[B‑MAC – Day 1]
Three hours past midnight, with Shang Tu at its absolute quietest, Akairo arrives above the Palace, her dark clothing offering perfect camouflage against the dark and cloudy sky. With careful flying, she makes it to the top of the main tower, landing in graceful silence on the roof. As expected, she quickly finds an open window and no guards at the uppermost level, allowing her to slip inside completely undetected. Once inside, she swiftly locates the elevator shaft and prises open the doors.
And that's when she encounters her first unexpected obstacle: laser sensors running the length of the elevator shaft designed to detect anything other than the elevator car going past. Damn: was hoping to avoid the stairs.
Left with no choice, Akairo slides the door to the elevator shaft shut and finds the stairwell instead, thankful that the security measures added to the elevator shaft haven't been replicated in the stairwell. It's like they want to be robbed… I'm not complaining.
Akairo takes a deep breath, folds her wings against her body, and dives down the centre of the stairwell, quickly accelerating to terminal velocity as the stairs flash past in a near‑constant blur, the floor rushing towards her at an alarming rate.
Seconds before impact, Akairo curls into a ball, rotates into position, and spreads her wings, slowing her down enough to make a safe and silent landing. After taking a moment to gain her bearings, Akairo moves to the door and places her ear against it. Guards… Two… A patrolling pair… No challenge at all. Akairo opens the door, hovering above it as it swings and clatters against the wall, attracting the attention of the two guards. And now to wait.
Approaching heavy footsteps signify her plan is working, shortly followed by one of the two guards entering the stairwell while the other keeps watch in the corridor.
"See anything?" the guard in the corridor asks.
"Nah," the guard in the stairwell replies. "Though I coulda sworn it was closed earlier."
"Maybe it just looked that way until a draft managed to open it," the guard in the corridor guesses.
"Probably," the guard in the stairwell agrees as he turns to leave.
And that's when Akairo pounces, knocking the guard out with a precise boot to the back of the head, then firing her tranquiliser pistol at the other guard before he can react.
"Who are…?" is all the second guard manages before the fast‑acting serum renders him unconscious.
Too easy. Akairo quickly drags the two guards into the base of the stairwell, securing them to the balusters with zip‑ties and taping their mouths shut to prevent them calling for help when they eventually awaken.
Once the guards are securely bound and gagged, Akairo steps into the corridor and follows her mental map, arriving at the entrance to the laboratory complex a couple of minutes later. To most, the biometric entry system would prompt them to abandon their mission, but not Akairo. After quickly checking that no other guards are on their way, she kneels and carefully unscrews the maintenance panel from underneath the scanning unit, exposing the circuitry underneath. Such a poor design can only have come from the lowest bidder.
One cut wire later, the entire security system is disabled, the door unlocking automatically.
Akairo refits the maintenance panel and enters the lab complex, taking care to ensure the door is properly closed behind her. But that's the easy part: the hard part is getting through the labyrinthine corridors to the vault deep in the heart of the complex without being picked up by the myriad of sensor systems designed to detect heat, sound, and movement. Sound isn't an issue as Akairo has an innate ability to move silently, and with her bodyglove's design minimising her heat signature, she's confident she can avoid triggering the heat sensors as well. But it's the movement sensors she seemingly has no counter for.
Then again, the movement sensors weren't designed to monitor the ceilings.
Akairo checks the power levels in her electromagnetic gloves and boots, then activates the magnets within before jumping up and hanging from the ceiling. Taking care to always keep three points of contact, Akairo makes her way through the complex, arriving at the vault five minutes later to find her final obstacle: a door with a combination lock, a biometric scanner, and four sets of motion sensors covering the whole door.
And that's why Akairo brought a chaff grenade.
Seconds later, with the corridor filled with flakes of aluminium that render the motion sensors ineffective, Akairo unscrews the maintenance panel on the keypad scanner, snips the single wire that disables the entire security system, then slides open the now‑unlocked vault door. The five most powerful gemstones on the planet protected by a security system that was designed by morons doing all they can to cut costs. Just how I like it.
In the security office, the guard on watch sees the readings from the sensors outside the vault go wild. However, instead of immediately sounding the alarm, she simply groans, assuming it's yet another sensor malfunction. Damn lousy cheap piece of shit: fourth time it's gone on the fritz this month. With a weary sigh, she types out a short message to maintenance, then settles down to wait for the system to hopefully fix itself. If it's still broken in a few minutes, I'll send some guards to check.
Inside the vault, Akairo quickly finds the box holding the Elemental Crystals and opens it, revealing all five nestled safely inside. She briefly feels a natural pull towards the Metal Crystal, but the sensation disappears the instant she notices it. That was weird… Stay focussed. Akairo takes the Fire Crystal from the box, returns the box to its previous location on the shelf, and slips the Crystal under the front of her bodyglove, where it's shortly joined by the companion Inhibitor Headband. After a quick check to ensure nothing's showing through her figure‑hugging garment, Akairo exits the vault, slides the door back into place, re‑engages the magnets in her gloves and boots, and makes her way along the ceiling as quickly as possible towards the exit of the complex.
In the security office, just as she's about to pick up the radio and instruct some guards to check the labs, the vault sensors stop going wild and return to normal. "Finally!" she sighs, checking the readings and finding nothing suspicious. Should probably send a guard down their anyway, just in case.
As Akairo leaves the laboratory complex, her ears twitch as they pick up the sound of approaching footsteps. I'd hoped to cut it less fine than this. Choosing speed over stealth, Akairo sprints to the stairwell and leaps up the centre, using her wings to help gain height as she ascends as fast as possible. Once at the top, she wastes no time getting back onto the roof of the main tower and flying away from the Palace at top speed.
Meanwhile, the guard sent to check the vault is still secure discovers the floor outside is littered with flakes of aluminium. Curious, he checks the door to the vault itself to find that it slides open easily, just like the door to the lab complex.
Not looking forward to the reaction, the guard activates his radio. "Hey, boss? You're not gonna like this, but someone got into the vault."
Thirty minutes later, Akairo lands at a pre‑arranged meeting place on the bank of the river that flows by Shang Tu. "I got it."
Leader Julian emerges from the shadows of the treeline. "You cut it very close to the deadline."
"It was a difficult job that required a lot of planning," Akairo explains. "You have the money?"
"Of course," Julian confirms, holding out a hemp bag loaded with crystals.
Akairo tosses the Fire Crystal and Inhibitor Headband to Julian, takes the hemp bag, and flies away without another word.
Julian catches the Crystal and Headband and watches Akairo depart. And now I have everything I need.
Meanwhile, a tired and very angry Neera Li wearing just her black bodyglove and boots arrives outside the vault, her expression making it clear to everyone around that she's in no mood for games. "Report."
"The vault has been broken into," the guard reports.
"I know that!" Neera barks. "What did they steal‽"
"That's just it, ma'am: we can't find anything missing," the guard replies.
"Are you really suggesting that someone broke into the most secure vault in the Origin Kingdoms and stole nothing‽" Neera demands.
"We can't find anything missing, ma'am," the guard answers.
"Stand aside."
The guard steps to one side to allow Neera to enter the vault. "We've already checked everything, ma'am," he assures.
Neera ignores the guard and immediately locates and opens the Elemental Crystal box. "You checked everything, did you?"
"Yes, ma'am."
Neera turns to face the guard, her expression one of pure thunder. "Then why did you not notice the Fire Crystal is missing‽" she yells, showing the guard the open box with its obviously empty slot.
The guard has no answer.
"Just as I thought," Neera growls. "Get out of my sight!"
The guard silently leaves just as a yawning General Gong arrives on the scene. "What's with all the ye‑" he begins, stopping when he notices the empty slot where the Fire Crystal used to be. "Ah…"
"I told you not to award the contract to the lowest bidder," Neera reminds as she closes the box and returns it to the shelf.
"They made a very convincing sales pitch," Gong explains.
Neera shakes her head in disappointment. "I'm not explaining this to the Magister."
Gong knows there's no point in arguing. "That's fair. I was the one who approved the work, after all," he accepts.
"While you tell him how badly you messed up, I'm going to start the hunt for the thief," Neera decides, walking off before Gong can reply. I'll need spies at the B‑MAC… and I know exactly who to enlist.
A few hours later in Dragon Valley, Lilac is first to rise as usual, and after a quick visit to the bathroom, she pads into the den to find Neera Li in her usual outfit waiting for her. "Um…"
"I assure you I wouldn't be here so early if it wasn't important," Neera greets. "Though it appears now might not be the ideal time."
"Huh?" Confused, Lilac looks down at herself and realises she's only wearing her mid‑thigh length kingfisher blue nightgown. "Oh… I'll go get dressed."
"The news I have can't wait," Neera replies. "The Fire Elemental Crystal has been stolen."
"What‽" Lilac exclaims louder than intended, though it appears that neither Carol nor Milla are woken by her cry.
"I've already begun the hunt for the thief," Neera informs.
"We should pull out of the B‑MAC and help," Lilac decides.
"That's not a good idea," Neera replies. "The moment the public hears that all three members of Team Lilac have pulled out of the largest martial arts tournament of the year, they're going to suspect something bad has happened. The last thing I want to do is trigger unnecessary panic."
"I can't just sit back and watch," Lilac protests. "I want to help!"
"And you will," Neera assures. "I want you, Carol, and Milla to keep an eye on everyone in the tournament, and report to me anything you see that's suspicious. Given this theft happened so close to the B‑MAC, and with the defending champion being murdered yesterday, I fear someone's going to try something at the tournament itself."
"If that's the place most at risk, then that's the place we should be," Lilac agrees. "Don't worry, we'll keep everyone safe."
"I know," Neera replies. "My apologies for the intrusion."
"Don't worry about it," Lilac smiles.
Once Neera has departed, Lilac heads to the kitchen, returns to the den a few moments later with a glass of water, and sits down to think for a few minutes.
"You think Hanna took the Crystal, don't you?" Carol asks, standing in the doorway to the bedrooms in a knee‑length black tank top.
Lilac jumps in surprise at Carol's voice, spilling most of the glass of water down her front. "Carol, for the love of the Ancients…"
"Sorry," Carol apologies, sitting next to Lilac. "I'm right though, aren't I?"
"The thought had crossed my mind," Lilac confirms.
"You know what I'm going to say next."
"That I'm being dumb because I know full well that Hanna wants to remain as far away from the Fire Crystal as possible?"
"Close enough."
Lilac lets out a sigh. "You're right, of course," she accepts. "Why are you awake so early anyway?"
"You woke me up," Carol explains.
"Sorry," Lilac apologises.
"Eh, at least we'll definitely get to the Battlesphere on time," Carol shrugs. "Also, you might wanna get changed."
"I will, don't worry."
"I mean right now."
"Why?"
"Your nightie's gone a bit see‑through."
Lilac looks down at herself to see Carol's right. "Ah… I'll be right back."
