From above, New Kyoto City was a formicarium of steel and gleaming lights; flooded by people, people who strode toward their destinations like ants. It was a beautiful city, especially at night. C-Energy, like a haze, obscured stars and moonlight above– as did the fog emanating from sprawling skyscrapers wrapped in LEDs. Atop one sat a young woman– her leg dangling over an advert for the coming election. Identity concealed, she wore a Nano Helmet. Rhythmically, her fingernails clicked against its glass display. Angled eyes– like a cat's– were projected, flickering as she blinked beneath it. “You almost done, Kuma?” she asked; voice impatient and echoing off metal. Beside her stood a young woman in black and white, disguised in Nano Helmet; though hers showed the characteristics of a bear, round ears and all. Pointer finger and thumb manipulated parts of holographics sat just above head height. “Firewall’s almost down. Looks like thirty seconds’s all you’ll get. Forty if we’re lucky," her voice was quiet, patient with a hint of annoyance; she'd already answered the same question five times.

Their third was leaning against an AC unit– arms crossed. Nano Helmet adorned his head, displaying fangs reminiscent of an oni crossed with a lion. “Thirty seconds’s all Kat and I need,” he said; voice confident, boisterous, even. Masculine, yet flamboyant.

“Security measures…” Kuma continued; still, she manipulated the projection. “Down. Lights. Deactivated.”

The prefecture went dark. The permanent haze of LEDs was replaced by moonlight; for once the ants seemed aware of the world around them. What happened to all of the lights, many wondered. New Kyoto’s centerpiece, the Obelisk, too went dark; it was the last to power down. “Ready, Lyon?” asked Kat; she’d strapped rock climbing gear to her cargo pants. Her left hand offered the other end to Lyon. He nabbed it and strapped the end of it to his belt loop.

“Yeah. Let’s go.” Lyon said. Attached by the hip, the cat and lion stepped toward the edge and leaped off. Jackets and pant legs ruffled; they were plummeting toward Earth. You would think their hearts were pumping in fear; no, it was the contrary. Their inner chests pounded with excitement; adrenaline-filled blood rushed toward their faces. Had they not worn Nano Helmets, you'd see their smirks. The feline held onto a handgun; she aimed it toward a building’s corner and squeezed the trigger. The device fired not a bullet, but a metal hook, which snagged a rooftop’s edge. The rope slacked; they swung like a pendulum between a restaurant called The Queen and the corner store across the street. Lyon's feet scraped the ground; he'd created sparks, which turned to flames that propelled him forward. You'd think he was wearing rocket boots, but these flames were a part of him. He reached the apex of their swing; using the same device as Kat, he hooked them onto an adjacent building. They swapped places; this time the cat was mere feet above the ground. The peace sign she held taunted the onlookers as she sped by. She and Lyon took turns latching onto buildings until they’d reached their destination: the Obelisk Casino.

Like a spider, Kat's fingertips latched onto the building. Her companion dangled behind her, grasping rope with one hand. Lyon rubbed his palms as a fly would; his fingertips and palms shone like burning metal. The friction created fire, flames hot enough to slice through the windows like a laser cutter. Lyon climbed through the square-shaped hole first; the cat followed. The office was pitch-black; the scent in the air was addictive and sweet, and the air around them was as warm as an embrace. The power turning back on was accompanied by a soft hum. “We’re in, Kuma. Just in time.” the feline informed their hacker. They were but specks in her vision from where she stood.

“Great work, Kat,” said their hacker.

The Lyon then asked, “What about me?”

“You did alright. I guess.” Kuma quipped; Lyon sighed, his shoulders lowered alongside his head. “You guys see the C-Shard?” The infiltrators scanned the office; nothing was of note. They searched a retro, wooden desk with paperwork and junk atop it. The Lyon held a wedding photo up to his Nano Helmet. “His wife is a screamer!” he said, gawking over the petite woman beside the hefty man.

“Get back to work…” the cat snatched the photo; however she noticed an oddity about the frame. “You hear that?” she asked, jiggling the frame at head height.

“There’s metal in here.”

The cat slipped a fingernail between the frame’s gaps and popped it. The photo swayed side to side as it fell, though the source of the metallic sound hit the ground like a stone. “A key,” the cat whispered; she took the key between her pointer finger and thumb.

“Check it out,” Lyon said; his fingertip atop the keyhole on the desk’s drawer. The cat stepped twice and knelt in front of it. She slipped in the key; it was a perfect match. The cat pulled the drawer; a violet gem rolled around its emptiness. She snatched it, inspecting it closely through her visor.

“Is that it? Is that the C-Shard?” Lyon asked; though his question would remain unanswered once Kuma interjected.

“Guards! Outside the door! Get out of there!” Kuma told them. The lion and the cat exchanged a lightning glance; without a word, they started for the hole they’d entered. The cat pounced through, diving toward the Earth face first; limbs relaxed and blood pumping. Her fingertips stuck to a window halfway down the building– her momentum stopped on a dime. Her free hand reached outward, and Lyon wrapped his fingers around her wrist; his body shifted, his momentum still being carried, and he kicked through the window, shattering it to pieces.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

The lion struck a three-pointed pose; he thought he was a total badass; meanwhile, his companion landed beside him with lightning dancing around her fingertips. “Head’s up.” the cat declared; her gaze was affixed at the end of the hall. Blocking their path stood a man; though the aesthetics on his body made him more machine than man.

“Intruders located on the thirteenth floor! Two conductors!” said the guard. The metallic hand that pressed his earpiece was trembling– slowly that hand dropped to his holster.

“I got this.” Kat declared; she unhooked herself from Lyon and tossed the end of it at him. Lightning stirred around her entire body; like a track star, she got into position. She and the guard were in sync; the moment his holster clicked, the feline was hauling ass toward him. He squeezed the trigger once; quivering eyes and trembling arms killed his aim. Even then, the cat’s sporadic, lightning-quick zipping from wall to wall would’ve still overwhelmed him. His target leaped, arms extended, legs straight, flipping as a gymnast would. Her trajectory was predictable, a straight line toward the gunman. Got her, he thought.

Click!

Click!

Click!

Out of ammo. “Someone lost count!” Kat taunted, feet planted in front of the gunman. A storm twisted around her clenched fist, and crackling thunder resounded. Her presence alone was that of a Gorgon; her target stood statued, eyes quivering, and a drop of piss sliding down his leg. The air hissed as the cat’s fist cut through it, connecting with her target’s jaw. “Oooriya!” she roared. Thunder clapped upon contact; his feet and the ground were no longer acquainted– though his forehead and the ceiling had grown quite close. Consciousness was escaping, his vision dim; he could make out a flaming fist through blurred darkness. “Head’s up!” Lyon called out, soaring, arm reeled backward. The cat sidestepped, the lion flew past, and his fist caved the guard’s chest in. Either flames or bones– perhaps both– cracked; the guard flipped backward until coming to a rolling stop.

“That elevator shaft should lead to the vault,” Kuma informed them. The cat and lion were in sync; their heads turned on the same dime. The cat’s fingertips zapped the control panel; meanwhile, the lion’s fingertips pried the door open. The lion’s toes peeked over the shaft’s edge; the cold air wrapped his body. “See ya on the other side,” he told his partner; he fell into the void with arms extended. His partner followed, diving into the void. Her palms crackled– the lightning around them lit her path as she slid down the shaft. Her feet touched the metal platform; already, the lion was prying the vault room open.

However, the moment those doors were forced open, a hailstorm of bullets nearly struck the lion; had he not dodged he’d have become Swiss cheese. “Shit! What now?” said the cat. Confidently, the lion exhaled. “Watch and learn,” he said; that boisterous voice of his was ten times as confident. With his back pressed against the wall, he listened for an opening; when the gunmen’s magazines were empty; the lion found it. His foot pivoted, and he found himself face-to-face with the goons as they replaced their magazines. The lion’s arm extended like a rifle; his pointer finger served as the reticle while his middle finger and thumb– rubbing against one another– served as the trigger.

Snap!

His fingers clicked; as if he’d fired a bullet with tracer rounds, a flaming trail struck the chest of one of the guards. “Ack!” the guard coughed blood; his partner’s eyes quivered as he watched his partner fall.

Snap!

Lyon clicked his finger again; down went the second guard. Writhing in pain, both guards wept with cauterized wounds. Tired of the whining, Kat stomped them out and they were out like a light.

“That seems unnecessary,” Lyon said.

“They shot at us; they’re lucky that’s all they’re getting,” the cat mumbled.

The vault was right in front of them. It was of heavy metal, Lyon's flames would hardly leave a scratch. “There's a retinal scanner,” Kuma told them. The cat snatched one of the guards by the hair and dragged him toward the vault. Her index finger and thumb levered his eye open at the scanner; the vault chimed and opened. Posthaste, the thieves filled duffle bags with as much cash as they could carry.

“They’re making their way downstairs.” Kuma's voice was panicked. “Twenty seconds.”

“Fifteen.”

“Ten.”

“Alright let’s get moving,” Kat told her partner. The thieves sprinted to the elevator shaft with bags overflowing with thousand dollar bills; Kuma continued counting down.

“Nine.”

“Eight.”

“Seven.”

“Six.”

“Five.”

“Four.”

“Three.”

“Two.”

“One.”

Twenty guards burst through the stairway door; the cat and lion were already strapped to each other via rock climbing gear inside the elevator shaft. The cat’s LED face winked as she folded her hand as if blowing a kiss. Lyon's grapple gun yanked them to the thirteenth floor; they planned on using their entrance as an exit. Still, they were connected by the hip, running in synch toward the broken window. They leaped through it, arms wide and legs straight; meanwhile, the prefecture's power was shut down by Kuma yet again. Once the guards reached the window, the two thieves were already gone.

----------------------------------------

In the slums of New Kyoto, those lowest on the food chain could be seen wandering the streets, starving and unkempt. Rain started to fall; though this rain was quite unlike anything they'd ever seen. It was cold hard cash, millions of it falling from the sky. As cash fell, the slum dwellers picked up as much as they could carry. A child, lacking the urgency of the adults, looked up at the moon to see the silhouette of a woman looking down at her as she stood atop a building. The mysterious woman’s cat-like eyes met hers, compelling the little girl to wave. The figure waved back before letting herself fall backward off the building, disappearing as if she were nothing more than a figment of the girl’s imagination.