"Ouch, fuck" yelped Taylor as she was getting her arm stitched up. It had been an hour since they were picked up by Misty, and now they were back at Misty's basement. Taylor was sitting on a chair by a table near the stairs with an open can of beer in one hand. Her other arm was on the table, getting stitched up by a large white man wearing doctor scrubs and a face mask. He was an older man, around his late 40s. He had short blonde hair, blue eyes, and eye bags underneath them. Sitting on the table was a bag full of medical tools and cotton balls and bandages covered in blood. He had been cleaning and stitching up Taylor for the past 10 minutes. On the other side of the room sat Lincoln next to Misty near the large computer monitors. Lincoln was wearing one of Misty's white t-shirts, which seemed to fit the boy loosely, and his bloodied sweatpants and sneakers. His arm was now properly cleaned, stitched, and bandaged up, not only allowing the bullet wound to heal, but also his fractured wrist. Though, he was still a mess. His white hair was unkempt, going down to his eyes. Dark bags were underneath his still-red eyes, and cuts and bruises were still plastered around his face. In his hand was a half-full beer can that Misty gave him. Although he didn't like the taste, he had to admit that the pain in his body swelled down. He was staring at the man who was with Taylor, then spoke.

"So, who's that guy"? He asked, taking another sip of his beer. Misty turned her attention away from her monitor and looked over to the man, then back at lincoln with a smile. She had a cigarette dangling from her mouth, as she blew smoke in Lincoln's direction, though this didn't phase him anymore. She took the stick out of her mouth and spoke.

"Oh, that's Stitches. He's kind of an underground doctor. He helps people...like us. You know, since we can't just go to an actual doctor"? She answered. Lincoln looked at her in confusion.

"So, he's a doctor for criminals"? He asked.

"Yea pretty much. He's not a criminal himself, but he is practicing medicine without any sort of certification. But relax, he knows what he's doing. He decided to become a back alley doctor for criminals since the pay was so good. He's helped people from the fucking mafia to all kinds of gangs, to serial killers, crackheads, and muggers. Hell, the old bastard will even help a fucking rapist if they pay. Stitches is awesome, though he doesn't talk much", Misty said. Lincoln just stared at the man, intrigued that medical professionals were willing to help criminals. "So how are you holding up"? Misty asked, breaking the boy out of his thoughts.

"Oh, I'm fine all things considered. Can I ask you a question? Is it you who's able to keep me and Taylor from getting into trouble with school"? Lincoln asked. Misty just smiled, taking a sip out of her beer can and putting her cigarette back in her mouth.

"Yep, it was actually Mickey's idea. He pays me to hack into your school and count y'all as present. Not only that, but I pass your grades so y'all wouldn't have to worry about it. You know that math test you got a zero on? Well don't worry about it, I just gave you an A+ on it", she said with a smile. Lincoln stared at her in disbelief, then immediately brought her in for a hug, taking the young girl by surprise. She stared down at the boy, before awkwardly moving him back to his seat. "Jesus fucking Christ kid chill. I know it's a big deal for you but I'm only doing it because I'm getting fucking paid", she said. Lincoln just nodded his head in understanding.

"I know but still...thanks", he said. Misty just sighed, before smiling at the boy. She couldn't help but find him adorable. It wasn't often she came across a boy who still had some sort of innocence or normal life, though after tonight she knew that was pretty much gone.

"Honestly dude, I think you should just drop out of school and run away from home, it'll make your life easier", Misty said, turning her attention back to her computer. Lincoln was taken aback by her statement.

"I can't do that. The only reason I'm even here is to protect my friends and family, otherwise, I would never even dream of doing things like this. I have to finish school, and be there for my friends and family", Lincoln responded. Misty took another drag of her cigarette, exhaling a cloud of smoke from her nostrils.

"And then what? Look, as long as you're paying back Mickey's cunt ass, he'll never touch your friends or family. Regardless if you're out of school or away from home. But then what after? You honestly fucking expect things are going to go back to normal for you once this is over? Assuming you even live long enough or stay out of jail to reach that point. But let's say you do. You and Taylor somehow manage to pay him back. Do you really think you're just going to go back and do well in school? Play with your friends again like normal? Spend time with your family like a good son or brother? Lincoln, no matter what happens from here on after, regardless if you're here by choice or not, you're a criminal. Pretty soon you're going to get a bounty on your head. You just killed a shit ton of people, burnt down twelve properties, carjacked an innocent couple, and now just full-on started a war with one of the largest gangs in the country. Hate to break it you kid, but your normal life is over. My advice is to just abandon it and embrace it. You're already going to make fucking bank, especially after the shit you and Taylor pulled tonight. Just go off the grid, work for Mickey then do your own shit. Hell, the fucked up part is you're eventually going to not only get used to it...but like it too. Besides, you'd be more of a danger around the people you care about. Fuckers are going to hunt you down the deeper in this shit you get, you really want to be near your loved ones when they try to track you"? Misty explained, taking another sip of her beer can. Lincoln just stared at her, pondering what she was saying. To some extent, he agreed. Maybe it would be best to leave Royal Woods and his friends and family. It would make them even safer. He already figured with the money he made from the repo job, this life paid well. So going to school and graduating college really did seem pointless in the long run. But he knew that he couldn't just abandon his family and friends. It wasn't an option. His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of Taylor jumping out of her seat.

"All done", Stitches said. He got up from his chair too, organizing his tools and bagging them in his medical bag before making his way to Misty.

"Thanks as always Stitches"! Misty exclaimed, pulling out $500 from her pocket and handing it to him. With that, he made his way towards the stairs, taking his leave. But before he reached the top stairs, he turned around and looked over to both Lincoln and Taylor.

"I gave you two my contact number. Call me if you need medical attention. It's not free of course", he said, before exiting the basement and leaving the house. Lincoln took a sip of his beer, finishing the can and throwing it into the trash.

"That's enough alcohol products for me", he said. Just then, all three kids were startled by the doorbell ringing. Misty turned on her security cameras, seeing that it was Ronney and Mickey at the front door.

"OPEN THE FUCKING DOOR YOU DUMBASS SLUT", he shouted while flipping off the security camera. The three kids made their way out of the basement and to the front door. Upon opening the door, Mickey immediately made his way in, cussing up a storm as he went into Misty's kitchen. Followed behind him was Ronney, who smiled and waved to Misty.

"What's up kid. Sorry, he's a little pissed", he said.

"Yea I can't imagine why come on", Misty said rolling her eyes. The four of them made their way into the kitchen, where Mickey was digging for a beer from the fridge. He pulled a bottle out, opened it with his bare hands, and took a large sip.

"What. The. Fuck. Misty", he began, staring at the girl through his sunglasses.

"What"? Responded Misty, placing her hands on her hips.

"What? The fuck do you mean what? When I said you could meet the fucking kids and have them help you, I met like some fucking prep shit, like collecting information or fucking materials. Not have them go out in the middle of the night and torch the fucking Heights whole fucking manufacturing plants, and start a fucking shootout with them", he angrily said.

"What's the problem? You wanted this fucking job done, and the two kids got it done. Right"? She asked annoyed.

"Yea but...fuck. Ronney had this whole fucking plan figured out. We were even going to send the kids back up and shit", he said. Taylor and Lincoln both just stared at Misty with squinted eyes at the mention of backup. Misty looked at them nervously, then back at Mickey.

"Yea whatever, it's done. Just pay us up. I know the 3 West Side Amigos already paid you for it", she said, changing the mood. Taylor and Lincoln looked over to Mickey, a little excited about their paycheck. Mickey just face-palmed, before taking out three stacks of cash.

"Whatever. Here's your fucking $12,000...bitch ass cunt", he grumbled. Misty just smiled, taking the cash from his hands and counting it.

"Fucking pleasure as always dickhead", she said. Mickey then looked over to the two kids and smiled.

"I won't lie, I'm impressed with you two. You crazy motherfuckers actually pulled it off. I don't fucking care how or what y'all fucking did but here. Honestly be thankful Misty sent y'all the fuck in there alone. The paycheck would've been smaller for you two since we would've had to fucking split with like, five other fuckers. I already took a percentage of your debt out so here", he said, handing them both $8,000 each. The two kids took the money, both in complete awe at how big the stack was. "Oh shit right, that's a lot more than the Repo Job huh? Well, this fucking arson job was a pretty big fucking deal, so that's why it's so fucking much", Mickey explained. Both kids just stared at the money. It was way more money than any of what Lincoln's sisters had. At most he knew Loris's job paid her $800 a week. Even his mom and dad's jobs combined for a week were only half of what he just made in a single night.

"Yea, suddenly makes all the bad shit and guilt go away. Almost makes it worth it huh"? Misty said grinning. Lincoln hated to admit it but she was right. Money just had that sort of power over people. Suddenly, killing that man didn't seem so bad for the boy. Taylor was having the same thoughts as well. They both pocketed the cash and looked over to Mickey, who was turning on the TV in the kitchen. He grabbed five beer bottles and handed them to everyone in the room, stopping at Lincoln and Taylor.

"You two um...sure you want this? Y'all have school in a couple of fucking minutes", he asked. Taylor and Lincoln looked at each other, feeling the fat stack of cash in their pockets, and smiled, before turning their heads back to Mickey.

"Nah, fuck school. We'll go back on Monday", Taylor said. Mickey smiled, handing the two kid's beers before looking up at Misty and nodding. Misty nodded back, pulling out her phone to hack into the system and count them present along with passing them on any grades they missed for the day. Everyone sat around the kitchen island, while Mickey and Ronney were watching the tv excitingly. After a few moments of static, the picture came on showing a news reporter sitting behind a desk.

"This is Chad Cunning with news 5 coming at you with breaking news this morning. Violence has erupted the streets of Sterling Heights, as fires have been set ablaze and random empty apartments. Last night at around six o'clock in the morning eastern time, a shootout erupted between Sterling Height law enforcement and the Ballin Height street gang, though it's unclear at this time why they were there in the first place. Owner of the lots Jimmy Ralph, CEO of Michigan prime real estate had no comment on the situation. Though Police have released this image from CCTV cameras from across the road". The screen then jumped to a blurry picture of both Lincoln and Taylor carrying gas canisters and walking towards the apartments. Both wearing their ski masks and hoodies. Chad continued. "Police believe that these suspects were not only involved in the last night's attack but are the same suspects responsible for the incident off of highway 75 leading to Royal Woods. A manhunt is now underway for these two suspects and police are offering a $1,000 reward for any information on them. In other news, Royal Woods has lifted its lockdown, now suspecting the suspects to be back in Sterling Heights. We now cut to Sidney Lover with the weather this morning", Chad concluded. Lincoln looked over to Taylor, shocked at what he heard. They were now top suspects in everything that was going on, and it spook him a bit. Mickey however just began to laugh.

"Aw man, that's rich. Don't you fucking worry, they don't know fucking shit. Anyways we got to run, we'll call y'all fuckers with another job maybe in a week or two, so just keep low and live life normally until then", Mickey said as he and Ronney made their way out the door. Once they were out, Lincoln let out a loud yawn, as he could feel his body begin to shut down on him. Taylor just slammed her head on the table in exhaustion, as she felt her eyelids getting heavier by the minute. Misty just giggled a bit, clearing the table of the beer bottles.

"Since you two aren't going to school today, and you both look like shit, y'all can crash here for a bit. I'll take y'all back to Royal Woods when y'all wake up. y'all can take my bed down the hall, I'll be in the basement", said Misty as she exited the kitchen and descended the stairs. Taylor and Lincoln both made their way to Misty's room. It was abundantly clear to the two that the young hacker spent most of her time down in the basement, as her room looked like it was barely moved into. Though they didn't care. They were just happy to see a bed. Lincoln immediately took off his shoes and shirt and jumped face-first onto the foot of the bed. The comfort knocked him out immediately. Taylor just smiled, rubbing his hair a bit as she took off her boots, shirt, and jeans, as hopped onto the bed next to him. She closed her eyes and wrapped herself and Lincoln with the blanket.

"What a fucking day", she muttered to herself before falling asleep.

Lincoln's eyes slowly began to open, as the sun was shining through the slit of the window curtains. He grumbled to himself as he rose his sore body from the bed, reaching for his phone that was on the nightstand.

"Damnit, it's 1:00 pm", he mumbled. He noticed that he had a plethora of texts from Clyde and his friends. Even some from Jordan and Lynn all wondered where he was and what was going on. He ignored them, not knowing how to explain any of it. He looked to his side, where he saw Taylor was still asleep, as she was curled up into a ball covered with the blanket. Lincoln couldn't help but smile at the sight of her. It was hard for him to believe that only two days ago, this was someone who was a bully to him. Someone that he detested and wouldn't even be caught speaking to. Someone who caused all this for both of them. And yet here they were, sleeping side by side as if they were siblings. In two days, he began seeing her as a close friend...even like a sister. It was crazy how close two people could come together after living through violence and trauma. He hopped out of the bed, stretching his body and loosening his joints. He put on his clothes, grabbed his phone and cash, and headed out of the room where he proceeded to go downstairs.

Upon entering the basement, Misty looked over her shoulder, noticing Lincoln before going back to her computer.

"Rise and shine dipshit. You've been out a fucking while", she said taking a sip of a can of beer. Lincoln yawned, heading to the mini fridge and grabbing a can of beer for himself.

"Yea, but I feel much better. Haven't slept for the past two nights", he said, opening the can. He walked over to Misty, noticing that her main monitor was cluttered with code and random numbers. "Whatcha working on"? Lincoln asked.

"Hm? Oh, I'm just money laundering some earnings from other jobs I did to an offshore bank account. To be honest, you should get one too", Misty explained. Lincoln just looked at her confusingly.

"An offshore bank account? What the heck is that, and why do I need that"? He asked. Misty just stared blankly at the screen for a bit, forgetting that she was talking to a twelve-year-old from the suburbs.

"Right. Well, the money that we make in our line of work was earned through illegal means. So obviously you can't file this shit in your taxes. You do know how fucking taxes work right kid"? she asked. Lincoln just hesitated for a moment, trying to remember how Lori and his Dad explained the concept of taxes to him.

"Yea I think so. It's when you have to pay a percentage of your earnings to the government right"? He responded unsurely. Misty nodded her head.

"More or less yea. Anyways, what people make from work they have to file it to the IRS and shit, and the fucking jack-offs from DC will take a portion from your earnings to fund whatever shit they want to fund. The problem is, we can't just file our shit for a multitude of reasons. For starters, we're not fucking adults, and of course, the big one, our line of work is super fucking illegal. The money we fucking make is tied to so many criminal organizations and crimes that we might as well just fucking turn ourselves in and tell the fucking feds everything", she explained.

"Well we'll just not file our earnings then", Lincoln responded. Misty just smiled at the boy's cluelessness.

"It doesn't work like that asshat. If you go and deposit that $8,000 into the bank, it's going to catch the fucking IRS' attention faster than you can say fuck. They'll be knocking at your door asking where the fuck did you get all that money from", she said.

"Oh...well, why not just deposit it in lumps or just hold on to the cash", asked Lincoln. This question caused Misty to laugh a little.

"You know how fucking long that will take to deposit all that fucking money? Also, where the fuck are you going to hide and manage all that money? In a box underneath your bed? Look kid, I'd imagine that before this you would make like $5 doing chores and go spend it for some comics or food or some shit. But the longer you're in this field, the more real money you're going to be making. Fuck, by the end of this year you'll have more fucking money than your parents, especially since you're doing crazy shit directly for Mickey, one of the leaders of the 54th Mafia. Pretty soon you're going to be managing income past the hundred thousands. More fucking money than a majority of this country's citizens even make in a year", she said. Lincoln just stared at her in shock. Of course, money management and financing were alien to him. He was only twelve after all. But he was smart enough to understand that he needed to do something with all the money he had and will be making. Especially in his house. Money was a rarity amongst his siblings. He knew when it came to it, his sisters were like vultures. So keeping all that cash was out of the question.

"Well, what am I going to do"? he asked worriedly. Misty sighed.

"Tell you what, I'll set up an anonymous account with the bank that I use. These guys are in Russia and are pretty legitimate. They're a professional bank that operates outside the government's reach. Plus they constantly move your money around to different sources and assets, making it impossible to track. They'll ask for a 5% fee and will keep your money safe. Just tell Mickey that with every check you get, to send the cash to me or one of his sources. They'll send the cash to them and you'll be good. I'll do the same for Taylor", she explained. Lincoln stared at her, not knowing if he could trust her fully. This made Misty roll her eyes. "Oh for fuck sake kid, I'm not going to fuck you over. We're pretty much going to be business partners. As long as you don't fuck me over, we're good", she said. Lincoln nodded his head in agreement, making Misty smile. "Sweet, now go wake Taylor's ass up, I got to get you guys back to Royal Woods". She said,