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Shin guy came at him first, employing a head-on attack meant to mow him down in one go, but D easily sidestepped and brought his hand down in a swift chop to the back of his neck causing shin guy to stumble and crash into a pile of empty boxes.  However, he was quickly back on his feet, albeit a little woozy, and had raised his fists in a fighting stance.  D shrugged and flashed his knives again before dropping low and moving behind him, stabbing him in the back of the knee with enough force to shatter bone.  Shin guy grunted in pain, falling to one knee while swinging his right arm in a clumsy attempt to sideswipe him, but D leapt onto his back, using it as a vaulting board to launch him into the air to land on shin guy's head, grinding his face into the pavement and effectively knocking him out.  D retrieved his knife from the guy's knee and stood to face the other twin, who was still a little taken aback at how quickly the fight had ended, but shook off the shock and threw the girl to the ground to adopt a fighting stance like his partner muttering, "You son of a bitch...". D looked him up and down, then pocketed his knives and started looking for something on the ground.  Conscious partner stared at him with a look of disbelief on his face, one that clearly said We're in the middle of a fight right now! What the hell is this guy doing? Who the hell does he think he is?! He got his answer when a flash of red left D's hand, hitting him squarely on the forehead and dropping him like a sack of potatoes.  The pieces of brick crunched underfoot as D stepped over the body towards the girl, who was standing and gripping the chain she had stolen.  He halted his approach to give her a curious once over before saying, "You know, that's my chain you're holding there."  The girl said nothing, staring at him with equal amounts of fear, hostility, and relief.  D sighed and extended a hand to her, palm up, and said, "Look, just give me what you took and we'll call it even, alright?"  The girl squinted at him, but cautiously handed over the chain, which D took and then turned to leave, but was stopped by, "Who are you?"

D merely waved a farewell hand and continued on, saying, "Just a guy who wants his chain back, missy." Faltering footsteps, then confident quick ones followed him as the girl got in front of him and planted herself in his path. "No, seriously, who are you?  Those were some scary looking dudes and you took them down like nothing, I mean, how'd you do that?  You were so fast, I couldn't even do any damage when I hit them with the chain, but you broke his knee with a little knife! Where'd you learn to do that?" D exhaled through his nose in mild annoyance as the girl continued the barrage of questions- for someone who was so quiet to start with, she had an awful lot to say.  He dragged a hand down and his face and stopped, the girl barely avoiding bumping into him at the sudden change of pace.  "Look.  I don't care who you are, and you shouldn't care who I am.  Just take your little thievery act to another part of town and get outta here," he said exasperatedly.

"Ok, but first tell me who trained you," she replied, hop skipping to keep up with him as he resumed his fast walk.

"Tell me who taught you how to steal other people's things," he retorted evenly.

"Where'd you come from?"

"I could ask the same of you, if I gave a rat's ass."

"Are you with a gang?"

"Are you always so irritating?"

"Well, if you're not with a gang then why'd you save me from the mafia?"

D stepped out of the alley into the afternoon sun, glancing down to check the time.  12:43pm.  Great.  Walking it was, then, hopefully chain girl would get tired and drop off at some point.  He turned right and started off back towards his apartment, saying, "I didn't save you, I was getting back what you stole from me.  The hired help happened to conflict with my goals, so I got rid of them.  Now would you get back to whatever you were doing before this ever so lovely encounter and stop following me?" It was at that moment he realized he had forgotten the other bags at the bus stop, resulting in a backtrack trip to get them, chain girl spitting out questions the whole time.  D had stopped responding at this point, but that didn't seem to deter her one bit from continuing her one sided conversation.  His headache was starting to pick up thanks to her and her endless twenty questions, resulting in his popping of a few ibuprofen in his pocket.  There was a quiet gasp from his unwelcome guest as she looked at him with shocked eyes.  "You.. do drugs?" she whispered conspiratorially, looking at him like he was about to jump her and ask for a hit.  For the first time in a while, D's face slackened in genuine awe of the sheer naïvety of this girl- how the hell had she survived in the world for this long?  He stared at her for a long while before rubbing his eyes with the palms of his hands.  "They're ibuprofen. They're- for the love of god." he held his tongue, reigning his temper in quickly.  She was really starting to get on his nerves.  D grabbed her wrist and dragged her to the left, changing his mind about the route.  "Where are we going now? Is it to your cartel?" she asked, legs working to keep up with his longer stride.  D remained silent, not entirely trusting himself to get into a conversation that could work him up so much.  There was a rare beat of silence before she asked another question, catching him off guard. "Can you help me, please? I know you're pissed at me right now, but I really need help to find someone..." she trailed off when there was no response, and she remained blissfully silent for the remaining time until D finally stopped in front of a familiar building and pushed open the door for the second time today.

Luce looked up from the register, pen dangling from her mouth to see who the new customers were, one carefully stenciled eyebrow raising in surprise at their identities. She removed the pen from her mouth and pointed it at D's chest, saying, "This is unusual.  The great D and his.." her eyes trailed to the girl, both eyebrows raising in surprise as she let out a laugh. "D! I didn't take you to be such a man of low morals!" she teased, putting down her pen and leaning forward to get a look at the object of his low morals.  The girl, to her credit, blushed and said hotly, "At least I'm not a woman so asinine as to insult someone who's doing better than her."  Luce paused for a minute, face frozen, then let out a howl of laughter that shook the glass.  "You sure pick 'em well, D!" she said, giving him an ace sign.  The chain girl looked at him and asked (shockingly), "D? Is that your name?"  D glared at her and stalked up to the counter, the girl following behind him like a lost puppy.  "Lo siento Luce, could I ask you to get her to wherever she needs to go?  She was tailed by a couple mafiosos and thinks I saved her (pointed glance at girl in question) after she stole something from me." D added in undertones, "At least hold her until I can... take care of some business, and then I'll deal with her." Luce sombered and said, "Of course.  Usual check in time?"  D smiled gently and gave her a kiss on the cheek before turning to address chain girl, who had been intently watching the entire exchange.

D took a quiet inhale before applying the same gentle smile to the girl and saying, "This is Luce.  She'll get you back to your house or wherever you came from, don't be rude, and don't steal anything from her.  She won't be as forgiving as me."  Chain girl kept eye contact after he finished, staring at him and creasing her forehead in some odd mix of bewilderment and anger before crossing her arms and replying, "I'm not going anywhere.  I want to know who you are and how you did that.  Also, I don't know if this your druggie house and I'm not staying."  Luce opened her mouth, probably to reprimand her, but D raised a hand to stop her and pinched the bridge of his nose with the other, sighing heavily.  "Fine," he said after a long pause. "Three questions.  Then you stay here and do whatever Luce asks of you."  Chain girl squinted at him, as if this was something worth lying about, before sticking out her hand and saying, "Fine. Deal."  They shook, and she immediately followed up with, "Is D your actual name?"

"It's the only one you need to know," he replied, leaning against the counter.

There was a short pause while she considered the next question, then continued with, "What were those chains and wire that you were carrying for?"

D raised his eyes to the ceiling, also considering his answer before replying, "For protection."

She squinted at him, clearly wanting to delve deeper into that answer but not willing to waste her last question.  Creds to her for being smarter than she seemed, then. There was a considerably longer pause as she carefully weighed her options for the last question.  She'd open her mouth momentarily then shut it as she thought of another possibility.  Finally, she asked, "Why are you so scared of people?"

D, for the second time that day, was entirely taken by surprise.  He blinked, working his jaw as he processed the question.  Chain girl kept talking, saying, "I noticed that you don't like walking by other people, and you were really twitchy, always looking around if there was a noise or anything.  I was just wondering if you're like scared of crowds or something?"  

Some distant part of D was impressed that this random girl off the street was so observant, but that part was drowned out by a sudden explosive mix of emotions from the question.  He abruptly stood up, walking quickly to the door and yanking it open.  "Wait! You didn't answer my question!" the girl said, taking a few steps after him and giving him a momentary pause.  He exhaled heavily and stepped outside, looking back at the girl one more time, locking her confused and anxious eyes with his own, oddly tired and pained eyes.  "It's not people that I'm scared of," he finally said, the tinkle of the bell cheerfully ending the discussion as he left.  Chain girl blinked a few times, then sat down on a nearby stool.  After a bit she turned to Luce, who had gone back to the register, and said, "Who is he, exactly?"  Lucia  Rodriguez, winner of the alligator wrestling competition two years ago and a woman braver than most professional extreme sports competitors, laughed quietly and looked at her very seriously, a whisper of darkness coloring her expression, saying, "You've already used up your three questions, but I can guarantee you that is a question better left unanswered, little lady."