“Hey, leave me alone!” A young child fought desperately to keep hold of his action figure.

“If my little brother wants your stupid toy, then he’s going to get it!” The older boy snatched the popular superhero toy from the younger boy and held it up.

“Give it back! Give it back! It's mine!” The young child jumped up on the bigger boy’s chest to try and reach his toy.

Only for the older boy to roughly push the child to the ground. The boy hit his head and started to cry. The older boy and his younger brother looked around for any adults before walking off together. The younger brother happily smiled with his new toy, while the older one just looked annoyed.

“Hey.” Jack stopped the duo by standing in front of them. “That doesn’t belong to you.” He stared into the eyes of the older boy.

“It does now, Tubby.” He looked down at Jack. “What are you going to do about it, huh?” The bigger kid harshly poked Jack’s chest.

Jack didn’t give him a response as he landed a sucker punch across the bully’s face. The bully went reeling back in pain as his younger brother screamed in shock. Before the older boy could understand what was happening, Jack didn’t let up on him. After his surprise attack, he rushed forward and followed up his hook with a left hook. Right hook into a left hook that set up perfectly for a textbook cross punch directly in the face.

The bully didn’t even get the chance to fight back as he fell to the ground with a bloody nose and tears in his eyes. Jack didn’t make a move to grab the fallen toy as he glared into the bully’s eyes. He dared him to get up. He challenged him to get up and try to fight him.

“Whatever...” He didn’t rise to the occasion.

Jack got the action figure and went over to the owner, who was silently watching the entire time. “I think you dropped this.” Jack handed it to the boy. His tear-stained face looked up at Jack with sparkling eyes. “A real hero...” He muttered.

Jack felt a little happy to be called that. He was just in the middle of finishing his daily jog and saw some small-time evil happening. After dealing with his bullies at school, it was hard to be afraid of dealing with other bullies. Another way to put it was that acting like a hero of justice was easier after overcoming hardships!

“You were brave, but bravery without the skills to back it up is just reckless. Ask for help next time. A hero of justice won’t always be able to save you.” Jack left the kid with those words.

“So cool...” The kid muttered.

______________________________________________

“Hero of Justice? What the fuck are you on about, Ricky?”

“I ain’t proud to admit it, boss, but our guys are getting fucked up.”

“So? Take care of it, then.”

“Truth it, I've been trying for the past few weeks, Boss. I gathered the boys, jumped the motherfucker, and I still couldn’t do it. He’s one strong bitch, and honestly, I don’t think we stand a chance against him. We stabbed this fucker, we shot at him, we beat at him till he was hospitalized, but he just doesn’t stop.” Ricky didn’t hold anything back.

“What are you trying to tell me, Ricky?”

“The only way our organization can keep going is if you take care of this guy personally. If you don’t, we’re finished.”

Lamar honestly couldn’t believe what the fuck he was hearing right now. This was the first time he was hearing about some nutjob fucking with their operations. As far as he knew, everything was fully operational. The Sour Gangbangers were in the middle of their war with Tear’s gang, and things were at a stalemate.

Ricky heard Lamar take a deep breath behind his desk. As he reported his failures to his boss with his eyes closed in front of him, he knew he fucked up. It didn’t fully come to picture just how much he fucked up until he felt the sting of his boss’s backhand smack across his face. Ricky fell to the floor with blood dripping down his face. Lamar’s rings cut through his skin.

“You stupid motherfucker!” Lamar kicked him in the mouth and began to stomp on his curled-up body. “Do you know how badly you’ve fucked me over by hiding some shit like this from me!? An organization can’t run properly if the boss is being kept in the fucking dark about his own business! How much money of mine have you fucked with!?” Lamar let out all of his frustrations until Ricky was nearly a corpse.

Lamar took a deep breath after the brutal punishment and took out a pack of cigs. He gave Ricky an extra kick once he realized the dumb fucker wasn’t up to light his smoke. Going back to his seat, Lamar took a deep drag of his cig. Just how badly did this stupid motherfucker hurt his business...?

As he tried to use the nicotine to relax his nerves and anxiety about how fucked he was, he heard the doorknob twist. Lamar looked up at the fat costumed motherfucker closing the door behind him. He could see fresh blood on the fucker’s green gloves and a strange sense of calmness as the short bastard took a seat in his chair meant for guests. Lamar sighed once again. Just constant shit after shit!

“You’re Lamar, right? Leader of Sour Gangbangers?” The crazy fat fucker sounded like his balls hadn’t even dropped yet.

“Are you this Hero of Justice I’ve been hearing about?” Lamar already decided to kill this stupid kid.

“Call me Gluttony. They just decided on that nickname on their own because of the costume.” Gluttony’s voice was young but calm.

He was face to face with the leader of a gang that had been terrorizing his home city and could calmly face him as if they were equal. The leader of a gang who had no problem with ordering his men to shoot a child, cause multiple crimes of various degrees, and continue to hurt innocent people, all for the sake of power. At least, that’s what Gluttony believes this is all for. He couldn’t imagine it could be for anything else.

“I’ll be honest with you, kid. In my pocket, I have a gun. In the next second, I will use this gun and shoot you. I don’t care why you came after my guys or me, but you’ve damaged my business and hurt my organization. After shooting you, my guys will bury your body at the bottom of the Cedarleaf Stream. Where no one will ever find you again.” Lamar decided.

“You really are an irredeemable villain.” Gluttony slowly got up and stared down at the sitting Lamar.

Just when Lamar reached for his gun hidden in his pocket, Gluttony kicked over the desk he was sitting behind. Lamar cried out from the pain of being crushed by his own luxurious furniture as Gluttony leaped over his desk and began pounding his face in. His weighted green gloves crashed down on the gang leader’s face without the slightest hint of mercy. All of his rage and fury being unleashed on the leader of the gang he’s personally acquainted himself with over the past month. Blood splashed on his mask and stained his gloves, but he didn’t stop.

He was only twelve years old, and he already had more scars on his body than any other kid his age. Because of his promise to protect the innocent and weak with his fists, he got involved with the Sour Gangbangers. A gang that had no qualms about doing whatever they wanted to the weak and innocent. Something that Jack couldn’t stand for.

When he saw personally just how evil this gang was, there was no way Jack could stand by and allow it to continue. It wasn’t just the fact that it crossed his personal ideals, but his teacher taught him better than to let something like this slide. She didn’t secretly give him extra training to do at home and then check his progress after class just for him to stand by and let evil persist like the old Jack did!

Jack stopped himself as he placed his ear close to Lamar’s mouth. He was still breathing, although barely. His face looked unrecognizable, thanks to the weighted gloves. Jack pushed the large wooden desk off Lamar’s body as he pulled out a phone and called someone. This person and his boss were the only reason he could come this far, even with his teacher’s training. He owed them his life.

“Piltil Elmi, I’m finished here. Can you come help clean up?” Jack requested.

“Right away, Gluttony! I’m surprised you took care of it so fast, but considering you’re her student, I guess I'm not all that shocked. Even if you’re just a normal person.” Piltil happy-go-lucky voice responded.

“Can you point me to Tear’s gang next?” Jack asked, still unsatisfied with the state of the city.

“Theo will let you know when’s the best time to target them. While you wait for our call, don’t forget to live your life! Think about what your teacher would say if she found out you spent all of your time on something like this. And no! She would not be praising you even if you’ve been successful with our help!” Pitil admonished the young child.

“Alright.” Jack chuckled at the caring nagging. “I’ll try and have some fun while I wait.” He gave his word.

“Good. Alright, our guys will be there soon. Leave whenever you want. Bye, Gluttony!”

“Bye, Pitil.” Jack hung up the phone and started to leave the bloody office.