It's a quarter past midnight,
As we cut through the city

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Kai takes off in a sprint towards the edge of the roof and leaps forwards, does a graceful front-flip mid-air and then lands on the adjacent roof flourishing her hands upwards like a gymnast.

Fucking show-off.

Yuri follows the lead and sprints towards the edge and leaps into a side-flip before landing on the rooftop on her two feet as well.

The bigger show-off of the two. Why did Kai ever agree to teach her parkour?

At this point I curse myself for not going with Cassandra, Elara and Rey. 

I run and jump, without looking downwards at the gap in between the buildings like the humble girl I am. Yuri gives me one of her very graceful, condescending snorts before the two of them break into a run again and jump onto the sloping roof of the adjacent apartment complex. Why the hell do people still have these 18th century tiled roofs? Did they know how inconvenient they are for thieves like me to do parkour over? 

I follow them, legs carrying me in full speed as I leap onto the roof-tiles and try to balance my sideways self as we run straight towards the next complex. I feel a few loose roof tiles slip and fall under my feet, and I curse them as well as my balancing skills as I maneuver towards Kai and Yuri who are hopping over them like a bunch of Clefaries. 

Pokémon reference, anyone?

  As reach the partition between the two complexes, Kai lets out a whoop before sliding down the tiles and launches off onto the lower rooftop of the next building. I swear this is how they do it in movies. How did her stupid ass not get stuck into the gaps in between the tiles? Why didn't the tiles loosen under her fricking weight?

Plus oh my Lord the gap between the buildings is huge! 

Plus plus, I swear I feel like these roof-tiles have a personal vendetta against me. I seem to be the only one struggling with them.

Yuri, because of the extremist that she is, launches herself off the top of the sloping roof we currently are on and does a double front flip before landing on the rooftop on her hands and feet.

Guess the leather gloves were a smart choice after all.

I follow Kai's lead as it seems a little less skull-shattering than Yuri's and slide down the uneven rooftop tiles, scratching my beautiful booty a few times, as well as my hands, before planting my feet the edge and pushing myself off.

I cherish the momentary surge of weightlessness and the rush of adrenaline coursing through me as I barrel towards the adjacent rooftop. And then brace my hands against my shoulder and somersault to a stop onto the rooftop. I get up to see Kai and Yuri already running towards the next building and run as fast as I can to catch up with them.

I feel like closing my eyes and feel the wind rushing over my face. But if I close them and don't see the end, I might as well topple over the edge of the roof and fall to my death. 

Seems like we have quite the dilemma over here.

I reach the higher edge of the rooftop, plant my hands on the railing and push my body upwards towards the joint building in front. I hop down the raised walls and finally catch up with Yuri and Kai who are laughing together as they sprint forwards.

They treat it like an amusement park ride more than terrifying-rooftop-jumping-without-safety-harnesses.

Well they are not the ones stressing out about cops, the location of our safehouse, our change in getaway plans or the fact that the backpack containing the priceless statue is dangling on Kai's back like a sack of fucking potatoes.

Ah what would I give for a portal to an unknown dimension or a broom closet that would take me to...what was the place with the talking goats and lions called?

Kai plants two steps on the sidewall and backflips off of it and lands gracefully onto the next rooftop of a famous clubhouse of Philadelphia.

We're getting closer.

And God I regret giving Kai the backpack containing the statue, considering her antics for show business.

Though she is the best at parkour so it is the safest with her rather than Yuri and me.

I would never trust Yuri with a nine hundred thousand dollar statue. My mind awards me with the flashback of Yuri talking to the hundred thousand dollar statue of that Chinese goddess of wisdom we had stolen in Beijing, about how Lightning McQueen is a bitch. She was talking to a Chinese statue in Tagalog. I don't think she was even high. And when did she learn that language?

"Race you to the next clubhouse?" Kai grins at me and Yuri, and I scoff in reply. Of course I'm going to lose. She has the most experience among us, followed by Yuri and then me. She taught me all this jazz a couple of months ago after all.

PLUS WE HAVE A NINE HUNDRED GRAND STATUE WITH US WHICH WE CANNOT FUCKING DROP ON THE WAY LIKE A LOOSE QUARTER.

But well, being the wild assholes that these two are, they started off without waiting for a confirmation from me.

We are on an escape mission! We need to be careful! Not race like a bunch of wild hooligans.

So I let them do their thing as I carefully jump from one rooftop to another, until its time for me to cross the street to the building across. Calling out to them to stop will draw attention. And that's the last thing that I want.

Plus I hate being called an uptight party-pooper that Rey had oh-so-kindly called me when I wouldn't let her drink more than two shots of tequila. We were on a mission, and I don't care how strong of a drinker she is.

From her backpack, Yuri produced our backup grappling hook gun and shot it across the street and then fucking ziplined all the way across the street while

Kai complained how it was not fair. Well, I could have reminded her that she had one of the guns as well, but where's the fun in that? This was a competition after all.

What I wondered was how were people not paying attention to all this commotion.

There were a few people down there, stumbling around from one bar to another, no one giving the slightest fuck that there was a girl hanging from a zipline a few floors above them.

Americans are so nonchalant sometimes.

But that might just be the best part of this country.

After some running; jumping; Yuri trying to swing around a lampost treating it like a stripper pole; with Kai yelling at Yuri about what a cheater she is and me yelling my ass off at Kai to take care of the nine hundred thousand fucking statue in her backpack; we reach the apartment complex Yuri had meant to bring us to.

Kai was looking wide-eyed at the cars around. Because, friends, the underground garage that we're in, let's just say, I am worried that someone might arrest us for just breathing the air of this garage.

On my left there's a gleaming black Lamborghini, and to my right, freshly washed and waxed, gleaming in the lights of the parking lot, is a cherry red Alpha Romeo Giulia.

Oh it's so beautiful.

Yuri is grinning at all the cars around. There are all the luxury brands, we're talking Mercedes, Jaguar, Bentley and there is even a fucking Ferrari. Cherry red of course.

Kai's eyes have a dangerous gleam in them.

"No you can't fucking steal the Ferrari," I tell her with narrowed eyes.

"Can I just try my new lockpick set on it?"

"No!"

"Just a little?" Kai asks, her eyes still holding that gleam of mischief. 

I am NOT going to prison for setting off a Ferrari alarm. I'll fucking lock Kai here and run for my life.

"Give it up Kai, we need to get out before we are trapped in this godforsaken city," Yuri says, with her hands on her hips. Finally something the both of us agree upon.

I look around, taking in the garage. Dim lights, flashy cars, spotless floors.

Spotless floors... This person is a collector. An enthusiast. Not a driver. Or a mechanic. Someone who likes to show off their goods rather than use them. I would expect such people to live in Los Angeles. Didn't expect to find someone as such in Philly. I only expected to find cheerful people grilling cheese steaks for all the three meals of the day.

Yuri leads us to a corner where two bikes are parked. A slick black BMW bike...which looks like the F 900, and a sea green Harley Davidson, both bikes gleaming under the dim lights as if they are bathed in cleaning wax every day. Maybe they are. After all they need to keep their wares clean for the show.

This feels like a movie. Not that I mind it.

"Yu-yu what kind of friends do you have?" Kai asks in wonder, staring at the bikes the way a ten-year old boy from a middle class family stares at his brand new Hotwheels. The expensive kind of Hotwheels with the cute curvy race tracks.

"Rich people which I helped deal with rich-people problems," Yuri said calmly, leaning on the Harley. 

"What problems?" I couldn't help but ask.

"Let's just say, sometimes the rich get too cocky with their assets and reputation and forget to check the finer details in situations which need the utmost sense of security."

"Illegal vehicle insurance and license?" I grinned.

"Dealers can also be careless pieces of trash. It was a piece of cake to deal with but I made them believe that I saved them from impending doom. They feel like they are eternally indebted to me."

Ah there she is, my little driver who really needs a conscience.

Oh well I can't be talking about conscience while holding a close-to-million dollars stolen statue in my hand.

Kai raises her hand for a high five, "Nice." Yuri obliged, while I walked towards the beautiful BMW bike and ran a hand over the surface.

God I'm afraid to drive such a beautiful beast.

No I'm not crushing on a bike.

I run another glance over the shiny black leather seat and the gleaming handles.

Okay maybe I am.

Yuri clicks her tongue at me, "Don't get too attached Leeshy baby. She is only gonna be with us for a few hours. Though my friend doesn't seem to value her awesomeness."

The dark haired girl leaned on the F-900, running her hand on the handles covered with rough glossy leather, then held onto the grip and moved it slightly. Any ordinary human, in the midst of the Philadelphia traffic wouldn't have heard a thing.

But here, in the deserted underground parking lot, I heard the faintest, most subtle, creak.

Oiled, regularly. But not used more than, I would say...once in three months. Sometimes an asset needs to be used to ensure that it works longer.

Kai shook her head at it, "Ah what a shame that she hardly gets to witness the dull streetlights and the flashing backlights of the cars."

I smiled a little, "Maybe it's time this bike saw more than just that."

***

I swing a leg over the BMW bike and fasten the glossy black helmet on my head while Yuri does the same on the Harley.

Kai makes eye contact with me but then runs over and sits behind Yuri, clutching tightly onto the girl's waist.

I feel betrayed.

"Why wouldn't you ride with me?" I ask with a frown.

Yuri clicks her tongue at me again, "Because I'm the better driver of the two."

"You mean the more reckless one," I reply, deepening my frown.

Yuri doesn't reply. Because she knows it's true. I can see Kai's eyes flit to me momentarily, as if she is debating her decision to go with the more dangerous driver, but she couldn't do anything about it as the Harley's engine roared to life.

So much for a quiet escape.

I kick-start my own bike. Oh I could have most definitely just flipped a switch, but you can say that I've been hanging out with Yuri so much so that I have begun to find the pleasures in show business.

Yuri looks back at me once, and I suspect that it's the first and last time she does so during this ride as she shouts,"Follow me closely!"

And then we are off, driving down the half empty streets, cutting between large Volvo's and sleek Mercedes's as we made our way towards the more backward part of the American city.

I looked around as I drove cautiously. Ladies in flashy sparkling dresses sauntering up to a bouncer of a throbbing night club, no doubt planning to seduce him into letting them in; boys in baggy clothes and wearing funky hats as they rode their skateboards on the tiled footpaths, then as they neared the less suburban part of the city, there were raggedy men stumbling around, holding beer bottles haphazardly wrapped in brown paper bags-the usual.

There was an occasional passerby who gawked at her bike, and I felt a small sense of pleasure every time that happened.

We cross the outskirts of the city towards a bridge over a small creek. I bet it would have looked really pretty in the daytime, but right now, it looked downright creepy. It's extremely deserted and I can hear a shit ton of crickets chirping and mosquitoes buzzing around me.

Half of me is afraid to go onto it, thinking some shit ghost wearing a white towel and a red wig will sink it's claws into my elbow. Don't ask me why I thought elbow. Or a red wig.

Looks like an abandoned train bridge to me, with the structure of the criss crossing rusty red beams of alloyed iron and the creepy, creepy look. Oh God what if someone attempted suicide over here in front of a train and their ghost wanders this place to date? Such places always have a gory story attached to them.

Why did God make me such an over thinker?

I steel my nerves and prepare to cross the presumably haunted bridge.

But Yuri did not cross the bridge. She did something which I might just disapprove of even more.

She turned to the side and drove down the grassy slope towards the creek.

I am going to throw a fucking fit if the entrance we're looking for is underwater.

I AM AFRAID OF DROWNING BITCH.

I think I'm ready to face that ghost.

Yuri and Kai race down the slope and I can hear Kai shouting some incorrigible sentences which I'm a hundred percent sure are mostly concerns about FUCKING DROWNING TO DEATH IN A DIRTY CREEK FULL OF FRUIT FLIES FLYING AROUND IT GODAMMIT.

Calm down Alicia, calm down.

But if Yuri drowns, how the fuck will I strangle the life out of her?

We have a second concern now.

Oh my ghost is going to make her ghost wish it was dead as well.

They stop at the flat patch of grass next to which the stupid body of water is flowing and both of them look up at where I have removed my helmet so that Yuri can feel the full effects of my death stare.

She just removes her own helmet and grins at me.

Have I mentioned that I sometimes really want to punch that stupid grin off her face.

I think I have.

I am about to go into a full blown cussing fit using some very choice words for Yuri when I hear a very familiar voice which doesn't belong to Kai or Yuri.

"Where's Leesh?" The voice said and a third figure appeared out of nowhere in her usual band tee and black ripped jeans which she was cut in the knees when we had left her behind for the mission.

"Minnie?"

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Hello my beautiful readers. I updated as soon as I finished writing cuz I freaking can.

Anyways, how was it? I'm particularly proud of this one.

This is the last time I will be requesting opinions because from now on, the episode of just Kai, Yuri and Alicia is over. The other characters are coming in clutch. I will just assume opinions on my own.

For anyone who didn't know, Beijing is the capital of China, and Tagalog is the language spoken in the Philippines.