You grunted in pain as you try to sit up.
"Hey hey hey, dude! Careful now! I dunno what happened, but you were seriously injured!" A voice worriedly exclaimed.
You blearily look around. You were in some kind of antique shop, by the looks of it.
"...Then why am I in some shop instead of the hospital?" You can't help but quip.
You hear someone else muttering in a foreign language.
"Grampa, calm down. As for you, don't be rude. Do you have any idea how expensive hospitals are? Especially when I assume you don't have insurance considering you were bleeding out in the middle of an alleyway." The voice from earlier, revealed to be a preteen with black hair in ponytails and a pink dress, scolded.
"...Touche, kiddo."
"I'm 13, I am not that much younger than you look to be." She bristled. You hear a snorting from their grey dog, and the old man glares at it, making it shush.
"And yet..." You smirk, unable to resist some needling despite your injuries. The girl huffed.
"Ok, but seriously, thanks a ton for all this. I owe you my life and all that. I should get going now-" You begin.
"Uh, nuh uh, no way. You're pretty messed up, my guy. You're going to stay here and rest for at least another day." The girl demanded.
Dang. It... it kinda reminded you of 001 when she saw people were hurt and uncharacteristically put her foot down.
You fall silent for a moment.
"... Fine... one more day..." You sigh.
Xxx
One more day turned into a week, and a week turned into two months.
Thankfully you were fully healed by the end of the first month, and you decided to get a job at the shop. The old man (Lao Shi) wouldn't admit it, but you think he appreciated the help. He mentioned once while really sleepy and out of it that things haven't been the same since someone named Jake... Left them, though you respected his privacy and didn't pry further, tempted as you were to do so.
Haley, the girl who saved you, came over pretty frequently. She always seemed to be busy. You were kinda worried, girl seemed stressed as hell.
You're pretty sure she is a secret Super, because you swear to God you saw her enter through a way she couldn't possibly get to without flying once or twice. But considering your own plans, you didn't rat her out. Besides, you owed her.
You met her parents once or twice, but they seemed rather distant, always a little lost. You asked Haley about it once and she just got sad and muttered something about her brother. It didn't take a genius like you to figure out what happened after that.
You felt a little bit of kinship with Haley after that, and you tried to be there in little ways.
As you cleaned the counters of the shop, adjusting your name tag of "Bud Tres" (calling yourself 003 was... Weird, you realized in hindsight, so you thought up something on the fly), two individuals walked in.
"Hmmm. Nice place you got here, old man. Would be a real shame if something were to happen to it, no?" One said, adjusting his pinstripe suit.
"I thought I made it clear to Sykes, I would not-" Lao Shi began. He is promptly sucker punched in the gut.
"Yeah, see, the boss isn't exactly asking nicely anymore. You're going to pay up, or else..." The other guy sneered.
You had ducked down, so they don't notice you yet.
What do you do?
[ ] crawl away to get help
[ ] Try to Handle these thugs yourself
