*Chapter 8*

"Okay so since we were already talking about the topic, we should explain some things about us to you," Memphis started. "You probably wonder what we do and why we keep bothering with meetings or what we gain from all this."

"Oh I already know all of that," I waved away. "I just want to know in which case you are working on."

"Where do you know that from?" Zaron frowned.

"I already told you that I only go out with leaders. So of course I catch up a lot of things about gangs." Which didn't mean that I was allowed to go on any missions no matter how small they were. I was mainly just listening at times they were having meetings.

"Well at least we don't need to explain a lot. Everything you don't know will be probably answered soon," Memphis said. "So to get to our actual situation. We are looking for Mira John's diary," he stated.

"A diary?" Who the hell still writes diaries? "Wait how do you know that she has a diary?" I wondered.

"It was easy to find out after some pictures of her writing in it. But that isn't the difficulty in this case. The problem is how we should get the diary. We already figured the address but we need to come up with a good plan to sneak inside without getting caught. The building seems to be the meeting point of their gang and it's quite big which makes it a lot more difficult."

"What kind of building is it?" I wanted to know. "And I need more background information."

"Not sure what kind of building it is, but it's not some random house, probably an old factory or something similar. But Collin couldn't find a map so we are on our own. The break in was planned tomorrow at three-thirty AM. We have a total of one hour to find the diary before they change their shift because the building is strictly supervised. The only gap exist between their shifts."

"Mira John is the representative of the double A Don-Raler gang if you already have experience then you know what this means." I bit my lip. Double A? This was going to be more difficult then I thought.

To quickly explain it to you, popular gangs are usually rated. It starts from D up to A. Special Gangs are rated as double A and the bigger gangs that are mostly in contact with the government even reach up to S. But judged in our situation double A is a large problem.

"Okay further more will be discussed as soon as we found the Diary." There was only one thing I didn't understand or rather two. What was so important about the diary and what are we going to gain from having it? But I didn't ask.

"I hope you at least got a good plan to get inside that factory because," I giggled. "This is really half assed." I dropped my head off the couch, seeing the world up side down.

"We know that!" Zaron hissed, making me shut up and sit back up as I looked at him with gaping eyes. "You have no idea how much I hate doing things half assed," he gritted his teeth and clenched his hand to a fist. "You as 'strategist' don't have no better idea on what we could do, am I right? We are running out of time."

"Of course not. I just want to observe first." Seriously, you could have been a better genius than Einstein but without information there was no way they could have come up with anything better than this.

"Okay so I assume that you guys are all ready for it," Zaron made sure. No one denied. "Good."

"Hey and what am I going to do," I pouted, feeling left out.

"You're going to stay by my side!" I didn't complain. If you ask me, I think that it was even a miracle that he agreed on me following at all.

***

Later I decided to go back home where I was immediately greeted by Ramon who seemed to be annoyed. Well he is always annoyed when it relates to anything about me but this time he seemed more irritated than usual. "Dad called yesterday," was all he said for me to understand what his problem was.

"He needed me?" I frowned. How unlucky. It would have be nice to spend some time with him again. But I would be lying if I said that I regretted it because looking back at yesterday, I couldn't do anything but smile. Zaron was totally worth it. If I hadn't been so tired, we could've had a pretty enjoyable night. Maybe I can convince him another time. And with another time I mean as soon as possible.

"Quentin!" He barked and brought me back to reality. "Focus! I don't know with what kind of guy you had to play with this time, but you need to restrain yourself at least a little bit," he pounded onto me.

I rolled my eyes but giggled at the thought. "He's totally amazing," I said. "Anyway what did Dad want?"

"It doesn't matter. Myles already went. But he seemed really pissed at you. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to call him later." I nodded as I wanted to head to my room when I stopped in tracks.

"Spare me some time for later," I said. And I could clearly see the grin that appeared after these words left my mouth before I turned away and continued the way to my room. That was where I changed into some gym stuff that was not actually gym clothes since I don't go to the gym nor step a foot inside our fitness room with the intention on training my body.

Anyway, I went off grabbing some sweets on the way to the empty hall we used to practice our fighting skills and as I arrived, I already noticed Ramon preparing himself for a combat with me. Also to my surprise, Jin and Ace also seemed to be there.

"Huh? What are you two doing here?" I tilted my head. I was especially surprised about Ace since he simply never seemed to give a fuck about anything that involves me.

"We wanted to watch you." Jin grinned. "Since we haven't seen you fight for so long, we couldn't just let this opportunity slip. I bet Myles would've want to watch you, too."

I cocked a brow at Ace who just avoided my gaze and huffed. "I just want to convince myself that you wouldn't put no shame on our name. We don't need no weakling here." Jin gave him a good hit on his head, making him groan and curse.

"Stop talking shit, he's still your brother," he ranted. "Besides we shouldn't underestimate a real Collister, right?" He winked at me.

I rolled my eyes and turned to Ramon who was already waiting for me. "Took you long enough." I smiled at that. "So, we should probably start with a warm up to get you back in track. Don't worry I will try not to hurt you."

"Are you doubting me?" I frowned as I stood in front of him face to face.

"So you really want it full on? After you've been slacking off the whole time?" He raised his brows. I snorted and hold a good starting pose, ready for his first attack.

"I've never been slacking off. Just for your information," I pointed out just before he started his first attack at me. He threw his fist at me, aiming for my chest and combined it with a following kick that was directed at me after I dodged away.

I blocked his kick with my bare hand and went to hit a bullet point on his chest with my elbow, but his hand was quick to stop it and turn it back against me. I jumped away and brought back the distant between us we had before.

I narrowed my eyes at him when he let out a laugh. "You can feel it, am I right?" I bit my lips at him. Totally. I could totally feel it. How his strength increased during the passed months. My hand which I used to block his kick before with ease really ached.

Still there was no chance I could give up this early. I took a calming breath and quickly approached him to start another attack. He was about to counter me when I changed my position, jumped behind him and pointed my finger at his back. I gathered my strength into my finger stabbed one of his sen-points on his spine.

He groaned and coughed from the impact but at the same time he had a mischievous smirk on his face. "I totally forgot the pain of your sharp hands," he croaked. He cracked his neck and was quickly focused on our fight again. "The small but sharp pain that never disappears through out the fight."

"Yeah?" I cocked a brow and gasped when he all of a sudden threw a fist at me which I dodged in reflex. But I didn't see the second fist coming and even though I had sensed it, I still felt the hit slightly brushing on my shoulder at the attempt of dodging it.

I squinted my eyes and managed not to get caught off guard when I aimed for his sen-points close to his chest numerous times. Though he countered every one of them, no matter whether I changed my position or remained in the same spot. His hands where strong and mine where sharp. It may sound like we were on the same height but the effects were on either side different.

His strength in his punches increased but at the same time his speed slowed down, making it possible for me to dodge every one of them. All of the sudden he jumped up and kicked me right on the chest, causing me to stumble down and choke in pain. I scowled at him. "What?" He acted confused. "I said I will try not to hurt you, not that I won't."

He is so going to get that back. I sprinted over to him and tried stabbing him on his arm but it was more difficult since he was using them to fight with. So of course they moved the most and the fastest. Still, landing a hit on his arm has the most effect in a fight.

So I highly concentrated myself on his fists until my eyes kept in track with them. That was the moment I managed to caught his fist with my hand, held them in place and used the other to strike two of his sen-points on his arm before he pulled away as his hand fell numb.

He hissed and distorted his face as he stepped back returning the space to protect himself for another attack. I kept a secure stand and held my posture as my chest was moving rapidly. It hurt. A lot. And in addition, my breathing was affected by the pain on my chest. Also the way I was already panting in exhaust, indicated that my stamina was strictly limited.

He didn't seem any better though. He was standing there, his eyes fixed on his slacking arm as I noticed how he tried moving his arm but it rather resembled twitching finger movements.

"Fuck," he cursed and looked at me with a grin. However, his obstruction didn't change a lot. It was merely a handicap and I couldn't tell if it was a good one at that. He seemed to be done taking a break and was ready for his next attack despite the loss of an arm.

His legs had been perfectly fine, so of course he drew back for a kick in the back of my knee, forcing me to the ground as he held my collar. I looked up at him and smirked.

I made it look like I wanted to attack his arm which he quickly pulled back but in reality I aimed for his leg and hit another of his sen-point. He hissed and stumbled, almost losing his balance. "Me? Slacking off? I see," I smiled but was still heavily panting.

I was quick on my feet and at the same time the one who was on offence. Therefore I wanted to head for the next move, but somehow he managed to take the lead and landed a hit on my abdomen. I consequently clutched my stomach and bit my lip to distract myself from the pain. My finger aimed his chest and the same leg I stabbed previously not even seconds before he hit my chest again and tilted our balance, causing him to fall on me.

I roughly landed on the ground as his hand was quickly choking me to avoid another reckless attack. I craved for air and tried to pull his hand away from me, but it was useless. My chest was already hurting so bad that it was barely possible for me to properly breath with his hand pressed against my throat.

"Ramon," I choked and hit his arms to get rid of it. "O-okay, it's fine. I give up!" I said or at least tried to as he finally let go, causing me to let out a relieved breath. "You won," I admitted and closed my eyes in exhaust. He slid off and settle himself beside me.

"Are you guys okay?" Jin approached us and looked partially worried and partially stunned. "This was really impressive." I opened my eyes and gave him a weak smile.

"Well I lost. I can hardly breath anymore," I said in a degrading tone.

"What are you talking about," Ramon mumbled. "Two minutes longer and I would have already given out. I can't move a friggin' muscle," he chuckled still in pain. "You know, you really lack in stamina, you could have had a better chance if you would practice. You have no idea how big of an idiot you are."

"Yeah, ha I guess," I mumble and the rest I couldn't catch up anything further because then my eyes slowly and slowly fell close until everything was covered in darkness.

____

.

~