Robin Hood's Daughter

Chapter One: Freefalling

Gareth, Colony 13, 7008

She sped down the street at 95 mph on her sleek black motorcycle. Her black helmet concealed her face from anyone who happened to look her way as she zoomed by. She raced down the street knowing that she would be late, but trying to get there anyway. The buildings of the city whizzed by and blurred into oblivion. Soon, though, the building that she desired came into view, up ahead. The sheer height of it would have made anyone dizzy.

The building was in the shape of a needle, and its color sparkled crimson in the noonday sun. She parked her bike by the security station. The guards halting her entry. She got off her bike and pulled off her helmet, shaking out her wavy brown locks. Her sunglasses turned purple when the sun's UV rays fell on them, as did her t-shirt when she unzipped her leather jacket. She stepped up to the security line and stopped.

"DNA and facial scanning," said a mechanical voice as a screen appeared from the ground and x-rayed her using biometric locks.

"State your ID and purpose," commanded the guard to her right.

"Sk95670, licensed currier," she said, her voice level as she stared straight ahead.

"You're late," stated the guard at her left.

"I know," she answered, raising a perfect eyebrow at the guard on the left. A beeping sound alerted her that she had passed the voice, facial, and DNA recognition, and was indeed who she'd said she was.

"You're cleared," the guard on her right stated rather plainly, waving her through. She stepped away from him and walked through the glass door. Her coms unit beeped in her ear, alerting her to a new call. As she strode into the building, she tapped the smooth black microphone.

"What?" She asked, walking up a large flight of stairs.

"Where are you? We've been waiting for five minutes," a male voice said, his angry tone more than recognizable.

"Relax, Ian. I'm on my way up," she replied, rolling her eyes as she stepped into an elevator.

"You'd better be," Ian said, hanging up. She rolled her eyes again as the bell to the elevator beeped and the doors opened up.

She stepped out into a white hallway, her t-shirt and glasses switching to black due to the amount of florescent lighting. She pushed the sleeves of her leather jacket up to her elbows, steeling herself for the interaction that was about to take place. Along the walls of the white on white room, were a few couches and chairs where two of Ian's guards sat playing cards and one sat cleaning his gun. They stared hungrily at her as she walked by and she could feel them all undressing her with their eyes. She tried not to let it bother her and kept her eyes trained on the office ahead, preparing herself, mentally, for what she knew what she was about to step into.

She opened the door and marched inside. Four pairs of eyes glared at her as she entered.

"It took you long enough," Ian said, tossing his blonde hair over his shoulder. His icy stare was meant to penetrate her carefully placed defenses, but all it accomplished was making her smirk at how petulant he sounded.

"Well, it was either me being here on time without the package, or, being here late, with the package," she said evenly. She shot daggers at his disgruntled grimace.

"Well? Do you have it?" Ian asked her. She stared at him as if he were an interesting bug she didn't know whether to kill or toy with.

"Of course," she said, pulling a small black box from her coat pocket and dropping it onto the table in front of her.