CINDER

The sun had just reached noon, shining brightly over the capitol of Cartan, second planet from the sun. Like many of the cities of Renliria, Cartan City was built on layers, the highest reaches of the city basking in sunlight, while the lower reachers were clouded in shadows, barely receiving any light at all from Renliria’s sun.

Cinder lifted up her hand to shade her eyes from the unforgiving sun, squinting into the bright noon sky. She would have left that night or earlier in the morning—snuck into the compound in the dark when the sun wasn’t shining so brightly and there weren’t so many eyes to see her…

But it was dangerous doing this particular type of task during the dark. After all, cyborgs were enhanced to see in the dark, and she, being just a plain Organic, was not quite so nocturnal.

A holographic billboard spluttered into view above Cinder, causing her to jump slightly in surprise. The pristine image present in the hologram was marred by the outdated technology it was trying to broadcast through. In the message it presented, Cinder could see the image of Princess Aurelia—future queen of Renliria, the planetary system Cinder and every other person in the world called home.

“My mother loved Renliria,” Princess Aurelia’s image said, the audio not coming through clearly and more than a little muffled and static.

Cinder paused—as did the nannybot hovering in the air beside her, gazing up at the hologram. Cinder stuck her hands in her jacket pockets, waiting for the predictable message to continue. She had heard it—and many other just like it—enough times that she could almost predict the exact words the princess was going to say.

“She loved her people,” Princess Aurelia’s message continued. “Because of her, we are all able to live safely and in the comfort that we of Yevona, the proud capitol of Renliria, have worked so hard to provide. Which is why, today, the day of her brith, we celebrate Queen Briar, and know that somewhere, she is looking out for us and…”

The hologram spluttered slightly agains, the device spluttering. It seemed to short circuit for soon he message disappeared into thin air, and all was silent.

Well…silent except for the sound of the bustling airmobiles and people ambling down the street in the busier part of the section of the city Cinder was presently standing in.

Cinder let out a soft sigh, and with a shrug of her shoulders, she continued down the path towards the lower levels of Cartan City.

She paused again, leaning against a wall, glancing at her watch, before tapping on the watch screen. When she decided no one was paying her any attention, which was more eften than she cared to admit, she pushed herself off the wall and veered to the right, hopping over a small ledge and down into an alleyway that led into the lowest levels of Cartan City. The nannybot flew close to her, looking a touch worried.

Princess Aurelia was certainly beautiful and apparently intelligent—but she was a fool if she thought Renliria was the paradise that represented peace and tranquility—or that Renliria in any way was a nice and comfortable place to live in.

Yevona, a space station that acted as the capitol of the entire planetary system, was probably the only place that was a true paradise, which prompted Cinder to believe that the princess must never truly have left Yevona in her entire life.

But everywhere else in this planetary system? It was its own custom-made form of hell.

Cinder tugged at the collar of her jacket, trying to look like she walked down this path every and any day.

BETA’s warehouses were always heavily guarded. One couldn’t simply walk up to the front gate, knock, and ask to be let in. Or at least, one couldn’t ask nicely. But Cinder had neither the weaponry nor the bodycount for that to be a viable option. Or a smart choice. And even then, she didn’t doubt that BETA’s security would beat her to a pulp should she get entrapped by it. Which is why she opted for the ‘sneaking in’ approach.

The alleyway led her to the backend of the warehouses. No one would expect someone to have come from this direction, she thought to herself, as she and the nannybot scaled a tall fence and hopped down from he other side. She doubted most people were even aware that one ould sneak in through this alley—the benefit of having a father who once worked with BETA.

The security system would be the same, of course, regardless of the entry point. The difference was the element of surprise, and hopefully, the element of “not-getting-caught”. And if they were super lucky, the element of “getting-out-of-here-alive-and-with-all-thier-limbs-attached.”

“This might be a dumb idea, Kid,” FA1RY muttered. The nannybot covered near her, weeping close to her back as they crept down the path between the two warehouses.

“Will you stop doing that?” Cinder hissed, pushing him farther away from her. “I can’t walk with you pressing against my back like that.”

“I’m just saying,” FA1RY whispered. “If BETA finds out we snuck into his warehouse…stole some of his merchandize, and that we’re going straight to him after this and conning him out of his—” at Cinder’s withering look, FA1Ry quickly corrected, “Your bike…he’s going to kill us. Kill us. And I don’t feel like dying, Cinder. I just don’t.”

“Then don’t die,” Cinder muttered, coming to a halt. “Everything else you said: sure, fine. Valid. But we’re not conning him out of anything. I fully plan to pay him back.”

“For what we’re stealing today?” FA1RY asked, a little confused.

“No,” Cinder said. If BETA found out she had actually stolen from him she was a dead woman regardless of how many points she was able to repay him. “I just mean…y’know, what we owe him already.”

“What you owe him, you mean,” FA1RY muttered loudly, his internal mechanisms whirring, making a noise akin to annoyance. When Cinder gave the bot another withering look, FA1RY flew a good foot away from her until they reached the edge of the path.

Looking around the corner, before motioning for FA1RY to follow her towards the far wall of the first warehouse.