Author's Note: This is the longest chapter. It's a kind of thank you to all the people who review my stuff. My writing is still premature and I really appreciate the kind words.
Disclaimer: I don't own the Teen Titans or the ROM.
Chapter 24 - Game On
The soft clunk of the white unmarked vans doors closed behind Gar as he stuffed himself inside the tin furnace. The small portable fan was oscillating on the other side of the coffee table, not doing much for the heat, only managing to whirl around the hot air.
"We're moving," said Karen. Her usually crisp suit was now wrinkled and open in the heat. Roy sat opposite of her, his sleeves rolled up and his tie loose. Gar glanced around the van and noticed that the usual tracking equipment they kept around was gone, no laptop, no files, no papers.
"Why?"
"Dick's figured it out, wont be long 'til other people notice. 'Sides, the unmarked white van's a little cliché don't you think?" Karen raised an eyebrow playfully at Gar but he kept his serious demeanour.
Karen cleared her throat and continued, "I'm getting us wired to camera system inside and bringing in two plain clothes as hotdog vendors to keep an eye on the outside."
"Wired to the system? That means its not closed circuit anymore. Isn't that a little dangerous? What if someone taps your line? Then it'll be like shooting fish in a barrel," he asked concernedly. He of all people should know, he's done that once of twice with a couple of cops out to catch a thief.
Roy shrugged, "Has to be done, nothing we can do about it."
"We're keeping the van itself here," said Karen, "We just won't be in it. They wouldn't have any reason to suspect that the circuit is tapped."
Gar shook his head, unsure. It was think kind of technology that got people into trouble. It lulls cops into a false sense of security. They think that if they're wired and they've got the 'latest' technology on their side that none can get in or out. They forget that thieves know a bit about technology themselves, they forget the blind spots that camera's can't get. Any computer can be hacked, and camera can be tampered with and any alarm can be disabled. There's no real security like a pair of human eyes, awake and alert.
"Where are you staying at then?"
"When we know, we'll let you know," Roy nodded at Gar and patted his shoulder, "Relax man, we've got it covered. We'll let Victor know later and you can check it out once it's up."
Gar gave a nod and reopened the doors, letting in a rush of air and sunlight, "You guys better have it covered; I don't want anyone else getting hurt."
Karen Beecher watched as the door closed behind Gar and turned to Roy, "He's getting frustrated. Too attached to the curator."
"What, you think he's losing sight?"
"No, maybe, I don't know. He's too distracted as it is, and that murder isn't going to help his nerves. He's more worried about her safety than the exhibit, than the job," Karen shut her eyes and massaged her temples. They couldn't fail this one, it was too important. Her job and Roy's depended on it.
They'd been on Red X's tail for years, only managing to catch glimpses of him. Nothing. Kinyago was their last chance, millions had been forked over to get this operation on its feet as well as five years of preparation. Years of studying Red X, and his habits, of tailing Kinyago trying to catch him. This assignment could mean two things for her, eternal fame or perpetual shame. She couldn't afford to miss this chance. She couldn't afford Gar to be distracted by his new girlfriend and after the recent murder and shooting atop the Redpath Sugar Factory; this just might turn into a personal grudge match.
"So you think he's not on his game?"
"No, I'm sure he's on his game," Karen sighed, "It's what game that I'm worried about."
Gar wandered through the halls of the old wings of the ROM. The air seemed to be cooler here than with the rest of the museum, but maybe that was just him. He smiled as he passed some tourists, laughing and chatting away. This part of the museum was near abandoned now, what with the new wing and the Cleopatra exhibit no one was interested in the old stuff, no pun intended. He walked through as if searching for something, his kept jerking up towards the ceiling and around at empty corners just him and the gentle hum of the air conditioning, moving along so silently that you hardly hear him breathe if you were standing right in front of his face. He couldn't help it, it was instinctive. Being in a museum by himself, he automatically slows his breathing and his steps become light as air. No one would have even known he was there.
Through the hallowed halls, with the blank eyes and stares of ancient Roman gods and goddesses. Passing by statues and painted pots, telling tales of heroism, courage and love. The chipped rock that once honoured their temples, the faded paint that once told their stories. The gladiators of ancient Rome, immortalized in stone, the rock stars of their day, now forgotten and nameless faces hanging in museum walls. What they lived for, what they died for now gone.
And there was he. What would he be remembered for? His wealth? His 'craft'? Would he be known as the man who stole for art not money? Would he be remembered as the man who brought Cleopatra to Canada? Would they know he ate, he breathed? He loved? And who he loved?
"There you are" The sound of his own voice startled him and surely startled her. She turned to him briefly and gave a small smile, then turned back to what she was looking at. It was a wall, the Hall of Punt. It was a recreation of a mural in stone of the expedition to Punt, the African civilization, ordered by the female Pharaoh Hatshepsut. Raven stood, plaintively staring at a faded spot of wall, her arms crossed in front of her. Here eyes stared up sadly at the lighter patches on the wall. Gar walked up beside her and joined her.
The wall was incredible, even with all of its flaws, its missing tiles, its chipped corners. Even through the grime that time had coated it with, you could still see all of its vibrant colours, its intricate details. The land of Punt, the boats across the Nile, the exotic animals, the slightly obese Queen of Punt. His eyes glazed over in marvel as he tracked their journey from Egypt to Punt then back again, it must have taken so long. His eyes followed the story as it came back to the source, the whitened figure of a person, far more faded than the rest of the wall. Even so, you could see some of the person's features, the commanding presence, the strong stance, a daunting arm pointing out.
"Hatshepsut," she began, not even bothering to look at him, "wasn't the only female Pharaoh, but she was the greatest. She built the temple at Deir-al Bahri, led the expedition to Punt, built the Lower and Middle Courtyards, the Birth and Punt Colonnade, the Temple of Hathor and countless obelisks including the tallest at the Temple of Amun in her father's name. And yet…"
She trailed off but then recomposed herself, facing Gar but not looking at him, "Do you see," she pointed towards the faded area of the wall, "that was her. But she's gone now, erased. They erased her name and her figure, at a time even trying to paint over it. But why?" She seemed to be talking to herself now, no longer telling him about Hatshepsut. The irony of it all made him smile; they both had been thinking the same thing.
"They just made her disappear, and for years… no, centuries. They had forgotten her, her people had forgotten her and all that she did. And now, now we remember, now we honour her the way she was meant to be honoured. The girl who would be king." She stopped and back pouted her lips, finally facing him.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to give you a history lesson. It's just," she sighed, "I used to come here, when I was little. The ROM was free on Friday nights from 4:30 so right after school, I'd tell my father that I was going to stay for extra credit then make my way downtown. I'd sit here and stare for hours at the Hall of Punt. I thought it was so romantic, a woman Pharaoh who ruled better than most of her male counterparts. I think it was what made me an Egyptologist."
"But it's funny, I've done it. I've grown up like her, strong and independent. And I'll probably end up like her too, erased," he turned to her and grabbed her shoulder as if to ask what she was thinking. She just smiled and leaned into him, "But… she never allowed herself to fall in love. Having a husband could damage her career." A beat passed between them.
He held her close, "You know, I meant what I said. You're safe. I'll keep you safe," he gently pushed her away and looked into her eyes, "I've rented a space on Spadina, it's small but it'll do. You're moving out of your apartment." He paused and waited for her reaction. She just looked up at him sceptically.
"I know it's sudden, but… You said you wanted to be kept safe. I'll keep you safe; you just have to trust me. Now we can't move you in 'til tomorrow but in the mean time you can stay at my hotel room." He smiled as he saw her raise an eyebrow, "I have work to do tonight so don't worry about it, I won't come in 'til the early morning and I'll sleep on the couch."
He threw his hands up defensively at the last statement and she chuckled, punching him in the stomach. She playfully went in for another jab when he grabbed her hand and they both laughed.
"But seriously," he looked her in the eye again and brought her close, "No one, I mean no one, not even Jinx, is to know where we are-"
"Wait," she pulled back and rested a hand on her hip, "what do you mean 'we'?"
He grinned and pulled her back again, feeling her stiffen at his tough and fight back, "I mean I'm staying with you. I'll still be checked into my hotel room but I'll be coming home to the apartment. There are two bedrooms and the guy who owns the apartment and the restaurant below is an old friend of mine."
He looked at her face and laughed, "Oh come on living above a restaurant isn't so bad. I mean, I know its Chinatown and it's pretty busy and smelly but it's safe, at least from Red X. Maybe not if there's a hit out on you from the Chinese mafia... What?"
She rolled her eyes and pecked him on the cheek, "It's not the apartment I'm worried about. It's my room mate." She rolled her eyes again and walked away leaving a grinning Gar holding his cheek.
"Hey Sparky!" Victor pried his eyes away from the monitors to see that Karen Beecher was standing by his door.
"Oh, hey." He gave sigh, "You scared me. Wow, you look like shit."
She raised and eyebrow at his comment and began fixing herself up, "Gee Stone, you 're such a charmer. Frig, its hot outside you can't blame me for how I look. My God, what is wrong with this city? One minute it's freezing the next its hot enough to cook bacon on you head."
Vic scowled at her and rubbed his bald head, "What do you want Karen? You didn't come in here to talk about the weather so cut the formalities and get to it."
She sighed and leaned against the counter of the communications room, "I need a few things, Roy and I need a tap to your security cameras."
He slowly turned to her, wide eyed, "What?"
"We need to leave our post."
"Oh you mean that oh-so discreet unmarked white van or yours outside?" she stuck her tongue out at his sarcasm, "It's about time some one noticed that thing. I mean, talk about cliché."
"I know, I know, I get it," she held out her palms in defeat, "mistake on my part. We're still leaving the van there; we're just moving the base of operations. So, we need to keep an eye on everything and the only way to do that is to have a tap on the system here. It'll still be closed circuit; the circuit will just be bigger."
Vic rubbed his temples, "Do you know how dangerous that is? What if you get bugge-"
"Yeah, yeah," Karen waved off-handedly, "I know the dangers, Gar told me. But it'll be far more dangerous if we don't have an eye in here."
"Who's gunna watch the entrance," Vic asked sceptically.
Karen picked invisible lint off her shirt and mumbled something inaudibly.
"Sorry, what?"
"The Guerrero brothers." If Vic had been drinking coffee he'd have spit it out right there.
"Mas and Menos? Hell no," Vic jumped up and started pacing, "Hell no! Those walking time bombs, no way."
Karen rolled her eyes at his over reaction, "The Guerrero brothers aren't as bad as they used to be. Remember they were just starting out when you first met them. Mas and Menos have had years of experience now."
Victor glared at her, "They're not stepping one foot into this museum, not one foot into my museum. Karen, have they hypnotized you or something? Do you remember a little incident with a pocket revolver and paperclips?"
"I think you're over exaggerating the situation, it wasn't that bad. We caught the guy didn't we?"
"It took me months to re-grow my eyebrows. Months!" Vic pointed to his eyebrows and starter stroking them, "They never grew back the same, poor babies."
Karen pushed herself off the counter and made her way to the door, "Too late Sparky, the tornado twins are on their way as we speak." And then she was gone, leaving an annoyed Victor pulling his hair out, at least he would have been given the choice.
Gar smiled as he leaned against Raven's dresser, watching her pile hangers upon hangers of clothing on her bed. She was currently in her walk-in closet and Gar was looking at couple of shirts she had thrown on the bed.
"You sure you just don't want to bring the whole closet? After all, we don't know how long you'll have to stay, I reckon 'til the exhibit leaves," he called sarcastically, he dodged a flying pair of pants aimed at his head coming from the closet and laughed, "Hey there was a wire hanger in that. You know what; just forget it and I'll buy you and entirely new summer wardrobe."
Raven poked her head out of the closet and threw a summer dress at him, "There, that one was plastic. Besides I just found out about your little decoy today, how am I supposed to know what to bring."
He smiled, "Oh come on, don't tell me your bags haven't been packed since you met me, waiting for me to sweep you away." He waggled his eyebrows and dodged another pair of pants, sans hanger his time.
"In my defence," he threw up his hands laughing, "I found out today too. Oh come on, let's go already, just bring a few things and we'll come back occasionally."
"Fine," Raven came out of the closet with a small black suitcase with international stickers all over one side. Gar cocked his head to the side and read them; Florence, Italy; Vienna, Austria; Paris, France; London, England; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Melbourne, Australia; Cairo, Egypt; Tokyo, Japan: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Johannesburg, South Africa; Lhasa, Tibet.
"Wow, you've travelled a lot," he read on in amazement, half the places there he hadn't even been to, "Lhasa? I thought that was forbidden to foreigners."
Raven shrugged and started rolling her pants to better fit in the suitcase, "Not if you're snuck in. The security's pretty tight unless you know people. It's really beautiful there, so... untouched." She walked over to where Gar was standing and shooed him aside opening the drawer.
"Ooo," he raised and eyebrow, "Underwear drawer." He reached his hand in to grab but Raven slapped it away.
"Lay off Gar," She picked out a few and rolling her eyes began folding them, "Anyways, my father was pretty wealthy. I did a lot of travelling in high school, you know, to get away. From home. At university I did a co-op at the National Historical Museum at Buenos Aires," she indicated the sticker, "Then after getting hired at the ROM they shipped me all over the place like the National Museum at Cairo and the MuseuMAfricA in Johannesburg."
Gar smiled at this, "You've been to Africa?"
"Yeah, but never really picked anything up, like culture or language. I was only there for a few days to verify a purchase the ROM was making." Gar pushed himself off the drawers and made his way behind her, snaking his arms around her waist and resting his head on her shoulders.
"Well," he gave her a kiss on her neck, "You should let me take you back some time. You know, show you around my native land, get to know the real Africa."
A dark figure crouched in a dark alley at St George St. No cars, no people, barely any lights. With one swift movement, a man-hole cover was slipped from its niche in the ground and slid over enough for a man to slide down, the black gloved hand controlling with such strength it barely made a sound. The figure descended into the dark abyss and discreetly rolled the cover back in its place, with out a trace of entry.
Vic sat in the Comm. Room watching all the monitors in front of him, a coffee mug in his right hand. Nothing would get past him tonight. He raised a hand to the headset on his ear and pushed a small button.
"Bee, you there?" he nearly whispered into the mic. A scratching came on and then he heard shuffling on the other line.
"Gotcha loud and clear Sparky." A hushed voice came on the other side.
A small red light, surrounded by intermingling white lines beeped on a small black screen in a tiny handheld PDA. The dark figure rolled up his mask stopping just above his nose and slipped on a small gas mask, the kind usually used for painting, to shroud the stench that surrounded him. Keying in a few buttons on the PDA, the screen pulled back and the red dot got smaller and the white lines got thinner as a small green triangle appeared. He tested it out by take a few steps forward. When he saw the green triangle move, he smiled and slipped on a pair of goggles that bugged out at his eyes. With a press of a button his vision turned green and black and the tunnel was as bright as day. Slowly and with precision, he continued on using the PDA as his guide.
Elsewhere, on the floor in the ROM, a small, round flat metal disk the size of a dime lay on the floor. Unnoticed by the night crew.
Raven switched on the coffee maker. There was no coffee in it, just water to boil for tea. She stepped lightly over to the large window overlooking the city. Gar was staying at the Fairmont Royal York again. In a large deluxe suite with a grand view of Toronto and the lake. The place was bigger than her loft, but in its empty and high ceilings, Raven found comfort in her own place. But she wasn't at her own place anymore. She didn't have her own place. She wouldn't for a while. All that she had now was the museum, and even that was in danger of being taken from her.
The beeping sped up as the green triangle over took the red dot. The thief shut the device off and slipped it into his pocket. Looking up, the observed the ceiling in front of his face, running his hands over it, feeling it out. Suddenly, he went into his hip pouch and pulled out a chisel like tool and small hammer. Carefully he began to chip away at the ceiling working meticulously centimetre by centimetre, working through to what was underneath it all. Suddenly he heard the clang of metal on metal as he hit the ventilation system. Pleased with himself and tucking away the tools back into his pouch, he reached for a sharp hunting knife and cut away at the relatively thin, but strong metal above creating a hole, big enough for him to slip through, rolling the metal in towards the vent as opposed to out. Crawling through the vent which was a large hollow tube leading to a boiler, high enough for him to kneel and crawl, he cautiously rolled the metal back into place and taking out a small pocket soldering iron, soldered the sheet back in its place.
The low bubbling noise of the hot water nearly startled Raven out of her trance. Quickly she made her way back to the pot and poured herself a cup.
The thief continued cutting and soldering the metal above him until he reached what looked like the underneath of a marble floor tile about 2 feet by 2 feet. He ran his gloved hand slowly over it and traced the outline of the tile with his fingers. Making a fist he began punching up at the tile corners, listening for how thick the tile was. Then reaching into his pouch again he took out four long strips of a red gummy substance that looked like licorice. Turning them over there was a peel away paper barrier that protected the sticky side of the gum which he then gently peeled off then stuck the red gum along each of the lines on the tile. After doing so, he pulled out a chunk of black putty and four live wires. The thief then cut the putty into four separate pieces and stuck a bit at the middle of each red gum, sticking an end of live wire into the black putty. When he finished, he twisted the loose ends of the wires together and stuck them onto a wire clip that attached to his PDA. Crawling as far away as the wires would allow him, he crouched with his back turned and turned on his PDA opening the right programs. Then closing his eyes covering one ear that faced that direction, he pressed the button.
Vic jolted from his near slumber giving a slight scream and nearly fell off his chair. He could have sworn he felt a vibration somewhere. He had his hands behind his back and his feet up on the counter. His eyes immediately went to the all of the screens. His nimble fingers working quickly to switch between cameras, but not too quickly, he didn't want to miss anything.
"Any problems, Stone? Or were you just jolted by your nightmare?" His eyes quickly shifted from one monitor to another.
"Shut up Karen."
"Whoa, relax Sparky. I've been awake this whole time I didn't see anything. You probably just slipped in your chair."
Vic shook his head sceptically, "Maybe."
The dust slowly cleared and the thief fanned the dust from his face. Good thing he was still wearing the gas mask. The tile had created a fairly loud thud against the metal and he feared that it either had alerted someone of broken through the thin metal below. Thankfully the tile wasn't above his recently soldered bit of metal and it was fine. Cautiously he poked his head out of the hole the tile came out of. Everything seemed vast and dark, but he knew where he was. He was inside the lobby of the theatre. Confidently he climbed out of the vent, removed his goggles and gas mask, rolling his face mask back down, and walked right out to the stairs.
He was in the basement of the old ROM building. The old building wasn't very secure, there were no cameras in the basement; it was mainly used for coat check and a side entrance for schools on field trips. The theatre and the employee cafeteria was there along with a few offices and elementary school workshop rooms but the most amount of security there was a few locks on doors. But it wasn't the offices he was interested. We walked over to the main stair well and began to climb, scoffing to him at the pathetic security of the old building. There weren't even cameras along the stairs, only at the exhibit display cases. All of the money had gone to securing the Crystal, leaving the old ROM open to any man to just waltz right in effortlessly.
"Watch the screens for me," Vic whispered into the headset.
"Why? Where're you going?" He got up from his seat and started walking towards the door when he stopped and ran back to his desk. Opening the drawer he pulled out a small revolver and tucked it in his belt behind his back.
"I'm going to check out the floor."
The thief made his way to the third floor and entered an exhibit, Rome. Walking right along, his quick movements went undetected by the aging motion sensors, not nearly as advanced as those in other museums, simple ones one could find in a residential area. Those things were programmed to give a 6 second margin of error with movement detection in case a guard were to pass by unknowingly, he wouldn't trip the alarm by accident. He managed to avoid the cameras with simple twists of his body, then he stopped at corner. A blind spot to the cameras and the motion detectors. He bent over and picked up a small object, a discreet piece of metal the size of a dime. This was child's play, what posed as any real challenged was up ahead.
Moving quickly, he reached a small room with the view window from the old ROM to the Crystal, once used to view the construction as the Crystal was being made. It was the only window in the entire floor and it now had a bit of rood between it and the window into the Crystal. They never covered up the window again and kept that section separate, calling it Renaissance ROM: Views of our Future. The room was filled with 3D structures and diagrams of the old ROM. At the far off wall a video ran on the plasma screen on the wall, a time lapse video of the progress of the construction of the Crystal. Days turned to seconds and weeks to minutes, all of the 3 years it took to construct the building all in video.
He looked around; the camera was on the other side of a pillar in the middle of the room, contain the original sketch by designer Daniel Libeskind on a cocktail napkin. Swiftly he took out his knife and began working on the window. Crouching he turned his knife to the soft silicon caulking that held the window frame to the wall. Working his way around the small frame he smoothly took back the knife and held the frame with both hands on either side. With considerable strength he popped the window frame off revealing the construct of the plexi-glass underneath. It was only screwed into the support beams underneath. Typical, usual quick construction jobs in the early 21st century were done like this. They needed a window, so they tore a wall down and made a window. Using his knife again he turned the screws loose and removed the glass and set it aside with the window frame. And as with the floor tile, he se them aside, he would come back later.
Stepping out into the cool night air, he stopped to take a breath and looked up to see the top of the Crystal nearly 20 feet up. He gave out a long sigh and began walking around the roof. Getting out of the old ROM was easy, getting in the new one was going to be a different story.
"Vic, what are you looking for?" came Karen's voice on the other end of his headset. Vic wandered through the exhibit floor with a small pen light which he sporadically shone on every hidden corner, tucked away by the shadows.
"I don't know," he began, "Something…" He trailed off as he wandered to the window looking out onto Bloor Street. Very few cars moved around this time of night, but the lights of the various stores on the other side of the road shone through. He peered out at looked up above a tall building looming over the structure, the Hyatt hotel. Up there on the roof somewhere was a small webcam that was used to record the construction of the Crystal so many years ago remained.
Walking around the roof, the thief reached a talk stone building, the offices of the old ROM. Finding another window; he reached into his pouch again, preparing to pop the frame right off the wall.
Raven sat on the grand piano bench in Gar's massive suite. Her delicate fingers gently ran atop the ivory keys. Can I still play this thing? Her left hand reached for the tea sitting on the black ebony wood of the grand as her right re-familiarized itself with the keys. Softly, as if unsure of themselves, her fingers began to play a familiar tune. E, E, F, G, G, F, E, D…
With a sharp breath, he was in. The room was filled filing cabinets and three desks were pushed up against the wall, small offices. Probably research based assistants were sent here to update artefact information. Swiftly moving through the stacks, weaving through, in and out among the cabinets to avoid the motion detectors. As quickly he was in, he was out again, into the musty-stenched hallway. Whipping out his PDA once more, he called up the blue prints to the Crystal.
He walked south along the wall until… There is supposed to be a bridge to the Crystal … right… about… here. He reached a metal door with an automated lock, a digital interface greeted him with a message, Please enter pass code. Opening another program on the PDA he pointed the device's infrared at the general area of the lock. The screen turned into a keypad with a screen much like a calculator. Quickly numbers appeared on the smaller screen, synchronizing with those on the digital lock. After hundreds of combinations the lock clicked open. The digital display reading the pass code: 655321.
Raven hadn't played the piano since she was little; the fact that she remembered the melody was surprising to her. It was true, playing was like riding a bike; you never forget the motions. Subconsciously her left hand put down the tea cup and joined its partner in playing. She let the music flow from within her heart to her fingers. If someone were to place musical sheets with notes in front of her right now, she wouldn't be able to read them. But there was something familiar about playing this song, a distant memory of something sweet that her body kept a record of how to play it even though her brain tried to forget.
"Can you see me?" whispered Vic into the headset.
"Yeah I see you," responded Karen, "So do you see anything?" Victor spun around slowly trying to take in the sights, the sounds, and the feel of the air around him. He had begun to shake his head when something caught his attention. A sound, a click somewhere. His head jerked in a dog-like manner.
"Hear anything?" Victor quickly shushed Karen on the other side and made his way to the bridge leading to the old building. He kept one hand on the gun behind his back as the other shone the light through the small peep hole on the steel door. He jiggled the knob a bit and checked the lock. Nothing.
"No," he spoke into the headset, his hand releasing the gun, "It was nothing. I'm headed back."
The thief hid, crouched behind the other side of the door. He watched as a thin white light scanned the bridge, his body pressed up against the door silently praying that whoever was on the other side wouldn't open it. The light disappeared and he listened to a man's voice say something muffled. Working hastily, he removed the knife from his pouch and popped a metal tile on the wall, revealing a series of wires. Removing a small black device from his pouch, he began to strip loose ends of the wire in the wall with the knife, attaching the device on their ends when he finished, pressing a small button on the side of the device, and a small red light lit up.
Taking out the PDA, he opened a program that related to the small device and pressed a button.
The computer screen in front of Karen flickered a bit and jolted her out of her near sleep.
"Roy," she called out behind her, "Roy, check this out." Sleepily, Roy walked over, still wiping the fatigue from his eyes.
"What?"
"The screens flickered, I know it may be nothing but you can't be too sure." Roy shoved her aside and began typing into the computer. Like she said, can never be too sure.
The thief smiled to himself. Yet again, the motion sensors and cameras had been overridden so easily. Focusing his attention not to the keypad lock, he opened the program again and it effortlessly found the second pass code. Nothing separating his now with the exhibit, he sauntered through the showroom floor and made his way to the Magic Bricks display, fingering the PDA in his hand.
"O shit," said Karen and Roy simultaneously.
"Victor, shit! VICTOR!" Vic reached the Comm. Room just as Karen yelled in his ear. Staring at the monitors he didn't see what was wrong.
The thief smugly leaned an arm against the display case and lifted his PDA to his face, pressing the small button again.
Suddenly, the monitors in front of Vic flashed and he saw a lone figure standing by the Magic Bricks display case. Instantly he rushed back to the floor, his small gun in his hand.
"Hey! Don't move." Vic stormed in screaming and waving his gun like a deranged cowboy. The figure turned around, his hands up in the air, and faced Victor. With one swift movement he slipped his mask off revealing a large familiar grin, his other hand waving the PDA mockingly at Vic.
"Gar, you idiot!" Gar laughed out loud and Vic heard Karen swearing like a drunken Irishman on the headset. Annoyed, he whipped the headset off just as Gar threw the PDA at him. Vic fumbled with it for a second before looking at the screen. It read only two words, Too Easy!
A dark figure standing above the Hyatt hotel across the street smirked as he watched the lights on the 3rd floor turn on before falling back into the darkness.
Raven's fingers finished their dance on the piano keys, leaving a haunting echo of notes hanging in the air. Suddenly a thud came from behind, taking her by surprise.
A/N: Haha, making the audience suffer is fun... So many things have happened. MAS and MENOS! whoo!
Yeah, it took me a while with the actual breaking into the ROM. For the record, its really hard breaking into buildings and I did my research, security at the old ROM is sparse. I think scene was crap, its accurate-ish, but still crap.
About the "Why Kori, why not Dick?" question I was asked; Dick and Raven may have been dating but he doesn't know everything. An assistant would know the more about the exhibit itself., information about security and floor plans and small kinks in the building that an outsider wouldn't know, info that you'd have to be working there to know.
There was a reference to A Clockwork Orange above, the keycode 655321 was the main character's prison number.
Oh, and last thing. My name, to people who read Making Mr. Right, obviously time ends when this is posted, is as follows. Magister: Latin for master; Quinn: a common last name for the Irish, in Celtic meaning wise and intelligent. So magisterquinn, wise and intelligent master... a little stroke to my ego there.