Red Lipstick Society

Chapter 1: The Stranger and The Runaway

Escaping the cargo ship was easy; trying to jump rooftops while being chased by bloodhounds? Not so much. Alex had been running from the port's guards for what felt like hours. The adrenaline she had accumulated in her escape had all but burnt out, and she was running on empty. Strands of her long dark hair flew around her face. Although most of it was tied back so it wasn't in the way, the pieces that had escaped were a little annoying. She ran and ran, a nagging thought in the back of her mind telling her that there was something she had forgotten.

Then it hit her.

Why was she running? At the last stop the cargo ship had made she had found out some information vital to her survival: the cargo port guard dogs have metal jaws. She took out her magnetron and activated it. The bloodhounds entered the alley below her and started looking around.

"Wait for it," she murmured, crouching in silence while awaiting the perfect moment to carry out her plan. "Aaaaand......now!" As soon as the magnetron hit the ground the bloodhounds' jaws were dragged to the device, stopping them in their tracks. Satisfied with her work she smirked, turned, and fled the scene as fast as she could.

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After jumping over roofs for what felt like forever, Alex finally stopped, or rather fell to a stop. She pulled out a bottle of water she had stolen from the cargo ship from her bag and took a sip. The water felt like heaven against the burning sensation in her throat. Capping the bottle, she sat there on the roof and gave herself time to do something she had not been doing for the past two weeks, two weeks which she had spent as a stowaway on the S.S. Charlotte: think.

Of course, that was because her thoughts always led her back home, which was exactly where she didn't want them to be. Alex vowed when she started this trip she would never go back there. Ever since her mom and brother had been taken her dad had been treating her like shit. He had finally started to view her as the rest of the society viewed her: like a freak. The day the Black Silks came to take them, her father hid Alex away in the cellar. When she was finally allowed out, her mother and younger brother, Tristan, were gone.

Needless to say Alex blamed her father for the whole ordeal and Alex's father blamed her. He said that she must have shown her "abilities" outside the house and that was why they came. The whole situation annoyed and angered the hell out of her. So she ran away.

She had broken into communication bases at every stop the Charlotte had made, but no matter what she hacked into she couldn't find the location of Tristan or her mom.

That's when she decided that she had to find out why they wanted her mom and her brother in the first place. And it seemed the only way to do that was to break into the Black Silk base on Nova Tero, in it's capital city of Stellarum.

Alex didn't really like the city. She grew up in the suburbs and had only been to the city a couple times, and both times, she hated it. But this was the only way.
She could hear the hounds in the distance again. It was time to move. Picking up her pack she sprinted across the rooftop and jumped off the side. Grabbing onto the fire ladder just in time, she climbed down and sprinted towards the main square. If the hundreds of merchants and thousands of people didn't hide her, at least for a little while, she didn't know what would.

She turned a few corners and sprinted past a few Viliore, which just sneered and gave her dirty looks. She didn't have the time to be offended. Willing her legs to move faster, she darted past them hoping that none of them had followed her for money or food. She could hear the booming of the speakers and the shouts of the merchants ahead. Her feet pounded on the cement, her throat burning twice as bad as before. But that didn't matter, she had to keep moving. If she got caught she could be arrested, or worse, she could be sent home. Seeing her father was the last thing she needed right now.