Chapter Four: When Bad Girls Go Worse
Luxie started at the Infinity Incorporated building and felt all kinds of strange words flow into her mind. She felt intoxicated by the bright blue and green of the neon sign across from her and godly when looking down at the ant-sized humans below.
Luxie and Jondy had taken a bus to the city centre and sat in Savage for an hour as Jondy explained what she planned on doing. She had not told Luxie what Dustin Infinite suspected and that his brother had been murdered. When her suspicions were confirmed she would let Heresy and Luxie know and the three of them would go on a wonderful hero-spree for Damien's murderer. In Jondy's head the hunt ended with a medal and a lifetime food supply so she would never again have to work in the café.
Then her sister Max would call her up from what she had seen on television and eventually her whole unit would live together happily forever after. Jondy sighed as she reminisced over her little fantasy. She was busy pulling a grappling hook out of Luxie's backpack and putting it together.
"Why are we breaking into that place?" Luxie asked turning around to look at her companion. "Why don't we just go inside?"
"Illegal is good for a Manticore mind, Lux," Jondy said and pointed the gun towards the building. Infinity was taller than the structure they were on but she could still get the hook up fine enough. The only problem was the people working on the three top floors. They would gape at the two young women climbing up a wire onto the building. She just hoped that Luxie climbed as fast as she talked. She jumped at the snap of a pair of fingers.
"Hey," Luxie said. "Weren't you listening?" She was even more upset than she had been a second ago. It was the third time since her arrival that she had been called Lux and she really did not like it because that was not her name – it was Luxie, plain and simple.
"Planning," Jondy defended herself. She held a pair of leather gloves out to Luxie. "Can you climb really fast?"
"Are you kidding me?" Luxie said with a wide grin. It was one of the few things that Manticore had actually mastered teaching her. Luxie could climb up, down, sideways and even with her upside-down when necessary. If only she was not expected to jump down a wall or rope in a perfect ten-point landing. She pulled the gloves on, glad that one of her few extraordinary skills were coming to use finally and with a nod from Jondy she took off.
The wire vibrated for a short while when Luxie was still getting to everything, but then she raced up the wire barely moving. Jondy nodded in amazement and grabbed Luxie's backpack off the floor. When Luxie gave her a thumbs up moments later, she rushed up the wire with hardly as much speed as her predecessor.
"Wow, you really are fast," Jondy said when she arrived at the top. She left the wire where it was because luckily it had caught hold just behind an air duct and was otherwise hidden from you.
"Fastest gun in the west," Luxie said her chin-to-chin smile present. "I think there's about twenty-four levels, so which one do we take?"
"There's about thirty," Jondy said glancing over the edge and Luxie shrugged. It was not like she cared much about numbers… except four, nine… something. She shook her head at the weirdness of the occurrence. Numbers generally did not appear in her head, unless it was two sugarpops or three sodas. "And they said it was on level 26."
"They who?" Jondy opened her mouth to say but refrained herself. She turned around and walked over to the door. "They what?" Luxie changed her question. She really did not like being kept in the dark and not knowing what they were looking for or why unnerved her greatly. There had to be some way of getting Jondy to tell.
Luxie's eyes glazed over as memories flashed in her mind. She could remember pushing knives under people's nails, boring bayonet blades into people's thighs and holding their heads under ice cold water. She saw bleeding eyes, blood running down people's chests and blood splattered onto walls. She saw people shot in front of the eyes of their loved ones and pets strung up from ceilings.
Luxie had seen all of these things before she turned thirteen and even then they had traumatized her. She could stand seeing blood and she would not mind drawing it in a situation but when those faceless victims was replaced by Jondy, she felt disgusted.
Although she had only known the blonde for a few days she felt like Jondy was almost like her older sister. Manticore knew to teach its soldiers not to get emotionally attached to anyone or anything, but Luxie was a special kind of soldier. She did not want to hurt Jondy and would just have to pester the answer out of her.
"Luxie!" she heard Jondy hiss and almost fell over when her mind released her. "Blue Lady, you have the attention span of a goldfish."
"It's longer than that," Luxie defended herself, although she was not sure how much longer. Unlike her fellow soldiers, the black-haired girl faded between reality and her own fantasy world as quick as an arrow. Jondy nodded to Luxie and the two of them walked over to the rooftop access.
Jondy was quite sure there was no security grid attached to it because it was the middle of the day and people were constantly coming up here for a smoke break. However, when she entered the building she carefully checked around the corners for people coming from either side. Everyone at Infinity was wearing their working clothes and Luxie and Jondy were not exactly dressed for the occasion.
Luxie was wearing her top, jeans, jacket and metal-plated boots and Jondy was wearing a tight black sleeveless turtleneck under a black leather jacket and black leather pants. She felt it was the right outfit for her illegal stunt and of accentuated her figure. It seemed black was the colour of the day for the two X5s.
"Top floor holds da bosses," Luxie said and glanced at a board which noted what was held on every floor. "You said twenty-two?"
"Twenty-six," Jondy corrected her as the two of them casually slandered over to the board. Their eyes took no time in flashing over the whole panel but their minds instantly calculated where the twenty-sixth floor would be written up. Even Luxie managed to gaze upon it at the same time Jondy did.
"Archives," Luxie said and looked at Jondy. Archives held the past and nothing that was worth selling for faeces. "What's in archives?"
"Clientele records," Jondy replied finally giving away a bit of her plan. She needed Luxie not only to help her take out any security but to search the large amount of clientele that Infinity had. Luxie nodded and grinned widely at the fact that she had finally been allowed in on the plan, although she was not entirely sure what it was.
If Jondy was looking for a guy, Luxie was sure Heresy could lure someone over. Or if that did not work, Jondy was surely able to use her perfectly adjusted Manticore charm to get herself one. What was this all about? Why were they breaking into Infinity Incorporated?
"Hey," Luxie suddenly remembered. Jondy walked over to the elevator and hushed her black-haired companion under the suspicious glances of a person sitting in a couch reading a magazine. "Hey," Luxie repeated in an overly dramatic whisper. "I know someone who works here."
The elevator arrived with a ping, a man stepped out and the two woman entered the lift. Jondy pushed the button for the twenty-sixth floor and Luxie ran her hand over due to its button-command. Jondy rolled her eyes slightly because she had not thought being a hero would be so tiresome and annoying. The doors closed and Luxie turned to her blonde friend.
"This guy I know works here," she said and tried to remember his surname. She could not place it but she remembered the logo and his first name. "He was called Dustin and he had this shaggy out-of-bed look. Really hot, met him at Savage that first night."
"You sure are the party girl," Jondy mentioned remembering her first thoughts about the girl. "Not like most of the Manticores I know of."
"How many do ya know?" Luxie said slyly. Something about Jondy and Heresy's way of life bothered her and she would dig deeper and deeper until she found out what it was.
"My unit," Jondy said carefully. She did not really know any of them anymore except for Heresy. There had been no contact from Zack for quite some time now and without him there was no way of finding Syl, Krit, Max or the others again.
"But you're an X5," Luxie retorted. Even X7's did not only work with their units. When Luxie was twelve they had already started training with other units and although Luxie's was an experimental unit, they were still able to come in contact with others. She remembered a few guys, however, that she was never allowed to come in contact with. She remembered that it was going to be soon that she would meet some of them, or one of them. She liked the way they look, but she had not seen them since she was fifteen, so who knows how they turned out.
Jondy looked at Luxie saying nothing because there was nothing to say.
"How long have you two been out here?" Luxie asked. She had caught on that they had not been in Manticore for a while and she thought she could recall where she remembered 'Max's' barcode from. Jondy gave a long sigh but never broke eye contact. Luxie felt very unnerved by the silence and they tension because she felt like jumping and possibly singing while doing so. She tired hard not to break the moment and Jondy could see her quiver.
"Twelve years," Jondy said eventually. "Since 2009."
"Two…" Luxie had expected exactly that answer but it took her mind some time to process. Luxie Walker, Manticore side-experiment, had met two of the famed '09 escapees.
She had never believed it to be true because she had seen the fences, walls and guards that protected the perimeter but now there was no denying it. And Max had to be the young woman who was revolting in Seattle. She must have been the one who organized the fire and released Luxie and her freaky friends into the wild.
There was a ping and the elevator doors opened for them.
"Two…" Luxie repeated and gasped for air. Jondy gave her a light slap across the back of her head and received a glare from the small girl.
"Come on," she said and strode off confidently. If you looked like you know what you were doing, people never really asked. Luxie shrugged and with a happy, childish bounce to her step, she followed.
"Very awesome, babe," said one of the photographers.
"Grab the tip of her skirt and pull it a bit," said one of the stylists. "Not that much," he corrected. Heresy smirked at the young man tugging at her skirt. Advertising nowadays was nothing more than pornography. And Heresy was the woman for the job. With her constant flow of feline pheromones, Heresy Scott was the perfect publicity.
Until she had been two years old, Heresy had been normal like her favourite sisters Tinga and Jace but then she was taken away once a week and became a side experiment. She was still the same person but by the time she hit nine the other boys and even those years older began looking at her differently.
Heresy, Tinga and Jace knew that it was the things they pumped into her until she was five years old and that she would never get rid of them. When '09 came, Heresy was one of the first to agree with Zack to leave Manticore. The small brunette could not stand being stared at by the other soldiers and wanted out. She did not want tests, pipes and compatibility scans anymore. She wanted freedom and the life she chose to live.
When Heresy grew up she learned the positive sides of her increased attraction to the male specimen. She got what she wanted and in return her life was more pleasant than it used to be.
Looking back, Heresy thought that when she was ten years old, she was almost as mature as Luxie was now. She had boys hitting on her that were five years older than herself and the only reason the ones twice her age did not do it was because they feared the slammer.
A deep sigh crossed Heresy's lungs and she heard the photographer shout a 'fabulous!' before continuing to click away.
Half an hour later the crew had packed up and the models along with their complimentary clothes were shipped off. Heresy dumped her things on the back seat and revved the car before taking off with speed.
She glanced at the time and gave a silent growl. Jondy was probably still doing her illegal rounds and Savage-time was hours away. Heresy swore at a guy trying to cut her off and remembered Luxie's smug little grin.
That little wannabe-soldier had invaded Heresy's home and was out with her sister. Heresy scanned her mind and wondered where Jondy might have gone instead of working today.
Heresy remembered the day before when Jondy had rushed out of the café. Usually leaving work was not much of a deal to her but last night she was in quite hurry. Heresy racked her internal memory and sucked every detail out of the scene that she could. She remembered something about Infinity being on the television and Jondy complaining about the guys she was serving.
The brunette concentrated hard while trying to keep her eyes on the speeding road the same time. It was not much of a task for a female made in Manticore but she was trying to pick up scents and sounds as well as visuals.
Then she caught a familiar scent and skidded into a scratching halt half-way onto the sidewalk. She smelt Dustin, the guy Luxie had talked to and who claimed to work for Infinity. If there was Dustin and Infinity on the TV, that was defiantly where Jondy had headed.
Heresy praised the genius mind Manticore had blessed her with and sped off towards the large tower in the distance. If she was looking for answers, that was where she would find them.
"Oh, hey, Luxie," Dustin said seeing the girl running towards him. He stopped, smiled and raised his hand to a small wave but she just rushed passed him as if she did not know he was there.
'I didn't think I made that a bad impression,' Dustin thought slowly. 'But why was she here anyway?'
"Is something wrong, sir?" one of Dustin's bodyguards asked. They had been walking several steps in front of him and probably not noticed he had know the raven-haired girl at all.
"Nothing, nothing, Sean," Dustin shook the question away. "Uh, I gotta go to the bathroom quickly. You two just wait in my office, right?" The two bodyguards nodded, turned and walked towards Dustin's large and luxurious office. Dustin watched them turn a corner and then rushed off in the direction he suspected Luxie had gone.
If he remembered correctly, she had mentioned that she had only recently moved to Los Angeles and was living with a friend of hers. She did not know anyone, so it was quite impossible for her to know anyone but himself at Infinity. And if she had been applying for a job here… Let's just say, Dustin hoped she never went to a job interview in an outfit like that.
And the way she had looked also perplexed him slightly. Of course, when he had seen her last, she was slightly drunk, but she looked like the cheery and happy type. Now she had seemed determined and her eyes were glazed over with a mist that focused only on where she was going.
"Here," Jondy said grabbing a file from one of the metal shelves. She handed it to Luxie. "It seems like these are the major clientele files. Go though them and remember every company you see." Luxie nodded and slumped down onto the floor. The moment she read 'Maxwell Military Academy' on the first page, she stifled a yawn and felt she had been much to excited. She always thought breaking and entering involved stealing valuables not memorising companies.
She managed to glance at another two or three names of Military Academies before she felt her mind slipping and listened to Jondy mumble the names of soldier training facilities. She was not paying much attention but them something caught her ear and she heard Jondy's voice falter.
"Manticore," escaped Luxie's mouth in a whisper when she repeated what she had heard. She dropped the file she was holding and stood up.
"Manticore Los Angeles Branch," Jondy said and looked at the short girl. Luxie felt much shorter than she usually did now. The fact that Manticore was still there and that it was closer than she had hoped almost made her heart stop. She ran away from Seattle in the hopes of never coming across anything remotely Manticore. She could deal with Jondy. She could even deal with Heresy. She could not deal with another Manticore.
"Why did you come here?" she demanded anger in her voice. She was more than angry now. Jondy, the person she had hoped would be her link to the past but a normal future, had brought her something she never wanted. "Why are we here?"
"I…" Jondy began and felt a tear running down her cheek. She was not one to cry but she had run from Manticore for twelve years and now it was back. Seattle was gone and the place that had been her home in hell for the first ten years of her life had come back to haunt her. "A guy was killed and I heard… heard people talking how they thought it was a client. I was going to play the hero." She sniffed and looked down at Luxie.
"Well, you're not!" Luxie yelled and the sight of Jondy's tears made her own well up. "You're not a hero, Jondy! You're a… a freak! And it's here and we'll never get away from it! It burnt down, Jondy! It burnt and now it's back." Luxie felt completely helpless and when she felt helpless there was only one thing to do. "It's your fault!" Blame the problem on someone else.
"What's going on here?" Dustin asked. He was standing in the doorway of the archives room, watching two young woman bawling over one of his files and accusing one another. Luxie turned around, her eyes wide in shock. Quickly Jondy and herself wiped their tears from their faces. The red in their eyes faded quickly and seconds later it looked as it nothing was wrong. Jondy quickly bent down and picked the file up.
"Nothing," Luxie said bravely.
"What are you doing in my archives?"
"Your…" Luxie was confused. This was Infinity archives and although Dustin claimed to work here, these were not his archives, unless.
"I own Infinity. What's that?" he asked a bit gruffly and pulled the file out of Jondy's grasp. The shock of him being here and having heard at least a part of their conversation caused her reaction to be delayed.
"Manticore? They're our biggest client," Dustin said and looked at the two girls. "Why do you have this?"
"I think Manticore killed your brother," Jondy said calmly as if they were drinking tea. Luxie and Dustin gaped at her. The moment she had seen the name on the paper the possible proceedings had flashed her mind. "I think your brother found out what Manticore was and they had him killed."
"Why would they do that?"
"Manticore doesn't like people know who they are and what they do," Luxie explained. "And if you savour that life of yours," she waved her finger at him, "you better leave town as fast as possible."
"If they killed my brother, I'm going to bring them down," Dustin said fiercely. Luxie and Jondy looked at each other saw a smile spreading across each other's faces.
"You…" Luxie sniggered, "bring Manticore down? It took several soldiers, many, many bombs and years on the outside to bring Manticore down, and who knew about it? No one, Dustin. When Manticore went down, no one knew except those who were there." Jondy looked at Luxie. She remembered what Luxie had said about Manticore having burnt down and she would have to ask her friend about that later.
"Can I have that back?" she asked holding out her hand and taking a step forward. Dustin took a step back but Jondy grabbed the file. In the same instant Luxie took several fast steps forward, whispered an 'I'm sorry' and punched him in the face. Jondy watched Dustin fall and then turned her gaze to the other soldier.
"If he wants to take Manticore down, we're going to have to do it for him," she said and looked down at the unconscious body. "I kinda like him and I don't want him killed," she added with a smile.
"Let's get out of here," Jondy said and Luxie gave a loud 'hell, yeah' as a response. They stepped over Dustin and ran down the hall. However, two spy-suit clad soldiers dropped down in front of them.
"Manticore," Jondy hissed and she noticed one of them smirk at the comment.