The Neo-Metropol Heist

39: Artem

Artem moved away from the bar and glided through the crowds, keeping his head low. In the background, the band played a slow melody that gave the room a calm, jovial atmosphere that he wasn't a part of.
"Artem," he heard Aphelion over his headset, "Theo cracked the lock, maintenance door behind the bar."
"On it," he replied under his breath.
"Zak, you're up," Aphelion said.
Artem turned and glanced back at the bar, at the cop he'd tried his best to throw off the scent. They'd expected undercover observation, but according to Aphelion, the detective he'd just spoken to was the highest performing officer the precinct had seen in fifteen years. She wouldn't be easy to lose.
She stood away from the bar, looking like she was talking quietly to herself but most likely talking to her partner.
Out in the centre of the room, Zakarias jumped up and started his routine.
"Soylent green is people!" Artem heard him cry as the detective became distracted and charged him.
Artem found a small hallway behind the bar, where Theo stood forcing a door open with her hands.
"Let's go," she whispered.
Artem nodded, taking a final look out into the room and seeing Yasmin Jaeger floor Zakarias with a powerful right hook and pinning him to the ground.
"Right," Artem replied, following Theo into the door and letting it hiss shut behind him.
They found themselves in a dim maintenance corridor designed for synthetic workers. On the near-side wall, next to stencilled numbers that said '002' in blood red, was a slightly rusted ladder that led through a hatch to the next floor, about ten feet above them.
"Up to the next floor, then you'll have to cross the building to the funicular up to external building security," Aphelion said.
Artem scoffed jokingly.
"Please, I've done this enough," he said, "let's just hope we don't die this time."
Theo frowned at him.
"How's Zakarias?" Artem asked.
"They're taking him downstairs, I'll keep an eye on him," Aphelion replied, "next floor, go."
Artem gestured to Theo, who began to climb the staircase awkwardly in her dress. Before following after her, Artem undid his bowtie and put a foot on the first rung.
They climbed out out of the hatch and found themselves in a similar maintenance corridor.
"Next hallway over is clear," Aphelion told them, and they pushed the door open, finding a darkened hallway with plush carpets, walled either side by glass offices, "the funicular is on the far side of the building, I can't see any signs of life from here but stay to the shadows."
"I have literally no idea what a funicular is," Artem said, feeling slightly disappointed that Cad wasn't by his side to tell him the definition.
"Fancy staircase," Aphelion said.
They followed the directions through the winding maze of offices and boardrooms, the only light coming from the striplights in the floor and ceiling.
Most of the building was closed off, and they were avoiding the areas they knew would be occupied, or couldn't find information on, and eventually they found the staircase that wound up through the roof to the next level.
"Why does it have to be a tower?" Artem asked, "why can't he put his priceless jewels somewhere we can get them easily?"
Two floors up the funicular, they found themselves in a very familiar looking corridor.
"Oh, fantastic," Artem said under his breath, recalling the same corridor, digitised and rendered as a 3D world, but almost exactly the same. "Any idea what's round that corner?" He whispered, pressing himself against the wall.
"No, the security camera isn't linked to the main building security," Aphelion replied.
Artem sighed quietly, then glanced at Theo. Holding his breath, he leaned out of the wall quickly and scanned the area before ducking back in.
It was almost exactly as he remembered it - a single metal door in the wall guarded by a security guard under a security camera.
This time, though, it wasn't a hulking, faceless security guard with combat padding and a sleek, black helmet - it was just a single, slightly short man with a pistol at his waist.
"Unexpected," Artem whispered.
"What?" Aphelion asked.
"Just one guard, and I think I could take him, no combat gear," Artem said.
"I guess that makes it easier?" Aphelion replied.
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves," Artem said seriously, his heart thumping in his chest. All he could think about was the numerous times he'd been shot in this corridor, "same plan as before then?"
Artem was removing a coin from his pocket to roll into the corridor, when Theo put her arm across him and nudged him back into the wall.
"Sit this one out, stud, I got it," she said, showing him a curious looking ring with a large, red stone set into the centre of it. Artem hadn't even noticed the ring.
Brazenly, she stepped out into the corridor and Artem peered out after her. She strode up to the guard, who suddenly froze up awkwardly before apparently remembering what his job was.
"Oh my god," Theo giggled, her voice high and slightly slurred, "I was looking for the bathroom but I don't think it's up here..."
The guard moved away from the wall and held his hands up defensively.
"Ma'am, you can't be up here," the guard said, tensing up as Theo pretended to stumble and leant against him, "this is a restricted area, please return to the party,"
"Is it?" Theo replied in a sing-song voice, wrapping her arm around him, "I am so sorry."
As the guard turned to bring her back, Theo thumbed the strange ring and it came to life with a blinking red light, then a flash. Immediately, the camera above the door shuddered and went limp.
When Theo glanced back and saw the lifeless security camera, she switched modes in a split second and turned on the guard. She delivered a swift punch to his jaw, then a kick to his knee to drop him to her height.
Spinning on his shoulder as he dropped, she was behind him, wrapping her arm around his throat and squeezing.
The guard struggled against the hold, trying to turn his head and relieve the pressure on the artery in his neck with his chin, but Theo adjusted and the guard was trapped. A few seconds later, he was unconscious.
Theo stood up and pulled her dress down, brushing herself off.
"That's much simpler I suppose," Artem said.
"Did it work?" Aphelion asked excitedly over the commlink, "I didn't hear bullets so I'm assuming it worked."
"Yeah, it worked, Aphelion," Theo said, slipping the ring off her finger, "very well, actually."
"What the hell is that?" Artem asked as Theo tossed the ring to him.
"Covert low-power electro-disruptor with an exotic mineral charge," Aphelion replied, "enough to burn out the camera for a couple of minutes. You might want to get out of sight before it comes back online though."
"Why am I only just learning about this now?" Artem asked, rolling the ring around in his palm.
"I wasn't entirely sure it would work," Theo said.
"I know you like undressing the security, Artem, but if you keep doing it you'll get predictable," Aphelion snarked.
Artem shook his head and pocketed the ring, "nice one, Aphelion," he said, trying to keep his voice sincere. He was just glad he hadn't been shot.
"No problem," Aphelion replied.
Theo gestured to the door that the guard had been watching, and they moved over to it silently, or as silently as they could lugging the sleeping guard with them to use his palm chip to pass through the security scanner.
Artem counted to three, then placed the guard's hand against the palm-scanner, lowering him gently to the floor as it pinged green.
The door slid open, and Artem prepared to deal with the predicted security officers inside - but they found something else.
"Aphelion, we have a problem," Artem said, "there's no security office."
"What?" Aphelion asked.
Artem didn't know how else to put it. Inside, there was small room with a circle of chairs and a wall terminal, which then extended out into a long corridor that stretched fifteen or so metres away from them.
All along the passageway, however, there was a tangled field of buzzing red detection lasers.
"Shit," Aphelion replied, as Artem described the security field to her, "this was a black-spot on the plans, I assumed it would be a basic security office and the rest was a design quirk."
"Well, swing and a miss, champ," Artem replied.
Artem turned as he heard a rustling to see Theo pulling the unconscious guard into the room with them and letting the door seal behind them.
She proceeded to wrench open a cabinet underneath one of the nearby consoles, revealing a mass of tangled power cables.
"Any of this look important?" She asked, flicking her ear. Her holographic interface snapped out over her eyes, a dark red, like blood.
"Shouldn't be, why?" Aphelion asked.
Before replying, Theo grasped a bunch of wires and with incredible strength, yanked the thick wires out in a bunch, "no reason," she replied.
Taking the wire, she knelt down behind the guard and wrapped a coil of rope around his wrists tightly, letting him slump back against the wall. She did the same to his ankles, double-knotting the silver-grey wires to make sure he wouldn't be able to stand.
"Pass me your tie," she said, "quickly, before he wakes up."
Artem frowned.
"Aw," he said, "but the loose tie is what makes the entire 'stylishly dishevelled' thing work."
When Theo glared back at him, he thought better of loosing another volley of sarcasm and instead slipped off his bow tie and handed it to her.
She wrapped it tightly around the guard's head and bunched the front of it into his mouth, clicking her HUD off as she straightened out.
"He won't be going anywhere soon," Artem mused.
Theo stood back and admired her handiwork.
"Well, he's not the first guy I've tied up," she said, her tone light but her mouth pursed.
"Kinky," Artem said, leaving the guard and looking out across the security field, "next problem."
"Any ideas?" Theo asked, crossing her arms.
Laser security fields had always been a bit of a mystery for Artem whenever he'd had to contend with them in the past. They never seemed to have any real functional worth in keeping out determined thieves, and always seemed to be a design choice.
"Well, there are spaces in between each layer, so I suppose..." Artem started, adjusting himself into an awkward position at the first wall of light and lifting his leg through carefully, "if I... adjust my body at varying angles and fold through, taking care to keep very still, I can make it through in under forty minutes..."
"Or," Aphelion said over the commlink, as the lasers suddenly flickered and died beneath Artem's crotch, "I could turn them off from here because the lasers draw power from a section of the grid I have access to."
Artem glanced back at Theo, who managed a grin as he stood in the hallway, his legs bowed.
"I guess that could work," Artem said, straightening out, "I never get to have any fun."