Raph grinned at Cree, he had something up his sleeve and she knew it. She had only him met a few minutes ago but it wasn’t hard to tell when someone had an ulterior motive. Why else be would he have jumped in the way he did, not to mention he was way to good at kicking a** to just be the average Joe.

>> “Forward…until I tell you to stop…” Where was there for him to tell her to stop there was really nothing ahead other than the busses letting out, which she was sure wouldn’t let her through; bus drivers were like road Nazis. But what was this, they were letting her through as if she had a backstage pass. She continued on the only way there was to go, which brought her up to the corner of the school, then he told her to stop. Of course right when they were almost out of the kid zone he made her stop. She pulled up next to the curb, and watched as a man walk up to the car as if he were expecting them. The man knelt down to Raph’s window and they shared some odd words.

>> “The grey goose flies low…”

>>>“…So catch it with your bare hand and break its neck.”

Were they seriously speaking in code? Who does that anymore, Cree thought that sorta thing only happened in old movies. After their little code session the man stepped away and opened a gate that led down a road, he gave them a name of a building that was empty. Cree hoped that this would mean an out, things were starting to get weird and she was ready to be done with it. All she wanted was the car not any side trouble. She turned to Raph for confirmation before continuing on.

>> “You wanna get out of this with your new toy, drive down to where he says.”She did of course want to get out of this with this nice vehicle so she did as she was told. As she drove down the road she was told to she found the building the man was talking about, “Building 22B”. It looked abandoned, of course it was empty who would wanna spend time in there? She wasn’t sure what was to happen next, it didn’t look like the place had a garage so she couldn’t really hide the car. For this reason she assumed this wasn’t going to be their final stop. She looked to Raph who seemed to be the one leading this circus.

”Ok big guy, we’re here, what now?”

>> ”Ok big guy, we’re here, what now?”

“There,” he said as he pointed to the building. There was a large array of lockers that were lined up at the side of it that was completely out of view from either streets. The only thing that it faced as a long expanse of buildings, the sources of which nobody knew. But after all these years, they never called in the strange happenings at the “school”. Which was good considering the dealings that were going on here.

For a moment, Vicente wondered if he should let the girl in on what was going on. It was probably for the best that he did. After all, he wanted Holden and the last thing that he needed was for her to freak out because she just stole a classic car and didn’t know what she was going to do next. Though what he was going to say was unbelievable, she was going to have to trust his word if she wanted to get out of this whole incident with everything she wanted.

“This is school is a front,” Vicente explained as he nodded to the place for her to come to a stop. “Underworld financed and built this school for the soul purpose of helping people like me. The front portion is a fully running school with classes and everything, but this back portion, the buildings that all look like they are in dire need of construction is for specialty purposes. It helps with the education crises now that no one has come in the fix the buildings.” he laughed. “They’d be in for a surprise.”

He sighed as he signaled for her to wait there. He then climbed out of the car and walked up to the row of lockers. As he leaned over to the side of the row, he ran his hand only the smooth, aluminum surface until finally he felt the crease. One quick tap and a panel popped open. He reached in and flipped some unseen mechanism that suddenly created a grinding sound.

A loud click ushered forth and Vicente reached over, grabbing the row of lockers by the panel and grunted as he began to pull. He pulled and pulled until finally the entire row began to shift and open up like an opening gate. He peered left and right as he pulled until finally the opening was large enough for the car to drive through.

He nodded and waved to Cree to drive in.

No more perfect place to hide until the heat died down…

>> “Underworld financed and built this school for the soul purpose of helping people like me. The front portion is a fully running school with classes and everything, but this back portion, the buildings that all look like they are in dire need of construction is for specialty purposes. It helps with the education crises now that no one has come in the fix the buildings.”

Cree wondered what he meant by “people like him”, what was he? A mutant like her maybe, or was it something more that she hadn’t heard of? He was right about one thing though, these buildings did look like they could definitely use some TLC. Cree wasn’t sure whether she should ask what he meant about people like him or if it was better left alone. Who was she fooling though, she knew her curiosity would get the best of her eventually anyways.

He put up a hand to tell her to stay put, she wondered if he was going to have to go speak code again. He got out of the car and walked up to the lockers that lined the poor old building. It looked like he was caressing the lockers from where she was, this seemed weird to Cree. It got even more odd when she saw him hit one of the lockers and it popped open, she always had to fight with her lockers in school to get them to open. Maybe it was afraid of him. Raph reached into one of the lockers, Cree thought he was just going grab something and then they’d be on their way. But no that was not the case.

What Cree saw him do next definitely seemed like something from a movie, she thought for just a moment that maybe she was dreaming. Raph grabbed one of the lockers and pulled it aside, like a sliding door. She could see that this was taking much effort but she could see he was making progress. The lockers began to move aside and create an opening. Just as they were opened wide enough for her to drive through he signaled for her to come on. Cree was a little nervous about this as she could not see what was inside. She hoped that once inside she would not become like one of those buffoons she saw him beat down at the car show.

Cree drove up to the opening, stopping before going in. She leaned over and opened up the passenger door to allow Raph to get back in the car.

“Ok before I go in there I need some answers because this all seems a little deep for me”

“What do you mean ‘people like you’, is there something I should know? And what is ‘Underworld’?” She wasn’t sure she wanted to know what the specialty purposes were so she didn’t dare ask. She figured once she went inside she would find out anyways. And at this point she didn’t think she was going to get out of going in.

Vicente stepped back as he waved for Cree to drive the car forward and into the darkened building. If she wanted to keep the car, she was going to need to hide out here if she wanted it to happen. Once she and Holden were hidden away, the heat would die down, she can replace the license plate, and tada, the car was her’s. But that outcome was only possible if she were smart enough to actually listen to him. Part of him was beginning to think that she had to have suspicions by now. After all, no one in their right mind would suddenly trust a man like him out of the blue. That was just a suicide mission.

The car drove up but came to a halt directly outside of the opening. He glanced over as Cree opened the passenger door and waved him over.

He strolled over and slipped into the passenger seat. He was about to direct her to drive forward when she suddenly paused and turned to face him.

>> “Ok before I go in there I need some answers because this all seems a little deep for me…What do you mean ‘people like you’, is there something I should know? And what is ‘Underworld’?”

What, was she really THAT new to the city? Apparently she was because she had absolutely no idea what he was talking about. Seasoned New Yorkers knew about the criminal underground, or at least had heard inklings of it. But this girl, she didn’t know about it. That was quite telling.

Well…who says that he cannot educate?

He sighed as he turned to her, a very small smirk on his face.

“Do you seriously think that someone like me just happened to be strolling by in that car show and jumped into your fight for the sole purpose of doing so? No,” he nodded to the backseat. “My business is with Holden. The man here has made some…enemies. And I need to have a discussion with him about it. My employers are part of the Underworld, the criminal underworld in this city.”

He then nodded to the darkness of the building in front of them. It did look mighty ominous and terrifying. Definitely not a place for young teenager to simply trust going into.

Vicente faced forward as he spoke. “You want to keep this car, you’re going to have to go through less legal means. Normally this would mean a favor is owed,” he shrugged “Or that I’d have to kill you. But, since you were nice enough to give me a ride with Holden here, we can call it even. Deal?”

He then smirked at her other question.

“I have a feeling about what you are,” he said confidently. “And if I’m right, you’re not alone.” He then nodded to the building. “But here’s where you decide. You don’t drive in there, I’ll gladly walk out with Holden and you can handle the cops and a stolen classic car all on your own. Or…you drive in there and trust me that you’ll get outta this exactly as I said you would. Choice is yours.”

He then shrugged. It really didn’t matter to him. He had Holden. That’s all that counted…

The answers that he gave Cree weren’t quite as specific as she was hoping for but she at least had an idea of what she was getting herself into and knew that there were some things to think about. Cree wanted to get involved in some kind of business and had been looking for people like him for a couple weeks now but had no previous luck. On the other hand she didn’t quite know if she wanted to get involved in such a dirty business. This is one of those “if I tell you I’d have to kill you” type business’ and Cree wasn’t sure if she was ready for all that. Then again he was making it sound as if he was going to let her walk away from all this without question. He wasn’t at all talking about getting her involved with his affairs so maybe she could just walk away if she liked. For now her main priority was getting out of here without the heat so she could keep the car.

Cree wasn’t sure how he could tell what she was, sure she did blind Holden right in front of him but she thought she was discreet enough by hitting him afterwards. She had hoped that his reaction would seem to be about the pain, not the blinding. Not that she didn’t want people to know she was a mutant but she didn’t really want to go advertising to the world what her ability was. It seemed to make her less approachable and being so new to a city, unapproachable was the last thing she wanted to be labeled as. Either way she was glad to know he was like her and was curious as to what he could do. She would ask him once they were inside and settle if she got the chance.

“Ok I’ll go in, I want this car. But I may want to know more once we get in there.”

Cree slowly drove into the building, it was a wide open area. It looked all beat to hell and run down, in some ways the place unnerved her and in others welcomed more than any other part of the city. There were various tools in various areas that looked similar to the ones she had used many times in the garage at Ron’s. She saw lifts and chains, anything a girl like her could ask for. In other parts of the giant space that was this building she observed things that were not so familiar to her, to her left Cree saw a cage full of weaponry. Guns, crossbows and melee too, anything anyone like the big guy could ask for. Straight ahead there were a few computers, they looked a little old but were clearly still working. She could figure out the rest but wasn’t sure what a criminal would need Facebook for. She always thought they just had their disposable phones to get connected and left the real technology to the cops.

Cree pulled the car over to the garagelike space and parked. She sat for a minute unsure what to do, part of her wanted to check out the tools and look under the hood. But the more curious part of her wanted to know what was going to happen to the nasty in the back seat.

“ Soooo, just out of curiosity what are you gonna do with him? I’ve seen movies y’know, when people like you say “talk” they usually don’t mean talk."

>> “Ok I’ll go in, I want this car. But I may want to know more once we get in there.”

He shrugged. If he deemed it so to give her answers, he would. But for the meantime he was quiet.

Just how far down the rabbit hole did this girl want to go? Honestly he didn’t know but he was not going to just outright ask her. She had talent and she had good taste in cars, but that was not enough to make it in the underworld. There had to be a curiosity to keep delving in deeper as well an ability to turn off that moral center of the brain that told you right from wrong. That was the only way to make it in his world because the second you showed weakness was the second that someone else bumped you off and took your spot.

But he was not going to tell her that just yet. Instead he was going to wait and let her figure out for herself what she wanted to know.

Her interest was peaked though. She drove into the lot and he smirked silently to himself…

There was many such buildings like this made throughout the school, secretly. None of the students came out this far and no one dared to question them. They were made specifically as safe points for the mobs and their cronies. Many times cars were stolen or they needed to make a quick getaway so they built this place, and many like it, in order to give them lower peoples a feeling like they were being cared for.

It was all bull though. Vicente knew that this place was not one hundred percent safe, but it would keep them out of harm’s way for the moment. At least until he could take care of Holden and get the girl out of his hair.

When they came to a stop, he turned towards her. She obviously had more questions…

>> “ Soooo, just out of curiosity what are you gonna do with him? I’ve seen movies y’know, when people like you say “talk” they usually don’t mean talk."

He smirked.

Opening the passenger door he climbed out, reached into the backseat and forcefully pulled Holden out as well. The man was just barely coming to and he was starting to get twitching. A swift kick to the back of the man’s sent him sprawling onto the ground and Vicente placed a heavy boot onto his back in order to keep him down. Holden groaned and Vicente turned to look at Cree.

“Somethings are better left unsaid. After all, I doubt you’ll have the stomach for this,” he said as he gave the man another swift kick. Once he collapsed into a heap, he turned to Cree and pointed to the workbenches into the back. “There are tools over there. I suggest you start taking off those license plates. I’ll show you where the spare ones are in a second.”

Grabbing Holden by the back of his now finely stained coat, he dragged him forward and toward a back room to secure him…

He smirked at Cree and pulled Holden out of the back and gave him a violent kick. A slight smile curled on her face, he deserved it. A few more kicks came after that and Cree saw nothing wrong with it, some people just deserved brutality and he was one of those people.

“Somethings are better left unsaid. After all, I doubt you’ll have the stomach for this”

Cree doubted his doubt, this man was clearly human a low class one at that and they deserved whatever they got. But he pointed to the tools and suggested she get to work on making the car safer for her to drive. A more twisted side of Cree considered disobeying and seeing if he wanted any help with Holden. She knew he didn’t need it, but hey, a girl could have fun too right. But Cree could tell it wasn’t just a matter of not needing help, he clearly didn’t want it. She watched him drag Holden to the back into a room that she couldn’t see into, she hoped she wouldn’t see the man come back out with him.

”Have fun, big guy!” She smiled and waved then made her way over to the work bench.

Cree looked through the tools, there were many. The bench was unorganized and dirty, she had to look for ten minutes just to find the correct size and style screw driver to take the plates off with. It usually took her less than this to take the plates off and replace them all together. Once she had the screwdriver in hand she took a mat and kicked it over the the back of the car. Cree plopped down with her legs crossed in front of the license plate and began to unscrew it from the car. The screws were new and shiny, everything about this car was shiny and well kempt, this just made her want it more. She pulled the plate off and tossed it aside. Once the first plate was off Cree made her way to the one in front. Again removing the screws and tossing the plate aside.

Cree kept the screws in her hand and took a gentle seat upon the hood, once again admiring the shininess of it. She was waiting for Raph to be done with his business. Things sounded pretty interesting back there, every now and then she would hear Holden scream and the big guy mutter something in his gruff mean voice. She smiled to herself and imagined what he could be doing to him and considered going to look for herself. She did not go after all, she didn’t think the big guy would really enjoy any company at the moment and she didn’t want to get him pissed off. Things started to quiet down soon and she knew Raph would return shortly now to give her a couple of safe plates to put on the car. So she waited for him to return, still hoping Holden would not follow….

Vicente smirked as he dragged Holden away from the car, away from Cree, and away from any chance he had for life. But as the man walked away, the young girl had shouted out after him…

>> ”Have fun, big guy!”

There was a look in her eyes. Something that told him that she wished she could have seen what he was going to do. But it was obvious that such a thing should not be done. He could not justify her being there, especially since she was not part of the world from which he came. She was just a stupid girl that got mixed up when she wanted something that didn’t belong to her. If anything she made the perfect scapegoat. Most of the men would remember her rather than himself.

Once in the back room, out came the duct tape and he securely fastened Holden to a loose, squeaky chair. The man looked panicked up at Vicente the second that he came to. When he did, Vicente only smirked.

“Been causing Falcone a lot of problems, Holden. Its time for that to stop.” he smirked as he unfolded a satchel and pulled out the first of the shiny, cleaning instruments of demise.

----FADE TO RED----

For Vicente it was moments, for Holden it was an eternity. It was only when the man stopped breathing that Vicente finally finished and decided that it was time to exit. Grabbing an oil rag from a nearby table, he smirked at the lifeless form of Holden and turned to leave. He opened the door stepped out to find that Cree was sitting on the food of the priceless Ford Packard, waiting for him. He wiped his hands off on the rag, turning it from a dull gray to a deep and crimson red.

He nodded to Cree.

“I see you managed to remove the plates,” he said. He was impressed. It was obvious that the girl knew a lot about cars and tools. He had to give her credit for that.

Wiping the last of the blood from his hands, he tossed the rag into the trash as he returned to the dirty work station. He shifted around a few boxes before he found one that was full of “clean” license plates: those that were tracked to innocent names and not at all connected with any of the mob families.

Picking out a nice pair, he stood up and strolled back over to Cree, handing it out for her to take.

“Congrats on your new car.” he said with a grin.

Raph walked out of the room, alone. Cree smirked and sighed with relief, then her eyes fell to his hands. They were shiny garnet red and not just a few spatters, they were entirely soaked in Holden’s blood. Her mind for just a moment went blank, she hadn’t exactly considered what her want for Holden to not return fully entailed. The moment was suddenly very serious for her, until he broke her silence.

>>” I see you managed to remove the plates,” Raph said in a somewhat surprised tone. Cree was a little disappointed that someone would doubt her ability to simply remove a license plate, a trained monkey could do that. She considered her poor judgments today though and was able to understand how one may not assume her to be the brightest.

”Yea, it would’ve been a lot easier if I could find anything on this workbench. Do you have toolboxes or does your mechanic just leave everything up here on purpose?” She was being slightly mouthy, not on purpose though it was something she had learned from Ron. If you are intimidated in a situation, assert yourself.

Raph finished wiping the blood from his hands and made his way to some boxes on the messy workbench. He opened one and handed Cree a couple of new plates that she assumed were supposed to be safe, she didn’t really have a choice but to trust him right now.

>> “Congrats on your new car.” He said as he held them out to her.

”Hey thanks man.” She said grabbing the plates with one hand and holding the other out for a shake. It was cliché but a person’s handshake told a lot about them. Not to mention if she shook his hand he maybe wouldn’t be able to see her fear of them, Cree didn’t want him to know she was that intimidated by him.

>> ”Hey thanks man.”

Vicente arched the brow as he looked down to her stretched out hand. She really wanted to shake his hand, transfer the blood evidence that he was still in the middle of wiping off? Well, if she insisted…

He reached out and took her smaller hand in his much larger one, shook her hand and smirked slightly. This girl was turning out to be fairly interesting. Though she did not make the best decisions in the world (after all who just goes to a classic car show with the intention of stealing a car without a plan?) but she managed to keep at least somewhat of a level head in this situation. And she even did not shy away from the criminal and darker element of the world that he was involved in.

It was needless to say that he was impressed. And that he wouldn’t kill her. Normally he did not like to leave anyone alive who witnessed his work. Technically, Cree was a witness.

…

But he wouldn’t take her life. She wouldn’t talk, at least he didn’t think she would. After all, she had a brand new car and was evading the police because of him. If anything she owed him her silence. He had a feeling that there was a silent agreement between them about that. So he made no mention of it.

Instead, after he shook her hand he stepped away and glanced back to the back office. Holden was there and obvious he hoped she would know to stay away from that point as well.

“It’ll be dark soon. Once night falls, you should be able to leave without much issue. They’re going to want Holden, not the car. The license plates should be enough to throw them off the track,” he said as he continued to clean his hands.

His job…such a messy business…

He actually shook her hand, and smirked while doing it. Ron was right, assert yourself and all will be well. His shake was solid and his hands were rough like hers, which really didn’t tell her anything she didn’t already know; he was BA. He released her hand and glanced back at where Holden was, the room was still silent and Cree was curious as to whether he had actually killed him or just beat him within an inch of his life. But she thought asking was probably not the right thing to do in this situation, some questions are just better left unanswered.

>>” It’ll be dark soon. Once night falls, you should be able to leave without much issue. They’re going to want Holden, not the car. The license plates should be enough to throw them off the track,”

What was she to do until then? This place didn’t exactly seem like the kind of joint she’d want to just hang out for an hour or two in. She could work on or check out the car, but the situation seemed as if it would grow awkward shortly. What do you do say to a man who just potentially killed another man? Not to mention she didn’t want to be in his presence when the reality of today’s events finally set in. Cree had witnessed some pretty interesting events in the past, but never been involved in what she assumed to be murder. Cree was pretty good at shutting down whatever in her mind made her care about things but this was a pretty intense situation. She was going to have to keep her mind busy until she could leave otherwise it’s all she would be able to think about.

“Ok sooo, what do we do until dark then?” Cree said crossing her arms at her chest. It would only take her minutes to replace the plates and it surely wouldn’t be dark by then.

>> “Ok sooo, what do we do until dark then?”

Vicente arched a brow. Huh…that really was a good question. He really was not the type of man to just sit around and conduct a conversation but as it was, they really could not leave this secure bunker at the moment. They needed to lay low until the police were done looking for the day. Though there more than like will be an APB out for the car, the license plates really should be enough to throw them. All Cree had to do after that was lay low and not be stupid enough to drive the car actually every place she went.

Then again, this was the woman who had assaulted a small time crime boss in front of a gathering of his lackeys and friends just for his classic car. Not exactly the smartest move. But he had to hope that she was not entirely hopeless.

With a sigh he wandered over to a nearby work bench, plucked out a capsized chair and pulled it back upright. As he did so, he took a seat and adjusted his coat. He’d make sure to remove Holden’s body from the backroom as soon as Cree was gone. The last thing he needed was for her to freak out because of what he had done to him. He was fairly sure that she knew exactly what he had done to Holden but she didn’t need to see it. Seeing it would make it real and he doubted she could handle that.

Instead, when he glanced at her, he simply shrugged. It would still be a couple of hours until nightfall so what could they do? Converse? The whole idea made him shudder, but he figured that it was better than nothing.

“You did something to Holden back at the show.” He said it was if it were pure fact and not something that could be at all mistaken. “I take it you must have the god’s blessings upon you as well?”

Mutations, powers, gifts from the gods, they were all the same to him. He was curious as to what this woman’s particular gift was. But it was curiosity not born simply out of wonder, but he also needed to gauge how dangerous she could possibly be to him…

He took a seat and shrugged at Cree, he didn’t seem to be anymore pleased with having to be social than she was. Still he was able to create some conversation, which Cree was happy to talk about.

>> “You did something to Holden back at the show.” Cree smirked and nodded.

“I take it you must have the god’s blessings upon you as well?”

The God’s blessing. She had never thought of it that way before, Cree didn’t really believe much in that sense. Cree always thought of it more as evolution, our bodies gaining a new strength or skill. She really wondered what his ability could be, or if he had one for sure or not. He said she was not alone but did he mean he could do something as well or that he knew others.

“I hardly think it’s a blessing, but yea you could say that.” Cree said as she hopped off the hood of the car to study it.
“You too?”

She admired the car for a moment while waiting for a response. She wished she could drive it, like really drive it. Cree knew though that with it being a stolen car she would have to be careful, even with clean plates.

Cree kneeled on the mat she left in front of the car and placed the first license plate in its spot. Once she had it adjusted just right she began to twist in the first screw.

>> “I hardly think it’s a blessing, but yea you could say that…You too?”

He quietly watched as the young lady began to inspect her new toy. It was obvious that she was very pleased with it. He hoped that she would not get too cocky and get into any sort of trouble while in position of that car. Normally he did not care if someone’s stupid actions got them into trouble, but right now it was different. Maybe because he had helped her steal this car and he did not like the idea of any hard work he did to be wasted. Stealing that car was hard work and to see it repossessed because she was not careful was a tad bit of an irritating thought.

But he let none of that be known. Instead, Vicente simply let the idea fall. She could do whatever she wanted once she left this place. He doubted they’ would cross paths again.

As she set about replacing the license plates he finally answered her question.

“Yes,” he responded. “My father taught me that these are gifts. The old gods, they granted it to only a select few. I was gifted as a nahaul, a shape changer and servant to Mictlantecuhtli. You, well, you are obviously gifted as well. Though from what deity I’ve yet to determine.”

He said all this very earnestly and with true belief. The tone of his voice showed that this was something he deeply believed in, but not to the level of fanatic obsession with it. It was said with a voice of true wonder and respect.

He smirked as he toyed with a random tool that sat on the worker’s table.

“I know it may sound…less than sane,” he said to no one in particular, maybe to Cree, maybe not, “It’s because the mainstream religions, the servants of the Authority, have stamped out my belief, labeled it as pagan or savage. Such is the way of the world. Remove everything that you don’t understand.”

Cree was on her knees putting in the first screws for the front plate when he spoke again. Most of what he was saying sounded like bullshit to Cree, Mayan Gods and gifts they bestowed upon humans. Her mother believed in stuff like that too but apparently not enough to accept it when it was right in front of her face. The fact that her mother believed it is most likely why Cree didn’t, but she listened to what he had to say anyways. And then he said something that struck a nerve with her.

>>“I know it may sound…less than sane.”
“ It’s because the mainstream religions, the servants of the Authority, have stamped out my belief, labeled it as pagan or savage. Such is the way of the world. Remove everything that you don’t understand.”[/i]

Cree agreed with that, that’s exactly what people did. It made her sick, this is part of what made Cree hate humans so much they couldn’t accept something different because it scared them, made them nervous. Deep down Cree believed that the reason they acted that way is because they knew that we were the next step, soon they would be obsolete and there would be more mutants than humans and we were more powerful. Cree looked up from her project and smirked.

“Well I don’t know about all that gift from the gods stuff, no offense.” Cree chuckled lightly
“You do have one thing right though that they just remove what they don’t understand. It’s sickening, humans see something a little strange and they get so scared they just want it gone. I suppose that’s a reasonable way of thinking for the weak though…”

She twisted in the last screw to the front plate and stood up grabbing the other off the mat as she did so. Cree made her way to the back of the Packard and plopped down in front of the setting for the plate.

“So anyways, what exactly do you do? I mean when you say shapeshifter you mean you can just turn in to whatever you want? 'Cuz that sounds pretty awesome.” Cree smiled and waited for his response as she began putting in the first screw.