OUTLAW || ATEEZ x Reader

44

All the boys in the camp turned their heads the moment you came stomping in with Yunho behind you. They raised their brows at each other when they saw the scolding look on your face, wondering if it would be a smart idea to ask what was going on.

"Hey, Darling. Where were y'all?" San was the one who had the courage to ask.

"Hendrick has my dad in prison." You sighed, shoulder dropping as all the tension left your body the moment you saw all the boys.

"Why?" Mingi asked.

"They are accusing him of being the one to take the money from city hall. They're also thinking we were the ones who did it." Yunho explained to them, crossing his arms.

"They're going to come looking for us again?" Wooyoung questioned, looking around.

They knew it was best to leave town for a bit and go into hiding. However, that was before they thought about sending a manhunt for specific people. Things would change if that was the case for the group.

No matter how many times you were able to break someone out of prison, you would still be coming back to help the people of the town. Even if you did take the money this time, who's to say that Klein wouldn't just raise the taxes again to collect the money back? Quaid was still going to be there whispering things into the mayor's ear.

"No." You spoke up, looking at them all with your head raised. "We'll go to them." You said

"What do you mean?" Seonghwa furrowed his eyebrows, looking at you oddly.

"It doesn't matter if we take the money and give it back." You explained. "So long as Quaid is here he'll keep taking the money. He's the one who brought in Sciencslaver. We have to cut the weeds from the roots."

"Princess is right." Hongjoong spoke up, coming out from the main tent.

"Captain it won't matter if we don't stop Strickland." Jongho told him. "They'll just keep sending more goons."

"Then we have a while to plan for our next heist." Hongjoong grinned at his members. "For now we can save this town from them."

"We've done this before. It's nothing new. You all already know how it goes." He shrugged it off like it was nothing.

"What did we get from the homes?" Yunho asked.

"From Quaid's house we found letters to Z." Yeosang explained. "They talk about how stupid the mayor here is and how easy it was to manipulate them. He also has some letters between Hendricks. The sheriff knows about Strickland." He added.

"How can we get them both out then?" Seonghwa asked. "Klein has nothing to do with it obviously."

"We should go to him first and reveal everything." You spoke up.

"You think he'll listen?" San raised a brow.

"He's an idiot as Quaid says." You pursed your lips. "I don't think it'll be hard to make him see what he's been doing."

"How do we get Hendricks to resign?" Wooyoung questioned.

Your lips twitched at the mention of that man. For as long as you could remember you never really had any bad blood with him. Only had the chance to watch him from afar during church hours and the likes. You never really paid attention to the way he did his job. You didn't bother to get involved with those kinds of affairs obviously.

You did hear gossip rumors from the saloon's patrons though. How they heard that the sheriff would take bribes to keep from giving the rich tickets or taking their taxes. It wasn't your business–not until he came to arrest you for someone mistaking you as a criminal.

And maybe you were one now, but it was for a good cause. Back then you were saving that girl, and she understood what you did at that point. She understood what it was like to be in that position with nothing else to do. She had been thankful you were there to save her but she regretted saying anything with how the sheriff seemed to have twisted her words. It wasn't her fault but you knew there was something wrong with Hendricks that day.

"We will have to ask Klein for help. I'm sure he has dirt on the man." You answered.

"I never trusted him." Jongho sneered.

"No one did." Yeosang retorted.

"We have to move now." Hongjoong got up, getting his gun ready. "I'm positive Quaid has caught on and will be skipping town soon. Have to catch him before he can leave." He locks his pistol into place, giving all of you a glance.

"Doll, you're gonna need to keep your family safe." Mingi mentioned. "If they have your dad in custody they'll probably try to get them to tell them things. Bring them here for now." He told you.

You suddenly remember how your father told you to take care of them. To run from the town with the boys and your family. But you couldn't just leave him behind when he wasn't the one who did it. It had been you and your family was caught up in your problems.

The boys knew what it was like to feel guilty for dragging others down into your own problems. They had brought so many people down in their mistakes–caused some to lose things that meant so much to them–but in the end they knew good things had come from them. They understood that in order to make things right there were going to be something that would go wrong. It was for the greater good, they would tell themselves.

But in this moment they had the chance of saving your family and keeping them from getting hurt. It was best to do what they could to keep you from feeling worse than you already did. You meant a lot to them and they would rather loose than see you upset over something that happened in their watch.

"Okay." You sighed.

"We'll keep them safe." Hongjoong walked up to you, bringing your head forward to place your forehead against his. "You have my word."

"It's not them I'm worried about." You whispered, pulling back to look Hongjoong in the eye.

"Like I said. We've done this a bunch of times. We know how things go now." The captain grinned.

You trusted them wholeheartedly, to the point that you were sure if they asked you to do something you would. You knew your family was more than safe in their care. Even if they were going to be with you the whole time, you were sure they would keep your family in a place where no harm would come to them. Not on their watch.

You didn't know what they had planned up their sleeves–you honestly didn't even know what you were going to do. But you knew that you had one thing on your mind and that was to take your father out of prison. And to do that you had to get to Hendricks first. Your anger towards him was what fueled your passion to reach what you needed.

And you were more than ready with the boys standing behind you.

"Let's go."