This is a private roleplay between bookwormiam2010 and HC-Gal. If you are not one of the people mentioned then, please do not post. How ever feel free to read along. Thanks! ^_^

Freedom! Aria Wells cast a furtive glance over her shoulder as she slipped down a crowded street. It was that time of year again; summer. It was the time of year when her home city, Gemson, was filled with dozens upon dozens of tourists all in search of that perfect summer experience. For high school students of Aria’s age it was the search of the perfect vacation, the elusive yet wonderful summer romance, the usual trivial things of most high schoolers. Needless to say Aria didn’t clump herself in with that group of people. Unlike the teens she attended school with and spent her summer surrounded by Aria was very different. She didn’t care about the latest fashion, or the juiciest tidbit of gossip. Heck she didn’t even care about the usual family drama. Not because she didn’t have a family, she did, although she’d hardly call her adoptive mother Miranda Wells a family member. Depending on her mood, Aria’s view of the woman fluctuated easily back and forth between fond lovable mother figure, to extremely annoying mother figure. Right now it hovered between the two previously mentioned choices.

Anyway back to the subject of summer. In Aria’s case she didn’t have any particular summer fantasy she wanted fulfilled. All she wanted was a bit of peace and quiet away from Miranda. And more time with her gang, she had bigger things to worry about aside from her adoptive mother being concerned about her where abouts. It wasn’t that Aria was a bad kid…ok that wasn’t true. Aria was the leader of a gang, and not just any gang but the biggest, the most terrifying gang in all of Gemson and any of the smaller towns surrounding the large tourist attracting city. It was quite an accomplishment for a girl of her age, however Aria was positive her straight laced over protective adoptive mother wouldn’t see it this way. This was why Aria had chosen this perfect moment in time to slip away into the oncoming tourist traffic heading away from her adoptive parent. No doubt she’d get an earful later, but it wasn’t later yet, so until then she had more important matters to attend to.

As Aria made her way through the tourist district of the city to business ware house district of Gemson the streets emptied out. She wasn’t completely alone mind you; there were a few busy people heading to and fro their destinations. Outside of the crowded tourist distract Aria actually relaxed…well as much as she could relax considering the mini war zone she’d entered. Being the leader of ones own gang wasn’t all fun and games, not that she was complaining, there were certain requirements the job position came with. Such as keeping her gang’s meeting place a secret, although sadly that particular task was a bust; somehow their enemies had figured out there where abouts and now she had another bigger thing to handle. Keeping her gang safe and protecting the turf that was rightly theirs.

The further Aria wandered into the warehouse district, the more deserted the streets became until finally she walked up to a large looming warehouse that looked completely deserted. See, the keyword there was looked. It looked terrible from the outside. The warehouse had big dusty spider webbed windows that had somehow managed not to shatter over the years. And the sides of the warehouse were covered in rust spots and years worth of graffiti and memorabilia from gangs of the past. All in all it looked like the place could have easily been knocked down with one well placed gust of wind. However Aria and the other members of her gang knew that the towering rust bucket was stronger than it looked. Through out the silly turf wars it had managed to stand strong and it’d continue to do that. No one was going to come near Aria’s baby and destroy it. Not unless said gang or person wanted to be destroyed as well. As she’d drawn closer to her second home Aria had quit paying attention to where she was walking. She’d walked this path so many times before it was hard for her to know the way instinctively. But this time there was a hitch. Usually the streets surrounding her warehouse were empty but not today.

On this particular Aria ran into someone, although ran would be the wrong word. Plowed was more like it. Aria let out a soft grunt as her slender figure collided roughly with the poor person blocking her path. Catching her balance, Aria straightened up to her full height and glared down at the offending intruder. “Hey, watch where you’re going! Just who do you think you are walking around like you own the place,” she demanded her voice taking on a sharp snarl. This was her turf, no one was going to run into her and make her feel like some bumbling idiot!

The girl that Aria had run headlong into had hit the ground, though managed not to go flat on her but, however she was still in need of using her hands to keep herself balanced. Her silver-hair spread around her like a veil as she looked up quietly, staring at Aria as she yelled. It was an odd familiarity that struck a chord within the downed girl, and she smiled, slowly getting up and tilting her head as she placed her hands neatly behind herself, fingers interlaced as she examined Aria, not having spoken at all.

That was it! She recognized that pose, the tone, it wasn't too different to what she remembered although it had also changed to suit the now older body and voice, after a few seconds the girl giggled, pulling up one hand to cover her mouth slightly,
"You used to pick me up after wards.." She responded, putting her hands behind her hips again and leaning forward, almost completely in Aria's face, head tilting the other way gently, "But you never shouted quite like that.." She added, seeming a little confused, but then she stood straight again, still smiling away as if completely unfazed by Aria's rantings, and she was.

The girl deftly stepped past Aria, not even adjusting or patting off the rather dirtied white dress she swore, the dirt courtesy of Aria's rush. The silk-like uniform didn't seem to be composed of much else, save for some sandals on her feet and whatever else she had beneath. So undeterred by Aria's roughness that she didn't really think how it would make her react.

Nothing, nada, zilch, the girl Aria had so roughly collided with said nothing for a long tense moment. She just sat there and stared at her. Was this chick deaf or something? Aria was tempted to opened her mouth and give her another verbal blasting but she didn’t. She’d already said her piece; it was the currently unnamed girls turn to stammer out a reply. Yea, she looked like the stammering type. Judging from her attire she didn’t look like she belonged over in these parts at all. Honestly who wore a dress over in the business distract where suspected gang activities were constantly occurring? Apparently someone with next to no common sense, much like the girl she’d just ran into. Although, she did have to admit there was something familiar about her. If Aria didn’t know any better she could have sworn she’d seen her somewhere before. Huh, maybe she’d seen her somewhere in the crowds of tourists earlier? No, silvery hair like that wasn’t a common sight around Gemson, actually it wasn’t a common sight anywhere that Aria could think of! Frowning Aria leaned forward just the slightest bit trying to place the slowly growing sense of familiarity. She’d seen this girl before; she just knew it, where, she’d seen the girl though she didn’t know. She didn’t have the foggiest clue! Maybe it was that pose, no she doubted it, she’d seen that pose plenty of times around the city, heck she’d even used it. There wasn’t one person she could think of that hadn’t used that pose at one time or another.

If possible, the chords of familiarity thrummed louder hearing the girl’s soft giggle. She’d heard that giggle somewhere before too, she wasn’t being ridiculous; she just knew she’d heard it before. But where?! She didn’t know many people that giggled quite like that. Or maybe...maybe she was asking the wrong question here. Not where but when. Maybe she’d heard that giggle when she was growing up, before she’d been adopted by Miranda. Was it someone she’d been in the orphanage with? No, she didn’t recall having any fond memories of that place, let alone any friends that she’d managed to make while she lived there. So that crossed that particular time in her life off the proverbial list. Or so she thought. It wasn’t until Aria heard the first words out of the girl’s mouth. That voice! She’d definitely heard it before. It hadn’t changed much since she was a kid that was the only time she could remember hearing it. She couldn’t remember at exactly what age she’d heard it but she was positive she’d heard a younger, sweeter version of that voice before when she was growing up.

“What do you mean I used to pick you up afterwards?” Aria demanded haughtily as she rested her hands on her hips in a pose of clear superiority. Even though she was clearly the one out of the loop here, she knew she’d met this girl before, and she knew it she’d done it as a child, but that was it. She was only remembering tiny bits and pieces. She didn’t want that, she wanted the whole answer to the riddle! She jerked back a few inches as the girl leaned forward to point where she was almost completely in Aria’s face Hello, had this girl never heard of personal space before? If so, someone needed to go ahead and teach her that oh so valuable lesson now, presumably before she ended up getting hurt. True, Aria was in a good position to go ahead and give said girl that lesson but she didn’t….because it didn’t feel right. Usually Aria was quick to strike and ask questions later, but surprisingly now wasn’t one of those times. Aria’s brow creased in a deep brow as she heard the girl’s next vague statement. Never shouted…there was hardly ever a time when Aria’s voice wasn’t raised, she was one of those people that didn’t seem to know when it was best to keep her mouth shut, or better yet stay completely quiet. Some people would call this gutsy and others…well others would just call this plain annoying. Aria was at a bit of a standstill with it herself.

Aria had just opened her mouth to blast the vaguely familiar girl with her next investigative question when she turned to walk away. But that wasn’t what really disturbed Aria. What really disturbed her was the girl’s smile, and the fact that she was completely unfazed by the fact that Aria was all but biting her head off. She wasn’t even a tiny bit scared. Aria’s look of puzzlement flashed into view on her face as she turned to leave. Aria stared in unabashed surprise before she rushed after the girl easily stepping front of her and blocking her path. “Hey! I was talking to you. Don’t you know its’ rude to turn you’re back on someone when they’re talking to you?” she demanded hotly “And really, what makes you think you can stand there and act like you know by making vague statements like that. I don’t know you and you don’t know me-“Aria’s rant slammed to a stop as her steel hued gaze met the girl wide eyed gaze. Aria jaw went slack as she took in the familiar features. Oh..now this all made sense. Well somewhat anyway. She knew where she’d seen this girl, but it was odd. It’d been years since she’d seen the girl, let alone talked to her. But she still remembered her, albeit vaguely. “Weiss, you’re names Weiss right?” Aria asked her tone changing from the loud and somewhat obnoxious tone she’d been using moments ago to chew Weiss out, to a somewhat polite tone. Ahh, would you look at that? All those verbal chiding from Miranda to remember her manners were finally paying off.

"It seems you've forgotten me.." Weiss replied, still with a smile, though her features showed a slight sadness, she really was rather hurt inside, Aria had been her one friend in that place so she considered, or remembered. Memories from those days were fragile, subject to loss and breakage.. She smiled further on hearing her own name, she didn't seem bothered that Aria had rushed in front of her, in fact it was rather welcome. She answered Aria's question quite simply,
"Yes."

Weiss leaned forward again, much as before, head tilting tot he side once more as she smiled at Aria,
"You've gotten taller.." She commented, at their close proximity, the faint scent of rose oil could probably finally be ascertained on the air, it was a sweet odour, she liked it, the Doctor was kind enough to buy it for her.. She grinned a little, "Where are you going in such a rush?" She asked curiously, hands still cross behind her as she leant back, resting keenly on her heels, however she stemmed to frrze before looking at her wrist, a simple silver watch in place, a small red light was flashing on it,
"Oh dear.. I should go, I am late. The Doctor will be worried." She stated, moving to carry on past Aria, but she smiled as she did so, "I hope we see each-other again.. I never got the chance to say goodbye when you left.. And now I dont want or need it."

It was silly really, but just that small glimpse of hurt on Weiss’s features bothered Aria. She hadn’t wanted to hurt Weiss. Whoa that was a shock. She’d never seemed to mind driving a fist into someone’s gut before or lashing out with her words and causing some unsuspecting victim some emotional hurt. And yet, she was bothered by it now? It was silly, but at the same time it made sense. Before she’d been adopted she’d lived in the same adoption center (read: orphanage) as Weiss. At first, things had been rather rough there for Aria. She’d easily been the shortest kid there and yet what ever she might have lacked in height she’d made up for in plenty with attitude and pure ferocity. Sadly though that entire attitude was frowned down on, it wasn’t respected or referred to as gumption, it was referred to as an inability to socialize and play nice with the other kiddies.

Then again that was all pre-Weiss. Once Aria had met Weiss, ok met was the wrong word. But anyway, much like today, on that fateful day in Aria’s child hood she’d literally ran into the poor girl. Instead of yelling at Weiss though, Aria had actually she felt kind of bad. Weiss had never done anything to her, and she’s always seemed kind of out of sorts. An outsider, the girl had always seemed to hover out near the edge of social times like recess and lunch. But that wasn’t the really odd part; she never spoke, not that Aria knew of anyway. On that day Aria couldn’t help but feel just a little bit bad for Weiss, not only had she roughly plowed into the slighter frailer girl, she’d also done nothing to help. Seeing Weiss being antisocial and hanging around the fringe of things at the orphanage hadn’t been kind to Weiss, if anything it made her a target for the bigger meaner kids, and Aria had walked in on more than one occasion where she’d seen someone just a yammering away at Weiss and calling her all sorts of mean things. ‘Dummy, retard, dirt bag, and cootie queen…-just terrible things for a kid of any age to hear- and she hadn’t done a thing.

But on that day Aria had made up her mind. She was going to be Weiss’s friend…ok maybe friend was the wrong word but she had made a choice. She was going to stand up for Weiss. It wasn’t right that she was always being teased and taunted for no apparent reason. If Aria couldn’t stand for herself to be pushed and shoved into weird situations like that, then why was it right for her to stand around and watch as someone else was forced to endure the same thing? After she’d helped up the girl she’d offered the girl a snaggle toothed smile-she’d just started losing her baby teeth another reason for half the torture she was pushed through- but the smile was nice and even semi endearing, if you found a dirt covered kid charming, and helped Weiss up. After that Aria and Weiss were inseparable, not because the two spent so much time talking or anything, Weiss just followed Aria around and Aria, well Aria liked it. She had a follower! She had someone to back her up, or so she’d thought. After one particularly rough scuffle she’d learned that Weiss wasn’t much help in that particular area. But if Weiss had one thing going for her it was that unspoken faithfulness. And when Aria had finally managed to get Weiss talking that loyalty had increased ten fold until eventually Aria and Weiss had been friends, best friend s to be exact. And they’d stayed that way until Miranda had come into her life. Aria had been frantic on the day she’d left, she looked around for Weiss so she could try and get Miranda to adopt the dynamic duo but it hadn’t quite worked that way. In the end Miranda left with one feisty little trouble maker and Weis…well Aria had forgotten about Weiss. Until now.

Aria blinked distractedly as she was pulled out of the past and back into the here and now by the dual combination of Weiss’s now family voice and the light scent of..roses? She wanted to say it was roses but she wasn’t too sure. Shaking her head softly she gave Weiss a grim smile. “Yea, but you’re still taller.” She admitted. Was she really standing here and talking about her height with someone she vaguely –ok maybe more than vaguely- remembered? She stiffened just the faintest bit at the question of where she was rushing off to. “I’m not rushing anywhere; I’m just a bit pressed for a time. If anyone is rushing its you, you keep looking at your watch. Where are you rushing off to?” she demanded firing Weiss’s earlier question right back at her, following the other girls gaze down to the simple watch attached to her wrist one eyebrow arched in question.

When Weiss mentioned something about a doctor, or rather The Doctor, her eyes lit up in faint curiosity. “Ahh, so you’re rushing off to a doctor’s appointment. You do know that you’re going the wrong way don’t you? There aren’t any doctors over here, well not the kind you’re looking for anyway. These doctors know plenty about medicine but I don’t think there’s anything you’d want to try.” Aria said bossily. Without thinking about it, she’d slipped into her childhood role as boss, leader, and of course protector. Hearing Weiss’s parting words Aria shook her head and watched Weiss leave her parting words ringing out. Well…that had been odd to say the least. Shaking her head Aria turned and continued on her way into the building.

Unlike most gangs, Aria didn’t have a secret door way or some ridiculous password to get into her hide out. If a gang leader felt they needed a password or some ridiculous ritual to keep their business a secret then that meant they had no trust. And in a gang…well trust was everything. It was right on up the ladder with respect and all those other wonderful things that came along with being in a gang. “Alright, the slave driver has officially arrived!” she called out.

"Eeeey boss!" The first response came. It was Hannah Lynx, a slightly older girl, and by far the most imposing one anyone had ever met, some considered her freakishly musclebound, which wasn't entirely false, but she was correctly proportioned in all the right places. To many other girls her age she was almost a laughing stock, so unusually muscular was she that people though she took testosterone, the other gang members liked to joke she was the ultimate shoe-in for a "Miss Universe" competition (this was usually promptly followed by her choking them or giving them a free trip to loose-tooth city).
She wore her typical clothes today, not one to dress in a scant fashion because of her physical superiority. The girl was currently under what she referred to as her baby, a muscle car with an engine that sounded like the world was ending and a sound system that would wake the dead. Typically, he work had gotten her grease-stained and messy but she really didn't care for all that. She rolled out from under the raised vehicle, sitting up and stretching, tools still in hand,
"You're not usually this late, eh? What kept you? Some cute guy no doubt?" She chuckled, brushing her nose with a thumb, "Bet you were stringin' him along like some poor dumbass.." She smirked. Lynx and Aria's meeting was an unusual one. Lynx had been dealing with the Red Skulls gang for a few weeks before she came across Aria, outnumbered by the same creeps she'd been putting down for a while, in a feat of skill and, frankly, pure recklessness, she ran over and smashed the Skulls aside, grabbed Aria and drove off with her. Ever since she'd found herself liking Aria, enough to leave her own gang, the Steel Sirens, an all girl group that lacked in any real talent or direction.

Among those waiting for Aria was Kenshiro "Code" Tachikawa. He was a schoolmate of Aria's at first, a quiet sort who kept his nose int he books and kept quiet, but no-one really knew what kind of guy he was, the assumption of most girls was he was just a cute foreign guy that was a little too much of a bookworm. But come one day he'd seen Aria facing off against gang members, he'd assumed she was merely in trouble and rushed in to defend her. His ability in martial arts was spectacular to say the least, however after seeing Aria handling herself quite well during the fight he wondered if she really did need his assistance or not.
Nevertheless he dogged her outside of school until she caved and let him join, establishing himself as one of their pro combat experts and even quite the wizard with computers, jury rigging nearby CCTV cameras and setting up their own monitoring station so they could look for incoming threats. Needless to say this gave them a massive advantage on a territory they already knew all too well..
His response to her entry was to look over and smile slightly. Still a quiet guy, but it was obvious he liked Aria. He wore knee-high boots, laced up, with black slacks, a vest and a dark blue sleeveless coat, a pair of sliver-rimmed glasses firmly sat on his nose and his hands were taped from knuckles to mid-forearm.

And who did that leave? Ah yes.. Jenna, the younger, more normal-looking adoptive sister of Hannah. The only girl out there that didn't judge her Hannah, instead worshiped her, in a sense. Hannah had always been taking care of the younger girl, one of the many orphans on the streets, as such the two grew much like sisters. Jenna didn't have the physical strength or the mechanical brains of Hannah, but she took to guns fast, taking them apart, putting them together, using them.
Jenna was considered a trump card. A last resort, not because she was strong or fast, but because she was a good shot. In gang warfare, guns would sooner or later come into play, and Jenna would be their hunter, the one they called on in a tough situation, if the other side drew a gun or if some-one simply needed to be removed for good, using a gun in gang fights wasn't always honorable, but it could get the job done.
She stood more at attention when Aria came along, frowning at Hannah's jokes, whilst she respected her elder sister, Aria was their leader and she wished the brawny mechanic would be a bit more respectful. But then.. Hannah was always like that..

She could see other members of the gang standing to attention, others freaking out because of whatever lazy or inappropriate behavior they were displaying before Aria showed up. Loud music that was once booming was cut down to a dim stereo background noise. Jenna wondered what their leader would say to do today..

Stepping into the large ware house, Aria was greeted by the usual chaotic mess that made up her gang. There was Lynx, Aria’s current best friend and current second in command. Although current may have been the wrong word. Ever since the day Lynx had jumped into the middle of an out and out fight to help her out, the unlikely pair hadn’t just been leader and right hand man err…woman. They’d been friends as well. It was kind of hard for Aria to not like the muscle bound girl. For starters there was the obvious fact that she was nothing like the other girls Aria knew and attended school with. As a matter of fact Lynx was the complete antithesis and Aria loved it. Between them she didn’t have to sit there and listen to some dreary conversation about the latest fashion or the newest juiciest tid bit of gossip. Between them everything was simple and to the point. Just the way Aria liked things.

Like now for example, the second Aria stepped into the warehouse Lynx got right to the point of asking about her tardiness. There was no sugar coating, or dancing around the subject, just a plain out and out question. Aria didn’t bother to hide her amusement at the preposterous thought of a guy holding her up. As she walked past Lynx’s baby she picked up a stray, predictably unused grease rag and balled the scrap of material up before tossing at Lynx’s head. “Oh, you have no idea how much it hurts me to hear you say that,” she gasped dramatically placing a hand over her heart in a dramatic swoon before she continued, “I would never string along a sweet, innocent, naively clueless boy. Do I honestly look like the type to do that?” she asked putting on her most innocent expression as she stared up at the larger girl. The façade didn’t last long though before she cracked a soft snort of laughter escaping before she turned serious a faint smile on her lips. “To answer your question seriously though, no I didn’t run into anyone. I just took a little longer doing surveillance than usual.” She answered honestly, well semi honestly. Hey she was a gang leader she wasn’t a saint so it wasn’t like it was uncommon for her to tell a little fib here and there. And even then it wasn’t their business if she stopped to talk to an old acquaintance now was it? And even then it wasn’t like they didn’t have some idea of what had happened, she was almost positive there was a camera located somewhere in or around the place with where she’d ran into Weiss.

It wasn’t like she had anything to hide, but she didn’t really want to bring up the meeting. It felt too personal, which was a silly thought really but Weiss didn’t belong in this part of her life. Weiss was just too…innocent to even have a chance of understanding what Aria was doing or why. And she didn’t want to discuss who was Weiss was or how she’d met her, not that any of the members in her gang would ask. She had a reputation as a girl who kept her personal business to herself and she planned on keeping it that way.

Aria continued her walk through the ware house giving Code a slight nod in greeting as she made her way to her podium. Yes that’s right. She had her own podium set up in the middle of the ware house. While it was true Aria had managed to get somewhat taller since her childhood she hadn’t managed to get tall enough to intimidate people with her presence so she’d had to learn to do with it something else, her attitude. Apparently Aria’s attitude deemed her worthy of standing behind a podium which did make her seem a little more imposing. And it had helped, ever since she’d become the leader of her gang there been some skepticism about letting a girl take over. Actually it hadn’t so much been the fact that Aria was a girl, it’d had more to do with her height and appearance. She was just barely above average height and she didn’t look like a gang leader in the least. Very few scrapes and bruises, and her clothes just screamed spoiled little rich girl. Thankfully though her attitude had made up for those issues and soon enough she’d found her own style of clothing. Nothing drastically over done or under done, her style of clothing was just right. A pair of slightly worn jeans, and a faded shirt paired up with an awesome pair of black scuffed worn out butt kicking boots. Obviously the boots were the best part of the outfit.

Stepping up behind her podium, Aria pinned the rowdy members of her gang with a cool glare before she looked back towards the far corner of the warehouse where the techie geeks (Code being the exception) were in a silent command to turn the music down. Clearly though the gesture wasn’t needed because no sooner had Aria stepped behind her scuffed and worn podium then every thing and everyone snapped to attention. Her lips curled up in a slight rendition of a smile as she took in the control she seemed to over her gang. Of all the things that came with being a leader, there was no way Aria would ever be able to get used to so many people snapping to attention the moment she entered a room. It was a very empowering feeling to say the least. Giving her crew a few more moments to contain themselves Aria looked around in a somewhat bored fashion. Once she felt like she’d waited long enough she turned her attention forward “Today we’re going to do a little reconnaissance. Surely you’ve heard how the Crawlington Clowns have abandoned their territory down near the old fir grounds right?” she asked giving the group a moment to take in what she was saying before she plowed onwards. “I want to expand our turf to there.” she stated calmly. She pretended to be unaware of the low groans and grumblings of her gang. It was a stretch, but it wasn’t that much of a stretch and they were always complaining about how their turf was a little on the small side. If she expanded it out to the fair grounds though, then it’d be double, maybe even triple the amount of turf they already had which was a more than worthy gain in her opinion.

Ken Daniels, the techie that had hastily turned down the music once Aria had stepped up behind her podium stayed silent through out her announcement. But once she’d finished speaking he shook his softly a faint frown crossing his features, as he silently disagreed with her decision. The key word there was silent. He wasn’t going to speak up and voice his opinion on how bold a move that was. There was bold but then there was too b old and Aria had just crossed that line. Did she have any idea how many other larger gangs wanted that same turf? It was impossible their gang wasn’t small by any means but compared to some of the larger gangs it could be labeled as downright puny. Then again with Aria size wasn’t a problem. She was someone who focused more on attitude and gumption than anything else. Not that it would help in this case. “I think that’s a silly idea.” he stated softly from his perch.

"Whaddya kiddin' me?" Lynx asked abruptly, yes, she did that, and it immediately caused several of the gang members nearby to jump out of complete terror. Not because they were afraid of Lynx, but rather Aria's reaction. They didn't want to be lumped in with Lynx and her rather loud attitude so they backed away form her, pretty much giving her room to be seen. The blond mechanic stood up and stretched a bit before folding her arms,
"Boss, if we want that damn area' we need to expand our numbers somethin' fierce, we cant stretch ourselves between the warehouses, the beach AND the ol' fair grounds yet, eh?"

She thumbed over her shoulder at some of the slightly older men,
"These wusses're already pissin' their pants around you," She started, but heard a shout form behind her,
"Why, you BI-" A loud thwack could be heard as Lynx sharply turned, emptying a full four-knuckle sandwich into his jaw and causing him to roll back, holding his mouth, which was, indeed, bleeding, and groaning in pain while Lynx waved the same hands finger down at him,
"There's a lady talkin' here, shut yer yap or you get it shut fer ya, kay?" She warned, his friends dragging him off a bit before Lynx turned back,
"Look we've been recruitin fer a few days, we need a lil while longer to get our new boys up to snuff. Gotta gett'em geared up an' ready fer a fight, and if we do yer usual thing in yer usual way, we could snap a few smaller groups up sharpish and spread'em out,"

She stopped for a moment, seeming to think before putting her hand up, two fingers raised,
"Two days, tops, give us that and the fair grounds are yours, eh?"
Code smirked from his place. Two days.. Frankly it wasn't enough, but Lynx was just as fond of pushing the letter as Aria. However, if he knew Lynx and Aria, the usual thing int he usual way would convince some of the smaller groups that it was in their interest to merge, and merging meant a larger gang, faster. Plus spreading them out so they couldn't interact as much made planning a coup difficult.
And then there was Hannah's adorable little 'tagalong'.. She wasn't so adorable when she had a gun in her hands, in fact he'd never seen anyone so willing to kill be so absolutely patient. Jenna was what could be considered a human smart-bomb.. Point her the right way, take off the safeties and boom; you've ruined some-ones day. But she was still only flesh and blood and she couldn't over exert herself. She'd even come to him for tips on how to keep up the pace, afraid to admit out loud that she had exhaustion troubles.

His eyes changed focus, looking at a nearby screen he'd been monitoring.. He was the first to catch it, immediately forcing the other cameras on reruns that seemed normal enough while he followed the strange, ghost-like girl, as she entered and exited cameras he worked to conceal her movements, even as Aria bumped headlong into her, he didnt follow Aria, instead keeping after the strange girl. She disappeared, so to speak, into a warehouse on the deep end of the district, which he considered quite unusual himself, he marked the location in his mind and canceled his camera hack, again; things simply seemed normal..

Code looked over at Aria once he was finished and smirked,
"Do it.." He announced calmly. Much to the surprise of those who were used to his quiet, obedient attitude, a yell from the crowd followed,
"Aw hell, the boss makes sure we're never bored, lets freaking well go for it! None of those chumps compares to us eh?!" Several rallying cheers followed, forcing even the less enthusiastic ones to be more appealed to the idea.

Thankfully Ken wasn’t the only one who found the task impossible to complete. If the great, powerful Hanna Lynx didn’t believe it could be done then that had to be saying something didn’t it? Yes it most definitely did say something! He was opening his mouth to say he agreed with Hannah when he heard the loud thwack of Hannah’s fist connecting solidly with some poor sap’s jaw as he dared to interrupt her. A lady was speaking? Uh, not to point fingers or anything but if he had to decide what a lady looked like..well he’d have to say Lynx didn’t fit in with that category. Then again considering how he valued his life he’d just be quiet. Like the perfect gentleman. Not that he thought that highly of himself. He just didn’t want to be the next target for Hannah to use as a personal living breathing punching bag.

It wasn’t until he heard the new dead line Lynx had in mind that he spoke up. Actually he didn’t just speak up, he spoke up vehemently. He knew what those two meant by prepare and they weren’t talking about a few wimpy directions and demonstrations. They were going to work them all to their graves, especially the aforementioned old men. “That’s crazy! Do you really expect us to be able to pull our crap together in just two days? You two are delusional, we’re not super human you know?” he demanded with an angry huff. He was a techie, actually he’d admit it, he was a nerd! He wasn’t made for what ever they had in mind. The only reason he’d joined the gang was an excuse to have a little street cred, not to literally put his bony butt on the line for something as silly as an increase in territory! He’d justo pened his mouth to explain further more why he thought this idea was so bogus when he saw Aria send a dark death glare his way. Immediately what ever words he’d been considered saying promptly dried up and disappeared completely. Honestly right now the only words he needed to thinking about were the words for his eulogy at his funeral. Because there was no doubt about it, he was going to die all because he hadn’t thought before he’d spoke.

The last thing Aria had been expecting was for someone to disagree with her. Usually when she said she wanted something and proposed an idea to get it, her crew jumped through hoops to make sure it happened, with the exception of a few reluctant stragglers. In today’s case though it wasn’t just those few stragglers, it was Lynx as well. This was a bit of a shock, not that it actually showed on Aria’s face.

Stepping out from behind her podium, Aria slowly and menacingly walked towards Lynx. Any other time she would have been slightly more open to the larger more muscled girl’s advice and helpful hints, today wasn’t one of those days though. Today was one of those days where she wanted to get out, and something, oh say like expand her gangs territory. And if she happened to break a few peoples wills in the process? Then so be it, she wasn’t concerned about playing nice. Nice guys, or girls, always came in last. She wasn’t going to be one of those girls, not today, not ever. Dang it she wanted that increase in territory and she was going to get it. Even if it meant having a disagreement with Lynx, there was no way she was passing up this opportunity!

Coming to a stop in front of Lynx, Aria pinned her friend and second in command with a steely glare. “Two days? That’s two days too many. If we spend those two days trying to get everyone ready then we’ll have missed out. The fair grounds will be snatched up by another gang and then we’ll have to go through hell to get it. It’ll take longer than two days then to even get near the fair grounds. If we go now then we’ve got a chance.” she said firmly. “Remind me Lynx, when did you become one for plans anyway? I thought recklessness was your thing? I’m finally giving you that free reign to be as reckless as you want so long as it gets me those fair grounds. We could use a little more excitement, I’m pretty sure I’ve heard some of the newer recruits groaning about how boring things are. I’m sure they’d be thrilled to have a chance to be on the front line and see how we really do things. Isn’t that right, Ken?” she asked turning her attention to Ken the other louder naysayer.

Turning her back on Lynx she slowly walked towards him until she reached the techies domain of the ware house and stopped spreading her feet shoulder width in a clear fighting stance. He wanted to say no? Fine, he could do that, he’d just have to put his money where his mouth was or he’d have to deal with her. Not she actually saw that happening, he was already quaking in his shoes. Ugh, what a wuss, still he had something to say? Let him say it to her face, rather than half way across the room. She glared at him in silent challenge waiting as poor ken gulped and fumbled about for something to say.

Thankfully he was saved by Code. Or so it would seem. Was Code really egging Aria on to beat his tail? He doubted it, that wasn’t Code’s style at all. Code style? Ken didn’t have a clue, it was another mystery of life and he wasn’t so sure it was one he wanted to learn the answer to. He sent a grateful smile in Code’s direction as Aria turned away from him to look at Code a look of confusion on her face.

Do what? Was he saying he approved of her proposition, or Lynx’s? There was no hiding the look of slight confusion on her face as she tried to think of some way to figure out the answer to this question without coming right out and asking him. If she asked then it’d seemed like she doubted herself as a leader. And with the way things were going today, now was not a good time to look uncertain in anyway. She needn’t have worried though, because no sooner had Code said his piece then others took up the cry to get a move on with it. Aria looked around at her rallied members before she looked at Code giving him a brief nod of thanks before she turned back to others. “Well it seems the people have spoken. We’re going today. You’re free to join us, or you could stay here.” She said coolly aiming this verbal snub at both Lynx and Ken. And any other naysayers of course.

"Recklessness sure, but yer still askin' us to stretch our resources, bucky'o'toothless back there's a good example of how unprepared some'o'these louts are." Lynx explained calmly, though looked over at Jenna then, a strange look on her face, like reluctance, "If we're really gonna have to do it today.. We'll haveta break out some hardware too. Barin' our teeth an' breakin a few bones won' scare all'of'em off." She commented, glancing over at Aria as she stated it. Jenna calmly adjusted the simple 9mm in her hands and pulled the slide back with an ominous double-click, the weapon setting itself. Lynx folded her arms a moment and looked to Aria,
"S'either blood today or blood tomorrow, that's our choices, eh?" Lynx asked, or perhaps questioned. As much of a bruiser as she was, Lynx wasn't entirely fond of killing, even in the name of their gang, the dead couldn't make themselves useful except to stink up the place, the more people alive to spread the reputation of the Dark Angels the better, and the less blood they had on their hands, the less likely the police could do anything about them. They weren't big enough or rich enough to bribe the cops, they had to keep their hands clean as possible until they could shaft even the authorities by finding those corrupt little money-grubbers that worked among them..
Lynx wasn't second in command because she was a walking talking monster of a woman, her position there was firmly cemented because she knew the way the underworld worked, the way things ran in the dark corners of the law itself.
Fatalities wasn't a solution she liked. It was just like a blood stain, it was hard to scrub off a record and harder to remove from the memories of those who learned of it.

Code eventually shifted from his place, smirking a little to himself, it was a strange, odd smile the girls at school saw as him simply being happy, it was a cute thing he did, or so they thought, but it denoted something a little more dark, his desire and willingness to be part of a gang proved that much. The boy was holding something in his right hand, what looked to be a small flash drive, and he held it in hand calmly, that smile becoming a little wider.. In truth he looked no less the cat that at the canary at that point than any other time he did it. He had something more that Lynx maybe didn't.
He popped it up into the air and caught it deftly between his fingers, the silver casing gleamed as he held it up in Aria and Lynx' direction before letting it drop in his palm and he closed his hand, holding up his index finger and motioning for the two of them to follow him.

Yes, that was how Code talked most of the time, motions and signals, while respectful most of the time, his experiences with the gang had made him a little more confident, even cocky to some degree, but he only did so when he had something to be cocky about.
The young man turned and pointed to a private Office area that had been renovated and fixed up proper just for Aria's personal use except where private meetings were concerned, a computer system set up in it would allow hi to show the relevant data, something he believed would solve the dispute.

There was no doubt in Ken’s mind what he was going to do. He was going to stay here, in his nerdy little corner of awesomeness and keep from getting his tale handed to him. It was bad enough he’d lost his manly pride by cowering in the face of Aria, a girl who barely reached the top of his shoulders! And she hadn’t even done anything! She’d just glared at him, but there was no doubt in his mind that Aria could have and would have kicked his butt to kingdom come if he hadn’t backed down then and there.

Silently, he made a promise to stay out of Aria’s way but that promise all but flew out the window the moment he saw Code’s smile. He looked smug, not to smug mind you but smug enough for someone who had a trump card. Ah, so he’d found a way to solve the disagreement between Aria and Lynx. This was going to be interesting. Now if he could just find a way to see what the trump card was. He started to follow the now quiet trio but the second he saw them heading towards Aria’s personal office space he turned around. Private meeting, which meant he and all the other street urchins of the group were to be excluded. Then again, he didn’t want to be stuck in some enclosed space with any of the deadly trio. Code didn’t look too scary but if there was one thing Ken knew never to do it was to underestimate any particular member of their gang, the Dark Angels.

Aria sighed softly hearing the continued part of Lynx’s debate. Ok she’d admit it; Lynx had some good points, actually some great points. But she didn’t want to do things Lynx’s way. She wanted the fair grounds and she’d be danged if she didn’t get them. “Those fools would be the exception to the rule. They’re old, what exactly can we do with them? They have some potential value other wise I wouldn’t have kept them around as long as I have. Heck if we’re that desperate for a distraction we could always give them a few more shiners to make them look big and bad and we can post them at the key exits and entrances to the fair grounds. Once the other prospective gangs get a good look at what we can do to old farts like them they might be a little more cautious. They might withdraw for a few days giving us time to make the grounds completely ours.”

Not that it would actually work that, it was too simple. No enemy gang would stop at the sight of the wounded. They’d keep their eye on the prize and move ahead despite the fact that there might a fight brewing. If anything they’d rejoice over the fact there was going to be some blood shed of sorts. And personally Aria didn’t have a problem with a little blood shed, it was healthy, it wasn’t altogether unavoidable. But death, that was something Aria would much rather avoid altogether. And she usually did, with the exception of a few times. She wasn’t a killer, heck she was a lot of things but a cold blood killer? Not even close. She wouldn’t even label Jenna as a killer. She was..well Aria didn’t know what the dangerous little gun slinger was but she wasn’t a killer. Hearing Lynx’s last question, Aria nodded solemnly in response.

Her attention however was drawn elsewhere when she saw the tiny shiny object tossed upwards by Code. Aria rolled her eyes softly as Code motioned at them and then towards the private office area not bothering to mask her mild annoyance towards the usual silent boy. “What’s that Lassie? Timmy fell down a well?” she asked with a smarmy smile. It was an old joke, but a classic none the less. Honestly he rarely spoke, and while she was a fan of the whole ‘silence is golden’ aspect, it wouldn’t kill for Code to speak up a little more. There was quiet and then there was too quiet. Can you guess which category Code feel into? Easy, the extremely too quiet category. Stepping into the office area, Aria brushed her hair out of her face and looked pointedly at Code in a silent prod to get a move on with things.

Code waited until it was just him, Aria and Lynx, the doors shut and the smile on his face as present as ever.. It unnerved Lynx sometimes, but she knew he wasn't some idiot boy, and Aria responded to him because he was more than some pointless techie or thug that bored her with the long, winding details, however she also know about these flash drive things.. And they could hold a lot of information.. Alot..
Code plugged it into Aria's computer, quickly opening what looked like several files, much quicker than people should be able to. He was fast, after all. The information sprawled out on the screen was lists of numbers, dates, random bits of information, alot of it written and re-written, scanned, placed in image files, and so on. Tot he layman it wouldn't make sense, hell, even to Aria it wouldn't make sense, but Code had his nickname for many reasons.

"I was the one who forced the Clowns to abandon their territory.." Code started simply, his smile returning as he flicked to more reasonable pictures, members of the Crawlington Clowns, several of their leaders, dozens of their members, flicking by, second by second, each caught int he act of some ill act or another. While the police couldn't always monitor and catch gang members, having evidence like this could make any gang quake, anonymous sources and all.
"I have personal assets.. The Clowns had a lot of territory but.. They're punks.. Idiots.. They haven't got the standards we set.. Easy to anger, but easy to scare."
The images changed to members of other rival gangs, especially larger ones, along with text documents, written confessions, recordings, more evidence, Code had been busy, extremely busy.
"These images I released to opposing sides.. victims of one another's hatred.. The more I released, the more tension rose between them.. In fact; by the end of today they will be tearing each-other apart for answers, and grudges do not die easily." He stopped, looking over at the disapproving face of Lynx,
"Blood today, or blood tomorrow.. They will argue for days, try to mete out their issues, there will be violence, that's the way it goes. But we will have time to establish grounds.. Time to solidify a stronger control over the area and bolster our current territories as you require. They can be kept distracted until they look at what is suddenly before them. Us; stronger, larger, and more difficult to deal with than before."

Code left the information on hand. It also looked like there were several receipts from an unmarked bank account, sending out payments and the like, no doubt Code using personally gather funds to track all these sources and spread the information.
Lynx was slightly stunned that Code could string so much together, for a boy who could barely speak he could say alot, and to manage so much work without anyone noticing.. It made him rather frightening, but an asset that they could happily keep on hand. to throw them in confusion like that was a clever move. Aria could then do what she wanted with no blocks to hinder their progress, Lynx could force up walls to protect their territory afterwards.

There was but on single video file he hadn't touched, but he pointed at it on the screen, eyes on Aria,
"This one's just for you. Watch it, scrap it, do whatever you please." He stated, moving away and placing his hands in his pockets, though as he was walking away he frozen, turning to look back at Lynx,
"Nice punch." He added half quietly, smiled and exited the office. Lynx couldn't help but smile in return, she didn't have time to thank him though,
"Remind me not to get on his bad side.." Lynx stated, looking over at Aria a moment, then the private file, but figured she wouldn't pry, it was bad enough Aria had a personal assistant from hell, she didn't want to know what private things he could pull together so she nodded her head to Aria and exited also, figured it was a cue to stay clear for now.

The video would probably surprise Aria. It was simply the recordings Code had captured of the white-haired girl, the one Aria knew as Weiss. As she walked through the warehouse district quite normally, unaware of the eyes that watched and entered an old rundown warehouse labelled with a rather dirty "03" on the side of the building. Code had done a good job of adding an overlying scan that captured its exact location and revealed it to be no more than seven or so warehouses over and two down, closer to the pier.

Once the trio was safely shut away from prying eyes inside of the office Aria watched go to work, deftly bringing up a slew of information that would boggle any persons mind. At first it was just a string of random meaningless numbers and letters that the computer somehow converted into images and documents and all that other good stuff. Aria wasn’t the biggest fan of technology, oh sure she appreciated it and all the nifty little things one could with it. What she didn’t understand was why her generation was so obsessed with it. Heck she didn’t even know how to use a computer aside from the occasional checking of email. Her inbox stayed empty aside from the usual sporadic spam letter from some company or another. It would be one thing if half of today’s society knew how to use technology in a more useful way, like what Code did. Only if everyone had Code’s ability with a compute then that could be pretty scary… Aria’s head snapped her train of thought slamming to a stop as Code spoke.

Neither Lynx nor Aria uttered a word during Code’s speech. Maybe it was the shock that he’d chosen now to speak so much. Or maybe it was the fact that he’d single handedly pulled apart a gang and set them loose on some other unsuspecting gang? Who knew all Aria knew was that she was impressed…and a little scared. But Aria didn’t show any of this. While Code continued to explain what he’d done and how he’d done Aria’s expression stayed cool and calm with just the faintest glimmer of excitement. How could she not be excited? It looked like she was going to get the fair grounds and she’d be able to end her mild disagreement with Lynx. In short order had been restored to her ranks where as someone else’s very world was crumbling down around them in wonderful chaos. All in all today was starting to seem like a very good day. At the mention of a private file Aria jerked to attention her gaze drifting to the screen where Code was pointing.

It wasn’t until after Code had left the office that Aria allowed her surprise to show. She’d joked about Code not talking enough, heck; she’d mentally ranted about his lack of interest in speaking and then suddenly he pulls both her and Lynx into her office and then he just went off! He hadn’t just given them the basic details; he given them a whole speech compared to the usual amount of talking usual for Code. It was enough to have scared the crap out of anyone. Actually Aria was more than just a little scared of Code right now and she had good reason to be. People were scared of her, but anyone who happened to bump into Code in a dark alley..oh man she felt bad for that poor soul already.

Now back to the private file, frowning softly in thought Aria tilted her head as she examined the innocent looking icon. It didn’t look bad, it just looked private. She looked up hearing Lynx talking to her and she let out a low sound of amusement escape. “Only if you promise to do the same for me.” she replied as Lynx exited the office. Once Aria was completely alone she opened up the private file. A few moments later she was watching a few recordings of Weiss. Huh..so Weiss spent a lot of time over in the business distract. Why was that? Frowning in concentration Aria leaned forward in her seat watching as Weiss disappeared into a building not too far away from her gangs head quarters. How odd. Weiss had mentioned something about a doctor earlier. If she needed to see a doctor then why was she heading into that warehouse? Actually, what kind of doctor did her child hood friend need to see? Aria very much doubted it was the type of doctor she’d warned her against. Because really the other girl was spaced out enough with out the help of drugs so it couldn’t be a drug dealer Weiss was heading off to see. But still, that left a wide range of possible doctors she’d need to see. Unless Weiss needed a psychiatric doctor, but even then that still didn’t make much sense. If Weiss needed a doctor of any sort she would have had to go to opposite side of town to get the help she needed from an average doctor. Which only left one other choice: Weiss didn’t need an average doctor. Which brought the question: What type of doctor did she need and why?

Aria was more than aware of the fact that she should be a tiny little concerned of Code having surveillance videos with Weiss on record but she wasn’t. Weiss wasn’t any threat to her and even then Aria wasn’t so sure she would have been able to threaten Weiss or take her down. Weiss wasn’t dangerous that was all there was to it. Wait that left another question: Why did Code feel the need to show her this file? True he’d said she could trash it or save or do what ever she’d like with it but he knew her. If he bothered to show her something that he thought was of some value she was going to look at it. With Code, there was always a reason. He wasn’t someone who believed in speaking out unless there was a good reason (like today between her and Lynx), so why wouldn’t he put the same thought and attitude into his file. He had a reason behind it and while she might not know what it was yet she intended to find out. Just like she intended to find out why Weiss had went into that particular warehouse. As the video finished replaying, Aria saved the file with a few deft clicks of the mouse and set up the file to need a password before anyone else could access it. Once she’d wrapped up her personal business in the office she stood up with a long slow stretch before she headed outside to be with the rest of the group. Once she found Code she walked towards him to say thanks. Usually she wasn’t one for saying thanks she’d just give a faint smile and a nod to let the member or person know they’d done her a favor. But with Code..that didn’t seem enough. He’d done more than just back her up with all that information and that file it seemed to hold quite a bit of information (although it was still a bit of a mystery to her) as well. Once she’d gotten close enough to him she gave him a faint smile. “Thanks.” she said simply. Heh, would you look at that? Now she was starting to sound like code with his monosyllabic replies.

Code looked back at her for a moment and nodded quietly, grinning slightly then folding his arms as he looked back across the room of the gang members who were currently in unrest, small arguments and complaints going on about silly things, who would get the first beat down on an enemy, who was gonna go where, but ultimately it was Aria who decided who went where. Being a leader didn't mean being the toughest person on the field, that was an archaic system where the strong controlled the weak, although in gang warfare it was typically the way. Aria had the force of personality that made others want to work for or help her, the Dark Angels were never as motivated as it was with Aria leading it, at least that's what Code heard.

Jenna was actually a little pleased she wouldn't have to use force, Lynx was obviously the first to tell her. She continued to adjust her gun, the other firearms nearby were mostly fixed up, it had become a side job for Jenna to break them apart, fix them, clean them and test them, always making sure they were ready and functional. Her personal firing range was at the far end of the docks where the sound would be muffled long before it reached the city.

Lynx had returned to the muscle car she'd been working on, she was similar to Jenna in that she was always making sure it was running at its absolute best. Hell they'd swiped several engines in the past to pull together this beast. The woman had popped the hood open to check on it, a last few looks before she and Aria went toward the fair grounds. She was ready now, and comfortable that they'd have time to bolster their defences.