He rubbed the bruise on his ribs that they'd given him for being a bit slow to get out of the way. He cursed under his breath. Dispite his two years on the street Brett was as fit as the day he'd run away from his home. He'd avoided the usual vices of drugs, drink and cigarrettes, the things that made you weak. He wanted to be fit and ready for the day he saw his step father again. Then he'd break that sick Fuck's nose for a second time. 

Brett shook his head and pushed the painful memories to the back of his mind again and shuffled one step forward. He looked down his hands were whiter than usual, he realised that he'd been gripping the tray hard. He relaxed his hands and let out a small laugh. 

At that moment there was a commotion up ahead of the line, then the line seemed to move faster. He peered his head around the corner and there was now an extra do gooder serving at the counter ahead of them. He'd be back on the streets earlier tonight he thought.

As he got closer he saw that the new helper was a stunning black woman. She was wearing a loose fitting grey sweatshirt on her top, his eyes swooped lower and underneath the sweatshirt was a very tight pair of faded blue jeans. He moved forward another place and he began hoping that he'd be served by her. His eyes scanned down her powerful legs, the jeans leaving nothing to his imagination. Poking out the bottom of the jeans was the tip of a pair of shiny green high heels. Brett thought to himself that there was something wrong with this picture. Why would an obviously slim woman combine a pair of ridiculously tight jeans with a baggy hooded sweatshirt, he wondered what exactly she was hiding under it. Well he was able to work out what she was hiding but he found himself wondering exactly how big they were.

His eyes darted up to her face, she was smiling and looking at him. He immediately felt guilty and blushed, she looked even more beautiful when she smiled.

"Hi, I'm Martha, what do you want tonight?" she said indicating the trays of food beneath her.

Brett blushed, his mind racing to dirty thoughts, he couldn't believe this beautiful black woman was smiling at him, and it seemed genuine  All the other helpers hid their contempt but they still felt it, Martha seemed to have no contempt for him at all. 

"Are you ok?" Martha asked, after serving him his food, "I noticed that you are nursing one side of your ribs."

Brett blushed again and sensed the people behind him getting impatient.

"Yeah, I'm ok," he said, "A couple of thugs wanted me out of the way last night that's all. I moved a bit too slow for them."

Martha put down her serving spoon and stepped from behind the counter.

"Let me check if you are ok, and then you can tell me all about what happened to you." Martha said kindly leading Brett and his tray of food to a quiet corner.

Brett relaxed and started talking.

**********

Less than an hour later Amazing Woman stood in her full regalia over looking the underpass where Brett had been hurt the night before. 

She'd been looking for leads at the homeless shelters since she started. She knew very well that the homeless were overlooked by everyone else and yet they saw everything that went on in the city. By speaking to them she'd been able to get far more information than the police and she was able to use it effectively.

Under the freeway two black kids and one white kid were leaning on their Japanese import car. They were obviously waiting for someone, probably to make a deal. They looked like small timers, maybe a waste of her time. Still, she never knew which small time lead could take her one step closer to the big man in Metro City.

The kids were laughing to themselves, making jokes. This stopped as a set of headlights approached. Martha tensed her body and remembered the bruises on Brett's ribs. This was going to be fun.