Aftg react

Part 71

Book 4 (tsc) chapter 2

The foxes thought that it was over with, but they where still here. When the screen stared they watched everything from Jeans perspective, it was weird since they didn't know much about the French man, Kevin on the other hand was looking paler.
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"You are a Moreau," Kevin agreed at last. Jean had one second to think Kevin had come around and remembered himself, and then Kevin said, "He is—was—a Wesninski. He still walked away. He told us he refused to sign the transfer paperwork."
It was Jean's turn to look away.

It was weird, fixed emotions everywhere. They pitied Jean when they saw how badly he was beaten, they watched Kevin and Jean interacting, some perking up when Neil was brought up.
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He honestly had not expected Nathaniel to survive the consequences of that ferocious defiance. If not for Jean's own weakness, maybe Riko really would have killed him that night.

They stood up straighter, they listened with alarmed expressions. What did Jean mean by that? "I don't like this" said Dan, the others where agreeing because who were they kidding this was Neil, he has the worst luck. They hadn't seen much of what he went through in the nest but they had seen Neil after, it was horrible and they weren't ready.
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Holding Nathaniel down while Riko slowly waterboarded him meant he couldn't cover his ears against the noises Nathaniel made, and Jean had nearly bit through his own shoulder to keep from screaming. Once Jean started spiraling too badly to hold on, Riko had had to back off. Riko had not forgiven him for being so fainthearted, never mind his part in creating such trauma in the first place.

Someone chocked on a curse, it was loud but at the same time the quietest place. They were furious, they looked at the screen with tension "I swear to god if Riko hadn't died I would do it my self" said Matt from where he was sat, the room was quiet with silent agreement. No one dared to look at Andrew, not risking having whatever anger he had thrown at them. But they knew him long enough to now that seeing someone from his family getting hurt was a dead sentence to whom ever hurt them.
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Victory was short-lived, because Kevin was back the next day.

"Who can't relate with that" said Aaron with a sigh, Kevin glared at him and the others laughed at the two of them.
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This time he brought Nathaniel and his pet goalkeeper with him. Nathaniel took up a perch on the edge of the mattress near Jean's knee to survey Jean's injuries with a serious look. Kevin went to the other side of the bed, arms folded so tight across his middle he looked like he was trying to squeeze himself out of existence. Jean knew how every shade of fear looked on Kevin's face, or so he'd thought. This ghastly pallor was new, and Jean was pretty sure he did not want to know what put it there.
Looking at Kevin was still easier than facing Nathaniel, because there were burns where Nathaniel's number should have been. After everything that fucking tattoo had cost Jean—he felt numb all over, then cold, and his stomach twisted so hard he was sure it ripped to pieces inside him. The urge to tear Nathaniel's face open was so fierce he could barely breathe.
"Hello, Jean," Nathaniel said.
"Go away," Jean said, in a voice he barely recognized. "I have nothing to say to you."
"But you'll listen, because I just told Ichirou where you are."He'd misheard. He had to have misheard. In no universe would Ichirou Moriyama deign to speak to one of them. But Kevin was sagging down to sit on the mattress near his hip, and Nathaniel's expression was grim but determined as he glanced back at Andrew's impassive expression. Satisfied they were all paying attention, he turned back on Jean.

"Wow could he not at least eased it at him, he dropped it like a bomb" said Alison, the others let out little laughs still not over they new information they learned.
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"My father got out of jail only to immediately get murdered," Nathaniel said. "I spent an entire weekend locked up with the FBI trying to piece together his crimes and contacts for them. Ichirou respects my family name enough to come to me for answers in the aftermath. He said he was calculating the value of our existence, so I paid him in the only truths worth our lives.
"I told him Riko was a risk to the stability of his new empire and how his reckless violence against everyone in this room left too many trails. An athlete should not have that kind of push and pull, and if anyone started connecting the dots between our tragedies there'd be too many dangerous questions asked. It puts the Moriyama family in jeopardy, and a Wesninski of course cannot ally with such a person. I asked Ichirou to take me back into his fold."
Kevin's jaw dropped, but Nathaniel bulled on without waiting for him to argue. "I told him we are well aware we are Moriyama investments and that we are content to exist as such." Nathaniel smiled with so much ice Jean thought the room dropped a few degrees. The adrenaline rush of what he'd survived, of the trick he'd managed to play on a too-powerful man, was going to his head. It was the same arrogance that made him defy Riko over and over again despite knowing it was going to come back on him and his team.

"I mean this is Neil for you" said Nick with an awkward smile scratching the back of his head, leave it to Neil to make a deal with the Japanese Mafia.
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"We talked numbers: what Kevin was worth before and after his injury, what kind of money endorsements bring in, what professional athletes make on average..." Nathaniel gave a casual wave of his hand to indicate the whole deal. "Because we fell under Coach Moriyama's thumb, the money was originally going to him to feed his pet projects. I suggested we pay it back to Ichirou instead.
"He needs it," he insisted when Kevin looked like he was going to get off the bed and flee the room. "Not even I understand my father's full reach, but everything he had is falling apart now that the FBI is picking through the wreckage. Even if Ichirou allies with my uncle for more access to Europe, he's losing money hand over fist. Money that we are happy to give back to him if he'll wait for us."
"He agreed," Nathaniel said. "It's eighty percent of our earnings from the time we make pro until... retirement? I didn't ask," he admitted. "I'd pushed my luck enough I didn't want to imply there'd be an end to the arrangement. What matters is that the deal is for all three of us. I agreed I
would hash it out with you and that there'd be no problem. There isn't one, right?"It's not a pardon and it's not really freedom, but it's protection," Nathaniel said. "We're assets for the main family now. The King's lost all his men and there's nothing he can do about it without crossing his brother. We're safe—for good."

It made sense with the way they saw Ichirou kill Riko no hesitation to protect his future investments and ready to kill said investments if a problem arises.
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He said it so easily, like he genuinely believed it. Jean buried his face in his hands and dug his fingernails into his temples. This was a nightmare; it had to be a nightmare. In no reality would Ichirou Moriyama have met with an insignificant brat like Nathaniel Wesninski or been swayed by the self- importance that Riko tried so hard to beat out of him. It went beyond reason to think this was real and that Ichirou fully intended to steal his brother's toys. Jean refused to believe it, because if he even stopped to consider what it meant—The door closing sounded very final, but the weight by his side remained.
Kevin touched Jeans' elbow and said, "Look at me."
"No," Jean said. "I am a Moreau. I am a Raven. I know my place. I won't agree to this."
"It's done," Kevin said. "You do not have a say in it."
"You did this to us," Jean accused him as Kevin finally pried his hands away from his face. "You should have beat this wildness out of him once you learned his name."
"I couldn't," was the weary response. "Everyone who has tried to tame him has failed."

"I a way this is so funny, a midget terrorising a tall French man and Kevin" Alison said, it got her some disapproving looked from Wymack, Abby and Kevin, Renee had a soft smile on, Andrew was smirking but hid it before anyone saw and the others laughed.

(First chapter is done)