Chapter Three: Infinity Incorporated

It was almost noon when Luxie woke with a start and a snort. She looked around because when she had woken up the day before it was underground. Then she remembered that she was in Los Angeles and staying with two other Manticore freaks. She was glad despite the fact that one of them hated her and she would most probably have to leave them today. She was gone from Manticore forever and that was as good a deal as anything.

Slowly Luxie got up and rubbed her eyes. She caught a glimpse of the barcodes and quickly ran her eyes over them. One of them, 331845739493, seemed oddly familiar like she had already seen it before but she could not recall ever meeting of hearing of the soldier. There were snippets of newspapers above the barcode showing several different men with the same tattoo on the back of their neck. There was no way they were all the same soldier.

She shook her head to get the thoughts of the mystery soldier out of her head and looked at the other barcodes. Mentally she stored the numbers and looked at the pictures over some of the other barcodes.

There was Jondy's with her proof of identity picture and a picture that Heresy must have taken at a club. Above soldier X5-599's barcode there was a picture of a well-built blonde male and the same picture with a question mark over it was over 600's barcode. Luxie inspected the barcodes and assumed them clones. However, the fact that Jondy had drawn a question mark of the picture blurred that view. From what Luxie had heard, clones looked exactly the same and only the personality changed.

There was another blonde girl over 701's and a tall, lean young man over 711. All the other barcodes had no pictures and were simply black paint on Jondy's white walls. The barcodes were drawn so perfectly Luxie suspected that the blonde might be a little obsessed about these guys. She stared at the barcodes for a while before she realized she was hungry and grabbed her pants off the floor beside her.

When she walked out she had the eerie feeling of being alone and slowly walked into the kitchen area. She looked around in a few cupboards and found herself some cereal and milk. She made herself a bowl and grabbed a cup of coffee before slumping down onto the couch. While she ate she watched the room because she could not find the remote to the TV. Then she heard a clatter from Heresy's room and changed her vacant stare to a direct stare to the demon women's room.

Moments later Heresy stumbled out of the room, hair everywhere and wearing nothing but black lace underwear that held very well but revealed too much. She looked quite out of it and Luxie realized that cat must not be a morning person. She put on her cheeriest smile and greeted the grump. Heresy groaned in response and staggered into the bathroom.

Several minutes later she came back out, hair in place and face as fresh as apples on a tree. She gave an unfriendly sneer in Luxie's direction and walked into her room. When she came out she was wearing tight black jeans and a shirt that could barely be called that.

"Good morning again," Luxie said and swallowed the rest of her second cup of coffee. She had moved to the kitchen and had dumped her things in the sink. "Sleep well?"

"Just because you believe in abstinence does not mean that I have to feel great about not having sex," Heresy growled and Luxie smiled even wider. She had not asked anything and already Heresy was bitchy and giving off information that was of no use to anyone. Heresy looked at Luxie and shivered.

"What?" Luxie asked. Comments she could cope with, shivering in disgust was another thing.

"Despite the seed of hate that grows in me for you, you and I are getting you new clothes because if anyone sees me with you…" Heresy felt that Luxie's clothing told the story for themselves. "Be ready in half."

"Do it the Manticore way," Luxie said and fetched her bag from the other way.

"Where's Jondy?" Luxie asked when the two of them were on the road again.

"Work," Heresy said in almost as much disgust as she had looked at Luxie with. "We can't go around stealing all the time, can we?"

"If you'd been trained well enough," Luxie said with a smirk. She had always attended classes in thievery and had gained quite a few things from some of the guards thanks to the courses.

"They didn't teach us thievery," Heresy said with a shrug which was the signal to cut the conversation. The fact that Heresy and Jondy had never learnt thievery was quite confusing to Luxie because she had know how to pick pocket ever since she been twelve or thirteen years old. X-series always learnt all the basic necessities and thievery was just one of them. She decided not to ask Heresy about it because as far as she had processed the conversation, Heresy was buying her clothes.

"What's she work as?"

"Waitress."

"Why are you doing this?"

"Bored." Luxie waited a while before asking her next question. It seemed like it would happen but she was not sure because Heresy was a very confusing person.

"Am I staying?"

"Jondy seems to like you," Heresy said with a glare. "She wants to you stay because she doesn't want to you get caught. I hope you get caught and shot."

"But you want me to look good while doing so?"

"Let them know I dressed you," Heresy said with a snigger and sharp-turned again. She seemed to enjoy doing and the car did not seem to mind that much either. "We'll go to the market first."

"And then?" Luxie thought that a market was the only place to buy things nowadays. Stores were practically non-existent because people spent so much money on food and shelter they could not afford to buy a shop.

"Visit Jondy," Heresy said with a wide grin. "Shopping will take it's time and I don't want my big sister walking all the way to Savage on her own. Someone might mug her."

"Here's your soda," Jondy said placing the glass onto the table. "Can I get you anything to eat?" The young woman at the table shook her head and continued reading in the paper. Jondy gave a brief smile to no one and returned to the counter. She leaned on it bored with everything already.

"Why have you been up to, Jondy?" asked her fellow waitress, Alana. Alana was the same height as Jondy and had blonde hair too, although hers was fake her. She was a lot less fit than the other girl and was often advised to eat more.

"Nothing much," Jondy told her with a shrug. "Still partying hard."

"It's amazing how you party all night but I never see any sign of it on you," Alana said looked at Jondy's eyes. Jondy grinned. "You miss out on so much sleep, but nothing to prove it."

"I was born a party girl, Alana." Jondy turned to look at the TV that was always running. Sometimes it showed football matches if anyone felt like playing but barely anyone did, so now there was news running. Jondy did not like the anchorwoman of the show because despite her natural look she had a fake personality and enjoyed bragging about her status.

"Earlier this morning co-owner of Infinity Incorporated, Damien Infinite, was found dead in his apartment," she said not giving a hint of feeling. She was just reading off her cue cards and there was no need for human sympathy. Jondy enjoyed thinking that she was a failed creation of Manticore's, a nomilee, that could not perform more than one task at a time. Also she probably could not fight or defend herself in anyway, so when she did cross paths with Jondy, a real Manticore, she would get her ass kicked.

"The body shows that Infinite was shot by a sniper gun from one of the higher buildings. Infinite's older brother, Dustin Infinite, has ordered the police to find the murderer as soon as possible and rumours say he has a secret government agency helping him. Here is Dustin's comment on the finding of his brother."

The image changed to a young man with messy-style brown hair and brown eyes. He looked very suave in his black suit and tie and Alana nudged Jondy to indicated she thought he looked hot. Jondy was not very fond of guys in suits but she had to admit he did not look half bad. There were several cameras and microphones held up to his face and he looked deeply taken by the loss of his brother.

"Thank you for your sympathy," he said although all the news reporters wanted was a story. "I'm sure my brother would have enjoyed all this publicity but I know that he would not have wanted it to be to this occasion. When his housemaid found him this morning she called me immediately and I rushed over." Then he looked his gaze changed to a glare. "I will find the people who killed my brother and they will pay. I hope I can expect everyone's support. Thank you," he finished as he had started and then walked off. The reporters began following him but Dustin Infinite's various bodyguards kept them away from the business man.

"Must suck," Alana muttered.

"Hey!" they heard someone call and Alana pulled a face before running over to the angry customer. Jondy continued to watch the reporters desperate attempts to get more from Dustin, but there was nothing they could do; he was a well protected man.

'Only someone with mad skillz and mega muscles could get through those guys,' Jondy thought with a sigh. She had had her fair share of getting past big burly men until she was ten and now the bouncers in town let her pass without a question because of her sister's feline pheromones.

"That's the luck of a superwoman," she chuckled and then walked over to someone to serve them. She stood beside a table waiting for three men to place their orders. Two of them, big men wearing dark suits and sunglasses had noticed her appearance, but the third had not bothered.

"Hi. Can I get you anything to drink?" she asked with the mock-cheer that was present in every waitress.

"Beer," muttered the guy who was still staring at the table. His dirty brown hair looked as mess and his clothes did not smell as well as they might have, had they been washed. Jondy smiled and looked at the other two men.

"A glass of water, please," said the one further away from her.

"Coffee, no milk, no sugar," said the second gruffly. "Make it strong," he said and Jondy could have sworn he was trying to wink at her from beneath his sunglasses. She rolled her eyes but still smiled and walked away. She pulled a face at Alana which was their common signal for 'unfriendly customer'. Alana gave her a sympathetic pat on the shoulder as she ordered the drinks from the barman.

"How bad?" Alana asked in conversational attempt.

"Beer," Jondy imitated the first guy. "Glass of water, please," she said giving off the air of aristocracy. "Coffee, strong, wink, wink. He winked at me under his shades," she complained. Alana giggled.

"You always were the one for…" Alana looked towards where Jondy had just come from. "The tall, dark and… okay, just tall and dark."

"Very funny, Alana," Jondy growled and punched her friend. To her it felt like she was barely applying any force to the stroke, but Alana gave her a playful glare and rubbed her shoulder damaged by superhuman strength. Jondy turned to watch her previous customers again. She realized the hunched guy was talking to the other two because they were watching him.

Being curious about the strange bad of travellers, she tuned her ears into their conversation.

"… on to something. Day wasn't hated by people because until my father died we weren't anything. Infinity is useful to everyone and without it – no more enjoyable murdering the innocent."

"I suspect maybe one of the large clientele didn't like was he was doing," one of the other said. He was the one who had ordered the water. He sounded dangerous but Jondy knew she could take him down in seconds. As soon as the young man had mentioned Infinity, Jondy was sure he was involved and judging her luck, he was most probably Dustin Infinite.

"Large clientele?" Dustin looked at his bodyguard in confusion. He had not had much time for looking into clientele or money and had until now only been specified on design and manufacture.

"Companies that buy shiploads of weaponry," answered the bodyguard. He glanced up to Jondy to see when the drinks were coming. Jondy glazed her eyes over and pretended to be staring off into distance like a ditz. He kept watching her suspiciously and then turned back to the others who had in turn been watching him. "Military schools, NRA's, soldier training camps."

"Soldier training camps?"

"They're like the army, but they work independently. People who enrol there get the full benefit of soldier training with all the push-ups and degradation, but there's no obligation to the military. When you leave, you're a free man and can join a band of heroes for all they care," he explained and gave a chuckle at his amusing comment. Jondy got a tap on her shoulder.

"Jonds, your drinks are ready," Alana said and pointed to them. Jondy quickly grabbed the coffee, beer and water and rushed over to the three men so that she might even be able to catch another titbit.

"… files are on Level 26," one of them men said when Jondy reached the table. She smiled an innocent smile and placed the drinks on the table. When she was done, she waited and looked at Dustin.

"Uh," she said carefully. He did not bother moving. "Are you Dustin Infinite?" she asked in her sweet waitress voice. He growled a yes before one of the men got up.

"Miss, I'm going to have to ask you to leave," he said taking her arm. She let it go slack although it was barely a threat to her. She gave him an naïve look before he let her arm go and she walked off. Jondy rolled her eyes.

"Well, that was a total success," she muttered to herself. 'I wonder what it would be like playing hero?'

"Jonday!" she heard Heresy's cheery voice and looked towards the entrance. There stood her baby sister in an all new outfit. Upon glancing out of the window she saw the convertible filled to the brim with bags of clothes. "Look at what I created."

"You didn't create me," Luxie began and received a glare from Jondy. She smirked. "You dressed me." She was wearing a tight black dress that barely reached halfway down her thighs, a blue camouflage jacket that did reach halfway down her thighs and calf-high black boots with a metal plate on the front. "I still want to have some spikes attached," Luxie said with a wide grin when Jondy had reached her boots. "I don't like the dress but she forced me."

"I sure did," Heresy said with a wide smile a twirled to show off her equally short red dress. Although it was short enough already it had a short slit along the right side and showed a lot of cleavage. "The other outfit I choose is really awesome too."

"So, we leaving then?" Jondy asked and pulled her apron off. She seemed a bit desperate to the other two, but they did not mind leaving here. They wanted to party and show off their new clothes. "Alana, I'm leaving."

"What about your grumpy table?"

"You take 'em and I don't think they'll be giving much of a tip," Jondy said with a grin. She threw her apron at her friend and then left the store quickly with her fellow transgenics. Outside she sped to the car and jumped in the front seat, urging the others to leave. To taunt her Heresy took her time in finding the right key (out of the two she had) and waiting for a car to pass.

"What's the rush?" Luxie asked adjusting her skirt. She did not mind looking sexy but the fact that every time she moved her ass was showed to the world did not excite her. "Savage stays at the same place every night and Heresy gets us all in free by waving her bosoms and pheromones all over the place." Jondy shivered for no reason. She looked down at her leg which was twitching inexplicably.

"You okay?" Heresy said and looked down at the blonde's leg. For the first time since Luxie had met her, the vixen seemed worried and possibly afraid.

"Bring me home," Jondy commanded in a calm tone. Luxie looked at her in confusion as she twitched again. As they drove on the youngest noticed that the twitches had started by being minutes apart were getting closer and closer together the more time passed.

"What's the matter?" Luxie asked. She was not particularly worried but the fact that her only friend in the whole city was acting up was not a pleasant thought. She knew that every Manticore creation had it's problems and if the problems were really bad, it was down to the cellar or onto the doctor's table. She would have preferred the cellar over the table due to previous experiences but she hoped neither of them would come for any of the three girls, except maybe Heresy.

"Seizure," Jondy said with a faint smile that expressed serenity. Her whole body trembled as Heresy finally skidded the car across two lots and jumped out of the car. Quickly she hauled Jondy out after being smacked in the face by a stray hand and rushed up.

"Get the keys, Lux!" she yelled and the girl did what she was told. She left the shopping where it was and quickly followed the other two girls.

When the three of them were back in the apartment Jondy had been dumped on her bed, Heresy started going through her drawers.

"Where are they?" she yelled in desperation.

"Bathroom," Jondy said while shivering viciously. She smiled up at Jondy. "Don't worry, kid. It'll be fine soon. Got milk?" she added and gave way to more tremors. Luxie watched her as Heresy gabbed the blonde and poured several pills down her throat. Jondy continued shivering and Heresy pushed a pressure point on the woman's shoulder. Instantly Jondy fell into unconsciousness and the shivering stopped.

"What was that?" Luxie asked eyes wide.

"Seizures. Don't you get them?" Heresy asked and closed the lid on the pills. She left the room and the two of them went to fetch the shopping.

"No. Nothing," Luxie said. She had heard that some other soldiers had gotten seizures and other strange things happened to them, but she had never experienced anything. Heresy shrugged and the two of the walked down to the car in silence and back up to the apartment in the same silence.

The next morning Jondy sat up with a start and cracked her neck. She got up and began rolling her shoulders, knees and anything that had fallen asleep in the few hours of sleep she had gotten. Outside in the main area she silently shook her head. Luxie was lying on the couch in a white shirt and red boxer shorts snoring away happily.

"Four, nine," she muttered between two snores. "Baby, baby, you know you want to," she silently began singing. "Thirty-three, that's who we be." Jondy smiled at poured herself a cup of coffee. She leaned on the counter and continued listening to the random words being spewed out of the young girl's mouth.

A few moments later Heresy came out of her room. She was wearing all black and concealing clothes. The tall woman did not look like she had just woken up at all nor like she had slept the whole night either.

"You okay?" Heresy asked nicer than usual. Jondy smiled a little and nodded.

"You okay?" she repeated the question with a wide grin and received a glare from the other woman. "You don't have to worry about me." Jondy grabbed another cup and poured Heresy some coffee. She added several spoons of sugar and handed the cup over with a spoon.

"I wasn't," Heresy said with a smirk and took the cup of coffee. She stirred the coffee. "I have a shoot today. You take her."

"Can I keep her?" Jondy asked with a small laugh. "You really don't mind her being here?"

"I do. I hate her," Heresy said with a glare. There was something about the X6 that unnerved her. Maybe it was the way she had found Dustin Infinite and gotten friendly with him after only ten minutes or maybe it was just that Heresy found herself threatened by the girl. Luxie did not seem like anything else Heresy had seen in Manticore. Sure, the last time she had been there was twelve years ago but other soldiers seemed so much more disciplined and educated, Luxie was just a human with super-strength.

She threw her spoon at Luxie who snorted and rubbed her nose. She shuffled a bit and then sat up, the spoon falling into her cleavage.

"That hurt," she growled angrily and grabbed a light blue shirt from the pile of clothes she had used as a pillow. Then she grabbed some jeans and a jacket. "I'm hungry," she announced and walked over to the kitchen.

"I can't," Jondy suddenly said looking at Heresy and placing her mug into the sink. She gave it a quick rinse and let it to dry. "I was planning on doing something else today."

"Something… illegal?" Heresy asked smugly. It seemed like she might forget about the shoot she had to do exactly that. Illegality was something Heresy knew well and if anyone knew about doing the wrong thing, it was her.

"No," Jondy said with a glare. There was a pause where nothing happened and Luxie looked between the two of them with a spoon of cereal in her mouth. She felt great being the youngest because that way things could always be blamed on her age. She decided that she would buy some small marshmallows to go with her cereal and maybe some juice and candy and… Luxie's mind slowly drowned into Candyland and she absently scoped more cereal into her big mouth.

Jondy and Heresy looked at the dreaming girl in confusion before Heresy expressed a loud 'Aha' and ran out of the apartment before Jondy could object. Jondy looked at Luxie who had not noticed anything here and decided that if she was going to go snooping in Infinity's clientele files, Luxie would be good enough to distract any guards.

And possibly beat them down where necessary.