A/N: I waited forever to start this one too... Fick I'm sorry. Also just a note, later in the chapter you'll see something about killer robots. Imagine the little robots you can spawn in Ratchet and Clank.

And this chapter is hella short but I honestly just wanted to get it done and move on with the story. I wasn't sure how to finish the chapter so I just sort of... Halfassed it after a certain point.

Chapter 8: Anger Issues

A week.. A week and already I had memorized the diary of Captain Dodger L. Makara. I knew every word, could recite any page from memory without stuttering once... And yet I still didn't understand him. I could tell you that his favorite color was green, the color of his wife's eyes, and I could tell you his motivation for leading Atlas to believe he beat the boy's mother, but I didn't understand him. I wished then that I had spared the large Siberian Husky, that I had allowed him to live and requested that Henry lock him up for me, or even kept him in my spare bedroom and turned the lock around so he couldn't escape.

I wished I had spared him, because in all honesty I fancy myself a fine psychoanalyst and I wanted to get inside his head. I wanted some way.

His last words still bothered me as well.

"You told me you would do this, months ago. You told me in one of our then frequent conversations that one day you'd kill me. In fact you said you'd technically already done it."

Even from what I knew, he thought me a psychotic murderer and had received all his information from Keaton... In fact he acted as such. But he said we'd spoken...

And his relationship with men - oh, it was beautiful. I love homosexuals, they're among my favorite types of people - right up there with artists and otakus. Homosexual artist? Oh gods adopt me into your family please. Seriously. I love - excuse the terminology please - gay people! They're amazing.

Speaking of relationships with men, however...

Things between Rajan and I got worse and worse over the weeks following Dodger's death.

My constant insults and name calling caused him to return the favor. Insults and bitter nicknames soon became pointless bickering, pointless bickering turned into fierce arguments, those fierce arguments into full fledged shouting matches, and shouting matches into us not speaking... Until the cycle started over.

And as for the other men on my team... Atlas included... They all seemed angry at me too, but wouldn't say why. Atlas, I knew, needed time to adjust to the fact that the man who'd raised him - no matter how poorly - was dead, and actually wasn't anywhere near as bad as he had seemed. I got that, I was okay with that. I understood his anger.

But Ritchie and Rudy's? I didn't understand. I didn't know why they were angry and the fact that they wouldn't even talk to me hurt like hell. It really did, and I think Lindsey noticed.

She was the only one still talking to me, surprisingly.

"Sophie?" She asked as she sat down next to me on the couch.

I'd just finished fighting with Rajan yet again, and I felt empty. I wasn't angry, sad, hurt, or even insulted by that point. I just didn't care. My heart was empty and numb, and it briefly roared into warmth and happiness at the idea of even brief companionship. I knew she would talk to me and wouldn't be mad, and I sort of felt like a kicked puppy dog, looking for someone who didn't hate me but I honestly couldn't care less.

"Hi." I said blandly.

"Hey, uh..." She twiddled the tips of her wings, "I know you're taking Rude and Rich's silent treatment really hard, so, uh... I asked Rude why they're mad..."

I glanced over, intrigued. Absently my senses noted that someone was watching us.

"He, well... He said it was because you just randomly brought in this kid we don't know, and who attacked you the first time you met."

I felt my cold heart clench in pain at his obvious hatred of Atlas. He had never complained about Ritchie! And he would have - if he hadn't liked him as a person.

And then, that very same cold heart turned into hardened stone.

"I see."

That was all I said, that was all I could say. I knew anything else would be harsh and completely uncalled for.

And those two simple words hung ominously in the air, like ice in a cold room. It was clear that I wasn't happy with the information, but what I felt about it was entirely impossible to understand. I was a good actor. According to other people as well as myself.

That I wasn't happy with the statement was a horrible, horrible understatement.

I was livid.

Rudy had been tied up and beaten by Ritchie and yet simply because he'd helped us once (and, admittedly, saved my life), Rudy put all that and even the near constant childhood bullying behind him and welcomed Ritchie into the gang without a complaint. And now, though Atlas had just led me to and allowed me to kill his father, who could have been a serious monkey wrench in our operation, Rudy was angry.

And Ritchie, that damned hypocrite. If Rudy was angry about it, then I had little doubt that it was also why Ritchie was giving me the cold shoulder.

I sat there and fumed silently for a moment, without shifting my expression at all. Finally I sighed and got up slowly.

"Thank you for telling me, Lindsey."

And then I swept silently out of the room, passing a very terrified Rudy. But I said nothing to him, barely acknowledged his presence. He was scared because I'm a vengeful, vindictive woman, and he knew I'd come for revenge - or thought I would at least. I wasn't going to do anything stupid, even though I was pissed off at him at the moment. He was Rudy and I couldn't bare the thought of hurting the guy. It wasn't in my nature to hurt people I feel close to…

Obviously my 'little brother' didn't share my sentiments.

I also passed Ritchie not long after. He, too, went completely unnoticed. I headed up to my room and grabbed my cane.

I needed to vent, and I knew just the place to go.

Henry didn't usually have many questions to ask if I came over and said, "I need to blow off some steam,", but today was different. When I said those seven words I'd uttered on countless occasions, his brow creased in grandfatherly worry.

"Are you okay, Sophie?"

"I'm fine. I just need to vent a little."

His expression crumbled my will to keep everything a secret from him.

"Look, Henry, I got a new member for the team and everyone but Lindsey is mad at me for some reason or another. If I don't vent, this team is going to fall apart."

He slowly nodded and went to set up my usual venting course - wave after wave of killer robots.

Tiny, adorable, self destructing, killer robots.

By the time I was done destroying the last wave of robots, I felt much calmer. Tired and pretty much dead on my feet, but calmer all the same.

Training always left me in that kind of shape, which was actually good. The more exhausted I was, the calmer I'd be. I wouldn't have the energy to be upset when I got home. And if I couldn't be upset, there was much less chance of me punching anyone… Like Ritchie, for instance. Hypocritic asshole.

Henry stopped me before I went back into his house from the back yard.

"Sophie, are you okay?Actually okay, I mean? You've been… different lately."

I looked at him. In the back of my mind, I knew he was right, but I lied.
"I don't know what you mean. I feel fine."

Something told me he knew I was lying, but he sighed and nodded, allowing me inside. For a while we sat in his living room and talked about my recent heists, any heists I might be planning, and Atlas. Atlas was the main topic of discussion.

"How did he take the news?" Henry asked as he handed me a glass of tea.

"Pretty well, all things considered. He's been sitting in his room by himself ever since, but he isn't mad at me or anything. Just… Kind of sad, I think."

Henry nodded. "Understandable."

We spent pretty much the rest of the night talking. I went back to the hideout around midnight and snuck up to my room. Of course nobody noticed.

I sat down with my laptop and started a new chapter of Speakeasy.

I don't remember when I fell asleep.