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“I hate you.” Jongin announced, scowling at Baekhyun.
He somehow managed to still look gorgeous despite the blood dripping from every inch of him. Baekhyun pursed his lips to keep from laughing.
“Disgusting.” Jongin muttered, rising from the blood soaked bed and disappearing into the bathroom, presumably to wash all of Steve- or had it been Scott?- off of him.
Baekhyun had taken a tip from Yixing, a quieter method to their madness that would draw less attention than a loud gunshot. The only problem was, Baekhyun hadn’t expected it to be so...messy.
The rest of their plan had remained wholly unchanged; Jongin easily picking up customers on the street corner, done up in fur and fishnets, pink hair shining like a gemstone. Jongin would lead his unsuspecting victim to their hotel room, Jongin was very good at being distracting. Usually, Baekhyun would shoot the guys.
He had a silencer which he usually forgot, and it would always be a mad dash between the two of them to grab their money and clothes and the dead guy’s more expensive belongings before getting the hell out of dodge.
The last couple of times had been close calls, too close.
Yixing worried about Baekhyun being dragged off to Arkham and had given him an ice pick. He'd even shown him how to insert it into the base of the neck, separating the vertebrae in the neck before escaping through the front of the throat. It was an easy slide in and a quick glide out.
The resulting blood bath had not been expected. He was fairly sure that the surprised and shrill screaming from himself and Jongin when Sam’s throat opened and started squirting Jongin with the stuff, drew just as much attention as a gunshot would have.
Cursing, he started searching the body, aware that he was going to have blood all over his favorite leather biker jacket that Minseok had gifted him a few months ago. It was brand name and well over five thousand dollars.
He knew.
He'd picked the article out.
This guy better be fucking loaded.
One pocket held a large roll of cash. Mostly hundred dollar bills, the other a wallet full of credit cards.
“I'll take that.” Jongin said as he reappeared, looking significantly less blood covered.
He swiped the roll of dough from Baekhyun's outstretched hand and slipped it into the lined pocket of his black fur coat.
“Is that everything?” Jongin asked, blinking at the exsanguinated body on the bed.
“ ‘fraid so,” Baekhyun sighed. “I guess you'll have to go out and find another Stewart.”
“I thought his name was Ryan.” Jongin said with a grin, tossing half of the cash he'd swiped back at Baekhyun.
“There was only 3 thousand. Maybe we should try going to a high end bar or casino? Do you think Junmyeon and Minseok would mind terribly if we started picking off their high rolling customers?”
Baekhyun grimaced, flinching involuntarily at the thought of the two other men seeing Jongin leading one of their lambs to slaughter. Minseok and Junmyeon were very easy going. Until someone got in the way of their money. Baekhyun doubted either he or Jongin would be heard from again if they dared to step foot in the men’s casino.
“I thought his name started with an S.” Baekhyun replied, steering the conversation away from any plans of premature death.
Jongin fixed him with a disbelieving look.
“What does his license say?”
“Oh, who gives a rat’s ass, he's dead. We could go to the competition's casino and never let it be known that we even entertained the thought of fucking over Minseok and Junmyeon.” Baekhyun suggested at Jongin’s laughter.
“I thought you liked getting Minseok all riled up.” Jongin purred, grinning at Baekhyun from sleepy, seductive eyes framed by indecently long lashes.
“I don't want to fucking die.” Baekhyun said, exasperated.
“This time, don’t gut the man while I'm sitting right in front of him. I think I'll have nightmares.”
“You??” Baekhyun shouted incredulously, swinging his prada backpack over his shoulders as he followed Jongin out of the hotel room.
“I'm the one that stabbed him for God sakes. Yixing should have warned about the mess.”
“Wouldn't want to clean that up.” Jongin agreed.
The door slammed shut behind them as they left. *****
Luhan wasn’t sure where Kyungsoo and Jongdae were taking him, but he could almost guarantee the destination was trouble. Jongdae was being especially handsy, which Luhan didn’t mind in the least.
The weather had recently changed in Gotham; humidity making way for crisp breezes and lower temperatures. Currently, the three of them were strolling the sidewalk of downtown; Jongdae pawing at Luhan’s chest and ass beneath his peacoat while Kyungsoo strode a bit ahead of them but not too much so that anyone would think they weren't a trio.
“Is this the end of us?” Luhan asked, directing the question at Kyungsoo.
Jongdae was currently swiping kisses along the exposed part of Luhan’s throat, and it was taking more self control than Luhan cared to admit not to shove Jongdae up against the nearest wall and finish what he was intent upon starting.
That would be too easy.
“You both finally got tired of me and are finding some street to abandon me like an unwanted dog, is that it?”
Kyungsoo threw his head back with a laugh and Luhan felt his insides warm. He loved the sound of Kyungsoo’s laugh. Jongdae chuckled against Luhan's shoulder as he wound their fingers together.
“I thought you wanted to know what we did for fun?” Kyungsoo replied, his look expectant.
“I thought it was just really wild, kinky sex.” Luhan said.
“That's after the fun part.” Jongdae corrected.
Realization hit Luhan and he perked up immediately.
“Really?”
Kyungsoo nodded, still smiling.
Jongdae turned to Luhan with a small smile of his own.
“You can pick anyone you want. And we'll do it how you want it.”
Luhan felt a different kind of warmth stir deep in his stomach as Kyungsoo led them into a high end bar in the lobby of one of Gotham’s more expensive hotels. ***** Minseok stared down at the casino lobby with mild disinterest. Business had been booming, money was practically flying into his pocket and yet, Minseok found himself..bored. It had been his decision to take the helm after the clown and the bat wreaked havoc on Gotham’s underworld a few years back. There were few crime bosses left free after that particular debacle, and it made stealing the throne that much easier when there was no real competition.
Regardless, after a lot of effort from himself and Junmyeon, they were steadily building up an empire.
The business model was pretty foolproof; if Minseok had anything to say about it. Junmyeon was a sweet-faced, silver tongued business mogul. He'd built himself up out of nothing on Wall Street. Junmyeon was a wolf in sheep's clothing. His methods of hostile takeovers in large corporations were almost cruel in their unfairness, and half the time, hardly legal. But when you have a mob boss capable of bringing you the secrets or family members of every power that be in Gotham- not many things could stop you.
Minseok took care of the more...unsightly matters in the business. With power and money, came enemies. It was his job to make sure those who wished them harm were stamped out- violently and decisively.It was all very dull as of late though.Batman had been doing much of Minseok’s work for him in his renewed and almost feverish attempts to clean up Gotham’s underbelly.
So far, they’d managed to stay out of Batman’s radar. But it was only a matter of time. *****
“Ooooh! Nice place.” Baekhyun whistled, as they breezed through the casino doors; already turning heads.
Jongin agreed, although the gold accents were borderline gaudy. What mattered was that they got themselves in at the high-roller table and went home with whoever had the largest pot.
Eyes already on a mark at the high stakes poker tables near the back, Baekhyun sidled up close to some seedy looking guy in dark sun shades.
“Well hello there sugar, plan on being here all night?” Baekhyun asked, his voice hitting that low, seductive tone that never failed to mesmerize people.
The man looked Baekhyun up and down before smirking and spreading his legs wide; an invitation. Baekhyun preened, and took a seat on the man’s lap.
“I can be your good luck charm tonight.” He promised, practically hanging from the stranger.
Steeling himself, Jongin plastered his nearly trademark smirk on his own face and started working on the opposite side of the table.
They were well into their little game. And with a little subtle cheating, had managed to get their marks to fold when they had to or call when the hand was good. They had a very decent pot for both their marks.Hook, Line, Sinker.Then they heard a throat clear. Jongin watched as Baekhyun’s face paled as he stared behind him. Jongin turned to see Minseok glowering darkly at the two of them.
Uh-oh.“Boys,” Minseok said, voice frighteningly pleasant, especially when accompanied by the killing glare in his eyes.. “Why didn’t you tell me you’d be visiting?”Baekhyun sputtered for a moment before smiling radiantly. “Oops. Surprise!?”Minseok turned to their poker table. “Gentlemen, if you’ll excuse us for a moment?”Jongin took a step towards Minseok, expecting him to lead them towards a dark, blood covered, back room where no one could hear their screams. But to his surprise, the poker table cleared out- immediately. Even the dealer vanished.So he’d make an example of them right here on the casino floor? Oh god…
Why did he drag Baekhyun here?Jongin chanced a look over at Baekhyun who seemed to be having an internal conflict with himself on how to best make it out of this situation alive. When his face took on that of a scolded toddler, pouted lower lip and all, Jongin knew he’d decided to appeal to Minseok’s affectionate side.Which meant it was up to find an escape route. Okay.“Darling, don’t be upset.” Baekhyun said, still pouting. He reached out to straighten Minseok’s tie. “Why would I be upset, dear?” Minseok asked through clenched teeth, his black eyes staring down at Baekhyun as if he had laser vision.Baekhyun shrugged innocently. “I just wanted to see my favorite boy.”“You’ve seen me, now leave. And don’t try to off my high paying customers again.” Minseok slapped Baekhyun on the ass and the younger boy yelped, but slinked back to where Jongin was standing.“How much money do you guys need?” Minseok asked, gaze softening.Both of them glared at the mob boss.“Excuse me, we don’t need your charity.” Jongin hissed.
Baekhyun nodded his head vehemently, hands moving to his hips.
“We make our money our way thank you very much.” Baekhyun agreed.
He seemed to assess Minseok for a moment, dark eyes glinting.
“How much do you have on you?” He saidMinseok smirked, a soft laugh escaping before he could help it. He shook his head, cursing to himself.“I’ll be right back.”Without another word, he turned around and disappeared back wherever he came from. Jongin presumed to a safe.“Holy shit, Baek.” Jongin whispered. “You are incredible.”Baek shrugged. “There’s still a 40 percent chance he comes back with a gun and empties a round into our faces. I say we make ourselves scarce, Nini.”“You don’t want the cash? These days have been slow…”Baekhyun seemed to consider it, biting on his upper lip.That was about the time the glass roof came down on them, pieces falling and cutting through skin as absolute mayhem ensued.
Jongin whipped his head around, trying to find the source of the sudden explosion. Gunfire erupted in the corner and Jongin whirled to see Batman in full on combat with Minseok's armed casino guards.“Holy fucking shit.”“What are you doing, Jongin?” Baekhyun shrieked in his face, grabbing his hand and winding a path through the violence. “We have to get out of here before he recognizes us.”Baekhyun was right of course. The reason things had been slow for them lately, is because they were plastered all over the Gotham city newspapers and broadcasts. When wealthy, well-known men got knocked off in dingy motel rooms, people noticed.Batman noticed.And now here he was. Jongin wasn’t sure if he was here for Minseok or for them, but better to not find out.“Shouldn’t we warn Minseok?” Jongin suggested.“All of his security team members have in ear walkies. He knows.” Baekhyun said hurriedly, all but dragging Jongin to the front door.“You.” They both stopped when Batman appeared, blocking the door. Gravely voice sending a shiver down Jongin’s back. From lust or fear? Who could tell..“Oh well, hello there, sugar.” Baekhyun said, smiling pleasantly. “Don’t mind us, we’ll just be going. Carry on.”Batman didn’t step aside. Baekhyun tried to maneuver around him and batman lunged.
“You’re coming with me!” Batman grated.Baekhyun wailed as he was flung like a ragdoll across the marble floors of the casino.“What the hell is wrong with you, guy?” Baekhyun screamed, climbing back to his feet. Now he was angry. Baekhyun reached into his prada bag for his gun and ice pick. Batman snarled.Jongin felt like he was going to piss himself.They ran at eachother but Batman was bigger and a more experienced fighter. He had Baekhyun on the ground in an embarrassingly short amount of time. Baekhyun groaned, head snapping to the side as the rodent man punched him. He punched him again and again. Baekhyun’s arms were pinned to his sides by the batman’s legs as the larger man straddled him.“Oh, so this is how you get your rocks off, huh?” Baekhyun spat. “You’re no better than me you scum.”He struggled against him and Batman hit him some more.
During Baekhyun’s distractions Jongin had retrieved the ice pick that had been kicked from Baekhyun’s hands. “Fuck you, you ugly piece of shit!” Baekhyun shrieked.Jongin heard bones snapping, and Baekhyun screaming and didn’t think. He thrust the ice pick into Batman’s shoulder, as close to his neck as he could get. It penetrated, but barely. His armor was as thick as plastic! Quickly, Jongin yanked it out and shoved it in again. Harder. Aiming for the same exact spot as before. Batman grunted and backhanded Jongin, sending him flying.“Jongin!” Baekhyun cried, and turned back to the advancing black bat. “You’ll pay for that you coward! You perverted fuck! Fuck you!”Jongin ran to put himself in between Baekhyun and the vicious kick Batman was aiming for.Changing his mind, Batman grabbed something from his belt and threw it at the two criminals. A strong net appeared as if from nowhere around the two.Jongin started to panic, kicking at the thing as Batman turned and began walking for the front door, dragging them in tow. The shattered glass on the floor cut into Jongin’s hands and legs as they were dragged- literally kicking and screaming - through the casino lobby.More gunshots rang out and Batman stopped as several bullets embedded into his military grade suit. Jongin whirled around to see Minseok emerging from the dark back hallway like an avenging angel. He had a tommy gun in his hands and was flanked by two of his security detail.Jongin could hear police sirens closing in and renewed his struggles, despite the glass moving deeper into his skin.Minseok made eye contact with him briefly before narrowing his eyes and staring down his sights.Jongin closed his eyes tight as more gunshots fired. There was a snapping sound and suddenly they weren’t moving anymore. Jongin looked back at the Batman. Had they killed him?No.He was gone. And the rope that had attached their net to his waist was severed.Minseok was upon them in seconds; frantically working at freeing them from the net.“Is Baekhyun alright?” Minseok asked him. “Why isn’t his loud mouth saying anything?”Jongin could hear the undercurrent of panic in Minseok’s voice and turned to Baekhyun, bursting into tears. He was so pale against the angry black and blue bruises forming against his skin. His eyes were almost swollen shut, his nose was crooked and bleeding. But his eyes were alert. He cracked a smile.
Jesus, even his gums were bleeding.Jongin hiccuped. “He’ll be alright.”“Ya got my money, darlin?” Baekhyun slurred from swollen lips. Minseok laughed softly, freeing them from the net and picking Baekhyun up in his arms. The sirens were really close now. Like right outside.Minseok began leading them back towards the dark hallway he always disappeared into.
“Have I ever not come through for you?” Minseok replied, raising his eyebrows at Baek.They entered Minseok’s office and the two Security guards made quick work of moving Minseok’s massive desk to the side to reveal a hidden tunnel beneath.“Once a sewer rat, always a sewer rat.” Minseok muttered to himself. He whispered some orders to the guards and then leapt down into the darkness with Baekhyun still in his arms. One of them guards helped to lower Jongin, and then he was following Minseok through the tunnel as the guards shut them back in.“So this is where you make all those people disappear.” Jongin said musinglyMinseok grinned at him. “Just until they show up in the harbor.” *****Yixing cursed when his scalpel hand slipped. The sharp metal blade cut into flesh and the woman underneath him began seizing, blood spraying straight up in the air, nearly hitting the Doctor in his eye.
So, he'd hit an artery then, wonderful.
With a small sigh, Yixing reached for his notebook.
Patient 23: results inconclusive.
He'd been attempting to look over the inner workings of a human’s throat, with dismal results. It would probably be easier on non living people, but watching the muscles work and tear apart in front of him was half the fun.
He was getting ready to start fresh with another missing and believed to be escapee from Arkham when his laboratory doors burst open.
“Minseok? What’s -”
He broke off when he saw who Minseok was cradling in his arms, a weeping and bloody Jongin trailing behind them.
Baekhyun looked even worse off than Jongin. His features were nearly unrecognizable through the swelling and gashes. Baekhyun was barely conscious but still cracked a smile when he met Yixing’s eyes, his lips cracking and spilling blood down his chin and teeth.
“What’s up, Doc?”
Yixing felt himself recoil internally. On the outside, he appeared perfectly normal as he rolled the still twitching body on his examination table onto the floor, making space for Baekhyun; but on the inside, he was freaking out, just a little.
“Minseok,” Yixing started, his voice sounded cold to his own ears. “Who did this?”
Yixing didn’t like the way his ears popped as he spoke, there was a fervent ringing in the back of his mind as he tried to get himself under control.
Minseok sighed as he relieved himself of Baekhyun's weight, gently placing the young man on Yixing's not so sterile table.
“Flying black rodent that only comes out during the night, ring any bells?”
“I'll skin that fucker.” Yixing growled.
“Less revenge proclamations, more fixing the dying love of your life.”
Minseok snorted at that. “You’re far from dying, you fool. Since when are you unable to take a punch?”
Baekhyun sputtered, forcing more blood from his cracked lip.
“My ribs are broken, you ass! Broken! He broke me and you're making jokes about it. Where's the camaraderie? The loyalty? The sympathy or compassion? I thought you loved me”
Minseok raised an eyebrow as Yixing took his time removing Baekhyun’s shirt to further assess the damage.
“I thought you wanted less revenge proclamations.” Minseok reminded.
“Yes, well- it’s nice to feel worthy of vengeance sometimes.” Baekhyun said sheepishly.
“Baekhyun, I do love you but if you don't stay still we may actually have to avenge your dumb ass. Your ribs are dangerously close to puncturing a lung or your heart right now.”
“Yixing is that true?” Baekhyun attempted to turn to look at the doctor. Minseok held him steadfastly in place while Yixing was reduced to hissing out profanities while hurrying through the setting process. *****Chanyeol had no illusions of normalcy when it came to his family. He knew what and who they were, even if they often tried to shield him from some of the grimier truths about their lives and how they made their living.
But he knew, anyways.
He’d sometimes wake up to sounds of bloodcurdling screams in the middle of the night from his uncle Yixing’s “laboratory” which would quickly be followed by one of his other uncles yelling from their room to “shut that motherfucker up”
Sometimes, Chanyeol would hear even more terrifying sounds coming from his uncle Soo’s room. But no one dared to tell Kyungsoo to be quiet. Chanyeol remembered the time he'd gotten lippy with his uncle; the memory of Kyungsoo’s dark eyes boring holes into him could still manage to make Chanyeol shake. Kyungsoo was one of the only uncles that despite everything, managed to scare Chanyeol.
Even his own fathers, who scare the socks off of half of Gotham and own the other half have never instilled as much fear into him as that one deadly glare from uncle Soo. Chanyeol never got lippy with him again, and he supposed, that was the point. Still, Chanyeol enjoyed testing his limits. Besides, Kyungsoo was the only uncle that never worried about protecting Chanyeol’s innocence or whatever lame thing his dad would always say to dissuade him from getting involved in their activities.
“What’s this?” Chanyeol asked, poking at a narrow metallic object on Uncle Soo’s work table.
He was barely tall enough to peer at the table’s surface, and there were many gleaming objects that he'd never seen before.
“Icepick” Kyungsoo muttered, not bothering to look away from his task of power washing the blood from the basement floor.
“What’s it used for?”
“Stabbing things, mostly” Kyungsoo replied, a crease forming between his brows as he frowned. “Or crushing off pieces of ice, I guess.”
Chanyeol hummed thoughtfully, hopping up and down to glimpse at the other items on the table. “What about this one?”
“Machete.”
“What’s it used for?”
“Hacking things.”
And so went most of Chanyeol’s afternoons. His dads were usually too busy to entertain Chanyeol during the day, and he found comfort in his Uncle Soo’s room, finding out the uses of different things he was unfamiliar with, and some things, that he was grimly surprised to find he was familiar with.
Chanyeol’s previous family was not kind to him. He was the bastard son of an oil tycoon or something and spent most of his time with the bitter, scorned, wife of his father. She was a cruel woman; did all sorts of nasty things to Chanyeol as a child in revenge for whatever imagined slights she believed a toddler could do. When Chanyeol had turned 8, she'd lost all interest in him, had left him tied in a closet, starving and made to sit in his own waste for weeks before Kris had found him and took him home.
Chanyeol didn’t care that his family was abnormal, or crooked, or downright evil. To him, they were the first and only people to ever give a damn about him, to ever show him kindness or love and he was happy with them. ******Junmyeon sat at the table, a dozing Chanyeol in his lap and smiled tightly at battered and bruised Baekhyun. Everyone besides the still missing Sehun, and Tao had gathered to be briefed on the Batman Situation. Jongin was still sulking near the edge of the table despite Baekhyun’s prodding and Kris murmuring reassurements.The poor kid blamed himself for whatever happened, and Junmyeon wanted to find out just exactly what was going on..
Sure the two boys weren’t the most inconspicuous criminals, but Junmyeon didn’t think they deserved to be all but beaten to death because of a few corpses left in their wake. They were good kids regardless. Just like Tao and Sehun. The batman wasn’t playing by his usual rule book.“How the hell did this happen?” Kris demanded gruffly. “Why didn’t you call one of us at the first sign of trouble?”Baekhyun rolled his eyes. “Sorry, dad. It’s a little hard to dial a phone when you’re having the shit beat out of you!”
“Language.” Junmyeon reminded softly, eyes darting to Chanyeol.Baekhyun had the decency to smile apologetically at the sleeping boy and made a motion of zipping his lips closed. Junmyeon rolled his eyes and turned to Jongin.“Do you remember what happened?”Looking haunted, Jongin just nodded solemnly and began to explain the days’ events**** ****Tao twirled around in his chair, twiddling his thumbs- bored out of his mind. He checked his bank account for the third time in 20 minutes. He was still a millionaire. Cool. With nothing else to keep him occupied, he busied himself with online shopping. Kind of. He wouldn’t be paying for anything, but there were ways that he could work around that. With another sigh, he reached for his mountain dew only to realize it was empty. Along with the other 5 cans littering his computer desk. Huh. What time was it?Tao glanced at the clock on his computer: Wednesday, 4:48amWell, fuck. He’d been sitting here for 2 days.
Groaning, Tao lurched from his chair and stretched for a good few minutes before walking barefoot out into the kitchen in search of more mountain dew and snacks.He walked past Jongdae’s room on the way and from the sounds of things he was either killing someone, fucking someone, or both.With a grimace, Tao continued on; mentally bleaching his brain out.The light from the refrigerator was too bright. Tao flipped the switch off, letting his eyes adjust back to the dark and swiping up a neon green can. Next he raided the pantry. Finding three decent bags of chips, he was set and began making his way back to his room.“You okay, kid?” The voice belonged to Kris. Tao blinked around the room owlishly. Kris flipped on the kitchen light and immediately dimmed it down to the lowest setting. Just enough that Tao could make out his form.“Where’s Sehun?” Tao asked. Ignoring Kris’ question. “I haven’t seen him in days.”“We’ll find him. Don’t worry.” Kris promised.Tao frowned; remembered what he was supposed to be doing.“Okay.”“Wait a minute!” Kris said softly, moving to block Tao’s way.Tao just blinked up at him.
“I know you want Sehun back, but you have to take care of yourself too.” Kris said.“Okay.”Tao made to move but Kris blocked his way again, Tao; again; blinked up at the older man.
“I’m serious. Batman attacked Baekhyun and Jongin today. He beat them pretty badly.”Tao craned his head to the side.Batman…interesting..maybe“Okay.”He walked back to his room and shoved a handful of chips into his mouth. He didn’t taste anything.
Taking a seat in his computer chair, rolling his head back; working the kinks out- Tao opened an all too familiar screen these days.
He remembered.
He was supposed to be looking for Sehun. How the heck could he have forgotten? When was the last time he’d slept? Tao frowned when he couldn’t remember.Oh well. Doesn’t matter. Have to find him.He set up the facial recognition software and began running it against stoplight cameras, airport cameras, and the subway system cameras.Then he hacked into Arkham’s database and began searching through the list of new inmates within the last week.Kris was right. They’d find him.Tao drank his mountain dew down in one gulp, and dove back in to his search.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Chanyeol heard his bedroom door knob rattle and quickly scrambled to clean up his mess of books and posters that littered the floor. He’d gone through a pretty severe growth spurt recently, and wasn’t yet used to having all the added length on his limbs. So, when he’d tried to climb up from the floor back onto his bed, adorned in his cloak made from bed comforter- things got tangled and he squawked as he fell backwards onto the floor. Chanyeol stared up at the ceiling, stunned. Kris walked into view, his upside down head blocking the rest of Chanyeol’s sight. Chan tilted his head to the side and smiled sheepishly.“Oh, hey, dad... Didn’t hear you come in.”Kris regarded him with an amused expression and an arched eyebrow.“Uh-huh, sure.”“Did you need something?”“Well,” Kris said, offering his hands to help pull Chanyeol to his feet. “I would like to know why my clever kid is up at almost five in the morning on a school night.”Chanyeol snorted. “I don’t go to school.”A look passed over Kris’ face, too quickly and foreign looking for Chanyeol to know what it meant.“Yeah, well... The guys and I have been talking, and we think you should enroll, this quarter.”Chan gaped up at his father, too shocked to remember how to use words. He recovered quickly enough- kind of. “What- how- who...i don’t need school!”Kris sighed heavily, moving to sit on the bed. Chanyeol hesitated for a few moments before moving to sit beside him.“I, for one, think you would have a lot of fun at school.” Kris said, defending himself. Chanyeol always got filled with a wild satisfaction knowing that his parents were two of the toughest guys in all of Gotham city but still reduced to grasping blindly at straws when it came to pleasing him. “You love learning about new things, you’re super smart. With a little bit of education- you could rule the whole world.”Chanyeol considered his words for a moment before scrunching up his nose. “Nah, I’m already edumacated. Nini and Baek buy me books all the time and Sehun steals cool books for me to write on and Minseok taught me to draw!”“And i’m sure that no matter how many times i tell them to stop,” The last half of his sentence was barely audible through his clenched teeth. “They will continue to do that. But you could make friends with kids your own age. Do things like go on field trips and learn more about the subjects you love!”Chanyeol stared at his dad, biting his lip. Kris attempted to put on his serious face, but he was clearly stressing about Chan’s reaction because he just ended up looking constipated.“This is serious to you?” Chanyeol said after a heavy pause.Kris nodded his head. “All of us know that you are already capable of greatness, kid. But if you go to school- they’ll provide you the tools. It’ll make it that much easier for you to achieve your goals.”Chanyeol didn’t know if he should tell him about his complete lack of goals right now. Maybe his first one would be to figure out why Sehun hadn’t come to take him out for ice cream in a long time and no one would answer him when he brought it up.“So what you’re saying is,” Chanyeol said. “It’s important to everyone here that I go to school?”Kris smiled, ruffling Chanyeol’s hair. “No, I’m saying that you’re important to us. And we want you to be successful no matter what.”“Okay. Sign me up.” Chanyeol said.He’d always known he was important to his family. But hearing his dad say it reminded him of when he had another family. Of when he hadn’t been important at all. He remembered his last few days in that house and decided that his goal from now on would be to protect his family no matter what.Chanyeol may have never gone to school but he wasn’t stupid. He saw the various news reports. Some of them had pictures of Nini and Baek; others were just vague descriptions that matched up really close to Jongdae and Kyungsoo. He knew Gotham thought his family was the bad guys. But his uncles, even being as scary as they were sometimes, would never treat him like his real parents had. So how on earth could they possibly be bad? If his family killed someone, that person probably deserved it.Just like his father and step mom had it coming. ***** 3 years ago~ *****“AAAAAGHHH!!!”Chanyeol grins when he hears the scream of horror from upstairs. He listens to the rapid clacking of heels coming down the large spiral staircase, so fast and so quick it sounds like they might break. “You little worthless punk!” comes the feminine voice from behind him and Chanyeol turns around and tries to put on a straight face to mask his amusement. The woman in front of him is covered head to toe in purple paint Chanyeol found in the basement. He was pretty sure it was leftover from the paint they’d used for his new step-mom’s gym.It’d taken him a little less than an hour to place the bucket right over her bedroom doorway and he’d snickered to himself before padding downstairs and turning on the TV like he’d been watching it all along when he was just waiting for the time that his horrid step-mother would step outside her bedroom door, draped in her silk nightclothes and expensive jewelry his father bought her. “You...you!” she growled pointing a well-manicured finger at the little eight-year-old boy. Chanyeol looked at her in mock confusion. “Me?” “Don't play dumb!” she shouted and Chanyeol noticed her walking towards him; dripping paint as she stepped. “I know you're behind this nonsense. You've been the biggest pain in my ass since I got with your father. First the dog food in my shoes, tearing the leather off my pocketbook, and nearly killing me with that cinnamon sugar in my tea; that’s only scratching the surface.”Chanyeol furrowed his eyebrows and scowled. “What are you gonna do? Beat me? That didn’t work out so well for you last time, remember? We wouldn’t want the school nurse to start asking questions again.” His tone was playful, but he was hiding the fear lurking beneath.Wiping the paint from her shoulders and arms, the woman shakes her head. “Worse.”She lunges toward Chanyeol and grabs him by the arm, and drags him off the sofa--flinging purple paint onto the white couch as Chanyeol struggles against her. He tries to scratch and bite at her wrists but it's all in vain as she drags him up the staircase and into his room. “Get offa me!! Lemme go!” Chanyeol screeches as her nails dig painfully into his shoulder sending pinpricks down his arm.Smack!He’s stunned into silence when her hand comes into contact with his cheek. His face stings painfully, but he’s not sure if he’s bleeding or not. “Little shit,” she grates forcing one of Chanyeol’s long socks in his mouth and knotting it behind his head and doing the same to his bony wrists and ankles.It’s too late when Chanyeol finally regains his thoughts and he’s already being tossed into his cramped closet, landing painfully on his shoes and boxes. He whips his head to the woman in the doorway and lets out all the muffled curse words he knows and struggles against his makeshift restraints.“I’ll be sure to tell your father that you ran away,” she says, smiling evilly and Chanyeol begins to panic, fear spreading through his body and he can only let out a pathetic whimper as the door slams shut leaving him in darkness save for the peeps of light through the shutters of his closet door.He squirms and fidgets, desperately trying to rid himself of the binds and ultimately starts sobbing when he realizes he’s stuck. Stuck in his closet with a stinging cheek, wet eyes, and a shoebox digging uncomfortably into his spine. He knows that his father won't give a damn about his disappearance even if she tells him her made up story and Chanyeol feels sadness begin to well up inside of him at the thought of his father just going on with his life despite his only son going missing.Would anyone wonder about him? He eventually tires himself out and with tear tracks drying on his face and numbing arms, Chanyeol falls asleep. -1 week later-Chanyeol startles awake to the sounds of gunshots and terrified screaming.He’s too weak to sit up, but his heart’s beating at a million miles per second and he hears loud shouting and then silence...He stays completely still, in his almost dry waste and starts breathing heavily when he hears footsteps come near his room. It’s quiet until his bedroom door opens and Chanyeol can see legs pass by from the cracks in the closet. The stranger is checking the room and even underneath his bed.“Nobody in this room,” the person--a man--says. He pauses for a minute before checking out of the window. “Looks like a kid slept here, though. Didn't know Park had a future heir.”His tone is a sneer.Chanyeol watches as the long legs turn around and face towards where the closet is. A whimper catches in his throat, too dry from disuse and dehydration; it turns into a small cough. Chanyeol realizes his mistake and he wants to slap himself. The man notices the noise and starts stepping closer to the door and Chanyeol’s heart feels like it might stop.He’s nearly blinded with light as the door swings open and Chanyeol curls in on himself waiting for his inevitable death. But, it doesn't come. He peeks open one eye to see the man looking surprised and lowering his weapon.“Holy shit” he breathes, and Chanyeol notices a small blinking earpiece in his ear. “They locked their kid in a closet.”The man holds his hand out to him and Chanyeol seizes up and averts his eyes. He hears the other swear softly and he presses his finger against the device in his ear.“I can't kill him, Luhan” the stranger snaps into his earpiece. “Hell, he’s practically already dead as it is..”He paces in the doorway, arguing with whomever and Chanyeol watches him with wide eyes. He zones out after a while, hearing the distant noise of the man lose his patience and lean his head back against the cold wall.“Hey.”Chanyeol snaps his head to the man, immediately getting dizzy as he tries to focus his eyes and blink away the blur. The man looks around before turning back to him. “I can get you outta here. Do you want my help?” Chanyeol eyes him warily, hearing shouts from the device in the man’s ear. He didn't want to die in his closet, with wet underwear and starvation looming. “C’mon kid I need an answer before your father's backup comes. And I don't really wanna have to risk you ratting me out,” the man rushes, holding his hand out. “Trust me.”Chanyeol pauses before ultimately nodding solemnly, and letting the man pick him up like he doesn't weigh a thing. He knows he must stink, as the man makes a face and scrunches up his nose. He gets carried down the stairs, eyes being shielded away from what could be the grisly sight of dead bodies and blood. Chanyeol doesn't need to see -- can smell the stench of blood and bitterly hopes that one of the many bodies is his wicked stepmother. It’s probably taboo to wish death on family, but Chanyeol feels almost no remorse in his heart for thinking so. A shiver racks through his body and he’s not sure if it's from the man holding him gruffly giving orders to his other comrades or the chilly air when they hurry outside in the fall evening. He’s shuffled into a large black van and the man’s hand falls from his face, making him squint when his eyes don't adjust to the light inside. “Kris, are you fucking nuts?!” someone screeches as soon as the man--Kris--sits down with Chanyeol in his lap. Chanyeol flinches at the volume of the person’s voice.“Luhan, can you shut your trap?” Kris mumbles. Chanyeol curiously peeks around the van and jerks forward when they begin moving. “Shut my trap?” Luhan gapes. “You literally kidnapped our enemies’ son! Even though we all told you not to, but you didn't listen! We’re so fucked -- Minseok is gonna have our heads on a silver platter and serve them as gourmet to his casino guests,” the man bemoans. Kris pays him no mind, tugging and pulling at the tight knot of socks holding Chanyeol’s limbs together and huffing triumphantly when he’s able to rip the fabric off with a satisfying sound. “Where’s Jongdae?” Luhan asks, to a quietly laughing Tao, tapping away on his laptop. He takes off his jacket and wraps it around Chanyeol who looks close to passing out in his grip.“Doing one more check around the house with Squad B and they’ll head out,” Tao answers easily. He stares at the boy in Kris’ arms but doesn't say anything except hum and give directions to the driver.Kris tunes out Luhan’s rambling about how trigger happy Jongdae is and how Kyungsoo will lecture his ear off later, instead he takes to staring intently at a sleeping Chanyeol with a lot of questions and so little answers.“This is the last time i’m doing a group job with you assholes.” Luhan says, mostly to himself. He begins muttering as he pulls the van out of the driveway and seamlessly into Gotham city traffic. “Kidnapping little stinky kids..not even letting me have some fun. Why couldn’t Sehun be the getaway driver?”-There’s a dining room in their large home which is rarely ever used by all 11 of them. Everyone takes food to the parlor or to their own rooms to eat and the room has been sitting around catching dust and making home to spiders in the corners of the walls.However, on this particular night, everyone’s already gathered in -- save for Kyungsoo cooking in the kitchen -- looking at the frail little boy at the head of the table. There's no talking or even a whisper and Chanyeol feels uneasy with the heavy tension in the air. He doesn't look at anyone’s face -- doesn't wanna see what emotions they have towards him.As soon as he was taken to this place, Kris had begun all but shoving water down his throat. Even now, his table was set with more bottles of water.He’s been bathed and given some big, but comfortable clothing by Kris’ hands, not really trusting anyone else at the moment. They’ve taken the time to give him some space -- let him be alone. Kris stands guard outside his door to keep out a nosy Baekhyun and Jongin who “Just wanna talk to him! We swear!”, but Kris doesn't believe them for a minute.Chanyeol’s head snaps up to a plate clattering in front of him on the polished wood table and he thanks Kyungsoo gently who just gives him an unreadable look in return.“Will you all stop looking at the boy like that! He’s too nervous to even eat,” Junmyeon scolds the men at the table, casting a warm smile to Chanyeol when easy chatter starts almost instantly. Junmyeon had been the second person Chanyeol had spoken to. He’d peeped into the room the child was resting in and skirted around the topic of his father and instead introduced himself claiming that dinner was ready. He gave off a nice aura that Chanyeol liked immediately but still kept his distance to himself.At the table, Chanyeol had barely realized conversation had stopped as he practically vacuumed down the food.“Is it that good?” asks one man, eyes in mischievous crescents and his mouth curled into a smile. He looks like a cat, Chanyeol thinks. If he had purple and pink stripes and glowing green eyes and talked in riddles, he’d surely be the Cheshire Cat.“Jongdae,” Junmyeon warns, voice steely. Jongdae just shrugs, eyes still on Chanyeol.The boy finishes swallowing the rest of his noodles down and nods curtly. “It’s really good,” he admits, voice raspy but soft from lack of use. He doesn't notice that the conversations have stopped when he speaks and from further down the table he spots Kyungsoo staring intently at him and he immediately averts his gaze back down to his plate.“Kyungie you're scaring him,” a sarcastic, saccharine voice says and Chanyeol’s head snaps up.“Baekhyun, I’ll stab you with this butter knife if you call me that again,” Kyungsoo says and Baekhyun visibly flinches when Kyungsoo moves to pick it up.“Just kidding, just kidding!” Baekhyun nervously laughs out, waving a dismissive hand. He gulps when the other makes a move to get up. “Jongin-ah, save me.”The sleepy looking one, stops scarfing down his food for a moment and looks between a terrified Baekhyun and a threatening Kyungsoo. The doe-eyed boy--Luhan--from beside Kyungsoo tries coaxing him back in his seat to no avail.“Uh,” he says inelegantly. “May I have some seconds please, Soo?”Kyungsoo says nothing, but does gingerly take the empty plate from Jongin’s hands and heads into the kitchen to give him more food. Baekhyun sighs in relief.“Ah jeez, what’s with all the commotion,” an annoyed and pitched voice says from the staircase. Junmyeon smiles again but this time it looks strained and a little scary. Chanyeol shrinks in his seat even though it's not directed at him. “Zitao, Sehun,” he greets them as they take their seats, one of them reluctantly prying himself free of the other’s gangly limbs. Chanyeol fuzzily remembers the computer boy in the van as “Tao”. He’s sure the other one is Sehun.“You’ve come to join us during dinner this week,” Junmyeon eyes them. “How novel.”“I was doing something!” Zitao defends himself. “It shouldn't be weird that I’m eating.”“Eating Sehun don't you mean?” Luhan smirks. Sehun suddenly gets up and mumbles something about noodles, much more awake than when he was a few minutes ago. He stalks to the kitchen and it’s no surprise about the pink on his cheeks.Zitao stays silent after that, throwing a quick glare Luhan’s way and speedwalks to the kitchen where he and Sehun share hushed words.“Are we forgetting there’s a child in the room?” Jongin says peering at Chanyeol and smiling gently. Chanyeol tries to smile back but his face doesn't feel like working at the moment. There’s too much going on and so many new people. He feels tired all of a sudden. He wishes Kris were here, but the man had left so quickly before dinner.“Excuse me,” Chanyeol mumbles to nobody, sliding off his chair and making way to his bedroom. After his 4th step he nearly falls over, eyes going unfocused and body swaying.“Are you okay?” someone asks and there’s the too loud sound of feet scrambling towards him and he flinches when someone's hand touches his shoulder.“Don't touch me!” Chanyeol yells, and the room goes quiet. “Don't touch me,” he repeats, voice shaking and swallowing vomit threatening to come up.He continues his trek to his room, using the cold hallway wall to ground him. There’s whispering and murmurs from behind him and Chanyeol wills himself not to break down on the floor.He must look pitiful; Kris’ shirt hanging off his shoulder and his skinny frame tumbling to bed. When he gets there, he locks the door and sobs violently into a silk, expensive pillowcase that isn't even his. -When he wakes up, it’s morning with the too bright sun shining in his face and someone sitting next to his bed. Rubbing his eyes, Chanyeol sees it’s Kris, in a chair next to his bed and snoring soundly. Sitting up and reaching over, Chanyeol pokes Kris in the stomach and the man wakes up with a wheeze and covers his belly with his hand. “Sorry,” Chanyeol apologizes with a small smile as Kris blinks a few times to wipe away the remains of sleep. “I didn’t wanna be up by myself.”“S’fine,” Kris yawns, rubbing a hand down his face. “You were out like a light when I came in here last night. I called your name and patted your back and I didn’t get one reaction out of you.”Chanyeol makes a face. “I thought I locked the door?”“I caught Baekhyun prying open the lock,” Kris says tiredly like this is a recurring hobby. It probably is. “He told me you didn’t stay for dinner, though. Wanna talk about it?”Chanyeol shifts, grabbing the comforter tightly and staring at the pillow instead of Kris. “I’m afraid,” Chanyeol confesses. “I don’t know why. I’m really scared after what happened.”Kris leans forward, drawing Chanyeol’s gaze and their eyes meet.“Listen to me careful, kid.” Kris says, his tone solemn.”You don’t have to be scared ever again. I’m not going to let anything happen to you. I promise.”Kris looks so serious that Chanyeol almost starts to believe him. ***** Present day~ *****“Whoa, cool! What is that?”Luhan turned to greet the small figure in his doorway.“Heya, kid. What are you doing up?”Chanyeol stepped further into Luhan’s bedroom. It was minimalistically decorated but full of eye-catching pops of color in the form of mismatched chairs, rugs, and lamps. His massive four poster bed was tucked into a corner and adorned with various, different colored sheer draperies. The concrete floors were covered in an eclectic mix of different rugs and carpet. The room always smelled of sandalwood and acrylic paint. This was Luhan’s happy place, and where he drew most of his inspiration for his artwork.Right now, Luhan was practicing a new technique he'd seen on YouTube that involved a spatula, and a wet cotton rag. Out of anyone living in the converted warehouse presently, Luhan brought in the least amount of money with his day job. But it was what he enjoyed and all that junk.“You wanna give it a go?”Chanyeol bobbed his head excitedly and stepped onto the small footstool beside Luhan’s painting table. Luhan had spread a bunch of yellows and golds and silvers along with a bunch of glitter onto the canvas and then covered it all with a coating of glossy black. He had just finished agitating the paint with a torch and now Chanyeol got to do the really fun part.Luhan looked on; feeling pleased as Chan used the damp cloth to wipe away the black in long swirling movements, revealing the glittering metallic colors beneath.“You’re pretty good, you know that?”Chanyeol beamed at him, admitting shyly. “I’ve watched you a lot.”“Well that means we have to put you in a fancy ass private school with 3 art classes a day!”Chanyeol laughed. “No!”“Oh, I think so!”They continued like that, Luhan teasing Chanyeol until he was laughing uncontrollably and Chanyeol denying everything.A loud piercing scream sounded from one of the rooms down the hall, quickly followed by a loud crashing noise- startling them both.Luhan could hear the sound of heavy breathing and bare footsteps coming up the hall, toward his room, occasionally punctuated by hoarse shouts.Moving quickly, Luhan suggested Chanyeol take over for him and listen to some soothing jazz music on his headphones to get his creative juices flowing. Chanyeol was perplexed, but said nothing and as soon as his attention was on the painting, Luhan quietly escaped his room and stepped out into the hall just in time to collide with a terrified looking young man whose hands were bound behind his back. The man fell back, right on his bare ass before wildly whipping his head around, eyes landing on Luhan.“Please, man! You gotta help me! Some fucking psycho kidnapped me!”The man definitely looked a bit worse for wear. He was buck naked, with budding bruise marks on almost every inch of his pale skin. His right eye was swelling, and his lip was split open.Poor guy. Today just wasn’t his day.Luhan tilted his head, doe eyes widening as he squatted down towards the man. “Psycho, you say? Tell me, what did he look like? Dark hair, kinda wavy? High cheekbones? Curly little lips that look like a cat's? Almond shaped eyes?”Recognition flared in the man’s eyes. “Yes! How did you know.”Luhan shrugged, rising to his full height. “Cause he’s right behind you.”And he was. Jongdae had managed to creep silently up on them through the hallway despite looking like he’d just been in a fight with a chicken. His denim shirt was unbuttoned a few buttons too many, exposing his chest and several long scratch marks with about as many hickies. His sleeves, which were rolled up to his elbows were soaked in blood, and he had a fine sheen of sweat on his skin. His expression was murderous.Luhan thought he looked fucking sexy. Even licked his lips.“Oh no,” the man wailed, still not fully comprehending his situation. “Please, help me, oh god- help!.”Luhan looked the man dead in the eye. “And why would I help you?” He said, as Jongdae pulled an aluminum bat from behind his back and swung with full force at the man’s skull.