DT Serum, Primary Testing In Progress

Heath wheezed and choked out the words again. He was in so much pain now, he would say anything to make it stop and go away.

Ashton let his brother cry, and held Shuni securely in his arms. He rubbed Shuni's back in an attempt to comfort him, but he didn't know how well he was doing. Cuts and wounds, he knew how to deal with. Fights, and other shady things were also a yes. But being gentle and caring and soft when need be? He was less certain of.

Primus hit him twice more, never in the same spot, making him say the words over and over.  Then he sat back, removing the brass knuckles and dropping them into a pocket before pulling out a knife.  "What should you never do?" he asked Heath in a soft, coaxing voice.

Shuni cried himself out and sat sniffling for a moment longer before he sat up and rubbed his eyes.  Before he could say anything, one of the cats jumped into his lap and started licking his cheeks, making him giggle.

"Never... touch.... girls...." Heath choked out. He was shaking from the pain, but still tried to move as little as possible, since moving most things now hurt. It even hurt to breathe, making his breaths rattly.

Ashton laughed softly and smiled. "I'll leave you and the cats to wash up then." He said, carefully standing.

"Good boy, but I want to be sure you'll remember your lesson," Primus said softly.  He reached down and cut Heath's pants open.  "This will hurt."  He did the work quick and soon sat back, cleaning off the knife.  "Behave.  Do business wisely.  If I hear one word of trouble involving you.... well, there's more I can cut off.  Got it?"

"Okay!" Shuni agreed, snuggling his cats.

Heath screamed and sobbed  in pain when Primus was done, not saying anything. This wouldn't be a lesson he soon forgot. That much was certain.

Ashton smiled a little and decided to check on True and Gaster. The good doctor had decided he needed another shower, probably just so he had something to do. "Everything all right in here, True?" He asked. "You guys need anything? Food? Water?"

"Be a good boy, Heath, and if you tell anyone I'm not dead, I'll take your tongue before I kill you," Primus said, tossing Heath a few rags and a bottle of pain killer.  He gathered up all of Heath's wares and stalked off.  Time to head home before he got caught with all this.

True looked up.  "Hey, Ashton.  If you could help me into my chair, I'll get Dad some food."

Surprisingly, Heath didn't have much drugs, other than the cheap stuff and a pack of cigarettes. There was already some stuff in Primus's pockets though; three tins of the top line weed, and over three hundred dollars in cash. Echo had planted it there when she bumped into the two of them.

Ashton nodded and helped as well as he could, taking care not to cause True pain.

Primus didn't stop to think about what was in his pockets until he was far from the place.  Huh.  Not bad, little girl.  He kept going until he got home.

"You're getting better at this," True wheezed.

Echo was no where in sight. She was in one of her safe houses, trembling. That had been way too close. If that red head hadn't shown up.... She shuddered at what may have happened. She hoped he wasn't mad at what she did. It took a good pickpocket to take something without notice. It took an even better one to give something unnoticed.

Ashton rubbed the back of his neck. "Still not good though, eh?"

True smiled at Ashton.  "It takes a lot of practice and usually training to do what you're doing without causing pain, and sometimes it's plain impossible to do it without pain.  You're doing a lot better than some I've had, and a heck of a lot better than if I had to do it on my own."  He paused when he heard the front door close.  "Big brother's home."

Ashton nodded. "Want me to wheel you out? I want to have a word with Primus anyway."

"Yes, please, to the kitchen. I can manage from there," True requested.

Ashton nodded and pushed True to the kitchen. He nodded to Primus when he saw him. "Hey, man."

Primus glanced at Ashton as he shrugged out of his coat.  He seemed strangely calm.  He looked Ashton up and down.  "You got in a fight."

Ashton scoffed. "Not much of a fight. They didn't even fight back, and all I had to do was bend back the leader's finger some before he was crying. I didn't even have to break it."

Primus snorted.  "Weak rich kids thinking they can slum it with the rough crowd.  What was the fight about?"

"They were beating Shuni." Ashton said flatly. "I taught them a lesson, and warned them to never try that again, because I went easy, and they wouldn't want to make you, our 'older brother,' cross."

Primus' eyes narrowed.  "Shuni okay?" he asked, his hand resting on his coat.

Ashton nodded. "Thankfully. A bit bruised and rattled, but nothing broken or seriously hurt. I believe that they will be cowering for a while. They ran away awfully fast." He eyed Primus. "And you? What did you involve yourself in?"

Primus accepted that and came inside more.  "Walked Sam to the lab and roof hopped some, getting a feel for the area."  He glanced over as a still somewhat damp Shuni padded out of his room in clean clothes.  "Nice shiner."
Shuni looked to Ashton, confused.

"Uh huh." Ashton said, not totally buying it. Ashton looked at Shuni. "Shiner is another way of saying black eye."

"It's a good thing to have a black eye?" Shuni asked uncertainly.
"Nope, but if you're going to have one, might as well be a good looking one," Primus said, moving toward the kitchen.  "The Doc come out of his room yet?"

Ashton shook his head as he answered Primus. "Not that I know of. He seemed pretty out of it last night."

Primus grunted.  "We'll give him another day.  Sup, True?"  
"Sandwitches," True answered, finishing fixing the last one.  "Here's yours, Ashton there's yours minus the bread, Shuni, mine, and Dad's.  Ashton, could you maybe wheel me back to his room first?" he asked, picking up the two meant for himself and Gaster.

Ashton nodded and thanked True for the "sandwich" before he pushed him back to Gaster's room. Gaster was sitting on the edge of the bed, his face in his hands.