This is the intro to a story that will be about various facets of BDSM. If BDSM is not something that interests you, feel free to ignore it.

If you are not of legal age, whether that is 18 or 21 depending on your location, you should not be reading this. This is because, as stated above, the story will deal with various facets of BDSM and such activities are for adults, not minors.

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Stanley wandered around the mall, just killing time, not that it really mattered, he'd been a latch-key kid for nearly five years now since the death of his mother just three days after his thirteenth birthday and only two days after Christmas. Christmas just wasn't the same since then.

His dad Robert was a lawyer, the loss of his wife Alicia due to the rapid onset and metastasis of the breast cancer had hit him quite hard. He didn't know how to deal with it on an emotional level, so he threw himself into his work and had been raised to partner two years ago. He was usually out the door by 8 AM six days a week and wouldn't return home until midnight or later, except for the weekends. He only took Sundays off, and that wasn't any better as he usually would sit in front of the TV drinking his way through a dozen or more bottles of beer.

Stanley was now less than three months shy of his eighteenth birthday, he was a smart young man, he'd actually skipped grade three on the recommendation of several teachers and the principal of St. James Elementary here in town, so he had actually graduated from high school in June, a year ahead of pretty much everyone else in the class, well, other than Rachel Perrin, who had skipped two years herself.

Stanley and Rachel talked with each other now and then, it was almost expected with them both being the brainiacs of Westhill High School. Today, however, Stanley was alone, wandering around the bigger of the two malls in Westhill, Riverside Shopping Centre. He wasn't paying attention to the shops or people around him, it was obvious to many that he was lost in thought about something or other, especially when he bounced off a lamp post in the area next to the small food court and ended up on his butt on the floor.

**********

Three boys who had been eating at a table nearby saw him fall down and grinned, here was the prefect target. Bradley Alberts led the way, followed by his cousin Tommy Ferrill and the third boy, John Carthis. As Stanley grabbed the post to stand, Bradley shoved him back down.

The three boys spent the next several minutes knocking Stanley down every time he tried to stand up, this was made easier for them by the fact that they were much bigger, ranging from 5'9" to 6'2" and 170 pounds to 210 pounds. All three played football for Westhill High School. Stanley was tiny in comparison, 5'2" and maybe 105 pounds soaking wet, even with his thick, well-kept shoulder length light auburn hair.

A male who had been sitting on the other side of the food court's seating area called 911 and reported the assault, and at least two of the people running food stalls there flipped buttons that would set off alarms in the security office and bring mall security to the food court.

**********

Tessa Salveris was also wandering around the mall that day, she was a nurse and had just finished a shift at the small Westhill Hospital across town. She had decided to go to the mall, do a little shopping, maybe have something to eat there before going home for the day.

Tessa was a slender woman of about thirty years of age with almost waist length midnight black hair, 5'9" tall and about 130 pounds. Nursing wasn't her only skill set, she had trained in several different martial arts over the years, attaining brown belts in judo, jujitsu and taekwando, plus black belts in the four earliest styles of karate (Shotokan, Wado-ryu, Shito-ryu, and Goju-ryu) and extensive training in bo fighting.

She had moved to Westhill from NYC two years ago, after the death of her last girlfriend Shana due to a drunk driver who had also died in the crash. Her nursing diploma had been instrumental in her being hired by the hospital, as they needed a new head nurse for the pediatrics wing. She loved working with the kids there, but hated to see some of the things that had happened to the children who ended up on the unit such as the eleven children that had been rescued the year before from a cult group that had been based a few miles outside of Westhill.

The cult had been formed by a male who believed in flogging or whipping as a punishment for anyone who did anything wrong, child or adult. Some of the children that had been rescued would carry the scars of the various whippings they had received for the rest of their lives.

Tessa shook her head, bringing herself back to the present. As far as she knew, those eleven children would be okay, they had been placed in foster homes after they were released from the hospital and the three youngest of the eleven had actually been adopted in the last six months. She checked in about once a month with the other eight to ensure that they were all in good health; she had made her last round the weekend before, all eight children were doing well, and five of the seven sets of parents were considering adopting the children in their care.

She had just left one part of the mall and was about to cut through the small food court when she saw Stanley being shoved down. By the time she was within ten feet, she could see at least three bruises on the child's face and knew there likely would be several more elsewhere.

With cold, calculated precision, she knocked Bradley out with a roundhouse kick to the side of the head, then swept John's feet out from under him. She watched John fall down, then straight kicked Tommy in the stomach, knocking him over a table at the edge of the food court. Tommy hit the floor head first on the other side of the table, he looked up at the angry woman for a second or two before his lights went out.

She stood over John, glaring at him as she quickly checked to see if the child was okay. John started to stand, but Tessa growled at him, "You'd be wise to stay where you are, boy, or I might have to knock you out like I did the other two. Got it?" John nodded and backed away a bit.

**********

Tessa heard people running nearby, turned and saw three mall security guards entering the food court area. Two of the three seemed to be following the third, an older female who looked to be about forty or so with a short bob style hair cut.

The older female stopped by one of the stalls that had set off the alarms, told the stall staff to turn the alarm off, then asked what had happened. Jacob Vanakil, the owner of that stall, quickly brought her up to date and pointed to Stanley leaning against the lamp pole. Becky Colbert, the female security guard, listened intently, then looked where Jacob pointed and saw Stanley rubbing at one of the bruises.

Becky stopped by the other booth, listened to Pieter Danakos as he pretty much repeated what Jacob had said, then turned and slowly walked to the lamp post before squatting in front of Stanley. She gave him a quick scan and asked him if he was all right.

Stanley shrugged, told her it was nothing new, these three had tormented him all through high school. Nobody ever did anything because they were all on the football team and were considered important to the school, causing trouble for them always rebounded on the informant.

"Well, kid," she stopped as Stanley told her his name, "Stanley, sorry, they're not going to get away with it this time."

Stanley laughed while rubbing the beginnings of what would be a fair sized goose egg, "I'll believe it when I see it, Miss."

Becky called to her two security staff, brothers named Arnie and Barney Bellings, both about 6'1" tall and 200 pounds, "I want each of you to stand over one of the boys that are out cold until the police get here, I need to talk with this woman before the police arrive. Hop to it, boys!" The only major difference between the two men was that Arnie's crew cut was a sandy blonde while Barney's was a light brown in colour.

Arnie immediately walked over to where Bradley was sprawled on the floor, arriving there just as Bradley groaned and tried to get up. Arnie quickly placed his foot on the boy's stomach, pulling out what looked like a night stick; Bradley wisely decided to stay put.

Barney meanwhile had to walk around the tables at the edge of the seating area before he could stand by Tommy, whose left leg was hanging over the edge of a seat. The boy was still out cold, so Barney just stood over him watching to make sure he stayed that way.

Becky stood up, then waved to Tessa as she walked over to a nearby table and sat down. Tessa had watched as the female security guard had talked to people, then the child, and followed her when the woman made it clear that she wished to speak with her.

Tessa sat down across from Becky and spent the next several minutes answering questions. She asked Tessa why she had responded as she had, to which Tessa growled, "I didn't know whether the child was a male or female, I saw what they were doing and stopped it! I would bet that, if you had gotten here before I did, you would have used your sticks on the boys, I used my fighting skills, what's the difference?"

Becky sighed, shaking her head, "You may be right, you're damn lucky that several people saw you intervene, let alone the cameras here."

"What do you mean by that, damn you? I'M LUCKY?" Tessa snarled, she was getting pissed at how she was being treated. "Would you prefer that I just walked by and let those bullies keep beating him, to the point where he might have been badly injured, perhaps killed? Did you even notice the lump on the child's head, the black eye or the other bruises on the child's face? I'm damn sure there's more bruises, too."

"Lump? No, I didn't see a lump, there's no way to miss the black eye and the facial bruises."

"Look, they were bouncing the child off that lamp post, I'm betting it's at least a steel shell, probably hollow, but still hard enough to cause damage when one is being slammed against it repeatedly like they were doing to him. I felt I had no choice but to intervene, dammit."

Becky looked up, then shrugged as two police officers and a deputy sheriff walked into the food court area. "Well, it's out of my hands now. You're wrong about the lamp posts here, they're solid steel, they used to be on some of the streets here in town a long time ago."

Tessa just sat there, waiting to see what would happen as Becky got up and walked toward the two officers and the deputy sheriff.

**********

"Hiya, Becky, what's up?" asked Chuck Barnett, the sheriff's deputy, as he and the two officers entered the food court area.

"Hi, Chuck, three boys were repeatedly shoving another child against one of the lamp posts here, that woman," Becky pointed to Tessa, "Stepped in, knocked out two of the three boys and put the third one on the floor all by herself. I need to pull the tapes from the cameras."

Bob Jasper, one of the two officers from the town's police force, asked, "All these people saw what happened?" as he and his partner Rosa Trafford looked around at the dozen or so people at the tables plus the people working the seven food stalls.

"Yup, lots of witnesses, I've spoken to the owners of the stalls that used their internal alarms, plus the child that was being attacked and the woman there who defended him. I haven't had a chance to talk to anyone else yet, I'll let you guys handle it."

"Okay, Becky, because part of the mall crosses the town limits, I'm involved with this case on the county's behalf," stated Chuck as he walked over to a couple seated at one of the tables, sat down and began asking them questions. Bob followed him, heading to a different table where he sat down and began to talk to the three girls seated there. Rosa headed to the food stalls to speak to the staff people.

**********

Tommy finally crawled back into the land of the living, he moaned loudly as he lifted his head from the floor, grabbing at the spot where his head had hit it. He could feel a bit of blood as he touched it, then slowly lowered his head back down to the floor. "What happened?"

Barney looked down and growled at him, "You were beating on the boy until Tessa there stepped in and kicked your ass. Consider yourself damn lucky that she only hit you once, boy, I've seen her fight in the dojo here in town, only Sensai beats her and that's not often."

Tommy put one hand flat on the floor, then slowly lifted himself up, grabbing onto the seat as he pulled his leg off of it before he managed to fully stand up. He winced, grabbing briefly at his side as he sat down on the hard seat, grunting in pain at the impact.

Barney stared at him, then spoke, "I suggest you just stay right there, you don't want to give me any reason to use my stick, boy."

Arnie noticed Barney allowing Tommy to sit at one of the tables, so he pointed to another one and told Bradley to sit down. Bradley stood up, shook his head at the pain caused by the sudden movement, then sat down at the table and waited, he wanted no part of Arnie's stick.

Becky grabbed John and hauled him to a third table, pushing him toward one of the seats, "Sit down and don't move." She waited a few minutes, noticed Chuck had finished getting a statement and suggested he call in for back-up while she continued to watch John.

**********

Ten minutes later, four officers from the town force arrived along with two more deputies. After they had been brought up to date, officers walked over to each of the boys, Mirandized them, then cuffed them. An officer stood by each boy, the rest helped with getting statements.

Once the new group of officers was present, Arnie and Barney returned to the security office as they were no longer needed.

It took another 90 minutes before all the statements had been taken. Becky had also produced the tapes from the five cameras covering the food stalls, the seating area and the walkway past that section of the mall. She handed them to Bob Jasper, then walked away.

Bob used a video player plugged into a socket in one of the food stalls to check the tapes from the various cameras.

He made notes for camera locations, which tape was being examined, the times on each tape that showed anything of what happened relevant to the investigation, then outlined what occurred on each of the tapes within the relevant time span.

It was quite obvious that Tessa's intervention had saved Stanley from further harm at the hands of the three boys.

Paramedics had been called in, Stanley had been examined, that examination revealed several more bruises and three possible hairline fractures, one on the left side of his mouth, one to the ulna in the right arm and the third to a rib on the right side of Stanley's torso.

Once he had finished with the tapes, Bob walked over to Tessa, "You're free to go, that boy is damn lucky you were here."

**********

Rosa and two of the four new officers hauled the three boys out to separate cars, then drove to the jail shared by the county and town. Each of the eight cells had stone walls except for the front of the cells, each one was about six feet by eight with a bed, toilet and foldaway bunk.

The boys were shoved into cells, separated from any possible direct contact with the others, given a basic meal, then locked in and left alone. They were all informed that they likely wouldn't be able to see a lawyer until the next day, not that it would help any of them at all.

When Bradley tried to get the other two boys to talk to him, the officer at the desk ordered them to shut up and stay quiet.

**********

Tessa, once she had been informed that she wasn't being arrested, walked over to Stanley and invited him to eat with her. While walking over to the food stalls, she asked, "I heard one of the paramedics say that you had three hairline fractures, are you going to be okay?"

Stanley nodded, "Yeah, the female paramedic said they should heal on their own, I just need to avoid hitting them on things."

Both decided to order from the Chinese food stall, Tessa asked for two meats and a vegetable with rice, Stanley for one meat and a vegetable with chow mein noodles. They took their food, utensils and napkins to a table, then sat down to eat their meals.

Tessa had been surprised earlier to find out that Stanley was male, his small size and long hair had led her to believe he was a girl.

They spent the next forty-five minutes chatting while they ate. As the meal continued, Stanley realized that he felt safe with Tessa. This was a bit of a surprise to him, he'd seen just how quickly she had taken down the three boys, yet he knew she would never harm him.

Sure, he'd been around lots of boys, girls, men and women over the last five years, but none had ever given him this sense of being safe.

He knew that he could trust this woman with his life. That level of trust was something he hadn't experienced for a long, long time.

**********

Brandon Alberts, Bradley's father and the head coach for the Westhill High football team, walked into the jail as if he owned it. Brandon was a fairly big man, standing 6'3" in his stocking feet and weighing in at about 215 pounds, his boy was almost his size now.

"Officer Denton, you need to let my son, his cousin and his friend go, they done nothing wrong, they were just being boys."

"I'm afraid I can't do that, Mr. Alberts, with all the witnesses and with it not being on school grounds, those boys are staying here."

"I wasn't asking you, Denton, I was telling you, now let them the hell out of those cells."

"I already told you I can't do that, sir, I suggest you leave before I charge you with obstruction of justice and interfering with an investigation."

"Last time, Denton, let them out now," Brandon snarled as he reached across the desk and hauled Officer Denton over the desktop.

Officer Denton yelled out, "Larry, get your butt out here, we have a problem!" just as a huge man stepped out of the washroom.

Lawrence Barton, aka Larry, the 7'5", 310 pound man mountain, saw Brandon yanking Denton over the desk, strode around the desk and clamped one hand around Brandon's neck, slowly squeezing it until Brandon let go of Denton and dropped to his knees on the floor.

Officer Denton sat down again, then whispered, "Larry, put him in the back cell, he'll be going before the judge in the morning on charges of obstruction of justice, interfering with an investigation and assaulting a peace officer. I can see where his son got his bad boy attitude."

Officer Barton let go of Brandon's neck, picked him up and carried him to the last cell, Mirandized him, then locked him in for the night.