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The girl sat in the holding cell, her limp orange hair hanging in her eyes. Nervously, she kept darting a glance towards the door, outside of which she could hear the Guardian talking to his assistant.
"Gar, we had a heck of a time catching her… thief, that's the problem…been causing trouble…"
The sprite shook her head. She'd just been hungry; the only trouble had been caused when that woman started screaming about street trash. As if it was her fault…
"… to be done with her?"
"Who knows… no living relatives, from what we can tell…"
No, no, of course she didn't. What were they thinking, even bothering to look?
"…sent to a foster home?"
"Either that, or deleted. Nobody seems to care much."
The girl's lip curled in a sneer. How very like them, not caring… Turning, she felt her way around the small cell, scrabbling in the dirt with her slender lavender fingers. She couldn't be deleted, couldn't let them do that. They'd already deleted… No, don't think about that. Raising her dirty fingers to her cheeks, she brushed the tears away, smudging her cheeks with dirt. Once more, she started brushing the dirt away, searching for some way out. Her fingers curled in a crack and she started digging more furiously, prying the stone away. A small hole was revealed and she dug more away. Glancing once over at the door, she could hear them moving about - although whether they were preparing to enter or preparing to leave, she couldn't tell.She had just turned back to her work when she heard the door handle move. Her efforts increased in urgency and she squirmed frantically through a hole just barely big enough to accommodate her slight form.Without a moment to spare - the instant she had ducked out of sight, the door opened and the Guardian walked in.
"What…?" he said in confusion. "Excalibur, light…" The sharp spotlight ran right over the hole and the girl pressed herself further back, hoping to avoid detection. "What that little… Talbet, come look at this."
The sound of footsteps indicated that another sprite had entered. "What is it, sir?"
"She's gotten out. Through a hole in the wall, just like a little mouse."
"You think there's any use in going after her?"
The girl held her breath, praying they wouldn't. "No, she's probably long gone by now. Ah well. She's not that expert, she'll get caught again." The light faded and the door closed, allowing the girl to breath freely again. Get caught again? Not if she had anything to say about it. Never again would she allow herself to be trapped like a common rat again. As she forced her way through the crumbling dirt, headed for the outside, she paused. No, not a rat. A mouse.
The Mouse.
The newly named Mouse tried to clean the dirt from her face as she walked barefoot back to her haunt. She didn't have much luck, considering her hands were dirtier than her face. Before she had gotten within a foot of the door, a dark shape dropped down from the overhang, landing in front of her. Only a long time of being used to this let Mouse have the self-control to not jump.
"So, little mink, where have you been?"
"Guardian got me," she answered shortly. "I got out."
"I can see that." The shadow rose to its full height, proving to only be slightly taller than Mouse. "Did you manage to actually get anything for your troubles, mink?"
"A name," Mouse replied quietly, not meeting the other's eyes.
"Oh, a name, little mink? How special. And what is it this time?"
"A real name," she spat, glowering up at him. "One they'll know me by all over the Net."
"Delusions of grandeur, again, little mink?" He clicked his tongue. "Poor little mink, can't get it through her head that all she'll ever be is a little street rat, living off of the goods of others and the thieving talents of her gang because she cannot get anything for herself."
Mouse said nothing, just looked at the ground, knowing better than to argue with Kell when he was in this mood.
The sprite sighed and put a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Oh, go get something to eat, mink. Honestly, why I keep letting you pathetic little weaklings into my gang, I'll never know…"
"Kell?"
The rusty orange sprite looked up, raising a dark blue eyebrow at the girl standing in his impromptu doorway. "What is it, little mink?"
The purple sprite took another step into the room. "What do you know about hacking?"
Kell laughed. "Hacking, little mink? You can't even thieve properly and you want to know how to hack?"
"Yes." Her voice was harsh and her eyes flashed. "I want you to teach me."
Kell shook his head. "No. I'm not teaching you how to hack, mink. That's an advanced skill; once you get how to steal down, then we'll think about it."
She turned towards the door and Kell went back to sorting through the last day's intake. "Kell?"
He looked up to see that she had stopped in the door and was turning back to look at him. "What now?"
"I… I'm leaving. The gang."
Kell rose to his feet, scattering jewelry all over the floor. "What?! We took you in and…"
"I know. I thank you, but I'm leaving. I need to… I need to be on my own now."
Kell sat down again, any trace of friendliness gone from his eyes. "Very well, mink. Good riddance to you - and good luck in the 'real world'. You'll need it, since I highly doubt you can make it on your own."
Mouse smirked as she walked along the street, lost once more in those memories. Not make it, indeed. Drawing her cloak tighter around her, she turned into a side alley and continued her brisk pace. That had been two years ago. Upon leaving the gang, she had found someone willing enough to teach her to hack. He'd become even more willing once she proved to be a brilliant pupil. Occasionally, Mouse wondered what had possessed her to pursue that, of all things, but fortune had smiled upon her and she wasn't about to worry about it now. Her face furrowed as she drew her mind back to the task at hand. Her tutor had managed to give her a registered icon, but he'd been unfortunately deleted before they'd been able to finish the necessary modifications she had requested. Now, she only hoped that the store that she was headed for would receive her as kindly as her old teacher had said. Mouse clenched a fist under the cloak, eyes scanning the walls for signs of the shop. And once she got those 'modifications' done, she would personally go after her frie… teacher's murderers. Finding the correct place, she knocked briskly upon the door and waited, looking up and down the alley with a keen sense of paranoia. Hard to believe how different she had become in only three years…
"What do you want?" a voice hissed and Mouse forcibly jerked her mind back to the present.
"I have some business for you."
"We're closed," the voice replied sharply and Mouse could sense that the small trapdoor her reluctant merchant was looking through was about to close.
Shooting out a hand, she stopped it silently and showed them the ring on her finger. There was a moment of hesitation and a door opened. Mouse walked through the open door and into a small workshop. A one binome glared up at her, bustling about like a nervous Web Creature.
"What do you need, young lady?" he said nervously. "I can't take long, I have things to do… The only reason I'm helping you is because you have Ferret's code ring, you KNOW that, don't you? Yes, of course you do, why am I asking…"
Mouse took off her icon and put it on the desk with more force than intended. "I need this reconfigured. I need to be able to get out of any room I get put in."
"Oh, I can't do that, miss, I'm sorry, I can't mess with icons, not one of that caliber, you'll have to go somewhere else, I'm sorry…"
Mouse growled slightly, not letting her voice rise to a full-fledged roar. "Ferret told me you could."
He flitted tensely, obviously not happy with the circumstances. "Not with icons," he repeated truthfully. "No, can't do it with them, they aren't properly equipped for it."
"Then what?" Mouse demanded, starting to loose patience.
He cowered a bit under her obvious anger and pointed a shaky digit at the ring. "Code rings. I can do it with them. Ferret's didn't do that, he never got caught, his just cloaked him, many of them are different…"
Mouse hesitated then twisted the ring off. "Do it then."
"I don't know if I can do what you want, miss, I've never tried it before, I'd need a way for you to get out, a logical way, some way to initiate it…"
Mouse grit her teeth together, the binome's incessant chattering starting to grind on her nerves. "Look," she hissed, leaning forward on the counter. "I'm the Mouse. If you need something to initiate it, then…" She only paused for a second, remembering a scribble she had started leaving behind to mock her 'victims'. Quickly, she scratched it out into the countertop. "Use that," she snapped.
The binome nodded quickly, but Mouse had a feeling he would have accepted anything as long as it would get rid of her sooner.
"And make it snappy, I haven't got all day," Mouse growled, leaning against the wall as the binome took the ring to his toolbench.