IN THE SEWERS UNDER ROYAL WOODS
"Ugh, it smells like shit"
Lincoln Loud was traversing through the dark depths of the sewers that ran deep under Royal Woods. In his right hand was a flashlight, illuminating the darkness that surrounded him. His left hand was used to clench his nose, blocking the stench that tried to invade his smell. Thankfully the water wasn't high, saving his pants and even the top parts of his sneakers from being drenched. Still, the situation was less than ideal.
As Lincoln walked down the long halls of the sewer, the sound of his feet splashing along the water caused rats and roaches to scatter up and down the wall. The boy shivered at the sight of the black objects moving around through his peripheral vision. Yet, he tried to ignore it and continued walking. "Dang it, I'm going to smell like ass tomorrow at school...assuming I even get to school. Mom and Dad are going to kill me if they knew I was out of the house. As long as my sisters don't get suspicious, I should be fine. Thank God the news distracted them last night, or else they would've pestered me with questions", the boy thought to himself. He could feel the steel of the revolver pressing against his back. The cold feeling sent a chill up his spine with each step. To say he was scared would be an understatement. Walking around in a dark sewer at 2:30 am in the middle of the night wasn't exactly a warm setting. If it wasn't for Lincoln constantly being the one to clean the attic or underneath the house, this situation would've been impossible for him. His GPS didn't have any service much to his expectation, so he followed Taylor's advice and just headed east through the maze of tunnels. Eventually, he was able to come across one long pathway, that lead to a coverage of light emanating from a manhole cover. Leaning up against the railway was Taylor with her eyes closed, fighting the urge to fall asleep. Much like Lincoln, Taylor too had been up for two days straight, now approaching day three. She was wearing a red button-up plaid shirt, blue ripped jeans, and a pair of black boots. On top of her head was a black beanie, lowered to where her eyes were halfway covered.
"Yo Taylor, don't go falling asleep on me", Lincoln said, running up to the teen girl and embracing her into a hug. Tylor opened her eyes and looked down at the white-haired boy that was running up to her. A wide smile spread across her face, and she too embraced him in a tight hug.
"As if, I'm just glad you managed to find your way through this", she said. After a few moments of hugging, the two kids let each other go and stared up at the manhole. "This is the place dude, come on, hopefully, that car is nearby", Taylor said, roughing up Lincoln's hair before making her way up the ladder. Lincoln followed behind her, as the two made their way through the manhole and out onto the street. Upon reaching the surface, the two kids gasped for fresh air, relishing in the clean air that surrounded them, and slowly getting rid of the putrid odor of the sewer that they were in. Unfortunately, they still stunk.
They were outside of Royal Woods, just in front of the "WELCOME TO ROYAL WOODS SIGN". They could see police barricades down the street in front of the town, along with police helicopter spotlights patrolling the skies over Royal woods. The other side of the road was empty and dark, devoid of any lights or people. All except for a single taxi.
"You gotta be fucking me", Taylor said with a look of disbelief. The two kids made their way to the taxi, and upon opening the door, their suspicions were confirmed. It was the same taxi and driver that drove them for the repo job early yesterday. He looked over to the two kids and smiled with dirty teeth, at least the ones that weren't missing. He was still wearing the same sunglasses, dirty white tank top, grey sweatpants, and sandals that he did before. The taxi also still reeked of spoiled food, must, and marijuana.
"Great, as if going to school smelling like raw sewage wasn't bad enough", Lincoln sighed, before getting into the car. Taylor gulped, following him in the back seats of the Taxi. The taxi driver kept smiling, while he handed them a handwritten note that read "Misty might ask you to do something for her, do it and she'll pay you, along with payment for your debt" signed, Mickey. Both Lincoln and Taylor sighed in unison. They were tired, and still recovering from the repo job they did early yesterday. They weren't in the mood to do another job. But they knew they had no choice. Hopefully whatever it was wouldn't get them killed or arrested. The taxi driver turned around, and started his engine, slowly driving down the quiet and dark street away from Royal Woods, and to Sterling Heights. The streets were empty, as the heavy police presence didn't go past Royal Woods. Along the way to Sterling Heights was just a desolate highway devoid of any life, surrounded by thick woods. This came with no surprise, however, seeing as it was now 3 a.m. Any normal person would be asleep by now. But Lincoln and Taylor were not in a normal situation. They fought the urge to go to sleep, as their eyelids grew heavy. Watching the trees zoom by made them feel even more sleepy.
After about 25 minutes, they could see the skyline of Sterling Heights washing over the distance. They soon passed by the projects where they did their repo job, a shiver spiraling up their spine as they stared at all the police tape that wrapped around the entrance of the complex. They luckily drove past it, heading deeper into the town than they did before. After another 10 minutes of driving, they entered a residential area. A pretty nice one at that. No different than the houses they would see in Royal Woods. Eventually, the Taxi came to a stop in front of a White House with a blue roof. From the outside, it was rather plain. No decorations, plants, not even a car. To anybody passing by, the house would've seemed like it were for sale. Lincoln and Taylor stared at the house with tired eyes before looking over to the Taxi driver. The driver just grinned at the two kids, pointing his crusty figure towards the house, indicating that that was their destination. Without even questioning it, the two kids unbuckled their seat belts, and stepped out of the vehicle, surveying the quiet and empty neighborhood.
"This better be worth it", Taylor muttered, as she began walking up the pathway to the front door. Lincoln gulped nervously, feeling for the gun that was tucked behind his pants, before following Taylor up the path. Just then, a voice came from a speaker above the door.
"Don't take another fucking step cocksuckers. Just who in the hell are you two"? The voice of a female questioned. Lincoln and Taylor both raised their hands in unison, worried if they were going to be shot.
"Mickey sent us...said you wanted to talk to us about some work" Lincoln hesitantly answered, his voice shaking nervously. After a couple of seconds of no response, they could hear the door in front of them begin to unlock, slightly opening to reveal a young white girl on the other side. She looked to be about Lincoln's oldest sister Loris's age. She had her hair dyed neon blue and had it tied in a ponytail. She wore heavy eyeliner, a white ripped tank top, a black high skirt that went above her thighs, and knee-high goth boots. On her face were multiple piercings. She had a stud on her right ear, and two loops above them. She had another two studs in her eyebrow, along with a nose ring dangling from her nostrils. On her left arm was a full-arm tattoo of a demon rising from a grave. It was one of the coolest things Lincoln had ever seen. The young girl looked outside, checking every direction in paranoia before grabbing both Lincoln's and Taylor's hands, dragging the two quickly into her house before shutting the door behind them. The house was clean and empty, almost as if it was brand new. All that could be seen were a heavy set of wires leading to a door that went down into the basement.
The girl glared at the two confused kids, examining every inch of them.
"Christ almighty, Mickey's really using kids for his dirty work, the sick fucker", she said to herself. "My name is Misty, I take it you're Lincoln and Taylor", she said introducing herself. Before Taylor could get a word out, however, Misty was already leading them toward the basement frantically. Lincoln could tell from her jumpy reactions and heavy eye bags that the girl didn't get much sleep. "Yea yea yea, that's great. Anyways get your asses down here. Oh, and don't fucking touch anything", she quickly snapped. Once they were down the basement, they were met with the sight of multiple computer monitors and systems all hooked up throughout the basement, different machines hooked up to other machines spread across the room, cluttering every corner with wires and computers. It reminded Lincoln of his sister Lisa's room, but messier. "Welcome to my shit pit", Misty exclaimed, proudly showcasing her room to the two kids. Lincoln and Taylor looked at each other in confusion, then back to Misty.
"This is really cool and all...but who are you? And why are we here at your house at 3 in the morning?" Lincoln asked tiredly. Misty just stared at him blankly, not even realizing what time it was.
"Oh shit, it's past 3? To be honest, I lost track of time days ago", she confessed. "Anyways, like I said, my name is Misty. Michigan's badass local hacker", She exclaimed.
"So you work for the 54th mafia"? Taylor asked. This made Misty roll her eyes.
"Yea right, as if. I'm freelance baby. I do whatever the fuck I want, and partner with whoever the fuck I want. It just so happens that the 54th mafia is willing to pay me some big bucks for my skills. But rest assured, if another group of assholes offers me more, then you bet your sweet motherfucking asses that I'm teaming up with them". She explained. The young girl walked over to her office chair, sat down in it, and propped her feet up on her desk. She then reached down to a minifridge that was underneath her table, taking out a can of beer from the fridge. "Want one"? She asked.
"You're kidding? we're not old enough to drink", Lincoln quickly responded. Misty just snickered, popping the can open and letting the bubbles fuzz out from the top and down the side of the can.
"Neither am I dude, but who fucking cares? Let's not act like we're law-abiding citizens or anything", she said, taking a large sip from the can.
"Wait how old are you"? Taylor asked in shock.
"16", she responded, setting the can down on the table. Taylor was surprised, she was only one year older than her. Lincoln immediately thought of his older sister Leni. He couldn't imagine her drinking, getting tattoos, or let alone being involved in the criminal underworld. She was still just a kid. The boy had so many questions that he didn't even know where to start.
"But..what about your family? What about School?..Just...How?" he began frantically asking. Misty just laughed a little at the boy's confusion.
"Jesus fucking Christ, pipe down pipsqueak. It's not like I'm gonna tell you everything about me. You guys are just work partners, lame ones at that, not friends. We might be close to the same age, but as long as we're in the same industry, we're never going to be friends. Got it"? Misty said seriously. Lincoln and Taylor just stared at her for a moment, before nodding their heads in understanding. "Great, now, back to work. The reason why y'all are here is because of the current shit show y'all caused between the Ballin Heights gang and 3 West Side Amigos. I've hacked into some of the higher members' phones of both gangs, and have monitored all the rich and juicy text messages they send to one another. Don't ask how, but trust me when I say, this shit is fucking gold. The FBI alone would offer a lot of money for this information. But unfortunately for them, we're going to exploit the bitch outta this shit and make some money off it. So here's the plan, we're going to hit the Ballin Heights shit bags where they hurt the most. Their supplier". Misty spun her chair around to face Lincoln and Taylor, as she adjusted her computer monitor so that the two could see it clearly. On the screen was a website for a business. Amongst all the jumbles of text was a picture of a skinny young white man, with blonde curly short hair, a sharp chin, blue eyes, and wearing a suit. Misty pointed at the picture and began to explain. "This twat right here in Jimmy Ralph. Head CEO of Michigan prime real estate. On the surface, he is head of a company that sells land and construction to everyday citizens. His company even built 98% of the suburbs here in Sterling Heights and Royal Woods. However, what most people don't know, is he is also a major retailer of land that Ballin Heights use to manufacture drugs. He sells those guys acres of plantation for their weed farms. He also buys run-down and abandoned apartment complexes for dirt cheap from the city, and leases them to the Ballin Heights fuckers so they can use them for meth labs or methamphetamine pill production facilities. Mr. Ralph even pays the cops off to avoid that area, all of course for a luxurious fee that he receives from the gang. He also does the same for the Devil Riders Biker MC, which is how they mainly get their money. So, what I'm getting paid for by the 54th mafia and the 3 west side amigos is discovering the locations of these prime drug houses and farms through the messages and emails of higher members. Also, I was able to hack into Michigan Prime Real Estate messages to their stockholders and was able to pull up income statements, balance sheets, and all that type of shit. So we're able to see exactly what this fuck hole is putting his money into. Which the 54th mafia will pay greatly for to use as blackmail", she explained. Lincoln slowly took everything in. He was in complete awe at everything Misty was saying, as if it were like a puzzle piece slowly connecting together. It was amazing to him how deep and integrated the world of crime was, as Misty was showcasing a completely different side to this world than he was previously exposed to. Taylor, who was experiencing the same reaction as Lincoln, shook her head to clear her mind.
"Wait wait. So if I'm following. You were able to locate and expose the prime financial source of the Ballin Heights, who are the prime competitors to the 3 West side amigos, who are a major asset to the 54th mafia. Not only that, but you were able to do this by discovering the prime resource of this prime financial source and that's what the mafia is paying you for. So the only question is, what do you need us for"? Taylor asked curiously. Misty just leaned back into her chair, taking a sip of her beer can, before grinning at the two with a maniacal expression.
"You two are going to destroy the shit out of these drug houses and fields".
