Chapter Text
Pete walks through the minor family house, and is met with a variety of glares and scoffs from people who recognize him; he ignores them and walks up to a hidden room, walks in, and meets Vegas's eyes; the latter stares back for three seconds, then returns to sharpening his knife as before; Pete then walks to the wall, pushes away a large mirror that reveals an entry behind it.
He goes down all the stairs until he reaches another door, knocks in a certain pattern, and then the door opens, "This must be some serious stuff for you to choose this as a meeting place," He says once he walks in and meets Arm and Porsche, who was standing around a table that centered the small room. A dim light coming from a small lamp is what allows him to see in the darkness of the room.
Pol, who opened the door for him, peeks from behind it, "Ask Porsche, we so far are as oblivious as you are." Pete turns to look at his friend and boss, aiming to tease some information out of him, but he immediately dismisses the idea when noticing the stern and serious look on his face, Porsche might strike a freight in the hearts of his employees, but he is generally more at ease when with his friends, so his seriousness is an alarming sign.
So, instead, Pete walks over to him, followed by Pol after securing the door, locks eyes with Arm, and notices a similar look on his face: "So... do tell Porsche, what is this about?" The latter sighs and cracks his knuckles on the edge of the table; the frown between his eyes is almost permanent at this point. "I want you all to know, that I dread involving you in this, for it is a risk to your safety. And I'm aware prior to this, that you will have your doubts and disagreements, but I have already set the plan in motion''
Arm crosses his arms in front of his chest, eyes still fixing Porsche's, "In other words, you're basically telling us that we can not convince you to retreat from this mission if we perceive it as dangerous, which is the likelihood of this. We don't have a choice." Pol and Pete could sense the tension in the dark, closed space, but they could understand the hidden messages spoken behind the words.
"You do not have a choice in stopping the mission, but you are free to retreat yourself from it if you wish to, as you will soon find out, what we will have to do is as close as it could be to treason. As your boss, I can order you to commit to this operation, but as your friend, I'm allowing you to choose." His words were well-chosen and meaningful, but his voice was monotone and tinged with danger and peril. Pete still found it hard to see his playful, clumsy friend behind the stern and scary leader.
Pol moves first and straightens his back, Porsche's eyes follow his, but looks away when he says. "You don't want us to do this, don't you?" His silence and fixed gaze on the floor were an obvious mute response.So Pete slams his hands on the table, drawing everyone's attention to him, saying, "Well, too bad for you, boss, because we..."He shares a knowing look with Arm and Pol, who do just the same, "We trust you, perhaps too much, and we would never allow you to marsh into whatever danger you're going into, at least not alone."
He takes a second to nod, the shadow of a smile roaming on his lips for a few seconds, and shakes his head in helplessness, before the stern, unreadable facade of his is put back on: "I've been preparing this for some time, and the details in it are crucial, it can go downhill very fast. However, my trust in your diligence is beyond my worries. So pay close attention to what I'm saying."
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Kinn follows his bodyguards as they guide him out of the building in a hurry, back bent and feet careful not to step on anything, takes a second to look around him at the absolute chaos happening and spots several of his men fighting off the unknown attackers, His eyes wander unconsciously around, until they finally settle on him, among his men, back to Pete, eyebrows frown together in concentration, giving orders fluently and smoothly.
He is pushed to move by Big behind him, he looks up front again and spots Pol directing them into a side chamber, and he can see him exchanging a look with Porsche as he waits for Kinn to enter and follows him in. He finally stands up straight and breathes out heavily when remembering the latest events. This shouldn't be happening, it was supposed to be a simple inspection, nobody was supposed to even know it happened.
But a couple of hours into the job, they were attacked by a masked group, which stormed into the old warehouse from two sides at once. His men were quick to go into defense mode for enough time to get him out, and he's sure they've now switched into a more conformable strategy, attacking more and aiming to keep hostages for interrogation, especially since their enemy is unknown.
And he is sure, they avoided a near catastrophe, all because a certain stubborn head bodyguard decided to leave the compound with double the amount of men that was suggested by Arm and Chan at first, saying that it was new territory and they were yet to be sure of their power over it. And sure enough, his gut instinct and sharp view were right once again, even if his stubbornness is a headache to deal with at times.
"The cars are here sir, we have secured a back exit, we will be leaving shortly." Pol announced after being briefed through his earpiece, "What about Pors—I mean what about the other men?" Big looks away at the slightest mention of the man, and Pol replies, "They will finish them off and keep a couple alive for interrogation, Porsche gave his orders for us to leave first" He nods quietly.
Kinn absolutely loathed that, he did. The mere thought of leaving Porsche in the hands of unknown danger makes his skin itch and his bones ache.He had to do it more times than he entertained, and every single one of them was only because the younger one forced him to. And he knew well, that he was a guard and him a master, but he dreaded that title even more in times like these.
Although today, he decided it would be better not to create a new problem for him to deal with, enough the weight of all the lives he has to protect. So when Pol says it's time to leave, he follows him without making a sound. They use a hidden passage into the ground floor of the place, and he can't help but think that this was possible solely because Porsche insisted on obtaining the floor map of the place before stepping foot in it.
Once they reach the cars, Big and Pol put a hand over their ears, Big then turns to him and announces, "Sir, we've been informed that the threat has been defused, and our men have complete control over the area, and they already made sure we don't face any more surprises'' Kinn puts his hands on the side of his hips and nods at Big, "In that case, there is no need to move in two groups, it's better we maintain our number" They bow in obedience, and they all pretend not to know the real reason Kinn wants to wait.
It takes a few more minutes for the rest to join them, Pete walks out first, followed by a couple of injured men, he guides and helps them into one of the big vans. Soon, Porsche walks out too, immersed in a conversation with Arm on the other side of the earphones. Kinn could claim that because of Porsche's intense expression, he only listened to his strategist for that much and for that long, and maybe if Kinn pretended enough, he'd convince himself that it doesn't bother him.
After the majority of the men have left, Porsche walks into Kinn and looks him in the eyes; perhaps this is why the older could ever dislike emergencies; they were the only times when both of them pretended nothing had happened.''We are still uncertain of the identity of whom we're dealing with, although we have some suspicions. We have one of their men held right now, and we are considering taking him back to the compound, rather than doing it here."
Kinn puts both hands on his hips and clenches his jaw, it is such a pain in the ass to deal with this kind of gang, who think they can attack the Theerapanyakul successfully if they keep their identity hidden, and therefore avoid any ties and remain an ally or a neutral. But it's only a matter of time before they realize how completely wrong they were.
"Proceed with that, we should leave as few traces as possible." Porsche nods slightly, and of course, Kinn is going to agree with him, of course, he's indirectly admitting that he was right, but as always, more words are unsaid than said. Porsche turns around and walks back to the warehouse. A couple of the younger recruits step in and offer to give him a hand transferring the hostage, but he simply raises a hand refusing them.
Kinn can't help but scoff at the scene, it's always been Porsche's habit to do everything he is not sure of on his own, sometimes it is out of cockiness, but most times it is out of his worry that stuff might go south, so he makes sure he is present and in control at all times in case he is right. Exactly as unfolding currently, he is going to ignore his high status as the head bodyguard of the biggest mafia family in Thailand, and attempt to escort a hostage himself, refusing any help. Typical Porsche...
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''The success of everything depends on too many factual decisions; we are almost unsure of everything, but we still base this whole mission on possibilities and not precise outcomes!" Pol expresses his frustration as he interrupts Porsche, not being able to stay silent any longer, Arm crosses his arms and joins in "I hate to say it, but he's right, Porsche. What makes you sure Kinn will wait and not leave, or that he will agree to take the hostage back, or that he will even allow you to do so alone?"
Porsche's face was unreadable, no matter how much Pete looked at him or tried to reveal anything from behind it. Because he needed desperately to see even a glimpse of his best friend behind the man who just disclosed to them the most insanely genius and cruel plan someone could come up with alone. He has to be somewhere in there, the careless, clumsy, and stubborn Porsche, because the man he was facing, was on the verge of changing the mafia scene in the country for good.
"It is exactly what this entire operation is based on, if we make any unpredictable or odd move, it will all come crashing down on our heads. Nobody should ever suspect anything, so we should all maintain our normal behavior at all times."He poses for a few seconds and continues when he sees the conflict and worries on their faces. "It may seem completely random to you, but I have studied this well, I am almost completely certain Kinn is going to behave as we intended him to"
The silence lingers over their heads as the trio mulls over Pete's words, which he finally breaks while still staring intently at Porsche."Your plan is truly just based on your knowledge of Kinn's behavior and how he thinks, it is also completely centered around him, but ironically, he is the one person you don't regard or care for the most." Arm takes a second to hump in, "Pete is right, if this works, Kinn's life will not be affected positively, he might not recover''...
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"What's taking him this long? Did he just leave us all waiting and took his sweet time?" Kinn can hear Big's complaints and dismisses the idea of shutting him up and his annoying voice. The man might be one of Kinn's most trusted and competent people, but he sometimes just does not know when to shut up, especially about his disagreement with anything that has to do with Porsche.
The Theerapanyakul throws his finished cigarette to the floor and looks up at the warehouse; it should be any second now that Porsche walks out with a bandaged, almost conscious man in his hands because he is certain the man is only late because the hostage may have put up a fight and required immediate attention. He turns around to look for another cigarette in his jacket on the car's hook when he is pushed roughly by a hard blow, and his side hits the car before he falls to the ground.
The world goes dark for a moment, there's a loud buzz in his ears, and his side aches painfully. The buzz subdues just a little to allow him to hear the cars ringing, his men screaming, and someone coming to his side to check on him. His eyes finally functioned again, just in time for him to see an orange light lighting up the entirety of the place that was pitch black just a second ago. Something is wrong, something is incredibly wrong.
He hears his heart thumping loudly in his chest, and a ping in his gut telling him not to turn around, but he does so despite the warning.
A big, glorious, redly orange inferno has replaced the warehouse that was just there a heartbeat prior, chunks of fire are still exploding from it, as its flames reach so high they almost cover the sky. And all Kinn is able to do initially is stare at it, wide eyes gaping and legs barely keeping him up, his mind racing until one thought finally registres, one very wrong, terrifying, heart-wrenching thought.
"Porsche..."
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Porsche is aware of what his friends said, of course, he is. He could have thought of that fact a hundred times while piecing together his maniacal plan because his friends immediately thought of it when they were introduced to it. But he continues to wear his indifferent mask? Nonchalance? Pete is not exactly sure, but he knows this is a facade of some kind, especially when he avoids their eyes and murmurs low.
"It is his life I'm protecting, not his feelings..."