When his boyfriend's ex-fiancé returns from the dead to break them up, Léon will have to face a dead land, an evil scientist, and his unstable powers to save the world (and his relationship).
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Reformed supervillain Léon Dickens was just released...
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— Léon —
He narrowed his eyes. Léon knew that name, but he wasn't sure from where. He studied the man again, trying to find something that sparked his memory.
Count Cae wasn't strong, but he wasn't thin, either. Curly raven hair, brown skin, agreeable face; there was nothing special about him or his body, except for the slight curve in his right shin, probably a badly healed broken leg. Even his clothes—cargo pants and a white t-shirt—looked like a post office uniform.
The only exceptional detail about him was the speed with which his fingers moved, flipping an old silver coin around the joints in his fingers.
"Well, Cae, you realize that's not what I asked, right?" Léon looked around, trying to map his surroundings. They weren't on the dirt road anymore but in a round clearing circled by a dense wall of trees. A gap between them showed the possible path they had used to reach that place. Léon rested his eyes on Count Cae. "I asked you what you want from us."
Cae rested his elbow on the opened window of the NAV and turned around to face Léon. "And here I thought you were smart. I just said I want to punish you for trespassing."
Léon rested a hand on Bonee's neck, caressing her fur. "You didn't say that."
"But you could infer it based on what I said." Cae tried to reach out and touch the tigress, but she snapped her jaw closed on the air where his fingers once were, trying to bite him. He was faster.
"Considering the fact I'm still alive, I could also infer you are a decent bandit who is about to release me after telling me off." Léon tried on a smile. He glanced at the opened door at his right. One of the bandits had an animal control pole and was ready to use it, but Léon gripped it and threw it away.
Cae chuckled. "Now see—that's the problem with most men. They tend not to know the difference between inferring and assuming."
Léon shrugged. "What are you going to do, then? Are you going to kill me?"
When Cae stretched, the bones in his arms and back popped like firecrackers. "Maybe. First, tell me about your scar. Who gave it to you?"
They shared a gaze filled with suspicion.
Cae opened an easy smile and raised a hand. When Léon followed his gaze, he swallowed a thick gulp of fear. Cae had just stopped a bandit from piercing Bonee with a pike while she and Léon were distracted by the gang leader. Cae smirked. "C'mon, mate. I'm a curious man. And I'd have hurt you already if I wanted to."
He... was right.
A cold lump formed in his stomach when Léon understood the danger he was in. He was alone in the middle of a forest, Goddess-knows-where in Old Continent, with a man who had a dozen armed people at his disposal. And more than his own safety, he also feared for Bonee. She was more powerful than Lampee, sure, but without him there to lick her wounds, her healing rate was... weak.
