Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Danball Senki WARS.
In the Ladrón Guild's hideout somewhere at the outskirts of town, Sakuya had dumped all of the money into his custom made money counter and checked the results. It was so huge that he jumped and called for his friends who were celebrating at the bar, "Guys, we robbed about $800 thousand tonight!"
Arata was the first to arrive at the machine and checked the results himself. He could not stop the grin that was forming on his lips and turned to the rest of his friends that were gathered around. "Yosh, let's give half of it to the orphanage fund and the rest can go to our usual donations."
"I second that!" Vanessa raised the wineglass in her hands and the others followed her suit.
"Oh, and we have to return the emerald necklace to our client tomorrow." Arata suddenly remembered.
"Leave that to me." Haruki told him. "I will have it sent out to him first thing in the morning."
"Thanks." Arata said gratefully. "Yosh, let's continue the party!"
Everyone cheered at that and they went back to the bar. Later, the party died down and everyone went doing their personal things. Hikaru have gone back to check on his sister, Haruki and Sakuya were monitoring the news of their latest heist and Arata was working on the damages on his car. On the lady's side, Yuno was busy putting back her explosives, firearm and their gear into their own respective drawers; and Vanessa was checking their fan page on the net for possible recruits though the possibility of finding even a decent recruit was close to zero in her opinion.
"Hey guys, look at this!" Haruki called them over. Everyone dropped what they were doing and gathered around the television.
"With the most recent heist of the Landron Guild, the FBI has finally made their decision to take over the investigation and have dispatched one of their top operatives to arrest this band of ruthless thieves." The reporter of the news stated. "With this, we can finally rest assure of the capture of…"
"Hey!" Vanessa cried indignantly as Arata switched off the TV.
"There's no need to listen to her anymore since she already gave us what we need to know." Arata said casually. "Our business of stealing things back for their rightful owners is not open to public and not to mention, the fact that we are the modern Robin Hood is not supposed to be found out. Let them call us whatever they want. Haruki, Sakuya, focus on finding out who is this top operative instead. There's no need to listen to the news anymore."
"Alright, we'll get to it." Sakuya nodded. "But it will be tricky to hack into the FBI without letting them trace us back to this place."
"Just do what you can but pull back if you think that they'll do that." Arata told him and turned to Vanessa. "Any recruits worth considering?"
"You'll be surprise to know that one of them caught my eye." Vanessa said with a smirk. They went over to her computer while the others went back to what they were doing earlier. "I did as you asked and ran a scan on the applicants. As usual, many of them made up their police records and more than half of them are fake applications, no doubt planted by various government agencies. So the number has dropped down by a lot. Only five applicants are genuine but this particular one seems interesting."
"Let's see our lucky guy then." Arata smirked as Vanessa brought up a profile up on the screen. "Mikhail Rourke…"
"He has several records of various break-ins in his teens." Vanessa showed him the records.
"Nearly all of our genuine applicants have this too." Arata pointed out with a raised eyebrow.
"But look at this." Vanessa pointed and the lower part where the 'other skills' category was. "He has a fifth degree black belt in karate and can use a gun. I checked on this and it is definitely true."
"I see. Set up and meeting for him to meet you for an interview tomorrow morning at Hikari's café then we'll test him with a trial." Arata told her as he straightened up.
"Wait, me?" Vanessa said in surprise.
"You're the seducer, you'll think of something." Arata said with a small smirk as he pecked her on the cheek.
"You know I hate that title." Vanessa muttered as he went over to Yuno and whispered something about seeing a movie which she immediately agreed. "Whatever, I'll do it." She said with a roll of her eyes and sent an email to Mikhail.
"You again?" Hikari said with an amused smile as Muraku sat down at his usual seat.
He flashed her a smile and picked up the menu. "Is there anything new on the menu?"
"The last time you asked that, it was the tuna sandwich and you said that it was too dry. Now that it is hash brown, you'll definitely say that it is too flaky." Hikari said with a roll of her eyes.
"I'll take the hash brown and my usual then." Muraku said with a smirk.
"Give me a minute." Hikari flipped close her notebook and went to the kitchen to get the meal.
Not too long later, Vanessa stepped inside the café and went over to the counter just as Hikari came out with Muraku's breakfast.
"He's here again?" Vanessa whispered into her ear with a knowing smile.
"Yeah." Hikari nodded back with a small blush and delivered the meal to Muraku. Once she was done, she came back to the counter and raised an eyebrow at Vanessa. "Is there anything that you need?"
"Nope, just to let you know that I'll be in the back room and if anyone asks for me, send them there." Vanessa told her.
Hikari nodded in understanding and gave her the keys to the back room. It was barely fifteen minutes later when Mikhail stepped into the café.
"Welcome." Hikari came over with a menu on her hands but he shook his head.
"I'm looking for a Vanessa Gala. She sent me an email, telling me to ask for her when I arrive here."
"She's in the back room." Hikari jerked her thumb at the back.
"Thanks." Mikhail inclined his head and went over to the said room with Muraku watching him very closely.
He quickly finished up his coffee and called for Hikari over. "Thanks for the meal." He said and places some money on the table.
"You overpaid." Hikari called after him as she picked it up.
"Consider the extra as a tip. Oh, and the hash brown is indeed flaky." He called back and left.
"Really." Hikari said with a shake of her head but there was a smile on her lips.
"Mikhail Rourke?" Vanessa perked her head up from the folder she was reading when he came in.
"Yes." Mikhail nodded and sat down across from her. "So, I take it that you have seen my application on your fan page?"
"Yes, and you should be considered lucky since I considered you out of the many applicants." Vanessa said with a smirk, not bothering to mention that only five out of the hundreds they received that week were real. "This is just an informal interview before letting you take a trial to prove your worth. My leader will consider then if you can join the Landron Guild." She dropped the folder she was reading on the table and looked at him carefully. "You have several break-in records in your teens, any comments on that?"
"They were mostly dares on my friends' part and I didn't really steal anything in particular. Just a nail clipper or things that are easily forgotten about." Mikhail shrugged.
"I see." Vanessa twirled a loose strand of hair that fell out of her ponytail. "And the police did not have a thing on you until your fourth break in."
"That was only because a friend of mine tipped them off." Mikhail scoffed.
"Alright, moving on." Vanessa shifted the folder and glanced up at him. "I'm impress that you have a fifth degree black belt in karate and also know how to use a gun."
"Yeah. I was actually living in a bad part of LA when I was younger so I had to learn how to defend myself." He said truthfully.
Vanessa observed him carefully for any signs of lies and folded her hands on the table. "I believe that is all and I would like to ask you one question. What is the reason you want to join the Landron Guild?"
Mikhail contemplated on this question for a while and spoke. "I have been following your heists for a while and I am amazed as to how you are able to carry out those complicated heists. And, I want to be part of it because I want to experience something more than simple thievery."
Vanessa raised an eyebrow and shut her folder. "I see. When then, here." She reached into her bag and took out another folder. "This will be our next heist. But I have discussed this with my leader and he agreed that we can use this as a trial for you. If you succeed without being caught, he will consider letting you join."
"You're not afraid that I would give this to the cops or screw up, aren't you?" Mikhail smirked.
Vanessa tilted her head and tapped her finger on her chin as she pretended to think. "We have our ways. You won't be the first interviewee to ask so and let me tell you, all those who really tried to sell us out…let's just say they didn't meet a very happy end."
She nearly laughed at Mikhail's pale face and waved her hand. "I'm just joking. Let's just say that none of them have any memories of their interview or of their heist. We aren't that cruel as to kill anyone."
Mikhail visibly relaxed and gave her a twisted smile. "You just had to scare me."
"Sorry, but it was too good of an opportunity to pass up." Vanessa grinned. "And your face was priceless."
Mikhail threw her a glare but Vanessa waved it off. "By the way, my name is Vanessa. I had a good talk with you. If you want to see me again, pass the trial and earn my leader's approval."
Vanessa cocked her head and offered him an encouraging smile before leaving the room.
"Pass the trials, huh?" Mikhail mused as he opened the folder and took in the details. "And she is Vanessa…" He smirked and snapped the folder shut. "Things should get interesting now."
"You're done with the back room?" Hikari asked when Vanessa emerged.
"Yeah, but our guy is still inside. Here's the key though." Vanessa said and handed her the keys to the back room.
"Why are you recruiting more people anyway?" Hikari asked in a low voice. "I though you have more than enough people in the guild now."
"Apparently, Haruki is going to temporary move back to Japan soon since his mother's illness is getting worse, so we need to have someone to replace him until then." Vanessa whispered back. "But so far, we haven't got a safecracker yet. But this guy seems promising."
"Oh, give my condolences to Haruki for me. And," Hikari gained a mischievous smile and leaned in, "I think you picked him because he's hot."
Vanessa blushed and lightly hit her arm. "No, I did not!"
"Alright, alright." Hikari held her hands up to calm her friend down. "I was just joking but you cannot deny that he's hot though."
"Maybe." Vanessa said and turned her head away so that Hikari would not see her blush darkening. "Anyway, I'm heading off now. I'll see you soon." Vanessa waved as she left the café.
Hikari smiled as she watched her friend leave and continued to serve her customers, unaware that Muraku was watching her from outside.
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