The best thefts happen in plain sight.
The victim hands over the prize willingly, never realising they've been robbed until long after the crime is complete.
But sometimes, when what you're stealing is the actual Emperor of the Tiberian Empire, you need a slightly different approach.
"Lord Commander Wei has crossed the Obsidian Gates," Gage reported, his finger tracing a path across the three-dimensional map floating above Mikhail's desk. "He's moving at impossible speeds - not even stopping to rest."
The assembled agents shifted uneasily, just a few of the sworn hidden blades in Mikhail's spy network.
Wei the Unbreakable they mused - one of the legendary Twelve Imperial Guardians, warriors who stood just one step below the Emperor himself in terms of raw power. His imminent return changed everything.
"How long?" Mikhail asked, though he already knew the answer.
"Dawn, day after tomorrow," Gage replied. "The Empress's transmissions about the Emperor's condition finally reached him in the Broken Plains. Once he learned of the assassination attempt..." Gage's voice trailed off meaningfully.
"He's crossing the Jade Desert in two days instead of two weeks," the administrative agent added. "Burning through magical resources like they're nothing. Some of our spotters report seeing crystallised magic in his wake."
Mikhail nodded slowly. "Thank the gods for his strange phobia about teleportation magic and mana trains or else he'd be here already. And once he arrives?"
"He'll establish the Adamant Shield around the healing wing," Aurora said softly, her dimmed human form still impossibly beautiful even in the room's shadows.
Her presence was necessary and accepted by Mikhail's agents as she was part of the plan - hopefully his excuses for her presence held firm.
"His defensive magic is unmatched in the empire. Not even I can breach it once it's in place.", Aurora concluded.
"Thirty years," one of the agents whispered. "No one has ever broken Wei's defenses. No one has even come close."
"Then it has to be tomorrow," Mikhail stated. "During the cleaning rotation. Walk me through it again - every detail matters now."
Gage gestured, and the map zoomed in on the Imperial Healing Wing. "Three layers of security: physical, magical, and administrative. Guards patrol in rotating shifts of six, with overlapping routes here, here, and here." Red lines appeared on the projection.
"Magical protective wards cover every entrance," he continued. "Detection spells, anti-teleportation barriers, and identity verification charms. All tied directly into the palace's main ward network. The administrative layer adds nurses, healers, and attendants, each with specific duties and schedules. No one enters the Emperor's chamber without being checked at all three levels."
"Except," one of Gage's agents spoke up - a middle-aged woman who worked as a cleaning maid in the wing, "for specific circumstances."
"The cleansing rotation," Mikhail said. "Tell me."
"Every three days, they perform a complete cleansing of the Emperor's chamber. All magical equipment must be deactivated and recalibrated. Takes exactly forty-two minutes. Tomorrow's rotation is our only chance before Wei arrives."
"During which the stasis field maintaining Father's condition..."
"Is sustained by the healers themselves," the maid confirmed. "All twelve of them, channelling power in perfect synchronisation. They can't move, can't defend themselves, can't even open their eyes without risking the field's stability."
"The cleaning crew?"
"Three servants, two apprentice healers to monitor the equipment shutdown, and one senior healer to supervise. All regular guards are stationed outside during the procedure - standard protocol to avoid mana or aura interference."
Gage nodded. "We've got people in place for five of those six positions. The senior healer was the wild card, but fate favoured us there."
The administrative agent smiled thinly. "Master Charles was just reassigned this morning. Emergency situation in the outer provinces. Very sudden. His replacement hasn't been assigned yet - the duty roster shows a blank space."
"The guard captain?"
"Will be found passed out drunk in the Lower City tomorrow morning," the older agent with a soldier's bearing reported. "Nothing suspicious - just a man with a weakness for rice wine who finally overindulged. His second-in-command takes charge of rotation schedules."
"And this second-in-command?"
"Has been in our pay for months," Gage confirmed. "He'll ensure the right guards are posted during the cleaning."
"The Empress's surveillance?"
"Remote viewing," Aurora stated with certainty. "I've felt it. She wouldn't trust anyone else's eyes. I can generate a perfect loop in her crystal - she'll see exactly what she expects to see. A routine cleaning followed by a normal evening. It's all just manipulation of light, and my magic can handle that easily enough. We have about 3 minutes before she detects the manipulation."
"Equipment?"
"Already handled," the maid answered. "I've been replacing items slowly over the past three days. Tomorrow's carts are exact duplicates but with your modifications hidden inside."
"Transportation?"
"Medical pod is ready in your – you-know-where," Aurora confirmed, not wanting to reveal the specifics of Mikhail's Personal Dimensional Space. "Modified with Oracle's knowledge to maintain his condition during transfer. We'll have seventeen minutes before the temporal stabilisers need recalibrating."
Aurora's features seemed to blur as she stepped forward. "I'll take his place once he's secure," she explained. Shifting her form to replicate the Emperor's appearance. "By the time anyone thinks to check closely, the healing team will be back on duty."
"The healers themselves?"
The administrative agent held up a tiny blue vial. "Variant of dreamshade in their afternoon tea. They'll experience a perfectly natural microsleep during the critical moment. When they wake, they'll remember performing the transfer exactly as planned. Their own minds will fill in the missing time with expected memories."
"Three minutes between sleep onset and consciousness," Aurora added. "More than enough time with the modified temporal pod."
The quiet maintenance agent finally spoke. "All critical systems will show normal fluctuations. Nothing suspicious, nothing traceable. Just enough random variance to mask any magical signatures."
Mikhail studied each agent in turn. This was what made Gage's network so effective. Each person was a specialist, each role carefully chosen and rehearsed. They'd been carefully cultivated for years.
"The hardest part of stealing something," Gage said quietly, "is not the theft itself. It's making everyone believe nothing was stolen at all."
Mikhail nodded. "Tomorrow, we commit the greatest theft in imperial history. Not gold, not jewels, not magical artefacts - we're stealing the throne himself."
He met each agent's eyes in turn. "If we succeed, none of you will ever be known as heroes. Your names won't appear in history books. Songs won't be sung of your deeds. But you will have helped save the empire."
"And if we fail?"
"We won't," Mikhail said simply. "Because we're not trying to steal an emperor. We're just cleaning a room. Everything else is just... details."
~~~ ~~~ ~~~
The next afternoon, as Wei the Unbreakable crossed the Jade Desert leaving trails of crystallised magic in his wake, a cleaning crew entered the Imperial Healing Wing.
Guards checked their identification, healers verified their magical signatures, and administrators confirmed their paperwork.
Everything proceeded exactly according to protocol. The healing team began their synchronised channelling, eyes closed in perfect concentration. The cleaning crew efficiently went about their duties.
No one noticed the microsecond where time itself hiccuped.
No one saw the impossible beauty of Aurora's true form as she manipulated light and illusions.
No one witnessed the perfect synchronisation of future technology and present-day magic as the Emperor's unconscious form was transferred to a medical pod that shouldn't exist.
When the healers opened their eyes, everything was exactly as it should be. The "Emperor" lay peacefully in his bed, the machines monitoring his condition beeped steadily reattached to his unconscious form, and the cleaning crew was just finishing up their routine maintenance.
Perfect crimes don't look like crimes at all.
Three days later, when the transformed Aurora disappeared by entering the Personal Dimensional Space, the Emperor's disappearance caused the greatest upheaval in Imperial history.