50. Bandit brother
Zelda pushed the boys away, trying to motivate them to start doing what only they could do. She really didn't feel all that safe, so she wanted them back as soon as possible. After ushering them way she turned around herself, she was set on a mission. She was going to find something useful around the Hostel, and also keep an eye on those backpacks…
She began trying to visit the business around the Hostel, but most of them where closed, except a convenience store, but it was really small, and sold everyday need items only. It lacked variety, but it was conveniently located right next to the Hostel, she didn't know it was a business at first, it looked like a small house, but she saw someone walk in and out with shampoo, so she entered.
Once she got out, she was set on heading back to check on their luggage, secretly hoping the boys were back already, but she then saw a person falling from the roof of the convenience store, breaking a few boxes that were placed in the small corridor between both buildings.
ZELDA POV
For the sake of Din, what was he doing up there? He is lucky he landed on his back, and that the boxes broke most of the fall.
"Are you ok? Do you need help sir?" Zelda asked as she carefully approached
The unfortunate man grunted and started lifting himself up, showing with his stature that he was not a man yet, he was a teen at best. He looked at the Princess tilting his head, and grabbed her arm to pull her in effectively shifting their positions and hiding her from public view. He then started feeling her body. She tried to scream but he pointed a knife at her throat and made a hush noise at her.
He is going to rape me, what did I do to deserve this fate? I know I have not been all that good but… he did get a feel of my boobs, but now he is getting his hands inside my pockets, he is not raping me, he is robbing me. That is A LOT BETTER, supposing he does not get angry at me when he finds nothing… For some reason I am calm, why am I calm? Maybe it's that sme- OH MY FUCKING… IT CAN'T BE.
Zelda attempts to turn her head towards the robber and get a good sniff at him, when the criminal notices he squints his eyes at her and in confusion, then turns to look around, when he sees Link a few paces behind him, he decides to use the odd girl as a meat shield. He draws the Princess placing her in front of him, still pointing the knife at her neck. Link starts slowly reaching for his hips with his hands.
Wow, my knight in shiny armor is here, wait… LINK IS HERE, and he plans on using his stilettos
[Zelda watches attentively as Link hides a dagger inside one of his boots, and straps two more to each side of his hips, then pulls up his pants completely hiding them.
"it's kind of disturbing being watched as you dress you know"
Zelda looks at him and rolls her eyes "I am not spying on you, but it was educative, now I know how you conceal your weapons"]
I can't let them fight, come on girl THINK OF SOMETHING
Zelda starts mouthing ¨DO NOT FIGHT HIM¨
"Why" Link asks serene, but anger pouring out of his eyes.
Zelda wrinkles her nose and points at Link with a sheepish smile.
Squinting his eyes "you are kidding right?" Link says in such a low volume, that it was almost a whisper.
Link draws one of the stilettos and straightens his stance grinning at the robber
"I mean I CAN'T be this lucky, I honestly thought she had managed to escape, but thanks to your timely intervention sir I may still get paid" Link smiles sheepishly as he rubs a side of his chin with the base of his palm
MESSAGE RECEIVED LOUD AND CLEAR
["You know, since I have not been able to go to school, I have been watching TV, I saw men fighting on a ring, big gloves on their hands, and I wanted to ask… can you really knock out someone with a punch to the jaw?"
"The sport is called BOX or maybe you watched a UFC fight. And YES, during a fight is tricky because both fighters have to be moving around, to avoid getting hit. But knocking someone out is very easy if you know what you are doing, even you can do it, you don't need to apply much force"
"I don't believe you, the fighters seem to throw STRONG PUNCHES" Zelda tells him
Link stares at her wickedly "I am not lying, let me show you" Link says as he tilts her head up with his left index finger and throws a very weak hit at her jaw line with his right hand. Zelda rolls her eyes back and starts falling, Link hugs her, preventing her from hitting the floor.]
"Be a good Samaritan and hand her over" Link says twirling the stiletto with malice in his eyes
Zelda is starting to grin at the sight of danger staged by Link, but forces herself to remain stoic. She is supposed to play the part of a scared innocent girl, she was finding it REALLY hard to cry though. On desperation, she chooses to bite on the inside of her cheek.
There, tears on demand. FUCK, why did I do this? hurts like hell and now I can't speak or even smile, blood will pour out of my mouth if I do.
The bandit looks at the Princess and notices her tears, he loosens his hold on the Princess a little, but shakes his head at Link refusing to hand her over, in that moment Lee approaches whistling and stops dropping the plastic bag where he carried meat pies, he starts draws his gun once he notices the scene in front of him.
The mugger releases Zelda's neck, dropping the knife as he tries to pull her behind him, his intention was to shield the girl from the possible bullets. Zelda took advantage of that and turned to him smiling, she then executed an uppercut using the base of her palm instead of a closed fist. The criminal stumbled back a little and fell to the floor.
Link approaches them kicking the bandit's legs a little, just to make sure that he is out. And looks and his princess, tears on her face, blood stained her perfect teeth and a drop of red escaped from a corner of her mouth
LINK POV
Fuck, she looks beautiful, with a psychotic vibe going on but still gorgeous.
"Well, that is a scary look there, no wonder you caught him off guard"
Zelda realizes she is smiling and covers her mouth with her hands.
"I had to make it believable" she justifies herself
"Thanks for playing along, and good job" Link winks at her
Link takes his shirt off and rips it to use it as a rope, he begins to tie the mugger's hands and feet. Robert approaches after putting away his gun and picking up the food
"You ok girl? What happened?" Robert asks worried
Zelda's eyes glow with pride "this criminal tried to rob me, Link wanted to end him, but me being my wise sensitive self, managed to stop him from making that mistake, then I fainted him with my own hands" she points at the mugger being aggressively tied by Link.
Lee turns to Link for confirmation of the tale. The Prince nods solemnly.
"Wow… impressive sis, but why not kill this human waste?"
"Because that waste is YOUR BROTHER" Zelda says grinning and tapping on her nose with her index finger
"OH, MY FUCKING GOD, ARE YOU SERIOUS?" He turns to Link "IS SHE SERIOUS?" he doesn't even wait for an answer and gets back to Zelda "GOSH… I am glad it was Link and not me who stumbled on you, because I WOULD HAVE SHOT HIM, no questions asked, not even caring to hear what you had to say about it. NOBODY touches my sister"
Zelda hugs Lee from a side "I love you too"
Link stands up "Rob hand her the food and help me carry him"
"Where to?"
"To the shed over there, that is going to be our space since the rooms are full… it should be open, I hope" Link says as he pulls off the ski mask, revealing a boy with long hair that looks similar to himself.
"DAMN, he is not black… but he does look the part" Zelda states upon looking at the criminal's face
"He does? He is too thin…" Link says worried "I should go buy more-"
"You won't find food now, they close early here, but there is no need, I bought 3 orders of meat pies, each order has 5, meaning there are 3 extras pies from your order and I can give him one from my order" Lee says
"I can give him one of mine too, and yeah… he is skinny, but he still looks handsome like you both" Zelda chimes in smiling.
That is what she meant with ¨he does look the part¨? She thinks I am handsome? Ok… I guess. This thief does not reassemble me as much as Robert does, but he definitely IS me. He is underweight, maybe I can carry him on my back.
"It will be easier if I carry him, can you help me place him on my back?" Link asks Robert
"NO, I will carry him, you need to inform SWORD and talk to the owner of the Hostel about our stay, maybe buy some chloroform to keep him sleeping" Lee says lifting an eyebrow
Link just laughs and helps place his unconscious brother on Robert's back, He then he shakes his undershirt a little, attempting to look presentable enough, and heads to the Hostel. Before going in he decides to call Carla, he needed to know how to procced with his new brother.
"Hey beautiful listen, I have a situation here, I found my other donor, I kind of kidnapped him so how do I proceed?"
"HOLY MOTHER OF… HOW DID YOU FIND HIM? You had no name, or a home direction, just a vague ubication of the clinic that attended him months ago"
"I have a Hund, I will explain latter, he is unconscious, and I know no one is coming to my location, tell me where to go."
"We will send a Medic from Sidney to the clinic closest to your current location, be there with him tomorrow at 9 am. Make him trust you, so he goes voluntarily for the testing. And what do you mean you kidnapped him?"
"Exactly what I said, he may wake up soon, it will NOT be pretty, I will see what I can do to earn his trust"
Link hangs the call and enters the hostel, the owner smiles upon seeing him and grabs the backpacks, she then places them on top of the desk, and nods at Link. A lot of laughter and music is heard from one of the rooms. The other room was in silence, but the open door showed around 10 people occupying the room, and they appear to be waiting for more people.
I will take that nod as an indicative that we can use the shed. I guess she was not lying, the rooms are full. Not that I mind the shed at all, I actually prefer it.
Link thinks as he carries the backpacks to the shed. Once he opens the door he feels tension, Lee looked disheveled and his new brother was awake and sweaty, Zelda was positioned between them, she looked at him pleading for help with her eyes, her neck showed bruising and scratch marks
ROBERT POV
Zelda opened the door of the shed and moved away for the boys to enter; Lee entered grunting due to the heavy load he was carrying. And he just dropped the thief on the big tatami in the middle of the room.
"HEY, treat him with respect" Zelda yells at Lee
"Men love men with violence, I just told him that I love him" Lee answers in a condescending tone
WELL, I just meet him, I can't love him right away, but I do care for him, he could be my donor after all. BUT I can't forget the fact that he held a knife at my sister's throat. Falling catastrophically on the tatami is a weak punishment.
"Maybe men should find another way to love" Zelda says as she sits on the tatami.
"Maybe you should grow a dick fist before giving that opinion" Lee answers aggressively
Zelda stares at him in anger, but also hurt by the comment. Lee sighs
"Sorry for that… it's just a VERY different world for males and females. We are expected to be strong, that means we are NOT ALLOWED to have feelings, since they are an indication of weakness. The only emotion allowed is anger, and only to an extent, too much of it is considered violence" Lee says rolling his eyes in exasperation.
Zelda widens her eyes "I had no idea… NO, I never bothered to notice. Kids from a young age play mostly violent games, and if one gets hurt and cries about it, he gets mocked by his peers... Why? Who sets these rules?"
"I don't know… all I know is that this is a complicated chore for us, they want us to protect and provide, we can provide, but we need to be capable of violence to protect… it takes a MONSTER to scare the skeletons away" Lee takes a deep breath before sharing his somber thought that has been eating at him.
"You know, those kids that drowned most likely didn't have a father that posed a threat. By threat I mean a father involved in their lives, a father watching over them at all times and capable of violence if ever needed. That is how my family used to target most of their clients back in the day"
"FUCK, those poor kids… I never thought the father figure was THAT important, my mother raised me alone since my dad was a fucking coward that left… he still is, but that is a story for another time. I will just say that I now realize the father figure IS IMPORTANT, and violence is an inherent trait of men that should be valued" Zelda declares with finality.
Zelda falls back on the tatami closing her eyes "But please do me a favor, STOP believing I am out to get you, Link has been teaching me to MEAN what I say. If I ask or suggest anything to you, is only THAT, it's not an attack or reproach from me, it's an honest question or idea." The Princess says, she really didn't want Robert to feel like he should always be on the defensive with her.
Lee chuckles "I will try to do that Princess"
She smiles and opens her eyes to turns on her side facing the criminal, she wanted to keep an eye on her new brother, but she yelped in shock noticing the mugger staring right back at her frowning. He suddenly rose up to choke her, using his weight to press on her neck. Lee immediately tackled him off the Princess.
A fight of begun between the two, they were now rolling on the floor beating each other. Zelda wanted to catch her breath but she needed to stop them first. She started looking around for something to throw a them and stop the fight, but the room only had the huge tatami. Then Robert managed to get himself behind the thief and applied a choke hold. Zelda started calling on Lee, begging him to stop chocking the burglar, he was not hearing any of it.
Zelda got herself in front of both boys and touched Lee "I am fine, you don't have to protect me anymore" she said to her brother.
I SHOULD NOT HAVE SAID ANYTHING TO HER, she is now using it against me, and for what? For HIM? He tried to kill her… but ok, I will spare him if that is what you wish.
Robert losses his hold on the thief and stands back pulling Zelda with him. The delinquent starts coughing and catching his breath, then stares right back at them smiling.
"So that's how it is? you just do as she says… come on, you know better than that. You know I was about to kill her."
"Please just stay quiet, don't you see I am trying to help you?" Zelda begs
"Help me? YOU? A backstabbing whore?"
"Backstabbing? I wanted to help you and you decided to rob me? if anyone here is deceitful is you"
"Rob you? I was just fondling your body baby; I prefer them bustier but you have nothing to be ashamed of" he says licking his lips.
He is trying to provoke me, he should know he is going to lose if we fight, his hands and feet are tied up, so why is he doing this?
Zelda stands between them in panic, fearing Robert will fall into the provocations and start fighting again. Then the door opens and Link walks in. after a quick assessment of the situation his eyes begin to squint in anger.
Using both his hands to point at opposite sides of the room "CORNERS NOW!" Link commands both of them.
All right, I was NOT imagining anything, his voice sounds with an odd echo when he is pissed… well, maybe not an echo, it kind of sounds multiple, ha-ha is he possessed? Should I start calling him Legion? he is not gonna like it, so maybe I should.