She slammed her fist into the man’s nose and gave off a satisfied smirk as the all so distinct sounds of broken bone filled the shadowed alleyway where they stood. The man recoiled in pain and let out a swarm of curses as he stumbled backwards. A viscous red poured from the spaces in between his fingers as he cradled his face.

“Ow you bitch. You broke my nose” He raged, or so she’d guessed given that the nasally swears that flooded from his mouth made it difficult to discern exactly what he said.

He swung at her, making an attempt to retaliate with a vicious blow to her jugular, but his swing was wild, sloppy and she effortlessly sidestepped before driving her rubbery sole into the back of his knee, then into the side of his head while he attempted to stabilize himself. She didn’t have much experience fighting men with years over her, but she had been around guys like this long enough to understand one simple rule.

Make them embarrassed and they get sloppy.

Before he could recover she took a leathered boot and delivered a swift kick between the man’s legs. He dropped like a domino, sprawled across the dirty gravel floor as tears weld in large salty pools on either side of his head. She took his head in both of her rough calloused hands and raised him up violently enough to elicit a sting of agonized groans which were soon quieted by her as she slammed her fist into the discolored lumps which previously resembled a painfully average face.

A fist equip with raw knuckles, she moved swiftly, intent on inflicting even more agony. However a hand seized the back of her hair and forced her backward hard enough to free several strands of curly black hair from her scalp.

‘Well he should have been unconscious right now, I’ll have to fix that in a second’. She promised to herself.

“You’re lucky the boss wants you alive brat. If it was up to me then you’d be in pieces right now”, The first guy started”.

“Hey dumbass, we don’t have time for this. Hurry up and knock her out already”, the second man commanded.

“Fuck that”, his voice spewed venomous malice, “After what this little brat just did, I’m gonna make this as painful as possible. If you’re that worried about a little girl overpowering you, then just break a limb or two. After all he didn’t say anything about what condition we dropped her off in”.

By the way he held her, she could tell that he was inexperienced in grappling. He had wrapped his arms around her chest in a bear hug which while it did restrain her arms, left her head completely free. Before either of them could bark out another word, she reared her head forward and brought it back in a devastating headbutt. The man cried out and immediately released her, but she wasn’t done yet. Utilizing the moment of weakness from the second man, she swung him around and sent him crashing into his friend charging form. Their bodies crashed into the hard gravel with unforgiving viciousness. For good measure, and some payback for ripping her hair, she brought her boot crashing onto the second man’s knee, and then the first man’s jaw.

“The next time...your boss wants to talk...to me, tell him that he better show up his damn self”. She grunted, trying to catch her breath.

Dealing with these types of guys sucked. It was like fighting roaches, whenever one showed up, you could guarantee that more would follow, meaning that she’d have to leave before their back-up grew a pair and decided to investigate the sounds. After giving each a strong kick up main street, she hastily made her way out of the area, jumping over fences and cutting across backyards to quicken the process. She ran for five minutes straight before slinking her way into a large crowd in order to catch her breath.

It was only nine o’clock, and today was already shaping up to be terrible. The darkened alley had been an agreed upon meeting spot between her and Blood Sport, one of the minor gang leaders who oversaw activities which occurred within the district. They agreed the day prior that she would collect a package from them and pass it along to another carrier a mile or so away, yet when she arrived there at the time they both agreed to, she found neither him nor whatever package she was supposed to carry, rather she found those fumbling baboon’s talking about how they were going to make her pay for being so such a brat. It didn’t surprise her, no she expected that Blood Sport would start getting tired of her attitude, and try to teach her a “lesson”, but that didn’t stop her from being offended. What, was she not worth not showing up for? Did he really believe that some dollar store minions would be enough to beat her?

‘God, the next time I see that hemophiliac bastard.’, she thought as a murky indignation began swelling within her soul.

Slowly the amorphous blob of bodies dispersed as each person went about their morning business, and she soon found herself walking down seventh street with a handful of bodies acting as minimal protection against peering eyes. If Blood Sport had decided to make a move then she’d probably have to tell Nic and plan their next move. Fortunately their house was just off of seventh street. It was only four or so minutes before she made her way back to their house.

‘Outwardly it certainly wasn’t the nicest place in the world’, she thought, running a hand over a dozen of the countless miniature holes which peppered the mud-caked front wall.

For the last few years she and Nic lived in the abandoned remains of a two story bakery. The windows had long since been shattered, and in their place jagged edges of glass jutted from a wooden frame in front of large metallic shutters. The exterior’s red paint had long since faded giving it a complexion more similar to a clay pot than the deep rouge of its glory days. And at the top of the building stood a long dead neon sign with most of its letter missing; the only ones which remained spelled out “JN & MK’S AKRY”.

The inside was far nicer in comparison. The walls of the first floor were painted a series of pastel colors that had been decorated with artwork of several different pastries. A checkered pattern decorated the floor much like a chess board. The walls lacked the bullet wounds In the kitchen giant metal compartments held enough food for them to subsist for months, a product of her years of hard work.

She walked over to the kitchen before seizing an apple from one of the oversized refrigeration units before making her rounds across the store.

“Hey MJ”, she called out. “Some of the idiots who work for Blood Sport tried to capture me, so it would probably be a good idea to lock up for a bit”.

“What!”, a scraggly voice called back. “You passed the shipment on, right?”

She followed her voice to the reception area where he was wiping down a corner of one of the big square tables.

“I’m guessing that you had to deal with a few surprises?”, she questioned him, eyeing the blood stained rag he was holding.

“Nothing too big, just had a few guys stop. Hopefully they didn’t want to buy the place, otherwise I’d feel bad about breaking their teeth”.

“Who’d wanna buy this dump?”

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

“That was sarcasm but regardless, you're exaggerating. This place isn’t that bad”.

“MJ, the front door has stab wounds. I’m not exaggerating when I say this entire place is a mess. I mean who even stabs a door?!”

“It’s a work in progress”, he stated.

“In getting the place demolished?”

“Moving on”, he said, eager to shift to another topic, “You didn’t answer my question. How did the delivery go?”

“About as well as you’d expect. Blood Sport didn’t show up and I got jumped by two of his men”.

“They’re not dead are they?”

“Probably not”, she shrugged.

“Probably”, he inquired.

“Yes probably, when I bash someone’s head in and leave them bleeding out in a dark alleyway, I’m not too worried about the details”.

“At least you didn’t directly kill them. Good job, you’re improving”.

“MJ, do me a favor and stop patronizing me”.

“I’m doing no such thing, I noticed you’re trying…kinda, and i’m recognizing that”.

“Why am I doing this pacifist crap again? You never had a problem with me killing people before, so what changed?”

MJ mumbled something under his breath just quiet enough for Ruby to miss it.

“What did you say?”

“I said we didn’t need anymore eyes on us. After the last few months of you breaking the noses of anyone who looks at you wrong, I don’t want any more unnecessary drama, or holders on our tail for the time being”.

“I didn’t break their noses because they looked at me wrong, I did it because I found them annoying, besides it’s too late for that though, I mean Blood Sport's a holder isn’t he?”

“Yep, a blood manipulator that got his name by ripping his opponents in half with their own blood. All in all not the smartest fight we could choose to pick”.

“So what are we supposed to do now?”

“I’ll…have to get back to you on that one, but in the meantime they don’t know we live here so only leave when necessary, leave through the back, and make sure no one sees or follows you”.

“I’m gonna see if I can convince Blood Sport not to brutally kill the two of us”.

“How are you gonna manage that?”

“Are you kidding me? You know more than anyone how charming I can be when I put my mind to it”.

“You mean how much of a kiss-ass you can be when you put your mind to it?”

“That too”, he said, flashing his trademark toothy grin.

“You do realize that it would be incredibly stupid and dangerous to walk into the hideout of a dangerous supervillain that could potentially want you dead right?”

“The thought crossed my mind”, he admitted.

“Then why are you going”.

“We couldn’t feasibly get out of the city without Blood Sport hearing about it, so this might be my only chance to try and make sure that he doesn’t put a target on our backs. And I know it’s dangerous, that’s why I’m going alone, he explained, "Anyway relax cause you’re staying here a while”.

"What? Why can't I come?".

“ No offense Ruby, but you're not the best when it come to deescalating situations, besides I need someone to man the shop in case we have customers”.

“I-What the hell are you talking about? This dump doesn't get customers".

“Just stay here, okay. And don't break anything. I'll be back in a few hours".

…

She sat in a heap of filth as the rain poured its frigid shard down upon her unprotected scalp. Tangled strands of disproportionate brown hair shone with oil and sweat. Sunken eyes gazed at the world around her in cold apathy. Frail limbs dangled limply at her sides as she sat against the broken ruins of an old building. Paper skin was concealed by once pink rags which draped freely from her skeletal body.

“Mommy…Daddy…Luna…where are you?”, her raspy voice called out.

A series of loud crashes rang out through her head causing her to jolt at the sound. She winced as her muscles screamed from the sudden exertion. Her eyes changed from the empty orbs contained within her skull to one which glowed with a new emotion, fear. The noise scared her. terrified her. She wanted to scream in an attempt to stave off the sound from approaching her, but her voice failed her, and the only noise she made was a sound reminiscent of the whistle of a boiling teapot. She dug her hands into the dry gravel of the floor in an almost pitiful attempt to crawl backwards, to no avail. She had to do something, to try something or, or-”.

“Hey”, a soft voice called out.

Carefully turning her neck, she gazed in the direction of the voice and saw a boy not much older than her. He was dressed in a muddied and torn leather jacket with a red flannel underneath as well as dark blue jeans unnaturally ripped at his knees. The boy looked as though he’d come straight from a lost fight. His knuckles looked raw and bloodied, the skin around his left eye was blackened and swelling, blood leaked from his split lip, down to his shirt in a thick crimson streams, and cuts decorated his pale face including a rather nasty gash just below the long brown curls which dangled loosely from his head.

Despite the condition he was in, he looked at her and smiled, his eyes beaming with a warmness she hadn’t felt in a long time. Didn’t he think that she was disgusting, an eyesore which interrupted his day. That’s how the others acted when they saw her, the adults who stared into her eyes at her pitiful visage with disgust and contempt, before looking away and moving on with her day. That is how these types of situations were supposed to go, so why does he look like this? He’s supposed to be grossed out.

“Don’t…you think…I’m gross?”, she rasped.

“That’s a silly introduction”, he said. “Don’t you know you’re supposed to say hi when you start talking to someone? But, to answer your question, no I don’t”.

“But…I look like this”.

“Nothing a good meal and a bath can’t fix”, he shrugged, “I can take you to get some if you want to go with me”.

"Ye- sorry I can't. Mommy told me to not to go with people I don't know".

"Your mom sounds like a smart women. That's true you don't know me, but what if I introduced myself, then we wouldn't be strangers and you could come with me right?"

"I-I guess so".

He gently extended his scarred hand to her, "My name's MJ".

"Ruby", she wheezed out.

"It's nice to meet you Ruby. Well now that we aren't strangers anymore, do you still want to get lunch?"

“Please”, her voice called out with more emotion than she thought she could have produced, “But I can’t move. I tried to when I heard you, but I'm not strong enough”.

“That's not a big deal”, he said, and before she knew it, he swept her off in a princess carry and began walking away.

“Thank…you”, she told him.

“Save that thank you for when you've got some food in your stomach, okay.

“Okay".

…

Ruby awoke to the blaring tones of her alarm screeching around her room. Her joints creaked as she stretched to rid the grogginess from her body. Picking up her phone, she saw that MJ was calling her.

“Hello”, she greeted, answering the phone.

“Hey bud”, MJ responded.

“What did you do?”

“Well you know how I was supposed to make sure that Blood Sport didn’t try to kill us?”

“Well he didn’t take too kindly to some of his men getting beaten to near death by a couple of quote unquote wannabe mailmen, so he tried to have me killed”.

“And what happened afterwards?”

“I did what any self respecting man would have done in my position. I killed both of his bodyguards, shot him in the stomach and jumped out of a window. I don't think he'd see it from my position however, so we’re going to have to pack up shop for a while”.

“And you complain about my inability to control myself?”

“Look, we can’t focus on that right now. What’s important is that we plan out our next move”.

“ So professor, what’s the new plan then? Blood Sport is still a fairly important person in this city, we can’t just leave and not expect him not to send people to kill us”.

“I can’t talk about that right now, gotta make sure that no one is eavesdropping on me. I have an idea, just know that we’ll be out of here soon”.