LIAR. oh yeah, it’s that easy, isn’t it? one kind stranger and he’s out of this hell hole forever, is that it? does he think he’s the first stranger to roll around with false promises such as these? the viciousness that douses finnick’s expression is born of both the festering hatred that gnaws like a plague in the pit of his stomach, and the fear that rots along with it. he’s an animal backed into a corner, threatened with open hands that he knows are going to ball into fists and grab him, hit him, force him where they desire, or lead him somewhere even worse.
even if this stranger means every drop of earnestness in the words he speaks ( HE DOESN’T ) then he is a hopeless fool that will get finnick or someone like him killed with his intentions. besides, if the moment ever came where this man had to choose between his own safety and finnick’s, he will choose his own and throw finnick to dogs now starved of their food. no, finnick has watched what happened to the poor things that try to escape through methods far more elaborate than this one, and he knows it better to remain sitting obediently in the jaws of the beast than chased down and ripped apart when it catches him. it’s easier and far less painful this way. he learned quickly when to GIVE UP and that alone is why he’s still alive, and this right here is a situation in which the this stranger should GIVE UP.
“ you don’t know what you’re talking about. that’s not gonna happen, and if you care about any of the fellow merchandise, you’d be careful not to say shit like that. what if THEY heard, huh? ” he flicks an exasperated hand out to the door beside him. the people who run this place, this whole system of sale, are not merciful, and they’re not stupid. “ I pay for that, not you, not anyone else. they beat my ass, not yours. you’re gonna get somebody killed. ”
STUBBORN THOUGH HE MAY HAVE BEEN, Matt knew when to admit defeat. There was no helping this kid-- not tonight, at least, and not as the masked devil. A softer approach was definitely needed here.
He didn’t like how the kid referred to himself and the others like him as merchandise. What sort of a life had he lived, to think of himself that way?
“... fine. I’ll leave you be. When do you
work next?”
Coming back just as Matt was his best bet, he figured. Not that he wanted Matt Murdock to be seen going to a place like this but... he’d taken greater risks before. Maybe... maybe if he could get one kid out, he could expose the whole operation. Another risk, but one worth taking.
