Chapter Text
The time finally came for the Scavengers to make their first move. Den and Lucky met with Nika and the man he hadn’t recognized from the previous meeting. Lucky decided to leave Ymir at home, which seemed to put them on edge. Den noticed that they kept anxiously scratching their arms, but they were doing their best not to bring attention to it.
“Nika, Jackal.” Lucky dipped their head as a greeting. “Do you have the disguises?”
Jackal nodded, popping the truck of his car. “If it were Animals we were fooling, this would be child’s play. We Scavs tend to be smarter, though.”
“Do you, now?” Den muttered under his breath, making Lucky elbow him.
Jackal looked him over, seemingly sizing up. “What use are you, pretty boy merc? Are we using you as bait?”
“I’ve taken down groups of Night Corp personnel by myself. What have you done? Preyed on helpless joytoys?”
“I’d like to make a joytoy out of you.” His comment made Den get up in his face, a threatening scowl on his face. Jackal flinched, but downplayed it with a sarcastic chuckle. Nika rolled her eyes, separating the men.
“Enough. Let us get on with it.”
Jackal paused, but gave a defeated nod. Turning back towards the trunk, he pulled out various brightly-colored jackets, as well as miscellaneous boxing equipment. “We are all fairly small, meaning we’ll have to really sell it. Act stupid, fight like the Animals, do whatever it takes.”
Lucky grabbed a bright orange jacket, and a roll of sports tape. “These guys are putting horse steroids in their drugs. That’s the kinda shit the Animals are into, so pretend we’re after that. Grab ‘em after we’re done.”
Den wanted to question what he had just heard, but decided against it. “So we take them down, make it look like the Animals did it, then delta the fuck out of there. Simple enough.”
Nika didn’t seem so sure. “You really think they will be fooled?”
“We are about to find out.” Jackal replied, slipping on a pair of boxing gloves. “Let’s move.”
Jackal led the group down to the shore, where they found various abandoned shacks. Some were completely empty, while others were shelters to the local homeless community. Soon they found the remainder of what looked like some sort of beach bar, which was where the enemy Scavengers had made their hangout.
The group hid on a nearby dock, ducking behind the railing to stay out of sight. They watched the Scavs for a while, making note of their equipment and activities. Shockingly, they truly seemed to just be hanging out, spending the majority of their time chatting and drinking.
“There’s ten of them.” Lucky stated, checking their own weapons. “We’re outnumbered, but we’ll have the upper hand so long as they don’t see us coming.” They turned towards Den, nodding at his sniper rifle. “Valentina, you’ll wait here. When we’re in position, pick some guys off with your rifle. Don’t waste time reloading, just join us when you’re out of ammo.”
Den nodded, readying his gun. “It has four rounds. Assuming I take someone down with every shot, that leaves six.”
Nika frowned, glancing at the mercenary’s cast. “You can fire such big gun with broken hand?”
“I’m left-handed.” Den replied. “Besides, a little kickback never killed anyone.”
“Mr. Solo can handle himself. Now then, it’s showtime.” Lucky gestured for the others to follow them as they crept towards the stairs.
Watching his companions closely, Den got into position, resting the barrel of his gun on the railing. The three Scavengers moved swiftly and silently across the sand, stopping once they were behind the lean-to. Lucky held up their prosthetic arm, reflecting light towards Den as a signal. After giving a quick thumbs up, Den locked sights on the nearest enemy. Carefully lining up the shot, he held his breath as he pulled the trigger.
It took a moment for the others to notice that their friend had been shot, but it immediately put them on the defensive. Using his three remaining shots, Den only missed once. He quickly returned his weapon to his back, then joined the others just in time for them to start their attack.
Trying to look as aggressive as possible, they tried to stick to melee weapons and brute force. Sticking together, they managed to overwhelm the other gang, making quick work of them. Lucky and Jackal’s brutality was a little upsetting to Den, but he knew that a job was a job.
After taking down one of the last Scavs, Den quickly scanned the area, making sure all of his companions were still standing. Frowning, he noticed Nika on the ground. She seemed dazed, oblivious to the man lumbering towards her with a sledgehammer. His eyes widened, and his heart began to race.
“Nika, watch out!” He shouted, but couldn’t get her attention. Bracing himself, he dashed towards the two and lunged, shoving Nika out of the way just in time for the hammer to collide with his already broken forearm. He cried out in pain as his bones audibly cracked, unable to free himself. Though he was dizzy with pain, he managed to grab his gun, firing multiple rounds up at the Scav. At least one of the bullets must have hit him, causing his lifeless body to hit the sand.
Nika rushed over to the mercenary, removing the sledgehammer from his arm. “Thank you, Den, are you–” She cringed when she got a good look at him. “I do not think bones should do that…”
“What?” Den murmured, turning his head towards his injury. His stomach dropped when he saw jagged pieces of both forearm bones protruding from his skin, and he was having a hard time wrapping his spinning head around the fact that they were his bones. “Puta madre…” He mumbled before promptly passing out.
Carefully grasping Den’s jaw, Lucky finished closing the fresh incision behind his ear. Stepping back, they smacked the mercenary’s shoulder and nodded. “Trust me, it’s for your own good.”
“Why do we need the merc?” Jackal asked, trying to see over their shoulder. “You have some sort of attachment to him?”
“He’s good at what he does. Better at handling stuff than our guys usually are.”
“So you’re doing this all for him… free of charge?”
Lucky shrugged. “I mean… He’s doing this job for us, and Dragon doesn’t plan to pay him, so…”
“I don’t see how this is our problem.” He joined the blonde, examining the unconscious mercenary. “Look at him. Latino, freckled, natural bi-colored eyes… very fit with cyberlegs. He’s very handsome, very desirable.”
Though it was hard to tell through their mask, Lucky wrinkled their nose. “What’re you getting at?”
“Look. We can handle the job ourselves.” He explained, placing one hand on Lucky’s shoulder. “What we do need is new stars for our snuff films. I say we use him.” Lucky’s eyes widened in disbelief. “Imagine the fun we could have with him. He’s a nomad, right? Bet he’s still intact–”
“Shut the fuck up. We don’t do snuff films.” Suddenly becoming protective, they surprised Jackal.
“Your guys don’t, but we do.” He folded his arms, shrugging one shoulder. “Besides. He killed our previous leader. Eye for an eye, or whatever the fuck.”
Nika cleared her throat, startling the others. “I also object. He has helped me twice. I think we shouldn’t hurt him.”
“I don’t give a rat’s ass!” Jackal spat, shoving Lucky as he turned towards the woman. “I’m in charge here, in case you’ve forgotten!”
Without warning, Lucky grabbed a bloody scalpel from the table, staring him down as they slammed it into his eye. He cried out in pain, grasping his face as he staggered backwards, blood spraying from his wound. Lucky’s haunting gaze followed him as he stumbled about, the lack of emotion in their expression sending chills down Nika’s spine.
“We. Don’t. Do. Snuff. Films.” Lucky reasserted through gritted teeth, clenching their fist so tight that their veins popped out.
All of the commotion caused Den to jolt from his sleep, immediately alarmed by the sight of bright lights and holographic masks. He screamed in horror, pressing himself against the operation chair as he looked for a way out. Lucky hurried over, doing their best to calm him.
“Den, hey, it’s me!” They turned off their mask, forcing him to look at them. “You’re alright, take a deep breath.” They reached for their friend, but he swatted their hand away.
“¡Dios mío! ¡No me toques!”
“Alright, okay! Relax, choom!”
Den grasped his chest, trying to gather his bearings. “What the hell did you do to me?!” He cried, tucking his knees against his chest.
“I fixed your broken bone. Because I’m a really good friend.” They gestured towards the mercenary’s right arm. “It was a compound break, so I just swapped it for titanium. Saw you already had some, so I figured it’d be okay.”
Scowling at the Scav, Den warily touched his forearm, clearly displeased even if he kept it to himself. “Uh-huh. And what else did you do?” He scanned the room, tensing up more with everything he saw.
Lucky cleared their throat, rubbing the back of their neck. “You’re gonna be mad at me.”
“Then why the fuck did you do it?!” Den shouted, making the Scav flinch. “What is it?! What else did you install?!”
“We need it for the job. You have to understand.”
Den’s eyes widened, his hand slowly moving towards his head. He quickly found the new port just behind his existing ones, leading him to turn towards Lucky with a horrified look on his face. “Lucky!”
Throwing their hands up submissively, Lucky tried to be understanding. “I know it’s upsetting, but I can remove it after we’re done. I’m doing this all free of charge, by the way. Including your arm that I fixed. The severely broken one. Because I’m a really good friend.”
“Keep your hands off of me! Fuck!” He climbed off of the chair, backing towards the door. Jackal managed to collect himself, despite the fact that he was still heavily bleeding, and seemed displeased with him trying to leave.
“See! He’s not even grateful! My suggestion would have been better.”
“Farðu í rassgat.” Lucky hissed, shooting him a look. “Unless you want to lose the other eye.” When the man backed down, Lucky returned their attention to Den. “Right, so–Go home, get some rest, take a shower… Then we can move on to the next phase when you’re feeling better.”
“I wasn’t asking for permission.” Den grumbled, not taking his eyes off of the Scavengers.
Lucky nodded slowly. “Oh, your phone.” They grabbed it from the table. “Who’s Ker, by the way? They’ve called like a dozen times.”
“None of your fucking business!” Den snarled, snatching the device from their hand. He watched the three until he backed into the door frame, then made aggressive eye contact with Lucky before hastily ducking through the door.
Nika folded her arms, glancing between Lucky and the bleeding Scav. “I thought you said he was your friend.”
“He is.” Lucky sneered. “He’s a very good friend.”
Curling her lip, Nika eyed the blonde. “You are strange person.”
“I get that a lot. Anyway, I need to go. I don’t like being without my dog.”
Nika nodded with understanding. “Yes, and I will… tend to him. Until we meet again.”
Back at his apartment, Den paced anxiously by the front door, upsetting Santio as he watched. He repeatedly swore under his breath, running his hands through his hair. He felt so violated, in a way he couldn’t even explain. On one hand, he could have Shiloh or Vik remove it immediately. But on the other hand… they did need it for the gig. And it was already installed… but it made him feel disgusting.
The sound of his phone ringing nearly made him jump out of his skin, and seeing Kerry’s name made him a little nauseous.
“Den, holy fuck! I thought I’d never get a hold of you! Are you okay?!”
“It’s not a good time!” His tone was far more harsh than he had intended, and Kerry definitely noticed.
“Oh–” He paused reluctantly. “Sorry?”
“I—” Den bit his tongue, immediately regretting his choice of words. “It’s okay. What did you need? Are you okay?”
“Er, yeah, it, uh… It doesn’t matter. I can handle it.” The dejection in his tone made Den’s heart sink.
“Ker, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to yell, it’s just… It was a really bad night.”
“Yeah… I’ll, uh. Talk to you later, I guess.” He hung up before Den could stop him.
Every bone in Den’s body told him to go see his boyfriend, but he still couldn’t bring himself to do it. He tried calling him back, but he didn’t pick up, leading him to send a few texts that also went unanswered.
“¡Mierda, mierda, mierda!” He shouted, making Santio hiss and run under the sofa. “Why are you so fucking stupid! How did you even get into this mess?!” He continued pacing, twisting the fabric of his shirt. “He’s going to leave you, and you deserve it!” So overwhelmed by everything he was feeling, tears began forming in his eyes. He sat on the edge of his bed, cupping his hands around his face. He felt like he could throw up, but instead he let out a pained sob.
After letting out his emotions for a short time, Den was finally able to collect himself. He stood up a little too quickly, and despite the tears still streaming down his cheeks, he hurried out the door. There was no way he was leaving things like this.