A matter of petty theft. [Plot]

[Alyssa]

Beautiful.

Just...beautiful.

The English rose sat cross-legged on a double-bed swamped by plump cushions of embroidered violet and peach satins and velvets; her mother's choice, naturally. The bedroom window was open ajar, allowing a cool breeze to enhance the sensation of sight with a ticklish touch. Yes, sight, for she was staring at a certain object, perched neatly in the middle of her desk. The perfect new addition to her ever-growing collection.

It all started two days ago. The lately rather, quiet British transfer student, had actually buried her nose in her studies for once. Prepostous, yes. Motive? Of course. Why else would she spend so much time and effort on something so, mundane, if there was no reward? But the reward, she found, was far bigger than expected. Had she not been present in Thursday's History class, she would never have discovered the same object she was currently so transfixed by.

Amber Madison, socialite daughter of a notorious 'gang-lord' and therefore, treated like a little princess on pain of, well...pain. Aside from the odd kidnapping attempt, she led a rather 'normal' life. Oh, and aside from the fact she attended Hircine High. The other students, the 'normal' ones, treated her with ample amounts of respect. Why? Because she had money, lots of it. Money that came from both drug and human trafficing. Not the prettiest aspiration for a parent, but Amber didn't need to broadcast what her father did. Nor did her father need to lie to her. Everyone knew what he did...just like they knew how he served ten years in prison, but still managed to come out on top in today's world. If you could call his profession being on top.

Alyssa however, our arrogant english rose, knew nothing about Amber, or her father. Quite frankly, she didn't care. All she knew, was that Amber currently possessed something that Alyssa wanted. Attraction and hatred developed instantly. She had to delve deeper; find out where this creature attained such beauty. She needed her favourite accessory. It was time to consult Paul.

"Oh you mean that Amber!" The scene? The school canteen. A corner table set for four but occupied by two only; their bags occupied the spare two chairs to ensure noone else intruded. "Everyone knows about Amber, hah, even if you couldn't care less."

"I don't give a rat's arse about her. I want to know about ....well....it's actually a little embarressing."

"C'mon sweet-cheeks, you can tell your favourite fag." How could anyone not love Paul?

"Well....."

A group of loud jocks passed, celebrating their recent win, and drowning out the sounds that came from the table, momentarilly.

"Come again?" How could anyone not find Paul annoying?

"I mean, I want you to ask her where she got it. So I can buy it, of course. Psh, what else did you think I meant? That I want to just, steal it from her?"

Fake laughter followed, on both parts.

"Okay hun, you can count on me."

That, she already knew. By the end of the schoolday, Paul already had the information Alyssa needed. Jealous? No. Alyssa could have what she wanted. She could just, have it custom made, for her, by explaining what it looked like. That however, wasn't the point. Alyssa didn't want a copy; she wanted the real thing. She wanted to be the only person to own it. Why? Because it was genuine, and already fricken custom made. Amber was the only person who owned something that looked exactly like that. That's what made the petty situation even worse.

It was time to take matters further. Time for her to get her hands a little...dirty.

Thursday night. The alarm bells of a small, corner jewellery store, pierced through the dead of the night. The sound of glass smashing, followed by the pitter patter of hasty steps, amidst the drone of police sirens. San Francisco's very own catwoman, aka a rather insane Alyssa dressed in black leather pants and a red leather, zipped-up jacket. Who said theft couldn't be fashionable? There were bigger issues though, like the fuzz hot on her trail. But as she turned a corner down a backalley, that's when 'it' happened. A collision course into the body of her next, worthy accomplice...

[Ryou Jackson]

Ryou stood in the alleyway, leaning against the brick wall, his hands in his pockets, watching cars zoom by on the road. He was seperated from the main road by a chain link fence, and the shadow of the building hid him from view. Sighing, he straightened up, dusted off and straightened his jacket. Time to head home, or so he thought. He walked down the alleyway, and was almost out, when he collided into someone, very hard he might add.

BOOM! Crash! All that could be heard was the sound of Ryou falling backwards onto the ground, having rammed into something, scratch that, someone who had been running moments ago. " Ah..." he said, cradling his head in pain, " What the heck was that? Anybody get the license plate of that truck?" Looking up, he realized he was looking at a girl, a very familiar girl. " Pearce?" he asked, sounding surprised.

" What're you doing here? And what's with that outfit?" he asked, standing up, looking over her, that was some outfit, he still cradled his head in pain, ow, did he crash into her harder than he thought? The sound of police sirens grabbed his attention, making him forget the pain of his head, and he then realized she was holding onto something, something that looked..." You stole it didn't you?" he asked, not looking mortified, but instead, he had a smirk on his face.

" Trying to escape the fuzz huh? Well standing here ain't exactly gonna do much. Follow me if you wanna escape, unless you rather be caught?" he added, turning to the alleyway and running down it once more. Reaching the chain link fence, he scaled it, and leaped down, it wasn't too high. " Toss me the stuff, and climb over yourself." he muttered, waiting for her. Why was he helping her? He was bored, and besides, he sort of knew how she was like. One of those people who want something, but wanting to be the only person who had it, no one else. A one of kind item, more or less. And nobody would stand in her way, he knew that, so that's why he was helping her, besides, she helped him before, kind of.

Honestly, this gave him something to do, and here he was going to go home after his night walk. So much for that huh? No matter, a little fun wouldn't kill him, and beisdes, Pearce was smart enough to not get caught, I mean, come on, she managed to evade the police so far, right?

[Alyssa]

Everything was going to plan. Until someone decided they'd pick this exact moment to come stalking out from the sidealley. Alyssa had no time to slow down; hardly had time to register that she was headed for a collision course, until it was too late. Much like a ping-pong ball, her attempt to avoid hitting the person at the very last moment meant she bounced to the side on collision, her back thudding against the wall. Yeah, that would sting in the morning. Voices didn't register with her right now. It could've been her own father lying there, cradling his head, and she wouldn't even recognise him. The rush of adrenaline, matched with the fact she felt like a deer caught in headlights, made all kind of thoughts run through her mind. Running being the main thought. She didn't care if the victim was okat, she had bigger fish to fry...
...Until, the person looked up, and a face was revealed in the darkness, along with recognition on his part. Not good.

"Jackson." She returned his surprise with her own, though her tone was laced with more venom than anything. Idiot! What was he doing in the middle of this alley? This wasn't part of her plan and with a bunch of donut-munchers as hot on her trail as their chubby bellies could get, she didn't have time to play catch up either. Fact was, she was an amateur really, compared to the people who did this as a 'career.' So while Hircine's local hacker was busy asking stupid questions, she was frantically looking over her shoulder. Flashlights already highlighting the road at the end of the alley behind her. Not good. Damn those chubbies were faster than she expected. And Jackson was denser than she remembered.

"No shit sherlock," came a less than friendly, under-the-breath response to his summary. Apparently, whether he heard or not, he was going to help. Well, despite her 'research' these backalleys were more of a maze than she anticipated, and since he was here anyway, might as well make some use of him. He didn't wait for a response though, but just went ahead and leapt over the chain fence ahead. Well well, San Francisco's very own Peter Parker. A smirk laced her features at the thought.

"Catch," was her only warning before she tossed the soft-leather bag over the fence. She didn't wait to see if he caught it or not. Knowing he was the captain of basketball team helped in that particular trust department. The rest would have to wait. As for her, well a few years with an army style personal trainer kept her athletic to a degree. Leaping fences was easier than baking cakes. After an initial jump to grip the chains, she was soon hoisting herself to the top, and swinging her legs over to fall a little more daintilly than Ryou had. Once on the other side though, she immediately held her hands out for the bag again. He'd find that it was actually pretty heavy, and the object inside was more or less circular. Probably felt like holding a crystal ball, and it wasn't far off that either.

"Okay Parker, let's put those spidey-senses to the test and save the catch-up for later." In other words, here came the real test, because the echoing pitter patter of footsteps certainly didn't belong to them right now.

[Ryou Jackson]

"Jackson." Her voice was more or less venomous than anything else, but Ryou ignored that, there were more important matters at hand. Sirens blasted at a high frequency, and Ryou's head was more or less cleared after his little collision. "No shit sherlock," was her answer to his questions, but he ignored that too,he wasn't in the mood to retort anyways. Vaulting over the fence, he landed on the ground, and saw a smirk on her face. What, did he look like Spiderman or something, climbing over the fence? Ah forget that, he didn't give a shit what she thought, he just wanted to get out of here.

"Catch," he heard her mutter, and looking up, his basketball reflexes coming in handy, he caught the soft-leather bag without much notice. " Holy shit, what's in here!?" he thought, the object inside was heavy, and add to that, circular, like a crystal ball or something. Not long after the bag was tossed over, he saw Pearce leap onto the fence, climb over it, and leap down, landing a little more gracefully than him. "..." was his reaction, so she landed betterthan him, big freakin' deal. As she straightened up, he saw her hold out her hands, oh right. He handed the bag back to her, and looking back at the entrance, he could see the headlights of the police cars, they were getting close.


"Okay Parker, let's put those spidey-senses to the test and save the catch-up for later." Humph, so she did think he was Spiderman or something. " I hope you can keep up." he merely answered, taking off into a run, the alleyways in San Francisco were a maze, and growing up here helped him a lot, he knew more or less where a certain alleyways goes, where one ends, where one connects to another one, etc. He didn't bother to check whether she was behind him, if she wanted to save her ass, she'd follow him. Turning around the corner, he continued deeper into the maze of alleyways, occasionally taking a turn here, another turn there, you could get lost in here if you didn't know where to go.

Luckily for Pearce, Ryou knew where to go, having spent much of his life exploring here during the day, when it was light out. The sound of footsteps that had been following them faded into silence, obviously they had lost them, but Ryou did not plan on stopping yet, he wanted to be absolutely sure that he lost them completely, so onward he ran, crossing over into another alleyway, finally emerging from the alleyway, where were they? Try near the Golden Gate Bridge, miles away from where they had originally been. All Ryou heard was one pair of footsteps behind him, and knew it was Pearce, the fuzz? Either lost in the alleyways, or they went back to their cars to try and find them, though Ryou was betting it was the first option.

" So, that good enough for ya? Or do I need to go through more alleys?" Ryou asked between breaths, slightly sarcastic, did he know his alleyways? Yes he did.

[Alyssa]

Never underestimate the powers of judgements and assumptions. Right now, all of Alyssa's assumptions were correct, which meant that her rather improvised 'plan B' was remarkably going to plan. She caught the heavy package, but now really wasn't the time to waste her thoughts on beginning to wish that she'd stolen something a little lighter. A brow arched at Jackson's simple answer to her petty teasing, and then, he was off, darting down the alley. Well, here came the fun part...though was this really meant to be fun? If so, she could see why people did this to earn a living. The adrenaline rush was quite simply, awesome. A rather out of shape Alyssa, in the sense that, the only 'gym' she'd had was gym class at school; was ignoring the strain on her leg muscles and chest, as she fell into a sprint behind Jackson. Yeah, she could keep up, just. The odd turn kept her off guard at times, causing her to slow down slightly, which really didn't help. The burn got tougher as she fought to really keep up with the basketball captain though. Luckilly for her, not only was he slowing down, but the sirens and the flashlights and all the ruckus of the cops, had gone cold. All she heard now, was the beating of the night breeze against her ears, and the buzz of traffic.

The first thing Alyssa did, as she finally halted to a stop, was bend forwards, and place her hands on her knees. Yeah, she was way out of breath, and didn't like to be seen puffing and panting. At least the leather was keeping her body temperature up, though when so much running was required, it really wasn't neccessary. Plus she's majorly underestimated the San Francisco weather. Well she was more adept to rainy spells; good ol' British weather. Once her lungs felt like they weren't about to spontaineously combust, she slowly straightened, flinging her slightly damp hair back from her face. Good thing she carried a band on her wrist.

"Good enough," she breathed, still a little breathless. "And now...you have about, 10seconds, to turn around." Those ten seconds were occupied by her watching him like a hawk, while her arms lifted. Slim digits scraped back her layers upon layers of punky hair as best she could, to tie it back into a ponytail at the middle of her head. A few layers escaped but, at least the longest length was off her neck. That occupied the ten seconds, and now whether or not he'd turned around, she just went ahead and unzipped her jacket anyway. Little show-off. But really, she just didn't like turning her back on people. Why give someone the perfect opportunity to jab a knife her back? Maybe not literally...but still. Underneath the shocking red jacket was nothing but a black halterneck that may as well be a bikini top. That wasn't the main thing though. What really mattered, was the fact that she was turning her jacket inside out, and then...putting it back on? Zipping up, the red was now replaced with electric blue, again a very soft leather material.


"First time I've been so close to the bridge...on foot at least." And...if needed. "You can around now, by the way." Taking a little cat walk to show off her new look, Alyssa picked up the stolen 'ball' she'd placed by her feet, and moved to a better spot where she could see the bridge more clearly. So, she was officially lost now, thanks to Jackson. That meant she required his assistance for a while longer. But first...

"So you know what I was doing to make me, end up in that alley. Want to tell me what the hell you were doing there?" Since she'd met the boy while he was hacking into the school systems, her arched brow gave away that slight sign of mistrust, along with her own curiousity.