She had been horrified when the long, black talon-like nails had burst forth from her fingers for the first time. And then, she'd realized how sharp and strong they were. Transforming her nails into these horrifyingly deadly weapons had become a thrill for her, setting her heart racing as she contemplated the many ways in which she could use them to get anything she wanted.
"There's a new player," her partner said, looking over at her. "A broker who calls himself Shadow who's been asking about the merchandise."
"Fed?" She asked, looking over at him.
He shook his head. "Doesn't look like it."
"What's his game?"
"Mongoose says he wants to introduce us to one of his clients. Some anonymous collector."
"A collector?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.
He nodded. "Likes priceless jewels. I think we might be able to fence the Faberge and maybe even the collection from England."
"Deep pockets?"
"Apparently, they're practically endless."
"Excellent." She said with a grin.
"Maybe after we fence this, we can retire."
"Retire?" She asked, raising an eyebrow. "Why?"
"Well, we'll have made enough money that we could buy a private island and all of the people who live there."
"This isn't about money." She said, seriously.
"Then what is it about?" He asked, confused.
"It's about the challenge – the thrill."
"You've just robbed some of the best secured museums in the world!" He cried, absolutely stunned. "What more of a thrill could you get?"
"The best secured museums in the world will just make their security that much better." She said, simply. "I want to find out how, and I want to try again."
"I don't have to tell you that if Ashley made it through the EM shield," Will began, slowly. "Then, uh, Druitt might have..."
"The EM shield couldn't handle having two super-abnormals hit it at the same time – especially after having been weakened by the other super-abnormals who teleported into it." She interrupted. "When John teleported into the EM shield, he didn't have any of the same circumstances." She swallowed. "No," she said, curtly. "He's dead. I'm sure of it."
"Helen," he murmured, soberly.
"Please," she whispered. "Will..." She swallowed before she gathered her emotions again. Before she could continue, Henry came hurrying in, leaning heavily on his cane so that he could try to move more quickly.
"Who's the man?" He asked, excitedly.
Helen turned her attention to him instantly, grateful that she was spared the indignity of losing control of her emotions. "I'm sure you're about to tell me that you are." She said, unable to suppress an affectionate smile at his youthful enthusiasm.
He walked over to her desk, and began manipulating the holographic screen in front of him. "I made contact with the guy trying to fence the stolen artifacts."
Helen's eyebrows raised. "Guy?" She repeated, using Henry's colloquialism. "As in...male?"
"He's not the one who made the heist." Henry said, shaking his head. "Trust me. He doesn't smell like the kind of guy who could steal anything...and the old sniffer doesn't lie."
"You're absolutely certain this is the man selling off these priceless artifacts." Helen said, turning to him.
Henry nodded. He pulled up a small virtual folder filled with information. "Once I confirmed plans with him, I did a little research on our friendly government servers."
Helen raised an eyebrow. Was that absolutely necessary? She seemed to be asking. "I don't have to remind you that our government contacts are, as always, a last resort."
"Don't worry. They'll never know I was there." He assured.
She shook her head with a mixture of amusement and irritation. "Go on."
"Now, I called myself Shadow." He turned to Helen and Will. "Since I'm not exactly field-ready, I think we should have either Magnus or Gregory standing by to go with Audrey if this comes up...you know, be Shadow. I can fit either of them with an untraceable wire and mic that I can tap into, you know, so I can give him all the info he needs."
He returned the computer without waiting for a response.
"This guy is Harrison Chamberlain. British dude who's been on the INTERPOL watch list for a few...smaller...heists. He's not the one who makes the heists, but he's probably the brains behind the operations. You know, finding the pieces which would actually turn a profit on the black market and all that."
"And the ones who actually perform the heists?"
"Best thieves in the world." He said, soberly. "There are whispers of someone, currently nicknamed the Cat Burglar. Apparently, no one has ever seen this person...not even to identify whether or not the Cat Burglar is a man or a woman. This thief leaves virtually no evidence that he or she has been there, and yet gets away with priceless artifact after priceless artifact."
"You mean they've done this before?"
"Two years ago, there was a similar string of burglaries. Major heists from major museums with ridiculously complex security protocols. I can't necessarily connect them to Harrison Chamberlain, but they're the work of the Cat Burglar. And the more I read of these heists, the more I think they have to be one of the superabnormals."
"Why?" Will asked, looking over at his friend.
"Because of this." Henry said, pulling up a video.
"I thought that all the security cameras were inexplicably offline during the thefts." Helen said, raising an eyebrow.
"In the museums," he said, nodding. "But...I didn't look there." He said, smugly. "I figured that someone else would have had cameras nearby which might have caught something. And if, as I suspect, this is more about the excitement of breaking into a highly secured area and less about the value of the artifacts, then, the thief might stay nearby to watch the fallout. Especially if they've got the luxury of literally disappearing."
"And?" Helen prompted.
"I found this." Henry said, pulling up a few frames of video before he paused. The figure in the video teleported out of the museum, covered in black from the top of its head to the bottom of its feet.
"Dammit," Helen cursed, angrily. There wasn't even the hint of a gender or identity. And the angle of the camera made it impossible to estimate the figure's height. All they could see was that someone who'd somehow inherited John Druitt's ability to appear and disappear in a specific location at will had indeed been the thief known to the world as the Cat Burglar.
"At least we know it's one of the superabnormals." Henry said, soberly.
"But we do not know if it's Ashley." She reminded him.
"I noticed that when I first found the video," he said, nodding. "But when I figured out that the Cat Burglar was one of the superabnormals, I looked into what he...or she...has stolen. And this will interest you." He said, looking at Magnus as he pulled up an image of an experimental weapon. "This was stolen two years ago from a secure U.S. Military base."
Helen's brow furrowed in confusion.
"The heist was perfectly aligned with the Cat Burglar's M.O. except that it was military technology."
Helen's eyes narrowed as she processed what Henry was telling her.
"Now, this weapon went missing...never to be seen again. Not on the black market, not in any rebel attacks...nothing. It's as if it just disappeared. Which after two years is virtually impossible."
"Unless the thief didn't take it for its military significance." Helen finished.
"You remember how much Ashley loved weapons." Henry said, evenly. "This was one of the first things that the Cat Burglar stole."
"And yet, the Cat Burglar has never been known to actually hurt anyone in the heists." Will murmured, pensively. "So...why steal a weapon that you have no plans to actually use?"
"Ashley wouldn't steal jewels and priceless artifacts for her own collection," Helen agreed. "Or even for money. For her, it would about the thrill of a well-executed heist."
"But for a weapon..." Will murmured as the thought came to fruition.
"Ashley had a fondness for weaponry that could be rather alarming," Helen admitted.
"For Ashley, that weapon would be the most personal of all the heists." Henry said with a grin.
"Then, it is Ashley." Helen murmured, her voice thick with unspoken emotion and relief.
Will looked over at the woman with a sober look in his eye. He didn't want to get her hopes up. He didn't want to see the heartache on her face that they'd seen first when Ashley had teleported into the EM shield and again when John had done the same. "I...think we need to meet the Cat Burglar before we can say anything definitive."
Helen looked over at him, and he could see in her eyes that she knew how protective he was being of her. There seemed to be a mixture of gratitude and simmering anger at the realization.
"You said you made an appointment for someone to look at the stolen artifacts?" She asked, turning to Henry.
He nodded. "I doubt that we'll meet the Cat Burglar. Anonymity seems to be one of the Cat Burglar's strengths."
"Then we'll have to leverage our considerable influence against Mr. Chamberlain so that he'll introduce us to the Cat Burglar." Helen said, simply.
"As in..." Henry prompted after sharing a worried look with Will. They'd both seen the great lengths that Helen had gone to discover her daughter's whereabouts when she'd first disappeared. Kate had nearly lost the use of her foot for refusing to impart her limited knowledge to the defensive mother. Get used to sitting more, had been Helen's final admonition as she cocked her handgun before Will had intervened and told her that she should consider not spending so much time with Jack the Ripper. It's affecting your manners somewhat.
Neither man was particularly anxious to see a repeat performance of that desperation.
"Money, Henry." She said, honestly. "A great deal of money."