Chapter 1
The Underground.
"Place your bets! Place your bets here people!" A young girl with light brown hair and dark sea foam green eyes shouted among the chattering crowd in the room. The large square room had a circle platform in the middle of it, dried splatters of blood and dirt could be seen almost engraved into the wood paneling. The crowd of men became silent as the girl stood on the stage.
"The next fight is Cindy Waters versus Walter Thompson! Place your bets with me!" The young girl shouted and as soon as those words left her lips the crowd came at her waving money around, "Please! One at a time!"
Said man Walter Thompson marched up and onto the stage, flexing his muscles as confidence reeked from every sweat gland on his body. He swept a hand through his short dirty blonde hair as his green eyes glistened as he watches his opponent get up on the same stage.
The next person, Cindy Waters, climbed up onto the stage wearing a nervous expression. Her hair cut short so that it reached just past her ears, her left side shorter than the right, as if shaved a couple months ago. Her side parting supported long and messy fringe that hung on the right side of her face, barely covering her eyes. Her black hair was messy and greasy looking, matching the grime and dirt on her face.
Her brown eyes looked innocent as she watched at her opponent with caution. He towered over her and was double her size in mass.
"She hasn't got a hope in hell," "I wonder if she'll even come out alive," Murmured throughout the crowd.
"Alright people! The fight will start soon, opponents, please stand on either side of the platform," The girl instructed, eyeing Cindy as she walked past.
"P-please! D-don't hold back!" Cindy stuttered making the crowd laugh.
Walter smirked as he got into a fighting pose, "Don't worry kid, I won't."
"The match will begin in 3…2…1…Fight!"
Cindy's eyes instantly changed into a glare, her nervous smile straightened into a frown. It was like this nervous and scared person became bored with the facade.
"Excellent," She muttered in an emotionless tone, making Walter raise an eyebrow.
Suddenly Walter went to swing forward, his fist clenched tightly. Cindy almost sighed, still wearing her bored expression as she calmly dodged him. As if in slow motion Cindy assessed the situation, a fist flying past her face, too much power put into the throw so that he's flying forward, an opening.
Quickly and calmly the calm woman grabbed his fist before kicking the back of his knee, making his legs give way as she continued to twist his arm back and pin him down on the ground.
The crowd became silent with shock as Cindy increased the pressure on the man's arm, making him turn from a confident thug into a wailing puppy.
"Please stop! Y-You're going to break my arm!" He continued to wail.
"And I thought you said you weren't going to hold back, pathetic," She muttered again.
"Please! I submit I submit!" Walter banged his free hand against the stage.
"And the prize money goes to Cindy Water!"
"Nobody bet on you! It was great! Our best score yet!" The girl collecting the bets cheered as she and the winner of the fight strode down the street of the underground.
"I'll have to agree there kiddo, but seriously Cindy Waters? What hell kind of name is that? Bloody Cindy fricking Waters," The woman supposedly once called Cindy shook her head in disgust. The brown haired girl giggled.
"Jenn It's the only thing I could think of at the time, besides it sounds innocent, which is what you asked for," The girl put her hands up in surrender.
The woman now called Jenn shrugged her shoulders, "Still that was terrible, but I guess we made enough from the reward money and the bets, we don't even have to worry about tomorrow either."
"Yahooooo!" The young girl cheered.
"But Angel, that doesn't mean we can just take a day off, maybe this is the first step to saving up for above ground citizenship," Jenn added and almost instantly the happy teenagers head dropped towards the ground, making Jenn laugh out loud, "Cheer up munchkin! Let's go get some food and a place to stay eh?"
Angel agreed before sending Jenn a bright smile, "Sure!"
Suddenly as they walked down a familiar alleyway three tall silhouettes stood at the end menacingly, clearly blocking their way deliberately. Jenn stopped and her guard instantly went up, just as she moved Angel to walk back the way they came 3 more figures blocked that exit as well, leaving them trapped.
"What do you want?" Jenn almost growled, she didn't like feeling as if she was a cornered animal.
"We want the winnings that are rightfully ours," One of the figures in front of them said, an all too familiar confident voice.
"Walter Thompson, I should have known you were a sore loser," Jenn shouted back making the man tense, as if ready to charge at her.
"Shut up! This is what you get for making me underestimate you!" Walter shouted back, even from this distance Jenn could see small drops of spit flying out of his mouth.
Disgusted, she retorted, "Make you underestimate me?! Maybe you shouldn't have been a cocky git!"
Walter's eyes narrowed in anger and rage before he commanded his crew, "Guys, take their money and teach them a lesson, make sure they know never to come back to this part of town again."
"Jenn!" Angel started to panic as the five figures continued to walk closer and closer, closing the gap.
"H-hey just leave her out of this!" Jenn yelled at them as Angel cowered behind her, "She's only 14!"
"You were both in on this so you both get the beatings," One of the thugs grinned maliciously before swinging for Jenn, like earlier she ducked with ease and blocked a second swinging fist from behind but hearing a yelp she looked back and saw two guys grabbing Angel. Her eyes widened in fear and she felt a boiling rage inside her.
"Get off her!" She growled but was cut short, one of the thugs used that distraction to their advantage and kicked the back of her knees so they gave way before swinging a fist at her face, instantly she felt the blood in her mouth and crimson red spurted out of her mouth. Her vision became clouded with black edges, that punch was like being hit with a rock.
"Stop it!" Jenn heard Angel cry as the thugs held her kicking form before a guy blocked her view, she could vaguely see the man swing back his muscular arm before it bolted forward, hearing Angel gasp and cry as the air was literally punched out of her.
Jenn almost growled like an animal before lunging forward just enough to sink her teeth into the thug, who was punching Angel. The thug cried out at Jenn bit harder into his leg before some other guys continually punched her face until she let go.
"Bitch!" The now bleeding thug shouted angrily before gripping Jenn by the hair and kneeing her in the stomach.
The five thugs continued to beat the helpless duo until they were bloody and beaten beyond recognition. Jenn struggled to breathe even when they stopping kicking her. She could only look on helplessly as Angel lay on the floor motionless, luckily they decided to all focus on Jenn now that they couldn't get a reaction out of Angel.
"That'll teach you to take my money," Walter grinned as he spat on her, giving her one last kick to her abdomen before walking away with his crew, "Come on boys, I think they've learnt their lesson."
Jenn didn't know how long she lay on the dirt floor but after she regained some strength in her muscles she pushed herself up from the floor, her entire body screamed for her to stop but her mind was set on her motionless partner in crime who lay just a few feet away from her.
"Angelina…" Jenn's managed to croak out, as she tried to reach her, with great effort she managed to sit herself up and crawl towards her, "Angelina..?"
The said girl still laid still, the only sign of life being the shallow breath that left her pale lips. Jenn made herself get up, her legs have turned to jelly but she still managed to stand and walk over to Angel with a heavy limp. As she knelt down next to the girl she put an arm behind her back and another under her knees before picking her up bridal style, wincing as her joints screamed in pain. As quick as she could, Jenn half jogged and half limped to the only place they stayed when they didn't have any money.
Usually, the duo would earn enough from fights to have food for the rest of the day, buy any medical supplies and hire a place to stay. If they didn't earn that much they had a backup plan.
Jenn navigated through the alleyways with Angel still unconscious in her arms before hoping through a bare window, that was technically a pretty hole in the wall, and ran up the wooden stairs as they creaked in protest. She ran to the furthest corner before gently setting Angel down and lifting a loose plank. Her eyes widened as she stared at the empty space.
"W-where…" She spoke aloud as she bends down and felt around in the hole, "The emergency money, it's gone," She realised, "Shit…shit shit shit!"
She gritted her teeth together in anger, who could have found it? What were they to do with no money now? Jenn let the questions roam around her head as she stared at the unconscious girl. She was going to have to steal.
Jenn didn't like stealing at all, taking something from other people so that they suffer instead was an act she despised, yet she didn't know how else she was going to afford medical supplies, even now with the raised prices.
A brothel.
That's where Jenn found herself now. Not as a customer though she couldn't help admiring some of the curves these girls had, but a brothel never had no customers willing to spend their last penny on a few hours of ecstasy. Heck, Jenn would be doing it herself if she didn't have such a stubborn and proud attitude, there was good money in it. Right now she had to think of a strategy, she couldn't blend in because of the many bruises on her face and body so passing as a prostitute wasn't going to work.
She had to think of a new angle, but before she could she was suddenly yanked away from the main room and inside a booth, curtains pulled tightly shut. A hand covered her mouth as she eyed the man in front of her, his trimmed brown beard and neatly styled hair made him stand out like a sore thumb in the Undercity.
"Please don't panic, I've been looking all over for someone like you, I've seen you in previous fights. You're impressive, would you be interested in a job of sorts?" The man calmly said before releasing the hand that covered her mouth.
Instantly Jenn reacted violently and swirled around before punching him square in the jaw, "How dare you have to cheek to ask me for a favour after that!" She hissed, careful not to raise her voice so that the people outside the booth could hear.
The man put a hand to his reddening jaw, looking at her with a shocked expression, "I-I'm sorry I really am, I was actually taking a break here looking for you and as soon as I saw you I couldn't take the chance to wait for you to vanish again."
Jenn controlled her anger before turning towards him again, "Why are you particularly looking for me?" She asked in a more hushed tone.
"My boss, he's looking for someone who can pass off as a weakling only to be extremely underestimated. I've been to 4 of your fights and each one you trick your opponent into boosting their confidence and ego, psychologically messing with them so that they make an opening for you to attack. It's clever and exactly what my boss wants."
Jenn sighed before adjusting the collar of her cotton shirt, she needed money but it had to be quick, she didn't want to spend another minute here while Angel was still in that crumbling building.
"I'm interested, what's the job?" Jenn asked, she hoped it wasn't something too dangerous.
The man sighed before sitting down, "For reasons you can't know, we would need you to infiltrate the Survey Corps quarters and retrieve important documents."
That spiked Jenn's interest, but already knowing he'll probably won't tell her any more than that she simply raised a brow, "This job is extremely dangerous, I expect a suitable payment."
"Of course, of course. You'll be rewarded with a large sum of money, enough to buy your own house I can assure you," He scratched the back of his neck before saying the next part, "And you will be given above ground citizenship."
Jenn's eyes widened, that was something they were talking about no less than 6 hours ago. It was something they talked about life fairy tail.
"I want the money in advance," Jenn confidently stated.
"You may have half in advance, the rest will come as soon as the job is done. Do you accept?"
Jenn didn't even hesitate, "I'll do it."