Rob X Punzel ~ Twenty-Seven!

The group lay on the shingles of the high-end warehouse, feeling chills running through them as they pressed against the magically potent wards built into the structure they were resting on. Goldie dug the tip of her fingernail into a slight imperfection, gasping in pain as energy jumped through her finger. Joss smacked her hand back, trying to break the connection between her and the magic, but a thin stream of light followed after her retreating hand. 

“Abyss!” she hissed in pain and fear as the energy brightened, only for her hair to flutter in the path of the energy and seemingly soak it in without issue. In fact, it shivered in delight, and the tips of her hair crept toward the threatening glow, which had retreated into the imperfection. She pulled it back, not wanting to test what would happen if her hair and the wards built into the warehouse started actively fighting each other. “Easy there… another time, when we're not so concerned about being found out.”

Minimal-rank Magical Signature Emission immunity gained!

A slight tingle on her arm drew her attention, and Goldie raised an eyebrow in concern at how quickly she had gained a new immunity. “Everyone, be careful not to dig into the wall… like, at all. I think it has really powerful tracking magic built into it, if I'm understanding it correctly. Not to mention, it really hurts. Probably a combination of pain-inducing and tracking magic, now that I'm thinking about it.”

No one asked further questions, knowing she wouldn't be revealing the source of her knowledge.

“Everyone remember what they're supposed to be doing?” Chay spoke quietly as the sun finally dipped behind the farthest ring-wall of the capital city. “Make sure you’re all ready to escape as soon as we appear; I’ve no doubt we're going to have to put in some serious work to get distance when we're done here. After this, life will be coins and luxury, all because of Goldie opening the doors I tell her to open for us.”

He nodded at Goldie, who didn't move right away, somewhat shocked at his out-of-place comment. Still, she moved closer, allowing her hair to fan out and envelop them both. They shifted around in the light of her hair, and she found herself studying Chay’s face with a level of detachment she hadn't felt before. His usual cocky, self-assured smile was incredibly familiar… but at this moment, it felt hollow. 

She tried to look deeper, thinking of the years they had spent together as she tried to remember anything interesting about him beyond his endless ambition. He had always given her advice, but it had always been jaded and cynical. How she should ignore other people in favor of grabbing an advantage for herself or cast someone aside when it becomes inconvenient to help them further. Goldie returned his smile with a crooked one of her own, a truth it had taken four years to realize settling into her gut: she was a means to an end. 

While she might be the best card in his hand at the moment, and Chay was certainly someone who held his cards close, at some point, he would discard her for something better suited. When he became the guild leader… that day would be coming sooner rather than later. Goldie didn’t play politics, and he wouldn’t be out running jobs anymore, needing ‘doors opened’ for him.

Chay noticed her distraction but came to the wrong conclusion. “Are you ready for one of the two most dangerous parts of the night?”

“You know it.” Goldie hastily replied as she activated Temporal Trapdoor. Instantly, the duo was falling, possibly dozens of feet from the ceiling to the floor. Then they stopped, the impact of their fall Perfectly absorbed by her hair, even as it muffled any sound they had made. Brushing the strands away, the thieves looked around the small, empty room they’d dropped into, letting out soft exhalations full of relief that they hadn't dropped directly onto a table where a dozen hired guards were eating their dinner or something. 

“One down, the rest is easy-peasy lemon-squeezy.” Chay got to his feet, slinking across the room toward the oversized door. His expression was a mask of concentration as he plotted out a route through the stacks of crates filling the warehouse. Once he reached the egress, the crew leader looked back and forth then motioned for her to follow.

She flowed across the ground, walking at her normal pace and speed without fear of being heard—her hair made sure of that. The air in the warehouse was still, as if the world was holding its breath to create a liminal space between their old lives and their future as major players in the thieves’ guild. “Where do you think they would place the vault?”

“It's going to be huge and heavy, so it’ll be on the ground floor,” Chay distractedly replied, his voice barely loud enough to be heard. “Unlike the vaults in private houses, this one is going to be on display, somewhere they can show off the wares as well as the protections it offers. I'm betting it will be right in the exact center of this place.”

Goldie watched as her crew leader stepped out into the hallway, every motion economical and completely silent, all without having to rely on magical hair like she did. Several times, she lost track of him, blinking rapidly as the man seemed to vanish into a deep shadow or blend into a box he stood by for a heartbeat longer than she expected. She slowly followed after him, the realization that he was going to be the epitome of a guild leader solidifying as a firm belief in her heart. Though… something told her he was going to become a distant figure as he got used to the role.

Step by step, they made their way through the enormous building, several times backtracking as the sound of hobnailed boots reached their ears. Then they would rush to get out of the path of the bored, patrolling protectors, who would never have expected that someone could penetrate the magical defenses in the first place. Not once did the men in patchwork armor marking them as mercenaries look up or around, simply following their usual route perfectly, lost in whatever they were thinking about.

Half an hour in, the pair of thieves were caught in a hallway with the sound of boots echoing from either end, so Goldie gripped Chay and jumped up, trusting her hair to reach out and form a net under them. Her hair easily reached either side of the hallway, shifting colors to match the grain of the wood they pressed themselves against on the ceiling. They peeked out, watching as the mercenaries strolled by underneath them, the men perking up slightly and exchanging waves upon seeing friendly faces. 

Once the danger had passed, the thieves dropped silently to the floor once more and hurried along the cool, perfectly clean surface. As they approached a balcony railing, Goldie idly wondered, “Wonder how much it costs to rent space in here?” 

“It's going to be a whole lot cheaper after they’re forced to admit to losing a ton of their most protected goods.” Chay chuckled gleefully as they looked out over a huge empty space, pointing out a massive black metal cube in the center of the floor. “There it is! Exactly where I expected.”

“I've got to admit, you’re really in your element here.” Goldie smiled at her leader, and he flashed her a crooked grin in return, though his eyes remained hungrily fixed on the vault. “How should we get into there? Look… there's a guard on every side of it.”

“Not the top, though.” Chay pointed out, looking up and mapping out the lattice of beams along the ceiling. “We're going to go up then very carefully drop from the ceiling.”

They clamored up onto a few heavy wooden crates, Goldie's hair reaching up like an automatic grapnel and wrapping around the support beams where they connected to load-bearing columns. She pulled them up, and the duo carefully traversed the structure, climbing as close to the ceiling as possible in an effort to remain well-hidden. Unlike the rest of the warehouse, there was a thick layer of dust atop the rough wood, and every movement sent a sprinkle trickling down to the floor below.

“Goldie.” Chay leaned close, his soft lips buzzing against her ear as he spoke into them. “Have your hair collect the dust and store it away. Otherwise it's going to give away our position by dropping on someone. We already have a trail practically pointing at us.”

She took the lead and did as he had asked, no matter how reluctant her hair was to scoop up and store away filth. Now able to move faster, the duo swiftly reached the center point of the building, calmly clinging to the wooden beams while being suspended fifty feet above the black metal vault below. The end of a thin black rope jutted out of the end of her hair, and she offered it to Chay, who professionally secured it to the beam before nodding at her, eyes focused and intense.

Taking a deep breath, she let go of the beam and dropped.

The air whistled softly in her ears as she fell, lengths of rope extending from the depths of her hair like the essence of midnight. She did nothing to break her fall, allowing her hair to pool onto the top of the vault an instant before she silently slammed into it. Then she gripped the rope, holding it taut so Chay could slide down it without swaying back and forth. Moments later, they were together once more. 

Goldie motioned him closer, her fingers trembling. “Can you feel it? It's like the air is thick here, saturated with magic. I don't think we're even supposed to touch the vault, let alone try and cut into it.”

“Can't imagine what sort of protections they put onto this thing.” Chay easily agreed, showing how his arms were covered in goosebumps. “So… you ready to empty it out?”

“Let's move as close to the edge as we can; don't want to fall in on something breakable.” Goldie's words earned her a nod of approval, and they slowly inched to the edge of the vault containing a massive metal door.

“Hey!” The half-shout caused both of them to freeze instantly, hearts in their throats. “Did you see what I saw?”

“We’re done for.” Chay spat, already starting to furiously wiggle toward the rope. 

“Sure did! Can you believe she would do something like that? Putting the prince up as a prize?” Another voice joined the first, and the thieves paused in their escape efforts. “Days like this make me glad I don't have a daughter old enough to throw her life away in the queen's arena.”

“Ha! Let me tell you, my son was none too pleased when he showed up at his girlfriend's house with a bouquet this morning, only to be turned away by an old fool who thought her daughter had a chance at taking home that ‘prize’. I've seen that girl fight and… let's just say she probably won't be coming back.”

Goldie frantically motioned for Chay to come closer, and as soon as he had rolled into position, they sank through the top of the vault, appearing even before they had left, if the details of her skill were to be believed. They bounced off the ground, rolling to their feet and eagerly looking around. 

Neither of them were disappointed. 

One entire wall of the vault was lined with row after row of glass vials glimmering in the faint light coming off Goldie's hair, each filled with a vibrant liquid that churned without stirring, or pulsed with an energy all its own. None of the small bottles were labeled, so the thieves could only guess at the potent magics that had been distilled into them. She reached out and gently touched one of the glistering vials, almost surprised to merely feel smooth glass instead of some kind of carved gemstone. “Red potions heal people, right?”

“I think that's a rumor?” Chay gave a lopsided shake of his head, as though caught between humor and frustration even as the widest smile of his life creased his face. “It doesn't matter. These aren't for us, so we don’t need to waste time wondering. As far as I'm concerned, they're just tiny stacks of coins. Think of them like that, and start stowing them away!”

Her hair was already moving, needing no instructions before snaking out and wrapping around each one of the vials. The hair began with the vials on the edges and fully encapsulated each bottle’s stoppered neck, and one by one they vanished into seeming nothingness. As her hair approached the middle, where a strange box made of stone awaited, the strands faltered slightly and moved away.

Intrigued by the oddity, Goldie stepped forward and reached out, plucking the stone box from its position and carefully prying the square top off. Immediately, the darkened space was lit as though the sun had risen in the vault with them. Chay let out a shout of surprise, then barked at her, “Close that! What-”

However, Goldie was absolutely entranced by the tiny bottle held within the stone, containing perhaps a thimbleful of what she could only describe as bottled sunlight. Only after Chay became impatient and pushed the top back onto the stone box did she blink in surprise and look around, for a moment having forgotten where she was. As her eyes readjusted to the low light, she found her crew leader staring at her intently. “You good, Goldie?”

“Um. Yeah.” She took a sharp breath and shook off the strange sensation the liquid had emanated. “Don't know what that was, but… whew.”

“Just stow it.” At his instruction, Goldie pushed the box into her hair, wincing as her left arm immediately lit with the soft glow of a system notification.

Minimal → Limited-rank Magical Signature Emission immunity gained!

“Chay-” She started speaking with alarm, only for her companion to shake his head.

“I'm well aware that magical items can be tracked. Don't worry, just remember we're going to be offloading this as soon as we're out of here. Don’t want my people to get caught up in all the fuss this’ll kick up.” Chay swept his gaze across the now-empty shelves that had housed the potions. Then his eyes turned to everything else in the vault. “You know, if you can… there's a lot of interesting stuff in here. The job is only for the potions, which means that's all we need to hand over in order to complete the requirements.”

“We have another fifty-five minutes until I can get us out of the room, anyway.” Goldie felt her lips quirk up into a crooked smile as she looked at the remaining contents of the room. The shelves below the potions were filled with meticulously labeled boxes of reagents. Powders, herbs, crystals radiating an inner light? All of it vanished as her hair swept over it. Shimmering leaves and clusters of gems sparkling with unnatural colors disappeared, though she took a moment to carefully sniff anything which looked like it should be fragrant, quickly practicing to generate the new scents from her golden locks. 

“How about this?” She turned toward Chay, who was struggling to lift a small, clearly magical anvil off the ground. “Is this something you can, you know, scoop up?” 

“It's an anvil, Chay,” Goldie stated with extreme exasperation. “What possible use do you have for an anvil?” 

He shrugged, nearly losing his grip as he did so. “It's really small, so it probably has some use in making jewelry, not weapons. Valuable to the right buyer.”

“Which means us holding onto it for a while until we find someone we can sell it to. That kinda goes against-”

“I said stow it if you can,” Chay firmly cut her off. 

“Easy, Chay.” Feeling ever more uncomfortable, Goldie looked from the dark expression of her crew leader to the glowing object once more, examining its dark metal surface. She didn't think it was truly iron, as closer inspection revealed a soft midnight blue light coming from the metal, as well as intricate words chiseled into the surface. Words that—no matter how closely she looked—the thief couldn't quite make out the meaning of. “There's no way I can lift that, but…”

Directing her hair out, Goldie allowed it to fully wrap around the anvil before nodding at her fellow thief. He released the weighty tool, and instead of the expected *clang* of metal against metal, the mound of hair simply unspooled and returned to its normal position. 

Chay let out a soft whoop of excitement. “I knew we could take that with us! What else can we fit in there?”

“We're getting pretty close to the limit of what I can hold… I think.” Goldie chose her words carefully. “I don't want to leave behind anything we brought with us, just in case someone can track us by smell or something.”

“Smart… smart…” Chay’s near-manic words were followed by a rapid bobbing of his head as he turned away to look at the still-mostly-full vault. “Tell you what… let's put stuff in there until we can't get anything else in. Absolutely max it out.”

“I thought we were going to make sure to play it safe?”

“We are! We’re in the safe!” Chay’s wordplay didn’t elicit the laugh he desired, so he shifted tactics. “How about this. A portion of every item we fence will be donated to the orphanage. I bet that sounds good to you.” 

Seeing her continued hesitation, he leaned in closer. “C’mon, Goldie… think of it! What sort of life will those kids have if your next donation is a giant sack of gold? You might be able to buy every single one of them an apprenticeship. Can you imagine? You'd practically single-handedly give all those kids a better life.”

“Fine, Chay!” Goldie relented, unable to fight against the beautiful vision he was painting for her. “Just… don't blame me if some of it falls out when we're running.” 

The soon-to-be guild leader didn't say another word, simply tossing her an amulet made out of what appeared to be pure platinum with an egg-sized emerald embedded in the center. He didn’t bother prying open the next box, simply smashing it as Goldie looked at her arm with growing concern.

Limited → Rudimentary-rank Magical Signature Emission immunity gained!

“I've got a really bad feeling about this, Chay.”