SHOT in the Back

"Might just say I followed him to show him where Lila was..." Lauren mused, having watched the exchange with interest and amusement. She had picked up Elena's look just before she broke the news to Stefan, and she would be lying if she said it hadn't made her excited for the reactions. But she was liking the recently released convict, he had spirit and he seemed like they shared some of her opinions. "One thing first though, when'd you put the mike on me?"

"Here," Karl held out a list for Carlotta. "I promise to pay you back somehow," he added on, intending on keeping that. He really didn't like taking hand outs for anything. Not even for food.

He'd have to find a way...

Siegrain stood outside the guardhouse in front of the Chings gate, standing around waiting for his hands in his pockets.

"This what you lookin' for?" the guard asked, appearing in the door way with a piece of paper in his hand. The eldest of the Karmts brother's took it, recognizing it as a page torn from the phone book. He gave it a quick scan, looking over the information to see it was a listing of all the garages in Marisol and their phone numbers.

"Yeah, cheers. There a phone booth around here?" The guard just pointed down the street , before telling him to take the first left, he'd almost walk straight into one apparently. "Cheers, again."

"Don't worry about it," Carlotta asserted, taking the list, patting Max on the head, before heading to the front door. She decided to go to the store outside the de Luca compound; she knew that the recent attack would send families hurrying to the store to stock up on supplies just in case. Given the choice, she'd choose a crowd of strangers over a crowd of de Lucas.

Max waved at Carlotta as she went."Bye 'Lotta!"

He then went back over to his parents, hugging onto Karl's leg like a little monkey.

Caesar walked into the store that was near his neighborhood, to pick up some groceries. As he entered, he threw his empty cup of coffee into a trash bin, before heading to get some milk.

"Hey there little monkey," Karl said once Max started to hug his leg. Still, sooner or later he might notice that he didn't really look like his father. Then what would he say? That was something Karl himself pondered quite often.

Max giggled at being called that, trying to shimmy up the adult's leg, but sliding down. Pouting, the boy looked up at his dad. "Up!"

"Maxie, what's the magic word?" Andrea asked in a faux-stern voice.

The little boy frowned again, before mumbling. "...pleeeeease?"

Elena smirked at her protégé and sipped some of her beverage. Seemingly taken pleasure in making Lauren wait the woman drew a cigarette slowly out of a packet on the side next to her. Carefully she put it in her mouth before pulling a lighter from the other side of the packet and flicking the flint.

Fire sprung magically from the lighter and smoke soon filtered through as the cigarette was lit. Elena exhaled the smoke and turned her attention back onto Lauren.

"I plant a new mike on you every morning." The woman explained.

---

Ethan's eyes flared in anger but he quickly let go off her hand to avoid crushing it. With a grunt that sounded almost feral he inhaled more smoke and pulled out his gun.

"Fucking bitch..." He spat after he'd left Lena. He analysed all the building's before entering one that he'd used before to get information.

Disgusted, Lena stormed off, if Ethan wanted to get in trouble, let him do it alone. She left the De Luca compound, heading back to the base, although it'd take her longer, considering she was going on foot. Maybe Ethan would have calmed down, by the time he got back.

"Invasion of privacy, that is. That's kind of scary, next you're going to tell me you know what I'm thinking," Lauren grimaced slightly, glancing at CCTV news feed. "Looks like Stefan's already found the garage, I'm not sure I can catch up."

-----

Adam Renner was warming his hands over a burning garbage can. He couldn't stay for very long, he knew, but it was nice to warm himself up considering there wasn't much warmth in his clothes. A sounds behind alerted him, and he turned around, brushing his hand against the failing brick wall. There were maybe seven youths opposite him, and he knew why they came. He owed them drug money, and he doubted they were there to mince words.

"You owe us money, tramp," the inevitable declaration came, followed by the inevitable swinging punch. Adam's hand shot out, the brick dust he'd grabbed blinding the guy, the following thrown garbage can felling him. The next one came, and Adam ducked back, banging the guy's head against the wall. However Adam was no Batman, and he wasn't quick enough to stop the next guy. In fact, if the ally he was in wasn't so narrow, he wouldn't have made it so far.

He dully felt a knife planted in his shoulder, but his fist was already moving, taking down a third. He was too slow to stop another punch. He took one, two more hits, and he fell, banging his head off the concrete and passing out. It was a valiant attempt, but he was only a seventeen year old, and he was only alive because they left him that way. He lay there, most of the passer-bys ignoring another victim to gang violence in Marisol.

Lena was walking down a sidewalk, heading back towards the base, still angry at Ethan. It was during the final stretch of her walk, only a couple blocks away from the base, when something caught her attention. Starring into an alleyway, she saw a young man, no older than Ethan, laying with a knife in his shoulder. "Hey!" She said, as she ran over to the boy, and confirmed that he was unconscious, and pretty beat up.

"Shit." She said, before picking the boy up, carrying him, with his arm around her shoulder, and heading back to the base.

---

A while later, the boy was now laying in one of the spare beds the base had, the knife now gone from his shoulder, and his wound treated. Next to him sat Lena, who was currently waiting for the boy to wake up.

She briefly wondered how Ethan would react to her bringing an injured homeless person into the base, but decided that she'l deal with that, when the time came.

Karl chuckled, and picked up the little boy, letting him rest on his left side. His right hand wasn't that bad. He just couldn't get a proper grip on anything any more, or make a fist. That was just about it. Oh, and then there was his knee which sometimes still bothered him.

More than often enough, that was when it was cold out.

"Can you tell me what sound a monkey makes?"

Adam didn't so much as move on the journey back to the base, though itmay have looked odd seeing a boy with a knife in his shoulder being helped down the street. He was silent for a while when he was placed down, though he bean to stir eventually. As it happened, Lena was looking away when he woke. He silently sat up, spying the knife and taking it in his hand. As it happened, his hands were still shaky, so the knife made a sound as he took it.

He stood up quickly but shakily, pointing a knife at Lena with the look of an animal backed into a corner. He pointed the knife at her back, though he didn't look in a good enough condition to be threatening.

"Where am I?!" he asked alarmedly.

Lena froze when he put the knife to her back. She honestly wasn't expecting him to wake up so soon, but she new that the boy had to be very weak at the moment, due to the wound. "You're at my place, I found you in an alley with that knife in your shoulder." She explained to the boy.

"Okay..." Adam replied, though he didn't know whether she was telling the truth. She could be with the other guys. Adam found it difficult to trust anyone those days. Realising he was starting to stare silently, he shook his head. "W-where's my jacket?"

"It's over there, on the table." She said, slowly turning to him, and pointing towards a nearby table, where his jacket laid. Now that Lena was facing him, her thoughts were confirmed, seeing how shaky his hand was. He probably was just barely standing at the moment.

Adam was kinda taken aback when she turned around. He wasn't expecting her to be a girl only his age. Especially not a good looking girl, since his mind had conjured an old warty witch looking to put him in a cauldron. He was again caught staring as he stepped backwards, his arm grasping for the shirt he wore over his threadbare t-shirt. His legs were shaky, but he was feeling nervous and claustrophobic.

OOC: Lena is actually about three years older than him, but whatever.

---

Seeing that he was now distracted, Lena's dashed towards a nearby table, grabbing something from it. Taking advantage of the boy's slow movements, she was able to succeed with minimal resistance, and handcuffed his hands together. "I'm sorry, but this is for your own good." She said, apologetically.

Adam reacted as quickly as he could, grabbing her and trying to throw her onto the couch so he could get to the exit, but since he wasn't in very good condition so it probably wouldn't work very well.

Taking advantage of his handcuffed situation, and his weakened condition, Lena was able to escape his grasp, and push him back on his bed. "Cut it out, you're in no condition to be running anywhere!"

"Who the hell are you, anyway? What do you care?" the boy replied. Given his condition, Lena was easily able to push him back on his bed. She could really do what he wanted, Adam wasn't in a condition to do much but lie there. She must have been a bit older than him, she was certainly stronger than he had expected. Which surprised the homeless boy, since she didn't look that strong. In fact she looked kind of-No, he had to get his head together.

"I'm Lena, you're average, everyday good samaritan, and I want to make sure you get better." She said with a wink. "So...who are you?"

"I'm Adam Renner, your average homeless seventeen-year-old guy," the teen replied, feeling a bit embarrassed that he'd got his ass handed to him, and now the girl was winking at him. And he was still trapped in the building and-Oh damn, at least the streets were simple.

"It's nice to meet you Adam." Lena said, smiling at the boy. Lena could tell that he was embarrassed, and she had noticed that his eyes had been wandering a lot, which caused her to mentally chuckle.