The creature moved like a blur. It swiped out, claws narrowly missed Cory. They dug against the stone street, sending rock shards flying.

  It was short, reaching up to Cory's waist, and hunched over as well. Its body was covered in grime and dirt. Its eyes, teeth, and claws were all made of dark green gemstones.

  It let out a horrible screech.

  Atzi stumbled back slightly, pulling out her dagger.

  That's a demon?

  Aelia's voice rose over the demon's chittering, a chant that Atzi couldn't understand.

  A bright, white light descended from above, obscuring Cory and her attacker. There was a horrible shriek, and the sudden smell of sewage.

  When the light cleared, the demon's flesh was half-sloughed away into mud at its clawed feet. The grime and filth had not been covering it, but were the thing's body itself. Even with half its weight gone, its body was still made out of grime and filth.

  It shrieked again and made to attack Cory once more.

  Atzi dashed forward. Her dagger pierced its muddy 'flesh', but swept back out of the creature with only more stains, leaving behind no injury.

  The demon's claws slashed across one of Cory's thighs. Blood splashed across the ground. Cory made a muffled noise of pain as she stumbled back.

  Then she raised a hand.

  Her blood rose with it, forming into a cloud of thin needles.

  Cory thrust her hand forward and the needles shot towards the demon. They pierced into various gemstones on its body. The force split through them, shattering them like glass.

  The creature collapsed into a foul puddle at Cory's feet.

  Cory gripped her wound. "Fuck, did anyone bring bandages?"

  Aelia walked over - unhurried pace, despite the situation - and produced a roll of white bandages from a pack. She unfurled them as she kneeled. Then, carefully, she started wrapping Cory's thigh.

  Atzi hovered nearby, making sure Cory was okay. Cory looked down at the ground. Everyone else kept watch.

  A few minutes later, Cory stood. Her bandage was already soaked with blood, but it didn't look like she was seriously hurt.

  "A most troubling matter. Be careful of any further such incidents," V said. "We would do best to not lose further time."

  "You okay, Cory?" Atzi asked.

  Cory looked like she wanted to murder V. She waved Atzi off. "Yes."

  Does that mean no?

  The group continued on after that, keeping a much more careful look out. Cory walked with a limp. It slowed down their progress, but V didn't complain about it.

  At least she won't have to go in until the final parts of the job. She can rest up. Concern panged inside Atzi.

  Finally, they reached the bank - from the back - without further incident. The entire structure was built out of bright red bricks. It was only a single story, but tall. There were no windows, removed in the remodeling after the last failed robbery.

  V nodded to Aelia.

  Aelia walked up to the building. She took something out of her pack that Atzi couldn't see, and then pressed her hand against the building. With her other hand, she started inserting glowing needles in-between the bricks. Then she moved her body to swallow the light.

  "Which building are we using to get up onto the roof?" Atzi asked, looking around.

  "That one is closest and about five feet higher than the bank roof. You will need to climb up it to jump, but it's been pre-scouted as lacking outside alarms or scrying." V reported, pointing to a double story home decorated with a great number of flowers.

  Pre-scouted by who? Were there other people working on this job before us? Why aren't they part of it now? "Got it." Despite her concerns, she just nodded and headed with Paulina to the building.

  When they stood in front of it, Paulina spat on Atzi's clawed foot. "Last chance to back out before you fuck this up for us again."

  Atzi sighed. "You're not gonna do this while we're in the middle of the bank, are you?" She wiped her clawed foot against a flower bush.

  "I don't have to do jack shit other than make sure I don't get blamed or caught when you make a mistake."

  "I'm not gonna- forget it..." Atzi shook her head and began to climb.

  The climb was easy. Unlike the bank, the building really wasn't made for security.

  When she reached the top, she scouted the jump. Paulina climbed up just after her. The jump would be easy if Atzi had a running start, but she couldn't afford to alert whoever was home of people on the roof.

  So she took the smallest amount of space she could, two steps away from the ledge. With a deep breath, she put one clawed foot forward, then another, then jumped.

  Atzi soared through the air in the space between the buildings.

  Then she landed on the top of the brick roof.

  Heh. Nothing to it.

  Paulina motioned for her to get out of the way for the jump.

  Atzi moved back. Don't fuck up the jump, Paulina.

  Paulina took even less space. She jumped, front-flipped in the air, and easily landed. She gave Atzi a smirk.

  Show off.

  Paulina pulled two vials of poison from her vest. She handed one over to Atzi with a glare.

  Atzi swiped it, and then together they snuck across the dark roof. When they got to the other side, they knelt, keeping themselves out of sight just away from the edge.

  Atzi whispered, "Have to do it at the same time, so… you gonna do the countdown or want me to do it?"

  This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  "Three," Paulina said. They both leaned over the ledge, lining themselves up with the armored guards below. "Two."

  Atzi uncorked her vial. Does she go 'one' or try to be a little-

  "Now."

  Gah!

  Atzi barely poured the sleeping poison at the same time as Paulina.

  The small amount of liquid splashed onto the armored figures below. One of them raised their head to look up.

  Atzi scrambled back, trying to duck out of the guard's line of sight. Then she felt a tug on the back of her shirt and a sting of pain, Paulina yanking her back. The back of Atzi's head smacked against the hard bricks. Before she could yelp in pain, Paulina's hand closed around her mouth.

  "Mmphf..."

  Paulina let go after a few seconds.

  Atzi breathed out, as quietly as she could.

  They waited. There was a thudding noise. Then Atzi heard snoring.

  "They're out," Paulina said.

  "Great... let's get their uniforms off." Atzi made her way back to the ledge and peered over to make sure the guards were truly asleep. She saw them laying on the ground, splayed out in the heavy armor at awkward angles.

  There were more ridges on the side of the entrance, so Atzi could climb down. Once she was back on the ground, she began stripping the shorter guard of their armor. Paulina did the same to the other.

  The process was slow and clumsy, and they didn't have a great amount of time. Atzi tried to speed up as best she could.

  As Atzi removed a gauntlet, her clawed hand brushed against the bank guard's red arm. A sudden searing heat flared up, and she pulled her clawed hand back. "Gh-" She bit her tongue so she didn't start swearing out loud.

  After that mistake, she removed their armor a lot more carefully.

  Soon the two Braneki men were in their underwear, armor on the ground in front of them. What is it made out of that it doesn't burn? Their red skin radiated a visible heat while they slept. They each had tiny, skin-covered horns protruding from their foreheads.

  V approached. They handed Atzi a rope and padding for the boots. Atzi nodded, starting the annoying process of tying her tail to her back.

  Awful!

  Meanwhile, V used their gloved hands to drag one of the bank guards away. After Atzi's tail was all tied up, she donned the armor. It was hot - not enough to burn her, but it was uncomfortable. The heat made her feel more energetic. Hyper, like she had something to do, but couldn't do it.

  Paulina stared down at her helmet, breathing heavily. She gritted her teeth, and then put it over her head.

  Fence bounded up moments later, dragging off the other guard at a much slower pace.

  "Psst. Fence. This looks good enough, right?" Atzi whispered from within her armor, noise distorting through the helmet.

  "Who the fuck are you?" Fence replied.

  Good enough, then.

  Atzi and Paulina got into position, standing guard as the ones before them had.

  Atzi repeatedly tapped the side of her armor, repressing the urge to start pulling the armour off or whining aloud.

  What felt like an eternity passed, even though Atzi knew it wasn't more than thirty minutes.

  Then the door to the bank opened from inside, and Atzi instantly stopped her fidgeting.

  The two guards who emerged turned their helmets towards them. One of them spoke a codeword, asking if there were any problems.

  Between Atzi and Paulina, Atzi had the deeper voice. She pitched it down even further. It would distort through the helmet anyway, but she didn't want to give any unnecessary clues.

  She gave the codeword meaning 'All good' in reply. Her nervousness spiked as the two guards looked at each other.

  Then they looked back, helmets slightly tilting in a nod.

  Atzi and Paulina stomped in the heavy armor through the doors, into the interior of the bank.

  The interior was a collection of desks and chairs, all made of stone. One section was clearly for waiting customers, while another was for the bank workers to help their clients. The walls were built from the same dark bricks as the exterior, drinking in the glow of the lanterns they were lined with, making the room feel like an oasis of light within darkness.

  There were no customers or workers at the moment, just two other guards upstairs. Atzi was briefly confused. Weren't we swapping with these guys? Guess we're replacing the downstairs ones.

  Stopping only for the brief moment to figure that out, she headed down the ramp downstairs. The incline was slightly steep, and she had to catch herself from stumbling down in the heavy armor. Her clawed feet felt like they were killing her, and her tail was begging to be let out of the hot armor.

  At the bottom of the ramp, there was a hall of lockboxes, paths to turn right at both ends. They moved forward towards the further one, following the patrol route from the map they had studied.

  When they turned, Atzi saw the giant vault door to her left. It was made of some metal she didn't recognize, an off-yellow color, somewhere between steel and gold. She didn't even think about touching it, knowing it had spells on it.

  Like I'm setting off anything when I've gotten this far! It was a stupid amount of money she'd get. Enough to buy magic gems if she wanted to, or anything else.

  They passed more columns of lockboxes on their right, and glimpsed the other set of patrolling guards heading in the opposite direction.

  Another right turn. This hall of lockboxes ended in two exits - yet another right turn, or going straight through a stone door, the way to the break room. Where they would be going after their hour was up. There was no clock or timer, so Atzi was trying to keep count in her head, but already felt like she was losing track.

  Do they have some other way to time it? Damn it, V, why didn't you give us something for this?

  Then she had an idea.

  Atzi closed her eyes briefly. She asked the Saintess within her head, "Can you count the seconds as they pass and tell me when it's been an hour?"

  "Alright. One. Two. Three-"

  Atzi opened her eyes.

  The last right turn, now on the opposite end from the vault. At the end, they'd be back where they started and get to do it all over again. And again. For the entire hour.

  She did her best to keep from going crazy during the wait. The armor was heavy. It was hot. Her tail rubbed against the wound on her back. It was an hour of repeating the same activity, and made her consider screaming.

  It's a good thing there's usually something new for me to do every loop. Otherwise, I'd go crazy!

  After way too long, the Saintess said, "It's been an hour."

  Finally!

  The next time approaching the break room, Atzi walked up to the stone door and pushed it open, Paulina just behind her.

  The break room consisted of two stone chairs in front of a counter. Above the counter, stone shelves held bottled drinks and stone mugs. Further in, a stone couch sat. A pile of blankets - How do they not burn the wool? - were stacked against a wall. Finally, there were several long stone storage cabinets.

  The two guards sat at the counter looked up at them, their helmets off. Yellow eyes with black sclera blinked. One of them asked the codeword if everything was okay. Atzi responded again, confirming that it was.

  The guards nodded, picking up their helmets off the counter and slipping them back over their heads. They left their mugs out as they trudged out of the room.

  As soon as the door shut, Paulina lifted off her helmet and took a deep breath. Her face was covered in sweat. "Fucking hells..."

  "How do they do this all day?"

  Paulina grimaced. "They must be paid lots of money. It's barely worth it, even for what we're being paid."

  "Only a few steps left for our end..." Atzi took off her gauntlets and started gathering up the stone mugs. They all had initials carved in the side, which she ignored. She didn't really care whose was whose. She just needed to poison them all.

  Paulina handed Atzi the vials. "Take care of it." Then she started taking off her armor.

  Atzi poured it into the cups. Although she would probably be able to resist the poison, she slipped a gauntlet back on to rub it in with, to make sure it really got in there.

  After this part, we wait for the next lot to come in to start their break. Then we have to slip back in before the next break after that to hide their bodies.

  She had the Saintess start another count.

  Paulina, now free of her armor, dug around the room.

  Atzi spoke up, "Behind the couch, or in one of the cabinets. Cabinet's safer, if we can get them in there.

  "They'll be heavy with their armor. We won't have a lot of time when we need to hide them. Can you do it?" Paulina asked, her voice not taunting for once.

  "In their armour and all? It's gonna make a lot of noise, couch might be safer..."

  "Then we'll do the couch and hope they don't notice."

  Atzi nodded.

  Now, we wait. And hope things keep going well.