"Are you sure this is going to work?" The gruff voice of a man in his thirties asked through my earpiece.

"Yes, now stop waddling around the roof like lost ducklings and get inside the damn museum." I answered, with my back to the wall in a crowded, loud room, my voice wouldn't reach anyone's ears.

"Why do we have to listen to this rude brat Henry?" Another voice, a woman's, chimed in, she sounded quite annoyed.

"This rude brat is your only ticket to never having to work again."

"Hang in there Patrice, I don't like him any more than you do...just until we get the damn bear..."

I let out an annoyed sigh, "Unless you two would like to spend the rest of your life in jail, I'd suggest that you do what you came here to do."

As I faced radio silence, I turned my attention back to the crowd, filled with people in positions of power, with the Defence minister as the chief guest, it was to be expected after all, the second most influential man on the planet, even if it was just the inauguration of a singular museum exhibit, people were going to come in droves just to win his favor.

With such an important person in attendance, the security was higher than ever, every entrance, exit and window was monitored, not a fly could pass by without seven different screening checks, bringing in anything even slightly suspicious would have you in chains within seconds.

Of course that was only if you bought something in, exhibits were exempt from security checks, no one would even bother to see if a wire from the early 21st century was in working condition or not, especially not if it was considered worthless enough that it was kept in a poorly managed storeroom.

A quick rewiring to change the frequency and a new power source later, I had a earpiece that worked perfectly with modern day radio systems.

I glanced back at the crowd, thirty minutes until the unveiling, the flier for the exhibit mentioned that it was from the late 19th or early 20th century and that it once belonged to a famous general.

The problem with this event wasn't the exhibit, no, it was the person unveiling it and the speech he had prepared.

*"Brat, there's a guard at the entry point..."* Henry chimed in.

I checked the time on my watch, thirty five minutes past six, it was a bit out of schedule, but not really unexpected.

"Take a right, there's a fire exit leading to the fourth floor, and go on ahead with plan C, which you'd know if you listened to the briefing."

Henry didn't have anything to say.

*"I took notes..."* Patrice offered.

"Please don't screw this up."

Faced with radio silence again, I made my way to the open buffet, some fruit punch would calm my nerves.

"Give me another!" A girl with red hair in twin tails ordered the bartender, clearly out of breath, pallid cheeks and shivering terribly, clear signs of hypoglycemia.

Rich people being obsessed with looks and starving themselves was nothing new, but this didn't seem deliberate.

"You alright there?" I asked, slightly curious.

"Oh! yes, I'm sorry! I just forgot to have breakfast and lunch today!" The girl replied, rather quickly.

"Oh, okay." What was I supposed to do with that information?

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"Yep!" The girl replied, nodding, the bartender handed her a glass of fruit punch.

"I'm afraid that your father won't allow me to give you any more punch little miss, it'll ruin your appetite, especially since you have that dinner date later..."

The girl gave the man a pained smile before walking off, glass of punch in hand.

"And for you young sir?"

"Fruit punch, I don't think I'm old enough for anything else on the menu..."

The bartender let out a short chuckle before pouring me fruit punch in a wine glass.

Punch in hand, I walked back to my original spot at the wall.

"Kid, plan C is also a no go, there's an entire squadron of armed guards in front of the emergency exit at the fourth floor" Patrice reported, her voice slightly panicky.

That was disheartening, but salvageable, "Go down to the third floor, the power will go out in fifteen minutes, with the emergency power focused on the second floor to make sure that the event goes without a hitch, you'd be able to get into the air ducts, Patrice will have to drop into the vault, steal the bear and get out within five minutes...it is unfortunate but..."

"Leave it to the professionals brat..." Henry chimed in, annoyance clear in his voice as he cut off the connection.

Why were there armed guards at the fourth floor? that was just a boutique, there was no reason for it to be guarded...was some important dignitary paying a visit? It didn't make sense, the shop wasn't exactly famous, nor did it make any unique designs...

Perhaps I was just overthinking, my plans did take random events into account, even if the current backup for some reason failed, I had another backup, seventeen layers of backups, layered atop each other, it just wasn't possible for all of them to be thwarted by pure chance.

I just needed to wait fifteen more minutes, the blackout would reassure me.

Pulling the plug on the museum specifically would be impossible, but cutting the power an entire plot? A sabotaged transformer with a timer that would cut off the fuse was all that was needed.

I spotted the red haired girl again, looking as tired as ever, she seemed to stand out quite a bit in the rather bright cream colored dress she was wearing, it looked quite uncomfortable as she dragged the dirtied hem of the dress across the ground, she seemed to be in quite a hurry.

Why was she even in such a long dress in such a crowded event? people were going to step on her dress and it was quite obvious that she was going to trip...which she did, into the floor, face first.

"Oh, sorry..." the man who had stepped on her dress apologized before moving away, without sparing a glance back at the girl on the floor.

The girl stood back up with a short huff, took a deep breath, brushed the dirt off of her dress, picked it up and walked hastily off to wherever she was headed.

Ignoring whatever that was, I took a sip of fruit punch, it was sweet, it wasn't something that I could get just anywhere, fruit wasn't as readily available as it once was, and sugar was something only the rich had access to, the common folk could at best have banana flavored water with artificial sweetening.

The entire event was too wasteful, almost as if whoever organized it was trying to speak of a time long past.

Yes, the unveiling of the artifact wasn't the main attraction of this show, with the atmosphere created, as if all the attendees were part of the old world, with the copious amounts of food and flavoring, with the Defence minister, a man well in his sixties, who had lived through a time where the world wasn't as cursed it was now, as the chief guest, this entire event was nothing but a stage, a stage for the second most powerful man in the world to advocate for his presidency.

Politicians were all the same, power invites a greed for more power, this man was nothing different, all he wanted to do, was use the nostalgia of the past, back when people were lavish, when they didn't have to wonder if humanity would survive for another day, he'd show all who had gathered here the world he had once lived in and he'd make them an offer that they couldn't refuse.

I emptied the glass of fruit punch and glanced at my watch again, the digital screen showed forty eight minutes past six.

Two more minutes until the blackout.

All I could do right now was place my faith in the supposed professionals.

Even if they did fail, it wouldn't be that big of a deal, all I'd have to do was resort to the second part of the plan, ruin the exhibit while it was happening, whether the bear was there or not did not matter in the end to me as long as the damned Defence minister was made into a joke.

Fifty minutes past six.

The entire floor went black, the murmurs of the crowd grew louder as I felt my heart in my throat.

I turned on the wire, "Abort." I ordered.

"What? no! the damn bear is just in front of us! I'm not going to stop here!" Patrice shouted back.

"Sorry brat, money comes first!" Henry offered before cutting off the connection.

I pulled the device off of my undershirt, dropped it on the floor and stomped it before moving away.

A spotlight fell on the stage, as General Charles Von-Crois appeared under it, the sickening grin on his face could light up an entire district.

Ah, what was that saying? The best laid plan of men and mice? How ironic that the blackout I created was used to create a dramatic entrance for the one man on this planet who I loathed absolutely.

Almost as if someone knew exactly what was going to happen.