At any point in time four guards are stationed at the vault door. Two on the inside and two on the outside. At some point, it was discovered that after two hours, guards started to become complacent leading to a higher chance of making mistakes. A system just waiting for someone with a little bit of ingenuity, like Darius, to exploit.
“There’s the switch group now, better catch them before they can make it to the vault.” Darius was already starting to feel a bit better. The pain in his leg was hardly noticeable so long as he didn’t put too much pressure on it, and he managed to avoid any more confrontations with other guards.
“Hold soldiers, I need you to listen to me,” Darius said with his best commanding officer voice. “I need to replace one of vault soldiers, specifically one that stays on the inside.”
The four soldiers look skeptical, one stepping forward to ask, “Why do you need to replace one of us, that’s highly against protocol?” Darius had already had a planned response for this line of questioning.
“We have reports that an attempt to break into the vault will occur today. Major Collins ordered for a captain to accompany the guards for each change for the rest of the day. You probably weren’t informed of this because the Major would rather the least amount of people know about the break in, for a better chance of luring in the thief. For that end, letting as few people as possible know I’m a captain would also be desirable.”
Three of the guards seemed ready to accept Darius’s explanation, but one was still unconvinced, “I’m First Lieutenant Jones, the person who would stay inside the vault alongside you. I’d appreciate knowing who you are before we head inside.”
Darius was afraid something like this would happen, but he needed their trust if he wanted his plan to go swimmingly. Jones was about medium height and medium build, lightly tanned skin with brown-greying hair and beard. He didn’t wear a helmet like most others, but he did carry a heavy looking blade at his hip. Jones eyed Darius closely, hands lightly touching his sword’s scabbard; Darius knew just showing Jones his ID wouldn’t be enough to subdue his suspicions.
“He doesn’t seem to recognize my voice, so maybe he won’t be too perceptive. Disguise kit don’t fail me now,” he thought while removing his helmet. “Captain McKenzie, it’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance First Lieutenant Jones.”
“Captain McKenzie, sir! I’ve heard about you. You’re close with the Major, aren’t you? That’s why she sent you?”
“Close… yeah, sounds about right.”
Jones spoke amongst his fellow guards for a short time. One of them saluted before walking away. Probably making his way towards what Darius believed was the barracks.
“Captain, we need to hurry, or we’ll be late for the change.”
Darius placed his helmet back on his head, “Of course. Lead the way.”
“Gold… it’s been so long… so much gold!” Darius’s skinned relentlessly crawled as vision was encompassed by a sea of gold, a giant emerald, legendary paintings, gorgeous sculptures, and various other valuables.
A thief by trade, it took all of Darius’s resolve to keep his hands to himself. Darius and Jones had taken to the vault room and were currently making their rounds. Circling the area for the next two hours.
“You okay there, captain?” Jones asked worriedly. Darius did have an uncomfortable looking tremble quaking his entire body.
“McKenzie, and I’m doing fine. I just haven’t been on vault duty in a while, and I forgot just how much treasure was in the vault. It’s making me a bit…uncomfortable.”
“You’re not wrong, just one of those jewel encrusted blades would be enough to live the rest of your life in luxury.”
“It’s not the value that I even care about. Just imagine the faces of the people who would see an empty vault! Just the thought makes me quiver.” Darius began to tremble even more furiously, his thoughts completely clouded by his greed.
“Oi cap- uh, McKenzie, we’ve only been in here 10 minutes. I know that you’re not used to this kind of tedious work, so I can give you a few tips. You know whenever I get the jitters, I find that shaking my arms helps.”
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“This guy likes to talk, doesn’t he? That might actually be beneficial. It could serve as a good distraction as I survey the place.”
“Jones, do you mind if I asked you to tell me about yourself? How about your family? You have a wife or kids or something?”
Darius had noted that Jones wore a ring over his gloved fingers, something that most other soldiers tended not to do. However, it seemed that Darius had made a mistake as Jones stopped moving.
“Sorry, did I touch a nerve there or say something I shouldn’t have?”
Jones simply stayed quiet, but his hand reached back towards the heavy blade on his side. Darius’s eyes narrowed as he quickly but subtly did the same, placing his hand on his own sword.
“The blades a bit longer than I’m used to, but it’ll have to do.”
Luckily, instead of Jones’s hands stopping on his sword’s hilt, his hand went further back into one of his back pockets. “My family huh, not many people who know me would ask me about them.”
“They must have passed away. Maybe he wants to show me a keepsake?” Darius thought, “I’m sorry Jones I didn’t know.”
Jones responded with a hearty chuckle, “Ha, sorry huh, well I’m sorry you didn’t ask about them sooner.” He ripped a piece of paper from his pocket and shoved it in Darius’s face. In the motion, Darius could have sworn he saw Jones’s eyes flash.
“I- is this your family, Jones?” Darius asked while Jones breathed on his neck. On the picture was Harry sporting a huge smile, a woman holding a child, and two girls, one that looks to be a teenager and another that looks like a young child. Though with people like Claire around it’s pretty hard to tell if she’s actually a child or just very short.
“Yes, as you see this is my beautiful wife Sadie holding our son, Jimmy, he was born last year, and these are my daughters Jenny and Jane. Jenny is 16 and Jane is 7, they are my life. Oh! You should hear about how I meet my wife, well it was a beautiful spring morning.”
“Dear Iroh! He is not shutting up. If I don’t find that diamond quick, then I’ll probably die from the brain splitting headache this guy is going to cause me!”
An hour passed as Darius unsuccessfully searched for the Grande Verde. Unfortunately, that also meant an hour of Jones talking about his family, though Darius started to successfully tune him out around the time he started talking about when he fought a giant sea creature to protect his family.
Darius was feeling more and more impatient, he had assumed finding a giant diamond, even among all this other treasure, would be a simple thing to do. Yet as the seconds ticked by only frustration settled in.
Darius and Jones had already circled the place at least three times; going around again wasn’t going to help Darius locate his target. Darius had avoided asking Jones if he had any knowledge on the Grande Verde for fear of garnering suspicion, but as the clock continues to tick, he was left with very few options.
“Jones… Jones I need to ask you something,”
“Yeah, okay what do you need McKenzie,” Jones responded while on his knees recreating his proposal to his wife.
“I hear there’s supposed to be a super large diamond here in the vault. The Grande something, I forget the full name, but I was wondering if you know anything about it, or better yet could you show me it?”
Jones stared blankly at Darius for a bit before answering, “A giant diamond called the Grande? Nope, that’s not ringing any bells.”
“Is this guy an idiot?!” Darius thought, “No, not the Grande. It’s the Grande something… Verde! Grande Verde! That’s the name of the diamond, sorry I forgot the full name until now. Sound familiar?”
Still, Jones’s air of confusion did not disappear, “You already saw it… when we first walked into the vault. The Grande Verde isn’t a diamond.”
“What did he say? I’m sure I misheard him,” Darius internally pleaded. “Then what is it? One of my drinking pals was telling me about it a few nights back. I guess you really can’t believe everything a drunk tells you,” Darius added while laughing hopelessly.
“Yeah, maybe your friend just got a few facts mixed up. See, the Grande Verde is an emerald, not a diamond. I saw you staring at it when we first came in. Come on, I’ll show ya. This actually reminds me of the time my best man forgot the ring during my big wedding-”
Jones suddenly fell hard to the floor; standing above him was Darius carrying a crescent tipped staff, nearly as long as himself, with many strange markings etched throughout it. “That’s a story you can hold onto for a later time, right now, I think it’s best for me to leave with the Grande Verde.”
“My wife was so beautiful in her dress she…” Darius jumped with shock, ready to bash Jones’s head in again, he lifted it far above his head. “Never in a million years did I think I’d be so lucky to…”
“He’s still storytelling?” Almost unsurprisingly, Jones was speaking while he slept, continuing his conversation almost as if nothing had happened.
“Sleep well, good buddy.” Darius moved to place the staff back where he found it, but something inside himself stopped him from doing so. There was a strange pull as he held tightly onto the staff, a sense of belonging. To Darius’s eyes, this item was probably the least valuable thing in the entire vault by a considerably margin, yet it’s hidden so deep inside. There had to be a reason.
“Either this really is some worthless item that just happened to randomly be thrown inside the vault, or I found Gramps a new back scratcher. Either way, I can’t lose.” Filled with newfound resolve he moved to retrieve the Grande Verde.