GANGSTERS - SIDEMEN AU

THIRTY-THREE

Tobi would've preferred silence to the muffled sound of his teammates crying. He'd never heard most of his friends cry, so hearing it was doubly painful now.

Losing their friends was a crushing blow for them all. The heat of the moment had delayed their reactions as they escaped and now they had time to count their losses, they were all hurting.

Harry spoke up quietly, "Who else is gone?"

Tobi glanced back at him, giving him a look that said 'you sure?' Harry nodded slowly.

"Vik, Freya and Lux were in the house. Kirsty was at another outpost when it blew up. They... sent someone to the hospital to kill Sarah while she was working. Manny managed to get Stephen and Deji out the house, they were just out the blast radius." Tobi listed the casualties, "There were a lot of people we don't know that were killed by the explosions. Anyone that wasn't will probably get arrested."

"Where are the others now?" Harry asked.

"Ethan and Manny took a car each, they've took Deji and Stephen out the city and we're going to meet up with them, figure out our next move." Josh answered.

The six travelled in silence, nobody in the mood for conversation. They reached the rendezvous after thirty minutes, pulling up beside a petrol station and an almost empty McDonalds behind the other car.

Manny walked over to meet them, "Stephen isn't doing so good. He had a bit of a panic attack on the way here. Ethan's still bringing Deji, they should be here soon."

Harry got out the car and walked away from the group, stopping about twenty meters away and lying down on some grass, staring up at the dark sky above.

"I'll go talk to him," Tobi said, walking to the car where Stephen was sat, legs hanging out the open door and a jacket that wasn't his own around his shoulders.

"What's the plan, Josh?" Simon asked, JJ close behind him.

"I don't know. We can't keep Stephen with us, we need to find one of his old friends and see if they'll take him."

"Ethan will know something about that, he was talking to him before... everything happened." JJ told him, Josh nodded, glancing over to where Tobi was talking to Stephen.

"Right, after that, I'm not really sure. I guess we just stay away from London, there's not really much we have to go back for."

"I have a lot to go back for," Simon muttered, "I haven't seen my mum and dad for years."

"Lets just wait for Ethan."

—— • ——

The McDonalds was empty, the group had all sat around a table with a hot drink each and they were ready to make a plan. Or at least somewhat ready.

Harry sat at the corner, staring at his coffee lid with red-rimmed eyes. He wasn't in the mood to make a plan, but even Deji was at the table so he figured he may as well make an effort.

"Alright. So our hideouts are all gone, most of our allies are dead, we have three vehicles between us. If we stick together, we can rebuild what we had." Josh said to the group. JJ moved awkwardly in his seat, exchanging a questioning glance with Simon, whose hand was linked with his own on top of the table, "Jide, you have anything to say?"

"I - we want to leave the team." He said quietly. Josh stared in shock.

"So, we go through a rough patch and you just want to bail?" Ethan raised his voice, "I expected more from you two. Turns out your just pussies."

"This is not a 'rough patch'! There is no team, not anymore. We're not a team, we're barely friends. Vik is dead, we've lost everything." Simon defended their decision, Harry flinched at the mention of Vik.

"We'll take Stephen back to city, give him to Chip. After that we'll go off grid with Deji, try make a new life somewhere else."

"So that's it? You're just leaving." Ethan gaped at them, still angry at their choice.

"Ethan, just leave them. We can't make their choice for them." Tobi reasoned, signalling for him to quiet down, as the noise had attracted attention from one of the employees.

"Un-fucking-fortunately not." He swore.

"Okay... anyone else?" Josh looked around the group. Freezy raised his hand.

"Sarah and Cal are gone. I think my career is over. I have enough money to last me a good few years, I can do the same as them."

"I expected that. Nobody else?" Josh paused, nobody spoke up, "You all sure? I was expecting more than that."

"I'm sorry, me too." Tobi sighed, Josh nodded over at his best friend, "Me and Manny. We miss our family too."

"I guess it's just me, Ethan and Harry." He said sadly, "The final three Sidemen."

"The final three. Pathetic." Ethan scoffed.

The final three.

The Sidemen were finished.

—— • ——

A/N: it's fallen apart...

how about the results of that fight then?