He sighed, of course she had to kick him out of his king-size bed. Which was a pain in the butt to get, but she was a woman and his mamma, he taught him to be nice to one. At least he thought she did, and he was never nice to those other women. But there would be a first time for everything, especially after he saw her fight against a Paracidic Dazzler. Like she has done it before, which could be because he had drilled it into her, a few minutes before the attack. But he knew that was not the case, he had only showed her how to trust and to block. But the piece of fighting she had showed was a piece of art, and by only thinking about it made his blood boil, but not in the right place. He sighed again and turned, maybe it was time he remodeled this piece of rotten wood. At an indoor bathroom, an actual kitchen and most important of all, an extra bedroom. Because he would gladly spend a live then to sleep another night on the too small couch. Which stood outside, so if it rained there was no place to hide. But he would not care about it now, he could dream about the changes he could make on the shack. To make it more livable, something he never thought he would be doing. Because he did not need all that fancy, that the people inside the city had. But now there was a woman, for some reason unknown to him. He wanted to take care of her. Was this maybe the gentleman in him, he started to laugh. Who was he kidding, he was no gentleman. He was a low-life, scum of the street, a thief, he frowned. That was strange, he did not know anymore what it was that put him in this shithole.

********

He did not know how, but he had fallen a sleep. The early morning sun now stung his eyes and he started to yawn. It was time to stretch and get an early warm-up before he would go to the platform. But then he remembered the reason why he had slept outside. There was currently a woman laying in his bed. He growled as he remembered that, but there was nothing he could do about it now. Beside's the fact that he needed to wake her up. Which he did, he walked into the shack straight to the bedroom. The door was closed, but it hung inside its hinges. Another thing that could be added to the list of thing he needed to fix, but he was not here to make that list. He was here to wake her up. He opened the door, and was not at all surprise to see her sitting upright, with a knife in her hand.

"Good, you listen to me when I said that you need to be aware of your surroundings." He said, she dropped the hand with the knife.

"That is one way of putting it. I didn't sleep a wink." She said, when stiffening a yawn. Did he need to feel sorry for her? He wanted to shake his head, it was just something she needed to get used too. Like the fact that she needed to carry weapons everywhere she went, or the fact that nothing inside this hellhole came for free.

"Get up, it is time for the warming up." He said, and she nodded. Getting up without any complaint. Something he had noticed, the day before. She is not a woman that complains about anything. Something he can live with, if it would stay that way.

"Alright I am up, and ready. Is there coffee?" She asked, and he shook his head. Coffee was a luxury, breakfast in general is a luxury. Something he thought he didn't need it.

"There is jerky." He said, and she nodded. Another thing she needed to get use too. They stepped out of the shack and started to stretch. "We will leave when the sun gets above the trees. Which gives use enough time to get to the platform. Yesterday was an exception to the rule, there were no predators at all. Not on the way to the platform, or on our way back. But not that this will not always be the case. You have a weapon now, but still stay close to me." He said, she gave him a simple nod. He hoped that she would listen to him, otherwise it will cost her a life. It was something that was about to happen at one point, but he knew that the first time was always the hardest. And he hoped to prolong it for her as long as possible. Still he could not and would not make any promises to her. "Alright, grab a piece of jerky, and then it is time to leave." Again she did as he told her without any complained. Maybe he should a coffee maker to the list. As a reward, but then he also needed to add coffee beans to it. Maybe he should plant a coffee tree inside his garden, but how long will it take for that to grow. He shook his head, why did he care so much about making that woman happy. She decided to tack along with him out of her own free will. She could take what he had to offer right now, but he would not go out of his way. Or would he, he was not sure about it. Yesterday around this time he would have said no, but now.

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"Alright I am ready." She said and he nodded.

"And no moment too soon, let's go." He replied and they left.

*******

"Shit." He cursed, he should have known that the road to the platform would be crawling with predators today. After the peace and quiet they had yesterday. But this many was a bit of an overkill, bears, tigers, even some Paracidic Dazzler's. The most crazy thing off all was that they didn't attack each other, they only attacked the humans inside this prison. But one thing was clear, they needed to fight to get through this forest. He wished that he had left her inside the shack, this was too dangerous for the both of them. But then again, if they were killed they would regenerate at their destination. But then after that the whole hell would start all over again. He could not think like this, before they even started the fight. He was grabbing his machete, but he needed to duck away. A tiger jumped towards him, he almost could feel the claws sunk in his back. Almost, but then he heard a loud bump. He looked up and saw that the tiger was death in front of him. A glaive stuck out of its body, she had thrown her weapon to defend him. What the hell was she thinking, now she was not able to defend herself. Was really that stupid, or didn't she saw the other predators. What ever it was, he needed to get up and started to fight himself. He jumped up, and swung towards the first predators he saw. Which was of course a bear, of course it was a bear. And not a cute black bear, but a big ass grizzly bear. The animal stood on his hind legs, which made him only bigger. Still he didn't back down, he couldn't back down. Hell it was not only his life in the balance, and she had misplaced her weapon. He ran towards the monster without thinking, or maybe all his thoughts were just set one thing, kill.

"So that some piece of work."

"Fuck." He silently cursed, he knew that voice. He really wished that he didn't know it, but he did. "What do you want, Lu." He asked.

"I do not want shit. At least from you, from the skirt, however." Lu said and this pulled the attention of Tamora.

"What do you want with me?" She asked, just right before he did. Lu was from one of the cities led by a Dona, a female gang leader.

"I have a better question for you. What those Marissa want with Tamora?" He said instead. Lu looked a bit shocked, but Orisino was not fooled by this. "Or better yet can it wait? We need to pick up some greens from the platform, and we are running a bit late." Lu just shrugged.

"I can come with you, if you want. Marissa just wanted to know if the rumors were true. She had heard from a green that you took in a very pretty woman." Lu said.

"So she sent you, her number one hitman. To do what? To kill her if the rumors were true, like you did with those other women?" Orisono said, if Marrisa saw Tamora as a treat that chance was still a possibility.

"The last time I checked. You didn't care about what happened to those, who leave your care." Lu said, and he didn't care. But that did not mean that he was blind or deaf. "What was that little girl's name again?" O fuck, he was going to bring up Aurora. "O yes, Aurora. You dumped her ass inside Chris's crib."

"And Chris takes good care of her." Orisino said.

"How can you be so sure, I thought you didn't care?" Lu replied, he was playing him, and he knew it. "But no I am not here to kill her, at least not yet. Marrisa just offers her a place inside her city. There she those not face the treat of being used as a sex-slave."

"No there she faces very hard labour, or if Marissa finds her too pretty. She would kill her over and over until her lives run out." Orisino snapped. "And do not pretend otherwise. But like I said, Lu. We have a job to do." He walked towards Tamora. "Believe me, the last place you want to be is inside Marrisa's city." He said softly to her. It was of course her choice, but she was still in his care. On that Lu was right.

"Thank your Dona for the offer, but I stay with Orisino." Tamora said and then walked away from Lu towards the platform. This will bite them in the ass, but he will worry about that some other time.