Ok, so this is a really longggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggg chapter. It is one of the longest I've written. When I map them out, I plan them to be to about 2000-2500 words. It got to be about 3000 words when I realized that I did not get to the point that I planned to stop at. I debated breaking this chapter up into two parts, but I promised you all Jackson in this chapter so I had to go until he was in it.

I named this chapter after one of my favorite OK Go songs. It really inspired this chapter especially these lyrics;

Sitting for lunch in a square in this town
(this town that I'm new to),
New fellow from my new town sat me down
And explained it to me:
How when I spin from him I spin from myself,
The center can double the speed of the crust.
Thank you, my treacherous friends.
I'm cringing for myself when I cringe for you.

And

Hello, my treacherous friends,
And thank you for joining me here tonight.
I brought you all here to discuss, as I must,
How pleasant has been this demise.

Hello, My Treacherous Friends

Lisa scrabbled through the hustle of the LaGuardia Airport. People were everywhere trying to get here and there. It made Lisa a little claustrophobic, but despite this she was happy to be on the ground. The plane ride itself was not that bad; she just hated flying. It always left her felling queasy and wobbly. She felt a constant fear of it going to crash. Her dad even offered to go with when she told him she was going to New York. She quickly refused, of course, telling him that is was not necessary. The last thing she ever wanted was her father to know what she was doing. It was hard enough not being able to cry on his shoulder because if she told him what had happened he would make her go to the police.

She was meeting them today. Matt's boss and the organization he was in. It was ten o'clock in the morning and she was meeting his boss at three. Lisa felt strangely calm about meeting him. She knew she should be worried. Her whole body could tell that she was going to be in a dangerous place soon, but her mind was completely relaxed.

Lisa walked, jetlagged, to where her luggage was. She only brought one bag as she planned to not stay that long. She hoped it would not last long.

On her way out of the airport, she grabbed a piece of chocolate from her bag. Never in her life had she been more relived when she woke up with cramps and a sudden urge to eat every piece of chocolate the world had to offer. She would have done a cartwheel if it would not have been so painful.

She went outside to get a taxi to drive her to her hotel. There was already a long line waiting to get one. It was going to take a while. A group of rowdy guys stood in line behind her. She could feel her whole body stiffen as they drew near. She kept to herself, avoiding the guys as much as possible. She crossed her arms in front of her, holding her purse to her. She had pepper spray in it and was not afraid to use it.

As Lisa became closer to getting her cab, the boys seemed to have gotten quieter. They were whispering. Lisa though she heard the word 'dare.' She took out her mirror so she could watch what they were doing. She was probably being paranoid, but that tends to happen when something tragic happens in your life. They kept glancing in her direction. Next thing she knew a very handsome, blonde hair, blue eyed jock was walking up to her.

Lisa's body stiffened as she quickly put her mirror away. Her plan was to make it like she was looking for something in her purse, but in reality, kept her hand on the pepper spray. He approached her cocky and confident. Lisa turned her back to him. Maybe he'll just go away. Unfortunately, as she was rummaging through her purse, she pushed too hard on the bottom causing the bag to fall. The blonde jock took the opportunity.

Lisa scrambled putting her things back in her purse. He squatted down next to her and started gathering her things with her.

"You need to be more careful," said the young man in a charming voice. Yeah, thanks for that tip.

She murmured thanks as she put the stuff he handed her in her purse and stood up. She turned her back towards him, but he ended up standing next to her.

"The name's Pat O'Connell," introduced Pat O'Connell. He held out his hand for her to shake. Nothing could have repulsed her more then to touch a man. She would probably have to shake Matt's boss's hand so she braced herself and accepted the shake. It was worse than she could have imagined. It made her whole skin crawl. She quickly drew her hand away and shivered. Pat did not seem to notice.

"You didn't tell me your name," informed Pat. Why doesn't he just go away? She could feel the eyes of his friends on her back. She started getting nervous.

"Um, I'm Emma Woodhouse." It was the first name that came into her head. Hopefully he's never read any Jane Austen books. He seemed to buy it.

"That's a very pretty name, Ms. Woodhouse," he complimented.

Thinking quickly, Lisa replied "Mrs."

"Excuse me?" asked Pat with a frown.

"I'm married," lied Lisa.

"Oh," sighed Pat. He seemed to grow distant in that second. "You're not wearing a ring."

"It's getting cleaned, of course." She was more comfortable lying then she was just plain ignoring him. She was actually having fun 'talking' to him so long as he wasn't touching her. "You should see it. It's the biggest diamond you'll ever see. I wore it when I was making Jim cookies and it got dirty."

A driver informed her that her cab was ready and she quickly jumped into the taxi. As they drove away, she watched as Pat O'Connell walked back to his friends with his head hung. Lisa didn't know what came over her. She had never lied to someone like that before. Normally, she's 'Miss Nice Girl' and tells them the truth. She never did it because she was bad at it but apparently she thought wrong.

Lisa took out her cell phone to call Matt. She told him that she was going to her hotel and checking in. He surprised her telling her that she was going to meet her there.

When Lisa arrived in the hotel, she automatically started looking for Matt. She looked all around the lobby finally spotting the strange burgundy hair. He was wearing a black and white stripped long sleeves shirt and baggy jeans. Lisa had to laugh as he was playing his video game thing again. This job obviously had not changed him that much.

Feeling someone's eyes on him, Matt looked up at Lisa and smiled. She smiled back. For some reason, she was completely at ease walking up to him. Any other person, she would have felt awkward. It could be because she knew that he would not do anything to her, but she was so happy walking up to the criminal. She had to wait for him to save his game before she started talking to him.

"Matt, it feels like forever," greeted Lisa. She pulled him into a hug. "How have you been doing?"

The hug was really unconscious; she just did it. It was not until after that that she realized that that was her first real contact with a man since the rape. She stunned herself a little.

"Hey, Lisa. I'm alright. Working hard," said Matt. He hadn't changed at all. He was still the same skinny Matt. "Here let me get that."

He grabbed her bag for her as they went to her room. Ok, so he did change, as the college Matt would not have done that for anyone. It probably was because he felt sorry for her and he was just humoring her by caring the luggage.

Once they were in her room, Matt turned very businesslike. He inspected her clothes which must have passed the test because he did not comment on them but then again how can you go wrong with Prada? Lisa wondered how Matt impressed his boss in all of his ill fitting clothes.

"Ok, here is how it's going to happen;" he told Lisa looking at her straight in the eyes "the first thing you are going to do is meet Carmen, a secretary. She arranges all of the appointments and meetings. She'll tell you where to go and be taking notes during you're meeting. The same she does with everyone else. When you actually meet Braun, the boss, you're going to go in there and be yourself. Don't try and impress him because he can tell when you are natural and when you are fake. If you're scared, then don't hide it. He's going to ask you a bunch of questions and you are going to state what your job would be. Be completely honest. He likes liars as much as he likes rapist. Then he'll decide. Normally, we would just do the job, but with yours he's going to have to think about it. At least, I'm pretty sure. Any questions?"

Only about a million. Lisa had no clue what she was getting herself into. It sounded easy coming from Matt's mouth, but she knew she would be sweating when it came time to do it. What was she getting herself into? What was going to happen? Who was this Braun person? Would he agree to do the job? Would it be that hard to find the man who raped her? Lisa's mind was spinning with questions.

"So, this Braun guy… what is he like?" asked Lisa. It was probably one of the most important in her arsenal. She wanted to know what she was going up against.

"Hmm, how do I describe Braun? Vincent Braun is his full name by the way. Braun is a good man despite running this organization. He can be friendly when he wants to be. I don't really know. Powerful. That is one thing for sure; he has a presents of power that surrounds him. You'll just have to see."

That was helpful. Lisa was sure there was more to him then being a powerful, friendly guy.

The two of them talked for a while after that. Mostly about what Matt's been up too. He would not give many details out but he learned a lot and was a hitman. It did not bother Lisa at all that she was hanging out with him and she was perfectly comfortable going out to eat with him. But the fun was short lived as three silently approached.

At two, Matt insisted that they go to the hide out. It was in upper New York City near the Hudson River. She followed Matt into an alleyway when suddenly he stopped. He looked around and turned to a door that Lisa had not seen before he motioned to it. He looked at Lisa with a meaningful gaze.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" asked Matt.

It wasn't the same as the 'are you sure?" that her father gave her. It was an 'are you sure you are willing to do this?' It was making sure she was up for whatever was in store for her. He was checking if she was strong enough to go through with this. If she was strong enough to condemn herself like this.

"Once you go in, you're not coming out until he sees you," he continued. "This is the point of no return, if you will."

"Yeah, I want to do this," said Lisa.

"Only yeah?" asked Matt. "You're not going to get far with only 'yeah.'"

"Yes," said Lisa more confidently. "I want to do this. I'm going to do this. I have to do this. So, he won't cause any more pain and he'll be the one who fells pain."

"Much better," congratulated Matt. "With that attitude, you'll have a better chance of getting the job. Ok… here we go!"

Matt walked up to the door and knocked three times. A woman wearing leopard print top with curly hair opened the door. She was very pretty and came from the Spanish decent. Her curly black hair was pulled back in a bushy pony tail. She looked at Matt with apathetic eyes.

"So, is that her?" she asked Matt looking right at Lisa. She did not look mean, just bored. She must go through with this a lot.

"Yup," said Matt happily. His easy going personality really clashed with this girl's. "Carmen, this is Lisa Reisert. She wants to hire us."

"Yeah, whatever," answered Carmen. "Come on. If you keep standing out there, people will get suspicious."

She led them into the building. The hallway they were walking down was extremely rundown and old looking. The wall all had cracks in them and it had a horrible stench in it. There was one light in the hallway, but it barley lit anything. The floors creaked with each step that gave Lisa the feeling that she was going to fall into an abyss beneath it. It's like something out of a nightmare.

"You work here?" ask Lisa with a look of disgust. It was hard to imagine someone wanting to work in this dump.

"You want to hire people who work here?" was Matt's replay.

Touché.

"Besides," he added "we only do minimal work here. Mostly paper work. I'm always on the field. When I'm here, it's to give reports and hang out. So, I don't spend a lot of time in this dump. This is just were the boss is."

Finally, they went into a little meeting room. There was a line of chairs with a coffee table in it. The coffee table had flowers on it. How odd. Cheep wallpaper was hanging on the walls and it had a dusty feeling to it. It was lighter in this room and Lisa was thankful for that.

"Wait here," commanded Carmen. "Braun will be coming in a bit."

She started walking towards the door on the opposite wall from when they entered. Before she went through it, Carmen turned to look at Matt and asked him "So, you're staying with her then?"

"Yeah, I'm staying with her," said Matt with a mischievous smile. "I'm her friend, you know. You do know what friends are right? People who are nice to one another… unlike you are to so many people."

Carmen sneered and walked through the door going to tell Braun of their arrival. Matt started laughing which made Lisa feel much calmer, not that she was really nervous. Lisa expected her heart rate to be a million miles per hour at this point, but it had its normal beat. She was fiddling with her hands a little. Twisting them and ringing them. It was the only sign that she was about to do something potentially dangerous.

Matt put a hand on her shoulder. She looked over at his goofy grin. It was just like the good old college days. Matt could always make her laugh.

"How ya doin'?" asked Matt in a strange voice.

"I'm fine," reassured Lisa. She smiled back at him.

"Are you sure?" questioned Matt with a smile. He straight out laughed when she cringed. He knew of her hatred for that question and always used it to tease her. "Ahh, Lisa… I remember why you were my only friend in college. You were so nice about me teasing you."

Lisa shook her head and mumbled something about hating Matt. That, of course, made him laugh more. The laugh did not last long though as Carmen came back. She gave Matt a sharp look in which Matt replied with a stuck out tongue. "Braun will see you, now."

Carmen led them into a different office and in it was a man sitting in a big Lazy Boy chair. The man was not at all what she had expected. She expected an older, large burly man with a mustache who maybe ate a little too much. What she found was a trim, ordinary early forties man. He had pale hair that receded a little and deep brown eyes that held much wisdom in them. His nose was a little too big for his face, but it was not too extreme. He could have been a normal guy you meet at K-Mart. But he held so much power in his hands. He was more dangerous than someone there. He wore a suit that must have been made just for him because it fit his frame perfectly. The rings on his hands glistened in the lighting of the room.

"Hello," welcomed the man in the chair cheerfully. His voice was very refined and pleasant. "Come in! Come in!"

Lisa slowly walked into the room. Matt sauntered in after her completely at ease. Matt took a seat across from the desk that Braun was sitting at. He motioned Lisa to sit next to him.

"My name is Vincent Braun," introduced Braun. He held out his hand for her to shake. Lisa was right. She took his hand. It was not as bad as Pat O'Connell. It was fine shaking his hand. Lisa had a feeling that it was because he was going to help her.

"I'm Lisa Reisert," greeted Lisa. She sat down in the chair next to Matt.

"So Lisa, Matt tells me that you are interested in hiring our services," said Braun. That was one way of putting it. "What is it you would like us to do?"

He leaned forward with a smile on his face. Matt was right. He was friendly, but powerful.

"I need your help," started Lisa "in the finding and killing of a man who raped me. I'll tell you right now, I do not know who this man is, but I do have his fingerprints."

Braun slowly leaned back and used his fingers to massage his brow. He slammed his fist on the table and grunted in anger, startling Lisa.

"I'm sorry for scaring you, Ms. Reisert," apologized Braun. His face was twisted in anger. "I have strong feelings for men so vile and stupid for raping a woman. My precious, precious baby girl was defiled by a man. He is no long living… or recognizable.

"So, Ms. Reisert, why did you come to find us instead of going to the police?" he asked her.

"The truth of it is, sir," replied Lisa "that I wanted him dead. I did not want him to go to a jail cell and sit there for a while before he was released. I want him dead for the pain he inflicted on me. I want him dead for the pain he might have inflicted on other girls like me. I don't want him to spread his terror on other what he did to me. The police would not have found him. I wanted to put the law in my own hands."

"Or in other words, ours," added Matt. He had been sitting there happily during this time. He was making faces at Carmen who was taking notes in the corner for some books.

"Indeed," said Braun. "Ms. Reisert, do you know how hard it is to find a man like this, even with finger prints?"

"Not really," replied Lisa. "But Matt had told me over and over again that it is very difficult."

Braun got a good laugh out of that. He gave Matt a look appreciation. It was one a father might give a son. That's must be why Matt fit so well here. It gave him the family he never had.

"It is extremely difficult to find one man in a large city. I do suppose you live in a large city," said Braun.

"Yes sir, Miami," answered Lisa.

"Miami! What a city!" exclaimed Braun. At first, he seemed to be up out by the idea of sending a team out to Miami, but the longer he thought about it, the more he seemed to like the idea. He even asked her again if it was Miami. Lisa was beginning to wonder what was so bad about Miami.

"Oh!" bellowed Matt. Obviously Matt had been trying to figure out what was wrong with Miami as well. The only problem was that he knew more than Lisa. He continued with a "Do you think he's a..?"

He's a what! Come on, Matt! Finish your sentences.

"It's possible," commented Braun. This strange conversation was really starting to bug Lisa. She was going to ask about it when Braun asked her "Ms. Reisert, what is it that you want done?"

First, he has a strange, no information conversation with Matt. Now, he was asking her things he already knew! She wanted him dead; end of story.

"I'm not sure what you mean, sir," responded Lisa. That sounded a lot better than the other things going on in her head.

"Of course, you don't," stated Braun. "You don't know anything about our business. I was simply wondering what you would like done to the man. Killed, obviously, but with what? There are so many options. It could be simple like with a gun or grand with missiles."

Ah. Lisa never really thought about it.

"I would like it as simple as possible, sir," she told him. "No need to do anything that would get a lot of media attention. I would like to do it with a knife… like he used a knife with me."

"Excuse me?" asked Braun. "What did you say?"

"He used a knife on me," cringed Lisa. She unbuttoned as few buttons as possible and showed Braun the scar. He stared at it, disturbed. He looked her straight in the eyes. Matt also took a look wondering what she was doing. He was extremely repulsed.

"There are some sick people out there," informed Braun. He wasn't one to talk, though, really. He was running this business. "I must say your story has greatly affected me. I think I will take your job. Now, we must discuss payment."

Lisa could not believe her ears. Did he just say he was going to take it?

"I wasn't sure how much this could cost," Lisa told Braun. "I did take out ten thousand dollars. I'm-"

Lisa was stopped by Braun's waving arms. She was worried that it wouldn't be enough.

"Ms. Reisert, I'm going to be honest with you," said Braun. "I've never worked for so little, but your story really affected me. Almost the same thing happened to my daughter. You remind me of her. Now, there is something that I've been thinking about as we talked. We can help each other."

Lisa did not really like the sound of that. His look was so extremely stern and serious, it frightened Lisa. It was the most frightened she's been all trip. He stared at her with intense eyes making sure she listened.

"You said you came from Miami," continued Braun. "You may not know this, but there is a group similar to ours there. They are taking some of our business. We can't have that. I think that there is a possibility that your rapist might be from this other organization. I've been meaning to take them down soon, but you gave me an opportunity to make it sooner."

"So, you're going to …?" started Lisa. She did not know how to finish her sentence. She was greatly confused.

"Carmen," called Braun. "Go get the Ripper. I'm going to give him this case."

"He's not going to appreciate you calling him that again," replied Carmen.

"Oh Carmen!" laughed Braun. "Get the stick out of your ass and have some fun in life!"

"Exactly," exclaimed Matt. Braun laughed at him. Carmen existed with her head in the air. Braun's smile faded a little as he looked over to Lisa again.

"Here's how it's going to go," went on Braun. Lisa could feel the adrenaline flowing through her veins. "I'm going to be starting a war in Miami. My men are going to take down the group from your city. Only Jackson and his team are going first. Our first priority will be you. If it happens that the man who raped you is from this group, I will not charge you. If he isn't then, I will still not charge you, but what I want you to do will not be as fun. This will only take in effect, though, if you promise me something."

"And what is that, Mr. Braun?" asked Lisa. She wanted to do it, but she wasn't foolish enough to promise him something without knowing what it was beforehand.

"I want your help," said Braun simply. "I have one spy in this group, but he won't be able to tell you where it is. I want you to help my men find and take over this group."

Lisa thought about it for a minute. He was putting a lot of pressure on her. She really could not afford the job with all of the student loans she owed. How bad would it have been if she helped them anyways?

"I'll do it," was Lisa's answer.

"Excellent," said Braun with a smile. His smiled widened as Carmen came back into the room with someone.

Lisa turned to look at this 'Ripper' who was going to do her job. The named did not sit too well with Lisa. She gasped a little as she looked at the man. He was tall, skinny but lean. He had a curious expression on his face. His high cheek bones and sharp features made him one of the most handsome men that Lisa has ever seen. He looked at her. His eyes… his eyes! They had to be one of the most beautiful shade of blue to exist. They were so bright and alluring.

"Ms. Reisert, this," said Braun walking over to 'Ripper' and putting an arm on his shoulder "is Jackson Rippner. He is one of my finest men I've ever had the pleasure to find. He's going to be taking care of your job."

Haha! So I promised you all that Jackson would be in here.

mooey714- Thank you so much for you for your reviews and kind words. I don't know about them going on a trip together, but they are going on a plane ride together next chapter.

Pirate Gryl- Thanks for reading my fic! I love yours sooo much! I hope I didn't slack at all with my writing skills.

MidnightThief- I have so many things I want to say to you.

Thank you for reading my fic and enjoying it so much. ^^

My avi pic is of my precious kitty, Jerrie. He is my pride and joy. 3

Mike He and Devil Beside You is sooo awesome.

I'm a Tamaki cosplayer. :D Did you read my Ouran oneshot?

Project Runway and A Very Potter Musical FTW!!!!

Sorry for any mistakes and R&R!