King of Downtown

The King of Downtown

          Downtown. No matter what time you find yourself walking the streets, be it day or night, the action never stops. The half a million lights, neon reflections and towering LCD billboards light your way like a summer day.  If you're lucky enough to remember, it's a lot like one part Times Square on New Year's eve and one part Vegas strip club. Downtown is so bright, you can stare at the Crown Square sign and almost remember what it was like to see the sun without UV protectors.  A word to the wise though, Downtown isn't the place to run your mouth. Not unless you can back it up. If you don't believe me, just ask around about The King of Downtown.

         Consider this a cautionary tale for all you up and comers trying to make a name in Sunrise City.  Not so long ago, there was loud mouthed, braggart, son of a Rogue who shall remain nameless for good reason. This fellow got exactly what he asked for. Anyone from back in the day knows who he is. He made a big noise in Downtown taking contract hits for the Tsinto Dragons. Ao Xiang-Ti and old man Oyanagi started asking for him personally. Before long, he was on the top of the most wanted list. He billed himself an assassin for hire. After a record number of jobs, he began browbeating other hustlers with his alleged Black ops training in stealth, martial arts and firearms. He even had a questionable, almost superhuman accuracy with his Exeter Marquis SR. For about a month he strolled the streets near Fu's Ho Ho, talking rubbish about how someday soon he would run the whole show in Sunrise City.

         Well before too long, he had his own sizable crew of thugs and warriors running with him. His lot was taking a big chunk of action out of the disputed zones around Downtown. Needless to say Mr. Oyanagi wasn't happy. Within a week, everyone in Downtown is gunning for this wanker on direct orders from Ao Xiang-Ti. Normally this would be a signed, sealed and delivered death wish for anyone unlucky enough to be on the receiving end of the order. The only hitch was, no one could get close enough to punch this guy's ticket. Take my word for it, I tried. Rumors started to circulate that this guy had some sort of edge. He was using some gear or boost that no one else could get their hands on, helping him make short work of his would be usurpers.

The fame and notoriety went straight to his head. One day while old man Oyanagi was out for his daily constitutional, that cocky bastard bribed the Municipality a pretty penny and broke the no fire treaty. He took a pot shot at Oyanagi from a top the Crown Square sign. The shot missed Oyanagi's face by an inch and blasted the clove cigarette from his mouth.  The sound of the shot cut through the hustle of the streets and for the first and only time, all of downtown stopped. Having everyone's attention, the little grouser hijacked the Municipality's emergency broadcast P.A system and proclaimed himself the King of Downtown. He made his point very clear. If he could get to Oyanagi, he could get to anyone. So his first proclamation was that if another threat was attempted on him or his men, a high ranking member of the family that issued the attack would die.

Well it ends up the punk wasn't as well read as he claimed. In fact he wasn't black ops at all. He was a tech geek. He was nothing more than a computer hacker running a game. This bloke was using illegal military targeting hardware hotwired to a combat Aug chip to effectively make himself a god. Before the big crash, information was power. In Sunrise City though, power is power and Oyanagi and Tsinto Dragons have it in spades. The Tsinto Dragons paid Kibby a small fortune to do some research and get a way around the system. Kibby came back with the solution. A microwave scrambler that would take out his targeting system. Well long story short, Oyanagi issued a challenge to The King of Downtown. Oyanagi's  best six hired guns against the King and his lot. The winner would get undisputed rights to the Downtown disputed zones. To cut to the chase, the battle began, the team set off the scrambler and I saw the King camping on the far side of Olympia Mills.  I put the hole in his crown myself. 

Oyanagi wasn't through though, he had Kibby outfit the Municipality with a larger range scrambler to ensure this would never happen again. Oh and as for the King of Downtown, Oyanagi hung his royal corpse for all to see, in the most fitting place you can imagine for a king... the Crown Square sign.