Two Delinquents and a Good Boy

[LovelyBones]

Rody used to be a good kid. Great big brother, helped his father with his younger siblings when their mother died.... Why did it have to go all wrong? They were a good family-- and yet, one day, Rody and his siblings were soon without their father, too. Everyone kept telling him that their father had been dealing with some criminal group, only to make a fatal mistake, orphaning his kids like a fool. Rody didn't want to believe it, he really didn't. But, as time went on.... he couldn't help but begin to accept that, regardless, his father had died in a way that left his kids alone, fending for themselves. There was hardly anything to use in way of keeping things as nice as they were, and so....

The eldest caved, and began to commit crimes for money, just so he could focus on feeding and clothing his younger siblings as best he could. Theft, smuggling, being a spy, there was hardly anything Rody didn't do, his limit only never using his body. That was one line he didn't dare cross, knowing full well that it could make his situation and his siblings lives worse. At least he had good wit, and knew how to handle himself in a fight, even if it meant fighting dirty.

You had to, if you had to live the way he did. It was so, so hard to make sure his status as a good big brother never changed for his siblings-- never wanted them to find out their meager way of life was funded by the crimes Rody did. Still.... he wished he didn't have to lie to them, or anyone he knew, really. But, with how life's been screwing him left and right, he didn't dare ask for help. For all he knew, they'd hand him over to the police and then his siblings won be put into the foster system, possibly separated, never to be seen again. How they lived wasn't healthy, no, but at least his siblings knew Rody loved them, was willing to do anything for them.

Which lead him to where he sat, crumpled in an alleyway against the side of a dumpster. He had been sent to steal some low-level mob member's wallet and the ID card needed for his employers to get into some place for a major heist, however.... Apparently he hadn't been smooth enough. And worse, he was outnumbered sooner than he'd been warned he'd be-- maybe only two people, but there were six plus the target. So, it was no surprise how Rody was battered and bruised, and struggling to breathe without a sharp pain in his ribs. He surely had a shiner, and he was willing to bet a tooth had been knocked loose, if the stabbing pain in his gums were any indication.

He sure as shit couldn't go to a hospital-- they'd ask too many questions, and then there would be the bill after the fact. Also, there was the risk of them taking his siblings away, too, because he was being reckless. And so, with a pained grunt and wheezing whine, he hauled himself up as best he could out of the trash pile he'd been dumped into, and began the painful trek deeper into the alleyway, toward the back streets he could take to get to the back alley doc his employer had on hand. Here's hoping that he wouldn't be punished further or denied help.

Who'd really help this street rat, though?