Chapter 1

Meeting the Bodyguard

Talia walked into Xanatos' office. She didn't like her adopted father's office. It wasn't very inviting or interesting. It was dark out, long past dinner time. The moon was just barley visible behind the wispy clouds. She refocused her attention as Xanatos spoke.

"I have someone I want you to meet." He stood up.

The door opened, and a tall woman with long, dark brown hair entered the office. She was wearing a black leather trench coat, with dark jeans and knee-high black boots; her eyes were covered by a pair of round, orange colored glasses and there was an aura of mystery around her. She walked towards Xanatos and Talia, stopping right in front of the teen.

Talia looked at her. She frowned. "Who are you?"

"Her name is Roxanne. She will be your personal bodyguard from now on." Xanatos said.

The woman nodded at the girl.

Talia wrinkled her nose. "But why? Isn't Owen enough? I can't go anywhere anyway."

Talia walked up to Roxanne and tried to poke her. Roxanne rolled her eyes but remained perfectly still.

"Owen is my personal assistant, Talia. He can't always be with you, and since you have the bad habit to get out of the castle without permission...I decided to hire a bodyguard for you. At least if you go out, I know you will be safe." David added as he walked next to Talia. "Roxanne will make sure you don't get into any trouble and that you're back home before your curfew. Which is midnight, as you know."

"Ugh, fine. Wait, can I go get ice cream now?" She asked.

"Yes, if you promise to behave and stop trying to run away from home." Xanatos said.

"Don't worry, sir. Even if she tried to run away, she wouldn't get far." Roxanne said.

"Pfft. C'mon, let's go get ice cream." Talia told Roxanne. They went to the elevator.

Roxanne raised an eyebrow, but followed Talia without comments.

Why did she accept this damn job anyway?

Oh, right: she needed the money.

As the elevator opened, Owen walked out and greeted them both. "Good evening. I see that you met Miss Roxanne."

The woman eyed the blond and smirked.

And there's the other reason why she accepted the job.

"You knew about this too?" Talia asked Owen. "Why am I the last to know?"

"I'm your father's personal assistant: I always know what is going on in this castle." Owen said readjusting his glasses. "And besides, now you know. I expect you two to be back before midnight." He looked seriously at Roxanne. "Is it clear?"

"Crystal clear, honey." She purred.

"This is getting weird. I'm leaving." Talia stepped into the elevator. She pressed the close door button.

With a fast movement, the woman blocked the elevator with her arm, preventing it from closing completely.

"Listen up, kid: you never leave without me. Don't take any steps without telling me and drop the attitude. Got that?" Roxanne said as she entered the elevator. Owen shook his head and left.

"Whatever he's paying you is clearly very tempting." Talia remarked.

"Your daddy is very tempting, too. Not as much as the blondie, though." Roxanne grinned.

"Bleh, gross." Talia blanched.

The elevator was quite for a bit.

"How come your glasses are orange?" She asked.

"I saw them in a shop, I liked them, I bought them." Roxanne shrugged.

"Ok." She accepted the answer.

It was a few more minutes until they got to the lobby. Talia headed for the door. Roxanne followed her and they both went outside, walking through the busy streets of New York.

"So where did you want to get your ice cream?" Roxanne looked at Talia.

"Uh, I dunno. Elisa usually takes me." Talia shrugged. "McDonald's?"

"Elisa? Who's that?" She asked.

"My friend. We met after I got here. Kinda in middle of my adoption, I think." Talia thought.

"Yeah, Xanatos mentioned that he adopted you. Funny, he doesn't seem like the fatherly type." Roxanne remarked.

"I don't know why he did it. I have parents. I just need to get home. "Talia frowned.

"Wait, wait: it's better if you explain me everything from the top. Let's go into that ice cream parlor." Roxanne said, pointing towards the shop.

For a moment, she thought that it was none of her business...but the girl kinda reminded her of herself at her age, and she obviously needed someone to talk to.

Being a teenager wasn't any easy.

"One day I was at my parents' house and then Pu- something happened and I woke in Manhattan. I've been grounded for awhile now so no computer." Talia explained. "I lost my phone and I don't remember my mom's number. Adri would. She's my friend. "

Roxanne frowned: strange...Xanatos wasn't a saint, but he didn't seem the kind to kidnap a kid. And if he really was keeping Talia away from her home, there had to be a reason.

Something wasn't right.

"You really don't remember anything?" She prodded.

"Nu huh. Last thing I remember was being in my room." Talia shook her head. "I want strawberry. "

"One strawberry ice cream for her, please." Roxanne said to the cashier, who smiled and nodded.

They sat at one of the small, round tables while they waited. The chairs were metal and kinda cold from the night air. There was a napkin dispenser with a menu attached sitting on the table.

"You don't seem to like your new father or living at the castle." Roxanne stated.

"I don't." Talia said shortly.

"Why? I get that you want to go home, but you were adopted by the richest man in the state. Is it really that bad?" She questioned.

"As you said, he's not the fatherly type. I just do schoolwork with Owen then eat meals with the guy." Talia played with a napkin.

"Mh. Not much fun to be had around him..." Roxanne seemed lost in thought for a moment. "Hey, we still have lots of time before we have to head back: anything you would like to do besides eating ice cream? I know a cool arcade not too far from here."

"Ok, that sounds cool." Talia agreed.

After the ice cream, Roxanne took Talia to the arcade; the place was full of people playing video games or just relaxing at the snack bar. Talia hadn't realized there would be so many people here. It was loud and bright lights flashed from the games.

"Stay close, okay? I don't like crowds." The woman gently held Talia by the shoulder, to make sure that she didn't get lost. "What would you like to try first?"

"Skee ball." She decided after a moment.

"Then skee ball it is. If I win one of the plush prizes, I'll give it to Owen." She smirked as they walked towards the machine.

"You think you can get a billion tickets?" Talia went to the up the machine and put the tokens in. The balls rolled down the chute. She tossed them underhanded. She got a few 50's, several 20's, and a 100. Eight tickets came out.

"Not bad, kiddo. You got a good aim." Roxanne smiled.

"At least they didn't bounce back this time." Talia took the tickets.

"Okay, my turn. I'm a bit rusty bit I should be able to do a decent score." She cracked her knuckles and put her tokens into the machine; once the balls arrived, she took one and winked at Talia.

Roxanne started to make 100 after 100, never missing the hole.

A few people noticed that and started clapping after she did a perfect score.

Lots of tickets came out of the machine.

"Do you think it's enough to get something?" She asked cheekily.

"We're not done yet. I saw an air hockey table and a big ticket wheel. I wish there were bumper cars. The arcade at the beach had a little arena." Talia looked around.

"We could go there another time. Come on, let's try air hockey." Roxanne gathered her tickets.

"Oh no, I was talking about the beach in Oregon. But yeah, air hockey next." Talia waited.

"Well, there's always Coney Island. Ever been there?" She asked as they went towards the air hockey tables.

Suddenly, Roxanne felt like someone was watching them: she straightened her back and looked around. She smirked when she saw who it was.

"What you're looking at?" Talia asked, following her line of sight.

"Mh? Oh, nothing, I just saw someone I know. Aaand he's coming over here." A tall, muscular black man with a black beard came towards them.

"Playing babysitter now?" He asked, crossing his arms.

"Bodyguard, actually. It's my new job." Roxanne placed both hands on the teen's shoulders.

"Just keep out of trouble. You're not exactly welcome in most of New York." He whispered so only her could hear.

"Ain't my fault if people can't accept my political neutrality." She scoffed.

"Air hockey is a two person game. So, can we play now?" Talia frowned.

"Duty calls, T. See ya around, okay?" Roxanne waved.

"Just be careful." He sighed and headed out of the arcade.

"Why was he here? He didn't even have any tickets." Talia walked to the other side of the table. She put a token in. The table started up.

"Oh, he's not very good at games." Roxanne shrugged.

"Ok, whatever." Talia hit the puck. It bounced off the wall and went into Roxanne's goal.

"Woah. I barely saw that, you're fast. Been playing much?" The woman asked as she took another puck and placed it on the table.

"Your turn." She settled the striker toward middle of the goal.

They played air hockey for a while, Talia won several times and they tried different games. Roxanne beat her at the two person racing game. Talia got a bunch of tickets from the basketball hoops game. She played at the DDR game for the fun of it. Roxanne did well at whack-a-mole. They both won enough tickets to get two prizes.

"I think Owen will love this one." Roxanne chuckled, holding a white bunny plush in her hand. "He kinda reminds me of the white rabbit in Alice in Wonderland."

"How so?" Talia asked. She chose some candy and few small toys along a toy dog.

"Well, he's always obsessed with punctuality. He's precise and..." She looked at her wrist watch.

23:43

Shit.

"Kid, we gotta hurry. I don't want to know how Owen is when he's angry." She started walking faster towards the building, holding Talia's hand.

"I've never seen him angry..." Talia looked up at the sky. She tugged Roxanne toward an alley. Then whistled loudly. "Hey, big guy!" Goliath swooped down and grabbed Talia.

"WHAT THE?! HEY, COME BACK HERE!" Roxanne gasped and tried to reach for Talia's foot, but she was already high in the air, carried away by some kind of monster.

"Nothing personal! Tell David I'm at Goliath's!" Talia yelled.

"Fuck!" The woman hissed. "I don't want to get fired! It's literally my first day! Come back!"

She couldn't go back without her. The woman focused and started running in the direction of the creature and Talia. They were a small dot in amidst the backdrop of the city. Not impossible, but not easy to track either. The phone rang. It was Owen.

"Of COURSE he had to call now..." Roxanne groaned as she answered the call without stopping her run. "Yes?!"

"Are you coming back soon? It's almost Talia's curfew." Owen asked.

"Uh, well, the thing is..." Roxanne cleared her throat. "She was sorta grabbed by some flying creature named Goliath, but don't worry, I'm going to save her, I've got everything under control-"

"Goliath?" Owen repeated. "Talia is fine with him. I didn't expect she'd be so bold. Come back to the Eyrie Building. Mister Xanatos has something to explain to you."

Roxanne slowed down and groaned. "I knew there was something up with this job: the pay was too high."

She ended the phone call and looked at the night sky one last time before going back to the Eyrie Building.