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Mirana walks up the stairs of her apartment building. She pulls her keys from her pocket and puts them in the lock but the door just swings open. Mirana reaches into her waistband and pulls out her off-duty gun as she grabs her phone.
"Hello?"
"Lucy, are you at the apartment?"
"No, I'm at the beach with Jackson and John. Why?"
"Either someone has been in the apartment or is still in there,"
"We're on our way,"
"Call Tim," Mirana says before hanging up the phone.
Mirana pushes the door fully open, slowly walking in to avoid alerting whoever was in her apartment.
"Police!" Mirana shouts. "Come out with your hands in the air!"
A loud clatter echoes from inside Mirana's room as the woman turns the lights for the apartment on. The door to Mirana's bedroom flies open to reveal a hooded figure who charges straight at her. The person wraps their arms around Mirana's waist, sending them both crashing to the floor. Her gun skids across the floor under the couch, out of her reach.
The person punches Mirana in the jaw as she claws at the person's face. She swings her foot up, her heel connecting with the person's groin causing them to let out a loud pained groan. Using the distraction, Mirana wraps her legs around the person's waist, flipping them over before she punches them in the face.
The person retaliates to Mirana's punch, their fist hitting Mirana's eyebrow. Mirana knees the person in the gut before scrambling to her feet. She grabs the metal baseball bat that she and Lucy had by the front door as a precaution.
As the hooded person runs forward, Mirana swings the bat at their side. The person falls to the ground clutching their side and Mirana rips the hood off of their head, keeping the baseball bat under their chin.
"Who the hell are you?"
"You don't recognise me, hermana pequeña?"
"Carlos?" Mirana breathes out. "How did you find me?"
"I never stopped looking," Carlos says.
"Well you should have," Mirana says. "Me leaving Cuba was for a reason"
"I came to warn you,"
"By breaking into my apartment and attacking me?! What the fuck is wrong with you? Estúpido idiota. You made the sole start coming off my shoe-"
"MIRANA?"
"MIRANA?!"
Tim, Lucy, Nolan and Jackson appear in her doorway, their guns all trained on Carlos. Carlos just rolls his eyes, raising his hands in the air.
"Put them down!" Mirana says. "This fucking imbécil is Carlos. My half-brother"
"You have a brother?"
"Half," Mirana corrects Jackson. "Different moms, same shitbag father"
"Why did you break into our apartment?" Lucy asks Carlos.
"I had a plan but I didn't think she'd call the cavalry in," Carlos huffs. "She also wasn't supposed to be back, she was supposed to be with you doing whatever she does"
"So you've been following us?" Tim asks.
"Just tell me what you need to say and then piss off," Mirana says.
"He's getting out of prison next month," Carlos says. "Early release for good behaviour"
"You had to attack me to tell me that?!" Mirana slaps Carlos upside the head.
"We need to take him down to the station," Tim says. "Start processing his arrest"
"No," Mirana shakes her head. "He's going to get on a plane tonight, fly back to Cuba and tell our father I died in a horrible fiery accident or something"
"How am I going to do that?" Carlos asks.
"By using whoever forged your passport to forge a death certificate," Mirana shrugs.
Tim looks at Mirana with a raised eyebrow. "You're letting him go? He attacked you, Mirana."
"I can't have him here, Tim," Mirana says. "If he stays, it's only going to bring more trouble. I need him gone, and if he goes back to Cuba, it's better for everyone."
Carlos smirks, rubbing his sore side. "I knew you'd understand, Hermana."
"This is the only favour you'll ever get from me. But if you mess this up or come back, I won't hesitate to put you in a cell myself." Mirana says.
"Same old Hermana," Carlos says, getting to his feet. "Embarrassed of her past, hides the truth from everybody she meets"
"Carlos, you have five seconds to get out of my apartment before I cave your skull in," Mirana warns him, raising the bat.
"Woah," Tim intercepts Mirana, snatching the bat from her hands. "West, Nolan, get him out of here. Chen, you got a first aid kit in here?"
"Yeah, here," Lucy says, handing Tim the first aid kit.
"God family's a pain in the ass," Mirana murmurs, wincing as Tim wipes the gash on her eyebrow.
"Sorry," Tim says, inspecting her knuckles before wiping the broken skin. "Props to you though, he looked a hundred times worse"
"He deserved it," Mirana says. "No one breaks into my apartment"
Tim finishes tending to Mirana's wounds, and she sits back, the tension slowly leaving her body.
"Are you okay?" Tim asks, looking at Mirana with a mix of concern and frustration.
"I'm fine," Mirana replies, offering a small smile. "Just need a shower and maybe a new lock for the door."
"I can take care of the lock," Tim says, his expression softening. "Do you want to stay with me tonight?"
