86 Chapter 86:

Ace went into the elevator, and pressed the button to the eleventh floor. He stood calmly, waiting for the elevator to take him up. He was alone in the elevator, some sort of lo-fi music playing through the speakers embedded in the top corners.

As the elevator's doors opened, he was met by a young lady, who smiled at him, "Hello! I am Mr Jobbings' assistant. Please come with me.", she spoke in a cheery and energetic fashion. Speedily walking on her high heels, while telling Ace about how happy Mr Jobbings was that he had come to see him.

Ace just responded calmly when needed, and focused his attention on observing things. There seemed to be quite a few workers here, and the assistant explained that the people that worked on this floor were mostly those who were in contact with agents. As of now, they had no movies going on, so it was pretty relaxed, but that could all change with one phone call, so they had to be ready at all times.

They stopped in front of his office, and when the assistant knocked and opened the door, she waved Ace in.

"Go, go! He is waiting.", she smiled encouragingly, and then closed the door behind him.

The office was quite a simple one, not what Ace had been expecting, a stand on the sides with various prizes, framed newspaper cuttings, pictures, and various other mementoes. Mr Jobbings was sitting on an ample leather chair, on the other side of a wooden desk. Ace was about to sit on the chair in front, but stopped when the man stood up and motioned to sit on the couches that had been placed to one side of the room.

"Good morning, before we begin, do you want anything to eat or drink?"

"No thank you.", Ace declined politely, and the man nodded, "Ok, so, there is a very simple reason as to why I asked you to come. I want you to work for me.", the man said this, and sat back, looking at Ace's reaction, he gave none.

"I know.", Ace said nothing more

"Ok, I figured you would. The facts are the following, I want to make a movie with you. Honestly, anything you take part in will most likely have moderate success, since you are pretty well known now, and have a sizable following.", the man said this, and again observed Ace's reaction, and again, he gave none.

"I understand, what exactly is the movie you wish for me to take part in?", Ace asked

"Well you see, it's actually about…"

********************

Ace left the office with a pensive look on his face. The offer was a good one, but he would have to do a lot of research and consideration before he even bothered to look at the contract. This jump would not be small, and if the time was not now, then the jump could very well cause him to fall.

He went back down, and after asking about how the game went, and saying goodbye to the receptionist, he got on his skateboard and made his way to the park. He knew that John and the others were there already, so he made his way there directly.

Once he got there, he found quite a few people, but it was not as packed as he had expected it to be. It was quite cold, but today was a lot warmer than usual, so Ace thought that more people would have come.

He spotted John and Ray waiting by the side of a ramp, and made his way there.

"Hey, guys! What are you doing?", Ace asked

He had sneaked upon them, so both John and Ray jumped when they heard his voice, "Ace sh*t, you scared me.", Ray said. Ace laughed and pointed out, "You weren't the only one."

John was looking at him in mock anger, before he broke into laughter too. "CJ is trying something new, so we were just waiting for him to go."

"Ah cool, what is it he is trying?", Ace asked, while looking to the beginning point of the ramp, waiting to see when CJ would go.

"No idea, he just said it would be 'epic'.", John said.

"Well, there he goes."

The ramp was pretty steep, but since it began in the bottom half of a bowl, people got enough momentum to get through it and make whatever jump they wished to make. There were also a few mats to lessen the impact, since a bad fall from such heights could put you out of commission.

The saw CJ's figure dash through the bowl, and go up the ramp, then, he bent his knees some more, and grabbed the front of the board with his left hand. As he made the jump, he picked up the board with his left hand, and with a dexterous flick of the wrist, slid it along his back, until the other end of it met his awaiting right hand, then, the board was once again put in place before the landing on the mats, which he nailed, considering he was landing on foam, not the most stable of surfaces.

The people-watching whooped and cheered, and the three made their way to the mats to meet CJ.

"Dammm, that's was some dope sh*t man. You even managed to hit the landing pretty well too!", Ray said, excitedly chattering away, probably looking forward to trying it herself.

"Yep, cool stuff man.", John put both of his thumbs-up, while Ace nodded and helped CJ up.

"Well, I have some stuff I want to try myself, so why don't we-", John's statement was cut short by a scream, and they looked to where it had come from, and saw a pretty big crowd, circled around.

"Sh*t, what's going on?", Ray said

They ran there, and made their way to the front of the crowd, where they saw a group of 4, three guys and a girl, badgering another girl.

"So what, you think you can just take the board?", one of the guys said, and kicked her leg, CJ was ready to jump in, but Ace held him back, "Wait, let's figure out what is going on.", they asked one of the girls next to them, "She apparently bought the board they had been looking for a while, so when they saw it, they tried to take it from her, and that is when she shouted, now, they are just hitting her. Some sick sh*t honestly."

Surprisingly, no one seemed to be videotaping this, probably since most people did not skate with their phones on them, and they were probably in the lockers for bags and stuff. However, no one had said anything.

"We go?", John asked, and both CJ and Ray nodded, while Ace just sighed, "F*ck it."

"Ok, if we get into a fight, Ace, just stay behind me.", CJ said

"Don't worry, Ace knows how to handle himself.", John said, having heard the stories from Allison and the others

They made their ways inside the circle, CJ, John and Ray font and center, while Ace was just standing back.

"So, what do you think you douchebags are doing?", CJ asked, and people began to whisper excitedly

"Shut up and leave, d*mb*ass, unless you want to get the sh*t kicked out of you.", the bigger of the other four said, kicking the girl as if to highlight his point.

John sighed, "Look, just leave her alone, yeah? I'm sure we can get you another board."

"I'm sure you can, but I am also sure I will have to wait, I want it now."

"Wow, you are genuinely a baby.", Ray, said, causing some of the onlookers to laugh, and most to at least grin

"Shut up b*tch, if you know what is good for you.", the other girl said, while looking at Ray in a threatening manner.

"Well, if you won't leave…", the guy got close to CJ, and was about to hit him, but before he could even move a single finger, Ace made a move.

All this time, he had been slowly edging closer, so when the boy moved, Ace was already close to him, and had a clear view of him, with no one in front. Therefore, when he saw the boy attempt to hit CJ, he went into action.

He dashed in, and hit the guy in the belly with the font of his skateboard, then as he folded, he hit him in the face with his knee, and then kicked the legs from under him. The guy was on the floor in three seconds, and before anyone else could react, Ace had already dashed in front of the other two, he kicked one in the knee - hard. And then axe-kicked the back of his neck when he went down, this time softer so as to not break his neck, the boy fell on the floor. Then, with a flourish and a pivot, he hit a direct reverse turning kick on the other boy, knocking him out before he even met the floor.

All of this happened in less than 20 seconds, Ace had made use of brutality and surprise tactics to take out three people in less than a minute, while not even getting hit once. The people looking at them were shocked, and the girl was on the floor, trying to get one of the guys to stand up.

CJ and Ray were shocked, while John was just forlorn, and looking at the guys on the floor with pity. He walked to the girl and just said, "Take them home, and remember to be nicer to people next time."

The girl that had been beaten by the others, tried to stand up, and Ray helped her when she saw she was struggling. "Thank you, my name is Lina.", she said, her voice meek.

Ace smiled at her, a calm and joyful smile, "Ok Lina, come we will get you healed up quick. And don't forget your board!", he said, while smiling at her.

CJ was still pretty shocked about the whole thing, and went to ask John, but before he said anything, John began, "We will explain, but not know, after."

CJ nodded in understanding, and then went with the others, leading Lina to the first aid kit.

Ace and Ray patched her up quickly, "So, how did you learn first aid?", Ray asked, "Is that even a question?", Ace responded, to which Ray replied, "I guess not."

They both knew the schools they went to, and some things were pretty much a given.

"Well, you are patched up now, your body will be pretty sore tomorrow, and you will most likely have a few bruises, but it should not be too bad, since we put some anti-inflammatory gel on the places where you got hit. There does not seem to be any bad injuries, and they did not hit your ribs too much, so they should be ok, but I recommend you take it easy, and if the pain gets worse, go for a check-up.", Ray finished up, and explained a few things to her.

Then, in a soothing voice, Ace said, "I also recommend you tell your parents what happened. I know that it will seem pointless now, but it will help you avoid awkward questions, tell them that they got what they deserved. Going to the police will most likely be pointless, there was no CCTV in that area, and even if you know their names and what they look like, once they find out the full story, and realise that we beat them up back, nothing will be done, apart from maybe a fine."

"I understand, but I don't want to go to the police.", Lina said, her voice still soft, still hurting from the injuries.

"Ok, but make sure that whatever you do, you tell your parents, you did nothing wrong here, and if you have to go to the doctor for a checkup just in case, as I said, it will avoid a lot of weird questions for you."

"Ok, thank you, I should be going now.", she tried to get out of the infirmary bed, but Ray held her there softly.

"Hell no, we are taking you home, or at least, Ace is, I'll stay here to clean up.", then, to Ace she said, "You called right?"

He nodded, "Yep, should be here soon."

And indeed it was, he came after about a minute or so of waiting. Ace's chauffeur, in a black car. Ace and Ray helped Lina get in, and then Ace got on as well. Lina said goodbye to Ace, and he told Ray he would come back when done.

"So, where are we going?", she gave the address, and the chauffeur took the quickest route to get her home.

During the ride, they stayed in silence, Ace looking out of the window, and Lina looking around the car, and then at Ace.

When they got there, Ace helped her inside her home, her mother was there, and after a few minutes of explaining, Ace left, with a promise that he would come back for some cookies as thanks.

Ace smiled and then left, as soon as he got in the car, his demeanour changed, and he said to the chauffeur, "Get some people around her, if they come asking for trouble, warn them off and call the cops. Get me some info on who they are. The CCTV footage should be valid, and help you locate them."

Ace had lied. It was a necessary lie. Of course, there were CCTV cameras all around, Steve was smart, and it was private property. Ace, however, did not want Lina going to the cops, it would help no one. He had already collected the footage, and had Alfred get rid of any other copies, the camera would have malfunctioned for the whole morning, and parts of the afternoon.

Furthermore, Ace knew that the cops would not do anything, they had beaten the boys back, and Ace had ensured that they would be in pain for some time. It would only complicate things, so he had decided to lie to Lina, to ensure that she did as he wished.

He would ensure that if they ever came back looking for trouble, Lina would be protected, and the offenders would be put in jail for bogus charges. They had partaken in assault, and some judges may even consider the skateboards they had used as a weapon. And regardless, Ace couldn't care less about the whole thing, he just wanted Lina, his friends and him to be protected from any potential fiasco. John and Ray already understood, and CJ would once they explained it to him.

*********************

Once Ace got back, there were fewer people in the park, most likely gone home after the spectacle, just in case any cops came.

He found the other three in a bowl, just going through the motions, and talking about the whole thing, once Ace got there, CJ exploded, "What was that man? That was crazy! You totally owned them!", he had a huge proud smile on his face, as if his boy had finally grown up.

Ace smiled back, and went into the bowl, "I trained for a bit, and plus, they deserved it."

CJ nodded, "I agree, you won't get any aggro from me man. So, it's probably better not to go to the cops right? I mean, it would not be good for you guys, and my mom would go mental if she found out I was in another fight, even if I did not hit or get hit."

Ace was slightly surprised, but did not show it, "Yeah, it would be pretty annoying, nothing would happen, of course, but it would still be a pain in the ass, I deleted the footage from the camera, and put some protection on Lina."

"Good, if those *ssholes come back to hurt her, it should be ok right?", CJ asked

"Yep, it should be all good."

"Nice. But we have to talk man, when did you learn to do that man?"

Ace laughed and just brushed it off, while Ray said, "Come on, let's go for lunch, I'm buying today."

"Hell yeah!", John pumped his fist, and CJ imitated him, while Ray and Ace laughed, then, they skated out of the park.