"What are you doing here?" Matthew asked as they sped along the road at a speed that was definitely not legal.

"You must have seen my note," Eli said with a grin that bordered on gleeful.

"I saw your stupid note and honestly hesitated to come and get your scrawny ass," Adria said, ignoring Matthew for the time being.

"And yet, you promised to do your best to make sure I don't die," Eli pointed out with a smug look that made Adria glare at him through the rear view mirror.

"Why is he even here," Matthew asked, deciding to ignore the two bickering. "He's supposed to be back in the apartment. Where it's safe."

"Then tell him that. The little shit ran off on his own."

"How?" Matthew asked, probably because he knew there were men supposed to keep an eye on the building just in case.

"I used the fire escape," Eli said, almost proudly. He didn't mention that he'd slipped and nearly died. Matthew probably wasn't ready to hear that particular detail.

"He tased one of my guys." Adria added.

"I said I was sorry."

"While you tased him." Eli didn't think Adria emphasizing that point was very helpful.

"Oh my God," Matthew groaned, as he lowered his face into his hands. Again, not a very helpful attitude to have.

"I only tased him because he wouldn't let me leave."

"Because you were going to get yourself killed!"

"Well, I'm alive so shows what you know," Eli said and, for one terrifying minute, thought Adria would let go of the steering wheel so she could turn and choke Eli to death.

To be fair, Eli might have been right about that. They just never go the chance to find out whether Adria would finally snap and murder Eli with her bare hands because that was precisely the point at which they noticed a couple of cars—three, in total, from the glimpse Eli got of them—speeding up to them.

"Fuck." Eli was almost amused that they'd all said that in unison.

He was not so amused when Adria stepped on it, mostly because Eli wasn't a fan of going at a speed that would end up with him as a smear on the pavement if anything went wrong. And sure, Adria seemed pretty confident about her driving skills, but Eli couldn't say he felt the same way. Still, Eli was willing to put up with her manic driving. If only because he didn't think the guys chasing them would have anything pleasant in store for them if they caught them.

As if to illustrate his point, the unmistakable sound of gunfire was heard a second later and Eli nearly had a heart attack when a bullet whizzed by him, punching a hole in the rear windshield. Not that Matthew was in any better shape.

The bullet might have missed, but it was a close call that had Matthew's face going white. Which meant it was shove-Eli-to-the-ground time. Eli didn't even complain as Matthew pushed him down, shielding him as best he could, as if the point of the whole trip wasn't to stop Matthew from getting shot.

"Stay down," Matthew said, voice sharp.

"Oh, did I have another choice?" Eli asked, feeling fairly fed up with the situation. There were only so many times one could almost get killed before annoyance won over fear.

"Motherfucker!" Good to know Adria was finding the whole thing about as fun as Eli.

They swerved—a sudden, jerky movement that had Eli slipping sideways while Matthew kept him relatively steady.

"We need to lose them," Matthew said, sounding incredibly displeased with the situation, which Eli could understand. Right about then, he was having second thoughts about a lot of things.

"Oh, you think? What great fucking advice," Adria snapped. And sure, it was rude as hell. Still true.

Eli peered over at her just as she reached into her coat and pulled out a handgun. To be honest, he wasn't even surprised. He'd always known Adria was shady as hell.

"What the fuck?" Matthew, apparently, did not share Eli's opinion.

Adria didn't pay them any attention as she lowered the window and shot back at the guys following them. There was a screech of tires and a loud crashing sound. Eli was—very much against his will—impressed.

"A girl's gotta protect herself," Adria said as she pulled away from the window, eyes back on the road.

Matthew looked like he wanted to say something. Probably something sarcastic, if Eli had to guess, only, he was interrupted by yet more bullets. In an instant, he was once again pressing Eli down, arms wrapped around the redhead's head.

The car swerved once again as Adria tried to keep them all from getting shot. Which, while great, wasn't that effective.

"Shit!" Matthew hissed, and Eli just knew that wasn't good.

"What? what is it?" Eli asked, not liking the grimace on Matthew's face.

"Good news is, this vest definitely has ballistic resistance." The pain in his voice made it clear it was shitty ballistic resistance.

Eli stared at Matthew, wondering what was wrong with him and wishing they were in a better situation so he could smack the idiot.

"Are you fucking serious?" Adria said. Eli very much agreed with the sentiment.

"Slow down," Matthew said, sitting up.

"How about no, you crazy bastard." Once again, Eli found himself agreeing with Adria. Which, really, was bad enough.

"Just do it," Matthew insisted.

"I swear to God, if you get us all killed," Adria muttered, but there was a noticeable drop in speed.

"Stay down," Matthew told Eli. And then he was moving.

The door flew open and Matthew—to Eli's absolute horror—jumped out, like the complete maniac Eli'd always known he was. Eli watched as Matthew clung to the car and punched one of the men through the open window, before snatching away his gun. The driver hastily pulled out his own weapon, turning it towards Matthew.

Eli slipped as the car swerved violently, the other remaining car pressing against their own on the other side. He lost sight of Matthew for a second, only hearing a gunshot from his direction. When he next looked up, Matthew was jumping back after having shot the tires of the car he'd been clinging to.

When the car swerved once more, Matthew nearly fell off before he could climb in. Eli felt his heart nearly stop as he clutched at the idiot and pulled him back in. Matthew toppled on top of the redhead, his full weight knocking the air out of Eli and making him wonder if this is how he'd die—crushed by his giant boyfriend.

"Hold on," Adria called before Matthew could get off Eli. A second later the car swerved once again and slammed against the lone vehicle pursuing them.

Eli heard tires screeching and then Adria's laughter, which could only be described as maniacal despite their near death experience. As Matthew helped Eli sit up, something blew up behind them. They cast a look back through the hole that used to be blocked by a rear windshield and saw two men stumbling away from a car on fire.

"Well, that was exciting," Adria said.

Both Eli and Matthew looked at her like she was off her rocker. Which, to be fair, she most certainly was. But, she'd managed to help them stay alive so Eli wouldn't hold it against her. He certainly didn't do so with Matthew.

"We almost died," Matthew said, as if Adria didn't know that.

"And? I was under the impression you were used to almost dying." Fair point. "And close the damn door."

Eli almost laughed because of course that's what Adria would focus on. Still, Matthew leaned over and shut the car door, glaring at Adria the whole way. For the life of him, Eli couldn't think of any other time he'd seen Matthew glare as much as he had that night. Under different circumstances, Eli might have found it amusing.

"I may be used to it, but I'm not used to Eli being in that kind of situation."

"You say that like your little boyfriend didn't get stabbed last week."

Eli wisely said nothing, just looked from Matthew to Adria and back to Matthew, fully expecting for someone to get strangled to death. Unfortunately, the mention of Eli had Matthew turning his ire towards the redhead.

"And you! Why would you even come here?" Matthew asked, finally looking at Eli like he couldn't believe he was there. As if he'd not been bitching at him the whole time about his very presence.

"Because your dumbass was gonna get murdered," Eli said with a glare. He was certain that he was making some very good points, even if it didn't look like Matthew agreed. Then again, he could have made more of an effort to sound more diplomatic.

"I was fine," Matthew insisted, because of fucking course he did. He would insist he was fine even if he was dying as long as Eli was safe.

"Yeah, you were doing great locked in that warehouse with a shit-ton of assholes trying to shoot you."

"At least I didn't have to worry about you getting shot!"

"I got stabbed at home."

"But you didn't get shot." The way Matthew pointed that out, one would think it was some great accomplishment.

"Great, what do you want, a medal?"

"I want you to stay home!"

"If you both don't shut up I swear I will throw you out of this moving car!" Adria finally snapped. Honestly, Eli fully believed she would go through with that threat. Especially after watching her shoot a car's tires while driving. Simply put, Adria was terrifying. "Now, what happened before things went to shit?" she directed her question at Matthew who was still looking at Eli in what could only be described as a disapproving manner. Eli just glared before settling back in his seat to sulk.

"I got to the warehouse, looked around to make sure it was safe to head in and found an opening through one of the windows. Only, when I got inside there was no meeting or anything. And that's about when all the guys with guns popped out and started shooting at me." The way Matthew told it made it sound like he hadn't just almost died. Which, honestly, was the way Matthew spoke about his insane outings as Vigilante in general.

"What happened to your informant?" Eli asked, wondering if Adria's supposed allies could be trusted.

"Haven't heard from him," Adria answered. "He was supposed to call me at a set time. When he didn't I figured something happened."

"So they found out he was working for you," Matthew said.

"Most likely. Which means they must know you're working with me now."

"Well, that's not gonna make things any easier," Eli muttered, not liking the sound of things.

"No, it won't," Adria said, sounding more tired than concerned. "But, I figured things would turn out like this eventually. And it's not like I wasn't a target from the start." Eli had to admit, he was impressed by how little Adria seemed to care that she was likely to get murdered. He could relate.

"You know, we can just wait for him to make the first move. He's going to try to lure us out eventually," Matthew pointed out.

"Sure, but the problem is, we don't know how he'll go about that. Now, my money's on him going after you first. You're more of a pain in the ass than I am and if he can take you out it'll make it that much easier for him to take control of the city. The question is, are you ready for what he might take from you?" Adria glanced at Matthew through the rearview mirror, her gaze piercing, and the very air around them felt heavy with the tension brought on by the question.

Eli didn't like it. He didn't like the thought of anyone after Matthew, particularly someone as dangerous as this mercenary had proven to be. Most of all, he didn't like the idea that all they could do was wait for the enemy to set a trap so they could walk into it.

Adria dropped them off at their temporary hideout, Matthew's mask having come off at some point during the drive. He was now sporting a plain black coat Adria had provided. She'd, rather sensibly, pointed out that maybe he shouldn't wander around looking like a ninja knockoff. Even if it was too late for most people to be up.

"Get some rest while I figure shit out," Adria said as Matthew opened the door to get out. "And you," she actually turned to glare at Eli, "Listen here, you yappy chihuahua, if you run off on your own again I will personally stomp you to death." Eli fully believed she would.

"You say that like you're the first person to threaten me," Eli pointed out. With the way Adria's glare intensified, maybe it was for the best that Matthew chose that precise moment to drag Eli out of the car.

"Sorry about the car," Matthew said, looking at the vehicle—riddled with bullet holes and missing the rear windshield. Looking at it's condition, Eli had to wonder how they'd managed to survive.

"What do I care? It's not mine." Of course it wasn't.

It was that kind of thing that had Eli feeling glad Adria was leaving. Then he saw Matthew's face, and almost wanted to dive back into the car with Adria. At least he was used to her being angry and slightly murderous.

Unfortunately, Adria was already driving away—with what Eli could have sworn was a cackle—and so, he was left on his own to deal with Matthew. With a resigned sigh, Eli let Matthew lead him to their temporary home.

# # # 

Hi everyone! Here's your regular reminder that I love Adria, lol. Also, we got like three chapters of action which means things are slowing down in the next chapter. But there's still something interesting in it, so don't worry. :D

Anyway, next chapter will be up on Friday, April 30th! In the meantime, maybe check out my Taps profile? I'm posting an edited version of Vigilante with some new bits in it there! So yeah, link's on my profile if anyone's interested. Other than that, I hope you all liked this chapter and, as always, thank you all for reading!

Stay safe everyone!