When Hell Runs Cold

Chapter One

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Tick. Tock.

Five minutes and thirty two seconds until security would perform their sweep of the grounds, inevitably finding their fellow guard knocked out at his post.

Tick. Tock.

Five minutes twenty seven seconds until someone became aware of the fact the security cameras of the Carstairs' estate were playing a continuous loop.

Tick. Tock.

Five minutes twenty three seconds for her to get out of there without getting caught.

Tick-

Alysia Lockheart glared at the antique mahogany grandfather clock, its incessant ticking making her blood boil in irritation. When it continued to tick, she sighed and averted her attention to what she was supposed to be focused on.

The jewelry.

Rich families in Ziren City, such as the Carstairs', tended to keep all their jewelry in one room. Sometimes they didn't even bother to place locks or keypads on the rooms, which might've just been them being egotistical about their security systems.

She looked at the wide selection of rings, necklaces, watches, and earrings, delicately picking jewelry that seemed like it would amount to —well to put it in simpler terms— a crap ton of money.

She grabbed a few more pieces of jewelry, and placed it in her satchel. She glanced at her stopwatch and couldn't hold back the smirk that made its way onto her face.

Two minutes twenty seven seconds.

Alysia's new record.

Before Alsyia could do anything else, she felt herself being thrown, her back hitting what she presumed was the wall, a sharp pain jolting up her body.

Disorientated from the blow she had taken, she let out a quiet whimper of pain, looking up at the mask that had been shown on the news dozens of times.

Whirlwind. Ziren City's own vigilante.

"I wouldn't try to run if I was you, Lux."  The voice was deep and distorted, presumably because of a voice modulator.

She needed to get up.

She felt for her satchel, silently praising whatever gods were out there.  She adjusted her mask, keeping her eyes trained on the Super. Wincing in pain, she jumped up, her hands placed defensively in front of her. She blinked a few times to clear her vision before focusing on the figure in front of her.

He was a Super.

She wasn't. She was just a very, very, human thief.

Alysia dodged the first punch Whirlwind threw at her, before throwing a punch at his face. He returned the favor by throwing a punch, and she felt his gloved fist connect with her nose.

Her head whipped to the side, and she tasted the salty taste of blood in her mouth. He grabbed both of her wrists, backing and pinning her to the wall.

"I told you not to try and run."

"How many times has that actually stopped a criminal from running?" Alysia kneed him in the groin, causing the masked vigilante to release her wrists and double over in pain.

"Damn it!"

Alysia fumbled through her leather satchel, feeling for the can of pepper spray she always kept on her. When she felt the smooth edges of the can, she took off the cap, spraying it into the vigilante's eyes.

"Damn it!" the vigilante repeated, blindly attempting to use his powers against her, resulting in the grandfather clock toppling over.

Alysia dodged the grandfather clock toppling onto her, backing towards the window and swinging one leg over the window sill. "Well, it was nice to meet you, Whirlwind. Let's never do this again."

***

"I slept with his sister, Alysia! His sister!"

Alysia laughed, wincing slightly from the bruises of the previous night. She leaned forward on her elbows, watching as her best friend frantically ran her hands through her hair.

April sighed, placing her head in her hands. "I'm such a slut, aren't I?"

"Yup. Such a slut." Alysia agreed, taking a sip of her coffee.

April looked up, giving her a fierce glare before the pair bursted into laughter, acquiring a few looks from the other patrons in the library. April gave them an apologetic look, before looking back at Alysia.

The librarian shook her head disapprovingly before returning her focus to her computer screen.

"But really, you're not a slut. It's not your fault that you were blessed with good looks." Alysia set her coffee cup down on the wooden library table, "Plus didn't you say Trevor was a douche on your dates? So not like you're losing anything."

"Yeah, I guess..." April muttered, opening up her textbook, staring at the page blankly and sighing. "Professor Michian assigned us a huge assignment on how to think like a nurse." April rolled her eyes.

Alysia stuck her tongue out at the redhead, "Loser. That's the best part about being a college-dropout. No papers. No deadlines. And no added stress."

"After my final exam in a month, we're going out. We're going to get drunk, you're going to meet a guy, not just any guy, but a hot guy, and then you're going to have hot, mind-blowing-"

Alysia gave her a look and cut her off before she could finish her sentence."Mind-blowing nothing." Alysia glanced at her phone, groaning when she looked at the time. "I have to go to work." She stood up, stopping when April grabbed her arm.

"Wait! You have to pinky-promise that we'll go out after my final exam!" April held out her pinky, giving her a pleading look with her hazel eyes.

Alysia sighed, crossing her arms and giving her best friend a look. When she shook her pinky-finger, Alysia let out a sigh of defeat before locking their pinkies together.

"You know you have to come now! You can't break it. Unless you're dying."

Pinky-promises were always important to their friendship, ever since the pair had met in the third grade after April had punched a boy in the face after making fun of Alysia's pigtails. Once you made a pinky promise, you couldn't break it. It was April's favorite way to convince her to do things.

Alysia stuck her tongue out at the redhead."Yeah, yeah, I know. I'll see you tomorrow, Apes."