Renegades: Battlegrounds.-Chapter 40: Fourteen Against One

The fourteen bikers moved as one. No honor. No one-on-one. Just an overwhelming force.

Ren’s trash can lid shot up, deflecting a chain swing. The metal rang like a bell but three more were already on him.

A fist from the left caught him right in the temple. Stars exploded across his vision. A kick from the right landed on his already-injured ribs. A baseball bat smashed against his shoulder blade, pain shooting down his arm.

"Too many.. can’t track them all. "

But he couldn’t think about that. He could only react.

The first biker rushed in close and Ren’s boot slammed into his kneecap with a satisfying crunch. The man went down screaming. The second came in; Ren sidestepped, using the narrow alley to redirect the biker straight into the brick wall.

The biker hit it hard and slumped, dazed.

A wooden crate sat near the café’s back door. Ren kicked it hard, sending it sliding into another biker’s legs. The man tripped and hit the ground hard. Three down but eleven still standing.

"Keep moving. Use the environment. They can’t all attack at once in this narrow space. "

But they were learning. Coordinating.

"Two at a time! Pin him against the wall!" barked the new leader.

A chain wrapped around Ren’s ankle, yanking him down. He went down hard, palms scraping concrete. A boot slammed into his stomach—air exploded from his lungs. Another boot hit his back.

Ren felt hands grab his jacket, hauling him up.

His elbow shot back blindly, connecting with something soft. A grunt. The hands let go. He spun, desperate, and saw it—

A broken bottle near the dumpster. Jagged. Dangerous.

His hand reached out for it.

"No. "

He pulled back. That was too far. That wasn’t fighting. That was trying to kill someone.

It cost him though. A punch caught him in the jaw for hesitating. His head snapped back. A kick to the leg. Another punch blurred his vision.

He sank to one knee, breathing hard. Blood in his mouth, vision swimming. Around him, the bikers circled like sharks.

"Not so tough now, are you?" the new leader said, signaling the gang. "Finish him. Then we deal with the girl."

Pressed against the café wall, Aoi screamed. "Stop! You’re killing him!"

"Almost done.. " the leader’s voice cut her off.

Aoi couldn’t just stand there. Couldn’t just watch.

She bolted, trying to run past the motorcycles toward the street, toward help.

A biker caught her arm, yanking her back. "Where you think you’re going, sweetheart?"

"Let go!" Aoi struggled, arms windmilling, stumbling backward toward the street opening.

One of the young bikers, drunk on violence, made a decision. He mounted his motorcycle and revved the engine. "Fuck this. Let’s end it."

He twisted the throttle and the bike surged forward, aimed directly at Ren.

Aoi saw it happen in slow motion. The motorcycle. Ren on his knees, barely conscious. The distance closing in on him.

"No!" She screamed, breaking free from her captor, running not away from danger but towards it. Towards Ren.

"He saved me. Twice. I can’t let him die. "

Ren looked up through his blurry vision and saw the motorcycle coming, it’s headlight blazing engine screaming. Then he saw it, Aoi running into the path of the motorcycle. "No. Not her. Anyone but her. "

Adrenaline flooded his system. Ren lurched to his feet, ignoring the bikers, ignoring the pain and sprinted. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

Three steps is all it took.

He hit Aoi in a tackle, his arms wrapping around her. Momentum carried them both sideways. The motorcycle roared past where they’d been standing, just inches away. They hit the ground rolling. Ren on top, body shielding Aoi’s.

The bike swerved wildly, out of control and crashed. The bike slammed into a parked car. Destroyed the front panel. Car alarm immediately blaring, piercing the night.

Ren and Aoi lay on the ground. Not moving.

"Ren...?" Aoi murmured, dazed.

Ren tried to move, to get off her but she screamed. "AAAAH—"

Her left arm bent at an unnatural angle, trapped underneath her when they’d fallen.

It was broken.

Ren rolled off immediately, horror flooding through him.

"Don’t move! Don’t—" Ren gasped

Blood streamed from Aoi’s forehead. A cut where her head had hit the pavement during the fall. Head wounds always bled heavily. It looked worse than it probably was.

But her arm was definitely broken. And her eyes were unfocused. Dazed.

"It hurts... it hurts so much..." She cried, tears streaming down her face. She was in alot of pain and shock

"I did this. I couldn’t protect her. She’s hurt because of me. "

Something inside Ren snapped. He stood slowly, every movement sending pain through his body, but he didn’t care anymore.

The remaining bikers—eight still standing, the young one who’d crashed groaning by the wrecked car—watched him rise. There was something different now. His eyes cold, empty, as if he’d gone somewhere inside himself.

"They hurt her. Because of him. Because he hadn’t been strong enough. Never again. "

The new leader stepped forward, bat raised. "You just made this worse for—"

Ren charged. No warning. No stance. Just pure violence.

His fighting style shifted completely. No defense. No technique. All offense.

Brutal. Efficient. Aimed to hurt.

First biker in his path—Ren’s elbow shot up, caught him in the temple. The biker’s eyes rolled back. Down he went.

The second swung a chain—Ren stepped inside the swing, knee to groin. The biker doubled over, vomiting.

The third rushed him—palm strike to the nose. It crunched. Blood sprayed. The biker screamed, hands to his face.

Two more down.

The new leader swung his bat—Ren caught it mid-swing. Bare hands. The impact should have broken his fingers.

But he didn’t feel it.

He ripped the bat from the leader’s hands, threw it aside. Three rapid punches—face, throat, solar plexus. The leader hit the ground, gasping.

"What the fuck—" The terrified biker tried to run. Ren grabbed his jacket, spun him around, struck him in the jaw. Once. Twice. Three times. The biker crumpled.

"Okay, okay! We’re done! We’ll leave!" the park leader said, backing away.

Ren advanced silently. Methodical. "I’m serious! We’re gone!" the man insisted.

But Ren wasn’t listening anymore.

Ren stood over the fallen bikers, chest heaving. Blood on his knuckles, not all of it his own. Six bikers on the ground, groaning or unconscious. Two more backing away slowly, hands raised.

And then—

A vision overlaid reality.

Same alley but different. Darker.

Ren stood in the same spot. Covered in more blood. So much blood. Bodies around him. Not moving. Not groaning.

Broken.

Aoi’s voice behind him, scared, horrified. "Ren... what have you done?"

Ren turned, hands shaking. "I didn’t have a choice. They were going to—"

Aoi backed away from him. "You... you killed them..."

SNAP and back to reality he went. Ren staggered, the vision releasing him, dropping to his knees, shaking.

"What... what was that? "

"Another vision? "

"Like before? "

"But that was... that was me... and it felt so real. "

The car alarm blaring, Aoi crying behind him, pain flooding back into his awareness.

And then—

Movement.

The new leader, still on the ground, had reached into his jacket. Pulled out a pocket knife.

"Fuck you..." He lunged from the ground, his blade flashing.

Ren tried to move—too slow, still dazed from the vision. The knife slashed across his left ankle. Hot pain. Blood immediately soaking his sock.

Ren gasped. "—ah—"

Behind the leader, another biker—one Ren had thought was down—jumped to his feet, baseball bat raised high, aimed at his skull. Full swing. Intent to kill.

" can’t dodge it. Too slow. Too hurt. This is it. "

Time slowed. The bat descended. He was on his knees, bleeding, defenseless. Aoi screamed his name.

"I’m sorry, Aoi. "

"I tried. "

The bat came down.