Vi, Powder, Mylo, and Claggor, stood in an alley, Ekko perched above on a rooftop.

Ekko didn't normally come to their little capers, but since this was big, really big, he elected to come, walkie talkie and binoculars in hand, in case any of them needed help.

They were all a little bit nervous to say the least.

There weren't any enforcers around, and they had seen a lot of staff (they assume) leave, but there was definitely at least one person in there. They hoped that the mansion was big enough for them to not run into whoever it was.

For a mansion of this grandeur, whoever the Kirammans are, they must be important.

Well, Vi started hyping herself up, it's better to go for it than to keep waiting up.

But right as she was about to tell the rest of the gang it was go time, she noticed an unfamiliar invention in Powder’s hands.

Well not an unfamiliar one. Just one that she's never seen outside of their home.

A monkey?

“Yo, Pow-Pow, what's that?”

Powder lights up, excited, “It's a bomb! A monkey bomb!”

“Powder,” Mylo starts, unimpressed, “we're not setting off nails in that prissy-ass mansion. That's just asking to be caught.”

“Obviously I'm not just gonna set off nails in that place!” Powder shoots back, “It's in case something goes wrong. Like if we have to make a getaway.”

Everyone shoots her a look that clearly says “explain”.

“Ok, so, remember that apartment we robbed? Well I grabbed these little glowing blue crystals from there. I've been messing around with small little bits of them, and when they're shaken up with enough force, they seem to go all powdery throughout the area.”

“‘Powdery’?” Ekko laughs through his walkie talkie.

Powder rolls her eyes, forgetting Ekko can't actually see her at the moment.

“So, it's a smoke bomb?” Vi asks, a bit skeptical.

“Trust me, it will be the best smoke bomb that will have ever smoke bombed.”

Vi smirked, "That's all I needed to know.” She turned to Mylo and Claggor, “You guys all ready?”

“You know it, Vi.” Mylo says, masking any unconfidence under his usual bravado.

Claggor nodded, looking determined.

"I'm good too, Vi!" Ekko chirped in.

“Okay then, let's do this!”

—-----

“Caitlyn,” Cassandra scolded, “Don't eat so hurriedly. It's unbecoming.”

Caitlyn looked slightly annoyed, though she began to eat her cake slower.

It was her birthday, January 4th. And aside from her mother's occasional nagging, it had been a good day!

Captain Grayson came over for breakfast, she went to the shooting range, visited a garden, got presents, and had a lovely dinner with her parents for which they even let her invite Jayce.

They were eating her birthday cake right now.

“Jayce, wrong fork.” Caitlyn told her friend before her mother could point out his flaw.

Jayce looked severely confused as to how there could be a correct fork to eat cake and just chose to ignore it. He didn't have a reputation to keep—or at least, not one like the Kirammans did.

After a couple minutes passed, Jayce spoke up, asking a question that had been on his mind since he arrived a few hours ago.

“What happened to all the enforcers?”

“...what?” Caitlyn asked, confused.

“The enforcers. There's none around here.”

Huh. How had Caitlyn not even noticed that?

“Oh,” Tobias answered, “it's just easier that way with the fireworks we're gonna do later.”

Caitlyn's parents were quite extra. For her birthday, they always ended the day with fireworks. As if it was a holiday of some sort.

Cassandra clarified for them more, “Every year during the fireworks, they always annoy me with their reactions. Some will endlessly ask to see our permit papers, others try to climb our outdoor pillars for a better view, and few even cheer on excitement. So, I had Captain Grayson remove them for today.”

Jayce looked like he wanted to point out what an absolutely stupid idea that was, leaving the biggest mansion in the city unguarded, but he held his tongue and instead looked towards Caitlyn, who just shrugged in response.

Silence continued for a few minutes after that.

Well, until Caitlyn chose to break it.

“So, Jayce,” Caitlyn began, “you’re 24 and you're still single. Why is that?”

Tobias held back a laugh as Jayce almost dropped his fork, startled.

“Look, I don't have time to date. You know, I'm always busy inventing and researching.”

“Interesting way to say no man or woman wants to have sex with you. How tragic, a lonely, lonely 24 year old man.”

“Ok, then why is the lonely 24 year old man your only friend?”

“Hey!”

Jayce and Caitlyn started arguing after that, Cassandra sighed, about to break it up, when a loud crash was heard above them, startling everyone in the room.

Cassandra frowned, “Tobias, be a dear and get me my gun.”

—-----

“POWDER!” Mylo yelled in annoyance, looking at the girl in question, who had just fallen over and knocked a small table down, “Oh, fuck, we're so screwed!”

“Mylo, calm down. It's gonna be fine.” Vi said, helping her sister up.

Mylo was just about to retort when Ekko's panicked voice rang out through their walkie-talkies, proving him right.

“GUYS! Get out of there right now! There's people in the house—4 of them! They’re getting guns! I repeat, there is a gun room on the floor above you, they have guns! Get out!”

“Fuck.” Vi cursed, “Let's go! Come on, guys!”

Everyone ran out of the room, randomly running down a hall—the wrong hall. In their panic, they had forgotten which way they came from.

“Vi, where are we going!?” Powder asked, obviously panicking.

“Ekko, give us another exit! Now!”

“Uh, uhm…stairs! There should be stairs near you guys, take those and you'll be right at the front entrance. Just leave through there, it's the only chance you guys got!”

“There!” Claggor pointed, “The stairs!”

They ran, faster than they ever had, but right as they reached the stairs, a gunshot fired, barely missing Vi's face.

More shots continued to be fired as everyone scattered, running to wherever they saw passage to. Though, only Powder managed to get downstairs.

Her fear grew. She could leave right now, but what if her siblings didn't make it?

Her eyes then lit up as she remembered, her bomb.

It should cause a big enough smoke screen for everyone to get away undetected.

Quickly, she took it out from her bag, setting it out to go next to the stairs.

When she heard the symbols clash and knew for a fact her bomb was to go off, only then did she go outside, they'd know she was in safety.

But then the last symbol crashed, and the sound was much larger than she thought it would've been. Turning around, she looked in horror as she realized that an honest to god explosion had been set off. And there was still one more set to go.

“VI!”

—-----

Mylo, Claggor, and Vi coughed.

They had managed to regrouped, when they were suddenly knocked down by a loud explosion.

“Shit,” Mylo groaned, “was that…?”

“Powder.” Vi answered in a bit of awe, “She gave us a distraction. Alright, come on guys, let's go!”

They had been worried, thinking for sure that everything was going to go wrong and they'd all be dead or in jail. But it looked like their streak would continue!

As they ran towards the entrance, Vi grew more and more confused, there was actual damage done to the building. The roof was practically falling down.

Powder set off an actual bomb.

She was impressed, proud of her sister for finally doing it.

But when they reached that door and she saw Powder's look of absolute fear, she froze.

“Guys! There's another explosion coming! G-Get out!”

At her sister's words, Vi finally registered the clicking sound behind her.

Mylo and Claggor ran out immediately, the moment they heard ‘explosion’ they had left, but just as Vi was about to, she heard a scream coming from her right.

Looking over, she saw a girl, one who couldn't have been any older than her. Her leg was trapped under some rubble, she couldn't get out.

Vi knew she could just leave her there. Let her get hurt by the explosion. She was a Piltie. A rather privileged one at that if she lived here. She was the kind of person Vi detested.

But then they made eye contact. And as gray eyes met bright blue ones—practically pleading for help, Vi was reminded of her sister.

And after that, well Vi just couldn't help herself. She was an older sister. It was in her nature to protect those who couldn't protect themselves.

Ignoring the screaming pleas of her siblings, she ran towards the girl, shielding her with her body right as the bomb went off.

Boom.

—-----

(1497 words)

Shit took me way too long to post 💀