4 Protecting Roxie

Roxie turned to the door and saw two people she'd never seen. One of them looked like a normal man, but the other was a girl with black spots in her long hair. She covered her mouth.

They were projects.

“The girl Hero couldn't resist.” The man grabbed her along with the other girl. “Rumor is he can't control himself around you. There's no project stronger than him, but with you? He could finally be killed.” He grabbed her hair, pulling it violently. “You're coming with us.” Then he gave her straight to the girl project.

“No.” Roxie struggled against them. “Never.”

The other girl let go of Roxie. She strolled over to the kitchen cupboard and opened it. Her parents were tied up inside. Roxie yelled toward them, but they were both unconscious.

“Pay attention, and be good.” They both chuckled as they dragged her out of the house.

What were they doing? Roxie was stuck in the middle of the road, at least ten projects surrounding her. For ten minutes, she was stranded out in the summer heat. Her body was getting sweaty with the female project both holding onto her hands.

Then, Hero came. He landed hard, hard enough to crack the cement. He approached quickly, but took a step back as he made contact with her. He seemed to actually stumble back, surprised. “Roxie?”

“No need to be formal,” one of the projects laughed. “Roxie Malone, the last of the Z's. Lucky you. Or unlucky you.”

Hero looked to his sides and watched at least ten projects gather against him. “Really? You would stoop this low to beat me?” He grabbed one of them and launched them into the nearest trashcan. “I'm not a pushover.”

“Not that faraway, but come closer.” The project with the spotted hair pulled out a knife against Roxie's skin. “You can take us and save yourself. Or, you can save her, and kiss everything goodbye. I know which one you'll pick.”

He muttered damn beneath his breath. What was to decide though? Roxie was being threatened with a knife! Why was he afraid to get close? Why did the projects want him closer? Roxie watched him take a long, deep breath. Then, he ran to her. In moments, she was freed. Hero had pulled the knife away, shoving it into the belly of the spotted project threatening her.

He didn't hold her long though, and quickly backed off to fight the others. Roxie was now free, but several projects were surrounding her again. While she watched them, her eyes kept shifting back to Hero.

His body twisted, flipped, and kicked with such power. No one moved like that. Her mind wanted to pay attention to the projects around her, while something else just wanted to watch him. She kept herself focused enough to begin to run as a project chased her.

Hero had ran back toward her, grabbing the project after her, and flinging him away again. Then, he tried to leave again to further projects.

He was fighting, but watching out for her at the same time. Roxie tried to run again, but two more projects tried to stop her.

“You may not be my type,” one of the men replied as they sniffed at her. “But I can learn to deal with a polite ma―”

Hero crashed right into his jaw. He took a few seconds to deal with the other project around her.

Wouldn't it be easier for him to stay around her? Then again, maybe this was the reason. Her smell. Had her smell attracted projects on the date Hero had paid for and it was covered up?

Or something else. What was it about her already!

The last project stayed right beside Roxie, refusing to move.

“Come over and get me,” he squealed in excitement. “Come on, Hero, you aren't afraid to get me.”

“You're a coward, hiding behind an innocent civilian.” Hero still kept his distance, but the project was right beside Roxie.

“Or a genius,” the project commented. “Come on and tell her the truth. Tell her what she is.”

Hero took another deep breath and came behind Roxie, trying to take care of the last project. The project stepped on his foot causing him to breathe deeply. He smacked the project to the ground, hard. Before it was all done though, Hero had cuts all over his arm.

“I'm so sorry,” Roxie whispered to him. “I don't know why they chose me.” She reached out, inclined to help with his arm. He shirked her off. “Sorry.”

“No. I'm s-sorry.” Hero held his nose, hoping she moved back soon. Stupid pheromones. “I'm . . .” He reached out to her arm and rubbed it. He still couldn't help who he was inside. “You're hurt.”

“Yeah. A little scratch,” Roxie admitted. “My parents are in the tall cupboard in my house. Did you save them?”

“Yes, we've got them,” Bose answered.

Thank goodness he wasn't far. Hero could get away from Roxie soon.

“Everything is fine,” Bose assured her. “You get on home now. Hero, can I have a word?”

---

Back in the official territory meeting headquarters, Hero had his head on the desk. He didn't even do anything wrong and everyone was coming down on him.

“That was dangerous!” Bose shouted. “This scent is like a poison, it corrupts you. Not to mention her memory can become useless. How could you risk getting near her? She is a liability to you.”

They would never understand. Hero lifted his head toward Bose. “I can't ignore her because of her danger to me. She was made for projects, I can't ignore that.”

“She wasn't made for them. She is a normal civilian,” one of the other territory owners said. “What if her parents find out what's been going on?”

“She was in danger!” Hero shouted right back at them. “The enemy knew she was a weakness. I took care of them, but they were right. She is a weakness. We have to fix this.”

“We've been through this,” Bose said, “you cannot own her to fix this.”

“I know,” Hero yelled back, this time with a choke. He sunk his head to the table. “She was in danger. What was I supposed to do? She's still in danger. Someone else will figure it out. Others will come soon.” How could he make them understand? “If I could just keep her safe behind glass or something while we figured this all out?”

“No. If we could have done something legally to restrain her, it would have happened before this.” Bose folded his arms. “You said it yourself, she was held against her will by other projects, and none of them tried anything. She may have been a Z, but she is a citizen. She isn't like others, so you don't have to fight or bring her in. You need to leave her be.”

“They'll do it again.” Hero stood up. “They'll do it again and you know it.” He glared at Bose. “I will save her every time, and I don't care what nature does, I am a hero first.”

“It makes you happy,” one of the female officials said, “that you have an excuse to stay near. You probably are just waiting for another project to go after her.”

“Don't you say that.” Hero approached their round desk. “I don't want to ever see her hurt.”

“You don't even know her. You're just infatuated, like a school teen on a crush,” Bose reminded him, “and that will land you in trouble.”

“Then I'll land in trouble.” Hero pushed himself away from their desk. “Whenever she is in trouble, I will come. You want to minimize the risks? Then start setting some safeguards around her,” he yelled as he headed out the door.