She glanced behind her, making sure only the figure in the long coat stood behind her. With only him and the dark clouds in the night sky as her witness she crept up the steps, glancing up at the large building's windows. She had done this hundreds of time before, so why did it feel so difficult all of a sudden?
Because this time, it's very dangerous...Sundari thought bitterly. Never was it need to do this before....
Seeing the hesitant look in her eyes Bakura frowned.
"Well, get on with it already." He ordered. Sundari snapped out of thought and stuck her tongue out at him.
"You wouldn't be saying that if it was you who had to go in there." She told him, jerking her thumb towards the wired fence that enclosed the power box. A sign that said "Warning. High Voltage" in Indian hung from its wiring.
Bakura crossed his arms. "If you got it done, then you wouldn't have to worry."
"And if I get electrocuted?" The girl asked.
"Fine, don't turn off the power." Bakura told her. "We can just go in and let security cameras tape us stealing the Gem. Now, doesn't that sound like fun?"
Sundari gave an aggravated sigh and turned to the wired fence. Making sure her heavy leather gloves wouldn't slip off she grasped the mesh and pulled herself up. Carefully and quiet she climbed. Once at the top she heaved her body over and dropped down, making sure she didn't land on anything. She turned back to the possessed boy.
"Ok, toss it over."
He nodded and picked up the duffel bag that sat by his feet. He threw it into the air and Sundari caught it on the other side of the fence. She dropped it to the ground and unzipped it. From within the bag she pulled out a welder's mask the Bakura had "borrowed" from a metal worker's shop they had visited earlier that day. Slipping the mask over her head she also pulled out a pair of hedge clippers, a deflated balloon and air pump, and three large stones.
"Where's the wire?" She asked, pushing the welder's mask up so she could see Bakura.
"There." He pointed a thinner wire snaking from the large power box that stood in the center of the enclosure.
Sundari crept over to it and placed two of the three stones down. Between the stones the placed hedge clippers, making sure the blades were opened. Then the balloon was placed on the end of the air pump, then put between the closed handles of the hedge clippers, the pump beside it. After securing the mask before her face she lifted the third rock just above the pump.
Please let this work... She thought in the way of prayer. Don't let this backfire. Don't let me die.
With a deep breath she dropped the stone. Once her fingers released it she spun away, covering her head with her arms as she crouched down onto the ground, hoping the thick leather jacket she wore would protect her from the sparks.
In a second she heard the stone hit its mark, the on button of the pump. It turned on and began to fill the balloon with air at a rapid pace, making the balloon inflate and force the handles apart. This made the blades close and cut through the wire. Sparks flew about, and the power within the museum shut down.
"Sundari?" Bakura asked softly.
The girl raised her head, glanced at the cut wire and smiled. "I'm fine." She told him as she stood and pulled the mask off her face. Turning off the pump and leaving the tools behind she began to climb with fence, smiling brightly.
"Stop that." The older boy ordered when she landed on the ground next to him.
"No." She told him, her grin growing. "Who's plan was it that work? Oh, mine."
Bakura huffed with false annoyance. "Let's get moving before someone comes to find out what happened."
"And you wanted to get ride of all the guards." Sundari chuckled as she took off gloves and jacket, leaving them on the ground as she followed Bakura to the employee's entrance. "I don't even know how you'd do that." She added.
"The key?" He asked, ignoring her boasting. She produced the item from her pocket and handed it to him. He quickly unlocked to door and opened it, ushering her inside and closing the door behind them both.
They now stood within long dark hall. At one end was two rows of employee lockers. At the other was a door and shelves and carts of cleaning supplies. Silently Sundari motioned for Bakura to follow her as she went towards the door.
She unlocked this one as well and entered into yet another hall. On the left was the room full of televisions showing what was on the security cameras. At the moment all of them were black, the room empty.
The guards must already be making rounds of the museum. Sundari thought.
On the right side of the hall was the door to the curator's office, locked tight and dark.
The girl led Bakura to the door at the far end of the hall, the one that entered into the actual museum. The exhibit area was dark, but she could move around well enough just by remembering where everything was. Bakura kept close to her.
They went to the archway that led into another room. Sundari glanced out, looking around for any movement. Content that there was none she silently moved into the shadow of a large statue, Bakura doing likewise to the statue on the other side of the arch. Half crouching they both moved from the shadows and crept to a stone altar.
Hearing footsteps Bakura grabbed Sundari's arm and pulled her to the ground in the shadows between two display cases. Startled, Sundari began to cry out, but Bakura placed his hand firmly over her mouth, whispering for her to be quiet in her ear. His eyes darted to the wall before them as the light from a flashlight flickered there, his hand dropping from Sundari's mouth. The guard walking on the other side of the room froze, his flashlight locked on the case they hid behind. Slowly his footsteps began to approach the display case.
"I heard something." The guard muttered into his radio. "I'm going to check it out."
Oh no... Sundari thought, her eyes growing wider with fear. Don't come here, don't come here, don't come here. She lightly bit her lip.
There was a light squeeze on her arm and she turned to Bakura. He didn't need to say anything, but the look in his eyes assured her everything would be alright. She gave him a questioning look. He smiled a bit and pointed to the other case a few feet beside them. Sundari looked, then tried to stifle a gasp.
Sitting beside the case was a rat. Sundari closed her eyes and buried her face in Bakura's shoulder, softly mumbling "Ew, ew, ew, ew!". Bakura smiled, then silently kicked at the rodent. It hissed, then ran out from where they were hiding.
"Holly shit!" The guard cried, jumping back as the rat ran past him. He watched it go, then raised his radio to his lips. "It was only a damn rat." He said into it angrily. "We need pest control here. Or at least a cat." He turned and continued the way he had been going. The two waited until the footsteps had faded before getting off the ground.
"I hate rats." Sundari whispered with disgust. Bakura softly chuckled.
"Let's keep going." He told her. She nodded and continued on their own path.
The way Sundari took them brought them through many different parts of the museum. They often had to duck out of sight while a guard or two walked past. Eventually, they began up the steps to the second floor, making sure to stay hidden behind the thick stone railing as they did.
At the top of the steps Sundari glanced back at the main floor. Lights were moving about in one of the exhibition rooms below. The owners of the flashlights were slowly making their way to the archway that led into the entrance hall.
Sundari grabbed Bakura, who was about to enter one of the second floor exhibition rooms, and pulled him with her behind large statue of an Aztec god situated in the corner near the stairs. They each got as low as they could behind the stone chests sitting at the large god's feet.
"What are you doing?" Bakura hissed quietly at her.
"Guards." Sundari whispered. "Three of them. Coming into the entrance hall." Bakura pulled himself onto his knees and sat up. He looked down the stairs, then quickly laid back down.
"They're coming up here." He warned her. She nodded and they both listened to the footsteps coming up the steps.
Once at the top of the steps, the guards split up and wandered around the top floor, flashing they're lights into rooms and only venturing into them every now and then. Finally, they returned to the head of the steps and told each other they found nothing.
"It's probably just a power failure." One of the guards said as he walked past Bakura and Sundari's hiding place, following the other two down the stairs. "There's no one here."
"Some security." Bakura muttered quietly once the guards were gone and him and Sundari stood from where they hid. Sundari just made a face at him as she tried to get the kinks out of her legs and necks. Bakura stood and pulled her to her feet.
Sundari smiled at him, then pointed to one of the rooms on the other side of the floor. "There it is." She whispered. "The Iolite of India."
Her outstretched finger pointed to a dais sitting in the middle of the new room. A square glass box enclosed the bracelet studded with blue colored precious and semi-precious stones. In the center of all of them was the round purple marble engraved with ancient Indian words. Though there was no light the Gem gave off a haunting glow.
"I'll be right back." Bakura mumbled. He glanced around, then quickly went over to the case as Sundari kept lookout in the shadows of the Aztec god.
Once he entered the new room and stood before the glass box he surveyed it to see if there was any backup security placed on the artifact. Content that all alarms were disabled he set to work.
With gloved hands he took a scalpel like instrument and what appeared to be a miniature plunger from his pocket. He stuck the tiny plunger to the front of the case, then cut a circle into the glass. After tapping on the surrounding glass a bit, he pulled off the piece he cut with the suction cup. Smiling to himself he reached in, his fingers enclosing around the bracelet and pulling it out. Quickly he brought it over to Sundari.
"Here." He told her, revealing it in his hand. "I believe this belongs to you."
Sundari took it, then ran her fingers over it. "I never thought I'd ever get to hold it again after grandfather died." She whispered. She looked up to Bakura, her eyes filling with tears. "Thank you." She quickly she pulled him into a hug before he could refuse. Once she released him she held the bracelet to her wrist and allowed Bakura to tie the strings that would hold the bracelet on.
Smiling, the girl looked around. Her eyes landed on the Aztec statue. Was it her, or was it brighter now?
"Oh no!" She cried, realizing what was happening. She spun around, noticing other display lights flickering on.
"What?" Bakura asked, confused.
"The power's coming back on!" She told him, fear growing within her. "The guards must have turned on the back up generator."
"I thought you said it was broken."
"It is! Or, it was. The curator must have gotten it repaired today."
Bakura's eyes grew wide. "We have to get out of here." He told her. He grabbed her hand and began to pull her down the stairs. Sundari looked to the case that had held the Iolite in time to see it's display lights flicker on. A second later the security sirens turned on, signaling that one of the items in the museum had been stolen.
"Run!" Bakura ordered as they neared the bottom of the steps. On the fourth from the bottom he jumped down to the floor, Sundari after him. They made their way across the room they were in. Somewhere near the back of the museum they could hear the guards bursting out of the security room and running in different directions.
In the next room they entered a guard run in from another doorway. Bakura grabbed Sundari and pushed her behind a large tablet that stood in the center of the room as he tucked behind a sarcophagus. After that guard ran past, two more did. Then both thieves stood and rushed to the next room.
Here the crept from one pillar to the next, making sure to keep hidden. At the last pillar Bakura froze, glancing around.
"The door is a few feet away." He whispered, pointing to the large archway that led to the room leading to the employee hall. "Whatever you do, don't turn back or stop running." Sundari nodded. The two waited for another guard to rush through the room. Once he was gone, they both broke into a run for the exit.
Halfway there Sundari felt the strings holding the Shadow Gem to her arm loosen. They came undone and slipped from her wrist, landing on the ground. The girl skidded to a stop, half sliding on the floor, and rushed back to it. She grabbed it up and turned, racing after Bakura again.
As she ran past a doorway someone jumped out before her, blocking her way. It was a bulky security guard. He grabbed her by the wrist roughly.
"Gotcha." He said. Sundari tried to pull away from him.
"Let go!" She cried. "You don't understand! Let me go!"
He guard yanked her around. Sundari thought he could've dislocated her shoulder. As she struggled with him she heard glass shatter behind him, but couldn't see what caused it because of the man' bulk. An arm then appeared around the man's neck, almost as if the owner of the arm wanted to put him in a headlock. Then the arm moved across his neck swiftly, making Sundari wonder if it had ever really been there at all. It wasn't until a thin red line appeared across the man's throat and a crimson liquid began to spill out did she understand.
The girl jumped away as the guard's grip on her slackened and he fell to the ground. Behind him stood Bakura. Quickly the pale haired boy grabbed the opposite arm of the one the guard held and pulled her after him. As he ran he let something slip from his hand. An ancient dagger from one of the surrounding display cases.
She wasn't exactly sure, but somehow she was pulled through the employee hall and out the back door, down the alley and several blocks away from the museum. The two stopped running in another alley, gasping for breath. It was then she realized the dark clouds had begun to release their rain. It was also then the fact that a man had been killed before her hit her full force.
"Bakura..." She uttered, tears welling up in her eyes as she remembered. "Y-you killed him..."
"My instincts took over." He whispered, his back turned to her.
"B-but you still k-killed him..." She suddenly felt weak so she leaned against the wall of a building.
"What was I suppose to do, let him take you?" He demanded. "If we were caught everything would be in danger."
"But that d-didn't mean you had to kill someone." Tears began to fall from her eyes. "Y-you could've knocked them out, or-or..."
"Or what?" He asked sharply, finally turning to her. "He would've seen you, and you would then be wanted. You'd never be able to return home ever again."
"It's my fault..." Sundari whispered as she cried. "I-I turned back... You said not to turn back, and I did..."
Feeling a prang of guilt Bakura crouched down beside her. "You did it for the Shadow Gem. Getting that Gem out of there was the most important thing at the moment. Sacrifices have to be made for the rest of the world..."
"But it's still m-my fault." Her fingers wrapped around the bracelet and held it so tight her knuckles turned white. More tears flowed down her face, mixing in with the rain.
Bakura sat down, taking the scared girl in his arms. "The truth is, what happened, how he grabbed you and shook you, it reminded me of something from my past..." His voice dropped to a whisper as he held onto her tighter. "But, unlike with you, I wasn't able to save the girl..."
They sat in silence as the rain fell around them. Finally Bakura stood, pulling Sundari to her feet.
"We should go." He advised. "Joey will be waiting for us." Sundari nodded, allowing him to led her out of the alley and down the street.