X – Flipside
'X –' in Nail Scratch (20, Bold)
'Flipside' in TopSecret (20)
Chapter One: The Flipside Of Thievery
It seemed forever ago to Luxie that Manticore had burnt down and she had been able to run free. She could have stayed in Seattle but the constant wars raging against her kind were just not what she had hoped for in a real and possibly normal life. If she was to die, she really wanted it to be of old-age, not being burnt at the stake.
That was two days ago.
Luxie had awoken to a new day in a new city – the City of Angels to be exact. She stretched her arms as she exited the plane with her small black backpack. It was not standard Manticore issue, but she did not care as much as should have. She was free from the torment she had endured for 18 years of her life and she would cherish every moment she had.
So several hours after having realized Manticore was gone and would never again make her feel worthless, Luxie stole some clothes and a bright orange backpack. It's former owner had accessorized it so much it was barely visible under the patches, stickers and little things hanging from it. The little things and stickers had been removed but the patches stayed. There was no particular reason but that Luxie actually found some of them nice enough to stay. Her outfit was plain but comfortable.
Los Angeles was not what she had expected but that was mainly because she had not expected very much. Luxie had not seen much apart from Manticore's barred windows and fences the height of two grown men. At Manticore every man and woman wore either plain issue soldier wear or as much bullet-proof equipment and the best guns and matching bullet-belts they could get.
A chill ran down Luxie's spine when her thoughts drifted back to Manticore. It was gone and she would never have to see anyone who had anything to with that ever again. Unlike Seattle, Los Angeles was not overrun with the genetically-mutated freaks that Manticore had created. In Seattle the barcode on Luxie's neck would get her killed; in LA it was a fashion-accessory.
Luxie breathed in deeply once she had exited the airport and watched the people walk past. Eventually she decided to sit down and placed her bag onto a bench next to herself. She tried to look like she was waiting for someone and did a well enough job by watching every person that walked passed.
The people here seem to have been unaffected by Pulse II and walked about as if the debris and dozens of beggars had always been there. Of course, Los Angeles was not the prettiest city in the world, but Luxie saw a lot of Seattle in this city and hoped greatly that she would not be hunted down here. The place could look like Seattle all it wanted, the people just had to be different and not homicidal.
Over the twelve years that had passed important Los Angeles businessmen had found themselves back to their suits and briefcases. The city although in ruins still looked like the centre of the rich and famous. She saw small posters on walls showing tall, well-endowed blonde women advertising cigarettes, holding microphones and talking about must-see TV series.
Luxie felt great to be in a place like this where not everything was ruled by being able to put a gun back together in under twenty seconds or throwing someone twice one's size to the ground. It was wonderful to know that the most important thing was looking pretty and making money. Luxie breathed in and smiled at the new and fabulous life that was ahead of her.
Two hours later Luxie was miserable, hungry and tired. She had moved from her bench in front of the airport and stolen herself an apple but now she was hungry again. She did not want to sleep on the road and she was cold. The whole situation seemed to have turned upside down and life had kicked her in the ass.
She looked up at the building she was standing in front of and felt the muscles in her neck crack as she suspected 24 stories. Algebra had never been one of her strongest points as the concept of it had completely alluded her. She looked down at herself and hoped that a hotel as noble as this would not mind her clothes. They had not been washed in almost two days since she had stolen them out of the department store in Seattle.
"I'm sure they won't mind," Luxie told herself and dusted herself off a bit. "Hot chick like me can get in anywhere," she added and strode into the hotel. She almost gasped in amazement as the doors slid open on their own but restrained herself. She walked up to the counter and the receptionist watched her with a patronizing look.
She smiled a sweet smile and leaned onto the counter, making sure her breasts were easily visible.
"Hi," she said in a soft voice. "I'd like a room, please."
"How long will you be staying, Miss…"
"Walker. Just one night for the moment," she said trying to sound like she had already made arrangements elsewhere. He nodded and she guessed he had accepted it. He looked down at his notes and then up again.
"Could I have your credit card number, Miss Walker?" he asked and she looked at him with wide eyes. "We'd like to know if you are able to pay for a room."
"Aren't you going to ask me what kind of room I want?" she asked a bit to gruffly. She'd learned hotel procedure at Manticore and he had gotten it all wrong. Stupid hotel person, she thought to herself.
"Our rooms are quite exclusive, Miss Walker. Even a single room costs a fair amount," he said his voice dripping with disgust. Luxie opened her mouth and nodded before closing it again.
"Oh," she said after a while. "Well, if you're going to be that way, I'll take my bundles and bundles of cash elsewhere." She gave him an angry smile before turning on her heel and leaving the hotel with equally angry stomps.
Luxie leaned over the edge of the Koya Museum's roof and marvelled at even its height. It was not as big as the hotel but it was quite impressive on its own. As she had done in Seattle, Luxie was going to be earning her living the illegal way and a museum would have the most pricey objects in it. She turned and jumped up to sit on the ledge.
"Plan of action," she said out loud to no one in particular. She had no blueprints and was just hoping things were as basic as the primitive thieving techniques she had first learnt. If everything was standard build the roof door would run down a staircase and then a door which if opened would most probably trip an alarm. How would she get into the actual museum without tripping an alarm?
She could switch it off but for that she would need blueprints and know where the power was, so she would have to somehow surpass it. Jumping the lasers would be no problem – that was basic Manticore training. Luxie had learnt to skip the little red beams at the age of 8. Of course, it had been a lot easier back then but eventually she had gotten taller and they had made the spaces between the lasers smaller.
"Hm," Luxie said thoughtfully and tapped her chin to make sure that any self-respecting stalker would know she was thinking – not sitting around like an idiot. Naturally she hoped there was not a stalker in the surrounding area, otherwise she might have to rip his head off, and that she did not want to do.
She tried to remember the shows she had been allowed to watch on TV. Ever since she had been about twelve years old, around the time of her first mission, Luxie had been granted the privilege or television. It had taught her enough about the real world and also given her a nice shot at being able to communicate with the 'ordinaries' her age.
She remembered watching a movie by the name of James Bummed. Mister Bummed had been a spy or assassin or something of the sorts, just like Luxie was, except that he was an ordinary. He had tried to sneak into some place that was guarded with high-tech and highly advanced security equipment. In one of the movies he had cut the security alarms and this woman he was hanging around with had seduced the guards.
'The guards,' thought Luxie. She had been rather advanced in seducing people and her assets were always rather helpful when it came to doing so. However, she did not want people to recognize her already. Then she remembered something else Mister Bummed had done on more than one occasion.
He had used some of high-tech weaponry and blasted, cut or in some other obscure way created a hole in the floor and then used ropes, harnesses and pulleys to lower himself to the floor.
Luxie jumped off the ledge and knelt down on the floor. She gave it a slight tap and frowned. This was not a single layer roof and the architect had made sure that no one could punch a hole into it. Luxie sat up still with the frown on her face and looked around. Then she realized how blind she had been and got up.
She had spied a glass roof with windows. It was so obvious she could kick herself. Only she did not because that would have been even more stupid. Luxie strode over to the windows and looked through them.
She focused her eyes and spotted several red lines running along the floor and one crossing the latch on the window. Luxie rolled her eyes and the ease at which she could get into the building.
Luxie knelt down next to the glass window and grabbed her backpack. First she pulled out some gum and popped a piece into her mouth. Then she pulled out a glass cutter an cut a small circle large enough for her hand to pass through. Carefully she moved her hand through the glass making sure not to trip the alarm.
Then as she slid the latch into the open position she held her finger where it would have broken the laser. Carefully she opened the window not moving her hand. Once she had opened the window far enough for her other hand to pass through, she pulled the gum out of her mouth and stuck it over the laser's exit point, removing her hand at the same time.
She smiled smugly when there were no sirens as she opened the window completely.
"Another job well done thanks to the brilliance that is myself," she said and placed her glass cutter back in the bag. She grabbed another piece of gum and looked around if she'd left any evidence. Her eyes fell onto her piece of gum and she winced. She sat back and thought for a moment.
If they did find the gum and use the trace of spit they found on it, what records would they use. Luxie as an all American genetically-engineered female killing machine created in a lab, had no actual records anywhere. When she did they were created black market style by Manticore and since the place had burnt down – they would not have anywhere to look for her 'spit records'.
"Good," Luxie said to herself. "So, I'm untraceable. No fingerprint records either," she said and glanced down at the window. An untrained eye would not see it and security would be using talcum powder but Luxie's feline eyes could see her grubby fingerprints all over the place. She spat onto her sleeve and quickly wiped over the windows and the latch removing the major traces. "I'm such a genius," she muttered to herself and with swift movements grabbed the windows ledge and hung down inside the museum. She looked down and tried to spot a place with fairly any lasers. She spotted it and swung herself forward a bit. She swung back and when she returned farther forward she let go and dropped to the ground.
When she landed she felt her momentum working and almost topped over. Luckily she caught her balance before she managed to engage contact with any of the lasers. Luxie looked around to see if she was anywhere costly.
She was, however, standing in a modern art exhibition and modern art did not go well in the black market. She needed something more substantial, something along the lines of Mayan jewellery or ancient Italian recipes. She glanced around and found a large map of the museum.
Luxie decided against using her superior eyesight this time because the constant de-focusing was getting to her head and she felt a major migraine for tomorrow morning coming up slowly. Luxie revolved her shoulders in their sockets and shook her feet out carefully before awkwardly bouncing across the criss-crossing lasers to the map.
"Ah, Amazonian Rainforest Jewellery," she said running her fingers up and down the plastic covered map. "How very convenient," she muttered and then glanced to her left. She squinted and then looked to her right. Then she returned her gaze to the map. After a moments consideration she bound off to her left.
A few seconds later Luxie was standing in front of the entrance to the exhibition and although it was a strange feeling, a thought crossed her mind. Something did not seem right here, but she shrugged it off and walked into the room. She glanced at the cases and spotted fantastic jewellery that she knew she could fence for many, many pretty American dollars. If she grabbed one or two of them, she could afford a night at that hotel and show that concierge!
Luxie stopped and noticed something moving. Or someone to be more exact.
'Damnit,' Luxie thought. Apparently she was not the only art-loving thief in Los Angeles. Then she realized what was wrong. There were no lasers in this room and the other thief must have switched them off.
"Eh, hey," Luxie said the first thing that crossed her mind. She realized talking to the other thief was not one of her best ideas, but maybe that guy knew which was the best thing to fence. The guy froze and turned around and Luxie blinked letting her eyes adjust to the darkness. The guy was not a guy but a tall, very attractive woman.
"Hi," she said with a smile throwing sparkling white teeth at Luxie. "Look what the cat dragged in."
'Cat,' Luxie thought with amusement at the irony. 'Wait…'
"That's interesting," the young woman said tilted her head to the side slightly. Both the females in the room were now using their felines sense to test certain things and they both found the same thing. "Another furry little freak in LA. I'm amazed."
"I'm neither furry nor a freak," Luxie said slightly upset. She would have denied being little but this woman sure was not one of the shortest Manticore creatures she had ever seen. The woman straightened her head and walked over to Luxie, the bright colours almost blinding the girl.
The woman had deep dark brown hair contrasted by a bright green bang on either side framing her face and orange-brown eyes. She was wearing a bright red skirt that looked something that an Oscar-nominee or a stripper might wear. Her face was plastered with a sneer that seemed very much like what Luxie's imagination pictured a snake's smile.
"You're a freak, just like me. What are you? X5? X6?" she asked and examined Luxie. Now that she was almost two feet from Luxie, the girl felt very, very short. Although she did not know the woman opposite her, she knew the two of them would not have one of the best relationships. However, Luxie knew that a transgenic was most probably the only person who would let Luxie stay for a night or two.
"Not sure where that's the most important point here," Luxie said and looked around. "Are you going to steal this stuff?"
"Some of it," the woman said with a shrug. It did not seem like much of a big deal to her. "I hear the people on the street like the Amazon as of late."
"You can't steal things, it's immoral," Luxie said with a huff. Needless to say she was about to do the same thing, but this woman needed a lesson taught. Trying to take the things Luxie needed. Luckily Luxie's Manticore breeding program also had a course for lying professionally and the girl's comment was spoken so truthfully one might have thought her an angel.
"Born and bred at Manticore, baby, I don't care about morality," she said with a smile and walked back to the case she was working on. She had already cut half a circle into the glass of the case and was slowly finishing up.
Luxie walked over to the woman and leaned over her shoulder to deliberately annoy her. The case held a black velvet choker studded with dozens of demons and a single ruby droplet.
"Do you mind?" the woman hissed and glared at Luxie. Luxie gave an innocent smile that showed she had not noticed.
"Sorry," she whispered deviously and took a step back. Then the woman straightened her back and turned around to look down at the girl.
"What are you doing here?" she asked with a smirk. Luxie nodded trying to look like she had not bee caught out.
"I work for security," she said again sounding like it was true. The woman huffed and then carefully moved her hand into the case. Like Luxie had done clumsily she surpassed the lasers with ease and pulled out the choker. Apparently the case was on a different laser-support-system than the rest of the room. She placed the choker around her neck and clipped it into place.
"Does it make me prettier?" she asked with a sweet innocent smile.
"It makes you look even more like a hooker," Luxie said blandly. The woman raised her eyebrows but said nothing in response. "Look, lady," she did not like calling her 'lady' but since that was all she knew about the other female she had no choice, "despite our already beautifully developed relationship, I need a place to stay tonight."
"Good for you," the woman said and began walked. Luxie trotted to catch up with her and the two of them left the room. Luxie cursed herself for not having grabbed something valuable to fence but hopefully the woman would give her a place to stay.
"What I'm trying to say, or ask, is if maybe I could spend the night at your place," she suggested. The woman stopped and Luxie bumped into her.
"And, why would I do that?"
"I know who and what the thief of that choker is and I'm sure police officials would love to know," Luxie said a smirk crossing her face. Now it was her turn to be on the good side of a threat. The woman glared down at the girl and then walked off. "I guess that's a yes," Luxie said bouncing after her. She had found herself a place to stay and hopefully a warm shower and brand new clothes while she was still dreaming.