CitrineLeaf's Player Appreciation Week Oneshots (Carmen Sandiego)

"To Hear And Say You Loved Me" Player & The Faculty

!WARNINGS!:
Past child abandonment, kidnapping, blood and violence, verbal child abuse/abusive parents, death threats

Prompt: Day 3 Shadowsan and/or Player's Parents

Description:
After kidnapping Player, the faculty (and Player himself) are surprised to learn that one of their own is the father of Carmen Sandiego's hacker.

A heavy, thick metal door opens.

Coach Brunt pauses, a smirk curling up the sides of her face. She moves to sit straighter in her chair, exchanging a glance towards the rest of her fellow faculty. Each of them wear an almost identical expression; Sinister joy for what's to come, the same brutal excitement Coach Brunt herself is feeling. We're gonna' snap him like a twig...

All eyes are on the teenager that enters, flanked on either side by the cleaners. He's been bound with his hands behind him, no doubt with a pair of special handcuffs tight enough to make him bleed if the brat makes an attempt at squirming free. It's funny, thinking of his attempts to escape, or hack... with himself bound so tightly, especially when he's far too scared to even look up, dark bangs shrouding his face.

You aren't a player in this game, Coach Brunt wants to laugh, you weren't even a consideration.

He'll need a haircut. If he's to be useful fodder to catch Carmen Sandiego, he needs to look the part, be all fancy and dolled up, maybe some eyeliner to stain his face when he sobs.

She leans forward, expectantly, as Boris – she can always get them right, but Cleo? Not so much... - places a hand on his shoulder, pressing the hacker down until he's on his knees in front of them. No move to look up, still.

"It's impolite not to look your elders in the eye," Cleo is the one who says it, a sickly-sweet purr to her voice that echoes off the walls. Coach Brunt catches the boy's little shiver of fear. "Player."

When he refuses to budge, the countess flicks her hand towards the cleaners.

A blade is removed from a sheath. Quick as lightning, Vlad leans down, carefully nudging the boy's chin with the weapon. "Up," Is the harsh, deadpan order.

Player's chest heaves as he tries to steady himself. A futile little attempt as, seconds later, the blade moves down to his throat. "Up," Vlad repeats, before adding," Or I slice."

"O-" His voice is shaking with fear, quivering. Coach Brunt chuckles under her breath. "Okay."

The hacker lifts his head and, for the first time, they're treated to a real view of Carmen Sandiego's favorite little accomplice.

The first thing Coach Brunt notices is that the boy is far too... small. A little thing, even for a teenager. How old did The Troll say he was, again? Around sixteen? Most teenagers stop growing at around that age, at least from what they researched when Blacksheep (Not Carmen, Blacksheep was dead) started to become one. Had something happened to him, perhaps, to stop the brat from growing properly? Coach Brunt wouldn't be surprised if his boss never remembered how to feed him, she always did throw a fuss over eating.

The second thing is the black eye, given to him by the cleaners. A surefire sign he'd made the wrong decision and attempted to fight back. If Carmen couldn't beat us, Coach Brunt wants to taunt him, why did you think you could?

The third... and last, is the absolute horror on his face, the slight trembling of his body, all the terror in those dark brown-grey eyes- focused on them. Except, something else crosses his face, almost like... disbelief?