Rob X Punzel ~ Twenty-Eight!

The magical storage space in Goldie's hair had long since been filled to capacity, and now individual strands were wrapped around various shining bits and bobbles. Even with its ability to muffle noises, she still *clinked* gently whenever she moved. 

“Chay. That's enough. My skill just came off cooldown, and frankly I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to get both of us out of here without dropping half of what I’m already holding onto.” Goldie stared at the thief tearing through boxes, filled with a level of trepidation she hadn't felt since the first time they’d met.

“We've almost got it all, though!” He nearly shouted in excitement as he turned to her with a huge grin on his face, eyes bright and shifty. “There's only, what, four more boxes to go through? I have a backpack I can fill up-”

Goldie winced as her left arm lit up yet again, glancing down at the rapidly rising immunity she’d been gaining thanks to the flood of magical signatures being forcefully contained in her ringlets—emphasis on ‘rings’, thanks to the tiny circlets of precious metal and gems waving back and forth.

Basic → Moderate-rank Magical Signature Emission immunity gained!

“That does it, Chay,” she firmly stated, causing her leader to pause. “Since we've started storing all of this, I've gotten five entire levels in… *hurk*.”

Goldie clutched at her chest, which had just throbbed with a reminder of her sworn oath. Gasping for air, she tried to shake off the pain as Chay rushed to her side. “Are you okay? What happened? You're right, you're right… let's go. Sorry I pushed it this far. Don't hurt yourself, you’ve still gotta get us outta here. I just-”

“You got touched with dragon fever, I understand.” Goldie stood straight, taking deep breaths as the threatening pain faded away. “But there's no way for us to keep all of this, and we're basically going to be a giant beacon as soon as we walk out of this vault. I'm telling you this right now. I will drop every single copper’s worth of goods if it means we don't get caught. Now, I'm leaving. Are you coming?”

His expression had turned ugly as her frustrated tirade poured out, but he kept his mouth shut and gave a sharp nod at her question. Immediately, Goldie tried to wrap the two of them in her hair, only to find herself grunting with effort as she pushed with all of her will to try and shift it. Shaking her head in short, rapid bursts, she stared daggers at Chay and explained as she would to a child. “It's too heavy. I can't lift this much and get us out of here.”

*Pi~ing-da-da-ding.*

A ring fell to the ground and clattered around the floor for a moment before swirling to a stop. “Hey! Wait, what if I helped lift-”

Goldie kept her eyes on Chay as item after item dropped out of her hair, and the wiry man went silent, save for the deep breaths he started taking—as though he were being tortured with each sound bouncing around the enclosed space. A carpet of scintillating gems and shining metals had formed in a small circle around them by the time Goldie felt her hair become unburdened enough to continue moving. “I think that's enough, let's go-”

“Can't we just-” Chay’s pleading cut off as her hair wrapped tightly around them, pulling them to the ceiling of the vault and pushing them through. Pressed together as they were, his silent seething was impossible to miss. Still, he knew better than to kick up a fuss now that they could be heard, but that certainly didn't mean he was happy with the situation. Sliding away from her, he grabbed onto the dangling rope and immediately began ascending.

“You guys smell something burning? Like… a pot left on the stove too long?” 

Goldie’s eyes went wide as the guard’s question floated up to her, and she immediately focused her attention on having her hair emanate the scent of sawdust left in the dark for weeks on end. It was the most neutral possible smell she could think of which would also blend in with the surroundings, and it seemed to do the trick.

At the very least, there were no further comments. Shifting her focus to creating the inky darkness effect around her hair, Goldie reached for the black-dyed rope and started climbing after her fuming crew leader.

Her muscles were screaming at her by the time she was halfway up the rope, the dozens of extra pounds of metal adorning her hair—instead of being placed in some system-made storage space—dragging her down and making it impossible to use the strands for anything other than securing herself to the line. She grumbled freely, knowing no sounds would echo out and alert anyone, thanks to the muffling effect she had grown incredibly fond of. 

Each pull brought her closer to the ceiling, and she felt her heart hammering against her ribs as exhaustion began setting in, not to mention the last dregs of adrenaline from making demands of Chay fading away. Finally, she was enveloped by the darkness of the ceiling and began following after her silent companion, who’d left her behind and was already worming his way through the guts of the vaulted roof. 

At the moment, Goldie couldn't care less about his pouting. All she could think of was how grateful she was to have a stable framework beneath her, which literally took a large amount of her weighty burden off her shoulders—thanks to her hair being able to counterbalance its load. Soon she’d left the center of the building far behind her and continued moving forward with careful movements and a sharp focus on her surroundings.

It took half an hour, but finally she approached the ledge they had used to climb up into the rafters. She raised an eyebrow and firmly pressed her lips together as she took in Chay’s sullen expression. Goldie had wanted to give him credit for waiting for her this time, but his attitude instead caused her to quietly whisper her peeved thoughts as she came within audible range, “Are you seriously upset that I can’t grab a few more trinkets when we already have enough to fill a duffel bag with platinum coins? I've never seen this side of you before, and I don't like it one bit.”

“We’re thieves, Goldie,” Chay hotly retorted as her hair cocooned them. “There's always serious risks, and the more we can grab on every job means the fewer times we have to risk taking a job.”

“Yeah, but we can mitigate that risk by not making decisions that’ll get us-” Her jaw dropped as Chay rolled his eyes and stepped away from her, dropping to the ground and beginning to skulk along the hallway. 

“He did not just walk away from me.” She rubbed her eyes, thinking perhaps she was seeing things, but no… he was already nearly halfway down the hall. “Hooo, buddy. You and I are going to have a conversation when we're out of here.” 

Following after her crew leader, she paused as she realized he’d taken a left turn instead of a right. Sucking in a sharp breath through her teeth, she decided to risk being seen and darted forward, catching up to him with a few rapid steps. Her words came out in a breathy whisper. “Where are you going? We came in from that direction, we should-”

“You can get us onto the roof from anywhere in the building, can’t you?” Chay’s bitter reply stopped the voicing of her concerns in their tracks. “We just need access to the ceiling, and poof… we're through. Might as well take this chance to see what else is being stored in this building, just in case we ever need to come back.”

“But the rest of the team is set up where we came in,” Goldie pointed out frantically. “If we come out at a different spot, they won't be prepared for us. We’ll need to go to them, or they’ll need to run to us. It'll be loud and give away our position! Not only that, but the route they picked out for us will-”

“Hey.” Chay was breathing hard and kept his voice level though his jaw muscles were clenched. “I'm in charge. If I think this is the right call, you just listen.”

Goldie was left in the center of the hallway, slowly shaking her head as he continued picking his way forward. She followed after him for another double handful of minutes, circling the second floor walkway around the open area in the center of the warehouse. Only as they reached the opposite side of the building did Chay slow down, and she felt a queasiness forming in her gut as he shuffled close to an ornate crate and slowly began prying it open. 

Patience wearing dangerously thin, she's saddled up to him and hissed, “What are you doing? We have everything-”

“Just grabbing a few more things,” the thief muttered as he began pulling out bulky items she didn't recognize, though by the way he was handling them they appeared to be rather light. “Here, hold these and-”

“If you want more than what we have now, carry it yourself.” The golden-haired thief snapped at him. “I'm not a pack mule, and I'm already carrying everything I possibly can. When you left me to get off the vault, instead of pulling me up like you were supposed to do, I wore myself out. My arms are completely dead, and my fingers are still numb. I can barely form a fist.”

“Wait.” Chay went still, slowly turning to look, not at Goldie, but at the vault in the distance. “You grabbed the rope… right?”

Goldie didn't respond, her jaw working uncomfortably as she realized she hadn’t grabbed it. “You tied it on, you untie it. That’s always been the rule.”

“Let's get back up there; we'll just untie it and go straight onto the roof from there.” Chay rubbed his temples, then gave a short shake of his head, refocusing his attention and blinking rapidly as some of the manic light faded from his eyes. “What are we thinking? Why didn't we just wait up there and pop out from that spot? Why are we down here, risking ourselves by walking around?”

“I. Have. No. Idea.” Goldie ground out in abject frustration. “Other than wanting to get back to where we entered the building and phase out with the rest of the team we brought with us.”

“Ugh… just… come on.” Chay scooted over to a ledge, clamoring up and offering her a hand. Soon they were once again climbing across the rafters, though this time it was impossible for Goldie to sweep away the dust as they went. Only as they approached the center of the room did they find that they had a problem: this section of the beams didn't connect cleanly with the one they’d tied the rope onto.

They looked at the gap, and Chay scooted close to her, sending a fine cloud of years-old dust scattering. “Do you have any more rope?”

“I left my usual one connected to the wall into the noble district,” Goldie quietly explained. “The other one is right there.”

“Okay, go ahead and let down your hair—I'll swing across and pull the rope up, then you can bring me back.” Chay’s words were met with a flat stare, and he gave her an uncomprehending glance while he waited for her to do as he said.

“Chay. I’m completely overburdened with what I'm carrying right now. If you pull on my hair, especially enough to swing over there, we're going to send a golden shower of jewelry clattering onto the guards down there.” In response to her explanation, Chay pulled off his backpack, opened it up, and offered it to his companion. Without another word, Goldie began dumping the magical trinkets into the pack, knowing for a fact it was a terrible idea.

As more came out of her hair and into the bag, a sharp tingle of energy began to emanate from it. She watched as Chay winced slightly, feeling validated in her frustration as the magical potency in the air ramped up. “Better move quick… someone's bound to notice this. Where’s the easy-peasy lemon-squeezy, Chay? All I’m getting is difficult-difficult, lemon difficult.”

Scoffing through his nose, Chay wrapped her offered braid around his wrist and rolled off the beam. Her hair, understanding what they were attempting to do, aided him in landing on the next beam over. He quickly began pulling the rope up, its lower end jiggling in the air like a fisherman attempting to convince his prey to bite. As the last knot was undone, he nodded to her and prepared to step out into the void once more. 

*Boom.*

The huge doors of the warehouse burst open with a thunderous retort as they impacted the walls. A deep voice echoed through the room directly on the heels of the crashing, and Goldie frantically motioned for Chay to hurry up. 

“There's an intruder; we've been robbed! Find them! Now!”

Hired mercenaries swarmed in, weapons drawn and eyes scanning the room. Her distraction nearly cost both her and her crew leader, as he chose that moment to jump. The sudden weight slammed her down onto the beam, her nose *cracking* unpleasantly against the rough wood as she scrabbled at it to hold herself in place. Without her help, Chay was unable to make the leap easily and ended up dangling nearly ten feet below her.

“I'll offer ten percent of the value of the liquid goods they stole to whoever recovers them without damage.” A silky-soft voice rolled through the room, somehow perfectly discernible even at this distance, though the unknown man spoke in a conversational tone. 

Unable to move lest she join Chay in dangling, Goldie still felt her eyes shift over to the man speaking. She took in his elaborate, clearly magical robes, which screamed of wealth and power, her gaze traveling up to his face… only to realize he was staring directly at her.

“There they are.” He casually gestured in their direction, not allowing himself to take his eyes off of them. “Be careful not to smash the potions they took; they’re more valuable than any of your lives.”

Mercenaries converged under the duo, closing in on all sides of the vault and launching themselves up to get onto the metal cube. Still, they were dozens of feet below the thieves and could only scratch their heads as they tried to work out how to get up to them. 

“Goldie…!” Chay gasped out in terror as he struggled to climb up her hair. “Get me out of here!”

“Come on!” she called back, all attempts at stealth tossed aside now that they’d been discovered. “What are you moving so slow? This is an easy climb… celestial feces—drop the backpack!”

His pack contained dozens of pounds of metal. The awkward position he was in, and how it dangled off of him, meant he couldn't use his well-trained muscles effectively. “N-no! There's enough in there to set us up for life. Come on, get me up there, and half of it’s yours! No split, no payout-”

“I can't spend coin if I'm dead, Chay!” she softly shrieked at him. “Neither can you! Let it go!”

The man hesitated, finally reaching to undo the clasps, but that brief indecision cost him dearly. A thin crescent of glimmering liquid splashed in the air between them, barely missing Goldie’s outstretched hand as it soaked into her dangling hair. Immediately, a pungent odor filled the air as the liquid turned into a dense foam that ate into the strands.

“That one is about to fall. Someone catch him,” the dismissive voice of the robed man rang out once more. Goldie's eyes snapped back to him, just in time to see him pushing a cork into a tiny bottle and tucking it into his sleeves. “Half of you spread out; make sure the other one has nowhere to escape.”

“Alchemist?” Goldie whispered in horror as her hair began to writhe around in agony, the entire mass lifting and shifting to point at the ostentatious person. Just then, wherever the liquid had brushed against her hair, the strands gave way. 

Chay dropped, his eyes pleading with her to catch him, his hand reaching up to grab any offered support…

…but she could only watch him fall.