Inevitable Ascension

Chapter 1 - 200 Years Earlier: The Steam Age

All the meticulous preparation had led to this moment. Standing with her leather boot just over the cliff edge, Violina eyed the target sitting directly below her: The Museum of Ancient Life and Civilization. Therein lay her prize. Giving her rope a couple of firm tugs, she grew confident that she was, in fact, not about to plummet to her death. Adrenaline pumped through her veins as she rappelled down the cliffside, savoring the thought of imminent justice. Upon reaching the top floor of the museum, she took a final look across Eden with its glimmering steam stacks and clock towers. There was no turning back now. She shattered a stained glass window and climbed inside.

"You break it, you buy it," said a pleasant but teasing voice. Violina looked up and saw the source—a tall, slender girl with platinum hair and a beaming smile.

"Well, Lux, how about we just let them take it out of our fee?"

Lux laughed. "I suppose that's one way to do it. Goodness, why didn't they just pay us as promised? Would've made life a lot simpler for everybody."

"You know what they say, everything happens for a reason," answered Violina. "It just so happens that in this case, the reason is they're stupid and make bad decisions."

Lux was a girl of many talents. Having completed her university studies in biochemistry by age nineteen, she was a prodigy. Since then, her skill in medicine had more than often proven useful, but today was a day when her poisons came in handy, as the rhinoceroses rampaging through the live animal exhibit would attest. Perhaps her most defining quality was her love of animals: bacon, steak, and, to a lesser extent, chicken. She was also quite fond of the live versions and kept many pets. Two years ago, upon graduation, she was torn between two professions that would allow her to be with her furry friends frequently—veterinarian or hunter. With Violina's persuasion, she became a hunter as it allowed her to wear her furry friends. On this occasion, she wore a long, thin coat of black leather as she insisted it was absolutely fitting for a heist.

Violina eyed Lux's pack. "Have you got our weapons?"

Lux repeated the question as if Violina had asked the obvious. "Do I have our weapons? Violina, I'm practically 'Discount Weapons Warehouse' over here. Take your pick." She opened her satchel and organized neatly therein lay two hand crossbows, a hydraulic hammer and Violina's personal favorite: an electric chain whip. "You aren't planning on actually using these are you?"

Violina brushed her long scarlet hair from her face. "Of course I'm planning on using them! I don't need to fire a weapon to use it. You know as well as I do that when trying to persuade people, a weapon combined with charisma achieves far greater results than just charisma alone."

Lux simply grinned and began heading down the hall.

Between the marble tile, velvet carpets and sheer size of the place, the museum was nothing short of lavish. Despite all this, the museum insisted that they had been fined so heavily for "playing God" that they were unable to pay their under-the-table suppliers.

"Playing God" was the label the Law Makers used for the crime of reviving dreichoden—previously extinct ancient creatures. Violina didn't know how the museum did it, nor did she really care. Her talents lay more heavily in taking life than in creating it. Regardless, with the Law Makers declaring the dreichoden hatchlings to be contraband, enforcers were on their way to confiscate them. She couldn't help but smile as thoughts of the museum manager squirming to explain why he couldn't turn over the hatchlings as ordered lingered satisfyingly in her mind.

"A bit deserted in here, don't you think?" asked Violina.

"Yes, well, no doubt the minimum-wage security guards all left to deal with the aftermath of my rhino fun." Lux was practically glowing.