1

It was past 8 when she started packing up to go home. It had been a long work day and she was ready to just collapse in bed and never wake up again. She had managed to complete around half of her portion of the project which at least promised an easy day tomorrow since this project had a seven-day deadline.

As she reached for her car keys, a hand landed on her shoulder. Looking up, she was met with bright blue eyes and a mischievous smile.

"Hey Selene! Good work today! I gotta say, handling another project so soon was enough to make the grumpy cat take off early. And he almost never leaves before 7:30 pm! Anyway, the rest of our team has already high-tailed out of here after 6pm for various excuses. It's just you and me left here. Say, why don't we head out for a drink? On me!"

Selene looked at her coworker, Anna, who was grinning expectantly. Shaking her head, Selene replied, "Sorry Anna. I'm too tired for drinks. Maybe try the floor above? Usually someone from that level is still working."

"But Selene-"

Before Anna could finish her sentence, Selene had already grabbed her belongings and left their team's portion of the floor. As Selene walked towards the elevators, she heard rushed footsteps behind her as Anna tried to catch up with her.

"Huff, huff…Selene! Please? You rarely hang out with me anymore! What happened to the old girlie who was always up for drinks?"

Upon hearing those words, Selene was pulled back to the past when she was a newcomer onto the team. She had gone to the bar with them that day and had gotten herself drunk. Although it was embarrassing to know that she had thrown up while walking out of the bar, she still took up her teammates' offers the next week. It wasn't until she was walking by herself out in the streets one night when she noticed something out of the corner of her eye. Without turning her head or breaking her stride, she recognized a couple of her teammates in the alleyway with a handful of others. They looked like they were in a meeting for something important until she heard a loud thwack! sound followed by a scream that was quickly muffled by someone.

Her brain connected the dots quickly. That was a gang. Her teammates were part of a gang.

For the following weeks, she secretly followed and tracked a couple of her teammates and workers from other teams. By the time she finished compiling her notes, she realized that every single team was associated with an organization. Not every team member was part of the organization, but it was clear that most were. Since then, she had decided to dissociate herself because of rule three. Don't get involved with any illegal activities. Associating with any crime syndicate was bound to end up with her dipping her fingers into something under-the-table.

"I'm sorry Anna. Maybe next time? I'm just really tired after today's work."

Anna's face dropped. She mumbled an "okay" before turning back towards their workspace to grab her own belongings. From behind, Selene thought that Anna almost looked like a kicked puppy.

Urk. If there was one thing Selene hated about herself, it was that she was weak to any form of cute actions.

"Uh…Anna?"

"Yes?" Anna turned back around.

"Tomorrow. 7 pm. I'll see you at the Bottle-grounds."

Anna looked confused for a moment before her eyes widened and her face lit up.

"Okay! Let's work hard tomorrow and drink a lot afterwards!

"Mmh." Selene smiled back before turning and waving goodbye. It should be okay since Anna was one of the few who chose to stay neutral. She had watched Anna be approached by their teammates and other workers only for her to reject all of them. And given that she never saw Anna meet with any syndicate member, Selene was sure that it'd be okay to get to know Anna a little bit more than the others.

At the lowest floor, she walked over to her car, an old midsize thing that somehow still ran despite having 10 recorded crashes before Selene owned it. She had bought it off of a neighbor who was 'moving away' and, just like promised, the car was still in good shape 4 years later.

Humming an old tune from her younger days, Selene started the car up and drove out of the underground parking lot and into the city.

It was already dark outside. Because her work building was situated in the outer ring of the city, there weren't many lamplights, giving the streets an eerie feel. Still, she was used to it having lived here for years now.

As she drove her usual route home, she turned up the radio to see what was new. The radios weren't trustworthy, but even false information could help her figure out what the real information was.

"....the council has voted again on the trade acts. They passed the second part of the act, but have hit a stalemate again. The votes on the third part are 4 for, 5 against which is not enough to pass or fail the third part. Tomorrow, we will be hearing from council member Seliug who will…"

Selene suddenly had an uneasy feeling. The passing of the trade act had been going on for months now with little change. Sure, the second part had been passed, but someone(probably an organization) with a lot of power was against passing the act. While she didn't particularly care who or why, she knew that the passing(or failing) of the act would reflect a large shift in power within the upper echelons of the city.

And then she'd have to go through rule two again. Always be aware of territories. Figure out which places to avoid besides the usual dark alleyways and shady streets. This essentially equated to figuring out where the organization with the largest power was headquartered at. While not a super dangerous task, it was the only one where Selene would have to get involved with the underside of the city outside of work.

Geez.

She was crossing an intersection when she noticed how eerily quiet the streets were. Even if it was after the traffic rush, she'd usually see pedestrians milling about on the sidewalk and the occasional vehicle. But there wasn't anyone.

Selene frowned. She knew that her route to go back home avoided all the heavily controlled areas of this part of the city….which meant something else was happening here. Whether a new gang showed up or an old one expanded their territory, she'd have to figure that all out the moment she got home. It was the best way to stay out of their way and out of their sights. In her mind, she began to map out exactly what to do when she got home. First, she'd take a nice long break and have dinner. Afterwards, there would be hours spent diving into the darker side of the web and figuring out exactly what was going on here—shit.

As she started crossing a large intersection, Selene noticed a car rushing straight at her from the corner of her eye. It was veering wildly across the road, but somehow still heading in the general direction towards her. Her blood turned cold as she realized that if she didn't move faster right now, she'd get hit. Hard.

And probably end up dead.

0.1 seconds…

Selene slammed her foot down on the gas, praying that her old car would drive fast enough to get out of the way.

0.5 seconds…

Her car had just reached the other side. Selene breathed a sigh of relief

1 second…

The other car reached the intersection.

And turned.

1.5 seconds…

Even after skidding around the corner, the car was still picking up speed. Selene slammed the gas pedal again, praying that her car would be able to speed up quickly enough.

2…2.5.…3

Right before the car hit her, Selene saw the driver. It was a gray-haired man who was looking behind him. Even though she had honked earlier, he clearly didn't hear it.

BOOM!

While his car crumbled in on itself to absorb the shock, Selene's was sent veering into a nearby building.

CRASH!

Luckily for her, her car had veered to the right while the driver's seat was on the left.

"Urgh…" Selene groaned, her hand coming up to hold her pounding head. She could hear a lone whine in the back of her head, evidence of temporary deafness. While the airbags had saved her face from marking itself into the steering wheel, they had thrown her head back against her seat which was equally painful. Resting her head onto the deflating airbags, she turned to look out her side mirror. The other car…didn't even look like a car anymore. He must've been going well over 80 mph to have caused that bad of a crash.

As she watched through half-lidded eyes, black cars materialized behind the man's car. They surrounded the crumpled car and people in black clothes came out. Although she couldn't make it out clearly through the side mirror, the items they held in their hands looked like guns.

Out of one car came someone dressed in dark gray. Right away, she could tell that this person was the black-clothed peoples' leader.

"Aghh…!", Selene winced. The pounding in her head tripled in an instant. Eyes closed, she willed the noise away but to no avail. Through the rumbling in her mind, she heard a soft tap on her car window. Slowly, she opened her eyes to see one of the people in black, a woman, right outside her door.

The woman blinked before turning and gesturing towards someone she couldn't see. Selene watched her mouth open, but she couldn't hear a single thing. A second later, the woman stepped away, revealing the gray-clothed man who was walking closer.

Selene tried to lift her head, but the booming in her head grew louder. Darkness began to appear at the edge of her vision and strange sparks appeared before her.

Right before she fainted, Selene realized that the man was dressed in an expensive looking suit and walked with a feeling of power.

Which meant she just broke her fifth and final rule.

Stay away from powerful men and women in suits. They almost always held positions of power within a crime syndicate.

Just my luck.

That was her last thought before her consciousness faded into the encroaching darkness.