The house wasn't the same to her any more. Physically, not many changes were made by the new owners. The roof still had that deep shade of red, but some shingles have been replaced with black ones, marring the uniformity. The porch was still dusty as usual. "Can't keep that wind blowing the factory soot into houses," she thought to herself. She looked around at the windows on the second floor, wondering if the tree branches were still in the same place as when she was younger. She could just climb in. No luck. The oak had been cut down, the only remaining feature a dark weathered stump to the left of the house.
She hoped that nobody was at home. She just needed to get into the basement, if there still was a basement. It had been popular to fill in basements with cement to stop people like her from taking advantage of people's houses. The government called them tunnelers - experts in geo-engineering who dug their way into the palace and held up the queen. She grinned slyly as she remembered that whole operation - such a delight to be on the offensive for a change.
Of course, the queen was just a figurehead. The real power rested with the branches of the government that controlled massive armies funded by taxes. But capturing the queen had been a great psychological win.
Inside the basement, if it was still there, would be scrawls from her youth, her name in rugged cursive, imagined maps to imaginary treasures, chunks of wall carved out by spoons and spades.
One of the ground level windows was concealed by a bush that wasn't there when she was little. She looked. Pulling branches back revealed the window, intact if worn, and slightly ajar.
It was mid-shift, and quiet, and she knew she could squeeze through, although unsure about the landing. Her prosthetic leg was overdue for maintenance, more like 3 years overdue, she chuckled. But firmware updates were expensive and it's not like she could waltz into the repair shop with a hacked prosthetic and expect anything good to happen.
So the landing might not be elegant, but into the basement she went.