And I just keep on moving, as quick as I can, so that the story isn't rushed but can be completed before I leave. I'm kind of amazed how different this is becoming from the initial idea I had. I still have the same destination, the climb has just changed…and for the better too. And that's thanks to those who have reviewed! Seriously! And tomorrow is my last full day to write what I need to do to finish this. As I have said previously, I don't think I'm going to make the deadline. But I'm going to try. Onwards!

In a word? Dirty. That was how Brittany felt after spending an entire afternoon after school flirting and getting close with Darren Watkins. The things that they did with each other were things that she had done previously with him, simply making out a little bit and talking very suggestively, but now that she was doing it for a reason other than high school reasons, she felt dirty. She was using him to get the information she needed that she knew he had, but in the end, it was worthless. He was closed lip about going any further into detail than what he had done previously. She didn't buy it.

She walked out of the condo that he lived in with his parents, quickly adjusting her clothing back into its proper place before checking herself in her compact mirror. She rounded the corner and onto the side walk, barely looking up from her reflection. Carefully, she wiped the smear of her lipstick from her skin below her lip with her thumb.

"I would think you would want to do that before running into your boyfriend," she heard a familiar voice. Brittany looked up from her mirror to see that Alvin was leaning against a streetlight just a few feet away from her, watching as she came up to him. Brittany rolled her eyes.

"What are you doing here? If Darren sees you, he's going to know something is up."

"Why?" Alvin pushed off from the streetlamp and fell into step next to her as they walked down the street.

"Do you know how long it took me to convince him that I wasn't playing him? He heard about us 'dating'." Brittany had enough common sense to put air quotes around the last word. But she was growing annoyed. Alvin had put on a very irritating smile at the word and gave her a look.

"Anything, then?"

Brittany sighed. "No. But I know he's hiding something. He's a threat, I'm sure of it. I just don't know how."

Alvin nodded solemnly, losing his smile and keeping a straight face. The two walked on down the street together in silence for a time. Brittany glanced up at Alvin. She had very quickly taken a position in their little group of authority, talking with Alvin about ways to keep them all safe. It had essentially started the day that they had agreed to fake date each other, which had Eleanor very confused.

The conversation that they ended up having about Simon was one in which Alvin showed himself to be extremely worried and frustrated. Simon had told him nothing and Theodore had no idea what was going on with the nerd as well. It was decided that they all had to keep an eye on him, in case something else would happen. But that had to take a back seat for the time being. Brittany was really growing suspicious of Darren, and she had no real reason to be. It was simply woman's intuition.

"You can get wrinkles if you frown too much," Alvin commented suddenly.

Brittany looked at him, her face relaxing from what it had been. She didn't even know she was frowning that hard as she thought. But apparently, she was, and Alvin just had to make fun of her about it. She just stuck out her tongue at him. "Very mature," Alvin chuckled.

"That coming from you? Now that's a laugh."

"I am very mature."

"And who told you that?"

"No one. I just know," Alvin smiled to himself. Brittany rolled her eyes. The two still argued a lot, but Brittany had to realize that Alvin wasn't getting as angry as he used to, or as in to the argument. She would have thought about this more, but the answer just stuck right out at her. Alvin was trying to not be so angry anymore.

"So what's the plan?" Brittany asked, turning her face to him. She didn't want to think about anything else about Alvin.

"We're going hunting tonight."

"All of us?"

"Yea." Brittany refused to comment, but she was really worried about going out with Simon again. It wasn't certain how he would act. In her opinion, it might be a little better if Simon just stayed home for a while. "He might have just been angry about the gun, Brittany. We've had a run in before, and you know how that went. Simon dug it out of me, so me and him, we have issues with guns. And we might have an easy night." Alvin had somehow realized exactly what her problem was.

The girl shook her head and rolled her eyes. He might have just been making an excuse for his brother. "You're the boss," she muttered out.

"Trust me. Not all nights are that bad. I'm more concerned about the whistles."

"We just need to make sure Jeanette okay's the fight first."

"And dodge those cops."

"Right." Brittany had forgotten about the cops. They always had to run from them, but now that the community was less than happy with the Vigilante, it was more important now than ever that they avoided the police. It was just too dangerous, and if they were caught…she shuddered to think of how jail would be. But she could do a lot before that could happen.

"Is everyone clear on that?" Alvin asked the room, waiting for everyone to reply. It was kind of weird to see the boys standing in their outfits in the Miller living room. The only thing missing were their helmets. But the girls had told the boys that they would set up home base there, since Ms. Miller was pulling an all night shift at the diner she worked at, and that was mainly because the girls wanted Jeanette to be in a warmer location. "Um, yea guys, you have to give me some sort of answer."

"Yes." Theodore looked up, smiling.

"Uh huh!" Eleanor agreed, sitting next to Theodore on the sofa.

"We can't be clearer on this. We need to Jeanette to okay every fight. We don't go in until she says so," Brittany was standing next to Alvin, looking down at everyone. Eleanor rolled her eyes and said that she understood, probably remembering that it was usually Alvin and Brittany to charge right in without looking at the situation. Theodore just repeated himself. Alvin and Brittany looked at each other happily. Then Alvin looked at the corner behind him to see his other brother leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, just staring at the floor.

"Simon, did you hear?" There was silence. Brittany watched as Alvin approached Simon, waving his hand in front of the guys face. Simon blinked and moved his head back and then up. "Did you hear anything that we talked about?" Alvin demanded.

"Yes, I heard you Alvin."

"Then what did I say?"

"You are sounding a lot like Dave."

Alvin huffed at his brother. "Just answer me."

"Jeanette will give us the okay."

Alvin nodded and gave the signal for the team to get to their positions. The five placed their helmets on their heads and turned on their cameras and radios. Jeanette counted off, making sure that each and every camera and radio was on before she would allow the team to head out on to the street. Once that was taken care of, the team left the house through the back door and walked out to the alley.

They hadn't been out for very long when they heard a whistle sound. Captain directed Brittany to lead the way and she made her way through a side yard and then on to a nearby street. She didn't have to really think about where that sound came from. She knew. And she was excited to finally be able to get her revenge on those who had originally taken the fire out of her. It was to that old abandoned warehouse. She had hopes, as well, that maybe they could get those guys finally arrested as well.

The ended up behind some trash cans across the street from the place, just looking at the boarded up entrance. The whistle blower was someone that they all had never seen before, but they waited a moment for Angel to give the fight her blessing. Brittany was itching to move, though. She recognized one of those guys, and the fire in her had increased drastically in a very short amount of time. Pay back was going to be very sweet. But then she had to stop. One of them looked very familiar to her.

'It's clear. Go ahead,' Angel's voice rang in her ear. Brittany nodded and followed Captain over the trashcans and straight into the fight. She took a quick glance to see Kicks right behind her. Doc and Cook-y had moved around to the sides, still trying to keep their numbers unknown to their assailants. But just as they were about come into conflict with their first targets, something unexpected happened.

The targets and the victim turned around and pointed their fingers at the three, shouting, "Get them!" Numerous members of the gang filtered out of the building quickly. It was probably every gang member that hung out there, all standing and ready to take down the Vigilante.

'Shit!' Captain cried out.

'It's was a damn trap,' Kicks muttered out. Brittany looked behind her to see their exit slowly disappearing with the some of the other gang members circling around them. They must have past right by some of them without even realizing it. How could something like this happen? Even Angel didn't notice anything out of the ordinary.

'You guys have to get out of there!'

The first punch was thrown from the opposite side against Captain. 'Too late, Angel. Push through guys! Make a way out!'

'We're moving in!' Cook-y's voice rang out. It seemed as if Doc and Cook-y weren't surrounded themselves, but they needed to get everyone out of there, and as well as they could. This would be a fight in which the team could automatically know they couldn't win, and Brittany had to face facts. There was no way that the Vigilante could go against a group like this. But she really couldn't think about it. She had to get her sisters out of this. She had to fight. They had to make it out of this trap.

If the last fight was confusing for anyone to realize what was going on, this fight was much worse. There were so many people and they all were horribly surrounded. She could catch glimpses of her team mates falling down, scrambling back up, and being tripped, and taking hits. But she really couldn't catch many glimpses, as she was having the same trouble.

She turned after placing a hit on someone that had come near her. Brittany was now just swinging wildly, trying to hit anyone near her just to keep them away. She then felt two hands lift her up and hold her from behind. She struggled against the arms, trying to position herself in a way that she could hit him. And the moves that she had tried with Alvin when he attempted to restrain her didn't work. He wasn't actually trying to restrain her, then. Not like these guys.

A fist came and hit her in her stomach, knocking the wind right out of her. Noise became muffled and she couldn't move her arms well. Her captors dropped her to the ground to move on to the next. But then, she felt a hand reach down and pull her up forcefully. She coughed, trying to hit whoever did so, but her hand hit plastic as she moved it quickly. She looked to see Captain standing with his back to her, facing forward. He turned his head and spoke out in his synthesized voice. "Cover my back." She turned around.

'Angel!? Angel, why won't you answer me? Angel, get your ass in gear and just answer me, damn it!' Captain's voice echoed in Brittany's ear as he attempted to get ahold of her sister. It seemed like Captain had been trying to get ahold of her for a while now. Brittany and Captain moved in sync as he attempted the contact, both able to focus on the front of them instead of the back. But they were still overwhelmed.

A familiar sound began to rise about the noise of the screaming. Brittany had thought at first that this sound was terrifying, but at this point in time, she was relieved to hear it. Those police sirens would keep them alive. After a few moments, there was running. The gang was dispersing. They had heard the sirens and were running from the cops. Brittany looked around her to see where it was coming from. The cops were coming from their right, and they were coming close.

She felt a hand reach down and take a hold of hers, pulling her to the left quickly. She followed Captain as he led her, but then they had to stop. A police cruiser was coming from that direction as well. Quickly, Brittany pulled Alvin to try to go back across the street. But all the other suspects were moving in that direction, and they would see Kicks and Cook-y moving towards them from that way.

"This way!" Captain shouted, heading to the alley that the girls had once known as something to be fears. The four of them ran directly into that alley. Captain climbed the fence at the end of it and sat on top of it, reaching down. Brittany jumped up, suddenly feeling two sets of hands pushing her from below, while Captain's hands pulled her up and then lowered her rather quickly to the other side. She looked back through the fence to see Cook-y launch Eleanor up to Captain, and then Cook-y took a little bit of a head start before climbing up over the wall himself. Captain jumped down and they all resumed their escape.

'Angel, what's the status on Doc?' Captain's voice entered into the picture as he signaled for Brittany to lead the way. They had to get back to home base and they needed to do it quick.

'He turned off his camera. I have been trying to call him, but he won't answer. You haven't heard me say that?'

'Shit!' Captain cursed, stopping in his tracks and turning around to try and see if his brother had somehow followed them. Brittany was sure all that he heard were more sirens. She went over to Captain and pulled on his hand.

"We need to keep moving. I'm sure he's fine," Brittany assured through her synthesizer to Captain and to Cook-y. She then spoke into the radio. "Angel, keep trying. He's gotta reply at some point. We're going to take the long way home, so just focus on him. And Doc, if you can hear this, then you better answer."

There was silence after they had all agreed and slowly but surely, Brittany led the team back to her own house. When they had gotten there, they found Jeanette going through an individual communication line, trying to contact Doc. Brittany glanced at the screen and could see that Angel was right. Doc's camera was off. She looked to see Alvin tearing off his clothing, trying to appear as his normal self. He began to call out to everyone that they were to stay there. He was going to go search for his brother. "And why did you answer me!?" Alvin turned to Jeanette, pulling a clean shirt on.

"I'm sorry, Alvin. I went out to the street corner to the old pay phone. It was still working, so I made an anonymous phone call."

"You called the cops!" Brittany whirled on her sister. Jeanette seemed to shrink back from her, a little scared. But then Brittany had to think about it. Yes, they were in danger of being discovered, but their lives were worth more than that. Jeanette made a good move. Brittany went over and gave her sister a huge, now becoming aware of just how injured she was. Brittany looked over her shoulder. They all looked very bad.

Then, over the neighborhood, a frightening sound echoed into the night. The team stood there, looking at each other. "That was a gun shot," Alvin said darkly. Fear had taken a hold on the group.