Of Knights and Aliens

Chapter 14

The disgruntled man is handed to the nearest guard by Maggie to be taken into custody. She takes back her handcuffs and the guard uses his own. He will be heading to their normal jail, not DEO jail. He spits at her as he's dragged away and tries to elbow away from the guard, threatening to punch her. That prompts the guard to tell him he just added "threatening a knight" to his list of crimes. He goes quiet after that.

Maggie practically runs back to where she left Alex and the boy who was being beaten up. She slows when she nears them and nearly melts when she sees what has been going on while she was gone.

Alex is sitting in front of the kid, relaxed. She's close enough for him to know she is there, but far enough away to respect his personal space and how he probably doesn't want to be close to anyone after what just happened. Alex is talking to him in a quiet, soothing voice.

Maggie leans against the wall in the alley, not wanting to disrupt what her partner is doing. The boy eventually looks up at Alex instead of staring blankly at the ground.

"What do I do now?" The boy questions.

Maggie notices that he has a slight accent, enough for her to know he didn't grow up here. It is not an accent Maggie recognizes, so he must be from a planet she hasn't met anyone from.

"We've actually been working on a program for people like you." Alex says in a low, kind voice. "There's a place downtown that we bought recently. It's called Krypton, do you know where it is?"

"Yes. Why is it called Krypton?" He asks.

"It's named after the planet my sister came from. She and I are the ones who came up with the idea for this and put it into motion. It's a dojo, a training place, where aliens and others who are discriminated against can learn to defend themselves. The classes are free and if you tell the instructor what species you are or what planet you come from, they should be able to come up with something that works with your abilities."

Maggie's eyebrows raise. She didn't know that such a program existed so it must be pretty new.

"I don't want to fight." The boy says in a small voice.

"And that's perfectly fine, I can't make you go. It's a self-defense class and you might never need what you learn. But it's nice to know how to fight for those times where someone starts something with you. Like today." Alex pauses for a moment before asking a question that has been stuck in her head. "Does this happen often?"

The boy nods hesitantly. "Yes."

"Next time this happens, I want you to tell the nearest guard or knight, okay? And if they don't believe you, get their names and come up to the castle to talk to me. I'll yell at them until they cry." Alex says seriously, smiling when the boy laughs.

"Alright," the boy says. "Thank you , Sir Alex. I'll go to the classes too so I can protect my friends."

Alex smiles, "Protecting friends and family is a great reason. You know, you remind me of me when I was younger."

The boy stares at her with wide eyes. "Really?"

"Yup. You know, if you or any of your friends want to, you could become a knight. My mom made a law saying that anyone can be a knight."

"My sister would love that!" The boy says excitedly.

"Then maybe you could tell her about the training classes, too. Sometimes people who teach people to become knights come and watch to see if there's anyone they want to train." Alex says.

"She'll be so excited!" He stands and so does Alex. "Thank you so much!"

The boy throws himself at Alex, wrapping her in a hug. She lets out an "oof" sound at the suddenness of it but happily hugs him back until he pulls away.