Troubles in the Big Apple for the Scratchin' Thieves

Chapters

Prologue part 1 : The Pianist’s duplex in Morningside Heights
Prologue part 2: Judge Patterson’s house in Upper East side.
Prologue part 3 : Home & NYPD
Business meeting at the ManeHatOn
In ManeHatOn's VIP lounge
Goody Gumdrops!
Attempted burglary in Trickster's Mansion
バンガラング!
Alone in the dark....
Stinking clothes leads to...
Svetlana's prediction
On the Bronx's roofs
Any way I want it. That's the Way I drive it. Any way I want it!

Prologue part 1 : The Pianist’s duplex in Morningside Heights

"Hurry up a little, Patty!" a woman wearing a black skin-tight suit with a hood that only showed her bright red eyes demanded in a hurried tone to her similarly clothed friend. "It's five thirty already! The sun will rise in less than an hour!"

Patty looked up from her smartphone which was connected by two white cables to an electronic box a meter below and to the right of the fire escape of a luxurious apartment complex in Morningside Heights, ten minutes on foot away from Manhattan’s Music School. She was harnessed to the fire escape by some climbing equipment in order to reach the box.

"Have you tried to bypass a six thousand dollars security system, with a custom-made pirate app on a smartphone, suspended thirty meters above the ground, Vinyl?" Patty asked, probably cocking her eyebrow under her hood.

Vinyl peeked at the screen of Patty's phone from the fire escape before rubbing her temple in annoyance.

"You're playing at Temple Run!" Vinyl deadpanned her friend. "And you just missed a magnet bonus!"

"Gaaah!" Patty said in panic before focussing back on her phone. "Come on, little treasure thief! Jump! Jump!" she tapped on her screen a couple of times. "Dang it! I just fell in the river," She complained childishly.

"You're gonna fall on the ground if you don't get back to work on that alarm right now!" Vinyl growled in a threatening tone.

"Geez, relax, silly!" Patty waved off casually. "The app is running as a background task." A high pitched beep sound came from Patty's phone. "And, that beep just means it's finished." she unhooked the white cables before putting them with her phone in of her suit's pockets. "Lift me up! Pretty please with vanilla frosting on top!" she quickly added with pleading blue eyes when she noticed her friend's lack of reaction.

Vinyl sighed before grabbing the rope to pull her hanging friend back on the fire escape.

"You should lay off the sweets, Patty," Vinyl commented as Patty, having reached the fire escape, and proceeding to take off her climbing equipment. "You're far from being a featherweight."

"Never!" Patty said in a vigorous firmness.

Once again, Vinyl sighed. "Just get the duct tape ready," she demanded before searching through her backpack.

"Oki doki!" Patty said happily before pulling a roll of duct tape out her own bag.

Patty went closer to the window to put lengths of tape on the glass surface while Vinyl put metal knuckles on her gloved, right hand. When she was done, Patty signaled Vinyl was good to go. The robber with the metal knuckles, punched the window, breaking the glass with a silent crack. The glass shards, still glued to the tape, were pulled toward the exterior of the apartment, making an opening large enough for Vinyl to pass her hand inside, allowing to reach the handle of the window.

"Who are we visiting again?" Patty asked curiously as Vinyl managed to open the window, without causing any alarm bell.

"Frederic Horzowski," Vinyl replied in a whisper before she entered into the luxurious living room of the duplex apartment.

"The famous pianist?" Patty whispered in a surprised tone.

"Himself!" Vinyl said as she pulled her hood up, revealing her thin, pale visage and her two-toned bangs of blue hair with a relieved sigh. "It's hot as hell in those things!" she complained quietly.

"Agree!" Patty nodded in a murmur before doing as Vinyl did, revealing a slightly chubby and happy face with curly pink hair. "Let's do this! You take right, I take left?"

"Okay, go!" Vinyl nodded before heading to right of the living room.

The pair of burglars searched the room for various objects of value, cash, or pieces of jewelry to put into their backpacks. Vinyl found Horzowski's wallet on the coffee table, happily finding out it was full of twenties and fifties. On her side of the living room, Patty had found her happiness.

"Vinyl! Can I keep his laptop?" she asked in a hopeful whisper to her partner in crime, pointing at the silvery white laptop with a white apple on it.

"Patty, we sell everything that isn't cash, remember?"

"But it's the new Macbook pro, 17 inches!" Patty complained in a discrete whimper.

"I don't care!" Vinyl retorted firmly as she emptied the content of a drawer to search for anything valuable. "Besides, doesn't "Pinkie" perform way better than what exists on the market?"

"Yes, but “Pinkie” isn't an Apple product," Patty said with a pout.

"Stop acting like it matters, and get back to work, you silly nerd!" Vinyl firmly demanded.

The pair went back to searching for the living room and the rest of the duplex's inferior floors. Patty snatched the pianist's laptop, smartphone -after having pulled the sim card out of it- and a few antiquities she fitted into her bag. Vinyl had found more than two thousand dollars in the many cupboards and drawers of the apartment along with some silver or golden decorations she had found on top of the same cupboards. They were about to leave when Patty pulled a painting off the wall, revealing a small, hidden vault.

"How did you know it was there?" a rather impressed Vinyl asked.

"Just a hunch!" Patty shrugged with a toothy grin. "Do you have any idea of where the key for that thing is?" she pointed at the keyhole on the vault's door.

"Probably somewhere close to Horzo...."

Vinyl was interrupted by by a soft beep from the living room's sound system before the soft melody of a piano filled the until now silent apartment. Soon after, the pair of burglars heard the sound of an opening door on the duplex's superior floor and quickly hid wherever they could. Vinyl, who was hiding under a couch close to the stairs, managed to hear overr the music footsteps coming from upstairs, followed by another door opening, swiftly followed by the muffled sounds of a running shower.

"You can come out, Patty!" Vinyl signed her friend to get out of the cabinet in which she had hidden. "I swear... Who on earth puts a wake up program with Chopin's music for six o'clock on a Sunday?" she asked angrily.

"Well, he does apparently," Patty gazed upstairs, then to the vault, then to Vinyl. "You think he left the key in his room to take a shower?"

"Hmmmm. That would be extremely risky and greedy for us to find out," Vinyl commented after a short reflection.

"Want me to hold your bag while you're doing it?" Patty asked knowingly.

"If you don't mind," Vinyl smiled as she passed her bag to her partner. "Let's just hope Mr. Horzowski likes long showers."

"Break a leg!" Patty cheered quietly as Vinyl climbed upstairs with a feline discretion.

Vinyl arrived upstairs without making a single sound. She discreetly walked past the slightly open door of the bathroom, hearing a man whistling the same tune that was playing inside the whole apartment. Vinyl quietly walked inside the pianist's bedroom, the only other room of this floor with an open door.

"Now, key, key...."Hello there! Vinyl completely forgot about the vault's key when her gaze wandered on the pianist's bed.

Well, on the naked woman sleeping in the pianist's bed would be a lot more accurate. A beautiful woman with short, wavy, light brown hair was peacefully sleeping, her head resting on her joined hands, with her nicely shaped body in plain sight due to the covers being thrown at the end of the bed.

Well, Mr. Horzowski sure has a good taste for women! Vinyl thought as her gaze was attracted toward the beauty's round rear like a night butterfly toward a flame. Vinyl, focus a little! First, you see if the key is there, then you can starelustfully at that nice piece of ass!

The blue haired burglar focused her attention on the nightstand closer to door, not without great amount of difficulty though, only to see a pair of earrings in the shape of a blue musical note and a golden necklace. Assuming they belonged to the sleeping beauty on the other side of the bed, or at least hoping they did, Vinyl took the pieces of jewelry and put them in her pocket before contouring the bed in silence to get to the other night stand to see with pleasure a golden key along with a massive wrist watch.

She put the watch in another pocket and grabbed the key with a triumphant grin. She decided to do as she thought and reward herself by staring at the beautiful sleeping body, only to frown when she noticed the woman slightly shivering at the fresh air coming from the outside through an open window.

You left your woman sleeping naked without blankets to cover her with an open window in the middle of fall? Vinyl thought angrily. Bad move, Freddy! Really bad move!

Vinyl softly grabbed the blanket to cover the beautiful, yet shivering body of the brunette. As soon as she was under the warmth of the blanket, the sleeping woman let out a soft sigh before turning around to rest her hand on Vinyl's shoulder before the concerned party could react while still having her eyes closed.

"Thank you for the blanket, honey," she whispered sleepily before pulling Vinyl into a soft kiss.

Vinyl instinctually kissed back, mainly to convince the half asleep beauty she was kissing her pianist instead of a shocked burglar, though a small part of her...okay fine, a huge part of her was just happy to be kissed by the pretty brunette, keeping her eyes open to see if the brunette in question would open hers.

Thankfully, she didn't. Though she passed her hand through the burglar's hair as her tongue tickled Vinyl's lips, as if knocking at a door to beg for entrance. Entrance that Vinyl granted without hesitation. As she parted her lips, the blue haired girl pushed her tongue into the brunette's mouth and started to dominate her tongue, causing the half asleep woman to softly moan in pleasure.

They kept making out for a good minute or two, Vinyl trying hard as she could to suppress her moans, knowing they would betray her true identity, while the brunette was simply enjoying the deep, passionate kiss and didn't mind letting it known to her kisser through very pleased moans.

Of course, the kiss had to come to an end. The brunette sighed blissfully before letting go of the thief's hair and resting her head on a pillow, her eyes still closed.

"Could you be a dear, and change the music, please?" She asked in a sleepy whisper. "I'm a bit tired to listen to Chopin every morning after I sleep over,"

Vinyl simply let the beauty in her sleepy state and delicately walked out of the room, hearing with satisfaction that Horzowski was still in the shower. She discreetly walked down the stairs, finding a slightly bored Patty waiting for her.

"What took you so long?" Patty asked.

"I encountered some complications in the bedroom," Vinyl replied nonchalantly as she flipped the key to Patty who grabbed it before turning her attention on the vault. Some pretty sweet complications!

"Victory!" Patty whispered happily as the vault's door was unlocked by the key, letting a few stacks of hundred dollars bills and black notebook come into view. "Let's raid that thing!" Patty shoved the cash into her bag before grabbing the notebook with interested curiosity, "What do you think we can do with that?" she extended the notebook to her partner.

Vinyl leafed through the black notebook, finding numerous music sheets and half finished compositions full of notes in margin, crossed words, music clefs and so on.

"His composition book," Vinyl said in a small, slightly religious tone. "The heart of a musician after his instrument..... Leave it! That's not something you can steal," she added slowly before extending the book to Patty.

"Oki doki loki!" Patty replied before putting it back in the vault with great care. "Anyway, how about we skedaddle?" she asked, giving Vinyl her backpack back before heading to the broken and open window.

"Wait! I can't leave Sleeping Beauty like that!" Vinyl said as she headed to the sound system which was still playing Chopin's melody. "I need nothing but a minute!"

"Sleeping Beauty?" Patty asked in puzzlement, cocking an eyebrow at her friend.

*******

Beatrice was still trying to sleep in, her mind focused on that short, tender and passionate moment she had with Frederic a few minutes ago. She let out a pleased sigh in remembrance. That kiss was worth to figure on the top march of her podium of kisses. It had been firm, yet gentle. Dominant, but sweet at the same time. It had been so wild.... Frederic had never kissed her like that before, though she wouldn't mind getting more of that. She smiled naughtily as she imagined in what other moment she wouldn't also mind having a wild Frederic in action.

Her half-asleep daydreams were interrupted when Chopin's music came to a sudden stop to give way to a deep, rhythmic beat of electronic music. Beatrice opened her eyes in surprise before sitting up on the bed. She had no idea Frederic listened to such modern music, not that she minded though. She thought it was rather nice to hear while gently bobbing her head to the beat of the song.

"Beatrice! Why did you change the music?" Frederic shouted angrily from outside the room.

Beatrice frowned. "I didn't!" she shouted back. "I know you don't like that I touch to your sound system!"

"Then who has...SON OF A BITCH!!" She heard Frederic below in anger.

"What is it?" Beatrice asked with worry.

"Someone broke into my living room!"

Beatrice quickly wrapped the blanket around her body and dashed to the stairs. When she saw the usually ordered living room in a horrible mess, she gasped in shock. Frederic, wearing his dark brown bathrobe was standing in front of his now empty vault, pulling his grey-blond hair in frustration. Beatrice walked next to him to comfort him with a hug. Frederic didn't react to her hug, still glaring angrily at a folded note in his vault, one of Frederic's pens laying next to it. Beatrice tried to read it. It was written in a messy, scratchy handwriting.

Dear mister the famous Pianist,

Please, do listen to the disc we left you.

It's worth all the money in the world! ;) :p

Plus, your girlfriend wouldn't mind listening to something other than Chopin.

We took your laptop and smartphone, but we'll send you a copy of your personal files and contacts in your mailbox!

Ps: for your brunette girlfriend: I'd like to apologize for taking your jewelry, but I do believe a beauty like you doesn't need jewels to dazzle the world. ;)

Pps: For mister the famous Pianist: It might seem rather cavalier for me to write you that, but I feel obliged to mention how lucky you are to have found such beautiful woman with a very good looking, beautifully perfectly shaped ass, and who's such an amazing kisser! ;) Don't forget that whenever you leave the room she's sleeping in!

Anywho, I bid you and your pretty girlfriend a good day!

Yours truly,

The one who just robbed you :p

Beatrice couldn't help to blush in embarrassment at that last post-scriptum, realizing the one she had kissed wasn't Frederic but the burglar who had just robbed her boyfriend. Though she was also partly blushing at the nice compliments the same burglar had made about her. Frederic, on other hand, was red from anger.

"What does he mean by that amazing kisser line?" He asked coldly.

"Hum... I was cold earlier and someone put the blanket on me ..." Beatrice explained uneasily. "I...I...I was still half asleep and thought it was you and ... I kissed him as a thank you...."

"And you didn't notice it wasn't me?" He asked angrily.

"Look, I'm sorry! I didn't know! I thought that...."

"Please, tell me, what were you thinking when you thought it was me?" Frederic asked, glaring at her. "That's something I'm really curious about!"

Beatrice frowned at her boyfriend's angry tone directed at her, and took a step away from him.

"You know, I'm really wondering how I could confuse him with you," she said in a cold whisper. "Because him being thoughtful enough to cover me after you left me freezing my butt without blanket with that stupid window open should have been enough of a hint it wasn't you!" Beatrice angrily retorted. "That and the fact he kissed way better than you!"

"Beg pardon?" Frederic asked in disbelief. "You dare compare the kiss the man who broke into my apartment gave you with mine?"

"Well, I can find other points of comparison if you want!" Beatrice answered in a furious shout. "For example: that this burglar made me more compliments in a single a note than you, my boyfriend, in the last month!"

"What?! I compliment you all the time!" Frederic remarked in offense.

"You never said my ass is perfectly shaped!" Beatrice remarked with a sour pout.

"You know that I find your ass great too!"

"It shouldn't stop you from saying it once in awhile!" Beatrice glared at him. "You know, to make me feel desired! And he wrote perfectly shaped, not just great!"

"Are we really having this discussion when some thug broke into my apartment and robbed me?"

"Nice to see you're more concerned by objects your insurance can get you back when someone took advantage of me in the process and that you're mad at me for it!" Beatrice yelled in fury before leaving Frederic alone in his 'visited' living room. "I'm going back to bed! And I don't want to see you until you called the cops and stopped acting like a jealous jerk because I thought you had become a sweeter boyfriend and just found out I was wrong!" she ran upstairs to the bedroom and slammed the door behind her.

"Beatrice," Frederic called slowly as he knocked on the door. "I didn't mean it like that..."

"I told you to at least call the cops before I want to see you!"

"The thief took my phone, remember?" he reminded slowly.

"The doorman on the ground floor has one you can use!" Beatrice retorted furiously.

"Well, maybe I could use yours?"

"You could, but you won't!"

"......" she heard Frederic walking away from the bedroom after a short silence. "Okay.... I'll be back as soon as I can," he said softly.

"Stupid Frederic!" Beatrice muttered angrily as she crossed her arms across her chest before sitting on the bed, hearing his footsteps becoming more distant before she couldn't hear them.

She kept ranting about how unfair her boyfriend had been to her about the mistake she had made earlier. During her rant, she noticed a small detail on her left hand. A small blue hair was stuck between her nail and her finger. She remembered how she had passed her hand into her mysterious kisser's hair and inspected the bed, finding five, longer, blue hair near the place she had been sleeping earlier. She noticed with surprise that two were light cyan when the other four were dark, electric blue.

Her thoughts about the blue hairs were interrupted when the rising sun peeked through the clouds and cast a human-shaped shadow in the bedroom through the window. Beatrice looked to the window, seeing a person wearing a full black outfit with a hood that only let the person's eyes to be seen, fully equipped for climbing, gazing at her casually as he was leaning on the side of the window frame.

Beatrice's very first thought was to scream for help, but she decided on doing nothing. She kept staring at the dark figure until she saw a small lock of blue hair peeking from the collar of the hood. It was her mysterious kisser. Beatrice slowly brought the hairs she had in her hand to the burglar's sight, happily seeing his eyes widening in the shocked realization he had left material evidence of his visit.

Beatrice slowly stood up from the bed, and, ever slowly, walked to the slightly open window to fully open it, leaving less than a meter of distance between her and the burglar. Said burglar didn't react, he kept staring at her, curiosity filling his brightly red eyes. Beatrice glanced at fire escape platform the burglar was standing on, the one just above the window he had broken to get in, noticing a metal hook connecting a rather long black rope to the ramp of the fire escape.

Beatrice surprised the burglar by putting the hairs she had in front of her mouth before blowing them away, letting them follow the wind far from the crime scene. Beatrice noticed the interrogation in the thief's ruby colored eyes.

"Let's just say it's a payback for the blanket, the compliments and....and for the kiss," Beatrice whispered with a soft blush. "All that was....nice!" she saw the burglar cocking an eyebrow under his hood. "Well..... Way better than nice!" she sheepishly admitted.

The burglar's eyes replaced the interrogation by a playful glint, he slowly pulled his hood up to his nose, revealing a pale chin, with slightly pink lips. He pointed at him then at the brunette two times, silently mouthing the words : I owe you big time! Beatrice held back her breath when he leaned toward her. She knew what he was about to do, and she was sure she wouldn't stop him, despite knowing how much she should.

Their lips met in the following seconds, and as soon as they did, Beatrice lost all her self control. She wrapped her arms around the thief's neck and parted her lips to lick the ones kissing hers. The burglar's tongue responded in kind to Beatrice's, and both of them twirled between their open lips. Beatrice felt gloved hands groping her butt cheeks through the blanket she was using as a toga, before being pulled closer to the thief with a pleased moan. She knew what she was doing was wrong, but it only made it way more exciting than it already was.

When her chest was pressed against her kisser's, Beatrice realized something that made her lose it even more. It wasn't a man kissing her, but a woman. It was so new for her. She hadn't experimented with that in school, or in college, and now she didn't understand why she hadn't. It was so exotic, so wild, so hot. She never wanted to let go.

But she had to. Even if that unknown female burglar's touch made all her inhibitions disappear, it was still wrong to let that happen, very wrong. When Beatrice felt the fire of passion slowly burn down, she softly broke the kiss, leaving a filament of saliva between her mouth and her kisser's.

The burglar let go of the blanket wearing woman who stepped back from the window with a blissful smile and bright red cheeks. The thief brought her hand to the side of her head, her little finger on her mouth and her thumb on her ear before mouthing in silence the following words: Call me?

Beatrice giggled softly. "I don't have your phone number, and, I don't think it's a good idea for us to meet again," she remarked playfully, though a bit disappointed by how true her remark had been.

The blue haired burglar brought her palm to her forehead swiftly, angry at the stupidity of her own question. She thought about something for a second before she grabbed the window, and exhaled on the glass, fogging a large surface of it before scribbling something with her finger.

Souvenir then?

"Don't you have my jewelry already?" Beatrice asked in a chuckle.

The female robber pulled an earring Beatrice recognized as her own before gazing at it with an intense reflexion, before sighing in defeat while shaking her head. She exhaled once again on the glass for a short time.

Must sell them, sorry :(

"What do you want then?" Beatrice asked. "Other than what you took from my boyfriend and....what I just gave you," she said with a mad blush.

A Good Memory :)

"A good memory of what?" Beatrice asked curiously.

The burglar seemed to hesitate a lot before she took a glance at Beatrice's sole piece of 'clothing' while biting her lip. Then, she smirked slyly before fogging the glass again to write her suggestion with her finger.

Your sexy ass?

Beatrice blushed even harder than earlier as her heartbeat accelerated to a pace it never reached before in her life. She couldn't do what that woman in black was suggesting. Kissing her was already bad enough, but that was downright immoral. But it didn't stop Beatrice from being very tempted by the idea.

The brunette's light purple eyes found the sight of the lustful, fiery red orbs the burglar had in place of eyes, and when they did, her hesitation vanished.

"Oh well, why not?" She whispered sultrily, before loosening the knot of her blanket made toga. "I hope you'll enjoy it!" The thief confirmed she would by a very eager nod.

She knew it was the wrong thing to do, but she could live with a one time exception to doing the right thing. Well, it actually was the second, no, the third time today if you counted she made evidence disappear, but that wasn't her point.

She brought her hands behind her neck to lift the back of her hair before taking a very seductive pose as the blanket fell on the ground. The thief, who had leaned on the fire escape ramp to watch the show, shivered from excitement at the sight of Beatrice's beautiful naked body, slowly licking her upper lip hungrily. The naked brunette delicately swayed her hips before turning on herself, offering the thief a good view of the rear she found so perfectly shaped as Beatrice bent over the bed.

Beatrice heard her spectator clearing her throat and looked back above her shoulder to see that the thief had pulled her phone out and was pointing at its camera, asking silently for permission.

"Only mental pictures, sorry," Beatrice shook her head softly, but her smile seemed to show she wouldn't mind much the thief not agreeing with her condition.

The thief in question decided to respect the brunette's condition and did a 'it was worth the shot' shrug before putting her phone back in her pocket with a slightly disappointed pout. Beatrice giggled softly at her disappointed thief before a mad thought crossed her mind. She grinned as she decided on ending her private show with a reward for the thief's rather good behavior, not counting the stealing part.

Putting on her most sensual smile, Beatrice, still bending over the bed, slowly raised her right hand to her mouth before licking her fingers in a very erotic manner while staring at the robber lustfully. She happily noticed her leaning forward, her eyes having abandoned the brunette's rear for her mouth and fingers.

"I know you didn't ask for what I'm about to do, but I think you'll like it!" Beatrice purred seductively as she slowly trailed her now glistening fingers down her body until she placed them between her legs. When her fingers reached their destination, Beatrice started her 'solo'.

The female burglar tried to keep it together at the sight of what the sexy brunette in front of her was doing. But after a good minute of watching Beatrice's solo, she couldn't stop herself from letting out a very loud, sharp, excited whistle before letting her body backwardly flip over the ramp, thus falling from the tenth floor. Beatrice let out a very quiet shriek of horror as she saw her fall before dashing to the window. She re-wrapped her body with the blanket and went on the fire escape.

As soon as she was on the platform, Beatrice looked down and saw with relief the woman she had given a little show landed slowly on her feet. The thief unbuckled the rope she was attached to before whipping it firmly. A fluid, wave like movement of the rope climbed up to the platform Beatrice was standing on, unhooking it from the fire escape. As the hook of the rope touched the ground with a very quiet clang, the burglar pulled her hood off, revealing a mess of bi-colored blue hair, along with a brightly red visage before fanning herself with it vigorously for a very long minute.

Beatrice couldn't make out much of the face of the woman thirty meters below her. She did see her looking up at her direction while she was rapidly wrapping the rope around her left arm. The blue haired woman seemed to smile before delicately blowing a kiss in Beatrice's direction. The brunette replied by 'catching' the blown kiss in her hand and brought it to her lips before affectionately waving at her charming thief who, after waving back at Beatrice, went back to gathering her rope.

Beatrice knew she should probably feel ashamed about having done what she did as her boyfriend was many floors below, calling the police because of the same burglar that had driven her to act so slutty, but she didn't. It had been so exciting and extremely satisfactory.

"Besides, it’s not like I would ever see that charming burglar again," Beatrice whispered with a sigh as she went back inside. “… Well, maybe if…..”

*******

Vinyl had just finished enrolling the rope and was about to leave when she heard a sharp whistle coming from above her. She looked up only to see that her Sleeping Beauty had come back on the fire escape and was now wearing light blue robe and had a brown paper bag in her hand.

Sleeping Beauty let the bag fall toward Vinyl. The bag quickly landed in front of her feet with a muffled thud. Vinyl curiously grabbed the bag before reading the small note the brunette had most likely taped on it.

A small, more concrete souvenir. ;)

Read both sides.

Vinyl opened the bag before her eyes widened in surprise when she saw the bag contained a pair of lacy, snow white panties. Vinyl pulled the panties out of the bag and noticed there was something written in a beautiful, curvy, light blue writing on the front side :

For my Thief Charming

XXX

Vinyl smiled at the message before she turned the panties in her hands, discovering another message written on the other side of the silk underwear.

=> 864, 7th avenue, Apartment 9B!!

Vinyl blinked twice in disbelief before slowly smirking hungrily. She glanced back at the brunette ten floors above.

"Wasn't it a bad idea for us to meet again, Sleeping Beauty?" Vinyl whispered as she gave her future ‘burglary’ a very eager nod. "Well, maybe you realized it's good to be bad sometimes." Vinyl licked her lips as the brunette waved at her longingly.

Vinyl waved back at her one last time before she threw the paper bag in a nearby trashcan, secured her souvenir in an inner pocket of her black sweater, and picked her rope up before dashing into the dark alley under the longing gaze of the brunette on the fire escape until she turned into another alley.

Vinyl ran into three more alleys until she found the black van in which she had driven Patty and her into Manhattan from the Bronx a few hours earlier. She opened the right back door to see Patty playing on her smartphone. Her pink haired friend turned her head from her phone to look at her with big curious blue eyes.

"Took you long enough," Patty complained cheerfully as Vinyl entered inside the van and closed the door behind her.

"Sorry," Vinyl said while not looking sorry at all as she threw her rope and her backpack at the back of the van before sitting on the driver's seat.

"Was your Sleeping Beauty worth the risk of getting caught?" Patty asked playfully as Vinyl started the engine.

"Oh yeah!" Vinyl nodded excitedly, casually driving the van into a still empty street. "Even worth getting caught for short!"

"That much?" Patty asked in surprise. "What did she do?"

"She gave me two extremely pleasant souvenirs," Vinyl replied with a small, excited grin as they took the road in direction of the Bronx.

"Where are they?"

"One is here!" Vinyl poked her own forehead. "And I'm keeping the other's location and what they both were secret!" She gave her friend a mocking grin. "So don't bother asking."

"Meanie Mc Secretypants!" Patty growled in a playful tone, though Vinyl could hear the disappointment hidden in her voice. "Do you think the others cracked the alarm safely with the new version of the app?" she suddenly asked with worry.

"Hey, relax!" Vinyl reassured softly. "They're gonna be fine! You gave them an explication note, didn't you?"

Patty nodded slowly. "Sorry for being nervous," she said in a sad tone. "It's just... We're so close from it, and I keep on thinking something bad is going to happen!"

"It's okay, sweetie," Vinyl said softly. "We only have a few more jobs like that to do to clear our debt, it's normal to get nervous. But you should be excited too!" Vinyl said happily. "Because you know what us being clear of that debt means?"

"Yeah, I do," Patty replied softly, her mood picking up rapidly as a smile lit up her face. "I can't wait for that day to happen!" she said cheerfully. "I'm so nervoucited about it!" she added before giggling softly with Vinyl.

"Got that right!" Vinyl said, happy her friend's good mood had returned. "Don't worry about Jack and Claude! I'm sure they'll bring as much loot as we did!"

"Well, except for those souvenirs you got from your Sleeping Beauty!" Patty chuckled with a wink. "You think they will be jealous?"

"Who knows, maybe they got their own pleasant surprise at Judge Patterson's house. He is married to a supermodel after all!" Vinyl chuckled back before focusing her attention on the road.

"Don't think so, she's at a photo shooting in L.A. for the moment according to her Facebook page," Patty remarked. "You'll be the only one with souvenirs from a girl today!"

"Too bad for them!"

Prologue part 2: Judge Patterson’s house in Upper East side.

Judge Francis Patterson, had very strict morning schedule. Every morning, he'd wake up at five thirty, drink a glass of freshly pressed orange juice, wash his face, neatly brush his small mustache, put on his black sportswear ensemble and leave his house for his daily hour of jogging before having his breakfast at seven o'clock.

This Sunday wasn't an exception. Around six, Mr. Patterson locked the door of his home, put his keys in his left pocket before jogging to his property's front gate. After passing it, Mr. Patterson entered the code to lock the front gate. Then, he started to jog toward the Central Park, his usual jogging spot.

A few streets away from his room, a petite dark skinned woman with long black hair styled in a ponytail, wearing a deep purple jogging outfit and a white cap, bumped into him as she came from around the corner of the street, making the two of them fall on the ground.

"Oh, my gosh!" the female jogger said in a high-pitched voice as she stood up to get the judge on his feet. "I'm so sorry, sir!" she added as she dusted Mr. Patterson jacket. "I was so focused I didn't slow down at the corner! So stupid!" she tapped the side of her head angrily.

"Now, now," Mr. Patterson said calmly. "It was just an accident. No need to beat yourself up." he smiled softly at the younger girl who relaxed at his calm voice.

"Accidents do happen a lot around me," the jogger said while embarrassedly scratching the back of her head. "I focus so much on running that I forget to look where I go."

"Big competition coming?" the judge asked with curiosity.

"Qualification trials for the college's track team," the girl replied with a nod. "How did you know?"

"I used to be a young athlete too, Miss," he winked with a chuckle.

"You say that as if it was a long time ago!" she noted with a cocked eyebrow.

"Well, it was a long time ago," Judge Patterson replied with a chuckle.

"Like what, three, or five years ago?"

"Add a two in front of those numbers and you'll be much closer to the truth," he said casually, smiling at the sight of the young girl widening her eyes in amazement.

"You're what? Forty?" she asked incredulous.

"Forty-eight actually," Mr. Patterson corrected playfully.

"WAOW!" The girl said in genuine amazement. "You sure don't look like it!"

"Thank you, my dear!" Mr. Patterson said before taking a step away from the girl. "Do you happen to be heading for the park?" he asked with curiosity. "It could be nice to have a jogging partner."

"It would have been with pleasure, but I have to meet up with a friend to jog with her," she said apologetically.

"In that case, I bid you a good day, Miss." Mr. Patterson said politely before he continued his jogging. "And, good luck for the trials!"

"Thanks! Good day to you too!" The dark skinned girl waved at the judge before jogging in the opposite direction.

The girl ran at a calm pace until she passed in front of the judge's property. She went inside an adjacent alley an an orangish pickup truck was parked with a tall, woman with short blonde hair hidden in a black hood which was pulled up to let her freckled face be shown, was pulling two backpacks out of the trunk.

"How did it go, Claude?" the blonde asked in a thick southern accent when noticed the dark skinned girl trotted to her pickup truck.

"Just as planned, my dear Jack!" Claude said happily as she pulled Patterson's house keys out of her jacket's pocket.

Claude took her cap and her black wig off, letting her two-toned blonde hair cascade on her shoulders. She gave stolen keys to Jack who gave her a towel in return. Claude used the towel to wipe the dark brown makeup off her face, slowly making her fair skin visible. As soon as it was done, she took her jogging outfit off to put on the same black clothes Jack was wearing.

"What did you see while I was getting the keys?" Claude asked as she passed her head through the hole of her pullover.

"Nothin' much," Jack replied with a shrug. "The front gate opens only with the right code, just like Vinyl had explained. Ah couldn't see what the code was with the binoculars. That Patterson fella made sure to stand in front of the keyboard."

"A wise man," Claude commented as she put a pair of thicker gloves in place of the small ones she was wearing when she stole the keys. "How do we pass the wall?" she asked, nodding at the property's three meters tall walls with metallic spikes on top.

"Like planned, Sugarcube," Jack replied matter-of-factly as she pulled the straps of her backpack tight.

"What about the cameras on the walls?" Claude asked as she also pulled the straps of her backpack tight.

"Ah observed them cameras' movements," Jack said as she and Claude, now fully equipped for their enterprise, walked to the edge of the alley to see if no one was in the street. "We have about a ten seconds window during which we can approach the wall without being seen," she explained as she pulled the hood down her face, leaving only her green eyes, which were locked on the security cameras, visible.

"When?" Claude asked with her hood pulled down as well.

"Right about...Now!" Jack pushed a button on her watch before making a mad sprint toward the property's wall.

Claude didn't miss the sudden start of her partner and ran right behind her. The pair crossed the street in the blink of an eye. Jack reached the other side walk before stopping a meter away from the wall. She twirled around, and joined her hands together when Claude was about to bump into her. The small blonde put her left feet on the tall one's joined hands before leaning her weight on them.

With a low grunt, Jack lifted her hands upwards while Claude jumped. The small blonde curled herself in a ball as she passed above the spikes before extending her body on the other side of the wall. As soon as her feet touched the ground, she leaned her body forward to roll over before crouching in the property's gardens.

Jack, on the other hand, used the wall itself as step ladder to climb on it easily. Her gloved hands grabbed the base of the spikes before she lifted herself up easily. Jack carefully passed above the pointy edges of the spikes before dropping herself in the gardens, landing on her feet, crouching at the impact with a low thud.

"Time?" Claude asked as Jack pushed again on the button of her watch's chronometer.

"8.5 seconds!" Jack said happily before Claude and she bumped their fists together. "Now, we gotta find the alarm control panel."

"Should be near the electric box on the north facade of the house, if the plans Patty hacked from the alarm company's database are accurate," Claude said as the pair discretely made way to the north side of the massive, two story mansion.

"For a company that makes business in security, their own security kinda sucks," Jack commented casually.

"Weird, right? Anyway, I'm not really complaining about it!" Claude and Jack quietly chuckled.

The pair of burglars reached the north side of the building without further complications. Claude pulled a smartphone out of her pocket and plugged it to a white cable which ended with two USB entries, one blue and the other white.

"You got Patty's instructions?"

"Here!" Jack pulled a pink sheet of paper out her pocket. "Now, let's see." She began reading the note. "First, ya gotta to find the camera’s control grid. Accordin' to this here note, it's supposed to behind in a small dark grey panel."

"Found it!" Claude said after finding the wanted panel, right between the electric circuit box and the telephone line. "What do I do next?" she asked as put the dark grey panel on the ground.

"Ya must start Patty's app, and when it says it's ready, ya must plug the USBs into the matching' colored slots..."

"Huh.... That's going to be problematic...." Claude commented nervously as she pointed the control circuit.

"Why are ya sayin.....Oh!" Jack blinked in surprise at what Claude was pointing at.

The USB slots on the house's control grid were red and green, not white and blue.

"Did Patty write anything about that?" Claude asked in a worried tone.

"Huuuuuh.... " Jack quickly read the entire pink note she had. "Aside from a warning sayin’ how important it is to not put the wrong USB in the slots because it'll automatically warn the security company, nope!" she said in a nervous chuckle.

"Urgh! What are we gonna do?" Claude stood up in a short panic before she started to pace around. "Let's think about it for a bit." she rubbed her temples as Jack crouched in front of the security grid. "To obtain green you must mix blue and yellow, which could mean that the blue USB must go into the green slot. Unless they thought we were going to think that because it would have been so obvious! But if they .."

"Problem solved! Let's go!" Jack interrupted Claude's thinking circles by grabbing her shoulder.

"Huh?" Claude stared at her friend in disbelief. "How did you find the right combination?"

"Ah didn't!" Jack said with a shrug. "Ah just pulled the darn thing out, and the cameras stopped moving!"

Claude looked at control box, only to see the electronic grid lying on the ground with all its cables ripped up with electric sparks coming from their other parts still connected to the house. Claude then looked at the cameras which were filming the outside of the property had indeed stopped moving, and the small red lights under the objectives were off.

"Not too subtle, but the results are here!" Claude commented slowly.

The pair walked to the mansion front door before Jack opened it with the keys Claude had stolen to the judge. They entered into a wonderfully decorated lobby with stairs that parted on the right and on the left of the hallway before joining on the floor below. The two thieves walked past the stairs before entering the very luxurious living room.

"Okay, we separate or we search the whole house together?" Claude asked.

"We don't have much time, so Ah say we divide the house. Up or ground?"

"I'll take up. Meet you in the lobby in thirty minutes?" Jack nodded and Claude was about to go for the stairs until her gaze fell on something in the corner of the living room. "Jack?" she called slowly.

"Yeah?" Jack asked while she was searching through the drawers of a long cupboard.

"Why are there three metallic bowls in the corner of the room?" Claude asked as she pointed at bowls in question.

"Probably the bowls of Mrs. Patterson's dogs," Jack shrugged as she found a rather large golden Rolex in one of the drawers.

"D-Dogs?" Claude asked fearfully in a shaking tone. "As in more than one?"

"Claude, don't worry!" Jack said firmly. "Mrs. Patterson is a model, they must be chihuahuas or any other race of froufrou-y purse rats. Besides, she surely took them with her for that shooting thing,"

As soon as she said this, the pair heard the sounds of many paws on the marble. They both looked back in the lobby as the sounds became clearer. Their eyes ended on the right end of the stairs at the very moment Mrs. Patterson's dogs came into view.

The three massive Rottweilers stared at the two thieves, tilting their heads with curiosity.

Claude started to shake like a leaf while Jack stood up and slowly put her hand on her friend's shoulder in reassurance. The dogs started to growl as they realized the two women in front of them had nothing to do in their masters' house.

"Try to not act scared," Jack advised slowly. "It excites them!"

"I'm not acting!" Claude replied in a terrified whisper.

The middle dog barked loudly before the three of them charged at the two thieves.

"RUN!" Jack shouted.

Claude didn't need to hear it twice. She ran away from the dogs as fast she could, heading to the dining room while Jack had run into the kitchen. Two Rottweilers decided to run after the small blonde. Claude jumped on the long dining table, quickly mimicked by one of her canine pursuers while the other ran next to the table.

Claude tried her best to ignore the furious barks directed at her while running like she had never run before. As the end of the table came close, she jumped to grab onto one of the crystal chandeliers of the room. Her momentum added to her made the chandelier tilt to the right of the room, bringing Claude closer to the lobby.

Claude let go of the chandelier as she heard the dog, surprised by its prey's sudden change of direction, fall from the table with a small whimper. Claude didn't forget the other dog after her though.

"Of course, they had to come after me two to one!" she muttered as she ran to the lobby when she heard the second dog barking at her while its companion quickly recovered from its fall.

Claude dashed to the corner of the lobby, taking two steps on the walls before leaning on them to jump and reach the second floor. She climbed up the ramp while her pursuers made for the stairs, giving her a small advantage.

The small thief ran across the corridor of the second floor as the dogs swiftly caught up on her due to their four legs. She dashed through two rooms before entering in a bathroom whose only exit a window too small for Claude to pass through. She was about to turn around when the two dogs started to sprint toward the bathroom she was in, barking furiously.

She climbed on the sink before leaning heavily on it as the dogs came closer. When they passed the door frame, Claude jumped, using the sink as a springboard. One of the dogs tried to bite her mid air, but it fell a millimeter too short. Once she landed on her feet, she twirled around and slammed the bathroom door closed.

The dogs scratched the door with a mix of low whimpers and angry barks, while Claude relaxed slowly. She was afraid of dogs, but if they were in another, closed, room, it was fine. After all, dogs couldn't open doors.

Claude blinked before blocking the door handle with a nearby chair. Just to be sure. Once that was done, she looked around and realized she was in Mrs. Patterson's dressing room, if the many pairs of shoes, fashionable dresses, haute couture tops, and fancy skirts were of any indication. Claude noticed the massive vanity at the other side of the room, unavoidably attracted by the dozens of jewelry caskets lying on it.

Claude pumped her fist in the air. "Jackpot!" she shouted excitedly. A second after her shout, the two imprisoned Rottweilers charged the door, shaking it violently while barking ferociously. "KYAAAAA!" she let out a high-pitched shriek of terror. "I need to get the hell out of here!" she shouted in panic before throwing her backpack on the vanity table before emptying all the caskets in it at top speed.

When she had looted all the jewelry, which represented no small amount, Claude closed her bag, put it right on her back and stormed out of the room to get to the corridor, closing all the doors she encountered behind her. As she reached stairs to the lobby, she remembered there were three dogs in the house, and that one of them had chased after Jack.

"Jack?" Claude called with worry as she reached the end of the stairway.

"Yeah?" Jack called back casually from the living room.

"Are you ok?" Claude asked, heading toward Jack's voice.

"Why shouldn't Ah be ok?"

"What happened to the ...." Claude froze when she saw the third Rottweiler trotting gently behind Jack while she was inspecting a beautifully decorated silver candle holder. "What is that monstrous thing doing here?" Claude asked fearfully as she hid behind the door.

"He ain't a monstrous thing, Claude!" Jack said in a reproaching tone while patting the dog's head. "His name's Regulus and he's a total sweetheart!" Regulus barked happily at the compliment, waggling his tiny tail.

"Did you miss the part when your total sweetheart and his two bloodthirsty friends tried to eat us not ten minutes ago?" Claude asked in a scared sarcasm.

"Their mistress ain't home. They must have wanted someone to play with them," Jack explained casually. "What did ya do to the others by the way?"

"Locked them in a bathroom upstairs, and NO, you can't go to get them out!" Claude shouted angrily, causing Regulus to growl at her.

"Tut tut shhhh!" Jack said softly to the dog who instantly became calm as a lamb. "Fine, Ah won't get them out, but ya need to calm down."

"I'll calm down when he's out of the room!" Claude demanded firmly, pointing at Regulus.

Jack sighed before turning her head toward the Rottweiler. "Regulus, go into the lobby and don't move from that spot," she demanded gently.

The dog let out a soft whimper with his ears flattening on his head and a sad pout before doing as Jack instructed. Regulus slowly trotted to one of the lobby's windows before sitting in front of it, his eyes focused outside. Claude got out from behind her door made shield, meeting a rather pissed Jack with arms crossed.

"What?" Claude asked angrily. "You know very well I'm scared of dogs!"

"Yeah, Ah know, but ya hurt his feelings!"

"I don't give a damn shit about that dog's feelings!" Claude retorted. "Not until he's on a leash and at least fifteen meters away from me!"

“Yeah, yeah,” Jack waved off in annoyance. “Anyway, ah took all that was interestin’ in this here room.” Jack shown the content of her bag. “Mainly silverware, some fancy golden or silver decorations, and ah found around a thousands bucks in the many drawers,” she explained casually. “We should search the other rooms quickly, we don’ have much time until he gets back.”

“Or, we could leave now,” Claude said with a triumphant smile. “Check what I found upstairs!” she said as she passed her bag to Jack.

“Oh Nelly!” Jack whistled with wide eyes at the large quantity of jewels in her friend’s backpack. “Ya sure ya didn’t rob some fancy jewelry store while ya were running away from them dogs?” she asked with a chuckle.

“Mrs. Patterson sure has enough jewelry to open a small one,” Claude commented.

“A bit too much for a skinny lady like her,” Jack added as she inspected a large diamond enchased on a golden band. “Ah think we’ll do her a huge favor by taking this from here!” she smirked as she let the golden band fall in the bag. “Good job, Claude!”

“Thank you, Jack!” Claude said while rubbing her chest in a very modest tone.

Regulus suddenly barked deeply at his window, startling Claude who jumped into Jack’s arms with a high-pitched shriek. Jack had to struggle a bit to lose her footing due to the sudden add of weight. She glared at Claude before letting her fall on the ground with a surprised yelp.

“What is it, Regulus?” Jack asked as she went to the dog’s side, while closing Claude’s bag.

Regulus let out a soft whimper while poking the thin, white curtains of the window. Jack slowly parted the curtains to peek outside for a second or two. She then patted dog’s head while scratching behind his left ear with her finger. Regulus shown his appreciation for the gesture by wiggling his short tail.

“Good boy,” Jack said with affection before heading back to the living room. “Claude, hurry up!” she called her friend.

“What’s going on?” Claude asked as she stood up, rubbing her butt with a small wince.

“We got company,” Jack said with a small grin.

*******

“Come on, Dash!” the young police officer with short orangish-blonde hair, Delilah Lisander, called her brown haired colleague in annoyance. “We’ve been standing there for more than fifteen minutes. You can see that nothing’s going on in here!” she added while pointing at Judge Patterson’s house.

“Then, why did we get a call from the security company that their cameras ceased working?” Renée Marianne Dashell, also called Dash by her co-workers, asked with a cocked eyebrow before turning her gaze on the judge’s house.

“Maybe it was just a simple break down,” their white haired partner, Gilda Griffin, suggested with a shrug as she exited the patrol car. “We should still stay until one of the residents shows up,” she quickly added when Dash turned around to glare at her. “Just to be safe.”

“Thanks!” Dash turned back to watching the house. “Also, the probability for one of the surveillance cameras to break down is extremely low, so you can imagine the probability for it to happen to all of them.”

The other two police officers blinked before staring at their colleague with a puzzled frown.

“Since when do you actually know that stuff?” Delilah asked slowly.

“Heard it somewhere,” Dash replied with a shrug.

“You’ve been hanging around the crime labs again, haven’t you?” Gilda asked with a knowing sigh. “That pushover from the “mind hunters” department will never glance at you!”

“Hey! She’s not a pushover!” Dash replied angrily. “And, what do you mean she’ll never glance at me?” she asked with a small blush.

“Well, she kinda is,” Delilah chimed in slowly. “She apologizes to anyone who walks close to her because she thinks she’s in the way,”

“And, she’ll never look at you, because she’s too busy hiding from everyone behind her curtain of hair!” Gilda said with a mocking laugh. “What a scaredy cat.”

“Come again, G!” Dash retorted furiously. “I didn’t hear you quite clearly!”

Delilah put herself between her two partners as Dash took a threatening step toward Gilda, hoping to calm them by reminding them why they were here in the first place.

“Hmm, excuse me, officers,” a calm man’s voice called the three officers, interrupting their argument. “May I ask what are you doing in front of my front gate?” the voice asked politely.

The three cops immediately stopped their ‘fight’ to turn their head to the source, seeing a very puzzled Judge Patterson who had just come back from his morning jogging.

“Is that your house?” Dash asked rather abruptly. “Sir?” she added softly as she realized she hadn’t been very polite.

“Indeed, officer,” Judge Patterson replied casually. “Is there something wrong?”

“We received a call from Monitronics,” Gilda explained calmly. “Apparently, your surveillance cameras stopped working about thirty-five minutes ago. We went to see what was going on.”

“Would you mind if we get inside to see what it is about?” Dash asked.

“Of course, not!” Patterson immediately answered before heading toward his front gate’s electronic panel. “Give me second to open the gate,” he added before typing the code to open the front gate.

Within the following seconds, the front gate automatically opened to let the judge and the three policewomen enter. The group headed straight for the house’s front door, passing in front of the beautiful gardens of the property.

Gilda let out a very impressed whistle at how well maintained the property’s gardens were. Something that earned her a small whack behind the skull from a frowning Dash when Mr. Patterson wasn’t watching.

“Is there anyone inside?” Delilah asked professionally as they reached the small stairs before the front door.

“Aside from my wife’s dogs, no,” Patterson replied as he put his hand into his left pocket to get his keys. “She’s absent because of her work.” He frowned when he didn’t find his keys. “That’s strange, I was certain to have put them in my left pocket,” he whispered as he went through his other pockets.

“You sure you had them when you left?” Dash asked. “I mean, considering the front gate needs no key to open itself.”

“Positive!” Patterson replied firmly. “I locked the door, put the keys in my pockets, closed the front gate and headed for Central Park for my usual jogging.”

“Has anyone stopped along the way?” Dash asked abruptly.

“Well, there was that young jogger…” his eyes widened in realization. “She accidently bumped into me three or four streets from here,” he said slowly.

“Did you have your keys after that?” Gilda asked firmly.

“I… I didn’t check,” Mr. Patterson admitted.

“Probably a pickpocket,” Dash muttered for herself. “Can you describe that…”

“Guys,” Delilah interrupted them softly, her hand on the door handle. “It’s open.”

Delilah slowly opened the door and the three cops, followed by the judge, cautiously entered into the silent lobby. The three cops pulled their guns out, in case something bad might be waiting them.

“Didn’t you say that your wife’s dogs were supposed to be here?” Gilda asked quietly as the quatuor headed through the lobby to the living room.

Patterson nodded in silence.

“I wonder where they are?” Delilah said as they were about to enter the living room.

“You just needed to ask, dear officers,” A very sophisticated, girly voice said in a perfect Manhattan accent.

The voice came from inside the floor above, and the next thing the quatuor heard was a someone whistling sharply. Mrs. Patterson’s Rottweilers stormed out of the living room before each of them tackled one of the three police officers to the ground, letting the three guns escape from their hands.

“Oh… Get him off me!” Gilda called in a choked growl as one of the dogs was sitting on her chest.

“AAAAAH that’s so gross!” Delilah shouted in disgust as the dog pinning her was copiously licking her face.

“Hey, get your dogs away!” Dash called for Patterson while the last dog was lying on her upper body, blocking her two arms under his weight.

“That won’t be possible, I’m afraid,” the voice spoke again, this time closer to the three pinned officers.

Dash managed to turn her head toward the voice, seeing a tall woman completely wearing a black outfit with a hood that masked everything except her eyes, looking at the three policewomen struggling against their canine opponents on the ground while another person wearing a similar black outfit had pulled Mr. Patterson far away from his dogs before pinning him on the ground.

“I do believe you three are carrying something that weighs you a lot, aren’t you?” the tall woman asked with a soft chuckle.

“No shit, bitch!” Gilda cursed loudly, causing the dog on top of her to growl angrily at her.

“Easy, Augustus,” the tall thief said softly, instantly calming the angry dog. “Now, as I was saying,” she walked closer to the orange haired police officer. “Let me help you with that unnecessary weight you’re all carrying.”

She crouched between the pinned bodies of Gilda and Delilah before she pulled their personal walkie-talkie from their belt. The thief moved on to do the same to Dash’s, earning a furious glare from the brown haired cop. The burglar then patted the head of the dog lying on Dash before taking a few steps away before crashing the radios on the floor before stomping on it for good measure.

“Now, we bid you a good day,” she said while heading for the door. “Don’t be mad at your dogs, sir,” she added to Patterson as she opened the door. “I learned how to make dogs ten times less obedient than these three Lassies .”

The tall thief with the sophisticated accent waved at her partner who let go of Mr. Patterson before the two ran outside the house before slamming the front door behind them. Free from the smaller thief's grip, Patterson quickly went to freed the cops from his dogs.

The three policewomen rushed to the door, after having regained their handguns and glaring at the dogs who had been pinning them to the ground a few seconds earlier. When Gilda pushed the handle down, the door didn’t open. The burglars had locked them in with Patterson’s keys.

“SON OF A BITCH!” Gilda roared as she punched the front door.

“Let’s climb out one of the windows!” Dash shouted before Delilah opened the large window in the left staircase.

The three cops jumped through that window before making a mad sprint toward the front gate. Dash, being the fastest runner among them, was the first one to reach the gate which was open. As she passed through the opening, Dash saw the smaller thief running into an alley across the street before the back of black gloved hand appeared from her left and crashed into her nose.

“DASH!” Delilah roared in fury as Dash’s body did a backflip because of the impact and landed heavily on her back.

While Dash was holding her now bloody nose, Delilah pulled out her telescopic billy, Gilda grabbed her gun, and the tall thief exited from behind the wall. The orange-y blonde haired police officer tried to hit the thief’s head.

The thief grabbed the attacking cop’s wrist before twisting it strongly. As Delilah grunted in pain, the burglar gave a powerful uppercut right on the celiac plexus, causing her to gape before she let go of her billy.

“Stop, or I’ll shoot!” Gilda roared as she pointed her gun at the thief.

The criminal’s reaction was to kick Delilah in the stomach to send her stumbling backward toward her partner. The time it took for Gilda to avoid her colleague in order to keep a clear shot at the robber was all said robber needed.

The tall woman in black grabbed the breech of the gun, pushed it toward Gilda to eject the bullet from the barrel. Then, she pushed on the button to eject the magazine out of the gun before kicking it away before it reached the ground. Before Gilda could react, she was elbowed in the chest. The thief did a spinning kick in the back of the cop’s knee, making her fall on her back with a pained groan.

The tall thief glanced at the three cops on the ground as she dusted herself before heading casually across the still empty street where an orangish pickup had just driven out of the alley. Dash managed to stand back on her feet when the one who had just beat her and her two colleagues up was taking place on the driver seat.

“Come on, you two!” She yelled while wiping her bleeding nose.

Gilda and Dash quickly help Delilah on her feet before they reached for their patrol car. The orange pickup was still in sight as the thieves were driving toward Central Park.

“Contact the central!” Dash ordered to Gilda as she started the car’s engine. “Tell them we’re in pursuit of an orange Dodge pickup truck on the 79th street, heading to the 5th avenue!”

“Huh… that won’t be possible,” Gilda growled. “That bitch cut the radio’s cord!” she explained as she threw the cb’s microphone, which wasn’t connected to the radio anymore, on the car’s floor.

“We’ll do this the hard way, then!” Dash shouted before speeding away.

The police unit didn’t speed away at all. The car was slow and moving with a high-pitched screeching sound. Dash stopped the car, opened the door and glanced at the front left tire.

“FUCK!” she yelled in frustration as she noticed the tire had been cut open, figuring out the others were in a similar state.

******

As their orange pickup truck was heading North on the fifth avenue, with no cops on their trail, something that puzzled Claude a lot..

“How come they’re not coming after us?” she asked with worry.

“Kinda hard to start a car with four flat tires, Sugarcube,” Jack replied with a small grin in her usual southern accent while she pulled out a large hunting knife from its holster attached to her boot. “This here baby can cut the rubber of a tire like it’s butter!” she explained while turning in the 87th street.

“Well, without their radios and their car, we should be able to get home without any trouble,” Claude commented as she pulled her hood up and relax on her seat. “How did you do that by the way?”

“Do what?” Jack pulled her hood up as well, before she engaged the pick up on Madison Avenue.

“That thing with the Rottweilers!” Claude specified firmly. “How come they obeyed you?”

“Mama used to train dogs back at the farm,” Jack explained with nostalgia. “She taught me a few tricks.”

“And that Manhattan accent?” Claude asked.

“Something Ah was forced to pick up by ma foster family,” Jack replied sourly. “Never thought it’d come handy one day.”

“Well, that kinda save you today,” Claude added matter-of-factly. “Your real voice is recognizable among a thousand.” Jack nodded slowly.

“So, what did ya think of Regulus, Augustus and Maximus?” Jack asked with a chuckle while Claude shivered at the mention of the three Rottweilers. “Without them, it’d have been a lot less easy to escape.”

“Well, I must admit that for three bloodthirsty, four legged monsters, they were ok,” Claude said in a low tone.

“They ain’t monsters,” Jack said in offence. “They were cuddlier than teddy bears!”

“I maintain that they wanted to eat me!” Claude pouted before crossing her arms.

Jack sighed. “One day, we’ll get you rid of that fear of dogs.”

“Yeah, and one day, you’ll stop hating the Apple company,” Claude retorted sarcastically.

“That’s different!” Jack shouted angrily! “Their founders went to ma family’s orchard and used our name to start their business! Then, them rascals sued us and we were forced to change our name to Smith!”

“I know you told us that story many times, but I’m still not believing it,” Claude replied matter-of-factly.

“What with all the….” Jack grumbled before taking a deep breath. “How about Ah drive us home in silence?” she asked in a low angry tone.

“Speaking of home;” Claude said with interest. “You think Vinyl and Patty did okay?”

“They surely did things a lot more discreetly than us, that’s for sure,” Jack commented. “But, Ah doubt they got more than us with what you took from Mrs. Patterson’s jewelry boxes,” she added with a chuckle.

“Yeah, I don’t think we’re gonna have to do the dishes for the next two weeks,” Claude said while gently patting her bag full of jewelry. “No way, Vinyl or Patty got something as cool as that!”

“Sure thing, Sugarcube!”

Prologue part 3 : Home & NYPD

Vinyl was driving her black van up Edgewater road until she turned right in a small, discreet dirt path that lead through Garrison Park, right after the scrap merchant. She followed the path hidden by the trees for a good minute or two before she and Patty arrived in front of an abandoned looking train depot under the bridge of Buckner boulevard.

“Home, sweet home,” Patty said softly before she got out of the vehicle to open the garage’s door.

While Vinyl parked the van inside the garage, Patty was jumping to reach for the door’s handle, which she had lifted too high for her when she opened the door. Vinyl couldn’t stop herself from chuckling as her friend flayed her arms in the air mid-jump, hoping it’d somehow made her jump higher.

Should I remind her there’s the chain to open/close the door right next to her? Vinyl asked herself mentally before she heard the sound of another vehicle coming closer. “Patty, wait! I think Jack and Claude are back,” she called before glancing outside.

Just like she thought, Jack’s orange pickup truck was heading toward the garage’s entrance. When the pickup was parked next to the van, Jack stepped out of the vehicle to walk up to Vinyl while Claude went to help Patty closing the garage’s door.

“How did it go, Vi’?” Jack asked with curiosity.

“Like clockwork, Jack!” Vinyl replied happily. “Easily found more than ten thousand bucks in the pianist’s vault,” she explained with a smile while Jack whistled softly. “What about you?”

“Claude raided Patterson’s wife’s vanity, come have a look,” Jack said before going back to her pickup with Vinyl in tow.

In the meantime, Claude took a few steps on the wall before jumping to grab the handle of the garage’s door, only to end up suspended in the air because the door didn’t budge due to Claude’s low weight, something that made Patty laugh loudly.

“WOHOHO!” Vinyl let out in amazement as Jack showed her the content of Claude’s backpack. “That’s a lot jewels,” she commented. “I think you and Claude are the winners today.”

“Well, maybe not,” Jack said hesitantly. “Cops showed up and saw us leaving in the pickup.”

“How come the cops showed up?” Vinyl asked. “If you took care of the alarm with Patty’s app, you shouldn’t have had problems with them…. Unless someone saw you climbing the wall, of course,” Vinyl suggested with a pensive frown.

“Yeah, about the app...” Jack explained the problem they encountered with the security system and how she had ‘solved’ it and she had managed the cops.

“So, you beat the three cops up after having broken their walkie-talkies, cut their car’s CB radio’s cord, and cut their car’s tires open,” Vinyl summarized after Jack ended her tale. The blonde simply nodded. “Well, since you didn’t get trouble on the way here, they mustn’t have given your pickup description yet,” she added with a shrug.

“At worst they know Ah have an orange Dodge pickup,” Jack said softly. “Dodge pickup trucks are common in town, so Ah was thinking of stripping the orange, repaint the truck, and change the number plates. To be sure!”

“Good idea,” Vinyl said before a very loud clang startled her and Jack. “What the hell are you two doing?” she shouted at Patty who had finally managed to close to door by clutching onto Claude, thus adding enough weight for the door to come down, making them both fall on the ground.

“Duh, we’re closing the door, silly,” Patty replied with a roll of her eyes from underneath Claude.

“Let’s just take stock of what we got,” Vinyl said after a short, heavy silence as she rubbed her eyes in annoyance.

Vinyl went back to her van to take her and Patty’s bag from the van while Jack took her and Claude’s from her pickup. The four then headed out of the garage to enter into the former depot’s warehouse.

Except it didn’t look like a warehouse anymore. Ever since the four girls had decided to make their hideout of the abandoned train depot many years ago, the empty and dusty warehouse had turned into a decently furnished loft. Sure, the walls were bare of any paint, the floor was dirty and dusty, but they had a fully equipped kitchen, a few couches and chairs around a large coffee table, a desk for each one of them and a small dog house near the kitchen. It wasn’t much, but it was their home, and they liked it.

Patty’s desk was covered by electronic parts and her faithful pink laptop she had affectionately named “Pinkie”; Claude had the simplistic miniatures of both Mr Patterson’s property and Mr. Horzowski’s apartment, they had used to prepare this morning burglaries on top of hers; Vinyl’s was occupied by the many blueprints Patty had hacked at some point; On top of Jack’s desk was lying the many tools she used to clean her knife and the few guns the group kept here. Despite the four girls hoping they’ll never have to use any of them, Vinyl and Jack were intransigent on keeping them perfectly functional. Knowing who their debt holder was, it was a safe precaution.

“GUMMY! MOMMIES ARE HOME!” Patty shouted excitedly the second the group entered the living area.

After her shout, there was some hissing sounds coming from the dog house. A two and a half feet long green alligator, wearing a deeper green dog collar with a bone shaped medallion around its neck, dashed out of the dog house toward the four women, waggling its scaly tail happily.

“Awwww! He’s all happy to see us!” Patty coed affectionately as she kneeled on the ground to pat gummy’s head, earning pleased hiss from the small alligator.”Who’s a good boy? Who’s a good boy?”

“Ah know Ah said many times already,” Jack said as Patty asked Gummy to shake-a-claw, something the reptile did. “But, we really should take him to the vet.”

“Jack, we’ve been through this already,” Claude said in annoyance while Vinyl rolled her eyes and lifted her hands in the air, silently saying she wouldn’t take part in that conversation.

“Why do you want to take him to vet?” Patty asked with worry. “He’s not sick, is he?”

“Well, it ain’t really normal for an alligator to behave like he does right now,” Jack commented as Gummy was sitting up and begging in front of Patty.

“I don’t see a difference from how he usually is,” Patty said, not getting what Jack was implying.

“That’s mainly the problem, Sugar,” Jack said impatiently. “He’s an alligator, not a dog!”

“I know that, silly!” Patty said casually. “I mean, look at him! Green scales, claws, a large maw, reptilian purple eyes. He has nothing of a dog!”

“Well, if ya don’t count the behavior,” Jack snarled.

Patty glared at her blonde friend. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“We’re probably the only people in the world to have an alligator who thinks he’s a dog. That’s what it means!” Jack retorted.

“So, because he’s different than the others, you want to take him to the vet?!” Patty asked angrily before picking Gummy in her arms to hug him. “I bet it’s because his daddy and mommy thought the same as you that he ended up in the sewers where I found him!”

“Sure, because New York is the home of irresponsible and horrible alligators parents,” Claude commented from the bar chair she was sitting on, only to be ignored by the two arguing women.

“And, I didn’t hear you complain whenever he brought you your slippers, like a good dog would do,” Patty argued angrily.

“Patty, Ah don’ call him accidently whipping one of ma boots next to ma feet “bringing ma slippers”.” Jack replied apathetically.

Jack and Patty continued to argue about the rightness of their pet alligator’s state of mind. At some point, Patty put Gummy on the kitchen’s countertop. The alligator slowly walked up to Vinyl who was leaning on the countertop, a can of soda in her hand. Gummy gently nudged her elbow before Vinyl softly chuckled, and scratched his chin tenderly.

“So, what did you do when we were gone?” Vinyl asked while Gummy was hissing of pleasure.

Gummy’s reply was to jump from the countertop to the ground, landing heavily with a low thud. Then, he rushed to his dog, no, alligator house before coming back to Vinyl’s side with the handle of a large, slightly wet, red purse in his maw. He let the bag fall at a very surprised Vinyl’s feet.

“Where on earth did you get that?” Vinyl asked slowly as she picked the purse up.

*******

At the same moment, in the police post at the North of Central Park.

“So, let me see if I got this right, Miss.” Officer Benson said calmly, his eyes on the deposition he had just written. “You were relaxing near the bank of the Harlem Meer in Central Park…” he glanced at the woman in front of him who quickly nodded. “When, suddenly, a small crocodile bursted out of the water, “barked” at you…”

“Well, he was doing those crocodile sounds, but it look like he barked,” the woman with messy white hair said uneasily. “Kinda like this,” she added before letting out a mix of a bark and a hiss. “See?”

“Huh-huh,” Officer Benson let out with a nod. “Then, that barking crocodile grabbed a handle of your purse and pulled until you let go….”

“Yes! Then, he returned into the water, wagging his tail like a dog!” the woman nearly shouted in impatience. “That’s what I’ve telling you for the past half-hour!”

“Are you sure that’s what happened?” Benson asked doubtfully.

“YES! You have to believe me!” the woman with messy white hair said as she grabbed the officer’s collar and pulled him close. “I am not crazy!”

“Suuuuuure, you aren’t,” Benson let out slowly, while not much convinced by what he was saying.

*******

“Well, I don’t know how you pulled that off, Gummy.” Vinyl opened the fridge after having checked the interior of the purse. “But, you deserve a little reward!” she pulled out a decently sized, juicy steak from the fridge. “There you go!” she said affectionately, throwing the meat in Gummy’s expecting maw.

While Gummy was enjoying his treat, Patty and Jack were still arguing about his “condition” under the curious gaze of Claude, whose head was going from right to left as if watching a tennis game. Vinyl sighed before grabbing the four backpacks along with the purse before heading for the best chair around the coffee table, on which she threw the fives bags.

She sat on her chair with a relaxed sigh before hearing a hissed whimper coming from her feet. Vinyl didn’t need to look down to know what their pet wanted. She smiled before tapping her thigh softly, causing Gummy to climb her legs before curling himself on her lap to have a small nap. As her favorite alligator was comfortably installed, Vinyl glanced at her friends.

“Girls, cut it out!” Vinyl said with a firm tone, instantly stopping the argument between the tall blonde and the pink haired nerd who both turned around to look at her. “Patty, for the last time, Gummy does not behave like a normal alligator!” she saw that Patty was about to tell her off. “And, that’s just fine! We will not take him to a vet for that! Jack,” she called for the blonde. “Yes, that’s weird, but I’d rather have an alligator who thinks he’s a dog than a normal alligator, or a dog who thinks he’s an alligator!”

“Well, now that you put it like that,” Jack said uneasily.

“Now, that we cleared that off, get your asses over here! All of you!” Vinyl ordered. “We have stuff to do, and I’m not counting all this stuff by myself!” she pointed at the five bags on the coffee table.

“Where did that purse come from?” Claude asked in confusion as she sat on the couch with Patty, who seemed to be a little jealous that Gummy was on Vinyl’s lap.

“Gummy brought it,” Vinyl explained while patting on the sleeping alligator’s head. “No idea how he did that though.” she shrugged. “That’s just one more mystery about our little, scaly friend.”

“Let’s start the counting,” Jack said before grabbing Claude’s bag and opening it.

“WAOW!” Patty shouted with eyes the size of ping pong balls. “That’s all the jewels Mrs. Patterson had?”

“In her home, yes,” Claude said triumphantly. “That means you and Vinyl will have to do the dishes for the next two weeks!”

“Oh, because you think we didn’t get more than you did?” Patty asked cheerfully.

“As much as I hate doing the dishes, Patty, I think we didn’t get as much as the worth of the bag of jewels,” Vinyl commented casually. “I hope Alard won’t mind this payment partly in nature though. No way we can sell that much jewelry without catching too much attention,” she added in a low tone.

“NAHA! None of what they got matches what YOU got!” Patty pointed at Vinyl with a small grin.

“What exactly did she get?” Jack asked curiously.

Vinyl softly chuckled. “I don’t think that counts, Patty.”

“What counts?” Claude asked in confusion.

“Vinyl scored with the Pianist’s girlfriend!” Patty explained cheerfully while the others’ eyes widened in surprise.

“..... Come again?” Jack said softly.

“What exactly do you mean by “scored with the pianist’s girlfriend”?” Claude asked with interest, her eyes fixed on Vinyl.

“She didn’t want to tell me earlier,” Patty said while she and Claude scooted closer to Vinyl to pressure her.

“You made out with her or what?” Claude asked eagerly. “Come on, you can tell us!” Vinyl sighed with a small grin before raising two fingers up. “Twice?!”

“Woooo! Details please?” Patty asked excitedly.

“Details are for me and her to know,” Vinyl replied playfully, but her voice was firm enough that Claude and Patty figured it was no use to press the matter further.

“Ah hope ya didn’t leave any traces behind, Vi,” Jack said casually while counting the roll of bills she had pulled out from one of the bags. “

“Don’t worry, Sleeping Beauty was kind enough to erase traces of my passage without me asking,” Vinyl said with a wink before inspecting the bag full of Mrs. Patterson’s jewels. “Hmmm, might have to check to make sure there aren’t any unique pieces from some famous jeweller or something… Can you check, Patty?” she asked as she threw the bag at Patty.

“Sure thing!” Patty nodded before grabbing the bag while standing up to get to her desk.

“Nice catch on the 17 inches laptop, girls,” Claude commented as she pulled out Horsowski’s former Macbook out of Patty’s bag.

“Ah hate the Apple Company!” Jack muttered angrily when she noticed the apple-shaped logo on the computer.

“We know, Jack! We know!” the three replied simultaneously with a short chuckle before the four girls went back to making inventory of what Gummy and them had stolen in the morning.

*******

On the eleventh floor of the NYPD headquarters on the 1, Police Plaza, were installed the labs of the police scientific department. That’s where Commissioner Sherman Shields had joined the crime scene investigation squads to hear their reports on the two burglaries that hadhappened earlier that day.

“Now, what can you tell us about the one at Judge Patterson’s house, Twila?” Celeste Heliopolis, the chief of the scientific department asked the ebony-toned woman with a pink highlights in her shoulder long, black hair.

“Sadly, not much,” Twila said with disappointment as she went through her notes. “Spencer and I looked the cameras footage before they deactivated, there’s not a single image of one of the two thieves on it.” she said sourly after pointing at the slightly younger man with spiky black hair beside her.

“We did find some rather deep footprints in the gardens just behind the wall,” Spencer commented slowly. “We believe they found a blind spot in the cameras and exploited it by climbing the wall.”

“Wasn’t that wall at least three and a half meters tall with metallic spikes on top?” Sherman asked his younger siblings with curiosity.

“Indeed it was,” Twila said with a nodded. “I know it doesn’t sound feasible, but that’s what the evidence showed.”

“Go on, then,” Celeste invited as Sherman gave a curt nod to his younger sister.

“We found out how they deactivated the cameras, but it’d not have needed to be a genius for that,” Twila said with a pissed snort.

“They simply ripped the whole panel off the wall,” Spencer explained at the sight of his two superiors and other two colleagues’ cocked eyebrows.

“Could you repeat that, Spencer dear? I think I misunderstood what you said,” the woman with long, perfectly styled dark auburn hair asked after blinking a couple of times in confusion.

“S-sur-sure thing, Rarity,” Spencer stammered with a small blush, much like every time Rarity spoke to him. “I inspected what was left of the surveillance grid, which wasn’t much by the way, and it clearly showed that someone violently pulled it out of the wall.”

“How subtle,” Rarity commented sarcastically.

“How did they get in after that?” the last woman in the room, a young, beautiful blonde with incredibly long hair, asked quietly. “Did they break the window or something?”

“No, they had managed to pickpocket the house’s keys before going over the wall!” Twila replied angrily, causing the blonde to shy away behind her long hair.

“She’s a bit mad because Patterson said that the one who stole his keys looked a lot like her,” Spencer explained when Twila’s retort earned her a new set of cocked eyebrows. “Only that the thief didn’t have the pink highlights in her hair and she was a bit smaller than her.”

“Understandable, but still not a reason to snap at Chylene like that,” Celeste commented sternly.

“I know,” Twila admitted slowly. “I’m sorry, Chylene. It’s just…. We’ve got nothing!”

“What do you mean?” Sherman asked in confusion.

“What I said, Sherman!” Twila said impatiently. “No fingerprints, no hair, no DNA, nothing that could give us a solid lead on the culprits!” she threw her notepad on the table in frustration. “The only things we know are: that the tall one weighs about 170 pounds, is about 6 feet tall, speaks with a fancy Manhattan accent, can beat up three cops in less than thirty seconds; that small one looks alot like me; and that they simply came in a orange pickup truck that they’re probably painting in another color as we speak!”

“Twila, calm down!” Celeste said firmly. “I know it’s your first case as a principal investigator, but you don’t have to snap just because they didn’t leave enough evidence for us to work with!” Twila slowly nodded before sitting back on her seat with an angry pout. “What about the one at Mr. Horzowski’s duplex, Chylene, Rarity?”

“Materially speaking, we don’t have much more than Twila on her case,” Rarity said while searching through her file. “A few scratches on the guardrail of the fire escape. From what they said in the labs, they could have been caused by some some special hooks for climbing which can be found in basically any sports shop in town. The duct tape they used to keep the window together can be bought in every hardware store in the world,” she explained in a soft, yet annoyed voice.

“Just like for Mr. Patterson’s house, no fingerprints, no hair… If it weren’t for the note the burglar left and the mess he made in the living room, you could swear no one other than Mr. Horzowski and his girlfriend entered the apartment.” Rarity passed copies of the note she had found in the open vault.

“Wow, that’s actually pretty bold!” Spencer commented in slightly admirative tone as he finished reading the note.

“Gotta admit he sure wasn’t scared,” Twila commented. “The last PS could mean the thief’s one of the girlfriend’s exes, right?”

“Hum, actually,” Chylene chimed in quietly, a small blush on her cheeks. “Ms. Bluenote kissed the burglar during the theft by accident.”

“Beg pardon?” Spencer, Sherman, Celeste and Twila asked in disbelief.

“Well, apparently her boyfriend had left the room, leaving her without blanket and the window open,” Chylene explained. “She felt someone bringing the blanket and on her and thought it was her boyfriend, so she…. She kissed him as a thank you while she was still half asleep.”

“Oh,” the four let out in surprise.

“And here I thought gentlemen burglars only existed in novels,” Rarity commented with a short giggle. “Though that explains why the thief was so generous on complimenting Ms. Bluenote in his note.”

“Not that she wasn’t complimenting him either,” Chylene said softly. “But that was more to make her boyfriend mad than anything else. He had been pretty mean to her when they found the note,” she explained softly.

“Indeed, she did stress the fact that the robber was a fantastic kisser!” Rarity added with another giggle.

“And you didn’t find trace of the burglar’s DNA on Ms. Bluenote?” Twila asked with curiosity.

“I did take a sample of her spit,” Chylene said. “But she confessed she had taken several mouthwashes after the incident. As much as good of a kisser he was, she didn’t really like being kissed by a stranger.”

“I guess that I can understand that,” Twila said softly. “So apart from the note, we got nothing?”

“Exactly,” Rarity replied with a nod. “Say, Chylene, what can we deduce of the thief’s profile with that note?”

“Not much, I’m afraid,” Chylene said in apologetic tone. “I can say from his handwriting that the note was completely improvised and written in a rush. The same could be said about that disc the thief left behind. All that were the result of an unexpected incident: the thief kissing Ms. Bluenote.“ Chylene couldn’t stop herself from blushing at the mention of the word kissing. “It’s that interaction that caused the change of music that warned Horzowski that something was wrong, and the note that he found later on.”

“Why would he do something like that?” Sherman asked with curiosity. “That must have maximized the risk of getting caught!”

“I think the thief wanted to catch their attention, especially Ms. Bluenote’s,” she explained in a professional, yet quiet tone.

“It does look like a declaration addressed to the miss, now that you make think about it,” Sherman commented as he reread the note.

“So, he was hitting on her after he robbed her boyfriend?” Twila asked with disbelief.

“You could say that,” Chylene replied calmly. “It might also have been a trick to focus Horzwoski’s attention on something else, giving enough time to escape,” she supposed as she passed her hair behind her ear. “Maybe a little bit of both, but more interested in getting the girl’s attention.”

“I think you’re right about that, Chylene,” Celeste commented. “If he just wanted a distraction, I don’t think he would have apologized for taking her jewels. That was just an opportunity for him to compliment Ms. Bluenote.” She slowly smiled. “Quite nicely, I might add.”

“So, our robber is a lady-killer?” Rarity asked. “That englobes around half the population in New York, talk about useful news,” she added when her blonde colleague nodded.

“At least, it’s still news,” Sherman commented softly.

“Wasn’t it a tad overconfident of him to leave such a message?” Spencer asked, his eyes fixed on the note.

Chylene shook her head. “Bold? Surely! Overconfident? I don’t think so!” she said firmly. “That message is as much for us as it was for the two victims. He must have known we would read it and try to analyze it. What can we deduce of important from that letter?” Chylene didn’t wait for a reply. “Nothing!”

“We can say that he’s a seducer! We can say that he likes electronic music over Chopin! That he’s the kind of thief who steals a computer but who’s kind enough to sent back the personal data later on!” Chylene shook her head. “That’s worth nothing! Plus the way he signed: the one who just robbed you! He’s mocking us, because he knows we have nothing to get him!” Chylene stated firmly before blinking as she realized she had stood up during her explanation. “Well, that’s what I think it is,” she added in a sheepish whisper as she sat back on her chair.

“So, he’s a seducer with attitude?” Rarity asked.

“Most likely,” Chylene replied quietly. “I know it doesn’t help really help us, but that’s all I could gather from the note.”

“Well, that’s two burglaries without any lead to the culprits,” Celeste commented with sigh. She rubbed her forehead while thinking about something. “Did the two victims have anything in common?”

“Not really,” Spencer commented. “Patterson’s a judge and Horzowski’s a pianist. Not really related jobs in my opinion.”

“Why do you ask?” Sherman asked with curiosity.

“Two nearly perfect burglaries both happening at around 6am on a Sunday?” Celeste replied sharply. “A bit too much for a coincidence, no?”

“Kinda,” Rarity admitted slowly.

“Hang on!…. I think I read something….HAHA!” Twila said excitedly as she flipped through the two files. “Both of them had their alarm installed by Monitronics, and in both burglars the security system was deactivated first, even if was by different methods,”

“I think we’ve got a lead now,” Celeste said with a small grin. “Twila, Spencer! Go Monitronics’ office and see if someone broke through their security!”

“Yes, Ma’am!” Twila and Spencer said as they stood up before exiting the meeting room.

“What about Chylene and I, Madam?” Rarity asked.

“Go over what they collected in Judge Patterson’s house, and see if Chylene can profile the burglars, they left more elements for her to work with than in Horzwoski’s duplex.” Celeste ordered calmly.

“Understood, Madam,” Chylene and Rarity nodded before also going out of the room, leaving the chief of the scientific department and the police captain alone.

“You think Twila and Spencer are going to find something at Monitronics?” Sherman asked slowly after a short silence.

“If my intuition is correct, they’ll find nothing,” Celeste muttered with a deep, annoyed frown.

“You think they did it?” Sherman asked, frowning as well. “That’d be a first time they’d actually have done something with someone still inside the house, or that someone actually saw one of them,” he said slowly.

“It’s not like they never changed their modus operandi before,” Celeste retorted sarcastically.

“Celeste, why are you so sure that it might be….”

“One hundred thirty-eight!”

“What?” Sherman asked in confusion.

“That’s the number of unsolved burglary cases in the last eight years,” Celeste explained slowly. “If we add the two of this morning, that’ll be one hundred forty,”

“Hang on, how can you be so sure those from this morning will be unsolved?”

“Do you know what the first hundred thirty-eight had in common?” Celeste asked, ignoring the captain’s question.

“No, I don’t,” Sherman replied.

“We never had a single clue on who culprits were,” Celeste said matter-of-factly. “That’s the sole common feature in all those burglars! The victims didn’t have anything in common: some were among the super riches, others were in the middle class. They even didn’t all involve insane amounts of money. In some cases, the alarm was deactivated by cutting the power down to the entire building. In others, the robbery happened under the sounds of the alarm bells.” Celeste stood up and walked up to a window. “The thieves came in, took what they wanted, and simply disappeared without a single trace into the shadows of New York,” she stared outside in silence.

“Why are you so moody, Celeste?” Sherman asked with worry. “It’s not like you at all.”

“I know,” Celeste admitted with a sigh. “It’s just that that group is annoying me to no ends! For eight years they’ve been ridiculing us!” she growled while closing her fists.

“Celeste, we don’t even have proof that band of expert thieves even exists,” Sherman said softly.

“I know we don’t, but my guts are telling me it does, Sherman,” Celeste said firmly. “It exists and one day they’ll make a mistake. A huge mistake! And, I’ll be there to handcuff those punks who’ve been playing with us for so long!” she growled in determination.

Business meeting at the ManeHatOn

“Okay, girls, what have we agreed on for tonight?” Vinyl asked to Claude and Patty who were sitting on the back seat of the group’s black sedan, her gaze locked on the pink-haired girl.

“No alcohol, no hook-ups with strangers, and no drawing too much attention!” Patty replied solemnly with an excited nod.

“Good. Claude?” Vinyl glanced at the blonde.

“Make sure that Patty sticks to her word in the nightclub while you and Jack are doing all the talk with Alard and his lackeys!” Claude replied firmly.

“Now, that we’ve all agreed on that,” Vinyl took a short breath before facing Jack, who was sitting on the driver’s seat patiently. “Let’s go!”

The four girls stepped out of the car in the private section of the club’s car park, a section usually reserved for those performing and those with VIP tickets; but, luckily, there was an empty space that just seemed to have been waiting for them.

Patty and Claude were both dressed like elite party-goers - a little out-of-the-way, but not too much: despite the early chill of the evening, Claude’s dress wasn’t the usual long type that she admired - her allegiance to the gang could never kill her inner fashionista sense - but, instead, it was the kind of three-fourth dress that just barely covered the knees and a few centimetres below: a mild purple, with almost-invisible streaks of dark pink, with the fine silk reflecting the light in a most natural way. The breastpiece was partly concealed by the dress, but a keen eye could make out its snow-white colour, the texture forever unknown to a stranger. Her ears were adorned with purple earrings: a cheap substitution for diamonds, sure, but it only made sense to go with the dress. Her long hair flew freely on her shoulders, unrestricted just in the way that its owner was.

Patty made a fine contrast to the overly-formal Claude: her outfit consisted of a rather short pink dress, revealing a smooth tint of her knees’ skin - not Claude’s dark pink, but a bright, cheerful colour that screamed party. No earring or hairslide attached, her look was more of an al fresco kind of outfit, the one you would usually put on for a stroll, not for a dance. But then again, it was Patty, and when did Patty ever make sense?

Claude walked slowly: despite her skill with high heels, she knew how to keep her posture well-maintained. Patty just half-bounced, half-jogged ahead in her usual joyful manner. The doors were close, and they were aiming for them.

On the other hand, Vinyl and Jack were dressed in the polar opposite fashion from their friends. Both were wearing classy black suits with snow white blouses. Jack had decided to leave the thin necktie in their hideout, claiming it made her feel like being on a leash, and turned up her collar while keeping a few buttons open, giving a small peek of her cleavage to anyone foolish enough to stare at it. Jack liked to keep her shirts open like that -She liked the sensation of the breeze on her skin. It reminded her of the fresh air of her dear farmland.- but that didn’t mean she liked when people thought it was open-night.

Vinyl had chosen to stick with it. Given she’ll be the one doing the talking later, she had to be presentable. She put her blue scarf around her neck, letting it hanging on her shoulders before putting her purple glasses on her nose. She went to the car trunk with Jack to take what they needed, only to blink in shock when they opened it.

“Patty!” Vinyl called in a low growl.

“Yeah?” Patty replied with an innocent smile.

“Why is Gummy in the trunk of the car?” The blue-haired woman demanded angrily, nodding at the small green alligator who was wagging his tail at the friendly faces.

“Duh, Gummy wanted to party as well!” Patty answered with a roll of her eyes, convinced in the obviousness of her reply.

“Jack,” Vinyl said through clenched teeth. “Do something terrible, please!”

“Huh…” Jack let out in confusion before glancing at Patty. “No more cupcakes for the next two weeks, Ah guess,” she said in an uncertain threatening tone.

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” Patty dramatically fell on her knees in a loud shout.

“I said ‘terrible’! I didn’t ask you to terrify her!” Vinyl interjected, while Claude was trying her best to make it look like she didn’t know any of the other three women, despite the car park being void of any other presences.

“Fiiine! One week only!” Jack shouted to Patty in annoyance, while picking the two bags for their monthly payment. “What are we goin’ to do with Gummy?”

“Well, we can’t leave him in the car,” Vinyl said with a sigh, leaning her right arm next to the small alligator. “Gummy, shoulder ride!” she ordered, tapping her right shoulder a few times.

Gummy climbed on Vinyl’s arm with the speed and agility of an iguana before lying down across the woman’s shoulders, his head and tail hanging lazily each side of her neck.

“If anyone asks, I have a weird taste in scarves, ok?” Vinyl asked firmly at her friends’ cocked eyebrows, while tossing her blue scarf in the trunk before slamming the metal contraption shut.

Her three companions nodded slowly as Vinyl lead the way to the club’s back door. The building itself was old, but the refurbishment had been immense, apparently: neon lights enveloped the whole thing, the bright letters symbolising the proud name, ManeHatOn, and the trademark sign of a horse, a fedora adorning its head; and the whole building looked generally as good as new. It was evident that the owner would spend more money on refurbishment than actually buying a new building to house his establishment.

Could he have possibly come up with a more ridiculous name? Three of the four thieves thought with a roll of their eyes in unison while Patty smiled at it. She had always liked the name of the club, she found it clever.

The four women went inside the club through the VIP entrance, heading through a plain corridor with black walls and neon lightings. The quatuor headed deeper inside the building, slowly coming closer to the origin of the muffled, techno music which became louder and clearer at every steps they made. After a few seconds, they reached the end of the corridor. In front of an elevator shaft stood a man with short, spiky, black hair wearing a black shirt with a white tie along with a pair of black shades on his nose, waiting for them.

“Hey, Claude, be careful,” Jack whispered in a mocking tone. “Alard’s pet dog’s here!”

“I’m scared of dogs, Jack,” Claude replied in a quiet chuckle while Vinyl smirked at the joke. “Not of puppies!”

“Ha, Vinyl,” the man called with a seductive smile, pulling his shades down to glance at the blue-haired woman with his bright blue eyes. “I’ve been waiting for you and your girls!”

“Have you now, Neon?” Vinyl replied casually, unfazed by the lustful glance he was giving her. “You’re not in the booth tonight?” she asked out of curiosity, nodding at the double door wide open on the dance club.

“Nope, I’m invited to the meeting just like you!” Neon replied with a shrug.

“Good! At least we’ll have some good music then,” Claude chuckled mockingly before tapping Patty’s back. “Come on, girl! Let’s go dancing!”

“Yippy!” Patty let out in excitement.

“Low profile, remember?” Vinyl reminded sternly.

“You got it, Vinyl!” Patty replied before skipping to the nightclub part of the building, Claude on her heels. “GOOOOOOOD EVENING, MANEHATON!!!!!!” Patty shouted louder than the music.

“PATTY!” the three people in front of the elevator heard the entire crowd in the club responded in excitement.

“That wasn’t as loud as last time,” Jack commented while Vinyl was rubbing her eyes in annoyance. “That’s kinda low profile for her.”

“Jack?” Vinyl said in a calm tone.

“Yep?”

“Silence!”

“Of course, Sugar!” Jack nodded with a smirk.

“Well, let’s go!” Neon clapped his hands together before pressing the elevator’s button. “After you,” he added with small bow when the door opened.

“Thank you,” Vinyl said before stepping inside the elevator.

Jack was about to follow her friend when Neon stopped his reverence, and nearly bumped into her to walk after Vinyl, his eyes wandering on the blue-haired’s lower back.

“Horny puppy!” Jack snorted with disapproval for herself while stepping inside the elevator.

“Nice scarf,” Neon commented, nodding at Gummy lying across Vinyl’s shoulders. “You finally decided to get rid of your crocodile?”

Gummy’s response was to pull himself out of his slumber before snapping his jaws at Neon in an angry, hissed bark, making the shades-wearing man tumble onto his butt with high-pitched yelp.

“Gummy’s an alligator, Neon,” Vinyl corrected casually, scratching the chin of her pet while Jack was openly laughing at Neon. “You better remember it, or you’ll make him angry.”

“Stupid lizard,” Neon muttered under his breath, his cheeks red in embarrassment.

“Cammon, now.” Jack extended her hand to help him on his feet. “Can’t have ya sittin’ on the floor when this here door opens!”

“Yeah, yeah,” Neon replied in annoyance, taking Jack’s hand to stand up.

“So, who’s present today?” Vinyl asked out of curiosity.

“The Japs are here, and the Chicanos as well!” Neon explained, straightening his tie nonchalantly.

“Sanagi-Hime and ‘Rey Sombra’ are here?!” Vinyl let out with wide eyes.

“Boy howdy! Alard must be up to something big if these two are here today!” Jack let out in an awed whisper.

“You’ll find out soon enough,” Neon said with a shrug as the elevator came to a stop with a clear ding.

The elevator’s door slowly parted open, revealing a long, wide corridor covered with a dark purple carpet, long, beautiful, giving an impression of having never been stepped on. Vinyl hated to ruin the holiness of the cloth with her earthly feet, even if she didn’t want to admit it, even to herself. The walls peeked at the guests with arrays of portraits in the simple linear style that had been popular maybe a few years ago, popular with those rich marginals who had raked in money but didn’t how how to spend it, on what to throw it away, and took solace in pseudo-art.

Though, it may just as well be art, Vinyl thought as she passed one of the pictures that clashed especially furiously with the grand, post-art-deco interior: a vivid constellation of black-ish lines - the Japanese had over forty shades of black, didn’t they? - formed in a stately, but bawdy fashion, giving an impression of the placid, flagrant lines having an orgy or a drunken meeting.

The last door was right in front of her, with the lewdy, bad-taste golden handles, those round ones, the ones that Vinyl despised so much. Now, all she needed to do was open it. So she did.

The thief opened the door to a luxurious meeting room, around a small, round, polished, oaken table, two of the Big Apple’s underworld leaders: a beautiful, japanese woman with dark green dyed hair styled in a loose bun, wearing a black yukata with green flames pattern, and a tall, muscular mexican with shoulder long, curly, black hair with a perfectly styled goatee wearing a simple pair of dark jeans with an crimson, leather jacket over his bare chest, were sitting at each side of the table and turned their heads to the opening door with curiosity.

At the head of the table, the expensive leather chair spun on its leg, revealing a man in his late thirties, with long, silk like blond hair in a snow white tuxedo, who glanced in Vinyl’s direction, his light blue eyes slowly finding their way to the bag she was carrying before heading to the one carried by Jack.

Neon brushed past Vinyl and Jack to stand at the blonde man’s right, patting the Irish Setter that was sitting next to the next to the head of the table. The two thieves glanced around the table, noticing that Iron Will, the blond man’s overly massive body-guard, was standing behind his boss’ seat, and that the Japanese woman at the table had come with her usual suite, much to Jack's misfortune, also that the Mexican had brought his own escort as well.

The three nearly identical japanese younger women, all wearing the same white, skin tight dress that had the same white lotus symbol on the left of their chests and that stopped a bit higher than their mid thighs, and a matching headband. If not for their different hair color: pink, purple and light blue, it would have been impossible to tell them apart. They turned their faces to the two thieves, their eyes lighting up with excitement when their gazes fell on the freckled blonde.

And finally, slightly behind Sombra’s chair, a model-figured latina with long hair with pink, blond and purple streaks in it, stood with poise and elegance, wearing a simple pink tanktop with a pair of jeans, her purple eyes casting a dark glare at the short-haired blonde woman.

“Vinyl, it’s good to see you,” The blond man, Alard von Blueblood, said in a very distinguished British accent. “You and your little group have something for me?”

“Alard,” Vinyl greeted him with a curt nod. “Sombra,” she added to the Mexican at her right. “Sanagi-Hime,” she bowed respectfully to the yukata wearing woman who bowed in response.

“Hey, why do you bow to her and not to me?” Sombra asked in a slightly angered tone.

“That’s because, unlike you my under-cultured friend, she knows who she needs to be respectful with,” Sanagi replied in Vinyl’s stead in a mocking tone. “And, she also hopes that I’ll prevent my girls from jumping on her friend,” she added with a chuckle, slightly winking at Jack who was too busy staring coldly at the triplets to notice.

“Something like that, yes,” Vinyl replied with a nod.

“Ahem!” Iron Will cleared his throat loudly, bringing the conversation back to his boss.

“Right, sorry!”

The two thieves slowly walked to the table before putting their bags on it, opening them, and pushing them so they slid across the table to stop in front of Alard, thus spilling their contents on the table. The mix of jewels and rolls of bills earned impressed whistle from Sombra, Neon, and the triplets who finally looked away from Jack. Alard smiled, and invited Vinyl to sit at the remaining chair of the table.

“You and your girls did well this month,” Alard commented as Vinyl sat in front of him.

“Thanks,” Vinyl stated while Gummy jumped from her shoulders to land of the floor in a loud thud. “You make it sound like we did bad the other months though,” she added with a slightly cocked eyebrow.

“Don’t worry, that’s not what I meant,” Alard replied with a chuckle. “How much is there?”

“Sixty-nine thousand five hundred twenty-two dollars in cash,” Vinyl answered slowly. “The bag of jewels contains what we couldn’t sell for today as well as the few we couldn't sell due to other reasons.”

“Why is that?” Sanagi asked with curiosity.

“Some of them are unique designer pieces,” Jack explained. “Not something we could have sold on our own.”

“Who the fuck’s talking to you, cow-girl?” Sombra asked in an angered growl, earning a killer glare from Jack, and the triplets.

“Don’t mind him, Jack,” Sanagi stated calmly. “He’s simply still not over the fact you beat his precious Cadenza in that boxing match he organized,” she added, nodding at the woman behind the Mexican.

“You should try not to be such a sour loser, Rey,” Alard commented playfully.

“I will stop when that blonde accepts a rematch against her!” Sombra growled.

“Well, if that’s what ya wan…” Jack began with a prideful smirk directed at an angry Cadenza.

“Absolutely out of question!”

All heads snapped in the direction of the one who had spoken, surprised gazes landing on Vinyl who was casting a hateful glare at the Mexican gang leader, who couldn’t help but to feel slightly disturbed by the hatred in the blue haired woman’s ruby red eyes.

“I will not allow Jack to participate in any of YOUR fights, Rey Sombra, am I clear?” Vinyl asked in stern tone. “Not until the dumbass bitch you call your daughter learns how to fight a boxing match without hidden knives!” she added with a glare at his daughter.

“How dare you? You whore of a thief!” Sombra growled while standing up, his hand reaching for the inside of his jacket.

As the Mexican was pointing his golden handgun at Vinyl, the body guards in the room all reacted instinctually. Jack pulled her short, one handed shotgun out its holster beneath her jacket, and aimed straight at the Mexican’s face, while the Japanese triplets and Cadenza grabbed the different weapons they had managed to hide under their skin tight clothes.

The pink haired Japanese pulled four strings out of her snow white bracelet, revealing the four tiny blowpipes hidden in it each loaded with a silver dart. The blue haired one had three throwing knives in each of her hands while the one with light violet hair was ready to throw a small scythe connected to a metallic, spiked ball by a thin chain. The edge of all their blades were slightly green, indicating the presence of poison on them.

At last, Cadenza pulled two small handguns from the back of her pants and aimed at Jack and in the triplets’ general direction, ready to defend her boss while Iron Will was aiming at the Japanese and the Mexican bodyguards with two uzis, ready to swipe the whole room with them.

All parties stared each other for a good ten seconds in a dense silence.

“All right, now!” Alard said calmly. “Let’s not get carried away. We’re all civilised people, so let’s all calm down!” he looked at Will, Sombra and Cadenza. “You three, settle down!” he ordered.

“Jack!” Vinyl said calmly.

“Girls!” Sanagi demanded.

All seven armed people slowly but surely lowered their weapons before putting them away.

“Good, now that that’s out away,” Alard said. “Will! Take those bags and put them in secured location,” he ordered to his bodyguard. “Hang on….” he took a few large rolls of hundred dollars bills from the bag full of cash. “That’s your commission,” he explained before making the bundled money slide to Vinyl.

“Thank you, Alard,” Vinyl replied casually before counting the money. “You’re pretty generous today.”

“You did an excellent job, that deserves reward,” Alard explained with a shrug. “Now, you’re probably wondering why these two are here...” he said, pointing at the other people sitting at the table. “...when I usually see you in private every month, am I right?”

“It went through my mind,” Vinyl admitted as she kept counting her money. “Usually you only bring Sanagi-Hime or Macho-man here when you want me and the girls to work with them on something,” she added, earning a small growl from Sombra and a glare from his daughter while Sanagi softly chuckled.

“Well, I gathered you all today to discuss about a project of mine that will need everyone’s collaboration,” Alard explained, instantly bringing all the attention on him. “Though, for the sake of this plan’s secrecy, I’ll ask your partners to leave,” he added waving at Cadenza, the triplets and Jack. “Will will be gone with what Vinyl brought and Neon is about to start his shift in the club, so it’ll only be us four. Your partners could go unwind in the club while we talk, though I must demand that they leave their weapons before exiting this room.”

“I keep no secrets from the girls, Alard,” Vinyl stated slowly. “Whatever you plan on telling me, she can hear it!”

“I know, but I’d rather not have her in the discussion,” Alard replied with a knowing, cocked eyebrow. “I think her impulsive nature doesn’t suit the heated discussion we’re most likely going to have about this project of mine,” He explained.

“Well now, as much as Ah’m feelin’ insulted by that remark, Ah must admit it’s rather true,” Jack conceded slowly. “Yer gonna be okay on yer own, Vi?” she asked her friend in a quiet whisper.

“Yeah, don’t worry,” Vinyl replied quietly. “Besides, Gummy’s still around.” she gave the money to her blonde friend. “Keep that safe and use some to buy the triplets a drink or two,” she added with a playful wink.

“Do Ah have to?” Jack replied uneasily as she secured the money in her inner pocket.

“No, but try to be a bit nice with them,” Vinyl glanced at Sombra’s daughter. “And with Cadenza as well. Don’t pick a fight with her.”

Jack sighed. “Ah’ll try, Ah can promise that much.”

“Good!” Vinyl said with a nod.

While Iron Will and Neon walked out of the room, the five women bodyguards stopped at the table next to the door and started to unload their weapons. Cadenza dropped her two handguns on the table while the blue haired triplet, Aloe, put the two belts full of knives she had attached around her thighs on the table with the utmost care. The pink haired one, Lotus, delicately put her two bracelets with hidden blowpipes in them and the last sister, Vera, simply let her scythe and chain fall on the table with a loud clang.

Jack pulled her shotgun from her jacket before putting it on the table, along with the cartridge belt she carried in her jacket’s lining. Then she dropped the two hunting knives she kept attached to her ankles, and the two brazen knuckles she had in her pockets.

“How many more weapons do you have?” Cadenza asked with a cocked eyebrow as Jack pulled a small blade she had hidden in her belt buckle.

“Technically, Ah still got four of them,” Jack replied with a shrug. “But, Ah ain’t really able to put ma arms and legs away,” she added with a chuckle before stepping out of the room with the other four bodyguards on her heels, Cadenza snorting in annoyance at the blonde’s remark while the triplets absentmindedly stared at Jack’s firm butt with a common great interest.

“Well, now that we’re alone, let’s have a talk,” Alard straightened on his chair, before noticing something. “Your alligator fell asleep on Gunther’s back, is that normal?” he asked, pointing at his Setter dog who was asleep next to the table with Gummy sleeping curled in a ball on his furry back.

“Gummy likes your dog apparently,” Vinyl replied with a shrug. “Is that a problem?”

“I think it’s adorable,” Sanagi commented softly at the two pets sleeping peacefully.

“Don’t care!” Sombra growled in annoyance.

“I suppose it isn’t a problem, though he’d better not harm Gunther!” Alard warned slowly.

“Duly noted.” Vinyl nodded with a small salute. “Now, what’s this big project of yours?”

“Well.” Alard opened a drawer from his side of the table and pulled three folders out of it. “The details are in these things,” he said before passing one to each of his interlocutors.

Vinyl, Sanagi and Sombra looked down at their respective folder before slowly opening them, finding inside of them few blueprints, plannings, a photo of an isolated manor, and few bills of diverse security or informatics companies.

“So, your plan is to rob this manor?” Sombra asked after a few minutes of reading the file. Alard nodded. “I don’t see what’s the big deal about it.”

“And, it's no surprise that you don't,” Vinyl commented slowly, lifting her eyes from the file to stare straight at Alard. “What the hell is that, Alard? Laser sensors, bulletproof glasses, a top notch power generator… Who the hell transformed this manor in a bloody bunker?!”

“Someone with a lot of money, and with something to protect apparently,” Sanagi commented slowly. “I still don’t see why you asked me and Sombra to be here, Alard. That’s more in the field of Vinyl’s expertise.”

“I need you and Sombra for what’s coming after Vinyl's part,” Alard replied.

“That doesn’t really answer my question. Who lives there?” Vinyl asked.

“That’s Trickster’s manor,” Alard replied slowly.

The blond’s three interlocutors froze with wide eyes, before they slowly turned their incredulous visages toward Alard.

“Come again?” the three asked in unison, all believing they had misheard what the blond had just said.

They were so wrong in believing that.

In ManeHatOn's VIP lounge