Pumpkin Spice & Things Not Nice

With a lack of response from either G nor J, Laelynn sighed ever so quietly. G was probably still in the middle of their ground work, but she still wondered where J had gone off to. Snack break maybe? Laelynn knew that'd be what she would be doing if she was in J's place. Ah well, no time to ponder when there was work to be done.~ Carefully creeping through the second floor, Laelynn kept herself poised, silent as a mouse, yet, in body posture, putting on the ruse that she was lost. If she managed to walk into an unfortunately placed camera, at least she could use an alibi and claim she had gotten confused looking for the restroom in such a large mansion.

Luckily for her, the hallways of the second floor seemed to have much less security than the main floor and art room, leaving her ample space to explore around. Though she failed so far in finding the Art Room, she did find the next best thing, and her original goal. Discovering a door ever so slightly ajar, Laelynn saw the tell tale shimmer of virtual light coming from the room, of a slight hue of blue. Computer monitors. Pressing herself close to the door, she peeked in and much to her dismay, realized the terminal was manually controlled rather than by computer, a security guard at work with a cup of coffee. //Shit...//

Before Laelynn could figure out her next move, she immediately heard the guard stand up, prompting her to scurry away in silence, taking cover around the corner, though while looking for her exit, in the most peculiar way, her ears picked up on the creak of the door, and footsteps echoing off...away from her? Daring to peak over the corner, Laelynn noted the security guard walking down to hall with a newpaper in hand, their other hand on their stomach. //Lucky!~//

From the looks of it, the guards lunch wasn't sitting well with them, and that gave Laelynn her chance. Once the coast was clear, she made her way into the camera room, noting a camera feed on the jewel itself, placed upon a pillow and pedestal, surrounded by a glass case, though, unable to discern if it was in the vault or art gallery. Either way, she went to work with her form of "magic," typing away at the control panel, as each and every camera screen flicked one after another in sequence before returning to normal...or seemingly so, anyway.~

In reality, Laelynn had spliced the video footage of certain moments at each camera, and fed it back to the system in loop. When they approached their mark, the cameras would merely show an empty room, leaving the security none the wiser, and just like that, Laelynn made her way out, slinking back into the hall undetected. With a small section of the manor to herself and confirming no guards were present, she spoke into the ear piece with a hushed, gentle tone. "Update for ya' two, I put the cameras in a loop. Security is blind, and no video evidence will be left. Saw the mark on a singular pedestal but couldn't confirm the location. Any news on that yet?"

As they continued to talk, at length, Gio had learned a fair amount about Mr. Hale. It turns out that, indeed, he was new money, and something of an inventor. His tech had been used in many devices over the last few years, but most of them were mere novelties. It was over the course of the last few years that he had shifted focus to a new line of work.

"My my, good for you, friend," Gio gushed, "Pulling yourself from the gutters, eh?"

"So, I take it you've done work for our Kind Host, yes?"

"Oh, yes." Hale smiled, "That's actually why I'm here!"

"Oh... My my. I only came to get a peek at the newest bauble. I hear it's something really spectacular this year~"

"Well, it's funny you should bring that up, you see-" Hale looked around a moment, then leaned in close, whispering, "That's exactly what I was hired for."

"No fucking shit..." Gio murmured, slackjawed, "I MEAN~! My my! How interesting! But- You said you were an inventor, not an artist? I heard that they'd be unveiling some grand work of art."

"I mean... yeah. But... They gotta protect it, too, right?" Hale chuckled, "And that's where I came in. Designed the security measures, myself."

"... You're shitting me."

"No No~! Not at all!" Hale laughed, "From the ground up. Laser tripwires, pressure sensors, even an anti-magic field to keep out any pesky tech mages looking to ply their trade as a thief!"

"W-well... That is... Sorry, am I hearing all this right?"

The voice in Gio's ear crackled to life, J.J.'s voice coming in clearer than Hale's , "Yeah... Yeah you are. And I haven't heard back from eL since she ducked out. No alarms have gone off, but she might be in the anti-magic field."

"You... really are something special, friend. I'm glad to have met you. I do say, you should seek me out after this little soirée comes to a close. I may just have some work for you~ Never can be too careful, eh?"

"Not at all, Mr. Gabbiani." he smiled, "But as far as working together in the future, well~ Your people should call my people."

With the flick of his wrist, Hale produced a business card. It was incredibly simple, possibly designed by a local typesetter, and printed on cheap stock. Still, the name "Hale's Hardy Handiwork" was printed at the top, advertising services ranging from security systems to robots and all manner of things in between.

"Absolutely, dear boy~" Gio said, graciously taking the card, "Though, at the moment, I believe I have to find where my daughter has run off to. She went to go find the hors d'oeuvres and still hasn't turned up. Pardon me~"

And with that, Gio made his way to where he last saw Laelynn, though, where to go from there, it was hard to say.

//Weird...// Once, Laelynn could understand, yet now twice, there was complete radio silence. Pausing for a moment, Laelynn closed her eyes, though keeping her ears open to stay alert as she processed what she knew. J and G were professionals like herself, and a sting operation was unlikely, as J had claimed herself she knew Laelynn's identity, or at least implied. That said, the earpiece should be functional, and if it could not be hacked, then what else could it be? It didn't have any sudden impacts, and as an analog device, that meant it lacked normally sensitive parts that were common in technology, which meant...Laelynn's eyes opened in realization, turning her head to the wall on her right, rotating her gaze up to the ceiling and then to the left wall. The only logical explanation was something about the building, maybe something exclusive to the second floor? Either way, that meant Laelynn had overstayed her welcome, for now. 

It wasn't long before she was back at the window she entered through, using various vines and grappling points to shimmy all the way down before swinging getting through the first floor bathroom window with cat like grace, intentionally leaving her earpiece on to keep a monitor on the channel, to test if her hypothesis was correct. With a click of the lock, Laelynn strolled her way out of the ladies room, attempting to keep proper posture around the rich snobs while she made her way back to the snack table, shortly after finding Gio close to where they last met. 

"Ah, there ya' are, sorry if I worried ya', had to powder my nose.~" Giving an alibi for any ears that may have been too curious, (Though unable to mask her distinctive form of speaking, despite her best efforts.) Laelynn eyed the surroundings to make sure others were a far enough distance away, gauging the sound level of all the various nobles gossiping over each other, before eventually determining it was safe, whispering into her earpiece, though quiet enough Gio could hear just in case it still didn't work. "This thing workin' now? I think there's some weird shit goin' on upstairs."

At this point, she would realize that indeed the earpiece was back, taking a deep breathe in relief before going over to pour herself a drink, and whispering back into the lacryma. "Oh, B T Dubs, I looped the camera feeds, they're blind." Swirling the glass in an fancy, snooty manner, but similar to what you'd see in a cheesy secret agent movie, obviously taking pride in her task, Laelynn took a sip, only to make the same unfortunate realization Gio had earlier. "Grape juice? What am I, five?" With a minor scowl and a resigned sigh, she placed down the drink and went back to a whisper. "So, what's our next move?" 

Gio started to look for Laelynn, asking random members of the help if he'd seen his daughter: dark hair, bad attitude, wearing a flower in her hair? Whether for good or ill, it seemed that Laelynn had been particularly good at not leaving an impression, since no one seemed to have seen her anywhere. It wasn't until Gio caught a glimpse of her across the room that he allowed himself to relax a moment. She was back to the main hall, which meant that any chances of her finding the Jewel and setting off the defenses had dropped severely. In a matter of moments, the pair managed to regroup, with Laelynn making an excuse for where she'd run off to, in case of listening ears.

"You gave me quite a start, young lady!" Gio scolded, keeping up the act of the worried parent, "Next time don't wander off, eh?"

"Good to have you back. Gee found out that the target is... more heavily guarded than previously thought." J.J. relayed, "Big problems. Pressure sensors, lasers and the big kicker? An anti-magic field."

"So that means no comms within a certain range of the Jewel. And no magic, either." she continued, "Which... means that it's probably upstairs, given that's where we lost contact."

"But, hey, you took care of business and got out of there unnoticed. No alarms have been set off, so it seems like you're good to go."

"Now it's just a matter of getting into the Gallery. According to the schematics, that's on the second floor in a central chamber. With the cameras spoofed, you should have an easy time making your way there. You'll just have to slip out of the ballroom and make your way up the stairs in the foyer."

"Alternatively, you can always make your way through the servant stairs in the back."

"Well, I don't know about you, but all this has been just a bit too much for me. I think we should keep close to one another, yes?" Gio posited, "That way we don't end up separated again."

Then, under his breath, he added, "And hopefully we can deal with the rest as we come to it."

At Gio's first response, Laelynn crossed her arms over her chest, immediately pouting in response to Gio' chiding her. Great acting? Nope, but instead, sincere displeasure and embarrassment. Even if it was acting, she hadn't been scolded in longer than she could remember, and it was not a pleasant feeling. "Sorry, I just wanted to make sure I was still presentable..." Keeping up the act for appearance, Laelynn clearly rolled her eyes in a pained fashion. Yet and still, despite it all being an act, she refused to address "Gee" as their father in any way directly. Nothing personal on them, but rather she felt it in bad taste, considering they and herself were thieves, while she knew full well of her father's legacy as a hero and martyr of humanity's home planet. It just didn't feel right. 

After having given her own update, she listened to "Jay's" with a curious interest, noting that Gee's ground work revealed some...interesting information, while making Laelynn regret she didn't bring her tools with her. Along with that, a certain grim realization, while Laelynn couldn't use magic, the only thing she possessed magic was her most important tool should things go wrong. The pocket dimension that stored her suit, which was technological at it's base, but still used principles of magic, the tech part being more of "circuitry" in a sense, and what allowed her to summon her suit at will. "Good to know Jay, but that does make things more complicated for me." 

Nothing Jay's update on the location of their target, and possible options, Laelynn carefully weighed the two options, before Gio spoke up to keep their ruse. "Oookaaay, I promise I won't wander off again.~" Bringing her voice back to a whisper, Laelynn then piped up first at Gio's under the breath comment with her own. "Yeah, hopefully..." Then following up for both Gio and J.J. in a quiet voice. "I'd say the latter, considering most of the servants should be...preoccupied." She noted, subtly gesturing her eyes to the many butlers and servants waltzing around tending to their wealthy and spoiled clients. 

Eventually, with a bit of searching, the duo would find the servants stairs, a spiral, cramped stair well, which coincidentally, worked perfectly for what Laelynn was considering. With so many people going in and out of various rooms, and the rich elites having their head up their ass as usual, it wasn't that suspicious or unusual for them to wander off. If anything, in a ironic twist, the large crowds all along the manor made it easier to blend in, with most eyes directed at the art or their conversation partner, where other eyes were obscured by the masses. Making her way up the stair case, half a bend in for complete cover from any watching eyes, Laelynn would pause for a moment, roughly half way up to the second floor, whispering into her earpiece.

"Going dark here in a moment Jay, also, Gee, don't get startled but if magic doesn't work up there, guess it's better if I show my hand now." Unaware of the coincidental choice of words she used in relation to Gio, a burst of subtle yet still visible sparks after she said this, and Gio would probably realize the real reason for her nick name as a cyan colored suit appeared upon her, a mix of metal and reinforced fiber, complimented with a cyan tail, cyan, triangle shaped cat ears, and most notably, an "emoji" system at the visor, all with the capability to adjust their lighting and brightness at whim. "Pretty neat, right?~ Now then, back to business.~" And with that, Laelynn would move on among the stairs, now more than ever wanting to get this job done fast. 

Despite her obvious reluctance to play to the bit, Laelynn did her best to keep in character. Although, her obvious disdain, whether she realized it or not, was perfectly in-stride for a moody teen being scolded by her hoity-toity father. Having gotten a look at the security cameras, Laelynn had a far better idea of the best route of approach than Gio or even J.J. The entire manor was on a closed system, making remote hacking a nightmare. At the moment, she could only keep track of the alarms, or, rather, could only keep track of the direct line between the manor and the local authorities. And, in so far as now, no distress signal, silent alarm or direct call had been sent out. Although, even if they did, J.J. could intercept the signal. The people within the manor, of course, would still be aware of any breaches. Still, giving them more time to escape any potential police or ISC involvement was a massive boon to the success of this mission.


"Going dark here in a moment Jay, also, Gee, don't get startled but if magic doesn't work up there, guess it's better if I show my hand now."

Gio nodded, while J.J.'s voice crackled into their ears, slightly crispier than it had been in the grand hall, "Noted. Sending pings until reconnect. Should help you figure out the range of this thing."

With that, J.J.'s voice cut out, replaced by a light pinging noise: one every five seconds. It wasn't exactly annoying, but just... noticeable. For their purposes, Gio supposed that was ideal. The moment the pings cut out, they'd know there was no magic. And in a way that Gio wouldn't have to waste any energy for. However, Laelynn didn't seem to have the same restrictions as him, summoning some sort of robotic suit onto her person. While the suit, itself, wasn't going to be affected by the anti-magic field, he assumed, the method of retrieval seemed to be magic-based. Requip, if he wasn't mistaken. Although, there was one thing that made Gio flinch inwardly.

"A cat suit?" he asked, incredulous.

"Pretty neat, right?~ Now then, back to business.~"

Gio thought to argue, but realized... yeah. No. She was right. Despite the horrific level of puns this CAT BURGLAR was engaging in... the suit was pretty neat. And he assumed that, while clearly the design was highly visual, there was no doubt a fair number of functions worked into the suit as well. Possibly the tail helped with acrobatic maneuvers and balance? Or maybe the ears contained high-sensitivity microphones for picking up on minor auditory clues? Honestly, just by looking at it, it was impossible to tell, but J.J. had been insistent that their contact was a professional, and a tech whiz... And in both those categories, Gio was much less proficient than he claimed.

"Right." Gio agreed, "Jay said our target was in an interior room. I say we move inward and try for visual contact."

Gio was close on Laelynn's heels, listening to the ping as his eyes darted this way and that, trying to ascertain any movement from the corners and shadows. As they got closer to their supposed target, the pings became distorted and garbled, though very quickly after, they completely ceased. They were in a full-on dead zone. Still, to test it, Gio attempted to summon one of his playing cards. He could feel the magical energies leaving his body. He even briefly caught a glimpse of the golden sheen at his fingertips... but the barrier didn't materialize. Gio sighed. He didn't expect much, sure... but actually feeling the effects of the anti-magic field was like a pit in his stomach. Still, thanks to Laelynn's previous scouting out of the area, they hadn't encountered anyone. Though, there were some pretty awful sounds coming from behind one door, followed by several flushes before continuing again. Poor bastard probably had food poisoning.

"Well, I ain't exactly an expert on in-home galleries, but as a betting man, I'd say that's the place."

Gio pointed out the double doors not far ahead of them, marked by golden door handles and detailed scrolling along the edges of the frame. Pressing his ear against the door greeted him only with silence. And checking the door found it to be locked. It took him a little bit of finagling, but Gio managed to jimmy the lock. One more check of the door revealed no additional security measures... at least, none that were possible to address from this side of the door. Opening one side for a peek revealed the room to be sitting in darkness. Still, from what he could actually see from the sliver of light he let in, the room was as bare as it was large. Not an office, or a bedroom... but something else.

He looked again from side to side, as if the idea of entering the room was any more eye-catching to a potential patrol than a teal cat lady standing next to a crouched down silver-haired man in a glorified trench coat. Still, as he opened the door further, the lights kicked on, revealing exactly what he had hoped to have found: a gallery. Paintings covered the walls, while pedestals sat around the room, displaying different pieces of objet d'art, which, for someone like these snooty nobles, were wonderful conversation pieces and nothing else. While to Gio, all he could see was fine dining, new clothes, a few years worth of rent and a trumpet to call his very own.

"Whelp... We found it." Gio shrugged, "Now it's just a matter of getting past the lasers, sensors and who knows how many booby-traps."

"Ladies first?"

"Huh, neat...~" At Jay turning on the pinging alert, Laelynn cocked her head, noting the simple yet efficient method Jay devised for tracking distance and checking their line of communication. Laelynn had pondered how she would keep a monitor on them, and such an elegant method had slipped her mind. At Gio's response of surprised reaction to her suit, Laelynn merely cocked her head, the visor changing from a smiling cat emoji to a more catty, smug grin with whiskers, obviously reveling in the moment. It wasn't often she could show off her favorite possession after all.~

"Sounds like a plan.~ We'll figure out the rest as we go.~"

Leading the way with her scant knowledge of the area from the camera feeds, Laelynn kept herself close to walls and corners, attempting to keep out of as much light as possible, until eventually, the pings began to become garbled, sometimes turning into a mere muddled static, before they ceased in their entirety. "Engage System Check..." She whispered ever so quietly, a few very dull lights flicking behind her helmet, eventually showing a report on her side of the one way visor. Though now working with less power than she preferred, everything was still functioning as designed, as the suit drew from both ether but also raw electricity, one of the benefits of hybrid batteries.~

Passing over one of the restroom's where the guard Laelynn last saw had taken refuge, Gio eventually spotted an ornately carved double door with golden handles, noting his penchant on gambling that this was the place. "Either that, or decorative doors are in vogue now.~" Laelynn whispered back in an obviously sarcastic manner, allowing Gio to do their work, listening for what may lay behind the door, before managing to pop the lock on it. As they opened the door just a crack, Laelynn gathered closer to them on instinct, dying with cat like curiosity on what they would find. As Gio stepped forward and the lights went on, revealing their true mark at the dead center of the room, The Harvest Jewel.~ Laelynn's cat emoji system shifted to one of an intent gaze and drooling ever so slightly, imagining her cut of the pay once the job was done. So many new parts, so many bacon burgers, she couldn't wait.~

"Well, guess that is the most logical since I got armor, but if my suit gets damaged, I'm sending the bill to Jay. Remember to close the door behind us, don't want ol' shitter or any patrols to ruin our fun now.~" Slightly reluctant after Gio mentioned booby traps and asked her to go first, Laelynn half joked at the consequences that could result in. Regardless, she was certain her talent and equipment was superior to the hack who designed the security system. Taking a few cautious steps forward upon the marbled stone floor, noting the various ceiling lights all at regular intervals, their final challenge sprung to life having detected breach in the room, various red lasers shooting forth across the room at randomized angles, causing Laelynn to pause for a moment. While the lasers were many, there were obvious gaps that even an untrained human could avoid, so, what was the catch? 

"Oooh, I think I get it now, it's a double grid.~" Turning to Gio, pointed to the suspiciously empty area of the grid to offer a brief explanation. "The red lasers are dangerous, but not sensor types. They're there to trick a potential thief to step around, and trip the lower frequency lasers invisible to the human eye, which would...not bode well for us, I reckon.~" Whether in be booby traps, alarms, or otherwise, Laelynn surmised even an elite contortionist would be catching a tiger by the tail to confront head on. In a moment of thought, Laelynn noted two control panels, and after a brief glance, surmised one controlled the lasers, while the other controlled floor sensors and traps. After all, the staff needed a way to retrieve their little piece when the time arrived. Normally, these required an ID of sorts to bypass, but with time running low on their side, Laelynn cocked her head with a curious idea.

"Hey, "Gee," you said you're a betting man, right? How'd you like to take a'bet right now? Heads, I take down the lasers, tails, I set off the alarm and we run for the hills."

With a deep breath, Laelynn casually made her way to the security panels, nodding her head as she confirmed which panel controlled what part of the system, and with that, she raised a hand, pressing it ever so gently upon the panel. "Let's flip that coin, shall we?~" As she stated this, a surge of cyan colored electricity would ripple through her suit, working up through her arm and directly into the control panel, attempting to short circuit the entire grid in one fell swoop. Though, she did fail to mention that like all coin flips, there was a small chance this bet could land on the edge instead of heads or tails. 

"Hey, "Gee," you said you're a betting man, right? How'd you like to take a'bet right now? Heads, I take down the lasers, tails, I set off the alarm and we run for the hills."

"I've heard worse odds."

With a deep breath, Laelynn casually made her way to the security panels, nodding her head as she confirmed which panel controlled what part of the system, and with that, she raised a hand, pressing it ever so gently upon the panel. "Let's flip that coin, shall we?~"

For a moment, Gio really believed what J.J. had said about "eL". "You're gonna like this one" she'd say. And to that end... Laelynn reminded Gio a lot of himself. Though, clearly, she was from a totally different generation. All the style. All the dramatics. All the pompous bastard-ness. All the "fuck you, old man" energy. Just focused into tech and cat memes instead of jazz and period clothing. And as the electricity arced through Laelynn's C.A.T. suit, a smirk spread across Gio's face as he quickly tighted the ribbon holding his hair in place. One way or another, it was time to go to work.

For a moment, it felt like Gio's heart was in this throat. But after a few moments of silence, he concluded that their gambit had come up heads.She'd managed to disable, at least, the lasers. Though, looking around the room, he couldn't quite fathom how Hale might have implemented a pressure sensitive floor. At least, not at first. The room seemed to not have any sort of special design to it. It looked to be marble, with carpets running along the edges of the walls and through the center, accenting the artwork and breaking up the design of the room... And also hiding pressure plates beneath. Sure, they were calibrated to hold the weight of the carpeting, but even a pound more would cause them all to go off, he presumed, at least. And while he had no proof, per-se, it was the only logical way it could happen...

"Think you could do that again?" Gio probed. He figured probably not, or else she would have already, but... it didn't hurt to ask. This next bit, however, might. Because as Gio glanced around the room, he found himself drawn to the light fixtures above. He could easily latch onto one of them, but he wouldn't hang low enough for him to actually retrieve the Jewel... but if he held onto Laelynn's ankles...

"Hey, eL: how much do you weigh?" Gio remarked, gesturing with his head towards the ceiling lights. He knew he could make it up there, if not with a little difficulty. That was the easy bit. Gripping the lights with his legs while using both his hands to keep Laelynn stable would be the hard part. He'd have her do it, but he felt more confident that he could hold the weight of a teenager than a teenager could hold the weight of a gangly adult. He made his way, swinging from light source to light source as he moved, like a monkey, to just above the Harvest Jewel. He held position, locking his legs together, around the light, dangling upside-down like a trapeze artist waiting for the big catch. "It's now or neva', Ellie~"