So perhaps playing a three-hour game of kickball with the kids at the shelter hadn't been the smartest idea that he could have had considering how much exercise he was getting on a nightly basis anymore. 'Maybe I need to get a fucking moped,' Mysterion thought tiredly, trudging up towards Kyle's backyard with a sigh. He couldn't help but let out a snort and shake his head, envisioning himself puttering down the road with his cape barely catching air, the telltale indication of his arrival being the whirring of a 50cc engine. Moving around on foot nonstop was great for his calves but certainly did no amount of assistance with speed. Kyle's house was only about a ten-minute walk from upper downtown where his apartment was situated along with the rest of the 'hustle and bustle' of South Park, but that didn't make it enjoyable. Leisurely strolls weren't exactly an option in his particular situation, finding himself spending more time looking for corners to duck behind than it'd take him to walk between his and Kyle's places twice.

He slipped up towards the house, heart dropping at the sight of the window cracked. "Shit!" he spat, aching legs forgotten as he sped to the pane and ripped it open, leaping inside and rolling on the ground, eyes darting around frantically. "KYLE?!" he shouted. The clear echo of broken glass rang from the kitchen and he growled, sprinting towards the room. He came to a dead stop at Kyle staring at him with wide eyes, a bottle of soda in his hand and a broken lowball glass at his feet.

"A-are you okay?" Kyle blinked, slowly putting his drink on the counter behind him.

Mysterion couldn't stop his chest from heaving, overwhelmed from the panic he'd just been thrown into and unable to comprehend the redhead's complete nonchalance. "Why was your window open?!"

Kyle carefully stepped around the glass sprayed across his tiled floor, tearing open his walk-in pantry to snag a broom from an inner hook. "My air conditioner is acting wonky. It's balls to the walls hot in here," he shrugged. "And that's the one window that's close enough for me to keep an ear out. Sorry."

The hero took a shaking breath and nodded briskly, gloved hand reaching up under his hood and scratching against his balaclava, sweeping down to cover his eyes with his palm. "Fuck I thought someone…"

"Broke in after me again?" he asked, a small smirk playing on his lips as he began to sweep up his destroyed glassware. "I appreciate the concern, but I'm sorry, I'm not one for bathing in my own filth."

Mysterion finally let out a small huff of a laugh, nodding softly. "Sorry about your glass."

"Ehh don't be," he waved him off, bending down with his dustpan and scraping the shards up towards him. "I've been wanting to replace 'em anyway. Hand-me-downs from my mother," he rolled his eyes, finishing his cleanup and dumping the mess into the trashcan by his fridge. He sighed, turning to put his broom back away, "So, anything eventful tonight?"

"Not really," he answered honestly. "But I came straight here, so not much to see. You live in the safer part of town."

"You don't?" he questioned.

Mysterion smirked to himself. "Not telling you that one, Kyle."

He shrugged sheepishly, grabbing himself another glass. "Can't blame a guy for trying. You want a drink before you pass out from a heatstroke?"

"Why do you think I'll pass out?"

"Because you're in a fucking onesie with a blanket wrapped around you," he replied dryly. "It's goddamn ninety, you need to stay hydrated." He didn't wait for a response, grabbing a second glass and tearing open his freezer for ice. "So… Found something… interesting today," he started slowly. Mysterion cocked his brow, crossing his arms to lean back against the wall.

"Oh? Like what?"

He cleared his throat. "So remember the mothers' shelter?" he winced, feeling stern eyes staring down the back of his head.

"Uh huhhh," he drawled suspiciously, nodding slowly.

Kyle poured out the glasses, snagging them and stepping forward to hand one to the hero, shaking it a bit until he took it. He took a sip of his own and tucked hair behind his ear awkwardly. "I may have gone back today."

"Kyle, I told you not to!"

"And I told you that I was going to sooner or later!" he shot back before slinking a bit. "I was perfectly safe. Lied my way through a meeting with the owner. Figured out she's a goddamn liar for sure."

He cocked his head, taking a swig of soda, refusing to admit how blissful the crisp splash felt against his dried mouth. "How so?"

"Questioned her on a name of a staffing agent. Changed the gender and everything. She doesn't know anything about business practices. Tried to claim that Sunstaffing would omit their fee for a nonprofit," he scoffed with an eyeroll. "When I partnered CartAd up with them I had to battle to get us into a reasonable price range for over a month. They're stingy as fucking Cartman," he shook his head. "Anyway. That's not the important part. What is important is what I found in the basement."

Mysterion froze, eyes widening. "What? How'd you get into the basement?"

Kyle's shoulders sank. "There are homeless kids working there. I may or may not have offered to pay one of them off to create a diversion for me."

The hero went completely solid, chest clenching all at once. "Did you get any names?" he forced himself to ask. "The kids. Are they safe?"

The redhead nodded softly, "There's this one kid, the one that helped me. Um… Bryce?" he looked up and mumbled a confirmation to himself. "I met him once before… kinda," he tilted his hand a bit. "Asked him if they were safe and he promised that they were. They just sit around looking busy. I don't think any of them know what's going on… And those mothers aren't their mothers. I can only assume it's homeless women. They were all sitting on opposite sides of the room just talking amongst their own age groups," he shrugged. "But they're paying at least the kids to just sit there and pass the place off as a reputable business. If Bryce didn't recognize me he probably wouldn't have said anything."

A shaking breath escaped him that he tried to keep subtle enough for Kyle to miss. Well. That explained where all those kids vanished to during most days. "Why homeless kids?" he asked blankly. This was hitting far too close to home.

"Because they're not going to ask questions if they're getting paid," Kyle murmured, gliding his finger along the rim of his glass. "And they can't put an ad in the paper saying 'come make us look like we're not a front'." He snagged his phone out of his pocket, flipping to his last picture taken and holding it up for Mysterion to see.

The hero narrowed his eyes, taking the device and staring at the image of a drawer of money. "What the fuck?"

"This was in the basement," Kyle elaborated. "That money you saw Meredith or whatever hand to the other person came from there. And… there's more," he said, taking his phone back. He grasped Mysterion's arm and tugged him along with him back into the living room, sitting on the couch and pulling him down beside him. He snagged his stack of papers, pencil-marked with their assigned numbers in the top-right corner. "I found these," he said, handing them off to him. Mysterion set his drink down, starting to slowly sift through the pages and narrowing his eyes. "They were all in folders of their own, just numbered one through forty," he elaborated, watching him scanning the information.

He shrugged at a loss, "I… I'm not sure what I'm supposed to gather here."

"They're ID profiles," Kyle said, scooting closer and pointing at the page with a steel-faced woman that Mysterion was on, labeled with the name 'Tse Tse'. "See the number down here?" Kyle pointed to a small six-digit number lying in the bottom left-hand corner. "That's an ID number for the company. These must be the profiles made when they're getting cards to get into the facilities."

"Are you sure?" he pressed.

He twisted his lips, "Well, another little thing I found in there kind of solidifies the idea. I found an address by itself in another folder. I checked it out, and it's the address of one of the storage facilities we use."

Mysterion straightened up and stared at him with wide eyes. "You're sure?"

Kyle nodded, "I mean, it didn't have our unit number, but the coincidence is just a bit too high for it to be anything else, you know what I mean?"

"Right," he said lowly, twisting his lips and glancing up at the 14 up atop the page. "Why were they numbered? And by themselves?"

"I couldn't begin to tell you," he admitted, taking another drink of his cola. "But… maybe we can find out," he shrugged. Mysterion looked at him curiously. "Let's go to the storage place," Kyle suggested.

He nodded. "All right. Tell me where it is and I'll-"

"I said we, Dickhole," he scowled.

Mysterion returned the expression. "Like hell I'm letting you go, Kyle!"

The redhead finished off his soda and got to his feet, staring the hero down and crossing his arms. "Look, I'm not gonna be sitting here fucking waiting to know if you got stabbed again!"

He stood up briskly, towering over him and meeting his stern glare point for point. "And I'm not gonna let you walk into something that could be a fucking meth house!" he argued. "Remember how you told Stan I wasn't letting you do anything dangerous? Well that hasn't changed!"

Kyle took a deep, angry breath. "Either I go with you or I go on my own tomorrow. Make your fucking choice. Either way, I deserve to know what's out there for myself! I fucking managed to get this information on my own, stop fucking acting like I'm a goddamn little kid!"

Mysterion rolled his eyes, rubbing his temple tiredly. "Kyle. This isn't-"

"Up for discussion," he finished sharply.

The man stared down at the younger, shaking his head. "And what if you get hurt?"

"Then I get hurt," he said dryly, his face softening. "Look, it's safer if we go together. This whole working on two pages thing can only get us so far. If we're aiming for the top, then it's stupid to go it alone. Please. Just let me go with you."

Mysterion's shoulders sank, leaning down and pressing their foreheads together, shaking his head. "If I were a lesser man I'd fucking chloroform you and go on my own to keep you safe."

"And I'd have your balls," he rolled his eyes, leaning up and kissing him briskly. "Besides. You can't hold me down long enough to knock me out with fucking chloroform."

"Think I can't hold you down, huh? That a challenge?" he smirked.

Kyle blushed a bit before returning the expression. "Well no chance of that kind of challenge if you refuse to let me do something like this with you. If you can't trust me there, how can I trust you in any other partnered situation?" he asked innocently.

"Fuckin' harsh," he scoffed before sighing and nodding softly. "All right. But… please. Please. If things start going wrong, just fucking do what I say, okay?"

Kyle bit his lip, nodding back. "Okay."

He looked him up and down, gripping his dress shirt sleeve and wriggling it. "Change into a darker shirt. Long-sleeved."

"Fine fine," he waved him off, stepping towards his room. Mysterion watched after him, licking over his lips and tasting Kyle still lingering on his skin. He shook his head. Why he continued to be shocked by Kyle's never-ending stubbornness he'd never know. Not like he hadn't been combatting it their entire lives. He grabbed his soda and finished off his glass, grateful for the knowledge that he'd have a nice caffeine kick to rely on as the hours pressed on. Given, the heightened adrenaline of knowing Kyle was potentially in the line of fire would keep him more than awake. He could only hope that they were walking into nothing more than a safe clue that they could ponder and get out and back home without interference. The man walked over to the opened window and forced it down, locking it and letting his eyes slip shut as he took a deep breath. Prayers would just have to be what he could use for now.

He glanced up to see Kyle walking back out with a black zip-up hoodie, shaking it out a bit. Mysterion frowned, "Kyle, it's ninety out there. You'll fucking suffocate."

Kyle paused, pouting a bit and looking between his hoodie and shirt. "Well this is all I have that's dark and long-sleeved…" he sighed irritably and put the sweatshirt on the chair, Mysterion watching with wide eyes as he fought to unbutton his dress shirt. "Fuckin' this is ridiculous. This had to happen the one time of year it's not freezing to shit." He tore the shirt out from its tucked position in his slacks and threw it down, sliding into the hoodie. Mysterion stared blatantly at his chest until he zipped the sweater up and Kyle glanced up, face turning red again. "Fuckin' stare any longer and you're going to have to pay."

"How much? I got cash," Mysterion teased, chuckling at his embarrassed scoff.

Kyle grabbed his work ID from his bag on the floor and walked over to him. "Come on, let's get there before it's goddamn dawn." Mysterion nodded, following after him towards the door as he shut off the light. He bit his lip nervously, heading out with him into the humid summer air and taking a long, calming breath. All he could do for now was pray.

Kyle shook his head, taking another drag of his cigarette and letting it seep out into the night air and waft around him comfortingly. His eyes flickered towards the side of the street, watching a fluid figure slipping through shadows, ducking and rolling like he was goddamn Tom Cruise. Kyle was more than certain that just walking down the sidewalk like a normal person was much less inconspicuous than Solid Snake over there, but whatever made him more comfortable. Given, he'd nearly convinced him out of the routine by joking that Mysterion was just using him as bait to get a hand on anyone who was after them. A few moments of calming the hero down from the 'assumption' and assuring him that he'd burn anyone who came near him through the eye had let the man slide into the sidelines and keep pace with the casual redhead.

The accountant hummed, coming to a stop under a streetlamp and glancing across the street towards the dimmed lights of the storage facility. Sharp eyes scanned along the top of the tall fence, looking for cameras. Spotting none, he subtly waved for Mysterion to follow him, hearing his boots hitting the cement and hurriedly tromping after him across the way. They glanced at the padlocked entrance and the card scanner and pin pad all lining the gate. Mysterion twisting his lips. "Well fuck."

"Fuck what?" Kyle scoffed, tossing his smoke down and grinding it into the pavement. He cracked his fingers and neck. "You didn't think it'd be locked?"

"Well, no. I-" he paused as Kyle moved down around to the side of the fence, following after him out of the light of the street lamp. The redhead grunted and latched onto the chain-link fence, starting to scale his way up. "Kyle! Get down!" he hissed.

Kyle glanced back down, rolling his eyes and continuing his ascent. He sighed through his nose. He hadn't climbed a fence since fucking college. He definitely wasn't as good at it as he used to be, but thank god muscle memory was still fairly strong within him. His fingers looped over the top of the fence, carefully avoiding the points of the chains. He perched his shoulders back in the slightest, giving himself some motion to ride upwards, riding the momentum and swinging his leg over the top, balancing precariously and looking down at Mysterion staring at him in horror. "Are you coming or not?" he bit, letting his other leg ride to the inside and hopping down, bending his knees and rolling as he hit the ground, wincing and holding a hand to his back. He was definitely getting goddamn older. He glanced as Mysterion quickly clambered up, as though he'd just watched Kyle throw himself into a goddamn shark tank.

Kyle shook his head and stood up straight, brushing dirt off his hoodie as he waited for the hero to finish his climb. He glanced around cautiously, keeping his ears perked for foreign noises; An underpaid security guard or other people out for an actual late-night stroll could land them in a heap of trouble. He glanced down as Mysterion landed in a dramatic crouch beside him, snorting lightly. "Don't land like that, you'll fuck up your knees."

"Oh, you're the expert now?" he teased, getting back up to hover over him.

"This ain't the first fence I've hopped," he drawled. "I do my research. C'mon." He led him around the side of the first building, both of them peeking around the edge to find the path clear. Kyle sighed in relief, slowly leading him down the way. He blinked as he felt a gloved hand wrap around his own, trying to beat back the furious blush starting to crawl up his cheeks. He took a deep breath, gently squeezing Mysterion's palm and feeling the hero relaxing in the slightest with the gesture. The accountant rolled his eyes amusedly. Apparently it wasn't the breaking and entering that had him worried, just overstepping his personal boundaries.

Not that Kyle could exactly complain about that.

"Know where we're going?" Mysterion asked lowly, on high alert, ready to rip Kyle back and get him behind him at a moment's notice.

He nodded, "Yeah. Two rows up, building 23." Mysterion let out a long breath, edging himself closer to the redhead. This was a disaster on his already frayed nerves. Knowing that they were walking through an area chockful of darkened corners definitely wasn't helping.

Kyle's eyes kept scanning about, gnawing lightly on his lip as he brought them past the next row of units, turning him down the long alleyway towards their destination. He snagged his phone with his free hand, switching on his flashlight function and eying the numbers as they passed. 19, 20, 21, 22… He came to a stop in front of unit 23, looking at the blinking red light of their security feature plastered on the side. Reluctantly he released Mysterion's hand, the both of them looking at each other and nodding in silence, stepping up to the door and pressing their ears against the shoddy metal. Both hitched their breath, listening carefully for any kind of unknown noise.

"I think we're good," Mysterion murmured after a good fifteen seconds.

Kyle nodded in agreement, glancing at a large padlock at the bottom of the door. "You broke into my office, can you break a padlock, too?" he asked.

Mysterion followed his stare, sighing and nodding, kneeling down and taking off his gloves. "Need you to hold the light," he murmured. Kyle knelt beside him, watching with interest as Mysterion tore out his lockpicking kit, carefully selecting his tools and starting to dig in the torsion torque, worming in his hook pick with it. Mysterion narrowed his eyes in concentration, counting four pins and starting to quickly press up and find their levels. Kyle cocked his head, watching his hand clenching down on the torque, noting the callouses on his hands and chewing his lip. He couldn't help but wonder just what it was to make his hands so rough. What did he do during the day? Who was the other side that he apparently had missed giving him any indications of feelings for him? He slunk a bit as Mysterion conquered the third pin, working on the final with his hands so steady Kyle could've sworn that he wasn't in their current situation. That he was just watching a man performing a hobby in his garage. He blinked in surprise as it clicked open, Mysterion hurriedly ripping his tools back out and shoving them back into their pouch. "Easy," he commented.

"Maybe to you, looks like witchcraft from my perspective," he murmured. "Fuck man how are you not shaking to shit right now?"

Mysterion smirked, slipping his gloves back on and grabbing the lock, ripping it open and shoving it into a cape pocket. They stood up together and he nudged Kyle a bit. "I'm real good at keepin' my hands workin'. Maybe I can show you sometime," he purred.

Kyle gulped, grabbing his ID out of his pocket and waving it in front of the security scanner, both of them watching it turn green and hearing the internal lock clicking. "Aren't you supposed to be like, super serious and broody right now?" he snapped as he shoved his phone back into his pocket, both of them reaching down to grasp under the rubber lining of the door, slowly and quietly pushing it upwards.

The hero chuckled, "Well… yes. But I'm not one for passing up a good opportunity."

"Like kissing me?" he rolled his eyes.

"Slide in, we need to close the door," Mysterion instructed, watching Kyle obey as they pushed it up high enough and following suit. They both scrunched their noses at the musty smells surrounding them all at once, an instantaneous claustrophobia settling in in the humid heat. Cautiously, they set the door back onto the floor, Kyle taking his phone back out and shining the light towards the cluttered room. Mysterion leaned down and kissed his ear, "And don't pretend you don't love that I took that chance," he growled.

"Hm," he mused, refusing to give him a straight answer as he shined the bright light around the enclosed space. He narrowed his eyes. "Just… looks like our stuff," he commented, glancing at stacks of poster board, pallets leaning against the wall at angles. Paints and different promotional materials were scattered around, the both of them moving towards collapsed boxes and half-emptied crates of fliers. "I wasn't expecting… nothing," he said in disbelief.

Mysterion nodded, "Me neither. Why was this address there?"

"I-I don't know. I mean… this is our smaller storage. We have a way bigger one across town, I'd figure if there was some kind of meth operation or whatever it'd be there…" he scratched through his hair. "This just doesn't make any sense. What the hell are they doing in here?"

"Meetings," Mysterion muttered, crossing his arms in thought. "If the chick at the shelter is giving those guys money-"

"Then maybe this is where they meet up to exchange it," Kyle finished breathlessly. "But when?"

"Not Wednesdays and not Fridays," he said quietly, biting his knuckle through his leather. "That's the meetings on Colfax…" He paused, lifting his head as he recalled something from well over a month ago; A meeting behind the warehouse. And a slue of numbers being rattled off. Numbers up to thirty-eight… He blinked. "I know what they were numbered for."

"Huh?" Kyle blinked at him.

"The people. The files. They were numbered. I caught someone last-" he paused, both of them shooting their heads towards the door at the sound of voices lingering outside. "Fuck!" he hissed, grabbing Kyle's arm and diving down behind pallets. "Behind the posters, turn off your light," he demanded in a whisper, backing up into the opposite corner. Kyle hurriedly shut off his light, crawling blindly behind stacked crates and peeking out to the side of poster board, Mysterion on the opposite end peering through thick pallets, wrapping himself within his cape as best he could. They watched the door slip open.

"-is it?" a man finished his sentence.

"Fuckin' last ones must've dropped it," his cohort scoffed. "Probably put it in their damn pocket." The other grunted, switching on a flashlight. Kyle gulped, putting his hood slowly up over his head. The hidden men's jaws trembled, watching one of them digging through his pocket. "Fuckin' shit," he grumbled, ripping out an envelope and handing it to the other.

He opened the flap, peering inside and nodding. "That's it?"

"What I was given," he said plainly. "Grab a crate and we'll fuckin' get it ready to send out."

"Right," he agreed curtly, handing him his flashlight and making way towards Kyle's corner. Kyle put his hand over his nose and mouth to keep silent, eyes blown wide and trying to sink back against the wall as they walked closer. Mysterion's jaw shook, trying to figure out what the hell he could do.

The man grabbed a crate from the top of the stack, eyes flickering through the beam of light hitting the wall. Or at least, what should've been hitting the wall. Frightened green eyes suddenly locked in his and they stared in silence for a moment. "FUCK!" the man shouted, throwing the crate aside and reaching down, grabbing Kyle's arm and forcefully yanking him from his hiding spot, sending him flying onto the ground in a sprawling mess of poster board. "How'd you get in here?!" he snapped, grabbing Kyle's throat and hauling him back onto his feet, getting slammed into the side wall with both men staring him down furiously, their flashlight projecting straight into his eyes.

"I-I… Boomslang sent me," he sputtered, the other two narrowing their eyes in confusion. Mysterion bit his lip, reaching to the back of his belt and snagging his gun from its hold. "H-he… he has a message for the both of you… I don't know, Man. He just paid me to get in here and… and to fuckin' hide if I thought I heard cops!"

They glanced at each other and narrowed their eyes, the one holding him shaking him a bit. "Oh yeah? Then what's the message?"

"He said… uh -HEY!" he shouted as the other grabbed his ID dangling from his pocket and held it into the light.

The man smirked at him. "Oh really? None of us got fancy little titles on our cards. 'Specially not ones that say controller," he mocked. "Considering how much he hates the actual controller."

"It's a misprint?" he tried, wincing as they shoved him back harder.

"Then you won't mind comin' with us t' see him and gettin' verified," the other drawled.

"Yeah I'm sure he'd love t' tell us you're on the up n'-" the one with the light stopped, falling to the side and slamming into the wall with a loud, pained yell. Mysterion pivoted, smacking the barrel of his gun against the other's temple.

"Put him down and back right the fuck up," he demanded. The man hesitated and he shoved his gun further into his skin. "I'm not fucking around, you fucking drop him now," he snapped. Kyle glanced between the two of them, slowly reaching his hands up and snagging the envelope from his hold, twisting out of his grip. Mysterion grabbed him and pushed him behind himself, backing him away slowly. Kyle bent down and grabbed his card abandoned on the ground from the fallen felon along with the one dangling from the own man's hip, straightening up and moving in time behind the hero. "Now," he breathed out slowly. "You're gonna sit here nice n' pretty for me. Ten minutes and you can open this door. You understand me?" He turned his head a bit. "Kyle, run out," he ordered, jerking his head back. Kyle hesitated before nodding, turning on his heel and bolting out the opened door, lingering around the side as Mysterion continued to slowly keep eye contact with the one still conscious. "Be cool and we'll all be happy," he said gruffly, stepping out into the night air and grabbing the door with his free hand. "Until the cops get here," he finished, slamming the door down. "Kyle, hold it down!" he said hurriedly.

Kyle scrambled to grab a jutting handle on the door, wincing as he pressed down onto the barrier, feeling the man trying to tear it back open and screaming obscenities at them as Mysterion fumbled to get the lock out and snap it back around the latch on the side. He clamped it down and reached over, grabbing his hand. "Come on, they'll call for backup," he said urgently, not waiting for a reply before taking off running towards the front of the lot. He pulled Kyle up to his side. "Are you hurt?"

"I'm fine, I'm totally fine," he breathed, waving off his worry. "Thanks."

"Well don't thank me until you're back home," he said shakily. "Come on, over the fen-" he paused, both of them coming to a stop seeing the front gates now opened. "Didn't the gates have a security pass, too?" Mysterion blinked.

"Who cares, let's just go!" he insisted, tugging his hand. Mysterion nodded, both of them taking off still linked together out onto the sidewalk, turning a sharp corner and heading back down the street, Mysterion leading Kyle off the main road and through the spider web of alleyways sprawling throughout downtown. He ripped his unmarked phone out of his pocket, urgently dialing the police.

"Park County Pol-"

"This is M, I need Sergeant Yates right now!" he cut her off.

The line automatically went on hold, Mysterion breathing out a sigh of relief. Apparently Yates had informed them that his calls were a priority. He glanced up, seeing Kyle staring at the envelope in his hand and tugging his attention back forward, leading him down a long stretch of buildings hidden from the intrusive street lamps.

"This is Yates. This M?"

"Yeah. I have two guys for you, they're locked in unit 23 of Stow n' Go down on Custer Road," he informed him. He peered over to see Kyle staring at him in fear and gulped. "T-they uh… They bypassed the security by assaulting an employee of the company that rents the unit. Forced him to open the doors for them."

"Did you see this assault?" he asked, Mysterion hearing him sending someone to call for cops to get down to the facility.

"Yeah. The civilian is safe," he assured him. "I have him with me, everything is fine."

Yates paused, "With you? I told you not to involve any civilians, Buddy!"

Mysterion scowled, tightening his grip on Kyle's hand. "I didn't have a choice, Sir. He needed my help so I got him out of there. I'm getting him back home and safe. You said you couldn't get too involved in this so I'm making sure he's taken care of."

He could hear the older man muttering to himself, letting out a lengthy sigh. "Put the civilian on the phone."

Mysterion hesitated, holding the phone towards Kyle. The redhead blinked, shoving the envelope into his hoodie pocket and taking the device. "Y-yes?"

"Unless you need to tell me, I don't need to know who you are," he started firmly. "But I do need to know, are you safe with M? Did he hurt you at all?"

Kyle's face scrunched. "What? No! Of course he didn't!"

"If he did, say 'I don't know what he was doing', and we'll send someone to your location and away from him," he urged.

"I know exactly what he was doing, he was saving my ass because you fucks are so incompetent you can't fight crime in your own city when you're paid for it!" he snapped, blinking as Mysterion snagged back the phone, shaking his head and pressing it back to his ear.

"Yates, just get the bad guys," he finished, hanging up the phone and hooking it back onto his belt. Kyle started slowing down, Mysterion easing up with him and turning to look at him. "Are you okay?"

The redhead came to a stop, hand still tightly gripping the hero's own and he nodded. "I'm… I'm sorry," he said quietly.

The man sighed, turning and pulling him into his chest, wrapping around him tenderly. "We couldn't have known," he reminded him, kissing the top of his head. "I'm just glad they didn't drag you out of there."

"Thanks to you," he murmured, smiling softly and nuzzling against his chest, taking a long, shaking breath. "That's the second time you've had to save my accident-prone ass," he laughed quietly. "Hell, maybe we should've just let 'em take me wherever and you just followed and got the cops to come get me out. Would've solved this a lot quicker I'm sure."

Mysterion's eyes narrowed, pushing him back a bit with his hands firmly on his shoulders. "You are not to go anywhere else for this fucking thing without me, do you understand?" Kyle's eyes widened at the sudden severity of his tone, flinching in the slightest and Mysterion withdrew from him like he was made of hot coal, taking a step back. "Please," he whispered. "Please don't… don't go somewhere where I can't get you out," he begged.

"I won't…" he promised, taking a small step towards him to close the distance. "I won't." Mysterion nodded, hanging his head and shaking lightly as Kyle wrapped his arms around his waist and pulled him closer, placing his head back on his chest. They stayed draped around one another in silence for a few moments, letting the events of tonight attempt to slip off of them like water, but the reality couldn't help but stick to them like layers of tar. It marred them, marked them both as victims of unfortunate circumstance.

Kyle pulled back unwillingly, reaching into his pocket and snagging the envelope. "Why'd you grab that?" Mysterion asked.

"Every little clue helps," he shrugged, opening it and cocking his head.

Mysterion blinked. "What?"

Kyle grabbed his phone and switched on the light yet again, directing it into the paper to find bundles of little pieces of plastic. "What the…" he murmured, fumbling to get a grip on a stack secured with a rubber band and pulling them out, eyes widening at yet another CartAd badge staring him in the face. "More," he whispered, glancing at the name 'Steven McNaley'. "This is a new name, it wasn't on any of my other lists… holy shit they're growing," he blinked, shoving the cards back into place. "Too many people," he muttered in thought.

"Seriously," Mysterion sighed, rubbing his eyes tiredly.

"No… I mean logistically," he corrected. "In my files, I have roughly three hundred people in this group, right?"

"Right," he nodded slowly.

Kyle tongued over his lips, putting the envelope back into his pocket. "Three hundred was a large number to begin with. South Park has about 5,000 residents. I was looking around and about 1,350 crimes were reported last year."

Mysterion shrugged, "So that adds up and then some."

"But that includes all the small crimes," he reminded him. "Kids breaking in and stealing Xboxes. Drunk driving. Loitering. Small towns have more small crime than anything else, not the level we're dealing with."

He nodded slowly, "All right?"

"If you calculate it out, statistically, out of 100 people in this town, 27 of them will commit a crime. The percentages don't add up. Not when looking around and realizing that most of the crimes here are just because two idiots got into a fight at the bar," he frowned. "Besides, let's be honest here, if all the criminals on my list spawned from South Park alone, there's no way it'd be an underground syndicate. We're way too close-knit of a community," he gestured aimlessly. "Everyone would know. We'd be considered a high-risk town. We'd be fucking Detroit," he scoffed. "That's nearly 17 percent of our population right in that amount. And if the total amount of criminal activity is 27 percent…"

"There's no way that it's the majority," he finished, getting a sharp nod from the redhead and looking down in thought. "So what do you think should be the next step?"

Kyle took a deep breath, scratching through his hair. "I'm not sure. But this problem is way larger than just us, maybe even Park county. Hell, considering so many of those banks are set up in Europe, I'm more than willing to bet there's some shit going down overseas, too."

"Well, to be honest, I'm more concerned about protecting home than I am goddamn France," he snorted quietly.

He nodded, "I understand that. But we don't know how large the number we're actually dealing with is… So we need to go break into somewhere else."

"Where?"

Kyle glanced up at him, both of them turning their heads at the sound of sirens speeding past them, red and blue gleaming in their eyes as the patrol cars rounded the corner and headed to the storage facility. The redhead twisted his lips. "We're breaking into CartAd as soon as I can scope for cameras. We need to get in Cartman's files."