Respawn

What does one do when they are cursed with immortality? Well, anything is possible. They could live a secluded life in one town for their entire life, they could go to war, or they could even try to make the world a better place. But for Elenora? She’s done all of those things and nothing ever satisfies her. She’s been in three wars, she fought for basic human rights, and she tried settling down in one place. Nothing worked for her. That just left a life of crime.

Elenora used to be a good little Christian girl with a different name. What changed that? Well, her friends killed her because they believed she was evil incarnate. It took a while for her to come back to life, almost an entire month. Obviously she couldn’t stay where everyone thought she was dead and her own friends killed her, so she ran away.

It was startling thing to realize she came back to life. She tested her limits, killing herself in many different ways, but she simply wouldn’t stay dead. So with her new found immortality, she traveled the continent, sometimes disguising herself as a man to protect her country and to gain some equality. While death wasn’t a pleasant thing, if she would just come back in the end then there was no true threat if her true gender was discovered. If men wanted more from her, well, she would willingly kill herself to save herself from that fate. Elenora learned to fight to defend herself, learned that human rights were important for everyone, and learned just how conniving and cruel some people could be.

Elenora didn’t actually get involved with crime until she got involved with an Italian mafia in southern Italy when she was nearly three hundred-years-old in the early 1960’s. She stayed with them for a while, seven years, until tragedy struck and she ran away. She never stayed in one place for too long and never got close to another person. But she still led a criminal career because it was the one thing that made life worth living for.

Robbery, burglary, shoot outs with police enforcements, they were the only thing that gave her an adrenaline rush after she left Italy. It made her feel alive, it gave her a challenge so for decades, she stole, killed, and traveled around the world, looking for that excitement. That excitement eventually lead her to a crime ridden city on the West Coast of the United States of America.

Sin Grosa City was run by criminals yet just as famous as Las Vegas or Los Angeles and had plenty of tourists. Perhaps it was because the criminals hid in the shadows, controlling law enforcement like marionette puppets while the bright lights of the city and the beautiful sandy beaches drew them in. Surprisingly, there were no gangs or large syndicates in the city, just small yet dangerous groups of people. Elenora thought it was the perfect spot for her to hit up. The cops wouldn’t give her as much trouble and small groups meant less watchful eyes.

She pulled her long dark auburn hair into a high pony tail then strapped on her mask, a black and bronze metal thing with a smooth surface with the exception of six slits over her mouth. The bank had pretty good security, she had to give them that much. But after decades of being in the crime business, they would have to try harder to keep her out.

Getting into the bank wasn’t too hard after she disabled the security cameras and expertly avoided the alarms. Thank whatever god was out there that she decided to learn about hacking and to tell the difference between good quality gadgets and completely awful ones that only looked pretty. If she hadn’t, she probably would have given up the life of crime years ago or immediately arrested after the first bank heist.

Elenora slipped through the doors of the bank and calmly walked to the back of the bank. The vault itself was actually very small compared to the rest of the building. Still, the large metal door in front of the woman promised a lot of money. It required a key card and code. Digging through her duffel bag of goodies, Elenora pulled out a decoder that helped her hack into vaults before that she picked up from the black market a year ago.

She slid the card into the slot and waited patiently for the decoder to do its job. Even though the bank was empty, alarms expertly avoided, and security feed disabled, Elenora was on edge. Then again, she was always on edge. She hated being surprised and, more than that, she hated other people. So she kept her hand resting on her Glock until the decoding was finished.

The door slowly opened and Elenora smirked behind her mask at the walls lined with locked steel boxes. The money inside would definitely hold her over for a long time, but Elenora was like a dragon. She liked to hoard her money and other valuables away from the world then go back out and get more. Stepping inside, she closed the vault door behind her and shoved her decoder back into her bag.

With quick hands, Elenora picked the locks and shoved stacks of money into her duffel bag. Once she left the bank, she could skip town and head to another city or maybe another state. It depends on how badly the cops wanted to hunt her down.

She paused in her musings as a low rumble filled the silence and gradually crescendoed. The police couldn’t possibly know she was there, she made sure of it! Quickly, she shoved a couple more stacks of bills into her bag and closed it up, hand hovering over her glock. The sound grew louder and louder until it was right on top of her. She recognized it as not a vehicle, but a song. The bass practically shook the building and muffled words from a dubstep song grated on her nerves. It was impressive she could hear that much since she was locked inside a vault with thick walls and a thicker door. But what idiot was trying to ruin her fun? Did they want the police to arrive?

Before she could berate the idiot in her mind any longer, the locking mechanisms in the mechanical door started to come undone. Cursing to herself, Elenora glanced around the room frantically and spotted a vent just big enough for her to slip through. The problem? It was in the ceiling and was quite the climb. But Elenora really didn’t feel like having a standoff and it was the only exit besides the large door.

Swinging the duffel bag back, Elenora gripped what she could, and started her ascent. Once she reached the top, she pulled out her Glock and shot the vent with a sloppier than usual aim. But she got it off and considered herself lucky that the music was still playing so loudly. However, her ears were ringing and grumpier because of it.

“. . . Hear that?” a voice flowed in from the slowly opening door.

“Fuck! It’s probably those asshole Musketeers!” another swore venomously.

Elenora leapt and caught the edge of the vent and quickly pulled herself up but not fast enough.

“Hey! They’re getting away in the vents!” a third man shouted.

Elenora cursed to herself and started crawling through the vents as fast as she could. She narrowly avoided a barrage of bullets and started to look for a way out. Unfortunately for her, it had been some years since she last crawled through vents and didn’t think to check out the layout for the banks vents. She was going in blind and she hated going in blind. Last time that happened, well, it didn’t end pleasantly.

It was just her luck that after a few turns, the vent lead to the outside, behind the bank. She frantically beat the grate out and slipped outside. She ended up on a lowered portion of the rood and that was fine with her. As long as she got away from the dubstep idiots before the police arrived and she was forced to kill herself to get away.

Elenora ran across the roof, hoping to make it onto the other roof then the next until she made it to her car or any car that she could hotwire. A gun cocked behind her but she didn’t stop. Of course one of them had to be on the roof waiting for her, she was in the vents for a while. Why couldn’t things ever be easy?

“Take the shot, asshole!” the harsh voice from before yelled but it sounded more mechanical, probably coming from a walkie talkie.

Who used walkie talkies anymore? Even Elenora knew that ear pieces were more preferable.

“But it’s not a Musketeer, it’s a woman,” the third man muttered.

“Ugh, fine, Walt?”

Just as Elenora was about to jump, a shot rang out. An intense burning sensation zipped through her side. It was a horribly familiar sensation that honestly never really bothered her anymore. But she stumbled from the impact and tripped off the roof. There was a panicked squawk from the roof, a familiar pain in her head as she connected with the ground, and then nothing.