I stared down at the man from out of his sight, feeling the blade in my hand. I shifted my gaze down to the blade, to the blood tracing down its length. It was surprisingly effective. I mean, I knew it could paralyze things thanks to Carone, but this was the first time I ever used it and saw the effects for myself.

I let out a sigh as I stared around the office. I had three hours now to move shit. I wanted to be out of here and gone by two at the most. I started with the spools of wire. There were fifteen of them up against the printer. My bag could fit two at a time, and my saddlebags could maybe fit three each. I decided five was a good number to snag so I could still have room for anything else. It would take at least three trips.

I was in a time crunch now, so I started moving the spools. They were easier than the statue had been, but not by much. The first trip was a bit rough, but the third was the easiest since I only had to move one across the warehouse.

Still, by the time I hauled myself up onto the roof and into the pile of my loot, I was starting to feel it. My legs burned from the constant work, and my arms felt even worse.

And yet that kleppy little kobold in the back of my head whispered to me. There were still treasures inside the Neo-Joker warehouse. Treasures practically begging to enter my bag and leave this place that didn’t appreciate them. It was impossible to tell it no.

I didn’t immediately move though. I took a minute to catch my breath and then loaded up my bag with the statue while I carried a spool of wire. It was best to play it safe for now and move the loot I already had before going in for more. Over the next thirty minutes, I carted all my new possessions to my bike, hiding them in the saddlebag.

Sweet temptation ate at me as I pushed the final spool into one of them. I barely had any room left anyway, I might as well just leave. And yet, the thought of all that stuff crying out for me to ‘liberate’ them froze me in my footsteps.

“This is stupid…” With extreme willpower, I resisted and marched on back to the alley, up the escape, and back into the warehouse. I dropped down onto the rack, pausing as I eyed my surroundings. Now what? I didn’t actually know where the vault was in the first place, and I had - I checked the time - about two hours left until the chrome dome in the office unfroze.

I walked the length of the rack, watching my surroundings for any hint of a vault door. I don’t know what I was expecting, but the far side of the racks was just a loading bay.

I jumped from rack to rack, careful to stay out of sight of the gonks walking around. The warehouse just continued on and on. My brain hurt for a moment as I dredged up the blueprint for the place I took a look at so long ago, but it was summoned up perfectly.

Where would they even hide a vault? I was thinking it would be on the outside walls of the warehouse, but those lead right out into the alleys. I sat down, laying back against a crate as I mentally walked through the blueprint.

The only spots for a vault to be hidden would be underground with a hatch somewhere in the warehouse, or… in Ruby’s. Ruby’s had several stories above it that the vault could’ve been hidden in too…

The thought of checking all of that wilted my desire to find it, but I pressed on back to the manager’s office. As the door shut behind me, and I stayed outside the view of the paralyzed ganger, I paced back and forth, trying to puzzle together its location.

No idea.

Before going any further, I moved over to some clothes tossed into the corner and cut off a jacket's sleeves. I rewrapped my hands several times, making sure no blood would leak out while I was moving.

I shifted focus and moved back to the terminal on the desk. I also took the opportunity to swipe half a bag full of parts and various weapon bits from the desk. More parts never hurt.

I clicked around on the terminal, swapping between camera feeds and through the security system for any sign of a clue. Eventually, I got back to the camera inside of the vault. The angle wasn’t quite right, but I could see the large panel door on the side of the vault, not the roof. Maybe not a hatch then?

I eyed it for any more clues. The door wasn’t a typical vault door like I’d seen in the past. Instead of the round ones that were pegged into the wall and could resist all sorts of impacts, this one was a large square panel that could slide out of the way. The camera was a bit too blurred to make out all the details though, so I wasn’t quite sure. Funny how shit cameras always were considering the basic level of tech these days.

Not that seeing any of that helped me- wait… good security was either too good and scared people off, or so subtle no one knew to break in. I’d been thinking it was the first this whole time since it was, well, a vault inside a gang storehouse. But what if it was the second?

I rechecked the cameras, mentally keeping track of each one's location on my mental blueprint of the building. I slowly combed through them, combining them all up until I had only a few dead zones.

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Most of them were chopped thanks to the logistics of the positions, but one in particular stood out to me: the airlock hallway. It was the perfect spot for a vault, considering both doors could be closed and locked without issue.

How do they open it though? I searched around the place, checking everywhere in the office and hallway until I stumbled upon an inconspicuous keypad inside of an air duct. I wouldn’t have even noticed it if I hadn’t thought to check the vents specifically. Most people thought it was good hiding spot, but if 'most' people think its a good hiding spot, then it isn't.

This guy was dumb enough to leave his password out and about, so surely I could find- wait, it was a three-number keypad… surely he didn’t… there’s no way someone’s that dumb. It would take chrome dome to a whole new level. But he also hadn't changed his password since the last time either...

Before trying it, I moved out through the hallway and locked both doors. Then I jogged back and put in the code: ‘123’. A second passed, two, three. The light on the small keypad turned green, sending a bolt of disbelief powerful enough to run over Cold-Blooded through me.

I moved out back into the hall, feeling numb. A seamless panel on the wall started to move, sliding into the wall and then off to the side as it revealed the vault proper. There's no way it's that easy, right? Who the hell set up the passwords for this place anyway?

Their misfortune was my fortune though. I didn’t immediately go in, instead opting to strip off my jacket as I felt the freezing cold beats of Cold-Blooded through my body. The heat sensors inside wouldn’t be an issue and the camera was still looped from earlier.

The inside of the vault was loaded with drugs and guns, of which I mostly ignored in favor of the other stuff. The guns were 3D printed mostly, and the drugs simply didn't interest me in the slightest.

There were crates of ammo and explosives off to a corner, body armor of various kinds neatly folded off to the side, even more guns, a bunch of tech stuff, and several briefcases stacked up. Then there were all different kinds of drugs that I glazed past.

I moved to the armor first, checking all of it out. For the most part, the armor was the heavy-duty kind that offered full protection, somewhat similar to a Crusader’s, but of much lower quality. There were even a few that seemed to have been made with stealth in mind. I recognized the fabric from my time in Tech’s learning space as thermal and anechoic fibers. Also maybe blackout considering how it looked?

I stuffed the stealth suit into my bag without a second thought, quickly followed by a single set of the heavier armor. Already plans were starting to go through my head of what I could do with them.

Then I shifted to the briefcases, popping each of them open as I looked through the loot. Most of them were chips of various kinds, but I did manage to find five ounces of gold in one of them, which I immediately pocketed. Free Rayn was free Rayn. I left most of the chips alone. I didn’t quite know what they were.

I moved over to the tech, my hands itching to just grab it all even if I knew I barely had room for more loot… I really need to get a car. Most of the stuff screamed at me to take, like the several sexy drones or the armed quadroped bots, and yet the fear of trackers kept me from it. The last thing I needed was for the Neo-Jokers to track me down. I could look through the armor and everything else easily, but not the tech without quite a bit of time. Time I didn't have.

Sorrow came to my eyes as I turned away completely. I really needed to start carrying around a BugHound. I forced myself to shift away, looking off to the side at a crate full of files.

I walked over, surprised to find mostly schematics for vehicles and weapons. Ah, not just vehicles, though. They were schematics for smuggling compartments and various other kinds of modifications. I raced through all of them, so much information instantly being memorized that my brain was practically melting by the time I was done.

I had to take a minute for my headache to stop before moving on. The first bulk was blackmail materials for various politicians, merchants, and corporate executives. I promptly stuffed my bag with them, filling it entirely.

The last bits were a bunch of fake IDs, communication logs for what looked to be previous operations, and a map of the city covered in safe houses. The map counted for Eidetic Schematic, so I instantly memorized every Neo-Joker safe house marked on it.

I looked through the communication logs briefly, but most of it was boring stuff I couldn’t be bothered with. Well, not boring, but stuff that would take a lot of time to look through.

I felt strong sifting through the files. At my fingertips, I had the power to destroy a part of the Neo-Jokers. If I just sent the files to the Blue Crusade, I could bring down half of the gang just like that.

They definitely had several failsafes, or at least they should considering how old the gang was, so I wasn't gonk enough to think I could bring down the entire gang. At least the Neo-Jokers were mostly contained to Aythryn City unlike the Jade Fangs and the Viento Cartel. Not that I even would bring down the gang. That was just asking for chaos to spread through Bricktown.

I wanted to grab more but knew I was already pushing my luck. And yet I felt so powerful here as I klepped valuables from the Neo-Joker vault uncontested. The feelings of absolute control and wealth that always hit me on high-end heists overruled Cold-Blooded briefly, bringing me a level of ecstasy and power I hadn't felt in a long time.

They were a dangerous combo. I took a few moments to allow Cold-Blooded to reassert itself before doing anything else. Arrogance was the fall of many.

I stopped by the grenade cases. I filled about half my pockets with grenades, managing to fit twelve of them in the various pockets of my tech wear. The other half was stuck full of detcord, plastic explosives, and other bits and bobs. They were far too useful and hard to acquire for me not to grab any of them.

Before leaving, I moved several of the boxes into a small platform in the middle of the vault. There, I pulled out one of my calling cards, clicked it on, and stuck it in between the gap between two crates. Instantly, blue holographic fire raced along the edges of the card as it sat there bringing a smirk to my face.

I felt dangerous for a whole other reason as I moved out of the vault loaded with explosives. I snuck back to the office, messing with the keyboard to close the door, and then headed back into the warehouse stuffed to the brim with loot.

This time, I moved far more carefully and slowly as I climbed up and jumped from rack to rack. Just one misstep, one hard hit on my legs and I might not have to worry about anything anymore.

I snuck back out of the warehouse, grabbing my devices and returning everything to normal as I went. Then, I headed down the rusted fire escape and disappeared into the alley.