Zoe grunted as she clamboured up a rusted fire escape ladder, wincing when the rough metal threatened to cut into the skin of her palms. Her rollerblades bounced against her back from where they were hanging from the backpack she wore. Knowing that today was going to be a day of exertion and danger, she had forgoed the usual baggy jeans she wore, choosing instead to don tight multi-patched blue jeans, two tank tops and an old jean jacket. Hidden in said jacket were a pair of switchblades and the third and last of their guns. While Jaz may have abhored them and been strong and fast enough to be confident in a fight without one, Zoe knew damned well that she was not as capable as the mutant.

Luckily, both of them could focus on their job today. She had guided Catalina and Angel to their newest safehouse and spent a good hour making sure that it was as secure as she could make it. The abandoned apartment building was horrible on the first few floors, but luckily, the fifth and highest floor was still relatively clean. The only entrance to the entire building was through a small opening in a side door, and even then, that side door was impossible to get through if you didn't know the combination to the lock she had placed there that morning. Exits, however, numbered two. One on the roof, where the door was locked from the inside, and one in the basement, where they could escape into the storm sewers if the need arose.

A welcome burst of wind ruffled her wild hair as she reached the roof, grunting softly as she pulled herself over the edge and sat on the raised ledge, pausing to rest for a moment before she stood and walked over to the form that was sitting nearby, sharpening some throwing stars on a piece of broken brick. "Hey."

"Hey." Jasmine motioned for Zoe to sit next to her as she started replacing the stars into the pouches in her jacket. "How'd it go?"

"Perfectly. They're settled in and as safe as I could make them. Gave Angel our bags; told her that if she started to get a chill again to put on any of our clothes that she wanted."

"Good." Angel had gotten a severe cold the month before and it had left her weakened in it's wake. They had spent a large chunk of their money bringing her to a clinic to get her and her unborn baby checked over. Luckily, nothing serious had come from it, but it had left Jasmine, Cat and Zoe shaken in the emergency's aftermath. The three had taken an oath to keep Angel as healthy as they could, forgoing some of their own needs in the goal of giving Angel and her child as much nutrition, safety and warmth as they could.

Thus, despite her dislike of guns, Jasmine had taken the time to teach Cat and Angel how to clean, aim, reload and fire a handgun. She had also included a few tips about bladed weapons. Even Zoe had to admit that the mutant knew a frightening amount of different ways of hurting or killing someone. It made the group wonder how bad Jaz's life on the streets had been, and how she had learned everything that she knew.

It had appalled her the first time Jaz had told them about the underground fighting ring, where 'contestants' fought until only one remained conscious, whereupon the survivor would win all the money that had been bet against them. Even when Jasmine ambushed small groups of various gang members to steal their money, weapons, clothing and assorted 'bling-blings', it still made her very uneasy. What she was most worried about was that one day, Jaz would take part in a fight and lose her life, and then where would she, Cat and Angel be?

Really, though, Zoe figured that Jasmine could take care of herself. The dark-haired woman was a mutant after all. In truth, Jaz was more wolf than human. While Jasmine had never really told them the full details about her old life, she had revealed that she had been born as a wolf in Yellowstone Park. She had lived there in one of the large wolf packs for over a decade before her mutation had surfaced, and Jaz had first Shifted into her human form.

That was where Jaz's history became sketchy. She had never told them the full story behind why she had left Yellowstone; only that something had happened to her Pack that had left her alone. The mutant had spent a few years wandering around central and western United States, in a sort of emotional shock at the loss of the only family she had known, and had come to San Francisco to see the ocean before she killed herself.

But it was then that Jasmine had almost literally stumbled upon Catalina, and had saved her from a rapist. The wolf in her had seen something in Cat, and in a way, Jasmine had adopted Cat as her own daughter.

"Zoe!"

Blinking, the teen shook herself and looked over at Jaz, who was eyeing her worriedly. "Huh?"

"Where'd you go?" Jasmine frowned, her eyes a soft green of concern. "You looked like you were a hundred miles away."

The heat of a blush consumed her face as she glanced away in embarrassment, one hand rising to run through her hair. "Sorry. My mind slipped."

One of Jaz's eyebrows arched up towards her hairline, a snarky comment dancing along her lips for a moment before she chuckled and let it go, shaking long bangs out of her eyes as she put the last of her throwing stars away. "Just don't 'slip' while we're running for our lives, hmm?"

"Yes ma'am!" Grinning, Zoe mock saluted, then dropped down next to her friend and tilted her head back to look at the cloudy sky. "It's almost time."

"I know. I'll take the backpack with your shoes." Smiling slightly as her anticipation grew, Jaz looked down at her left arm, admiring the drawing that Cat had finished the night before. Her cast was decorated with heavily detailed black tribal markings that curled around her arm, the edges of the drawings looking as if they were confined to the cast and were trying to take over her entire arm. Inlaid in the markings was the word 'Stray', the name that Jasmine had gone by before she'd met Cat, the young teen having 'named' her.

Catalina had certainly outdone herself. If life hadn't turned out the way it had, Jaz imagined that the young woman would have been able to make a living doing what she loved best - drawing.

"Wow," Zoe whispered upon seeing the image on Jaz' cast. "That's amazing. Maybe I'll have her design a tattoo for me one day."

"I know. She's getting very good," she said proudly as she sat up straight and unrolled her sleeves, pulling them down and making sure that her cast was hidden, not wanting anyone to identify her by the unique image on it. Wanting to make sure her long hair, that usually hung down past her shoulders in a mess of perpetual curls, wouldn't get in the way, she reached up and tied her wild hair into a messy pony-tail, using a few extra bobby-pins to keep her bangs out of her eyes. "You'd better give your 'blades a quick once-over, Zee. When you're done, we should move down to the alley."

Nodding, Zoe untied her roller blades from her backpack and set them in front of her, glancing over at Jaz as the woman got to her feet and did a small series of stretches, wincing every so often when she jarred her broken arm. Stubborn... Shaking her head in mild amusement, she turned her attention to her roller blades, letting her fingers and her gaze inspect everything from the wheels to the straps that would hold her feet in place.

She'd need her 'blades to be in perfect condition; it was the only way she'd be able to keep up with Jasmine. The mutant was fast.

When she was satisfied that the 'blades wouldn't break during what was probably going to be a hectic hour or so, she pushed herself to her feet and looked over at Jasmine, who had moved to the edge of the roof and was looking down at the store across the street. As always, when a potential fight was in the future, Jaz' eyes had lost the green in them, the amber and gold taking over until all that remained were metallic pools that held just a tint of feralness to them.

Those eyes turned onto her then, and Zoe couldn't quite stop a shiver from traveling up her spine as she met the mutant's gaze. She didn't even want to think about what her friend had seen or done that would have resulted in the look in her eyes. "Good to go?"

"Yup!"

Even though the cheerful tone didn't reach her eyes, Zoe knew that Jaz would not only never hurt her, but that her friend would watch her back and protect her, no matter what happened. They had done things such as this before, mostly in grocery stores where one of them would distract the workers while the other shoved as much food into a bag as they could carry.

Zoe led the way down the fire escape's ladder, and even though she was being careful, one rough spot managed to score a shallow cut on her palm, drawing a curse from her as she hopped to the ground and wiped her hand on her jeans. It took only a minute for her to change into her roller blades, and she took a moment to put her sneakers into the backpack, smiling a little as her friend took the bag from her and slid her arms through the straps.

Taking a deep breath to calm her ragged nerves, Jaz, now in the mindset she always went into when a fight was imminent, moved to the entrance of the alley and watched the store front, feeling Zoe move to her side as she slipped her blue-tinted sunglasses on, obscuring the wolf gold of her eyes. "Get ready. When he comes out, we hit him together. You distract, I'll get the money pouch."

"Right." Her heartbeat was rising along with her anticipation, and Zoe struggled not to jump the gun, seeing Jaz's shoulders tense as the shop owner calmly stepped out of his store, pausing at the doorway to call back instructions to the employees still within. A low rumble made her glance at Jasmine, smirking a little when she saw the woman's shoulders move, muscles gliding under her skin, as if she was a cat getting ready to pounce. As the shop-keep started his way down the street, they both edged out of the alley, waiting for him to reach a point far enough away so that they could reach a good velocity before hitting him.

Jaz held her breath for a few moments, arguing with her conscience as she did so. She never liked stealing money, but things were getting desperate. They needed to take care of Angel, there was so much she needed to keep herself and her baby healthy, and Cat was still a growing teenager. Stop it. We need the money, so quit hesitating and do what needs to be done.

Finally, she judged that the situation was as good as it was going to get, rising her hand to gesture to Zoe as she pushed away from the wall and ran after the store owner. Her accomplice matched her speed, the roller blades allowing the teen to keep perfect pace with her, and after a mutual sign language message of 'good luck', they crossed the point of no return.

As Zoe barrelled headlong into the man, Jaz ducked and came in low, hitting him mid-back with her shoulder. Like they had rehearsed, Zoe caught the shopkeep and started to apologise in an almost hysterical voice, distracting him long enough for Jaz to raise her right hand and use a talon to sever the rope that linked the money pouch to the man's left wrist.

Before he could sound the alarm, Zoe headbutted him, dropped him onto a bench and took off after Jasmine, the two of them weaving through traffic in a grand display of agility mixed with a pinch of insanity. They were almost two blocks away when they heard the first yells of alarm, the sound spurring them onwards as they cut through three lanes of jammed traffic and careened around a corner, weaving in a criss-cross pattern to baffle any pursuit as they moved helter-skelter through the streets.

Fifteen blocks later, Jaz skidded to a stop, looking over at a slightly winded Zoe and smirking. "I think we made it."

"Sweet." Grinning, Zoe exchanged high-fives with her friend, then took the money pouch from her and relocated it into the main part of Jaz's backpack, shoving it under the her pair of shoes for good measure. "Done. Let's keep going."

Ignoring the growing ache in her left arm, Jaz followed Zee down the street, knowing that they had to keep moving in case the police were coming for them. It had happened once before when they had stolen some food. When they burst out of the store they had robbed, they had nearly plowed into a cop car that had been parked outside, the two officers within only too happy to cut their coffee-break short as they chased them through San Francisco.

She only hoped that this time, things would go more smoothly. She wasn't naive enough to think that just because they were a fair ways away that pursuit was out of the question. Already, she could just barely hear sirens in the not-so-far-distance, and the sound made her pick up the pace, gliding past Zoe as the red-head glanced back at her curiously. "Let's cut through the park. Cheap cop cars can't get a lot of traction on the soil."

Nodding in agreement, Zoe did her best to keep pace as Jaz picked up speed. They took a haphazard route to the park, weaving through the streets in a pattern that almost made her dizzy when she tried to pinpoint where they were in her mind's eye. Oddly, Jasmine never faltered, somehow knowing which way the park was despite the baffling numbers of turns and double-backs that they did.

"Do you actually know where you're going?" she asked as they went around yet another corner and cut through an alley. "Because not only am I completely confused, I've got a headache trying to figure out where we are."

Jaz laughed. "I always know where I'm going. Two blocks more, we'll hang a right, then it's five blocks straight to the park."

"I'll never understand your sense of direction. It's like you've got a built in auto-pilot or something."

"Kinda like your freaky ability to always hit a target when you're firing a gun?"

"Touché." Grinning, Zoe put on a bit more speed, starting to feel a sense of giddiness overcoming her. "Just a warning, I might break out into semi-hysterical giggles soon."

A knowing look darkened the gold and amber in Jasmine's eyes, and despite the part of her that wanted to agree, she didn't want to lose her grip on harsh reality. "Not just yet, Zee. We still have a ways before we're really saf... Oh, shit."

Flailing, Zoe barely managed to stop before she ran into her friend, her heart in her throat as she peered over the other woman's shoulder, feeling her stomach bottom out when she spotted what had caused Jasmine to stop so suddenly. Two police cars, lights flashing and doors open, the four cops crouched behind the doors with their revolvers drawn. Oh shit indeed...

"Hands in the air! Now!"

Jaz tensed, a low growl rising in her throat as she inched in front of Zoe. "Zee," she whispered, her voice low. "The alley behind us. Meet up at the Golden Gate Park's Japanese Garden. Go."

"But-"

"Now!"

The feral tone to Jaz' voice made her jump, and when her feet touched ground again, she was gone. Yells and gunshots from behind her boosted her adrenaline up from 'scared' to 'panicked', so that now her blades were barely touching pavement as Zoe shot through the alley, stretched out an arm to snag a signpost and turned in a sharp arch to shoot down the street, arms pinwheeling as she skidded to a stop at the intersection across from where the police were shouting.

Catching a brief glimpse of Jasmine as her friend rolled over the hood of a cop car while bashing one of her feet into the chest of an officer lessened the fear she felt for the mutant, and she allowed herself a brief sigh of relief before she pushed off with her left foot and soared through the traffic, gritting her teeth when a police cruiser screeched onto the street she was on.

Barely managing to hold back a yelp, she threw herself into oncoming traffic, ignoring the loud blasts of various car horns as she cut across the busy lane and continued on through a slew of side streets, twisting and turning throughout the city in a wild pattern of randomness. Luckily for her, she knew that the police weren't able to follow her rather insane path as she chose one street, traveled down it for a few blocks, turned left, backtracked three blocks, cut across three other streets via alleyways, and then pausing at a street corner to get her bearings before setting off again.

She only prayed that Jasmine was just as lucky as she was.

tbc