With adrenaline bursting through her veins all she can think about is herself. She had so much to live for, so much to do, and how would she accomplish any of it if she was found with dead on the concrete? All she could hear was the beat of her pounding heart and her feet clicking against the concrete. In one hand she held both of her pink stilettos that had gotten in the way of her running but she keeps them with her instead of carelessly discarding them. After all they might just prove to be good weapons to defend herself if her pursuers caught up to her. She knew what a stiletto heel could do to a man's eye and she wasn't afraid to take action when her life was being threatened.

Even so the skin of her soles scraped against the sidewalk as she ran forward clumsily - looking over her shoulder to see the distant form of figures chasing after her - and feeling a tinge of relief that the men chasing her were more unfit than she was. Her relief was ill-founded when she feels a hand grab hold of her wrist. It tugs her so hard that she falls onto the ground with a yelp, landing on her stomach, as the grip on her wrist tightens so hard that she fears it'll bruise. With a whimper she lifts her chin off the ground even while it stings to get a look at her captor.

She hates that smirk on his face and the way he licks his lips is disgusting. It reminded her of a wolf licking his chops, ready to tear apart his catch. She struggles in vain, trying to pull herself away from his grip, as she attempts to stand back on her own two feet. The man isn't having it though and it shows it with a example of his strength by tightening his wrist once more. It's enough of a threat to make her realize that he could break her wrist if he wanted. The mere thought of all the pain he might inflict is enough to make her stop struggling, for a moment, as she inwardly debates her options. She could stay here and possibly be assaulted and left for dead… or… she could escape if she just had the right moment… the right… she clenches her right hand and widens her eyes when she notices that she didn't have the stilettos in her hand anymore. Her only weapons, the only thing she could use against them, laying discarded on the ground a few inches away from her.

"Please!" She cried out. "Let me go! Have mercy!" And though she begs she doubted he would take any of her words to heart. Sociopaths do not feel for their victims, they leave them to the cold, and to the parasites that eat away at the flesh. "Help! Anyone! Help me! Please!" She stopped talking to her captor and instead yelled at the surrounding buildings. Any light that might have been on flickered off as those around her pretended not to hear her pleas in concern for their own well-being, ready to overlook her safety for their own, and this devastated her.

So much to live for.

So much to do.

"Good job on catching the little sphinx! A tricky one she was." She heard the gasping breath of the men that had been chasing her earlier. They finally caught up.

No.

No!

She struggles again and it does nothing. She knows it does nothing but she keeps trying anyway. Her body is screaming for her to get away, instincts yelling at her that she'd die if she stayed in this position, but the man holding her in a death-grip didn't care. He kept her in a firm grip, his grin absolutely feral as he stared down at her body, eyes roaming her curves.

NO!

"HELP!"

"Shut UP Alicia. Do you have to be so whiny?"

"Hey hey don't talk to her like that. I like the ones that struggle."

"Haha well-..."

"Fernando…?"

One of the hoodlums turn and see that his friend had stopped talking because he had vanished in his spot. In shock, the hoodlum takes a step back, before glancing at the one bruising her wrist painfully.

"Aiyahhh - you playing some sort of trick on us? It ain't the time man!" The hoodlum yells out. The three were silent as they heard nothing but the crickets sing in the dead of the night. Their friend didn't reply back at all and it seemed to worry the two delinquents enough to put them on edge.

"Boo."

From Alicia's vantage point she can't see much but she could hear everything. The startled scream of one of her pursuers as they fiddle with their belt to grab a gun. He pulls the trigger and Alicia flinches at the sound of the gunshot.

"Shouldn't treat a lady like that you know. It's not very kind."

"You whore!"

Alicia hears the sound of grunting and gunfire until she hears a thud, like someone falling to the ground. Before she knows it, she's tugged upward painfully, a gun pointed underneath her chin towards her brain. She already knew what this situation was… she was being used as a her eyes tightly she braced herself for the bullet that might lodge itself in her skull.

"Too slow!" A voice chirped and before she knows it the gun is swiped from underneath her chin. In shock Alicia's attacker takes a few steps back, enough steps to allow Alicia to run forward a few feet, and her captor reaches out his hand to stop her from going any further before he gets a nasty hit to the head with the handle of a gun. He falls to the ground in a heap - knocked out cold.

Alicia looks up fearfully.

"No worries, love! Calvary's here!"

.

It had been just three days since she had taken a group of trainees under her wing and already she had a good view of their personalities. Denilo was large with a mop of messy brown hair and he was usually standing protectively in front of the group alongside Mateo since he could probably take down any kid who challenged them with a good punch or two. Aside from the fact that he seemed well-versed on street-combat he couldn't handle a gun in the slightest which was something she had to work on.

Valence was the backup. If anything happened to any of the members of their group he'd step up. When Mateo had left to chase after Denilo after his little gun incident Valence had taken the initiative to lead the other two until Mateo returned… or at least that was what it looked like. Shepard wasn't even sure the boys themselves were aware of their own positions they had created in their group but she had been able to root them all out in just a few hours. Their tightly knitted pack showed a working team. Mateo, as disrespectful as he may be, was actually quite the leader. He looked out for the rest in his own way though he might not show his fondness for them outwardly. He had gained their respect even if they may not agree on many things.

Then there were the last two. Juan and Javier. They were the quiet observers. Juan showed a bit more character than Javier who usually did everything he was asked obediently without a flicker of a single emotion.

"I did not agree to this."

On Shepard's Earth they had paintball. On this Earth, they had paintball, but with superior guns. When she had found a stash of paintball guns in the armory she had asked Sin on whether or not they were types of weapons left behind by the previous guards. When she had found out they were paintball guns ohhh did she know she was going to have to use them on her trainees. Sure enough she had presented to them and civil war broke out. When she said 'start' nearly all of them darted their own ways with paint already soaring over her head and splatting against the bushes behind her. Luckily they couldn't aim for crap so it'd take a while before they'd actually be able to aim at her correctly, much to her amusement, and she was going to have so much fun whooping their butts. She'd show them the true skills of a rifleman - of an infiltrator - of a soldier.

Twisting herself out of the center of view she hides behind a large hedge crafted into a sculpture of an unidentifiable man she couldn't give two thoughts about. All she was focused on were finding her hidden boys as she scanned the surrounding area. She had seen where they had all ran but now she would have to locate them from her vantage point. Shockingly enough, just from a good moment of sitting down for a few minutes behind the towering hedge covering her whereabouts, she had come to acknowledge that while they weren't too experienced… they were good sneaks. She hadn't heard anything since she had hidden herself. Could it be they were working together?

Plop!

Or not.

"ARGHH! You think you can handle THE VALENCE!?" A voice shouted out as she heard paintballs being fired. She moves towards the direction of sounds. She walks through a walkway surrounded by high looming ledges, turning the corner to see a grove of rose bushes, and spotted Valence and Juan shooting at each other like mad men. The beautiful red roses near them were already dyed blues and yellows that would most likely give her a good scolding by her employer.

Ducking behind a bush she listened to the two for a while until finally decided to let them battle them out since there were three more boys she had to concern herself with. Crawling away from the fiasco that was Valence and Juan - she stood up when she got to a hedge that would hide her whole person. From the looks of her surroundings she could either go back to her sculptured bush or head towards the fountain that was encircled in the middle of this whole… maze… even if it wasn't intended to be a maze. It was rather confusing now that she thought about it but it was a great place to hide from enemies. Maybe if things got bad she could send Katy down here. It'd be difficult to find her if she hid well enough.

Shepard continued forward through the winding paths surrounded by hedges until stopping in place. Denilo wasn't too far ahead, cuddling his knees near his chest, with the paintball gun laid near his side untouched.

Shepard sighed.

This kid. Seriously.

"Denilo." She addressed. Valence nearly jumped out of his skin when she called out to him and his head shot up in surprise. When he spotted her the panic in his eyes were clear but they slowly faded away into a pathetic look of surrender.

"I suck at this game." He gives out a sad chuckle. "Can't even… handle a paintball gun."

Shepard took a few more steps forward so that she was only a few feet away from Denilo. She thought about kneeling down next to him but decided against it. Instead… she slowly lifted her paintball gun… and aimed it at his hopeless face. Paintballs to the face were painful and not advised but with his face mask discarded on the ground as well... If she were to pull the trigger, Denilo would suffer for it, and it would be a good lesson to teach him. Don't just sit around, hide, and make sure the enemy doesn't find you if you aren't prepared for it.

She doesn't pull the trigger though.

"What if I was someone who wanted to kill you?" She asked.

"You're not." Denilo.

"It's a hypothetical question."

"You're not someone who wants to kill me. I know people who actually do want me to die. You're not one of them."

"Oh?" This was interesting news but she wouldn't pry too much. "So you'd rather sit there and let them take you down defenseless?"

"I think I deserve it… I… I can't even handle a gun after all… not after…" He pales. "Whatever… it doesn't really matter."

"Denilo." She aims right between his eyes. She'll need to change tactics to get through to him. "What if I wanted to harm someone important to you? Your friends?"

"I'd rush to protect them of course!"

"You're not much use dead." Shepard told him. "All you are is a meat shield."

"No - I can help them in different ways!"

"Then why are you here? What if you drag them down because of your inability to protect yourself, let alone protect a little girl? What do you think will happen to your friends if you fail to protect Mr. Roblado's youngest? Would he not be infuriated with you? Would you not suffer grave consequences?"

Denilo tensed at the sound of Mr. Roblado's name.

Interesting.

"It's not easy." She tells him, her arms grow stiff from being in the same position but she makes no effort to move them, "Killing someone. Sometimes they haunt you but what's worse is seeing the faces of those you didn't save."

She remembered the little boy.

How he died.

Even if he was just an illusion he had seemed so real. She had wondered, why had she escaped Earth with not many scratches, while some innocent boy had died without any chance to grow up?

"Besides, you don't have to go through it alone." She assured him as many of her crew member's faces appeared in her mind's view. "You have friends. I can see your loyalty to each other. If someone were in the same position as you were in Denilo, would you be happy with seeing them like as you are now?"

"No…"

"Denilo. Pick up your paintball gun."

Shakily he reached for his paintball gun and supported it upwards with both hands. It shakes in his hands but it was a step forward. With a small smirk quirking upwards on the corner of her lips Shepard knew that this was just the beginning but it still was an important thing for Denilo to learn. Maybe in a different life he would be a simple man with a normal cilvilian life but unfortunately he was here. It was her job to make sure he knew how to do the job he was in and there wasn't much more to it. For now he would have to brace himself for the oncoming storms he would face and hopefully she would be able to prepare him enough to triumph them all.

"Also - you lose." She lowered her aim so that she got a clear shot at his back. The paintball flies out of her gun and lands on his black shirt. "Dead."

Denilo frowns and Shepard lets out a chuckle she didn't even know she had.

"I'm sure there are others waiting to coat you in paint."

She turned her back towards him and was about to leave until ba'am!

"Oh you did not just -..." Shepard turned on her heels. She was pleasently surprised for Denilo of all people to take a surprise shot at her. "Oh it is on." She aimed her gun at Denilo once more, the purple paint on her back long forgotten, as she was now focused solely on revenge.

Denilo paled.

.

Shepard had only been shot once the entire game and that had been by Denilo. It was impressive he used her moment of weakness for a nice shot to the back but she wouldn't allow herself to be outdone. That was why Denilo had been coated head to toe with green paint splotches all over his clothes. Valence and Juan were also covered in paint because of their personal battle with one another. Mateo, on the other hand, glared at Javier as the boy stared impassively back at him. There were a few unspoken words between the two and Shepard had no idea what had happened. All she knew was that Mateo had multiple white spots while Javier had 0 spots of paint located on his body.

"That is all for today. Go take showers and relax. I expect you all to report back to me in the morning at the usual time. Don't be late. Tomorrow we will be reviewing Katy's schedule and how you are to properly her. Dismissed."

As she watched them all head back inside the mansion she didn't miss the curious glance of Mateo. It was quick but he had looked at her before quickly averting his gaze.

"Strange boy." Was all she could say to herself.

He gave her an eerie feeling.

Shepard did not like eerie feelings.

.

AN: Still working on detailing things better but here's the next chapter regardless. It was about time I introduced all of the boys too since I usually just make Shepard call them, 'group of boys' and so on and so forth. Thank you for the reviews! Love you guys that take the time to write to me! I've started updating this story again! For a while I just didn't know how to write this specific chapter so I was in the dark for a while. It was particularly hard introducing Tracer but I'm so glad I got it done!