Who's Joking? (Stylinson)

64: Bounties of a Broker

The Broker in my mind, but imagine all tatted up <3

Frank Castle, my love. (If anyone has watched the new series Daredevil Reborn, they have a 'city-wide blackout' at the end of the series that is very WJ?-coded) <3

70/777!

Enjoy :)

Tracking The Broker hadn't been hard since Harley and Louis had gotten his location near the docks the day prior. Slippery as he was, he still had business which kept him rooted and predictable.

He didn't run when they cornered him. Didn't fight, either.

Just raised one tattooed hand, the other still flicking ashes from a cigarette, and looked Louis dead in the eye.

They knocked him out before he could finish his next breath.

Once they were in the warehouse, the quiet settled like dust.

The Broker was tied to a metal chair, wrists cuffed to either side, ankles lashed to the legs. Still slumped slightly from the blow to his head. His suit jacket hung open, creased from the scuffle, but the crisp shirt beneath stayed oddly clean. There was ink curling down his forearms where the sleeves were rolled — old-school blackwork, all coiled serpents and knives and skulls that looked more like scripture than rebellion.

He looked like a biker and a businessman rolled into one. A man who knew how to read markets and blood.

Louis watched him quietly from across the room, arms folded. The briefcase from the night before was open beside him on the table, stacked with Ortega's money, nothing else. The bills were clean and unmarked. It didn't tell them anything.

Harry and Zayn crowded it, brows raised and arms crossed.

"How much you think is there?" Harley asked, tilting his head.

Joker shrugged, eyeing the racks of money. "500, maybe more?"

Louis turned at this, looking up at the men. "Is that it?" he questioned, a frown forming on his face.

Harley looked at him, amused. "Sorry, Birdy, forgot you were rich," he mused.

Louis scoffed. "If this is the bounty for me," he pointed out, "then I'm only worth five hundred thousand dollars?" he hissed. "Are you kidding me?"

Harry grinned at this. "Massively overpaying if you ask me, sweetheart."

Behind them, The Broker started to slowly blink himself awake. He tipped his head slightly to look over the three of them, his lips quirking into a lazy smirk.

"That's just the tip, little Robin."

At the sound of his voice, all three men turned.

The Broker licked his lips, eyes darting between them. "My ten percent, for putting out the word."

Louis, slightly tense, quipped back. "Well, that's more like it."

The Joker immediately stepped forward, half covering Louis with his frame. "And who, exactly, was this 'tip' from?" He was masked and dangerous, the picture of a villain as he spoke.

The Broker pressed his lips together, looking at Harry defiantly.

Joker tilted his head, a low laugh bubbling from his throat. "What's the matter, snake? Cat got your tongue?"

No response.

Harley stepped forward beside him, resting his hand lazily on the back of The Broker's chair. "He asked you a question."