Moonstrike 9: Enter the Antihero

Six conference workers waited at a long table in the entryway, in black vests and with hair slicked back. Ji Min strode in on a direct path to the woman that would have her ticket. Alex shuffled behind her, doing a passable job of looking like a lackey.

Of course, the issue with that was it didn’t make much sense for a cat burglar to have a regular oafish lackey. If someone asked her what she kept Alex around for, she didn’t actually have a very good explanation. He didn’t even know what she did around here.

‘I’m going to have to let them think he’s my date.’

The conference worker recognized Ji Min on sight. Sharp yellow eyes flicked from Ji Min to Alex and then back to her paperwork. Calmly, the woman flipped pages and swiveled the clipboard to face Ji Min just as she arrived.

Ji Min ignored the pen on the table in favor of pulling out the one from her jacket pockets. She gave the worker a thin smile before scanning down the paper for her alias. Ji Min circled it, slashed a check mark in the "guest" column, and ticked off the days she intended to attend.

"Thank you," the attendant said crisply. "ID, please." She produced a tablet.

Ji Min grimaced at the thought of touching it. God knows how many people had walked in here with blood or snot on their fingers. People were disgusting.

The worker's expression didn't change, but something about her eyes told Ji Min that the lady knew why Ji Min was hesitating. But it was obvious that she wasn't going to offer a solution.

Ji Min pulled a tissue out of her back pocket and used it to cover her fingertip as she gingerly typed in her identifying passcode. The attendant politely looked up, but she could feel Alex hovering curiously.

'Act like you belong,' she silently asked him. 'Come on, man. Not a tourist.'

"Huh," he said quietly.

She valiantly resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Apparently her telepathy didn't work on him, which was probably for the best overall.

The attendant looked at Alex. She was too professional to allow her expression to change, but the glance was telling enough that he wasn't passing inspection.

She didn't stop them from entering, but Ji Min knew they were on thin ice. It was out of character for her to bring a companion around in the first place.

'It'll be fine. He's a rube, but he’s stacked like Hammer. They're just going to respect me a little less for this.'

Alex continued to gape just a little too much as they passed security and got into the conference.

They weren't the only ones to show up in business casual. Most of the attendees looked like her and Alex. The ones who didn't, though?

Well.

Ji Min pretended not to notice someone overtaking them, but she was actually quite curious to see what the mechanical hissing was. She looked over as soon as they were in sight, and nearly got tripped by something bobbing in the air behind them. The stranger was dressed in reds and browns, and they'd showed up in a cape and full head coverage. They were floating an oxygen tank behind them via telekinesis. It wandered a little from left to right, nearly banging into a suited vendor as she watched.

Rude, Ji Min thought. You're meant to keep your luggage in front of you so you can avoid bumping people.

She was itching to enforce the social contract by force, but now wasn't a good time to get in a fist fight with someone bold enough to show up in a cape. Alex might have a heart attack.

Speaking of, he had apparently never seen anything as exciting in his life as a conference.

Alex didn't say anything but she could tell that he was dying to chatter as he looked all around. It was absolutely hurting him to keep his mouth closed. His face turned a little to follow a small group of orcs passing the other direction.

She glanced over as well just to see if he'd seen something she'd missed. They weren't doing anything interesting, though, just gesticulating as they talked. One of them was holding an iconic orange coffee cup.

Oh. Oh, absolutely they were going to the café. Before they sold out.

Ji Min grabbed Alex's bicep. "We need to go to the fourth floor first."

He blinked down at her, blandly pleasant and pliant. "Sure."

…Why had she thought she had to convince him? Ji Min released his arm, nodded stiffly, and led the way.

'I could have just walked there with no explanation. He doesn't know anything.'

…maybe she should tell him. The whole point of this was deciding to be a good team.

"We're going to a café. This coffee is a cult experience," Ji Min said. Wait. That came out a little wrong. "There's only one permanent location, and it's impossible to access without invitation." Exclusivity was appealing, right?

Alex made a sound of comprehension. "Is it really good?" He sounded more polite than interested.

"I dream about it," Ji Min admitted.

He faltered for just an instant. She could tell where his thoughts went because she'd had the same ones.

"Chemical testing indicates that there's no additives." She shrugged. "People wonder. Ba- someone I know said that it's because the beans are roasted using heat from a hell vent and the suffering adds complexity to the flavor, but he's probably just bullshitting."

Probably. He thought suffering improved every beverage.

Alex laughed. It caught her by surprise. He looked guilty a moment later, but he'd genuinely laughed.

She relaxed a little.

They got their coffee and hung around by the overlook that showed all the way down to the first floor. Alex sniffed the steam wafting off of his drink and waited. She immediately went and burnt her tongue on it. He watched bemused as she blinked away the pain with tears. “I enjoy this,” she said stiffly.

Alex nodded, a smile playing along the corners of his mouth. “Can we start with the booths?” he asked. His gaze flickered over to watch people milling around below them. “It could be interesting and useful to have some tech that isn’t…”

“Say no more,” Ji Min agreed. She brought her coffee cup out into a toast against his. “It’s paranoid, I like it.” She popped the lid off her coffee and started blowing on it, optimistic that it would cool quickly this way.

She’d also wanted to make sure she had more weapons and protective equipment. The government issued stuff was good so far, but it didn’t sit well to be too reliant on Big Brother. Or for them to know everything in the toolkit.

‘And what if they’re wrong about Gene being out of the way?’

Ji Min suppressed a shudder, but she couldn’t stop the dread creeping up her neck.

He scared the shit out of her. Gene was a nice man, but he would absolutely kill her if he was there when she came to arrest Hammer. Gene didn’t fuck around when his allies were at risk. Whatever intelligence the government had was probably good, but what if it was wrong? She didn’t actually trust the work of people she’d never met, whose qualifications she didn’t know. Not that much trust, anyway.

Yeah. She needed some firepower. There had to be something that would incapacitate him and his wraiths.

Alex seemed distant, looking over the distant crowd below. “After that, the panel on money laundering sounds useful.”

Ji Min tuned back into the conversation and nodded a little late. “Could you take notes? One of us needs to bow out early to get our names down for the workshops on getaway driving and urban running.”

He gave her a surprised look. “Those aren’t today, though, right?”

“They’re popular,” Ji Min said. “If we aren’t ready to sign up the instant it opens, we won’t be getting in.”

Alex pursed his lips in a way that she read as ‘fair enough.’ “I’m glad that you know that,” he said evenly. She didn’t read into it, didn’t think that maybe he was wondering why she had such intimate knowledge of the way that things worked in this underground. “Alright. Should we go back over the lunch break to drop off our shopping?”

“That’ll work,” Ji Min agreed. Her coffee was a little cooler now. She took a cautious sip and then snapped the lid back on. “Let’s get to it, soldier.”

Coffee in hand, they made their way downstairs and started looking through the vendors. Alex got caught up in the excitement and started spending money immediately, getting steel-toed boots and a bulletproof vest with a drink holder on the inside. But Ji Min was only window shopping for now, mentally noting things that she thought she could use. She took Alex by the bicep and steered them a respectful distance away from the botanist with a set up involving vials and a few colorful, tropical-looking flowers that brought to mind poisonous frogs.

“Do you know her?” Alex asked in an undertone, clearly intrigued.

“No.” Ji Min left it at that.

She didn’t actually know why she felt that was someone to avoid in particular. They were surrounded by rogues, guns for hire, actual villains, and even murderers. But her hindbrain told her not to draw any attention from that grim-faced scientist, and she was going to listen. It had kept her alive so far, after all.

The morning went as anticipated. They went to the first lecture together, and Ji Min slipped off to get them signed up for the workshops on getaway driving and urban running. When that was accomplished, she met back up with Alex to find out that he was dying to go to a question and answer session from some famous hacker.

She glanced at the heavy bags he was still carrying. “Stay, get a late lunch later,” Ji Min suggested. She shifted her weight to one side. She was itching to get someplace less crowded. “I’ll take your things to the hotel and have a lunch on my own. Meet back up for the afternoon session.”

“I appreciate it,” Alex hissed, looking guiltily between her and the people streaming into the room he obviously wanted to be in. “Are you really sure? You don’t have to, I can do it-”

Ji Min waved him off, shaking her head impatiently. “I don’t mind. I’m ready to get out of public.”

He gave her a sheepish smile. “Thank you,” he repeated, and then he left with a backwards wave.

She hefted the bags and pushed her way through the crowd, scowling at anyone who got close enough for her to brush up against. Some of the pedestrians ducked their heads away from her, some rolled their eyes, and one man bared his teeth back at her. She memorized his face for later.

It was more annoying to leave the building complex than it had been to get in. Ji Min went through the security measures with the best approximation of grace that she could muster.

She slipped on blue-tinted sunglasses as she stepped outside and stalked off towards where she’d left the rental car. The sun was beating down mercilessly enough that most people were inside. She walked past shop after shop of diners with only a few people braving the outdoor seating.

Sweat was forming on her back and she was about a kilometer away from the conference center by the time she realized that she was being followed. She frowned and squinted, checking her reflection in a shop to see if her pursuer was in sight.

No. The sidewalk behind her was empty for as far as she could tell before she moved past the shop window. But she heard them, she knew that someone was matching her pace.

‘Someone followed me from the conference. A contact? A rival? Someone who wants to hire me?’

The only way to find out was to talk with them, and that wasn’t going to happen here. Ji Min turned off at the next alley, impatient with the interruption but practical enough to get it over.

The footsteps turned off with her.

She relaxed at the confirmation that she’d been right. This was probably going to suck, but it was a relief to know that she wasn’t paranoid.

When she was far enough down the alley that the sounds from the main street were muffled, she turned to face the follower. “Can I help you?” Ji Min asked, flat and unfriendly.

It was a man, medium build, white, and maybe in his 30s. That meant he had a good forty lbs and at least 6 inches on her. He was clearly trying to use that heft to intimidate her when he took a step forward.

“You can drop your bags and go on with your day, kitten.”

She blinked. It took a moment to process this. “You’re mugging me?” Ji Min clarified.

The thug leered unpleasantly down at her. “You’re smarter than you look.”

Christ. Ji Min suppressed a giggle. He wasn’t making good life choices. She let the bags drop to the cement gently. She needed her hands free for this.

“Purse too,” he ordered, because he wasn’t reading the air at all.

“Hey, asshole!”

Ji Min jerked at the new voice. How- she hadn’t heard anyone else.

When she saw him, she knew why. The newcomer glaring at the would-be mugger was a mask, a legit mask in a crime-fighting suit. He had a muscular, athletic build and a light-footed stance that she could tell was ready for movement.

Oh, shit. She was in an alley with her face uncovered, a vigilante, and bags full of obviously illicit materials.

‘I hope I can really pull off damsel in distress,’ Ji Min thought, struggling to know what expression she should put on her face. ‘I don’t want him thinking about me at all.’