V | Dial 'A' for Assassin

° Chapter 2 - Strike Force °

♥ Roland's POV ♥

The chime of the door bell went off

"Hi, there! Welcome to Cocoa Jitters! How may I help you?"

Already on my 5th order of the morning, I was feeling pretty good.

My boss was telling me how I had been bringing a new light to the business as I looked out our window.

I saw small man being harassed.

"You weren't kidding about Gotham. Does it ever stop?"

I looked over to Brother Baldwin. He nearly snorted in response.

"You're gonna need a miracle for that to happen."

At the half hour mark into my shift, no one was coming in. My boss had gone around back to sweep up as I brought my laptop out. I had brought it with me that morning thinking I'd need it in case the cappuccino machine was busted again, along with just passing the time, or going on my breaks. I was usually able to get a chapter done before my shift ended.

Typing some small words across the screen, my attention was brought to something moving out of my peripheral. It was the same man from earlier being harassed again.

I wasn't going to intervene at first until I noticed him getting beat up. Literally kicked to the curb.

I looked over at the last remaining customers and asked them if they needed anything else for the moment.
When they said no, I quietly excused myself, and ripped off my apron to run outside.

The men were ganging-up on a smaller, doubled over man. They kept kicking him in the stomach until I spoke up.

"Hey! Why dont you pick on someone your own size?" I put my feet and fists into a fighting position.

The men laughed.

"Oh! Oh, man! It looks like Penguin here's got himself a girlfriend." The men kept exaggerating.

"Do you know who I am?" I taunted.

The leader stopped, and turned toward me.

"There ain' notin' to know, lady- Ah!"

I kicked my left leg out and caught it around his arm, shifting us into an armbar position.

"You leave this man alone, you got that?"

I twisted my leg tighter until he gave in.

"Jeez, lady! Alright! Now lemme go!"

I let him up and looked over towards the scared man beside me. I reached out toward him.

"Hey, come on. You're safe now. It's okay. I'm not gonna hurt you."

I picked him up and led him back into the café after I was sure the men ran off.

"You barely know me." He whispered

"What?" I asked him.

"You barely know me and you just... Helped me. Why?"

We entered the coffee shop and it fell silent. I cleared my throat and made my way towards the counter.

Putting my apron back on, I answered the man.

"Someone's gotta stick up to those guys. If we don't, how do we expect this place to get any better?"

I made my way over to the coffee machines and poured a black cup. I handed it to him.

"On the house."

Fixing my hair, I went back to my laptop.

A whistled cat-call sounded from the back of Cocoa Jitters by a well-known sleezbag of a gangster. One of the Narrows' under-paid crimelords.