• This section is for roleplays only.
    ALL interest checks/recruiting threads must go in the Recruit Here section.

    Please remember to credit artists when using works not your own.

Of Kings and Pawns (IC)

Looks like the sting operation was hinging on Thalia, whether or not she was ready to return to the hornet's nest and pry information about her employer. It was going to be unpleasant, sure. But she could manipulate the man to go easy on her. It still unnerved her that she'd be watched when it happens, but it seemed necessary to get Tony to trust her. Frank seemed to be on the same page as the women, though maybe a bit uncomfortable. The older one? Not so much. It was a bit of comic relief for Thalia when Karin gave the detectives the bird. She couldn't help but giggled at the thought. She'd wanted to do that so badly from the moment Tony brought up the idea of placing her undercover, but being in handcuffs certainly stood in the way. She was on very bad terms with these two cops, but it seemed they were in agreement that she was their best shot at nailing Al-Asheera. Some sort of common ground at last. Frank kept emphasizing that she would be protected, explaining the details of how things would go down, come that dreaded day. But first item on the agenda: the money. Ra's would not get close to Thalia and expose himself without his payment. And Thalia wasn't going to go to him just to seduce him without paying her debts. If she told him she couldn't get the money, he'd end her then and there. But it seemed like everything is in order. The officers were taking the watch and seemed like they'd leave them be for the night. Probably were going to leave Joseph here, too. But Thalia had to ask to be sure. She still didn't trust Tony.


As for Tony? He had nothing further to ask. He glanced back at the redhead he despised so much, the metal chains around her wrists hanging down to her and Karin's knees as the two held hands through most of the interrogation. They trusted each other more than they should. Why? It puzzled him. Karin was a cryptic lawyer wannabe who was forced out of her dream to take care of her brother. Thalia was a fragile street kid who ditched her loving parents to be taken in by a gang of heartless thieves. How could they get along? Opposites must attract more than he thought. 


"The kid. He stays here," Thalia added. Joseph was still in another room with that other man, Karin's neighbor. She didn't want him going anywhere tonight.


Tony stood up from his place, removing his hand from his pocket to show a black pin-like object in his hand. Thalia glared at him, at first worried why he was getting close. This time, she didn't assault him. "He stays. Deal. All part of us staying in the dark."


The detective raised the chained wrists of this girl and inserted the pin into the keyhole of the bracelets, soon undoing one cuff, then sortly after, the other. Now free to use her hands, she felt over the cold areas of where the metal was moments ago. She looked up at Tony briefly, who was returning his handcuffs to his overcoat pocket. Her voice cracked as she spoke from her tamed anger, "You're sick. But you're getting me my freedom. Come through with that, and we won't have to butt heads again."


"Oh, trust me, Miss Griffin. I'm not here to make friends with a thief. You've just forced my hand. I HOPE we don't have to see each other after Al-Asheera is no more."


"My pleasure." The two equally wanted to strangle each other, but refrained from doing so. It would only break out into another fight, maybe someone getting shot, too. Not with a child just a few walls away.


In reality, everyone in that room had something to lose. For Tony and Frank? Their jobs. For Karin? Her brother. For Thalia? Her life. Whether they liked it or not, they were a team now. A private task force in charge of ending a gang of thieves. And it was just the four of them. For now. But for now, without the money, there was nothing they could do to push forward. Not the girls, at least. Tony and Frank had the brothel to worry about. Calling in SWAT. Worrying about Bradan and the Clover Boys. Maybe another robbery from Al-Asheera to come that night. So many things could happen that night. Almost overwhelming for the two detectives. One step at a time. One thing was for sure: Karin and Thalia weren't a problem anymore. At least not as big of one as they were before.


"I think you should leave now," Thalia snarled at the grey haired man standing in front of her. "You've pestered us enough for one evening. And I've given you more than enough to look into for Al-Asheera." The mutual bitterness between Thalia and Tony was consuming. But the girl didn't stand up from her seat. She didn't dare challenge him again. She could beat him if she caught him off-guard. But now they were close to being on the same side. So why spoil it.


Adjusting the collar of his coat, Tony patted his partner on the back and told him, "Let's get out of here. Leave these ladies to their peace..." He looked back to Karin, still bitter. "No need to show us the door. We can find our way out." Before leaving, he looked back to the hallway in which Graham left the four alone to take Joseph somewhere private. "Graham, it's safe! You can come out, have a nice evening!" He then turned his back on the women, in no need of looking back at them, and exited the front door with his partner.


At last. The two could rest. Thalia rolled her eyes back and threw her back into the couch she sat in, letting out a sigh in relief. Seeing those cops? She almost thought it was the end of her. Scared to death, she tried to strike the older one, but to no avail. But she hated him from the start, long before he became aggressive and hostile towards her. Frank showed his assertiveness, but in moderation and reasoned with them. Tony didn't. There was more to that man, why he was so tense towards Thalia. But she didn't let it bother her yet. She curled her legs underneath her, relieved to be able to use her arms freely again. She rubbed her palms over her face, trying to clear her head for a moment, then moved her left one through the side of her head through her hair, the other reaching forward for Karin's hand again, swinging it back and forth in her own. She needed something to get her mind off of things.


"So you know... that watch wasn't 25k. Maybe 10. That younger guy was fucking with you the whole time. I just kept my mouth shut to avoid getting hit again. I've got a good eye for value." It came with a playful smile too. She didn't blame Karin for not being able to guess a price. She even admitted she wasn't good with price determination. Whereas it was right down Thalia's alleyway. "I've swiped waaaaaay too many watches from people. Like candy from a rich ass baby. Those cops though... that older one's a douche. The younger one? Not too bad. I mean, he kinda was a douche, too, but at least he was kinda hot, you know?" Not the time to be flirting with cops, but she wanted to cheer Karin up for a moment.


But there were more important things to discuss than the price of a watch they no longer have, or about their attraction to the men who just left. It was more of a melancholy topic, but she need to say it, maintaining her cool now with her newfound friend. "So you know.... yes. I'm scared to face Ra's again. When he came to explain my debts earlier, he grabbed me by my neck, pinned me to a wall, and smacked the shit out of me.... He's insane. He won't change. And most importantly, he's obsessed with me. Will he kill me if I don't deliver? I'm guessing no? Maybe he'll just... well... I think you can take a guess.... But, let's not talk about that. You said something about a way to get the million, within the law? I have to know this. WE... have to know this." There'd be time for a friendly conversation later. For now, there was business to discuss. And an interesting relationship with the LAPD in the balance.


...


Once the two detectives left, Tony immediately started ticking away at his phone. He explained his methods as they marched towards Frank's car. "I'm contacting a friend in the higher ranks of LA's SWAT team. Giving him the location, but I'm keeping it off the police radio. As you've seen, we are in a bit of hot water when it comes to secrecy. Gotta be careful who hears what. With inside men from Al-Asheera and the Clover Boys, we can only trust each other, right? I say we head over there and stake out from a safe distance, let SWAT do their thing and survey from a block away to make sure it goes smoothly. See if that girl gets out in one piece... see if Thalia was being truthful about 'minimal security.' I don't know about you, but I don't trust her. The bride-to-be for the head of Al-Asheera, turning on him? Sure, she made it pretty damn clear there was abuse in the mix, and odds are, he doesn't treat her well. But look at how she jumped back onboard the idea. She's tough, I'll admit. But also incredibly stupid and rash. Plus deceptive. I'm willing to bet every tear in her eyes was a fake. She's a thief, as a reminder. It's her job to lie to us. Question is: was she lying now?


"Then there's Karin. What moron sees the same hostile that came robbing her workplace and walks outside to go MEET her? Plus, after everything Al-Asheera's done, what kind of idiot stands up to them? Armed to the teeth and coming with ill-intent. Yet, she stands up to them, doesn't obey their orders, and risks getting shot, but survives without a scratch. Yet, they happily shot someone clearly weaker for standing up and trying to assault them. Doesn't that all sound a bit weird to you? I still think there's something deeper to those girls.... Ugh. We'll have to see when Thalia decided to infiltrate. But I'm in on keep this off the books. We can't get caught in this act, Frank. It's way too risky."
 
She was relieved to hear that Joseph wasn't going anywhere tonight - Frank had half-considered it, taking him with them and just putting him somewhere where he'd be entirely safe until this whole situation blew over. But he said to Karin that that couldn't happen, or, well, he did want to stick to his word. Joseph wasn't going to go anywhere, and he was one of the people that realized Joseph was a lot smarter than he let people see. He had a feeling the kid would come up with something if they took him away from his sister. He was sure he'd do something that would make them have to rush him right back within the hour, and the simple fact was they just didn't have that sort of time to waste, and Joseph didn't really deserve the extra stress. He'd been crying the whole time, and Frank was just thankful that Graham was there to take care of him, to stop him from getting into too heavy of a state.


Karin wanted the four of them to get on better - she didn't know what to think of Tony. She thought he was too aggressive for his own good; as for her being a wannabe lawyer, in some ways that was quite the case. Take someone that meant a lot to someone away from them, and it does funny things. I suppose that was just one of them. She liked to see herself as more of an analyst-style person nowadays, rather than a wannabe lawyer, but people were entitled to think whatever they wanted of her - it wasn't like she gave a shit, deep down. She was just happy to see the guys leave, and honestly, when she saw that they were well away from the front door. She couldn't help but laugh and cry at the same time. She genuinely thought that was going to be the end of things, she thought she was going to be going down and not seeing Joseph again until he was well into his adult life. That wasn't the case, at least not now.


"Oh my god." She laughed, quickly wiping at her face and shaking her head, "It has been one fucking long day, and that? That just topped it off. Tip of the iceberg, icing on the cake. We actually cut a deal with those guys. A deal they plan on sticking to - Only bad thing is, we've got our own work cut out for us now, and..." She shook her head, but, the talk of Frank being 'kind of hot' made her raise her eyebrows and grin. "Mmmmmm?" She said, high-pitched and rather... Accusing, I suppose is the right word. "Shit, I'd marry him." She laughed, "But you? You've caught his eye, I reckon. You were getting all the smiles, all the winks. You were getting the sweet-talks and his assurance. Guy treated me like shit." She chuckled, "Maybe when all of this is all over, he'll come to the club with us and you two will hook up, huh?" She teased, gently nudging Thalia's shoulder. "But, Frank... Yeah, he fucked with the watch there. Caught me off guard big time, but, hey, at least that's out my pocket now. I don't have to worry about it. Hopefully not, anyway." She said. "You facing Ra's, I'll make sure those Detectives let me have an eye on things, okay? Just in case. I won't let them throw you to the dogs if they're secretly planning that, I promise. We don't need to worry about that immediately, though, the money I promised them is the main concern right now. There's a way to get it, and it's... It's not that it's illegal, just slightly unethical, if that makes sense?" She ran a hand through her hair.


"Okay." She said, quietly, and held up her hands. "It's not legal, but it's not anything that could ever come back to us." She said, "We've defined that stealing a million from one bank would be dangerous, obvious, and would get us locked up for god knows how long." She said, "But, what if you steal as little as a dollar from a million different banks across the country?" She asked, a grin slowly coming onto her face. "Hear me out. There's movies and shit where people do that sort of thing. They break into the bank's database, steal details, and wire a tiny amount of money from a few accounts to an offshore account. They don't get caught because no one notices the money going missing, because it's just tiny amounts. If you were to rob a bank, cleaning the money would take so long. If you were to rob a jewelry store, getting the diamonds and shit cut, plus selling the raw materials, would take way longer than a week." She explained. "I know, this sounds fucking crazy, but..." She thought for a moment.


"Wait here." She said, and quickly rushed off to her bedroom really quickly. She soon came back with a laptop in hand, though, and sat down beside her. She opened it up, and after gong onto Google Chrome, she typed in '580s exposure'. A dozen links popped up, ranging from 'Online assailant exposes gang members' to 'white-hat hacker reveals list of 580s gangsters'.


"There, you see what I mean?" She asked. "We don't have money to offer, but, these guys? These guys do this shit off their own back, because they're not exactly on the right side of the law. They do it because they want to." She said. "I bet, if we go on that website that everyone talks about... Deep Web, or something? This is gonna' sound stupid, like some stupid teen girl 'I dare you to do this' shit, but... What if we can find the person who's been revealing gang names?" She shrugged, "If they could get in on this, to help bring down the biggest gang this country's seen in... Christ, as long as I can remember, maybe they'd be willing to do it? We don't have to mention the money straight away, no chance, but if we can get them to even talk to us it'd be worth a shot, wouldn't it? We don't really have any other alternatives." She sighed, "If that doesn't work, we'll have to figure something else out with the detectives, but let's worry about it one step at a time."


"We could do it tomorrow morning. Early. While Joseph's still asleep." She said, "Or we could at least try, I mean."


--


"I know it seems suspicious, Tony, but we need to give them a chance. My bet is they're going to choke on getting the money." He said, "That's the only part of this that seems fishy. If Karin knew how to get $1,000,000 so easily, I don't think she'd have been a part of any of this in the first place. That's the only thing that makes no sense, but, we'll humor them for now, and if it doesn't work out, we'll send them both down, shove them both in a prison cell and let them think about it all." He sighed, "I want to believe them, Tony, and don't get me wrong, I DO believe them. It was just Karin towards the end that threw it out the window a little - Yeah, she might surprise us, Christ knows she's done that enough already, but...?" He shook his head as he was driving along. "Fuck, I don't know. The two of them both know they've got us in a spot where they can fuck us both over with ease if they wanted to. We've breached so many rules that they could blackmail us without issue, and... Yeah." He shrugged again.


"Enough about them, though. We'll worry about them in the morning." He said, "As for SWAT communications, the active SWAT Team will have their own radio frequency away from the main radio. They need to be able to communicate with the commander, after all. We can get patched into that frequency so we can have a direct hand in the operation. Other than that, yeah, radio silence." He said. "I don't know what's going on, but things just aren't what they seem everywhere we look. The robbery, Karin, Thalia, Bradan, even our own fucking PD is turning out to be in the shithouse, too. It's ridiculous. This is only going to get worse over time unless we do something soon, so let's just hope this operation tonight follows through. If there is a hostage, hopefully a clean sweep and a rescue's in our grasp. That is, if Bradan didn't beat us to it. That son of a bitch won't show anyone there any mercy - For all he cares, the owner of the store sold him out. Bradan's not a man to give second chances from what I've seen."


"I think the best place to watch from is either from the next block down or from the building across. Building across would give us a clear view into the store, it'd be discreet, we'd have higher ground, and we could monitor everything that's going on. SWAT should have a sniper unit, too, but, it never hurts for us to be eyes in the sky, especially if communication's going to be at a minimum. Only bad thing about reduced comms is the fact that if an ambush happens, things will be a little more chaotic, a little more in the dark than usual. That's worst-case scenario, though. If we get there and the place isn't shot to pieces, then we can assume that things are going to go just fine." He said.


"You got the issued weapons in the trunk? AR-15? Kevlar? Shotguns? if we're on-scene, SWAT's going to want us suited up a little, just as a precaution." He said. 
 
The icebreaker with Karin was certainly a help after such a tense environment with the detectives. It felt good to see this girl smiling and laughing again. It'd been too long. then came the mere mention of her hooking up with the younger detective. It didn't cross her mind in the moment until Karin brought it up. She was only making an observation, not even paying attention to the smiles and sympathy. Hell, wouldn't be the first guy to hit on Thalia, but how was she totally oblivious to it this time? She laughed along with her friend, nudging her back. "Oh, c'mon, don't tell me you didn't see him and think he wasn't even a BIT dreamy.... Okay, fine. I may be thinking a bit distant, saying that about the cop saving my ass, but I didn't get a chance to crush on many older men when I was 16, okay?" It was a sort of uncharted waters for Thalia, dating and hooking up. Maybe something she could share with her friend. "I'll admit, I've hooked up. One night stands. But they were to steal wallets and such. Get laid AND paid. Win-win, right? Sure as hell was better than sleeping with Ra's, I'll give you that. They were better looking too. But if me and that cop guy hook up? I'm totally down for sharing him with you. How's that?" A playful remark to lighten the mood, what friends do, or what Thalia assumed friends do. They were few and far to come by in her life. Both before she ran away and after. In that moment, she felt like she could forget their burdens and have fun for a moment.


But not yet. Karin defended Thalia as best as she could in the interrogation, and there were a few words due for that: "Oh, Karin?" she added, almost innocently by the tone of her voice. "Thank you for defending me in front of those cops. Never really had anyone to help fight my battles. I never thought I'd need it, but... It's good to know you have my back, and that you didn't rat me out. I really appreciate it. More than you think." What a partnership she had now with this girl, especially after getting in each other's faces when they met. Things weren't like meets the eye after all. With that out of the way, down to business: There was still Karin's cash-in idea. And she had a way to go about it, too. It all sounded very technical to Thalia, all involving computers and hacking, something she knew so little about. Sure, she knew how to jam a security camera feed at the diner hold-up, but only because someone taught her exactly what to do. Wiring money from bank accounts? No, she was too old school for that. Being trained by a Middle Eastern barbarian who's alien to everything technology made this field of theft... different. But she was prepared to listen, taking a seat next to Karin when she came back with the laptop, peeking over at the screen displaying different news articles. "Well, let's put it this way. I never got a teenage girl 'I dare you to do it' kind of moment. I mean, I didn't have many other girls my age to do that with as a teenager... boy did I waste my youth. Maybe I could start now, as lame it is?"


She'd heard of the Deep Web once before, but didn't know the specifics about it and its traits. She roughly know about how accessing it works, but that's about it. Thank god she could actually use a computer. Made people's lives in Al-Asheera easier. But whatever Karin was reaching out for was clearly a stretch of her imagination. A type of embezzlement she was unfamiliar with and one that probably wouldn't fall back on them. "Ahhhh... I get it. Small withdrawals, nobody bats an eye. Plus shittons safer than me or you walking into a bank and holding the place up... less fun, if you ask me, but I'll see it through. I'd rather play this safe now instead of go to prison for trying to be a hero. Sort of..." Yeah. A hero that robs people. Some hero you are. Kiss these cops' asses, fuck the cute one for all I care. "But it's still going to add up to a LOT of money. Ra's doesn't work through a bank. As a guy who killed his parents twice and leads a group of thieves, it's kind of hard for him to open an account. So we need to withdraw our funds into cash to actually deliver them to him. I bet we can manage that, but another thing: how can we be sure that our hacker's not going to rat us out? I'm sure we can't be just roaming the Deep Web without knowing who we're looking for. We can't get locked up, Karin. We just... can't. You know that."


'Just can't' isn't exactly the most valid of excuses, but it was obvious why: Joseph. Hearing his sister was arrested would devastate him. The little show the two'd put on just moments ago was even worse for scaring a child for life. Hell, Thalia made it worse by making the boy watch her get put in handcuffs, her and his sister at gunpoint on top of it all. Still her fault, and she still had to atone for that. But for now: the money.


--


Rethinking the situation made Tony realize that the girls might have more over them than they think: burying evidence, assaulting a detainee, LETTING the detainee out of cuffs, and an unauthorized sting operation, all of this hidden away from their superiors. And if the day comes that the two detectives have to lock Thalia or Karin up, or both, who's to say they won't speak up? At least Karin knows their full names, and both have seen their faces. There was no going back on this. Tony groaned to himself, trying to come up with the next words. Why this was bothering him so much. "Sorry I kind of... acted up back there, Frank. It's just... Al-Asheera..." He knew his next words. The truth about why he was so tense about the whole thing. "I told you when we met that my previous partner was out of the job indefinitely, right? His name was Richard Hart. He and I were heading up the raid on Al-Asheera. The shoot-out that Griffin brought up? God knows if she was involved, but I don't recall any women there. Richie.... God damn it. If I had a quicker reflex... He took a lot of lead, Frank. Barely survived the trip to the hospital. Thank god he's alive. Recuperating with his wife and kids at home. But I can't help but wonder... what if that were me instead of him? If things played out differently." Tony ran his hands down his hair, trying not to make it seem like he was building up rage, even though it might've seemed that way. "Al-Asheera did that to my partner. 'We don't kill', the bitch says. No. But you probably ruined my partner's life. THAT is why I can't stand Griffin. She's an active part of the problem. She has been for eight years and she hasn't done a thing about it until now? She LITERALLY held up the Coral Cafe earlier today, and you expect me to believe that suddenly, out of nowhere, she decides to turn over a new leaf? I don't like to be taken for a fool. That girl, her face, her devious look in her eyes, her red hair, her voice, the way she can't control her actions or emotions, even the sound of her name alone... Thalia, who names their kid Thalia..." He paused for a moment, grazing his palm over his facial hair, thinking back at her physical appearance, the completion for the sketch they had. She was pretty fine as for appearances, sure. Would fit the gig for a model if she didn't put such dark messy make-up when she takes the streets. Instead, he was teetering between painting her out to be some horrible person and trying to find some good in her. "She makes my blood boil so badly. Partner her with Karin Held? They're a nightmare to deal with together. Now, they've managed to grab us by the balls and keep us in a choke-hold. Kind of our fault. I know Griffin isn't solely responsible for what happened to Richie, but she believes in their cause. I should've dragged her out of there the second she tried to lay a hand on me. If you ask me, they both deserve to go behind bars. But we can't now, can we? We dug this hole. Now we have to get out of it and hopefully never see them again."


As the drive progressed, the older detective continued to tick away at his phone, continuing research on some of the information Thalia had given them. "So I looked into their leader's real name. Rami Younes. So her story checks out about the guy killing his parents. He was only 12, the creep. He got sent to an insane asylum for 3 years until he was deemed safe to be released, only for him to kill his foster parents and go off the grid for 30 years and never seen on any sort of official record or facial recognition ever again. That being said...." He flipped his phone around to reveal an image of a young, tan boy in a white, baggy shirt on the screen. "That's the last known picture of him, when he was 14 or 15 or so. Puts us at a disadvantage. Ergo, only Miss Griffin can identify how he looks today, making her even more necessary than she should be. Damn it..." He didn't like using Thalia for anything. He didn't want to owe her a favor in the future for waltzing into bed with a psychopath. But he would be returning the favor by giving her a free pass and keeping her from being hunted. That should cut it.


Talk of the ambush was also relevant. "I'd say, we don't get close unless we absolutely need to, and know it's safe. SWAT can handle a hostage situation well enough. I've got a pair of pump-action shotguns in the trunk, as well as Kevlar vests just in case we need to get close. But like you said, we've got so many different elements breathing down our necks that we can't risk losing our greatest asset: our investigative minds. We keep our distance, like you said. I've got two sets of binoculars in the glove compartment, so we can observe the place from a distance, so even if we have reduced comms, we won't be entirely in the dark. It's all going to play out according to plan, Frank. But today, I'd consider our progress a win. We found the mystery girl, and we have confirmed locations for where Al-Asheera is docked. We also had another sighting of Bradan. Problematic, but it's better than nothing. We just have to hope he doesn't try to find Held and Griffin. A man can only hope..."
 
"Share him?" Karin immediately burst out into laughter, "Girl, I don't graze on another woman's grass. May the best woman win, I say, and after how I talked to Frank today, I'm thinking he's far more falling for you than he is for me." She chuckled, "You're the best woman out of the two of us right now, even though you nearly socked his partner right in front of him. We'll leave that aside, though." She shook her head, then closed her laptop with another laugh. It was nice to have a friend - Karin didn't want to come across as too desperate, but a friend was something she needed badly. She'd missed having company like she did when she was a teenager, before she lost her parents. School threw everything up in the air. Friends, boyfriends, enemies - It was better to have enemies than to have no one, in her eyes. At least enemies could be spoken to, rekindled into friends - Thalia was the first prime example of that in a long, long time.


She smiled at Thalia, though, and once again, the thanks was nothing. She would have stood up for her anyway. "It's all good, you know that." She said, "I've got your back, and you've got mine. That's the only way we're going to get out of this, okay?" She said. "If we don't stick together through this, we're going to hit a brick wall. Just keep in mind we've got those guys in a spot, and as snakey as it is for me to say that, we've got the upper hand. They're not ranked enough to do anything about it, they can't control their department, and the LAPD probably has informants on the inside. No other choice but to go with us, and if that changes, we'll know about it pretty quick. If they turn against us, with everything they've done, they'd get longer sentences than us." She smirked. "Let's try and avoid that altogether, though. As much as Tony hates... Well, you, mainly, for some reason... I don't want to see the guys go to prison. I don't want to see any of us in prison." She said.


"As for our hacker..." She tapped on the lid of her laptop a few times. "We can't be sure of anything until we contact one. But, let's face it, if we find the right ones, they'd have done so much shit that they could be given life sentences. You know what some of them are like, and all." She said. "Even better, if they know that everything's off the books when it comes to working with us? They'd be stupid not to - One of the biggest gang takedowns in history, hardly any risk of getting locked up for it? They'd be stupid not to want to do that. I hear a lot of them are just all narcissists and trolls, anyway, so chances are they'll do it just to try and prove they're better than everyone else. Who knows, right? We do this right, and we'll be fine, but in the meantime..." She took a moment and looked to the hallway that lead through the house.


"I think it's about time you were properly introduced to someone." She said, "Joseph!" She called out right after, "Joseph, come out here!" She called out again, not aggressively. She heard a door creak open down the hall, and eventually, Graham and Joseph were right there, but the boy was still scared, evidently. He was glued to Graham's side, but, Karin held out her arms. "Hey there, handsome." She laughed once. "Come here."


Joseph slowly stepped forward, his terrified eyes focusing on Thalia. He looked unnerved, anxious, worried.


"Joe, don't worry... I can explain everything. We can explain everything, okay? I promise, she's not here to hurt you, come on." She said, and Joseph just nodded once and stepped forward as quickly as he could so that he could fall into his sister's arms. His head went on her shoulder, his arms went around her as tight as he could get them, and his eyes closed over. Karin took a deep breath of relief, and for a moment, she just held him there in silence, and she didn't dare move. She just wanted to hold him there, just so she knew the whole scene was real. He wasn't gone. He wasn't taken away. He was fine, absolutely fine. 


Graham cleared his throat, "You okay for me to leave, Karin?" He asked.


"Of course, but you're more than welcome to stay."


"No, no, I better get back. I still need to make dinner." He said, "Is everything okay?"


"Everything's more than okay." She rubbed Joseph's back, slowly. "Everything's perfect."


"Alright." He nodded, "Take care, Karin, Joe." He nodded, then looked at Thalia, "We haven't really met, but, good to see you all the same. We'll get introduced eventually, I'm sure." He smiled, and just like that, off he went, shutting the door behind him. Okay, now it was only the three of them in the house. Things were well, and once Joseph had been given a proper chance to settle down, she sat him down beside her on the opposite side from where Thalia was sat, then dropped an arm around his shoulders. 


"Okay." She said, "Joseph... This is Thalia. I'll leave it to her to explain things to you, okay?" She smiled, "And Thalia, this handsome little guy here is my brother that you've heard so much about - Joseph." She smiled at her, "Now, Joe... From what I remember, I think Thalia had a few things she wanted to say to you. We've been talking a lot about everything that happened today, and... Well, I think I should stay quiet for a minute. It'd probably be better if she explained it to you - Just hear her out, okay?"


"Sure." He squeaked, nodding once.


--


"Don't mention it." He said, shrugging, "I had a feeling it was something personal in some way, the reason why you acted like that. But, now that we're in the heat, Tony, I need to ask you to try and put that stuff aside. If we cross the line, we don't know what those two might do. If I could stop the two from working so closely together, believe me, I would, but... We can't do that. The two seemed to have gotten very close, and if we piss one off, chances are we're going to piss the other one off as well. If we lose our only connection to Al-Asheera, we're going to find ourselves in deep shit. As for Richard... I heard talk about an officer getting injured, but I never got the full details. I'm really sorry you had to go through that." He said, "What happened to him wasn't your fault." He sighed, "The bottom line is, the guy's alive. Yeah, he might be in bad shape, but the main thing is that he's alive. His wife still has a husband, and his kids still have a father. I never bought into the whole 'Al-Asheera doesn't kill' bullshit either, don't worry. And if you swapped places with him?" He shook his head, "That's not a way to look at it at all. I believe things happen for a reason, Tony. I've been through enough in my life to believe that now, and to believe that the only thing keeping us alive is the hand of fate, but sadly, that hand's always got a pair of scissors hanging above our strings." He gulped.


"Tell you what, if tonight closes up nicely, you can come back to mine, have a few drinks, and as you shared something quite personal, I'll share something with you, too. My overthinking, enthusiasm, and quirkiness might be explained a little more to you if I tell you the source of all of my... I don't know. Hopes and dreams, accomplishments and achievements. I'd tell it now, but it's a particularly long and painful story that I'd rather not go into when we're on the brink of walking in on possibly a scene of blood and gore. No offense to you, obviously. It's just not something I talk about very often, but, honestly, I think it's getting too close to the high time I should tell someone, and if I'm going to tell anyone, I'd prefer it to be you." He reached over and slapped him on the shoulder.


"I get that you hate the girl, it makes sense." He said, "However, we need to try and ignore all that for now, okay?" He said. "I fucking despise Bradan for some of the shit he's done, so, you can watch my back on that front, too. I'll make sure you don't pull anything serious with Thalia, and you make sure I don't do anything crazy to any of the Irish we get hold of. Sound fair to you?" He asked. "On the upside, Tony, I'm gonna' be real nice now - If this goes to shit, and me and you end up going to prison, I'll be a true buddy and let you share my cell with me, alright?" He joked, immediately cracking up right after. A little humor never hurt now and again.


When he was told details of their leader and even shown a picture, he just shook his head, "Jesus." He said, "Ugly son of a bitch, ain't he?" He asked. "What sort of monster can kill their own parents like that? Fuck, man." He said, "That's just insane, it really is. It takes a lot for someone to be able to do that to their own flesh and blood. At least we know what we're dealing with here, though." He nodded, "We're almost at the 7-11. We've got our plan for that, so we'll rendevouz with SWAT and their Commander - Commander probably won't push in with them. He'll be our coordinator along with the sniper unit. The sighting of Bradan? I don't want to think about what he'd do if he did find Karin. That watch was no way worth $25,000, but it was certainly worth a lot, and... I've got a feeling Bradan doesn't react well to thieves. We need to keep an eye out - the fact he's even in Burbank alone is worrying enough."


They did arrive, though, and after patching into the radio channel that SWAT used for operations, they were given a location to meet with SWAT. Across from where the 7-11 was, back of the building. No problem at all there - things in the 7-11 seemed quiet. The owner was still in there, behind the cash register - The store was quiet, though, not another soul wandered the isles. It seemed dead quiet. It was closing time soon enough, so, they had to do this quick. If they could get in there before the store got locked up, everything was going to go a lot smoother. No signs of Bradan's people, by the looks of it. Alright, all seemed okay.


Around back, SWAT was there, just getting ready, being briefed by one of the Sergeants in the Division. 


After getting what they needed from the car, obviously, the only thing left to do was find the Commander. 


The sergeant was quick to stop his briefing, though, when he saw them arrive. 


"Detectives, Commander's inside waiting for you. First floor, second room on the right. It's empty. He wants you two up there to help keep watch on things."


"Thanks." Frank nodded, then looked at Tony. "Things seem quiet around here, Doesn't look like any of Bradan's people are about, but, have a look around with your binoculars. Check the streets, any view of alleys you can get. We need to be sure before SWAT are clear to move in." He said, "If you're good to go, we should go meet the Commander. I don't want to take any chances of pissing him off. I hear the guy's a mean motherfucker at points, and at the same time, he's meant to be stubborn, apparently. Guess we've got a long half an hour ahead of us, eh?" He asked.
 
Thalia couldn't get enough of the small talk with Karin. The brief conversation about guy competition was a start. Something Thalia couldn't exactly do in the past due to the significant lack of girls her age around her. And when there finally was one in recent years, not only did Thalia fall in love with her, but she had to witness her get killed by her betrothed in front of her face for being close to someone behind his back. Definitely scared her away from ever becoming close friends with someone again. Traumatizing, even if it only happened a year ago. Now, things were different. She felt free of the chains that Ra's had her under, always telling her what to do, how to act, who to associate with. Karin was proof that she could find a new friend without having to be punished for it. Even create a new life independent from her last. She ran away from home to be her own person? Now as her chance to be the person she wants to be. Not play the whore for a brute with an agenda.


A plan for the future to gather the money. A hacker to find off of the mysterious Deep Web. Thalia left the technical part of it all to her friend, seeing she clearly knows more about this. But still, sitting back and listening was never so relaxing. Usually when she'd have to listen to someone, it was someone scolding her for some wrongdoing, oftentimes something she didn't do. Hearing someone tell her good news, hopeful news, and laughing together was a pleasure. And it was only getting started, because once they finished talking about their hacking venture, Karin stood up to retrieve her brother. She wanted to see Joseph ever since the heist, and wanted to explain everything to him. Apologize. Gain the boy's trust. Show she meant no harm to him. But some scars don't exactly heal. Would that be the case for this child? She scarred him for life with her actions. Mostly hers. She gave him this image of her being a monster, and she so desperately wanted to take it back. Even Thalia could admit: she was scared too, now that this boy thought of her so lowly. 


She waved good-bye to the stranger in the room, Karin's neighbor. "N-Nice meeting you." Though seemingly nice, Graham was still a stranger, and it brought out Thalia's shy side. She blamed her lack of much human interaction. Kind of sad for a young woman like herself, but not much she could do at this point, other than try her best to be more social. Less awkward. Once he left, it was just the three of them. With the boy seated on the couch, Karin left the floor for her to explain her story. The ten year old looked traumatized, almost that he didn't want to look at the strange girl. He remembered her, obviously. She wasn't exactly a forgettable face, despite how she never showed hers to anyone except Karin. Heartbroken. That's all she felt. How could she fix this? Thalia bowed her head in a sort of shame, thinking back at how far she should go back. How to start. She wasn't charismatic or talented at speeches. Nor was she very convincing at arguing, just at begging or seducing. Neither of which she could do with this child. Getting her act together, she adjusted her legs so she'd be sitting on her left foot and letting her right one dangle off the side of the couch, she dangled her hands on her thigh, her left hand covering the tattoo on her right, and began, "J-Joseph... I, well, don't blame you for hating me. Because a lot of people do. I've done a lot of thing. Bad things. Including to you and your sister. And I feel really awful for it. I grew up... with bad people who told me how to steal, to hurt people, without thinking about how they feel in return. It's.... awful, Joseph. I've been doing it for a long time and..." Her head sunk slightly, not looking to the boy anymore but at her hands. "And all I really want is to take it all back. Give everything I took back, be a good person for once. Because if you want the truth? When I saw you and Karin at the diner? All I could think of after is: what would I think if that were my little brother? He doesn't deserve that. YOU didn't deserve what I did. Nobody did. And it's been bothering me for so long because I didn't think I could stop. Not anymore. No, not anymore. Today I want to stop. No more stealing." She was shaking her head as she spoke towards the end, slowly looking up to this boy, her face and voice showing how horrible she felt about it. Talking about it and putting it into a perspective for a child to understand only made her feel worse about her actions.


"I'm sorry, Joseph. To you, and to Karin. I gave your sister's things back when she left the diner. Now, all I want to do is forget what I was and be someone new. Karin wants to give me a chance to be that someone. Would you... um, give me that same chance?" She wanted to extend a hand over for a handshake with the boy, simply to reach out to him. Kids had a weird way of perceiving things. For all she knew, Joseph might have nightmares of her for the next week or two. Maybe he'd come to like her. Who knows. But she emptied her thoughts for him. Said what she wanted to say earlier that day. Her message got out. Now she had to wait to see how this little boy took it all. But then, she remembered another detail that might appeal to him. "I... I have a brother, kind of like you. A bit younger, but he's my brother. He... he forgave me for what I did. Do you think you could too?"


A bit of a stretch of the truth. Maybe one day when she rebuilds her life, she could hope for the possibility that she would gain the courage to approach her brother he could look past her faults. Could Joseph?


--


These two detectives had each other's backs, even when it seemed like one was about to be pushed over the edge by their personal feelings towards a case. Frank might get carried away with the Clovers. Tony might lash out again at Thalia. Much like Thalia and Karin, Tony and Frank were a package deal. They go down and rise together. Whichever way their fate lead them, he would go. It even cracked Tony up to know that his partner would want to be his cellmate in a worst case scenario. His older, hearty laugh got him over some of his doubts, and stopped him from dwelling too much on past failures. Both for his old partner and his ill conduct with their forced partners. Boy, were the girls a tough set. Talk about bad meeting evil. Which was which, though? For Tony at least, Karin was bad; Thalia was evil, simply due to the extended criminal background of the latter. The four had a lot of planning to discuss. A lot measures to be taken so that nobody suspects any of them. Keeping Thalia's name off any sort of record, making sure nobody suspects Karin's house, and the detectives working around this case with their covert plans. Getting a micro camera could go either way, but odds are, no SWAT operative would just hand over his cam without an explanation. It would be their lifesaver, though, for when Thalia goes back to the duplex. In due time.


Much like how Tony had his own story about his partner, it seemed like Frank had a tale of his own. Which was odd. Most people with something to hide weren't as enthusiastic and helpful as Frank. Strange indeed. But as this man's partner and companion, he'd happily listen to his story on drinks later. As much as he missed Richard, this new guy was certainly great company. He enjoyed brainstorming and tag-teaming with Frank over the course of the day. It was... satisfying. Completing. Felt good to have a partner again, and fresh blood, too. Yet, business came first. Maybe they'd take a day off and talk about their issues. Even take the ladies with them, probably. It might help him conquer the bitterness he had for Thalia.


It wasn't long until the two arrived on scene at the location. Knowing what was inside unnerved Tony. Thalia described it as a brothel. Were they bringing their hookers and sex slaves down there to have a ball? Worse, were they taking out their frustration on the owner's daughter in that basement? Poor guy, forced at gunpoint to listen to these thugs while they do as they please with his daughter. Thank god that redhead they had in cuffs confessed to this place. The two detectives left their vehicle and geared up with their vests and shotguns. All precautionary, of course, but with a gang like the Clovers, the precaution was necessary. The two were told where the commander was, and Tony agreed with his partner's idea. "You were told right. Commander can be a hardass when people aren't... obedient. Let's tell him we arrived."


Once they reached the first floor and the designated room, Tony took one last look out the building's window at the 7-11 through his binoculars. Clear, no one inside but the owner at the register. No entrance to the basement was obvious from this particular view, but there was a door to what seemed like a back room. That might be it, but that was for the impact team to discover. He turned away from the window to the man in charge and introduced himself, "Commander, Detectives Walsh and Hale. We're the ones who reported the place from an anonymous tip. Obviously, you're heading up the operation to invade the potential Al-Asheera hideaway, and not us, so it's your lead. How are we looking so far? Any resistance from the rival gangs yet? Any suspicious activity came up in our absence?"
 
Joseph was sat there and frozen in place, but he did his best to be respectful. Growing up without a father meant he missed out on some critical life lessons so far, and there were certain things Karin just couldn't bring herself to talk about, and it was probably all stuff that Joseph would never talk to his sister about, anyway. But, she'd done a good enough job, and it was clear he hadn't missed out the important lessons on mannerisms and such. He still sat up straight, still maintained eye contact when he had the chance to do so. He was doing his best to hear her out, like Karin had asked. Karin was the only frequent adult and career in his life - he assumed she knew best, but he couldn't deny, when he first saw Thalia stood in the living room, he immediately questioned just how much his sister actually knew. He was sure she was going to be going to prison at that exact moment, and honestly, that was upset him most. Not so much the sight of Thalia. Sure, the sight of her scared him, but it wasn't enough to bring him to tears. She wasn't as terrifying when she didn't have a mask and dark makeup on. Just like everyone else, Joseph thought that Thalia was quite the stunner in the way of looks.


From as much as his innocent mind could understand, Thalia didn't want to be part of the bad stuff anymore. He got that much at the very least - If that was the case, it made sense why Karin was helping her out, befriending her. Karin was kind, and Joseph would argue that with anyone. She didn't look like the soft and sweet girl on the outside, but, she had a soft spot for some people, it's just those people were hard to come across. Joseph looked between Karin and Thalia a few times, and when Thalia was done talking, he took a deep breath, then shrugged once before reaching out and grasping her hand. He didn't have a firm handshake - anyone who knew him knew that his handshake was never a strong one, quite the weak one in fact, but a handshake was a handshake all the same.


"Yeah, sure, I forgive you." He nodded a few times, "I mean..." He thought for a moment, "Sure, it's... Kinda' scary seeing you again, I won't lie there. But, you don't seem all that bad now. You seem pretty normal. Pretty... Nice." He gave a tiny half smile. "And if you're trying to change, if you wanna' be a completely different person, I guess that's even better." He said, "It wasn't really you that made things so bad this morning, though, it was more the... Y'know, the guy who was shooting." He sighed, "Karin always tells me that everyone makes mistakes, and that's what makes us... Well, us." He said, shrugging. "So, yeah, it's cool." She said.


Karin smiled warmly down at the boy - pride, that was all she felt. He was brave, matured in many ways. He was that quick to forgive, and that impressed her. She quickly pulled him into another hug and kissed him on the head.


"J, Thalia's gonna' be staying with us for a while, okay?"


"Oh, sure." He nodded, "How long?"


"We're not sure yet. As long as she needs - That okay with you?"


"Uh-huh, no problem." 


Karin thought for a moment, and... Well, she knew there wasn't much more she could do that could force the two into bonding at all; she knew that even though Joseph was forgiving, it was going to take a while for the shock of things to truly wear off, and after that, hopefully he'd grow a lot closer to her if he was given the chance to. She didn't expect him to treat her as a best friend come tomorrow morning, but, having them on good grounds would be nice, at least that way he could sleep under the same roof as her without panicking. She did have one idea, though.


"Hey, I have an idea. Why don't you show Thalia where the bathroom and the spare room is?" She asked him. "I mean, kitchen, dining room, and living room are pretty much right here where we are now, but, I'm sure she'd appreciate a little tour. If you do that, I'll make us all some hot chocolate. God knows I could do with relaxing for a while, and maybe a hot bath."


"Sure, I don't mind doing that." Joseph nodded, stepping up from the couch. Karin just nodded to Thalia - She wanted him to go with him, alone, mainly so Joseph could get more used to the idea of her being there. Either way, assuming she actually did get up and follow him, Joseph took her on a very short walk down the hallway, just past the dining room, and pushed one door open. Ah, the bathroom. 


"So, yeah." Joseph shrugged, "Pretty obvious what this is, I guess. Main bathroom in the house. Karin has one attached to her room, but, yeah." He said. It was a nice bathroom, too, much like the rest of the house. It was well kept - modern, with hanging sinks, a clean toilet, slick bathtub with a shower attached, and clean tiles all around. Couldn't really knock that at all, to be honest. "Okay, the spare room's just over here." He said, leading her yet another door down. This door, when he opened it up, revealed a bedroom that looked like it hadn't been touched in years. It was clean, don't get me wrong, but it didn't look lived in. The sheets on the bed were pristine, the dressers were sparkling, the nightstands looked new, and the desk had no computer on it, no coffee stains, nothing. Even the books on the shelf, a few years old now, but, still clean. A teenage girls's room, no doubt, one that probably once belonged to Karin. The blinds were down, curtains drawn. It looked cozy, with the bright decor and general warm feel to it.


Just to put it into perspective a little more.


Joseph was sat there and frozen in place, but he did his best to be respectful. Growing up without a father meant he missed out on some critical life lessons so far, and there were certain things Karin just couldn't bring herself to talk about, and it was probably all stuff that Joseph would never talk to his sister about, anyway. But, she'd done a good enough job, and it was clear he hadn't missed out the important lessons on mannerisms and such. He still sat up straight, still maintained eye contact when he had the chance to do so. He was doing his best to hear her out, like Karin had asked. Karin was the only frequent adult and career in his life - he assumed she knew best, but he couldn't deny, when he first saw Thalia stood in the living room, he immediately questioned just how much his sister actually knew. He was sure she was going to be going to prison at that exact moment, and honestly, that was upset him most. Not so much the sight of Thalia. Sure, the sight of her scared him, but it wasn't enough to bring him to tears. She wasn't as terrifying when she didn't have a mask and dark makeup on. Just like everyone else, Joseph thought that Thalia was quite the stunner in the way of looks.


From as much as his innocent mind could understand, Thalia didn't want to be part of the bad stuff anymore. He got that much at the very least - If that was the case, it made sense why Karin was helping her out, befriending her. Karin was kind, and Joseph would argue that with anyone. She didn't look like the soft and sweet girl on the outside, but, she had a soft spot for some people, it's just those people were hard to come across. Joseph looked between Karin and Thalia a few times, and when Thalia was done talking, he took a deep breath, then shrugged once before reaching out and grasping her hand. He didn't have a firm handshake - anyone who knew him knew that his handshake was never a strong one, quite the weak one in fact, but a handshake was a handshake all the same.


"Yeah, sure, I forgive you." He nodded a few times, "I mean..." He thought for a moment, "Sure, it's... Kinda' scary seeing you again, I won't lie there. But, you don't seem all that bad now. You seem pretty normal. Pretty... Nice." He gave a tiny half smile. "And if you're trying to change, if you wanna' be a completely different person, I guess that's even better." He said, "It wasn't really you that made things so bad this morning, though, it was more the... Y'know, the guy who was shooting." He sighed, "Karin always tells me that everyone makes mistakes, and that's what makes us... Well, us." He said, shrugging. "So, yeah, it's cool." She said.


Karin smiled warmly down at the boy - pride, that was all she felt. He was brave, matured in many ways. He was that quick to forgive, and that impressed her. She quickly pulled him into another hug and kissed him on the head.


"J, Thalia's gonna' be staying with us for a while, okay?"


"Oh, sure." He nodded, "How long?"


"We're not sure yet. As long as she needs - That okay with you?"


"Uh-huh, no problem." 


Karin thought for a moment, and... Well, she knew there wasn't much more she could do that could force the two into bonding at all; she knew that even though Joseph was forgiving, it was going to take a while for the shock of things to truly wear off, and after that, hopefully he'd grow a lot closer to her if he was given the chance to. She didn't expect him to treat her as a best friend come tomorrow morning, but, having them on good grounds would be nice, at least that way he could sleep under the same roof as her without panicking. She did have one idea, though.


"Hey, I have an idea. Why don't you show Thalia where the bathroom and the spare room is?" She asked him. "I mean, kitchen, dining room, and living room are pretty much right here where we are now, but, I'm sure she'd appreciate a little tour. If you do that, I'll make us all some hot chocolate. God knows I could do with relaxing for a while, and maybe a hot bath."


"Sure, I don't mind doing that." Joseph nodded, stepping up from the couch. Karin just nodded to Thalia - She wanted him to go with him, alone, mainly so Joseph could get more used to the idea of her being there. Either way, assuming she actually did get up and follow him, Joseph took her on a very short walk down the hallway, just past the dining room, and pushed one door open. Ah, the bathroom. 


"So, yeah." Joseph shrugged, "Pretty obvious what this is, I guess. Main bathroom in the house. Karin has one attached to her room, but, yeah." He said. It was a nice bathroom, too, much like the rest of the house. It was well kept - modern, with hanging sinks, a clean toilet, slick bathtub with a shower attached, and clean tiles all around. Couldn't really knock that at all, to be honest. "Okay, the spare room's just over here." He said, leading her yet another door down. This door, when he opened it up, revealed a bedroom that looked like it hadn't been touched in years. It was clean, don't get me wrong, but it didn't look lived in. The sheets on the bed were pristine, the dressers were sparkling, the nightstands looked new, and the desk had no computer on it, no coffee stains, nothing. Even the books on the shelf, a few years old now, but, still clean. A teenage girls's room, no doubt, one that probably once belonged to Karin. The blinds were down, curtains drawn. It looked cozy, with the bright decor and general warm feel to it.


2af0fda641e4e8b8064ce906f2fdaf1d.jpg


 
​


Joseph pushed the door open fully and flicked the light on.


"I know it's not anything special. It used to be Karin's room, back when mom and dad were still alive." He said, glancing around. "No one's actually used it in years. I told Karin she didn't need to clean it seeing as no one ever used it, but she didn't listen. She still cleans it whenever she cleans the house. I never really understood why." He let out a little laugh. "But, I guess this is where you'll be sleeping. There's not much in here right now, but..." He shrugged. "A room's a room, I guess. Hope it's okay."


So, he turned to her, and offered her a tiny smile. That more or less concluded the tour; meanwhile, Karin was busy in the kitchen. Joseph thought he may as well ask a question or two, though, get to know this girl that was staying with them. Couldn't hurt, could it?


"Sooooo..." He tucked his hands into his pockets and leaned against the wall, "Are you not from LA?" He asked. "You said you had a brother younger than me, right? What's he like?" He asked. He obviously wasn't quite aware that Thalia didn't really, well, know her brother all that well. He was just making conversation.


--


So, going up to the commander wasn't really something that he was afraid of facing. He'd dealt with scarier people than some jumped up savage who looked more suited to be an ex-con rather than a SWAT Commander, but, heck, he knew that SWAt were SWAT for a reason. They were bigger, badder, chewed grit, and pissed napalm. At least that's how they made it out to be. The SWAT selection list wasn't about what you knew, it was more about who you knew. Sometimes it wasn't even as complicated as that. Providing you had an average IQ, an itchy trigger finger, and some pretty big fuckin' balls, you qualified for SWAT. Frank couldn't ever say that SWAT was his deal at all. He'd pass on the risk of getting gunned down on a daily basis. He'd stick to the gritty details of things with his partner. Still, time for them to present themselves to the Commander.


Tony did the introductions, and he kept it polite and in a way submissive. Probably a good thing, because this guy was 6ft 4" and full of muscle. The true stereotype of the 'rough cop' - I mean, shit, it's LA. This was a normal thing to see on the force, really. You can only imagine the abuse the 5ft 4" guy got from some of the guys. Sure, it was all a bit of banter and all the rest of it, but... It made Frank thankful that he was at least six feet high, to say the least.


"Evening, boys." The Commander said to them. "Welcome to TANGO-1. We've already plotted out the inside of the building - Our assumption is that the basement is either in the storage room at the back, or, there's a hatch behind the counter that leads down. Either way, basement entry won't be a hard thing to reach." He said, "We've got two points of exit, the front, and a single door at the back that leads out into an alleyway. As for cover, our front man's going in with a shield. They don't have much else than that, so we're hoping for one clean sweep. You boys are here for the surveillance and such - I'm keeping an eye on my men as best I can, and I'm directing them if they need it. Sergeant Rudy out back there will take lead on the operation out there, so, radio contact will be at a minimal unless I say otherwise. Nice to see you're all suited up - I'm not expecting any stray bullets. We're sat here in the dark, and I've got my trusty laptop to see anything their snakecam feeds give us. We're looking at an easy op here, guys, unless it's an ambush. We don't have much backup, but we've got the SWAT's water tank on standby just in case things go sour." 


"As for suspicious activity..." He looked at Tony. "We ain't seen fuck all." He shook his head, "Makes me wonder if they've moved location. All we've seen is the owner for the past while - Guy ain't moved. Served a few people as they came in and out, but that's it. Everything seems quiet."


Frank looked down his binoculars into the shop window. "Poor bastard's got a face like he's got a gun to his head."


"I'm sure you would too if that was your daughter they had, Detective." The Commander said, sternly. "Either way, we've got a sniper unit on the roof, plus two additional men out back armed with rubber bullets, shot any unarmed hostiles try and make a break for it. We're aiming to bring them in alive. Whether they let us do that is a different story." He explained. "Now, the two of you, be ready. Not sure how many of these operations you've been part of before, but this is a new enemy. This could get real ugly, real fast."


The Commander picked up his radio.


"TANGO-1, green light. Go ahead, over."


"Copy that. TANGO-1 moving in." 


He looked between the two again. "Now, what our boys are gonna' do... Three from each side of the building, pushing in through the front entrance and covering the left and right side of the store. They'll move up, clear the area, get the shopkeeper out of there, and lickedy-fuckin'-split, we move in on our hostage." He said, and thus, he watched the men move in, as did Frank. As they were moving, though, something else happened, something unexpected. The Commander's cell phone started to ring. He, baffled, quickly got hold of it and answered it. This was a work phone - Whoever was calling could only be calling for the right reasons.


"Make it quick." He whispered.


He heard the first few words and his face dropped, and immediately, he put the phone on speaker and set it down. When the Detectives heard the voice on the other end, they knew immediately it was someone using a voice changer.


"Good evening, Commander. I hate to interrupt at an inconvenient time, but there's something that needs to be said to you." 


The Commander's radio went off. It was static, and nothing but that. The men were waiting by the front door now, and one was on his radio. What happened? Was someone scrambling communications? Frank was getting nervous - this mission was a bust, and he knew it.


"What do you want?" The Commander asked.


"I want you to know the severity of the situation you're involved in, Commander. There is something everyone should know. You, your team, your department. There is something about yourself that you don't know. Something that you will deny exists until it's too late to do anything about it. It's the only reason you get up in the morning, the only reason you suffer the shitty boss, the blood, the sweat, and the tears. This is because you want people to know how good, attractive, generous, funny, wild and clever you really are. 'Fear me or revere me, but please think I'm special.' We share an addiction. We're power junkies. We're all in it for the gain and the gold watch.The 'hip-hip-hoo-fuckin'-rah'. Look at the clever boy with the badge, polishing his trophy." 


"What is this...?" The commander whispered, clearly quite horrified. But Frank was sure he heard those words before. He was sure that was a script from a movie, a quote, something plucked from a film reel and slightly adapted for the situation.


"This is a message to all of those who stand in the way. You do not know who I am, but believe me, I know you. Remember, Commander, the greatest enemy will hide in the last place you would ever look."


"Wha-" 


At that moment, the Commander gasped and immediately ripped his earpiece from his ear - He cupped a hand over his ear, too, and there was a high pitched shrieking noise coming from it. Like a bell chime. Someone was deliberately disrupting communications. The men outside had the same problem, too, all of them with their ears ringing because of the same high pitched chime, all of them doubled over and thrown off course.


"Get them out of there!" Frank immediately got up, "Tony, Commander, something's not right. Something is very wrong. We need to get down there, we need to get them out of there right NOW!" He yelled.


"Yeah, no shit, honey!" The Commander screamed as he rose to his feet, but, Frank was already running. He was straight out of the door and practically flew down the stairs, out the back door, and around the corner. He had to warn them. He had to get them away from the store - Had Al-Asheera planned an ambush?


"Guys! Get back! Abort! Abort miss-" 


Boom.


There was a loud bang. A very loud one. One that shattered all of the windows of the surrounding buildings. One that sent the building in front of them, and everyone within it, up in flames. An explosion? C4? What the fuck was it? Either way, most the SWAT team was knocked back. The explosions were at the back of the building, but it was safe to say the whole team went flying well away from it, and the hot air rushed out of the doors and smacked Frank right in the face, also sending him flying to the ground. His ears were ringing. He was sure he was going to be deafened permanently by that. His head was spinning, but there was he was, lying right there on the ground just wondering what the fuck went wrong, and who the fuck actually did this.


Al-Asheera, the shopkeeper, the hostage, and probably most of the SWAT Team, all gone. 


But Frank was well and truly down for the count, his face still stinging, his ears still ringing, and his eyes slowly fluttering shut. 


It was in that moment that the Commander, Tony, and Frank, all received a text message from an unknown number to their phone. 


'Checkmate.'
 
It didn't get any more satisfying for Thalia to see Joseph slowly begin to accept her. A bit surprising, too, but a relief when he shook her hand. She didn't want that sort of tension in Karin's house during her stay. Which reminded her: she couldn't possibly stay for too long and bother this family further. Once she settles her debts and clears her name, she will get a job, make some money, and get a place for herself. But... staying with Karin felt nice, and she openly allowed it. Small place, quiet neighborhood, better company. She didn't think she could go back to the duplex. What would Ra's do to her at night? Break into her room in order to slip between the sheets with her? Make annoying flirts and violate her privacy at every opportunity? Kill her, possibly, if the police already ratted her out? She would literally spend her nights sleeping with one eye open to avoid a potential attack or intrusion in her sleep. An uncomfortable sensation that she wished she could get away from. And now she might've. This new place around a seemingly friendly woman and her peaceful little brother served as a greater option. She could get used to this.


"Well, show me around, big guy," she happily accepted the invitation for a short tour of the house under the boy's supervision. Maybe a way to bond. She couldn't say no, and wanted to see her new bedroom. She liked hers back in the duplex, but it still felt dull. Almost felt sort of haunting, too. Like the walls would cave in on her or something. A strange fear, but she's seen stranger. She'd seen all of the basics in the short time she was in the house, and Joseph pointed out other specifics like his room, Karin's room, and the bathroom, all places to get used to.


Then came her room. Karin's a long time ago. It looked untouched for so long, probably since her parents passed away, but also well-kept. The excess of white in the room was quite a contrast from the darker colors and designs preferred by Thalia. A bright, very youthful room. A youth she didn't get much of a chance to enjoy. Yet, it got her hopes up, smiling at the room around her. She slowly walked passed Joseph towards the bed and let herself fall back first into it. A fluffy comforter and an even more relaxing mattress. Much better than the one she had in the duplex. If Al-Asheera had so much money, why didn't they spend it on at least a bit of leisure? It always bugged her. This room, despite being past her age, was one she secretly always wanted. Her eyes kept looking back and forth in admiration, taking in this place she'd now call home, until she grew tired of arching her neck and sat herself up properly on the bed. Where'd she seen this before? Then, almost instantly after asking, it hit her: her room in her parent's home from back in the day. It was just like this: a tidy young girl's room made for her to feel safe and cozy. Why did this appeal to her so much, especially a girl who was a complete opposite from the innocent vibes this room gave? Simple: she wanted to make up for lost time; be the kid she never got a chance to be. Not a thief; just a girl. Might've seemed a bit abnormal from someone who should be focusing on looking for a job and a college at this point, but instead wanted to lounge in a room meant for someone years younger. She left her gloves and the remaining cloth of her mask on the bed behind her and scooted towards the edge letting her feet fall to the ground and showing her happy expression to Joseph.


"Come here, big guy," She called, tapping the bed to her right side, a test to see if the boy would seat himself next to her. "This room is perfect. It's all I've ever wanted. You and your sister sure are nice for letting me stay for a few nights. Just until I can get my own place, alright? I won't bother you, I promise." Such a gleeful schoolgirl moment for someone who didn't think she deserved such a second chance. Karin evidently disagreed. Finally, someone who believed in her will to change. It'd be a bit of a struggle to acclimate entirely, but she could do it. She had someone who understands her struggle, who'd help her get used to her new life.


Joseph brought up a few events of her past. Including a question of her brother. And she had to stick with her exaggerated truth about him. "Um... yeah, I am not from here. I used to live in Philadelphia. I just came to LA a week or two ago... but by myself. My brother's still in the other side of the country with my mom and dad.... He..." How could she play this out? She's never seen her brother. All she had of him were those few words he gave her on the phone to a complete stranger. "He was really sweet. Looks kind of like me, but less scary and... well, a boy." She fondled with her fingers beneath her face as she usually does to keep her mind off the less pleasant of memories, or lack thereof. "I miss him, Joe. I really do. If I could've brought him to LA, I would. Maybe for Christmas, I'll go back to Philly for the holidays, see him again. I'll bring pictures so you and Karin can see. But if anything... he's a good kid. He's strong, like you were at the diner when we held it up. You hung tight to Karin trusting her to take care of you. Any other kid wouldn't do that. I see a strong man in you. I really do. And when I see you, I remember my brother. How I didn't have as many memories with him, not like you and Karin. D-Don't lose that part of you. It hurts to be so distant from your family. It really does."


Only in that moment did Thalia finally realize how much it hurt to run away from home. She'd be a totally different person had she stayed home this whole time. Maybe not the person she wanted to be, but also not this monster that she kept seeing in the mirror. The only reason she refused to admit she was attractive was because every time she saw her reflection, she saw something horrible, straight out of nightmares. Her eye make-up only completes the appearance. But she didn't have to be that anymore. She could be someone better, and she was finally convinced.


--


The commander seemed to be very confident in his plan, tactically explaining every step of the operation to the two detectives. Everything seemed to be going according to plans. A straightforward invasion and hostage rescue attempt, and an easy getaway. Al-Asheera can't possibly out-arm a SWAT team, not after Thalia emphasized how out of touch they were with cutting-edge technology. Point, aim, shoot, steal. That's their thought process, one that could be beat with ease. Tony nodded in approval to begin the operation, all ready to watch the action. But, it was interrupted by the strange phone call. The voice was distorted, morphed. Tony couldn't make out if this man--or woman--had any sort of distinctive accent to pinpoint any sort of nationality. But this person surely was cocky. In over his head to gloat and poke fun at the SWAT commander. It made him clench the weapon hanging around his shoulders, almost worried for a sort of sneak attack. He could feel it, just as a hunch from his past ten years of experience. Messages about enemies hiding in the last place you'd look. Then the Commander yanked his earpiece out. Comms had to be shut down by this hostile... No. This had to be a set-up. Be it the Clover Boys or Al-Asheera, someone was luring the police and SWAT into a trap. Frank brought it up instantly. "How could anyone..." Unless Al-Asheera were sabotaging their own lands, but they weren't textbook terrorists, or resourceful enough to bring down police comms. They had to do something...


...Then Frank made a run for the door. A bit late to react, but Tony eventually ran after him. "Wait, Frank! Don't get near that place! Frank!" His actions were most certainly noble, but not with what he was expecting to happen. And that fear came true when he saw the burst of flames emerge from the windows and doors of the humble shop. The SWAT team was engulfed and Frank launched back by the heat and shock wave in play. Fortunately, Tony was just out of the way only to feel a hot flash slap him in the face and be jolted back a few steps. It threw him off for a few moments, a ringing sound echoing in his ears, but he could still hear the burning building around him, as well as some of the screams of other members of SWAT kept at a safe distance. Shaking his head, he tried to process what just happened. Al-Asheera with explosives? Out of character, but from what they'd been told, a lot was out of character today. But his thoughts were halted when he saw Frank lying on the asphalt.


"No... no, no, no, Frank?!" As quick as he was to say that, Tony leaped to the dazed man on the ground, feeling out a pulse. Weak, but he wasn't gone yet. Grabbing the sides of the man's head, he tried to get his attention, see if he was still conscious. "Frank, can you hear me? Let me know if you can hear me... Frank?! Oh, shit, don't do this to me. FRANK!! GET A MEDIC OVER HERE, NOW!"


Two partners gone in such a short time due to these gangs. Whether or not this explosion was Al-Asheera, it gave him more reason to dedicate himself to this case. And unfortunately, more reason to need Thalia and Karin.


--


The duplex in the Skye Towers office had a second balcony, one with a tremendous view of LA opposite to Thalia's. It was Ra's' balcony. Every night since they landed in LA, he would take his glass of Scotch and just watch over the city. He felt as if he were untouchable. That this city was indisputably his for the taking. As if these other gangs didn't exist, and he certainly made an audacious move hitting the cafe. What the crazy Arab man failed to recognize is that retaliation would be seeked. And quicker than he originally though. Though he didn't appreciate being interrupted during his alone time in the late hours, if it were urgent, he'd understand. And he could feel when someone creeps behind him. And this evening? He had creepers, in more ways than one.


"What is it?" Ra's barked when he felt the presence of a messenger in his quarters, taking slow but careful steps behind him. This messenger remained behind his boss and spoke:


"Ra's. There is a problem."


"Define problem." He didn't even turn around, just kept looking at the city lights in a sort of awe, plotting his next moves and sipping his drink.


"The brothel was compromised. Someone attacked, explosives. No survivors."


Ra's didn't blow up in anger, surprisingly. As if he saw this coming in a way. Just a sigh, placing his glass on the railing of the balcony and slamming his chunky palms onto the metal. "Our men are dead, too?"


"Indeed, mawlaye...." It was unusual for a clan leader to be titled as "Your Highness", but his arrogance got the better of him.


"Mmmmm.... Who did this?" Some rage was picking up.


"Investigating. From the looks of it? Might be a rival. But we have indicated that SWAT and police were on-scene before the explosion."


"Nobody knows about the Burbank brothel. It was not made public knowledge."


"Mawlaye...."


"No. Someone is leaking information. Who was made aware of the location of the brothel and its applications?"


"Only those within your inner circle. Al-Ashra."


The Ten. Ra's nodded, but the fury was only becoming worse at the thought of a double agent. "If one of us in Al-Ashra revealed the whereabouts of the brothel..."


"Then, we have a traitor."


"Kha'in." Traitor. That's all Ra's could think of. He didn't want to imagine who it was. "Who is unaccounted for withing Al-Ashra?"


"Only three are not present in any of our bases. Al-Yed, en route to us as we speak..."


"Al-Yed would not betray me."


"There's also Al-Rsas. But he is undercover in the LAPD."


"Any chance he spoke of such a location?"


"No, sir. Because he delivered word that he was unaware SWAT was sent to the scene. There's another party involved, which we will discover later... but the third member of Al-Ashra who was unaccounted for is Al-Jameela."


Thalia. Ra's took his eyes off of the scenery of the city and down to his underling. Disbelief clouded his mind, and though he saw Thalia in a negative light, only as a source of pleasure, even this stunned him. "Are you certain of this?"


He nodded. "You said you were planning to let her go. Could she have picked this up and went to the police? You should not have forced the money upon her to anticipate her failure. She's not that stupid."


"She was becoming careless over the past year."


"Is this because she cheated on you with that other woman?"


"She betrayed our promise for marriage. They were planning to run... She was supposed to execute that girl and she refused. Instead, I had to perform the ritual, murder her beloved in front of her eyes. And today she lets our trainee kill a man unjustly? This is not the same woman I shaped into my own. She is the kind of woman who would stab me in the back under enough pressure. Maybe there is another lover in the picture. I do not know and do not care. Find her. And have her delivered to me. And get to the bottom of the brothel incident. Clean it up."


"Yes, mawlaye."
 
He sat down beside her without question. In his own home he felt more or less invincible - she was in his palace now, not the other way around. In his eyes, he had that little bit more power, even though if something happened, there was truly nothing he could do. He didn't expect her to do anything, though, because so far she'd been proven to be quite trustworthy. "You're not bothering us by being here." He said, "It gets... It gets really, really quiet when it's just me and Karin here. Karin doesn't have many friends, and we don't have any family left, either, so usually it's just us in here. it's nice to have someone else for a change." He smiled up at her. "Karin probably likes that you're here, y'know? I know I'm always here, but, I'm not always good company for her. She needs friends that are older than me, I won't deny that, even if she will." He shrugged. "My room's on the other side of the hall from here, a little further down. The house doesn't look all that big from the front outside, but, when you get in here it's actually kinda' decent. The only thing I'd really like is a bigger living room." He laughed once and linked his hands in his lap, twiddling his thumbs and listening to all that the new girl was saying.


"Philadelphia? All the way over on the East-Coast?" He asked, "Wow, that's... A long way to travel, huh?" He smiled a little. "I've always wanted to travel more, when I was really little our parents took us to Spain, I think, and then somewhere upstate, too. The thing is, if you live in California, you don't go somewhere else to see the weather, y'know? You're already somewhere with beaches, bars, cafes, swimming pools, and sunshine. So, I guess you'd go somewhere else to see what it was like with the people and stuff, like Spain. It was probably around the same sort of heat as Cali when we went there, but it was a completely different place. I remember there was a store on the corner of our building, and the the guy there served this crushed lemon ice. Like slushies, but, home-made. Real good. I'd like to go back there one day." He explained. 


"I don't get why you think you look scary, either." He laughed once, "You looked scary with a mask and all the dark makeup, but anyone would. Now? I don't think you look all that scary at all." He looked up at her and shrugged, "I'm sure your brother's happy to have you as a sister, I bet. You should definitely go home for Christmas, go home and see them, or even invite them here if you have your own place. Usually it's me and Karin for Christmas, sometimes Graham, but, if you and all your family were here, we could always just spend Christmas together. All of us." He suggested, his voice getting quieter as he spoke about it. He thought that that was maybe too ambitious, but, it was nice to be able to dream. He wished he had little cousins and nephews and all of that, but, simply, he didn't. He didn't even have parents anymore..


"It's definitely brave, you coming away from home like that. Braver than me. Sure, I was as strong as I could be in the diner, but, I'd never be strong enough to leave my family, or... Well, Karin." He sighed, "I guess that's just what hurts most, though, being distant, right?" He asked. "I loved my parents, but, my mom was always looking after my dad in one way or another, and my dad was always working, or drinking. I don't really remember him all that much, but, I still have pictures that remind me of them. The only thing that hurts to think about nowadays is how me and my dad never really spent much time together when I was younger. He was a good dad, but..." He shrugged. "I don't know. But I do know that some kids don't realize how lucky they are, to still have a mom and dad. Sure, they ain't perfect, but, I don't think anyone's perfect. Karin said there's no such thing as a perfect person. Everyone has somethin' about 'em." He said, looking at the floor.


Wow, that got pretty deep, pretty quickly. 


"We could... Go back and sit with Karin, if you want?" He offered, eventually. "She said she was making hot chocolate. She makes it real good, I swear."


--


There weren't any immediate medics on scene, but everyone was field trained, or at least some were slightly more trained than others. Was it safe to move Frank in the state he was in? Not really. He could have had a whole array of damage done to him, but from the outside, he didn't look too bad, maybe just a little shellshocked. Some blood on the back of his head from where he'd smacked the ground, post-explosion, but that was all. It wasn't really anything that they could have prevented. He was going to do it, he was going to be the hero no matter what they said. He would have ran right into that store if he'd had the time, but, fate had made it so the C4 went off first. The Commander thought one thing - the FBI were going to be breathing down their necks from this point on. This counted as terrorism in more ways than one, and the fact that it was a hostage situation and they never got the FBI involved would only fuck them off even more. Things were about to become a lot more difficult, but, was the help of the FBI something they needed? It was just that the FBI weren't the most popular of people among the PD.


The Commander ran right alongside Tony as he made his way to Frank, and ducked down right beside him.


"Goddammit, kid." He whispered, "Running in like a dime-store angel of death ain't gonna' help you in something like this." He looked up at his SWAT team, or at least what was left of it. He knew there was at least one fatality - one man had been caught directly in the blast's path on the left side, and there was a lot of blood, and one body that wasn't moving at all. Everyone else was moving, or groaning at the very least, but they were all gravely injured. If he lost more men, he wouldn't be surprised. It was probably shocking for some, how the Commander just seemed to shrug it off, but when you thought about it, you came to realize that a Commander of SWAT had lost more friends and officers than anyone in the department. This wasn't the first time he lost people, and it certainly wasn't going to be the last.


Frank's eyes were barely open, but, he heard a few things through the ringing in his ears, and saw a few shapes through his blurred vision.


'Frankie, wait here with your sister, don't go anywhere.'


'Son, you've been acting weird lately, is something wrong?'


'Frankie.'


'Frank.'


'Frank.'


'Wake up, Frankie.'


'Frankie, wake up.'


'FRANK! GET A MEDIC OVER HERE, NOW!'


His hearing finally began to recover, as did his eyesight, but his body felt weak and frail. He'd just had the air and just about everything else knocked clean out of him. He looked up at Tony, slowly, and choked out his name. He was alive, responsive. Thank god.


"Tony..." He whispered again, and with a slight turn of his head, he saw the mess which was the 7/11, and the SWAT Team, too. For the first time, instead of anger or confidence, he showed nothing but sadness and broke down into tears. He set his head back on rough ground and stared up at the stars, his vision blurred yet again, only this time by his tears. Could he have done something more? He was too lost in his own world when he listened to the man on the phone to realize that the team was in danger. By the time he realized, it was too late. But was there a reason for that? Would he even be alive right now if he'd realized sooner?


Things didn't end there, though. When would they ever end?


A gunshot echoed down the streets, at least it did after there was a loud ping as a bullet struck the ground a few feet away from them. After the sound followed closely after, it wasn't hard to idetify exactly where it was, and what it was. End of the street, in a building, first floor above the store. Usually the place where the owner of the store would live, right above their workplace, but was that really going to be the case here? The night was full of surprises. Another bullet struck the ground, but not them.


"Sniper!" The Commander screamed. Where was their sniper unit? Still on the roof? Did he even have an angle over the shooter now? "Detective, we gotta' move him. We've got a sniper at your three o'clock, window. If we leave your partner with my guys they'll make sure he's looked after. We need to neutralize this son of a bitch before he kills anyone else." He snarled, slinging his gun over his shoulder, followed by grabbing one of Frank's arms. "We ain't got five minutes to think about this now. Let's move." He ordered. In theory, as this was his operation, the Commander had authority over everyone there. To a reasonable extent, at least. The only confusing thing was why wasn't the sniper picking them off? Why wasn't he or she shooting the remaining SWAT members? He was just wasting bullets on asphalt, but regardless, he needed to be dealt with.


--


The Lucky Jack, Downtown LA


The club was usually buzzing with people, but tonight the doors were closed. Not even the invite only list was allowed in, only people the boss called in personally.


"Looks like our guy did what they were meant to." Bradan said, taking a long puff of his Cuban cigar. "That'll send a message to those fuckin'..." He shook his head, "The fuckin' sheep-herders, or whatever the fuck they are. Teach 'em to fuck with us. They hit us, we hit harder." 


"You lied to our guy about the setup."


"Gah, who gives a fuck. There was a civilian and a few cops, big fuckin' deal. What're they gonna' do? Charge in here and shoot me?" He asked, sarcastically.


"The fact that they were willing to do this for us proves that they ain't some pushover, though, boss."


"Shut the fuck up, Marty." Bradan snapped, waving him off. "I ain't worried about them. We did what we needed to do." He turned and smiled at another man that was sat with him, holding up a glass to him. "And you. We thank you, our city's finest, for giving us everything we needed to know. Here's to many more years of fuckin' success, my boy." He winked at him. 


"And to you, boss." The man replied, chiming his glass off of Bradan's. The operation was easy enough to uncover, or the information was at least easy enough to find. Having all of SWAT there was a chance, a risk, but, they knew it could be pulled off. It was an easy enough job, it had been for years: Go into the PD as an officer, get what you needed, and send it discreetly to Bradan without anyone being any the wiser. How easy was it to slip in all the copied documents with the alcohol shipments for the club? Easy as pie, and undetected. It sort of explained why the boss loved getting whiskey sent there so much, because most the time, they could expect another drop-off from their little informant.


"Now all that's left to do is find that white-haired bitch and get my watch back." Bradan kicked his feet up onto the table and took a drag of his Cuban once more. "Can't believe that whore did me over like she did. You see her, you take a picture. If I confirm it's her, you tell me where she is, or you bring her to me. Either way, it's high time me and our little thief had a chat, I think." He grumbled, "Dumb lass, stealin' a stolen watch. Like shit will she be able to pawn it, sell it, whatever the fuck she was planning. She was a second away from Brucie here..." He patted his loyal companion on the head - the dog, of course. ".. tearin' her to fuckin' pieces. That would have been a sight to see. Maybe we'll do that if she ever finds herself up here in the club. I'm sure she'd love a few rounds in the ring with this fella."


"Let it go, boss, we can just get you a new watch." A man across the room said, "No need to draw more attention to us, like."


Bradan glared at him. "Are you bein' fuckin' serious right now, Trav?" 


The man kept a straight face, but eventually laughed and shook his head. "Of course not. We'll find her."


Bradan started laughing too, loudly, and eventually, everyone else did as well. It wasn't as funny as he made it out to be, but they didn't want to risk making him look like an idiot. Why would they? "You know somethin', Travis..." He jumped up and kept the cigar in his mouth. He walked over to him. "Somethin' you should know... I know somethin' that you'll find pretty damn funny, too." He said, and in that instant, he whipped out his gun and turned a laughing Travis into a crying one, as a bullet went down into his foot. He was immediately on the floor, rolling around and screaming, but, Bradan just shook his head.


"It's not about how she took the watch. It's about the respect." He said, delivering a swift kick to the man's face; he rolled over, but the screaming stopped. That was him out cold. "Take Trav here out back, get him cleaned up. I've got some calls to make." 


"Yes, boss." Another man whispered, shakily.
 
Joseph was so young, but had a lot on his mind, a lot to say. Thalia was never this talkative, usually silenced by her stern mother giving her a slap to the hand with a ruler. Not exactly abuse, but rather tough disciplining. This boy had more room to speak his thoughts, a great quality that Thalia came to like from him. He mentioned how Karin probably enjoys her company. A good thing. The last thing the redhead needed was to be a hindrance to their status quo. Ruffling Josephs' hair in a friendly way, she giggled and answered, "Well, let me just say your sister is a great friend. I... don't have many my age either. Karin's a first in a while. Where I was before, I didn't really have all that many girls my age to talk to and gossip with, you know? Mostly older men. It wasn't very... ideal? Not for a girl like me. Karin's a good person, and I really like her. Maybe we can be each others' friend for this next while? She could use someone to get her mind over the stress. And I need someone to help me be... a bit more normal. If you get me?"


The surprise on his face when she brought up her old hometown. He spoke of Philly in astonishment like it were some distant faraway land. But she couldn't blame him for a desire to travel. She did, too. Philly and LA are two different cities in two different parts of the country. Humored by how he thinks of his hometown, she added on, "Yeah, it is pretty far away from LA. But kind of like you, I always wanted to get out of where I was cooped up in. That's why I was so excited to come to LA. It's.... so different. Interesting. And it's even better now that I have pros like you and your sister to guide me around." She left out some of the other details she'd written in her diary about crushing on Californians from a distance. He's 10 for god's sake; he's not the kind of person to talk to about her crushes. Karin, on the other hand? Different story. Maybe when they go out for drinks, they could sit in a corner and rate guys from a distance together, or whatever young people do when they crush from afar. Then came the idea of families. Christmas. It only crossed her mind to possibly bring her folks here. Show them that she built a happy life for herself. Why tell them when she could show them, after all? Her face becoming a bit red from the shyness of discussing her family and how excited she'd be to meet her brother, she answered, "That's not even a bad idea, Joe, you know that? I'll have to ask them about that. Might have to pay for their tickets, too."


Laughter was the spirit of this house. A spirit she grew to enjoy. She never smiled as much as she did around this family. Joseph brought up her scary stage presence as well, how she finds herself scary. "I... really only make myself look scary because I don't like it when people think I'm good looking. It's... awkward. Makes me feel weird. Back when I was stealing... man, I got a lot of weird looks. Imagine just everyone in the room staring at you... that's why it's so weird for me." Though she'd use those looks to pull off many tricks. Seduction was more powerful than her physical capabilities at times. Oh, the amount of times she's slept with people to get a look into their pockets, snag a fancy necklace or watch, get a few credit cards. And at the same time, she got to have sex with people other than her husband-to-be. Better, more pleasant sex.


Out of almost nowhere, Joseph brought up a much more... touchy topic about his past. Thalia wasn't entirely comfortable opening up about the darker details of hers. They weren't the kind of things to tell a child who's already been through enough. She simply didn't want to scare him further about a story of rape, theft, abuse, and even the loss of a lover. "You know..... how about we go mess with your sister? Play around with her, make her have fun tonight, hm?" Without even waiting for his approval, she gently shook his shoulder and signaled for him to get up and go back to the kitchen. She was already several steps ahead of him, almost skipping out of the room.


Thalia knew a thing or two about sneaking, remaining quiet, which she did, her footsteps dead silent. She held her finger over her lips to Joseph to remain quiet as she slowly approached Karin from behind. With a flick of Karin's white locks with both hands, Thalia playfully got her friend's attention from behind, hopefully not startling her too much. "Hey, big sister of the year. Nice place you've got. Great room, too. Soooo... what are your big nighttime plans?" Her hips swayed side to side, hands folded in front of her like a child, trying to inspire some youthful joy out of Karin. She could use a night off, one to relax. Tomorrow, they had their work cut out for them.


--


Frank's responsiveness came as an incredible relief for Tony. He'd hate to watch a second partner suffer irreparable damage because he couldn't do anything to save his life. But he wasn't completely out of it, thank god. Tony wiped the sweat over his face, looking back and forth across the street at the chaos ensued. The flames were picking up from the building behind him, the heat blazing upon his coated back and the sounds of SWAT operatives barking orders to each other. There were no immediate medics on scene, which worried the older detective further. He feared moving Frank from his place, god only knows what damage he's endured internally. But he was alive. That's all that mattered.


"God damn it, Frank, you are an idiot for even thinking of doing that, but I get why. This isn't your fault. Thank fuck you didn't get yourself killed. Just hang in there. I'm not letting you die!"


But the fun didn't stop there. The sounds of gunshots almost instinctively triggered Tony to take cover, his body over Frank's as a sort of protection for his partner, but his eyes keeping watch over the street. The sounds, they were too far off to be close by. And a boom that loud? Not an explosion. A sniper. He knew it before the commander made the call. Tony panicked. Who the hell is this? Bombs? Snipers? This ain't Al-Asheera, that's for sure. This has to be the Clovers or some other gang they've pissed off. This is revenge. As scary as the situation was, he and the commander had to get Frank somewhere safe. Staying in one place was basically screaming for a sniper to pick them off. Carrying Frank by the opposite side of the larger leader, Tony assisted him in taking his partner away, hiding him in the building they originally came from.


Even if they were on the move, the three were an easy target. The hostile sniper could've easily stopped them in their tracks, wiping them out in seconds. No, this guy's wasting lead. Scaring people? Causing a panic. THAT sounded more like Al-Asheera. But things were far too inconsistent to make a judgment, especially in such a shocked state of mind. This could be a live firefight. Clovers vs. Al-Asheera vs. SWAT. If there wasn't war before, there sure as hell is now.


"Commander, what's going on?" Tony asked once they found cover inside. "That sniper could've taken us all out with the utmost ease. But he was still shooting and not even close to us. What the hell's he doing? Got a clue?"
 
Inevitably, Karin and Thalia could do all of those things. They could go out one night and have a dozen mini-crushes on nearby guys if they wanted to. It was as simple as that. Karin wanted to do things like that with Thalia just as soon as all of this was over, just as soon as the two of them had their names cleared. In theory, they were both wanted criminals in the eyes of just about everyone, or at least they would be soon. Soon enough they'd be sitting hot on $1,000,000, hopefully they would, anyway. If that wasn't going to make them high-profile, she wasn't sure what would. Even so, that wasn't what they had to worry about right now. Their main thing that they had to think of now was quite simply the moment they were living in. Thalia was there with them, and they were going to hopefully have a bit more of a chill night. They probably all needed it after the day they'd had. While Joseph and Thalia had been talking, not only was she getting the hot chocolate ready, but, she was also doing some Googling on her laptop and getting things ready.


After all, to access the deep/dark web, she needed to find out... Well, how you actually accessed it. So she did, and she installed everything they needed to get to it when the morning came. No way was she even touching that shit tonight. She'd had enough drama was it was, she just wanted to relax.


"I wouldn't worry." Joseph said. "Things will get better, I'm sure, so don't worry so much about all of it. Soon you'll get to see your family again, and things will be great." He said, "But yeah, let's go mess with my sister a little bit." He grinned. Joseph didn't quite realize the severity of the situation that Thalia was in, but no one could really expect him to. He was just a kid, he didn't know how deep this whole business ran. But it was probably best that it stayed that way. Karin didn't want Joseph getting dragged into all that business, simply because he didn't deserve the extra worry. She didn't notice the two sneaking up on her, either, and when they did, she was just spraying cream on top of three cups of hot chocolate, and sprinkling some marshmallows over the top.


"Oh!" Karin yelled, jolting upright for a split second, but then immediately laughing. "God, I didn't hear you guys coming." She chuckled. "Well, I'm glad you like the room." She turned and grinned at her, "Hoping Joseph took care of you. Didn't bully you too much, did he?"


"I went easy on her." Joseph joked, then let out a little laugh.


"Yeah, alright then." She shook her head and forcefully ruffled his hair, but she got her hand batted away - she still got a grin out of him, though. "Anyway, this is for you, guys." She picked up two cups and handed one to each of them. "My plans for tonight is to just chill out and relax a little bit, honestly. We could watch a bit of TV together, then Joey, you've gotta' go to bed."


"Oh, what...? It's early." He groaned.


"Hardly." She said, "It's getting late - Come watch TV with us for a bit, then you need some sleep. I think we all do." She said, and, with that, back to the living room she went. When she turned on the TV, it was on the news channel. News broadcasts didn't usually run this late, at least not main ones, but this was one of those 'breaking news' ones.


'-- dealing with chaos this evening as what is suspected to be a BOMB went off inside a 7/11 in Burbank. There are police and paramedics rushing onto the scene now, and it's unclear if there are any survivors within the building. We're currently nearby now, and you can hear in the background that there's a live firefighter going on as we speak, and--' 


Nope. Karin changed channel. The 7/11, though? Christ, that wasn't fun. That was the place that Thalia spoke to the detectives about, wasn't it? She was almost sure that was the place. Either way, no need to cause any panic at this hour. She could discuss all of that tomorrow once the situation had blown over, so simply, she put on a channel that played action movies, then dropped herself onto the couch. Joseph followed in suit, his head on his sister's shoulder. 


"Come on, sit." She smiled at Thalia and patted a free space on the other side of her.


--


Frank still wasn't all with it, but, he was dragged to cover and didn't seem to be in any pain. He could be seen to now, but now it was down to the Commander and Tony to get to the sniper, or find a way to stop him. The commander was jusqt as puzzled by all of it as Tony was. Why weren't they just shot on sight? It'd make sense if Bradan's people were behind it, and they were just trying to get rid of them. They'd clarified already that Bradan wasn't a cop killer, so, that's what made the most sense here. It was a moment like this that Tony and Frank would have been the better combination - two powerful brains, one easy-to-solve situation. They were having to play tag-team for now, though, until they could actually deal with this. The Commander, whose name was Redgrave, had a piece of mind on all of it - not the most logical one, but, one that at least gave them something to go on.


"I don't know what's going on, son, but whatever it is is fucked up." He said, "I reckon the guy's trying to flush someone out, maybe he's looking for a certain person. Either that, or he's trying to send us running like he did just then." He said, "Either way, me and you need to push up there and deal with him. We'll take a couple of guys with us and make a move on him, alright? We can pull off a flank no problem at all." He said, and, well, "You two!" He pointed at two officers that weren't really doing all that much. "You two need to come with us, watch our backs, be ready to call for backup. How are our communications?"


"Jammed, sir. Nothing but static."


"Son of a bitch." He mumbled, "Alright. Detective, you guys, on me. We'll go get this bastard and hopefully find the shit that's blocking our channels." He said. Redgrave seemed to know what he was doing, or seemed to know the best way they could go and avoid sniper fire. They could stay clean out of sight, too, so it was an easy little jog up the street, basically. They could get in through the back door - easy, and thus far, they hadn't been met with any reinforcements. Redgrave had a rifle with him, but it seemed like he didn't need it. Everything was quiet - dead quiet, which was unusual for an area completely engulfed in chaos. Gradually, though, the door to the building was reached, the back door, and that was unlocked. Not normal. That door wasn't meant to be open, but it showed they were going one step in the right direction.


Up the stairs, and the sniper fire was still present, and the door it was hidden behind was right at the top of the stairs of the building they entered. He nodded to the door, then placed a finger on his lips as he pulled a flash grenade from his utility belt.


"I'll pop this, and as soon as it goes off, we move in, okay?" He whispered, and once he had confirmation, he pushed the door open and tossed the flash grenade in through the open gap. There was a loud bang, but, nothing in comparison to an actual explosion. As soon as it went off, the door was shoved wide open, and Redgrave went in with his rifle at the ready, and what they saw was quite... Worrying, to say the very least. The sniper rifle was literally shooting itself. There was no one sat behind it.


"What in the name of ever-loving fuck?" He asked, quickly approaching the weapon and the stand it was sat on. "Holy shit, look at this fucking thing."


fps%20remote%20sniper.JPG


 
​


"Detective, this isn't just military-grade, this is some military prototype 'for restricted eyes only' bullshit. This is just..." He shook his head, and, well, thankfully found a way to disarm the thing. The shooting stopped, and not long after he turned it off, their radios came back, and the sound of chattering police officers and paramedics quickly filled their ears. There was a laptop on the ground by the stand, too, one that was on but had nothing open. All of this was evidence, and this whole scene was that of a crime scene, too. 


"This doesn't make sense. What the fuck are we dealing with here?" He asked. "You're the expert on this sort of shit, right? All the analysis? Well, Christ, I need some analyzing done on this, alright? Because a street gang should not have one of these." He tapped on the top of the gun. "Wait, if this is a remote-controlled rifle, that can only mean one thing - whoever was shooting it has to be close by." He gulped, rubbing the back of his head. "You two, search the area." He said to the two patrol officers.


"Sir." One nodded, and they both turned and left, with one of them giving Tony a pat on the shoulder as they did so.


Well, this was well and truly fucked.


"Any good with technology, detective?" He asked, then nodded down to the laptop. "No way am I touching that shit."
 
Most of the worries of tomorrow were nowhere near Thalia's mind anymore. Just a fun-loving, playful girl, someone she REALLY wanted to be instead of her more devious counterpart. It would good to see Karin take the hair flipping and attitude in a fun way, as she planned. Even got her a hot chocolate in her hand. Boy, has it been long since she had a warm drink, or a warm anything in that matter. Most of the food and drinks in her old hideaway were cold. Except if she were on a private date with Ra's, in which the horrible experience of a shit-all date trumped the state of the food. Just made her too sick to her stomach to enjoy it. This was different. When she actually tasted her beverage, she was in shock. Homemade, and actually tasted AWESOME? Seeeeee? You fucking love this! Still wanna rob this girl or stab her in the back? Go with the flooooow..... UNLESS she's just using you for something... Why would she do that? She just wants a friend, just like me? ... She's just....... shady, is all. Do you know what she really wants? She could want you dead you know. ... BUT THIS IS ACTUALLY GOOD, SO SHUT UP. 


Thalia channeled out of the voices in her head for the moment and slowly enjoyed her hot chocolate, wiping the cream from above her lips to avoid embarrassment for her face of shock. She'd never really had a good hot chocolate before, so this was a first for her. Food made from the heart? She hadn't seen it since she ran away. She watched as Joseph argued about his bedtime, and Karin enforce it further. Time didn't really matter at this point for Thalia, only because, as a thief, there really was no bedtime. Night was the best time for her hits. Now it looked like the best time for having fun, which she certainly was doing now. Watching TV... as much as it was calm, it was still something she enjoy... up until she saw the news report about the 7-11. Shit. Shit. Shit. Did I do that?! Obviously not. But behind her back, Ra's believed she did. Scratching the back of her head with one hand, her eyes shot out at the report, then glared back at Karin, concerned. But she couldn't bring this up in front of her brother. When Karin quickly changed the channel, it put the bad news out of her face for the time being, but it didn't leave her mind. Were those detectives there? Fuck, maybe I shouldn't have said anything. Though worried on the inside, Thalia took a seat by her new friend and tried to look past what she'd just seen and enjoy whatever channels Karin was flipping through.


Such a peaceful portrait. Two young ladies and a little boy watching TV at the late hours of the day. Thalia kept looking back at her newfound friend, smiling to her in some look of satisfaction, but not saying anything. She'd thanked her enough and didn't want to sound too clingy. She wanted to stay indefinitely, help keep the lights on for Karin, pay rent, and even help with Joseph's expense. But she kept her thoughts aside for now.


Till tomorrow.


"Sweet... I like this kinda stuff." Referring to action movies. But also referring to gatherings. She didn't get enough of those.


Yet in Thalia's pocket, her cell phone vibrated, but she could care less, only cuddling in her place on Karin's couch and enjoying the movie. A message from an unknown number: Come to me, Al-Jameela. All is forgiven.


Bullshit.


--


A remote-controlled rifle raising hell on the street? Tony had seen things in his time, but THIS was most definitely a first. Something straight out of an action movie, where the villain gets access to some unreal cutting-edge technology. This confirms it not being Al-Asheera. They could barely upgrade their hand weapons. He wouldn't expect them to have a military grade rifle like this. Otherwise, he'd tear the ass out of Thalia next time he saw her for not warning them about this. For all he know, he just might have been fooled. But that wasn't the concern at the moment. What they needed to do was disable the system before it actually kills someone, even without intent. Once the finger was pointed at him to try to put this atrocity to an end, Tony immediately knelt down to the screen. Blank. This was unusual. Not even a clue as to determine what was causing the automated weapon to act as it was. Waiting for a techie would take too long and put someone at risk of getting hurt. It was a breech of protocol, but these were desperate times.


"I know a thing or two about computers, sure, but the way this looks..." Tony stood up from his kneeling position, unveiling his sidearm from under his overcoat. A few officers on the sidelines were in some state of shock, seeing the detective with the weapon. Without a second thought, he discharged a bullet down the center of the screen, careful as to save the integrity of rest of the hardware and not shoot something behind it by mistake. The data could probably still be recovered, even with a hole in the middle, and the gun suddenly came to a halt.


"Are you out of your damn mind, Detective?!" one of the officers shook his head in disbelief that a man like Tony just attempted that. He'd be slapped in front of his commanding officer back at the station, no doubt, he could justify it.


"If I didn't do that, I'm sure a stray bullet would've killed someone. Police or civilian, I'm not letting that happen. And waiting on someone to analyze will take way too long. Were we just going to let that damn thing go on a shooting spree, whoever the fuck is controlling it?"


He was prepared to argue to his superiors and the SWAT commander as to why he'd do such a thing. And either way, if this entire ordeal WAS Al-Asheera because of Thalia snitching, he would certainly rat her out and take the whole ship down with him. It'd kill him to do that to Frank, but he could easily keep the man isolated from this madness. Place the man on a pedestal as a hero for trying to warn the SWAT team. No, Tony would take Karin and Thalia down, whether they ratted him out or not, if this has to go to shit.
 
While things at Karin's household seemed pretty calm, with the three of them enjoying some nighttime TV and just relaxing after a long day, things at the detective's side of things were clearly not as peaceful as they would have liked. Frank came here expecting them to go in, get the Al-Asheera members, free the hostage, and be done with it. Now, they had one dead SWAT member, two dead civilians, and no prisoners to take back and interrogate. It had taken its toll on Frank, and honestly, he was done for the night. He wanted to go home, or at least go somewhere that wasn't here. He felt his heart beating a lot heavier than it should have been, but, that's because he was hurt more than just physically. He had a bruise on his head, and that was about it. He was bleeding from his right ear, too, and that was the only thing that was in a lot of pain for now. A few shots of whiskey and some aspirin would fix that right up, he was sure.


Then again, maybe aspirin wasn't the best idea, as it thinned the blood. He didn't want the ear to bleed even more than it already was. Things seemed to be moving a lot quicker than he thought, and now it was just the aftermath of the chaos that he could hear. The crackling of the fire, the shouting and demands of officers on scene. Luckily, though, after one final gunshot that didn't sound anything like a sniper rifle, things seemed to come to a bit of a halt. Thank god. Now, he was just there staring into space while a paramedic tended to him. He was shaky, weak at the knees, and quite spaced out and drowsy, but he was alive. That seemed to be something that was going through his head now - he was alive, unlike many others. Why was his life the one that got to keep on going? What about the girl in the basement? If she wasn't dead as the bomb went off, she was definitely going to be by now. If she didn't burn to death, she would have been crushed. If she wasn't crushed, she would have been suffocated. It wasn't pleasant to think about, but, that's the way it was, and that's the way it was going to be. He just had to deal with it now.


"Sir?" The paramedic said, and after a few seconds, Frank turned and looked at him. 


"What...?"


"Do you have any history of asthma or heart problems?"


"No..."


"Any history of brain, neck, or back problems?"


"No, I don't..."


"Alright. Listen, you're lucky, your head doesn't need any stitches and I think the worse thing you've got here is a perforated eardrum from the explosion. Worst case scenario, you've got a concussion, too. Look at me for just a minute." He said, and when Frank turned to him, he shined a light in his eye. Pupil dilation was normal. "Do you remember anything of what happened in the incident, Mister Hale?" He asked.


"Perfectly. We got here... Communications got disrupted by someone, or something... and..." He paused, "I ran out, but the place went up in flames right after. Next thing I know, I'm being dragged to cover." He gulped.


"Alright." He nodded. "I don't recommend you drive. You're going to need to see a doctor about your ear, just to be safe. Is there anyone here you know?"


"Let me go, my partner's around here somewhere." He rubbed his forehead, then wiped his eyes.


"If I'm to let you go, you'll need to sign a waiver."


"Sure, sure, go ahead." He said. He didn't want to sit around having lights shone in his eyes anymore. He wanted to find Tony and get the fuck out of here - Bombing situations FBI could have immediate jurisdiction over. They didn't need to hang around, because as soon as the Feds got here, they'd be thrown off the scene in a less-than-polite manner. The only guys the FBI worked with without being dicks was usually the forensic team, as they both had their hand in the same cookie jar. Detectives? You couldn't find a worse enemy for them. FBI were like LAPD Detectives with g-strings. Tight, stubborn, and up their own ass.


Once Frank had signed that form, all he had to do was ask on the radio. Communications were clear again, it seemed. He knew where they were, and after taking a somewhat slow walk to get to them, he soon found where they were. He found them in the building where the sniper was apparently set up, but when he walked into the room, looking tired and beat up, his eyes quickly widened and set themselves on the rifle. That was some heavy weaponry. Still, first thing's first - tell Tony he was alright. He didn't want to seem ignorant, and even though he was pretty out of it when it happened, he knew he caused some panic.


"Hey, pal." He put a hand on Tony's shoulder. "As you can see, I'm very much alive. If not a little shaken." He cleared his throat. "Overheard a few of the guys, they reckon FBI will be on-scene within ten minutes. All of this can be counter as some sort of act of terrorism, so, it's a bit beyond us. We have access to the case, obviously, but this situation?" He shook his head. "Either way, we should probably roll out of here soon." He sighed.


"Before anyone leaves... Detective, you know anything about this weapon here?" 


"RC Rifle, most of those that exist are prototypes, from what I remember, or used by the army in the field. They're not easy to get hold of. I understand they have something similar in the middle east. One of the terror groups had something like this one, just... Not quite as advanced, obviously. The sort of thing they built from a do-it-yourself kit, y'know?" He said. "The laptop?" He nodded down to it.


"No idea. It's got a bullet in it now." Regrave said. "Drive's not damaged, so forensics can hopefully salvage something. Other than that, some of our boys searched the area for the guy controlling this thing. They didn't find shit." He said. "It's gone dark. We've got a lot of bodies and nothing to make up for it just yet."


"Alright." Frank sighed, glumly, then looked back to Tony. "So..." He cleared his throat, "How about that drink?" He asked.
 
Seeing Frank on his feet and back into action was a terrific sign. From the looks of it, his partner was going to be okay. He didn't think he'd have to pull him off the case. He didn't WANT to. Frank was a brilliant investigative mind and had a vast knowledge of the Clover Boys. Losing him would create a dent in the Al-Asheera case. He was clearly aching and injured, but in the end, he'd be okay.


"Thank god, Frank. You had me worry sick. I appreciate the bravery, but you better not throw your life to the wolves like that again, because get this: I'm going to pull your ass right back out." A promise. One to keep his partner safe. Maybe that same kind of feeling would be reciprocated. But now, with the FBI showing up on the scene, Tony didn't feel like sticking around to be bossed around by a few stuck-up suits who think they're a superior master race. Sure, they were protecting people and keeping the city a better place, but the rivalry between local PD detectives and the FBI were deep. Drinks? Certainly an idea.


"Yeah, the Feds are all over the place now. They're going to regard this incident as an act of terror and take over the investigation. The 7-11 is out of our jurisdiction. On an official basis, at least. Not much we can do anymore... other than try to rest this off. But this time, I'm driving. I don't trust your ass in the hot seat till tomorrow." A bit of a chuckled came from Tony, leading his partner back to the car with a pat on the shoulder.


--


July 4th, 2016, 8:15 AM | Karin's Home in Burbank


A new day dawned before the ladies in the relaxed home in Burbank. One that would continue their journey to put an end to the regime that had Thalia a slave to their horrors for so long. Also one that would further their friendship and get to know each other better. On top of it, it's an opportunity for Thalia to discover who she really was if she wasn't going to be a thief anymore. What future could she look forward to when this was all over? And most importantly, would those two cops that she and Karin managed to sway in their favor uphold their end of the deal, and let them both walk? It seemed like neither were going down without a fight in that regard. If anything, it'd be for Joseph. So young, yet his mind was struck by the death of his parents and the memories of a robbery/homicide. Could he handle the separation from his sister and entrance into foster care? Thalia didn't even want to consider that option. She'd fight for Karin's freedom and right to be with her brother. It's a luxury she didn't get with hers. Still, all the talk of a brand new start got her hopeful that one day she could show up at her parents' doorstep and put the past behind her. Maybe let Charlie know who his sister was after all this time. A changed woman.


Those two detectives. It unnerved her how Tony was so hostile towards her. Why? She never understood it. Not to sound arrogant, but she usually assumed people softened up to the sight of an attractive lady. But Tony? The second he recognized her as Al-Asheera, he suddenly gave her death glares, as if he wanted to strangle her in front of a child, an innocent woman, her neighbor, and his partner. Was it BECAUSE of Al-Asheera? It could darn well be. But she admitted her willingness to betray them. So, why the bad looks and the physical coercion? ... then there was his partner. FUCK the other one's cute. He was nice and all... pretty good looking, kinda wondering---HEY! Don't sleep with a cop that's saving your ass! He'll just betray you! She couldn't help but entertain the thought, especially after Karin put it in her mind. Who knows... someday.


Sunlight beamed through the shades of the window, blasting to Thalia's eyes and slowly waking her up. She usually would leap out of bed whenever it came time to wake up, and it was usually by the sound of a gun firing a blank. This time, she changed it up. She woke up on more natural terms. So serene. She couldn't even believe that this life was her own. She felt 12 years old again in the room under the circumstances. She turned her face away from the rays of sun leaking through the curtains, stubbornly wishing she could stay in bed just a bit longer. But there was work to be done that day. The bed was comfy, the frilly sheets soft, and the pillow like a cloud. Damn, if anyone in Al-Asheera caught her in something like this, she'd be laughed at. But no. She felt like she was in a time capsule reliving her broken childhood. Nostalgic. Completing. She sat up from her place in the bed, the sheet still covering her legs. She caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror in her line of view. Her hair was a mess from how she buried herself in the sheets and kept tossing and turning. Her eyes looked like she's had a great night of sleep, fully rested, her face almost glowing from how happy she was. The past few nights, she'd slept vertically on a chair for Ra's to marvel at for some sick reason. She definitely didn't miss him. But despite her bedhead looks, she smiled at her reflection. Pretty, they keep saying... They might be right. For once, she could agree with the words of others. The grown-ass woman sleeping in a child's bed, acting less than her age wishing she could revive her childhood and impress her 8 year old brother...


Pretty, nonetheless.


Her eyes took to her left, her cell phone lying in her bed. She still hasn't checked the message. She never felt a need. Nobody was going to call her or message her. But someone did, almost begging her to come back. All is forgiven my ass. Thalia wasn't an idiot. She saw the news report yesterday about the 7-11. Just conveniently after, Ra's is calling for her hand back? No. This was a trap. If she were going to return to the bastard, she'd do it on her terms, in a way to stun him. Not necessarily sexually. But enough so that he wouldn't senselessly kill her. This whole idea of a million dollar compensation with a time limit was just a sham so Ra's could have a reason to kill his betrothed. A way to work around his bent moral code. Was there someone else? If he was cheating, she couldn't blame him. She cheated, too. The difference was? When she cheated, Ra's had her beloved executed for all to see. If Ra's were cheating on her? He could damn well kill her to get rid of the only witness. And he'd find an excuse to call it a reasonable death. Rolling her eyes in disgust, she deleted the message and dropped the phone back on the bed.


Eventually, she'd have to crawl out. Why waste any more time? She rolled over to the right side of the bed, tearing the ruffled comforter from her body. Still so tired, so lazy. This whole new attitude came over her, relaxed. But she enjoyed every second of it. After looking to the shut door behind her, she stood up and reached down to the ground beneath her to pick up her jeans from the floor. She couldn't stand the thought of sleeping in them, far too uncomfortable, so she removed them before she crashed. Quickly fixing them over her legs, she walked over to the large window, clearing the curtains out of the way. Another bright and sunny day in LA. She wanted to go inside and say hello to Karin or Joseph, but she was unsure if they were awake and didn't want to rush them. Instead, she just took a long look at the view of the road outside.


This was a brave new world of Thalia's life. She didn't want to waste it away.


--


Tony's apartment near Santa Monica


Usually, the trip to the mailbox with his morning coffee by the beach was Tony's relaxing ritual before he goes to the station. His own coffee sure as hell tasted better than the one in the station's canteen, and he'd rather spend his morning with Melissa anyway. His work was very consuming, and the woman was worried sick about him after hearing word of the explosion. She knew her boyfriend; he surely had his nose somewhere it shouldn't be. To make up for his own reckless behavior, he decided to go to the station late and enjoy breakfast with her. A decade and a half with this woman that he owed his career to. Had the department discovered his colorblindness, his entire career would be up in the air. Every case he'd closed would be re-opened. And yet, only Melissa knew this secret, and the disability had never gotten in the way of his cases. Hell, he could sort of see Thalia's hair red. Sort of. Enough to know she's a redhead. It couldn't have worked in his disadvantage THAT badly. Hell, Frank hasn't gotten wise yet. None of what they talked about involved that sort of color determination just yet. But would Frank tattle if he found out? Probably not. HOPEFULLY not.


The mailbox. A quiet place right by the beach. It was an ideal lifestyle for Tony, one he was beyond content with. This was a place for him to contemplate his past thoughts. And all he could think of from yesterday was the Al-Asheera case. The explosion. The girls. Everything. It bothered him so much. But what bothered him most was Thalia. Like hell he would want her to walk, but it seemed like things were teetering to a point where he'd have no choice. It got to his nerves, badly. He wanted her to rot in a jail cell, but not die in there. Maybe when Al-Asheera is completely incarcerated, or at least Ra's is, he could make good to his plan to keep Thalia in handcuffs.


But it seemed like Al-Asheera was following him. When he opened his mailbox, there was but one letter. A beige piece of thick paper with the words:


"STOP PURSUING US. ~العشيرة, THE CLAN"


Oh. Shit..... That little bitch.... Immediately, Tony retrieved his cell phone from the pocket of his sweatpants, instantly scrolling to the contact titled Frank Hale:


"We've got a problem. Al-Asheera knows I'm taking their case. It has to be Griffin and Held. We need to meet them. Your ride or mine today?"


He collected Frank's number the previous night while they were out for drinks. But now things were back into full gear. Something was wrong. He was in danger.
 
Last edited:
At the end of the night, Karin had decided that Joseph had stayed up far later than he was allowed to - after a small bit of contesting, he eventually agreed that it was in fact time for him to sleep. Half the reason he didn't want to go to bed, though, he had to drag Karin aside to talk to her in private. The bottom line was, he didn't want to sleep in his own bed tonight. It wasn't because of Thalia, and he didn't want Thalia to think that either, which was why he took Karin aside to tell her about it. It was all because of everything that had occurred over the day - The idea of being alone and away from Karin wasn't something he handled well, so, he cracked and just asked her if he could stay in with her for the night. She didn't mind at all, and once everything was all cleaned up and such, she and Joseph both went to bed. She knew there was a part of him that was going to struggle to sleep for some time now - it was only normal after experiencing trauma, and that night, after doing his shot of slow-acting insulin before bed, he fell asleep with his arms wrapped around his sister.


--


8:20AM - Karin's Home


Karin woke up early, as she usually did. She hadn't had a day where she slept in past 8:30 in years. During school times, obviously it was a lot earlier than that that she woke up. She had to get up, shower, get ready for work if she had it that day, then get Joseph up, make him breakfast, make sure he packs his lunch, his blood glucose kit, and his insulin injector. It seemed fairly simple, but, at first, it was an easy task to get wrong. Joseph was more than capable of doing a lot of that himself nowadays, but, Karin was always there anyway, always one step ahead of him, always spoonfeeding him the stuff that he would quite happily do - and had done - himself. Ah, well. I guess that's just Karin for you. Still, she woke up, but she was still ready just to go straight back to sleep. She turned and looked at Joseph who was still fast asleep himself, but snuggled up loosely to her side. It had been a quiet night, and he hadn't gotten up at all. Usually during the night she'd hear him wandering down the hallway to the bathroom at least once, or to get a drink, but last night he slept right through.


She carefully lifted the boy's arms off of her, and shuffled out of bed. Joseph was usually quite a heavy sleeper, but, she imagined in light of recent events, it was probably quite the contrary now. She didn't want to disturb him. It was still early, after all. Once she was out of bed, the events of the night and day before came back to her. They had something to do this morning, something to take care of, preferably before Joseph woke up and started asking any questions. First call of duty, however, was a quick stop at the bathroom, so if anything signified that someone was awake to Thalia, the flush of a toilet was probably the giveaway, as well as water running in the sink. Karin planned to wake Thalia if she wasn't up soon, anyway, so she went into the kitchen right after leaving the bathroom and started to boil up some coffee. She had no idea if Thalia liked coffee - and if she did, she had no idea how she liked her coffee. She'd make it the way she made her own. Coffee, creamer, and two teaspoons of sugar.


She could never quite understand how some people liked black coffee. Joseph liked coffee, too, but he didn't drink it very often. Sometimes in the mornings he'd have a cup with Karin over breakfast, but he liked his like a latte. Lots of milk, and some sugar. She'd always thought it was rare for anyone below the age of 14 to like coffee. Her mind was wandering this morning, really, but, that was just her way of dealing with this. She was slightly anxious about getting online and looking for some dream-style hacker who would help them without any form of payment. But it was a risk she was willing to take. A risk she had to take.


Her laptop was set up on the kitchen counter in a flash, and, well, step one was simple: Download and install the Tor web browser. That much was done already. It was the rest of it that was pretty scary.


She couldn't do it without her only accomplice, though, so she picked up both cups of coffee, and off she wandered to the bedroom Thalia had stayed in. For some reason, she expected to go in there and find that Thalia had already left, but, why in the world would she do something like that, right? 


She knocked twice on the door, then stepped inside.


"Oh, you're awake." She smiled, placing a cup of coffee down atop the dresser. "I made you a coffee to give you a boost." She said, "Not sure if you like coffee, but, I gave you what I like. Creamer with sugar. It's not too overpowering that way." She shrugged, "How did you sleep? Also, I don't want to rush you, but the thing we were planning on doing, I'd like to do that before Joseph gets up. I know what he's like - he's curious, and he doesn't need to be poking his nose into things. Especially not anything to do with this." She said, but released a little laugh, too. She couldn't help picturing it - Joseph's head poking around a corner and eavesdropping, or his blue eyes slowly becoming visible over the top of a kitchen counter. It was almost comical.


--


Frank's Apartment, 8700 De Soto Avenue, Canoga Park.


Frank's place wasn't too far from the coast, but it wasn't exactly close, either. He had a nice little apartment, though, one with a shared pool and everything. It was a small complex, not a large one, and his apartment represented him more than anything. It was tidy, not very 'loud', thought-out, and slick in appearance. He didn't get any trouble around here, thankfully. It was all gated off and his neighbors were quiet, so he couldn't exactly complain. When he rolled out of bed, he didn't have any girlfriend to turn to and have breakfast with, but he did have his own time to do his own thing, and he did have a dog.There was also time to shower, get dressed, make his own breakfast and sit and eat at his own pace. He was up and ready long before he got a text dropped to him from Tony. The only bad thing in Frank's day before that was his pounding headache, which came as no surprise. The blood in the ear stopped last night, and it stayed that way. He woke up to no blood on his pillow, which was always good.


As for the text he got, he didn't need to read it twice. He got his shoes on right away and sent him a response.


'I've got splitting headache, so I better not drive. Come by my place at 8700 De Soto Avenue, I'll wait outside the front gate. We'll meet up, get a coffee on the road to wherever, and then we'll figure out what it is we need to do.'


The plan seemed flawless. Nothing better than a breakfast donut and a cup of coffee to start yet another day of police work. He figured he may as well check his mail on the way down there, though, but when he opened up his mail compartment and pulled out the note, he took a deep breath and shut his eyes for a moment. This wasn't looking good on Thalia and Karin's part, but, what didn't make sense was this: If they were trying to help them, what good would this do? Why would they send these? They'd know that if they sent these it just gave them grounds to be arrested on... Right? They did know that? Frank wasn't sure anymore, but something felt very wrong, and the feeling of being watched slowly came over him. He shrugged it off, though. He'd give them everything he had.


He brought up Tony's contact and sent a picture of the letter, attached with the caption of, 'Looks like you're not the only one they're on to. I just got this in the mail. Come get me ASAP. Wherever we go, we better make sure we're not followed.' 


He leaned against the wall, and he waited. He had a different suit on today, because the other one was in dire need of a dry cleaning.
 
Easily startled, but Thalia got used to the typical noises of a household like Karin's. A toilet flushing, someone's footsteps, the pattering and other noises of someone working in the kitchen, even a few birds chirping outside. So this is what it's like to live in a peaceful home. Far away from the chaos and hustle of Al-Asheera. Karin wasn't kidding about the neighborhood being quiet. It almost made the girl want to leave the house and take a walk, get to know the area better. She didn't have much to hide, so long as she fixes her hair to make her neck less obvious and wore the gloves she came with. It'd give her some practice with normal human interaction. All she'd ever done to people is rob them. Or fuck them, then rob them. All depends. But this was different. Maybe she just wanted to bask in the morning Cali sun. Her daydream of the road outside and her path to a new life was cut short when her friend entered the room with a morning boost and a greeting. Thalia spun around in her place on her heels and responded, clearly happy as ever:


"Hah, you kidding? I've been dying for a decent coffee. I'm not picky about whatever the hell you put in it, so long as it doesn't taste like shit." She stepped away from the window and to the dresser, taking the cup into her hands. The same warmness the hot chocolate gave her last night return in this drink. She trusted Karin's hand for this kind of thing. "Sleep was good. I haven't slept this well in ages. Not even kidding. Al-Asheera are rich beyond their wildest dreams, and they can't afford a decent little mattress for the Bride of the Head?" She mentioned the last part sarcastically, taking advantage of her position in the organization to receive privileges. That's the only reason she was so high up: her significance to Ra's. Take that away? She's useless. Thank god for her looks in that case, or she'd be dead ages ago. Not like they'd save her now, seeing Ra's wants her in a coffin, and is now luring her back in.


Karin wanted to get started with the hacker business. Thalia knew too little about it to lead the way. Still, it was a good idea to finish with this before Joseph wakes up. She knew about some of the darker parts of the Deep Web, not exactly things a 10 year old should see. She was sure Karin's not an idiot, but still. A healthy sense of paranoia never killed her. It's actually preventing her from being killed. "Well..." she smiled to Karin, hoping that a bit of kindness would start both of their days off better than yesterday. "We definitely should."


But there wasn't just the hacker to talk about. That news report they saw for just a few moments was still a problem. Thalia had a few theories as to HOW the 7-11 was compromised, but she knew which one sounded most likely: that she exposed it. As for a who? Ra's is probably making enemies. It could be anyone, but it obviously wasn't law enforcement. Cops wouldn't blow the place to kingdom come, not when it's packed with evidence, at least one hostage, and potential Al-Asheera members. Taking another sip of the warm drink, she popped the question, "Karin.... before Joe wakes up..." she stepped into the kitchen in front of where her laptop was prepared. "We can't just pretend that news report didn't happen. That 7-11? That's the Al-Asheera brothel. It got sent to hell, and Ra's is going to be mad. And if he's got a shitty outlook on me, who's to say he won't come after me..." Her hand reached for her back pocket to show her the ominous text she'd received to come home. "That's him. I know it is. Ra's is looking for me because he thinks I did this. He's sweet talking me so I can melt in his fake-ass sweet talk like some naive bitch and face punishment.... We need that money to prove otherwise."


There was no guarantee that the million would fully appease Ra's. But it at least gives her a fighting chance to walk in there and walk away from it with the help of those cops. But Thalia couldn't drag Karin to hell with her if things go wrong.


--


It was scary enough for Tony to receive an ominous note from Al-Asheera warning him to back off. It gets even scarier when Frank messages back and says he received the same one. Whoever sent these notes knows they were partners. And off day one. The people who knew that were very limited. They also knew that Frank and Tony were heading up the Al-Asheera investigation and probably had something to with the 7-11. Maybe a stretch, but this was worrisome. Tony was worried for Mel. What if he came home one day from work and heard she was gone, kidnapped? He had a lot to lose. Those two girls. Thalia and Karin. There was more than meets the eye to those two. But they clearly aren't on the same page as the detectives if they had the nerve to send those warnings. Snitches. Tony hated snitches. Karin's a liar. Thalia's a thief. Neither of which he could trust. He wanted to go back to that house and put them both in cuffs. Lock them up in some basement and drain the info from them more painfully. They weren't responding well to kindness and mercy. Torture was no better. But something inside him that wanted to pulverize the living hell out of that redheaded mystery girl. She knows more than she says, and he could feel it.


Tony quickly suited up and kissed his long term girlfriend good-bye. Duty called, and Melissa understood the tough life of a detective. That he'd get called off at the weirdest of times, and she accepted it openly. Oh, how Tony wanted to ask for her hand, soon. But once these gangs were no longer a problem. Frank gave him an address, one Tony knew how to get to, or at least could manage to reach on his own. Canoga Park. He could find his way. He's been around southern California well enough to navigate as if it were second nature. The roads? Knew them like a map, like any 10-year veteran.


8700 De Soto Avenue. He found it with ease and honked a few times in front of the gates, as he was instructed. While he was still stopped, once Frank got into the cruiser, Tony held out the warning card to his partner, the tension in his voice clear as day:


"See what I meant when I said I don't trust those bitches? Who's to say they didn't speak right to this Ra's character the second we left and they blew up their own brothel? Sure, the MO doesn't match Al-Asheera, but nothing really does, doesn't it? I'm sure Griffin and Held ratted us out, got the 7-11 blown up, and now they're threatening us. Making it personal. Do you still have hope in them now? Tell me if I'm wrong, Frank! Did we just get ourselves into trouble just for a pair of two-faced snakes to sell us out like that? I don't know about you, but this is not how we should start off our morning."


Especially Frank, after standing right in front of an explosion and waking up with a splitting headache. But business is business. This wasn't going to fly for Tony.


--


Skye Towers Duplex in Burbank, 8:30 AM


"Mawlaye."


The mentally challenged beast still hadn't left his bed, and the same messenger reported back to him. "What?" he growled, unamused by the onslaught of bad news from last night, not even signalling he was to leave his bed anytime soon. Not even a look to his servant, either. He was just that pompous.


"We have attempted to make contact with Al-Jameela. She has not responded."


Of course Ra's didn't text himself. He barely understood cell phones. He clearly made a servant do even that for him. Not even the nerve to text his bride-to-be himself. "Try again."


"We could. But I don't think it'd be very useful. How would she come to you if she's busy settling her debts."


"Tell her the debts have been settled and she is free to return. Tell her we are preparing the wedding. Anything for my beloved to return."


Beloved. The servant found that hard to believe, raising an eyebrow at the remark. "M-Mawlaye. If she does return, will you even consider marrying..."


"Of course not. She has betrayed us. Kha'ina." The female of Kha'in. "I will engage with her, and after? I will behead her when she is least expecting. Then, I will hang her pretty head for all of Al-Asheera to see that nobody betrays me."


"Yes, Mawlaye. We shall try again and see to it."


Perhaps too extreme for a man who was so obsessed with a woman who cheated on him? But Ra's was no better, sleeping with four different women since he executed Thalia's ex. His form of justice was... unorthodox.
 
"The 7/11 is a fucked up situation, but, I don't know who could have done it." She said, "It definitely wouldn't be the cops, unless there was one that was psychotic and just staging all of this to try and make people take the fall. People being us, who are deeply involved in all this Al-Asheera business. It'd make more sense to say that it was us that revealed the whole thing on the 7/11. I don't know if I can speak for both the detectives, but I know for a fact that Tony doesn't trust either of us. Or he at least dislikes you. All of this, in one way or another, can point to us. That's the sad truth." She sipped at her coffee. "I don't know. I'm stumped for ideas on that. It's hard to say who would have reason to blow the place up - I know for a fact that we wouldn't do something like that, but, whether or not anyone believes that is a different story. It's why we need to speed this whole hacker business along, otherwise we're not going to get the chance to do it. I have that feeling that someone's gonna' come crawling up our asses about what happened last night. Either a SWAT Team or the Detectives, depending on how heavily they invest in the idea." She gulped, then ran her hand through her hair.


"As for Ra's, the only thing I can see that would prevent him from capping you would be the money, and that's it. I wouldn't believe for a second that that son of a bitch has forgiven you for everything. The timing is too convenient." She said, "The money, though, would prove that you're capable. Sure, a million dollars is probably pocket change to Al-Asheera, but, if you show him you're capable of getting it alone - or you at least make him think you got it alone - I reckon there's a healthy chance that you'll walk away from him fully intact. It's a longshot, I know, but I know I'd forgive someone if they managed to rake in a million dollars in one week. Alone." She smirked a little bit. "Let's not worry about what he'll think. We're running on limited time here, so we better get down to business. The only reason this is happening, in some ways, is because of Joseph. The whole Deep Web bullshit." She shook her head and laughed once, "He came home from school one day last year and gave me an earful on it all. Said one of his friend's older brother went on it. Never understood why Joseph was so awestruck by that, but, after doing some reading, I can see why." She opened the door up again. "Come on." She said.


So, she lead her out of the room and into the kitchen where the laptop was on the counter. She booted up the Tor browser, then took a nervous sigh as she looked at Thalia.


"So, basically, this browser is the only one that can let you access the Dark and Deep Web. Because of some sort of... I think it's because it's a 'dot-onion' site, whatever the fuck that means." She shrugged, "Either way, this website is meant to be some heavy shit. You can hire hitmen for as little as $30,000, you can buy guns, drugs, even military shit like grenades. There's been some horror stories, so we need to get in, find what we're looking for, and get out." She paused for a moment, and, well, the next step was fairly simple. Just get to the website - Not hard at all, really, but she stayed dead-still as she entered the appropriate address and such. Honestly, the whole idea of this website was terrifying. But she had to do it. There was no other choice.


"So." She gulped, "We're looking for... I guess hackers for hire?" She asked. She looked over the website, and if there was one word to describe it, it was 'basic'. No design, just the sort of thing you wouldn't expect to see online anywhere else. Some of the links were years old, some of them were probably long since removed, and other stuff was more controversial. Hitman services, human testing, all the good stuff. Karin didn't dare click on that, though. She scrolled until she found a forum, one that was titled 'The Hackspace'. Seemed a little too good to be true, but, with nothing else to go on, she hesitantly clicked it.


There were sub-forums, many of them names she didn't recognize, but there was one board that rang a bell - The board was simply called 'Fritzy'. She'd heard that word before, a username, one that Joseph had mentioned as well. After clicking on that, she was brought to an even more basic page, one that was a white background with black Times New Roman text. At the bottom of the page, it said, 'To talk to Fritzy, click here.'


"This can't be serious." Karin said, but, as said before, she had nothing else to go on. "Fuck it. We'll do this, and if anything bad happens, I'll throw the laptop in the oven for twenty minutes." She said, and, with that, clicked once on the hyperlink, and for a moment it looked like the laptop completely froze. Then there was some movement, a download was initiated, and it auto-ran. A .exe file, clearly, and for a few moments, the screen went completely black. Karin tried clicking, tried typing, tried bringing up the Windows Home Bar. Nothing.


"Shit." She whispered.


When she thought all hope was lost to some sort of virus, some text and a textbox came up on screen.


'IN THE EVENT WHERE A PLAYER'S KING IS ATTACKED BY THE OTHER PLAYER'S PIECE OR PAWN, AND IS NO LONGER ABLE TO MOVE, THE GAME IS ENDED. WHAT IS THE TERM USED TO DESCRIBE THE SAID EVENT?'
​


 
​


There was the text box for answer entries, of course, but... Karin was blank-faced.


"I don't buy into all of this, but, it's too late to go back. I can't do anything. Looks like I can only type." She scratched her neck, the wiped a line of sweat away that had formed on her forehead. "Better yet, I don't know the answer to this, and I don't have Google on my phone. All I know is that it's something to do with chess." She said, "Any ideas?" She asked.


--


Frank was right there waiting when Tony got there, and got in the car right away. His head was pounding still, but, he'd had some painkillers and all was well, or at least it would be soon. He just knew his focus wasn't going to be completely there today if the pain kept up - Did he want to go to a doctor? Not really. He was going to brave through it even if it was a bad idea for his health. He wasn't surprised that Tony didn't trust Karin and Thalia, though. Frank wasn't quite sure what to think, but, he knew one thing.


"It doesn't make sense." He said. "If they were going to rat on us, they knew it'd end up coming back to them. If we show up and they're sat there eating sausage and scrambled eggs, then I think it runs deeper. The girls may be bold and particularly stupid, but they're not that stupid." He said. "Blowing up the 7/11, given the fact it was Al-Asheera controlled, would do nothing other than put them on a blacklist. They wouldn't make it through the night if they'd organized that. Plus, Karin and Thalia don't look like the sort of women that know how to get their hands on C4 and military prototype weapons. That shit we don't see every day, and if someone wants to try and convince me that those two have access to that?" He shook his head, "It doesn't make any sense. None whatsoever. If they did sell us out, they're stupid to do so." He leaned back in his seat and took a deep breath, then opened the window a little bit. 


"As far as I'm concerned about this?" He slapped the note he'd been sent down on the center console. "Al-Asheera can kiss my black ass. They're not beating me into a corner." He said.


Well then.


"Let's think about this for a minute - Al-Asheera know about us somehow. That could have easily been Thalia, I won't deny that. But, the 7/11? The weird call the Commander got? That's where things don't make sense at all. How did they get the Commander's phone number? Karin and Thalia wouldn't have had that, so why was he the one called? I think this is going a lot deeper than we care to admit, Tony. I think the 7/11 just proves my theory that The Clover Boys have a guy inside the department, which is exactly why I'm getting McAllister transferred elsewhere, off the books. If they have an inside guy, he'll be shot down as soon as he steps out of his cell." He explained. "The Clover Boys could easily have that, and they could have easily staged that explosion. We know they have military grade weapons, but that sniper? That's high end, even for them." 


"All I'm saying is, if they have an inside guy, who's to say Al-Asheera aren't paying someone in the Department as well? We can check Karin and Thalia's phone records if need be; if they called up anyone, sent any texts, received any texts, then we'll know if they had a hand in it. But... All of this. It's all a little convenient, isn't it?" He asked. "Not just Karin and Thalia, but, the messages in the post? How the fuck would Karin and Thalia get our addresses? All of that's inner department stuff, Human Resources. The girls don't have access to any of that." 


He stopped and looked out the window.


"It's fucked, Tony, but I'm not letting them scare me off." He said, "Let's get some coffee on the way, can we? I need something to wake me up." He said.
 
Reasoning over the brothel incident was well called for. Hearing someone else' opinion was a must for Thalia. It was all sounding like a set-up, possibly to pin everything on them or some other guilty party. But explosives? Thalia knew damn well Al-Asheera doesn't have access to bombs. But, Ra's is changing his methods. If he talked to some black market dealer in order to get himself access to an explosive device, it was beyond her. He's a modern-day psycho with an obsession for power and a god complex. If there came a day where he wanted to blow up half of LA, he'd die trying. What the hell did she see in him so long ago? The mere thought of him disgusted her now. Still, there was a possibility the brothel wasn't Al-Asheera. There were other gangs out there, and Tony even asked yesterday if The Clan was poking at others and trying to antagonize the other crooks of the underground. Trick question: Ra's did that the minute he started Al-Asheera in Philly...... Shit... he IS doing it again. She realized that would've been important to mention yesterday, and she knew the second she brought up that detail now, that grey haired detective would have her head. She hid something from him. But she could only hope he was content with what he was given yesterday and simply backs off.


Order of the day? The Deep Web. Karin explained some of the applications of this underground network. Drugs. Guns. Hitmen. Illegal porn. All the goodies for a thief. It reminded her of the girl Ra's executed in front of her eyes: Vanessa. She knew about this kind of stuff, computers, hacking, getting access to networks. Hell, it's something she learned a thing or two about in her time with this girl. Something they really bonded with. Her knowledge was unmatched, and her death left a void in Al-Asheera from a technical standpoint. They needed to hire another tech expert, and after a year of searching, no luck. For now, Thalia was covering the hacking duties based on everything she learned. But thinking about Vanessa bothered her... it was her fault she had to die. Had she kept her personal feelings aside, or at least kept their relationship plans further under wraps, Ra's would've never found out about their affair, and she wouldn't have been killed. It hurt to know that. A year of suffering with that burden, that a girl who meant no harm other than trying to survive this cruel world, killed because she loved her.


Either way, that was why and how Thalia knew a few basics about the Deep Web. It's nothing she experimented with alone, but it's intrigued her for years. Karin seemed to navigate well enough through the simple pages they encountered, even if she was clearly scared. Thalia placed her cup on the counter and huddled close to her friend, watching close and attentively. They knew what they were looking for, and eventually came across someone by the name of Fritzy. Weird alias. Probably not weirder than Al-Jameela, but that was a different story. It downloaded a program, and when it seemed to take over the computer, the redhead couldn't help but panic. Did they take a wrong turn? Maybe they should toss the computer after all. Then came the question. Thalia never played chess in her life, but she's certainly watched a few clansmen play in the past. She was that sort of eye candy for Ra's while he played any of his sophisticated games that he deemed his woman unworthy of playing. Stand there and smile, he'd say while he plays chess or poker or something. Talk about a stereotypical misogynistic Arab man. Except he was a real-life manifestation, sad to say. There plenty of other pleasures he thought Thalia shouldn't ever get a taste of, but hey. She wasn't exactly going back to him anytime soon. But this code? Just by watching on the sidelines, she learned a thing or two about the game. She took control of the keyboard and key by key entered the word: CHECKMATE. Thinking Karin would scold her for getting it wrong, she rotated her head in her friend's direction, and defended herself.


"What? I know things other than stealing."


Says the woman with an 8th grader's level of education, but that was besides the point. A question she could answer. The screen went black after answering the question, and Thalia's heart sank. Could she have just ruined their chances? She lifted her hands from the keyboard and took a step back, letting Karin take control again. God.... Ra's is a modern-day psycho? You're a modern-day idiot, bitch.


--


True. Griffin and Held were stupid to blackmail two cops. But enough to threaten them by mail and rat them out to get killed? Who knows. There's no limit to stupidity, Tony's seen that in his time on multiple occasions. Still, Frank brought up a few anomalies to his theory. How did these two girls get their addresses? Could they have seriously been that fast to rat out the 7/11? What if this all goes beyond those two girls on the couch yesterday? They were guppies in comparison to bigger fish like Cabhan and Younes. But until they could get anywhere close to tasting those two behind bars, they needed the two of them. Thalia's still a member of Al-Asheera, and Karin's had a run-in with Bradan. As much as they might be crooked, their lives are also at stake. And Tony, even with his discontent, didn't want them necessarily killed. No, death was too easy for them. He wanted them behind bars, but not to be wiped out by any sort of gang. That also meant reeling out the inside men in the department. Dirty cops. Any detective's nightmare. It could be anyone.


Maybe the girls were independent from the explosion AND the prototype rifle, but they weren't saints just yet. He had a plan to run in there and interrogate them both, alone or with Frank. But from the looks of it, Frank wasn't scared of this strangely-delivered threat. Boy, did Tony pick his partner right. His gut just knew that this new guy, Frank Hale, was something special. And it really showed. No doubt they'd go to the ends of the earth to stop both the Clovers and Al-Asheera, but after being so close to an explosion, Frank was probably in pain, a bit uneasy. So he offered a question to the man: 


"I'm not going to force you to come with me to Karin's place, Frank. And you're probably right. There's more to this whole mess that we need to get to the bottom of, and you sure do help me keep my cool and help me see reason when my judgment's clouded. You know my story, after all. But I want answers. Whatever those girls are planning? We're stopping it. I can drop you off back at the station and you can camp out in my office. All the Al-Asheera paperwork is on my desk, and I asked Intelligence to bring everything about the Clover Boys to my office as well. If you think it's going to be hard on you after yesterday to get out in action, I wouldn't blame you. Your call, pal. But I can drop you off for coffee, no doubt. I've already had my cup, so I'm ready to go."
 
Karin wasn't judging - she was quite pleased that Thalia knew the answer.


"Hey," She held up her hands, "I didn't say a word, sweetheart." She grinned, then turned back to the laptop. If they got the answer right, why would there be a problem? She was panicked by the black screen, but soon enough, another screen came up. White, a text box - It was a simple chat room, by the looks of it. The message of 'Welcome, Player 2'  came up on screen, and... Well, she could see she was able to type again, so after clicking on the text box, she typed out a message and hit enter.


'hello?'


Better than nothing, I guess. Then... Player 1 is typing...


'Most disappointing. Most disappointing indeed. It's been a long time since anyone's clicked on that link - A ballsy move on your part, I'm sure, but now you have truly upset me.'


'What do you mean?'


'No proxies, no proper protection. I'll give it fifteen minutes before the FBI starts making their way to your house.'


'Oh shit, but I thought Tor kept things anonymous?'


'You know very little, clearly. Did you honestly think it was that easy?'


'Truthfully, yeah,I did.'


'Pick a country.'


'What?'


'A country. Pick one.'


'Uhh Australia?'


Things went quiet for a moment. A good few moments, in fact. Karin thought that Player 1 had gone quiet on a permanent basis, but, they started to type once again.


'Your IP's been bounced. Welcome to Melbourne.'


'Bounced?'


'Flicked around, botnetted. Call it what you please, but, I've bought you some time. Or I may have, providing you haven't been traced already.'


'Okay. Thanks, I guess?'


'Now, back to the reason why you forced me away from a Martini? This software we're talking on is obsolete. What brings an innocent girl such as yourself to my neck of the woods?'


Okay, now it was getting creepy. How did this person know she was a girl? She looked at Thalia for a moment, then went back to typing.


'I need help, and I heard you're the person to talk to.'


'Is that right? Who told you such a thing?'


Shit.


'Okay fine, I came here looking for anyone, but I recognized your name from the news reports and stuff.'


'Hm, glad you put so much thought into it. Once again, why have you contacted me?'


'I need help with something to do with an organization in LA. An illegal organization called Al-Asheera.'


'Hm.'


'Hm?'


'My prices aren't cheap.'


'You need to give this a chance. Please, there's nowhere left for me to turn.'


'You're wasting my time. Let me talk to the other person.'


Karin gulped.


'What other person?'


'The one standing right beside you.'


Karin looked at the webcam that was built in - the light was on. 


"Fuck." She said, quietly. "They're watching us." She said, doing her best not to sound panicked. "They wanna' talk to you, for some reason. Just..." She turned the laptop to her and gulped, then waved a hand up in the air; she was confused and worried, to say the least. 


Once the laptop was turned to her, though, 'Player 1' started typing again.


'Seeing as your friend likes to throw ambiguous explanations my way, I'm relying on you to give me something a little more solid. I do warn you, though, that if you beat around the bush like she was, the device you're using goes up in smoke and you never hear from me again, clear? Now, now that I've explained the situation to you a little more, I ask you one thing: Who are you, and what exactly do you need me for? I want to know what it is you want from me, and EXACTLY what you need me for to do with Al-Asheera; while we're on the topic, I want to know what relation the two of you have to said organization. Give me all of what I've requested, and I'll consider hanging around to chat, capiche?'


--


"No, I'm coming along with you." He said. "I understand why all of this is a touchy topic for you, and even more so, I understand why the idea of them betraying us is a scary and rather infuriating thought. I sympathize with you on that." He said, simply. "You've had enough experience with Al-Asheera to know that it's no laughing matter, and they've done things to you on a personal level. With Richard, god bless him." He nodded once, "You've seen what they're capable of, you've seen it first-hand, but, my only advice is this: If you want to honor your previous partner and gain vengeance for what happened to him, then you need to start by doing the right thing and making the right choices. If we get lost in the dark with this, or if we make the wrong call, it's too delicate of a situation now. We can't make any mistakes. We can't speculate down at the station because the station simply doesn't know about it." He explained.


"If we make one wrong move, both of us could end up in prison or dead. One of the two." He said, "We need to be certain of everything, so I think a big part of this is going to involve tracing our steps. If Karin and Thalia don't have access to all the information they'd need to blackmail us, that'll soon reveal itself. If we work with them more, keep things off the books like we said, and somehow the information still gets leaked and we get shit for it, then we'll know it's those two behind it. If, however, we tell them something, and it doesn't get leaked, it doesn't come back to us, doesn't result in any blackmail, we'll know that the 7/11 is something deeper than two girls trying to play lawyer. And thus, we'll know it's not them behind it. I know it's tempting to arrest them both and drag them down to the station, but, if we do that, there's a high chance they'll leak everything we've done so far. We've forged evidence, we've ignored certain things, failed to report to superiors - We could essentially be tried for Aiding and Abetting. If that happens? Christ, we will go to prison, and better yet, we know how well cops do when they go to jail." He sighed, shaking his head.


"Trust me on this one, Tony. We're playing a completely different ball-game now. It's not just detective work. It goes far beyond that now - Regardless of how injured I am, how sick I get, or how many bullets I take, just remember that I've got your back in all of this, just like you've got mine. I'll come with you to Karin's place, just in case something is up, but just remember what I've said, alright?" He offered him a small smile. In his eyes, the best way to avenge his previous partner was putting the organization down for the full count. Arresting one or two members was always good, but then that just put them back at square one in the long run. They needed to nip this bastard in the bud, otherwise it was going to keep coming back.


"Yeah, let me grab a coffee at Starbucks or something on the way over there. I'm not drinking any more of that stuff at the station, it's fucking dreadful." He laughed once. "After we've got that, we make our way to Held's place and get a scope on the situation. Like I said, though, make sure we're not being tailed. I highly doubt Karin nor Thalia would appreciate Al-Asheera being brought to the front door."
 
The black screen becoming what could only be described as a chatbox didn't exactly surprise Thalia. This was their direct line to this Fritzy. Scary, most definitely. She knew what hackers were capable of. Countless times did she and Vanessa bruteforce their way into some confidential FBI file or a bank's security system, be it work related or not. Fun, sure. If you're on the other side of the screen. And Thalia didn't know anything about computer security or networking, or how to proxy. That was all up to her friend. She thought that Karin knew this stuff and made the preparations. She underestimated Tor. Was this one of those horror stories come true? She gulped, worried for what would happen next as the two parties exchanged messages. He noticed how insecure their precautions were, and even took care of it. Supposedly. Karin was nervous, evident in her words and how confident this other person was. Cocky, kind of like Ra's, but the kind of cocky that knew what he was doing by himself. Ra's, on the other hand, begged for help from his associates. It then hit Thalia: he could hack their webcam. Which he did. DAMN IT. Should've told her to cover the webcam. Told you this girl and your friendship is blinding you from reason! Now wasn't the time to argue with herself or play the blame game. She rubbed her eyes as the stress poked at her mind and just watched Karin face it all. The game of verbal tennis continued, now aware that this person could see them both. Innocent girl, he said. If only he knew the absence of innocence in the other. Karin's nervousness got the better of her, and this 'Player 1' refused to talk to her any longer. Wasting their time. This wasn't off too a good start. But then they asked to speak with the girl next to her. Thalia covered her mouth with one hand, afraid of what was about to happen. The fear in Karin spread like the flu as Thalia spent a few second gazing at the computer screen in shock in full view of this person, waiting in agony as 'Player 1' typed away. She was worried she'd say something wrong. But no, she had to show that fearlessness she manifested for the past 8 years. She lowered her hand from her face and lay her fingertips on the keyboard. Fritzy had demands. She was ready to give her own. In full clarity.


'I am Al-Jameela. A member of Al-Asheera, and the bride-to-be of their leader. The girl you were just talking to is my friend, Al-Qawia.... a new recruit. And what we need doesn't involve you hacking into Al-Asheera. They don't have enough tech for that, almost no computers or anything to hack into. We do need your help bringing them down. And someone with your skill set in computers can do that for us with the first step. Al-Ra's has proposed an impossible deal upon me to steal $1M in US currency in a week's time, or face death. And I'm not going down without a fight. Getting that money in paper immediately is borderline impossible. But remotely through several bank accounts to another one offshore? Maybe you can help so I don't get shot on the door for returning empty-handed. You will be paid in time with the dissolution of Al-Asheera.'


Thalia elevated her right hand, giving the bird to the laptop webcam. Proof that she had that tattoo of Al-Asheera, and spitting in this guy's face for invading their privacy. Boy, did that piss her off. Kind of made her want to take back all the pranks she'd pulled with her friend back in the day. She turned to Karin quickly and explained the name she gave Fritzy: "Al-Qawia means 'the strong one'. It's... a bit generic, but not taken among us. Because from the second you stood up to me yesterday, that's what I thought... you were stronger than the rest of them. Consider it your name to this guy so he doesn't hunt you down... Also covering your ass by saying you're one of us, but since you're a recruit, you don't have the tatts. So go with it."


But this guy was good. A bit too good, and might just ID the both of them if he were that skilled. But Thalia knew how to do one better, writing another message in succession.


'Come on. Would you say no to a pair of pretty faces?'


She centered the laptop on the counter to show them both in full view and gave the camera a pouting face, fully aware that this Player 1 was watching them. She had the looks. She might even screw him--or her--if it pays for the job. She'd have to see. She gave Player 1 what was required.


--


The station would be a bad idea at this point. God knows who was watching or passing by. If Frank or Tony bring up some of their off-the-book operations, and someone passes by and hears something they shouldn't, they'd be in for a trip to the slammer. It was safer for both of them to remain on the road under the pretense that they're interviewing suspects. Also a good thing that nobody called Tony about the incident with shooting the laptop. He made his point loud and clear, and it saved lives, no doubt. All he could hope was that this wouldn't bite him in the ass in the near future. He still had his badge and gun, and even if he didn't, he'd pursue Al-Asheera until it killed him. And he wasn't going down this path alone. Frank was there by his side, even with his injuries. Detectives really were a package deal, sticking together, even when they were getting themselves into the worst of deals. Empowering.


What if Frank was right? What if Karin and Thalia weren't ratting them out, and there was, say, an inside man from Al-Asheera inside the department? Someone who caught on to their actions, even if they were discreet, and reported everything to Ra's? No, it can't be. Nobody with that tattoo on their right hand would ever get close to being high up in the ranks. It'd be caught instantly. Unless they were breaking more of their rules? At this point, even an expert like himself was at a loss for words. "I don't know what to think, Frank. I'm keeping an open mind about this, but I'm also not going to be blind to a likely possibility. Maybe the 7/11 was the Clovers. But the mail? It's suspicious. It could be a rat in the pack, sure. I can probably believe that if they weren't so open about their identity. But we'll see. Griffin is bound to know about that, so we'll ask her. But we're treading lightly with these girls. If we piss them off, the first thing they're going to do is report everything we've done so far to the chief. And that's game over for us both."


As Tony stopped in front of the Starbucks, he told his partner, "When we get there, we play good cop/bad cop again. Play with their emotions again. Maybe they'll break down and spill the beans under pressure. But for now... take your time in there. It's way better than the station's coffee, no doubt. Think we should come here more often before duty."


Tony couldn't help but peek into his rear-view mirrors, see if there's been anyone suspicious this entire time. What if this WAS beyond the girls and Al-Asheera picked up on them alone? Bad news, indeed. But they'd have to deal with this delicate operation one step at a time. This was so difficult for the veteran detective to process. Thank god it wasn't alone.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
'Your demands are stupid but honest. You talk of the offshore bank accounts as if it's child's play, as if it's a simple process. Even with backdoor access, pulling that off would be a risky move, one that I haven't pulled for a very long time. I'm not exactly a superhero that they talk about on the news. I'm a public enemy, one that the police would gladly lock up for costing billions in damage over the past few years. Yet for some reason here I am considering pulling off a job requested to me by a woman that has a digital footprint so big that most of her life can be found online. It's not a situation that would look good on a resumé. You're lucky it's me that you reached - if it was anyone else, by now, they would have taken advantage of your naivety and they'd have plucked every single detail from this laptop that they could find. Social security, bank details - the list goes on.'


'Admittedly, I'm having a poke around on the system as well, seeing what I can find. For a new recruit, Miss Held certainly doesn't have much that could link her to Al-Asheera, which means she's either very careful, or you're bluffing.'


So, he'd found Karin's name somewhere on the laptop. Fantastic, right? Karin was getting more and more scared as time went on. She wanted away from all of this, but what could she do now?


They soon got a message that I don't think anyone was expecting, though.


'We need to meet. If any of this is going to occur, we're going to discuss this in person. Lucky for you, I'm based out in LA, meaning I'm not far from Burbank. Expect my arrival at exactly 10:00. You have some time to get ready. If all goes well, our business together continues. If it doesn't, then I walk out of the door and I don't return. If I arrive and it turns out that this is some sort of big setup, then believe me, I'll know. You would not be the first people to betray me, and you won't be the last. Keep that in mind before you get any bright ideas.'


'I do believe that concludes our conversation today. Goodbye.'


The webcam's light went off, and, well, the chat room just went quiet. There was no more typing from Player 1, which could only mean that he or she had nothing more to say. Karin was stood there, and she looked like she'd just seen a ghost. She didn't know what to think of that, and now some mystery hacker had her name and god knows what other details. Were they really going to show up just like that? Were they really going to get a knock at the door at 10:00AM? Was all of this serious or was it just the work of some online troll that thought it'd be funny to mess with a couple of girls who clearly didn't know all that much about what they were doing? A lot of questions went through Karin's head, because she never thought it'd end up like this. She thought they really had a good chance of getting help here, but, now she wasn't so sure. If she couldn't get that million dollars, then Thalia was as good as dead.


"Thalia, I'm..." She paused, shook her head, and then took a shaky sip of her coffee. "I'm really sorry." She said, "I didn't think things would be like that, I thought..." She closed her eyes. "I don't know what I thought was going to happen. I just wasn't expecting that, that's for sure. Do you really think they're just going to roll up here and... I don't know, just show their face? This whole situation is just fucking crazy." She gulped. "I feel like I've gotten us into something I shouldn't have. Once again, I'm just... So, so sorry." 


--


"Exactly. It was a bad idea to cut a deal with the devil, but, it was a choice we made. If we don't stick to what we've said, yes, they're going to turn to the police immediately. We have some evidence over Thalia, but Karin? Karin's not quite as simple, other than the fact that she's got some sort of friendship going with Thalia. That's about the only illegal thing she's done, other than the watch, but the watch needs to stay private. If Bradan finds out about that, I don't like to imagine what might happen to Karin and Joseph. You know what Bradan's like, and he'd do anything to take revenge for that. It's not about the watch or the money for him - the fact she doesn't know who he is just makes it all the more fucked up, because, well, it's all about respect and fear for him. The guy lives on three things - Money, respect, and dominance. Take those away, and you've got a shell of a man, but with those? He's a powerful enemy for anyone. As long as he has control over his army, control over his informants, so on and so forth, then he's got control of himself and many other things, too."


"I'm in no way trying to cut Thalia and Karin from the list of possibilities, I'm just saying we shouldn't make assumptions before we've looked at every angle. As I said, assumptions could mean life or death for us right now, but don't worry. We'll get the sons of bitches, no matter who or where they are." He said, then pushed the car door open. "I'll be back in just a minute. I can already hear some near-illiterate Starbucks barista calling the name of 'Thrank'." He laughed once, then patted his partner on the shoulder before hopping out. Coffee. He wanted the biggest coffee he could get, maybe something plain and simple this morning, too. He felt like maybe he could go down the route of generic Californian, and have a nice cappucino. Yeah, that sounded fair. A Cappucino Grande. 


It was only a few minutes of waiting before he got his drink, with his name written on the cup and everything. Starbucks wasn't always a luxury he could afford, but, when he could have it, it was certainly nice. He didn't plan on taking his time in here, though, even though Tony had said he could. He wanted out of this place. He'd seen enough teenage girls taking Instagram photos of their drinks as soon as he walked in, and he wasn't sure if he could take anymore. There was the whole spectrum of people in here. Anything from the people who went for a double shot soy milk latte to a triple shot frappucino with pumpkin spice and strawberry. There was anyone from businessman to full-scale hipster within walking distance in there, and he didn't want to be there for that long.


He was glad to get out of there and be back in Tony's car, to say the very least.


"Alright, next stop is Karin's house. It's still early, so with a bit of luck, we might be able to surprise them with our arrival, providing they're still asleep. If not, then, we're going to have to go with the flow, and like you said, pressure them a bit more into talking, see if they know anything about what happened. Let's just take it easy. And with all due respect, Tony, try and avoid getting... Physical, alright?" He said to him.
 
It was a nerve-wracking wait to see how this hacker would react to the demands and the information given. Just the notification that 'Player 1 is typing' was enough to scare the both of them. They called Thalia's request stupid, obviously. She didn't expect anything more. She knew she was stupid from the minute she went back for Karin yesterday. But, this person seemed to show they were merciful, not taking advantage of them right off the bat. But then he mentioned he was looking into their stories.... Shit. Shit. No. How did he...?! He found Karin's real name. Fortunately, being a missing person for the past 8 years and last showing up on official record at the age of 13, Thalia wasn't necessarily marked. She didn't know if this person knew her, but he didn't make it clear. But why would he show his bad hand? If he found out who Thalia was, he would've said it to scare her equally. She might've dodged a bullet, but Karin didn't. And that was something more to regret. Her friend would've never taken that risk if she never appeared in the picture. All of this was a huge risk. But did it necessarily blow in their faces? Player 1 was coming to their place. No surprise the girls were being traced, but this person would show their face so openly? That could mean a number of things... They could actually show up. They could send a hit squad to eliminate them. He could just be trying to scare them... but this ambiguity was trouble. No doubt.


That concluded their discussion. All they could do was wait. Thalia looked at Karin, spitting out her apologies for this entire mess. But the slightly younger girl was handling this a bit better. If they were about to face an ambush, Thalia could protect Karin and Joseph. She was physically competent enough. "You stop that," she reassured her friend, seemingly confident. "Whatever the hell happens next, be goddamn sure I'm protecting you and Joseph. I don't have a clue about this technical stuff, but if this guy comes over with a bunch of hired guns, I'm going to fight to the death to keep you two safe. Next guy who knocks on the door, I'll answer, so if they shoot anyone up first without asking.... it'll be me and not you...L-Look." In an attempt to calm her friend and make sure her worries weren't overheard by her brother, Thalia reached forward to her friend and held her close, almost offering a shoulder to cry on in a hug. "Just.... Calm down. I've got you, and I'll be dead before I let this person hurt you or your brother."


She'd become so protective of a total stranger in such a short time. Is that because this total stranger would've happily done the same for her? Some weird friendship they'd developed. Thalia knew one thing: Karin meant more to her in a day than Ra's did for eight years.


"We need to scrap the laptop. Sadly. We can do that... in many ways. We can smash it. Burn it. Bake it. Drop it down the toilet. Drown it in the bathtub. I mean, just throwing it away isn't enough, right?" It put a smile on Thalia's face, thinking of destruction and things blowing up. "What about that, think that'd cheer you up?" Or was it just Thalia that found destroying things fun? Huh. She didn't get enough of that in Al-Asheera after all.


--


Frank seemed to always be a joy to talk to. Not just for offering a sense of comic relief whenever he needed it, but was also a second opinion and intelligent mind. Another pair of eyes to offer another outlook on a puzzling situation. And this was proving to be one of the more difficult cases to get through simply due to the covert nature of their approach. They dug this hole themselves, but Tony was confident he could crawl right out, and not let Frank get dragged along in the mud by these two scheming women hiding out in Burbank. That was their next stop, no doubt, to get answers for those cards they'd received in the mail. That's certainly not a way to tell a respected detective 'thanks for not throwing my obviously guilty ass in jail.' This wasn't over yet, though. It was only getting started.


Alone. Tony began to think over the risks. Al-Asheera knows his address. Maybe he should tell Mel to get out of town, go visit her cousin in Chicago or something, until the threat is no more. If they know where he lives, they probably know his loved ones. They've already done a number to his partner at work. If they found out he has a significant other waiting at home for him every day... well, he knew for sure that they took a convenience store owner's daughter hostage and used his basement as a brothel. Poor girl. There was nothing they could do for her because of that explosion. He couldn't help but think if that were Melissa stuck in a cage, probably being abused, and watched over by a few animals with guns. It was most definitely worrisome. He picked up his cell phone and looked back at a picture of him and her on a cruise a year ago. He couldn't risk her life because of a case. It was the one thing he feared while falling in love. In the meantime, while waiting for his partner, he sent a text to his girlfriend.


'Once I finish this case I'm working on, wanna get out of town for a bit? I think we could both use a break, am I right?'


Yes. Yes he did.


The return of his partner instinctively lead Tony to start up his car again and continue driving. Next stop? That little quiet house where it all began. "So everything related to Al-Asheera will be covered at Karin's. But that still leaves the Clovers. Did anyone give you any calls yesterday about McAllister? He's our best bet for counter-infiltration so far. Unless we can confirm that the 7/11 was, indeed Bradan, which... it kind of seems likely. Al-Asheera with a mounted rifle like that shit we saw? Pfft, those animals sleep on the floor from how cheap they are. Greed is good, they say, and they never spend their wealth. Apes... But apart from that. Did anyone ask you about me trashing that laptop to stop the gun? I'm just on my nerves wondering if someone's going to interpret that the wrong way."
 
"I appreciate it, Thalia." She set her head on her shoulder and sighed, "I can't keep putting Joseph through all this trouble. All he really deserves is a happy life, that's all I've ever tried to give him. All of this? He's not going to be able to sleep at night if something goes south with all of this." She said. "I won't let anyone put Joseph in danger, and if I have to tear that bastard's throat out to stop Joseph from getting hurt, then so help me god I will." She said. "But thank you. Not just for that, but for everything, really. Sure, we're in a bit of a shitty situation, but, you've really opened my eyes to a lot of things, and when this is all over, don't think I'll forget you." She pulled away a little and smiled at her. "Whatever the result of the end of all this, you're always welcome to stay with me and Joe if you need to, I hope you realize that." She explained.


"Joseph... Joseph doesn't have anything against you, just so you know." She said, "He was talking to me last night. He thought you were nice. Said it's nice to have someone else in the house, too. Joe keeps his own company, and sometimes he has his friends over, but I can't deny that we have a somewhat lonely way of living. Having you here, watching TV with us, giving him someone else to talk to... I think it meant a lot to him, so, just keep that in mind if you ever think you're being an inconvenience, because honestly, you're not." She offered her a warm smile and gave her one last hug before she went back to drinking her coffee. It was nice to have Thalia around, and the way she and her had clicked was something amazing to Karin. She was a good friend, probably the best friend she'd had, and that was all over the course of basically one day? Pretty amazing, really. She thought back to all her old friends from high school, the ones who just forgot about her as soon as graduation came around.


When you don't even have your ex-boyfriend messaging you now and again asking how you are, you know you've fucked up your friendship choices in one way or another. At least now she was making up for it, even if it was caught in the middle of a pretty shitty situation.


The next call of command was the laptop; it was an old thing, nothing special. She was going to buy herself another one at one point, but then what did Joseph ask for for Christmas last year? A laptop. She had to keep her old one and spend the money on getting him one instead, and his was still running smoothly. Karin hated to admit it, but, Joseph knew a lot more about technology than she did. Every day after school he'd come home, trying out new little tricks that his friends had told him about. He thought it was all so amazing, but all the time, Karin just had to say 'wow, that's pretty cool' - Once again, when a nine-year-old knows more than you about something very basic, in some ways, it's a sign you've fucked up somewhere along the lines. 


"It's a shame, really." She sighed, flicking the laptop's screen. "Believe it or not, but this laptop's nearly as old as Joseph." She laughed, "I've kept it clean, done a lot of stuff on this, spent a lot of hours. It's what I was going to take to college with me." She smirked, "But now..." She tapped the pure-white screen. "Looks like whoever Fritzy is didn't want to take any risks, because, shit..." She felt the side of it. "This thing's borderline on fire, the fans aren't spinning. He's probably installed some sort of crazy virus on it to break it." She said, "I can't say I had much important stuff on there. All my photos are from wind-up cameras, they're all hard-copies. But that's good." She said, "I'll show you some of my favorites sometime, but, I'm glad I'm not one of those girls that has one of those fancy cameras and uploads them all onto her laptop. Otherwise, I would have lost more than five years of memories right here." She closed the laptop's lid, but, when she thought about destroying it, she could only grin.


"I think that sounds really fun." She said, quietly and deviously. "There's a few ways I can think of. Out back, there's a lot of things in the shed. My dad did a lot of DIY work on the house. There's old hatchets, woodcutting axes, hacksaws." She grinned, "So why don't we go out there and show this hot potato who's boss?" She asked, patting the closed laptop on its lid a few times. 


--


"I had the prison I wanted him transferred to give me a call about him. Said the guy was very reluctant - The thing is, I've been on  the line with the FBI - If he helps bring down The Clover Boys, he gets pardoned and he and his family get put on witness protection." He said, "If it involves his family, then he's going to do what we say. The guy's probably as violent as Bradan himself - after all, he was one of his more... Favored men, I suppose." He shrugged, "Getting Bradan to trust him shouldn't be a hard job, but, as I said, I told them officially to cancel the transfer, but unofficially have him transferred to somewhere else. We need to cover our tracks perfectly if there is the possibility of a dirty cop. For Bradan's boys, I wouldn't be surprised if there is someone. It'd explain a few things, but that also puts us, and if it comes to it, Karin Held, in a lot of danger if things get out. And McAllister will get shot on-sight if they think he's working for us, so, for the first time he goes back to Bradan, we send him in without a wire. We send him in and just get him to do some recon. If we're lucky, and if my suspicions are correct, he might be the key to finding out who the informant is within the department."


"And if he does reveal that there's an inside guy, we need to play it carefully, forge case notes, make shit up - If all case investigations just suddenly go quiet on The Clover Boys, they'll get suspicious, and it'll be too closely timed to when McAllister got let out of prison, and they'll probably pin the blame on him. If it comes to it, we'll make up fake information, shove it in the locker, and that way our rat stays happy until we get a chance to bust the son of a bitch. If we just go ahead and arrest him, McAllister becomes an obselete asset to The Clover Boys, a risk, and they'll throw him in the river with bricks strapped to his shoes, y'know what I mean?" He said.


"As for the laptop, no, I think the Commander's got you covered on that one." He said, "Laptop was taken into forensics and they're searching the drive as we speak. It's just going to take a while to get by any security. Pretty sure Redgrave covered you on the shooting, though, so don't worry about it. Redgrave's a very orthodox cop, but at the same time, he's also one with a heart, compassion, as hard as that is to believe. You get on his good side and he'll be a good friend of yours - he's not a crooked cop or anything, not as far as we know, anyway, but you get the picture. I don't necessarily suspect anyone so far, but, we all know the pay for anything from Cadet to our level of Detective isn't the greatest pay in the world. If anyone's going to turn to working with Bradan, it'll be someone who's been with the department long enough for us to trust him or her. Someone experienced, someone reliable and all that shit." He waved a hand and took a gulp of his coffee. "Whoever it is, they're our second most dangerous target in all of this, because they'll put everything at risk if we leave a paper trail." 


"If we can, we need to run checks on all gangs and see what weaponry they have access to. We don't know the relationship between Bradan and the Russians and the Chinese, but, if Bradan doesn't have access to that weaponry, there's a big chance that the Russians or the Chinese do. If they're close, they could easily be selling to Bradan. It's all up in the air right now, Tony, but we'll figure it out. We've just got a lot of work cut out for us from this point on." He said, "On top of that, if you and your S-O ever need a place to crash out, you're welcome to drop by mine. It's not the biggest of places, but it's gated, private, and I'll take the couch if you need me to. Not saying it'll be necessary to do that, but, just keep in mind the offer's out there."


They had a bit of driving to do before they got to Karin's, it seemed, but, Frank didn't mind. It gave him time to think over everything.
 
"To be completely honest, I wouldn't want to forget about you... more like, I can't," Thalia admitted. "Not after all this. You trusted me when nobody else really did. And oddly enough, you still do. It gets even weirder to know your brother is okay with me, too. I mean, did you see how scared he was of me when I walked in? ... That sight of a kid being scared of me. I always feared if I came home out of the blue, my family would give those same glares to me. You know... it makes me uneasy to know that. But you don't know how much it means to know you're both looking past the bad things I've done, and you're helping me be someone better. I can't begin to tell you how much it means to me." Living with Karin? Fun, but could she stay? "You know... I've been thinking to myself last night about where I'd go when this is all over. And as much as I'd like to live go back to Philly and make up for lost time with my family... I kind of want to settle here, in LA. Start fresh. Probably near you guys, too. I mean, last night I had fun on the couch watching TV with you. I kinda.... wanna build more memories like that? Is that too lame?" She tried to stop herself from blushing, but failed. A short laugh broke out, then she continued, "Aaaaand Cali guys? Hotter that Philly guys. No doubt. I think I know what I'm picking."


Hugging Karin felt... nice. It made her feel all warm on the inside, special. Reminded her of the good days with Vanessa before she was killed. Which gave her more reason to protect Karin with all she's got. The second Ra's finds out she is even living with someone else, let alone planning to watch his empire burn to the ground? He's going to have Karin--and even Joseph--burned at the stake. The first time this happened, Thalia had to stand idly by and watch her friend die in front of her eyes. She didn't want that to happen again. It felt tempting to dissociate herself from Karin as soon as possible, but deep down, she couldn't. She wanted to have a close friend that would stay by her side beyond Al-Asheera and all of this mess. Did she finally find that? After all, she was living at this friend's place for the time being. And they seemed very attached so fast. Maybe a sign of things to come.


And now the fun part. Destroying the laptop. Thalia figured that Karin was smart enough not to risk using a laptop with intimate memories or overly-sensitive information to access the Deep Web, because that laptop would soon go to scrap, much like it is now. And it was heating up, too. Taking another drink of her coffee, a wicked smile came across her face, thinking over the possibilities to have some fun with it out back with some hatches and axes. "I say...." she teasingly began, grabbing the heating laptop in both hands, showing Karin her mischievous grin from ear to ear. "I'll race you outside!" Almost instantly, Thalia made a run for the front door of the house, opened the door, and dashed out without even getting her shoes on first. This was a race, bit unfair, but all in good fun.


Thalia's father, who was a pastor, was also a bit of a handyman, himself. He'd always make his own: fancy rocking chairs, tables, all sorts of carpenter work. Before she ran away, he was creating some sort of row boat that he wanted to take to the east coast. It was the one thing that Thalia was... excited for with her family. Was it done after all this time? Would she ever know? Just the idea of tools in the shed.... they brought her back.


I wish I could come back, Dad... Maybe someday.


--


Driving was a way for Tony to get over his stress and the problems on his mind, and as a detective? Those can really add up. He appreciated the chance to drive first today and used it as a way to get over the threat the two had received in the mail. It might also prevent him from blowing up on Karin and Thalia once they reach their place. He really crossed his boundaries by slapping the clanswoman. He could've easily gotten away with defending himself when she tried to slug him, but the slap in the face? Inexcusable. The yelling? Totally in place. And he was probably going to raise his voice once they arrive. He figured he'd enjoy the peace and quiet in the car between himself and Frank. And any conversation between the two was moreso enjoyable than stressful, even if it was about work. "Definitely, we need to keep everything off the books as best we can. Any prisoner transfers? Unofficial. Calls? Keep them brief and not suspicious. Suspects? We tread lightly. Especially with the ladies. McAllister is no exception."


It was a relief that Redgrave wasn't going to pin all of this on Tony. "Thank fuck. I'm glad I've got his loyalties to a degree. I think we could trust him next time we need a raid, am I right?" Two men against the largest gang in LA AND one of the most obvious threats? That's a recipe for a disaster. Even with Griffin as an inside man, it's begging for failure. Tony and Frank were only two men. Count the ladies? That makes them four. That's still not enough to bring down the Clovers and Al-Asheera. They need a team of sorts. "Believe me, I'm a bit worried for Karin as well. She's got her nose in all sorts of shit, and she's pissed Bradan off with the watch snag. Odds are, he has a team looking into her background, maybe even scoping out her home right now. I mean... with her friend watching over her, I wouldn't be too worried. Thalia's no pushover, either. If I weren't fast enough, her non-dominant hand would've socked me in the face at full force. And boy, is she strong with her weaker hand."


"I may or may not have mentioned this yesterday, but all the Al-Asheera men incarcerated in Philly were killed in lock-up. So when it comes to an inside man to infiltrate THEM? We're down to just one option: Thalia. And she seems willing to do it." But another pressing issue came to light from that: getting a snakecam. If they send Thalia into the hornet's nest with no protection and no way to know what's going on inside, those girls will rat on them, no doubt. He couldn't afford that. "Any idea how we're going to get a camera to keep watch over she when she confronts the Head? I don't trust Karin to keep her mouth shut if something happens to her friend. If that mystery girl is even slightly harmed, who's to say Karin won't expose us? I mean..... Wait, never mind. That would be a terrible idea."


Using a child as bait? What's wrong with you, Walsh?!


"My point being, we need one of those snakecams, off the books, and undetected so we can return it as if it were never taken. Got a plan for that? Maybe we could use Redgrave?"
 
"Oh, there's always property on the market in Burbank, and the prices aren't too bad, either." She said, "Once all of this settles, who knows what might happen? You might even end up being our neighbor or something." She laughed, "That would be pretty cool, to be honest, but we'll have to wait and see how it all pans out. I mean, it wouldn't hurt to go and visit your family, maybe spend some time with them, but, the whole idea of being an adult is you start your life how you want to start it. Sure, initially I never wanted to be the one that had to be a full-time carer, but, fate made it so." She shrugged, "And even though I'm not necessarily doing everything I want to do with life, I still have a lot of control over it. There's still things I can do, still choices I can make, there's just certain things that life's put a block on. College, all that, but..." She looked down the hallway towards the room that Joseph was sleeping in. "If I can't make that life for myself, I'd like to make it for him, at the very least. If I can do that, I think I'll be happy."


"My point is, if you can settle down somewhere that you like, then that's what matters. It's about your life, not anyone else. Plus, if you got back in contact with your family, you could easily Skype with them or something. Video chat and all that." She shrugged, "It's not cheesy that you want to make memories, either. It's the little things in life that mean the most, that's what I've learned, and that's what Joseph's taught me. I know I go on about Joseph like he's some sort of... I don't know. Holy Demi-God of some sort, but, most my life's centered around him, but, like I said, the little things? The little things are often the best ones. That, and Cali guys, like you said. If you want to find a guy that belongs in a Playboy magazine, go down to Santa Monica during Spring Break, or on any Saturday. It's like having a lucky dip, but you get to choose which prize you get." She laughed, "Remind me sometime - We'll go to the beach before the summer's up, and I'll buy you ice cream on the beach front. It doesn't get much better than there, believe me." 


"Anyway, the laptop." She grinned, but, Thalia was one step ahead and darted out of the house before she could even put her coffee down. "Oh, I see how it is!" She called out, quickly following behind her. She didn't catch up as easily, but in the end, it didn't really matter. They were going to be smashing the shit out of this laptop. The obvious place to run was around the back of the house - Thalia could have ran out the back door - or the side door, whichever you prefer to call it, but, at the same time, Karin was glad she didn't. It'd probably wake Joseph up if they went out that door, anyway. Still, out in the back, there was an old shed that simply had a bolt to keep the door closed. She opened it up once she got to it, and the smell of damp wood and rusty metal hit her in the face. Not a pleasant one, but, this was what they had to make do with.


Who knows, maybe these tools would have another use someday? 


She went inside and grabbed a few of them - a machete, an axe, and a hatchet. Those were the main weapons of destruction. "Can't say I've ever used a woodcutting axe before, but, you know what? I'm gonna' give it a shot." She laughed, bringing the axe up over her shoulder. "Best step back, don't want to accidentally hack one of your toes off." She grinned, and, well, as soon as the laptop was fully in place, and Thalia was well out of the way, Karin brought the axe up and drove it straight down on the lid. It split - not in half, but the screen itself split and the axe got wedged in the laptop for a moment. It was a blunt axe, but still very good fun.


"Man, that felt good." She laughed. "Alright, your turn .Take your weapon of choice, and put this bastard out of its misery." She laughed. It was all in good humor - yeah, she didn't sound sadistic or anything.


--


"No, Thalia's definitely not a pushover. Her time with Al-Asheera's only strengthened her. It's safe to say I wouldn't want to go hand-to-hand with her, honestly." He said, "That doesn't put Karin out of any potential danger, but, with Thalia there I would imagine there'd be a fair fight that goes down before anyone got seriously hurt. Bradan wouldn't kill a woman over a watch - that's too much hassle and too much evidence to cover up, but he would quite happily teach her a lesson. She wouldn't walk away with anything short of a few bruises here and there, I can tell you that much. If Bradan went there with some of his monkeys, things may get a little more violent. Not just in a physical way, either. I wouldn't put it past those pricks to do something horrific." He explained, but when he spoke of that, he couldn't help but think of the girl that was their hostage in the 7/11 basement. Was it really such a bad thing that she died, too? What that poor girl went through was something that no amount of drugs or therapy could ever erase.


In a way, he felt she'd been done a favor. At the same time, he gave himself a metaphorical punch in the teeth for thinking like that. There were many reasons why he thought that a death was a much more suitable ending for someone in that situation, many of the reasons going back years now, but, all of that would be revealed in good time. 


"i think you mentioned something to do with it, yeah, the incarcerated people, I mean." He said. "I heard something from someone. I can't remember what, exactly. Either way, that's bad news, because that leaves us back in a corner with Thalia." He said, "We need her, as much as we may not like to admit it, if we don't give this thing time we're going to be right back at square one, minus one-hundred. If all of this gets leaked then we're fucked." He said. "First we need to verify that neither of them are betraying us. If they're not, then things can go back to the planning stage. As for the snakecams, that'll be easy enough to get. If we've got the Commander of SWAT wrapped around our little finger, it shouldn't take much explaining to get him on board with all of this. At the same time, we need to be careful, especially if the rat's potentially in the SWAT Team, but I doubt that. We'll figure it out - Snakecam won't be missed. SWAT and Tech's got hundreds of the little fuckers. One of them will go unnoticed, no problem. If we want the Commander on our side, we may need to pull a few strings, but I don't think it'll be hard to do after everything that happened last night." He explained.


"He lost men, at least one of them. Out of the remaining five, four of them are in the ICU, and two of the ICU people are in medically-induced comas. The last guy's being treated for second-degree burns on his leg, so he got off lucky. The SWAT Commander needs more men, so, if it comes to it, we may have to fill a couple of spaces. It wouldn't be impossible, as we're both combat trained, but it'd be risky. A risk worth taking? Only time would tell. If he can recruit more men between now and when we need him, then that's fine. If not, we'll have to figure something out." He explained, "If anything happens to Thalia, I wouldn't put it past Karin to say something, but at the same time I think it's a bit black and white. She'll either be out to get us, or she'll be out to get Ra's. Hopefully the latter, but that's only assuming that something goes wrong. Positive thoughts, Tony." He grinned.


Tony's idea that was quickly shut down was something Frank wasn't so sure he wanted to hear. If Tony cancelled on saying it, chances were it was a bit unethical. They didn't need that, and hopefully that plan was going to stay as nothing more than a bad idea, but, once again, this was one of those things where only time would tell. Frank didn't comment on the matter, though, and instead leaned back and drank his coffee for the most part of the rest of the journey. It was a fair bit of a drive, but nothing major. When they got there, things around Karin's house seemed quiet, as usual, and Frank was hoping that they were all still fast asleep, although he doubted it in Karin's case. She was the one that had to be up to take care of Joseph and all, but, maybe they'd get lucky today.


"Things seem as normal as ever." He said, stepping out of the car. He'd left the empty Starbucks cup in the cupholder in the car. He checked he had his gun and badge on display, then nodded to Tony, "Let's get this out of the way, see if they're tied to anything. I don't want any hardcore confrontation, but, there's telltale signs if these girls are lying to us. It won't be hard to spot, so, let's do this thing, shall we?" He asked, quietly, and approached the red door of the house. He didn't hear anything on the inside. So, he reached up and gave a firm knock, four times over. After 30 seconds, there was still nothing, not even a sound. "Maybe they're not home." He sighed. He was about to suggest they sat around and waited for a while, but, he heard voices around the back of the house. His eyes immediately went to Tony, but then nodded in the direction of the sounds. They could easily walk around the side of the house and get into the back yard, no problem.


Frank slowly crept down the side, and kept going until he quite clearly saw Karin and Thalia. They looked like they were having fun, to say the least, with Karin stood there with a big grin on her face, humor in her eyes.


And an axe, machete, and hatchet at their disposal. Were they smashing something? What in the world was it?


Frank figured pulling guns was a bit unnecessary, as long as they kept their distance, no harm would come their way. After checking that Tony was good to go, he stepped into view and cleared his throat, his hands linked down in front of him.


"Morning, ladies." He said. "We come at a bad time?" He asked, scanning over the... Whatever it was, that was getting smashed to shit.


"Jesus, you startled me." Karin put a hand on her chest, then laughed, "God, you should have told me you were coming. I would have showered and had some coffee ready, or something." She said. "Is... Is everything alright?" She asked, simply, and wiped her hands down on her shirt. She looked at Thalia, then back to the detectives. She was trying to play it cool, because she knew damn well that what those two had walked in on probably wasn't working wonders for their alibis and such. Ah, well. Karin didn't have anything to hide.


Other than the fact she'd called out a potential hit squad on the deep web, but, that detail could go amiss for now. 
 
Adulthood always seemed like a faraway land for someone who's childhood was spent away from home and around a gang of thieves. But at the same time, what Thalia got herself into as a teenager wasn't childsplay either. Her past eight years teetered somewhere in the middle of juvenile mayhem and the weight of responsibility. Yet it wasn't the same as Karin's form of responsibility. No, she had a child to take care of. Thalia's 'responsibility' was more like a commitment. Oftentimes she'd argue with herself whether this commitment was forced upon her or she willfully chose this life. Now? It felt more like the former. She had nowhere to go, therefore, she threw herself into whoever's arms were there for her. Unfortunately, they weren't good hands. Now was her time to, as Karin said, make her life her own. "I get you. Don't think I won't help you pay the rent while I'm still here, though. I'm helping wherever I can, and you're not stopping me."


Where to settle down... it really was leaning to LA, but she'd have to see. "Trust me, I get it, the way you talk about Joseph. I'm sure... if something happened to my parents, I don't know what I'd do about my brother. He'd get put in foster care and... well, I wouldn't get to see him. Yeah, I already don't, but I at least know where to find him now when I want to come home. Your brother is everything to you, I totally get that. From the looks of him? You are doing a great job raising him. He's got a great big sister." Her words were accompanied with a smile and a swing of her friend's arm playfully. She really had a lot of faith in Karin. She had to grow up fast and give up her life for her brother. It was a form of strength Thalia wish she'd had. Her strength came in different ways, but still. They each had their perks and skills. But Thalia came to admire Karin's form of strength more. That's why with the mysterious 'Player 1', she gave her the clanswoman name Al-Qawia. Well earned. Not that she'd want Karin to join Al-Asheera, never. If Ra's developed the same obsession for her, she'd never forgive herself. But it was all a cover.


Naturally, Thalia ran quickly. Dashing away from cops was a part of her job description, so running away from Karin, even for fun, was thrilling and fulfilling. She ran over to the direction of the shed and dropped the laptop to the ground nearby, waiting for her friend to come open the shed. She didn't want to be rude and beat her to THAT. No, she'd be showing off if she did. And she felt it rude to dig through Karin's belongings... Ironic for a thief to be thinking, but the thoughts of the straight and narrow were becoming more prominent in Thalia's mind. She didn't want to steal anymore. Eventually, she wanted to make an honest living like any other person. Maybe she could remove her hand tattoo if she could do it without any major scarring? She would remove the neck one, but it reminded her of her past. Her father. And she didn't want to erase that. Ra's was right about one thing he told his underlings: remember who you are.


The smell from the inside didn't bother Thalia that much. She'd endured worse, but inside was a whole banquet of 'weapons of choice'. She wasn't any sort of sadist, but she enjoyed senseless destruction like any other young mind. Maybe a bit weird, but Karin was digging it too, so she felt she was in good company. She took a hatchet from inside and twirled it between her fingers. Some dexterity skills she picked up from Al-Asheera. Good times... Boy did these tools remind her of the good old days. With a giggle, she told a story from her glory days, "This reminds me of all the windows I smashed back in Philly. Oh, and the jewelry cases I've busted up. OH MY GOOOOD, that was fun. Dishonest, but fun, only second to stealing wallets from unsuspecting men after screwing them.... And yet, up until you, nobody ever saw my face through any of that. You believe it?" Fun stories. She'd have to tell Karin more of them some other time. She had thousands of them.


For now: smashing a laptop. Karin took the first swing as Thalia stood a few steps back in case her friend misfired. It could happen, and the redhead really didn't want to lose a foot or a toe anytime soon. But fortunately, nope. Spot on and left a nasty dent in the screen. With a loud laugh of satisfaction, she cheered and high-fived her friend. "You go, girl. Now stand back. My turn to hit this baby." Given her space, Thalia gripped the hatchet in her hands, bent her knees slightly, and swung down onto overheating device, creating yet another dent just as deep, both hits combined leaving an X of dents over it. What a way for them to take their anger out. Hell, if there really WAS a hitsquad en route, they might be able to handle them at this rate. "Fuck yeah, that's what I'm talking about!"


--


Plenty of reason but also plenty of confidence from these two detectives through their conversations, even with everything set before them, remaining on this dangerous path that could cost them both plenty. The paranoia went beyond Ra's and Bradan and their organizations. It was also the aftermath. The influence of putting both kingpins in cuffs or a coffin. It's not like the names of the cops who put them down would go undiscovered. It could either go really well--honorable mentions within the department--or really bad--vengeance from the criminal underworld. But, it wasn't like either of their foes were exactly loved among other criminals. Just look at the two. One week, and Ra's is already bumping heads with the Irishman, and Bradan isn't taking shit from the psycho barbarian. All Tony could hope is that LA doesn't become a warzone. A threeway, even; Cops, Clan, and Clovers. The three C's, oddly enough. What a battle that would be.


"We're almost there, Frank," Tony warned, pulling over in front of the small house with the bright door. Once he turned off the ignition, the older detective took the card sent to him this morning from where he dropped it. He wanted Thalia to see it and explain herself. But for now, he had it in his hand, which was tucked away in his usual overcoat pocket. The partners marched to the front steps of the door together. Was it red? Or green? Tony had to know for sure so that he wouldn't blow his secret and accidentally say one and not the other. He couldn't tell... As much as he trusted Frank, could he know his secret? Not yet. Only if it direly came up. But... no response on the door. The hell... Tony's mind muttered. Were they asleep, like Frank guessed? The boy might be. But the ladies? Maybe not. Time passed. Nothing. But then.. the sounds of giddy laughter and chatter out back. His eyes shot out and looked away from the door. "Is that.... son of a..."


A quick walk around the building in the direction of the female voices exposed the two girls together with gardening tools in their hand and on the ground. They were swinging at something on the ground. A laptop or some electronic device? That's what Tony guess initially. Were they destroying evidence? Whatever they were doing, it came to a stop once the cops showed up. Upon seeing the cops, Thalia's heart sank. What was going on... she told them a lot yesterday. Maybe not EVERYTHING, but that would take too long, and it was too personal to explain. Or was this them getting busted for Fritzy? Whatever it was, Tony's face looked livid, and two girls working for two almost-dirty detectives who were covering their asses, and when the cops show up to the scene of the girls destroying something and having fun with it, it looks far too suspicious. But no backing down and no crying today. That was Thalia's plan. She intended to stand up to Tony now that she wasn't in cuffs and they were all on the same side. Yet... more facetime with Frank. At least there was some eye candy to all of this. Once Frank finished his intro, it came the veteran's turn:


"Isn't it a bit early to be.... doing whatever it is you're doing?" Tony immediately broke out his bad-cop act from yesterday. And Thalia wasn't having that with their morning so far. First Fritzy, then this?


"Isn't it a bit early to be interrogating people, too?" Thalia argued back, resisting the urge to toss the hatchet at Tony's face.


"You are not the judge of that. What you ARE the judge of..." Tony lifted his concealed hand to expose the card he received in the mail this morning, getting closer to the two ladies, despite how they were both holding heavy gardening tools. Karin, even without much fighting experience, could do him great harm. Thalia? She could kill him with the right timing. "Care to explain this in me and my partner's mailboxes this morning?"


Thalia didn't need to examine the letter much. She'd seen a dozen of card just like it back in Philly. She just scoffed, dropping the hatchet in her hand aside and crossing her arms, "Wow, you guys ALREADY pissed Ra's off? That's a new record. What exactly did you do?" She said this all with a smile on her face, almost amazed at how dumb these two were to poke the beast this quickly.


Likewise, Tony wasn't in the mood for Thalia's tone, lifting his right hand to slap her again, but this time, without handcuffs, the girl's quicker reflexes caught his hand in motion, stopping him from slapping her.


"Not today, boy..." It was tempting to get physical with this man, but she decided against it and swung Tony's hand back to his side, and she kept her hands to herself, a smug look on her face, confident in her innocence. "Before you ask, Karin and I didn't write or send that. That shit's pre-written and signed by Ra's himself, and sent out to people who he feels are a threat. It's like a sort of 'we have a reason to kill you, so fuck off' warning. You only did that by getting too close. Which makes me want to ask: what exactly did you do last night after you left us?"


"None of your business where we went. What's important? The closest we've gotten to Al-Asheera is the Bride of the Head, who I put in handcuffs last night. Next morning? My partner and I get death threats in our mail. Who do you think I'm gunning for first? Hm?"


Things were certainly not looking good for Karin and Thalia. First, catching them both smashing a laptop to its death, then these notes, which Thalia had no clue about. "I never spoke to anyone in Al-Asheera yesterday. Karin's my witness. Why the hell would I after we cut a deal? I want to bring them down just as much as you do. So get your head out of your ass and think for a damn second. What else could you have done to trigger his wrath? Hm? The brothel, maybe?"


Tony didn't say a word. He KNEW at this rate, it could've been the explosion at the 7/11. "How would you know?"


"Lucky guess? Ra's has a man in your department--"


"Excuse me?" This got on Tony's nerves further. More secrets that she didn't say yesterday. "You didn't say ANYTHING about a mole last night!"


"Shhhh..." Thalia was taking advantage of the fact Tony resisted getting physical, placing her index finger over his lips and shushing him almost in a seducing manner and a face that just screamed adorable. "Some people like to sleep in the morning." She removed her finger to let him talk again. Tony showed his dislike for her gesture with his crossed eyebrows and death glare. Thalia seemed more like she was getting off to the gesture. But not because she was hitting on him. She didn't like him, and this made him mad. Win.


"You didn't seem to care when you and your friend were giggling and smashing things in the backyard."


Ignoring the bite back, she went to business. "I didn't say there was an inside man yesterday? Well I'm telling you now. You can't trust the department because our guy is deep."


"How deep?"


"Balls deep. Don't know his cover name and he only has the neck tatt... and just prove I had absolutely nothing to do with the brothel OR your death threats..." Thalia reached for her back pocket and removed her cell phone. Tony tried to snatch it from her hands to see, but Thalia pulled away at the picture perfect moment. Standing up to Tony felt... liberating. Revenge from last night. "Uh-uh-uh.... I don't trust you, big guy. But your partner?" Her eyes separated from Tony and over to Frank as she took a few steps in his direction, took his hand, and placed the phone in it, shifting from a flirtatious mood to a more serious one, but still confident. "Check the texts and calls. Nobody called me. But I received one text last night. It was Ra's trying to bait me back, which I ignored." She took a few steps away from the younger detective, but her eyes lingering onto Frank just a bit more, but moreso innocently. She couldn't get over the mental image Karin gave her last night of hitting on this. Damn it, you're cute. Why.... just why... Now wasn't time to give him clues. She tried to get her mind off it with a comment directed to both detectives: "I was a good girl last night, as you can see. Are we good?"
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 2 (members: 0, guests: 2)

Similar threads

redroseknight
Fandom Part of Your World
Replies
0
Views
35
redroseknight
redroseknight
Ryees
Fandom The Dirty Part of Physics『 Imo x Ryees 』
Replies
6
Views
153
Ryees
Ryees
RascalRoadkill
Fantasy Tooth, Hoof and Claw [rascal & inthesea]
Replies
3
Views
78
InTheSea
InTheSea
EquineGurl23
Fandom Tale of Two Survivors { The Last of Us 1x1 with icedthemoon }
4 5 6 7 8 closed fandom mxm
Replies
175
Views
1K
icedthemoon
icedthemoon
ChiMakwa
Fandom The Princess and the Pariah; an Elder Scrolls Story
Replies
1
Views
58
AtlannianSpy
AtlannianSpy
Back
Top