Vice

Fifteen

Thea gripped the steering wheel, knuckles turning white. She stared straight ahead at the dark roadway in front of her, lightening dancing across the sky in the distance. It hadn't started raining yet, but by the looks of things it would start to downpour by the time they reached the camp. As she steered the car towards the south side of the city, her mind raced as she thought over the plan firmly cemented into her memory.

She was to arrive at the camp alone, get inside, distract the Black Knight members, and stall until the others arrived. The others' job was just as hard as her's -- render the camp useless. James seemed to have something in mind for this, but chose not to tell her. She was annoyed and she had an inkling that he was trying to do just that.

Ever since he had promised to find out who she was, he had done the complete opposite. While Thea expected she would have to thwart off questions about her past, in reality, she barely even spoke to James. The only time the two spoke was either during training or making plans. Even then, their discussions had been minimal and professional.

Yet while he wasn't speaking to her, he had found ways to make her life harder. Training increased to a pace Thea hadn't even thought possible. They went from training a few hours a day to spending more than half the day in the gym. Although she went to bed every night feeling sorer than the last, she was undeniably stronger. Her agility had improved immensely in the weeks she had spent with Vice and her combat skills had gotten stronger - deadlier.

She also noticed that she wasn't the only one improving. Lottie relied less on her speed and more on cleaner attack strategies. Ryder, having learned from sparring with Lottie, was able to heighten his parrying skills.

Trevor, however, shocked her the most. Thea would never have thought the boy would have been able to take down an attacker, but he managed to pin both Ryder and Lottie multiple times.

She began to see what James saw in him. While Trevor was normally unbearable with his jokes and easy going personality, he was more determined than anyone.

Snapping away from her thoughts, Thea sighed and turned the wheel to exit the highway. She followed the roads and it took her less than ten minutes to pull down a winding dirt path.

Thea looked out, the wipers working at the droplets of rain that had begun to fall from the ominous clouds above. The factory leered overhead; a flash of lightning illuminating the large building. The building seemed ancient, vines growing up the brick walls creating dark tendrils around it. Light spilled out from the windows unto the damp grass beneath. As she came around the bend and parked the car, she could see two other buildings behind the factory.

The warehouses.

Each was about the size of a small apartment building, but entirely fabricated of cement. However, she knew that each building held just one floor.

Surveying the building, she noticed two large guards lounging around it. Thea double checked that her gun was secured to her ankle before slowly getting out of the car. She shoved the keys into her leather jacket and walked up to the main entrance. The two guards walked over to her, a smirk on their faces.

"I think this one is in the wrong place."

"You belong in the buildings out back," the other gruffly barked at her.

"I didn't think we payed you to make jokes." Thea gave them a smile, but her voice dripped with venom.

Confusion swept over their faces.

"Will you be so kind as to open the doors to my camp and let me see the manager?"

"Y-your camp?"