A/N - Just saying… Trigger warning
A scrawny man paces back and forth in front of the corner store. He pulls a phone from his pocket, checks it, and places it back as he continues to pace. He sighs loudly and looks up at the setting sun. Pulling his phone out again, he dials in a number, then deletes it.
"Ugh", he groans, "damnit Elsa, I'm out of money where the hell are you?"
Aladdin looks down at his phone, "screw it! If she won't answer I'll just do a job alone. I don't need her!"
He jams the phone in his pocket and slips into the closest alleyway, looking for a potential victim. Peeking out, he watches the few people on the street. Eyes darting from person to person
Slim pickings today… hmm.
A muscular man passes and enters an alley across the street.
Too strong… he could overpower me.
A young, slightly out of it, homeless man sits on the curb outside a restaurant.
Too poor… I could knock him over easy but what's the point if he only has a few bucks with him.
A panicking man shuffles by.
He could work.
He jumps into a car and quickly drives away.
Damn it!
Finally, a fairly pretty girl walks by. Clutching her bag, she dodges the homeless man. Aladdin's mouth curls into a devious grin. He exits from between the buildings and begins to put on his charm as he approaches her.
"Miss! Excuse me, miss!", he calls to her.
The girl stops and glances at Aladdin. He sees her give him a once over, probably trying to determine if he was homeless as well. She answers him, "can I help you?"
Aladdin knows he's in. He rubs the back of his head and speaks as if he's confused, "I'm sorry to bother you, but I am quite a bit lost. I was trying to get to 10th Avenue, and I dropped my phone." He pulls a broken phone from his pocket and shows it to her. "These crappy phones today can't survive a foot drop onto a pillow. Can you just point me in the right direction?"
The woman smiles at him, "you wandered a ways off! We're on 1st right now, you have to head up this street, turn right, then just count the blocks till you get there."
"Oh damn, I'm an idiot", he sighs, lightly bumping his head with the heel of his hand. He glances down the street and notices another man and a woman, both raggedly dressed, walking towards them. Aladdin continues, "Thank you so much, miss. I would have just kept walking in the wrong direction."
As the two others get closer they look at one another and whisper. Aladdin sends them a leer and speaks cautiously to the woman, "perhaps we should move away from this part of the street. It seems like trouble could be heading our way."
The girl looks and sees the two eyeing them up. She looks back at the other person still sitting on the curb. She nods and they walk into an alley. She loses sight of Aladdin for just a moment, but that's all he needs.
He pulls a knife from his pocket. Wrapping one arm around her, he puts the blade to her throat, "now, why don't we have a little chat." His voice is cold, he knows he has her. "Scream and the alley gets painted with your blood", he smirks as he places his hand against her face.
He takes a look over his shoulder and sees the two stop for a second then continue walking, faintly hearing the female say, "sorry to keep you waiting, Ed."
She cautiously struggles to get away from the knife, "why are you doing this?"
He laughs, "because I gotta eat to live, and I gotta steal to eat." He pulls her close, "here's how this is going to go. You give me everything I want", the emphasis he puts on 'everything' makes the girl cringe, "and I will let you walk away without a hole in your neck."
Still slightly squirming in his arms, she pleads, "no, please don't…"
He runs his fingertips along her cheek, "shh, shh. No need to get upset." He smells her neck and giggles to himself.
See, I don't need Elsa! There's no one here to split the money with… And no one to stop the fun...
She tries to stay calm, "why me? What did I do?"
His mouth twisting into a terrifying smile. He giggles out again, "no, no sweetie. Just think of it as a bank transaction. You will be dispensing money to me and I will be depositing-"
"What the fuck are you doing to my girl?", a deep voice bellows from behind him.
Aladdin turns and sees what can barely be described as a man. He starts to tilt his head up to look at his face. After a few seconds of pulling his head back, he finally locks eyes with him. Aladdin's mouth drops open, the person in front of him looks like he's eight feet tall. Letting his eyes stray across the man he sees black jeans and a black wifebeater. His arms, bigger than Aladdin's body, bulge with muscles. His shoulders are so broad that Aladdin thought he might have had to turn to enter the alley. The term 'Man', wouldn't do him justice, he's a monster… A behemoth… Aladdin loosened his grip on the girl who then slipped from his grasp.
The man stands tall, his dark black eyes set on Aladdin. He screams again, "I said, what the fuck are you doing to my girl!?"
Aladdin whimpers, "n-nothing!"
The giant barks, "doesn't look like 'n-nothing!' Actually, it looks like you were gonna try to rob one of my girls… MY girls."
The girl slips behind him, "he was planning more than that, boss."
"Shut the hell up", he calls to the woman, "shouldn't you be out making me some money, not giving it away for free?"
The woman quietly shuffles away, "yes, Daddy. Sorry, Daddy."
Aladdin watches her exit the alley and turns towards the man towering over him, who asks, "do you even know who the fuck you are dealing with?"
Aladdin shakes his head, slowly backing away.
The man takes a step towards Aladdin, "you don't have to answer, because I know you don't." He takes another step, "if you did, you wouldn't have tried to steal from one of my girls."
Aladdin, in full retreat, back peddles away from the advancing giant, "stay away from me!" Aladdin stops and holds out his knife, feigning confidence, "I don't care who the hell you are. I'll cut you open and spread you across the road."
He meets Aladdin's intimidation attempt with a deep, hearty laugh, "kid, you ever hear the name Churnabog before?"
"No, you must not be as well known as you think you are", Aladdin examines the walls and passages trying to find an escape.
Churnabog lets out a chortle, "you really don't know how big of a check you just wrote that your ass can't cash." He continues sauntering towards Aladdin, "the head mother fucker in charge doesn't concern himself with the dog shit on the street." He lifts up his giant hand, "but every so often…" He reaches out, "the king of the jungle, steps in that dog shit…" He grabs Aladdin's forearm in his hand, "and do you know who has to clean it up?"
Aladdin, panicking, stabs Churnabog in the hand. He releases Aladdin, who turns and sprints down the alley away.
Churnabog pulls back his hand, reacting as if he just got a paper cut. He roars like an animal, his face contorting in rage. Aladdin only makes it a few yards before he is jerked backwards. A huge hand grabs him by his shirt and tosses him back towards the opening of the alley.
Aladdin lands on his side, his face and arms scraping across the concrete. He looks up and sees the three homeless people watching, horror fills their eyes. He reaches towards them, "hel-".
His cry for help is silenced by Chrunabog's hand curling around his neck as he lifts Aladdin off the ground effortlessly. A big hit comes in the form of a knee to Aladdin's torso, knocking the wind out of him. He curls in holding his stomach, gasping for breath.
Enjoying every second of his torture, Churnabog pulled back his arm and let loose a punch. It hits Aladdin so hard he goes flying the other way down the alley. He howls out in pain as his face slams back against the concrete, leaving a trail of blood behind him.
His entire body hurts, but this is his only chance and he knows it. Aladdin lifts himself onto his feet, somehow ignoring all the pain he is in, and runs as fast as his feet can carry him. He almost makes it out of the alley before he feels a pop and a moment later, the pain sets in.
The scream is soul wrenching. His leg is burning. Over the scream you could hear Churnabog laughing. A blow from an improvised bat had hit Aladdin in the back of his knee so hard there was an audible crack. Tumbling over, Aladdin rolls a few times from the momentum of the hit. He looks down at his leg to see bloody, jagged bone sticking out of his skin.
Screaming in mortal agony, Aladdin doesn't even see Churnabog coming. A giant foot falls on his now gaping wound, grinding dirty boots against his protruding bone. His cries become even more anguished. Churnabog kneels down next to him, lifts him by his shirt, and begins to swing. He sends a right hand, hitting him so hard that it splatters more blood across the wall a few feet away. Aladdin doesn't even have time to recover before another swing jerks his head the opposite direction. Screaming out, he coughs up more blood and he looks up at his attacker through thick, red-blurred vision to see the last punch coming. It slammed directly into the center of his face, bouncing his skull against the ground.
Aladdin's screams finally fall silent. Unable to turn away from the terrifying scene before them, the trio have looks of horror on their faces. Aladdin lays unmoving, bloody, beaten, and battered, but Churnabog pulls his arm back and continues to assault him, landing a massive blow into Aladdin's motionless body.
Then another.
And another.
And another.
He finally ends his attack and shifts his eyes up towards the onlookers. The beating they just witnessed petrified them in place.
Churnabog smiles at them. A large, genuine smile. He rises from the lifeless body in front of him. Crimson stains him from head to toe. He surveys his audience and jokes, "I thought a genie would pop out if I kept going."
They run.
They run as fast as they can, his laughter chasing them from the alley.
"Oh dear, seems like you've gone and made a mess", a woman's voice materializes from behind him.
Churnabog turns and sees her. A black dress drapes out behind her and black hair framing her face in pure darkness. She stands, long cane carefully placed in front of her, both hands resting on top of it. Eyeing her up for a second before shouting, "who the fuck are you supposed to be?"
Her eyes glint with a soft green hue as her ruby lips curl up showing her pearlescent teeth. She chuckles deviously, "oh dear, that won't do." She glides towards him, "you see, I am the person who owns this town, I control every detail that goes on in this city. I am Maleficent, but you can call me Mal."
Chrunabog laughs in her face, "you? Control this town? I push more drugs through this town than all other dealers put together. I run more prostitution rings than Vegas. If you run this town, why the fuck do I not know who you are."
Through a condescending smirk, Mal quips, "the same reason that, 'dog shit', as you so elegantly put it, didn't know who you were, Churnabog."
"So you think you know me, huh?", he spits back, "good for you. You want something, or just a concerned citizen looking to save the innocent?", motioning towards Aladdin as he speaks.
Mal, still grinning outright, glances down at Aladdin and implores, "please… A lion does not concern itself with the opinion of sheep." She turns her attention to Churnabog, "I'm more interested in you… I have an offer for you."
Churnabog wipes some blood from his face, "get on with it so I can go back to not giving a shit."
Letting out a snicker, Mal propositions him, "you said that you deal more drugs than anyone else in this town put together… Come and talk with me and my associates, and we can see what we can do to make those other dealers... Disappear."
Chrunabog smiles through the blood as sirens start to wail in the background, "you got someplace I can wash up first? Based on how you dress, it looks like we're going someplace pretty fucking hoity-toity. Wouldn't want to drag blood through the lobby when we get there."