Chapter Text
Just...don't feed the beast, you know?
Puerto Lobos, 2023
The steam is rising from the two cups on the table, the house is being flooded by the morning sunlight while music, probably unknown to most of the world, flows through the air with just enough volume to be heard. There is a young man with short dark hair sitting comfortably, absorbing all the light he can, impatiently waiting for someone. The sunrays reveal his left eye made from black glass, making him look tough but also secretly talking about everything he has been through.
The man is Sean Diaz, the mass murderer, robber, terrorist, criminal, fugitive. You could expand the list of his professions ad nauseum… or at least that is how the world sees him now.
But is that really who he is? Or is he just a loving brother, a boy who had to grow up all too quickly, someone who had to make the toughest decisions, a man who got beaten again and again but who endured and survived and who is now walking in his father’s footsteps, living and fixing cars in his papa’s hometown. His past is something that is not bothering him anymore, he seems happy now. Well, happy as a man technically still on the run from the law can be.
He has not exactly been keeping a low profile and he’s pretty sure that the cops are aware of his whereabouts, however since they haven’t been giving him much trouble, he always assumed that they have more important stuff to do than catching Americans. Or maybe they are just too scared. And scared they should be…
A slow tapping can be heard coming down the stairs. A rather tall looking boy for his apparent age with shaggy dark brown hair emerges from the shadow of the wall-covered stairway. The cold concrete is a delight for his feet as the little beach house is built in such a way to keep the raging Mexican heat outside. Coming from much colder Washington, he never liked the heat, but living here for the past six years, he had to acclimate.
It’s Sean’s little brother, Daniel. It seems just like yesterday that he was a care-free little kid, playing Minecraft with his best friend Noah. But like his older brother, he too had to grow up unexpectedly and prematurely, even quicker than Sean as his life got flipped upside-down when he was just nine.
He is the one who really did all the things his brother is being accused of, or at least most of them. But who would suspect a little kid having superpowers and doing all that? They both know how it is, yet they don’t care. As far as they are concerned, they did it together, they did it for each other, they did it to survive, because there was no justice, because they were forced to. Now they are here and there is no point in looking back.
“Hey, bro.” Daniel tiredly says as he yawns at the same time. He has been more of a nocturnal person for the past years, usually gaming, reading or just watching stuff on his laptop the whole night and sometimes going to sleep only when he hears Sean already getting up.
“Morning, Daniel. I heard you being awake, so I’ve prepared some ‘hot cocoa’ for my little brother.” a little smirk pops up on Sean’s face. Daniel might be sixteen, but Sean always enjoys every opportunity to call him his little brother.
Daniel slams himself on the chair, like he just walked two days nonstop and this was his first time sitting down. “Hot cocoa with a fuck-ton of caffeine? Thanks, I need that.” he takes a deep breath to take in the coffee aroma.
Sean recognizes this morning routine all too well, even though Daniel usually gets up around noon. “You’ve been up the whole night again?” he asks, already knowing the answer.
“Umm… maybe, but not because of the reasons you think. I wasn’t playing games the whole night for a change. I got into that mellow mood to re-read your journal again.” Daniel stops for a while and then decides to admit that he had been also playing a bit, “And… yeaaah, I might have been gaming up until that moment.” Daniel then chugs half of the coffee from the cup. He always argues that being awake throughout the night is his way of protecting the house, while Sean can be on the watch during the day.
“Sneaking into my room while I’m out cold I see… Hope you at least made sure that I was asleep before entering.” the brothers are not keen on rules, but privacy is one of the few rules they’ve established or rather kept from their life in Seattle. Sean lets out a little sigh, “But how can I be mad? You know it always makes me happy when you read it and I’m glad you like it so much. That’s why I keep writing and drawing the new journal. If you’ll ever read it in the future, it will be worth it just for that.” he smiles.
Daniel has been re-reading the old journal as a whole at least once a year and he regularly just randomly swipes through the pages. He loves Sean’s art style and smiles at the way Sean talked about him and how he saw the world. Even the parts where Daniel was being a little brat and Sean was genuinely pissed at him put a smile on his face now. However, the past that the journal portraits is not a cheerful one. It’s full of suffering, sorrow, regrets and horrors, and the happy parts are not able to lift the weight of the painful ones. But Daniel is not afraid of their past anymore, after all he is the one with the real power.
“I know you don’t like it when I go into your room, but hey, old habits die hard, right? And I promise to not enter without your permission anymore.” Daniel defends himself with a voice just convincing enough for Sean to let it slide.
Sean puts his hands behind his head and nods a bit, “Yeah, yeah, yeah… don’t promise something that you are physically unable to keep. Anyway, I appreciate you waking up this early to help me with the work even after your long night, right?”
“Yup, it’s either that or the Sun sniping me straight to the face even through the closed blinds. You know that I can’t go back to sleep after waking up in the morning.” Daniel stands up and walks to their work laptop on the countertop, “So, how much work is there to be done today?”
“Not that much. For once I wouldn’t be mad at you for sleeping for too long. We only have three customers booked for today so as long as no one randomly walks in that should be all.” says Sean while pointing at the laptop, signalling Daniel to bring it to him.
“Okay, I’ll take a quick shower. I’m sweating already and I’m not even doing anything. When are we starting?” he levitates the laptop towards Sean with one hand and drinks some more coffee with the other. Although Daniel is not much of a gear head like their dad was or like Sean has become in the past years, he always tries to help in the workshop. Either by using his powers to move and lift stuff or by performing some basic repairs and service.
“Well, one car is already parked outside, and the other customers will bring theirs a bit later. But no need to hurry, those should be just some simple repairs, judging by the order list here.” Sean scrolls through their orders and notes for a bit and then turns to Daniel, “So, take your time… do whatever you need to do in there…” Sean says jokingly and quickly looks back at the display.
Daniel rolls his eyes, “Same jokes as usually. Can a teenager have his shower without the comments, please?” they always poke fun at each other now that Daniel is old enough to understand Sean’s adult humour, “We should get you a girlfriend… or a boyfriend for that matter.”
The older brother has just the answer for that, “Not with you cockblocking me since forever.” In reality it was not because of Daniel but simply because Sean has never tried finding a partner in Mexico. He thinks of it as an additional burden on him.
“Yeah, you know me… I can’t resist.” Daniel responds with a little chuckle as he heads towards the stairs. “And hey, don’t start without me. I’ll be back in a bit.” he says and runs back upstairs.
Since it’s extraordinarily early for Daniel to be awake and there is not that much work, Sean doesn’t need to rush either. He turns up the music a bit, kicks back and relaxes some more before the work starts.
***
Life in Puerto Lobos hasn’t been completely easy for the wolf brothers. Although they’ve been doing well for quite some time now, the business is stable, and they are relatively safe for which most of the credit probably goes to Daniel’s powers, there is a gang that’s been causing them trouble lately…
Of course, the beginnings of their lives in Mexico were complicated to say the least. What do you do after crossing the border of a foreign country right after massacring at least a dozen of cops, being accused of previous crimes and on top of that becoming an illegal immigrant in the said country? You can’t just go and find a legal job, your little brother, no matter how happy that makes him, is unable to attend school and there are no friends or family you can go to for help. However, all that is something Sean was aware of and he knew the risks very well. After all, the little coastal town has been their goal from the very beginning. Following the carnage at the border, they drove further south, silently holding hands, without stopping, without looking back at what they had caused, running away from the actions of their past.
Upon arrival, as expected, they found their new home in ruins. Windows shattered, doors knocked down, there was not a single spot untagged or unsprayed, syringes and condom wrappers all over the place. Sean knew what to expect but looking at something like that was still crushing him. On the other hand, Daniel, after the initial shock, started to grow more and more excited. Excited to use his powers to clean up the mess and to restore the house, making it their own. Luckily for them, there was no one living inside as a small town like Puerto Lobos doesn’t really have homeless people, although they’ve definitely noticed some sketchy faces during the first weeks, scoping out the house that they’ve probably been using for their free time activities.
Having less than two thousand dollars, there was no way they could pay for the repairs and new furniture, so Sean started to very cautiously look for some unregistered work. In the meantime, they resorted to alternative ways of obtaining money. They didn’t want to be the bad guys that only live off of pickpocketing oblivious tourists and silently breaking into shops during the night using Daniel’s powers, so the decision was made to only continue doing that until they have repaired the house and got a decent living. They considered it a jump start for their new lives.
Sean eventually started helping in a car repair shop as an unreported worker in a city more than an hour of driving away. That meant leaving eleven-year-old Daniel alone at home, which simply wasn’t an option. So, he brought Daniel along. That way they could kill multiple birds with one stone. Sean has already been teaching him Spanish, but now Daniel could learn even more by being around locals and at the same time they both learned a lot about cars and how to fix them. The pay wasn’t great, and Sean couldn’t just simply ask for more as he officially did not even work there, but it was all worth it, because in situations like this the value of experience is immeasurable.
***
“This one can now happily ride thousands of miles again.” Sean mutters from behind the car as he finishes inspecting it, “Dan, take the keys and back it up to the front, thanks… Oh, and also bring mom’s truck back inside.”
“On it!” shouts Daniel who is visibly excited for every opportunity to drive. So much in fact that he never uses his powers to do it as he does for almost everything else.
He parks the customer’s car in front of the house which has Diaz Repair Shop written in large letters on the restored facade. As he switches the cars to take Karen’s truck inside, he notices a guy staring at him a couple of houses away. The stranger realizes that Daniel is looking at him, swiftly turns his look away and continues to stand there. Daniel watches him for a few seconds, trying to look dominant with his intense stare, then he sits inside the car thinking about the possibilities of who could that be.
“Could it be a cop? There’s that gang we pissed off…” pissed off being an understatement here, “…perhaps a potential customer, definitely not a neighbour… or maybe just a tourist or one of those people that pop-in to Puerto Lobos for a month or two every year.” Daniel wonders as he drives the truck inside the garage.
“Sean? We aren’t expecting any more customers, are we?” asks Daniel and hands Sean the car keys.
“Umm, no, except for the lady coming back for her car. No more scheduled repairs, unless someone walks in randomly.”
“Well, there was a guy just down the street staring at me kinda suspiciously. Go to the window and look if he’s still there.”
Sean walks to the front window and tries to find the man who is nowhere to be seen. “Have you seen him before?” he asks.
“I don’t know, he turned away too quickly after I had spotted him, definitely not anybody I know from around.” Daniel thinks for a bit. “Look, I don’t want to make a big deal out of this, it could be anyone, but we’ve had some issues with that gang, so I just wanted to let you know.”
“I know, Daniel, I appreciate that.” Sean puts his hand around Daniel’s shoulder, “We are careful, and we can take care of ourselves. No fucking gang or cop is a match for your powers.”
Daniel scowls, “Oh, I dare them to step in our way. I’ll bring them hell.” the ground shakes ever so slightly as he says with a serious voice, a voice of someone who is not afraid, “We should just get rid of them all and be done with it.”
“I can feel the anger inside you, Daniel, but don’t let it get to you now.” anger being the last thing Daniel has trouble fully controlling even after all those years. He doesn’t go berserk anymore when he gets mad, but the power can be still felt in the air. “If it ever comes to that, you have to remember that you are strong but not invincible.” Sean reminds him. “We try to avoid any unnecessary conflicts, right?”
“Right, I hear you, Sean.” he looks at his brother with concerns and rage in his eyes, “I just… get so angry sometimes thinking about anyone trying to harm us after all the shit we’ve been through. We deserve our peace and not this… getting harassed by a gang of assholes because they think they are better than us.”
“I know, but starting a fight, no matter how one sided it would be, is not something we need right now.”
“You are right, Sean, I’m sorry. I promise I won’t do anything stupid.” Daniel adds with determined voice, “But when it comes to the worst… I will go beyond limits to keep us safe.”