Lonely Thieves

Act IV, Part XIV

Daryl's Side (April 14, 1:30 pm)

The Sunshine district was a new place to Daryl, who never had the time or the money to visit such an expensive area of the city. The streets were cleaner than they usually were in the Lunar or Sunset districts, and trendy shops and outlets lined the streets as upper-class pedestrians walked past in fashionable clothes and expensive brands. The sight was enough to make him tremble at the knees.

"What are you doing standing around?" Megumi said with an exasperated expression on her face. "Come on. We need to get going to the Innocenti Bank Headquarters."

Daryl wordlessly followed her as they slowly made their way to where the building was located on the map. However, they did not head immediately to the headquarters. Instead, they went down a detour to a different part of town, to a house owned by a friend of Megumi. No one was at home, but Megumi knew where to find a key hidden under a rug, and they were inside in an instant.

However, there was no time for either of them to relax. The moment they shut the door behind them, Megumi set her phone down on the table and called out to Trevor. "Okay, we're in a safe place. What's next?"

The phone buzzed, and a holographic map of the Innocenti Bank Headquarters emitted before them. Megumi and Daryl stood back and gazed at the map, trying to make sense of it as the display rotated in place. As they inspected the massive building, a neon yellow line began snaking its way through to a room deep inside the top floor of the building.

"This is the shortest route to the room with the ruby necklace," Trevor explained, his voice echoing from the phone. "Don't expect to be able to follow this route perfectly. If something stops you from proceeding, find a detour."

"Isn't that a pretty lackluster plan?" Megumi said with a raised eyebrow. "You said you'd been working on this plan for a while. Don't you have anything more to contribute?"

"I'm telling you, sometimes it's better to play things by the ear," Trevor replied wryly. "Anyway, this map includes patrol routes, so you'll be able to prepare before the real thing."

"How much time do we have for that?" Daryl asked. "I thought we'd be doing this as soon as we got here."

"Well, obviously we don't want to make a move until night falls," Trevor remarked. "That'll give you a few hours to rest, study the map, do whatever. When you're ready to infiltrate, call me once you're in front of the entry point I indicated. I'll hit the power generator and shut down the security system. The backup generator will start up almost immediately, but I'll be able to delay its startup for at least two minutes."

"We only have two minutes to sneak into the building?" Daryl repeated incredulously. "Isn't that cutting it way too close?"

"It sure is," Trevor remarked dryly. "So make sure not to screw it up."

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In what seemed like no time at all, night had fallen over the Sunshine district, signaling to Megumi and Daryl that there was little time left to prepare for their heist. Thankfully, they had finished their preparations a while ago, having spent the last few hours studying the Innocenti Bank Headquarters floor plans thoroughly. The two of them had also headed out to buy a few things they decided were necessary for the heist, which they purchased from an underground dealer Megumi knew.

The two of them were just coming back from the dealer, and instead of heading back to the house they were hiding out in, the two decided to head straight to their destination and start the job. Daryl, for his part, was still nervous about pulling everything off perfectly, but he knew that waiting an extra hour would hardly change things. Better to just get it over with now while the plan was still fresh in his head.