Home. The smell of it greeted her like a plate of warm chocolate chip cookies after a rough day. Only this smell was car exhaust and smoke, not sweet pastries and sugar. Layne breathed in deeply after stepping out of the vibrant taxi with her Stiletto-clad feet onto the bustling city sidewalk. The driver helped her get her rolling luggage bag out of the trunk as she slung her leather purse over her shoulder. She smiled coyly and kissed the old, friendly driver on the cheek before slipping him a twenty dollar bill. His cheeks turned pink as he slid the paper into his pocket, they were always embarrassed when beautiful Layne showed her appreciation. "Thanks for your time." She whispered, returning to her firm, business-like manner, slinking off into the hoards of people.
Layne briskly walked down the street, her glossy, straight red hair flying behind her like a silk curtain. She reached her current up-scale apartment, ignoring the bellhop and manager and every other person who pressured her to hand over her bag. She held on with a steel grip and a face set in stone. Eventually, after much elbowing and foot-tapping, Layne reached the elevator. "Floor?" a little man asked her in an annoyed tone. Layne kicked his crotch with her heel and punched him on the side of his face as the doors clanged shut behind her. She swiftly pressed floor 5 while lowering his head to the ground and bashing it against the wall, pulling off his loafer shoe. She reached inside and removed the small tracking chip she knew was there and shot it with the pistol she kept in her purse. She then replaced it with a small time bomb. "30 minutes until detonation." She smiled, her lipstick still vibrantly red as it was when she'd applied it in the morning.
The 'ding' rung through the elevator, signalling Layne that her floor had, at last, arrived. She gracefully stepped over the knocked-out henchmen and out of the elevator, where a large man carrying a suitcase waited. His mouth dropped as he saw the fallen man, stained with blood. Layne winked, and rubbed her hand down across his suit, leaving a large sum of cash in his breast pocket. He smiled goofily as she strode down the hallway, her suitcase rolling gently behind her. Her perfect figure definitely caught his eye.
Layne hurriedly unlocked her apartment door, entered, and relocked it behind her. She kicked off her heels and walked to her master as if walking on a cloud after practically strutting on her toes all day. She rummaged through her suitcase, which she'd just brought in, that held all of her belongings, minus her vast weapon collection. She pulled off her 'little black dress' and replaced it with a dark gray t-shirt and jeans. She stuffed the dress in her suitcase, zipping it back up and rolling it beside the front door. As if a second thought, she threw the heels in, too, while pulling on a pair of black vans. She raced the the bathroom, splashing her face with water. She stared at her electrifying blue eyes in the mirror, reminding herself the clock was ticking. She washed the lipstick and eye-liner off her face, and dabbed her slightly up-turned, lightly freckled nose with cold water to reduce the pink color forming on her cheekbones from the warm air that flowed through the apartment.
She checked the time, 10 minutes to go. She pulled a clear vial out of the kitchen cupboard that held the Elixir of Dreams. She sneaked it into an empty lipstick case she'd snagged from her makeup bag before zipping into her suitcase. She slipped it into her pocket before examining the apartment around her for anything she'd missed. Everything was accounted for in her misleading messenger bag, actually a weapon storage chest, her luggage, and her purse. She sighed in relief and exited the apartment, rushing towards a different elevator. She pressed the button over and over again, hoping it would somehow make the elevator come faster.
She wasn't surprised when the doors slid open and another henchmen waited for her, more obvious then the time prior. He growled and lunged towards her, but Layne simply shot him in the face with the gun she'd hidden in her jeans pocket. She pressed the 'L' button for lobby, and waited silently as the elevator took its sweet time reaching the bottom floor. As the familiar 'ding' sounded once again, Layne raced out of the elevator, her luggage, purse and messenger bag swinging behind her. She approached the front desk, sliding the keys to her apartment down to the young manager. He protested, claiming she'd never paid the rent, which was true. Layne shrugged, brushing his hair aside with her french-manicured hand.
"Trust me, honey, that's the least of your problems right now." Layne glanced over as some people exited the elevator, sure enough, the henchmen was still laying on the floor- time bomb ticking. Layne ran towards the rotating door, the manager dazed, yet screaming after her. Layne peeked behind her at the large clock set up in the lobby. "Detonation in 3, 2.." Layne ran into an alley and covered her head as the apartment building exploded, a large boom overcoming the city. She laughed, gently, as the rubble rained down on the streets, she'd succeeded, the Elixir still intact. But then she heard another sound. Fwish. And he appeared.
((Oh my.. sorry for the length. I was trying to incorporate her character into some action, but I got a little caught up with the action..))
