takes a monster to destroy a monster

With each step she took, Theodora felt the blood oozing out of the wound on her side, her shirt absorbing it and clinging to her skin. It infuriated immeasurably. It costs more than half of these people’s cars, of that Theodora is sure, and now it’s stained and practically unwearable. She had not seen who had shot her, and if she were to be truthful — which Theodora Wilkes hardly ever is — she cannot feel the wound — she assumes it’s shallow and insignificant in the grand scheme of things, but her designer suit is in ruins, so is her shipment, and anger coils around her bones like a greedy snake. It grows each passing second, with each shot she hears, each scream — Theodora is seeing red by the time she can see anything at all.

She had fervently blamed Elias for this, but the accusations were momentary, for not even Elias could’ve planned something like this. The blood on her hand dripped to the floor, and Theodora wasn’t sure whose blood it was anymore — hers, Olivia’s, someone’s else — No. This was not Elias’s doing. He had been hit too, she knew, and as she slipped out of view, gripping her pistol with practiced hands, her eyes searched the docks for however seemed to be in charge.

It didn’t take long for Theodora to come across a potential candidate, and before anything could be said, swiftly fired her gun, only approaching when she heard his gun falling to the ground.

“Who the fuck are you and what the fuck do you think you are doing?”

@lukejansen​

*

Even though the original plan hadn’t gone as planned, the result so far wasn’t that bad. They had taken down people from both sides apparently, but they had also lost some of their crew. Yet, they two main protagonists were still out there kicking and screaming; he had to do something about it. His train of thoughts was interrupted as he came across the very same Theodora Wilkes as he got closer to the the dock’s railing. He didn’t have time to react nor point his gun at her, since the woman just straight up shot him in the shoulder, making him let out a groan of pain as the gun fell from his hand. This wasn’t good, but he wouldn’t go without fighting -once he could get back on his feet, that is.

“Fuck you, bitch!” Was his response as Lucas spit on the ground between them. “You might have me here, but you won’t get nothing. We’re gonna end you and your crew sooner or later.”

Sliding one of the smaller push knives into her sleeve sheath, Lita reminded herself to not let her excitement show. When they’d planned this raid, she had told Luka she wanted in, but as always she hadn’t known if he would actually agree this time. Crossing their mother was not something either of them did lightly, even if there was a small chance she might not find out. Glancing to the tablet in Emmanuel’s hands, Lita nodded, content with seeing the docks cleared of any traffic or human presence other than their own. 

Her answering grin to her brother was decidedly wicked. “Lets go raise some hell, show these rich snots what we’re made of.” she replied, allowing her excitement to shine trough just then. “I know it is.” As they drove the last bit of the way, Lita too cocked her gun, loading the first bullet into the mag. She wasn’t as good of a shot as a thrower. Where her knives could find whatever target she chose, she’d spent hours with her small revolver to accomplish what she now deemed as near perfection in regards to aim. At least with a still target.. As good as its going to get. Propping herself up to get a good look at the screen, Lita bit back a sigh. It had been wishful thinking they wouldn’t run into some kind of obstacle. “We didn’t get this far to back down now.” she argued, though looking to her brother as she said so, fairly sure though that his opinion would align with hers. 

*

“Hell yeah! This is just the tip of the iceberg, I wanna shred them to pieces for what they did to dad.” Despite having differences with his siblings, Lita was the one he had a closer relationship with, even if she was a direct competition for the leadership of the group. Their mindsets were similar, they both were on board on getting their revenge and didn’t mind getting their hands dirty. When he realized the person walking out of the car was no other than Theodora Wilkes, Lucas couldn’t help but feeling a bit restless, since dealing her and her security people weren’t on the plans, but Lita was right. They had made it here, backing down would just be a coward move, and that’s not the image he wanted to give off. “You’re right, we gotta act now.” Turning at his crew, he gave them a nod. “Get all your guns ready, they will start shooting as soon as they see us.” And they were just a minutes away from the spot, before the car stopped. As soon as the man got out of the car and aimed his gun pulling the trigger, the lights went fully off, leaving the place in complete darkness and not knowing anymore if he hit someone or not. “Shit! What the fuck happened? Everyone, watch out.” He only managed to crouch behind the car to avoid getting hit in the crossfire, and starting shooting back at them.

“Ready to take down some motherfuckers, diablita?” Lucas turned to his sister, lips crooked into a smirk as he loaded his gun. She wasn’t supposed to be part of this plan, according to mother’s ideas of how the family should act. But if this was a Jansens against the world operation, what was the point of just having one of them on board? “I feel this is gonna be our night.”

Just as they were getting closer, they saw another vehicle parking on cameras, and they guy turned the device for Lucas to see. “This can’t be anything good, man.” ( @litaxjansen​ )

Casey had been planning this tattoo for almost a year now, it had come into her mind when the nickname of lemons had been given to the twins before they were born. Her and Elias both proclaiming when life gives you lemons you make lemonade, and their two little girls were certainly lemons, and had more than turned into lemonade over time. Telling him she was going to meet a friend the lawyer kissed her boyfriend on the cheek, pecked the heads of both her little girls, and headed to the tattoo parlour with a sense of excited dread in the pit of her stomach. This was unlike anything Casey Wells had ever thought she would be doing, getting a tattoo had never been part of her life plan, but things changed and if anything this tattoo was a symbol for that as well. The bell above the door tinkled as she pushed inside dressed in an impeccable suit with large dark glasses covering most of her face just incase someone from the DAs office happened to walk past. She was allowed to do this obviously, but it was deeply personal. Heading to the man who was sat behind the desk she gave him a polite smile, pushing her sunglasses onto her head. “Casey Wells, I have a three o’clock appointment for a tattoo with uh, Lucas?” @lukejansen​

When he heard the name of who was coming to get a tattoo, Lucas could only think it was his chance of getting close. Having an upper hand somehow for any eventual meeting or plan he could pull with the Berk-Morgans. With his best fake smile, he greeted the woman as she entered the studio. “That would be me. Pleasure, Casey.” Lucas stretched his arm to grab the sketchbook on the shelf, before turning his attention back at her. “So, do you know what you wanna get or need some inspiration?”

@crystalcitystarters​

Bren realized she may have taken pregaming a tad to far since they were in fact pregaming new years eve for a couple days now. Maybe it is no longer pregaming at this point, but Bren didn’t feel like addressing her own problems, maybe for new years.  The park was a nice place to recover, a soft blanket in a sunspot was just about the only way Bren could get rid of hangover now a days. The sound of the city and  Bren was enjoying her sunspot, feeling the warmth on her face when she felt a shadow fall over her face. Opening one eye slightly annoyed, Bren called up “youre in my light if you could scoot like three feet to the left” Her voice was gravelly and sore from screaming and partying the night before. Her sun was hitting her eye directly so it was hard to make out who the figure was

***

The man’s gaze was plastered on his phone’s screen, stopping to check the direction he should take to get to his new supplier’s address, when he heard someone probably calling him out. He turned to look at the other, eyebrow cocked slightly. “You know this winter sunlight won’t help you tan, right?” He shot back, still not moving from his position. “Ain’t a bit chilly to be pulling a picnic in the park anyways? To each their own I guess.”

Veronica: How could I forget? Some of them were pretty epic.

Veronica: Are you getting old or you just don't care?

Veronica: I doubt it matters anymore but yes, I was busy getting my life back on track. I'm not going to apologize for that.

Veronica: Thank you, but I'm good. I'm having my own party where I won't be tempted to punch any of those Country Club assholes. :) Although, knowing you, you ARE going there to look for trouble.

Veronica: A nice house, a good job I guess.

Veronica: Whiskey and delicious apple pie for days too. ;)

Luke: Right? Those were the good times

Luke: Are you calling yourself old? Last time I checked I was still younger ;)

Luke: I live in a constant I don't give a fuck state, so that's probably it

Luke: Good for you, lady. In my books, there's no room for apologies

Luke: Busted. Not that it was any secret that I could show up and piss some rich people off. Punching some preppy kids will just be a plus

@lukejansen​

Entering Spilled Ink with a tray of coffee, Celine’s bright demeanour shined through as she headed straight towards Luke with a cheeky smile. “Goooodddd Morninggg! And Happpyyyy New Yearrr!” she greeted with a sing-song tone. How did she have this much energy in the morning? Well, one can blame the head start she had on the caffeine she had in the crack of dawn, but that’s besides the point. Her mantra was that you could never have too much coffee and here she was bringing the tattoo artist a batch of his own. “I got one hot and one iced coffee…I didn’t know which one you preferred…” She then paused and looked around, “Is it just you? Cause I was going to tell you to give the other one to your staff. Anyways, how was your holidayyy?” She came here with a purpose yes, but she also wanted to catch up with him in the meantime. 

***

He was working on a sketch when he heard the doorbell rattling, announcing someone entered. Luke had no intention to lift his gaze right away, but the woman’s chirpy tone just took him off guard. “Someone’s happy... Seems you started off the year with a bang. You got a raise or a midnight kiss?” The man remarked, smirking and slightly raising a brow at her. Celine was one of his regular clients, so there was certain trust to joke around. “It’s just me for now, so we can share. Or I’ll take both, I don’t mind. Happy New Year to you too, by the way.” The man twirled on his chair, finally dropping the pencil over the sketchbook. “Spent it with friends, lots of food and drinks as it should be. Not sure how I’m not hungover still, but that’s another story. So, do I dare asking about yours?”

Veronica: When you get wasted with someone like we used to do and see them doing all kinds of crazy, all blind worship and admiration usually disappears. ;)

Veronica: I seem busy? Wasn't aware you kept tabs.

Veronica: Are you going to the pier?

Veronica: That's alright, I have everything I need.

Luke: Good to know one of us actually remembers our drunken adventures

Luke: Sometimes I barely remember what I do sober...

Luke: I don't, you practically ghosted so either you were ignoring me on purpose or you were busy

Luke: My pride would like to think is the second

Luke: Yeah, that's the idea. The we're probably gonna crash a party at the country club, if you need a distraction

Veronica: I'm hardly an admirer. ;) Maybe of your tattoo art back in the day.

Veronica: I was surprised too, believe it or not. But I ran into Angel the other night and we talked... And it occurred to me you still might want it.

Veronica: Nothing much. Getting ready to welcome the New Year. :) You?

Veronica: I just wanted to tell you it's alright if you want to return the gift. It's been a long time, I understand if you don't want it. You can leave it at Rosie's.

Luke: Ouch...

Luke: Well, at least that's something

Luke: Should have known the little devil had something to do with it. Didn't think you'd want to catch up and all that, you seemed pretty busy

Luke: Same here, getting booze for a night with friends

Veronica: No, you haven't picked me up at a club.

Veronica: We met outside one, if I remember correctly.

Veronica [deleted]: It's Veronica León.

Veronica: It's Veronica Ventura.

Luke: Ah... my not so secret admirer who sends me gifts

Luke: Gotta say it was a surprise seeing the present and now this

Luke: Thanks for that by the way. It's nice knowing from you again, Vero

Veronica [unsent]: Luke,

Veronica: Hello Lucas.

Veronica: Do you know who this is?

Luke: I gave you my number, so I guess we met at the club?

Rory was  near enough to Luke to hear his words as he gestured to a woman in pale blue to her left, who was flinging her arms around like a runaway helicopter next to someone she assumed was her boyfriend, which made the French woman cackle loudly. Without warning she stood up, putting her hand on the strangers shoulder she took her glass off her, downing the rest of the liquid in it, before handing it back with a grin. “Si tu veux garder ton verre toi-même alors asseyez-vous pour le boire, idiot” (If you wanna keep your drink yourself then sit down to drink it idiot) She shouted over the music before blowing her a kiss and turning her attention back to Luke. “No, now you give me fifty dollars, I saved your suit, you are welcome.”

Eyes followed the woman, not sure what she was about to do, but the moment she got closer to the couple, Lucas couldn’t help but start cursing her. “I ain’t giving you shit,” he replied as soon as she returned, “not only you’re a buzzkill, but also a fucking cheater. That’s not how the rules of the game go.” The man pointed a judgy finger at her, before drowning the remaining of his drink and ordering another. “Now I’ll have to find some other idiot to see how their night is ruined...or we could bet something better and make this night more interesting.”