Alex Cotterell's Story

Alex pulled his hood over his head as he neared the warehouse. His mom had taken away his car for a while because he had misread "YIELD". Who thought that it was a good idea to give a dyslexic guy a car in the first place? He walked in, just as Leila said, "So guys, are you up for it?" He closed the door with a genial smile. "Up for what?" he asked. "Sorry I'm late!"

Amanda smiled, wiping away a fake tear "I'm proud, you cracked into cameras. Now I just need your amazing organization and planning skills and we could do each others jobs" she laughed lightly. "If the bus has a built-in navigational system, I can get into that- if it is connected to wifi, but most are. And some newer buses have a computer in the peddles to make sure they don't lurch to a stop- no seat-belts- that isn't connected to WiFi, but it is to the GPS, and if I can get into the GPS..." she trailed off, realizing some of the stuff she was saying was probably useless, and she should just do that. "I couldn't turn the bus, but I could lock up the accelerator when it was parked, and they wouldn't be able to move..."

Jack grinned as Leila came in. Discussions for the mission started, and he listened. He had a special rank of hate for people who hurt kids. They were innocent, and couldn't hurt anyone- or stop themselves from being hurt. "That all sounds good, but what are we going to do when the bus is stopped? We can't trash it like we usually would an apartment. I always do prefer not to hurt people." He sat on a couch, thinking for a moment. "What if we got someone onto the bus? They could record the plans and get photos of the suspects. You can track by photo identification, right, Leila? Then we could turn up at their houses, write some stuff on the walls to frighten them while someone gives the police an anonymous tip-off with some evidence. I'd be willing to be the guy on the bus." He offered.

He got back to his feet and continued to search for the keys. He took another swig of the drink, when something in the Camaro caught his eye. He shot to the window and peered inside. There was something that looked very much like a set of keys inside. He pulled on the door handle excitedly, but it was locked. He swore to himself and went back to the others. Kali and Kat had joined them at some point in the conversation.



"No no no, it's completely fine! You don't have to pay us back! Plus your cooking is soooo much better than having to order Chinese when Mom isn't home. I'll go get the scooter, so come down when you're ready, a'ight?" Kat nodded and swung her feet off of the couch. She grabbed a black leather jacket that her father had sent her from Italy the week after the riots and traded it for her hoodie. She ran downstairs and met Kali.

A few minutes later, they arrived at the warehouse. Jack was searching for something and Leila was describing their next mission. Kat moved silently to the fridge as everyone had their own input. She got a bottle of Coke and started taking swigs from it, listening to the various remarks. She grinned and crossed the room as Alex entered. She kissed him on the cheek and took his hand. "Hey sweetie. How are you?" She asked, grinning.

Amanda snuffled and wiped away a fake tear "I'm proud, you cracked into cameras. Now I just need your amazing organization and planning skills and we could do each others jobs." she laughed lightly and Leila smiled at her, though couldn't find a laugh within her tired self. "If the bus has a built-in navigational system, I can get into that- if it is connected to wifi, but most are. And some newer buses have a computer in the peddles to make sure they don't lurch to a stop- no seat-belts- that isn't connected to WiFi, but it is to the GPS, and if I can get into the GPS... I couldn't turn the bus, but I could lock up the accelerator when it was parked, and they wouldn't be able to move..." Amanda trailed off andLeila could hear her muttering to herself.

"That all sounds good, but what are we going to do when the bus is stopped? We can't trash it like we usually would an apartment. I always do prefer not to hurt people." Jack plopped down on the couch as he spoke, obviously thinking the plan through. "What if we got someone onto the bus? They could record the plans and get photos of the suspects. You can track by photo identification, right, Leila? Then we could turn up at their houses, write some stuff on the walls to frighten them while someone gives the police an anonymous tip-off with some evidence. I'd be willing to be the guy on the bus."

"Great idea." Leila said, covering her mouth politely as she yawned again. "If you shut down the bus and get pictures of the guys involved I could identify them and give you their addresses so you could pay their houses a little visit. Let them know they're not as clever as they think they are. Then if they still try to go with their plan we'll turn in the recording I have of their plan, their pictures, locations, information and have the police all over their sorry a-"

Leila stopped herself before she cursed. She hated to swear and tried to never do it, but occasionally when she was both exhausted and passionate about something they would try to slip out. "Ahem," she corrected herself, taking a long swig of a cherry flavored energy drink. It helped a little but Leila could still feel the utter exhaustion which made her body so weak she visibly swayed as she stood. Trying to be casual about it she leaned against the nearest wall and tok anther sip before continuing, "We'll get them behind bars before they could even get behind the wheel. Like I said, they meet tonight around 2 in the morning. We should send someone who could get their pictures so I can track them down and have the missions and information posted by tomorrow afternoon."

Rick sat silently and listened to everyone. "Hey Kat, Kali," he said as the girls walked in. "I really like the idea, good work Leila," Rick said, smiling at the tired girl. Man, she really needed more sleep. He couldn't figure out what was eating her. "You had a really good point too Jack. At some point I really would like to hit these guys in the homes, not just take them down," he grinned. He thought over having Jack on the bus. Of course he could handle it, but he thought having someone else go with him would be better. "Maybe someone else should go too," Rick suggested. Of course having two people on the bus was more risky, so maybe a decoy. "Just someone that could be a decoy if you need to get out of there or something," he said, shrugging. He deliberately averted his eyes from Alex and Kat. Seeing the couple brought up painful memories. Instead, he became very interested in the table in front of him. Suddenly CK popped up from the floor, causing him to lose his fake concentration. He was shocked by what the girl said.



"I can go with Jack," Kendra said, sitting up. She looked at him then to Rick, who was staring at her, looking like she just kissed him. "What?" she asked defensively. Even Chance almost choked on his drink. She rolled her eyes and stood up. "I mean," she began, fighting off a blush. It was a stupid thing for her to say. She should have waited for Rick to ask her to go as a decoy, if he would even ask her. She would be the best one for this job, at least she thought she would be. If it came down to it, she would do anything to save Jack. Any Cat she corrected herself. As Kendra let her mind trail away she thought about all the things she would do for Jack that she wouldn't do for anyone else.

"I mean," CK said again, "I can be a good decoy in this situation. I'm just thinking about the group," she said. Her mood turned sour and she sat down again, with her back against one of the couches. "We all know Jack is--" she stopped mid sentence, shooting Jack a rude look. She wanted to smile at him. "Well. We all understand the circumstances of Jack and I's relationship, so like I said, I think this is for the good of the group," she shrugged and looked around the group, feeling only slightly awkward. It took a lot of self control for her not to look back up to Jack. She really needed to get this under control. She saw him move back over to the car, and felt free to watch him. Most people didn't stay focused on her this long, and Rick was no longer looking at her. When he turned back to the group she looked up at the ceiling. She pulled out her phone and texted Elden. Of course, she knew he was in the room, but she would most likely get barked at for changing the subject. Hey! I'm bored. Do you have any ideas? she asked. She wanted to do something and she wasn't exactly sure where the whole Jack-CK partnership idea was going. Probably down the drain. Just like her chances with him went a few years ago. She audibly sighed and sat up, staring at Elden until he made eye contact with her and checked his phone. She grinned.




Chance raised his eye brows at CK, but did nothing else. He bit some dead skin off his thumb and glanced at the clock. It was almost 2 p.m. and that meant he had to meet up with Chino soon. Chino was supposed to deliver a package to los Intocables by 6 p.m., so they were already cutting it close. Chance hated doing things last minute, and he considered this last minute. He knew in the middle of planning something like this, he would need to know every detail. He pulled out his phone and texted Chino, telling him a time and place to meet. Chance watched as Jack moved back over to the cars. He pulled on Charlotte's handle but of course, she was locked. Chance tried to recall exactly what he had said. Was it if Jack could get the keys or find them? He was a man of his word, so if Jack had found them, Chance owed him a drive. He muttered to himself remembering he had used the word find.

"Anything interesting in there?" he asked Jack, hitting the unlock button from his pocket. The camaro's lights flashed, letting Chance know she was unlocked. If Jack was going to go over to the car again he only had a few seconds before it automatically locked once again. Chance regretted making that deal. However, this gave him a reason to leave. He hoped Jack would get the hint and find Red's keys. Chance would never let him go on the drive alone, so he would go along and tell him where to go. He didn't think Jack would suspect he was going to a deal, especially since it was common knowledge Chino was Chance's best friend. On top of that, Chance wasn't getting the money until tomorrow. This was going to seem as innocent as returning a video game. Which is exactly what it was going to look like. Chance had gotten information on a rival game and downloaded it into a game of Grand Theft Auto. It took him a while to figure out how to do it, but he managed it eventually. This was their typical way of passing back information. All los Intocables would have to do is play the game and take a few missions, answer phone calls and there was all there information. There was no way to trace it so Chance felt safe 'betraying' this other gang. Los Intocables swore to never rat him out since he was such a valuable playing piece in their... society, for lack of a better term.

Leila raised her hands up to the height of her shoulders and shrugged slightly. "Handle it however you like. Give me the pictures and I'll find them. Shut down the bus while you're at it and you'll save a bunch of children who are about to experience the unbridled wrath of the world." A small yawn made her stop talking for a moment. It took another bit of time for her to compose herself enough to speak again, though she couldn't stop herself from rubbing her red eyes. "Whatever you decide to do, the location is on the back of the second page. Just be careful."

'I'd hate to lose any of you like I did Maya...'

Pushing herself away from the wall, Leila wearily stretched, not ready to think of Maya. Not wanting to consider the possibly of losing any more of her friends. Moaning softly as her muscles screamed in protest from lack of sleep and use, Leila was forced to yawn again. "And let me know before you leave, okay?" Then she turned and walked out of the room. Or tried to. Instead her nose was meet by the wall that had supported her moments ago. She'd entirely forgotten that it was there. Rubbing her nose gingerly she would feel a little bit of blood run down from her nose.

"Ah crap," she growled softly, covering her bloody nose so the others wouldn't see she walked into the bathroom and grabbed a few tissues. She was prone to nosebleeds like this if the weather changed suddenly, something bumped into her nose to hard or whenever she got very scared. It'd started at some point after she had been released from the hospital but she hadn't thought much of it, though countless nights she'd woken up with blood on her face from a nightmare that had been too much for her to handle. Pressing the soft tissues to her face Leila could feel the blood seeping through them and sighed softly. She was so tired...

Jack raised an eyebrow as CK offered to be his back-up. It was surprising, considering both their past and current relationship. It sparked an inner conflict, which he tried to resolve as he headed back over to the cars. He became lost in his own thoughts. He hated to say it, but CK would be a valuable ally. She was smart. She would know when was the time to get out. But she was so reckless. He didn't want her putting him or the operation at risk. The inner argument continued like this as the Camaro's lights flashed. He didn't pay much attention to them until Chance said, "Anything interesting in there?" He surged over and pulled the door open, seeing the keys on the front seat. He grabbed them and crowed triumphantly, "Yes!" He grinned broadly, looking over at Chance. "It's okay. I can wait. But you owe me a drive." And as he said that, he decided what to do.

As he returned to the others, Ardic said, "We need to sort this out before doing anything. We could have Jack and I act as decoys like usual if a Jack-CK duo won't be agreeable enough to do." Jack shook his head. "No. CK and I can work together. It might help us get over that particular incident." He started flicking through the information Leila had left them. As he reached over to grab a phone, he noticed her leaving the room. He was a little worried for her. She always looked so tired.

"'Kay. So, Kendra, if we meet here at about seven, we can organize what we're going to do."



Kat smiled to herself as Alex put his arm around her. "I'm pretty good. Now what's going on here? I heard some stuff about missions." Her grin changed, becoming a shade darker. "Sounds like Jack and Kendra are going to bust some bad guys. Then we get to go trash some apartments."

She could vaguely remember everyone being surprised when she wanted to continue as a Black Cat. A few people had been surprised that she had wanted to continue thrashing apartments when her own had been so brutally destroyed. Surprised in a good way, of course.

"We should try and get you guys some weapons. I suppose getting bullet proof vests would be a bit much to hope for. They'd probably hinder your escape as well."

Jack was sitting at the back of the bus, one headphone in. It was connected to his phone, which he was watching carefully. Leila and Amanda had combined their resources and talents, and Jack could now hear what their targets were saying like he was sitting behind them and see exactly what they were doing. His adrenaline was already pumping, but he popped a can of Monster and took a swig. He needed to buy more Relentless, he noted to himself. He glanced up at Kendra, who was seated across the aisle from him. His eyes returned to his screen.

It was at that point he realised that something was up. 

One of the men had shifted his position slightly, and his gun was blatantly obvious to Jack. That was the first warning sign. It was hard to remain casual, but he managed, taking another swig from his can. He could hear their plans clearly, and what he heard didn't exactly please him. They were discussing who their next target was going to be. Jack had trouble not standing up and punching them in the face. Then shivers ran down his spine as he heard what they said next. "You know, those two kids at the back look like they'd make a good target."

They all nodded and began to discuss how. Jack leaned across the aisle, a smile on his face like he was just making conversation, but there was a sense of urgency to his voice when he spoke. "Kendra. Get your ass off of this bus, now. Don't wait for me. Don't be stupid." He gave her shoulder a shove to move her and sat back in his own seat, finishing his can of Monster. He wasn't sure what he was going to do, but he sure as hell wasn't getting Kendra involved.



Kat strode into the warehouse. Everyone else, except for Jack and Kendra, who were on the bus, was already assembled. She was late because she had managed on getting a job. She had walked into a café and asked for a job. She'd been handed an apron, a notepad, told her working hours and pay, and been told to start. "Sorry I'm late, guys. Work and all that." She apologised, taking a seat on the couch beside Alex. She leaned into him, putting her head on his shoulder. 

Things didn't seem to be going so well. Concern flashed across her features as she heard the same conversation as everyone else. Jack and Kendra were in serious danger- and anything that Black Cat could do was only putting them in more danger.