New York City

Ronnie woke up and rolled over. She slowly opened her eyes to see a man. He had a 5'oclock shadow and curly brown hair. She jolted up onto her feet, though trying not to wake the sleeping man. She realized he wasn't wearing very much. And that herself wasn't wearing anything at all really. She grabbed his white button down shirt from the floor and slipped it on. Then she remembered her mission. She started searching the room, as quietly as possible. He was the transferer. He was supposed to have a microchip. She checked the pockets of his pants from last night. Nope. She checked all the drawers and night stands. Still nothing. She knew she was running out of time. She looked at the clock. She walked over and lifted it up slightly as she felt underneath it. Moving her fingers gently she found it, and slipped it into her bra. She quickly grabbed her things and used a wet tissue to wipe down where she had searched. Her father always taught her to be careful.

She walked out of the hotel with confidence. She always did when she finished a job successfully. Which was every job. She stuck her hand out into the street and watched 3 taxi's pull up. She smiled as she got into the first one and gave him some directions. When they finally got to her destination, which was a block from her apartment, she gave him the money and hopped out. She walked around and bought herself a newspaper before walking up to her building. She got her keys out as her phone began to ring. She answered, it was her father. "Yea dad. I got it. See you at 4." She quickly hung up and went up to her condo. Her condo was on the top floor, which was nice because she got a great view of the city. Once she walked in, her bags dropped onto the table, she got herself a glass of wine. Watching the sunrise with a glass of wine was definitely one of her favorite pass times.

Mickie was working of coarse. But she wasn't doing her favorite job, more of her needy job. She is waitress at a casino from 3-7 every week day. It's also good practice, getting to bump into so many people and all. Though she also gets to learn card tricks, and how to count cards. "Tequila please." A man said. Someone with manners? I must be dreaming. She poured the tequila into a glass and turned to see Erik. She laughed and gave him a wink. Erik is one her best friends, and also her hair dresser. Not that that matters. She watched him pull out a five, but she shook her head. "It's on me" She smiled. Erik is also the only person who knows about her other job. Though he isn't in the biz himself, he does like hearing stories. "We still on for tonight? COD marathon at my place right?" He asked. She had totally forgotten about it... She was supposed to meet up at head quarters tonight. As if they'll notice I'm gone.. She thought. Mikyla put a hand through her hair, "Sure are!"

Punch, high kick, uppercut, power kick.
As Alex threw the final kick at her fighting partner, she could tell he knew she had won. He was thrown back landing on the padding roughly. He tried to lift his head, but it dropped uselessly on the mat again. She snapped her fingers and two others picked him up and carried him out. She paid people to come in here and fight her when she needed to let out some steam, and today was a good day as any. Lately there had been a lack of jobs that required her expertise and it made her grow restless. She was advised, no, warned was a better word. She was warned not to take any jobs outside of the group, because if they found out or if she got caught, there would be consequences. She didn't like the terms but without the group she knew there would be even less jobs out there, and the ones she could do would not be nearly as fun.

"Next!" Another person stepped onto the mat, this time a girl. She had a look in her eyes of determination. She saw that in many eyes, it was probably because she said if anyone beat her than she would give them a million dollars. It was no lie, she could easily give it to them. She just knew that none would ever earn it. As the girl stepped up she suddenly threw out a kick that Alex had not expected. Frowning Alex held up her hand blocking the kick. She then grabbed it and twisted, causing the girl to fall to the floor. "You are slow." said Alex. "Suprise attack do you no good if they have time to react." The girl threw out her leg making Alex topple, and she laughed a little. She wanted her to do that.

Throwing a kick from the floor at the girl, it made contact with her face, and Alex jumped up ready for another hit. The girl rose slowly and lunged at her once again, Alex moved calmy to the right. Turning she face the girl again. Throwing a punch at her. Then another. Then another. Then another. She just kept landing hit after hit, and she wasn't even trying. Soon she could tell the girl was done and stopped. "You can go." Defeated the girl slugged away. "Pathetic," Alex mumbled and took off her gloves. She walked out of the room and into her kitchen. "Now it's time for some breakfast."

Amanda just grumbled and glanced up from under the fluffy comforter at the light streaming into the room form the large floor to ceiling windows with murderous intent. She took a moment to realize she wasn’t in her own rom with her black out curtains. Instead she was in the main living room of the massive apartment sprawled out on the couch. “Morning!” came a very familiar and unbelievably annoying voice. “Are you going to sleep the day away again?”

She groaned as the older man sat across from her in his typical fine suit drinking a cup of fresh coffee. He had the paper in his hand and opened it without setting his coffee down, snapping the pages taught as he glanced over at her hiding his smug smile she knew he was wearing. “Huh….” She grunted before throwing the comforter over her head. A mumbling stream of words that near no one could understand spewed from beneath the covers.

The man gently set his coffee down and continued to read the mornings news, not that much of it was news to someone like him, “Next time don’t pass out on the couch and you won’t have that problem.” He replied to her mumbles.

“Uh, muh hur mur hum um!”

“It’s not my fault you can’t hold your liquor…” he sipped at his coffee and raised an eyebrow, “Huh, looks like the paper finally caught wind of the Mayor’s secret girlfriend… ‘bout time I’ve been sitting on that bit of information for months…”

“Kur huh mur dur fler!”

“I didn’t make you drink a damn thing, if anything you dragged me into your little celebration… happy birthday by the way… hmm, wonder how long it will take them to catch wind that his girlfriend is actually a boyfriend…”

“You really huh fer nor dur…rewr…”

“Now that’s not very nice… you truely should wake up, I’ve got a job for you, kind of a birthday present.”

She flipped the cover back from being over her face and glanced at him, “How is that a Present?”

He let the paper fall limp to look her in the eye, “Don’t act like you don’t find work fun… besides it means you get to wear that nice red dress you bought the other day.”

She flipped the covers back to hide her eyes and rolled under them so she wasn’t facing him anymore. “I didn’t buy it…uhr… too expensive…” she still fought the fact she was slowly waking.

“Oh really? Then why is it hanging on your door… with a pretty little bow around it?”

She finally raised her head from the pillow she had wedged herself into to glance at a door at the far end of a nearby hallway. She couldn’t help but smile at last at seeing the dress she had wanted to buy but didn’t think was worth the price hanging there. The man walked over to her as she slowly crept up to be sitting on the couch still half-dressed form the other day with her hair in shambles and handed her a cup of coffee. “Thanks, Gabe, but I still don’t like mornings…”

“Fair enough, I’ve got to get breakfast cooking so you might as well go wash up.” She stood and half stumbled back to her room, taking the dress down and entering her suite.

“So, what’s the job?” She asked about half an hour later as she sat down to breakfast at the bar in the kitchen, Gabriel still cooking as was their custom, “Something dangerous I hope.”

He glanced up at her before flipping the hash-browns with a toss of the pan. “The one for tonight… very… but that’s for you to do later… this morning we need to work towards a bigger goal.”

“Found something worth bringing in a team for?”

“Yeah… but I don’t think it’s going to be worth getting the big leaguers together for…”

She swallowed some coffee and looked to him quizzically, “You thinking a new set?”

He nodded as he salted the hash-browns in the pan, “Exactly… we need a group that’s got some talent but also needs work… and a group that has ambition… this job is gonna take a full team and they best know their stuff... and be willign to work for a future.”

“Sounds like you’re planning more than a simple heist.” His smile told her everything but it was obviously for another time, “What do you want to do?”

“Simple… just put the word out through your friends that we’re looking for some group for a big score, take is high 5 figures a pop… assuming they can get the job.”

“You’re going to hold interviews? How?”

“That's where you come in.” He tossed the spuds onto a plate and slid them to her, “if they want the job… they’re going to have to find and steal the details... from you.” it was now time for her lips to curved into a devious smile to match his own.

-A few hours later, just as the group was starting to get moving Sage’s phone buzzed with a voicemail, the person who’d sent it was named Harve, “Hey, girl, what you been doin’? hear you guys might need some work and I got a lead for ya… word on the street is that Caesar is coming down off his hill top palace and looking for a fresh crew to put some work in, good money, and good rep, you want to hear more just give me a ring baby. Call me back, girl, peace!”

Takka-takka-takka...

It had been another long night at Kendall's post at his computer, tapping away at his keyboard with all of the quick, clever precision and efficiency he was renowned for amongst the e-crime community (and reviled for amongst law enforcement agencies). This particular small-beans case was proving to somehow be a tough nut to crack; some skinflint CFO of a mid-range industrial firm holding back pension funds for the workers was pegged as a good, easy hit, so Kendall had taken the job on, expecting to take no more than two hours to break whatever cheap, low-range security the guy had posted on his bank accounts.

It turned out the man had been very clever, turning a one-hour hackjob into a fourteen-hour battle of attrition between Kendall and the asshole's remarkably-up-to-date security systems. But fourteen hour later, Kendall moved the last of his pieces into place on the board and moved in for the kill. Within minutes, his network of spyware was in place and slowly, steadily siphoning the man's funding away one red cent at a time. Kendall leaned back in his desk chair, watching dawn's first rays filter through his windows--

Tap-tap. Cooo-eee.

'Oh for pity's sake,' Kendall thought to himself, rubbing the bags under his eyes. It was the pigeon. It was always the pigeon. Ever since the day he had moved in, there had been a flock of pigeons sitting on the fire escape outside his window. He'd tried desperately to drive them all off, and mostly succeeded. For months the pigeons left him alone. But then, four months ago, he had started waking up to a single partial albino pigeon tapping at his window every morning. He'd tried everything to scare this one away, short of nuking the apartment complex or burning his room out, but nothing would drive it off--it was persistent.

Kendall eventually, grudgingly, started to feed it; scraps of bread at first, then black oil sunflower seed. Every morning the bird would tap his window, and every morning the techie would set out a dish of seeds. The pigeon would wobble across the windowsill and sit on the ledge above Kendall's tiny kitchen nook, splitting a breakfast with the borderline reclusive Kendall. The pigeon was like the world's least obtrusive, best-scheduled houseguest. Kendall preferred its company to most people.

A few minutes passed as Kendall prepared the bird's breakfast, then his own. He puttered around the apartment, checking his e-mail, his phone messages (his plan was talk-only), then taking a shower and getting dressed. He figured he would have to get out and buy food at some point today, and so he left his apartment, heading down into the streets of New York, moving slowly towards his local corner market, a single cell in the great beast that was New York.