Lethal Misfits
Chapter 3
Iris
He was cleaning.
I hadn't seen a boy this conscious about dirt in my whole life. Drew was perhaps the most dirt loving person in the world - his room harbored centuries old stuff and mud clad shoes that he probably wore somewhere in sixth grade. His excuse was; having a knack for ancient stuff and refused to acknowledge that the stuff he kept there was meant to be thrown in garbage.
And who cares about assumptions? Surprise: this guy did. Either he had all the time in the world or he was too optimistic to come up with ideas. This place was weird - an old warehouse that they were illegally using, taking advantage of the rumors around the place. Who were these people anyways?
I stared at him - he couldn't be older than twenty. And the way he acted showed he was the leader of their group; he couldn't be a gangster, would he? Gangsters didn't run if people chased them, they stop and shoot each other, slashed throats, sprayed blood on the walls - and Johnny Law still looked healthy enough to me.
I cleared my throat and he looked at me with the expression he had been giving me ever since he 'accidentally' saved my life. I was a nuisance for him, something he couldn't possibly wait to free himself from. Never mind, the feeling was mutual.
''Do you need something?'' Even if I did need something I would never ask him, my impression about him was already imprinted as an asshole and a prick. I hated making guys feel that I depend on them.
''Why were you running from those men?'' I asked, remembering the things they were shouting at him. His friends were obviously still running for their lives. Johnny sighed and didn't answer; maybe it was a very confidential matter.
''I don't think I should tell you that.'' That was way too blunt. I had to admit, despite the rough start there were some similarities between us.
''Are you gangsters?''
''What makes you think that?'' He looked like he was really offended by the statement. He had no right to blame me though - what did he expected me to guess? Circus Performers? Actors? Theater People? Extras?
''Maybe you are not gangster but you're something. I mean, you were running, those men acted like they would murder you any chance they get. And you guys are a group - you can be anything; spies, gangsters, detectives.''
''Do you really wanna know?'' He was challenging me, his brow raised high on his forehead and a wary smirk on his lips. He wasn't looking like burnette version of Johnny Bravo anymore; he was probably more like a dark haired version of Draco Malfoy.
''Don't worry, I've seen worst situations in life and you're no danger to me.'' I felt like I was sounding too desperate to know all his secrets and he thought so too.
''Yeah right, who was screaming in a high pitched cheerleader voice when I was saving their life?'' I narrowed my eyes,
''Mind you, I was a cheerleader once.''
''I already guessed, that voice can only belong to a cheerleader.'' He was just trying to provoke me, I could sense his cleverness in the air.
''You weren't letting me go, how could I've fight you then?'' His eyes widened for a fraction of second and he got up from the floor, walking to one of the wooden boxes where I sat.
''You can fight?'' I grinned broadly for the first time, feeling pride swelling up inside me. If he just knew what connection I shared with my skills - it was something that always made me think of Dad, the way his chest would puff out when I won local contests or class competitions. It was our thing, like a personal source of happiness, an open secret. Dad was the busiest person in our family, still he always dropped me to my classes and stayed for first ten minutes, just to watch me fight, not caring for getting late.
''I'm a judo expert.'' I bragged a little, amused to watch the somewhat stunned expression on his face. He stared at me, taking in my form in detail for the first time and making me feel self conscious.
''Are you kidding me?'' He asked and I knew immediately why he was being too hard about it. I didn't look like a fighter, I was thin and was certainly lacking in the area of height - unlike him.
''Shall I show you?'' I offered and he held up a hand, got up from his seat and wordlessly went upstairs - his footsteps echoing around the warehouse and the aluminum stairs creaked beneath his heavy weight. This place seemed so old that I was beginning to fear that the roof will fall down on me any minute.
He came back two seconds later, this time he carried something large - upon closer look I realized it was a dummy. I didn't want to know where he got that. He walked to me with an anticipating look on his face; I didn't realize how he got all excited from the knowledge. Moments ago he was acting like he regretted saving me, as if I didn't exist but now I had all his attention.
''The hell?'' The dummy was ugly; there was no other way to describe it. It had faced years of torture and someone had disoriented its supposed face with a sharpie. Their drawing skills suck.
''Show me something.'' He left the dummy in front of me and stood behind giving me 'that' look. The one that made me feel like I was part of some ingenious scientific experiment and his guinea pig.
''Ready to go?'' He asked like he owned me, I scowled but nodded. Poor guy didn't even saw it coming...plus it was time for some revenge.
I lunged forward, all too familiar with the movement and shoved the dummy out of way, his eyes widened. Before he could duck out of the way I caught him with my leg, giving him a nice kick in the gut and making him fall on the dummy. He yelped and fell with a thud, groaning in pain.
When he opened his eyes, I smirked and put my hands on my hips, I thought he was gonna shout at me and throw me out without getting me back home. Instead he gave me a grin and sat up, rubbing his stomach.
''Damn,'' he bit out, ''that was so cool!'' I was taken by surprise with his reaction and gave him a minute long stare,
I didn't answer,
''Can you bring me my bag?'' He managed to say and I picked up the thing, throwing at him. Johnny took out a can of coke from his bag and I walked back to my position, sitting on the uncomfortable and hard box.
He drank it in two gulps, got up and offered it to me. How nice of him, and hypocritical as well. I bet if I hadn't done what I did, he would've never offered me coke.
It wasn't ideal to drink from the same can with a stranger but I was too thirsty to care. I took it without a word and savored it down. Coke never tasted like a blessing before.
''You should join us.'' He suddenly spoke,
''What?''
''Join our group,'' he repeated and I raised my brows, what a generous offer.
''I don't even know what you guys do-'' he answered the question immediately now, it was no longer confidential,
''We are just a bunch of normal people, doing abnormal stuff. This is something that I, Calla and Sully started in our high school days, Rowell, Alice and Kenji joined us later.''
''Joined what exactly? Are you a secret organization of spies?'' I pondered over the question and he shook his head giving me a grin that suggested he was proud of his business.
''We're no gangsters or spies, we're somewhere in between,'' I gave him a confused look and he explained further, ''we do all sort of illegal stuff. We are freelancers and people pay us money for our jobs.''
That explained a lot, they did stuff and earned through them. They weren't exactly dangerous people, but a smart group with high ambitions.
''What bout those guys today? They seemed pissed off. Did you guys owe them money or something?''
''They gave us half our payment and we didn't return it. The job went wrong actually.'' He was suddenly uncomfortable and somehow I guessed that he was the reason why things went wrong. He was a control freak, I concluded, no one expected him to make mistakes, not even himself.
''What was the job and what went wrong?''
''We had a kidnap someone and we kidnapped the wrong person.'' Okay, so they were harmful. I sat there open mouthed, refusing to believe that the guy sitting in front of me could kidnap someone. I swallowed down the information and backed away a little.
''Y-you kidnapped someone?''
''Don't make that face, I warned that you would be afraid.''
''Afraid? Are you kidding me? You just told me you kidnap people-''
''We don't murder people, we're not killers so before you wet your pants I should ensure you that we do not take jobs that are too immoral.''
''You imply that kidnapping is an act of saints? Then we all should start kidnapping each other for money, shouldn't we?'' It was hard to believe that I was still sitting there, in front of him.
''Don't worry Blondie, we won't harm you.''
''That's funny coming from you.'' I didn't move from my seat. I could've stood up and ran away from this stupid place and stupid people. But I had a feeling that he was saying the truth about not harming me. He had plenty of opportunities, why didn't use them? And then there were his words, when he explained to me why he slapped me awake. He could've left me on that street on mercy of those goons but he did enough to save my ass.
''Do you really think we're worse than gangsters. Minutes ago you were ready to believe that I was part of a gang. Isn't that hypocritical?'' He had no right to talk about hypocrisy. It was too insane already. What kind of University students kidnap people for living? He seemed so chill about it that I was sure, some part of his brain was cracked.
''And what about your parents?''
''My whole family lives in Scotland." he stated, "got few relatives here but they don't bother me."
''But why do you guys do it? Are you all poor or something?'' I asked the question which was extremely rude but had been nagging me all along. After all people do all sort of stuff for money. Johnny hesitated to answer but I was having a feeling that he felt I was trust worthy. And it was true; I had no intention to tell anyone about them, it wasn't my business anyways.
''Lets just say that we all were a bit lost, we found ourselves through each other. It's more than just money, it's about adventure.'' I didn't know how to reply to that, I didn't even understand what he said so I just nodded and got up,
''I want to call my brother, he must be worried. Do you have a cell?''
''Tell me your name first.'' He was already digging in his bag for the phone,
''I thought you weren't interested?''
He smirked and handed me an expensive phone which he probably brought after torturing some poor soul, ''I am a judgmental person, I evaluate people through worth'' I wanted to say a million things to him but held my tongue for once. I had no intention to engage in a conversation with someone who viewed people as tools, life would teach him a lesson soon - it always did.
''Iris Bradley'' I said and moved to the room he indicated. I heard him say my name three times while I closed the door - probably practicing it on his tongue.
* * * *
Johnny
Three minutes after Iris Bradley left to talk to her brother I heard the gates groaning and jumped off my seat. They were here,
Second later the door opened and I heard a familiar Japanese accent,
''Dude it was so cool!'' Kenji rushed inside, nearly knocking me off my feet, he had a stupid grin on his face and his clothes were ripped in places. There was a small bruise on his check, otherwise he looked fine. A chord was hanging from the pocket of his jeans and I figured he broke his walkie talkie.
''Yeah? That's refreshing to hear. Calla and Rowell are acting like I shaved their heads.''
Kenji laughed, his cheery voice filling the empty space, ''Dude, I fought after ages and it was so awesome. I broke one guy's neck. I don't think he can turn it to left again. Damn I'm so hungry.'' Out of nowhere a packet of lays came flying and hit his dyed red hair.
We both looked at the source of the ambush and saw Sully standing at the door, loads of food in his arm and all our money hanging on his shoulder in a huge black bag. Talk about suspicious.
''What the fuck man? Act nice.'' Kenji said but picked up the packet and began eating it.
''You should've washed your hands before eating.'' I commented him with a grimace.
''Don't act like Mama Johnny man, lemme eat in peace.'' I ignored him and turned to Sully who was already making himself comfortable on the boxes and opening another pack of chips,
''And what the hell is up with you Sully? We were running for our lives and you were busy stuffing your face with damn burgers?'', he gave me a look that gave no shit and went back to eating, I sighed, ''did you bring me one?''
It was hard to resist food when I hadn't eaten anything since six hours. I grabbed a sandwich from the box and unwrapped it and was about to take a bite when the door was slammed open, almost crashing down, I didn't need to know who was there.
Three forms marched in the warehouse. Calla was first to move, her short blonde hair windswept as she walked to me and grabbed my collar,
I took a bite of my sandwich and listened,
''You little shit! Did you know I almost lost my legs today? That bastard fucking grabbed it. He was about to shoot my head. Did you even take the blame? Have some shame Law!''
''Yes'' I answered and looked over to shoulder at Alice and Rowell, both of whom attacked food like starved animals. At least, Alice was safe. Now I would be spared from Rowell's ranting.
''You kidnapped the wrong girl? I can't believe you of all people could make a mistake! And you acting all high and mighty cost us everything we had! Do you know I just ripped my best shirt? Now mom's gonna kill me because she bought it from her money. She'll start barking about how I should move out, go to hell Law! Seriously, just go...'' She went on for the next fifteen minutes, covering up the how she managed to save her and Alice's ass, how starved she was and almost all her family history. By that time I was already done with my sandwich. I had seen the worst side of her temper tantrums.
''Can't believe it!'' She finished and put a hand on her forehead looking at Sully, ''is that food I see?''
''Guys if you'll all done throwing your shit at me, can we discuss something.'' No body had any energy for arguing back, they all were scattered around the floor, not even giving me half of the attention. Sully's food was already running out.
''When I was running there was a problem.''
''Did they tattooed you in the wrong place?'' That came from Kenji, and he didn't sound so sorry about it.
''Did they made you kiss the floor?''
''Did they asked for a piggy-back ride?''
''Nope,'' I said to Rowell, ''I actually saved a girl-'' Calla was on her feet again and there was realization in her eyes, she knew me so well.
''And you brought her here?'' She asked in a deadly whisper,
''Before you start raining long sentences of rage on me, hear me out.'' I told them the whole story and they listened like I was singing them very bad Christmas carols.
''Dude, it is against our own code. What the heck is wrong with you these days?'' I gave Rowell a cool look.
''She could've been in trouble because of our shit.''
''We didn't force her to fall asleep on the road!'' Calla snapped giving me an accusing look.
''And you told her everything?'', Alice spoke for the first time, ''at least you could've lied.''
''I offered her to join us.'' I admitted and there were four gasps, Sully simply stared at me with the same look he always had, ''You've lost your shit dude, I think you need some water.''
''She is a judo expert, you should've seen her move, damn it was so bloody awesome.''
''That doesn't cover up what you did!''
''Rowell, I took you in for the same reasons, you won't call that an excuse would you?'' That was enough to shut them up. Calla kept seething in her seat, throwing me really ugly and murderous looks. They were being childish, that was all.
''So what now?'' Sully asked, ''what about our hideout?''
''I am not returning them the money, I get it we made a mistake-'' More murderous looks followed, this time even Sully refused to spare me, ''Okay, okay because of the mistake I made, but we endured that woman for days and used lots of resources. They should've given us a photograph.''
''Now you're blaming them dude.'' I ignored Kenji and continued,
''We'll abandon that hideout; we have our money that's fine. But we need to get our other stuff as well, so a few days after me and Sully will get there and take our things back. They won't be able to find us. Until we get a new place, we meet here.''
''I'm going home.'' Calla announced and started to leave when Sully blocked her way, ''Don't be rash, they are still looking for us.''
She opened her mouth to argue but one hard look of his face was enough to tell that he had no intention to let anyone go. I gave her a smug grin and she stormed past me and upwards leaving silence at her wake.
I didn't have time to play moderator here anyways, there were other things to care off, things like Iris Bradley,
Just at time the door of the kitchen opened, ''Here's you cell.'' She came back and handed me the cell, sweeping a look at the new arrivals. She didn't exactly seem surprised but four pair of curious eyes stared at her like she was a display at a museum.
''Guys this is Iris Bradley, the judo expert and Iris Bradley-''
''Just Iris is fine-''
''These are my friends.'' Alice was the first to walk forward and offered her a hand,
''Alice McGowan'' Iris Bradley hesitated, giving me an uncertain look, I gave her a nod and she took Alice's hand,
''Í didn't thought kidnappers could be this nice.'' Alice almost smiled but Rowell damaged the whole thing, he had a big mouth for a guy,
''Well you thought wrong!'' He snapped irritably,
She raised her brows unimpressed, ''Nice to meet you.'' She said to Alice and gave others a more concentrated look,
''That's Kenji,'' I said and he raised his hand in a salute, for once I was glad for his silence, ''the one who is stuffing his face is Sully.''
''Hey''
''And you already met Rowell, Calla is upstairs acting like a spoilt brat, you're saved from misfortune of meeting her. So that's us.'' She grinned at me. I wished I could had done the same.
* * * *