"I'm escaping this world

one step at a time

but all I need first

is a partner in crime" - J.H.

 

Laughter and posh lectures one with another. Gentlemen in suits and ladies in dresses. The environment felt elegant and suffocating in this venue, at least for the seven year old Giotto. He looked adorable in his little suit, at least that’s what everyone said as his father showed him off. His father was the chief of security of the city, wealthy, handsome, widower, everything and anything Giotto could care less of. His most popular trait was his hatred and fear against mutants, beings with supernatural abilities that could surpass animal and machine. The city both feared them and revered them, it was a dividing side. But being a small minority they would only stand out every so often in the news. What his father would never know was that his own son was a mutant with developing powers. Another rub to the head, causing his hair to get messed up caused Giotto to groan and sneak away, away from the strong smelling perfumes and out a door that led to the outside for fresh air, the back parking lot barely lit up by a street lamp and decorated with a few garbage cans. “Stupid party, stupid stuff, stupid dad.” Giotto muttered under his breath as he got his hands in his pockets and kicked around a rock. He hated social events like this. Not only was he ignored, he was used as an item to show off. “Stupid!” He kicked the rock again.

"Not surprised. You better hope you didn't get a black eye just now or your dad will freak out. Then again you can just say you fell in the bathtub or something. I bet he won't even be surprised either." Jesse chuckled to himself, and walked right over to where Giotto was. He laughed a bit at the scene. What WAS he going to do with Giotto? It was Giotto why Jesse really was able to smile. Yes there's Mimi and Johnny, but having Giotto around was just the cherry on top. He held out a hand for his friend. "Next time you're going to try to take a tire off of a car let me know m'kay?"

(I and no idea if you were talking about an actual wheel to a car or a tire so I just guessed it was a tire LOL)

(Yeah it was the tire! Sorry about the confusion!)

 

Giotto smiled and took Jesse's hand, standing up. "Understood. Sorry about that." Giotto said as he rubbed the back of his head. He picked up the tire and showed it off to Jesse. "I don't know if car tires and motorcycle tires are the same thing, but if not we can sell these to get some motorcycle tires in exchange." Giotto said as he settled the tire down, feeling his face. "Dad will believe that I slipped in my bath and the soap hit my face. It's happened before!" Giotto said with a nervous chuckle. Sometimes he wondered if it was a little curse to be so clumsy. Or a gift. Maybe something in the middle. "Oi, Jesse. We need something to carry this stuff back to the place. I'm going to go ahead and look for a cart or something!" Giotto said with a smile as he started to run around, looking for something they could use to carry their parts back to the place. Though he doubted that Johnny would like to have them build a motorbike in his basement, they could try and do it in the backyard, or at some secret place. He eventually found a shopping cart. After looking for some more, he found a tarp. He draped the tarp into the cart to avoid having the small parts go through the holes. He pushed it back to where Jesse was. "I almost forgot to ask, where are we going to build this? I don't think Jesse would like for us to build a motorbike in his basement. Plus, it'd be kind of hard to take it out." Giotto said as he rode the cart.

Jesse thought for a moment. Now that really was a good question. Normally, Jesse actually did have some decent knowledge on how to fix vehicles, as well as even build some parts of vehicles. That, added with his knoledge on how to build bikes and how to use machinery since Johnny worked at a factory, he might be able to come up with something. If all else fails he could just steal something as offered by Giotto earlier.

"Actually..." Jesse said, an idea popping into his head. "I have a lot of street logic. That should help. Plus I know plenty of guys who work on bikes. Most people at Cell Street work fixing cars and stuff. I know a perfect place we could build the bike at; the abandoned factory we met forever ago. As long as no one is there, we could just build it there."

Giotto smiled. "Brilliant idea! The factory has yet to even receive a restoration project of any kind. We have all the time in the world to build it there!" Giotto said. He also liked the idea that it would be in the one place where they first met. He kind of wished he could've thanked the people that almost kidnapped him. Were they not trying to take him away, Jesse wouldn't have helped, and they wouldn't have met. "If we ever become super heroes, that could be one of our hide outs too. No one suspects the Mutant Inquisition!" Giotto said as he made a pose, before doing a kick in the air, only to have himself lose balance and fall back. "Ow, I'm ok!" Giotto said as he stood back up, getting his hands on his hips. "I'm going to get ourselves more tires!" With that Giotto ran around, looking for parts and useful items basically all day long.

"Exactly." Jesse said with a nod. Who knows, maybe they could make the factory their secret base or even their home. It could serve as a safe house for if Jesse, Giotto, Mimi or Johnny ever got into trouble. They could put some furniture in the factory, like some old couches and tables and whatnot. The idea actually excited him.

"We could make it our own... It'll be like our- please don't call it the 'Mutant Inquisition." Jesse rolled his eyes and jumped up onto another pile of metal as Giotto hurt himself... Once again.

"I'm going to look for parts." Jesse said. "Do me a favor and don't kill yourself m'kay?"

After the sun was starting to go down ever so slightly Jesse emerged somewhat covered in soot, oil, sweat and grease all while carrying a bag behind him full with parts. He basically looked like a young hobo Santa.

"Well?" Jesse asked, approaching Giotto. "What did ya get?"

Giotto had sweat and dirt all over him, part of his blue colored hair washing away as it showed bits of red and looked somewhat purple with the mix. His hands were red due to handling the stuff without stopping. If he showed up to his father the way he was he would have trouble recognizing him, and would easily mistake him for another child. "Some tires, tools, brakes, some handlebars, bolts, chains, one engine, and some batteries. I decided to pick up multiple to see which one would make the bike faster." Giotto said as he panted. This was one heavy load. Heavier than the Christmas shopping load too. "If we manage to build this, we could also build a bike for Mimi when she is old enough to ride." Giotto said with a chuckle, pushing the cart filled with parts as he walked with Jesse. "We should take these to the factory now. It's starting to get late, and we don't want to get caught in the night. We'll catch a cold and a chance of being mugged." Giotto said as he pushed the cart with all of his might. His beginning innocence was fading away, at least. He could survive if he were to be left alone in the dark.

Jesse inspected the load. He was impressed. And Giotto actually didn't kill himself either. He patted his partner on the back. "Good job hotshot! We might be able to built a safety system for you too so you won't hurt yourself again." He said jokingly. As he walked along with Giotto, Jesse led him towards the factory. "We can just drop the stuff off there and head back to Johnny's. We can always start tomorrow when it's brighter out. And mugged? Ha, we'll just beat the crap out of whoever decides to mess with us."

Giotto smiled. "Sure, we can beat them up if its only a few, but what happens if they're more than a few? Then we'd be in trouble." Giotto said as he laughed, the two heading back to the factory where they met. He then got a glum look as he looked around. "As long as we don't encounter those Skulls though." He muttered, looking over at Jesse. "Dad is so angry with them. He hasn't stopped talking about them and it's all that is appearing on his desk for the past few months. It's driving him nuts. The authorities nor citizens can identify any of them and any of them that are captured at all have signed a pact of silence so they're not going to say anything. They're very scary too! The other day they stabbed someone!" Giotto said, remembering all of the complaints his dad had to talk about over the dinner table about it. "Lets get rid of them before Mimi grows old enough to go to school. I don't want them around at the same time as Mimi."

Jesse sighed as he walked along with Giotto. He didn't like the Skulls at all. Not only because of how bad they were, but they also gave the Bronze Layer a bad name. Not to mention they're just a group of stupid idiots. "The Skulls are just a group of hipster p******. All they want to do is just mess with everyone and cheat the system. Hell yeah, we have to take every single one out before Mimi is old enough to go to school." After a while of walking, they had arrived at the old abandoned factory. Jesse walked right into the front entrance and looked down at the twenty foot drop they had to jump all those years ago.

"Holy hell, remember this?" Jesse said with a grin, dropping his bag down the drop. The cardboard was all gone and the metal fell with a clutter. Oh well, it was just scraps anyway.

Giotto flinched a bit at the loud bag crashing down, the metal echoing. "How could I forget? It was either this or those guys. I kind of forgot how tall it originally was..." Giotto said with a nervous chuckle. He pulled Jesse and his cart to the elevator. With a touch the elevator came to life and offered them a way down. They reached the bottom where Jesse's bag lay. Giotto spoke to the generators, lights flicking on to give some sight into the darkened place. "This place brings back good memories. Though sneaking into a place like this. Its sort of like couples sneaking off for a date." Giotto turned, smiling slyly. "Wanna make out and played the part?" He teased jokingly.

"In your dreams buddy." Jesse said jokingly as well as he patted Giotto on the back before he went to go inspect the metals. He opened his bag and started to toss things out, including old rims and whatnot, as well as just random pieces of metal in general. To be honest he didn't know where to begin, but at least he had motorcycle parts. He'll work something out even if he ended up having to drive a mess of metal with duct tape piecing everything together. "I guess we can just unload everything today and comeback tomorrow. Johnny's probably having a titty attack right now."

Giotto gave a small nod. "Sounds good. Dealing with Mimi at this age isn't easy either, hehe." Giotto said as he started to unload everything they had collected. Giotto, out of habit, divided them into piles, neatly setting them up to be inspected and easily found later one when needed. "Oi, let me take you home before I head home myself. Would be unkind to do any other way." Giotto said with a smile as he offered Jesse a ride on the elevator once more. He paused, thinking as he looked around the factory and then back at Jesse. "Jesse." Giotto said as he straightened himself up. "I want to say, thank you for sneaking into the party that night." Giotto said with a sheepish smile before thinking about it again. "If it weren't for you. I don't know where I'd be, honestly. Most likely still in my father's hands. Still oblivious. Still wondering." Giotto said as he paused, looking down at himself before looking back at Jesse. "Hey, Jesse. Have you ever wondered if someone does things that hurt, but they only do it because they love you?"

Jesse wrapped his arm around Giotto's shoulder. He was happy he snuck into the party all those years ago. Who knows, maybe it was because of Giotto why he had his sister. Who knows how different things could have turned out. Even though his mother had died, Jesse believed that everything was happening he way it should and he was happy at that. He wouldn't have it any other way. He looked up into the sky at Giotto's question, taking some moments to think about it.

"...yeah I have. I guess... My ma hurt me sometimes. When she was on crack it hurt, but she still loves me. When she didn't tell me she was pregnant, that hurt but she did it because she loved me too. Everyone does things in this world for a reason. Even if they say they did it for no reason, that's still a reason. Sometimes people do things to hurt other people, sometimes people do things because they love someone. Bah I dunno. I make no sense sometimes." He chuckled and rubbed the back of his head. Sometimes he didn't like sharing his feelings. It made him week strange, or maybe even weak.

Giotto thought about it for a bit and then smiled. It made sense the more he thought about it. He smiled and nudged Jesse. "You just don't want to admit your inner Shakespeare. I always imagine the moment I turn around you go all out on poetry." Giotto teased as he and Jesse walked out of the building and made their way back to Johnny's basement. By then the sun had set down, the lights of the city shone bright, comparing itself to the shine of the stars above. "I'll read some information about motorcycles when I get home. To be prepared for tomorrow. Should I meet you at the factory or back here?" Giotto asked as he sat down next to the window entrance.

"Hell no I ain't no Shakespeare. I never even read a single book he made- er play or whatever the hell he does. I never payed attention in school before I dropped out." After Jesse ran away from his foster home, he never went back to school. He only just trained himself and explore the city. Now that he was older, he could actually get his reputation up. Jesse cracked his knuckles idyly. He never considered himself that much of an intelligent person. Jesse stood in front of the window, staring at the ground for a moment.

"I'll met you here or something I guess. That way you can see Mimi. I'm gonna probably go out for a walk maybe to the deli later to get some beer or some cigarettes. I'll see you later alright?"

-

Later on in the night however, Jesse had sent a text straight to Giotto's phone. It only read;

"I need u over here right now. It's an emergency. Don't worry about Mimi, she's fine."

Giotto groaned in his sleep, turning around in his bed as he reached to the end table to pick up his phone. After his eyes adjusted to the bright light, and he read the message, all the sleepiness was thrown out the window. He jumped onto his feet and hurried into the closet, changing quickly into proper clothing to go outside. He didn't even went with the hair paint, nor he brushed his hair. He instead picked up the gas mask from his costume in case of needing to hide his face. After creating a cheap version of himself sleeping with some extra pillows, he dove had first out the balcony and into the brush of plants downstairs. Giotto had never ran so fast voluntarily before. He wasn't a runner. He reached into his pocket for his cellphone, using his powers to type up: "I'm on my way." By the time he got there his heart was pounding, he was sweating, he felt like puking but all that mattered was to see what happened. "Jesse!" Giotto hissed, whispering yet loudly as he snuck into the basement. "Jesse!"

Jesse greeted Giotto as soon as he walked in.

"Shh! Shut up!" He whispered sharply. He had blood all over his hands, which accidentally stained Giotto's clothes due to Jesse holding him back momentarily.

"Johnny is in the bedroom with Mimi. They're both fine- ya gotta see this for yourself." He slowly turned around and looked to where the futon stood in the corner of the room. On top of it laid a young boy, who looked to be at least four years younger than Jesse and Giotto. The boy had his head tilted to the side against the futon, and his hand was over his stomach. His face was covered in blood and sloppily bandaged up. There was also blood on the rest of his body which was bruised up to no end. Jesse went up to the futon and went on his knees.

"I found this kid in an alleyway outside." Jesse muttered. "He was beaten and left there to die. It looked like he was delivering something because there was a bike with some groceries. They tried to strangle the damn kid with the chain of his bike. Wrapped hella right around his neck. And his eye is just... Mush." He looked to the side. "He was somewhat conscious when I found him. He begged me not to take him to the hospital. I don't even know his name. And whoever beat him left a mark..." He pointed at the boy's arm, which a skull symbol was painted in black right on be forearm.

Giotto looked at the scene almost in a state of shock. The scent of blood stank up the place, considering the lack of ventilation. He felt the clothes and the blood on them. It was warm. Part of him was relieved that the blood didn't belong to Jesse or the rest. But the other was horrified to see that it came from someone much younger. "Shit Jesse..." Giotto muttered. The fact that he was whispering gave Giotto the thought that Johnny might be oblivious to the current situation happening in his living room/basement. He somehow wished he had brought a first aid kit. He didn't hesitate to check up on the boy, trying to remember his study lessons. "There's a possibility they could've crushed his throat, signs of hemorrhage, his pupils are barely responding to light." Giotto muttered as he used the flashlight on his phone. He felt the kid's throat, he could barely breath due to the bruising and damage to it done by the chain. "Don't freak out." Giotto said suddenly. He took something out from his boot; a pocket knife. Encrusted with gold leaf and semi precious stones. He rushed back to the small kitchen, rampaging until he found a straw. He ran back and without warning, cut up the kid's throat vertically. Just as quickly he stuck the straw into the newly made incision. There was silence until he saw the kid's chest rise up and down, taking in breath. He was breathing without interruption. "(Huh. That actually worked.)" Giotto thought. He turned to Jesse. "Jesse I know he told you not to but I don't have any medical equipment on me and unless he receives proper treatment he won't survive the night." Giotto hissed as he then looked down at the skull shaped mark. Skull. "Those b*st*rds..." Giotto could feel anger rise up. If this kid died it would be the first fatality coming from the gang. "I...want to kill them now...I don't think I can wait for the motorcycle." Giotto said.

Jesse almost freaked the hell out when Giotto cut into the kids throat and heard he gurgles and sputter from him choking on his own blood. He was about to smack Giotto silly until he realized that the kid was actually breathing after a few seconds. He was dumbstruck for a few moments before his mind went back to the emergency at hand. "A-Are you f****** crazy?!" He whispered sharply. He looked to the boy's rising chest and Jesse placed his palm on his face. "Whatever it worked." He looked to Giotto. "I don't know what the hell I should do. I have no idea who this kid is. He's torn to bits and for him to be begging not to go to the hospital I thought that there was a damn good reason why. That's why I brought him here. Johnny wants me to take the kid to the hospital but I just don't know... I don't know who the hell he is either. No ID or anything, which figures since the kid looks like he's twelve years old. Just calm the hell down..."

Giotto sat up as he turned and crossed his arms. He had a very stoic expression. Whatever fear he was either hiding it, or it had flown out the window. "Jesse. You do realize that this is a highly dangerous situation? This kid could have countless of many good reasons for not being taken to the hospital. Afraid of paying the bills, afraid of being recognized if he's done a crime before, he could be the son of one of the big ones of the third layer. Anything can go in a city like this. I understand to wanting to respect his wish to remain out of the hospital. But unless something is done, you won't be having a kid in here anymore. You'll be having a corpse. A corpse of a twelve year old boy who has been beaten to death, in a basement in the third layer, which is housing both a registered runaway, an adult-factory employee and a young girl, who's both happen to be involved in a previous incident years ago. I don't know about you, but I'd be worried for Johnny's well being as equally as for this kid's. If anything goes out of place, Johnny will be the one paying the price. You have to realize that." Giotto said, slowly walking closer and closer to Jesse until eventually he was up at his face, a serious expression in his eyes that told that he wasn't joking around. He slowly backed away and hummed, cracking his fingers. "We either take care of this kid on our own or we find someone who has the expertise to do it. I've read records of some gang doctor being arrested. We could break him out...or we decide to play God and fix this kid ourselves..." He kept having this multiple scenarios in his head. "We could sneak into the hospital and force the staff to work on him and take him away afterwards once he's been stabilized. Who knows."

Jesse looked down in deep thought. Jesse was completely right. Not only would Johnny get in huge trouble, especially since it'll be more than likely that if he gets in trouble the police are probably going to find out that the Child Services system was tampered with just because of the simple fact that Johnny lives in a complete dump. Jesse couldn't risk that. Not only because it would risk hurting a man that sacrificed to much for him, but it would also risk hurting Mimi. She could be taken out and put into a home. Or worse if that's even possible. He considered the suggestion of breaking the doctor out, but that would take too long. After a few minutes he shook his head.

"Alright..." Jesse muttered. "I'm calling 9-1-1." He reached for the phone in his pocket, but suddenly it was grabbed by the boy. Jesse felt his heart jump along with his body. He was not expecting that and it scared the living hell out of him.

"...P-Pl...ease... Do...n't." The boy whispered, gurgling a bit on his blood as he spoke. He coughed some of it out.

Giotto turned over to the boy, grabbing his hand and forcing him to rest it back, he kept his hand on the straw to make sure it didn't fell off either. "Well I'll tell you this much. My attempt worked." Giotto said as he glared down at the boy. "Do you even realize your own situation? You are bleeding internally. You'll die within minutes from both bleeding out and your heart overflowing. If we don't get you some help you will go down the light at the end of the tunnel and we won't be able to pull you back." Giotto said as he knelt down, looking over at the kid in the eyes. "Why won't you let us take you to the hospital? Who are you? Why won't you let us take you there? I know that there must be a reason, but unless we do something you'll die." Giotto said as his hand shook slightly. The last two resorts he could think was either let him die and dump the body, or try armature surgery where he stood.

(Omg your icon is Spain I want to hug you.)

The boy weakly opened his one eye and looked to Giotto. The other eye was bandaged. He breathed in hoarsely, and only continued to beg. "D-Do..... N't......" He begged.

Jesse only growled and crossed his arms in anger. Now he was just getting aggravated.

"Let us take you!" Jesse said. "Do you want to die?!"

The boy slowly nodded. Jesse wasn't expecting that answer. "Why would you rather die...?" He asked.

"My.... Fa-....mily...." He began to sputter on some of his blood again. "Ca..n't afford.... Skulls... Kill them... If..... Th....ey can't... Pay..."

Jesse dug his face in his hand again. "Hotshot- f***! This twelve year old kid would rather die? The Skulls... Kid, what about them? Are the Skulls taking their money?" The boy nodded. "Then the Skulls will kill them if they can't pay up..." Jesse muttered.

Giotto stared intently. So that's how it was. "That's why...the reports were dropped." He muttered, staring down at the kid. This child was younger than himself, and wanted to knock on death's door and ask for sanctuary. "If he goes to the hospital, they won't have enough money left to pay the Skulls." Giotto said. Part of him wanted to kill the kid. Out of pity, and out of wanting to put him out of the misery he was in. There was obvious pain, and his death would be slow as he bled out. "They're targeting them. The innocent." Giotto said as he looked up at Jesse. "We have to do something about this." Giotto said as he started to think. "..." He turned to the kid, kneeling down as he stared at him right in the eyes. "Do you know where they would go in order to collect the money? How much are they expecting and where could they be contacted if they wished for the money? Tell me first, then you may die." Giotto demanded, his voice stoic and calm.

The boy slowly shook his head. "T-They...... Visit...." He groaned slightly, feeling his entire body throb. "My.... Fam....ily... Store..."

Jesse shook his head outraged at what Giotto said. He grabbed Giotto's shoulder gently. "There's no way I'm going to let this kid die." He whispered venomously. "Think about it, Giotto." Jesse only ever called Giotto by his name in a extremely serious situation, when he meant business. "Yeah, we could let this kid die. But what about his family? How will they feel knowing that their little son, brother, nephew died? That he was beaten and let himself die because he didn't want to be a burden with his medical bills? There has to be some way..." He suddenly punched the wall, making a loud sound. He yelled out. "DAMMIT!" It was followed be a quiet shriek from the bedroom, from Mimi who was startled by the sudden sound. Jesse's knuckles were split.

Johnny came out, very angry. He poked his head out the door that led to the bedroom.

"What the f*** if this kid still doing here?! Jesse you made Mimi cry!"

Jesse growled. "Johnny, we can't take him to the f****** hospital! His family can't afford it because of the damn Skulls."

Johnny glared at Jesse. "Check the 'place.' They might know where you can get help. Ask around dammit, do something! Just get him out of here!" Johnny argued.

Jesse looked to the window. "That's right... Giotto, I have an idea. Can you wait here with the kid and ask him questions? I might have a doctor." Blood dropped from his knuckles and onto the ground.