I may have bit off more than I can chew.

"Please tell me they don't know Karate," I mumbled under my breath. I took one final deep inhalation, and readied myself for this. Time to look tough. Provided I just played the part, I should be able to defuse the situation.

"No," Akari chuckled. "And neither do I, just in case you were thinking it."

"Great..." I stepped around the corner and tried to take in the situation.

My eyes flitted rapidly around the concrete parking space. Most of the lot was full, but only a few feet away two men sat on bikes while a third pressed a tall woman against the wall. It looked like they had cornered her with their motorcycles, and were still revving them occasionally. A third bike sat right in the middle of the parking structure, looking like it was parked rapidly.

The two guys on bikes wore black leather jackets with Kanji symbols on them. What immediately struck me as out of place was their hairstyles. They looked like they had taken the James Dean look and turned it up to eleven with their sideburns and greased pompadours. Their attention was solely on the couple against the wall.

Against the wall, a shorter man grasped Mariko by the lapels of her vintage jacket. He spoke rapid Japanese at her, and every once in a while there would be a word thrown in in English. Upon one word the two guys on bikes revved their engines in agreement.

That word was ‘Dyke’.

"HEY!" I shouted at them, when a pause in the conversation presented itself. All three of the guys turned to look at me, the two on bikes twisting and the guy assaulting Mariko releasing her to turn my direction. My gaze roamed over the woman against the wall. She looked similar to the other three, but had strongly feminized the look. While the leather jacket and James Dean look was there, she didn't wear the hairstyle, instead her now disarrayed hair usually looked like the picture of a 50's love interest. It looked like her jacket had been pulled open, and the rest of her clothes also looked molested, but the thing that made my blood surge was the red mark on her cheek. I knew that one from countless assholes I'd had to stick a rear naked **** on. He'd hit her.

"What the fuck do you want, Man?" Spoke the man nearest to Mariko in perfect California English. He had the classical Japanese features, but he didn't have the same hairstyle as the others, and in fact he looked more like an actual Bike Gang member. He wasn't stepping away from her, but he had let her go. Not a good sign. Meant the guy was thinking ahead, and I knew I had to defuse the situation before he realized that he and his goons had the advantage. "Can't a guy talk to his old lady without some fucking white racist asshole..."

"Yakamashii!" Akari shouted at him. "You fucking Hit Mariko, and NO I wasn't going to get my cute friend."

"You lying Bitch." One of the guys on bikes looked over at me and his eyes darted towards the exit. "Hey wait, you a cop?"

"No, He's not a fucking cop, dumbass, he's a bouncer." The other nameless asshole rolled his eyes and nonchalantly yanked a cigarette from behind his ear. He slowly and deliberately pulled a classic Zippo lighter from his pocket before lighting his cigarette. "Yo Mikey, if he called the cops we ain't got much time. I say we take him down and go."

"Yeah... Just walk away man. This doesn't concern you."

He glared at me and pulled himself up to his full height. Shit shit shit shit shit. This is exactly the opposite of how things are supposed to go. The good news was that they were directly challenging me. That means their attention wasn't on Mariko, so if she kept her head, this could still go well. Both of the guys on bikes turned off their engines and looked to be about to get off and back Michael's play.

If I walked away, I abandoned Mariko to whatever these guys wanted to do to her. If on the other hand I challenged them, I was looking a potential serious ass beating. First thing they taught us about getting into these situations was DON'T. Of course I could always keep trying to talk it out, and hope that Akari could run for another bouncer or two.