B.E.A.N.S.L.A.Y.E.R.S.

“That didn't sound like construction,” Aria said. Juniper shook her head. “And there isn't supposed to be anybody working in there today, anyway, right.” A nod this time. There was a slight trace of anxiety in Juniper's eyes now. Aria removed her hand. “Think we should check it out?”

“Uh-huh.” Juniper nodded again.

Aria took a deep breath. She'd visited a monastery or something a while back, some place called... Nando Parfait? Something like that. Anyway, they'd taught her how to sneak around and shit, but that was a while ago.

Hopefully she'd practiced enough.

“Stay behind me,” Aria whispered, “And do what I do.” Then she reconsidered. “Unless I screw up. Then you're on your own.” She squatted slightly, then scuttled forward into the shadows. Juniper followed a moment later.

After a minute of quietly traversing the halls, hoping their eyes would adjust, Aria heard a voice ahead. It was too low to make out the words, but they were getting close. Aria scooted to the end of the hall and looked into the next room.

There were three figures inside, dressed in black from head to toe. Aria's heart sank. So this was a robbery. Though, she realized, not a particularly adept one.

Two of the figures were fumbling with one of the new exhibits, clearly trying to access whatever was inside the glass case. The third was watching the doors, but they weren't even looking at Aria's. Nearby, one of the rope poles had been knocked over, kicking up a cloud of dust.

“Fuck!” One of the figures working on the exhibit threw down her tools and peeled off her mask, revealing pale skin and auburn hair. “I can't work in this,” she declared.

“Moondancer-” her fellow criminal started, only to get swatted.

“Don't even, Starlight. You're not the one who's glasses keep fogging over!” Moondancer spread her arms. “Besides, the power's out. Means no cameras.”

“I told you to call me Glimmer,” the second one hissed. “Now, put the mask back on. I am not going back to prison if we do get seen.”

Moondancer huffed, but complied.

The third one shifted like she was about to pee her pants. “How much longer?” she whined. The voice sounded uncomfortably familiar to Aria.

“A bit,” Moondancer snapped. She picked up the tools again, and resumed working on the lock. “The bastards may have actually known what this was. Gods, I should've sent one of the acolytes to do this.”

The third girl let out a small growl and went back to scanning the room. “Trixie does not like to wait,” she snarled.

Aria felt a sudden, sharp pain in her skull. “Trixie,” she moaned softly.

Hot breath hit her neck, and Aria jumped, but it was just Juniper.

“Who's Trixie?” Juniper whispered.

Aria rolled her eyes. “An idiot,” she breathed. “With no morals, who only cares about herself.”

“And the other two?”

“No idea,” Aria admitted. “But now that we know they're stealing something, we should probably report this to- hey!”

Juniper rushed past, ducking behind a display closer to the center of the room, just out of Trixie's sight.

“What are you doing!” Aria hissed, though she didn't dare raise her voice enough to actually be heard. “We should go get security!”

Juniper glanced back, her eyes getting that stubborn gleam. She carefully raised her head just enough to peer through the glass with one eyeball. Aria clenched her teeth and grabbed her hair tails, pulling as hard as she dared.

What were the options here? She could go get security, but she had no idea where in this clusterfuck of a building they'd be. She could rush out alongside Juniper, but that would probably get them both caught.

Aria let go of her hair. Pain wasn't going to help her think clearly.

She scanned the room, noting the closed double doors on one wall with an 'EXIT' sign over them. Glimmer and Moondancer were huddled by the podium at the very center of the room, with Trixie hanging back about five feet closer to Aria's door. There were display cabinets on all three walls she could see, and she was willing to bet that there were some on the one she couldn't see. Which meant, if there was enough light, they could spot Juniper's reflection at any moment.

The floor space was full of glass-covered podiums and similar displays, each one just large enough to conceal a child- or a small adult- behind it. Except for one; it ran almost the full length of the room, away from Aria. If she timed it right...

“I've got it!” Moondancer exclaimed.

Trixie turned around to see, and in that moment Aria surged across to the long display. Keeping low, she made her way to the opposite side of the room.

“That's it?” Trixie asked.

“Yes.” Moondancer raised up her stolen prize, admiring it in the dark. “We finally have one.”

“Nah, I'm with her,” Glimmer said dismissively. “All this effort? I was expecting something a little... bigger.”

Aria continued sneaking, but examined the artifact herself. It was a necklace, the pendant shaped like- surprise, surprise- a bean. It really was small, too, no bigger than the real thing. However, something about the way the light reflected off its jeweled green surface scraped on Aria's nerves.

“It doesn't matter how big it is,”Moondancer insisted. “Now come on, let's get out of here and back to-”

“STOP!”

The voice echoed through the room, making all three thieves stand rod straight. Aria looked back and saw that Juniper had abandoned her hiding spot and was standing between Trixie and the exit. She had her hands on her hips, shoulders back, chest out, like some kind of superhero. Except for the slight twitch of her lower lip giving away her nervousness.

Aria stared for a moment, then swiftly brought her hand up to meet her face.

“Stop,” Juniper said again, less confidently. “I- I can't let you take that.”

Trixie sneered. “Please. You think you can stop us? The Great and Powerful Trixie is more than a match for you.”

But Moondancer stepped forward, shoving her comrade back. “No need for that. Let's just all calm down, and talk like adults.” She held out the necklace. “We need this, but not for long. You're obviously not a museum employee, so why would you care if we took it? Let us go, and I promise we'll return the Bean as soon as possible.”

Listen to her! Aria silently pleaded. Juniper just needed to make this easy.

“I'm not listening to you!” Juniper declared. “Who would ever trust a thief?”

“Damn.” Moondancer dropped her arm with a sigh. “I was hoping to do this the easy way.”

“Could've told you that wouldn't work,” Glimmer muttered.

Moondancer reached behind her back, and Aria saw a glint of metal. “Oh well. Hard way it is.”

She pulled out her pistol.

And she pointed it at Juniper.

That was the last thing Aria remembered before she was suddenly sprawled on top of a thrashing Moondancer, her arm wrapped around the other girl's throat.

“The fuck!” Glimmer shouted, but to Aria it was distant. The only thing that mattered was keeping her friend from getting hurt.

Moondancer's gun-holding hand swung up, and the barrel brushed Aria's ear. She grunted. Aria kept her right arm squeezing, but used her left to grab at the gun barrel, twisting it out of Moondancer's grip. It clattered away under one of the cabinets. Aria was vaguely aware that the necklace flew out of Moondancer's other hand.

Her breath left her with an oof as Moondancer drove an elbow into Aria's gut. Feeling the choke hold loosen, Moondancer did it again.

She drew in lung-full of air, then rasped, “Grab the Bean!” Then Moondancer hit Aria one more time, breaking free.

The former siren recovered quickly, grabbing Moondancer's legs. “Oh, no you don't!” she growled.

Just a few feet away, Moondancer's order got through to Glimmer. The thief glanced around in a frenzy, finally spotting the necklace on the floor- at the exact same time as Juniper. They looked at the Bean, then each other, then back to the Bean. They moved.

Glimmer ran forward, shoulder lowered to body-check her opponent.

But to Aria's shock, Juniper was ready. Her friend reacted almost too fast to see, spinning past Glimmer like a bull fighter and just... tossing her away. All that in one seamless movement, and then Juniper crouched down and grabbed the necklace. She slid a couple extra inches on the marble floor, then popped up grinning.

And then Glimmer crashed into a display, shattering the glass.

Everyone froze, and a second later, an alarm sounded.

“I thought you said there was no power!” Glimmer screamed.

Moondancer kicked free of Aria's grip and wormed across the floor. “There isn't! It must be hard-wired or something, on a different system!”

Aria made another grab at Moondancer, but Juniper was there, holding her shoulder. “Let's get out of here!” she said, and Aria nodded.

Trixie finally shook herself from her chaos-born stupor. “Trixie is too Great and Powerful to be a prison bitch!” she squealed, then grabbed Moondancer and Glimmer. She reached for her waist and grabbed a small orb that had been hanging there.

As Trixie raised the orb, Moondancer turned towards Aria and Juniper, her eyes wide but furious. “This isn't over!” she shouted.

The smoke bomb went off, engulfing the entire room in its opaque cloud. When it cleared a moment later, the thieves were gone.

“Let's- let's go,” Aria said, coughing on the last of the smoke. She and Juniper stumbled across the room to the exit door, barging through into sunlight.

It had only been a few minutes.

They didn't stop, running away from the museum. They dodged around trees and bushes, finally darting into the parking lot, where they crammed themselves into Aria's Porsche. Aria immediately jammed the keys into the sedan's ignition, sweat dripping into her eyes. Juniper cranked the AC, and then they both sank back into the seats.