[center][h3][color=orange]Clara Cabello[/color] and [color=f49ac2]Alejandra Jonas[/color][/h3][/center]

[center]September 7th[/center]

[hr]

	Getting the loan took a day, but they got there eventually. Five grand. 5000 bucks to make something happen. Now, how do two girls on the street turn 5k into 25k (plus interest) in a few months? Answer: Make use of their natural talent. A decent chunk of that money went into perfecting AJ's RFID scanner.

	[color=f49ac2]"Get that small hole as close to the wallet as possible,[/color]" she explained handing the small black rectangle towards Clara, [color=f49ac2]"then hold it there for a few seconds. Finally, take it back here to this merchant device." [/color]She indicated something that looked like a credit card scanner laying on the ground of their tent. [color=f49ac2]"Easier than pick pocketing, but we can only make about 50 bucks per credit card. But hit ten people, that's five hundred bucks. The thing will pay for itself in no time. Something easy to help supplement the big stuff." [/color]

	Clara nodded, holding the thing in her hands and observing it. [color=orange]"I dunno how you do this stuff AJ. This is actually real?"[/color]

	AJ shrugged. "It's pretty new tech. Before, the scanner couldn't penetrate the pocket, wallet, or purse. But now it can. Once we get more money, I could reproduce this tech and start selling it on the black market. Far as I know, this is the best of it's kind."

	Clara laughed. [color=orange]"Man. Lucky me, huh?"[/color] She put her hand on AJ's shoulder and shook it, grinning down at the thing. AJ compressed her lips and looked down on the ground. [color=f49ac2]"Yeah, lucky you." [/color]She commented. After a moment, Clara furrowed her brow and squeezed AJ's shoulder, looking her in the eye. 	

	[color=orange]"For real. Thanks, AJ. I'm, uh...you know. We make a good team."[/color] Clara managed, trying her best to sound sincere. AJ smirked. [color=f49ac2]"Yeah, we do. No problem, Clara." [/color]

	Clara moved to take her hand off of AJ's shoulder, only for the shirt to come with it. The two women furrowed their brow and glanced silently at the curious event. After a moment, the shirt fell back onto AJ's shoulder. Clara sneered derisively at the palm of her hand. [color=orange]"Damn. I really do be needin' to wash my hands more."[/color]

	[color=f49ac2]"I guess so..."[/color] AJ said. Something about that didn't sit right, but what was there to do? Nothing but push the incident from her mind. [color=f49ac2]"Anyway, what's next? We can't pay back all the money with the scanner."[/color]

	[color=orange]"Well, I dunno. Depends on how far along your shooter thingies are going."[/color] Clara pointed at AJ wisely, as if she had brought up some important piece of information.

	[color=f49ac2]"Shooter thingies?"[/color]

	[color=orange]"Yeah. The thingies that go on my wrist and shoot bullets, or bean bags, or glue."[/color]

	[color=f49ac2]"Those are kind of a joke, Clara. Even if I could fit a projectile launcher into something arm mounted, they'd be too clumsy for you to use efficiently. Plus, there's not enough room for bullets or bean bags. And glue is...well, I'm not sure how that'd be useful."[/color] She rattled off every single reason why the shooter thingies are impractical, gunning her own ideas down despite the fact she was the one who came up with them in the first place.

	[color=orange]"Yeah, but, it'd be like having a James Bond car on my arm."[/color]

	[color=f49ac2]"James Bond isn't real, Clara. I can't just make stuff up fantasy stuff."[/color]

	[color=orange]"Well, this little thingy,"[/color] She pointedly held up the scanner, [color=orange]"Isn't real either. Once we get you some money you'll see. You're a genius, AJ."[/color]

	Alejandra shook her head. [color=f49ac2]"Only in comparison to you."[/color]

	Clara smirked.[color=orange]"You'll see. You're gonna go full mad scientist one day. I'm gonna make sure of it. But until the shooter thingies are online, I'm sticking to pick pocketing. But I'm prolly gonna have to start mugging people too to get to the good stuff. Maybe steal some cars and sell them for scrap. Been a while since I did a break in, too. Ever since that dog."[/color]

	Alejandra swallowed, her throat suddenly dry. [color=f49ac2]"That sounds like a lot, Clara. Maybe you shouldn't overexert yourself. What if you get caught?"[/color]

	Immediately, Clara shut down this train of thought. [color=orange]"I won't get caught. I just been takin' it slow all these years cause I ain't had the motivation. Now, I do." [/color] She spoke with a supreme, infectious confidence. It wasn't an act. Clara knew these things to be true, or else she wasn't thinking about the consequences of her actions thoroughly. Perhaps that is what gave her the will to commit dangerous acts of thievery for financial gain.

	[color=orange]"Alright. The day is young. I'm headin' out. Be back by dinner."[/color] Clara stood to her feet and unzipped the entrance of the tent, crouching out into the daylight.

	[color=f49ac2]"Back by dinner, Clara."[/color] AJ echoed, glancing back down at her laptop. AJ would always wait for Clara to get back before she ate, so dinner was whenever Clara managed to return home.

	The thief had a busy day ahead of her. First things first was to try out the new gizmo. A warm up before moving onto the bigger stuff. Clara was wearing a shirt that was a little too short, and skinny jeans that tucked into worn out sneakers. Over the bridge of her nose she placed a pair of orange-tinted sunglasses that concealed her eyes. Dexterously, she tied her red hair into a ponytail. Not standing out was a matter of confidence, not a matter of clothing. Things like hair color, height, build, weight, are hard to notice in the moment and easily forgotten when under stress. There was probably an accurate description of the thief out there somewhere, but Clara was removed from the system and in the concrete jungle of Manhattan she could slip back into obscurity. As long as she didn't get caught red handed.

	Clara couldn't know if the scanner got someone successfully. There was no beep, of course. She just had to scan as many people as she could and hope the signal being emitted by the chip in every single credit card would get picked up and stored inside the rectangular device she held in her palm. That went on for an hour or two. Eventually she got the hang of it. Nice and warmed up. Now, it was back to the risky, if more familiar, tactic. Flat out pick pocketing. She hadn't pick pocketed anyone since...since that girl at the university. Wonder what happened to her? Clara had pushed the memory from her mind, and the details were foggy, but there was that particularly strong image of the girl knocked out on the ground at the stairwell. 

	Well, Clara thought, that whole thing was bullshit. Unless those assholes commit a gas attack again, everything should be fine. She would have gotten away from that mark no problem. No, it's not really Clara's fault anyway. It was back to business as usual. The traumatic events of the last few days needed to be forgotten worked through with good old fashioned elbow grease. AJ and Clara were adaptable people. Clara had never let anything keep her down for long, and AJ had gotten used to being dragged right back up to her feet. Thus, onwards and upwards. They had money to make.

	Effortlessly, a particularly fat wallet, bulging from the back pocket of some dad, probably, was removed and tucked into Clara's arm. In a movement practiced a thousand times, the credit card and money was removed. The pictures of children were unnecessary and only served to hinder her search. In the blink of an eye the wallet, emptied of almost all valuables save those of sentimental nature, was discarded into a trash can. What a rush! The goods were slipped into her back pocket (always buy jeans with pockets in them!) and there was still plenty of room for more. Today, Clara felt, was going to be a productive day.