Alex met him in the front of the joint, her dark skin was paler than usual and she looked like she was going to puke. No doubt the little scene in the kitchen had sparked some unwanted memories, and Nic did make a mess of the guy responsible.

"You good?" he asked her as she crouched against a wall. She nodded, "I'll be fine. What's going to happen to him though?" She jerked her head in the direction of the slumped body barely breathing amongst the trash.

"Who knows. Georgiana won't let him back in though." Worick replied, "Ready to go?" Alex stood, straightened her skirt and peered behind him,

"Where's Nic?"

"Little girl's room probably cleaning up." he said, "He'll meet us at home."

"We're taking her too?" she asked curiously.

"Yeah..." he replied and started walking back towards Benriya. Alex didn't know Mia. In fact neither him nor Nic had ever mentioned her before to anyone who didn't already know, it was better that way. Initially, Worick had been against the idea of letting her go in the first place but he knew Mia's place wasn't with them in Egastulum. She was...too good for this place. Too pure. Why she'd chosen to stay with them for as long as she did, he never did quite understand. Some people have this darkness in them from birth - not necessarily evil per say, but you just know they're gonna be trouble. Everyone Worick knew had it, his clients, Dr. Theo, even Alex had a touch of it. He and Nic? Well Nic was swimming in the shit and Worick had swan dived right in after him. But not Mia.

Everyone wants to believe they're special, whether it's being better at something than everyone else or some almighty deity speaking to them personally. Mia was the real deal when it came to the word good. She'd almost made him want to quit his life and turn legit more than once and she was the only woman, save for one, who really got under Nic's skin...in a good way.

Despite not wanting her to leave, Worick was grateful Mia had gotten out. Sure the girl was literally an angel, but that was her weakness. She wasn't strong, she didn't have street smarts and when she'd first come to them she was a mute. There was practically a huge neon sign above her head flashing "easy target". Apparently, that hadn't changed much. So, Worick found himself torn between his own personal feelings towards Mia once again - while he hated that she'd found her way back to Egastulum, he was glad she was with them again, if only for the fact he and Nic had the ability to keep her safe.

"So, who is she?" Alex asked curiously, bringing Worick back into the present, "You guys seemed to have recognized each other earlier, and the way Nicolas, uh, handled that guy...?" Worick adjusted Mia in his arms and sighed,

"That's a long, long story." he said and shot her a smile, "She doesn't look it, but this little rabbit caused me and Nic a shit load of trouble back in the day. Man, I can't even remember how long ago it was now but we were young, maybe eighteen-nineteen, anyway it was before Benriya, or at least what we are today. She had this habit of falling into trouble, and that day she fell into the worst kind - us."

Worick and Nicolas were walking back to their apartment through the back roads like ususal when suddenly, Worick stopped and looked down into a shadowy allyway. He swore he'd just heard someone scream; half turning, he opened his mouth to ask whether Nic had heard it to when he stopped himself. Of course Nic didn't hear it. What a dumb question. But something had definitely caught his deaf friend's attention. Nic stared at the same place Worick had been looking a few seconds ago, hand gripped tightly around the hilt of his sword, waiting. They stood there for a further five minutes before Worick started growing impatient - it was probably just some hooker anyway. Nudging his friend's arm, Worick started walking again.

Nic felt Worick nudge his arm, telling him that they should just go, but the twisting in Nic's gut wasn't letting up. Something was about to happen, he could feel it, and he knew Worick had heard something. So he ignored his friend and just waited; it wasn't like Nic couldn't handle whatever trouble was coming their way. His gaze narrowed and his jaw clenched hard. Then he saw it, a flash of pure white against the dull grey and tan buildings. It was a kid, a girl a couple years younger than him, with hair the colour of sand and tears in her eyes. She ran right towards him; he didn't draw his sword, she wasn't a threat. Nothing that small and pathetic could be dangerous.

The girl clutched his black over shirt and gazed up at him with wide, hopeful eyes and the two had a silent conversation.

'Help me.' her green eyes pleaded desperately, 'Please help me.'

Movement behind her caught his attention briefly, three large men in black suits were running, yelling something, towards them. Nic's gaze dropped back to her but the girl wasn't looking at him anymore. Her head was turned towards the newcomers and she held his shirt tighter. So, the girl was being chased.

"Hey you!" the bald one of the three yelled, pointing a finger at Nic, "Give us the girl!" Nic just blinked at him, he still hadn't made up his mind on what he wanted to do yet.

"Oi!" called the ginger one, "You deaf or somethin', punk?! Hand over the girl or we'll kill ya!"

Worick couldn't hear a second pair of steps behind him and turned around to see a young girl stop right in front of Nic, clutch his shirt and look up at him. He watched the weird interaction as the two seemed to have some unspoken talk and then she turned around to look behind her. Worick sighed and ran a hand through his blonde hair; well, he never could turn down a cute girl in trouble and this girl certainly was cute even if she was like fourteen.

"Hey you!" a voice called from the ally in front of Nic and the girl, "Give us the girl!" Nic didn't move but the girl looked scared as hell.

"Oi!" another voice called, "You deaf or somethin', punk?! Hand over the girl or we'll kill ya!"

"Actually," Worick said walking over to join his friend, "He is deaf. But that's not the reason he's not listening." Three huge men stood in the ally, the one at the front was bald, the guy to his left was ginger and the third guy had dark skin.

"Listen, brat, we haven't got time for your games. Tell your friend to give us the girl." the bald man said. Worick arched an eyebrow and glanced down at the girl still holding onto Nic's clothes. He figured she could hear since she reacted faster than Nic did at the guys' approach.

"Hey kid," he asked her quietly, green eyes shifted to his face and he smiled, "These assholes giving you a hard time?"

"Last chance!" Ginger spoke up again. Worick barely looked up when a bullet went zooming past his face, burning several strands of his blonde bangs and sinking in the dumpster behind them.

"Son of a bitch!" he growled jumping back a foot and a half and reaching for the gun holstered on his side, only to be stopped by a body crashing into him. His hands were around her small shoulders as they both fell to the ground in a heap. The girl's arms tightened around his waist and she buried her head into the crook of his neck, he could feel her wet tears on his skin.

Nic saw Worick approach out of the corner of his eye and from his hand gestures, he figured Worick was talking to the big guys. Worick bent down and said something to the girl in front of Nic, as he did, Ginger pulled out a gun. Nic's body moved before his mind did. Grabbing the girl's shoulders, spun them around so his back was to the guys chasing her. He felt the heat of a bullet fly past his arm and go straight through the dumpster behind them.

Until that moment, he hadn't made his mind up on whether he was going to help her or not. These jerks had just decided for him. He shoved the girl to Worick and, pulling his sword free of it's sheath, charged Baldy, Ginger and the dark guy with golden tooth. The three men fired their guns, a bullet grazed Nic's upper arm, thigh and hip, but he kept going until he'd cut off Ginger's hand, cut a new hole in Baldy's stomach and was about to cut of Gold Tooth's head when he felt something grab onto his arm.

Worick did his best to shield the girl from the carnage his friend was bestowing upon the three guys but she still managed to wriggle free of his grip. He tried to grab her but only succeeded in catching her white coat. She slipped her arms free and sprinted over to where Nic was about to decapitate the last guy. Worick couldn't believe what he saw; this kid was practically swinging off Nic's arm to stop him from killing one of the guys chasing her. Standing, he wandered over, careful not to step in any of the pools of blood on the ground, and joined is friend and the girl.

'Please don't kill him!' she signed so fast Worick wasn't totally sure that was what she'd said. Nic frowned down at her, just as confused as Worick was. The girl tugged Nic's arm again and then the amazing happened. Nic sighed and lowered his sword. Gold Tooth sank to the ground, tears streaming down his face and a brand new wet patch on the crotch of his pants. Jesus Christ, Nic had just spared the life of a guy because a girl asked him to. What just happened?

Sighing again, Nic sheathed his sword and spat to the side. What had possessed him to listen to this chick anyway? Feeling angry and annoyed, he grabbed a fistful of Gold Tooth's hair and shoved his knee hard into his face. The back of his head cracked against the brick wall and he slumped forward, unconscious. Small fists punched his side weakly and he looked back down at the angry small face of the girl.

'Why did you do that?!' she demanded with her hands. Nic had to hold back the laughter at seeing her cute face so angry. It was pathetic. But he didn't bother explaining his reasons to her, she probably wouldn't understand anyway. Putting his hand on her head, he gently pushed her out of the way and started walking back down the ally. As he passed her, she punched his side again, right where the bullet had hit. He grimmaced, a hand instinctively clutching the sore part of his body - normally he could tolerate a shit load of pain but he hadn't taken any of his medication to fight these guys. He didn't need to. But that meant he could feel pain a little easier than normal.

Those green eyes were in front of him again, this time filled with worry. 'You're hurt.' she signed to him and went to lift his shirt. He slapped her hand away and kept walking.

Worick watched as his friend slapped the concerned girl's hand away and stalked off back to their home. He shook his head and dropped her coat around her shoulders; Nic sucked with women.

"Hey, don't worry about him. He gets grumpy around pretty girls because he can't talk to them." Worick lied, leaving his arm draped around her as they walked, "What's your name?"

'Mia.' she signed to him seeming unfazed about his closeness, 'And you?'

"I'm Worick and Mr. Grumpy-pants up there is Nic." he replied and wondered whether he should ask her why those guys were after her, and why she signed but decided that it probably wasn't the best time. Instead he asked a simpler question, "So, do you need somewhere to stay?"