Mystic heists
Thomas leapt to a balcony, jumped off and landed next to a map just beside the port. He looked around, orienting himself, noting the bridge to a lighthouse on his left. He didn't poke his head beyond the wall to his right, but he knew what that crackling sound meant. A blue grappled to the floor beside him and Emily landed there. He looked at her and frowned. "What are you doing?"
She looked back, affronted. "I'm sneaking?"
He looked at her posture, hands held up crooked in front of her and knees half bent, on her tip toes. He rolled his eyes, and slapped her hands down. "That's not how you sneak outside a pantomime Emily! Look, when we get in there, stay low, stay quiet, and stay behind cover. The stupid guards never seem to see you when you're leaning." He looked up over the wall and sighed. "Okay, they set the wall of light up. Listen, your doctor's house is on Clavering Boulevard, but to get there we'll need to get through this archway up ahead. It's guarded, no big deal, but if we walk through there now we're gonna get fried."
Emily looked up and saw what he meant, electricity sparking between pylons on either side of the aperture. A pair of guards was sat idly nearby it. "How do we get through?"
Thomas' eyes darted around, before alighting on a device with a tank of whale oil in it. He pointed. "There. Get the tank out, and the whole thing shuts down. Those things are heavy when full, I can barely lift them, never mind pull them out, but they're volat-vol…"
She looked at him. "Volatile?"
"Bingo. Anyway, if we find a loose tank nearby, we could probably lob it at it, make both blow up, or maybe wait until it's almost empty to remove it…"
Emily looked to the symbol on her hand, mind whirring. "I think I have a better idea. But how will we distract the guards?"
Thomas gestured under the nearby bridge, where a bunch of children in rags were trying to skim stones at the water's edge. "No problem. The adults round here will try and rob you if you offer them money for a job. The kids though…" He pulled out a coin of 5, grinning wickedly.
._.
A guard leaned against a nearby crate, sighing. I swear my shifts are getting longer…
"Hey, Jack!"
He opened his eyes as another guard wandered over. "Hey Geoff."
"So…"
"What?"
"Shall we gather for whiskey and cigars tonight?"
"Well, I-" A glass bottle smashed at his feet. He looked up to see a gaggle of children a few metres away, laughing at him. Even as he watched, they grabbed loose tiles from the floor and began hurling them in his direction. He growled. "Tell ya what, Geoff, whiskey after we teach these gremlins a lesson, eh?"
The two ran after the group, who began to disperse into the streets, not noticing a pair of children slip behind them. Thomas and Emily ran towards the gate and stopped next to the guard post. "Okay." Said Thomas, anxious. "What now?"
"Hold me."
"What?"
Emily looked across at him, her expression urgent and serious. "Grab me, and grab that lamp-post!"
Blinking in confusion, he complied, effectively anchoring her in place. "Now what?"
She frowned in concentration, aimed her hand towards the whale oil tank across the street, and flexed her fingers. The blue tendril snaked quickly through the air, suctioning onto the tank, but instead of letting herself be carried, Emily pulled. The tendril went taut, Thomas gripped her and the post harder, and Emily skidded forward a few inches before her small heels found purchase on the slippery tiles. With a clunk, the tank disconnected from its port, and flew across the distance towards her. She caught it, stumbling against Thomas and almost knocking both of them over, before dropping it with a wince. She looked to the wall of light. It had stopped sparking. She tentatively rolled the fallen tank through the aperture, eliciting no response, before gleefully grabbing the arm of a bewildered Thomas, and leading him through to a building labelled 'Offices of Dr Galvani'.
._.
After entering the fortunately unlocked house, Emily turned to Thomas and motioned him to stay quiet, to which he titled his head, as though to say 'well, duh?' She pressed her hands over her eyes and triggered her void gaze, looking around. They were in a small room just inside the front door, presumably where you took off your shoes. Before her, two guards were in the first hallway, patrolling around a set of display cases, then further away was a circular staircase, and somewhere several storey's above her, she could blurrily see objects pulsing with the Outsider' power. She looked back at Thomas, who was staring at her with mouth opened wide.
"Black eyes!" He whispered. She blinked, that's what it does? But shook her head, it wasn't important. Opening the door just a crack when the guards were looking another way, she quickly slid into the room and beneath the display cases. She turned back to Thomas, whispering "go steal or something!" Before crawling further in. Painstakingly, she made it to the end of the displays (if not the hallway) and waited for the guards to look the other way before grappling to the foot of the staircase, practically sliding across the wooden floor. She looked around, taking in the lush carpets, paintings, warm lighting, and was immersed in nostalgia. If none of this had happened, I would be living in a place like this… She shook her head, she needed to be concentrating, and looked up, just in time to see a maid who had been cleaning a painting begin to turn towards her.
Panicking, Emily did the only thing she could. Aiming her arm upwards, she fired, a grapple extending up the centre of the spiralling staircase and dragging her just up out of sight. She ascended up two floors before finally impacting (somehow painlessly) against the roof, but the tendril vanished as soon as its job was done. Emily looked down (and it was a long way down) and barely let out a squeak before the ground began to come up towards her-
Cliiiiiiiifhangeeeer! Oh, je suis evil. Please review-seriously, it's getting lonely over here- and i will see you next week for the next update!