Breathe in, and breathe out. The plan is perfect. Breathe in, and breathe out. Just have to figure out the rest of it once you're inside that’s all.

I entered the on-site gallery that the Royal Institute of Specialized Learning has on their campus, gathering weird looks. Good, I want to stand out now, no point in not. Heh, it’s kind of funny to see the receptionist’s face contort as the college student might have to actually do some work.

“Hello, I am here on behalf of Interpol and The Global Collection of Heroes. I am hoping to talk to whoever is over the curation or protection of the artifact collection here if possible.” I say calmly, holding up a forged I.D., and letting the bull’s deeper voice rumble a bit.

The receptionist gawked for a moment before she realized what she was doing. She quickly dipped out to make a phone call, completely failing to see if I was telling the truth.

A few minutes later an older woman came from around the corner and approached me, a stern look on her face.

“And why do I have the privilege of meeting a Collection agent?” She came off as haughty like she had money or something. Actually, the amount of makeup and perfume I could smell only confirmed that hypothesis.

“Ah… yes, I am Agent Angus Carr,” I said as I handed her a fake business card, the lady tried not to react to the name. The student behind the counter failed, and she quickly rushed to hide the laugh with a cough. “I am here today to see if I can’t talk to whoever is in charge of this curation. Which I guess is you?”

“Yes, I am. Professor Margret Fontaine Ph.D., dean of archaeology and anthropology. Why are you really here?” Wow, the pomp with that title.

“Oh, um… I am here to speak to the leadership here concerning a number of burglaries across the world,” I made sure to whisper to her, “I also need to confirm that a few artifacts are where our database says they are.” I make sure to stand straight. “And um… My apologies for not booking an appointment or anything, my attention was brought to this institution at the last second. I only have an hour or so until I need to get ready to fly back to the Caribbean.”

“Oh,” Fontaine seemed a bit confused, “Let’s talk somewhere more private then.” She then let me out of the reception hall and… down a random hall. Multiple expensive paintings lined the walls.

“Thank you.” I said with a sigh, “Just so you know there is not any known danger to your collection. If there is any real danger my superiors will be contacting the campus’ security as well as any hero presence in the area.”

That seemed to take the edge off of whatever mood the older lady was in. “So this is nothing serious.” She states more than asks.

“In essence… yes.” I rubbed the back of my neck, my suit jacket bunching up a bit. “Most of this is my superiors being excessively thorough on a point they could probably ignore… How familiar are you with recent theater activity or their newest member?”

Fontaine mused on the question for a moment, looking at a painting of a dragon for a moment. “I can’t say that I care too much for them, so not much.”

“Okay, well… their newest member, Carnival, is, funnily enough, a cat burglar.” I let myself laugh at that one, Fontaine knit her brows all the while. “From what we’ve… deduced back in the Caribbean, he primarily targets artifacts pertaining to ancient history and or beastman culture. And to be honest with you, most of the people working on this case don’t believe he will continue with his thefts now that he’s made it into the theater.”

“So all this is for a warning that won’t come true?” The Professor said with a tone that was already done with me.

“Essentially,” I said with another sigh, “But I do need to see some of the artifacts held here. Anything that you believe could become targeted, or at least proof that said artifacts are in fact, held here.”

Her eyes narrowed, a debate running in her mind. “And what exactly do you need to see then?”

Wow, she didn’t trust me, good for her. “Like I said, any artifacts that could hold any importance to beastman culture, or anything from ancient history that could fetch for a lot of money. Hells, anything particularly weird that stands out. I need this because if the thefts continue and a clearer pattern is seen, we can notify this institution about potential risks.” I sound a bit tired with this like I want to get things moving.

The older woman took another moment to think. Then she turned around and motioned for me to follow. “I will see if I can grab any paperwork for you.” She led me into a room, a big metal door in the back saying ‘approved personnel only’.

I didn’t pay too much attention to that, however, something else was pulling at all of my senses. At the side of the room, there was a mask… It looked to be a badly made visage of some kind of dog… doesn’t matter. The thing was leaking mana that I could sense from behind the door.

Professor Fontaine began to fiddle with her keycard, taking it off of her lapel. “I will need you to wait here as I go into the archives and grab what is needed- What was that?”

She caught a flash of light from my obfuscation spell, and she then let out a ‘Hurk!’ as I brought my hand around her neck, I made sure to not hurt her too much…

Wow, she felt fragile.

As soon as she was out I made sure I didn’t do too much damage. I then propped her unconscious form up inside the janitor’s closet across the hall. With her keycard in hand, I bee-lined it to the mask.

It seemed to react to my presence as I moved closer, the feeling only growing more strong as I dismantled the casing around it. It wasn’t like the mask from New York. That one seemed to have had a passive mana charge built up over years of disuse…

This mask, however… Was making its own mana… crap, this thing wasn’t close to manifesting it was actively manifesting, like, right now.

I grabbed it and did a quick inspection, the first thing I noticed was that the rune work was shoddy at best, layered on top of the thing at the last second or something like that. The mask itself was made of some kind of wood, but something was off with how it was made as well. Like the maker didn’t intend for the runes to be carved into it at all.

Oh NO! I quickly set the mask down again as it tried to react to my mana signature. This thing was going to be a pain in my backside, I just know it. I let out what I was hoping to be my last sigh and carefully put the near-explosive artifact into the case from my last heist.

Mission success I guess… Should I just leave now? The mask is all I care about after all. Hells, I don’t even know what the benefactor even wants from this place… Well, it wouldn't hurt to look.

Even if I don’t find what they want there’s still a chance there’s something expensive here. That and I did take the key card.

I make my way into the metal door and down the stairs behind it, consistently casting my spell all the way. The place came off as overly sterile like the janitor had to keep cleaning even though they were completely done with the area.

Like, it was to the point where my shoes were squeaking. I even debated swapping out my mask. Out of the three that I have right now, the bull is the only one that keeps the shoes that I wear when human, a consequence of sticking with plantigrade legs.

Yeah, I was not interested in performing acts of super strength on my tiptoes thank you very much… That and most bovine and equine beastman were actually like that in real life, half the reason I chose the bull for the power of strength.

Yeah, I should probably switch over to the tiger, a costume change is probably a smart move as well… oh shoot security guard.

The dude is whistling, giving me just enough time to slip into the rows of cabinets lining one of the rooms. I wait until he walks by and debate all the while whether I should take him out as well. The last thing I need right now is a witness, the problem is if I do go through the effort of taking him out it adds to the potential witness pool.

If I’m never seen, that issue goes away.

I reach into the pocket and grab the tiger mask and change them out, time to be a cat burglar!

Ha.

I shift a bit to get reused to the suit jacket, no point in making more noise with the costume bomb… Now how in the nine hells am I supposed to find the other artifact?

The first thing I did was look for some kind of index, which they didn’t have. I’m guessing that everything for that is digital by this point, and I know for a fact that The Royal Institute for Specialized Learning didn’t put too much budget into their sports program… or their theater program… or any of their extracurriculars for that matter.

Why did people want to go to this school again? Was prestige really that important?

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

I continued to move about the archives, doing my best to lay my eyes on everything they have. There were a few things of interest like some letters sent between some important people a few hundred years ago, or stuff that was probably stolen from China in the nineteen-hundreds.

There was actually nothing of monetary value that I could recognize. There were a few preserved animals and fossils that were probably rare, but I quickly found that I was striking out.

Nothing I came across had any kind of magical signature, at all. No mana like the mask. No auras to draw my attention from across the room. No objects leaping out to tell me they're made of pure mythril, nothing. It doesn’t help that my other magical senses were useless in this situation…

Actually, they were useful in keeping track of the guard, at least there’s that.

It took me about a half hour to quickly comb through the entire place. At this point, I was starting to guess that it was upstairs on display, which will definitely be more complicated than searching some confined archives.

With a sigh I snuck my way back upstairs, hopefully leaving the guard oblivious to my presence. From there I rushed, the proverbial timer ticking.

It was only so long until the Professor woke up or someone noticed my presence somehow. Be it a mess left behind downstairs or the missing mask.

A new problem reared its head, the gallery was all art. Old art yes, but still art. Turns out that the mask, a few statues, and a single human skeleton were the only exceptions. I eventually made my way to the approximate center of the building and spent a good minute just trying to sense anything, any kind of magical signature at all…

Nothing… shoot, it's probably somewhere else on the campus, isn’t it? Gods, why couldn't the message have been clearer on what they wanted…

Sirens.

Someone noticed something. I know it wasn’t me, I’ve been making sure the obfuscation spell was being recast with every new room.

I ran to the back of the building and found a window. Then with a push of space, it shattered. From there I made a platform just strong enough to give me a boost up to the roof. I kept all of my senses at high alert, I could feel my ears swivel at every footstep, my nose involuntarily scrunched up at every new person in the area, and my eyes missed nothing.

To say I looked a bit weird or scary would be an understatement.

I slowly crawled up to the peak of the roof, looking over to see what arrived. It was an ambulance, paramedics already wheeling Fontaine out on a stretcher. At least she was going to be okay.

A small crowd was starting to gather, mostly made up of students and staff. Whispers permeated throughout, it kind of touched my heart to hear that they were all concerned for the older woman. Some were even saying things about not being able to take her class.

It didn’t take long for security to try and disperse the crowd, and at that point, I was debating ‘porting out just so that I wasn’t seen. Then another older woman approached Fontaine.

She looked to be the same age as the injured professor, she was dressed similarly as well. Just with a bit of Chinese flair to it, must be where she’s from…

Why is she carrying a sword with her? It smelled weird too... Wait, why can I smell it? Objects like that shouldn't have a distinct smell like that, especially one so inky… oh…

It’s cursed. That explains a lot.

Crap, I don’t know how I should handle this. Something as dangerous as that should not be in the hands of a mortal, at all. It actually surprises me that someone like her even has it. Most cursed artifacts are dutifully hunted down and locked away by much more powerful mages than me.

Hells, I’m half tempted to do the ‘good guy’ thing and back out, contact the Magus Sanctus, and act like I’ve never been here when their agents come through and take care of things…

But the benefactor wants that, I’m sure of it.

Do I want to try? I have absolutely no knowledge of curses other than don’t touch them, and a few big important people got killed by them once. Whatever the curse actually does is a completely different ball game altogether.

You know… I could try and fight her as Carnival, then if I fail to steal it a big hero org’ or even the Magus Sanctus will catch wind and come investigate. It would help cover my furry butt if the benefactor gets angry at me for failing. I can at least say I tried.

I could also turn it back onto him for letting something cursed get lost or stolen.

I take the costume bomb out of the pocket and slowly crush it between the roof and my hand. That was a mistake, a hiss escaped my teeth as a few shards of glass dug into my palm, then ripped themselves out as the bomb reformed. I spend a moment just clenching my right hand with my left as a bit of blood flows out, trying not to curse out loud. I’m an idiot.

Now things are a bit more complicated, as I have to debate which mask I’m using now. I don’t have any kind of bandaging on me and I don’t know how to use my transformation magic to heal. But, one of the few rules I do know about curse safety is to not approach a cursed artifact while bleeding unless you know exactly what it is and how it works.

Me not being able to use the tiger though is gonna be rough, it’s the one I’m most used to, and basically plan ‘z’ in all circumstances… I think I’m going in as the rabbit then. People already know I can be the rabbit, and if I can I want to keep the bull as a backup mask a bit longer. Yeah, the lady I knocked out will probably connect the dots eventually, but the news about form number three will spread less. That leaves it so I can still catch people off guard with the bull… and I really don’t want to get hit by that sword if the new lady attacks back. I can dodge that better as the rabbit.

Once the mask is swapped out I stand on the apex of the roof, “Shows on.” I say to myself as I let my show magic begin to permeate.

I began to run down the roof towards the lady, reaching out to the space around me all the while. Once I was a step away from the edge I made a small ramp off of it that would let me slide down in my grand entrance.

A few screams sound out from the still remaining crowd as sparks flew off of my heels. The lady turned around, scowling at the commotion.

It only took a few steps once I hit the ground for me to be on top of the sword lady, my hand lashing out to grab the artifact. My gambit fails however, the lady manages to slap my hand out of the way. I try to grab the sword with my other hand but she blocks that too and follows up with a jab at my face.

I duck down and step back and think about what to do next. Let’s try words.

“Wow… You’re fast for an old lady.” I say with a snark, “Makes me want that sword even more now. Do you even know what that is?”

“It’s a precious gift recovered from Xinjiang by Marge for me.” She says, with a heavy Chinese accent, while looking at the slowly waking Fontaine. “And I’m not letting it leave my sight.”

“Ugh, I try to play ‘good guy’ once and this happens,” I sigh and summon a ‘fireball’ in my hands, tossing it back and forth between them like a baseball. The lady stiffens at that, slowly reaching for the hilt of the sword. “I spend all day looking for that only to find it in the worst possible situation. This is why I stick to villain stuff.”

“You're the one who hurt my wife!” Now the lady is really angry and apparently able to connect dots faster than I was anticipating.

“Oh… oops.” I try to play it off like I didn’t let that one slip on accident. I even summon two more ‘fireballs’ and begin to juggle all three of them.

Fun fact, I don’t know how to juggle.

I get about two throws into my distraction before I fumble. I was trying to use my space magic to control the show, but I was spreading my attention too thin. Paying attention to the lady, my acting, the space magic, and the crowd meant that my half-baked plan was starting early.

When the balls hit the ground, plumes of heatless flame burst up to the sky, blocking her vision. I dash to my left and up to her, trying for the weapon again.

Even with me popping out from the flames in her sight she’s still the faster one, knocking my arm out of the way again. Now I’m suddenly on the defensive, stuck blocking and dodging punch after punch. She plays it dirty too, mainly aiming at my face, neck, and even trying to grab my ears.

To say I was not expecting this was an understatement. I guess someone her age could keep up with exercise and stuff to be able to fight like she does, but with the sword on her hip and the fact that she’s probably another professor here, I’m not buying it.

I lean back to dodge another hit to the face and continue to fall back, using the momentum to backflip, catching the lady off guard and making space between us.

With a new breath, I reach out to the space around her, and harden it… What? No. That should have worked…

A flash of fear crosses my face.

Screw it, I take the space around the sword, I'll just rip it off of her. I’m a villain. I don’t care about hurting… Crap.

There’s something about the space around the sword. It’s not my domain, therefore I cannot use it. I can’t explain why, but the feeling of fear really begins to rise.

It's like I’m trying to grab something that’s not there. Like, I can see that it’s there, but my hand is going through it. But I then notice that my hand is also not there and not closing anyways, even though it’s right in front of my face.

Those are the kind of alarms that are going off in my head right now.

So I panic.

A wall of space is suddenly between me and her, but I know that’s not enough. I start to reach out to more, try and box her in.

My hair now stands on end, and she draws the sword. Then with a stance that seems like it’s been practiced over decades, she slices through the pane of space.

There’s no backlash, she didn’t shatter it. She severed it. All sensation I had connected to the spell disappeared. A sense of predatory blood lust emanated from the mettle of the blade, screaming to the world the slaughter it craves.

I’m screwed, I’m screwed, I’m screwed, I’m-

A scream from the crowd shakes me from my thoughts… If this continues on there’ll be casualties. Yeah, I won’t be the actual cause of them, but that’ll be a huge blow to the theater’s reputation…

I need help.

Can I get any of the theater in on this?

No, I really can’t. Most of them aren’t available on short notice, and the only one who is out of commission or keeping an eye on the injured villain.

Does that mean I need to get another super’s attention then? There are probably already eyes on this incident. Wouldn’t put it past someone to have called an emergency line…

But, there’s a chance I could lose the sword.

Screw it.

I backed up some more from the lady, so far she’s just standing there, menacingly. I whip my arm to make the tallest spell circle I can manage, a smaller one is then made in the middle. The hardest part is making fifteen even lines between them, they don’t have to be perfect, but rushing it can make things worse.

Fortunately, I did it on the first try. I then thrust my arm through the center and yanked it up to the sky.

Everything explodes.