Chapter 155: Coming Clean.

Jack looked at Cindy, who he roughly pulled behind this stinky dumpster. The anger in her eyes and the shaking of her body told her all he needed to know about her current feelings about his actions. Glutton whispered, "There are dangerous criminals after me. I don't want you to get hurt. Please stay here while I handle them. Please." He begged. It would increase the danger of this encounter if he had to protect Cindy as well as take out the criminals.

"If you can fight grown-ups, there's no way I can't." Cindy confidently clenched her fists.

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"Well, where the hell is he?" a gangster asked, casually slinging a baseball bat over his shoulder.

"We don't even know if he's over here. We just know this neighborhood is where he's seen the most." Another gangster replied.

"So we're just looking around blindly?" The first gangster sounded displeased.

"Pretty much. Easy money if you ask me. Look for some fat kid in a costume around the city for hundreds of dollars a week? I'd do it every day of my life." The second gangster chuckled.

The two gangsters split up and continued their search, accompanied by their group of eight guys in a van. Most of them didn't expect to find the so-called crazy kid, which is why they were either smoking, scrolling through their phones, or engaging in casual chatter. It all seemed ridiculous to the gangsters.

No grown man could reasonably see themselves being knocked out or beaten up by some fat kid in a costume—especially gangsters who are used to fighting and associating themselves with criminal activities. They didn't understand why their boss was so afraid of this kid. No, they couldn't understand why he was so afraid. What was so terrifying about some kid in a costume?

"You heard about that new movie yet? My girls are yapping my ears off about seeing that Lollie movie. You know the one about the doll?" Christopher lit up a cigarette.

"I don't got kids, but even I heard about that movie, bruh. I'm going to go see it. The actress that plays Lollie is hot." Topher tapped his phone's screen.

"I can't wait till payday. My girls are going to think it's Christmas." Christopher laughed.

Mid-conversation, a round object rolled towards them. Both criminals glanced at the strange object before it exploded into smoke, disorienting them. They were engulfed in smoke, unable to see anything, and cried out in shock. Just as they were about to flee from the smoke's radius, the two gangsters were stopped in their tracks.

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Cindy patiently waited for the first gangster to enter her range. As he was about to emerge from the dissipating smoke, she positioned herself for a strike. A spiraling fist connected with the man's gut, and he screamed in agonizing pain, doubling over. This opened up clear access to his face.

Cindy Armani took down her first adult opponent with a rising, spiraling uppercut. A move that wasn't taught to her by Miss Devil but encapsulated all of the knowledge taught to her. The fierce young girl's attack launched the gangster off of his feet and into the air. He slammed the back of his head onto the ground, and that was the end of Cindy's first real fight.

A sense of excitement and pride filled her body as she looked over her defeated opponent. She was nothing but a twelve-year-old girl, and she managed to defeat a grown man! An explosion of unexplainable emotions erupted inside Cindy. This was the power granted to her by Miss Devil… Cindy was already on her way to becoming the world's strongest!

Running off the high of seeing the proof of Miss Devil's teachings, Cindy rushed toward the closest gangster in the vicinity. She didn't spare a thought for Jack or whether she had gone too far with the previous beatdown. The gangster heard the sound of her footsteps, and a look of confusion crossed his face.

This girl wasn't fat. She wasn't wearing a costume. It was a girl. But she was a kid. A kid that was running toward himself. While he was fine with knabbing the costumed hero kid, he wasn't just going to go around snatching little kids, especially when this little girl was a pretty white little girl. The entirety of Krey's police force would come down on their gang if they snatched up this cute little rich girl.

"Are you lost or something, little girl?" He asked just as the girl leaped into the air and struck him across the jaw.

The gangster felt his brain rattle, everything going blurry. The last thing he saw was the girl gripping his collar before bringing her fist down on his face. Fortunately for him, he didn't feel the subsequent barrage of punches. As Cindy ground-pounded the gangster, she was abruptly kicked in the back.

She rolled with the force of the kick and looked up to see the gangster was trying to kick her again. Cindy swayed her face out of the way and rushed toward his sole leg, standing on the ground. Instead of trying to lift his leg and take him down, she pressed all of her body weight on his leg. The man couldn't remain standing with all of her weight pressing down on his sole leg, so he quickly tried to bring his other leg back to the ground.

Anticipating his move, Cindy swiped his returning leg before it could touch the ground, causing the thug to trip. Now that she had him grounded, Cindy ensnared his arm and applied an armbar. Drawing upon the concept of twisting that she had indirectly learned from studying Miss Devil's fights, Cindy created additional torque in the joint lock technique, preventing the opponent from escaping despite their difference in strength and size. This additional torque not only intensified the hold's effectiveness but also generated extra force.

An audible crack resonated as the gangster's bones snapped from Cindy's twist. His screams before and after the breaking did nothing to quell Cindy's fighting fervor. Cindy mounted the man and began pummeling his face relentlessly. He attempted to resist with his remaining good arm, but Cindy's ferocity rendered his efforts futile. Eventually, the man lay beaten, bloodied, and unconscious.

Suddenly, a hand rested on Cindy's shoulder. She instinctively reached back to toss the attacker over her shoulder, but he remained firmly in place, maintaining a stable stance with a low center of gravity and utilizing hip strength. "It's me. Let's get out of here before more of them show up," Glutton said.

"Ha... Ha... Ha..." Cindy felt an insatiable desire to continue. She wanted more. To keep fighting!

Jack was able to do this all he wanted after school? Cindy was envious. Now that she's had the taste of a real fight, she wanted more. That pitiful excuse of sparring they had during Miss Devil's training was nothing in comparison to a real fight. Maybe it was time she became a superhero as well. She would get to fight more, receive extra training from Miss Devil, and speed up the process of becoming the strongest fighter in the world!

Cindy rose to her feet and locked eyes with Jack. "We're partners from now on. I'm joining this superhero thing you're doing," she declared without consulting Jack.

"You want to be a superhero with me?" Jack was astonished someone like Cindy wanted to do this.

"Sure," Cindy replied, not denying the desire to do good.

After all, if she failed to uphold Miss Devil's principles as her student, she would disappoint her. However, her primary focus was on satisfying the burning itch that came from engaging in a real fight. She wanted to prove that the techniques and training she had devoted herself to had genuine value. What better way to demonstrate her potential as the world's strongest fighter than by engaging in real battles?

"Okay, meet me after school tomorrow. We'll get you a costume and the necessary equipment. Then we'll brainstorm your superhero name and create a patrol schedule. We should also patrol together and solve crimes to make it clear that we're partners," Jack rattled off excitedly.

"Alright, I'm heading home. See you later, Glutton..." Cindy remembered to address him by his hero name.

Jack bid farewell to Cindy, simultaneously calling the police to apprehend the gangsters. He made sure they were captured to prevent them from awakening soon and escaping. If he wanted to eradicate crime from Krey for good, inflicting physical pain alone wouldn't suffice. Money was the root cause of it all. Without the lure of money, why would anyone become a gangster? Jack knew he needed to target the gangsters' financial sources if he wanted to truly clean up the streets of Krey. That's what Theo told him.