A/N: Ben 10 doesn't belong to me in the least. I do, however, claim ownership of my characters.
Rachel frowned down at the group of immature teens she was stuck with. They were all moping and sulking, poking at the food she had brought them, as per their request. They were all pining for Meena, apparently. "Look, even if she came back now, there's five of you and one of her. Get over it." They blinked, slowly looking up at her, then around at each other, eyes narrowing. Ah. Wonderful. She somehow made it worse.
"Full house, Rach?" She curled her lip at Mike as he walked through the door. "Hm. Isn't Meena working tonight?" She hissed as the boys began talking—bickering—amongst themselves. She left them to growl at each other, moving towards her 'superior'. "What?"
"Like you totally didn't just see her on her date outside." He blinked, looking back out through the glass door of the diner and into the slowly darkening area. "She's been out there for like half an hour. They're probably making-out right now." Mike wrinkled his nose, bringing his sight back into the diner to avoid seeing anything he would live to regret.
"No, I can't say I have, actually." Rachel raised a brow, then shook her head. "Seriously."
"Well, they must be up on the hill then. With all those trees, it's like pitch black." Not to her, of-course, but to other people. "Ah, I should probably bring her back to reality. Her break ended fifteen minutes ago." Mike looked surprised. "All I'm saying is that she had Cook's blessing." Meena was typically back on the floor well before her break was over and whatever Cook says, goes. If Cook says take an hour, you can, no questions asked. "I'll round 'em up." Mike moved past her, walking towards the teens that were now all glaring at each other, hissing threats. "Corral 'em, okay? They might get violent."
"Meena?"
"Yup." This was now a common occurrence, guys becoming hostile over Meena. And the poor girl had no idea what was going on half the time. Rachel pushed open the door, letting it fall closed behind her. Stepping outside, she breathed in deep, her eyes scanning the parking lot. "Hello~? Meena, Darling~ Break's over~!" she called, not seeing them in the immediate vicinity. She smiled viciously, silently cheering for Pierce. "Yoohoo~! Meena~!" She saw movement under the trees that rested up the hillside. The form that she could make out was too big for either Meena or Pierce. Never having feared danger before, she stepped away from the protection that the windows of the diner offered, walking out into the parking lot and towards the hill where no lights were. "Kids, time to come in. It's getting dark." She saw another figure, a ways apart from the first. She kept her eye on them, moving closer to the dark. "Hey, Sweetie, it's Rachel. Come on, where are you?" Her fingers twitched as the figures stayed where they were. "Oh, I get it. Well, I'm coming up! The two of you better be decent by the time I get there, or there'll be hell to pay—the both of you."
There was something wrong, she could smell it. Her eyes shifted, taking in every tree, every bush, catching every movement, looking at every sound. Nothing could escape her. Not when she was serious. "At-least say something to let me know you aren't passed out or something!" She called up, noting the figures moved a few steps toward her, shifting behind trees.
As if they could hide from her.
She squared her shoulders, digging her heels in the ground as she began her way up the hill. She pulled her cellphone from her back pocket, flipping it open and hitting the 3 hard, raising it to her ear and glaring up, watching as trees passed over her. "Yeah, you dork, it's me." She kept her voice hushed, almost a purr. "A kid at work's MIA, so's Pierce. Yes, Pierce Wheels, how many 'Pierce's do we know? Well, yeah, that's why I called. Oh, could you? I would be ever so delighted." She stopped, cocking her head at the sound of a branch snapping. "Just get here. Yes. Them and five more. No, leave the brat at home. I don't care if it would be good experience, he's not coming. If you're not here in five minutes and I'm not here, mom will kill you." She snapped the phone shut and shoved it back in her pocket. "Meena! Come on, your mom called! Said something's up with your uncle!"
The figures moved closer. Two males. Approximately her age. Late teens, early twenties at most. She smelled blood but couldn't determine if it was coming from one of them. She smelled… cold? That's not right… She tensed her arms, letting them spread out from her sides, showing her nails. She raised her face, sniffing at the air, her lips curling back from her teeth. "You sure picked the wrong night to go after the Kid." Clouds, which had previous guarded the moon with their slow movement across the sky, finally passed, letting the light fall onto the trees, casting the darkness in a silver glow. She saw them up ahead. They had been moving closer and closer to her, not knowing the danger they were putting themselves in. "Ah, dear God… Really?" She hissed under her breath at the absurdity of it all. "Hal Clemmons and Jesse Meller, you think you can outmatch me? In a fight?" The figures froze and she smirked, showing her canines.
And then her smile faded, her lips pulling down in a frown as her golden eyes narrowed further. Rapid footfalls behind her and she rolled her shoulders. "Took you long enough, Jamie." He let out a breath, noting her tense form and choosing not to answer. "These two are idiots from my school. Three more, besides the lovebirds, up higher. These two… Well. We've danced to this tune before."
"Violence is never the answer, Tweets."
"Hypocrite." She stalked forward, moving low to the ground. He could tell she was angry.
"You close with this kid?" He followed beside her, making sure of his steps in the brush.
"She's the one I took care of." His eyes narrowed to slits and he resisted the urge to break from stealth mode to take the first strike. He knew how much she liked the girl. "Considering how Pierce would have handled the situation, I'm going with they took him out first. Though, that's interesting in itself. Someone taking out Pierce."
"Let's worry about that later, okay Furball?" She hissed at him and he took the lead. "You find them. Take care of the others. I'll be along shortly." She veered off their path and he shot forward, leaping from the darkness and startling the two, sending them crashing to the ground. Rachel ignored their yelps, pushing herself towards the top of the hill, where she could smell blood more distinctly. And the cold. She didn't bother about her steps now, there was no need. She could already see a form over the crest, peering down, trying to find his friends in the darkness, probably wondering why he heard them yelling. She recognized him too.
"Noah Lucas!" He flinched, scrambling back. She heard his frantic voice, heard another male answering him. She cleared the top, form low to the ground as she faced them. Three males, as she thought. She found Meena, cornered and with Pierce on the ground behind her. Surprisingly, his mask was still intact, hiding his true face. Tears were streaming down Meena's cheeks, but a smile spread across her features when she saw Rachel. Rachel didn't let her eyes leave the three before her, taking in what she could while keeping them in her sights. Noah was inching back towards a blonde she recognized as Danny Brennan. Danny was glaring at her, obviously not amused. Closer to Meena than she would have liked was a guy she knew particularly well, having known him since they were both small children, also having sent him to the hospital on three different occasions. "Dal Thom. Small world." She straightened, letting her arms rest beside her hips. "I'd like to think you're being an absolute gentleman, but, considering the blood on my friend, and what's scattered around here, I'm gonna have to go with no."
"This doesn't concern you, Calico. Get lost." Danny stepped forward threateningly. Or, what would have been a threat to anyone besides her. "Unless you wanna get dragged down with her." Rachel shook her head sadly, letting out a soft breath.
"You poor, misguided, delusional boy." She raised her face, beyond annoyed. "You think you can handle me?" He took another step and Noah took heart from Danny's arrogant confidence, rallying with him. Dal still stood close to Meena, effectively cornering her. "You're mistaken."
"M-miss Rachel, please be careful!" Danny looked back to sneer at her while Dal crouched down, smiling at her. She huddled further back against the trees, a hand on Pierce's back.
"Kid, this is my kinda party." She rolled her shoulders once more, stalking forwards. "And this is too much fun to stop now." Rachel knew she looked positively psychotic, but she didn't mind.
"Hey hey, no maiming." Jamie appeared from below her, hopping up beside her and standing straight, eyeing those before him. "You've got to be kidding me… More kids from your school? Really? Guys, not cool. Kidnapping is a felony. You're looking at some serious jail time. I also see some counts of assault and—"
"Thank you, Counselor, the Prosecution rests its case." Rachel lunged forward, pouncing on Danny and sending him crashing to the ground. A yelp from Noah, who was crushed into a tree. "Say 'Uncle'." Rachel looked down blankly at the boy beneath her, her nails at his throat, blood oozing from his broken nose where she had slammed his face in the dirt. "No?" She pressed down with her hand, watching as the blood seeped around his mouth, beginning to choke him of oxygen. "Give up?" She pressed down harder, feeling his pulse beating rapidly beneath her fingers.
"Tweets, that's enough. They're out." Noah was unconscious, his nose broken as well, lying beneath the tree Jamie had slammed him into. No doubt he'd wake up with a concussion. "Rachel." She scoffed, rising and gazing down at the broken form below her. She knocked him onto his back, satisfied at the blood pooling around his mouth. She looked to Dal, who had risen by now, looking at them for all the world they were just at school, hanging out and talking about the game on Friday. "I suggest…" Jamie started calmly, "…that you give up before you begin, Dal."
"I'm wondering why you thought it would be a good idea to actually attack someone, let alone try to kidnap them." Rachel shifted her weight to one leg, a hand on her hip. "Well?" Dal shrugged, raising his hands up like he hadn't attempted to kill someone.
"She's a pretty girl. Young. Healthy." Rachel snorted. "And best of all? There's money in this business." Rachel swung her head around to look at her brother.
"Is he serious?"
"I'm… not sure." She looked back at her childhood friend. "Did… someone force you into this, Dal?" For what other reasonable explanation could there be?
"Nope." Jamie looked away in thought and Rachel hung her head. "The money's good and I get to name my price. For her?" Rachel hissed as he looked Meena up and down. "Hm. We can start at 20K and go from there. I think she's worth it." Rachel shuddered at the thought, beginning to stalk forward.
"Dal, come on, this is a person we're talking about, not some toy." For once he's trying diplomacy instead of aggression. "You'd really go that far?" Jamie and Rachel both winced as the cold hit them. Rachel fell to her knees, holding at her head as it filled her senses, blocking out everything else and all rational thoughts.
"Jamie, make it stop!" He doubled over, his eyes wide with the scent of it.
"N-no! Fitori, don't kill him!" Rachel heard Meena, lifted her head to see Dal a few inches off the ground, the man she attacked in the diner a few weeks ago holding him, his hands at Dal's head, ready to break his neck. "Fitori!"
"You claim you can handle yourself and I can only blame myself for this." The man's voice was quiet as Dal struggled to free himself, the man's hands wrapped around his throat, slowly cutting off his air supply. "Your brother told me to leave you be, to only check up on you. I do as he says, finding you here, this man…" The man's face was perfectly clear. He hid his emotions—if he had any—well, Rachel had to commend him on that. And for getting the upper hand from behind. "For harming you, he deserves death." The cold wasn't so harsh now and Rachel could sense other things beside it. But to have it just appear like that, from out of nowhere…
"No, Fitori, you can't kill him!" She stumbled to her feet and Rachel saw the long, jagged gash that had torn through the hem of her skirt and her stockings, leaving her with a mark that travelled from her knee to her ankle, blood staining her skin. The man's eyes widened and anger finally showed, his eyes a storm grey in color as he turned back to the boy beneath his hands. "Fitori, let him go… He made a bad decision, but… but I can move past this!"
"But I cannot."
"Fitori, gran denner!(Fitori, release him!)" Jamie shook his head, clearing it of the cold that had blocked him from thinking, looking at the girl trembling before them, protecting the man who would have sold her and saving their friend from another tragic incident. "Len!(Now!)"
Slowly, Fitori let Dal fall to the ground, gasping for air as he was freed from the man's grip. "As you wish." He stepped over him, crouching next to Pierce. Meena sank to the ground, her face a mask of pain as she dropped. Rachel and Jamie sprinted, diving towards Pierce to check for a pulse. "Your friend will survive, Meena." Fitori's quiet voice assured them that yes, he would live through this as well. "May I suggest not hiding him in your apartment once again?" Rachel wasn't sure, but it seemed this bodyguard of hers was either lightening up or developing a sense of humor. Either way, it was weird. Meena managed a smile before closing her eyes tightly. "We must get you fixed." He reached toward her and she shrank away. "Meena."
"M-miss Rachel, my shift's not done yet…" Fitori raised a brow and Rachel smacked herself in the forehead.
"Really? You have a bloody gash that's like a foot long and you were on the verge of being kidnapped and that's what pops out of your mouth? Really, Kid?"
"There's a first aid kit at the diner. We can clean your leg out there." Jamie suggested quietly, poking at Pierce's shoulder. "Poor guy…" Meena looked at Fitori, who accepted this solution. He rose, holding out a hand for his charge.
"Fitori, take Mr. Pierce." His eyes narrowed at the thought. "Miss Rachel can help me down. You must take care of him first." Fitori's eyes briefly went skyward before he crouched down once more, gathering the still unconscious hero from the ground.
"As you wish." Hefting him over his shoulder, Fitori started down the road. Though longer, it was less of a struggle, which meant that the journey down wouldn't injure him further. "I'll be waiting for you there." Rachel helped her up and Jamie went on her other side. Together, they half carried her, following after him.
"I'm Jamie, by the way. Her big brother." Meena smiled weakly, having already gathered that from his similar appearance.
"Meena. Meena Strong."
Failed kidnapping? Phhsst, everyone does that~ Human trafficking? Aha, now there's something few stories have! And I just have to make everything more interesting~! Yes, I'm aware I totally just went from Pierce being all heroic to like half an hour later when I focused on Rachel finding them in their sad, tattered state. Next chapter will be how he was all heroic and stuff and what happened to knock him out and practically maim her.
And if you haven't noticed, Rachel's family… isn't quite normal. But hey~ That works fine for the next project I have planned for Rachel Calico~ And yes, I have another project planned. I just like her~