It didn’t take Maxwell long to realize that he had no clue what to spend his money on. The other members of the crew usually spent their money on alcohol ,or women, or even gambled it all away but none of that interested Maxwell. He tried alcohol before and found it rather unpleasant, he never understood paying for people, and found the whole idea of it just wrong, and though gambling seemed a little interesting he wasn’t sure he was willing to risk losing his hard earned money like that. So his first day of freedom had been spent wandering around the territory looking for things to do, only to realize that Brutos hadn’t really decided to have anything but those three options within his area. So with a deep sigh Maxwell quickly realized that if he wanted to find some sort of ‘clean’ entertainment he would have to leave the relative safety of Brutos’ territory. The idea of that honestly made the young male very nervous, he had not left the safe areas since joining with Brutos and he had no clue who outside of the territory knew about Max and his importance to the shark.
The next few days Maxwell would walk to the edge of the territory and then chicken out and turn around. Deciding instead to spend the day reading or playing card games alone. By the time he finally built up the courage to leave it had already been five days since the fleet left. Five days Maxwell had wasted, and five days the rumors about Maxwell had time to spread around the nearby territories and to various Muckracker’s ears. This of course was unbeknownst to the young brunette who set off into the neighboring territories cautiously but excited.
Most of his day was uneventful, just Maxwell wandering around enjoying the day. He managed to find a theater that had a few plays and acts to watch so he spent some time there just relaxing and enjoying the various entertainment. By the time he had grown tired of sitting and watching the sun had gone down and Maxwell figured it would be safer to head back rather than explore any of the night life activities, which he was sure was just drinking and gambling anyway, so he started his trek home.
He was just about to enter Brutos’s territory when he was intercepted by several large intimidating men.
“Out for a stroll are we boy?” The man who appeared to be the group’s leader questioned Maxwell as he blocked the smaller male’s way.
“Just heading home actually.” Maxwell managed to get out without stuttering. He honestly hated talking to random people.
“You live in the shark’s territory? Must be rough, Brute ain’t just in the fishman’s name you know.” One of the other men remarked as he strode up to wrap his arm around Max’s shoulders like they were good pals.
“It’s fine.” Was the only answer that Max could get out as his body stiffened and his eyes went to the ground. He didn’t know what these men were up to but he didn’t like it. Something malicious was rolling off of them.
“Say, you look familiar.” The leader remarked leaning in to get a closer look at Maxwell’s face.
The third man, who had been silent up to this point, moved in closer as well.
“Boys I think we have us Brutos’s little runt.” There was a knowing look on the other two’s faces.
“Well well, I think you are right Fitz.” The leader said as he stood back up at his full height.
“Rumor has it that the runt is Brutos’s greatest asset, what say we take it for ourselves shall we?” It was at this point Maxwell fully processed what was happening. He needed to think of a way out of this. Brutos was bad to work for but there was no telling how much worse someone else would be.
“I have no clue what you are on about. I j-just work at Wizban’s Trader Emporium.” Max’s voice betrayed him, his nervous stutter coming out as he tried to lie his way out of his situation.
“Really? I ain’t never seen you there.” The third one said, a sly smirk on his lips.
“Well, not without one of Riptide’s goons that is.” Maxwell felt the knot in his stomach tighten, he hadn’t even realized it was there until then. Every muscle in his body was tight as well, sprung up like an animal ready to bolt, which is exactly what he did next. The loose grip on his shoulders was not enough to hold him in place and it seemed the men hadn’t expected him to be stupid enough to make a run for it, but what other choice did Maxwell have, he couldn’t fight them.
He felt fingertips graze the back of his shirt in an attempt to grab him but the small male was too quick, at least for now. The three men hadn’t been ready for the quick escape but a moment later Max could hear footsteps behind him chasing him deeper into whoever’s territory this happened to be. They had been blocking him from making a quick escape back into Brutos’s area.
The chase was short lived Maxwell was fast sure but he didn’t know these streets and he quickly found himself in a dead end. When he swung around to attempt to go another way the quieter man of the group was right there ready to grab him. Maxwell tried to swerve away from his grasp but the man managed to grab him by both the back of his neck and his hair. He pulled Maxwell back into him roughly causing him to yelp in pain. Then the other two caught up.
“Nice try kid, but we ain’t stupid. We knew who you were the moment we saw you. We also know about your little power. No wonder Brutos is so good at getting information on the rats on this island. He has his own little pied piper controlin the critters on the island.” The man who appeared to be the leader said as he stopped in front of the now restrained Maxwell. “
Too bad his little asset decided to go wanderin off on his own in my territory. Should have stayed home little man.” With that he nodded to the man who held onto him and Maxwell felt a blow to his head before everything went black.
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