School

Beep beep beep beep bee-

A hand slammed down on the off button on the alarm clock. With a groan, a young woman with a head of dark brown hair sat up and glared at the offending machine. The red numbers stared resolutely back at her. Sighing, she threw the black comforter back, revealing a large bed covered in pink sheets, and stepped onto the thick, red carpet.

The room was cluttered with guns, magazines, bullets and bullet casings resting on every available surface. The walls were painted a pale pink and a hot pink motorcycle helmet sat on the dresser next to the bed. The young woman gazed around the room with one raised eyebrow, her hand sliding across the dark wood of a double-barrel shotgun. Her lips curled into a smirk and she picked it up, flicking a bit of dust from the barrel.

Setting the gun back on her dresser, she began the grueling process of brushing her thick, silky hair and tying it up in a ponytail. Staring at her reflection in the vanity mirror, Nikki gently ran the brush through her hair, studying her image. Her face was beautiful, even without the addition of make-up, and pale white, not even one speck to ruin her smooth skin. Her feisty, brown eyes had a slight slant to them, indicating an Asian background, and her pink lips curled into a cruel smile.

“Screw it.” She mumbled, throwing the brush into a drawer and grabbing her pink robe, slipping her arms in and tying it securely around her waist as she headed to the door, gingerly stepping over the belt of grenades.

She opened the door and stepped out, immediately stepping back as a couple of girls ran down the hall. One of them held a drill and the other was tossing spare parts at her. They looked identical, with white hair streaked with black and bright blue, the chin-length hair was tied back into a spiky ponytail. They were shorter than she was by a few inches, and skinny as a twig. Both of them were covered in grease and oil stains, all along their bare arms and faces. The only way to tell them apart were the clothes they were wearing. One wore a pair of jean overalls tucked into shiny black boots and the other wore jeans and a t-shirt, with the same boots.

“Hey, birdies!” The woman called.

The two of them stopped running and turned to her with big grins across their faces.

“What, Nikki?” The one in overalls asked, pressing the trigger on the drill.

“What are you two doing out of the garage?” Nikki crossed her arms over her chest and leaned on the doorjamb.

“Celia called us up.” The other said, tossing a screwdriver at her twin.

She knocked it down. “We have work to do!”

Before Nikki could get another word out, the two were off, racing down the hall, almost skidding into the window at the end as they turned the corner at breakneck speed.

Nikki shook her head and followed them, more slowly. She didn't understand why they were so excited, unless they were promised food. The twins could eat anything and the kitchen sink if they wanted to. The two were bottomless pits, even worse than the boys.

As she rounded the corner, she glanced out the window, smiling genuinely at the sight. This entire wall was one large window, spanning the entire width of the second floor. The hall she was standing in was more like a landing, with a rail on her left the looked across the first floor. She could see the living room, dining room, and kitchen.

Out the window, all Nikki could see were the tops of trees. The house was on the side of a mountain, some was even built into the mountain, and they had an amazing view of the forest from here.

Nikki watched out the window for a few moments before continuing to the spiral staircase at the end.

As she descended, she saw the twins seated at the large dining room table, already wolfing down a plate of waffles. Two boys sat at the bar, one was only a few years Nikki's junior, and already looked like a man. He was Native American, and had dark, copper skin and black eyes. His shoulder-length black hair was pulled back from his face. He was very good-looking, and he knew it. He didn't even try to hide how built he was, wearing tight shirts and jeans. The other was still a boy, all arms and legs, wearing a shirt that was too big for him and pants that hung too low. He was a cute kid, all eyes and mouth. It was a rare occurrence for the boy to shut up.

“Trevor, pull up your pants.” Nikki rolled her eyes as she breezed into the kitchen and headed straight for coffeemaker.

“You can't tell me what to do.” He stuck out his tongue and continued eating his waffles, there was syrup all over his face and hands. He stabbed the center of his waffle violently and picked it up, dropping it into the puddle of syrup and laughing at the splat that it made.

“Didn't your mother ever tell you not to play with your food?” Nikki asked, one hand on her hip.

Trevor stuck out his tongue again and continued to get syrup all over himself.

“His mother might not have, but I have.” A voice said on the other side of the room. Trevor cringed.

Nikki grinned and looked towards the source.

A woman walked leisurely into the room, one eyebrow raised at the two boys at the bar. Her wavy, auburn hair was streaked with silver, swaying at her hips and her sharp, brown eyes scanned the five kids. Her lips were curled in a characteristic evil grin. Unlike Nikki, she was dressed for the day, wearing a pair of tight jeans and a black turtleneck with the sleeves rolled up to her elbows, showing that her right arm, from the elbow down, was completely made out of metal. A thin rapier rested at her left hip. She entered the room with an air of dominance. Even when Nikki had first moved in, she knew that this woman was in charge and there was no question.

“Morning, Celia.” The twins chirped in unison, briefly lifting their heads from their plates to bid her hello.

“Good morning.” Celia purred back. She had a soothing voice with a sharp undercurrent to it, a voice that demanded obedience or else suffer the consequences.

The two boys turned around, Trevor grinning, and the other with a sly smile.

“Adrian, Trevor.” Celia tilted her head in their direction.

Adrian lifted a hand. “Morning, Celia. What are we doing today?”

“I'll tell you when we're all here.” She replied with a smile of her own. “Has anyone seen Austin or Charlie this morning?”

Nikki sniggered and lifted the coffee mug to her lips. “If I had to guess, I would say that Char stabbed her alarm clock, again, and that Austin's asleep in the computer room.”

“You have such little faith in me, Nikki.” A grumble came from the stairs.

Nikki glanced over and saw a tall, lanky, teenage boy crossing the foyer to the kitchen. His brown hair was messy and his green eyes drooped. There were dark circles under his eyes and they looked slightly sunken into his head. His cheekbones were sharp for the same reason. He looked barely dressed, his red shirt was halfway tucked into his jeans and he wasn't wearing any shoes.

“If you have to know, I actually slept in my room last night. Weird, huh?” He plopped himself onto a stool and glared at the marble counter.
“Where's Charlie?”

“Still sleeping, I think. You two are the last to get up.” Nikki filled a mug with coffee and slid it across the bar to his open hand.

“Thanks.” He took it gratefully and gulped it down.

“So, Celia, the twins said we were doing something today.” Nikki hopped up onto the counter and smiled at her mentor. All eyes turned to the older woman.

Celia raised an eyebrow at the two girls at the table. They had the audacity to try and look innocent.

“That's true. I found a lead that may be the key to bringing down the American government if we can get this uncovered.” Celia leaned against the table. “The source of this information is an undercover agent stationed at a school, only two hours from here.”

“A school?”

Everyone turned to the stairs. A girl, around the age of sixteen, was coming down. She was still in her Pjs, a pair of black pants and a tank top with an omega and the word Brotherhood across the front. She had choppy, chin-length black hair that was still mussed from sleep and bright, unnatural blue eyes. Her skin was a few shades darker than Nikki's, but she was still extremely pale.

Nikki laughed. “I knew you would come down if we started talking about a mission, Charlie.”

Charlie smiled, rubbing her face with her palms. “I smell coffee. I need coffee. It's too early to do anything before coffee.”

“Mornin', Charlie.” Trevor said, smiling a sticky smile.

She raised an eyebrow at the boy. “Morning.” She eyed the other residents. “Anybody else wanna say 'good morning'?”

“Morning, Charlie!” The twin in jeans called.

“Hey, Blue, and Jae.” Charlie grinned and took the mug that Nikki offered her. “Thanks, Nik.”

Nikki smiled and hopped back onto the counter.

“Morning, Mom.” Charlie said, sliding into a chair at the table. “What were you saying about the school?”

Celia tilted her head at her daughter and smirked as she began to pile her plate up with waffles and bacon, drizzling a heavy amount of syrup over the whole thing.

“You better be ready to burn all those calories off today, Squirrel.” Celia told her, raising an eyebrow. Charlie waved her off with a grin.

“Whatever you can throw at me, Mom.” She said, cutting her waffles into perfect square pieces. “I can take it.”

“Are you sure, Charlie?”

The tone in her voice made Charlie look up, and when she saw the evil smile on her mother's face, she wasn't as hungry for waffles anymore. Suddenly all she wanted was a bagel and an apple for breakfast.

Clearing her throat, she defiantly began shoveling the the waffles into her mouth.

“So, about that agent?” Adrian asked after a long stretch of silence.

“He's an English teacher. He is one of the CIA's best. If we can get him, we can find out the information we need to catch the Crow.” Celia grinned as she watched the expressions of the kids transform from one of excited interest to complete shock.

“We can actually catch the Crow?” Nikki asked in disbelief.

“He's the guy who killed your parents, isn't he?” Austin asked, looking over his shoulder at Celia while cradling his coffee in both hands.

All eyes widened and turned to Austin. He had a steely glint in his eyes. He wasn't going to back down, even though Celia was giving him a look that could burn holes through his head.

“He is.” She answered tersely.

“He killed mine, too.” He leaned over his coffee and took another sip.

Celia's jaw was tight, her lips were pursed, her left hand was clenched around the hilt of her rapier and the other was a tight fist, the metal squeaked under the pressure. The room was dead quiet. Slowly, Charlie lifted her hand and placed it on her mother's arm.

Celia relaxed and sighed. “Charlie and Nikki are going to be doing the kidnapping. I need you three boys to create as much chaos at the school that you can. Make the bells ring, cut the lights, start a fire, I don't care. Keep everyone's attention on you so the girls can do what they do.” She looked at the twins. “Are the hover jets ready?”

“We have to make a few tweaks,” Blue said.

“But they should be ready by tomorrow.” Jae grinned.

“Even the guns should be functional.”

“Guns?” Nikki sat up and smiled. “I like the sound of that.”

“Good job, girls.” Celia smirked down at them fondly. “Make sure they're finished by the end of the week. We leave on Friday for Helena.”

Without another word, Celia left the room, turning down the hall. After a few seconds, they heard the sound of a door being slammed shut.

“Nice job, Austin.” Adrian commented after a beat of silence.

“Does this mean we're not doing anything today?” Trevor asked, a wide grin spreading across his face.

Charlie pushed back her chair. “No. We're training in an hour. Be in the gym by then, or I'll come and find you.”

She looked at each of them in turn, to be sure that they knew she was serious. Her gaze lingered on Austin for a few moments before she, too, exited, going down the same hall that Celia did.

Nikki sighed and swirled her coffee. Austin's gotta learn to keep his mouth shut or else Charlie is going to kill him, she thought grimly.

“Alright, boys. You heard her.” She smiled. “And I don't think that was an empty threat, Wolf boy.”

Adrian scowled at her. “Whatever you say, Bella.”

He slid from his stool and shuffled away. Trevor shoveled the last bite of his waffles into his mouth and followed, bounding along behind him.

Nikki set her mug in the sink and walked around the counter, ignoring Austin's glare, taking Charlie's seat and pushing her half eaten breakfast to the side.

“So, my little birdies.” She smiled at the twins, leaning back in the chair and folding her arms across her chest. “What are the hover jets?”