He'd be the first to admit that the part of town he lived in probably fell under the average for 'safest places in the city,' but he'd always figured that as long as he stayed alert, he shouldn't be too afraid to live his life. And tonight, he'd been babysitting for his uncles.
Well, 'babysitting' said loosely. Teyla was ten. She could handle most of her needs on her own. Miteksi was just there to supervise. Keep anything too drastic from happening and help her not be bored. Heaven forbid anyone was bored.
They'd wandered out of the apartment just to grab a few quick sweet treats from the convenience store on the corner, y'know, the types of things Teyla probably wasn't really supposed to have, but that Miteksi didn't see the harm in providing every now and then. As they'd approached the shop, he'd seen and taken note of the suspiciously hooded guy near the back corner of the building that was definitely watching them as they entered the shop. Probably fine, but he was aware, in case it wasn't.
They grabbed a whole sack of snacks. Tastykakes, Doritos, Root Beer. Whatever Teyla wanted, Teyla got.
And when they walked out and started on their way back home, Miteksi heard the scuffle of a person behind them. Steps following. It wasn't pitch-black out of anything, but it was late enough that the traffic down these shadier parts of town wasn't much. He'd taken her hand, despite the borderline-disgusted look she'd sent him. He didn't want to scare her, so he hadn't said much else right away.
The steps kept following. A van up the road definitely had a person in it, was definitely on, definitely had its lights off. The steps seemed to get just a notch closer- and Miteksi became absolutely certain that he did not want to stay on the same street as those steps and that van.
There just weren't many places to go- so he'd tugged Teyla into the first street alley they crossed- It was stupid, so stupid! But where had he been supposed to go?
He'd heard those steps break into something faster, heard that van's engine turn over, and he hadn't known exactly what it would take to get out of these people's sight, but he'd known he had to do whatever it took, so he'd snatched Teyla up under an arm and started running down the alley. Miteksi didn't know what intentions these guys had, but he knew Teyla was young and small and cute, and shitty things happened to little girls that found themselves in unscrupulous hands, and he would not let anything happen to her-
Even if she was intent on trying to break free of his grasp.
He didn't let her go, he had to protect her, and he was damn fortunate that his school took such pride in their physical training because even with his squirming pink-haired burden- tall as his shoulders, Miteksi was not slow, and every step was fueled by that fear that someone would hurt her, someone would take her, someone would do the worst things imaginable to her, and it was up to him right here, right now to keep her safe. To protect her from these people.
The Space Cauldron
