#worldsdarkcrusader

Alice takes a moment to look at herself in the mirror of the apartment she's broken into. Her drug use is showing in her figure. Her arms are more slender, the straps of her little black dress fitting loosely. She can't afford a new wardrobe. Tomorrow, she will force herself to eat something.

Alice isn't dressed as though she's about to crack the high-tech security of the building across the alley, but that's the point. 

Stepping out to the fire escape, she retrieves a mobile phone she has gutted and revamped. It detects the outgoing signals of most major security systems. And she is in luck. This particular company uses one of the most common.

"Best reputation, easiest to crack."

"Hey there. Can I help you?"

"Bats. How's it...hanging?"

Alice glances over her shoulder one more time at the fading light of a dying streetlamp  She has been walking too many blocks to count in decidedly uncomfortable shoes. Tapping a finger to her full lower lip, she glances at the alley before her. The darkness is permeated by a single light, weakly illuminating the side door of a bar.

She's dressed like trouble, but she doesn't expect any here. She's taken this route most days for the last fortnight  A quick trip down an alley, even in this part of town, would save her a long detour around some construction that has been abandoned for the evening.

What Alice cannot see is a group of thugs, crowded behind a dumpster. They've recently injected the latest street drug, and the feeling of power and the craving for violence is racing through their systems with a vengeance. The lone clicks of Alice's heels down the darkened alley is a siren call. The leader smirks with yellowed teeth and turns in Alice's direction. With a single nod, he orders the men forward.