A/N violence and abuse triggers, this is gonna be a little recurring, but it gets better I promise this is worth it I'm genuinely sorry xx

"Alex?"

Alex's head shot up, his hazy red tinted eyes landing on John on the other side of the van.
"John!" He exclaimed hoarsely, his throat burning. His breath hitched and he surged forward, but he was only yanked backwards with a metallic clank and hiss of pain, the metal cuffs around his wrists holding him back. He groaned and sank back against the wall, squeezing his eyes shut.

"Alex, shit! Are you okay?" He gasped, wincing slightly as he tried to reach forward, also being held back by cuffs against his side of the van.
"I'm f-fine," he croaked, looking up at John through glossy eyes. Alex opened his mouth to ask how John's head was but John beat him to speech.

"Where are we? What's going on?" He muttered fearfully, his eyes darting around erratically as he continued leaning forward, trying to be as close to Alex as humanly possible.
Alex's breathing sped up in pace as his gaze shifted to the window separating himself and John from the three criminals in the front. "L-Levi-"

"No." John cut in, shaking his head firmly. "No, no no he's dead, no," he mumbled in denial, sinking to his knees, hands shaking behind him as tears burned his eyes.
"John, babe it's okay, h-hey," Alex stammered shakily.
"No no not again, Alex, Alex!" John began to hyperventilate, shooting Alex a wide-eyed and horrified expression, no tears falling, just pure fear, an expression that made Alex's heart shatter.

"John! I'll protect you, I will protect you," Alex assured him, leaning forward against his cuffs with a determined gaze, trying not to cry seeing John's state right now.
"Promise?" John squeaked, his breathing still heavy and ragged.
"I promise, John I love you, it's going to be okay," Alex assured him gently with an extremely forced and weak smile. John's breathing began to slow until the car slammed to a stop, throwing both boys to the side with a yelp.

Silence.

The boys made eye contact, John's lip quivering slightly as he tried to refrain from exploding into a panic attack.
"John, you're going to be fi-"
The back doors were thrown open, followed by a solid BANG as Levi jumped into the back, a twisted grin dancing on his lips as he sauntered closer to John.

"It's been a while, Johnny Boy," Levi purred, dropping to kneel on one knee beside John. John's eyes widened and he pressed himself back up against the van wall, his eyes scanning over Levi, wanting to puke from the combination of his vile thatched skin and just his presence itself. Levi chuckled at his antics and extended a red, scarred hand to caress his jaw when Alex jumped to his feet.

"Don't fucking touch him!" He roared, ignoring the sting of the handcuffs digging into his skin as he yanked against them. Levi glanced back with a scowl and dropped his hands to the floor, crawling towards Alex and bringing their faces just centimetres apart.
"I'm sorry what was that bastard?" He hissed menacingly, shoving a grotesquely deformed hand at Alex's chest.

Alex, for the first time in years, was speechless, the issue being he had so much he wanted to say, the english language didn't even contain the vocabulary to express the white hot fury bubbling in his stomach. Come on Alex use your head.

Alex didn't reply, swinging his head back and slamming it into Levi's. SMACK. Levi yelped and fell backwards, clutching his forehead with a groan, that was definitely going to leave a mark. Alex was feeling a little dizzy now, that's not what I meant, but I guess it worked.

"You little bitch!" Levi snapped, jumping back up ready to pounce on Alex before Conway grabbed his arm and yanked him out of the van. He tugged Levi to the side, holding his arm delicately.

"You need to calm down," Conway muttered in a low growl, staring at Levi with a dark gaze. Levi ripped his arm out of his grasp with a feral snarl.
"I'm your boss, Cockway," Levi reinforced, rising to stand on the balls of his feet to attempt to match Conway's height, still a little shorter.
"Don't fucking call me that," Conway muttered, a concoction of anger and pain in his eyes. Levi shot him a glance of repulsive disgust before turning back to John and Alex.

"Just get the bastard locked away so I can spend some catch-up time with Johnny Boy," Levi's lips slowly curled into a grin.

As soon as he spoke all hell broke loose.
"NO! Levi you- g-get the fuck off of me you filthy assholes! John!" Alex was yelling and thrashing in his cuffs as Conway and Reynolds came to take him away, John screaming and panicking as he tried desperately to reach Alex but to no avail. Levi cackled like a maniac as he watched the horror sweep across their expressions like a tsunami of fear crashing and drowning them.

Alex was thrown out of the van to the gravel road carelessly, scraping the skin off his palms like a cheese grater, only adding to the blood around his wrists from the cuffs. He ignored the burn and tried to jump to his feet and fight but Reynolds grabbed his hands and locked them behind his back, re-cuffing them with agility as if he had done this many a time prior.

Conway grabbed a fistful of his hair, yanking him up to his knees, and the first thing that met his gaze was a sickly fluro yellow sign jabbed into the ground.
Construction Site. Hardhats must be worn on premises at all times. Restricted entry.

His eyes scanned up and grew wide when he made the connection.
King's Correctional Facility

"Alex!" John yelled as Levi stepped up into the van once more. Alex's breath hitched in his throat and he burst up, thrashing out of Conway and Reynolds' grip and bolting towards the van with a cry of fury.
He jumped to leap inside but Conway caught him by the fabric of his jacket mid-air and slammed him back into the ground, knocking the wind right out of his body and leaving an empty, suffocating abyss sucking at his lungs.

Alex lay, wheezing and gasping on the ground until the boys lifted him up again, to his feet this time. His eyes met John's as he caught his breath, his cries for help becoming more real by the second.
Levi smirked triumphantly as Alex was dragged backwards into the construction site ruins of King's, shaking and thrashing in a desperate attempt to escape, but making no progress against Conway and Reynolds' firm grip on him.
"John!" Alex cried out one last time before they stepped inside and the doors swung shut, closing him off from the outside. "NO!"

Alex repeated his screams of 'No', the guilt and worry swelling in his body becoming unbearable. He left John. He left John. He should've tried harder. What had he done.

Alex kicked and cried out weakly as he was dragged through the dark and musky hallways of King's, the walls growing slightly deformed, like melted candle wax, the deeper they travelled in.

Finally they reached solitary confinement. Alex was thrown into the second cell down as if he was a dead corpse, tumbling limply with a sea of tears spilling down his cheeks, his hair a wild tangle around his broken features.
Alex only gave himself a moment to recollect before jumping to his feet with a roar of fury and bolting full speed towards the gradually closing door. He screamed with every ounce and fibre of emotion ripping him apart, watching the door swing closed ahead of him.

And in one sharp snap of a moment his body slammed into the door head first, shaking the slab of metal just a fraction and sending him flying backwards to the floor where he collapsed in a comatose state, blood dripping down his forehead.

Unconscious, and unbeknownst to John's frantic shouts as he was lead in after, who also was unaware
Alex was right beside him.

---

Ring Ring Ring

"Uh hello, who is this?" Jefferson muttered into the phone, training himself not to reveal his name as soon as he picked up anymore.
"Nathaniel Pendleton,"

Jefferson immediately brought the phone away from his ear, flipping it to speaker with a shaky sigh.
"You're on speaker, Laf, Herc, it's Nathaniel," Thomas announced, placing the phone down on the edge of the van. Immediately Hercules made his way over to the phone, leaving Lafayette to sit with Artemis, rhythmically stroking her fur in his lap.

"Yo Nat," Hercules tried to speak in a chirpy tone, failing and coming across a little more bitter than he intended.
"Hercules," Nathaniel breathed in relief on the other end. "How are you guys holding up?"

"N-not so great," Hercules frowned, his eyes flickering to Maria's small, bruised and unconscious frame being tended to by Eliza and James. "How are you guys, and Sam, how's he fitting in?"

"That's what I called about." Nathaniel's voice suddenly dropped to a grieving tone, instantly sparking the fear the crew of criminals had only just been able to eradicate.
"What's going on over there Nat?" Hercules asked worriedly, sharing a concerned glance with Thomas.
"Samuel was taken."

There was a pause.
"What do you mean taken?" Thomas squinted at the phone, leaning forward slightly, James briskly making his way over to the phone.
"Those cops, they weren't cops," Nathaniel spoke calmly with undertones of fear and regret a gentle whisper behind his words. "Four men, two of which disguised as cops, and the other two in free clothes but armed." Nathaniel explained solemnly. "I believe the, the leader of their group goes by-"

"Levi Weeks," both Nathaniel and Hercules said together.
"Fuck no." James growled, surprising everyone. "Is he okay? Is he hurt?"
"He's fine, at least he was when they left here," he gulped, guilt consuming him now. "I'm sorry- I have to go, I just thought you should know,"

"No, thank you for your call Nat, keep in touch okay," Hercules spoke calmly, pinching the bridge of his nose.
"Yeah sure, night guys," a chorus of goodbyes rang out before Thomas ended the call, and everyone burst, all at once.

"He's gonna get it, Sam's been through enough!"

"Fils de pute!"

"How is this asshole still alive? We burned him alive!"

"Persistent motherfucker alright,"

"This needs to end now, once and for all."

"Eliza is right," Lafayette cut in, nodding his head. "We need to find Levi and kill him for good,"
"Yeah, Maria warned us at the beginning, he is far gone past bringing back, he is mentally fucked, has lost all capability of empathy and will stop at nothing to get what he wants. This is a man who has literally nothing to lose," Hercules explained gruffly.
"Except his own life," Lafayette finished.

"We are going to find Levi," James nodded, his eyes set into a dark glare as he held Thomas' hand in his own. "and we are going to kill him."

A/N comment section discussion [here] as to who you think deserves to kill Levi Weeks, if he was to be brought to justice.
Keeping in mind this will have no impact on the future of the plot as it's already set in stone :)