“Who are these two?” Krayat asked hesitantly as soon as she walked into the meeting room on the appointed day.
“Your heist team,” Phon informed her, not that it did much to sway the thief’s opinion.
“Just them?” The Burglar was already feeling bad about the whole idea. “And they don’t exactly look the thieving type.”
“Well this is Whill and Valen,” The Vixen introduced them anyways. “Unfortunately, they’re about all we can spare without our other operations coming to a halt.”
“Yes, you should take that as an insult, Whill,” Phon looked straight at the man who had raised his hand at that notion, and then slowly pulled it back down. “But this little job will essentially be done off of our books. We want no record whatsoever that we’re messing with you-know-who in any capacity.”
Valen raised her hand this time. “Who are we robbing exactly?”
“Quiet, you!” Phon hissed at the woman in response. “I told you that you’ll get no details. If you keep pushing it, I’ll retract your payment. Seriously, watch your mouth around that one, Krayat. She won’t reveal anything condemning directly, but if she finds out who we’re robbing, you will be the star of an upcoming erotic novel between you and our mutually-hated-mawhger. And I’m sure you don’t want that to happen.”
“As for this team, though, it’s better than it might appear at first glance,” The Vixen assured her. “I was originally going to have Kada assist you, but for reasons we’ll get to, that’s no longer an option. It’s also why I can’t be presently involved during the heist, though I was going to pawn it off anyways. But fret not, these two should be all you need. Assuming they actually work properly for once in their lives.”
“Whill, here, can attract any object to himself. There’s specifics to understand, but I’m sure you can immediately understand how that would be useful. Valen’s a bit harder to explain, but she can control blood. I won’t bore you with the details, but it basically allows her to access just about every Fiend’s Curse on a smaller scale. Like a budget multi-tool of Fiends. Her presence should make up for the smaller team.”
“Ideally, given all the research we’ve done on the target, you should have everything you need with just the three of you combined. And if one or all of you were to tragically perish, well… no great loss would be sustained. Yes Whill, that is another insult.”
“While I admit you’ve done an acceptable job leading West, Lieu would step in I’m sure. And for Valen, most of her blood research is complete, and the rest taking longer would honestly make Ahvra happier since she’s an experiment addict. For the teleporting, I’d have to take over full-time. But it’s not a big deal. I’m covering for you right now, and my inner-brain child pretty much does it entirely on her own. I don’t even have to really think about it.”
“But, because of my brother and our ludicrous employee protection policies, I’ll endeavor to make sure you all survive this. Though, ultimately your lives will be in your own hands as with any mission. So you’ll want to pay attention as we go through our intel. If you take a seat, Krayat, we can begin.”
As the group sat down around the meeting table, off to the side, a screen turned on. “This is the target for the heist: an action figure that was popular a few decades ago. On release, it sold for a retail price of $111 Horage Horsons. With inflation and all that jazz, it would roughly translate to $157 Commons today.”
“That’s it?!” Whill was in disbelief. “We’re doing a dangerous heist just for that?! I mean, it is a cool toy that I wanted as a kid. My neighbor, Beremy, had one, but wouldn’t let me play with it. Instead, he made me watch as he enjoyed it all to himself. Maybe I should pick one up now that I have a decent cash flow and return the favor!”
“Well, they’ve long since been discontinued,” The Vixen viciously destroyed his hopes. “They can only be purchased now through second-hand sellers. One that is unopened and in perfect-condition would sell upwards of 40-grand at an auction. Not a bad chunk of change, but certainly well below the prizes that Krayat is known to steal.”
“The toy we’re after, is certainly not as well maintained—out of the box and with heavy wear and tear. Not only that, certain components are missing—mailed to Krayat over the years to keep her in line. By my best estimated value, and I got an expert's evaluation as well, we’re looking at a rough value of… dun duh duh dun… $12 Commons. And that would just be so they can scrap what is still worthwhile as repair parts for better kept ones.”
“Now I’m not bringing this up to dissuade you or make fun of you, Krayat—though it is really mawhging funny whenever I think about it. I just want you to be fully aware of what you are risking your life for and obsessing over. A final check to confirm your commitment, you could say.”
“Yes, I am well aware that the toy is just cheap junk at this point,” the thief held no delusions. “But it doesn’t matter to me. The sentiment it holds is invaluable. I will pay any price to have my beloved in my hands again. And if these two can get it back to me, I will pay them both millions.”
“M-Millions?!” Whill nearly fell out of his chair. “That uhh… to someone like me who was an office drone all their life, it’s hard to imagine. I don’t make chump change in my current position, but most of it goes to legal bills and damages. To actually have that money for me, well it’d be life changing. Alright, count your new best-friend Whill into this. I will die to get you that toy! But not literally. Need to be alive for personal reasons.”
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
“The money’s no real concern to me,” Valen added her two-cents, or her disinterest in it. “I’m more keen about all the inspiration this will provide, along with the juicy details that Phon has promised me. I’m mostly interested in the time the four Greaters were all living in a cramped apartment together. But insights about your childhood and years of separation should add so much character depth. My fan-fics will reach new heights!”
“Are you certain these two are the best suited for this?” Krayat turned to Phon once more, her eyes aching with concern.
“Eh, I’m sure it will be fine,” The Vixen dismissed the notion. “So let’s move on and talk about what you’ll be facing. First, here’s a general diagram of where the toy is being held. In the grand scheme, the vault it’s in isn’t that big, and the door leads to direct access outside.”
“Here at the end you’ll see a circle with the toy. Since this is an above angle, it doesn’t give the best picture. But the toy is actually in a large glass pipe, sitting on top of a metal grate. The pipe is hooked up to a high-pressure pump that, if triggered, will release an acid that will dissolve the toy in 0.41 seconds. I won’t keep mentioning it, but just assume any other obstacles I’m about to mention will also trigger the acid.”
“The pipe’s glass is hooked to tamper sensors. Even a scratch and the alarms will trigger. So there’s no way to cut through it or break it without the toy being dissolved. This was primarily what I wanted to use Kada or her blood for, but that’s a no-go.”
“And then there’s the issue of even getting to the pipe. Assuming you go in through the front door, which you’ll have to, there’s countless lasers blocking the path that you’ll have to circumvent. Fortunately, the lasers themselves are visible, but their placement is sporadic, and a few sets of them rotate on a wheel. If you touch one of the lasers, not only will it trigger the alarm, but it’s also strong enough to slice through whatever it touches.”
“The walkway to the pipe of course has a weight sensor. If anything remotely the weight of a person—or even a baby, honestly— if they step on it, the alarm goes off. There are also motion-sensor cameras throughout the room, with blindspots only at the rotating laser wheels and the very front door. Of course, if they spot any motion at all, the alarm goes off.”
“And not to mention, the cameras are also Fiend sensors. If they pick up the aura of a Fiend at a size of again, roughly a baby or more, the alarm will go off. And not to mention, these are specially upgraded Fiend sensors. They will trigger if Drim, Kada, Xard, or I—or even our blood—is inside the room in any capacity.”
“Apparently, back when we faked our own deaths, they did some blood draws while our bodies were locked up. None of us noticed because of our dulled senses, and we were being shuffled around constantly. We could only really hear at that time as our main source of what was going on. Fortunately, this was back before both they and we really knew what Fiend blood was capable of, so it was locked away and preserved, still never really experimented on.”
“Since I found this out, I went and retrieved the samples, so they can’t be used further. However, the issue is that our humble host of this heist apparently managed to acquire some drops. So if any of us Greaters, barring Jaid, were to step a single foot inside of the premises, the alarm would trigger. And before you ask, no she is unavailable for this task, as useful as she may be. While I do have her on other assignments, it’s more her wit I’m worried about. She might figure out who we’re robbing, and I’m not sure that even she’s ready for that truth.”
“Getting into the building is another issue, one we’ve already solved—more on that later. But just if you’re curious, it’s a very secure vault door, that if tried to force open or is damaged in any capacity, you guessed it, the alarm goes off.”
“Oh and I should probably mention what happens if the alarm goes off. “Uhhh… Boom. Boom boom boom boom boom boom boom. The entire place will blow the mawhg up. There’s enough explosives in the walls to not only destroy the entire building and everyone in it—Fiend and human alike. Oh and it will also trigger the acid dump just for good measure, to make sure the toy is dissolved before it’s blown to bits.”
“But the explosion will also almost certainly cause a massive rathequake and sinkhole, swallowing the building and everything nearby, like a concentrated mini-nuke specifically designed to obliterate anyone who attempts this heist, and also any of the guards standing nearby.”
“I suppose I should mention there’s guards. Of course there’s guards. They’re in disguise, but they’re ready to kill you on sight. Oh, and they do radio check-ins every hour. If one doesn’t respond within a minute, they have manual triggers to deploy the acid and destroy the toy. It might also trigger the explosives, I’m unsure, but they wouldn’t tell the guards if it did, because then they probably wouldn’t push the button.”
“And just in case you thought you could just kill them all in an hour's time span, because that would be laughably easy for us, they’re all hooked up to deadman switches when on the clock. So if even one of them suddenly dies, toy goes bye bye.”
“That does it for the traps and triggers, so let’s talk about the building itself. You won’t be able to break into it without making something go boom, so the front door is the only option. I also can’t teleport you inside, and I won’t be able to see or rescue you once you’re in there. Because of course, the building is wrapped in aura, essentially making it alive.”
“Thankfully, it’s gone a bit more ethical, and doesn’t use a living battery like it did back at the Power Station. Instead, they’ve figured out how to make it synthetic, running off the blood from the guards that they give a bit too each shift. And I’m sure you’ve assumed it already, but if you tamper with the aura system, boom, death. There are also no movie-like vents to crawl through, because there is no need for airflow into the building. It’s not meant for someone to survive in there for more than a few minutes”
Whill then raised his hand again and chimed in. “So what you’re saying then is that it’s impossible and we should go back to our boring and safe lives, right? I’m all in favor of quick cash and all, but death is not a part of my retirement plan.”
“Yes, it was designed to be effectively unbreachable,” Phon openly agreed. “None of our Fiend powers would allow you to get inside the building for any reason without triggering their traps. It’s well-thought out and effective, and someone has clearly done their research. But like any system, it has its vulnerabilities.”