ᵉᵗʰᵉʳᵉᵃˡ

🦢・₊✧⋆⭒˚｡⋆

[ o'grady! ]

𝐃𝐲𝐥𝐚𝐧 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐚𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐨𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐲 𝐫𝐮𝐛𝐛𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐫𝐦. You were wearing a white baby tee with a pleated denim mini skirt, and chunky boots.

"Helen Zaas..." Dylan trailed off. "That was my name before I went into the Witness Protection Program eight years ago, and then I became Dylan Sanders." She smiled at you as you squeezed her hand, Nat placing a comforting hand on her shoulder for some extra support.

"When the FBI realized this young lady's potential, they gave me a call," Charlie said.

"Wait...Helez Zaas?" Max interrupted, leaning forward with interest.

"Yeah," Dylan grimaced, nodding, knowing where the boy was going with this.

"That's your name?"

"Yeah," she confirmed, slightly smiling.

He leaned back, a grin plastered on his face. "So, uh, where-where does that name come from, originally? Is it Ass-tralian?" he joked. You suppressed your laughter, covering your mouth a little with your hand. Dylan blinked, shaking her head but nodded, nonetheless. He chuckled but when Bosley raised his eyebrows, he stopped, looking down.

"Oh, my God. You must have been the butt of every joke," Nat said, looking at you and the girls.

"Did you drive an Ass-tin Martin?" Alex wondered.

"Girls, we're being ass-inine," Nat scolded with a smirk.

"Yes. Yes, you are," Dylan hissed, although she was amused.

"Don't worry, Dylan. We're still gonna be your best butt-ies," you said, and you all laughed, Dylan playfully shoving your shoulder.

"Now, Angels, a rose by any other name still smells as sweet."

"Thank you, Charlie. It's really not that funny," Dylan thanked.

"Yeah, it is," you said in unison.

"Bos, can I get a ruling on this one?"

"You sure can. You know what? Personally, I'm not interested in Helen Zaas. I'm more concerned about yours. No matter what, you're still gonna be our Dylan."

"Thank you, Bos," she grinned.

"Who knew our Bos could be such a little softie," you joked, receiving his chuckle. "Let me guess. You fell for the bad guy."

"I fell for the worst guy. But he was so cute, and I liked him so much, and we would have so much fun together, just driving around, listening to metal, and..." she sighed, recalling her encounters with him. She told you of how they were driving through the streets, belting their hearts out to 'Livin on a Prayer' by Bon Jovi. "And then one night, things got really bad." Dylan further explained how when he parked the car, her proclaiming her love and how she would die for him, he shot a man. "He said he'd kill me if I told anyone, but I had to put him away."

"Of course, you did," you reassured.

"You did the right thing," Alex added.

"He was my first," Dylan giggled.

"Really?" Nat asked, just as childish.

"You told me you never did it," Bosley said, confused.

"My first bust. Yeah," she quickly lied, to which he smiled and nodded.

"Who was this guy?" Nat questioned.

Dylan sighed, before answering, "Seamus O'Grady."

"O'Grady!" you gawked. "As in the Irish Mob?"

"I sent him to prison," Dylan shrugged.

You looked over to Max, finding him gulping. "The O'Gradys killed my parents."

"What?" you questioned, giving him a look of sympathy. "I'm so sorry, Max."

"I testified against them."

"Wait a second. Alan Caufield... He testified against the O'Gradys," Natalie realized.

"Well, that its. The O'Gradys must have HALO, and this is our one lead," Dylan said, handing the necklace she had stolen to Alex.

"The Thin Man. Our favorite ass-assin," you stated, smiling.

"That's right," Dylan smiled sarcastically.

"This needs to go to the lab, and get anal-ized right away," Alex said, feigning seriousness.

"Yes. Let's get in there and do that." Dylan grabbed the necklace, tossing it over to Max who had asked to see it.

He inspected it, before smiling. "Yeah, I know exactly what this is. I have one. The nuns give it to us at the orphanage," he said, holding his own matching necklace out.

"The orphanage. Good work," you praised, sending him a grin, and he blushed, ducking his head, Bosley nudging him.

"Max is in our protective custody now, angels. It's up to us to keep him safe," Charlie said, and you all nodded in response.

"Hey! I know the safest place in town," Bos said, grinning.

You and the angels sped towards the orphanage where Max and the Thin Man had grown up. You all quickly suited up in a blue and white nun dress clothes. A nun approached you with a warm smile. "Mother Superior will see you now." You nodded, bowing your heads, hands clasped in prayer.

"Mother, do you recognize this man?" Alex asked from your school desks the nuns had taken out for you. She handed the woman a picture of the Thin Man, and the woman inspected it before smiling.

"Of course, I know who he is. We called him Anthony, after St. Anthony of Padua, healer of the mute," she answered. "Please. Come forward." You shared a look with the girls before shuffling the desks, the legs scraping against the stone floor. "But his real name, like so much about him, was a mystery." The nun suddenly slammed her teaching pole down on Dylan's desk, her bubble-gum bursting from the shock. Your heads whipped to her, silently scolding her.
"He came to us when he was seven. He was found wandering in the hills, living off roots and insects. We believe his family was part of a Romanian circus troupe who died in a terrible fire," she recalled as you cringed. "Although the doctors could find nothing physically wrong with him, he never spoke a word. And there were other idiosyncrasies. He was a painfully shy child, until it came time for his monthly haircut."

And immediately, you knew what she was talking about. The Thin Man had some incredibly odd obsession with snatching hair. "Then one morning, he was simply gone."

Dylan leaned back in her chair, as Alex followed suit, you and Natalie sending Mother an apologetic smile. "The Thin Man was protecting Max," you heard Dylan whisper, and the nun sent another hit to her desk as she hummed through clenched teeth.

"So, you're saying this man is the sole benefactor of your orphanage?" Alex questioned.

"Yes. He really is an angel," she nodded, Alex sending you a bewildered look.

"Mother, have you had contact with him since?" Natalie asked.

"Well, not really that much, except for the odd haircut now and then. But he does send gifts. Like this morning." She led you out to the front courtyard where a car was sitting. More specifically, Randy Emmers car.

"That is a nice ride," Dylan muttered, arms crossed.

"An original 1967 numbers-matching GTO."

You walked with Natalie to the front of car as you bent down. "Bird poo," she mumbled.

"Nat, no-." But it was too late. She had already swiped her finger through the creamy substance.

"Larus califonicus," Nat said, shoving her poo-covered finger towards Alex who groaned in disgust.

"California gull," Alex grumbled as the four of you walked away from the nunnery. 

"Fecal matter consists mostly of scaly clypeiform. Sardines that fed on large brown algae, I'd say," Nat continued, taking another sniff. "There's also traces of tanker fuel, and storm-water runoff as well."

"Seagulls, tankers, storm water," Dylan listed.

"San Pedro Harbour," you finished.

You spun around from the hanging platform you and the angels were kneeling on, lifting the protective helmets off of your heads, glancing down at the harbor. You took out your lunchbox, each grabbing a small telescope gadget, instead of the actual food. Dylan gasped as she analyzed the large ship, "Merkin... that was the name of Seamus' pit bull."

You and Nat shared a look before looking back at the ship. "Armed guards. Security looks pretty tight," you observed.

"This dock is like a fortress," Nat muttered. "ID badges... I think cargo's our best bet." Alex quickly dialed the agency number, informing Bos of the incoming recon. She took some photos of the shipment lists, sending them to him, who was getting the photos on his laptop.

"That's our man," you said, zooming in on the large man with sideburns and oily slicked back hair. "Hmm. The 'Treasure Chest'... Do a little dance?"

"Make a little love," Dylan continued.

"Get down tonight," Alex ended, taking a bite of her sandwich.

The lights shone down, and you and the angels were wearing the skimpiest outfits. You four were dressed as sailors and when the main beat of the song had started, you strutted forward, peeling your gloves off with your teeth, before whipping them down on your leg.

"There he is. First table on the right," Alex said, and you looked over, finding him slamming his pint of beer on the table as he cheered with a disgusting leer. Alex slapped the whip she was using against the floor before you and the other girls all leaned down on each other, moving to the rhythm.

As you danced, you stepped forward when Alex whipped the man's jacket open, revealing the keys and ID. You twirled yourself around one of the poles, before bumping your hip to the side as you advanced towards the gang member, leaning down and sitting on his lap. You inwardly groaned at the feeling of something pressing against my leg. He smirked up at you as you gripped his hair, pulling him to your chest before pushing back as Alex wrapped a blind fold over his eyes. Whilst he was distracted, you slipped the chain from his belt into the back of underwear, sending him a wink as you stood up. Then, Natalie sent a gush of water from an open balloon, causing him to stand up and applaud, Alex grabbing the paper from his back pocket.

She walked off to where you stood by the bar, and you took out the keys, spinning them around your pointer finger with a victorious smirk.

You leapt from the fake Grecian statue, naked. Changing in the corner, you walked over to the large cage wearing a black skirt with a matching jacket, a cropped white tank top underneath and boots.

"Wait a second. I smell a rat," Alex said, glancing down at the dead rat sitting by the cage. You caught on to what she was insinuating, grabbing one of the metal clips from your belt and tossing it to the cage. In response, electricity flitted through the metal lines.

Natalie raised a straw like gadget to her mouth, shooting out a metal dart, which soon exploded the control panel when she pressed a button. Dylan grabbed an axe which was lying in a pile of chain, hacking it against the lock, causing it to break. She pulled a lever switch down, the door lifting.

We stepped inside, Alex bending down in front of a storage container, quickly unlocking one of the compartments, revealing dozens of rings. You took one out, inspecting it. "This ring is pure platinum," you observed.

"The HALO rings are titanium," Dylan clarified.

Alex picked up the glass container, placing it on a desk. "The HALO data chips should be virtually weightless, surrounded by a hollow core that prevents thermal induction."

"If the density of the object is less than that of the substance in which it is immersed... " Dylan stabbed her switchblade into a box, where she picked up a bottle of champagne and handed it to you.

You grabbed one of the large knives, hitting it against the bottle's opening, where it shattered and began foaming. You poured it into the container where it slowly filled up with the bubbly alcohol. "It floats," you concluded.

"There they are," Nat whispered as you all watched the two rings rise to the surface. Dylan took them, sliding them down her finger and smiling. "I'm sure Helen Zaas was great, but I just can't imagine life without Dylan Sanders."

She pouted with happiness as you smiled at her. She turned around, grabbing another bottle of champagne. "Come on, let's get out of here," Alex said.

"Cheers to that!" Dylan exclaimed, throwing her arms over your shoulders as you walked out the cage.

"What's the rush, Helen?" a thick accented voice rang out. You all stopped, looking around for the source. Out of shock, Dylan dropped the bottle, causing it to shatter at her feet as her breathing quickly became heavy and rushed. "You've only been here five minutes. Now, I've waited for you before. Matter of fact, I've waited for you 2920 days. That's 417 weeks. That's 96 months. That's eight years." He stepped down the bridge, standing in front of you. "Enough about me. What about you, Helen? How have you been?"

"Seamus..." she mumbled.

"I see you've still got a nice arse on you. You've got a lot of nerve coming here, and stealing from me," he said, glaring at her.

"Stealing back's more like it," she snapped.

"Give us the rings." He held his hand out as you watched Alex glance at the hanging panel which switched the lights on and off. "Give us the rings," he repeated, as men started walking out, wielding weapons such as crowbars and bats. "Give us the rings!"

Slowly, Dylan held her hand out, Seamus pulling the rings from her. "Don't lose those," you warned, your eyes watching the rings as he placed them in one of his men's hands. "We'll be taking them back in about... 48 seconds." 

The man chuckled when he placed them in his pocket. Some suddenly cocked their guns. "I've been dreaming one day I'd get to see you again...and watch you die," Seamus told Dylan.

"Keep dreaming," Alex hissed, then kicked her foot up, sending a metal chunk towards the panel, the lights turning off. Immediately, the men started shooting where you all had been standing, but little to their knowledge, you had already flipped over them, now standing behind them.

"Lights! Somebody get the lights," one shouted.

As you stood in a line, your hands were connected, sending morse code to each other by tapping your fingers against each other's palms. The same man continued to yell out for Seamus as you spoke through the silent language. The lights suddenly turned back on, and you turned, finding Seamus by the control. "You know I always like it with the lights on," he joked.

The fight began as you swooped underneath one of the gang members, kicking the gun from his hand and standing back up, facing off against three of them. You leaped onto his shoulders, pushing his head forward as he crashed to the floor. You jumped off him mid-fall, wrapping your legs around one of the other men's faces, bashing your fist against his skull. As he dropped unconscious, you somersaulted, posing, beckoning the last of them. He ran to you, and you dropped the floor, sweeping your leg underneath his own, causing him to tumble to the ground. You sat on his back, hitting the nerve on his neck, and he slumped further into a senseless state.

You looked up just in time to see Seamus cut through a rope, Dylan flying as she was gripping her own. Natalie jumped over, and you chased after them, leaping forward, grasping her outstretched hand. Alex followed suit from her spot-on top of the cage. You then curved your bodies, your heads now facing downwards as your feet crashed through the decked roof. You grabbed a plank of wood, then descended down one of the many thick cords connecting the ship to the dock, using the timber as a sort of board.

Soon, as you dashed into an open space, Natalie started spinning one of the wheels where you grabbed the hose, sending oil out everywhere. Dylan flicked open her lighter and sent into the opening of the tube, the oil soon bursting into flames. You let out a yell as you sprayed fire to the ground.

When it was drained, you dropped the pipe to the floor, running off towards the speedboat, the girls in tow. You hopped off the dock and into the aquatic vehicle, Alex and Natalie behind you. Your eyes widened when you didn't see your red-headed friend. "Dylan!" Nat yelled, and you saw her running over. You started the engine, and she surged forward, landing with a grunt. "I got the rings."

"You okay?" you asked, and she nodded, heaving some breaths.