Kalliope Teagan's Story

"No, but seriously, when will you let me drive one of these? I've got my licence and everything, I just can't afford a car. I swear I'll try my hardest not to crash it. I won't even go fast, or far, I just really wanna see what it would be like to drive it." Jack was once again pestering Chance about letting him drive. He had a can of Relentless in one hand as usual, and was taking periodic swigs from it. "I won't even bring coffee with me. You know I'm serious when I promise I won't bring coffee." Jack was still buzzing after the apartment they had thrashed hours before. The Relentless definitely wasn't helping, but Jack was used to it by now.

Jack heard someone come in and spun around to greet them enthusiastically as he always did, but then he saw who it was. His grin slipped a little when he saw that it was CK. He still felt a little hate towards her following the massive fight they'd had a few years ago. She had pulled some stupid stunt that had meant he had almost gotten caught by the police, and they had a massive argument over it. They had nearly divided Black Cat, and someone had been forced to step in and stop them from starting a full blown physical fight.

He took a swig from his can and shook it a little. It was nearly empty. Part of him wanted to go get another, but his common sense intervened. Funny. His common sense tended to keep quiet when it came to coffee and Relentless. It piped up on just about everything else, from helping him choose his outfit to making a quick getaway.

He caught CK staring at him and raised an eyebrow. "Hello, Kendra. My name is Jack, and you have seen me before." His voice was dripping with sarcasm, and he finished his can and crumpled it, throwing it into a nearby bin.



Kali's couch was surprisingly comfortable. Kat had found that out the night after her apartment had burned down, when her mind took to distracting itself by focusing on the little things. Kat was now once again stretched out on it, just thinking about everything that had happened. She had finally managed to get a new bank card and had done a little clothes shopping, treating herself to the outfit she was now wearing. She was all too conscious of the amount of money in her account. She seriously needed to get a part-time job. Maybe that was a plan. She couldn't live on Kali's couch forever, and she was finally finished school. College wasn't an option, not for another few years. But she made a good cup of coffee and was pleasant enough. And she wasn't bad with hair either.

Her insurance company had been in touch, and they had said that her claim for her contents was being processed. The apartment had only been rented, but apparently the landlord was covered for that. She hoped that that meant she would be getting some money before long. She needed a new phone. Her old one had been reduced to ashes in the fire, and she hated being out of contact with her dad. He knew where to find her, but it wasn't the same as texting him whenever she missed him. She wanted a new laptop as well, but she had to prioritize. She hated it. She hated having to ask Kali for everything. The only things she had were her baseball bat and a few sets of clothes. Kat always done the cooking- apparently it ran in her Italian blood- but she felt that that wasn't enough. She wasn't exactly the cleanest person either, and she felt bad for that.

Kali twirled into her living room, singing. "Love me, love me, saaaay that you love me-". She stopped as her necklace got caught in her clothes. She looked at her necklace. it was a gold cat mask, one that her mom had gotten her a while back. It was funny, it was like she almost knew that Kali was a Black Cat. After untangling the necklace from the buttons on her shirt, she saw Kat sitting on the couch, where she had been staying for a while now. Kali wished that there was a guest bedroom so that Kat wouldn't have to sleep uncomfortably on the couch. "Hello, Kat!" she chirped. "All of the others just finished trashing an apartment, should we go join them?" Kali blew a strand of cotton-candy pink hair out of her eyes.

Kali's cellphone rang. She looked at the screen and picked up the phone. "Yeah? Hi Mom. What? Of course this is Kali. Yeah, Kat's with me, you wanna talk to her? No? Alright. Um, yeah, I was planning to go out today with Kat. Where? To go, uh, shopping! And a movie, probably. Yeah. Hold on a sec." she said. Shopping and a movie was a typical cover-up for Black Cat stuff, or just hanging out with everyone. She looked at Kat with inquisitive eyes, to see if this was okay with her. Tilting her head so that her phone was squished between her cheek and her shoulder, she reached for a bag of gummy bears. "Alright Mom. Mmhmm. Love you. Bye." She hung up and sighed. "So Kat, whaddaya wanna do now?"

"Sorry if I couldn't pull my eyes away, the asshole is just so rare these days," CK told him, her voice sickly sweet, her real meaning obvious. He raised an eyebrow, and was about to reply with a smart retort of his own when Rick intervened. "I'm really not in the mood for you today," He warned, looking at Kendra. Jack knew he was included in that warning, however, and he raised his hands to his shoulders in the universal not-my-fault gesture. Rick came over to him. "Jack, it's been a month now," He said quietly. Instantly all of Jack's anger slid away, and he folded his arms. He was trying to think of something comforting to say, when Rick told him, "Those people who say it'll get better, yeah well they're all liars. It only gets worse man." Shivers ran up Jack's spine when he remembered that the policeman he had told about the threatening letters had said something similar. "Don't worry, they'll stop eventually. It'll get better." Jack had found another on his doormat this morning. It had read something like, "Nobody's going to come to your funeral when you're killed. Except me. Because I want to laugh."

Jack's head began to swim. Relentless suddenly seemed like a very good idea. Or coffee. But he realized he had been silent for several minutes and that he should probably reply now. "I probably shouldn't tell you that it will get better, then. I don't want to lie. But I don't think things will get worse. You can rely on this fool to make sure that doesn't happen." He grinned and went to the fridge, looking for something that might clear his head. He hadn't told anyone about the death threats and letters. The freaking police couldn't help. He doubted even Black Cat could. And he really needed an energy drink. There seemed to be a lack of caffeine and suitable additives, however, so he just went for something that looked like it had plenty of sugar in it and opened it, taking a mouthful. "Now, what was that about getting to drive if I can find the keys?" He asked himself, starting to search for them. He didn't notice Amanda coming in until she spoke. "So what are we doin' today?" He jumped. "We're waiting for everyone else before we get into the details. I think." He said, still searching for the keys. "Chance, keeping them in your pockets is just mean. I'm not saying that's what you're doing, but, you know..."



Kat grinned as Kali entered the room, singing to her heart's content. "All of the others just finished trashing an apartment, should we go join them?" Kat's grin widened, but then Kali's phone started ringing. "Yeah? Hi Mom. What? Of course this is Kali. Yeah, Kat's with me, you wanna talk to her? No? Alright. Um, yeah, I was planning to go out today with Kat. Where? To go, uh, shopping! And a movie, probably. Yeah. Hold on a sec." Kali looked at Kat. Shopping and movies tended to be cover for hanging with Black Cat. She nodded enthusiastically as Kali grabbed a bag of sweets. "Alright Mom. Mmhmm. Love you. Bye." Kat missed talking with her own mom. Every time she ate ice cream, she couldn't help but mentally compare it to her mother's. It was seldom as good. Her dad made ice cream that came so close, but nothing could quite compare. She really wanted her mom's ice cream right now. But Kali startled Kat out of her ice cream reverie. "So Kat, whaddaya wanna do now?" Kat stretched and looked at the clock on the wall. "How's about we head to the warehouse first? We can go, check if we've got any plans today, and if not, I want to have a scout around, see if anywhere's offering part-time work. It looks like my insurance compensation ain't coming any time soon, and I hate not being able to pay you back. Cooking dinner just isn't enough payment for what you've done for me."

The smell of smoke and the image of flames still haunted Kat late at night when sleep avoided her. The nightmares had stopped, but even the memories of them gave her shivers. She had dreamed that no-one had been there for her, and that she had died among all of her burning possessions. She dreamed that she was on fire, and everywhere she walked and felt comfortable went up in flames. That stuck with her the most, and that was part of the reason why she wanted her own place back. She worried that she had done something wrong and that someone had mimicked Black Cat and gotten their revenge. She didn't want to bring that upon Kali.

"How's about we head to the warehouse first? We can go, check if we've got any plans today, and if not, I want to have a scout around, see if anywhere's offering part-time work. It looks like my insurance compensation ain't coming any time soon, and I hate not being able to pay you back. Cooking dinner just isn't enough payment for what you've done for me." Kat said, stretching. "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." She glanced at the clock. "I'll go get the scooter, so come down when you're ready, a'ight?" Grinning, Kali grabbed the gummy bears off the counter, put on her shoes, and skipped out the door.

Once she was outside, Kali located her scooter, popped on her helmet, and put some gummy bears in her mouth. As she chewed, she thought about how lucky she was to have conscientious friends like Kat. There weren't many people out there that refused to take hospitality without paying them back. She took her phone out of her bag and texted Jack. "hiiiii jack! kat and i are on our way! don't start anything fun without us ;P" She started the scooter up and waited for Kat to come out.

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...

Ardic gathered closer to the small group that they were making, and listening attentively yet finding little to say to having little role to play in this new mission in the works, he let his mind wander about the room, and then finding something curious to see, he settled on looking at the quick and almost sudden movement of a certain brunette advancing to his car. It seemed almost strange to him, that he would just leave in the process of something like this at the moment, and thoughts of the past were brought to his mind. Settling on that quietly for a moment or two longer, he looked away like he hadn't noticed anything, and instead, turned to the new arrivals in the room, before having his gaze pulled away when their Informant and Organizer spoke up. He followed Leila's figure out of the room, a frown furrowing in deeper worry, where she seemed to have bumped into the wall rather hard, but continuing through.

"So how exactly are we going to execute this?" Slowly, he turned back to the small gathered group, his voice soft like it usually was outside out of this warehouse and when generally not as a Black Cat, his hands shoving further in his pockets, the pressure also threatening to rip through but yet subtle enough not to. "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. He gave a pointed look towards aforementioned girl, "Not trying to shoot you down though."



He gathered close to the group as Leila gather their attention to it. Elden was slightly distracted by the cellphones by the table, and having already gone to pick one up as soon as he saw them, he badly wanted to mess around with it; to twist its potential wires depending on the model the cellphone was, and having opening the bad, he was disappointed that this was a simple device that wouldn't give much entertainment or amusement in even taking apart. Closing back the back, he simply fumbled around with it, a smile naturally setting to his face, his eyes darting back and forth between speakers, visibly perking up a bit at the idea of mentioning the accelerators and GPS system, but being unable to get in a word yet, he patiently waited to say something. He gave appropriate responses as suggestions were passed around, from a slightly frowning face of listening, to quiet nodding of agreement, and still faces of disagreement.

Fumbling around with the disposable cellphone in his hands, he was startled when his own phone in his jeans vibrated him a text, almost dropping the cellphone but managing to hold on it before actually dropping it. He frowned, but catching CK's eye, he took out his phone to look at what the text said. He had to stop himself from smiling too wide and just shaking his head out of respect of planning for this mission, his entire body almost freezing to a stop to read the message. Hey! I'm bored. Do you have any ideas?

Darting his head towards when Alex, Kali, and Kat arrived quickly before looking back down to his phone to clumsily type back with an odd way of typing with his thumbs, he replied back discreetly. Lol I do actually gonna give my own suggestion just waiting for it to be appropriate to say (:

Putting his phone away, he looked at Ardic for a moment, and silently had little to say as his lips pressed together to stretch between his cheeks; the CK and Jack thing was something that he hadn't been around for, so it was awkward whenever the tension came up. He spoke up, "You know, I guess that it's a bit late to bring it up, but about the accelerator - if we could get under the hood to put a toggle switch limiter, it could work depending on the bus." He paused. "If not, we could implant bugs around to try and pick up sound through radio wave. If the distance could work, anyway. Just a suggestion though."