The Heist

"...Okay, choose. Beyoncè, Madonna, Shakira, Alicia Keys, Celine Dione, and Jennifer Lopez."

"Shakira, no question."

"Really? Why?"

"Well for one, she's hot, like super hot, especially now. She's got a great voice, awesome music and she's an overall chill person."

"I see. So she's your favorite female musician?"

"Hell no. Riri is the best."

"Who?"

"Rihanna. No, don't tell me you haven't heard of her."

"I don't think I have. If you think she's that good then I'll check her out later...even though your tastes are downright horrendous."

"Says the girl who has posters of Justin Timberlake..."

"Sigh, here we go again. Just cause he's better-looking doesn't mean you have to hate him. His music is the best."

"Yeah right. This is only true in your fangirl dreams. The only pop star I'll ever agree is better looking than me is Beiber and even with that, it's debatable."

"Beiber? Who is that?"

"Don't pretend like you don't know Justin Bieber. Isn't he like Jesus for most of the girls in Highschool?"

"Justin Beiber? Never heard of him. Now, you're just making up names."

"No, I'm not. He's the one who sang Bab—" I froze, my towel on my head, as I remembered the song didn't drop around this time.

If I recalled correctly, it dropped in the early twenty-tens, meaning Beiber wasn't a thing yet. I didn't know if I should be relieved or sad...

"Hello? Xander, you there?"

"Yeah. Forget about what I said about Beiber. Still, Timberlake ain't got nothing on me. And you know it." I chuckled as I placed my towel on the bed and slipped into my black jeans.

"Aww, denial really suits you. You should wear it more often." She cooed, her tone brimming with sarcasm, making me roll my eyes.

"Very funny Claire," I said playfully as I wore my round neck t-shirt, pulling my black hooded jacket over it. I glanced at the clock on the nightstand. "I've got to run Claire, my father is getting impatient waiting for me."

"...Okay, call me when you're back." She said after a slight pause, her tone reluctant.

"Naturally. Don't miss me too much...Claire-Bear." I assured her with a smirk on my face.

"You won't let that go huh?"

"Nah. The name is too cute to let go." I snickered mischievously and took the phone from the mattress.

"Whatever. I'll see you later Xander. Byeeee." She said and cut the call.

I pressed a button on the phone to switch it off and then placed it into my pocket. Taking the white towel off the bed, my eyes scanned the small beige-painted room and I nodded when I saw there was nothing out of place.

It's been nineteen hours since I took the bus ride to Vegas. After I got down at the Vegas station, I got a cab to take me to a good nearby motel.

Immediately I got here, I took a cold shower to get my body active, and after that was when Claire called. She knew I had left town but she didn't know I left alone.

To her knowledge, I was accompanying my dad to New York. This whole operation was too important and too much of a secret to tell her of it.

Besides, even if I did tell her, I didn't have the time and effort to explain myself to her, not when she saw the world in black and white. Maybe later, when she had an open mind...

I had never taken a nineteen-hour road trip before and now my neck and back were killing me, not to talk of the general soreness wreaking havoc in my body.

Next time, I was sure as hell going to take a flight. That way, I wouldn't have to deal with this thing ever again just cause I slept...

It was ten minutes after three at the moment. There was still time on my side but at the same time, there wasn't.

My time on the bus gave me enough time to try and remember the sequence of events regarding the briefcase that held the money.

From what I could recall, there was going to be a fight between Nikki or better yet her alter ego against her husband, because of the money.

The husband would then take the money and leave the house with their son.

I was very sure my presence had changed some things, the timeline included, so there was a chance that the fight had already happened and there was a chance it won't also.

Nothing was a certainty now, but I still had to try and that required me to be quick. Worst case scenario, I chase or track them across Nevada. And trust me, I was wholly prepared to do that...

Taking my room key from the nightstand near the single bed, I came out of the room after closing the windows and locked it.

I walked down the stairs to the ground floor and after nodding to the lanky young man in a casual white shirt and blue jeans behind the counter who responded with a nod in turn, I came out of the motel.

Stopping a yellow cab, near the tall red and black neon sign of the motel, I stepped into it calmly and closed the door with a small bang.

"Where you headed?" The driver asked without looking at me, his voice gruff and casual, devoid of any hint of a Southern accent.

"West Mole's Street. I'll get down near this address." I answered as I took out a piece of paper from my pocket and extended it to his beard-covered chin.

He turned his face slightly to the side and took the paper. He examined it for a few seconds and nodded.

"Sure." He mouthed, tossing the paper to the dashboard and the next moment, he stepped on the gas pedal.

I shifted to the left window and rolled down the window, allowing the city air to flood into the car, cooling me as the rays of the sun shone on my face.

The trip to the place was uneventful if you discounted the random and uncalled-for bout of unruly cursing that happened between two taxi drivers when we got caught in traffic.

The driver took a right turn as we got to the suburbs, the streets and the surroundings were clean and nice as the rooftops of the houses dotting the sides gleamed under the gaze of the sun.

"The house is up ahead. Where do you wanna stop?" The driver said, his index finger pointing at a one-story white-painted house with brown slanted roofing a few meters in front of us to our right, slowing the car down.

"Here's fine," I told him and he stopped the car near the sidewalk, opposite an empty fenced house. "How much is the fare?"

"Twenty." He responded calmly. I took out the money from my wallet and placed it in his outstretched hand.

The next moment, I opened the door and climbed out of it, glancing around the quiet and empty neighborhood.

The tires of the car screeched slightly as the car drove off, leaving me alone on the sidewalk as my eyes shifted to look at Nikki's house.

From where I stood, I could see the yellowing grass of the house's front lawn and the white curtains that draped the sliding windows running along the length of the wall.

There was a bright red Sportscar parked in front of the garage, on the driveway, suggesting the presence of Nikki or someone in the house. I was right on time, my money hadn't gone anywhere...

Staring closely at the windows, I nodded and pulled my hood over my face, dipping my hands into my pocket.

I turned back and walked to a narrow alley in between the abandoned house and another house next to it. Then, with a thought, my power activated, and quickly, I flew to the roof of Nikki's house, slipping down into it.

I found myself in a small, homely, and furnished living room painted cream. The sound of a commentator rang in my ears from the television placed on a table near the wall behind me.

A tall and athletic dark-skinned man with a fairly rough-looking but relatively handsome face adorned with a buzz cut, a small scar tracing his dark lips.

He sported a white singlet that highlighted his abs, blue jeans, and flip flops, seated comfortably on a faded orange sofa.

His black eyes stared intently at the game broadcasted on the screen. What was his name again? D-something, Nikki's husband. A superhuman or evolved human with the power of phasing.

A power he was using to escape prison and hide from the law for a crime he didn't commit.

Later on, he'd realize that the people he was convicted of killing were killed by Nikki's alter ego to steal the money from Linderman.

Basically, he was framed by the evil psycho side of his wife who was strong enough to bend steel. A beautiful love story...

Now that I was in the house, the next course of action was to locate where the briefcase was. I had no clue where the crazy psycho hid but I knew it somewhere in the house according to my fuzzy memories.

Sigh, I guess I'd just have to scour the fucking place. How hard could it be?

Shaking my head, I hovered out of the living room, through the archway at the back, my eyes darting every inch of the house. I passed by the kitchen and paused when I saw a lady taking something from an old fridge.

She was a tall and slim attractive woman with light blonde straight hair that fell on her shoulders, grey eyes, a heart-shaped face, a pointed nose, and pink small lips.

She wore a pink crop top that highlighted her small but sizable bust and smooth belly, blue jeans, and flip-flops.

She looked like someone in her late twenties, only with a motherly vibe around her, and the small innocent smile plastered on her unblemished face only emphasized that point.

But all it took was a single snap of a finger, and a murderous psychopath who could rip hearts out in a flash with a smug smile on her face would appear from within her.

Dual personalities were a scary concept, to be honest. D-whatever was a very lucky man. All it took was one bad day in bed with her and the before he knew it, he'd be deprived of his manhood, very scary indeed.

A shiver ran down my spine as I pictured the scene in my head. Taking one last glance at her, I hovered away and started exploring the house, starting from the bathroom.

I found nothing of importance...

Done with the bathroom, I floated into a bedroom decorated in the manner of a child with X-men posters and whole sorts of comic-related materials pasted on the walls.

This must've been the room of their son. Michael or something. Another evolved human with a very special ability...

I searched every inch of the room, even deactivating my power to increase my proficiency, but there was no sight of the briefcase I was looking for.

Hovering out, I entered the last bedroom at the end of the house. The room was white painted and medium-sized with a double-sized bed at the center, closets lining the walls, a brown carpeted floor, dressing cabinets, etc.

It was Nikki's room. The place it was most likely to be.

Quickly, I detransitioned and the moment, my feet touched the ground, as stealthily as possible, moved around the nice-smelling room, and started another round of searching.

I moved everywhere, from the closets, under the bed, and every possible hole or space the briefcase but just like the rest of the rooms, I found nothing out of the ordinary.

The only result my thorough search provided was a shabby room with all types of clothes spilling from the closets to the floor.

"Where the hell is it?" My tongue clicked against my teeth as a frown settled on my face, my left hand placed on my face as my eyes examined the shabby room, restlessness welling up with me.

The briefcase was nowhere to be found. The only rooms I hadn't searched were the living room and kitchen.

But the probability of the case being in these rooms was so low it wasn't even worth mentioning. It was here, right in this room, but where?

There were no hidden compartments or anything like that anywhere in the room. Meaning, it was either underground or in the ceiling. Spots where people were less likely to look...

My eyebrows narrowed, I activated my power again and sent my body hovering down, slipping through the concrete as if it was plain air. My vision darkened considerably.

The only thing I could see in the dark space was thick repeating blocks of sand, stones, and concrete. It felt very claustrophobic as if I was surrounded from all sides with no path of escape.

Seeing no cut-off section or any man-made hole, I ascended back to the room before that uncomfortable feeling multiplied.

Footsteps sounded in my ears, from behind the door, and heading toward it as I started ascending. Did she hear something?

Clicking my teeth, I sped up and flew through the ceiling, appearing inside a dark and dusty narrow horizontal space or platform made of thick wooden beams.

It was so narrow that a normal person would find it impossible to stand, crawling was the only way of motion. My eyes fell on a sleek silver briefcase lying on the platform a few inches from my position, seemingly untainted by the dirt.

A cheshire grin spread on my face. This was it!

Positioning myself horizontally to float a few inches above the platform, an arm's length away from the case, I canceled my power, falling gently on it.

Almost immediately, I coughed as the dust flew into my nostrils, nearly choking me. I heard the sound of the door opening.

Grabbing the sides of the case with both hands, I activated my power and smoothly, my horizontal body slipped through the platform to appear inside the disheveled room.

"What the fuck happened here!?" Nikki mouthed a question, her strained voice rising in volume, as a horrified expression grew on her pretty face while her small eyes surveyed the room.

Suddenly, her head cocked backward and her eyes fell on mine, making my heart skip a beat. What the hell, could she see me? How was this possible?

Slowly, I oriented myself and started backing away towards the wall with the case in hand and I heaved a sigh of relief when her eyes didn't follow me. It was fixed at a particular spot on the tiled ceiling.

I watched in fa fascination all of a sudden, her facial expression changed. Her body language and aura changed also, transforming into something that screamed danger, her small eyes squinting.

Was this how alter egos took over? Was she now Nikki or someone else? What I just saw happened in just a second, maybe more, but it was almost instantaneous. It was eerie...

I felt a headache budding as I observed her climb the bed, push out that particular tile so that it was removed, shift it into the space, and then grab the sides of the hole to climb into it.

Using my power in short bursts like I did was a cheat when it came to time preservation.

But like always, my power still found a way to fuck with me so even though, each intermittent use created something like a countdown pause, the further I abused it, the faster the side effects caught up.

And I wasn't willing to stay here for my power to switch off and try dealing with a low-budget She-Hulk. So it was time to leave. I had what I had come for.

"Fuck!" Nikki, or whoever the other personality was cursed loudly in the pseudo-artic, her long legs dangling in the air as everything from her waist upwards was inside the space.

"Honey, what's wrong?" I heard the husband ask from the living room.

Seeing this, I couldn't help the childish and mischievous grin my lips were curling up into A sense of satisfaction filling me up.

"Sorry luv, but I'm the only person going to bed as a millionaire today. It just isn't your time yet..."