'So does Mr. A hold beyonder gatherings there?' Loki wondered as he walked back to the shack after he finished wiping clean a safe in the house that was his target.
Truthfully he had not been wanting to return to his life as a thief, but thinking about how he needed to experiment with his potions digestion, Loki quickly stole all the valuables from the house and was on his way to sell them to the man in the shack.
Loki walked through the depressing and dark alleyway until he finally arrived at the shack that was less crowded than when he had arrived early in the morning.
Yet Loki could feel people's burning hostility, he could feel there were several pairs of eyes staring at him, something that was keeping him on edge.
'What's going on?'
Although Loki felt the pressing gazes on him, he did his best to ignore them and act like he was an arrogant young man as he did in the morning.
"Give me something better next time.", Loki said arrogantly throwing the bag of valuables onto the desk.
Loki estimated he would receive about three thousand pounds for his steal.
"Oh? You're done so soon?" The man in the shack asked.
"Yes, there was very little worth stealing. Like I said give me someplace better next time."
The man became silent and began to check the gold and diamonds while Loki looked around the shack, at least he intended to until he found a paper stuck to the wall behind the man.
"Huh? What's that?" Loki asked pointing at the poster stuck to the wall, something he hadn't seen when he was here during the day.
"A competition." The man announced without looking up at Loki.
"Competition? For what? For announcing how rich you are to everyone so that they can target you?" Loki asked with discontent since any competition related to thieving was like asking to be shot in the foot in his opinion.
'Won't you get targeted by everyone once you are revealed as the winner?'
'And who even arranges a competition for stealing?'
'What the heck? Weird.'
"Well a youg'n like you might think so, but for the rest, it could change their life if they win it" The man commented.
"Huh? Why so? Is some rich bastard out there going to make you a millionaire if you win?"
"No. I'm not supposed to say this, but seeing how you're new here, I can give out a little bit so that you can catch up to the rest."
"You're making an exception just for me?" Loki asked surprised.
"Think nothing of it. Most people here already know what I'm about to tell you." The man in the shack said and paused before continuing with a crafty smile, "Who knows, other than becoming the big boss of the area, you could become something more than human."
'Is he talking about becoming a Beyonder?'
'They have a thievery contest for becoming a Beyonder? How do those things correlate?'
'Oh, wait. Didn't he also tell you could become the leader of the gangs in this area?'
"The boy who Mr. A met today? He was killed?" Loki asked a little shocked since he had only been joking in the morning.
"Hahahaha, you are quite sharp and right. It is indeed a fight for his position."
'So everyone wants to become boss?'
'But maybe this way I can digest my potion faster?'
"What's the competition about?" Loki asked slightly interested.
"What else? It's about who can get the most money in a week."
"Wait, but we can only strike a single house in a month…this..everyone will turn to killing each other for their loot."
'This is going to be a bloodbath isn't it.' Loki thought scared. 'Who'd take part in this madness? People will just kill each other left and right and end up with nothing but death all around.'
He looked up at the man in the shack and his blood froze seeing the cold smile on his lips.
'Ah…that's why people were staring at me when I arrived with the bag. They wanted to target me, but why didn't they attack me when I was on my way to the shack?'
As if listening to his thoughts, the man in the shack answered.
"You're lucky. Today is a calm day. The competition starts from tomorrow. So beware."
The man said finally looking at Loki and slamming a roll of cash onto the table, ready for taking.
'What the hell have I gotten myself into.'
"You have precisely a week from now. May the Creator work in your favour."
Loki immediately stuffed the roll of cash into his pocket and began to lead through the streets staying wary of the eyes that were all keeping track of his steps.
'It'll be hard to keep them away from following me.'
'I should walk around a bit so that I can lose them and only then go home.'
'Don't want a random person showing up even though Kreacher might be able to protect us easily apart from the wards that are already in place.'
Walking towards the tube station, Loki made his way through the crowd, slipped into the bathroom in the tube station, flipped his jacket inside out and removed his mask.
'This should do.'
Loki then feeling no more stares following his every move slipped out of the station and moved towards 12 Grimmauld Place.
Arriving home, Loki went straight to the living room and sat down on the table to relax and think about what he had just learnt as he played with Sunny.
The day turned into night but Loki hadn't moved from his spot.
"Is something bothering Master?" Kreacher asked as he stopped his cleaning and looked at Loki with worry in his eyes.
"Oh? Is it so clear?" Loki asked surprised since he had kept his expression neutral with the help of his potion, from it he'd learnt how to control his expressions so that he could lie more effectively, it wasn't anything too powerful yet as Kreacher pointed out.
"No, it's just that the master has been holding the paper the wrong way all this time." Kreacher reasoned causing Loki to chuckle and turn the newspaper around.
"*sigh* I'm just wondering if I should take part in something dangerous."
"I have a solution for this if Master permits.", Kreacher said bowing slightly.
"A solution? That would be appreciated." Loki readily nodded.
Kreacher nodded and immediately conjured a dice on his hand out of thin air.
"If the dice lands on anything other than a six it means Master should not participate, and if it lands on a six it means he should."
"I understand." Loki nodded and looked at the table waiting for Kreacher to throw the dice.
*Tap* *Tap* *Tap* *Tap*
The dice rolled around on the table and Loki looked on with earnest eyes as the dice began to spin round and round on its corner before slowing down and landing on a number.
"It seems like it's a five master.", Kreacher said with a smile on his face.
"But I wanted to participate!" Loki said with disappointment.
"Isn't that your answer then Master?" Kreacher said, wisdom reflecting in his eyes.
"Wha- Oh!!! OOOOOHHHHH!!!! I see what you did there!!! Hehe. That was a nice one Kreacher."
"As long as Master is happy."
"Thank you Kreacher! You're the best!"