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Miami, Florida

The deep waters of the ocean provided a mesmerizing view for everyone that was present on the sunny day at the beach. The shimmering waves of the sea that shone blue with a slight green undertone mirrored the rays of the hot sun. The refreshing breeze along with the aroma of the saltiness of the ocean water gave everyone a calm sense of relaxation. The ocean appeared to be a vast wonderland as one could hear the laughing sounds of the children playing by the water.

Among the many at the beach, there was a charming man looking at the time on his expensive watch and staying alert of his surroundings. He stood there casually, profiling each of the people passing by, as he looked for another target for his weekend grifting.

The young man wanted to have a relaxing day at the beach, but that didn't have to deprive him of a thrilling grift. He knew he had today's targets when two people, who he assumed were a couple, bumped into him as they walked by and didn't even turn back to apologize.

Idris Sterling's brain took note of all the details of the couple, as he observed the silver ring embedded with tiny diamonds on the blonde girl's ring finger, the expensive watch and sunglasses of the man and the way stood and presented themselves. He knew the couple were rich enough for his weekend task yet he had a feeling this was too easy.

Choosing to focus on the couple and to not let them out of sight, he followed them to the bar nearby and took a seat beside them on the bar stool. However, before he could work his charm and leave the place, the couple turned towards him and the man started the introduction as the girl only waved with a smirk sipping on her drink, "Hey there, Idris Nikolai Sterling. I'm Theodore and this is Arabella, and we have an offer for you."

The two crewmates were only met with silence as Idris took a minute to calculate every possible reply he could give them while also taking down every new detail of the way they spoke that had changed from before. He noticed how both now were more relaxed yet their eyes looked around for every detail, similar to his habit, assuring him that the offer was sure to be interesting.

"Go on, then, or are we going to a perhaps more discrete location?" he winked at them, which sent a mixed meaning but the two ignored it as they told him to follow them.

The three made their way outside and Theo took his place at the driver's seat as Ara gestured Idris to enter the car as well. Idris took a second before doing so, which was expected and appreciated by the two in the car given the abrupt situation of the offer and their field of work.

Arabella and Theodore, meanwhile, were glad to have found someone who'd be a valuable asset, if his answer was yes, and officially having started with building a crew. One step closer to their goal.

They had kept an eye on Idris since his friend, Cameron, had informed the two of his skills. Cameron was a part of the team for the London job, after which he had decided to live a normal life and stay with his family.

Arabella has always been a good crewmate, and moved on to become a great leader as well, because of which even after heists and jobs, all the people she met on the way were loyal to her, well except one who had a revenge coming. Hence, when Cameron took notice of Idris' talents and him being a possible teammate, he informed the crew of him.

Idris had his hard times but he had never once regretted the decision of moving away from his parents and eventually finding a home with Cameron for a while. He soon successfully had enough money to move out, thanks to his charming skills. He was thankful for Cameron and still stayed in contact with him, who also considered Idris a great friend and always looked out for him.

As they the car started taking turns, familiar to Idris, he decided to deduce the two knowing it would only be beneficial and the first thing he noticed was Ara switching the ring from the ring to her middle finger, which now made sense to him. The two had gone undercover to lure him, as they showed off expensive accessories.

He still was trying to pin point how the two could know exactly where he'd be, but he couldn't figure it out, not yet at least. His trance was broken as Theo and Ara spoke up in turns and got right into business, giving him the basic details of what the job entailed.

Idris listened keenly, while also keeping track of their body language, hand gestures and so only out of habit.

"What's in it for me?" Idris asked, fascinated by what they would offer considering the high stakes of the heist.

"Only about a couple million dollars, making a name for yourself in our world, or finding a few loyal friends along the road. Whichever sounds the most appealing to you can be 'what's in it' for you." Ara gave him a reply as she looked at him through the rearview mirror of the car.

"All that matters is you get to decide at the end of the day." Theo continued though, glancing at Ara who returned it with a slight, almost unnoticeable nod knowing it was what would actually intrigue him.

That was true. That was exactly what mattered the most to Idris at the moment out of everything they had stated. He was once again taken out of his thoughts before he could think of how they knew to specify the freedom of choice and scrutinize it too much, as the car came to a halt.

He looked out the window to find his home and that's when it set in, the amount of research the two in front of him had done and how precise they were. He got out following what was told, a bit startled as this was not what he expected though, now the familiarity of the streets made even more sense to him.

The window rolled down as Theo waved at him, "We'll see you soon, or maybe not."

Ara did the same, as Idris could see her behind Theo, "It was fun meeting you!"

The window rolled back up after Idris waved at them, still a bit confused as they did not let him tell his decision. The car drove off leaving Idris who sighed as he stuffed his hands in his pocket, turning back to enter his house, when he felt what seemed like a piece of paper, similar to a business card.

He pulled it out and saw a yellow card on which with a black marker, it was written along with a smiley drawn at the end,

"Locker 439 - 9978 -
your tickets (and address details)
are there if your answer is yes.
Can't wait to see you again!
- A.T.S :)"

Idris only smiled, even more intrigued to work along these people, as he thought back to when they had collided into him. It was when they had already placed the card in his pockets, which he was now piecing together. The two had really planned everything, and Idris could only be enthralled by it.

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Jupiter, Florida

The wind blew through Ara's blonde hair that shone under the setting sun as she placed her head on her hands that were positioned over the open window of the car. Theo admired the sunset along with his friend as they drove to their next stop to meet an old friend who would be perfect for their crew, especially for this heist.

"Do you think he'll agree?" Theo asked his partner, as they planned about the perfect way to get him to agree.

"Of course. Tony will love how cool it is, and we're not hurting anyone except Ansel which he deserves." Ara moved her head away from the window as she looked at him.

The two criminal partners continued talking as they made their way closer to the house of an old friend. They conversed about everything as they soon reached, from going over a few details of the heist to discussing a plan for Sophia, to just going through few fun memories of old heists.

Meanwhile, Antonio Aiza, or Tony, was having a casual ordinary day as he sat in his living room enjoying his dinner while putting on one of his favourite movies. However, the dinner was interrupted by the doorbell.

He wasn't expecting anyone so he thought over who it could be as he made his way to the door and opened it, only to find his old friends, although one of the trio he adored was missing. He thought to ask about that after engulfing them in a hug, which he did.

"We missed you too, Tony!" Theo said while Ara let out a low happy laugh at how Tony hadn't changed as they hugged back.

Theo and Ara sat down on the couch and made themselves comfortable while Tony quickly brought them a plate served with arroz con pollo he had made for dinner, and shut the television off as to give them his full attention.

"Oh my god! I missed your cooking so much, especially after basically living under a rock." Ara started as Tony's expression changed from a smile to slight confusion, "Teddy will fill you in while I fill myself with your food."

Theo did just that. Being an old friend and having met Ansel a couple times, Tony got the whole details of the betrayal, Sophia, and the plan. Though this was all unexpected, something that stuck out to Tony was the name of his childhood friend and he was starting to understand the plan even better.

"Okay, first of all this is all super cool!" Tony began with excitement, due to which he failed to notice Ara giving Theo a look which said 'I told you so', "And you both have only become sharper since I last saw you, because you guessed right, Mags did send me an invite for the ceremonies."

Ara and Theo hadn't mention the invitations yet, but Tony had rightly caught on. Tony had been a family friend with Princess Magnolia and her family when he was very young. Luckily, the royal family was encouraged by Aldridge's ego to call everyone they knew, which led them to invite some good old friends.

"I hope you've gotten sharper with your skills too because we will definitely need you to make some new friends there." Theo replied while taking another bite as he thought over the plan which could possibly have some crewmates acting as guests, and cooks and more just to infiltrate the ceremony.

"Oh you know I did! I'm so excited! It's been a while since a big heist like this." Tony reminisced as he moved onto ask a question he always did, "So, are you two finally together?"

Ara stopped eating at the question while Theo had a similar reaction, and they glanced at the other but turned back to Tony immediately as their gazes met. They decided to give him instructions for the meeting instead to keep their mind on the job and nonchalantly skipped over the question.

"We're meeting in New York, a few days from now." Ara decided to change the course of discussion as they did have places to go, making it the perfect excuse to ignore the question.

"Yeah, here's the details." Theo cleared his throat as he continued the instructions and handed Tony a card, similar to the one given to Idris, the only difference being the locker details and the colour, which was now pink.

Tony only smirked at the two, not overlooking their ignorance of the question he asked almost every time he met the two.

He took the card as he took in the details and knew they were building a crew, thus the hurry to leave. It was similar to how they recruited him the last time as well, except they were being more discrete this time.

"Well, I can't wait to meet the crew!" Tony exclaimed as the two got ready to leave, "I'll see you in New York!"

"Glad to have you back, Tony." Ara bid him farewell as her and Theo made their way back to the car.

The partners in crime settled in the car and continued their journey with Ara at the wheel, giving Theo a rest from the driving. The night sky was aglow with the moonlight from the full moon and it was so clear that one could almost see every crater.

The light appeared brighter in contrast to the backdrop of black to navy gradient. The car continued to move swiftly under the blanket of stars that shone above them as they rode to their next destination.

author's note:

Hiii!
Sorry for the long note in advance, do read it all though

We've started building the crew! I was initially planning four OC intros in one chapter but I think this is better for the length of chps I write. (also this is actually one of the longer ones for this book so yay)

If I'm wrong with the way I'm writing your oc, do comment/pm and let me know! (Goes for all of you whenever your oc comes up)

If you haven't checked out the graphics chapter yet, please do, it's beautiful edits made by a few friends!

One last thing, once all the OCs have been introduced and it's around 11 characters every chapter, I will have to favour the OCs with the more active applicants. Like I said in the cast chapter, the OCs are brilliantly talented amd can multitask at times.

School work's gonna pile up soon so sorry in advance for slow updates but I'll do my best :)

thank you for reading xx