Biting off More than... you know the rest.

This place was like a wasteland. Ghetto as far as the eye could see. The prefect place for scum to hide. It was to Mocca City that Roy's investigation had brought him, looking for the man selling the power copying devices. Roy in his nice clean clothing riding his well cleaned and polished adventure bike, looked far out of place as he rode around almost aimlessly through the run down tenements of the shabbiest part of Ruby City. He'd been riding all Saturday and Roy decided against his better judgement to stop in to a gas station, he'd made sure to park his shiny Triumph, with the keying damage it'd received from Ben and Frank cleaned up with a little elbow grease and some time.

Opening the shabby door, with the trespassing cage slightly lowered, Roy could see that this old 76 station was dilapidated, but well taken care of, the floor for all the damage it'd taken through the years was clean, as were the shelves, the balding, old black man behind the counter gave Roy a weary look before going back to cleaning the check-out counter. He'd not even offered the young man a hello, but it seemed that he wasn't any less welcome to spend his meager money in the store, he'd had breakfast this morning but since it was now past three. He'd been searching since about six in the morning. So maybe he'd pick up a drink and a snack, but after stretching his legs the only thing that Roy wanted to do was empty his now aching bladder.

He'd taken no time in locating the bathroom and doing his business, though washing his hands in the clean yet run down bathroom the young her heard a loud crash outside the bathroom. Roy killed the light and fan and cracked the door which was to the far end of the counter to see two large men, packing some obvious heat and wearing similar colors. Obviously these men were organized crime. The old black man behind the counter held his head as blood oozed down over his eye causing him to close it and look fearfully at the thugs that were obviously trying to hit him up for something.

Roy's blood boiled. He hated bullies, even if these guys were packing. He wouldn't stand for it. Roy formed his weapons of choice a rod and shield and kicked open the door. The combination of his tensile strength and the doors aged hinges caused the wooden slab to come off it's hinges and skid to the two con's feet. "Get lost assholes!" Roy warned leveling his rod at the two of them.

The two things turned to see Roy, a young man standing there with stick and shield as if to intimidate them. He looked clean, and realized he was the owner of the vehicle outside. The two things immediately started laughing. "Looks like we got ourselves a thrill seeker!"

"More like an idiot with powers" the second man said before turning to the owner. "You call this guy here? Boss won't like that" he warned.

The owner shook his head. "No no, I didn't ask for him. I'm not pressing charges I swear!"

The first thug looked back to Roy. "See? Now run along kid, this isn't any of your business" he said. Both thugs turned their backs to Roy, not taking him as any kind of a serious threat.

Wait... they ignored him? Well this was peachy. Roy'd learned in the few brawls he'd been and all the sports he'd played if your opponent doesn't respect you take advantage of that.

The teen didn't even bother to think twice about what the man said, inscenced that he was ignored, on top of having to deal with bullies, Roy would jump into the fray without any kind of battlecry or hoopla.

Roy charged in crashing into the thug furthest from the counter, shield first and transfering all of his built up kinetic energy into the man, as his schools ex-star running back the boy knew how to accellerate quickly, coupled with his Tensile Strength enhancement bodychecked the man using his shield as a bumper.

Mister Mercury wasn't done there as he'd brought the copper-like Quicksilver rod down at the second thug's collar, if it connected it would be a debilitating blow. Being ignored gave you a pretty good tactical advantage after all.

And an advantage it was. The first thing was hit hard, sent flying across the room and crashing into one of the many snack aisles. The second thug also fell to his knees in pain after the rod strike. The first thug got up quickly though, Roy would learn that East District boys could deal with a lot more pain. "Dumbass" the thug said before removing a baton from his belt and extending it. He lashed forward, striking multiple times to get close to Ray.

The second thug remained down and the shopkeeper watched in horror.

Roy brought his shield up and began to block the incoming strikes with it, the weight of the shield and Roy getting his shoulder behind the discus allowed him to keep it under his control as the man swung wildly, forcing Roy back a few steps, causing his body to shiver under the weight of the thug's strikes. The man was powerful and he seemed experienced in fighting with that baton.

Roy had a little more classical training under his belt, his Kendo and fencing were something else as he watched from behind the shield getting used to the man's movements before striking, his strike being a counter-attack, going for the thug's wrist that was holding his baton, on the down stroke of his attack. If it connected he might completely disarm the man.

"Ah!" the man yelled as his hand was struck, the baton dropping to the ground in front of him. Before Roy could launch another attack though, the second thug had gotten up and charged right at Roy, aiming to tackle and knock him through another snack shelf. The blow was wild, but it was also well thought out and coordinated, as the man was pushing on Roy's shield, either aiming to knock it out of his hand or at least put enough pressure to where Roy would be pushed back.

Regardless, this also allowed the first thug to retrieve his baton before running forward to aim more strikes at Roy.

Well this wasn't good, the two of them were slowly gaining momentum back through their coordinated but unrefined counter attack. It would leave Roy on the defensive as the thug went for the tackle, grasping Roy by the shield, and trying to drive him with it. Roy had broken many a tackle before, even some obviously dirty ones in his time during his football career at Alabaster High. This was no different as Roy released the shield and spun on his heels letting the man crash into the shelf himself.

Roy would of course follow on with striking for the man's knee with all of the energy of his spin, a strike that would cripple most opponents. He'd moved from, the green zone of strikes to the yellow, more dangerous strikes and possibly crippling strikes.

With that riposte having taken it's course Roy quickly brought both hands onto his Quicksilver rod, increasing it's length and therefore leverage, and giving it a more oval shape, like a Bokken. He'd switched styles from a more fencing with shield to a kendo oriented style.

The man had retrieved his baton, and was on the offensive again, but Roy would move inside the man's swing block the move and with the momentum imparted by the block bring a fast stroke around and up, pivoting his weapon at his wrists bringing the weapon into the thugs elbows, a blow that like the knee strike was going for a fight ending crippling strike, though one could swing a baton missing an elbow.

The first thug crashed in to the shelf, crying out in pain and just laying there for a moment as he tried to regroup himself. He was taking a beating by this point, and Roy was a tougher opponent than they had expected. They had to end this fast or else they might actually lose, and that wouldn't be good for the boss to hear.

The other thug also took his blow, falling on to his back in pain. Roy had won the fight it seemed as both men seemed unable to continue. Before Roy could celebrate though...

BANG!

Everyone turned to see the area where the owner was. "That's quite enough now," a new man said. Roy would see a tall man, white hair, single red eye, and a creepy black mask over his face. HE didn't know it, but he was looking at the face of Charon, one of the East District's many gang leaders. "Weapons down...now" Charon said as he held the gun to the head of the shop owner who was cowering in his boots.

"Do what he says...please" the owner asked pathetically.

Roy stopped in his tracks as his head snapped around to the door to see the man, holding the shop keeper practically hostage. Roy would acquiesce with the man's demands dropping his weapon, he could whip out another one quickly enough if it was needed. He'd already dealt with the man's thugs, Roy would also drop his salt-and-pepper lightweight riding jacket leaving him with just the white button up shirt he'd put on this morning, and the black riding slacks he was wearing, for the day's riding activities.

The young Hero would speak to quiet the ringing in his ears from the gun blast. "You lead these two assholes?" Roy asked bumping the who'd gone down into the candy rack with his foot, but not taking his eyes off the man in the mask. There was something dangerous about it, that made every hair on the back of Mister Mercury's neck stand up like this guy wasn't just dangerous, he'd dealt with the man's lackey's they were dangerous, this guy was deadly. Not just because he had a gnarly looking piece.

"It'll be okay mister." Roy tried to re-assure the store owner, bringing his hands up and motioning down with them as if trying to calm everything down with a motion of his hands. He didn't have this under control, he'd been through the SAFE hostage class, and knew that the longer a stand-off lasted without violence the better chance all parties involved had of walking away.

"You have no idea what you've done" the owner said as he looked at Roy. Those words were very true, with an act of heroism Roy had managed to summon the devil.

Charon turned his piece and aimed it at Roy for a few moments. "It would be so easy to kill you right now...but I think I could use something else today" he said before moving around the corner and holstering his weapon. Roy would see the man also had a knife dashed in his pocket, though he made no move to go for it. Charon just raised his hand and moved his fingers in a challenging way.

"Well? Come on hero. Save the day, stop the bad guy. I'd love to see you try"

Well that was a no go, as the man turned the weapon onto Roy as he threatened to cut him down right there. It however wouldn't be as the man put his gun away and quickly went into taunting him, even going as far as to show off a hidden knife.

Again Roy thought about taking advantage of his opponent's pride, a folly that made him put away his upper hand and taunt Roy into single combat. "Alright if that's what you want." Roy knew that he was being played, though the man hadn't seen him fight before, only maybe the last few moves. Hopefully that'd give him the advantage of surprise still.

Roy would charge in, again, springing in to action as quickly as possible, again Roy was no slouch being a running back, closing the gap with the man and giving a quick cross-punch for the masked man's hidden face.

Charon didn't even seem to flinch as Roy built up so much speed in his attack. This was speed and strength that could be used against him though. Charon made a quick move, grabbing Roy's arm and moving sharply, redirecting all of Roy's momentum and throwing him across the room and sliding in to the opposite wall. Charon just shook his head. "Pathetic, the lot of you are the same. The last one of you supers I killed felt the same way about justice. He hadn't been to the East District either" Charon remarked as he walked over to a nearby counter. He hit a button on a machine as coffee started to fill in to a small cup. He kept his eye on Roy, waiting to see how long it'd take the guy to get up and launch another attack.

"Come now, that can't be all the fight in you"

Roy was tossed across the room like a ragdoll colliding with a shelf and sending its contents spilling onto the ground. It wasn't the hardest he'd ever been hit but it certainly wasn't a love tap. This guy was quick, not just fast quick, but he had a good reaction speed as well. Not to mention tossing the nearly two hundred pound Roy aside like he was a bag of potatoes.

Pushing himself to his feet the teen dusted off and charged again. This time he was going for a good old fashioned football tackle, though, he'd pulled his right arm back again early like he was repeating the same charge-cross attack again, but instead at the last possible second he'd short step and try to tackle the man to the ground.

Charon moved, even with Roy's tactic on changing his attack, Charon wasn't the kind to fight fair. Once Roy got even a little close, Charon snatched the cup of steaming coffee and threw it directly at Roy. The drink was straight from the machine, and while it wasn't going to scald Roy it certainly wasn't going to feel pleasant either. Charon also braced himself for the tackle, making sure he kept his balance even as Roy collided with him. "You're used to fighting weaker opponents clearly" Charon nearly shouted before lifting an elbow and bringing it crashing down on to Roy's back. He'd keep doing this repeatedly, either to make Roy let go or just to further injure him.

Roy's steps faltered as he received hot drink across the side of his face, it burned but he'd not let it stop him! He would still manage to connect with the man, and wipe the hot liquid off himself onto the man's shirt. Then Roy's body was rocked by the man's elbow that went into his ribs just to the right of his spine! Then two more landed on different spots of his back.

It hurt! A lot!

Using the pain, Roy pulled his feet up under himself, he locked his arms around the man and hefted the man up by the waist and did his best to half shoulder throw, half suplex the man at a last standing rack of convenience candies that the shop owner had, throwing himself to the ground in the process, all his technique had gone out the window, such a sloppy move wasn't one that Roy hadn't been taught, but he knew he needed to break the grapple on his terms, and he'd not even disturbed the man's balance with his tackle.

Pushing himself to his feet Roy brought his hands up again, and readied himself for the coming counter attack. "Yeah but at least I don't have others pushing weaker people around for me." He spat venomously back, keeping his eyes locked onto the man. Roy was starting to feel the fight. This man was light-years beyond his peons.

Charon was surprised that the guy had this much fight left in him. Roy sloppily threw Charon in to the last standing snack counter, causing the display to fall over with Charon landing atop it. Charon let out a mixture between a moan and a laugh. He pushed himself up fully before looking over and seeing the way that Roy was standing. "Still think you have a chance here do you hero? Fine, you asked for it" Charon said as he reached around to grip his mask.

"No, now you've done it!" the owner shouted before moving behind and ducking behind the counter for protection. Even the peons looked nervous as they saw what Charon was doing.

The mask soon fell, and Roy would feel the strong sense of fear and paranoia overtake his senses as he became exposed to Charon's power once his face came in to view. "Still feel confident hero?" Charon asked before sprinting forward, aiming a kick in to Roy's knee to make him lose balanced before launching a fist down to his face, aiming to drive him to the ground as fast as he could.

"Let me show you what life is like here in the East District you ignorant shit!"

The teen had been taught from an early age to not give in, and to never give up without a fight. His body ached but he could feel the adrenaline coursing through his veins. He wanted to win more than anything else. He could feel quicksilver readying itself just under his skin for its quick deployment. "Damn Strait I do!" Roy wasn't backing down at all, when the masked man challenged him.

And then the man pulled his mask off.

Everybody freezes at the start of a fight, it was just a matter of how long you froze for. This wasn't that. This was something different. Roy could feel an adrenaline surge like he'd never felt before, he could feel every fine hair on his body stand on end. It was like it was all he could do was stare eyes wide. He couldn't even muster enough of his wits to form a word let alone a comprehensive response for exactly what he felt.

It felt like he was watching everything in slow motion. In that moment Roy knew he'd been handily beaten. Roy couldn't even muster a guard as the gang leader charged in and struck, fist his leg, bringing Roy down to a knee, which opened him up for a punishing blow to the face sending the young man's head over backwards, so fast it looked like it caved his face in and snapped his neck.

Roy's head hit the floor of the hard, issuing forth the sound of a smashed pumpkin, as it bounced off the deck. There was blood coming from his dripping from his left nostril as he'd caught most of the blow on the side of his face, Roy's hand of course came up to simply to guard his head but to coddle his injured face!

Charon just watched as Roy took the full beating of Charon's punches and attacks. Charon just grinned as he saw Roy's bleeding face, feeling the energy flowing out of his injured body. Charon reached down and yanked Roy by his hair and starting to walk to the entrance of the store.

"Don't come to my city and pretend you have any idea what goes on here. This is my world, not yours you gifted bastard" Charon spoke. Instead of going through the door Charon lifted Roy up and threw him through the glass window. Glass shattered and cut Roy. Charon just allowed him to lay there as he used the door to get to the young hero.

"Still wanna talk shit?"

Grasping at the man's hands Roy wasn't able to get a good grip on them as he was dragged by his hair to the door and then sent through the glass, shattering it and sending the young hero end over end, striking his face on the ground first and skidding, leaving a bloody streak from the many shallow lacerations over his body, his clothing was now in tatters, and bloodstained.

"Wewe kweli sijui chochote." Roy slurred an argument his mind switching back to his most native language, as he looked up defiantly at the man, a little blood trickling out of the side of the corner of his mouth.

Simama! He urged himself to try and stand. His body merely trembled, his eyes however kept locked onto the horrible visage of the gang leader, who spoke about being gifted.

"Yeah I don't speak whatever that is" Charon said casually as he grabbed Roy's limp arm and dragged him to the center of the station. Charon let go of Roy before pulling out a twenty from his wallet and paying for some gas. Charon took the nozzle and began to turn it over. He pulled the trigger as gasoline began to descend into Roy's body. It wasn't long until his clothes were soaked.

Charon pulled out a Zippo lighter and ignited a flame. "Come on tough guy, say something inspiring. Let's hear it. Look around, look at all the people coming to your aid....fucking nobody"

Being dragged like a sack of potatoes, was sort of a new feeling for Roy, he ached all over but as the man dragged him he could feel sharp pains all over his body as the glass shards dug into new places on his body leaving a thicker bloody swath, as he was dragged.

Roy coughed and sputtered as the smell of gasoline filled his nose and mouth, turning his face away as the man soaked him in the miserable fluid. Trying to keep it off his face as the man poured it all over him, and then produced nothing less than a zippo.

Something about the tiny flame rebooted Roy's mind and the sentence that he structured in his mind was two suscinct words, seeming to take all the effort he could muster just to speak through the caustic vapor:

"Fuck you."

Charon shook his head. "You wouldn't last three hours here" Charon said quietly. "You think you understand the world and yet here you are fighting battles you can't win...remind me of someone I used to know actually" Charon uttered as he thought about Mute and what he died for.

"And yet even the best of us die in the gutter and the trash, you'll be no different no matter who buys your loyalty. All things come to an end, life, kingdoms, empires...all of it turns to fire and ash" Charon said before closing the lighter. As he did this the two thugs from earlier walked over by Charon.

"Destroy the bike, then drop him off in his part of town, make sure he's somewhere public, I want everyone to see what happens when a super crosses Charon" he said before launching a kick right into Roy's ribs.

Roy was all and defiant waiting for the man to drop the lighter and start burning Roy alive! But the man suddenly closed spoke about the end of life, and his morbid views of reality. It was something they agreed on, oddly as the man stood over Roy's broken body. No matter where you were in life, you could die in a gutter.

But conversely: Roy thought as the man stared down at him, that you could always die surrounded by loved ones.

It was all Roy could do to watch as the thugs rolled his bike around to the front where he could see it, and they tipped the bike letting it fall over, with an obviously faked "Whoops!" Before the thugs retrieved their batons and began to strike the bike.

That would be when the kick hit Roy in the ribs knocking the air from his lungs, again. The force of the blow would roll the teen out of the puddle of gasoline onto his side, half way across the parking lot leaving a trail of blood and gas behind him as he traveled.

The men would beat the bike taking out their rage at Roy on it, because he was the bosses plaything they couldn't do it to him, but taking it out on the kid's bike wasn't anything big to them. As one of the thugs went up to the pump and pulled the handle off and dosed the already leaking bike. The other thug did to it what Charon was thinking of doing to Roy and lit the Green moto ablaze!

Roy was saddened by the loss of his bike but glad it wasn't him being burned to a crisp. He flinched as the gas tank went up in a small explosion that shattered out all of the remaining windows in front of the gas station. Giving Charon the whole "Cool guys don't look at explosions" vibe.

The thugs sounded their hurrah's and moved to quickly follow Charon's orders each grabbing the kid by the legs and dragging him to the van they'd arrived in. They'd find a nice cushy spot to dump him in on the north side of town. Like a dumpster, or someone's backyard trash heap.