Chapter 4

They spent the next couple of days observing the warehouse and gathering all the information they could from the workers. It quickly became apparent that the warehouse wasn’t that well guarded just as Nico thought. They had a bunch of human guards at the entrance and a single horien. At first, they thought the horien might be a problem, but from what they observed so far, he had to be the most unreliable guard there.

“Sy do we have confirmation from the girls? They know the plan?” Nico asked. They were gathered at the hideout on the night before the package arrived. According to Colton, the ship should arrive at around midday. The target was a small reddish wooden chest, it should only be around twenty to thirty centimeters long, but if it was filled with gold, it wouldn’t be light.

“Yes, they know what they agreed to. Some of them weren’t happy but the madam assured me she would send her best.” Sy confirmed.

They were able to bribe a couple of workers that lived on this side of town. Thanks to that, they got a couple of uniforms and the layout of the warehouse. When the shipments first arrived, they were put in the far right corner before being cataloged into the correct section.

“Alright everyone, go to sleep we need to have you fresh tomorrow, we can’t afford any mistakes.” Nico dismissed everyone and followed his own advice.

The next day Nico and Sy were standing in an alley changing into the worker uniforms but ran into a problem.

“This certainly wasn’t our best idea,” Sy said, looking at his rolled-up pant legs.

“I have to agree, hopefully, no one will notice,” Said Nico looking at his pants that ended mid-calf. “We only have one shot at this, let’s hope that everything else goes according to plan.”

They could see the warehouse entrance from here. Now they only had to wait. About fifteen minutes later, they could see two of the madam girls heading into the entrance. The show was about to start.

Both girls stood in front of the warehouse, talking and giggling. Eventually, a figure noticed them and approached. It was the horien they saw the first time they were here. One thing they noticed while observing their target was that he spent all day lazing about and trying to chat up girls.

The girls were putting up a pretty convincing act. Just when Nico started wondering if they were going to be able to pull this off, one of the girls whispered to the guy’s ear and started to lead him away. Even though Nico came up with the idea it still was hard to believe when it worked. He waited until they were pretty far away before nodding to a figure at the warehouse entrance. The guy nodded back and went inside.

Everything was going according to plan, and they were up. Nico and Sy made their way closer and noticed a commotion inside. It seemed like some kind of brawl was going on, the kids had done their part. While the guards were distracted they turned left and slipped inside.

"This is way bigger than it looks from the outside"

"It does. Keep your eyes open, we got to find this chest and get out before the guards get the situation under control" Nico said and kept going. According to the guy they bribed, newly arrived goods were placed on the far right so that's where they were heading.

Some of the workers eyed them strangely but didn't comment on it and focused on their work. Seeing this, Nico grabbed a box and walked confidently. If he looked like he belonged, most wouldn't question it without looking closer.

"I think this is it," Nico said. "We are looking for a red chest, look around and meet me in five.

He and Sy spread around trying to locate their target. He could see crates filled with fruit, grains, seeds, and even some with holes in them that must transport animals.

This is taking too long, we might have to come up with a different plan to get out of here Nico thought.

"Hey newbie, help me with this" startled Nico looked back to see a guy a couple of years older than him trying to push a crate filled with some kind of hard-shelled nut.

"I haven't seen you here before. First day?" The guy asked eying his pants.

"Yes, it was kinda last minute. Still waiting on my uniform" Nico chuckled. "I always thought there would be more interesting stuff around here though. All I see are fruits and rocks."

"This is just the safe stuff. They take anything valuable or dangerous to a different room. You need to be an old-timer to be allowed inside though, thieves until proven innocent if you will" He laughed and went back to work.

Dammit, neither Colton nor the other guy said anything about this, he thought. He waited until Sy got back to their initial spot.

"Change of plans, I talked to one of the workers, and valuables are taken to a different room."

"Should we go back then? We are already taking too long. This should just be a grab and get out kind of deal." Sy said

"We don't have a choice, Colton is expecting news today and who knows where the chest will end up by the time we figure something out." They needed to figure out where this room was and fast.

All the ship's cargo was brought over to this section of the warehouse. It wouldn't make sense to take it too far from here.

Nico found a couple of doors that led outside but Sy ended up being the one that saved the day.

"Look at what I found," he said dangling a key in front of Nico's face "Saw a guy coming out of a room and locking the door behind him, this has to be it unless they take this shit to some other warehouse."

Nico followed him back to where he caught the guy and used the key on the door.

"Haha! Jackpot!" Sy laughed "look at all this stuff, we are rich"

Sy wasn’t wrong, the door opened to a large room filled with boxes. These weren’t your regular wooden crates though. With all the engravings and embellishments he might be tempted to steal them on their own if he didn’t have a target in mind. Who knew what actually was inside.

“Look at this! It might be worth more than that watch you got” Sy said while pocketing a necklace.

"Focus. We are taking the chest and leaving" Nico reminded him. "We still have to figure out how we are getting out of here. The kids are long gone by now."

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Just as Nico spotted a reddish chest to the side. He heard the door open behind him.

"Hey, who are you two. Only authorized personnel can come in here. Guards!" The old man started shouting.

Not knowing what to do Nico grabbed the chest and ran to the door. The old man tried to block him but Nico swung the chest right into his face and he crumpled to the ground and didn't get up.

He shot out the door and started running chest under his right arm and Sy right on his heels.

"Let's spread and run to the entrance," Nico said as he saw guards coming their way across the aisles.

They were quick to spot him and started coming straight in his direction but they hadn't noticed Sy on the other side yet so he started running back to try and make an opening for him before looping around to try again.

He was able to hide behind some big boxes but when he peeked he saw that there was no way he was getting past that many with this much weight on him. He backtracked his steps to one of the doors he saw earlier that he thought led outside.

He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw it but his hopes were quickly dashed when it wouldn't budge. It was locked.

Desperate Nico backed up and came right at the door ramming the chest into the lock. It didn't open but made a lot of noise and the guards for sure knew where he was now.

Nico kept hammering into the door until it finally broke open right before the guards got to him but sadly so did the latch on the chest.

Half the little bags of coins inside fell out into the ground but Nico just slammed the top closed and kept running.

He didn't know how long he ran but he only stopped long after the guards stopped chasing him. He knew there might still be a chance for them to find him so he made his way to a nearby rooftop they sometimes used to escape after their hits.

Only after being safe on top did Nico finally sit down and rest dropping the chest next to him.

He started laughing then. They had done it. They robbed the horien warehouse and didn't get caught. It was close and sloppy but considering the misinformation and only three days to prepare it was a miracle they were able to pull it off.

The most pressing issue now was how he was going to explain to Colton why half his money was missing without getting his head chopped off. His best bet right now was to appeal to how they were too valuable to lose. No other street thug would even be able to compare to them after this.

He decided to open the chest and check how much was still left. It was already open anyways.

Opening the top and peering inside Nico could see that he must have lost less than he thought at first since the bottom half was all there. The chest must have been crammed full to still be this much left.

Pulling a couple of the bags out and opening them he was confused at what he saw. Only about a third of the coins inside were gold, the rest just silver.

Why would Colton go through all this trouble for this amount of money, Nico thought. It was still more than he had ever seen in one place at once, but not enough to risk the wrath of the horiens over.

Just as he was putting them back inside he noticed a green box at the bottom so he took it out curious.

It was a small nondescript box about 15 centimeters long. Wanting to see what was inside Nico opened it.

The moment the little latch clicked open he felt this overwhelming sense that he was something more. Like he had been sleeping his whole life and this was his first real breath.

When the feeling finally faded Nico looked in wonder at what lay inside. There were five little crystals inside. They were a murky yellowish color and about 3 centimeters long each.

Nico looked at them and when his finger brushed over the top of one, the feeling came back tenfold. When he got himself under control he quickly pulled his hand away.

It was clear to him what this was. He didn't know this exact variety, but it had to be like one of the drugs some guys took back in the western district. He saw what it did to some of them, so he didn't want to take part in it.

Still, Nico wasn't dumb, by how strong the effect was just by being near these little stones they must be some incredibly concentrated version, but he guessed they still couldn't be more than the coins.

"Now what do we have here" Nico heard behind him and startled, quickly turned around. The latch on the box was still open so the little stones went flying with the sudden movement.

"I see" One of the stones landed right on the blue palm of the short-haired horien that was now standing in front of Nico. He stood there in silence gazing at it not saying anything.

Nico looked around but there was no way he was escaping from this one.

"Pick them up and give them here. Little humans shouldn't be played around with what isn't theirs" the horien said and Nico rushed to obey. Every time he touched one he froze for a second by the sudden sensation and the horien chuckled.

Nico handed him the little box and started to quickly put the bags back inside the chest.

"Keep it. I have had a very satisfying day and your little performance amused me." The horien said with a haughty look on his face."Word of advice. Where do you think letting someone else dictate your future will lead to? You should take the opportunities you are given and don't squander them." And with that, he jumped off and was gone.

Nico almost passed out right there. He was alive. The horiens caught up to him and let him go, with his loot no less.

He put the bags back inside and started to make his way to Colton's place. He was aware this might be some ruse to lead them to the rest of the gang but he didn't have a choice or care really. He had been gone for a long time now and was afraid of what Colton might do to Sy and the kids.

By the time he got to Colton’s warehouse it was starting to get dark out and he immediately knew something was wrong. Usually, there were a bunch of thugs loitering around but now it was deserted.

He made his way to the door and was surprised by what he saw he opened it. Now he knew why they kept the main space open. The warehouse was full wall to wall with Colton’s man.

He made his way to the front and was shocked by what he saw. Anger started to fill him up but he contained himself. Sy stood on the ground whimpering and Colton stood over him with his fat little body.

One of his men was standing between them saying something to him, as Nico got closer he could see the curly hair but before he could say something. Nico didn't even see him move but suddenly Colton stood there his hand raised and Markus was flying. He landed to the side with and crunch and didn't get up.

Nico stood there frozen. He had heard the rumors but to think they were true. Colton really had strength beyond a normal human. There was no other explanation other than some kind of superhuman power with his fat little body.

Colton finally looked up and smiled.

"Ah Nicolai, so glad you could join us. I'm sorry we started without you but some of the guys started getting impatient when they heard you were running late." He said and kept smiling like this situation was the most normal thing in the world. "Now hand it over, let's see our prize.”

Nico handed him the chest and stood there next to Sy. Colton open the chest and looked inside. He smiled and started pulling the bags out slowly but his smile suddenly turned into a frown. He pulled every bag out and turned the chest over.

"Everyone out!" Colton shouted, not smiling anymore. "Not you Nico"

Once everyone but Nico left the room they just stood there in silence.

"Where is it?" Colton asked after a while.

"I know some bags might be missing but that wasn't our fault I swear." Nico hurried to explain. "The latch broke during the escape and some of the bags fell out—"

"The damn box. Where is it?!"

"I'm not sure what you're talking about sir, if there was a box inside it might have fallen out. I could go back and check on the ground." Nico knew damn well there was no box on the ground but he couldn't say that. He didn't want to end up like Markus.

Colton slapped him and he felt like he was being hit by a horse.

" I like you kid so I'll give you another deal. I'll leave your precious street rats alone for this." Colton said smiling again "But in exchange, you have 2 days to get me my box. If by then I don't have it and you aren't either rotting in a cell or under the ground. Trust me I'll put you and your little family there myself.