"Where'd you even hear about this kid, anyway?" Benzo asked him with a scowl. As if he needed to make it clearer how much on board he was not with the idea.

"Got word from Orie."

"And where'd she hear about it?"

"Now that's something you're gonna have to ask her yourself, ain't it?" Vander said with a grin, hoping Benzo would take the cue and stop whining. If Vander was willing to bring the kid in, that should be good enough reason for Benzo to trust it.

Instead, he scoffed. "Plenty of handy hands around. Never heard about him before."

"Maybe word about those handy hands has got around 'cause they've been caught too many times."

"Ah, as if. Only reason he's not been caught yet is 'cause he's still wearing diapers! All I know about him is that he works in the mines and he's not very good at it."

Vander shrugged. "Maybe his talents lie elsewhere."

"Bah. He's probably gonna chicken out anyway was soon as you tell him what we're gonna do."

Seeing as Benzo wouldn't be too useful in the negociation, Vander dropped him while the other boy went to sell some of the merch they had got in their last job and get ready for the new one. Vander wandered a while trying to find the kid where he'd been told Silco would be hanging at that time of the day. Folks knew Vander's jobs were trusthworthy. A good risk-success ratio. Not more risky than anything they dealt with daily at least. So when Orie trusted him with the info, in exchange Vander trusted she knew what she was talking about.

He was aware of the kid - Silco, better get used to call him by name, as he had already made it clear he wanted that recognition. The memory made him grin though. Every kid had to start turning into grown-ups eventually, right? The transition phase was just funny as hell -, having seen him around a lot along the years. When Orie told him she knew someone who could be useful, Vander recognized him pretty easily, especially after that thing in the mine. Even if he didn't want in, like Benzo suspected, it wasn't like this was a waste of time. It was always good to get to know people.

Vander was confident he'd say yes, though. Empty stomachs speak louder than anything else.

He found Silco alone, sitting on a stairway with a notebook opened on his lap.

"Hey."

Silco raised his eyes. Vander towered over him effortlessly as it was, let alone while he was sitting down.

"Hey." He looked around very quickly, probably in a way meant to be casual but Vander could tell he was on the lookout if other people were closing in on him. Nice instincts. It was probably a good thing Benzo hadn't come, really.

Vander sat down next to him, hoping to at least make himself seem less intimidating. Not an easy thing with how he looked. Silco didn't move away nor closed the notebook, but he didn't seem too comfortable, eyeing him suspiciously.

"I heard you got fast hands." He cut straight to the chase. Vander could probably use a bit of polishing in his approach to people and life, but he was used to people knowing him, so there was no point in making introductions or small talk. And he was used to just punch through life problems. Neither thing needed a lot of polishing to be done.

Silco frowned at the abrupt approach, torn between pretending he didn't immediately understand the point of the conversation or confirming it upfront without more info. He seemed to decide for a third option.

"And?" Still walking that fine line between no-nonsense and earning himself a punch. Vander could respect that. Though honestly, Silco was such a scrawny kid with a mop of greasy hair that it mostly just amused him.

"Got a work coming up. Could use someone who knows how to pick pockets well."

Silco raised his eyes again, a brow furrowed. "Who says I know how to do that?"

Vander scoffed. "Not a lot of folks, which is something I appreciate for this type of job. Laying low is pretty handy."

"Thought having a rep was what helped get jobs."

"Gotta start making one somehow, huh? And you clearly have enough of a rep as it is for what I need."

"And you're just taking someone's word for it without even knowing if I can do it?"

"I trust the person who told me," Vander replied, feeling like he was talking to a smaller version of Benzo. "And so I trust you."

Silco frowned further.

"Wanna hear me out, at least? No harm in that."

"I suppose," he replied, closing the notebook. Another good sign.

Vander summed it up pretty fast. The plan was as simple as it could get: "There's this pretty loaded-up place. We get in, pack everything we can, and we get out. I know great people who are interested in buying the type of goods we're gonna find, and they pay good coin, I can rec them to you so you can sell your part of the haul fast."

"Why do you need me in particular?"

"I don't really blend in or can get close to people without them noticing," Vander said with a grin. "The keys to that loaded-up place? Someone has it on them as they leave the house. I don't want any messy breaking and entering though, so we need to get the keys quietly and discreetly. That's where you come in. You'll steal the keys from the owner himself and if you're as good as I've been told, he'll never even tell."

See? He was already learning how to be less rough around the edges with the job itself.

"How much do I get?"

"A third."

"A third?" he repeated, not knowing how to mask that shock.

"Why not?" Vander asked, even though he knew why it sounded too good to be true. Benzo was fuming over that part of the hit, because Vander and him could carry a lot more things than the smaller boy. "You do a third of the job, you get a third of the prize."

It was a big cut, but how Vander saw things, if it went well, Silco would have every reason to want in on any future job that might come along. Good hands were always useful. Or he could think of Vander for any of his own jobs if he needed some muscle. Or he could just get on with his day. Everyone won with this investiment. Plus the target had more than enough to justify getting generous with the cut.

"Doesn't sound too bad," Silco said, clearing his throat. It could either be from a denser air cloud that passed by or for another reason. "So what's the catch?"

"None, if you don't mind dressing up a bit fancier."

"Dressing up?" he repeated. "What do you mean? Why do I need special clothes?"

"'Cause it's Topside."

That made his eyes widen even more than before.

"Piltover?"

"You know another Topside?"

Silco gaped momentarialy. From what Vander had heard, he had pickpocketed in Piltover before already and did just fine; another good thing in his favor.

"When?"

"Ah," Vander grinned again. "Well, the guy has a schedule, so in less than one hour would be great."

"Now?! But we're supposed to go to work in about..." he said, trying to awkwardly regain his composure.

Vander decided not to ignore his reasoning. "If this goes right, it's worth more than a week of work. If this goes wrong, the Enforcers will have your ass. Your choice."

.

"Isn't he that kid from the other day in the mine? The one you gave bread or something?" Benzo asked him while both of them waited. Silco had washed his face and hands with clean water and put on a fancier shirt they bought with part of the money Benzo got and tucked his hair in a ponytail; wouldn't fool most people if they looked twice his way, but the plan was for the owner of the house to not notice him at all, so it should do.

"Yeah."

"And he just happened to be the one Orie recommended?"

"Yeah. Coincidence."

"Huh. I see," Benzo said, laying against the wall and trying to look like he belonged there. The part of the plan of having two huge teenagers clearly out of the Undercity probably needed a bit of work, but Vander hadn't thought that far ahead and right now his mind turned somewhere else.

"What, you think I'm lying?" he asked Benzo harshly, hovering over the other boy. Benzo cowered back slightly.

"No, I don't. You just said it's a coincidence."

"Then don't act up like it isn't."

"I was just talking, Vander, shit..."

"Is something wrong?" someone asked behind them, and Vander turned around to see Silco standing there, looking warily at both of them.

"A lot will be if you're empty handed," Benzo replied before Vander, shrugging off the scene as if nothing happened.

"Appreciate the vote of confidence," Silco replied sarcastically. He raised his hand, a fancy keychain hooked on his finger.

"Well well well!" Benzo laughed and clapped, throwing a slap on Silco's back that probably rattled all his bones. "Never doubted you for a moment, kid!"

"Stop calling me kid already."

"What am I suppose to call a runt like you, your lordship excellency?" Benzo mocked, but Silco ignored him and turned to Vander.

"What now?"

Vander took a deep breath, calming himself from his little moment. "Now we go to the guy's house. You'll go through the front door, as natural as if you owned the place. People shouldn't notice you. You'll leave the door unlocked, and the two of us will go in when we see we'll have a good enough crowd to get lost in. We get everything we can put in our bags, and we're out same way we got in. Even leave the keys on the lock."

"People won't notice us leave?"

"Well, at least by then we can make a run for it loaded with stuff," Vander said with a shrug. It was a good enough plan by his book.

"How're you sure there's no one home?" Silco asked, and Vander saw him faltering however slightly at the look in Vander's face. It was a reasonable question, but he was still blowing off steam after Benzo's doubting him. Silco decided to not press further; if he had any more questions about how Vander had heard about this job, he wisely kept them to himself. Knowing Vander's contacts wasn't part of the deal.

"You ask a lot of questions, don't you," Benzo cut in. "Go on ahead, chop chop. I want to get my money for the day."

Silco nodded, and despite the fact he had seen the house where the target had come out of before he stole the keys off of him, Vander still pointed to the address Orie had given him. He kept watch as Silco went on ahead, keeping his nervousness in check decently. After they saw him enter the guy's place, they waited a moment before Vander found it safe. He sneaked in as fast as he could with Benzo on his tail, hoping the people in the street were too busy in their shitty topside business to notice.

As Benzo closed the door behind them, Vander breathed out in relief. And then jumped to action pronto, immediately looking out for all the valuables he'd been told he could find there. Silco was already looking around, though he stopped by the family framed photos hanging around.

"We just leave the keys in the front door and make it seem like the owner forgot, right?" Silco asked.

Benzo scoffed. "When you don't have to worry about surviving you have a lot more time to forget stuff like that, right?"

Vander picked up the valuables he found on a jewel box, focused in trying to find the gold necklace Orie had told him she wanted as payback for giving him the job in the first place. Part of him was trying not to make too much of a mess, but then he gave up on it as he heard Benzo throwing stuff around. The owners might breathe out in relief when they'd find the keys on the lock, but either way they'd find out soon enough they had been robbed, so Vander didn't pretend they hadn't. He kept opening and closing drawers, taking whatever he felt would be useful to Arro at the chemtech joint, some medical stuff he knew would come at handy for everyone and could also be sold if it came to that, even stealing a decorated plate like old Nana said she once had. They filled up bottles with clean water, Vander taking a bigger load of five containers so he'd share it with the rest of the guys in the Undercity. He lifted a napkin from over something on the table in the living room, finding a freshly-looking baked cake underneath.

"Now wouldn't you like to live in a place like this?" Vander asked them with a grin, picking up a piece and stuffing his face. It was fucking deliciously sweet.

"Cake!" Silco run next to him and picked up a piece too, gobbling it up as he looked around. The place was packed full of stuff, just like Vander had been told it would be, and honestly looked more like a store rather than a house with people who actually lived in it. "Nah, I wouldn't really like to live here."

Vander turned, his mouth full. "For real?"

"Yeah. The air is nice, but as for the rest... Too sunny, too..." he gestured vaguely. "Look at this. Looks empty."

"Empty?!" Benzo repeated, shoving a whole lot of trinkets into his bag with a loud clash.

"Packed with stuff, but not really," Silco tried, not really knowing how to express what he felt. He swallowed down the cake and went for another piece. "I don't know. I don't really like it."

"Whatever you say, kid," Benzo scoffed, finishing packing his new things and moving to the table, shoving his whole fist into the cake and ripping a chunk.

"I'd just sell half this crap and buy more books."

"Books?" Vander repeated, throwing the bag over his shoulder. "That's what you're into?"

"I like reading," Silco replied with a shrug.

"You all done?" Vander asked them both, getting nods in response.

"You even packed anything useful, or just damn books?" Benzo asked Silco, weighting the bag on the boy's back. "I'm not giving you a third of the stuff if you only have junk to bring to the table!"

"Benzo, let's just go."

Instead of getting more relaxed, everyone was on edge as they made their exit. Silco was the last one, doing exactly as Vander instructed him regarding the keys. They regrouped back at a corner and kept walking, hoping they would still blend in.

As soon as they saw Enforcers, all three boys ducked into a nearby alley, suddenly feeling breathless at the first real sign of trouble.

"Shit," Benzo cursed under his breath. "Things were going too smoothly."

"No reason why they won't keep that way," Vander said, eyeing Silco by reflex. He didn't exactly know how experienced the kid actually was with Piltover's added challenges. He was actually taking the bag off his shoulders. "What're you-"

"I'll distract them. You take my things," Silco said, shoving his bag over to Benzo, who grunted in reply. "We'll meet up... near Arro's pawn shop?"

"Orie's place is better," Vander replied quickly. "Safer and more quiet."

"You know her?" Silco asked, probably doing the math in his head. Regardless, he just nodded. "Focus on crossing the bridge without alerting anyone and leave the rest to me."

"Okay," Vander said, looking at Benzo not without showing his surprise.

"If you steal my things, I'll find you in the mines and kill you both," Silco warned, untying his hair and taking off the fancier shirt and throwing it at Benzo, such a simple change to make him look as much of a Zaunite as the two older teenagers.

Benzo arched an eyebrow and Vander scoffed.

"Alright, Silco."

As soon as they heard the fast steps fade away, a clash and a recognizable 'Halt!', they steadily marched the other way, towards the bridge.

.

"Son of a little bitch, you did steal books," Benzo laughed as Silco snatched the volume off his hands. Orie, the common acquaintance of both parties and the owner of the room they met up in, took her agreed prize and flashed the exuberant necklace, telling them how much the owner of the house they robbed had bragged about buying it to his wife.

"We won't need to return to the mines for a week!" Silco said happily, gathering his part of the haul.

"Actually, we should return even before the money runs out, to avoid suspicion," Vander said, lighting up a rolled cigarette he had received from Arro first thing after dropping him his requested merch.

Silco frowned slightly, but nodded. "I suppose that makes sense. Still, we won't be going back today, for sure."

"No, not today," Vander grinned.

"Good job, Silco," Orie congratulated him. "I knew you'd be the perfect one for the hit."

"Could've told me you'd start handing out recommendations," Silco said, fidgeting somewhat and making the girl laugh.

"Just my thanks for last time," she replied with a shrug.

Benzo was the first to leave, hurrying up to sell some of the things. Orie wanted to get her coin for the necklace, so Vander left half his cut under her table, a much well deserved amount for the good intel she'd given him, and left with Silco and her before she parted ways.

"You smoke?" he asked. Silco nodded and he extended the rolled cigar to him. Silco took a drag and passed it back over to Vander. "Now wasn't that better than spending a whole fucking day in that damn mine?"

"Yeah," Silco agreed with a smile, exhaling the smoke he had in his lungs. "I'm not used to do big jobs like this."

"You did well," Vander reassured him. "See? I knew I could trust you."

Silco nodded, fidgeting again. He didn't seem too comfortable with compliments.

"I suppose I should thank you for keeping your word and not stealing my cut."

"We have to trust each other," Vander said simply. "Folks up there don't give a shit about us. If we don't look out for each other here, we're done. Plus, doing stuff like this makes me feel alive. It can't be all about work, especially when it only gets you all sore and fucked up."

Silco nodded, adjusting the bag on his back.

"It'd be better if we could have a nice cake and a bed waiting at home."

Vander frowned, sucking his smoke. "Thought you said you didn't want to live up there."

"I don't. I'd like to live here, normally, without having to go to the mines or have to breathe all their waste and run from Enforcers to try to have anything," Silco replied. He stared at Vander for a moment. "Orie was the one who gave you the job. That means the guy I stole the keys from is one of her clients."

Vander didn't know what Silco expected him to say, so he just nodded.

"I don't like to reveal my sources." Though technically you did, he thought to himself.

"The guy has a daughter around Orie's age," Silco said, adjusting the bag again. "I saw it in their photos. The book I stole was in her bedroom. She was probably in some fancy academy while we were there. We have to work ourselves to bone here so they can have their fancy necklaces and books up there. I wouldn't like to live among people like that."

Vander lowered his head, taking a final drag of the smoke before he passed it to Silco again for him to kill it. He saw the kid - Silco, not kid - suck the last of it with a scowl.

"I should've thrown the damn key into the river and let the toxins melt it," he said angrily, throwing the butt and stepping on it.

"Nah. It was to make a point."

Silco turned, confused. "Make a point?"

"We're so good that we can steal right from under their noses and then shove it in their faces," Vander explained. "Damn Pilties need to be reminded from time to time they're not better than us."

Silco seemed to give the words some thought, while in turn Vander studied him in silence. There wasn't a person in Zaun who appreciated being looked down upon by Piltover, but with their own daily strifes, not many had time for thoughts beyond that contempt. A dream. A dream you could barely dream of when you had to struggle to survive the day, but that dream could actually be the reason why you wanted to survive. What pushed you forward. It was just as farfetched to think Silco could share it too, but at least he clearly already had the necessary rage to want it. That was something Vander could relate to, and appreciated.

"You have anywhere to go?" he asked all of a sudden. Vander's often criticized impulsiveness was a quality by his own standards.

"Uh, yeah," Silco said, cautious again. He was smart. He didn't lower his guard all at once.

"If you want to, you can come by our place," Vander said. "We live in a nice warehouse, Arro owns it. Me, Benzo, some more folks. We can always use people with your skills."

"Okay. I'll think about it."

Vander nodded and bumped a fist against the other boy's shoulder. He was so skinny you could feel the bone.

"Take care of yourself, Silco."

"Sure. You too."

.