Neo didn't even feel the needle at first just a sharp pressure, a burn, then his whole body jerked like someone yanked his spine.
"NEO!!!"
Pia's scream cracked into pieces.
Lucas darted forward, catching Neo before he hit the floor, the gun clattering beside them. "Stay with me, neo. Hey....HEY!" His voice shook, rough with panic. Matteo and Elijah immediately closed ranks around them, guns raised, scanning the room for any movement.
Aiden stumbled back, his breath punching out of him. "What what did they inject him with?"
His voice broke. He sounded like he was begging the air for an answer.
Kellan was already kneeling beside Lucas, ripping off Neo's jacket, eyes darting. "There's no visible toxin. No color." His throat bobbed. "Lucas this wasn't random. They came for him."
Neo's eyes fluttered, pupils shrinking unnaturally fast. "D–don't… let me… fall asleep,i-i don't feel good" he gasped, gripping Lucas' shirt weakly. "Please…"
Lucas' face twitched with actual fear.
"Matteo! Elijah! Bag the syringe! Now!"
Elijah scooped up the needle with his gloved hands, slipping it into a sterile pouch. Matteo was already on the phone with someone fast, clipped Italian, like he was spitting bullets instead of words.
Pia sobbed, trying to hold Neo's hand, but he barely felt her. His skin was turning cold.....too cold.
"A-Aiden…" Neo whispered, barely conscious, "don't let them… take me…"
"NO ONE is taking you as long as am here!" Aiden barked, voice raw. He cupped Neo's face, trying to keep his eyes open. "Look at me! Neo look at me!"
Neo's head lolled.
"Lucas," Kellan said quietly. "His heartbeat is slowing."
Lucas clenched his jaw so hard a vein popped. "Not on my watch."
He lifted Neo into his arms in one smooth motion.
"Aiden, Pia...move. We're leaving. Now."
They turned toward the back exit
but the emergency doors SLAMMED shut on their own. The supermarket lights flickered again.
Once.Twice.
Then a sickening metallic whirrrrrrr echoed overhead.
Pia froze. "What… is that?" Aiden lifted his eyes, and so did everyone else.
Above them, nestled between the ceiling beams
a black spherical drone stared back at them.
Silent.Watching.A red dot glowing.
Lucas raised his gun at it ready to blow it up.
The drone said in a distorted, chilling voice:
"TARGET ACQUIRED..... NEO."
And then...BOOM, the drone exploded on its own, the entire aisle exploded into shards of fire and shrapnel.
Everyone dove
Neo's body slipped from Lucas' grip as the blast wave hit.
And the last thing Neo heard was Pia screaming his name like her soul was being ripped out.
Before everything went dark.
The explosion tore the world apart.
Shelves crashed down, alarms wailed, fire licked the ceiling in fractured orange streaks. The shockwave slammed through them like a giant hand, sending bodies flying in different directions.
Before Neo fully blacked out, before the darkness swallowed him whole
he felt Lucas' arms tighten around him.
And then, everything went silent.
When the ringing in Lucas' ears finally faded, he staggered to his feet, Neo limp in his arms. Smoke blurred everything. He couldn't see the others.
"Pia! Matteo! Aiden! Kellan... Elijah.....SOUND OFF!"
Lucas roared the command every trained member of the familia knew by heart. "Report your status! Talk to me! Where are you..... check in Now"
Nothing.
Just crackling fire and the distant shatter of glass.
A second explosion groaned somewhere deeper in the store.
Lucas cursed under his breath. "Damn it....stay with me, Neo."
Lucas sank to his knees beside Neo, one arm slipping under him, holding him like he was something fragile he'd die protecting.
"Hey… hey, look at me," his voice cracked, barely a whisper. "I'm right here, hey. I'm not letting anything take you from me, you hear me?"
Neo's breaths were sharp, uneven, panic clawing up his chest.
Lucas pressed his forehead to Neo's, eyes squeezed shut.
"Breathe with me… just breathe. You're safe. You're safe because I'm here."
His thumb brushed Neo's cheek, soft in a way Lucas never was with anyone else.
"You always scare the shit out of me, you know that?" he laughed weakly, voice trembling. "You walk into danger like you're immortal. But you're not. You're mine part of my familia. And I can't-" his voice broke. "your family can't lose you."
Neo tried to speak, but Lucas shushed him gently.
"No, don't talk. Just stay with me. Listen to me."
His lips ghosted Neo's temple, lingering.
"If you leave me, I won't survive it. So stay. Stay with me, Neo. Please. I've got you… I've always got you."
He held Neo tighter, like he was anchoring him to the world.
"You're not dying today. Not on my watch. Not ever, if I can help it. Just… stay. For me."
He ducked into the next aisle charred cereal boxes, twisted metal, sparks falling like dying fireworks. Neo twitched violently against him.
His skin was scorching hot.Too hot.
Lucas lowered him carefully.
"hey-hey...hey, open your eyes," he whispered.
Neo's eyelids fluttered.His chest heaved like he was breathing boiling air.
He began clawing weakly at his shirt, then suddenly ripped it open.
"Lucas…" His voice was raw, cracked. "It burns. It BURNS..get it OFF...GET IT OFF!"
Lucas grabbed his wrists. "Neo, stop....stop! You're overheating!"
Neo thrashed, pupils blown wide.
His whole body convulsed, muscles jumping under his skin like electrical wires sparking.
"Something's wrong," Lucas muttered. "This isn't a poison this is more like a trigger agent or am I mistaken."
Neo gasped, voice breaking
"Make it stop, please-please--I'm… I'm losing control-"
His nails dug into his own arms, dragging down hard enough to draw blood.
He shook violently, like he didn't even feel it.
Lucas pulled him into his chest, trying to anchor him. "I've got you. I've got you. Breathe, am here hey"
In another corner of the store,Pia stumbled through a collapsed aisle, coughing, Matteo dragging her by the wrist.
"Stay low!" Matteo barked. "They're still here!"
Pia's voice cracked: "Where's Neo?! WHERE IS HE?!"
Matteo didn't answer but trying to stay alert, head turning here and there trying to see through all the smoke covering everything and everyone.
Pia's breath hitched once… then twice… then it broke.
"I-I can't...where's Neo? Where's my brother? Matteo, please-" Her voice cracked like glass, and before he could blink she was trembling, eyes wide and wet.
Matteo froze.
This… was not his lane. He knew how to steady his brothers. He knew how to talk a man down from a gunfight. But a crying teenage girl clinging to him? Yeah, no one trained him for that.
"Hey," he said, palms lifting awkwardly. "Pia. Pia, look at me."
She didn't. She just shook harder.
He swallowed, mind scrambling, then he tried again softer.
"I know you're scared. I know you want Neo. We're gonna find him, okay? But you can't fall apart now. He'd hate that. Be strong for him. Just a little longer."
Her fingers fisted in his shirt and she burst fully into tears, burying her face in his chest.
Matteo's breath stopped. Completely.
Then almost shyly he wrapped his arms around her.
"Hey… it's okay," he whispered, a little steadier. "I've got you. I'm right here. Neo's alive. Lucas has him. We're gonna get him back." Pia nodded against him, clinging tighter.
And for the first time in his life, Matteo Luther realized he could actually… comfort someone who wasn't blood.
The other side was no difference at all..
Aiden and Kellan crashed into another aisle entirely, separated by falling metal.
Aiden's face was streaked with tears and soot.
"KELLAN...NEO'S GOING TO DIE..WE NEED TO GET TO HIM-"
Kellan grabbed his shoulders.
"Aiden, listen to me if that injection is what I think it is, Neo is about to become unstable. If he panics if he loses control he could hurt himself. Or us. We need to move smart."
Aiden shook his head violently.
"I don't care. He needs me. I'm going."
Aiden was pacing...no, spiraling-his breaths ragged and sharp.
"He needs me-Neo needs me-I have to go back, I have to, he's probably...he's probably dying or-or scared or...fuck, why did I leave him-why-"
"Aiden."
Kellan's voice cut through the panic like a blade. But Aiden didn't hear him.
"I should've protected him! I should've done more! I should've....if something happens to him it's my fault, Kellan, it's my fault-he was right beside me...I should've-"
"Aiden."
Still nothing.
Aiden's hands were shaking violently now, his chest rising too fast, his eyes wild.
"I'm going back don't stop me. Don't you dare stop me. Lucas is not enough....Neo needs me....he's always needed me and I-"
Kellan stepped directly in his path.
"Aiden. Listen to me." His tone had dropped-quiet, steady, but dangerously firm. "Lucas is with him. As long as Lucas is breathing, nothing will happen to Neo. Nothing. You hear me?"
Aiden shook his head, voice cracking.
"I can't-I can't just stand here. I can't breathe. I should've done....God, I should've-"
His voice broke entirely and he started crying through the panic, stumbling back, rambling nonsense, clutching his hair like he wanted to tear himself apart.
Kellan exhaled once.
Then his voice shifted low, sharp, possessive.
"Aiden."
Aiden froze.
"Either calm that attitude by yourself…" Kellan stepped closer, eyes locked on him. "…or I'll use my own method on you. And trust me-" his head tilted slightly, "you won't like it."
The threat landed clean. Aiden's breath stuttered. His mouth snapped shut.
Slowly hesitantly he stepped forward until he was right in front of Kellan.
And then he broke.
He grabbed Kellan's shirt in both fists, pulled himself in, and buried his face in Kellan's neck as the sobs tore out of him loud, shaking, raw.
Kellan's entire chest tightened.
He wrapped his arms around Aiden instantly, protectively, one hand cradling the back of his head, the other around his waist.
"Hey… hey. I've got you," he murmured, voice gentler now. "Let it out. It's okay. You're safe. Neo is safe. We're getting out of here soon, I promise."
Aiden shook harder, clinging to him like he'd drown without him and Kellan held him tighter.
And for the first time, he realized how devastating it was to watch someone completely fall apart and trust him to hold the pieces quietly in the dark.
Aiden couldn't stop.
Even after minutes in Kellan's arms, the sobs kept shaking through him small, broken, uncontrollable. His legs finally gave a little, and Kellan reacted instantly, one arm scooping beneath Aiden's knees, the other steady around his back.
"Aiden hey," he whispered, lifting him effortlessly. "It's okay. I've got you. Just hold onto me."
Aiden didn't argue.
He just curled into Kellan's chest, fists gripping his shirt, tears soaking the fabric as he tried and failed to quiet down.
Kellan held him tighter, walking carefully between the shelves.
"Cry if you need to," he murmured against Aiden's hair. "I'm not putting you down until you can breathe again."
And Aiden only cried harder softer now, but clinging because for once, letting someone carry him didn't feel like weakness.
It felt like safety.
Neo's pov
Neo curled forward, groaning, his forehead hitting the floor, his fingers shook uncontrollably.
Then
Everything went deadly still.
He lifted his head slowly.His eyes were glassy.
Red around the edges.Unfocused.
"Lucas…" he breathed, voice low, trembling.
"I don't feel like myself." Lucas' heart dropped."Neo… what do you feel?"
Neo blinked. And whispered, terrified
"Like something else is waking up inside me."Lucas finally understood.
The moment Neo's nails dragged down his forearm again, Not in aggression.Not in fear.
But in a frantic, burning desperation
Lucas' breath caught.
"I know this drug…" he whispered under his breath.
His eyes darkened. Of course.
Of course Darian would use this one.
A neurological destabilizer. A combat chemical designed to fry the senses, amplify instinct, destroy restraint.
To make someone so overwhelmed by heat, adrenaline, emotional overload
They'd tear themselves apart,Before anyone else had to. And Neo…
Neo was fighting it with every last bit of will he had.His breathing turned jagged.
His eyes rolled back for a second. Lucas held him in a hugging position
His hands clawed at Lucas' back again this time harder fingers curling into Lucas' shirt and dragging down until Lucas felt warm blood spread across his spine.
But Lucas didn't even flinch.
"Easy… breathe, neo. I've got you," he murmured, voice low and steady, even though Neo trembled like he was being electrocuted.
"L-Lucas...hel-help me" Neo choked, voice breaking into a sob he couldn't control. "I-I can't it hurts everything is too much-"
His hands shook violently.His knees buckled.
He collapsed into Lucas' chest, fists clutching the front of Lucas' shirt like he was drowning and Lucas was the last thing keeping him above water.
Then
Neo buried his face in the crook of Lucas' neck.Not gently. Desperately.Almost frantically.
He inhaled him like oxygen.Shaking.
Crying silently.
Rubbing his forehead and nose against Lucas' jawline, neck, shoulder anything he could reach like his body was searching for grounding, for cold, for comfort, for familiarity.
Lucas wrapped both arms around him, steady as stone.
"I know, neo… I know…" he murmured into Neo's hair, voice pure honey and steel. "Just hold on. It'll pass soon. I promise you. I'm right here."
Neo's fingers dug deeper into Lucas' back, leaving bright red streaks.His nails broke skin. "L..Lucas..mmhmmm ..hot"
His teeth grazed Lucas' shoulder once, first it came soft then he bit harder almost sucking. when a wave of heat hit him so hard he choked on a sob.
But Lucas still didn't pull away. He just held him tighter.
"You're okay… you're okay… breathe for me," Lucas whispered, brushing his thumb over the back of Neo's neck.
Neo's breath hitched.
His whole body dropped limp against Lucas, exhausted and trembling.
And then
Through the smoke,Lucas saw something.
A flicker of daylight.
"Neo… look at me," Lucas whispered gently, cupping his cheeks.
Neo's glassy eyes slowly lifted. "There's an exit. Can you walk?"
Neo nodded but his legs gave out.
Lucas caught him instantly.
"Alright. Up you go," Lucas murmured, lifting Neo effortlessly into his arms. Neo's head fell against his collarbone, fingers still clutching the fabric of Lucas' shirt in weak, trembling handfuls.
They started moving, weaving through fallen shelves and burning debris.
All around them
Matteo dragging Pia out of a collapsing aisle
Kellan supporting Aiden, whose face was streaked with tears and soot
Elijah clearing a path with his gun raised
sirens in the distance,cracked glass under their boots,flames licking at the ceiling
They converged toward the same emergency exit, stumbling into the open air one by one.
And when they finally reached the rendezvous point behind the destroyed building
Everyone froze.
Because Neo, though conscious again, looked emptied out.Drained.Face flushed.
Breathing Hair disheveled,Still leaning fully into Lucas.
And Lucas
Blood streaked down his back in claw marks.His shoulder bore shallow crescent bite marks.
His neck was red from where Neo had buried his face against him, rubbing, trembling, desperate.But Lucas didn't let him go.
Not for a second.
He simply adjusted his grip and said quietly:
"He's okay. It's passing."
And Neo whispered, voice small and broken
"…don't let go."
Lucas' hold only tightened.
The ride back to the estate was silent in the most horrifying way. Not peaceful silence
The kind where no one breathes too loudly because the world feels like it's dangling by a thread.
Lucas carried Neo the entire way.Not slung over his shoulder.Not tossed into the backseat.
No.
Neo sat on Lucas' lap in the back of the SUV, trembling, leaning into him like whatever was left of his sanity was anchored to the warmth of Lucas' chest.
Elijah drove like a demon. With the other men at the back they had called for backup to come over so the highway was a speeding mess with lined up SUVs.The convoy snaked through the streets, black SUVs glinting under the city lights, engines low and ominous. It counted at least eight of them tailing their route, military-grade vehicles packed with heavily armed personnel, their presence enough to make every passerby stop and gape. Phones were lifted, whispers rippled through the crowd, and some even ducked behind cars. People murmured questions they didn't dare voice aloud: Who are these people? Where are they going? But there was no time to wonder. The sirens weren't theirs they were chaos trailing them, a moving storm of authority and firepower, a visible warning that Lucas' team didn't just follow rules they enforced them.
Kellan was on the phone with the estate, shouting orders.
Pia clutched Matteo's sleeve, her heart still racing. Aiden kept glancing back at Neo every three seconds, guilt twisting his face.
And Neo?
His eyes kept fluttering open and closed, his breathing unsteady, his fingers still curled into Lucas' shirt like his life depended on it.
Lucas never once loosened his grip.
The moment they arrived, the gates flew open.Guards rushed forward.
Kayla and her medics sprinted out.
The maids were moving here and there on Elena's command
Panic hit the estate like an earthquake.
Lucas stepped out of the SUV carrying Neo bridal-style, jaw clenched, eyes burning with a fury nobody wanted to trigger.
"Move."
His voice cut like ice, and everyone obeyed instantly.
Matteo guided Pia inside, one hand on her head, whispering soft reassurances she didn't believe.
Aiden stumbled after them, eyes red, shaking, almost hyperventilating.
Elijah barked orders left and right, giving signals to the staff away to give space.
Kellan sprinted ahead to open the doors.
They moved down the hallway like a broken army returning from war.Blood still on clothes.
Soot on their hands.Smoke in their hair.
Fear everywhere.
Lucas placed Neo gently on the nearest bed-his own..and Kayla and her medics team swarmed, but Lucas raised a hand.
"Back. All of you. Give him air. Kayla do your thing"
Nobody argued.
Neo curled into himself, shaking violently now, the comedown hitting him like a punch to the lungs.
Lucas sat on the bed beside him, one hand at Neo's nape, the other on his back, rubbing slow, grounding circles, all while Kayla began examining him.
Neo whimpered.Pia burst into tears.
Aiden looked like he was about to collapse.
Matteo punched the wall so hard it cracked.
"WHO THE HELL WERE THOSE BASTARDS!?" Matteo roared.
"We'll find out," Elijah muttered.
But Lucas…
Lucas was quiet.Too quiet.
His eyes were on Neo, but his mind was calculating, mapping, analyzing every second of what had just happened.
Finally, Kellan spoke:
"Kayla… what did they inject him with?"
Everyone froze.
Kayla exhaled through her teeth.
"The Crimson Variant."
Aiden's face went blank.Pia's mouth fell open.Matteo swore loudly.
Even Elijah stumbled back a step.
Pia whispered, "That drug .. isn't that... isn't that the one that—"
"Yes," kayla said sharply.
"It's a sensory overload stimulant. High heat. High adrenaline. High instinct. If taken in large doses, it makes the subject uncontrollable. Ferally emotional. Losing reasoning. Driven by any impulse that hits the brain first."
Aiden swallowed, voice small:
"So… Neo was… dying?"
Lucas nodded once.
"He would've gone into cardiac shock if I hadn't grounded him immediately." Pia covered her face, shaking.
Matteo whispered, voice raw,
"So all that scratching… all that all that shaking. Kayla knelt beside Neo, stethoscope in hand but eyes fully on him as she examined the faint scratches and bite marks across Lucas' chest. "Thank God Lucas let him scratch, claw, bite… whatever he needed," she said softly but firmly, her voice steady, professional. "If he hadn't, Neo, could've lost control. That drug… it's potent. It pushes you to extremes. You have to be careful stay calm, stay grounded, and breathe. No sudden movements, no pushing yourself. And," she added, glancing at Lucas with a hint of warning in her tone, "you both need to rest. Let your body settle. Neo's safe now, but even small triggers could make it flare up again. Hydrate, keep your hands to yourself for a while, and just… let it pass. Okay?" Lucas nodded, his voice caught somewhere between exhaustion and relief. Kayla's hand rested lightly on his shoulder, firm but gentle, grounding him even as the adrenaline slowly ebbed. She walked to the door after collecting the syringe from Elijah "see you all later for now I'll go test this substance out and from which part of the city it came from". She Left them alone after shutting the door.
"so....."
Lucas tugged his shirt collar down.
Four long, bleeding claw marks ran across his back.Two faint bite marks on his shoulder.
A flush of skin across his neck where Neo had pressed his face.Pia gasped.
Aiden flinched.
Neo whimpered again and clung to Lucas' wrist, barely conscious.
Lucas tightened his hold instantly.
"He wasn't attacking me," Lucas said quietly. "He was trying to stay alive." Silence.
Painful, heavy, suffocating.
Then Aiden whispered, voice breaking:
"…what would've happened if you weren't the one holding him?"
Lucas didn't answer for a moment.
He looked at Neo, fragile and shaking on the bed.
Then he looked at all of them. "He would've hurt himself," Lucas said finally. "Badly."
Pia cried harder.Elijah's jaw clenched.
Kellan punched the doorframe.
Matteo looked like he wanted to kill someone.
Suddenly, Neo coughed weak and broken.
Everyone rushed forward.
Lucas touched his cheek instantly. "Easy… we're here."
Neo blinked slowly, tears still clinging to his lashes.
"D-does it… hurt?" he whispered, voice thin, looking at Lucas' shoulder. Lucas shook his head lying.
"It's nothing."
Neo reached for him with trembling fingers.
Lucas caught his hand and pressed it
"You're safe."
Neo closed his eyes, finally finally breathing normally for the first time.
Lucas didn't move his hand from the boy's face.
He didn't stand up.He didn't leave.
No one in the room had the courage to ask him to.
"Tell Elena to arrange a room for Aiden and pia I'll make a call to their mom, Aiden give an excuse why you can't go home" Lucas said looking at them "Am I clear"
"Yes"