Stealing Ruby

The Network

"You stupid, evil little wim-whack crunching child of a two nosed troll!"

"Woah there. What kind of language is that?" I glare daggers at Nightshade. "No, really, what language? Two nosed troll? Wim-whack?" I huff and turn my glare back at the screen of this accursed computer. It wasn't working right! I could usually use my master drive, but I hadn't been able to find it anywhere. It contained almost everything we need to complete the mission, and it just so happens to fall out of my pocket? What next?! Fate, don't answer that. Nightshade raises an eyebrow at me. "Is someone arguing with the voices inside her mind again?" She asks. "No," I say mater of factly. "We just so happen to be having a civilized conversation." Nightshade folds her arms across her chest. "Uh huh." She says, or grunts, or-

Whatever! It doesn't matter. All that matters is that without that drive our entire operation could just go down the drain!

I slump against the computer chair. "Why me? Why now?" Nightshade looks down at me. "When in the world would you rather this happen?" She asks. I glare at her, but she only smirks. Well, I think it's a smirk. It's hard to tell when your upside down. I open my mouth to say something, but just then the door bursts open. Nightshade doesn't even flinch, always keeping her cool, but I am not nightshade. I was so surprised I jumped, and when you jump in a computer chair while leaning back, it doesn't end well.

I look up at the intruder from my place on the hard floor of my bedroom. Well, not so much a bedroom, more of a tinkerer shop. There is a bed, somewhere, but I still haven't found it after all this time. I usually fall asleep at the desk, on the floor, or in the chair. The rest of the room is stacked full, clogged, and blocked by a lot if junk, trinkets, and who knows what else. I think I even heard a moan from the piles of stuff, and I honestly wouldn't be surprised if someone were trapped in there.

The 'intruder' is none other then firecracker herself. She has a wide, slightly crazy grin on her face.

"What did you break now?" I moan. Firecracker got her thrills out if extreme sports, and to make it more 'extreme' she usually destroys whatever she uses. Where's the thrill in coming back in one piece?

She just waves her hand, as if shoeing away the question. "Nothing you can't fix." She reassures. I groan. "But that's not all." From her expression, I can tell it's actual good news. I sit up. "I found our thieves."

***

We all are gathered around the wooden table in the kitchen. "So," cherry bomb says slowly. "You found the people who have the Ruby Key?" Firecracker nods. "And how did you accomplish that?" I ask. She just waves her hand. "Oh, I have my ways. Some people owed me after losing a bet." Never, ever agree to a bet with Firecracker. "What did you do?" Palm reader asks, bemused. "Oh, you know." We all wait, wondering what she must have done this time. Firecracker gives us a sly smile. "I stole a piece of gum from the president of the United States." None of us are terribly surprised. Most of you would probably think she's bluffing, but that's why most people lose bets against her.

Nightshade clears her throat. "So, the Ruby Key?" She asks, bringing the group back to the subject. Nightshade was always the team leader, keeping us in check yet not in the 'sapping away all the fun' type of way. Firecracker nods. "We found the group that has it." We wait for her to continue, but thirty seconds later, still nothing. "Well," cherry bomb says impatiently. "Who is it?" Firecracker shakes her head. "Don't know. Didn't catch a name." I open my mouth to say something, but chameleon beats me to it. "So what do we know?" Firecracker smirks. "A way to contact them."

I open my mouth, but once again I'm cut off. "So, why does it matter? They got to it first. So what, it's just one key."

"Well," I say, "that's not what the prize we're going after. The key was never the real target." I see I have their attention finally. Only nightshade knew the whole plan, so this it's news to the rest of them. "The key is only a part of the real prize." I say. I wait for it to sink in. It doesn't take long. "Then what is the real prize?" I smile. "All in good time." I say. "First, we need the other half of the key." Cherry bomb looks confused. "Wait, other half?" I nod my head and start to speak, but palm reader cuts me off. "The Ruby Key is so famous because of its shape. The key looks like it was sliced in half. There are no teeth on it and while one side is round like most keys the other half is flat. It's famous because it's kind of mystery. People love a good mystery." I nod. It's nice to know someone else knew some of the facts. "The truth is," she continues, "it probably isn't even broken, just some story made up to make the thing more interesting." The rest of the crew's mouths make a big O. I turn to Palm reader. "Someone's been doing their research." I say, satisfied. She shrugs. "I listen in." Listen into what, I don't know, and I don't ask. Firecracker turns to me. "Wait, then what are we stealing?"

"Well, I've been doing some of my own digging and think I've found the other half." Chameleon's eyebrow raises. "'think?'"

"Hey, where is the fun in knowing?" I ask. The crew all nod their heads. "So," cherry bomb asks. "What are we stealing?

"Where is it?" Firecracker adds.

"Do you have a plan?" Continues chameleon.

"First off," I say, "we need the Ruby Key." The crew share nervous looks.

There are rule among thieves, of most of us at least. There are under ground networks, connections, and rules that hold it all together among the larger thieves. Each has their own name, calling themselves crews, dens, flocks, and other ways of describing their own organization or branch. Each is different, some strict, some great thieves and others top level organizations, but for us, we belong to a 'family.' That doesn't mean we're all related, it just means we have the same relative goals. We can call on each other. When there is a larger heist and you need more people to be able to pull it off, you can turn to the family. For smaller jobs, most simply reach out to others in the family. That's how it works out. You watch their back, they watch yours. Families are built in trusts, and you don't want to know what happens when you break that trust. It's not pretty. Other groups live by different codes, and that's fine. What happens is that families can reach out to other groups (dens, other families, flocks, etc.) through the networks and get information, gear, crew, and other necessary supplement. You just have to be carefully. The network may have a tight bind, but when you start messing with it, moving to someone else's territory, whole under ground wars can start. I guess it's like gangs, but not at all at the same time. We're not about violence and power, mainly sticky fingers and an appeal for shiny objects.

There are many rules, lines you should never cross, and one is to never, ever steal from another thief. You can bargain, make deals, or if you were wronged you can try to deal with it, but we try not to cross those bounds. Without trust we would be gaining nothing as we steal everything. It's okay if you don't understand, I've had years of practice. All you need to know is that we could not simply steal the Ruby Key back. If it was a smaller gang or one out side the network, fine, go crazy, but one of the few things Firecracker actually knows about them is that this crew was part of the network and weren't in our family. And no, my crew aren't the only ones in the family we belong to. Not by a long shot. We're more of apprentices, or at least that's what the adults call us. Our family is huge, bigger then any of us really know. Have I bored you yet? Well, here's the point. Because of all this, we could but simply steal it and that's where it get tricky. We didn't know what this other crew wanted with the Ruby Key, and more importantly didn't know what they want in exchange. We could trade for it, if we were lucky, or we might even have to join them or convince them to join us. That key was essential in this plan. Without that key, we had nothing.

All of this rested on the other crew. It was a slippery slope, not knowing anything about the other crew or what group they were even from. There are some dark and dangerous people in the network. This crew was putting our whole heist in jeopardy, and they didn't even know it. Somehow, we needed to get that key back. Whatever it took if we wanted this heist to succeed.