You already knew what to expect from this party since you had attended one long ago before you were Ghost. A bunch of people in fancy clothing, lots of delicious food, and quite a bit of illegal business talk. Some family gathering. You decided to wait in Daniel's office seeing as you weren't well liked, for obvious reasons. Speaking of which, Daniel was finishing up some paperwork when you glaced up at him.

"All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy." You joked.

You got no response. Figures. In truth you weren't here to have fun or to socialize. You were here to protect your childhood friend turned mob boss from an extremely dangerous ninja assassin. Typical stuff all things considered. Daniel finished up whatever he was doing and sighed as he leaned back in his chair.

"Montoya should be here in a bit. The two of you will meet and then we'll head to the penthouse." He explained.

You were nervous. Yeah there was the whole killer on the loose thing but that wasn't what got to you. It was seeing Montoya again after all these years. The last time the two of you talked was when she decided to pursue the family business which you frankly didn't approve of. The Family was your enemy and now, by an extent, so was she. She never learned that you were Ghost but she did attend Damien's and Rose's funerals. That was the first time you had seen her after the argument. She dyed her hair. Interesting choice. That was over a year ago. Wait. Was it two years?

"This is the person you hired?"

You looked up from your thoughts to see Montoya enter the room.

Honestly the only major changes were her hair and her attitude. To think you used to like this girl. You stood up and waited for Daniel to say something but he just sat there. You decided to take matters into your own hand.

"I guess I'm your body guard for tonight." You greeted.

"So I heard." She said not even sparing a glance.

'She used to be so cute.' You thought to yourself.

Daniel finally joined in on the conversation and the two began to talk to each other regarding the event. You devides to leave them to it as you checked over your gear to make sure everything was alright.

"And the Warriors will be in attendance as well. If something happens to where Ghost can't take care of it they'll step in." Daniel finished explaining.

You laughed a bit since you recalled having to save them last time. You kept that to yourself and placed everything in the places in your new uniform. Montoya turned to you and crossed her arms.

"Come on. I need to finish getting ready. You'll be making sure I don't get attacked." She ordered.

Seriously, is this the same girl you knew? You simply followed her out the door and down the hall to her room. She entered and you followed before closing the door. She suddenly turned around pushed you against the door.

"You listen and you listen good. I don't know why you accepted this job or what you'll be getting out of it but the moment you do anything, I will take you down. I don't care who you are or what you can do. I'll make your head into a new lamp if you slip up. You understand?"

OK. You were scared. And a bit turned on. Mostly scared. What happened to the sweet, shy, innocent childhood friend? Hell, she was your number 1 fan! Now she was threatening your life? What was going on?! She finally back away and grabbed her dress before disappearing behind a wall to change. You simply stood guard.
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Your appearance was met with a better feedback than you were expecting. Mostly every ignored you or didn't notice you. You kept close to Montoya the entire way as you scanned the crowd for any trace of BM. Everyone looked like criminals since you knew all of them were, indeed, criminals. These were all members of the Family. The only ones who stuck out were the Warriors who you immediately recognized. They were all dressed for the occasion while you stood out like a sore thumb.

Crystal was the first one to notice you. You waved at her as she made her way through the crowd to talk to you. Her hair was done up professionally and her long white dress was both elegant and modest. She had a glass of champagne in her hand and she looked nervous.

"Hello Mr. Ghost." She greeted.

"Hey. I heard all the Warriors were here. Any reason why?" You asked curious.

"Well we were asked by the police to attend to make sure nothing shady was going on. I think Ken just agreed because it was party and Mikey went along because of the food." She said rubbing her neck.

"Who's Ken and Mikey?" You asked confused.

Her eyes went wide as she realized her mistake. She simply waved it off as nothing before looking back at the crowd. It seemed like nothing too bad was going on. Just a normal gathering. You had a theory that this party was being thrown since Montya was now the boss. It was a networking thing.

"So what are you doing here?" Crystal asked.

"Body guard kinda. The new boss is in danger of being attacked by a hit man. I owed someone a favor." You explained.

Crystal slowly nodded at the surprising bit of info as she sipped on her drink. You watched as she tried to hide her disgust of the alcohol and laughed a bit causing her to blush.

"You don't have to drink that. Aren't you a bit too young anyway?" You asked.

As far as you knew, Crystal wasn't 21. The oldest member of the Warriors was 26 and that was Kanji. Crystal was a new member only being around for a year and the minimum age requirement was supposedly 16. That meant she was most likely 17. Math bitches. You know it?

"Yeah but I had nothing else to do. I'm not very good at these things." She confessed.

You had noticed that she was the shy type when you first met her a week ago so it was honestly surprising to see her here. Then again it wasn't like you knew any of them were going to be here up til a hour ago.

"Well at least you look gorgeous." You complimented.

Her blush grew even more and she looked away in an attempt to hide it. You smirked before turning back to Montoya. She was still talking to some other members so you were still stuck here.

"Can I ask you a question?" Crystal asked.

"You just did."

"A different one?"

You nodded as she set the glass on a nearby table. She wasn't going to force herself to finish it.

"Why are you a hero?" She asked.

Why were you a hero? Because it was the right thing to do? Because you could? Because you had nothing better to do? That, that was actually a good question. Why were you a hero? Honestly there were plenty of heroes already that could protect New Marrow. You weren't really needed in the eyes of those who believed in the Superhero Control Act.

"Because I have the power to." You simply answered.

Crystal was about to ask you to explain but seemed to decide against it. It was satisfying enough. She began to rock on her feet and you noticed she was only wearing socks.

"I hate heels." She stated when she caught you looking.

"You fight in heels." You recalled.

"I hate standing around all night in heels. Plus those are made for combat." She explained.

You looked around once more and decided that tonight would not be the night BM attacked.

"Hey I was wondering if maybe we can run patrol some time."

You slowly turned to face the red faces girl who was staring at the crowd.

"Run patrol?" You questioned.

"Y-yeah. Like, we can do patrol one night. J-just the t-two of us."

Oh my God she was too cute. Wait. Was she asking you out? She was totally asking you out on a superhero date! Nice going buddy.

"Sure. You free tomorrow?" You smirked.

She just nodded and just like that, it was a date. Happiness was cut short once gunfire rang through the air. You were quick to react and pushed Montoya out of the way only to be hit in the chest by the bullet. You fell down from the force but jumped back up as a line of wire shot into the balcony. From the darkness emerged BM who zip lined in like a professional badass before landing among the terrified crowd. You pulled out two knives and rushed towards him as he swiftly took care of two guards.

"I hate party crashers!"

You threw one knife at him which he blocked with his blade before you attacked with the other. The two of you crossed blades and got close to each other.

"I thought you left New Marrow." You said.

"Answers were offered. The kind I need."

He pushed back enough for him to get enough distance to attack but you dodged as he pulled out a pistol. He opened fire at the crowd but was surprised to see them all shatter. Crystal had made duplicates and the other Warriors were quick to help with the evacuation. You and BM faced each other down while Crystal stayed near to assist. Looks like this turned out like a typical family reunion, a fight breaking out.

"OK. Let's do this." You grinned.