Notes: We enter the realms of almost-plot with this one. I tried to think of something else, I tried to come up with a better idea, but this one persisted. If you're lucky, you might get to hear some urban legends soon.

Thanks to everyone who reviewed, and to everyone who put me on their alerts. Apparently that's now 94 people on alert for this story. You have no idea how tempted I am to hold the next chapter ransom...

Amber Sweet hadn't been by in a long, long time. She had her own, much more efficient means of procuring zydrate enough to sate her addictions. Being the head of a multi-national, billion dollar company she also had far better things to do than strut through the back-alleys with an entourage comprised of only two bodyguards.

So Shilo knew that bad news was on its way the second she caught sight of Amber's newest body-modification sashaying through the streets. Knowing that Amber wouldn't recognise her even after the disaster at the Opera, Shilo abandoned her post and hurried past the older girl. She could move faster. She wasn't wearing six-inch stiletto heels.

The Graverobber stood in the centre of a cadre of admiring addicts, smirking as they pawed over his jacket. When Shilo rounded the corner he caught her eye and rolled his skyward. She knew they were trying to steal, in their own special little way; If not by finding the vials of zydrate he kept in his mysteriously hidden coat pockets then by making him think they adored him and not just their drug fix.
Shilo wormed her way through the crowd with careful precision. Those that wouldn't be moved received a subtle poke in the arm from a pin hidden between Shilo's fingers. The sudden shock of pain was automatically followed by a split second of thinking that the junkie had just scored a hit - just enough time to squeeze past before they realised. She had to stand on tip-toe to whisper into Graverobber's ear. Just two words. "Amber Sweet."

They had an instant effect. The Graverobber slipped away from the crowd with the kind of ease that Shilo envied. He disappeared around the corner and the crowd moaned. Shilo dug into her shoulder bag and produced a zydrate gun. A murmur spread through the small crowd like a revelation. Shilo had just pressed the needle against a girl with a plastic face when Amber rounded the corner. Shilo dropped the plastic-faced doll, letting her swoon and stagger away on unsteady feet.

Amber commanded attention, heels clicking, hips swaying. Shilo looked her up and down from beneath her lashes, jealous and disgusted by the way the older girl displayed her body.

"I'm looking for the Graverobber," Amber said aloud, her official tone causing the knot of remaining junkies to scatter. She looked after each one of them, as much of a frown on her face as it could manage. Finally, eyes that were brown today settled on Shilo. "Who are you?"

"I'm just an innocent schoolgirl," Shilo replied, her eyes wide and sincere.

The lie, brazen and obvious as it was, earned Shilo a very breif glare. Then, to her surprise, Amber actually smiled at her. "You have guts," the older girl noted aloud. "You have to know who I am."

Shilo nodded. "You're Amber Sweet. I see your face everywhere these days, because you run Geneco." Perhaps pushing her luck just a little, Shilo chanced an obvious question; "What do you want the Graverobber for?"

"Why should I tell you?" Amber asked, scoffing a little at the innocent young girl standing in front of her.

"I'm... sort of a friend of his," Shilo replied, fiddling with the strap of her bag.

"Friend." Amber looked like she was about to laugh, like the idea of the Graverobber having any kind of friend was so ridiculous it didnt' even deserve to be dignified. Then she took a second look at Shilo, a harder look. She remembered that barely a minute ago this girl had flaunted an obvious lie without batting an eyelid. Amber wondered if perhaps even Graverobbers had friends. The thought made her uncomfortable; Amber Sweet had nobody who liked her without obligation. "Friend," she said again. "Alright. Fine, whatever. You can tell him I have a proposition for him."

Without so much as another glance, or another word, Amber turned on her heel and stalked out of the alleyway, her heels clacking dangerously against the bitumen. Shilo stared after her for a long time before she finally shook her head and turned away.