Job Twelve: 
Side Story
Hourglass Glued to the Table

    It was a forgotten little night in the back streets of a large urban nightmare when events came crashing together. She had appeared from nowhere catching a young green haired thief off guard as well as the police chasing him. Time seemed to stop for a fraction of a second, as Ahura Mazda crashed into a dirty blonde woman.

    She was certainly pretty to look at, decked out in leather, with several tattoos showing. However, Ahura Mazda found here quite heavy and was annoyed that she had decided to appear from thin air to get in his way. Right now, though, he was laying on the ground staring at the sky while she was knocked out cold.

    The two police, Spy and Chiara, stopped dead in their tracks. The man looked at the scene for a moment or two, before stepping forward with his gun in hand. He even heard the buzzing coming from Ahura's tiny microphone as he slowly moved forward.

    Ahura closed his eyes. Why had he left Raphael home? Why had he let Anghiari man the switches? He tried the move, but felt the blood rush to his head. Damn. He was not going to be able to defend himself.

    Spy put his gun back in his holster and received a hiss from his companion. "What are you doing?"

    The brown eyed Spyridon looked back to his partner, "They're hurt. We need to help them."

    "You're aiding a wanted criminal!"

    "Chi. Shut up and help me." The man sighed and went over to the woman's side. There was an awkward sort of silence as Chiara glared daggers at her partner. She should have listened to her horoscope and stayed in bed.

***

    *Isn't this just a bit strange, you know, having the Police walking into here and asking us for help?*

    Sin snorted. "Little is an understatement, 'El."

    "I know this is odd," Anghiari was bandaging Ahura's head, which had received a nasty cut, "But we don't have much of a choice. Ahura's still hurt and this woman, whoever she is, needs help to. I'm glad that Spyridon was willing to do this."

    The officer blushed, "It was no problem at all." He put a damp rag on the blond woman's forehead. "You know Chiara, she looks a bit like you."

    "Don't start. She looks nothing like me." Chiara was leaning against a wall with a stubborn expression. She would not help out criminals.

    The woman groaned and Spy looked over to Chi. "Do me a favor and keep a look out. I'm not sure about the people in this area, and we aren't going to take chances with two injured people. Understand?"

    Chi muttered something under her breath. 

    "I heard that. Get going." He said in the shut-up-and-get-moving-ninny tone of voice.

    With a rather nasty curse the female officer stalked out of the warehouse.

    Spy smirked at at his companion and put his full attention on the blonde woman. Raphael and Sin and both sneaked over to the woman's side while Spy was speaking. She groaned again and her eyes slowly flickered open.

    Her eyes were a pretty shade of brown. At least that's what the three thought before she shut them again. She was obvious confused and a bit upset about her position. "Where am I?" she asked in a shaking voice.

    Raphael replied, *In a warehouse in Chicago.*

    The woman shot up, nearly smacking her head against Spyridon's nose. "Chicago? In the United States of America?"

    "It's the United Alliance of Continents now. Canada is not to thrilled with the deal, but it works so they won't separate from the group. Civil wars are messy and all," Spyridon said with a slight wave of the hand.

    The woman's eyebrows arched as she thought to herself, 'Alice what have you gotten yourself into?'

    Raphael, who had unintentionally intruded, responded to her comment rather nicely. *Your name is Alice? That's very pretty.*

    "Erk. Hasn't anyone told you to stay out of others thoughts little boy." She shot the dragon a dirty look. Bishel were great and all, but she did not like any of them prying into her personal thoughts. "Yes. It's Alice."

    "Alice in wonderland?" Anghiari asked as she sat next to the lightly sleeping Ahura. Gi new perfectly well that Ahura Mazda had let down his guard because the assassins presence. She found it odd, because she knew he did not trust her really.

    "I get that joke all the time," There was an unfriendly tone in the woman's voice as she spoke. She may have been more jaded than Ahura and Anghiari together.

    "Kindly explain what you're doing here, eh?" The assassin asked with a smirk.

***

    Ahura was fully awake through the explanation. So this woman was a Walker and had to find something before she left this world... dimension... whatever. This really was far from Ahura's cup of tea, but the woman had offered to pay. He was quite surprised that she had local currency, but he had never dealt with a Walker before. He found it strange that they could go to different worlds with only their will.

    It was also slightly unnerving. She could hide anything in those leather sleeves of hers, and probably had a knife or two on her.

    "So will you help me, or should I just leave on my own?" Alice said crossly. 

    The male officer was sitting on the edge of her make shift bed, giving her a rather detached look. "I'm afraid that we won't, but I'm sure you can hire Mr. Ahura or his friends." He stood up quickly. "I'll be off."

    Anghiari watched Spyridon go to the door before slinking after him. Leaving Ahura, Raphael and Sindiri alone with Alice. No one was thrilled about that.

    *How much are you willing to give?* Raphael asked and gave her his best cute and manipulating look.

    "Either five hundred in cash or I give you an object I own. Mind you I don't have much to offer," She waved a hand over herself. "But I did acquire a set of diamonds recently.

   The thief's head snapped to attention. "Diamonds?"

    Raphael perked up at Ahura's reaction, *It looks like he seems interested. You apparently know the soft spot of a thief.*

    Alice grinned. Of course she did. She'd been walking far too long not to pick up little tricks. "I'll let you take a look if you like," she reached into her inside breast pocket to produce a necklace of pink diamonds.

    Ahura stood up quickly with a shocked look on his face. "I don't believe you would keep something that rare in a place so accessible!"

    The woman looked a bit surprise. That was the first time a thief had given her advice. She fiddled with the diamonds absently and watched the boy raise an eyebrow. "You know, Mr. Ahura, I have no need for these. I'm perfectly willing to give them to you if you help me find what I'm looking for."

    Ahura bit the inside of his cheek. How annoying. "Fine. Can I have the description of the object."

    Alice closed her eyes. "It's a small statue of an angel and a demon fighting each other. It's no bigger than the size of my hand. Honestly, I think it's the tackiest thing in the universe, but I need it for someone."

    Ahura nodded. "It's the Candidus verses Resideo, and it's currently on display in an exhibit near by. It would seem, that you have an amazing amount of good luck." He wiggled his finger, "I'll have it for you by tonight, so hold on to those diamonds."

***

    Raphael was playing spotter once again. He was curled up on the roof, extremely bored. He honestly wanted to help, but without appendages it was difficult. Feet. Wings. He didn't honestly care. Anything would help.

    On the inside of the complex Ahura slipped past the dozing security guard. He had come earlier to drug the coffee, and was happy about the successful results. The green haired thief stopped dead before the Abstract Art section of the museum. 'Lasers' he thought to himself more than anyone else. His partner responded with a muddled gack. Apparently the museum had change the security plans.

    With and annoyed grimace Ahura Mazda pulled out a mirror from his sleeves, and pulled out the dagger that resided on a belt that hung around his cafe. Annoyed beyond human comprehension he pried open the nearest security panel.

    'Great. An Access code. I might as well defect a laser into the man control panel.' He sighed. He could honestly do it, but this was an unnecessary hassle that was holding him up.

    With scuffle, a few uncomfortable positions, and twenty minutes he had broken through the laser system. While humming to himself he entered the sculpture section of the museum. It was filled to the brim with various expensive things done by famous artists. It made Ahura wonder if any of these were acquired in legal ways. This was Chicago after all.

    He almost passed by the tiny statue. It may have been small, but it was intricately detailed. The figures almost looked real. It was hard to think that anyone could do something like that in today's age. Ahura certainly admired anyone who could make a cold lifeless rock look like a living being. 

    Now all Ahura had to do was trip the alarm by taking the statue and run like hell. Realistic there was no way a bag of sand would work with this state of the art museum. They were one of the few museums that posed any challenge to a thief. Ahura was the only one who hadn't been caught, even after his third visit. Tonight was his fourth and he hoped last.

    With a fluid motion he snatched the statue and bolted to the nearest window. To his surprise, the alarm didn't go off. Nothing blinked. It was completely silent. He stopped a few inches from the window and shot a thought to his bondmate.

    *Oh yes. I cut the wires.*

    'You mean they were on the roof?'

    Raphael nodded, but then realized Ahura Mazda couldn't see him. *Yes.*

    Ahura sighed and shimmied the window open. At least that went well.

***

    "Chiara Duci!" An older officer was yelling at her from across the museum lawn. She was storming through people into the complex all in a rage. Her partner was following her path with a rather detached look on his face.

    The older man sighed. "There she goes again. She's going to give herself a heart attack working on this case against the Wanted."

***

    Alice watched Ahura unwrap the contents of his package to reveal the wondrous little statue. She smiled and carefully handed him the diamonds. She knew from experience that he was somewhat trustworthy. Otherwise he would have tried to knife her long before that. "Thank you."

    "It was a pleasure doing business with you. Now what will you be up to?" Ahura asked eyeing the diamonds the whole time.

    She shrugged. "If I knew I'd probably tell you."

    *Ms. Alice? How can you wander around all alone like that?* Raphael asked from his perch on Ahura's shoulder.

    "Because I know one day... I won't be alone." She gave the dragon a genuine smile before nodding her head and exiting through a side door of the warehouse.

    Raphael watched her go curiously. What on earth had she meant by that?

-----

    Some of you may be curious about Alice. Well she's one of those portal hoppers, but she's a special kind with a purpose. Now, here's a question for you. Are you willing to take the Alice Challenge? See if you can fit the blond haired brown eyed dame into your story. Drop me a line if you do. I want to see how many worlds Alice can travel to.