4 Bubble Gum

"Where the fuck did you go Jian…" Yuelong murmured under his breath after his call went directly to voicemail for the 15th time. Jian was supposed to call hours ago to be picked up from the business deal, but not a peep was heard. Yuelong started to chew at the tip of his thumb, a nervous tick of his. He had already sent men, scattered throughout town, to find out where the hell Jian went. When he had joked with the other about getting offed by lung cancer or bullets, he hadn't meant it literally.

"I tried tracing his phone several times. The signal stops at the Red Lantern Cavern." One of Ouroboros' computer techs shouted out from his base set up in the open dining space.

"Great." Yuelong rolled his eyes. The right-hand man literally had what one would call a shit on a shit cracker type of day. From not only having to deal with two of his girlfriends coincidently bumping into each other then trying to maim each other but also getting word from one of the boys that the Yamadachi shipment was a bust. The only decent piece of information he received from that waste of time was that the Yamadachi's were using Acker's Baby Formula's shipping as a ruse to bring the drugs in. He could backtrace it from there and figure out exactly which port it left from and who ordered the shipment. All that information would be for naught, however, if Jian was dead somewhere in a ditch. A part of him felt like they were back in their teenage years and he was 'babysitting' the other once more. Not that he was very good 'babysitter' back then either.

"Zhao," Yuelong called into one of the men scattered throughout the city. "Go back to the club and see if there are any rats left behind. If there are, give them a nice...talking to. Find out anything you can. Young master's phone signal ends there," Yuelong ordered, squeezing his eyes shut and massaging the bridge between his nose. The signal ending at the Red Light Cavern meant that something happened to Jian's phone there. Either the young master left it behind or it was broken, both of which indicate that the Yamadachi group had kidnapped him for some reason. "Yah, Meng, you can hack into the Red Lantern CCTV's right? Rewind it and figure out what the hell happened?"

"I mean I could," The tech sputtered, not usually embedded into these types of situations. Yes, he worked for the mob, but that didn't mean he was used to being in the so-called 'action.' "It would take me some time though and I would need access to their computer so I can get the feed and-"

"Less talky, more doey," Yuelong let out an exasperated sigh. "I'll get you what you need, just start doing your tech wizardry and-"

"Heeellloooo! Will someone open this damn gate!?" Yuelong instinctively flinched at the sight of bright pastel pink hair on the tech's computer screen. The feed coming from one of their CCTV's at the front.

"Who's he?" Yuelong felt like he was staring at a walking piece of cotton candy.

"That's privileged information for me, myself and I." The gumball on the screen merely grinned.

Yuelong scoffed. He literally had no time to play the guess who's who game. He turned his attention back to Meng, focusing on the more important task at hand. "Get out of this program and go back to-"

"Yeah, that's not gonna happen," The bubble gum on the other line, made a pop sound with the orange lollipop in his mouth. "I've hacked your computer so I have full reign. See?" The cotton candy smiled innocently before having the pop tart cat gif farting rainbows appear on the screen.

"Look, Bubble gum," Yuelong couldn't think of anything to call the other. "I have no time to talk to a walking piece of candy like you. What exactly do you want?" Yuelong was starting to become frustrated at the stranger. One second dealing with him was one second they were wasting not locating Jian.

The bubble gum scoffed in mock offense. "Well I don't have time wasting my breath on 'mister runner up.' I need to speak to your boss. Knowing my dumbass of a colleague, he probably either broke into the estate, threatened to break into the estate, or somehow annoyed the fuck out of Jian to let him in." The bubble gum boy shrugged, knowing that one of the three answers he mentioned was true.

"Are you talking about Detective Le?" The walking gumball knew the pupper? Yuelong wasn't too shocked by that, honestly. With how Westly was, his friends would have to be equally as eccentric to keep up with him or at least tolerate him.

"No, I'm talking about the Queen of England," The cotton candy rolled his eyes. Yuelong scoffed at the cotton candy's sass. Dear Lord, and Yuelong thought dealing with Jian's dry sarcasm was a pain. "So are you gonna let me in, or am I gonna have to reveal all the little secret files Ouroboros likes to hide from the public eye, hm?" The walking candy grinned, waving his phone to the camera.

Yuelong raised a brow, knowing that any 'secret' information Ouroboros had would be in hard copy form since they didn't want to risk getting hacked. Yuelong let out a scoff at the bubble gum's brazen attempt to threaten the mob of all people and conceded, signalling to one of the men to open the gate. Both Westly and Jian were missing. That couldn't be a good sign. Separately, the two could handle their own and survive, but together, they seemed to be a magnet for trouble. Meaning, that he had more work to do. Damn, what a drag. The only solace Yuelong took was that if Westly was with Jian, then perhaps bubblegum boy could find out where Westly was thus finding Jian. Another pain in his arse, but he wouldn't deny that compared to mob work and dealing with his multiple girlfriends, talking with the walking fluff of sass was at least entertaining. It was if Ouroboros had become a shelter for wild and unruly pups.

----

Jian spat a bit of blood that trailed from his lips. The henchman shaking his wrist to compensate for the impact of his punch to Jian's face. While Westly stayed mostly unharmed, besides some bruises he received for his incessant shouting, Jian had already received several punches to the face and abdomen, unable to defend himself since he was strapped to a chair. Despite the beating, Jian didn't utter a sound or word. Westly, on the other hand, wiggled, shouted, and shouted curses. Those shouts fell on deaf ears since the two were stowed away in an abandoned factory in the middle of butt-fuck nowhere.

"If you just tell me where my drugs are, officer, then this will be all over," Ginzo let out a puff of nicotine, sauntering over to Jian and grabbing the young boss's chin in his grimy hands. "It is such a shame to damage such a good-looking face." Jian growled, spitting his blood at Ginzo's face. The mob boss roughly throwing Jian's face aside, wiping the blood with a handkerchief.

"I don't have a clue where your drugs are? But while we're on the topic, you can tell me where you're getting them from." Westly scoffed.

"So you're just telling me it's a coincidence that my drugs suddenly disappear from the docks and Boss Wang here happens to run into a cop?" Ginzo snarled.

"Don't use us as an excuse for your business incompetence." Jian scoffed, rolling his eyes.

"Shut the fuck up!" Ginzo roared, throwing a punch at Jian. His chest heaving from the anger and frustration he was feeling. He gripped Jian's hair, tugging it so that the other would be forced to look into his eyes. "I know your men have been snooping around my territory. I've been in this business longer than you or your brother have been alive," Ginzo's grip on Jian tightened, pulling out a knife and pressing it against Jian's neck. A faint red line appearing where the blade met flesh. "So I'm going to ask you one more time. Where the hell are my drugs?"

"Boss!" One of the Yamadachi henchmen entered the dank interrogation room, phone in his hand.

"What is it!?" Ginzo barked.

"It's him." Jian and Westly noted how pale the henchman's face was. His demeanor that of a frightened kitten. Ginzo's eyes widened, immediately dropping the knife and snatched the phone from his henchman. Beads of sweat seemed to form as Ginzo hesitantly brought the phone to his ear.

"I've got it under control…" Ginzo's previously intimidating voice now submissive and docile. "No, no it's not what you think!" The pitch of Ginzo's voice jumping several octaves. "How did he find out…" Ginzo mumbled to himself, confused and frightened of the predicament he was in. He quickly glanced back at Jian and Westly, covering the speaker portion of the phone. "You both have a few hours to decide whether you'll tell me where my drugs are or I'll sell you both to the highest bidder," Ginzo then turned his attention to his henchmen. "In a few hours, if they decide to remain fools, you know what to do. With Jian's pretty face, it would be easy to find a buyer. As for the cop, we can use him to negotiate with the police for my drugs. If not, we'll kill him." Ginzo ordered before returning to his phone and frantically leaving the 4 concrete-walled box.

"You heard the Boss," One of the henchmen spoke up. "You guys have a few hours. Choose wisely." The henchman snorted, directing the others to follow him in leaving the room. Now it was just Jian and Westly, both strapped to chairs with zip ties with their backs facing each other.

----

If Westly was a Shiba, then his cotton candy friend was a chihuahua. The moment the neon traffic cone entered the room, all eyes were on him. From his bright pastel pink hair, purple contacts, to his oversized Ice cream sundae sweater, paired with a pair of black ripped jeans. The cotton candy paid no mind and marched into the dining room as if he owned the place, and for a moment Yuelong forgot that the cotton candy didn't.

"Where's Jian?" The cotton immediately demanded, not even caring that he was surrounded by a group of people that could easily snap him like a twig.

"That's what I'd like to know," Yuelong leaned against the glass dining table, arms crossed. "Seems like I'm missing a cat and you're missing a dog."

"He promised he wouldn't do anything stupid," The cotton candy let out an exasperated sigh. If Jian is missing then Westly was missing. "Do have any idea where Jian went cause if not, you're a horrible mob henchman, lackey, whatever."

"First off, Bubble Gum, I'm the best," Yuelong flashed a cocky smirk. "Second, why should I tell you, probably a cop, anything?" He raised a brow.

"Yuelong Bian. Born: July 7, 1991. Right-hand man to current Ouroborus leader Jian Wang. Father was Guo Bian, a low ranking subordinate to former Ouroboros leader Guanting Wang. Mother was Suzy Mao a-" The bubble gum sentence was immediately cut off, by Yuelong's hand placed over his lips. The right-hand's man stared down at the other, his former cocky demeanor more rigid and serious. The bubble gum, unfaltered, swiped the other's hand away.

"Look, Muscles, my point is, if I wanted information, I can get it. I just wanted to save some time since, I don't know, your boss and my friend have gone MIA, and we both know you don't know where they could be or else your men wouldn't be running around like chickens without a head," The cotton candy flashed an arrogant smirk back, stepping closer until their chests were pressed up against each other. The bubble gum staring up at Yuelong, a self-assured smile on his face. Yuelong couldn't help but let out a scoff. The top of bubble gum's head only reached up to his chin, but his confidence reached above Yuelong's height and probably even more. "I can literally give two shits about Jian, but knowing Westly, wherever Jian goes he is not that far behind so let me help you so that I can help myself, get it?"

"Well then, Bubble Gum," Yuelong stepped aside, sticking his hands towards the computer set up they had. "Have at it. Let's see if you're all talk or not."

The bubble gum huffed, rolling his eyes before approaching the computer and the Ouroborus tech. He shooed the other out of the seat, taking it for himself and began typing away. "What have you got so far?"

"Well, the last signal we got from Boss Wang's phone was from the Red Lantern Cavern," The tech squeaked. The Red Lantern Cavern. The bubble gum paused his typing for a moment. That was where Westly was doing his undercover work. The sound of fingertips against keys echoed throughout the room as the bubble gum typed away like a mad man. Yuelong couldn't help but take a peek, a bit fascinated by the entire process. "We were trying to get access to their CCTV's but it was gonna take some-"

"Done," The bubble gum leaned back in his chair as his line of code eventually led to another window opening up. Four smaller screens filled the window, at first a bit blurry but eventually clearing up to show four views of the Red Light Cavern. "Child's play." The bubble gum blew the pink bangs that rested on his forehead.

"Looks like you're not all talk," Yuelong snorted, leaning down closer to get a better view, not noticing that his face was right next to that of the bubble gum. "Nice work, Bubble gum."

"Please, I could do this in my sl-" The two turning to face each other, not knowing how close they were actually are. If they puckered their lips even a little, they would have touched. Both men were stunned from the proximity of their faces to each other, both their eyes going wide.

The bubble gum couldn't help but take in the right-hand man's features since they were smack dab shoved in his face. The other's hair dark navy locks that were messy and tousled yet still looked neat in some weird black magic sort of way. His impish caramel brown eyes staring into his purple contact ones. The taunt 'Muscles' suit him well, since the man was basically a walking protein bar, highlighted by his fitted black v-neck shirt and simple dark blue jeans. Was that a tattoo that he spied on the other's left deltoid? The bubble gum couldn't help but internally curse at how good-looking the other was. What the hell was Ouroboros feeding these people that they produced Jian and Yuelong? Cause the other henchmen, the bubble gum took a quick glance at the other henchmen that were still about, yeah, they weren't eating the same stuff.

"If you keep staring, you're gonna burn a hole through my face." A Cheshire grin spread across Yuelong's face, highly amused that the other was practically checking him out. An obvious disapproving pout formed on the bubble gum's face.

"I was just waiting for you to move your ugly mug away from me," The bubble gum huffed, shoving Yuelong's face away. "Anyways." The bubble gum typed a few more things into the computer. The 4 screens rapidly rewinding, both Yuelong and the bubble gum scanning the screen for anything unusual.

"There!" Yuelong pointed at the bottom left. The bubble gum tsked and swatted his hand out of the way as he paused the footage. The footage was rewound and played on normal speed, revealing a flailing Westly and ever so calm Jian being shoved in the back of a black SUV. Yuelong glared at the screen recognizing the head of the Yamadachi group. The SUV backed up, tapped a nearby trash can before driving off in the south direction. Yuelong called in the men, telling them to focus on the south end of the city.

"Yuelong," The crackly voice of one of his men chimed in. "We managed to get some information from one of the rats we found. Boss was taken to some abandoned factory, the punk doesn't know which one."

"Are you sure?"

"He said the same thing after the 3rd finger."

Yuelong nodded, satisfied with the news. The bubble gum looked up at him in disgust. "What?"

"Uncivilized ruffians." The bubble gum huffed, going back to the computer. Yuelong rolled his eyes, scoffing in disbelief. He was part of the mob, not some boy scouts. What did the bubble gum expect? Or was the other just saying that to specifically piss him off?

"Okay, Mr.Civilized, what did you expect me to do? Go to the police?" Yuelong countered, crossing his arms across his chest.

"Breaking limbs, such a waste of time," The bubble gum rolled his eyes. "We have technology for a reason, duh?"

"And how are you going to find them, hm? Their phones are obviously not on them." Yuelong raised a brow.

"I may or may not have put a tracker on Westly." The bubble gum shrugged as if it was nothing.

"And you didn't check that first because?" Yuelong looked at the other in disbelief.

"It's not exactly legal to put a tracker on people without their knowledge so I couldn't use my own computer," The bubble gum rolled his eyes as if it was the most obvious answer in the world and that Yuelong was basically an idiot. "But I can definitely used yours, Muscles." The bubble gum had a shit-eating grin on his face. Yuelong couldn't help but let out a snort of disbelief as he ran his fingers through his hair.

In his years of working in the mob he had never met a character like the wad of bubble gum. Sure, he had met his fair share of weirdos, boys and girls. Those who fetishized the mob life, those who immediately shook in fear at the thought. The bubble gum? He was an entire character on his own. He was either fearless or incredibly stupid, sassing and criticizing the right-hand man of Ouroboros. People usually ended up in the hospital after such attempts. Not only that, the bubble gum seemed to well-skilled and versed in illegal activity. The way the bubble gum carried himself was different than other cops he had met. He wasn't necessarily the gung-ho hero of justice like Westly, but he also wasn't indifferent and uncaring. The bubble gum cared in his own way, be it legal or illegal ways, Yuelong supposed.

"Damn it," The bubble gum grumbled, pressing down on one of the keys rather vigorously. He immediately regretted his action, soothing pet the computer and apologizing. "I'm not getting a signal. Where the hell ever warehouse they are, they are either too deep underground or surrounded by cement for me to get a ping." The bubble gum frowned.

"I can't have my men raiding every warehouse in the south district, Jian would be dead by then." Yuelong massaged his forehead, thinking of a possible alternative.

"I'm working on it," The bubble gum began chewing his lower lip. "If you could get me a cherry soda then this process can go a lot faster." The bubble gum looked up from his chair and flashed a cheeky grin.

"You're ridiculous." Yuelong rolled his eyes, but still headed towards the kitchen. The Ouroboros tech who witnessed the whole scene, staring in awe and confusion. Did a mobster really just listen to a cop's request?

--------

-Present-

"If I could just-" Westly groaned, wiggling his wrist to no avail. Zip Ties. Westly remembered how he despised them when they had to learn how to get out of them at the police academy. Scotty had a hoot of a time, watching him waddle around like a mad duck trying to get out of them when he practiced at home. Now that he was tied to a chair, it made the task even more difficult. "Any idea on how to get us out of here?"

Jian rolled his eyes, ignoring the others question, focusing his efforts in leaning his body forward to get some sort of footing. Westly looked at the mob boss in confusion as Jian lunged himself forward so that he was now on his two feet. The chair still strapped to his back. What was the other planning to do? Run around with that? Jian squatted up and down for a bit, getting a rough idea on the material and the durability of the chair. The chair was rather light and judging from the condition of it, pretty flimsy. Westly continued to train his eyes on Jian in both awe and confusion. The two were supposed to figure out how to get out here, not start morning exercises.

"Yah, what are you doing?" Again, Jian seemed to have tuned out the other's voice as he continued on doing whatever the heck he was doing.

He turned his back to the wall, bending over slightly. Jian tightened his muscles, bracing for impact as he slammed the chair against the wall. The sound of wood breaking echoed through the hollow concrete box and a small slew of curses could be heard leaving the mob boss's lips as he slumped down from the collision. Though not completely broke, it was enough for Jian to shimmy his way out of the chair leaving him to deal with the zip ties around his wrist.

"Are you crazy!?" Westly was baffled by the mob boss's recklessness. First, ouch. That had to hurt like a bitch, and Jian was already injured from the beating he had taken. Second, there was no way that the henchmen outside did not hear the chair breaking against the wall.

"Has anyone told you," Jian grunted as he picked himself from the floor. "That you bark too much?" Jian lifted his arms behind his back and bent forward slightly, quickly bringing down his bound wrists towards his bum while pushing outwards against the zip ties.

Like magic the zip ties snapped off, leaving Jian free as a bird. The mob boss gently rubbed his wrists that were already inflamed red before checking his gold Rolex on his wrist for any damage. Weslty's mouth was simply agape at how easily the mob boss broke himself free and how apathetic he was about it. It wasn't like the mob boss had just basically gone 007 on him. Westly would bite off his own tongue first before publicly admitting how cool Jian looked like at that moment. Beaten and slightly bloody, yet still so composed and sophisticated like he had the whole situation under his control. It was as if he was ripped out a K-drama.

The sound of footsteps rapidly going down a flight of stairs pulled Westly out of his gawking. Both his and Jian's attention turning towards the one door leading to their exit. Jian swiftly went behind the door, a piece of the chair's leg in hand, and waited for the approaching henchmen to open the door. Westly was about to open his mouth to say something when Jian shot him glare telling him to keep his mouth shut. Westly mummed his lips. When the footsteps stopped, Jian gingerly placed his hand on the door handle. The door was shoved open, revealing only one henchman had come to check out the noise.

"What the fuc-" Jian forcefully slammed the door against the man's face, the henchman teetering back, disoriented by the sudden impact.

Jian took the opportunity to swing the chair leg at the henchman to knock him out, but even in the lackey's disoriented stated he managed to block Jian's attack. Before the henchman could counter, the young mob boss quickly released his weapon, grabbed the henchman by the side of the face, and slammed the lackey's head against his knee. The henchman, bloody from the broken nose he received fell forward in a thump. Jian, wiping any dirt or debris on his knee, took the henchman's gun for his own use. The young mob boss took a quick look up the small flight of stairs the henchman had descended from, waiting to see if any others would join. After a few moments of silence, Jian deemed that he was in the clear to go.

"H-hey Where are you going!?" Westly hollered when he saw that Jian was beginning to exit the concrete prison. "You're not just gonna leave me like this are you!?" Westly eyes grew wide as Jian merely smirked at the officer. The pupper began to fume. "Yah!" Westly tried the same trick Jian used, building momentum to push himself on his own two feet. Unfortunately, the officer put too much force. "W-wah!" Westly face became best friends with the dusty floor, earning him a choke of laughter from Jian, who hid the slight smile behind his hand. If Westly wasn't eating dirt at the moment, he would have teased the other about it.

"Bye, Officer Le." Jian flashed a cocky grin as he left the room.

"Wang JIAN!" Westly shrieked as he wiggled around on the floor like a caterpillar, only leading to more dust clouds to poof into the air.