Chapter Text
Everybody froze, Thatcher looked at him, eyes round. “What did you-”
“Touch that kid once more, Mike, and I will kill you, I swear to God” Bandit looked at him. Nobody ever saw him act like this. He was shaking with both anger and fear, looking ready to protect Noah with all he’s got. He was dead serious.
Thatcher might have noticed something in his eyes, because his anger turned into concern. “Why would you risk your career for a kid…?”
Bandit took a deep breath. “I promised him, I will protect him from his monsters, and-”
“What are you talking about?!” the Brit stepped closer.
“He is afraid of his own mother! He told me!”
“When!?” Thatcher’s rage was getting on a whole new level.
“When he got back. Listen, we don’t know shit about this woman, I’m not letting him go until I’m sure she is alright!” Bandit grunted.
Thatcher shook his head, picking up Noah’s folder from his table. “His mom is a doctor! She has three diplomas, she is donating to children hospitals every year, she is participating in every damn school shit this kid has ever seen. The teachers are literally worship this woman! Her husband does the same stuff, and he is just a spoiled kid, enjoying that every attention is on him!” finishing his shouting, he threw down the folder. Sighing Doc reached for it, reading through the pages.
“That doesn’t mean shit!” Bandit looked at Thatcher. “She could still be-”
“For fucks sake, Dominic, do you want to get suspended because of a kid!?” the Brit looked at him. “Say one more thing, Dom, just one, and I swear to God, I will kick you out. I’ve been turning a blind eye over your scams and shit from the first years, but this is it! You got attached to kid and you can’t see clear. You are hysterical!”
“But-” Bandit began, but Thatcher held up his palm, stopping him.
Bandit turned his face away, looking at Kapkan for help, but the Russian couldn’t say anything. He was angry and sad as well, hating the whole thing. To Bandit’s biggest surprise, Doc spoke up.
“It’s true, Dom. Everything is written down here. They are model citizens…” he stood up, stepping closer with the folder. He showed the papers to the German, who felt more and more destroyed as he read through it.
Thatcher sighed. “Listen. Your love towards this kid blinded you. I got it. You only wanted to protect him, but you don’t need to, do you understand?”
“B-but-”
“Stop this. Noah is going home!” Thatcher looked him in the eye, turning towards the door. “We will talk about your punishment later.”
Bandit turned his head down, pushing the folder away, but as he was moving something slipped from the papers, falling to the floor. Bandit leant down, to get it. It was a picture of a slim arm, with a nasty injury on it.
“Mike, wait,” Doc looked at the picture, taking it from Bandit, showing it to the other. “What is this?”
“It was in the folder. The kid fell down from somewhere, I don’t know! You are the doctor.”
“Fell?” Doc lifted an eyebrow. He started to shuffle through the pages until he found the medical records. As he was looking through the lines, he slowly tensed up.
Thatcher stepped back with a concerned face. “What is it, Gustave?”
“There is no chance, that a fall could cause such an injury. Noah’s school medical profile is too long, Mike. Dom might be right. Noah stays here. I need to talk to him.”
Bandit looked up at the medic, then back to the papers, but the latin words were totally incomprehensible for him. He looked at Doc again, who was watching him.
“His mom was abusing him…?” Bandit whispered.
“There is a possibility. I need you to come with me, now.” Doc put the folder down, and left.
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“Am I in trouble?” Noah whispered to Bandit, as they got to Doc’s office. The German gently smiled down at him.
“No. You are not. We just need to make sure about some things. It will be just like a normal visit to your doctor, I promise.”
Doc offered a small smile to Noah too, opening the door, but the kid got nervous seeing all the medical equipment. “I d-don’t want to.”
“Why?” Bandit knelt next to him, but Noah was looking everywhere, but at the German. “Noah, look at me, please.”
Finally the kid lifted his gaze.
“I want to help you, but you need to help us first. If you don’t want me to be in there, just you two, I will be okay with that too. I will wait for you here, and I will arrange everything. You don’t need to go back to your mom’s. Where do you want to live instead?”
Noah turned his head down. “W-with my dad,” he whispered.
Bandit gently pulled up the kids chin, looking at him, nodding. “Note taken. I will call him, okay? We will take care of everything, but first, we need your help. It won’t take long. I will be waiting out here, and I swear to everything living on this Earth, nobody will hurt you ever again.”
Noah held his gaze for a few moments, then nodded. He let out a sniff. “Okay.”
“Should I wait here?”
Noah nodded again, reaching for Doc’s hand and following his lead. With anxiety crippling on Bandit’s back, he sat down in front of the door, biting his nails. Minutes spent like hours, as he was thinking about the possibilities. He hasn’t been this scared in ages. He considered every option, thinking about ways to help the kid, to save the kid, to get the kid a normal home. He wanted to protect him from any possible harm.
After twenty minutes, the door opened and Noah was immediately climbing into his arm, hugging his neck. Bandit held him close, planting his face in the kid’s shoulder. He glanced at Doc in fear, searching for an answer and finally, Doc slowly nodded. Bandit’s eyes rounded, and he just hugged the kid even closer to himself, his hands shaking.
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“How are people capable of hurting a kid like this?” IQ blinked at Doc.
One whole week was gone since they knew the truth. Bandit’s eye was still purple from Thatcher's punch, but it was in the healing state. They were sitting in the canteen, Noah sleeping like a stone in the German’s arms. They were chatting away about the last few days, everybody was listening to Doc, forgetting how it was already 2 in the morning. It was their last day together after all.
Doc let out a slow sigh. “This is a very strange condition you know? His mom needed to deal with lots and lots of stress day by day, to a level where she was literally destroying herself. It probably started with small things, saying rude things, shouting, telling him that he was bad or something similar.” the medic looked at Noah, then back to the listening others. “Then slowly it got more and more bad, to the point of psychical abuse. It was easy for her to let the stress and anger out, but as Noah told me, she was always broken after it. Noah told me how his mom would hug him, crying, promising it would never happen again, but this is not that easy. His whole running away was because of this. Thankfully, it didn’t happen often, but this explains a lot. Why he wanted to bathe alone, why he didn’t argue with you.”
“Why he was so regretful about the damn mugs,” Bandit leant against Noah’s hair with his face. He looked at Kapkan and Blitz. “He only got scared of Taina when he saw her with her hair down, like his mom’s. I’m thinking that he made up the whole mud monster stuff because your shadow reminded him of these stuff too.”
Kapkan sighed, gently patting along the kid’s back.
“Yeah. All that,” Doc nodded. “I’m really glad that she understood everything, and we didn’t need to call the police. She was crying for hours, because she knows she is ill. She doesn’t want to hurt her son ever again, and she immediately accepted everything I told her.”
IQ turned her head down. “What will happen to his mom now?”
“I took care of that.” Thatcher took a sip from his mug. “Full custody is going to Noah’s father. His mother will go under serious psychological treatments in a good hospital, I will monitor it from time to time myself.”
“I feel sorry for her.” IQ sighed.
Doc nodded. “Me too, but she will be able to meet his son after she is done, and both of them will be much more happy and healthy. These kind of things happen, and they are so easy to miss. I’m honestly glad, that she will be able to rest and get better, and Noah as well. He will be happy with his dad.”
“He was so frightened when I called him,” smiling, Blitz looked at Bandit. “But he sounds like a good man to me. He packed everything and moved back to England to be able to raise his son here, he is responsible.”
Bandit pulled a grimace, looking at him. “I will see about that myself…!”
Blitz nodded, then looked up at the clock. “Let’s get this kid to bed. Tomorrow is a big day for him.”
Bandit nodded, letting Blitz take Noah from his arms. When most of the team were gone, he looked at Thatcher. “Mike?”
The Brit side-eyed him. “Yes?”
“Thank you for your help,” Bandit took a deep breath. “And sorry for being disrespectful. And for the punch. And for everything else,” he scratched the back of his neck, nervous.
Laughing Thatcher shook his head. “I should have trusted you,” he answered nodding along. “I should have listened, but I didn’t do it. I’m sorry for that too,” he offered his hand to Bandit. “and for threatening with suspension. I’m not sorry for the punch, it was building up since day one.”
With a grin, Bandit shook his hand. “Tch, fuck you.”
“Also, after everything, if I see that you act less enthusiastic with your work, than how you acted around Noah, I will punch you again.”
The German rolled his eyes. “Come on! You can’t be serious.”
“I won’t stop at one. I will enjoy it.”
“Okay, okay, shut up, you old fucker!” Bandit threw his hands in the air. “Go cuddle up to your stupid canadian, before I change my mind!”
With a smug half smirk Thatcher left him alone. When the older was gone, Bandit just started to shake his head, holding back a big belly laugh. He looked around the empty canteen, and left to bed himself. This time, he was calm about his goodbyes. This time, he knew that Noah will be in good hands, even if he never met or spoke to his dad.
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“For God’s sake, Dominic stop this already!” Blitz looked at him with a sigh. “He is a good man, I promise!”
“What? You can’t know that. He can… I dunno he can be a mass murderer for all I know, or he can be one of those dudes who puts back the empty milk carton and not buys a new one!”
Laughing Blitz punched him in his shoulder softly. “Shut up already. He is none of these, right Noah?”
They were heading towards the Heathrow airport. It was only the three of them this time, the agreement was to take Noah with them there, meet his dad and hand over the kid if his dad was normal, and of course if the kid wanted to go. This time, Noah was buzzing from excitement, holding Bandit’s hand, turning his head everywhere to search after his father.
This time, saying goodbye was so easy. The boy hugged everybody, giving away big smooches to his friends, promising that he will be back before a blink of an eye. This was not a sad, teary farewell from the others, but one with love and hope. Being the big, strong, mighty hunter, Kapkan was hugging the kid for long minutes before Noah pushed him away gently, giggling. The Russian just grinned at him, and told him to practice what he taught him. Glaz patted the boy’s hair, hugging him gently to himself. Tachanka scooped him into his arms to a bone-shattering hug, dealing with the escape attempts the boy made him laughing loudly.
Noah received a tiny airplane what Fuze and Jäger made for him from leftover machine parts. It looked amazing, and he couldn’t be happier. IQ brushed a tear as Noah got to her, giving the boy two big kisses on his cheeks, promising him that she will look after Bandit even when Noah wouldn’t be with them.
Maestro didn’t just brush a single tear, he was crying like there was no tomorrow, and Noah let out big sniffs too. Both of them were very sad that Maestro wasn’t there from day one. The Italian promised that when they meet again, he will make a big feast to the kid. Thermite gave a big high-five to Noah, winking at him.
Doc was the last one in the row of friends. He knelt before the boy, looking him in the eye. “If anything happens, now you know how and where to find us, but nothing will happen, okay?” as Noah nodded, the medic hugged him tightly, then soon let go. In the end, Noah even shook Thatcher’s hand when the man said his goodbye.
The boy was waving from the car’s backseat, until he couldn’t see the group anymore as they were heading out with Blitz and Bandit, both men calm and silent.
“No, he is none of these!” the kid’s voice ripped Bandit from his memories. “He is the best dad!”
Bandit placed a palm on his chest, gaping. “Well, I will verify that, okay?”
Laughing, Noah hugged his side. “Okay, Dom!”
With a small smile, Bandit patted the boy’s hair, hugging his shoulders. Then he glanced at Blitz again. “What is he doing anyways, hm? What was his job overseas?”
“He is a mechanic! He is fixing up cars and motorbikes and everything” Blitz side-eyed him. Bandit let out an appreciating hum.
“Okay, that’s a very normal job. But-”
“Oh God one more buts and I will punch you too.”
“But on the other eye, please, I wanted to be a panda my whole life!” Bandit grinned at him, wiggling his eyebrows. Blitz snorted, but couldn’t answer, because Noah slipped from their side with a big shout of ‘Dad!’.
Bandit poked his now empty hand in his pocket, turning after Noah with sad eyes, but his expression changed soon. The kid jumped in the open arms of a total stranger, this wasn’t a big deal. The big deal was the stranger’s look, because the kid’s dad turned out to be gorgeous.
He was tall and handsome, all wide shoulders, long limbs and slim waist. Without too much effort, he lifted Noah into his strong arms, the boy was showering him with big kisses to his beard covered face. He looked at the kid with love, adoration and a bit of mischief. It was nearly the same expression Noah made everytime, he was up to something, Bandit finally understood where he got that.
The stranger had short hair, the same dark shade as his son, and big, kind eyes. His lips couldn’t finish smiling. He hugged Noah to himself happily, like he never wanted to let go, and Bandit understood that the kid will be in a really good hands with this man. The man was listening to the boy in his arms, nodding along, and he soon turned where Noah was poking, in the direction of the two Germans. Bandit sweared he even saw a tattoo poking out of the man’s sleeves when he put Noah down, and he felt his throat choke up.
Blitz was side-eyeing him again, with the most shit-eating grin Bandit has ever seen on him. “Have you heard, that having a kid around a handsome man makes him three times more attractive?”
Bandit turned to face him in an attempt to show him his beautiful middle finger, but he felt a flush creep on his cheeks. He needed to clear his throat. “How about you shut the fu-”
“Ahh, you must be Nathan!” Blitz stepped towards the man, shaking his hand with a big smile.
“Nathan Taylor, but call me Nate!” the man nodded, smiling. His voice did things to Bandit he didn’t want to accept.
“I’m Elias, I called you on the phone. This is my colleague, Dominic!”
Bandit stepped there, offering his slightly shaking hand. He wanted to kill Blitz, just to make sure the man suffers.
“Nice to meet you, Dominic. Noah told me how you protected him, from... your boss?” Nate lifted an eyebrow, a small smirk hiding in the corner of his mouth.
Blinking the German nodded, and finally worked up some courage to speak again. “Yeah, we had a bit of a fight?”
Nate gently gestured to his eye. “Yeah, a bit, hm?”
“Yeah, Dom punched Mike in the face!” he heard Noah’s ramble, but couldn’t take his eyes off of Nathan.
Bandit cleared his throat again still struggling to find his words. Next to him Blitz had the time of his life, that motherfucker.
“It’s not a big deal, normally I don’t use my knuckles to solve problems I swear.”
“Yeah, because you use long silences and sarcasm,” Blitz offered with an angelic smile.
Bandit looked at him, wishing for some sort of superpower, so he could kill his betraying friend. To his biggest surprise, he heard a big belly laugh from Nathan, so he turned back to face him. The man even had dimples. Same like Noah had. Bandit was in deep, deep shit.
“Tell me, how to thank you for taking care of Noah.”
“Can Dominic and the others visit us from time to time? Please Dad! You need to meet them, my friend Adriano has a friend who is a literal giant! He can lift a 22 lbs hammer!” the boy started to chirp.
Nate looked down at his son. “Really? Now that’s truly a big hammer,” he nodded. “I’m sure they can come to visit. Or you can go sometimes too, if you want to.”
Noah exploded into pure excitement, looking at Bandit, then looking back at his dad. “Adriano promised a big feast next time! He has this very funny accent, and ticklish beard, but he is a big softie, like all the others too!”
“Woah, this must be a big group then.”
Blitz snorted at this statement, turning away, but finally came to Bandit’s rescue. “Yeah, all of us helped with your son, but Dominic did the most. He did even bear with that punch.”
Bandit covered his eye with a shaking hand, clearing his throat furiously, looking away. “It wasn’t a big deal, I somehow ended up liking Noah very much…”
“I’m very happy to hear that. Can I, maybe thank you this with... a dinner?” Nate offered smiling gently.
Bandit sweared that he didn’t hear well. “What?”
The stranger’s smile just grew wider. “I don’t really remember good restaurants around Hereford, but I’m not that bad of a cook, myself. I bet Noah would love to have you as our guest, once we cleared our new home. If you want.”
Bandit licked his lips, but voice didn’t came out, so he started to nod furiously. With a big, happy yell, Noah jumped in his arms, finally getting him a chance to compose himself. Bandit caught him with a swift motion, what grew to a pavlovian reflex slowly. Noah hugged his neck, and Bandit shut his eyes, burying his face in the kid’s shoulder. This gesture turned to be a very comforting thing to him.
Blitz smiled at Nathan, who was watching closely. Noah lifted his head, looking at Bandit. “Dad makes the best pancakes.”
“Better then Monika?” Bandit gasped, he somehow even shut the distractingly attractive man out, and concentrated to the boy in his arms.
“Better! But don’t tell her this” giggled Noah.
Bandit gave him a cheeky grin, and looked at Nathan. “I’m looking forward to it, then!”