The Underground Boss - Brawl Stars Tickle Story

7 - Snake Oil Extract

It is 2am in the morning. Byron tossed and turned, failing to fall asleep as he was worried about his son. He knew that he always neglected his son, and he sometimes, if not always blamed it on his busy schedule as a businessman selling the most expensive and important potions in the world  (Snake Oil). He knew how his son was bullied by Crow all day, and how his son locked himself in his room without even talking to him every day. He also knew how this is absolutely not a healthy father-son relationship. But he has never been good at taking after his children, and he thought his son could grow out of the shadows of bullying once he grows up and becomes an adult. 

It was always Edgar's mothers' responsibility to take care of him. Was. His success in business has created lots of jealousy amongst the industry, and they were murdered by an attempted assassination on him. 

Byron spent his whole life until now, living in guilt, blaming himself of causing them to die. He has never gotten over the loss of his wife and his daughter since he was too stupid to publicly criticize his competitors, which was the direct cause of people trying to murder him. This incident has drastically changed his lifestyle. He made a promise never to expose himself too much to public and not to place his son in danger again. 

Unable to fall back asleep, he woke up and visited his basement, where he keep his snakes, his major source of income. He did keep one non-venomous pet snake, as well as locking up his venomous snakes safely. Walking past his pet snake, Brianna, who was hibernating, he gazed at a picture on top of the cage. It was a picture taken at the hospital, where he, his wife, his son and her newly born daughter took a photo after exiting the hospital. They were ambushed on their way home. They haven't even thought of the name of the girl yet. Haunting memories and disturbing scenes reappear on his mind. But this was disturbed by a knock on his door.

He hesitated. It is impossible that anyone would find him 2am in the morning. A strange feeling stirred up his stomach. He assumed that it is not going to be good. He grabbed his staff and tiptoed towards the door. This is when the door got loudly punched, creating a deafening bang, and the wooden door creaked in protest. 

Byron's POV

"Open up! Now!" A hoarse voice shouted outside the door. 

"Open now or your house get destroyed." Another voice yelled.

"And your son." A new voice added.

I widened my eyes in fear. I would never give up my son, but I would most certainly die in a fight. Just as I was hesitating on what to do, the door crashed open and I was grabbed by the throat in the blink of an eye, as I see Crow, Bull and Mortis rushed in my house. I choked and coughed loudly as Crow pushed me onto the floor. I desperately tried squirming away but Bull stepped on my ribcage, hard.

I started screaming in agony but I covered my mouth, making the sound muffled. The last thing I wanted is waking up Edgar and exposing him to them. Perhaps you call it unwise, but I'm dealing with this alone. 

"What... what do you want?" I asked them, panting and shivering. I received a huge slap on my face.

"You don't talk to me like that, old man." Crow snapped back at me, and Bull rubbed his iron shoe on my ribs. I could feel my bones cracking. I screamed in pain. Forget about not waking up Edgar. 

"Please... whatever you want, I will provide you with anything. Please... let my son live." I tried bargaining while trembling. 

"Say I beg you." Crow commanded, looking down on me.

I have no choice. The pain in my ribs is searing. "Please... I beg you..." I said unwillingly. I was met with a huge laughter. Evil and humiliating. Unforgettable. 

"Sure. I will leave you and your pathetic little son. For now." Crow replied, still recovering from laughter, and he raised my chin with force and forced me to look at him. "What I want is you leave this house by the end of midnight tomorrow, and let me have access to all your snake potions."

My eyes widened. There's no way I am going to give up all my successes. But when it comes to life and death, does wealth and position anymore? Even when I'm the richest man in the city, it still can't save me from death if it was to come. I sighed in defeat and explain everything about my home, my basement of snakes and how to extract Snake Oil. (A/N: While researching I did realize that Snake Oil has actually nothing to do with snakes, but it matches Byron so why not.)

Then, they left without a word, while glaring at me before slamming the door shut. I laid there and groaned, unable to stand up as my ribs burned in pain. Soon, Edgar came out. I smiled weakly at my son before gesturing that my ribs were hurt. He got the bottle of Healing Snake Oil that I always carried, and gently rubbed it on my ribs while I winced. Slowly, the wounds healed up and he helped me up. 

Yes, you might be thinking. My son never freaks out. He doesn't react that much, even if such a devastating experience had just happened in front of his eyes. I can't really blame him though, I've never truly taught him how to express feelings and share it with others. He also always dealt with stress, sadness and negativity alone. Guess we really aren't a healthy father-son relationship. 

"Dad," he started, which the first thing he did is obviously not caring about how I feel, (A/N: I can relate as a T person (MBTI)) "where are we going? We can't stay here..." 

"Son," I said weakly, "How about we think of it in the morning and get some rest first? We can think of it later. Right now my wounds have to heal."

He nodded and we went to our rooms. The truth is, I have absolutely no idea where we should go.

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I am trying to make my stories shorter so I kinda have more sense of accomplishment in uploading more chapters! Also I think it is easier to read for you guys!

Hope you've enjoyed! Your comments are my motivation to keep writing!