Moonstrike 18: two cats on a hot rooftop gym

CHAPTER 18

The next thing that Ji Min did of any note that Friday was her long-awaited meeting with the other cat burglar. She had a thrill in her chest as she made her way across town that it was finally happening. She stashed all of her luggage in a train station locker and made the final leg on foot.

She felt vaguely guilty for being so excited. She should resent the detour. It was the only errand standing in the way of her going home.

'But she paid for my hotel,' Ji Min told herself virtuously. 'It's only decent to keep up my end and meet her.'

She'd never collaborated before. Maybe this was her first chance to make a new super criminal contact!

'Fingers crossed that she's cool.'

The address turned out to be an expensive, multifloor private sports club at the top of a building with different businesses on every floor. Ji Min ignored the reception desk on the 6th floor and slunk her way to the 8th floor unseen.

A woman was waiting against the wall by an open door, posed expertly in a monochrome cream outfit that popped against her dark skin. She had a half mask in the same color, with tinted glass that covered her eyes. She smiled when Ji Min came out of the stairwell.

"You must be Echo." She straightened her posture in a confident shift of sleek muscles. She indicated that Ji Min should follow her in a doorway.

Ji Min let the door fall shut. The distant humming of machinery on another floor cut off. This gym was sound proofed. She relaxed at the reassurance.

"Bengal," the woman introduced. She extended a long, elegant hand. When Ji Min took it, it was cool to the touch. Ji Min rotated her hand quickly and pulled away.

"Oh," Bengal said, amused, and put her hands up innocently. "I was just checking."

"Leave my rings alone," Ji Min muttered, readjusting the jewelry that the other thief had tried to pull off. "Unless this is going to be less friendly than I anticipated."

"No, no, we're friendly here," Bengal protested. She sounded a little serious. "I'm sorry, I won't play with you. Before I give you the information, I need to know that you have foundational skills relevant to the task. Would you mind doing some parkour and a little bit of acrobatics with me?" She gestured to the gym.

Ji Min tilted her head and stayed stiff in a way that wasn't entirely friendly. "What would you like to see?" She asked. She followed the other woman inside.

"You'll need to be able to move like I do for this plan to work. So. I'll demonstrate a movement or two, you copy, and then we move on?"

Ji Min accepted the proposal and watched. Bengal threw a wink back and then launched herself from total stillness into a graceful backwards flip over a vault. Ji Min eyed the way the other woman landed and gave it a go, making a stab at the loose way Bengal held her hands in the air.

"A little aggressive looking," Bengal muttered, a hand to her lips. "And this?" She nimbly scaled a climbing wall and then pushed off of it, flipped midair, and landed in a crouch on top of the same vault. She held the pose for a moment before straightening and dropping off.

Ji Min copied. She hadn't been paying enough attention to be sure she used the same handholds but she stopped at the same height and made the landing on the vault.

"You can do it all, but you look like you're about to hit someone in the face when you get there," Bengal said. She sounded amused about it. "I think this will work, but only if you're willing to do some movement training with me so that you can switch that register."

Ji Min stepped off the vault and blew out air. "I'm not opposed," she said. She had wanted more training anyway. "What's the job?"

"I need a body double." Bengal let out a little sigh. "I've got a determined hero on my tail, and he thinks he knows my identity. I need to convince him that he's wrong." She raked her hands down her sides.

Ah. Ji Min put it together. "You put me in your costume, I commit a crime while he's got eyes on your civilian persona," she summarized.

She looked over Bengal with an eye for comparing their body types for the first time. Bengal was about the same height, but curvier. Padding could solve that. Maybe her legs were proportionally a little longer than Ji Min's, but that might also be a trick of body language and extended feet. Either way, in motion, it should be possible to pass.

"Just so." Bengal cut her an amused glance. "The date is set for 3 weeks from now, Friday night. I'll be on camera at the time."

"And I'll be stealing…?" Ji Min trailed off, waiting.

"From a particular museum." Bengal gave a little stretch. "I was there a few months ago and they rehauled their security system. There's nothing there that I truly want, but the new security is a convincing challenge that would get me back in there for a souvenir. Pick whatever you want, just clear it with me first so I can confirm that it won't be out of character."

"That works for me," Ji Min said. "I like it. What's the new security like?"

"I'll send you the building plans and watchmen patrol route later," Bengal dismissed. "I'd like you to do a workup for entry and then we can compare it against what I came up with. I'll send you an itemized list of the tech at my disposal – oh, are you superhuman?" She asked, and then breezed past without waiting for a response. "I'm not, so keep that in mind while you're acting as me."

Ji Min nodded, face blank. "About the movement training, when would you like to get started?" She asked. "My schedule is unpredictable, and the window to prepare isn't that considerable."

Bengal shrugged one shoulder. "If you have time, I can spare an hour or two now." She tossed her braid back over her shoulder with an elegant little hand flick. "And the last thing will be to get your measurements so I can have a suit made up for you."

"I know them, I'll text it to you." Ji Min started some stretches. "So, what do you want me to change in my body language?"

"Let's look at fluidity."

Ji Min repeated, "Fluidity?"

"You're flowing," Bengal explained. "You're not performing a series of actions, it's all one movement." She went through poses that Ji Min copied again and again until it was a coherent chain of movement. "You always need to think like that if you're going to pass for me." Silver blew her a little kiss. "Fighting isn't my first tactic."

After that she tweaked details– Bengal held her hands in the air with a distinctive finger splay. She held her chin a little higher than Ji Min did. She pointed her toes when she had the chance. She landed low. She tended to stand with her feet in 3rd position. She didn't fidget when at rest.

Ji Min took mental notes of all the characteristics to keep in mind.

The last thing they did was look at specs for the Silver Bengal suit. Ji Min could see herself wearing it. In fact, she could see herself wearing it on a regular basis. Speculatively, she pursed her lips and looked at Bengal under her lashes. "So, if you make a suit for me, what happens to it after this collaboration?"

Bengal let out an amused little huff. "We'll see," she said, and walked Ji Min out.

She went home for the weekend without detours. There was some logistical planning to do for the upcoming week of stakeouts and training, but in general, she was excited to spend two whole days with her family.

The trip home hardly felt like any time at all. Ji Min spent it on her phone looking up gyms and specialists. She got to her car at the station, paid the parking fee, and arrived home around 11:00 pm.

Every light in the apartment was on except for her bedroom light. Ji Min scoffed and lugged her bags up the stairs, smiling to herself. The sounds of a racing game drifted out through the white-painted wooden door. Ji Min didn't bother to dig out her keys. Instead she hit the door twice with her fist.

"Coming!"

A few seconds later Min Joon threw open the door and beamed down at her. Ji Min smiled back and then put a hand in his chest to push him backwards into the apartment.

"Welcome home," he sang.

"Hey." Ari raised a hand from where she was sitting on the sofa.

"Welcome back."

'She didn't leave?'

Ji Min blinked at Issa, but didn't comment. Her chest felt warmed with something she didn’t have time to examine. She tossed her bags into the closet to unpack later and then threw herself into the open space on the sofa.

"That's my spot," Min Joon complained. He shut the door and his whole body slumped in despair.

Ji Min moved to stand up. Ari slapped a hand on her leg to stop her.

"He was sitting on the chair," she tattled. "He just wants to make you move for him."

MJ immediately and loudly denied it. Issa laughed. Ji Min looked at her for confirmation and got nothing.

Whatever. She sank back into the seat and shrugged. "Pass me a controller?" She asked. "I wanna join in the next round."