- By Infie
Alec bit his lip as he flexed his fingers in anticipation. The thin black nylon rope he wore fixed through his harness was the only thing keeping him from falling to what promised to be a very painful landing among sharp, pointy objects... not to mention the shards of glass that would be caused by him crashing through the cases displaying said sharp, pointy objects. All he had to do was cut the right wire, replace the antique sword with a custom-designed weight to counter the pressure switch, sheathe the sword in the heavy plastic tube he'd had constructed, pull himself back up the rope, evade the laser beams, and turn in his booty to his favourite fence.
Ok, so... put that way, maybe it did sound like a lot. But for a Manticore-trained super-soldier turned master thief, it was a walk in the park.
A nice park. Not one of those creepy dark evil lurking in every corner parks that were so common these days.
No... A nice, green, pleasant park where he could relax and watch all the easy marks walk by.
He focussed back on the sword.
It was a lovely piece of workmanship. A British light sword, slim and elegant, it looked almost delicate beside the Scottish claymore in the adjoining case. He cut the alarm wire.
The brass embossed glass case opened with ease, the weight settled into place with a soft thud. He lifted the sword.
Something tickled the back of his neck.
He flailed wildly, almost losing his grip on his prize before he brought himself back under control. "Goddamn it, Max!" He whispered furiously. "When the hell are you gonna learn to find your own..." He turned his head to find himself staring into a pair of laughing chocolate eyes, but the face that framed them was not the one he was expecting.
It was stunningly beautiful, exquisite pale skin stretched smoothly over a clean bone structure. A single delicate brow was lifted inquiringly.
"Pardon me, darling?" The vision said in a clear, cultured contralto. "Do I know you?" The red painted mouth gave a moue of affected shock. "I don't believe I've ever been called 'Max' before."
"Uh..." He replied intelligently.
She smiled gently at him. "I'll just take that," she said, deftly divesting him of the sword. She'd pressed the button on her harness and was a good two metres back towards the ceiling when Alec shook free of his dumbfounded shock.
"Hey!" He swarmed up his own rope after her, catching her immediately. "That's my take, sister."
She gave him a tolerant smile. "No, my dear boy," she replied sweetly. "It's mine. Has been for, oh," she pretended to think, placing an eloquent finger against her chin, "about eleven hundred years. And now I need it back." A well-placed shove against his chest swung him away. She leaned back, flipped the sword in her hand with a movement almost too fast to see, swung it toward him in a glittering arc as he reached the apex of his swing and started back. He had time for a blurt of shock, eyes widening at the sharp edge as it approached his head.
She cut the rope.
Alec dropped like a stone. Without even thinking, he spun in the air, landing as softly as a cat... right on the unmarked pressure sensor beside the glass case. He could just make out a delighted tinkle of feminine laughter over the sound of the alarms suddenly blaring in his ears.
"Goodbye, darling!" She trilled cheerfully, waving as the rope pulled her smoothly through the hole in the ceiling. A quick flip of the carabiner on her harness later, she was gone.
Alec's eyes narrowed dangerously. "I don't think so," he muttered darkly, and sprang for the edge of removed tile thirty feet above. His hands clapped around the metal bracer, and he swung once before levering himself lithely through the hole onto his feet. He paused, scanning the interior of the crawlspace rapidly. A faint clink provided a direction towards the absconding thief. He followed quickly, crouching smoothly to pass through the baffles of a large air vent onto the private museum's rooftop. Even as his head emerged, a strange metallic whine met his ears. Instinctively, he ducked away.
A sword whistled through the space where his head had been, crashing heavily into the rooftop beside him, entirely too closely for comfort. Alec stared up at its wielder, eyes wide with shock for the third time in half an hour. An unfamiliar man glared back at him, face contorted into a mask of rage.
"Who the fuck are you?" The man snarled in a guttural voice. "Are you that French slut's latest meat?"
"Hey!" The woman retorted hotly from her position several meters behind Alec's attacker. "I am not French!"
"You fight like you are." The man said contemptuously. "You run and run and run..."
The woman withdrew her sword... his sword!... from some magical hiding spot Alec couldn't quite fathom. "Ah, Hyle, you just never understood the strategy of the thing." Her smile was sweet but her eyes were hard, like polished ebony. "A good friend of mine sums it up quite nicely with : Live, grow stronger, fight another day." A brief glint of humour flashed in her icy gaze. "And if you must fight, carry a sword."
The man swung fully away from Alec, frowning as if he knew he was being mocked but couldn't quite work out how. He was huge; the woman barely came up to his chest. Muscles bulged with every movement, but it was lean, hard muscle. The kind you got from fighting for real, all the time, not the bulk of a gym or prison yard. He brought the sword up into a classic two-handed stance. The woman mirrored him, sparing not even a glance for Alec still sprawled out behind her opponent.
Alec shook his head in confusion. What the hell were these people on? He spent an instant considering the potential revenue streams from dealing some and then discarded the idea with an internal snort. It looked like selling Andie would be less of a drain on his customer pool, from the insanity that these two were displaying.
The two rushed each other, engaging swords in a resounding clash. The man's heavier sword slid down the woman's slimmer blade with a scream of outraged metal and a shower of hot sparks. The woman leaped back, springing into a back flip and avoiding the man's scything sweeps in an impressive display of agility. The man paused deliberately, letting her gain her balance before re-engaging with another brutal slice that she turned away deftly with her weapon. The blade screamed again under the pressure, and Alec saw the reflection of the moonlight play unevenly along its edge.
A nick!
In his take!
Enough of this.
Alec slid smoothly to his feet, stalked up behind muscle man, and tapped him on the shoulder as he completed another engagement with the woman. She stepped back with a bemused expression as the man turned on him, already swinging.
Alec decked him, full force in the jaw. And if there was one thing that was true, it was that when X5-494 hit a man, that man went down.
With a gratifying splat, in this case.
Alec rounded on the woman, who was eying him with a smile that might even have held a little respect. "Now look, lady..." He began heatedly.
"Amanda," she offered her hand, quickly switching the sword to her left. He noticed she was careful to leave him between her and her felled opponent, though.
"Amanda," he acknowledged impatiently. "Look, I ..." She shook her hand at him imperiously, interrupting him again. "What?" He demanded.
"You shake hands when you meet someone, darling," she replied with a glowing smile.
"Fine." Alec shook her hand. "Look, Amanda. You seem..." He looked around, settled on "nice. But you're holding my take. And, ha ha, it's time for me to take my take and leave." He held out his hand in demand.
She shook it again. "I'm so sorry, darling..."
"Alec." He interrupted. She inclined her head politely.
"...Alec. But I'm terribly afraid that it's my sword... and I'm about to need it again."
"What? For him? He'll be out for hours." Alec flapped his hand dismissively. The woman's... Amanda's... eyes went over his shoulder and her smile broadened.
"You may be overestimating that time a little, darling."
Alec heard a rustle behind him and spun on his heel. His fourth? Fifth? shock of the night was standing behind him, sword raised and already coming down towards his skull. He blurred to the side to avoid the strike.
Amanda's sword intercepted Hyle's inches above where Alec's head had been. It was their turn to look surprised. Hyle recovered first, whipping around with an astonishing speed in a man so large, and thrust at Alec's torso as if to skewer him.
Alec slapped the blade past him, whirling into the blow and chopping at the man's wrist with one stiffened hand. The man didn't let go. Instead he rabbit-punched Alec in the kidney, full force.
Alec grunted and took the blow. Ok... that was it. Time to quit messing around. One hand flashed behind his back and he withdrew his friendly companion the glock. "You know what pithy saying I learned early?" He asked conversationally as both Amanda and Hyle froze in place. "Always bring a gun to a knife fight." He aimed it at Hyle and fired, point blank to the chest. Hyle dropped with a groan. He turned the gun on Amanda.
She didn't look impressed. Or frightened for that matter. If anything, she looked... amused.
"You must be one of those transgenics I've been reading about," she said brightly, placing the tip of the sword against the rooftop and leaning against it casually.
"And you must be the insane person holding my sword," Alec retorted coldly. "Oh yeah.. with the very unhappy friend on the ground."
"You did shoot him very rudely, you know." She told him with elaborate disapproval. "It's quite frowned upon to interfere with a challenge."
"Sure. Fine. Whatever." Alec rolled his eyes. His arm was getting stiff from holding the gun extended, and he could hear the sirens of the approaching police. "Hand it over, lady. I need to go. And you need to get help for your friend here." He jerked his head at the sprawled Hyle. "He's not dead or anything..."
"You have no idea," Amanda murmured.
"... But he is in a world of hurt," Alec continued as if she hadn't spoken. "He does need a doctor."
Amanda looked at him for a long moment, warmth stealing into her eyes along with something like pity. "You need to leave," she told him gently. He opened his mouth to object, but she placed a single gloved finger against his mouth and he found himself subsiding despite himself. "You need to leave now, before Hyle wakes up and decides to show his own unique capabilities." He just glared at her mulishly over her finger. She sighed, a pained look on her face, then reluctantly pulled a pouch from the inside of her jacket. "Here," she said, tucking it into his hand and pressing her fingers around it. "This will cover your... costs... in losing the sword. And I really do need it."
Alec gave a quick glance inside. The glitter assured him of the potential worth of the pouch. Much higher than the sword. He gave her a suspicious look. She laughed. "They're real," she said. "If not, you can bill me." The smile fled and she gave a quick hiss. "Hyle's dead. You need to go now."
"Fine." Alec tucked the bag inside the thigh pocket of his cargos. "Hope you don't take this wrong, but I hope we don't meet again." He paused. "I think that's the first time I ever said that to anyone who looks like you."
Amanda gave a little moue of surprise. "Now, darling... that sounded like a challenge."
Alec gave a snort and strode to the edge of the roof. He gave a grudging wave. Even as he turned to jump he heard a sudden indrawn gasping breath, like someone startled awake. Hyle?
He landed, looked back up the wall as the police swept into the parking lot from the north, their spotlights sweeping across the roof. They showed Hyle clearly for a brief instant. A very, very annoyed Hyle, snarling at him with rage.
And a very, very whole Hyle... not a blemish on him except the fluttering, bloody shirt. Alec focussed closely, and the skin across his torso was untouched. He stepped away.
"So, you figured out me, Amanda," he said under his breath, eyes narrowed. "I think the real question is... What are you?"
END