"This is so embarrassing," Banksy grit out as he fought against the shackles that kept him bolted to the floor. Beside him Romeo patiently tapped at the metal lock of his chain, humming slightly as he did so. The noise soon wore on Banksy's nerve. "Will you shut the hell up already?" he roared, "It's bad enough you got us caught, I'd rather not suffer any more than I already am."
"Oh I got us caught?" Romeo said, throwing the chain down. "I'm not the one who set off the alarm."
"But you're the one who decided it was a great idea to just "blow" the safe door open once the alarm went off."
"Well you could have mentioned it had a rebound spell on it!"
"Safe cracker. Me. Trained." Banksy said, slapping himself on the chest before pointing at Romeo. "Pyromaniac. You. Stupid!"
Their bickering came to an abrupt end as a well-dressed, older man strolled into their cell.
"Gentlemen. Please, there is no need to argue. The truth is, you both got yourselves caught. I must say, however, that I am impressed. You managed to knock out my best guards and get past the second level of my security. No one has ever gotten further than the first." He pulled out Banksy's chain of rings from his pocket and leaned in towards Banksy. "You must be an exceptional thief. This is an impressive collection."
"Well actually, I did all the heavy lifting. He just tags along for the ride," said Romeo.
"Now is not the time," Banksy hissed as the man stepped back and pulled a pipe from his pocket. He took a moment to light it, regarding his prisoners.
"I take it, you know who I am?" He blew a ring of smoke towards them. His eyebrow rose as the pair gave him a blank look. Banksy made a face and coughed slightly as the smoke hit his face.
He sighed. "You may call me Mr. Dowser."
"Uh... we were just kind of given an address and a target," Romeo said honestly. "It's nothing personal, Dowser. You know how it is."
"Well, this is my house, you see, so it is rather personal. And it's Mr. Dowser, thank you very much," Dowser said, tapping the tip of his pipe against his chest as he began to pace back and forth. "Now the question is, what to do to you?"
"You could let us go?" Banksy said quickly, gaining another face full of smoke in response.
"Perhaps a ransom to your employers? I assume you're part of a guild?" Dowser said after a moment. "Tell me, which of the Rippers do you come from?"
Romeo and Banksy remained silent.
"Hmm, no matter. I'm sure I can have that information pulled from you with enough time. However, it is important for your guild to know I'm serious." He puffed on his pipe thoughtfully. "I believe I shall cut off one of your fingers. You two may decide who shall make the sacrifice. I would pick whichever of you is more likely to invoke sympathy, for if your guild fails to pay up... well that would be rather unfortunate for the two of you."
"Banksy," Romeo said without hesitation. "He already lost a finger, he knows how to cope."
"Are you out of your mind?" Banksy said. "If anything I should be exempt because I already lost a finger. He should cut your finger off."
"Banksy look at me. You wouldn't really let him cut my finger off and ruin the perfection."
"You're such an ass." Banksy snarled, standing up and tugging at his restraints." Try putting someone else before yourself for once. This is why no one wants you on their team."
"Gentlemen." Dowser tried to cut in but the two ignored him.
"Just because you have a little childhood clique with the others doesn't make you any better than me." Romeo said, standing up and looking down on Banksy. "You're only useful because you can open a few safes. Take that away and your nothing but a shrimpy little shit."
"I'd rather be a shrimpy little shit than be some pompous rich boy with no friends!" Banksy tugged roughly at his shackles.
"Gentlemen..."
"You know what, I hope he cuts off your whole hand, not just a finger."
"Maybe he'll do everyone a favor and cut your tongue out so we won't have to listen to you talk ever again."
"Well maybe he'll just kill you then and make the world a little bit nicer."
"If I go, I'm dragging you to hell with me!"
"Gentlemen!" Dowser yelled, stepping between them.
"Shut up!" They yelled back in unison, both swinging a fist into Dowsers face as they slipped free from their restraints. Their captor flew back a few feet before falling to the ground, unconscious. Romeo and Banksy looked at each other, then at the fallen shackles.
"So, you got out, huh?" Banksy said after a moment. Romeo nodded.
"Yeah, I was able to burn through the lock. Took longer than I expected, this is good metal. It ruined my only acid bomb prototype though." He twisted his mouth one way then the other. "You picked yours?"
"Yeah, I did. I always keep an extra pick or two in my boots," Banksy said.
"Good. Now I don't have to save your sorry ass." Romeo said haughtily as he walked towards Dowser and began to search his pockets. Banksy joined him, shouldering Romeo to the side. He retrieved his ring chain and put it back into place over his neck, tucking the chain into his shirt.
"There's no key on this guy." Romeo muttered, punching Dowser hard in the temple as the man stirred slightly.
"Yes, there is." Banksy murmured, grabbing Dowsers hand and investigating the chunky gold ring on his pinky finger. Gingerly he removed the jewelry and slipped onto his own finger, feeling the magic pulse through his flesh. He grinned, looking up at Romeo. "I can get through the doo-what are you doing?"
Romeo put his hands behind his back quickly. "What? Nothing."
"Did you just steal his pipe?" Banksy asked incredulously. "You don't even smoke, you klepto."
"You just stole the mans freaking ring. I think he's going to care more about that." Romeo shot back as he stood up. He crossed the room and collected his equipment that had been stripped from him earlier and thrown into a haphazard pile. "Come on, we need to get out of here, we're already behind schedule thanks to you."
Banksy ignored the quip. "Guards will probably be waiting at the door. If Dowser doesn't walk out..."
Romeo grinned, a sadistic glint in his eye as he held up two small ceramic balls and clinked them together gently. "Oh, I think I can deal with that. You just worry about the safe, shorty."
xXx
"You think the Mistress is going to be mad?" Romeo said as he turned back towards mansion, watching the flames rise higher and higher. In his right hand he held a suitcase. It was intact, through it had suffered a few burns and the corner was coated in something that looked suspiciously like blood.
"Wh-Why would you use a fire bomb? In a room filled with wine and spirits?" Banksy asked, rubbing his smoke and ash stained face clean.
"Well I thought it was a smoke bomb, but the morons mixed up my bomb belt when they took it off. I can't be held responsible when people screw with my equipment." He winced as part of the roof collapsed in and the flames rose higher. "Besides... Now that we've recovered the evidence this guy is going to be imprisoned. The Kingdom would have reclaimed the house anyway and... And... It's not that bad, right? Just a little fire."
Banksy patted Romeo gently on the shoulder. "You... Are so fucked Romeo. " He laughed and pulled the suitcase from Romeo's limp fingers and began to walk off, lifting up his hand and admiring his new ring.
"Banksy! Come on, it won't be that bad though right? No one died. I mean we don't have to tell anyone I started the fire." When Banksy didn't answer Romeo chased after him. "Banksy. Cross has screwed up plenty of missions. I mean even Lexi has caused some damage before, right? Banksy! It's just a house! You're gonna cover for me right? Banksy!"