It was a non-descript building, the paint having since peeled of the building, leaving it unrecognizable as to what it used to be. However, from where they were positioned, there was a single door on the side of the building with what looked like a recently placed guardroom. Marissa lifted her binoculars and looked around through them.

"Two guards, male and female sitting in the guardroom." Jax commented.

"Swipe card access at the door." Marissa noted. Ellie Rae hummed for a moment.

"Three more stationed guards around the corner of the building, armed, not moving. They seem to be staying in their position... Ha, I think one is possibly asleep?"

"So, this is our best bet, then." Jax lowered his binoculars and made a popping noise with his lips while he thought. Marissa continued to scan the grounds.

"There's a road over there that leads to the guard room. Best bet is to walk along that road to the guards, take them out, get their swipe cards and boom, we're in from there." Marissa lowered her binoculars. "But how do we take them out without getting the attention of the other three?" Jax grinned.

"By taking the advantage of presenting an amorous opportunity, of course." Ellie Rae looked at him with a strange expression. Marissa just pulled a face as she turned to look at him.

"Huh?"

"I don't know about you, but Mar is a terrible flirt." Marissa's eyebrows almost disappeared into her hairline, and she jabbed an elbow at her friends' ribs.

"You aren't too great yourself, E.R." Marissa shot back. Ellie Rae raised an eyebrow at the use of her new nickname. Jax just rolled his eyes.

"Who has the boyfriend out of the two of us?"

"Ladies, ladies, just leave it to the master."

"Of what, supergluing his car together?" Jax just rolled his eyes and shuffled backwards down the hill before getting to his feet and running off in the direction of the road, disappearing. Marissa turned back to the guardroom and rested her chin on the binoculars, Ellie Rae just shaking her head.

"You probably do have more flirting experience than him." Marissa shook her head.

"No, you're right. When was the last time you saw me flirt with anyone?" Ellie Rae tilted her head as she thought.

"You flirt constantly with Lincoln." Marissa almost choked on her air.

"I do not."

"You absolutely do. He's just as bad, he's constantly flirting with you." Marissa vigorously shook her head and mimed gagging. Ellie Rae giggled. "You're such a child."

"Lincoln is the child. He's a man-child. Besides, he's had a crush on you since day one. You haven't helped that crush much by clearly flirting back." Ellie Rae made a noise and then went into another round of giggles. "What?"

"I beg your pardon! I have not once flirted with him. He is the bane of my existence and not in a good way either! I'd rather shoot myself and then him again, actually, then ever think about him in that way." Marissa shuddered.

"HA, I dare you to shoot him again. Because if you do, I will put money on future wedding bells." Marissa could not help but join in laughing.

"Oh, my word, if that happens, please shoot me." Marissa groaned.

"What a love story." Ellie Rae said jokingly. Marissa elbowed her. "What a story to tell your kids one day."

"Not a love- Wait is Jax talking to the guards?" They both went profoundly serious and noticeably quiet, very quickly. They watched through their binoculars as he approached, hands in the pockets of his leather jacket. He seemed unalarming, unarmed and completely at ease. Marissa watched closely as both guards got to their feet, one hand on a baton they each carried on their hips. Jax now has his back turned away from the girls, but they watched closely as events played out. Ellie Rae quickly checked on the other three visible guards that were around the long side of the building and confirmed to Marissa that they were unmoved, clearly no alarm having been raised. Marissa wished she had some way to communicate with Jax to let him know. Nonetheless, she focused on what was happening.

Both the guards were outside of the guardroom now, the glass door sliding behind them as they came to face Jax, who was leaning against the wall and looking at his fingernails. The male guard said something to him and Jax must have responded because he looked a little taken aback by what Jax said. The female guard looked to be suppressing a smile. Jax said something to her, and her cheeks flushed. Marissa lowered the binoculars and looked at Ellie Rae, feeling a bit of shock.

"I think he's flirting with both of them. At the same time? Is that even normal?"

"I think... I think you're right." Ellie Rae stretched her neck forward as she was still watching the scene unfold. "I can't believe it. The guy is blushing and Jax looks completely at ease." She shook her head and looked at Marissa. "And I think we've ruled out the fact that Jax is not normal." Marissa made a noise in agreement.

"Maybe he needs to give me some lessons in how to flirt."

"I'm not going to disagree with you there." Marissa snorted and then the two went back to watching Jax. Since not looking away, the entire group dynamic had changed. Marissa was on her feet on an instant and was running down the hill, trying to not trip and roll down the hill, Ellie Rae not far behind her. Jax was behind the male guard, hand clamped over his mouth and pulling his right arm back, stopping the guard from grabbing his baton. The female guard was in a crumpled heap on the ground, her chest rising and falling in shallow movements consistent with being unconscious. Marissa pointed to the woman and Ellie Rae went to her, moving her into a safer, less life-threatening position while Marissa came to help Jax. He barely acknowledged her; his face strained as he tried to keep the man's arm back. He grimaced when she saw the male guard bite down on his hand. Jax swore but kept his hand firmly over his mouth. Marissa grabbed the baton from his hip and in one swift movement, Jax released the guard and she swung hard, hitting him across the jaw. He fell immediately. Jax slowly nodded and shook his hand, grimacing as it he saw the bite marks the guard had embedded into the palm.

"Shame, I would've let him take me to dinner." Ellie Rae quickly moved to the male guard, turned him into the recovery position, and checked his pulse.

"They'll be fine in a few hours. They won't choke on their tongues or anything if we put them like this." Marissa nodded and pointed to Jax.

"Take a look at his hand. I'll grab the swipe cards and we should probably move them in there, for safe keeping."

"Good idea." Jax offered his hand to Ellie Rae. She checked it over while Marissa dug through the guards' pockets. She found the swipe cards and tossed one to Jax, who caught it with his free hand.

"He didn't break the skin, you'll be fine." Ellie Rae confirmed and then took the other swipe card from Marissa and went to open the guardroom door. Jax helped Marissa lift the guards up and carefully place them in the safety of the guardroom, Jax was not being too careful about not letting their heads hit the stairs on the way up. He shrugged when Marissa gave him an annoyed look.

"Doesn't hurt to give them a little bit of a headache, does it?"

"They're already going to have headaches." Marissa said dryly. "Actually. How'd you manage to get this one out?" She motioned to the woman they were now carrying up the stairs. Jax grinned.

"Smack to the temple. Saw it in an old movie once. Wanted to try it." Of course, he did.

They got both the guards tucked under their desks in the recovery position as directed by Ellie Rae, who also kept watch to make sure no one was coming.

"Okay, now what?" Marissa pushed her hair back and looked between Jax and Ellie Rae.

"Now, we go in." Marissa pushed off her knees to get to her feet, looked at the door, and frowned. What if someone stopped them while they were in there? Marissa chewed on her lip.

"What's up?" Ellie Rae noticed the pause. Marissa hummed as she tried to get her words in order.

"We need to get someone in disguise." She finally said. Jax raised an eyebrow and Ellie Rae frowned.

"Disguise? Why?"

"So that way it doesn't look suspicious if they have cameras." Jax pulled a face.

"I don't think that matters very much. Even if one is in costume, they'll still be able to tell we don't belong."

"Then two of us dress up and the other sneaky sneakies in behind." Marissa looked at him. He paused for a moment then nodded, appearing to like the plan when she said it like that.

"Only if I get to do the sneaking."

"What if I want to do the sneaking?" Ellie Rae piqued up. Jax slowly looked at her and made a 'really' face then looked at Marissa. She sighed. Jax was panning out to be one of those types of people who wants to do all the fun stuff and leave the messy things to everyone else.

He was like a toddler but with the ability to formulate proper sentences and tell inappropriate jokes at the appropriate times.

"Ellie Rae, you start taking the clothes off the woman," She sighed. "Guess I'm going to be wearing his." She looked at the male guard under the desk and huffed, blowing a piece of hair out of her face. His clothes were going to be at least two times too big for her, the man looking like a muscled bag of potatoes grown with steroids. She shrugged to herself as she helped Ellie Rae pull the woman out and then Jax helped her pull the man out.

It took her about ten minutes to strip him down to his singlet and boxers. Jax had to help her a few times with turning him over.

"In any normal situation, I would've taken him to dinner first before relieving him of his clothes." Marissa scoffed as she pulled off his button up shirt and it joined the pile of clothing.

"Right, Ellie Rae and I are going to get changed behind the building. You," She gave Jax a pointed look. "Are going to stay in here and act as lookout, got it?"

"Yes ma'am." He saluted. Marissa just made a noise and pressed the button to let them out the glass door. The scuffle they had had over there had not been heard, much to Marissa's relief. The two quickly went down the stairs and started to change. Ellie Rae was lucky enough that she and the female guard had been pretty much the same size. Marissa found herself pulling the man's clothes over her own, her jeans helping to keep the pants on. The top was less of an issue, her chest filling out the space and giving her more wiggle room to sit comfortably. She did have to roll the sleeves though and they were baggy.

"How do men wear such big clothes?"

"That wasn't just a man, Mar. He's practically a superhero sized bag of chips if it had a baby with a muscle car." Ellie Rae mused as she pulled on her own boots. "We could probably use his clothes as a tent." Marissa chuckled, shaking her head at the imagery that went through her head as Ellie Rae spoke.

"Maybe we should." She tied her hair into a ponytail and then pulled the cap on, threading her hair through the back of the cap so that it was only just tickling the back of her neck. Ellie Rae had hers in a bun and stood waiting for Marissa to finish.

"Ready?"

"Oh yeah." Marissa knocked on the wall and they heard Jax open the door and come down the stairs. He jumped off the last step and landed on the ground with a small puff of dust.

"Shall we, ladies?" He handed Marissa and Ellie Rae the swipe cards and Marissa stared at the clear, unmarked card for a moment.

"Wouldn't something like this generally have identification on it?" She asked as they approached the door. Jax and Ellie Rae shrugged.

"Times have changed, I guess. We don't do it like the old days anymore, I guess." Ellie Rae said as she put her hand on the door handle and prepared to swipe the card. Marissa just made a 'hmph' noise and then got behind her, ready to enter. She straightened her posture and lowered her head, making sure that her eyes could not be seen under her cap. Jax waited behind her as Ellie Rae swiped the keycard once and the door made a little 'ding' noise and Ellie Rae pulled it open.

It was dark inside. If it weren't for the fact that there were guards outside and that there was the sound of a generator running, one could safely assume this place had been abandoned years ago. They stepped inside and Marissa immediately felt cool. She was wearing two layers of clothing and the sun was beating down outside. The people who were protecting this place were clearly aware of the random weather changes and kept the building at a cool, crispy degree. The door shut behind them, cutting out the sunlight and leaving them to adjust their eyes to the darkness. It wasn't overly dark, there was a faint blue glow around the place that as Marissa's eyes adjusted, allowed her to see where to walk.

"Okay Jax, what- Where is he?" She whispered, turning around to find that he was gone.

"What do you mean he's gone?"

"I mean, Ellie Rae, that he's gone." Marissa looked at her friend dumbly. She could faintly see Ellie Rae from the blue lights on the ground and knew she could see Marissa staring at her in a rather sarcastic way.

"How can he be gone? He didn't even tell us the plan. We don't even know what we're doing here!" Ellie Rae whisper yelled.

"Okay firstly, lower your voice." She said sharply. "Secondly, we can rectify this. We can figure out what this place is. He said storage facility. So, we find out what kind of storage." Ellie Rae nodded and kept her mouth shut. "But most importantly, we will not split up, okay?" Ellie Rae also nodded to that. Marissa bit her cheek and turned around, looking at their environment.

"Where should we start?" Ellie Rae asked.

"Let's go this way?"

"Which way's this way?"

"Left."

"You're left or my left?" Marissa took a deep breath and closed her eyes.

"Ellie Rae, we're facing the same way." Ellie Rae paused, and Marissa swore she could see Ellie Rae's brain trying to comprehend and figure out which way they were facing.

"I'm an idiot."

"We all have our moments. Come on." Marissa quietly led the way through the building, following the blue lined pathway as she went. Ellie Rae followed behind her, looking around her.

"These look like shelves. Like giant shelves." Ellie Rae commented and stopped walking. She reached out her hand and touched the edge of one of the giant blocks that they had been passing. It was cool to the tough and when she ran her hand along it. It went from metal to smooth wood. "It is a shelf!" She whispered. Marissa came over and placed her hand on the shelf and as well and then cocked her head.

"So, it's a shelf but what are they storing?" Marissa kept her hand on the shelf but started walking, her hand trailing along it as she felt her way along. All she could really see were her boots in the dim blue light. She continued to walk until her hand stopped on something solid, and it wasn't the edge of the shelf. It squished against her hand, and she frowned as she moved her hand up to feel how high it went. It crinkled as she felt it. Using both hands she grabbed it, picked it up, and then knelt so that she could sort of see it in the dim light. Her eyes widened. "Ellie Rae!" She heard light footsteps behind her, and Ellie Rae knelt.

"What?"

"This is a bag of cereal." Marissa looked at Ellie Rae. "Why is there a bag of cereal in a storage building?"

"Didn't Jax say this was where people come to trade for things? Wouldn't that be a thing people trade for?" Ellie Rae countered. Marissa thought for a moment and got to her feet again, and patted the shelves gently, feeling for anything. "What are you doing, Mar?"

"I have a theory. Hold this to the light." Marissa's hand had touched something smaller and squarer, so she picked it up and dropped it to Ellie Rae, who managed to catch it before it hit the ground. "What is it?"

"Raisins."

"Raisins?"

"Is there an echo in here? That's what I said." Marissa found another bag and dropped it to Ellie Rae. "Toothpicks." They went down the line. Apricots, soap, powdered milk, a bottle of shampoo, a pack of tampons...

"This used to be a supermarket." There was a yell from the other end of the building and overhead, lights started to come on, blinding the girls. Marissa almost dropped to the ground from the sudden light attack, her eyeballs feeling like they were burning.

"RUN! YOU GOTTA RUN!" A familiar, male voice called out from where the yell had originated.

"Jax?" Ellie Rae was staring dumbly into the direction it had come from, her eyes straining to adjust.

"RUN!" His shoes were pounding on the floor as he screeched to a stop where they were, his skin shiny with sweat. Marissa got to her feet and shook her head as her eyes readjusted and focussed on him, his eyes wide and his face seeming impossibly pale. "ARE YOU DEAF?" There were the sounds of guns being prepared for shooting. Marissa suddenly perked up and swore.

"GET THEM!" Someone yelled. "DON'T LET THEM ESCAPE!" The voices were coming to Marissa's right, so her next move was to dive under the left shelf. There was nothing there anyway, so she slid along to the next aisle and then got to her feet.

"This is when we split up!"

"You said don't split up!" Ellie Rae yelled back. Marissa sighed loudly.

"Just do it! Ignore what I said earlier!" And then she set off at a run, running down the aisle, pumping her arms as she heard someone chasing after her. She went into a zig zag pattern, knowing very well that it would make it more difficult for whoever it was to shoot at her. She looked behind her and almost yelped when she saw how close he was to her. She looked ahead just in time to see one of the biggest, muscley woman she had ever seen in her life. She screeched to a stop and went to dive into the next aisle, but someone grabbed the back of her uniform and flew back, crashing into the opposite shelving unit. Something cracked as she hit the unit and the breath was knocked out of her.

"This is getting tiring." She said breathlessly as she grabbed onto the shelf behind her to stop her from falling. Both the uniformed guards came at her, the muscley woman in front and had the butt of her gun ready to smack Marissa.

Marissa struggled to get a deep breath in and then dropped like a rock and swung her legs out to knock them to the ground. As they fell, she grabbed the baton from her belt and swung it in an upwards position, smacking the smaller guard up from his chin. He swore and fell backwards, head hitting the concrete floor. Marissa got to her feet and spun around and raised her leg to kick the woman in the face, but she wasn't fast enough. The woman caught her ankle in mid-air and then sneered at Marissa and twisted. Marissa flipped in the air and landed on her stomach. She almost blacked out as the air left her lungs again. She was sick of people winding her. The woman still had her ankle and Marissa suddenly started moving backwards as she dragged her.

"NOPE!" Marissa yelled and tried to grab on to something to stop the movement. Marissa managed to grab a hold of the bottom of a unit and gripped it tightly. She winced when the woman tugged at her, but Marissa held on.

"Damnit." She heard her say and the sound of her gun coming out made Marissa move into action. She did not want to get shot today.

"Oi! Over here!" Ellie Rae's voice rung out, making the pressure on Marissa's leg loosen. She took that as an opportunity and yanked her leg out and spun around on too her knees and pulled out her gun from her waistband, clicked off the safety and aimed. She shot the woman in the shoulder and all she did was look for annoyed.

"You're kidding me." Marissa groaned and then set off at a run again. She could see a spark of strawberry blonde hair dashing past her in another aisle. Marissa looked behind her and did so just in time, a fist coming in her direction. Marissa ducked out of the way and turned to face her properly and then went to punch her, aiming for her shoulder that she had shot. The woman blocked her and aimed for Marissa's stomach with her foot, pushing her back a few steps. Marissa steadied herself and waited, not wanting to make the next first move. She watched the woman take a deep breath and look at her with small, dark eyes. Marissa gulped. She did not like her chances with her. She started to edge back a few steps, hoping that she would exit the aisle at some point. She could hear Jax somewhere fighting someone, sounding very out of breath as he did so. Ellie Rae a few aisles over now, making things fall to the ground as she tried to make her way back over to Marissa. She was swinging her machete in front of her.

"Just give up." The woman growled in a gravelly sort of voice. Marissa really wanted to but shrugged and made an 'ehh' noise.

"That's not really my area of expertise." She said just as she came to the end of the aisle and grinned. She grabbed a hold of the large shelving unit. "You guys should really bolt these to the floor." And then she pulled using all her weight to bring the heavy unit down. The woman looked up at just in time to watch the shelving fall on top of her. Marissa watched as it fell and started to hit another shelf. Marissa looked over to see Ellie Rae still running.

"GET TOWARDS THE DOOR!" She yelled, pointing towards the giant metal doors along the long side of the building. She ran, pushing herself to get there.

It was almost super convenient that the next thing to happen, happened.

The duke came crashing through the metal doors, the sound of metal grinding against metal making Marissa cover her ears. Jax appeared on the other side of the building, his eyes wide as he watched his car crash through the doors.

"My car?" He said, mildly aghast. Lincoln popped out, a giant red mark on his forehead as he almost fell out of the car.

"You guys, okay?"

"MY CAR!"

"That doesn't matter!" Marissa yelled. Lincoln looked for Ellie Rae, who appeared suddenly behind Jax.

"We gotta go!" Lincoln waved towards them, and Marissa started running to where he was and grabbed his hand as he pulled her out of the hole, and she ran into the fresh air. Ellie Rae followed next and wiped her forehead with her hand, panting. Marissa pushed her to keep running as she waited for Jax to appear.

"Come on!" Marissa yelled when Jax finally appeared, looking at his totalled car. Marissa was inching to get running.

"What did you do my car?!"

"Saved your asses! Now get moving because you don't want to watch what happens next." Lincoln pushed him and then ran after him towards Marissa, and they set off at a run, heading for the hill Marissa had seen Ellie Rae disappear up. Lincoln pushed Marissa up further and they managed to get to the top of the hill before there was a low boom and a shock wave rolled up the hill and blew them forward, Marissa managing to fall on her butt just over the edge of the hill and rested her head on the grass for a moment. Jax was staring at where his car was, eyes wide and mouth wide open.

"You blew up my car."

"I saved your lives."

"YOU BLEW UP MY CAR?!" He launched himself at Lincoln, who dodged out of the way sloppily, still in a bit of a daze. It was a wonder he had managed to drive The Duke (may she rest in pieces) and make it blow up, let alone be standing. Jax swung at Lincoln, and he managed to block it but couldn't block the next punch that went to his ribs. Marissa and Ellie Rae sprung to their feet and ran to Jax and grabbed his arms and pulled them back, struggling to fully restrain him as he fought their grip.

"Jax! Calm down!" Marissa yelled in his ear. He didn't even flinch and was so focussed on Lincoln that he kept trying to charge at him. Marissa dug her heels into the ground to stop him from moving and looked over at Ellie Rae and looked at her helplessly.

"Jax, you need to calm down!"

"He blew up my car!"

"Yes, I know that, but we need you to not kill him so that way we can all get out of here, okay?" Jax was seething and he ground his teeth but nodded. Ellie Rae looked at her and then they both let him go and Marissa went to Lincoln.

"Are you okay?"

"I feel like I was hit with a building."

"Probably only part of one." Marissa joked. She could hear an amassing of people on the other side of the hill. "Let's go!" And then they set off at a run, heading back for the trees and the road Jax had taken to get them to this place in the first place.

They slowed to a jog when they got a good distance away and started following Jax again, who knew ways to get around without being seen. He was in a foul mood, but Marissa couldn't help but inquire.

"So, did you get what you needed back?" He looked at her out of the corner of his eye and nodded. "What was it?" Jax pulled something out of his pocket and Marissa immediately wanted to throw it far away from them, just to make him pay.

"A chocolate bar. We risked our lives for a CHOCOLATE BAR?"

"I was craving one. I always jump at an opportunity when one so arises to get the thing I desire." Marissa scoffed and handed it back to him, shoving it in his hand.

"I'm glad your car got blown up." She hissed before slowing down her speed to walk beside Ellie Rae and Lincoln. Ellie Rae looked at her quizzically.

"What did he get?"

"And is he going to kill me?" Lincoln asked. Marissa just clenched her fists.

"We risked our lives for a chocolate bar. Because he was craving one." Ellie Rae's eyebrows almost disappeared into her hairline.

"A chocolate bars. How did he even know they had those?"

"You'd have to ask him that. And yes, Lincoln, I do believe he will probably try to kill you for destroying his car."

"Which we won't allow, right? Because it's because you blew up his car that we're all still alive, no matter how ungrateful we are!" Ellie Rae said the last bit loudly enough for Jax to hear. He just hung his head and kicked the ground with the toe of his boots as he walked. Marissa almost she felt sorry for him.

"So, what's the plan, boss? When do we continue on the next part of our adventure?" Lincoln asked, lowering his voice. Marissa was still watching Jax as he walked.

"We'll rest tonight but tomorrow morning we leave, gather supplies from anywhere but Jax's place and move on."

"Why can't we just steal from him?"

"Because that's rude, Lincoln. Seriously." Ellie Rae muttered to him and rolled her eyes. Lincoln just looked at her in disbelief.

"You want to talk about rude, Ellie Rae? Do you not remember almost getting caught and dying for a chocolate bar?" Marissa rubbed her temples as they started to argue.

"Of course, I do. I was there. I almost got shot. But we didn't die."

"And this is why I like to make plans before doing anything." Marissa said, breaking up any further argument. "We aren't stealing from him, even though he could've gotten us killed, okay? It goes way against any hospitality general rules. He gave us food and a safe space to sleep. The least we can do to repay him for that kindness is by not stealing his stuff."

"Party pooper." Lincoln muttered. Marissa eyed him.

"I'll punch you exactly in the same rib spot that he punched you, mate. And it'll hurt like a bee sting that belongs to the biggest dang bee you would have ever seen, you got me?" Lincoln mumbled an affirmative. "Good. Now where did Jax go?"

"I'm right here." He wasbehind them. Marissa almost jumped out of her skin. "I want to come with youguys."