22 His Shoulder

As Xzavier strolled down the streets in deep thought, he lifted up his head and suddenly found out that he had actually arrived at his hotel. He entered the glamorous lobby only to find the hotelier pacing the hall waiting for him.

As soon as he saw Xzavier, he approached him obsequiously. Xzavier sighed inwardly, whatever it was, he didn't particularly feel like engaging the fat greedy man tonight.

The fat man greeted him loudly.

"Ah! A jolly good evening to you my dear sir!"

It wasn't that he cared so much about Xzavier's well-being, he was simply looking for an opportunity to extract more money from him. Xzavier suspected as much so he refused to stop to acknowledge him. But that didn't deter the greedy man.

He had already set his heart and sight on Xzavier, and like a kid at the candy store, he was determined to get his own.

He walked brusquely side by side in order to keep up with Xzavier's long strides as he stated his purpose;

"You see sir. The money from yesterday only covers two nights and two meals. If you'd like to stay longer perhaps we should negotiate a much longer deal…"

Arriving at his door, Xzavier took out a single gold coin, tossed it at him and banged the door, leaving the business man on the other end shocked.

Although Xzavier didn't know it, the money would cover his stay at the hotel for up to six months. The night passed like every other and Xzavier awoke the next day with still no new mission. Xzavier gradually began to spend more time with Tacy.

Over the next few days, Tacy spent more time with Xzavier in her spare time. Even though she did most of the talking each time they were together while Xzavier simply kept mute,

Tacy was simply glad to be in his presence and in his company. Xzavier learned a lot about the town from her incessant talking. On one of those days, when he waited for his next mission from the system but none came, Xzavier strolled down to the underground exchange and watched Tacy work from one of the tables.

As he watched her, he also observed some of the other characters in the underground exchange. The place was a hub for hunters.

All levels of hunters came here to fraternize with their fellow colleagues and as well as look for paying gigs in their own levels. They could be loud, unruly and uncivilized. Xzavier just couldn't understand why they simply couldn't conduct themselves in a decent manner.

On his own, and separate from the rest, Xzavier was estranged from the rest of the hunters. He generally kept to himself and the others avoided him like a plague.

Word of him and what he had accomplished had gone round so everyone knew that it was a death wish to entangle themselves in any kind of affair with him. But unfortunately, even though he didn't know it at the time, one of them was going to be the unlucky one who would incur Xzavier's wrath at the time.

The thing with jerks is they almost always come in packs. The unlucky fellow was seated at a table with three other young men. They were playing cards and drinking when Tacy came over to clear the table.

A mischievous look was exchanged by the dude in particular and the other man opposite him. A silent amusement/inside joke was understood immediately. The unfortunate fellow's eyes followed Tacy's movements like a hawk.

He timed is move brilliantly and dropped his cup just as she reached for it. Tacy didn't think much of it. She saw it as clumsiness on the part of the semi drunk man and bent down to pick it up. As she bent low, the full arch of her backside came into full view of the pervert.

His eyes glowed like the embers of a budding flame as one thought filled his heart. Trembling with burning lust, the pervert instantly reached out with his two of his dirty hands as if he were plucking a fruit, and grabbed the buttocks of the waitress.

Feeling the unsolicited groping of the man's hands on her body, Tacy jumped up instinctively recoiled with disgust when she turned around and saw the ugly pervert smiling gleefully.

Xzavier, who had been watching the whole scene from the onset, watched curiously to see how Tacy would respond to the sexual assault. He knew she had a fire in her and he hoped that the pervert would give the bully what he deserved.

But much to his surprise, Tacy simply walked away from the table without even uttering a word. Xzavier sat at his table fuming with rage at the sick display uncouthness demonstrated by the bully.

Xzavier's anger multiplied when he saw how the others were cheering him on instead of rebuking him. There and then, he made up his mind to teach the bully a lesson he would never forget. Xzavier made sure he marked his face so that he could remember him even in the dark.

Completely unaware of the salacious retribution that awaited him around the corner, The poor fool kept gyrating with his friends well into the evening.

Xzavier was a very patient man. He waited and soon, one by one, the little group started to disband.

"Finally." Xzavier thought to himself. "I am really going to enjoy this one."

Xzavier knew that it would be unwise to confront him here in the open. So, he followed him as he staggered out of the underground exchange into the streets, and finally into a lonely corner.

That was when Xzavier emerged from the shadows like a creature of the night and pounced on the unsuspecting man with a sharp blow to the ribs. It was already night and the alley was bare of any human activity.

With no source of light, the bully couldn't see his attacker. It only enhanced his fear. Xzavier spared no strength, he struck his jaw in a two move combo and the bully slammed his head into the wall before collapsing on the floor.

Xzavier used his thick boots to kick him in the stomach some more and melted away into the streets before anyone could identify him.

The next day, while Xzavier and Tacy were together, Xzavier asked her the question that had been nagging him;

"Tacy why didn't you defend yourself yesterday against that pervert?"

"Come on Xzavier, you know how women are treated around here."

Xzavier protested;

"But he touched you inappropriately!"

"It's nothing Xzavier, I have seen far worse fates befall waitresses like me." She said dismissively. "I have a good job here because of the old man's kindness and I am grateful for that. I can't afford to jeopardize that."

Xzavier took in her reply and ruminated on it deeply. It wasn't just what she said, it was also how she had said it. So dismissively, almost as if she had already given up hope that things could ever change for her.

The unmistakable sadness was hard to ignore. What was even sadder was the fact that she had come to accept this as her fate. Like nothing could ever change for her.

For the first time, it dawned on him that this was actually a feudal society where women were not rated as first class citizens and were not allowed to speak.

Here, strength was the only thing that mattered. Even now, he knew that if he wanted to have her on the table, no one would try to stop him because it would be seen as normal. He remembered Miss Mary who had hanged herself because society had shown her no pity.

Everyone saw it the norm! The weight of all of this bore down on Xzavier's chest. He felt like the mythical Titan; Atlas who carried the world on his shoulder.