Wolf groaned as he stretched out in the back seat of the car. He was exhausted. Slaves got precious little, if any, sleep at night. He would be so damn glad when this mission was over.

This mission had token a toll on his team. They had been in this situation only once before, but they didn't get close enough to the effects of slavery. Now they were in the middle of it. The mission had started out simply enough, it was just related to drugs. Or so they had thought. Now they were in the start of a whole new slave war.

And Wolf was bearing the brunt of it.

After a week into the drug business, they found that most of the handlers had slaves. When the word 'slave' had first come up, Wolf thought it was just a joke. Not really taking it seriously, he assigned Eagle as one of the handlers, thinking even he couldn't mess that up.

Well they were wrong; they all were totally wrong. It wasn't that Eagle couldn't handle the slave owner position. It was that the slave thing was such a part of every day business that it was... Wolf blinked again, trying to focus. He was exhausted, and having a psychotic version of Fox as his owner didn't help much.

The final blow for the case had hit at the hospital, where Snake currently worked. But the case was a private one, that involved a slave and his owner. Apparently, from Snake's perspective on the dealers words, the 'fucking slave' took to many ibuprofen. Slave had commented that they were probably dying to try to get away - something Wolf found unsettling. They had to do surgery, sucking everything out of the slave's stomach, which wasn't much.

Snake commented that he had tried talking to the slave after the ordeal. With the slave being a mere teen, Snake had thought perhaps the slave couldn't read. If he was in the system long enough, the owners made sure that most of their slaves couldn't read, as they would be in the system for quite a while, and if they couldn't read, they would have limited future options, forcing them to keep silent about the abuse and then on top of that work for their abusers. But when Snake had asked him, what happened, and the slave responded with, the headache was too much and he didn't miscounted on how many pills he took.

Snake asked him how many he took, and the slave said, not enough. Snake was going to question more, but then the owner came in, demanding that he be released. Snake didn't fight it, and he released the kid into the abusers hands again. Wolf knew that would be a feeling of guilt that was left with Snake for a long time.

The car door ripped open, snapping Wolf out of his thoughts. He was roughly grabbed by his sweatshirt by Fox. "Come on, let's go," Fox snapped.

They had the case set up for Wolf, as an adult slave. Now those weren't unheard of...just uncommon. So the background story that fits together would be Wolf had grown up in a rough part of town. His family moving around everywhere, and it turns out that his father was ripping people off with rather cheap, fake, oil. That was the reason they had moved around so much in the first place, but one day they just left him there. Packed up and left, sold the house before hand, not leaving anywhere to turn.

The 'government' soon found out, and linked him and his father together. Somehow they didn't believe that he didn't know where his family was, so they threatened to throw him in jail. Of course what kid would want to sit out in jail for the rest of his life. However there was also, plan 'B'.

Which is why Wolf now found himself filing out his character by fulfilling his deed, "community service". If it wasn't part of his mission, and not to mention perfect for this specific case, he would label the "community service" under blackmail, with no chance of parole. He wouldn't put it past the "government" to do a shady thing like that.

Then again, his story didn't really matter. It wasn't like anyone asked him or anything. He was snapped out of his thoughts by Fox. "Dammit, you piece of shit, I said get out of the car! I went and got the fucking mail already. Let's go inside already, alright?"

"Well, it took you long enough," Wolf snapped back, and helped himself out the car.

Fox bristled but grabbed Wolf and dragged him inside. Wolf allowed himself to breathe a sigh of relief before Fox suddenly decked him, punching him in full view of the camera. "I told you not to talk. How many times do we have to work on this lesson? I am your tutor and I am beginning to get sick of you. How does anyone else put up with you?"

"That's what you wonder about? Because that's exactly what I think about with you. How can anyone put up with a jack ass like you?"

Wolf knew he had gone too far when he saw the thunderous look on Fox's face.

"Go down to the basement. No dinner for that little stunt. I'll have... chores you'll help me on tomorrow too. You better get some rest, because you'll need it."

Wolf bit the inside of his cheek, refraining from speaking again as he rubbed against the treatment. As he walked to the basement he could get the fact out of his head that Alex was hot headed like he was, which is great. The kid needed to be little cheeky; however he needed to tone it down while he was a slave, especially if Fox was his tutor.


Monotaro sighed as he unlocked the door that hid beside the stairs. Once it opened he coughed as the musty smell hit him. He glanced around, and it brought back a ton of memories. Memories Monotaro would rather keep repressed. The memories hit him full-force, nearly knocking him over as he tried to block them out.

The room was the same as it had been the last time he had been in it. A cot shoved up against the far wall, which was no more than ten feet away. The same cot he had slept on a few months ago. For an unidentified amount of days, that he crashed on, totally exhausted, but found himself to sleep.

He shuffled across the room and sat on the edge of the cot. Soon to be Alex's place to rest before the unexpected happened. Monotaro sighed as he couldn't warn Alex of what was to come if he didn't know himself. Matt had both boys terrified.

Monotaro heard footsteps up above, so he slowly got to his feet, and headed for the door. He caught a small yelp, then a few bangs, and Monotaro suspected that Alex had fallen down the stairs or that Matt had pushed him.

He shuffled out of the room and froze as he saw Alex laying, unmoving at the foot of the stairs. Not believing he was alive Monotaro ran over to him, fell to his knees, and searched for his pulse. When he found a short one, he sighed in relief. But then jumped when Alex grabbed his arm.

"Mono...Monotaro?" Alex asked as he blinked.

"Alex..." Monotaro whispered taking in his appearance. Alex had been beaten badly and he looked utterly exhausted - like he'd aged since Monotaro had last seen him only a few hours ago. "What... happened?"

"I... I don't know." Alex swallowed visibly. "What happened? I can't remember..." he looked terrified at the thought.

Both boys froze at the sign of Matt's voice. "Monotaro, get up here and get a cot and bedding for your damn roommate. You'll both be in there for awhile."

Monotaro glanced at Alex, and when he briefly nodded, Monotaro headed up the stairs. He reached the upstairs room when he saw Matt. "W-where is the c-cot, Sir?" he asked.

Matt actually laughed. "Did you think I would get someone like you a cot? Psht. You can use the mattress in the room the guests stay in. There is a blanket and bedding in the closet. Be grateful I let you have that - I'm feeling merciful today."

Monotaro nodded and grabbed the blankets before taking down the cot, making sure to take an extra one down for himself. He was freezing cold and it looked to only get worse. About to retreat to the basement, Monotaro caught sight of the blue box hidden behind a few pill bottles. He grabbed that too, and covered it with the blankets. No doubt Alex would need the first aid kit, and fast.

Monotaro rushed down the stairs and threw the blankets, on the floor and headed for Alex. "What kind of pain are you in...can you walk?"

Alex looked at him before blinking. "I... do I get a mattress?"

Monotaro blinked and paused. Oh, yeah. Matt had said something about a cot. Or a mattress. That meant he had to go back upstairs. Dammit.

Monotaro sighed, ran a hand through his hair, and looked back up the stairs. He could go now...but that may piss Matt off. Or he could wait it out, and give Alex the cot while he slept on the floor. That would work, Monotaro nodded his head, if it got him away from Matt, anything would work.

But as he attempted to assess Alex's injuries, Matt yelled again. "Monotaro, get up here and get the damn mattress before I decide which one of you would look better with a broken nose!"

Monotaro cringed as he got up, "I'll be back," he whispered to Alex as he took the stairs two by two.

"What took you so long?" Matt questioned as he met Monotaro at the top of the stairs.

"I... I needed..."

"You don't need shit. Get the mattress already. And then come back up with your mutt friend, it's dinner time." Both knew he meant it was "drug time" just as much as he meant it was time for food.

Monotaro grabbed the limp mattress, and dragged it down the stairs. He threw it on top of the blankets, knowing he would have to move it latter, but Alex was all that mattered now, and where Alex was involved, Matt was directly connected.

He flopped the mattress down on the floor and took only a second to pant for breath. "Alex, I'm sorry, but it's time to eat."

Alex blinked twice. "Eat?"

"Yeah, you know, like food?" Monotaro asked. What had Matt done to Alex? The kid had been fine when he got here and now... "What happened?" he hissed.

"I... He just reminded me to use my manners?" Alex asked, looking incredibly unsure of himself. Monotaro knew he was lying, but decided not to challenge him on it.

"Right... " Monotaro said. "Well, regardless of what happened...I have to get you up the stairs."

"The...stairs?" Alex questioned as he turned to glance at them.

Monotaro sighed, and got down on one knee, "Yes, Alex, the stairs. We're in the basement now, and I need to get you upstairs so we can eat."

"Right..." Alex moved to follow Monotaro and hesitated briefly, looking at Monotaro with a flash of fear.

"Don't worry, Alex...I'll take one for the team. Come on, we don't want to keep him waiting," Monotaro told him, knowing he was afraid of what Matt could do. They all were.

Alex glanced at Monotaro and he sighed, going up the first step first and motioning for Alex to follow. Alex bowed his head and did so.

What had happened to Alex? Monotaro again questioned even as they made his way into the kitchen.

Matt smiled as the two boys got into the room. "Boys, here's your dinner. I'll be back in a few minutes with your medicine. We have a visit to Alex's tutor tomorrow, so you'll need some rest for that. Monotaro, I'd like to speak with you for a second please?"

Monotaro swallowed and briefly glanced at Alex, but found him engrossed in the fine lines of the wooden table. Hoping Alex wouldn't do anything, he reluctantly followed Matt out of the kitchen.

"I see you've noticed a change in your... friend," Matt remarked.

"What did you give him?" Monotaro demanded. Then noticed his mistake a little to late when Matt's face darkened.

"That is not your concern," Matt snapped. "I just wanted to take this time to remind you that everything you say and do will be used against Cub, you understand, you miserable shit? We're going to Benjamin's tomorrow for Cub's tutoring. You will be helping Wolf while you're there. Got that? Or is that too complicated for you to understand?"

"Yes, si- I mean no, sir...Yes I understand," Monotaro struggled to get his words right. "Sir," he added.

Matt backhanded him, causing him to tumble back into the wall. "Shut up and go eat your food before I decide to give it to Cub - at least he's being compliant."

Monotaro hastily made his retreat as he glanced at his bowl of food. Alex only mildly picked at his. "Dig in," Matt said. "I'm going to go get your medicine, boys. Be back in a flash. Cub, no talking," he ordered.

Matt then disappeared, no doubt to get the drugs, so Monotaro glanced at Alex. "Alex..." he whispered. Then sighed when the other boy didn't respond, only stabbed his food. Giving up, Monotaro decided it would be better to eat now and talk later.

He was rewarded with his decision when Matt came back and ruffled Alex's hair, the very motion making Monotaro sick. "Here you go, Cub. Monotaro, here you go. Hand, please." Monotaro watched helplessly as Alex downed his pills in a single gulp as well as drowned the water.

"Monotaro?" Matt questioned as he handed him his pills.

He took them wordlessly, only briefly pausing before taking them to notice there were more than the usual amount. Trying to count them, he was interrupted by Matt's glare. He swallowed them all, registering the plastic taste in his mouth. He then decided that it didn't matter how many pills he was supposed to take, he didn't want any, but Matt would force him regardless of his opinion.

He glanced at Alex. Damn, it would be a long night.


CHALLENGES:

What happened to Alex?

What is going to happen next to Wolf?

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