"Why are you in your academy uniform?" Thomas panicked looking at Nichole before him. She wore the grey suit, but less the tie and the pin.
"What about you Mister I don't have a woman but I'm going to a party outfit," Nichole pointed at Thomas's clothes, a black tuxedo.
"Why are you guys wearing costumes?" Finn headed towards them, wearing plain clothes.
"What are you wearing?" Thomas nodded.
"What do you mean? I'm incognito."
Finn was wearing a simple black t-shirt and a brown trouser and most noticeably, barefoot.
Thomas groaned out loudly as he pinched the bridge of his nose, "Do you two at least have anything to cover up your face?"
"Sure do," Nichole took out a black hat connected to a white mask with exaggerated beads struck to it, along with one large golden feather.
"What the hell is that?" Thomas took a step back.
"It's all I could find in the lost and found box, now why don't you stop with the drama."
Finn pulled out a white fox mask with white hair extension falling out behind.
"Dig the mask," Nichole replied with a calm expression.
"Dig— dig the mask! We look like a deranged circus troupe. Are you guys serious!"
"Appearances can be deceiving, and were dead serio—"
COUGH COUGH
"This mask is making it hard to breathe," Finn struggled to put on the mask.
"The point is we're serious, and we'll help him."
Thomas's lips curled up into a small smile of joy, but the smile sank as he saw Finn struggling with his mask. "I don't think this will work," he said dryly, shaking his head and looking at the floor.
"Idiot, look what you did to him," Nichole grabs the mask and adjusts it for him, before pulling out a black cloak and wrapping it around Finn, "here done."
"Fancy cloak," Finn adjusted himself to the costume, "hey, General let's go."
_________________________
"Why are you here?" Daniela looked up at the big man before her.
"The real question is why are you here?" a familiar face looked down at her.
"I need my free time, the academy is stressful, you know, Boss?" Daniela's eyes glinted with mischief.
Martin looked at her with wary eyes, "What trouble are you up to now?"
"No trouble, just here for some stuff, how about you?"
"I'm also here for some stuff," Martin scratched the back of his head.
"System window," she lightly mumbles.
"What was that?" Martin heard her voice.
"Nothing boss," she taps on the scan, 'He heard it, not like he can understand if I explain.'
MISSION ALERT
HELP MARTIN FIND THE TRUTH ABOUT THE AUCTION HOUSE
ACCEPT/DECLINE
REWARD: UPGRADE TOKEN
The words appear atop his head, Why did I run into her here? Why is she here, should I take her with me? No she's too loud.
I feel like a real pervert, but an upgrade token, huh? Should I...
"You're here to look into the auction house aren't you?" Daniela asked him blankly.
"I... why are you here?" his tone shifted to a serious one.
"Same thing, I heard the auction house has some kind of shady business going on," she replies without faltering, Shady business my ass, I just made it all up, but the system seems to know what will happen and gives me a mission based on the future.
"And where did you hear that?"
"I have my sources," she flicks back a strand of her hair, I don't have any source, even the story started at a different point. I only came here because I was bored, but this is a good start.
Daniela taps on her Vördr, "Hey, Houdin, I won't be able to attend, sorry."
_________________________
"What's the plan?" Nichole asked Thomas who was looking down. The cold wind struck them. The three of them were at the top of a nearby building.
"I wonder if plans will work," Thomas looked at the two kids.
"Don't be like that, General."
"Fine, here's what we'll do," Thomas placed a half face black mask over his face, it smoothly stuck to his face.
...
WOOF WOOF
"Is that a dog?" the guards looked at the source of the sound coming from a nearby dumpster.
"It's that bastard that always leaves shit here," one of the guards walks towards the source of the sound.
As he got closer he noticed it was coming from inside the dumpster. He pulls it open.
AAGHH
"What now?" the second guard rushes towards the source of the sound. "What happened, Justus?"
"What the fuck is this?" the guard was on the floor and a white wolf with multiple scars and stitches was on top of him, licking his face like a puppy would.
"What is that?" the second guard couldn't believe his eyes.
...
"Now," Thomas and Nichole slowly walk to the backdoor which was now left unguarded by the guards. "Unlock this."
"Hmm," Nichole nods as threads of mana slip through below the door...
CLICK
"It's open," Nichole pushed open the door, and the two of them got in and slowly closed the door.
Thomas closes the door back from the inside, the guards too distracted by the monstrous puppy in front of them.
"Now we need to find where the lily is, let me check," his eyes glow blue as he starts looking around.
Nichole looks around and sees multiple doors, but decides to stay here and not explore despite the brimming curiosity.
"Oh, it's at the bottom floor," Thomas looks down at the floor.
"Bottom floor? There are floors beneath this, how do we go down?"
"That door, but there are way too many traps and sensors, we'll have to do this fast, before the auction begins."
"When is that?"
"It starts at eleven, but I'm sure they'll move it to the exhibition area, and once it's there, we've lost it."
"Too bad," Nichole chuckled.
"Huh?" Thomas looked at her in confusion.
"Too bad for them, we're gonna take it."
"Strange girl."
"Strange?"
....
"Hey, I think it's just a normal... wolf?" the guard who was watching commented.
"Normal wolves don't look like they came back from the dead, this thing is obviously not normal," the wolf continued to lay on top of the guard.
"At least it likes you, be glad it's not biting off your head, try petting it."
The man brings his hand atop the wolf and pets it slightly. The wolf lets out a low growl clearly enjoying it, but the sound of the broken growl scared the guards.
"Why does it sound like that?"
...
"The puppy is doing its work well," Finn remained at the top of the building watching the wolf play with the scared guards.
"Time for me to check some stuff," Finn jumps from the roof to the roof of the auction house. Finn lands on top of the other building. It was slightly bigger than the one he was on.
Finn sticks his fingers on the wall as he slides down before stopping midway.
I can break it here, He freezes the wall in a small circle, and pushes it inside as the bricks break off.
Since this is the attic, I'm sure it's just the records and stuff, I just need to see some history of this place, Finn enters the small hole and lets himself down into the floor, as he wipes off the dust.
_________________________
"Go to the attic, there are a few records up there, if you're looking for this place's background, it should help you," Martin's voice replayed in her head as she snuck herself in.
Daniela walked through, her every step silent. She hid herself behind pillars as she made herself up he way, guards routinely passing by.
Using wind to reduce the noise, she took a deep breath, this is too hard, but I'm sure something's up with this place if he's looking into it.
She finally reaches a large room and sees a vent. "If I climb that, and get to the top I can enter through the roof."
She checks around and notices the room was empty and collecting dust. She sticks herself into the small vent, but it wasn't that small.
I hate tight spaces, she kept on climbing through the inclined vent, reaching a grilled gate at the end. She looks down and notices a dark room with multiple books and files stacked on top of each other.
A faint light emanates around her palm as she pushes the grill. It flips open with a small creaking sound.
Just as she was about to pull herself out of it, a voice comes from below her. A boy wearing a fox mask and a black cloak holding a lamp stands directly below her, "Who are you?"
Fuck, got caught already?! Daniela brings the light near her face, "I'm... I'm no one, I'm j—"
"Princess is that you?" the boy asks her.
"Huh? You know me?" Daniela looks at him surprised.
"It's me, a student at the academy, Finn," he removes his mask.
Finn! What's he doing here? "Oh, what are you doing here?"
"I could ask you the same thing?"
"Can you help me get down?"
_________________________
"How do we get across without setting off the alarms?" Nichole looked at the long hallway before them.
"I could have done this alone, but I only brought you along because of your insistence," Thomas looked at Nichole, before looking back up. "If I left you two, you would have done something stupid."
"Why are you lecturing me all of a sudden?" Nichole raised her brow.
"It's because I have to carry you here," Thomas scoops her up in bridal fashion, before a single set of ethereal wings appeared on his back.
Thomas jumps up into the air and glides over the long hallway and landing just before the next door and gently sets Nichole down. He noticed that the door had a small touchpad, and required a numerical password to open.
"This is tricky, I guess we'll have to steal it and make a run for it," the aura around Thomas lit up as he clenched his fist.
"Wait!" Nichole pulled on his tuxedo, "you brute, I'll take care of this."
"Brute? And you know how to take care of this?"
"Of course it's magic," Nichole kneels down, a small source code appearing at the top of her index finger. She pushes it into the touchpad, and waits for a moment.
"What are you doing?" Thomas looked at her.
"Just some basic barrier magic," the code worried as she focused on it, "since you were about to smash it open, might as well give it a try."
"Hm, Thomas kneels down beside her, his eyes slightly glowing as he looks into the mechanism. "The alarm is a separate mechanism, if you can try the circuits con—"
"No," Nichole interjected, "there is an auxiliary system placed in case of any tampering with the alarm circuits."
"So what will you do?" Thomas asked with a glint of worry.
"We just have to change the activation condition," she smirked, "normally the alarm will go up if it senses any tampering, but if it changes its activation condition to nothing..." her fingers burn bright as she pressed on the touchpad.
BURST
The mechanism sparks and the display goes off, the door before then sliding open.
"Smart, you really are amazing," Thomas said, his voice tinted with joy.
"Aren't you letting your emotions show a bit, General Brute?"
"Hey, I thought it would be the best course of action," Thomas folded his hand.
"Best course of action to getting caught," Nichole replied with a no-nonsense attitude.
"You're even worse than him," he let out a chuckle.
_________________________
"So what're you here for, princess?" Finn looked around holding a lamp, looking at the multiple shelves of books neatly arranged there.
"I originally came here to attend the auction, but I met a good friend of mine, and he kind of asked me to take a look up here, what about you?"
"We need a lily, but we're too poor to afford it, so we're stealing it."
"What!?" Daniela looked at him in surprise, bringing up the sphere of light on her palm near her face.
"What?" Finn shrugged his shoulders, "we aren't rich."
"Who's we?"
"I ain't snitching on my team," Finn acted offended.
"I won't tell anyone, besides you saw me here, what else do you need, you can threaten me anytime."
"Don't feel like it's going to threaten you."
"It isn't but worth a shot."
"We're here for the frost lily because the General noticed the Manakai professor is sick."
"He's sick?" He's sick? I had no idea about that, but there are many things I don't know about him.
"Hey what's this?" Finn's focus shifted to a single file binder on top of the table, a weird symbol of a red crescent moon.
"Don't change the subject, tell me—"
"What," Finn noticed her stutter, "what's this?"
"I don't remember, but I've seen this symbol somewhere," she took the binder and opened it.
"This is just random entries," Finn passed the book onto Daniela and looked around.
"Random... no, these aren't..." Daniela slid her fingers through the entries. "Finn, this isn't random, it's a code!"
_________________________