Nicole

It's been a whole week of training and a whole week after Jaden had put the paws on Coach Jackson. Ever since that fight happened, I hadn't seen Coach around and he's been absent from work the whole time.

I'm not surprised. Jaden was like a starving predator who had just found its first meal in weeks that day. It was way out of character for him to get that angry with someone and have such a murderous look on his face while kicking ass.

I liked it.

I found myself being really attracted to Jaden's aggressive side. It shocked me a little how scary he could get when confronting someone but it was the best thing to witness from him. It was fun and also extremely sexy to watch. I wanted to sit and let him show me what he could really do but something in me just couldn't allow him to finish the job.

Questions started to come up in the crowd and they began to make me wonder. As I heard people muttering questions like "What did Coach do to deserve this?" or "Why would anyone need to hurt a guy like him?" I began to think back to the night I woke up in his bed. There was every sign in the world that told me that he really did invade my privacy but one thing concerned me.

I don't remember feeling any physical pain...

When I was called by that woman that night, she told me that what she heard sounded violent but there was no evidence of anything violent ever happening to me. At least, not that I'm aware of... I truly do want to know the truth behind what happened but I couldn't bring myself to sit and really try to recover those memories. It was too risky. Too scary.

Either way, whether he actually hurt me or not, he still trapped me at his home. He still deserves punishment...

While Jaden was finishing up in the shower as we prepared ourselves for work, I brushed my teeth in the sink and let my wet hair drip down my shoulders and onto my towel for now. I planned on drying it after I finished here.

The shower curtains ringed as Jaden opened them, "Aye, Nicki, should we head to the lab today? I heard they've been working on some new firearms for the mission."

I nodded, "Yeah, we could- Oh god, Jaden! Towel!" I tossed him a towel off of the rack, trying not to look at his wet, naked body.

He chuckled and wrapped himself, covering his manly parts from me, "You've seen me naked before. Why are you acting surprised?" he asked, stepping out of the tub.

I rolled my eyes, feeling my cheeks redden, "I don't have to see you naked all the time."

He kissed my cheek, "This is why we need to start showering together." he then looked up at the mirror to examine his eye as I rinsed the toothpaste out of my mouth, "Does it still look bad?" he asked.

I turned to face him and see for myself. It was still pretty bruised up but it looked more purple than black and the swelling noticeably went down. That's one good sign. "It's healing..." I gently touched the bruise, "Keep some ice on it and you'll be fine. I'd give it a few more days to fully recover, though. Maybe a week even."

He shrugged and pulled my arms up to the back of his neck, "I'll cover it up later." a smirk grew on his face as his hands lowered down my thighs and he lifted me up onto the sink counter, "But for now..."

I smirked back, "I'm not tagging along in your bullshit right now."

"You sure?" he asked before kissing my neck.

I nodded and slapped my hand over his lips before he could kiss mine, "Yeah, I'm sure. Especially since you haven't brushed yet."

He moved his face off of my hand, "I did brush. I'm not weird like you who brushes after your shower."

I chuckled at that logic, "Oh, I'm the weirdo... Says the one who eats Cheeto Puffs dipped in Nutella."

"Hey! It's actually good! You would know that if you weren't so scared to try it."

I rolled my eyes, making him chuckle. He's an odd one sometimes but I like odd. It's another thing for me to love about him.

He smiled at my lips, "Give me a kiss now?"

I smiled into his eyes for a moment and he shot me a cheesy grin. The biggest grin he could possibly make which made me laugh a bit.

It's like he's a child trapped in a grown man's body.

I soon gave into him and cupped my hands on his face, giving him a nice, tender kiss.

When I released my hands from his face, he smirked, sliding his hands up and down my bare thighs, "You know... We really hadn't been spending enough time together lately. You know, with us being busy prepping for the mission and all..."

I chuckled, "What do you mean? I see you every day."

"I mean in the bedroom... It's been a while."

I could feel his hand start to slowly travel higher up under my towel but I quickly swatted at his hand to stop before he could touch anything, "Maybe later. You know we have a lot to do."

"Later tonight?"

I shrugged, "I can't make any promises..." I told him. "A life is in our hands, I don't think there's time for me to relax until we get Simon back. Alive and unharmed."

He surprisingly smiled at that, "Of course... Hey, if we want to be ahead of schedule, we might as well start getting ready now."

I nodded in agreement then hopped down from the sink top, heading back into my bedroom with Jaden following behind.

As Jaden went through his gym bag to find the suit he was going to wear, I headed inside my walk-in closet for mine. I could hear Jaden's voice as I began to get dressed, "Yo, Nicki! I left my shades in my apartment."

I chuckled, "Okay? That's a personal problem."

"Nope. It's both of our problems." his voice sounded closer, "Do you have an extra pair? I'm not trying to walk around with a purple bruise on my eye."

I snickered, "I have a few hundred. Come in."

He walked in as I began to put a tank on, "A few hundred?"

I nodded and showed him to the shelf they were sitting on, "You can keep one or two if you want."

He smiled, "And you didn't steal these?"

"No... Not all of them are stolen. I bought three of them and one was a gift."

He laughed as he picked one up and tried it on, "So 96 of them are stolen..."

I scratched my head, "About that many, I guess... These are years old, most of them were from my early childhood years of working here."

"Someone has sticky fingers... Why would you need to take so many? You don't even wear them that much."

I smirked, "I used to wear them all the time but now I just keep them on the shelf for decoration."

"He's where?!" the sound of Jerry's alarmed voice made us pause.

I heard him sigh as his voice started to go quieter when he walked further away, "Thanks for letting me know D.T... I'll see what I can do."

Jaden raised an eyebrow, "What's D.T doing on the phone with Jerry?"

I'm wondering the same thing.

"I'll go ask him what came up." I headed out of the closet, making my way out of the room and down the stairs to where Jerry was just getting off of the phone.

I caught up to him, "Jerry."

He whipped around, just noticing me, "Yes, Ms. Greene."

"What did D.T tell you?"

He rubbed the top of his bald head, "Eh... It's about Jackson... He's been arrested recently."

I winced, "Arrested?"

How?

"Arrested," he repeated. "I've been trying to get in touch with him for days and now it's no wonder why he hasn't been answering my calls or showing up to work... Apparently, during his violent dispute with Mr. Brown, one of our agents got the cops involved. They were only going to hold him and arrest Mr. Brown as well but the topic of him... You know... Touching you turned up and now he's being held behind bars."

Excuse me?!

My mouth gaped open and I could feel my face flush red, "Wait... Who told them about that?! How does anyone even know?!" I glared.

Jerry moved his eyes away and adjusted his shades, "Well... I'm the one who called-"

"What? Why would you do that?"

"It was for the best, Ms. Greene. Things were getting far too dangerous." He told me sternly. "And I know about your plan to murder him... I feel like that would be totally unnecessary considering the fact that you don't actually remember what happened... My goal was to get him on a no-contact contract with you and Brown and, possibly, a temporary suspension but, apparently, officials wanted him behind bars instead due to information given to them by someone who claims to be a witness. They're keeping their name anonymous so I don't know who it was who told them about the crime. However, we're scheduled for a meeting with investigators to get the real facts on this situation... If he's guilty, we'll have him fired and he'll be in jail for a few years, I think that's a fair deal."

I shook my head, "It's not... He's better off dead."

He shrugged, "I guess if you actually remembered that night... Which is why I contacted Mr. Miguel. He's going to be there to help you remember."

"I don't wanna remember!" I snapped. "Do you think I want to vividly relive the moments Coach forced me to have sex with him?! You're nuts."

"Ms. Greene... It's for justice's sake. If you don't provide us with the details needed, it's either Jackson is free or you go to jail for lying whether you did or not. There are two very different sides to the story right now. They need to hear both to make sense of the evidence."

I groaned and heavily sat on the couch, "I can't do it... I don't want to think about it. And I'm not getting arrested because you opened your damned mouth to the cops!"

I felt a kiss at the back of my head then Jaden's voice said, "I understand that you're afraid to relive it but we all need you to do it. I'd rather him go to jail and never be able to come back to work than to risk the both of us going to jail for murder and telling police false information that we barely know anything about."

I shook my head against that, "So what if he gets out of jail a free man? That doesn't change the fact that I'm still gonna torture him to death. I'm not going to that interview and I'll be waiting for Jackson's return... You're not gonna stop me, neither are any of you coming with me. You'll only get me caught as you said."

I glared at him, "This is my problem to handle and I know ways to eliminate him that no one else does... Not a drop of blood will be found, not a footprint, not a strand of hair... Not... A... Trace..." I raised from my seat and headed back upstairs to grab my equipment for work without looking back.

* * * * *

Jaden

Later that morning, I took Nicole out with me to take a look at those weapons our mechanical engineers have been working on. So far, we have enough information about Fire Catcher and her crew for them to design the perfect weapons for the mission.

There was so much to choose from. Stealth firearms, lightweight protective gear, explosives, blades, anything you could possibly think of plus more. This is my first time actually being in here but I've heard so much about this place. I didn't expect it to be this mind-blowing.

One of those nerds gestured me over to a silver sniper, "I feel like this beauty would be a very important factor on the mission. It's quick, it's quiet, and it has sharp focus and accuracy. It's perfect for long distant shots so the enemies will never see what hit them."

I ran my hand over its smooth barrel, "That's crazy... Hey, Nicki come look at this!"

She walked over to me with her arms crossed, "What."

"A silent sniper. I've never heard of these before."

She stared at it for a moment then a small smirk played on the corners of her lips, "I like it... We can arm the hawkeyes with them. What else do you have for us, Smalls?"

I snickered, "Smalls... It's funny because he's short." I whispered to Nicki and she just shook her head, unamused.

"It's his actual name, Jade..."

Oh...

I went ahead and added the sniper to the list as Smalls answered Nicole's question, "We have a few explosives that need further testing. They're ready to use but we need to look into some protective gear for you guys to use while handling these bad boys."

He led us to the area where the bombs were, "These devices could make a person go deaf in exactly 0.42 seconds if they're standing close enough... You see, this particular type of explosive isn't filled with any old gun powder, no, it's filled with a special sound manipulating element that you can't get anywhere else but from the sources located deep down blah blah blah blah..."

I zoned him out, not knowing what the hell he was talking about anymore. It didn't even sound like English anymore but Nicki seemed to understand perfectly.

I zoned back in, "And it'll burst the enemies eardrums out into a bloody ooze that will permanently damage their hearing and will later cause fatal complications to the brain."

Ew!

But cool...

"If you're standing close enough, it'll sound like a sharp ring, more than 60 times more irritating than a dog whistle. If you're a little further, it sounds like a normal grenade going off. If you're about two miles away, you won't hear it at all."

"We'll take it." I grinned.

He shook his head, "Weren't you listening? I can't give it to you guys until it's completely ready. We're trying to get that done before mission day which is why I'm showing you now. I'm not positive that it will though."

Nicole nodded, "That's fine... Show us some of your spy gear."

"No problem."

"And I need to see some of those brass knuckles and electrocution wires," she smirked as she glanced at me for a short second. "Just to keep in my personal arsenal..."