She blinked in surprise when he kissed her, but she quickly recovered and kissed him back, her lips warm against his. When they pulled apart, she laughed at herself, shaking her head. "My heart still skips a beat when you do that," she said quietly.
They got to the bottom of the stairs, and Poppy pushed open the door for Tom. The dog padded through the door, sniffed at the air, and growled lightly. Poppy's face was expressionless, but her eyes were alert, and her hand squeezed his. "Don't be alarmed, and don't look around," she murmured from the corner of her mouth. "But I think we're being followed."
She paused, her head cocked thoughtfully. They began walking down the street, and Poppy's clear, directed strides suggested that she had a destination in mind. "There's two of them," she murmured. "They've been following us since the cafe. My guess is that one of them is here to retrieve information. The other is here to protect. They're probably not going to attack us unless we attack them. But we can't have them spying on us. I think we might have to take them out."
"Alleyway," she said, loud enough for Tom to hear. The dog adjusted his pace, walking a little faster.
Francis didn't say anything else, just kept walking. His fingers tapped slightly, and continued glancing at her curiously.
Poppy's face was hard to read as they began to walk down lesser crowded streets. She turned down an alleyway, placed her bag down, and waited right by the corner. Tom stayed next to her, his posture alert. Perhaps a minute or so later, two people came around the corner. One was rather small, and beady eyes, with black hair, and pale skin. The other was large and muscular, with blonde hair and blue eyes. The larger one saw Poppy and reached for her, and Poppy moved into action. She grabbed his arm and ducked, driving her shoulder into his belly. She grunted slightly as his momentum carried him, and she flipped him over her shoulder, where he landed on the ground. She turned his arm up in a painful position and kept her foot on his chest to keep him from moving, her gaze cold. Meanwhile, Tom had lunged at the smaller man. The dog seemed to recognize that the fight would be easy; the man had shrieked and flapped his hands at the dog, trying to get him away. Within seconds, Tom had his teeth around the man's throat. He didn't bite down, only held him, but the man below him seemed terrified, and beads of sweat rolled down his forehead. The whole encounter had taken maybe 10 or 15 seconds. "Francis," Poppy said quietly. "There are two pairs of handcuffs in my bag. Would you please do me a favor and grab them for me?"
"Yeah," he said, a bit surprised by the sudden action. He went to the bag and shuffled through it, retrieving the hand cuffs she had asked for.
Poppy took them from him with her free hand with a small nod of thanks and snapped one around the man's wrist. He tried to use his other arm to knock her legs out from under her, but she sidestepped it and twisted the arm she was holding, and he cried out. She chained the other cuff to a poll running a ng the wall, and did the same to the man that Tom was holding. When she was finished, she stepped back and tapped her watch. "I have two spies chained up here in the alleyway between Sprague and Green. Could I have someone come pick them up, please?" Her watch beeped in response, and she leaned against the wall to wait, reaching into her pocket to pull out a small treat for Tom.
Tom took the treat from her hand, and she patted his head absently. "More often than I'd like, I suppose," she said, frowning. "Maybe once every two weeks or so. Why?"
"It just... doesn't seem that safe, y'know? I know you have Tom, and you know how to fight, but it still worries me." He shook his head, but waved off any fears. "I hope it'll be fine."
She stepped over to him and took his hand. "You don't need to worry about me," she said. "I've made it this long, right?"
"Semper paratus, my dear friend," she said cheekily. She shrugged and looked down at Tom. "Besides, even if they surprise me, no one surprises him."
