I stuffed my hands in my pockets and walked into the tome’s exhibit hall. It was a rather large room, with elaborate paintings along the walls protected by security bars. A skylight looked down onto the room, with lightning flashing in the sky above. Seemed like a bad idea to have a skylight over ancient museum items. What if it broke?

  The book we were after sat in the middle of the room, flipped open to a random page. It was fully encased in glass. From what I understood of the heist prep, it was a special kind of tempered glass that wouldn’t just break with brute force, hence Bluey brought a rather large drill to set up. Something about monster skin, ether drills, and power rationing? I dunno. It all went over my head.

  Obsidio stood over Bluey’s shoulders, his posture reading irritation. “… fix it?”

  Bluey shook his head. ”Not that simple, boss. It’ll take me at least a few minutes, and then another few minutes of drilling.”

  “Ugh…” Obsidio stepped away and glanced at me, rolling his shiny blue eyes lightly. “Hear that, Overwatch?”

  “Roger! Oh! I’m getting some chatter. The alarm got out somehow? I’m listening in, trying to figure out what’s happening. Give me a minute!”

  “…” Must’ve be one of the other guys. No way that old man got one out.

  “Damnit! My perfect plan! I thought we cut the security!” Obsidio rubbed his mask and glared at the dysfunctional drill. He muttered under his breath. “This is why I told you not to eat the chili, Jaguar Joe.”

  Pinky’s voice came across the line. “I’m on my way back!”

  ”Roger. At least there’s some good news…” Obsidio fully turned to me. His gaze flicked down to my waist. “What you got there, Nyx?”

  I followed his gaze to the shock baton sticking haphazardly out of my pocket. “Souv-enir.”

  ”Heh, a souvenir…” Obsidio chuckled and shook his head lightly. Contrary to his earlier outburst, he didn’t seem all that angry about his plan falling apart. Almost like he was used to it? That might’ve been bias speaking after reading Mess at the Met.

  Teresa came back across the line just as Pinky entered the exhibit hall. “Boss! A Warden was dispatched! Watch out-“

  Lighting flashed, causing my attention to slip away from the group. The bright bolt arcing across the sky caused a deep shadow to be briefly cast. It was roughly human-shaped, and unless this museum had gargoyles on the roof... I casually looked up with just my eyes through my Ebonshroud mask, giving no indication I noticed anything.

  A figure stood just outside the skylight, looking down into the exhibit hall. They wore all black. Not like how I did it, though. My black clothes had class- had style. Hoodie and jeans were never wrong. It felt every possible setting. Sure, they weren’t as comfortable as plate armor, but I didn’t have that kind of money.

  This person knew nothing of style. They had on a deep, deep vanta-black trenchcoat. It was the kind that made it impossible to see even contour lines since over ninety-nine percent of light was absorbed by it. It was a black shade so black that it stood out incredibly sharp against the surrounding darkness. The absolute void of light drew my eye more than anything.

  They crouched at the skylight with what looked like a bow in their hands. Some kind of archer? A drone floated just above their shoulder—a Mascot. Warden’s tended to keep them around to record highlights and stream moments to their adoring fans in places camera crews wouldn’t come to.

  Hmm… they didn’t look very experienced to me. Maybe this wouldn’t be too bad? I’ve never really fought a Warden before… my slow heart started pumping in excitement. Anarchs and Wardens in one night? Pursius really knew how to find them.

  Should I warn the others- no. That might scare off the Warden. I was so looking forward to this. Not only was I on a job with an Anarch- Wait! Wait! Does this make me the Anarch's henchmen?! Why didn’t I see this before?! I was totally an evil henchman just like in the comics. So cool.

  I sighed and turned back into the comms just in time to catch Teresa’s last words. “… F-Class Warden, Bombastic Bowman! Recently debuted after clearing an F-Class Rift all by himself!”

  A F-Class, eh? What was F again? Feeble? Still… clearing a Rift by himself was impressive. Fighting alone versus dozens was way different then fighting with a group. He must have some skills, at least.

  That being said, his naming sense was a bit… I suppressed a chuckle. It didn’t really invoke heroic thoughts upon first hearing it, which was kinda the point of a Warden’s name? At least it rolled off the tongue.

  “Bombastic Bowman?!” Obsidio seemed stunned. “My ultimate rival! Um- who's Bombastic Bowman?”

  Teresa quickly got the information we needed. “Stealth archer, it looks like. Might have a sneaking Innate Trait, and his Skills seem to be fully built towards bows. He’s new, so not much is known.”

  Having a Cipher was so nice. I should really try and find one to partner up with… then again, I wasn’t a hundred percent sure about laying deep roots in Bastion-

  “Gah!” Pinky shouted as an arrow planted itself into his chin, knocking him to the ground. It was a weird arrow, though. It was blunted with a small round ball at its tip. Pinky went still, though his dipping chest suggested he was just knocked out.

  “Mayhem, no! Havoc! Get that drill going now!” Obsidio shouted. Obsidian shards erupted across his body, launching in the direction of the arrow. Bombastic Bowman was already gone. “Show yourself, hero! Where are you!?”

  “I’m everywhere!” Deep laughter came from the shadows. All of the shadows. Some kind of shadow communication? Warden’s only had seven Skill slots, right? Why waste it on something like shadow communication?

  Oh, and he’s over there. I spotted him on the far side of the room directly behind Obsidio, by the door into the exhibit hall. More accurately, I spotted his floating Mascot, which then drew my eye to the guy’s shadowy form. His black outfit blended in way better than it should've—another Skill, no doubt.

  “I got it, boss!” Bluey cheered. The drill finally started up again, hammering away at the tempered glass.

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  The shadowed form of Bombastic Bowman flinched. He drew another arrow and pointed at Bluey. I moved forward, placing myself between the two and pulled my Ebonshroud batons out. A second later, the arrow was released, flying right at me-

  I smacked it out of the air, catching the head of the arrow with my baton. I was a bit slow, so my deflect wasn’t perfect, causing me to take more of the impact than I was expecting. My arm flinched back slightly, though the bulb-tipped arrow harmlessly clattered to the floor to the side of Havoc.

  “Nice going, Nyx!” Obsidio cheered me on, already flinging obsidian shards where the Warden attacked us from. It was too late, though. He seemed like he had some kind of shadow teleportation or something. Or, I’m assuming it was shadow teleportation based off his other skills.

  ”Protect Havoc! With the power of the book, I- we’ll be unstoppable!” Obsidio shouted, fully giving away our plan without even being prompted by Bombastic Bowman.

  “…” I suppressed a sigh. He was the boss, so if he wanted to give away our plan? It was up to him, I guess.

  I tracked the shadows around the exhibit hall. With the knowledge of him using shadows to teleport, it narrowed down the area I had to search. Bowman… ah, he’s over there. Behind us.

  Yeah, that Mascot really wasn’t helping him in the slightest. The guy must’ve cheaped out and got a basic one. If he had normal clothes on and a slightly better Mascot, maybe one from Teotl Reforged that could channel his stealth Skills, he’d be far more of a threat. As it were, the blinking record dot on his drone was very visible.

  ”Come out, come out, Bombastic Ratman!” Obsidio called out. He flung even more obsidian shards out and around the place. Most of the brittle shards harmlessly shattered against the walls of the exhibit.

  I deflected another arrow coming from the shadows. Honestly? Weak. The guy was so weak. Maybe he just didn’t feel threatened enough? Was he still playing his cards close to his chest?

  Another arrow whizzed out, one I barely managed to catch with my baton. I was starting to get a feel for the guy’s attacks, though. There was very little chance he’d get past me to Bluey. At least, assuming nothing changed.

  Bluey pulled out an SMG from his bag, lighting up the shadows with a constant drum of bullets. The bright flashes created even more shadows for the Warden to take advantage of. He zipped around the place.

  “More like… Boring Bitchman!” Obsidio laughed snidely, pushing out a full-on villain cackle. “Everyone knows stealth archers are unfun to watch! And hiding in the shadows like a pervert? They really just let anyone become a Warden these days, don't they?”

  ”Bastard! Die!” The Warden shouted from the shadows. He teleported once more, appearing behind Obsidio with bow fully drawn. “Go, go, Lightning Arrow!”

  Lightning arrow? His first actual Skill. A memory from back home crossed my mind. Things might get a bit dangerous here. I dropped into a proper stance for the first time. “Be-hind.”

  Obsidio flicked around just in time to see Bowman release his next arrow. The air crackled around the arrow, and etheric electricity wreathed it. Even with my warning, it crossed the gap in no time, catching the Anarch off guard.

  A sharp crack filled the air as it impacted Obsidio. His slapdash armor fractured easily, providing little to no resistance to the arrow. Every bit of that etheric electricity forced its way into the boss. Obsidio twitched erratically, falling to the floor. The arrow had way more force than the last of his shots.

  ”Surrender!” Bombastic Bowman called out triumphantly and stepped out of the shadows. His bow was fully drawn and pointed in my direction.

  I arched a brow and looked over the guy’s pitch black outfit. When I heard Lightning Arrow, I thought it would be a bit more… shocking. Not a weak stun. I mean, I could just go buy a taser and have a similar effect. Hmm… Obsidio looked fully knocked out, though, so maybe it was stronger than it looked?

  Something clanked to the ground behind me. Bluey cheerfully broke into laughter and popped another mag into his SMG. ”Ha ha ha! We’re in!”

  I turned around to check what Bluey was so cheerfully laughing about-

  Twang!

  Huh, an arrow. Oh... right…

  Distracted as I was by the sudden shout, I moved far too slowly to stop it. The bulbed arrow hit the celebrating Bluey right in the mask, sending him sprawling on his back. He was KO’d just like his pink twin. His gun slid across the floor, firing off a shot at random.

  Was it just… me? Should I just… leave? No, right. I needed the money. They probably wouldn’t pay me if the job failed. Hmm… a fight against Bowman seemed like it might get annoying, though. He could just teleport from shadow to shadow while shooting at me. Highly mobile enemies were always the worse.

  ”Cop-ter?” I asked Teresa and lowered my posture, eyeing Bombastic Bowman.

  ”Inbound! Will arrive any minute! What’s going on over there?” Teresa asked.

  A loud cry came from the shadows and the Warden stepped back. He teleported behind me once more. ”Take this! Bombastic Arrow, go!”

  ”…” I jerked backward, dodging the arrow fired right at my chest. During my dodge, I reached into the open display case and snagged the tome. The ancient leather crinkled in my hands as I stuffed it into my pocket.

  ”You! Are you an Anarch too? It’s impossible to dodge my arrows!” Bombastic Bowman shouted. From his wrist, a white mass of runes started to swirl. An awakened’s SIGIL. "It's not too late! Surrender! Return to the justice's side!"

  “…!” I stared at him for a moment before slowly backing up to Obsidio's sleeping body. Talking about justice, but he was only giving me such a 'great opportunity' now that he had the advantage? Where was Obsidio's chance to turn to justice?

  “You refused! You villain! Prepare to face my, Bombastic Bowman's, wrath!” He cried out, his voice catching at the end slightly like his voice was going out. He didn’t even give me a chance to reply though?

  Ew. Name-dropping himself was just… ugh- it sent goosebumps down my arms and I wasn't even the one who said it. How was he not keeled over in pain after that?

  I kicked up the arrow that knocked out Obsidio, slinging it at the archer. Although he was… well, stupid, he wasn’t entirely without capabilities. He immediately teleported away.

  Like I said, though, stupid. He had a habit of teleporting behind, so I immediately knew where he was. Such a strategy would work on an unassuming or low-level prey, but anyone with even a hint of combat experience could see right through him.

  I slung Obsidio over my shoulder and gathered a handful of obsidian shards scattered from his broken armor-

  Twang!

  I dodged backward based on the audio cue, flicking past an arrow. The sounds of a helicopter’s blades grew louder and louder in the distance. It was almost time.

  ”Sky-light.” I told Teresa. I pulled out my souvenir and launched it at the ceiling, shattering the glass. It was a bit sad to see it go like that, but it was probably for the best I didn’t have more stuff weighing me down. Rain poured into the exhibit.

  ”Roger that. Coming in hot!” Teresa replied. A searchlight lit up from the approaching helicopter, beaming down onto the exhibit hall. Most of the shadows immedietly vanished. A second later, an arrow shot up, shattering the light. The guy knew his win conditions at least.

  A rope ladder dropped from the helicopter, swaying unsteadily. It dangled down through the shattered skylight. My escape was fully in view now. I lunged for the ladder, jumping up to grab the bottom rung as I held Obsidio in my other hand. I barely managed to pull the guy up alongside me and secured us with paper thin straps of Ebonshroud. “Set.”

  “Go, go, go!” Teresa shouted excitedly. “I can see you on the cams! So cool!”

  “Go, go, lightning-“

  I tossed the handful of shards I grabbed like a shotgun blast in his direction. It wouldn’t do much. The obsidian shards were far too brittle to do anything other than look threatening, and I couldn't get much force from my position.

  Bowman didn’t know that, though. Or, even if he did, his instincts still took over. He cut off his skill, using his shadow teleport once more to get away from ‘danger’. With his skill messed up and the momentary disorientation from teleporting, it gave more than enough time for the helicopter to pull us up out of the skylight.

  Arrows flew at us and the rope ladder gradually lifted into the air. I used Obsidio’s body as a shield to block most of them. He was already out, so it wasn’t like he could get onto me for my rough treatment. Eventually, the arrows started falling short and the ladder pulled up to the helicopter.

  Pinky, Bluey… your sacrifice won’t be forgotten. I pushed the battered boss into the helicopter and pulled myself up. Heist complete, we flew off into the sunri- into the neon.