Fantasy Robbing The Bank of Thieves: Main

[Gravitational Force]

Time: 11:59 PM, GMT
Location: A prison block for the extremely naughty where it's very, very cold outside.

The prisoner glared through the bars of their cell. They'd almost had the ultimate victory only to have it snatched out of their hands by those meddling-
They hear a door open. More specifically the guard's bathroom door down the hall. Which is strange since they hadn't heard anyone enter it. The accompanying flash of light down the hall made it stranger still. Time seemed to hold still as the prisoner heard footsteps echo down the empty hall.
As he tried to see who was outside his cell door, the key to his cell was lobbed through the bars.

"Is that enough or do you need more? I've ensured the guards won't be bothering us and gotten a snack at the same time." A muffled voice from outside asked. The prisoner heard a disturbing slurping sound from outside.
The prisoner growled under their breath. "No. Otherwise I wouldn't have called in my favor. I need far more than that."
"Your favor isn't enough. If you want more you'll need to offer more. It doesn't matter how many tasty things I find along the way, they're included."
The prisoner gives a wicked grin. "Oh, you'll get all the 'more' you'll ever need. Just hold up your end of the deal."
Further slurping sounded, followed by a muffled shredding sound and a loud gulp. "I always do. They really go all out when it comes to feeding those guys, don't they? You can really taste the difference."

3 months later:

GamerCarrot
Time: 6:49 PM ACST
Location: An all you can eat seafood restaurant in Australia,
Eliana Burland watched as her dinner companion expertly cracked the last bit of meat out of the lobster claw he was holding, dipped it in butter and popped it in his mouth. How he managed to keep from getting any food on his suit was beyond her. The white full-face mask with a crude smiley face painted on it he was wear barely moved as he ate. He'd claimed it was an affection of his that helped hide his identity, but his body language suggested there was more to it. His accent was clearly Northwestern American, but other than that she couldn't get any real information from him either through observation or asking.

Regardless of how eccentric he was, 'Nu' as he identified himself had provided more than enough information to pique her interest. He claimed he'd arrange transport after dinner, but to her growing surprise he showed no sign of stopping eating after 10 lobsters, 12 basket of fries, and 7 orders of fried flake. Thankfully he only ate one more lobster before paying for the meal in cash. He'd also paid for her dinner and offered to get her some carryout too.

He then followed her to the restaurant's door, opening it and stepping out after her. With a flash they ended up-
Time: 11:19 AM CEST
Location: Geneva, Switzerland
-Eliana finds herself in a grey room with drab concrete walls where there are already people sitting around a round table.

RedEmRa
Time: 11:35 AM, EDT
Location: Brooklyn, New York
Deangelo Briggs looked in the rear-view mirror at his taxi's latest passenger. The guy was a freak, wearing that suit and mask and acting like it was nothing special. He sounded like he was from DC but otherwise the only really American thing about him was the dollars he had on him. And this freak knew way too much about Briggs's past. Still he didn't seem like he cared beyond the job offer he'd made that was just good enough to be true. Plus he'd offered an extra $100 if he could eat in the cab but had managed to avoid getting so much as a drop of grease on the anything despite putting away burger after burger from the bag he'd been carrying. Finally they arrived at the destination the man had told him about, a parking garage that needed you to open a sliding metal door to get through. The man 'Nu' as he called himself had gotten out, done something with the card reader, and they'd driven through into a-
Time: 11: 12 AM, CEST
Location: Geneva, Switzerland
out of a parking garage onto some Swiss backstreets. Nu motioned for Briggs to park in a hidden alley and they walked up a fire escaped and opened a door leading to stairs, which they took down to a grey room with drab concrete walls where there are already people sitting around a round table.

sly-eyed-lyra
Time: 6:35 PM CEST
Location: Belgrade, Serbia
Borko Popović watched the strange man sitting across from him at the table in the restaurant they were meeting in. His family had owned it for 3 generations after his grandfather had taken it from the previous owner and forced the man to keep working there to pay off his debts. The man's son had been forced to do the same and his son after him, who know served Borko and his guest their food personally while trembling with fear. It made Borko feel powerful to know how much he had over the chef and to see he knew it.

The masked man had ordered Karađorđeva šnicla while Borko got Podvarak. The masked man 'Nu' would be dead before he'd gotten the chance to order if he hadn't told Borko some very interesting things and backed them up. If his information was correct the Serbian mob could make inways into Russia if they acted quickly enough. And even if Nu was lying there'd be no repercussions. And since Nu would be staying in the area until the deal went through there'd be no way for him to escape if he was lying. His price was easily met (barely a 10th of the money they'd make in a month if this worked as a one time payment and the promise of further employment) and he'd said he had one more thing he wanted that he'd reveal at this meeting.

So here they were, cutting into their meals with relish as Nu talked. The man had a love for stories that reminded Borko fondly of his childhood. Mainly because they tended to be gruesome.
"-took the knife, and ripping open his belly, fell down dead."
Nu takes another bite of his meal.
Borko guffawed and then straightened himself. This was business even if Nu was pleasant company.
"You said you wanted something further. I think I know what it is and I appreciate a man with a way like yours."
"And what is that?"
"A woman, obviously. The other name for karađorđeva šnicla is devojački san 'the maiden's dream.'"
"Ha! I didn't know that but you're right. Not from your trafficking ring though I've got my eye on someone you've already got."
"Who? I have no women working for me."
"Natalya Borojevic."
"That crazy girl? Ha! Take her. I own her and her family more times over than they'll be able to pay off in a thousand years. With what you've done for me you've more than done enough for her." Borko motioned to one of his men and told them to go get Natalya.
Nu scrapped the last bit of his meal off his plate and ate it. "That's the great thing about debts, people will accept more to pay them off than you could ever threaten them for without them. Conversely people can come up with bravery they never knew to end them."
Borko gagged. "What?!"
"The Russian already payed me for getting rid of you, you already paid me for helping you against the Russians, and several law enforcement agencies were grateful for the tip-offs about you and the Russians."
Borko pulled out his gun "I'll grind you into minced-" then collapsed to the ground choking.

Nu looked down at the Serbian gangster. "Remember what I said about debts? The chef was incredibly easy to convince to slip something into your dinner. And since the rest of your local gang is either being rounded up or fighting the Russians I don't think your body will be found until...never."

With that Nu throws down some Dinars to pay for his meal and walks out the door.

Natalya is led back to the restaurant, only for Nu to knock out the man who brought her and lead her through a door into a-
Time: 11: 35 AM, CEST
Location: Geneva, Switzerland
-grey room with drab concrete walls where there are already people sitting around a round table.

TannerDedInside2017
Time: 11:20 AM, EDT
Location: Brooklyn, New York
Tanner Black followed the masked man because it wasn't like it would get worse. Through the door and-
Time: 11: 34 AM, CEST
Location: Geneva, Switzerland
-into a grey room with drab concrete walls where there are already people sitting around a round table.

Fluxbauble
Time: 2:19 AM PDT
Location: Seattle, Washington
Tyson Li Chase was awoken in the early morning by his phone ringing. He'd stayed up all night talking with the masked avatar of the person who used the username 'ProfessorNu' and he'd dosed off. Waking up he heard the voice on the other end tell him the codephrase ProfessorNu had told him would be used ("Five dozen fried eggs") and to get his coat and meet him outside. Opening his closet, Tyson found himself instead-
Time: 11: 34 AM, CEST
Location: Geneva, Switzerland
-in a grey room with drab concrete walls where there are already people sitting around a round table. Still in the clothes he had worn the previous day.

ayzrules
Time: 2:19 AM PDT
Location: Los Angeles, California.
Christina Li was not expecting to be told there was a limo waiting for her at this time in the morning. But with what she'd been told there was no way she was missing out on this. The limo's driver's seat was empty but there was a masked man in a tailored suit waiting for her by the curb. Ooh, this was going to be salacious she just knew it! The masked man opened the door and she stepped into the limo to find herself-
Time: 11: 33 AM, CEST
Location: Geneva, Switzerland
-in a grey room with drab concrete walls where there are already people sitting around a round table.

As the various characters try to figure out what is going on, they realize that those already seated at the table are:

'Nu':
View media item 37600

A man whose hands keep shaking until he grabs a pencil on the table:

A man who is fiddling with a device using tools you're unfamiliar with:
View media item 37167
A man who is surveying the man with shaking hands with disgust:

A man who is scribbling something on a notepad:

And a woman who seems about to fall asleep despite the cup of coffee in front of her:

When he sees everyone has arrived and taken a seat, Nu presses a button on a phone sitting in the middle of the table.

A voice masked by sound-distortion comes through.
"I know what you know, so let's start with the questions you undoubtedly have."

 

[Fluxbauble]

Spoiler: Appearance

Tyson Li Chase / D-Cipher
As Tyson entered the round table room he stuttered back a bit. He knew ProfessorNu from his conversation from last night. But everyone else he had never seen them before. He looked around the room and then behind him to see if his door was still there. To his surprise it was gone. He placed his hands against the wall in disbelief. It didn't make sense. It couldn't make sense. How did his closet suddenly bring him to a completely different room? He scanned the wall with his hands and eyes. There must be some sort of trick to this. There has to be a trick to this. But that doesn't explain the bigger issue at hand. He looked back over his shoulder to the round table. His goggles concealing his eyes. His mind was racing trying to come up with an answer to his situation. He had so little information to go off of though. This was all so sudden. He needed answers and the only one who could provide them is his mysterious benefactor, a distorted voice over a phone.

He turned to face the table once more and get a good look at the people seated before taking a seat himself. First things first, profiling the targets. Based on what he knows of the situation this is likely the meeting of the team Nu mentioned last night. "Great I already have to socialize. And I don't even have anything prepared to defend myself with." Tyson thought as he took his time looking everyone over.
A man with shaky hands. "Wouldn't trust that guy near any of my tech. Let alone with plans for a heist. He's an easy mark for blackmail. Minor threat."
Across from him sat another gentleman who looked disgusted looking at shaky hands. "Based on his demeanor he's a higher income bracket snob. Extorting them is always fun. But that guy looks like his connections are more trouble than his actual net worth. Caution is advised speaking with that one."
A tailored suit wearing man writing on a notepad. "Well dressed, but seems to be preoccupied with whatever it is he's writing. Journalist? PI? Seems like trouble if you ask me. Those types are never good for business. Tread lightly around that one."
A man fiddling with tech. "Wait what is that? I've never seen tech like that before. And those tools he's using. Where the hell did he get those?! Damnit, I want to know more! But I can't risk revealing my hand. Not yet. Potential ally marked."
A half awake woman. "What's her deal? She looks as bad as I do after a 5 day info bid war. Poor thing looks like she'll fall right into her cup. But if she's here then she must be her useful. Threat unknown."
And finally the mysterious Nu. "Can't say I exactly trust Nu. Can't say I don't trust him though either. He earned my respect with that lead I needed to complete that deal a couple weeks back. Never thought I would need help with a job before. But he opened my eyes to the idea. So the least I could do was accept this job and see where it goes.

The phone said to ask questions that they had. But where to begin? Well a location isn't a bad first question. "Where am I and how did I even get here?" Any explanation, any information would be better than what Tyson's got now. More questions than answers.​

 

[TannerDedInside2017]

Tanner followed the man, surveying his surroundings. He always thought that Brooklyn looked amazing. He loved the buildings and the lack of grass. Grass reminded him of the old rural town he originally lived in. The main reason he loved Brooklyn was that it made him forget. Forget about his past. It made him feel calm and happy. After taking everything in, he took his attention back to the masked man. The masked man didn't seem so dangerous, but he gave him an uneasy feeling, he just seemed so... different. Tanner suddenly saw the beautiful Brooklyn change into something else. He was suddenly in a room with colorless walls. He shivered at how cold it was in there. He noticed the other people in the room. There was a shaky guy, a guy with some weird devices, a guy jotting things down, a very judging guy, some girl who looked like she just woke up, and some guy with goggles.

He started tapping his fingers on the table nervously. Who are these people? Are they gonna participate in the heist? Are they also ones who received an invitation? He didn't know but had a strong feeling that they have something to do with the heist. And his explanation for getting here had to be magic. He couldn't think of any other possibility. It had to be magic. He listened as the phone spoke. Why was this guy going through so much to not be identified? First, there's the mask, then there's the weird voice change thing. Was this guy a master criminal? Was he dangerous? Was he someone he should be scared of? He just didn't know. He had to know more. "Who are you, and where am I?" he asked the man/phone

 

[ayzrules]

"...and it was like, you know, as awkward as that time J-Law ruined a designer gown with Dorito dust while shooting a movie because it was before Ariana was engaged and people were already looking for that baby bump which is totally kind of, I dunno, gauche, you know? And so I was like-"

Tina left the sentence hanging in the air as she realized that she was decidedly not in a limo. "I-what the fuck?"

Ignoring everybody already in the room, Tina quickly spun around in the direction she'd came. "Hey!" she yelled, glaring at the wall. "You lying son of a bitch! You promised me wedding dress pics in return for looking at my mirror, you piece of actual shit! I swear to Buddha and God and Jesus Christ, if those aren't in my inbox by the time the I get to the office in the morning, I'm going to find you and make you wish you'd never decided to grace this earth with your social media presence!"

To say that Tina was angry was, well...an understatement. That cu nt had promised her deets on the celebrity wedding of the season (because why the fuck would Tina get into a limo like that, other than for some hot gossip?), and what did Tina get? A boring room and a bunch of people who were definitely not anyone famous (and therefore not anyone relevant), that's what.

I'm going to fuck him up, Tina thought, gritting her teeth. Get one of the photographers at the office to Photoshop something nasty. Or something. And I swear to god, if Little-Miss-Perfect Allison Brown gets my story because of this bullshit...

Now that Tina wasn't yelling at the wall (which, now that she thought about it, was a little bit embarrassing, given how there were people in the room), she took the time to take a look around.

Tina's gaze flitted from one person to the next. Okay, so there's a dude that sort of looks like Robert Downey Jr.'s sidekick, a guy with fuckboy CS major vibes, a white guy who looks at least 20% racist, a guy who really needs a haircut, and this lady who I can very much relate to. I wonder if she'd be willing to share some of her coffee?

Oh, and over there-Asian guy who needs to find a mall, because Jesus Christ that, that outfit! And oh god, the other guy's hair. He also needs a haircut. Like, majorly.

Another quick glance revealed that there was also a tall, red-haired girl (as someone who was 5'2 on a good day, Tina found herself immensely jealous of the other girl's height), an African-American guy who had fun hair, and a brunette who also had great hair.

"I know what you know, so let's start with the questions you undoubtedly have," said a voice. Tina nearly jumped out of her skin. "Jesus fucking Christ," she muttered under her breath. "This could not get weirder."

Tina marched forward to where the voice was coming from. "Okay, first of all, you certainly do not know what I know. Did you know that Hailey Baldwin's boobs are fake, Mr.-Voice-In-The-Air? No, you did not, because that was supposed to be in my gossip column and the story is due in the morning and if I lose my job because you can't be bothered to tell me anything ahead of time, then I'm going to smash your stupid mirror to pieces. And yes, I do have questions, thank you very much, like what the hell am I doing here and how does your fucking limo have all of this inside and where is the door?!" Tina crossed her arms, incensed. Okay, so she was being childish. But seriously-you do not bait a girl with details on a celebrity wedding and then not even give her a plausible lie to print come morning, when there are certain editors-in-chief that are way too happy to fire people out there!!!!

 

[GamerCarrot]

After sitting and watching this man eat directly in front of her she was starting to regret letting her assistant pick their next customer but she remained patient hoping that this eventual dinner would turn into something worth while for her. She tried getting a reading on his personality but unfortunately all she could read was that he was very.. very hungry, she was usually better at reading a persons personality than this but this man made it almost impossible to get a good read on him. But as they talked he eventually piqued her interest and was quite curious in the job he had asked her to join, after agreeing that she would join up but politely refused his offer to buy her a carryout. Smiling and stepping out of the restaurant she was suddenly blinded by a bright light, immediate confusion appeared on her face as she found herself in an unknown room surrounded by other people. She looked around and the very plain looking grey walls surrounding her, her gaze then fell upon the few people sitting at the table hiding her confusion she approached the table carefully looking at all of those who have arrived and those who look like they have been here for quite awhile. But when a voice perked up her interest was suddenly somewhere else, the information the woman that spoke up had was quite interesting to Eliana, but she wasn't the only one that had piqued her interest everyone else here was just fascinating to her, more secrets to learn in her mind.

Of course a few questions arise but all of them were exactly the same as what she wanted to ask, yes she was probably just as concerned as the others of where she was but she already knew those answers will be revealed in time, turning to those beside her she looked at all of them a question burning in her mind. Who were the people next to her and what were their jobs, hearing the other girl in the group who was a bit shorter than Eliana herself she could tell gossip and information was this girls thing but the others she studied a bit more trying to figure all of them out. But for now she focused on the man she had previously met waiting for the answer to all of their questions hoping he could shed some light on who these people were and how many others were expected in their heist.

 

[sly-eyed-lyra]

Natalya Borojevic
Natalya thought she was done for the week, having completed a week's worth of "tasks" assigned to her by Boss Borko, better known as "Nezasitivi" - the insatiable one. It began as one of those weeks, one ridden of problems - apparently the mafia had run into some trouble smuggling goods, and as they always did, took out their frustration on those they already tortured. Natalya was forced to work double time, never giving her a single opportunity to see her family - Borko promised if she followed through, she'd get an advance on her monthly visit home. But involuntary criminal activity, her family's safety, and empty promises were the least of her problems this week; it was yesterday, when she was cracking a vault safe.

The vault wasn't a problem, it opened easier than Ali Baba's magic cave as soon as she found the sweet spot on her tongue to guide each turn of a lock- when it was emptied for its cash and contents, claimed by the Serbian mafia, there remained one thing for Natalya to claim herself. Whenever she cracked a vault, it was her penchant to remove the thirteenth (her lucky number) gear from the vault door mechanism, clockwise from the top - it was just something to do while everyone else ravaged and ransacked the place. Unscrewing it, a folded piece of paper slipped out from underneath it. It was a handwritten note, addressed to her. Neat and cordial handwriting laid forth a proposition of great proportions, a heist with the promise of amazing wealth - the letter itself was almost delirious with grandeur, mentioning a bank she had never heard of but sounded like something out of the fairy tales and myths she had read as a child. It was signed by a mysterious moniker, "Nu"; turning the paper over, a simplistic yet uncanny smile was drawn on the back. Even her mystery proprietor held the character of some opportunistic god of ancient folktales. She was given an ultimatum by this "Nu", who as she suspected had some sort of power of omniscience based on the fact he knew her name, her habits, and how to get her attention. Nu gave some vague allusions to her family's hostage situation, suggesting the wealth she would claim if she agreed to the job would "solve all the complications in your life, and assure a happy one thereon." If she agreed, all she had to do was take the letter out of the vault, and keep it with her; if she declined, she could just leave it in the vault. Natalya wouldn't have been tempted if it weren't for the involuntary criminal activity, her family's safety, and empty promises she faced everyday, and possibly for the rest of her life. Pocketing the letter, she strode out of the safe with a secret in her trench coat, and some trepidation in her mind. How would Nu be able to arrange transportation for her if she was under the constant watch and aim of the mafia? Nu promised a lot of things in the letter, but by offering her and her family's freedom, Natalya had no other choice but to put her trust in whoever they were.

A day later, it seemed all her arrangements were never fulfilled - Nu still hadn't arrived, and Borko was as insatiable as ever, as Natalya was dragged from her dingy room of the safe house they kept her in. Per usual, a concealed pistol pressed into her side as she walked side by side with the goon who babysat her, the bane of her escape attempts. He forced her to walk arm in arm with him, planting a sloppy alcohol-ridden kiss on her cheek as a passerby watched them with concern. Natalya tried to pull away by fiercely jabbing her elbow into his stomach, but the click of the pistol's hammer pulling back alerted the passerby to get a move on - the mere sound made Natalya's vision flash red, and the kiss lingering on her cheek began to flare and invisibly prick her skin. She wiped her cheek with the back of her hand, but the sensation wouldn't go away. Her "second instincts", medically known as synesthesia, began to inflame as she became more and more tense; colors, sounds, and sensations going wild, telling her she was being brought to her own execution for the choice she made yesterday; dismembered on display for her betrayal to the mafia, an institution she was never loyal to in the first place.

Natalya was free of the drunk goon's grasp as soon as she was shoved towards the door of Borko's favorite restaurant, owned by his favorite victims; however, a tall figure stood in their way, towering in a crisply ironed suit holding while holding its hands behind its back in a polite and reserved manner, though it was bent over slightly as though to bend down to Natalya's level. An plain yet familiar and uncanny smile gazed at her, the same one coarsely drawn on the letter Natalya received. The goon tried to shove past the figure, pulling the gun on the masked man with a flimsy drunken grip. The masked man simply and swiftly threw a heavy punch into the drunken mafioso's face, knocking him out on contact. The figure then brought the unconscious goon down by driving his elbow into the goon's back.

So you must be Nu.

Before Natalya could say anything, Nu outstretched his arm towards the door while his other was held behind his back, and in a very courteous gesture, he nodded at Natalya, as if to mean "After you." Natalya only looked forwards at the door he gestured to, and in the glass pane, she could make out the portly figure of Borko being dragged across the floor by his feet, arms sprawled and trailing after his head as a man in an apron pulled the body of Borko through a swinging door to the kitchen. A grisly but satisfying sight for Natalya. She just stared.

Ding dong, the witch is dead.

If Nu was responsible for all this, Natalya owed him her compliance, but it didn't help she didn't trust him just yet - he was obviously dangerous, and she needed some insurance that he wouldn't be able to make her yield to his whims by force like the mafia had. She walked towards the door feigning a bit of apprehension and uneasiness on her face, and purposely fell, tripping over the limp body of her unconscious babysitter. As she got up acting as though she fell out of the distracting effect of disbelief, she covertly slipped the goon's fallen pistol into one of the many pockets lining her large wool trench coat with a deft slight of hand.

Nu offered her his hand, but she pulled herself off ground fast enough, but not too fast to give herself away - if clumsy was the gambit, clumsy she would be. Nu strode towards the door, pushing it open as Natalya followed. Accompanying Nu in the shadow of his figure, Natalya walked into a completely different room than the restaurant they were supposed to have entered. She wasn't in Serbia anymore. Seemingly teleported, the room was moderately sized, with rough grey concrete walls surrounding a round table already occupied save for a few chairs; apparently she was the last of them to join the room. As Nu walked over to the table, Natalya hung back, standing with a few other figures spread around the outer bounds of the room; finding the way they entered was now a solid wall, she surveyed her company.

At the table was a fidgety man, black with a short Afro haloing his head, trying to steel his shaky hands with a pencil; following him was another man, caucasian, younger and hunched intently over a device wielding some bizarre tools Natalya had never seen before. Besides him, an older man with pale features, the most notable being an array of raised scars on his right cheek, cold light blue eyes chastising the fidgety man. Another man dressed in the warm tones of a brown three piece suit and tan cotton trench coat was scrawling away at a notepad, seemingly unaware of any one else. The woman sitting next to him was as equally unaware, blinking away at sleep as she sat hunched towards a cup of lukewarm coffee.

Standing with Natalya, the most notable person was a small Asian girl ranting a mile a minute in English; Natalya had enough of a grasp of the language to understand it was the rage of someone who was deceived intermixed with some Hollywood bullshit. Natalya's understanding also came in part to her synesthesia; the girl's voice was a tinny, advisory yellow, like she spewed ribbons of caution tape warning those not to cheat her. Natalya got the impression of an angry little yellow canary, childish yet loud when demanding. Apparently, the girl had some priorities to be fulfilled immediately.

As if to quell her furious confusion, Nu switched a cellphone lying in the middle of the table to speaker, allowing another presence in the room to clear the air of meaningless questioning.

"I know what you know, so let's start with the questions you undoubtedly have."

The voice was too distorted for Natalya to associate with a color, but after the Asian girl went berserk in a single breath again, another voice spoke up.

"Where am I and how did a get here?" A precociously low voice inquired of the one on the phone, basically summarizing the Asian girls' rant. The speaker was also Asian, but seemed to recoil as soon as Natalya's attention turned to him. He was still dressed in his bed clothes. His voice was a deep, muted green, and felt like moss, trying to blend in with the walls, flourishing somewhere dark.

"Who are you, and where am I?" A voice joined in the inquiry. It came from a younger man, kid more like, in a pensive and calculating tone - he was maybe an inch shorter than Natalya, with dark hair. The words came out his mouth like cigarette smoke, wisps of gray curling and fading from view.

So the only ones who know what's going on are Nu and the voice on the phone. That must mean everyone else here was brought here for the job, in one way or another.

As for those who hadn't spoken, there was a young black man, tall and muscular listening intently as he sat at on an emptier side of the table, nonchalantly leaning back in his seat with his feet on the table, arms crossed. Natalya found him to be ordinary, save from a low humming, like a quiet bellow coming from his wrists. The beckoning frequency told her it was something of value.

Lastly, a tall woman with a swath of scarlet hair obscuring part of her face was watching the phone attentively for a response from the distorted voice.

There was another thing they all shared in common; they were all still puzzled by the mystery behind their gathering - in fact, Natalya was getting a bit frustrated. It seemed like her soul was always on sale to the highest bidder, the key to her chains passing hands always without her consent. Sure, she had chose to take the job, but only under the present circumstances and pressure to "solve all complications" in her life. She steeled herself, regaining her composure, deciding to add her own questions to the pool.

"This is about the job opportunity, isn't it? It's the reason we're all here, correct?"

 

[RedEmRa]

Deangelo Briggs​

Time: 2:15 AM EDT
Location: Greenpoint Ave, Brooklyn, New York

Trouble, Deangelo's best accomplice, it seemed that the two of them never appeared to part, that, or Deangelo needed to quit accepting street races.
It was the thrill, well, that too was wrong, to Deangelo, it was the prize; Money makes the world go around after all. As Deangelo stood at the hood of his car, Deangelo felt the area around him enclose, it was just him, the car, his competition and the straightaway road. As Deangelo honed in on the Driver, he looked like a hotshot, the kid was short with determination on his eyes, other than that, he was probably inexperienced, just another rich kid, with a fast car and some boredom.

Deangelo focused in on the ride he was given, this wasn't your standard race, the racers were given tricked-out cars from a draw, this was probably to keep the anonymity among the racers, De's car was old, some type of 1983 maybe 1984 Porsche 911, but it was decked out, custom wheels, auto-lock doors, and a beautified interior. Yet, the main attraction was the 17'' spoiler, it made the car look like it had some aviation.

The moonlight lit the exhausted streets, as the two crouched into their cars, Deangelo slipped on the bracelet, it irradiated a deep blue aura and then clamped onto Deangelo's wrist, this rejuvenated Deangelo, he felt his eyes widen and every spec of dust on his fingertips, his sleepy brain awoke and mechanically, Deangelo clutched to the wheel.

The woman stepped out, she was wearing close to nothing, a normal practice, she had two plates of money in each hand, the Driver and Deangelo reached out of their window to contribute to the pot. "This is gonna be the last race of the night!" Screamed the eager lady, "The winner gets both plates of money! So," she paused, winking at the two drivers, "Are you ready!?" Exclaimed the nearly nude lady. "Fuck Yeah!" Replied the anticipated crowd, Deangelo sat back into his seat, the Driver inched closer towards the windscreen. "3....2.....1.....DRIVE!"

Screech!

The tires were off, the two were neck and neck, "Shiit, Hotshot has an electric." Thought Deangelo, as the kid switched gears and sped past De, Deangelo began to test out the tricked out ride he'd been assigned, low and behold the baby had 6-Gears.

The Straightaway was ending, the finish line was in sight, De was catching up, to the hotshot, as the idiot switched to his best, as De reached the kid's headlights, he gave a sly smirk, and shifted over into 4th gear and zoomed past the kid.

Crossing the finish-line, Deangelo wasn't met with cash, but the police.
"Fuckin', Hotshot ratted us out, damn!" Muttered De under his breath, and, at the cop's request, he stepped out of the car and put his hands on the hood. As he was expecting to be searched, he instead felt a taser reach his back and his head hit the floor.

Time: 5:15 AM, EDT
Location: 76th Precinct, Brooklyn, New York

Good ol' 76th, this was a common place to find De, though he was never inside voluntarily he knew the place quite well. it's bland, unwelcome atmosphere a good fit for the drained place, Deangelo managed to wake himself up as an Officer walked over to his cell, he motioned for a scrawny guard to bring the keys, it appeared that the bail money wasn't too steep for the agency. Sluggishly, Deangelo stepped out of the station and shuffled over to the parking lot, hopped into his cab and set off to Daisy's, he was feeling like some pancakes and it was clearly due with some coffee too.


Time: 11:30 AM, EDT
Location: 5th Avenue, Brooklyn, New York,

Pacing his way out of Daisy's, with still a bit of syrup on his chin Deangelo popped himself into his ride, a custom-painted checker cab, this was De's office, everything was arranged neatly, orderly and cleansed, to Deangelo, the world cut off inside his cab. Driving the cab is still a privilege to him, heaven knows he's lucky to even use the old thing, let alone paint it; the boys over at the office dubbed it 'The Tourist Wagon', something about the damn car calls in all of the eccentrics.

Deangelo drove around for a couple of blocks until he was hauled down by some whacko in a suit and mask, pulling over, he let the strange person inside. The man was packing cash and an accent straight from the capital,
something about this masked guy was off, hell sketchy, but friendly, De didn't think much of it, that was until the man told him to go to 1470 45th St, which was barebones, the only place for a guy like that would be the Torah Museum, but he didn't look Jewish.

Deangelo took off, but immediately braked, the man brought food in his car, but not just any food, a Car's bane, burgers. The man explained himself and asked to pay $100 extra for the food, reluctantly De agreed, "Just don't get no grease in my damn car, aight!?" Deangelo droned. As the two continued on the ride The man introduced himself as Nu and went on a tangent about Deangelo's old life, the closer they got their destination, the more information he would reveal, and the more Nu revealed, the more concerned Deangelo would get, "Who the hell is this Nu", "Why the fuck does he know about my connections, that side of me is supposed to be dead!" However, the main question that loomed in Deangelo's head was "What am I going to do next."

Turning a final corner, the two arrived, it was some type of parking lot, but the entrances and exits were blocked off with a metal sheet, one metal sheet appeared to be slideable, but to the left of the handle rested a card reader, the man reached into his suit pocket and pulled out a clear-plastic card, scanned it and signaled Deangelo to follow through.

Driving the car up into the parking lot...

Time: 11: 12 AM, CEST
Location: Geneva, Switzerland


Deangelo felt a rush of cold air, instantaneously before him, Deangelo was in Switzerland, the large chocolate sign gave it away, stuck between some dead-end alleyway, it would be a lie to say that this didn't freak out Deangelo, "Yo, what the fuck did you do? This was you right? Yo! Bruh! Dead-ass, pay the fuck up, triple, I never said shit about doing no cross country!" Unresponsive, Nu signalled for De to park the cab, which, after a long pause of hesitation, De complied, as Deangelo followed the man through an exit, he entered the boardroom.

It felt lifeless, yet energetic, unstable, yet, formulated; the air was cold but the room felt hot, everything was nothing; the room had a level of blandness that it was truly everything, this set Deangelo off but also, somehow, intrigued him further. Deangelo looked at the people by the table, they didn't appear too interesting, but, they clearly all had different roles and hierarchies. Looking around, Deangelo couldn't see any other exit than the one he came in from, it appeared that the place was highly secured. The table appeared to have some free seats, despite having some occupants, he grazed over most of the people sitting and took a look at the phone in the middle.

Grabbing a chair, Deangelo put his feet up, there was a clear way out of this situation, but he was in a bit too deep and Nu still hadn't paid his fare.

"I know what you know, so let's start with the questions you undoubtedly have." Grumbled the Phone.

"When are you guys decorating? Cause, I've seen apartments with more life than here." Joked Deangelo, "Also, I'm getting my car back? Right!?"

Among him Deangelo noticed others make their way into the room, maybe his escape plan was going to be postponed for a while.
#acd7ee
#b284be

Spoiler: Tourist Wagon

Spoiler: Winged RaceCar

 

[Gravitational Force]

There's a pause as the voice on the other end of the line takes stock of their questions.
"Take care of this, Nu."

Nu flips off the phone, then turns to the rest of the group.

He speaks as if he's among friends with a North Western American accent and a slightly bored tone.
" The identity of my current employer is irrelevant beyond them not liking expositing beyond gloating, you're in an undisclosed location in Geneva Switzerland, and I got you here using a combination of hypnotism and technological illusions like in the movie Now You See Me."
He pauses for a second, then bursts out laughing.
"Nah, that movie was total bullshit. I used real magic. FYI magic is real and if I need to provide evidence I'm using the person who asked as an example. You're all here because you agreed to join in on the first successful heist on the Bank of Thieves. You will refrain from contacting anyone outside this group for the next 5 hours and then only to provide an excuse for your absence and not to tell them where you are. You'll all be filled in on the plan so far once you're situated, but for now let me introduce the group."

GamerCarrot
"Eliana Burland, chosen for her people skills."
Nu reaches behind her ear and pulls out an emerald which he drops in her hand.

RedEmRa
" Deangelo Briggs, chosen for his driving skills and because I don't have a driver's license. Oh right, here's the fare. Keep the change"
Nu slaps 5 $100 bills into Deangelo's hand alongside a Swiss driver's license, car registration, and other documents needed for driving. He also slides him a locker key with attached address and a picture of blueprints for a custom engine that a drag racer would kill for.

TannerDedInside2017
"Tanner Black, chosen because-"
Nu searches through his suit pocket and reads a crumpled piece of paper.
"Next time I'm writing these in an email to myself, the ink ran. Anyway, moving on:"
Nu tosses Tanner a book about as thin as a quarter over his back. It has nothing written on the cover but the inside has descriptions of how to cast a few minor spells.

Fluxbauble
"Tyson Chase, cracker, hacker, information broker, and-"
Nu notices Tyson's state of undress.
"-I thought you were dressed when I went to get you, sorry. I'll rectify that when I get the rest of your stuff." A USB is sent into Nu's hand from up his sleeve with a flick of his wrist. When opened it contains the usernames and identities of every member of a Russian government-sponsored hacker farm.

ayzrules
"Christina Lee, a dirty rotten snooper, muckracker, falsifier of information, and generally dishonest and vindictive woman. She's probably going to be best friends with all of you before this is over if you let her."
Photos flood out of Nu's left sleeve. The celebrity wedding photos, a candid shot of the moment of impact between a certain actor's fist with his partner's body, a party containing several well known figures with enough cocaine to kill a hooker, and photos of politicians that would garuntee impeachment faster than you can say "white stain on a dress."

"Carl Thomas, world's second best specialized bomb maker."

"Jonathan Dunn, one of the few artificers left and an expert in the kinds of things we'll be facing. Also keep in mind that gloves leave no fingerprints and he's more valuable than any one of half the people here. How's the wife, Jon?"
Jonathan doesn't look up. "Still not married just like the last time you asked. I really don't-"
Jonathan looks up and sees Natalya and stares for a moment before turning back to Nu. "-um, I uh. I'm not married."

"Gunter Wagner from Argentina. His expertise is in magical artifacts and related lore."

"Bennet Ashworth, chemist who should get his nose out of his notes when introductions are happening."
Bennet looks up. "What?"
Nu rubs the part of his mask that covers his forehead.
"The poison worked as you said, only activating when the victim's heartrate increased due to anger rather than mirth. You might want to up the dose next time though, it took him 2 minutes to die."
Bennet writes in a note in his notebook, which is illegible to anyone except Bennet.
"Also how goes the test on the other project I gave you?"
"It's ongoing as we speak."

Nu claps his hands.
"Excellent. Before I go forward I'd like you all to meet the mole in our group who faked her identity in order to infiltrate and betray us to the Americans. More specifically the Department of Statistical Anomalies. Think of them as the CIA for magic."

"Elizabeth Franklin."
Elizabeth slumps over unconscious, her empty coffee cup falling over.
Nu turns to Bennet. "You did it like I told you?"
Bennet grins as he checks Elizabeth over.
"Yes. I put it in decaff so she'd credit the effects to her caffeine addiction not being satisfied instead of the drug."
Bennet lifts one of Elizabeth's eyelids with his pencil and stares at her pupil.
"It seems to be working fine. Shall I?"
Nu nods. "Yes, the second door will get you there. I set this up in advance so there won't be a need for anything more than you to drop her off."
Bennet supports Elizabeth's weight on one shoulder and a figure with no distinguishing features seems to step out of the wall (although you can tell they were standing there unnoticed the whole time somehow) and takes her other arm and the two of them carry the DOSA agent around the corner and out of sight. There's a small flash of light around the corner and the sound of a door shutting.

Nu turns back to the group.
"Okay, then there's the voice on the phone who is my employer and thus your employer. And then there is me. My job is finding things and getting them to the people who want them. I am extremely good at that. Right now that takes the form of stripping the vault of the Bank of Thieves bare. The good news is what I've done for your so far will seem like nothing if you make it out of this as planned. The bad news is-"
Nu realizes he's forgotten a few people.
"-sorry, more introductions."

"The nondescript person who just left with Bennet and Mz. Franklin is known only as Paranoia. They're one of the best infiltrators and disguise specialists I've had the pleasure to work with."

sly-eyed-lyra
"And last but not least is Natalya Borojevic, lockpicker, safecracker, and I can't think of a third descriptor. I gave her part of her present before she arrived but I don't want her to feel left out, so here."
Nu hands Natalya a picture of her family with passports and plane tickets. The destination on the tickets in the picture is just off-screen.
"Also that doubles as the threat I'm holding over you."
Nu's mask seems to wink.
"It wouldn't even take a phonecall to prune your family tree."

"I'll take it from here, Nu." the voice on the phone cuts Nu off.
Nu looks indignant. "I introduce everyone and all that but you're going to cut in once it's time to introduce the stick to go with the carrots?"
"You've summed it up perfectly."
"There's no such thing as perfection."
"Says the person who can be counted on to say 'there's no such thing as perfection' 100% of the time when something is described as 'perfect.'"
"That's not the same thing and you know it."
"Irrelevant. Now back to the main point. If any of you betray me not only will I have you killed painfully, I will do the same for those closest to you. Nu, show them."
Nu scoffs. "Oh sure the moment you need a visual demonstration you tell me to after just a few sentences."
Nu rolls a fish tank from under the table. Inside is a reddish gloppy substance.
The voice on the phone speaks. "This was the last person to cross me. There are no further questions I need to answer so I will let Nu handle it from here." There is a click as the person hangs up.

Nu turns to the group.
"So do any of you still need time to process this or can we start getting you all situated?"

 

[Fluxbauble]

Spoiler: Appearance

View attachment 475763

Tyson Li Chase / D-Cipher

Tyson began rubbing his forehead as the little Asian woman was going on a tirade. Had she never heard of the words calm or chill before? She kept going on and on about stupid celebrities and their personal lives. People actually care about that stuff? Well he couldn't exactly say he didn't. In the information business knowing who's who and what's what about them is a part of the job. Still though Tyson didn't think it was something be to lighting torches and raising pitchforks over. A low, heavy sigh escapes his lips just as the woman finished her... Whatever it was she was on about. "Note to self. Don't talk to that one. She probably doesn't have an off switch. Threat level: High." He thought.

"When are you guys decorating? Cause, I've seen apartments with more life than here."
That line got a reserved chuckle out of Tyson. For a bunch of would-be master criminals the place was rather drab. Hell even Tyson's place had more color than here and that place was mostly just LED lights and computer screens maybe the window's blinds were open for some natural lighting on good days but even then. There was no windows here to speak of. Just a single set of large doors. Feels more like an interrogation room than a meeting room. Still it got the message across. This is all business. No distractions. At least the atmosphere was something he was used to. Even in his business correspondences there was never a wasted word nor a hint of playfulness. That might've been because Tyson conducted all of his business online, but the feel was the same. Cold, calculated, no tricks, just the deal.

Much of the questions were the same for the most part save for one. "This is about the job opportunity, isn't it? It's the reason we're all here, correct?" Spoke up a woman in the background. "A woman after my own heart. Down to brass tacks. I like that." Tyson knew what she meant. It was the same conclusion he had come to when he arrived. This was all related to the Bank of Thieves job. What really caught his attention though was her accent. "Russian? No that's right exactly... Serbian? Haven't heard that accent since that job I did for a mobster a few years back. Guy was a total pig. Money was good though and I never spoke to him again. Wonder if that guy ever got iced? I know that whatever they do with the information is their choice, but that job left a bad taste in my mouth. But a man's gotta eat."

There was a long pause before the voice broke out again.
"Take care of this, Nu."
Nu turned off the phone before speaking.
"The identity of my current employer is irrelevant beyond them not liking expositing beyond gloating, you're in an undisclosed location in Geneva Switzerland, and I got you here using a combination of hypnotism and technological illusions like in the movie Now You See Me."
He pauses for a second, then bursts out laughing.
"Nah, that movie was total bullshit. I used real magic. FYI magic is real and if I need to provide evidence I'm using the person who asked as an example. You're all here because you agreed to join in on the first successful heist on the Bank of Thieves. You will refrain from contacting anyone outside this group for the next 5 hours and then only to provide an excuse for your absence and not to tell them where you are. You'll all be filled in on the plan so far once you're situated, but for now let me introduce the group."

"Hold the damn phone! What does he mean magic is real?!" Tyson thought. "And I actually liked Now You See Me. The second one was rather shite I'll admit, but I mean come on! It was cool for what it was." But it did make a lot of sense. There wouldn't have been any chance for Tyson to be induced with hypnotism seeing as the chat logs held no attachments or hyperlinks that would put him into a hypnotic state. And how do you explain the wardrobe to Narnia fiasco that got him here in the first place? Another sigh left him as Tyson knew he had to accept that magic as real. But that was the case then those stories he read growing up about the ancient Chinese warriors wielding magic weapons and armor must also be true. His interest was piqued once more. "This job may be more entertaining and fruitful than I though." With that thought the introduction of the rest of the crew was underway.

"Eliana Burland, chosen for her people skills." Nu pulled an emerald from the behind the fiery redhead's ear before dropping it into her hands. "People skills. That's a nice way of saying sex appeal I guess. But who knows maybe she does have a silver tongue. Threat assessment: Femme Fatale. Don't get caught up in her pace and I should be good."

"Deangelo Briggs, chosen for his driving skills and because I don't have a driver's license. Oh right, here's the fare. Keep the change" Nu gave the man 500 dollars along with a few other items. Some paperwork and a key by the looks of it. "A driver and a joker huh? Always a good combination. Still a skilled driver cannot be undervalued. Threat assessment: Pending."

"Tanner Black, chosen because-"Nu searches through his suit pocket and reads a crumpled piece of paper."Next time I'm writing these in an email to myself, the ink ran. Anyway, moving on:" Nu dropped what looked to be a pocket notebook in front of the kid before moving on. "The hell kind of introduction was that?! That didn't provide any new information aside from the kid's name. I guess I shouldn't be surprised at this point. I'll learn about him soon enough as the job goes on."

"Tyson Chase, cracker, hacker, information broker, and-" Tyson jerked a little when he was introduced. Nu paused for a moment. "-I thought you were dressed when I went to get you, sorry. I'll rectify that when I get the rest of your stuff." Tyson clicked his tongue at that statement. Like he really had a chance to get ready. Well at least he was dressed comfortably for the most part. A USB appeared into Nu's hand from his sleeve as he flicked his wrist before handing it to Tyson. "This should prove interesting. I can't wait to crack you open little fella." He though as he twirled the USB between his fingers before clutching it in his hand. A wry smile traced his face.

"Christina Lee, a dirty rotten snooper, muckracker, falsifier of information, and generally dishonest and vindictive woman. She's probably going to be best friends with all of you before this is over if you let her." He was referring to the little spitfire mouthed Asian woman. "A woman who's bad for business and she's gonna try and be my best friend? Threat level re-assessment: Critical Mass. Chance of escape - Minimal. This job just got a whole lot harder..." Tyson's head hangs low at the thought of working with a mile a minute motor mouth. But she was selected for a reason and for that Tyson took a deep breath before looking back up to hear the rest of the introductions.
​

"Carl Thomas, world's second best specialized bomb maker." "Shaky hands is a bomb maker? Hard to believe, but if magic is real then I guess anything is possible"
"Jonathan Dunn, one of the few artificers left and an expert in the kinds of things we'll be facing. Also keep in mind that gloves leave no fingerprints and he's more valuable than any one of half the people here. How's the wife, Jon?" They exchange a small bit of banter before moving on. "An Artificer? That term sounds familiar. I think I heard that in one of my forum role plays I did to pass the time while deals were being finalized. Aw crap that reminds me i should probably inform my group that I won't be on due to work. Damnit all and it was just getting good too. We were almost at the castle of the vampire lord."
"Gunter Wagner from Argentina. His expertise is in magical artifacts and related lore." "Oh joy a historian who's also a judgmental prick. That's not cliche."
"Bennet Ashworth, chemist who should get his nose out of his notes when introductions are happening." The well dressed man looked up from his notes with a look of a man lost in his own world who just got back to reality. They discussed experiments that were either completed or ongoing before Nu moved on to the next person. "A chemist huh? A bit of an eccentric if you ask me. But they do say genius and madness are two sides of the same coin. What was that about an ongoing experiment though?"
"Excellent. Before I go forward I'd like you all to meet the mole in our group who faked her identity in order to infiltrate and betray us to the Americans. More specifically the Department of Statistical Anomalies. Think of them as the CIA for magic." A twist before the job even begins? "Elizabeth Franklin." The drowsy woman's head fell to the table knocking over her coffee. Mr. Ashworth and Nu exchanged a few words after she collapsed. Apparently she was the ongoing experiment. "Note to self: Do not accept food or drink from the chemist." As Mr. Ashworth hoisted the unconscious woman over one shoulder another man seemingly appeared just out of view. He took her other arm and they both left the room in a flash of light. "Where the hell did this one come from?! The fucking ether?!" Tyson was taken aback by the presence of the man. Or rather, the lack of presence. He felt nothing from the man. Like the guy produced no presence. It was both eerie and familiar. Is this what it was like for people when Tyson was around growing up? A chill went down Tyson's spine. He knew himself the benefit of lacking a presence. But that level was off putting.
"Okay, then there's the voice on the phone who is my employer and thus your employer. And then there is me. My job is finding things and getting them to the people who want them. I am extremely good at that. Right now that takes the form of stripping the vault of the Bank of Thieves bare. The good news is what I've done for your so far will seem like nothing if you make it out of this as planned. The bad news is-" Nu paused once more. "-sorry, more introductions. "The nondescript person who just left with Bennet and Mz. Franklin is known only as Paranoia. They're one of the best infiltrators and disguise specialists I've had the pleasure to work with." "Paranoia is a word for him that's for sure. Gods be damned." He thought

"And last but not least is Natalya Borojevic, lockpicker, safecracker, and I can't think of a third descriptor." Nu was describing the Serbian woman. Based on the tone and context of the exchange seems like they have her by the throat. "I guess we all can't be so lucky to just accept the job no strings attached. It would appear that everyone who isn't a mole is here for different reasons. That's to be expected given the nature of our world. We all may have a common goal, but our motives for doing so couldn't be more different." Tyson almost lost himself in thought before the phone chimed in once more.​

"I'll take it from here, Nu." There was a bit of banter between Nu and the employer. They sounded like a married couple by they way the spoke to one another. "If any of you betray me not only will I have you killed painfully, I will do the same for those closest to you. Nu, show them." Nu rolled out a fish tank from under the table. Inside is a reddish gloppy substance. Was that always there? "This was the last person to cross me. There are no further questions I need to answer so I will let Nu handle it from here." And with that the employed disconnected the call. "Well that's one way to make sure you're employees are in line. Whoever out benefactor is, they certainly don't like disloyalty. But man that's a messed up way of threatening us. Then again is there a non messed up way to threaten someone that isn't just verbal? Probably not in our line of work." Tyson shook his head trying to get the image of him being in that fish tank out of his mind. Not like he really planned on betraying the boss anyways, but that image just reinforced that idea. "So do any of you still need time to process this or can we start getting you all situated?" Nu asked as he turned back to the group.

Tyson straightened up before speaking. "I believe I understand the situation. Somethings area little hard to believe. But I can't exactly say I can explain it all either. I would like to change into some proper clothes though. Something I can actually wear in front of other people at least." Tyson looked around the room once more to get a good look at everyone again. Aside from the chemist and Paranoia, everyone looks almost as puzzled as he did. But processing what he had would be dealt with in time and although he needed more information regarding his new team, he needed to set up his base of operations before anything else. "Nu, how soon can your magic get my equipment? I need to start setting up as soon as possible if I'm to be of any use."

 

[GamerCarrot]

As Nu approached her and introduced her to everyone else she smiled at everyone before her focus moved to the emerald placed in her hand, immediately she ran her fingers over the emerald and inspected it a sly smile appearing on her face. As Nu introduced everyone else she turned and looked at them all whilst pocketing the emerald extremely curious on how the hell Nu managed to do that and where could she learn to do that.

She looked at everyone who had now been introduced and all that ran through her mind was the possibility of gaining a few other contacts for her line of work which to Nu was 'people skills' but soon that thought disappeared from her mind as they pulled out a gloppy substance and showed them all. Her hand immediately moved to cover her mouth both in shock and disgust if she was going to betray them before she sure as hell wasn't going to do it now. She shook her head when Nu asked did they need anymore time to process this information and she had no questions either for now she stayed silent trying to think of ways her skill could be useful in this mission.

 

[TannerDedInside2017]

Tanner caught the notebook and flipped through it with interest. How was this guy able to learn this magic? He thought to himself as he observed the others. The screaming lady caught his attention "Hey, take a chill pill!" he said to her "You could really use one!" He then noticed Nu giving out other gifts. He listened to their descriptions and why they were chosen. Eliana, people person. DeAngelo, driver. Tyson, hacker guy. Christina, news lady, also a loud screamy person. And Natalya, master thief. He thought to himself. These people do seem like they would be good on a heist. Especially Tyson and Natalya. He turned his attention to the other people who seemed like they knew what was going on. He noted their descriptions.

Carl, bomb maker. Jon, artificer. Bennet, chemist. Gunter, magical artifacts guy And Elizabeth. Nothing is known about Elizabeth. Probably just a test subject or something. He decided to analyze the people more deeply. He decided that Gunter would probably not like him, and he already didn't like Christina, the loud lady. He decided it would be a good idea to befriend the thief, but it wasn't likely. He wanted to befriend Tyson, he seemed like he would be a good person to befriend. He also wanted to make friends with the people person, Eliana. Maybe she could teach him to properly interact with people. He noticed Nu roll out a fish tank with something that looked like liquid dog or something weird like that "What the hell is that?" he said to himself

 

[sly-eyed-lyra]

Natalya Borojevic
There were too many things to rationalize at once, but Natalya wouldn't let herself get overwhelmed; her thoughts were more clean, concise, and methodical than Nu's brief but somewhat botched introductions. She listed them off in her head.

1. Magic is real. Time to get used to it. Natalya was reminded sadly of her short childhood. Grandma would be thrilled. All those stories can serve their purpose now.

Nu began imparting his gifts among them, with their respective roles to the job, pulling things out of thin air - by magic, Natalya reminded herself.

2. Everyone here has a purpose. And everyone must be worth it if their gifts reflect how valuable they are to this.

Natalya heard a single harmonic glass tone as Nu passed an emerald the size of Natalya's fist to Eliana, the one with 'people skills'; Eliana seemed very pleased with her gift. Very valuable indeed, she confided in herself. She doesn't look threatening, but that's probably apart of the appeal. I've got to be careful what I say around her.

Their driver, Deangelo, (a name Natalya might have trouble pronouncing) was given some paperwork, and more importantly, some keys. I hope he drives as fast as his wit. As Nu slapped Deangelo's share into his hands, Natalya caught a glimpse of the thing that was humming at her earlier - an ornate bracelet, buzzing a bit stronger as if it wanted tell her it's name. Deangelo pocketed the keys, and kept his hands in his pockets while the paperwork laid in front of him on the table, keeping Natalya from picking up the low hum of the bracelet. Hm.

The kid that spoke up earlier was simply tossed a small volume without an introduction. Like the bracelet, Natalya got a small impression from it as it flew through the air, pages peaking out from their binding. They're whispering. The kid caught the book with ease, and began flipping through it intently. He's a bit of an enigma. And so is that book.

The man in his bedclothes was introduced as Tyson, a hacker and information broker. A bit less intimidating now, but maybe he's just not in his element. He was handed a USB, and seemed more comfortable with something he knew and understood in his hands; Natalya got little electric currents on her own fingers, as if they were mimicking the motion of Tyson's, except with the sensation revealing that whatever was on that USB was good. If he works in information, he might have ties to the Serbs...whatever. He just needs to make sure he stays out of my way. If he doesn't, then I'll know there's a problem.

3. I can't trust any of these people.

Everyone else here seemed free of circumstance; they were here on their own volition. Not like Natalya. Natalya had much more to loose than them, but much more to gain than them too. She still didn't have her freedom, but this was a start. A slow crawl out of hell.

"Christina Lee, a dirty rotten snooper, muckraker, falsifier of information, and generally dishonest and vindictive woman. She's probably going to be best friends with all of you before this is over if you let her." Nu relinquished a flood of incrimination celebrity photos for the hot-headed Asian girl. Just pretend you're deaf around her. She's probably the one you have to keep your guard up the most for.

Carl Thomas, renowned demolitions expert. Shake n' bake. Maybe its from being within range of the blasts. Probably why he's second best. Still impressive.

Jonathan Dunn, artificer; he wasn't paying attention until Nu made some revealing banter, and for some reason, the man's gaze fell on Natalya for a noticeable moment before he ended the back-and-forth about his marital status. Natalya was perplexed by the way he looked at her, but she'd dwell on it later.

The scarred, pale imposing man was introduced as Gunter, an artifacts expert. Natalya resolved to leave him to his own devices, eluding him as much as possible. He seems more than fairly unpleasant.

Nu seemed to have much more rapport with the table, save for Deangelo, as he had a small aside with the chemist, Bennett. Natalya would know not to accept anything from him as their next guest was introduced, an infiltrator from an agency that already seemed to be the heist's antagonists. The woman, Elizabeth, had gone fully limp at last on her cup of coffee, as masterminded by the chemist. A form materialized off the wall and helped the chemist remove the woman from the room, simply introduced as Paranoia. Natalya was alarmed she had no inkling of sensation to detect whatever that was. Magic.

At last, it was her. She was to be their lock-pick and safe cracker.

Natalya’s chest faltered as Nu handed her a thin, glossy photo - it felt warm in her hands before she could even make out it was her family, with luggage and passports at what seemed like an airfield. They were all smiling, but her mother and father’s countenance a bit scared as they expressed false happiness; it was only her grandmother that seemed truly joyed. Natalya imagined it was Nu that might’ve persisted they smile for the camera. A breath of relief and gratitude finally escaped her lungs. She considered thanking Nu for her “presents” but he added his last words, mask leaning over as if to impart a whispered wisdom.

“Also, that doubles as the threat I’m holding over you. It wouldn’t even take a phonecall to prune your family tree.”

Natalya gritted her teeth as Nu stalked away, his attention turned to the voice of their collective employer.

"If any of you betray me not only will I have you killed painfully, I will do the same for those closest to you. Nu, show them."

Nu presented them with a fish tank filled with a liquefied human remains. Natalya, turning away from the grotesque sight, made another conclusion.

4. I will keep my family safe no matter what. I am what stands between these people and the ones I love. I will finish this. After this last job, it's all over.

"So do any of you still need time to process this or can we start getting you all situated?"

As Tyson requested some proper clothes, Natalya observed the photo again. There was her father, with his grizzled streaky grey mane, her mother's blonde mop of curly hair and her smile lines, and her grandmother in that signature burgundy headscarf of hers. Flipping over the photo, a phone number was written on the back, with a small notation - "TELL THEM YOU'RE SAFE. NO COPS." This must've been the excuse of absence Nu mentioned.

"I'm ready. I just need to make my phone call." She said at last.

 

[ayzrules]

To say that Tina was expecting this would be a blatant lie. Though Tina was well-versed in the field of blatantly lying-how many times had she told various security guards, receptionists, and secretaries that she was so-and-so here to see such-and-such and no, she didn't have an appointment but they'd spoken on the phone and oh, here's a juicy and completely made-up rumor about Hollywood's hottest celebs for your efforts...?

Okay, so yeah. I'm a big fat liar. And I would think that these people were, too, if not for the fact that I'm somehow in, like, Switzerland? I mean, that limo-turning-into-gray-room thing was freaky enough.

Tina frowned at "Nu's" next words. "Um, hello creepy smiley guy? I write a daily gossip column? I mean, do you want me to get fired? And, uh, what is this Bank of Thieves thing??? Seems kind of contradictory, if you ask me. Like, aren't thieves supposed to rob a bank, not...run one?"

Nu went on to introduce the rest of the group. The red-haired girl was named Eliana Burland, and he dropped a pretty jewel into her hand. There was someone named Deangelo Briggs (because Nu didn't have a driver's license, or something. Which Tina thought was faintly ridiculous-he was magic, after all.)

I mean, seriously. Can't he just bibbity-bobbity-boo himself a license? Can't be that hard. And he would be fine as long as he didn't get pulled over. I don't see why it's this big of a deal, Tina thought to herself as Nu introduced Tanner and gave him a book.

The Asian dude was a hacker, it seemed like. He gave Tyson a flash drive before turning to Tina.

"Christina Lee, a dirty rotten snooper, muckracker, falsifier of information, and generally dishonest and vindictive woman. She's probably going to be best friends with all of you before this is over if you let her."

Tina rolled her eyes. "Gee, I'm flattered," she answered, her voice dripping sarcasm as she took the photos from Nu, though she couldn't help the delighted smile that spread over her face at the photos. Oh. My. God. We're going to have a field day, she thought, until she remembered that she was apparently not going to contact anybody for an indeterminate amount of time.

Shit. Okay, I can mail these to the office, write up short columns to go with them in advance. Tell boss to publish them one at a time. Or something. Jesus fucking christ, I am going to get fired.

Tina listened as Nu introduced everybody else, though her mind was...elsewhere. This is seriously the worst time to have to do this...bank thing. Like. Jamie and Trace just got engaged, Ariana's about to get married, Kylie just had a baby-I mean, come on!

Tina still didn't really understand how magic existed, but...I mean, that compact has been consistently 'magic' for like, five years now. So I'm definitely not hallucinating or something. And ya girl doesn't do drugs. My skin is already shitty enough; the last thing I need is a break-out because I'm snorting crack every night.

According to Nu, there was also a bomb maker, some kind of artificer dude (the hell did that mean?!), some guy who was an expert in "magical artifacts" (what, were they in a movie or something? Everything was just really, really weird), a chemist (blegh. Boring scientist type guys were so not her type), and...

"Holy shit!" Tina hissed as the blonde woman slumped over, evidently unconscious. Damn. And I wanted some of her coffee, too, she thought, absurdly.

And what is this CIA for magic shit? Why do they need a CIA for that kind of stuff? Like, can't they just have regular old FBI? Or is it more like Men In Black? Oooh, that was a good movie.

Nu mentioned someone named "Paranoia". Oh, come-fucking-on. That is literally the most edgy and cliche code name ever. Seriously.

The last person he introduced was Natalya something-Tina-couldn't-pronounce. Nu said something very cryptic to her, and Tina's eyebrows shot up. Jesus fucking christ. What is going on?!

Tina watched, slightly amused, as Nu seemed to argue with his "employer". At the employer's threat, Tina couldn't help but to roll her eyes. "What are you, a cliche movie villain?" she said, snorting derisively. "I mean, come on. Surely you can be more creative than that." However, Tina shut up when Nu showed them the fish tank.

That. Is. Gross. Do these people not know of, like, proper ways to get rid of a dead body? They're magical, for fuck's sake.

God. This is all because of that mirror from Macy's, isn't it? I mean, it's cute, but it's not worth all this trouble. I'm going to get fired and probably killed because this Nu guy and his boss are obsessed with the goddamn mirror.

Nu asked if they had any questions. "Um, yeah," said Tina. "First of all, and I don't know about anyone else in this room, but I have a full-time job and an aunt who can barely boil an egg without burning down the kitchen. Basically, I have a life. Not sure if that's the case or not with you guys-" and here Tina gave the other assembled individuals a pointed glance- "but yeah. And, as you so kindly pointed out earlier, I'm a gossip columnist, not the fucking CIA. So what do you want me to do, dig up the deets on the president of the Bank of Thieves and write a nasty article about his sex life? Because, like, I've never even heard of this place in my life." A pause. "Oh, and if you want the mirror, that's fine. Found it at the Macy's near LAX, on sale." Tina flashed him what she hoped was a winning smile. "Just FYI."

 

[Gravitational Force]

"You said you picked the best men for the job, Nu." the voice on the phone says, clearly irritated. "Clearly that didn't happen. Dispose of the new ones and find competent men, not this ragtag group of misfits."
You now recognize that the speaker is rolling their rs as they speak, even if the voice is distorted.

Nu shrugs. "Well, you heard the boss." He reaches out his hand and...turns off the phone.
He laughs at the expressions on the group's faces. "He contracted this job to me. How I do it is my business. This does mean that none of you are getting out if you fail though, I have a reputation to uphold."

Moving throughout the group, Nu snatches objects (he emerald from Eliana, the device Jonathan had been working on, and Tina's compact mirror) and with a few deft movements clicks them together so they seemed like they were joined from the start. Setting the device down, a 3 dimensional image of the layout of an underground building appears floating a few feet off the table top.

Ignoring it for a moment, Nu turns to the group. "I picked each and every one of you for your talents. If the items you possessed were all I needed I would have just taken them. Each of you have the skills necessary for this job. And that includes you, Tina. I'd quit the backtalk if I were you, but you do you."


"This is the manager of the Bank. He's nicknamed 'The Patron Saint of Thieves.' He's gone missing recently so we're capitalizing on that."

Nu pulls a handful of manila envelopes out of his suit and slides them to each group member, then points at the building layout being projected.

"This is the Bank of Thieves. Accessable nonmagically in only two ways." He points to two locations on the map.
"The first, using a code to enter using a specific set of moves in the chess game played by this man" an image appears on the screen.

"His real name is unknown, but he's the first obstacle you will need to get past. He's watched at all times by a closed circuit camera as a double security measure. If either he or the person watching the camera doesn't open the entrance you're not getting in. If you want to get in that way you'll need to figure out the code. And since it doesn't involve actual chess moves it's impossible to guess it. The only ones who know the code are bank clients or employees."

Nu points to another location on the map. "This is the second entrance in the manager's office. I do not have the information where the entrance to it is, but it does open it up as an escape route if need be. To use it, just twist the middle lamps on the wall all the way to the left."

"For the employees themselves, the manager is currently missing, so the Bank has gone into lockdown. If any stranger is spotted who hasn't entered using the code they will..."
Nu taps the fishtank full of liquidated human with his foot.
"...have that happen to them. So don't get caught."

"The employees are keeping things running without the boss, but I only managed to dig up details on two of them. The aforementioned old man running the chess combination and this woman."
Nu pulls up another image.

"Elissa Franklin. A teller at the bank. I've got an address and favorite restaurant, but not much else."


"This is the main floor of the bank. As you can see, it's very large. Any attempt to storm it would be impossible, since any would-be intruders would be blown away before they got halfway down the floor. Therefore getting past here will require either a massive distraction or careful infiltration."


"Once past there, the next place is the bar. The Chinese Triad, Russian Mob, and Italian Mafia always have at least six of their men stationed here at all times, rotating them every so often to ensure they don't get too comfortable. There are also a smattering of other smaller organized criminal groups and professional thieves. You can't storm here either, although it would be incredibly easy to set them against each other if you could figure out how and get through the confusion. Keep in mind that anyone violating what the staff deem to be honor among thieves gets..."
Nu taps the fishtank full of liquidated human with his foot.
"...that. So they're on their best behavior most of the time."

Nu points further down.
"After that there is a split where one path goes to the Manager's office and the other goes to the vault. If you aren't taking notes you might want to. Then there's the laser grid where deadly moving lasers will cut you apart if they touch you."

"Luckily that was disabled. So no worries there."


"And then there's the vault. Larger than the hallway and filled with pilfered treasures, precious metals, lots and lots of drugs, and priceless artwork. Also quite a few dirty details that would make a blackmailer very happy. And more secret recipes than the cookbooks of a thousand mothers. Getting into the vault requires unlocking the door. We'll deal with that when we get there. Once inside you'll have however long we have in there to load up everything you want to take out. FYI gold is very heavy."

Nu motions to the envelopes he's passed out. "Each of those has your role in it. Only you will be able to read them"

As each group member reads their role, they find they can't read what's on anybody else's paper. Each paper has a layout of the individual's skills, suggested parts they can play, and specific parts they must play in the heist. See below the categories below for the last one:

GamerCarrot ayzrules
"Eliana/Christina will gather any personal information needed to blackmail or otherwise negate the defenses provided by the bank employees and the clients in the bar. I'd suggest starting with Elissa and the old man and working from there."

TannerDedInside2017
"Tanner will use the minor spells provided to help out along the way."

sly-eyed-lyra
"Natalya will open the vault door."

Fluxbauble
"Tyson will work to disable the closed circuit cameras inside and outside the bank and be in charge of ensuring communications between the group are secure along with all technology-related problems."

At the end of each member's readout is the following:
"Feel free to eliminate heist members who have outlived their usefulness for a larger cut of the payday. PS: you won't be able to tell anyone about this part."
Any character attempting to talk about the You Have Outlived Your Usefulness part of the files will be unable to.

Nu walks to the door. "I unfortunately can't stick around any longer than this. From here on out you're on your own for this." He exits in a flash of light.

 

[TannerDedInside2017]

Tanner was scribbling down notes in the back of his notebook where there weren't any spells listed. He set the notebook down and snatched the envelope from the table and looked at it So this is what he gave me the notebook for, guess I'll need to practice some. He quickly grabbed the notebook from the table and started flipping through it, not really paying attention to anyone else. He found a spell and rested his finger on it. "Okay, here we go" he said to himself and muttered something under his breath. Immediately he flew back and he slammed against the wall with a groan. He chuckled slightly "Uhm...." he said with a small smile "I uuhhh, I just gotta get these down and I'll be good!" he said with a chuckle and he dragged his seat back to where it was and he sat down. He looked at another spell. "Okay, let's try this one. He muttered something under his breath, and his hand was enveloped in fire "AHH!" he shouted, but then realized it wasn't hurting "Oh, that's cool!" he exclaimed, but after about 5 minutes it wasn't going away. "Okaayy, you can go away now" he said to the fire. He started waving his hand around, shooting harmless flames around the room "Go away!" he shouted at the fire. "He quickly flipped through the notebook with one hand and found the spell to counteract it. He felt so stupid for not thinking about that before. "There we go"

 

[Fluxbauble]

Tyson Li Chase / D-Cipher
​

Tyson continued to sit there and observe as Nu gathered up the seemingly random items from the people around him. As if by a fusion of technical acumen and 'magic' he took an emerald, a compact mirror, and whatever device the articifer was fiddling with and combined them to create some sort of device. A 3-D image of a building was being projected out of it. "A 3-D holoprojector? Just like in the movies. What the hell did I get myself into?" Tyson thought as he continued to listen to Nu speak. Suddenly a picture of a well dressed man appeared within the holo projection.

"This is the manager of the Bank. He's nicknamed 'The Patron Saint of Thieves.' He's gone missing recently so we're capitalizing on that." Nu pulled some envelopes out of his coat and tossed one to each of the group members. Tyson spun his envelope till it was properly facing him. It didn't open it at this time however. He couldn't afford to miss out on any details of the job. Though he had an inkling that the contents of the envelope was just going to be the same info that Nu was about to go over with them that they can check back on at their leisure. Nu then directed their attention back to the projection of the building pointing to two points on the map as he spoke. "This is the Bank of Thieves. Accessable nonmagically in only two ways. The first, using a code to enter using a specific set of moves in the chess game played by this man." An image of a elderly man playing chess was brought into view. "His real name is unknown, but he's the first obstacle you will need to get past. He's watched at all times by a closed circuit camera as a double security measure. If either he or the person watching the camera doesn't open the entrance you're not getting in. If you want to get in that way you'll need to figure out the code. And since it doesn't involve actual chess moves it's impossible to guess it. The only ones who know the code are bank clients or employees." "A closed circuit camera huh? Shouldn't be too difficult to hack into something like that. But since it's closed circuit then I'd need another access point to get the door open for the rest of the team. That could take some time. And even then we'd need the code to get past the old guy. Gods only knows if that man is packing heat. Magical or otherwise."

Nu then pointed to the second location on the map. "This is the second entrance in the manager's office. I do not have the information where the entrance to it is, but it does open it up as an escape route if need be. To use it, just twist the middle lamps on the wall all the way to the left. For the employees themselves, the manager is currently missing, so the Bank has gone into lockdown. If any stranger is spotted who hasn't entered using the code they will..." Nu taps the fishtank full of liquidated human with his foot. "...have that happen to them. So don't get caught." "You've got to be shittin' me with this. So no matter what we'd need the code."

"The employees are keeping things running without the boss, but I only managed to dig up details on two of them. The aforementioned old man running the chess combination and this woman." An image of a young woman appeared on screen dressed like she worked at a hotel. "Elissa Franklin. A teller at the bank. I've got an address and favorite restaurant, but not much else." "Not much to go on, but that address is more than enough of a lead for me to work my own kind of 'magic'."

The image then changed to a large open hallway. Now this looked like a bank floor that Tyson was used to seeing. "This is the main floor of the bank. As you can see, it's very large. Any attempt to storm it would be impossible, since any would-be intruders would be blown away before they got halfway down the floor. Therefore getting past here will require either a massive distraction or careful infiltration." "I'd rather do things quiet. But we do have a bomb guy so maybe a distraction isn't such a bad idea."

Nu then proceeded to explain everything else past the main floor. There was a bar which major movers in the criminal underworld had rotating guard shifts. They were advised not to try and storm the place which made sense. No one wants to really tango with the mafia from any country or find out what it's like to be put through a blender. He mentioned it wouldn't be difficult to have the fight each other, but the whole 'honor among thieves' law kept them in check. Tyson's mind was already coming up with some ideas for how to cause them to go against each other. But he'd need someone with a silver tongue to make it work. Luckily he had two 'lovely ladies' blessed with the gift of glib. "That could definitely work if they're willing." Nu continued through the 3-D building which led to a T-Shape hallway. One way led to the Manager's Office, which Tyson already mentally noted as an escape route. The other lead to their payday, the vault. Nu explained that the entire hallway was rigged with lasers that could actually cut people to ribbons. Luckily due to the lock down they were disabled. "I guess if no one is making a deposit, they wouldn't dream of trying to do a withdrawal. Especially during a lock down." Nu then explained that the envelopes he passed out were their individual roles in the heist before saying his farewells and exiting in a flash of light.

Tyson opened his envelope and began read its contents. As expected, his job was to hack into the security systems in and out of the bank while also maintaining communications for the team and providing technical support as needed. A smirk drew across his face as he read that. "Child's play." He thought as he read the final bit at the end of the document. "Feel free to eliminate heist members who have outlived their usefulness for a larger cut of the payday. PS: you won't be able to tell anyone about this part." Though it couldn't be seen, Tyson's eyes had widened after reading that. "Damn. Even for me that's cold-blooded. But if it means we get a larger payout... No. I don't think I can do that. I ruin lives for a living not take them. Then again this is a dangerous job. We're probably not all gonna come out of this alive. If I think of it that way, then no matter what our payday is gonna grow. I'll just play the odds. No way they're gonna get rid of me. If they lose their line of communication then they'd all be dead. I think I'm safe if that's the situation." Tyson closed his envelope and rubbed his brow before realizing something. "That bastard left without telling us where our rooms were. I'm still in my pajamas..."

 

[sly-eyed-lyra]

Natalya Borojevic
Natalya focused as Nu elaborated on their holographic tour of the bank. Natalya took special note of the main floor bar, resolving to elude it in their plans as much as possible. Each member had their work set out for them, and it was clear each recognized their purpose in Nu's reconnaissance. There was plenty of information to be harvested by Eliana or Tina, tons of technological apparatuses Tyson could gain influence over, and the rest of them extremely useful. Even overkill. A chemist, demolition man, and some archaic academics. She still didn't know why the kid was there, Tanner, and nearly forgot about Paranoia. They were well rounded. Natalya also had her work cut out for her - the giant vault, the last obstacle before their riches and her freedom. Nu had reiterated liquification as a consequence for failure all throughout his description of the bank.

However, there was another danger of this job. Where everyone else had multiple uses, she just had the one task. Open a vault door. She had seen the "usefulness clause" at the bottom of her readout. She doubted it was just on hers, though as Nu said, no one else could read each others. Still, a sudden stagnation in the air, as though it were thickening like cement, made Natalya aware that everyone else was.

I'm here to get my life back. Not to ruin others. But if anyone looks to ruin mine...

The gun she had pocketed before this whole ordeal hung deeper in her trench coat. It was a six shooter. She had six chances to keep anyone from deeming her obsolete. She would not waste a bullet. She would not miss.

She didn't want it to get to that point, though she knew she couldn't trust anyone in this room. She had skills none of them had, and some other little quirks that could help, like her synesthetic sight.

Maybe a bit of camaraderie would help.

As soon as she thought so, Nu made his leave in a flash of light, leaving them all to their own awkward devices. However, another flash emitted in the room, coming from the palm of Tanner's hand as he tried to barter with it for it to extinguish. He soon found the counter spell in his little book to do so. Natalya was sort of glad Tanner broke the awkward silence. So that's what you do.

Natalya broke the silence between them all, cutting the cement air.

"So, we need a plan."

Gravitational Force Fluxbauble TannerDedInside2017 ayzrules GamerCarrot

 

[GamerCarrot]

As Nu took the emerald he had just given her she pouted, thoroughly not amused by having a gift revoked but she quickly recovered and focused on the information he was giving the entire group. She took note of the two people that most likely she would have to persuade for information. After Nu had finished speaking and everyone had received a small envelope with their task inside she glanced over at Christina, admittedly she was worried about the fine print left on the bottom of her letter, sure she could persuade people of info, convince them of things that were no were near true but that was it that was her skill... talking. She could see many uses for it when it came to getting guards out of the way by telling a little lie and send them on their way on a wild goose chase but what if her usefulness was to expire as soon as she had done just that. With worry still over her she was about to walk towards Christina before Tanner flew backwards and managed to cause a fire in the span of a few seconds, letting out a small laugh she then heard Natalya speak up about forming together a plan on how they were going to do this heist successfully. Now thinking about it more carefully they had only been given a lists of tasks and security issues, bringing her hand up to her chin she started thinking. Maybe they could get into it by offering something... Nah that wouldn't work they'd just take it and they'd never get into the vault that way, she could probably flirt her way in if there were male guards around but even then that wouldn't be able to get them all in without rising some amounts of suspicion. Eliana continued to um and ah at different ideas playing though her mind and hoped that someone else would come up with an idea that she may be able to expand upon with her own ideas.

 

[ayzrules]

Christina Li
"Holy shit," Tina muttered under her breath as her compact mirror (one that she liked very much, thank you very much, magical artifact or not-it was on sale! And the prettiest shade of pink!), an emerald, and some other random cliche sci-fi movie-looking device and combined them into...

...into another random cliche sci-fi movie-looking device?

"Since when did these hologram thingamajigs exist outside of, like, Marvel movies?" Tina asked out loud, to nobody in particular.

Nu told her to "quit the backtalk". Tina rolled her eyes and made a face. Childish, perhaps, but Tina was so over this.

Really. He couldn't have, like, just emailed us or something? Sent a text? Maybe even good ol' snail mail? God, it feels like I'm in a dumb action movie with more explosions and plot holes than the Transformers franchise.

She listened to him rattle off the names of several people working at the bank, squinting at the holographic images. "Uh, Mr.-blob-face-Nu-guy?" she interjected, raising her hand slightly. "Do you have this, like, on paper? Or on a computer? Can I take a picture with my phone?" A pause. "Also, are you going to let me get another compact mirror?" Tina shrugged, nonchalantly. "It's nice to have one. Sometimes your mascara gets smudged and you just need to fix it a little, you know? A touch-up."

She accepted the envelope, arching an eyebrow at its contents. Alright. Some old man no one's ever heard of, and Elissa Franklin. Okay then. At the last line, Tina had to suppress the urge to visibly cringe. Are you fucking kidding me? That is the single most cliche and over-dramatic thing I have read in my entire life. And I stalk celebrities who star in cliche, over-dramatic TV for a living!

Nu left the room with an altogether unnecessary exit. Tina resisted the urge to roll her eyes for the umpteenth time.

"Alright," she said, looking at Eliana. "Elissa Franklin." She pulled out her cell phone, wrinkling her nose a little bit. "Is there, like, service here? Where are we again? Do they have Wifi, at least?"

"Anyway. Before we do anything with her address and favorite restaurant, let's stalk whatever social media we can find. Insta, Facebook, Twitter, you know-the usual. Hopefully this lady doesn't live under a rock. God, does this Nu guy really not know anything else? Does he have a boyfriend? Husband? Dog? Cat? Like, seriously."

She ignored the dude with the notebook until he somehow set his hand on fire. She stared.

What. The. Fuck.

"Look, my guy, if you want to burn your hand off, fine. But I haven't seen a damn fire extinguisher in this entire building, which is probably a safety hazard, but I digress. Anyway, these shoes were over-priced as is, so if you get fire on them, I will sue you." Tina glared at him, crossing her arms.

Okay, granted, most people thought that she was more "cute" than "intimidating", but Tina was not getting scorch marks on her heels.

The eastern-European girl-Natalya?-said something about a plan. Tina flipped her hair over one shoulder, wishing that she had a stick of bubblegum. "Right. A plan. Where even is this bank, by the way? Please don't tell me it's in bumfuck nowhere. Like, Antarctica or something. I hate the cold, and there is literally nothing cute to wear in seventeen-degree weather. Some people can pull it off. I just look like an elf, or something equally as dumb."

 

[Fluxbauble]

Tyson Li Chase/ D-Cipher
​

Tyson leaned back in his seat. His back was met with an unmoving chair back. "Damnit." He thought. He couldn't even get remotely comfortable in the chair. His mind was drawing a blank. He said he understood the concept of the job, but he had no idea of how to go about it based on the information provided. The ladies at the very least seemed to have an inkling of an idea of what needed to be done. He mostly just listened to the firecraker pop as she spoke with barely a breath between sentences. It was nuts to think that such a tiny person could put even filibusterers to shame with the volume of words she was spitting out per minute. Still though both her and the European beauty were right. They needed a plan. Something that could actually work for their team. He had some ideas but nothing worth mentioning. Not until he got his tech anyways.

"Look I'm all up for planning ladies, but I can't exactly prove myself to be useful without my tech. I'm a hacker not a magician." Tyson had no idea if that line would help break the tension in the air. Hell tension was so thick you could practically swim in it if it was physically possible. Then again if magic is real who's to say you can't just magically start swimming in tension filled rooms? The thought crossed his mind briefly before he leaned forward once more and rested his arms on the table before them. "Well I've got a few ideas of how to do this gig. But our first order of business is locating these two."

Tyson started fiddling with the magical technical marvel sitting on the table until he was able to figure out generally how it worked. Thanks to Nu's demonstration it was pretty simple on the surface. It was exactly like the movies. Just touch and swipe and the tech does the rest. He finally enlarged the two images of the people that had any connection to the Bank with their respective dossiers. "The old man is the key to this place. But we can't over look Miss Franklin either. They're the only ones who really know where the bank is. So finding these two should be our top priority. We find them we find the bank." Even without his computer to mask him he still could think on the fly. "Once we do that however we gotta get the code to get the old man to open up to us. Which means one of us, well one of you, will have to get in touch with Miss Franklin. She's our best bet if we're gonna get in without magic. Assuming wonderboy over there doesn't come across a spell that magically warps us into the vault or something."

He points to the guy who just blew himself up recently with a spell. He's dubbed wonderboy now. That was just the start of the plan anyways. Tyson couldn't exactly tell how secure they are from a technological perspective until he could break in and find out. Problem with security cams and the like is that you won't know what you're up against until you attempt to breach them. It's a double-edged sword, but any hacker worth their salt would be able to breach a security wall and not trip any alarms along the way. "Anyways that's all I've got to say on the matter as far as planning goes. I figured our little firecracker over there could dig up more info for us to work with while jewels over there gets friendly with Miss Franklin. It might not be a bad idea to prep for a smash and grab approach should it come to that. But that's all speculation and I don't exactly do loud." He offhandedly pointed out to Christina as firecracker and Eliana as jewels. Based on what he knew of the place and the fine print on his letter he wasn't expecting most of them to survive. Hell he wasn't expecting himself to survive assuming everyone was given the same fine print he did. "Kill the others for a bigger payout. Not exactly feeling the camaraderie with a statement like that sitting the back of you head huh Tyson?" He thought to himself while he waited for a reply from the others.

ayzrules sly-eyed-lyra TannerDedInside2017 GamerCarrot

 

[GamerCarrot]

She smirked as Tyson called her Jewels, it fit and she couldn't hide that she did like the nickname. Walking up to the table and placing her hands onto it she looked up at the picture of Elissa Franklin and smirked "Oh it shouldn't be too hard to get 'friendly' with her, all I need is a location and time and she'll be talking to me like we were childhood friends." Eliana may have a sweet tone to her voice but her words made her seem a lot more dangerous than she actually looked. It wasn't hard for her to get information when she wanted and it certainly wasn't difficult to convince someone to trust her when they have no clue who she was in the slightest. "I agree that we should plan just in case we need to resort to a smash and grab." Standing up straight she looked at Tyson then turned to look at everyone else, in the back of her mind the words on the note replaying over and over again "Kill others to get a better pay huh... No that's not my style but I'm not going to let any of them kill me if some how I'm not 'useful' anymore." Eliana thought to herself she had a business back home and to hell if she was going to leave it to her dimwitted assistant that still had a long way to go before they were anywhere near Eliana's level of persuasion and deception. Turning back around she moved to where Tyson was and leaned in behind him flicking through the photos to the bar, since she has watched him play around with it for a bit to get the two photos up she figured it wasn't that hard to work out, standing up and looking at Natalya "Say we get in.. we need a distraction and I have a feeling using all those lovely thieves will help. So... Natalya how are your pick pocketing skills?." Turning back to the screen she pointed at the patrons within the photo "If you can steal and then place what ever you steal in someone else's pockets we can cause a big enough fight so that the guards take notice of the fight and ignore us trying to slip past. And if you need assistance with someone distracting those people I'm sure all of us are capable of keeping them busy for a little while." She placed her hand on her hip and looked at everyone "So how does that sound? Once we get in we cause a big ruckus and mosey our way through to the vault or does anyone have a better plan in mind?"

Fluxbauble sly-eyed-lyra

 

[sly-eyed-lyra]

Natalya Borojevic

"Sounds perfect. They won't even know they lost anything," Natalya agreed, assuring them of her skill. "At least until someone points out they're missing something. I think one of you ladies can figure that out. But if we're going to make a distraction, it can't be a little misunderstanding. I'm sure they're are plenty of rivaling factions wandering around in that bank. All we need to do is break the tension. Bullets need to fly, and the whole thing needs to last long enough for us to get to the vault." Natalya paused. "Tyson, maybe you could find out who's not playing nice. Then find out if any of them is making a deposit, or transferring something important, I'll lift it and drop it on their rivals, like Eliana said. Tina and Eliana can work each side of the crowd when we get there; if Tyson does his digging, he can get you both some names and profiles - then you two can tell them whatever you need to get them riled up. The catalyst will be the plant. That's on me. But once the gang war starts, there's no doubt security will become tighter. We might not have to move that fast though."

Natalya turned to Carl.

"You make bombs, yes?" Natalya didn't wait for him to answer. "We can play them. While Tyson is digging through his contacts for information, he could set up a deal for both side." Natalya turned to Tyson again. "Trade fake information to both; tell them that the other is about to make a move. Then they'll want some insurance, like the bomb. Suggest it but don't just bring it to them. Set up two different auctions for each side and make the deal look like an auction. Make up fake buyers and everything. It'll look too suspicious if we just gave them the deal, and an auction will make them want it more.

"Once they take the bait, we will have two bombs for sale." She turned to Carl briefly. "Say you want to make the sale at the bank, so you can deposit the payment right away. You will meet with both separately, and give the bombs, but give them fake detonators. We will have the real detonators. Once the fighting breaks out, we can make the chaos worse and set off both bombs."

She turned to address them all.

"The bombs will break or at least delay some of the security infrastructure; it'll give us more than enough time to find our way to vault without being chased, and no further lock down mechanisms can stop us. That'll get us further inside the inner bank."

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