I watch as Dr. Andrea and Jacob both tap their foot impatiently as the seconds tick by.

"You do know that you guys can go and help the Family out? I'm a big girl and don't need two people to babysit me. What can I even do with this clunky cast on me anyways?" I wiggle my leg which has a my neon green cast. I thank whoever operated on my limbs because they are all healing nicely and quickly.

"Nice try." Dr. Andrea seems to know exactly what I have planned.

"What do you mean?" I ask innocently. "You really think I can do anything as injured as I am right now?" I scoff.

"Knowing you, you'll find a way to get involved some way or another." She rolls her eyes.

She is correct.

Jacob narrows his eyes and puts his finger to his lips. He signals with his hands for us to get ready for incoming people. We immediately shut our lips and wait in anticipation. Jacob props himself beside the door frame, gun aimed at the door. Dr. Andrea does the same as she leans protectively at me.

Where's my gun?

I pause and look at my unarmed state. Whatever weapon I had originally was taken away. I grimace briefly before grabbing an iron fireplace poker.

The sound of faint gunfire and shouts are more noticeable now that the room we are in is completely silent.

The wooden door does not reveal much, so I wonder how exactly Jacob has noticed anything.

Immediately after my thoughts, bullets are fired at the door before it is kicked open.

Dr. Andrea and I duck behind the office desk, which is flipped on its side to provide us with some sort of protection. I glance to my side to see that Jacob has already taken down a few men before he rolls to the side behind the couch.

I gulp before aiming my poker at one of the attacker's neck. It lands straight through. I try not to think about his face as it soars right into his jugular.

"Wow. They sucked." Jacob shakes his head as he comes out of his hiding spot.

"Jacob," Dr. Andrea gives a disapproving look.

"Ah, did I say that aloud?" He doesn't look the slightest bit uncomfortable. "Well, we should go to another room."

He begins to lead us to another room. He walks with an air of confidence and comfort. I'm impressed he even knows the place so well since the place is a maze.

As we carefully roam through the hallways, I glance around waiting for an intruder of some kind. However, the halls are now silent and look normal.

I speak too soon. We make a turn down the hallway and almost run straight at a group of men.

"Fuck!" Jacob curses as he and Andrea shove me to the side. Unfortunately, with only one good leg, I lose balance. Fortunately, I am pushed into a door but it swings right open as soon as I collide with it.

Dusting myself off, I lift myself up and find myself in a ransacked room. Everything, I mean even the wallpaper, is ripped and searched. I almost don't recognize that this is one of the guest rooms.

I take this as a moment of luck and surprise I can use for my escape. I am not the slightest bit worry about Andrea or Jacob for they can both handle themselves well.

As my moment of exhilaration from my freedom disappears, I frown as I realize I have absolutely no idea what to do. Basically, the Acerbis want to take control of us and will kill to get what they want. I have something they also want. That means they will kill me. I think back to the childhood days when I would play hide and seek with my brothers. There was this one spot. It was a great hiding spot where my brothers couldn't find me. It also led me to become partially scared of the dark since my brothers took forever to find me.

Yet, the Ricca blood in my is boiling for some action. My fingers are almost inching for a weapon. My body is twitching in excitement. I really shouldn't fight. I really really shouldn't go fight.

However, fighting gives me this rush. Okay, I absolutely hate death and murder, but there's just this indescribable feeling when I'm out there fighting alongside my Family.

Staring at my weaponless state once more, I settle out to first find myself some weapons.

I stop immediately as a couple phrases of Italian is heard just down the hallway. I curse my distracted mind. Not knowing if they are friend or foe, I search frantically for a place to hide.

I glimpse at the tall flower vase a little bit down the hall. It is inside a concave wall that has just the right amount of shadow to hide me. Plus, the vase is wide and tall enough to give me some hiding place.

I take great caution as I rush behind the case. Peeking from the side, I crouch and look at the passerbys intently.

"Nobody has found her yet."

"The lot of you are useless. You can't even find one girl!" The voice sounds vaguely familiar as they get closer. I'm positive they are talking about me.

"Well, the place is massive. We are searching."

"You have an hour to find the Key and get rid of her." He says sharply before murmuring." That girl has always been trouble ever since she was born." At those words, I finally place his identity. It's freaking uncle-betrayer, aka brother of my lovely dad. Unlike dad, this son of a bitch is slimy but charming. It's disgusting. Don't get me started on him. Seriously, I won't know when to end my rant.

I relax my grip on the flower vase and try to calm myself down. I am sorely tempted to go and punch the schmuck right on nose. Maybe it'll break his face and show his true, ugly one underneath.

I force myself in the opposite direction. It doesn't take long to get to my room. I have a few close encounters, but otherwise I do not run into too many people.

Carefully nudging my door, I glance inside and notice its untouched state. My heart stops a second before I turn around in a defensive position.

There's nobody around me, which does not reassure me.

I hurry to my closet and open the collapsible bottom. Grabbing my knives and guns, I head out through the connecting door. I wonder why none of the Acerbis have ransacked this room yet. Did they not have the time, or have they not reached here yet?

I go search for my brothers.

It doesn't take long to find them. All I have to do is listen for lots of hollers and plenty of destruction. My brothers go hard whenever they fight, whether it be over something small or big. I remember that time Dante and Tony had an intense arm wrestling match over who would get the last bit of ice cream.

Anyways, I pretty much figure out that the fighting is in the main foyer judging by the ruckus and the bullet that flies past me. The dust and debris are flying all over the place as soon as I enter the hallway. People are all over the place fighting and grunting. It's smelly; it's grimy; it's dangerous. Cheesy, but it's home.

The foyer, which is down the hallway and opens out to a grand stairwell has the most ruckus.

"There she is!" Someone notices me from across the hallway. I squint at the silhouette of a man. I cannot tell if it's someone I know, friend or foe. i steady my gun with both my heads and wait as the person comes. I figured it must be a friend to recognize me instantly. As the person approaches, I realize there is a person following the silhouette. When the dust clears momentarily, I spot Jacob and Dante!

"Dante!!!" I scream and hug him fiercely. "Are you okay?" I scan his body for injuries. He sports a couple scrapes and bruises but otherwise is whole. "Thank god you're okay!"

"I should be saying that!" Dante beams before replacing his happiness with a look of disapproval. "I thought you were long gone by now! I thought Andrea brought you to safety."

We both look towards Jacob, who casually grins. He's acting way too normal.

"Jacob, care to explain?" Dante stares at Jacob with a deadly look. Uh oh. Jacob doesn't seem to be too fazed but I can see a little bit of fear in his eye. Yes, don't mess with my brothers.

"Andrea and I separated during the fight. Then, I searched for Shay but ran into you," he explains. "Smoke bomb!" He warns us suddenly as something rolls toward us.

We all duck out of instinct mostly due to the word "bomb." Well, Dante kind of side hugs me as he throws the both of us into a room. We go crashing straight into the door before landing on the ground.

"Did you really have to do that?" I frown as he rubs his shoulder and moves it around a bit.

He doesn't reply as he grabs his gun and starts firing. I always admire his incredible marksmanship. A couple men fall down at the door. I try not to watch them.

I stare at my cast. It's really inconvenient to have the cast boot. I wonder if I should just break it open.

"Incoming." Jacob knocks on the wall. Dante and I point the gun at him out of instinct. Luckily, none of us fires. "The hallway is cleared, courtesy of moi."

Dante and I walk towards Jacob. "How's Tony and Leo?" I ask Dante.

"No, "thank you, my knight and shining armor Jacob. Jacob, my dashing hero?" Jacob gives me a sidelong glance as he smirks.

Dante and I ignore him.

"Alive if that's what you're asking." Dante answers.

'How's everyone else?" I wonder.

"We have yet to spot Alfredo Acerbi."

"He has shown his face yet?" Jacob seems intrigued.

"Not that we have heard of." Dante says. "Shay, you really shouldn't be here."

"I know how to defend myself, even with a cast boot." I roll my eyes at him.

"We're outnumbered. We're going to lose." Dante says bluntly. "There is no chance in hell we are going to surrender. We are literally fighting with our lives."

I'm speechless for a bit. My Family has and always been the best. We have great fighters.

"What if we used the weapons inside the vault that mom mentioned?" I hesitantly ask.

"Uh guys.." Jacob waves to us. "You might want to save the talk later because we have a shit ton of people coming our way. By the looks of their faces and barrel of their guns, they are not friendly." He points to the people coming up the stairwell.

That's when they start firing at us.

It's also when the fun begins.

I feel like a badass as I whip out my gun and fire at the intruders. My marksmanship isn't too shabby either. However, I mostly shoot to disable and paralyze, not to kill. For most of my targets, I try to do hand and legs.

"Vivi! Godddammit, this is not the time to be nice! They're aiming to kill you!" Dante screams next to me as we move and crouch behind the fallen mahogany table. Jacob grins next to me as he sits against table reloading his ammo.

Of course, I ignore Dante. he may be fine with murdering people, but I would rather not kill someone if I don't have to.

Shooting may be fun, but it's combat fighting which is what I live for. I catch a glimpse or two of Leo and Tony suddenly running around through the broken pieces of wood in the walls. Jacob and Dante seem to be doing well. They work together nicely without needing to communicate. It's a rare sight.

I feel like I'm doing nothing all over again as I sit here on my ass aiming at the people. They just keep shooting and shooting. They sure are aiming at us ferociously. C'mon, THERE ARE MORE PEOPLE DOWN THERE!

When the shots die down, we wait a couple minutes.

"Are we just going to wait for them to come up the stairs?" I watch as nobody makes any move.

"It's suicide to go on the stairs for all of us." Dante thinks. "We could always combine the tables and slide down on one table while having the other table shield us."

"How about you and Jacob go on the table down the stairs while I stay up here and provide cover. I can come join you later."

"Sounds good." Dante agrees. By now, I think he is not going to nag me about being here. He knows firsthand I can handle myself just fine...most of the time.

Jacob rolls across to the other table swiftly. A couple bullets aim at him, but they miss him narrowly. Then, he picks up the table. On our go, he comes back up as Dante and I give him cover.

"Let's do this." Jacob says as soon as we get in position. "1-2-3....GO!"

Dante and Jacob are such hooligans. They scream as they go down the stairwell. The way the stairs are formatted is that there are stairwells on both sides and they curve towards the center.

As soon as they halt, the two of them start fighting the people closest to them. I huff as they don't make things easier on me. Jacob goes wild with his flashy kicks and punches. Dante is equally as crazy as him. I almost consider using two guns, but remember my other hand is really shaky.

1..2..3..I count as I aim at each person. I think I got all the shooters. I run down the stair and leap off the stairwell halfway. I land right on top of some guy's shoulders, knocking him down on the floor. With the butt of the gun, I clock him straight on his skull.

There's a lot more people down here than I expected.

"Pardon me!" The words slip out of my mouth as I run right into another random guy. We stare at each other before we realize we have never seen each other in our life. Thus, that probably means he's associated with the Acerbi, or maybe a new hire for the house cleanup services. I'm thinking the first one since the guy is so not dressed like the help.

He takes the first swing, aiming straight towards my face.

"C'mon, you've got to be better than that." I cannot help but sigh aloud. "What a typical, basic move."

It seems that he has good hearing for he grows angry and attacks me fiercely, but sloppily. His punches are literally all over the place; he almost punched the wall.

"Admire the effort, but still not enough." I smile before I do a simple roundhouse kick. I'm more of a kicker. I cringe slightly as it brings me a slight pain to my injured leg. However, it's quite satisfying I still have my skills as the kick connects with his neck before knocking him unconscious.

I look around and search for any familiar faces. There are some vaguely familiar faces around me fighting the enemies. However, Jacob and Dante are not even here anymore. I duck as literally everything is thrown all over the place. I can only imagine what I look like.

"It's her!" I look to the right as someone on top of the stairs point straight at me.

"Fuck you." I grimace as I throw my now empty gun as hard as I can at his forehead. That was my last gun.

Of course, it hits dead on.

Still, it does not mean anything as his statement brings the attention to everyone within ten feet of us. Their eyes train on me as they start making their ways toward me. I frown as I take out my two knives and clench it within my fists. Time to meet your maker.

Knives are always my go-to. Before they reach me, I dig inside my cast for the syringe needle i may or may not have borrowed. I don't remember the exact name for the drug, but from what I have researched, it pumps me full of it so I can use my right arm properly without it shaking too much. (Yes, I have regained enough control except i cannot hold anything steady).

I have no idea where the hell Jacob pops out of, but he suddenly exists right next to me.

"What's that?" He looks at the syringe I toss away.

"Nothing," I shrug, which he doesn't believe but thankfully focuses on the people crowding us in a circle.

"Where's everyone else?" I try to look for people, but all I see are menacing faces.

"ALL FOR ONE AND ONE FOR ALL!!" Leo, Dante, and Tony leap down from somewhere and scream as they land inside the circle with us.

I don't even bother questioning them anymore.

"You guys got some beef you want to discuss?" Leo puts on an evil grin as he cracks his knuckle. I think there is some form of fight procedure but the three of them just charge at all of the people around us.

In all the places I could laugh, I start giggling right then and there. I must be finally going insane.

"HEY! WAIT UP!" I chase after my brothers. Well, I first break open my cast...by kicking at the wall as hard as I can. Hey, it breaks. It takes a few minutes before I am able to balance well without the familiarity of the cast. My leg is sore and rusty, but it doesn't hurt as much as I expect.

I see a douchebag sneak towards Dante's back as he busily fights hand-to-hand combat with three other similarly built men. I really hate people who fight so dirtily. I weigh my knife on the palm of my hand before throwing it straight into the guy's back. I stabbed him in the back. Oh, the irony.

Dante glances at me and winks, "thanks sis." He mouths before his eyes widen.

I'm a little late as I turn around as someone tries to do the same to me. Really, now?

His face strikes me as early teens. Plus, he looks too frail to be fighting. I am saddened by how young he appears, but his eyes show such rage. Then, his eyes turn empty as he falls on his face on the floor. An arrow sticks out of his back.

I glance up at my savior...Pearl?

"NO FUCKING WAY!" I shout. She is decked out in a suit that resembles Black Widow's from the Avengers. Her long hair is in a tight braid as she smirks. Since when did she do archery? She waves before disappearing into the smoke upstairs.

From here on out, I'm just going to assume everything is possible. If I see a guy shooting lasers out of his eyes, yay for him!

I think a troll just entered my home. Someone call Hogwarts and ask if they're missing a mountain troll.

"What the..."

"...fuck." Jacob finishes for me. We share a look before staring at the steroid juiced monster coming towards us.

"I'm not tripping right?" I blink multiple times. Well, he looks normal enough despite his obvious height and bulky muscles.

"You can take him." Jacob and I say at the same time.

"No, you." We say the same words.

"Aw, you two are adorable." Leo wraps his arms around our shoulders briefly before stating in a deadly tone,"you guys could have died three times in the last second if it wasn't for me." He squeezes us both really hard before pushing us away.

"Hey Jacob, I see Alfredo." I freeze as Alfredo strolls in casually behind the troll.

"Where?"

"Behind the damn troll." I point. "He's by himself."

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's get him!" Jacob looks up for the challenge.

"Uh he's not actually by himself." I watch closely. "And what are we going to do? Kill him?"

"Yeah, I know but I have yet to lose a fight." He flexes his arms and stretches quickly. "And if we must, I'll do the killing."

"No, I want to do it." I stop him and state seriously.

"Really?"

"Oh, you don't know how much I've been waiting for this moment." I focus on that damn Alfredo Sauce.

"What are we waiting for? Let's kill this son of a bitch!" He runs ahead. "C'mon, you slowpoke!" He hollers in front of me.

Of course, he'd be so casual in light of the havoc around us.

I wipe off the blood off my knives and run after him.

_______________________________________________

A/N

Question of the day: GOT QUESTIONS (for me)? haha. if you want to know anything about me, comment!!

I'm going to update the next chapter as soon as i can since I lagged on this. However, i have four finals coming up for school because my damn teachers think it is great to have FINALS BEFORE AP EXAMS ALL CRAMMED INTO ONE WEEK! I don't know, it's smart to do it before AP exams but not when all the teachers do it in the same exact week, in the same days.

so, i've been studying. I've also just had spring break. I went college visiting. I made the choice to stay in california instead of going to my dream school NYU D: it's way too expensive. You know, apply for scholarships! Except, i have and haven't gotten any. Shucks.

thanks to everyone who has waited patiently and not screamed at me to update. I WRITE JUST FOR YOU GUYS <3 thank you for the support

I GOT TONS OF GREAT FEEDBACK FOR A NEW TITLE. YOU GUYS MAKE ME SO CONFLICTED! HALF OF YOU WANT NEW TITLES, YET THE OTHER HALF DOESN'T!

i'll wait it out and see what to do, but i love all the creative titles you have come up with!!!

next update: HOPING it will be all done by Sunday. I might not have an update after that depending how much sleep i get and amount of studying time.

edit: MY COMPUTER WORKS! I THINK IT'S THE NEW UPDATE

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