"B-but I ain't got no money or food, man!" his pitiful stuttering whistled through crusty, missing teeth, "A-and I needed to do s-something. I gotta eat!"

Crackling of several punches in the alleyway scared two scrawny cats from their hopeful meals. Eventually the meaty assaults waned, leaving only the buzzing of the street lamp and the mournful sobs blending in the relentless, humid night.

Waving his hands from the ground and blood dripping into his swollen eyes, he pleaded with the assailant again, "I just n-nabbed a sandwich and a porn mag, man!" He spat into his hands and wiped them on his tattered jacket. "I l-lost another tooth, damn. W-what's your problem with me, man?"

The homeless fellow couldn't see through his stoned gaze before, and the blood in his eyes made it worse now. He was scared out of his wits and didn't know who the hell was out to get him; he was grabbed off the street in the middle of eating his sandwich, the only thing he's had in three days. His enemy hadn't said two words the entire time and just beat the lice out of his hair and teeth out of his head.

Right at that moment, he didn't need to worry about his hunger pains anymore. The asshole kicked him several times and then shoved him against the wall with the force of a bulldozer. It didn't feel like a normal brawl; it was too animalistic. Being pummeled to a bloody pulp wasn't new to him.

But the dark, hollowing voice was and he pissed in his pants as the puny light glossed over his assailant's profile: a scarred, reptilian face that spelled death in its eyes. "Jerry, you've fucked up this time. What did I tell you before?" The voice was calm, steady but quietly fierce.

His hazed memory dissipated once he remembered their last encounter full of bruises and broken walls. "B-but I stayed away from her, like you said!"

"Not good enough! You gave her nightmares, jackass. She wets the bed and tried to drown the cat. That fucking cat she used to love so much!"

"W-wait... are you -" Jerry coughed through the assailant's iron grip around his neck, "...w-which one a-are... you?"

"What does it matter!" Calmness escaped the mutant's voice, and patience left his eyes. "I said we would protect her after the Foot killed her mother, and then you took her... and.." his striking eyes ballooned out of their sockets and the anger ripped through his veins, "...it's all gone to hell. At this point, we should have let the Foot smother her than to be with your disgusting ass!"

"W-what... she's with her grandmother n-now!" he squeaked. Jerry's feet squirmed as time was running out in his body. "P-please!"

"You've never met me before, Jerry," he teased, holding the fluttering man in his grip with ease. "Three times you've been visited and this one is your last. I thought the one before me would have changed your mind. He and I don't see eye to eye about a lot of things, but we do on this matter. And that means you're in for a very bad night. Do you know what today is?"

Jerry tore his nails into the reptile's flesh as one last act of defiance. His back met the ground with a mighty, bone crushing smack. Jerry wasn't moving.

"It's Father's Day."

The reptilian enemy bent down to check the man's pulse, and after confirming how slow and quiet it was, he stood on his feet, glaring coldly at the body.

"She was one of the first little girls we saved. A father should never do that to his daughter. We all felt like we failed her, and we've tried to give you more chances than you deserved. Now," he pulled out a carving knife and dragged Jerry's comatose body into the rooted darkness, "her wings can grow again with you gone."

One of the alley cats returned, sniffing around the hemic mucus and ghostly footprints.