Mine to Break

~~~~~~~Empty~~~~~~~~

I remember it clearly. It had only been a few hours ago, right? It seems like time is off, confused and distorted. Like a diamond that's been smashed into tiny crystalline pieces. It goes together again, somehow, but the odds aren't in your favor to ever make it happen.

How had things gone so very very wrong?? Why didn't I think? Why didn't I just KNOW?

The first thing I recall thinking was how very cold it was. My heart was racing faster than the engine of the 04' Black Ford lightning I had sitting in the worshop. I could practically hear my pulse whizzing like the supercharger, air sucking into the cold air kit. A high performance machine.

I choose to ignore that the gun i'd always used felt heavier in my palm. I didn't notice that I wasn't as assured when I put my knife into it's hidden sheath on the inside of my boot. I failed to acknowledge that I wasn't at the top of my game.

All I cared about was the feeling coursing through me. The excitement i'd had my entire life. Over the years it had slowly fizzled out, the crimes starting to meld into one another. It was fun, of course, but did it make my heart soar like it once had? No, it hadn't.

Afraid to admit it, I'd thrown myself into a relationship I knew wouldn't work. I focused all of my desire for excitement, passion, and laughter into one person. One person who wasn't even my soulmate. One person who eventually left me... and then... There was nothing.

Secluded away in the freezing cold, my favorite place until Barcelona, Iceland. I didn't have the energy for anything, but to wallow in my melodramatic dispair. Crime was just crime, love wasn't real, and I? I was just a criminal who no longer held a passion for her work.

I could hold the world hostage. I could break the Swiss banks. I could do anything I wanted, but why was I never happy?

Amy was right that night. Sitting in a dingy nightclub, looking at me with such innocence and beauty, she already knew what even I'd been afraid to admit. The more crimes I committed, the more lonely I felt.

The emptiness. The nothing. The more I took, the more I realized I was missing. The world lost color. The emptiness grew. It consumed me for two years in a wasteland of beautiful snow and deadly ice. A world that looked like a diamond. My own self imposed prison.

I remember staring at the fireplace one day and thinking about, of all things, Scud. We'd grown up together, done everything together. He'd always been there with his sarcastic smile, highlighted by the blue holograms he used to show off.

I needed to go home, and LIVE again. I needed to laugh, sink Australia, steal the hearts of women, and make my life FUN again. I vowed it, I meant it. I needed to get what I lived for back. I'd thought it was crime... and then I met her...

I found my reason for living in a pair of blue eyes. I found the one thing in my entire life that really made the emptiness go away. I found you, Amy.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lucy couldn't call Scud for this. Despite his initial unhappiness with her, he'd come to adore Amy. Actually? Maybe he liked her TOO much. They'd quickly bonded with each other over the oddest things. Such as their mutual love of karaoke and Carly Simon... Scud wouldn't have approved of this at all.

So instead, she'd had to do something she hated. Outside support. Nicolae had quickly agreed to giving her his most prized technology expert on loan.

He wanted his Daddy's precious signet ring, and she wanted that fat diamond that sat in the pretty safe right next to it. It was a mutual desire that didn't make either of them nervous about joining teams for the moment.

This one was going to be a doozy. The mansion was one of the more secure seeming places she'd ever come across in her career. Narciso Manor was a veritable fortress, in the classic and modern sense. It was far away from prying eyes, surrounded by open land, a huge wrought iron stone gate surrounding the acres of property the vast, almost castle-esque, manor. Behind it was, according to Nicolae, a steep cliff, dropping to the ocean. That ruled out a lot of escape plans for sure.

Lucy focused on the blueprints he'd had tucked away in his briefcase, going over the plan with her tech over the phone. It was almost dissapointing how easily the plan came together, but did it matter?

Nicolae had pressured her into doing it tonight, unsure if her loyalties would remain with him if she got a better bribe. The man was paranoid as hell, his dark black/brown eyes darting this way and that as if he expected his brother to just pop out of thin air.

Whatever! She liked the rush of doing things fast.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lucy raised a single brow in appreciation of the machine in front of her. No matter how hard she tried, she LOVED Ford. Sure, her favorite car in the universe was her very own Caddilac [All 37 of them, secreted around the world...With matching American flag stickers pasted onto the rearview windshield] but that didn't mean she didn't love other things too...

Like that damn Lightning she was tempted to steal. Come ON!!! It was just sitting in the workshop!!! The guy didn't REALLY need it back, right?! He scratched it anyway! He didn't deserve it at this point!

The thing in front of her was no Lightning. It wasn't a shelby supersnake, or a king of the road, or a GT-40, or even the GT500... But it was a good old fashioned 06 mustang GT. A very nice one, someone might add.

It was okay... Roush performance, with the slick hood scoop, quarter window louvers, rocker skirts, and chin spoiler, and a slick black paint job with a silver racing stripe... A little common, but what could you do? It was better than the get-away minivan she'd been expecting.

"This thing as pretty on the inside as it is on the outside?" Lucy asked the twitchy man next to her. Her chestnut stare almost put the mechanic into histerics, his throat convulsing before he managed to cough out a startled squeek.

The woman was too beautiful by far, which would have made anyone nervous. What made HIM nervous, was that he knew full well who she was, and that confidence that seemed to drip from every single cell on her lithe small body scared the fuck out of him. Lucy snorted dissaprovingly before speaking up a bit louder "So?"

"Y-yea-eay-ea-ea-eaaaah! YEAH!!! U-Uhm R-R-Roush U-U-Upgraded C-com-plete-l-l-ly", The man stuttured worse than the cowboy on Cannonball Run, but Lucy ignored it, just shrugging and trying to stop herself from snorting.

Could anyone just customize their OWN damn cars anymore??? Lucy just shrugged and started checking that her gear and outfit were ready.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Less than two hours later, she was sitting in that black stang, Natalia, her tech support, right next to her. So far, it all looked pretty easy. The plan had been gone over repeatedly, and there were just no snags. There was no Scud, no Amy. Just action and suspense.

Natalia hadn't even bothered to introduce herself, sitting down in the passenger seat, and starting up her laptop. No conversation or greeting. The professionalism and stoicism in all this made it so... different from what she was used to.

Lucy swallowed hard, ignoring her feelings of doubt. It was too late now to go back. You don't just back out of a secretive deal like this or there would be... reppercussions. Even she knew it.

"Ve are on'line. Ze zecuri'te shall be down in. Zay... one min'uete? As you ameri'caan say" Natalia spoke in a thick french accent, still not even once glancing Lucy's way. The wild clicking sounds of the professional tech-criminal typing were the only sounds filling the silent automobile for a long moment. "Zystem down"

Quicker than a shot, Lucy was out of the car and scalling the wall. Stone was just WAY too easy to climb. Natalia frowned as she watched the small form in all black clothing slip over the the wall, and out of view. She didn't know what she was getting in to...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lucy grunted when her feet touched the wet grass. So far, nothing went wrong. No big alarms or freakin dogs mauling her over like when she'd broken into shaqs house. Now THAT had been a disaster!

Crouching down, to make herself less visible from far away targets [Roughly 36% to standing], she went through her utility belt. At first, she'd stared at Scud like he was nuts when he'd handed the belt to her. Who the hell did he think she was?? Batman??

Grudgingly over the years she had to admit, it'd been a wise idea. Besides, this version was super compact, and discreet. It looked just like any regular belt, but with hidden slide-outs... Much better than the chunky handyman thing she'd worn a few years ago.

Forcing herself not to smile at the memories, Lucy shook her head, attempting to banish the thoughts. Probably 2 or 3 minutes later than she was supposed to, she inserted her earpiece, clicking the small radio on.

"Hello? Can you hear me?"

"Yes, it iz working. You hear moi, non?"

"Working"

Lucy shook her head with a bemused smile when the woman didn't bother responding after that. Who did she remind her of?? It didn't really matter though, did it? The brunette took a deep breath, willing herself to only think of the job at hand.

Her little scanner worked as good as always. Even in the slowly darkening light, she could see perfectly with this thing. Red beams suddenly became visible to her through the screen. Trip lasers and state of the art moving rays of holographic lights not causing the slightest problem. Maybe it wasn't just the debs?? EVERYONE'S security was for shit with Lucy Diamond on the case.

She didn't care very much about how silly she probably would have looked if somebody had actually seen her. A small tanned woman in full black skintight sneaking regalia, hopping over imaginary objects... Okay, maybe she cared a little bit, but it was needed for the job.

~~~~~~~~~~~I~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Like I said earlier. It was cold as ice. The wind seemed to pick up all the freezing temperature of the ocean before it swept over land, dampening everything it touched. I'm still the best at what I do though. I might have been freezing, but I still did fine getting across all that open grass.

Open areas are most thief's worse nightmare. Anyone can spot you from inside the house, or over by the guard station. Well, anyone can unless you're as good as I am. You normally want trees, buildings, street access, compounds. Things like that. It cuts up the scenery and gives you more places to hide.

I didn't have much choice for this job though, as I said. Before I leapt off the wall, I planted a small camera at the base. It was Natalia's job to tell me when I was clear to run my ass over all this land and get to the house before I was spotted. Oh yeah... laser security covering every inch of the land between me and my target? No problem. I just had to jump and run really fast.

I knew the moment I heard her bored voice comming through the earpiece that I shouldn't be doing this, but it was way too late now.

I could have been at home right then. Amy would just be walking in the door from school. Her soft voice would greet me, and the moment she noticed I was shivering, she'd wrap me up in a warm blanket, fetching a cup of hot chocolate before she joined me in the, by then, body heated covers.

That's what she always did when I was cold. It didn't matter if her favorite TV show was on, or if she had a huge essay the next day. She'd spend those few moments snuggling with me, sharing sips of the hot beverage between her silky smooth hands...

Instead, I was jumping and rolling over and under lasers as fast as I possibly could. My heart beating at a painful speed, and my very life on the line. Why exactly had I thought this was fun!?

My lungs were screaming for air, sending me sharp pains to remind me that they didn't really enjoy this very much. My clothes were wet now, practically soaked by the grass, but I pushed onward anyway, finally reaching the target. Narciso Manor.

It was a little more intimidating than I thought it'd be. The dark stone palace was at least 3 stories of twisting gothic archeways and stained glass.

Cool, but not my taste at all. Way too 'Dracula's castle' in my opinion. Besides? Who wants to feel like they're at church while trying to relax and eat some fucking cheerios? I already missed my cozy home with Amy... The comfortable white sofa, and thick green plants Amy makes me water daily.

I sent in the code to Natalia, letting her know I had reached destination one, and waited for her to take down the alarm to the window I was standing in front of. I had to admit, she was good. Before I ever would have expected it, she radioed back in that it was all go. Maybe she's even as good as Scud, I wouldn't really doubt it. Much less friendly though...

I was already regretting this majorly. At this point, I just wanted to go home. I didn't want to be here, it wasn't what I'd thought it'd be. I wanted to GO! I wanted to be with Amy, I wanted to feel complete again. It was still too late, and with a dark sigh, I pulled out my laser cutter. Slicing open windows was the easy part.

Figuring out what the hell to do with a big ass circle of glass was always my problem. Once, I'd accidently dropped it. That diamond heist hadn't gone so well as the others... I was too perturbed with myself to care though, so I just dropped it on the thick rug just inside the room.

The fun of it all was gone now. Instead of looking over the antique furniture, I rushed. The less time I was here, the more time I was home. What the hell had I been thinking!? I was already practicing my 'Amy please forgive me' speech in my head, as I picked the lock to Julio Narciso's study.

Still, I am an expert of course, so the lock was handled pretty quickly. This was afterall, an easy job. Once you got out of the front security, you were pretty much home free. This guy had guards patrolling the house and grounds, but no one who he trusted in his smoking parlor and study. Generally, a pretty easy thing. Or so I'd thought at the time.

When I walked into the study, I had to snort. My target 2 was the most obvious thing in the entire room. A giant painting of a younger Julio and Nicolae. How conceited did you have to be to put a giant painting of yourself right behind your desk??? People were just weird...

Shoving the thought aside, I walked over and moved the painting, not caring much about if I scratched it or not, as I just dumped it on the desk. There it was, the safe Nicolae had said would be there. With it's not-so-great-now-that-i'm-not-a-stupid-bitch-girlfriend diamond inside.

I had voted for blowing the damn thing up. It's actually not that hard nowadays with plastic explosives. I've had a lot of experiance using that weird putty crap on safes, works like a charm. You just roll it out like you're making a snak or something, press it around the seams, stick a string in it, and LIGHT THAT SHIT UP!

Unlucky for me, I was outvoted. His preeeeccccioous ring might get damaged afterall, right? So instead, I was forced to open it the old fashioned way. The way that kept me from Amy even longer. I'm a fucking moron. This situation cleared that little fact up for me.

I listened to Natalia drone on about the safe and it's options as I worked it. I was so close to just being done with this crap, and I was getting more and more impatient by the moment. Finally the damn thing swung open. Should have been a relief right??? Too bad the trapdoor underneath my feet opened too.

I was swallowed by a blackhole... No wonder Amy hated it when i'd done this to her. The freefalling sensation almost made me sick.

~~~~End of Chapter 2~~~~