Disclaimer: Nope. Still not mine.


Mia ran as fast as she could, darting in and out of traffic as she made her way back to a familiar part of town. She was amazed by how quickly she'd gotten back down into Alphabet city from the precinct. It also felt somewhat odd to be back. She couldn't help but think about how much had changed in such a short time.

She knew that Amber would have gone back for that photo of her family. It was all the girl had in the world and Mia could sympathize with that. The moment she heard of Amber's disappearance Mia knew where she would have headed. Afterall, she would have returned for her book had she believed it was still there. Amber had no reason to believe her things wouldn't be.

She quickly made her way to avenue C, not stopping at Raza's bread shop or bothering to listen to Newsman Louie's words. Although seated on his normal stoop, the man seemed more agitated than normal and he was banging rhythmically on several cans and bottles.

"Damnit. Boom! Where are they? Damnit… Damnit… Damnit... Boom...Boom" The old man parroted.

A light rain began to fall, assaulting Mia with a mixture of sleet and ice-cold water. The teen pulled the hood of her sweater around her head to help block the wind and rain, securing the knot as she rounded the corner and reached her former dwelling.

She sighed with relief when she saw that it appeared to be uninhabited, exactly the same as she left it. Perhaps if she'd been listening to Louie's words she would have thought twice before running into the condemned building. Perhaps she would have been alerted to the lurking danger.


He waited, slowly going out of his mind with boredom. He'd been sitting in the same alley for hours, waiting for his cue. Everything was ready to go, all he needed was for the girl to arrive.

"look for the red-headed teenager, let her go in and lock her in. Then it's…boom!" His directions had been clear.

The man's instructions came from Tony himself. Plant the bomb as high in the building as possible, wait for the teen girl to show up, lock her in with chains wrapped around the handle of the door, and then press the button. He loved that part-watching fire consume everything in its path-watching buildings come crumbling down, was intoxicating. It wouldn't be the biggest of explosions, but the house was far from structurally sound and the effect would be just as lethal.

He was beside himself with excitement, with longing.

It filled him with power, with satisfaction and with a sense of release beyond anything else. He wanted to feel that again and was getting antsy waiting for the teen to show up. By the time the girl arrived he was desperate. He couldn't tell if she had red hair because she had a hoodie tied securely at her neck, but she looked like a teenager. How many teens run into abandoned buildings in crappy parts of town? He reasoned as he watched her from the shadows.

He watched the girl enter the house and sighed with excitement. It was finally time to do it and could barely contain himself.

The man moved silently to do as he was told.


"Hello?" Mia called as she made her way into the abandoned building that was once her home.

She was met with silence.

"Are you here?" She called out in desperation. There was no answer. She ran to Amber's old space but found nothing. I swore she'd be here. Mia thought to herself. She was filled with disappointment and confusion.

Moments later she was startled by the solid slamming of the front door, followed by what sounded like chains.

"Amber, this isn't funny! We have to go." She called, trying to keep her fear in check. She froze in place when she heard a lock click into place.

Mia's intuition screamed and the hair on her neck stood on end. Something deep inside told her that the noise had not been caused by Amber. She was nauseous with fear and could feel her heart pounding. Blood was pumping to her head and making her feel dizzy with trepidation. The teen swallowed back the lump in her throat as she attempted to calm herself.

Mia made her way back to the front door, alarmed that it had suddenly slammed shut and confused to find nobody there. She tried to pull the door open, only to find that it would not budge. She pulled again, throwing her back into it and still the door would not move.

The teen then ran to the back door, only to find that it too was sealed shut from the outside. She was trapped.

Mia looked to the windows, but knew she would have little luck given that there were old security bars fastened to all of them. It was ironic that the bars that once made her feel safe were now the same that would trap her in what would most certainly be a deadly situation.

Instead of pulling the door open she realized she was pulling against solid chains. The metallic rattle was a dead giveaway that she'd been purposefully locked inside the building. The realization struck her as she reflected back to the conversation she'd overheard at the precinct.

"The Kitty Kat Club burned down. Evidently some kind of explosive was involved." Esposito's words rang through her head, mocking her as she began to panic. A moment later she heard a beeping, followed by an overwhelming blast coming from somewhere above her head.

It startled her for a moment and she froze, eyes squeezed shut and waiting for the end. However, the blast never reached her- exploding somewhere high above instead. She had seconds to register the loud cracking noises. She barely had time to startle before the world fell apart around her. The teen dove between the nearest door frame in the hope that she might have some structural protection.

First her eyes were clouded by dust, then she felt as if the world was falling down around her. In the next instant Mia's world went black.

She never heard the delighted laughter as the man made his escape from the now decimated street corner.

She never heard the desperate screams of her mother, coming just moments later from somewhere in the distance.


AN: This is not written to toy with you dear readers. You will soon learn that this event is critical to the plot.