Chapter Text
Kafka
It's three days until the night of the big auction in Vectigalia. Although our time in the city was short, we managed to organize ourselves very well before the situation became too complex to work with.
As interesting as it would be, acting during the auction would be exaggeratedly more complex than usual — security during the event would be tripled around the vault and, even worse than that, we would lose much of the trust we had gained with Himeko.
But here we are again, inside the luxurious Hotel Casino Flush, perfectly positioned after going over the plan dozens of times in our group meetings.
"Relax, Firefly," Elio's voice echoes in our brains. "I'll be here to guide you through all the stages, just as I always have at the other events."
Blade and I wore dark suits, with very well-fitting ties — the classic uniform of a private security guard.
Firefly led our entourage, walking among the people while her sea-green heels clicked against the white marble floor. Hidden inside the bag that hung on her flank, a black cat capable of predicting the future and communicating only inside our heads used short words to calm her slight anxiety.
"Hello, Miss!" The attendant maintained a radiant smile. For a brief moment, her lips quirked as she noticed me and Blade a few steps behind Firefly. "You are... Princess Eadlyn Monteneve, correct?
"Yes..."
Firefly knew exactly what to say, but her vocal cords found a point of failure. Perhaps due to tiredness or the tension of the moment, the girl couldn't recall the lines she had rehearsed for so long in our preparation phases.
Elio, who seconds before had said he would be a guide, was mute.
"Sorry," she coughs, feigning a sore throat. The receptionist's countenance softened, probably because she had remembered the details of our false princess's poor health. "I'm just here to play a few rounds. I'm feeling a bit lucky."
A fragile countenance, along with a well-positioned body designed to look vulnerable, Firefly, despite her inexperience, played her part perfectly.
She and the identity of Eadlyn Monteneve had some great similarities, but Firefly never let her illnesses stop her from seeking her own destiny in this vast universe. Fragile and vulnerable are two things that the girl in front of me will never be.
"Of course," with ease, the receptionist unfolds her fingers over the keyboard of the reception computer. "You have credits with you, right?"
Carefully, Firefly held up the keychain in the shape of humanoid armor colored in vibrant red and green, opening her purse just enough for Elio to hand her the smartphone with his soft paws.
Within seconds, a bank transaction originating from an account surrounded by false and heavily encrypted information was carried out.
"That's all right. Your Highness will receive fifty chips worth a thousand credits each," says the receptionist, as she bends down to reach an acrylic holder containing exactly the amount of chips she had previously communicated. "Bets at ordinary gaming tables start at one thousand credits. During one of your games, you may receive a pass to the high-stakes lounge, where bets start at ten thousand credits."
The high-stakes lounge, our primary target.
If we're to reach the venue, Firefly will have to show a bit of thievery and cunning at the gaming tables. I hope the basic lessons in poker, blackjack and other card games she asked me to give her a few days ago have taught her enough to survive.
"Before you go in," the receptionist glares at Blade and me just after Firefly grabs the acrylic stand. "Are there any weapons that need to be stored?"
"Was that your best attempt at not seeming hostile towards us?" Blade asked, staring at the woman. The sarcastic comment had taken even me by surprise.
"What did you say?"
"No problem," Firefly interrupted the discussion at the beginning, before the situation got complicated. "Please hand over your weapons. I'm sure you're more than capable of protecting me without the aid of any weaponry, aren't you?"
Two blades appeared, materialized in mid-air. It had been a few weeks since I had touched my sword, which made the sensation of holding its scabbard a little disconnected with my current mood. Pausing to think a little more, it had also been a few weeks since I'd gotten into any kind of trouble — perhaps this short time I'd spent with Himeko had done my lifestyle a favor.
Blade's sword was delivered shortly afterwards, a fragmented blade that remained complete inside its magical sheath.
"Any other weapons?"
This time, the receptionist looked only in my direction.
Of course, even the simplest attendants were warned about the specifics of our group, including our favorite combat styles and equipment.
"No firearms or grenades for today," I reply, pulling down the sunglasses that were resting on the top of my head. "Recently I've been in a more pacifist state, so to speak."
Despite the dose of humor in the sentence, it's no lie that I'm not in possession of all my equipment. My submachine guns and grenades were left in the hotel room due to practicality issues — it's not practical or comfortable to carry around so much equipment, especially during an assault of a meticulous nature where you need to be quicker than you are lethal.
Despite the displeasure on her face, the receptionist allowed us to enter the casino.
Unlike last time, the place was extremely busy. The auction was very close, which obviously increased the number of people on the hotel premises and, consequently, in the various betting and entertainment rooms.
Our group walked in large, confident strides through the crowd — having a pair of known criminals to ward off any civilians who got too close also helped our mobility.
"We're approaching the poker tables," I tapped the communicator in my right ear discreetly, opening the communication channel as we walked without looking away. "The game can take a while, so keep your cover until we've gotten the pass to the high-stakes lounge."
There was no answer on the other end of the line, but there was no need. Himeko and Silver Wolf wore the same disguise as members of the casino's security team. Any problems with the systems and betting machines would be addressed directly to them, almost instantaneously.
Blade and Silver Wolf spent a long time observing this team's patterns through the security footage, until they were able to steal some access cards and identities that were easily edited by our hacker's skills shortly afterwards.
"Playing poker..." Firefly sighed nervously. The girl mumbled a rapid series of words to herself, which I couldn't understand, but I was sure were deeply discouraging.
"Relax, Firefly," I say in a whisper. "Our victory is guaranteed."
"You said the script doesn't specify that we win at the game we've chosen, Kafka," she replies, her knuckles turning pale as she nervously holds the acrylic box with her chips. "It could all get a bit more complicated if I don't win."
"Poker is a game that requires skill, yes," with a flick of my wrist, I fix the position of the sunglasses on my face, improving my view of my surroundings. "But our main factor is luck. We often have to rely on the fate of the cards we're dealt in order to win."
"That's why we have Elio with us this time," Blade adds in his classic monotone voice. "A cat who predicts the future at a poker table... frankly, even a god of trickery would be disgusted by what we're about to do to someone's bank account and morals."
I don't like to admit it, but I fully agree with what Blade said a few minutes ago — what we're doing here is perhaps unforgivably evil.
We are surrounded by rich people, humans and other cosmic races who simply have financial power because they were born into the right family. Taking money from them, to me, is like a favor to the world.
Or at least it would be, if the game was played in a slightly fair way.
I'm a fan of cheating, but I usually only do card tricks or techniques that take advantage of inattention to gain an advantage over my opponents. What we're doing here, now, is a whole different level of cheating.
Elio led Firefly throughout the match, making her fold great starting hands and even asking her to play with the worst hand in the game time and time again.
Since our false princess became the fifth player to enter this long green-lined table, she hasn't lost a single round that Elio has allowed her to play to the end.
To close observers, Princess Monteneve looked like a world poker champion with dozens of years of experience. Round after round, card after card, Firefly had the perfect hands every time. Playing against her seemed demotivating, unfair in every way, but people kept buying more and more chips, defeat after defeat, to try to win a single, measly round.
Our fifty thousand credits had been quintupled in the blink of an eye, but none of Firefly's rotating opponents seemed to want to give up playing against her.
"I'm all-in!"
A good-looking blond man, who appeared to have some level of influence in the import market, exclaimed from across the table. He pushed into the center the chips he had accumulated during the consecutive rounds that Firefly had given up her starting hand. There were just over a hundred thousand credits in total.
As brave as he was, it was a move of pure desperation. This man's goal was not profit, but pure, dense pride. It doesn't matter if the unbeatable princess drops out of the round, or if he wins by revealing the cards. Winning just once is all he wants to feel good about himself.
"Come on," Elio's voice echoed in our heads. "Take everything from him."
Firefly took a deep breath, mentally preparing herself to see human decay at the end of another round of a cursed game.
"I'll call the bet," she says, staring solely at the cards on the table.
There were three cards on the table: an ace of diamonds and two dark jacks. Cards that, together, offer danger to any of the players at the moment.
The dealer, a young man with dark skin and a slim build, counts the chips and announces the total value of the round before revealing the last two cards that will tell us the outcome of the game.
First a jack of diamonds, followed by a queen of diamonds.
Even without knowing the cards that Firefly held, the result that Elio had manipulated was so obvious that it made my vocal cords want to let out a high-pitched laugh.
"A four of a kind!" the blond announces euphorically, revealing his own cards as he throws them forcefully onto the table. An ace of clubs and a jack of hearts. What was once just a three of a kind is now a powerful four of a kind.
"Ah..." Firefly looked at her own cards for a moment, trying to recall the rules of the game. "That makes me win, right?"
A 10 of diamonds and, of course, the king of the same suit. The cards needed to complete the highest possible combination in this game. Watching fate being manipulated like that made my stomach turn a little.
"Royal..." even the dealer looked incredulous, his eyes almost popping out of his face and falling onto the green table cloth. "Royal Straight Flush. Princess Monteneve wins."
The whole atmosphere grew heavier as Firefly organized the new amount of chips. The crowd that had gathered around us was incredulous, using all the mental strength they could muster to try to mentally process the supposed streak of luck that had favored the princess in this latest round.
"Miss... I mean, Your Highness," the dealer unfolds some of his torso on the table. Blade and I take a few steps closer, just to maintain the veracity of our roles as personal security guards. "I'm afraid the table won't continue while the princess is here. But with this pass, you can take your game to the high-stakes lounge, if you wish."
The pass was nothing more than a thin plastic rectangle, with an exaggerated number of identifications and serial numbers on its surface that surrounded the logo of the casino hotel.
"Thank you," Firefly nods, thanking the boy with an endearing smile worthy of a real princess. Following one of my previous tips on good behavior, she separates a tower of chips, sliding them towards the dealer. "This is for you. Thanks for the cards."
Our pockets have just become twenty thousand credits lighter because of this small tip, but nothing that a few more minutes of gambling in a casino can't solve for our own coffers in the near future.
"I have to agree with Blade this time," I say with a heavy sigh, just after helping Firefly organize the chips in the extra acrylic holders we had to ask the casino staff for to hold our new mountain of winnings. "Even Elation must have been a little more melancholy about what we've just done here."
Putting the sudden tide of guilt aside for a moment, our plan was ready to go one step further.
Firefly guided our way to the entrance of the high-stakes lounge, where we were initially prevented from entering by a stationary security guard. After a quick check of the entry pass, we were allowed to roam freely around the lounge.
The place was nothing more than a separate room from the casino's common areas, with more fragile and expensive decorations such as antique marble busts and tapestries displayed on the walls. There was a bar in the west corner, where drinks appeared to be free and the lighting was all provided by strategically installed lights.
Although beautiful, the deliberate lack of windows and specific lighting is nothing more than a way of deceiving customers' perception of time, tricking them into thinking that they've only been putting their bank accounts in debt for a few hours, when in fact they've been sinking into intensive betting for almost 24 hours straight.
"We're in," Blade says, as he searches the inside pockets of his jacket. "We'll begin the infiltration phase in fifteen minutes. Be in position by then."
Fifteen long minutes.
Even thinking exactly that, I still feel strange.
My body is so still.
I've already carried out several waits during robberies under the alias of Stellaron Hunter. All of them required at least one cigarette or a generous dose of some alcoholic beverage so strong that it could be considered unfit for human consumption.
It's as if all the chaos and anxiety has been purged from my cells, washed away with the eternal rain of Vectigalia.
"Is everything all right, Kafka?" I hear Firefly's voice reverberate in my head, turning me back to the material world. "You've been looking at your own hand for a while."
As usual in any complex operation, my hands were covered in the usual burgundy gloves.
Wearing them stopped being just about style and became a necessity some time ago, when firearms and unstable grenades became part of my personal arsenal. And, of course, as a way of protecting my skin from my own strings.
"Yes," I replied, putting on a sincere smile. "It's the first time I've felt like this in a while."
"Happy?"
"Yes," I let the laugh that rose in the back of my throat see the light of day. "Very happy."
"Time to act,"
Blade's raspy voice echoes through our communicators, delivering the signal we've all been longing for for some time.
Firefly looked at me for a couple of seconds, smiling in a way that motivated both of us.
Our false princess slipped away with Blade, leaving me alone in a corner of the room. Everyone was in the necessary positions, ready to act on our calculated plan when the chaos began.
The new duo walked over to one of the walls in the east area, where slot machines glowed and produced an incessant, irritating musical jingle. These flashy, treacherous machines are so simple in construction that it only took Silver Wolf a few hours to put together a program that would alter their entire programming.
From inside his jacket, Blade pulled out a circular device designed to emit electromagnetic waves that would alter the programming of the machine it was attached to.
It only took a few centimeters for the magnets to do the rest of the work, firmly attaching themselves to the back of the machine. Ten seconds were all it took for the slot machine's screen to start acting on its own, hitting jackpot after jackpot, spitting thousands of silver coins onto the white floor.
It took the security team some time to recognize the danger of the situation, resulting in a few people being slightly trampled while competing for the free money that was being handed out. By now, more than half of the lounge's population was fighting over part of this never-ending prize pool.
While the security team tried to prevent the civilians from getting hurt and, above all, from taking the money away from the casino, an additional team was activated to deal with this emergency.
Coming from a service door near me, casino employees dressed in security jumpsuits crossed the room, taking great care not to bump into anyone in the process. But despite their caution, they still got in the way of our princess.
Firefly and Blade positioned themselves perfectly, heading straight for the team. When Firefly's frail body bumped into some guy on the team, his chips flew across the room, creating even greater concern for the entire casino staff — a machine going crazy was easily solvable with a few hours' work, unlike the rage of a member of a supposed royal family with a lot of influence and purchasing power.
"Your Highness..."
While the teams gathered around the two of them trying to apologize and create a quick solution to the problem, Blade made this task difficult, threatening and putting even more pressure on the shoulders of the simple employees.
Everything had officially become complete chaos.
A restless sea formed by inattention.
To the misfortune of our enemies, we were ready to sail smoothly through it.
When Blade paused, he used his nimble fingers and cunning aim to throw me an object of vital importance to our infiltration plan.
The projectile passed through the room with such speed and precision that no one was able to notice it. It was meters and meters across in less than two seconds, before the object was caught in its path by my gloved hands.
"Security card acquired," I said, cradling in the palm of my hand the maintenance team card that Blade had stealthily stolen during the confusion. "I'm on my way down."
I went through the same service door that the maintenance team had used before, down stairs and more stairs following a path that Himeko had made me memorize more than once.
"We're close," Silver Wolf's voice came over our line of communication for the first time.
As they descended a few more steps, Silver Wolf and Himeko emerged from one of the corridors, both wearing the same red jacket and dark pants as the casino security team.
"Did I mention that you look great in a suit?" I asked Himeko, who didn't respond to my perfect attempt at flirting but flashed me a rare happy smile.
"No time for flirting, Kafka," Silver Wolf kept walking, forcing us to follow her without pause. She had her own smartphone and a mess of cables in her hands. "Give me the card."
I tossed the security card into the hands of our hacker, who turned down a few corridors until she reached the door of the room she needed to access all the building's complex systems.
"Have a good trip, you two," Silver Wolf says, opening the door to the room. "Remember: when you blow that vault, all the security in this city will be directed to this casino. Take the diamonds and get together with Blade and Firefly as quickly as possible. I'll be offering full support, as always."
Silver Wolf walked through the door, leaving Himeko and me alone in the corridor of a restricted area.
"Ready to finish the biggest heist of this Amber Era, dear?" I asked Himeko, as my lips were raised in a confident smile.
"We're still a long way from it all being over, you know?"
"Maybe," I say, without giving away the details of the script. "But that doesn't stop us from making some plans for after here. How about a date?"
"Your meetings are always complex, Kafka," Himeko laughs, crossing her arms in front of her. "I don't think you'll be able to organize everything you want in such a short time."
Again, Himeko is right, my dates have always been deeply complex. A picnic on a distant mountain so that the city lights don't obscure the stars, a light invasion of the school theater at night to drink a bottle of wine inside the complex set they had put together for the play Peter Pan — my core was always chasing the most romantic things back then.
"Was that a challenge?" I asked, opening a smile that even revealed my teeth.
"Maybe..."
Before we could share a laugh, Silver Wolf's voice reached our ears:
"All done! The service elevator is missing the access locks, you can go down to the vault. I'll take care of a few more things before I leave."
Silver Wolf would take another few dozen minutes to create shortcuts and insert programs that would allow her to access the casino's data servers at another time, as she always does in all her virtual attacks. As much fun as it is to watch her detonate some cyber security programs, a more important location required my presence.
The service elevator was in an adjacent corridor, awaiting our arrival. Normally, it would be necessary to insert an ID card into the reader so that the credentials could be read and the panel could tell us which floors we had access to. Thanks to our exceptional plan, the vault floor was open to anyone who was simply able to press the right button.
"Where did you learn to make coffee?" Himeko asked, breaking the silence. The service elevator certainly didn't have a satisfactory speed. "You always refused when I offered to teach you."
Although profound, this question had a surprisingly silly answer.
"When we were young, if I learned how to make even one cup of coffee, I ran the risk of experiencing days when you wouldn't make coffee for me in the morning," I replied, turning my face to maintain eye contact with Himeko. "So I never wanted to learn to always make sure you did something for me every day. Unfortunately, when we split up, I had to learn how to make coffee myself through some videos."
Himeko's cheeks took on a vibrant red color, matching her hair perfectly.
"Would I get a kiss if we weren't in the middle of a super-stressful robbery?" I asked, letting myself assume a victorious tone of voice for a single moment.
"No," Himeko replied without looking me in the eye.
"Liar..."
The service elevator reached its deepest point, opening the doors with a creak so loud that it irritated my eardrums.
In front of us, built into a wide wall, the colossal vault of immutable technology awaited us. The free area of this floor was so small as to be strange, with only a few meters to walk before reaching the door made of complexly named metals.
"Yeah, seeing it up close is very different from watching it on camera," I commented, still surprised by the magnitude of this construction. The vault door was almost the size of a house.
"From the information Firefly has been able to gather, it is said that the vault has an equally impressive depth. Someone could live in there for the rest of their life if they wanted to."
"That's certainly something rich people would love to do."
While we talked, Himeko didn't stop working for a second. In the snap of a finger, her technological suitcase and my own sword were materialized in her free hands — while we were busy playing cards, Himeko and Silver Wolf were busy getting our weapons back.
"No need to thank me," Himeko says, letting out a laugh that should be my trademark.
The member of the Astral Express ran from one corner of the grand entrance to the other, connecting a series of chemically unstable materials in the most fragile parts of the metal.
"What exactly is this?" I asked, trying to make sense of the substance that looked a lot like a plastic explosive.
"A bit of everything," she says, stepping back after positioning everything she had brought. "But in short: a special type of material designed to generate an exothermic reaction capable of damaging the structure of the vault. The heat generated will be enough to weaken the structure and allow you to react with your abilities."
"Got it," I said, trying to sound a little more intelligent. "Well, let's go then."
With the complete unfolding of its case, Himeko's drone was ready to set fire to the components positioned using its own core.
We kept a safe distance from the sea of sparks generated by the exothermic reaction. In the blink of an eye, the whole environment became hotter, it was as if S.A.M. itself was present — perhaps even a little hotter than that.
By the end of the pyrotechnic show, the metal that formed the door was glowing in a vivid mixture of red and orange. Without any additional help, this scorching mixture had almost penetrated the vault's defenses on its own.
"Your turn," Himeko said, taking a few steps away from me.
I lifted the sunglasses that protected my eyes, letting me clearly see the affected parts of the vault's structure. Himeko had strategically attacked the joints and areas containing the gears made to open the vault in the mundane way, melting away any chance this structure created with billions of credits had of standing.
Drawing my sword had a nostalgic feel to it, it had been a long time since it had seen a few seconds of action.
I brought my gloved fingers close to the burgundy blade, making sure that the usual layer of energy rays was present and that it contained the destructive force necessary for our plan to succeed as hoped. Even under the protection of my gloves, one of the rays still traveled up my fingertips, attacking my nervous system.
"This won't take long..."
Swinging my sword is different every time. No matter the direction or angle of the attack, the electric lines find their way every time. Just by imagining what I want and how to do it, the energy finds a way to create art out of violence.
The lines joined the hot metal almost instantly, forging a purely magical explosion in the heat. Chemical elements, explosives, none of that mattered. The overload was magic in its purest form.
Separate explosions were created at the same time, arising from the already weakened metal itself.
The result? A large hole in the vault door, which had fragments and debris pushed into the well-lit interior.
"By the Aeons," Himeko was awestruck, impressed by her own feat. "That really worked."
"No time to be surprised, Himeko," I say, already crossing the new passage. "All the alarms in this place have been triggered at this very moment. Time to get the diamonds and get out of here."
Despite our initial concern about finding the diamond collection among hundreds of other relics, our targets were easily recognizable.
In the exact center of the vault's interior, surrounded by chests stuffed with gold and other treasures, such as enchanted weapons and centuries-old relics, nine glass cases contained diamonds so large that Blade's hands would still have trouble holding them.
Wait...
Nine boxes?
"Damn," I heard Himeko complain, as she was crouching next to one of the wreckage of the destroyed door. "One of the boxes broke. Still, the diamond looks intact."
Himeko sighed, very relieved.
"Put all the boxes in my briefcase, I'll take care of this one right aw..."
Before she could finish her sentence, Himeko touched the jewel with her bare hands.
A terrible mistake.
Her vocal cords were frozen.
The body is completely paralyzed.
And then, finally, she collapsed to the side, unconscious.
Just as the script had predicted.
"Have a sweet dream, Himeko," I whispered, not wanting to disturb her sleep.
I made sure to leave Himeko's body in a safe place, away from the entrance. Unfortunately for the Astral Express member, the diamond she touched was impregnated with a high dose of memoria.
She would spend several long hours asleep, dreaming of a better world.
As for me, awake in the world of the living, I will have to try to create a safe path through a crowd of security guards and police forces.
"She's asleep, guys," I said, tapping my communicator to free up the communication channel. "Firefly, time to warm things up a bit."
"Hey! That was my line!" Silver Wolf complains.
"Better luck next time, Wolfie," I say, not holding back my laughter.
Now, free from the bonds created by the agreement with Himeko, the Stellaron Hunters were free to do what they do best: chaos in its purest and most violent form.