The Kansas City Shuffle // Cai & Fitz

[Deleted]

Kansas City Shuffle, or, How Two Wrongs Make a Right

Fitz hadn't had as long as he would have liked to prepare for this game. He'd done the legwork though and gotten himself a ticket in, gotten himself a spot. It was as legit as black market alien dealing could be. But his face wasn't known around the circles. He would have liked to work it a bit longer. Showing up at the last minute could work well for the Doctor and Jack but less well for those who had not lived hundreds of years by the seat of their pants. Still, he wasn't a new hand either and had a stack of black money that had been laundered so many times that the bills only seemed to exist in their own shadow. It was all part of the ruse. What he really needed was proof and hard evidence before the hammers could come down and close the shop up tighter than a boxer's fist.

He turned the corner onto a derelict side street. There were rows of empty shops, some of them were illegally habited and some were warehouse storage. Some even, during the day, pretended to be open and sold goods. Faded boxes stood in the windows proclaiming the shop's would-be wares while behind the scenes the real business went on down in the basement. Some shops were unfortunate enough to be completely legal operations stuck in the middle of the rest. Yet the labyrinth went deep in Bury New Road. Manchester might not be a looker no matter what time of the day it was but the rows of low buildings each had their secrets, and at night the lamps glowed and fights broke out within the blink of an eye.

Hands stuck in his pockets, Fitz casually looked up at 'Crown Sporting Goods' as he passed it, ignoring the car as it rolled slowly alongside him for about half the block. He found the building he was looking for and went around to the back. Standing under a flickering awning drawing moths he banged on the caged glass of the doorframe. A stocky-looking youngish bloke in a cap looked up at him expectantly. Fitz showed him his invitation, trying not to feel foolish. The fellow read it and then took it out of his sight leaving Fitz at the door, anxious. Finally he came back, gave him a nod and then let him inside.

There was a short hall and stair before a set of doors. Beyond that, it was much warmer and the atmosphere almost that of a party or private club. It was rather nicer inside than he'd been expecting, he had to admit. A bit posh, even if people weren't necessarily looking posh. People were in small groups or singly, drinking drinks or smoking. Most of them seemed to be waiting for something, perhaps the arrival of their host. There wasn't any fencing going on here, no deals he overheard. Just idle chit-chat and small talk, laughter that had nothing much behind it. It was almost as if they were pretending their hardest not to seem as if they weren't bristling with guns and weapons of all sorts. Which they most certainly were. And so was Fitz.

"This is more like it," he said, a smile flashing onto his face. He rubbed his hands together and headed to a table laden with drinks, keeping an ear out for when they would be moved into the trading areas. Then negotiations would begin and the real purpose for the gathering would unfold. All Fitz had to do was hold his ruse long enough and not get mugged or killed. Kid's stuff, really.  Yet he couldn't quite shake the feeling that something was already going wrong.

[Cai Dorough]

The hair on the back of his neck bristled as he approached the doorway, invitation in hand. The dirt and grime had caked onto the walls like paste and baked into the stone so thick from years of maltreatment that it had become a second layer of paint. A facade as well as any could wish for, sure, but dead air clouding the street hung heavy like toxic gas and stifled what little bit of thought he could manage to gather in the first place, swapping it out for tension and constant surveillance.

Cai stepped up to the deceptively sturdy looking door and waited six seconds he'd been instructed to before knocking twice, concisely. A bit of cobweb shook free and drifted lazily to the ground beside him. A metal slit slid open to show a young guy in a rust colored hat waiting for him silently, his rough beard growing in uneven patches. He glared at Cai until the mercenary handed the crumpled bit of paper to him. The man closed the latch and disappeared for a few moments. When he returned, he was accompanied by a tall, thin woman in red silk who smiled graciously at him and beckoned he enter.

Once inside the grubby looking building, the woman in silk shooed the man away. He grunted but vanished through a side door without question. Almond shaped eyes lined with silver flashed toward Cai, her lacy neckline revealing a simple but elegant necklace of gold with a diamond pendant, matching the sets of diamond wristlets she wore on either hand.

"I am glad you were able to join us tonight. My name is Ilyena. You come with a rather high recommendation, Mr....?"

"Rogers. Steve."

A dangerous glint flashed instantly behind Ilyena's eyes, but she retained her composure and kept smiling.

"Well, Mr. Rogers,-"

"Steve is fine," Cai cut in.

"Steve, then. If you will, this way." She turned easily enough in her crimson heels and led the mercenary through the hall and down a flight of stairs before opening a simple door to reveal the main event.

The opulence was exceedingly flashy, especially once compared to the dusty exterior of the building. Gold filigree lined the tables and crystal chandeliers danged overhead, refracting light across the white marble walls and plush golden carpets. Precious jewels flashed from every corner of the room, not the least of which dangling from the men and women who occupied the space, conversing amicably over a thin veil of what was surely contempt and rivalry. Oh yeah, he was sure to fit into this crowd.

While the prevalent code of dress for the party was consistently levels above any socialite's best day, Cai had chosen instead to keep it simple; a casual pair of slacks fitted around leather loafers, a soft white shirt and a blue jacket, sans tie. It wasn't exactly something he would choose normally, but the objective was to look the part, play the part. Still, the hair on his neck felt uncomfortably itchy. The whole situation was beyond his usual parameters of operation. Covert infiltration he could do. Sneak into a building and take out a target without being seen? Every Tuesday. But this? Blend into a crowd of rich, empowered and self-important d-bags, schmoozing it up over cocktails and masked hatred? He was the only shark in an ocean full of fish with rumors of teeth.

"Please enjoy yourself, Mr. Rogers," Ilyena cooed, lilting past, "and please come find me later."

Cai shut the door behind him and waded into the depths.

[Deleted]

He scratched at his ear. His clear earpiece was irritating him but thankfully JEFFREY was silent for once instead of nattering at him with commentary borne of pure boredeom. He was about as used to the earpiece as wearing a necktie which thankfully he had the foresight to dispense with as soon as he was out of the vicinity of his boss's critical eye. As if he knew what fashion was in this century! He wore suspenders with a belt an still dressed as if it were World War 2. Fitz had his own fashion sense and had restrained himself, he thought, admirably. There were certain types of clothing that were always in fashion and leather fell into that category. Add a pair of smart shoes and slacks and off you went.

He turned to survey the crowd again with a drink in one hand, leaning casually against a wall. There were a lot of people now and he didn't really know anyone that he saw. He watched a man come in with a woman in red as an escort; lucky bloke. She was a looker, that was for sure. Him, not so much. Ordinary enough for this crowd. Then the set of double doors to his left began to open and the lull of voices quieted slightly. Those assembled were greeted with a blast of air that smelled of fresh cut flowers, a fainter lingering smell of food being prepared and lastly a tang not unlike the ocean. A voice from within welcomed them inside, seeming to come from everywhere and nowhere. It was that last that Fitz found the least comforting. The forced joviality of it made him instantly cautious.

At approximately the same time, two large doormen locked the doorway that led back upstairs and stood in front of it. Their forms flickered and shifted. One suddenly became a rather large elephantine alien with six sets of curving tusks wearing modified Judoon-style armor. Fitz was not familiar with that species yet and given its size he was not eager to get to know him any better. The bloke in the cap revealed himself to be a Dryth under the shimmer. Dryth looked a lot like Earth cows and had somehow despite that and the fact that their home planet used cheese as currency, bred just as many criminals as any other civilization.

None of this was unexpected, but as he turned his attention back to the door, he realised that some of the guests had likewise taken the opportunity to dispense their disguises. Perhaps not all of them, or perhaps most of them were human buyers but he could now spot a few aliens in the mix. The throng began to slowly make it's way into the main hall, where they could peruse the wares before any buying or selling would take place. For now, the atmosphere was still mostly friendly. Inside, he could see some of the usual suspects, like the Adipose and Raxacoricofallapatorians. They never gave up, not really. Just as small and twice as worrying as the blobs, Fitz caught site of a pink poodle running from one end of the room to the other, but had not a chance to see if it had hands. He really did not want to deal with any of the thieving mutts from Dogworld again.

Fitz began to look through the items on display. There was a wide array of things to see, not just weapons but mostly weapons or defensive items of some sort. But a creative mind could turn most of the rest into some sort of weapon or other, he supposed. He noted stolen Arcateenian technology, engine parts of spaceships, all scavaged during some piracy no doubt. Pretending to examine a compression field collar, he settled in to listen to some of the other prospective buyers were saying to one another.

[Cai Dorough]

Luckily Cai only had to wait in the prep room a few moments, the sheer overflow of bedazzlement shining a migraine straight into his skull, before the posterior doors opened and a voice beckoned the party forth. He had already caught a few glances from the numerous guests, several of whom he recognized from past encounters or jobs, and not for the first time he found it incredibly handy to have a new face. It was only too short a jump to figure out ways he was going to piss off the same crowd all over again. The thought gave him butterflies.

As the crowd began to filter into the other room, many of the partygoers decided to relieve themselves of their guises; a few used holographic modifiers no doubt bought from the Legion (Cai happened to know the engineer who had created the devices) that simply blinked off to reveal the aliens behind the bent light. Simple devices, in function, but not quite as adaptable as the shimmers that many of the others used. Expensive as they were to obtain, the more monetarily advantaged among the crowd wore them on their wrists in plain contrast to their extravagant attire and shrugged with relieve when the suppression field died away. Cai had used one before, himself, and they were every bit as uncomfortable as they appeared, like having a wet blanket pressed over the face while simultaneously being shoved into a box. Adipose and raxacoricofallapatorians, vogans and diplosians, even one diminutive (and that was saying something) balhoonian named Glebb that Cai had run across a few decades ago when he'd been hired to assassinate Glebb's brother, Blebb. Having no disguise to remove, and needing to insert himself among the crowd and be noticed, the mercenary decided it was time to do a little mingling. He straightened his jacket and strode into the ballroom.

Items for auction were displayed around the room, lined up on pedestals or tables against the walls and at random intervals through the concourse. Each was protected by a thin, nearly imperceptible light array that he assumed would instantly melt flesh from bone; if the dispersement fields weren't enough, several ogron guards were stationed around the room and ready to swarm any misbehaving culprits. Cai had to wonder who was the brains of that operation controlling them, as the fact that one of the ogrons kept poking himself in the eye displayed a serious lack of self-direction.

"You, there, human, come and settle this debate for us."

Cai looked in the direction of the raspy voice, a kahler beckoning him to join his conversation with a mogarian and a jacondan. "Oh goody, whats the gossip, girls," Cai grinned as he moved closer, stoping beside the jacondan and resting an arm comfortably on the alien's shoulder. The jacondan looked anything but comfortable. "I was just thinking about how I haven't been in an argument all day, so really you're saving me from a lot of grief. What the problem is, home-slice?"

The group stared at Cai for a few moments, befuddled, before the kahler continued. "Ah, you're, um, language is... unfamiliar to me... But no matter! Tell us, human-"

"Steve," Cai interjected. "Or Mr. Rogers. But really thats from the old neighborhood."

"Yes, Steve, perhaps you can settle this for us. We were just having a little debate here, you see, upon the best course of action. My associate here, Mr.-"

"Rethakin," the mogarian answered, his voice translator stiff and tinny. His head continuously shifted toward one of the nearby pedestals housing an odd sculpture, his hands twitching restlessly. Cai wondered if he was going to be stupid enough to try and touch it. Now THAT would be a show.

"Yes, Rethakin," the kahler continued. "Well, he has an employee he recently caught stealing money from his warehouse. The man is currently waiting his punishment. Now, I believe he should be shot. Mr. Rethakin here thinks he should have his tongue cut out. And Larimur here says the only way to deal with traitors is to take pluck their eyes out. Tell us, what is your custom here?"

Before Cai could answer, he caught sight of a familiar face across the room, drink in hand and totally out of place. Now, what are YOU doing here? Nobody seemed to be questioning his presence, so he must have somehow scored himself an invitation, but from Cai's previous dealings with the man he did not belong in the same city as most of the people in the room. The aliens next to him each continued spouting the benefits to their own plan, trying to sway the others, but Cai had stopped listening and began to walk away.

"Human? You didn't answer our question?"

"What? Oh, yeah, um, just go easy on him, eh? Shoot him, then cut out his tongue, then shoot his tongue. If you're feeling particularly froggy, a little acid here and there never killed anybody except everybody, then feed whatever is left to a pig or something. Welcome to Earth!"

He left the group with dumbfounded looks and circled the room, peripherally eyeing Fitz and wondering how he could use this to his advantage.

[Deleted]

Fitz took a sip of his drink, trying to look nonchalant. No poison that he could detect, other than alcohol. But he could be wrong. He'd wanted to test it, or tip it out but knew if he looked too crass or rude he'd be tossed out for bad manners. And it was a crime of the kind even criminals paid attention to, tossing out alcohol of caliber. The second it hit his tongue he knew it was quality. The second sip told him that the first impression was the right one. The third came naturally, in progression and so Fitz circled back to pick up another drink from the sideboard. As he went he turned, glancing around and then shrugged to himself as he came up to a draped table towards the front center of the room. The watched feeling followed him, but for all he knew it was the security cameras. He could feel the hum of security shields on it even from two steps back, making the hair at the nape of his neck stand on end. Whatever one of the main attractions of the evening was, it sat on a plinth and stood tall as a man standing on a plinth. To Fitz, there was something of a statue or set of armor forgotten in the museum after hours about it. Leaning in as close as he dared, his long thin nose buzzing as if by static, he almost could discern something in the artful folds.

Then a hand was touched him on the shoulder, light as a feather. A tray was offered out in front of him again by one of the sure-footed waitstaff, this time laden with finger food. A perfectly mundane smile on the shorter man's face as he held up the tray and Fitz took something that he could not readily identify scooped onto a cracker. Without hardly moving his mouth at all, the man said, "Best not to get too close, sir. Or appear too interested too soon..."

"I suppose not," Fitz agreed, popping another cracker into his mouth, sounding quite the opposite.

"You'll find out sooner than later, sir," he said, a smile hidden mostly by his mustache. With a nod, he withdrew to offer out food to the other guests and keep them out of trouble.

So reprimanded, Fitz left the items that were near the auction bloc, there to taunt them, alone. It was a shame, for Fitz knew now that they were running a tight ship here. No slipping through the cracks here, to go put your nose into something. Ah well.  He found himself a seat sharpish at a couch along one side. From this vantage point, the theatrical atmosphere seemed even more phony than ever but by contrast Fitz felt a fit of giddyness. He picked out  the lady in red again, floating through the crowd, attendants and the wares sellers. The lights dimmed a moment like at the theatre. He wondered if that meant things were about to get started or someone was going to make an announcement but at first nothing seemed to change. The pace of the crowd did not shift. Perhaps he had imagined it or it was a signal to the waitstaff.

// lol that's from the old neighborhood xD

[Cai Dorough]

From what Cai could see around the room, given his entire lap of the area, the piece he saw had not yet been brought forth. It made sense to hold off the really expensive items, keep them out of sight. Even with the given security, superfluous measures were a nonexistent concept with this crowd. Secret listings would only build the suspense and drive up the bidding.

The crowd had split off into myriad groups that shifted randomly, one person leaving a group to meld in with another, so much so that it seemed an automatic response. Alcohol flowed freely, brought in on silver trays in crystal chalices. The wait staff expertly weaved in and out of the gatherings, exchanging empty cups for filled ones and disappearing into the back to retrieve more. Finger foods were pranced about in much the same manner, many of the dishes looking as alien as those they were crafted for; balls of orange good dipped in red sauce, small bundles of hay, squirming purple worm things that were dipped in ketchup before being devoured alive.

"Sir? Would you care to try?"

The waiter proffered his fancy tray of delectable crud topped with garbage, making Cai's stomach twist in tight knots. "Uh, what the hell is that?"

"This is a pate of slowly roasted indigenous legumes, paired with a rustic aioli and curdled goat cheese sautéed in a light creme de lait and served on wheat crisps. Very delicious sir. Please, try some."

Cai eyed the concoctions as one might a foot served in a soup bowl. "Riiiiiiiiiighhhht. Am I supposed to eat that?"

"Sir, you are supposed to delight in it."

"Riiiiiiiiiiiighhhhht. Listen, buddy, you got any of them pigs in a blanket back there? Be a pal and go check for me, would ya?" Cai slapped the waiter on the rear with a smile and moved off to get a better view of the room.

The lights began to dim, signaling for the wait staff to vacate the selling floor, and the patrons all turned toward the stage as Ilyena glided forward. Gone was the facade of camaraderie and playful banter, leaving behind the same bloodthirsty stare on each face present. They may have been amicable a moment before, but each was there to win, and none was accustomed to letting another win instead.

Instead of moving forward to join the crowd, however, Cai hung at the back. The doors were still blocked and maintained by the massive guards, no way out without being noticed. All around the room, all eyes were either busy watching the stage or watching those watching the stage. It was clear that slipping away was not going to be as easy as he could have hoped, unless...

Cai had seen the servants' entrance while he'd been surveying the room, hidden behind a fold in the fabric of the wall bear the stage. The curtains were offset by a two foot opening at an angle, giving the appearance of a continuous sheet but offering an exit without the unsightly addition of an extra door. If he could get to there and slip in, he could leave the selling room without any commotion. The bidding would take a while to get underway and then an even longer time to complete, which would buy him the time he needed to find what he had come for and get back without being noticed.

He realized Ilyena had brought a man on to the stage and he had been talking for a few moments already, but Cai had paid no attention to anything the man was saying until the plinths around the room all lowered into the floor.

"-are being prepared for showing, please ready your lot numbers and account details in the handhelds that are being passed around now. The devices are locked to each of your DNA signatures to prevent tampering and mis-dealings, and each will automatically record your highest bids to be transferred upon completion of each item for the winner. We will commence the first bid in five minutes, and good luck to you all."

The lights returned to their normal setting and Cai took the handheld device from the servant. Five minutes to slip out, hopefully before the lights dimmed too far and his eyes began to glow their purple gleam. Many might not recognize them, as they had displayed a green hue with his last face, but his alias would not stand up to the scrutiny that was sure to follow, not to mention that his handheld was reading an error screen. His DNA was so messed up it was impossible to be detected.

"Well, time to get down to business," he murmured to himself, slipping past the multitudes as each dialed in on their own handhelds. Fitz had taken up a seat by himself off to the side, so Cai plopped down on the couch beside him on the right. As good a decoy as any, I guess.

"Man, stuffy in here ain't it? Can't even get a good cheeseburger on a stick. What is the world coming to, amiright? You bring a date here, dude? One of them horned chicks out there with you? Take my advice, man, wrap it up like, three or four times." Cai laughed brazenly, nudging Fitz with an elbow and winking mischievously. As he did so, he slid his handheld into Fitz's jacket pocket. "Experience, know-what-I'm sayin? Anyway, good talking to you, pal, go get yourself some sweet swag."

Cai got up and moved into the crowd to break line of sight just as the lights began to dim again. He closed his eyes and waited, ten seconds... fifteen... At seventeen seconds, the lights flashed on again and blinked a red so bright Cai could see it through his eye lids. Several guards were rushing past him toward the side of the room.

Perfect, time to get out of here.

[Deleted]

"Man, stuffy in here ain't it? Can't even get a good cheeseburger on a stick. What is the world coming to, amiright? You bring a date here, dude? One of them horned chicks out there with you? Take my advice, man, wrap it up like, three or four times." Cai laughed brazenly, nudging Fitz with an elbow and winking mischievously. As he did so, he slid his handheld into Fitz's jacket pocket. "Experience, know-what-I'm sayin? Anyway, good talking to you, pal, go get yourself some sweet swag."

"Lil' bit stuffy yeah," Fitz agreed, putting away his handheld. He sure as hell hoped that it was going to read his DNA without any issues. It was human, even if he was a biomass clone. He'd never had issues before from DNA scans in this timeline, though really advanced tech...then again if they had something that advanced that was a big problem in its own right. The guy was still talking to him. He raised an eyebrow as he nudged him. "I dunno, the bacon wrapped whateveritwas were pretty good...erm, no, no horned...what the Voord? Or the Jacondan?" He shook his head at the other fellow. "Thanks for the tip," Fitz returned sarcastically as the other man stood to leave.

It didn't occur to him that he'd just had something planted on him, as he hadn't felt a thing. Not when the lights flashed red, not even when two huge guards came running right at him, brandishing stun batons and blasters. They stopped, one pointing his weapon just short of his nose. The larger of the two grunted at him, demanding to see his scanner. Fitz swore, dug out his scanner and handed it to them, fearing his cover had been blown. But when the other guard put a muscled hand on him approximately the size of a Christmas ham and dragged out -another- scanner from his coat, that's when it hit him. He'd been set up!

"That son of--" Elephant man number one grabbed him by both shoulders and heave him up off the bench."Hey, it wasn't me! That's not even mine," he protested, as he was dragged, pulled and shoved along. "It was..." Where did that guy go...dammit!

[Cai Dorough]

Slipping away had actually proven quite easy, once the attention had been shifted off on to the unknowing Fitz. At the flash of the red light alarm, all service members had retreated through the entrance behind the stage and Cai had simply followed them through. He took off his jacket in the bustle and kicked it under the curtains of the stage, his dressed down attire was such that none of the staff paid any heed to his passing as he snatched an extra apron from a nearby stand. From there, it was as easy as walking out of the kitchen to gain access to the rest of the building.

Aggravated shouts could still be heard from the show room, but the voices were indecipherable in the halls. The good thing was that the security seemed to be focused in force around the guests, though he did not fool himself into believing there weren't going to be any more roaming about. The orchestrators of this little shindig were too cautious for that. Overkill? Maybe. Warranted? Well, as it turned out, exceptionally.

A large room off to the left, situated directly behind the stage, housed all of the artifacts that were to be sold at the auction. Cai could see many of them arranged in neat rows through the small window in the door. He continued on down the hall, checking the other rooms, however. If there was time, he would pick up the artifact from the holding room on the way out, but it was a secondary concern. More of a passing fancy, really. No, his objectives were far more valuable than anything being sold.

Wonder how long they'll interrogate Fitz on where he got the second ID scanner. Once they match up the serial number to the assigned guest, it won't take them long to figure out I'm not there any more. Probably no more than five minutes to get back to the room.

He took the stairs two at a time, his footsteps still as quiet as a whisper, and peered around the edge at the top to check the halls. A guard stood by one of the doors about six feet away. Out of arm's reach, but he could cross that distance in time before the man could react.

Cai stepped up the last step, the guard instantly taking notice off the unwelcome guest.

"What are you doing up here?" The guard demanded, aiming his weapon at Cai instantly. "No staff allowed. Don't move, I'm calling Kripske." Holding his weapon with one hand, the guard reached for his radio. Cai took the opportunity, crossing the space in an instant. The man barely had time for his eyes to widen before the mercenary was on him like a flash of lightning. His corpse crumpled to the floor, neck snapped, before he could even press the call button on the radio.

"No guns allowed," Cai remarked to the body, "don't move, I'm calling this a successful infiltration." He laughed at himself as he relieved the man of his key. "You don't mind, right?" He gripped the corpse's head by the hair and shook it from side to side. "Din't think so," he giggled.

Inside the room, lining the walls, were the receivers for the handhelds. Each of them held a steady green light except for one, blinking red furiously. That must have been the one he'd planted on Fitz downstairs. Wires ran from each receiver to a central computer. "Bazinga," he commented before using a nearby pen to dig into his forearm and open his wrist. He pulled a small plastic bag from inside his arm, holding a flash drive inside. Painful, but necessary. He popped the thumb drive into the port. An automatic worm activated and began downloading. He waited patiently, humming a happy tune to himself until it signaled 100%, keeping his fingers in the cut in his arm to prevent it from closing. Once the drive was finished he returned it to the bag and the bag to his arm. Step one, complete.

Now to find Ilyena's office. Two minutes left, gotta move.

[Deleted]

Fitz was bundled roughly into one of the back rooms by the security men. Pressed down into a chair, he found himself sitting under a single lamp in a rather blank, concrete and brick wall. There were a few accoutrements here, a table and some chairs. It screamed utilitarian interrogation room. None of the niceties of the other areas to be found here. He figured it must be along the outer perimeter of the building. One of the men went to stand by the door, arms folded while the other began a staring match with him that Fitz did not want to try to win. Instead, he considered what options he had. The truth, or at least parts of it, were still his best bet.

"Look, I'm telling you, you've got the wrong guy. Some bloke planted something on me and did a runner. Let me just show you, hey?" he tried.

Without speaking, the guard grabbed him and divested him of the other scanner and anything else that he had on him. He tried not to look like he cared as his personal effects were confiscated and dumped on a metal table as if they were so much detritus. Presently, the door opened and another person walked in. They looked human enough, but Fitz wasn't buying it at face value. They were moderately tall and well built, wearing a fitted jacket that had some kind of padding beneath it. The man had a trimmed beard and dark, lively eyes. He pinned Fitz to his seat with a look. The guard had passed both scanners to him and he snapped them away, briskly walking back and forth as he read the data. What, exactly, he found in the other scanner Fitz had no clue. Other than it wasn't his.

"The guy you should be looking for is well on his way by now, you realise that, right?" Fitz said in a sarcastic tone of voice. Unfortunately for him, no one seemed inclined to talk much to him directly. The man took both scanners under his arm and hurried away without preamble. Fitz slumped back in his seat. He supposed he should be glad that he wasn't being interrogated yet, but waiting was getting to him. He fidgeted, fought the urge to smoke and all the while looked for a way to escape or for someone to come back and give him word that he was going to be let go. The latter did not seem too likely but he didn't want to sit here there all night either.

Suddenly, the two guards that had been left with him twitched to attention. One lifted an enormous hand towards his ear and shift something, possibly some kind of earpiece, attention diverted to whatever he was hearing. His fan of an ear waved back and forth and he gave a grunt. The guard scooped up the belongings off the table and then glared at Fitz. He took a set of magcuffs from his belt and opened them, reaching for Fitz. "Dammit," Fitz muttered, as he was cuffed to the chair and the pair left. Some type of lock was engaged, he heard a set of beeps and a physical blot to boot. Annoyed, Fitz stood up, the chair stuck to his rear like a peacock tail and listened. Only one set of heavy footfalls drifted off. One guard was left then, possibly. He began a careful scan of the room for cameras. He was sure they were there, he just had to find them.

[Cai Dorough]

Back out in the hall, the dead guard's radio was going crazy with chatter, left unanswered. Crap. Cai dragged the body into the receiver room and broke the handle off on the inside, jamming the catch with a piece of metal. If they thought to look inside before the night was done, that would buy him a bit of extra time. Still, he hoped they would not bother whilst the auction was still underway.

He searched several rooms on the floor before coming to a locked door near the end. It was sealed with a handprint lock and iris decoder, beyond impossible in the time he had left. However, the door next to it was unlocked and easy enough to enter. Inside waited a few more ogrons, facing away from the door in dull grunting conversation. He shut it quietly and moved past them without a sound, evading their notice. The window at the back was already open, letting in a breeze. Cai leapt through the opening, grabbing the sill and swinging around it to fling himself a few feet to the right. He nearly missed the next sill but caught it at the last second, banging against the stone wall. Cai waited anxiously for a few seconds but the ogrons seemed not to have heard, their conversation probably drowning out the noise.

From there it was an easy step to get inside. Everyone locked doors, it was to be expected, but they rarely ever thought to secure any window that was so high up. A sensor rested on the inside, but a radio ear piece he'd taken from the receiver room, wires exposed, circuited the signal when he slid the wires under the window to touch the sensor. He pushed the window open and hopped inside.

---

He had taken a bit longer than he had intended, rifling through Ilyena's office, but eventually he had found his target and slipped back out the window. Deciding to skip the stairs in case there were other staff roaming about, he dropped two floors and entered a window on the auction room level. No one waited inside the room for him, so he exited to the hall.

The security must have removed Fitz from the auction room because he could hear the auctioneer under way. Security shmurity, nothing came between the rich getting richer.

"Hey, why are you not back in the kitchen?" A hulking man had come from a nearby room, spotting Cai in the hall. He moved toward the mercenary with a purpose, hand hovering over a gun at his side. "What were you doing in there?"

"I lost my pen, had to find another one. Oh! Here it is," he replied, pulling the pen he'd used to cut his arm open from his apron. "Eeeewwwwww, its all covered in blood! I don't want this one, you take it."

The guard grabbed his arm, moving to pull the gun from its holster. Cai reacted quickly, stabbing the pen into the man's gun hand while simultaneously slamming a palm into the man's throat, silencing any screams. The guard coughed and hacked, clutching his throat with his non-impaled hand. Cai followed up with a knee to his solar plexus and a spinning elbow to the temple, crumpling the man in an instant.

"Don't worry, buddy, I'm sure I'll find a new one, thanks for being helping out." He slipped past the unconscious man but before he could move a few steps he could hear more footsteps approaching, this time with grunts and gravelly voices that were clearly not human. Taking his chances, he slipped into the room the guard had exited from, only to come face to face with Fitz.

[Deleted]

Fitz tried to smash the chair off of himself and had, after a few minutes earned himself a mighty bruise on his backside. A few more and it finally hit him to try to bed the metal instead at the solder points. He went towards one wall to wedge it between some likely looking pipes only to find that the wall was entirely fake. The pipes were fake. The brick was fake, some type of cloaking technology. He swore to himself and  attempted to investigate, the chair still stuck to him like a snail's shell. He wondered why they'd bothered to project a hologram at all, a cell wall was a cell wall. But his shoe caught a dip into the wall and it revealed itself to be a doorway to the room over, further inside the building. Perhaps a maintenance route or the like. He felt for a handle and the bar across it was locked but at least it did not have a guard on it. He wished he still had JEFFREY, the little blighter of an AI could be useful at times, when he wasn't terrorizing and trolling /reddit. Without his earpiece there wasn't any way to reach him till he got a new coms unit.

Fitz turned awkwardly, trying to see if there was a way to get the door open. Then he recalled something - the way the silent man had arrived. A certain knock on the door. Well, hell. It was worth a try. They surely wouldn't be expecting a chair or kick to the groin, assuming they had one anywhere near where a human's were laid out, which was what he was planning on delivering. It wasn't sporting, especially not from one bloke to another, but he was short on options. He knocked with the heel of his shoe and hoped.

Instead of the hidden door he was hitting opening, as he might have expected, it was the hall door that opened. Fitz looked up in surprise at the bloke who had planted the reader on him and did a runner. "You!" he said. He would have pointed at him, if his arms weren't cuffed to the chair. He gave him a shifty look. "Look, I just wanna get out of here, like you do I reckon. What do you say you get me out of this chair and we get the hell out of here, yeah?"

[Cai Dorough]

"You!" he said. He would have pointed at him, if his arms weren't cuffed to the chair.

"Uh oh," Cai said, freezing in place, eyes strafing the room to check for cameras, exit points, weak spots in the walls. Fitz sat hand-cuffed to a chair and looking equal parts shocked and irate like a deer getting up after being clipped by a car. "Don't move. Maybe he won't notice you."

He gave him a shifty look. "Look, I just wanna get out of here, like you do I reckon. What do you say you get me out of this chair and we get the hell out of here, yeah?"

"Love to. I mean, not really, cause that would probably hinder my own plans as you're likely to get all shot and... die, and stuff. Annnnd then I get the phone calls complaining about your death and the late nights and the hauntings and really who has time for all of that? Plus, scapegoat, you know? Someone's gotta be here when they come back and wanna mutilate something, otherwise we're just being very rude guests."

Cai poked his head out of the door, checking for guards, and was nearly spotted by a particularly frantic looking ogron that would have been pulling out his own hair had he any left. His extreme lower jaw bit into his upper lip at an uncomfortable angle as he barked to his comrade. He sighed as he closed the door back to think of a plan.

A flash of pale, blue-white light shimmered behind where Fitz sat, drawing Cai's attention. The light vibrated and coalesced into a humanoid shape; a young woman in her early 20's, her face hidden behind the light that formed her body, as well as any other distinguishing features. It appeared as if a blank slate, someone intending to mould a woman of light but giving up after the template had been pressed. Still, Cai could feel her presence in the figure, and knew it anywhere. It had not been the first time his daughter had appeared to him so. He'd never figure out how, or why, but perhaps the most unsettling notion was that no one else seemed to ever see her there, or indeed notice anything even out of the ordinary.

Rayleigh's phantom stood over Fitz and waited patiently.

Cai shook his head, protesting internally. Nooooope, not doing it, he's a dweeb!

The phantom crossed her arms ands cocked her head slightly, as if huffing at him, just as Rayleigh had done so many times before.

Oh come on! He'll get us both killed!

She shook her head slowly.

Okay, he'll get himself killed and I'll probably get guts on my shoes. These are rentals!

She pointed a finger at Fitz and nodded once before vanishing like so much smoke on the wind.

"Arrrrrgh, nope, not doing it this time. Sorry pal, you'll have to figure it out. Here," he handed the man a bag of gummy bears, his last bag of gummy bears, and proffered a helpful smile. "Provisions. In case the mutilating goes long and you miss dinner. Toodle-oo!"

He stuck his head out of the door again and only just tucked back inside the room as gun fire opened up, loosing several rounds where his head had been.

"On second thought, I DO like my meat-shields within bullet blocking distance," he said matter-of-factly. With one swift kick, Cai shattered the chair beneath Fitz in several pieces, freeing the cuffs chain from the back bar. A small screw from the leg served as an adequate pick and the man was free a few seconds later. "Don't suppose you got a gun on you? Its gonna be a reeeeeeaaaaaally long way out otherwise."

[Deleted]

"Uh oh," Cai said, freezing in place, eyes strafing the room to check for cameras, exit points, weak spots in the walls. Fitz sat hand-cuffed to a chair and looking equal parts shocked and irate like a deer getting up after being clipped by a car. "Don't move. Maybe he won't notice you."

Naturally, Fitz thought the man was speaking to him - though what he said didn't make any sense. "What?" Confusion spread across his face as his anger shorted out.

"Love to. I mean, not really, cause that would probably hinder my own plans as you're likely to get all shot and... die, and stuff. Annnnd then I get the phone calls complaining about your death and the late nights and the hauntings and really who has time for all of that? Plus, scapegoat, you know? Someone's gotta be here when they come back and wanna mutilate something, otherwise we're just being very rude guests."

Oblivious to the goings on inside the other man's head, he gave him his best puppy eyes. "Come on! You got me into this mess, least you can do is let me out. I'm more like to die if you leave me here, mate you saw some of those blokes out there. No nonsense they were. As for scapegoat, I'm not the right bloke. People will notice if I go missing, /then/ you'll end up with "phone calls," savvy?" Then as he put his head out, he called, "I'll give you rude, you--"

But then the feller really started acting weird. He came back in the room and just...seemed to stare, just beside him. Shaking his head. Considering he was surrounded by criminals and was used to weird things happening, he was starting to wonder if the guy was possessed, or maybe a cyborg downloading new orders. Who knew? But he snapped out of it, only to add another layer of 'nope going to leave you to die' onto the 'not going to help you' cake.

"Arrrrrgh, nope, not doing it this time. Sorry pal, you'll have to figure it out. Here," he handed the man a bag of gummy bears, his last bag of gummy bears, and proffered a helpful smile. "Provisions. In case the mutilating goes long and you miss dinner. Toodle-oo!"

"The hell am I supposed to do with these, you bloody ingrate, bribe them? Get back here and let me out!" he pleaded. His voice was punctuated by gunshots, several of them, and the man ducking back into the room.

"On second thought, I DO like my meat-shields within bullet blocking distance," he said matter-of-factly. With one swift kick, Cai shattered the chair beneath Fitz in several pieces, freeing the cuffs chain from the back bar. A small screw from the leg served as an adequate pick and the man was free a few seconds later. "Don't suppose you got a gun on you? Its gonna be a reeeeeeaaaaaally long way out otherwise."

"If I did have, would you think they'd let me keep it? One of the ogron goons nicked it," he said sarcastically, picking himself up off the ground and rubbing his wrists. "Thanks for that, at least. My hero," he added sarcastically. Then he gazed backwards. "There's a hidden door along that wall, I saw some one come in that way, it opened with a certain knock," he said as he approached the space on the wall where it had been. "If you got a gun, you might like to cover me, less like a meatsheild...more like a bard, unless you wanna try hard mode way out," he muttered, as he reached out and tapped the door in the same pattern that he'd heard with precision - there were some things that had gotten a little better for no apparent reason when he'd been re-remembered from Kode's biomass: crossword puzzles, quoting Shakespeare, filing and patterns. "Shave and a haircut, two bits!" he said, though the pattern he tapped was completely different. He ducked out of the way just in case someone appeared with the intent to shoot. He wasn't about to be a one-off.

[Cai Dorough]

Cai shrugged as Fitz ducked out of the way of the opening panel. He wasn't worried about bullets so much; ever since his regeneration, his healing ability had gone on steroids. He still felt every shot, but after so many you sort of.. got used to them. Either way, they tended to heal in a few minutes. Once he'd emptied an entire clip into his stomach himself, just to see what would happen. He'd coughed up bullets a few moments later as the wounds healed and trapped a few rounds inside him, some in his digestive tract that had exited his body via another route.

As it were, nothing came out of the opening in the wall save some stale air, so the mercenary ducked inside. The passage was short, only about four feet, and opened into another hidden panel in a room currently filled with paintings and sculptures, probably one of the store rooms for the auction.

"Coast is clear, Jack," he whispered back through the passage, signaling to close the panel behind him. Even if the goons following them knew of the passage's existence, there was no guarantee they knew the access code to it, which might buy them a few extra moments once they gained entrance to the examination room. Various shouts and grunts in the halls told Cai that they were planning a breach soon.

"You know, this whole night was going well until you went and got yourself caught. I mean, come on dude, dodge and weave." He moved his way over toward the door, keeping low and quiet. Leaning slightly out, opening the door a slight crack, he peered into the halls. No one was approaching, but given the moldy smell nearby there more than a few ogrons close to them. "Don't know what you're doing here, but we both know you're too broke to fit in with this crowd, Jack. You know how to get out of here?"

[Deleted]

"Coast is clear, Jack," he whispered back through the passage, signaling to close the panel behind him...

He was more than glad to let him go first and get shot at, thank  you very much. He swiped the panel closed after himself, listening to the muffled sounds around them and enjoying the sudden appearance of a secret passageway. As it turned out though it was clear as he'd said - aside from the contraband. And of that, there was a good haul.

"You know, this whole night was going well until you went and got yourself caught. I mean, come on dude, dodge and weave." He moved his way over toward the door, keeping low and quiet. Leaning slightly out, opening the door a slight crack, he peered into the halls. No one was approaching, but given the moldy smell nearby there more than a few ogrons close to them. "Don't know what you're doing here, but we both know you're too broke to fit in with this crowd, Jack. You know how to get out of here?"

"Maybe you ought've thought of that before you set me up!" Fitz hissed. "Dodge and weave? If I'd known they were coming for me, maybe..." he muttered, irritated. "That's rich, coming from you. And yeah, you made me, is what. I know how to get out of here, but I can't go till I get what I came in here for. And it wasn't in that room behind us, with all that stuff from the Louvre." Fitz frowned as he heard steps hustling around but for the moment, no one seemed to be coming at them. "The cameras are gonna track us down the minny we leave this room."