Duke started to join with Oscar Mopp’s laughter just as a crash could be heard outside the hospital room door. Duke hesitated--not from fear but for fear that there was some business that wasn’t his business. “Go ahead, check it out.” Oscar Mopp waved his thumb several times in the direction of the door. Begrudgingly Duke walked to the door and peered into the corridor—and then another crash! Duke’s attention was drawn to a collection of teens males gathered outside a room several doors down. Duke recognized emblems on their jackets--Those hardtacks from 456th Street…The Strongarms. For a moment Duke kept his distance. He just wanted to observe in case nothing was going on but from the look at mess on the floor around the door’s entrance, trouble was just a few feet away. The 456th Street Strongarms were a menacing bunch, not necessarily due to their numbers but their cavalier attitude--they simply didn’t care. Duke could see a doctor talking to the four teens. He could tell he was asking them to leave. The request babbled on, feeding the steam pipe of anger. One of the Strongarms shoved the doctor out of the way and entered the room. The other three posted up as look-outs. …show more content…
He wanted to calm the situation before it escalated further. Dealing with teen gang members was nothing new to Duke. When he was with BCPD he broke up parties filled with out of controlled teenagers. Ironically, as a teen, Duke was one of them as well. There was a way to communicate with them and Duke hoped he remembered how. “What you comin’ this way for old man?” Duke realized he would have to adjust his communication style. He stepped closer to the three