Six Warriors

Iron Lord - (Miguel)

That had been a good idea of Fenrir, in that academy clubs were like alliances, it would be a good alternative to get information faster and not need to unite those guys, their declared enemies. The Phantom Lord engulfed the members of the former g**g of Odaiv, including its leaders, Odaiv himself, and those friends of his, Paul and Pablo. Who knew that guy would be an ally? Everything seemed to be going well, but apparently Fenrir's application to become one of the official clubs was turned down, which was to be expected as he soon made enmity with Monique Spellon, vice president of the Student Council.

The alternative was to become one of the unofficial clubs, which were basically seen as mere gangs at that institution, in addition, a newbie club would need to be sponsored by a club that had already been approved by other unofficial clubs and this sponsorship would come by some Boarders, a club that rode those flying skateboards or something, basically a g**g of air skaters. From what he understood, Phantom Lord found an ally, but this alliance came at a price, since one of the most powerful official clubs had problems with the Boarders, that is, Phantom Lord had barely emerged and was already under the gaze of the powerful.

With that in mind, Miguel still wore a club ID, it was a black reaper-patterned bandanna covered in a purple aura. He and Stanis were now heading to the headquarters of that den of confusion, which Miguel was beginning to regret joining. Miguel already imagined that. Lately Seraphim hung around with them a lot. When they got there, the headquarters was crowded with students. In a corner of the wall, there was a list with the names of all the members of the club, and Miguel noticed that the numbers reached eighty although there were about thirty in the place. Sam was there, along with Fenrir, as well as Ethan and Arthur.

"Miguel and Stanis" Fenrir smiled when he saw them.

"So what? What happened?" Miguel asked, "What went wrong with your brilliant plan?"

"Nothing went wrong, just a few setbacks."

Then the doors opened abruptly. It was Jack.

"Have you guys ever gotten into trouble again?" he asked breathlessly.

Fenrir chuckled briefly.

"Courtesy of our friend Sam," he said patting his friend's shoulder.

"Dude, I had to help this girl" Sam said "I...I...I feel something for her."

"Wasn't it Brunella you felt something for?" Miguel asked laughing.

"Yeah...but...this time it's different, I think."

"So that's it," Fenrir said, "the Boarders will sponsor us, after all, our friend Sam here made a point of helping them in the fight against none other than Iron Fist. Katy warned me about them, they're one of the stronger from here."

The place was noisy, full of rumbles, laughter and things like that.

"Maybe we can't get a talk to them?" Miguel suggested.

"You're right" Fenrir agreed "we won't fight for no reason."

"I don't know " Sam interjected, "I don't think they're talkative."

"Nonsense. Who's going to go with me to try to get along with them? Sam?"

"No thanks."

"Miguel? Stanis?"

"Come on then" Miguel sighed "just assure me I won't come back dead."

"Relax, it's alright. Let's go."

A Boarders member showed us where Iron Fist's headquarters were located. It was a metal construction, with welds and screws, and a small sign that read "Iron Fist." Two boys who were leaning against the building looked at them.

"What do you want here?" one of them asked.

"We want to talk to your leader." Miguel replied.

"Huh? What do you want with our leader? Brats leave before you get a good beating."

"I don't want to finish you guys" Fenrir smiled "I just want to talk to your leader." Then he made an alien signal with his hand, "Take us to your leader."

"What did you say?" One of the guys wanted to step foward at Fenrir, but stopped at once, seeming to look at something frightening. Miguel turned, and saw a guy who was bigger than he was, and much sturdier, with thick brown dreadlocks, brown skin, a bulging forehead and no sign of eyebrows, with a scar that stretched to his face, a wide mouth and a double chin. An evil smile was plastered on his face, who stared at the boys incessantly. He wore a tank top, camouflaged cargo shorts, and a gray cap on his head.

"What do you want with me?" He asked in a deep, husky voice. For a moment the three boys were silent, as if thinking “we're screwed,” but then Fenrir began to speak.

"Are you the leader of Iron Fist?"

"Yes. I am Gartham Brutebear, the Iron Lord!"

That man's cry out was able to make Miguel's hair stand on end.

"Uh… Nice to meet you Iron Lord. I'm Fenrir, and those with me are Miguel and Stanis. We really want to talk to you, can we?" 

Gartham gave Fenrir a ghastly look, as if to say "who does this kid think he is?" Miguel thought if Gartham and Fenrir faced off, Gartham might simply rip Fenrir in two. However, what Gartham said was simply:

"Of course! Come in!" The boys entered right after Gartham and two of his henchmen. The Iron Lord sat on a metal chair upholstered with green cushions, like a small throne. "Sit down!" Gartham spoke and the boys sat down. “Bring our friends a drink here, some tea!” Immediately, cups of tea were set for the three boys, and a pot of tea was set for Gartham. “I love tea!” He said smiling silly.

"Please let me go!" Miguel heard a desperate voice scream from a deeper place in the place. "Please, I swear I learned my lesson, please!"

"Sir, I'm sorry to interrupt," said a boy in the g**g, "but the guy doesn't stop yelling, he says he'll do what you ask, but let him go as a gift."

"Bring him here!" Gartham ordered dismissively. A boy wearing a dirty and wrinkled gym uniform appeared being dragged along by two g**g members. He had a tearful look in his eyes, he wore crooked glasses and on his right arm he had a yellow armband on which there was a symbol and inscriptions "Well, well, if you're not the mister authority. Tell me, have you thought about it enough?"

"Y-yes. Please, please, I'll do everything, let me go!"

"Go, but I hope you learned your lesson, or if you didn't…"

"Yes sir. Thank you, thank you" the boy then ran away from that place.

"Not to meddle too much, Iron Lord," Miguel said, "but wasn't that a student inspector?"

"Yes" Gartham then chuckled, "they think they have some authority, but they're just idiots!" He laughed even more. The three boys looked at each other in fright. "So, tell me, what do you want with me? Just don't tell me you're members of the Boarders" Gartham pounded the metal wall hard enough to dent it "when I think about those bastards I want to break them quite!" He growled for a while, but then laughed again "Say it!"

Miguel looked at his friends. Stanis was stunned and in a cold sweat, he wiped the beads of sweat off his forehead with the inside of his hand. Fenrir had a strange expression on his face that Miguel hoped wasn't a smile. Please, not be a smile! But then Fenrir smiled.

"Of course, if we were the Boarders we wouldn't be dumb enough to come here."

"Great, that's good!" Gartham replied.

"We are from the Phantom Lord" at this moment, Miguel spat all the tea he had in his mouth, eyes wide, not believing Fenrir. In a cold sweat, he expected Gartham to get up in a rage and beat them right there, but the Iron Lord just sat there, looking confused.

"Who?" He asked not understanding anything.

"Phantom Lord, my liege," growled a boy who was standing beside Gartham. He was a boy of medium height, with brown hair that fell down his face, forehead and bristled in the back, looking always serious, with brown eyes, rounded and almond shaped. Pointing a finger at Fenrir, he continued "they were the ones who helped this Boarders! They were the ones who challenged us!"

"How is it?" Gartham growled, looking annoyed, "they are very brave to come here in these conditions!

"Easy there, Iron Lord," Fenrir said, "if you let me explain everything, you'll see that it was all a misunderstanding."

"It didn't seem like a misunderstanding" The other boy spoke irritably.

"Let him speak, Jaden," Gartham growled, "let's see what the skinny little boy has to say."

"Well, it's true that our friend fought some of the Iron Fist guys and helped the Boarders, but he did it in sheer ignorance."

"Ignorance?" Jaden asked, raising an eyebrow as if in doubt.

"Yes, ignorance," Fenrir was already up and walking freely around the place, "you see, when I arrived at this school, I was warned right away; 'don't mess with Iron Fist, they're high manace'…"

"It's true, it's true!" Gartham laughed pointing to the chosen one of darkness, "we are really dangerous, our fame precedes us, that's true!"

"Well then" Fenrir continued, "I was lucky to know of the terrible fame of the mighty Iron Fist club, but our friend Sam may not have, it's difficult as the fame of this terrible club reaches even outside school, but here comes another detail; our friend Sam is kind of dumb about these things, I actually tell an exclusive secret now, his IQ is slightly below average, so maybe he messed with his henchmen, not understanding with the terrible forces it stirred."

"Hm," growled Gartham thoughtfully, which struck Miguel as a funny scene, like a Neanderthal questioning something he didn't understand, "so maybe I can consider it." Was he really going to believe that Fenrir bullshit? If anyone had a below-average IQ there, he was that guy.

"Wait, there's more. Did I say there was a girl in the middle of this story?"

"A girl?"

"That's it, a pretty girl in the style Sam likes" and what type does he not like?, Miguel thought "extreme sports fan, extrovert. Sam did this crazy thing, for the girl, the girl he's liking at the moment, in other words, a crazyness for love! Who has never done one?"       

 "Oh!" Gartham exclaimed "It's true, it's true!" He chuckled "I've done a lot of mistakes for a nice pair of legs, ha, ha, ha!"

"Who didn't?" Fenrir laughed too.

"There was one time… Come here, come here." Fenrir went to meet the big man, who was whispering a few things to him, and then the two of them were laughing like old friends. After a while of this, Fenrir returned to his seat and took a sip of iced tea.

"I don't think they really wanted to face me, did they?" Gartham asked.

"Of course not, who would be crazy enough? You are the pure power, while us simple newbies who would by no means be a match for such a powerful club."

"That's true!" Gartham chuckled "you are weak! We are strong! It's okay, no more fear, you're free from our fury!"

"Much generosity of you, Iron Lord."

"Sir, this is nonsense!" Yelled Jaden "can't you see he's deceiving you?"

"Deceiving?!" Gartham roared.

"Oh," Fenrir said, before covering his mouth.

"Oh what?!" Gartham asked in a thunderous voice.

"Nothing, nothing. I was just thinking…"

"Say it!" The Iron Lord ordered hitting his desk and knocking everything that was on it, "Say it now, or I'll rip you in two!"

"Well, if I may… deceiving? What did he mean by that? That the big Iron Fist club would be no match for the simple clubs that ask for clemency?"

"How dare you?!"

"Why, it's not me who says it, but his own man who spoke. Furthermore, he suggested that the great and mighty Gartham Brutebear, the Iron Lord, leader of one of the biggest gangs in the school, if not the biggest, be fooled for a simple and fool novice? Am I right, Mr Jaden?"

"Is that right, Jaden?" Roared Gartham.

"N-no my lord… J-just…"

"SO SHUT UP! When I ask you for advice, you give it to me. I think I can fix that, don't you think Jaden?"

"Y-yes sir. Sorry sir."

"Excellent!" Gartham then looked at Fenrir and chuckled, "I like him, despite his fragile appearance, there's something about his face... I don't know, there's something in this boy's aura that's dark, it's ghastly and evil" Gartham chuckled once more "okay , Fenrir may go. If anyone threatens you, come to me. Fear no one at this academy, not even Garm am I being clear?" Gartham chuckled "now go!"

Miguel, Fenrir, and Stanis greeted Gartham once more before turning to leave, but the Iron Lord said one more thing;

"Just promise me one thing. No involving the council in this ok? I hate those bastards! Don't involve the council in this!"

"Yes, Iron Lord. Not only is your strength legendary, but your wisdom" Fenrir smiled and left with his friends.

...

"Did he say that?" Arthur asked, looking annoyed.

"Yes" Miguel replied.

"And you didn't do anything Fenrir?"

Fenrir was sitting on a wooden chair, cross-legged, throwing an object some darts at a target that was on one of the wooden pillars of that structure that served as a meeting place for the members of the Phantom Lord. Fenrir smirked at Arthur.

"How did I do nothing?" He asked "I freed our clubs from a fight with a strong man with just small talk. Is that nothing to you?"

"I'm talking about action!" Arthur looked upset "you made us look like a bunch of wimpy cowards! I'm not that!"

"Arthur, Arthur. Don't you think we're in too much trouble to care? We've gotten into a lot of fights, haven't we? how about we take a break?"

"It's okay I don't approve of wanton violence," Ethan said, "but he underestimated us a lot, and I hate that sort of thing."

"Even you, Ethan?" Fenrir stood up and addressed his friends "our goal here is not to get into fights with gangs of juvenile delinquents, remember? We need to concentrate on this task of finding the magic scrolls or whatever, or else we won't be able to go home, do you understand that? It's in our hands, nobody else's."

"The boy is right" the girl named Emma agreed "there was no need to fight one of the most dangerous clubs in the academy. He did well." She smiled at him, "hey boy thanks."

"No matter what they say, we could beat them, Fenrir!" Jack growled "I'm tired of always being treated like a weak i***t, now I have the strength to fight and I just stand still?"

"We don't need to prove anything to anyone, understand?" Fenrir replied to Jack, "Approval has to come from within you Jack, if you believe that you have changed and that you are now strong, there is no need for others to say it for you, no need for you to be told what you already knew."

"There is wisdom in Fenrir's words," Miguel said approvingly, "and in his actions as well. He's right, unnecessary fights would lead us astray, besides, that council girl, Monique, hates Fenrir and so she he hates all of us with him. Let's stay calm and look for information calmly."