He was repulsive. His solid teeth were constantly clenched on at least two flaming cigars, his jaw eternally locked in an enormous malicious grin. His crazed eyes were red and were large enough to push against his skull, bulging. His rough little beard hung off his chin with a dusting of cigar ash.

Why anyone would ever prefer the company of Mr. Grind was a mystery to any who passed him...Which is why Danny and Rachel got some many strange looks every time they walked down the street. Mr. Grind grabbed one of his cigars with a mammoth sized hand and tapped the ashes on the sidewalk. What made the gesture intimidating was the fact that he wore brass knuckles like it was normal accessory.

Danny glanced at a woman walking and saw her as she struggled to keep a straight face as she passed. By the way she pursed her lips, Danny thought, she might as well suspect them of committing mass murder. He adjusted the sunglasses atop his head and shoved his hands deep in his pockets. He rubbed his bruised right eye.

Rachel saw a family of four push the stroller carrying their newest member down a different street to avoid passing them. She really couldn't blame them; a little while ago, she would have done the same thing. She combed her faded purple hair behind her ear with her black finger nails. She just concentrated on blowing a bubble with her gum.

Contrary to popular belief, Danny and Rachel stayed with Mr. Grind of their own free will. Mr. Grind pulled a flask out from his dark purple suit jacket and took a swig, spilling pure whiskey down his beard and splashing specks on his blue under shirt and black tie. He cursed as he placed the flask away, causing a young man nearby to cast a sideways glance.

A high pitched ringing suddenly pierced Rachel's ear and she almost cried out in pain. She started fingering her hearing aid, adjusting the sound. Mr. Grind laughed a deep cackle.

"Don' fiddle with tha' thing too much, Shady. We're almost there now." Mr. Grind said, shifting both cigars to the other side of his clenched jaw.

"You don't know how annoying it is though." Rachel said finding the right adjustment.

"Huh, you're not wrong." Mr. Grind said, his gravelly voice driving even more people away from them. "Take a right here, Daniel."

Danny turned before an intersection and walked past a coffee shop on the corner. The next shop over was a pet shop called Arthur's Paws and Tails. Danny gestured with his thumb and Mr. Grind nodded, his malicious smile spreading even wider somehow.

Danny pushed the door open, the open sign bobbing against the glass. Rachel slipped inside next to him. Mr. Grind stepped sideways through the door and even still he barely fit.

It was a small shop, one section for dogs, one for cats, one for fish and one for reptiles. A couple large dogs barked aggressively from their cages. The owner behind the counter, Arthur, smiled at his new customers.

"Hello, how may I help you today?" He asked. Rachel looked him up and down. He looked to be in his mid thirties, his eyes a deep serene blue. Rachel smiled and tucked her gum into her cheek to be polite.

"We're getting my little sister a turtle for her birthday." She said. "Could you point us in the right direction?" Mr. Grind grinned, fingering both his cigars.

"Excuse me, sir, we have a no smoking policy." Arthur said. Mr. Grind laughed and clutched a fist, his brass knuckles glimmering in the light.

"Deepest apologies, I'll-a put them out immediately, my good man." Mr. Grind said. As the store manager turned his attention back to Rachel, Mr. Grind drowned his cigars in a nearby fish tank.

"The reptiles are this way." Arthur said, flashing his white teeth at them. The two of them started walking and Mr. Grind shoved Danny behind them. They walked down one of the few aisles to the lizards, turtles and snakes.

"Come on, Daniel, help yer sister pick out a good one." Mr. Grind said. Rachel waved her hand.

"Oh, dad, he can look around somewhere else if he wants." Rachel said with a smile. Mr. Grind gave a low cackle and jerked his head, allowing Danny to leave.

Danny slipped away and glanced around the pet shop. He moved to the counter and looked over the cash register. He glanced over his shoulder to make sure the store owner was not watching him. The large dogs continued barking viciously from their cages. Danny visually swept the area behind the counter. He looked past the pet food and scanned the walls and ceilings, but he only saw creases between the wall panels. Good, no cameras, he thought.

Mr. Grind felt a tug on his sleeve. Looked down and Danny nodded to him. Mr. Grind grinned and looked at Rachel.

"Ya know, don't we outta get a habitat for her turtle first?" Mr. Grind said. Rachel laughed and slapped her hand to her head.

"That's right! How are we even going to take care of a turtle if we don't even have a place for it?" Rachel said. Arthur laughed too.

"You have a point. The tanks are over her behind the counter." He said and he led the three. Mr. Grind, Rachel and Danny gathered before the counter as Arthur slipped behind. "So there are a couple of different kinds you can choose from." Arthur said.

Mr. Grind looked at Danny and jerked his head towards the door. Danny hurried over and grabbed the open sign. With a twist of his wrist, he closed the shop.

"You know, Arthur Crawford," Mr. Grind said, his malicious grin wide. He produced a cigar and clenched his teeth on it. He flicked a dollar shaped lighter and took a long puff of smoke.

"Sir, I asked you politely not to smoke in here." Arthur said. Mr. Grind laughed as he stepped towards the counter. Rachel stepped away. Mr. Grind blew a smoke ring towards Arthur.

"Then allow me to politely tell you to screw the hell off."

"I'm going to have to ask you to leave." Arthur said, trying to sound confident. Mr. Grind placed an enormous hand on the counter, his brass knuckles clunking harshly on the glass. Arthur swallowed. In a sudden burst of movement, Mr. Grind seized the front of Arthur's shirt and forced his head into the counter, a horrid strike resounding through the shop.

Mr. Grind wrenched Arthur close to his face. Even though blood was already rushing from Arthur's nose, the intoxicating smell of smoke, alcohol and God knows what else was thick in his nostrils.

"P-please, take whatever you want!" Arthur stammered. Mr. Grind laughed in his face.

"Cut the shit, Crawford." Mr. Grind said, his red eyes flaming like his cigar tip. Mr. Grind threw Arthur away from him, the store owner slamming his head against the back wall. Mr. Grind stepped back and both Danny and Rachel joined his side. "Your move." Mr. Grind grinned, rolling his cigar between his fingers.

The large dogs barked and growled from their prisons. At least they did so until Arthur hit a release button behind the counter for their cages. The cage doors burst open and three massive dogs, two Rottweilers and a German Shepherd sprang forth, violence on their minds. Mr. Grind looked to Rachel.

"My dear," He said. Rachel sighed, reached up and messed with her hearing aid until she could hear high pitched shrills. The three dogs' ear cringed and they stopped in their tracks. Rachel hated to see them like that, but it was either she saw them like that or she saw them with their teeth sunken into her arm.

"Is that really all you have?" Mr. Grind said with a malicious smirk. "Huh, that's too bad, I looking for a couple men or something. Ah hell, you'll have to do." Mr. Grind said and he approached the counter once more. He wrenched Arthur off the ground, pulled a giant fist back and bloodied the store owner's pretty face.

Mr. Grind tossed him aside. Rachel readjusted her hearing aids; she was getting a headache from the screeching in her ear.

"Danny, where'd you say it was?" Mr. Grind asked, wiping Arthur's blood from his brass knuckles. Danny pointed to the back wall where the crease was. Mr. Grind dug his huge fingers in and with a mighty pull, dragged the wall panel back to reveal a hidden room behind the pet shop. Rachel licked her lip piercing upon seeing it.

"Are we heading back there?" Rachel asked. Mr. Grind threw his head back and let out a low, low cackle.

"Of course we are! Let's go, Danny." Mr. Grind tapped his cigar. The three of them headed into the backroom. It was empty except for a panel in the middle of the floor. Mr. Grind laughed and took a swig from his flask, wiping his mouth along his whole sleeve.

"There's just something about...laying into a respectable small business man that fills me with such joy." Mr. Grind said, cracking his knuckles, still with Arthur's blood on his hands. Rachel rolled her eyes.

"Yes, we know, just get the panel up." Rachel said. Mr. Grind laughed once again as he produced a second cigar.

"Since when did you become the one giving the orders?" Mr. Grind jabbed at her with his second cigar before chomping down on it and flicking his dollar shaped lighter. He grabbed the panel, a heavy metal one and grinding his rock-hard teeth together, hefted the panel up to reveal a short drop to an area beneath the shop.

"Alright, come on, let's go." Rachel said, jumping over the tunnel, but Mr. Grind seized her with a mighty hand.

"Calm yer titties, bitch! Do you get nothing out of your time around me, Shady?" Mr. Grind laughed. Rachel squirmed out of his grip. She folded her arms and blew a piece of faded purple hair out of her face. Danny peered over the edge down the dark tunnel. He could see some source providing dim light.

Mr. Grind picked up the metal cover and he was the first to leap down into the tunnel. Rachel followed suit and Danny hurried after them quickly. Danny touched down next to Rachel. The tunnel below was somewhat dank.

"Shady, take a look around the metal plate." Mr. Grind said. He was holding it upright like a shield with all three of them behind it. It was a miracle that Mr. Grind alone fit behind it. Rachel poked her head out and saw two armed men standing at the end of the tunnel. Seeing her, one of them fired and she ducked back behind the metal plate. Mr. Grind laughed.

"This is what I was looking forward to!" He grinned, smoke swirling around him in the confined area. He started moving with the metal plate as a shield between them and the armed men.

"Stop! Do move any further!" One of the armed men shouted. "We will open fire!" He said. The armored guard had soft features and he was not built like a body guard, but more like an every day man.

Mr. Grind ignored the warning and continued moving forward, Rachel and Danny staying close behind. The armed guards each fired three times.

"Those were warning shots!" The armed guard called out. "We don't want to hurt you!"

The metal plate stopped moving. A low cackled was heard echoing throughout the tunnel. It started calm, like a racer far too cocky for his own good as he climbed in his racecar. Then it escalated until it reached the bellows of a man suffering from severe insanity.

"You don't want to hurt us!? Ha! How unfortunate! Because we really want to hurt you!" Mr. Grind roared. Suddenly, he rammed the metal plate with his shoulder sending it hurtling towards the armed guards. They took cover to avoid getting hit. The first guard was up and leveling his weapon. At least he was until a certain purple haired girl got in the way.

She attacked his arm, brought a leg up and stepped down on the gun, forcing the armed guard to the ground. She looked down on him, her faded purple hair a mess. She blew a bubble with her gum, swung her leg back and drove her foot firmly into his face.

The other guard leveled his gun at Danny who stood in place calmly. He wondered why the man was not aiming his weapon at the charging mass of man heading his way. A fist the size of the guard's head connected, Mr. Grind holding nothing back as the guard skin split beneath the brass knuckle. Mr. Grind laughed, his malicious grin spread wide.

"Ha! I could crush your skull like an egg!" He cackled and palmed the man's head before throwing him like a ragdoll down the hall. "Now, let's see what they were so locked and loaded to hide, shall we?" Mr. Grind said as he tapped his cigars out. He took a drink from his flask, offered some to Danny who shook his head no. Mr. Grind shrugged and took another drink, whiskey spilling out the corners of his mouth and staining his shirt further.

"Shady, bring that guard over here." Mr. Grind said with a grin. Danny helped Rachel drag the guard over to Mr. Grind. The guard breathing was heavy, blood leaking from his nose and his eye already starting to bruise. Mr. Grind knelt down to him.

"Seems there's a number code on the door. Why don't you tell us what it is so we can take a look behind the ol' vault, eh?" Mr. Grind grinned.

"Go die in a lake." The guard growled. "Why would I ever help someone like you?"

Mr. Grind took a long, deep puff on his cigars and blew three ringlets at the guard. He clenched his teeth on his cigars and his malicious smile strained his cheek bones.

"What an excellent question! Let me answer that for you." Mr. Grind gave a low cackle.