Thirty-Seven (bxb)

Chapter Fourteen

A/N: Another update for you, my frens.

With every building they passed, their steps atop the sidewalk became more desperate. They were full-on running, darting around the early-morning workers peacefully walking towards their destinations. A few yelled at their fleeting figures in angry displeasure, while others only glanced at them with concern, but neither Danny nor Vses stopped to consider the people they passed because none of them were Thirty-Seven.

"Where in the world could he have gone?" Danny vocalized when the two reached another dead end. Looking for Thirty-Seven was like looking for a needle in a haystack; only the haystack was the size of a city, and Thirty-Seven was a malnourished teenager. "And why? Do you think we did something?"

The thought made Danny fidget with anxiety. As far as Danny knew, he hadn't done anything to make the teenager feel unwanted or like a nuisance; he couldn't necessarily vouch for Vses, but he knew that the giant alien only wanted to protect Thirty-Seven, even if his methods were... questionable at times. Danny jotted that under the pretense that Vses had never taken care of someone like Thirty-Seven, but he couldn't say that for sure because, deep down, Danny knew next to nothing about Vses. He wanted to, god, did he want to, but knowing now that the alien was planning to leave the moment he recovered his vessel, Danny knew that learning more would only make them leaving hurt more.

"I do not know either."

It was in that moment, running down the streets with Danny, that Vses found himself pondering why he hadn't snuck a tracker onto Thirty-Seven. It would have simplified this entire process; in fact, it probably would have prevented the whole situation from occurring, but it was too late now. If anything, Vses was more worried than he would ever let on. He didn't know if the boy had any survival skills, and Thirty-Seven most definitely didn't know the geographics of the nearby areas. Based on everything he knew about the boy, the kid had no idea how to survive alone, especially not in the fridged winter months. The weather didn't bother him, but Vses noticed Danny's occasional shivering and how he rubbed his red hands together in a poor attempt to conjure some warmth.

While Vses could have continued running for hours, he could tell that the constant motion was beginning to strain Danny's body. The eagerness began waning with each step, and eventually, Danny stopped entirely, bending over with his hands planted firmly on his knees as he crouched, attempting to catch his breath.

"Keep going," Danny said between gasps, using one hand to try and wave the alien ahead. "I'll catch up in a minute; no, I'll check that park over there," Danny said, pointing to the small school park without bothering to glance up. After a long work day, he had walked by the park hundreds of times before, sometimes even venturing over to sit on one of the benches if the weather was nice enough. Then, after not receiving a reply and still seeing Vses's soles in front of him, Danny looked, glancing up to see Vses staring away at the park. Confused, Danny looked too, and he could have cried because there, swinging on the only not-broken swing, was Thirty-Seven, his little blanket flapping around him, showing off a lack of shoes or proper clothing for this weather.

"Oh my..." was all that Danny managed to say before the two of them took off across the street, hurrying over the teenager, who happened to be facing the other way and oblivious to their presence. In fact, Thirty-Seven accidentally kicked Vses in the shin.

"Thank god you're okay!" Danny had nearly knocked Thirty-Seven off the swing, wrapping his arms around the startled teenager. Danny could hardly believe that Thirty-Seven was in front of him, that he was okay. He had been so worried thinking about all the things that could have happened, all the scenarios they could have stumbled upon. But everything was okay; Thirty-Seven was here, and he was okay.

"What were you thinking!?" Danny asked, pulling back to get a broader look at Thirty-Seven. "What in the world did you think you were doing?!"

All the contemplating about speaking, about what he would say, left him at that moment and disappeared like the snowflakes melting against his skin. Would they even understand if he tried to explain his reasoning? Would they even bother to listen?

Even though Danny knew he wouldn't get an answer, he was content knowing that Thirty-Seven understood what he had said, something he knew based on how the teenager started avoiding eye contact with him. So while he knew it would be a waste of time questioning him further, Danny wished he could have even the smallest conversation with Thirty-Seven to try and understand him, if only a little bit.

Of course, around this moment, Danny remembered that Thirty-Seven was in a flimsy tee shirt and shorts and that he was barefooted.

"Oh god, you must be freezing! Vses, hand me the coat!"

Across the street, in an unregistered vehicle with tinted windows, sat two people sipping nuke-warm cups of coffee and observing the scene before them.

"That him?" The one behind the wheel asked, lowering his pair of binoculars to look at his partner.

"Yep, the kid looks just like the one in the picture," glancing down at a printed missing persons poster where a poorly edited photo of Thirty-Seven under the fake name of Trevor Dunken. "But whose the other two?"

"Well," The one behind the wheel grabbed the camera sitting on the dash and took a few quick but spotless photos. "Once we get back to the station, we'll find out."

"Wait, you mean we're not getting the kid now?"

"Nope."

"Why the hell not? What if we can't find him again? Imagine how angry the boss would be if he knew we almost solved the most challenging case we've had in weeks and didn't bring the perpetrators in."

"Well, the boss doesn't have to know, now does he? We've got photos of the guys; we can track them down later," The one in the driver's seat said, crumbling up his now empty coffee cup. "The 'parents' want the kid back completely unharmed, and we'll get a big bonus if we manage to make that happen."

"A bonus?" The other guy contemplated. "I wonder how important this kid actually is for us to be getting a bonus for his safe retrieval."

"Important-smortant doesn't matter to me who the stupid kid is as long as I get paid," The driver shifted the car out of park and into drive, abandoning the alleyway. "Those idiots won't know what hit them."