Ah...  Delicious food!  It was wonderful!  The noodles, the chicken broth, the vegetables, the way the salt balanced with and contributed to all the other flavors, rather than completely overpowering them...  Rho was practically in heaven, and it was taking quite a bit of willpower for her to not just come out and start moaning in a highly suggestive and attention-grabbing manner.  Oh, she was going to be eating at this place as often as possible, at least until she'd had everything on the menu twice over...<br/><br/>Sadly, it was as she was slurping down the last of the noodles that trouble found its way into the Eating Counter, in the form of a number of leather-jacketed goons who seemed to be trying to shake the place down.  Watching their interactions with the staff, it was easy for her mind to pick out what was going on.<br/><br/>In a bad neighborhood like this, the restaurant likely already had an 'arrangement' with the local gangsters.  Indeed, given how bad it seemed, the chances were good that the 'protection services' being paid for were actually somewhat legitimate, or at least that the local mob was more reliable at taking down problems than PubOr-er, the police.<br/><br/>If these guys were part of the local 'arrangement', though, then most of them would have sat down and ordered some food while their leader spoke in private with the manager.  That hadn't happened, though.  Indeed, that woman's offer of money was being turned down...  So, they weren't just here for the protection services, then.<br/><br/>Which meant that this was a power grab.  Someone was muscling in on the local gangsters' turf.<br/><br/>Hmm, and what better way to start building up power in this juncture than by ingratiating herself with the local organized criminal element?  Plus, watching that poor young woman get smacked around like that just didn't sit right with the super-intelligent teen.  Which meant it was time to add a few new scars to that big ugly mug's big ugly mug.<br/><br/>The shortest distance between two points was a straight line.  Keeping that in mind, Rho's path to the big bruiser was simple.  She stood up from her seat, slung her bag over her shoulder, and then took off running, jumping up onto a table along the way and running along it, then jumping over to the next table, and from there over to the front counter.<br/><br/>One flying kick later...