Hello again, friends. You might notice that this chapter is a bit shorter than what I usually write, but I feel that this is necessary. For the setups, I'm gonna try and pack as much action as I can into as few words as possible. Because after all, I wanna get to the epic finale as fast as I can.

I'm so excited, in fact, that I'm gonna keep the intro short as well. So just sit back, relax, grab some popcorn, some self-restraint, and enjoy this thing, my dude.


Alexia banged forcefully on the door, demanding to be let into the bathroom that Noël had claimed has her own.

"Hey! Could you hurry up, please?"

"Y-yeah, just give me a minute!"

"You've been in there for forty-five minutes!" she groaned. "C'mon, I really have to go!"

"A girl has to take her time looking pretty," retorted the small girl, who Alexia could picture grinning devilishly behind the door. "These pigtails aren't gonna braid themselves!"

"OH MY GOD!" she yelled. "You've just been doing your hair all this time?!"

"Well, yeah."

"DO IT OUTSIDE!"

Noël sighed.

"Fine, but you're seriously messing up my routine."

The little girl unlocked the door and stepped out of the bathroom, her hair still mid-braid, prompting Alexia to rush in to relieve her bladder.

Noël scoffed as she sat down on Alexia's bed and resumed braiding her elbow-length pigtails, using the camera on her phone as a mirror.

It had not even been a full day since she had moved in with Alexia, but already they were getting under each other's skin. Even with Noël sleeping on the couch upstairs and Alexia on the bed downstairs, the little girl's antics had already grated her to end. The previous night, Noël's selection of obnoxious pop music had been blasting at full volume as Alexia had been attempting to sleep. Asking her to turn it down resulted in a pouty glare being directed towards her by the little girl, who was freely chowing down on her pantry's supply of junk food and not cleaning up her crumbs.

Alexia had not considered how utterly undisciplined she was before offering to let Noël live with her. Even though their relations were more friendly, this did not reverse Noël's inherent selfishness that was all but expected of a small child.

The girl's lack of manners exasperated Alexia to no end. However, she realized that she truly had no other place to go, and so it was her responsibility as a friend to take her in during her time of need. Still, she would have to enforce some basic household rules to prevent from being driven insane by her callous lack of civility.

Noël grumbled as she twisted her pigtails into fine golden French braids. Before she was interrupted, she had applied some of Alexia's makeup to her own face (without her permission of course) and dressed in a frilly sleeved dress that puffed out just above her knees. The girl resented having to share a living space and especially a bathroom, but she reasoned that it was only temporary: once the job was pulled, she would have enough money, combined with her winnings from street races, to easily buy her own apartment.

As she brushed her golden locks of hair, she heard the doorbell ring. Seeing as Alexia was in the bathroom, she stood up from the bed and ventured upstairs to answer the door.

Greeting her was the ever-enthusiastic blonde girl she had met yesterday, accompanied by the stone-faced Russian woman.

"Hey, Noël!" Jess shouted. "Wassup, girl?"

"Hello, Noël," added Elena.

"Hey, guys," she sighed. "Alexia's in the bathroom, so come on in."

The two women entered, and Noël shut the door behind them.

"Say Noël," questioned Jess. "How'd you get here so early anyway? You were here before us last time too."

Noël grimaced. The last thing she wanted was for Jess to find out that she was living with Alexia. She glanced anxiously over at the blankets and pillows on the couch where she had slept, and directed Jess's attention away.

"Hey, don't get pissy just because I'm a pro street racer, alright? I probably drive, like, 10 times better than both of you."

"O-of course, of course," said Jess with a smile. "My mistake...Say, Lexi still has my car right?"

Noël nodded, remembering that she had left it in her garage.

"Welll, how'd you like to drive it today? My treat."

"No, no I'm good..."

"C'monnnn," she whined. "I know you're not gonna wreck it or anything, seeing as you're a pro street racer and all."

Noël growled ferociously, as Jess had put her in a tight spot to prove her worth as a good driver.

"Gah, FINE! Fucking hell..."

"Awwh!" Jess exclaimed, holding a hand to her chest. "Noël, you are just the cutest little thing-"

"DON'T fucking hug me!" she menaced, holding her arm back as she swooped in for a hug.

Jess consented, smiling meekly before backing off.

Elena sighed.

"You two, could we please just get along? This is impeding our progress."

"Yeah, Noël. I'm just trying to be nice."

"Well maybe I don't want you to be nice!" snapped Noël. "I want you to just leave me the fuck alone! I swear, I would like you so much better if you were more like...l-like Elena, over there!"

"Me?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah! You're completely emotionless most of the time, so you don't really have the ability to piss me off. And on top of that, you usually just stand in the corner silently! Completely unobtrusive and definitely NOT annoying as shit!"

"I'm...really not sure if I should take that as a compliment."

"That doesn't matter! My point is that I actually sort of like you!"

"Be more like Elena, huh?" pondered Jess. "...Hey Elena, would you mind if I used a thick Russian accent in front of you?"

"Yes, yes I would."

"Well, okay...M-maybe when you're not around then."

Elena glanced at Jess skeptically, before looking away.

The crew's attention deflected to Alexia bounding back up the steps.

"'Morning, boss," Jess greeted her.

"Good morning, everyone...Let's, uh, go ahead and talk logistics, shall we?"

Alexia, trying her best to talk in a professional-sounding voice, led her team into the heist room. She had studied the plans beforehand and had prepared a plan to present to her crew.

She cleared her throat before beginning.

"...Alright, so we're hitting an active prisoner transport that's supposed to leave Bolingbroke at 10 AM sharp. Based on the agent's notes, this inmate is of pretty high status, so he's gonna have a huge convoy protecting him, probably consisting of cars and possibly even choppers."

"Oo-ooh, I can take care of the chopper!" said Jess eagerly. "A couple sticky bombs should take it right out of the sky."

"Yeahh, a slow-moving bus won't stand a chance in hell against a chopper...So the question is, who's gonna drive it?"

"Wellll Noël already called driving my car over there."

"BULLSHIT!" screamed Noël. "You practically coerced me into it!"

"Actually Noël, that's probably best," said Alexia. "You, uh, might not be big enough to fit in the drivers' seat of the bus."

"Nah, nah, I've got a way past that, A. Check this out..."

Noël leaned against a wall, taking off one of her heeled shoes. Then, she demonstrated to the others as she pulled the heel down, expanding it to as much as 6 longer than it normally would be.

"Whoaaa..." exclaimed Jess.

The little girl pushed the heel back in place, putting her shoe back on.

"A little trick I picked up in the mental institution. I used to model my heels into knives, but now I make retractable ones so I can reach the pedals of big vehicles."

"Yeah, well that's a nice touch, Noël. But we're gonna have to move quickly in securing the bus and getting away from the cops, and I'm afraid that might slow us down. I'm sure that'd be uh...very useful later though."

"I can take the bus, Alexia," spoke Elena.

"Thank you, Elena...Noël, you can provide me and Jess maneuverability as we shoot from the car. Lord knows we're gonna need your driving skills in this op."

"And your shooting skills, Lexi," added Jess.

"And your, uh...explosive capabilities, Jessamine," said Elena.

"And your toughness, Elena," contributed Noël.

The four looked at each other after completing the sentence so effortlessly. Perhaps they were meant to be a team, after all.

"...Yeah, well...Everyone's pretty important here," conceded Alexia. "I mean, if just one of us goes down, the whole thing is blown. There's no way we could proceed."

"You don't think you could get someone else?" questioned Noël.

"Well...no. I'm saying they'd trace you back to us, and we'd all have to go into hiding. No prison break, no big paycheck."

"Well, I want my fucking paycheck!" piped Jess. "So let's go out there and NOT get captured or killed, girls, what do you say?!"

"That's quite an honest rallying cry," remarked Elena.

"Yeah, but...shit, I can agree to that."

Alexia placed her hand on top of Jess's in a show of support. Her friend smiled in return.

"Alright guys, the boss is on board! What about you?"

Elena and Noël shrugged in unison.

"I-I mean..." Noël started, before sighing in resignation. "Graah, sure. Whatever."

Noël joined the others in the hand pile, making sure to position hers as far away from Jess's as possible.

"O-okay, okay, on the count of three!" shouted Jess excitedly. "One, two-!"

"Wait, WHAT'S on the count of three?!"

Jess opened her mouth to answer Noël, but found herself suddenly unsure of what she wanted to cheer to.

"Uhm...Fuck man, I guess we have to come up with, like...a name for our organization."

"A name?" derided Noël. "Are you serious?"

"We are just four people, Jessamine," added Elena. "That is hardly an organization."

"Yeahh, but...a name to our criminal partnership might help us feel more united as a group."

"Well alright, I'm game," said Alexia. "How about something like...Kickass Incorporated?"

"Trevor already has a hold on the whole 'incorporated' gimmick," said Jess with shifty eyes. "And I really don't wanna face him again."

"Hmm, good point, J."

"Trevor? Who's Trevor?" Noël asked.

"Oh, just this meth dealer up in Sandy Shores who kidnapped me and J before having us join his company - 'Trevor Philips Industries', as he calls it."

"Hmm, sounds like a real charmer, A."

"He wasn't bad. He just likes to act all crazy and menacing to make people afraid of him. But I'm sure he's at least...semi-decent underneath that grimy exterior."

"I commend your efforts to appreciate the good in humanity, A," opined Elena. "...As long as you know who is worthy of receiving this judgement."

"I always try, E."

"W-wait a minute, wait a minute..." halted Jess. "...Oh my God, I got it!"

Jess looked rabidly excited as she pointed at herself, and then at her other crew members.

"J...A...N...and E! It's so perfect!"

"What...Jane?" questioned Alexia.

"Yeah, man, J.A.N.E! I-it represents us all in the name, since we go by our first initials. And also, the name J.A.N.E kinda goes well with an all-female criminal gang, am I right?"

The crew members nodded slowly, gaining interest in Jess's idea.

"Y-yeah. Yeah, I like that name actually. J.A.N.E..."

"Like a Jane Doe," said Noël with a sly smile. "...Because if you fuck with us, they won't even be able to identify the body."

"Oooooh, yeah, I like that, N!" Jess clapped. "...Well, how about it guys? Can I get a cheer for J.A.N.E?"

The girls all looked at one another, nodding to affirm their commitment to the partnership under the moniker 'J.A.N.E'. They placed their hands on top of Jess's, who beamed at having come up with such a name to unite the group.

"Alright, J.A.N.E on three! One, two, three!"

"J.A.N.E!" they all shouted in unison.

"Fuck yeah, and don't let nobody forget it!" cheered Jess.

Looking to capitalize on her crew's spurt of excitement (thanks to Jess's efforts), Alexia stepped toward the door to the heist room.

"Alright, so let's kick some ass, ladies!" she said, trying to match Jess's tone. "Let the whole world know that J.A.N.E cannot be stopped!"

"Woop-woop!" cheered Jess. "C'mon, Noël, let's go!"

Without warning, she picked up Noël off the ground, swaddling her in her arms as she carried her out of the apartment. Despite the little girl's vehement expletive-laden protests and squirming to free herself, Jess whisked her away to the elevator, Elena and Alexia following.

When the team reached Jess's car, she placed the little girl gingerly in the drivers' seat before scurrying to the bakcseat. Elena, as the designated driver of the prison bus, took a seat up front.

Noël breathed through her teeth, trying to calm herself as she turned the ignition and sped out of the parking garage.

True to the professional street racer she was, the little girl maneuvered Jess's car effortlessly through traffic. Even Jess was impressed by how well she handled her car's muscle.

"Ooooh, say N, you're pretty good at this," she said with a friendly grin.

Noël growled a response while maintaining a sour expression, looking away from Jess. Deducing that the little girl was angry with her after her latest embarrassment, Jess leaned back into her seat and turned to Alexia, who sat loading her AP Pistol. The gun remained one of Alexia's most preferred in combat, especially when shooting from car windows.

Looking towards Elena did not reveal an opportunity for conversation: she sat loading her weapon as well, a tricked-out pump action shotgun adorned with a military-style camo and a welded suppressor.

Realizing that they had a long drive ahead, Jess sighed, tapping on her smartphone to occupy the time.

"...So uh, here we all are..." said Jess to break the crushing silence. "...How are we feeling about this?"

"Y'know, I'm feeling pretty good actually," remarked Alexia as she pushed a loaded clip into her pistol. "Sure we're going up against police officers, but we'll be wearing masks so they won't recognize us."

"Masks?" asked Noël. "You didn't mention we had to get masks."

"Don't worry, I've got some right here."

Alexia reached into her purse and pulled out the aforementioned masks, matching black ski masks that she handed to each of her crew members.

"I uh, took the liberty of preserving your modified mask, Noël."

Alexia pulled out the girl's glitter-adorned mask, setting it beside her in the drivers' seat.

"Hmm, interesting," she remarked with a light smile. "So I'm not the leader, but I get to be the one that stands out anyway."

"Well to be fair, N, you stand out as it is," said Elena, not removing her eyes from her shotgun.

"Huh? W-what do you mean?"

"She means that we're all adults," chimed Jess. "And you're, uh...obviously the smallest and cutest of all of us."

"I AM NOT CUTE!" screeched Noël.

Jess snickered mischievously.

"Y'know, the more you deny it, the cuter it becomes."

Noël steamed with anger, growling viciously at Jess. She looked toward the woman in her rearview mirror, who retained a goofy smile at the furious little girl.

"...Y'know, you'd better count yourself lucky we're on the same job together," she glowered. "Because otherwise, I would fucking END YOU."

"Aww, Noël..." Jess responded, her smile fading somewhat. "...You don't mean that, do you?"

"Try me again, and you'll fucking see."

"H-hold on, hold on," halted Alexia. "No one's ending anybody, not on my watch...C'mon, guys, we're all in this together. We're J.A.N.E, goddammit! Nobody can stop us."

"Uh, Lex, we've only done one mission together," Noël corrected. "How does that prove we can't be stopped?"

"Because I have faith in us...Sure we haven't had a chance to prove ourselves yet, but...all the same, I've had the opportunity to do jobs with each of you separately. I've seen how you all act under pressure, what your strengths and weaknesses are...For example, even though Jess is a skilled pilot, she can also get pretty distracted at times."

"Yeahh, that's true," she admitted with a sheepish smile.

"And you, Elena. You're awesome at close-quarters combat and giving off a no-nonsense attitude, but this same stoic demeanor can also make you seem kinda...annoyed and impersonal with us at times. N-no offense."

"None taken," responded Elena as she filed her nails.

"Hey, I'd take that over distracted and annoying any day," chided Noël.

"Speaking of distracted, Noël..."

Alexia looked to Noël, who simply shrugged in response.

"...What? How am I distracted?"

"Because you're kind of a hothead sometimes, N," said Jess. "But a cute hothead nonetheless-"

"I did NOT ask you!" hissed Noël.

"J is right though, Noël," Alexia stated plainly. "Sometimes your anger can be put to good use, like when you blew up those Vagos yesterday. But other times, your hostility makes it...kinda difficult to work with you sometimes. I'm sure you remember how difficult it was between us at first."

"Are you fucking kidding me?" retorted Noël. "You're acting like my anger is unprovoked, when that's clearly not the case."

"Which is why you hated me based solely on my haircut initially."

Alexia crossed her arms over her cest and waited for a response from Noël, who pulled nervously at her collar.

"...W-well, uh...Okay, you've made your point. But that doesn't excuse J treating me like some stupid kid."

"That's not what I'm doing, N," said Jess with a friendly smile. "I love you, girl."

"I realize you want only to express your caring, Jessamine," expressed Elena. "But...believe me when I say that some people just prefer to express their feelings in a different way. However impartially I may act, I am still dedicated to our team...J.A.N.E, as it's now called. Even though I may not prefer more affectionate displays, I care for you all as my teammates and my friends nonetheless."

The car remained silent fot a moment. Alexia opened her mouth to speak, but found that Elena had summed up her intended points quite well.

"...Okay, seriously, I'm liking you more just listening to you talk, E," stated an impressed Noël. "Unlike J, who I just despise the more she blabs on."

"I see..." thought Elena. "So, would you start to like J if she just...talked less?"

The little girl frowned heavily, avoiding eye contact with anyone in the car.

"...Yeah, sure," she muttered. "A-and treat me like a fucking adult too!"

"Very well. So J, do those sound like easy terms for you?"

"Talk less and treat you like an adult..." repeated Jess. "...N, I-I really want you to like me, okay? I'll do whatever it takes, even if it involves sewing my lips shut or something."

"Hmm, y'know that's not a bad idea..." remarked Noël. "...A, do I have your permission to-"

"No," said Alexia with a dismissive shake of her head.

"Maybe just some superglue to-?"

"No."

"Agh, fine then," she griped, directing her attention back toward the highway.

Taking the exit toward Sandy Shores, Noël took a side road that led to the gates of the prison. She made sure to stop the car in some bushes, where they wouldn't be spotted by the convoy despite the car's vibrant pink coloring.

Alexia glanced at her phone, confirming the time as 9:59 AM. The convoy was due to arrive within the minute. Nonetheless, she put on a resolute face; the heist leader was determined to face anything, even the Blaine County Police Department, if it meant leading her crew to victory.

She looked to Jess, who wielded an AP pistol as well. Meeting her gaze, Jess smiled and patted Alexia's knee. As always, she was determined to help calm her friend's nerves and to instill some confidence in her, which would undoubtedly help prepare her for the position of crew leader.

Alexia smiled in return, resting her hand on top of Jess's. Noël, witnessing the scene through her rearview mirror, grinned deviously, as she knew she could use this tender moment in her argument challenging the two friends' sexualities.

Down the road, the girls witnessed the iron gates of Bolingbroke roll open, and an assortment of vehicles issue from its iron-clad visage. One of these was their target, a navy-blue passenger bus used to transport prisoners to and from Bolingbroke. As the bus rumbled by, it was flanked by two other police cars and an all-black Buffalo, which Alexia knew enough to contain plain-clothes police officers.

The girls ducked down in their seats as the convoy passed. Luckily, they did not seem to notice Jess's pink car behind the brush Noël had parked in. However, another vehicle soon manifested, a police helicopter who could easily spot Jess's car from a bird's-eye point of view.

Peeking up and witnessing the chopper, Alexia tensed up, hoping it wouldn't see them. Luckily, it passed by and proceeded to hover behind the convoy, acting as an airborne guardian for the bus and ground officers.

Seeing as they were in the clear, the girls quickly donned their ski masks. Noël started the engine and proceeded toward the convoy. At the same time, Jess readied the two sticky bombs she would use to down the chopper.

She snickered mischievously before rolling down her window, taking aim at the chopper floating tantalizingly above the road.

"...THIS IS A GIFT FROM J.A.N.E, BITCH!"

Jess threw her arm back and chucked the sticky bombs as far as they could possibly go. While the bombs were unsuccessful in landing on the chopper, Jess detonated the explosives in mid-air so that the blast radius knocked out the chopper's engines, sending into a death spiral.

"YEAHAHAH, get some, pigs!"

It was at this moment that Jess realized that the chopper was hurtling straight toward them as it spun to the ground.

"Oh fuck!" she exclaimed. "G-go left, N!"

Noël swerved off the road to avoid the chopper as it crashed to the ground and exploded violently in a cloud of gasoline smoke and desert sand.

The occupants of the pink Buffalo felt the ground shake beneath them, followed by the violent thwacks of bullets against the car's exterior. The two Blaine County patrol cars stayed near the bus to protect it, while the unmarked police Buffalo dropped behind and opened fire on the attackers. Alexia and Jess engaged with their AP pistols to counter the police officers' SMG fire.

Elena bravely stuck her upper body out of the window and took aim with her pump-action shotgun. She fired at the car's windshield, immediately killing the driver and gravely wounding the officer in the front passenger seat. Alexia and Jess continued to shoot at the car as it rolled off the road and into a ditch.

With the Buffalo down, the girls unleashed hell upon the patrol cars guarding the bus, while simultaneously being careful not to hit the bus itself and risk forfeiting their paycheck. Noël concentrated fiercely as she drove, getting her friends close enough so that they could kill the police officers in a glorious cannonade of automatic rounds and shotgun slugs.

Eventually, the patrol cars were taken care of, but the driver of the bus continued to drive erratically, running an intersection and forcing two cars to collide with each other. Noël skillfully avoided the crash with a heavy-handed swerve.

Alexia took aim at the back window of the bus, witnessing the shadow of the driver. With a breath, she let a couple of bullets fly, which shattered the windshield and entered the man's skull, causing him to keel over dead. The bus veered off the road before coming to rest on the side of the road.

Hearing a veritable army of police cars approaching, Noël quickly pulled up beside the bus, allowing Elena to exit and open the door to the bus. Inside, however, she encountered a visibly-frightened man clad in a white tank top and prison trousers. He looked at Elena fearfully, fearing that he was next.

"Ohh fuck, I knew they would come for me!" he shouted in a foreign accent. "You are with the Ukrainians, yes?"

"Wha...? G-get the hell out of here, man!"

"So you're not-"

"No, so leave! Now!"

The man complied with Elena's orders, hopping off the bus and into the desert, away from the incoming police sirens. She wasted no time in pulling the dead driver from his seat and tossing him callously to the dirt. Afterwards, she commandeered the bus and drove it down the road. Half a dozen police cars followed in an attempt to take it back.

Alexia and Jess did their best to fight off the hoard, who gathered around the pink car in order to overpower it.

"Engaging evasive maneuvers, A!" shouted Elena. "Taking the bus offroad!"

"Roger that, E. Just don't get it stuck in anything."

"Don't worry, I've driven tanks through Afghanistan before. I know what I'm doing."

"Tanks, really?" stated an impressed Jess as she fired at the police. "Damn E, you're pretty awesome!"

Elena did not respond, instead veering off the road and taking the bus up a short hill. The pink Buffalo followed, fending off any police cars who dared to chase after them.

The bus ventured through Senora National Park, taking a hiking trail to navigate the jutting rock formations and sand dunes. Hikers barely had time to scramble for cover as the bus roared down the dirt path, and the pink car following it dispersed a legion of police cars with automatic gunfire.

Once the last patrol car had been taken care of, Elena continued driving offroad. The resonance of police sirens rang eerily through the blistering desert air, forcing the members of J.A.N.E to watch out for any police cars that may spot them as they meandered through the desert, away from law enforcement's sight lines.

A sharp pang of static suddenly invaded Alexia's eardrum.

"You got the bus?"

"Agh! Fuck man, would you stop doing that?"

"There's a shed across from the prison where you can store it," said the agent, ignoring her. "One of my people will be waiting."

"Across from the prison, are you serious?" questioned Alexia. "H-how the hell are we gonna keep it hidden?"

"You can leave that to me, heist leader. Just focus on not getting yourself and your crew killed. Over."

The agent hung up, leaving Alexia and the crew greatly annoyed. By this point though, the police had stopped looking for the stolen bus. The sound of sirens gradually weakened as patrol cars retreated back to the local dispatch station.

The crew breathed a collective sigh of relief. The second setup had been completed successfully, meaning they were one step closer to receiving their hefty paycheck.

"...Alright, E. Let's get the bus in storage."

"Roger that, A. When shall we do the next setup?"

The occupants of the car looked to their leader in anticipation, meaning that she had to make a quick decision. This time, though, she was prepared enough to not let the anxiety inside her prevent her from addressing her crew in a professional manner. She took a breath, looking her crewmates in the eyes as she spoke.

"...Okay, the next setup's gonna be stealing the inmate transfer schedule and the Professor's car. That'll probably be done best under cover of darkness, so let's do it tonight. Meet back at the apartment at 7."

"Sounds like a plan, boss," Jess grinned, immensely proud of her introverted friend.

"The professor's car, eh?" asked Noël. "Can I, uh, take point on that, A."

"Sure thing, N. I don't think you could dress up as a cop anyway."

"Did you say...dress up?" asked Jess eagerly.

"Yeah, I looked over the agent's plans; he wants two of us to disguise ourselves as cops and infiltrate the police station in South L.S."

"Ohh, me and you could totally do that!" she squealed. "...I-I mean, unless Elena wants to-"

"Uhm, I think I'm good, actually," stated Elena. "I will go with N to steal the car."

"Alright, the car's gonna be on a container ship at the port," Alexia informed them. "The plans mentioned something about a Korean car theft ring, so you'll probably face heavy resistance."

"Ahh, more Koreans is nothing," dismissed Noël. "You remember how we massacred those guys in the parking garage. Well, me mostly, anyway."

"Yeahh, I'm just saying to be careful anyway."

"We will, A," assured Elena.

"YEAHAH!" cheered Jess. "For J.A.N.E, mothafuckas!"

"Yeah, J.A.N.E: a subsidiary of the fucking IAA," joked Noël.

"That's not true, N. Sure, the government might be paying us to do their dirty work, but J.A.N.E has only its members' best interests at heart. Because after all...y-you can't have J.A.N.E without a J, an A, an N, and an E, am I right ladies?!"

"Damn right, J," Alexia smirked before high-fiving her friend.

"WOOP-WOOP! Gimme some, N!"

Jess stretched out her palm for Noël, whose narrowed eyes remained directed toward the road.

"Aww come on, man, don't leave me hanging!"

The little girl growled in frustration before slapping Jess's hand, if only to quiet the obnoxious girl shout-talking behind her.

Meanwhile, the bus approached the derelict shed in Sandy Shores which sat directly across from Bolingbroke State Penitentiary. The pink car followed at a fair distance, watching as Elena exited the bus and met with one of the agent's assistants, the same man who had greeted Jess the previous night.

"Hmm, nice work," he commended. "Barely a scratch on her...Well, alright, we'll take care of this."

Elena nodded wordlessly before walking away.

She headed toward the pink sports car and climbed back into the passenger seat. As soon as the car accelerated, she lit up a cigarette, rolling up the window so that the smoke drifted aimlessly into the desert air.

Noël found herself starting to like Elena even more, based solely on her pure coolness factor. With her leather ensemble, expressionless frown, and the way she casually smoked her cigarette, the little girl wanted to do more jobs with Elena, especially if it meant not doing jobs with Jess.

The members of J.A.N.E rode back to the city, enveloped simultaneously in the silence of victory and the anxious reticence of preparing for such a big score.