Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Kaz woke up and knew something was wrong.

The heist went wrong. It was a simple heist. Which was the problem. Heists were never simple. And now Kaz was waking up in a mysterious alleyway surrounded by his knocked out Crows.

The question was simply why didn't the owner kill them. Then again, the lack of security was a sign that the owner wasn't exactly intelligent. Which was definitely proven by the owner clearly having Kaz picked up and moved, officially announcing he was happy to die by the sudden illness of cane through the skull. Unfortunately, he wasn't stupid enough to throw Kaz out with his cane.

Kaz used the wall to pull himself up. He should make sure the others are actually just knocked out, but he can still feel the rotten hands clawing at his skin, so he has to wait for someone else to wake up. But he'd doubt even they'd be dumb enough to kill the others but not him. Plus, Matthias was waking up.

Kaz looked out the alleyway and looked around, staring at all the strangely dressed people, weird technology, and odd people. Potentially grisha's? Though Kaz had never seen grisha like that. And he had certainly never seen so many grishas out and about in one town. Not at the same time at least.

"Know where we are, Kaz?" Inej spoke up behind him. Immediately waking up and getting into Wraith mode, which made whatever rotten dark stone he has left of a heart beat a little fast and warm him a little. He liked being reminded of his Crows loyalty.

"No. I've never seen a place like this before. I need Wraith to find out where we are." And he knew Inej was gone as soon as he finished his sentence, off to get all the information they needed. Once more working as Kaz's best spider.

Kaz looked back into the alleyway, noticing that everyone was woken up by now. Matthias worked quickly. Nina had checked Matthias over and was checking over Wylan, Jesper had helped Wylan up and Wylan looked to be the most affected by this, leaning against Matthias, while Jesper looked around.

"Alright Kaz. I need to make sure you aren't injured next. Time to suck it up and let me keep your dumb ass alive." Nina turned to him, looking confident but didn't approach him just yet. Giving him a chance to speak up. Which was probably the first smart thing Zenik has ever done in her life.

"Unless you want a broken wrist you'll wait and be patient, darling Nina." Seriously, if Nina tried to touch him right now he wasn't sure he wouldn't pass out from it. Nina looked reluctant but turned back to Wylan, who looked like he was going to feak out over being in a strange place.

"Boss where's your cane?" Jesper asked, hoping down from the wall he was searching over, looking for escape routes, to stare at Kaz worriedly, apparently deciding to take over the 'pester Kaz for his own good' since Nina was distracted.

"Not here, clearly." Kaz deadpanned, hoping Jesper wouldn't comment on how uncomfortable he was about that.

"Damn, do they have a death wish?" Wylan revived long enough to question.

"Considering they dragged us outside and didn't kill us, I would say yes." Matthias added, patting Wylan's back gently.

"For once I agree with Helvar."

Kaz felt his leg start to burn, he really shouldn't be up on it for this long, but he could hardly take a rest in an unknown location, unfortunately Jesper and Inej were far too attuned to his limits.

"Boss I think you need need to sit, and definitely get a new cane, but sit down first." Jesper approached Kaz, not close enough to touch him, but close enough to make the threat of force. If Kaz doesn't rest by choice Jesper would find a way to make him rest without touching him. Kaz has no doubts he would find a way.

So Kaz does the reasonable thing and sits down on the floor reluctantly, not quite wilting under Jesper's glare, but he does sink into the floor heavily until Jesper stops staring him down and his leg hurts a little less.

"So. What information do we have?" Matthias asks Inej as soon as she returns.

"Nothing. I don't understand the spoken language here, nor can I read it. All I know is we're far from Ketterdam and I need at least a week to properly learn it." A week they need to find a place to hide in for without being able to communicate with the people here at all. Not good considering Kaz highly doubted kruge would mean anything in a country they spoke language Inej didn't even recognise at all, and information was what he traded best next to kruge. And now Kaz and his Crows had to find a way without either. Ghezen damnit.

Difficult, but not impossible. Nothing is impossible for them.

So, despite Jesper immediately locking onto him, Kaz stands up.

Ignoring Jesper's, "Scheming face?" And Inej's returning, "Scheming face."

"So what are we doing, darling Kaz?"

"Well, darling Nina, we need to find a map first. We don't need to understand it, we just need one. We can use it to find a place to stay. Abandoned buildings by the docks always have less supervision. We can use one of those as a base. Inej can steal us food and and information until she learns the language, then she can teach us, and then we can run this city."

"Splitting up will be less inconspicuous." Wylan suggests.

"We are not splitting up in a mysterious city when we don't even know how large it is. I taught you better than that." Inej scolds.

"Alright, lets go." Kaz is up and already exiting the alleyway, not checking if his Crows are following. He knows they are.

■

Shouta is not happy at being woken up at 7am in the morning by police calling him in for a mysterious job. Especially because he didn't get any information on what he was being called in to do.

But Aizawa Shouta had a job to do so he got up, got dressed and went to the station to talk to Tsukauchi-san about what he needed to do.

"Just watch this CCTV we got yesterday." Was all he was told.

It was a just showing a street, people walking past, nothing notable, until six teenagers leave an alleyway. This wouldn't be suspicious, except they never entered it.

They only left. They just showed up, the tallest was a dark skinned boy with a pair of handguns on his hips and a black hat, he was staring intensely at the boy at the front, he was the second shortest of the six of them and was limping, though still walking confidently, and he was wearing a black waist coat and black dress-pants, beside him was the shortest of the group, a girl with bronze coloured skin dressed in pure black, and behind all three of them was a beautiful girl in red with a large man with blonde hair holding up a short boy with frizzy ginger hair who looked unhealthy pale.

After they left the alley they walked all over the city, the video switching camera to keep track of them. They walked together and only spoke to each other as they searched for something, in fact, they didn't seem to speak Japanese at all. They spoke multiple languages, though Aizawa couldn't recognise the languages being spoken, but none were Japanese. 

They all walked through the city until they found a subway and stared at a map for a while, talking to each other and pointing at the map, they eventually seem to agree on something and leave the subway after tapping a section of currently abandoned buildings. Abandoned for the constant villain attacks leaving it inhabitable.

Why are they going there? Didn't they realise it was dangerous? Considering they didn't seem to speak Japanese he doubted it.

"So, I need to go make sure this foreign teens don't get caught up in any villain activity and stay alive?" He asked Tsukauchi-san, who shook his head.

"We also need you to find out how they ended up in the center of Musutafu with no knowledge of their location and find a place for them to stay."

"Since when did I open a daycare?" Shouta was going to do it. The youngest looked barely sixteen and looked far too pale to be healthy. He'd never forgive himself if anything happened to those kids. And the shortest boy, he was limping and kept leaning against walls as they walked around, and sat on the floor as they looked at the subway map. He was likely injured in some way, which was probably why the tall dark skinned boy and short girl seemed so focused on him. Worrying about his injury? It would make sense.

■

"Kaz sit down!"

"I know my own limits, Jes."

"Will you actually listen to them?"

"Of course I will."

"Your limits without your cane?"

Kaz wisely does not even bother trying to lie to Jesper. Jesper would know.

He does the even smarter thing of sitting down on one of the dusty boxs filling the abandoned house they took refuge in before Inej got back and found a way to force him to sit down without touching him.

Chapter Text

There was someone outside the warehouse.

Normally, this would just lead to Kaz getting to re-establish his reputation as 'Dirtyhands', but he was currently in a strange city, in a strange country, without his cane, or any weapons, without any information, without knowing the layout of the entire block the warehouse is in, without his Crows, and without knowing anything about the man outside.

So he had no ability to defend himself from whatever the man was planning to do. The only defence he had was his gloves and clothes.

Inej was halfway across the city slowly learning the spoken language, Matthias and Nina were getting supplies for Wylan because there was clearly something beyond just shock affecting him, Jesper was out learning the layout of the block and was who knows where by know as well as learning the written language, and Wylan was passed out upstairs.

So Kaz had to deal with the man outside while protecting Wylan. Without any weapons.

Fuck.

So Kaz stands up, his leg aching the way it always did before it rained, and opens the door before immediately slamming it close.

What triggered him this time? Jordie didn't appear without something triggering him, but what? Nothing touched him. He wasn't near any water. He hadn't even been thinking about anything related to Jordie! Not Pekka Rollins, not Reapers Barge, not the plague, not Lij, not anything. So Kaz couldn’t understand why he was seeing Jordie.

And he couldn't understand why he was seeing Jordie grown up, with long hair and stubble and age lines decorating his face. A picture of the strong adult he never got to grow into. The sight by itself was enough to make Kaz want to tear up, but he shoved the feeling deep down to be unpacked with Inej later. He usually saw Jordie as he remembered him, a thirteen year old water logged corpse.

He had never pictured what Jordie would've looked like as an adult before, and this seemed like a pretty damn good attempt. But this version was too pale, Jordie always got a tan way too easily. If he stood outside at all, he'd get a deep tan, so Kaz had never seen him without a tan. And he was dressed oddly-

Kaz's attention is yanked up to the door by the sound of knocking. Again.

Hallucinations can't knock on doors.

■

Shouta watches the small black-haired boy dressed in a black suit's face pale dramatically before shutting the door in his face before he can get a word in.

That.. was a bad sign. It was possible the kid saw a hero outside his home and panicked, which was slightly expected but still largely disheartening.

Still, Shouta had a job to do and would do it, so he knocks on the door again, hearing a loud thud from behind the door, but before he could do anything the door was yanked open again by the same boy, now looking collected and annoyed at Shouta rather than fearful.

"Welke zaken?" Was the snapped out question in a language Shouta couldn't quite recognise in a corse voice that sounded like two stone rubbing together.

"Do you speak Japanese?" He asked in response.

The boy blinked in confusion and muttered the words, "Shu Han?" Under his breath, looking up at Shouta in confusion.

"Name?" Aizawa asks, pointing at him in a questioning manner in an attempt to get past the language barrier.

"Benaming?" He asks, pointing to himself, "Kaz Brekker." That sounded like a name, definitely not a Japanese one, but a name. "Benaming?" So that probably means name.

"Aizawa Shouta. Friends?" Shouta offers a hand, trying to establish a friendly relationship, or at least any sort of relationship.

Kaz-san relaxes slightly, "Zaak?" He doesn't take the offered hand but gives him a nod and lets Shouta into the abandoned building the kids were hiding in.

Shouta sat down on the offered box the kids seemed to using as all sorts of furniture, wincing at the dust that displaced, and watches the kid- Kaz-san, sit heavily down on the opposite box, reminding Shouta of his suspicion of an injury, though the wya he tried to look relaxed as he sat made Shouta think he would rather hide that fact, so Shouta will not mention it.

"Dus, Aizawa. Wat wil je?" No honorifics, Shouta assumes it's just not a part of his culture rather than an active attempt to insult him. And he assumes the thing he said was a question on why he was here.

"I'm here to help." Shouta offers, hoping his desire to help will surpass the language barrier.

"Hulp?" He asked, sounding genuinely confused. Concerningly confused. Why was he so actually confused about someone offering assistance.

"Help." He repeats nodding.

"Hulp." Kaz-san sounded suspicious. "Welke zaken." He repeated, coldly questioning.

"I, don't understand. I'm just here to help you." Shouta offered, but Kaz-san looked more annoyed and opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted by a loud thump from somewhere upstairs.

Kaz-san looks immediately concerned by the sound, jumping to his feet. He gestures towards the door, saying, "Ik denk dat het tijd is dat je gaat."

Shouta stood but didn't go towards the door, looking at the stairwell concern, about to approach it for extra assistance.

He wasn't expecting the sudden slap to the face from Kaz-san. "Ga uit mijn huis voordat ik je been breek stuk stront." His voice was low and controlled but nowhere close to calm. A threat.

Protective?

That was the best explanation for why he was so incredibly aggressive so fast.

"What was that sound-" Before Shouta can finish the sentence he's dodging out the way of a swing from Kaz-san, who was glaring at him coldly.

Shouta immediately knows he's overstepping and steps back towards the door like he's going to leave the house, watching Kaz-san rush upstairs immediately, barely faltering as he's stumbling up the stairs in a distressing way, and follows after him where he can't see, too worried about what exactly these mysterious teenagers are hiding. More specifically he was worried about the fact the CCTV recordings had 6 teenagers all leaning against each other protectively, but so far there was only one in the house.

He was here to protect the kids and there was a chance he already failed.

Apparently, what Kaz-san was so worried about was the rust-haired boy Shouta remembered looking unwell in the video, who was currently passed out on the floor looking even worse.

His face was too pale, his frizzy ginger hair sticking slick to his forehead and his breath coming too fast, too hard. "Wylan? Wylan, word wakker. Word nu wakker." Kaz-san's voice was steady as he made no attempt to touch the rust haired boy, simply kneeling over him worriedly, speaking something.

Kaz-san looked worried but didn't check his temperature or pick him up, just speaking to him.

Did Kaz-san have something about touching? Or being touched? There would be little other reason not to at least check the rust-haired boy's temperature, or maybe the rust-haired boy was the one with the touch thing.

Kaz-san looked concerned, but all he did was take the rust-haired boy's large coat off, saying, "Ben je ergens gewond?" While leaning over the rust-haired boy, likely checking him over.

That's what Shouta thought until a knife came flying at him, barely missing him as it thunks into the doorframe.

Kaz-san stands up, holding another knife and says, "Ik zei toch dat je moest gaan."

If it wasn't a threat before, it was definitely now.

"I'm only here to help." He attempts to soothe, raising his hands in a non-threatening gesture, but Kaz-san glares harder, putting his body in front of the rust-haired boy, making it obvious what his priority was.

Shouta realises how badly he fucked up.

He was attempting to establish a friendly relationship with these kids to help them out and immediately overstepped and most likely put this kid terrified for his friend with little to no way to protect himself from an adult twice his height who was a trained hero.

So, despite his concern about what was wrong with the rust-haired boy, Shouta steps back, holding his hands up further and walks down the stairs, being followed closely by Kaz-san, who doesn't trust him to actually go by himself, who was still holding the small throwing knife threateningly.

Aizawa allows himself to be herded down the stairs and is met with a revolver to the face.

The tall dark skinned boy with the hat stood in front of him, holding one up, his other hand resting on the other one at his hip.

"Jesper." Kaz-san's rough voice comes from behind him, "Laat hem gaan."

The tall boy looked surprised, "Kaz-"

"Ga naar boven." Kaz-san interrupts, his voice hard as steel.

"Aanvoerder." The tall boy looks actually incredulous, staring between Kaz-san and Shouta.

"Jesper. Boven. Wylan. Komaan." Kaz-san barely finished the sentence before the tall boy was rushing up the stairs, almost knocking Shouta over in his haste. He must've said something about the rust-haired boy.

Kaz steps closer, still holding the knife threateningly, reminding Shouta of his need to leave. He can try again and fix his blunder another time. He'd already overstayed his welcome.

■

Making coffee at three in the morning while worrying about the implications of the behaviour of traumatised teenagers was an uncomfortably common occurrence for Shouta.

Though currently the main reason Shouta was concerned right now was the fact the kids in the abandoned warehouse had weapons. Kaz-san didn't, but the rust-haired boy had knifes hidden on him that Kaz-san knew enough about to use against Shouta, and the tall boy had two guns on his hips.

In the same vain Kaz-san had no reaction to not only the tall boy having a gun but pointing it directly at Shouta.

There was also of course the way Kaz-san reacted to seeing Shouta the first time.

He had paled dramatically and shut the door in his face, and there was the mysterious thump from behind the door, and the way he immediately looked so suspicious at Shouta offering help. It was concerning.

A kid shouldn't look so suspicious of help.

And the fact the tall boy saw a stranger in his resting place and immediately pulled a gun.

He probably would have shot Shouta if Kaz-san wasn't there to get him to stop.

What had these kids been through to be so suspicious of people? They were likely more tense than usual due to being in an unfamiliar city where they don't speak the language with the rust-haired boy falling sick immediately, but no amount of stress will make a normal civilian pull a gun on a stranger.

Something had happened to those kids, either before they showed up in Musutafu or was potentially the reason they showed up in Musutafu.