(no subject)
Working Title: Thief AU (I swear I'll find a better one soon)
Chapter: 2
Genre: action, drama, urban fantasy
Notes: New characters introduced here! I swear I'll give the lab techs names eventually. And I apologize if I've mangled the guy in the second section, I've never had to write him before.
“Sir?” One of the techs was at the door to Kratos' office. “I think we've found something you should take a look at.”
With a sigh, Kratos rose wordlessly and followed the tech to her station. “What have you found?”
“This is the security footage of the scene,” she explained, as if that wasn't obvious from the masked individual making his way across the floor, a ball of light hovering over his palm. “Do you see anything strange about it?”
It took Kratos a long moment of studying the screen before he caught on. “...No shadow.” While the spell cast most of the objects in the room into starkly contrasting light and shadows, the figure itself had none. Illusionary light, it turned out, behaved exactly the same way as ordinary light, including shining right through sloppily-crafted illusions. “Scan the rest of the tapes, find out when he really went in, and where he was when the illusion went through.”
The tech smiled at him proudly. “I already did, sir. There's nothing really visible, but I did notice some odd shimmer in that area a couple of hours before, and then at the time of the strike, in the ancient European wing. He was probably using a camouflage illusion.”
Kratos nodded. Before he could commend the tech on her perceptiveness, though, a breathless officer rushed through the door. “Sir! We found the stolen artifacts!”
Kratos straightened. “Where were they?”
The officer looked miserable. “Buried in a stuffed animal display in the gift store, sir. We didn't catch it because of the new wards, but the gift shop just got a new line in and had to rearrange the display.”
Kratos sighed. “All right. Both of you, we have a new task: Figure out what this 'Renegade' actually took.”
------------------------------------------------------------------------
In a completely different part of the city, a sorcerer named Yuan Ka-Fai listened with a smirk as the lock to his best friend's apartment opened. A moment later, the lights flicked on, and said best friend rolled his eyes unsurprisedly to see Yuan sitting in his favorite chair.
“That stopped being surprising after the first dozen times, yo,” he observed. “I heard the museum thing went off without a hitch.”
Yuan nodded, offering his friend the second glass on the end table. “Thanks to your help.”
“Yeah, well, those illusions don't exactly come cheap. You owe me big.” Reno sat in the other chair, accepting the drink as due payment. “So, you ever gonna tell me what it was about?”
Yuan pulled out what looked like a spiral-carved piece of an antler from his pocket, polished and somewhat dingy with age. “Museums have more magical artifacts than people actually know are in them. If they'd done a proper inventory after the elves came out of hiding, they'd have put this under better security.”
“Right, because the plot you went through to get it wasn't convoluted enough,” Reno observed dryly. “I meant, why'd you want it?”
“A friend of mine needs it as a spell component,” Yuan admitted. “These are pretty hard to find outside of England, this is the only one within a thousand miles.”
“Bits of carved antler are rare? Go on, pull the other one.” Reno shook his head. Yuan had always had a flair for the dramatic.
“It's not just any antler,” Yuan replied grouchily. “This is a genuine unicorn horn. They're rare even in their homeland, and there aren't any left outside England at all.”
Reno eyed it curiously. “A unicorn horn, huh?” A smirk crossed his lips. “I wasn't born yesterday, Yuan. Everyone knows what kind of magic those are used for.”
Yuan huffed. “...Look, her niece is sick, okay? She's the best healer I know, and it's always useful to be on good terms with one. That's all.”
“Riight. You're not really a big softie who broke into a museum so he could help save a dying kid.” Reno snorted into his drink. “When are you gonna get over this whole hero thing, yo? Altruism isn't good for business.”
“If I give you her address for the next time you get yourself stabbed, will you drop it?” Yuan sighed.
Reno considered this. “Yeah, I'd say that's fair payment.”
Grabbing a pen and paper, Yuan wrote it down for him. “This is only for emergencies, mind you. You get something the local clinic can fix, you go there first.”
“Yeah, yeah, I got it. Protect the innocence of the innocents and all that. You really are softhearted, old man.” Reno pocketed the note anyway. Healers were handy people, and Yuan didn't look after people for no reason.
Yuan smirked at him. “And you know perfectly well if you were anyone else, I'd show you exactly how cold I can be. ...Anything else going on?”
“Just the usual. Desian gang acting up a bit downtown, cops got a handle on it for now though. Oh, and it's your turn to get the pizza.”
Yuan pretended to sigh, as he went to get the phone. “Brat. Still trying to see who can bankrupt the other first, I take it.”
“Everyone needs a hobby.”
Chapter: 2
Genre: action, drama, urban fantasy
Notes: New characters introduced here! I swear I'll give the lab techs names eventually. And I apologize if I've mangled the guy in the second section, I've never had to write him before.
“Sir?” One of the techs was at the door to Kratos' office. “I think we've found something you should take a look at.”
With a sigh, Kratos rose wordlessly and followed the tech to her station. “What have you found?”
“This is the security footage of the scene,” she explained, as if that wasn't obvious from the masked individual making his way across the floor, a ball of light hovering over his palm. “Do you see anything strange about it?”
It took Kratos a long moment of studying the screen before he caught on. “...No shadow.” While the spell cast most of the objects in the room into starkly contrasting light and shadows, the figure itself had none. Illusionary light, it turned out, behaved exactly the same way as ordinary light, including shining right through sloppily-crafted illusions. “Scan the rest of the tapes, find out when he really went in, and where he was when the illusion went through.”
The tech smiled at him proudly. “I already did, sir. There's nothing really visible, but I did notice some odd shimmer in that area a couple of hours before, and then at the time of the strike, in the ancient European wing. He was probably using a camouflage illusion.”
Kratos nodded. Before he could commend the tech on her perceptiveness, though, a breathless officer rushed through the door. “Sir! We found the stolen artifacts!”
Kratos straightened. “Where were they?”
The officer looked miserable. “Buried in a stuffed animal display in the gift store, sir. We didn't catch it because of the new wards, but the gift shop just got a new line in and had to rearrange the display.”
Kratos sighed. “All right. Both of you, we have a new task: Figure out what this 'Renegade' actually took.”
------------------------------------------------------------------------
In a completely different part of the city, a sorcerer named Yuan Ka-Fai listened with a smirk as the lock to his best friend's apartment opened. A moment later, the lights flicked on, and said best friend rolled his eyes unsurprisedly to see Yuan sitting in his favorite chair.
“That stopped being surprising after the first dozen times, yo,” he observed. “I heard the museum thing went off without a hitch.”
Yuan nodded, offering his friend the second glass on the end table. “Thanks to your help.”
“Yeah, well, those illusions don't exactly come cheap. You owe me big.” Reno sat in the other chair, accepting the drink as due payment. “So, you ever gonna tell me what it was about?”
Yuan pulled out what looked like a spiral-carved piece of an antler from his pocket, polished and somewhat dingy with age. “Museums have more magical artifacts than people actually know are in them. If they'd done a proper inventory after the elves came out of hiding, they'd have put this under better security.”
“Right, because the plot you went through to get it wasn't convoluted enough,” Reno observed dryly. “I meant, why'd you want it?”
“A friend of mine needs it as a spell component,” Yuan admitted. “These are pretty hard to find outside of England, this is the only one within a thousand miles.”
“Bits of carved antler are rare? Go on, pull the other one.” Reno shook his head. Yuan had always had a flair for the dramatic.
“It's not just any antler,” Yuan replied grouchily. “This is a genuine unicorn horn. They're rare even in their homeland, and there aren't any left outside England at all.”
Reno eyed it curiously. “A unicorn horn, huh?” A smirk crossed his lips. “I wasn't born yesterday, Yuan. Everyone knows what kind of magic those are used for.”
Yuan huffed. “...Look, her niece is sick, okay? She's the best healer I know, and it's always useful to be on good terms with one. That's all.”
“Riight. You're not really a big softie who broke into a museum so he could help save a dying kid.” Reno snorted into his drink. “When are you gonna get over this whole hero thing, yo? Altruism isn't good for business.”
“If I give you her address for the next time you get yourself stabbed, will you drop it?” Yuan sighed.
Reno considered this. “Yeah, I'd say that's fair payment.”
Grabbing a pen and paper, Yuan wrote it down for him. “This is only for emergencies, mind you. You get something the local clinic can fix, you go there first.”
“Yeah, yeah, I got it. Protect the innocence of the innocents and all that. You really are softhearted, old man.” Reno pocketed the note anyway. Healers were handy people, and Yuan didn't look after people for no reason.
Yuan smirked at him. “And you know perfectly well if you were anyone else, I'd show you exactly how cold I can be. ...Anything else going on?”
“Just the usual. Desian gang acting up a bit downtown, cops got a handle on it for now though. Oh, and it's your turn to get the pizza.”
Yuan pretended to sigh, as he went to get the phone. “Brat. Still trying to see who can bankrupt the other first, I take it.”
“Everyone needs a hobby.”