A/N: Thank you to everyone who reviewed last chapter :D

"Here it is," Ace gestured towards the dilapidated shack with a proud grin. Snake looked at it up and down, giving him an apprehensive look.

"Whatsss… isss it, exactly?" he asked. He tried not to wrinkle his nose at the smell.

"Our new hideout, of course," he said. "I'm guessin' it used to be a place for the trash guys to hang out on their down time, but nobody's been here in ages. I've been comin' here every now and then when the folks are distracted with their kids or whatever else. It's a great place to take a smoke or have a beer without bein' bothered."

"You ssssmoke?! And drinkss?" Snake asked, appalled. "You're only thirteen!"

Ace rolled his eyes. "Now don't make me regret takin' you out here. I thought you were cool, but if you're gonna act like a baby, then we can't be hangin' out anymore."

"I'm notsss a baby," Snake quickly defended himself. "I wasss jussst… surprissed, isss all. You don'tsss seem like the typesss."

Ace barked out a laugh. "Yeah, I'm a real boy scout all right." He took a seat on an old, torn up chair outside the shack and pulled out a cigarette and lighter from his jacket pocket. Wordlessly, he lit it and held it up to his lips.

"Ah, that's the good shit," he exhaled. He looked over at Snake, standing awkwardly and staring at him wide eyed. "You wanna try?"

"Me?!" he cried out. "I… I-I don't know if my parentssss-"

"Screw your parents. They won't be home in, what, a week still?" He made a gesturing motion for Snake to come over, and he immediately complied.

"Here," he held out the cigarette for him to take. "Now, I don't share my cigs with just anyone, so you better be grateful. And don't hog it, I only got a couple left."

With shaking hands, Snake took the cigarette and held it between his fingers, just like Ace. With a deep breath, he held it up to his mouth and inhaled.

…and immediately started hacking it up.

"Oh my god, your face," Ace laughed, slapping Snake on the back. He wiped the tears from his eyes with the back of his other hand. "Man, your reaction is even worse than mine was when I tried my first cig, and I was only ten. Good ol' Lennie never let me hear the end of it."

"I wasss jussst not expecting itsss," Snake said, embarrassed. "I cansss do it jussst fine now." To prove his point, he took another puff, and flinched when he felt the same burning sensation in his throat as the first time. He held his breath to stop from coughing again.

"Sssee?" he said, his eyes watering. "It'sss not ssso badsss the second timesss."

Ace smirked, and shook his head. He slid his arm over his shoulders. "You'll get used to it over time," he said. "Before you know it, you'll get antsy when you go a while without one."

Snake reflected back on the memory of his and Ace's early friendship as he watched said friend talk animatedly about the plan to get Arturo's father out of prison. It had been so long ago, it almost felt like a different lifetime. Before they were criminals, back when little things like smoking and disobeying his parents seemed unthinkable to him.

It was before everything went to hell.

He was a child then; friendless, clueless, and with a family who barely tolerated him. Ace had given him the acceptance he always wanted, and for that he was willing to do whatever it took to keep him happy. If Ace told him to smoke, he smoked. If he told him to swipe a few bucks from his mother's purse or help him cheat on a test, he did it.

And when Ace called him in the middle of the night a few months later, telling him his foster parents were planning to send him back and he was going to run away before they could, he packed his bags and followed him to that very same hideout Ace had first shown him.

It had been over a decade since he had first met Ace, and for years he could never decide if it was the best or the worst thing to ever happen to him.

"…and by the time we're out of there, they won't even know what hit 'em!"

"Yeah man, I like the sound of that," Arturo agreed enthusiastically.

"Yeah! Big Billy get to be a spy again!"

Snake smiled at his friends' enthusiasm. It felt oddly nostalgic, scheming and plotting with his friends.

The entire gang grew silent when the phone rang for the third time that day.

"Oh man," Arturo said. "It's not him again, is it?"

"Fuck. That guy just doesn't know when to give up," Ace glowered at the phone as it rang. After the fifth time, he rolled his eyes and picked it up.

"Look Sal," he said, "We gave the bike back and gave you your money, so get off our backs-" Ace grew silent as a faint voice argued on the other line, causing his scowl to deepen.

"Well we don't got an extra thousand lying around. And if we did we sure as hell wouldn't be givin' it to you."

A few more moments of silence. Sal's voice on the other line was growing louder.

"You can take your idle threats and shove them up your ass! We might've been short a few bucks but there ain't no way it's that much! If you're gonna try to evict us over a few measly bucks, you got another thing comin!" Ace slammed the phone back on the receiver, and threw himself down on the couch in a huff.

"We gotta do something about him," he said. "That slimy bastard is always tryin' to rip us off out of our hard earned money." An idea started to form in his head, and he grinned.

"I say we pay him a little house call," he said. He pulled out his pocket knife out of his back pocket, and flicked it open. "What do you say boys?"

"Ace!" Snake protested. "You're not actually suggesting what I think you're suggesting, are you?"

"We just need to give him a good scare, is all," Ace said. "Bring Big Billy, wave this around a bit, and that spineless bastard will fold like a cheap suit."

As the others looked back at him warily, Ace rolled his eyes.

"Okay, so plotting a prison escape is all fine and good, but a little old fashioned intimidation is takin' things too far?"

"Well, when you put it that way," Arturo said. "As long as it's just a scare. I don't want to have to tell my papi I murdered someone."

"Please, it won't even come close to that," Ace said. "It will be just like old times. Now, we're all here, so you all go grab your blades and we'll get Sal to talk this over with us like men."

As the others got up to get what they needed, Snake felt a moment of panic rise up in him.

"Wait!" He cried out. Everyone stopped and turned back to him. "Maybe we could try something else."

Ace rose an eyebrow. "Alright Mr. Know-it-all, if you have any suggestions I'm all ears."

Anxiously, Snake racked his brain trying to think of something on the spot as the gang stared at him.

"I just think," he started. "Maybe there's a better way to do this. A safer way. Something that doesn't involve weapons."

"If you want to try to have a nice, rational talk with him, be my guest," Ace said. "But Sal ain't gonna budge unless there's something at stake for him."

"Maybe you're right," Snake admitted. But, we don't have to threaten him with violence," he said as a plan started to form. "Look, we all know that Sal isn't exactly a paragon of honesty and integrity. He has to be doing something sketchy behind closed doors that he doesn't want anyone knowing about."

Ace paused, and leaned on the couch, interested.

"I say we wait until he's gone and sneak into his apartment. Look around, see if we can find anything we can use for leverage."

"Hmm, I like it," Ace said. "But what if we don't find nothin?"

"Then we'll do it your way."

"Alright, sounds like a plan to me," Ace said. "Arturo, your lock pickin' skills haven't gotten rusty over the years, have they?"

"Hell no man, you know I'm still the best," he said, his chest puffed out with pride.

"Alright," Ace grinned. "We'll hit his place tomorrow."

Ivy sighed as she took a sip of her fourth cup of coffee that night.

It was three in the morning, and yet, she was still nowhere near done with everything she was supposed to have finished by tomorrow.

After her father had found out about her talking to Snake again, there was a noticeable shift in the way he treated her. He never talked to her about him after he left, not even to call her stupid or reckless or berate her for putting their family at risk. But all the same, she knew he was angry.

When she turned in her reports to him the other day, he scowled as he read them over.

"What do you mean we'll need another six months before we release the Ingleberry Phone 3?!" He asked, enraged. "What the hell is taking so long?"

"The way it is now, it has tons of security flaws," she tried to explain. "Connecting a phone to the internet without additional precautions will leave our users vulnerable to hackers-"

"Well, figure it out! Didn't you learn anything at that school I had to pay thousands for?" he shouted back. "I don't care what it takes, or what you have to do. I want that phone out in stores by the end of the month, or I'm finding a new head Software Engineer! Don't think that just because you're my daughter I'll let you slack off."

And so here she was, desperately trying to make the impossible happen.

She looked over at the family portrait she kept off in the corner, but couldn't bear to get rid of or lock away in storage. It was one of the few photos left she had of her brother; her parents had thrown out most of the others after he left home.

As she looked back at her computer and the words blurred from exhaustion, as she felt the sinking fear of becoming a failure in her father's eyes and the realization that she most likely already was, she wondered if this was how Snake felt their entire childhood.

Snake had to admit, if only to himself, that he was relieved the others liked his plan.

And he wasn't just relieved because he was afraid of his idea getting shot down; it was because he was genuinely afraid Ace was going to make them hold Sal at knifepoint. Which, Snake admitted, wouldn't have been the first time they used intimidation to get their way. But even back in the day, it wasn't something he enjoyed.

Even in his teenage years when he was at his lowest, angriest point, he would get anxious every time they threatened or robbed someone. Every time, he would go over all the possible ways in his head how something could go wrong and how he would deal with it. If their victim pulled out a gun when they pulled out their knives? He would run, and pray the others would follow. If their victim died, he and the gang would hitchhike as far away from Townsville as they could get. If someone in the gang got hurt or, god forbid, killed, he would go after whoever hurt his friend and do whatever it took to convince Ace to take them to the hospital. Or, if necessary, bury them out in the junkyard and try to get on with life as best as they could.

Because of this, he slowly developed his pickpocketing and shoplifting skills until he was the best in the gang. Whenever they needed food or supplies, he would offer to go to the store and swipe whatever they needed or pick the wallet off of whoever looked rich and oblivious.

And while Ace would let him if he was feeling lazy, his offers weren't always accepted.

Ace loved the thrill of threatening someone, of having them at his mercy, and watching as they begged for their lives and promised to do anything and everything for the chance at leaving unscathed. And Ace was always in a remarkably good mood after a successful robbery, so he admittedly didn't always argue his case as strongly as he should've.

"Alright, we're in," Arturo said as he got the door open. The gang, hoping to not attract any notice, quickly followed Arturo inside. It was the middle of the day and most of their neighbors were at work like Sal or passed out drunk, but you could never be too careful.

As they looked around the place, they saw that while it might've been bigger than theirs, it made their shack in the dump look spotless by comparison.

The living room was filled with empty beer bottles, old cigarette boxes, and fast food bags. The TV was still on, playing some trashy reality TV show. As they moved around the rest of the apartment, they saw the kitchen was in a similar state of disarray, with trash lying all over the table and a sink full of dirty dishes.

"Man, I always knew Sal was a slob, but this is just nasty," Ace said.

"Yeah man, we're never going to find anything in here."

Snake ignored them and continued to look around, walking down the hallway he saw after leaving the kitchen. As he walked through, he saw a bathroom, a linen closet, a few rooms looked to be used for storage, and a bedroom right at the end.

His eyes went toward the dresser by the wall, and the stack of papers on top.

He picked up a handful of envelopes, and started sorting through various bills, ads, and pieces of junk mail. He stopped as soon as he saw a bank statement addressed to a woman named Margaret Caruso. He looked over the various purchases made. Groceries, utility bills, multiple withdrawals at what appeared to be a strip club, and four hundred dollar front row tickets to a professional wrestling match.

"Guys, I think I found something," he called out to the others. When they all turned to look at him he held out the statement.

"Looks like Sal's been stealing from his ex wife."

"Well, I'll be damned," Ace said, grabbing the paper and taking a look at it himself. He snorted. "God, The Lusty Lioness? Not only is he a dirtbag, but his taste in chicks is horrible."

"You think this is enough to get him?"

"I'd rather shoot myself than admit to spending a dime in that place, so I'd say so," Ace said. He smiled at Snake, giving him a pat on the shoulder.

"It looks like this wasn't a waste of time after all. Good thinkin' Snake."

Snake grinned. It had been the first time Ace complimented him in years.

"Hey Grubber," Ace said, as he talked to him on the phone. "Me and the boys are in a bit of a tight spot money wise right now. Yeah yeah, what else is new, right?"

Ace sat on the couch in silence as he listened to whatever Grubber said. "As a matter of fact, there is something you can do that would really help us out? You remember our landlord Sal?"

A "PBBBPPT!" sound that was loud enough to be heard by the rest of the gang answered that question.

"Yeah I know, he's definitely got somethin stuck up there," Ace agreed. "But anyway, you remember his ex? That old lady with the bad perm who used to beat on our door at 5 in the mornin demanding to know where he was? Well enough that you could, say, do a decent impression of her if need be?"

As Grubber answered, Ace grinned.

"You've always been my favorite. And I'm not just sayin' that to butter you up."

"PBBBPPT!"

"Okay fine, you caught me. But, you're still the man."

Ivy tried not to get nervous as she sat there on the phone, waiting for the woman on the other line to pick up.

"Hello?"

"Hey Amber!" Ivy greeted, trying to sound as enthusiastic as possible. "This is Ivy. How have things been?"

"Oh hey!" she said. "Yeah, things have been great. Really busy though. William just got a promotion at work and little Madison is already two. She's getting big so fast. How about you? Did you need something?"

"No no, I don't need anything. I just wanted to catch up. I feel like we haven't really talked since graduation."

"Yeah," Amber laughed. "God, time really flies, doesn't it? I feel like every moment of my day is taken up by Maddie or Will, I barely have time to think anymore."

"How about we go out for a drink next week and catch up?" Ivy asked. "You could tell me all about your family and what's happening with you. We could maybe even hit the city museum, they got this new Ancient Persian exhibit-"

"That sounds fun, but I'm really swamped at the moment," she said. "Maybe some other time. How about I give you a call when things die down a bit? Maddie will be in preschool next year, and I for one am counting the days. I love her but god knows I could use some me time."

"Okay," Ivy said, forcing herself to sound light and cheerful. "Sounds like a plan."

"I'll see you around, Ivy."

"See you."

As Ivy hung up, she looked wistfully back at her computer, the Ingleberry Industries logo at the top haunting her. Not for the first time, she felt incredibly small in her spacious, empty living room.

"Now, Grubber is going to call any moment now," Ace started. He put a tape recorder on the table next to the phone and gave the rest of the gang an intense stare. "Then, as soon as I give him the go ahead, he's gonna call Sal and put him on the line. Now, as soon as I do, I want you all to be as silent as possible. No whisperin, no gigglin, no nothin. If we get caught then we can kiss this shitty hellhole we've come to know as home goodbye."

"Billy going to have to leave?" Billy asked sadly.

"Not unless you open your big mouth. Now, be quiet-"

The phone rang, causing the entire gang to freeze. All except for Ace, who picked it up.

"Grubber?" he asked. After a quick response on the other line, Ace nodded. "Good. Sal should've gotten home from his day job an hour ago, which means he's just drunk enough to be willin' to believe just about anything you tell him, but not so drunk he's passed out for the night."

Another response on the other side. "Good. Now, I'm going to put you on speaker. We're ready whenever you are."

The gang waited anxiously as they could hear Sal's phone ring on Grubber's end. Once again, Ace shot them all warning glances to remind them to not do or say anything stupid.

"...Yeah?" Sal slurred after a few rings. He let out an ear piercing burp. "What do you want?"

"Salvatore Caruso, you piece of shit!" A high pitched, scratchy voice that sounded eerily like the one they all knew, cried out.

"Margie?" Sal cried out. "How the hell did you get my new number?!"

"Oh, don't you 'Margie' me!" 'she' yelled. "I called the bank the other day to ask why the hell my card got declined at the beauty shop, and you know what the lady told me? She said I spent nearly five grand on strippers and wrestling tickets!" she cried. "And well, I gave her a what for; surely someone else must've gotten into my account! And well, it didn't take a genius to figure out who that someone could be."

There was a moment of silence. Snake and Ace shared a look as they waited for a response, while Arturo and Billy were barely holding in their laughter. After a very faint shit! could be heard on Sal's line, he spoke up.

"Now Margie, I don't know what kind of meds you're on these days, but that ain't me. I don't know what the hell you're talking about."

"Oh really?" Grubber asked. "So if I file a stolen identity report and they take a look at your spending habits, they won't find anything on you throwing dollar bills at some two bit whore-"

"Now listen, we don't need to get no cops involved," Sal said anxiously on the other line. "Why don't you come over tomorrow? We can talk this over like we did in the old days. I'll even buy you that special wine you like."

"You ain't sweet talking your way out of this one, mister!" Grubber cried. "You know what they call what you're doing? Fraud. And you bet your ass I'm gonna sue, for every dime you took and then some!"

"Darlin' please, this ain't what it looks like-"

"I'm calling the cops now unless you stop being a slimy bastard and admit what you did!"

"Fine! I've been using your damn card!" Sal cried. "But you owe me! How many years did I support your lazy ass as you bounced from career to career? 'Ooh, I want to be a hairstylist! No, I want to be a nail technician! No, I want to sell Avon for a living! All my girlfriends are doing it!'" He poorly mimicked his ex. "I deserve something for puttin' up with you for all these years!"

At this, the gang burst into laughter. Ace turned off the tape recorder

"What?" Sal asked, confused. "Who the hell is this?"

"I'll give you one guess," Ace smirked.

"You-" Sal cried. "You son of a bitch! You and your buddies better pack your bags because you're all out, effective immediately-"

"Oh, I wouldn't do that if I were you," Ace said. "You see, we got dirt on ya now."

"Why you little-"

"Fine! I've been using your damn card!" Sal's recorded voice played. "But you owe me! How many years-"

Ace stopped the recording. "And if that ain't enough for ya, we got your bank statements. And I would have no problem personally deliverin this all to your ex myself."

"You broke into my apartment?!"

"The details ain't important. What's important is that you listen to what I tell you, otherwise you're in deep shit. Got it?"

Sal grew silent for a moment.

"If you broke into my apartment," he said. "You're in just as deep shit as I am. Breaking and entering? Tampering with mail? I'm sure that will get you some time in the slammer, especially with your record."

"Maybe," Ace admitted. "But I've been to jail. I have friends in there, and I know how to take care of myself. Can you say the same?" He asked.

At that, Sal grew silent.

"Now," Ace said. "Not only are you going to forget about a few measly months of missed rent, but you're going to cut our rates in half."

"Excuse me?"

"A third."

"Now you listen here you little shit-"

"A fourth, and that's my final offer," Ace said. "Otherwise we're not only gonna rat on you to your ex, we'll be sending this recording straight to the police."

There was a moment of silence, and then an exasperated sigh.

"Fine," Sal said through gritted teeth. "I'll cut your rent in half."

"And, you'll give us two grand. In cash," Snake piped up. Ace, along with the rest of the gang, looked up at him, eyebrows raised in surprise.

"What?!"

"You heard me," Snake said, his confidence slowly starting to build. "You forced us to give you our entire life savings because you were too impatient to work with us until we could find some other way to pay you. So we want it back. Plus a little extra; these times are quite unpredictable, after all."

"I don't got two grand in cash!" Sal said. "Who do you think I am? Mr. Morbucks?"

"Well you better figure it out," he said. "I know what it's like to try and rebuild your life after a criminal conviction and believe me, you're not suited for it. You think people will want to rent from you if they find out you're a thief? What if you start going through their mailboxes, using their bank accounts?"

"I've never done that to a tenant!"

"But would it be that unbelievable that you could?"

"Fine, fine!" Sal grumbled. "Damn vultures, the lot of you are. No wonder your families ditched you the second they had a chance."

"And no wonder why your wife left you," Snake said. He slammed the phone down back on the reciever. He looked back at the gang staring at him, stunned.

"Why don't we all go out for a drink? I know I could use one."

It was the first time in a long time that Snake had been truly, properly drunk.

Sure, he enjoyed a beer every now and then, and he had more than a few wild nights with Ace and the others when they were kids, on the rare occasion they were able to find enough liquor for all of them.

But ever since they left the dump, it was rare he was willing to take the risk of drinking underage, at least in public. He already had a rap sheet as long as the rest of the gang's; why make it longer and jeopardize what they had managed to build?

After his 21'st birthday, he'd occasionally go to a bar with Arturo, but every time, he felt guilty about the money they were spending. Ace straight up refused to go with him at all, because he didn't want to be "nannied all night."

But this night was different. Snake had stood up to his bully of a landlord, the superpowered trio that had been his enemies for years were powerless, and for the first time in years Ace was looking at him like a friend rather than an annoyance.

"I can't believe you had the balls to do that, man," Ace said, laughing out loud. "My god, I wish I could've seen his face."

"He deserved it," Snake retorted. He stumbled a bit, and spilled some of his drink on his shoes. "Who the hell does he think he is, talking to us like that? Ordering us around? I hope someone does catch him. Let him get a taste of being treated like a criminal."

Around two am, Billy got sick in the bathroom at the bar, and Arturo offered to take him home. When he asked Snake if he wanted to come with him, he shook his head.

"No, I think I'll stay out a bit longer."

"Alright man. Well, I'll see you both at home," Arturo waved goodbye, shooting Snake an odd look.

It wasn't until closing when Ace and Snake left the bar. They chatted loudly on the walk home, causing passersbys to give them wary looks.

"Man, I don't know what's gotten into you lately, but I like it," Ace said. "You're way more fun when you ain't worryin' about everything twenty-four seven."

"Well, it's nice not to have to," Snake said. "Maybe this is how it was always supposed to be. And if it is, I'm tired of fighting it."

As they continued to walk down the street, they both stopped when they passed Super Savings.

Right under the store logo was a huge sign that read "Closing sale! Everything is 70% off!" The parking lot was empty and all the lights were shut off for the night, and the image of the blue, pink, and green superpowered girls looked back at them with large soulless eyes.

"Tommy did say they might be going out of business," Snake mused quietly. He saw Ace stare at the statue of Blossom and Mojo Jojo through his sunglasses, his face oddly contemplative.

"Serves them right," he said after a moment. "Fuck Larry, fuck Melinda, and fuck everyone else who worked here. I hope they all get jobs cleaning up the Townsville sewage plant. Anythin' else is too good for them."

Wordlessly, Ace approached the store entrance, and Snake followed him.

"What are you doing?"

"I wanna see what it looks like inside," Ace said.

"Well good luck with that," Snake said. "Unless you swiped a key on your way out-"

Before he could finish his sentence, Ace picked up the biggest rock he could find and threw it at the window, causing it to crack, grinning devilishly. "I don't need no damn key."

Snake stood there and watched as a drunk Ace continued to throw rocks at the window, leading to more and more cracks.

Part of him, the tiny, responsible part, wanted to tell Ace to leave it be and go home. They were out in the open and even if they didn't have to worry about the Powerpuff Girls, it didn't mean that they didn't have other things to watch out for. And if it had been a few days ago, he would've listened to that part.

Instead, he picked up a rock of his own and joined him.

It had taken what had seemed like forever, but eventually they were able to make a hole big enough for both of them to fit through.

Once they were in, careful to avoid the broken glass, Ace turned on the lights. They both stared as the shelves, once filled to the brink with merchandise, were now half bare.

They exchanged a look and wasted no time. Ace headed straight for the freezer and immediately tore open a tub of ice cream. Snake meanwhile, took a beeline straight for the candy aisle and grinned when he saw his favorite: Laffy Taffy.

After gorging themselves to their heart's content and ransacking the shelves, taking anything that they could carry and was valuable and breaking the rest, they were ready to leave. As they walked through the store, the floor now covered in broken liquor bottles and empty food wrappers, they stopped at the door on their way out. Ace turned toward Snake with a can of green spray paint in his hand and a devious grin.

Right on the front door where everyone could see, he wrote "Gangreen Gang Forever" in large block letters. Snake watched in admiration, as Ace put his all into getting the shading and angles just right.

"Maybe in another life, you could've been an artist," he grinned wryly.

Ace snorted. "Yeah, I'm a real Picasso all right."

He handed the can of spray paint to him, who off to the side wrote "Ace and Snake were here." He looked to Ace, who grinned in approval.

"Just like the old days."

He put his arm around him, pulling him close, Snake rested his head onto his shoulder. And all the sudden he was twelve again, spending late nights in the city dump with his best friend.

PPGGuy06: Yes, that's essentially what he means lol. Basically he wants to go back to living as a criminal.

Anon: Ahh, thank you! :D Hopefully this chapter didn't disappoint.

Guest: Haha, I wish lol. If anyone deserves it, it's Charles. Thank you! Yeah, there was definitely a lot going on last chapter, and a decent amount for this one too. Yep, poor Snake has just kind of given up at this point, and is starting to embrace Ace's "I'm here for a good time, not a long time" philosophy.

I hope everyone enjoys this chapter! Let me know what you think :D