Following the curator down the hall, the team fell silent. Descending down the narrow staircase they finally reached the lowest vaults in the museum.

"The thief would have had to come down this corridor here Hyper Force." The curator stated before coming to a halt.

In front of them two large metal doors stood blocking their path. Dimly illuminated by a single bulb hanging from the off white coloured ceiling.

Rolling his sleeves up ready, the Curator looked to the team gathered behind him. "These metal doors are the first of three stages that would have needed to have been opened in order to gain access to the affectionately named treasure room."

Looking up to the taller human Jinmay's face frowned in concern. "So he's got through all three systems to gain entry, and returned back again through the same systems and not sounded a single alarm?" Jinmay confirmed as she received a curt nod in agreement.

"Correct Jinmay. And now for the passcode, how that kid knew the passcode is beyond me." The curator mentioned as he began to press the code into the key pad.

"He's clever at least." Jinmay sighed.

"Well last one," chimed the curator as he pressed the last key in. The tension mounted in the air as all eyes turned to the screen.

"Access denied. One try remaining." A robotic feminine voice announced as the screen flashed red.

"Wait, what? This code is ingrained in me, it's not wrong!" The curator stuttered as he looked to the blue and silver monkeys.

"He didn't know the passcode." Gibson stated as he carefully manoeuvred his way through the group towards the front. "So we can infer from this that…"

"Let's have a look." Otto asked barging through the same gap to the front as the blue scientist was sent scuttling sideways.

Pushing under the keypad the green mechanic soon had the whole panel pulled off the wall. "Eh there we go. He's reset the alarm for ya. That's your problem. Now we got to know what the thief set the new passcode to and we can get inside again and gain the control back of the system!" Otto announced gleefully.

"Are you saying this petty thief has locked me out of my own museum vault?" The curator asked in shock.

"Yeh your not getting back in there without us." Otto joked as the Curator's face drained of all colour.

"Well if you will only use basic security systems to protect your most valuable possessions it is not surprising." Gibson stated with a sigh.

"Otto get out of my way. If the thief had just reset the code then surely this reset is within our capabilities too." Gibson stated factually.

"I suppose we could, but that's cheating." Otto pondered. "We could play a game! If I reset codes I would pick four zeros as it's quick and easy!" Otto grinned as he plugged it in quickly before Gibson could yank it off him.

"Otto wait you could lock down the museum's entire security syst…"

"Entry Code Accepted." The robotic female voice chimed interrupting the scientist monkey mid speech.

The screen in Otto's hands flashed green as the doors soon gave out a large groan; Splitting open in the middle as they retracted back into the wall.

"We must think the same, the thief chose the same passcode I would choose!" Otto grinned widely as he replaced the keypad back onto the wall. "All sorted, that game was fun!"

"Well that's one problem resolved, where is the next security post?" Antauri inquired curiously.

"Just to the right of the door." The curator replied, as Gibson strode right for it. Determined to beat Otto for this one.

"Blue monkey, wait! Has the thief disabled the infrared laser system too?"

Stopping instantly Gibson turned around as the curator continued to speak.

"Is the infrared laser alarm system still active? You could be walking straight into one of the beams."

"Umm… well I am not…" Gibson hesitated realising his situation, before jumping back sharply. He was not risking his fur with a tampered security system!

"Yes, they are still active." Antauri interrupted. His power senses and robotically enhanced eye sight told him instantly they were. Activating his ghost claws, the invisible trip lines soon became visible to the naked eye. The red lines glowing in a soft purple aura.

Once Gibson had safely retreated back, he restarted. "Try your original code." The scientist instructed as the red lights suddenly shone brightly then faded out.

"He's not touched this system so how did he get through?" The curator questioned.

"Put them back on. It's easy if you've got the know how and the ability. I'll show ya. Never stop, you lose momentum and you need to think on your feet." Nova answered cracking her knuckles in anticipation.

"Here we go, must show off at any given opportunity."

"Shut up Sprx." Nova glared at the red pilot, "you'd be burnt by the first beam."

With a small run and a leap Nova was soon dodging the beams of the red and purple lasers flawlessly. Manoeuvring with ease as her gymnastics skills meant she danced through the corridor right to the end.

Reaching the safety zone by the stair case Nova smirked triumphantly. "And that is how you get through the room full of lasers." She called back to the group on the other side of the room. Before descending down the stairs.

Typing in the code to disable the lasers again, it was obvious the curator was in a state of both shock and awe. "I can't believe anyone could get through this. Is this thief even human?"

"He is definitely talented." Antauri mentioned as the group rejoined Nova. Drumming his metallic fingers against his arm, he slowly shook the unnerving feeling that gripped his demeanour.

"Great. This is all we need." Jinmay sighed as she walked past. "Let's see the damage to the vault then."

"Guys, this is not good." Nova called up as the rest hurried on to catch up.

"Yep the unmistakable smell of burnt metal. Delightful." Sprx coughed. As they all took in the scene before then.

The heavy metal vault door was left wide open. Hanging uselessly as it's mechanical lock and catch had been burnt clean off. Allowing the thief to gain an easy entry to the treasure room.

"This is a very precise action, to only damage the exact weakness in the door. He's sheared the door lock."

"So he's tidy in his work Brain-strain," Sprx commented.

"But what could have done this type of damage?" Nova asked as she looked over Gibson's shoulder as he examined the door.

"Yes Sparky he is, however to haul around a long heated blade is unnervingly complex and unnatural. We are simply unfamiliar with the weapon used." Gibson observed before being tumbled.

Catching the scientist who had been sent flying Sprx and Otto looked between them.

"He's gonna lose it now," Otto pointed out.

The curator who had just barged into the room let out a horrific, panicked cry. "My collections…" His complexion was paling rapidly. The more of the museum the team examined the more mortified and unstable the curator was becoming.

As the team watched with curiosity and pity, the curator frantically began to check the area. Opening drawers, flicking through papers and checking each of the glass cases in the room. Each item was being individually accounted for, mentally. So far so good.

It was only at the end of the room, did they see the real damage. A small glass cube stood there; a small black pillow with an empty stand was all that was left inside.

The front face of the glass cube had been cut precisely along its joins. The face of the glass had then been removed and placed back on top of the glass case. It was a very tidy job.

"He only took the crystal!" The curator announced turning to the Hyper Force team.

"But why? He could have emptied this entire room if he wanted." Sprx questioned. "It would be worth a bomb."

"Though he would still have had to get back through the hall of lasers with everything." Jinmay replied to the team pilot.

"Say mister, do you have CCTV?" Nova inquired hopefully, looking up to the older gentleman. "We could see the thief in action."

"I do… but not in here I'm afraid…" The curator said looking down to the monkeys.

"Not many people even know about the treasures that are kept in here. The vault's existence is kept as a very tight guarded secret, and those that know about its existence don't necessarily know about its location or how to gain entry." The curator said with a soft sigh.

"To be honest I didn't think it would be needed down here. Saving money, funding cuts. But the CCTV of the main floor got a very pixelated still, but it's completely unrecognisable."

"And I doubt he paid for an admission ticket too!" Otto said grinning, before being silenced by the entire team's glare.

"Was it something I said?" Otto murmured to himself as he watched Gibson step forward.

Examining the case for a few minutes Gibson turned to the team with his conclusions. "We will need to see that image but also whatever the person used to cut the door lock, was the same thing he used to slice the glass off the case."

"But there's no other clues." Sprx said as the two simians fell silent.

"I think it would be best if we headed back upstairs and searched the surrounding area." Antauri began. "We have discovered all we will find in here."

As soon as the team reached the main corridor again, they gathered underneath the blasted roof. Checking the damage whilst the curator grabbed the image from the CCTV.

"The roofs got similar damage to what we could inflict. That's going to take some fixing." Otto mentioned.

"Curators back Otto,"

"Well it's the best we've got, you can keep this copy." The curator said as he handed the piece of paper over to Antauri. The other huddling around the silver primate.

"Is it even worth it? It could be half of Shugazoom." Sprx commented at the completely blurred image.

"It's not a high end system as you may have already guessed. I will leave you all to your findings, I need to talk to the police again. Thank you for your help once again Hyper Force, if you need me you know where to contact me." The curator concluded as he left.

"We should head back to the robot ourselves monkey team." Antauri stated as the team soon headed back to their home.