With an aching body and heavy steps, Niké pushed on the last of the way. He knew he was close, he had been walking for hours and had finally reached the forest, once out of it he'd finally be back.

The sun had began setting some time ago, and with it, the temperature had dropped, causing him to shiver a bit and quietly cursing under his breath, “Rich people and their dumb fucking clothes…”

He was no longer wearing a hoodie and the pants he’d stolen the last time he’d jumped into stinking water with Taurus, no he was now wearing dress pants and a black button-up that he’d messily tucked into the pants. The only good thing about those clothes was that they didn't smell like shit but other than that, the grey haired man hated them. The clothes felt uncomfortable to him, they provided little to no warmth and they were just overall impractical.

Not long after he’d found his way out of the sewers, he’d met two men, drunk rich guys who’d, like every other arrogant rich man, thought they could just have their way by throwing some money in other people’s faces. To put it simply, the pervs had tried to “buy” him and while it's something Niké would have otherwise ignored, they just hadn't given up and when the two had gone so far as to attack him, Niké had lost it.

Most likely the two still laid passed out in the alley that he’d left them in after stealing one of them’s clothes, and their money. People like them were yet another reason to hate the rich and privileged. Only good thing was that they rarely knew how to fight so even when Niké had been outnumbered, it hadn't been a problem, they'd gotten in a few good hits which was the reason he was in some pain now but it was nothing bad, he’d end up with a few bruises but nothing worse, nothing compared to the state he'd left the pervs in.

At last, after hours, the young man was almost there. Only the hill left now then just a little more and he’d be back at the hideout and hopefully, Alleya would be there too, preferably unharmed.

As Niké climbed the hill he kept fussing quietly about the clothes and how they were limiting his mobility but really the clothes were the least of his concern, he was worried about Alleya and also, all that time walking alone had given him an opportunity to really think about how to proceed with his job, it was time for him to take it seriously. He needed to find out more about Theo and for that he needed to be alone with him, no one to interrupt and distract and then he needed to ask the right questions without seeming suspicious. So far he only had one part figured out and that was the getting the leader alone, he would ask the leader to look at his wound on his throat and also to see if the stitches in his hands were ready to take out.

Niké reached the top of the hill and let out a sigh, he had the house in sight. Before deciding to continue walking, he glanced around only to have his gaze land on a familiar figure, Alleya. Without a second thought, the grey haired man took off running towards her when he reached, he grabbed her by both shoulders and started looking her up and down, examining her for any fresh wounds or bruises, “Fucking hell Alleya! Are you okay? They didn't hurt you or anything? Don't do shit like that!” While his tone was harsh, anyone could hear the worry in his voice. He knew she could handle herself but that didn't change the fact that he'd worried about her, she’d taken a risk to help him and now he would have to pay her back while at the same time, find a reason as to why she was a bad person who deserved to be put in prison. Why had no one told him this would be the hard part of the job?

When Alleya gave him a quick hug, he didn't try to protest or pull away, he was still just happy to see her right now, he didn't care if she hugged him.

"Oh my god, don't do that to me! I almost beat the shit out of you!"

Niké grinned slightly at her, “Sure you did, I’d beat you any day,” he told her. The man ran his fingers through his hair a bit after Alleya had ruffled it and messed it up further than what it usually was. In reality he knew that the woman could put up one hell of a fight and that they’d probably be rather even in a fight but he still decided to tease her.

"I can handle a few cops, don't worry. You should have seen that one though. I left him tied to the traffic light in nothing but his boxers."

The grey haired man let out a soft chuckle, he could picture it and he knew he shouldn't find it funny, but he did. Just the image of a cop being taken down by the short woman and then getting undressed and tied up by her. It was a laughable thought and he bet it would have been even more fun to see in person. But still, she had assaulted an officer, it wasn't something he was supposed to laugh at.

When Alleya turned serious and said for them to keep going he couldn't do much more than nod and start walking. He could guess that the woman saw right through him and knew how exhausted he was, just like she had the other day, it didn't matter that he tried to hide it, she could tell. But she was tired too, he knew she’d barely slept for days and all this running around and fighting surely wasn't a good way to restore energy.

For a few moments, Niké stayed quiet as he walked next to the woman before glancing at her a bit and muttering, “I know you can handle yourself. Doesn't mean I won't worry about you though so don't pull anything like that again.”

He turned his gaze back towards the house, they were finally close now, just a little more and they would finally be back.

“You're going to sleep once we're inside, you can talk to Theo once you’ve rested, okay?” Niké told her, hoping for once that the woman wouldn't talk back but he knew that probably wasn't the case, she would want to talk to Theo first thing, especially since she hadn't seen him for days.

Alleya was thrilled to see Nike. It meant that they both escaped with very little damage. She was sure that the cop would be rather angry when he woke up but he sort of deserved that. Besides, she didn't have a criminal background and the man didn't even know her name. What mattered most was that she was safe and Nike was safe.

She wanted to speak with Theo quickly, sleep would wait. She also wanted a bath and good food in her stomach. She did just want to get back to see the familiarity of gang life. She was missing it and desperately wanted to be back. She even missed doing the dirty chores such as cleaning out the toilets.

She stuck her tongue out at Nike about him beating her up. He was good in a fight but he was heavy. Heavy people tended to use their weight in their punches which made it easier for her to throw off his balance. He also hadn't been trained to fight either so most of his fighting was more instinct. Hers was more thoughtful and planned out.

She took of walking in the direction of the house, feeling more energized than earlier. She had a faint bounce in her step, a little happiness that was helping mask her exhaustion more. All she wanted to do was go home, take a bath, talk to Theo, and sleep. She could even skip eating if it meant she could sleep sooner.

“I know you can handle yourself. Doesn't mean I won't worry about you though so don't pull anything like that again.”

We never had anyone care that much about her. It was sweet on one end of the spectrum but also annoying on the other. She was fine on her own. She wouldn't do anything without making sure it was exactly right. She wouldn't have risked her life and Nike's if she wasn't confident in her abilities to get them both out.

"I can't promise that. I will do whatever is necessary to make sure everyone and anyone from the gang is safe-it doesn't matter if they don't feel the same toward me," She kept her voice low and stern. It was non-negotiable. Theo's gang meant everything to her and she would give her life to make sure that it would survive.

They were so close to being back. She couldn't help but run her hand against the tree branches they passed. She was starting to feel more energetic the closer they got. Finally at last, she could see the wooden house in the woods up close.

"You're going to sleep once we're inside, you can talk to Theo once you've rested, okay?"

She frowned at the gray haired man's words.She wanted to talk to Theo desperately and make sure he was alright. They had left him recovering from the first attack of the rebels.

"Nike, he needs to know what hell happened today," She tried to reason, giving the man a stern look,"This is the easy part of our journey. I will rest but not until everything that needs to be done is done."

"Niké, he needs to know what hell happened today."

There it was. He knew it had been coming and it still annoyed him. She adored the leader, at least that's what it seemed like. She simply couldn't be without him now could she?

“I already need to see him and have him look at my wound, I just as easily tell him,” Niké told her with a sigh, “Aren't you exhausted after everything that's happened? Just go to sleep, I’ll tell Theo about what happened and you can fill in with details after you’ve slept,” he tried.

As they reached the house, the grey haired man put his hand on the door handle and he paused for a second and looked at Alleya. Whatever she’d decided on, he knew he wouldn't be able to change her mind. If she’d decided that she was gonna talk to Theo then she would, he knew that.

Niké pushed down the door handle and opened the door, the sound of the gang members laughing and playing music flooding out through the open door. All of them were still so blissfully unaware of the threat that was looming over them all. Cops wanted to lock them up and split them up, meanwhile the Rebels wanted to kill them. No one seemed to want the gang good even if they were far from the biggest problem on the streets.

The young man waited for Alleya to enter first before he followed her inside, shutting the door behind them. He instantly noticed how things seemed to quiet down a bit as the two walked further inside, it did make sense though, people had to have noticed their absence, at least Alleya’s, Niké they barely knew and he hadn't made an effort to introduce himself to everyone either.

One thing was for sure though, everyone already knew they were back even if it had just been seconds and it couldn't be long before Theo would appear. But instead of letting his eyes search for the rough-looking leader, he turned his gaze towards Alleya, waiting to see if she'd be heading towards her sleeping area or Theo’s room.

The sound of Taurus’s voice and seeing him approach made Niké take a step to the side, doing his best to not frown and show his dislike for the blond. The past few days spent with Taurus had made him feel rather strongly about the man, he wouldn't fight him or anything like that but he certainly wouldn't feel bad locking the man up.

The grey haired man rolled his eyes slightly as Taurus spoke, tuning out the sound of his voice in an effort to keep himself from snapping at the idiot. Instead he turned his gaze back to Alleya, sure that she would be heading for Theo’s room by now.

"I'm going to take a bath."

It surprised him a bit when Alleya said that but he was happy that she took care of herself instead of running to Theo immediately. Or well, she did run into Theo, quite literally, he saw how she rammed her shoulder into the leaders before disappearing outside. She was clearly pissed and if it was at him or Taurus, he couldn't tell, possibly both.

There was no time to think about that though, Theo had spotted him and had motioned for him to follow him into his room.

The young man glanced at Taurus and sighed softly before he started walking towards the leaders room, he could only imagine all the shit that Taurus had told Theo, given how their last conversation before he and Alleya left him to go back on his own had gone.

He entered Theo’s room, shutting the door behind himself before leaning his back against it and looking over at the leader.

“I know, we should've gone back with Taurus, he was the group leader and we shouldn't have wandered off on our own but Alleya had something she needed to do and I wasn't gonna let her go back into the city all alone,” he started. Niké had known from the moment that they split up from Taurus that it was a bad idea but he didn't regret going with Alleya, sure, she could handle herself but she was still just one single person who could only do and endure so much.

He wouldn't tell the man what it was Alleya had wanted to do, that was for her to say if she felt it was necessary. “We shouldn't have done that and I know that and if you want to punish us then go ahead but there’s more important things to deal with first.”

Niké hesitated a little, his gaze shifting slightly. The leader didn't strike him as an angry man so it wasn't that he thought he'd get angry finding out about the Rebels, it was more that he’d noticed how much the man cared about his gang and this now put them all at risk.

“We had a run in with the Rebels on our way back, a gun was fired and the cops got involved so they are more than pissed now and I think it's only a matter of time before they go after the whole gang. They want us dead and the cops couldn't care less, they want the gang terminated, if the Rebels kill us then that's less work for them,” he told the leader, still not meeting the man's gaze. If he and Alleya had just gone with Taurus then none of this would have happened, at least not for now.

Niké was on the cop’s side, he had to be, the gang should be terminated but not killed, split up and given help to better themselves and their lives, that's what should happen, that was the better solution but at the same time he felt bad. This gang was the closest thing to family most of them had and now it was being threatened from two directions. He wished that he could just turn his feelings off and think about his job purely but it kept proving itself to be a hard task.

Given how much Alleya had been stressing about telling Theo about everything and how pissed she’d gotten when he told her to rest and let him tell the leader, Niké had expected more of a reaction. But nothing. The leader didn't react at all it seemed.

"Come here, you look like you need to sit and take a breather."

Niké looked up at the leader at those words, certainly wasn't what he’d expected but he didn't protest or even hesitate, instead he just stepped closer and took a seat next to Theo, their shoulder's brushing against each other briefly before the grey haired man leaned slightly away from the other.

He felt awkward as things grew silent between them, he’d gotten so used to Alleya’s near non-stop talking that it felt odd to not have someone talk your ears off.

The man reached up with one hand and untied the piece of cloth around his neck, having kept it on even after getting out of the sewers to keep the wound as clean as possible. He held the cloth in his hands, looking down at it. The light grey fabric had been stained red with blood but it seemed mostly dried up meaning that hopefully the wound wasn't bleeding anymore, still it would be best to ask Theo to have a look.

The young man glanced over at the leader, in all honesty, he felt embarrassed. The first thing Theo had had to do was stitch his hand up and now, after being sent out on a mission for a few days, he came back needing medical attention once more.

“I don't think it's that deep or anything but I'd appreciate it if you could have a look. I got my throat cut when we met the Rebels,” he explained with a sigh, “And I'm not sure but I think the stitches in my hand can come out now. I can do it myself. I just need to know if it’s okay or if I should leave it a bit longer?” Niké looked over at the gang leader, watching his face for any hint of emotions revealing what Theo was thinking about the whole situation.

What had started out a few days ago as a rather calm and straightforward mission had ended in a complete mess. All Niké really wanted was to sleep, exhaustion making his eyelids feel heavy and his body almost numb, although that was probably a mix of the exhaustion and having been in two fights recently. All his body wanted was to sleep and get time to recover but after the nightmare he’d had the other night in the alley with Alleya, he wasn't going to allow it.

Even if the woman hadn't said anything he knew that she'd heard him, she had to have, and the last thing he wanted was to have the same dream in front of the whole gang, he knew how it went, either he slept terribly, waking up every other hour, or he slept okay until that damn nightmare made itself reminded and he would be yelling and shaking in his sleep.