"What's taking so long?" Luciano whisper-shouted to Frederico who was struggling to crack the museum's vault of valuable artifacts.

"I'm trying my best, boss!" Frederico twisted the wheel in the directions he memorized but to no avail. "I think the combination is wrong."

"Out of my way." Aria, who was keeping guard at the vault hall entrance, pushed Frederico aside to try her hand at the lock, making him stumble.

"Hey, watch it!" Frederico scowled at her.

"Bao said it was 12, 15, 7, 21, and he's never wrong." Aria rotated it in that pattern.

But nothing happened.

"What?!" she slammed her fist against the metal frustratedly. "Open, god damn it!"

Luciano grabbed her arm gently. "Stop, you'll alert the guards."

Aria unclenched her fist and nodded. "Right, my bad..."

Ernest placed a steadying hand on Aria's shoulder. "It's a high-security lock so its not gonna be simple left-right rotations."

Ernest examined the vault for clues, his eyes landing on the brand name engraved on the bottom left. "It's a Perfectlock, so try going right twice then left once then right again."

Aria took a deep breath, composing herself, then did as Ernest instructed.

Click.

The vault hissed open.

"It opened!" Aria clapped her hands and high-fived Ernest who reluctantly reciprocated. "Who knew your hyper-fixation on locksmithing could be useful."

Ernest shrugged. "You should have at least some knowledge of it in this line of work."

"Yea, some. Not a whole section in your brain dedicated to it." Aria chuckled, punching his shoulder. Ernest winced.

"Nice going." Luciano patted Ernest and Aria's backs. "Keep watch, you two. I'm heading in."

He stepped foot inside the vault first with Frederico close behind, glaring at Aria who was smirking at him tauntingly.

The vault room was filled with gold, precious gems, and paintings worth millions. At the center, elegantly resting on a sealed platform was what the gang had come for—the coronet of noblewoman Trinity Salveer, the former duchess of Sussex, England.

"Take a look at this beauty." Luciano approached the bejeweled crown that was more valuable than all the other artifacts combined.

He examined the seal, making sure the lasers were turned off as planned. "I'll never understand how Bao is able to do this."

"That boy's a tech genius." Frederico whistled praise as he peeked over Luciano's shoulder. "Seems clear to me."

Luciano nodded in agreement and reached for the case, hands slowly inching towards it. He curled his fingers around the edges and steadily lifted it. Frederico grabbed the crown through the opening that was created, pulling it out, then Luciano lowered the case back down just as carefully.

...****************...

The two of them exited the vault, successfully swiping the crown.

Aria and Ernest gathered around Frederico to admire the treasure in his hold.

"Gosh, the way it sparkles is just...ethereal!" Aria's eyes glimmered as she gawked at it.

"Those are genuine blue diamonds, valued at $4 million per carat." Ernest examined the rare gems adorning the coronet. "There should be about 150 carats by the looks of it."

"Woah, that's like...a lot of dollars." Aria clasped her hands excitedly.

"You'll be able to appreciate it as much as you want once we get out of here." Luciano grabbed the crown and slipped it into his duffle bag. "Let's go."

At Luciano's order, the gang pulled up their hoods and snuck back to the staff entrance where they had come from.

Just as they were about to exit, a flash of light peeked around the corner. Luciano pulled them all back and hid behind the wall.

He signalled that there was a security guard by the door.

Frederico gestured toward the front entrance, but Luciano shook his head. It was certain to be packed with even more guards.

Everyone paused, trying to figure out what to do. It seemed like the only option was to take the guard by the staff door down.

They each looked at each other and nodded. Aria snuck to the other side of the archway, peaking over her shoulder to watch the guard's movements until she sees an opening.

As soon as he turned his back, she gestured for them to rush in. Ernest stealthily ran to the guard and wrapped his arms around his neck from behind, squeezing as the man struggled and scratched at him.

He let out a silent gasp before losing consciousness.

The others hurried toward the exit, except Luciano who knelt by the guard's limp body and ripped the small rectangular device off the shirt pocket.

"Can't leave any evidence behind, now can we?" He crushed the live-feeding camera under his foot.

Just then, a flash of light illuminated his face. "Hey, you! What're you doing here?"

Another security guard had wrapped around the corner. His eyes landed on the body, and before they could return to Luciano, he was already gone.

"Oh, shit." The guard rushed to sound the alarm.

To be continued...

The other three were waiting by the stashed motorcycles behind the hedges, gearing up and waiting for Luciano.

Luciano vaulted over the hedges and landed right where they were.

"I've been compromised." he slid his helmet on and mounted the motorcycle. "The cops'll be here any minute."

The gang revved the engine and burned rubber without wasting a second.

"How on earth were you exposed? We were so close to a perfect heist!" Frederico's voice came through in Luciano's helmet as they sped away from the museum.

"That guard had a camera attached to him. Our faces were captured, so I had to get rid of it. But then—"

Luciano was interrupted by blaring sirens from behind.

"You have got to be kidding me!" Aria groaned. "How did they catch up so fast?"

"It's likely there were cops stationed nearby." Ernest explained.

"Makes sense," Luciano pressed his lips together. "Should've seen that coming."

"### PULL OVER NOW!" A voice crackled from the police car's speaker.

"Do they really expect us to pull over?" Aria scoffed a laugh, speeding up instead.

"I think it's just a formality." Frederico snickered.

"Traffic ahead," Luciano interjected. "Ernest, Frederico, you two take the side street. Aria and I will continue on the main road." He leaned forward on the motorcycle, zipping straight into the crowd of cars.

"Yes, boss." Frederico drifted onto the side road with Ernest following in suit.

One of the cop cars swerved behind them.

"Suspects have split up." The officer spoke into the radio. "Unit 2 in pursuit, heading eastbound."

"### Copy that." Another cop car chased behind Aria and Luciano.

"Make sure you lose them before heading to the base." Luciano warned before the comms connection was lost.

"Let's hope Frederico doesn't slip up again like last time. I really liked the old hideout." Aria pouted, veering between cars in the traffic.

"We had to change locations given that a raid was imminent at any time, but I agree. It was a lot cozier."

They were barely able to fly through the tight spaces, before finally reaching the junction.

"I'll head straight, you go right." Luciano didn't hesitate and accelerated forward.

"See you at base, then." Aria gave him a salute before whipping right.

The cops were far behind then, still caught in the jam.

****************

Luciano tore down the street, weaving through cars, buildings blurring past him. He was close to the destination.

At the end of the route, he noticed the familiar red and blue lights emerging from the horizon.

"Damn..." He muttered to himself then deviated sharply into a tight alleyway. The path was in no way made for vehicles, being just wide enough for two people to pass through.

Luciano pressed on despite the rough passage, the motorcycle jumping beneath him as it jolted over rocks and scattered trash.

Eventually, the alley opened up into an abandoned private parking lot that was fenced in. There was a gate up ahead blocked by a lowered barrier.

Luciano checked on the duffle bag and it's contents before rocketing forward. He dropped low and ducked his head, the motorcycle slid under the gate and tires screeched against asphalt.

He let out a deep sigh of relief that his head was still on his shoulders and straightened the bike back up. He continued through the building, past the rubble until he reached a partially blocked exit which lead straight into the base's street.

"Looks like I found a new shortcut." He chuckled to himself as he made his way into the abandoned warehouse the gang called home.

To be continued...

The museum building was surrounded by dozens of cop cars, and the premises were secured with cones and tape.

It was already past midnight, but the police scampered inside, splitting up to gather any evidence that was left behind.

Police sergeant, Richard Woods, stood at the center of it, coordinating the whole investigation, ordering the officers and detectives on what to do.

One of the detectives, Hyejin Lee, scurried towards him, with her black hair in a messy bun.

"S-sir, after thorough inspection, I c-can confirm there are no signs of forced entry on any of the entrances." She adjusted her glasses as she reviewed her notes.

"Are you saying the doors were already open for them when they came?" The sergeant asked sarcstically, staring at his phone.

"Yes, s-sir, but I'm not sure how." Hyejin rubbed her chin thoughtfully, not catching the sarcasm.

Sergeant Dmitri scoffed. "Yea, okay. Go to the surveillance room, check out the camera, and see how they infiltrated the inside."

He had noticed her untidy appearance when he finally looked up at her and a vein popped out his temple.

"How many times do I have to tell you to keep your hair in check or cut it off." He shouted suddenly, voice echoing off the walls.

Hyejin flinched at the loud sound, eyes widening at his aggression. "I'm s-sorry, s-sir… It w-won't happen again." She quickly re-did her hair, tighter this time, then rushed towards the surveillance room.

"Tsk. Young people these days..." Sergent huffed before going back to his phone.

...****************...

"Good evening sir, I'm detective Nicholai Volkov, and I'll be the one leading the investigation for this case. I need to ask a few questions if you don't mind."

A pale-skinned, uniformed 20-something man with kempt, blond hair approached the seated security guard by the taped off vault room.

The security guard's eyes widened. "You're quite young for a lead detective?"

Nicholai's eyebrows furrowed. "Please refrain from unnecessary comments. It's unprofessional." He responded curtly.

The guard was taken aback by Nicholai's words but decided against speaking up.

"I'll now begin the questioning." Nicholai flipped through a small note pad and clicked his pen.

"—Wait. Before that, I want to know how Greg is doing. He was passed out when I saw him."

Nicholai glared at the man, eyes narrowing impatiently. "Greg is fine. Now please describe what happened."

The security guard frowned at the detective's abrasive attitude, but still proceeded. "I was making my way to the staff enterance where my buddy, Greg, was patrolling. We had planned to meet up to—"

"—Seems security here is very lax if you just left your post without valid reason. That explains why the criminals were able to enter and very nearly exit without being detected." Nicholai interjected and jolted something down, then looked back up. "Carry on."

The guard grimaced before continuing. "That's when I saw a man standing beside Greg who was on the ground."

"Describe the man you saw, if you could."

"I only saw him for a split second—he was gone before I knew it. But I remember he had dark longish hair under the hood."

"Did you notice any defining features?"

"Defining features..." The security guard paused for a moment, eyes looking up like the ceiling had answers. "Oh, yea! He looked to be Italian - he was pretty tan - and probably part of that one mafia."

"Because he's Italian?" Nicholai asked skeptically.

"No, because of the huge scars across his eyes and nose." The guard pointed to his own eye, drawing an imaginary line down then over his nose then back up to his other eye. "It looked like a V."

"Scars across his eyes and nose...shaped like a V" Nicholai tapped the pen against his chin.

"Yea, I remember I heard anyone who joined that notorious Donatello mafia had to get one."

"I'm well aware of that, but the Donatello Violenza mafia was taken down years ago. Why would a member be robbing a museum now ?"

The man shrugged. "Beats me."

Nicholai paused for a second before writing in his notepad. "There seems to be more going on than I thought."

To be continued...