A Grand Entrance
Tobias Foxtrot leaned up against the ornate pillar, feeling the cold stone pressing into his shoulder. He wore his trademark hat low, with the shadow concealing the top half of his face. However, it did little to conceal the cocky smile he almost always had. The hat, coupled with his long brown duster, was earning him nervous glances from many of the banks patrons, and a few of the guards. He cast his eyes around the room, picking out the rest of his gang. Jax was leaning against an opposite pillar, with his hand leaning casually on his ever-present mace. Graves was slouched over one of the counters, trying very unsuccessfully to seduce one of the female tellers. Tobias casually glanced at the clock on the wall and slowly moved from his position on the pillar. Upon seeing this Jax did the same, and Graves finally decided to give up on the bank teller. At the same time, two of his other gang members moved to block the doors.
Tobias could start to see the suspicious glances from the guards and decided to move things along. He casually walked toward the center teller booth, and after shouldering his way through the line, leaped on the top of the counter. The guards, who were working on a skeleton crew after half their force called in 'sick', started to move towards him. They quickly changed their minds when Graves lazily shouldered his shotgun that he had had concealed under his cloak. It was at this point that Tobias started speaking. "Fine citizens of Demacia, if I could have your attention for just a moment. I am sorry to be the bearer of bad news but I must inform you that this bank is being robbed. Please, no one panic, we only want your money."
He hopped down from the counter and surveyed the room. "Alright then. Time to go to work."
30 Minutes Later
"That was the last one boss" Jax called out as he casually tossed a bag of money into the back of a carriage.
The heist had gone off without a hitch, and now all that was left was to get out of the city without raising suspicion. They didn't have to worry about anyone in the bank raising the alarm, as they were all safely tucked away in the bank vault. Tobias opened the door of the rear carriage and took a seat across from Graves. Jax jumped into the driver's seat, and within moments they were bouncing along the cobbled streets of Demacia, closely followed by two more carriages. Graves looked around the interior of the rather decadent carriage and let out a chuckle. "Awfully nice of them to let us borrow their carriages, wasn't it?"
Tobias laughed at this comment. "Well if I remember correctly they didn't have much of a choice in the matter."
They sat and laughed at this comment for a few more moments before turning the conversation back towards business. "Got a good haul today, didn't we?"
Tobias nodded. "We should be able to get it out of the city without a problem. I would get comfortable, it's bound to be a long ride."
They were both more than happy to take advantage of this situation, and were soon both passed out. A few hours later Tobias was jolted awake by the carriage coming to a sudden halt. He reached up and tried to rub the sleep out of his eyes before scooting over to one of the windows and opening the curtain. He was greeted by the familiar sight of the forest that was found at the foothills of The Great Barrier, which separated Demacia from Urtistan. Nestled among the trees was a rather large town. Tobias and his gang had called this place their home for years now, and the people were more than happy to have them around. Everyone there knew them, and respected them. Most of what they stole went to the people who lived here, and to other towns like this one.
He opened the carriage door stepped outside. He stretched his arms above his head and took a deep breath of the forest air, which was much more refreshing than the strange smell that seemed to go with most of Demacia. He looked around and saw that everyone had already gotten to work unloading the carriages. The money would be stored away in a vault that they had installed in the basement of the building they used as a sort of base of operations. Tobias leaned over and loudly slammed his fist against the side of the carriage, waking up Graves.
Graves sat up groggily. "Why in the hell did you go and do that?"
"Well, you could stay out here in sleep, or you could go inside."
Graves seemed to wake up a bit more at this. "We're back? Well why didn't you just say so?" He said before stepping out of the carriage and lighting a cigar. "I assume you got this covered out here?"
Tobias nodded and gestured off down the street. "Always avoiding work."
Graves laughed and walked off down the street. "Don't you know it."
Graves had been one of Tobias' closest friends for a long time and the two were always poking fun at each other. Jax hadn't been around quite as long, but he fit right in with his cocky attitude and his penchant for breaking things. The gang had slowly grown until they had recently reached the point where most of it acted autonomously. Tobias was obviously privy to all of the gang's actions but his lieutenants had the authority to arrange their own crews for jobs. This most recent heist had been a spur of the moment decision and was more for fun than the money.
Tobias stayed to oversee the offloading of the rest of the money before making his way into town. It has started out as a fairly simple place, with a central dirt road flanked by a few dozen buildings including an inn, a bar, and a store. It had once been a sort of mining town years ago but since the arrival of Tobias' gang it had grown substantially. As more people trickled into town, either joining the gang or just looking for a place to settle down away from prying eyes, the population grew. Now the once small town looked more like a small city, the roads had been paved, Main Street now boasted a town hall and a gambling hall. The gambling hall of course was owned by Tobias and the town hall was run by people who found themselves inexplicably owing him a lot of favors.
Most of his gang preferred staying on one of new hotels in town but Tobias preferred the comfort of his own home. Or, more accurately, the place he had taken as a home. It was a fairly beat up looking building on the outskirts of town, and had probably been there since the beginning. It had originally acted as the gang's meeting house, but that had long since been changed to much larger and more modern building behind the gambling hall. Tobias walked up the front steps and pushed the front door open. He made sure to close and lock the door behind him before going for the lightswitch.
Rather than the run down interior one might expect in such an old building, the inside had been thoroughly modernized by Tobias after the gang's recent boost in popularity and profit. Other parts of it still retained their old look, with the same old floorboards and cracked windows. Tobias wandered through to the kitchen and dug through the fridge. After finding nothing of particular interest he made his way to what used to be the gang's planning room which he had remade into a sort of lounge. He collapsed into one of the chairs before tossing his hat and coat onto a rack in the corner. Recently he had done yet another overhaul of his home, due to the new tech that was starting to come out of Piltover and Zaun. While he enjoyed some of it immensely, like his new television, other recent advances only served to make his job harder.
Finding nothing overly interesting to watch, he turned the television off and was on his way to bed when he heard someone loudly knocking on his door. He grabbed his hat and coat from the floor before walking to the door and opening it to reveal a giant of a man nearly filling the doorway.
"Brick, what can I do for you?" Brick had been a part of Tobias' crew since the beginning, and despite his very imposing presence, the man was what one might call a gentle giant.
"Sorry to disturb you, but someone is in town asking for you."
"They in the tavern?" Tobias asked while walking past him.
Brick shook his head. "She's in the gambling hall."
Tobias nodded and started to walk down the street before turning around. "She?"
Brick nodded with a lopsided grin. "And she's real pretty too."
Tobias continued back down the street while trying to figure out what woman would be asking for him, of all people. Could it be…...Miss Fortune? He shook his head. Nah, pretty sure she still wants to kill me. He kept ruling out possibilities right up until he walked through the front door of the gambling hall. Kolt was on duty that night, and when Tobias inquired about the stranger, he pointed him toward the bar. He warily approached the bar and took a seat on the end, before putting his coat and hat back on. He ordered a drink and glanced around, looking for this mysterious woman. At first he was confused, seeing no one that struck him as being out of place.
He waited a few more moments before starting to get annoyed. This person was there to see him, and apparently they expected him to play hide and seek. He started to rise from his stool and glanced around the room one more time. Wait…..what was that? Out of the corner of his eye he thought he caught a flash of yellow amongst a crowd of people. He glanced around again, hoping to catch another glimpse of whoever this person was. As such, he didn't notice when the same person took a seat next to him.
"I assume you're Tobias?"
Tobias glanced down at the person next to him. He was surprised to see that she appeared to be the same age as him, which was around 20. Despite being the leader of the gang, Tobias was also one of its youngest members. The girl had long, almost gold, blonde hair and was wearing tight blue clothing with strange silver armor. It was at this point that she turned towards him, and Tobias' face broke out into a cocky grin.
"Well are you?"
Tobias nodded and made a mocking half bow. "I am indeed, and I must say, it is a pleasure to meet you Lady Crownguard."
Lux let out a frustrated sigh at hearing this. "My name is Lux, and I'm here for a favor."
She seemed hesitant to say the last word, as if surprised to hear herself admit she wanted help from a criminal.
Tobias straightened up after hearing this and his voice took on a more serious tone. "Why would someone like you want help from me?"
Lux sighed and looked Tobias in the eyes. "I want to join your gang."
Lux expected him to just turn around and walk away, or maybe have one of his friends throw her out of the town. As such she was shocked when he seemed to take her seriously.
"Why would you want to join with a bunch of criminals? You're a Crownguard, you have everything you could ever want at your fingertips."
It took Lux a few moments to answer, and when she did Tobias could see the sadness in her eyes. He had spent most of his life learning to read people, and there was only a handful of people in the world better than he was. The sadness on her face was real, and Tobias could see it was tearing her apart. Regardless of his opinion on her family or the nobility she was a part of, she was here asking to join his gang and he owed her a chance.
Lux started to answer Tobias' question but was cut short when he raised his hand and spoke instead.
"All I needed to know was that you were willing to answer. Now I'm willing to give you a chance."
The surge of relief Lux felt came as a surprise to her. She hadn't realized herself just how badly she wanted him to say yes, and just how badly she needed him to.
A/N: This is a story idea I have had bouncing around in my head for quite a while now. Finally got around to putting it into a story. Some of the character names are based off Riot's lore and I have Graves working with Twisted Fate. Other parts of it are completely my own invention, such as Jax being a part of the gang. Not sure why but he just seems to fit very well.
I would appreciate any reviews anyone has and any advice you could give me.
