Operation: Extermination

Chapter 3

      Val streaked a finger through her hair. The black had seemed drab and resigned, as if she had fallen into a gloom for working with the company. So she had bleached it as white blonde as possible, and the waves fell down her shoulders. The lighter hair made her feel more like a bright individual than a chained victim.

       "Val!" Krell's voice echoed through the earpiece, "I see him! South entrance, black suit, and a purple tie. Blah, the purple really clashes, don't you think?"

       "I don't care about his fashion choices, I care about his head," Val grumbled, "But this will be a piece of cake." She slid out of the vent, dropping out onto the top of a staircase leading down into the ballroom. She dusted off the gray flakes clinging to her, and she pressed a button on her bracelet.

        Her black armor transformed flawlessly into a sleek, black dress. It even supplied her with gloves, which she pulled snugly over her fingers. She needed them to hide her whirring gears on her wrists.

       "Play nice," Krell advised, "Try not to kill him in front of everyone. Liza wouldn't like it, and I think that would ruin our dance. Take him to a back alley or something."

        "How am I supposed to get him into a back alley, genius?" she hissed into the earpiece as she strode down the stairs. Her timing was perfect: without breaking stride, she fell into perfect step beside the man. Excitement coursed through her wires. She had finally found him- Jaden Castillo!

     He looked just like his picture- dirty blond hair smoothed back with a few flyaway strands in golden eyes. His jaw was strong, his scar long, and his smile confident. He walked with almost a strut, his hands loosely stuffed into the pockets of his neat, black jacket.

      He was here to steal parts from an exotic robot showing happening in the next few minutes, to do something with them that was apparently 'classified' material.

        "Hello," Val faked a girlish grin as she beamed up at him, "I've heard a lot about you, big guy!"

       Jaden's eyebrow arched, "Have you?"

       "Of course." The grin was gone, "I know a lot about you. And I have some highly important information I'd wish to divulge. Presuming you even want it, of course."

       "Who are you?" The question bore a hint of an accent, sounding rough but refined.

       "They all call me Val," she replied, twirling a finger through her white blonde hair, "At least, my friends do. But you call me whatever you want."

      "I'm gonna need more than that to trust you."

      "You don't have to trust me. You just have to listen to what I have to say," Val smiled, offering him her hand, "May I have this dance?"

      "I'm here for the robot showing. I don't have time for a dance."

      "Don't you? I doubt you'll get far without the code on the restriction of access for the showing container. I'd love to see you try to covertly steal something while triggering every alarm in the system."

      Jaden gritted his teeth together, then took her hand, "Then dance we must. Assuming you know the code?"

       "Of course I do. I could steal it myself if I had any inclination to do so," Val replied silkily, her hand gripping his black gloves as she tugged him onto the dance floor.

      "And what do I need to do to obtain such a code?" Jaden pressed, lifting his eyebrows.

      "Listen to what I have to warn you about," she replied, "But I can't talk here. There are people... listening."