Going back to the hotel
Undeserved Ascendance
chapter 14
by
copier
· original author:
an188
"OKAY, ENOUGH PLAYING WITH SCRAP METAL!" Glitz bellowed, shaking molten steel droplets from her forearms like a dog shedding water. The glow beneath her skin pulsed in time with her racing heartbeat—not just power now, but purpose. She cracked her neck, rolling her shoulders until sparks skittered down her spine. "We've got *real* shit to wreck."
Glam didn't argue. She simply stepped over the smoldering wreckage of the transformer—now little more than a blackened husk—and tilted her head toward the distant glow of downtown Havenridge. "They'll have banks locking vaults by now," she mused, tapping one stiletto against a discarded hubcap. It rang like a dinner bell. "Unless..."
Glitz followed her gaze, the neon fractals in her eyes pulsing faster. "Ohhh, you *filthy* genius." Her grin split her face like a live wire.
Glam didn't wait. She strode toward the sagging shack—some relic of the junkyard's administrative past—and kicked the door clean off its hinges with a single stiletto strike. The wood splintered like kindling. Inside, dust motes swirled in the last amber light filtering through broken blinds. Glam reached for the dangling pull-string of a lone hanging bulb. "Still juiced," she murmured as it flickered to life, casting their shadows jagged against the peeling wallpaper.
Glitz leaned against the doorframe, molten fingertips leaving smoldering fingerprints on the wood. "Hotwiring a bulb? Kinky, but not exactly getaway speed, sis."
Glam's grin was a switchblade flicked open. She crushed the bulb in her palm—glass powdered between her fingers like glitter—and reached into the live socket with zero hesitation. The air screamed. Her arm vanished up to the elbow in a vortex of writhing blue current, veins lighting up like a neon roadmap to hell. "Ever fucked physics?" she purred, grabbing Glitz's wrist with her free hand. "Hold tight or I'll leave your atoms scattered across three substations."
Glitz barely had time to bark "What the fuck—" before Glam yanked her forward—straight into the maelstrom. The world dissolved into a strobe-light nightmare of fractured voltage, their bodies unraveling into streaks of cyan and teal energy that spiraled through the grid at light-speed. Glitz's stomach lurched as her molecules scattered—ribs in one zip code, thighs in another—only to snap back together with a jolt that left her gasping against the hotel room carpet. She rolled onto her back, dazed, just in time to see Glam step gracefully out of the wall socket like a nightmare made flesh, her stilettos clicking against the hardwood without a single spark out of place.
"Oh fuck you," Glitz wheezed, grabbing a pillow to hurl at Glam's smug face. "Warn a girl before you turn her into *fax machine transmissions*—"
Glam caught the pillow midair and vaporized it in a snap of cobalt static. She kicked off her stilettos—one landing upright in the minibar, the other impaling the flat-screen TV—and stretched like a panther surveying fresh kill. "You're welcome," she drawled, rolling her shoulders until the vertebrae crackled like popping power lines. "Now shut up and pick a bank."
Glitz flipped onto her stomach, propping her chin on her fists. The carpet smelled like ozone and spilled vodka. "Ooooh, let's hit First Havenridge Trust! Their vault's got that retro vibe—like, Please rob us, we're begging." Her grin widened as she traced a lightning-bolt shape into the carpet fibers, leaving a smoldering black scar. "Plus their security guards wear cute little hats."
Glam didn't even glance up from dismantling the hotel phone with her fingernails. "We're going after closing."
Glitz's legs kicked in protest like an overturned beetle. "After?! Where's the fucking flair in that? I wanna see their dumb little faces when we melt the vault door in front of them—"
Glam caught her sister's ankle mid-air, fingers tightening until the bones creaked. Static hissed where skin met skin. "We're not performing monkeys." She dragged Glitz closer by the leg, ignoring the squawk of protest, until their noses nearly touched. "We're gods. And gods don't rush." Her thumb stroked the arch of Glitz's foot, slow and deliberate, feeling the pulse jump beneath the fishnets. "We'll be fully charged. Every last volt. Then we'll take everything that isn't bolted down—and half of what is."
Glitz groaned, flopping backward onto the bedspread like a martyr. "Fine, *fine*, but I'm stealing the first Porsche we see." She rolled off the mattress—landing in a crouch that sent sparks skittering across the carpet—and snatched Glam's discarded stiletto from the minibar. The heel had punctured a can of Red Bull; she licked the dripping caffeine with a smirk. "Fuel for the lesser addiction."
Glam didn't dignify that with eye contact. She was already at the door, her silhouette backlit by the neon vacancy sign outside—all sharp shoulders and impatient fingers drumming against the jamb. "If you touch a car, I'm throwing you into the harbor by your ponytail."
Glitz rolled her eyes but followed, crunching the drained Red Bull can underfoot as she slung an arm around Glam's waist. "Promises, promises," she murmured, nipping at her sister's earlobe just to feel the involuntary shiver race down Glam's spine. The hotel hallway smelled like stale cigarettes and industrial cleaner; their footsteps—one set sharp and precise, the other a lazy, heel-dragging saunter—echoed off the cheap laminate floors.
Outside, the city hummed with the dull buzz of late afternoon lethargy. Glitz immediately veered toward a parked Tesla, fingers twitching toward the charging port like a kid eyeing a cookie jar. Glam caught her wrist without looking, steering them toward a dingy corner store instead. "Batteries first. Then property damage."
"Ugh, fine," Glitz groaned, flipping off a passing cyclist just for the thrill of watching him swerve. The convenience store's flickering neon sign buzzed in harmony with the livewire itch under her skin. She kicked open the door with her stiletto, the bell jingling like a death rattle.
Glam navigated the aisles with surgical precision—ignoring the clerk's slack-jawed stare—and dumped an armful of lithium packs onto the counter. "Don't bother scanning them," she said, tapping a cobalt-sparking fingertip against the register. The screen exploded in a shower of sparks. Glitz cackled, shoving two protein bars down her top just to see the clerk blush.
Outside, Glitz ripped open a 9-volt with her teeth, guzzling the charge like it was tequila. Her pupils dilated into black pools edged with cyan as the current hit her bloodstream. "Fuck yes," she slurred, crushing the empty battery against Glam's collarbone to leave a smoldering kiss-mark. They moved like lightning between parking lots—Glitz hotwiring a Prius just to drain its hybrid battery through her tongue, Glam executing flawless smash-and-grabs on vending machines to harvest their guts. By the third lot, Glitz's veins pulsed like live neon signage, excess static making her mohawk stand on end. She hiccuped a violet spark that torched a scooter's seat.
Glam caught her by the belt loop before she could lick a transformer. "Enough. Night's falling." She jerked her chin toward downtown's skyline where the First Havenridge Bank tower loomed—its polished windows reflecting the sunset like blood smeared across glass.
Glitz wiped battery acid from her lips with the back of her wrist, pupils flickering like faulty bulbs. "I know how we're doing this." She kicked a manhole cover hard enough to send it spiraling into orbit. "We ride the fucking power lines. Zap straight through their wiring like human ransomware." Her fingers twitched with pent-up current, tendrils of plasma curling between her knuckles.
Glam caught the falling manhole cover one-handed, barely glancing at it before letting it drop with a deafening clang. "Hilarious. You'd fuse with a circuit breaker before reaching the vault." She tapped her temple, where an unholy glow pulsed beneath her skin. "We spoof their biometrics. Rewrite the security protocols from their own terminals. Quiet. Clean. Smart."
They choose....
Glam didn't argue. She simply stepped over the smoldering wreckage of the transformer—now little more than a blackened husk—and tilted her head toward the distant glow of downtown Havenridge. "They'll have banks locking vaults by now," she mused, tapping one stiletto against a discarded hubcap. It rang like a dinner bell. "Unless..."
Glitz followed her gaze, the neon fractals in her eyes pulsing faster. "Ohhh, you *filthy* genius." Her grin split her face like a live wire.
Glam didn't wait. She strode toward the sagging shack—some relic of the junkyard's administrative past—and kicked the door clean off its hinges with a single stiletto strike. The wood splintered like kindling. Inside, dust motes swirled in the last amber light filtering through broken blinds. Glam reached for the dangling pull-string of a lone hanging bulb. "Still juiced," she murmured as it flickered to life, casting their shadows jagged against the peeling wallpaper.
Glitz leaned against the doorframe, molten fingertips leaving smoldering fingerprints on the wood. "Hotwiring a bulb? Kinky, but not exactly getaway speed, sis."
Glam's grin was a switchblade flicked open. She crushed the bulb in her palm—glass powdered between her fingers like glitter—and reached into the live socket with zero hesitation. The air screamed. Her arm vanished up to the elbow in a vortex of writhing blue current, veins lighting up like a neon roadmap to hell. "Ever fucked physics?" she purred, grabbing Glitz's wrist with her free hand. "Hold tight or I'll leave your atoms scattered across three substations."
Glitz barely had time to bark "What the fuck—" before Glam yanked her forward—straight into the maelstrom. The world dissolved into a strobe-light nightmare of fractured voltage, their bodies unraveling into streaks of cyan and teal energy that spiraled through the grid at light-speed. Glitz's stomach lurched as her molecules scattered—ribs in one zip code, thighs in another—only to snap back together with a jolt that left her gasping against the hotel room carpet. She rolled onto her back, dazed, just in time to see Glam step gracefully out of the wall socket like a nightmare made flesh, her stilettos clicking against the hardwood without a single spark out of place.
"Oh fuck you," Glitz wheezed, grabbing a pillow to hurl at Glam's smug face. "Warn a girl before you turn her into *fax machine transmissions*—"
Glam caught the pillow midair and vaporized it in a snap of cobalt static. She kicked off her stilettos—one landing upright in the minibar, the other impaling the flat-screen TV—and stretched like a panther surveying fresh kill. "You're welcome," she drawled, rolling her shoulders until the vertebrae crackled like popping power lines. "Now shut up and pick a bank."
Glitz flipped onto her stomach, propping her chin on her fists. The carpet smelled like ozone and spilled vodka. "Ooooh, let's hit First Havenridge Trust! Their vault's got that retro vibe—like, Please rob us, we're begging." Her grin widened as she traced a lightning-bolt shape into the carpet fibers, leaving a smoldering black scar. "Plus their security guards wear cute little hats."
Glam didn't even glance up from dismantling the hotel phone with her fingernails. "We're going after closing."
Glitz's legs kicked in protest like an overturned beetle. "After?! Where's the fucking flair in that? I wanna see their dumb little faces when we melt the vault door in front of them—"
Glam caught her sister's ankle mid-air, fingers tightening until the bones creaked. Static hissed where skin met skin. "We're not performing monkeys." She dragged Glitz closer by the leg, ignoring the squawk of protest, until their noses nearly touched. "We're gods. And gods don't rush." Her thumb stroked the arch of Glitz's foot, slow and deliberate, feeling the pulse jump beneath the fishnets. "We'll be fully charged. Every last volt. Then we'll take everything that isn't bolted down—and half of what is."
Glitz groaned, flopping backward onto the bedspread like a martyr. "Fine, *fine*, but I'm stealing the first Porsche we see." She rolled off the mattress—landing in a crouch that sent sparks skittering across the carpet—and snatched Glam's discarded stiletto from the minibar. The heel had punctured a can of Red Bull; she licked the dripping caffeine with a smirk. "Fuel for the lesser addiction."
Glam didn't dignify that with eye contact. She was already at the door, her silhouette backlit by the neon vacancy sign outside—all sharp shoulders and impatient fingers drumming against the jamb. "If you touch a car, I'm throwing you into the harbor by your ponytail."
Glitz rolled her eyes but followed, crunching the drained Red Bull can underfoot as she slung an arm around Glam's waist. "Promises, promises," she murmured, nipping at her sister's earlobe just to feel the involuntary shiver race down Glam's spine. The hotel hallway smelled like stale cigarettes and industrial cleaner; their footsteps—one set sharp and precise, the other a lazy, heel-dragging saunter—echoed off the cheap laminate floors.
Outside, the city hummed with the dull buzz of late afternoon lethargy. Glitz immediately veered toward a parked Tesla, fingers twitching toward the charging port like a kid eyeing a cookie jar. Glam caught her wrist without looking, steering them toward a dingy corner store instead. "Batteries first. Then property damage."
"Ugh, fine," Glitz groaned, flipping off a passing cyclist just for the thrill of watching him swerve. The convenience store's flickering neon sign buzzed in harmony with the livewire itch under her skin. She kicked open the door with her stiletto, the bell jingling like a death rattle.
Glam navigated the aisles with surgical precision—ignoring the clerk's slack-jawed stare—and dumped an armful of lithium packs onto the counter. "Don't bother scanning them," she said, tapping a cobalt-sparking fingertip against the register. The screen exploded in a shower of sparks. Glitz cackled, shoving two protein bars down her top just to see the clerk blush.
Outside, Glitz ripped open a 9-volt with her teeth, guzzling the charge like it was tequila. Her pupils dilated into black pools edged with cyan as the current hit her bloodstream. "Fuck yes," she slurred, crushing the empty battery against Glam's collarbone to leave a smoldering kiss-mark. They moved like lightning between parking lots—Glitz hotwiring a Prius just to drain its hybrid battery through her tongue, Glam executing flawless smash-and-grabs on vending machines to harvest their guts. By the third lot, Glitz's veins pulsed like live neon signage, excess static making her mohawk stand on end. She hiccuped a violet spark that torched a scooter's seat.
Glam caught her by the belt loop before she could lick a transformer. "Enough. Night's falling." She jerked her chin toward downtown's skyline where the First Havenridge Bank tower loomed—its polished windows reflecting the sunset like blood smeared across glass.
Glitz wiped battery acid from her lips with the back of her wrist, pupils flickering like faulty bulbs. "I know how we're doing this." She kicked a manhole cover hard enough to send it spiraling into orbit. "We ride the fucking power lines. Zap straight through their wiring like human ransomware." Her fingers twitched with pent-up current, tendrils of plasma curling between her knuckles.
Glam caught the falling manhole cover one-handed, barely glancing at it before letting it drop with a deafening clang. "Hilarious. You'd fuse with a circuit breaker before reaching the vault." She tapped her temple, where an unholy glow pulsed beneath her skin. "We spoof their biometrics. Rewrite the security protocols from their own terminals. Quiet. Clean. Smart."
They choose....
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June 13
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