Chapter Text
“You know that there are more kids, right?”, Brian asks, about two weeks after the rescue and Tyler nods, mood sinking with the reminder, “Were. They're dead.”
Furrowing his brow, Brian asks, “How do you know that? According to the files, they have been given to other labs or sold to different people or organizations.”
“What?!”, Tyler exclaimes alarmed, head turning to Brian with urgency, who nods, getting out his tablet to show him an example. Opening one file that reads’ John, Heron-Shifter.’ and scrolling to the end where in bold red letters ‘Sold! → Brutus Casimo’ is written.
Brutus Casimo. Leader of the Casimo gang, a gang specializing in drug dealings, very influential and dangerous.
Tyler's head is spinning, thinking about what Nelson had told him. He had been so sure and Tyler hadn't even questioned it but thinking about it for more than two seconds this makes sense. The kids were either told that their friends were dead or they had come to that conclusion by themselves when they didn't return. They had no choice but to believe the words of the researchers and it would be a logical conclusion to make given their knowledge of the world.
Selling them would be more profitable than getting rid of them though. The lab must have partially funded itself through that.
This is great news. Alive children can be rescued. The kids already in their care will surely be over the moon if they can see their friends again.
Brian smiles at him when Tyler looks up from the file, surely thinking the same, “You want to get them?” Despite the initial awkwardness, Brian had quickly taken to the kids, now a definite member of the ‘We're keeping them’ faction. A faction consisting of everyone but Evan, who is still too proud to openly admit to being a part of despite all of them seeing him get softer and softer for the kids each day. Tyler's kittens are very good at winning over even the child skeptics of the crew.
“Of course. Let's tell Jon.”, Tyler smiles back and Brian chuckles, following him to go behind Evan's back to Jon. There's no way they won't get the results they want.
The next few months will be spent gathering all of the lost kids and destroying the lives of anyone who harmed them.