If someone had asked Charley what she was hoping would happen today, hiding at the back of a dark recess to an ally way with a stranger blocking her from view would not have been on the list, but she had long ago given up on things going to plan. Normally that was her brother Garrick’s fault, but today she had no one to blame but herself. Perhaps if she hadn’t spent so much time being fascinated with the color-changing dresses at the booth she would have spotted the danger earlier. She shook her head. This thought process was taking her nowhere. She couldn’t change the past and right now she was in danger. She needed to focus on now.

With the tall man standing in front of her, she couldn’t see anything happening in the ally, but her pursuers apparently weren’t worried about being heard.

“Where’d she go?” She heard one of them call out. Pounding footsteps approached and then both sets stopped when, she assumed, they spotted the recess.

“Good morning, gentlemen.” The tall man standing in front of her said. His voice was deep but light, as if he were telling a joke, not talking to two potential kidnappers. “What can I do for you today?”

While it was strange for him to be so lighthearted, Charley did have to admit that the man didn’t know the other men wanted to kidnap her. Maybe that’s why his voice was so calm and cheerful. He had to suspect something though as she’d barreled into the recess and almost knocked him over only moments before, begging for him to let her hide behind him. It really had been the only option other than pulling out her stolen laser knife and slicing through the men herself. Somehow she didn’t think the Home World police would look too kindly on a Pritani woman murdering two men. It would be her word against two bodies and she knew how that would go for her. Besides, that would get the police looking into her and it wouldn’t take them long to figure out that her Sponsor didn’t really exist.

“Have you seen a foreign woman come through here?” The voice was that of the man who had posed as a security guard and tried to arrest her moments before. She knew he wasn’t really security because he was lacking the proper shoulder identification, but the man had assumed she, as a foreigner, wouldn’t know. He had underestimated her. That was a common mistake.

“Can’t say that I have.” Her rescuer said lightly. “Not many people come wandering down this ally.”

She heard one of the men shift on his feet.

“She stole something from one of the booths. We need to find her before the police do.” The other man’s voice was the one who scared her. It was hungry and she knew what that meant if they did get their hands on her. “The police don’t take kindly to stealing and she probably doesn’t know that, being foreign and all.”

Charley swallowed and fingered the laser knife in her hand. She had stolen the laser knife, but she was pretty sure that the men didn’t know that and were bluffing. She’d been pretty discreet when she took the knife. Unfortunately, she wasn’t confident enough that they were bluffing for her to not plan on them knowing about the knife. If they knew she had a laser knife but still were pursuing her, they might have a damper to stop it from turning on. That would ruin her advantage. Or at least the one they were aware of.  

“Oh? What did she steal? Nothing dangerous I hope.” Her tall savior asked, as if reading Charley’s thoughts about the knife.

“Nothing like that.” The fake security guard said. “It was just a trinket from an art booth. Only worth a few hundred kroisei. But the police won’t care.” Charley felt herself relax. They were bluffing. She still had her advantage.

"Well, if you let me know what booth it was from, if I see her, I can get it back for you.”

“Why don’t you just give me a call if you see her?” The security guard asked.

The tall man shrugged.

“Sorry. Someone must have stolen my com earlier. Maybe it’s the same foreign girl. There’s lots of foreigners here for the wedding.”

“Oh, you’d know. This one is different. She has flaming red hair and speaks real funny. I’ve never heard her accent before.”

The tall man nodded. “I suppose I would remember a girl like that. Must have been a different thief then. Anyway, without my com, the best I can do is bring the trinket back to the booth and have a stern talking with the girl if you don’t want to involve the police.”

She could hear the two men at the end of the recess muttering to each other. The man with the hungry voice finally spoke, though his voice was full of disappointment instead of hunger now.

No, don’t worry about it. We’ll look for her somewhere else. Come on Hugo.” One set of footsteps started again, heading back out of the ally and then the other started to follow. 

“Fucking women.” The fake security guard, or Hugo, muttered as he followed the other man. 

It all happened so fast that Charley didn’t have a hope of responding differently than she did. One second the man hit the wall, the next a shower of dust fell from the eave above her head and right on her face. This caused her to sneeze loudly. She immediately clamped her hand over her mouth, stifling the other sneeze, but it was too late. 

The footsteps stopped. The man in front of her sighed. 

“Unless you sneeze like a girl, the red-headed bitch is behind you.” Hugo said with a laugh. “Come back Jason. This asshole is hiding her.”

It was too late to hide, so Charley poked her head around the man to see what was happening. The two men were now standing about a meter away at the entrance to the recess grinning wickedly. 

“Now, look here, gentlemen.” The tall man said, his voice still calm, though a little less chipper. “You said it’s only worth a few hundred kroisei. How about I pay you the price and we call it even.”

“This fucking idiot.” Jason said with a laugh. Hugo laughed along with him. Charley felt her stomach roll. This was going to end in a fight and she and her rescuer were backed into a corner. This couldn’t get worse. She fingered the laser knife’s on button but didn’t press it. Worst case, she’d use it. Better to be running from the police than dead, even on the Home World. 

“I think we’re past that point, my friend.” Jason said with a toss of his head. “Don’t you agree Hugo?” The other man laughed and said something she couldn’t hear. Jason continued. “It’s the principle of things. If you’d just told us about her at the beginning, we could have let you go nice and easy.”

Hugo was a large man, and not just in height. His muscles were visible through his shirt and he walked with the air of someone who knew how to fight. That was one of the reasons when he had confronted Charley, she’d run. But he was dwarfed by the man standing in front of her. She had no idea if he could fight, but Hugo had to have a lot of confidence in himself to just willy-nilly challenge the man who’d hid her. 

Her rescuer tilted his head back and she heard him sigh again. “So you’re not going to let me go.” There was no question.

This man didn’t seem to want to fight, which worried Charley. Maybe he couldn’t fight. Maybe he was just a very tall dead weight standing between her and two men who wanted to kidnap her, and likely worse. Her head started running through every possible way for her to get out of this alive. She was good at making plans, especially when things started to go wrong. With Garrick, things usually went wrong. 

Jason laughed again. 

“I think you two should just walk away.” The words came from the man in front of her and Charley looked at him, surprised. For a man who didn’t want to fight, he didn’t seem worried either. They were at a disadvantage, but perhaps if he had skills to back up his confidence, they would be able to pull this off. 

“Why?” Hugo asked. “You just admitted you don’t have a a com. There’s two of us and you’re stuck in a corner. You’re standing between us and what we want.”

“Ack.” Jason spat on the ground. “Stop blabbing, Hugo, and get him.” Hugo shrugged. With movements that were quicker than his size suggested he could make, Hugo lunged forward. Her rescuer responded so fast that Charley barely processed what was happening until it was over. 

The tall man ducked and caught Hugo around the waist, using his momentum to swing him headfirst into the brick wall. He then launched himself at Jason, who didn’t even get a chance to run before the man had him in a stranglehold. 

Charley’s mouth dropped. She quickly shut it and went to check on Hugo as the man choked Jason. She barely reached Hugo before she heard the thud of Jason’s head hitting the ground with a sickening crack.  

Hugo didn’t move. His eyes were closed and if it weren’t for the fact that his chest was rising and falling with breath, she would have assumed he were dead. Again, as if he could tell what she was thinking, the man spoke.

“He’s alive. Good.”

“Are you sure that’s a good thing?” Charley asked with a weak voice. It wasn’t the blood or the fight that made her feel weak. It was him. Her rescuer. He was a force to be reckoned with and if he had ill intentions for her, she was in deep shit. She was a good fighter, but she knew there was no hope of taking this man on. Yet even as she thought it, she felt a wave of calm come over her. For some reason she couldn’t explain, she knew this man was safe. She took a deep breath trying to bring her brain and her emotions on the same page.

“Somehow I don’t think me killing two men is the kind of mess my mother wants to deal with.” The man muttered.

Charley squinted her eyes. Who was this guy? He wasn’t worried about the police or the ramifications of murder, just what his mother thought. That baffled her. He must be rich. Only rich people didn’t worry about what the police like that. Plus he had to have elite military training to do what he just did. That part in particular wasn’t good for her. Not after he’d heard her voice. She swallowed hard.

The man checked over both of the men to make sure they were breathing again and then turned to her. What he saw must have amused him as he chuckled. 

“I think we need to get out of here, don’t you?”

She just stared at him, not daring to speak. Maybe he hadn’t recognized her accent. Or maybe he didn’t know anything about Pritani. If he did, he would know that she shouldn’t be wandering around the Home World by herself. Pritani citizens had to have a sponsor not just bring them to the Home World, but also they couldn’t be left alone on the planet outside of whatever residence they were registered at. The fact she was wandering around alone was sure to raise a red flag if he recongized her accent. She couldn’t afford any scrutiny.

“Come on.” He said, gesturing his head towards the ally. “I know a back way out, so we can get you out of here without causing a scene. If we’re lucky, no one will even know you were here. But you have to promise to do whatever I tell you.” 

She weakly stood up. At this point, there wasn’t a whole lot of choice. It was risk her fate with this man or risk her fate with the police. He, at least, seemed to not care that she was by herself. If the police started digging into her backstory, however, she’d be in deep shit. Her paperwork was all fake. She had no sponsor, no legitimate reason for being in the Home World. Everything would quickly fall apart and the months of preperation she’d made for this mission would be worth nothing. To make matters worse, the Resistance would likely kick her out and she’d be a normal Pritani woman with nothing. After how hard she’d fought to be recognized as a legitimate member of the Resistance, that was a risk she wasn’t willing to make. 

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

The man didn’t seem to notice that she was debating the situation. He simply grabbed her hand, pulling her past the men and to the back of the ally. She complied as she mulled over how to get out of this situation. In the very back corner of the ally was a keypad on the wall and the man punched in a code. A doorframe illuminated on the dimly lit wall and Charley shook her head. Without knowing it was there already, there was no way anyone could have found the door. Her rescuer pushed on the door and it slid open. Still holding her hand, he pulled her through the door and down a hallway.

Charley wasn’t stupid. She knew that following a strange man without even protesting wasn’t her wisest decision of the day and she’d already made a couple large blunders. This man could be leading her anywhere and to top it off, he had the skills to take her down. Yet, for some reason she didn’t know, she trusted him. He had from the moment she’d seen him standing in that recess. Her gut was never wrong. Or at least that’s what she was telling herself. Besides, it was follow him or go back into the ally with the bodies. That would surely be worse than whatever he had in store for her. If her gut was right that was. She could always look for a way to escape later.

Regardless, they had already made enough turns in the building that Charley wasn’t sure she could find her way out again. And even if she did, she’d already decided going back to the bodies of Hugo and Jason wasn’t a good idea. No, she needed the man now, which was inconvenient at best. 

The building was a maze but the man seemed to know exactly where they were. There was no hesitation as he chose which direction to turn at the junctures and which doorways they went through. He said nothing, so she assumed they were supposed to be quiet and she said nothing in return. After a few minutes, they approached a door with a large window near the top. The man stopped them just before and peered out. 

“Scheisse.” The man said under his breath. Charley frowned. That was a new language she hadn’t heard before. It was clearly a curse word, but beyond that, she had no idea what it meant. She didn’t get a chance to ask as the man turned them both back around and pushed her into a closet they had just passed. 

“Stay in the back.” He whispered, following her in and shutting the door almost all the way, leaving it open just a crack. 

The man had her positioned behind him, just as in the recess, though she was much closer to him this time. If she leaned slightly to the left, she could see out the crack the man had left open. 

Out in the hallway, she heard a door opening, followed by two sets of footsteps entering the hallway, one set heavy with the slight squeak of leather soles and the other lighter with the click of heels. Most likely a man and a woman, with the man wearing expensive shoes. 

“You’re sure Sofia doesn’t know where he is?” A deep male voice asked. The footsteps stopped. From her viewpoint, she couldn’t see anyone, but they sounded close. 

“If she does, shes’ not talking.” A squeaky woman’s voice responded. “I don’t see why she would hide that information.”

The man scoffed. “Yeah, but Sofia’s such an idiot that even if she knew where Cedric was, she might not realize that’s what she’s being asked.”

Charley felt her rescuer stiffen in front of her. 

The man’s voice continued. “What the hell is he thinking taking off like this? Today of all days! Mother is going to kill him. If I could, I’d strangle him myself. This is ridiculous.”

“He can’t have gone far,” said the squeaky female. “No one has gone out the front door and there have been no sightings of him at the market. He’s too recognizable to get away with wandering the city.”

“And the damn fool left his com. If something happens to him, he’ll have no way to get help.” There was a deep sigh. “Mother will blame me if something happens to him.”

Charley narrowed her eyes. This was the same concern for a mother’s opinion that the man in the ally had expressed. Were they brothers? And if so, who was this formidable mother? She was assuming the man in front of her was the Cedric being spoken of. Everything fit. She glanced at the man in front of her, wondering again, what led a rich boy with a formidable mother to hide in an allyway and then protect her. 

There was a beeping sound followed by a moment of silence. Then the woman spoke again. “It would appear the back door was activated about 10 minutes ago. Should we go check it out?”

The man in the hall let out another heavy sigh. “I’m playing babysitter to a grown man.”

The footsteps started again. Through the crack in the door, Charley saw a lavishly dressed man and a more modestly dressed woman walk past. They quickly disappeared from view and the footsteps moved down the hall. Just as she was starting to relax, the heavy footsteps of the man stopped. 

“Hold on.” The footsteps resumed, but heading back towards the closet. Charley shrank back into the corner. At the same time, the man in front of her pulled a small device out of his pocket and aimed it at the door. It looked similar to the weapons the soldiers on Pritani used, but that didn’t make sense. If the man had a weapon, why didn’t he threaten Jason and Hugo with it instead of fighting them?

As the footsteps got closer, the man and Charley both tensed and held their breaths. Instead of opening the door, however, the man shut it.

“Careless janitors, leaving doors open.” The deep voice was muffled through the now shut door. The man in front of her lowered the device and she felt him relax. They stood there for a few minutes as they listened to the footsteps recede down the hall. Charley was starting to get uncomfortable pressed into the back of the closet. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to get closer to the man. No, that was the problem. She wanted to get closer to the man, and that seemed more dangerous than fighting Hugo alone. Instead she counted her breaths to try and keep herself distracted from the discomfort. 

This gave her plenty of time to assess her situation. This morning, she’d gotten up with one plan: learn about the weaknesses of the Home World security in the main marketplace so that next year, the Resistance could launch an attack. Instead she’d got sucked into the pre-wedding festivities in the marketplace and then had been surprised by Hugo and Jason threatening her. Going back to the marketplace seemed like a bad idea today, so she’d have to go back tomorrow. But that left her with a less than satisfactory report she’d have to make to her handler, Thomas, tonight.

Charley glanced at the man in front of her. He seemed important and had elite military training. She had a feeling that he would be able to provide her with information that would help the Resistance, but she had no idea how to get that information from him. But if she was to make today not a complete waste of time, she had to figure that out and get some information from him. 

A flicker of guilt wiggled through her thoughts. This man had likely saved her life and she was trying to figure out how to use him. Was that who she really wanted to be? She shook her head slightly in the dark of the closet. It didn’t matter. Saving Pritani was all that mattered and she would use anyone she had to to influence the outcome. 

After an eternity and a half, the man cracked the door open and peered into the hall. He let out a long breath and opened it the rest of the way before stepping out. 

stood in front of her, his posture was hunched slightly and his head hung. He looked almost sheepish, which was a strange sight on such a tall man. Charley couldn’t help but think that perhaps he was more manipulatable than she’d feared. 

“Sorry about that.” He said, offering her his hand to pull her out of the closet. She wasn’t sure why she did it, but she took it. She was perfectly capable of getting out of the closet on her own, but taking his hand seemed like the most natural thing to do in the moment, even though on Pritani, it was something she’d never do. She tried to pretend that she took it to blend in. Maybe it would help her not be noticed as Pritani. Yet she knew better. Deep down she knew she took his hand because she wanted to feel his touch again, if even for a moment.

At this angle, she could finally get a good look at him. In the ally it had been dark. Through the hallways, she’d just seen the back of his head. Here, however, she could finally see his face and her breath caught when she looked at it. Cedric, if that’s who this man was, was breathtakingly handsome. His skin was darker than she’d expected, even with his locks of curly black hair framing his face and resting so gently on his forehead. He had a neatly trimmed beard that highlighted his perfectly defined facial features. And his eyes! They were the lightest gray she’d ever seen, which contrasted with his dark skin in such a way that it looked like he was peering into her soul. 

Rather than addressing any of the feelings coursing through her body, she glanced down at his other hand, the one holding the device. 

“That device. It’s a weapon.”

It wasn’t a question and Cedric shifted uncomfortably, but Charley noticed he avoided letting go of her hand. A thrill ran through her body. Shit. Having feelings for the man would definitely complicate her ability to use him. 

“Ah, yes. It’s a laser gun.” 

“Why didn’t you at least threaten the men in the ally with it?”

“Um…” Cedric licked his lips. “Well, it’s not exactly legal to own a laser gun on the Home World and I didn’t want to cause any problems.”

Charley burst into laughter. 

“So you aren’t comfortable with even threatening the two men determined to pummel you, but pulling the laser gun on that pompous rich bloke is an acceptable solution?”

Cedric grinned widely. “You have no idea how refreshing it is to hear someone call him that.”

Charley opened her mouth to pry further but then closed it, unsure of which direction of interrogation to go. Cedric, on the other hand, didn’t hesitate, he leaned towards her so his face was only about 20 centimeters from her own. Her breath caught in her throat and she felt herself swallowing again. There was a sense of tension between them that she’d never felt before. She stood, frozen, as he looked her over carefully. She wondered what he thought of her outdated dress and Pritani red hair. Or if he could read any of her ulterior motives in her face. Surprising her, the man leaned back and laughed. 

“You have no idea who he is, do you?”

Unable to speak, Charley shook her head and focused on trying to return her breath to normal. The man’s grin got even wider.

“That means you have no idea who I am either, right?”

Charley shook her head. “You’re the Cedric guy they were talking about, but beyond that, no. I have no idea who you are.”

Cedric laughed again. She liked his laugh. It made her heart skip a beat. Which in turn was worrying because she was falling head over heels for this man she barely knew who clearly was someone she was supposed to know. She really should have done more homework before going on this mission. 

“I think I saved the right girl today.”

This snapped Charley out of her thoughts and she rolled her eyes. “Were you expecting to save a different one?”

“I try to only save one girl a day, so you’re just the lucky winner I guess.”

“I suppose I’m lucky I found you in the morning then, before you had met your quota.”

The man laughed and Charley couldn’t help but laugh back. His smile, his laughter, it was contagious. 

The man tucked the laser gun into his pocket and then pulled Charley down the hall. 

“Come on. Let’s get out of here before they come back.”

“Can I ask you questions while we walk?”

“Sure. But I might not answer.”

That was a whole ass mood that Charley knew well, so she merely shrugged and followed him. 

“You’re the Cedric they were talking about, so who is the rich guy?”

“That’s Gustav.”

“Such a forthright answer. Incredibly insightful.” Charley found herself rolling her eyes again. “Who is Gustav?”

“All I’m going to say is he’s my brother and as you probably gathered, I’m avoiding him at the moment.” He chuckled, but there was a twinge of sadness to it. “I probably look ridiculous to you right now. I shoved you into a closet to avoid my brother and then was ready to threaten his life when I was afraid we were caught. Definitely normal things for a grown man to do.”

Charley shrugged. “The fact you saved my life kind of makes up for the closet bit.” Cedric snorted in response. 

“Why are you avoiding him?” She asked. 

“Uh…” Cedric slowed his pace down. “Can we put a pin in that?” 

“Sure. Why are we slowing down?”

“So that’s the thing. That right there is the front door. The moment I open it, my brother will get notified that I opened it and we’ll have to run. You have two choices. You can let go of my hand and run in whatever direction you choose and go about your life as if this never happened, or you can run with me to a hovercar parked down the street.”

Charley felt her heart skip a beat again.

“What happens if I go with you?” The words came out of her mouth before she even realized she wanted to say them. She hoped he couldn’t read the emotions behind them. 

Cedric’s smile was softer than his big grin of earlier, but his eyes twinkled with excitement. 

“Then we go on an adventure.”

A battle was raging inside of Charley. She could hear Garrick’s voice telling her to focus on her mission, a mission she’d been bumbling all day, but her gut said to go with Cedric. At least she thought it was her gut. She didn’t like these other feelings she was having for Cedric that were confusing her. But her gut was never wrong, right? 

If she was right, if her gut was telling the truth, she’d get more out of going with this stranger than if she headed back to the town house she was registered to stay in, and more than if she attempted to join the pre-wedding festivities. But if she was wrong, she would have wasted an entire day on the Home World and have to deal with Thomas (and Garrick’s) wrath for not working on the mission. She had to decide whether to trust her gut or to stick to the plan as close as possible. This was not an easy decision. She glanced at Cedric who was eying her hopefully. One look at his face was all it took for her to decide. 

“I like adventures.”

His face lit up with a grin. He didn’t say a word, but it was clear this was the answer he had been hoping to hear. He was glad she was coming. She felt a twinge in her heart. No one had ever been excited about her tagging along before. Normally Garrick was trying to get rid of her and everyone else just thought she was weird. In the Resistance, she was seen as a necessary evil at best. She’d only been chosen for this mission because she had false papers. But Cedric had known her for less than an hour and already he wanted her around. 

“Then let’s go.” He said happily. Without waiting another second, he pulled her out the front door and down the street towards the hovercar. Today wasn’t going as planned at all, but somehow, Charley was okay with that.