I took this down because I suffer from depression, and the lack of inspiration just makes it worse. I also had a change of heart about where I wanted this to go, so it'll be the same for a little way, but then I had to make a couple changes. I also lengthened it out, adding in more details here and there, because the perfectionist in me made me hate it. So yeah.

So, hopefully this time'll be better for everybody and we'll just take it as it comes, kay? Sorry for the disappointment and all that jazz.

-LemonyOrange-

Chapter 1 - Everything's About To Change

At 5 years old, Beca Mitchell witnessed a bank robbery. Five hostages were shot and killed after police negotiations failed in Barden Town Bank. Her mother, Jennifer, had been one of those five. People called her lucky for surviving, but Beca disagreed. She had lost the person her whole world revolved around, and no matter what her father did, no matter how many counsellors or child psychologists she visited, she refused to open up and let anyone that close to her again. She became a recluse, burying herself in music and schoolwork so that she could graduate school and move to L.A., where there would be no memories of her mother haunting her.

Her dad was, understably, worried about his little girl. From the moment she chose not to have a party for her eighth birthday, he knew Beca was different from other girls, and perhaps would never be like them. She spent all her time alone, even in school, and because of her attempts to alienate herself, she was constantly bullied and harrassed by those in her school.

When Beca was 13, her father married again. Phil Mitchell met Sheila Barry in a coffee shop during his lunch break. A truly cliched romance story, they were married within two years of that day. As expected, Beca never connected to her step-mother, despite her father's efforts. She couldn't even bring herself to like the woman, choosing to begin music mixing and writing instead of spending time with the Step Monster. Her relationship with her father worsened - she would never forgive him for moving on from her real mom.

In school, things were also taking a turn for the worse. Since starting Middle School, the kids in her year had stepped their torment up a notch. Now, instead of dealing with taunts and name-calling, which she could deflect with loud music, Beca was forced to defend herself from people invading her personal space. She was shoved around, and the students amused themselves by getting as close to her as possible in classes so as to put her on edge. of course, being the bad-ass person she was, she wasn't about to go crying home to Daddy about it, so she just gritted her teeth and tried her best to ignore the assholes she was surrounded with on a daily basis.

However, not everything about Middle School was terrible. She made her first friends in the unlikely forms of Chloe Beale and Aubrey Posen. The bond was mainly formed because of their intelligence. Chloe was naturally good at all of her subjects, Aubrey was determined to impress her elitist parents, Beca had nothing to do when she was waiting for inspiration other than study, and all 3 were solid A students. They sat together in the library during free periods and when Beca wasn't being hounded by idiots, she sometimes spent break times with them. She mostly spent her time alone though. She always understood that Chloe and Aubrey had been friends way before she came on the scene and she didn't want to get between them. It also didn't help that she had the worlds biggest crush on Chloe, and she didn't want the red-head to find out. It might have ruined their friendship forever. In fact, no one in Beca's school even knew she was gay.

When she turned 16, Phil broke the news that they were moving to New York. Beca reacted with her usual amount of sarcasm.

"Oh wow, that's great Dad! I can't wait to move to the wonderful, amazing, super-beautiful place that is New York! Michigan is getting so old and boring now, I bet all my friends will be so jealous!" she said, never moving her eyes from her laptop screen. Unsure how to react, her father left her room to tell Sheila how that had gone.

Two weeks later, Beca dropped her bag on the floor of her new room. The apartment was pretty big - Sheila had been promoted at work, hence the big move. She was sitting on her bed and looked around, deciding where her desk and drawers would go when/if the moving vans ever arrived when her dad walked in.

"Beca, I need to talk to you." After waiting five seconds for the answer that never came, he continued. "Look, we're in a new place, and we can make a fresh start here. You can make friends and you never know, you might find a boy you like..." He trailed off when all he got was an eye-roll. "Listen, you have to come out of your shell at some point! You spent the past 11 years not talking to people and just hiding from the world in your room! Well, news flash Beca! Life goes on! You can't waste your life trying to run from the past, you have to face it and go right through it!" Phil looked at his daughter, panting slightly from his outburst. She was finally staring at him, and he could see she was angry.

"How can this be so easy for you?" Said Beca in a low voice. "You just look back and say 'oh well' before continuing on like nothing happened. You don't care about me, just like you never cared about mom! You've never cared about anyone except yourself!" Phil glared at her.

"You don't get to talk to me like that! I am your father, and you will respect that! Anyway, since you refuse to talk to me or Sheila, I am imposing a new rule. Everyday, for three hours, you have to go outside, doing somehing, anything that isn't studying or mixing music. Anything, as long as it's not illegal. Make friends, Beca. It's not healthy to be such a... a loner at your age. You should be out at parties, going on dates, being a normal teenager. I'm taking this into my hands now. This decision is final." He closed the door behind him, leaving his daughter to lay back on her bed, sighing and running her hand through her hair.

And that's how Beca Mitchell found herself, a week later, being beaten up in a side alley by a man holding a knife. Despite the fact she was in danger, she couldn't bring herself to care. The man was easily overpowering her, landing a few lazy punches into her stomach. She wasn't even trying to fight back when a voice rang out.

"Hey asshole! You gonna let her go?" shouted a boy aound her own age. He was walking quickly down the dark passage, his hands in his pockets and smiling. He looked almost happy, like he was trying to be friendly, except there was an unmistakable threat buried in the way he moved.

The thug turned to face him, but he was met by a foot to the nose. He hit the wall with a sickening crack as the boy landed a series of kicks into his chest and stomach, leaving the unfortunate criminal in a bloodied heap on the ground.

"Hi!" He said, taking one of his hands out of his pocket and holding it out. "I'm Jesse!" Beca took the hand and shook it, still in a little awe about what she had seen.

"Dude. What the fuck was that?"

"Eh, just some Taekwon Do. It was actually wrong though. Luke would kill me. My stance was almost non-existant, and I was so slow..." He rubbed the back of his head ruefully. "If you're ever asked, you would do me a huge favour if you say that everything about it was perfect. I won't get into trouble that way." But Beca had stopped listening.

"Teach me!" she said. Thanks to her asshole father, she had three spare hours every day she spent doing absolutely nothing, and this was a pretty cool thing to know. But Jesse shook his head.

"No can do. But you should talk to Luke. He could probably show you. He taught me and a bunch of other people. You should come meet them! What's your name by the way?"

"Oh, uh, I'm Beca. Beca Mitchell."

After a brief interview, she became part of the lucky group of people who were enrolled in the Luke School of Martial Arts. The man was a fighting genius. He had mastered several different disciplines of the sport, and taught them to his students in an extremely effective manner. He taught Jesse Taekwon Do similar to Kenichi's training in History's Mightiest Disciple, i.e., punishing him whenever he fucked up, which was often. Amy learned Judo the way Po learned Kung-Fu, with food, while Lily studied Kung-Fu by constantly sparring, like Ichigo in Bleach. Beca was shown Karate as a form of rhythm, that needed to be mixed correctly in order to work. The faster the beat, the more energy it gives the crowd.

It wasn't just physical fighting the Luke knew though. He taught Stacie how to read a person so well, she was almost able to see into a person's mind. And Benji learned how to hack, code, crack, anything computer or technology-related. He was soon an expert in IT, better than most professionals before he'd even finished school.

The group became really close, sharing all their secrets with each other and forming their own group at school. Sticking together, they managed to survive the tide of insults, bad grades and trouble that comes with being a high-school student. With Luke's Dojo (The garage at the back of his house) as their regular meeting place, and Luke himself as their mentor on everything they could think to ask him, the group grew stronger mentally and physically and became confident in the way you can only give off when you are an expert in self-defense and you know nothing can hurt you. Even Dr Mitchell was happy. Despite the occasional bruises and injuries, his daughter was finally out of her shell, opening up to other human beings and making friends. She still refused to connect with her father or step-mother, but she was visibly happier than she had been in Michigan.

In college, Benji, Jesse and Beca stuck together, while the others fanned out into their respective careers. Beca took a course in Music Production and Writing, while Jesse majored in Scoring and Composition. Benji quickly burned through all of the Software Development and Coding classes the college could offer, finishing a year before the others. It was that final year when things really kicked off. Benji dug the internet for parts and blueprints, eventually resorting to his own designs to build communication systems and tracking systems, just for fun at the beginning. However, when Beca and Jesse discovered his stash, combined with an Arrow marathon, an idea was born. While Benji streamlined and perfected his designs, the daring duo tested them in the field, super-spy style. Interrupting any and all criminals they came across, they put their skills to good use. Eventually, it stopped being just for fun, and a sense of duty was developed. It became less of a stroll, and more of a patrol.

For Beca, it was even more of a big deal. Every criminal she took down, every small-time theif she left tied up and gagged behind a counter, was a step closer to finding the group that had killed her mother. Benji had designed a uniform of sorts for the pair. Black trousers, black canvas boots, black t-shirts and a grey jacket with a modified hood, designed to increase the shadow coverage on the face whilst not affecting visibility. They also each had a belt with their weapons of choice in it. Jesse had a selection of knives, ranging from two to fifteen inches long, and Beca carried darts and shuriken. She had soon discovered that she had a terrific aim, particularly at long distance. It was a dangerous game. As they got better at their work, the criminal underworld grew more aware of them. Numerous hits were taken out on them as they moved up the criminal list, not discriminating between drug lords, mafia assassins or simple burglars. But it's hard to take someone out when you don't know who they are.

After college, Beca was scouted by Sony Music for her amazing skills at a mixing desk. Quickly ascending the charts, she was ranked with David Guetta and Martin Garrix within a year. Jesse was recruited by Warner Brothers to score films. He won awards left, right and center for his powerful and compelling music. Benji became a Software Developer for EA Games, making his name in the Gaming Industry as well known as the Beca's in Music. The trio bought a house together in L.A., where they spent their days working with stars and well-known people. Their nights, were spent patrolling the streets, gathering intel on the various crime gangs around America. In Jesse's words, they were living in a movie.

-LemonyOrange-

There. I know this seems long and pointless, but this is all, or most of the necessary backstory out of the way. I hate doing flashback sequences, so I tend to get history out of the way within the first couple of chapters. Sucks, I know.

Sorry if I got the stuff about High School or Middle School wrong, because I'm not sure how it works in America. Over here, we only have Primary and Secondary School, and after that we have to do this exam called the Leaving Cert., where we earn points based on our grades, and colleges all set points for each course, as well as certain subjects you need to take to get into each course. But it could be completely different in The States, so I left it out. Same with college.

So yeah, any questions, I'd be happy to answer them. I'd love if you dropped me a review, it's important to know what you think.

Chapter title from War of Change by Thousand Foot Krutch.