[Author's Note: See? Getting slightly better at updating... lol I'm really trying. Really, really. I hope the last chapter, being longer as it was, made up for the fact I didn't update forever and a day. But here's another chapter! Yay!]

Chapter Eight

It only took me about ten minutes of walking to realize that I had no idea where I was. I was upset and zoning out, therefore, not paying attention to anything around me. It appeared that I was in the ghetto, of sorts.

I wasn't scared. Slightly nervous, yes. But not scared. I'd shoot whoever made a wrong move. Definitely still in robot mode. There were a few wolf whistles coming from around me, but I ignored them and continued forward.

Another five minutes and I realized I knew where I was. I was at the pizza place. Awesome. This meant I knew which way I had to go. As I walked, the Glock seemed to get heavier and heavier. How was that even possible?

Cars and other ground modes of transportation had passed me all night. Nobody had offered me a ride. I didn't find this unusual at all. What I did find unusual, was the motorcycle that I had heard coming down the road, from behind me, to screech to a halt beside me.

The rider all but jumped off the bike, pulling off his helmet as he went. It was none other than Mr. Peace himself. He was mad. Like, madder than I think I'd ever seen him. Ever. He was doing a very good job of not flaming up though.

I only glanced at him, keeping my steady pace. We were only about four or so blocks from the apartment building. There was no way on God's green earth he was getting me to ride back with him.

He walked up behind me and yanked on my arm, turning me around. This hurt me. He kept his temperature in check, but it pained me to be jerked around. I glared at him.

I opened my mouth to start reprimanding him, but he silenced me. "Don't even start talking." My mouth hung open. Since when did he talk to me like that? "Don't act all high and mighty at me. You lie to me, you kick me out of your apartment, you go and cut yourself up, then you walk away from me? When I'm trying to help you. You walk away from me."

OK. Well, he obviously talks like that to me since now. Whoa, whoa, Rewind by thirty seconds. Cut myself up?

Oh. Apparently I had said that out loud, because he's looking annoyed now. "Yeah. Dropped a jar? On your arm?" He asked, obviously not believing me.

"I never said I dropped the jar on my arm, dipshit. I said that I dropped the jar, which, when it broke, ending up getting glass in my arm. Is that an acceptable answer to you?" I said, voice full of venom as I glared at him.

He had the gull to look shocked. SHOCKED. This just served to piss me off more. "Why don't you just accept that there's things I'm never, and I mean this to the fullest extent of the word, never going to tell you? You can parade around all day, pretending to be Flame Boy Wonder," Yep. I was definitely pissing him off.

"But I have secrets I'm not telling you. I keep things to myself for a reason. And you're damn fucking right that wasn't my uncle. But am I going to tell you who it really was? No. Maybe when hell freezes over. But not a day sooner."

"I never said I was Flame Boy Wonder. I never asked to know all your secrets. All I want to know is why you're lying and who you're trying to protect. Who was the guy?" Warren asked, fists clenched in a fairly decent effort to keep the fire at bay.

"My pimp. I'm a whore." I said, in mock relief, like I could finally tell someone. I even went as far as to cover my eyes.

I gave him credit for his patience though. He shook his head, rolling his shoulders, probably trying to keep the tension away as long as possible. "Try again."

"What is this, a game show?" I laughed. He was actually humoring me. "Do I get another try to get the answer right?" I smiled.

Seemingly out of nowhere, Will appeared on the sidewalk next to us. "Ok, that's enough. Warren, get out of here. You guys are making a scene." Will said and I noticed that a cop car had slowed to park across the street from us. The cop was also being very obvious about it.

Warren was rooted to the spot, even when Will gave him a good tug. Another try and Warren stumbled backwards, his death glare fixed on me. I was still in Agency mode as I put my hand to my lips and blew him a kiss.

Will got on the back of the bike and they zoomed away, leaving me to walk home. The cop called over to me and asked if I wanted a ride home, but I told him I only lived a block away. He looked reluctant to take that answer, but then got a call in for something bigger. I nodded to him as he sped away.

When I got inside my apartment, I fell apart of the couch. Human mode took back over and I couldn't stop crying. There was no way The Captain America Crew was ever going to talk to me again. I knew that. The Agency-Robot mode didn't care. Good riddance, was all my head kept telling me.

But Human mode didn't want that. Human mode wanted friends, and movie nights, and hot chocolate, and cuddling on the couch with ice cream that miraculously didn't melt when being carried by a 104.2 pyrokenetic.

I just sat there. I went over to the window and opened it wide; despite the fact it was close to freezing temperature outside. I returned to the couch, pulling the blanket over me. For some reason, I thought this would invoke Warren coming to my door. Of course, this didn't happen. Human mode Jade tended to daydream.

I heaved a giant sigh, leaning back onto the couch cushions. I closed my eyes and the world fell away from me.

I woke up to the alarm on my phone going off, reminding me of work today. I had to go in earlier today than normal, as one of my co-workers was on maternity leave and everyone had to pick up an extra shift.

Go me.

I got up and dressed, ready for the day. I wasn't surprised when the Agency called my phone. "Hello?" I offered, sounding bored.

"Any new intelligence?" The gravelly voice of my Commander called from the other line.

"Warren, Will, and Layla were getting too curious. I had to throw them off my trail. I don't think they'll be talking to me for a little bit." I said, absentmindedly tapping the toe of my shoe with the leg of the dining room table.

"Well," He sighed. "At least they're off your scent. Doesn't matter either way. We're bringing in a team today."

I hoped the gulp of air I inhaled didn't sound through the phone. "We're… what? Team? Today? For extraction?" He had told me this would be a short mission, but I'd only been here two weeks? Three maybe?

I could almost hear him nod through the electronic device. "Yes, we feel as if we have enough reconnaissance to move forward with our testing phase."

Testing. I hadn't been informed much on the testing phase. I just knew it basically boiled down to kidnapping the teenage supers and testing the limits of their powers.

"Alright. When is this happening? I'll get my things packed." I said through the line.

"Our team will be there in half an hour." And he hung up. Robot Jade nodded, and headed to the bedroom to pack all my things. But human mode kicked back in and realized just how bad this was. I covered my mouth. No time to think. I ran to the closet and pulled out the shotgun from the false floor board.

I made sure it was loaded, then emptied the box of shells into my two front pockets. I set the gun on the bed for a moment, pulling the pistol out of my purse and placing it between my jeans and my belt. I had seen that in the movies once and I actually got told at training that this was acceptable.

I grabbed the shotgun, the extra clip for the Glock and left the room, closing the door as I went. If I knew my code speak, and I figured I was doing pretty good with it, half an hour meant fifteen minutes. I'm sure I looked intimidating running through the halls of the building with a shotgun, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

The elevator got hung up on a floor below me, so I ran up the two flights of stairs. Reaching Warren's door, I forgot knocking. I all out banged on the door, looking over my shoulder every thirty seconds or so to make sure nobody was coming around the corner.

Warren answered the door looking pissed, then he saw the gun and worry crossed his face. But I didn't give him a chance to talk. "You're right. I lied. I'm a secret agent for the FBI. The guy that came to see me was my Commander. He was checking on my recon. I was put here to spy on you. Warren, I'm so, so very sorry."

He looked at me wary, probably wondering if I was on drugs. "Warren, I know you don't believe me. And I know after last night you hate me. I'd hate me too if I was you. But I want to save you. Please. They're coming, Warren, and they're going to take you guys back to some top secret place. I don't even know where it is."

He now looked extremely concerned. "Warren, we have to get out of here now. I know I lied, but I can't see you get hurt because of me."

"You're serious about this?" He asked. I nodded frantically. Surprisingly enough, he grabbed his leather jacket and together, we ran through the building to the back. I jumped on his motorcycle, checking that the shotgun was indeed loaded.

"If I start shooting, that means drive faster." I told him.

He looked at me for a moment before we heard the sound of tires burning rubber somewhere behind us. The tires of the motorcycle squealed as we sped off before I could see the black SUV heading for us.

Part of me was really surprised that Warren hadn't fought me. But then there was the sound of gun shots and the thought left my mind. I turned and saw the black SUV speeding to catch up to us as we broke out of the parking complex and onto the road. I briefly heard Warren tell me to hang on before I fired off a shot at the vehicle following us.

They crashed into a car trying to avoid my shot. I had bought us a few seconds. Warren was really good at dodging in and out of traffic. Under normal circumstances, I would have been scared to death. But considering I was going to literally die if the Agency goons caught me, I wasn't too worried about Warren's maniac driving.

Another shot from the SUV and I could almost feel that one pass by my head. Out of all the training I'd been given, they never warned me about what would happen if I was on the other end of the gun. I turned and fired another shot, haphazardly with the movement of the motorcycle.

The shot hit their windshield, making them veer to the left and crash into a parked car. They stayed there, but a van popped out of nowhere, close on our trail. Passing the shotgun to my left hand, I pulled the Glock out from my waistband, turning and aiming right at the windshield.

I missed and I heard the bullet bounce off the pavement. Damnit. "Can't you lose these guys?" I yelled to Warren. Talking on a motorcycle going damn near fifty-five in a residential area was a lot harder than you'd think.

Then wouldn't ya know it, a cop pulled off a side street, sirens blazing and followed in on the chase. "I'm trying!" Warren yelled back. I fired off another round and it ended up hitting the tire of the van by some stroke of luck I didn't think I possessed.

The front wheel collapsed, instantly flipping the van. I turned back to watch where we were going. Fuck. Will and Layla. "We have to go get Will!" I yelled at him as he dashed in front of a semi to try to block our path.

I felt him nod and we headed towards Will's house, taking as many back roads as possible. We parked Warren's bike on the next street over and climbed the fence into Will's backyard. I had reloaded the shotgun. I had given neither gun to Warren, as he didn't need them. He'd just roast anyone that came close to us. Me? I needed as much fire power (no pun intended) that I could get.

But Will's house was quiet. I watched carefully, moving forward slowly, but swiftly. "Now!" I heard and before Warren could even turn, I whipped around and blew the guy backwards five feet. Then I saw another something out of the corner of my eye and turned, shooting again.

Warren just stood there, a bit flabbergasted. He hadn't even had a chance to flame up. "Are you going to explain that at some point?"

"When we aren't running for our lives, and if we're not dead, then gladly." I said. So much for the element of surprise. Well, crap. I tried to reload the shotgun, but the shell jammed in the barrel. I knew how to fix it, but there was no way I could do that and Will not get killed.

I threw it on the ground, pulling out the pistol again. Warren and I entered the house and everything was freakishly quiet, except for the TV in the kitchen. It was playing a news story about the Commander and Jetstream trying to put out a house fire on the other side of town.

"Nice distraction." I threw out and I knew Warren could connect the dots. I looked around, entering each room in defense mode. We slowly made it up the stairs and found the bad guys in Will's room.

The door had been left cracked, probably on accident. Sometimes they were thorough. Sometimes, they were sloppy. I could see through the crack to Will's bed; where he sat tied with some steel rods. Great. Bad Guy Supers. Awesome.

I turned to Warren and mouthed 'Will's tied up.' He nodded and just then, my shotgun in the yard outside went off. In one of those rare 'fight-or-flight' moments, I took the distraction and charged into the room. My first two bullets made contact with the two men they were meant for, my third was a bit sloppy.

By the time the guy could recover though, there was another in his chest. I scanned the room once more, then checked the closet and bathroom while Warren went about helping Will get out of his bonds.

"Alright. It's clear. We have exactly one minute to get out of here." I said, watching the door and trying to help Will out. As soon as the gag came out, his mouth went off.

"What the hell was that? Who are you? Why do you have a gun?"

"Will, if you want to live, shut the hell up." I pulled the clip out and let it hit the floor. I grabbed the other clip and slid it into place, racking the slide back.

Then I scanned the hallway. I heard footsteps and by the time he came into my view, he never even saw the bullet in his chest. Blood filled his mouth as he choked, gasping for air but none came.

I walked over to his lifeless body, whispering a short prayer I had said once a hundred years ago. I closed his eyes, waving for the boys to follow me. Two more sets of foot falls and I told the guys to pause. But Will ignored me, moving around me and clobbering the guy as soon as he came into view.

For God's sake, why did I forget I have two super powered guys flagging me? Seriously? What's wrong with me that I went into 'this-princess-saves-herself' mode? Oh, wait. That's self-preservation mode. Right.

Will led the way out into the backyard, heading for Warren's bike. Warren followed close behind me. Hopefully I could save my bullets. This thought was quickly squished. Our welcoming committee was in Will's backyard.

My Commander stood in the center, five men on each side of him. If you think about it, Will's backyard was huge.

Why did I have to have the ADD of a goldfish when I needed to focus?

"Cross. I believe that we had a conversation on how this would end." Abraham told me.

I just nodded to him, holding the gun in front of me, lest I have to shoot one of them. "Yes, well, I changed my mind. I resign."

Abraham just smiled at me, giving a light laugh. "You say that as if you have any choice in the matter."

I could feel Warren tense up beside me, the heat radiating off him in waves. I knew this wasn't going to end well, but I'll be damned if I was going down without a fight. I had a full clip and there were only two supers in the eleven of them. In theory, I could take all of them, since my new clip had 15 rounds.

I forced myself to slow my breathing. I usually missed the target when I was panicking. Knowing the men wouldn't make a move until we did, I slid the clip out of the gun, tapping it on my forearm.

"Well, gentlemen. I have a full clip. The one on each end are supers. Never knew their power. I could take them all, but I figured I'd at least leave the supers to you. What does that make our odds?" I asked the boys, sliding the clip back into the gun.

"I could take at least six by myself." Will mused with a smile. "How about you, War?"

Warren just laughed, making me glance at him. "I could roast them all alive."

This made me smile as I held up my gun. I was a finger squeeze away from pulling the trigger when I heard a rustling kind of sound and there was a pain in my head. Blinding pain. I hadn't felt pain like this since I'd been shot, while still living on the streets.

I fell to the ground. My eyes opened for a moment and everything was hazy. I saw Warren hit the ground and I heard myself scream his name. But then everything went dark…