Chapter 1

Arden and Roxy ran as fast as their legs could take them. Dodging every citizen that was in their way as they ran through the crowded shopping strip, they picked up their pace and ran towards the dark alley. The two girls took a sharp right turn and slowed their pace when they finally caught up to their target.

"THEIF! SOMEONE HELP!" The victim's voice echoed from the busy shopping area and carried its way throughout the alleyway.

"Roxy, get the bag!" Arden called out to the younger girl, who nodded and picked up her pace.

Now that she was no longer holding back, Roxy darted towards the thief with lightening fast agility. She locked her sight on the handbag that was in the man's possession and successfully yanked it out of his grasp. She quickly spun on the heels of her sneakers and returned to her partner's side.

Grinning in victory, Roxy held up the bag so that Arden could reward her with a well-earned appraisal. "I got the bag, A.!" She announced, breathing heavily from the chase.

"Good job." Arden smiled, patting her head affectionately. "Go return that to the lady he stole it from, and I'll take care of the bad guy, all right?"

Before exiting the alley, Roxy nodded and yelled, "Let's meet up at the ice cream shop!"

Arden focused her attention on the large man, who was scowling from a short distance away from her. "So, how are we gonna do this, huh? Is it gonna be the hard way, or the easy way?"

"You think this is a game, little girl?" The dirty man spat in anger.

"Well, I'm having fun. How about you?"

"You bitch! How dare you talk to me in that attitude?!" He stomped towards the brave girl and stopped right in front of her face. "I'm an adult! TREAT ME WITH SOME RESPECT, WON'T CHA?"

"I don't have respect for thieves," she said, crossing her arms over her chest to show that she wasn't moved by his threat.

"What'd you call me?!"

"A thief," she deadpanned. "You deliberately stole an innocent person's bag and thought you could get away with it. What else do you expect me to call you, but a thief?"

"CALL ME THAT ONE MORE TIME. GO AHEAD, I DARE YA!"

"Thief. You're a dirty, rotten, low-life thief." She elaborated.

He felt his face heat up in embarrassment. Thief or not, he was an adult and she was a child. He would not allow her to talk to him in such a rude manner. "Listen, you bratty little bitch!" He raised his hand to smack the smirk off of her face, but she quickly caught his wrist and twisted his arm in a painful direction.

"Finally, the game is getting started!" Arden cheered, as she let go of the man's arm and took a step back so that he could recollect himself. "All right, now give me a good fight."

"Ya wanna fight, kid? All right, but don't say I didn't warn ya," he laughed hysterically, bracing himself for a fight. He took a step back, cracking his knuckles and neck in order to loosen up for the fight.

"AHHH!" The thief yelled, as he charged towards the rebellious teenager. He threw a few aimless punches and kicks, getting angrier as she easily dodge all of his attacks. He then took a step back and braced himself for another kick.

When he lifted his right leg in the air, Arden's slender hand quickly wrapped around his ankle and yanked his bodyweight upward. Making sure she had a secure grip on his ankle, she slowly lifted his entire body skyward with her dominant arm.

"How boring," Arden said yawning, purposely making him angrier. "I thought you were gonna give me a good fight tonight, sir. This isn't a fight at all."

The man's eyes grew wide, as he stared at the black concrete merely ten inches away from his terrified face. "WHAT THE BLOODY HELL?! YOU AINT NORMAL, KID!" He shouted, squirming his body around to get out of her strong grip.

"I wouldn't move around so much if I were you." She warned in a disapproving tone. "I don't know if I can hold you up any longer. What if I accidently dropped you? After all, I'm just a little girl."

"All right, all right! I'm sorry!" He begged, feeling the blood rushing down to his head. "I'm sorry that you called you a little girl and that I stole! I'll never ever steal again!"

"Promise?" Arden asked, testing his honest word.

"I SWEAR!"

"All right, good enough." She set him down and pulled out a pair of black handcuffs, strapping them around his wrists in one swift motion. She kicked him behind the knees and he fell to the ground in a loud thump. "Stay still," she ordered, taking out her cell phone. "This won't take long." She dialed headquarters and waited until someone answered on the second ring. "Send over the police to pick up some garbage," she said to the secretary on the other line.

"Right away," Sara, the secretary said. "Your location has been sent to the nearest police office. They should be there soon. Careful not to get caught."

"Got it, thanks." She said with a nod, and slid her cellphone into her back pocket.

"What'd ya call me, ya little bitch?!" The man scowled in anger. "'Garbage?' Is that what you said?!"

Instead of answering his threat with a retort, she reached into the front pocket of her brown leather jacket for a black permanent marker. She bent down to his level and drew a large 'X' on his left cheek.

"Remember, you promised not to steal anymore." She warned him, and quickly ran off when she heard a police siren approaching the alley. "Have fun behind bars, sir!"

"Tyson!" Colin called out, as he and his partner walked into the loud bar. It was Sunday night, so every bar in town was filled with loud, rowdy football fans – but the two teens weren't there for the game; they were there to bust an illegal drug deal. "Could you slow down?"

Hearing his friend's voice from a distance, Tyson slowed to a stop and waited for Colin to catch up. "Keep up, man." He said. "We're gonna lose him."

"Are you sure he walked into this place?" Colin asked his friend, as they made their way to the emergency exit in the back of the bar.

Tyson nodded. "Yeah, he ran into this place when he realized that we were tailing him."

"But why would he run into a bar?" He asked again, glad to finally be away from the loud noise. "Isn't he trying to be low-key? Going into a crowded bar isn't going to help him be invisible."

"He knows we're underage and that we can't get into a bar – but what he doesn't know is that we have fakes," he laughed, shoving his fake I.D. into his back pocket as they walked into the dark alley through the bar's back entrance.

"FREEZE!" A man yelled, suddenly jumping out from behind a tall, dark dumpster.

"Listen –" Tyson started, but froze when the man pulled out a gun and pointed it towards him.

"One move and I'll shoot!" He threatened, inching towards them.

"We don't want trouble," Colin said, trying to reason with him.

"Then what do you want, huh?! Why are you following me?"

"Why'd you run when you saw us?" Tyson asked.

"I'm the one asking the questions around here, boy!" He directed his attention towards Colin and said, "Now, let me ask you again – Why are you kids following me?"

"Are you with King Tiger?" Tyson pressed on, obliviously not fazed by his threat.

"I SAID I ASK THE QUESTIONS HERE, DAMMIT!" He yelled, pointing the gun at Tyson.

He sighed and said, "Fine, we followed you because we suspected that you're with King Tiger. And if you actually are with King Tiger, then you should know that your gang has been doing some illegal dealings recently and framing other 'innocent' gangs for your works. If you admit that you are associated with these cases, then we'll need you to come with us."

The man barked out a loud, ugly laugh and scoffed at them. "What are you? The police?" Tyson ran towards him and knocked the gun out of his grasp, while his guard was temporarily let down.

"Not exactly, but you should still be scared of us." Tyson said, knocking him to the ground. He wrapped his arms behind his back and pinned his scrawny body to the ground.

"AH! LET GO, PUNK!" The suspect yelled, struggling under Tyson's firm grip.

Colin took the opportunity to run around the dumpster and find the man's suspicious looking suitcase. He quickly opened it and found endless ounces of dope, carefully packaged and organized by weight. At the bottom suitcase, he found the gang, King Tiger's crest – a bloodshot tiger's eye with a crown in its pupil.

"He's with King Tiger," Collin said to his partner, confirming their earlier suspicions.

"What should we do with him? Police or headquarters?" Tyson asked him.

Colin took out his phone and sent a text message to headquarters, telling them to notify the police of an illegal drug deal. "We'll hand him to the police. We don't need him. X only wants their leader."

The man's face suddenly went pale, as he stuttered a response. "Y-You two work for X? W-what does he want from boss?"

"You don't ask the questions anymore, buddy." Tyson said, taking out a red permanent marker and drawing a large 'X' on his forehead. "Now, shut up and stay still." Colin threw him a pair of black handcuffs, which he used to secure the criminal to a nearby gutter pipe.

"The police are here," Colin announced, hearing the approaching sirens. "We should leave before they find us back here."

"Got it, let's go." Tyson nodded, as the two of them headed back into the bar.

When they were finally able to pry their way out of the bar, Tyson's phone rang. "Hello?" He answered, without checking the caller I.D.

"Hey, where are you guys?" Arden asked on the other line.

"We just finished taking care of some business for Xander. We're by the town's shopping strip. Where are you?"

"I'm meeting Roxy at the ice cream shop in the shopping strip."

"Want us to meet you two there?"

"Sure," she answered, and Tyson could hear the heels of her boots clinking rhythmically against the cold concrete. "I'm in the mood for some ice cream. Hey, is Colin with you?"

"Yeah, he's here. Wanna talk to him?"

"Yeah."

Tyson handed his friend the phone, and he answered it with a "Hello?"

"Hey, Colin." She said, as she walked into the ice cream parlor and scanned the tables until she found Roxy sitting on a booth. "Remember the files I asked you to hack into yesterday?"

"Yeah, it's done. I have all of the information ready for you. I slipped it under your door this morning before we headed out."

"Awesome, thanks!"

"No problem."

"Hi, Colin! Hi, Tyson! Come eat ice cream!" He heard Roxy yell into the phone.

He laughed at her innocence and said, "All right, we're on the way."

"See ya soon," Arden said before ending the call. Colin hung up and handed the phone back to Tyson.

"Are the girls also working on the King Tiger case?" Colin asked his friend.

Tyson nodded and answered, "Arden occasionally goes on drug busts with me. Roxy is pretty much clueless about it, though. Xander doesn't want her going on drug related missions since she's so young." They took a right at the corner and the ice cream parlor came into view. "Why? What's up?"

"Just asking out of curiosity. Arden asked me to find some information on King Tiger's boss last night."

"She's planning on taking out the leader?"

He shrugged. "No idea. She just asked for some info and I found it. I'm not sure on what she's planning to do with it though."

"Let's just hope she's not planning on taking him out alone," Tyson sighed as they walked into the ice cream shop. A big smile broke out on Roxy's cute face when she spotted the two boys. She stood up on her chair and excitedly waved them over. The boys join their friends at the booth and took a seat across from them.

"Hi, Tyson! Hi, Colin!" Roxy smiled, oblivious to the chocolate ice cream smeared at the corners of her mouth. She got up of her seat and gave them both hugs.

Tyson noticed Arden having a hard time with using her right hand to eat ice cream, instead of her dominant left hand. "What happened to your hand?" He asked her.

She showed him her wrist and explained, "It's swollen and hurts like a bi –" She looked over at Roxy and changed her choice of words, before continuing. "Biscuit."

Tyson and Colin laughed, which caused Roxy to laugh along, even though she was oblivious to why they were laughing.

"How did you hurt your hand?" Roxy asked her.

"I'm not sure. I guess the guy from earlier might have kicked my hand and I didn't notice."

"How do you not notice when someone kicks you?" Colin asked, taking out his portable laptop and setting it on the tabletop.

"Eh, it happens." She shrugged and took another spoonful of ice cream.

"You should get it checked when we get home," Tyson said, becoming over-protective. "Here, give me that." He reached over the table and took the spoon from her hand. He scooped a spoonful of her favorite cookies n' cream ice cream, and offered it to her. She raised a brow at him in question, but still accepted his help and took a bite of the delicious ice cream.

"Aw, but you never feed me, Tyson!" Roxy whined.

"You're too old for that, Roxy." Colin pointed out.

"But he's feeding Arden, and she is an adult!"

"Arden hurt her hand, and it's hard for her to use her right hand."

"How come she can't use her right hand?" She asked Colin, entirely curious and inquisitive as always.

"How come you can't use your left hand?" He asked, throwing the question back at the confused younger girl.

"Because it's too hard!"

"Well, it's the same for Arden. She can't use her right hand as well, just like we can't use our left hands as well. She's left-handed."

"Xander is left-handed, too!" She pointed out. "And you, me, and Tyson are right-handed."

"That's right," Colin nodded, as he continued to type on his laptop.

"But I still want Tyson to feed me!" She said, pushing her cup in the older boy's direction.

"It's like she didn't even hear me," Colin sighed.

Tyson looked at the empty cup and laughed. "Roxy, there's no ice cream left."

"You're right!" She agreed, inspecting her empty cup. "This calls for round two!"

"Uh, I don't think so," Colin interjected, throwing away her empty ice cream cup. "You know what happens when you have too much sugar. You start running around all over the place, and no one is fast enough to catch you."

"But I want Tyson to feed me, too!" She pouted at him.

"Next time," Tyson promised, offering Arden the last spoonful of ice cream.

"Promise?" Roxy pressed on, not wanting to easily be convinced.

"Promise," he nodded.

"Okay!" She smiled, satisfied with his verbal contract.

To any outsider, Roxy, Colin, Arden, and Tyson looked like a group of normal kids, hanging out with their friends. But to them, they were all each other had – they were family. Under Xander, they trained, ate, and lived together. Since the four were not welcomed in their past homes, they threw their old lives away and made a new family with Xander – A family they can love, trust, and protect. A family they were willing to risk everything for.