Levi sure did his best. Honestly! He tried to stay calm, really, he did. His hands worked nervously, as if he could crush the anxiety out of his own flesh with enough work. His heart pounded so hard in his chest that it sounded like a great war drum, working away inside his head.

Like a train, chugging its way down the tracks.

He managed to step himself between Derrick and Rosa on pure instinct, something in his mouth digging sharply into his gums. His brain wanted desperately to fixate on that pain, that irritation, to drive him out of the moment. He wanted to hide in that distraction, to let it shelter him away from the man standing in his doorway.

“... Levi?” Rosa’s voice came softly from behind him. A hand went to Levi’s shoulder and he tensed up at the touch.

“Levi who is that man?” she asked quietly, gently, as if afraid he would break. “Why is he here?”

She sounded calmer than he was right now. That was good. Maybe he could make this go away, explain this in some way that Rosa wouldn’t look any closer at. Something inside him was telling him that wasn’t very likely, but hey, a man has to have hope.

“He’s a business associate,” Levi said quietly. “I don’t know why he’s here in the middle of the damned night though.”

Levi knew why Derrick was here. There was only one reason why Derrick would show up at his apartment like this, and it wasn’t something he wanted Rosa to have anything to do with. His knuckles tightened a little more.

“He... works at Bullseye?” Rosa asked, evidently not convinced.

“He’s a bit on the corporate side...”

Arthur stood on Levi’s other side, opposite Rosa.

“You can do this Levi. Stay in control. Stay focused. Rosa is here, remember? If you lose it, she’ll get hurt too. And, worse, she’ll see.”

Levi nodded.

“Stay calm,” he whispered to himself. “Stay in control. Stay focused. Stay calm, stay in control, stay focused. Stay calm, stay in control, stay focused.”

It was a tiny prayer, a mantra, a voice to rattle around inside his skull. It was all the instructions he needed right now.

Rosa’s voice came from behind him again. “Levi...?”

“You need to leave,” he hissed across the room from between clenched teeth.

Derrick took a step back, but didn’t step out the door. “I can’t leave Levi, you know why. I need to bring you in for questioning now, that’s the way it has to be.”

“We have an arrangement,” Levi spat in reply. A muscle on his face twitched, threatening to break into a sort of snarl.

“That arrangement was dependent on circumstances as they stood. But you kept something secret from me and that changes circumstances pretty drastically Levi.”

“I-”

“My job is to keep you safe. As per the terms of our ‘arrangement,’ I keep you safe, you keep working. Well, my end of that deal is made damn-near impossible by whatever it is you’ve got going on that you won’t tell me,” Derrick’s eyes were unflinching, body unmoving. He was blocking the doorway, their only way out.

Levi was silent for a few moments, studying him.

“... You’re here because Rosa is,” he said wearily. “You knew I couldn’t risk fighting you when she was here, knew it would keep me from resisting. You waited until I had her here, in my apartment... so you could take us both. You want Rosa too now.”

That registered in Derrick’s face. He scowled.

“I just needed-”

“You needed leverage,” he growled. “You’re using her as leverage to keep me docile.”

“Is this man dangerous?” Rosa hissed into his ear, shifting slightly.

Derrick rolled his eyes. “Yes, I needed her as leverage, Levi, because you’re a dangerously unstable monster and I don’t know what you’re capable of. Sue me. Don’t take that high and mighty tone with me. Where’s Arthur, Levi?” Levi’s blood froze in his veins at the question, head spinning.

“Where the hell is Arthur, Levi?!”

A blur on Levi’s right side, from the bathroom. It flew through the air so quickly Levi barely registered it. And then it slammed into Derrick’s face.

Derrick let out a startled yelp, wrestling with the blur of angry hissing and tiny knives. At last, Schrödinger had made his appearance. That grey-brown furball that had concealed itself from Levi for weeks now had shown up just in time to make an opening for him, Levi spun, snatched Rosa up with comical ease, and dashed towards the door. He delivered a sharp sideways kick to the flailing man’s knee and sprinted past, out into the night, out to where the moon could see them.

“Levi!” Rosa squeaked.

He leapt off the balcony, falling two stories and landing with a sharp “oof” on his feet at the bottom. On his feet. Still running.

“Wh-what the fuck?!” Rosa managed, wriggling a touch on his shoulder. “Levi!”

“I’m sorry Rosa!” he shouted as he made his way to the car. “Get in, please, I can... I can explain later but I need you to please, please trust me!”

Rosa didn’t hesitate. The moment she was on her feet she smacked him as hard as she could across the face and then dashed into the passenger seat. Levi blinked at the empty air where she had been but managed to gather himself up enough to climb inside and start the engine.

He forced the poor engine to life and slammed it into reverse just in time to watch Derrick perform his own leap off the balcony, complete with a roll at the bottom.

“I’m sorry I slapped you, I just had so much pent-up tension I had to do something with it!” Rosa managed to ramble through as the car slammed back into drive and careened out onto the road.

“I’m happy you aimed so high!” Levi panted, eyes wide at the road ahead.

“Mind telling me what’s happening?!”

“Uuuuh, long story!”

Arthur leaned forward from the back of the vehicle. “Go pick up my car, it’s faster.”

“No, I will not pick up your car!” Levi hissed back at him.

“Huh? I didn’t say anything about my car!” Rosa shouted over the sound of the straining engine. Levi swerved around two other vehicles. He was going at twice the speed limit already.

“Rosa, put your damned seatbelt on!”

She grumbled and did so as Levi proceeded on his mad way.

“Levi what is HAPPENING?!”

Levi clenched his teeth and made a tire-screeching turn out onto the freeway, northbound, the car rattling under him.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

“I’m in... a bit of trouble!” he replied.

“Law? Or, like, private sector trouble?”

“He’s not a loan shark if that’s what you mean,” Levi replied.

“So...?

“It’s kinda both?”

“That’s worse than useless!”

“Let’s get milkshakes,” chimed Arthur from the backseat.

“Ugh!” barked Levi.

They took an offramp and Levi hit the brakes, bringing them down to a more reasonable speed as he wove them through side streets.

“Where are we even going?” she asked, looking out the window.

“Hotel, so I can collect myself a bit,” he muttered. “Need somewhere to sit and think, I’m not good at working on the fly like this.”

“Did you... hurt someone, Levi?”

Levi was quiet for a few moments. He looked over and gave her a pained look, tears building up in the corners of his eyes. “Maybe?” he croaked out.

“Levi...”

They pulled into the parking lot of one of the seedier motels in town which, considering it was Redding, was saying something. A sign from the 70s happily advertised their clean accommodations, low prices, and vacancies in flickering, off-white lights. Levi had a feeling that they were more likely to find sepsis than a clean room. But they wouldn’t stay long, just a few hours, just enough time to collect his thoughts.

Levi stepped out of the vehicle and Rosa did the same, though she didn’t take her eyes off of Levi. The man couldn’t meet her eyes as they went into the office. He couldn’t tell if it was shame, fear, some combination of both...

The woman behind the counter in the office wore wire-frame glasses, rectangular in shape. They caught the stale fluorescent light of the office oddly, glinting as she looked up at them. Her curled hair was blond at one point, but it had faded in color and now sat somewhere between grey and platinum. Levi’s nose grabbed the smell of cigarettes from her, but it was feint. He decided that she wasn’t a smoker anymore, she’d quit a few weeks ago, but her clothing still carried that lingering touch no matter how many times she washed them.

She had a look in her eye that spoke of hardness and honesty. Someone who would conceal you if questioned by the law, but would ask you about it after. Someone who hid women from abusive boyfriends, fed stray cats, and whacked her grandson on the back of the head when he caused trouble with the boys at the end of the street.

Her eyes met Levi’s evenly for a few moments. They danced to Rosa, studied her in turn, then back to Levi again. No doubt she was making similar assessments of them. Two young people showing up late at night in a mess of a state... But Rosa wasn’t a whore, and Levi wasn’t a drug peddler. They didn’t have that look, that way of carrying themselves. For one, Levi lacked the confident posture, the strut of someone who knew what they were doing, or at least thought they did. And for another, Rosa appeared far too innocent. She had flushed cheeks that spoke of angelic purity.

“What can I do for you two?” she asked. Her voice drifted through the space above the low hum of the fluorescent lights and the ancient desk fan on her left.

“We need a room. Just a night, we’re just stopping by for some rest,” Levi muttered. His voice was steady. It was funny, he was so used to panicking, but he felt an odd kind of calm right now. There was something cathartic about the evening. He decided it was because, after weeks of this... charade, it was done. He didn’t have to hide anymore, didn’t have to blend into his normal life. He was free to deal with the consequences of his actions, whatever they may be.

“Last minute like this, nights are a bit more expensive than usual. But I can get you in one on the second floor for $95 a night,” she nodded, plucking a floral pen from a little coffee mug on her desk. The side of the mug said “My best friends have whiskers.”

“It’s just the two of you?”

Levi nodded. “Just us. Probably won’t be in the whole night, we’re in a hurry. Just need to rest a little.”

She eyed them suspiciously.

Renting a hotel room for a couple hours at a time usually meant you were just renting it for sex. She twisted her lips, then shrugged. None of her business as long as they weren’t paying one another for the thing in her motel.

Levi paid for the room and took Rosa upstairs, his heart finally slowing to a more reasonable rate in his chest. They would be safe here, at least for a few hours.

“Quite the vacation destination,” Arthur mused, taking twirling nimble steps across the concrete balcony. “He only wants to help.”

Levi sighed, squeezing Rosa’s hand.

“I’m not ready to answer his questions,” he said aloud to both of them at once. “I know he doesn’t want to hurt me but I can’t face him yet. I just... can’t.”

“Levi, I trust you, you know that,” Rosa said warily. “But I can’t... I need to know what’s happening.”

Levi unlocked the door to their hotel room. It was just about what he had been expecting. A dingy dusty space with an old tube television and two beds that Levi wouldn’t dare sit on let alone sleep in. The walls were the ugliest shade of maroon Levi could possibly imagine, like someone had scraped the paint off the bottom of a table like so much gum. They sat in the armchairs instead, which were hopefully a little cleaner.

“I’m sorry Rosa. I know this has been... confusing and concerning in equal measures,” he began in way of explanation. “I’ve been having... I guess you could call it a mental health issue for a few months now. And that man, Derrick, is the closest thing to a case manager I have. Some nights I work for him, helping him with... investigative work. And in exchange he keeps an eye on me, makes sure no one will hurt me.”

He paused for a few moments before he managed the words.

“Makes sure I don’t hurt other people.”

Rosa examined him critically. Her eyes were bloodshot. The night was wearing on, and all of this excitement was a touch too much for her to handle. She sighed, working her knuckles.

“Levi, nothing you’re saying makes sense worth a damn... Levi, am I safe?”

“About as safe as you can be. I won’t let you get hurt, and I don’t think Derrick would hurt you.”

“Are you safe?”

Levi scowled for a few moments. From Derrick? Probably. From them though? Hard to tell.

“I think so.”

“That was a lot of thinking you were doing,” Rosa huffed. “A concerningly long pause.”

“I’ve got a lot on my mind, sue me...”

There was a small pause in conversation as they both gathered their thoughts.

“You hurt someone?”

Levi didn’t reply, just looked down at the floor.

“Why?”

“I was... having an episode of sorts...” he muttered. “I didn’t mean to...”

“... You jumped down from your apartment balcony with me on your shoulder.”

Levi scowled down at his feet.

“I did.”

“Care to explain?”

“No.”

More silence. It sat heavy in the air, a fog, a barrier separating them. A tear fell to the carpet, soaking into that grimy 70’s shag. Levi was shaking softly now, knuckles white.

“I’m sorry Rosa. I never wanted you to be a part of this. I tried to keep everything separate, but everything kept blurring together and now I don’t know where I end and it begins!”

“What do we do now, Levi?” Rosa asked, putting a hand on Levi’s shoulder.

He looked up at her with puffy red eyes and shook his head.

“I don’t know. I can’t run, either he’ll catch me or they will and after that-”

“No Levi, what do we do? Not what do you do,” she said firmly. “If we can’t run, can we fight?”

Levi chuckled ruefully at that. He rubbed at his shoulder, where a bullet wound had already faded to nothing. Not even a scar. “I can fight a lot of things, Rosa, but I can’t fight either of the ones after me.”

She thought about this, rubbing her elbows with her hands. Eventually she stood, pacing the room. Levi thought it was exhausting just to watch, truth be told. Especially after all of that. But Rosa was best in motion, even when she was thoroughly depleted. She had assured him in the past that her mind worked better when she was on the move.

“... Why don’t you just leave?” Levi asked her suddenly. He wasn’t sure why the urge had struck him but he had suddenly needed to ask that question, needed to hear how she would answer.

She looked at him like he was an idiot.

“Well, for starters, I can’t. From what I gather, if I ran off I’d just get dragged back to be used as ‘leverage’ against you... And for another,” she paused and shook her head. “Gah, I should smack you again! Of course I’m not going to just leave you. What kind of heartless monster would I have to be to see you in an awful situation and just bail on you.”

She sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose with her thumb and index finger. Levi couldn’t help but think she was kinda cute when she was pissed, which was a really dumb thing to be thinking right now, but he couldn’t help himself. There was something about the way her nose crinkled up...

“I care about you Levi. I want to help. But you need to practice some communication and tell me, in concrete terms, what the hell is happening. Stop being vague, stop being-”

The room’s single window shattered inwards with a crack and a metallic ping. Their heads snapped to the side and they were both left staring down at the tiny metal cannister that now sat on the floor of the motel room.

Levi and Rosa looked to one another, their eyes meeting for just a moment before they scrambled towards the door. With a pop, smoke began pouring out of the can, filling the room quickly with a noxious blinding cloud that filled Levi’s eyes with tears and his chest with burning pain.

There was a clatter as feet dragged across the broken glass shards littering the carpet. Levi stumbled towards the noise, hoping to shield Rosa with his body. Instead, a heavy hand darted forth from the smoke and grabbed him around the neck. Levi immediately tried to tear himself free, but Derrick’s other hand was already jabbing the needle into his neck. He let out a frothing gasp as the world turned into a murky haze.

And then he fell backwards.