Regal Royal Sandwiches. The restaurant for where you're upper class, hanging with the movers and

shakers or the lower class, slumming it with the alcoholics looking to cure their hangovers. This place

welcome anybody from all walks of life. To the Jackal it was like a slice of heaven in this terrible hell

called Redemption. The glowing yellow sign illuminated the streets like a beacon to all with hunger pains.

A woman waited in line so she can order something. She had long hair that went down her back, the

bottom half of the hair dyed in a vibrant pink. She was clearly fit from the six pack that her mid-drift cut black hoodie showed off. On the back of the hoodie obscured slightly by the hair, it showed where she

works at in neon pink .ZerotoHundred.

She had something else with her, an weapon that would keep her safe in these barely clean streets. But she had no intention of using it, at least she hoped she didn't have to use it.

She had just gotten off work and was free tomorrow so she can attend an therapy appointment. The sessions have been going well for her and she was making some progress, she thinks. There was a sturdy built man behind her, admiring her every curve. She could feel the man staring at her back, she

was used to it by this point. She tried to pay the man no mind as she went up to order.

"Hello Nat, the usual i assume." The goth woman who had her hair cut stylish short with black lipstick said behind the cash register.

"You know me so well Eliza!" Nat happily chirped as Eliza rung up the order for a Double Bacon

Cheeseburger with a chocolate milkshake topped with sprinkles. She felt some fingers ran through her

long hair. She jump forward, and turn to face the man who had an innocent smile on his face.

"Excuse me, can i help you?" Nat asked of the man who grinned wider now that he was looking at the full

picture. This was one fine piece of work his eyes was laying upon. It was clear that Nat was annoyed and a little frightened by her tone.

"Matter of fact you can, judging from the place you work at i can only guess you're good at curing loneliness." He said to her.

Nat raised her eyebrow, fully knowing what this man wanted.

"And what your point?" She asked politely.

"Come on, you really going to make me spell it out in front of the goth chick?" He asked slightly annoyed.

Nat wondered why did he care about basic etiquettes at all considering he was basically proposing her in

a restaurant to begin with?

Eliza was annoyed and was about to ask the man to leave and never come back here, but she saw

someone entered into the restaurant, she sighed. Knowing that this could go so many ways, none of them

good for her expectation of making it back to her crappy apartment early. And she know she didn't set the DVR to record EWF (Electrifying Wrestling Federation) so she was about to SOL.

"I'm sorry but I think you got the wrong woman." Nat told him and turned her back on him. He felt a hand

roughly grabbed her arm and yank her to face him.

"Where your matters sweetheart?" The man said with a smile on his face, but Nat could see the pure rage in his eyes.

"Let me go." She told him firmly, her voice a little shaky as she felt a sweat broke out across her back. Eliza decided to step in.

"Hey asshole! I'm going to have to call the cops on you if you don't-"

"You don't have to do that, we just having a nice conversation. Aren't we honey?" Her husband said as his grip got tighter.

She felt the walls spinning, her vision getting hazy. All she knew is that she needed to get away from him.

Nat pulled out her gun out of her holster and pointed at the bastard.

He let go of her and quickly put his hands up. The fear on his face giving her some satisfaction.

"Listen lady, I don't want no smoke, I'll leave." With that, he quickly exited the restaurant. Nat sighed and lowered her gun. She turn to Eliza.

"Sorry about that." Nat apologized, she really shouldn't be pulling out a gun every time somebody messes

with her. She just asking for someone to pull one back on her. And then what?

Eliza shakes her head and smiled.

"That asshole had it coming, no worries." Eliza told her calmly. Glad that Nat stuck up for herself.

"Well, well, well seems we got a new hero in Redemption." The Jackal said behind her as he came out

from the bathroom.

Nat was absolutely shocked to see him here. Eliza just rolled her eyes and smirked at one of her favorite if not a little corny customers.

"I was going to intervene but you seem to have it under control." The Jackal said happily as Nat laughs.

"I didn't know you ate here! Here get whatever you want! It on me!" Nat offered, The Jackal turned her

down.

"Nah, It fine. I'm glad everything is going well for you. I ran into your boss not too long ago." He told her casually.

Nat raised her eyebrows at this, surprised.

"Some mugger tried to hit her up for drug money. Can't have that! So i gave that mugger a piece of my mind." The Jackal explained to her jovially.

Nat nodded, knowing full well what the Jackal meant by piece of my mind. It was the same thing he said to her on that fateful night.

She stood there, trembling. The knife in her hand that she would use to persuade her husband not to hit

her. It always failed, as he overpowered her and she would get it ten times worst. Oh he knew not to hit

the face, that was the money maker after all. It was pain in the ass to cover it up decently as well, ate up

too much into his drug money.

"Nat! Help...me..." Rick pleaded for his wife.

This mysterious masked man had her bastard husband in a chokehold, Rick's left eye busted beyond

repair thanks in part to the spiked brass knuckles that the masked man seemed to be fond of.

There were angry welts all over the lower side of her back, her left leg was horribly bruised. Just the result of a couple spat.

"Come on Nat! Give him a piece of your mind!" The Jackal told her.

She took one last look at the wannabe pimp that was her husband and proceeded to stab him multiple

times, she felt herself getting lost in the ecstasy. She look back on this moment with fear and she hate to

say this, joy. His screams for help and pleadings for her to stop only heighten the sense of gratification she felt.

Nat never more felt more at peace when she shove that knife in his throat. The tears that her husband

shed only added to this incredible feeling. A feeling that she did her best to forget. But still it was because of him that she wasn't in that awful situation anymore.

"Thank you for saving Patricia!" Nat said gratefully. Once again The Jackal comes into her life and gives

her hope. To others he was just a murdering sociopath but to her? Well it wasn't for him she wouldn't be standing here right now.

"No problem, she has a cute kid, he was so excited to meet me. Ask me what my powers were." The Jackal recalled.

Nat laughs.

"What did you tell him?" Nat asked, curious.

"Shooting and stabbing." He replied.

"And puns, how can you forget puns?" Nat questioned, barely containing her laughter at the situation.

The Jackal slapped his head.

"Dangit! Oh well." The Jackal shrugged and went to the counter to order two sandwiches.

Nat sat in a chair and waited for her order, she watched the Jackal made another pun that made Eliza

groaned. She pulled out her phone and enter a group chat with her friends at the Zero To Hundred strip

Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work!

club.

Nattiebynight: Hey yall, guess who i just saw today!

Caurayindahouse: YOU NEED TO SEE SOME BITCHES

Nattiebynight: WHEN THE LAST TIME YOU GOT SOME?

Caurayindahouse: 😔

XXxPonyLottiaXxx: Was it the Jackal?

Nattiebynight: YES!

Caurayindahouse: Stop dickriding

Nattiebynight: Are you jealous?

Caurayindahouse:Yea

Soon her order was done and she went to go pick it up, she said goodbye to her friends in the groupchat and tipped Eliza fifteen dollars which she appreciated. She walked out the restaurant.

Nat saw the Jackal brutally beat that creep from earlier with a crowbar. The muffled screams being

drowned out by the running train.

The Jackal saw her and happily waved.

She smiled at him and waved back.

A woman with waist-length black hair in a blue polo shirt and black pants hands the man the bag

containing ingredients for making spaghetti and meatballs and received the money from him. The man

seemed down, he had short red hair and a grey shirt with the depiction of a gorilla riding a pizza in a 80s

asthenic. The woman asked him a question as she could see that something was bothering her customer.

"If you don't mind me asking, what wrong?" She asked as she begin to wipe off the counter.

"Well...it just..." The ginger-haired man trailed off, to her, he appeared extremely nervous, he started to

sweat. The woman knew why.

"Oh it just, you know...been having an off day." The man said, trying to ease tensions. Sally didn't buy it.

"It okay, this store is all my own." She said calmly.

The man looked at her funny.

"I'm not indebted to any local mafia." She quietly clarified , just enough that he can hear her.

"Fuck, ok, well...my friend...died from an incident last week. You may have heard about it in the news."

The man said as he looked over his shoulder. Sally read about this in the news. They found his friend completely disemboweled in the man's bedroom.

"I feel so horrible, he never did anything to deserve that shit. He was actually sticking up for me, he was

just visiting, he not even from this God-forsaken city." The man begin to slowly break down as he put his

face in his hands. He had owed some money to the Copperheads, one of their enforcers was hassling

him in Golden Threads, a clothing shop which of course was a front for drug-selling, they sell all their

clothes in boxes that come packaged with the "product". His friend told the enforcer off, bad move. The

friend couldn't be blamed for his naïve nature because he wasn't accustomed to daily life in

Redemption. Now his friend is gone because of him.

What could she say? Anything she say would just be empty platitudes. And yet...

She placed her hands on his. Slowly bringing them down from his face, she looked him in the eyes.

"You need to leave this state." She suggested.

"How? I can't even walk down a sidewalk without seeing one of the Copperheads, they know that I'm

trying to leave and then-" The man was interrupted by Sally.

"Trust me, i have a friend that can protect you." She said, trying to reassure the man.

"Take the first plane out of here, taking a car would be too risky." Sally advised. There was many "accidental" car bombings that happen. The police can't do anything, half of them being brought off , the

other half get wasted for snooping around too much and playing the hero.

"Fuck, you're right." Said the man. She let go of his hands.

"Do you have any family you can stay with?" She asked again.

"Yeah, got a sister living in Metro, she works as a cop there, with those two super-heroes there, i should

be safe." He said to himself more than Sally, trying to convince himself. The man realized that no matter

what he fucked regardless, so at the very least he could try to make it out of here, it what his friend

would've wanted.

"Thank you, i mean it." He said as he begin to leave.

"Wait! Can i have your phone number?" Sally asked.

The man hesitated, but realized that he could trust her, he had nothing else to lose besides his life. And

his life wasn't very great to start with. He showed his phone to her and she got the number down on her

phone.

"I leave first thing tomorrow, The Copperheads don't work early, that my best chance. I call you before i

leave." The man said. Sally nodded, glad that she could help out somewhat.

She watched as the man walked off. She sighed and walked over to turn off the open sign. She looked

around the shop she owned. She did pretty good, lots of customers today, her parents would be proud.

She smiled to herself at the memory of them. They were the nicest people you would ever meet,

everyday she would think of them and the lessons they would impart. One of the most important lessons

was to keep her head up, no matter what. There was a time where she didn't believe that anymore. But

someone reminded her of that lesson.

She begin to sweep around the place, the air still smelling of

cherry blossom from where she sprayed an hour ago. Her favorite scent. There was a little creeping

anxiety in the back of her mind, about her roommate, she hasn't heard from him yet.

"God, i hope he okay." She thought as she put the broom down, She heard the door unlocked in her

upstairs apartment. She smiled again.

"Just like clockwork." She thought to herself as she turn off the lights and walked upstairs.

She opened the door to see The Jackal sitting there on the red leather couch, happily eating a italian

beef sandwich. She noticed another sandwich wrapped up on the small table in front of her.

The Jackal swallowed. " Hey SaIly, i brought you dinner." He said nonchalantly. Sally, for some reason,

always found herself surprised when The Jackal does nice things for her. It not that he was a asshole,

mind you. But considering he had forgotten her name on several occasions, she just thought that The

Jackal was too wrapped up in his own world of vigilantism and mobsters to noticed her and what she

likes. She walked towards the table and pick up the sandwich. She opened the wrapper to find it her

favorite. Grilled cheese with smoked black forest ham and Lettice. The Smokey Bandit as it called locally.

She happily took a bite.

"Thank you, so much!" She said gratefully, still chewing.

"Don't mention it." The Jackal said as he took another bite.

The Jackal put his feet up on the small table and pulled out "his phone". In actually, he lifted this phone

off a pedophile two weeks ago after killing him.

"Thank god for factory reset." The Jackal thought as he used Sally's Wi-Fi. He was thinking of browsing

YouTube for his daily dose of entertainment. Sally took his feet off the table gently and sat on the couch

next to him. She noted the distinct metallic smell coming off him and made no comment. She thought about the conversation she had with the man, she didn't know it if was

appropriate to bring it up now, she talk to the Jackal later about it.

He was watching a Veteran Comic pro review a movie he hated. Next after that was that one girl's

commentaries on Cosmo's garbage articles. God he loves the internet. Sally wrapped half of the

sandwich up and put in the fridge for later. A local news alert popped up on his phone, The Jackal tapped

on it. It was a article about a victim of a stabbing that was able to survive thanks to a unknown person.

The victim, name Ed Beran explained the person who saved him was wearing a nurse outfit, which quote

"Look like some sort of cross between a nurse outfit and a mythical warrior armor, it was white with red

accents going everywhere. It to believed said attacker belong to the Copperheads, a mafia that had

terrorized the city since the early 70s. The insignia of a copperhead wrapped into a noose was on the

collar of the attacker's jacket. The man said he was stabbed but was healed by this new vigilante.

"She just placed her hand on the bleeding wound in my stomach, and it started to fix itself, i thought i

was done for!" Ed exclaimed as he was taken in by the R.P.D. The article ends. ' She can heal, huh?

That pretty useful, I wonder if The Champions know about her." The Jackal thought as he went back to

watching his videos. The Jackal held the Champions, the superhero team based out of Glory,IL in high

regards, true examples of heroes if he say so himself.

"So we got another hero in Redemption, that make two." The Jackal thought of Lady Luck and this new

hero.

"Maybe we can make a team just like The Champions, get it trademarked, down the line we sell the

movie rights and we all retired on a yacht." Jackal thought, quietly laughing to himself.

"What so funny?" Sally questioned, despite knowing full well she don't want to know.

"There a new hero in town, She saved Ed Beran who was a victim of stabbing." Sally cringed at that. "Oh

come on, a stabbing not the worst that can happen to you in this city." Jackal said. She nodded,

conceding the point.

The Jackal continued. " I was thinking about how me, Lady Luck, and that new heroine can make

Redemption the most peaceful city in America. No more mobsters, no more senseless deaths, no more

drug dealers. Then we move onto phase two, my life spirals into a depressive state because i won't

know what to do with myself, i spent so long fighting that i never asked myself. What do i do if i succeed?

what next? I can't go back to normal life, considering the things i been through, the things i've done." The

Jackal said jovially. He noticed the disturbed look on Sally's face.

"But don't worry i be long dead before any of that happens." He said, trying to reassure her. He was not one to make his friends feel bad, at least not intentionally.

Sally instantly hugged the Jackal. He was so surprised he almost went for his knife , he buried that

instinct as he was enveloped in warmness. he hadn't felt this type of security in a long time.

"Please, don't talk like that. You figure something out, and..if not. I will help you figure it out. After all, it

because of you that i'm still here. What kinda person would i be if i didn't return the favor?" She asked

The Jackal.

The Jackal hugged her back tightly, Surprising Sally.

"A person with good survival instincts." The Jackal joked.

Sally sighed and smiles.

"If i had good survival instincts, i would've move out of this hellhole of a city years ago." Sally jokes,

laughing a little as Jackal burst out into a giggling fit.

"Well good night, Jackal." She said, getting up and breaking out of the hug.

"Oh come on Sally, the night is young!" The Jackal said happily.

"The night is over, for me at least." She said, chuckling.

"Are you mad at me?" The Jackal asked, faking sadness in his voice.

"No I'm not mad, see you tomorrow." And with that, Sally took a pen and grab some

stationary and wrote a note, The Jackal watched with interest. She placed the note in front of him, and

then walked into her room and closed the door.

"Yeah, she mad at me." The jackal laughed to himself as he took the note and read it.

"I can still hear you, you know." Sally said from the room. He put the note down, and laughed to himself,

Sally was a true hero in his eyes.

The Jackal continued to search up more about this mysterious nurse, now he don't how to get in contact

with her. But if his whole chaotic life is any indication, he probably run into her eventually.