Marley pulled his coat tighter around him as another blast of frosty air wove through the streets of New York. The cold didn't seem to affect to native New Yorkers as he saw many in shorts. He shivered slightly and looked over to see his partner without a coat and unaffected.

Marley voiced his thoughts, "Aren't you cold?"

Angus responded instantaneously, "Never."

Marley's eyebrows knit together, "There's no way you're never cold."

Angus confirmed, "I'm never cold."

Marley gave him a suspicious look, "So you've never been cold in your life?"

"Nope!" Angus' grinned as he realized this bothered Marley. He continued, his only goal to press Marley's buttons, "You know, I feel like it makes me a better agent."

Marley huffed incredulously, "A better agent?"

Angus nodded smugly, "Yeah, I don't have to worry about the nuisance of wearing a coat... or freezing to death—"

Marley stopped walking suddenly and cut in, "I'm sure you can still freeze to death."

Angus also stopped and raised a brow, "Are you sure?"

Marley paused for a moment because he wasn't actually sure and then stated firmly, "Yes, I'm sure."

Angus just shrugged, regaining his air of indifference, "I guess we'll never know."

Marley rolled his eyes and shook his head which was the reaction Angus was waiting for. Angus snickered while Marley spoke, "We're here anyway."

Angus, seemingly only then taking in his location, sat on a near by bench and stated, "This is a park."

Marley once again rolled his eyes, "Yes and and café is over there," he gestured across the street.

"Okay..." Angus started slowly, "So why are we here?"

Marley sat down and pulled out a book, "We have to wait for all the tables to fill up."

Angus blinked and peered into the windows. The tables were mostly filled up leaving one table empty and the girl from the street and the girl from the fight at a four person table. Angus caught on, "We need an excuse to sit with them so we can corner them."

Marley nodded, "Yeah, we just need someone to take up that table next to the door and we have our excuse."

Angus thought for a moment then stood up suddenly and rolled his shoulders back, "I've got this."

Marley looked up, "Got what?"

Angus walked off deeper into the park without an answer. Marley shouted after him, "Got what?"

Marley shoved his book back in his bag and jogged after Angus. When he finally finished making his way through winding walking-paths he caught up with Angus who was talking to an old woman; his British accent thicker than before. Marley watched in awe as his partner pointed to the café across the street and the woman nodded and thanked him before walking to the café. Angus turned like he was surprised to see Marley.

"What was that?" Marley questioned.

"I convinced that very nice woman that she needed an amazing cup of coffee from that café across the street," Angus said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Marley blinked at him.

Angus sighed, annoyed he needed to clarify, "I got us our table, now hurry up before the girls leave."

Angus pushed Marley forward to get him walking.

Alex really didn't want to be inside this café, she wanted to be in her apartment planning out the best way to steal the flash drive. Instead, she was making small talk to the girl across from her. Usually Alex would be good at multitasking, as she was working and talking to Jocelyn; however, it seemed that Jocelyn was quiet but once you befriended her, she talked quite a bit. There was that word again: friend. Alex was still reeling from the initial interaction. She could feel the walls of her mind crumbling the more and more she thought about the interaction. A memory of her father resurfaced in the middle of a sentence she was typing and had to stop fully and brace herself against the table, her breath once again stolen from her. 

Jocelyn glanced up, her eyebrows knit with worry and she asked if Alex was okay. Alex muttered back a response and a quick excuse. Her voice sounded too loud in her ears and she shut her laptop and shoved it in her bag. She grabbed one of the straps of her bag and in a flurry of movements she was up and making her way to the bathroom. 

It was a small bathroom that could only occupy one person at a time. The lights had a yellow tint  that made the light purple walls slightly darker than the original paint color. A small rectangular window was nestled close to the ceiling in one corner that led to an alley. Nevertheless, Alex locked herself in the café bathroom, the light purple walls drowned her as she attempted to regain the ability to breathe. Her chest continued to heave as she leaned against the bathroom all her weight resting on her hands in an attempt to ground herself. The word friend buzzed under her skin and bounced around the walls and corners of her mind: a key to the floodgates of her memories. 

As she lowered herself to a crouch and balanced on her toes she started to berate herself for losing her cool but being around Jocelyn unlocked memories she had left locked up for a very long time and preferred that they stayed away. Her legs started to shake as she slowly lost her balance. She briefly wondered what her father would say if he saw that she was loosing her balance after such a short amount of time. She wondered if he would be disappointed. If he would be disappointed in her... in what she had become. 

Alex was fully seated on the ground, her eyes closed. She could almost feel the heat beating down on her on that day. She still remembers the play they had been putting on and the routine she had to do... she started in downstage right with a front handspring that led into a round off; she then turned and did an aerial—

A loud banging hit the door indicating someone wanted in the bathroom and Alex was left wondering how long she had spent in the small room. She suddenly felt the need to flee, to get out and leave, to be away from whatever had set her off in the first place. The banging on the door only continued and her mind tuned it out and she searched the room around her looking for a way out. A small window was in the corner, it was square and the pane was frosted. She pulled her backpack towards the corner and undid the latch that locked the window in place with shaking hands. Before she could consider the consequences of leaving, she got on her tip-toes and pushed her backpack through the window and heard the clatter as the things in her bag hit the ground. She sighed and put her hands on the window frame using her all of her upper body strength and a little help from pushing off the wall with the tip of her shoe. She shimmied through the window, the width just enough for her to be able to get through without getting stuck. As Alex fell through the window, she cradled the back of her head and neck to protect it. She landed on her side and it knocked the wind out her. When the bathroom finally opened the owner complained the lock was sticking. The only evidence of the open window would be the shadow at the opening of the alley of a girl trying to pick up the pieces of her mind. 

Angus walked ahead of Marley as they entered the café. Sure enough, the woman from the park occupied the last open table. Angus glanced over at Marley to see if he also noticed but Markey's jaw was set and his eyes narrowed so Angus decided to keep quiet. Angus made a bee line to the brunette's table. Angus stood there for a second before the girl looked up and seemed startled by the two. Angus glanced at her laptop screen to see what she was doing but the screen was the type that was blackened from the side. 

Angus smiled apologetically, "All the tables are filled up and my friend and I were wondering if we could sit here with you." 

The girl's eyes flashed with confusion and she took in the café around her. Her eyes then narrowed with suspicion, "My friend is on her way back."

Angus nodded and kept his apologetic smile, "That's fine, we don't mind! Right, Ollie?"

Marley took the fake name smoothly and answered shortly, "Yep."

The girl's eyes flickered between Angus and Marley before she finally nodded, "She was sitting across from me but you guys can take that side."

Angus and Marley nodded and shuffled into the seats setting down their bags. Marley, ever the introvert, kept quiet and took in his surroundings, and assessing the girl quietly. Angus on the other hand only allowed a moment of silence to lapse before he introduced himself, "I'm James and this is Oliver."

"I'm Jocelyn," She said, "and my friend is—"

Whatever Jocelyn was about to say, she's cut off by the sound of a gun setting off multiple rounds; the sound is loud, signaling that the perpetrator was close. Everyone in the café immediately goes silent and the world seems to go quiet before another round is shot and the café erupts in panic. Angus and Marley exchange a glance, they knew others would be after the flash drive but it seems the two didn't have the head start they thought they had. Angus turns his attention to Jocelyn who's sitting up straight; she's frozen and her eyes are closed. It looks like she's panicking and trying to even out her breathing. Angus' first thought is to get himself and Marley and Jocelyn out of the area. They still needed to find out if Jocelyn had information on the girl from the fight and the flash drive. Angus slung on his backpack and made his way to the aisle so the trio could make their exit. Marley puts a hand on Angus' shoulder as they're shuffling out of their seats. He whispered so that only Angus could hear, "It's the Portuguese."

Angus suppressed the need to roll his eyes; Angus had encountered the Portuguese before, many times, in fact, and all of those times, they hadn't been on good terms. Angus believed they were currently angry with him for killing their best agent. That agent had been in the way of Angus' assignment and so Angus got rid of him.

"Look, Jocelyn, we've got to get out of here." He spoke lowly and quickly, trying not to think of what would happen if they found out that Angus was on this job. She nods slightly and opens her eyes; her hands shake violently as she closes her laptop and goes to put it in her bag. It's not until then does Angus notice the small black flash drive attached to her computer.

When Alex made eye contact with the Portuguese agent, she did not expect him to start shooting at her. Alex's mind went into survival mode as she ducked behind the nearest car. Alex got tunnel vision, drawing a conclusion as to why the Portuguese were there: the flash drive. They must have been trailing Alex. She cursed herself for leaving her only lead to the flash drive in the café. Alex forced herself to focus, she glanced around the car and got a glimpse of the agent before she had to scramble away from the side because a rain of bullets met her.  The agent was burly with a buzz cut, he had a simple black t-shirt on that seemed to bulk out slightly leading Alex to believe he had a bulletproof vest on. He wasn't the Portuguese agent that Alex had crossed paths with before —who she would've assumed would be on this assignment—; although, Alex quickly remembered that particular person hadn't been seen in a while after an encounter with the English. Silence rang out in the street as pedestrians had fled the scene at the first chance. Alex knew her only two options: run or fight. Alex chose the former as she left from her crouch behind the bullet-ridden car; she sprinted in zig-zags knowing it would make her a much more difficult target. She made a sharp right into an alley and ran right into a trio.