A/N: Thanks to all those who have taken the time to read, review, favorite, and follow. Since I'm a writer, I'm obviously addicted to feedback. Seriously though, it's my crack.

Enjoy. :)

If I had known that accepting the strange twins offer would mean we would be dragged 38,000 feet in the air, and cuffed to a chair on a flying machine of death. I would have kindly told them to go fuck themselves. I hate planes, and no I have never had a bad experience on one. I just believe if humans were meant to fly we would have been given wings. I also got horrible air sickness, even the slightest movement of a plane makes me want to curl into the fetal position and cry. Bad ass, I know.

The twins, who we'd come to know as Viola and Kiki, were employed by a man named Phillipe Loren. A full of himself, Belgian asshole offering us the chance to "leverage your assets against your lives", or some shit like that. Saying he was part of some multinational organization known as the Syndicate. I instantly had no respect for him. He seemed too much like the type of person who stepped on the backs of others to get where he was. There was no passion for work in his voice, just business. He gave the floor over to the twins, who with rehearsed ease, laid out the logistics of the arrangement they expected me to agree to.

"You may continue to operate the Saints/Ultor media group as you see fit, in exchange for 66 percent of your monthly gross revenue." The twin named Viola said as she pulled up an annoyingly helpful chart to emphasize her point.

"That is before taxes, of course." The other twin chimed in.

"Of course it is." I laughed in disbelief. "At least Maero had the decency to outright insult me with 80/20. This," I bobbed my head in the direction of the chart. "...is just uninspired."

Lorens business like expression faltered, and his lip curled slightly. He gave a quick nod to the man standing behind me, who responded with a sharp knock to the back of my head. I wasn't sure if my brain could take anymore blows today before it shutdown altogether. I ground my teeth together to keep from groaning in pain. "Listen you french fuck-"

"Please, I am Belgian." Loren said with a flourish of his smoking hand.

"So make yourself a fucking waffle. We're done here." Johnny fired back.

Loren clicked his teeth as he turned his back to us. Looking out the plane window as he took another long drag of his cigarette. "And I had so hoped to come to a rational business arrangement."

A plain looking body guard circled the chairs we sat in, and pulled a gun to Johnny's head. Even though I knew Johnny wouldn't let himself go out like that, a small part of me was worried for his life. Metal groaned against metal when he hauled himself and his chair off the ground to slam into the guards chest. He turned on Loren once he'd knocked the gaurd out, but Loren had already pulled a knife. Johnny barely flinched as it plunged into his stomach. Of course it's not like that's the first time that's happened to him.

He recovered quickly and grabbed Lorens head, smashing into the nearest window. He cut us free with Lorens knife, and yelled at me to bail, that he would cover me. I refused to go without him. He was my right hand, and my best friend. There was no me without him, I couldn't go. We dropped down behind cover, the sounds of gunfire filling the air so loud we had to yell to hear each other.

"There's like half a dozen guys, I can take 'em." He said leaning out to check.

"What about the plane?" Shaundi asked.

"I'll fly it back to Stilwater."

"Johnny, you can't even drive stick. How you gonna fly a plane?"

"Details, details. Just cover the Boss. Go, I got this!" Johnny was already up and fighting before we had the chance to argue. Shaundi and I rushed out the open door, and heard it slam behind us. I would have had an easier time fighting Lorens goons if I wasn't trying not to vomit with every bump of turbulence that rocked the plane. To my dismay, I had to rely on Shaundis fighting skills which had gotten substantially better since she decided to let me teach her hand to hand. She wasn't as good as me, not by a long shot, but she got the job done.

We continued to navigate through the planes cargo hold, taking care of any assholes that got in our way. There was a parachute rack next to the intercom button, and I pulled one down to fiddle with straps, trying to figure out how to get the contraption on. I was not at all looking forward to jumping out of this damn plane. All I could do was throw a parachute on, and pray to God I had put it on right.

I could hear Johnny struggling on his own, over the PA system of the plane. Suddenly, I wasn't so sure he'd make it out of this one. Everyone's luck had to run out sometime, and Johnny had some pretty close calls in his lifetime. Just as I turned to run back up the stairs to Johnny, a violent drop of turbulence swept my feet out from under me. Shaundi and I tumbled down the ramp of the open hatch. I frantically grabbed at anything I could, until my hands found purchase at the lip of the hatch. Shaundi bounced out over my head, but she reached out to me at the perfect time, catching my outstretched hand. I figured myself a strong girl, but I was unprepared for the full force of her weight. It wasn't long before I felt her begin to slip through my fingers.

A cold ball of fear dropped down into the pit of my stomach when she began to plummet through the air. I didn't care anymore that I was scared out of my mind of heights. I didn't care anymore that I had absolutely no idea how to parachute. My mind was blank except for the glaring need to save her.

Debris from the hold of the plane littered the sky, and I could barely make out the glint of Shaundis purple tights in the clutter. I sped through the air, slowly gaining on her flailing form. Once I reached her I scooped her into my arms, cradling her shaky body against me. I reached back for the string I hoped deployed the parachute, and thankfully it did. We slowed to a gentle float as we swayed side to side with the wind. She had her face buried in my neck, and I wasn't sure if my heart was racing from the jump, or her breath ghosting across my neck.

"I won't lie. I didn't think you'd make it in time." She mumbled into my neck, the vibrations giving me goose bumps.

"My plans are always working."

"Really Boss. You're going to tell me you planned that?" She raised up to cock an eyebrow at me.

"Of course." I said with mock bravado.

"Sure Boss."

"You sound skeptical. I could drop you, and we could do it again to prove my point." The grip I had on her loosened just enough for her back to drop a bit.

"Oh fuck!" She tightened her hold on my neck and buried her face in my hair. "No, no. I believe you Boss. I believe you. Just don't drop me."

"Good. I was worried." I laughed so hard she bounced against my chest. "Do not worry Shaundi. You're safe with me."

"I know." The surety with which she said those words gave me pause. Given my past, no one was safe around me. I got people killed; like Carlos, Aeisha, and now probably Johnny. Everyone called me a sociopath. Hell they might be right, but do sociopaths hold the deaths of comrades over themselves like a black cloud of guilt?

"Hey Boss?" Shaundis voice broke me out of my thoughts, and then I did something I never thought I would do.

"It's Yeva." I kept my eyes forward. My name had been sacred. It was the one thing I kept for myself, that no one could take from me. It was almost like I was giving her a piece of myself.

"What?"

"My name," I paused to take a deep breath. It was hard enough to say it the first time. "My name is Yeva."

"Yeva." She said slowly, almost like she was trying out how it felt rolling off her tongue. My heart jumped up into my throat as it left her lips. She said it in a way that made it seem like it was made only for her to utter. It suddenly felt very hot despite the wind rushing by us in our descent. "It's beautiful." I hummed low in my chest in acceptance of the compliment, not completely trusting my voice. She laid her head back down on my shoulder, and gave it a firm squeeze in thanks. She knew me well enough to know not to make big deal out of it, and knew that simple gesture was all I needed.

"Yeva, do you think Johnny made it off the plane?" We both looked over to the plane flying away from us in the distance.

Something inside told me no, but I was never one to take no for an answer. "I really hope so."