24.

"She is Mia, the one over there with the glasses is Jesse, he's a genius with the cars and computers, the one with a menacing look is Leon, and the girl over there with the glasses and a bitchy attitude is Letty." Vince introduced him to the crew,

The girl named Letty flipped him the finger as she shook her head, "Looks like they didn't fuck you up enough!"

"Yeah, yeah!" Vince chuckled as he turned towards Jaxon again, "And the one who just went out is Dom,"

"Oh! The guy they were looking for?" Jaxon asked as Vince nodded,

"What do you mean they were looking for Dom?" Mia asked,

"It's nothing..." Vince shook his head, "Things got more complicated than we intended to."

"And what's your name, big guy." The awkward-looking man named Jesse came over as Jaxon replied, "Jaxon."

"You've got a surname?" He stared at Jaxon who stared back at him, 

"I don't like your tone." Jaxon snorted, "Are you interrogating me?"

"What if he is?" Leon joined in surrounding Jaxon flashing him his gun,

"Are you picking a fight with me?" Jaxon said, his smile slowly contorting into a menacing look as he closed his fist.

"Chill!" Vince said getting up with Mia helping him, "He's my friend so treat him as such!"

"Bu-"

"Did you not hear me!" Vince roared at them, "Besides, I don't think you can take him down even if you wanted to. So stop embarrassing me!"

Leon snorted moving away and so did Jesse clearly not believing that they couldn't take on this little kid.

Jaxon took a deep breath in before standing up, "I guess I'll leave... I am sorry, I am still a bit agitated, it seems."

"No, stay... Mia can help bandage you up!" Vince said but Jaxon shook his head, 

"It's fine, it doesn't look like I am wanted here and I can understand why." Jaxon said turning back to Jesse, "Cross. Jaxon Cross, that's my name."

"Cross..." Jesse repeated hurriedly going upstairs.

"Let's see each other again sometime... hopefully not tied up to a chair this time," Jaxon said turning away but before he could exit, Vince called out to him.

"Tonight! We're having a street race so come by..." Vince said turning towards Leon and Letty convincing them, "The kid has got some mad skills!"

"We will see then," Letty turned to Jaxon eyeing him up, "Let's see how good the pretty boy really is!"

---------------

Jaxon hopped into the shower of his motel as the water ran down his body, the bruises that surrounded his body started slowly washing away. 

Although some bruises were still there and were real, they were either exaggerated by the makeup or made out to be much more serious than they were.

After a quick shower, Jaxon had just gotten out when he heard a couple of constant knocks on the door. Opening the door in no hurry, Sam hurriedly came inside.

"Did they believe it? Did the plan really work?"

"Relax old man, at your age, you might end up getting a heart attack," Jaxon chuckled, "I can't say for everyone but Vince fully believes me, but all in all I successfully made first contact with the crew including Dom himself."

"Oh, by the way, are the guys alright?" 

"Luckily other than some slight bruises and scratches most of them are completely fine." Sam said, "Seriously, I never thought a bunch of truckers from my company would be able to pull it off, some were even glad that they got to beat the shit out of Vince."

"Tell them to not get too excited and be careful, we can't have them going all vigilante on us and ruin the plan." Jaxon reminded,

"I can assure you that they won't." Sam said, "I still can't bring myself to believe it worked."

"Relax, I can guarantee it worked," Jaxon said as he could see the reputation point that had gotten up by a single point, he then began explaining to him what occurred after they had left the building, "...and that's when Toretto left, I am guessing he went out to check the place where we were held captive but too bad for him, he isn't going to find jack shit."

"I've watched the clip over and over again, although he did confirm his relationship with Toretto he never directly answered that he and his crew were involved in the robbery." Sam said taking out a memory card, "So what now?"

"Recording him wouldn't have made a convincing argument in the first place so leave it be. Vince invited me to a race that's happening today, so I'll be attending it and I'll move on from there... good work on the guy who played me though, just a bit too arrogant for my liking but he's good."

"Have you looked at yourself in a mirror?" Sam said, raising an eyebrow. "Arrogance seems to be a running theme."

Jaxon smirked a hint of amusement in his eyes. "Fair point. But I play my role well enough, don't I?"

Sam chuckled, shaking his head. "Too well, sometimes. Just be careful out there. We can't afford any slip-ups."

"I know the stakes," Jaxon replied, his tone shifting to one of seriousness. "I'll keep my head in the game."

Sam nodded, a look of pride and worry mixed on his face. "Good. Now, get some rest before the race. You'll need to be sharp."

Jaxon watched as Sam left, closing the door behind him. He glanced at his reflection in the bathroom mirror, assessing the fading bruises and scars. He ran a hand through his wet hair, taking a deep breath. This was just another role, another mission.

A part of his conscience still felt a bit weirded out by the whole play he had orchestrated as the Toretto's crew didn't look like too bad of a people, but the fact they were still criminal made his guilty conscience fade away, making it easier for him to justify his actions

He sat on his bed, pulling on a pair of jeans and a plain black t-shirt. The race tonight would be crucial. It was his chance to further integrate himself into Dom's crew, to gain their trust and uncover the information he needed. He had to play it perfectly.

Jaxon opened up the folder that lay beside him and he opened the page where the photographs of two different people were attached alongside the information on them.

"Jesse... this guy might be troublesome to my plan, although he likely won't find anything on me on the internet if he is as good as the files say they are, it won't take him long before he could access my files." Jaxon laid back, "We had to rush this time, but I do need to work on creating a whole new identity for myself... maybe even create a whole persona using it."

Shaking his head, he then turned towards the next picture, "Mia, Toretto's sister... she's quite the looker and her personality is completely different from the rest of the crew, if I can manage to work it out, I could attach myself to Dominic's crew with her help."

Jaxon studied the pictures and information for a while longer, memorizing key details about Jesse and Mia. Jesse's technical skills could indeed be a threat, but Mia's more approachable demeanor might provide an inroad to the crew's inner circle. He needed to tread carefully, balancing his persona between being trustworthy and enigmatic enough to keep them from probing too deeply.