*It was just another night in Vegas. The crescent moon dimmed in comparison to the bright lights of the Strip. Amidst the lights, the movement of a speck of darkness was almost unnoticable. She glided silently along her zipline, landing silently on top of the Devil's Due. The disk was here, and she would be paid handsomely for its retreival. In a few moments, the roof door opened, and out stepped a security guard. The casino's security system had alerted him to a malfunctioning door on the roof. There was none, of course. Striking the man with a dart, he fell over, unconscious. he would wake in an hour or two with a horrible headache. The tequila bottle placed beside him and spilled upon his clothes would mark him a drunk. Objective one was met, now into the casino..*

*Withdrawing her PDA from her pocket, she surveyed the building's blueprints. The office she needed was in Security's nerve center, the brain of the casino. For some, this would make them adverse, but Aerith welcomed the challenge. The CEO of Biogene Pharmaceuticals, Ms. Napier, would pay her handsomely for retrieval of the security system design. The man who had developed it, Peter Northrop, had once worked for Biogene, and parts of the design were done at Biogene. Ms. Napier felt that he had stolen Biogene resources, and he was dead as a result. Now, Aerith was cleaning up his mess. Removing the screen on the exhaust vent, she climbed in, moving at top speed down the narrow silver corridor. A left turn, a right turn, straight, straight, and pause. She could now see the target office to her right. It was empty, and the lights were out. Carefully, she removed the vent cover and slithered down. Like most people, the security chief left his computer on. Sitting down at the console, she entered Northrop's password: IAmTheMan74. It only took five hours of continuous torture in the bowels of Black Lotus to get Mr. Northrop to reveal that little secret. A harsh laugh escaped Aerith, for Northrop had not seemed a man at all but a scared little child as he begged LaRissa to kill him. He did die, much later.

Safely inside the system, she connected her USB drive to the console and began downloading the virus into the system. In five minutes, the security system would go haywire as sections of the code were deleted, and others altered. Without Northrop's help, the system would be unrecoverable. She grabbed all the backups, sliding them into her jacket, and climbed back into the vent. In moments, the cover was in place, and she was heading back to the roof.*

*Retracing her steps, she soon returned to the rooftop. The job had gone well, as the alerts were going off and people were racing bout like chickens with their heads cut off. Suddenly, Aerith heard the sounds of guns clicking behind her, and she whirled to face three goons with guns as well as Bob McQueen, Security Chief of the Devil's Due.

~Hold it right there. I knew LaRissa would come for the plans to the security system after taking care of Northrop. That's why I have the real plans right here. You have five coasters created for purposes of diversion.~

*McQueen extracted the CD from his pocket, holding it aloft. Five guns leveled at Aerith, and that damn smirk on McQueen's face. Both were equally frustrating, and could be handled at the same time. A flick of her hand, and a ball landed on the ground. Aerith silently counted 3..2..1..and when she closed her eyes, the flashbang went off, blinding the goons and McQueen. Lots of swearing and fumbling, quickly followed by rapid gunfire as they shot blindly, hoping to hit her. Aerith could see perfectly, and leapt into the air, landing directly behind McQueen. A sharp jerk of his tie caused him to choke, and she plucked the CD from his hand before kicking the back of his knees. He tumbled to the ground, still grappling with his tie. Aerith took the advantage, running backward, and jumping from the roof. With a tuck and a roll, she landed on the roof of a nearby building and headed off into the night. McQueen, free from his tie's oppression, could only slam his fist into the rooftop. He was as good as fired, all because of LaRissa and her spy. One day, he would make those bitches pay.*

~*~Back~*~