Prompt-

"if you do that again, I'll throw you out of that fucking windo- what are you doing?"

"checking how far the drop is to see if it's worth it."

(This is an original story, all rights belong to me.)

"Lilian! Hurry the hell up!" Lilian looked up, still chewing her warm apple cider donut, glaring at the bronze skinned girl standing a few feet in front of her.

"Shut it, Lyna. You were the one who said we try looking in that old bakery in the first place!" She accused. "And now, you're telling me to hurry up eating my food. You know, I haven't had anything to eat since four in the morning!" Lyna rolled her eyes but didn't say anything and started walking towards the dumpster in the back of the alley. Lilian hurried over to the dumpster, where Lyna now had the lid open, bent over digging in the depths of trash.

"You're not seriously going dumpster fishing now, Lyna." She said, shoving the rest of the plump donut in her mouth, wiping the crumbs on her dark satin cloak. There was no response from Lyna, until she pushed herself up from the dumpster, with a strange triangular metal object in hand. Lilian knew what it was immediately.

"Why was there a xuam in the dumpster?" she wondered aloud. A xuam was an object that would release a gas on command. Not necessarily deadly or toxic, unless made to be so. All you needed was gas of your choice, and a code word as well as your fingerprint and you were good to go. In this case though, the two girls could tell they didn't own this one.

"If this isn't ours," Lyna said, turning to Lilian, "who the hell left it in a dumpster?" The two girls made eye contact, knowing they both knew the only person who it could belong to.

-ˋˏ ༻❁༺ ˎˊ-

Lilian hauled herself through the three story high window, Lyna already ahead of her, looking around the small room for any sort of clues that this particular person had been here recently. Only one small, dimly lit gas lamp was flickering on an old wood desk.

"Lyna," she whispered, "this lamp is still on, and it's gas powered. If he planned on leaving for a while, he would've either turned off the lamp, or it would have burned out." Lyna opened her mouth to speak, but was cut off by another voice.

"Looks like you've got smarter since the last time we met." Lilian whipped around to face him.

"I know I have, but you seem just the same." She seethed. He chuckled, "Lili,"

"Don't call me that." Lilian defended, "Why not? Last time I saw you we only called each other by nicknames."

Anger swelled in Lilian's throat and she fought the urge to scream. "No. Your name is Lucas, and mine is Lilian. Not Luke, not Lili."

Lucas frowned a bit, then spoke again. "I'm telling you, Lilian, you, Lyna and I could have been the 'Triple L Gang'."

"Yeah, well that was all ruined because of you."

"You guys are the ones that left!"

"Because of your stupid actions!"

"My actions? Your the one who can't listen or think anything through!"

"Well if you weren't so fuc-"

"Okay!" Lyna interrupted, trying to diffuse the situation before it escalated even more, "We get it, you guys hate each other, but right now, we a different problem." Lucas raised an eyebrow. "Why did you," Lyna pointed at Lucas, "leave a xuam in an alley dumpster?"

He sighed, "Listen, it's a long story." He paused, clearly waiting for the girls to let the subject drop, but neither did. Lyna's hands were placed on her hips, head cocked to the side, Lilian was observing her nails, a bored expression displayed on her face.

"Alright, alright." Lucas started, "I got word that the Try-Hards are out again." Lilian sucked in a breath.

When Lilian was seven, her father had been taking her older sister, Yasmine, to her soccer practice when they had got into a horrible car accident. Both were alive in the car, the police said, but her father had passed during the drive to the hospital and her sister was in critical care. The hospital had called half an hour later to let her mother know what had happened, and after taking the news brutally, struggled with an asthma attack. Lilian didn't understand what was happening at the time, and when her mother had asked her to help, she stood there, confused and panicked. Lilian finally decided to call 911, and they soon arrived. Too late, they told her. She was an orphan. Her mother and father were dead. Yasmine was in critical care, unknowing if she would survive the night. The police called a social worker for kids, Mrs. Baker, her name was. Lilian didn't like Mrs. Baker. She felt too much like the social workers in the old fiction books she had always liked to read. Lilian had been in foster care for over five months after the incident, all of the kids stayed away from her, they had heard she killed her own mother. After being adopted twice, Lilian ran away from each home, even though she knew they were only trying to help.

Lilian soon turned eight, and it seemed like the world was mocking her, she would never be able to celebrate with her family again. She had been a runaway for more than three months, when she heard someone moving in the alleyway she slept in that night, it turned out to be Lucas. He was eight years old as well, she learned, although seven months older than Lilian. Naturally, they stuck together and became a trouble stirring duo. Best of friends, that was sure. Then two years later, Lilian and Lucas were nine, saw Lyna sitting on a park bench alone, and immediately befriended her. 'The Triple L Gang', that's what they were for a year and a half. The three were inseparable, that is, until Lucas made a decision without asking the girls first, and it ruined their friendship far enough that the girls left in the middle of the night, only leaving a note to Lucas. They hadn't seen Lucas until today, seven years later.

Lilian gripped the side of the old, wooden desk as Lucas continued explaining.

"Heard they were planning on something late on the eleventh of June."

It was August.

"So I came up from Boston," That's how they hadn't seen him! Lilian and Lyna have been living on the run in New York for seven years, but Lucas was in Boston, "and stayed in this cheap motel for three days, until the eleventh. Didn't know what they were planning, that's for sure. But I figured, this could get me a step ahead of them, could catch them by surprise." He took a shuddering breath, "I was so, very wrong. I was watching them from an overhang of an abandoned candy shop. They were talking about some kind of initiative, I didn't hear what exactly," Lucas said quickly, knowing the girls were soon to interrupt, "just a few small things."

"They're recruiting new members. Or, trying to, at least. They've been targeting new members who are ages fourteen to twenty." Lilian couldn't keep her questions in anymore.

"What? Why are they recruiting new members? They already have over one hundred of them, why more? And what's the initiative about?" Lilian narrowed her eyes, "And how did you know they would be in New York?" She turned to look at Lucas's expression, which was blank, until his chapped lips pulled into an upward position. He crossed the room over to Lilian, and stopped, inches away from her.

Both had obviously grown and changed since they last saw each other. Lucas's hair had grown darker and a bit longer, and was at least three inches taller. Lilian's straight cut, jet black hair was longer as well, hovering barely over her waist, she too had grown a few inches.

They continued what could only be described as an ultimate staring contest until Lyna spoke.

"Can you two stop flirting and get to the point?" Lilian turned to give her a hard glare.

Lucas moved a couple feet away, to the old wooden desk and pulled out a drawer. In the drawer were piled stacks of yellowed papers, writing and sketches on each.

"How long did you spend on these?" Lilian mumbled under her breath, Lucas shrugged.

"Had nothing else to do." Each individual paper was filled with plans and dates of supposed attacks.

'May 5, 2027 - Try-Hards break into apartment on South St., only object stolen was a family heirloom.'

'June 4, 2027 - They appeared at a cookout at a birthday party. Only minor injuries.

'June 7, 2027 - I know they're planning something on the eleventh of June. Just don't know what exactly.'

'June 12, 2027 - They sure attacked last night. Killed four innocents and injured twelve more. Left me with a sca-'

Lilian stopped reading as Lucas hastily slid the papers out of her view and his face turned dark.

"You don't need to look at those, I can tell you about the Try-Hards." He replied.

The 'Try-Hards' was a stupid name the three of them had come up with when they were younger. They were a group of about one hundred people, all over the age of sixteen to twenty, until now, that is.

The Try-Hards had been terrorizing the United States from the shadows since Lilian was seven. Even though she didn't have much information, Lilian just knew they had everything to do with her father and sister's deaths. The Try-Hards were what would be the "bad guys" of a book are. They were Voldemort in Harry Potter, the antagonists in every story.

"How do we know you aren't feeding us incorrect information," Lilian said, crossing her arms.

"Can't you just trust me?" He replied, eyebrows furrowed in frustration, "you trusted me before, and you guys know I wouldn't lie about the Try-Hards, out of everything."

Lilian sighed, knowing Lucas was right and turned to face Lyna. They had a best friend 'conversation' through their eyes and turned back to the desk. A loud beep suddenly sounded off and the old gas lamp became lit with blue light, flashing every half second.

Lucas's face turned serious and he rushed to the small, thirty inch television placed in the back corner of the room. He grabbed a remote from off a small rickety couch and flipped through channels, until he stopped on one in particular, his eyes trailed the headline racing on the bottom of the screen and turned up the volume.

'Gang of criminals spotted on main roads of Times Square, police say to lock doors and stay inside.'

"A large gang of what seem to be criminals or terrorists have been seen by citizens along the streets of Times Square, we are not sure who they are yet." The news reporter announced, "They were seen wearing a dark blue cloak and seem to be wielding various weapons. The police have ordered all citizens within twenty miles to lock all doors and windows, and stay in your homes until further notice." The three teens were all very engaged in the news, waiting until there was something to confirm their theories.

"Come on, come on," Lucas mumbled, his eyes glued to the screen. Finally, a photograph of the gang was flashed upon the screen.

(That's them, but there are more of them and it's in New York City.)

He paused the television and there they were.

The Try-Hards.

The people who supposedly killed her father and sister.

The ones who made her an orphan.

She would make sure they felt the same pain as her family did when they passed.

Lucas scrambled out of his seat and grabbed a cloak as well as a few throwing knives and a medium sized dagger. He turned to Lilian and Lyna.

"Are you coming?" Lilian bit her lip, deciding if she should trust him. But Lyna answered for her.

"Yes. That doesn't mean we trust you, but this is more important than a grudge right now."

Lilian tilted her head as to say, 'That wasn't the plan, but okay.' And she made sure she had her prized dagger and three throwing knives, as well as a couple xuams in case. Lilian took a deep breath, then followed Lyna and Lucas out the broken door. She was about to meet and probably fight the people who killed her family face to face. It would be a hard fight, but it would be worth it. Lilian would make sure it was.

-ˋˏ ༻❁༺ ˎˊ-

The three watched the gang of criminals from the windows of a large department store, which they had broken into. Lilian was nervously chewing a Hi-Chew she kept in her pocket, and Lyna was not happy with her. Lilian clicked her tongue in anticipation twice, and Lyna gave her a dirty look.

"If you do that again, I'll throw you out of that fucking windo- what are you doing?" She threatened.

"Checking how far the drop is to see if it's worth it." Lilian snickered while Lyna rolled her eyes.

"Guys, I think I see them," Lucas whispered.

"Where?" Lilian asked, trying to stop her shaking voice and almost choked on her Hi-Chew. And then she saw them. They were wearing their typing fit. A long, midnight blue leather cloak, with a hood and cowl to match, each had individual dagger belts across their waist, with tall combat boots and their logo on the right shoulder.

Their logo was a white, flat diamond shape, not like the shapes you called diamonds in first grade, that was actually a rhombus, an actual diamond shape, with a sharpened arrow piercing through it.

The three once friends crept along the empty building, making their way down to the street the Try-Hards took up. When they got close enough, they spread apart, each behind their own respective sidewalk signs. Lilian gave hand signals she knew they all knew.

'Stay here right now,' the hand gestures said, 'we don't want them to know we're here until we ambush.' Lyna nodded back to Lilian and she turned to Lucas's sign.

He was crouched down, giving Lilian a disapproving look before he unsheathed a dagger and ran towards the gang of criminals. They startled and jumped out of the way at the sight of the other cloaked figure, but soon gathered their bearings and rushed towards Lucas. The girls gave up the plan and joined the fight quickly.

Lilian chose her first opponent and saw that Lucas and Lyna had done the same. By the looks of the body shape, Lilian thought it was a woman, and didn't seem to be older than sixteen, although she couldn't see her face.

Lilian and the woman threw hands, eventually turning to daggers and small throwing knives. Lilian kicked the woman's feet out from under her, and she landed on the hard pavement ground, knocked unconscious.

Lilian didn't have time to rest though, as she circled her next opponent. After thirty minutes, Lilian, Lyna, and Lucas had knocked out about twenty Try-Hards, but there were at least fifty more, and Lilian knew at any given time, the Try-Hards could call for backup.

The three started to tire after and hour and a half, when they heard police sirens and blue and red lights flashing.

"This is great!" was Lilian's first thought,"But what if the police arrest us too? What if they take me back to foster care?"

But she didn't have time to think. The Try-Hards started to file out, into some creepy gray van, parked on the side of the broad road. The police ran out, pointing guns at the stragglers. Lilian, Lucas, and Lyna all moved together slowly, making sure to identify themselves as a different party, and raised their hands over their heads for safe measures.

A police woman approached them, armed with a large gun and two associates. She ordered them to drop any weapons and pull down their hoods.

The three did as they were told. Lilian finally got a good look at her friends' faces, the fight really took a toll on them, and she was sure the same could go for her. Their faces were smudged with dirt, sweat, and blood, and they all wore faces of pure exhaustion.

Lyna was bleeding out of her leg, a long cut that looked like it surely hurt. Lucas had a deep scratch on his forehead, and Lilian, well Lilian might've been the worst.

She had blood dripping from a small cut on her left hand, bruising up and down her body, and what hurt the most, was the deep, wide gash that bled from her right forearm.

Some citizens started to seep into the street, looks of panic and terror painted on their faces. Parents shielded their kids behind their backs, couples held onto each other for dear life, some just stood there blankly mouths agape.

Lilian tried to turn her attention on the officer, who was clearly talking to her, but couldn't focus on her.

"I-I'm sorry ma'am, could you repeat that please?" Lilian asked, panting loudly.

"Yes, of course. I was wondering if you could give us the names of you and your respective guardians."

Lilian's heart thudded to a stop. She knew it, she always did. As soon as they figured out she was under eighteen and and orphan, they would send her to another foster home. She kept scanning the growing crowd of people, when one caught her eye.

"Excuse me, Miss. I need you to direct you attention to me." the officer demanded. But Lilian wasn't listening. She knew what she saw, but still squinted and rubbed her eyes in case she was seeing things. But she knew she wasn't. Because there, across the street, was a girl Lilian recognized, even though she hadn't seen her in many years. A girl Lilian thought was dead, had been dead for over seven years. Because there she stood, her best friend and only family.

"Yasmine?"