I jumped out of bed when I heard the movement of Melina in the living room. I jumped up and quickly slipped into a pair of black skinny jeans, oversized t-shirt and denim jacket. I practically ran into the living room to greet her.

'Morning.' She laughed, her body spread out across the couch with a bowl of cereal in her lap. 'So you joined me for some doctor who, ey? Are you sure you don't want to sleep?'

'There's something I need to tell you,' I spoke confidently, not wanting to beat around the bush. 'T-Bone Grady told me something last night and I think you should hear it.'

Melina cocked her head to the side in confusion but listened carefully as I explained the whole conversation I had with T-Bone and all the factors I had considered last night. As I spoke, she sat up properly and placed her bowl down onto the coffee table, running her fingers through her hair.

'Well,' I gulped. 'What do you think?'

'Well, if he's especially asked for our help then that means he thinks we can do something.' Melina rubbed at her temples. 'And… If we can do something then surely it's our duty to try and help those people. Especially if they're hurting kids.'

'Why kids though?' I whispered, the only thing that confused me. 'Kids are scared, why not just threaten them into silence? I mean, that's not much better but at least they don't wind up dead.'

'Kids are the technology generation, they'll be better than any hacker who exists now could ever dream to be. I presume Blume is trying to scare other rising children back into their lanes so that they don't get cocky with their skills or else...'

'We can't let them do that.' I whispered. 'I thought about it all night, I think we should help him too.'

'Alright.' Melina gulped. 'I'll give him a call later, tell him that we're in. For now, I think we should ready ourselves for the worst. I'll skip my doctor who for today and run to the bank, you should go shopping too for whatever you needed… I'll get my FOID card and run down to GATs and pick up a couple of guns-'

'What? Why?' I frowned. 'Why do you even have a FOID card?'

'If we're going to be working against Blume, Clark, then we're going to have to protect ourselves if we have to. I very much doubt that T-Bone's going to shoot every single security guard we come across.' Melina sighed jumping up her feet, she grabbed her cereal and swallowed it all whole. 'We'll have to get started as soon as possible, if T-Bone is right and they have already started taking people out.'

'... Okay.' I whispered as Melina left the living room and headed towards her bedroom, most likely to get dressed. I sighed as I grabbed her cereal bowl and took it into the kitchen, I quickly opened the dishwasher and pushed it inside before walking back to the living room where I grabbed my purse and keys from the coffee table. I pushed the keys into my back pocket and held my purse in my hand as I quickly ran to grab my phone and handbag from my room.

When I came back, Melina was already back now fully dressed and was grabbing herself from underneath the coffee table. I watched as she disappeared into the kitchen then came back with the metal box in her hand.

'Can you keep it in your bag as we drive into town?' She asked, passing it to me. 'I'll call T-Bone on our way into town and discuss what we should do. We'll take the car and you're driving.'

'Right.' I nodded as I took the box and pushed it inside my large bag, zipping it shut afterwards. I ran to grab a few other things like my phone charger and a few blank SD cards, I wasn't really sure what I needed to be honest then headed to the car in the driveway.

Melina again, was already in the passenger seat waiting, her phone pressed against her ear. I quietly jumped into the car and started up the engine. I already knew that it would take us about thirty minutes to get from Pawnee to the Loop where the only gun shop I knew the location of was situated.

For the first few minutes into the drive, Melina didn't make a sound. She just continued to wipe at her temples until finally she pushed her phone onto the dashboard and flicked on loud speaker.

'It's Melina. T-Bone is that you? Can you hear me?'

'Loud and clear, darling.' The southern accent of Grady rang loud and clear through the car. 'So, Clark told you what I said last night. I'm surprised.'

'Why's that?' I growled.

'Oh, Clark, you're there too. It's good to hear your voice, I have to admit I'm surprised that the two of you got back in touch, especially so soon. I presume you want in on this little mission I have set for you then.'

'For now, T-Bone.' Melina whispered. 'We want to see what we can do to help.'

'Well, you'll have to meet me at my safehouse so we can talk and also so you can meet the rest of my little dream team.' He laughed. 'I'll send the details to your phone, bring extra clothing. This place gets fucking cold in the evening.'

With that, he was gone. Mel's phone beeped a few times before locking itself, but Mel didn't reach forward to grab it, she just sat in her seat in shock.

'You okay?' I gulped.

'I just- Ten minutes ago, I was eating cereal. Now I'm raising to put 6 thousand dollars into a bank and then I'm going to go to some clients safehouse to help him take down the biggest company in Chicago. The craziness of it just hit me is all.' She sighed, reaching to grab the phone and placed it in her coat pocket.

'... I didn't realise we'd be working as part of a team.' I mumbled after a few mumbles of silence.

'It makes sense.' Melina ran her fingers through her hair and grabbed it all to tie in a tight ponytail. 'It'll probably just be a group of fixers that T-Bone hired before Blume could and maybe some other hackers, I'm not really sure.'

'Why would people agree to kill needlessly?' I whispered. 'The fixers working for Blume I obviously mean.'

'Puts bread on the table.' Melina shrugged. 'I don't know, some people do whatever for money because they think a job is a job. I have to be honest, I'm jealous that they have that way of thinking. Imagine how much easier it would be for us if T-Bone gave us a job and we could just do without fear of the consequences.'

'That sounds horrible.' I whispered. 'I'd hate to kill people so needlessly, if I don't know them that just makes it worse because they could have families who need them, people who love them.'

'So what? You don't plan on ever killing anyone on this mission?'

'Nope.' I mumbled. 'I would never be that type of person.'

We drove the rest of the journey in silence, the only noise we heard was the morning radio playing ever so quietly and the gentle hum of the engine. I drove through Pawnee into Parker Square then across the motorway into the Loop. I drove to the gunshop and parked up outside.

'I'll run over to the bank first then come back here.' Melina mumbled about to jump out the car. 'Do the shopping that you need to do. Can you run over somewhere and buy me a few jumpers and combat trousers? You know my size and I trust you won't get me something too hideous to wear.'

'You've put your trust in the wrong person.' I joked as she opened the passenger door and jumped out.

'We'll meet back here at 10am okay? Until then, stay safe and don't, like, walk into traffic or something.'

I nodded as she closed the door and I drove off down the road, leaving her behind. I drove into the main town area and parked on the side of the road before jumping out and locking the car door behind me. I opted to head to Walmart first, my whole reason for coming out today was to stock up on some food for the house but if Melina and I were going to be at this safe house for a while then I guess there was no point buying groceries.

Walmart had been my life since before I even moved to Chicago. Walmart bought a company several years back called ASDA which is mostly situated in England where I used to live. I actually worked in ASDA when I was sixteen and at college. ASDA was most likely the reason why I got a job at Walmart so easily.

When I first came to Chicago, Walmart was my go-to supermarket where I made Melina buy nearly everything, including clothes, food, home supplies. Mostly because it reminded me of home and things that had played a big role in my life.

I walked inside the supermarket and grabbed a trolley from the side and wheeled it in. Not really sure what to buy. Melina and I were kinda good for cash so I could literally buy whatever I wanted. I guess for now I should just get some food that I can keep in my bag that doesn't need to go in a fridge.

I first headed over to the food aisles and grabbed a few bits and bobs like some cereal bars and some- red vines. Melina lied, they did have some red vines left! I also grabbed some bottles of water to keep on me and some food in packets like super noodles and cup 'a' soups. I also headed over to the alcohol aisle and grabbed a sneaky bottle of whiskey. I learnt a while ago that whenever I was doing something wrong, it helped to wet my whistle a little before hand to calm my nerves.

Then I headed up to the second floor to the clothing aisles.

I grabbed a cheap gym bag then grabbed some trousers for both Melina and myself. Melina wanted combat trousers but I went for jeggings for myself, anything that clung to my legs and didn't get in my way was best. Plus they weren't as tight as tight as skinny jeans and so I'd still be able to move around in them.

I grabbed some jumpers and hoodies, three each then grabbed a new pair of trainers for myself. If T-Bone was right and it was going to be cold then I'd probably layer up the jumpers and the hoodies. The trainers were for easy running if need be, I've got to expect the worst from whatever T-Bone's going to set me and Melina to do and if push comes to shove, I'm going to need to run a fair few times.

I was about to walk back downstairs when a thought came to my mind.

If I'm going to be doing a lot more dangerous stuff then the least I can do is try and hide my appearance. The best way to do that would be to cover my face from security cameras and what not.

I walked over to the accessories and grabbed myself a few scarves and some hats for both myself and Melina to use. I also grabbed a pair of leather fingerless gloves with studded knuckles for myself because- well because they were cute and I liked them.

I was about to head down to the checkouts after that, when suddenly after cutting a corner I barged right into someone and knocking them down onto the ground.

'Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry!' I gasped, running around my trolley to help the person off the floor. I grabbed the man by the shoulder and yanked him back up to his feet and quickly patted down at his crisp grey suit as he stared at me.

'Well… Someone wasn't looking where they were going.' The man smirked, running his fingers through his hair.

'I'm so sorry.' I gasped. 'I didn't break anything did I?'

'No, no. Of course not.' The male smiled again. The man had mid-length black hair and looked to be from asian descent, had had a small amount of facial hair in a goatee shape. He towered over my 5 foot 7 height and smiled down at me, like I was a child who had made a fool of myself.

'... Umm, yeah I'm really sorry. I didn't see you when I came around.' I gulped, not really sure what to say now as the man just continued to stare at me.

He was hot. I'm not going to lie about that. He looked old, or rather a lot older than me but the way he had one button of his red undershirt left undone at the top was making my heart beat twice as fast as it would if I got into this situation with anyone else.

'Honestly, it's fine. I didn't expect for such a pretty young lady to knock me off my feet so early today.' The man winked. 'The name's Jordi… And you are?'

'Clark...' I chuckled. 'Are you sure you're alright though?'

'I'm absolutely fine, are you though? You're way too pretty to be here all by yourself. Is there anything I can help you with?'

'No that's fine.' I smiled, staring down at my feet as my cheeks blushed crimson red. 'Thank you though.'

'That's quite alright… Hey, forgive me if I'm being too forward but if- I don't know, maybe I find that I am a little injured and I need to get in contact with you, would it be weird if I asked for your number?'

I blushed ever harder as I nodded my head and let him tap in my number to his phone. He winked at me again before whispering. 'Thanks, I'll be sure to call if I do develop some injuries.'

'Be sure to do that, Jordi.'