At the mere sight of me, the teen, previously tossing around in the pool straightens, his chest puffed and his breathing anything but relaxed.

“Vern! Haven’t seen you all day, was beginning to wonder where you went off to.”

Trying best to not pay too much mind to the strained, nervous glances being tossed my way, I chuckle, “Here I am.” I try adding a bit of fanfare to my copy and paste grin by spreading my arms wide open.

Paige doesn’t notice, which is fine because she’s prone to following the crowd, a trait I’m sure stems from her literally following the crowd in those war-torn years she spent in the past.

All with an oblivious grin on her face, she waves me in and introduces the others, “This is Mary, Sarah and that’s Kean, oh, Kean what’s wrong?” She asks, finally noticing the constipated look he has on his face.

And then with the girls, one finally takes the initiative to whisper what she’s been missing out on into her ear and the other gets out of the pool, wrapping a towel over her surprisingly tall body.

“Oh…” Paige stutters as the other girl one I’m assuming is Mary starts backing away, urging her to come along too.

But then she says, “But Vern isn’t-”

“Actually, thanks for the offer Paige, was just checking in, I’ll be in my room.” I don’t let her finish, something I should have done many seconds earlier, in fact, the moment I stepped in and saw her with people I should have just back out and gone up for a snack or something.

This isn’t a new occurrence, so I’m not sure why I have to make the same mistake over and over again. Paige and I have had…friends, of a sort I suppose.

But my business, Neil, T.V. It got in the way, I understand and mourn that while trying to build a better life for my time travelling friend, I’ve also given her another handicap to making friendships.

My very presence.

And so, I turn tail and march back up before she or anyone else can say anything. I think it’s best this way.

“Vern!” Paige yells after me, her soaking wet hand snatches my arm as she nearly slips. Catching her I sigh at her stubbornness.

Gaining her footing and standing upright, I find myself presented a full view of her struggling, drowning chests.

She’s got on a rather tight elastic swimsuit that just obviously suffocates every bit of her and not just her chest. Looking away, finding something mundane and plain like…the wall to look at, and I tell her.

“That suit’s a bit tight, isn’t it? They didn’t have it in your size here? We could just go shopping.”

Not letting me have a break from staring at her body, she waddles over to be in my view again and looks down at herself.

“This isn’t my size? But Kean and Mary certainly said it was.”

Of course, Kean would.

“Speaking of which, aren’t you going to hang out with them? You’re losing sunlight.” I point out, jabbing my finger out to the open sky, it’s not much because of the ever-present snow but the sun does have its moments.

Though, I won’t question why any of them thought it’d be a good idea to hop in a swimming pool in Xoxia

Behind me I can hear some of their murmurs, it isn’t sounding good. I wonder if she could change their perception if she left now. Unlikely.

“I will.” She says with ever present chipper, “As soon as you come with.”

Ah there it is.

I smile and pinch her cheek and she quickly slaps my hand away.

“I can’t, I just came by to check on you like I said, I’ve got work to do now.”

“Work?”

A quiet glance at the yellow band on my arm is all the answer she needs.

“Oh, well, is it dangerous?”

Definitely.

“No, simple stuff. Like back with Steve, at least until I get to meet Invincibill.”

She narrows her eyes at me giving me that confessor look. Rather than look away I put on a wide grin and pull her into a hug…which is very distracting.

“Wish me luck.” I whisper.

Not waiting to hear it, I walk away as fast as I can.

“Be safe…as safe as you can!”

***

“Do you have a gun?” Austin’s gruff voice pierces through the sea of troubling thoughts.

“Austin, why the hell would a kid barely legal have a gun?” Rex sounds exasperated, the sun is all the way down now and they both smell like alcohol, it’s anyone’s guess how they spent their time waiting for me.

“This is Xoxia, hell forget Xoxia, have you forgotten what country you’re living in?” Austin sounds more outraged than pissed.

“Still, did you carry a weapon with you and stalk the outside of pizzeria?”

“Of course not, we didn’t have pizzerias when I was his age.”

Rex is about to say something I’m sure would be quite offensive, instead I pull out my pistol and point it at the ground. “Yes, I do.”

The two immediately fall silent, Rex much longer however.

“Told you this is Xoxia.” Austin says, almost managing a tone of smug beneath that deep gravel of a voice.

Rex sighs and looks to me, “Are you ready then?”

I roll my eyes, funny how he doesn’t understand how much of a confusing precedent he sets. He’s shocked that I have a gun because I’m young but is immediately ready to throw me into a Pizzeria where the owners are most definitely metas?

I wonder what his thought process looks like.

I shrug and tuck the gun back behind my trouser. “Let’s get this over with, we have to hit the others today as well if we do things right. If not, well…we might lose our deal with Rey.”

His face goes white at the thought, I suppose he’s got as much, perhaps even more investment in this than I do.

“Right then, let’s go.”

“I’ll be right outside; I’ll need a head start to run back to base and report you both dead.”

In a twisted way, this makes me laugh, “Haha! Thanks for the vote of confidence, Aus.”

“It’s Austin.” He corrects.

I ignore him and walk up the three wooden steps leading up into the Pizzeria founded near a rather isolated exit. It’s a place with many trees, natural trees, although with the ever snow their leaves and bark have long since shrivelled up.

It’s a quiet, subtle scene with few cars, a jungle of snow and trees at your back and only one road leading back into the main city.

A perfect place for people to go ‘missing’.

***

Watching his back recede to the distance as he greets the receptionist on his way out again and step out completely.

He’s so quiet. Not a good thing, not one bit, but I suppose I can understand why he’s so quiet when he’s literally had to live in silence and in hiding and still continues to do so.

Even now he still ducks under cover at the sight of the Suppressors.

I wish he could turn sixteen already.

“Hey, Paige!” Kean, the boy from the pool calls out to me.

That’s right, I have some business with him and his friends.

“Are you coming back in?”

“Actually, Paige, is that guy gone? I don’t even know how he got in.”

“Shush you idiot,” Mary scolds Sarah, the one I’ve found to be truly idiotic, “Don’t you know anything? Their gang basically owns this part of town.”

As I approach all three seem to straighten, they’ve lined themselves up by the side of the pool, Mary has her normal clothes bunched up in her arms and Kean unsurprisingly still has a vice grip on the wine bottles.

“That ‘guy’ has a name.” I scowl.

Sarah looks flushed now, “Oh, I’m sorry, I mean I heard you call him a name but I didn’t think you’d actually know him.” She stares back at me, a level of suspicion clear in her eyes, “Are you…with him?”

“What?” Kean blurts, “She couldn’t be, you couldn’t be right? No way you’d hang around their type. Here, come let’s drink and forget about this.”

He tries handing me one of the wine glasses and I barely resist the urge to slap it straight out of his hand.

The lights go up, illuminating the pool in a bath of fluorescent light. Mary shivers, “I think we should go back up, it’s night and it’s getting cold out. In the first place it’s a pretty bad idea to hang out in a swimming pool while it snows.”

“I AM WITH HIM!” I scream, finally getting a word in between the three fucktards.

Sarah doesn’t look as shocked as she’s trying to be, Kean only looks disappointed, although whether he’s disappointed that the mood is being ruined or that I’m with Vern, I have no way of knowing.

“Uh, that’s fine really, I’ve got to get back up.”

She tries passing by me but I’m not having it, not tonight. Grabbing her forcefully by her arms, I yank her back, not minding the clothes that spill out from her hands.

“Paige!” Sarah yells. “What is wrong with you!”

“Shut it! You think you’re so special because your daddies have some cash? If you live in Xoxia you belong to one of the four of the main gangs!”

I take a step forward, heading over slowly to outraged, idiotic Sarah, “So your daddy,” another step, “or mummy,” another, “or fucking both, I don’t care.” And another until she’s teetering at the very edge of the pool another step and she’ll plunge.

“Your money. Your privilege? It’s all Xoxia made, it’s all fucking made by the gangs! Your daddies are much more of…what was it you called Vern? Oh yeah, scum!”

Launching a wad of spit dead centre on her face she flinches and falls back like the idiot she is into the pool.

“Omg. Omg. Oh my God! Sarah!” Mary scrambles to her knees and leans over the edge, searching for Sarah he comes up flapping about like a fish.”

“She can’t swim! You know that! We told you!”

Glaring down at the two I shake my head and turn away.

“Kean! Would you stop looking at her boobs and help me!” Mary screams.

At this I laugh and turn around so he sees me cupping my boobs so they squish together, “Yeah Kean, stop looking at my fucking boobs and help your friend.”

To his credit he only spends a few seconds gawking at me before turning about to help his near drowning friend whereas I walk back up to the room.

Slamming the door behind me and flopping onto my bed, I let out a tired and exasperated sigh.

Vern doesn’t deserve any of this, none of it. He keeps suffering for my sake, toiling just to make me comfortable and…he never stops to give any of that to himself.

The moment I found myself in his shank of a home all those years ago, he just up and started taking care of me.

Again, I sigh.

When will he stop?

No, I can’t pretend like I’m not at fault either. I’m stringing him along, I’m the one allowing this to go on. I should stop him.

But how? Vern may not be quick to deceit but he’s very…reserved about these things. Leaving me is one of the few things he’d fight me on, even if he knows I’m right.

“Arggh!!” I scream into the rather fluffy pillow made available by the motel.

Getting off the bed with boiling frustrations, I choose not to think about it too much, in time, with me leaving every so often; jumping weeks, months and sometimes years in the future…he’ll leave me behind too and he’ll move on with his life while I find mine in the future.

Yes. I think, that’ll have to be the only way.

Am I running away? No. I’m just accepting the reality of what might come to be, and it’s better, for both our sakes that we live our lives for ourselves, in our time.

“I should talk to him about it when he gets back.” I mutter to myself, grabbing a plastic cup from the stack atop the dispenser.

“Ack-!” Before I can get the water pouring, I’m struck with a head splitting headache. Stumbling to the floor I press my hands against my head, stifling a scream.

A flurry of images flitter behind my eyelids, shots, gunshots. Vern…he’s hurt, someone’s shot him!

So many women, all of them huddled together and crying. Bodies at his feet…did he kill them? Did Vern…take a life?

“No!”

With what feels like an hour of excruciating pain, my eyes fly open and the cup I drop is still rolling.

Fuck…I’ve got a week.