I'm jazzed that people want to read more. It'll be, probably, one of my shittier stories. Like I said in the first chapter, I haven't written anything worthwhile for years. So thanks for wanting to read it, it makes me feel good!
Trevor enjoyed his second beer; at least, Eris assumed he enjoyed it. He was pretty quiet, wedged in the corner of the booth. He looked drained, fidgety. Definitely not the man she stabbed in an alley way.
"I'm trusting you, Baby. By hiring you, I'm hoping to save the cut we'd usually waste on someone who gets lucky on someone who knows what they're doing. You need to impress me." Mike spoke, and Eris pretended to care. She was far beyond giving a shit about impressing him. Work with him, adore him, drink a few beers with him; yes. Impress him? No.
"When do we get to case?" Franklin, so Eris had learned, spoke for the first time since the ordeal.
"How 'bout now? T and I can go in, check out the security, see when shifts change and shit. I'll send you and Baby to the roof and see if her expertise come in handy." Michael spoke to Franklin, giving Eris an odd glance as he spoke of her. T seemed to groan, fishing a little white pill from his pocket.
"Sounds like a plan." Franklin gave a nod, standing up to offer the girl some room.
"Before you go, here." Mike held out a mic to Eris. Every criminal used the same brand. She clipped it in her hear and put herself on mute for the time being.
"Let's get elbow deep in some minor crime, boys." Eris laughed, sliding out of the booth, leading Franklin to her truck. The teams parted separate ways, not wanting to draw attention to themselves as the approached the bank.
They drove in silence for a few blocks, until they hit a red light. She heard Franklin shift, coughing softly to clear his throat.
"So, they call you Baby. Why's that?" His voice was cautious but welcoming. It seemed so contradictory, but in this field, almost everything was. You don't know the guys you're working with, but you have to trust them to cover your ass.
"Well. A lot of people I work with have common names. Bob's, Joe's, Franklin's, Mike's… Eris, however, is not common. Some asshole gets caught and wants to get a deal, I'll be easy to find. Baby Firefly? No one can find her."
"Shit's smart." She could tell Franklin was genuine. Young, but not foolish.
"Plus, Baby Firefly was this sweet Rob Zombie character. Super insane. She makes me laugh." Eris chuckled, pulling a pack of smokes from beside her seat. She offered the pack to her driving pal, but he declined.
"Fuck, you'd have to be insane to stab Trevor Phillips in the leg."
"What the fuck is up with that guy?" Eris slapped the wheel, letting a huff of smoke escape her lungs, pulling into an alley a block away from the bank.
"Don't really know. I'd ask Michael, they've got history or somethin' like that." Both pleased with their enlightening chat, and Eris having grabbed her gun from the compartment, they hopped out of the truck and made their way through the back streets.
"Alright," Eris sighed, tucking her gun into the back of her shorts ", I'm gonna need a boost." She finished her cigarette and tossed the butt down a storm drain, waiting for Franklin to catch up as she stared up at the hitched fire escape.
She set her foot in his large hands and let him lift her. Grabbing onto the bottom rung of the latter, she pulled herself up, legs kicking wildly until she managed to regain her footing. She signaled to Franklin, then kicked out of bolt that held the bottom half of the latter up. It fell with a bang, but mid-day Los Santos took it for nothing more than another gunshot going off.
"When Mike called me, he said you were some crime lord from Liberty or Vice or wherever. That true?"
"Indeed it is, my pal in crime." She huffed, as she reached the roof, stumbling on her weak legs. It had been awhile since she had to do the heavy work.
"Mind if I ask why you left?"
"I do."
"I'm just sayin' man. Anyone who would leave livin' like royalty behind has some serious shit going on." Eris found herself growing more disinterested with Franklin every time he spoke.
"Curiosity got the cat shot and buried in the woods." She looked back at Franklin with a smirk, watching him shrug her off.
"You piss of the mob or somethin'? Do I have to worry about some fat Italian man knockin' at my door?" Eris only half listened to his concerns. She had pulled the pocket knife from her pocket and started to remove the screws from the vent system.
"Italian mob isn't full of fat Italian guys with slicked hair, most of them are young, thin, and handsome as fuck. Little shits, though." Eris snorted.
"You've tangoed with some motherfuckers."
"Oh, it's not that bad. I'll take the mob over that animal Trevor any day of the week," she tossed the vent away and leaned in ", hold my feet." She felt him grasp her ankles and allowed herself to slip over and down. She tapped the vent and she was being pulled back up.
"Hey, M," She tapped the mic in her ear ", you boys in?"
"Yeah, what do you see, Baby?" Eris hid a chuckle; Mike sounded like a nasty old man when he called her Baby. No one ever called her Firefly.
"See a vent in the ceiling?" Eris heard nothing but static for a moment, before a happy voice belonging to old, fat Mike sounded through her ears.
"Indeed there is."
"Access to it is from the roof. We can drop a smoke bomb or tear gas down it, get the upper hand. I'm about to try and dismantle the alarm. Get out and hang across the street, if I bomb this, start timing."
"Well, well, I think I like it when you order me around." A voice, more gruff than Mike's, flowed into her ear. Eris felt her stomach churn.
She shook off the feeling like someone had just groped her in the back of the bus and got back to work. She jogged over to the back wall and hung over the side. She came face to face with her reflection in the old school silver alarm. With her handy tool, she pulled off the main plate, cut a few wires and bent a few pieces; rendering the alarm useless.
"Physical alarm is disarmed, but they might still have an electrical one. Have a computer geek on that shit?" She spoke into her mic
"Lester the Molester!" Trevor screeched into all of their ears. Eris didn't question it.
"We'll head to him tomorrow. How about we call it a day and start prep tomorrow. Baby, where're you staying for the time being?" Mike asked.
"Not sure. I gotta find a hotel to hole up in for a week or so before finding myself a permanent residence. I'll call you with my details in a few hours."
"Gotcha."
The pair climbed off the roof and, for the time being, went four separate ways.