Nothing Left

Chapter 1

The irritating beeping of the set up alarm outside of their headquarters alerts Chae - who at that moment is lying upon the couch. Instantaneously, he's up on his feet, glaring around for the cause of the noise. His eyes rest upon the screen, set up to watch outside, and his eyebrows furrow as he sees a boy, definitely not older than himself, seemingly harmless and content, sitting on an old, discarded cardboard box.

Earnestly, Chae searches the young boy, looking around for anything that could be considered a threat - guns, knives, ear pieces. He sees nothing. Chae is baffled, beyond baffled in fact, this situation is just so remarkable. Never has someone treaded upon the ground of the notorious gang, Vexas, especially so unfazed and nonchalant.

And never has someone just plonked themselves in front of the front door. The opening of the most dangerous gang in all of London. Still sipping his now lukewarm tea, Chae studies the boy's face and sighs as his face doesn't spark a recognition, and doesn't seem to have a gang's language, like the younger ones usually do.

The boy, who looks all kinds of worn out, looks harmless, not that that would matter to Chae. Harmless-looking people sometimes turn out to be the most violent, after all. He's been in this line of work for enough time to know this. Yet, Chae cannot help but be perplexed by this ordeal. Usually, if there was a gang after them, it was more of a 'shoot and ask questions later', but this boy was just... sitting there. Briefly, Chae wonders if this boy had parents, a partner or anyone related to them at all. He couldn't be older than 17, definitely not older than their leader, Alya, so that begs the question, what exactly is he doing outside?

The light from the screen illuminates Chae's glare as he watches the boy. Chae hates to admit that he feels a little worried for the boy. He wonders what caused the boy to come out, especially to this part of the city, where litter strays the streets. He doesn't even know the boy and for all he knows, it could be someone from the rival gang in Exeter, sent out here to kill him. Yet, the young man looks so small, so fragile, and Chae can't help but feel as if it's his duty to help. He has around an hour before the rest of his gang return from a meeting with the York gang up north. He contemplates the consequences of leaving the quarters and going to ask the boy where he's from.

Chae knows that he has the advantage, yet, he can't help but feel a little unnerved. Every time this happened, they were all there, with different vantage points and backup plans, but this time it was just him. Chae is too tired to be rational and grabs his knife from the table, as if he were a student grabbing an apple on his way out. Quietly, he makes his way down the stairs, gripping the weapon tightly. Chae thumbs the scanner and watches as the first door opens. He steps out to the second door, heart-palpitating, because he knows that as soon as he leaves this door, he'll be in the open. Rationally, the young man knows that the scanners would have picked up if anyone else had been in the area, but it was still nerve-racking.

As soon as the door opens, Chae has his knife up in record time, and glares at the boy, who visibly is obviously frightened. "Who are you?" He lowly growls, spitting it out more viciously than intended. The boy recoils, and shrinks into a height not far from Luna. Really small. "Hey. I'm talking to you! Why are you on our territory?" Chae shouts, inching closer to the boy, gripping his knife with force. He has no intentions of actually stabbing the boy, but instead he aims to scare him.

"I-I'm Matt, I'm sorry. I didn't realise.. I really thought this place was abandoned..." The boy, Matt, says, voice shaking. He's terrified, and although this wasn't Matt's first time close to death, it was the first time being threatened with a knife. "Please don't kill me..." Matt begs, hands clasped together and head bent. If he was going to be killed, he at least doesn't want to see it. He hears footsteps and Matt tightly shuts his eyes, tensing.