“Sir, he is right over there,” said a voice from behind Seven. He looked over his shoulder to see a large man being guided over toward him in a wheel chair; immediately knowing that he was about to meet the father of his love.

  “Hello, sir,” said Seven, rising to his feet, bowing in a gesture of respect. Seven not normally one to bow for anyone, his own father included.

  “Sit boy, your father would have me killed if he saw you showing me such honors.”

  Seven couldn’t help but smirk at the man’s words.

  Hmm, when you’re right, you’re right, old man.

  Seven tried not to stare at Honzo as his people lifted him from his chair and put him in the booth across from Seven. He glanced at the chair in wonderment, taking in the ancient devices peeling leather, worn tires, and the sheen of the rust on the metallic frame.

  He then looked at Honzo’s appearance directly, quickly taking in the man’s features and apparel, wondering why such a well-dressed man used such a prehistoric aid, instead of the more advanced runic wheelchairs that he’d seen others use.

  Beside the king of our realm layer, I don’t think I know anyone personally who has actively decided to live with their disability intact. Runes and mana can bridge the gap between practically any disadvantage and a state of healthiness…

  “Don’t think about it too much, boy, the chair is a statement, I’ve been underestimated more times than I can count sitting in that chair,” said Honzo gesturing toward the wheelchair.

  “It was made to look more abused and worn than it actually is,” said Honzo, chuckling at Seven’s confused face as he looked at the men who’d just been forced to lift him free of the ancient device.

  “You seem like an educated youngster, but the street has lessons that cannot be learned anywhere else, boy. My men pick me up to make you believe in my weakness, even if I have none,” said Honzo, shocking Seven by lifting his leg to lay it comfortably across his lap.

  “This is all while my chair helps aid you in that belief, yet what is unseen still exists, boy,” said Honzo removing a mana pistol from within his suit jacket and firing it toward the chair. A mana shield was conjured in a flash, absorbing the bullet he fired, disappearing even before it could truly register in Seven’s periphery.

  None in the bar even glanced toward the sound of the fired weapon, and Seven had to force down his alarm; noting that everyone left within the bar was no more than a few feet away from a mask. Or still wore one.

  “I’ll keep that in mind,” said Seven, doing his best to not show how nervous he was.

  “Good…”

  Honzo stayed silent, staring down Seven. He felt himself begin to sweat, but managed to wave an open hand toward the still steaming food meant for him and Vivid.

  “Help yourself, sir, this was meant for Vivid and me, but now that you are here, I’m beginning to wonder if you are here to tell me that I can’t be with your daughter anymore.”

  Honzo nodded.

  “I am, but that is because I’m contemplating killing you, regardless of what may come my way from your own father.”

  Seven couldn’t help but gape momentarily at the man, setting his hands down on the table slowly. Season cycles of training abruptly surfaced, and though Honzo continued to speak, Seven’s mind worked on various exit strategies.

  Flip the table, and use the chair, maybe? Hmm, maybe sling a few plates into the faces of those nearby before I start? If I do that, I might be able to make it to the front door, or should I try and break the window?

  “You see, I can’t find my daughter anywhere, and seeing how she has spent more time with you than anyone else, my every thought points me toward believing that her absence is your fault,” started Honzo, picking up bits of food from the table, flinging them to the floor rather than eating anything.

  “You may think to yourself that doing so wouldn’t be sensible, but you see, no father is sensible when it comes to his daughter, especially when dealing with a young man raised by one of the most cunning Cultivators alive,” continued Honzo, now throwing food toward Seven, glaring at the young man, uncaring of the mess he was making all over Seven’s clothing.

  “As I use subterfuge to disarm those around me, your presence here could be seen as either a fact of your innocence in my daughter’s sudden vanishing act, or…”

  “It could be a ploy to point the blame away from myself,” mumbled Seven. Honzo nodded, smiling toward Seven as he tipped a glass of wine into his lap.

  “So, convince me, child,” said Honzo pushing a plate into Seven’s lap with an outstretched finger, scalding hot soup burning his lap in an instant.

  “Convince me to not kill you now and throw away everything my family has ever worked for, as my daughter is the only thing that concerns me enough to make reckless decisions…”

  Honzo continued to push more and more food toward Seven, even lifting a plate and outright smashing it in his face; the plate shattering as it crashed into the side of Seven’s head.

  “I’m listening, boy. Please, say anything that would make me come back to reason, as not even the wrath of your father will stop me from ending your life, if my daughter has been hurt in any way, you are less to me than an ant when it comes to my Vivid, I’d cut your throat for causing her to break a nail. What do you think I’ll do if I find out you are the reason she is missing…?”

  Honzo continued to toss plate after plate at Seven. His face bled from the amount of glass that had been broken across his skull. Yet Seven didn’t flinch, or cry out in pain. A deep rage unlike anything he’d ever known born within his chest as he thought to himself in that moment.

  “Say what you will, sir, but Vivid is the only person that I too would be reckless for,” said Seven, lifting a plate and tossing it toward Honzo’s head. A gasp was heard, and Honzo easily dodged, but Seven continued even as the Sword members around him began to unsheathe their weapons.

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  “Do what you want with me. I don’t care if you torture me to death,” said Seven throwing another plate, Honzo easily dodging everything Seven threw back, somehow remaining untouched by even the food that began to splatter on the walls and booth seating around them both.

  “What I won’t let you do, is say that I had anything to do with Vivid not being here. I prepared all of this as a gesture,” said Seven; tears beginning to run down his face as he was choked up by intense emotions he wasn’t truly aware he carried. How much he cared for Vivid only becoming apparent in that very moment, now forced to face the potential reality that something may have happened to the only woman he’d ever truly fallen for.

  “So what will it be, old man,” said Seven lifting two plates at once, even as one of Honzo’s guards placed a blade to his neck.

  “Want to see who can throw away their life more quickly?”

  …

  “So, with that in mind I can pretty much put us absolutely anywhere inside the resort at the press of a key,” said Xani, practically boiling over with an intense excitement. She stood over the fixed station table within the conference room of the hotel the builders used as a meeting room, swiftly typing on the hologram keyboard, screens flicking into sight and disappearing like images of a movie being fast forwarded.

  “Okay, and why is this so exciting?” asked Arson, holding Troy close as he floated above the ground, spinning her about in an aerial slow dance.

  Xani scratched her head and looked toward the lounging Jasmine, before looking back toward Arson and chuckling. She had yet to tell Arson what she’d found hidden within the walls of the resort’s lowest floor, or that she’d been hacking the portal system within the hotel since she’d found RaidCorp’s treasure.

  “Umm,” started Xani, only for Jasmine to groan in annoyance.

  “You’re sparking kidding me, you still haven’t told him?”

  Khalif’s brow furrowed as he looked between Jasmine and Xani, and then over to Micro as she sharpened the blades of her new swords. Feeling his gaze fall on her, she shrugged and responded without turning in his direction.

  “Don’t look at me, I don’t know what they’re talking about…”

  “Oow, I want to know, tell me,” said Lane, looking up from a video she was editing for the BHC app’s subscribers.

  “Yeah, Xani, tell us,” yelled rob in a mockery of Lane’s excited tone, flicking back a non existent main of hair as he did so.

  “I don’t do that, nor do I sound like that,” said Lane, lifting a hand to flick her hair back over her shoulder, stopping once she realized what she’d been about to do.

  “Whatever, just tell us, Xani!”

  Xani took a deep breath, pressing a few more keys before a smile stretched across her face and she began her explanation in full.

  “So, yeah believe it or not, I found RaidCorp’s hidden treasure, and it’s not anywhere near the top floor,” started Xani, pressing one final button, her finger triggering a series of holograms to emerge from the station table in front of them all.

  The lights dimmed in the room and apartments full of treasure were manifested in the air all around them. The interiors of the living spaces displayed filled with so much wealth that the room went silent.

  The mouths of the builders with the exception of Xani who’d seen the sight before them a few dozen times by that point, all fell open slowly. Troy’s and Arson’s slow waltz through the air stopped completely, and Rob rubbed his eyes, gaping in disbelief at what he was seeing.

  There were fridges and freezers full of diamonds. Cabinets and sinks filled with golden jewelry. Rooms filled with intricate paintings made of pure and refined mana, and even sculptures and tomes that at a glance could be recognized as priceless.

  “So why does it matter that I can send us anywhere in the resort? This is why,” said Xani, waving an arm through the air.

  “So… what’s the move here, I thought we were just going to rob a bank,” asked Khalif after an extended period of silence.

  “What bank do you know of that has this much wealth inside?” asked Micro.

  “The main branch of my family’s bank could probably fit this in a corner,” said Lane to everyone’s surprise.

  “I keep forgetting how rich you are really,” said Jasmine, still unable to take her eyes off the ever changing holograms above them all.

  “I’m cut off, remember? I’m probably the poorest person in this room,” said Lane with a chuckle, causing nearly everyone to roll their eyes; Arson scoffing as he shook his head.

  “Doesn’t matter how much is here though, I can probably only get inside one of these buildings before my hack is countered, so, at best we got one chance to raid one spot,” said Xani.

  “Hmm, any suggestions on which area we should hit,” asked Arson, looking to Xani after finally being able to tear his eyes from the unimaginable wealth.

  “Umm, if I had to pick one, I’d choose this one,” said Xani, pressing another key and causing all the holograms to swirl into one. A single series of floors stacked on top of one another appeared in the middle of the table without its walls, giving them a view of a structure seemingly filled to the brim from top to bottom with an abundance of riches, valuables, precious stones and jewels.

  “Are those servers? What are those used for?” asked Rob, pointing toward an entire floor filled with runic servers halfway up the twenty one floored building.

  “Credit storage,” said Arson and Micro at the same time. The room went silent at the look Troy gave Arson and Micro in that moment for speaking in unison, before Jasmine broke through the awkwardness of the moment with a question of her own.

  “Even if we did manage to get every bit of what is inside this place, are we even going to be able to use any of it?”

  Arson laughed.

  “Easy, I’d give every bit of it to my mother and have her pay us the raw value of it as a payment for a series of services, and because we have no other way to rinse stolen funds, we’d owe her, and probably be able to show proof of working for her if we were ever audited,” said Arson. They all nodded in agreement, knowing how much interaction had been prevalent between Jade and the BHC.

  “So, guys, when are we doing this, before, or after the bank heist,” asked Troy with a sigh.

  “Wait, we are doing both?” asked Rob, looking around in confusion.

  “I’m down, if you all are,” said Arson shrugging as he focused intently on the various floors.

  “I’m down, but what is this about one portal in and one portal out, could we not just use my shadow gates?” asked Khalif.

  “Nope,” said Xani shaking her head.

  “You try and use an ability like that inside here and we’d never see you again, the runes lining the walls of this place are probably even powerful enough to keep Jade out, which is why they’re more than likely unbothered by any real attempts at people breaking in if and when these locations are uncovered,” explained Xani.

  “So why do you feel like our attempt will be any different,” asked Khalif.

  “Because I’ve hacked into the portal grid for the resort, when we open our portal it will be as if we are one of the many teams designated with the task of dropping off goods,” answered Xani with a grin, feeling rather impressed with herself.

  “Sounds like fun,” said Micro, returning to sharpening her swords.

  “Agreed,” said Rob.

  “So I guess I’ll ask again, people… before, or after the bank?”

  “Does it matter?” asked Lane genuinely interested in why Troy was asking.

  “Yeah, the Swords are being uprooted from the depths of the resort because of everything we’ve pinned on them thus far, so unless we can pull off both jobs within another couple sunsets, we may not have anyone to pin these jobs on,” said Troy, taking a seat beside the still standing Arson who’d landed and finally let her go.

  “We’ve done more difficult things in the past,” said Jasmine.

  “No, we haven’t,” said Troy and Arson, both staring down the buildings interior; both forming plans for what they felt needed to be done mentally.

  “What about the pop up festivals? Those were absolutely—“

  “Child’s play compared to two dangerous heist being pulled off so quickly one after another,” said Xani cutting Jasmine off.

  “Not to mention Arson has been spacing out each heist with misdirections that make us seem innocent of everything we are doing, he even sat out on the truck job and did events to give us face time even as we pulled off a job elsewhere,” finished Xani.

  “Didn’t think about it like that,” said Jasmine with a pout.

  “Yeah, even though I wish I could have been a part of that job, we have managed to make it seem like our crime fighting ventures are in retaliation for what the Swords are supposedly doing throughout the resort, and it needs to stay that way for sure,” offered Arson, leaning over and laying his hands flat against the station table.

  “Why don’t we just put it to a vote, and let everyone offer their reasons for why and when we should do this job, and maybe even brainstorm on what we should do to continue to project an heir of innocence,” said Troy, kicking her feet up onto the table as she crossed her arms. Arson nodded and the group discussed their options.

  “Yeah, not going to lie, that’s really leaning into our strengths,” said Arson after Lane presented her idea. The rest of the builders agreed with both her decision on the why and when of the first heist of two, and even what she presented as what should be used to maintain their camouflage.

  “Xani, Jasmine, I need you both on the how to, and any extra details we may not be paying attention to for Lane’s project,” started Arson, pacing as he assigned duties.

  “Micro, get the Wretches ready, I want all hands on deck for this one, we are going to need man power for this job to run smoothly,” said Arson with a point in his assassin’s direction.

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Rob, sorry, bud, but you're going to be on overdrive to prepare for this, we need you for both the heist and Lane’s project. I don’t see how we are going to get this done without both your food, and that potion you brewed up to knock out those contestants we replaced.”

  “Got it, I’ll get to work now, just have Jasmine send me over what food and how many potions we will need,” said Rob as he rose and strode out of the room.

  “Lane, you already know what to do, just make us look good and get as much footage as you can as we prepare for your project. We may need it as potential alibis if too much heat surfaces after we pull this off.”

  “You got it,” said Lane, once again stopping herself from flicking her hair over her shoulder as she continued to edit footage.

  “Troy, Khalif, you’re with me, we need to map this whole place out, make a plan on how we are going to leave this place clean, figure out how we are either going to hide the goods, or get them off before anyone even knows we have a thing,” said Arson, stopping to look between Khalif and his love, both giving him nods of confirmation.

  Arson smiled, and sighed, extremely excited for what was to come. He had set out with his friends for a chance to become close, regain a bond that as of late he was beginning to realize only he felt had diminished with his absence, and even gain a sense of teamwork that could help them become a force to be reckoned with.

  We just need to rely on our strengths, and aid each other in our weaknesses, and this should be easy, thought Arson, mentally fighting the twinge of nervousness that passed over him at his thoughts as he mumbled to himself.

  “Let’s just hope this goes well…”