•Peace•

•Chapter Nineteen•

We walk in and a guy lounging at the counter looked up lazily.

"Hey." He said, getting up with a sigh.

Jason Placed the bag on the counter and started taking the packages and the letters out.

"Here to drop off." He stated, and I watched curiously. I had never had to use standard mail carriers, I always had Hermes or someone else from Hermes delivery service to use, so it was interesting to see how it worked.

"Uh huh.." the employee nodded, taking the stack and scanning it in. "Okay you're good to go.. have a nice day.." he said emotionlessly.

"Uh.. thanks..?" I said in question, and Jason just took my wrist and led me out of the building.

"What?" I asked, looking up at him.

"That place wasn't safe."  He said, his face weirdly cold.

"It's a Mail Drop off center." I asked confused.

he was still leading me down the sidewalk.

"Yes, among other things.."

"How could you tell?" I asked skeptically, and he groaned.

"I just can.. trust me on that, okay." He gripped my wrist tighter.

"What was so shady about that place? All I noticed was a lazy employee."

"Percy.. here in Gotham, many people can't make enough money doing simple jobs.. even if it's a government run mail center, the owners could potentially be.. something like drug dealers.. or even something more illegal." He explained.

Our pace had lessened significantly, and we were back to walking, however he still was holding my wrist.

"Okay. I'm just curious how you saw.. I donno, a sign?"

He sighed. "I'm very aware. Don't worry about it. Let's worry about your own awareness. It needs to be alot higher if you plan to live here."

"Got it. Be more.. aware..." I repeated sarcastically.

"I'm serious, Percy. You're a be-.. you're a woman on the streets of a very dangerous city, I'd prefer it if you were taking this a little more seriously.." he finally stopped and looked me dead in the eyes.

"I can take care of myself." I stared back confident.

"I know." He replied. "But it doesn't hurt to be careful so you don't have to defend yourself.."

I nod, relenting. "I know."

"Good." He smiled slightly.

"Sorry I took you out of there pretty fast.. I just.. felt like I didn't want to let that guy get too good of a look at you." He explained hesitantly.

"I get it. Thanks for looking out for me." I smiled back with a shrug.

"Sure.." he finally released my wrist.
"So back to the shop?"

"Well May wants me to go get some lunch.." I explained as we started to walk again.

"Oh? I know a good place. Italian?" He asked.