Main Mission 12 (T): Back Alleyway Scuffle.

Win:?

Defeat:...

…

"You!" The black haired girl said as she pointed her rifle at Linda and looked at the boy, "I guess this is all the proof I need."

"Nice to see ya too, Broad." Linda insulted the 'Broad.'

Linda readied her.. pipe was it? He usually couldn't tell what the hell that thing was. Honestly he was scared shitless, but Linda was here. She would possibly know what to do with this 'Broad.'

"So, I'm guessing even an Underling has to watch out for her boss." Broad said.

"He ain't my boss, ya dumbass."

"What, are you telling me you did this out of the goodness of your heart? Sorry, but I have a hard time believing that." Broad was honestly a bit skeptical on the situation.

Linda managed to surprise Broad with a response, "Actually, I'm kind of repaying a debt." Linda glanced at the boy.

"Repaying a d- That doesn't matter! What matters is that I arrest you two!"

The boy honestly didn't know what was going on with Broad, but honestly he didn't care right now. He was kind of peeved too.

He turned to Linda and nodded, she actually nodded back… he actually just nodded, so he doesn't know what to do nex- and Linda's charging.

Broad immediately fired and missed Linda, but it actually shot the wooden sword that was in his hand turning it into blisters. That was perhaps one of his fastest records for losing his weapon. Sure it was scary as all hell almost being shot by a high caliber rifle, but this is almost starting to become hilarious. Right… life or death situation, now is not the time to be thinking about that.

It would appear that Linda knew to stay as close as possible to the assailant as she quickly dashed towards her. She would go in for a swing, only for Broad to bash her with the rifle. Linda would try to do a kick, but Broad used the opportunity to jump back a couple of feet. Broad would once again try to fire off her rifle, but Linda managed to divert the bullet away from her by kicking the rifle upwards and it shot straight through a window.

"That stings." Linda muttered as she tried to bash the broad's brains in, but it was once again blocked by the rifle.

A struggle occurred between the two as they were trying to overpower one another with their weapons, but Broad managed to get a cheap kick in and make Linda stumble back a bit. Broad would once again try to take aim, but Linda was a bit faster and threw her pipe at her. It was the perfect distraction as Broad took the time dodge the pipe, allowing Linda to get back up and run towards Broad.

Instead of charging straight at her Linda dashed towards her at an angle then quickly hopped off one of the walls, jumping over the broad and managing to pick up her pipe. Unfortunately Broad was a bit quicker than Linda to turn around. Linda found herself shot in the shoulder and she struggled to not let out a grunt of pain. Linda crouched down and held her shoulder in pain.

"I honestly should've said this a long time ago, but Underling you are under arres-"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, over my dead body!" Linda still found the time to mock the assailant, "Also my name isn't Underling, Broad!" Linda hissed at the attacker.

"That doesn't matter! For your crim-" She started, but suddenly stopped.

Why did she stop may one ask. Did the boy come from behind and struck her in the head? Did he come and kick her when she wasn't paying attention?

The answer to why she stopped was simple, her bottom suddenly felt a little colder. Was it an ice spell? No. Whilst the assailant was focused on Linda, Tyler slowly crept up ready to strike and Linda making the assailant turn around was the perfect opportunity. The fact that the two had a conversation was even better.

So, Tyler took this opportunity to pull down her skirt.

There could've been a lot of things he could've done, but this was the simple path that he chose.

"D-Did you just pull down my skirt?" She asked, still trying to register what just happened.

The boy shoved the assailant forward and Linda, after she quickly got back up from the handy distraction and took a quick potion, took this chance to swing her pipe at her and after the pipe connected she dropped kick Broad sending her flying and leaving her skirt behind.

Linda chuckled and high fived the boy, "Nice one!" She quickly picked up the skirt, "I'll be taking this."

The assailant was quick to recover and look down, her underwear was completely exposed and out in the open. A blush quickly crept on her cheeks and her fists shook in anger, this is completely humiliating!

"Y-you perverts! Yo-you can't just pull down people's skirts like that! Give me back my skirt!"

Linda laughed like a madman at the predicament of someone in their undies fighting, "Well, you'll just have to pry it from my cold dead hands!" Linda turned towards the boy, "Let's try taking another piece of her clothes."

The boy nodded.

This only caused the woman to blush deeper, "You can't be serious?!"

"U-Uni?! Are you okay?!" A voice from behind the duo shouted from the other end of the alleyway, which was one that Linda immediately recognized.

The duo turned to see a woman wearing some sort of white, with purple accents, uniform, long purple hair, purple eyes, and a single D-clip in her hair.

"Shit another one!" Linda shouted as she looked back and forth between the two.

"Nepgear, transform!" The aptly named Uni shouted.

"Wh-"

"Just transform, Nepgear!"

"Okay!"

The duo couldn't get a word in before the purple one, Nepgear, blinded them with a flash of light and out came a different looking person. She wore a black and purple skin tight suit and carried a large looking sword. There was also the fact that her eyes changed to power symbols and some wicked looking wings were floating behind her.

"Oh shit!" Linda shouted.

"Holy shit." Tyler said.

That would not be the end of their fears as a flash of blinding white appeared again, this time by Uni. Out came a woman with almost the same design as Nepgear, except smaller? She also had white hair instead of the natural black. Pretty sure her eye color changed, but the boy couldn't tell from here. Also her gun was replaced… with a weird block looking thing.

"Uh-oh." Linda quickly let out.

"Oh fuck." The boy let out.

"Playtime's over, Nepgear let's do this!" Uni shouted towards Nepgear.

"I don't understand what's happening, but right!" Nepgear admitted and agreed.

Linda and Tyler quickly found a spot to stand back to back to one another. If this were an action film the camera would be circling around them moving faster and faster.

Linda was facing Uni, pipe in hand, and Tyler was facing Nepgear, grimoire in hand. Well at least a book was a better weapon that none…. Unless you were someone like Nisa… or a fist fighter.

"Look, I've faced these guys before and they are no pushovers, especially when they're transformed. If you got any bright ideas, now is the time to tell them." Linda told the boy.

The boy took a moment to analyze the surroundings. See if there was anything he could do or make some sort of plan. Anything forbid, he is not going to die in a back alleyway! An idea quickly came to mind and he thanked his lucky stars for watching a certain anime back home for he was going to use a tactic that will assure victory. He admits that he was scared and possibly didn't have the best power to do so, but he'll just have to try know won't he?!

"Alright, Linda, I got a plan, but you have got to follow my lead on this one." The boy finally spoke.

Linda suddenly had a peaked interest, "Hey, any plan is better than none… Unless it's surrender. What did you have in mind?"

The boy took a quick breath, "We'll both have to go for one opponent on this one. And all we need for this is just our legs."

"Just our legs? Strange, but if it helps us." Linda raised a brow at the declaration of only using their legs.

"I don't have much time to explain, but just follow my lead. It'll be easier to demonstrate."

The boy turned towards Nepgear, who overheard the plan and readied her sword.

"Careful, Nepgear!" Uni shouted.

"Right!"

Tension was high in the air as everyone prepared for someone to move, A.K.A waiting for the boy to make the first move. His heart was racing a million miles a minute as he prepared. His hands were shaking, but he simply ignored it.

Time seemed to slow down as Tyler made a beeline for Nepgear. She adjusted her sword to be in a defending position in case of attack every time his foot hit the ground. She adjusted ever so slightly ready to counter. Time seemed to stop as he was literally a step away from her. Everyone involved kept their breath in waiting for his next move.

And then he maneuvered his body to slip right past her. He stopped at the exit of the alleyway.

A moment of silence occurred as everyone else tried to make sense of the scenario.

"What the good-" Nepgear turned around.

"RUN for your life!" His voice made an audible crack on the run part. He bolted straight out of there.

"Wait sto-"

"Out of the way, Broad!" Linda followed the boy's example and pushed right past Nepgear and followed him out.

Nepgear merely stood there confused as ever.

"Don't just stand there. Let's go, Nepgear!"

"R-right!"

The duo of Linda and Tyler made some pretty good distance as they were already a couple of blocks away from the alleyway.

"Guess you don't take shame in running away." Linda said as they continued.

"No. Do you?" The boy asked.

Linda suddenly developed a bit of a sour face, "Shut up!" However the boy didn't hear any malice behind the words, instead he heard her say it in a playful manner.

"Live to fight another day." He said.

"Words I can live by." Linda said.

Linda was ready to take the lead, "Alright there are a couple ways we can lose those broads! Just follow my lead and-" She was interrupted by a car horn.

The duo actually ran across their street during their getaway and conversation, unfortunately a car chose the wrong time to come by. Even though the driver hit the brakes as hard as they could it ended up hitting the boy, send him flying a bit, and making him hit the ground unconscious and with a side of his glasses broken.

Linda slammed the hood of the car, "Hey, asshole, get better eyes!"

"You watch where you're going bitch! You just suddenly ran in front of me!"

Unfortunately this small moment of anger costed her as a beam of energy collided with her and she was sent flying straight into a wall. This was quite enough to render her unconscious, if hitting a wall wasn't enough.

"Woah." The driver said as two floating beauties arrived at the scene.

Nepgear was quick to thank the driver, "Thank you so much for stopping them in time."

"You're welcome Lady Purple Sister, Lady Black sister."

Uni floated over towards the unconscious Linda and quickly took her skirt back, "I'll be taking that."

…

Mission 12 (T): Complete.

…

"Cigar?" Ganache offered to the cigarette smoking Lid.

"No." Lid said as she pulled out a cigarette and lit it up with her lighter.

"Take a seat. I promise I will not harm you."

Lid cautiously maneuvered towards the seat that was across from Ganache, giving it a good kick to see if any mechanisms were in it.

"Don't be shy, there's no traps on this chair. You did see the Candidate sit in it, did you not?"

Lid knew that it was truly against her better judgement, but she sat down in the completely comfortable and took care not to let her arms rest on the armrest.

She placed her weapons on hand on the desk and leaned forward, indulging herself on what Ganache had to say. Ganache merely smiled and decided to 'predict' her thoughts.

"I know what you're thinking. Why would I send a CPU Candidate to go and possible kill-arrest-incapacitate-whatever against someone that can't possibly do anything to me? The answer is simple Ms. Lid, if I may call you that? I want to pluck out anyone that I deem capable of, simply put, 'taking me out.'"

Lid quickly puffed, "This seems unnecessary. Why did you personally send a CPU Candidate of all people after him?"

"Oh, but is necessary. Plucking out something before it has time to grow is my motto on dealing with pests. Now I know he told you he just wants to use the wish of the grimoire just to go home and all of that nonsense. Why is he considered a threat you may ask?" Ganache simply paused there and smiled, "Because he is wasting a wish on something as simple as going home. A once in a lifetime opportunity to get any wish one would want and he just wants to go home." Ganache slammed his hands on his desk, "I don't care if he somehow managed to get a whole army, or try to take us down by himself… It would be useless anyway. Someone as naive as him not even thinking of the possibilities of using the wish-"

"Let me guess you want the wish for yourself, yada, yada, yada. I've been through this kind of speech before." Lid spoke from experience.

Ganache smiled, "It seems we understand one another perfectly."

"Still doesn't explain taking the time to send a Candidate after him. I am completely honest when I say you could've literally done anything else and get the same results. So why a CPU Candidate?"

Ganache chuckled, "Why to show that we can also get a CPU Candidate in our grasp of course. And this scenario is unwinnable for the Candidate. If she kills him: She's in our grasp and so is the grimoire and we would have the perfect evidence since she killed an innocent civilian in Planeptune. If she arrests him: She is in our grasp due to wrongfully imprisoning an innocent civilian. If she even harms a single hair on his head: Well. You know the drill."

Lid narrowed her eyes, "A strange, but effective ploy, However, don't you think you're underestimating them a little bit?"

Ganache raised a brow and chuckled, "Whatever do you mean? They're just children, still not old enough to know anything about the wor-"

"And that is exactly why they're dangerous." Lid smugly said as she puffed out another cloud of smoke, "That kid, he's smarter than he looks and he seems to know a little bit on who he is in the world. I wouldn't put it past him if he did manage to take you down."

Ganache's eyes twitched at her opinion, "You actually think that weak child can do anything. Our recording and data shows that he relies on his teammates a little too much if you ask me. It's only due to luck that he's-"

"Survived this far?" Lid stood up, "Yes that may be true, but I completely root for that kid."

Ganache coughed, "And why would that be? As one might say, you're betting on a losing race."

"Why do you keep that kid around?" Lid asked T.C, "From what you've told me and from the first time I saw him he completely weak. One day he's going to get killed and someone's going to regret not trying to stop him." She was completely blunt about her opinion.

She did not expect laughter to come from the mail lady, "That's true, but I root for that kid all the way through."

"Did you not hear what I just said, he might die from a careless mistake one da-"

"Did you not hear me?" T.C countered, "I said I root for that kid. I like that kid, he's pretty damn brave."

"What exactly is your definition of brave? From what you've told me, he's the exact opposite."

T.C smirked at Lid, "That's being cautious, it doesn't mean he's a want to know why I think he's brave?"

"Would you care to elaborate? Please, I would actually want to know myself."

"I can't believe you're that oblivious for someone of your profession, Lid. Alright, I'll tell you." T.C giggled a bit, "He's perhaps the bravest son of a bitch I know. I mean compared to everyone else on the team, what does he have? He can't use magic, he can't fight well with his fists, he can't even tank damage. One hit and he might be dead. He himself even acknowledged that is weaker than everyone else and probably not that brave. But you know what he does, even knowing all that? He continues on and pushes through, no matter how much he gets hurt, no matter how much he knows he can't help most of the time, he just pushes through and continue towards his goal. Let me tell you Lid, It takes a lot of balls to admit you're weak and even more to continue on fighting even knowing you're weak. Hell he even tries to make up for it no matter how far behind or how weak he is. He's a good kid, Lid. And I truly want you to see that." T.C smiled, "Now, do you still think he's weak?"

Lid gulped, she wasn't expecting such a lengthy explanation, but she shook her head.

Lid smirked like a mad woman, almost mirroring Ganache's smile from earlier, "He is perhaps the bravest son of a bitch I know."

Ganache would be lying if he said that didn't scare him, but his face sure as hell wasn't showing it, "Bravery can only get you so far."

Lid continued to smile, 'Yet, you misunderstand what I mean by bravery.'

Ganache shook his head, "Would you like to spend the night? We can offer you some beds in the guest room."

Lid smirked, "I'm guessing I'll get killed if I refuse."

"True, but I do wish to continue having some conversations like this. Perhaps I found a true rival- no- a foil in you?" Ganache insincerely smiled.

"I guess I'll see you in the morning then?"

"Have a nice night, Miss Lid."

…..

"And that is the current situation." Histoire told the two CPU Candidates.

Not far from them the boy has been awake for a little while, bound by rope.. At least it's not as bad as Linda, her mouth is straight up gagged. He could feel the killing intent that radiated off of the foul mouth woman.

"Sorry." He whispered to the green haired woman, "I should've known that plan wouldn't work."

Linda's scowl disappeared for a moment and she shook her head, "nmpt yymr phalt."

Her scowl soon returned as there were three people that noticed they were awake now.

"Ah, you're awake." Histoire acknowledged the boy.

"I'm so sorry this happened. I should've analyzed the situation before acting!" The one known as Nepgear apologized as quickly as she could to the boy.

"It's… alright? I guess." He managed to say.

"Here, let me get you out of these ropes." Nepgear offered as she did exactly that, getting behind the boy to untie him from his binds.

He noticed the one known as Uni off to the side, a scowl on her face, "I can't believe I was tricked."

"Don't feel too bad Uni, it's not your fault." Nepgear said as she finished untying his legs.

Uni sighed, "You don't understand, Nepgear. I essentially attacked a civilian by any sense of the word. Not only did I attack a civilian, I did it in Planeptune territory. Do you know how much backlash I- no- Lastation would get?"

Nepgear moved on to untie his arms, "Can't we just explai-"

"Please, don't finish that sentence Nepgear. You and I both know that the people won't listen once they get wind of this. Lastation even has a contingency plan in the event of the Goddesses attacking civilians and terrorising people in general."

Nepgear was clearly unnerved and a bit upset, "I-I'm sorry. I forgot that people can't be easily swayed to our side." She smiled nervously, "I, of all people, should know this first hand." She was actually done untying the boy.

Now that he was free he finally noticed that his glasses were missing, 'So that explains why everything's blurry.' Usually that's the first thing he would notice. He got up and dusted his hands off for a bit.

Uni sighed, "Don't apologize, Nepgear. I should be taking responsibility for my own foolish mistake and rash decision making. I'll find a way to deal with Ganache in due time. It's what my sister would've done anyway." She looked down, "Still I probably should've contacted anyone once I teleported out of there. It actually took me half an hour to find him." She giggled, "I guess I am Noire's sister."

Nepgear giggled as well as she stepped closer to Uni, "Yeah. I heard she can be stubborn sometimes and try to do things by herself."

The boy's attention was quickly diverted from the giggling girls when Histoire spoke to him, "It is unfortunate that you got mixed up in a misunderstanding as grave as this. It is also unfortunate that you had a bad run in with two CPU Candidates." Histoire closed her eyes, "I wish that this could be easy to resolve, but Ganache holds both power and evidence to blackmail Uni into doing whatever he wants her to do. Even if we did manage to arrest him he has enough power to either lighten his sentence or not go to jail at all. He is, what one might say, above the law." She sighed.

He still had no idea what's going on. Although he can kind of guess that it has something to do with Ganache, call it a hunch after they said his name a couple of times. Also, above the law? Welp, he better start planning on finding a way to take him down a million pegs… nah he's not that smart.

Even if it did seem rude to say this but, "Where are my glasses?" He kind of needed those to see. Okay, he really needed those to see.

"I had IF take them to an eye doctor to get them fixed and possibly get you new frames while she's at it." She explained, "I must say that, your prescription is extremely thick. Are your eyes alright?"

It should be obvious that they are not alright if he's wearing glasses in the first place, but he's not going to try and get smart with anyone here, what with one of them being a literal encyclopedia of knowledge, "Yeah, nothing to worry about though."

Histoire closed her eyes, "If you say so. It is your body, if you don't wish to change it, than it is your wish to do so."

The boy followed a rule that a lot of men seem to follow when not understanding things, nodding and pretending that you understand. In this context he did understand, but he could imagine other men just nodding and not understanding.

"Hey." A voice, that belonged to the girl named Uni, said.

The boy turned to see Uni looking down and a bit of an angrishly-embarrassed to admit something blush on her face, "I can't believe I'm saying this to a complete stranger, but….." Uni breathed in and out. Heavily! "I….am…" She coughed, several times as hard as she could. "S-sorry!" She finally let out, "That I attacked you. It is unbecoming of me, as Lastation's CPU Candidate, to attack and innocent civilian such as yourself. My only request is that you do not speak of this incident to anyone else." She calmed herself as quickly and breathed out, "There, I apologized. Do you accept it?"

It's okay, he's seen faker apologies from his younger siblings. So this one seemed pretty genuine by his standards. He's not going to ask her to be clearer. He simply nodded his head.

"Wha-really? That easy? You aren't going to- nevermind." Uni was surprised at the fact that she was easily forgiven, by a stranger no less.

Nepgear smiled, "See, Uni? That wasn't so hard."

"Shut up, Nepgear." Uni smiled.

"S-sorry." Nepgear back peddled.

"N-No, no, no, no I was just kidding!" Uni tried to comfort her friend.

"I know." Nepgear smiled.

Uni sighed in relief.

Nepgear then realized, "Oh! I haven't really introduced myself yet! I'm Nepgear, that's Uni."

The boy nodded, "I'm Tyler Jordan. Nice to meet you."

Nepgear smiled, "Nice to meet you too, Mr. Jordan."

The boy then turned to face Linda and started to take off the gag off of her mouth. This was met with a rather negative reception from the three other females in the room.

"Stop, what are yo-" Uni started, but didn't finish as she was interrupted.

"Finally! I was waiting forever to get this stupid gag off of me! What the hell, Broads?! Even I wouldn't put a gag on someone!" Linda suddenly shifted her focus to the boy, "And you! Suddenly you're buddy-buddy with the-"

"And that's enough from you." IF appeared out of nowhere and placed another gag onto Linda mouth.

"Dmphit braphd!"

IF held out a pair of glasses and quickly twirled them around on her finger, "Got your glasses, Kid. Don't worry, Histoire already told me of your predicament."

He was quick to grab his glasses and put them on as quickly as possible. They were cleaner than his older ones, so he got that strange sensation of putting on new glasses and feeling as if one could see everything clearer now. Now that he thought about it he did feel as though there was something on his head? Oh? They were bandages.

"The guy who repaired these told me to tell you to come by and get your eyes checked up. He estimated you haven't changed your glasses in about a year or so, due to the scratches on the glasses." IF finished as the boy was preoccupied with his glasses and sighed, "I guess I wouldn't know the struggle of being a bit visually impaired, having to take on and off your glasses all the time."

"You get used to it." He spoke back.

"It may sound strange, but I kind of assumed those glasses were fake." IF said as she looked at the bound and gagged Linda and then looked out the window, which showed the moon out and about, "It's already late as is. I'll take Underling an-"

The boy raised his hand and stopped her in her tracks, he didn't want to question why they're hostile to Linda more than him, he didn't want a history lesson about some sort… stuff- he can't find the right words, "Leave her to me." He bluntly stated.

"What? What are you going abo-" IF yawned, "You know what? It's too late and I'm too tired for this. You want to take care of this business? That's fine by me. I got some work to do in the morning anyway. Thanks, Kid." IF sounded both tired and grateful for the opportunity to get some sleep.

IF simply walked away from the scene, taking the elevator back down, and getting ready to simply go home. A giant smile was on her face the whole way down.

This left the two Candidates to question what the heck was going on. The boy also had a somewhat whispered conversation with Histoire.

"Yes, I know your predicament. I know everything that happens in Planeptune." Histoire was answering in fragments, "Yes, even with her. No. You didn't do a thing like that. Yes, she's still alive, and she's out on a quest for revenge. I don't know where she is right now, but I do know that."

"Oh thank god." The boy said aloud, one of the only things they heard from his end of the whispered conversation. At the least he knows he ain't no murderer.

"What are you talking about over there?" Uni was a bit suspicious of the situation to say the least.

Histoire looked at Uni, then to the boy, "Do you wish to indulge her in information."

The boy shook his head, "Tell her later. I'm not entirely good at explaining things."

Histoire respected his wishes and simply nodded, much to the chagrin of Uni. She obviously didn't have the same trust factor of her fellow Candidate and Histoire. There was also the fact that he had a connection with Underling. No matter how one looked at it, it was kind of suspicious. There was also to take in consideration the fact that she was tricked and she wasn't sure if she could completely trust another stranger. Uni narrowed her eyes as she's got to find some way to get alone with him and figure him out.

….

After a very difficult conversation, the boy was actually allowed to stay at Histoire's place for the night, A.K.A. The Basilicom. She actually said that the CPU was out, 'for once.' Now the reason why it was difficult was simply the factor of Linda..or Underling as everyone liked to call her. He was actually carrying her in his arms.

Well long story short- He was able to have Linda stay over as well as long as he: A: Makes sure she stays bound and gag and don't let her escape, lest he get shot by the aggressive one named Uni. B: Don't do anything 'aggressive.' It didn't matter if she was there enemy, if he did anything to a defenseless woman like her, hell would be raised.

...He was also slapped for his perverted combat maneuver earlier... honestly he had no excuse for that. The one named Nepgear was nice though

He doesn't intend to break B at all, for A however.

He was actually in what he assumed was the living room area, as there was one couch, a T.V with consoles, and a great view of the city from the skylines. He made sure that at least no one was looking before placing Linda on the couch and gagging her.

She breathed in as much air as she could and had a look of pure betrayal as she looked at the boy. It looked like she had a million things to say to the boy, but what came out was, "I have nothing to say to you you son of a bitch."

The boy sighed, "Fuck." he said under his breath. He's pretty sure he didn't do anything wron- you know what he was too tired for this dramatic bullshit. He knows from his mother to wait a little while before talking to angry women. With that he found a spot on the floor, I.E in front of the couch, and said, "Night, Linda."

He closed his eyes, unaware that that simple sentence calmed her down a bit, being called by her name has a strange way of calming her down a bit.

…

The boy opened his eyes, he needed to go to the bathroom. It was still night though, but it'll be quick and quiet. Unfortunately he wasn't paying attention enough to notice a missing Linda

The boy was quietly walking down the hall as he just got done doing his buisness, he actually managed to glance out towards the city- to see a certain green haired girl on the balcony, looking towards the moon, almost as if she was contemplating… The obvious cliche did not get lost on him, but she looked like she could use someone to talk to.

He's actually done something similiar to this before, except it wasn't a woman, it was during the day at school, and he arrived by accident and they started talking and he listened. So if she had anything to say he'll listen.

He quickly and quietly opened and closed the door that led out to the balcony. Now he could call out to her from his distance, but he actually wanted to scare her with his usual 'sneak up behind a person and suddenly announce your presence.' He did exactly that as he quietly snuck up behind her and-

"Hi." He said, causing the pale skinned girl to jump and quickly turn around.

She sighed in relief as her heart calmed down and she turned back around to look towards the moon, "It's just you. You scared me asshole." She deadpanned.

The boy smiled and looked at the moon, "What are you thinking about?"

Linda chuckled and turned towards him, "Seriously? You see a girl staring at the moon and you ask what she's thinking about? Do you know how cliche that is?"

"Yeah, that's why I asked." He bluntly said.

Linda once again chuckled, "You're a strange one you know?" She sighed as her stare was still fixated on the moon, "I'm just thinking about life and shit like that. I know, cliche, but I am thinking about it." Linda held a hand to her face, "What the hell am I going to do with my life? I'm pretty sure you noticed, but I'm not exactly a model citizen for a goody two shoe person like you. I'm a criminal, simple as that. If you didn't figure that out- then you're a complete lost cause."

"Don't worry, I'm not as dense as a harem protagonist. I kind of figured out due to your mannerisms."

"Har-Har." Linda deadpanned, "I can't exactly get a job, due to me being a criminal. I can't do anything about that since what's done is done- I honestly don't know what else to say. This talking about my feelings crap is a complete gibberish to me."

The boy sighed as she seemed to stop talking for a while. She must be in deep thought, but he's got a perfect response to that… he's pretty sure, "I'm not going to ask what you did, who you are, other misc. things. I'm just going to say that life has some pretty strange curveballs that even the best batter can't hit. Who knows what could happen?" He said, "But don't let life push you around, sometimes you just have to show your dominance and control your own path." Okay, he was pretty sure he tried to jumble a bunch of references and failed miserably. However, it kind of came out neat, if it didn't he'll try something else.

"Quite the philosopher aren't you? Didn't expect that out of someone like you." Linda somewhat joked, "I get what you're saying though. You're not the only one who watches those types of shows you know? Though it does kind of help."

Linda stayed silent as they both stared at the shining moon and the stars that accompanied it, she glanced at the boy and he glanced at her. They both had the same thought process as they placed their backs to one another and sat down, still looking at the starry sky.

"Hey, Tyler?"

"Yeah?"

"Why are you so quiet?" It was obvious that she had at least one more question, but she saved it.

"No reason really. It started in third grade when I noticed that talking during class got a lot of kids in trouble. So, I stayed quiet and got praised for staying quiet when everyone else was talking. I guess it went to my head and I stayed quiet for a long time." He explained, "Either that or I just like being quiet." He joked at the end.

"I'm more inclined to believe the third grade story."

"I don't know. I've been told I've always been quiet, even as a baby.. Well at least after I got out of a crying everyday stage."

The two shared a small laugh.

"Got any backstory for me?" Tyler asked.

"Not much. I grew up in the streets, cliche I know. Had to steal most of my food, do some side jobs, basically an orphan who had to take care of herself. You could say I've been a criminal my whole life." Linda bluntly chuckled at the not so fond memories, "Once wrestled a bear for some reason. I don't remember why a bear was there, but I know it did something to aggravate the hell out of me."

"I don't have any crazy memories like yours, but I do remember getting detention once."

"Really? I would really love to hear how the hell you of all people got that?"

"Long story short- Choked a kid out. He deserved it though as he was bullying me before and the teachers did jack shit about it. Kid still got off scot-free though."

"Hey, if someone's messing with you you've got to repay in kind. Still though, I don't see you as the retaliating on sight type. Sure you did punch me, but that was a short bout of anger and not full blown rage."

"I don't think I've ever gone into full blown rage. I'm pretty mellow about things." The boy chuckled.

"I can see that." Linda joked.

Another moment of silence passed as Tyler suddenly chuckled. There was a certain burning question that came to the forefront of his mind. He actually had it for a long while now, "Hey Linda?"

"Yeah?"

A small silence, "Ever feel like you're in over your damn head?"

Linda chuckled and smiled, "All the damn time."

"Same."

The two laughed and stayed there for quite a long time. They were simply enjoying eachother's company.

"Thank you, Tyler."

Those words were enough for him to understand. She could be thanking him for anything, but he didn't care which one.

…..

I was a bit too obsessed with getting this chapter done, then I remembered I can take my time and I somehow finished this. I wanted to do a lot of things in this, but I discovered that simple was better. The fight scene was supposed to go on longer, but I liked how it turned out.

Stay safe and prepare for one of the grand acts of the story. Tyler, might, turn the tables on some people. If he's smart enough that is.