Aya goes to school Thursday and Friday, careful to not end up alone with Jack. All of her work is turned in, even the days she missed, and the teachers are impressed. She can't pretend that it was easy to do five days of work in one night, but she accomplished it. She couldn't sleep once Wednesday came around and knew such luck wouldn't come around again on Thursday. So she caught up on work.
It's after school now, and Aya sighs as she leans against her locker. "Now I have to wait until six... Four hours isn't so bad after a few days." She sighs again, blowing hair from her face. She opens her eyes as Mark leans against the locker next to her own. Mark isn't much older than she, only seventeen, and goes to high school on the other side of town. She's always known that Mark was cute, but today was especially so. His hair has a look that suggests he just rolled out of bed, but Aya knows that it takes a lot to tame that blonde monster, and his blue eyes were alight with excitement.
"I have actual information," he says. Aya hesitates since she recently learned that he works for Blood, the man she's after for killing not only mother, but Collin, the boy she loved. "I'm serious this time. I have the whole lay out of the plan. They have so many letters that it amazes even myself. However, since I devised it, I have made a blind spot just. For. You."
Aya looks at the paper in his hands. "Can I trust that it isn't the one spot that will most definitely kill me? After all, you're the one who betrayed me. Maybe I should've beat you up, asking for answers I didn't know you even had." She slams her locker door shut, tightening the straps on her bag angrily. She doesn't have time for this. She has to be ready with her own plans and several backups. Mark grabs her arm.
"Trust me again. I swear that this is real. Unless I'm being lied to, and I'm the one who knows everything about you which makes me better suited for the job that they were assigning." Aya looks away, hazel eyes meeting the floor. Mark sighs and drops her arm. "At least look at it and set it up around the focal point I made for you. I'm trying to apologize, Aya."
Aya takes the paper, seeing the hallway thin out and Jack at the only exit. She breathes out a heavy sigh. "I'm not done with you, Mark, but I have more persistent people asking for answers that I trust." Aya pauses. "Thanks though. Had I not learned about your true allegiance, I would still trust you and use this to my advantage. We'll see if I'm dead by the end of tonight." She smiles at him. "Not like I have much choice in the matter."
She walks off, shoes squeaking slightly as she shuffles, trying to blend in with the group to get out of the hallway. Aya knows that it's futile, that Jack is watching her every move until he can get her alone without completely missing her. She's done good so far, but purely through changing jackets in the hallway and getting out of sight as soon as she got outside. Basically, it was through luck.
As she walks out, she feels a hand on her arm and shrugs it off. It finds her once again and she looks at the person holding it. Jack glares down at her, and she knows that she's in for more than a lecture if she doesn't get away now. "Aya Mercer," he growls, anger decorating his features. "You are in so much trouble." He jerks her arm and she winces at how tight his grip is. It doesn't help that some asshole sent by Blood had around tightened his belt around her arm for "experimental purposes"... Yeah he is definitely a dead son of a bitch.
Aya says nothing as he leads her out, his grip sure to make those bruises have another layer on them. "Jack, loosen up," she says, bridging on tears. He turns around to look at her, and she is almost sure that he's going to slap her or punch her or kick her or all three. She braces herself, knowing that if it came to it, she'd never be able to hit Jack Mercer. "Please. I already have bruises." He looks down, glaring at where he keeps a hold on her.
"Why?"
"Some body tried to tear my arm up... He held me down pretty tightly and I have a scar from where he almost succeeded." She tries a smile. "I can wake up if you're nice about it." Jack doesn't smile back, and Aya knows that she's fucked up real bad. But he does loosen his grip and she sighs in audible relief. He forces her into an alley near the school and bookshop. Aya hits the wall and falls on her ass.
"What the hell were you thinking?" Bobby growls as he makes his, Angel's, and Jerry's presence known. Aya scrambles up, looking somewhere between fearful and joyous to see them. She doesn't answer, hazel eyes searching for an escape route. Bobby comes closer, slamming his fist into the wall next to her. "What the hell were you thinking?!"
Aya's breath quickens and she makes a run toward the darkness the alley provides. Angel catches her, holding her so she can't move. "Let me go!" she screams. "Let me go!" Fear overcomes the joy and anger that they would do this to her, and tears begins to leak at the corner of her eyes. She remembers that Mark was in the area, and he's a fast runner. "Mark!"
"Who the fuck is Mark?" Bobby demands from her. She says nothing, hand reaching into her pocket and hitting his speed dial. "I asked a question, Aya!" She flinches as he holds a hand up. It takes her a moment to realize that it isn't to strike her, but the sudden alarm in his eyes is to good of a weapon to not use, no matter how much it hurts.
"Bobby, is she actually scared?" Jerry asks, and Aya plays the part. "Jesus, she used to raise a hand right back when you did that shit. What the hell happened to her?" She lets out a sob, a real one she could've been holding back, and wriggles in Angel's arms once more. They converse a few more minutes, mostly sharing looks about what to do with her. A yelp from Jack gives Aya the signal that it's time to get the fuck out. She slams her elbow back, knocking the air out of Angel and leaving him wheezing. She grabs Bobby's wrist and slams him into Jerry, running toward Mark as he holds down Jack.
"Let's go!" she yells once across the street. Mark holds onto Jack, trying his hardest to hold him down. "Mark! Come on!" Bobby and Jerry are coming out of the alley. "Mark!" He looks up at her screech, and sees her actual fear before scrambling up and away. He grabs her arm, pulling her along as Bobby and Angel takes off after her, Jerry more concerned about Jack.
Aya's hair flies behind her, and she regrets not getting it cut again. Waist length hair is a lot of hair, especially when it's down and perfect for people to grab and yank her back. Luckily she has Mark though, who makes sure that she can keep far enough ahead. She gets tired relatively quickly and slows down. Mark drags her more than her actually running, leading her through a maze of back alleys.
Mark stops at the diner in which her mother worked at five minutes later, and they both enter quickly. The cook, the same as when Andrea had once worked there, sees them out of breath and ushers them into the storage room. Before she closes the door, Aya whispers, "Thanks, Cookie." Cookie winks and shuts the door.
Aya presses her ear up against the door, listening hard. She hears their voices before a crash occurs and the door opens followed shortly by a slam. Aya falls against the door, unable to catch her breath and she cries into the darkness. Two arms wrap around her, and Mark shushes her, rocking her like a young child. When Cookie comes back, Aya feels another body hold onto her.
"I want my mom," Aya cries. "I want Collin..."
"I know, darlin'," Cookie says. "I know you do."
Jack enters the house first, followed quickly by Angel, Jerry, and Bobby. He opens the fridge and grabs a beer for each of them, handing them out. "Why would she do this?" he asks himself as Evelyn comes in. He looks in the mirror at the split lip he earned from that Mark bastard. Evelyn hums softly to herself.
"I got a call from Aya today," she says, grabbing a glass. "She said not to worry. She promised to be back by midnight tomorrow and that she'll call if something goes wrong and has to take even longer to tie up some loose ends." The boys all stare at her.
"How can you stand this, ma?" Bobby asks after a long moment. "If you know where she's going to be, then tell us so that we can bring her back before she goes to jail. Murder can make her an adult in the court's eyes."
It takes Evelyn a long time to answer. "Andrea once told me something that has stuck with me. I know it sticks with Aya too. 'A crime is a crime, no matter the cause or justification for it. When you kill, you have held a man's life in your hands, his future, his past, his present, and crushed it. Not only have you crushed his, but his family's also. That's why when people kill, they don't think about those things.' Aya does. Every time she pulls that trigger or tightens her grip around someone's throat, she knows what she's doing. And she doesn't ignore it."
"How do you know she doesn't ignore it, mom?" Jack asks, his bottle already half empty.
Evelyn laughs. "She told me once that if she takes a father away from someone and he wants her dead for it, she'll be prepared to either die by his hand or kill him too. A brother, and son... Even a friend. Andrea did too. She taught Aya more in those eight years than schooling has in most of her life. Shame though that she died."
"That doesn't mean much," Angel speaks up.
"It means everything. To Aya, at least." Evelyn sits down in her chair, smiling. "If you want to cause Aya that much more misery in return for attempting to stop blood from staining her hands, then she should be at the bookstore by six o'clock tonight."
Mark lays out the plan on the table. Aya quickly runs over the paper, eyes still red and bloodshot. "So, my safe haven is this corner right here?" she asks, pointing to a corner. Mark nods.
"You can't lean forward and when you kill him, you have to be quick about it. Trust me, no body on duty is going to go along with that Blood was murdered. He's pissed all of them off, and they want him dead. If they say anything, it'll be some fake description that the cops can't go on," Mark explains, grinning at her. "I did good, huh?"
"Excellent, actually," she praises. "So, I'm here, Blood is here, and there is... six mean inside and seven men outside. How do I get out?"
"Ah, that is the tricky part that I had to be extra careful about. Remember the guy that sold me out?"
"Hell yeah. I told him to get out of there as fast as possible."
"He didn't. And he's on our side. He's going to be alone with this guy on the rooftop across the street. Realize that he's the only pair," Mark says with a bigger grin. "He's going to twist the bastard's neck and take out the guys outside and three inside. I have someone hidden behind the counter to take out the other two."
"Jesus you're good," she whistles. "Reminds me of how we met."
"Yep. Planning revenge on our second grade teacher after she made it public about your mom in the middle of class." He sighs happily. "That was the day..."
"It was a damn good day," Aya agrees, seeing that she has only one hour before going to meet Blood for his death sentence, delivered personally by the blonde bitch. She grabs her gun and checks the clip. "Where are you going to be?"
"Not around," Mark answers. "I'm going to set myself far enough away to make it so that I'm not even in Detroit between now and tomorrow." He grabs his things. "I'll see you."