"Hey you, blondie."

Felix raised his eyes to the tallest member of the group who was indeed talking to him. Because of his height, he probably felt he held more power than he actually did.

He walked confidently, like that of a man with high status, but the low-rank gun he held proved otherwise. He must have retrieved it from somewhere in the slums with the way rust painted every inch of the metal.

His blonde hair was faded gray due to the soot that covered it and his ash-stricken face led Felix to easily assume the man's occupation.

The Prince could also assume that the lowly group's fighting power only extended as well as their aim did.

This fact made him smile, just how perfect was their aim?

A hushed whimper from the kneeling crowd behind him reminded Felix not to get too bold. He couldn't risk someone getting hurt on his behalf.

"Good day, Sir, how can I help you?" He finally answered kindly.

To the tall man's left side was a shorter and pudgy man with brown hair. With soot covering his white skin as well, he laughed. "Good day, Sir." He mocked, attempting to pronounce an English accent.

"You're not from around here, are you?" The pudgy man then asked with curiously lowered brows.

Felix laughed lightly at the recognition, "Is it that obvious?"

The blonde-haired man then assumed authority over the room again, and as he carelessly waved his gun, he aroused more whimpers from the crowd.

Felix peeked to the side, his eyes widening at the sight of two little girls covering their ears in the corner. His heart was pained from seeing how the mother tried to shield them both with her frail body.

"Aye, Timmy. Take their phones off of them." The blonde ordered the thin man that was silent on his right.

Without hesitation, he moved forward to do as he was told.

"You." The blonde then pointed to the hefty man behind the first window, and he flinched from being identified.

"Empty the deposit boxes and fill this up. Don't make me wait."

With amused and piercing blue eyes, he looked at the crowd once again. "Everyone else, fill this bag with all of your valuables!"

The pudgy man took the initiative to move forward with both his gun and empty bag slung over his shoulder. Quiet whines and fearful grunts were heard as the people began to follow the given demand.

"And you, smart sir." He finally held Felix's gaze again. "I see you must be loose in the head."

Felix stood tall, not at all being intimidated by the dirty man. He figured he was probably a construction worker receiving minimum wage, which drove him to commit such a desperate act. So he couldn't blame him entirely for taking such means.

"Whatever do you mean?" Felix asked, seemingly being oblivious.

The man raised the lower half of his mask, revealing his beard-prickled chin as he spit his chewing tobacco to the side. "Take a look around you. Everyone else is on their knees while you're still standing. I wonder why that is."

Felix looked to the carpeted floor that had been dirtied from footsteps.

"I refuse." He said simply

The man's brows raised as if to question Felix's defiance.

"You…what?"

Felix smiled kindly but his patronizing words contradicted the expression, "If you're hard of hearing, I'll repeat it for you."

"I said, I refuse. The floor is much too dirty to kneel, let alone put my face against."

The man laughed loudly and saliva dripped from his exposed chin in a disgusting manner. Felix cringed at the unwelcoming sight.

"What a funny man! He says his face is too pretty to put on the dirty ground!"

The man walked forward until their bodies were so close, they were practically breathing the same air. Felix did his best to keep a straight expression, even while suffering from the musty stench coming from the man.

"Since you wanna be a smart guy, tell me, is this so-called beauty worth more than your legs?"

Was he planning on breaking them? That would indeed be a problem, Felix thought.

"Don't be stupid boy, listen to the man and get on the ground!" Said an older man's voice from the back and the blonde man chuckled his agreement.

"You heard the wise man. On your knees, boy."

Instead of obeying fearfully, Felix took an even bolder action and stepped even closer to the man. He leaned his head forward and darkly challenged him.

"Tell me, is the money in that bag worth more than your life?"

The man immediately pulled back with dumbfounded eyes that soon restored to anger. Felix could predict what would happen next, and so he tightened the ribbon in his hair and removed the white baseball cap.

Just seconds later, the blonde-haired man swung the blunt end of his gun in Felix's direction, and he was filled with obvious anger when Felix swiftly dodged the attack.

On his path of movement, Felix lowered his torso and lifted his foot high in the air, resulting in the bloodied jaw of the man in front of him. His heavy body fell hard against the floor with an audible thud.

Felix rotated his neck comfortably. He may have taken a ballet class…or eight years of them if he wasn't being modest. The dancing art only aided the combat skills he had learned from his beloved butler Baldwin.

Felix turned to face the crowd and the armed men cowardly raised their guns, evidently only intending to scare rather than actually shoot.

"I assume you two hold more sense than your leader did, yes?" He inquired.

They looked at each other in dismay and they seemed unknowing of how to act now that their head man was out cold on the ground.

Felix still prompted them anyway, "Well then, if you're so keen on ending up the same way he did-" He began to roll up the black sleeves of the fleece windbreaker he wore.

"W-wait!" Objected the thin man, and as Felix predicted, on their knees they went.

"Please, spare us! We didn't want to do it. Our families, they're…they're starving. This was the only way!"

The Prince's heart pained him from hearing the truth. But even if that was the reason behind their actions, that didn't make them acceptable. In times like these and in areas such as this one, everyone was suffering. What deemed their families more important than the others?

"Their devices, return them. Give back their valuables as well." He commanded firmly with no room for discussion and the men didn't hesitate to return what was stolen.

He smiled at their cooperation, and it seemed that the crowd was only in shock at their exchange. Felix casually placed the hat back on his head and returned to the window where he started.

"If you don't mind, I would like to resume our transaction." He said to the visibly startled man.

From the bag he had filled with crisp bills, he informally took out wads of cash and extended them forward. Felix frowned his displeasure. The amount was much more than what he had asked for.

"Excuse me, but I couldn't possibly-"

"Please." He urged.

"Just take it."

Felix felt a gentle tug on his jacket, and when he turned around, he saw that the little girls, along with their mother, had approached him.

"Oh?"

The woman lowered her head politely and urged her daughters to do the same. "Thank you, young man."

Felix blushed and waved his hands to refuse the gesture of gratitude. "Please, this much really isn't necessary. Raise your heads."

A woman flung to her feet, "Yes sir, thank you!" She said with a hand clutching the blue fabric over her heart.

"Thank you. Who knows how this would've ended if you hadn't been here." Said a man that was also on his feet.

Murmurs and kind words of gratitude were received from everyone, and Felix gave a courteous bow to those that displayed it.

This warm feeling that resonated in his chest…he wondered if this was how all heroes felt.

But before he could enjoy the sensation for long, his shoulders tensed upon hearing multiple sirens in the distance. He snapped his head to the crowd; someone had already called the police?!

This wasn't good. Without uttering a word more, Felix stacked the piles of money into his cross-body bag and exited the bank. The last thing he needed was an encounter with the law.

—

"You did what?!" Finnely exclaimed with brows raised in surprise.

Felix cowered slightly, and though he expected this reaction from his brother, he didn't welcome it.

He tossed his cap onto the queen-sized bed and fell back on it. He focused his attention on the popcorn ceiling above.

"Would you have preferred I allow them to steal the money? They would've taken ours too."

His bother lifted his glasses in a disapproving manner, and he approached where Felix lied.

"I told you repeatedly to keep a low profile. What will you do if the media catches onto this incident?" When he extended his hand, Felix accepted it with a frown as he rose to his feet.

"You'll age quicker if you worry so much. If the media is informed, then we'll have to do something about it then. But I couldn't find it in myself to do nothing."

"Raise your shirt." His brother commanded, and Felix did just that, exposing the supple skin of his waist. His brother then pulled the tape measure around it.

"You mustn't forget, you're supposed to be dead. I've already erased your presence from England's County records, but it'll take time for me to access the databases here since they are foreign to me."

Finnely was nothing short of a technical genius. He was quite literally a prodigy in their family for his knowledge of intricate computer systems, complex coding, and more importantly…hacking.

Felix sighed at his brother's beginning lecture, "I'm aware of that much already. But really, I'm sure we'll be alrig-"

His breath hitched as the industrial measuring tape was pulled tightly around his abdomen.

"If you pull any tighter, I'll lose all the air in my lungs!" Felix protested, but Finnely only acted as he wanted and secured his waist tighter.

Maybe this was his punishment for getting involved today.

"Your waist is too small for a man, that's why you're going through this now."

Following the soft sigh he gave, Felix chuckled, "Well, I can't help it if it's like that."

Finnely removed the tape and checked the measurements, then writing them down on the notepad that was held between his legs.

"Tomorrow, I'll locate a dress shop that can cater to our bodies."

With the little money they had now, they could relocate from the city of New Jersey and find a temporary residence in Washington. And since purchasing invitations for the President's ball required giving identification- which Finnely hadn't created for them yet- they would need to find a way to sneak into the grand event.

They could worry about that later.

Though it was only the afternoon, Felix yawned. "I passed a few diners on my way to the bank. Should we visit one for dinner?"

Finnely rejected the idea quickly, "It's best we don't spend our money on unnecessary things. I brought enough food to last us a few days before we have to rely on our supply. As soon as I figure out how to bypass the security on the balance systems here, I can access my debit card for our spending."

Finnely walked away from his brother and to the seat near the air conditioner of the room. He went through the bag placed there and pulled out a box of biscuits and another one of tea.

"This is all I could manage." He stated.

Felix's laugh was child-like, "You call that a meal, brother? Tomorrow, I'll treat you to a much grander breakfast."

Finnely eyed the boxes in his hands with an amused smile and shortly after, his stomach complained loudly. The two brothers locked gazes and gentle laughter erupted between them.

Felix patted his eyes, "As long as we have each other, Finnely, there isn't any problem in the world we can't endure."