"Manticore"
Among the high ranking members of Bregna`s government, rumor has it that Trevor Goodchild hides inside a box a secret that could utterly destroy him if it was revealed.
It`s none of Aeon`s business, but...
* * *
Not all of Bregna`s citizens have the chance of living in the best habitation complexes provided by the state. Despite all the best intentions of the ruling class, there are still many slums where corruption festers and decadence is a way of life.
The fact that these slums are home to the only decent strip clubs in all of Bregna doesn`t help the situation to change; if the slums go away, rich members of Breen society will lose their best, last and only source of strippers and hookers, leaving their dark urges unsated.
And so the slums remain, degrading with each passing day as rich people come through to buy themselves the sexual services they crave.
Hiding his middle-aged features behind a scarf, chair Ilean Bowman is walking down of of those dirty slum avenues and enters a strip club whose very existence will ensure the total lack of social progress in the neighbourhood for years to come. In the dark, sleazy atmosphere, he looks at the half-dressed girls and the many men gawking them as they remove their thin clothing. Most of these patrons are dirty, smelling nobodies, though many have very well groomed hair and fine clothing that gives away their social standing and annual income.
In the back of the club, many private booths are available for those who have... other business to conduct with the girls. It`s one of those booths that chairman Bowman goes to, pulling the thick curtain that serves as a door and provides a minimum amount of privacy. Looking inside, he sees in the soft light provided by the candle on the table that Aeon Flux is there already, waiting for him.
"Well?" she asks. "Come in, it`s not like you`ve never been here before." she adds, picking up her glass that was filled with an aromatic dark green liquid and gulping down the last of its content.
"I had to make sure I wasn`t followed." he says, justifying his hesitation to enter the booth.
"Let`s get down to business, shall we?" says Aeon. "I have other things I`d rather be doing."
"Yes. I`d like you to acquire a certain item for me, currently in the possession of Trevor Goodchild." explains Bowman.
"Let me guess: you`re after the Manticore box."
"You`ve heard of it?"
"It`s JUST a rumor, you do know that, don`t you?" asks Aeon.
"Just a rumor persistent enough to be true. I want that box!" says the chairman.
"Regardless of it`s existence or lack thereof, I still insist on getting paid for my efforts in trying to recover it." observes the leather clad woman.
"I`m certain that it does."
"In that case, my price is one million, cash, in monican currency."
"Wouldn`t Breen money be just the same?" wonders Ilean. Aeon slams her glass on the table in an angry show of persistance.
"NO! Breen money is useless for what I have in mind!!!" she yells.
"All right, I`ll pay, but it`s my entire stash... this better be good!"
"That`s not MY problem, now is it? Besides, destroying lives doesn`t come cheap, especially if it`s someone in high places." explains Aeon, taking a small piece of cinnamon rock candy from her jacket pocket and popping it in her mouth after removing its golden foil wrapper.
"I was wondering, Aeon... why did you choose THIS place to discuss our business? Did you ever... work here?" asks Bowman.
"Don`t you wish..." comments Aeon as she gets up and leaves.
* * *
Sitting at his office desk, governor Trevor Goodchild watches over his widescreen monitor and seeing all that his spy cameras see.
"Wednesday night is such a quiet moment of the week, not much going on..." reflects Trevor as he switches channels with his remote, watching one street after the other. Suddenly, he catches sight of a woman dressed in a very revealing black leather outfit.
"Well, well, look who`s here..." comments Trevor.
From a small cardboard box set on his desk, he picks up a piece of hard candy wrapped in golden foil; he puts it in his mouth and takes a pen. As the cinnamon candy slowly dissolves, Trevor quickly writes a note and places it well in view on his desk. He then turns off his monitor and lamp, leaving the office which he locks behind him.
It takes less than ten minutes before Aeon Flux sneaks in through the window. Armed with a small flashlight, she goes straight for the safe hidden behind the abstract painting. Aeon opens her belt pouch and takes an earpiece mounted with a miniature microphone which she sticks on the safe`s armored door. She then proceeds to turn the dial left and right, listening closely for the amplified clicking sound that indicates she found one of the combinaison`s numbers.
The safe easily surrenders its precious contents to the master thief, a little black metal box locked by a number pad. The the side on the lock is the detailed drawing of a lion with a human face, eagle wings and a scorpion`s tail, the mythical manticore.
"Jackpot." thinks Aeon.
On her way out to the window, she catches a golden glint with her flashlight. She notices the small candy box on the ofice.
"Oh, how nice... don`t mind if I help myself, Trevor darling!" she says. Aeon triffles through the candy box, but come up empty handed with nothing more than a few empty wrappers. "Darn, I really could have gone for one of those, they`re my favorite." she says as she notices the note Trevor left.
- I had a feeling you`d drop by, so I saved you a piece for later. T.G.
"Sorry Trevor, no time to look around. I have a delivery to make." thinks Aeon, stuffing the manticore box in her backpack and slipping her catclaw gloves for the long climb down. She leaves into the night.
* * *
"I heard the rumors, governor Goodchild, I`m afraid your enemies might be moving against you even as we speak." says Chairman Lauranne Levine to Trevor as they eat their dinner.
"You shouldn`t worry like this, Lauranne, I haven`t come this far in life by not watching my back." replies Trevor. "More wine?"
"Yes, please... But what will happen if... someone should get their hands on this manticore box I heard about? What happens to you if your enemies find it?!?"
"Quite simple, actually. I`ll crush them. I think dessert would be nice right about now, don`t you?" askes Trevor, snapping his fingers to have the pastry cart moved close to their table.
"Yes, that would be nice..." agrees Lauranne.
* * *
With loud, fast paced music in the background, Ilean Bowman awaits nervously for Aeon Flux to arrive. He waits alone in the same private booth where he hired her earlier that day with a briefcase full of money to keep him company.
A hand pulls the purple velvet curtain and she comes in, carrying a leather briefcase identical to Bowman`s.
"About time you got here." snarls Bowman.
"You could have gotten one of the girls to help you get more comfortable, you know. This IS the sort of place to do that kind of thing." comments Aeon.
"Here`s the money." says Bowman, opening his briefcase and showing Aeon the contents: hundreds of bills carefully tied in neat stacks, lining the briefcase from top to bottom.
"And here`s the box." says Aeon, opening her briefcase to show him the prize of her raid on Trevor`s office.
They quickly close the briefcases and put them down on the floor under the table.
"Now, Aeon, how do I open that thing anyway?" asks Bowman.
"How should I know? You hired me to steal it, not open it. That`s your own concern." Aeon replies.
"No matter. One of my staff member was once convicted for hacking security systems. I find that someone with those skills comes in handy every then and again."
"Glad you can work this out by yourself. It`s been nice working with you!" says Aeon, kissing chairman Bowman to distract him from the fact that she is grabbing the briefcase with the manticore box, and not the one with the money.
"See you around!" she adds, leaving in a hurry.
Ilean takes a portable phone from his jacket pocket and dials up a number.
"Sheila, get an emergency council meeting organized... and make sure the governor is there. Yes, it`s a priority Aleph situation, I`ll be right over." he says, then hangs up. "Goodchild, I have you now!!!" he thinks.
* * *
"There`s been a break-in at my office." declares Trevor at a special meeting of the high breen council. "It seems, from my security cameras. that SOMEONE has hired a dangerous monican agent to burglarize my safe- of course, you all realize that the culprit will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law once he or she is caught."
"Maybe, on the other hand, the governor is afraid of what might transpire of a certain item publicly exposed..." suggests Bowman as he takes his briefcase from underneath the large table where council meetings took place. Bowman has a smug expression on his face, the kind that is full of overconfidence.
"Do you have something to add, Ilean?" asks Trevor.
The entire board holds its breath as the open confrontation begins between the two strong willed men.
"Are you confessing to something, Ilean? Did you steal my manticore?" asks Trevor.
"I acted under the loyalty act which you enacted yourself, Trevor, thus this theft is patriotic in nature and will be used to prosecute YOU rather than me..." says Bowman.
The chairmen whisper and talk in hushed voices, as they suddenly realize that the manticore box really does exist.
"You have been hiding secrets from us, Trevor, and this manticore box is the last straw!" says Bowman as he motions to one of his aides to come closer. "I will show everyone exactly what kind of man you are, Trevor, and they will all see me as..." says Bowman, leaving his sentence unfinished from the shock of surprise as he opens his briefcase and finds not the locked metal box, but the very same money he thinks he had given to Aeon.
The audience goes into shock as it lays eyes on the large amount of money.
"You didn`t take too long to sell my secrets away, did you?" comments Trevor.
"I... I don`t understand... this is wrong!!!"
"It certainly is. Add treason and possession of an illegal currency to the list of charges to be pressed against you, Ilean. Guards, seize this criminal!"
* * *
A few meters away from the heavily guarded breen/monican borderline, Aeon takes the manticore box out of the briefcase and carries the metal box under her arm as she dodges machine gun fire to cross the border in a superb display of acrobatics.
She couldn`t wait to be home.
* * *
"Governor Goodchild, you didn`t seem surprised by Bowman`s attempt to destabilize your position, why is that?" asks Lauranne after the meeting`s brutal end.
"I`ve known his intentions for months now. He`s been planning to take over the reigns of power in Bregna and invade Monica- he was a dangerous megalomaniac and had to be dealt with. Such a mad plan was sure to condemn both countries to certain destruction. My manticore box was the best way to stop him." says Trevor.
"But... what about the box? Who has it now???"
"Don`t worry, it`s actually worth very little to me. It could be worth something to only one person, the single individual for whom the contents of the manticore box is worth going through all this trouble..." explains Trevor. "Enjoy it, Aeon, wherever you are." he whispers.
* * *
Click.
Aeon turns on the light to her appartment. Through her bedroom window, she can see across the borderline wall into her neighbour`s home- Onan is taking care of his girlfriend Sybil who had her legs cut off in a failed attempt to cross over to Monica a year ago.
But that doesn`t matter.
She sits on her bed and looks at the number pad that keeps the box shut tight as an oyster while she removes her tight clothes, wondering what combination might open it up. With nothing but her underwear on, she feels more relaxed and finds she can concentrate better on the task at hand.
"Let`s see, her`s totally obsessed with me, so it has to be... chest, waist hips!" says Aeon as she punches in her measurements:
40-24-34
Click, click, whirrr.
Surely enough, the manticore box opens and releases the precious contents, the ultimate secret of Trevor Goodchild... a single piece of cinnamon rock candy wrapped in golden foil.
"Ah, Manticore brandname cinnamon candy, you really know what I like, Trevor!"
She unwraps the candy and pops it in her mouth. Inside the box she finds a note written on a small piece of paper.
- There`s plenty more where that came from. T.G.
With one hand, she skillfully tosses the now useless manticore box into the wastebasket.
"It`s amazing what a girl will do for her favorite treat." says Aeon as she sucks slowly on the delicious breen made cinnamon candy.
* * *
*It is man, not nature, who decides that gold and diamonds are precious. Man determines that dirt is worthless, so it is. He decides rubies and money are valuable, so they are.*
*Worth is not inherent, it is a perception.*
* * *
Created by Peter Chung
Written by Yohann DeSabrais