[yaguro]

Another night of shaking down criminals; The sweet ballet of blood and beatings.



Yaguro was more than used to it by now, but his young partner, Carmen, was still getting used to the whole thing. For starters, Yaguro learned she didn’t even have any sort of alibi, or even a job; Something he quickly rectified by getting her a position at the same convenience store he worked out.

It took plenty of convincing for his boss to bring her on, and even more for him to watch over her pair of ferrets; Their excuse was that there wasn’t anywhere else for the furry creatures to stay, and thankfully his employer bought it.



The next questionable decision Yaguro had helped her fix was to get her a costume; Something to actually hide her identity so she wouldn’t face retaliation. Simple dark black clothes, a hood and a mask were plenty to do the job.



A quick stop to drop her pets off, and they had already hit the streets, and were currently in the middle of delicately extracting information from a kindly gang member, who was polite enough to have a pleasant conversation with the duo.



“Please man, I’ve already told you everything I know!”

A brass knuckle laden fist flew past the gang member, who was dressed in a black leather jacket and jeans, and adorned with piercings all over his face. Landing in the brick wall behind him, Yaguro pulled his fist back.



“See, so far he’s only answered with stuff like ‘I don’t know’, or ‘I’m not high up enough to know that’. That means he’s more loyal to his boss than he is afraid of us.”



The lucky gang member was a member of the Eight-O’s. Small fish in a big pond, mostly unruly teens who just wanted to cause trouble for others.

“Are you fucking kidding me? What am I, a training exercise?” The gangster asked, offended that the helmeted vigilante wasn’t even paying attention to him, despite being in his clutches.

“Shut the hell up Mud.” Yaguro quickly shot back, pressing the thug further against the wall.

“Gangs like this think they’re all tight nit buddies, that if they’re in trouble, their crew will come bail them out.” Yaguro sounded like the world’s grittiest college professor, locking eyes with Mud as he continued to talk to Carmen.

“But I don’t see anyone coming to save you, Mud.”

Mud gulped in fear, sweat already pouring down his brow. He looked around the dark alley, almost as if he expected some of the other members of his crew to miraculously appear.

“Yeah, well you wouldn’t get it cause you’re some fuckin reject loser who isn’t even tough enough to become a hero…”

This earned him a swift gut punch as a reward.

“You’ll wish I was a hero by the time I’m done with you. Or have you forgotten what steel tastes like?” Raising his free fist up to Mud’s mouth, he reeled back, ready to punch at a moments notice.

“Fine! Fine! Cue Ball doesn’t hang at Urchin Lair anymore, I think everyones having a get together at a warehouse across town, but that’s really all I know!”

Yaguro sighed, finally content with his answer.

“See? You need to let fear set in. Whaddya think, should I tap him out?” He asked Carmen, letting her look into Mud’s fearful eyes and having her decide the fate of the guys teeth. 

[carmen]

After what felt like forever, the promises Yaguro had made were slowly but surely being kept. When Carmen was hired by the convenience store, She had to hold back laughter at seeing the boss’s eyes nearly popping out of his head at his new punk hire, piercings and all. But, there wasn't much he could do now but hope this teen wouldn’t scare away all of his customers. The shock he felt grew even more when he discovered he would be in charge of watching two ferrets at times. What did he get himself into?


Still, for Carmen, it was a relief to not only have an actual source of money, but a safe place to leave the girls when she would go out with Searchlight for their vigilante work. Tonight, it was more training with taking out more gangs, specifically the Eight-os. Her gang, specifically the teens of it, had a couple run-ins with this gang. Small scale fighting, it seeming more like spoiled kids pushing each other around on the playground for territory. Whatever. The more off the streets, the better. And everytime a gang was taken down, Carmen gained the hope that they’d start to focus on her own gang and to end their cruelty, as well.


Dawned in her new uniform, Carmen stood over a beaten gangster as Searchlight gave her all the instructions as the gangster, named Mud, seemed to be pissed off that this was being used as training. Carmen smirked under her mask. Searchlight was really making sure this punk would speak. Hit after hit was given until his face was a bloody mess. One thing, however, that made Carmen raise her eyebrow was how strongly being called a “hero” affected the vigilante. Still, there was work to be done. A confident hidden smirk spread on the girl’s face once the gang member gave the proper information, and it was her choice whether it was enough for him.


“Hmm… It wouldn’t be good to leave this trash just laying on the street to begin screaming for his buddies.” Grabbing his face, she looked into his eyes. He was scared, a look she had in her own gaze so many times. But now this lowlife felt the same thing, as he deserved. “Knock the bastard out and let's head to that warehouse before they move out.” She tossed his face away, stepping back and letting her “mentor” take the reins.