Shortcuts

The room just contained a bed, a table with chairs, carpets on the floor and a big TV-screen at the wall. When she entered, the door closed with a quiet whiz. The girl laying on the bed rose up, startled. Her hair was blonde and short, just a single streak at the back of her head was long, like a slim plait.
Her eyes looked at the intruder with a glowing turquoise color and a wary expression.
"I told you all to fuck off." she said with an angry voice.
The girl who just entered the room didn't really know how to deal with that kind of behavior, so she shook back a streak of her dark pink hair that fell into her forehead and just answered: "My order is to escort you."
With a now puzzled look on her face the blonde sat straight. "What do you mean? Where?" She sounded less aggressive now. "You get transported to Eastgrow."
A loud snort, and the girl let herself fall back on the bed. "Someone'll ask me, too, eh?" Because that question answered itself very obviously, the pink haired girl didn't. "The train will depart tomorrow." she informed her instead.
"And you are… who exactly? My bitch for the day, or what?" The blonde, laying on her back, turned her head around so she could face the other one now upside-down while she asked.
"I'm… number XIV of the DCP, Rosalie."
The acronym 'DCP' didn't seem to leave any kind of impression. Probably because it was pretty unheard-of. "So… it's Rosy?" She chuckled while her head dangled a bit over the edge of the bed. "We're going on an adventure together, Rosy! We should become friends, don't you think? My name is Cat. Tell me about your hobbies!"
The pink-haired slowly turned around and went back to the door. "Not today." she said in a low voice.

                                                                                                                                                                   The room was clean and a little cold, as always. White and silver everywhere. The doctor was

preparing something with his back to the both of them, and Damian was surely up to pick on the girl beside him.
"You know, this time it's a poison, they got it from those big ass snakes that live at the sewerage." he said with a grin. She glared at him."You're lying." she responded, but her voice trembled a bit. His grin became wider. "Why should I lie? You will die sooner or later, you know that. You think he'll give you a flu-shot?" Damian chuckled. "Nah, that stuff is experimental, as always, and it's not supposed to be pleasant… They want to know how much pain you can take!" "Liar!" She clenched her fists to hide her shaking fingers.
"I would never lie to you." With a big smirk he stepped a bit aside as Dr. Yukishiro turned around and strode through the room. He looked at both and sighed. "Why are you always so afraid, Rose? Is Damian scaring you?" Damian shrugged and put his hands into the pockets of his training-jacket. "Nah. I'm just trying to lighten the mood here…" he said and gave the girl another mocking look.
The doctor looked at her. She looked down and shook her head. "Well then, Rose, you know how it works."

                                                                                                                                                                       It wasn't the first time she saw the white-haired man, but definetively the first time she would have to face him in a fight. Rose… no, Sunny knew that he would not give her an easy time. His eyes glanced cold at her and she realized that she had a problem… The gun pointed directly at her face made her nervous at once. It was sure that she only had a split second before he would fire at her. He was a different class than the normal security guards.
Fast she looked at Cat who hid behind a container down the floor, half unconscious from the medicine she received before. She had to get her out of this… and herself too…
There was no sense in trying to win, no chance to end it fast, not against this opponent. But if she was fast enough – there it was, her old mistake of thinking too slow. She commanded herself to light up the white flame inside her, made her body move fast and jumped back, away from the man with the cold blue eyes. His shot didn't hit her, but it was close. Way too close.
Sunny grabbed Cat's arm, kicked the container so that it fell behind her and blocked the way. Her dragon-mark lit up for a little moment, she ran to a window nearby, broke the unbreakable glass with a glance of white light coating her fist, clenched Cat even harder and jumped… 

                                                                                                                                                                   The lights, the music, the flashing shadows… Cat loved it to dance. She loved the atmosphere, the people who didn't care for her, the colorful drinks – dancing in a club like this made her feel free. Noone was chasing her, there was no danger she couldn't avoid, no problem she couldn't deal with herself. She was in control.
Moving to the beats that surged around her like waves, Cat always liked to think that she was in another world. A world where nobody told her what to do like she was a helpless child.
A person caught her eye while she relished the anonymous movement of herself together with the dancing crowd around her.
He stood still, leaned against the counter, a half-empty glass standing there next to him. She couldn't tell his haircolor because of the constant changes of the lights that flew around her, like colorful stained fireflies on ecstasy.
He was not tall, maybe a bit taller than herself, with a slender and somehow graceful built body. Through all the other dancers, he looked directly at her, with a smirk on his lips. Cat smiled. It seemed as if somebody wanted to play.

                                                                                                                                                                       It hasn't been a busy day in the shop and Sunny used the time she had to tidy up some of the many boxes Billy stored behind the counter. Thinking about how one old man alone could collect this kind of chaos, she sorted undefined metal things, screws, different tools and glittering nails and organized the boxes anew. It was quiet in the store, Billy was out, doing some deliveries and Cat, who visited Sunny at her new job every day, wanted to get some pizza.
As the door opened, Sunny rose up from her place behind the counter, nearly hit her head at one of the cupboards above and turned around. "How can I-" she didn't finish her sentence.
In the middle of the store there stood a person she wanted to meet here at least. The white hair and the icy eyes, there was no doubt that it was him.
How did MSC find her?!
As fast as she could she grabbed a knife from a showcase next to her; he needed exactly the same time to reach for his gun. She threw the knife, he pulled the trigger, both didn't hit their target. With a fast move Sunny jumped over the counter. He shot again, she managed to dodge it again. Something shattered behind her.
"Where is she?!" he growled with anger in his voice.
She didn't answer but grabbed another dagger – what an advantage that she worked at a weapon-shop. He moved so fast towards her that she nearly reacted too late. The dagger just scratched his cheek a bit before he knocked it out of her hand.
He wasn't a normal security-guard, not even on the level of a normal soldier, but that was something she already realized when they met for the last time. Sunny drew back and punched him in the face while she faked a short loss of balance. He did almost not react at all to the pain he must feel and hit her back; with his gun into her face. For a second, she could only see tiny sparkling stars, but her body was too well-trained for that kind of situation.
With a twist of her fingers, she wrested the little gun out of his hand – something in her head recognized that it was a gun she repaired and re-designed herself a week ago – and threw it away, out of his reach.
Her focus on the weapon gave him the opportunity to grab into her hair, he pulled it and pushed her right into one of the showcases. Glass shattered and rained around her to the ground. She didn't stay down there. With a fast move she rolled away and back to her feet, and while she turned around she kicked against one of the shelves loaded with small spare-parts and it crashed against the white haired man.
He managed to sidestep it though, it only hit him at one shoulder. Nothing stood between the two of them now. Fast, too damn fast for a normal human being he attacked her again. She blocked his right hand as he wanted to punch her again, but then his left hand grabbed her throat.
"Tell me where she is!!" he shouted.
"Guys…" A new voice came from the door. "What the fuck are you doing?! Kay..? Sunny..?" Cat stood there, with the promised pizza and a sceptical-irritated expression on her face. "I won't explain this mess to Billy… and I won't help cleaning up either!"

                                                                                                                                                                   She felt it on her skin; tepid and sticky, like something disgusting. It was on her hands, between her fingers, under her nails… The taste in her mouth. It was not new to her. Neither was the feeling. Sunny sensed tears running down her face, warmer than the blood. As she looked at her hands, her blood-stained hands, they still glowed a little bit, shone with that cold white light, that flame inside her that burst out. Again.
Something touched her. Gentle fingers.
"…Sunny..?" It was Cat's voice. It sounded anxious. Of course it did. Sunny wanted to answer, to say something, but instead of words, only a dry sob escapd her lips. "…Sunny… we need to leave… get up!"

                                                                                                                                                               Sunny heard the door to the roof open behind her, but she didn't react. Only when she realized that the steps which came closer weren't Cat's, she turned around. To her surprise, it was Kay who walked to the edge of the roof and leaned his back against the railing only two steps away from her. He didn't look at her and said nothing for a few moments.
Sunny sat on the railing, she failed to see a reason why she should leave just because he decided to come here… With a little spark of satisfaction she realized  the red spot on his cheek where she hit him an hour ago. But recalling the situation earlier made his appearance on the roof even stranger.
She looked away, and decided to ignore him, because she didn't understand why he came here. And she surely wouldn't ask.
A noise he made made her look back at him a minute later. He put two little cans out and hold one of them towards her. "Do you want one?"
Surprised, she moved a little closer, and took the can out of his hand. It was lemonade. She knew that she actually had to thank him, but she wasn't sure what to think of his behavior yet. He opened his can and took a sip. Then he looked at her for a second.
"I won't say it again."
Sunny needed a moment to realize that he was apologizing to her. "…okay…" she answered. Slowly she opened her can. The lemonade was cold and sweet, she liked it.
Noone of them said another word, but somehow it felt like they made peace with each other. Or at least truce. Maybe just for this moment, but it was the first time.

Cat took a bite from her slice of pizza and made a noise like a loud „Mhhhh!“. „Don't act like this is the first good food you're eating in ages.“ grumbled Kay, who was sitting next to her at the table.

Sunny, at her other side, just smiled slightly. She already got used to Cat's obsession with pizza. „Yeah, you're right, the crêpes we ate at the park yesterday were pretty good, too.“ answered Cat, after swallowing, with a smirk.

Kay rolled his eyes. He was very much aware that she was just teasing him, because she knew that he had a way higher opinion of selfmade food than takeout.

„I wonder how you survived that long with that... I don't even want to call it 'diet'.“ he said with a snort.

„Different toppings?“ Cat laughed and took another slice.

It was one of those days again. One of those moments. Her flat hand hit Cat's face and the impact tossed her back. She stumbled and hit her lower back at the sideboard in front of the big mirror.

„Don't talk back to me, Layla.“ Her mother stood in front of her, with anger in her eyes but an otherwise calm face. Cat resisted the urge to touch her burning cheek and her lip, instead she glanced at the woman in the red dress. Skin tight, showing a slender, exercised figure wrapped in expensive, soft fabric. Beautiful, sexy and classy, without looking cheap or slutty in the slightest.

Cat hated every single centimeter of this body and this woman. The thought that she was once inside this flat stomach made her feel cold.

„I won't do that, I don't even know this guy!“ she finally snapped back. Her mother rolled her eyes and then grasped Cat's arm. Cat wanted to back off, but her mother was stronger than she looked like.

She pulled her daughter close. „You will do whatever you are told to do. I will not allow you to sabotage what I built.“ Her voice was calm, but stiff. She pushed Cat back so hard that she lost her balance and fell to her knees. „This conversation is over. Use the powder 32 to cover that.“

She already turned her back at Cat while she spoke. Then she left the room. Cat sat on the floor for another five minutes or so. Then she got up. Went to the dressing table and took the container with powder 32. She opened it. Took the little sponge out and stared at the cup with the bright make-up.

Then she threw it at the mirror, with all her strength.