"Behold, apartment 206," Sven announced, spreading his arms wide as if he were unveiling a five-star suite.

The group stood outside a plain, slightly run-down mid-rise building that looked about as normal as anything in this city could. Faded brick, grimy windows, flickering hallway light - nothing screamed dangerous lunatic or unhinged mutant.

Which, to Nadya, was already suspicious.

They followed Sven up the creaking staircase, every step moaning in protest, until they reached the second floor. It was quiet. Too quiet. The kind of quiet that made Nadya's nerves prickle.

Still, if Kai and Sven trusted whoever lived here... maybe it would be fine.

'As long as it isn't some psycho,' Nadya thought, shooting Amina a sideways glance. The girl was sticking close to her, chewing her lower lip like she knew something wasn't right.

Kai walked up to the door at the end of the corridor like he'd done it a thousand times before and knocked three times. "Hey Lenny, we're back."

Silence.

Kai raised a brow and looked at Sven, who shrugged. "Might need to pick the lock again."

Then the door exploded open.

A giant green reptilian figure lunged out from the darkness with a massive grin on its face.

"Yaah!"

Lenny the Lizard leapt into the hallway, clearly overjoyed to see his new friends again so soon. He was massive, over seven feet tall, built like a truck, with thick, scaly skin and glowing yellow eyes. And for some reason, a pizza box stuck to his elbow.

It was meant to be a surprise. A prank. A happy lizard-man welcoming his buddies back.

But it did not go the way he'd hoped.

Boom!

Nadya's reflexes kicked in before her brain even caught up. Her palm lit up, energy condensed into a pulsing orb, and she let it fly with brutal precision.

The explosion launched poor Lenny backwards like a missile. He crashed into a mountain of takeout boxes and old beanbag chairs in his apartment, pizza box still spinning in the air.

"Nadya. Wait!" Kai and Isaac yelled at the same time, lunging to stop her from throwing another one.

Smoke wafted out from the open door, revealing Lenny sprawled on his back, blinking up at the ceiling with a dazed look. The only sign he'd just taken a hit from a mutant explosion was a singed pizza crust on his chest.

Meanwhile, he didn't seem bothered by the blast, but more so because he couldn't help but assume his friends had set him up.

"Did they betray me?" Lenny whimpered, his deep voice trembling. "I thought we were friends..."

"Ugh. He's crying again," Sven muttered, stepping around the lizard-man's tail.

"We didn't betray you, you idiot," Kai said, crouching beside him. "She just has a... twitchy trigger finger."

"Twitchy?!" Nadya shrieked, still wide-eyed. "That thing came out of the shadows like a mutant horror movie jump scare!"

"That thing," Sven said, helping Lenny up, "is Lenny. Lenny the Lizard. And he's cool."

"Very cool," Kai added flatly. "Also very blast resistant, apparently."

As the neighbours peeked out from cracked doors down the hallway, their curiosity quickly evaporated when they realised which apartment the commotion came from.

Number 206.

The cursed one.

Everyone slammed their doors shut with the speed of long-suffering tenants.

Inside, the apartment was... well, a mess.

Pizza boxes, soda cans, old gaming magazines, and what looked like a shrine made of ramen cups. Lenny plopped onto a saggy couch, still sniffing.

"I was so happy you came back... I didn't mean to scare anyone," he said, wiping his nose with what looked like a curtain.

Kai patted his shoulder. "You're fine. She just overreacts sometimes."

"I'm careful," Nadya corrected, still eyeing Lenny like he might suddenly pounce and eat them.

"But... you're letting her stay with him?" she asked, pointing at Amina, who had half-hidden behind her now.

Amina tugged at her shirt like a nervous child. "What if he eats me?"

Kai chuckled. "He won't eat you. Believe it or not... he's vegetarian."

A beat passed.

Everyone turned to look at Lenny.

Who nodded solemnly. "Mushrooms are my jam."

Sven grinned. "Told you. He's a big softy. Probably the safest guy she could be with right now. And he's around Amina's age anyway, even though he might not look it."

"If he does try anything," Nadya said, narrowing her eyes, "I'll make plenty of shoes and handbags out of him after blasting him to pieces."

A chill ran down Lenny's spine as he looked at Sven and Kai to defend him, but they casually agreed. "Fair enough."

But even Nadya had to admit... as time passed and they explained the situation, Lenny warmed up quickly. He was weird, sure. Socially awkward? Absolutely. But dangerous? Not unless you counted second-hand embarrassment.

Amina, to everyone's surprise, was the first to truly let her guard down. She saw something in Lenny, a kind of loneliness that mirrored her own. When he started picking up trash around the room and apologising for the mess, she joined him, quietly sorting recyclables into a separate bin without being asked.

"Guess they're getting along just fine," Isaac said, nudging Nadya with his elbow.

She sighed. "I still don't like it."

"But it's safer than where we're going."

That much was true.

Kai checked his watch, and his eyes narrowed. "Twenty minutes. We've got to haul ass."

"Criminals might be murderers, smugglers, and psychos," Sven muttered, "but they're usually never late."

They all stood to leave.

Nadya walked up to Lenny and jabbed a finger at his chest. "If we're not back in two hours, something's gone wrong. Keep her safe. Don't open the door or let anyone in. And stay here."

Lenny gave a proud salute, knocking over a lamp with his elbow. "Lenny the Lizard, at your service."

With one last look back, they shut the door.

And Amina, the frightened girl from the start of all this chaos, gave them a small wave from inside, already helping Lenny stack pizza boxes like it was a normal Tuesday night.

Kai cracked a small smile.

'Alright then.'

Now it was time to quickly make their way to the docks. And as always... Kai had a plan. A stupid, high-risk, borderline insane plan.

But they'd follow it anyway, as it wasn't nearly as crazy as walking into a lion's den without back-up and with barely any information...

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