"I can't believe we're about to do this."
"No, we are about to do this, Ginger. You will be sitting in the van and minding the alarm systems." Hugo said, grabbing the handle and sliding the side door of his van open, hopping out. "I'd stay and manage it myself, but they're going to need me inside."
"This isn't petty theft, Grayson. This is a heist. Totally different ballgame." The Nosferatu's beady eyes focused on the Gangrel for a moment. He seemed taken aback, for a moment, that Ben was staring right back at him with a hard, stony gaze. "Hope, get that duffel from around back, please."
"Already got it." Hope said, lifting a large, gray duffel bag that she acquired from the back of the van.
"Good deal." Hugo took the bag, setting it out on the ground and unzipping it, revealing a plethora of equipment which he began to distribute to the others. "Alright, so... do we need to go over the plan again?"
"Nope, pretty sure we've got it."
"Yep."
"Yep, we're good."
"Alright, then." Hugo said, pulling out a set of handheld radios and distributing them to everyone. "Angelica, you and Hope stay here and you keep an eye on the monitors. Hope, anyone tries to break into the van, you eat them for all I care."
"Good deal." Hope said with a grin.
"Use some restraint, at least. We are trying to do a job here."
"I make no promises."
"Let's get moving, we're burning moonlight." Ben said, passing Anthony a handheld radio as well.
"Ben?" Angel asked.
"Yes?"
"Be careful."
"I'll do my best." Angel moved forward, pressing a hand to his chest to stop him.
"Ben, I mean it-"
"It's going to be fine, Angel. Just... stick in the van with the computer." Ben said, reaching for her hand and taking it in his own. "I'll be back." He gently squeezed their intertwined fingers before letting them go.
"That reminds me," Hugo cut in, "put on the gloves."
The movement into the museum was largely uneventful, mostly due to Hugo having had detailed plans of the place from the architecture to its security system to even its sewer access. Ben was hardly surprised given the Nosferatu's reputation and not just being an archetypal member of the Clan of the Hidden. The minimal security detail was also noticeable, though nothing outside of the ordinary according to him.
"We just need to get to the Greece exhibit and we'll move from there. Easy-peasy." Hugo said.
"With any luck, yes." Ben said, his own eyes glowing a bright red every so often toward the darker spots in the rooms they traveled. "And you're sure the cameras are disabled?"
"That's what your Girl Friday is doing, Grayson." Hugo said. "She keeps the false image going over it, anyone looking over the footage is just going to see hours upon hours of empty rooms."
"Seems a little too convenient, honestly." Anthony muttered.
"Take what you can get, Grayface." Hugo sniped back.
"Graywhat?" Anthony asked.
"Shh! In the corner. Quickly." Ben hissed at him, grabbing the Tremere at the shoulder and pulling him into the shadows.
"What abou-" Anthony whispered, looking back to where Hugo had been lumbering beside them, but found that he was indeed gone. The sound that had gotten their attention was that of some of the larger doors opening, a flashlight shining around the room. Both the Kindred held perfectly still, as though a million wasps had just entered the room and were buzzing angrily about. They could make out the silhouette of a man against the light, tall and portly of type. He moved through the exhibits, his light sweeping about as he grew closer and closer to their location. Anthony could sense Ben tensing behind him, like a predator about to strike.
However, the radio on the security guard's belt went off.
"We have someone at the front desk."
"Frank? Is that you?!" The guard spoke. "Where the hell have you been?!"
"Sorry, was over at the loading docks. Someone rang the bell, guess some kids were pranking us."
"Alright, so you're up in the lobby?"
"Yeah. Young lady says she witnessed an accident, I told her she could use the phone."
"She didn't have a phone?"
"Just get over here, Jim. You're not gonna believe it. She's a looker and she's got a friend!"
"...Frank? You sure you're... y'know what? I'm coming." He slid the radio back into his belt, turned on his heel, and headed back the way he'd come.
"All according to plan." Hugo's voice was heard as he suddenly popped into being besides the two.
"You mean a close call." Anthony hissed.
"A few seconds' delay." Hugo said, a gnarled hand waving him off. "If Grace and Sybil are doing their part to help everything along, which it sounds like they are."
"Oh, thank you so much for letting us in, Mr. Frank. I really appreciate it." Grace was laying it on thick as she laid on the lengthy, cushioned bench in the museum lobby.
"Oh, think nothing of it at all, Miss Penderghast!" Frank shook his head. "I'm just happy that Miss Sybil here found you when she did and could call someone."
"Detective." Sybil said pointedly, giving the man a look.
"Right, Detective, my apologies." Frank said. "What a terrible fate, though... nearly run off the road by some maniac and then both your cell phones being dead!"
"It's been a terrible night," Grace said, leaning back ever so slightly, her skirt moving up a bit just to show off a little bit of leg in a way that could be so easily taken as purely innocent, "but you've made it so much better." It was clearly having the intended effect, Frank turning a bit pink and stammering a bit like a horny idiot.
Sybil, meanwhile, was resisting the urge to roll her eyes and hoping that Hugo's plan was going off without a hitch. The other security guard, Jim, had not yet arrived in spite of having been called to the lobby a few minutes ago, a feat that shouldn't have been impossible... at least not for someone with two working legs no matter their state of health.
"Mr. Frank, would you mind helping Miss Penderghast keep her leg elevated? I'm going to try to call those screwballs again." Sybil said.
"Yeah, yeah, sure." Frank said, clearly not paying one bit of attention to anything that she was saying, moving to take her place in holding Grace's 'injured' leg. Sybil stepped away, heading back to the desk and once more picking the phone up off the hook and pretending to dial the station once more.
"I see you, little one... I see you..." The whispers went through her head again. "Tell the empty man to bring you to dinner..."
"Motherfu-" Sybil dropped the receiver and immediately drew her pistol, turning it on Frank.
"Detective Langtry, what the hell are you doing?" Grace asked, sounding less like a frightened waif and more in her normal affected persona.
"I know he's here. Where is he?" Sybil demanded of Frank, seeming to ignore Grace completely.
"Detective Langtry... I do not-" Frank stood, mouth agape, backing away from Grace with his hands raised. He looked absolutely terrified.
"What's your name?"
"M-My name?"
"Yes. Your name. What is it?"
"Sybil, this isn't a-"
"Frank Candreva!"
"Your wife. What's your wife's name?"
"My... wife..." Frank's entire demeanor seemed to change. The old man seemed to become dazed, as though he were lost in his own head, trying to remember something that he'd forgotten.
"You have a wife, right? I see the wedding ring." Sybil said. "What about kids? Have you got kids? Grandkids?" Frank stammered through several words, none of them coherent or anything resembling a sentence of any kind.
"Now, sister..." A woman's voice could be heard from behind them, drawing the attention of all three in the room. When Sybil turned, her gun still trained on Frank, she could properly see a robed figure, holding the mask of a Glazier in her hand. "The master will be very upset if you start traumatizing the meals... he likes to do that himself."
"Who the hell are you?" Sybil asked.
"Don't you know one of your kin?" Tessa asked. "I just happen to be from the other side of our little Jyhad..."
"I don't thi-" Frank said.
"You're right, Frank. You don't think. And you won't again." Tessa said, eyes focusing on the man's. Frank's entire body seized up suddenly, and then he stood ramrod still again. "We can learn all sorts of fun tricks with our Disciplines, can't we?"
"What did you do to him?" Grace asked, no longer faking the injured leg and instead moving to stand, her skirt sweeping out toward her ankle once more.
"She cooked his brain." Sybil said simply.
"Scrubbed his brain, more accurately." Tessa said. "He's made a good thrall, but he's served his purpose... he brought you to us."
"What do you-?" Grace asked.
"Oh, we know of your plans... they will fail." Tessa said, giving a cheerful smile and even a little twitch of her nose. "Come now... the Cascade Room is waiting. As is our master..."
"I don't think we're going anywhere with yo-" Grace started, but soon felt a hand on each of her shoulders. Sybil, too, found herself accosted by two others, one of which yanked the pistol right out of her fingers while the other held up both her arms. All four of the Glaziers surrounding them began to steer them toward the room in question as Tessa looked on with a smile.
"Dinner will soon be served..."
"You've got to be fucking kidding me..."
"This is where it's supposed to be, isn't it?"
"Yes."
"But it's not here."
"It's not here."
"Well, great! What do we do now?" Anthony asked.
"Relax. It's got to still be here." Ben said, looking at the empty case, identical in every detail to the picture that Sybil had shown them: lacking only the dagger they were looking for.
"Where?" Anthony asked. "Somewhere we haven't planned for? Somewhere we don't-"
"He hasn't done many heists before, has he?" Hugo asked.
"Neither have I." Ben said. "But no, I imagine not."
"Would the pair of you quit talking as though I'm not even here?" Anthony asked.
"Contribute something useful beyond incessant whining and maybe I will." Hugo snorted at him.
"What is your problem?!" Anthony snapped at him, but suddenly found himself stopping as a robed figure seemed to bleed out of the darkness around them, someone coming out of the obfuscation of... well, Obfuscate.
"The master is looking forward to meeting you for dinner." The voice of a man came from the robed Glazier as several others of his number came out of the darkness as well, surrounding them. Far too many for them to fight off. "The invitation is not a suggestion..."
"Enough talk!" Anthony snapped, raising his hands and preparing to channel his vitae before Ben stepped forward, holding his arm up in front of him. "Benjamin, get out of the way!"
"We start a fight here, we'll destroy things and leave evidence." Ben said. "This is not supposed to be a massacre."
"Are you joking?!"
"No, he has a point." Hugo said. The Tremere's head whipped around to glare at the Nosferatu. "He does. Play along." Hugo looked at the cloaked figures. "We'll accept the invitation."
"Then you are very wise." The Glazier spoke. The sound of what was unmistakably a dinner bell was heard. "The first course will soon be served... if you will accompany us..."
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