Aya wakes up the next morning, ruffling her hair and looking around. She grabbed a hotel room, going under Jenna Mathers as she has nothing left to really lose. Her phone goes off, and she sees a message from Mark. "Big meeting tonight. No chance. About you. Confirmed." Aya sighs and leans back, wishing she could be someone else for just a few minutes.
Getting up and getting dressed, Aya wonders if anyone is awake and how they are.
"What the hell?!" Bobby yells upon reading the note. Jack's fever has gone down, and he's now able to understand most of what is going on. "She packed up her shit and left?! In the middle of the night?!"
"She had reason, Bobby," Angel says. "She was really a part of this family last night. There is no way that she wants to be gone and away from us. She just can't, man." But Angel knows that he's trying to convince himself of the same thing. It's hard to imagine that Aya would do this, especially after last night. So why is she gone? Why...
Bobby slams his hand on the counter again before something clicks in his head. "Wait... Ma said that Andrea, Aya's biological mother, was murdered, right?" Jeremy nods. "Of course. She asked me... Jesus, shit!"
"It's not just her mother," Jack says. "It's her old boyfriend too. She planned to marry him. Had a promise ring and everything."
"What do you know about this, Jackie?" Bobby growls.
"I don't know... I can't connect the dots to know, Bobby." Jack thinks for a second before saying, "Wasn't it a gang thing? In some little diner?" Evelyn comes into the kitchen, perfectly calm and not worrying at all about her adopted daughter. "Mom?"
"Hm?"
"Are you worried at all for Aya?"
"No. She said that she's going to come back, didn't she?" Evelyn hums to herself. "I think she fully plans on it. She put it in writing. I remember her mother used to put all sorts of things in writing for you. Andrea didn't mean anything until she had it written down on a piece of paper and had given it to you." Bobby and the boys give her a weird look.
"You knew her mother?"
"Yes. Knew Aya when she was young too. I never made the connection until recently. I went to that little diner so often that Andrea always just brought my food out to me and gave me a smile. She was such a good waitress. Quick, exact. I never met someone unsatisfied with her," Evelyn said. "Most just never left a good tip. So she couldn't make much money, and the best she could give Aya was one day off when it was her birthday. She would stick a candle in a cookie for her, sing for her, and then watch a few movies they had seen a million times."
The boys pay attention as she speaks. "So what happened to her?"
"I had left long before she died. Everyone there claimed it was a gang shooting, and then there was one little voice, shouting above and calling them all a bunch of liars. She claimed someone murdered Andrea over a bit of money. I knew too, because I was the only one Andrea told. She took one hundred dollars out of the thousand in the envelope. Planned on paying it back, too. She just wanted to buy her daughter a pretty little dress... Andrea was a good mother."
"What is Aya doing then?"
"Hunting them down, of course. Andrea had done the same thing when someone killed Aya's father. Those two are almost exactly alike."
Aya walks down the street, gun concealed and a few knives hidden while her crow bar is easily seen. She knows how odd she looks, and she can't say that she cares. Today is Sunday, so Abby should be somewhere Aya already knows about. The bookstore. Aya enters and takes a seat next to the redhead. "Hello, Jenna. Any news?"
"Yes. Apparently an informant has gone rogue," she answers, grabbing a discarded book and opening it. She already read the book, so she just picks a spot. She sees Abby tense out the corner of her eye, and feels her suspicions are already confirmed. "Heard anything from anyone recently?"
"Only that there's supposed to be a huge meeting. He said we can't get close though," she answers. Aya sighs, hating what she knows is coming. "I think we should go. I'm a good shot, so I can easily get him-"
"I think we shouldn't speak so publicly, Abby. Let's go down the street to the alleyway." Aya keeps herself together until they're well into the darkness of the smelly area. She leans against a wall, glaring at Abby. "You have five seconds to come clean," Aya says. "Or else I will stab you. Jenna Mathers doesn't exist and they will never find me." Her knife comes from her boot. "Tell me why Gunner said you're 'up close and personal' with Blood?"
"Wh-what?"
"Wrong answer. One more chance, Abby. Why did Gunner tell me you're fucking Blood?" Aya hears nothing and sighs. "I actually liked you..." She covers her face before jabbing the knife in her stomach, making sure to twist it on the way in and on the way out. "See you later, Abby." Abby attempts to say something, but ends up saying nothing before Aya slits her throat.
"Damn..." Aya cleans her knife before going another way, coming out at Pete's. She enters the shop only to have Bobby push her against the wall. She immediately reverts to her weird voice. "Oh, it's you."
"Yeah, me. Where is she?!" he yells. Aya sees Pete, staring at her with narrowed eyes, before her gaze passes over Angel and Jeremy, stopping at Jack. She notices how he looks and represses a smile. He used the stupid tea. "Hey! Where is she?"
"Who? Aya?"
"Yeah. Aya."
"Well... If she isn't with you, then I don't know," Aya answers. "Maybe you should think about that, kid. Now, if you don't mind, I have to work." She pushes his hands away before being grabbed again and pushed into a stack of clothes on a table. She flips over the table and feels something in her break. She looks up at Bobby as he comes to her again. "If she isn't with you, then I don't fucking know."
"Wrong answer," Bobby growls, pulling her up roughly by her arm. Aya pulls her elbow up and hears a crack from his nose. He curses and she cracks her neck as Angel and Jeremy both watch her carefully.
Aya looks at Pete before deciding it best to leave. Jack quickly gets in her way. "Move," she whispers in a low voice. "Now. Get the fuck out of my way." He stands there and she looks up at him before pushing Jack out of the way. "I said to move." She leaves the store and goes down the street, trying to leave a trail for them to find if they were serious about pursuing someone who doesn't even exist.
Jack answers the door while Bobby presses ice to his eye. He's surprised to see Mrs. Jackson and Eva. "Uhm... Hello?"
"Is Aya here?! I'm supposed to spend the day with her for her birthday!" Eva says, rushing inside. "Yay! Aya!" Mrs. Jackson, however, notices the look on Jack's face and can't help but feel worried.
"Where is she?"
"She left a note and said that she will be back," he answers. "I can take Eva out.." Mrs. Jackson shakes her head. "How are you going to tell her?"
"Same way I've had to tell her before. Aya is busy and just can't make the time for her birthday. Eva will get mad, but she'll get over it once she sees Aya again," Mrs. Jackson answers. "Eva, come on, darling. She can't come play with you today, but she'll make the time soon. She doesn't have enough time for her own birthday."
Eva pouts, and after a few moments of searching for Aya, she ends up following after her mother. Jack closes the door and looks at his brothers. "I don't suppose you have any other ideas of where she could quite possibly be from what mom told you?"
Bobby sighs. "Nothing. It was that Jenna girl, Gunner... And a dead girl. I think we hid the body well enough that no one will find her, don't you?"
"Who? Abby? Oh yeah," Angel says. "In a body bag where she'll be burned and no one can find her. We covered the tracks well enough I think... Wait, Jack, didn't you say that Gunner gave Aya the note not to trust Abby?"
"Yeah."
"And we saw Jenna shortly afterwards, right? I mean, the Abby girl was dead for only minutes before she led the trail to her then purposely went cold," Jeremy points out. "It doesn't seem like there's enough time between then..."
"Unless Aya managed to get the message to Jenna really early. Besides... She had a different jacket on. A black one, remember?" Bobby says. "Jack, go look and see if Aya's black jacket is up there."
"Wait, do you think-"
"That Jenna and Aya are the same person? Hell yeah," Bobby interrupts Angel. He runs a hand through his hair. He tries to remember both girls perfectly clear and comes up with both of them in his mind. "My biggest doubts remain the eye color and hair color."
"It isn't," Jack says as he comes from upstairs. He has something in his hand, and throws it on the table. "It won't for long. Put one of those in." Bobby gives him a weird look before complying. "Now, imagine him with Aya's eyes."
"It's a perfect fit," Angel says in a low voice. "So all she would need is a wig and she could go around as someone completely different, even going by a different name. It would take getting up close and personal with both girls to know if it's true."
"Taking into consideration that we're the only ones to actually know Aya, no body could tell the difference. I doubt any of the people she went after would go after a real identity. If they did, they probably didn't look in the right places." Bobby sighs, crossing his arms over his chest. "I doubt anyone other than ourselves would know that Aya gets so hot that often goes without at least one article of clothing to make that connection."
"The question remains... how do we find Aya? Is she going by her name or Jenna's? Hell, what is Jenna's last name?" Angel feels himself getting confused as he can hardly keep the names and last names straight. Talking about Jenna is talking about Aya, talking about Aya is talking about Jenna, and Jenna is Jenna, and Aya is Aya.
"Probably whatever she wants it to be in any situation," Jeremy says. "So in this situation, what would it?"
"Something people could stop at but not remember," Jack answers. "A name that stands out slightly, just not to the point of special recognition if they heard it again." Everyone can say that they agree with Jack. She has a sense of humor like that. "But if we go after her then she'll have to move constantly, won't she?"
"It doesn't matter," Bobby says, giving his brother a 'what-the-fuck' look. "She needs to come home. I don't care if the fucking president told her to do this. It had best be for a million dollars if it was him."
"Bobby, this is worth a million dollars to her," Angel says, seeing what Jack sees. "She would give anything to finish this, and this is the only way she can do it without having us in the middle by default."
"Look, I'll see if she goes to school tomorrow," Jack says. "If she does, I'll ask her about it. If she doesn't, we do this crazy idea of tracking her down."
Aya grabs the guy by his shirt collar. "What's the plan to find the girl taking Blood's men out?" she growls through her teeth. "Every three seconds is one jab. One... Two.."
"I ain't telling you shit," he answers. She stabs his leg with her knife. "Shit..." She starts counting again. At three she makes a move and he grabs her hand. "Wait... The plan is to follow a trail Abby left for her. Her informant is supposed to tell her that there's a real obvious trail to Blood, and it is. He's being ballsy now. Thinks he has a big enough dick to take her on."
"How is the informant supposed to know?"
"Because he was there. He's also in Blood's pocket. That's why she's hit so many dead ends. The guy wants to help, but Blood has his family at gunpoint. He has given her real information, just not enough to cause a real difference." She lets him go. "Hey, are you her?"
"I am. I should kill you..." Aya looks at him. "But it'd be useless. You're only a high school student getting into something he has no idea about." She begins walking away. "Get out of it while you can, kid. You've only been to a few meetings, the biggest being about me. I promise that you'll be fine if you do. Once I'm done, you'll be fine."
"What about you?"
"I'll never be safe again if I don't kill him," she answers, leaving him alone.