Carmen had acted quickly pushing her to the ground before another bullet was fired and another and another. Once the shots ended, Melissa was pulled to her feet in time to see her door kicked down, Zack Ivy and the Chief moved to rush inside only to falter at the sight of Carmen still clutching her arm.

"A little late aren't we, Detectives, Chief?"

"We came to take Melissa-"

"To a safe-house," Carmen interrupted, the chief, "But the safe-house isn't safe enough, not with someone this determined to kill my daughter,"

"You aren't saying-" Zack began.

"I am," Carmen nodded, "I'm taking her home,"

"My home was just shot up," Melissa growled, twisting out of Carmen's grip to retrieve the trembling dog from beneath the coffee table, "And I don't feel comfortable going anywhere,"

Lifting Oreo to her chest, murmuring calming words. She moved away from the group toward her bedroom.

"Melissa-"

"Avalon-"

"It isn't safe!" they finished together.

"Please, you can't stay here," Carmen said calmly, "Let me take you home,"

"Someone's determined to kill you," Ivy added, pushing past the thief, "You have to go somewhere even if it's with Carmen,"

Eyes drifting to the ceiling Melissa took a deep breath, "Fine,"

…...


Why did I let this happen? Melissa pondered gazing out the window, watching the ocean whiz by below her. She had barely given consent before Carmen was arguing with her friends about where she was headed, Carmen won as she often did and so, Melissa packed her bags, loaded Oreo into his carrier, and boarded the jet.

"We're here," Carmen announced, "Welcome home, Avalon,"

Faster than she would have liked, they were landing. Melissa kept quiet while they disembarked. Trying to take it all in sent her head spinning. Everyone was watching her, mouth agape as she passed. Once she was left alone Melissa released the breath she unknowingly been holding. She grabbed the journal from her bag while Oreo made himself at home, falling asleep at her feet.

She began to write, thoughts whizzing through her head rapid fire.

My place was shot up.

Yep, shot up!

Someone desperately wants me dead! Who did I anger this badly? I mean, I could name a handful of former classmates who wanted me gone but those girls lived on trust funds and their parents' credit cards, buying what they wanted at the drop of a hat. I very highly, highly doubt they would even bother me now. I mean, I'm saving for a decent house and better furniture! They're probably partying on a yacht somewhere!

I'm rolling my eyes at that thought by the way.

Now, I'm on The Isle of Vile.

No, I'm not joking. Carmen won the argument. If Zack and Ivy had their way I'd be in a safe-house in the amazon or something.

Excuse me while I scream inside.


"You okay, Ivy?" Zack hesitantly questioned.

"No," Ivy snapped, "We should have fought harder. Now Melissa's who knows where, we don't know if we can even contact her, and someone wants her dead!"

Zack knew better than anyone that Ivy's anger boiled down to wanting to catch Carmen, her annoyance with the thief's tendency to win was ever-present and never seemed to die.

"Why don't we search the apartment? Maybe we'll pick something up for forensics or find some clues?"

"Smart thinking," Ivy nodded, "Let's go,"

…...


Chance couldn't believe it. Avalon was still alive and on the island. He landed the plane with a growl.

His mother was waiting for him.

"Did you enjoy your joyride, Chance?" she asked.

"Yes,"

"You have schoolwork to do,"

"Is that all you're concerned with?"

"You should be concerned about it,"

"Well, I'm not," he growled clenching his fists, "I don't care which President passed which act, I don't care about which country's in crisis. If you want me to apply myself then teach me stuff worth learning!"

"Like what?" Carmen demanded, calmly.

"Things that actually apply to my future when I run VILE!"

"If I let you run VILE you'd run it into the ground! The things you don't want to learn are the exact things you NEED to learn so you could run this empire successfully,"

"Could? I WILL!"

"No, Avalon will,"

"How would you know that? Did you hop into your time machine and make sure she would?"

"No, I have no interest in messing with time,"

Chance scoffed, "Clearly,"

"And what does that mean?"

"You could've gone back in time to save your precious Avalon but you never have, never even TRIED"

"The things one does in the past affects the future,"

"Did that matter when you almost changed the outcome of the Revolution? Did that matter when you went to steal the Colosseum? Or what about your civil war heist?"

"Chance-"

"I don't want to hear it, Mom, You have what you wanted, you have your golden child,"

He stormed away despite Carmen's protests, fuming.

The sooner Avalon goes away the better!

…...


Melissa lay on her side, staring blankly at the window across from her, the sun shining through the white curtains she didn't bother pulling open just yet, trying to wrap her mind around the fact that she was on Carmen's island, currently in what was supposed to be her room, her nursery. A dissembled crib peeking out of the closet and the faded teddy bear wallpaper gave that away pretty easily.

A knock at the door caused her to sit up and try to look like she hadn't been a million miles away.

Well, add this to the list of things I thought I'd never see, Carmen sans trench coat and fedora.

But there she stood in a plain red top and jeans.

"Avalon,"

"My name is Melissa,"

"Not to me, never to me," Carmen smiled before looking around the room, "I'll have this room redone for you,"

there was no arguing. Carmen always won arguments.

"May I come in?"

"Yeah,"

Carmen sat quietly next to her and Melissa wasn't sure what to say or do.

"I'm sorry," Carmen finally said.

"For what?"

"Not finding you sooner. I should've found you sooner, should have tried harder but now that I have I want a relationship with you, I know we can't make up for the time we lost but I want to try,"

"You don't know anything about me," Melissa countered.

"I know you were at the top of your class, you won four state art competitions and that you love your job"

"Those are facts,"

"Then tell me the story behind them,"

"They're not pretty, or fun,"

"I don't care, please tell me?"

"Fine,"