Eddy knew his luck was bad, but this was ridiculous. The one time he goes into town for supplies, a robbery happens right in front of him. He resists his heroic urges, but then just finds the punks again in an alley, forcing his hand to get the money away from the bad guys. They resist, so they end up hurt and arrested. All's well that ends well, but when it ends with one of the punks gathering some high gambling friends to teach his assailant a lesson, then it's not so well.
The mutt coughed as he held his arms wrapped around his stomach. He could feel his nose dripping blood and his eye beginning to swell where he had been punched multiple times. He backed away, crawling on the ground deeper into the alleyway as he looked back at the men attacking him. Two full grown dobermen in dirty suits each with a lit cigarette in their mouths stood only a few feet away, one of them shaking his hand out from the freshest hit, while three more suits stood with the saimese from the night before at the mouth of the alley, the bright sun to their backs.
The fattest of them all, a sweaty long haired tabby, pushed his long rust colored locks out of his eyes. When he spoke, he did so in almost a whisper so that anyone who wanted to hear him would have to listen very hard, and he spoke with such confidence that you'd feel like he'd hurt you if you didn't hear him right out. "So, my little k9 friend, I hear that you are responsible for my nephew's time in prison, and his broken wrist."
Eddy cringed as one of the thugs kicked at his legs and chest, but tried his best to answer pitifully. If he played it right, which seemed to sadly never work, they'd leave him after giving him a bit of a beating. No real harm done. "I..." He coughed, finally trying to sit up, leaning on one arm. "I didn't know... I'm sorry... Please, let me go, I'll get you the money back, I promise."
The fat tabby shook his head. "You don't seem to understand. I don't want my nephew's dirty money. He was an idiot trying to prove himself a man." The kid looked away embarrassed, holding his hand up in a sling, but he didn't protest against his uncle's insults. "However, I can't allow you to dirty my family's name so far as I work as Midas." The man looked at Eddy carefully, searching for recognition of that name. "Boy, I own these streets, and own the laws and the crimes which happen in them. I answer to no one, and if you dirty my family's name, you dirty my name, and if you dirty my name, I get upset, and when I get upset, I loose profits."
At the snap of the man's fingers, one of the thugs in the alley reached behind a dumpster to produce an old 2x4, the other pulling some small baggies tied off with their corners filled with white powder and a needle. "W...what are you doing? Wait, wait, please, let's talk about this, I swear I'll..."
"It's too late, doggy boy. You put my boy in jail. Once we prove that, with a bit of paid off testimonies the judge will find it hard to prosecute my nephew, seeing as you're a drug addict dealing throughout the east quarter." The tabby brushed his hair back again, turning out of the alley and beginning to walk slowly towards a parked limo. The guy's nephew followed, but the other two dombermen at the mouth of the alley stayed. The sight made Eddy wonder if there was a sale on overstocked henchmen going on somewhere. "Make sure you clean up boys." The tabby's voice came loudly from outside the alley, making sure the mutt could here.
Eddy backed away, still crouched on the ground. He had tried to be civil and get out of this with a bit of smooth words, but he couldn't let these guys pump him full of drugs and send him off to jail. He reached into his pocket, pulling out a small hinged knife, flicking it open behind him so no one would see. He waited for the one with the 2x4 to get just a bit closer...
As the thug raised the block of wood to strike down at Eddy, an unexpected surprise came from above. Something knocked the board out of the man's hands, and as everyone looked down, they saw an arrow sticking out of each end of the 2x4. They all looked up just in time to see a hooded person launch a second arrow from large metallic bow. This second arrow looked strange, its tip a round base-ball sized sack that tore open and spilled red powder as soon as it struck the second thug's face.
Eddy could smell the cayenne from where he still sat on the pavement, so he could only imagine the pain the man was going through with the powder stuffed up his nostrils and into his eyes. The hooded person quickly jumped from where he had been perched just on the edge of one roof all the way to the fire escape of the next building, just as gunfire began to ring through the alley! Bits of concrete flew as bullets struck, just missing the archer as he slipped into an open window. The guns kept firing, leaving Eddy to make sure they stopped quick before they got anyone hurt.
Eddy kicked up into a run, flipping his knife around to slam its handle into the dazed thug's temple. He kept running as he threw the knife, watching it clash against one of the thug's guns at the end of the alley and slide across the back of his hand, leaving a large bleeding wound. Eddy had run quickly enough to catch the second gun and direct it away before it was shot again, and he used his full momentum to push the man off balance and send him falling back, laying his full weight into pushing the man's head into the ground. He rolled off of the man as he felt him twitch unconsciously, and looked around to make sure they were all down or running.
The sound of tires squealing grabbed Eddy's attention as he noticed the limo finally pulling away, the crime-lord inside obviously finding himself too close to danger, but then the sound of shattering glass pulled his eyes up. The hooded guy from before had just jumped out of the building he had retreated to before, and fell from at least five stories up! He grabbed a light pole and spun around once to slow his decent before landing into a roll on top of a parked car, landing on the other side in the street. He quickly had his bow drawn at the limo, shooting at one of the back tires.
The arrow struck true, but the tire remained inflated. The limo had been prepped for an emergency escape it seemed, but the archer was already arming the next arrow just as one of the doors of the limo opened, a gunned man leaning out. Eddy made a quick decision and quickly stepped forward, grabbing the hooded hero and pulling him quickly back into the alley just as the gunshots ripped holes into the parked car and alley walls.
Eddy held on tight as the hero under him struggled to get up, but he was determined to hold him until the limo was out of gunshot range. At least that was his plan, until a very strong fist caught him under his chin. The archer shoved him off and quickly got up and ran.
"You idiot! I had them!" The archer ran up one alley wall and jumped to the next, catching the fire escape and once again entering the building through an open window. Eddy stayed down for a moment, feeling the throbbing in his chin, but then heard the far off squeal of a fast turning car. The limo was going around the block. A quick run, and the archer would catch up, just in time to catch a bullet in his chest. Eddy quickly got up and sprinted down the alley, jumping over the still downed thugs, and shoulder slamming the doorway at the end of the alley.
He ran through what looked like a storage room, and then opened another door into a used bookstore. He apologized to the clerk as he jumped over one of the shelves and made his way outside just in time to see the archer land a few feet away, his bow drawn at the quickly passing limo.
Eddy reached out and caught the arrow and bow before the hooded boy had a chance to shoot. A quick kick forced the archer to dodge, leaving Eddy with the bow. He tossed it aside, wiping his forearm over his mouth before facing the hero straight on, letting the limo get away.
"They have at least three men in that limo, all of them fully armed, and the freakin car is armored. You're going to get yourself killed!"
The archer scowled, his hood covering most of his face from Eddy's view, but his fists clenched. "I would have had them if you hadn't let them get away!"
"I saved your life, I don't care if you're skilled, you..." Eddy barely had time to stop talking before he had to dodge back from a very quick kick. He caught the leg, but the hooded hero pulled back, hooking his foot around Eddy's arm to pull them close for the second kick, which would have hit Eddy's neck if he hadn't turned to block with his shoulder.
The two fought viciously and long, drawing some attention from the surrounding shops, both extremely surprised the other was doing so well. Eddy looked like any other bystander, but he used his weight and obvious experience to dodge and deflect most of the strikes while sending his own, most easily dodged by the scrawny archer. Finally convinced the limo was long gone, Eddy tried to finish the fight by grabbing the large black hoodie worn by the hero, spinning the boy around to keep him off balance. It didn't work for long, and the archer slipped out of his outer clothes to tumble to safety.
Eddy tossed the hoodie aside, returning to a fighting stance. "Look! I...uh..." Eddy looked at the hero. Without the hoody, the archer stood with tribal markings down a smooth belly and lean arms. Her hair spilled down just to her shoulders, a necklace and earrings both sporting plain brown feathers. Heavy wrappings held her chest and arms, an armband the only other marking, with the word 'Hawkeye' stitched in. "Um..." He scratched his head in a bit of confusion. "You're a girl?"
The heroine looked confused, turning her golden eyes upwards before scowling. "You... You thought I was a guy!?"
"Well, I mean I, hey!!" Eddy barely dodged a new set of fast strong and sporadic attacked by the enraged heroine. He tried to grab at her arms, but she moved so fast. Before he could go on the offensive, the girl cracked something in her hand and threw, a cloud of red dust flying into Eddy's face. "Augh!! What the...!?" A knee into his groin and a fist to his cheek shut the mutt up, and he barely heard her parting words before the archer ran off.
"My name is Hawkeye, and these are my streets to protect and serve. Stay out of my way, or you'll find yourself taken down like the rest of the criminals in my city."
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Eddy mumbled angrily at himself as he walked down a dark street. For once in a long time he was glad he spotted a couple of people tagging a wall. Once they were stuffed neatly in a locked dumpster to think about what they'd done while waiting for the cops to trace their call, the mutt continued on his way, kicking at trashcans as he cursed under his breath. He'd quit his hero life so that no one would get hurt, not to go find other people making the same mistakes he did.
The mutt walked for over an hour before finding himself standing in front of the convenient store he had first gone to when he came back to the city. He remembered the thugs, thought of how things would have been different had he been wearing a mask. Then imagined how it would have been different if the gun had been loaded. SO many thoughts went through his head before he finally leaned onto a pay phone, inserting a few coins before dialing a number he was surprised he remembered after so long.
"Allen, it's me. ... Yeah, I know, long time. Too long, trust me, I'm sorry. ... Look I... I know, but I need a favor. ... Like usual, yeah, hehe. Could you come to me and bring me some supplies? I know it's a lot of miles. ... Hehe, just check your po box, there should be enough there to make it worth your while. ... exactly. Yes. ... The usual, plus get me anything new you might have picked up, I'm going to need everything I can get. Thanks a lot, Allen, I owe you. Yeah yeah, love you to bro. Thanks."
