Orion was driving his new convertible down the country roads of California, the night air brisk upon his face. He smiled as he hugged each turn and felt his foot press harder and harder on the gas pedal accelerating more and more. He loved the roar of the engine and feeling of fear mixed with excitement. He had somewhere to be though and the town was coming up quickly. He took the exit and before he knew it he was in a small little town with no soul in sight. He was to pull up in front of a small bank, flash his headlights twice and then go up two blocks before parking.

He spotted the bank and pulled up in front. He scanned the area around and again, he couldn't sense a single soul alive. He didn't see any movement in the windows, no lights anywhere, he cut the engine to listen, but heard nothing. He let out a sigh and then did as he was told. He flashed his head lights twice, cut the engine on and rolled forward for two blocks before coming to a stop again. Once stopped he pulled out his 1911 from his glove box and placed it in his shoulder holster. He wasn't sure who he was meant to meet here, but he knew the mission.

Orion was to meet someone with knowledge of the locations of some government ammunition stores that were mainly left unguarded. He was to escort the person, find the location and scope it out. Then another night they would meet again, this time with a large truck and some extra hands to loot the ammunition. The amount of ammunition was certain to be enough to wage a small scare war. He smiled at the thought of making such a large and brazen score.

He looked around once more and checked his mirrors, but yet again there was no one in sight. He'd had enough of sitting like a target and stepped out from his car and walked onto the sidewalk on the passenger side and leaned against the car. He pulled out his pack of cigarettes and lit one. As he took a long drag and exhaled the smoke before him he thought he heard something in an ally near him, but there was no follow up noise. He shrugged and continued to smoke. He wasn't nervous at all, but he was anxious to see who is point of contact was. He wondered if they'd met before.

Vela was to be like a thief in the night. Her mission for that night involved a… store inspection. Although it wouldn’t be a store anymore, as it will soon just be left as an abandoned property of stolen goods. She was in on the plan, but she wanted to make sure the person she would be working with was competent and ready to execute. The place was kind of far from where she lived, and it sucked that her car got towed last week so she had to resort to using the taxi. Risky move, but at least she arrived at the town in a timely manner. Vela looked down at her outfit as she walked along the concrete sidewalk, disappointed at her choice of bottoms. A white, flowy suspender skirt paired with a simple, ivory-coloured collar shirt. Her cocaine white ankle boots made a clicking sound against the ground, which made her feel eerie because of the fact that she could not hear any type of sound or movement at all other than her shoes. The darkness of the sky ruled down upon her as the dull street lights were the only thing giving her vision.

She looked ahead of her, seeing only more paths to walk on when she decided she would take the shortcut instead. The shortcut consisted of a short walkway that lead into an alleyway, which would then lead her to the carpark of the store. Seeing as there was no one in sight, Vela ran as fast as she could down the backstreet. Her breaths quickened, her black hair flowing behind her. like the wind carried it with each of her step. Vela stopped when she saw a car parked. Her eyes widened as she quickly stepped out of view, backing into the ally she came from. There was no way it was him. Could it? Well she would just have to find out. Vela emerged from the darkness, hoping not to disturb him from whatever thoughts he was having. She tapped him on the shoulder lightly, her eyebrows furrowed and cheeks rosy from running in the wind so fast.

“Um, Orion right? An informant told me your name beforehand… I’m sorry- I think I know you from somewhere. On that job…” She trailed off, hoping he would catch the hint.

There was a mutual understanding between them, or so she hoped there were. He had been her first kiss. Was that crazy to admit? It must have been fate that she was put on this job with him. “Anyways, look, that was the past. Let’s just get the first half of this mission done so we can start splitting up the rewards.” Vela searched in her skirt pockets for her torch, the one thing she forgot. From her embarrassment, she frowned and only hoped that Orion’s light would be bright enough for the both of them. This looked bad on her part, as she hoped it didn’t show she was unprofessional and unprepared.

“Forgive me. I was on rush hour and probably slipped my mind.” Vela admitted before walking ahead of him in the direction of the store.

She turned around to face Orion, the adrenaline in her veins pumping. Vela didn’t want her partner to stray behind, and she patiently waited for him by the locked, metal  door to get news of what their next move would be.

Linnie was a few blocks away nestled on top of an abandoned building that allowed him to keep sight of Orion and Vela as they scoped out the targeted location. His main goal was to keep eyes on them the entire time and their surroundings. A light cold wind was rushing against the right side of his face which made it very numb after a short while of being up there. Every few seconds he was finding himself taking his eyes off Orion and Vela as they were scoping out the store to place his wool covered glove over his right cheek. The wind was also making it challenging to keep a listen for any suspicious noises. 

Before the mission Orion went over specifics with him in regards to alerting them of a threat. Orion said, "if we are in danger beam your laser down directly in front of myself or Vela to alert us. Can you handle this?" "Absolutely" I replied.

I noticed Vela had reached the door and Orion was still a little behind on the sidewalk. From the exit where Orion got off to come into the small community I saw a set of headlights coming towards us. I quickly reached for my laser. As I grabbed it with my glove covered hand it seemed as if it had got tangled up in the wool. 

The car continues to approach the community....

When Vela finally received word of her partner's approval, she nodded, and remembered that there was one other person the job. He apparently went by the name Linnie, someone who she hadn't met before but was interested in finding out what he was like. She was always happy to meet new people, but she knew when and how to proceed with caution. Vela glanced skywards, and noticed Linnie in the corner of her eye, hunched over on an old warehouse that used to belong to an oil company, but was shut down due to their inability to increase profits. Vela sulked in her mind when she found out, though not surprised at the rate of the economy. That was the great depression for ya. She shook her head, relieving herself of the thoughts and nodded towards Orion. "So, let me get this straight. We're just scoping out the place, and seeing what's in store before we come back another night and get what is left?" She reminded him, but she was mostly just trying to reassure herself that she was prepared. Vela would always try to doubt herself right before a situation, an extremely bad habit that she was working on to fix. Vela turned back to the metal door that was blocking Vela and Orion from entering, its handle bars cold when she finally put her hand on it. Vela had discussed before with Orion that she would handle the job of  breaking the door down, as she wasn't particularly skilled at using detonators or explosives. 

She moved her tiny figure aside quickly, making way for him to get out the necessary tools he needed to blow down the entrance. Vela's eyes widened when she saw the size of the bomb that was placed in his hands. "Where the hell did you even get that?" She said in bewilderment, crossing her arms as her watchful gaze showed playful amusement. It might have been too late when he finally unlocked the door, because the sound of a car screeching its tires could be heard not far from the two. "Fuck!" She cursed, ducking her head as she took Orion by the elbow and dragged him to the alleyway from where she entered. Vela remembered the deal she had with Linnie and Orion, which was if he saw that there was someone approaching them, he would have to shine his laser down in their direction, but she couldn't see any signals from him which made her furious inside. Was he plotting something? She thought to herself. Maybe he was setting Vela and Orion up, but why would he? Wasn't Orion and Linnie in the same crew? "It's the popo... oh fuck did you leave your torch on the ground by the doors?" Vela realized and looked at him with widened eyes, praying and hoping that he would answer a 'no'. Boy was she wrong, and she flipped out as a look of disbelief crossed her face. Her mouth twitched, a sign that she was beyond frustrated with the happenings. 

The usual undercover cop car would be easy to notice, but this vehicle looked different. It had tinted windows, which was especially illegal, and there seemed to be a creepy vibe from the people that was seated inside the vehicle. Vela found out for herself, when a pair of black, shined, leather shoes stepped out in all its glory. As her eyes travelled more upwards, she saw that the pair of shoes she was gawking at belonged to none other than the head of her rival gang. Vela wasn't sure if Orion knew of him, so she turned to him like a curious little school girl and leaned her head closer, her eyes penetrating into his soul. "You know who he is right?" She cautioned, looking back at the man before reconnecting her eyes with Orion's. Vela's palms were beginning to sweat as she tried to come up with the right words to say. "That man you see over there is related to one of the worse beings in the very city you reside in. Basically his father is one of the founding fathers for that correctional facility for children?" Vela hinted, hoping she wouldn't have to say too much because she was still traumatized by what she once witnessed upon stepping inside the centre for the first time. It had been a long time since she opened her mouth about it, as she was unaware of many people connected to his organization who could snitch on her any minute for talking about the horrible things he did to those... young delinquents. 

Vela slid down against the brick wall, feeling hopeless as rubbed her temples, trying to calm herself down. "Great. Just when we find a perfect score we find out that a rival gang seemed to have gotten our assignment mixed with their own. I will not stand for this!" Vela pouted, her stubbornness catching up to her as she tried to figure out a way to get them off the location. However, it seemed that there was no way for that to happen because it would be Orion and Vela against five members, all trained to professionally torture the heads off people. Vela took her hands from her head and started to fiddle with them in her lap, looking again over her shoulder back to the men who entered the vicinity. She envied them so much at that moment, because she thought this night was going to be successful, and that her time would be well spent. Little did she now she was in for one of the bloodiest nights of her life. The sound of gun fire smacked her in the ears, and she instinctively reached for the pistol in her thigh holster. Vela would think that Linnie and Orion were crazy if they thought they'd be able to get away with this without a fight. She saw what those men did to those poor children on a mission she would never forget because of the trauma she endured after it, truly believing that they were the root cause for the sickening moralities of the world. Vela's chest rose and fell with rapid breaths. There was no light whatsoever from the sky above them, and the only source of light she could use to see was the headlights of the vehicle that pulled up to the military defence store. 

A snicker escaped her lips as she picked herself up off the ground and wiped some dust from her suspender skirt. Vela was past the point of no return now. Her eyes were on the captain of the crew, his grimy hands holding onto what looked like a machine gun built for dangerous people like him. Vela stopped staring, hid behind the brick wall again and closed her eyes as she tried to gather her thoughts. Sure, she had Orion and Linnie by her side, but tonight she wanted to prove to herself that she was stronger than people thought she was. Factual? She'd find out tonight. Vela shoved her hair back away from her face, and exhaled slowly. The tension in the air reached its maximum, and she was ready to go in for the kill, but she needed Orion to keep her sane. God knows what will happen to her if she suddenly started firing random shots in the rival gang's direction. She had to be very cautious and careful now because for all she knew, there could be some people watching her right at that very moment- anticipating her next move. She held her gun close to her, before slowly lifting it up to the side of her face, pointer towards the sky.

"Change of plans. We're going in and getting all the shit. NOW."