Chapter Text
Pan Zi mentally groaned at his misfortune. He'd been never particularly lucky or unlucky. Well, it depended on how you saw it, but personally he thought he was living a pretty balanced life in that regard. No matter the shitty situations he found himself in, he somehow also always made it out alive.
For a moment the bitter thought that his friends and companions were rarely just as lucky as him and perhaps carrying the heavy knowledge of being the often lone survivor of all that was its own kind of karmic balance, regarding to his luck.
All that aside however, he sure hoped that his streak of getting out of this situation alive and preferably in one piece, continued.
It really was kind of curious how he ended up in this mess. And he couldn't even jokingly blame San Xing directly, because even he couldn't have predicted that a simple deliver and pick up exchange task could escalate this much.
He suppressed a sigh as more bullets could be heard scattering through the air, like it was nothing. Like a kid spilling a bag of glass beans all over the floor.
Carefully he peeked around a corner, than moved on. He'd nearly managed to leave the zone he'd mentally already marked for himself as 'zone of conflict', when he heard hurried steps rushing up to his current location.
Mentally cussing, he swiftly scouted his surroundings for a hideout and decided on a large metal container a bit on the side, who's doors didn't seem fully shut.
He didn't have time to check if someone was inside, as the 'support', for whichever side of what seemed to be a sort of gang war escalating in full out violence, was obviously getting too close.
On the inside of the container was full out darkness thought and silence. He wrinkled his nose for a moment at the musty smell, then hovered near the still slightly gaping metal double doors to listen in, until the sounds of feet had carried on and mixed into the other noises of the battle zone.
Finally he allowed himself to exhale a sigh, before raising to his feet once more, intending to leave the area behind him and return to the Wu compound and deliver the exchanged item.
He flinched at the crack in the air as an explosion resounded loudly. A set of whimpers behind him, made him swirl on the spot, muscles downs and fingers flexing on the combat knife he'd drawn earlier in preparation of self-defense.
Squinting his eyes, he waited for a few more moment for them to adjust further to the darkness of the container, but he could only make out some more... containers? smaller ones, at the other end of it.
Just as he reached for his mobile phone to turn on the light via the torch function, he heard more sounds. A sob and what sounded like gentle shushing noises.
Had he stumbled on stowaways by accident?
Turning on the light, he had to blink a couple of times, the intensity glaring and blinding, before he inhaled sharply.
The 'containers' he had been able to make the shape out of, even before, turned out to be cages. Some lined up properly, some stacked.
But it weren't the cages that made his breath catch, but it's contents. Children. At least two dozens, from what he could see and from the looks of it...
He grimaced, while his heart ached.
There was barely a body that showed signs of life, most packed up tightly behind bars that didn't weren't even big enough for some.
It was with a heavy heart that he acknowledged that he's tumbled upon the remains of what was likely a child trafficking delivery transaction gone wrong.
Whoever the scum was, that was behind this, deserved the worst punishment anyone could think of. Pan Zi was fuming and his hands lightly shaking in fury at what was done to these poor kids.
From the condition the bodies were in - dirty and thin - it was obvious that the handler hadn't considered them too valuable - perhaps they had even been intended for 'disposal'. They likely were kids picked from the streets or living in poor areas too. Easy targets after all and unlikely to have a family with enough resourcces to actually have any success in doing investigations if the kid just up and disappeaered.
In the very back he found some cages, that were stacked together, that finally had kids still breathing. In fact, a pair of two eyes was looking straight back at him with a mix of fear and warriness. The kids were holding hands through the cage and if the situation hadn't already torn at his heart, finding these two huddled together seeking comfort in each other despite the odds...
"Don't worry... I'll get you out of here. I'm not with the bad people.", he whispered, only wondering a moment later whether they even spoke the same language. They didn't move when he approached, nor when he worked his combat knife into the padlock. Only when the metal finally cracked and gave in, did finally one of them move.
Nothing could have prepared the man for what happened next. Nothing.
There was no way to prepare for a little child suddenly throwing itself at you, tiny, thin arms wrapping - or attempting to - around his neck and hide it's little head against his shoulder, while his whole body started trembling and a hiccup followed by a sob escaped the little one.
Carefully Pan Zi hugged the child to his chest, drawing a shaky breath into himself, mentally trembling from the fury he felt for whoever had done this to such innocent beings once more. The other child who'd comforted the other, was carefully edging closer to him. Still wary but obviously intend on sticking to the other. He held out a hand to him, which he took after eyeing him a moment and then had two children at his chest.
Pan Zi held them there for a few moments, letting them draw warmth and comfort from him, before settling them down onto the floor when the first one seemed to calm down and grasped back at the first one.
"Stay right here, ok? I'm going to get some more of your friends.", he whispered at them, gently patting on top of their heads, which the second child dodged, by taking half a step to the side. Honestly he couldn't blame the kid for not trusting him. Who knows what they had already been forced to go through after all.
What he did notice however, that the shorter and likely younger of the two boys - he thought that both were likely to be boys, but with all that dirt he couldn't be entirely sure - had immediately latched both his hands onto the other's hand and arm, holding tight and watching - and his touch was something the taller one didn't refuse.
A few more padlocks later, he carefully secured the few children still alive and breathing to his back with some rags he'd torn into stripes and bound together as a makeshift rope. The two boys once more latched onto his front and he secured them as well, before listening carefully to the sounds outside.
"I know it's super scary, but I need you all to be very, very quiet now, ok? I will get you out, don't worry.", he told the kids, some not even conscious, and was glad when he felt and saw some movement that could be interpreted as nodding.
Luckily everyone outside seemed to be busy fighting each other, allowing him to slip away and return to the car hidden away a few streets further.
Unpacking the kids and buckling them in, he quickly left this shit hole behind, his mind set, as he headed towards an underground doctor he knew semi-well. The location was far enough away from the battle zone, making it unlikely that the participants survivng this conflict would head there for treatment after.
Also, the grouchy old man owned him a favor, that he intended to call in for bothering him at this late hour. Which probably was a good thing, because he was about to get an earful along with a nearly hateful stare as the elderly ripped the door open at the disturbance, but startled in surprise upon spotting him - and likely upon him not being somewhat bloody or something, when showing up at his doorstep.
To placate the man further, Pan Zi was quick to hold up a hand to stop any tirade or questions. "I've got children in urgent need of medical attention in my car.", he started, making the nonoffical doctor's eyes fly wide at the 'children' part already, before the man shouldered him out of the way with surprising strength, heading towards the vehicle. "What ya waiting for then?! Bring them in, bring them in!", he fumed, already opening the backdoor and taking a peek inside, before quickly unbuckling the first knocked out kiddo and carefully extracting and hurrying inside.
The younger male blinked in surprise for a second, not having expected THIS particular one to have a soft spot for kids, but then quickly shook himself out of it and headed for the car himself.
The two kids sharing the front seat looked up at him, the taller one staring at him with open mistrust now, slightly clutching at the one in his arms, while the younger only was wide-eyed and insecure.
"It's alright. He might not be the nicest looking, but he's someone who'll see where all the ouchies are coming from and try to make it better.", he told them with a small smile, before reaching for the remaining kids on the backseat.
Surprisingly the younger instantly peeked up at his words. "Oh! I know how to do that! It's a magic spell my mommy taught me! Put your hand on the boobo, make circles and say: Pain, pain, fly away!", he freely shared his 'knowledge' with wide sparkling eyes and voice full of conviction and enthusiasm.
Pan Zi starred at the kid for a moment, before breaking into a soft smile. "That sounds like quite a powerful magic. Maybe we'll tell the man later, ok? In case he doesn't know it.", he indulged the boy, while kicking the backdoor shut with his hip, arms now full of kids. "Can you get out on your own?", he asked, not liking the idea of leaving them behind on their own very much.
A soft click unbuckling the safety belt was his answer, before the quiet one reached over to pull the handle, opening the door enough for the other kid to jump down, who staggered slightly, but straightened and turned to wait for his comfort partner. This one followed suit swiftly, pushing the door shut behind him, before his hand was immediately taking 'hostage' again by the younger one with a sunny smile.
The former military member found himself completely amazed by the positive attitude this kid had, but wasted no more time to hurry them inside. The other kids were after all in a less than ideal condition.
The underground doc inside was already bustling about, having already made some 'beds' in a row and just hooking the kid up to an IV drip, his face pulled tight in a frown in sheer concentration. Sunny boy actually withdrew to hide behind the taller one and peeking out from the side, when the old man turned over to glare at them. With a head gesture he signaled for Pan Zi to put the children onto the other set up desks, while he himself crouched down at eye level to fire a few quick questions at the conscious duo. He made sure to use a semi-gentle voice, thought it still contained a subtle under tone of his usual grouchiness.
He'd just put the last kid down, when suddenly there was a startled sound and then he was semi-tackle-grabbed around the knees and 'shoved', before he had any chance to check out the situation. Looking down, he saw the elder kid glaring from behind his legs at the doc, one hand clutching the loose fabric of his wide pants, while the other was still clutching - and being clutched in return - his companion.
"What...?" he started to ask, but the doc simply sighed, then explained that he had wanted to touch them for injuries, but it seemed the taller one didn't trust him one bit and when he'd reached out, he'd bolted, taking the other one with him.
It warmed and broke his heart to realize that the kid didn't trust him, but trusted him enough to seek cover from potential further pain. Kneeling down, he looked the elder into the eyes, slowly reaching out to pat him on the head again. The kid didn't dodge this time, but also didn't ease up.
"You don't need to worry. I'm right here. If he does something that makes you uncomfortable or hurts, you can tell him to stop, okay? Or, look, you can hold onto my hand and if it's too much, just give me a squeeze, I'll tall him to stop, hm?"
It took some more sweet talking, but then the 'leader' of the two slowly nodded and he managed to lead them over to two chairs, slipping himself in the middle, so they could grab onto him if needed and was surprised for both kids to grab his hands immediately. They seemed reluctant to let go of each other, but there wasn't really a way for them to hold onto each other and him, so for the time being all of them needed to make do.
Twice the elder kid gripped his hand with a surprising strenght and he needed quite some convincing to take his clothes off, so the doc could take a closer look. Most looked like heavy bruising, but the elder took no risks and made sure nothing was hidden under the purplish marks littering his skin.
The shorter one was more willing to get along with whatever, seeming already to have forgotten that there were bad people outside and even dangled his legs back and forth while awaiting his own turn, even lightly humming a made up melody to himself.
As such, it came as quite a surprise that he was way worse off, the markings in his belly area making Pan Zi believe that he was kicked there as if he was a soccer ball and grimaced when the kid winced as it got probed carefully, his eyes suddenly getting very shiny.
A little hand lightly landing on the bruised area startled all three of them, but the other boy kept going, making small circles with the limb. "Pain, pain, fly away!", he spoke with a raspy voice, the last word spoken with unexpected command. For a moment no one moved, then the other boy practically BOUNCED in his seat. "Wow! You are a magician!", he exclaimed. "It's already a lot better."
The doc paused for one more moment, looking between the children, before giving a sigh, then nodding at the older kid. "Good job.", he praised, before carefully continuing his examination.
Shortly after Pan Zi and the two awake kids were shooed off into the man's private kitchen to raid the fridge for material to make themselves a bit to eat. Nothing heavy, he'd said, just something light and filling, as they were malnourished and their stomachs couldn't handle that right now.
He settled for making them all some butter sandwiches with a slice of cheese, which they hungrily dove into and only slowed down after two, three bites and him reminding them that they would get sick if they didn't listen to the doctor.
Soon after they were slumbering together in a worn leather arm chair, Pan Zi taking the liberty to grab a knitted blanked from a corner and covering them, before returning to their host.
This one seemed rather somber, standing in a corner with crossed arms, watching the lined up kids. "Can't make any promises for these.", he muttered as soon as he caught sight of him, a deep frown marring his face. "If they make it through the night..."
He didn't need to say anymore. Pan Zi sighed and rubbed over his eyes. What a cruel mess this had turned out to be.
While he heard the other step up to him, he hadn't expected to be suddenly grabbed in an iron hold about his upper arms. In the back of his mind he was wondering if his military training and his instincts were already starting to wither, just because he hadn't been in a tomb for a while, while he snapped his eyes to meet the others.
"Just pray tell...", the other slowly drawled, with a dangerous note swinging in his words. "How did you come to have kids in this state in your possession?" The last part was nearly a growl and it took the other a few moments, before he realized that the doctor believed him to have some sort of dealings with the traffickers.
"I came upon them by chance!", he forced himself to hiss-whisper. "They were stuffed into a container with all of them locked up in tiny cages!" The miserable view that had presented itself to him once he'd lit the flashlight suddenly appeared before his eyes and he had to squeeze them shut.
"There were more of them... a lot more...", he forced past his suddenly thick throat, swallowing. "These were the only ones showing signs of life.", he muttered.
He was released a few moments later, the doctor taking a step back.
Hesitantly Pan Zi looked up, not knowing what to expect. The other starred at him long and hard, before shaking his head as if shrugging off some sort of memory. "And what... do you plan on doing with them?", he asked, crossing his arms once more before his chest.
The younger man blinked. "I... ", he started, pausing, because... What was he supposed to say? He hadn't actually thought this far. His main priority had been to get them the fuck out and make sure they got treatment. "I don't know.", he admitted, before drawing his eyebrows together as he kept thinking. "Trying to find their families?"
He couldn't take the kids to the authorities. In this area they'd give zero shit and might even 'return' them to where he had found them.
The doctor nodded at that, but whatever else he was going to say was cut off, as his phone suddenly buzzed in hose pants. It was Wu SanXing!
For a moment Pan Zi starred, before remembering his original job. "Sorry, I have to take this!", he exclaimed, heading towards the front door and out. Of course the other would check in on him - he was supposed to be back for quite some time after all and it WAS supposed to be a simple delivery and retrieval job after all.
With a sigh he picked up the call to update the other on the situation.