inside. All of this made Marco feel incredibly uneasy.

Ramone placed a chair under the doorknob to keep it from opening before dragging a table and two other chairs into position. They then sat down in one of them.
“Have a seat,” they told Marco, holding out their hand towards the chair opposite them on the far end of the table. Marco sat down and got as comfortable as he possibly could. As he did so, Ramone reached into their suit, pulled something out, and plopped it down on the table. And when Marco got a look at it, he knew right then that he was looking at the real thing - it was the drive. It was colored a deep black with a Rising Phoenix emblem etched onto it in red, along with a silicone cover on top to protect it from harm.
“This is what you wanted,” Ramone explained, “...so now I need my money.”

“Alright, I’ll have it wired to your account…” Marco told them. He quickly took his phone out from under the table and began to message Glenn.
“Do it now” was the message Glenn received, which he caught immediately despite the prom swinging in full force around him. He typed in a few commands, and after a few seconds, the fake payment went through. Ramone looked at their account through their burner phone and noted that 100,000 pesos worth of Bitcoin was indeed transferred to their account.
“There’s your money. Now give me the drive,” Marco said sternly as he reached out his hand. However, Ramone had other ideas.
“No…let’s wait here a while,” they told him. Marco’s nerves immediately spiked upon hearing this.
“Why…?” Marco asked.
“Because I’m not an idiot.”

“I know the transfer site I use has…an issue. I keep trying to tell the creators to fix it, that it’s my only problem with it…but they still haven’t listened to me. So for the meantime, we wait right here until I know for a fact that this transaction is real,” Ramone explained. Marco froze - he didn’t know what to do from here. The jig was up.
“While we’re here, let’s play some blackjack. Haven’t gotten to play anyone in a while…” Ramone said as they started pulling out cards from their suit pocket, the same ones they flaunted at their house. Marco’s head was spinning - he knew he had to get out of here with the drive, quick. He looked at the drive, which was right on the table, which itself seemed very rickety. Right then, he knew what he was going to do. There would be no other opportunity.

In nearly an instant, Marco shoved the table as hard as he could at Ramone, knocking them back and causing them to nearly fall off their chair. They frantically reached for the drive, which was still on the table, but the table’s flimsiness had caused its legs to break and bend towards them. The drive slid down towards Marco right before Ramone could grab it, and he took it as soon as it was within arm’s reach. The moment he did, he ran right to the door, but remembered then that he still had to remove the chair from the doorknob. While he scrambled to remove it, Ramone threw a volley of sharpened playing cards right at him, creating puncture marks on his suit - with one even embedding itself into the wood of the chair. After what felt like an eternity, Marco got the chair off and tossed it at Ramone, breaking it on impact. He swung the door open, got out, and slammed it shut.

Everyone in the prom was busy playing a game the emcee just started, which thankfully distracted them from Marco. He quickly ran towards him and Glenn’s table, clutching the drive tightly in his right hand. Before he could make it there however, he noticed two guys slowly walking towards him from the direction he was going. He didn’t recognize them at first, but it suddenly hit him - these were Wildfire and Heatwave, the same guys that beat him to a pulp in the 3rd Floor Audi and made him fall through the roof. They were here. Marco momentarily stopped and looked around to see how he could go around them, but he ended up getting a glimpse of more suspicious people coming up to him from the southwest.

Suddenly, Marco bumped into Sir Ernest, who was taking a look at the dinner options. Wildfire held his hand out, and all the suspicious people stopped in their tracks.
“Marco...gusto kitang kausapin,” Sir Ernest muttered menacingly. Marco tried to side-step him, but he just side-stepped as well.
“Nakatanggap ako ng ebidensiya na nagpapatunay na nagsisinungaling ka sa akin. Ikaw ang tunay na lider ng Rising Phoenix.” Sir explained, which baffled Marco.
“What?! What evidence? That’s not true!” Marco told him.
“Wag ka nang magsalita. Hahayaan kitang magsaya sa prom, pero hindi ko ito palalagpasin. Magkita tayo sa DO bukas.” Sir Ernest concluded as he went back to his table. Marco couldn’t help but stand there in shock after what he heard. Soon, after Sir Ernest was far enough away, the suspicious people quickly advanced towards Marco once more. He noticed this and jumped back into action.

Thinking quickly, Marco jumped over the red stanchion blocking access to the second floor. When he looked up the staircase, he saw someone that stopped him in his tracks - it was Obsidian. He was in a black suit and masquerade mask like most of the prom attendees; he stood there with a terrified and regretful look in his eyes. He was still wearing his signature black coat, which he had wrapped tightly around himself. Marco’s instincts kicked in and he ran up the stairs to Obsidian as fast as possible, nearly tripping over some of the steps in the process. Obsidian, meanwhile, dashed away from the staircase, desperately trying to get away from Marco. Once he got to the top, Marco saw the full second floor, which included a multitude of small balconies outside on the left he hadn’t seen before, and Obsidian standing right in the middle.

Marco, full of anger and adrenaline, ran over and tackled Obsidian - sending them both crashing to the ground.
“Got you…!” Marco said through gritted teeth.
“Ow! Please, get off me! We don’t have much time…!” Obsidian pleaded.
“Not before I get that mask off!” Marco fired back. He reached for Obsidian’s mask before he hastily took it off himself, which surprised Marco.
“My…legal name…is Alonso Datumanong. I’m not the one you’re looking for.”
“Nice try! You’re Obsidian! Of course you’re the one I’m after!”
“No, Marco,” he clarified, “…I’m not the real leader of the Rising Phoenix.”

Marco was confused by this. He decided to get off Obsidian to get a chance to hear his story.
“Yes, I do lead the others, but someone else gives me the orders…! It’s…someone you know,” Obsidian frantically explained as his eyes darted around the room.
“Someone I know?! Wait, who…?” Marco asked, stunned by this newfound revelation.
“This was a mistake, I shouldn’t have done this…” Obsidian mumbled as he put his hands on his head and paced around.
“WHO?!” Marco yelled out.
“It’s…it’s - ”
ZAP! A jolt of electricity quickly incapacitated Obsidian. He fell down to the ground unconscious, revealing Voltage to have been behind the electrocution, armed with a repaired taser. Alongside her were her fighters - Celsius and Fahrenheit.

Marco quickly backed up, hoping not to get tased himself. But Voltage and her fighters just stood there. Behind them, Overclock came in, along with Wildfire and Heatwave. Marco recognized Overclock’s giant metal gauntlet - it was the same one that knocked him out cold after the go-kart crash.
“Clean this up,” Overclock said to Voltage and her fighters as he pointed at Obsidian’s unconscious body, prompting them to drag it somewhere else out of sight. Overclock, Wildfire, and Heatwave stepped closer towards Marco, with Overclock being front and center. Marco looked around and saw a camera pointed to the second floor.
“We’re already in their system. That camera won’t save you,” he said menacingly as Wildfire and Heatwave chuckled slightly. In the background, the prom celebration still went on. They had begun to play musical chairs, and the speakers were sure to drown out any loud noises.

“What are you gonna do to me…?” Marco asked.
“We’re going to beat that drive out of you,” Overclock replied as he smacked his gauntlet-wearing fist onto his free palm, “...no matter what it takes.”
Marco stayed alert, preparing himself for when the three of them would strike. He shoved the drive deep into his suit pocket and prepared for a fight. Down below, the emcee was about to begin the first round of musical chairs.

Then - loud music blasted throughout the whole venue.

Wildfire went in and threw a volley of punches at Marco. He saw every punch coming and either dodged or blocked them right on time, signaling to all of them that he would not go down without a fight. He quickly kicked him to a nearby table with all his might. As he did so, Marco was blindsided by Heatwave, who ran up and tackled him over the table, toppling it over and pulling the tablecloth off. Glasses and plates crashed to the floor as the two landed on the ground. Marco quickly got up again, but Overclock was there waiting. He punched Marco in the side with the gauntlet, sending him falling far away.

Although in quite some pain, Marco managed to prop himself back up with a nearby table. He grabbed a nearby plate and tossed it at Overclock, but he managed to shatter it mid-air, sending plate fragments raining down the sides of him. At that very moment, the music blaring in the background cut out, and all the attendees down below were yelling and cheering as they saw who managed to sit on the chairs and who didn’t. Overclock realized they’d all have to be quiet when fighting whenever this happened. However, Marco managed to disappear while they were momentarily distracted by the plate smashing. He’d managed to get under the table and crawl under another.

Overclock, Wildfire, and Heatwave all split up to look under the tables and find Marco. They frantically lifted all the tablecloths to find him, but then Overclock saw one move. He made a quiet gesture to Wildfire and Heatwave that he’d found him. He slowly walked up to the table and lifted the tablecloth, but he ended up getting a faceful of Marco’s shoe. Right then, the music went back on full blast and the game below continued. As Overclock clutched his face in pain, Wildfire went under the table and grabbed Marco’s foot, to which Marco held onto the giant middle table leg to stop him from getting pulled in. He kicked Wildfire in the face, breaking his grip and allowing Marco to come out from under the table.

The moment he did, Heatwave grabbed him and threw him onto another table, flipping over and shattering even more glasses and plates. He grabbed one of the broken wine glasses on the floor and began using it to take swings at Marco, who carefully dodged them and kept his distance. He soon ran back into a table and was about to get stabbed by Heatwave when he thought of something. He grabbed the tablecloth and held it up in front of him, stopping the glass from making contact. With that, he threw the part of the tablecloth he grabbed, sending the glass straight to the ground.

Marco quickly kicked Heatwave’s left leg, tripping him and making him fall to the fragment-laden ground. However, he ran into Overclock again, who was about to swing his gauntlet again. Thinking fast, Marco grabbed a nearby fallen table and rolled it in front of him. Overclock punched the table with such force that a piece of it broke, sending splinters flying everywhere. At that point, Wildfire had gotten back up and was ready to take another shot. He grabbed Marco and threw him across the second floor towards the balconies, right as the music cut out. In a lot of pain but still managing to bear through it, Marco limped towards one of the balconies.

The balcony had two wooden doors leading to it that were opened inward, with the balcony itself not being very spacious, only fitting three people at most.
Marco propped himself on the stone railing and prepared to face them once more. He grabbed the left door and swung it back as hard as he could to hit a charging Wildfire, which worked. He then kicked Heatwave, who was attempting to approach from the right. Marco tried to run away from the balcony, but both Wildfire and Heatwave managed to grab him and throw him back. Heatwave went out to the balcony and cornered Marco, dealing a right to his face and a left to his side, just like in the 3rd Floor Audi.

As Marco tried to walk away, Wildfire came in and pushed him, sending him over the railing and hanging on for dear life. He tried to set his foot on the edge of the balcony, but he was not succeeding. Wildfire and Heatwave both backed off, letting Overclock come forward.
“Look Marco, we can do this the easy way…or the hard way,” Overclock taunted as he smashed his gauntlet down near his hands, which were still barely clinging on, cracking the balcony railing slightly. Marco desperately looked for an escape to the situation, but he couldn’t find any.
“Hard way it is!” Overclock called out as he smashed his gauntlet, nearly crushing Marco’s left hand had he not moved it inward in time. He did the same thing to Marco’s right hand, making it so that both of his hands were now in one spot.

As it seemed like all hope was lost, Marco got an idea. Right before Overclock was about to crush both of his hands, Marco let go and kicked the balcony with all his strength. Outside the venue was a garden, and Marco ended up landing safely in the shrubs. Out of breath, he quickly got out of the shrubs, not minding that his suit was now filthy - only being thankful that he survived with no major injuries. As Marco ran off, Overclock smashed the balcony again out of frustration. Marco managed to escape his grasp.