Generations

The air was sticky and hot around me as I stepped out of the little private jet I’d been sealed in for the last few hours. When Hobbs had swooped into Tori and I’s house and recruited the lot of us for whatever this mission was I hadn’t really expected to end up somewhere like this. I wasn’t sure where it was but it was far hotter than California.

“Where are we?” Angel asked, echoing my thoughts.

“You’re in Rio.” Hobbs replied.

“Rio? As in Brazil?” Tori asked.

Hobbs nodded, “The very same.”

“Aren’t we supposed to have passports or something?” Jack asked.

“Don’t worry I’ve already taken care of that.” Hobbs replied and from the inside of the rucksack he had been carrying he pulled out eight little books. Glancing at each he handed them out one by one. I hadn’t remembered posing for a passport photo in a few years so I was curious as to what would be inside. I was surprised to say the least.

“You used a MUGSHOT?!” I gasped looking up at Hobbs who was wearing that annoying smirk yet again.

“How did you get our mug shots?!” Dante asked.

“They’re public record.” Hobbs supplied.

“Couldn’t you have just asked us about our passports? Evan and I have them.” Tori replied.

Hobbs just shrugged, “Let’s get going ladies and gentlemen. We have a lot of work to do.”

Turning on his heel Hobbs started towards a series of large military like vehicles that were waiting a ways off. Honestly the lot of us were rather confused by the whole thing but since we really didn’t have a choice we followed. Hobbs climbed into the first one, Vince, Angel and Tyler following him while Tori, Dai, Jack, Dante and I climbed into the second.

“Hey Jack, you think Hobbs knows about Nico?” Dante asked turning to talk to Jack who was sitting in the furthest back seat with Tori and I. He and Dai were seated on the double seat in front of us.

“Don’t know. We’d better look him up though. If he finds out that we were in Rio and didn’t drop by he’d be pretty pissed. He’ll probably want to know what’s going on too.” Jack said.

“Who’s Nico?” Tori asked.

“His cousin.” I replied.

Dai frowned at me, “How do you know that?”

“We were talking about it the other day before everything went to hell.” Jack replied.

Dai looked at me for a long moment before turning back around in his seat, pulling his earphones up from where they’d been hanging around his neck. A few moments later I heard music start playing and I knew he was done talking. Tori’s eyes cut to me and I replied with a simple eye roll. I had bigger issues to deal with than Dai’s bullshit.

The four of us that weren’t attempting to blast their ear drums out of their head with music settled into a normal conversation. Well as normal as you could get what with everything that was going on.

There was a feeling of tension that lay just under the surface of everything that we said.
When we weren’t talking I was watching the scenery pass outside of the tented windows. I didn’t know where we were going. We would drive down a modern street for a while before turning onto an older looking one that curved and twisted around houses. I hadn’t ever been out of the country save for the few months Tori and I had spent with Sean in Japan so this was all new to me.

After about an hour’s worth of driving we slowed down and stopped. Grabbing my bag I clambered out of the vehicle with the others and looked up at where we’d arrived. It was a house that looked like any other house on the street. They were all jammed together with the rare staircase here and there to break up the scenery.

“So this is where we’re staying?” Jack asked looking at Hobbs.

“For now. All of you get inside, find some place to put down your stuff and then meet me back on the first floor.” Hobbs instructed.

“You know the way he talks to us you would think that we’re all like 15 or something.” Angel said once we were out of earshot of Hobbs.

“Have you seen how old he is? We might as well be to him.” Tyler smirked.

“You keep running your mouth like that he’s going to hear you Ty.” Vince said.

Tyler rolled his eyes, “Just let Mr. Clean try and take me on. Bigger they are, the harder they fall man.”

I shook my head and watched as Tyler flexed his muscles a bit before walking further up the stairs, his bag clunking on the steps.

“I’d give him ten seconds with Hobbs before he’d tap out.” I muttered to myself.

Jack must have heard me because a moment later he leaned close to me, “I’d give him five.”

“You wanna bet?” I asked looking at him.

Jack smiled, “Sure. What does the winner get?”

“Twenty bucks?”

I nodded, “It’s a bet.”

“What’s a bet?” Dante asked.

“How long it will take Hobbs to take down Tyler. I mean we all know it’s imminent at this point.” I replied.

Dante nodded, “Count me in for 8 seconds.”

“I’ll take 4.” Dai piped up.

“I’m in for 7.” Tori said as she walked past.

“6.” Angel said with a wave of her hand.

“11 for me.” Vince smirked.

Suddenly Tyler came running to the top of the stairs, “You guys have GOT to see this place! It’s fucking huge! I swear you guys are the slowest people ever. What are you doing? Forming a club on the steps?”

“Something like that Ty.” Vince nodded and clapped Tyler on the shoulder before moving past.

Tyler was right, the house was huge. Despite looking like normal house it was four levels total with several bedrooms. I claimed a small one on the top floor that had a huge old wooden four poster bed that took up most of the room and a balcony with a view of Rio. Despite Hobbs’ orders to just drop our bags and return to him I took a moment to change into a pair of shorts and a t-shirt, a refreshing change from the sweats that I’d been boiling in.

Once I was changed I headed downstairs where I found most of the others waiting. I noticed that Tori and Angel had taken the opportunity to change as well. After a few moments Dante and Dai joined us and Hobbs’ motioned for us to follow him.

He led us through to the back of the house to a large steel door with a key lock. Reaching out he tapped in a code before it swung open to reveal a set of concrete stairs leading down.

“This isn’t going to turn into one of those ‘it puts the lotion on its skin’ type of things is it?” I asked looking at Hobbs.

He didn’t reply, just started down the steps. We all exchanged a few looks before Vince sighed and followed.

“Where are you going?” Angel hissed.

“We don’t have much choice than to follow him do we?” Vince replied.

I don’t know why but for some reason that made me feel better about the situation. Somehow Vince seemed an unofficial leader of sorts. I wasn’t sure when it happened but I guess the others felt the same way because without question we followed Vince.

As we descended the stairs I took up the back, keeping an eye on each stair as I walked down it. The stairs were steep and I was slightly afraid of heights. The thought of slipping on one of the slick concrete steps and tumbling down to the bottom and almost certainly my death was a daunting thought. Finally though I reached the bottom and found myself standing in what appeared to be some sort of bunker.

The walls were made of steel with a concrete floor. There was a large table in the center of the room with several chairs around it, a few small cases sitting on the table. Shelves lined the room with all sorts of unmarked boxes filling them and there was a large steel door not unlike the one upstairs against one wall.

“What is this place?” Angel asked as she looked around.

“This house used to belong to one of the local drug dealers around here and this was his panic room for him and his family. We’ve since brought his operation to a halt and confiscated the premises.” Hobbs replied.

“And we’re here why…?” Dai asked.

“Very simple. We’re going to have a little test.” Hobbs replied and walked over to the table.

I watched as he picked up the boxes and handed one to each of us. Undoing the latch on the one he handed me I opened it to see a gun and a clip looking back at me. Looking beside me I saw that Tori’s case held a similar one. We exchanged looks at and looked up at Hobbs.

“These are your personal weapons. I want them on you at all times. Right now we’re going to see how accurate your shooting is. Make no mistake the guys we’re going up against know what they’re doing when it comes to guns and will not hesitate to shoot you dead. If you’re good I want you to be better and if you’re not good you need to get that way. I will not lose one of you on my watch.” Hobbs replied.

“Aww…you do care! Who knew that the jolly green giant had heart?” Tyler grinned at him.

“Just for that Pierce you get first shot. Through that door if you will.” He replied.

The lot of us walked through the door and found a small room with a glass wall. On the other side of it was a shooting range with two stalls. We all gathered around the glass wall while Tyler headed for one of the stalls. Carefully he picked up the ear protectors and put them on before loading his gun. Raising it up he aimed for the target that was preloaded.

There were a few loud bangs as he shot off a series of rounds. When his gun was empty he put it down and flipped a switch, sending the target towards him. Unclipping it he turned around with a grin, showing a series of nearly perfect shots.

“Very good. O’Conner let’s see what you have next.” Hobbs said and Jack switched out with Tyler.
His shots were even better than Tyler’s and Dante, Vince, Angel and Dai did just as well. Finally that left Tori and I.

“You’re up Wright.” Hobbs said.

I sighed and made my way in. I had shot a gun before but I wasn’t a pro at it. There had only been a few instances in my life where holding a gun had been required and all those times I hadn’t ever actually had to shoot it.

Picking up my gun I loaded the clip and slid the ear things over my ears before raising it up. I aimed it the best I could at the target and pulled the trigger. Unlike the others who had been able to fire off rounds like it was their job I had some more trouble recovering from the recoil. When the clip was finally empty only a few of the shots had actually made it onto the target and none where they needed to be.

When Tori went up she didn’t do much better.

“I hate to say this but you two suck.” Tyler said.

“Yeah don’t rub it in Ty.” Tori spat.

“Well you two need to brush up. We can’t have you out there shooting like that. There are some extra clips in the cabinet. Get to work.” Hobbs said and with a nod at a steel cabinet he left.

Tori and I grabbed a couple clips from the cabinet and got to work. After a couple hours we had fired more shots than I could count and I was pretty sure that the smell of burning gunpowder was going to stay in my nose for the foreseeable future. However our shots had only minimally improved.

“My hand is killing me.” Tori sighed as she sat her gun down on the stand of the stall.

“Same here.” I replied turning to look at her.

“I say we give up for the night. We can start fresh tomorrow.”

I nodded, “Sounds like a plan. I wonder if this place has any food. I’m starving.”

“Same here. Let’s go see. I’m sure that if there is food Tyler and Dante will be there.” She said.

The two of us made sure the safety was switched on before tucking the guns in the waistband of our pants, heading upstairs.

Sure enough seated at the island in the middle of the kitchen we found Tyler and Dante shoving their faces with Dai and Angel. There was an assortment of deli meats, bread, cheese and condiments set out in front of them so I grabbed a plate from the rack near the sink and began to help myself.

“So how did your shooting go? You get any better?” Angel asked.

“Not much.” Tori sighed as she slapped a slice to turkey onto a piece of bread.

“We needed to come up for nourishment.” I replied nodding towards my sandwich.

“Where are Vince and Jack?” Tori asked.

“Vince is getting a shower I think and Jack said something about taking a nap I think.” Dante replied.

“They should get some sleep. They didn’t sleep much last night.” Tori said.

I paused in spreading the mayo on my sandwich, “Was it really just last night? Man it seems like so much longer ago.”

“Crazy huh?” Dai sighed.

I gave a nod and began to finish my sandwich. I hadn’t properly eaten since we’d made breakfast and the sandwich was amazing. I practically inhaled it.

When I was finished I headed upstairs to get a shower that I was desperately wanting. I went to my room and fished a pair of pajama bottoms and a tank top before heading for the bathroom across the hall. It was a really nice bathroom with a shower that could have fit a half dozen people and 3 shower heads.

It took a moment to figure out just how to work the shower but soon I found myself standing under the spray. I loved taking showers and always took my time. I loved just standing under the warm water, letting the steam wrap around me. Usually I spent anywhere from 10 to 15 minutes just standing there before I finally started washing up.

When I was done I turned the water off before drying off and getting dressed. I was still toweling my hair dry when I walked out and bumped into something solid. I nearly fell back but before I could I felt a hand encircle my wrist.

“Whoa...careful there.”

Removing the towel from my head I saw Jack looking back at me, his hair a mess and his shirt creased from his nap.

“Sorry.” I smiled.

“Don’t worry about it. I’m half asleep still.” He smirked.

“Good nap?” I asked.

“Yeah. Did you enjoy your shower?”

I nodded, “Yeah. The shower is awesome.”

“How did your practice go?” he asked.

I sighed, “Let’s just say that my first attempt was just as good as my last.”

“That bad huh?” Jack chuckled.

“Oh yeah.” I nodded.

“You know if you want I could give you some pointers.” Jack said, his hand coming up to scratch the back of his neck.

“Really? That would be awesome.”

“C’mon then.” Jack said.

“C’mon where?” I asked looking at him.

“You wanted pointers. I’m going to give you pointers.” He replied.

“Now?”

He laughed, “What better time than the present? Let’s go.”

With that he grabbed my hand and led me down the stairs and towards the bunker. I grabbed my gun and put a fresh clip in it before joining Jack at one of the stalls.

“Alright let me see what you have.” He said as he pushed the button on the wall to send the target to the other end of the room.

Taking a deep breath I brought my gun up, took aim and fired a shot. It hit the edge of the target, not even getting close to anything it should have hit.

Jack nodded, “Alright. I see what’s wrong. Here…”

With that he moved around behind me. His body pressed against my back as he brought his hands up to my arms, adjusting them slightly.

“Okay. Now I want you to relax. You’re tense and the tension is making you shoot off to the side.” He replied, his breath on my neck.

I nodded and did my best to relax. Taking a deep breath I pulled the trigger again. This time it actually hit one of the scoring points on the target.

A smile broke out on my face, “I did it!”

“You did great. Now…let’s see if you can do it again without my help.” Jack said and moved off to the side, standing against the wall.

I did just as he’d told me before and pulled the trigger. Then I did it again. And then again.

Each time I hit the target. By the time the clip was empty I had a series of neat holes far closer to the middle of the target than they had been earlier.

“Beautiful.” Jack smiled as I pulled the target from the line.

“And it’s all thanks to you.” I smiled.

“Well you’re welcome. I’m glad I could help.” He replied and we headed back upstairs.

“So what are you going to do with that?” Jack asked pointing to the target I still held in my hands.

“I’m hanging it up in my room so I can rub it in Tyler’s face tomorrow.” I grinned.

“Sounds like a plan.” Jack replied.

“Thanks again.” I smiled.

Jack nodded, “It’s the least I can do. I don’t want to see you get hurt.”

For a moment his blue eyes locked on mine and I felt something flip in my stomach. Quickly I tore my eyes away from his.

“Well I’m heading to bed. I’ll see you in the morning.” I replied.

“Alright. Night.” Jack smiled and we went our separate ways.

Walking into my room I found some tape in a desk drawer and tacked the target up onto my wall. Smiling I stood back and looked at it.

“Did you do that?”

Turning around I saw Dai leaning against the frame of the door to my room. He was wearing a pair of sweatpants and a loose tank top, his dark hair falling damply in his eyes.

I nodded, “Yeah. Jack gave me a few pointers. I still need work though.”

“Why didn’t you ask me?” Dai frowned as he walked further into my room.

“You didn’t offer.” I replied.

Dai frowned and sat down heavily on my bed, “Are you ever going to talk to me Evan?”

“We’re talking now aren’t we?” I said.

“You know what the hell I mean.” Dai replied.

I sighed, “Look can we not drag this all back up? We’re here to do a job not work through our problems. That bald guy who flew us here is a member of the US Government, not Dr. Phil. You know what you did, I know what you did and there’s nothing to talk about.”

“I just want to know why you completely stopped talking to me. We were friends before we were in a relationship and we both swore that if anything happened we’d still be friends afterwards.” Dai said.

“When I said ‘if anything happens’ I meant that if for some reason we figured out we weren’t right as a couple that we could still be friends! If we ended on good terms we could’ve have been friends! You feeling the need to assert your manhood by screwing some random girl in the back of your car after I beat you in a race and therefore breaking my heart does not constitute ending on good terms, Daichi!” I spat.

“I told you I was sorry about that.” Dai replied.

“Sorry doesn’t fix what you did. I gave you everything and you took it for granted. You should just count yourself lucky that I talked Dante and Tyler out of kicking your ass and I didn’t open my mouth to Sean and Twink. If not you’d be changing the sex on your license. Now if you don’t mind I want to get some sleep so if you will please vacate my room that would be appreciated.” I said.

Dai looked at me for a long moment before standing up. He opened his mouth to say something but thought better of it and walked out. Sighing deeply I walked over and flopped down on the bed. As much as I wanted to get back up, walk to his room and punch him in the face I knew I couldn’t.

I couldn’t let this bother me.

I couldn’t let him bother me.

I had to find Sean.

And Dom and Mia and Lettie and Tej and Roman.

They were the ones in trouble and were the ones that needed us. Petty feelings had to be put aside.
With a final sigh I climbed under the covers and flipped off my light, drifting off into a restless sleep.