Sitting in the back of his van, Lucas surveyed his supplies. The van looked rather normal on the outside, but the interior was decked out with several shelves, and a small worktable complete with a soldering iron and a few other handy tools. He sat, hunched over the desk, putting the cover back on a small, sleek, black box he had been slaving over the last few days. The box itself wasn't anything too special, but it was able to almost perfectly guise itself as a cell tower, allowing Lucas to connect to nearly nearby phone, with them being none the wiser.
At least, that's what it was supposed to do. Right now, all it did was sit around in his van and look useless. It couldn't mimic a paperweight, and the damned thing seemed to have lost all functionality. He owed the recent 'malfunction' to Jae's joyride last night. She had demanded he come along for a simple little job, and worse yet, she drive. She certainly was in driving the car, but it wasn't traditional driving as any normal person would dare do. Jae had seemed content on slipping through every little nook, cranny, and back alley, nearly getting them stuck in several places.
Thankfully the van survived the collisions fairly well, but the equipment inside, was a different story. His own personal laptop had made it own unscathed, so did his exclusive CD collection, but nearly anything else, was either damaged or completely broken. Hacking wasn't really all that hard to him anymore, the problem was keeping his tech together. And with friends like Jae...
Lucas pushed the box away, picked up his phone, and turned off the overhead light. Checking that everything was secured in place, (he didn't feel like risking any more damages), he stepped out into the street. Checking both ways for anything suspicious, not even really sure what he was looking for, he walked back into the apartment building.
Just as he reached the reached the the door to their apartment, his phone hummed in his pocket. Walking inside, he whipped out his phone. A message from Nathan on the group chat. Fantastic. A message from Nathan meant a client, an important one. And clients that required the whole team, tended to pay rather, favorably. Lucas smiled lightly as he opened the message.
"To: Black Cat Group Chat
Guys, we have a client. He's rich and impatient, so I'd get your asses here ASAP."
"Jae!"
The words were out before he even looked up from the phone. "Jae? I hope you're home, we've got work!"
A quick search of the apartment however, revealed that she wasn't home. Not only that, but Lucas stumbled across her phone lying on her unkempt bed. Groaning in impatience, he was about to leave without her when the smell of pine wafted into the room. It was such an odd, yet strong fragrance, he was compelled to draw upon it further. Now that he had stopped moving, he swore he could hear the jingling of bells too. Ascending from somewhere beyond the front door.
Unable to stand the mystery any further, he opened the door, coming face to face with Jae Maltrai, and a Christmas Tree. Lucas' mind broke for a moment. "What the hell!? Jae?"
"Yeah, who were you expecting?"
"Why in the nine circles of hell do you have a Christmas tree?"
"Uh... magic?" She offered a weak smile.
Asking several more concerned questions about the fully decorated Christmas tree she had in tow, Lucas watched her pull it inside, into the center of the living room. She refused to divulge any information, and soon refused to respond at all to further questioning.
"Whatever!" Lucas held up his hands. "I don't wanna know."
"That's fantastic, cuz' I'm not telling."
"Look, we have a client-"
Jae shushed him. She was walking between drawers and cabinets, pulling things out, and heading to her room, only to return to repeat the process. "I'm busy."
At this point, Lucas was getting just a little tired with Jae's antics. Sure, they didn't live the furthest away from the bar, but they certainly lived far enough away that it would still take a long enough. Especially if the client was already waiting for them. Giving up, Lucas dropped her phone on the couch, grabbed his laptop, and said goodbye.
He took the van, hoping that whatever it was that needed done wouldn't require all of his skills. Luckily, he still had his laptop and phone, so he wasn't completely out of any tricks. Security systems would bend to his will, and all he needed to do was touch a few buttons. Because he didn't drive like Jae, he felt late, even though he had made it to the bar relatively fast, thanks to the minor road traffic. As he stepped through the bar door, he zipped up his jacket, waving at the bartender with his phone in hand. The bartender waved back, giving a silent, almost unseen gesture towards their spot in the back. A private understanding that the room was clear. He walked straight towards the room, opening the door, and stepping in with little more than a mild nod at the rest of the team gathered already.
As he walked past the man in the horribly rich suit that just seemed to bleed money, he pressed a button on his phone, instantly seizing as much information as his few key systems could. The information was rather dull, but the one thing that definitively stood out to him was his yearly income. The man made well over 500,000 and had enough of a gross income and capital to likely buy the bar. Whatever it was he wanted, it was serious business.
Falling into a chair at the corner of the room, Lucas discreetly texted the rest of the group the info he'd grabbed, making sure to highlight the financial section. Looking up at the rest of them, he prepared himself to tell the group that Jae wasn't coming, when she slipped through the door last minute, flashing him a smile. Lucas shifted uncomfortably in his seat. Something was up, and he was starting to wonder what.
Brianne Carter, another member of Black Cat, turned towards Nathan, asking quite flatly, “What’s the target, and do I get hazard pay?”
Jae giggled, "Isn't working with me enough of a 'Hazard' for you B.?" Jae laughed at her lame pun for a moment more, before settling down into her own chair next to Lucas.