Disclaimer: I own the wonderful feminine badass Jinx Jagger and the other characters not in Newsies.

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Prologue

Sweat formed in beads across my forehead as the blinding lights were flashing red behind me. Fucking shit. Two seconds quicker and I'd be out with my thousands in cash.

As soon as I saw the opportunity of a small alleyway, I dove head first, sliding up against the wall, stuffing the money in either pocket, and fucking lucky they didn't catch it. I'd taken the money out once again to count it. I could still hear the sirens, but by now I was gone. Gone. It was the most scintillating high that I had ever felt in my seventeen years. I'd made all the Brooklyn newspapers within the last month, and once in a while I made the front page as the most "notorious yet unknown" criminal in all of New York. People knew me by name, but not by face. By day, I was just a pretty orphan girl. But by night, I transformed into a catlike criminal that no one could catch.

My career started as a girl of six when I stole fake rubies from the general store, them slowly moving onto real diamonds. Of course, it took years of practice and precision, but now I am one of the most respected criminals in all of New York – except that only a select few know my true identity. And those would be the boys I lived with on 23rd and National, right between Gus's Shoe Shine and Old Time Lemonade. It's a street with quite a bit of personality – despite the alarming crime rate, mostly caused by me and my boys. But I loved it there. It was my home for so many years until finally, the shit hit the fan.