What was it that gave people the right to live? Violina gazed out from atop the cliffs encircling the City of Eden and the sea beyond as she pondered the question. The serenity emanating from its golden towers and pristine canals utterly failed to reflect the vileness of its inhabitants. Was it simply being born that gave such a right? No. Everyone was born through no credit of their own. It's how people choose to live their lives that matters, and by that standard, everyone Violina knew deserved to die—everyone except for Lux.
What was it that gave people the right to live? Violina gazed out from atop the cliffs encircling the City of Eden and the sea beyond as she pondered the question. The serenity emanating from its golden towers and pristine canals utterly failed to reflect the vileness of its inhabitants. Was it simply being born that gave such a right? No. Everyone was born through no credit of their own. It's how people choose to live their lives that matters, and by that standard, everyone Violina knew deserved to die—everyone except for Lux.
Two years earlier, before Violina had met her, Violina's father had attempted to rob Lux at knifepoint—a near-fatal mistake. Lux smashed her boot into his face, drew a hand crossbow and held it to his throat. Such a story would've been nothing out of the ordinary for Eden, but Lux was different. She had every reason to kill him; instead, she told him he should've just asked politely so she could've given him her money voluntarily. Without lowering her crossbow, she reached into her pack, gave him all the platinum pieces she had and encouraged him to choose a better life.
Floored that someone with such character even existed in the world, Violina sought her out. The two quickly became friends and spent the next two years working together as hunters—"poachers" as the Law Makers labeled the profession, but the fact that it was illegal held little sway as Violina knew firsthand that the Law Makers were nothing more than smiling, designer suit-wearing puppets for the actual rulers of Eden—the mob. Still, to the girls' satisfaction, the illegality of hunting also brought about the pleasant side effect of lucrative sales prices. The money was simply fantastic, at least until their client refused to pay what they had promised.
Violina had plotted for days. No longer would she stand for all the lies and unpaid sums. Though some would readily suggest she simply kill her debtors, the thought never loitered in her mind in any serious fashion. In fact, she had never killed anyone before and hoped such would remain true until the day she died. Still, she was determined to make up her losses via other means. After all, it can't really be called thievery when one reclaims what is rightfully theirs, can it?
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.
As the girls entered a room dedicated to ancient creatures and artifacts, Violina found herself staring at a colossal skeleton of a dreichod. "Wow. I hope the hatchlings are easier to handle than this thing would imply." While the head was disproportionately large compared to its body, so was its tail, which must've kept it balanced. Who said two wrongs couldn't make a right?
Lux paused as if to admire its teeth and spear-like claws. "I give it a solid 33 stars," she announced. "Which, by the way, is a nearly perfect score on the Lux ScaleTM."
"33 stars? And how does that compare to the scale you usually use?"
"The one that goes from spiders to penguins? Just between a swan and a chinchilla, of course." Lux spoke as if such was common knowledge.
"But it's dead," interjected Violina, deciding not to probe into why Lux felt the need to adopt her own bizarre rating systems, "and the dead are pathetic when it comes to doing anything besides rotting."
"Sigh," said Lux in a tone unbecoming of her usual bubbly self. "The inevitable end of us all. That's really kind of a shame, isn't it?" She also had a knack for understatements.
"Did you really just say 'sigh' verbally? I don't think you understand how sighing works." Violina then approached some other displays. A glorious and technologically advanced ancient civilization had once inhabited Eden, and there was no shortage of artifacts to prove it. Although ruined, these were sleek and sophisticated objects of glass and onyx. No one knew who these people were nor why they vanished from history, but whatever happened had sent humanity into a second Stone Age.
One display especially caught her eye. While all the other artifacts resembled one another, this one was unique. It was as if it didn't belong. No bigger than a pocket watch, the gold and azure contraption was flawless.
Curiosity getting the best of her, Violina looked around to ensure that they were still alone. "What do you think Lux? I know we're pressed for time, but shall we take a closer look?"
"Definitely! Always follow your heart! Which, by the way, I learned from a book entitled Always Follow your Heart. Anyway, I think a key can be found in the—"
Lux was interrupted by the sound of Violina's heel smashing into the glass encasement. Ignoring the mess she had created, Violina lifted the device for a closer look. Whatever the metallic surface was made of, it was unlike anything she had ever felt. It was warm to the touch—unfittingly so for the coolness of the room.
"It's impossible to look at something like this and not wonder," said Violina, not taking her eyes off the contraption. "We sprang into existence wrapped in a world with no idea of how things came to be, nor what will become of us. We're practically blind. There's just so much we don't know."
Lux smiled. "Well, I know we could probably pawn this for a fair bit of platinum later."
Violina laughed and placed it in the leather pack strapped to her thigh. "Yes, and perhaps even to this very museum. I can't think of anything more fitting."
Hastening to return to their primary task, the girls soon came to a door labeled "AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY", behind which they found a security guard seated. She eyed the girls as they approached and put on a less than genuine smile.
"Good morning," said the guard, her voice forcing the sort of cheerfulness heard when mothers talk to four-year-old children. Apparently she was unaware of the rampant chaos at the other end of the museum. "What brings you to the lab?"
Lux stepped forward. "Yes, we have an appointment to finalize the checks of the dreichoden hatchlings prior to confiscation. And conditions. Checks and conditions." Lux also had a talent for awkwardness.
"Really..." The woman slid a check-in list across the desk. "Then I'll need your identification and passcodes."
Violina took a quill with a giant fake flower attached to the back of it and complied with the request:
Identification: I'm armed
Passcode: and in a bad mood
Violina then handed the paper back and patted her hand crossbow.
The woman coughed with widened eyes. "Ah yes, I see. Well then, access granted!" She then motioned Violina through the double doors behind her.
Although Violina was pleased with her success, she couldn't help but feel annoyed with how the guard so readily put the lab workers' lives at risk for the sake of her own skin. Of course, the girls weren't planning on any violence transpiring during this heist, but plans had been known to go awry.
With the pull of a switch, the sounds of steam engines grew louder until a pleasant ding rang out and a pair of elevator doors opened.
"So what are you going to do with your half of the payout?" asked Violina as they began their descent.
"Two words: Indoor waterslide!" Lux's excitement made it clear she had already put a lot of thought into this.
"What? We don't even have a pool."
"Yes, about that..." began Lux, not meeting Violina's eyes. "We need to have a little chat about what you should do with your half. Hint: It's a pool."
"As fun as that would be, I rather doubt this one job will net us enough to do something so crazy."
"Sure it will! Think about it! These may be the only dreichoden the world will ever see. I'm sure we could net at least a few thousand platinum—enough to keep us free and comfortable for the rest of our lives!"
"The rest of our lives?" Violina didn't see how such a payout could possibly last them more than a year or two. "Maybe if we plan on dying in our mid-twenties."
"Still," continued Lux, "not a bad sum for such a small amount of work. In fact, I don't even know if I can call this work at all. I see it more as a recreational activity."
"And to think, the Law Makers were planning to squander such a beautiful opportunity. At the very least, they could've sold the poor creatures and put a dent in the Edenian deficit." The bitterness in Violina's voice was thick. "But to incinerate them? Insanity."
"Typical Law Maker approach to problem-solving. It really is pretty messed up on so many levels," affirmed Lux. "In fact, literally! You know, because we're discussing it while riding an elevator."
At last the lift reached the bottom floor and its steam engines subsided. Darting across the corridor, Violina clutched her whip in her offhand. She had never been down here, but thanks to the floor plans Lux had liberated from the janitorial office, she knew exactly where to go.
They soon arrived at the door of the zoology department. "Kick it down on the count of three," directed Violina, "okay?"
"Hang on!" said Lux with an air of urgency. "Let me get my game-face on."
"What, and that takes more than three seconds?"
"Okay, ready!" she chimed. "One, two, three!"
They attempted to kick the door open but discovered it was locked. With the exception of some noise and sheepish expressions appearing across the girls' faces, nothing happened.
"Well, that was a good try," said Lux. "Actually, not really. You know, because we failed. I just didn't want to dampen our spirits."
"How thoughtful of you," replied Violina in monotone. "Here, let me charge up Ms. Helga." Ms. Helga was their affectionately named hydraulic hammer. Violina charged it up and obliterated the hinge while Lux, ready with her boot against the door, pushed it down with a resounding crash. With weapons drawn, they stepped inside.
"What in the name of the Second Sun are you two gilflurts doing?!" barked a lab worker.
This was a terribly offensive thing to say in Eden, not because of "gilflurts", but because almost everyone believed the Second Sun was the instrument God used to save mankind from the thaumaturgist Kza some five hundred years ago. Beyond all understanding, the man had almost singlehandedly exterminated the whole of Eden. History showed that prior to the defeat of Kza, there was only one sun, but why the Second Sun even existed was hotly debated. Some went so far as to believe that the Second Sun was God himself, and to use the title "Second Sun" in such a context was nothing short of abominable.
"Not the politest, nor smartest thing to say to someone who just kicked down your door, you know," remarked Violina.
Staring down the bolt of her crossbow, the man closed his mouth and made the wiser choice of raising his hands slowly toward the ceiling. Several other lab workers followed suit and raised theirs as well.
Out of the corner of her eye, Violina noticed one man who didn't look so fearful. Predictably, he lunged at the girls. Violina pressed a switch on her whip, electrifying it. Sparks filled the air as she struck him to the floor, and the crowd went dead silent. This was the beauty of using such an unorthodox weapon—effective not only on her target, but on everyone who watched the fireworks. And as an added bonus, she found it nothing short of stylish.
"Relax, guys," said Lux in a calm and even cheery voice as if this sort of thing happened all the time. "We're just here for the dreichoden hatchlings. The enforcers, or mobsters, or whatever you want to call them are coming to confiscate them anyway, so it's not even like we're stealing anything from you."
"Exactly." Violina nudged the unconscious man a couple times with her boot. "So let's keep any wannabe heroics to a minimum, shall we?"
An older man motioned for the girls to follow. "This way then," he grumbled.
As they walked down an aisle stacked with cages of various animals, a static-filled voice sounded through the lab. "Attention! Everyone remain calm. Intruders have entered the lower floors. Enforcers are en route. Please stay where you are."
Lux shook her head. "Wow, they never cease to amaze me. Do they really think we're going to just stay where we are for the enforcers?"
Sometimes it was difficult for Violina to tell whether Lux was being serious. "Well, I don't think that announcement was directed at me and you, Lux." She turned to the man. "Can we hurry it along a bit, please? We apparently have deadlines."
"And here we are." His expression dripping with reluctance, the man pointed to a nearby cage.
The sight took Violina by surprise because she had always believed dreichoden to be reptilian creatures, but these were fluffy white hair-balls attached to teeth, claws and a stub of a tail.
Lux's eyes looked as though they would burst with joy. "Oh my goodness! Who knew they'd be so adorable?" She stretched a surgical mask over her face and sprayed a smoky blue gas, knocking them out one by one. "I'm really kind of surprised the Law Makers didn't want to try selling these to charity or something."
Wasting no time, Violina loaded the three hatchlings into a burlap sack. "Shall we be off?"
"I presume you have our exit ready to go?" asked Lux.
"Not yet." Violina retracted a panel on her bracer and with the flip of a switch, thunderous crashes erupted from the corridor.
Unlike Lux, Violina never attended a university as she insisted the time and platinum would be better spent developing her own endeavors as she saw fit. One such endeavor was the arsenal of gadgets and weaponry she had engineered that led to her wildly successful hunting career. Particularly useful today were the remotely activated explosives.
Lux watched with an expression of annoyance as the lab workers screamed and fled for cover. "Seriously! Would you be so kind as to sit down and take it easy for a moment?" Even when shouting Lux made politeness a priority.
Violina hoisted the sack over her shoulder where it rested across the back of her corset. Beckoning Lux to follow, she then led the way through her freshly created hole in the wall and into a dark tunnel.
Just then, the familiar elevator ding sounded from behind them, and a squad of enforcers clad with riot shields and clubs stormed toward the girls.
"Listen up!" shouted Violina. "We don't particularly wish to kill you all, so if you decide to follow us, let the first fatality you encounter in this tunnel serve as a final warning!"
With that, the girls lowered their goggles and disappeared into the darkness.
"Stop! No! Stop right there!" demanded one of the enforcers, but his voice faded as the girls continued their way through the passage.
"Poor dolts." Violina flipped a switch on the side of her goggles and a small light revealed the rocky slopes before them. "Never underestimate the power of suggestion on the paranoid. I don't expect them to even start their pursuit anytime soon—too busy working out their precious protocol."
"It's also nice of them not to use any sort of lethal weaponry," commented Lux.
"I suppose we have the Law Makers to thank for that. They wouldn't want law enforcement to be too much of an obstacle for their dear friends in the mob, now would they?"
Lux spoke in her best Law Maker impression, "You know what would really help law enforcement take down criminals? Rubber sticks. Let's tax an extra half-million platinum to pay for the hundred meetings to determine what color they should be."
To Violina's dismay, the mockery was not far from the truth. She despised corruption, and corruption was not just rampant in the government, but in nearly every individual she had ever met. With luck however, selling the dreichoden hatchlings would bring her closer to finally achieving funds sufficient to swear off the world forever.