"Cool. But remember, we're not just going after the mirror," Tumbler emphasizes to Derby. "That's a crumb, and we want the whole damn cake. We want to ruin him and make it next to impossible for him to crawl back up. However, that scarf can still be useful for smuggling in tools we might need past security - so you can go in to the gala floor."
She looks at Dervish next. "Let me guess, St. Trina's Academy? It's the only one I can think of that would have the financial status and backing around the city to get an invite for some students to brush elbows with high society. Good thinking, I can probably slip in with them. We get another uniform and that can be Derby's access point too. Dervish, if you can get one more for the job - ah, and I need to talk to you about some other contacts later," She adds.
Wendy notes, “I can smuggle tools easily. The scarf is just good for one item, and whatever I take, I need my cousin’s magical-girl friend to remove it.
“If there’s a bigger prize than the mirror, I’m happy to take that into the pocket dimension instead.” Not forgetting the point about the alarm, she adds, ”Barbs should be able to follow your blueprint and silence the alarm.”
"I think I've got a way for me to blend." Megan squints slightly at her phone as she continues, "Amazonia's new to the west coast. She's supposed to be filling in as muscle, but she got thumped by, uh, someone trying to rob a bank for some extra cash and... Well long story short, her one phone call wasn't to get someone to cover her shift.
"She's a little smaller than me, but especially outside of her normal mask I think I can pass for her to a new crew. Only problem is: I've got her strength, and then some, but I don't have the energy blasts or the flying. 'F someone else starts trouble before we're ready, my cover might not hold."
Wendy says, “You can always shrug it off as not wanting to draw needless attention with flashy moves.” Thinking of how Megan’s fights are— every - time —she adds, “That line only works if you don’t put anyone through a wall or three.”
"That's no all who's going to be there. Sheik Nayir al Fawari of the Allied Arab Conglomerates is supposed to be there. The Curator had a couple photos on his shelf with those two -- including one at some dig site in the Mesopotamian Valley. They've been partners going back probably decades. The good news is, he'll most likely have some women attendants in burkas or niqabs. It's another possible disguise for just about anyone -- especially a female.
"The bad news, is the Shiek is filthy stinking rich and can probably outbid anyone else in attendance. And would also have his own security detail."
Diego gets a text on his phone a couple days after the Chinese restaurant. Hey man. You got some free time?
I need to vent or something
Diego eventually texts back. I mean, sure.
Wes then sends, I'll be at the base
Do me a favor
Ya
Wear some actual clothes so I don’t reflexively check you out by accident. Don’t need the jeebies of checking out a dude.
no worries there he replies.
When Diego arrives, Wes is wearing jeans and a t-shirt. Granted, the jeans are tight but the shirt is long and shapeless. Her hair is pulled into a tight tail. She doesn't look like she's hiding that she's female, but she's not flaunting it either. "Hey. Thanks for coming. You got anyplace we can go, that's like, a guy's hangout?"
Diego shrugs and holds out a hand, which Wesley takes without hesitation.
They vanish in a flash, reappearing in what looks to be a…bathroom. Dulled music can be heard beyond the walls. ”Come on,” Diego says as he leads the way out of the stall.
"Sure." She follows.
They exit out into a high end strip club! The music is not too loud to drown out conversation, but loud enough to allow the dancers to do their thing. And the girls are exquisite. This is clearly not just some dive.
Wes hesitates. "This wasn't what I meant. I wanted to get away from all this b%%*%*!!! I want to just hang out, and not feel like a freaking girl for a time!" She waves her hand in the dancing girls' direction. "This isn't going to take my mind off of what's not in my pants, Diego."
Diego throws his arms up innocently. ”Well f#+$, dude! Be more specific next time!” he says before putting a hand on her shoulder and they vanish again!
This time, they appear in the woods. The trees are tall, and the foliage is thick. But in this particular spot, there is a cooler, a couple chairs, and an old radio.
"Better," Wesley says as she looks around. "Are we still in California?"
She sits down in one of the chairs and leans back. "I don't care where we are, actually. Thanks."
”Nope. Black Forest. Germany. Great beer,” he says as he opens the cooler and gets a cab out. It is cold, but is clear the ice has recently finished melting. He grumbles and says ”F#%$, forgot to reload the ice…”
Wes doesn't look surprised that there's beer in the cooler. Maybe a little that they're in Germany. "It's fine. Isn't beer supposed to be a little warmer in Europe?"
”F+&& warm beer!” Diego replies as he tosses one to Wes.
Catching it one-handed, she looks at it and the can pops open on its own. "Cheers." She takes a noisy slurp, burps, and takes another.
Wes sets the beer down and picks up a random stick off the ground. She goes over to a tree and slams it against its trunk over and over until it shatters.
Diego watches, arching an eyebrow. ”You feel better, bro?”
Wes tosses the last piece on the ground and wipes her hand. "A little." She picks up another and smashes it with an overhead swing.
She walks back and sits down, then takes a big swig of the beer.
”You wanna get something off your chest? Besides the boobs?” he asks in jest.
Wes grabs and squeezes one roughly outside her shirt. "These f@~#ing things. I want to turn back. I want to be a guy again."
Diego nods. ”I figured. What’s your girl got to say about that. She is quite set on preferring tacos to hot dogs, bro.”
She groans in frustration. "I know! That's why I haven't told her. She's a girl who likes girls, and fell for me as a girl. She's convinced I like myself better as a girl. And I don't know how to tell her that I'm not... ready to just go girl all the time. I'm afraid she thinks guy-Wes is superfluous."
Diego takes a swig and asks ”Want my advice?”
"Sure." She finishes her beer and crushes the can in her dainty hand. It doesn't crush to her satisfaction, so she telekinetically implodes it to a tiny ball.
”Live it up, dude! You ever watch lesbian porn and think it’s hot? You get to live it from time to time!” Diego advises.
A big, knowing grin grows on her face. "Dude. You think we haven't-- oh, my God. It's freaking unbelievable. I am absolutely living that dream." The grin becomes a triumphant smile as he can't help but replay a highlight reel in his mind.
The smile fades, though. She grabs her crotch. "But this is twenty-four -- seven, and I want to stand up to pee again. I dunno-- maybe this is it. Maybe I'm stuck this way forever and I'll have to get used to it, but... I'm worried about getting the chance to turn back."
Diego shrugs. ”And if you get that chance, you do what you wanna do. If you don’t, you’ll hold it against her for life.”
2d6 + 1 = (3+2) + 1 = 6
"It's definitely looking like the Curator's going to be selling something big. Maybe even the mirror. The security is definitely heavier with all of the individual muscle - but maybe that works in our favor," Tumbler says as she considers the angles. "If these henchmen are too busy watching each other, we can slip right through their surveillance. Which reminds me, we'll need to get access to their security feed to prepare some loops. I can easily wipe away the footage if I get close enough to the servers, but there will probably be a detail on monitor duty so we want to deal with that quietly. I figure that the Beret knows how to get into IT?' She asks Derby.
"You should also work on a couple gadgets for Megan so she can simulate energy blasts and flight in a pinch. They don't have to work more than once I think to help keep her cover," Tumbler asks, before turning to Diego. "However, it'll look a bit suspicious if she goes in alone. So - do you think your old gang would mind playing the part of hired muscle? We can hit two birds that way - Megan can keep her cover as Amazonia, and your guys can start sowing discord with the rest of the goon squads. Turn the whole situation into a powder keg."
She reaches for a donut, ripping a bite out of the doughy treat. "All right, Wes, what do you think is the most secure part of the building? Because that's where we'll most likely find everything the Curator values."
"I'm not sure what to make of dis, but I saw somefing very strange de oder day I was doing de recon..." She starts, but takes a bit of a doughnut. "I saw some men carrying a crate dat I'm pretty sure it moved, as if somefing alive was inside."
"I was curious, so I followed dem as best as I could. I saw an old man approaching de crate and speaking somefing to it, and den de oders opened it. There was an old sculpture inside, so I tought I was just imagining fings..." She takes another bite. "...I turned to leave, but decided to check it again and now, instead of de sculpture, dere was a large vase in its place... creepy!"
She reaches for a donut, ripping a bite out of the doughy treat. "All right, Wes, what do you think is the most secure part of the building? Because that's where we'll most likely find everything the Curator values."
"That's easy. The vault. It's in the middle of the museum, sort of like the hole in the doughnut. Hermetically sealed, strict temperature and humidity controls, the works. It's storage for the kind of things that don't do well under light, or heat."
When Tumbler asks him to recruit the Aces, Diego narrows his eyes and says bluntly ”F@$! you.”
Arcana gives Dervish a long look, then she turns to Tumbler. "Is there a way for your plan to work without his crew? You still haven't said where I'll be. I've been practicing my shapeshifting. Plus I could conjure up some constructs, if you need bodies. As long as they're not supposed to interact with people for long."
Wendy’s replies are ”yes” to Barbs messing with IT, “on it” to gloves for ‘Amazonia,’ ”awesome!” to the powder keg and ”dude?” to the eff-you.
Wes ignores the issue, and Wendy is sort of fine with that, but she says, ”Diego, Carmen’s leading this operation but if you need someone to talk to—privately—I’ll listen, advice only if asked.”
”Naw. Nothin’ to discuss. But she can go have another handshake with Spinneret if she wants. That’s more realistically gonna happen rather than me go asks the boys to come do anything for her!” he says, gesturing Tumbler’s way with his head.
Wendy replies, ”There’s a reason why certain topics are discussed in private.” She’s actually pretty pissed, but she sticks to her guns on not calling this s$&~ out publicly. ”Let’s meet later, Diego.
“Country of your choice.”
"Dammit, Diego!" Wes shouts. She turns to Tumbler. "You know, let's just call this off. So the Curator sells off some of his stuff. That's fine. That means he's got less stuff on hand. And maybe he sells the mirror! That's not a bad thing, either, right?"
She glares back at Diego. "If we can't sort our s%~& out, it's going to go bad. I'm not going to take that risk."
”America’s a country.” Wendy gently gently places a hand on Wes’ forearm.
She decides since Wes is doing this, she chimes in without anger, ”I’ve been meaning to talk to you all about how we treat each other—but it’s like Wes says, if we can’t unite over personal stuff, we’re going to screw up a mission and the consequences are especially dire for Wes.
“The other thing I have to say can be said in private.” That last bit is solely for Diego.
"I'm not asking you to do this job for me," Tumbler states to Dervish, "But for Wes. If you don't think that your friends are able to handle looking tough and riling up 'rival' bodyguards then we can see about hiring muscle from one of my other contacts," She says.
"We don't know if he's selling for cash. In fact, it's more likely he's planning on trading pieces than selling them," Tumbler adds to Wes' implications. "Things which he'll need for his master plan. And ruining his reputation to deliver as well as taking a hoard of magical artifacts from him will weaken him, literally and with his influence on the criminal world at large. And when you've got no support from the community, that's when the heroes finally take you down for good."
Wendy is feeling pretty damn good about letting Carmen take the helm. She is visibly relaxed after Carmen replies to Diego with no animosity.
”You think I’m gullible enough to fall for that weak ass attempt at goading me, chica? Naw. You find someone else to be your errand boys. I’m here to help Wes. Doesn’t mean I gotta demean myself in front of my crew to do it,” he says, giving Ziss a knowing look.
Wes looks over to Diego, getting impatient. Her sudden mood to just abandon the heist faded fast thanks to Tumbler's reasoning. "What would it take for you to not demean yourself in front of your crew? Cash? Favors? Wishes?"
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Megan also seems glad that the waters have calmed, but she's visibly distracted as she comes to a carefully thought through decision.
I think Diego might just be an a%~&&!+.
"When Dervish says crew, he means family." Ziss tries to calm the nerves at the meeting. "Whatever we fink we know about what has happened between Dervish and Tumbler, its is fair to guess dat his family will take his side."
"I fink dat even if Dervish wanted to try to convince his crew to help, dey would not help, and even if dey did, dere is a good chance dat would cause more harm dan good, just because dis is Tumbler's plan."
Tumbler sighs. She looks up at Dervish. "Would it help get your credit back with them if I showed up on your arm, giggling and letting you touch me wherever you want? If that's what it takes to solve this problem you have with your family, we can do it. We have very little time to plan this out and I'm going to be cutting as many knots as we need."
She posted up their time table. "Let's adjourn for now, go take of what we need to do, then meet back up in twelve hours. I have to go and get my hair and nails done, so I'll see you in about four, Diego."
Wendy asks, “Will I be wearing one of those school uniforms? I can slip all the tools and gadgets I need under the clothes.” If not a schoolgirl look, Wendy has a dress… but an outfit that many will be wearing might be best.
(Her hair is already red, but her hair is up in a bun under her hat!)
”Lost interest in that, chica. Plenty of fish in the sea. And I don’t want no pity,” Diego says as he makes his way over to the fridge.
"Pity would be me paying for your meal. You want to be mad at me, hold your grudge? You can be mad after we take down the Curator. Until then, you're the only one who's not pulling their weight for the team and investing resources. So why don't you tell me what you're good for and what you can contribute to the plan," Tumbler tells Diego.
Diego starts drinking a beer, and responds with another middle finger. ”Maybe you’re right. Guess I got absolutely nothing to offer,” he says before looking to Wes. ”You get in a jam and need help? Call me. Otherwise,” he flops down in a seat and starts looking up vids on Infini-Tube.
Wendy says to Diego, ”I need help. I need to get to Maui and back in fifteen minutes.”
”So, the usual. Taxi service,” Diego grumbles and takes another drink.
Wendy offers her hand. ”Fourteen minutes, forty-nine seconds… you can always say no, if you’d rather not.”
Diego shrugs. ”Hope you are wearing a bikini under there,” he says before touching her arm and the pair vanish.
Wendy replies, “I’m not.”
With the three-hour time difference, only the early risers are out. Shops might not be opened yet.
“Umm… underwear is like a bikini?” Wendy isn’t exactly comfortable with this option, but it’s that or—“Or we can go to Miami or Cape Cod or Brazil, where bikini shops are open.”
Tumbler looks frustrated after that exchange with Diego, but holds her tongue for now. "Okay then. Ziss, I know you've been holding out on the stuff you've got from other worlds you've been to, so do you have anything that would be useful for infiltration or extraction? You can't pop open a portal right in the heart of the museum, can you?"
Ziss shakes her head. "Nofing like dat, and my powers don't open portals... dey are pretty similar to Dervish's wif de difference dat instead of blinking wifin de same world, I do to different worlds."
"Unlike him, however, I can't blink from wherever I want to. It is as if dere were doors on specific portions of each world dat only one vith my powers can cross... could it be one of such doors inside de vault of de museum? Of course it could, but I fink de chances are about de same as de Curator suddenly dying of a heart attack." She explains. "I can't actually see or know where dese doors are, just feel dem as I get closer, much like a dog sniffing around."
"What I do have is many friends wif access to cool stuff. Let me know what you need me to do and I'll find a way."
Wendy and Diego pop back into the room about ten minutes after having left.
With a quick snap and twist of the wrist, she slips her hand out of Diego’s rough grip. She puts on a smile—part show, but also genuinely glad to see Wes. She sits next to her, content to stick around until Carmen adjourns the meeting.
Wes had been bouncing her leg nervously while Wendy and Diego were gone. She smiles when they return, though she searches Wendy's face for some sort of clue about what they might have talked about. She relaxes somewhat when she comes over to sit next to her.
Wesley takes Wendy's hand and squeezes it.
"With that taken care of, hopefully, do we all understand our roles? I'll try to hone in on the magical artifacts and listen in to the conversations while in disguise. I'll let you all know what we need to grab. Sound good?"
Wendy gladly holds onto Wes’ hand.
”I’ll get the school uniform from Carmen, have Amazonia gloves ready for Megan… and I already have miniature tools for getting into display cases if need be, and if we can’t be subtle… a few emergency items including but not limited to vape bombs. More like steam, not like vaping vape. I hate that fad.”
After their meeting, Ziss worldwalks to That is too spend the day, cool off, talk to some friends, and even take a look on any new piece of gear that could be useful to their heist.
---
Later, just before the heist, Ziss looks for Diego, wondering how he is. Seeing that his issue with Tumbler would not be easy solved and that the others were basically siding with her, she teaches for him. "Hey Diego... I know it is not de same fing as your boys, but I meant it when I said I'd have your back. Like you, I have no family, and my friends are de closest fing I have to dat... I'd like to consider you part of mine."
Plugging into the aether and casting her mind adrift, Ziss feels herself floating over Bay City towards the museum. As she hovers above it, her mind's eye can see a latticework of overlapping glyphs and runes crisscrossing the structure. They thrum with lambent energy.
It becomes apparent that there are a host of magical wards in place over the Curator's base of operations. He is no doubt fully aware of your team's abilities and has taken steps to put countermeasures in place. However, this means he has likely put less consideration into stopping more mundane means of infiltration. Therefore, the less you rely on your special abilities during this heist, the greater your chance of success...
Later, just before the heist, Ziss looks for Diego, wondering how he is. Seeing that his issue with Tumbler would not be easy solved and that the others were basically siding with her, she teaches for him. "Hey Diego... I know it is not de same fing as your boys, but I meant it when I said I'd have your back. Like you, I have no family, and my friends are de closest fing I have to dat... I'd like to consider you part of mine."
[Dice=Comfort and Support] 2d6+1
”Yeah, so long as you got mine, I got yours. But the rest of…this…” he gestures vaguely in regards to the team, ”it’s all b$&@@++~. People playing at house but will throw you to the wolves first chance they get. You wanna stick with them, fine. But I ain’t trusting any of ‘em as far as I could throw ‘em…”
Ziss shakes her head, putting a hand on Diego's arm. "Give dem a chance, please?" She asks.
"I don't trust Tumbler eider... she almost killed me twice and did not even acknowledged it or apologized for it. Here on Earf you say de tird time is de charm, so I'm not giving her de tird try." She tells him, frowning.
"We were bof wronged by her and when we lashed out, de oders stood on her side because she does know how to play de victim... she is a snake." Ziss then looks at Diego, serious. "We need to play along for now. We need to be dere for de team. Wendy, Wes, and Megan are great, but dey will keep siding wif her if we keep confronting her openly... we'll find a way to make dem see who she is, ok?"
”I…have a more direct plan,” Diego whispers, manifesting his Psi-Blade briefly.
Ziss is shocked at Diego's reaction, but then she frowns. "Don't even fink about dat!" She knows he is angry and imagines that pleading to his good side would be useless at best and push him away at worst. "You do dat and she'll win. She'll be forever be de victim, you forever de murderer, and all dat she did will become truf no matter what! You really want to do her harm, you play her own game and expose her..."
Diego arches an eyebrow. ”And just what do you have in mind?” he asks.
He scoots closer, visibly relaxing a bit and a sincere look of interest in his eye, realizing he might actually have an ally in this Tumbler issue.
"To be honest? Simply wait for a while." She says. "What she did to us, she'll do to oders... We had two big struggles in de team, one between me and her and now dis of yours. I don't believe it will take de oders too much more to realise dat if all de troubles involve her, it is silly to fink all oders are de problem and she is de constant victim."
"If dat doesn't work, we'll figure somefing else later if she doesn't see de harm she is doing before dat." She looks at Diego again. "You can call me naive, but even wif dis crap she did to us, I still hope dat she could back down and see de damage."
Tumbler goes out and spends some obligation with her friend Tegan Queen in order to get a pair of fresh from her boot camp henchwomen that have never worked with Amazonia before in order to play the part of their Amazonia muscle. She's hoping that they can be used as a distraction if necessary.
She also checks in with Ziss over the Ear Buddies at some point. "I had a thought on your abilities. You can't control where the portal opens up into when you create it. But you can still control and keep one open? It's something that I've been thinking about, but really there's nothing of the Curator's I think we actually want to keep, so why not dump it onto some random spot on another world where he can't get to it? It would probably be the most efficient way of robbing him blind. You'd have to be with me when we go to the vault though."
She's working on lockpicking at her workbench in her real residence as she says this, fumbling and looking in annoyance at the picks she's trying to manipulate one-handed. She refuses to just cheat, knowing that she can't rely on her powers all the time. She held enough self-discipline to push herself to try and solve this the mundane way.
"Oh, did you decide how you plan to enter the gala?" She asks Ziss. "I can lend you a ticket, but it's going to be a black tie affair so you'll need to get a decent gown in that case. I could pick something out for you."
"I can't do anyfing wif portals... neider open, nor control, nor keeping dem dere or closing dem." She says. "Once in a place dat I can worldwalk, den yes, I could bring his stuff to anoder world to hide dem dere... I just need to fink were to, because we can't risk people on de oder side getting in danger."
As the subject changes to her way in, she thinks a bit before answering. "I fink wif my new self it would be stretching to go as a student, right? Yeah, I fink your idea is better... just pick somefing you fink will work."
"All right, I'll have something fitting for you. Try not to be as daring as I might be," Tumbler tells her as she finally cracks one of her practice locks. "I'll have it waiting at the base for you. Talk to you later."
She rubs the bridge of her nose as she calls up Wes next, hoping to catch her at a good time. "Hi Wes. So far I've got Wendy slipping in as a student, Meg as Amazonia, and Ziss is going as a ticketed party goer. What's your plan, you going to try to sneak in with the sheikh's entourage? I do have another ticket to spare, I planned on giving it to Diego if he didn't have another line in prepared." She fiddles with the next of the practice locks, this one far more difficult for her to do one-handed. She had to get in the practice now though.
"I'll be reviewing the plan the day of so we're all on board with the framework. However," Tumbler says to Wes with a cautionary tone to her voice, "This is a three month job that we're planning in a week. When things go sideways - that's when, not if - we've got to have an exit plan ready for everyone. Hopefully after we've succeeded in our goals, but I'd rather we all lived to see another day than die trying to make this work. F*#~!" Her pick snapped, the metal bits flying off in the air from the tension. "Sorry, I'm working on some stuff here. Got to multitask prep work if we're going to have a chance at this."
She rubs the bridge of her nose as she calls up Wes next, hoping to catch her at a good time. "Hi Wes. So far I've got Wendy slipping in as a student, Meg as Amazonia, and Ziss is going as a ticketed party goer. What's your plan, you going to try to sneak in with the sheikh's entourage? I do have another ticket to spare, I planned on giving it to Diego if he didn't have another line in prepared." She fiddles with the next of the practice locks, this one far more difficult for her to do one-handed. She had to get in the practice now though.
"That's what I was thinking, yeah. It's probably my best bet to be practically invisible. Maybe I should keep the spare ticket as a plan B."
There's a pause. "You know what? Maybe give it to Diego, so he doesn't use his teleport powers to get inside. Just in case the Curator is prepared for his power."
At last, the time has come for the grand gala at the museum! The Curator has gone all out for the event of the season, with spotlights shining outside the museum's entrance, and a red carpet rolled out to welcome the guests as they arrive. A throng of reporters and people with cameras are lined up to catch glimpses of Bay City's dignitaries, and a host of security guards and ushers bustle about.
The first step will be getting inside the museum in your chosen disguises...