Such was Ricky’s early life. His birth certificate said his name was Ricky Scott but other than that Ricky had no idea about who his parents were or why they abandoned him. Life in the orphanage taught him to be pragmatic and protect what was his, even his name. Those that mispronounced it as a taunt paid the price, an elbow here, a foot there, a non to subtle punch if they failed get the message the first time.

The trouble with most orphanages is they’re run by do gooders who think they know best. Thankfully for Ricky the old caretaker knew better, and shortly after Ricky’s 8th birthday the old man introduced him to his good friend Sid All-star who ran the boxing gym three blocks away. Sid recognised Ricky’s talent almost immediately and it became his pet project to turn the young man into an amateur star with a view to turning professional – a project which to date has not met with significant success but the old man never gives up trying.

Other interests also became aware of Ricky’s talent and their offers and inducements swayed the young man to their way of thinking. Girls, Gambling, drugs (although has never succumbed to their allure), cars and bikes were all available as payment for services rendered, and Ricky quickly rose in the ranks gaining the respect and loyalty of the family’s eldest son and his bodyguard “Big Vincent”.

Ricky’s life appears set, a rosy future as the future chief enforcer for the Russian mob, but all is not quite as rosy as it appears for there is still the voice of conscience whispering in Ricky’s ear, every time he frequents Sid All-stars gym. Without Sid’s influence who knows where Ricky would have been ..

Then there is Ricky’s secret; the one that even Sid doesn’t know about, well at least he’s never shown any sign that he does. Ricky’s secret is the pair of gloves, more armoured gauntlets and more besides than gloves that arrived DHL on his 14th Birthday. Not only are the gloves tough, knives and swords do not mark them, they fit as perfectly today as they did when they were delivered more than 7 years ago. Not only do they fit as perfectly they are also in exactly the same pristine mint condition despite the abuse they have seen over the years.

They also have a few other abilities as Ricky has discovered over the years:-

1. They can heat any object grasped to 400oc – sufficient to cause numerous things to burst into flame
2. They can cool any object grasped to -40oc
3. When placed against conventional mechanical door locks they can unlock the lock (includes mechanical padlocks)
4. Whilst wearing them, as long as you are more than 20ft off the ground at the start of the fall, fall from any height, gliding gracefully to the ground.
5. They can punch through most light materials without issue(or damage to the wearers hands), plasterboard, glass (including car windscreens and windows), and light timber.
6. They can be pushed through most materials with the length of time taken dependent upon the density and material strength of the object. A typical solid wood door 40mm thick can be penetrated in about 45 seconds.
7. They can appear as any form of glove or hand covering that the wearer desires, from Kitchen Marigolds to the finest leather driving gloves, from Medieval Plate gauntlets to fine silk, from welder’s gauntlets to butchers mailed gloves.