Game Day Part 2
February 2nd, 2019

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7:08 pm

Detective Perez corrected his bow tie as he walked into the hall where the  awaited auction was being held. Fancy champagne, fancy finger sandwiches, fancy people.

He might want to take on these kinds of cases a lot more for all the free champagne he was getting.

He turned to the head of the security company, "So your guards reported suspicious behaviour?"

"Yes, there were some people reported, snooping around from time to time. And one of our security cameras began fluctuating, as if it was tampered with."

Perez smiled to himself, he had scouted the right place for the next attack.

His personal phone vibrated in his jacket pocket but he cut the call without checking, he did not want it to interrupt business. If it was important, then they would alert his work mobile.

He fixed the man with a serious stare, "As soon as the auction begins, tighten the security around every exit, and all around the hall, especially at the stage. Get someone to guard the sound-stage because the thieves use a special sound to notify their work. I briefed everyone about the situation, and we will catch these criminals once and for all."

"What damage could they have possibly done for the Interpol to on their case?" The man laughs.

"A guesstimate of four million dollars worth of precious artefacts stolen specifically from auction houses, right in the middle of their auctioning."

That shut the man up quite well.

Perez looked at the articles being taken away from their displays and backstage where they would be brought out to be auctioned one by one.

His phone vibrated again and he checked to see his friend from the headquarters calling him. Must be checking in.

He cut the call and turned to the head of the security, "Come on now, we don't want to miss the auction."

⚜️

7:12 pm, Auction House Hallways

"Alicia?" Lucas faces me, with an intrigued expression. His pupils are dilated way more than usual and his demeanor seems to shift from stiff to relaxed. His eyes travel around my face, looking at me as if he was trying to study a complex blueprint.

"H-Hi!" I stammer like a fucking idiot.

"You both know each other?" blondie asks, coming face to face with both of us.

"Right, Alicia," Lucas points to Blondie, "This is William, my very close friend. Will," he faces Blondie, "This is a friend, Alicia."

William gives me a brilliant smile, the green in his eyes very prominent under the bright lighting of the corridor, "Hello Alicia. I am much more than his 'very close friend', he won't accept that he treats me like a brother," Luke shoves him gently, "I see that Luke has kept up his habit of making some very attractive friends."

I smile slightly, "Thanks?"

Lucas scoffs, "Don't make her uncomfortable Will. Find someone else to try and...court."

Will was...flirting with me?

"Ah, my boy is protective of this particular...friend. Good to know. Anyways, excuse me fine people, I have to head to the washroom," Will says all at once, extremely fast like all the English people do, and rushes to the bathroom.

Lucas looks all the nervous when he faces me again, and he runs a hand through his locks, "I am terribly sorry for my friend's behaviour-"

I cut him off, "Don't worry about it, he didn't make me uncomfortable."

"Oh! So does that mean you are attracted to him?" he asks, looking at me through his lashes.

"What? No!" I shake my head furiously, "Anyway, I am surprised to see you here, considering you were talking a lot of shit about Angelo that night."

Lucas shrugs, "I got an invite, and I unfortunately am very fond of those tiny sandwiches, so I made the best of this night off."

Realization dawns upon me.

I am supposed to avoid him, not make fucking small talk with him.

He looks at me, but there's something different in the way his gaze is roaming over my face, when he gazes directly into my eyes, "You look beautiful."

My eyebrows rise and I shift a little on my feet, and I cannot muster up the will to look into his eyes as I say, "You don't look too bad yourself."

And in that moment, I did not want to leave the conversation. A part of me wanted to grab a mocha and sit down in that cafe again, and talk to him about my day, about Yuri being stupid, about Pandora being mean to me, about Minnie cooking me mac n cheese or Ariadne going around choking people with her meter tape.

But I press my lips into a thin line and direct my gaze to his shoulders instead of his face, "I am sorry my companions are waiting for me."

"I can come with-" I don't hear him finish the sentence as I quickly walk back inside.

⚜️

7:26 pm Chicago time
The hallways yet again.

Rey just wanted to sleep.

Well she always felt very tired. Except for when she was in the ring. Or when she was on her eighth cup o' Joe as her mother liked to call it.

She missed those adrenaline rushes of standing opposite a worthless opponent and analysing the best way to break his ribs, or limbs whatever was convenient.

She put the cap low on her head, covering her eyes from the eyes of other guards as she walked through the hallways after getting her ID checked.

"Rey!" Minji's voice came through her ear piece, she stopped in her tracks.

"There are six guards in the way, between the stage and the room. The best strategy is to lure as many away without raising suspicion, which by our calculation, is four guards. You're gonna have to knock the two closest to the storage room," Minji said

"Do you copy Dharuna?" Blaise asked now, her voice coming in with Minji's.

Rey heard Dhara's sweet voice, "I already lured one away, said that they are needed near the stage. Three more to go."

Rey smirked as she entered the bookmarked corridor which she had to keep clear and found two guards standing on the ends.

She walked up to the guard on the farther end, "Hey man, you're required out front, there are some complaints regarding the usher."

The guard looks confused, "Really, seemed chill to me. Also, your voice sounds weird. Too many joints eh?"

She did have a deep and rough voice, curtsy of...her father, and well, good thing it was finally working in her favour for once. Pandora's makeup was good enough to fool the best of them though.

Rey scoffed, "You know it. And you know how petty these rich pricks are."

The guard seemed to agree, "You're darn right. I'll do a quick check on him."

The innocent guard took off towards the parking.

Rey wondered if the person she was impersonating was good friend with that dude. Maybe they sat on the roof and smoked their lungs out together, maybe they just nodded at each other while passing each other. Who knew?
Alicia was better at predicting all that shit than Rey ever would be. It was creepy at times. Yet it had helped them out of countless situations, to avoid the use of violence.

Sometimes she would sit and wonder about the lives they were impacting, after doing a job. Would they be putting this guard out of his job? Was the last cigarette they shared on the rooftop, the final one they would share together?

"Two down two to go," she said into the ear piece.

"Oh don't worry about the remaining two, Dharuna sent them off to the stage as well."

Rey smiled and very unnecessarily cracked her knuckles, "Oh well, then we just need to get the final two out of the way."

Time to break some limbs. Though Dharuna might ruin all the fun and just give them a mild concussion. She was so careful about all that.

Dharuna had always been a softie, even though she had faced the worst. Rey wished for the care, the patience, but she couldn't bring it in herself to handle something with care.

Her job was to break things, not fix them. And she reckoned she was rather good at it.

"Where will we keep them though?" Dharuna asked through the ear piece.

"Storage room?" Minji suggested.

⚜️

7:42 pm, Auction Hall,
Chicago.

Alby stood alone next to the painting of two horses and one cow herd, pretending to examine the painting, just to not appear like an awkward bystander.

She could have struck up a conversation with anyone while Cassandra was busy prepping the painting for Kai to grab, but for some reason, she wanted some solitude that particular night.

She watched the artist guy float around from one guest to another, no doubt gloating about the time he spent on his painting and how we felt so lucky to have such an event in his name and that he hoped his painting went in good hands yada yada yada.

Alby was surprised not surprised at all that the hall was not big enough to fit his ego.

"What a gorgeous painting," came a voice from behind her, and she jumped a little.

She turned slightly and smiled a fake smile at her companion, "It is indeed. Who knew you could make a subject so tame look so rustic."

The woman she was talking to was the same height as her but looked twice as old. She had a beautiful yet regal maroon gown on, and to top it all off, a gigantic diamond ring on her left hand which placed in front of her torso as she crossed her arms, trying her hardest to show it off to the world.

She smiled, yes some might find it obnoxious, but it was fascinating how much we are attracted to pretty glamorous objects, and not care for the useful yet less attractive objects in our lives.

"I see you have a great taste in art," Cassandra appeared at the woman's elbow, "I am incredibly sorry, but could you excuse my friend for a moment?" She asked and then dragged Alby away when the woman uttered a soft affirmation.

"Where the hell did Alicia go? And did you get the job done?" Alby asked Cassandra as she carefully held a flute of champagne in her hand.

Cassandra nodded, "The painting is secured, and Alicia..." She trailed off looking into the distance before a smile spread on her face.

"Oh well she found company," Cassie finished and Alby looked at where Cassie was staring to see Alicia with hot security man, both looking at each other intently.

Cassandra and Alby began to walk towards the seating area where the auction was about to begin, and Alicia joined them as soon as they say down. Alby was wedged in between her two gorgeous companions.

She elbowed Alicia, "I thought you were going to avoid him for the rest of the night."

Alicia had an exasperated look on her face loaded with makeup, "I ran into them. I tried my best to get out of the conversation but I couldn't find a good opening. I didn't wanna be rude."

She was sort of bending down, trying to hide herself behind the cloth-covered chairs. Trying to hide from hot-security man. Even though they had seen each other, and had interacted already.

What a weirdo.

Cassie just nodded, "It's okay, you don't need to make excuses."

"I'm not-"

Alby just placed a hand on Alicia's bare shoulder, "Whatever makes you happy, now wait, the auction is about to start."

⚜️