Killer Croc took William's right arm, making sure to be as gentle as possible.

"This where they shot you?" Croc asked.

William nodded. "How does it feel?"

"It... it kinda aches." He winced as Croc examined the hole in William's arm. It was still leaking blood. It was nothing to worry about, as Aiden can heal fast, but it didn't change the fact that the bullet could still be in there.

"I know that the next part is going to sting a lot, but I'm going to need you to sit still. I need to check your injury," said Croc.

"You promise to be quick?" William looked up pleadingly. He smiled softly at him.

"I promise," said Croc.

He placed his hand near the wound, preparing to open it up a little.Here goes. He pried open the hole. William gritted his teeth, his face scrunched so as not to show pain. Croc looked into the hole, eventually spotting a dull glint.

"Found it. Gonna need to pull it out. Sit tight." Croc said. Using his claws, he clasped the bullet, extracting it safely out of Will. He looked at it
disdainfully before tossing it to the ground.

"Is that it?" said William.

"For now. You're going to rest til you get better." He helped William up to his feet.

"C'mon, you're going to bed." Croc said.

"Right now?" William pouted. "But isn't it too early? Can't I stay up a little-"

"Now, boy," Croc said harshly.

William sighed at that. "Ok, Dad." He took Croc's hand into his. Normally, he would have scolded William for acting too affectionate like this, but considering what happened today, he would allow it just once. He walked William back to his room.

"What happened here? Did you do anything?" asked Croc.

Will shook his head. "I didn't do anything. I heard them walking outside and thought it was you. I ran away and I, erm," William suddenly looked sheepish.

"I bit one of their fingers off." He said.

Killer Croc couldn't help but feel a surge of pride at that; it seemed that the kid was starting to learn well from him. He patted William on the head.

"Attaboy. You did exactly what I told you to do." Croc said proudly.

"But it was gross!" Will looked horrified. "And I really hurt that man! I thought he was going to die!" Will said.

"And he wasn't going to do the same to you? You did the right thing here. If you didn't fight back against them like how I showed you, they could have killed you, or worse." Croc said.

Croc growled at that, already thinking about whatever sick plans they could have had for William. Turn him into a slave, or worse, a freak show for their amusement.

"So it's ok to do bad things to them if they did bad things to me? Doesn't that make the bad things.... not so bad?"

Croc ran a webbed hand through his face. "We're not going to get into this today. The right thing was fighting back, that's it."

"But-"

"That's all!" Croc snapped at William. He sulked, looking frustrated with Croc's stubbornness until they arrived at William's room.

"Get to bed." Croc withdrew his hand from William's.

"And don't come out of there till I get you. I'm going to have a little talk with our friend," he said, sounding a little delighted at that idea.

"What are you going to do with him?" Will ask nervously.

"I'm just going to find out what he knows, that's all." Croc said quickly.

"You're going to kill him, are you?" William accused.

"Bed, William." Will looked livid at that. He stomped away from Croc, throwing himself on the mattress. It never failed to irritate Croc just how naive his son acted everytime. How is it that the kid turned out to be so annoyingly self- righteous in the first place, anyway? Ever since William was first dropped off at his feet, he made sure to teach him to not give a damn about anyone else and to look out only for himself. The world was full of people looking only to take advantage of him, so he must be more ruthless than them. So why was the brat acting so mad about Croc taking revenge on the men who hurt him? This was the right thing to do! Croc guessed he got that compassionate heart from his mother. Didn't matter what William felt now. He would come to see his way soon.

With the pipe detached from the sewage system, he wrapped it around the thug tightly, making sure that he wouldn't be able to escape once he woke up. He told William that he was going to interrogate the man and figure out how they found out about him in the first place, but that was only a half-truth. Croc still felt a simmer of fury in his chest over how they harmed William. If they attacked just Croc, it would have been nothing personal for him, but hurting a defenseless child? It was taking all of his will to not just gut his captive on the spot. It would be far more satistying to take his time with him. His thoughts were interrupted by the captive's groaning. He walked behind him, as if it would no fun to spoil the surprise immediately. Best to leave him in suspense. The captive groggily looked around, failing to notice Killer Croc standing behind him. However, he wasn't able to move, as he was wrapped tightly by a pipe.

"Wha.?" he dazedly said. He strained against the pipe, but it resisted his efforts.

"How did-" His voice quickly died as Croc began
dragging his claws against the wall, producing a horrible scraping. From what little he could see of his face, the man was sweating by the bucketload. Croc couldn't fight the smirk that was beginning to spread on his face.

"Look, c'mon, just let me go, man."

"I'm sure that little kid you shot earlier said the same thing. But you didn't listen, did you?" Croc growled.

"Wh-what are going to do me?" said the man, his voice betraying how terrified he was.

"Guess."

The man began thrashing against the pipe, hoping to somehow break through it, but to no avail.

"You're going to eat me, right.?" He guessed.

"Close, but no." Croc answered.

"Then what!? If you're going to kill me, do it right now!" The man yelled.

Croc grasped the man's face, sharply turning it so that the two were face-to-face.

"Boy, you're not in a good spot to be ordering me around. You see, I like to keep my meal alive. You wanna know why?" Croc asked.

The man's eyes widened at that, looking as though he rather not hear.

"Funny thing about people," he chuckled, "When they die, their bodies start fouling up right away. 'Less I eat them while they're fresh, they taste real bad, and I throw them up right away."

The man looked repulsed at that, but Croc continued on.

"But I found a perfect solution to that. I don't have to kill them now. Just keep them alive and put them away so I can have them as snacks later. And when stomach's running low, I just bite their arms or legs off. Depends on what I feel like having.

"Wait, you mean you're going to keep like I'm some sort of animal!?" He said.

"Why not? It ain't so bad. Gives you a lot of time to think about what you did." Croc looked over the man.

"And with how much meat you got on you," Croc began salivating, "you're going to last me a long time."

The man began to shout, but Croc masked his face.

"Shh, I know. Hard at first," he said in mock sympathy.

"The life of an animal is real tough. But I'm willing to give you an out." Croc said.

The thug looked up. He was in disbelief at what Croc said. Was he trying to say that he was willing to let him go?

"Tell me how you found out about the kid, and I'll give you what you want. Lie, and you can look forward to being dessert for the next week." Croc said.

"You swear?"

Croc shrugged his shoulders. "What other choice you have?" He released the thug. "Now start talking."

He fervently nodded his head and started to think about where to begin. "Well, we found out about that thing-"

Croc punched him across the face hard enough to draw new blood.

"He is not a 'thing.' Call him names again, and I'm breaking off our deal. Got that?" he snarled.

"G-got it." Croc may have swung a bit harder than he would have liked.

Giving the guy another concession means that he won't be able to find out about what he knows, but hearing that guy degrade William like that set him off. He may have looked like an animal, but he did not deserve to be treated as one. He shouldn't have to be forced to live in a sewer, to hide away from people, to get shot at because of how he looked. No differently than how Croc shouldn't have to be beaten by others, to be laughed at by all the kids, to be made into a freak show for others to gawk at

"O-ok. So we found out about the kid a week ago. One of our own was making his rounds when he saw the kid crawling out of the sewers. He was only around for a bit before he went back."

Croc raised an eyebrow ridge at that. "Are you lying to me, boy?"

"What?" The man looked up in alarm. "No, I'm not! I-"

"I think you are." He glowered at him. "And you know what? I hate liars."

"But I'm not lying! It's the truth!" he bleated.

"You're lying!" he roared at him. "I told him not to! I told him he's not allowed to go outside! I told him to stay here where it's safe! Bad enough you hurt my kid. But to put the blame on him?" His voice went deathly quiet. "This is beyond the pale."

Before the man could say anything, Croc
drew his claws back and slashed across his face. Not enough to kill him, but enough to scare the man shitless for dragging William down to his level. He screamed, his face now disfigured. There was gouges left on his face.

"I swear to god! I'm not lying! Why would I lie!?" He cried.

"You tell me. Which one you think I would believe more, my son, or you? You trying to say bad things about William, and I'm not happy about that.

"But he did! Ask him yourself! How else could we find out about him!?"

Croc turned away in thought. He's got a point there. Wait, no, he doesn't! William would never disobey him like that. From the day he bought him up, Aiden followed his every rule and never acted against him. Why start now? But how else could they have known? Thought Croc. He was going to have to confirm it with William.

"Fine. Say I believe you. Why go after him?" asked Croc.

The man took a shuddering breath at that question, still recovering from the shock of his wounds.

"After we found out about the boy, we got to thinking. We were wondering why there's a kid that looked like you, and we figured it's cause it's yours. Why else does he have your mug? And the boss thought that if we get the kid, hold him hostage, We could get you to work for us." He explained.

"You were looking for a mule, that it? You put William  through hell just to get a shot at having me?" Croc said.

"Don't get you, really," the thug said in confusion.
"You had to known this was coming. You've been in this business long enough to know one big rule about it."

Croc gave a growl at that. "Don't talk down to me, boy."

"But you know. You can't mix your life with your personal business. Always blows up in your face." He said.

If it was up to Croc, he would never have a kid. Even without considering the fact that he could pass on his. condition to whatever child he spawned, there was the fact that it could end up compromising his criminal career. When his wife told him that she was pregnant, he knew the risks having a child. And if he did reproduce, he would have simply put them down as an act of mercy without her knowing. But the day William was delivered to him, he found he couldn't do it, especially after the promise he made to her. He was no fool; he knew the consequences of keeping him alive. Not just the fact that Croc wouldn't make it as a criminal, but the fact that, as his child, William's life would be a living hell, full of torment. Still, it felt wrong to rob his own flesh and blood of his life, let alone discard him to a world that would eat him alive. So he kept him, damning the consequences. And he was never going to take it back.

"Does anyone other than your group know about him?" Croc asked.

He shook his head. "Figure that we keep that info to ourselves. The moment the others find out, they going to want to get their hands on him." The thug said.

"I heard enough." Croc walked up to him. "And I decided I'm going to keep my word.

"Are you going to let me go?" asked the thug hopefully.

"Strange. Didn't you ask me earlier to kill you?" Croc's eyes glinted maliciously at that. "Ah, well. No scales off my back."

The thug began to protest, but Croc didn't hear
him. He took his head into his hand, and with a sharp turn and a sickening snap, he was no more.

"Promise's a promise." Croc said in delight.

He walked away, leaving his corpse to rot, but not before he tore a piece of his shirt off. He was going to have to pay a visit to the rest of his friends, but not before he had a talk with William when the boy was suspected of breaking his rules.

"William, thought Killer Croc, you better be prepared to explain yourself."