A/N: Hiya! I just realized I completely skipped New Years in this story, but that's alright because Sophie obviously didn't notice either. Either way, enjoy chapter 25!

Chapter 25: It Began On A Tuesday

"Rudy, what day is it?" I asked in an attempt to not be completely depressed.

"January 14. Why?"

"Shit! I didn't make a New Years resolution!" I said, hitting myself in the head.

Rudy stared at me for a second, eyebrow raised. "Neither did I, actually. We can make them now, you know, while the year is still young."

"Okay." I nodded, "What's yours?"

"To do everything it takes to take Keaton down, and after that take a long from heists or hits of any sort. Whenever I decide I'm done with that, we'll set out as the only two member Cooper gang in the history of Cooper gangs."

I smiled. "That's a good one... I'll go along with that, but my resolution is a bit different. I resolve to not be nearly as much of a dick to my friends."

Rudy laughed. "Yeah, let's see how long that lasts." He rolled his eyes, "No offence, Soph, but you're a dick whether you mean to or not - it's in your nature."

"Okay then, I resolve to tone down the conscious dickish actions." I rolled my eyes right back.

"Much better."

••••••••••••

Keaton had, needless to say, been very pissed off about the failed destruction of the town we'd thwarted him in. It seemed that we set his plans back a whole week, which I was more than happy to do. Rudy was whistling to himself when he walked into our kitchen, swinging the van keys on his finger. In his hand was a newspaper.

He tossed it to me with a gigantic grin on his face. "Read the front page report."

I picked up the paper and examined it. On the front page there was a picture of a very shady looking Keaton, and next to it a picture of me taking down one of his bombs. Then, the biggest picture showed the Cooper Gang symbol in fireworks. The headline read, "SOPHIE COOPER: SAVIOR?"

"Yesterday, we caught sight of some very suspicious activity - a fox walking casually away from a place that was revealed to have a bomb. When we were about to send someone in to dismantle it, trouble maker and thief extrodinaire, Sophie Cooper, showed herself and took down the bomb, only to return with it a while later and hook it back up.

We waited with bated breath to see what would happen when it and a few others we had found went off. To our surprise - and eternal delight I daresay - instead of blowing up, the charges shot off into the air in the form of fireworks. Close inspection of the bombs show that they were tinkered with to do so. Now the question is: Who is Sophie Cooper, really, and why did she help? What are this coon's motives?"

I laughed merrily. "Oh, Henry's gonna have a fit that I got caught, but it's totally worth it to have them questioning my motives like this."

He nodded, "I thought so too - but what do you say we set the record straight? I overheard some pompous brat at the store talking about a prized jewel he's going to have on display tonight at his house during a gala."

I grinned, "Oh hell yes I do!"

••••••••••••

Taking that jewel was like candy from a baby. The security system was second rate, none of the guests were all that bright, and tranquilizer darts are extremely easy to fire. I left, alongside my calling card, a note sitting on top of a letter.

The note said, "Give this letter to the press when the police are done with it. Read the letter if you want, but I'd prefer it stay sealed so the press doesn't question you."

Rudy left again to get more groceries for us that night, and with him gone I found no motivation to do anything but crawl to my room and go to bed.

"That was stupid, Jacey." Damien was saying. "We are so getting our butts kicked when Carmelita sees this..."

I rolled my eyes, "Damien, if I was scared of my mother, I would've started running already. Her shock pistol doesn't actually hurt that much."

"Yeah, but that's because we grew up with her shooting us with it when we did something wrong - we practically run on electricity." Zephyr replied.

"How she didn't kill you two doing that, I will never know." Damien shoom his head.

"Well, she shoots dad with it often enough." I shrugged, "Maybe it's a genetic immunity based on the structure of dad's nerves that allows him to all but ignore getting electrocuted that was passed down to us?" I suggested.

Zephyr and Damien stared at me - Damien with a 'wow, she used big words' expression and Zephyr with a 'WTF?' look.

"I have absolutely no clue what you just said." Zephyr eventually admitted.

Bang!

I opened my eyes. The knocking didn't stop.

"Sophie, open this damn door!" Henry shouted.

"The door is unlocked, you dolt..." I said, "Come in, but if you're going to yell at me for those stunts I pulled, shut your mouth and go away."

The door opened slowly, and Henry raised an eyebrow. "Are you... are you feeling alright, Sophie? You look a bit...peaky."

"No, I'm not feeling alright. In case you hadn't noticed, I'm down two team members because they were being dicks and left because I wanted to punch Keaton in the face."

I glared rather lifelessly at him. He walked in, closing the door. He sat down on the edge of my bed, for once looking as old as he actually was. He ran his fingers through my bangs as the rest of my hair was in a messy braid and tilted his head to the side at me.

"So, you've only got Rudy now?" He asked.

I nodded. "But don't go trying to find me new team members. Part of his New Years resolution was us going on the be the only two member Cooper Gang."

Henry cracked a smile at me, "I always did like Rudy the most..." He shook his head, "I could tell he was the loyal type. But I guess it's fitting, seeing as he's a wolf and all. In your team, you're practically the Alpha female, though I don't know where he'd be on the chart or who the Alpha male would be..."

I smiled back a little. "Oh, he's my Beta wolf, for sure." I said, then my smile widened a bit, "The day the fight started, he gave me a loyalty speech, and made a chess reference... Something along the lines of 'Even when you fall, as all queens eventually must, I'll remain at your side, no matter where your baron and your king are' or something like that."

Henry laughed. "A knight to the end, that Rudy Wolf."

He continued to run his hand through my bangs and make small talk until I dropped off again.

I didn't dream, and when I woke up, he was gone. I shook my head and dragged myself out of bed and walked down the stairs... And right into a nightmare.