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Manhattan, New York.

Arabella Winter swiftly slid through the lobby doors of the one of many upscale high rise apartments in the heart of the city. The occasional well-dressed tenants passed by her idly, going about their business and not batting an eye towards her. Just as she wanted.

"I'm in," came her soft, low voice, as to not gain attention, "It's a nice place if I'm not lying. It's got that sterile tech showroom vibe but it's not bad. Teddy, do you copy?"

From the small earpiece, hidden under the blonde strands of hair that Arabella intentionally left out of her tied-up pony tail, she heard the voice of her childhood best friend and literal partner-in-crime, Theodore Davis, "Read you loud and clear, Belle."

He continued speaking as he gave a basic rundown yet again now that they were actually there, "Welcome to the Aldridge Towers. Fifty-four stories of luxury apartments, along with an extra fifty-fifth floor being the home to our mark. He will be making an appearance any minute now, so keep your eyes peeled. And as always, I'm right outside with my bike if you need a sudden but daring rescue." Theo ended with a smirk.

Ara smiled as she could feel his smirk, and slightly rolled her eyes, "I think I'll be just fine. It's not our first rodeo with- heads up! I've got an eye on the mark!"

Her eyes focused on the well-suited man, with dark brown, combed hair, that walked out of the elevator walking towards the guards at the front desk. He snapped his fingers in front of them and yelled, "Hey! Look alive, will you? I don't pay you to slack off and drink free coffee-" He got cut off by the low whisper of the guard, "You don't give us free coffee..."

"What was that?" he loudly shouted, "Did you just tell me how to run my building? I don't need to hear the opinion of every lowlife I hire."

"Y-yes sir! Sorry of course."

Aldridge scoffed and left to enter a room almost pushing Arabella's shoulder in the process. "Real charming." she said into the earpiece.

"Walter Aldridge. Corrupt pharmatech billionaire and weapon-selling douche. Off to his nightly massage appointment, right on time." replied Theo, "And now that he's gone, we have a total of five guards in our way, one right at the front desk in front of you. We need access to the computer, you got it?"

Theo could hear the blonde's smirk through her voice, "Leave that to me, I can distract him." She casually walked towards the guard, who gave her an uninterested glance and after a few seconds asked, "Can I help you?"

Thinking back to the 'free coffee' she heard about, she replied with a very sweet smile, "You look like you could use a break. You have a 'my boss is a jerk' look." The guard stared at her for a second which felt like the longest second to have passed in Ara's life as she thought over what she said and if it'd work.

"That obvious? It's unbelievable! He doesn't even let us go for a coffee run when there's a cafe two floors down!" She smiled back, relief taking over and took the opportunity to push him in the direction, "You know what? Screw him! You should go right now and enjoy your coffee!"

The guard nodded and walked away while muttering, "Screw him! I deserve a coffee." Ara looked around and when she saw no one around, she swiftly went to access the computer and did what she needed to. "Alright, Teddy. Got the access. Disabling the security alarms on the roof..." and with a few clicks of the keyboard, "Now."

"Perfect!" Theo's voice came, "If my memory serves, security cams on the south side are dark now for a system reset. Precisely, during the guard rotation." Arabella's eyes slightly widened as she was impressed, his memory and observation never ceased to awe Ara but she decided to tease him later and finish up the task on hand before their 'mark' was back.

"Roof is clear! Soph you're up!" Ara spoke up as they commenced their next part of the plan. A new voice spoke up into the earpiece in response, a voice that belonged to Sophia Hunter, another one of her best friends and an expert of demolition, "About time! It's freezing up here. Breaching the air duct now, I'll be in Aldridge's apartment in no time."

Arabella entered the elevator as she heard Sophia and pressed the button for the penthouse that sat on the fifty-fifth floor of the building. "Good, cause I'm on my way up. Hope you're just as fast with the explosives."

Sophia chuckled as she knew Arabella knew of her talents and was only teasing, like always, "Trust me, and don't rush me. C-4 placement is an art."

"Alright Els, I'm here. Aldridge's safe is exactly where Theo said it would be. Setting charges now." Sophia said, "Sure you don't want to blow the whole building up? Or at least his living room?"

Arabella smirked and replied with a chuckle, "Soph, you know I love a woman capable of self-destruction."

Sophia laughed softly, "Flattery truly will get you everywhere, Els."

Theo smiled listening, "Sophie, I can still hear you. And I know you're not flirting with Bella in front of me." which was followed by a "Jealous, are we?" from Sophia in an instant.

Suddenly a fourth, an evidently annoyed voice rings out over the radio, "Uh, hi? I'm still here. Don't we have a job to do? Aldridge's vehicle's left and all's clear in the back alley, if anyone wanted to know that is." The voice belonged to the last member, Ansel Smith, the one on his first time big job.

Ansel was truly anxious and wanted everything to go according to the plan. It being his first big heist, with a powerful mark, he could not bring himself to joke around while on the job.

Theodore replied, "Stay cool. You're not a two-bit criminal anymore, okay? You're with us now. You'll be a three-bit in no time."

"Ha-Ha. I'd better be. I'm tired of people talking about me like I'm the supporting cast of your stories. Ara is the mastermind, Theo is the genius, Sophie is the explosives prodigy. Oh wait and Ansel is there too!"

Arabella shook her head slightly and responded with a "be professional" and told him he'd make a name for himself in no time if he does his part. Ara genuinely believed Ansel could do whatever he set his mind to and even expressed the same to the boy on several occasions.

She walked out of the elevator as it dinged indicating it reached the destination. She had her game face on, entering the third stage, a very crucial stage of the plan.

"Okay, what's the status, team?"

"Charges are set!"

"I'm in place. Say the word."

"All's clear. No sight of Aldridge's vehicle."

"Well then, Soph, hit it." Ara's voice was followed by a large blast in the Aldridge Tower. Ara could hear Theo's bike rev loudly, with an echoing roar while setting off car alarms all around which almost muffled the sound of the blast.

Ansel's voice was heard on the radio, "Looks like all eyes are on Theo's distraction. As planned."

"Good. Soph, I'm on the penthouse level. Knock-Knock." The blonde was greeted by the door opening in front of her and a grinning Sophia, "Come on in. You have a bit of heavy lifting to do."

She followed Sophia into the luxurious apartment and straight to the office where the smoke still hung in the air.

Behind the office desk, she saw a safe embedded into the wall opened, revealing neat stacks of notes, a few gold bars and the largest diamond she'd ever seen. Ara picked the gem up, "Hell of a rainy day fund, huh?"

Sophia looked at it and said, "Of course, Aldridge would keep all of this at his house-" she got interrupted by Ara though, "-after overcharging all his helpless patients, if you need more of a reason to hate him." Both of them started loading the contents into the normal looking black backpack.

"Uh guys, we maybe have a bit of a problem. Aldridge's back in the building." came Ansel's slightly panicked voice into the earpiece.

Sophia shouted back into the earpiece, "What? Aren't you supposed to keep an eye on him?" To which she received a reply, "Yes, I was! And now I'm looking at him shout at his security, he knows something is wrong."

Theo spoke up, "Well our schedule seems to have tightened. Belle, what's the play?"

"Everyone meet up at the rendezvous point. Theo, you've figured out the safe place, I'm hoping? And Soph, you take the fire escape as planned. Ansel, meet us at the place."

"Of course. I'm sending the coordinates right away." Theo replied.

"Okay, I'm on my way." came the muttering of Ansel as he got moving right away.

Sophia, however wasn't sure, "How will you come?" to which she got a simple reply, "What thief would I be if I didn't cause a bit of chaos? I think your explosives will help me with that." Sophia smirked and chucked two grenades towards Arabella, who caught them smoothly.

"Don't worry, they're the blind-y kind and not the murder-y kind. I know you have a code."

"Aww, you remembered!" jokingly gushed Ara with a smile on her face and a thankful glint in her eyes as she made her way towards the exit. Sophia left with a "Don't be a hero! Stay safe!"

Arabella reached the elevator, from where she heard yells, "Someone tripped a silent alarm and you didn't check! What do I pay you for?" She knew that was Aldridge and as they stepped closer, she removed the pins and threw the grenades.

A loud blast was heard, and no one could see anything, except for Ara of course, who had covered her eyes knowing the effects of the grenade.

She shoved Aldridge, and carried onto her way, which caused him to get angry and hit his own guard who hit him back. She rushed out of the building and found Theo on a motorcycle. She could hear the wailing of police sirens from nearby.

"We got to move fast, Teddy, I'm driving!" Ara sat in front of Theo and started the bike when she heard him sigh, "I'm only agreeing because of the diamond in your bag, remember that!"

The dust from the road flew as the bike sped away before they were paid attention to. They did not need anyone to think of them as suspicious figures or even notice them, knowing that the police would be arriving soon and ask the civilians for possible suspects.

Theo secretly was glad Ara took the driving in her hands, so he could focus on the turns and details of their path, and also because she drove better in an escape scenario. However, he definitely wouldn't say it out loud.

author's note:

Surprise!!! An update! Today itself! I've been working at it since I released the cast, with the editing and proofreading and everything.

I wanted you all to have the first chapter so you can start to get to know this crew as well as give me your thoughts on how I'm writing and if you're liking the plot so far.

Also, I hope you like the originals!! You've gotten to read them while at their job.

For Walter Aldridge, I imagine someone like Alec Baldwin for some reason.

hope you liked the chapter! please comment, I'd love to read your comments and thoughts (and vote)

thanks for reading, xx.