"Come on! It was an accident!" exclaimed the hoodie-wearing woman, she stood outside the dimly lit gas station, it was late, definitely after midnight, on top of that, it was raining recently.

The cheap yellow lights reflected in the puddles and wet concrete.

The woman was in the middle of being fired by the only other employee.

"Look, you can't accidentally steal a cash register!" the man exclaimed pinching the roof of his nose.

"Honestly, did you expect me not to noticed that - A; a cash register was missing, not just the money inside but the machine itself and B; your purse was three-times its original size and being dragged along the floor by you." asked the depressed-looking man in his forties, he wore a stained blue shirt with a nametag.

"Come on, man! I left the money out!" she exclaimed trying to appeal to the owner.

"You and I both know the cash register is worth more than whatever was inside..." the man replied.

"Little does he know, I stuffed the cash register full of ski*tles beforehand!" she thought.

"Plus I know you put a bunch of candy inside of the machine, you know I have cameras in the shop!" he exclaimed looking almost sad for the terrible attempt at thievery.

"Tch!" she turned away from the man.

"Fine, I guess I quit!" she exclaimed reaching into her purse and pulling out a pack of cigarettes before taking one out and lighting it with a see-through yellow lighter.

"Whatever, you're lucky I didn't call the cops on you!" the man yelled back walking back into the building, the old, creaky sliding doors struggling to open.

Reluctantly the woman began making her way home.

She wore a black hoodie and jeans.

"Aw, man... I really thought I could pull that heist off!" she thought digging through her pockets and pulling out a pack of ski*tles.

"I have bills to pay! It's not my fault nowhere will hire me!" the thought made her ease up a little.

Her mind occupied with her thoughts, she didn't notice the man walking in front of her, she walked right into him and fell down to the floor.

The man was wearing a grey-green coat with a brown fur lining along with sweatpants and runners.

"Watch where you're going..." the man hissed before walking past her.

"Oh, sorry!" she called out, but as soon as the man disappeared she cracked a smile, she looked down and saw a fistful of coins she swiped from his pocket when he bumped into her.

"Well, well, didn't even plan on robbing the poor fool, but instinct is instinct!" she laughed.

She began counting the coins and that's when she realised they were just a fistful of buttons and a piece of candy covered in dirt and hair.

"Gross..." she thought tossing the trash into a puddle beside her.

"Naww, crap... I thought my spending money would go up, but it looks like I'm still broke..." she lamented.

She reached for her pocket and realised she was missing her wallet.

"What the!?" she turned around and looked at the way she walked.

"Did I drop it?!"

"No... no... NO!" she let out a cry as she practically sprinted back the way she walked.

"MY MONEY!" she cried.

After a few minutes of panicked searching, she once again bumped into the same man, he was eating a hotdog with an ungodly amount of ketchup.

If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

"Twice in the last fifteen minutes, eh?" asked the man with raised eyebrows, less pissed off and more amazed.

He took a bite of his hotdog.

"Oh, it's you again! Say, did you see a wallet anywhere here by chance?" she asked looking up at the man.

He scratched his chin whilst chewing the hotdog.

It was a long, drawn-out chewing, every few seconds he'd raise a finger as if to say "One second..." 

"How long can you chew a hotdog!?" she thought looking at him with the same pleasant-looking look from before.

Eventually, the man swallowed.

"How does it look?" he asked, much to her horror he took another bite of hotdog and began chewing.

"Ermmm... it's... it's one of those pouch-looking ones, black in colour with a metal snappy thing on the top!" she exclaimed.

Again, the man slowly processed the information whilst processing the processed meat in his mouth.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out her wallet before tossing it her way.

He swallowed the bite of hotdog.

"Yeah, I found it earlier."

Her eyes lit up and she laid hands on her precious (sometimes) money-holding vessel. 

"Thank you so much!" she exclaimed grinning ear-to-ear.

"No, thank you. The hotdog's great..." the man laughed before walking past the now confused woman and into the darkness of a nearby alley.

"...what did he-?" her eyes darted down to her purse, something felt wrong, she opened it and... it was empty.

"THAT SON OF A -" she stood up and began her pursuit, she ran into the alley and saw the man standing in front of a building, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small paint can.

With yellow paint, he drew a large smiley-face on the wall.

"Who the hell does that thief think he is!?" she looked at him from over a corner.

From around a different corner arrived a group of four, they all wore similar clothes and held knives in their hands.

"What the hell are you doing here?! We found this place first!" hissed the man in the front, he had slick hair but an ugly, unkempt beard.

"Oh really? Then would you care to show me where your signature is?" asked the wallet-thief pointing to the building on which he just graffitied.

"Now you're asking to get your ass kicked!" called out a man from the back, he took a step forward and revealed that he was wielding a crowbar.

The wallet thief pointed at the man and grinned.

"You, I like you! Join my team!" he exclaimed.

The man with the crowbar froze, he looked to his friend and back to the man before bursting into laugher.

"Is this how you plan to avoid an ass-whoopin'?!" he laughed.

The walled thief's smile faded, "So that's a no?" he asked crossing his arms behind his back.

"Marble was put in the hospital, you can't participate solo, y'know," the man remarked.

"I don't give a shit!" the man ran at the thief, weapon in hand, he swung it at him, the man effortlessly tripped the man up, snatching the crowbar form his hand and instantly tossing it up a few times to gauge its weight.

"Very sturdy!" he remarked as the other three ran at him, knives in their hands.

With the crowbar, he grabbed onto one of the people's sleeves, burying it in the fabric before thrusting their hand at one of their allies.

In retaliation, the man who was just stabbed elbowed his ally who wasn't even responsible for the stab wound to the side.

The last remaining attacker was taken out with a crowbar thrown at high speed to the crotch.

The four attackers on the ground in a mid of blood and rainwater, the man grabbed his spray can and painted them all yellow.

"Nice..." he remarked.

When he turned around he was met with the woman from before standing before him.

They looked at each other for a long, draw-out while.

He raised his hand slowly and in one slick motion waved in front of her face.

"You will remember nooo~ne of this!" he said before she slapped his hand away.

"Give me my money back!" she exclaimed.

"What, no! You're the thief!" the man replied crossing his arms. 

"Dude! I just got fired today, I have like... a week tops to find a new job and it better not have any cameras!" she replied repeatedly poking the man in the chest with her index finger.

"Now that you mention it, you are a pretty good thief..." the man remarked.

"Flattery will get you nowhere, pay up!" she replied sternly.

"How about a job?" he offered.

"Just pay u-" she cut herself off.

"Did you say... a job?" she asked.

"Yeah, you can consider me an... explorer! My partner got a little bit injured in our last mission and according to the rules of the game we can't go exploring alone... so I came out in search of recruits!" he exclaimed.

"Wait... so... what exactly do you do?" she asked quizically.

"Interested in a tutorial?" the man asked looking to the marked building.

"...Maybe... that depends on what it includes... and what's the pay like?" she asked.

"A five-hundred dollars payment per explored location, plus anything you find and a sweat dental plan," the man explained.

"You had me at five, then you added the hundred, I'm in!" she replied.

"Alright then!" the man reached into his pocket and pulled out a phone, it looked like it had a thick, worn-out case.

He tapped in three numbers before someone instantly picked up.

"What is it?" asked the voice from the other end.

"I have a partner!" exclaimed the man said smugly.

"Oh for god's sa-... look ...alright... look... hand them the phone." the voice on the phone instructed.

The man did as instructed.

"Hello?" asked the woman.

Hesitantly the voice on the other side replied.

"Is he holding you hostage, cough twice if the answer is yes."

"N-no... he's not..." she replied uncertainly.

"Alright... if he holding a family or friend hostage?"

"No..."

"A... a pet?"

"No?"

"Is somebody being held hostage?!"

"NO!"

"Ugh... fine, look, I assume he already clued you in on how the job works..."

"He did not..." the woman thought but remained silent.

"We'll mail you a registration form within the next thirty minutes," the voice explained.

"Alright, my address is-" she was cut off.

"Don't worry, we already know where you live." the voice replied before hanging up.

The man snatched the phone from her hand.

"Now then... about the tutorial mission!" the man gestured to the building.

"Right... but first, what do I call you?" she asked.

The man grinned, this was the question he was waiting for.

"Call me, Spaghetti!" the man exclaimed.

"..."

"..."

The silence was thick and it lingered, like the flavour of a bad raisin that never leaves your mouth the silence remained.

"..."

"Are you alright, man?"

"Look, nobody goes by their actual names in this business!" the man replied, seemingly unhappy about the woman's lack of admiration of his name.

"So you go with spaghetti?" she asked with raised eyebrows.

"That's because I'm not in this game just for the money, I'm here for the artefact!" he exclaimed.

"Artefact?" she asked.

"That's right, according to legends, somewhere in this massive city lays an artefact, nobody knows what it is, but everyone wants it!" the man exclaimed.

"The rich, poor, those in debt and those fighting diseases, mobs and scientists, everyone is in this game for the ultimate prize!" the man continued, his excitement rising with every word.

"Everyone speculates on what it is, my hospitalised partner thought it was some rich kid's expensive gift or toy that they lost, like a diamond-encrusted watch or a fancy car, like a lost marble under the couch nobody wanted to look for since they have a dozen more. That's why he goes by Marble."

"I believe it's probably something stupid, something that lost all non-sentimental value long ago, the metaphorical 'King Arthur's Spaghetti'." the man exclaimed.

She looked at the man with a wry expression, "What the fuck have I gotten myself into..." she thought.