12 days until the job

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"WAKE UP!" I get rolled out of my blanket and thrown off my bed.

My first thought was that the CreepyPasta killer with the clown mask had finally come to take my life. 

It was partially true, because there is a clown standing above me, and that clown is Rey. I'm never saying these words out loud, by the way. I don't want to look like a half-assed version of Lord Voldemort when she bashes my nose in.

"Why do you interrupt my afternoon nap?" I ask civilly, because engaging Rey in a fight, is well, like trying to share a steak with a lion. And in this scenario, I'm not even human, I'm like a meerkat.

"It's 8pm bitch," she says, before nagging my thigh with her toe.

Okay, so I took a five hour nap, big deal.

"I still don't hear the unholy reason why you would wake me up," I say, still laying on my back, on the floor.

She offers her hand to me, "Dhara, Pandora and I are going to watch some of the street matches. You in?"

"Pandora?"

"She told me she's really been into action thrillers recently. She wants to see fighters IRL," Rey explains with a shrug. Of course that would be Pandora's reason.

I yawn, "When are we leaving?"

A coat gets thrown at my face, "Right now."

I swear if someone else throws a coat in my face one more time-

****

Now we are walking in the heart of Chicago, which is a very bad place to have underground street fights may I add. The streets are five times more crowded than those of Philly, and then people here have a lot less clothing, even though it's a lot colder here than Philadelphia.

I will never understand Americans. Even though I was born one.

And I need to acknowledge that every street you turn to, you will see an American flag. I thought that only happened in Washington. The patriotism flies high in this city. 

Oh well, God bless America I guess.

Pandora wraps her arms around herself, "Ah why did we cancel on California? My ass is freezing here."

Well if she had brought more layers than just a Gucci bomber jacket, then her ass wouldn't be frozen right now.

"Why did we cancel on LA though?" Rey asks, wrapping her own trench coat tightly around herself.

"The police put two and two together and anticipated that we would strike LA next. I don't know about you guys, but I am not in the mood of going to prison or breaking someone out of prison."

Dhara shrugs, "I like Chicago. It's been good to me till now."

Dharuna has skin of steel. She never feels anything extreme. When its too hot, she chills around in the sunlight, when its too cold, she chills around in the snow. She just doesn't feel it. Fucking weird.

One good thing about her is that she is a human furnace in the cold, which might be the reason why my arm is looped around hers, holding on for warmth. She thinks I'm being affectionate, what a loser.

"What could you possibly like about this freezing city with pizzas everywhere?" Pandora asks.

"As long as I don't have to deal with drunk misogynistic men every night, I am fine with any place, honestly," Dhara says casually, while sipping on her tea inside the thermos she has been holding the whole time.

Rey shrugs, "I don't know, I kinda miss my old days."

****

Conway, South Carolina was officially the most boring place I had ever been to. Like seriously. Boring. It's old, and very good for the historically inclined weirdos.

But for me, it was an old people paradise with parks and rivers and graveyards everywhere. Even the McDonald's over there looked antique. And I hated it.

The Myrtle beach was good though, not as crowded as Malibu in LA and less infiltration of sksksks VSCO girls. Perfect beach days.

But my bank robbing days had taught me that they made up for the boring suburban city with nighttime underground street fights downtown.

This better be interesting.

Minnie was chilling in Jordan with Kai and Blaise, working on our first job as a crew for an estimated fifty grand worth painting. Monique ditched me to attend a symposium on quantum mechanics.

We had a thief, a hacker and a technical plus demo expert, but we needed someone to take people down if we ever got cornered.

I had known Rey before, we had once been recruited to do a bank job together and she very easily threatened every hostage in the bank to shut the fuck up or lose an arm.

She had told me to meet her at the abandoned underground mall place, but all I could see there were hoards of rowdy gangsters, cheering and hissing wildly.

I waited for ten minutes for Rey to show up before I got bored and decided to find out what was happening in the center of the crowd.

And surprise, surprise, there was a fight going on.

One of the fighters? My dear friend, Rey Wolfe, ladies and gentlemen.

There she was in her five feet ten inches glory, wearing an olive green shirt and black sweatpants, along with the white bandage thing on her wrists. The cool fighter bandages. She was very concerningly bleeding from the top of her forehead.

Her entire face and body were caked and glistening in sweat as she circled an opponent twice her size. He was this big dude with biceps the size of trees.

Only weakness? He was slow as hell.

Rey was smaller, swifter and way more precise with her hits, whereas he had a standard smash and grab move, which would work with bigger and slower opponents.

The dude swung his fist at her face but she ducked and delivered two hard blows on the dude's jaws.

He stumbled back, spitting blood. He tried lunging for her face again, but Rey used her same tactic but this time hit his torso, not his gut, but a little above, and I hear a sickening crack.

The dude roared in pain and stumbled back, possibly because of broken ribs.

He growled like an uncivilized bear then grabbed her by the throat.

Oh no.

He then made the mistake of raising her in the air. She had been clawing at his hands to let her go, but as he raised her, her eyes lit up in understanding then she swung her legs to hit the place where she had cracked his ribs.

The dude screamed in pain and let go of her, while falling down to the ground himself. Rey landed graciously on the crowd, like a cat, her jet black hair now loose from their hair tie, flowing around her like a cloak.

The crowd roared wildly, some with happiness because they probably bet on Rey, while some crying out cusses, probably because of the money they just lost.

She placed her knee on his chest and kneed him hard, and that was the move that completely knocked him out. She faced the crowd and thumped her fist on the chest like the victor that she was, grinning with blood covering some of her top teeth.

Later, we are standing outside the underground mall thing, Rey in fresh clothes and a stash of money in her hand, counting her notes gingerly while I drank the beer she had handed to me. I didn't know if it is spiked but well, it was not, so it was all good.

"Should've placed a bet," I say with a smirk, while Rey finished counting.

"You really should have, I got extra money for kneeing him in the chest," she said, with a grin of her own, the blood washed off from her teeth.

"I need you in my crew," I get straight to the point.

"You have your own crew now?"

"I was getting tired of Blue's bullshit. I quit and have started on my own."

"What do I get out of all this?"

"Money, company, less life-threatening situations," I said.

"I'm not afraid of death," Rey said.

"But you need the money, and the company of a crew."

Rey smiled, "True, when are we leaving? Do we have time for me to drink you under the table?"

"Ha! The old people here have a actual bars?"

"Oh little lamb, you have no idea."

****

Between our two enforcers, I would say, Dharuna is the disciplined one, the one smart in every situation. Rey on the other hand is pure force, and sometimes a little slow, but makes up for it in the damage dealt.

I'm talking about them as if I'm describing playable video game weapons.

Pandora would be the enchanted bread, which sometimes gives you infinite health and the other times poisons you till you slowly die. 

Minnie would be the companion NPC, just walking along, catching butterflies and telling us stories to help us ahead in the game.

Blaise would be the enchanting table used to enchant your weapons to make them stronger.

Ariadne would be the armor, which first kills the enemy, then consumes you slowly if you get it damaged too much.

Yuri would be the horse which runs away all the time and you have to keep it by your side the entire time because you love it too much.

Monique is the crafting table you craft your tools on. 

Elara is the books which tell you about story ahead.

Alby and Cassandra...I have no idea.

A hand waves over my face, "You're daydreaming again," Pandora says, rolling her eyes at me.

Rey flourishes her hands on front of us, "Here we are."

"Rey..." I look at what she's pointing at, "That's a sewer."

We're in a lonely alley, all staring at a sewer lid. A very bad looking sewer lid. A very smelly sewer lid. 

I'm done with sewers for a fucking lifetime. I don't need more friends who are rats or possums or raccoons. The worst part, I think all of those friendships were one-sided. I don't think they even remember me. That raccoon in Venezuela had only stayed with me for the apple I had in my coat.

*cries in loneliness*

Dhara lifts the lid, and we see a well lit wooden staircase.

Oh this place is disguised like a sewer. Thank the fucking gods. 

The place we enter, is like an underground bunker or like an exhausted, cleaned out, mine of sorts. It's huge, and very well lit. There are grey brick walls surrounding the hundreds of people down here, surrounding a fighting rings, which needs to be revamped because it looks filthy as fuck.

In the ring, two people are beating the shit out of each other. One of the dudes hit the other in the jaw so, so hard, I swear I think I saw a tooth fly out.

The crowd is cheering so much, my ears want to fall out. But at the same time, all this energy around me has got my adrenaline rushing and I watch with sadistic excitement as the dude with the broken tooth is tossed out of the ring and towards one of the grey walls, completely knocked out.

Rey sighs, "Ah I kinda miss my old days."

I frown at her, "It needs to remain in the old days."

"Not even one fight? I could make a shit ton of money here," she says, while fixing her long black hair in a ponytail.

"You could also be missing a tooth like the dude who just got tossed out," Pandora says, wrinkling her nose. Finally, something I can agree on, with Pandora.

"You are here on a job. I need you in one piece," I declare, as we turn to watch the next match.

Suddenly I smell some very bad breath near me, "You would look very good in a two piece," I feel a hand curl around my waist and this tall dude with huge biceps comes into my view.

I grab his hand, and then twist his wrist backwards till I hear a crack, my signature move. He screams out in pain, just as Rey finishes him off with a punch upside the jaw. Two cracks are heard as Rey strikes his ribs, and the dude slumps down onto the floor.

The crowd has abandoned the current match and is focusing on us now, cheering Rey and me on as the tall dude's taller companion comes in our view. He lunges for me when Dharuna grabs and twists his hand, so hard that we hear yet another crack. She then jerks the broken hand and this opponent falls to the floor where Pandora stabs his bicep with her heel.

"You need to pay up for the heels. They are Louboutin's," Pandora sneers at the fallen asshole.

She always has her priorities straight.

Behind me I hear a gambler say, "Yeah I'm putting a twenty on the one with the heels."

They really need to get a life.

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Hello! Musique_Me I hope you liked Rey's story.

Also, do you guys like the story so far, I'm trying to first get a little into the action and build their characters gradually. Once again, don't feel obligated to read just because your PC is in there, okay?