The farming district of the island was peaceful. A gentle breeze swept through the meter high stalks of perfectly lined rows of growing vegetation. Until they bore whatever vegetable they were meant to, they were nothing more than uninteresting green plants that took up most of the farming portion of the island. A flock of small birds were nestling happily along the outer edges of the crop, going through their day just like any other. That was, until a sudden roaring barrage of sound startled them into the skies. They hadn't heard the airbikes coming. One second there had been silence, the next a blur passed by so fast that several birds were nearly caught in the back wind. Their disgruntled screeches fell on deaf ears as the riders of the two airbikes sped on their way.
Had they slowed to take in their surroundings, they would have noted the line of houses in the distance. This was partially the reason why they didn't care to keep their over-amplified engines quieted. The back-country was the best place to push the engines to reach their full potential without causing much of a disturbance to the residential houses. But it was also because of the expansiveness of the farming properties that would often give calls for emergencies. Not just the human inhabitants thought Bodhum was an ideal place for vacationing and permanent housing, monsters often thought along the same lines. Creatures from all walks of life would often spring up on the shores and in the forests. Most monsters hated humans and stayed away from human congested areas, but that didn't stop them from causing annoyances to the spacious farming areas of the city. The Guardian Corps stationed in Bodhum were usually the first to take care of these sorts of issues, but even they had some competition.
Earlier that afternoon, a call had been dispatched of several monster uprisings in the area. Several to the North-east and a few to the west. Upon reaching an intersection, the small party of NORA members decided to split up, allowing them to handle both problems at the same time. Their leader, Snow and one of the other members went off to handle the west side of the island, while the other three went in the opposite direction.
The airbikes sped to the end of the dirt road before making a sharp left as they were finally nearing their destination. A good hundred yards or so ahead small reddish colored monsters could be seen hopping about just outside the forest boundary with no sign of the Corps having arrived yet. Several had already begun to venture into the vegetable crop across the road. This was a good sign. If they finished the job first, it would spread more good publicity about their efforts. Be it angrily from the Corps or any innocent bystanders, it didn't matter much to them.
The first airbike touched down for a swift and silent landing behind a cover of tall shrubbery. Not just anyone could stop an airbike on a gil on top of landing perfectly level. The rider of this airbike knew how to manage and control the hovercraft. He hopped off the driver's seat as the second vehicle landed beside him.
"Looks like I win again." Announced the slim figured boy. "Geeze, Gadot, I thought you were better than that. You are the one who taught me how to fly these things."
Gadot, dismounted his airbike and considered the teen through stern eyes for a moment. "You'll be singing a different tune when you find yourself wrapped around a tree one day." He retorted, turning to pull a machine gun from the side compartment of the airbike.
Yuj scoffed, brushing away the man's comeback. "Like I'd fly into a tree on purpose." He propped his gun of choice over his shoulder as he looked on at the monsters scouting about in the distance. The Bloodbaths looked to be about twice the size of the average dog. Small and weak, but annoying little buggers. They'd managed to chew through one of their airbikes on a mission several days ago, to which their mechanic, who'd just clambered off Gadot's passenger seat, was still repairing in the shop.
"Man, I really should have installed seat belts." The blond boy muttered, trying to recover from their high-speed drive. Gadot handed him the second smaller machine gun and his winded look quickly evaporated as he took the weapon carefully. Maqui was used to being around guns but he was still new to actually using them. They were loud, which was a reason he often wore his headphones as they doubled as a sort of earplug.
"Augh, looks like another cakewalk." Yuj muttered with disappointment. By his tone, he considered the monsters to be hardly even worth throwing stones at. "I still don't see why I need to be here. I'm sure you could have handled it."
Gadot gave a chortle laugh as he stood next to the blue haired teen to survey the monsters. "It was either this, or sitting with Leb organizing bottles for the afternoon."
"Point taken." Yuj replied without taking a moment to consider the other option. "I say we take a really long time with these guys."
"Ah, why?" Gadot responded. "I thought you liked Leb."
"About as much as I like a bug bite." Yuj snapped, now looking annoyed at Gadot's constant teases.
"Well then," Said Gadot, turning his head from shoulder to shoulder, his neck giving rather unsettling loud pops. "I say we get going."
Following their party leader, they moved forward down the short stretch of road towards the monsters. Naturally, the little knobbly legged creatures didn't appreciate the sudden barrage of bullets that was showering them. In retaliation, they hissed and lept at the offenders. What had looked like only five or so monsters had evidently been only the forefront of the pack. At the sound of their cries and fighting, other Bloodbaths began to appear through the underbrush.
Maqui let out a small whimper as he lowered his gun, having yet to fire it. His confidence in his fighting ability was low enough as is, even against one enemy. Now seeing their target had multiplied, he was sure this wouldn't end well. How he wished he could just go someplace safe and take a nap instead. Gadot and Yuj on the other hand, found the new challenge to be more appealing. After all, where was the fun in taking down only a small handful of weak monsters?
Team NORA advanced with Gadot in the leading the assault. Yuj and Maqui served as cover from any surrounding attacks, to which there were many. More Bloodbaths appeared from the trees, a few scattered away in an attempt to flee, and some stood their ground to make a decent comeback, but for the most part, Team NORA was looking victorious.
Maqui had finally gotten over his fear long enough to fire a few rounds, which missed their target by a considerable amount and strayed into the ground. With a frightening hiss, the unharmed monster lept for the boy. The blond was a little too quick on his feet, staggering backwards and tumbling onto the hard dirt. The monster was air born, teeth and claws aimed right for its helpless prey. His yell alerted Gadot, who quickly aimed and fired, sending the beast flying sideways with a yelp. Maqui lay on the floor stunned, the machine gun sitting uselessly in his hands. He was helped to his feet but looked even more worse for wear than when they started.
"You look like you could use this." Said Gadot, offering him a small blue vile in his hand. With word of thanks and a nervous laugh, Maqui accepted the potion and downed its contents. Immediately he felt rejuvenated. At least, he felt his stamina return but his confidence was still nearly non-existent. He hid this thought with a forced light-hearted laugh before following Gadot to return to their fight.
Meanwhile, Yuj had been keeping the monsters at bay. Rather than shooting blindly at them, he'd fire a few well placed bullets here and there. Either hitting their target, or close enough to startle them several paces back. If the monsters would rather run and hide, he'd prefer to let them do just that. He didn't have the heart for mindless slaughter. Already the body count of these demons was racking up. The mess of cleaning up afterwords was looming before them the longer they fought. On top of which, they were running on limited time. The Guardian Corps had been getting mildly annoyed with their interferences as of late, this fight might just be that one last push to force serious action.
One of the relentless creatures had moved along the outside of the group, unnoticed as the rest of the pack was holding their attackers' attention. Taking advantage of the blue hair that swept over the left side of Yuj's face, or just deciding he was the closest target, it sprang forward. By chance, Yuj had moved just a second before the attack, his mind only registering too late what had happened. In the momentum of being hit, he fell hard on his side, the wind knocked from him, but his gun held fast. At this, the Bloodbath wheeled around and moved in for another damaging hit. Using his gun, Yuj blocked the blow, now pinned to he ground under the heavy feral beast.
Gadot far too preoccupied with cutting down the enemies with Maqui close behind. Neither of them had noticed the sudden fall of their party member. That didn't matter, Yuj wasn't going to let some weak monster get the better of him. Thinking quick, Yuj braced himself against the weight of the animal, lodged his leg between its torso and joint and in one swift move, dislodged the beast all together and catapulted it over his head. Unable to land correctly, the Bloodbath fell onto its side a few feet away, quickly scrambling to its feet. Still lying on the ground, Yuj twisted and aimed his gun. A handful of bullets strayed into the dirt, but several hit their mark. The beast let out a wail and bounded back into the forest line. At least now it would know not to come back unless it wanted to be killed off for good. Yuj rolled back onto his feet, momentarily upset as he looked down at his dirt covered clothing, but the thought was brushed aside as he moved ahead to catch up with the other two.
It was dawning on the Bloodbaths that this was a battle they weren't going to win. Those eager to flee disappeared into the nearby underbrush while those with a more stubborn mindset stayed behind long enough to throw one last threatening hiss before following their kin. Once the last tail had disappeared into the bushes and a relative but tense quiet was restored, the three looked at each other in triumph.
"Monsters are no match for NORA!" Boasted Yuj and Maqui in unison. Breaking into a small sort of victory fanfare, the three hadn't heard the distant rumbling of a roar.
"Ah man, and I just got this." Groaned Yuj as he tried to look over the damages done to his shirt. Nothing too considerably bad but it still put him off a little bit. He gave a brisk shake to his mess of blue hair and picked up his gun which had been propped against his leg. He looked up to find Gadot had been watching him with crossed arms and a smug grin.
"What?" Asked the teen, unable to hold down an embarrassed smile.
"Nothing." Gadot shook his head and raised a hand with a dismissive wave, his voice light and casual though it was obvious to see he'd clearly found something amusing. "I always thought it was only women who got upset at things like broken nails, bad hair days and a spot of dirt on their outfit. Then again, you do kind of look like a-"
"Ah, shut up." Yuj cut across him, though he too was smirking at the teasing gesture. "It's not my fault I have good genetics." For standing at nearly six feet, with a light frame, Yuj had fair grounds to have such confidence in himself, even if he was a bit more hot-headed than he needed to be. His fitted dark shirt showed off his slim waist while black jeans and tall boots made a point of further expressing his tall form. On top of which he often accented his outfits with belts or other decorations of feathers and beads as well always wearing a necklace ending in a brown and silver pendant. All in all, his outfits of choice complimented his style rather well, even his unnatural blue hair.
Maqui had been standing awkwardly in between the to the two of them, fidgeting lightly on his feet. He didn't have a single shred of intelligence when it came to the best fashion. Those living in Bodhum always wore outfits suited to the weather, while his outfit was often thought to be better for winter wear rather than what someone would wear on a resort island. All the same, Maqui was comfortable in it, he figured that's all that mattered. Still though, he was often envying Yuj for his confidence and intellect in such matters.
"Looks like they aren't gonna get here." Yuj commented as he turned around to look at the skies, idly tapping the end of his gun against his palm. "It's not like them to ignore a danger call."
"Maybe they decided it wasn't too bad?" Suggested Maqui.
"Or maybe they knew we'd get here first." Replied Yuj rather smugly. "Guess we should head back before the neighborhood wonders what hap-"
They all heard it. Just as Yuj had been speaking, a scream had cut through the stillness that had settled around them. It was short, as though it had been cut off, but they were sure they heard it. What was worse, it had been cut off by a loud snapping sound, like a tree had been snapped in half like a toothpick. For a few moments, their heads whipped around trying to find the direction it had come from. They didn't have to search long as another sound of something crashing down off a small road ahead announced where the disturbance was. Before any of them could voice their thoughts on investigating, something barreled out from the path they were focused on.
It was a person, wearing some sort of brown jacket, pants, a gray cap and desperatly clinging onto a knapsack. At the speed he was running, they easily guessed this was the one who'd let out the distressed yell. His speed was slow, further hindered by the fact he was continuously staggering forward, tripping over his own feet. He wasn't ten feet from the forest boundary when something bounded out behind him. A beastly creature a good three or so sizes larger than the ones they had just encountered emerged, taking down several small trees with it. Maybe the Bloodbaths hadn't retreated at all and merely fell back to find their leader, or worse, they'd fled knowing it was near. Without looking to one another for assessment, the party raced forward.
The beast had closed the distance between it and the boy in a single jump, lunging forward with a swipe of its front claws. The boy, more than keen to put as much distance between he and the thing chasing him, ended up tripping over an uplifted rock and tumbling hard to the ground. In one quick motion, the monster snapped its teeth on the cowering boy. A heart-beat of horrified silence caused the party to stop several meters away. The monster raised its head, holding the boy between its jaws by the back of his jacket, like a mother cat would carry a kitten. His feet kicked feebly, hands reaching up to grab at the collar that was now choking him.
Gadot was the first to act, aiming his machine gun and opening fire on the beast's lower torso. The other two followed suit, hoping to cause enough of a distraction that the boy would be dropped. At the sound of the machine guns, the beast turned its head with an annoyed snort, causing the three to cease fire. Now the situation was getting tricky. The beast was using the kid as a sort of body shield, whether it knew it or not. There was no way of getting a direct hit without endangering the boy, not that he wasn't already in enough danger as it was.
"Move around it and fire from there." Gadot directed to his party. Yuj and Maqui ran forward, taking either side of the beast at a fair distance to be within range of a high attack but not close enough to get hit themselves. "And don't hit the kid!"
They opened fire on either side of the monster, but its hide was tougher than the Bloodbaths and repelled most of the bullets. It still hurt however, which caused the beast's head to whip around in anger at the assailants. This was proving to be an even worse off idea as now its victim was a life-sized rag-doll chew toy.
"This isn't working." Thought Yuj as he lowered his weapon. He turned his mind over trying to think of a way this could possibly end well. He had to think like their leader. If there was a way to save someone, he'd have to find it and fast. Just as he thought so, there was a rather audible ripping sound. From the force of being shaken, the seams and fibers of the boys jacket had been tearing through, causing a gaping hole to appear where the beast's teeth were clamped down. This gave Yuj a small flicker of an idea. He knew there was a high chance it would go wrong, horribly wrong, but there was also a chance it could go right. At least the kid would still be alive with a few broken bones anyway.
Maqui had heard the cease fire and followed suit, but just as he let up on the trigger, the beasts attention had swung over to him. He let out a shocked gasp and staggered back, falling hard on his backside at the towering creature glaring down at him. Yuj had to wait, his eyes focused on the boy's tearing jacket. Just one more second.
Another small section of the jacket tore, the last weakened strips of fabric threatening to drop the boy. Yuj finally caught his chance and opened a second of fire. Several bullets tore into the beast's shoulder. With a howl of pain, the beast swung its head around so fast that the last threads holding the boy to his jacket had severed. There was a final sound of ripping fibers before the boy, carried by the momentum, flew out of the beast's teeth.
Yuj had luckily been positioned in the correct spot, but he wasn't sure if he had the right idea anymore. The thought didn't have long to sit in his mind however, as a second later, he found himself lying as a human cushion several feet from where he'd originally been standing. The boy, now safely out of the beast's teeth, was sprawled across him and lay motionless. Yuj groaned as a dull pain echoed through his head and noted his lungs were now void of air.
Now that the monster's human shield had been removed, the other two returned to firing at the beast, now too disoriented to tell which attacks were coming from where. With several howls of frustrated pain, it began to stagger backwards, swatting blindly at the bullets. Gadot and Maqui continued to move forward as they drove the beast back towards the forest line. Finally getting the idea that it wasn't going to win, it turned tail and lept back through the trees, leaving behind it broken trunks and a coat of blood splattered on the leaves.
The sounds of the beast fleeing slowly faded back into silence. Maqui had collapsed to his knees. He'd had more than he can handle as far as battling went. Not to mention his machine gun was now out of bullets due to his erratic firing.
"No more..." He sighed wearily.
Gadot had turned his attention to join Yuj and the boy at the other side of the dirt road. Maqui, not wanting to be left alone in case one of the ferals came back, scrambled to his feet and followed.
"You guys all right?" Asked Gadot, trying to stifle a laugh at the sight of Yuj still dazed on the ground.
With a groan and cough, Yuj slowly sat up, causing the boy to slide down and roll over slightly onto his lap. Finally able to breath right, Yuj wasn't sure whether to think his idea had been a stroke of brilliance or nothing but sheer stupidity.
"That was some smart thinkin'." Gadot praised, though by the sound of his voice, he was surprised any such idea could have come from him. "But, I'm not sure he feels the same way about that." He nodded to the boy. Yuj didn't know how exactly to move him without causing any more damage than he probably already done. He grabbed the boy's shoulders and shifted him over so he was sitting up. He was light for someone to be around Maqui's height. Poking out from under the gray cap were tan colored hairs. As Yuj made these small observations, he caught a hint of movement. The boy's eyes slowly opened, dazed and unfocused as he peered up at him.
"Uhh..." Yuj's mind was drawing a blank on what to say. He wasn't sure what exactly could be said in this kind of situation. He didn't get a chance to say anything though, for the next second, the boys eyes closed. The sudden slack in his entire body easily told them that he'd slipped out of consciousness.
"What should we do now?" Asked Maqui, holding the machine gun in his hands like a child might hold a toy. He had forgotten what it really was. Gadot had departed from the group a moment to collect the knapsack which had fallen from the boys grip during the fight.
"Obviously we can't leave him here." Replied Yuj, having moved the boy to lay on the ground so he could stand, clapping dirt of his clothes. With his arms crossed, Gadot had been thinking over their options. Naturally they couldn't leave the kid lying out here. Period. He'd most likely wind up in the same situation they just rescued him from.
"We'll take him back with us." He finally answered. "That's what The Hero would do. Let's clean up here first."
That seemed to be the best and final answer to their situation. Gadot took the liberty of carrying the boy to the airbikes and sat him on Yuj's passenger seat. Yuj followed and looked on in slight annoyance. He wasn't one to enjoy babysitting, then again, he was the one who ended up putting the boy this state. As Gadot supported the boy, Yuj approached the bike rubbing his side where the boy had collided.
"Try not to make him fly off, eh?" He joked. "I think he's had enough."
"Yeah, yeah." Yuj muttered, swinging his leg over the seat. The back portion of the driver seat was a few inches thick and created a sort of boarder between it and the passenger seat, which had too much of an decline to allow the unconscious passenger to sit up by himself. Once Yuj had gotten situated on his hover craft, he took note the boys head was now leaning against his back. He couldn't very well take off without a way to hold him down.
"Hey Maqui," He called over to the younger boy as he climbed onto the passenger seat of Gadot's ride. "maybe you should go through with that seat belt idea."
The blond laughed, having climbed into the backseat of the adjacent hovercraft. After Gadot made quick work of moving the bodies of the dead monsters into the thicket of trees, the bikes were powered on and a second later, the hover wings lowered and the machines lifted off the ground. Looking over his shoulder, Yuj did the only thing he could think of and grabbed the boys left arm with his hand to hold him securely against him.
It was an unvoiced agreement that their flight back this time wouldn't be a race.
~x~x~x~
The airbikes kept their speed steady, for once actually following the speed limit as they cruised their way back towards the cafe. Yuj, having lack of any better idea, was using his left hand to hold the boys arm around his waist. It seemed to be serving good thus far, until he felt something that nearly gave him the frightful guess that his passenger might have been in danger of falling. After a moment, he realized it had only been the arm moving. The boy behind him was stirring.
"Hey, don't move around too much or you'll fall off kid." He warned, chancing a glance over his shoulder. He heard a small gasp from the boy, as though he hadn't realized he'd been there. A small thought of guilt tugged at the back of Yuj's mind. If he ended up causing the kid any form of mental damage, Lebreau would really let him have it.
"You okay?" He asked.
"...Yeah." The boy replied, his voice so quiet it was nearly carried away by the wind. Hearing the higher notes of his reply, the boy must have been younger than he had considered. "We'll be off these in a minute, so just sit tight." Yuj was hesitant a moment before releasing the boys arm. Thankfully, the boy withdrew it, allowing Yuj to return both hands to the steering wheel. A minute or so of rushing wind filled their ears. "So what's your name?" Yuj finally thought to ask. The long pause that followed gave him the impression that the boy might have either fallen asleep or lost consciousness again when he caught the first utterings of word.
"Uhh, Lee -"
Yuj had been so focused on catching the boy's reply that he hadn't been aware the airbike dropped the few feet it was airborne causing the front hull to grind against the road. The entire body rattled a moment and even veered slightly off course.
"Whoops." Yuj offered an apologetic smile to the blond mechanic now glowering at him over his shoulder from the airbike ahead. As Maqui returned to facing forward, Yuj returned to carefully dividing his attention between the airbike and his passenger. Only then did he notice something was gripping either side of his shirt, which was already snug enough around his stomach as is.
"Like I said, hold on." Yuj smiled, though he knew the kid couldn't see it. The boys hold didn't let go until they'd slowly pulled into the small bike lot beside the cafe, where they discovered the boy had fallen into a deep, exhausted sleep.
"So you go out to kill a few monsters and you come back with a kid? That's a first." Remarked Lebreau as she was sitting against the armrest of the sofa in the Cafe's back room. The boy was lying still on the cushions. He hadn't woken up again since they arrived at the cafe. Lebreau held a small cold compress to the boy's forehead, where a bruise had begun forming. Though Yuj had been evidently clear his line of thinking and actions hadn't caused that particular injury, they assumed he'd gotten it during is escape.
"He was being chased by Monsterzilla! We couldn't just leave him." Exclaimed Maqui from his seat on the desk, his tone bouncing between excitement and worry. Lebreau put a finger to her lips to hush the excited boy, who forced himself to sit still where he sat on the desk.
"Well, he's obviously not from around here but to get from the train station to that island, he must have had some bad directions." Lebreau gestured with her hands pointing in opposite directions.
"Or just a bad sense of direction." Yuj humored, leaning against the wall with crossed arms at the opposite side of the sofa. The barmaid raised an eyebrow at him, causing the teen give a small grim smile before looking down.
"Poor kid. He looks like he's had one heck of a day. What was his name?" Lebreau asked, directing the question to Yuj.
"All I heard was 'Lee'." Replied the teen with a shrug, adjusting himself against the wall so his weight was on one shoulder. "I didn't catch a last name."
"Lee..." Lebreau voiced quietly to herself, considering the boy with a thoughtful expression. "Hmm, looks like he's waking up." She announced, craning her neck to get a better look at the stirring person. She was right. There was a faint twitch from around the boy's eyes. She quickly removed the compress as his eyebrows knitted a moment, then slowly his eyes opened, blinking several times as he stared at the ceiling. When they slid into clear focus of the room, his senses returned and he sat bolt upright. With a wince, he clutched a hand to the side of his cap, which was still secured to his head.
"Careful," Lebreau warned, quickly setting a hand on the kid's shoulder and leaning down. "We don't need you hurting yourself any more than you are right now."
He started and looked up to Lebreau, who offered a comforting smile before looking over her shoulder.
"Maqui, could you go get me a bottle from the fridge?"
The boy, knowing what she was meaning, hopped off the desk and exited the room, though he didn't venture too far as the sound of clinking glass could be heard just outside the partially closed door. During this time, the boy on the sofa had been trying to see through the pain of his forehead to see his surroundings. His dark violate eyes took in the warm colors of the tan walls and lights, as well as the cluttered mess of the desk and filing cabinet. For a moment, his eyes were focused on the unused television which sat somewhat lopsided atop a stack of files in the corner.
"You're in the back office of my restaurant." Lebreau answered is unvoiced question. The boy looked back at the barmaid, who was now standing upright before him. Yuj failed at stifling a snort as he could clearly see the boy looking marveled at Lebreau's clothing, or lack there of. Lebreau on the other hand, didn't seem to notice. "So, you from around here, Lee?"
The boy was hesitant to respond, his eyes looking down at the floor as though he either didn't want to answer. Before he had a chance to reply, the hurried footsteps of Maqui entering the room interrupted them.
"Found one." He grinned, holding the bottle forward in triumph as though it were more than just blue glass and liquid. Lebreau accepted the bottle and in turn held it before the boy.
"Drink this, it'll make you feel better." She smiled. The boy looked from the woman to the bottle, deciding the better idea was to trust the woman's word. He took the bottle, stared at it blankly for a moment before cautiously pulling off the cap, the inside gasses releasing with a sharp hiss.
"Least he's kind of okay." Lebreau placed her hands on her hips, watching the boy called Lee take a drink from the bottle. "Can't say the same for his jacket." Though she tried to keep her expression light, she couldn't fight away the feeling that maybe they had a worst case scenario on their hands. Given all the facts, everything was hinting that this boy was clearly where he wasn't supposed to be. She could only assume he'd probably run away from someplace. In any case, it wasn't a question you could ask lightly like asking about the weather.
"Uhh, Leb?" Spoke Maqui, who'd been looking out the door anxiously. "There's some customers..."
"Whoops." Lebreau had forgotten the cafe was still open and it was about time for the afternoon rush. "Tell 'em I'll be right there."
Maqui's expression clearly stated he didn't want to be the one to tell the customers they'd have to wait. Yuj had eased himself off the wall and walked across the room to leave with him, having more experience with customers than he did.
Lebreau pushed aside any feeling of urgency to return to work, instead holding a kind expression and caring words, to which Lee was becoming increasingly shy to."That bump on your head, if you want, I can take a look at it?" Lebreau had raised a hand to the boy's cap, her finger brushing against the bill when Lee let out a small squeak of surprise and clamped his hands over the hat to hold it down. The bottle clattered to the floor and rolled a short distance, spilling its clear contents, and catching the attention of the two leaving.
"Hey, stop torturing the kid, will you?" Yuj scolded, his voice failing to hide the fact he was amused by it all. "It's called personal space and I'm pretty sure you're invading it." While it could have been a matter of the short space between them, another factor to consider was how Lebreau dressed. It was a miracle all the men who visited the cafe didn't downright faint then again that was one of the reasons they might have become regular customers. For a boy looking to be around Maqui's age, the image before him probably wasn't doing to well for his brain. Holding up her hands in surrender, she stepped back from the boy, who had sunk back into the couch, his hands still on his head.
"Sorry, sorry. Put this on it." She laughed, taking a moment to set the cold compress beside him. Lee looked up one last time as Lebreau backed away towards the door. "Just rest in here 'til you feel better." Just before the door behind her, she gave him a wink.
Something about that wink sent a chill through Lee's spine.