After coming up with their plan to raid the museum, the team had a quick discussion about the new smuggling compartments installed on the truck, deciding that it was worthwhile to get a ward set up on them to hide the contents from magical investigation – but this was something to do at a later date when they had access to some magical materials so they could make the ward permanent – after all, it would be bad for the ward to fail halfway through a job and them not be aware!
They spoke with Lorcan, and made arrangements to borrow a car the next morning, from one of the garage crew. That way they could drive around the museum to see what the traffic was like, and then travel along their various possible escape routes to check for choke points and congestion - things that might not be obvious just from looking at an overhead map. They could also get a much better idea of police response times and presence in the area, as well as any surprises like army barracks or roadworks that would throw a spanner in the works.
With that sorted out, the team settled down for the night and slept, crammed into the bunks in the truck or swinging gently in their hammocks. Even here in the garage, they decided to stick to their normal watch rota, just in case there was any more trouble from the rival garage or anyone else that decided either they or Lorcan was an easy target.
In the morning, the garage staff returned and went to work on the truck, fitting the new parts and closing up the chassis and transmission box, before they started replacing all the armour and external systems. During this time Marius ran new control cables in the truck from the cabin control systems to the rear and side of the vehicle, taking advantage of the reconstruction to get access to all of the protected pathways and conduits normally buried behind the slabs of armour. Once he'd run the cables, he started work on new mounting brackets and modules so that he could fit the extra sensors they'd picked up from the scrap yard. In doing so he increased the resolution of his vehicle systems greatly, which he was sure would come in handy in the forthcoming job.
Aswon meanwhile was on his pocket computer, researching various turns of phrase in Farsi, and working out phonetic spellings. Although he wasn't experienced with the language, he'd travelled extensively through Europe and Africa, and had a good smattering of languages to a level where he could more than adequately get by – and more so, he seemed to have a knack of picking up new languages quite quickly when exposed to them for more than a few hours. It made learning the basics much faster for him, and was useful in his current task. He pored over the translation guides, slowly building up a suitable speech and making sure that the grammar translated correctly and there weren't any colloquial references that would embarrass them.
When he'd completed his speech, he sat down with Kai, working with him to teach him the fundamentals of the Farsi language, and going over the speech, over and over again. When they had it down pat, they approached Lorcan and with a little prodding Kai delivered a fairly flowing and smooth translation, praising his work and hospitality. Lorcan appeared to realise how much effort had gone into the speech, and addressing him in his native tongue – and the fact that Kai's voice carried easily through the garage where his workers could hear his praise for them certainly didn't hurt either. He in turn thanked them for their efforts with his attackers, praised their abilities in battle and promised eternal friendship – backing that up with a variety of contact details delivered from his phone to theirs. Although he'd been friendly before, he now seemed to be more of a stalwart ally, and Aswon seemed satisfied. When Lorcan had disappeared, Kai turned to Aswon.
"Why did you feel all that was necessary? I mean, he was on our side already, wasn't he…"
"If we're just about to break into a museum and steal some exhibits, then I'd much rather have someone firmly on our side, than just a little bit. Hopefully it will be the last thing on his mind now to turn us in for a cash reward for any information on criminals that broke in and stole from the museum."
"Ahh, I see. Well, good point. Nice job Aswon."
Diplomacy done, the team headed out in their borrowed car, and did a little shopping – getting a poster tube from a small art shop in the back streets behind a college. Tadibya managed to pick up a couple of burkas from a market stall, in a selection of sizes and the rest of the team purchased a selection of fresh foods. The food was not of great quality, but the best they could get cheaply and easily – it certainly wouldn't last as well as the farmer's stand produce from Azerbaijan.
By lunchtime they had their supplies and had driven the route, planned out parking places and escape routes and had an idea of where the police stations were to avoid on their way out. Hunter had spent several hours poring over the maps working out a variety of routes towards the Turkestan border, just in case. They reversed their route, checking the roads out from the other direction, looking around the city carefully to ensure they had as much knowledge as possible before they committed to the job.
When they arrived back at the garage in the early afternoon, the repairs to the truck were complete. Kai and Lorcan handled the payment, with firm handshakes and beaming smiles on both sides, and the garage crew surprised them by forming up in a row with their new rifles, as if they were soldiers on parade. Aswon grabbed his rifle and faced them, and then came to a perfect parade ground attention, before swinging his rifle up to port arms and snapping off a salute to the row of beaming mechanics. Hunter had to turn away and face the truck to conceal the snigger that their little theatrics raised – he knew they meant well, but he couldn't help but smile at how inept they looked. He knew it wouldn't help them though to reveal that, so he busied himself out with straightening up some gear in the cab, where he couldn't be seen.
They all piled into the truck and resumed their normal seats, and when everyone was secure, Marius carefully placed the fibre connector into the rigger jack on the back of his neck, sinking into a cybernetic fusion with the onboard control systems. He mentally reached out to the vehicle, and the gestalt between man and machine wrapped around him and subsumed him. He tensed and the ignition sequence fired, pouring diesel into the massive engine and compressing it – the engine gave a cough and then roared into life, before settling into a low rumble.
Smoothly engaging the gears, the truck rolled forwards and purred out of the garage, all systems fixed and operating at one hundred percent. In the sensors they watched the mechanics wave, watching them depart as they drove up the road between the industrial units before reaching the junction at the top and turning out of sight.
Marius slipped into the traffic and headed up into the heart of the city of Karaj, following the main roads and driving carefully and as discreetly as possible. As they closed on the centre of the city, he slowed and they dropped Tadibya and Shimazu off a distance away to allow them to continue on foot at a slower pace while the rest of the team found somewhere discreet to park, and settled down to wait.
Tadibya and Shimazu walked to the museum down the busy highway, shuffling their way through the crowds on the narrow pavement. Shimazu was wearing some non-descript trousers and a heavy jacket, while Tadibya wore her new Burka, fiddling with the unfamiliar garment as it draped and hung over her, constricting her freedom of movement and making her feel incredibly self-conscious. It mostly worked though – she vanished into the crowd and didn't draw any glances from the locals – who instead stared at Shimazu's Japanese features and hefty build with undisguised curiosity – and sometimes contempt or disgust. They crossed the large tree lined avenue and then wandered across the park and gardens that led towards the museum, studiously ignoring the large green armoured truck that was parked at the end of the driveway.
Shimazu led the way, entering via the east entrance again. Tadibya once more passed unnoticed in her burka, but the staff recognised Shimazu and nodded a welcome to him, their fixed plastic smiles lacking true warmth or sincerity. Shimazu smiled back at them equally falsely and then wandered off to the southern wing of the museum, looking at the contemporary artwork there for a while. After some time had passed, he and Tadibya headed for the toilets in the central spine of the building. After a quick check to make sure they were not observed, Tadibya passed the second burka to Shimazu as he slipped into the disabled toilet, before wandering away, keeping an eye out around her. She then headed out of the museum and made her way back to the truck, re-joining the rest of the team.
"He's in and has his disguise, shouldn't be too long now until the museum closes." Kai checked the closing time listed on the museum matrix site, then checked his watch, settling back on his seat with a sigh. After a minute of nervously drumming his fingers on the side of the truck, he squeezed into the back and busied himself with the kitchen, sorting out a round of drinks for the team, trying to pass the time.
Shimazu made his way back to the ancient history section, wandering around apparently aimlessly and examining the exhibits – but checking that nothing new was around, and that his hiding place was still there. He got several strange looks from the few other visitors – but he was counting on their prejudices to count against them. He was broad shouldered and very muscular – but the smooth flowing fabric of the disguise helped to conceal his physique, and the fine mesh that covered his face revealed only faintly oriental features. It was doubtful that they would be able to determine the difference between male and female features with so little familiarity, and it would take a very confident – or very rude – person to challenge him, based on his appearance. With any luck they would take his appearance as being from some ultra-conservative sect that insisted on the burka, rather than the more common Chador or Hijab.
Time marched by, and eventually the public address system called out, advising that the museum was going to close shortly. Shimazu waited for no-one to be looking and then climbed into one of the exhibits, hiding in a huge wicker elephant that formed a diorama in a quiet corner.
Waiting tensely, Shimazu held still until the security guards had completed their sweep, and the cleaning staff had started to work on the gallery before tapping the push button on his microphone and warning the team that he was starting his run. After receiving a brief acknowledgement, he carefully slipped out of his hiding place and moving towards the scroll room.
Slinking down the wall, carefully placing his feet to avoid squeaks and other noise, he approached the beaded curtain and with a deep breath, slowly parted the curtain and stepped through the ward. No alarms sounded, nothing bad happened, so he slowly let out his breath, and reached behind him into the small of his back and worked out the poster tube from its place in the waistband of his trousers. With something to protect their prize ready, he searched for the scroll they were after, looking for the tell-tale marks and characteristics that Saito had described to him. It only took him two minutes to find the scroll, and after checking the details, he grabbed another dozen scrolls at random from the work area and then carefully rolled them up and slid them into the poster tube.
As he reached the bead curtain, he heard footsteps in the hallway to his right, and quickly squeezed through the hanging beads and ran to the left, heading back down the corridor and sliding around a t-junction and out of sight before he could be spotted. Slowing to a brisk walk, he made two more turns and headed towards the ancient Samurai display. He spotted a few of the cleaners working in various rooms, but managed to sneak past without attracting their attention.
Approaching the display he'd spied the previous day, he stepped over the rope and climbed up onto the dais and moved the manikin a little, partly drawing the sword to check that the blade was actually live. He struggled for a moment, trying to remove the hand from around the sword grip, unable to get the dummy to release its grip on the sword, and after a moments frustration he resorted to just breaking the fingers off the manikin. The second hand was much the same, and suffered the same fate. Thirty seconds later, the sword and scabbard was free – and he could draw the blade, looking at the craftsmanship of the metalwork and the slight marbling on the blade. For a few seconds, he was lost in thought, admiring the beauty of the authentic Japanese craftsmanship before him, until something distracted him, and he realised he could no longer hear the sound of the floor cleaning equipment that had been in the background when he entered the exhibit room.
That was because the cleaner had stopped work on the floor in the next room, and was standing about five meters from him, staring at his burka encased form holding one of the museum exhibits. She babbled at him in Farsi for a moment, probably demanding to know what he was doing….
He vaulted over the rope, poster tube in one hand and scabbard in the other, landing with panther-like grace on the floor and then turned to face her. Unfortunately she was between him and the exit they'd spied out, so he didn't have many options but to get past her. With a mighty push, he broke into a sprint, as her strident demands for information turned into screams of alarm, powering past her with his arms swinging. He jumped into the air to avoid her clumsy swing with the brush held in her hand, surprised as she tried to block him. He headed down the corridor to the fire escape, and as he swung around the corner almost ran full tilt into the security guard who was running the other way in response to her continued shrieks of alarm. The guard swung at him and Shimazu bounced off a wall, spinning wildly and using his momentum to slip through his grasp and keep going, hitting the fire escape sideways and bursting out into the paved area. Now the screams of the woman and shouts of the man were joined by the strident honking of the alarm system as the sensors on the door reported a breach to the museum security office.
Skidding sideways for a step or two, he lowered his head and concentrated on his running, arms pumping powerfully and head down as he accelerated smoothly to top speed, leaving the guard in his wake. After only a few steps he head a cry of surprise and bewilderment from behind him, and guessed that Tadibya had finished casting her spell, and had wrapped him in a shroud of invisibility. He didn't let this distract him though, heading at top speed for the location they had agreed upon.
Tadibya was waiting with Aswon, concealed by some bushes on the side road, where they had a good line of sight to the museum. Aswon had his rifle concealed under his flowing robes, and watched carefully for signs of pursuit, while Tadibya checked the area using her astral sight – quickly spotting the pursuing air elemental that burst from the museum after Shimazu. She dispatched her summoned spirit to engage it in combat and cover his escape, watching as the spirit raced across the intervening space and slammed into the elemental. The elemental was larger and more powerful, but had been focussed on chasing down the fleeing Shimazu – though he was concealed from normal sight by the invisibility spell, he glowed like a beacon on the astral plane as the spell's energy wrapped around him, and this allowed Tadibya's spirit to slam into the elemental and get the first hit in, knocking the air sylph off balance and putting in on the defensive. As soon as it recovered, it would start to tear her spirit apart, and if another elemental turned up the fight would rapidly swing in their favour – but every second bought Shimazu more distance, and for such a big man, he was quick – quick enough to give any competent track athlete a surprise. Hunter, Kai and Marius were all at the truck, ready to drive as soon as the team were recovered and with weapons ready to provide support fire.
As Shimazu ran full tilt across the open ground, Tads and Aswon made for the truck to meet up with him, and after checking the air elemental was not closing on them, they vaulted in through the open rear door, pulling it shut behind them. At the all clear, Marius smoothly pulled out and calmly drove away, merging into the dense traffic and quickly becoming lost in the sea of cars, vans and trucks on the main road.
Following their planned route, they moved away from the museum down a maze of side roads and backstreets, occasionally wincing as a police car blazed past sirens blaring down one of the main roads. After about twenty minutes though, they realised that something was wrong – they were making poor time, and the traffic was only getting worse. Friday night around prayer time apparently made the city grind to a halt… maybe there was some festival on, or some event that caused a massive backlog, something that hadn't been around when they did their reconnaissance – they didn't know, but there were aware that the longer they stayed in the traffic jam, the more likely they were to get caught. An intense discussion raged as they debated what to do – change their plans, flee in a different direction, or stick with the agreed route and play it casual?
Tadibya kept an eye out astrally, and as they crossed a junction, caught sight of the air elemental, apparently flying in a search pattern – looking, but obviously not finding anything yet. They stuck with their plan, crawling through the traffic, and watching more police cars heading towards the museum, the tension ratchetting higher.
Their efforts to check the city out paid dividends, as they came up on a cross route they could take that had them starting to head out of the city centre on a slightly different direction, before turning to move across the traffic, and the congestion eased slightly, and they picked up speed, heading north east out of the city, towards the highway and the Alborz mountain range.
With the immediate danger passed, Tadibya moved into the back and carefully pulled the scroll out of the tube, and studied it carefully for a few minutes, reaching out with her astral senses to assense the scroll, trying to discover what it was. She discovered that it radiated a certain amount of magic, disrupting astral space around it, though not in a negative fashion. She concentrated on the ancient hide, carefully tracing fingers over the tassels and decorative sigils, letting her magical senses examine the weave of magic imbued into it as she carefully probed and studied it, finding patterns and magical traces that seemed to flow into the air around the actual object. After a few minutes she was able to discern a little more information – the scroll seemed to radiate magic aspected or slanted towards truthfulness – and inhibited the magics of deceit. She frowned – that would make spells like her invisibility or her vehicle mask less effective, from what she could see.
She informed the rest of the group that their phantasm spell used to cloak the vehicle and make it appear like some other type, might not be as effective whilst they were holding the scroll, though hopefully the ward she had placed on the vehicle would help with that.
As they headed out of the city, Tadibya worked to put a low level ward on the poster tube, seeking to bolster their defences by putting another level of magical protection between them and it, whilst Marius drove at just below the speed limit, heading northwest and away from Karaj, his attention cycling through the sensors as he split his attention between the road and checking for any signs of pursuit.