It was the crack of dawn on a Saturday when she woke, dark painted eyelids fluttering open with a dazed look at her bedroom ceiling. The frail figure sat up in her twin bed, a yawn escaping her as she stretched her arms out wide. Her amber eyes focused on the newspaper clippings on her wall and a dazed smile appeared on her pale face. She admired her favorite criminal team's photo's, little penned hearts drawn around their faces. "Good morning, Babies."

She slipped out of bed, gliding past the mirror with avoidance. She hated what she saw in the mirror. She wished that she could be a gorgeous and toned as Ember with perfect skin and luscious dark hair. Instead, she was skin and bones with teeth protruding out farther than she's like, thin nearly white hair and pale skin due to her anemia.  She'd never be a lovely as Ember. She shook her head, wanting to stay optimistic. Today was the day. She was finally going to be one of them. If not, she'd at least become closely acquainted with them. That was all she had ever wanted.

She slipped on a pair of black leggings, a flowy dark green dress that reached her knee's, and a black jacket with her personally made Strike Out pins. She wanted to show them her spirit and admiration; her support. She finished her outfit off with a pair of black combat boots.

She wobbled down the hallway and into the kitchen, her presence gaining the attention of her parents immediately. She gave them an awkward smile. "Hi, Mummy. Hi, daddy." The sizzling of fresh bacon and eggs being prepared was the first sound that caught her attention. She sighed, knowing what was coming next.

"Brit. Good, you're awake. We've finally broken you from your night owl schedule. You've got therapy at noon and you need to go to the rehabilitation center at about three." Her mother ranted. Brittany nodded, knowing that she would be somewhere far better at that time instead.

"I know." Brittany sighed.

"And Dr. Geonoff said that you need to stay away from caffeine, so put that coffee down." Her father said, taking the coffee cup out of her hands.

"Why do I need to give up my coffee?" Brittany asked indignantly. Coffee had always been part of her morning routine.

"Well, he said the caffeine might trigger your.... other addictions." Her mother and father stared her down with accusing eyes.

"Oh my god, Mum. I spent six months in rehab. I'm so over that." Brittany rolled her eyes. Not.

"Drugs aren't something you just get over, Brittany. This is serious and you need to start treating it as such." Her father lectured. Brittany closed her eyes, tilting her head skyward, going to another place in her mind as he spoke.

"Well, I've got plans, so I'm outie." She said in a lofty voice, starting to skip out of the house.

"Not before breakfast and not before you give us details on these plans of yours first." Her mother insisted, her eyes accusing.

"Sure, Mum." Brittany smiled, "I'm going to visit my bestie, Ember."

"You know, we hear so much about this girl, but we've never actually met her. How do we know that she's actually a positive influence on you like you say she is?" Her father asked with raised eyebrows.

"I met her at school. She's on the gymnastics team, is totally smart, and she always eats her vegetables." Brittany smiled earnestly. She never told lies. Only twisted the truth to sound better to her parents. That was what her dealer taught her. That was how she had gotten away with her drug use behind closed doors in the first place.

"We'll trust you on this just once, but if we see anymore slip ups from you, we're going to supervise every visit that you have with anyone." Her father said.  Score! Brittany thought to herself. 'I can play him like a Ken doll...' She sang internally.

"Okay. I love you both. I just really want to go see her. She's so nice and I don't want to be late. She and her family said I could have breakfast at their place. They're total health nuts. I promise I'll be on my best behavior." She said in the sweetest voice that she could muster.

Her parents sighed, exchanging looks. Her mother looked at her sternly. "Don't make us regret this."

"I won't." Brittany said, squealing shrilly with excitement as she scurried out the door. She began running as to make sure they didn't change their minds. She made her way onto the bus, riding to town with high hopes. She got off the bus and made her way into one of the alleyways. She would wait now. Wait for whichever member would show up. She had memorized their schedules and knew that they would be heading this way any moment. Then she would approach them.

Conner nodded his head once more as Striker's rant continued. Conner delivered his famous line for the situation, "Mmmhmm." Mentally Conner was going over his mistakes with yesterday's skills session. He'd been so slow at getting himself out of the handcuffs that Striker had had to come over to him and do it for him. Then they proceeded on going over how to do it together for about ten minutes and Conner still hadn't gotten it. He supposed it would just take practice. As always. All things they accomplished, they accomplished because of the time and practice they put into it.

"-But seriously, Conner. Pro-gun laws are just stupid. If we had gun laws, I feel like there would be less death.... well, by guns at least." Striker finished.

"Right but America is stupid, Striker. If they don't give a damn about a whole city being labeled as Panic City then they're not going to care about a few school shootings and such." Conner shrugged.

"They really should care about it though. Both of them I mean. They should both be looking out for the safety nationally and locally. I mean, I know it would suck to have the government in here start trying to improve the city but in a perfect world they would."  Striker argued back.

"Mmmhmm." Conner nodded.

They turned the corner and noticed a girl in the alleyway. Conner looked at her up and down and didn't see her as a threat. Actually, she just looked like another druggie. Striker on the other hand seem to find some fascination in her outfit. He was quietly studying a certain part of it as they approached her. Conner followed his gaze to the pins on her jacket. There were several pins. One held a red 'SO' on it, another with two swords crossing each other. There was one with a tazer, another with a boa staff. One held the quote "Strike-Con" with two drawings of what looked like Conner and Striker.

By this point both Conner and Striker had stopped in the alleyway a few feet from the girl just staring.

"Strike-Con?" Striker asked. "You know the team's called Strike Out, right?" Conner had a feeling he knew what that one was referring to but didn't want to voice it out loud. He knew about ships as he personally had a OTP of Sam and Gabriel from Supernatural.

After a good deal of waiting that involved lots of pacing and hair patting, the moment of truth finally happened. Striker and Connor, her OTP (One true pairing) were right in front of her. Brittany stared at them with awe as they spoke.  There was something so beautiful and unearthly about being in their God-like presences. There was a shift in the air and she felt euphoria rising within her chest and her head. She thought that she might faint any moment.

She had dreamed of this day her entire life. She'd been in their presence before, but only to take quick photo's and notes on them when they weren't watching and still she was at a good distance.They turned to her, checking her out before Connor spotted her pins and spoke directly to her, asking her if she knew that they were called Strike out. She felt like her heart would bulge right out of her chest. She responded with a high pitched squeal of delight. "My Babies!"

Brittany immediately went into an ecstatic rant. "Yes, I know that you're the Strike out team! This is just my Connor and Striker ship name! There's a whole community of people who want you two together! There's so much evidence of your love, you just haven't realized it yet, I promise! Oh my god! Where's the others? I have such a crush on Doniel, it's not even funny! Ember's my role model! I love her flexibility! I ship her with Dean! Reiner is like the father I never had! I mean, I have a father, but he doesn't understand me the way Reiner would! I love you guys so much!" Her speaking was rapid and she stepped closer and closer to them as she talked.

Brittany took a deep breath, giving them a toothy smile of admiration. "You guys don't know how much you've impacted me. I'm so thrilled to finally meet you. I've replayed this in my head a thousand times, but my fantasies are not even comparable to this."

Striker was taken back by the sudden burst of delight from the girl. "My babies!" She squealed. His mouth hung slightly open as he tried to think of a response to the exclamation. But he didn't need to as the next moment she went into a long and breathless rant of her undying love for the team. Striker turned his head slightly to Conner who wore a similar expression of shock and uneasiness. "-Ember's my role model! I love her flexibility! I ship her with Dean! Reiner is like the father I never had! I mean, I have a father, but he doesn't understand me the way Reiner would! I love you guys so much!" The girl finally took a deep breath and then smiled before continuing. "You guys don't know how much you've impacted me. I'm so thrilled to finally meet you. I've replayed this in my head a thousand times, but my fantasies are not even comparable to this."

Striker rubbed the back of his neck trying to form some kind of rational response to this. He finally then smiled and extended his hand.

"Striker, you are?" Striker said. "Although, by your rant, I'm sure you knew my name. Criminal, or citizen?"

Conner made a small scoffing noise at Striker and Striker shot him a smirk. He raised an eyebrow at their silent exchange as if to say 'are you nuts?' and Striker simply replied with a shrug, to which Conner rolled his eyes and nodded as if to say 'well, I knew that.' Striker gave him another smirk before looking back to the girl.

Striker wasn't sure why he was compelled to talk to the girl instead of blowing her off as Conner had hoped, but he just thought it was wrong to let down his fan, wasn't it? Besides, what harm was it going to make if Striker was nice to the girl for like five seconds before they continued on their path. It wasn't like this girl was a threat. Striker very much felt like he could take her on if she tried anything.

Brittany let out a shriek when Striker, her hero since forever, offered her his hand. She gratefully took it in her own, thanking herself internally for doing a lotion routine every night. Her sloppily manicured hands were as smooth as a baby's bottom. She noted how his own hands felt; just as rough as she imagined them to be. She figured Connor's to be smooth when she pictured them caressing one another's. It was excellent fan fiction material and now she had confirmation.

Striker introduced himself and asked her for her name. He was interested in who she was! That was much better than what she could have hoped for. Most people wanted little to nothing to do with her unless they thought that they could take advantage of her in some way. He then asked her if she was a criminal or citizen. Here was her grand chance.

"Citizen-but only for now!" Brittany held her finger out to tell him to give her a quick moment while she unlatched her bag, pulling out a folder and offering it to him. "This is my resume. It lists my skills, history, accomplishments, interests, diet, and more. I would like to audition to be a Strike Out member." She smiled broadly at them with hopeful doe eyes.

Brittany had hoped for this day for years and it was finally happening. She hadn't expected to feel so nervous. She continued quickly as to reassure them. "I understand that I would have to do a lot of work and you'd have to get to know me first, but I can guarantee that I would be an excellent addition to your team. I've been associated with gangs in the past and I never got caught when I was bad in school. and I was very bad in school."

It was true, she had gotten into drug use at a very young age and often ditched school and took part in petty thievery with her friends. She hadn't gotten caught until her so called best friend Ellie ratted her out to her parents when she decided to get clean herself. Brittany had resented her every since and she would never trust or forgive her again. She had got sent into a rehabilitation center for several months and it was a horrible experience for her. She was a wild soul who didn't like being confined anywhere. She had loved her life and her use of drugs. It was freeing, which exactly why she had started in the first place.

"So...." Brittany smiled eagerly at them, twirling her blonde wavy hair with her pinky finger. "What do you two say?"