Epilogue
Chelsea, London, United Kingdom
George Ainsley sits at his desk in his stately home and looks at the number of figures Giles Harper has reported for the annual tithe to the Thieves Guild.
"Very impressive," George states to the young man sitting in front of him.
He smiles.
"Forty million pounds worth of rare, one-of-a-kind masterpieces authenticated by the Sotheby Institute itself," the older man continues. "All stolen with no one the wiser in one night."
"The forgeries were put in on the same night," Giles Harper explains excitedly. "So the buyers got their artwork, Sotheby's never reported anything missing, and the real pieces were sold overseas."
"And the forgeries?" George asks. "How did he… did you manage to get so many ready for all the pieces in one night?"
"He… I mean, I had intel… from a higher up. The forgeries were prepared the day of the heist from choice pieces picked out from the Black Museum."
The Black Museum collects and exhibits a very large backlog of renowned forgeries, curated by the Sotheby Institute of Art to study counterfeit artwork. The sheer amount of forged artwork they have makes cataloguing them an arduous task, and because they are forgeries, not worth anyone's time or money to be diligent about it.
"Ha! The Black Museum," George slaps his knee. "Using Sotheby's system to trick Sotheby's itself."
It is elegant. Bold.
The young ones these days are all so lazy about the heists they pull. Thievery has become a desk job, and frankly, there are homemade hackers in their parent's basements planning more complicated heists than the ones the Guild did. But Remy LeBeau, and perhaps even Giles Harper, would give thievery its proud mantle again – as an art form and not as a means to scrape by.
He even goes as far as giving all the credit and profit to his young rookie partner, which is unheard of in the Thieves Guild. But a very promising attribute of a born leader.
Perhaps, Remy LeBeau would live up to the legend – a King of Thieves finally worthy of the title.
Author's Note: No profit was made from this fanfiction. I have no association whatsoever with Sotheby's International and all affiliated companies. All characters are property of Marvel, except for Giles Harper and George Ainsley. This story may make more sense if you read the Gambit (2012) series or at the very least Issue #14. But there is a scene in #17 where Pete and Rogue potentially did meet, so you may want to disregard this part. It also completely disregards what is happening in Excalibur 2019, or if you like what's happening in Excalibur 2019, it can occur before they go to Krakoa. I wrote it because I like Pete Wisdom and Gambit's interaction, and I was disappointed that there were none in Excalibur 2019. Please review! I love reading them!