On the corner to Skipper Road and Freighter Avenue, there is a convenience store which, although may be slightly dirty and in need of maintenance, has quite a reputation for fairness, both price wise and customer service wise, which has contributed to some economic success for the owners. This store is a run of the mill convenience store which you can find anywhere in cities spread out across the United States of America. However, the one thing that stands out with this store is that it has a mascot which is unusual and odd, a cube. Another oddity of the store is that its name does not fit the city, Brockton Bay, where it is located. The store's name is, after all, the Cute Cuddly Cube Convenience Store.
In said convenience store, there is a teenage girl working an afternoon shift and just as the monotony started to set in, something happened. But that is not surprising considering this is, after all, Brockton Bay.
"That will be $15.95. Would you like a bag to go with that?" the bored voice of a young girl sounded out in the slightly decrepit building with the customer shaking their head.
"Thank you and have a good day.", the girl exclaimed to the customer leaving. Just as the haze of boredom started to descend over the girl, the doors of the convenience store were slammed open. The offender being a shabbily dressed man and his solid working boots, which were in a surprisingly good condition. In addition to subpar clothing choices, the man was armed with a baseball bat and had a non-descript duo flanking him, one equipped with a tire iron and the other had a 9mm handgun stuffed in his waistband. In addition, they were all equipped with a duffle bag each and had a stench of rubbish and alcohol surrounding them.
It was clear to the girl that they were part of the Archer Bridge Merchants which was a big warning sign as it could mean that said gang was putting more focus on the neighbourhood in which the convenience store was located.
"Hand over all the cash and cigarettes or elseā¦!", the man screeched with saliva flying everywhere while waving around his bat, nearly knocking down a shelf with gum. The girl cringed away, both from the sheer volume of the man's screech and the spit flying, mostly the spit.
After the man stopped shouting and the girl could stop leaning away, she started to reach for the hidden alarm button under the counter to alert the police. However, the man saw it, surprisingly, "Alert the cops and I'll shoot."
She hastily started to grab the cash from the register and the cigarettes from the shelf behind her, "H-h-here you go. Please don't hurt me.", she said shakily to the man waving around the baseball bat anxiously.
The ratty man shoved all the stolen goods and cash into a duffle bag he was carrying, and he shouted to his fellow accomplices, "Grab anything you want! Pack those bags to the brim boys!".
As the three criminals were busy packing the goods into the bags, they were not paying attention to the cashier nor to the door so while they were not pointing their weapons at the girl, she didn't dare to do anything drastic as you couldn't be sure what a drunk, and potentially high, gang member would do. This led to them missing the doors opening to the store and who entered the store. The girl looked at the entrance and was stunned. It was Lung, the leader of the gang ABB!
Lung walked calmly, but intimidatingly, towards the criminals robbing the place and started to beat them up.
"How dare you rob the Cute Cuddly Cube Convenience Store!" Lung roared out while beating the merchants to a pulp. "I've taken a liking to this store and is now Asian!"
After the robbers had been beaten to near-death, Lung bought some instant noodle packages and left with the defeated criminals. Roughly five minutes later the police came, but as there were no criminals, they only took the cashier's statement and left.
The cashier hung up her work clothes and badge in the staff room and changed to running clothes. She started to lock down the store and jogged back home, keeping clear of the shady parts of town and other murky alleys.
When she arrived at home and unlocked the front door to the house, she heard her dad ask her how her shift had been, "It was good, dad. Apart from another (attempted) robbery." She answered exasperated.
"Isn't that the third one this week?"
"Yep"
"Good night dad, see you tomorrow", she said and hugged her dad who replicated the hug and replied, "Yeah, sleep tight too and I'll see you tomorrow. I'll brew a cup of tea to be ready for you in the morning."
Taylor smiled when she eventually fell asleep.
