Sara’s new cell phone wasn’t nearly as fun to play with as Lukes cell phone was. Unlike his, she didn’t have that cool voice thing that allowed her to tell the phone who she wanted to call. She didn’t have all his ring tones, and her phone didn’t dance as much when it vibrated on the table, but it did come with a little video game, called snake. During the next few days, Sara was slowly becoming a snake master.

The phone was a tool. And like any tool, Sara had to play with it. Call it the kitten side of Sara. It was the best way she learned was by playing with something till she figured out the ins and outs of it’s shape. How far things could move before they broke. Light touch, heavy touch. Sure there were manuals that told you these things but Manuals were manuals. It was really handling things, and playing with them that gave Sara the experience. It’s why she made such a good thief. She knew what she was capable of.

The cell phone was one of a number of tools in her pouch, today. At Sara’s last meeting with Luke he had told her to treat this house the way she would treat any other job. This wasn’t really like any other job though. This was the most legit job Sara had ever had. Those other jobs had her getting shot at. They had her stealing, and they had her making a fool of her self running trough mazes when things went wrong. This job was safe. It wasn’t something Sara was going to risk her life doing, and that had her stomach in knots. Her and Luke didn’t always see eye to eye, and she didn’t want to mess this up. Just maybe she had a chance at pretending she could be like those other workers in New York. Luke said this was temporary work, at best, but it gave Sara hope. Maybe she wouldn’t be stuck in the rut that she had dug herself.

To deal with the butterflies, Sara had spent the last few days, investigating the test house. Now, when her stomach was cramping it’s most, she dealt with her nerves by arriving early at the site. About 30 minutes early and she began slowly walking around the house. Running the different tools she had brought through her head, and making mental notes about the spacing of the devices she could see through the windows.

Cell phone, Check.

Wires, Check.

Claws. She had managed to not bite those to pieces yet. Check.

There was paper, pen, various small screw drivers. A dummy Credit card. She was sure by now that the owner had canceled it. A small set of magnetic screw drivers and a small set of non magnetic screw drivers. Then there were the magnets. Sara felt through the outside of a little pouch on her belt for the different magnets she used for her break ins. Silently counting them and running through her mind what ones worked best. She froze suddenly. Tapping the outside of the pouch as she slid the different magnets around. One was missing.

Mickey! She couldn’t find Mickey. With a smooth motion she pulled the pouch off of her belt and began digging through the contains. Her heart speed up and she knelt down to dump the little pouch of magnets on the icy ground. Pushing the little pile around until there he was. A little plastic Mickey mouse magnet smiled up at her. His little line of a tail flicking out.

She had Mickey. She could calm down.

(OOC: And Mickey has returned... perfect. )

IC:
Waiting until it was the right time to go meet Sara was nerve wracking. Luke knew that the feline was good at what her profession had been but it still felt strange to be going to observe her. Obviously she'd never had an audience before but it would be a good lesson for him. Both for his day job and his night job.

"Never know when that kind of experience might come in handy." Luke thought to himself as rode along in the cab that he had hired to take him to the house.

"Here we are... you sure you want dropped off here bub?" The cabbie asked as they pulled up in front of the house.

Luke chuckled softly and nodded as he reached forward and place the money in the cabbie's hand. "I'm sure... have a good night."

Climbing out of the the vehicle the blind man stood still and silent as he surveyed the landscape. The house always looked as though it were partially under construction because they company was always switching out security system equipment in order to test it. The yard was basically just dirt after being torn up by heavy machinery time after time and the outside of the house was a mixture of different paint jobs. Just whatever can happened to be on hand was used in order to touch up the areas that had been reached or rebuilt to accommodate the new systems.

"You ready Sara?" Luke asked as he turned and walked toward Sara was crouched along with a bag of tools. Even though it was cold Luke had chosen to skip any large coat in order to better follow Sara's path. On his feet were black soft-soled sneakers, black khaki's moved up to a white t-shirt with a black sweat shirt pulled on over it. Luke's sunglasses were present as always and tucked in either pocket of his pants were black leather gloves. "I'm looking forward to seeing you in action."

When the cab pulled up, Sara gave herself a mental high five for remembering to stick to the shadows of the building. She wasn’t necessarily hiding, but she also wasn’t in plane view. Someone would have to be looking for her to notice her. It was dark, yet still plenty of light for her to see what she had dumped onto the ground, and was now picking up. She staid silent till she knew the person getting out of the cab was Luke. That wouldn’t take too long seeing as he held his head different from other men. A trait Sara had picked up from the blind, probably thanks to her predatory side.

"You ready Sara? I'm looking forward to seeing you in action."

Sara bit her lower lip lightly, as she scooped up the rest of her magnets and pulled the string on the bag tight. “I’m about as ready as I ever am.” Sara answered. Being that Sara often flew through things like this by the seat of her pants, that was pretty much true.

“Aren’t you cold?” Sara asked as she glanced at his attire out of the corner of her eye. Sara hadn’t dressed much better, with her leather pants, light tank top, and vest with it’s many pockets. Meant to keep her body stream lined so that there was less of a chance Sara would catch the fabric of her cloths on anything. The thing is she had fur. Fur was it’s own snow suit.

Well lets get inside before someone catches a cold he can pass to Raina. Not that Sara cared about Luke’s health. She told herself she didn’t… And that was right…. Riiiiigggghhhtt…

“Aren’t you cold?” Sara asked, obviously having noted his rather light looking clothes.

"My face is but the rest isn't... thermal underwear works great." The blind man replied with a chuckle as he fell into step behind the feline. It would definitely be interesting to watch the cat in action. Would she go for the direct approach and slip through either the front or back doors? Would she slip in a downstairs window or make the climb up to one of the upstairs windows?

In some situation Luke would have carried a pad to take notes but for tonight he had decided that wouldn't be necessary. Watching Sara at work would be more than memorable enough for the report he would have to put together later. He couldn't think of anything more exciting that could possibly happen tonight and make him forget just watching her work.

"Unless you have a preference I'll just stick to following you. Like I said before, just try to pretend that I'm not even here. If I set off any of the alarms you automatically pass and more than likely I get chewed out by my Uncle. Sound good?" Luke asked softly as he reached into his pockets and pulled out his gloves. Slipping them on the blind man flexed his finger, making sure that his hands weren't to cold and would remain nimble for whatever he might need to do.

Sara didn’t head for any of the windows, or any of the doors at first. The house was one big box, and how many times she had been drilled with the words, think outside the box, back in her old days. She didn’t know.

Instead of heading for an obvious opening at first, she headed for the fuse box on the outside of the house. Sara tapped the outside, lightly with the tip of her claw, like she was checking how ripe a melon was. She then picked the lock that held it shut, and in less than 30 seconds, had it open. “If I were actually breaking in here, this would be my first stop.” She said to Luke as she examined the box. Then, with a flip of the switch, she turned the power off to the entire house. “I know some things have battery back ups, and if they don’t have that, they should, but this cuts my work in half.”

Sara switched the power back on in the house, Seeing as this was a test to see what she could do. Having power going to those security systems inside was what the test needed. “Does your company make security sensors for these boxes?” Sara asked as she shut the box. Her next move was for the back door. She treated the door like Luke’s door. She pushed a wire between the door and the frame on the hinge side and wiggled it around till she felt it catch the roller sensor. Once Sara was satisfied she had the magnetic current continuing even when she eased the door open, she took out Mickey, and started sliding him along the top of the door frame, she felt a slight pull at her finger tips, and knew where the other sensor was. So she took out a second magnet. This one was thin like a business card. She started easing that magnet between the door and the frame.

"Now for the lock." Sara mumbled, as she extended her right thumb claw. She started easing that into the lock. Working the end of the hook back and forth.

Luke followed Sara, remaining silent as he watched her work. It was strange to see her completely ignoring the doors and windows and instead focusing on the electrical box.

“If I were actually breaking in here, this would be my first stop. I know some things have battery back ups, and if they don’t have that, they should, but this cuts my work in half.”

The blind man felt like slapping his forehead... how in the world could they have forgotten something so obvious?! Or.... obviously wasn't the right word because otherwise they would have thought of it.

“Does your company make security sensors for these boxes?” Sara asked as she switched the power back on and closed up the box.

"If we don't, we're about to start." Luke replied, his voice tinged with both embaressment and determination. No matter how embaressing this night might get, the blind man was out to learn from the experience. If Jacobs & Jacobs was going to the best then they had to adapt and accept the suggestion provided by consultants like Sara. Maybe she had just proved why cat burglars were so successful... they thought outside of the box.

Luke had to force his mind back to the current moment after following Sara around the house and watching her begin to work on the lock. The electrical box was just one weakness but he had to pay attention if he were going to find any others. "I wonder if this is how she got through my front door." The blind man suddenly pondered as he watched the wiley feline work on the lock, "I'm gonna have to upgrade my own system somtime soon."

"If we don't, we're about to start."

The way Luke Said that just made Sara grin. Man I’m good She thought as she gave herself another mental high five. WereCat: 1, Jacobs & Jacobs company Test House: 0. Not that anyone was keeping count for points.

The points on Sara’s side of the score board, in her head rose, when she heard the click of the lock, and felt her claws fit in the grooves to turn. She tried to hide the smirk, but it just kept pulling at the corners of her mouth. Before she pushed the door open, she just had to say something. Just to give Luke a little jibing. “I suppose you’ll be switching around your security at your apartment. Huhh.” Couldn’t resist the tease. “More fun for me next time I want in.” Jibe, jibe, jibe

Sara eased the door open a few inches, and pulled out a small mirror to look inside for motion detectors.

"I think that your actions have proven my apartment needs a security upgrade." Luke replied rather dryly, "I'll let you know when it's happens and then maybe see about getting you a list of my free days so if you decide to test my security you don't get caught in the middle of anything."

Sara wanted to poke fun at Luke... why not? But he was going to give as good as he got if it was at all possible. "After all, I know it must be traumatic for you to see Raina change back and forth from mermaid to human. We wouldn't want you to see her in that... condition."

Luke knew he was probably pushing his luck just a little but he really didn't care. Trying to rattle her a ltitle bit would be good for the test. If she could maintain her focus while having those kinds of embaressing memories thrown at her then she would be able to maintain focus no matter what test she might face.

"Just keep telling yourself that." Luke thought to himself, not wanting to admit that he really wanted to just get under Sara's skin at least a little bit, "Just keep saying it."

"I think that your actions have proven my apartment needs a security upgrade."

Ok forget trying to hold back that smirk. Sara let the smile show fully on her face. Sure it was childish, what she did, but she was learning, that she thought she could get away with a lot, when it came to Luke.

"I'll let you know when it's happens and then maybe see about getting you a list of my free days so if you decide to test my security you don't get caught in the middle of anything."

Ok that was probably for the best. Sara hated to put Raina in that type of situation again, but she was having fun pushing buttons with Luke.

"After all, I know it must be traumatic for you to see Raina change back and forth from mermaid to human. We wouldn't want you to see her in that... condition."

Ok so they were sort of on the same page, but Sara still had to push things. He was setting too much of a challenge in front of her. “Really. You know the schedule that Raina has, when she turns half fish? I was under the impression that it just sort of happened.” Luke was way too late for trying to get to Sara that way. The little girl talk Sara had with Raina, when he was taking out the trash, had gotten her past the embracement stage. Raina had thanked her for interrupting. She even stopped referring to what her and Luke were doing as getting her to turn back from a fish.

“I’ll just ask Raina when her days off are.” Sara was satisfied with what she saw through the mirror, and pushed the door open to let herself inside. Stepping inside she instantly wrinkled her nose. “The plastic your company uses, smells really weird.” She told Luke, holding the door open for him. Her voice was still held low. “Where’s the next test?”

So apparently Sara was going to be rattled by something as obvious as comments about Raina. In fact, she was even trying to turn it back on him.

"Note to self... work on the sarcastic comments." Luke thought wryly as Sara opened the front door and began to move inside. "I am really out of my league it seems."

“Where’s the next test?” She asked him, her voice still low.

"Your job is to find the safe that's in the house and retrieve and small... trophy that's in it." Luke replied as the slightest of smiles moved over his features.

Now things were going to get at least a little funny. Luke, being in the security business, knew that 85-90% of their safe installations were put in the Master Bedroom. It wasn't the best hiding place but it was where people always wanted their valuables. In this house, they had gone with the averages and placed the safe in the floor of the Master Bedroom closet. Held within it was a 5" tall Mickey Mouse figurine. Luke felt that Sara would appreciate such a gesture.

"You've still go lead though... I'm just tagging along."

"Your job is to find the safe that's in the house and retrieve and small... trophy that's in it."

“Ok we need to work on our employer employee communication skills.” Sara told Luke. “I don’t remember you mentioning a safe.” This certainly made things more fun. Sara’s grin staid on her face. For being so nervous at first, she was starting to enjoy herself a little.

She crouched on the spot for a second, listening for other motion devices. There was a slight buzz that came from the electrical devices. If they were out of place buzzs Sara knew to stay away from that area, or to try and disable them. She tilted her head moving it from side to side to triangulate what she was listening to, then stuck her hand in another pouch on her belt. Motion detector or beam?

The pouch was full of a fine talcum powder. She gathered some on the fur of her index finger and tapped it, before taking her hand out of the pouch and blowing the powder so that it came out in a fine cloud. Beam. “Take two paces and then stop high, Sara said to Luke. Breathing a sigh of relief that the device wasn’t a motion detector. Moving too slow to trigger those was a pain in the tail.

Ok so Safe. Where was the Safe? Sara got past the beam, careful that her tail didn’t trigger it sensor even after her feet had cleared it. She paused to think, at the door way. There were about three places Sara found Safes when she broke into homes. She once found one in the dens. She found them in hall ways, but she found them most of all, in the same room where ladies kept their jewelry. Like the house she had broken into the day after she started answering Luke’s cell phone, she started heading to the bedroom. “It smells a little like an armory here.” Sara complained to Luke. “gun powder… Odd.” Her nose must be acting up. She rubbed her finger across her snout.

Bedroom. She peeked in the closer door… bathroom Next door. Bedroom but was it the master one. Sara checked the next room and ended up coming back to the second door.

She slowly pushed the door open, with her ears flicking back and forth. “Bingo.”

Luke smiled a cheshire cat grin as Sara made her comments about communication. "Really?" He asked as innocently as possible, "I was sure I mentioned it."

Following Sara through the house and stepping over what she told him to step over was difficult but not impossible. But, as Luke made his high step over the laser beam he found himself wishing once again that he had true sight. These kinds of situations would be much easier to deal with is he could see the same things that Sara was seeing.

"Smells like an armoury?" Luke asked with raised eyebrow and he and Sara mounted the stairs, "Your nose must be acting up or something. There's no reason for there to be gunpowder of any type in here."

If Luke had known Sara longer then her comment might have set off alarm bells in his mind but since he didn't know how truly sensitive her nose was he simply chose to ignore the warning. "Gunpowder... who in the world would use gunpowder to install security equipment?" Luke muttered under his breath as he followed behind Sara, watching her check one bedroom and then finally move on to the master bedroom.

"Well... even if your sense of smell is on the fritz your skills as a burglar are still excellent." Luke spoke up a little as Sara, "You may just make it out with the trophy yet."

(Hope you don’t mind if I God Mode just a little bit. If I over step my bounds, PM me. I’ll change things.)

"Your nose must be acting up or something. There's no reason for there to be gunpowder of any type in here."

Sara shrugged. She was trying to clear her nose but without the help of coffee beans or blowing her snout into her sleeve, witch really looked weird, Sara wasn’t having any luck. The sent was still there. “Maybe someone who was installing your devices, had a gun.” Sara was trying to rationalize things. That wouldn’t tell why the smell was so strong, but she was trying to explain it. Back to work. Forget about the smells.

Sara felt like she was keeping her mind tied up. Like it was a little puppy that kept wondering off of the path. Normally she would let it wonder, and she’d either clear her nose, or search for the smell. Allow the curiosity to take over and find out why her senses were on the fritz. As Luke had put it.

"Well... even if your sense of smell is on the fritz your skills as a burglar are still excellent. You may just make it out with the trophy yet."

Sara smirked. “I never got a trophy before.” She heard a light buzzing from inside the bedroom but she assumed the, nearly silent, electrical buzz was coming from the safe. It was one of those with a key panel on it. Not the old fashioned one with the round lock that one could hear when they were getting the combinations right. Score one for Luke there. unless the numbers on the buttons were warn off slightly, guessing at combinations were tricky. Plus harder to fool with these safes. So with her assuming the buzz came from the Safe, Sara didn’t take the time to pinpoint it. She pushed the door open harder, causing the door to break one of the lazar beams set in the room, and all hell broke loose.

An alarm sounded making Sara’s ears pin tight against her head. She jumped and her eyes dilated. Luke just had to say something right then. Didn’t he. In that split second his words echoed in Sara’s mind. ’You may just make it out with that trophy yet.’ he just had to jinx her. Didn’t he. DIDN”T HE!

With her senses running wild all of a sudden, she saw panels slide back on either side of the door. She shoved Luke back into the hall way just as two flames crossed at the doors center. Singing Sara’s arm, but that was it, as she hopped back. A steal plate slide down, and Sara stared. Cradeling her burned arm while it healed. “What the Hell, LUKE!”

Things were moving smoothly and Luke was making mental notes about the report he would write once this whole thing was completed and he was back to work on the following day. Sara had thoroughly impressed him while at the same time showing just how weak the security system in this house was.

"Power box sensors and a combination of laser and motion sensors at entrances." Luke murmured quietly to himself as Sara moved into the bedroom. It was then that, to put it bluntly, all hell broke loose.

Alarm bells split the air and for a moment Luke was frozen as he tried to understand what had just happened. Motion sensors and laser beams were not normal instalations for a bedroom! Before he could think Sara spun and shoved him out of the room just in time for him to miss being hit by two flame throwers that had suddenly slid out from panels in the wall. As he stumbled back and fell to the hallway floor a large steel panel slid down to cover over the bedroom door.

“What the Hell, LUKE!” Sara's voice yelled out though it was slightly muffled coming through the steel panel.

Quickly rising to his feet Luke felt his senses sharpen as he focused on the situation. Something had gone horribly wrong and he didn't know why! The air stunk of burnt fur and flesh and he had know way of knowing just how badly injured Sara was!

"Sara!" Luke yelled, slamming his hand open faced into the steel door, "Are you OK? Can you still move?"

Sara had back pedaled so far, she bumped into the bed. Her arm was tightening with the fur that was falling out. If Sara hadn’t had fur, she’d probably be singed less. The fur was holding the heat in and against her flesh, that now looked like it was bubbling as her skin tightened.

She resisted the urge to pad her own skin. Choosing to hold her arm by the elbow, with her other hand. The burn seemed to grow as blisters bloomed, before her skin started to smooth back out to it’s normal shape.

"Sara! Are you OK? Can you still move?"

“I can move. Just having to heal.” Sara yelled through the steal door. Luke’s voice sounded muffled and echoed against the steal plate. “I didn’t peg your company as the sort to make security like this. No wonder you needed a new consultant.” Sara said. Her voice dripping with sarcasm. Luke was either very smart, and trying to kill Sara, or very stupid, and not. He could have gotten burned by his own devise. Sara’s mind raced back and forth. She wasn’t sure if she should be trusting him or not. Luke didn’t make sense to her, and the situation didn’t make sense to her.

Would he have given her a job to try to kill her? Had she pissed him off that much, the night she interrupted him and Raina? A lot of the thing he did for her, after what she repeatedly did to him, did seem to good to be true. Sara’s nose wrinkled and she shot a glare at the door. Where she heard Luke on the other side. Then why risk himself getting burned? He’d have to count on her giving him a shove. Or maybe on sensing the things coming and falling back. Would he have done that? She really wasn’t sure what to think.

Sara thought about just leaving, but a look at the window told her there was no chance of that. The window had sealed it’s self just like the door. She reached out with her good arm, and gave the steal plate of the window, a hard punch. Smacking her knuckles into it. Ok that wasn’t working… She backed up to the center of the room, shaking the pain out of her good hand.

Ok so next option. Through a wall.

Sara hopped over the bed, and began raking away the dry wall next to the door. Careful not to activate one of the flame throwers. “The window, in here, is sealed just like the door.” She informed Luke as she removed panels of wall. She found the wiring for the flame thrower closest to her and pulled it, disabling that trap. Now how to get past the door? Sara punched her fist through the wall panel on the other side leading back into the hall way. Maybe if she made a big enough hole she could squeeze herself through the metal support beams.