Where in the World is Lina Inverse

Prologue

All too Easy

Well my winter sabbatical is over and I've found it a bit harder to start up my other two Slayers fics so I'm going to see if writing this will help my creativity began to come. As for the idea behind this...well just blame my younger brother for downloading and playing, 'Where in the world is Carmen Sandiego," by Rockapella while I was in earshot.

Lina sighed as she stood near a corner in the ballroom. She was a unwelcome guest at a large party held by the millionaire Calvin Maxwell. She stood off to the side as she watched the bigwigs of the corporate world mix and mingle together. Lina watched as the men made their deals with each other while their wives gossiped about every useless thing that they could. Every once in a while the band would play and people would dance but in Lina's eyes they were terrible at all types of ballroom dancing. 'I learned more while working as an agent for Acme then these people have learned in their pampered lives,' She thought disdainfully as she waited for the right time to strike her target.

Her target was Elaine Maxwell, the wife of Calvin, and the owner of one of the largest diamond brooches in the world resting on her neck. The diamond sparkled in the light of the large ballroom and was quite the talk of the night. As Lina sipped from her glass of Champaign she wondered how long it would take for Mrs. Maxwell to move into a more accessible area of the ballroom. Lina finished off the glass and handed to one of the many waiters in the room before moving towards the center of the room. She had seen the the band begin to tune up and knew another waltz was coming up. 'Now just to grab some novice and lead him towards the target,' Lina thought as she slowly moved into the crowd.

After a few moments she had found a what she was looking for. With a smile on her face she walked up to the young man and asked seductively, "So big boy want to dance?"

The young man nodded as he moved closer to Lina. They took their positions as the band began to play. Lina and her pawn danced with the rest of the crowd as the band continued to play. The only difference was Lina was skillfully moving her partner towards the Maxwell's as they danced like the rest of them. As the song began to wind down Lina made her move and added one more step towards the Maxwell's as the last notes came up. As the partners backed away and bowed Lina made her move. She bowed a little off center from her partner which she used to block the view of her hand undoing the necklace that held Mrs. Maxwell's diamond brooch on her neck. She slowly shifted the necklace before releasing one side of the necklace. The momentum of shifting the necklace caused the loose side to swing towards Lina and in a quick motion she palmed the entire necklace before standing back up. With her ill gotten gain held tightly against her Lina excused herself to the restroom. "That was easy...all too easy," Lina said lowly as she went towards the coat room. The attendant looked up to see her and smiled before saying, "Time to make a big exit I see Miss Inverse?"

"Yep, this party has gotten dull but your information was very useful. I'll see you at the boat Henry," Lina replied as she received her red fedora and trench coat from Henry.

"As you wish...I'm always her to serve," Henry answered as he bowed to the woman he worked for.

Lina smiled as she headed back into the ballroom with her items under her arm. She made her way to the side of the room near the biggest window in the room. As she waited for her moment she watched the party goers. As she waited she heard a car horn go off twice which was the signal that her ride was here. She smiled as she placed the fedora on her head and began to put on the bright red trench coat. It was as she finished putting on her coat that a scream was let out from the other side of the room. The party stopped as Mrs. Maxwell shouted, "My brooch...my brooch where is it!"

"Looking for this," Lina called as she held up the brooch.

The whole crowd turned and looked to see the woman in the red fedora and trench coat. It was then that all in the room knew they had been had. "I'll be taking it... don't feel bad you had to go up against the best, Lina Inverse," Lina called before jumping through the window as some of the men tried to tackle her. She then leaped onto the balcony railing and shouted, "See ya losers!"

Lina bound over the hedge that was just below and before landing on the ground in front of a running car. She jumped into the backseat of the car and said, "Drive."

The man in the front nodded and took off as party guess began to run out of the large mansion. As Lina looked back at those that tried to chase her see sighed before turning back to face the driver. "Take me home...tonight has been boring," Lina said as she settled into the leather seat of the car.

Lina sighed again as she took the brooch out of her pocket and looked at it in the small amount of light from the street lamps that the car passed. 'That was way too easy for any kind of challenge. Why hasn't Acme at least sent one agent to try and stop me? I know that they got bombed but that was ten years ago...I would think they would've recovered by now.'

Lina looked out at the stars as they traveled on a country back road. She sighed and thought again, 'You would give me a chase wouldn't you. Your the only person that could ever keep up with me when I was at Acme and you still haven't shown...have they assigned you a desk job...or have you given up.'

Lina continued to think about her past as her car continue to motor down the road towards what she no called home.

Disclaimer: Any characters or ideas from The Slayers do not belong to me. I am not selling this material, just writing for the heck of it as I go.

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